Christian Worldview 2 - Agreement between God the Father and the Son

Continuing our discussion of the big picture questions, we find out in John 1:1 that something called “The Word” was with God in the beginning and also was God. This Word, or logos, is God the Son who ultimately became a man and lived here on earth among us as Jesus Christ. Jesus told his disciples that He had shared glory with the Father before the world began (John 17:24), and that the Father had loved Him before the world began (John 17:24).

The Bible indicates throughout that the three persons of the Godhead counseled and planned together concerning the creation of the world and the redemption of a people to be God’s personal possession. If you have time you might check out some of the following passages of Scripture: Psalm 33:11;  Proverbs 19:21; Isaiah 46:9-10; Matt 25:34; Eph 1:4, 9-12; Eph 3:9-11; 2 Tim 1:9; Rev 13:8.

Even though this plan was an eternal plan before the world began, it was implemented in time, at the right time: Galatians 4:4; Romans 5:6; 1 Peter 1:20; Titus 1:2-3; 2 Tim 1:810; Ps 139:16

Because God is trinity, there was an agreement or covenant among the members of the trinity, agreed on before time began, as to how our redemption would be accomplished. Among other things the Son agreed in participating in the creation of the world and mankind. He would become a man and assume human nature (John 1:14; Gal 4:4-5; Heb 2:10-15). He would be placed under the law, obey it perfectly, and yet die in order to pay the penalty for sin (Ps 40:8; Matt 5:17,18; John 8:28, 29; John 10:18; John 17:4;  Gal 4:4,5; Phil 2:6-8; Heb 10:7-9). He would provide believers with forgiveness and renewal of their lives through the new covenant (Luke 22:20, John 17:12, 19-22; Heb 2: 10-13 7:25). He would give His people eternal life (John 17:2). And also that He would be the representative of a people (1 Cor 15:45; Heb 9:24).

God's Curse or Blessing? - Part 6

Now let's go back to a question we left hanging earlier. The law is a guardian and a tutor until faith comes. When is that? What is the timeline? Once faith comes, the guardianship and tutor relationship ends. When is that? Does that mean when we trust Christ and are saved? Let’s continue reading.

In Galatians 4:1-3 we learn that the law is like the parent or guardian to an under-aged child. A child, Paul says, is not much different than a slave even though he is the heir of everything. Many children probably feel like that! He is under the rule of his parent until he comes of age. Even though he is an heir, he still has to go to bed when told, has to go with mom to the store, has to eat his vegetables and so on. In the same way, when we were children we were in bondage under the elements of the world. My question is still the same – when were we children and when did adulthood come?

Paul answers that question in Galatians 4:4. He says, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

So there's the timing answer. God sent forth his son more than 2000 years ago when Christ came into the world. That's when childhood ended. That's when adulthood started. That's when the law's guardianship and tutelage ended. It doesn't have anything to do with our growth from childhood to adulthood or with our conversion to Christ.

During this time of childhood, Paul describes it as a time of bondage under the elements of the world. What are those elements? We'll look at that next time.

God's Blessing or Curse? - Part 5

To get the context for this discussion you should probably go back and read the previous posts on this topic.

But why was the law given then? In other words, if the law does not apply to my situation, why give it?  He answers that question in verses 22-24 of Galatians 3. First he says that it confines all under sin. In other words, the law lays down the standard and no one lives up to it. Therefore all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. Don't just skip over this. That is an interesting reason to give the law: "to confine all under sin." Paul writes essentially the same thing to the Romans in Romans 5:20, "Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound."  Abound means to increase. The law was given to increase the sin.

Second, before faith came we were kept under guard by the law and kept for the faith that should be revealed later on (Galatians 3:23). Before faith came the law had a guardianship role to keep people under control. A question you should ask yourself is what is the timeline involved? In other words the law guarded before the faith came. When did the faith come? When did that guardianship end?

Third, the law was a tutor to bring us to Christ. Again he says that when faith came, the tutor relationship ended. When did that faith come? We’ll look at the timing of this more later. What I want us to see now is that the purpose of the law had nothing to do with giving salvation because it can’t do that. It doesn’t even have anything to do with spiritual growth. As you will recall, Paul asked that question in verse 3. His conclusion was that the law does not perfect or mature us. The law’s responsibility was to confine all under sin, make them guilty and to guard and serve as tutor until the time that faith comes.

In the Old Testament God said that those who keep the law will be blessed and those who don’t keep it in its entirety will be cursed. There are many Christians who are still trying to live under those terms, trying desperately to keep the law so that God’s blessing will be on their lives. They do this because they read this in Deuteronomy and Joshua. They believe this applies to them. But it does not! What we’ve learned in this study is that as Christians, we are children of Abraham and therefore recipients of the unconditional promise made to him and to his seed. Christ took God’s curse on himself so that the blessing of Abraham could be ours (Galatians 3:14). There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

What I’m trying to encourage you with is to realize and believe that God will not add conditions to the blessing He is giving you through His promise to Abraham. The law that came 430 years after the promise cannot annul the promise. If you’re a Christian, the discussion of God’s curse does not apply to you. Christ became the curse so that you won’t be the recipient of it.

