parashah rieh (look), deuteronomy 11:26 - 12:19

We study the Torah according to the triennial cycle every Sabbath. (Why?)

We must understand the paragraph divisions in Torah, which are inspired by the Spirit and preserved by Moses and the Jewish scribes (but discarded by the English translators), are key to help us understand what God is trying to tell us. He wants to be understood, and has provided these helps to aid us! We must also understand how the Spirit teaches through Torah by common theme.

Today is the 139th Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Rieh /Look, Deu 11:26 - 12:19. Read Deu 11:26 - 12:19 at Bible Gateway, or Deu 11 and 12 from the Hebrew Bible in English.

Deu 7:12-16 ends with a parsha stumah, a weak paragraph division.

relinquishing rights in marriage

Relinquishing rights in a marriage is one of the hardest things to do, but one that will achieve the greatest fruit of peace and contentment if applied scripturally!

All of us have heard the received wisdom: your mate needs to respect you and give you what is due you, and if he/ she doesn't, then time to find a new mate! That is not what the Scriptures teach.

First of all, it is part of God's nature to relinquish rights. When He created Adam, He gave His authority over the earth and all its creatures that He had made, to him (Gen 1:26-28). He relinquished it, even though He knew what Adam would do! No one required Him to do this. He is the God who forgives iniquity and sin, although no one requires Him to do so. It is in His nature to do so, because great is the mercy of the Lord (Exo 34:6-7). And the greatest example of God relinquishing His rights is in Yeshua, God clothed with flesh:

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Phi 2:5-8

When Paul says that Christ Jesus did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, he is saying that even though He was equal with God, He did not feel Himself robbed to be divested of His rights as God. No one made Him of no reputation; He made Himself of no reputation, even though He was the Creator and Ruler of the universe!

Abraham and the patriarchs saw this facet of the nature of God, and modeled themselves after it. Perhaps the reason that Abraham was called by God in the first place, was that God found in Abraham a man who relinquished rights, as being a man after His own heart.

After Abraham was promised the Holy Land by God, his herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen quarreled over pasture. So Abraham, the elder, the family patriarch to whom honor should have been due, told Lot to choose his portion of land first. He did not grasp for his own rights, land, privilege, honor, or anything else. Lot chose the best portion of land to the human eye, the Jordan valley that was green and well watered everywhere like the Garden of Eden (Gen 13:5-11).

When Abraham won great spoil by defeating the four kings, he refused to take even a sandal strap that was his spoil by right, but returned it all to the king of Sodom (Gen 14:21-23). When the Lord asked Isaac of Abraham, Abraham relinquished (Gen 22). When Isaac was digging wells in the land of the Philistines, every time he hit water, the Philistines took the wells from him. Rather than fight for his own rights, he moved and kept digging wells until he had some that they left him in peace over (Gen 26:18-22).

The New Testament teaches that as children of God, we ought to relinquish rights in the same way. Just in general as Christians, this characteristic ought to be a hallmark of our behavior:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.” Mat 5:38-42

“Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren!” 1 Cor 6:7-8

“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” Phi 2:3-5

(I.e., the mind of relinquishing rights and making Himself of no reputation that we mentioned earlier, is also to be in us.)

Now maybe it's easy to relinquish rights in a marriage when your partner is godly and seeking to obey God's Word in his or her own life and conduct, and is also relinquishing rights. In that case your needs and not their own become their highest priority! But if your partner is not there and is not doing that, that does not absolve us - we still need to practice being content in whatever circumstance we find ourselves (Phi 4:11), and in giving our figurative shirt when our figurative cloak is taken!

Normally, it is human nature that being constantly taken from and trampled upon produces resentment and rejection in us. But with the Lord, by forgiving transgressions, we short circuit the resentment, rejection, and other fruits of death, and free ourselves to act instead of react! Our actions, then, according to the Divine nature, are actions which result in blessing for our spouse, regardless of whether he has earned the right to be blessed.

We can be the proactive partner in the marriage, being a blessing regardless of whether we are being blessed in return, because God has already blessed us! That is why Abraham could give Lot, the younger, first choice of the Land which had been promised to him by God - he had the blessing of God on his head, which no man could nullify! Like Abraham, we have already received, and are full (Joh 1:16, 1 Cor 4:8, Phi 4:18)!

“Freely you have received, freely give.” Mat 10:8

Relinquishing rights is a concept of spiritual wisdom, and only the spiritual man can receive it, the natural man can not receive it (1 Cor 2:13-14). This is why so many people think this counsel is utter foolishness and makes no sense at all. But it is the way of God, the path of life, and he who finds it, finds good things (Pro 12:28)!

So, someone might ask, how does relinquishing rights change my spouse? The child of God with a heart after God does not focus on changing the other person - they focus on the change which needs to occur within themselves:

“And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Mat 7:3-5

The point is, there is always a plank which needs to be removed from our own eye. The deception is that we have achieved something and the other person needs all the work! Another interesting thing about this passage: notice that in the way Yeshua framed this instruction, so that our brother always has the speck, and we always have the plank? God knows the tendency of our human nature, to magnify the other's faults while downplaying our own. Considering that we have a plank in our eye and our brother a speck, evens things out in our own perception so that they are closer to reality.

Changing another person is something which can only be entrusted into the hands of Almighty God; it is way above our pay grade, and something that we should not concern ourselves with. We have enough to last a lifetime to be concerned with changing our own selves!

written on hearts instead of stone

Originally posted at a little perspective in September 2007.

Previously: God's word gives life to those who find it

We had asked, So now that we have spiritual life, do we need to obey the Law any longer?

Well, remember the purpose of the Law: to give physical life to those who adhere to it. So I guess the answer to that question would be:

Only if you want physical life! And all that pertains to it: health, needs met, happiness, marriage and children blessed, etc.

