The Lord's Prayer

A Bible study on the true meaning of the Lord's Prayer. A crucial interpretation unknown to most churches and people!

CONTENT

The Lord's Prayer Is Severely Misunderstood
What Does "Believe In Jesus" Really Mean?
Why didn't Paul Preach the Lord's Prayer?
We're Good People, What Sins?
Biblical Sin-Redemption Chronology
Christianity & Judaism - A Parallel
Was Jesus' Teaching only for the Jews, and Paul's for the Gentiles?

1. The Lord's Prayer Is Severely Misunderstood

Churches and theologians went in all kinds of wrong directions mis-interpreting the Lord's Prayer. The most essential part of God's new covenant has been ignored and destroyed over the years by completely missing the meaning! In this page I provide strong biblical references showing how precious every word in this prayer is, examples:

The daily Bread - is the "Bread of life" that God gives, for the forgiveness of sins.
"As we forgive those who trespass against us" - God means it! If we don't forgive, He won't forgive us!
"Your kingdom come" - means "give us the Holy Spirit".

1.1 The Daily Bread of Life

We need the spiritual Bread of Life daily to always remain righteous in the eyes of God, receive His blessings, and truly be saved!

Question: Why did Jesus tell us to pray His prayer for the forgiveness of our sins daily? If we're covered by the blood, saved by grace, born again, and predestined, nothing else to do, why did He say to ask God the Father for the forgiveness of our sins every day?

Answer: Our sins are only forgiven on a daily basis and when asked properly as Jesus commanded. Covered by the blood, saved by grace, and predestined, are only true if we've been praying the Lord's Prayer daily.

No blanket forgiveness for life! Yes Jesus paid the price once and for all, which meant no more sacrifices needed. But asking God for forgiveness of sins is still required daily, according to Jesus.

1 John‬ ‭2:4‬

“The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and yet doesn’t keep His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

The Lord's Prayer, from the Bible:

Matthew 6:9-13

Jesus said: This then, is how you should pray:

Our Father who are in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily Bread and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Three main problems with Christians and churches today:

Most think the "bread" is our earthly needs. It's not! The "Bread" is the spiritual Bread of life, for the forgiveness of sins. John 6:32 Jesus: "...my Father gives you the true Bread from heaven."
Most are not praying the Lord's Prayer "daily" as Jesus commanded, "Give us this day our daily Bread". The Bible says God renews us day by day. And He also desires to hear from us daily, and properly.
Protestants think this page is a Catholic thing and doesn't concern them. I want to cry! So many are lost! Protestant theologians explained this as, "Jesus meant it only for the Jewish people". But they missed this verse from Jesus, Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, ... and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. "Go to all nations and teach them everything I commanded you!" But Protestant churches cannot obey this verse. Because to pray the Lord's Prayer daily would be contradicting to their "by faith alone" theology!!

This part is 1 sentence, not 2:

“Give us this day our daily Bread and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

There was no punctuation in the original Aramaic Bible version. Verse-numbering and punctuation were added later. And in this case, they were done based on the "bread" = earthly needs.

The forgiveness of sins is the result of receiving the Bread for that day!!! The Bread is Jesus Himself - the spiritual Bread of life that God gives:

John 6:32-35:

32 Jesus: "...my Father gives you the true Bread from heaven.

33 For the bread of God is the Bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this Bread.”

35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the Bread of life..."

If you're not praying this prayer with the Bread meaning the spiritual Bread of life for the forgiveness of sins, then you're just asking God for lunch! And you remain in your sins!

Jesus, God Himself in the flesh, comes to earth and walks among us, the grandest event in the history of humankind, and He teaches us how to pray for food?!! As in we didn't know how to ask God for food; He had to show us?!! And then most people ignored it as, "Jesus is showing us how to be humble and just ask for the basic necessities of life..." So most people and churches are not praying this prayer! Even the Catholic church, although they recite it in their sermon, would not acknowledge "the bread" = "the Bread of life". Obviously because, it makes it a DIY version of their Eucharist. Which would belittle their bishops' and priests' roles - if people can receive the Bread of life at home by directly praying to God, then they won't come to church and donate!

Covered by the blood, saved by grace, predestined, and born again, are only true if we've been praying the Lord's Prayer daily.

The Lord's Prayer daily is one of Jesus' commands. John 14:15: If you love me, keep my commands.

Jesus word-smithed the words in the Lord's Prayer perfectly. Which is consistent with what God did throughout history:

After the fall God was the One that taught Adam and Eve how to present a sacrifice fitting to Him so He could forgive their sins.
God was the One that crafted the Leviticus law to Moses that had to be executed precisely for the daily forgiveness of sins.
And finally God was the One that word-smithed the Lord’s Prayer for the daily forgiveness of sins.

The Lord's Prayer prayed once a day is not a repetitive "babbling on" prayer. Look at what Jesus said:

Matthew 6:7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.

Those who tell you this are still trying to defend their theology of not praying the Lord's Prayer!! This format of the Lord’s Prayer once a day, is 100% consistent with God’s previous plan for the Jews, which was animal sacrifices every day, which they also had to eat for the forgiveness of their sins. For thousands of years, every day, God had them repeat this same process daily. For what? For the forgiveness of their sins. And they did it! Without complaining!! And now, for us, Jesus' sacrifice is final; no more daily sacrifices, instead we have the same daily prayer.

Jesus said in the Bible (not me), that His sacrifice turned into a Bread of life that we ask for daily. Then how did the people of today receive this amazing news? They don't want it! I keep getting emails from people complaining about it!! - "Do I have to keep saying the same words every day?!" and "Are you basing your whole website on the Lord's Prayer? Really?" Listen to me. God in the Bible is basing His whole redemption plan on the Lord's Prayer!! and I clarify accordingly!! I hear His words and I explain them, to those who have ears that hear.

Note, this clarification has nothing to do with the Catholic church Eucharist. The Catholic church confused people about this whole subject, monopolized the Bread of life, and made it a requirement to come to church to receive it through their Eucharist to boost donations. But Jesus offered it freely in His prayer! You don't need to chew on anything.

The Eucharist was meant as a "commemoration" of the Lord's last supper, NOT THE required steps for forgiveness of sins! Paul clarifies this throughout 1 & 2 Corinthians, and specifically in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34.

1.1.1 So how Exactly do we Receive this "Bread of life"?

It is not actual bread to chew on, it is a spiritual Bread representing the physical suffering and death of Jesus' on the cross on our behalf. It is this part: "substitutionary death on our behalf" that mandates eating the "Bread of life" daily in order to receive the Holy Spirit daily - John 6:53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. We receive this Bread when we genuinely pray the Lord's Prayer and mean it correctly - when we mean it in our hearts that the Bread is indeed the "Bread of life", Jesus Himself for our forgiveness. This will "renew us day by day" 2 Corinthians 4:16. Which is the same way God commanded the Jewish priests, in the old covenant, to eat the sacrifice daily for the forgiveness of the people's sins. See my page on Christianity & Judaism - A Parallel.

The Lord's Prayer is at the center of God's redemption plan through Jesus. It is the final and simplest covenant spiritual-obligation outcome of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross as compared to the previous old-covenant of hundreds of ceremonial commandments required daily to accomplish the same.

