Learning to Live From the Gospels

By Eugenia Price

Here is the good news of the Gospels

In the light of Eugenia Price’s revealing, dynamic insight as she searches for God’s own answers for today’s readers. The familiar Gospel words breathe with new life as she cuts through the superficialities of those who attempt to deemphasize the Bible and draws up sharp guidelines which twentieth-century Christians can follow.

Each of Miss Price’s favorite Gospel verses is included in the book, followed by her reflections on them. Her exposition of the beloved King James passages rings with authenticity and poetic authority.

In the Preface to Learning To Live From The Gospels, Miss Price writes: “You will find little or no information here concerning who wrote and who did not write the Gospels as we know them. You will find no scientific verification of the miracles – not even a defense of them. God’s activities need no defense from us. There are no scholarly apologetics, no exegeses of the more obscure passages of Scripture. I do not know how to do any of this. I find it enough to attempt to learn how to live by the passages I do understand. Having met Christ when I was well along on my earthly journey, what has held my interest from the beginning of my life with Him has not been how to analyze or criticize the Bible, but how to learn to live from it … I know of no better place to learn how to live than from the four provocative Gospel accounts of the earthly life of the God who loved us enough to become one of us.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
• Release date: Apr 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9781684427239

Eugenia Price

Eugenia Price, a bestselling writer of nonfiction and fiction for more than 30 years, converted to Christianity at the age of 33. Her list of religious writings is long and impressive, and many titles are considered classics of their genre.

Book preview

SAINT MATTHEW

CHAPTER 1

vv. 21, 23

… thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins…. they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Even in the half-light of the Old Testament period, Isaiah knew that the people needed God to be with them. When the prophet told of the coming of the Messiah, he said his name would be called Emmanuel—God with us. Even then, Isaiah saw the people’s need to have God with them. Not remote and distant—with them. Surely, when the Messiah did come, he fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy and more. He was God with us, Emmanuel, but his name was called Jesus. And this is one of the most clarifying verses in the New Testament: right at the beginning of the first Gospel account, we are told that the Messiah’s name would be called Jesus. God has come in Jesus, to be with us—to be Emmanuel—but our great need, as only God knew, was to be saved from our sins. Jesus means Saviour. As the New Testament completes the message of the Old, so the two names given the Messiah complete each other. God cannot freely be with a man without saving him from his sins. This is the nature of the redeemer God. We are saved by an always present God, because of what he is like—not by acceptance of a certain doctrine or the performance of a ritual.

CHAPTER 3

v. 17

And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

The Father was saying more than the human mind can ever comprehend when he declared that Jesus was his beloved Son, who pleased him.

One thing he must have meant was that he could trust his Son completely. God alone knows how trustworthy anyone is. The glory-filled moments after his baptism, when Jesus actually saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him, must have brought an indescribable feeling of exhilaration—both human and divine. But the Father, knowing the Son as he did, knew there was in Jesus far more than feeling: There was in him complete, uncluttered trustworthiness.

CHAPTER 4

v. 1

Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

Jesus did not go off into the wilderness to be tempted in order to prove his own advanced spirituality. He did not wander off alone in an ascetic daze, seeking a still more exhilarating spiritual sensation: He was "led up of the spirit.…" The Father deliberately led him into his time of conflict and agony of soul because the Father knew he could trust his Son utterly.

Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness was, in a definite sense, a preliminary part of his Passion—his Cross Experience. Here, he was giving himself to us and for us just as surely as he gave himself during the bright-dark hours through which he hung on the Cross. The Father did not lead his Son into temptation to prove his trustworthiness, his inner strength, his ability to resist the tempter. The Father already knew. Jesus was led into his wilderness time for our sake. So we would know.

vv. 3, 6

… If thou be the Son of God,.… If thou be the Son of God, …

Until now, I have thought that the first two temptations of Jesus were peculiar to him. Twice, his very identity as the Christ was challenged: If thou be the Son of God, … If thou be the Son of God, … This seemed always to mean that only Jesus could have been tempted on this point, since only he is the divine Son of God. I now believe this is only part of it. It’s true that he was challenged here in a way in which only he could have been challenged, but aren’t our identities as forgiven, Spirit-filled sons of God challenged too by temptation? Doesn’t the world look at us in the face of fresh trouble or criticism and ask: If Christ lives in you as you claim he does, why should you go down under this thing?

vv. 8, 9

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

God does not want us to be naïve. In Jesus’ wilderness experience we are told what to expect of ourselves: an overwhelming tendency to worship secularism. Christians seem to fail at this point more than at any other. Even the most doctrine-minded among us can rationalize an act if it inflates our bank accounts.

vv. 19 through 22

… Follow me,… And they straightway left their nets, and followed him…. and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

Straightway. Immediately. Peter and Andrew straightway left their nets, and followed him. James and John immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

None of these men wasted time with doubt, self-analysis, cost-weighing. They didn’t ask for proof that Jesus was born of a virgin or if miracles were myths. They didn’t pin him down to find out whether or not he believed the Scriptures were inspired. They asked no questions about his political leanings. There was no indecision whatever. Not one of the four wrote a ten-page letter to anyone asking for advice. They simply went with him—straightway and immediately.

