Estudo | Glenio Fonseca Paranaguá - The root of the good works
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The root of the good works
Or make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit bad. Mathew 12: 33.
Or make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit bad. Mathew 12: 33.The child is a curious and nosy little human being. She asks about everything and wants to know everything. This curiosity is a result of her rational potentiality and of her constitutional ignorance. When the baby is born he has 100 % of his potentiality to learn everything and 0% of updating knowledge. The baby has a full cognitive potential, but a total absence of information. Furthermore, baby is rebellious.
Act and potency are two philosophical foundations for the development of the human being. A seed, as a seed, is an act in itself, although it is, at the same time, the potency of a tree. A child that in her childhood will seat in a oak seed, can say in her 80’s that she’d already seated in the top of that big oak. Even though she had just seated over the seminal potency, she was seated on the top of that present tree.
All of us were born potentially rational, but not all of us can develop the potential of our rationality. There are a lot of people that came to this world without conditions to improve their intellectual capacity, and, for that reason, can’t reach a good widening of their rational potentialities. They have knowledge potency, without, however the updating properties.
The cognitive potency was invaded by the Theo manic desire of being God and the alternative for this decision was the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of the good and evil. As descending of Adam, we were born with the potentiality for the knowledge of the good and evil and the upgrading of this potency is the desire to be absolute and omnipotent like God.
The human being has potential for the knowledge of the good and evil, however it does not have the primary conditions to be good like God. Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good- except God alone". Mark 10: 18. Only God is essentially good.
The human kindness is relative to her intrinsic selfishness. What we nicknamed of good, in the human sphere, it depends in what interests us in that moment or of the emotional capacity of our psyche. A sadistic one can say that something good it is to do somebody to suffer, while a masochist can see in his pain, something good for him. Vitor Hugo said that "is very pleasant to practice a good action that displeases somebody who we didn’t like".
Because of the sin the gender adamic became evil by nature. If Jesus said that no one is good, then we have to admit clearly, that all of us, at the moment we were born in this world, we are already evil for nature. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him". Mathew 7: 11
Jesus said that we are evil. Even though, we know how to give good gifts, according to our conveniences. Then, how are we going to match that inherent cruelty of the human being, with a humanist apparent kindness, which serves only to please people on their selfish preferences? How is that? Evil fathers giving good gifts to their children! How can a source of brackish water well, at the same time, fresh water?
It seems inconsistency to talk about evil people giving good gifts, since the Bible shows the result of the species as an essential part of their nature. Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree can not bear bad fruit, and a bad tree can not bear good fruit Mathew 7: 17-18.
If a bad tree can bear good fruit, how can an evil person give good gifts? Is it possible, is it inconsistency? First, we need to analyze the natural kindness and kindness conditional. And then, after, let’s analyze the fruits and the gifts. The human kindness is a relative relational affection and conditional, while the God’s kindness is inherent in his being, totally absolute and unconditional. Only God is good in his essence, and He is really good in his manifestations. Every good and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1: 17. Aba is invariably good, even when He punish us.
God is good and the fruit or the result of his being is his unchangeable goodness.He is inherently good and his gifts are good, even when, to our eyes, they look bad.The God’s justice is good and perfect although it leads us to the hell.
God is as righteous as good, both in the salvation of the sinner and the condemnation of the unbeliever. He is good to bless the unworthy with his grace and good to condemn the arrogant with his justice.
God’s kindness is inherent to his being absolutely kind. Jean Jacque Rousseau said in his rationalism: "Everything is good when gets out of the Creator’s hands, everything degenerates in the men’s hands. As a good tree can only bear good fruits, so all essential kindness can only come from a source essentially good. Only God is good and only he can bear good works.
The human race defiled by sin, may even give good gifts to each other, according to their interests, but they will never produce good works themselves. All the things that God made are good, and because of my selfish desires, I can give the good things from God to someone that I want like a trophy and get some personal benefits. This is a kind of convenient kindness to my egocentric or individualistic goals.
God is essentially good and only he can bear good works and give good gifts.
The human being is evil because of sin, for that reason they can’t bear good works, though they may give good gifts according to their desires and merits. Bertolt Brecht insisted: "Woe of us that try to build the foundation of kindness! We can not be good!"
An evil person knows how to give good gifts but can not bear good works. A tree that triggered the sin was the tree of the good and evil. The sinner knows how to distinguish good and evil and know how to give good and bad things to others, they only are not able to produce good works, considering only God is good. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. Luke 6: 44.
Adam was made good by his creator, but became an evil person in consequence of sin. The Adam race is evil in his sinful nature, so it has to be deconstructed by the Jesus cross, to be rebuilt in Jesus resurrection in newness of life. Make a tree good and its fruit will be good; or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. Mathew 12: 33.
Without the deconstruction of the old Adam there will not be a new man bearing good fruit.
The Lord Jesus was emphatic with his spiritual garden. For Him, there’s no alternative in dealing with the old nature.
Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Mathew 15: 13. The bad plant must be pulled up by the roots from our garden, like the evil nature of sin needs to be extracted from our lives with God. Without the death of the old man it’s not possible the birth of the new man. Among the caterpillar and the butterfly there is a metamorphosis.
Baptist John knew very well how to resolve this matter from edenic agriculture. Well, if the problem is in the root of the plant, consecutively, we just need to cut right in its root to solve the problem. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into fire. Mathew 3: 10. Pruning must be radical.
The old man never will produce good works. The adamic man is deprived of healthy fruits of kindliness. Never compare your fruit of kindness with the other human being’s fruit, but only with the True Vine. In this case, no human fruit is good in essence.
The good works in the human species depend on the radical pruning and of his graft in the True Vine. I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me, and I in him, he will bear much more fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing, John 15: 5. Only God is really good and only the man being grafted in Christ will be capable to bear divine good works.
The first man, Adam, was crucified in the last Adam, Jesus Christ, there in the cross, and we were also, crucified together with them. The second man, Jesus Christ, gave us his life in the resurrection among the dead, for us to produce good works that The Father has prepared from eternity, in order to we walk in them. For we are workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advanced for us to do. Ephesians 2: 10
The natural man practices the works from his own justice, and sometimes, they appear decorated with good gifts, however, only the spiritual man, the new born from the grace of Christ can produce good works coming from God’s nature. The good tree bears good fruits.
So, the new born should always be seen producing good works, but never will produce good works to be seen. This is one of the signs of authenticity of good works, which can never be disrespected. In the same way, let your light shine, before men. That they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Mathew 5: 16. The glory belongs only to the Father. Halleluiah, Amen.