1.1.2 Other Confusions about the Daily Bread

Some say, "Jesus gave them this prayer before He died on the cross. So the "bread" couldn't possibly be His body at that point." Well, look closer. John Chapter 6, for example, the 2nd half of that chapter is all about Jesus telling people that they needed to eat His flesh and drink His blood in order to be saved. And that was Jesus before He died. There is no before and after for God; He is "I Am". Sits outside of time.

Others say the "bread" means both earthly needs and spiritual needs. No it does not; trying to include more meanings into it, as in, one of them will hit it right, shows lack of knowledge of God! Only one meaning - the Bread is the body of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus always used the word "Bread" to mean His flesh. He would never instruct us to pray for earthly bread. Examples, in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:31-33: “...don’t worry about earthly needs, but seek God first…”. And in John 6:26-27: "... Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you...". Also see all the Biblical references below, in this section.

And others say, "what's the difference? as long as we pray the prayer." There is a huge difference! Our spiritual communication with God is about what we mean. The words are meaningless unless we mean what they are in our hearts. Then others may say, "He didn't mean for us to use those exact words." Why would we change them? They look perfect to me; that prayer is perfectly complete in every way. I wouldn't change anything in it. If we put our human touch on it, we would certainly destroy it!

I hear some saying, "this prayer was given to the Jews; because Jesus and His disciples were Jews." True, but that was Christianity creation in progress. All of Jesus Christ's teachings are the basis for today's Christianity. See my page on Jesus for Jews & Paul for Gentiles?

1.2 Must Forgive Others - The Lord's Prayer Comes with a Condition

More evidence that lip-service faith is not it. If we don't forgive others, God WILL NOT forgive us our sins!! Jesus did not just casually tell us to pray His prayer, he went on stressing that if we don't forgive others then God would not forgive us. Implying that the Bread of life would be withheld even if praying the Lord's Prayer daily! The prayer specifically says to forgive others, then Jesus re-stressed it in this verse:

Matthew 6:14-15

For if you forgive other people when they trespass against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Notes: Only one condition - we must forgive others!! Notice how loving our God is! He did not give us harsh conditions like "refrain from this or that!" He just wanted us to forgive others. Of course, He wants us to repent of our sins and He will forgive us, but He singled-out this one common human behavior as a non-negotiable condition. Every day we're not forgiven, we distance ourselves from God. And when we distance ourselves from God, we will not receive His blessings. The longer we go without forgiveness, the worse it gets.

No wonder there is no peace on earth! All we have today is Christianity people's way, not God's way!!

Why would anyone want to pray to Mary and other humans? Why is this prayer not preached in churches today? Why do we ignore Jesus, OUR GOD, and not pray it daily?

1.3 The Overlooked Commandment

God in His infinite wisdom did not give us a simple fully explained Bible, short and to the point, written in precise chronology etc. Instead, He kept it gray - Jesus spoke in parables giving hints of what He meant without giving the full message. Old Testament prophets embedded crucial messages within long chapters of prophesying. Example Isaiah would include 2 sentences about the Messiah in a completely unrelated paragraph (example, they pierced His hands). God chose to make us work for it:

Proverbs 8:17

I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

And Jesus gave us enough hints to interpret the Lord's Prayer properly!! We must forget the years of church brainwashing. Set that aside for a moment and look close at all the powerful Bible references I provided here. Your church did not go there because it contradicts their theology!! Act wisely before you send yourself to hell.

Jesus commanded us to pray this prayer daily as God's new covenant. It does not matter when He did it or to whom He gave it. This is GOD! telling us what to do to be reconciled with Him on a daily basis, and truly be saved!!

1.4 Your Kingdom Come

"Your Kingdom Come" = "Give Us the Holy Spirit"

God gives us the Holy Spirit on a daily basis! Before you frown on this because your church does not explain it this way, take a moment to look at the strong Bible references I provide here.

Jesus explained it a few verses after the Lord's Prayer in Luke 11:2-4:

Luke 11:13

Jesus said: "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 the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

Notes: So, God is giving the Holy Spirit, “to those who ask Him”. This is how we become filled with the Holy Spirit; it's daily!! And only when we ask!!! No wonder no one is filled with the Holy Spirit anymore!

2 Corinthians 4:16

Paul said: …our inner person is being renewed day by day.

Notes: "Our inner person" is the Holy Spirit!! We receive Him day by day!! How? By praying to God and asking for Him, daily!

This also correlates with the "deliver us from evil" part at the end, which makes the entirety of the Lord's Prayer as saying - don't let evil find room in us, but instead fill us with the Holy Spirit. God chose to do this on a "daily" basis.

Here is another reference where Jesus refers to the "Kingdom of God" with 2 meanings - (1) "as something to receive" and (2) "as a place to enter":

‭‭Luke‬ ‭18‬:‭17‬

“Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.””

Jesus explained the term "Kingdom of God" in several different situations, contexts, and parables. So yes, it is not a simple term with a simple meaning. Jesus gave several parables explaining it. One of those meanings was always when He Himself was there - He would say, "the Kingdom of God has come near." So, the Kingdom of God can also be used to mean any of the 3 persons of God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, either in unison or individually. Example in this verse when He sent the 72, filled with the Holy Spirit, to perform miracles and drive out demons:

Luke 10:8-9

“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.'

The Holy Spirit - one of His roles as revealed to us, is to reside in bodies as a representation of God within us. Jesus used this exact meaning of "Kingdom of God" = "the Holy Spirit" within us, here:

Luke 17:20-21

Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, 'See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.

1.5 Lead Us Not Into Temptation

We ask You not to test us by leading us into temptation, which may cause us to ignore the Holy Spirit and allow worldly spirits in instead.

God may choose to test us, by "leading us into temptation". Our life on earth is test ground for God. He started testing people all the way back at Adam and Eve times. He put the tree there and led them into temptation. The devil in a snake form tempted them, and they failed; fell into his trap.

How do I know this is the meaning of this sentence? I diligently study the Bible. God even tempted His own Son. The strongest biblical evidence to the meaning of the term "lead us not into temptation" is here:

Matthew 4:1

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

If you read the rest of Matthew chapter 4, you'll see the devil luring Jesus into all kinds of earthly temptations for agreeing to worshiping him. Very similar to the Adam and Eve story. This was God, "the Spirit", "leading Jesus into temptation!" - So "a Holy God does not lead people into temptation?" Think again, He does. If He did it to His own Son, He'll do it to you. Jesus did not fall in the devil's trap, but we likely would! So pray that God does not lead you into temptation.

According to this sentence in the Lord's Prayer, it seems that if we genuinely ask God not to lead us into temptation, that He may not. Trust me you don't want God to lead you into temptation! The devil is capable of spiritually destroying even the best of us.

Temptation = the temptation to leave God and join the world and its ungodly ways.

Everybody connects this with sins of the flesh, that is not correct. According to the Bible, it is about the temptations of leaving God and joining the devil, usually unintentionally or without knowing it. It is about temptations of ignoring the Holy Spirit and making room for the worldly spirits, which may eventually lead to atheism. Another reason for this meaning is because "but deliver us from evil" comes right after this.

God is not majorly concerned with our sins of the flesh because as long as we stay with Him, He can forgive us those. He is most concerned about us leaving Him, example, eventually becoming Atheist. If we start slowly wandering into the evil ways of this world - riches and worries of life, and the social media influence of today. A person can deteriorate into leaving God eventually. This is the major concern of God. He gives us a 100-year lifespan to choose to converge on Him, not diverge away.

