"such & such" could be translated as "other things that you could have desired".
You may remember that in the previous chapter, David did an abominable thing by committing adultery & murder. God sent Nathan the prophet to David to remind him of the evil that he had done (through a story of a rich man taking a lamb from a poor man to feed a visitor of his). The object of that story was that David was like that wicked heartless rich man by doing what he did to Uriah & his wife Bathsheba. So 12:8 is part of the word against David, that he could have had anything he wanted (= such & such), but he chose wickedly by doing what he did to that husband & wife.
Thanks Stanjett. I've not been able to work out how to go back to a comment I made earlier & make a correction to it. Sometimes, on other 'chat or forum' sites there is an Edit button, but not here. How is it done? Thank you.
As mentioned before, "such & such" meant that 'anything that David could have desired'. It's understood that even for David, God would only give him 'such things' that were needed for David's reign or for his blessing & spiritual prosperity. Now in the example of David's sins, David saw Bathsheba bathing & desired her. He took it upon himself to engineer wicked events so as to acquire her. What God is saying to him is that "if you ask Me then I will provide you that which is right & proper".
So I see that the same principle can be applied to believers today. We have the same God Who wants to shower us with His blessings to the end that our lives will be enriched & He would get the Glory. Yet, too often we ask irresponsibly & with the wrong motives & we don't receive. "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." Js 4:3.
Or, sometimes we may ask not knowing the Will of God: "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." 1 Jn 5:14,15.
This is why, whenever we ask of God, we must really examine our motives, the request we make, our faith, the Will of God & the Purposes of God. If we find that we don't receive our request, then it isn't that God hasn't heard us, but we have asked ignorantly (i.e. that which is not permitted by Him for that time). Maybe we have prayed earnestly for someone & not for our own needs. We may have got despondent because that loved one hasn't recovered or has died & we believe God didn't answer my prayer. Yet we don't know His Plans & His Will for that person & for us; He wants us to lovingly trust Him for the outcome - His Answer. And yes, we need to be in His Will, in the Spirit, & to honour Him with our request, so that His Answer, whatever it may be, will always be acceptable to us.
Thank you for your questions, M. Fridy; I hope the answers you get here & other comments elsewhere are helpful to you in your understanding of God's Holy Word.
To answer your next question: it was James, in his epistle chapter 1 verse 22, who wrote "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."
As you read the Scriptures, this truth is threaded throughout the teachings of Jesus Christ & His apostles, and of course, today every message given to the people must also have a challenge to believers to not just listen & accept the Word given, but to also perform it in their lives & for others. But there were many in those days, as now, who delighted to listen to sound words & comforted themselves in having heard God's Word preached & their belief in it. But after exiting the 'building', those words they heard earlier did not equate to acting upon them.
James gives some examples of this, but to quote two: a. Js 1:26. There will always be a few believers that have 'a loose tongue'. Their words may be harsh, arrogant, backbiting, quarrelsome or foul. He may know his Scriptures & have a Christian demeanour & smile, but his heart is hard & unresponsive to the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul said, "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt..." ( Col 4:6).
b. Js 1:27. In those days, as now, there were many suffering great hardships & particularly widows & orphans, who were not given care, as they might receive these days. There was no one to help them. Some believers then might have also ignored these vulnerable people preferring to spend more time in discussing biblical doctrines & issues. James says that the Gospel of Love requires them to go out & minister to these needy ones & show them Christ's love in action rather than be smug in their homes & fellowships discussing God's Love & other issues. Both are important, but Action, rather than Words in the ear, are far more important which God requires of us.
As Freddieo has said, "God's Word is the most precious Gift given to us" in line with His Gift of His Son & His Spirit. Within His Word we read of Who God is, His dealings with people, His Plans for us now & in the future, His Words of help, guidance & comfort for us, & many more things. Those who don't read (& study) the Bible, are missing out on so much for their Christian walk & in knowing their God & Saviour.
We can just read through its sacred pages, but must do it carefully, quietly & seeking the Spirit's help in understanding & applying what we read to our lives. Or, for those who have more time & desire, to study the Scriptures in depth so that much more can be learned which will strengthen their faith & also help others in spiritual need.
