How Safe and Secure are we before God? Part 3 - Passing from Death to Life

Entering Eternity

...Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

1 Peter 1:23-25

The word of the Lord remains forever. We have simply believed. It is the imperishable seed. You have been born again of it. There's no going back possible for the real eternal you, because the new birth was the birth of the real eternal you.

The phrase 'born-again' occurs only in John, of the four gospels, and only in the Nicodemus discourse of Chapter 3. A similar phrase is found twice in 1 Peter chapter 1. But it has something very important to say. Behind the Pauline concepts of the new man, the new creation, there is the need for new birth. The new birth births us into these things. 

We have, for all time, entered into a new realm of existence, with an entirely new quality of life within. We've entered into His love, which will take us over fully by degrees. We are family members, all different, but with this new birth in common. If you don't want this, you are not a Christian believer. 

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

1 John 4:16-18

John is saying that love will be perfected in us, and it leaves no remaining place for fear. Love is sufficient. Our new, true, nature is indwelled by love, and at one with love. Man may think in terms of a little fear keeping us in line, but this is unnecessary and undesirable. We don't need the fear of damnation to keep us in line, not once we are saved. The closer we get to God, the less fear we have. 

Human seed is sperm. It is perishable. If it dies, it cannot initiate reproduction and there will be no subsequent natural birth. But you are born again from imperishable seed, and into eternal life. It's extremely hard to argue that, based on scripture, the new birth is temporary or reversible. If you're born again, that's it. It is true there may be a gestation period; the seed needs to be sustained until the birth actually happens. There will be a certain time between planting and birth, during which the decision to go through with birth needs to be upheld.

By all normal word meaning and analogy, I'd say the new birth once it occurs is permanent and irreversible. The life it brings forth is eternal.

Entering in to the Kingdom

So entering the Kingdom is through the new birth. It isn't by membership of a church. It isn't by our own efforts at behaviour improvement. That's putting the cart before the horse. (The true church consists of born again believers, and is not at core an organisation with buildings).

When Nicodemus approached Jesus in John 3 I believe he came as a reconciler. Maybe he was going to persuade Jesus to stick to being a great Jewish teacher, maybe even a prophet. 'Don't stretch it too far. Everyone might benefit, they'll accept you' 

This is conjecture. If it's true, Nicodemus was to be disappointed and further challenged by what Jesus said next. 

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

John 3:3

Bam. Nicodemus, there's way more to my ministry than you think. 

Born Again and Saved

So we need this new birth from on high. This is the 'passing from death to life' experience we spoke about earlier.

I believe if we have really received salvation, we have undergone the new birth too. They are essentially the same thing. Believers are saved. It's in the past for us. (It's true the final salvation of our bodies awaits us, so in the bodily sense, we will be saved, although we have, in essence, already been saved. Similarly, we are being saved from the remaining power sin has over us. There is a progressive sanctification of the soul. At the end of the age, at the resurrection, we will be saved from the power of sin altogether. But these future 'salvations' are inevitabilities after initial salvation. It is worth bearing these tense distinctions in mind when we encounter the words for salvation). 

How does it happen?

So what does it mean to be 'born again' ? And what do we do to choose, or allow, this new birth ?

“How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 3:4-6

The new birth is instigated by the Spirit. We are born again of the Holy Spirit.

Water and the Spirit

Opinions vary on what Jesus meant by 'born of water'. I'm inclined to think He meant born of amniotic fluid, mostly water, i.e. the mother's 'waters'. He might also be alluding to Ezekiel 36v25, one of several Exile-era Messianic prophecies from Jeremiah and Ezekiel. This one speaks of a sprinkling with water for cleansing, which was prophesied to occur prior to the granting of a new heart and the outpouring of the Spirit. This seems less likely to me.

Now a person cannot birth himself. (They cannot, incidentally, baptise themselves either). Either naturally or by supernatural re-birth, another is the agent. In the case of natural birth, a newly-minted little person merely yields to processes already in motion in the mother's body. With the new birth we also consent to what God already wishes to do. He does it though. If it were a question of saying a prayer, or washing ourselves, or vowing to try to improve ourselves, we could do that. But this is a spiritual birth, and only God can do it. The Christian life, in authentic form, is supernatural. It's not something we can conjure up ourselves.

So what is our part? How do we chose this new birth? How do we allow it to happen? First we must understand God passionately wants it to happen, and it is definitely something where God has to 'kick in' for it to be happen. 

I believe it is chosen by us and by God. If we choose, He chooses. It is a meeting. He doesn't force us. That would be close to spiritual assault. Instead He wins our hearts, if we let Him.

Can two walk together unless they are agreed?

Amos 3v3

God already wanted to save you. He has said so pretty clearly.

(God our saviour) who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

1 Timothy 2:4

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

2 Peter 3:9

Calvinism

A few hundred years ago John Calvin and the Armenians developed rather differing views of salvation, which they believed were derived from scripture. Calvin emphasised the sovereignty of God, while the Armenians emphasised human choice. There are various forms of Calvinism, and a popular strain is known by the mnemonic 'TULIP'. As far as I can see the verses above cause great difficulty for this five-point Calvinist doctrine. Two of those five points are;

-Limited Atonement. The sacrifice of Christ on the Cross only paid for the sins of the elect. If so He isn't what 1 John 2v2 says He is.