But actually, it is because we have such a disconnected and disjointed view of Scripture that we ask that question. We are so used to reading the New Testament without the Old, without the insight of the Old, which was not the way it was for Jesus, the disciples, or Paul. When they mention Scripture in the New Testament, they are talking about the Old Testament exclusively, since there was no New Testament yet. They interpreted and saw everything through the lens of the Old Testament. So they were very familiar with several passages of Scripture which are less familiar to us:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put My law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jer 31:31-34

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” Eze 36:24-28

We ask, Must we obey the Law? as if it is a dreaded chore. Many people tell me the Law is bondage, but you will not find that idea in Scripture! Read Psa 119 sometime, and see the delight which David takes in the Law, and the blessing obeying it returns to his life! In the New Testament as well as the Old, God requires obedience from His people - this principle did not pass away when Jesus rose from the dead. The New Testament writers equated obedience with a renewed heart and being led by the Spirit! The heart that is reluctant to do the will of the Lord is the heart that does not love Jesus. Jesus said that (Joh 14:21). Paul testifies that those who practice Law- lessness, which is unrighteousness, will not inherit the kingdom of heaven (1 Cor 6:9-10). And John says that those who say they know Jesus, but break the Law, are liars (1 Joh 2:4).

Our English understanding of the word “Law” is actually to blame for some of this; it is misleading for the word which is used in Hebrew, which is torah. I began to do some research into this word, and what I discovered amazed and delighted me! To be continued ...

Continued in law or torah.

1 corinthians 6

Read 1 Corinthians 6 at Bible Gateway.

“Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren!” 1 Cor 6:7-8

Paul is here echoing Jesus' words:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.” Mat 5:38-42

This generosity of spirit was the way the patriarchs were. After Abraham was promised the Holy Land by God, his herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen quarreled over pasture. So Abraham, the elder, the family patriarch to whom honor should have been due, told Lot to choose his portion of land first. He did not grasp for his own rights, land, privilege, honor, or anything else. Lot chose the best portion of land to the human eye, the Jordan valley that was green and well watered everywhere like the Garden of Eden. He was looking out for number one (Gen 13:5-11).

Now right after Abraham did this:

“And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.” Gen 13:14-17

Abraham did not seek his own gain, but trusted in the Lord to fulfill His promise to him, and because he did, the Lord renewed His promise and added to it. Each time Abraham was tested in this way, on the matter of seeking to get his own rights, YHVH renewed His promise to Abraham, and added to it. Read through the book of Genesis and see for yourself.

When Abraham won great spoil by defeating the four kings, he refused to take even a sandal strap, but returned it all to the king of Sodom (Gen 14:21-23). When the Lord asked Isaac of Abraham, Abraham gave (Gen 22). When Isaac was digging wells in the land of the Philistines, every time he hit water, the Philistines took the wells from him. Rather than fight for his own rights, he moved and kept digging wells until he had some that they left him in peace over (Gen 26:18-22)

The hearts of the patriarchs were giving, not grasping. I believe they were this way, because they understood the nature of YHVH, that He who had pronounced the blessing over them was giving and not grasping. They had the heart attitude, that they could afford to be a blessing, because they had already been blessed by God. Now Abraham was generous with Lot before he had amassed his riches. He was generous with the king of Sodom when he was just beginning to prosper. So his giving heart did not rest on the fact that he already had plenty and to spare. He was that way from the beginning.

That is the way the Lord is with us - when we have His nature dwelling within, we seek the welfare of others first; we seek to give and not grasp!

Now we have the reminder of Jesus, and Paul, that God's people are this way. They do not seek their own, but they relinquish rights. They give, they do not take. But how many of us, beloved, live that way? That is the question. When Jesus had finished His discourse, in which His instruction to turn the other cheek was a part, He said:

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” Mat 7:24-27

Let us not be hearers only, but doers, for it is the doer who will have his house(hold) built upon the rock. Seeing from first hand experience that your household, your family, has fallen, because you have not been a doer of the sayings of Jesus (who is the Living Word; His sayings stretch from Gen 1:1 to Rev 22:21), is very painful. No one wants to go there, take it from others who have been there before you and can report back that it is horrific and to be avoided at all costs! Listen, God honors His Word. He will not abrogate this Word just because we are Christians. If we choose to build our house on rock, then it will withstand storms. If we choose to build our house on sand, it will fall, and great will be its fall. Become doers of the Word, all the Word, Torah included, not picking and choosing, and become imitators of our Father in heaven, who gives to all generously and without reproach!

God's word gives life to those who find it

Originally posted at a little perspective in August 2007.

Previously: the righteousness that is of faith, part two

We saw that granting anyone right standing before God -- righteousness -- was never the Law's purpose, and that Jesus hinted that the scribes and the Pharisees misunderstood Moses about this point (Mat 5:20). Paul, in fact, does not even hint it, but boldly says that Israel was completely ignorant of it (Rom 10:3)!

So I started searching the Law to see what it said about itself, and whether it stated its purpose. What I found surprised me. First of all, I discovered that the Lord was very clear about the purpose of the Law, stating why He had given it in the Law itself. And secondly, He repeated the same message so many times and in so many ways (I assume to be certain not to be misunderstood) that the references to them are far too numerous to list.

But here is a stab at it (I highlighted the purpose part of each verse):

“So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am YHVH.” Lev 18:5

“Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which YHVH, the God of your fathers, is giving you.” Deu 4:1

“So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am giving you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may live long on the land which YHVH your God is giving you for all time.” Deu 4:40

“Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which YHVH your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, so that you and your son and your grandson might fear YHVH your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as YHVH, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.” Deu 6:1-3

“So YHVH commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear YHVH our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is today.” Deu 6:24

“And now, Israel, what does YHVH your God require of you, but to fear YHVH your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve YHVH your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of YHVH, which I am commanding you today for your good?” Deu 10:12-13

“Now it shall be, if you diligently obey YHVH your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, YHVH your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey YHVH your God.” Deu 28:1-2

And there are many, many more which say essentially the same thing (I am in the process of compiling a list of all I can find). The pattern I began to see repeating over and over again, is that we are to obey the Lord's commandments so that we will have life, length of days, blessings, so that good would happen to us and to our children and our children's children after us. If you study every instance in which the Law gives a reason for obedience, you will find a common theme running through it all:

Obedience to the Lord's commandments gives physical life to those who adhere to it.

