Monthly Archives: March 2013

Bible Study, The Word of God in the life of the believer.

Grace and faith leading to the Spirit of God within

The Spirit and faith.

1. Galatians 1-2 outline Paul’s defense of the supremacy of the grace of God over Law as a means of salvation and the principles by which we live for God.

a. Faith and grace are given to us as the central elements of the Christian faith. One could well think that after 2 chapters that established the principles of grace and faith that he would apply those principles in practical teaching about living by faith and appropriating more grace into the life. Instead, Paul moves to display the source of grace and faith. He opens up a detailed and encouraging exposition about the nature of the Holy Spirit and his many actions and gifts to the one who has faith in Jesus. This is the subject of Galatians 3-5: The Holy Spirit that brings grace and faith.

1.) The work of the Spirit is the antithesis of the works of the flesh, “the desires of the flesh are against the desires of the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:17)

2.) The work of the Spirit brings a manifestation and evidence of true and saving faith in the “fruit” of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23)

3.) The principle of the Spirit then impacts all of the Christian life. The worship of God, the simplest service, prayer, obedience, self-giving, humility, love, are all directed and defined by the work of the Spirit of God who brings us to faith in Jesus Christ and who forms our lives and character into his likeness. “If we live by the Spirit let us also walk by the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25)

b. There is an unbreakable link between the faith one has in Christ and the work of the Spirit of God within our lives.

1.) The Christian life must be lived by the power of the Spirit or it is sure to fail. Paul made it clear that we begin the Christian life by the work and power of the Spirit, and we must continue living our lives with Christ in dependence and through the provision of the Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts.

c. The gift of the Spirit of God is the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham. It is the summation of the prophetic word that “the just shall live by faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4)

1.) The promises to those who believed in God through the Old Testament are fulfilled in the giving of the Holy Spirit (with all his gifts) to those who believe and in the application of every grace to the lives of those who trust in Jesus Christ. The Christian is living the fulfillment of every promise of God given before Christ came. We are the children of promise. We are those who receive in completion what what only dreamed about and hoped for in the Old Testament era.

d. The gift of the Spirit is the evidence from God, the gift of God, the proof of grace, the victory over the flesh, and he is the supply of God’s power to work the miracles and to give them the faith that makes the people who have faith. (See Galatians 3:1-9)

e. The adoption as sons and daughters is worked by the Spirit of God. God has sent “the Spirit of his Son in your hearts, crying “Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:6)

The result is that you are no longer a slave (to sin) but you are the sons and daughters of God, and if “a son, then an heir through God.”

2. Overview of the work of the Spirit in Galatians.

a. 3:2 – Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing of faith?” (See also Romans 10:17, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.”)

b. 3:3 – “Having begun by the Spirit are you now perfected by the flesh?”

c. 3:5 – “does he who supplies the Spirit to you – work miracles among you, do so by the law or by hearing of faith?”

d. 3:14 – “We might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”

e. 4:6 – “And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying ‘Abba! Father!’”

f. 4:29 – “Children of promise …. born of the Spirit so also it is now.” The promise of faith is fulfilled by us who are born of the Spirit of God.

g. 5:5 – “through the Spirit, by faith we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.”

h. 5:16 – “walk by the Spirit.”

i. 5:17 – “desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, desires of he Spirit are against the flesh.”

j. 5:18 – “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.”

k. 5:22 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

l . 6:8 – But the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”

3. Statements of the work of the Spirit in the believer.

a. The Spirit comes to dwell in the life (“heart”) of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ.

b. The Spirit was responsible for beginning the work of redemption in the lives of everyone who believes.

c. Believers in Jesus Christ actually receive the Spirit of God who indwells their physical bodies.

d. God has sent the Spirit of adoption to make it possible for us to become the sons and daughters of God.

e. We who have received the Spirit of God eagerly await a glorious future and the gifts that God has prepared for us there and then.

f. Those who are redeemed can live (walk) by the Spirit of God. Such words as “dwell” “begun” “supplied” “received” “born” “sent” are used actively as the experience of true and saving faith with reference to the work and Person of the Spirit of God.

g. The Spirit of God produces a fruit consisting of many components and aspects (5:22ff).

h. We are instructed to use care to sow to the Spirit of God and not to sow to the sinful nature (the flesh). Such sowing to the Spirit promises great blessing to those who do this.

