Proverbs 31, verses 19 and 20, she stretches out her hands to the poor

 

Proverbs 31:19 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.

The spindle winds the wool and the distaff prevents it from getting tangled up as I understand it. These are components used in making clothing and blankets. The virtuous woman or wife applies herself to that work diligently. Of course, we buy most of our garments at a store these days. But there was a time not long ago when many families made their own clothing. The thing that Matthew Henry commented about the virtuous woman with this verse was that she did not regard this work as beneath her.

A representation for the church might be that the church doesn’t regard its work as demeaning. Whatever your function is within the body of Christ you should be pleased to do it, serving Christ. For those who worship in a building set apart for that purpose whether you clean the toilets or cut the grass you are doing a good work. If you worship in a home as they did in the first century then any help you lend is worthy. The person who cares for the babies is no less than the person preaching the sermon. We are all members of the body of Christ.

Colossians 1:10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

By taking this application for this specific verse I am drawn to these verses written by Paul with the wisdom given to him by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 3:15).

1 Corinthians 12:12 ¶ For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many. 15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? 18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 19 And if they were all one member, where were the body? 20 But now are they many members, yet but one body. 21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. 22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: 23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. 24 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: 25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. 26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

 

Proverbs 31:20 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.

I don’t think there is any question of what the church’s position should be toward the poor either in the church or in the world. I used to belong to a church that had a Deacon’s Pantry full of canned food and other items for the benefit of emergency help when called upon. They also had an account at a local grocery store for trusted church members who were going through rough times. I can remember loading up an employee at the warehouse where I worked with food for her and her children after her husband had left her and cleaned out their bank account.

The church is called to do good works to all people, but especially to the members of the church.....

Galatians 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Notice the direction of this verse. The church doesn’t wait for the poor to come to her. She reaches out to them; to the poor and needy. In other words, the church looks for opportunities for service. The church goes to where the poor are. Obviously, there is little need to help people who are receiving help from the government. But there are many elderly people struggling to survive who often have to choose between much needed medicine or food. We should be reaching out to them. There are two conditions for help within the church. One is that if a person has a family in the church they should be the ones helping them first.

1Timothy 5:16 If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed..

The person in need must be willing to work when work is available.

2Thessalonians 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat..

This verse can also have a spiritual application toward the church reaching out to the spiritually hungry. Remember the Sermon on the Mount admonition in Matthew 5:3?.

Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. .

Now reach back into Isaiah.

Isaiah 66:2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. .

Now further back into the Psalms.

Psalm 34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. .

It is also these poor whom the church must reach out her hands to, those whose spirits are broken, whose hearts are weeping, who are ready to receive Christ and be saved. The church feeds the hungry in body and the hungry in spirit. Or the church might just be a social club or a political action committee. If the latter is all it is then it is not a church modeled on God’s standards.

Hebrews 1, verses 1 to 3, Christ, the express image of His person

 

Introduction

The postscript of Hebrews says that it was written to the Hebrews, that is the Jews, by Timothy from Italy so he obviously visited Paul. Even though the letter doesn’t have the opening of Paul’s name tradition says it was spoken by Paul and put to paper at Timothy’s hand, Paul’s amanuensis or secretary in this case. Paul must have wanted to clear up some of the ignorance and confusion of the Jewish believers.

The ending may suggest he is writing to the Jewish Christians in Judea. Paul prepared this profoundly theological letter carefully and probably Timothy lent a hand. This is a more polished treatise than his other letters and shows, scholars tell us, careful deliberation and excellent grammar. It is a controversial book as not everyone agrees that Paul wrote it but I do, and am convinced that he did. Let’s begin.

Hebrews, chapter 1

Hebrews 1:1 ¶  God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

 

In the history of the Hebrew people, the people of Israel, the Jews as we commonly call them, before Christ, God sent prophets to instruct, to admonish, to correct, and to warn His people, Israel. There was Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and others listed in the pages of the Old Testament.

