Monday in the 6th week of Pentecost
Daily readings
Monday
Numbers 16:1-19 Romans 3:21-31 Matthew 19:13-22Romans 3, the gospel in it's plainest form, really it requires no further comment from me does it?
Romans 3:21-31
21But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it-- 22the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30since God is one. He will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
I do want to make just a short comment on the gospel reading:
Matthew 19:13-15
13Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, 14but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven." 15And he laid his hands on them and went away.I have learned that the word for children used in this includes very small children and infants. This is part of the case for infant baptism I think. "For to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."
Check out this
Commentary on Matthew 19:13-15 by Dr. Knox Chamblin, a portion of it is copied below because I think it's important:
1. The age of the children. Matthew, like Mark, calls them not paides(plural of pais, "child"), but paidia (plural of paidion, the diminutive of pais), aterm that can denote "very young children, infants" (BAGD, s.v. paidion, 1.). Wecannot of course determine precisely when a child ceased to be a paidion andbecame a pais (Mt 11:16 e.g. speaks of paidia playing in the marketplace), and wemust acknowledge considerable overlapping between the terms (BAGD includethe instance of paidion in Mt 19:13 under the heading "child"). Yet we can affirmthat the present group of children at least included infants. For note (1) the use ofbrephs (the plural of brephos, "baby, infant") in the Lukan parallel (18:15), and(2) the fact (reported by Mark alone, 10:16a) that Jesus "took them in his arms."
Commentary on Matthew 19:13-15
by Dr. Knox Chamblin
Scripture quotations are from the
English Standard Version (ESV)