All that promotes health, prosperity, well- being, and happiness -- all that is necessary for the life of the body -- will abound to those who obey the commandments of the Lord as contained in the Law. I began to see that Moses and Jesus were not at cross purposes at all. Moses gave the Law which gives physical life to those who obey it, and Jesus gave Himself for our sins so that we might have spiritual life!

Then why does Paul say that the purpose of the Law was to guard us until Christ came (Gal 3:23)? Those who do not have physical life cannot inherit spiritual life. The people who lived in Noah's day were wiped out - they died, i.e. ceased to have physical life -- because of their great wickedness. The Canaanites were wiped out as a people because of their great wickedness. A people who, because of wickedness, cannot survive on the planet, will not be around to inherit spiritual life through Jesus when He is come. Only those who are physically alive, after all, can hear the gospel -- that righteousness is of faith -- and respond to it to receive spiritual life!

So now that we have spiritual life, do we need to obey the Law any longer? To be continued ...

Continued in written on hearts instead of stone.

1 corinthians 5

Read 1 Corinthians 5 at Bible Gateway.

From 1 Cor 4:

“But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.” 1 Cor 4:3-5

From 1 Cor 5:

“For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed.” 1 Cor 5:3

The deed was immorality. So is Paul contradicting himself? No - we have to understand what we are to not judge before the time, and what we are to judge as a matter of course in our everyday lives.

What we are not to judge, I believe Paul is saying, is the counsels of the heart (1 Cor 4:5). Motivations, intentions, hindrances, state of faith, and all that concerns the heart, which is hidden to us, but not to the Lord.

What we are to judge, I believe Paul is saying, is the actions of the body (1 Cor 5:3). Behavior, deeds. Not the heart, not thoughts, but deeds. And not just the deeds of everyone. The unbelievers are outside, and not only are we not to judge them, but we (adults) are to associate with them, so that the world might be saved by our witness!

But the deeds of believers, we are to judge (1 Cor 5:11). Jesus says the same, when He says,

“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.” Mat 18:15-17

He is talking, as Paul is, about those who are brothers. Paul defines some sins and Jesus does not, but the things that Paul mentions are violations of the commandments found in Torah. Both Jesus and Paul and all the apostles used the Torah as a dictionary to define what was righteous behavior and what was sinful behavior. Jesus tells us the process we go through if a brother sins, before we refuse to even eat with such a one. But if the brother refuses all correction, then Jesus agrees that we should avoid that brother and not eat with him. Paul just left out the process of bringing the brother to correction, but it is implied of the brother in Corinth whom Paul had judged, that he had been corrected already.

What does Paul mean when he says he delivers that brother to Satan for the destruction of the flesh? (vs. 5). I have no idea. I assume this is something he taught the churches that he established. But see how serious a thing it was in the church, to allow sin to grow unchecked! Ananias and Sapphira died before the Lord for lying to Peter (Act 5:1-11)! This man was expelled from the church for not heeding correction and repenting! And not only was he expelled, but his flesh was delivered to Satan for destruction, whatever that means! We just take sin so lightly in our churches these days, and this is not what the Scripture teaches, either Old Testament or New! Would that we had the heart of the Lord on these matters, and saw these things as vitally important as Jesus and the apostles did!

Now just why is it so important for the unrepentant brother to be expelled from the church? Because, Paul says, a little leaven leavens the whole lump (vs. 6). Leave a little bit of sin in the church, and it spreads until the entire church is leavened with sin. This is a spiritual principle that cannot be wished away just because it is un-pc in our day to judge anyone for anything!

When Paul says, let us keep the feast (vs. 8), he is referring to the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread. The New Testament church kept the Feasts of the Lord! Keeping them teaches, in a tangible visual aid way, to a society and a people who did not have books, the history of Israel; the nature and ministry of the Messiah; prophecy; and theological and spiritual principles, in a way that even five- year- olds could understand.

So now, some might ask, that we all have Bibles, cane we ignore the Feasts? Well, leaving out the fact that in this chapter Paul specifically told the church to keep the Feast with sincerity, I have not found that position anywhere in Scripture, Old or New. I am not smarter than God, so I would not presume to make that leap. In fact, Paul admonishes the Gentile church to imitate him as he imitates Messiah (1 Cor 11:1), and both Paul and Messiah kept the Feasts.

On a bit different track, some parents use this Scripture:

“I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.” 1 Cor 5:9-10

As an injunction to send their children to public school, so that they are not out of the world, so that their children can be salt and light in the public schools. I know a lot of parents do that - 90%, I read in one Barna research survey, of the children of evangelical parents are educated in the public schools. But I believe Paul is addressing his admonition to adults, not children. In Scripture, the unit of child rearing and teaching is the home, under the direction of mothers and fathers. Children are weak, spiritually, and are foolish by reason of their age and immaturity. You do not put the weak or the foolish in with the ungodly, because the weak follow, they do not lead. This principle is found throughout Proverbs and the Scripture!

the righteousness that is of faith, part two

Originally posted at a little perspective in August 2007.

Previously: the righteousness that is of faith

Doesn't Paul teach that the righteousness that is by the Law condemns us? YES!

Paul teaches that righteousness, which is “right standing before God,” can only be had by faith in Jesus Christ through grace! By works of the Law (read: obedience to the Law) no flesh will be justified in His sight (Rom 3:20). The righteousness which is of God -- through faith in Jesus Christ -- has now been manifested apart from the Law (Rom 3:21-22), and God's righteousness -- the righteousness which is of faith -- both the Law and the Prophets bore witness to (Deu 9:4-6, Isa 45:24-25, Isa 61:10).

Paul also says that the Gentiles attained righteousness (right standing before God, Rom 9:30) by faith in Jesus Christ, but Israel did not attain right standing before God, because they pursued God's righteousness as if it could be had by works of the Law (Rom 9:31-33), and not by faith.

