Category Archives: Bible Study

AND THE WOMAN?…

Bible Study, ,

John 8:3-11 NLT
[3] “As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. [4] “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. [5] The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” [6] They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. [7] They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” [8] Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. [9] When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. [10] Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” [11] “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” ———-

I think that this is one of the most powerful and beautiful stories in the New Testament. Despite the fact that it was not in the original Greek text, God designed it to be a part of His written Word.

This story speaks volumes about many things, an intricately woven tapestry of truth about God and people.

Picture the scene. A group of men, scribes and Pharisees, all clad in their ceremonial robes, complete with prayer shawls adorned with extra-long tassels, all dedicated to the study and practice of their religion, representatives of the God they claimed to worship…. triumphantly dragging a half-naked, guilty woman into the public eye. They dumped her down before Jesus for a verdict. (Was one of them wearing his robes over his street clothes…the man she was with in her sin…?)

For them, this was not a case for judgment to rid society of an evil doer. This was a test to snare Jesus into making a wrong judgment. These men might get her stoned but better still, they might get Jesus to act out of character for the sake of the Law they so vehemently defended. Then they could deal with Him legitimately according to God’s law.

Their challenge was noisy, demanding and insistent. “Come on, Jesus! What do you say!” (Implied…you say you have authority. What does your authority say? Your word or the Law of Moses?)

Jesus said nothing. His silence spoke volumes. Was He confused, undecided, wondering how to answer them? No, not at all!

They knew that He came down heavily on the side of compassion. What would He do in the face of so blatant an infringement of the Law ?

These men forgot or ignored one thing…Jesus was God’s Word incarnate, the Word of God in flesh and blood. So, the most natural thing for Him to do was to BE the word to them.

So, He bent down and wrote in the dust…

Jeremiah 17:13 NIV
[13] “Lord, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be WRITTEN IN THE DUST because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.”

In the context of the story (John 7:37-38), Jesus had just offered “living water” to thirsty people, which the religious leaders had rejected. Instead, they sent soldiers to arrest Him.

They waited impatiently while He carefully traced His words in the dust. Then they melted away….

What caused these “witnesses” to slink away in shame and humiliation when Jesus wrote in the dust? What did He write? Their names! JESUS KNEW THEIR NAMES!

Case dismissed! Gone, the witnesses; gone, the accusers; gone, the trial! Jesus was free to forgive, and send her on her way clean, to start again.

These wily, conniving religious hypocrites could not dodge the truth. Jesus, was who He said He was, God Himself, the Son of God, boref deep into their rotten souls and called their bluff!

And the guilty sinner?…

Forgiven, set free from the guilt of her sin, sent home to begin again!

What was in the mind of woman, now a solitary figure lying in the dust at Jesus’ feet?

Never was she so close to death.
Never was she so close to forgiveness.
Never was she so close to a new life.
Never was she so close to real holiness.
Never was she so close to God.

Everything changed that day for her.

She came out filthy, exposed, and guilty… She went home forgiven, cleansed, and free.

As for her accusers, nothing changed!

GOT QUESTIONS?

Bible Study, ,

Did you know that God Ioves to answer our questions? Don’t be shy to ask Him. However, don’t be surprised if He does not answer you in the way you think He will. He doesn’t always respond the way we anticipate.

Take Job, for example. Job’s many questions, after the catastrophic loss of everything except his life, centred on two dilemmas; “Where are you, God!” and “Why did you do this to me?”

His many arguments, protesting his innocence before men and God, got him nowhere. His friends insisted on his guilt and God said nothing until…finally…Job ran out of steam.

Job 31:35-40 NLT
[35] “If only someone would listen to me! Look, I will sign my name to my defense. Let the Almighty answer me. Let my accuser write out the charges against me. [36] I would face the accusation proudly. I would wear it like a crown. [37] For I would tell him exactly what I have done. I would come before him like a prince. [38] “If my land accuses me and all its furrows cry out together, [39] or if I have stolen its crops or murdered its owners, [40] then let thistles grow on that land instead of wheat, and weeds instead of barley.” Job’s words are ended.

Then God spoke, finally, when Job had nothing more to say, violently, from out of a whirlwind, but He did not answer Job’s questions. His response was, in a nutshell, …”I’m not obliged to answer your questions or explain my ways, but you are obliged to trust me!”

Why did God not respond to Job’s desperate need to know what God was doing? Job knew nothing of the wager between God and Satan. Had God told him what lay behind his terrible suffering, He would have ruined Job’s greatest lesson in life…faith in God, no matter what!

