Luke 7:36 - 50
36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” 40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”
41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among[h] themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” 50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Questions:
ReplyDelete1. What is the significance of this Pharisee asking Jesus to eat with him?
2. How did the woman get into the Pharisee's house?
3. There seems to be several stories about women anointing Jesus' feet and head with perfume. How many incidents were they? Was this Mary Magdalene.
4. Did Simon only need a "little" forgiveness?
5. Are the people at the table, who are questioning His ability to forgive sins, accusing or asking in wonderment?
6. What did Jesus mean that the women's faith has saved her? Is it something she did?
https://hartmangroupdevotionsmark.blogspot.com/2019/01/mark-141-11-now-passover-festival-of.html says:
ReplyDeleteMary loved Jesus with abandon. She loved him extravagantly, lavishly. She loved him so
much she gave him her very best.
Jesus came and turned our values upside down. He said things like, “Don’t lay up
treasures on earth,” and “the first shall be last,” and “if you want to be great be a
servant,” and really unconventional things like that. Some of what our world considers a
waste Jesus declared valuable.
So this is a story about how not to waste your life. It’s also a story about motivation: why do you do what you do for the Lord? Do you serve Him for the satisfaction you get when you see results? It is satisfying to see Him use you, but that’s the wrong motivation. Do you serve Him because it helps others? Again, it’s gratifying to see others helped, but that’s the wrong motivation for serving Him. The true motive for serving Christ is because He is worthy of everything you can do for Him and because you love Him and want to please Him because He gave Himself for you on the cross.
----
All four Gospels have the account of a woman anointing Jesus with precious ointment and agree on enough detail and language to suggest that they are all telling the same story. With the exception of Luke, all the Gospels locate the incident at Bethany on the eve of, or during, Passion Week and make the anointing prophetic of the burial of Jesus.
Luke tells the anointing story in a way that puts it entirely at odds with the three other accounts. He places the story much earlier in Jesus' career (Lk. 7:36-50), drops the Bethany location and the reference to Jesus' burial, and changes the story to give it an entirely different point. Many see this as an entirely different incident, but I think that the similarities to the other Gospels are too strong to dismiss it.
Let me pose to you a possibility: Lazarus's sister, Mary, and Mary Magdalene may be the same woman.
Mark tells us that the perfume was "pure nard"this substance was probably an oil extracted from an East Indian plant in the Himalayas and which bore the same name as the plant. I think in our minds we have an image of this oily stuff running down His face--kind of goopy and messy. But the reality is this perfume was very light, and the moment it touched His hair it would have quickly evaporated and just left this absolutely wondrous aroma.
She poured out all the contents! Her love was not calculated, but extravagant. This probably represented all of Mary's life savings.
What Mary did didn't make a lot of sense, especially to the cold and calculating. Immediately, the nit-pickers and complainers began to talk.
We learn from the Fourth Gospel that Judas is the one who first verbalized a protest, and the others followed his lead. Matthew informs us that the rest agreed with him and thus joined in the objection. Judas, you recall, was the treasurer of the group. Judas just couldn't stomach what was happening. All he saw was that a costly ointment, worth over a year's wages, had been poured out and ruined. Immediately, his mind began to calculate just how much money that ointment could have been sold for.
The disciples were wrong in intruding into another's adoration and appreciation of the Lord. How many Christians have had their enthusiasm stolen, their love for God lost, their desire to serve subverted, by the critics?
Jesus sandwiches the heart of the religious leaders and the heart of Judas in between the beautiful heart of this woman.
https://hartmangroupdevotionsmark.blogspot.com/2019/01/mark-141-11-now-passover-festival-of.html continued:
ReplyDeleteHighly improbable that the two Mary's were the same. There are two many differences beyond just the timing: a Pharisees house possibly in Nain, not Simon's in Bethany, an unknown prostitute, not Mary, and a totally different response of those present. To say they were the same would lead one to conclude that Luke had severely erred is his account, all on the basis of a similar gesture - weak.