Paul furthermore says that Israel did not know about the righteousness which is by faith, even though the Law and the Prophets witnessed to it (Rom 10:3)! So Israel sought to attain to self- righteousness (“seeking to establish their own”, Rom 10:3), which disqualified them for God's righteousness. “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes,” (Rom 10:4). This scripture does not say that Christ ended the Law; it says that Christ is the end -- the goal -- of the Law for righteousness. In other words, the Law teaches that it is the Messiah to come who would bring righteousness.

Paul goes on to say that if righteousness (right standing before God) can be had by obedience to the Law, then Christ died needlessly (Gal 2:21)! Furthermore, Paul counts as rubbish a righteousness which is of his own (work) derived from (obedience to) the Law (Phi 3:8-9). Paul is saying that righteousness - right standing before God - cannot be attained by works of obedience to the Law. We already saw that Moses and the Prophets agree with him; and so does Jesus (Mat 5:17-20)!

“For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Mat 5:20

The scribes and the Pharisees misunderstood Moses, I am convinced, which is why they were at loggerheads with Jesus so often. The scribes and the Pharisees were trusting in their own self- righteousness through obedience to the Law in order to gain right standing before God. This is why Jesus said that those who enter the kingdom of heaven must have righteousness which exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees. In other words, we need to have a righteousness which exceeds self- righteousness. I thank God for His righteousness which is had by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, it certainly exceeds my own!

The Law, the Prophets, Jesus, and the apostles all agree, and all preach right standing before God through faith, not obedience to the Law. Then do we need obedience to the Law? Yes (Mat 5:19)! But not for right standing before God. Just because the Law is perfect and righteous (Rom 7:12), does not mean that it produces right standing before God in those who obey it (Heb 7:19). Right standing before God was never the Law's purpose (Gal 3:21-22)! What then was its purpose? The answer to this question is truly fascinating! To be continued ...

Continued in God's word gives life to those who find it

1 corinthians 4

Read 1 Corinthians 4 at Bible Gateway.

“Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills, and I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.” 1 Cor 4:18-20

Here Paul seems to be contrasting the Word and the Spirit, and the Word comes out on the short end, when he says, “For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.” So let's investigate this to see if it is so.

Now, I think he is still talking about the world's wisdom (word) vs. God's power (Spirit). Let's go back over the three chapters we have already read and see:

“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Cor 1:17-18

“... Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” 1 Cor 1:24

“And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” 1 Cor 2:4-5

“... not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches ...” 1 Cor 2:13

“... If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.” 1 Cor 3:18

The contrasting that Paul has been doing since the first chapter, is the words of man vs. the power of the Spirit. He is not saying that God's own Word is in opposition to God's own Spirit. 1 Cor 1:24 even equates the power of God (Spirit) with the wisdom of God (Word), who are both Jesus Christ! The Word of God was spoken from the midst of the fire (Deu 4:12), i.e., the fire is the Spirit of God and the power of God (Mat 3:11)!

But man's words, man's wisdom, the world's wisdom, and those who are mighty according to the world, are all on one side in these four chapters, while God's words, God's wisdom, His Spirit, and His power are all on the other side. And God's side, even if it were weak (which it isn't), is stronger than the world's side (1 Cor 1:25)! So to make Paul's meaning even more clear,

“For the kingdom of God is not in [the] word [of human wisdom] but in [the] power [of God].” 1 Cor 4:20

Now in 1 Cor 4:19, he talks about the word of those who are puffed up as if it was in opposition to the power. When he is talking about “the power,” we saw, he is talking about the power of God. But what is the word of those who are puffed up?

Well, we know that knowledge puffs up, but love edifies (1 Cor 8:1). The wisdom of this world is the wisdom that knows better than God, the wisdom that comes from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That knowledge, and pride in that knowledge, is the knowledge that puffs up. The word of those who are puffed up, is the word of human wisdom, and knowledge according to human wisdom, which is in opposition to the power of God.

Remember that God is not against knowledge or wisdom (2 Pet 1:2-5)! But the wisdom and knowledge of the world, i.e., the kingdoms of this world which rebelled against the kingdom (or kingship) of God beginning way back at the Tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9) and continues today, is against God and refuses to bow its knee to God, and this is why it is in opposition to God.

righteousness

the righteousness that is of faith
the righteousness that is of faith, part two

the righteousness that is of faith

Originally posted at a little perspective in August 2007.

I used to think of the Old Testament and Israel as distinctly separate from the New Testament and Christianity. But the more I study the two books together, the more I realize that just as there is one God, there is one Word, one message, one gospel, one faith, and one people of God (Eph 4:4-6). I also used to think that Moses and the prophets preached righteousness that is of the Law and the works of the Law, while Jesus and the apostles preached righteousness that is of faith. But now I see that this is not the case at all.

Oh, Jesus and the apostles preached righteousness that is of faith, all right. But so did Moses, that is the part that was surprising to me. As a matter of fact, so did the patriarchs and the prophets (Gen 15:6, Isa 64:6).

I first saw this when studying Hebrews:

“For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.” Heb 4:2

“They” is referring to those who came out of Egypt, led by Moses (Heb 3:16). So those who came out of Egypt had the gospel preached to them! What is the gospel? That righteousness is of faith, is it not? -- by the grace of the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us. Moses and Israel had the gospel -- righteousness that is of faith -- preached to them? Well, that is what Hebrews says.

Of course, if we think about it a little bit, we see that they did indeed have the gospel preached to them, by living example: they had to apply the blood of the slain lamb to the doorposts of their houses in order for the angel of death to pass over them, and this they had to do by faith (Exo 12).

Then before Moses died, and Joshua took over, right before Israel was to enter the Promised Land, Moses reminded the people again (Deu 9:4-6) that they were not entering the Promised Land because of their own righteousness, for they were stiff- necked and rebellious. They were entering, he took pains to impress upon them, because God is faithful to the covenant of promise (Deu 9:5). And here he is speaking of the covenant which God made with Abraham, in which Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness (Gen 15:6). Moses does not draw out the details for Israel in the way Paul does in the letter to the Galatians (Gal 3:6-12), because Israel was very familiar with the covenant of promise and what it meant; all Moses had to do was refer to it to make the point. Paul, however, was speaking to a Gentile audience and explained the connection in detail. Thank goodness for us.