CHAPTER 5

vv. 1 through 12a

And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:

And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: …

These verses, called the Beatitudes, sound like madness or, at best, wishful thinking to those still dwelling in darkness. Christians have been so tormented by failing in their foolish attempt to follow the Beatitudes as rules laid down for living the adequate life that some have even invented dispensations—little chopped-up sections of time—which conveniently put the Beatitudes in another era. Any other time—but now now. Once more, God has provided a great simplification: If one thinks at all, it is obvious that what Jesus did not do was lay down a list of how-to regulations. He was describing the inevitable result of the Spirit-filled life. If we have begun to permit God to live his life in us, these are the ways we will be: never proud spiritually; willing to admit our heartbreaks and our griefs—i.e., we will be realistic about life; never complaining, but rejoicing when we hunger for more righteousness—when we see our need; always merciful—willing to stand in the other person’s shoes; always pure in heart—possessing unmixed motives; never relishing the role of troublemaker, willing to move out toward peace; never falling into the trap of self-pity when we have been wronged for Jesus’ sake—for being a way we know it is right to be, regardless of the cost to us.

We are to rejoice and be exceeding glad when we see any of these divine family traits showing up in us in our daily round. The Beatitudes could, I suppose, be called a kind of check list—but never a set of rules. Jesus is declaring: This is the great potential for all of you.

v. 13

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

If Christians are the salt of the earth, why do we have such a flavorless world? Jesus was not wrong. Perhaps we have just refused to realize how utterly singular—how unique—salt is. As he said: If the flavor has gone out of the salt—what is going to salt the salt?

v. 20

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Unless we exhibit a kind of love and understanding and wisdom that exceeds that demonstrated by those who are dead certain they have it all figured out, we have in no way learned the nature of the atmosphere of the Kingdom.

vv. 22, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44

But I say unto you, … But I say unto you, … But I say unto you, … But I say unto you, … But I say unto you, … But I say unto you, …

Jesus came saying (verse 18) that he was not here to discount what was tried and true of the old. "But I say unto you, … We need to dwell on that often repeated phrase of his: But I say unto you, …" He did not come to obliterate anything—he came bringing it all, making it all available in himself. This is what is new: The day for rules and regulations is past. Grace and truth have come in Jesus Christ—and with him, the whole life. It is all in him.

v. 45

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

We will know that we are the children of the Father when it begins to seem right and natural to us to want the sun to rise on both the evil and the good; when we care that the rain falls on the just and the unjust. God is love, and he loves every man and every woman—good and evil, just and unjust. This is difficult for us to accept, feeling as we do, that somehow he owes us more love because we have been driven by our own desperate need to receive his forgiveness.

v. 48

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

This simple statement of Jesus’ has caused great frustration and confusion. People unwisely try to whip themselves up into what they consider God’s perfection. This is nonsense. God is God and we are we. We are to live up to the limits of our capacities—where we are on our journey. We are to give out to the extent of our love—as much as we have learned about love. We are being perfect as the Father is perfect when we live all the love we know.

CHAPTER 6

vv. 4, 6

…thy Father which seeth in secret.… … thy Father which seeth in secret… .

The phrase "…thy Father which seeth in secret.…" is repeated three times in the first part of this chapter (also verse 18). It is implied many more times in what Jesus is saying. God is a realist. He does not bother with outward appearances, with loud, lengthy prayers, with broadcast charity. He does not bother because he does not need to bother. These are, in reality, irrelevant. The Lord looketh on the heart. God sees motives, not performances. He sees reactions first, then actions. How much more rest and how much less waste there would be if we realized this.

vv. 14, 15

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses

Jesus is not implying here that we should bargain with God; certainly not that God bargains with us. It is simply that as long as a human heart is hardened toward anyone, i.e., refusing forgiveness for any reason, it is also closed to God. He never invades. He waits for the open heart. God is always willing—eager—to forgive. But we must be in a condition to receive his forgiveness.

v. 23

… If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

Could this be at least partial explanation for the strange, often cruel personalities of men and women who profess Christ (have perhaps settled, for themselves at least, all doctrinal problems!) but whose light is so lacking in love, it is full of darkness?

v. 24

… Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Neither can we love God and harm one of his loved ones.

v. 33

… seek ye first the kingdom of God, …

If we seek God first—give him our full attention—everything else falls into place. If we are style-conscious, the designers have us. If we are money-conscious, we are owned by our bank accounts. If we are self-conscious, we insist upon self-ownership. But if we are God-conscious, the way is clear. We are off our own hands. What gets our attention gets us.

CHAPTER 7

v. 5

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

Not only are we blinded to how to help our brother, if we have left the beam in our own eye, we are also squinting and peering fuzzily at the very nature of God—unable to see him clearly either.

vv. 21 through 23

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

If God is love, then isn’t his will always centered in the inclusive necessity to love? Will only those who have dropped the art of self-defense in favor of the willingness to love enter into the Kingdom? Will he give admittance into the Kingdom for skillful expounding of the prophecies and doctrines of the Christian faith? For good deeds well done? For thrashing the devil? No. Our Father seeth in secret, where the heart is, where love is or isn’t. And only he knows.

v. 29

For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Jesus was not just another writer of spiritual truths. He was God become Man, possessing both the Authority of God and the Authority of Man.

CHAPTER 8

vv. 8 through 10

The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

Jesus marveled because one man understood his Authority and acted on his clear understanding. There is enormous simplification here. And great urgency for us to begin to think of how we complicate faith. We need only to recognize who God is, and begin to act on what we have recognized.

vv. 19, 20

And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

He made no promises of material security. If a man follows Jesus, he must not follow him for where they may be going together, but for one reason only: to be with him.

vv. 21, 22

And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow