A Study of Acts 15 (by 119 Ministries)
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behold!! a virgin shall give birth
Virgin can represent widows. In that way we all widows without Christ, our husband, and fatherless as to our heavenly father.
Its a picture of the chaste virgin bride of Christ the church ,.She is reckoned as the mother of us all.
Its the kind of religion that God puts his seal of approval on.
James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
hmm i'm having trouble thinking of anyone rightly called a widow who is a virgin.
but i have heard it said that the Jews consider a person married from the moment they become betrothed, in some sense - that once the steps of the marriage ceremony have begun, they're counted as married, even though it hasn't been consummated. this is how some people say, Lot did not have more than 2 daughters - they say the 'sons in law' mentioned in Genesis 19 are pledged to marry his daughters that were with him. that they're called sons-in-law even though they haven't *actually* become married yet. i disagree with that understanding of Genesis 19 - i think his family size was 10 - but that's another subject i've written about even recently.
the point here being, suppose a woman is engaged to be married, but her fiancé dies before the wedding night. is that woman a widow?
if so then she could be both virgin and widow.
that's something i'm not sure is an accurate use of the language, but i might be convinced. conceding that's the case, though, is that representative of us, as the church? i'm thinking of Romans 7:1-6, that we have died to the law in order to live for God - in order to become the bride of another. through which death and resurrection He is able to present us as spotless & chaste. but wouldn't this make the law a widower, rather than us a widow? since it is we who died?
He makes us a betrothed virgin in this way. are we His widow? He indeed died - but a widow is a woman whose husband no longer is: He is my husband, and He lives forever
I would offer.
Virgin is a word used to represent the church previously unmarried widow without Christ our husband .
Virgin would seem to be a non gender word when used in parables it speaks of purity of a person washed in the water of the word.
like when Paul used signified as the mother of us all a segregate womb suffering as in birth pain working with Timothy till Christ was formed .Using Timothy to represent the bride who we will be when we receive our incorruptible bodies.
2 Corinthians 11:2For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
In the same way as new creatures neither male or female, Jew nor Gentile
Isaiah 62:5 For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
The same way the word virgin used .There is found again the picture of the bride . 144,000
Revelation 14:4These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb
That kind of virgins in those parables were redeemed from among men, mankind. Woman and man, mankind
Interestingly being defiled with women is the opposite of Ephesians 5. Instead of the man sanctifying his woman by cleansing her by the washing of water with the word. His woman is defiling, they are not building each other up by encouraging each other to go a way they should The bride of Christ in Revelation 14 will be clean as white as snow no defilements.
Ephesians 5:27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Actually this is what we call bait and switch. The discussion is IF we have to follow the law to be saved. The discussion is is not on what is beneficial. The law says do not eat fat. (Lev7:23) The law uses two words: ALL and NONE and we see this in the KJV also. All fat is banned, we are to eat none of it. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and fat is the leading cause of cardiovascular disease. People are still saved, they are still going to go to heaven. In fact if they disregard the Bible on this they may get there sooner. So the question has to do with our weight, our health and how long we live. Not if we are saved or not. The problem is people say it is lawful to eat a unhealthy diet. When the question should be what is beneficial and what is best for us. David tells us that the law was given because of God's love for us and because He wanted the best for us. So the law was given to protect us.
Attachments
Amen, in view of His mercy and grace we are given a desire to offer our new spirit as living sacrifices as did Jesus for us. In living for Him, we die. He must increase and strengthen our prayer.
No such thing. You can't make a sound biblical interpretation from a non-existent concept. Widow always means a formerly-married woman. A woman who was never married cannot be a widow, period.
If we look at the literal interpretation and do not mix faith in what is seen or heard. Then we can compare the things seen, the temporal to the same. But the spiritual understanding hid in that parable speaks of the unseen relationship he has with the spiritual house of God as the mother of us all, called the chaste virgin bride. The chaste virgin bride in that way fits both criterion to give us the unseen understanding in James below.
It would seem to fit the kind of context in James as to the kind of religion our father approves of . Those fatherless orphans without a heavenly father as the same those as widow not married to other gods . like the defiled woman unredeemed mankind clothed with her own righteousness. . But the spotless wrinkle free one washed in the water of the word. . The City coming down on the last day prepared as the wife clothed with the righteousness of her husband. Bright as the Sun .
If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world .James 1:26-27
In other words. He can do the raising to new life .We like those with Lazarus are to remove the grave clothes by loving one another . We have all been there. When we experienced our first love. the hearing of faith . . . it calls widows and orphans the fatherless to the same wedding feast.
No.
There is no such thing as a previously unmarried widow... period. There is nothing here with which to mix faith, and making something up out of thin air (or, in this case, sheer ignorance) is not what God intends. You're taking this whole figurative interpretation of Scripture much too far. Get back to the plain text.
K
Karraster
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I agree with a lot of what you say here, however, there is some evidence for insulin resistant/metabolic syndrome being a determining factor in heart disease. To your point about the forbidden fat, my understanding is it's a special kind of fat we are not to eat, the fat around the kidneys. If it were just any old fat I dare say we'd have to become vegan. We can't separate every trace of fat from meat, also milk has fat in it.
Dr Ornish has a plan that seems to be effective and he has done a lot of research. There is a lot of controversy because people make money selling food and they do not care if they have to lie to get you to buy their food.
Just be careful it does not turn into a cult. I will not comment on videos since I do not watch them.
If you have a particular position to present, just summarize it. But as one poster has already stated, in Acts 15 there were only FOUR injunctions taken from the Law of Moses and given to Christians. And out of those four, two were already in place since the time of Noah.
THE CONSUMPTION OF BLOOD FORBIDDEN TO MANKIND
Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. (Gen 9:3,4)
THE CONSUMPTION OF BLOOD FORBIDDEN TO CHRISTIANS
That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well. (Acts 15:29) [Note: things strangled = meats with the blood still within]
As to meats offered to idols and fornication, those are forbidden under the New Covenant teachings of Christ and the apostles.