Super-abbreviated Christian History Timeline

Posted on 12/03/2013 by Paul Pavao

Don’t miss yesterday’s post. It has much more information.

Here’s a very general timeline of Christian history as I see it:

AD 33-70: Apostles/apostolic era
AD 70-325: Pre-Nicene Era.

  • Persecuted
  • The church, with exceptions unavoidable in a world of humans, consists entirely of Christians who know that Jesus expects us to forsake everything and make everything secondary to his will.
  • The church grew rapidly through this period, and the 3rd century saw many of the problems that arise with large numbers: the beginnings of division, increasing lukewarmness, growing hierarchical authority

312-383: The Arian Controversy and the influence of the emperor

  • The change in the church is dramatic. From mostly disciples the church grows to include most Roman citizens, which means disciples are the minority.
  • Since most of the citizens of Rome are in the church, the church can no longer forbid military service nor promote non-violence.
  • Since the church is now mostly nominal, the histories written about the fourth century bear no resemblance to Eusebius’ history of the first three centuries. Ecclesiastical history is replaced by a 4th century history of violence, intrigue, and intervention by the emperor.

312-1500: Middle Ages

  • The church continues along the same path. The idea that a church should consist only of disciples and that those who do not want to follow King Jesus wholeheartedly should be outside the church has been lost.
  • In the west, the hierarchy grows more and more important, more and more corrupt, makes more and more claims for itself, and adds more and more new doctrines to the apostolic faith.
  • There becomes such a separation between the hierarchy and the average Catholic that they are not allowed even to own a copy of the Scriptures, nor are they allowed to hear the Scripture in their own language. This is enforced upon penalty of death, and even men like Thomas Aquinas give reasons why the death penalty for “heretics” is not only appropriate, but necessary.

1500-present: The Protestant Era

Several streams of Protestantism develop over these five centuries.

  • The Lutherans: the first Protestants, born because the German nobles, tired of the Roman Catholic taxes upon their country, defended Martin Luther.
  • The Reformed (John Calvin): Calvin came alone 20 years after was a great writer and orator. His teachings took greater root than Martin Luther’s, and they even influenced the Church of Englaind.
  • High Church Protestant: I’m not sure this is proper terminology. The Church of England separated itself from Rome in the 1540’s (if I remember correctly, but that’s close) because the pope would not approve Henry VIII’s annulment of his marriage. The Church of England was much more open to Protestant theology than Rome, and it became mostly Reformed (Calvinist) in its theology.
  • It was the Church of England, and its Puritans and Separatists, that led to the founding of the Baptists and most of the denominations of the United States.
  • The Anabaptists were the “Radical Reformation.” Eventually, they would splinter worse than any of the other Protestant lineages, but in their early days they displayed all the fire of the pre-Nicene church. The Amish, Mennonites, and German Baptist Brethren are their descendants. I’m not sure exactly why some Baptists claim them as ancestors, but I see no indication that is true. (Feel free to correct me if you know more than I do.)
  • With rare exceptions, all of these streams of Protestantism maintained the policy that poisoned the church in the fourth century: the idea that every citizen should be a member of the church. The Anabaptists returned to a church of disciples only, and so did the Society of Friends (Quakers).

Nowadays I rarely feel that anything I write is complete, especially on this blog. Right now I am of the opinion that this is a good thing which makes more room for dialogue. I think it was a fault of mine, always trying to provide answers.

It is not just the destination; it is also the journey.

This is especially true in our King. If we don’t go through the journey under God, we may find that when we arrive, we are not equipped to handle where he has brought us.

Please feel free to comment, dispute, adjust.

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Christian History Timeline

Posted on 12/02/2013 by Paul Pavao

This is a complete overview of Christian history. I am trying my best, on this page, to make each line equal 25 years so you can feel the passing of time better. As we drill down over the next few days, each line will equal less years.

AD 1 – Jesus is at least 4, probably 6 years old. (see Early Church History Timeline)
AD 33 – Jesus dies on the cross, rises again, and the fullness of Pentecost happens.
AD 70 – Jerusalem is destroyed by Titus. Paul and Peter have died.
AD 90’s – (personal opinion) Gospel of John is the last of the apostolic writings.
c. AD 100 – John, the last of the apostles, dies.
 
 
 
AD 70-325 – Pre-Nicene Era: we will do a separate timeline on this era.
 
 
303-311 – Great Persecution
312-337 – Constantine ends persecution, “turns his flock over to the church,” and the Council of Nicea happens.
325-383 – The churches in the eastern Roman empire and the emperors fight over the decision of the Council of Nicea
405-476 – Barbarians repeatedly sack the city of Rome and finally take the western Roman empire.
 
 
 
 
 
590-604 – Pope Gregory the Great gains the loyalty of the barbarian kings and is the first pope with full secular and spiritual oversight of the former western Roman empire and Europe.

