Biblical Faith, What does it look like. The example of Mary

[eternally-gratefull]

Not a one size fits all Theology???????

This is why we so many people teaching different Doctrines. Those who believe a "one size Theology" is wrong have never accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

There is only one Truth in the Scriptures. There are not many different Truths, only one.

This is why today we have the Corrupted Catholic Church.

I think Jesus does fit all.. His gospel is for all people..not just a select group.

This is not a catholic thread, lets please not make it one.. It is about faith in that God wants to give us,

 

[MikeHenderson]

But we do have Catholics on this thread and website.

 

[BeyondET]

I could not agree more. Faith is not an emotion, it is a foundation.

Everything we do is based on faith.. Whether it be faith in God. or lack of faith in God. and everything in between

i agree faith isn't a emotion it's a action in motion, through faith will cause a emotional reaction.

 

[crossnote]

As long as we realize we are at different stages in our growth in faith and not a one size fits all theology.

Not a one size fits all Theology???????

This is why we so many people teaching different Doctrines. Those who believe a "one size Theology" is wrong have never accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

There is only one Truth in the Scriptures. There are not many different Truths, only one.

This is why today we have the Corrupted Catholic Church.

Sorry for the confusion. I meant since we are at different stages of growth,yes the truth is the same, but for some it is served as puree for other as NY T-bone steak. A babe has a hard time on steak.

 

[breno785au]

My small 2c worth: In a nutshell, biblical faith is believing what God has said/His Word regardless of what circumstances is (trying) to tell us.

 

[God4me]

God throughout the word has given us symbolic examples of how spiritual things occur, We have the law and its sacrificial system symbolically representing Christ n the cross.

The lambs who were slaughtered representing Christ

I believe God also gave us examples in the NT, Mary and her opportunity to carry our savior being one of them,


Luke 1:
[SUP]26 [/SUP]Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, [SUP]27 [/SUP]to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. [SUP]28 [/SUP]And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”[SUP][c][/SUP]
[SUP]29 [/SUP]But when she saw him,[SUP][d][/SUP] she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. [SUP]30 [/SUP]Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. [SUP]31 [/SUP]And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. [SUP]32 [/SUP]He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. [SUP]33 [/SUP]And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

[SUP]34 [/SUP]Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
[SUP]35 [/SUP]And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. [SUP]36 [/SUP]Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. [SUP]37 [/SUP]For with God nothing will be impossible.”

[SUP]38 [/SUP]Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

A few things to notice.

1. Mary questioned the thing offered. She did not just take it, there is absolutely nothing wrong with asking God how or why. God never asks us to take things on Blind faith without any evidence.
2. The answer, With God all things are possible, (he even gave an example of Mary's relative Elizabeth)
3. Two points we need to make about Mary's response, and What God accomplished.

Mary's Faith.

A. Mary had a few choices to make, when given the opportunity to carry the savior in her womb.

1. Yes or no. Your will be done, Or I want nothing to do with this.
2. Yes, I will do this, but we will do it my way, Wait until after I am married, I have all these things to do. and people will treat me very badly if I get pregnant before I am married, it will not be good. For my son, or myself so we must do it this way, or I want nothing to do with it.

what was mary's response?

Behold, I am your maidservant Lord,

Mary acknowledged that she was the servant of God. And gave her life, her body, and her future to the Lord. to do what he willed. Even though she knew it would cause her and her family great anguish, and maybe even destroy her marriage to Joseph.

She had faith that God can do all things,, She trusted in things which she could not see, because she knew God was trustworthy.

Let it be done to me according to your word.

Mary, Like the tax collector. Acknowledged, I can not do it, I have not the power. You have to do the work in me God, So may your will be done, carry out your wok in me God.

She did not say yes, But my way, She said Yes Lord, Do it.. Its your work not mine, I do not want to screw it up. I TRUST YOU GOD (Biblical faith)

Gods response

Mary was not almost pregnant, Partially pregnant, Or sort of pregnant, She was pregnant all the way. Before she in faith trusted God, she was teenage who was not pregnant, the moment after she had faith, she was fully pregnant with our Lord.

