At the Judgment at Christ’s coming we will be accepted by Christ if we have these attitudes and traits while believing the Truth:	At the Judgment at Christ’s coming we will be rejected by Christ if we have these attitudes and traits even if we believe all the Truth:
Showing a gentle attitude toward all (Phi 4:5).	Hard and austere (Luk 19:21,22).
Being generous in mind, spirit, and pocket, whether others are deserving or not (Luk 6:27-35).	Unforgiving of real or imagined wrongs (Mat 18:34,35).
Genuinely forbearing, forgiving and being easy to live with (Col 3:13).	Unmerciful, harsh and critical (Mat 7:1-5).
Insistent that a place be found every day for prayer and Bible reading whatever the distractions (1Th 5:17,18).	Concerned with routine ecclesial duties, while ignoring immediate needs of the stranger (Luk 10:30-32).
Actively seeking for opportunities to help others less fortunate than ourselves, irrespective of whether they share our faith, or are likely to do so (Gal 6:10).	Making demands of others while offering little help (Mat 23:3,4).
Willing to consider fairly others’ points of view, and assume that their motives are genuine (Jam 1:19).	Lack of fellow-feeling for those who are tempted or fall (Joh 8:1-7).
Ready to delegate authority and duties, to share responsibilities and encourage others, especially the young (2Ti 2:2).	Always trying to be in the spotlight (Jam 3:1).
Providing a stable, warm, loving, home atmosphere to attract others; ready to use home at all times as the greatest place from which to witness (1Ti 3:2-5).	Applying class, racial or group stereotypes to others (Jam 2).
Grieving at condition of “sheep without a shepherd” (Mat 9:36).	Having little time or concern for those “in the world” or who differ from us (Isa 65:5).
Having compassion on the ignorant, and those out of the Way, and in danger of being “lost” (Heb 5:2).	Shunning and condemning those considered to be sinners, and treating some as “beyond the pale” (Mat 23:13).
Joyful in welcoming the returning wayward (Luk 15:32).	Coldly and grudgingly accepting the returning wayward (Luk 15:25-28).
Showing mercy towards those who have doubts (Jud 1:22).	Neglectful of the lonely, aged, and afflicted; concerned only with the “strong” and the “good attendees” (Mat 25:45).
Friend of sinners, “despairing of no man” (Luk 7:34).	Bigoted and unreasonable (Jud 1:16).
Willing to be patient in negotiation, seeing compromise in proper circumstances as strength (1Th 5:13).	Considering any compromise on anything, or any moderation, as weakness (2Co 10:12).
Avoiding controversy wherever and whenever possible, seeking instead to find strength in things that are shared in common (2Ti 2:24).	More concerned with controversial matters than the fostering of harmony and finding common ground (1Ti 6:4,5).
Unflinching in our loyalty to Christ at whatever cost (Mat 10:32-39).	Not prepared to make a clear commitment of faith or loyalty (Mar 8:38).
Willing to accept shame and even suffer cheerfully the “loss of all things” for the Truth (Phi 3:7,8).	Afraid of persecution, loss of prestige, worldly goods, or livelihood because of the Truth (Gal 6:12).
Encouraging our children, chiefly by our example, to accept the Truth (Eph 6:4).	Partial and over-indulgent toward our own children (1Sa 3:12,13).
Treating “fellowship” as a door through which to draw others into the security and warmth of God’s family (Rev 3:20).	Treating “fellowship” as a wall to keep others out of our special clique (3Jo 1:9,10).
Eager to extend the wonderful good news of salvation “everywhere”, worldwide, with no limit of race, language, color or class; optimistic in regard to witnessing (Rom 10:14-18).	Convinced that this is “the day of small things”; therefore doing little or nothing to propagate the Truth in the world; pessimistic as regards witnessing (Mat 25:26,27).

(AE)

1. Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith;

2. Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

3. And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;

4. Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance.

5. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit.

6. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.

7. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit.

8. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated.

9. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible.

10. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal.

