opheilō… to be under an obligation

THE FOCUSED CHRIST

(August 17, 2024) Wayne Swift again calls it as it is…

Focus—

Now that’s a word meaning ‘the main or central point of something, especially of interest or attention.’

Did you ever realise that your salvation depended on Jesus’ focused resolution to suffer the cross and all that that entailed? That before Christ even went to the cross He had to focus on His commitment to the task ahead.

Jesus’ Origins
It’s amazing really that Almighty God had made the incredible decision to come to this world in human form as Jesus Christ for our sakes!

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OWING GOD?

(March 16, 2022) Maureen McQuillan responds to a someone who’s concerned about ‘owing God’…

Dear Pastor Maureen

I know I owe God so much for all He’s done for me… salvation through the gift of His Son Jesus and so much more. How can I pay Him what I owe? Yours, Jane.

Dear Jane

Owing God? Yes, we owe Him so much… but it’s impossible to pay God back for anything He’s done! At least not financially.

Look up the word ‘owe’ in the KJV and you’ll find that the only place this word is mentioned is Romans 13:8,  ‘Owe no man any thing, but to love one another…’

‘Owe’ here is opheilō… to be under an obligation and we could easily think in terms of money owed to someone or an organisation, especially when we recall that Jesus had something to say about owing people! (Matthew 18:28, Luke 16:5. And Leviticus 25:53 instructs business owners to pay workers what they owe them).

But nowhere does scripture require us to ‘owe God’ financially! What scripture does encourage us to do is support our local church. By extension this can also be some purposeful evangelist, missionary, or other genuine ministry God has directed us to support.

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