You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
13 Christ [Christos] hath redeemed [exagorazo] us [hemas] from [ek] the curse [katara] of the
law, [nomos] being made [ginomai] a curse [katara] for [huper] us: [hemon] for [gar] it is written, [grapho]
Cursed [epikataratos] is every one [pas] that hangeth [kremannumi]
on [epi] a tree: [xulon] KJV-Interlinear
13 Christ
redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us — for it
is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree" — NASB
This quote is from Deut. 21:23. The curse is the condemnation made by the Law, in which no person can keep those commandments and requirements of the Law, and are thus condemned forever.
Redeem, 'exagorazo,' means to make a purchase. This is a general purchase of any kind, but when associated with people it is a purchase of humanity out of bondage or out of slavery. Otherwise people do not get purchased, or are not traded in the general economic sense of good or services.
Since humanity is under a curse, then no slave can purchase himself out of slavery, especially since the purchase price is far, far, far beyond anything a person will ever have or obtain in their entire lifetime and beyond.
That means that another free person, who is extremely wealthy, has to be the one who will make that purchase in behalf of the slaves.
And since humanity is made up of trillions of people counting every person throughout all of human history, then that free person has to be extremely wealthy and extremely resourceful.
Only God fits into that category.
Now, Jesus came into this world and lived the perfect life. But His perfect life lived, did not fulfill the purchase price. That just proved that He was the perfect candidate for making that purchase. He was perfect, not condemned, not a slave, and thus qualified to make the purchase.
So, Christ had to go to the cross, and thus become associated with the curse, and then take on the penalty of that curse. This He did during those three hours on the Cross from noon until three in the afternoon.
He was alive during that time period and screamed allowed during that time. He was engulfed in complete darkness during that time, for it was the darkest time in all of history. That was the period of His judgment wherein He took upon Himself all of the sins of humanity and received the punishment for them all.
Jesus was very much alive when He received that judgment.
Then afterwards, He died his physical death, so that He would be resurrected thus proving His victory over death, making that victory secure and permanent. Jesus did not bleed to death, He merely exhaled and died.
Likewise, in Deut. 21, anyone hung, had to be taken down and buried before dark. And of course Jesus was taken down and buried that same afternoon.
The concept of works, is a curse which led to the destruction of all of humanity. Jesus died His spiritual death, for that curse to be lifted and removed. That paid the high price of freedom for all of humanity.
But just as slaves on the auction block when bought can go to their freedom or they can choose to remain in slavery, so too, every human being can choose to believe in Christ, which is their choice for freedom, or they can choose to remain under the curse by rejecting Christ.
To pursue works as your mode or spiritual advancement is a fools choice. Christ has already done the work. For salvation, you only have to accept that by believing in Christ.
Likewise, after salvation when spiritual growth is the issue in your life, then again works is again the fools choice, when all that is required of you is to study and listen and learn while in fellowship, and then do that every day of your life. This is faith, not works.
Just as faith is a huge stumbling block for many people in salvation, so too, faith is a huge stumbling block for most believers in their spiritual growth. They pursue works rather than faith and they do not grow up.
And what exactly is works in the spiritual life? Human works that is? It is everything that is not complying with pursuit of a daily study, while in fellowship, receiving instruction from a legitimate teaching source, and following that pattern every day of your life.
Reading the bible every day is not a daily study, unless you are reading in order to supplement and review your daily study.
Talking or texting with a spiritual vocabulary is not an application of a daily study. God looks into your soul and sees your words. Impressing people is not an element of spiritual advancement. God looks to the content of your soul, not to your public sales abilities.
You can know easily, if you are on the right track in your spiritual life, or not.
Do you pursue a daily study, repeat daily, under the instruction of an instructor, and use that as your primary focus for learning and knowing doctrine?
If your answer is no, then you must have a better way, which is works, which is returning to the curse and thus failure in your spiritual life. And to figure out your own life is just that easy.