-Irresistible Grace. You don't choose Christ at all. You can't resist. If salvation is irresistible, then logically, so is damnation. Those not chosen are damned. God must surely know this, and yet scripture says He wishes all to be saved. 

Well it's true there are verses like:

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

John 15:16

This clearly says He chose us, rather than us choosing Him. Jesus came along and pretty much commanded these first disciples to follow Him. If any refused outright, it is not recorded. But some seemed to follow more closely, to take their call more seriously. One ended up betraying Him outright. We seem able to veto, or even sabotage, God's calling. People can refuse God's call to salvation, which, based on Scripture, is a universal call. This will lead to perdition and damnation. (As Christians, we can also decide to resist God's will in our lives. However, I don't believe that jeopardises our actual salvation. There will be loses, perhaps serious, but our new spirit survives, 1 Corinthians 3v14,15. God also chooses certain people for particular tasks, people who have already chosen salvation, such as Paul and Silas in Acts).

Now there do seem to be contradictions on some points. God wills all to be saved, but some He hardens and gives over to a powerful delusion, 2 Thessalonians 2v11. But the powerful delusion only comes on those who have hardened their hearts by refusing to love the truth. In other words, harden your heart for long enough and God has set things up so as to further harden your heart. You can't sit on the fence forever, you side with sin and fallen angels or with God. He needs to fit you for Heaven or give you over to Hell. Even when God sends a delusion, I don't think He is the author of it. He merely gives a person over to Satan and his schemes, which is where they are headed. The road to destruction is wide, Matthew 7v13.

And so how to escape all this....

How to be born again

The really important bit. Nothing in life is more important.

The experience is not exactly the same for everyone. Some just slowly realise they now believe, often when very young. If there is a formula, it is 'Repent, believe and be baptised'.

That fits with Romans 10.

.. “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Romans 10:8-10

So it's simple. You believe, from the heart, and you are saved. What do you believe? That Jesus is the Son of God. He came as a man, died and rose from the dead. He took the punishment due for our sins and is giving us new life. By simply believing these things we are justified, or put right with God. We use our mouth and we confess Him before others at salvation or at some time shortly afterwards. There is also a command to be baptised. There need be no time delay; there generally wasn't one in the New Testament. So acknowledge Him before men. Invite family, friends, colleagues.

As faith, confession and baptism occur, the new birth will occur too.

A person should realise they are making a permanent decision to give God everything, as best they know. They are truly trusting Him with their lives and giving them over to Him, in principle, in every area and for ever. That's all God requires. We don't have to change first, we can't. Without Him we can do nothing, John 15v5.

How Safe and Secure are we before God? Part 2 - Three Categories of Life: We now have all three!

Three Kinds of Life

We're looking at security with God and whether we can lose it. We've looked at God's foreknowledge, from eternity, of what we decide about Him and His Son, our Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Romans 8 tells us that once God knows we chose Him in Christ, our salvation progresses with certaintly.

Now let's look at what we mean when we talk of Christ's life in us.

When we are born again, we pick up a new and extraordinary 'flavour' of life, unavailable any other way. It's a free gift. How does the Bible describe this life?

For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself

For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

John 5v26,21

Here Jesus refers to a particular type of life possessed by God. It is not a derived, created, life. It is a self-existing, self-sustaining, uncreated, indestructible life*. It is beyond our full understanding. Jesus possessed this same special type of life as the Father. He started to give that life to others. It's infinite, from eternity, so He in giving it away, He didn't lose some of it in the process. The widow's flask of oil from 2 Kings 4 is a type of this life. It doesn't deplete until the need is met.

For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for He gives the Spirit without measure.

John 3:34

So the Father gives this life to the Son, and the Son gives it to whom He will.

There are three Greek words all translated as 'life' in English Bible versions. They are, transliterated, bios, psuche, and zoe. They represent, loosely, biological life, the life of the soul, and the life of God, respectively. This is how the words are most often used in the Bible. We can see that the English words 'biology' and 'psychology' are derived from the first two. Bios represents the physical processes of life. Bios is impressive enough as far as it goes. When I look at a well-used guitar, someone has maybe played it regularly for decades. It is worn, the fretboard has hollows, the frets are grooved, the finish is eroded. Yet the fingers of the musician are just fine. Bios did that, the callouses may be there but the skin cells are renewed continually. The guitar may be great but it is really just dead matter. Psuche represents the functions of mind and emotions. The human mind is complex, nuanced, multi-facetted, different for each person. It is creative, it can imagine, it may be fragile and delicate. 

But beyond these, there's a further category of life. Jesus used the word zoe to refer to the life He and the Father shared**. The same word is used to describe the life which He gives to us. The verses from John above use zoe.

Now the word zoe was not invented for the New Testament: it was a pre-existing Greek word. Originally though, in Greek usage, it referred to what we might call vibrancy, vigour, productivity, freshness. It described the zing, the beans, present in addition to bios and psuche, infusing them with something extra. The New Testament combines zoe with aioneos, which means 'perpetual' or 'always ongoing'. We then get a phrase translated 'everlasting life' or 'eternal life'. This is the phrase used in the famous verse, John 3v16, for example. Permanence and quality of life are signified. The phrase zoe aioneos occurs about 47 times in the New Testament, most often in John's writings.

