tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62109218212015097572024-03-19T10:13:52.272+00:00NOT I, BUT CHRISTThe Contextual Bible Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17486273002857289641noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6210921821201509757.post-42283574352401880322009-09-21T01:53:00.002+01:002009-09-21T01:56:41.478+01:00How can we live the abundant life? John 10:10<meta equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </style> <meta equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </style> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; font-family: times new roman;" align="left"><span style=";font-size:130%;" >I have come that they might have life and might have it in abundance. - <b>John 10:10</b></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;" align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">
<br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The key to living the abundant life promised by Christ is in recognizing the original lie to which Satan has enslaved all mankind. <b>(John 8:44)</b> The lie is that we humans are an independent self. This was the original lie in the Garden of Eden and it is a lie that is embedded in our consciousness from birth. <b>(Genesis 3:5)</b> From birth we view ourselves as independent creatures. To view ourselves as self-sufficient independent selves is the original sin. This sin gives birth to all kinds of sins, the works of the flesh. The Law of God exposes this sin. After much struggle in trying to keep the Law Paul finds the impossiblity of keeping it in his own self effort, thereby exposing the illusion of an independent self. At <b>Romans 7: 21</b> Paul says, “I find, then, this law in my case: that <b>when I wish </b>to do what is right, what is bad is present with me.” Here is the key to understanding the ultimate delusion of Satan. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The “I” here is Paul thinking of himself as an independent self, responsible and self sufficient. This deluded “I” thinks that by self effort it can be righteous. When <b>I wish</b> to do what is right. <b>I wish</b>. This is the independent self asserting itself. Instead of recognizing that I am a dependent creature who depends on the Creator for my righteousness, <b>I wish</b> to do what is right. This is the sin. <b>I wish.</b> I the independent self am asserting myself. Then I find what is bad is present with me. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Therefore the key to vicory is to not operate out of this false illusion, that we are independent selves. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The mindset from which we operate determines how we act. <b>Romans 6:6</b> says that the old man was impaled with Christ. When we believe that we died with Christ on the torture stake we realize also that we are now in union with him in his resurrected life. Operating out of this consciousness, that we are always in union with Christ is the key to a victorious life. We are a branch of the Vine. We are members of his Body of which he is the Head. We are joined to him, connected to him in our spirit. He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. <b>(1 Corinthians 6:17)</b> When we operate out of this consciousness, that we are in union with Christ, then we are minding the spirit. However, if we operate out of the lie, the illusion that we are separate from Christ, that we are an independent self, then we are minding the flesh. <b>(Romans 8:6) </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">The result will be what Paul discovered earlier.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">A person who is minding the flesh is one who thinks he is separate from Jehovah. He views Jehovah and Christ as someone distant in a heaven up there. He has a divided consciouness. He does not operate out of the consciousness of his union with Christ. A person who minds the spirit is one who believes in the reality of his union with Christ. <b>(John 17:21)</b> And when operating out of the consciousness of that union flows all his actions. Life flows out of that union. Out of his inmost part streams of living water flows. <b>(John 4:14; 7:38)</b> He has passed over from death to life. <b>(John 5:24)</b> He lives the abundant life. </span> </p> The Contextual Bible Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17486273002857289641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6210921821201509757.post-43530101546063980212009-08-11T23:52:00.001+01:002009-08-11T23:55:02.607+01:00What is the anointing of the spirit? - 2 Corinthians 1: 21, 22<meta equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </style> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Paul says to the Corinthians, </span><span lang="en-US">“</span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">But he who guarantees that you and we belong to Christ and he who has </span></span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>anointed</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> us is God. He has also put his seal upon us and has given us the token of what is to come, that is, the spirit, </span></span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>in our hearts.</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">” </span></span><span lang="en-US"><b>(2 Corinthians 1: 21, 22)</b></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">The Bible talks about God’s spirit being “poured out” or “coming upon” individuals, like Samson, David, Zechariah and so on. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>(Judges 14:6; 15:14; 1 Samuel 16:13; 2 Chronicles 24:20) </b></span><span lang="en-US">However, what is the difference between this ‘pouring out of spirit’ and the “anointing” of spirit that was available after Jesus?</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Whereas the spirit poured out upon the early prophets was an outpouring to accomplish specific tasks, the anointing available after Jesus is the indwelling spirit, the spirit living permanently inside us, and it is available to every single person who puts faith in Jesus Christ. While there might be an outward manifestation of this anointing in some believers, as was the case with the 120 disciples at Pentecost, this anointing is available to </span><span lang="en-US"><i>anyone</i></span><span lang="en-US"> identifying themselves with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. (See article: “</span><span lang="en-US"><i>What is the meaning of your baptism</i></span><span lang="en-US">?”)</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Paul says to Timothy: </span><span lang="en-US">“This fine trust guard through the holy spirit which is </span><span lang="en-US"><b>dwelling in us</b></span><span lang="en-US">.” </span><span lang="en-US"><b>(2 Timothy 1:14)</b></span><span lang="en-US"> This spirit </span><span lang="en-US"><b>dwells</b></span><span lang="en-US">, or </span><span lang="en-US"><b>lives</b></span><span lang="en-US"> </span><span lang="en-US"><b>inside</b></span><span lang="en-US"> a Christian. In other words, when a person puts faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and that he also died, was buried and raised with Christ, then God’s spirit begins to operate in him from </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>within</b></u></span><span lang="en-US">. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">What is needed on our part is to believe that Christ’s spirit is living within us, working in us, operating from within because we have died with Christ and been raised up with him. Paul says: “I am impaled with Christ. It is no longer I but </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Christ living in me</b></span><span lang="en-US">.” </span><span lang="en-US"><b>(Galatians 2:20)</b></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Anointing is our living connection with Christ, our union with Christ, the life of Christ operating within us, available to all because of our faith in our death, burial and resurrection with Christ.</span><span lang="en-US"> It was only made available to Christians </span><span lang="en-US"><i>after</i></span><span lang="en-US"> Christ was resurrected. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">“</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Now on the last day, the great day of the festival, Jesus was standing up and he cried out, saying: "If </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>anyone</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"> is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He that puts </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>faith in me</b></u></span><span lang="en-US">, just as the Scripture has said, 'Out from </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>his inmost part</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"> streams of living water will flow.'" However, he said this </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>concerning the spirit</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"> which those who </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>put faith in him</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"> were about to receive; </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>for as yet there was no spirit, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.</b></u></span><span lang="en-US">”</span><span lang="en-US"><b> (John 7:37-39)</b></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">That this spirit was an internal force, bubbling up from </span><span lang="en-US"><i>within</i></span><span lang="en-US"> the person, </span><span lang="en-US"><i>implanted</i></span><span lang="en-US"> there by God as a result of hearing the Good News and putting faith in it was further confirmed by Jesus’ own words at </span><span lang="en-US"><b>John 4:14</b></span><span lang="en-US"> “Whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty at all, but the water that I will give him will become </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>in him</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"> a fountain of water </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>bubbling up</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"> to impart everlasting life."</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;" lang="en-US"> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">This spirit is poured out into us – inside us. It lives in us, and it is grafting us to Christ, as we keep growing in faith. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>“But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.”</b></span><span lang="en-US"> Becoming </span><span lang="en-US"><b>“one spirit”</b></span><span lang="en-US"> with Christ would mean a person has no consciousness of self, but of another life within him, that of Christ. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>(1 Corinthians 6:17)</b></span><span lang="en-US"> The spirit in us makes our bodies the temple of the living God. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>(1 Corinthians 6:19)</b></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">The spirit would also teach people from within, requiring no outside assistance, as Jesus explained in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>John 14:26 </b></span><span lang="en-US"> “But the helper, the holy spirit, which the Father will send in my name, that one will </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>teach you all things</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"> and bring back to your minds all the things I told you.”</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">And John also said at </span><span lang="en-US"><b>1 John 2:27 </b></span><span lang="en-US">“And as for you, the anointing that you received from him remains </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>in</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"> you, and </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>you do not need anyone</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"> to be teaching you; but, as </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>the anointing from him is teaching you about all things</b></u></span><span lang="en-US">, and is true and is no lie, and just as it has taught you, remain in union with him.”</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Paul says to the Corinthians, </span><span lang="en-US">“</span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">But he who guarantees that you and we belong to Christ and he who has </span></span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>anointed</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> us is God. He has also put his seal upon us and has given us the token of what is to come, that is, the spirit, </span></span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>in our hearts.</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">” </span></span><span lang="en-US"><b>(2 Corinthians 1: 21, 22)</b></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">He said further: “For you are shown to be a letter of Christ written by us as ministers, inscribed not with ink but with </span></span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>spirit of a living God</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, not on stone tablets, </span></span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>but on fleshly tablets, on hearts.”</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="en-US"><b>(2 Corinthians 3:3)</b></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Anointing of the spirit is the grafting of us into Christ, making us one with him. The book of Zechariah explains this union</span><span lang="en-US"><b>. </b></span><span lang="en-US">“And the angel who was speaking with me proceeded to come back and wake me up, like a man that is awakened from his sleep. Then he said to me: "What are you seeing?" So I said: "I have seen, and, look! there is a lampstand, all of it of gold, with a bowl on top of it. And its seven lamps are upon it, even seven; and the lamps that are at the top of it have seven pipes. And there are </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>two olive trees</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"> alongside it, one on the right side of the bowl and one on its left side." </span><span lang="en-US"><b>(Zechariah 4:1-3)</b></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Zechariah did not understand the meaning. So he questioned the angel. “And I proceeded to answer and say to him: "What do these </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>two olive trees</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"> on the right side of the lampstand and on its left side mean?" Then I answered the second time and said to him: "What are the two bunches of twigs of the olive trees that, by means of the two golden tubes, are </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>pouring forth from within themselves</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"> the golden liquid?" So he said to me: "Do you not really know what these things mean?" In turn I said: "No, my lord." Accordingly he said: </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>"These are the two anointed ones</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"> who are standing alongside the Lord of the whole earth." </span><span lang="en-US"><b>(Zechariah 4:11-14)</b></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:130%;">In the vision that Zechariah sees, the seven bowls have a never-ending supply of oil. Why? Because they are connected to the very source of oil, the two olive trees.