630-800 – Sorry I don’t know the dates better, but this is the time period of the rise of Islam and its conquest of North Africa.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1054 – The Great Schism: The bishop of Rome (the pope), who had been battling for sole primacy for a few centuries, excommunicates the bishop of Constantinople, his greatest rival.
 
 
1096-1291 – The Crusades. Historians suggest there were seven major crusades into the Holy Land and even to Constantinople, where the eastern Roman emperor still reigned.
 
 
 
1300-1500 – The Renaissance: the rise of the middle class led to education and learning that was previously limited to monasteries and universities. The Western Great Schism produce multiple popes from 1294-1414.
 
 
 
1453 – Constantinople falls to Muslim Turks
 
 
1517 – Martin Luther nails 95 theses to the cathedral door at Wittemburg beginning the Reformation
1500-1700 – The expansion of Protestantism and the development of a large percentage of our modern denominations
 
 
 
1700-1800 – Two most well-known figures are John Wesley & George Whitefield. This is also the rise of pietism.

1800-1900 – Charles Spurgeon, Charles Finney*, and the Plymouth Brethren movement, which affects almost all Protestants more than we realize. Millerism led immediately to the Seventh Day Adventists and later to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Joseph Smith and the Mormons also began in the early 19th century, as did the Great Awakening.
1900-2013 – The Pentecostal movement began with the Azusa street revival in 1906. The charismatic movement belongs to the second half of the 20th century.
 
 

* Ironically, Spurgeon.org has an article accusing Charles Finney of being a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

 
A task like this is impossible to be done perfectly by one person. All suggestions for inclusion or exclusion are welcome. I will be expanding only the first 400 years because those are the only ones I’m really qualified to expand.

You can see some of the big gaps in my knowledge above. You can also see that I am focusing on European Christianity. I don’t know Eastern Orthodox history very well.

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The Unity of the Spirit

Posted on 12/02/2013 by Paul Pavao

I was in a discussion on Facebook concerning the nature of the church. I am holding this discussion with a couple of Orthodox church members. One of them provided a bunch of quotes on the church from the “church fathers.”

Some ideas came from that …

  1. I really like a couple of the quotes, so I’m going to share them in this post.
  2. I realized that “church fathers” is a mysterious term to most Protestants. To most of us, they are people in ecclesiastical robes,  belonging to an unspecified era a long time ago and belonging to churches we don’t understand, but that were probably Roman Catholic. So I’m going to share a timeline of church history starting tomorrow, then drill down on it bit by bit over a few posts.

Early Church Fathers on the Spirit and the Church

These are not the church fathers that I normally quote. Tomorrow, I’ll begin explaining why I quote from the “pre-Nicene” or “ante-Nicene” fathers and almost never quote post-Nicene fathers. That will be the “Learn All of Church History in One Week” series. You won’t know any details, but you’ll have a framework of all of church history that you can plug the details into. Basically, we will be building a set of shelves in which you can organize and retain everything you know and will know about Christian history.

Anyway, here’s the quotes:

“What is the unity of the Spirit?” asks Saint John Chrysostom, and he answers, “Just as the spirit, in the body, controls all and communicates some sort of unity to the diversity which arises from the various bodily members, so it is here. But the Spirit is also given in order to unite people who are diverse among themselves in descent and in their way of thinking.” (from http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/christchurchilarion.htm)

Blessed Theodoret says, “You are all considered worthy of a common Spirit; you compose one body.” Blessed Jerome describes: “One body in the sense of the body of Christ, which is the Church; and one Holy Spirit, one single dispenser and sanctifier of all.” (ibid.)

Blessed Paul Pavao would like to say he really likes these quotes.

Hey, those guys were probably more obedient to King Jesus than I am. They were probably better servants to our Master. However, there’s no way they were more blessed than me. Our Father has been very gracious to me, a sinner, as I am sure he has been to you if you have given any effort to following him.

Anyway, back to the point …

Throughout the post I linked after that first quote, there is this emphasis on the Spirit as the source of our unity. I can’t say I followed the point of the whole post because I got lost in my own points after I read the quotes.

There are those who are unified by the Spirit despite their various descents and ways of  thinking. There are those who are being sanctified by the Spirit. There are those who want to please Jesus above everything else in their life, and no matter how good or bad they are at pleasing Jesus, they are the ones who will find the Holy Spirit uniting and transforming them.

That is the church. Everything that gets in the way of our acting that spiritual unity out is at best a distraction and at worst evil. We are called to diligently maintain the unity of the Spirit.

“Maintain” means that we already have it.

Acts 5:32 says that God gives the Holy Spirit to those that obey him.* If the Holy Spirit is in us, he will unite us. I think most of us have experienced that feeling. We have met people that we just knew were Christians. There was a draw to them, and they felt the same toward us.

That unity is to be diligently maintained.

What About Important Doctrines?