 

But now, God has sent His Son, His visible image, by whom all creation was made as He is the Word, capital W, of God.

Genesis 1:1 ¶  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.3 ¶  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Here are the three parts of God in verses one, two, and three of Genesis. In verse one there is God the Father, the soul of God, so to speak, the seat of will and self-identity.

Psalm 11:5  The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

In verse two we have the Spirit of God, His particular vehicle for acting upon and through His creation, also called the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Ghost as God Himself. The Holy Ghost operating as the Holy Spirit is the very mind of God.

For contexts where the Spirit of God or the spirit of man can be synonymous with the mind of God or man please see the following;

 

Romans 8:27  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

 

1Corinthians 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

 

Ephesians 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

 

Philippians 1:27  Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

 

2Timothy 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

In verse three of Genesis, chapter one, we have God’s spoken Word, the beginning of all life, the origin of life, the beginning of light, and the origin of light. Here, the universe is being created, the UNI-VERSE, one spoken sentence. God is the author of it, the authority of it, as my wife, Beth, pointed out to me.

John 1:1 ¶  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2  The same was in the beginning with God. 3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.        5 ¶  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

The Lord Jesus Christ, as any reading of John will attest to, is the Word, capital W, translated from a Greek word, Logos. Some philosophies of the Greek world used the word, Logos, to describe the creative force of the universe. John here makes it clear that the Logos is not an impersonal force but a person, an entity, also linked to the use of the English word and Greek logos as speech and a decree. A knowledgeable Greek or Roman, who had heard Sophist preachers speak on this, would have understood what John was saying, at least in part, even if they did not agree.

So, the Word was here in the beginning of time. It was with God, coexisting. In fact, it was that very God, here in the beginning with Him. How could this be you ask? The Bible, rather than traditional theology which talks of three persons in one that sounds vaguely polytheistic, makes this clear. These three parts acted in unison.

Genesis 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Genesis 3:22  And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

Genesis 11:7  Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.

A self-conscious, aware being is composed of three parts; a spirit, which is our very mind with its reasoning, emotions, and inclinations, a soul, which is the seat of its will and self-identity, and a body, which is how it interacts and knows the physical world around it. There are overlaps in all of these parts. I not only am but I know that I am because I have a soul. I think and understand to my capacity because I have a spirit. I exist in space-time and interact physically with my surroundings because I have a body. God interacts with us in all three of these locations.

Jesus is the physical image of God, the body of God, if you will, so we have three parts of one God; soul, body, and spirit.

Colossians 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:…2:9  For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Here in Hebrews 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

John 14:9  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

Three parts to one God with one will, not three individual persons with separate wills.

Deuteronomy 6:4  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

John 10:30  I and my Father are one.

Christ is the appearance of God; the angel of the Lord, His presence.

Isaiah 63:9  In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

Galatians 4:14  And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

Who led the Hebrews out of Egypt.

Judges 2:1 ¶  And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

We are created in such a manner, having a body, a soul, and a spirit.

1Thessalonians 5:23  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember also that Christ, in the flesh, had a human spirit, being fully God and fully man. We discussed that in the comments on the Gospels.

Proverbs 31, verses 17 and 18, her candle goes not out by night

 

Proverbs 31:17 She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.

The work of the church, ministering to the physical needs of its members and the spiritual ones, requires a day-to-day determination and strength. Church in the modern world is nothing like it was in the first century. There was no public welfare not associated with pagan temples, societies, or heathen religious groups. The church had to take care of its unemployed, its elderly, and the sick if those people had no family to care for them and were willing to work but weren’t able to do so. A simple reading of the book of Acts and the letters from Paul show that if one church in a distant city was suffering from a local famine then other churches would raise money to send relief.