---
2. What was going through the woman's mind as she broke the bottle of perfume over Jesus?
The woman loved Jesus with total abandon. There was nothing she wouldn't do to express her love for Jesus - and this was the most radical thing she could think of. It's possible that she was one of the few who listened and knew Jesus was going to die, but not necessarily. She probably would have done this act whether she knew or not.
3. What was going through the disciples minds as they rebuked the woman?
Like many of us, they were thinking of the practicalities of the situation. I certainly would have had the same thoughts as the disciples (I think I still do - even after Jesus rebuked such thinking). I think Judas first verbalized it and the rest of the disciples saw his point.
4. What was going through Jesus' mind as He praised the woman?
Jesus saw what a true act of worship looks like. He recognized love when He saw it, and that kind of love for the One through whom all love comes from should never be denied. There is no higher purpose, nothing more important. All material practicalities must fall by the way side in the face of such a response to Jesus. We don't always remember that and need to get our priorities in place.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-7-commentary says:
ReplyDeleteOne of the Pharisees whose name was Simon (Lk 7:40+) did not appear sympathetic to Jesus (see Lk 7:44-46+). Undoubtedly Simon's motive was either to entrap Jesus or to find some reason to accuse Him, for earlier Luke recorded that "The scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find reason to accuse Him." (Lk 6:7+)
Robertson on Pharisee's invitation to Jesus to dine - Luke has two other instances of Pharisees who invited Jesus to meals (Luke 11:37; 14:1) and he alone gives them. This Pharisee was not as hostile as the leaders in Jerusalem. It is not necessary to think this Pharisee had any sinister motive in his invitation though he was not overly friendly.
IVP Background Commentary - It was considered virtuous to invite a teacher over for dinner, especially if the teacher were from out of town or had just taught at the synagogue. That they are “reclining” rather than sitting indicates that they are using couches rather than chairs and that this is a banquet, perhaps in honor of the famous guest teacher.
Barclay describes the scene - The scene is the courtyard of the house of Simon the Pharisee. The houses of well-to-do people were built round an open courtyard in the form of a hollow square. Often in the courtyard there would be a garden and a fountain; and there in the warm weather meals were eaten. It was the custom that when a Rabbi was at a meal in such a house, all kinds of people came in—they were quite free to do so—to listen to the pearls of wisdom which fell from his lips. That explains the presence of the woman. When a guest entered such a house three things were always done. The host placed his hand on the guest’s shoulder and gave him the kiss of peace. That was a mark of respect which was never omitted in the case of a distinguished Rabbi. The roads were only dust tracks, and shoes were merely soles held in place by straps across the foot. So always cool water was poured over the guest’s feet to cleanse and comfort them. Either a pinch of sweet-smelling incense was burned or a drop of attar of roses was placed on the guest’s head. These things good manners demanded, and in this case not one of them was done. In the east the guests did not sit, but reclined, at table. They lay on low couches, resting on the left elbow, leaving the right arm free, with the feet stretched out behind; and during the meal the sandals were taken off. That explains how the woman was standing beside Jesus’ feet.
"They sat according to the Eastern custom of sitting, which was rather lying at length, with the feet far out upon the couch or sofa" (Spurgeon) The typical dinner table of Jesus' day was usually not a classic rectangular table as in most modern kitchens and dining rooms. Instead the ancient tables were often 3 tables (each table a couch for 3 or so-called triclinium) in somewhat of a U-shape with guests reclining on their left elbows.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-7-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteSpurgeon on a sinner - In a particular sense, a sinner; one whose very trade was sin. A sinner by profession, a public and notorious sinner. (Ed: Methinks we are all sadly sinners by profession!).
MacArthur - This is similar in many ways to the events described in Mt 26:6–13; Mk 14:3–9; Jn 12:2–8, but it is clearly a different incident. That took place in Bethany, near Jerusalem, during the Passion Week. In the anointing at Bethany it was Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus, who anointed Jesus. This incident takes place in Galilee and involves “a woman … who was a sinner”—i.e., a prostitute. There is no reason to identify this woman with Mary Magdalene (Lk 8:2), as some have done.
