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Matthew 8

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1 And when he had come down from the mountain, great numbers of people came after him.

2 And a leper came and gave him worship, saying, Lord, if it is your pleasure, you have power to make me clean.

3 And he put his hand on him, saying, It is my pleasure; be clean. And straight away he was made clean.

4 And Jesus said to him, See that you say nothing about this to anyone; but go and let the priest see you and make the offering which was ordered by Moses, for a witness to them.

5 And when Jesus was come into Capernaum, a certain captain came to him with a request,

6 Saying, Lord, my servant is ill in bed at the house, with no power in his body, and in great pain.

7 And he said to him, I will come and make him well.

8 And the captain in answer said, Lord, I am not good enough for you to come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be made well.

9 Because I myself am a man under authority, having under me fighting men; and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it.

10 And when these words came to the ears of Jesus he was surprised, and said to those who came after him, Truly I say to you, I have not seen such great faith, no, not in Israel.

11 And I say to you that numbers will come from the east and the west, and will take their seats with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven:

12 But the sons of the kingdom will be put out into the dark, and there will be weeping and cries of pain.

13 And Jesus said to the captain, Go in peace; as your faith is, so let it be done to you. And the servant was made well in that hour.

14 And when Jesus had come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother in bed, very ill.

15 And he put his hand on hers and the disease went from her, and she got up and took care of his needs.

16 And in the evening, they took to him a number of people who had evil spirits; and he sent the spirits out of them with a word, and made well all who were ill;

17 So that the word of Isaiah the prophet might come true: He himself took our pains and our diseases.

18 Now when Jesus saw a great mass of people about him, he gave an order to go to the other side.

19 And there came a scribe and said to him, Master, I will come after you wherever you go.

20 And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have a resting-place; but the Son of man has nowhere to put his head.

21 And another of the disciples said to him, Lord, let me first go and give the last honours to my father.

22 But Jesus said to him, Come after me; and let the dead take care of their dead.

23 And when he had got into a boat, his disciples went after him.

24 And there came up a great storm in the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves: but he was sleeping.

25 And they came to him, and, awaking him, said, Help, Lord; destruction is near.

26 And he said to them, Why are you full of fear, O you of little faith? Then he got up and gave orders to the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

27 And the men were full of wonder, saying, What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea do his orders?

28 And when he had come to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, there came out to him from the place of the dead, two who had evil spirits, so violent that no man was able to go that way.

29 And they gave a loud cry, saying, What have we to do with you, you Son of God? Have you come here to give us punishment before the time?

30 Now there was, some distance away, a great herd of pigs taking their food.

31 And the evil spirits made strong prayers to him, saying, If you send us out, let us go into the herd of pigs.

32 And he said to them, Go. And they came out, and went into the pigs; and the herd went rushing down a sharp slope into the sea and came to their end in the water.

33 And their keepers went in flight to the town and gave an account of everything, and of the men who had the evil spirits.

34 And all the town came out to Jesus; and seeing him they made request that he would go away from their part of the country.

   

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True Christian Religion # 342

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342. The previous section (336-339) showed that saving faith is in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ. But the question may be raised, what is the leading point of faith in Him? The answer is that it is acknowledgment that He is the Son of God. This was the leading point of faith which the Lord revealed and announced, when He came into the world. For if people had not first acknowledged that He was the Son of God, thus God proceeding from God, He Himself, and afterwards the Apostles, would in vain have preached faith in Him. Now because the situation at the present day is similar, but in the case of those who think from the self, that is, only from the external or natural man, saying to themselves, 'How can Jehovah God beget a son, and how can a man be God?', this leading point of faith must be proved and established from the Word. I shall quote therefore the following passages:

The angel said to Mary, You will conceive in your womb and give birth [to a son], and you are to give him the name of Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. And Mary said to the angel, How shall this be, seeing I have no knowledge of a man? The angel replied, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, so that the holy thing that is born of you will be called the Son of God, Luke 1:31-32, 34-35.

When Jesus was being baptised, a voice came from heaven, saying, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased, Matthew 3:16-17; Mark 1:10-11; Luke 3:21-22.