God's Word is truly God speaking to us - it's alive, it's current, it's His speech to our hearts personally. When we read or study it, what we do is to allow God to communicate with our spirit & mind & direct our lives. So many believers languish for want of knowledge ( Hosea 4:6 says that "God's people are destroyed (or, in a spiritual desert of ignorance & defeat) for lack of knowledge"). Also, as we read the Bible, wicked spiritual forces are thwarted from interfering with us as they can't bear to be under the sound of God's Word.
We have no excuse today as the Bible is freely available in many translations but so many forsake it. In some countries in the past (& present) where Christianity & the Bible were forbidden, believers, able to find small discarded portions of the Bible, hung onto them, guarded them & read them over & over again, memorizing these few pieces from the Word & found spiritual sustenance from it.
2 Timothy 2:15, 16: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness." May the Lord help you & encourage you as you take time to read His Word.
Having the word of god ,must be the most precious gift one can have in this life! Reading Jesus words is like sitting next to him. When you see the truth it will definitely set you free from sin and hell. You will see that the world does not understand the things of God nor can they. Because of these things I will thank Him and pray always .
Minnie, Paul in 1 Timothy 3:5, gives a long list of the condition of people's hearts 'in the last days'. Now these last days refers to the time after the establishment of the Church, post resurrection & ascension of Jesus Christ. Ever since that time, the moral & spiritual depravity of mankind has grown worse, as we even have evidence of it now. And we will see more of it, in the way people treat one another, no fear or remorse in inflicting pain or death on innocents, people who are full of themselves & prefer to put others down so they are raised up to be admired, given over to pleasure & satisfying the flesh instead of loving God & finding their delight in Him, etc.
So Paul is reminding young Timothy to watch for these evil traits developing in people & to turn away from them, i.e. not to get caught up in their godlessness or even to be accepting of some of their behaviour. So in verse 4, he speaks of those who are "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God" & continues on in verse 5: "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof...". So some of these same people who love worldly pleasure more than God, will also make themselves appear to others as good Church-going folk. And this would be so easy to accept since we can never know the full character of a person. But these same 'spiritual frauds' who may talk of God, go to Church or even read the Bible, will ultimately reveal that there may be substance but no Life or spiritual Power behind their lives (i.e. no true repentance, no re-birth, no Holy Spirit).
This word from Paul I don't believe is given for Timothy or for us to go around casting judgement on people. But when this is evident (especially in the Church), we need to be aware of it (as the Church leader also), & either give gentle correction & guidance to the one living a double life, but if they shun correction, then Church discipline is in order (see a similar instruction by Paul in 1 Corinthians 5:9-13).
You get to the Commentary Box by typing your scripture in the Search Box. Scroll down.
Wesley's Notes for Hebrews 6:6
6:6 And have fallen away - Here is not a supposition, but a plain relation of fact. The apostle here describes the case of those who have cast away both the power and the form of godliness; who have lost both their faith, hope, and love, # Heb 6:10|, &c., and that wilfully, # Heb 10:26|. Of these wilful total apostates he declares, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance. (though they were renewed once,) either to the foundation, or anything built thereon. Seeing they crucify the Son of God afresh - They use him with the utmost indignity. And put him to an open shame - Causing his glorious name to be blasphemed.
People's Bible Notes for Hebrews 6:6
Heb 6:6 If they shall fall away. Apostasize from the faith. To renew them unto repentance. He is so far fallen that he has no capacity left for repentance. Judas the Apostate sorrowed, but his sorrows became despair. There was remorse but not repentance. Seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh. By rejecting Christ they place themselves with those who rejected him and crucified him because he affirmed that he was the Son of God. Those meant are not those "overtaken in a fault" (Ga 6:1), or backsliders only, but men once Christian professors who not only turn away from but oppose Christ.
There are many many comments listed after the commentators I've shown to you
After the Hebrews writer warns believers about apostasizing (i.e. turning away from the faith), he declares that after all he has just said (in the earlier verses), he is confident that his readers won't desert the Lord & will show the fruit of their salvation ( Hebrews 6:9).
He then describes how they do behave as Christians: showing Christ's love to others particularly ministering to the needs of other believers (v 10).