If the Pharisee is well-to-do, he may have a servant as a porter to check visitors at the door; but religious people often opened their homes for the poor, and the woman manages to get in. In banquets where uninvited people could enter, they were to remain quiet and away from the couches, observing the discussions of host and guests. Alabaster was considered the most appropriate container for perfume.
Mattoon - Alabaster jars of perfume were so valuable in the first century they were often purchased as investments. This box may have been extremely expensive, as costly as one year's wages. These boxes were made from a stone found near Alabastron in Egypt, so the Greeks gave them the name of the city and called them alabastron or "Alabaster." This name was given to the stone of which they were made. Alabaster was ideal for holding perfumes and fragrant oils. The quality of the stone helped preserve the oils. The alabaster that was used38 to hold these perfumes was like a whitish, soft marble that was easily carved and shaped. The containers usually had a long neck and wide bottom. Many women wore smaller vials that were hung around their delicate necks and rested on their chest. This is how they carried their perfume when they needed to freshen up. If they started to stink from sweat or if their breath smelled, they had oils they could use to touch their tongue or spread on their skin. To preserve the special scents of the ointment, alabaster jars with long necks were sealed at the time the ointment was prepared and then broken just before use (Mark 14:3).
For a Jewish woman to appear with hair unbound was an act of the gravest immodesty. On her wedding day a girl bound up her hair and never would she appear with it unbound again. The fact that this woman loosed her long hair in public showed how she had forgotten everyone except Jesus.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-7-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteLawrence Richards - Don’t think the woman was forgiven after she wet Jesus’ feet with her tears. Oh, no. She was forgiven before. That was an act of love; an expression of gratitude. Her “many sins” had been purged, and her tears were tears of joy. Jesus’ later comments were explanation to Simon the Pharisee, and confirmation to the woman (Lk 7:48, 50). It’s the same in our lives. Faith and forgiveness precede both joy and service.
Sometimes as I sit at the Lord’s Supper, I have to ask myself, “What is the matter with me? How can I sit here and contemplate the passion of the Savior and not be melted in tears?”
I think of the sinful woman who washed the Savior’s feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with ointment (Lu. 7:38). Although living on the other side of the Cross, she was more attuned emotionally than I with all my superior knowledge and privilege.
Why am I such a block of ice? Is it that I have been brought up in a culture where it is considered unmanly to weep? If so, then I wish I had never known that culture. It is not a disgrace to weep in the shadow of Calvary; the disgrace lies in not weeping.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-7-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteMacArthur on what sort of...woman - The Pharisees showed nothing but contempt for sinners. Simon was convinced that if Jesus knew her character, He would have sent her away, for her touching Him was presumed to convey ceremonial uncleanness.
IVP Background Commentary - Adult women who were religious were expected to be married and thus would have their heads covered; any woman with her hair exposed to public view would be considered promiscuous. That this woman wipes Jesus’ feet with her hair would thus indicate not only her humility but also her marginal religious status, even had Jesus not been a prophet and had she not been known in the community’s gossip. That the host allowed that Jesus might be a prophet at all suggests great respect, because Jewish people generally believed that prophets ceased after the Old Testament period.
A denarius was regarded as good pay for a day’s work. It was the pay of a Roman soldier in Christ’s time. In almost every case where the word occurs in the New Testament it is connected with the idea of a liberal or large amount.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-7-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteJ C Philpot - Thus we find realized in our own souls those heavenly contradictions, those divine paradoxes, that the wiser we get, the greater fools we become (1 Cor. 3:18); the stronger we grow, the weaker we are (2 Cor. 12:9, 10); the more we possess, the less we have (2 Cor. 6:10); the more completely bankrupt, the more frankly forgiven (Luke 7:42); the more utterly lost, the more perfectly saved; and when most like a little child, the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 18:4).
Luke 7:44 Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
IVP Background Commentary - Common hospitality included providing water for the feet (though well-to-do householders left the washing to servants); the oft-invoked example of Abraham’s hospitality (Gen 18:4) would render the host without excuse. Oil for the dry skin on one’s head would also be a thoughtful act. A kiss was an affectionate or respectful form of greeting.
no water for My feet - A glaring oversight. Not to offer a guest water for the washing of feet was tantamount to an insult.