Some things to ask.

1. Could Mary have changed her mind a few months in and aborted the pregnancy?
2. What do we think Gods response would have been if he was contemplating asking mary, And knew she would abort the pregnancy before she went to term?
If Mary would abort the pregnancy before she went to term ad gave birth, Did she really trust God in the beginning?


what does this mean for us?

God too is asking each and every one of us (or have already asked us) I have my son I want to give to you. I want to offer my son to give and live in your heart.

We have some choices to make.

1. Yes or no, Yes Lord I want this, or no Lord, I want nothing to do with you or your salvation.
2. Yes, But I will do it my way....

A. I am not worthy of your love so I will not just take it, I must do all these works, and take part of my own salvation. These things must happen first before I will accept you,

B. I have to clean up my life first God. until then, I am not worthy. So I will clean my life up. then come back and then you can give me your son.

What must our response be?

I am your servant Lord. Do to me what you desire, I can't do it myself I have no power to even help you do what you desire to d9o, I trust you (biblical faith)

Gods response.

1. We are not partially saved, Almost saved, or sort of saved, We were completely saved.
2. The moment before we made a choice to trust God when he said with god all things are possible, we were dead, The moment after, we were made alive, Completely saved, Given Gods assurance that nothing could take us from God.

Like Mary then, the question must be asked.

1. Can we abort our salvation after we have been saved for awhile. can we change our minds?
2. What would Gods response be if he KNEW we would say yes now, But later abort our salvation, and end it.. before it completed its purpose? Would God still save us?
3. If we would later change our minds, and say no God, I do not want this, I am aborting my savior.. Did we have true biblical faith to begin with?

Instead of, " BE it done unto me acording to Thy word", some Christians say, " be it done unto me acording to what the Doctor says or what the bank balance says, or what the cercumstances says.

We need to get our eyes of the cercumstances, and on to God's word, Acording to that which h is written, so shall, your (Whatever you need), be.
If you can find the promisesto your needs, in the Bible, you can receive it by faith.

 

[TonyJay]

Back to Mary, this is what amazed me: Mary was under a legal contract to marry Joseph, who actually would have had to divorce her. She didn't say to the angel, "First, let me talk this over with Joseph who is my "husband". Nor did she say, "I must talk to my father first". She acted completely independently from the men in her life because it was God asking her to do something. There was no hesitation.

And in that particular culture, a woman did not make decisions without her husband's permission - or her fathers.

This is a fabulous insight!
And a great example of how knowing a bit of history, cultural anthropology, language, etc can allow one to ferret out exquisite nuggets of truth from the Bible.
I will keep this little gem safe for now but will haul it out the next time I am in the early chapters of the gospels.

Well done!

 

[PilgrimPassingThru]

I dont think the angel even asked her, but delivered what the will of God was going to be unto her according to the prophecy and to the sign given to the house of David

 

[eternally-gratefull]

I dont think the angel even asked her, but delivered what the will of God was going to be unto her according to the prophecy and to the sign given to the house of David

The prophesy never said it would be Mary, the woman espoused to Joseph. It said a virgin, God could have fulfilled that prophesy with any virgin, He chose to offer it to Mary, And mary, accepted..

I doubt God would have forced mary against her will..

At least thats my view.

 

[LaurenTM]

The prophesy never said it would be Mary, the woman espoused to Joseph. It said a virgin, God could have fulfilled that prophesy with any virgin, He chose to offer it to Mary, And mary, accepted..

I doubt God would have forced mary against her will..

At least thats my view.

I agree

we can stick our toe in the water or we can walk out and dive in

7Deep calls to deep

in the roar of your waterfalls;

all your waves and breakers

have swept over me. Psalm 42

 

[notmyown]

The prophesy never said it would be Mary, the woman espoused to Joseph. It said a virgin, God could have fulfilled that prophesy with any virgin, He chose to offer it to Mary, And mary, accepted..

I doubt God would have forced mary against her will..

