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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Teachings That Should Not Be Lost: The Bible

Posted on 11/18/2013 by Paul Pavao

This post is going to sound like it is attacking the Bible. I’m hoping that my continual reference to the Bible throughout this post will make it clear that I am not attacking the Bible. Please, every time you get offended as you read this, and you want to accuse me of things, look at the way I am using the Bible. It is the way I always use it, as the authoritative Word of God that is the rule and guide of my life.

That said, I never call the Bible the Word of God, and it is not my “sole” rule and guide. In fact, it is not the primary guide for my life, and it should not be yours, either.

If you are going to be a Bible believer, then you should believe that your first and primary guide is the Spirit of God.

As many as are led by the Spirit, these are the sons of God. (Rom. 8:14)

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

Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. … If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (Gal. 5:16,18)

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you will find life. However, these are they which testify of me, and you refuse to come to me so that you may have life. (Jn. 5:39-40)

The Bible Does Not Lead, It Equips

The Scriptures are our protection. With them we can teach, admonish, rebuke, and correct (2 Tim. 3:16). They can make us wise for salvation (2 Tim. 3:14). They can equip us for every good work (2 Tim. 3:17).

We do not, however, “follow” the Bible. We follow the Spirit.

We keep the commands of Christ. That is part of following him. Paul said that the things the apostles write to us are the commands of Christ every bit as much as the commands we read about in the Gospel (1 Cor. 14:37). If we love him, we will obey him; we will keep Jesus’ commandments.

But we are following the Spirit. He is our guide.

Why the Leading of the Spirit Is Important

There is so much we have lost. We feel comfortable and safe following the Bible, trusting our interpretations of it. But look at what it has gotten us:

  • Christians are famous for their divisions. We call them denominations. As Bible followers, we go blithely along, joining and promoting those denominations, doing little to repent for the division we’re showing to the world despite terrifying warnings issued by Jesus and Paul about division.
  • Many who leave the denominations fumble along, having no idea what they should be doing. They search the Scriptures, thinking that there will be answers for a situation that did not exist in the first century, but the answers are not there. What they build, they build on new interpretations of Scripture, every bit as unreliable and ineffective as the old interpretations of Scripture because God wants to lead them by his Spirit, not have them figure things out from the Bible.
  • People call the Bible their sole rule for faith and practice, yet the majority of evangelicals hold a doctrine of baptism that disagrees with almost every verse in the apostles writings that concerns baptism. It’s a doctrine only about 300 or 400 years old, and was never heard of in church history before that. The misinterpretation of baptism verses is so bad that I don’t have to tell you what verses to look at. Go look up any baptism verses. Go read the baptisms in Acts.

I’m going to stop there because the most important thing is already mentioned. People try to branch out from the errors of the evangelicals, and they don’t know where to go. If division is bad among evangelicals, it is much worse among those who have left. Splintering into individual families is not uncommon.

Why? Because we have based fellowship on unreliable interpretations of the Scripture rather than on the unity of the Spirit of God.

The Unity of the Spirit

Have you ever noticed that we are told to carefully maintain the unity of the Spirit, but never told to carefully maintain unity of doctrine except where that doctrine concerns behavior?

Look around the Bible. It’s so.

We are told that if we maintain the unity of the Spirit successfully, then Jesus will give us apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers who will train us to do the work of ministry. Then, as we maintain the unity of the Spirit, he will bring us to unity of faith (Eph. 4:3-16). That will happen, not just as everyone reads their Bible, though they all should (2 Tim. 3:14-17), but because we exercise our gifts toward each other (“every one doing his part”).

The Bible can be and should be our protection. Too often, however, it is not the Bible that we adhere to, but our interpretation of the Bible.

Interpretations of the Bible

I hope if you read this blog that you see how much of the Scripture is misunderstood and ignored by evangelicals. I was one—I probably still qualify as one—and I missed huge portions of Scripture, too. Very little turns the apostles’ writings into as much of a hodge podge of meaningless verses and contradictions as our ubiquitous “faith alone” doctrine.

Knowing that we can get that far off on such a critically important central issue of the new covenant, then why are we not afraid of our own interpretations of the Bible? Why do we think we can search the Scriptures for what we should do when we leave the evangelical denominations and just figure it out?