The work of the Spirit in the Person of Jesus Christ The work of the Spirit in the one who has faith in Jesus Christ
Jesus was baptized at the beginning of his earthly ministry by John the Baptist (John 1:32)The descent of the Spirit upon Jesus signaled the beginning of his ministry, the display of his glory in miracles, and the declaration of his identity as the Son of God / Son of Man. The Spirit of God descended upon him in visible form. We are baptized in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19)The baptism of Jesus was both like and unlike our baptism. We are baptized as a sign of repentance, and an incorporation into the Body of Christ. We are baptized as an identification with Christ’s death and resurrection. We are baptized as a physical representation of the dying to self and living unto God. Jesus was baptized as an identification with sinners and to “fulfill all righteousness.”The Christian life begins with the gift of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 3:2), and with the faith and grace that are communicated through the work of the Spirit in those who believe. Christians are indwelt by the same Spirit of God who descended upon Jesus (2 Corinthians 6:16)The continuity of our baptism with Jesus’ is in the same Spirit of God who came upon him in power, comes into our lives and dwells within us physically, and he will be with us forever.The Spirit of God was first given to those in the Old Testament (like Samson or David), but he would be given for specific purposes and for limited time, then he came to indwell the lives of those who believe (Acts 2:1-4), permanently and forever.
Christ is driven into the wilderness by the Spirit of God (Luke 4:1)The leading of the Holy Spirit is central to the mission of Christ. We are led by the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:18)The leading of the Holy Spirit was the experience of the early church (see Acts 16:6, and all references to the Holy Spirit in Acts). The sovereignty of the Holy Spirit to lead us or to drive us where he wants us is established.
Healing miracles and casting out demons are accomplished by the power of the Spirit of God (Matthew 12:28)The healing miracles are ascribed to the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ had the power and he could do any miracle he wished – he was the Creator of every molecule and the Lord of all creation. But he appears to have deferred to the power of the Holy Spirit in specific instances of healing. It seems that he loved to accomplish the miracle by the power of the Holy Spirit working through him. Christians perform miracles by the Spirit of God (Galatians 3:5).We are not told the kind or scope of miracles that the Galatian Christians experienced, but the Holy Spirit was the means by which they were accomplished. The miracles must have been to effect some change in outcome, some healing of illness, some provision or providential event that could not be explained as chance or fortune. There were miracles that the Holy Spirit did in the early church; such miracles did not seem to be dependent upon apostolic gifting nor where they done as the agents of the apostles. There is nothing to suggest that. The miracles came because they were experiencing the power and might of the Holy Spirit within their church and in their lives individually.
The Spirit of God is sent by Jesus Christ to those who have faith in him (John 14:17, 26; 16:13) Those promised the Spirit actually receive the Spirit from the Father and from the Son (John 14:17, 26; 15:26; 16:13; Galatians 3:2; 4:6)Christians actually received the Spirit of God (first temporarily and after the ascension of Jesus, permanently (John 20:22)
The fullness of the Spirit; Jesus was physically conceived by the work of the Spirit of God in the womb of the virgin Mary. (Matthew 1:20)The Spirit of God is named as a participant in the resurrection of Christ from the dead (Romans 1:4)From the beginning of his life until his resurrection from the dead, the Holy Spirit of God was working in and through Jesus Christ. His very incarnation was a work of the Spirit of God. His ministry was empowered by the Spirit. His miracles were accomplished through the Spirit. His resurrection was associated with the outpouring of the Spirit’s power. In every way the Lord Jesus Christ is exalted, the Holy Spirit is working to extend his glory and to magnify it. Believers are made alive by the indwelling work of the Spirit, making alive, redeeming, and applying resurrection power in the lives of those who believe (Ephesians 1:18ff)Christians experience the very power that raised Christ from the dead working in them. The power that brought Christ from the dead is the same power that works in the believer to take him from spiritual death to becoming alive to God, a new creature, to be born again.
“Justification applied” is a work of the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 6:11)Justification, proper, is the work of the Son of God on the Cross. The application of Christ’s finished work is the joyful work of the Spirit. The Spirit of God not only assisted Christ in his earthly ministry and miracles, (and there may be much more that we do not know about where the Spirit of God was involved in the redemption that Christ accomplished, but it is in application of that redemption in the justification of sinners, the application of the righteousness of Christ to the account of believers, and to cancel he debt and to accomplish the adoption of sons and daughters of God by faith in Jesus Christ – all are done through the work and power of the Spirit of God.
We gain the knowledge of God by the Spirit who was given to us by God (Ephesians 1:17)The Spirit of God mediates to us the knowledge of God. He explains, interprets, helps us to understand and explains to us the meaning of the Word of God written. He inspired the writers of Scripture so that they wrote with their own vocabulary, and illustrated the message from their own frame of experiences, but that those words became the very Word of God by the work of the Spirit of God who worked to reveal God’s nature in the Word of God.(2 Peter 1:21; cf. 2 Timothy 3:15)
Jesus is described as being “filled with the Spirit” (see Luke 4:1; cf. 4:14) Christians also are filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18)We share the inner working and ministry of the Spirit in us, just as Christ knew what it was to be filled with the Spirit of God (but his experience was not hindered by sin as ours is). He and we are filled with the same Spirit of God. Our filling if for different goals and purposes. But the Person who indwells us, God the Holy Spirit, is the same who descended up and indwelt the Son of God during his earthly walk and ministry.