What do we learn from Job? We may never know why bad things happen to us. However, our trust in God is based securely on who He is, regardless of whether He answers our questions or not.

Let’s turn to another, “Where are you, God? What are you doing?” situation in the life of one of God’s great Old Covenant prophets, Elijah!

Elijah prophesied during the reign of Ahab, one of Israel’s many apostate kings. In response to Israel’s idolatry, a drought ravaged the country for more than three years. God hid Elijah from Ahab’s wrath until He finally sent him to confront the king with his sin. Ahab refused to listen… so, to demonstrate who is really God, Baal or the God of Israel…

Elijah called the prophets of Baal to an impossible challenge on Mount Cartmel, make a sacrifice without fire. Baal’s prophets could not induce their god to send fire on their sacrifice… but God did, in the most spectacular way…on Elijah’s bull, burning sacrifice and altar, and the ground around it, drenched with water, to ashes!

This victory gave Elijah the go-ahead to order the extirmination of all Baal’s prophets, enraging Queen Jezebel, the real power behind the throne. She vowed to kill Elijah, sending him on a frantic, forty-day journey all the way to Mount Sinai in Arabia to escape her murderous intention.

Elijah was devastated and disillusioned by the outcome. He fell into deep depression. Why had God not orchestrated a great revival in Israel? Had He not shown His great power to His people?

Instead, Elijah felt abandoned, alone, helpless, a single prophet against the tide of the unbelief and apostasy of his people. Better he die in the desert than face an angry queen.

Did God respond to Elijah’s unspoken question…”Why, God?” Yes, He did! How did He answer? Unlike His violent response to Job, God first demonstrated to Elijah that His real power did not lie in catastrophic natural phenomena like earthquake, wind, and fire. It was not the supernatural fire that fell on the altar that would change His people. Something else would need to effect the change He repeatedly promised through the centuries.

1 Kings 19:11-12 NLT
[11] “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. [12] And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper.”

God spoke gently to His disillusioned prophet. He whispered comfort and reassurance. “You are not alone, Elijah…”

1 Kings 19:18 NLT
[18] “Yet I will preserve 7,000 others in Israel who have never bowed down to Baal or kissed him!”

Elijah had to learn that he was a player in God’s unfolding plan of redemption. For Elijah, he was part of the “not yet”, but he still had a task to do for the Lord in this plan.

So, God reassured him that His purpose was on track. Elijah’s role was to do what God told him to do in the confidence that all would be accomplished in God’s time and in God’s way. Elijah’s obedience reveals his eventual trust in God’s purposes although he would not live to see the end result.

What do we learn from Elijah’s dilemma?

Once again God doesn’t always give straightforward answers. He does not owe us explanations or reveal the future, although we often discover reasons and meaning long after the event. Whatever His answer, or lack of response, He is painting on a bigger canvas, writing a bigger story than we can ever imagine. Our task is to do our bit faithfully, to carry out our calling, however big or small it may seem, because it is a vital part of what God is doing.

Our question should not be “Why?” but “What?” What do you want me to do…to be, to fulfill my part in your big story?

Our third question comes from the lips of another of God’s prophets. Habakkuk also questioned God, this time not “What are you doing?” but, “Why aren’t you doing anything?”

Habakkuk 1:2 NLT
[2] “How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save.”

To Habakkuk, it seemed that God was indifferent to the terrible things happening in his country.

Habakkuk 1:3-4 NLT
[3] “Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. [4] The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted.”

God appeared unfazed by the wickedness of His people, unmoved by the injustice and cruelty happening in His land. Why did He not intervene with some sort of action?

God responded to Habakkuk’s question with an answer so horrifying that it shocked him.

Habakkuk 1:6-7, 11 NLT
[6] “I am raising up the Babylonians, a cruel and violent people. They will march across the world and conquer other lands. [7] They are notorious for their cruelty and do whatever they like… “

God takes responsibility for calling this wicked nation into being. He gives Habakkuk a detailed description of their power to harm and destroy but…

He also holds them accountable for what they do!

[11] “They sweep past like the wind are gone. But they are deeply guilty, for their own strength is their god.”

Habukkuk protests at God’s strategy. This is not what He expected from a holy God.

“But, why, God? How can you do this, using such a vicious people to punish your own nation? What kind of justice is that!”

