Posted in Daily Living • Law • Love • Paul Teachings • Repentance

Perfection

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Matthew 5:43–48 ESV. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

People who don’t read the Word and just rely on a leader’s teachings do not really understand the message of Jesus here. When confronted with this text, one reaction is to say that Jesus paid for all my sins, so that means I’m perfect in the eyes of God. Another is to defend oneself by saying everyone is sinful so there’s no way anyone can be perfect. A third option is to simply ignore the words of Jesus. Another one of those “Don’t confuse me with facts my mind is made up” moments.

The truth from Jesus is we must be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. This is a big pair of pants to fill and seems completely out of our reach at first. That is, until you come to understand the meaning of the word “perfect.”

To be perfect is to need nothing in the spiritual realm or maybe even the physical. It does not mean a person never makes a mistake or sins. It means that we are fully equipped as well as forgiven. Our heavenly Father lacks nothing; nothing can be added to Him that He needs, and nothing He has can be taken away. We have forgiveness in Christ, the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, so we have everything we need to behave as Jesus does and accomplish whatever tasks the Father assigns to us. If we falter, we confess and repent, pick ourselves up and keep going.

John 14:30–31 ESV. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

Jesus tells us that the deceiver has no claim on Him. The deceiver couldn’t find even the tiniest sin so he could accuse Him before the Father. There was no lever he could grab to make Jesus obey him. The King James Version says it a little differently in that the deceiver “hath nothing in me.” No part of Jesus belongs to the deceiver, and he couldn’t use any weakness against Him. Jesus lacked nothing.

We do actually lack something though. We are still in these bodies of flesh, and we are prone to drifting away from the Word on occasion. We can lose sight of the goal and falter in our walk, which is why the text includes the thought of “be perfect.” In my understanding, this includes the idea of a process. We have the tools; we just need to learn how to use them and keep using them.

Paul reinforces the thought of progression, when he tells us that he isn’t perfect (though blameless according to the Law), but will “press on to make it my own.”

Philippians 3:12–15 ESV. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.

David in Psalm 143 says that “no one living is righteous before you,” which gives us another consideration to throw in the mix. Here he acknowledges that we cannot claim anything from God on the basis of our own perfection or righteousness, but we need God’s mercy and faithfulness. That mercy is provided in the sacrifice of His only begotten Son. The specter of death no longer weighs on us, so we are free (in Christ) to “be perfect” or to take our perfect gifts and pursue perfection.

God’s Law is the perfect guide for us to follow to perfection. Like the banks of a river, His loving and compassionate Word keeps us on track to our goal. If you’ll accept the illustration, we are also on the river of His living water, and at the same time, we are both at the goal and on our way to the goal. We are perfect but also on the way to perfection, that is, our new bodies and eternal life with God.

Deuteronomy 11:26–28 ESV. “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.

James puts it another way. He equates trials with a testing of faith producing steadfastness, which if allowed to have its full effect will result in being perfect, lacking in nothing.

James 1:2–4 ESV. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Another type of perfect is described by Paul, though he doesn’t use the specific word, is in loving one another, living quietly minding your own affairs and working with your hands. This is so you will be “dependent on no one” (1 Thessalonians 4:9-12). Perhaps this only applies to making a living, but it gives us another thought to include with perfection. God desires that we strive to be complete or perfect, lacking in nothing spiritual or even physical, while we follow His Words in every area of our lives. Shalom.

Posted in Atonement • Daily Living • Faith • Repentance • Righteousness • Salvation

Irredeemable

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A dictionary says that irredeemable is “being beyond remedy, hopeless.” In a biblical sense, it means that someone has refused God’s offer of salvation because the heart is so hard it won’t listen. It can happen even to people who claim to be following Jesus. The writer of Hebrews puts it this way:

Hebrews 6:4–6 ESV. For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

If it can happen to people who have seemingly converted, it can also happen to the unconverted. Israel is an example of a mixture of hard hearts and soft hearts. Those who believed (and believe) in Jesus and do what He says are soft hearted, while those who don’t are mostly irredeemable. Hearts get so hard they are just unreachable.

Irredeemable can also be applied to unforgiving people. Those withholding forgiveness are told specifically by Jesus that they are irredeemable in places like Matthew 6:14.