4. Application to Palm Sunday and the Triumphal Entry.

a. The coming of Christ to Jerusalem to die for the sins of his people was the fulfillment of the Father’s will to save, it would be accomplished by the Son’s love for his own and his desire to be with them forever, and that work of redemption was given the power of the Spirit, the conquering victory over evil was begun, and then the justification of God is applied to every believer by his power to save, to resurrect, to make new, and to incorporate into the Body of Jesus Christ all who have faith in him.

b. The Spirit of God is known by us more powerfully, more permanently, that the disciples experienced when they were with Christ during his early ministry. After the day of Pentecost, the coming of the Spirit and his indwelling power became more influential in his people and that indwelling presence became permanent in the physical body of believers (while we live) and in us forever even in Heaven, when our new bodies are created, we will dwell with God forever by the Spirit. We will see Jesus Christ, risen and glorious, physically, and we will see the glory of the Father brilliantly. We will know God as he is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

c. The power of faith in the believer is given to us by the work of the Holy Spirit. When Paul laid out the distinction between the Law and Grace, and between Works and Faith, in the explanation of Faith he immediately turned to the make faith clear by a long and very specific set of works that the Holy Spirit accomplishes in the life of the believer. The way faith works is the way the Spirit of God works in the believer. If you believe, it is a gift of God, given to your by the inner working of the Spirit of God, that you might trust and service, love and worship Jesus Christ, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit.

d. The Holy Spirit is a gift who brings fruit into your life. He inspires and he teaches the Word of God. He creates a desire for us to express the obedience that is caused by true faith. He is a comforter and helper for everyone who believes in Christ. He applies the adoption of the sons and daughters of God to our relationship with God. We are not only believers, we are now sons and daughters — adopted children of God, by the work of the Spirit within us.

e. The summary verse in Galatians is: “If we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25).

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Bible Study

Grace and peace in conflict with works and hostility. Galatians 1-4.

Notes from Galatians study.

1:3 — “Grace to you and peace ….” The central issue in Galatians is the means of salvation. Any human activity, effort, attempt, actually deed, or intention to earn or qualify for the salvation of God, is utterly doomed and God hates it.

The gospel is not just saving news and a means of forgiveness. The gospel establishes a new and transformative relationship with God that changes a person completely and eternally.

Anything that people may attempt to do to earn salvation, fails. Anything people attempt will only condemn them more. But more dangerously, the insertion of human effort into salvation nullifies and removes the competent and utterly powerful work of Christ on behalf of sinners. Our good deeds make his perfect sacrifice ineffectual for salvation (see Galatians 5:2-4). We cannot depend on Christ a little. We can’t trust Christ’s sacrifice added to with a little bit of our goodness. It is all or nothing.

1:4 — “Christ gave himself.” The goal of Christ’s “gift” was that God the Father would be glorified. The purpose of our salvation is that God would receive glory and honor, praise and thanks. We receive “grace” that he might receive “glory.” Our salvation (as all things in the Universe) is for God’s glory.