The work of the early church included caring for the helpless, the weak, and the infirm. In the average church today you wouldn’t even know if a senior citizen needed to have their furnace replaced and had no money to do so or if the floor in one of their rooms was rotting out and needed to be rebuilt. It’s more of the modern church’s concern to organize a volleyball game for Christ or have a youth rally and concert to try to draw in customers, err, I mean potential members. The modern church is a consumer church. It is more concerned with the church growing in numbers on a weekly basis than the members growing in grace on a daily basis.

How many modern churches equip their members for a daily walk with Christ and daily worship by teaching them how to read and interpret the Bible with the help of the Holy Spirit, particularly in a day when education is so uneven across the board? We have a wonderful opportunity today. In the first century it would have been rare for a household to have a copy of the Old Testament, the scriptures that were available and literacy in the first century Palestine would have been limited to males and focused on the reading of the Torah in the Synagogue or learning by disciples of a particular Rabbi; a teacher or a Master in Bible terms.

No matter how literate the Jews were in the first century it is most certain that they did not have several Bibles laying around in every home, collecting dust or being used to prop open a door. We have widespread literacy, even for women, who are no longer relegated to demanding answers to questions in a church meeting in someone’s home and being told they need to learn in silence and ask their husbands those questions at home.

We have the Bible, almost a billion in print, God’s word for all ages of man, present in every Christian home, at least, to the number of several copies. Just as there is no excuse for any person in your assembly to be hungry, to be sitting at home sick without anyone to sit with them, to have no heat in their homes, no transportation to work, etc. there is also no excuse for anyone in your church to not know how to read and understand the Bible by prayerfully cross referencing, reading parallel phrasing, key words, understanding dispensational order, and Christian versus ancient Hebrew doctrine. There is, in addition, no excuse for one person to leave a church service confused because the preacher gave a confused, doctrinally mixed-up message that kept the member from reading and understanding the Bible on his or her own.

 

The church girds up her loins, the foundational muscle, by which an athlete does squats and deadlifts, with a daily heavy dose of the Bible reading and hearing, so that their arms, the physical workers of the church, can perform their work without failure and with true strength ministering to the physical needs of her members that can’t be met otherwise and to the spiritual needs that won’t be met otherwise.

 

Proverbs 31:18 She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.

We have another insistent reference to night, and again underscoring the reason why I believe that night is so significant. Just read my comments on verse 15.

Merchandise, more importantly than just being something you sell, as in Proverbs 3:14 it is something of great value. There is nothing of greater value than the gospel of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The candle is the light that the church emits and as it shows in Revelation as Christ talks to the church at Ephesus, which has left its first love, He has power to remove the candlestick by which the light has a sure place if the church wanders from its mission. American Christianity went off the rails in the 19th century when government became to be viewed as a means to an end and eventually the government began to take over the role of, first, as God’s agent on earth rather than the church, and then, second, in place of God Himself. This is a heresy of both the left and the right, of both liberal and conservative. You look at government, rather than God, to make all crooked places straight and bring all hills to ground level, or you look at government rather than God, to enforce religious dogma, your own personal convictions particularly. American pastors, whether they preach a feelgood gospel or stand in the pulpit and curse the government from the left or the right, have placed government in the position of God and as an excuse for not shining in the world themselves as examples.

Remember, there can be no law made against the fruit of the Spirit named in Galatians 5:22. It’s impossible to prevent the church from shining in the world no matter how anti-Christian a government can be.

The church’s merchandise is good and her light shines through the night. When it stops shining and Christians have no impact on the world around them it is a sad day.

John 21, verses 20 to 25, what shall this man do

 

John 21:20 ¶  Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? 21  Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? 22  Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. 23  Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? 24  This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true. 25  And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

John explains how the error is made that some might think that John would not die until Jesus returned. Jesus only said, “what is it to you if he doesn’t die until I return?” so this teaching must have been a stumbling block of some sort in the early church. This teaches us a lesson of interpretation of the Bible. We are warned here about taking a comment, a verse, out of context and making it mean something it was never meant to mean. John lets us know that he is the one writing this gospel and confirms his testimony.