Habakkuk 1:12-17 NLT
[12] “O Lord my God, my Holy One, you who are eternal— surely you do not plan to wipe us out? O Lord, our Rock, you have sent these Babylonians to correct us, to punish us for our many sins. [13] But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil. Will you wink at their treachery? Should you be silent while the wicked swallow up people more righteous than they? [14] Are we only fish to be caught and killed? Are we only sea creatures that have no leader? [15] Must we be strung up on their hooks and caught in their nets while they rejoice and celebrate? [16] Then they will worship their nets and burn incense in front of them. “These nets are the gods who have made us rich!” they will claim. [17] Will you let them get away with this forever? Will they succeed forever in their heartless conquests?”

This prophet had to learn an important lesson.

Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT
[8] “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. [9] For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

God is not interested in superficial solutions to deep-seated problems. He cannot impose on people right living when their hearts are rotten. He must do a thorough work on the inside to effect change in behaviour and attitude. He must change the way they think before He can work grace in their hearts and lives.

What better way to change hearts than to plunge them into the kind of suffering that would teach them to re-evaluate their allegiance to the demons they worshipped by their idolatry! Let them taste life in a nation given to idol worship. His people treated one another by the dictates of their man-made idols. They were cruel and unfeeling in their wickedness. Now let it be done to them, living in a land without God.

Habakkuk 2:4 NLT
[4] “Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.”

Can you see where God is going? “Habakkuk, you must realise that God is concerned with the individual.” Yes, the nation of Israel is guilty, yes, the Babylonians are guilty, but every righteous person lives by faith in God and confirms that righteousness by faithfulness to God.”

This principle reappears in the New Covenant as God’s only acceptable way to live in fellowship with Him.

Only when God’s people realise that they can never attain true rigteousness by self-effort will they learn to trust in God for His mercy. Hard experience was to only way to change their thinking.

How Habakkuk celebrated his new-found understanding of God’s ways! Tremble he would at the severity of God’s solution, but beyond the suffering lay the hope of a people changed, with new hearts and new ways, eventually.

After their captivity in Babylon, God promised…

Ezekiel 36:25-27 NLT
[25] “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. [26] And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. [27] And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.”

Habakkuk would wait in hope and faith for the fulfilment of God’s promise, even if he never saw it in his lifetime. He would be the one to trust in God regardless of his circumstances.

Habakkuk 3:16-19 NLT
[16] “I trembled inside when I heard this; my lips quivered with fear. My legs gave way beneath me, and I shook in terror. I will wait quietly for the coming day when disaster will strike the people who invade us. [17] Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, [18] yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! [19] The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.”

What can we learn from God’s answer to Habakkuk’s question?

  1. God doesn’t answer the way we think. Although God’s answer shocked Habakkuk, He did answer the prophet with an extended explanation which clarified his understanding of God’s apparent inactivity.
  2. Once again, God is painting on a bigger canvas than we can see.
  3. God requires us to walk by faith in Him, even if bad stuff is happening. He knows what He is doing but we must trust Him without knowing.
  4. Despite our suffering, He provides grace to persevere because His outcome is good.
  5. No matter who is responsible for our suffering, God holds them accountable and He will judge them justly.

Got questions? Ask Him! He will answer you in His time, His way, exactly according to what you need.

RELATIONSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP

Bible Study, ,

There seems to be confusion, in our understanding of the Christian life, between relationship and fellowship. What do I mean?

How many families on earth have many members in a family relationship, husbands and wives, parents and children, siblings and siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins, etc., and yet they have little or no heart connection with one another. They have relationships but no fellowship. They live together but don’t communicate. They speak but don’t listen.

Once a couple has married, they are legally bound together in a relationship no matter what happens in their home. Children born of that marriage are sons and daughters and can never be “un-born”, no matter how they behave. Even if they no longer live together for whatever reason, they remain in a family relationship. They are always children of their biological parents.

However, fellowship between family members is different. Fellowship means that they are mentally and emotionally connected. They do life together. They share common experiences, interests, and goals. They have empathy and concern for one another. They function as a unit. They quickly correct what goes wrong to keep peace and harmony in the family. Most of all, they respect the order of authority and submission that maintains the function of those who belong to each other.

So it is with people and God. We are assured of a relationship with Him when we believe in Jesus. He receives us into His family permanently, and changes our status from slave to son. The Bible calls this miraculous transformation “adoption”.

Ephesians 1:4-5 NLT
[4] “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. [5] God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”

God planned our adoption in eternity and made it happen through Jesus who reconciled us to the Father through His death. The Holy Spirit in us confirms our status as sons by His inner witness.