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">So anointing has to do with being </span><span lang="en-US"><i>connected</i></span><span lang="en-US"> to the source of the spirit, Christ himself. A person could have an outward manifestation of the spirit, but if he does not by faith get strengthened in his inner connection with Christ, he would be like those foolish virgins who ran out of oil. However, the discreet virgins were those who had oil in their receptacles. (</span><span lang="en-US"><b>Matthew 25:1-12</b></span><span lang="en-US">)</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">So the question arises, what then is the manifestation of the spirit that some have received? The Scriptures clearly show that at Pentecost, there was an outward manifestation of the anointing. However this anointing is not necessarily always accompanied by some external manifestation, either tongues, healing or prophesying such as at Pentecost 33 CE. Today some claim that only those who have had such an “experience” with God, or an outer manifestation are truly anointed. That would be strange, since in the first century, that didn’t happen to many who put faith in Christ. Outward manifestations of spirit were usually in those on whom the apostles laid their hands. Luke reported in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Acts 8:12:</b></span><span lang="en-US"> “But when they believed Philip, who was declaring the good news of the kingdom of God and of the name of Jesus Christ, they proceeded to be baptized, both men and women.” So then in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Acts 8:14, </b></span><span lang="en-US">“when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they dispatched Peter and John to them; and these went down and prayed for them to get holy spirit. For </span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">it had not yet</span></span><span lang="en-US"> fallen </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>upon </b></u></span><span lang="en-US">any one of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">These people had had no external baptism of spirit when Philip preached the Good News to them! They had no “experience” with God, such as is claimed by some today, nor had they received manifestations of the spirit – it was simply within them. That was enough. “Then they went laying their hands upon them, and they began to receive holy spirit.”</span><span lang="en-US"><b> (Acts 8:17) </b></span><span lang="en-US">Only when one of the apostles “laid hands upon them” did people “receive” a visible, or outer manifestation for a specific purpose.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Paul encountered a similar incident with believers when he went to Ephesus. Luke wanted to show that Paul had equal authority with the 12 apostles. So he reported on an event that took place in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Acts 19:1-6:</b></span><span lang="en-US"> “In the course of events, while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul went through the inland parts and came down to Ephesus, and found some disciples; and he said to them: "Did you receive holy spirit when you became believers?" They said to him: "Why, </span><span lang="en-US"><b>we have never heard whether there is a holy spirit</b></span><span lang="en-US">." “And he said: "In what, then, were you baptized?" They said: "In John's baptism." Paul said: "John baptized with the baptism in symbol of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." On hearing this, they got baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>And when Paul laid his hands upon them, the holy spirit came upon them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.”</b></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">So only when the 12 apostles or Paul laid hands upon a person would they receive some external manifestation of spirit. Why was this done? Paul himself explained in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>1 Corinthians 12:7:</b></span><span lang="en-US"> “But the </span><span lang="en-US"><b>manifestation</b></span><span lang="en-US"> of the spirit is given to each one for a beneficial purpose.” Many such as the Ethiopian eunuch did not receive any external manifestations of the spirit in the first century.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Some were given an external manifestation, others were not. Yet all were sons of God, “anointed.” How? Paul again says in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Galatians 3:26, 27:</b></span><span lang="en-US"> </span><span lang="en-US"><b> </b></span><span lang="en-US">“You are </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>all</b></u></span><span lang="en-US">, in fact, sons of God </span><span lang="en-US"><b>through your faith in Christ Jesus</b></span><span lang="en-US">. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” And again in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Romans 8:14: </b></span><span lang="en-US">“For </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>all</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"> who are led by God's spirit, </span><span lang="en-US"><b>these are God's sons</b></span><span lang="en-US">.”</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">The whole reason that Paul had to write to the Corinthians was precisely because they were doing what some are doing today – they were focused on “gifts of the spirit,” external signs, an “experience” that proved that they were God’s sons. But the reality was that all had an anointing which is received by faith, because it is the internal spirit that flows out of a person. And every single person can have that through faith in Christ. As Paul had to point out, just because some had gifts, they were being fleshly, putting a great emphasis on outward manifestations rather than being concerned about their inner union with Christ. Here was a congregation full of people who spoke in tongues and prophesied and yet had all kinds of problems. They did not discern their inner union with Christ. Which is why Paul asked them, </span><span lang="en-US">“</span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;"><u><b>Do you not know </b></u></span></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">that your bodies are members of Christ?” </span></span><span lang="en-US"><b>(1 Corinthians 6:15)</b></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Apparently they didn't know. He had to tell them that “he who is joined to the Lord in one spirit.” He asked them, “</span></span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>Do you not know</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> that you people are God’s temple, and that the spirit of God </span></span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>dwells in you</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">? </span></span><span lang="en-US"><b>(1 Corinthians 3:16)</b></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> And again, “What! </span></span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>Do you not know</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> that the body of you people is the temple of the holy spirit </span></span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>within</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> you, which you have from God?” </span></span><span lang="en-US"><b>(1 Corinthians 6:19)</b></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> So a person could have an external manifestation of the holy spirit, be able to speak in tongues and prophesy and yet not </span></span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>know</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> that his body is a member of Christ, that he is joined to the Lord, that his body is the temple of the holy spirit within him.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">So anointing is a fact based upon our faith and not on our emotions or feelings. It is an objective fact that we should believe in. When people are focused on having some external event or experience to say they are “anointed,” then they are repeating the mistake of the Corinthians, and they have forgotten what Paul said in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Hebrews 6:1</b></span><span lang="en-US">: “For this reason, now that we have left the </span><span lang="en-US"><b>primary doctrine about the Christ</b></span><span lang="en-US">, let us </span><span lang="en-US"><b>press on to maturity</b></span><span lang="en-US">, </span><span lang="en-US"><b>not laying a foundation again, namely</b></span><span lang="en-US">, repentance from dead works, and faith toward God, the teaching on baptisms and </span><span lang="en-US"><b>the laying on of the hands</b></span><span lang="en-US">, the resurrection of the dead and everlasting judgment.”</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">All Christians need to take to heart and exercise faith in Jesus’ own words at </span><span lang="en-US"><b>John 15:1 – 6:</b></span><span lang="en-US"> "</span><span lang="en-US"><b>I am the true vine</b></span><span lang="en-US">, and my Father is the cultivator. Every branch in me not bearing fruit he takes away, and every one bearing fruit he cleans, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Remain in union with me, and I in union with you</b></span><span lang="en-US">. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine, in the same way neither can you, unless you remain in union with me. I am the vine, you are the branches. </span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">He that remains in union with me, and I in union with him, this one bears much fruit;</span></span><span lang="en-US"><b> because apart from me you can do nothing at all.</b></span><span lang="en-US"> If anyone does not remain in union with me, he is cast out as a branch and is dried up; and men gather those branches up and pitch them into the fire and they are burned. ”</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><u><b>All</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"> then who exercise faith can have the spirit bubbling within them to impart everlasting life. It is not the privilege of a few 144,000. (See the article </span><span lang="en-US"><i>“Who are the 144,000?</i></span><span lang="en-US">)</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US">
<br /></p> The Contextual Bible Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17486273002857289641noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6210921821201509757.post-28086953938589308922009-08-09T22:20:00.005+01:002009-08-09T23:06:50.046+01:00Who make up Spiritual Israel? Galatians 6:16<meta equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --></style><span style=";font-family:Times New Roman,serif;font-size:130%;" ><span lang="en-US"></span></span><meta equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --></style><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="en-US"></span></span></span><meta equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </style> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:130%;">“</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">For neither is circumcision anything nor is uncircumcision, but </span><b>a new creation</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> is something. And </span><b>all those who will walk orderly by this rule of conduct</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">, upon them be peace and mercy, even upon the </span><b>Israel of God.” </b><b>Galatians 6:15, 16</b></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">In order to understand who make up spiritual Israel or the Israel of God, we need to first understand who the Seed of Abraham is and how nations bless themselves through this Seed? </span><span lang="en-US"><b>(Genesis 22:18)</b></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">When the Bible refers to Abraham’s Seed, it is not speaking </span><span lang="en-US"><b>only</b></span><span lang="en-US"> about 144,000 individuals. Nowhere does the Bible give that hint or make that suggestion. That is simply an assumption. The Jews made a similar assumption. They assumed that the Seed of Abraham referred to all the Jews. In the first century, the Pharisees believed that they were the Seed of Abraham, and that through them all the nations would be blessed. They would traverse land and sea to make a proselyte, to make a person of the nations a part of Israel, and thus believed that they were fulfilling Jehovah's promise to Abraham that all the nations would be blessed through the Seed. But the problem was that the Jews themselves were under a curse, under the curse of the Law. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>(Galatians 3:10, 11) </b></span><span lang="en-US">So they only made a proselyte a subject for Gehenna. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>(Matthew 23: 15)</b></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Notice how Paul shows that the assumption the Jews made was wrong. He says in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Galatians 3:16:</b></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. It says, </span></span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>not:</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> “And to seeds,” as in the case of many such, but as in the </span></span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>case of one:</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> “And to your seed,” </span></span><span lang="en-US"><b>who is Christ.</b></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:130%;">Paul’s argument is that the word “Seed” is singular not plural, that it does not refer to many, the Jews, but to one person, the Christ. So the question is, how is Jehovah’s promise to Abraham fulfilled, that nations will bless themselves through Christ, the Seed?</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">When people put faith in Christ, and come into Christ, they then become </span><span lang="en-US"><b>part </b></span><span lang="en-US">of the </span><span lang="en-US"><b>ONE Seed</b></span><span lang="en-US">. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">That is what Paul says in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Galatians 3:26-29,</b></span><span lang="en-US"> “</span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>You</b></u></span><u><b> are all,</b></u><span style="font-weight: normal;"> in fact, sons of God </span><u><b>through your faith in Christ Jesus </b></u><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(which is expressed by their water baptism).</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"> For </span><b>all of you</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor freeman, there is neither male nor female; for you are all </span><b>one person in union with Christ Jesus.</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Moreover, if you belong to Christ, you are really Abraham’s seed, heirs with reference to a promise.”