There are important doctrines. No one denies that. I think most of us agree, however, that God doesn’t give the Holy Spirit to people who deny the basics of the Christian faith.

What are those basics?

There are things that all of us agree are important. The Apostles Creed is a good example. To boil the Apostles Creed down to its basic meaning, we are to believe that God the Father created everything with no exceptions. He created all these things through King Jesus, our Lord, the Son of God, who was born of God before time began, one in substance from the Father (God from God), and that all the things we read about him in the  Gospels really happened. He really was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died for our sins, rose again bodily, and ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. We also believe in the Holy Spirit.

The Apostles Creed adds that we believe in one church and in one baptism for the remission of sins, but the interpretation of those terms is extremely varied in our day.

Okay, given that these things are important, all debate about anything else needs to be done keeping in mind that if we have unity of Spirit with people, we have to diligently maintain it.

I’m not going to tell you how to maintain it. I saw a discussion on Facebook about whether to fellowship with other Christians if they did not agree with you on head coverings (re: 1 Cor. 11). It’s important that the church discuss these things and draw conclusions. A person who breaks fellowship with a church over such an issue, however, has forgotten that we are to diligently maintain the unity of the Spirit.

How would things be different if that were our attitude? If we could say, “I have my convictions, my Bible interpretations, and my strong opinions. I don’t want to see them dismissed, but if you are my brother or sister, united to me in Spirit, I will diligently maintain that unity until I absolutely cannot. Even then, when I can no longer maintain that unity, I will honestly examine myself to see if there is any change I can make in myself for the sake of the unity of God’s flock.”

After all, if we are able to believe that another person has the Spirit of God, then are we not believing that God has fellowship with that person? And if God does, shouldn’t we?

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Daily Passage on Works: Days 37-43

Posted on 11/29/2013 by Paul Pavao

I’m playing catch-up again. As I said last time, I don’t mind. I need to provide 8 passages today, but I think what I will do is just 7, then catch up again in a few days. I want to use the letters to the 7 churches in Rev. 2 & 3 today.

Today I want you to ask yourself two questions as you read these

  1. By what measure does Jesus judge these churches while they are here on this earth?
  2. Does Jesus clarify at any point that these works he is demanding can only be done by faith?

Day 37-43:

Revelation 2:1-7: To the angel of the church at Ephesus, write: … I know your works, your labor, and your patience, and how you cannot put up with those who are evil … Neveretheless, I have something against you because you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you are fallen, repent, and do the first works. Otherwise, I will come to you quickly and remove your candlestick, unless you repent. You do have this, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans [idolatry and wife-swapping], which I also hate. To him that overcomes I will give him to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Revelation 2:8-11: To the angel of the church at Smyrna, write … I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich) … He that overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.

Revelation 2:12-17: To the angel of the church in Pergamos, write … I know your works and where you live, near Satan’s seat. You hold tightly to my name and you have not denied the faith even in the days in which my faithful witness, Antipas, was slain among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you because you have among you those who hold the doctrine of Balaam … You also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans … Repent, or I will come to you quickly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth. To him that overcomes I will give to eat of the hidden manna and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written.

Revelation 2:18-26: To the angel of the church in Thyatira, write … I know your works, love, service, faith, patience, and works, and the last to be more than the first. Still, I have a few things against you because you allow that woman Jezebel … to teach and seduce my servants to sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols. … I will give to each of you according to your works. … He that overcomes and keeps my works to the end, to him I will give power over the nations.

Revelation 3:1-5: To the angel of the church in Sardis, write … I know your works, that you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. Pay attention and strengthen the things which remain, which are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember how you have received and heard, hold on tightly, and repent. … You have a few names, even in Sardis, who have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcomes, that one shall be clothed in white garments and I will not blot his name out of the Book of life.

Revelation 3:7-12: To the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write … I know your works. Behold, I have put an open door in front of you,  which no shuts, and shuts, and no one opens. … Because you have kept the word of my patience, I will also keep you from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world. … Him that overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God …

Revelation 3:14: To the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write … I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, then, because you are lukewarm, I will vomit you out of my mouth. … As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent! … To him that overcomes I will grant to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and have sat down with my Father on his throne.

The Purpose of This Exercise

This is passage 31 of what I hope will be 180 passages (six months worth). The point is to establish that we can exhort each other to good works without apology because Jesus and his apostles certainly don’t apologize for their exhortations or their warnings concerning good works.

This is a faithful saying, and I want you to affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. (Tit. 3:8)

 

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Living the Christian Life: Revelation and the Release of the Spirit

Posted on 11/23/2013 by Paul Pavao

This post was inspired by an email I received. There’s no personal information in my response, but paragraphs that start with something like “If you’re going to fight for any teaching …” refer to points in the email I received.

Something that is very hard for us to understand is that the Christian life is lived by revelation (Eph. 1:17). It is lived by the Spirit of God. The new covenant is “not of the letter, but of the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:6).

