Pilate asked, "What is truth" as if to suggest the consideration at hand is left up to individual providing the interpretation in order to discern the truth.
How will such an opinion meet with the realities within the scope of eternity?
I suppose one could momentarily satisfy this seemingly mysterious consideration based solely upon their belief as to what takes place after their body is pronounced lifeless.
However the question still remains, "Will such a conclusion satisfy the reality that awaits all mankind"?
Deception in the moment is the continuation of the greater deception regarding the eternal consideration.
Disregard for righteous considerations in this life will prove to be the deception which then performed as the intention(s) from day to day.
Much could be said with respect to paying "Attention", yet paying attention to the availability of a specific freedom which truth presents at every turn as the Mercy and Grace of God comes with the reward which is eternal.
A man can make the claim that he was touched by a God and that be a true statement having accepted the minimum that God created all things. Is that the requirement though in terms of also truly "Knowing" the one and only God?
It is my opinion of one making the claim to also know the one true God which has touched them, first requires believing the words He spoke in the beginning.
Words which are received, judged and proved to be true by way of the righteous evidence that He did touch them with the light of the truth.
Otherwise wouldn't that person have had to have been with God since time began having come forth from the truth?
John 1:1-2
In the beginning was the Word , and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
NIV
"You are a king, then!" said Pilate .
Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
"What is truth?" Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him.
NIV
These were the words spoken from the Apostle Paul which I think express just how convinced he now was of Christ as well the promise of Christ revealed in him.
Gal 1:15-17
But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.
NIV
Today within Christianity, where does the consideration for being a pagan and or gentile fit? Could it be more than those which are not of Jewish decent? Further to mean those (unbelievers) which are presently outside of Christ?
I believe what we read today as his testimony can be read just as clear as he suggested when he wrote it, yet what some find difficult is interpreting the essence of his message which compliments the Gospel Jesus preached as he (Paul) attempts to point us towards the "Man" Jesus the "Christ" (the savior of man).
I can see where said believers today that would like to move deeper into the realm of righteousness Jesus presented could find themselves struggling with essence of Paul's instructions to follow (imitate) him in that same effort.
2 Cor 7:10
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
NIV
Where is the claim of victory through "Faith" in Christ within this approach if we're continually blaming what he came to rescue us from? Basically, where is the beginning, middle and net result(s) of having become more mature (in Him)?
How will such a confession of immaturity fair if judgment were to begin with those considered to also be righteous (family/household of God)?
This struggle which appears to have become more "Common" is due mostly to the controversy concerning the entire consideration as to who the man Paul was. There in resides the problem. This man Paul/Saul at one time also straddled the fence of the eternal much like the forward slash does above between his two names.
Today among believers when his person gets discussed the use of the name Saul sets apart a specific understanding which then fixes the context of what's being said as if on a time line.
In the instances where further clarification is required in order to discuss the man Saul/Paul, his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus is brought front and center.
Scripture expresses not only Paul's spiritual life transformation, but he also experienced a name change as if an ear mark. I invite you to revisit the origins for the purpose of "Ear mark" if you're not familiar with that term.
The earmark was used long ago to symbolize much more than proof of ownership, yet more clearly to be understood as one that's willing to be owned.
Deut 15:16-17
But if your servant says to you, "I do not want to leave you," because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, then take an awl and push it through his ear lobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your maidservant.
NIV
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earmark_(agriculture)
Paul/Saul not only went through a transformation spiritually, but I personally see him somehow having to reconcile what took place in his own mind as a man reborn of God (son of man/child of God).
I feel confident that if his every thought had been captured in writing it would probably take twice the amount of time in order to simply read those let alone absorb those same thoughts concerning his personal re-birthing in Christ.
Today when attempts are made to see Christ as the cause of effectual change(s) when peering into Paul/Saul's life (like looking through a telescope) I think Paul prior to his departure attempts to paint a more visible picture of this divine process (transformation) in his mention of peering into a poor reflection.
What is seen today while attempting to look into the realm of the eternal? What if we as those which follow behind Paul didn't get to enjoy the benefit of observing the person of Paul with AND without his scripting of his own existence after this revelation? Where would gentiles/pagans find themselves today?