What is created in the work of grace is peace. The peace of God is the reconciliation of sinners to the Holy God. It is to be no longer alienated and hostile to God, nor is God any longer anger or wrathful toward us. But peace is also a quality ruling the heart of the believer. Because we are reconciled to God, we are at peace with him through Jesus Christ. Because we are a peace with God, we have peace within.

Evangelism can be summarized as telling people about grace, so that they can experience peace with God and peace within.

The gospel is grace and peace.

Reminder of The Prodigal Son — Luke 15:8, “I will say to my father …” The son decided to return home to his father. At least there he would have food to eat. But he wanted to return as a slave. He said, “I am no longer worthy to be called your son …” Luke 15:21.

But (as J. R. de Witt writes in Amazing Love, Banner of Truth Trust — on the parable of the Prodigal Son) the father determined the terms under which the son would be received back into his home. The son would be given a new robe, new shoes, and a ring on his finger. There would be a feast because “this son of mine was dead, and now he is alive” (vs. 24). The father would never allow the son to be a slave.

In the same way that the gift of grace qualifies us completely as the sons and daughters of God. We attempt to do our part, to try hard, to serve faithfully, but none of that will determine our place at the Father’s Table. He and he alone determines the intimacy and love that he will bring into our life with him.

The offense of the Gospel. Romans 3:10-18 is a scathing rebuke of human sin and separation from God. The Law only condemns. As a system to bring us to God it utterly fails. We cannot keep the Law. Our sin works against the things that the Law demands. It creates within us the desire to do the exact thing that the Law forbids. If the Law says, “Do not lie,” we find that the very desire to lie wells up within us. In fact, the more we know about the requirements of the Law, the more our sinful nature wants to fight against them all. We do not become better people by trying to keep the Law. We become worse. What we thought would put us in better stead with God, works within us, to utterly condemn us. No one will be justified by obeying the Law or by doing the works that the Law demands. Our sin is inescapable.

Ephesians 2:12 — “you were at that time separated from Christ [remember the Romans 3 section just read], alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the promise — having no hope and without God in the world.” (ESV)

2:13, “But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace ….”

This section in Ephesians ends with a glorious benediction of praise to God. The grace not only glorifies God — it infiltrates into your life. The inner working of grace through salvation brings strength. It brings the in-dwelling of Christ by the Spirit of God within the life of the believer who trusts him. There is love abounding. There is the knowledge of the love of God in all its dimensions (breadth, length, height and depth), and you are filled with the fulness of God (Ephesians 3:14-20). A benediction of his glory follows these amazing proclamations (Ephesians 3:20-21).

The context of Galatians 2:20. Paul found that there came a change in the way that Gentile believers in Christ we being welcomed by the Jewish Christians, particularly in Jerusalem. Peter had learned the lesson from the Vision of the Sheet, that what God has made clean is clean to all (Jew and Gentile, Acts 10:9-16).

But the Jewish Christians, sometime later, began to insist that those who come to Christ from Gentile origins must be required to first become Jews. When they were complying with the Law of Moses, then they could be welcomed into the Christian church. Paul saw this as an error and a turning away from the principle of Acts 10 and an insult to Gentile believers. They has been welcomed for a while, but now with this new understanding of where Gentiles fit in, they were excluded. Peter was even refusing to have fellowship with them. Paul would have none of it.

Galatians 2:14 — Paul confronts these Judaising Christians and he tells them that they were not living according to the truth of the gospel. Are we forgiven by the Blood of Christ, or not? He was asking.

Application: The conflict between Jewish and Gentile Christians seems a million miles away from us today. But the absolute sovereigny and supremacy of grace and the failure of all attempts to earn God’s favor could not be more central to everyone’s struggle to know and serve God.

If we believe that our good deeds add our righteousness, we have lost Christ. If we turn our backs on people who come to Christ from other cultures or nationalities, we have lost the grace of God.

But even more to our personal struggles: If we think that our purity, our goodness, our hard work, our sacrifice mean anything with regard to our salvation, we have lost the message of the gospel of grace, and we are not at peace with God.

Saving faith is in Christ alone. Not Christ plus your efforts, your goodness, your prayers, your gifts, your service, your anything. Christ plus nothing.