Romans 8:15-16 NLT
[15] “So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” [16] For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.”

Does this mean that we can never be “unborn”? In the spiritual sense, I think so.

However, just as it is in a human family, relationship does not mean or guarantee fellowship. Relationship is established once-for-all and is permanent. Fellowship must be maintained by day-by-day attention to the attitudes and behaviour that govern our fellowship.

In John’s first letter, he helps us understand what promotes, and holds fellowship together.

1 John 1:1-3, 5-7 NLT
[1] “We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. [2] This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. [3] We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ….
[5] This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. [6] So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. [7] But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.”

Let’s examine, step by step, what John says about fellowship.

To have fellowship with the Father and with His children is a process, beginning in eternity and unfolding in time for every individual who enters this unseen realm by faith.

First, fellowship with God and with one another in God’s family has a beginning in time in the new birth, based on the solid foundation of truth. We can only have fellowship with each other if our relationship is based on common faith in what God has done for us.

John assures his readers that he, (with his fellow disciples, obviously), had personal experience of Jesus who was a real flesh-and-blood human with whom they lived for several years. They saw Him die and rise again. Their faith in Him was based on solid evidence.

Their common faith, then, had a strong foundation on reliable fact. From that fact, they experienced the spiritual reality of new birth, and received new hearts that enabled them to have new relationships with one another.

All believers are now brothers and sisters in God’s eternal family. Human divisions and distinctions fall away and a new species has come into being. We are a new creation and all one in Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:16-17 NLT
[16] “So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! [17] This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

Galatians 3:26-29 NLT
[26]” For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. [27] And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. [28] There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.”

It is this new relationship in God’s family with the common bond of faith in Jesus, love for one another, and common interest in God’s kingdom that constitutes the common life we share in God’s kingdom.

This relationship of family members in God’s family gives each member an opportunity and a responsibility to cultivate fellowship on a deeper level than in an average human family. Membership in God’s family adds a dimension not necessessarily present in a human family, that of relationship with God the Father and the Son, cultivated and maintained through the Holy Spirit in them.

Since we have the foundation, a new life based on truth and held together by God’s love working in and through us, we now have the reason and opportunity for true fellowship. Through God’s power working in us, He has set up this fellowship which is now up to us to maintain throughout our lives.

How do we maintain this fellowship?

John gives us two simple criteria for maintaining fellowship with the Father and with one another.

1 John 1:5-9 NLT
[5] “This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. [6] So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. [7] But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. [8] If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. [9] But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

Our fellowship with one another depends on our fellowship with God, the Trinity which we maintain by “living in the light”. What does living or walking in the light mean? Since God’s Word is …

Psalms 119:105 NLT
[105]”…a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”

We live in the light by adhering to the requirements of the New Covenant. Again, it’s John who clarifies these requirements (which summarise and replace all 613 laws of the Old Covenant).

1 John 3:23-24 NLT
[23] “And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. [24] Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.”

Do you get it?

Fellowship with the Father is the foundation of our fellowship with one another. To maintain this fellowship, walking in the light with God must extend to walking in the light with one another. This kind of life demands all the grace God provides for living in a loving relationship of caring and sharing without hidden motives and dishonest attitudes which is initiated and maintained as we obey the Holy Spirit in us.

So, Paul counsels…

Colossians 3:5-15 NLT
[5] “Put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. [6] Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. [7] You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. [8] But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. [9] Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. [10] Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. [11] In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. [12] Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. [13] Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. [14] Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. [15] And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.”

In the atmosphere of transparency, genuine love functions in harmony, togetherness flourishes, and fellowship happens.

God’s goal for His children is to cultivate this fellowship, flowing from love and unity, in the body of Christ, because this is the witness to the truth of Jesus’ life and death that is the power of the gospel.

John 13:35 NLT
[35] “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

John 17:22-23 NLT
[22] “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. [23] I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.”

So, fellowship is the fruit of our relationship with God, and relationship as His sons and daughters in His forever family, the root of our fellowship with God and one another.

GLIMPSES OF PAUL – 12

Bible Study, ,

PAUL – CHAMPION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Paul was passionate about righteousness. In his pre-faith days, he was obsessed with his own righteousness. The harder he tried to be righteous, and in his own eyes he was righteous, the more he failed.

After he came to faith in Jesus, the real struggle began. Romans 7 is part of Paul’s autobiography in a nutshell. His life became an unfolding saga of miserable failure…and, finally, the glorious realisation of a righteousness freely given to him, not his own, and real and lasting victory.