And in verse 11, he continues with that thought that they should be diligent (to do with great effort & zeal), making sure that they persevere in their Christian walk (i.e. not to slacken off), so that their hope of Heaven after their death will be certain.
He's basically saying (using modern terms), the Christian life is not 'a bed of roses'. We use that expression to denote when one relaxes & enjoys one's achievements without a care in the world. But the writer is saying that people who think that way, are very likely going to fall into Satan's traps & be swallowed up. 1 Corinthians 10:12, "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." This is the same thought: "standeth" means the one who is over confident & then relaxes because he thinks that he won't slip away.
The Christian is indeed secure in his salvation, because his salvation is based not on what he has done, but on what Christ has done for him. Yet, he must also be alert to Satan's traps, & walk carefully in this life (& not be slothful, lazy as a believer v 12). He will then know that his life is following the pattern laid out before him & so when the end comes, that his hope (his waiting) for Heaven is a true hope & without fear of being rejected. The true believer will have both a full salvation & also make the full effort to walk worthy of God's call upon his life.
You may remember that in the previous chapter, David did an abominable thing by committing adultery & murder. God sent Nathan the prophet to David to remind him of the evil that he had done (through a story of a rich man taking a lamb from a poor man to feed a visitor of his). The object of that story was that David was like that wicked heartless rich man by doing what he did to Uriah & his wife Bathsheba. So 12:8 is part of the word against David, that he could have had anything he wanted (= such & such), but he chose wickedly by doing what he did to that husband & wife.
Go back and get my such and such? Does this mean what the Lord has for me its for all I have to do is ask him for
whatever I want as long as I am in his Will?
So I see that the same principle can be applied to believers today. We have the same God Who wants to shower us with His blessings to the end that our lives will be enriched & He would get the Glory. Yet, too often we ask irresponsibly & with the wrong motives & we don't receive. "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." Js 4:3.
Or, sometimes we may ask not knowing the Will of God: "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." 1 Jn 5:14,15.
This is why, whenever we ask of God, we must really examine our motives, the request we make, our faith, the Will of God & the Purposes of God. If we find that we don't receive our request, then it isn't that God hasn't heard us, but we have asked ignorantly (i.e. that which is not permitted by Him for that time). Maybe we have prayed earnestly for someone & not for our own needs. We may have got despondent because that loved one hasn't recovered or has died & we believe God didn't answer my prayer. Yet we don't know His Plans & His Will for that person & for us; He wants us to lovingly trust Him for the outcome - His Answer. And yes, we need to be in His Will, in the Spirit, & to honour Him with our request, so that His Answer, whatever it may be, will always be acceptable to us.
Who urged us to be doers of the word, not only hearers?
and why?
To answer your next question: it was James, in his epistle chapter 1 verse 22, who wrote "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."
As you read the Scriptures, this truth is threaded throughout the teachings of Jesus Christ & His apostles, and of course, today every message given to the people must also have a challenge to believers to not just listen & accept the Word given, but to also perform it in their lives & for others. But there were many in those days, as now, who delighted to listen to sound words & comforted themselves in having heard God's Word preached & their belief in it. But after exiting the 'building', those words they heard earlier did not equate to acting upon them.
James gives some examples of this, but to quote two: a. Js 1:26. There will always be a few believers that have 'a loose tongue'. Their words may be harsh, arrogant, backbiting, quarrelsome or foul. He may know his Scriptures & have a Christian demeanour & smile, but his heart is hard & unresponsive to the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul said, "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt..." ( Col 4:6).
b. Js 1:27. In those days, as now, there were many suffering great hardships & particularly widows & orphans, who were not given care, as they might receive these days. There was no one to help them. Some believers then might have also ignored these vulnerable people preferring to spend more time in discussing biblical doctrines & issues. James says that the Gospel of Love requires them to go out & minister to these needy ones & show them Christ's love in action rather than be smug in their homes & fellowships discussing God's Love & other issues. Both are important, but Action, rather than Words in the ear, are far more important which God requires of us.
We can just read through its sacred pages, but must do it carefully, quietly & seeking the Spirit's help in understanding & applying what we read to our lives. Or, for those who have more time & desire, to study the Scriptures in depth so that much more can be learned which will strengthen their faith & also help others in spiritual need.