If you’re going to fight for any teaching, I’d say the best teaching you can fight for is Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7). At the end of it, he says that if you obey his commands in that teaching, you are like a wise man who built his house on a rock. Even when the storms come, you will stand.

That is a process. There is no law, not even the commands of the Sermon on the Mount, that can bring life. Life comes from Jesus, and from Jesus only. If you have the Son, you have Life. If you don’t have the Son, you don’t have Life (1 Jn. 5:12).

That means that if you want to live out the commands of Jesus, and so prove to be his friend, you are going to have to grow (Jn. 15:1-15). That growth is not like we wish. That growth is “remaining in the vine.”

Jesus once said to fall into the ground like a seed and die (Jn. 12:24-25). A seed grows from a dead thing in the ground to a living plant in two ways. Inside, the life expands, cracking and working its way out of the hard shell. Outside, the pressure and moisture of the ground softens and weakens the shell to make room for the life.

You are that shell. We achieve godliness by the work of God. The life of God presses on us from the inside, convicting us, moving us, leading us. From the outside, God sends pressure and moisture. Moisture is life-giving. Pressure is painful, but it is also life-giving.

All of it is so that the shell, your soul, can be broken so that when people touch you, they do not touch your soul–whether your soul is trained or untrained, good or bad–but they touch your spirit within you, where Christ dwells, and where the Spirit of God is mingled with your spirit in unity (1 Cor. 6:17).

You can’t speed that process up. You are a new creation when you believe, but that happens by the implanting of a seed, not the implanting of a full tree (Jam. 1:18-22; 1 Pet. 1:23).

It can be a joyful and edifying thing to learn the deep things of God. It can also cause an addiction to disputing and to pride, and the results of that will be envy, strife, insults, and suspiciousness of others (1 Tim. 6:3-5).

If you are submitting yourself to the working of God and trying to obey the commands of Christ (and the Sermon on the Mount is an excellent and quite complete place to begin), you are going to be too busy to get involved with the sensual and demonic wisdom from this earth that so easily captures us and makes us Pharisees. The wisdom from above produces the peaceful fruit of righteousness (Jam. 3:13,17).

FELLOWSHIP

Every member of the body of the King is joined to the head, our Master, living in heaven and seated at the right hand of the Father.

However, Jesus is not a detached head. “He is the head of the body, the church” (Col. 1:18). The whole Christ, the whole Anointed One, is the head and body together. That makes a whole person. We are in desperate need of one another (1 Cor. 12; Eph. 4:11-16). We grow together into “the fullness of the stature of the King.” That means for us to be full-grown, we have to grow together into the full size of the King’s body.

Growing on our own is difficult. It can be done, but it is not the right way. We’re supposed to be exhorted daily by the saints (Heb. 3:13).

The practical application of this is that you have to be careful about your judgment of others and where you cut people off because they aren’t “like-minded.” The greatest danger to you is yourself. That is why Jesus tells you to hate your own soul. The more people you cut off, the less people you have to take a chisel to that rock-hard seed that is your soul, crack it, and let the life of God pour forth from your spirit.

We can’t be undiscerning. There are plenty of false believers, especially today, and they will not encourage you in the way of righteousness. Nonetheless, if we are too “discerning,” we will cut off a major source of our life.

It is important that we learn to live spiritually and to discern spiritually. We are commanded to maintain the unity of the Spirit (Eph. 4:3), not the unity of the faith. The unity of the faith is a product of the unity of the Spirit and the working together of those united in the Spirit (Eph. 4:13).

I’d like to recommend to you that you look at http://www.austin-sparks.net. He has a lot of really good advice about living spiritually. An excellent book to get is Watchman Nee’s The Release of the Spirit, which was life-changing for me as a young Christian. Chances are you can find it online for free, but if you have to buy it, it’s not expensive.

Free Bonus

Side Note: In heaven, at the right hand of the Father, is not up in the sky, somewhere around Alpha Centauri or in the constellation of Taurus. We, too, are seated in the heavenly places, in King Jesus. The spiritual realm is all around us. In him, we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). He is close to you, and Paul told the Athenians to “grope” for him. We need to long for a spiritual relationship with him and feel for him (17:27).

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Daily Passage on Works: Days 32-36

Posted on 11/21/2013 by Paul Pavao

I got behind again. I’m going to do that more. I will probably do this once per week and list seven verses rather than one per day. To catch up, we are doing five passages today. There are actually six verses, but Eph. 5:5-7 is a repeat to show that the idea of Ezek. 18:21-24 and 33:11-16 have carried over into the new covenant. I won’t count that one since it’s a repeat. I am using 1 Cor. 10:1-12 today because it goes with Ezek. 18 & 33 as well.

Days 32-36:

These first two passages are from the Hebrew Scriptures rather than the apostles’ writings. I think their application to us today and their expression of the Father’s heart toward us are clear.

