This is a collection of the words of Jesus from the four Gospels. His words are concerning spiritual not physical. Oxford Cambridge Edition 1970

This document was prepared with borrowed etext for Arthur's Classic Novels. Etext was prepared by volunteers. XHTML markup by Arthur Wendover. February 15, 2005. (See source text for details.) This is the etext version of the book Jesus' Message is a Spiritual Message, taken from the original etext jesuspirit.txt {used Oxford Cambridge Edition, Bible 1970}.
Arthur's Classic Novels

Jesus' Message is a Spiritual Message

from Oxford Cambridge Edition, Bible 1970


Introduction

This is a collection of the words of Jesus that make it clear his words were never meant to be taken in the 'literal' sense.

"Jesus was, in fact, born of the Holy Spirit into a world that had become completely deprived of that Spirit. Abraham and Moses had imparted the Spirit to Their followers. The Prophets had worked to keep the Spirit alive in the hearts of the Jews. By the time Jesus had come, however, the Spirit had departed from the Jewish people. Jesus alone was spiritually 'alive'. He was the first begotten of the Spirit from among the spiritually dead of His time." ...

Jesus came to impart life to humanity through the Holy Spirit. Even as it is written in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." Darkness represents the absence of spiritual life through ignorance of the Christ. Light represents eternal life imparted to humanity through the Revelation of Jesus. -- 'Understanding the Revelation of St. John.'


Count the number of statements of a spiritual meaning in the four gospels.
From John

{01} JOHN 3

Jesus answered, 'In truth, in very truth I tell you, unless a man has been born over again he cannot see the kingdom of God. ... Jesus answered, 'In truth I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born from water and spirit. Flesh can give birth only to flesh; it is spirit that gives birth to spirit. You ought not to be astonished, then, when I tell you that you must be born over again. The wind blows where it wills; you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from, or where it is going. So with everyone who is born from spirit.'

JOHN 4

{02} 13: Jesus said, 'Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water that I shall give him will never suffer thirst any more. The water that I shall give him will be an inner spring always welling up for eternal life.'

{03} 24: But the time approaches, indeed it is already here, when those who are real worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Such are the worshippers whom the Father wants. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.'

{04} JOHN 5

'But the time approaches, indeed it is already here, when those who are real worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Such are the worshippers whom the Father wants. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.'

{05} JOHN 6

Jesus replied, 'In truth, in very truth I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you can have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood possesses eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. My flesh is real food; my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells continually in me and I dwell in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me shall live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven; and it is not like the bread which our fathers ate: they are dead, but whoever eats this bread shall live for ever.

59 This was Spoken in synagogue when Jesus was teaching in Capernaum. Many of his disciples on hearing it exclaimed, 'This is more than we can stomach! Why listen to such talk?' Jesus was aware that his disciples were murmuring about it and asked them, 'Does this shock you? What if you see the Son of Man ascending to the place where he was before? The spirit alone gives life; the flesh is of no avail; the words which I have spoken to you are both spirit and life. And yet there are some of you who have no faith.' For Jesus knew all along who were without faith and who was to betray him. So he said, 'This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by the Father.' ...

{06} JOHN 7

'The teaching that I give is not my own; it is the teaching of him who sent me. Whoever has the will to do the will of God shall know whether my teaching comes from Him or is merely my own. Anyone whose teaching is merely his own, aims at honour for himself. But if a man aims at the honour of him who sent him, he is sincere, and there is nothing false in him.'

{07} JOHN 8

... 'I am not possessed,' said Jesus; 'I am honouring my Father, but you dishonour me. I do not care about my own glory; there is one who does care, and he is judge. In very truth I tell you; if anyone obeys my teaching he shall never know what it is to die.' ...

54 Jesus replied, 'If I glorify myself, that glory of mine is worthless. It is the Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, "He is our God", though you do not know him. But I know him; if I said that I did not know him I should be a liar like you. But in truth I know him and obey his word.