God's Word is truly God speaking to us - it's alive, it's current, it's His speech to our hearts personally. When we read or study it, what we do is to allow God to communicate with our spirit & mind & direct our lives. So many believers languish for want of knowledge ( Hosea 4:6 says that "God's people are destroyed (or, in a spiritual desert of ignorance & defeat) for lack of knowledge"). Also, as we read the Bible, wicked spiritual forces are thwarted from interfering with us as they can't bear to be under the sound of God's Word.
We have no excuse today as the Bible is freely available in many translations but so many forsake it. In some countries in the past (& present) where Christianity & the Bible were forbidden, believers, able to find small discarded portions of the Bible, hung onto them, guarded them & read them over & over again, memorizing these few pieces from the Word & found spiritual sustenance from it.
2 Timothy 2:15, 16: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness." May the Lord help you & encourage you as you take time to read His Word.
So Paul is reminding young Timothy to watch for these evil traits developing in people & to turn away from them, i.e. not to get caught up in their godlessness or even to be accepting of some of their behaviour. So in verse 4, he speaks of those who are "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God" & continues on in verse 5: "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof...". So some of these same people who love worldly pleasure more than God, will also make themselves appear to others as good Church-going folk. And this would be so easy to accept since we can never know the full character of a person. But these same 'spiritual frauds' who may talk of God, go to Church or even read the Bible, will ultimately reveal that there may be substance but no Life or spiritual Power behind their lives (i.e. no true repentance, no re-birth, no Holy Spirit).
This word from Paul I don't believe is given for Timothy or for us to go around casting judgement on people. But when this is evident (especially in the Church), we need to be aware of it (as the Church leader also), & either give gentle correction & guidance to the one living a double life, but if they shun correction, then Church discipline is in order (see a similar instruction by Paul in 1 Corinthians 5:9-13).
Wesley's Notes for Hebrews 6:6
6:6 And have fallen away - Here is not a supposition, but a plain relation of fact. The apostle here describes the case of those who have cast away both the power and the form of godliness; who have lost both their faith, hope, and love, # Heb 6:10|, &c., and that wilfully, # Heb 10:26|. Of these wilful total apostates he declares, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance. (though they were renewed once,) either to the foundation, or anything built thereon. Seeing they crucify the Son of God afresh - They use him with the utmost indignity. And put him to an open shame - Causing his glorious name to be blasphemed.
People's Bible Notes for Hebrews 6:6
Heb 6:6 If they shall fall away. Apostasize from the faith. To renew them unto repentance. He is so far fallen that he has no capacity left for repentance. Judas the Apostate sorrowed, but his sorrows became despair. There was remorse but not repentance. Seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh. By rejecting Christ they place themselves with those who rejected him and crucified him because he affirmed that he was the Son of God. Those meant are not those "overtaken in a fault" (Ga 6:1), or backsliders only, but men once Christian professors who not only turn away from but oppose Christ.
There are many many comments listed after the commentators I've shown to you
He then describes how they do behave as Christians: showing Christ's love to others particularly ministering to the needs of other believers (v 10).
And in verse 11, he continues with that thought that they should be diligent (to do with great effort & zeal), making sure that they persevere in their Christian walk (i.e. not to slacken off), so that their hope of Heaven after their death will be certain.
He's basically saying (using modern terms), the Christian life is not 'a bed of roses'. We use that expression to denote when one relaxes & enjoys one's achievements without a care in the world. But the writer is saying that people who think that way, are very likely going to fall into Satan's traps & be swallowed up. 1 Corinthians 10:12, "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." This is the same thought: "standeth" means the one who is over confident & then relaxes because he thinks that he won't slip away.
The Christian is indeed secure in his salvation, because his salvation is based not on what he has done, but on what Christ has done for him. Yet, he must also be alert to Satan's traps, & walk carefully in this life (& not be slothful, lazy as a believer v 12). He will then know that his life is following the pattern laid out before him & so when the end comes, that his hope (his waiting) for Heaven is a true hope & without fear of being rejected. The true believer will have both a full salvation & also make the full effort to walk worthy of God's call upon his life.
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