</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Therefore, people from </span><span lang="en-US"><b>all the nations</b></span><span lang="en-US">, not just the Jews, can come into Christ and thus become Spiritual Israelites. Unlike in Adam, the Old Mankind, there is no distinction made between male or female, slave or free, Jew or Greek. They have now become the New Mankind by becoming </span><span lang="en-US"><b>one with the Seed.</b></span><span lang="en-US"> This is how all the nations bless themselves through Christ, the Seed of Abraham. Thus all people who put faith in Christ and come into Christ by their faith become Spiritual Israel, not just 144,000 individuals.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Notice how the Spiritual Israelites, who are people from all the nations, who have blessed themselves by the Seed, are described in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Revelation 7:9,</b></span><span lang="en-US"> “</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">After these things I saw, and, look! a great crowd, which </span><b>no man was able to number,</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes; and there were palm branches in their hands. And they keep on crying with a loud voice, saying: “Salvation we owe to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.”</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Now notice no man was able to </span><span lang="en-US"><b>number them</b></span><span lang="en-US">. That is exactly what Jehovah told Abraham when he gave him the promise. No one will be able to number his seed. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>(Genesis 13:16, 15:5)</b></span><span lang="en-US"> Jehovah also said to Abraham that he will be a father of a crowd of nations. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>(Genesis 17:4-6)</b></span><span lang="en-US"> So there were 3 promises. </span></span> </p> <ol style="font-family:times new roman;"><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">All nations will bless themselves through the Seed of Abraham. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>(Genesis 22:18)</b></span></span></p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Abraham's Seed will be numberless, like the sand of the sea. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>(Genesis 13:16, 15:5)</b></span></span></p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Abraham will be a father of a crowd of nations. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>(Genesis 17:4-6)</b></span></span></p> </li></ol> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">All these three promises are what are shown to be fulfilled in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Revelation 7:9</b></span><span lang="en-US">. A great crowd of people without number, like the grains of the sand of the sea, from all the nations, unite to the Singular Seed, Christ, by the their faith and become one with the Seed. The Great Crowd is the Spiritual Israel of God, who are the Seed of Abraham. They are people from all the nations who have put faith in Christ, the Seed and become one with him as Paul describes in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Galatians 3:26-29. </b></span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Paul says in </span></span><span lang="en-US"><b>Galatians 3:7, </b></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">“</span></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Surely you know that </span></span><span lang="en-US"><b>those who adhere to faith</b></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> are the ones who are </span></span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>sons of Abraham.</b></u></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:130%;">Who then are the 144,000? Just as among the Israelites, there was a Priesthood, similarly among the Spiritual Israelites there is a Priesthood. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">The firstborn sons </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>OUT OF</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"> each tribe of Israel were supposed to be priests of God and serve him in the Temple. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>(Numbers 3:11)</b></span><span lang="en-US"> Jehovah asked the whole tribe of Levi to substitute for the firstborn sons </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>OUT OF</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"> each tribe of Israel.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">That is exactly what we see also in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Revelation 7</b></span><span lang="en-US">. Notice how John describes the 144,000 in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Revelation 7:4.</b></span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">“</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">And I heard the number of those who were sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed </span></span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>out of every tribe of the sons of Israel”</b></u></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">They are taken </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>OUT OF</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"> each tribe of Israel. This is how he continues to describe them in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Revelation 7:5-8.</b></span><span lang="en-US"> They are the firstborn. They are the priests. So if they are the priests taken </span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>OUT OF</b></u></span><span lang="en-US"> each tribe of Spiritual Israel, the rest of the people seen from verse 9 onwards have to be the rest of the Spiritual Israelites. Hence Spiritual Israel does not refer just to the 144,000. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>All</b></span><span lang="en-US"> who put faith in Christ and express it by their baptism, and come into Christ are Spiritual Israelites. Notice how Paul refers to them in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Galatians 6:15, 16,</b></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">“</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">For neither is circumcision anything nor is uncircumcision, but </span></span><span lang="en-US"><b>a new creation</b></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> is something. And </span></span><span lang="en-US"><b>all those who will walk orderly by this rule of conduct</b></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, upon them be peace and mercy, even upon the </span></span><span lang="en-US"><b>Israel of God.”</b></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>All</b></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> those who come into Christ have left Adam, the Old Creation. They were dead and buried under the waters of baptism and left the Old Mankind, left the Old Creation, and when they were raised out of water, they came into Christ, the New Mankind, and thus have become New Creation. </span></span><span lang="en-US"><u><b>ALL those </b></u></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">who walk by Christ are the Israel of God. </span></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(To find out if the 144,000 are literal or symbolic, please see the article “</span></span><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Who are the 144,000?</span></i></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">”) </span></span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">If you look in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Revelation 14:1</b></span><span lang="en-US">, the 144,000 are seen with Jesus on Mount Zion. The physical Mount Zion was in the City of Jerusalem. Now if the 144,000 picture Spiritual Israel, why are they all on Mount Zion, the capital city? Who lives in the rest of the Promised Land? Do all Spiritual Israelites live only on Mount Zion? No. The 144,000 are part of Spiritual Israel, just as those who made up the Levitical Priesthood were part of Israel. The Great Crowd described in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Revelation 7:9-17</b></span><span lang="en-US"> is the Spiritual Israel of God. And as such they are part of the New Covenant. If they don't partake of the Bread and the Wine, they will not benefit from the Covenant. There is no such thing as observers. If observing was so important why didn't Jesus say that there would be observers. You cannot be a beneficiary of a covenant unless you are part of the covenant. A person who does not partake of the bread and wine with faith is showing utter disregard for the ransom sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus shed his blood and allowed himself to get tortured so that we can all live a victorious life </span><span lang="en-US"><b>today</b></span><span lang="en-US">, free from the power and control of sin. It is not something to be looked forward to in the future. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:130%;">Here is another question. Didn't Jehovah say to the people of Israel, when he made the Law Covenant with them, that they would become a kingdom of priests if the kept the Law Covenant? Yes he did.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:130%;">But they didn't keep the Law. So the Law Covenant couldn't produce a Kingdom of Priests. But the New Covenant did. The New Covenant makes possible for the forgiveness of sins, making us all acceptable to Jehovah. It makes it possible for us to render sacred service in his Temple, in his presence before his throne.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Notice how the Great Crowd is described in </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Revelation 7:9, 15,</b></span><span lang="en-US"> “</span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">After these things I saw, and, look! a great crowd, which no</span></span><span lang="en-US"><b> </b></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, </span></span><span lang="en-US"><b>standing before the throne</b></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> and before the Lamb, </span></span><span lang="en-US"><b>dressed in white robes</b></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">; and there were palm branches in their hands. </span></span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">That is why</span></span><span lang="en-US"><b> they are before the throne of God</b></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">; and they are </span></span><span lang="en-US"><b>rendering him sacred service</b></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> day and night in his temple; </span></span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:130%;">Now what do you call people who are dressed in white robes and render sacred service in the Temple of God? Here is a clue. The word starts with the letter P. Yes, they are all priests too.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:130%;">The New Covenant has made it possible for all humans from all nations to put faith in the Seed of Abraham and thus become the Seed of Abraham by their faith, thus blessing themselves, becoming Spiritual Israelites who can render sacred service to Jehovah in his very Presence. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Hebrews 10:14</b></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">“</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">How much more will the blood of the Christ, who through an everlasting spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works </span></span><span lang="en-US"><b>that we may render sacred service to the living God?</b></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">”</span></span></span></p> The Contextual Bible Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17486273002857289641noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6210921821201509757.post-22852428599812635212009-08-09T18:02:00.002+01:002009-08-09T18:27:30.568+01:00Is Christ the mediator between only 144,000 and God? (1 Timothy 2:5)<meta equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --></style><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">For there is one God, and one mediator </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>between God and men,</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> a man, Christ Jesus. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>(1 Timothy 2:5)</b></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Mediator between God and Men </b></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">The context of Paul’s words from </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>verses 1-4 </b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">clearly shows that “men” here means all mankind. Notice </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>verses 1 and 2 </b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">- Paul asks that we pray for </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>all sorts of men</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">“</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">I therefore exhort, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, offerings of thanks, be made concerning </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>all sorts of men </b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">(lit. “all men,”) concerning kings and all those who are in high station; in order that we may go on leading a calm and quiet life with full godly devotion and seriousness. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">This raises a question - is it really acceptable to pray for </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>all humans</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">, since most do not accept God and Christ? Should we really give “offerings of thanks” for these people? Is that really acceptable? Paul’s answer comes in the next verse, </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>verse 3. </b></span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:130%;">This is fine and acceptable in the sight of our Savior, God, </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Why is it fine and acceptable, to pray for such people, who have not accepted Christ, who do not know God, who might even lead immoral, dissolute lives? People Paul knew, “kings” and “those in high station” like Herod Agrippa, Felix? In </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>verse 4</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">, Paul gives the answer. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">whose will is that </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>all sorts of men </b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(lit. “all men”) should be saved and come to an accurate knowledge of truth. </span></span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">In </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>verse 5</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">, he continues, showing what God has done to make his “will” possible. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">For there is one God, and one mediator between God and </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><u><b>men</b></u></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, a man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a corresponding ransom for </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><u><b>all</b></u></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">—this is what is to be witnessed to at its own particular times.