Ezekiel 18:21-24: “If the wicked will turn from all his sins which he has committed, keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he will surely live. He will not die. All of the transgressions which he has committed shall not be mentioned to him. In the righteousness that he has done, he will live. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked” says the Lord GOD, “rather than that he should turn from his ways and live? But when the righteous turns from his righteousness, commits iniquity, does all the same abominations that the wicked do, shall he live? All the righteousness that he has done will not be mentioned. In the trespass in which he has trespassed, and in the sin in which he has sinned, in them he shall die.”

Ezekiel 33:11-16: “Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked should turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’

“Therefore, you son of man, say to the children of your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him in the day of his transgression. As for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness. Nor shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sins.’

“When I tell the righteous that he will surely live, if he trusts his own righteousness and commits iniquity, all his righteousness will not be remembered, but for the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die for it.

“Again, when I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ if he turns from his sin and does that which is lawful and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the sins which he has committed will be mentioned to him. He has done that which is lawful and right. He will live.”

Ephesians 5:5-7: For this you know, that no sexually immoral, nor unclean, nor greedy person, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of the Anointed One and of God.

1 Corinthians 10:1-12: In addition, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all at the same spiritual meat, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was the King.

But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Now these things were our typological examples, so that we would not lust after evil things, like they lusted. Nor be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” Nor let us practice immorality, as some of them did, and in one doy 23,000 men fell. Nor let us tempt the King, as some of them tempted, and were destroyed by snakes. Nor murmur, as some of them also murmured and were destroyed by the destroyer.

Now all these things happened to them for typological examples, and they are written down for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the age have come. Therefore let the one that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.

Hebrews 3:12-14: Take heed, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. Instead, exhort one another daily, while it is called “today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of the King, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast to the end.

Luke 6:46: “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things I say?”

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Behavior Is Better Than Belief

Posted on 11/21/2013 by Paul Pavao

The last time I posted on this subject, someone complained that behavior is not better than belief. Godly behavior is the produce of belief and cannot be obtained without belief, so how can behavior be better?

Okay, that’s true. “Apart from me, you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5). I agree.

I think my point is still true. My statement means two things:

  1. Many people claim to believe in Jesus, but your behavior tells the truth about what you believe.
  2. Today we honor theological doctrines. We are awed by terms like soteriology, ecclesiology, eschatology and exegesis and hermeneutics. We are impressed by people who know how to use them, when we should be impressed by behavior.

What Behavior? What Belief?

I could jump in here and point out an important verse. John says that the person who claims to know God but does not obey his commandments is a liar.

I don’t want this post to be about conviction, judgment, or warning, though. I want this post to be about guidance and direction. I want it to answer the question, “What should we be doing?”

For that, I want to turn you to two passages, one of which I covered just a few days ago.

Titus 2

This chapter is too long to be cited here. Instead just let me summarize.

The chapter begins with Paul telling Titus to “say the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.” That command is followed by the word “that.” In other words, Paul is explaining in the rest of the chapter what sound doctrine is.

It is not what most of us think it is.

Older men should be serious and self-controlled. They should have a healthy faith, love, and patience. Older women should behave in a holy manner, limit their alcohol, teach good things, and teach the younger women how to be sensible, love their husbands, love their children, be chaste, and submit to their husbands. Young men should be clear-headed, and Titus is to set an example for them of good works. Employees should obey their employers, make sure not to steal, and be faithful.

We do all of this, Paul says, because the grace of God has come to us and taught us to deny the world and live sensibly, righteously, and godly and to look for the coming of King Jesus who died so that he would have his own people, unique in their zealousness for good works.

That’s it. No big words with -ology at the end. No Greek words that end in -eutics and -esis. Don’t get drunk. Don’t steal. Love your wife. Respect your husband. Raise your children in love and the way of the Lord. Be a great employee, as though you work for the Lord.

This is the “doctrine which is according to godliness.” It is sound doctrine.

2 Pet. 1:3-11

The first thing we add to our faith is virtue. Plain, simple goodness as described in Titus 2.

The next thing we add is knowledge.

“There it is! There’s the place we get down to soteriology, ecclesiology, and eschatology” In fact, there’s the place for some geology, too!”

No.

Here’s the knowledge that we are supposed to get from the Bible:

All Scripture is breathed into by God. It is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instrution in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for all good works.

Wow, the very purpose of the Bible is to equip us for all good works. No wonder Paul says that the foundation of God only has two inscriptions on it:

  1. The Lord knows those who are his.
  2. Let those who name the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.

Free Bonus

Our obsession with hermeneutics and exegesis has hit us right at the root, right at the most important level: the leaders of the church (re: Eph. 4:11-16).

Today, we send young men off to post-graduate school to learn “theology.” They get out of school in their mid-20’s, and they apply for a pastorate somewhere. They are hired and whisked off to somewhere they’ve never lived before, where they no one, and no one knows them.