11. And yet they are not three eternals but one eternal.

12. As also there are not three uncreated nor three incomprehensible, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible.

13. So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty.

14. And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty.

15. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God;

16. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.

17. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord;

18. And yet they are not three Lords but one Lord.
19. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord;

20. So are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say; There are three Gods or three Lords.

21. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten.

22. The Son is of the Father alone; not made nor created, but begotten.

23. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

24. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.

25. And in this Trinity none is afore or after another; none is greater or less than another.

26. But the whole three persons are coeternal, and coequal.

27. So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.

28. He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.

29. Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

30. For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man.

31. God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man of substance of His mother, born in the world.

32. Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.

33. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood.

34. Who, although He is God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ.

35. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of that manhood into God.

36. One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person.

37. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ;

38. Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead;

39. He ascended into heaven, He sits on the right hand of the Father, God, Almighty;

40. From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
41. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies;

42. and shall give account of their own works.

43. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.

44. This is the catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved.

[Exact date uncertain; generally assumed to be 5th or 6th century.]

The only problem that arises regarding this verb and noun (“ekdikeo”, “ekdikesis”) is whether they always mean just that, or whether there is a milder, more impersonal meaning: “do justice”. Rom 13:4 might seem to fall into this category: “he (the ruler) is… a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” Yet what might be impersonal administration of justice in a human ruler is a very personal anger — “wrath” — in an Almighty God who sees His laws being flouted. And the context also suggests vengeance: “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto the wrath (of God): for it is written, Vengeance is mine: I will repay, saith the Lord” (Rom 12:19).

There can be no doubt about the meaning of the Lord’s prophecy of the horrors of AD 70: “these be the days of vengeance” (Luk 21:22). Israel had violently rejected the Son of God, and continued to do so; and the Father was angry.

The parable of the importunate widow, a problem to our translators, ceases to be a problem when the context is allowed to do its work. The second half of Luk 17 is all about the Second Coming; and Luk 18:8 rounds off with: “when the Son of man cometh…” Then is there not here a plain directive to apply the intervening parable to the Second Coming? In that case, who is the widow? — Israel or the new Israel? The former, doubtless: Isa 54:5-8; Lam 1:1 (ct Mat 28:20; Heb 13:5).

For centuries Israel has seen herself undeservedly bereft of help and at the mercy of her enemies. To the Jews their God has seemed like an unjust judge, callously heedless of their needs and their rights. Only when Israel turns to God in a persistent importunity not to be gainsaid will there be response to their plight. “And shall not God (then) avenge his own elect, they crying day and night unto him, he being (hitherto) longsuffering (with their persecutors) regarding them? Then (when they are importunate) he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man (the Messiah: Dan 7:13) cometh, shall he find faith (in God’s power to save) in the Land?” — implying: Only in a small remnant.

In the parable, the widow cries: “Avenge me of mine adversary” (Luk 18:3), and this is right. But the Revisers, missing the point of the parable and uneasy about a widow crying for vengeance, have turned it into: “Do me justice” (RV mg.). The RSV has “Vindicate”. NEB: “Demanding justice.” But the AV is right.

In the NT this word means, nearly always, “acceptable to God”. Three Greek words come in this sense quite often: dektos and its more emphatic cognate euprosdektos and another not dissimilar word euarestos. The first two are mostly equivalents of the Hebrew words “ratzah”, and “ratzon”, which normally have reference to acceptable sacrifice or to one of the Jewish feasts when sacrifice was specially acceptable. The first meaning is obvious in 1Pe 2:5: “Ye also… offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable (‘euprosdektos’) to God by Jesus Christ.” And in Rom 15:16 Paul uses the figure of himself as a priest ministering at an altar and offering up as a gift to God a multitude of Gentile converts: “…that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable (euprosdektos), being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 10:35 is interesting as being a modified quote of Pro 12:22 LXX (the Hebrew is distinctly different). But why did Peter say “he that worketh righteousness is accepted with him” (note the idea of sacrifice in v 4), when LXX has “worketh faith”? Wouldn’t this have served Peter’s purpose even better? Was he adjusting his language so as not to offend “them of the circumcision” who were with him?