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Since Christ is a corresponding ransom for </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><u><b>all mankind</b></u></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">, it is fine and acceptable to pray for all men. Paul’s usage of the expression “one God” is also telling. Paul shows Jehovah is the God and Creator of all mankind, not solely the Christians he is writing to. Christians should not make the same mistake the Jews do, considering Jehovah to be their God, but not of the whole world. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:130%;">Paul is not talking about Christ being mediator of solely the 144,000 - that would work against the logic of the whole argument he has just made, and the context of his statement. Jesus is the mediator between all mankind and Jehovah. Of which covenant? The new covenant - but it is important to understand the new covenant is not restricted to the 144,000 - rather it applies to all mankind. This can be discussed in another post. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">The 144,000 are “ministers of the new covenant” made with all mankind, just like Aaron and his sons were the ministers of the old covenant made with all Israel. </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>(2 Corinthians 3:6)</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"> And just as Israel was baptized into Moses and later entered into the Law covenant (old covenant), people of all mankind enter into the new covenant when they accept Christ, are baptized in water, thus baptized into Christ, identifying with his death, burial and resurrection. The purpose of the new covenant is clearly stated – the forgiveness of sins of all mankind. </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>(Luke 22:20, Matthew 26:28) </b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">The new covenant is different to the covenant for the kingdom that Jesus makes in </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>Luke 22:29, 30</b></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"> in which the 144,000 are kings and priests with Christ. (The number 144,000 is symbolic and refers to the conquerors from among the Body of Christ that is present on the earth. Please see the article </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><i>Who are the 144,000?)</i></span></span></p> The Contextual Bible Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17486273002857289641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6210921821201509757.post-9310719623329400612009-08-07T21:57:00.002+01:002009-08-07T22:00:21.162+01:00What is the New Covenant and who are the participants in it? Jeremiah 31:31<meta equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --></style><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">“</span></span><span style=";font-family:Times New Roman,serif;font-size:130%;" ><span lang="en-US">Look! There are days coming,” is the utterance of Jehovah, “and I will conclude with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah </span></span><span style=";font-family:Times New Roman,serif;font-size:130%;" ><span lang="en-US"><b>a new covenant</b></span></span><span style=";font-family:Times New Roman,serif;font-size:130%;" ><span lang="en-US"> – </span></span><span style=";font-family:Times New Roman,serif;font-size:130%;" ><span lang="en-US"><b>Jeremaih 31:31</b></span></span> <p style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">The New Covenant is far superior to the Law Covenant - it does not simply replace the Old Covenant. The Law Covenant was just a shadow of the New one. In other words, by analyzing the pictures of the Old Covenant, we can grasp the New. </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>(Hebrews 8:5)</b></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">The Law Covenant was between Jehovah and the nation of Israel – with the Levitical priesthood as a feature of it. </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>(Hebrews 7:11)</b></span></span></p> <p lang="en-US" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The New Covenant is between Jehovah and all mankind - and the Melchizedek priesthood of Christ and the 144,000 is its feature. </span> </p> <p lang="en-US" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Moses represented all Israel and went up to Mount Sinai to receive the Law Covenant. Jesus, as Son of Man, represented all mankind before Jehovah in the New Covenant.</span></p> <p lang="en-US" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">If there was no Law Covenant, the Levitical priesthood could never have existed.</span></p> <p lang="en-US" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">If there was no New Covenant, there is no question that the priesthood of the 144,000 could not exist. </span> </p> <p style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">For Israel, all of the people had to come into the Law Covenant </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><i>first</i></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">. Then, out of them, some were chosen (Levites) to be priests. </span></span> </p> <p style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">For mankind today, all of them have to come into the New Covenant </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><i>first</i></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">, then out of them, some (firstfruits), the conquerors by faith, serve as priests. </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>(Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21)</b></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">This is the reason Jesus </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><i>first</i></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"> made the New Covenant with his disciples, then </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><i>later</i></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"> made the Kingdom Covenant – because the disciples wouldn't be able to be in the Kingdom Covenant if they weren't in the New Covenant </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><i>first</i></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">. </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>(Luke 22: 28-30)</b></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Why? Because of what the New Covenant actually accomplishes. It brings all mankind into Christ, and thus into an acceptable condition before the Holy God. Without this, Jehovah God will have no dealings with a person. Notice in </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>Ephesians 1:3:</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"> </span></span> </p> <p style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he has blessed us with </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>every spiritual blessing</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> in the heavenly places </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>in Christ.</b></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">In Adam, all mankind have sin, guilt, and are cursed to die. We have no other inheritance. Therefore to qualify to receive any “spiritual blessing”, we must first leave Adam, and come “in Christ.” This is accomplished by the ransom, bringing us into the New Covenant, by our faith expressed through baptism. Once in </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><i>this</i></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"> condition, until the second coming of Christ, all who have faith and overcome will be part of the “royal priesthood.”</span></span></p> <p style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">So the New Covenant is not just with the symbolic 144,000. It is with </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><i>all</i></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"> mankind. </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><i>Anyone</i></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"> can come into it if they exercise faith and get baptized, identifying themselves with Christ's death, burial and resurrection. Then, if they have faith and overcome, they will be part of the symbolic 144,000, kings and priests of God.</span></span></p> <p style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Just as the Levitical priests were ministers or servants of the Old Covenant, the symbolic 144,000 are ministers or servants of the New Covenant. </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>(2 Corinthians 3:6)</b></span></span></p> <p style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Where the Old Covenant failed to produce the kingdom of priests, </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">the Law being written on stone tablets and therefore the Israelites being unable to live up to it in their power, the New Covenant </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><i>does</i></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"> produce a kingdom of priests, because now the Law is written in our very hearts, with the resurrection power of Christ operating in us. </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>(Jeremiah 31: 33, 2 Corinthians 3:3, 6)</b></span></span></p> The Contextual Bible Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17486273002857289641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6210921821201509757.post-10050727384878631472009-07-04T13:57:00.003+01:002009-07-04T14:01:31.253+01:00What is the meaning of your baptism? - Romans 6:3<title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </style> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Romans 6:3</b>, “</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Or do you not </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><u><b>know</b></u></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? </span></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">As we saw in our previous article <i>“How are we delivered from the power of sin?”,</i> we saw that in order to be delivered from the power of sin we need to believe that we were impaled with Christ. When Christ died we died with him. It is an act in the past. In Greek this is in the aorist tense, that is, it is an action finished once and for all. We do not have to put our flesh to death. Neither do we have to do anything to mortify ourselves. We just have to believe that this happened 2000 years ago. We do not have to screw up our faces and squeeze faith out of ourselves to believe that we died with Christ. It is a fact that you and I died with him, whether we feel it or not. Our death with Christ is an objective fact. If you try to feel it you wouldn't. A fact has to be communicated to you. And you have to be objective about it and believe it. Jehovah tells us this fact in the Bible. Once you know this fact, you believe. Jesus said you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. <b>(John 8:32)</b> In the context he was talking about freedom from sin. What is it that you and I need to “know” in order to be free from sin's power? We need to “know” that our old nature, the rotten nature we inherited from Adam, was impaled with Christ.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">When we acknowldge this fact we get baptized. When we get baptized we agree with Jehovah that he was right in nailing us to the torture stake “in Christ.” He did something that we couldn't do ourselves. And because we are “in Christ”, we did it too. Just as we were all “in Adam” when Adam sinned, and had to take the consequences of his disobedience, so too we are “in Christ” and take the benefits of his obedience.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">So going back to baptism, when we go under the water we identify with Christ's death and burial. Our baptism is a real death. It is not just symbolic. True, it is an outward expression of our faith in our death with Christ. But when we go down and are buried in the water, Jehovah identifies that with our real death with Christ on the torture stake. And then here is the awesome truth. When we come up out of the water, we now identify with his resurrection power. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Romans 6:4</b>, <b>5,</b> “</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Therefore we were </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>buried with him</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> through our baptism </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>into his death</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, in order that, </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>just as Christ was raised up</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> from the dead through the glory of the Father, we also should likewise walk </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>in a newness of life</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">. For if we have become united with him in the </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>likeness of his death</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, we shall certainly also be united with him in the </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>likeness of his</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>resurrection</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.”</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Because we believe in our death, burial and resurrection with Christ, the holy spirit begins to make this death real in our lives. The outer man is put to death by the spirit and the inner man is renewed day by day. Death and resurrection power begins to operate in us. (<b>2 Corinthians 4: 16)</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Many of us got baptized without understanding the significance our baptism. It was no different back in the first century with the congregation in Rome. Notice what Paul writes to them in <b>Romans 6:3</b>, “</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Or do you not </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><u><b>know</b></u></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? </span></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Paul asks them, “Do you not know?” Apparently they didn't. We need to first <b>know</b> the truth. When we know this fact, this truth, we will be set free from the power of sin.