Romans 7:14-18, 22-24 NIV
[14] “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. [15] I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. [16] And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. [17] As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. [18] For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out…
[22] For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; [23] but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. [24] What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?”

The power of sin, aroused by the law that said, “Don’t!”, was so strong in him that it pinned him down and kept him helpless in his fight to be righteous.

Only one thing could rescue him from this pitiful slavery to himself…death. To his great relief, he discovered that it was the death of Jesus, in his place, that saved him from his own eternal death.

Romans 7:24-25 NIV
[24] “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? [25] Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Paul finally realised that Jesus’ death on the cross was not only a fact of history, but also a power at work in his own life. Jesus’ life and death were perfectly righteous, fully in line with the will of God in every detail. He was qualified, therefore, to credit His own righteousness to every believer who acknowledges guilt and receives the grace of forgiveness, cleansing, and a new life.

Romans 5:6-8 NIV
[6] “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. [7] Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. [8] But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Paul believed he had every reason to be confident in his own righteousness…until he saw himself as God saw him. “Filthy rags” was the best he could think of himself.

Philippians 3:5-6 NLT
[5] “I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. [6] I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.”

Once Paul had grasped this truth by faith, he abandoned his own efforts to be righteous and gratefully received God’s gift of Christ’s righteousness which covered everything he was, and gave him acceptance with God.

Philippians 3:7-9 NLT
[7] “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. [8] Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ [9] and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.”

The righteousness of Jesus, freely credited to Paul, gave him the motive and the energy to live it out in his everyday life. The old Paul was dead! Dead people don’t sin. Paul was a new person, made alive to God and His power in him. He was now dead in a different sense, dead to the old person he was, now in union with Jesus, and alive to God. So, he was no longer obliged to heed the demands of his old self.

Ephesians 2:1, 4-6 NLT
[1] “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins…
[4] But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, [5] that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) [6] For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.”

Before Paul could pass on these truths as a prescription for life, he had to hammer them out in his own experience. So, his theology was a tried and tested way of life.

Romans 5:17 NLT
[17]”For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”

This gift of Jesus’ righteousness attributed to us is one side of the coin. The other side is our response. What is the use of Jesus’ perfect righteousness covering us when we are still living sinful lives by giving in to fleshly desires?

Paul insisted, therefore, that we live our lives in obedience to Jesus to match our righteousness in Him. How do we do that? By considering ourselves dead to sin and alive to God.

Romans 6:5-11 NLT
[5] “Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. [6] We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. [7] For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. [8] And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. [9] We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. [10] When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. [11] So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.”

Once again, the solution begins in the mind and is worked out in experience as we trust God’s Word. He will do what He promised when we act on His Word by faith.

However, what follows, in English, is a misunderstanding and misttamslation of one little Grtek word…

Philippians 3:10-11 NLT
[10]”I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, [11] so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!”

…Unfortunately, this translation, and many others, miss the point of Paul’s testimony. In context, Paul is not expressing his desire to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. He is stating the truth that the way to know Christ’s power at work in him….is BY FAITH.

Paul’s entire explanation of his new standing and relationship with Jesus rests on the Greek word, “hina”…

“Strong’s g2443

  • Lexical: ἵνα
  • Transliteration: hina
  • Part of Speech: Conjunction
  • Phonetic Spelling: hin’-ah
  • Definition: in order that, that, so that.
  • Origin: Probably from the same as the former part of heautou (through the demonstrative idea; compare ho); in order that (denoting the purpose or the result).
  • Usage: albeit, because, to the intent (that), lest, so as, (so) that, (for) to. Compare hina me.
  • Translated as (count): that (390), so that (262), in order that (11), so (2), – (1), in order (1), in that (1), that it (1), Thus (1), when (1).”

His righteous standing before God has a purpose,” hina”, so that he, Paul could know Jesus and experience His resurrection power. And he did!

If Paul were expressing a desire to know Jesus and His resurrection power, he would be contradicting the context of his conviction that he was righteous by faith. It was his righteous standing before God that gave him personal knowledge of Jesus and His resurrection power. Otherwise, how could he write, to the Ephesian Church?…

Ephesians 1:15-23 NLT
[15] “Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, [16] I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, [17] asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might GROW IN YOUR KNOWLEDGE of God. [18] I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. [19] I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power [20] that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. [21] Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. [22] God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. [23] And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.”