It was not always so. The churches once knew that behavior was more important than belief (see first couple paragraphs of this post for disclaimer). Therefore they chose men of proven character, known in the church as a worker, able to teach (sound doctrine), and able to care for his own family and for the family of God.

Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind, they say.

Free Bonus 2: Leukemia

If Leukemia didn’t kill people, the process would be amazing. One defective cell, which never grows up into the job it is supposed to do, clones itself repeatedly. These clones don’t go away. Unlike normal blood cells, they do not die. Unlike normal blood cells, they do no work.

Because they do not die, they multiply much more quickly than normal blood cells. Worse, normal blood cells care about the body, not themselves. Therefore, when the veins are too full, too crowded, normal blood cells sacrifice themselves. They die so that the blood vessels are not overwhelmed.

That multi-cloned leukemia cell, it does not die. It doesn’t care about the body. It will just keep multiplying, crowding and destroying other blood cells until the body itself dies.

We have an abnormal cell in Jesus’ body. It’s a young cell, not grown up to fulfill its proper role. Instead, it is factory-produced, churned out of a post-graduate theological seminary. Trained to believe that the letter gives life, it kills off good cells in massive portions, sitting them in pews to listen to speeches rather than raising them up to function as Spirit-filled children of God, essential to the body of the Anointed One (1 Cor. 12).

Acute leukemia, without treatment, kills in an average of 45 days or just a little less. Chronic leukemia takes much longer. Stealing the role of all the other blood cells but not actually performing the roles, that takes longer with chronic leukemia.

The treatment is the same as with all other cancers.

Kill the bad cells. Eradicate them. If you don’t, these are master clones that do not die. You have to destroy so many that the now healthy body can eradicate the last few.

I’m talking about the position, friends, not the people. I know people in that position whom I admire. This illustration is just a metaphor, though it’s a good one. Not every detail works. A leukemic blood cell is never good. Occasionally, though, a man is so good that he is a blessing to the body of Jesus despite functioning in the office of cancer cell.

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What Is the Word of God?

Posted on 11/20/2013 by Paul Pavao

We tend to use the phrase “the Word of God” interechangeably with “the Bible.”

There are several problems with this:

1. The Bible does not do it

You will find places where Scripture is quoted, and then the writer will say something like, “The Word of God says …” However, when “the Word of God” or “the Word” is used without explanation in the apostles writings, it NEVER refers to “the Bible.”

The Bible is the Word of God, but the Word of God is far, far more than the Bible

2. When the Bible uses “the Word of God” or “the Word” without explanation, it is always found to mean something other than the Scriptures as a whole.

In most cases you will find either a direct or mystical reference to Jesus himself.

Let me explain the mystical part, then give you some examples.

Jesus lives in us. He is the Word of God. The Scriptures tell us that the Word is planted in us like a seed. It talks about us being born again by the Word. These are all mystical references to Jesus.

A direct reference to Jesus would be passages like John 1:1-3 or the verse in Revelation 19 that says Jesus is coming back on a white horse with “The Word of God” written on his thigh.

3. Because we misunderstand this, we rely only on the Word of God which we find in the Scriptures, a very limiting and dangerous thing to do (Jn. 5:39-40).

As a standout example, let’s look at 2 Timothy 2:15. Here is the KJV rendering:

Study to shew yourself approved to God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

The Greek word translated “study” there is σπουδα&dzet;ω. It means “be diligent” or “make every effort.” The KJV usually translates it “giving all diligence.”

So why translate it “study” here?

Because the translators being over a thousand years removed from the time of free churches that were preserving the teaching of the apostles, had adopted the Reformation emphasis on the Bible, thinking, like the Pharisees, that this would not only be sufficient to correct Roman Catholic error, but to establish the church outside Roman Catholicism.

Nice thought, but the Scriptures make wise for salvation, are good for teaching and correction so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for good works (2 Tim. 3:14-17). If you make it the end all, you can miss Jesus who is the source of life (Jn. 5:39-40).

The Word of Truth is Jesus in us. This is one of those mystical references. We have to “make every effort” to handle the Word of God accurately that has been implanted in us (Jam. 1:21).

There are better examples to show you this.

Hebrews 4:12 is well-known by everyone, and everyone applies it to the Scriptures. It clearly does not mean the Bible, however, because the Word of God “discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart,” and all creatures are “revealed in his sight.” The final clear reference to Jesus there is: “All things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”

The Bible is not him with whom we have to do.

I also enjoy appealing to Acts 6:7; 12:24: and 19:20:

  • And the Word of God increased, and the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem daily.
  • The Word of God grew and multiplied.
  • So the Word of God grew mightily and prevailed

The Bible was not increasing, multiplying, or growing during these time periods. The disciples were increasing, multiplying, and growing during these times, and so the Word of God inside of them was increasing, multiplying, and growing as well.