I feel confident that Paul encountered the occasional struggle with esteeming himself more highly than he ought because he Saul/Paul a Pharisee had been handed such great revelation. Until a matter gets revealed (in the light truth) it remains a mystery.
The kosmos (world) in which Paul had previously enjoyed his existence as a Pharisee had just been turned inside out.
If the Pharisee's were guilty of one thing, it would be their own enjoyment by way of "Exempting" others from having legal access to their GOD.
Eph 3:6
This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
NIV
1 Cor 13:9-12
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
NIV
I think he pleads with believers to not make much of the man Paul or those men that taught him things in error as he cries out to us to look only at Christ in him as the effects of that transformation.
The tough questions concerning who the man Paul was within the scope of Christianity continues to get bogged down as if is the paramount issue instead of who Paul was with Christ in him as a spiritual being.
Questions such as, "Was he Jewish or was he a Roman citizen? If he was from the tribe of Benjamin wouldn't his parents have had to have made some conflicting pledge in the form of an allegiance to Roman citizenry/sovereignty (Caesar)? Wasn't Paul also a murderer?
What many don't see is the depth as if the existence of the spiritual man. The same portion of his being which is somehow stuck in the same body along with this revelation.
This same reputation as if a zeal derived from the Pharisee cult which has over time attached itself to the man (like some painted vessel) he'd been assigned to coming into this world.
Jesus as the prime example of our spiritual existence (first born of the beloved) was called the son of God and the son of man. He was brought forth from the womb of human flesh, yet sired by way of the Holy Spirit.
Even as it applies to Jesus, if we allow ourselves to get bogged in the questions dredged from our over active imagination(s) concerning His conception then there's little hope of accepting much else that's said concerning His divine appearance.
That to mean everything which is true about Jesus the son of man/Son of God must find harmonious rest within our acceptance as to exactly "Who" is before, during and after the time of His visitation.
How could Paul declare himself "Your Father" as he does below?
The Gospel which are the words of Christ is said to have been with God from the beginning. Words which then became flesh and dwelt among us. Are those words true simply because they've been spoken or because we believe in the One who spoke them?
How is it such a stretch to grasp receiving a new spirit by way of the Holy Spirit having been sired (seeded) by way of the words of God?
Is it that it requires the fertile womb within us which can only manifest by way of believing (Faith)?
1 Cor 4:15-16
Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me
NIV
Otherwise how could he have maintained the confidence to state that he had been set apart from birth? That is unless he was commenting on having been born again.
Could Paul's own commentary below have applied to himself at one time? Did the Lord rebuke him in a divine fashion once called?
Titus 1:13-14
Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth.
NIV
Did the Pharisee's reject the truth, the man or the miracles when He (Jesus) came to them?
As a Pharisee wasn't Paul taught by Gamaliel the lead authority in the Sanhedrin? I didn't know this, but but as a side bar it is mentioned that his name (Gamaliel) interprets as "Reward of God".
Acts 22:3
Then Paul said: "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.
NIV
The easy argument would be that Paul was not alive when Jesus began his mission yet it is my opinion that Paul was not only alive but had also heard and then rejected what was said of Jesus as if rumors hence rejecting the truth.
1 Tim 1:13
Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.
NIV
Having been taught and believed such myths which later proved to be in error having encountered the true Messiah/Christ on the road to Damascus (as a result of ignorance and unbelief).
Enough that he now considered such teaching (myths that were being taught) as "rubbish" (dung) mingled with the truth contained within the former prophecies which he now knows beyond doubt were true?
Part of what he'd accepted as truth (myths) stood in the way of his ability to believe the doctrine being taught among Christians prior to the road to Damascus encounter with Christ.
A misinterpreted doctrine which not only caused his spiritual blindness, but also caused him to miss the physical presence/visitation of Jesus who is the son of the same God he'd assumed he'd been obediently serving prior to.
Many miss the message the Lord used Paul to send having obscured the truth behind myths (reasons) which served him as if the man Paul/Saul.