Jesus used the term "fall into temptation" in another place, which helps us understand the meaning better.

Matthew 26:40-41

Then He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” He asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation...”

Obviously, Jesus here did not instruct Peter to guard from temptation of sins of the flesh. He asked him to keep praying to remain 100% focused on God in this crucial hour Jesus was going through. However, they did fall into temptation later; Peter for example giving into the worldly scene around him, denied Jesus 3 times shortly after!

This is why we renew our pledge to God daily in this part of the prayer, mainly to also remind ourselves of where we stand - with God. Summarizing in other words, this term means: "help us stay away from the spiritual temptation of ignoring the Holy Spirit and getting lost in worldly things."

Some so called "Bible scholars" like to get into long pages about the philosophies of "a Holy God does not 'lead' people into evil ..." Stay away from that. The meaning of the prayer is mostly understood now. Just remember that not all difficult parts in the Bible are answered. This does not mean that it's ok for us to get into super speculative mode of trying to answer when God did not make it clear. We have to remember that we seek Him and learn about Him. And He promised to show more of Himself to us. So, let's keep doing that, and not get ahead of ourselves with speculations.

1.6 The Complete Lord's Prayer Explanation Summary

Our Father who are in heaven:

Getting God's attention with a respectful parental term of endearment.

Hollowed be Your Name:

May Your name always be Holy and respected.

Your Kingdom come:

Give us the Holy Spirit to reside within us. (Interpretation unknown to most)

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven:

We submit to your will.

Give us this day our daily Bread and forgive us our sins:

Give us our daily "Bread of Life" for the forgiveness of sins, so we "wash our robes" and become "righteous." (Interpretation unknown to most)

As we forgive those who trespass against us:

Acknowledging that unless we forgive others, we would not be forgiven. Meaning we would not become "righteous" for that day and would not receive the Holy Spirit. (Interpretation unknown to most)

Lead us not into temptation:

We ask You not to test us by leading us into temptation, which may cause us to ignore the Holy Spirit and allow worldly spirits in instead. (Interpretation unknown to most)

But deliver us from evil:

Keep evil away from us. Don't let it find room in us, or grab hold within us, but instead fill us with the Holy Spirit.

So you want to use your own wording?

And thinking, "Surely God did not want us to recite these exact same words every day?":

As you can see in the summary above, the prayer is loaded with precious meanings directed to God. Every word in this prayer is perfectly word-smithed by Jesus, so that "He remains in us and we remain in Him". Without these exact prayer-words we'd be leaves on the Vine that wither and die (spiritually), as Jesus explained in His parable. We need to learn that Christianity is not "be creative" and "anything goes". God demands respect. He commanded to pray this prayer. You ignore it and get creative, shows arrogance - makes you the opposite of the humble person God is interested in.

Which of the words do you want to modify? Or find synonyms for and say differently?

Or which part of the prayer do you want to omit today? You see, you cannot receive God's Kingdom (the Holy Spirit) for today, unless your sins have been forgiven through the Bread of life?

And you will not be forgiven of your sins unless you forgive others!

How do YOU prefer to say it? Anything you answer this question with, will make you an arrogant person not genuinely seeking God. But rather seeking to look sophisticated and different, so people admire you. The focus is on God, not on you! And God loves the prayer exactly as it is.

We need not think of this prayer as a legal requirement, as in the law of Moses. It is rather a "pure love" prayer, and "proper worship" directed to our heavenly Father. It is the minimum we should do, springing from within as a true believer, to obey Jesus' commands.

1.7 Closing Notes

This is a pivotal change in the way the Lord's Prayer has been taught. It now takes on a whole different meaning - we spiritually receive the Bread of life when we ask for it daily, so He remains in us and we remain in Him John 15:5, renewed day by day 2Corinthians 4:16, and we all share the one loaf 1Corinthians‬ ‭10:17. With this understanding putting us back on track with God, so many other verses in the New Testament fit perfectly. All we have to do is say this prayer in our hearts once a day, then we will spiritually receive the "daily Bread of life", become blessed in our life on earth, and saved to eternal life. It is spiritual sustenance.

Churches went down all kinds of wrong paths and missed this most important command from Jesus. They chose instead to pray to Mary, do-nothing "by faith alone", or God already mysteriously picked people!! It's going to be a while before people realize the significance of this Bread-meaning correction. It is going to rattle the foundations of many churches of today, both Catholic and Protestant. Hundreds of years of false teaching on the Lord's Prayer subject. Hundreds of years of telling people anything and everything except pray the Lord's Prayer daily. How could we have possibly missed this? Christian theology colleges and hundreds of years of studying and preaching in churches. But no one saw this? The Bible references shown below, are not hard to find. What are people studying in those Seminary colleges, and in Catholic theology schools? This prayer is the very heart of God's redemption plan through Jesus!!

Are you thinking "this interpretation of the Lord's Prayer can't possibly be right; could it possibly be that churches and millions of people have missed this truth for hundreds of years?" Yes, it is very possible. Don't look at people around you; look at God in the Bible. It is not about how many intelligent people were involved. The question is, who had wisdom from God? Here is a nice, related story about Elijah in this link on my website. And also consider this reference:

Matthew 7:13-4

13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Notes: What is the "narrow gate that leads to life"? It means only a small percentage of people are truly seeking God, and will make it into heaven. Are you in that number? Don't be angry with me for pointing this out. All I'm doing is poke everybody to look again. Herd mentality is the "wide gate", it is not the way to God.

1.8 Bible references supporting this clarification of the "daily Bread"

“Bread” = "Bread of life" = "Jesus Himself"

1 Corinthians‬ ‭10:17
Paul said: …there is one loaf… we all share the one loaf.

2 Corinthians 4:16
Paul said: …our inner person is being renewed day by day.

Notes: "Our inner person" is the Holy Spirit!!

Paul did not reference the Lord's Prayer verbatim because the New Testament was not written yet in his days, but he alluded to it in these 2 verses above.

I reluctantly highlighted the above verses from Paul; I know some would not accept it unless Paul said it. So sad that people allowed their protestant church to brainwash them like this. Don't they know that Jesus is God and Paul is His apostle? And not the other way around?!!

John 6:57
Jesus: …the one who “feeds” on me…

Notes: Using the term “feeds” implying continual. As in [… give us this day our daily Bread…]

John 6:32-33, John 6:51

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.” “For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

Notes: "my Father gives you the true bread from heaven." and "The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh", the world, not just to His Jewish disciples!

John 15:5
Jesus said: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

Notes: The branch is continually nourished by the Vine. Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. Without the Lord’s Prayer daily, a branch will wither and die.

Luke 11:13

Jesus said: "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 the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

Notes: Jesus said this right after he taught them His prayer, in Luke 11:2-4. So God is giving the Holy Spirit, “to those who ask Him”. And note also, Jesus is clarifying here that by renewing yourself (daily through His prayer and as in 2 Cor 4:16), you’ll make-way to receive the Holy Spirit. This is how we become filled with the Holy Spirit; it's daily!! No wonder no one is anymore! See my page on What Does "Believe in Jesus" Really Mean?

