I could be wrong, but i believe all that has to do with the old covenant and the law. when you sinned you would offer a gift at the alter to be cleansed of your sins. then go back out and sin again and then gift again and so on and so on.
We are no longer under the law, we are under the new covenant of grace, so we don't have to offer a gift to have our sins forgiven.
The law was given not for man to follow, but to show man that they could not follow it, so we could understand the grace that god would give us through the sacrifice and resurrection of his son Christ Jesus.
This is how i see and interpret the above passages in very simple terms. Again i could be wrong.
So, i for one have never left a gift because under grace through Christ Jesus it is not required of me anymore.
God bles
I see it very differently and I am somewhat surprised at your response...again, I am not looking for a particular answer, but I don't see this passage as something applicable to the law
I am not confused regarding grace vs law, but thanks for adding that anyway
The way I understand this is as follows:
People go before God every day...in their quiet time or personal time with God...whatever someone wants to call it, and I see the instruction given by Jesus as pertinent to today...nothing to do with the law as the priest made the sacrifice anyway.
So I am asking, how do we come before God? Are we aware of what is in our hearts? We may think our vertical relationship is ok, but I see Jesus defining the horizontal as necessary...Jesus says forgive so you will be forgiven...Lord's prayer
So many people struggle with unforgiveness ... but it is my understanding that in forgiving, we basically leave the rest up to God for Him to deal with
Again, I do not see the 'law' in any of this...I see interpersonal relationships between Christians suffer so much and disagreeements, but honestly, if we walk before God and our conscience is good before Him and we have done all we know to do, then and only then does the devil not have anything in us upon which or in which to sink his accusations and other stumbling blocks
I see the gift here as what we bring to God...whether offerings or spiritual gifts He has given or any other part of us
Perhaps, the gifts we bring, become tarnished and tainted by not observing forgiveness...from the heart....
Why would Jesus speak of forgiveness this way if we were to exclude it believing it fell under the heading "law"?
Jesus seems to be giving new teaching here, IMO, if you take into context His ADDITION, as in 'you have heard it said...meaning the law...but He seems to be adding here or giving an interpretation that involves the heart and not just an act before a priest for any sin with the ascribed sacrifice
He is speaking of brothers and sisters..which indicates the relationships bettween us
Hope that makes sense...that's how I see it...or the short form anyway