56 'Your father Abraham was overjoyed to see my day; he saw it and was glad.' ... 'In very truth I tell you, before Abraham was born, I am.'

{08} JOHN 9

While daylight lasts we must carry on the work of him who sent me; night comes, when no one can work. While I am in the world I am the light of the world.'

{09} JOHN 12

'When a man believes in me, he believes in him who sent me rather than in me; seeing me, he sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that no one who has faith in me should remain in darkness. But if anyone hears my words and pays no regard to them, I am not his judge; I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the man who rejects me and does not accept my words; the word that I spoke will be his judge on the last day.

{10} JOHN 13

I tell you now, where I am going you cannot come. I give you a new commandment: love one another; as I have loved you, so you are to love one another. If there is this love among you, then all will know that you are my disciples.'

{11} JOHN 14

Jesus replied, 'I am the way; I am the truth and I am life; no one comes to the Father except by me.

{12} JOHN 17

1 After these words Jesus looked up to heaven and said: 'Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy Son, that the Son may glorify thee. For thou hast made him sovereign over all mankind, to give eternal life to all whom thou hast given him. This is eternal life: to know thee who alone art truly God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.

4 'I have glorified thee on earth by completing the work which thou gavest me to do; and now, Father, glorify me in thy own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world began.

6 'I have made thy name known to the men whom thou didst give me out of the world. They were thine, thou gavest them to me, and they have obeyed thy command. Now they know that all thy gifts have come to me from thee; for I have taught them all that I learned from thee, and they have received it: they know with certainty that I came from thee; they have had faith to believe that thou didst send me. ...

24 'Father, I desire that these men, who are thy gift to me, may be with me where I am, so that they may look upon my glory, which thou hast given me because thou didst love me before the world began. O righteous Father, although the world does not know thee, I know thee, and these men know that thou didst send me. I made thy name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love thou hadst for me may be in them, and I may be in them.'


From Luke

{13} LUKE 9

23 And to all he said, 'If anyone wishes to be a follower of mine, he must leave self behind; day after day he must take up his cross, and come with me. Whoever cares for his own safety is lost; but if a man will let himself be lost for my sake, that man is safe. What will a man gain by winning the whole world, at the cost of his true self? For whoever is ashamed of me and mine, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him, when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and the holy angels.

Jesus said, 'Leave the dead to bury their dead; you must go and announce the kingdom of God.'


From Matthew

MATTHEW 3

'Do you come to me?' he said; 'I need rather to be baptized by you.' Jesus replied, 'Let it be so for the present; we do well to conform in this way with all that God requires.'

{14} MATTHEW 6

25 'Therefore I bid you put away anxious thoughts about food and drink to keep you alive, and clothes to cover your body. Surely life is more than food, the body more than clothes. Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow and reap and store in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. You are worth more than the birds! Is there a man of you who by anxious thought can add a foot to his height? And why be anxious about clothes? Consider how the lilies grow in the fields; they do not work, they do not spin; and yet, I tell you, even Solomon in all his splendour was not attired like one of these. But if that is how God clothes the grass in the fields, which is there today, and tomorrow is thrown on the stove, will he not all the more clothe you? How little faith you have! No, do not ask anxiously, "What are we to eat? What are we to drink? What shall we wear?" All these are things for the heathen to run after, not for you, because your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Set your mind on God's kingdom and his justice before everything else, and all the rest will come to you as well. So do not be anxious about tomorrow; tomorrow will look after itself. Each day has troubles enough of its own.

{15} MATTHEW 8

22 one of his disciples, said to him, 'Lord, let me go and bury my father first.' Jesus replied, 'Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their dead.' ...

{16} MATTHEW 22

36 '"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind." That is the greatest commandment. It comes first. The second is like it: "Love your neighbour as yourself." Everything in the Law and the prophets hangs on these two commandments.'

I counted 16 statements referring to spirit or light or such.
This is just His words in the four gospels. Revelations is not included.
What can you find?

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