The exact interpretation of the phrase 'eternal', as found in the Bible, is subject to some debate amongst scholars. Interestingly, Strong's Concordance says aioneos indicates a past, present and future continuity of times. 'Eternal' has the sense of infinite times past as well as present and future. When we say God has no beginning and no end, we are attributing this kind of life to Him. And, when it is present in others, He is always the source of it. It is granted at His discretion. He has already granted bios and psuche to everyone born into this world. New Testament zoe aioneos, is only for born again believers. 

The full nature of eternal life, as it concerns time, remains, frankly, a mystery for now. It is usually held to be either the the continuation of time forever, or possibly the absence of time. Whatever the best definition, and we are looking through a glass dimly here, as we are trying to understand with our mortal mind God's very own realm of existence. All scholars agree it is a realm that has always been. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. God's name, according to Exodus 3v14, is I AM. He is present in all our times. We, in our mortal selves, are present only in one instant.

When we become believers, we cross over into this zoe aioneos. It is perpetual, it is not subject to birth or death, although we are born again into it from our natural life. 

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

John 5:24

'Life' here is, again, zoe, and 'eternal life' is zoe aioneos. But notice what Jesus says. He's saying 'he who truly hears and believes has already passed from death to life'.

A few English versions (e.g. CJB, EHV) use 'crossed over' for 'passed'.

If you have passed from death to eternal life, it is very, very hard to see how you can pass back again. You have passed into a realm of permanence. I would suggest this means you simply cannot pass back out again!

For me, the only question is, 'did you really pass over?'

* This uncaused quality of God is called 'aseity' by theologians. It is possessed by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 

** Jesus very probably spoke in Aramaic most of the time; so this is the Greek word used to record what He said.

How Safe and Secure are we before God? Part 1 - Foreknowledge and Predestination; did He choose or did we?

All Christians will say there is no security outside of Christ. We all know Christ is the only way; He is the Rock, and to build without Him as Lord is to build on sand. 

However there's a continuing discussion among Christian believers about whether you can lose your salvation. It's a deadly serious issue, literally. In our minds at least.

God, as the supreme Good Parent, wants happy, secure, resilient and stable children. He also wants children who behave honourably and show real kindness to their fellow men. How does He build His virtue and substance into us? 

Some think God will threaten us with total rejection based on our lapses in behaviour.

If you think you might lose your salvation, you will at times be on tenterhooks, wondering whether God has lost his patience with you entirely. This is judging by my own experience. We normally feel like this because of our sins and failures. If you have sinned in a way which seems obvious, unacceptable or unforgivable to you, this is particularly likely to be the case. Alcohol or drug abuse, watching pornography, inappropriate angry behaviour and language, are common examples. Perhaps as a Christian you have succumbed to these or other things. You are disappointed with yourself. The devil, the accuser, is very likely also on your case. 

Has God rejected and abandoned us? Will our fellow Christians? Perhaps they know what we have done, or maybe we fear they'll find out, not knowing how they'll react, which is probably even worse. This can be a horrible place to be, a place of both shame and insecurity. It is entirely possible to live much of our Christian lives bouncing between these episodes of failure, while having a constant background fear we will fall into them again. 

The reality is we all sin continually to some degree. But the fear of rejection and abandonment by God is not necessary. God loves us into wholeness, having adopted us as His children. Within the family, He doesn't terrify us into wholeness.  By saying all this I am not condoning or encouraging sin. It's just that, particularly if we have experienced a lot of rejection, especially early in life, we are inclined to expect harsh judgments and rejection from God. God is feeling none. If we turn to Him, He's there for us, forgiving and restoring us. It is His opinion we need to be firstly concerned with. Fear of harsh rejection will only ever succeed in getting us to behave outwardly anyway. God works through love, reaching the inner motives, winning us over from the heart with His mercy. 

We need to trust Him to the extent that we truly open our hearts to Him when we are tempted, and, if necessary, when we have just fallen into sin. He will receive us in love, and handle us with gentleness and patience. If discipline comes, it is corrective and will come in a timely, considered way. There will be no sudden angry disowning.

Eternal Calling, Yes, Eternal Falling, No.

Here's one of the verses sometimes quoted by people who say we can lose our salvation.

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

2 Peter 1:10

Peter tells believers to confirm their calling as sons of God. Certainly it's good to remind and reassure yourself of this calling. It should help you live better. But in view of the following Romans verses it's hard to see how you would confirm your calling in God's eyes. You don't need to. He has already predestined you. He has already called you to glory. All because you chose Him. In the thoughts of God, this passage applies:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Romans 8:29-30

We have here a straightforward statement of God's thinking and planning toward us. There's a chain of actions, each dependant on the last, each performed by God. It would be very easy to assume we had no part at all in this process. After all, God is performing every step. It reads as a highway to heaven!

That's not quite how it is. We are completely involved in the first, crucial, step. 

The only step in the chain of God's actions where He's passive is the first one. It's a knowing, not a doing. He knows the complete picture through from Alpha to Omega, beginning to end. Already. He's eternal. In particular, He had foreknowledge about whether we chose Him. 