Then when Jesus was transfigured, again a voice came from heaven which said, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased, listen to him, Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35.

[2] Jesus asked his disciples, Who do men say I am? Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah. I tell you, on this rock I shall build my church, Matthew 16:13, 16-18.

The Lord said that He would build His church on this rock, that is to say, on this truth and admission, that He was the Son of God. For rock means truth, and also the Lord in His capacity as Divine truth. Therefore where anyone fails to admit this truth, that He is the Son of God, the church is not present. That is why it was stated above that this is the leading point of faith in Jesus Christ, and so the true source of faith.

John the Baptist saw and bore witness that He is John 1:34.

Nathanael the disciple said to Jesus, You are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel, John 1:49.

The twelve disciples said, We believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, John 6:69.

He is called the only-begotten Son of God, the only-begotten of the Father, who is in the Father's bosom, John 1:14, 18; 3:16.

Jesus Himself admitted before the High Priest that He was the Son of God, Matthew 26:63-64; 27:43; Mark 14:61-62; Luke 22:70.

Those who were in the boat came and worshipped Jesus, saying, Truly, you are the Son of God, Matthew 14:33.

The eunuch who wished to be baptised said to Philip, I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Acts of the Apostles 8:37.

Paul after his conversion preached Christ 1 as being the Son of God, Acts of the Apostles 9:20.

Jesus said, The hour will come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live, John 5:25.

He who does not believe has already been judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God, John 3:18.

These things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, so that by believing you may have life in His name, John 20:31.

I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have everlasting life and you may believe in the name of the Son of God. 1 John 5:13.

We know that the Son of God came and gave [us understanding,] so that we might know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and everlasting life. 1 John 5:20.

If anyone shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 1 John 4:15.

Also elsewhere, as Matthew 8:29; 27:40, 43, 54; Mark 1:1; 3:11; 15:39; Luke 8:28; John 9:35; 10:36; 11:4, 27; 19:7; Romans 1:4; 2 Corinthians 1:19; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 4:13; Hebrews 4:14; 6:6; 7:3; 10:29; 1 John 3:8; 5:10; Revelation 2:18.

There are also many passages where Jesus is called Son by Jehovah, and He calls Jehovah God His Father, as in this:

Whatever the Father does, this the Son does; as the Father raises up the dead and gives them life, so does the Son; so that all may honour the Son, as they honour the Father. As the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted to the Son to have life in Himself.' John 5:19-27.

There are very many examples elsewhere; and it is the same in the Psalms of David:

I will bring news of a decree. Jehovah said to me, You are my son, today have I begotten you. Kiss the son, so that he may not be angry and so that you do not perish on the way. For in a short while his wrath will blaze up; blessed are all who trust in him, Psalms 2:7, 12.

[3] These passages now permit the conclusion that everyone who wishes to be a true Christian and to be saved by Christ should believe that Jesus is the Son of the living God. Anyone who does not believe this, but only that He is the son of Mary, is implanting in his mind various ideas about Him which are damning and destructive of his salvation; see above on this (92, 94, 102). Much the same might be said of these people as of the Jews, that in place of a King's crown they put on His head a crown of thorns; and also that they give Him vinegar to drink and cry, 'If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross' [Matthew 27:29, 34, 40]. Or as the devil said tempting Him, 'If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread' or 'If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down' (Matthew 4:3, 6). These people profane His church and temple, and make it a robbers' cave. These are those who make His worship like the cult of Mohammed, and do not distinguish between true Christianity, which is the worship of the Lord, and nature-worship. They can be likened to people riding in a carriage or a trap over thin ice, when the ice breaks beneath them and they are drowned, as freezing water closes over them, the horses and the carriage. They can also be likened to those who fashion a boat out of rushes and reeds, and glue it with pitch to make it hold together, and entrust themselves to it on the open sea; but the pitch that holds it together comes unstuck, and they are drowned and swallowed up in sea-water, and find their grave in its depths.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. The Latin has 'Jesus', but this is corrected in the author's copy.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.