This is also one of the meanings attached to euarestos. So in Phi 4:18 Paul uses two of them together for emphasis: “The things which were sent from you are an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable (dektos) well-pleasing (euarestos) to God.”

In two places “dektos” is used in NT quotations of OT passages. In the synagogue at Nazareth the Lord read from Isa 61 about “the acceptable year of the Lord”, where there is one allusion after another to the Year of Jubilee. Jesus was proclaiming the time of release from sin.

Similarly, 2Co 6:2 quotes Isa 49:8: “Behold, now is the accepted time.” Again, the primary reference is to Hezekiah’s Passover and the great deliverance which took place then. But in the NT that “dektos” time was the Passover when Jesus died, thus inaugurating a new and continual Passover which is all deliverance.

The “euarestos” passages fall into two groups which seem to overlap. As with the other two words there is often well-defined allusion to acceptable sacrifice: “…that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God…” (Rom 12:1, alluding to Lev 1:4). “God… working in you that which is well-pleasing (euarestos) in his sight” (Heb 13:21) comes immediately after an allusion to “the blood of the covenant”.

There is also another clear-cut meaning which has been largely lost sight of. Euarestos is used in LXX as equivalent to Heb “hithalek”, walking with God. This word is used with ref to Enoch (Gen 5:22), and in LXX and Heb 11:5 it becomes: “he pleased (euarestos) God”. LXX treats Gen 17:1; 6:9; Psa 56:13; 116:9 in the same way (but, strangely enough, not Isa 38:3). So it may be taken as fairly certain that the idea of “walking with God” was in Paul’s mind when he wrote Rom 14:18; 2Co 5:9; Eph 5:10; and Tit 2:9. And this may well be true of Rom 12:2; Col 3:20; and Heb 12:28; but it is in these three places where the two ideas of acceptable sacrifice and walking with God seem to overlap.

“This is good and acceptable before God” comes twice in 1 Timothy (1Ti 2:3; 5:4). This word means “welcome”. The verb (apodechomai — 6 times) and the noun (apodoche — twice) always carry this meaning. But the adjective, apodektos, is marvelously like the word for paying tithes. Then was Paul deliberately making a play on words here? — suggesting that prayers for those in authority (1Ti 2:3) and care for aged parents (1Ti 5:4) are a fine form of tithe-paying for those not under the Law of Moses.

An acrostic psalm is one where the first letters of consecutive verses (in Heb) make up a word, or the alphabet. The Heb alphabet consists of 22 letters, which are listed as headings in Psa 119.

Psalms 9,10: In each the letter Waw is omitted and the letter Pe is duplicated (in vv 16 and 22). Poss these two psalms were originally complete alphabetical acrostics.

Psalms 37, 111, 112, 119: These are complete acrostic psalms (the last being an 8-fold acrostic).

Psa 145: The letter Nun is missing in the Heb text. Many of the ancient translations insert an additional v between 13 and 14 which begins with this letter: “Faithful is the Lord in all his words and holy in all his works” (RSV, NEB, LXX).

Other acrostics are to be found in Pro 31:10-31 and Lam 1,2,3,4 (chs 2,3,4 have 2 letters transposed).

Acrostics are an aid to memory, in an age when written copies of the psalms (or any other Bible portions) were few, and when quite a number of ordinary people were not able to read (Lam 30,31).