I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

Isaiah 46:9b-10

Let's look again at the first two verbs 'foreknew' and 'predestined'. Here's a simple illustration of the difference. Suppose I had a flatmate, and he kept a diary. He'd been very excitable recently. I knew he was always honest, and I knew he kept his word. One afternoon I came across his open diary. Curiosity got the better of me, or perhaps he had told me I was free to look in it! I saw the entry from that morning. There he had recorded his intention of proposing to his girlfriend later that evening. At that point I had foreknowledge of what he was going to do, but I certainly didn't predestine him to do it. 

God foreknew those who would come to Him. 

That foreknowledge God uses to determine what happens next. After His foreknowing a person did or will come to Him in Christ, the other four actions in Romans 8:29-30 are active actions on God's part. God is actively, continually supervising our salvation to ensure the outcome. 

Joining Him in Eternal Life

God is not constrained by time in the way we are. The verses from Romans chapter 8 quoted above read as a fait accompli, a done deal. When God has the foreknowledge that we will accept His offer of salvation, He ensures everything else follows. It is predestined. Even the glorification of the saints is done. He knows who chose Him and who rejected Him. Based on that knowledge, He predestined us to follow through on a track, a road, leading to justification, to conformity to His Son, and eventually to glorification. The last happens when we receive our eternal body and environment. He knows the end from the beginning**. 

He foreknew some would step out of the temporal realm and enter the eternal realm. This happens at the new birth; we enter the eternal realm, and so our true inner self is established forever (Ephesians 2v4-6, 2 Corinthians 5v17). 

So can our 'true self' drop back out of eternity? I don't believe so. Please read on.

* Predestination without the condition of foreknowledge leads us to the hard Calvinist theology where we have no active part in our salvation. Hard Calvinism developed a doctrine known by the acronym 'TULIP'. The 'I' represents 'irresistible grace'. God chooses us, we can't choose Him. This leaves us a robots, and leaves those not chosen as damned without recourse. However, including the foreknowledge of God in our concept of predestination resolves the dilemma.

** Yet He is also able to experience and understand human life lived within the constraints of time. This is how Jesus experienced life; the same as we do.

What is real freedom?

'...if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed'.

John 8v36

Christ and Freedom

Everything a man can have in Christ is the real article. The fresh, vibrant, complete, full, satisfying and abiding version!!

Christ came to bring us freedom. God knows what freedom really is. Man has his counterfeit; it holds false promise, we'll discuss that. But we are set free. (This blog is called flowoffreedom.blogspot because God spoke to me 20 years ago about Him using me to bring freedom. First I have to have living in me in good measure! I'm getting there).

If we have come to Christ for salvation, if we have been born again of the Spirit, we have also been set free! The freedom is an integral part of the package. With Christ, we get everything or we get nothing. You don't choose which bits you want. If you're forgiven, you get new life. If you're righteous, you are free. And so on. You'll get provision. And persecution! We get the whole bundle or nothing.

His freedom is the only true freedom there is, and it's truly wonderful.

Maybe you don't feel free. Often I don't either! But there is hope. God has promised us freedom. What does He mean? What has He actually done? How do we benefit from it?

Human Ideas on Freedom

Most people probably define 'freedom' as 'liberty to do what you want to'. 

Many people are looking for freedom. They don't feel free, and they want to.

The world contends for freedom. Freedom from rules and constraints. Freedom to be who you want to be, to do what you want to do. Anarchy is the idea that your urges are right and should not be supressed. Human freedom, if granted fully, is likely to end in anarchy. But that really won't be good.

Naturally speaking, your freedom to do as you wish will only work for you, if indeed it does work for you, and it won't for long.

My freedom might be your bondage. My freedom to buy what I want may put many factory workers in the East in bondage to long hours and low reward. It might be worse. My freedom to have intercourse when I want may result in the murder of the voiceless, helpless unborn child, a sacrifice to lifestyle preferences as freedom. The loud self-justification of those who pretend otherwise is deceitful and irrelevant in God's light.

Some think money brings freedom. South Africa has a party called The Economic Freedom Fighters. But the rich are not free. They look to money and are insecure about relationship. Everyone might be after your pile. And things do not satisfy for long. There's an illusory running after anything which purports to thrill and satisfy. Nothing is ever perfect enough or exciting enough. They are chasing delusions. No amount of wealth can bring peace, happiness, or indeed, as the Liverpool lads sang, love. It can buy a lustful encounter, but not real love. Love wants the best for the beloved, not some pleasure or status from them.

I could go on. Perhaps for some the motives and goals are higher. Perhaps the freedom fighter wants the poor liberated from exploitation, disease and squalor. Political parties and thinkers may imagine they have the keys to freedom. Che Guevara, the Argentinian-Cuban revolutionary, in an iconic image taken by Alberto Korda, looks like the essence of masculine resolve to bring real societal freedom from oppression. He has spawned millions of trendy t-shirts and caps. Yet he executed many of his opponents. He was unfaithful to his first wife. He stated that he would've provoked nuclear war and billions of deaths to destroy the imperialism he hated during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The champion of the oppressed very often becomes a ruthless oppressor. Guevara always claimed his motives were of love. This only shows self-righteousness as well as self-delusion in an ideology not of Christ. That is always the case.

Human ideas of freedom are subjective, unbalanced and misguided. They do not bring personal or societal freedom, just more strife. The problem is man himself. Man is a sinner, under the power of sin. The problem is deeper than even his emotions, his mind, his capacity for self-reform. Very often it is beyond his self-awareness. 

