Who is Jesus Neighbor?

[Hazelelponi]

It is the intention of this OP to seek to provide an answer to this quote taken from another thread:

In a way, this isn't derailing the Thread; because it'Is what prompted the OP. - P1, Jesus said Loving God and your Neighbor fulfills the Law. P2, Jesus Kept the Law. C, Jesus Loved his Neighbor. ~ My thoughts go back to the Edenic Covenant; is it it's own Covenant of Works, or was it part of the Mosaic Covenant of Works? It's a Presbyterian/Baptist difference; but Christ Kept Adam's Covenant with God too; and that affects everybody's neighborhood...

Who's his Neighbor? As the Second Adam, the World is his Neighbor. As the Elect One, the Unconditionally Elect are his Neighbor. As the Second Adam, he purchased even false prophets; and is their Sovereign. As the Second Adam, he Sacrificed himself for the World; but as the Christ, he only Bore the Sins of the Many...


I guess the Bottom line question is; who is his Neighbor? If we need a new Thread; maybe that's the one...

To best answer the questions posed, starting with who is Jesus' neighbor, we must look to the words of Jesus Himself.

Jesus Christ has told us that those who do the will and the Father and those who keep His commandments are those He loves. Those are his family, those are His friends, those are His disciples and those are who He will recognize before the Father in Heaven.

Remember, love of God is primary, and love of neighbor secondary.

Love of God must necessarily hate the world system that is at enmity with God, we are to hate evil, even down to hating mother father brothers sisters etc. if it comes to that

I made a long post here on this topic that is helpful to read, I didn't want to make this too long so feel free to click the hyperlink to a forum post for an in-depth look at the concept.

Jesus Christ atoning work was to bring the world into covenant in order to fulfill the will of the Father

But that covenanting work has laws surrounding it in this second creation event.

Just as Eve was created from the rib of Adam so the Bride is created from the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus - instead of a rib Jesus gave His flesh and the Spirit of Christ which we receive in our re-creation, our breath of Life.

Jesus in sacrificial love, gave His life firstly, fulfilling the law, living that sinless life that we cannot. He then died the death for sin that we could not die and we know this because of the Ressurection. Love of neighbor fulfilled in perfect life and resurrection.

He fulfilled all the Covenants, everything prior is finished, and began an entirely New Covenant, but that too also finished in the work of Christ.

We are now back in a new Garden of Eden with a New covenant that is by Grace through faith in Jesus Christ, the work already fulfilled by Him and in Him

Deuteronomy 14:2 says:

"For you are a people holy to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth."

The very next verses go into dietary laws. This can be seen as a type and shadow of our New Covenant instruction because we have dietary laws in this re-creation event of the Bride:

John 6:51 tells us "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

So while the manna from heaven was a type and shadow of Jesus, so Deuteronomy 14:2 still speaks in shadow to the New Covenant people, God chose us, and gave us a singular dietary law this time. And that's to eat from the Tree of Life, or otherwise now called the Bread of Life.

So, what's the judgement based upon? The judgement is that the Light came into His own but His own received Him not.

Instead of one man falling because he ate, now we are all commanded to eat from the Tree of Life, who gave His Life for the life of the world.

We are His own. We are being judged foremost by faith in Christ unto salvation.

But there's two groups of people, each group having a purpose and intent. The second group is here:

Proverbs 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

It's a new covenant under the second Adam, where the work was already fulfilled by and in Christ. All we have to do is to eat from the Tree of Life, given by Grace through Faith. All the working is FINISHED in Him

"for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring"" Acts 17:28

God's determined for a bride that is without spot or blemish. God's will is we must hate sin and all that is at enmity with Him, therefore the Bride must be pure, a virgin bride.

Jesus Christ came as a Rabbi who held smikah, meaning he had the authority to interpret the law and offer new teachings.

That type of Rabbi is the only type of Rabbi that chooses their disciples. Everyone else is basic, part of a school that teaches a school of thought, but a rabbi who held smikah is a distinct type of Rabbi - though one normally given authority to teach the new interpretation by the religious leaders of the day after close examination. Though Jesus said he was the Messiah and His authority came from God (In action,) and didn't sit for them.