Paul moves from the rebuke of Peter (Cephas) to display his faith and his heart with reference to grace and peace:

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 ESV)

He isn’t thanking God for all he did, all he sacrificed, how much he lost or how many times he was beaten. Those things didn’t matter in the least in his life with God. They happened, but they earned him nothing.

He is praising God that Christ lives in him. To be crucified with Christ is to lose all desire for self-justification.

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Promises of God

Remember. Don’t forget.

Remember your mortality. Don’t forget your glorious future.

Psalm 90:5-6

“They are swept away as sleep in the morning; as the grass, they pass away.
In the morning they bloom, and by evening they wither and dry out.”

1 John 2:17
“And the world is passing away and the wicked-cravings of it.
But those who do the will of God remain forever.”

Resource:

From Licht auf dem Weg, Ed. H. Bitzer, (Oekumenischer Verlag Edel, 1969). Hebrew and Greek verses as a daily devotional.

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The Word of God in the life of the believer.

In step with the truth of the Gospel

Galatians 2:14a, “But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel …” (ESV)

“Conduct … in step” here in the Greek text “orthopodousin” meaning “be consistent with” or “make progress toward.” (We get orthopedic from this, but there is no connection in meaning).

Here is a paraphrase,

“But when I saw that they were not living consistent with the grace of God, nor were they making progress in applying the principles of grace in all their human relationships, it became obvious to me that they were not in step with the truth of the gospel.”

Paul’s controversy with people who were rejecting the grace of God by making rules and Law to include some (Jewish believers) and excude others (Gentile believers), came to a crisis-point. But the crisis came not out of debate with them about doctrine (though that did have an impact on the resolution), but because he observed in their lives that they weren’t living by the grace of God and the truth of the Gospel.

There is a lot here, but let’s draw one principle:

Those who live by grace can tell by the way you are living if you have the truth of the gospel at the center of your life or not. The way you treat others gives you away.

What you believe about the gospel, and whether what you believe is true or false, is displayed for all to see in how you live and in who you love.

Resource:

From James Montgomery Boice, on Galatians 2:14 (Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Frank Gaebelein, 1976, 447).

“It is not enough merely to understand and accept the gospel, as Peter did, nor even to defend it, as he did at Jerusalem. A Christian must also practice the gospel consistently, allowing it to regulate all areas of his conduct.”

Toad flax in marsh intwined with grasses

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Bible Study

The Word in Proclamation and in Lives.

Old Testament foundation (all text from ESV):

Deuteronomy 8:3 — And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
* This verse is picked up by Jesus in his temptation with Satan. The larger point is that the Word is the source and sustenance of human life, “live by” shows that the Word is indispensable.

Psalm 119:11 — I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
*The Word helps to fight against sin. Ignorance of the Word or rebellion against it, result in sin.

Psalm 119:81 — My soul longs for your salvation;
I hope in your word.
*The Word gives hope. It is true and its promises can be trusted for the future.

Psalm 119:105 — Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
*The Word gives guidance in decisions, and where choices must be made.

New Testament

Acts 6:4 — But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.
*The leaders of the early church were engaged in prayer and study.

Romans 10:13 — So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
*The Word of Christ could be “the Word that Christ proclaims.” It could be “Christ is the Word that is proclaimed.” It could be “the Word of God” which is the Word of Christ” when taught becomes effectual in the lives of people who believe.

1 Corinthians 1:18 — For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
*The Word of the Cross is the Gospel. There is no exclusion about what touches the Cross and what doesn’t. Even Old Testament promises and prefiguring of the work of Christ (in sacrificial system and in Kingly rule) are the Word of the Cross. More specifically, it deals with the teaching about the Cross of Christ, his sacrifice and death for sinners. It also includes his death and his resurrection and finally, his ascension to Heaven.

1 Corinthians 15:2 — and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
*Paul preached the Word to the Corinthians. The content of that message was also to be received by those who believed. It was a test of true and saving faith that those who believed would accept Paul’s “Word” as the very Word of God.

Ephesians 1:13 — In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
*The Word of Truth directs our attention to the factual accuracy and efficacy of the Word of God. It is true. It is effective. It accomplishes the purpose for which God sent it.