John 6:26-27

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

Notes: Jesus said this after they had been looking for Him all day because they were hungry, then found Him. Another big evidence that the "earthly bread", is not it in the Lord's prayer.

John 6

(The entire second half of Chapter 6 from John is all about this. And this was before His death on the cross. Example verses here.)

"51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” 52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me."

Notes: The Jews did not get it then. Jesus knowing they did not get it, kept drilling it in with more of actual eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood throughout the chapter. And today you'd think we got it! But most churches and people still don't understand it. At best some churches just call it: "basically He died for our sins..." or some other high-level statement like that to shut those who keep asking. But no one knew to link it to the "daily Bread" in the Lord's prayer! You see, God requires that we eat the sacrifice in order to be forgiven - see my page on Christianity & Judaism - A parallel. Jesus said, "real flesh" and "real blood", meaning representing His physical suffering and death, which then became "the Bread of life" that we eat when we pray the Lord's Prayer and mean it correctly. Which is our daily spiritual requirement that provides our continuous feeding on Him (John 6:57). And keeping Him in us, and us in Him (John 15:4). And no this does not mean go to the nearest Catholic church to chew on their Eucharist bread; it is spiritual - we receive the Bread when we genuinely pray the Lord's Prayer in our hearts. As Paul explained in 1 Corinthians 11, churches can do a commemoration of the Lord's last supper, not to be viewed as the way to forgiveness of sins. The Lord's Prayer daily renewal is the way.

If you can't understand what Jesus said in John chapter 6, and you can't follow this explanation of it, then you're not capable of true Christian faith. This is so big, a crucial Biblical scripture that now has become correctly interpreted, not to be taken lightly.

Luke 22:19-20

19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

Notes: Jesus did this only one time with his disciples using Bread and Wine to symbolize His Flesh and Blood. But He did not instruct them to go do the same themselves with people. Nowhere in the Bible did it even hint or imply that they should. They are not Jesus. For us (the whole world), Jesus gave His prayer representing the "remembrance of Him". The Catholic Eucharist is another questionable unbiblical maneuver to bring people inside church buildings, so they donate to the church.

The above references in John, Matthew, and Luke were all before Jesus' death on the cross. So, Jesus before the cross was clearly already using the term "Bread" to mean His body in all these references, and therefore also in His Prayer.

1.8.1 Other Supporting Notes on The Lord's Prayer

If you examine the original Aramaic version of this prayer, you’ll find two important facts:

1. No punctuation. Punctuation was added later in the translation. And in this case, the translators thinking that the bread is earthly food, did not capture the right meaning and made an error by adding a period between “…daily Bread” and “and forgive us…” There should be no punctuation there. Not because I said so, but because of all the Bible references above that support this.

2. There are different words that people use for "sin" (e.g., debts, trespasses), but "sin" is the word that should be used when referring to God. We trespass against humans, but we “sin” against God! "Trespasses" and "debts" are soft words that lessen the significance of the offense, but when it comes to God, it is a deadly offense; proper word for it is “sins”. Jesus used the word “sins” throughout the scripture, not “trespasses” (example in John 9:41). So it’s not “… forgive us our trespasses…” It is “… forgive us our sins…”

2. What Does "Believe In Jesus" Really Mean?

It means believe in everything He said.

It means learn His commands and keep them!

1 John‬ ‭2:4‬

“The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and yet doesn’t keep His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

John 14:15-16

[Jesus:] “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever

Notes: If you are only following the "high-level" verses that Protestant churches preach, you are not saved!! You did not look at the details of how those "high-level" verses are accomplished! "Believe in His name and you shall be saved" is a loaded statement. You missed the details of "how to."

Notice Jesus said in John 14:15-16 above, only when we keep His commands, He will then ask the Father to give us " another advocate", the Holy Spirit!

Not everybody gets the Holy Spirit - we must keep His commands first!

Who is keeping Jesus' commands today? And who therefore has the Holy Spirit? People are going by "faith alone" and not doing anything!! Just singing hymns in church!! So many good people are spiritually lost due to their church stubbornness. I'm extremely sad to the point of crying. And the rest of so called "christians" are even worse. Praying to Mary and saints, or "God already decided we have no say"!

Mark 16:17-18

Jesus said: "And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.”

John 14:12-14

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Before declaring belief in Jesus you have to learn what Jesus said. Do you know all what He said? Do you know all His commands, teachings, parables, and their meanings?

Otherwise, if you only believe in Jesus as in "the existence of Jesus as the son of God", then even the devil himself believes that much:

Mark 3:11

Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”

Mark 5:6-8

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”

Acts 19:15

But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?”

James 2:19

You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that— and shudder.

Notes: James here takes it a step further and mocks those who are giving lip-service declaration of belief.

If you're a lip-service believer, God has a verse just for you:

Matthew 15:8 ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.

What does believe in Jesus mean? Keep His commands. What are His commands? They're all spiritual and attitudinal; no "works of the flesh" commands. They're scattered throughout the New Testament. A number of them are in the Sermon on the Mount, examples seek God always, the Lord's Prayer, and the good-hearted shall see God... Then there were other commands embedded in His parables, which mostly reiterated the need to mature spiritually by continually increasing our knowledge of God, and make sure our sins are forgiven through receiving the daily Bread of life.

2.1 Some of Jesus' Commands:

Jesus' commands are all spiritual, no works of the flesh. Here are some of them:

Seek God and His righteousness. Matthew 6:33. God and His ways and personality are in the Bible. He shines through both the New and Old Testaments. We can learn so much about Him by reading the scripture, including the parts contradicting to your Church's theology!!

The Lord's Prayer. Matthew 6:9-13. Prayed daily to receive the daily Bread of life for forgiveness, receive the Holy Spirit, and remain "Righteous" in the eyes of God.

Forgive others so God forgives you. Matthew 6:12. This one was stressed several times by Jesus. It is in the Lord's Prayer, and Jesus kept stressing it further in several other parts of the New Testament. The key message is, don't expect to receive God's blessings and salvation if you're holding hate and grudge against any other human. God sees our innermost self - Forgive them all!

Become born again in the spirit. Baptists, Evangelicals, and the rest of the protestants only follow this command and ignore the rest of this list!

Continue to mature spiritually or face spiritual death. Many parables from Jesus explain this clearly, examples, John 15:6 "branches that wither and die", Luke 13:6 "cut the fig tree down", and Matthew 25:30 "cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness".

Enter through the narrow gate... Matthew 7:13-14.

Love God and all people on earth including your enemies. Matthew 22:34-40 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Don't be hypocrites - Example shooting arrows at abortion doctors and homosexuals, ignoring how big of sinner you yourself are!! God knows the hearts. Matthew 7:4-5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

The good-hearted shall see God. Matthew 5:8

2.2 And Here is What "Believe in Jesus" Does Not Mean:

It does not mean pray to Mary and saints. The whole Bible stresses to pray to God only!!
It does not mean God already mysteriously picked from the humans for His pleasure!! He gave us freedom to choose; He doesn't want robots!
It does not mean ignore Jesus' commands and directly skip to singing hymns, loud Christian music, and waving of hands. “By faith alone” still means you have to obey His commands!!

No, I'm not overreacting, and everything is not ok! Devil-worshippers drive latest model SUVs and live in nice homes too!! The question to ask in this post-Jesus time is, "will I be in the I-never-knew-you line at judgement?" I beg you to re-examine the scriptures, and not just rely on your church.

