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Commentary on "Discipleship"
Day 6: Thursday, June 4, 2009
The first part of the lesson today includes good teaching about what it means that Jesus is our only Lord, compared with the common practice of the day, even up through the middle ages, to refer to a figure of authority as Lord.
This day, however, is the day on which the Quarterly takes the disciple of Christ, and turns him into a disciple of Moses.
Quoting Jesus in Matthew 7:23,24 out of context, the Quarterly introduces lawkeeping. For the average Christian, the idea of lawkeeping Jesus introduces here follows His statement that the true believer will produce fruit. Two ideas are contained in what Jesus said. First, the believer will be productive. Secondly, what the believer produces is good fruit, not bad fruit.
Jesus specifically stated that grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles. The fruit is consistent with the nature of the tree. If our nature is natural, fallen human nature, we cannot produce good fruit. If our nature is born-again, alive in Christ, we cannot produce bad fruit. We may allow our fruit to go bad on the vine, resulting in the need to be pruned, but we can't produce fruit inconsistent with our nature. (We still carry around our fleshly [bent natured] bodies, but the fruit we produce is spiritual. Our bodies can produce bad fruit, but that is part of carrying around the part of us that is still waiting to be redeeemed.)
It is our nature that must be changed. The fruit will follow. None of the things that those who produce bad fruit are doing are bad. Prophesying, casting out demons and performing miracles are all good. Jesus' statement was that He did not know them.
The last part of the lesson for today is where many in the SDA Church separate themselves from true Christians. The question is asked, “What is the key element that reveals how genuine we are in calling Jesus 'Lord'?” followed by a couple scripture references, one being the Matthew 7 passage about “lawlessness.”
One who accepts the Law of Christ as that which supersedes the Law of Moses is not a person of lawlessness. The Greek term is anomia which means “without law” or “lawless deeds.” A Christian, who does not practice the Law of Moses, but does practice the Law of Christ is not anomia. Jesus clarified that the law of Moses was not sufficient by making statements that are even tougher (more impossible) to keep.
We cannot be both disciples of Christ and disciples of Moses. Disciples of Christ are disciples of Life. Disciples of Moses are disciples of the Ministry of Death (2 Cor. 3:7.)
The Quarterly is here participating in the ministry of death.
Summary
- Jesus must be our only Lord.
- Our natures must be changed before we can produce good fruit.
- We cannot produce fruit inconsistent with our nature.
- We are either disciples of Christ, Life, or we are disciples of Moses, the Ministry of Death. We cannot be both.
*All scripture quotations are from: The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001, Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
Copyright 2009 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised June 1, 2009. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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