This all gives some extra meaning to the passage that says:

[God] … made us able ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Cor. 3:6)

Or this one:

[We] have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully. (2 Cor. 4:2)

John loved mystical references to the Word of God. Besides the beginning of his Gospel, there is the beginning of his first letter:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of Life. For the life was revealed, and we have seen, testify, and show to you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was revealed to us.

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Difficult Verses Revisited

Posted on 11/19/2013 by Paul Pavao

I’ve talked before about difficult verses. These are verses that “seem to contradict” a doctrine to which you hold.

Here’s an example from a radio show I heard, with a caller and the host interacting. The caller was asking how we could be eternally secure if 2 Peter 2:21 says that if we turn from “the holy commandment” it would be better for us never to have “known the way of righteousness.”

The host explained that John 10:28, which says that nothing can snatch us out of Jesus’ hand, is a clear verse, while 2 Peter 2:21 is a difficult verse.

I want to suggest that there are no difficult verses (with very few exceptions, which I will explain in a moment). The problem with 2 Peter 2:21 is not that it is difficult. Even a six-year-old could determine what it’s saying. The problem is that it seems, at least to that radio host, to contradict John 10:28.

Most of the time that I have heard “difficult verse” used, it is in the context of a dispute between evangelicals about doctrine. (Probably because that’s the circle I have the most interaction with.) Both sides usually have their difficult verses, which always means “that verse seems to clearly disagree with what I am saying.”

I would like to suggest that it takes at least two verses to have a difficult verse. If 2 Peter 2:20-21 wasn’t in the Bible, we would be free to interpret John 10:28 just the way that radio host did. It is in the Bible, however, and so now we have a dilemma.

Now, admittedly, I personally don’t think it’s any dilemma at all. The solution is obvious. Jesus didn’t say we couldn’t leave his hand, and dozens of verses say we can. It’s obstinate and stubborn to say that isn’t an obvious solution, and a much better one than that 2 Peter 2:21 means something other than what it plainly says.

Okay, with that off my chest, let me get back to the point. A much better verse to contrast with 2 Peter 2:21 would be James 5:24. It says that the believer in Jesus will never come into condemnation. Another good one is 1 John 2:19, which says that those who leave us were never of us. In other words, they may have seemed to be Christians, but they never were.

At least, that’s what 1 John 2:19 seems to say. And if you combine 1 John 2:19 or John 5:24 with 2 Peter 2:21, now you have difficult verses, plural. The problem is not this verse or that verse, it is coming to a conclusion that fits all the verses

Reconciling Difficult Verses

I have one solution for reconciling difficult verses: say what the apostles say, whether you understand it or not. It doesn’t matter if you feel like you are contradicting yourself.

What we have done is create taboo verses. In the right denomination, you can silence conversation by quoting the “wrong” verse. There’s an awkward lull until someone is brave enough to correct you and tell you that it’s inappropriate to cite that verse in that denomination. (Okay, they won’t say it that way. They may say, “We don’t believe that here,” though. Or they may say, “Well, we think it means something different,” even though you haven’t commented on what it means.)

It’s awkward, but it has to be done.

I’ve been reading through the writing of the early Christians for over 20 years now. I’ve read the first three volumes of The Ante-Nicene Fathers all the way through twice, and I have pulled quotes and referenced them thousands of times.

They didn’t have difficult verses; well, nowhere near as many as we do.

Example

I’m from a background where we would say that the persons being discussed in 2 Peter 2:21 were Christians who lost their salvation. They have escaped the pollutions of this world by knowing Jesus, and they have known the way of righteousness. Any honest person who’s not being hard-headed has to admit that “escaping the pollutions of this world” only comes by knowing Jesus, and a person who has done so is “saved” … by grace, at that.

But I had to ask, “Does that mean that I can now teach that Christians can be saved and then not saved?”

Now, I don’t know “the” answer to that question, though I have an opinion I’ll give you some day when it’s not a distraction to this post. However, I do know that in answering that question I have to take into account 1 John 2:19 and John 5:24.

In 1 John 2:19 we are told that those who leave “us” were never of “us.” Let’s put ourselves in the first century. There was only one real church. Those who left “us” can mean either the apostles or the church or churches to which John was writing. Either way, he’s talking about people who left the apostolic faith, not people who moved from the Baptist schism to the Lutheran schism closer to their home.

That sounds much like Matthew 7:21-23, where Jesus said there would be professing believers, possible even miracle-working believers, who would not only be rejected at the final judgment, but they would be told that Jesus never knew them!

Okay, so how does that jive with 2 Peter 2:21? Can you escape the corruptions of this world through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, then depart and not only be worse off than you were before, but never really have been “of us”?

Obviously. That may raise a lot of questions, but there’s really no other way to interpret those verses.

What about John 5:24? He who believes will never come into condemnation.