NET Note - It is discussed whether these acts in vv. 44–46 were required by the host. Most think they were not, but this makes the woman’s acts of respect all the more amazing.
More “doing” for Christ is the universal demand of all the Churches. It is the one point on which all are agreed. All desire to see among Christians, more good works, more self-denial, more practical obedience to Christ’s commands. But what will produce these things? Nothing, nothing but love. There never will be more done for Christ till there is more hearty love to Christ Himself. The fear of punishment, the desire of reward, the sense of duty, are all useful arguments, in their way, to persuade men to holiness. But they are all weak and powerless, until a man loves Christ. Once let that mighty principle get hold of a man, and you will see his whole life changed.
Let us never forget this. However much the world may sneer at “feelings” in religion, and however false or unhealthy religious feelings may sometimes be, the great truth still remains behind, that feeling is the secret of doing. The heart must be engaged for Christ, or the hands will soon hang down. The affections must be enlisted into His service, or our obedience will soon stand still. It will always be the loving workman who will do most in the Lord’s vineyard.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-7-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteSimon’s problem is easy to see. He thought he was better than the prostitute. Simon said, “She is a sinner.” Jesus said, “No, she was a sinner.” God changed the tenses in her life.
“Simon, your problem is that you see her as she was and not as she is. You think you see her but you don’t. For years, you knew her one way … but now she’s clean … and you can’t handle it.”
That leads me to this statement: A person who is never deeply committed to anything cannot understand somebody who is transformed by Jesus Christ. Simon simply had no category for a former prostitute whose life has been radically changed by Jesus Christ.
It’s strange, isn’t it, that the worst sinners often make the best saints. Why? Because flagrant sinners are more likely to discover that they are sinners.
Your love for the Lord is directly related to your estimate of how greatly you have sinned and how much he has forgiven you. It’s not how much you sin, but how deeply you feel it that matters. If you figure that you are a “little sinner,” then all you need is a “little Savior.” If you are a “moderate sinner,” then what you need is a “moderate Savior.” But if you are “big sinner,” you need a “big Savior.” Many of us who were raised in the church struggle precisely at this point. We don’t love Christ very much because we have forgotten what we were and what we would have been if Christ had not found us. When our sin seems small, our love cannot be very great.
Since we are all sinners and we all stand in need of the grace of God, there is no room for spiritual pride in the body of Christ. There’s no need to talk about who’s “better” and who’s “worse” because apart from the grace of God, we’d all be going to hell.
Better to be like the repentant prostitute than to be like super-religious Simon. Hard truth for us to hear, but that’s why this story is in the Bible.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-7-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteSpurgeon on her sins, which are many, have been forgiven - “Not because she has done this, but this is an evidence that her sine are forgiven. This act of greater love is the proof that she must be conscious of the greater forgiveness: ‘she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.’” It is always like that; your converted Pharisees have to be made to feel like this woman before they will render love like hers; and if Simon is ever made to feel that his sin, in a certain light, is as great as the sin of this fallen woman, then he will love as much as she does, but not till then.
Spurgeon - What music that sentence “Thy sins are forgiven,” must have been to her! ‘Ah!’ says one, “I also should like to hear that sentence. Beyond everything else in the whole world would I desire to hear Jesus say to me, ‘Thy sins are forgiven.’ Then put yourself in the place that this woman occupied. I am afraid that there are many professed Christians, who must have had very little forgiven them, for they love Christ very little. This seems to be the age of little love to Christ. There are some few who love the Master intensely, but, oh, how few they are!
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-7-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteJ C Ryle - Here was the true explanation, our Lord told Simon, of the deep love which the penitent woman before Him had displayed. She had been much forgiven, and so she loved much. Her love was the effect of her forgiveness,—not the cause,—the consequence of her forgiveness, not the condition,—the result of her forgiveness, not the reason,—the fruit of her forgiveness, not the root. Would the Pharisee know why this woman showed so much love? It was because she felt much forgiven. Would he know why he himself had shown his guest so little love? It was because he felt under no obligation,—had no consciousness of having obtained forgiveness,—had no sense of debt to Christ.