We can’t, and millions of house churches and radical separatists have proven we can’t.

The one thing very few of them try is a helpless reliance on the Holy Spirit of God who has promised, through the Scriptures, that he will lead them into EVERYTHING, and that his leading will be true and not a lie (1 Jn. 2:27).

“Oh, Paul, being led by the Spirit is not trustworthy. We will go astray. We need something concrete, like the LETTER.”

Yeah, how’s that working out for you?

Our safety is each other, united in the Spirit.

He gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers to perfect the saints for the work of the ministry and the building up of the body of the King, until we all come to the unity of the faith, of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfected man, and to the full-grown size of the King. Then we will no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of teaching, by the sleight of hand of men and the cunning craftiness with which they lie in wait to deceive. (Eph. 4:11-14)

I have written these things to you concerning those who are trying to seduce you. But the Anointing which you have received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. That Anointing teaches you everything and is true and not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will remain in him. (1 Jn. 2:26-27)

I’d like to just end with those Scriptures. I apologize for how poorly this is written. I’m packing a lot into a little space, and I left a lot unexplained.

This is so important, so practical, and so potentially transforming of Christendom, that I can only pray that God can get past my meager attempt to pass on his Word and grant revelation to the reader.

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And to Knowledge, Self-Control

Posted on 11/18/2013 by Paul Pavao

2 Peter 1:3-11 has always been one of my favorite passages. I won’t quote the whole thing here. I wrote a blog on a portion of that passage that is one of my favorites.

Today, I want to address an even smaller portion:

Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowlege, self-control …

In fact, I just want to focus on one step, adding self-control to knowledge.

Knowledge

What sort of knowledge do you picture adding to your faith and virtue?

For a lot of my younger Christian life, I added knowledge about doctrines that the “cults” disputed. I added knowledge about the Trinity to dispute with the Jehovah’s Witnesses and United Pentecostals. I added knowledge about spiritual gifts and the plan of salvation to dispute with the Way International. I added knowledge about salvation by faith alone to dispute with the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) and the Churches of Christ.

I also added a lot of knowledge about the “cults” themselves.

Then, when I found out about all the disputes among evangelical denominations, I added more knowledge. I added knowledge about eternal security and losing one’s salvation. I added knowledge about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, and the use of spiritual gifts.

I spent two years building a model for the tribulation, the wrath to come, the rapture, and completely outlined Daniel’s seventieth week.

Then I got into the “deeper” Christian life, and I added knowledge about the church, unity, mysticism. Then I found The Ante-Nicene Fathers, and I even wrote a book that was accepted for publication by Scroll Publishing.

The book, which was never published, argues for a more honest approach to the Bible using four topics: baptism, church government, salvation by faith, and something else I forget. (Hey, that was 20 years ago.)

The book was well researched. The arguments were powerful. The book was passed around in manuscript form among friends and a couple small churches.

I would never recommend anyone read it now.

I couldn’t see it at the time, but the only real purpose for all that knowledge was disputation.

I am not saying that disputation is a bad thing. The apostles did it, and I still dispute a lot. There is a place for disputation.

However, I want to suggest a new way of looking at our goal of gaining knowledge. (Gaining knowledge is commanded in the passage we are looking at.)

Add to Your … Knowledge, Self-Control

Does an understanding of the timing of the rapture require self-control from me? How about a better explanation of the Trinity?

Does the knowledge I’m gaining require me to add self-control?

The knowledge Jesus passed on requires immense self-control. “Don’t hate your brother, or you’re a murderer.” “Forgive, or your heavenly Father won’t forgive you.” “Do not store up treasures for yourself on earth.” “Take no thought for tomorrow.” “Do not return evil for evil, but bless those who curse you.” “Do not look at a woman in lust, or you’ve already committed adultery with her.”

Let’s get out of the Sermon on the Mount, where all those came from. “Whichever of you does not forsake all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” “If you love your father or mother more than me, you are not worthy of me.” “If you want to be great in God’s kingdom, become the servant of everyone.”

When Jesus adds knowledge, I not only need self-control, I need a breathing treatment to get over the terror of what I’m facing as a Christian.

Is all that even possible?