First, we learn and wholeheartedly keep Jesus' commands. Then this automatically equals to "we believe in Jesus". And so, the first obligation in translating this to our daily lives is, we should pray the daily prayer Jesus taught us, because He used this term "should" in Matthew 6:9 "this is how you should pray..." If he said "should" and I believe in Him, then I'm doing what He said. Then afterwards you can follow with your own prayer and wording. And remember, the "Bread" in the Lord's Prayer is the "spiritual Bread of life", not earthly needs.

To get to know Jesus and His teachings in the Bible before declaring belief, would be consistent with everything else we do in life. Example, we don't even commit to a spouse without spending months and years learning about them first! Of course we'd do this for our earthly needs. But spend time reading the Bible to know more about God, then truly believe? Is of no interest to many Christians. This is analogical to my other example, we'd read a thousand-page book if paid money for it, to meet our earthly needs, but not the Bible to gain eternal life. If you're just a herd follower, then you don't truly believe in Jesus. Because you haven't spent the time to learn about all His teachings. In this case you're only in it for the social aspect of it - doing what other people do; repeating what they all say - and because other people will respect you for it.

Going to church every Sunday and singing hymns is only the icing on the cake; you've ignored the cake and focused on the icing!

Or you may be in a Christian band, singing or writing songs titled something like "the blood of Jesus". Belonging to a big church with thousands of members, and making a lot of noise on Sundays... and thinking "what's this one guy here talking about?" Despite the grand picture you're in, the fact remains, unless you keep Jesus' commands, your sins are not forgiven. Again, what you're doing is icing on the cake; Jesus did not command any of this. He gave us simple commands like pray the Lord's Prayer daily and seek God always to keep learning about Him and mature spiritually. Are you doing these? If yes, you're on the right path. If no, you're not reconciled with God because you're doing things your way, not His way, not as He commanded. I'm not judging; I'm only pointing out God's view in relation to what I see going on in the Christian world today. Only He knows the hearts.

True Christianity is not "be creative" and "anything goes." First obey Jesus' commands. Then do your other creative fluff. You're ignoring Jesus' commands, the most essential part of salvation!

To "believe in someone" is not a casual statement. You need to know about this person before you can truly say you believe in them. In today's world, many get that knowledge from watching movies about the Bible. That knowledge is invalid; movies veer significantly from the truth in order to make a sensational, profit-producing product. Another method in today's world, is relying completely on churches, which only preach from certain parts of the Bible to keep it pleasing to people. The majority of Bible verses are unknown to people. Personal Bible reading is the only way to truly seek God. Look at all the new truths from the references in this website. Most churches don't talk about these! At a minimum, if you're staying with your church, which is not recommended, make sure to supplement with your personal Bible reading, and researching online. Focus on the cake first, then on the icing! It's your eternity at stake; do you trust anyone with that? Check things for yourself! I provide help in this area in my link How to Be True Christians.

Declaring belief in Jesus is the beginning of a relationship with Him; a journey of getting to know Him. It goes in this order:

1. Birth of the flesh - first birth.

2. Birth of the spirit - born-again.

3. Spiritual growth - maturing with more knowledge about God/Jesus

It is the 3rd item that most churches and people ignore. If you declare you believe in Jesus and then move on with your life, and just keep telling everybody "I'm covered by the blood", you're not!! Because all you know about Jesus is that sentence. The Bible says you're spiritually dead; did not mature in the knowledge of God, like one of these people in the verse below, "choked by life's worries, riches, and pleasures":

Luke 8:14

"The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature."

==>"they do not mature"<==

Spiritual maturity, is more of an attitude. Being a true born-again believer would result in interest springing from within for wanting to grow that relationship with God, by:

- Seeking God, through reading the scripture and gaining more wisdom and knowledge about Him; maturing spiritually.
- Worshiping Him daily (Jesus’ prayer daily)
- Respecting Him! Keep Jesus' commands
- Liking what He likes and hating what He hates.

- Forgive always. Truly forgive others. Leave no trace of hatred or grudge within you.

- Love all people, just as He loves all people, His children, His creation.

- Then after doing all the above, you can sing hymns and Christian music etc.

If you’re not doing these things, you're not maturing spiritually, your declaration of belief in God did not flourish. These things should spring from within; if you feel they’re a burden, or label them as "works" because they don't fit your lifestyle, then you're not cut-out for the Kingdom of God.

2.3 By Faith Alone?

By faith alone does not mean "do nothing"!

Faith in Jesus is not the same as faith in Santa Clause.

"By faith alone" meant no added works of the flesh. It is in the Bible but your church missed it:

‭‭Acts‬ ‭15‬:‭5‬-‭7‬, 15:11‬

“Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.” … Peter got up and addressed them: ... No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are…

So, "by faith alone" is not "do nothing" - Learning Jesus' commands and keeping them is not "works of the flesh"! Spiritual maturity is not "works", seeking God in the Bible is not "works", and praying the Lord's Prayer daily as He commanded is not "works"!

Paul introduced Jesus to the Gentiles. But Protestants ran with the intro as the whole message!!

Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭13‬-‭14‬

Paul: 13 “for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”
‭‭
Protestant churches and their people, MEMORIZED verse 13 but have no idea that verse 14 even existed!!

👉 How can they call on His name without knowing Him??!! Do they know His commands? No. Do they understand His parables? No. Their church convinced them these were meant for the Jews!!!

Romans 10:13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven...

The Bible is contradicting? No!!! You have to read the whole Bible to understand. You can't pick and choose your favorite verses and run with them! If anybody asks you this popular question, "what is your favorite verse in the Bible?" Start running the other way. No one understands!! No one knows God!! No one cares to seek Him!

Some may keep insisting that any action we do is "works". These are the "do nothing believers", likely brain-washed into it by their church. They site some high-level verses in the Bible, ignoring many elaborating detailed verses. And they point to stories from the Bible, example about the blind man in the village square and the woman who touched His robe, were healed by Jesus. The do-nothing believers point out that these 2 people likely never looked at scriptures etc., and yet Jesus healed them. Ok perfect example. But note in the culture of those days where there were no TVs, social media, or smart-devices, Jewish people spent their spare time gathered in a village location, telling stories about the day's important events, and reading in the scrolls. So most likely the blind man and the sick woman knew the old-testament bible really well, and heard the stories about Jesus' teachings and miracles, and "strongly" believed that He was the Messiah. So Jesus obviously saw their inside, and healed them. And in the case of the blind man, Jesus had more ramifications in mind to glorify God. He knew the blind man would talk about it in the temple square, and the rest of that story.

Now let's fast-forward to today. These so called do-nothing believers are likely not blind nor with a bad sickness. Instead they're likely healthy and with a lot of time and resources on their hands. But they insist on doing nothing.

A guy emailed me recently asking, how is it that the thief on the cross next to Jesus was saved instantly, and we have to go through a different process to be saved per my website? I answered, "that thief had minutes to live. He declared belief that Jesus was the Messiah and Jesus granted him salvation. Had the thief lived a full life, he would have been required to be renewed day by day like the rest of us." I did not hear back from him.