The only way to make men holy, is to teach and preach free and full forgiveness through Jesus Christ. The secret of being holy ourselves, is to know and feel that Christ has pardoned our sins. Peace with God is the only root that will bear the fruit of holiness. Forgiveness must go before sanctification. We shall do nothing till we are reconciled to God. This is the first step in religion. We must work from life, and not for life. Our best works before we are justified are little better than splendid sins. We must live by faith in the Son of God, and then, and not till then, we shall walk in His ways. The heart which has experienced the pardoning love of Christ, is the heart which loves Christ, and strives to glorify Him.
Luke 7:49 Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, "Who is this man who even forgives sins?"
Luke 7:50 And He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
Ryle on your faith has saved you - Let it be observed that it is not said, “thy love hath saved thee.” Here, as in every other part of the New Testament, faith is put forward as the key to salvation. By faith, the woman received our Lord’s invitation, “come unto me and I will give you rest.” By faith, she embraced that invitation and embracing it, cast off the sins under which she had been so long laboring and heavy-laden. By faith, she boldly came to the Pharisee’s house, and confessed by her conduct that she had found rest in Christ. Her faith worked by love, and bore precious fruit. But it was not love but faith that saved her soul.
Faith (4102)(pistis) is the conviction that God exists and is the Creator and Ruler of all things well as the Provider and Bestower of eternal salvation through Christ. As faith relates to Christ it represents a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through Whom we obtain eternal salvation and entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. Stated another way, eternal salvation comes only through belief in Jesus Christ and no other way.
Spurgeon - He did not want this young convert, this beginner in the Christian life to hear the bickerings and controversies of these coarse spirits, so he said to her, “Go in peace; and, dear soul, if you have begun to find out that, even in the Christian Church there are many opinions concerning many things, do not trouble yourself about those things. This is enough for thee: “Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.”
https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/columns/ad-fontes/what-is-saving-faith/
ReplyDeleteA person is saved by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone.
Every word of that sentence is important, but one of those words is rather hard to define. What do Christians mean when they talk about being saved by “faith”?
Most of us assume that the word ‘faith’ is more or less synonymous with the word “believe,” but the Bible is careful to communicate that it is not. The Apostle James says: “Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (James 2:19 ESV).
The demons believe a great deal about God; they believe he is holy, just, merciful and Sovereign. They believe he sent his Son Jesus to die on the cross for human sin, and they believe Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. They believe that he ascended to the Father’s right hand and has taken his seat and begun to rule. The demons believe in a great many true things but they are definitely not saved!
So what do we mean when we speak of saving faith?
A careful study of the New Testament would seem to indicate that what the Bible means by “faith” includes at least the following three things.
Belief
While the Apostle James was making the argument that faith is more than belief, he was not making the argument that it is less than belief. Belief is part of what it means to have faith. The Apostle Paul said: “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9 ESV).
Saving faith includes deep, passionate belief (“in your heart”) in the essential facts concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ. A saved person believes that Jesus is Lord and that he died and rose again. Saving faith cannot be less than that.
But it has to be more than that.
Trust
The word “trust” implies a personal application and commitment. Its one thing to believe something, and it is another thing to trust in that something or that someone for your own life and salvation. We can hear that distinction quite clearly in Romans 4 where Paul says: “And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:5 ESV).
There Paul says that saving faith is a faith that has made a decision to not trust in one’s own works but rather to trust in Christ who justifies the ungodly.
Obedience
This is the one most Evangelicals today tend to leave out, but the Apostle James is very concerned that we not do so. According to James, a “faith” that does not result in obedience to the commands of Jesus is not saving faith. He said: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? (James 2:14 ESV)”
“That faith” apparently, is not saving faith. It is deficient, sub-Christian and unsaving: “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17 ESV).
It is not only James who makes the connection – all the Apostles do. The author of Hebrews says about Jesus: “he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:9 ESV).
This teaching goes all the way back to Christ himself. He said in Luke 6: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46 ESV).
A real disciple believes in who Jesus is, trusts in what Jesus has done and obeys what Jesus has said.