Well, we know that there are plenty of warnings about coming into condemnation after looking very much like a believer, 2 Peter 2:21 being one of them. I’ve added in Matthew 7:21-23 to our discussion to help because it does an excellent job of combining the meanings of 1 John 2:19 and 2 Peter 2:21.

I have to be able to do what Jesus and the apostles did. You do, too. You need to be able to assure believers that Jesus will confirm them to the end so that they will be blameless on the day of King Jesus (1 Cor. 1:8).

You also need to be able to warn them not to be deceived, because the unrighteous won’t inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:11). Paul told the Corinthians both things … in the same letter.

Saying What the Apostles Said

The more we actually say the things the apostles said, the more we will find ourselves believing what the apostles believed. I know most of the schisms can’t handle that, but they’re just corporations anyway.

If we who are “bible believers” will throw off our fetters and say what Jesus and the apostles said, even when we don’t understand why they seemed to speak on both sides of an issue, the corporations will just have to give in.

Or they can close, which is just as good. Either way, the goal is that the church would own the corporation/schism and use it for ministry rather than the corporation owning the church and oppressing the saints with false fellowship.

Exceptions: Actual Difficult Verses

The end of all this is the end of difficult verses, or at least ones that seem to contradict. The early Christians had almost none. I have almost none. It can be done.

Oh, I promised to mention exceptions. A verse that says that there were people who “baptized for the dead” (1 Cor. 15) is a difficult verse. No one knows who baptized for the dead. The early Christians mention the verse, but they don’t know who those people are, either.

The verse that says one of David’s mighty men killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day is a difficult verse because no one is sure it is translated right.

Those are difficult verses. “You see, then, that a person is justified by works, and not by faith only” is not a difficult verse. It is a verse we refuse to believe, say, or incorporate. We prefer Romans 3:28, which says the exact opposite (or seems to). James 2:24 is not difficult. The combination of Romans 3:28 and James 2:24 is difficult, and our current solutions are embarrassing at best. Martin Luther and Witness Lee’s solutions, that James doesn’t know what he’s talking about, are unacceptable.

I have a better one.

To be honest, I hate to admit this, but since it’s God’s will that matters and not mine, David Bercot does a better job explaining my explanation than I do. He has a tape called “two salvations,” which I assume he got from me because I wrote a tract by that name while working for him in 1992. He explains most things better than I do, so it’s no surprise he did this better. I can’t seem to find the tape on the internet, so let me recommend What the Early Christians Believed About Salvation, which I just bought and downloaded. (I don’t think I’ll change my mind on recommending it after I read it, as I can’t imagine him teaching anything different than he’s taught over the last 20 years. It’s only 46 pages, surely an easy read.)

And please, if you get the book and read it, please review it. My book
has about 1500 copies out, and I’ve only managed 11 reviews, despite numerous requests and promises.

Legal notice: I use Amazon affiliate links on this site to link to books. If you use them, it won’t cost you any more, but I will possibly make about 6% of purchase price, so about 25 cents on Bercot’s book. The accumulation of all these earnings provides me nearly $20 per year. So whether you like me or don’t like me, you won’t really be helping or hurting me by using those links.

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Verses Evangelicals Ignore or Explain Away: 1 Cor. 8:6

Posted on 11/19/2013 by Paul Pavao

Verse 3 (goal is 100)

1 Corinthians 8:6

For us there is but one God, the Father, out of whom are all things, and we in him, and one Lord, Jesus the King, through whom are all things, and we through him.

Category:

Ignored (under the radar, not clearly explained or looked at)

By Whom:

With rare exceptions, all western Christians, including even the Roman Catholics

“Jesus only” believers (“modalists“) don’t ignore this verse, but they have a bizarre interpretation of it. Modalism is so easy to refute that I won’t bother here. If you ever run across it, you’ll be astonished at their bizarre ideas.

Why Ignored:

In western Christianity, the definition of the Trinity changed during the fourth and fifth century. Even though western Christians give lip service to the Apostles and Nicene Creeds, they ignore the exact same wording that is found in 1 Cor. 8:6. “We believe in one God, the Father … and one Lord, Jesus the King.”

We prefer, most of us unknowingly, the Athanasian Creed. It says, “So the Father is God, the Son is  God, and the Holy Spirit is  God, and yet there are not three Gods, but one God.”

This tradition does not come from the apostles. It is new from the fourth or fifth century. There is no terminology in the Bible to match it. However, the definition of the Trinity found in the Athanasian Creed has taken such hold in the west that it is never questioned, and is, in fact, often held up as <em>the</em> standard of orthodoxy. What is ironic is that the Nicene Creed is often cited in defense of our modern definition, when in fact the Nicene Creed uses scriptural terminology: “We believe in one God, the Father Almighty … and in one Lord, Jesus the King.”

1 Cor. 8:6 is ignored because we’re so stuck on the definition that came from the Athanasian Creed that no one even notices our terminology is not scriptural.

 

 

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