2.4 Are you a "Do Nothing" Believer?

Please stop the "do nothing", because you've become spiritually dead; "did not mature". A big difference between "Works of the flesh" and "Spiritual Activities":

Works: Is the works of the flesh, as in still trying to apply the Jewish law. Circumcision, animal sacrifices, refrain from certain foods, dress a certain way, do a lot of good deeds to offset the bad, etc.

Not works: Spiritual activities like seek God, read the Bible, and pray the Lord's Prayer daily.

Hosea 6:6

I don’t want your sacrifices - I want your love; I don’t want your offerings - I want you to know me

3. Why didn't Paul Preach the Lord's Prayer?

Because he did not have access to the details in the 4 books of the New Testament; they were not written yet. Although he did not mention it verbatim, Paul made indirect references to the Lord's Prayer. Examples:

2 Corinthians ‭4:16: ...we are renewed day by day.

1 Corinthians 10:17: …there is one loaf… we all share the one loaf.

In fact, many other specific teachings and parables from Jesus were not mentioned by Paul. But this did not mean those teachings were for the Jews only. Clearly Paul was given the high-level plan through the Holy Spirit. And therefore, his main objective was to introduce the gospel of Jesus to the gentiles. The concept of an invisible God with a redemption plan through a son named Jesus who died on the cross, was already very strange and unusual for these people to accept as they freshly came off their idol worshipping ways. In other words, the high-level explaining of God's plan was in itself a major job for Paul with all the interferences from Jews in the area and other gentiles opposing to Paul's message.

The 4 books of the New-Testament were not available to Paul. The Bible books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were written and published about 100 years after Paul died. So, he did not have any new-testament scripture to read, or reference. But filled with the Holy Spirit, he did the best he could to evangelize these regions, without Bibles. He had to stand up in each church and talk to people about the Gospel of Jesus, then rush to the next church. Here is an example of Paul at the church of Corinth; indicating he had no time to spare: "To this very hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are brutally treated, we are homeless." 1Corinthians 4:11. So reciting the whole New Testament to these churches, even if he did know all the words, would have been an impossibility due to shortage of time. Therefore, he had to keep it high-level. Paul, although had discussions with the disciples of Jesus about some subjects and debates going on at the time, he never saw the details of these 4 books because they weren't written yet.

Many public references confirm this - that the death of Paul was around 68 AD. The 4 books of the Bible were written after that, and became available to the public around 180 AD. This answers the question of "Why Paul did not mention the Lord's Prayer in his teachings." Then you may ask, "what about those early Christians in the days of Paul? They did not pray the Lord's Prayer daily?" Like everything else, God is consistent in His ways. In the same way He granted righteousness to Abraham for example, God understanding that it was a transitional period situation with limited access to scriptures, He likely granted those people the righteousness of Christ. This is not referenced anywhere in the Bible, but for those who study the Bible regularly and know God, we know His personality and His ways, and see this clearly; John 10:27, "My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me."

That was to be understood as an interim temporary arrangement for those early Christians. Not to be extended to today's Christians. Today we do have the whole Bible available to us. And the words of Jesus in the 4 Books of the New-Testament are very clear. I personally would look there first as most accurate message, as in, from the deity Jesus Himself. Then complementing info comes from the apostle Paul later.

Many protestants going by Paul's message as the one for us descendants of the gentiles, have missed the mark by a mile. They brush-off discrepancies between Jesus' message and Paul's as something like: "Jesus meant that for the Jews; Paul's message was for the gentiles who became Christians later..."! This is so dangerous on so many levels, disrespectful to God, and causing spiritual-death to so many people! Any church who preaches this, makes it no different than the Pharisees who crucified Jesus despite knowing He was the Messiah. All of Jesus teachings are for all people, not just the Jews. And Paul's teaching is a supplement to Jesus'.

In those days, Paul pressed hard the message of "by faith alone; not by works". This was because he was facing a difficult situation at the time, where the general public feeling was that some works of the flesh had to be done for the forgiveness of sins. Add to that the strong influence from the Jews, who kept poisoning the early church with their requirements. Example, you still have to be circumcised, you still have to refrain from eating certain foods, etc.. Paul kept drilling in the message of "NO, it is by faith alone; you don't need to do anything else in the flesh..." This is why we see this statement a lot "saved by faith alone, not by works..." in Paul's teaching. Then the Protestants got a hold of this, and translated it as: "No, it is by faith alone; you don't need to do anything else; nothing at all." And here we are today, after hundreds of years of producing "do nothing" Christians, people are brainwashed with the wrong message, and many are likely spiritually dead. It's not me saying, it's the Bible saying exactly this, here: Acts‬ ‭15‬:‭5‬-‭7‬, 15:11 “...the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.” … Peter got up and addressed them: ... No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are…

Paul introduced Jesus to the Gentiles. But Protestants ran with the intro as the whole message!!

Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭13‬-‭14‬

👉 How can they call on His name without knowing Him??!! Do they know His commands? No. Do they understand His parables? No. Their church convinced them these were meant for the Jews!!!

Romans 10:13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven...

People need to be vigilant about this, and stop blindly following their church's instructions of "do-nothing", or Catholics encouraging their members to pray to dead humans. Examine the facts in the Bible, and research online for yourselves, including this website. And know the difference between the "works of the flesh" and "spiritual requirements". Let's not mix up the two. We're talking about our eternity. Please take the time to examine all the facts and Bible references.

4. We're Good People, What Sins?

Bible terms:

"Wicked" - refers to the person whose sins have not been forgiven.

"Righteous" - refers to the person whose sins have been forgiven.

Even in unlikely extreme cases, you could be the best person on earth, but if your sins are not forgiven, then in the eyes of God you are "wicked".

Or you could be the worst person on earth, but if your sins are forgiven, then in the eyes of God you are "righteous".

The above statements are from many verses in the Bible. Examples:

"Wicked" example:

Psalm 10:4

In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek Him.

"Righteous" example:

Matthew 5:20 Jesus: "For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

The Jewish scribes and Pharisees were the role models in perfection and living sinless all their lives. But Jesus told them it's not good enough!! He said we need to exceed that level of sinless perfection! How do we achieve that? We do, by having our sins forgiven through the daily praying of the Lord's Prayer.

4.1 We're All Equally Sinners and in Need of a Redemption Plan to Reconcile with God

You may ask, "but if one is the best person on earth, how can he also be a sinner?" Being the best person on earth doesn't automatically mean the best person in the eyes of God. There are sins that became accepted in today's cultures, but are offensive to God. And there are inner sins that only God sees.

Matthew 5:28

Jesus: But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

1 John 1:8-10

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."

Since before the foundations of the world, the main objective of God has always been to provide a redemption plan for our sins. This was the reason for the Jewish and Christian religions (old-testament and new-testament)!

It is all about the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins is the main pillar of our Christian faith. It was the only reason for Jesus' miserable suffering and death on the cross. Without it there is no relationship with God.

It is very clear throughout the scripture that God’s main focus was always on providing a solution for sins. Because it is the only way to reconcile us to Him; without it we're all doomed to hell. He knew this since before creation, then devised His plan and executed it perfectly throughout history. What was the whole purpose of the Jewish religion and the Mosaic law? Redemption (old covenant). What was the main purpose of the coming of Jesus and dying on the cross? Redemption (new covenant). He chose to do it in two parts over time like this; we may not have all the answers as to why, but we trust His infinite wisdom.