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Notice how he continues in </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Romans 6:6</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, “Because we </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><u><b>know</b></u></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> that our old personality [our old nature that we inherited from Adam] was impaled with Christ, that our sinful body might be made </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><u><b>inactive</b></u></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, that we should </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><u><b>no longer</b></u></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> go on being </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><u><b>slaves to sin</b></u></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Now lets go back to </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Romans 6:3</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, “Or do you not </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">know</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> that all of us who were </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>baptized into Christ Jesus </b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">were baptized into his death? </span></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">When we were baptized in water we were </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>baptized into Christ Jesus</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">. Now you are in Christ and Christ is in you. Everything that is attributed to Christ is now attributed to you. Jehovah views you now as he views Christ. Everything that Christ inherits you inherit. Everything that belongs to Christ belongs to you. Christ is chosen, you are chosen. Christ is holy, you are holy. Christ is a beloved child of God, you are a beloved child of God.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The Greek word </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">baptizo </span></i></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">literally means to immerse into, to put into. So you have been immersed into Christ. You have been put into Christ and thus you have put on Christ. </span></span></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Notice </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Galatians 3:27</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,</span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Paul says this "baptism," or immersion into Christ, is an integral part of becoming a Christian. He often refers to God's act of placing believers into Christ. In </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>1 Corinthians 12:13</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> he says, "By one spirit we were all baptized into one body." This is why those who believe are called the body of Christ. In </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>I Corinthians 1:30</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Paul says, "It is due to God that you are </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>in Christ Jesus</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">." Jehovah God has baptized you, or placed you into Christ.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Now you have put off the old man, Adam, and put on the new man, Christ. Everytime you walk by these objective facts revealed in the Bible, about your position in Christ, and remain objective, keeping your focus on your standing in Christ, then you are walking in Christ. When you walk by your faith that Jehovah views you always as he views Christ you are walking in Christ. </span> </p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">However when you become subjective and are led by your feelings and emotions then you walk by flesh, you are walking in Adam. In </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Ephesians 4:22</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Paul tells us to </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>put off</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> the old man. In </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>verse 24</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> he tells us to </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>put on</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> the new man. However, in </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>verse 23</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, the middle verse, he tells us how. By renewing the spirit of our mind. </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>(Ephesians 4:23)</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Our mind is renewed by objective facts, truths that we need to believe in objectively. That is how we renew our mind. We refuse to be subjective, that is, we refuse to be led by our feelings, emotions or opinions. When we go from being subjective to being objective, objectively looking to our position in Christ, we renew our minds. Then we are living by the truth of our baptism. </span></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">We will discuss more about our position in Christ in another article.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> </p>
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<br />The Contextual Bible Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17486273002857289641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6210921821201509757.post-16011371323290923682009-06-29T17:30:00.003+01:002009-07-04T13:55:52.906+01:00How are we delivered from the power of sin? - Romans 6:6<meta equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </style> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><b>Romans 6::6</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> says</span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><b> </b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">“We know that our old personality [lit, “old man,” the nature we inherited from Adam] was impaled with him, </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">that our sinful body might be made </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>inactive</b></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, that we should </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>no longer</b></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> go on being </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>slaves to sin</b></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">In our previous article "<span style="font-style: italic;">What did Paul mean by spirit, soul and body?"</span>, we saw what Jesus said about our worship, that we should worship Jehovah “with spirit,” not with our soul, that is, by Jehovah’s spirit working in our spirit, and “in truth” that is “in reality,” and not by mimicking “spiritual” acts with our soul. </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>-</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>John 4: 23, 24</b></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size:130%;">But the question is how?</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size:130%;">To accomplish this Jehovah has to:</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><ol style="text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">Remove the </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>penalty</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>for sins</b></span><span lang="en-GB">. Then he could put his spirit in us and regenerate our spirit making us God conscious again.</span></span></p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">Deliver us from the </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>power of sin</b></span><span lang="en-GB">. To do this he has to get rid of our Adamic nature since that is where sin operates.</span></span></p> </li></ol><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"> <span style="font-size:130%;">
<br /></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">Did you notice the difference between </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>sins</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> and </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>sin</b></span><span lang="en-GB">? Penalty for </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>sins</b></span><span lang="en-GB">, plural and the power of </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>sin</b></span><span lang="en-GB">, singular.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size:130%;">Sin is character; sins are conduct.
<br />Sin is the centre; sins are the circumference.
<br />Sin is the root; sins are the fruit.
<br />Sin is the producer; sins are the product.
<br />Sin is the sire; sins are his offspring.
<br />Sin is the fountain; sins are its flow.
<br />Sin is what we are; sins are what we do. </span> </p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">So Jehovah God has to not only forgive us our </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>sins</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> on a legal basis, he also has to remove the very nature of </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>sin</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> in us.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">These are accomplished by one act. By Jesus' death on the torture stake. On the torture stake Jesus </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>substituted</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> for us and </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>represented</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> us, that is, he died </span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span lang="en-GB"><b>for</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"> us, </span><span lang="en-GB"><i><b>and</b></i></span><span lang="en-GB"> in his death, we died </span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span lang="en-GB"><b>with</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"> him. Both these aspects are important to understand. The first removes the </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>penalty</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> for sins, the other delivers us from the </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>power</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> of sin.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Removing the penalty of sins</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">When Jesus died on the torture stake he died </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>for</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> us. He shed his blood </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>for</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> us in order to remove the penalty for sins. He </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>substituted</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> for us. When we have faith in his death </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>for</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> us we have forgiveness of our sins. His blood removes the penalty for our sins. </span></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Matthew 26:28</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">“</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">For this means my ‘</span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><b>blood</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> of the covenant,’ which is to be poured out in behalf of many for </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><b>forgiveness of sins</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Ephesians 1:7</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">“</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">By means of him we have the release by ransom </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><b>through the blood</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> of that one, yes, the </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><b>forgiveness of our trespasses</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, according to the riches of his undeserved kindness.</span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Romans 5:8, 9</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">“</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">But God recommends his own love to us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more, therefore, since we have been </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><b>declared righteous now by his blood</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, shall we be saved through him from wrath.”</span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">When we accept God's forgiveness through the blood of Christ he declares us righteous. This is not just for a few chosen people. This is for all who exercise faith in Christ's blood. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Our sins, past, present and future, are forever obliterated by his blood. Forgiven and forgotten. Never to be applied to us, ever. We receive carte blanche forgiveness. Forgiveness of our sins depends on Christ's blood and his blood </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><b>alone</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">. It does not depend on anything else. </span></span></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">Now when we put faith in this aspect of his death </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>for</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> us, then Jehovah God puts his spirit in us and regenerates our spirit. We have to believe that Christ's blood </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>completely</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> forgives </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>all</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> our sins. This is the first aspect of the Good News. The holy spirit of God is a free gift to be appropriated by anyone through faith in Christ's blood. The reproductive seed of God is then sown within us, regenerating our spirit. </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">We will learn more about the holy spirit operating within us, regenerating us from within, in another article.</span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">After we hear the Good News and put faith in Christ's blood we find we are cleansed. Forgiven completely. It's thrilling. But soon we find that something is terribly wrong. We increasingly find that even though we have been forgiven our sins, we are still under the </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>power of sin</b></span><span lang="en-GB">. </span></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">When we understand how Jehovah has freely forgiven our sins we begin to appreciate his love and undeserved kindness. We then think that we need to now straighten our lives and begin to do things for him. We are now concerned about serving Jehovah with all our strength. We try hard to live by Bible principles. We are concerned about our doing, not with our being; </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;">we are distressed by what we have done rather than by what we are. </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">We don't really realize our nature, what it is that we have inherited from Adam. We don't realize that no matter how much we live by Bible principles, these only result in outward actions. They do not change our inner rotten nature that we have inherited from Adam.