Hebrews goes on to say that the first generation did not enter the Promised Land because of unbelief (Heb 3:19). I think we can assume this means that the second generation that did enter in did so because of belief, or faith.

In fact, I could only find one sentence in Moses in which it might be construed that righteousness was to be had by obeying the Law. In Deu 6:25 it says:

“It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the LORD our God, just as He commanded us.”

We read “righteousness” in the Bible and automatically think it must mean “right standing before God” because this is how the word is most often used in the New Testament. Actually, the word translated “righteousness” here means, “justice, ruling rightly,” (Gesenius Hebrew Lexicon) i.e. judging rightly between right and wrong. In other words, this verse could read, “It will be justice for us [we will have justice] if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as He commanded us,” and this is what it means in Hebrew.

But doesn't Paul teach that the righteousness that is by the Law condemns us?

Continued in the righteousness that is of faith, part two

1 corinthians 3

Read 1 Corinthians 3 at Bible Gateway.

I noticed as I was reading through 1 Cor 3 today that the first three chapters of Corinthians form a chiastic structure. A chiastic structure is a teaching device of the Spirit which is embedded throughout God's Word. The elements of a narrative are repeated around a central point in reverse order. The reason for the chiastic structure, is to point to the central point that the Spirit wants to convey, like an arrow so that it is not missed. As we saw in Rom 12, the way the central point is wrapped by the surrounding themes can also teach us important truths.

1A 1 Cor 1:4-9 - the gifts that belong to the Corinthians;
  1B 1 Cor 1:10-17 - boasting in men;
    1C 1 Cor 1:18-25 - foolishness of the world's wisdom;
      1D 1 Cor 1:26-31 - no room for boasting;
        1E 1 Cor 2:1-8 - the Spirit of God in power and spiritual wisdom opposed to carnal wisdom;
          --> X 1 Cor 2:9 - “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
        2E 1 Cor 2:10-16 - the Spirit of God in power and spiritual wisdom opposed to carnal wisdom;
      2D 1 Cor 3:5-17 - even Paul and Apollos have no room for boasting in building the third temple;
    2C 1 Cor 3:18-20 - foolishness of the world's wisdom;
  2B 1 Cor 3:21a - let no one boast in men;
2A 1 Cor 3:21b-22 - all things that belong to the Corinthians.

The central point did not turn out to be what I thought it would be! But it is a theme throughout Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, that God is after His family, whom He loves with all He is, and in return, He desires that His family also love Him with all they are. The ones who love Him, will pay heed to Him, will listen to Him (Deu 6:4-6, Joh 14:15), will follow His Spirit and walk in His wisdom and in His ways.

He is not after sold out love from us because He is an egomaniac who requires the subservience of every person! What does our agreement with God add to Him? But His commandments merely inform us of that way which brings forth blessings for us in our lives! He is after our obedience, because He loves us with all He is!

And at the end, for those who have demonstrated that they love Him, not with lip service but true love, which requires subduing the flesh, which requires standing against the world and maybe being mocked at by the world, which requires humbling ourselves before God, and saying, for example, God, I don't understand just why it is so important to You that I rest on the 7th day, and not the 1st day, or the 3rd day, or whatever day my own understanding would pick, or even whether I rest at all; but I acknowledge that as God, You are smarter than I am! Therefore I bow my heart and my life to You, to Your Word and Your commandments, because You are my God!

At the end, we cannot even imagine what God has prepared for us who love Him with the same sold out love that He loved us. But here is a hint: Yeshua Messiah is returning as a Bridegroom for us, His Bride, yes?

“When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken.” Deu 24:5

God obeys His own Word!

Now it is also true that the ones who reject Him, from Genesis to Revelation, follow their flesh and walk in the world's wisdom and in the world's ways. This has been the way since Adam decided he knew better than God and that nothing bad would happen to him if he ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Knowing better than God is the definition of the world's wisdom which is opposed to the Spirit of God, and it has been from the beginning.

Now in 1 Cor 2:16, Paul tells us that we have the mind of Christ. This is in the context of his point that he is making, that the Spirit of God is the source of spiritual wisdom, which is opposed to the wisdom of the world or the wisdom of carnal man (the world and carnal man agree). In other words, is he saying that every believer, once they say the sinner's prayer, starts thinking thoughts after Christ in agreement with the Spirit? Well, I think the way we tend to view that Scripture is that any thought that pops into our heads is automatically from Christ or from the Spirit so run with it.

I don't think that is what Paul is saying. We learned in Rom 12:2 that we have to renew our minds so that we can be transformed, and prove what is God's good and perfect will. God's will is revealed in His Word. We will see, when we get to 2 Cor, that Paul says:

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” 2 Cor 10:4-5

High things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God, is the wisdom of the world. Arguments and thoughts, that do not agree with God and His Word, have to be pulled down and brought into captivity to Christ - to the mind of Christ. For the mind of Christ agrees with the Spirit of God, and the wisdom of God, and the Word of God.

So we have the mind of Christ, in that the Spirit of God dwells in us, and when a thought pops into our head which agrees with the world's wisdom, then maybe we get that “check” feeling in our heart that something is not right. That is the mind of Christ instructing us to research that thought from the Word of God and see whether it is the good and perfect will of God or not. Or maybe, immediately upon the heels of a thought which is of the world's wisdom, a verse which counters it will also pop into our heads. That is the mind of Christ instructing us in His wisdom and in His way. If we feed ourselves on God's Word every day just as we feed our bodies on food, we will only help that renewing, instruction and transformation process. We will only help ourselves mature, and not have to stay on milk the rest of our lives.

1 corinthians 2

Read 1 Corinthians 2 at Bible Gateway.

“However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” 1 Cor 2:6-8

Paul is continuing his same discussion begun in chapter 1, how man cannot come to know God by man's wisdom. How man's religions seek to know God by man's wisdom, but God can only be known by the relationship that He establishes by His work and by His Spirit.