Guevara was a sinner. He succumbed to self-promotion, vanity, infidelity, vengeance, cruelty, ruthlessness. He was actually an oppressive tyrant. The world would not be free if he prevailed.

Jesus Christ was not a sinner. He was the only man born of woman who never sinned. He was a revolutionary characterised by genuine and prefect love. He showed no vengeance on his enemies. He died for our freedom. In his Deity, He created the World, the elements, the fundamental particles. He worked with wood from the trees he made, and probably with iron from the stars he made. He was, in dreadful irony, nailed to a cross by angry, jealous, vengeful men. He chose the death, and also took up His life later. He cried in pain, but he never cried in vengeance. He said 'Father forgive'. His death and resurrection are supremely empowering for those who understand it and partake of it. He does impart freedom, and his Kingdom will be perfect for all who come to Him.

Christ's Freedom

Christ has set us free from sin. It is sin which keeps us from experiencing real freedom. Men without Christ are under the power of sin and death. God is spring-loaded, by disposition, to love, to live, to give, to share of Himself, to the absolute maximum, to the limits. He is love. He is life. He is the resurrection. He conquered death. And he wants us to be living in this same spiritual place, actually living out of heaven. He reaches out to all mankind with these things.

He wants us to grow in wonder, in glory, in new life, in freshness, eternal freshness, eternal giving, eternal freedom. He wants to grant us a new heart, aligned with His purposes and yet leaving us fully ourselves, not suffocated or suppressed to any degree.

He has solve the freedom equation, and only He has. He want us to have this life, He doesn't need to be persuaded or nagged into this, it's His passionate desire. Sin gets in the way. Sin poisons everything to the very depths of our being. But He has provided the answer. Sin has been dealt with completely and totally. The price has been paid for all men. The answer, as always, is to believe. Accept the problem, agree with the answer. Again and again, as necessary.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 5:17

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21

So reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:11

By faith, we can truly say we have died to sin. We have moved into freedom. We are free indeed, as the opening verse quoted tells us. The word 'reckon' in Romans 6v11 just quoted is an accounting term. It means 'ascribe correctly as true', and not 'try to persuade yourself and this might work'. To reckon, here, flows from believing. God has done it. To the uttermost.

Real freedom means you feel the sunlight of God's presence within, along with the messages of love He has left even in the present fallen creation. It means you have a supernatural love for God and others. Live from this; if you return to practicing sin these feelings will die and you will struggle to find your way back. When I got born again, I first experienced the freedom and presence of God. It was the most intense and yet the most restful experience I had ever had. Totally different, totally new.

How does our freedom work in relationship, in community? Before God? How can we do what we want and it still be right and good for everyone? 

God is community. It's His idea. God the Father and Christ are one, of one essential nature. To speak of the will of one is to speak of the will of the other. The same with the Holy Spirit, He is along fully too. Jesus in his mortal flesh had to complete and perfect this association on behalf of humanity by surrendering to the Father, in Gethsemane. Even Jesus struggled with this, when faced with what lay before Him. And He came through for us. Our freedom is that important to God. His love for us is that strong. He gave His Son. His Son yielded.

How, in outworking, in community, can Christ offer real freedom, freedom for as many as would come to Him?

The New Birth brings us into a God-orchestrated harmony with Himself. The astonishing thing is that He has also brought about a complete harmony with others, who have also been made new. He is author of a new societal peace and consonance. The Old Man where unbridled and selfish passions and conflicts reign, dies with Christ. We rise new with Him. The New Man is baptised into love, and into a community of love. Christ is the rightful King.

In each of our natural selves is someone like Guevara. A self-glorifying, self-absorbed, self-justifying, self-centred soul is in there, pretending to be pure and good. That soul is inflamed. It is self-righteous and hypocritical.

It is inflamed like yeast or leaven inflames bread. The leaven of the Jewish teachers was hypocrisy, as Jesus warned in Matthew 16. They taught what they did not do, and could not do. The world does that. Leaders demand their rules be honoured, but do not comply themselves. The whole world system of thinking is like a leaven which inflames people. The leaven with the Pharisees was hypocritical self-righteousness. But our natural desires are inflamed in many ways, this being just an example. Greed is natural appetite inflamed. Parts of us are too big, but not in a good way, like an inflamed internal organ. Less functional, not more. We are all, by ourselves, jostling for attention and resource in an insecure, strife-ridden, anxious way.

This utterly corrupt, inflamed soul is not a trivial problem, and so our soul, susceptible to the yeast of this world, must die. But we die in Christ when we come to Him, expressed in Baptism. He died on our behalf. He incurred the necessary penalty for us. Because He was God and Man, He could pay the price for everyone. He paid in kind, in quality, in His humanity. He paid in quantity because He was infinite God. The old man of sin is left behind, at the Cross, and in the waters of baptism. We rise with Christ to a new life, freed from sin!

So God has fixed absolutely everything for the meek, for those who come to Him. They shall inherit earth and heaven, because only they are genuinely worthy, fitted and suitable. Because they have allowed God to orchestrate the community of the redeemed, on Earth as in Heaven, and to perfect their salvation.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Matthew 5:5

The soul, as we have said, needs to die and to be reborn. Then God is in control. He is building a Kingdom. He is including you. He is fitting you in. He is working on your life, your desires, your thoughts, your emotions. The task has been completed in heaven, in our lives on Earth there is a process involved.