Well, if I’ll quit adding knowledge I’ve chosen for myself, I might be able to find out if the fact that God has made me “a partaker of the divine nature” and given us “great and precious promises” are really enough for us to “escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.” I might be forced to walk in the Spirit and find out if that really causes me to “not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.” I might be forced to cry out to God and find out whether “sin will have no power over you because you are … under grace.”

Pertinent Early Christian Quotes

Trypho: “Moreover, I am aware that your precepts in the so-called Gospel are so wonderful and so great, that I suspect no one can keep them; for I have carefully read them. …”

Justin: “If, therefore, God proclaimed a new covenant which was to be instituted, and this for a light of the nations, we see and are persuaded that men approach God, leaving their idols and other unrighteousness, through the name of Him who was crucified, Jesus Christ, and abide by their confession even unto death, and maintain godliness.” (Justin, Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew 10,11, c. AD 155)

To [humans]alone He imparted the privilege of looking upwards to Himself, whom He formed after His ownimage, to whom He sent His only-begotten Son, to whom He has promised a kingdom in heaven, and will give it to those who have loved Him. And when you have attained this knowledge, with what joy do you think you will be filled? Or, how will you love Him who has first so loved you?

And if you love Him, you will be an imitator of His kindness. And do not wonder that a man may become an imitator of God. He can, if he is willing. For it is not by ruling over his neighbours, or by seeking to hold the supremacy over those that are weaker, or by being rich, and showing violence towards those that are inferior, that happiness is found; nor can any one by these things become an imitator of God. But these things do not at all constitute His majesty.

On the contrary he who takes upon himself the burden of his neighbour; he who, in whatsoever respect he may be superior, is ready to benefit another who is deficient; he who, whatsoever things he has received from God, by distributing these to the needy, becomes a god to those who receive [his benefits]: he is an imitator of God. Then thou shalt see, while still on earth, that God in the heavens rules over [the universe]; then thou shall begin to speak the mysteries of God; then shalt thou both love and admire those that suffer punishment because they will not deny God; then shall thou condemn the deceit and error of the world when thou shall know what it is to live truly in heaven, when thou shalt despise
that which is here esteemed to be death, when thou shalt fear what is truly death, which is reserved for those who shall be condemned to the eternal fire, which shall afflict those even to the end that are committed to it. Then shalt thou admire those who for righteousness’ sake endure the fire that is but for a moment, and shalt count them happy when thou shalt know [the nature of] that fire.

I do not speak of things strange to me, nor do I aim at anything inconsistent with right reason; but having been a disciple of the Apostles, I am become a teacher of the Gentiles. I minister the things delivered to me to those that are disciples worthy of the truth. For who that is rightly taught and begotten by the loving Word, would not seek to learn accurately the things which have been clearly shown by the Word to His disciples, to whom the Word being manifested has revealed them, speaking plainly [to them], not understood indeed by the unbelieving, but conversing with the disciples, who, being esteemed faithful by Him, acquired a knowledge of the mysteries of the Father? …

Then the fear of the law is chanted, and the grace of the prophets is known, and the faith of the gospels is established, and the tradition of the Apostles is preserved, and the grace of the Church exults; which grace if you grieve not, you shall know those things which the Word teaches, by whom He wills, and when He pleases. For whatever things we are moved to utter by the will of the Word commanding us, we communicate to you with pains, and from a love of the things that have been revealed to us. (Anonymous, Letter to Diognetus 10-11; AD 80-130)

End Notes

No references today. You have to find all those verses yourself.

I am not saying that the things I mentioned at the start of the blog are all bad. Christians are in disagreement about those things. It would be good if you knew something about those subjects. Remember, though, that anger, division, schisms, and jealousy are works of the flesh. Do not fool yourself into thinking you’ve been chose by God for righteous indignation. There’s a 99.99% chance you haven’t. “The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

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Verses Evangelicals Ignore or Explain Away: 1 John 2:27

Posted on 11/17/2013 by Paul Pavao

Verse #2:

1 John 2:27:

The Anointing which you have received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. As that same anointing teaches you about everything, and is true and not a lie, just as it has taught you, you will remain in him.

Category:

Ignored (mostly)

Ignored by Whom?

Everyone except the charismatics, who misinterpret this verse. (Church of England exempted because I don’t know much about them, and I don’t know if they are “evangelicals” anyway. Let’s leave them out as not American and outside my scope of knowledge.)

