The Way

[rjones]

(Acts 9: 1-2) Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

(Acts 19:8-10) Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.

(Acts 19:23) About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way.

(Acts 22:4) I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison

(Acts 24:22) Then Felix, who was well acquainted with the Way, adjourned the proceedings. "When Lysias the commander comes," he said, "I will decide your case."

This seems to be the earliest “name” for the Christian movement, and a fitting one - used five times in Acts.

The name the Way means that Christianity is more than a belief or a set of opinions or doctrines. Following Jesus is a way of living as well as believing.

(John 14:5-6) Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

(Jeremiah 6:16) "This is what the Lord says: 'Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls...'"

The Footsteps of Jesus
(Job 23:11) "My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside"

God has simplified the Christian life so that even a child can believe and obey. God's ways are beyond our comprehension, but we don't need to try to fathom them with our mind. We learn the ways of God by following Jesus, the Way. As we follow Him, the path we take leads us in one clear direction - the full likeness of the Lord Jesus Himself.
(Proverbs 4:18) "The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day"

 

[abigya]

we don't need to try to fathom them with our mind. We learn the ways of God by following Jesus, the Way.

Amen..... The way leads to the Truth and the Truth leads to the Life.

 

[Jaareshiah]

The five accounts in the book of Acts concerning "the Way", helps to identify that there is was only one true religion that Jesus established, not many as the churches have given credence to. The apostle Paul wrote that there is "one Lord, one faith, one baptism."(Eph 4:5)

Hence, when anyone asks what faith you are, do these really believe that there is just one true religion ? Just as a combination lock has only one set of numbers and in the correct order, that will unlock it, so likewise there is only one set of beliefs that God is pleased with, called "the truth" by Jesus at John 8:32.

It is accepted among the various churches that you can be anyone of several thousand different religions that profess to be Christian and still be pleasing to God. This thought or belief does not agree with the Bible. James wrote that the "pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."(James 1:27, King James Bible) Hence, there is ' one Way ' that is pleasing to God, the "pure religion" that is "unspotted from the world."

Concerning the one "pure religion", Paul clearly spoke of "one faith" that would be pleasing to God, not "faiths". In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: "Why, then, do you call me ' Lord ! Lord !' but do not do the things I say ?"(Luke 6:46) Hence, the professing of Christianity is not what has value with God, for Jesus continued and said that "he who hears and does not do, is like a man who built a house upon the ground without a foundation. Against it the river dashed, and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house became great.”(Luke 6:49)

On the other hand, those who make a personal application of Jesus words as part of the one "pure religion", he says: "Everyone that comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug and went down deep and laid a foundation upon the rock-mass. Consequently, when a flood arose, the river dashed against that house, but was not strong enough to shake it, because of its being well built." (Luke 6:47, 48)

For example, concerning morality, Jesus said: "You heard that it was said, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone that keeps on looking at a woman so as to have a passion for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."(Matt 5:27, 28) How many men are unwilling to enticingly look at a woman, realizing the improper motive attached to it ? Job, who was married, said: "A covenant I have concluded with my eyes. So how could I show myself attentive to a virgin ?"(Job 31:1)

To be married is to enter into a covenant or binding contract with your mate. Job, because of his loyalty to his covenant that he had made with his wife before God, refused to "show (himself) attentive to a virgin". For those who are married, flirting is crossing the moral boundary that God has established, ' showing attention to a virgin'.