Ephesians 6:17 — and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
*Sword of the Spirit and the Word of God. The work of the Spirit of God is bound up with the ministry of the Word of God. The Word gives material that the Spirit can apply and work into the understanding and heart of the believer in Christ. The Word also in consistent with the purposes of the Spirit. What the Spirit does will always be consistent with the teaching of the Bible. The Spirit of God will never be at odds with the teaching of the Bible.

Philippians 1:14 — And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
*Speaking the Word does require courage, especially in times of confrontation and danger. We are encouraged to be bold.

Philippians 2:16 — holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
*The Word of Life. The Word of God brings life, it tells about life, it is effective unto salvation when it is proper proclamation of the Gospel of God.

Colossians 3:16 — Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
*The Word of Christ can be a presence in our hearts. It delineates what we are taught, how we admonish and on what basis, and it gives wisdom. The Word also gives examples of songs and hymns and spiritual songs by which praise is rendered to God.

2 Timothy 2:15 — Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
*Rightly handling the Word of Truth means that the Bible is not misinterpreted. Verses are understood, as much as is possible, from the understanding of the writer’s intention, and the contemporary reader’s understanding. Applications can be much broader, but the understanding of the text of Scriptures comes when it is read in context, in history, and with the best understanding of the circumstances in which it is written.

Hebrews 4:12 — For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
*The Word of God is like a living power. It acts. It moves. It teaches. It rebukes. It makes alive (by the Spirit). It is alive. Not like a person or spirit is alive, but it acts and moves, it is effective. The living qualities of the Word could be from the connection to the work of the Spirit of God in and through it.

James 1:22 — But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
*The Word demands our obedience, and it forbids our neglect. We are to hear its message and do what it says. Hearing without doing is condemned.

1 John 1:1 — That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—
*The Word of Life is Jesus Christ. It is also the Word about Jesus Christ. The message of the Gospel brings life to those who are dead spiritually.

1 John 2:14 — I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God abides in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
*The presence of the Word of God brings victory over the evil one.

Walk through Word Verses

Aside
Bible Study

Reasons to be happy.

Psalm 32:1-2, (a very loose paraphrase turning the Psalm into a praise prayer, based on the Hebrew text).

“How happy is the person whose willful and rebellious sins God has carried far away; even his ugliest failures and his refusal to live in God’s way, God has chosen to hide them all from his sight.

How happy is the person against whom the LORD will never record one of his wicked deeds, God will not remember against him even one unkind word that he has spoken. God will not write down that person’s most hateful or filthy thoughts. Even in the most secret places of that person’s life, God determined that he would not search out within him, nor would he try to find something so small as an unspoken lie hiding secretly, deep within that person’s heart. That is how great God’s mercy is!

All the sins that person committed, all kinds of sin and every last one of them, have been carried away and completely covered by God’s redeeming love. That is why this person is so happy.”

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Glory of God

Before the love of God, first holiness

Gleanings from Martyn Lloyd-Jones on 1 John.

“I can say it with reverence that before I begin to think and consider the love of God and the mercy and compassion of God, I must start with the holiness of God. I go further; unless I start with the holiness of God my whole conception of the love of God is going to be false ….” (Fellowship with God, 1993, 107).

The love of God is a wonderful truth and one that we depend upon for our redemption. But considering the love of God apart from his holiness is to sin against that love and it is to insult the essential nature of God. The holiness of God must never be separated from God’s Person as some embarassing anomaly in his character that needs apology instead of worship. No. You cannot understand God or redemption or his love apart from his holiness. The holiness of God is essential to who God is, his Person, and all his attributes.

Our modern day offer of the love of God to sinners is sweet and often faithful, but to say that God loves the sinner and to say nothing else, leaves aside the matters of how God loves and to what cost did he love us, and in protection of what qualities in himself does he love those that are to be saved. The holiness of God is where we must begin if we are to understand his redeeming love.

