Part 2 of “My Favorite Bible Passages? Here Are 7 You Should Know“
Every Christian ought to have favorite Bible passages. God’s Word guides us and forms us in the image of Jesus! Here are more Bible passages you should know.
“Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.’” (John 18:36).
Jesus is on trial before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Pilate knows nothing of Jewish Scripture or prophecy. Pilate asks Jesus if He is the king of the Jews, because the Jews have charged Jesus with insurrection against Rome. For someone to claim to be a king meant that they were a rival to Caesar, and Rome had a short and brutal way of dealing with rebels. Jesus answers Pilate by asking him, “Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you about Me?” (18:34). Pilate responds by saying that he is not a Jew, and asks Jesus what He has done that led the Jewish leaders to hand Him over to Pilate. That’s what prompts Jesus’ response in verse 36: My kingdom is not of this world.
Several of the passages that I list in this article and the previous one have been favorites of mine for many years. This is a relatively new entry on my list of Bible passages you should know. Unfortunately, that is due to what I see as an unhealthy and unfruitful attachment to politics in the modern Church. Everything that Jesus says to Pilate leads me to believe that our trust in politicians and the political system is misplaced. I know the arguments: “Things were different in Jesus’ day. People didn’t have the right to vote. Jesus didn’t live under a constitutional government, but the dictatorial power of Rome.” But I can’t shake the fact that these comments are simply justifications for seeking something other than the Kingdom of God first.
Certainly, as a Jew in the Roman Empire, Jesus did not have many “rights.” But even if He had, would He have demanded them? The One who “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself”? The point is that Jesus’ kingdom is still “not of this world,” and the more we concern ourselves with the kingdoms of this world, the less attention we pay to His kingdom. When He said that His servants would fight to protect Him if His kingdom were of this world, that was not a call for us to fight now; it was a reminder that we do not wage war with the weapons of flesh and blood, nor do we pledge our ultimate allegiance to anyone other than the true King.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:1-2).
What does John mean when he says, “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin”? Does he mean that we can live above sin? If so, in what way, and to what degree? This issue has been at the heart of many theological debates throughout the centuries. A look at the broader context of this verse is helpful, and many people would include 1 John 1:9 in a list of passages you should know. John makes four “if” statements in this broader passage, addressing what we say and what we do. If we
- Say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth (1 John 1:6).
- Say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us (1:8).
- Confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1:9).
- Say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us (1:10).
John writes these things to us so that we may not sin.That definitely makes this one of the passages you should know!
First, note that there is a distinction between saying that we have no sin (verse 8) and have not sinned (v 10), and saying that we walk in darkness. We are all born in sin, so to say that we have no sin is simply false. Likewise, as Paul notes in Romans 3, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23); thus, we cannot truthfully say that we have not sinned.
So is it possible for us to live without sin? I would suggest that the better way to understand it is to say that we can live without willful sin. As John says in verse 6, we cannot claim to have fellowship with God and yet walk in the darkness. And if God cleanses us from all unrighteousness when He forgives us (verse 9), then it would seem that He enables us to “walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light.” That brings us to 1 John 2:1, and the encouragement that we may not sin. Jesus’ death is powerful enough to forgive the sins of the whole world! And it also empowers us to live above willful sin. This is one of my favorite Bible passages because John’s encouragement is our reminder that Jesus triumphed over sin, and we are the beneficiaries of that victory!
“He said to her, ‘Go, call your husband and come here.’ The woman answered and said to Him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You have correctly said, “I have no husband”; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this which you have said is true.’” (John 4:17-18)
You may be thinking that this is a strange choice for a list of passages you should know. But I saved this one for last because it is my favorite of all. If I had to choose one passage above all others, it would be John 4:1-26. I didn’t want to quote the entire passage, but these two verses sum up the message. This understanding has stuck with me from the first time I really studied this passage. Jesus seems to violate every principle of “seeker-sensitive evangelism” in highlighting the woman’s personal history in a negative and embarrassing way. Yet she is not offended; instead, she proclaims Jesus as a prophet! What gives?
There are so many key ideas in the larger passage of 4:1-26 that I can only identify them briefly:
- Jesus “having to pass through Samaria” (4:4) as a reminder of the detail and intricacies of God’s plans.
- His being willing to breach societal norms to further God’s purposes (Jew vs. Samaritan, men and women; see verse 9).
- Jesus refusing to “dumb down” the message of salvation. He talks of living water (verses 13-14) and addresses her personal issues (verse 18).
- His announcement to her – a Samaritan woman with a questionable past – that He is the Messiah (verse 26).
But for me, everything comes back to verse 18. Jesus lays bare her personal history in a way that does not push her away. Instead, he enhances her desire to know more. She has tried to deflect his invitation to call her husband. Jesus pierces her defenses in a way that forces her to see that He knows everything about her. That’s why she says that he is a “prophet.” But what is more important is that she understands that He knows everything, and it doesn’t seem to disqualify her from knowing Him more. In that moment, she realizes that He knew her past all along, and He still invites her to come to faith in Him.
That’s why this is on my list of passages you should know – because it applies to every one of us. At some point, every one of us has had our past laid bare before God. We come to recognize that He knows everything about us – maybe even things that we haven’t known about ourselves. And it doesn’t matter. All that matters is our response. Jesus says to her, “I am He, the One speaking to you.” She has a decision to make: does she believe? And if so, how will she respond to Him?
All of us have that same decision to make. Do we believe? And how will we respond to Him? Will we go back to our “city” and tell others about Him? Or will we try to ignore our encounter and act like it didn’t happen? This passage sums up the entire Gospel in one story – a story that applies to every one of us. And that’s why it’s my favorite!
What are your favorite passages of Scripture? Any comments about mine? I’d love to hear your feedback!
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