Which bit of you, in the here and now, still needs to change? You have already been born again (or need to be). But your mind needs to be renewed by changed thinking. You need to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The intention of this blog is to help with that, acknowledging it is the Word of God which is the central part. If we are truly born again, we have been changed eternally into a new creature. Our body is the same though, for the remainder of the age, though God may heal and restore it. To reflect who we really are now, our minds need to function differently.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:1-2

In verse one, Paul tells us we must yield our bodies to God, to serve Him. In this life, that will require a conscious decision at times. In the age to come, it will be entirely natural. In verse two, he tells us how that is going to happen. We renew our minds, so we think how God thinks and not how this world thinks. There are profound differences. We go to the written Word, the Bible for the necessary input, and change our thinking according to the revelation and doctrine in it.

To use the crude analogy of programming an electronic device, when God programs everything there is harmony. If not, there is incompatibility, driver conflicts and suchlike.

God will not program our desires so those desires are unachievable. Neither will he do so in a manner which causes problems and frustrations for others. We may have to be patient, but He will not disappoint. God will not set our desires in a way which causes another believer to fall short or go short.

God has both abundant love, and intimate knowledge, fully encompassing the big picture. He has the means, the wisdom and the power. He will build His Kingdom how He wants it, and the citizens will be truly happy forever. Only pride keeps us locked out. Those who stubbornly resist God and stay in their prideful ways, refusing to repent and believe the Good News, will be in a disharmonious condition forever.

There is indeed no rest for the wicked, and without Christ, we are evil. Jesus didn't mince words. He told us our natural condition here:

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Matthew 7:11

There's common grace, we all do some good. Hitler was nice to his dog. But we are, without Him, evil. 

Once we are in the Kingdom, and once we have stayed the course and gone to Heaven, we will find the perfect completion of this freedom. Our desires will be our actions, our actions will be righteous. The inner conflicts will be gone, and so will the outer conflicts. We will experience the unity, joy and fulfillment the Father and Son experience.

We can taste these things now, if we walk closely with God, even in the presence of our enemies (Psalm 23).

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Galatians 5:22-24

The virtues Christ won for us come as a package deal. I said this at the start. We can't pick and choose, and stay with the program. We have to continue, surrendering more and more of our lives up and letting Him have His way. The end is rest and peace, true freedom, true joy. It won't always feel that way on the way, but it will start to manifest more and more and if we continue there will be a final consummation into the perfected Kingdom. There's really nowhere to go back to, as Peter realised.

Those who reject God, God will give over to the disharmony, the turmoil, the regret, the frustration.

Like the Father and the Son, we the redeemed will still be individuals. In fact we will have the only truly clear and solid personalities and identities among men. At the same time we will be harmonised within the community of the redeemed, constrained by love. We will do as we please, and yet it will please God and others! That is wonderful. It's life, love, peace and rest.

The Meek Rabbi who said 'I AM the Resurrection and the Life'

You can imagine a Galilee or Jerusalem headline saying something like the title. 

An evening spent with the Meek Rabbi who said 'I AM the Resurrection and the Life'.

How do we get our heads around this young Rabbi known as Jesus Christ?

What's He like? Is He humble? Gentle? Or arrogant, domineering? Well, He seemed gracious and gentle most of the time. But some of the things He said are hard to take.

I AM

John the disciple and apostle wrote down many things less noticed by the other Gospel writers. John's Gospel is the place to go for profound, deep, mysterious spiritual truths. 

In John, Jesus makes several unpredicated (i.e. 'straight off the bat') 'I AM' statements. See them with fresh eyes and they are utterly preposterous. Unless He was who He said He was of course!

And Jesus said unto them, I AM the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.                 

John 6:35

Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM.

John 8:12

Then Jesus spoke to them spoke again, saying, I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

John 8:58

I AM the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I AM the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

John 10:9-11

Jesus said unto her, I AM the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he be dead, yet he shall live: And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?

John 11:25-26

Jesus said to him, I AM the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but through me.

John 14:6

There are other 'I AM' statements in John. I've listed some which are particularly profound, they came direct from Heaven! It must've seemed perplexing. Who was this Man? Who did He think He was? The religious Jews hated Jesus, in part because of His 'I AM' statements. He was blaspheming.

Jesus was saying:

-He is the eternally satisfying food for our souls

-He had existed before Abraham, the Jewish patriarch born over 2000 years before 

-He is the one true light, allowing things to be seen as they really are

-He is the unique good shepherd, the one spoken of by David in Psalm 23.

-He is the door into the Kingdom of God

-He is Resurrection and Life. He was and is the very essence of eternal, resurrected life beyond this mortal life.

-He is the only way to God the Father, Creator of all. 

Each 'I AM' in the verses above in written in the original Greek texts as 'ego eimi'. (This was he language of formal recording, Jesus may have actually spoken Aramaic).