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">Notice what Watchman Nee says: “</span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">At the beginning of our Christian life we are concerned with our doing, not with our being; </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;">we are distressed rather by what we have done than by what we are. We think that if only we could rectify certain things we should be good Christians, and we set out therefore to change our actions. But the result is not what we expected. We discover to our dismay that it is something more than just a case of trouble on the outside -- that there is in fact more serious trouble on the inside. We try to please Jehovah, but find something within that does not want to please Him. We try to be humble, but there is something in our very being that refuses to be humble. We try to be loving, but inside we feel most unloving. We smile and try to look very gracious, but inwardly we feel decidedly ungracious. The more we try to rectify matters on the outside the more we realize how deep-seated the trouble is within. Then we come to Jehovah and say, `Jehovah, I see it now! Not only what I have </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><i>done </i></span><span style="font-size:130%;">is wrong; </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><i>I </i></span><span style="font-size:130%;">am wrong.' The conclusion of Romans 5:19 is beginning to dawn upon us. We </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>are</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"> sinners. We are members of a race of people who are constitutionally other than what God intended us to be. By the Fall a fundamental change took place in the character of Adam whereby he became a sinner, one constitutionally unable to please God; and the family likeness which we all share is no merely superficial one but extends to our inward character also. We have been "</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>constituted</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>sinners</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;">". ” </span> </p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Romans 5:19</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;">, “</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>constituted</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> sinners.....”. So we are sinners in our very constitution, in our very nature. So our nature has to be dealt with.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Delivering us from the power of sin</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">It is not enough to have my sins forgiven, I need to be delivered from its power, from its powerful clutches. So Jehovah has to strike at the root of our capacity for sin, in my very nature where it operates. </span> </p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">He has to get rid of our “self” where sin operates. By getting rid of our “self” the power of sin can be removed, and the process can begin whereby we can be </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>constituted righteous, </b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">that is, we can be made righteous in our very nature</span></span><span style="font-size:130%;">.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Romans 5:19</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> continues, “likewise also through the obedience of the one person many will be </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>constituted </b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">righteous.”</span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"> He does this not just by his spirit regenerating our spirit as we saw earlier, but also by getting rid of our self, our sinful nature that we have inherited from Adam. How does he do this? This brings us to the second aspect of Christ's death. By nailing it to the torture stake </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>with</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"> Christ.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><b>Romans 6::6</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> says</span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"> “We know that our old personality [lit, “old man,” the nature we inherited from Adam] was impaled with him, </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">that </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>our sinful body</b></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> might be </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>made inactive</b></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, that we should </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>no longer</b></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> go on being </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>slaves to sin</b></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">At </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>Galatians 2:20</b></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Pauls says: </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">“I</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> am impaled along </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>with</b></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Christ. It is no longer I that live, but it is Christ that is living in union with me.” </span></span></span></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>Colossians 2:20</b></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> says, “Since you died </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>together with</b></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Christ toward the elementary things of the world, why do you, as if living in the world, further subject yourselves to the decrees.”</span></span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>2 Corinthians 5:14</b></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> says, “For the love the Christ has compels us, because this is what we have judged, that one man died for all; so, then, </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>all had died</b></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.”</span></span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">These scriptures make it clear that Jesus not only died </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>for</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"> us, in his death we died </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>with</b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"> him. <span lang="en-GB">When Jesus died on the torture stake he also </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>represented</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> us. He not only </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>substituted</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> for us, he also </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>represented</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> us. Just as we were </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>in Adam</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> when he sinned, so that we were constituted sinners, we were also </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>in Christ</b></span><span lang="en-GB">, so that when Christ died we died </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>with</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> him. How did we get in him? </span></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><b>1 Corinthians 1:30</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> says, “</span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">But it is due to </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><b>God</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> that you are </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><b>in Christ Jesus</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, who has become to us wisdom from God, also righteousness and sanctification and release by ransom.”</span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">Jehovah put us in Christ. So since we were in him, we died </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>with</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> him. When we put faith that we died </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>with</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> Christ, then sin loses its power over us. Sin has no more control over us. We are delivered from its powerful clutches. Yes, we do have the sinful nature, but it doesn't have any power over us. It is not that we are not </span><span lang="en-GB"><u>able</u></span><span lang="en-GB"> to sin; it is that we are able </span><span lang="en-GB"><u>not</u></span><span lang="en-GB"> to sin, and it is by simple faith in the fact, that we died with Christ.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">When we put faith in the fact that we died </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>with </b></span><span lang="en-GB">Christ, sin loses its hold over us. There is nothing we need to do but exercise faith. It is that simple. If only brothers and sisters would understand this truth about our death </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>with</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> Christ, they could be leading victorious lives.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">Thus in the memorial, or the Lord's Evening Meal, Jesus used wine and bread. The wine symbolizes his blood, for the forgiveness of sins, to remove the penalty for sins. He wants us to remember that he died </span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span lang="en-GB"><b>for</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"> us. The bread symbolizes the body of Christ, to remove the power of sin. He wants us to remember that we died </span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span lang="en-GB"><b>with</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"> him. Thus it is vital to partake of these emblems in faith if we are to benefit from his blood and body, if we are to have our sins forgiven and the power of sin broken.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size:130%;">We will deal with this subject in detail later. But first we need to understand more about our position in Christ. What does it mean that we are <b>in Christ</b>? We will study this in our next article.</span></p> The Contextual Bible Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17486273002857289641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6210921821201509757.post-65766609321538794292009-06-18T14:23:00.012+01:002009-06-29T17:30:45.263+01:00What did Paul mean by Spirit, Soul and Body at 1 Thessalonians 5:23?<meta equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </style> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Paul says at <b>1 Thessalonians 5:23</b>,<b> </b>“May the very God of peace <span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>sanctify</b></span></span><i><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b> </b></span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>you</b></span></span><i><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b> </b></span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>completely.</b></span></span> And <span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>sound in every respect </b></span></span>may the <span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>spirit</b></span></span><i> </i><span style="font-style: normal;">and </span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>soul </b></span></span><span style="font-style: normal;">and </span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>body</b></span></span> of you brothers be preserved in a blameless manner at the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.”</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">
<br /></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>How Adam was made</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The very first book of the Bible tells us how Jehovah God made Adam. At <b>Genesis 2:7 </b>it says, “And Jehovah God proceeded to <i>form the man out of dust</i> <b>(body)</b> from the ground and to blow into his nostrils <i>the breath of life </i><b>(spirit)</b>, and the man came to be <i>a living soul </i><b>(soul). </b></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Just as electricity interacting on the filament produces light, God’s spirit interacting on the body produced the soul, the personality of Adam, his “self.” So Adam did not “have” a soul. He <i>was</i> the soul, a living, breathing soul; able to think, feel, and act. In his “soul’ he was aware of his self, of his own personality. It is this personality that was projected out for others to perceive and interact with. His “self” or soul, was made up of three faculties, his intellect, his emotions, and his will.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US">Adam's</span> soul, that is his intellect, his emotions and his will, made him <span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>self conscious</b></span>, that is, aware of his self, but it was always to be under the guidance and control of his spirit. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The spirit that God created in Adam made him aware of God, it made him <span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>God conscious</b></span>. It is in his spirit that he would receive wisdom and revelation from God. It is with his spirit that he was meant to love God. It is with the power of his spirit that he was meant to serve and work for God. The spirit was to be the power behind his intellect, emotions and will.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Adams’s body made him aware of the natural world around him through his senses. It made him <b>world</b><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b> conscious.</b></span></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The body was meant to be the “servant” of the soul and the soul was meant to be the “servant” of the spirit. In other words, his senses would be under the control of his intellect, emotions and will, and they in turn were subject to his spirit, which would direct him.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Adam, the person, his soul was the intermediary between the spirit world and the sense world. Adam, the soul would have to make the choice as to which one to subject to. As a person with free will he would have to choose whether he wanted to be spirit guided which would lead him to God, (spirit nature) or be guided by his soul, that is by himself, (his human nature) or be guided by his senses and bodily instincts much like animals (animal nature). If he chose to be guided by himself, he would only be enslaved to his bodily instincts and/or to any other supernatural forces. Jehovah God had put him in a beautiful Garden, his invisible qualities were manifest everywhere and all the wisdom that Adam would gain <i>should</i> lead him to one unavoidable conclusion, the absolute surrender of his soul, his self to Jehovah God. He should arrive at his “Jordan River” moment.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">And if, Adam, by his faith had surrendered himself to Jehovah, like Jesus did at the Jordan River, then Jehovah would have perfected his faith and after his faith had been perfected he would have been given the fruit from the Tree of Life to eat, that is, he would have become permanently connected to Jehovah God. This was to be the goal that Jehovah had set for man; complete union with God, so that the life-giving spirit from God would flow into him and he would be permanently connected with the living God, and have a divine nature.