Many Christians today are thinking, we’re good people, never hurt anyone, keeping to ourselves… what sins do we need forgiven? But the reality is, we all start sinning the moment we wake up in the morning. The brain takes us in all kinds of directions:

Mark 7:21-23

For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

Matthew 5:28

But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Notes: In today's world, movies, TV shows, social media, are all filled with images causing people to sin. All sexual immorality is sin. Just because the world made it norm, doesn't mean God accepted it!

The Bible says we are sinners by nature, ever since the fall of Adam and Eve. So Christians and non-Christians, all sin. But for true-Christians, as long as they genuinely repent, always seek God in the Bible, and pray the Lord's Prayer daily (Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke11:2-4), they remain in Jesus, and Jesus remains in them. And those Christians remain belonging to Jesus:

John 15:4

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

But if a person keeps on sinning without praying the Lord's Prayer, eventually God gives up on her/him. This person would become spiritually dead, equivalent to atheists and the likes. Then this person becomes "wicked" in the eyes of God.

Isaiah 57:21

“There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

Today's world is full of unbelievers, sadly including so called "christians", who's sins have not been forgiven, called "wicked" by God. And therefore, no peace on earth. And getting worse as time goes by and more and more are staying in churches with evil theologies, or leaving churches and becoming atheists. The Bible says it will continue in this direction until the "abomination of desolation" happens. This term is mentioned in many places in the Bible; it is related to the anti-Christ. See my link on End Times.

5. Biblical Sin-Redemption Chronology

God's main focus had always been on providing a solution for our sins, so He could reconcile us to Him. Thus His redemption plans:

- Old covenant - Jewish - Animal sacrifices & other offerings.

- New covenant - Christian - Jesus the Christ, perfect and final sacrifice.

Both covenants provided a substitutionary method for our salvation. God made it clear throughout the Bible that the person that sins must die. God in His nature cannot be a Holy God without this requirement being met. So He devised a substitutionary plan to keep people from death when they sinned. It's a substitutionary redemption plan. In the old covenant, a perfect unblemished animal had to be killed in place of the human that sinned. Before you start complaining about killing animals, note that the sacrificed animals provided food for the Jewish priests and their families. This substitutionary redemption started with a provisional implementation using animals as substitution. Then later the final substitution plan came through the death of Jesus the only perfect sinless human. God Himself provided the way for us to reconcile with Him. The prophet Isaiah prophesied this thousands of years before the coming of Christ:

Isaiah 59:16

He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.

5.1 Summarizing from the Bible, with focus on the sin-redemption parts:

Adam & Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob - Animal sacrifices & other offerings.
Moses - Animal sacrifices and other offerings; the Law defined on tablets.
Jesus - The perfect sacrifice on the cross - The Lord's Prayer daily to receive the Bread of life.

In the old covenant, God started His sin-redemption drive with Adam and Eve after they were expelled from the Garden. He showed them how to present animal sacrifices to Him for the forgiveness of their sins, then made clothes for them from the sacrificed animal skins. Genesis 3:21, The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Implying that animals had to be killed instead of them, as sacrifices for the forgiveness of their sins. That was when the provisional redemption plan started, and lasted until Jesus came, who provided the real and final redemption plan.

The old-covenant endured all the way through the days of Noah, Abraham, and Jacob. Then God further legalized it by giving Moses more specific and detailed instructions on how to present sacrifices as a substitution for all types of sins. Hundreds of commandments, that Moses documented in the old-testament books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. This was the official proxy provisional law of God in preparation for the final covenant through the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Jesus came, and died on our behalf once and for all. And eliminated the need for old-covenant sacrifices etc... Then, only 10 commandments remained because Jesus' death fulfilled the rest of them. And now we live in the new-covenant with God, as described in the New-Testament books of the Bible. We, Christians view the Old Testament as the first part of Christian history. Although the Old-Testament is actually the Tora, the book of the law for the Jews, we consider it as a part of the Christian Bible. Jesus Himself often referenced scripture from the Old-Testament. The Old Testament is also filled with stories that teach us about God's personality and His ways of dealing with people.

6. Christianity & Judaism - A Parallel

God's personality and ways of dealing with His people have been very consistent throughout history, from the Jewish days to the Christian days. Aside from the fact that Jesus fulfilled the old covenant law, there are clear parallels in God's ways that carried over to the new covenant. The Biblical facts pointing to this parallel between the Jewish and Christian covenants are highlighted in this section. They provide further evidence that the underlying basic ways of God have not changed now that we are Christians. Which further explains the significance of the Lord's Prayer and its perfectly designed wording.

Churches got too carried away with declaring which parts of the Old Covenant Jesus fulfilled. These 2 requirements carried over to the New Covenant, but churches don't know that:

Daily renewal
Eating of the sacrifice

6.1 The 1st Parallel - God's Old and New Covenants

Jews: God chose to start with an old covenant before Christ using a proxy redemption plan of substitutionary offerings and sacrifices, paving the way for the final plan, the coming of the Messiah. Several verses in Exodus and Deuteronomy clearly stated that the Jews were God's chosen people. Example:

Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine. Exodus 19:5

Christians: The new covenant, Jesus the perfect and final sacrifice fulfilled the old law and nailed it to the cross - He purchased those who believed in Him with His blood, and they became His, meaning saved.

Christ bought us with His blood and made us free from the Law. Galatians 3:13

[Jesus:] “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever. John 14:15-16

6.2 The 2nd Parallel - The Daily Requirement

Jews Old Covenant:

When the Jewish people sinned, God's instructions were to present daily sacrifices to the Lord to atone for their sins. In other words, although sin separated them from God, in this case the Jewish people that sinned did not stop being God's chosen people. They remained God's chosen people as long as the daily sacrifices were presented as instructed (Exodus 29:38-39). No blanket forgiveness for life.

Christians New Covenant:

When the Christian believers sinned, Jesus having completely fulfilled God's substitutionary requirement, provided the perfect spiritual prayer for the forgiveness of sins, the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke11:2-4). As long as this prayer is prayed daily as He instructed, a Christian remains in Jesus, and Jesus remains in him. And only then those Christians remain forgiven and belonging to Jesus. Still no blanket forgiveness for life:

John 15:4

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

Yes, Jesus paid the price once and for all, meaning no more sacrifices required. But we are still required to ask for forgiveness of our sins daily, as He commanded in the Lord's Prayer. This fact is so misunderstood in the Protestant world!!!! They keep saying things like "...what?... What are you talking about "daily"?... Jesus paid the price once and for all... nothing else to do..." So misunderstood! They're brainwashed; not seeing clearly; not listening to everything Jesus said.

Note, the big difference is the Jews performed works of the flesh as required by the "law", by repeating new sacrifices daily. The Christians pray the Lord's Prayer in their hearts as Jesus commanded, which is not works of the flesh nor repeating sacrifices! It is not "law"; it is a spiritual act of daily praying for forgiveness based on the same perfect sacrifice of Jesus. It is part of God's spiritual design. He turned Jesus' sacrifice into "Bread of life" that He gives to people daily, when we pray the Lord's Prayer and mean it correctly.

Both the old and new covenants accomplished the same 2 objectives for God:

Daily forgiveness of sins
Keep the relationship with God daily.

6.3 The 3rd Parallel - The Eating of the Sacrifice

The Jewish priests ate the sacrificed animal for forgiveness, and the Christians eat the Bread, the spiritual Bread of life, Jesus Himself.

Jews Old Covenant:

Most animal sacrifices and grain offerings served as food for the priests and their families as instructed by God (see the last section at the bottom of this page). God's instructions to the Priests in Leviticus were to present part of the sacrifice as burnt offering to the Lord, and the majority remainder of it to be eaten by the Priests and their families that same day as atonement for sins. So the eating of sacrifices started back in those days. Then Jesus did the same by informing us He's the sacrificial Bread we must eat for forgiveness of sins.

Exodus 29:31-33

“Take the ram for the ordination and cook the meat in a sacred place. At the entrance to the tent of meeting, Aaron and his sons are to eat the meat of the ram and the bread that is in the basket. They are to eat these offerings by which atonement was made for their ordination and consecration...

Leviticus 6:25-26

“Tell Aaron and his sons that this is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, the sin offering shall be slaughtered before the LORD; it is most holy. The priest who offers it shall eat it; it must be eaten in a holy place, in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting.

Leviticus 10:17

Moses asked them, “Why didn’t you eat the offering for sin in the holy place? It is very holy and was given to you to take away the sins of the congregation and to make peace with the Lord for them.

Christians New Covenant:

Jesus as the perfect and final sacrifice, said He was the Bread we should eat for the forgiveness of sins. The Lord's Prayer provides the spiritual method of eating this Bread, the spiritual Bread of life that God gives daily to those who genuinely pray the Lord's Prayer. And no, you don't have to go to a Catholic church and chew on their Eucharist bread. It is a spiritual Bread, effective only when the Lord's Prayer is genuinely prayed daily and properly with the correct Bread meaning.

John 6:33, 6:51
Jesus said: "...my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

John 6:57
…the one who “feeds” on me…

6.4 The 4th Parallel - How to Approach God - Old-Covenant Vs. New-Covenant

In the old covenant, there was always a protocol for approaching God. Example, Moses had to remove his sandals when at the burning bush. The Jewish people when Moses was talking to God, had to stay a distance away from the foot of the mountain. And in the Jewish law only the high priest from the tribe of Levi, could enter the inner room the Holy place with God's presence, and only after executing the requirements precisely. Today the death of Jesus on the cross gave us direct access to speak to God and call Him "our Father", but this does not mean that God is now your bestie. There is still a proper spiritual protocol to approaching God. Jesus' prayer shows us exactly how to do it. And note, God will hear you better if you pray this prayer on your knees in private. Kneeling is a symbol of humility, worship, and reverend to God. "Kneeling" was mentioned hundreds of times in the old-testament about the Jews "bending their knees" to other gods, which grieved God tremendously. This teaches us about God's personality, for example how much the act of "kneeling" means to Him; it is the perfect gesture for worshiping. Our relationship with God is, He is our God and we are His children, not His friends as in equal. Learning this, is part of the spiritual growing that God expects of us.

The Jews had a long list of strict commandments, detailed and sometimes difficult requirements, to execute twice a day, and all for what? Forgiveness of their sins! All this work, daily, for the forgiveness of sins, so they remain reconciled with God.

Then Jesus came and fulfilled all this, and turned it into a simple spiritual prayer to be prayed daily. Although Jesus fulfilled all the old-covenant requirements, we are still on the daily schedule with God!! You see, there is no blanket statement like "covered by the blood" and move on in life. God would never do it this way.

God's personality has always been the same - reconcile with Him on a daily basis. Thus the Lord's Prayer to accomplish this.

7. Was Jesus' Teaching only for the Jews, and Paul's for the Gentiles?

No! Both of their teachings were for the whole world.

And whenever there is discrepancy between Jesus' and Paul's messages, Jesus who is God in the flesh, would be my reference point for correctness.

Former Jews who became Christians and Gentiles who became Christians have the exact same salvation plan from God, not two new covenants, one, with the exact same commandments from Jesus that apply to all. Keep reading below for biblical references on this.

The problem with Protestant doctrine is they could not reconcile what Paul said with what Jesus said resulting in a domino effect of missing so many crucial truths. Example of differences between Jesus' and Paul's teachings:

- Jesus gave us many commands and parables, including praying the Lord's Prayer daily.

- Paul's main message was: "by faith alone", nothing else to do.

Paul's message to the gentiles seemed different because it was mostly high-level speaking. And was directed to people who were new to the whole idea of an invisible God. Example, when Paul said "by faith alone", he meant without additional flesh requirements. This is because the Jews in the area at the time kept poisoning the new Christians with their beliefs - " you still need to be circumcised, you still have to refrain from certain foods, etc.." And Paul found out about it, and strongly stressed the message "...no, it's by faith alone..." But the Protestants took that as the message to the gentiles (most of us today) - "by faith alone, nothing else needed". Which people took as the magical faith; you declare it and move on in life. Ignoring all of Jesus's commands that require daily spiritual obligations, like the Lord's Prayer, the vine and the branches, the seeking of God always.

7.1 Jesus' teaching was for the whole world

Jesus said in Matthew 28:20: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations..., and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." That was Jesus after resurrection. There are several internet articles on this subject. This one explained it perfectly. I'll summarize the explanation here and add my thoughts.

There are two distinct periods / roles in Jesus' ministry:

- Pre-Resurrection

- Post-Resurrection

7.1.1 Pre-Resurrection

Before His death on the cross, Jesus was God's promised Messiah to the Jews. He had to limit His preaching and miracles to the Jews. But the Protestants ran with these misunderstood Bible references as final answer:

Matthew 10:5-6

Jesus sent out these twelve after giving them instructions: “Don’t take the road that leads to the Gentiles, and don’t enter any Samaritan town. Instead, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Matthew 15:24

He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

7.1.2 Post-Resurrection

Jesus was given "all authority in heaven and on earth..." Effectively, He was no longer only a Jew! He became the Messiah for the whole world.

Matthew 28:17-20

When they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Notes: This was Jesus after resurrection, telling His Jewish disciples to "go and make disciples of all nations" (not just the Jews), "and teach them to obey everything Jesus had commanded them".

This reference provides a strong undisputable answer to all those who misunderstood the Scripture, thinking Jesus' teaching was for the Jews, and Paul taught the gentiles! With this clarification there is no excuse for protestants to continue in their ways anymore.

Everything God the Son, Jesus Christ, said as documented in the 4 Gospels, applies to the whole world. Everything! No exclusion! From the eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood, to the Lord's Prayer with the "bread" meaning His flesh, to the rest of the scripture in the 4 Gospels, all apply to the whole world, including Christians and non-Christians - "all nations"!

His helper, the human Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, taught the same Jesus message, but making high-level statements because he did not have access to the details in the 4 Gospels, which were written and published after his death. Therefore Paul could not even reference verses from the New Testament.

God's personality is consistent throughout the Bible. Seeking God through reading the scripture clarifies many attributes about Him. We really did not need the explanation on this page to see this clearly. God comes to earth in the flesh, the grandest event in Christianity. And some people think all His parables, teachings, commandments, were only meant for the Jews? Or if not all, some churches pick and choose from His teachings whatever fits their agenda, and the rest "was meant for the Jews!"

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