Post by JLVaughn on Jun 29, 2011 0:22:35 GMT -5
All,
I posted this, in response to a question, on another forum today.
When you were born, you were a citizen of the United States. That is, you were born into a covenant. You likely know people who were not born into this covenant but have chosen to join it. And you might know people who were born into this covenant but have renounced it and joined another covenant.
In ancient times, you were born a citizen of a city, or you were a barbarian or a slave, having no city, no law, and no patron. This is the background we need to understand.
If you were a citizen, you had rights in your city. If your city was powerful enough, your rights extended to other cities. "I am a Jew from Tarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city; and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people." Acts 21:39.
If you were not a citizen of the city you lived in and your city was not powerful enough to enforce your rights, you had none. "Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. But Gallio took no notice of these things." Acts 18:17
This is the way the ancient world worked. This is why the Jews could persecute Christians from town to town.
The covenant you were born under defined your laws and who you were to worship. If your city covenant required you to worship Diana of Ephesus, you either worshipped Diana or you renounced your citizenship and renounced the protection that went with it.
Because of this protection issue, everyone wanted to be under covenant, under legal protection from a powerful patron and city. All of these covenants competed with God's covenant. All these people were born into a covenant and had to make a conscious choice to leave their covenant and join another.
Thoughts?
I posted this, in response to a question, on another forum today.
When you were born, you were a citizen of the United States. That is, you were born into a covenant. You likely know people who were not born into this covenant but have chosen to join it. And you might know people who were born into this covenant but have renounced it and joined another covenant.
In ancient times, you were born a citizen of a city, or you were a barbarian or a slave, having no city, no law, and no patron. This is the background we need to understand.
If you were a citizen, you had rights in your city. If your city was powerful enough, your rights extended to other cities. "I am a Jew from Tarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city; and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people." Acts 21:39.
If you were not a citizen of the city you lived in and your city was not powerful enough to enforce your rights, you had none. "Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. But Gallio took no notice of these things." Acts 18:17
This is the way the ancient world worked. This is why the Jews could persecute Christians from town to town.
The covenant you were born under defined your laws and who you were to worship. If your city covenant required you to worship Diana of Ephesus, you either worshipped Diana or you renounced your citizenship and renounced the protection that went with it.
Because of this protection issue, everyone wanted to be under covenant, under legal protection from a powerful patron and city. All of these covenants competed with God's covenant. All these people were born into a covenant and had to make a conscious choice to leave their covenant and join another.
Thoughts?