God is not against wisdom or knowledge. But what the world considers wisdom is not true wisdom, or God's wisdom.

A characteristic of man's religions is hidden knowledge, which can only be discovered as someone advances through levels. Paganism, wiccan, Mormonism, gnosticism, Masonry, and who knows what other religions have this in common.

With God, all the facts are up front, for God is the One who tells the end from the beginning (He says this seven times in Isaiah alone, i.e. Isa 46:10!). All the major doctrines of Christianity can be found in the first four to eleven chapters of Genesis, and all the prophecies of the entire Bible are hidden in plain sight in Torah (the Torah is in fact a book of history which is prophecy). But the things of God are spiritually discerned - they need the Spirit of God to reveal them so that they can be understood. The world does not have the Spirit.

This is how some things, which God has spoken up front from the beginning, have remained a mystery until the time that the Spirit reveals it. It is not the same as man's religions with hidden knowledge, which is not spoken up front and remains hidden to all but the elite. At the first coming of Messiah, the Spirit revealed the mystery of Messiah which had been in plain sight, being foretold from the beginning, but hidden in plain sight until the Spirit should make it known. God did this for a very specific reason - His enemy was seeking to stop the coming of the Promised Seed and the deliverance the Promised Seed would work. If it had not been hidden, the rulers of this age would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.

There is another mystery which has been hidden until the second coming of Messiah, and that is the mystery surrounding His return and all that would happen at His return. (Notice the pattern: the mysteries have to do with Messiah's coming.) The mystery of the two witnesses is part of this, as their purpose is to prepare the way for Messiah's coming. God has also told the things concerning Messiah's return from the beginning, but again hidden it until the proper time for it to be revealed:

“Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, “My lord, what shall be the end of these things?” And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” Dan 12:8-9

The reason these things have remained hidden is the same reason: God has an enemy who is trying to stop the coming of the Promised Seed! If everything were understood, then perhaps the rulers of this age would not do the things they must do in order for all prophecy to be fulfilled.

But as time gets closer and closer to the end, more and more of the mystery will be revealed - to those who are spiritual, for they are spiritually discerned!

Now the great thing with God, is there is no elite with Him! He does not respect persons, and anyone can be spiritual - it is entirely up to us! We are the ones who determine how far God goes with us, not Him. The more we bow the knee to His kingship, and allow His Spirit to overcome that which is natural (carnal), the farther He will take us!

“For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Cor 2:16

Paul has been talking about man's wisdom and man's knowledge and the wisdom and knowledge of the world. He continues the discussion on the world's wisdom and ways as opposed to God's wisdom and ways in the next chapter. But here in the center of the discourse he reveals to us that we have the mind of Messiah. What does that mean?

“Mind” is in Greek, Strong's G3563, nous, meaning the mind, the faculties of perceiving and understanding. This is the same word that we saw in Rom 12:2;

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

So far, it seems from Romans, that if a Christian is living conformed to this world (i.e., according to the world's wisdom), then his mind has not yet been renewed (so that he has the mind of Messiah?), for the evidence of a renewed mind is one whose life has been transformed.

parashah pesal lecha (carve for yourself), deuteronomy 10:1-11:25

We study the Torah according to the triennial cycle every Sabbath. (Why?)

We must understand the paragraph divisions in Torah, which are inspired by the Spirit and preserved by Moses and the Jewish scribes (but discarded by the English translators), are key to help us understand what God is trying to tell us. He wants to be understood, and has provided these helps to aid us! We must also understand how the Spirit teaches through Torah by common theme.

Today is the 138th Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Pesal Lecha /Carve for Yourself, Deu 10:1 - 11:25. Read Deu 10:1 - 11:25 at Bible Gateway, or Deu 10 and 11 from the Hebrew Bible in English.

Deu 7:12-16 ends with a parsha stumah, a weak paragraph division.

deuteronomy 6:10-15; beware

Read Deuteronomy 6:10-15 at the Bible Gateway.

In parsha bazneikhem, the parsha before this one, we saw the introduction of four verbs that YHVH reminds us of over and over and over again. They are, hear, pay heed, teach, and do. We saw that the first paragraph stumah in this parsha emphasized the hearing. This parsha emphasizes the paying careful heed.

The key verb of instruction in this paragraph is this:

“So it shall be, when ... [blessing comes upon you] ... then beware, lest you forget YHVH ...”

The Hebrew for “beware” is the primitive root, Strong's H8104, rm?, shamar, shin mem resh. According to the lexicons, it means, to keep, to watch, to guard. In the ancient pictographs, the shin is the two front teeth, and means two, sharpen, or press. The mem is the water, and thus can mean sea, blood, chaos, or even mighty. The resh is the head of a man, and can mean anything that is head, top, first, or beginning. The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon tells us that the shin mem in this root, were originally a sin nun, the similar sounds becoming transposed over time.

So the true ancient Hebrew root is rns, sin nun resh. The sin is the thorn; the nun is the seed. The sin nun meant to guard or protect, from the thorn bushes the shepherds used to surround their flocks at night to guard them from predators. The sin nun literally meant to guard for the next generation. So the idea of shamar, is to closely guard (sin --> shin) that which is of first importance (resh) for the next generation (nun --> mem).

This passage teaches us that it is easier to closely guard for the next generation those things which are of first importance, when things are a bit of a struggle. When things get easy and we are full to overflowing, it is human nature to get lazy. So that is when we especially need to beware. Many of the commands of Torah are designed to internalize the remembering and the not forgetting, for example celebrating the feast days. Each feast day commemorates something in history concerning YHVH and His people, and also looks forward to the Messiah and something that is yet to be accomplished concerning YHVH and His people. So by observing the feasts, and remembering on them what we are commanded to remember, we help ourselves to closely guard for the next generation those things which are of first importance.