For verse 25 see verses 30 and 31 of the last chapter for a connection. John then wraps up his gospel giving us the idea that if he had wanted to and had the time he could have written many volumes of the things Jesus did. This brings to mind a great point. God, who has seen every moment of every life that has ever lived could have written a Bible no one could read but we have had come down to us about 1200 pages. One would assume that we should pay attention to every word, that everything is important in some way. I hope my comments on the Gospel According to John have helped you want to dig deeper into God’s Bible and that my study has been a blessing to you as it was to me. Thank you for reading.

 

Proverbs 31, verses 15 and 16, while it is yet night

 

Proverbs 31:15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.

Considering this from the point of view of the church, let’s consider a couple of things. We are in the night of man’s existence. He is blind and stumbling about trying to find his way.

Judas left to betray Christ and something important began for mankind.

John 13:30 He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night.

That reference to night was more than just an expression of the time of day. Consider these verses as perhaps more than just metaphorical. Paul knew in what dispensation mankind lived.

Romans 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

1Thessalonians 5:5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

While the pseudo-Christian state churches believed that the light of Christ was enlightening the world through their efforts Bible believers know that the world is shrouded in darkness.

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Colossians 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

1Thessalonians 5:4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

1Thessalonians 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

“The night is far spent” and the dawn is coming. The virtuous woman rises to feed her household with good works and with the word of God. (I have explained before the relationship of food to God’s words.)

Galatians 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

 

Remember who has maidens to send forth as messengers to spread her word?

Proverbs 9:1 ¶ Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: 2 She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. 3 She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city, 4 Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, 5 Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. 6 Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

It is impossible to overstate the importance of Godly young women in the household of God. Maiden is not just a reference to an unmarried woman but it can refer to a female servant. The church has a special ministry to spiritually nourish and equip young women. As the 1865 poem by William Ross Wallace said, “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.”

The church that runs down women, that belittles their importance, that tries to present a view of them as no better than pack animals is not Christ’s church.

The place of women in Christ is important to consider. Paul said,

Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Peter said,

1Peter 3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

(The vessel reference is the deference we are to give them as being physically weaker than men in general. See 1 Thessalonians 4:4 for vessel as our body.)

So, here is a picture of the church. You can make it literally mean simply a reference to a hardworking wife of means with a household to run and servants to administer, but the parallels to the church seem clearer.

 

Proverbs 31:16 She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.

Literally, we have the virtuous woman, the wife, engaged in business outside of the home, expanding her family’s holdings in real estate. Considering the purchase of a field, she then buys it, and with her own hands plants a vineyard. She is, as part of her virtue, industrious, hardworking, and thinking ahead. This is a contrast to the modern woman who runs up thousands of dollars on credit cards, lusts after more “stuff,” and yet does nothing to increase the family’s prosperity.

But, wait, there is something else going on here. She plants the vineyard “with the fruit of her hands.”

Jesus used the word “field” as a type of the world in the parable of the wheat and the tares in Matthew 13:38. which the Bible defines in at least one location in contrast to the physical earth as the people who live on the earth. See Revelation 3:10.

The church is to invest in the world, with compassion for the billions of people destined for Hell and the eventual lake of unquenchable fire for the wicked. Thoughtfully and carefully, with discretion and forethought the church’s business is to not only feed its household with the word of God but to buy that field and minister God’s grace in Jesus Christ to it.

The church’s work is to be performed not with armies, magistrates, laws, regulations, monuments, or material possessions. The church’s work is performed by the fruit of her hands, the manifesting to one and all of the lost in the world of the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Sinners are not saved, hellbound people are not brought back from the abyss, by laws and weapons of war, but by the drawing of men to Christ by the example the Christian church is to set and by the preaching of God’s words. The church feeds hungry stomachs and hungry souls and the church feeds God’s words into starving ears.

