Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
I first wondered how to consider aron's most recent post "on topic." Then I realized that without ever saying the words, it is a prime example of God's economy. It is the result of healthy teachings. In this case, the most basic teaching of loving your neighbor as yourself. We could flood this thread with examples of obediently living out the various teachings of Christ and we would see, over and over, total love for God and equally total love for mankind (OK, humankind for those who are stuck on the gender-neutral bandwagon).
And why do I say for all people rather than just our neighbor? Because we live in an age in which the world is our neighbor in some sense. We may not actually walk by them on the road, but we still see them, whether on the evening news or as we travel around wherever we live or roam. Otherwise, the Samaritan would have had just cause to ignore the battered man on the side of the road because he wasn't his neighbor, but some Jew's neighbor.
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Yes, this is why the book of Acts suddenly looms so large in my consciousness, because it isn't about the details of what they taught, so much, as the details of what they did. They taught the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, they taught that Gentiles didn't have to keep the law, but confess and be baptized. But what they did was lay their treasures at Peter's feet, and what he did was give it all away to those who had nothing to give back, save gratitude. Again, the tears of the widows when Dorcas died tells me more than reams of doctrine. And Peter saying, "Silver and gold I have none" after people had put their life savings on the ground in front of him tells me so much.
All of the teachings lead to the behaviours we see in Acts. Or they should. Peter taught the rapt Gentiles in Cornelius' house that Jesus went around doing good (10:38), and everything I see in Acts is consistent with conscious and deliberate attempts to follow the clear model that Jesus had left them.