God introduced himself to Moses as 'I AM who I AM'. In Hebrew, Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh.* 

A rigorous Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament was made about 250 years before Christ. Known as the Septuagint, and commissioned by Ptolemy II, it was very likely known to the Jewish priesthood in Jerusalem in the time of Christ. The Septuagint scholars also used the Greek, 'ego eimi', for God's self-disclosure to Moses. So 'ego eimi' is used in all the John quotes above and also for the 'I AM', in Exodus 3v14.**

From this we can see that Jesus made outrageous statements about Himself, with very clear implications. He made unpredicated 'I AM'  statements using the same words God introduced Himself to Moses with!

The Meek One

Was Jesus puffed up with self-importance?

Come to me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30

Jesus was gentle and compassionate, He was meek, humble. We are to be like Him.

..whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

1 John 2:6

So meekness is not grovelling. It is not low self-esteem. It is not self-loathing. But it is gentle, compassionate, understanding.

Jesus carried His Divinity in an unpretentious, straightforward, rested manner. He was devoid of pomposity and pretence. He was not 'full of Himself'.

Who We Are

Why say this? Jesus and the apostles make some very high statements about us; believers in and followers of Christ; those who are Born Again. I intend to look at some of them soon. First it's worth saying some are uncomfortable about making these declarations about themselves. But God has extended His family and His nature to include us. The virtue certainly did not come from within ourselves alone. 

It is tempting to try and sound 'humble' as a Christian. However, humility is simply a straightforward and accurate view of yourself. As someone said, it is not humility to say you are useless at Chess when you know full well you are brilliant at it. That is either low humour or setting up a cruel ambush.

We can have a very high view of ourselves, and yet be completely free of the charge of arrogance before God. (Man may still accuse us of arrogance!) Why? Because it is all about Christ in us! 

*    From this statement, theologians have derived the term 'aseity'. This is an attribute of the God who has an uncaused existence. He requires no justification, and has no derivation. He is not created.
God has inherent permanent indestructible existence. To attempt to evaluate Him from inside the Creation is futile, unless He chooses when and how to reveal Himself. He has. It is just that He has chosen how. He has done so supremely in Christ. Science by contrast attempts to evaluate God with an inadequate tool; human knowledge and reason). 
**     To be thorough, the Greek Septuagint uses 'I AM' only once in the translation of I AM who I AM, which it renders ‘ego eimi ho on’. The reason is not clear, it is an interpretative rendering. It is used again for the second part of the verse, where God tells Moses to say 'I AM' has sent you.

The language Jesus actually spoke in was probably Aramaic, Koine Greek was used by the writers.

Kosher Laws for Meat --Part 3 ---Chewing the Cud

More on Leviticus 11v3. We have already discussed how the Old Testament Law contains 'types', illustrations intended to show us something about Christ. We have looked at a possible allegory about the Godhead symbolised by the cloven hoof. These illustrations are subjective and personal; use them as far as they make sense to you in the view of the full New Testament revelation.

Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat.

Leviticus 11:3

Last time I talked about the imagery of the cloven foot. Now for chewing the cud.

An animal which chews the cud normally feeds on grass or other vegetation. It then swallows it, and part-digests it. It is brought up to chew again, often multiple times. Why? To complete digestion and extract all the nutrient. 

The food is very specific, usually grass. The animal chews it over repeatedly, over a period of time, until it has extracted all the goodness.

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.

Psalms 119:9

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.*

Psalm 1:1-2

The Word of God is a very specific food, a singular input into out psyche, our being. Just like an animal eating only grass. It enters through the 'eye gate', not the mouth. The mouth can then be used to consolidate the Word within us, as we read it out loud.

The entire Word is uniquely God-breathed. It needs repeated reading, combined with meditation. We need to 'ruminate' on it, day and night. We are in a hostile climate, and increasingly so. We need to nourish our souls with real food.

A pig on the other hand is an animal which does not chew the cud. It is not Kosher**. 

The famously-blunt healing evangelist Smith Wigglesworth is recorded as having opened a minister's lunch centred around a hog roast with this prayer:

'Lord, if you can bless what you have cursed, then bless this stinking pig'.

Presumably the ministers were a little uncertain about how to proceed. Correct theology would've resolved the conundrum.

A pig itself will eat just about anything, and gulp it back pretty quickly.

The world offers many forms of reading and audio-visual entertainment. They often offer instant gratification. They are designed to look and sound instantly appealing, to grab our attention. They are easily digested, but not really worthy of prolonged or repeated attention. They do not nourish the deeper parts of the soul, and they may also poison it. The wicked feed from these things, and behave in line with them.

Paul instructs

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:2

Our minds are transformed by washing with the Word, the Bible. 

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.

Ephesians 5:25-27

Notes:

*The Law was the Word of God in Levitical times. It is still valuable to meditate on it: that is what I'm doing here. It does need to be seen in the light of the New Testament and of the remainder of the Old Testament. We need to assimilate it into our worldview, but we need to understand the context of of it.
**In the current age, the Church age, we are not forbidden from eating its meat.
We are not under the curse of the Law anyway.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
Galatians 3:13
The curse of the Law is recorded in Deuteronomy chapter 27, starting in verse 9, and on into chapter 28. The Israelites cursed themselves if they broke the Law of Moses.

 

Kosher Laws for Meat --Part 2 ---A Meditation on a Cloven Hoof

 Back to Leviticus. Bear with me.

-Whatever (animal) parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat.

Leviticus 11:3

In Part One I examined why God gave this demanding set of laws to the Israelites, the rules from the Pentateuch, Exodus onward.