A vineyard is featured prominently in that great prophetic book of the Old Testament about Christ and the church called The Song of Solomon. It represents the pleasant results of the work of the church. The vineyard also represents Israel. The church plants a vineyard but as it is in the physical world, the church can only accomplish so much. The rest is up to Christ alone.

John 21, verses 15 to 19, lovest thou me

 

John 21:15 ¶  So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. 16  He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 17  He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 18  Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. 19  This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

One problem that modernists have with this passage is the way it underscores how various Greek words can stand for the same English word.

According to Strong’s dictionary when Jesus asks Simon Peter if Peter loves him more than the others in verse 15, the Greek word is based on agape, the word that modern evangelical Christians like to say is the divine love of God for man found only in the Bible.

However, Peter responds that he does love Jesus using the word phileo, which the modernists insist refers to brotherly love, as in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love (now, there is a joke.)

In verse 16 Jesus asked Peter again if he agape’d Jesus and Peter again replies that he phileos Jesus.

In verse 17 Jesus asks Peter if he phileos Jesus and Peter replies that he does. So, do the words actually mean different things as modern evangelicals insist?

Agape and Phileo are words for love that are used interchangeably. No extra insight into these verses is gained by playing ping pong with them. In Matthew 6:5 hypocrites phileo to pray standing in the synagogues, in Matthew 19:19 you are told to agape your neighbor as yourself, John 15:19 says the world won't phileo the disciples, 1 Corinthians 16:22 says that if any man phileo not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha, and when we are repeatedly told to love our neighbor as ourselves with agape the Scriptures in no way imply that this is superior to our brotherly love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. I doubt anyone would imply that the kind of love Jesus says we are to have for each other, which distinguishes us as His followers, is inferior to the love we are supposed to have for a stranger who is in need.

Titus 3:4 doesn't have the love of God our Saviour toward man as agape. Paul's admonition in Titus 3:15 isn't agape. 1 Peter 1:22 uses both words for the same thought with phileo first and then agape. Does knowing this change your understanding of the text? Does it help you know what you are to do? Is your lack of access or availability of access to the Greek a determinant of your ability to understand God's words? Finally, in Revelation 3:19 does it matter to you that Jesus phileos here?

You will gain no valuable insights in the Bible by going back to the original languages; no subtle shades of meaning, no nuggets of wisdom, just some seminary educated person trying to show off their presumed superior training and intelligence. It's like telling me you are going to really get to know the Gettysburg Battlefield and then immediately digging the deepest hole in the ground that you can. I would tell you to compare verse with verse in the Bible as I would tell you to tour the entire battlefield. Keep in mind Paul's admonition in 1Corinthians 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

Dictionaries, encyclopedias, and even Strong's Concordance are not given by inspiration of God and are often corrupt. Lexicons, dictionaries of Hebrew and Greek are notoriously corrupt. Even their own creators and those modern translators who use them and revise them say so. Here are some quotes from the book, Biblical Greek Language and Lexicography.

“The fact is that opinions will very often differ over the precise wording of lexical definitions even - or perhaps, especially - after careful consideration of a proposed definition.”

“…there is the fact that even the latest lexicons derive their material from their predecessors, and a great deal of it has been passed on uncritically over the course of centuries.”

“…we cannot know for certain that what we find in front of us when we look up a word is sound.”

“…all the existing lexical entries in all our dictionaries are now obsolete and await reassessment in the light of the full evidence, or at least checking to see if there is further evidence to be added.”

“Lexicons are regarded by their users as authoritative, and they put their trust in them. Lexicons are reference books presenting a compressed, seemingly final statement of fact, with an almost legal weight. The mere fact that something is printed in a book gives it authority, as far as most people are concerned. And understandably: if one does not know the meaning of a word, one is predisposed to trust the only means of rescue from ignorance. Yet this trust is misplaced.” (41)

(41) Bernard A. Taylor, John A. L. Lee, Peter R. Burton &Richard E. Whitaker, Biblical Greek Language and Lexicography: Essays in Honor of Frederick W. Danker (Kindle Locations 955-956). Kindle Edition.