Explanation

1 John 2:27 has been abused by people who have applied it to themselves individually, thinking that they do not need to be taught. Every “you” in 1 John 2:27 is plural; none are singular. 1 John 2:27 is a promise to the local church, which has teachers to instruct its members, but which does not need to be taught by anyone because it is taught by the Anointing.

That’s why the church can be the pillar and support of the truth, because it is led by the Anointing that is “true and not a lie.”

In overreaction to the charismatics, everyone else ignores this verse, not having any idea what to do with it after its abuse in so many circles. The Roman Catholics, of course, apply this verse to their “magisterium,” or teaching authority. We Protestants are called that because we protest the Roman Catholic claim to teaching authority because what they have been led to is obviously not, at least in our eyes, “the truth and not a lie.”

 

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The Pastoral Epistles: Were Timothy and Titus Pastors?

Posted on 11/16/2013 by Paul Pavao

I guess this must be controversial. Years ago, I was talking to a customer in my Christian bookstore, and I began to point out the obvious, which is that Timothy and Titus were not pastors. It took the man a second to believe that I was suggesting this. When he realized I was serious, he said, “We’re done here.”

He put down the books he was going to buy, walked out, and he never came back again.

Really, though, there’s not any question scripturally.

Proof Timothy and Titus Were Not Pastors

1. Timothy and Titus were told to appoint pastors.

The word “pastor” is only used once in reference to the Christian church. They are mentioned to exist in Ephesians 4:11, and nothing specific is said about them.

“Pastor” is used as a verb in other places in the apostles’ writings. It’s translated as “shepherd” rather than “pastor,” but it’s the same word. The ones who are said to do the pastoring are the elders (Acts 20:17,28; 1 Pet. 5:1-4).

Elders and pastors are interchangeable terms in the Scripture (see Bishops, Elders, Pastors).  Both Timothy and Titus are told to appoint elders (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Tit. 1:5-9). They are not elders themselves.

2. Timothy is said to be an apostle, and Titus must be one, too.

1 Thessalonians 1:1 says that the letter is from Paul, Silas, and Timothy. 1 Thessalonians 2:6 references “we” as “apostles of Christ.” Since we all regard Paul as an apostle, and the Scriptures specifically say Barnabas was an apostle (Acts 14:14), it’s a simple conclusion that everyone who traveled with Paul was regarded as an apostle, even if temporarily.

There is no doubt that Timothy and Titus were functioning in that role in Ephesus and Crete. Both were there temporarily (2 Tim. 4:21; Tit. 3:12). Paul tells them the reason they were left, and in both cases it included intalling elders.

Apostles traveled; elders stayed in one place. The idea that an elder (pastor) could be raised in some faraway church, trained in seminary, then recruited by a pastor search comittee is a modern, heretical [the word, in a general sense, means “divisive”] tradition. Tertullian described something different going on in the early church:

The tried men of our elders preside over us, obtaining that honor not by purchase, but by established character (Apology 39)

3. Apostles must be pastors and evangelists.

This should be listed as a free bonus, but it’s part of the proof that Timothy and Titus were not pastors.

I don’t have the room to give the proof of that. I have to limit myself to showing you that both Timothy and Titus were doing the jobs of pastor and evangelist.

It may not be wrong to call the three letters, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus, the pastoral epistles. The letters are full of pastoral instruction. Paul gives constant advice on how they should train the church. That is shepherding (cf. Eph. 4:11-12).

However, that was not the only job Timothy and Titus had. They also had to appoint people to do the shepherding on a permanent basis because they were moving on.

They were also evangelists. Apostles build churches. Unlike today, in the first century apostles couldn’t draw their members from unchurched Christians or members of other denominations. They had to win their church members from among the Jews and Gentiles (two very different crowds and methods).

Paul tells Timothy, “Do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:5). We like to apply that, as we do with many verses, to all Christians, but there is no good scriptural reason to do so. Apostles are required to do the work of an evangelist and the work of a shepherd. Some of the rest of us are called to shepherd or evangelize, but that is not a general command for Christians.

Paul doesn’t seem to tell Titus to do the same, or suggest anything similar. It’s possible that Titus had his hands full with a group of converts that were “liars, evil beasts, and gluttons” (Tit. 1:12). It’s possible that Titus didn’t have the same gifts Timothy did.

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