That is saving faith and it is always a gift from God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV).”
https://www.gty.org/library/questions/QA164/what-is-the-nature-of-true-saving-faith says:
ReplyDeleteScripture is everywhere clear-the one thing a person must do to be saved is exercise "true saving faith" in Christ. Faith is the instrument that God uses to bring individuals into a saving relationship with Himself. That is not to say that faith is the basis of our salvation; rather, it is the channel by which God grants salvation.
Faith comes to the believer as a gift from God. It is not something that individuals are capable of mustering up on their own. Were faith a work of man's own doing, man would be in a position to take partial credit for his redemption. But such a concept is foreign to the writers of Scripture. Paul anticipated that men would tend to boast of their part in salvation when he wrote that faith (one of many components of salvation) "is the gift of God...that no one should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Faith comes as a result of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit-He quickens our hearts to believe. Apart from the new birth, there can be no true faith. Therefore, faith, though it manifests itself in action, comes as a result of God's work in us. God grants us faith and that faith is evidenced by our walking in the good works that "God [has] prepared beforehand" for us to walk in (Ephesians 2:10).
The Bible says that if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved. However, the Bible does not present faith as simply "mental assent to the facts of the gospel." True saving faith involves repentance from one's sin and a complete trust in the work of Christ to save from sin and make one righteous. The Reformers spoke of three aspects of faith: recognition of the truth claims of the gospel, acknowledgment of their truthfulness and exact correspondence to man's spiritual need, and a personal commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ who, by virtue of His death, provides the only sufficient sacrifice for one's personal sin. Any one of these three aspects of faith, taken by themselves, is insufficient to meet the biblical definition of saving faith. However, the presence of all three components together results in saving faith. In other words, saving faith consists of mental, emotional, and volitional elements. Saving faith involves both the mind and the will.
In addition to calling us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the New Testament uses several figures of speech to describe the nature of saving faith. Perhaps the most vivid of those figurative references is found in Jesus' words from the Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" (Matthew 5:6). In that passage, Jesus likens true faith to hungering and thirsting. The unbeliever, by virtue of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, recognizes his or her dire need of nourishment and refreshment and comes to Jesus begging that He fill the need. That is a beautiful picture of faith. First, there is recognition of Jesus' claim to be the "bread of life" (John 6:35) and the possessor of "living water" (John 4:10). Next, the unbeliever is convinced that Jesus' promise is really true and that it corresponds exactly with his profound hunger and thirst. Finally, the unbeliever acts-he begs Jesus to satisfy his hunger and quench his thirst. True faith hears, believes, and actively responds.
Questions and findings:
ReplyDelete1. What is the significance of this Pharisee asking Jesus to eat with him?
Based on the lack of courtesy he showed Jesus, we can speculate that he had nefarious intentions. Perhaps he was trying to trap Jesus in some way or discredit him. He didn't seem to be a friend.
2. How did the woman get into the Pharisee's house?
It was common for richer teachers of the law to have spectators at their lunches. They would invite guests to sit at the table, but anyone could come and stand in the background and hear the conversation.
3. There seems to be several stories about women anointing Jesus' feet and head with perfume. How many incidents were they? Was this Mary Magdalene.
It's possible that this was one of the Mary's, but this story is set in a different region from where they lived, so it very well could be somebody else. Why so many similar stories. It's possible that there was a cultural thing that would make this type of thing more likely. Or, possibly this story got out and other people repeated it.
4. Did Simon only need a "little" forgiveness?
He though he did, which, if that was true, meant he wasn't forgiven. We can only be saved when we have an idea of how destitute we are, and how helpless we are in being clean.
5. Are the people at the table, who are questioning His ability to forgive sins, accusing or asking in wonderment?
It doesn't say. Jesus is claiming to be divine in this statement, which drove people to acceptance or anger.
6. What did Jesus mean that the women's faith has saved her? Is it something she did?
Jesus was commenting on the faith that her actions clearly showed. This saving faith is nothing that we can gain on our own, but is a gift from God. It is our natural reaction to seeing Jesus, unless we choose to disbelieve.