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주제별 설교/사랑설교

옛적에 여호와께서 나에게 나타나사 내가 영원한 사랑으로 너를 사랑하기에 인자함으로 너를 이끌었다 하였노라(렘31:3)

by 【고동엽】 2022. 5. 28.

From our Torah this week (i.e., Bechukotai) we read: “Then [after all the various judgments have befallen the people] I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land” (Lev. 26:42). Here we note the “deeper Torah” of God’s unconditional promise to the children of Israel that "contextualizes" the various tribulations they would suffer because of their disobedience to the terms of the covenant given at Sinai (Gen. 15). Therefore the Apostle Paul appealed to God’s promises given to Abraham as the foundation for Torah, not to Israel’s righteousness procured by means of the law (Rom. 9:31; Gal. 4:24-27). "For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law (οὐ γὰρ διὰ νόμου) but through the righteousness of faith" (Rom. 4:13).

The better covenant of Zion was prefigured at Mount Moriah - and hearkens back to Abraham and Isaac - and not to the later covenant made at Sinai (Gen. 22:16-18; Heb. 6:13-15; John 3:16). As for Israel in the galut (exile), God has promised: “But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD” (Lev. 26:45). Note again that this covenant relationship was established when we were without anything – we had no Torah, no mitzvot, nor any good deeds to commend ourselves before heaven. Nevertheless, God chose us and called us his people, and all this comes from his great love.

Amen. Bound by love’s promise... Now that’s Torah!!! [Hebrew for Christians] 

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