To illustrate the idea, so rare was this type of Rabbi that a great many students would want to disciple under them that they would just choose their own disciples from among the applicants (usually the best and brightest) instead of teaching whoever signs up for the class.

Jesus, by choosing His own disciples is telling us something from the start as it's our first clue as to what kind of Rabbi Jesus is, and where his authority is from (that He's the Messiah sent by God) and just how exclusive that is a club in reality... Every word Jesus spoke was mind-blowing as to what it says about Christ on every level.

But Jesus doesn't wait for his disciples to come to ask to be taught, He doesn't set for examination and seek approval from men, and He isn't choosing only the best and brightest, he goes and picks them out, and not from the normal crowd who are seeking to disciple, but just grabbing people up as he went along. He even has one try and delay his coming. And Jesus is like nope, nope...let's go now.

"Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love" Ephesians 1:4

We are now disciples in a class we didn't sign up for, a couple of us kicking just a little on the way making arguments against the notion, because we have no ability to choose God in our sin.

As the Bride, we are betrothed. That's legally already a marriage, at this stage it's adultery to run off with someone else etc. and you don't just back out.

By the time of betrothal all contractual issues have been resolved resolved (what is being given for dowry etc) and it's treated as if you are already married - your just waiting for the ceremonial occasion of cohabitation.

Usually it's for however long it takes to get the home ready for the Bride (addition to the grooms family home might still have to get built and to pay off any dowry to her Father.

Our formal betrothal occurred when Christ died, and was ressurected.It's as good as marriage without yet any cohabitation.

With Jesus as the Second Adam as the Scripture says, then we are the second Eve - and this time we can't fall.

Colossians 1:16 "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether THEY Lbe thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him "

We were created, Bride of the Son from the "rib" of the Son, for the Glory of the Father and the Son, given without blemish to the Father, when all things are laid at the Father's feet.

"Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love" Ephesians 1:4.

God covenanted with the Son for a particular people, not all, as His Bride. For whoever God gave into His Hand.

Jesus is both the Just and the Justifier, fulfilling the whole law, to love neighbor (Israel chosen from the foundation of the world) and to eshew evil. Both shows God's Glory.

To do that with all justice she has to be chosen from those who didn't earn anything, for the Glory of the Son, in a display of His Power and Holiness, His Mercy and His Wrath.

for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring" Acts 17:28

God is Triune and it's all for His Glory, ultimately. It's really beautiful to me. But it's because it's about Him.


I didn't source much because that would take longer to point this

@DialecticSkeptic and @makesends your invited and asked to participate. I've never written this out before.

Please forgive any redundancy. I have been trying to focus my eyes until everything is too blurry to make out.

 

[makesends]

Not having your eyes, I can only guess. My right eye is the best focused, but always with a smeared image, like grease across Seran Wrap. My brain tries to compensate with my better left eye that doesn't focus well, and I end up with, mainly, difficulty.

Thanks for the invite. In spite of feeling well, it seems obvious at this point that my mind is bleary, and I have to lay off trying to focus for a while. I will try to read this again later, and respond.

 

[Hazelelponi]

Not having your eyes, I can only guess. My right eye is the best focused, but always with a smeared image, like grease across Seran Wrap. My brain tries to compensate with my better left eye that doesn't focus well, and I end up with, mainly, difficulty.

Thanks for the invite. In spite of feeling well, it seems obvious at this point that my mind is bleary, and I have to lay off trying to focus for a while. I will try to read this again later, and respo

It sucks with the eyes doesn't it?

No rush responding, I had to edit A few times anyway. You know me... Lol.

I understand your brain sluggishness, pray you're doing better soon! That's rough I know..

 

[DialecticSkeptic]

It is the intention of this [thread] to seek to provide an answer to [the question raised in another thread]:

Who is Jesus' neighbor?

Just to quickly get my answer out of the way: His neighbor is every sinner he came to redeem.

With that said, now on to your post.

I commend your post for its God-centered, Christ-exalting tone. It reflects a strong understanding of many core Reformed doctrines. I appreciated how you tried to weave together covenant, typology, election, and ecclesiology under the supremacy of Christ. Your heart for the glory of God and the beauty of Christ's atoning work shines through. It was beautiful piece of doctrinal reflection. I was particularly intrigued by how you employed the creation of Eve from Adam's side as a typology of the church being formed from the death and resurrection of Christ. Not explicit in scripture, of course, but it feels rooted in apostolic imagery.