At least thats my view.

hey, bro

okay, but why did God have the angel tell Mary these things would be?
why her, and why Joseph?

was there something in the genealogy involved?

do you think it's possible God ordained this couple as the earthly parents of Christ for a reason?
after going to such great lengths to preserve the ancestry of His Son, according to His promise?

 

[PilgrimPassingThru]

Joseph was thinking, "later on" when an angel was like get with it, what Mary has is of God and you aint got no say bout that

 

[tourist]

The prophesy never said it would be Mary, the woman espoused to Joseph. It said a virgin, God could have fulfilled that prophesy with any virgin, He chose to offer it to Mary, And mary, accepted..

I doubt God would have forced mary against her will..

At least thats my view.

hey, bro

okay, but why did God have the angel tell Mary these things would be?
why her, and why Joseph?

was there something in the genealogy involved?

do you think it's possible God ordained this couple as the earthly parents of Christ for a reason?
after going to such great lengths to preserve the ancestry of His Son, according to His promise?

I agree with you completely. God chose Mary and Joseph for a specific reason. He did indeed went to great lengths to preserve the ancestry of His Son. I don't believe that prophesy ever said specifically that Jesus would bear the sins of the world either but this was the intention ever since God has been God which He has been forever.

 

[notmyown]

I agree with you completely. God chose Mary and Joseph for a specific reason. He did indeed went to great lengths to preserve the ancestry of His Son. I don't believe that prophesy ever said specifically that Jesus would bear the sins of the world either but this was the intention ever since God has been God which He has been forever.

the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

i believe the covenant of Redemption was the first made, among the members of the Godhead in eternity past.

thank God!

 

[notmyown]

Joseph was thinking, "later on" when an angel was like get with it, what Mary has is of God and you aint got no say bout that

lol Matt 1 in updated language

 

[PilgrimPassingThru]

lol Matt 1 in updated language

Exactly, you get it.

People have been griping how the KJV is kind of archaic, so Im given it 21st century make over that is sure to please

Been familiarizing myself with the Message bible, and I think folks just relate to it better, this current generation.

Was just trying it on for size

 

[eternally-gratefull]

hey, bro

okay, but why did God have the angel tell Mary these things would be?
why her, and why Joseph?

was there something in the genealogy involved?

do you think it's possible God ordained this couple as the earthly parents of Christ for a reason?
after going to such great lengths to preserve the ancestry of His Son, according to His promise?

Was mary the only lady alive in the geneology? Was Joseph? I am sure God had many young ladies he could have went to who fit the prophesies and would have fulfilled them.

Yes he chose her for a reason. But not just as some will think, He chose her because she fit the mold. And he KNEW she would recieve.. If he knew she would not receive, or would change her mind later. I am sure he would have picked someone else. and we may never even know about mary..

Yet would still be having this discussion about God choosing..

 

[eternally-gratefull]

Joseph was thinking, "later on" when an angel was like get with it, what Mary has is of God and you aint got no say bout that

I am sure God knew exactly how Joseph would respond also.

 

[notmyown]

Was mary the only lady alive in the geneology? Was Joseph? I am sure God had many young ladies he could have went to who fit the prophesies and would have fulfilled them.

Yes he chose her for a reason. But not just as some will think, He chose her because she fit the mold. And he KNEW she would recieve.. If he knew she would not receive, or would change her mind later. I am sure he would have picked someone else. and we may never even know about mary..

Yet would still be having this discussion about God choosing..

idk the answers to the first questions. (shocker! )

but i do see this:

And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
(Lk 1:30)

favor... charis.... grace

didn't mean to be upsetting. please accept my apology?

 

[eternally-gratefull]

I agree with you completely. God chose Mary and Joseph for a specific reason. He did indeed went to great lengths to preserve the ancestry of His Son. I don't believe that prophesy ever said specifically that Jesus would bear the sins of the world either but this was the intention ever since God has been God which He has been forever.

I agree, he did pick them for a reason.

MARY still had free will to say yes lord, I will take this, Or no Lord, I will not.

Of Course, God knew her answer before he even asked her..