chuckd
Puritan Board Junior
Matt. 3:8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.
At first glance it seems the Pharisees and Sadducees are claiming they have God's favor because they are physical descendants of Abraham. Or because of God's covenant with Abraham and they with him as his descendants.
But I'm wondering if this was some sort of idiom as if to say they are Jews. John the Baptist tells them to repent, convert, bear fruit, etc. and their response is "but we're already Jews, what do we have to convert from?"
It would be equivalent to a minister preaching to his congregation to repent, believe in Christ, convert from your old ways and the hearers think "but we're already Christians."
Am I off base here?
At first glance it seems the Pharisees and Sadducees are claiming they have God's favor because they are physical descendants of Abraham. Or because of God's covenant with Abraham and they with him as his descendants.
But I'm wondering if this was some sort of idiom as if to say they are Jews. John the Baptist tells them to repent, convert, bear fruit, etc. and their response is "but we're already Jews, what do we have to convert from?"
It would be equivalent to a minister preaching to his congregation to repent, believe in Christ, convert from your old ways and the hearers think "but we're already Christians."
Am I off base here?