There is just one minor nit that I would pick.

"It's a new covenant of works under the second Adam," you said, where the work was fulfilled by Christ. "All the working is finished in him."

Maybe this is just a grammatical issue, but I would not call it a "new covenant of works." I would refer to it as the original covenant of works, insofar as the intratrinitarian pactum salutis is situated in eternity, logically prior to the creation of the world. The pactum salutis provides the theological context for the covenant of works made with the first Adam—and indeed, for the entire scope of redemptive history, from creation to consummation. In this, creation receives a coherent Christological orientation, establishing a material connection between creation and redemption, insofar as they coincide in the person of Jesus Christ as the Word in the beginning through whom creation came to be.

There is a sense in which the intratrinitarian pactum salutis is a covenant of works, although it's made among equals within the Godhead. There is a preference for reserving "covenant of works" for the Creator-creature framework. What exists post-Adam between God and man is a covenant of grace and it's rooted in this pactum salutis. As I said elsewhere a couple of years ago,

Nothing in natural history is without purpose or meaning. All things point to and culminate in Jesus Christ for the glory of God, who will be all in all. I believe strongly in something known as the cruciform nature of reality. At the center of my Christian worldview stands the cross as a symbol of profound significance (the cross being a synecdoche for the life, death, and resurrection of Christ). This cosmic event serves as the ontological foundation of all reality, permeating every aspect of creation with its salvific and transformative power. And I do mean every aspect—the numerical, spatial, logical, historical, economic, social, aesthetic, juridical, ethical, pistic and so on—none of which are autonomous but rather derive their coherence, meaning, and purpose from God and must be interpreted accordingly.

 

[makesends]

...the life, death, and resurrection of Christ). This cosmic event serves as the ontological foundation of all reality, permeating every aspect of creation with its salvific and transformative power. And I do mean every aspect—the numerical, spatial, logical, historical, economic, social, aesthetic, juridical, ethical, pistic and so on—none of which are autonomous but rather derive their coherence, meaning, and purpose from God and must be interpreted accordingly.

I love that!

 

[Hazelelponi]

Just to quickly get my answer out of the way: His neighbor is every sinner he came to redeem.

Concise!

With that said, now on to your post.

I commend your post for its God-centered, Christ-exalting tone. It reflects a strong understanding of many core Reformed doctrines. I appreciated how you tried to weave together covenant, typology, election, and ecclesiology under the supremacy of Christ. Your heart for the glory of God and the beauty of Christ's atoning work shines through. It was beautiful piece of doctrinal reflection. I was particularly intrigued by how you employed the creation of Eve from Adam's side as a typology of the church being formed from the death and resurrection of Christ. Not explicit in scripture, of course, but it feels rooted in apostolic imagery.

Thank you!

There is just one minor nit that I would pick.

"It's a new covenant of works under the second Adam," you said, where the work was fulfilled by Christ. "All the working is finished in him."

Maybe this is just a grammatical issue, but I would not call it a "new covenant of works." I would refer to it as the original covenant of works, insofar as the intratrinitarian pactum salutis is situated in eternity, logically prior to the creation of the world. The pactum salutis provides the theological context for the covenant of works made with the first Adam—and indeed, for the entire scope of redemptive history, from creation to consummation. In this, creation receives a coherent Christological orientation, establishing a material connection between creation and redemption, insofar as they coincide in the person of Jesus Christ as the Word in the beginning through whom creation came to be.

There is a sense in which the intratrinitarian pactum salutis is a covenant of works, although it's made among equals within the Godhead. There is a preference for reserving "covenant of works" for the Creator-creature framework. What exists post-Adam between God and man is a covenant of grace and it's rooted in this pactum salutis. As I said elsewhere a couple of years ago,

I know my grammar isn't always perfect, and this was something I wasn't able to come up with the best way to express this idea, so I really appreciate your correction here and your teaching so that I can express it better and think it better in the future in the best and most Scriptural and God honoring way..