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b><span lang="en-US">Adam's Spiritual Death</span></b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">However, since Adam disobeyed God, he died in spirit. He became dead in his trespass and sin. He died spiritually. <b>(Ephesians 2:1)</b> He had made the choice to be dominated not by his spirit but by his animal nature. He sold himself to this nature, which worked in him along with the principle of sin. He was also now “soulical,” in that he would be governed by his “self.” He became “self conscious” instead of being “God conscious,” that is, instead of being dominated by his spirit, he was now dominated by his “self,” by his intellect, emotions and will. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Then <i><b>the eyes of both of them became opened</b></i> (they lost their “God consciousness” and became dominated by their self) and <i><b>they began to realize that they were naked</b></i> (becoming “self conscious”). Hence they sewed fig leaves together and made loin coverings for themselves. <b>(Genesis 3:7)</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">They were now what the Bible calls “flesh,” the body and soul cut off from the spirit. All of us are born in this condition. Therefore all of us are born fleshly, dominated by our self, our intellect, emotions and will (soulical), and/or by our senses and bodily desires. This is the nature that Adam passed on to us. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>Jude 19</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> says: These are the ones that make separations, </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>animalistic</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> [lit. “soulical men”], </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>not having spirituality </b></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(lit. “without spirit.”)</span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b> </b></span></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Our “self,” that is our intellect, emotions and will dominate us. Our flesh, the “self,” the nature we inherited from Adam, <i><b>always</b></i> looks for its <i><b>own</b></i> interest. Further our “flesh” is under the powerful grip of sin, that nature of Satan, which has been injected into Adam, like poison.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Without the power of the spirit, the “flesh” (body and soul) is unable to live up to God’s standards.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">At <b>Romans 7:18</b> Paul says, “For I know that in me, that is, <span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>in my </b></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>flesh, there dwells nothing good;</b></span></span> for ability to wish is present with me, but <span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>ability to work out what is fine is not present.</b></span></span></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">This nature we have inherited from Adam is corrupt, rotten and deceptive and hence cannot be trusted.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">At <b>Ephesians 4:22</b> Paul says, ‘You were taught to put away the old personality which conforms to your former course of conduct and <span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">which is being </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>corrupted </b></span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">according to his</span></span><i><span style="text-decoration: none;"> </span></i><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>deceptive desire.</b></span>” Yes, this nature we have inherited, is “rotten through and through.” (<b>Ephesians 4:22 </b><i>Living Bible</i>)</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">David cried out in the psalms,</span><span lang="en-GB"> “Look! With error I was brought forth with birth pains, and in sin my mother conceived me.” </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>(Psalm 51:5)</b></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">And Job lamented, “</span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>Who</b></span></span><span lang="en-GB"> can produce someone clean out of someone unclean? </span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>There is not one.</b></span></span><span lang="en-GB">” </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>(Job 14:4)</b></span><span lang="en-GB"> We were conceived in sin, born unclean.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">Paul says it emphatically,</span><span lang="en-GB"> “There is not a righteous man, </span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>not even one</b></span></span><span lang="en-GB">; </span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>there is no one</b></span></span><span lang="en-GB"> that has any insight, </span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>there is no one</b></span></span><span lang="en-GB"> that seeks for God. </span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>All men</b></span></span><span lang="en-GB"> have deflected, </span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>all of them together</b></span></span><span lang="en-GB"> have become worthless; </span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>there is no one</b></span></span><span lang="en-GB"> that does kindness, </span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>there is not so much as one</b></span></span><span lang="en-GB">.” </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>(Romans 3:10-12)</b></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">With this nature that we have inherited from Adam,</span><span lang="en-GB"> it is impossible to understand spiritual realities and please God. </span></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB">Paul says, </span><span lang="en-GB">“The minding of the flesh means </span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>enmity</b></span></span><span lang="en-GB"><i> </i></span><span lang="en-GB">with God, for it is </span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>not under subjection</b></span></span><span lang="en-GB"> to the law of God, nor, in fact, can it be. So those who are </span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>in harmony with the flesh cannot please God.</b></span></span><span lang="en-GB"><i>”</i></span><span lang="en-GB"> </span><span lang="en-GB"><b>(Romans 8:7, 8)</b></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Our Soulical Worship of Jehovah</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Man now uses his “soul,” that is, his intellect to learn about God, his emotions and feelings to love God and his will and efforts to serve him. Thus his worship is “soulical” and not spiritual.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">But a <span style="font-style: normal;"><b>physical</b></span><i> (literally, </i><i><b>‘soulical’</b></i><i>) </i>man <span style="font-style: normal;"><b>does not receive the things of the spirit of God</b></span>, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot get to know them, because <span style="font-style: normal;"><b>they are examined spiritually</b></span><i>.</i> <b>(1 Corinthians 2:14)</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">And so, brothers, I was not able to speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to <span style="font-style: normal;"><b>fleshly</b></span><i> men</i>, as to babes in Christ. <b>(1 Corinthians 3:1)</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Paul had earlier said about the Corinthian brothers, “that in everything <span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>you have been enriched </b></span>in him, <span style="font-style: normal;"><b>in full ability to speak and in full knowledge.</b></span>” <b>(1 Corinthians 1:5)</b></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">And yet he said that they were “soulical” and “fleshly”. <b>(1 Corinthians 2:14, 3:1) </b>The “soul” can mimic everything spiritual. We can thus be deceived into thinking that our acts are “spiritual” when in reality they are “soulical.”</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">For example, instead of receiving knowledge and revelation in the spirit, we use our minds to analyze spiritual things. The mind was never made to be the first point of reception. Our spirit was. Our mind was supposed to be an “instrument” to be used <i><b>by</b></i> the spirit, not to receive spiritual things, but to understand spiritual realities after it has been revealed in our spirit. <b>(Ephesians 1:17,18)</b> But we use our minds the wrong way by our intellectual research and study of the Bible. We, then, think that we are being spiritual.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">We also use our faculty of emotions to love Jehovah and others. This too is fleshly or “soulical,” since it emanates from the “self” that is rotten through and through. Jesus said in <b>Luke 14:26 </b>“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own soul, he cannot be my disciple. There has to be a total emptying of affections that emanate from our soul before a “new nature” can be created in us, with which we can love Jehovah and others in <i><b>his</b></i> way. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">We also use our will and efforts to serve Jehovah and do his work. This too is fleshly and “soulical”. All human efforts are </span><span style="font-size:130%;">worthless and unacceptable no matter how noble and moral these acts are. They are all fleshly and tainted by sin. They come from the power of the soul, or self, and not the spirit. Thus we never understand spiritual realities. At the most we will be able to understand shadows of the truth, but never <i><b>the</b></i></span> truth.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">So the danger is that we build our lives on the foundations of these “shadows” rather than the realities, which can <i><b>only</b></i> be discerned spiritually, that is with our spirit, which we as we have seen, is dead within us.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Paul had built his whole life on the “shadow” of God’s Law. So when Christ, the reality, was preached by the Christians, it shook his very foundation, because it was just a shadow, totally powerless and ineffective in producing spiritual worship in him. His worship had been “soulical” all along. All done out of his efforts, his emotions and his intellect.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Therefore, <i><b>every single thing</b></i> that we do for Jehovah in the power of our soul is unacceptable to him, they are all “soulical” and tainted by sin. All of them emanate from our “self” that we have inherited from Adam, which is “rotten through and through.” <b>(Ephesians 4:22)</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">As we said above, our most moral and noble acts, even our worship of Jehovah done in the power of our “self” is repulsive to Jehovah. Notice how Isaiah puts it. “And we become like someone <span style="font-style: normal;"><b>unclean</b></span>, all of us, and <span style="font-style: normal;"><b>all our acts of righteousness are like a garment for periods of menstruation;</b></span> and we shall fade away like leafage, all of us, and our errors themselves will carry us away just like a wind. <b>(Isaiah 64:6)</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The lamp of the body is the eye. If, then, your eye is simple, (led by our spirit and God conscious) your whole body will be bright, but if your eye is wicked, (dominated by the self, that is, we use our intellect, emotions and will to learn about God, love him and serve him) your whole body will be dark. If in reality the light (our soulical mimicry of spiritual things) that is in you is darkness, how great that darkness is! (thinking we are spiritual when in fact we are “soulical”) </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">–<b>Matthew 6:22, 23</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">All our works done by the power of the soul is worthless. They are called dead works. <b>(Hebrews 6:1 and 9:14)</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>What is our hope?</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The situation looks bleak. But we need to recognize this situation before we can receive power from God. It is very important to see our nature at it truly is, not deceiving ourselves into thinking that we are not that bad. For unless we see ourselves as we are, as Jehovah sees us, how rotten and unclean we are from birth, we will not see the need for our salvation; we will not see the need for Christ, and so remain without the power that is offered to us by God <i><b>through</b></i> Christ, and Christ <i><b>alone</b></i>.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">We are all accustomed to feeling guilty when we “sin.” What we need to realize is that we do not need to “sin” in order to be guilty. We are under condemnation right from our birth because we <i>are</i> sinners. We are sinners right from the time we are conceived, let alone from our birth. Sin is not an act. It is our very nature, our very condition. Unless we recognize this and give up doing anything in our own efforts, with the power of our soul, with our nature that we have inherited from Adam, we have no hope for salvation. Paul said, “</span><span style="font-size:130%;">I do not shove aside the undeserved kindness of God; for </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>if righteousness is through law, Christ actually died for nothing.</b></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;">” </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Galatians 2:21</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Jesus said: “Nevertheless, the hour is coming, and it is now, when the true worshipers will worship the Father <span style="font-style: normal;"><b>with spirit and truth</b></span>, for, indeed, the Father is looking for suchlike ones to worship him. God is a Spirit, and those worshiping him must worship <span style="font-style: normal;"><b>with spirit and truth.</b></span>” <b>(John 4:23, 24)</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Notice Jesus said “with spirit,” not with our soul, that is, by God’s spirit working in our spirit, and “in truth” that is “in reality,” and not by mimicking “spiritual” acts with our soul.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-US"><b>(Romans</b></span><span lang="en-US"> </span><span lang="en-US"><b>1:9)</b></span><span lang="en-US"> For God, to whom I render sacred service </span><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>with my spirit</b></span></span><span lang="en-US"> in connection with the good news about his Son, is my witness of how without ceasing I always make mention of you in my prayers.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">But the question is how? We will discuss this in the next article<b> – How are we delivered from the power of sin?