The theme of the parsha stumah from Deu 6:10-15 is to Take Heed to that which we have now heard, YHVH's Word.

corinthians

1 corinthians 1
1 corinthians 2
1 corinthians 3
1 corinthians 4
1 corinthians 5
1 corinthians 6
1 corinthians 7
1 corinthians 8, clean and unclean food
1 corinthians 9, under the law
1 corinthians 10
1 corinthians 11, head coverings
1 corinthians 11, the Lord's supper
1 corinthians 12, the gifts of the Spirit
1 corinthians 13, the father's love
1 corinthians 14
1 corinthians 12-14, the gifts of the Spirit
1 corinthians 12-14, the gift of tongues
1 corinthians 15
1 corinthians 16


expert studies on the books of 1 and 2 corinthians at bible.org*

*There is a lot of valuable material at bible.org, so enjoy digging around! However, I do not agree with every premise made or conclusion drawn in every study. Many have a traditional, learned bias against the Torah which God is stripping away in His Church in these last days.

1 corinthians 1

Read 1 Corinthians 1 at Bible Gateway.

“Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” 1 Cor 1:20-25

This is what jumped out at me today: that the world through wisdom does not know God, nor can it. When knowing God rests on Him, on the cross, on Jesus crucified, our pride in our own accomplishments and our own knowledge gets bypassed. You know, when Adam fell, it was because he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (not the tree of good and evil) instead of the tree of life. The Greeks, who seek after wisdom, venerated Eve as the enlightener of mankind, because she ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, which God had denied her. The Greek deity who is Eve deifed is Athena, and she was the goddess of wisdom.

So the world values its own wisdom above all else. The top experts in the world's eyes are scientists. The world also wants to know God through its own wisdom, through learning the right knowledge. Eastern religions, gnosticism and mystery religions, witchcraft, kabbalah, all these kinds of religions are popular with the world and with our fallen human nature because they rely on self, on knowledge for spiritual correctness or purity. Even Phariseeism falls in that category - it is a religion which is satisfying to the flesh because it depends on the flesh. And Protestantism also needs to beware, because all the different sects of Protestantism arose from a belief that knowing the correct doctrine, down to the nth detail, was the most important thing there was. We read in this passage of Scripture that dividing asunder after men is not the most important thing (vs. 10-17).

But God cannot be known through wisdom. Only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as a gift of grace, can He be known. Only through relationship can He be known. The Greek word for “know” in 1 Cor 1:21, is Strong's G1097, ginosko, and it means, to learn to know, to come to know, to obtain the knowledge of. It is about the process of gaining. It comes from the Hebrew root, Strong's H3045, udy, yada, yud dalet ayin. The yud is the outstretched hand and arm, and so means work, throw, or even worship. The dalet is the door, and so means to hang or enter. The ayin is the eye, and so means to watch, know, or shade. The ancient word picture is that by doing, we enter into seeing - knowing or understanding.

In God's way of thinking, we know Him by experiencing Him, so that we enter into understanding Him. He is our Abba, our Papa, our Father. The world wants to know God with its mind, to feed its pride in its knowledge, and leave its heart untouched, thank you very much. Knowledge puffs up. God wants our hearts. Love builds up (1 Cor 8:1). And because we are in the world, raised in a culture which is founded in the wisdom of the Greeks, we have to realize that it is comfortable for us to keep God in the mental realm, in our little boxes with its boundaries intact. But our Abba Daddy is so much greater than that. He wants to move us from merely knowing about Him (knowledge), to intimately knowing Him through experience and relationship (life).

Don't misunderstand - knowledge is not bad. Peter said,

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,” 2 Pet 1:2-5

We have to know the truth about God which is revealed in His Word. That is not the same as striving to know Him through wisdom, as a set of facts, in the flesh, and not through faith by grace, in relationship and experience, in the heart.

effective prayer

“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” Jam 5:16

God wants our prayers to avail much - to produce or result in a benefit or an advantage (Webster's). We saw how the prayers of the righteous man avails much. But what is an effective prayer, a prayer that is capable of producing a result?

1) We need to pray the words of Scripture as we pray for a situation.

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Heb 4:12

“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Isa 55:11

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” Joh 15:7

When we pray the Word over a situation, we agree with what God has already said. We bear witness to Him, in other words. Years ago I had a dear friend who had gotten away from biblical Christianity and was convinced of some heretical doctrines. She had turned aside to the right and to the left, and had left the narrow way. So I began praying for her, particularly Joh 10:4-5. She was His sheep, therefore, the Word said, she would know His voice and follow Him, but flee from strangers. My prayers for her were not pleadings with God to do something; they were declarations of what the Word said about her, over her life. Now my friend lived in another state, before computers and cell phones and text messages, so I had limited contact with her. But after praying the Word over her for six months, she woke up one day, she told me later, and had something she described as scales fall off her eyes, and she could see the truth clearly in everything that she had been deceived in.

Find out what the Word says about your situation, and start speaking that Word in your prayers!

2) When we pray the words of Scripture, we need to be speaking those words with our mouth, outloud.

The Word of God is living and powerful, we saw. It carries creative power within it:

“Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.” Gen 1:3

“... and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are;” 1 Cor 1:28

Light did not exist as a reality in the natural world. But when God said, “Let there be light,” light was created. The light that was not, was created by the voicing of the Word, and brought to nothing the thing that was, which was darkness. Likewise, in the case of my friend, her belief in the historic doctrines of Christianity was not, and the thing that was, was her belief in hereticsl doctrines. But by the voicing of the Word of God, that which was not -- hearing His voice and fleeing from the voice of the stranger -- brought to nothing that which was.

There are other reasons to voice the Lord's Word when we pray:

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Rom 10:17

When we hear the Word of God with our ears, faith is produced. Even if it is our own voice that is doing the speaking. This is important, because Jesus told us:

“And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” Mat 21:22

Also, when we voice the Word of God outloud, it activates the angels who are ministering spirits, who serve those who will inherit salvation (Heb 1:14), in their service:

“Bless the LORD, you His angels, Who excel in strength, who do His word, Heeding the voice of His word.” Psa 103:20

When His Word is done - accomplished - then our prayers have been effective. But the angels aren't the only beings who are affected when we voice His Word:

“... to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places;” Eph 3:10

The manifold wisdom of God is contained in His Word - it is That Which Is True. How does the church make that wisdom known to the demonic principalities and powers who are in the heavenly places, who are oppressing others and doing the things that we are praying against? They don't believe that the Word of God is true. They believe their own lies. But when we voice the Word of God aloud, and activate the angels to do the Word which we have voiced, then the truth of God's Word, the manifold wisdom of God, is made known to those demonic powers - they are forced to submit to it and yield to its truth.