Why would Paul express a longing for what he already knew, by faith?

This mistranslation also contradicts Jesus’ own words in His high-priestly prayer.

John 17:3 NLT
[3]”And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.”

For Paul, then, it was a win-win situation. Since he was righteous through faith in Jesus, he knew Him and therefore had eternal life. Since he knew Jesus, he could experience His resurrection power that gave him victory over sin and death which confirmed his righteous standing before God, and by so doing, He would know Him better.

Righteousness, then, living out our faith in Jesus by doing what pleases Him, hinges on our righteous standing before God which is His gift of grace to us when we believed in Jesus. We have a standing in grace that enables us to live righteously.

Romans 5:1-2 NIV
[1] “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, [2] through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”

A standing in grace! What can be better than that, a guarantee that, because we ARE righteous through Christ, we can BE righteous by faith in Him!

GLIMPSES OF PAUL – 10

Bible Study, ,

PAUL – JOINED AT THE HIP

If I were to choose the lesson that had the profoundest influence on Paul’s life, what would it be?

We have Paul’s answer dotted throughout his letters, but summed up in one short sentence.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NIV
[14] “FOR CHRIST’S LOVE COMPELS US, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. [15] And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”

The context suggests that Paul, speaking of himself, was using the royal “we”, referring to himself and his ministry as “we”.

Paul was not motivated by theology or religion. His only passion was Jesus. The change in his life from hater and persecutor of God’s people to the inner peace he enjoyed, the love and fellowship he shared with people of many colours and cultures all over the known world, had no other explanation apart from Jesus.

Who Jesus was and what He had done had such a profound influence on Paul’s life that Jesus was everything his heart had ever craved. Paul, at heart, loved God, even when his love was misguided and misdirected in his youth. He was passionate enough, then, to protect what he believed in, even if his passion led to murder.

It took one face-to-face encounter with Jesus to redirect his passion forever.

Was it Paul’s love for Jesus that compelled him to face rejection, hatred, persecution, and dangers of every kind? No! It was, Jesus’ love for him, and for all mankind, that compelled him to persevere in his mission to the end of his days.

Paul had drunk so deeply of the love of Jesus that he was compelled to share it with all, whether they heard him or not. He discharged his duty with such joyful passion that, rejected by some, he simply went on to others.

He gave away the love of Jesus with every word he spoke, with every stroke of his pen, and with every prayer he prayed. The gospel he proclaimed had a pulsating heartbeat that gave it life… God’s love expressed through Jesus.

Romans 5:8 NIV
[8] “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

God’s love, revealed to us through Jesus Christ, goes back in time to time’s beginning in the mind of God.

Ephesians 1:4-6 NIV
[4] “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love [5] he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— [6] to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”

God’s love came to earth in the person of His Son to embrace us in our miserable state and to transform us into holy and beloved children of God.

Ephesians 2:4-7 NIV
[4]”But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, [5] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. [6] And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, [7] in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”

This love took all our debt upon Himself to free us to love Him, and to receive from Him all the blessings and benefits of divine love.

Romans 8:32 NIV
[32]” He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

If this love that has gone so far for us, is challenged, will it fail when the crunch comes?

Romans 8:35, 37-39 NIV
[35] “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
[37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, [39] neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Speaking of his experience of human love, imperfect as it is, Solomon wrote…

Song of Songs 8:6-7 NIV
[6]”Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. [7] Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned.”

What then of perfect love, God’s love, revealed to us through Jesus?

Paul assures us that we and God’s love are inseparable. No matter what happens or how bad things get, God will not let go of us. He’s working…in all things…for our good…even if our circumstances, and the devil, deny the truth.

So, Paul’s passion, so exquisitely expressed in prayer, is the sum of his heart’s desire for all God’s people. Every other desire expressed in prayer, throughout his letters, must bow before this passionate plea to the Father.

Ephesians 3:14-19 NIV

[14] For this reason I kneel before the Father, [15] from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. [16] I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, [17] so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, [18] may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, [19] and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

How can we ever know this Iove in our hearts that surpasses knowledge in our minds?

The Holy Spirit! He is the one in us who brings life to the Word. When we dwell in the Word, the Holy Spirit writes it on our hearts.

Romans 5:5 NIV
[5]”And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

Hope is the promise of God’s love made real, and the Holy Spirit in us does just that. He makes God’s love real…in every situation. Come what may, GOD’S LOVE overrides every other consideration.

Live loved! That’s the key.