Be Abrahams in faith. Be Isaacs in fear (Gen 30:42). Be Jacobs in wrestling. Be Abels or Noahs in righteousness. Be Enochs in holiness. Be Jobs in patience. Be Moseses in sacrificing the pleasures of sin. Be Jethros in rejoicing (Exo 18:9). Be Samuels in upholding obedience. Be Josephs in forgiveness. Be Davids in prayer and praise. Be Nehemiahs in fearlessness. Be Calebs or Joshuas in wholeheartedness. Be Johns and Jonathans in love . Be Josiahs in tenderness. Be Aarons in consecration. Be Jeremiahs in lamentation. Be Pauls in enthusiasm and zeal. Be Habakkuks in holy trembling. Be Esthers in noble resolve (Est 4:16). Be Persises in labor. Be Corneliuses or Dorcases in benevolent work and alms deeds. Be Isaiahs in sublimity. Be Phoebes in service and succour. Be Stephens in irresistible argument. Be Antipases in faithfulness. Be Nathaniels in guilelessness. Be Arimathean Josephs in looking after the body of Christ. Be Daniels in courageous devotion. Be Marys in sitting at the feet of Jesus, and in expensive expressions of love. Be John the Baptists in burning and shining testimony. Be Mordecais in seeking the good of Israel. Be Timothys in reading the Scriptures. Be Gideons in valour. Be Samsons in strength. Be Solomons in wisdom. Be Elijahs in fervent prayer. Be Lydias in worship. Be Sarahs in quietness and subjection. Be Tituses in “earnest care”. Be Marks in profitableness (2Ti 4:11). Be Apolloses in eloquence, and might of the Scriptures. Be Annas in testifying of Christ (Luk 2:38). Be Jameses in faithful admonition. Be Peters in boldness (Acts 4:13). Be Philemons in refreshing the saints (Phm 1:7). Be Loises or Eunices in unfeigned conviction. Be Hezekiahs in tearful recognition of the chastening hand of God. Be Abigails in bountiful recognition of service rendered. Be Nathans in straightforward accusation (2Sa 12:7). Be Elishas in discernment, as to time and circumstances when gifts may be received and when refused (2 Kings vi. 26). Be Ezras in uncompromising counsel. Be Ezekiels in the faithful exhibition of wickedness and its consequences. Be Lukes in writing to the excellent of the earth (Luk 1:3). Be Malachis in bearing faithful testimony against evil. Be Jepthahs in keeping your word (Jdg 11:35). Be Ruths in resolution and purpose. Be Zadoks in not going astray. Be Andronicuses, and Junias in noteworthiness. Be Priscillas and Aquillas in helpership. Be Samaritans in neighborly kindness. Be Ephesians in refusing complicity with evil. Be Pergamians in holding fast to the faith. Be Thyratirians in works of faith, patience and charity. Be Philadelphians in keeping the word, and confessing the name of Christ. In a word, be Christ’s in Spirit and in truth (Rom 8:9).

(Xdn 20:420,421)

The Scriptures abound in warnings against alien marriage. The sons of God marrying the daughters of men resulted at last in the Flood. Abraham and Isaac, faithful sojourners looking for the Kingdom, opposed such marriages for their sons (Gen 24:3; 28:1). The Law forbade the yoking together of the clean ox and the unclean ass (Deu 22:10). Moses said to take no alien spouses (Deu 7:3,8). Solomon’s alien wives turned his heart from God (1Ki 11:1-11). Ezra (Ezr 9; 10) and Nehemiah (Neh 13:23-29) tell us of the evils of such alliances, and Paul has stressed the same:

“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’ ‘Therefore come out from them and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty’ ” (2Co 6:14-18).

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the university mountain, but there in the sand-pit at kindergarten. These are the things I learned:

• Share everything.

• Play fair.

• Don’t hit people.

• Put things back where you found them.

• Clean up your own mess.

• Don’t take things that aren’t yours.

• Say you are sorry when you hurt somebody.

• Wash your hands before you eat.

• Flush the toilet.

• Warm cookies and milk are good for you.

• Live a balanced live — learn a little and think a little and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day a little.

• Take a nap every afternoon.

• When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.

• Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the yogurt carton: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

• Cats and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the yogurt carton — they all die. So do we.

• And then remember your first reading book and the first word you learned — the biggest of all — LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule (treat the others as you would like them to treat you) and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take one of these items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world, and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all — the whole world — had cookies and milk at three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap. Or if all governments had a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are — when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

(From “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”, by Robert Fulghum)