We stand the same risk as did Paul (like a poor parenting act) when we repeat the steps of following myths and wives tales that have been mingled with the truth concerning Christ.
His appropriate beckoning as a spiritual father to us by way of the Gospel is also one that heralds, "Don't be duped as I once was having believed that which is NOT truth because of ignorance and unbelief".
We can never receive Paul as if a spiritual father unless we are willing to accept what he did learn as if from his mistakes having observed himself first as if a mere man that's now been converted (re-born).
What is more often missed in my opinion is the sort of men God historically chooses from within His chosen and determined season of mercy.
Chosen as if the basest (lowliest) of men which He (God) also considers His own. The comparative that usually gets missed is the similarities of such men the majority then exhibit as if "likened to" whenever we're misguided having followed another doctrine (as if the words of another God).
Much could be said about prime numbers and even more about "Prime examples".
It would have been my thoughts if i were in Paul's shoes, "How could I have missed the son of the God I also walked about the face of His earth suggesting I have somehow been righteously serving"?
Somehow that question gives strength towards the thoughts of a man that has considered himself as "wretched".
I see Paul as a man that deeply loved God from birth, yet his perception of that same God hadn't caught up to or fathomed the depths of His love. Enough that he couldn't "Be likened to His heavenly father while in the earth" until after he'd encountered Him (God) personally on the road to Damascus.
Think just for a moment about Paul's historical zeal to be about the Lord's work, yet then finding himself employed by the whims of (men) the Pharisee's?
He (Paul) while thoroughly convinced that he was serving the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob that also "Does not change" had somehow (mis)-managed the truth we now find within the prophecies (thanks to his instrumental usage) about the savior of humanity.
Enough that he'd discounted the truth about His son to then miss out on his physical visitation?
Could Paul have changed on His own if not for this revealing?
Some question if he (Paul) was alive during the time of Christ visitation and had walked oblivious to the truth concerning the miracles done at the hand of this Jesus. Scripture introduces Paul at the stoning of Stephen.
In the scope of eternity, was Paul not already blind to the Truth before being physically blinded on the road to Damascus?
Did it require Paul being made physically blind in order for him to then become convinced of his own spiritual blindness concerning the God he had comfortably been serving?
2 Cor 12:9-10
That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
NIV
In the scope of eternity the question is, "Is who and what we say we know also the "Truth"
How broad and how tainted has the word religion become though when suggested today? Does it not speak as if the one making the suggestion through us?
Regardless of how loosely its usage in secular speech it still maintains its essence to suggest a following or the individual follower as if drawn to someone or something else.
Acts 20:30
Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.
NIV
Rom 1:25
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator — who is forever praised. Amen.
NIV
Jesus offered the fair exchange of opinions on one occasion as was recorded in the Gospel's (Luke 20:3 & Mark 11:3).
Luke 20:1-8
One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. "Tell us by what authority you are doing these things," they said. "Who gave you this authority?"
He replied, "I will also ask you a question. Tell me, John's baptism — was it from heaven, or from men?"
They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Why didn't you believe him?' But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet."
7 So they answered, "We don't know where it was from."
8 Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."
NIV
Believers should not speak based on what is assumed will also be accepted. Instead they should speak only because of the one which truly has in-formed them by way of the power and authority of the Gospel they now preach as if "The Truth".
Much has and could be written about the power of ones testimony concerning their encounter(s) with Christ our savior. Yet only that which is true as testimony concerning his existence, presence and power will manifest as if the entirety of what's being considered as if the Truth.
John 17:8-9
For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
NIV
For some, becoming fully convinced of this could take a life time and for others in a moment.
We must also know this, that at least one man required being made blind and then healed before he could receive (see) the truth having found himself as Gods chosen (precision) instrument now being used for the benefit of the gentiles.
Below is one example as to what happens when the Lord is with someone that has been sent with the specific intent to carry out same.
Acts 27:11-20
When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they had obtained what they wanted; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the "northeaster," swept down from the island. The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along.
As we passed to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were hardly able to make the lifeboat secure. When the men had hoisted it aboard, they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. Fearing that they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along. We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. On the third day, they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands.
When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.
NIV
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