Lloyd-Jones speaks to this:

“I suggest that if you do not start with the holiness of God you will never understand God’s plan of salvation, which is that salvation is only possible to us through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary’s hill. …  If God is only love and compassion and mercy, then the cross is surely meaningless, for if God is love alone, then all he needs to do when man sins is to forgive him. But the whole message is that the cross is at the center, and without that death, God, I say with reverence, cannot forgive. … but if I start with the holiness of God I see that the incarnation must take place; the cross is absolutely essential, and the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit and every other part of the great plan as well.” (p. 108)

It is commonplace to use the cross as the symbol of God’s love. God’s redeeming love is certainly there (John 3:16); but in order to redeem people first the holiness of God must be satisfied. If sinful humans are to be made righteous (holy, pure, acceptable to God) then it is holiness that must be protected and appeased.

When we come to God for his love and forget how his holiness was working throughout our redemption, his glory is robbed. God’s love is wonderful and we should celebrate it, but we find God’s love much richer and more sublime, deeper and more substantive when we consider the holiness of the God who loves us.

The focus on the love of God divorced from holiness gives us great news about a small God who just wants some friends. Focus on the holiness of God in redemption and we have an incredible God who went to extraordinary lengths to save his people while first defending and then exalting his holiness. Salvation not only makes God new friends, it makes his friends holy, like he is holy. When God acts in defense of his holiness first, and in love of men second, he is most glorious and worthy of all praise. When the holy God loves, people who trust him are most loved. 

To recover the glory of God we must begin with his holiness. If God never loved anyone he would still be holy. The miracle of redemption is that sinful people can be reconciled with a holy God. Start with holiness. Then go to love.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Fellowship with God; Studies in 1 John, Vol. 1, Wheaton, Crossway Books, 1993, 107-108. 

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Bible Study

A Walk through Romans seeking glory.

Glory appears 15 times in Romans.

Romans 1:23 — the indictment against sinful men is that they have “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images” (of lesser things).

Romans 2:7 — the believers in Christ are described as those who “by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality,” and to them God gives “eternal life.” The quest for “glory, honor, and immortality” would appear to be only fulfilled by coming to know the person of God. And the quest for those qualities must necessarily end a journey that will bring them before the face of God. There is no true honor, certainly no qualitative glory, and most certainly no immortality, apart from God.

Romans 2:10 — those who believe are described as those who will receive “glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.” The glory of God is what the Christian is seeking and it is that which they are destined to experience directly. The joy for the Gentile is that we are now included in the same hope of glory as the Jews were promised before Christ came.

Romans 3:7 — the glory of God’s justice and holiness is displayed in the judgment against national Israel for their sins and their departure from the LORD who had called them to be his own possession. Paul takes it to the personal level to show that God’s truth is confirmed even when he is condemned as a sinner. The question is “Why shouldn’t I just keep sinning, if this magnifies and extols the glory of God in his judgment against my sin? (That is addressed in Romans 6:1.) And some argued that God’s glory is magnified by his judgment of Paul’s personal sin. So, they asked, why is that a bad thing? And why should Paul be condemned when this is working for the greater glory of God (in his judgment against his sin)? These questions appear to have filtered down from spurious teachers who were bringing a great deal of confusion to the early church. Paul’s doctrine of grace was being used by some as a license to do anything they desired; some even saying that God would be glorified the more if they increased in their sin.

Romans 3:23 — sinning is defined as “falling short of the glory of God.” It would seem obvious that no human being could measure up to the perfect standard of the glory of God. But there may be here a recognition of our failure to live in subjection to the glory of God, under his authority, obedient to his commands, and morally like God is some respect. This failure to live under glory is our rebellion against God and coming short of his purposes.

Romans 4:20 — Abraham gives glory to God as he grows strong in his faith.

Romans 5:2 — so far from falling short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), Christians now rejoice in “hope of the glory of God.” What we once failed to achieve, now, through Jesus Christ and by faith in him, are now in possession of the hope of the glory of God. This would not be the glory of God as God, but the moral nature of his glory, that extols his nature and the displays his holiness. Believers don’t become glorious in the same fashion by which God is glorious in his nature and splendor. But we share in the nature and the splendor of the glory of God because we will become like him morally, and in the things that we do that bring him honor through our obedience to his Word and our love for him. We share in the divine nature morally, in our character and loves, but we do not put on his divinity, see 2 Peter 1:3-12. Faith in Christ is the means by which we obtain this experience of sharing in the glory of God and the hope of it.