Matthew 6:14–15 ESV. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

 Lack of forgiveness freezes the unforgiven in time, because in the view of the offended there is now no remedy for the offense or sin. The supposed offender is locked in place. Jesus paid the blood price for sin, but the unforgiving person is mocking that sacrifice. They have deemed someone “irredeemable.” But according to Jesus, by declaring thusly, they place themselves in the actual irredeemable boat. Those who don’t forgive will not be forgiven.

No one is irredeemable according to God. All are eligible for redemption if he or she wants it. Jesus paid the price for our redemption, redeeming us from slavery to sin and death with His painful and bloody death on the cross. However, people can make themselves irredeemable by the refusal of this momentous action on their behalf. There is no other payment for our debt of sin, so refusing the sacrifice of Jesus leaves one with no option but to pay for sin with his or her own death (meaning the lake of fire).

Revelation 21:8 ESV. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

The choices are either eternal life or eternal death. Believers press on to eternal life with confession, repentance and the Holy Spirit. The writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm 95 (in Hebrews 3:7-11) which is a plea to avoid being irredeemable by the hardening of the heart.

Psalm 95:7–9 ESV. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. There are many chances in life to confess Jesus and repent of doing what is right in our own eyes. The more they are refused, the harder the heart becomes. If you hear his voice, respond and do what He says. Your heart of stone can be turned to flesh and eternal life will be yours as long as your heart stays soft and you persevere.

Shalom

Bruce

Posted in Church • Continuity & Discontinuity • Dogma • Judaism • Law • Rapture • Salvation • Tradition

Falling Away

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2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 ESV. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

The word “rebellion” here in the English Standard Version is translated in the NASB95 version as “apostasy” and in the King James as “falling away.” It is number 646 in the Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon.

ἀποστασία: apostasia, to forsake, falling away, defection, apostasy.

Clearly, Paul is saying that there is an apostasy before the man of lawlessness is revealed. But who is falling away from what? In other verses, rebellion or apostasy is applied to Israel departing from the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. On the other hand, the Church applies this to itself (falling away from the Church) because they think they are a replacement for Israel. The problem with that is the Church is not in the Bible and has never been the point. Israel is the point. The Church has been falling away from God for centuries.

Hebrews 3:12–13 ESV. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

In Hebrews 3:12, the phrase “fall away” is translated from a slightly different word meaning to “depart from,” “to desert,” “excite revolt,” or “become faithless” (Strong’s 868 aphistemi).  It’s the same basic word as apostasy, just with a different spelling.  

Hebrews 3:14–15 ESV. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

The rebellion referred to by the writer is the one where Israel refused to go into the Land as instructed by the Lord through Moses. He is equating this rebellion to the concept of apostasy.

Hebrews 6:4–6 ESV. For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

In Hebrews 6, the phrase “falling away” is a different Greek word transliterated parapipto but means ultimately the same thing – to depart from worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It can also mean to deviate from the right path, turn aside or wander, all of which are just a little more descriptive in describing apostasy.

Israel, at the time of Paul, was generally trying to follow God, even if not the Messiah Jesus the Christ. Paul was working very hard to reach as much of Israel as he could with the good news of God with us, and many thousands had converted, but the majority still wanted to go it on their own. This resulted in the failed rebellions against Roman authority of 70 A.D. and 135 A.D. The rebellion against Roman authority was much different than rebelling against God, although in those rebellions both were combined.

The falling away mentioned in Thessalonians is most likely a falling away from God by Israel, before an agreement is made by the Beast with Israel just before he is exposed for what he really is. In my understanding, the falling away spoken of by Paul will also be the result of Church congregants finding out that their leaders have been lying to them for centuries, or people in Israel choosing to side with the Beast, or both. All the nifty philosophies of men that church or genetic Israel buys into will be revealed as so many illusions.

Falling away from God is not the same as falling away from the Church. A person who simply attends Church or is part of physical Israel never was “saved” (John 3). A person can go to church or synagogue for a lifetime and still not be saved. Salvation is permanent, but the evidence of salvation is a life that is dedicated to following all of our Father’s instructions.

 Simply being a member of a non-biblical club or a genetic group is not salvation. Most congregants of any Church or synagogue have been misled into thinking that their group is equivalent to the Body of Christ (or the Kingdom of God) and so apostasy is a hard idea to swallow. But The Church and synagogue are just a man made organizations with a few cultural appropriations from the Bible pasted on and have not taken the place either of Israel or the Body of the Christ.