</b></span></p> <meta equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --></style>The Contextual Bible Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17486273002857289641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6210921821201509757.post-61193648305098543782009-06-14T14:47:00.002+01:002009-06-18T14:27:14.078+01:00How do we walk by faith and not by sight? - 2 Corinthians 5:7<meta equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </style> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Paul said in </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><b>2 Corinthians 5:7</b></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> “… we are walking by faith, not by sight.</span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">At </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><b>Romans 14:23</b></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> he says “Everything that is not out of faith is sin.”</span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>What is Faith?</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size:130%;">Faith is to believe that what God says is true and real. Not what we see around us, not what we experience in our lives; but to believe to be true what God says is true. Faith is held against the face of “evidence” to the contrary. Faith is held against the face of human reason and logic; against so called “realities” that are experienced in life; against the face of what we see “to be real.” </span> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size:130%;">Satan has created a world where we see suffering and injustice everywhere. Circumstances, conditions, “reality” and “experience,” reason and logic would lead to only one unavoidable conclusion. Either God doesn’t exist or if he does, he does not care. But faith would see otherwise.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jesus said to Jehovah in prayer, “Your word is truth.” (</span></span><span lang="en-GB"><b>John 17:17</b></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">) So faith walks and lives by what God has said to be true, not what is seen to be “true” in our lives, or what is “experienced” as truth in our lives. </span></span></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Notice how the Amplified Bible translates </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><b>Hebrews 11:1</b></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, “Now Faith </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">is the assurance (the confirmation, </span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">the title deed) of the things we hope for, being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality [</span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>faith perceiving as real fact, what is not revealed to the senses</b></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">].</span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Abraham, the Father of all those having faith</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size:130%;">Take Abraham, the father of all those exercising faith. Jehovah God told him he would have a son through Sarah. The son was not born right away. After Jehovah gave this promise to Abraham, Abraham continued to grow older. Sarah continued to grow older.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size:130%;">Now if you applied human reasoning and logic, what Jehovah had said simply could not be true. According to circumstances and conditions that Abraham saw around him in life, what God said to Abraham could not happen. And most of all, in the very experience of his body and of Sarah’s body God’s promise was a “blatant” lie.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size:130%;">But Abraham did not go by what he saw or experienced. He believed God’s word to be true and factual. When God said there would be a son, as far as God was concerned there was a son, immediately. The son existed right away in God's eyes. </span> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size:130%;">Faith lived by those words of God and not by so called “reality” and “experience.”</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Talking about Abraham, Paul says in </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><b>Romans 4:17</b></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, “This was in the sight of the One in whom he had faith, even of God, who makes the dead alive and </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>calls the things that are not as though they were.”</b></span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Things that are not seen as already in existence. Things that were not experienced as already experiencing. Why? Because a thing has a reality the moment it is called into existence by God. It does not need to have a material existence for us to live by. Reality is created by God’s word. If he says it, we live as if it exists. And here is the main point. When we live as if it exists, because God has said so, then it will get a material existence based on our faith. Let us repeat that again, When we live by what God says is true in spirit, then it </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>will</b></span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> become true in our case in flesh.</span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">No matter how much reason or experience may contradict it, we do not waver in a lack of faith. And when we continue to persist in our faith, then what God has said </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>will </b></span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">become “real” in our lives. By our continued persistence we will make what God has said to be real in our lives. </span></span></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><b>Hebrews 6: 12</b></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> “But be imitators of those who </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>through faith and patience inherit the promises.</b></span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size:130%;">This is exactly what Abraham did. Through faith and patience he inherited the promise.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><b>Romans 4:18</b></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> “Although beyond hope, yet based on hope he had faith.”</span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"> <span style="font-size:130%;">Faith is not stoic resignation. It is confident expectation. </span> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><b>Romans 4:19-21</b></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> “And, although he </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">did not grow weak in faith</span></span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>he considered his own body, now already deadened</b></span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, [experience] as he was about one hundred years old, </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>also the deadness of the womb of Sarah. </b></span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">[“so called reality”] </span></span><sup><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">20</span></span></sup><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">But because of the promise of God </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>he did not waver in a lack of faith</b></span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, but </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>became powerful </b></span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">by his faith</span></span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, giving God glory </span></span><sup><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">21</span></span></sup><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">and </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to do.”</b></span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size:130%;">Because he went against the face of so called reality and his own experience and persisted in believing God’s word as fact, a tremendous switch took place in his and Sarah’s body. His reproductive powers were resurrected. Sarah’s deadened womb was renewed. His faith made God’s word a reality in flesh. Isaac, God's word and promise became flesh and blood. By faith in God's word Abraham inherited the promise.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Believing is not changing God’s word into reality. It is believing that what God has said is real. That is why Jesus said, “You will know the truth (reality) and the truth (reality) will set you free.” </span><b>(John 8:32)</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> If we </span><b>KNOW</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> the truth or reality, (what God has said to be true and not what we experience or see) then that truth will become a reality in our lives. But if we think what we experience or see is what reality is, then we will stumble and forever remain in the control of flesh. That is how we walk by faith and not by sight. That is why Jesus said “</span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">All the things you pray and </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">ask for have faith that</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b> </b></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">you have</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b> practically received, </b></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">and you will have them.</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><b>(Mark 11:24)</b></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;" lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>How do we walk by faith today?</b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Now let us apply this to </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><b>Romans 6:6</b></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">. In Jehovah's eyes our Adamic nature is impaled with Christ. That is a fact in his eyes. </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><b>I Corinthians 5:14</b></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> says “One man died so all have died.” When Christ died all mankind was put to death with him. That is a fact. It is reality in God's eyes. Now if we believe that we died with Christ then God's spirit will make that real in our lives. If we reckon ourselves as dead, since Christ died and we died with him, then our “self” would be made dead and inactive and sin would lose its power over us. We would no longer be slaves to sin. Why? Because that is a fact. God says so at </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><b>Romans 6:6:</b></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> “B</span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;">ecause we </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><i><u><b>know</b></u></i></span><span style="font-size:130%;"> that our old personality was impaled with [him], that our sinful body might be made inactive, that we should no longer go on being slaves to sin.” Do you </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><i><u><b>know</b></u></i></span><span style="font-size:130%;"> this truth. If you </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><i><u><b>know</b></u></i></span><span style="font-size:130%;"> this truth, the truth will set you free.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Now just like Abraham we have to hold this faith in spite of what we experience. Sin is a powerful force in our body and soul. In spite of experiencing sin in our bodies, we need to exercise faith in </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><i><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>the fact</b></span></i></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> that we </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><i><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>are</b></span></i></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> dead and therefore delivered from the power of sin. </span></span></span> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">And as we walk by faith we will experience a victorious life. Just like with Abraham and Sarah, a tremendous thing will happen in our bodies. God’s spirit will slowly crush our “self,” our sinful nature, (because we believe that we are impaled with Christ, the spirit will make that real in our lives) and sin will lose its power over us. God's spirit will make God's word (in this case </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><b>Romans 6:6</b></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">) a reality in our lives. Faith in what God has said, against the face of the “reality” of sin in our lives, is what will make sin lose its power over us completely. Our faith makes God’s word a reality in flesh. Through faith and patience we too can inherit the promise.</span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">In us we can experience the fulfilment of the promise of </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><b>Genesis 3:15</b></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, the crushing of our sinful, corrupt self, the serpent nature that we inherited from Adam, by Christ’s spirit (the seed of the woman) within. When we believe that we died when Christ was put to death on the torture stake then God's spirit will make that death a reality in our body.</span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-family:Times New Roman,serif;font-size:130%;" ><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">As we said above we need to reckon that we are dead with Christ, impaled with him. What does that mean? Just as a man impaled on a torture stake has no control over his life, cannot even scratch his bum, we need to completely relinquish control over our lives. We can no longer live. We do not plan or order our life. We leave it in Christ's hand. Then Christ’s spirit takes over, takes complete control of our body and soul. He will begin to rule and order our lives. Once our “self” is dethroned and “put to death,” Christ will sit on the throne of our lives. We need to always keep obeying the Good News, so that our self will remain impaled. We keep submitting to Christ. Our prayer always is the prayer of Christ at Gethsemane. “Let, not my will, but yours take place.” </span></span></span><span style=";font-family:Times New Roman,serif;font-size:130%;" ><span lang="en-GB"><b>(Luke 22:42)</b></span></span><span style=";font-family:Times New Roman,serif;font-size:130%;" ><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> And as God's sovereign will takes control of our lives through Christ we will live a victorious life. As we relinquish control completely, Christ will take complete control. And as </span></span></span><span style=";font-family:Times New Roman,serif;font-size:130%;" ><span lang="en-GB"><b>Romans 10:11 </b></span></span><span style=";font-family:Times New Roman,serif;font-size:130%;" ><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-weight: normal;">says</span></span></span><span style=";font-family:Times New Roman,serif;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: normal;"> “None that rests his faith on him will be disappointed.”</span></span><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span> </p> The Contextual Bible Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17486273002857289641noreply@blogger.com0