 So compare scripture with scripture and ignore the scholar who says the original languages give more insight than the English. All they are trying to do is to take the authority of your Bible from you and replace it with their own intellect as your final authority.

Three times Peter denied Christ. Three times Christ asks Peter if he loves Christ.  It seems that Christ is making things right with Peter. He then asks Peter to feed his sheep. Peter is to preach the words of God and to lead the Apostles. Christ then gives Peter a heads up that he will be martyred. Peter later said;

2Peter 1:14  Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.

Proverbs 31, verses 12 and 14, she will do him good

 

Proverbs 31:12 She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.

The virtuous woman can be trusted to do her husband good. We are told;

1 Peter 3:10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: 11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.

One of the ways to understand the Bible is by word markers. For instance, some people will run to a dictionary when they see the word ‘eschew’ which is not an archaic word as I recently saw it in a sports article online. However, it is not a word we regularly use. But here one way how you uncover the meaning of a word, as it is intended in the Bible. First, you look for similar phrasing, with the same words around another word or phrase in either that verse or one nearby.

In this case we see “let him eschew evil” in verse 11 preceded by “let him refrain his tongue from evil”. So, we can deduce that the specific meaning of eschew, as intended in verses 11 is to refrain from it, particularly to refrain from speaking it. See how simple that was?! There are several places where you can discern meanings by the use of word markers in the Bible.

Now, back to the virtuous woman. A good wife will not only seek to do her husband good but will likewise not seek to do him evil. Evil is defined in the Bible as, among other things, malice and malicious as in “an evil beast” in Genesis 37:33. It also carries with it the meaning of negative as in “an evil report” in Numbers 13:32. An “evil woman” in Proverbs 6:24 is manipulative and being one of the foreign women to Israel in the land would entice a man to do wrong against God. An “evil man” is violent as in Psalm 140:1 and wicked in Psalm 10:15. He is rebellious in Proverbs 17:11 and in 2:12 seeks froward things.

A husband and wife ought to be able to trust each other completely. They should be able to know in their heart that the other party would never willingly do anything to hurt them or their relationship. The church should never do anything to bring shame on the cause of Christ. Churches that willingly hide evil in the pulpit or the flock, who allow wicked men and women in places of importance to stay in position simply because they are who they are regardless of what sins they’ve committed against some innocent or helpless person are just the kind of wife that is not trustworthy.

 

A church that is a rebel against government not because of something the government has done to prevent them from doing what Christ has called them to do but simply for political reasons of preference is not doing the work of the good wife, the virtuous woman. The church that is more concerned with political party politics than Christ is an unfaithful wife. The church that is more concerned with getting in the newspaper or on the TV news than with service and worship and obedience is not a faithful wife.

 

 

 

Proverbs 31:14 She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar.

A simile is a figure of speech where two relatively unlike things are compared, often using like or as. It is commonly used in the Bible to create an analogy for understanding. The virtuous woman, the exemplary wife, is compared here to merchant ships that bring food from distant places. While we would have a difficult time drawing a spiritual conclusion from this verse for the Christian wife we can see very clearly how this would apply to the church.

The food the church brings from afar is the bread of heaven, Christ, of which the Manna dropped from heaven in the wilderness is a type.

Exodus 16:4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.

Nehemiah 9:15 And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them.

Psalm 105:40 The people asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.

John 6:31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. 32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.

Joh 6:41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.

John 6:50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

John 6:58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
The church brings the word of God, the Bible, which is food for souls hungering to learn of God and to be changed by Him. There are several verses which liken God’s words to food.

Job 34:3 For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat.

Amos 8:11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

Job 23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

Psalm 119:103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

 

Proverbs 16:24 Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

The church brings these precious words of God from afar, even from heaven itself.

Psalm 119:89 LAMED. For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.