When the average superficial follower of God or denier of Jesus of whatever stripe finds out that the whole of God’s Word has always been a part of salvation, some will decide to follow but many will be resentful and fall away. Believing in Jesus without doing what He says; not believing in Jesus as the Messiah; believing genetics alone gets you in the kingdom; a rapture that doesn’t happen when you think; a tribulation to endure and so on will cause a massive disillusionment with leaders of all flavors.

Matthew 24:10–11 ESV. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.

Jesus uses another word to describe falling away which is transliterated as skandalizo (Strong’s 4624). It means literally to “offend,” or “entice to sin” and even “to cause to fall away.” Apparently, before the Beast is revealed there will be pressure to abandon the God of Abraham which includes “lawlessness.” This factors into the meaning of the other words to give us an idea that the lie or strong delusion (2 Thessalonians 2:11) will add to the pressure of falling away by many. Some of those who fall away may find salvation anyway, so those of us who are mature will need to help them if possible.

Shalom

Posted in Daily Living • Grace • Holy Spirit • Law • Love • Marriage • Paul Teachings • Women

Submitting

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The foundation for submitting is built on submitting to God first. Believers submit to every applicable word that is written for each of us. Some of God’s words are for men, and some are for women. Some are for husbands and others are for wives, and some apply to all of us equally.

It’s a blessing and an honor to submit to all of our Father’s instructions. But sometimes we get out of balance and emphasize instructions for other people while forgetting to check ourselves first. Such is the case in marriages where we husbands frequently have more expectations for our spouses than we expect of our own walk.

There are men who demand that a wife submit to him without considering God’s instructions first for husbands. Submitting to God’s instructions will determine how wives submit to husbands. Men demand an unbalanced submission without regard to their own complete submission to our Father. In a marriage context, there are more instructions for a husband than there are for a wife. For instance, a husband is tasked with washing his wife with the Word.

Ephesians 5:25–32 ESV. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

Submission to God depends on our view of Him and is directly related to how well we know Him. If He seems to us to be a remote, arbitrary tyrant who makes rules that we can’t possibly obey, then we will resist submitting to Him. If, however, He is a loving, forgiving, merciful and compassionate God who encourages us to follow His ways because they are life-giving and easy to obey, then submission for both husband and wife is a piece of cake.

In fact, God loves us so much that He sacrificed His only begotten Son to restore us as sons and daughters. All we have to do is accept what He did and follow His ways, just like we do with an earthly, loving father. If we expect a wife to submit, then we must first be like an earthly, loving copy of our Father. Yeshua/Jesus is a beautiful example for us to follow.

1 Corinthians 11:2–3 ESV. Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.

Husbands have the responsibility to void a wife’s vow if he hears of it and does not agree, as we are instructed in Numbers 30. If a husband divorces his wife and she marries another then is divorced from that man, the previous husband may not remarry her. The husband has authority over his wife’s body (and she over his), which applies to care and concern for her well-being as well as for intimate relations according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 7. Husbands are not to divorce their wives even in the event of unbelief, so long as she wants to stay married.

Women have a tendency to go their own way (and husbands aren’t guiltless in this either), which has been the trend since the Garden. Just because our Father said “he will rule over you” (Genesis 3:16) does not give license to be a tyrannical despot. A wife can’t be forced to change, but they can generally be led to change. Men are the leaders (or rulers if you will) which means we are to lead our families to the Father as we follow His example.

1 Corinthians 14:33–35 ESV. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

We like to use this Scripture from Paul to keep women from speaking in our assemblies (which is another subject) but the flip side is that husbands are to answer our wives’ questions and teach them. This implies that the husband is taking time to study and learn, and reinforces unity. If a wife is being “washed” well, she will probably have fewer questions anyway. Husbands are also admonished to avoid harshness (which includes being a tyrant) with their wives.

Colossians 3:19 ESV. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.

Husbands have many godly responsibilities, and we should take care to apply ourselves to those first and many of the other issues will solve themselves. If a husband is pointing his finger at a wife’s failings, it is probable that his own lack of submission to his responsibilities is lacking. A wife will generally follow and submit to a husband if he is following God’s instructions for him because it’s in her nature to respond to love. Peter amplifies our focus.

1 Peter 3:7 ESV. Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

A woman thinks and feels in ways that her husband finds puzzling at the least. It can be frustrating because men and women are – news flash – different. Men tend to think objectively, and women subjectively, or more according to her feelings. Wives and husbands can both be wrong, and both act according to pride, the flesh or sin nature. Understanding and forgiveness go a long way in encouraging submission in both parties.

Galatians 5:25 ESV. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Shalom