To be continued ...

romans 16

Read Romans 16 at Bible Gateway.

“Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil.” Rom 16:17-19

Since the beginning of chapter 14, Paul has been explaining what to do about the divisions and offenses that arose in the church because of disputes over doubtful things (Rom 14:1). Disputes over doubtful things are contrary to the doctrine which we were taught in Christ.

The prayer of Jesus is, that His disciples may be one as He and the Father are one (Joh 17:11). The word one is the cardinal number. In Hebrew it is Strong's H259, dja, echad, one, from the primitive root meaning “to unite.” So, “Hear O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one (echad);” (Deu 6:4).

The Hebrew letters which convey echad mean, from the ancient pictographs, “to strongly fence the door.” In other words, if two are together, and a dispute breaks out, neither one of them departs from the other, because the exit door is strongly fenced. That is what it means in Hebrew to be united, to be one. If we are one, as Yeshua and His Father are one, then there is no departing from each other.

Since there is no departing, a way needs to be found to dwell together in unity (echad, Psa 133:1), or else life will not be either good or pleasant! We do this by focusing on that which unites us and not on that which divides us. We do this by focusing on the log in our own eye and not the speck in our brother's eye (Mat 7:3-5). We do this by serving the needs of our brother above the needs of ourselves.

Those who cause divisions and offenses focus on that which divides; they focus on the specks in others' eyes; and they focus on serving their needs and not the needs of others.

A division is in Greek, Strong's G1370, dichostasia, and it is from the same root that our English word “dichotomy” comes from. The root “di” indicates division in many languages other than Greek. The Greek word is from two roots which mean, “asunder, apart,” and “standing;” so a division is that which causes “a standing apart," “a standing asunder.”

Sometimes we have to come out from among them and be ye separate (2 Cor 6:17), or else send them out from us, as we saw yesterday, for unrepentant violations of clear Scripture (1 Cor 5:1-2). But Paul is talking about disputes or divisions -- tearings asunder -- over doubtful things (Rom 14:1).

An offense is in Greek, Strong's G4625, skandalon, and it is from the same root that our English word “scandal” comes from. It literally means the trigger- stick of a trap, like the thing on a mousetrap that the cheese is put by, that causes the trap to snap shut if it is moved. Thus it is any impediment placed in the way of another that causes them to stumble in their walk. Offenses, which can be caused by disputes over doubtful things, are stumbling blocks put in the way of others, that trips them up so that they fall and have trouble walking with God!

Paul says, first mark such people, look at them, observe them with scrutiny, paying heed to them and contemplating them with attention. Then, avoid such people, for they are not serving the Lord Jesus Christ but themselves. When Paul says, be wise in what is good, one thing to be wise in, is that it is good to avoid those who put stumbling blocks in the paths of others! The world's definition of good is to tolerate everything; but that is not the Word's definition of good!

prayer

the prayer of the righteous
effective prayer

the prayer of the righteous

“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” Jam 5:16

All of us want to pray so that our prayers will avail much. There are three adjectives the Holy Spirit used in this verse in James: effective, fervent, and righteous.

Righteousness is the first qualifier, so that our prayers will avail much. I used to think that this just meant that if a person was in right- standing with God, i.e., his sins were covered by the blood of Jesus, that the man was righteous and his prayers automatically availed much.

And our right standing before God is one aspect of righteousness. That is the inward aspect of the heart. There is another aspect -- the outward aspect of the life, which, in biblical thought, is to proceed from the inward aspect of the heart. Only in worldly thinking, are the thoughts of the mind or the actions of the body divorced from the nature of the heart. It is this worldly thinking that allows us to believe that we can be one nature of the heart inwardly (the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus) and live another nature of the body outwardly (lie, cheat, steal, covet, murder and do all manner of unrighteousness). Worldly thinking deceives. The truth is, we cannot be schizophrenic like that. We are one or the other.

The word “righteous” in Greek is Strong's G1342, dikaios, which means, according to Thayer's Greek Lexicon, observant of divine law; a righteous man is one whose way of thinking, feeling, and acting is wholly conformed to the will of God. This word is from the Hebrew, qdx, tsadaq, Strong's H6663. It means, to be correct, right, or straight. In Hebrew it specifically means one who is obedient to the Law of God, since God's Law is the only straight measuring line.

“The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous (tsadaq), and His ears are open to their cry.” Psa 34:15

God's ear is open to the cry of the righteous - the cry of the one who has been made righteous in his heart, and is allowing that righteousness to manifest itself outwardly so that his life has become straight; his feet are walking in the straight path. He is submitted, conformed, and observant of divine law, the measuring line which describes “straight.”

What does it mean to have the ears of YHVH open to our cry? If we read the entire Psalm 34, it means that when we cry aloud to YHVH with our voice (prayer), He hears us, and because He hears us, He acts. He delivers, He saves, He encamps all around, He provides for needs, His face is toward us for good, He redeems, He is near.

If we want our prayers to avail much, we need to be seeking at all times and in all places, to learn what God's straight measuring line instructs us in, and then adjusting our lives, our inward thoughts and our outward actions, to it, so that our lives align with its straightness. We need to guard against the thinking that says that the straight measuring line can be ignored because Jesus has died on the cross. Jesus has died on the cross, and now our inward heart is righteous, so that our outward life can also now bear the fruit of righteousness.

“Why do you transgress the commandments of the LORD, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, He also has forsaken you.” 2 Chr 24:20

And here it is implied, that if we do not ignore God, He will not ignore us when we cry out to Him. That is the value of the prayer of a righteous man.