Some people have said they are perfectly reasonable. Well God is a Holy God and we can't usefully argue. But seen as a whole I do think they are very difficult indeed to keep and quite burdensome. These meat laws are some of the easier ones. I like Kosher animals best to eat anyway.

Jesus spoke to the Galileans

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28

The Law leaves you weary and heavy laden. It is an exponentially increased version of the cares of this life! Not only must you handle the cares of the world, like everyone else, you must strive to stay in God's good books too!

So Jesus told us to come to Him. He's fulfilled the Law for us, nailing the rules and charges against us to the cross!

(God made us alive with Christ) by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Colossians 2:14

Anyway, why the cloven hoof command?

First, we need to see that the Law is a pointer to Christ. In theological language, it contains 'types', shadows and analogies to truths whose substance lies elsewhere. The truths are the 'antitype', the reality. That reality is Christ.

Now as a Christian, Paul, the once super-orthodox religious Jew, writes about Laws and religious observances.

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Colossians 2:16-17

This dietary law, like all similar laws, is a shadow pointing to Christ. The Jews were in a holding pattern waiting for the Christ. The Law served to gather them and keep them as a people until that time. After the time of the Gentiles, I believe it will do so again, this time with the goal of getting them to acknowledge the One they have rejected.

A cloven hoof is made of one piece of Keratin. But it bifurcates into two 'toes', which contact the Earth. 

The Father and the Son are of one substance. Jesus clearly stated

I and the Father are one

John 10:30

Yet the Son manifested for a time in a mortal body. He was here for about 30 years about 2000 years ago.

The Son existed in Highest Heaven before the incarnation.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

John 1:1-2

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

SO John 1v1 tells us that Jesus Christ the Messiah was with God in the beginning, and that He was God. In other words, he was both separate and of the exact same essence. 

Have a think about the cloven hoof. Two toes, one block of matter. Do I know exactly what God had in mind here? A safe diet? Maybe, in part. I only know what it is saying to me right now!

The Godhead is three, and the Holy Spirit is a servant, and also a person. The Father and the Son show us a cleaving in the Godhead. The aim is to include humanity in the family of God. The consummation of the cleaving is seen on the Cross.

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Mark 15:34

The Father and the Son were willing to be torn into abandonment on the one hand and grief on the other. God did not shelter Himself from the extremity of emotion here.

Jesus was not cool, calm and collected in Gethsemane either, anticipating the Cross.

He returned to prayer three times when yielding to the Father about what awaited in a few hours. He was strengthened by an angel, Luke tells us, and yet he was strengthened so He could return to prayer yet more earnestly.

And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Luke 22:44

At some point shortly thereafter, the matter was settled, and Jesus told the disciples, who had fallen asleep, to move on with Him. Jesus was at prayer for some time here. Then came arrest, sham trial and crucifixion.

And of course, there was resurrection !

The cleft was made so we could be included in the cleft.

 

Consider Moses. He asked to see the Glory of God. What is the Glory of God? It is first and foremost the character of God. It is Love. Not the sentimental, emotion-dependant, temporary sort. The real thing.

And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.

Exodus 33:21-22

Moses saw God from within the cleft.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

Ephesians 1:13-14 (NIV)

The word 'included' is not there, strictly, but it does spell out the implications of the passage. We are incorporated into Christ, we are at one with Him just as He is at One with the Father!

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility

Ephesians 2:13-14 (ESV)

We  have been made one with Him. Who? With Christ. And therefore with the Father and the Holy Spirit!

Check a few translations in case you think I'm being selective. 'Both one' is 'amphoteros heis'. It means 'both one'.

We are joined. We are of the same substance. Amazing! Hard to take in, and presently impossible to see the full implications of this!

We have not been joined only, like a joint in a piece of furniture. However good the joint, there are two pieces. We have been made one. With God, with Christ. With the Holy Spirit.

In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

John 14:20

At John 10v30, Jesus said He was one with the Father. In this verse He extends the relationship to the disciples!

The unity has been described as the same sort of inextricable oneness which happens when you peel a pile of potatoes and mash them together thoroughly. You can no longer tell which was which.

Now Jesus was God and Man, Spirit and mortal flesh. So we cannot say there is no separation. There is a very definite individuality about the Father, the Son, about the Spirit, and about us. But the inner essence of who we are is of the same.

Hebrews chapter one concentrates on the deity of Christ. Chapter two focuses on His humanity. 

For both He that sanctifies and they who are being sanctified are all of one: for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren

Hebrews 2:11 (NKJV)

So we can see the essence of the unity in the family of God, and of the completely committed covenant relationship we have when we are Born Again of the Spirit into that family.

Once that amalgamation has occurred, no separation is possible. If a man tastes of the things of God, he can walk away. But once he has been born of the Spirit, he has entered into the eternal realm. The eternal realm is, obviously enough, eternal. It doesn't change. Its inhabitants are permanent citizens.

We are one and yet we are separate, just as the Trinity is One. We will never be the Father, and we will never be the Saviour. But we are in Him, completely and totally. We are of the same eternal essence.

So we see that God is ultimately looking, not for our moral performance, but for Himself in us. Only Himself in us will perform morally to His requirements! We have that treasure in mortal bodies, in Jars of Clay. It often takes a while for the treasure to shine through!