Romans 6:4 — Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. This was a display of the nature and purpose of God and his judgment of sin and his love for his elect people. It may seem strange to our ears that Christ was raised from the dead “by the glory of the Father,” but this is how Paul states it.

Romans 8:18 — Paul moves to the future glory that shall be received and experienced by those who are redeemed by the Cross of Jesus Christ. Though we have sufferings in this current moment, they are “not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us.”

Romans 8:21 — the redemption of all creation is an overflow of the glory that is given to the children of God. It is by the “freedom of the glory of the children of God” by which “creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption.” Our glory will redeem all of creation, even though it is a subsidiary glory, and not a glory that we possess in ourselves, but we receive from God.

Romans 9:4 — Israel holds “the adoptions, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.” These all were in possession of the nation of Israel by the call of God to Israel to be his covenant people. These were fulfilled in Christ and expanded to all nations and peoples.

Romans 9:23 — the promise that God pours into his “vessels of mercy” — meaning both Jew and Gentile were to receive the mercies and grace of God by Jesus Christ. These were prepared beforehand, clearly spoken of in the Old Testament, and fulfilled by Jesus Christ and initiated to the Gentiles by the Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles.

Romans 11:36 — Paul summarizes the themes of Romans in a benediction that concludes, “to [God] be glory forever. Amen.”

Romans 15:7 — The welcome of Christ for Jewish and for Gentile believers alike, without distinction, was unfettered. Both could come into the glorious presence of God through faith in Christ. Paul applies this principle and brings it down to individual relationships, making it the central rule of respect and acceptance of others within the Church. “Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” The example of Christ in salvation, receiving both Jew and Gentile, is the principle and rule for the manner by which Christians are to welcome one another.There are to be no distinctions, or any other external difference caused by race or nationality, or other human differences. What is central is faith in Jesus Christ. That alone is what matters.

Romans 16:27 — the final prayer in Romans, “to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Sand hill crane coming in fast

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Philosophy of ministry., The Word of God in the life of the believer.

The Strong and the Weak

Surveying key issues in Romans 14 and 15. Strong and Weak Vs Faithful.

Paul gives instructions to those who are strong to be kind to the weak, in Romans 14:1. Then in Romans 15 (after a little summary) he tells everyone to get along for Christ’s sake.

When reading the instructions to the “strong” it was very easy to think of all those “weak” people out there and to conclude that the duty of the strong (like me or perhaps like you) is to put up with “them.” But it is interesting that Paul never defines who the strong ones are and who are the weak.

Have you not noticed that sometimes we are strong and sometimes we are very weak? Paul seemed to know that people who think they have it together have to be given a stringent reminder to be kind to people who don’t.

Is it not true that when we fail, and act like a weak person, at that moment we depend on the “strong” to put up with our non-sense? We depend on the strong, whoever they are, to cut us slack, to bend over backwards, to give us grace, and to be quick to forgive us, when we are full of ourselves?

Romans 14:19, “So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual up-building,” and you could add, “no matter who you think you are.”

Paul zeroes in on faith as the test of how we may consider what makes up strength and what makes up weakness. When you are living by faith, when your choices are informed by faith, when you are expressing your faith verbally and in the way you live, then that is good and acceptable. You can be weak (in the way you act and in your understanding) but if your faith is true and your heart is given to God, others can put up with you. It is when you don’t live by faith and when you fail to believe God’s promises or trust his Person, that you get into trouble, and putting up with you at that point in your life is a waste of light and power. When you are faithless, even the strong can’t help you and they shouldn’t.

Paul’s instructions don’t give the weak permission to act like jerks. His wisdom doesn’t give the strong permission to overlook stupid and gross sins in those who are “weak.” There is a place of commonality between strong and weak and that place is our faith.

The church today seems too concerned to incorporate people into their system and programs, into their way of thinking and their alien god-speak and other strange dialects that we hear being spoken among the religious, and not concerned enough about teaching people who truly and savingly believe in Christ to simply get along with each other with true and unvarnished love.

We are called to accepted one another like Christ accepted us (see Romans 15:7, “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”) The strong want the weak to shape up. The weak are tired of being left on the outside.

Those who have been purchased by the blood of Jesus are accepted by HIM. The command is simple: If Christ received you, receive each other. This is a picture of the Church that Jesus is building.

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