God's Curse or Blessing - Part 4

 Galatians 3:17 tells us that the law which came 430 years after the promise to Abraham cannot annul or cancel the promise which God had made to him and his seed. You see, the law that the Israelites were given that conditioned either blessing or curses was given long after God promised a blessing to Abraham. That law cannot add conditions to the promise God gave him. God won't hold Abraham and his seed accountable to the law in order to receive his blessing. That would be adding terms to a contract already ratified by himself.

The question arises though as to what this has to do with us. God had made these promises to Abraham and his seed, so where do we fit in and why should it matter?

To answer this I’d like to jump down to Galatians 3:26 and 29 and put them together. Basically God is saying that we are sons of God by faith in Christ. If we are Christ’s then we are heirs according to the promise. He had summarized this earlier in verse 14. “…that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” The blessing of Abraham… That blessing is ours! That means when God made the promise to Abraham and his seed, the seed he is referring to is us-- those who have believed in Christ.

The Christian answer then is that God blessed Abraham and his seed unconditionally. The law that came later could not cancel that blessing otherwise God would have been a liar in making such promises to Abraham. If I’m a Christian, I am an heir of that blessing because I am part of Abraham’s seed. That means that the promise that I am a recipient of supersedes and precedes the giving of the law. There’s nothing in the keeping or the not-keeping of the law that can affect my status of blessing given by the promise of God. If I am required to keep the law in order to be blessed, he would be breaking his promise to Abraham. There is no curse hanging over the Christian. Let your mind and spirit think on this.

Is Doctrine and Theology Important?

How would you answer this statement. "I don't feel the need to intensively study the Bible and learn theology. All that creates is division in the Church and we only need to follow the words of Jesus anyway."

A friend asked me this the other day and here is how I replied.

The claim that all we need to do is to follow the words of Jesus is not valid for several reasons. First, the Bible clearly teaches us that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. (2 Tim 3:16) When we limit ourselves to the words of Jesus, we lose all of the important teaching of the rest of Scripture, especially the rest of the New Testament. We would not know about justification by faith, the establishment and order in the church and many other important things. So God has graciously provided us with much more than just the teachings of Jesus.

In referring to the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” This was a prophecy about how the Holy Spirit would teach truth to the apostles in the days following Jesus' ascension into heaven. These truths which they learned from Him make the content of the rest of the New Testament. It was Jesus who told us this would happen.

Even if all we had was the words of Jesus, there would be differences of opinion about what He meant and we would need creeds and doctrinal statements to clarify what a particular church believes about what Jesus said. I have heard it said that we don't need creeds or doctrinal statements. All we need is to say that our creed is the Bible. What it says is what we believe. However, that is not enough because Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Baptists, Presbyterians and others all say that they believe the Bible and yet it is obvious that their doctrines differ.

That brings me to the next comment about what your friend asked. The concern is that doctrine divides. That is true. It does. But don't we want to know the truth? There is truth. There is falsehood. The problem that modern people have is either that they don't believe that truth exists or they don't believe we can know what it is. The Bible says there is truth and we can know it. But doesn't everyone claim that their view is the truth? Yes. But they can't all be true because many are contradicting each other. But just because there are many who claim truth doesn't mean that truth doesn't exist. It just means we have to work hard and diligently to discern what the truth is.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:19, “For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you.” He is acknowledging the importance of factions because that way the truth can come out. If everyone acquiesces to some commonly held belief, the truth will be lost.

Here are some things that the Bible clearly teaches about teaching and doctrine. These are in no particular order and I'll comment after each one.

Acts 17:11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

It's important to actively search the Scriptures during and after any teaching in order to verify whether what the teacher has taught is true. The Scripture encourages this and lifts up the person who is engaged in this endeavor. It is to be active and continuous. We are not to accept any teaching without searching the Scripture. Searching the Scripture takes work. But it is a required work.

2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Diligence in the Christian life is a requirement. Part of that diligence is to rightly divide the Word. Dividing the Word means to learn to understand the different contexts in which teaching and events occurred. It means to understand what is a word picture and what is literal. An old song used to say, “All the promises in the book are mine – every chapter, every verse, every line.” But that is not true. God made promises to Abraham that He did not make to you and me. We need to know the difference.

1 Timothy 6:3 If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing.

There is such a thing as correct teaching and “teaching otherwise”. The one who teaches otherwise is proud and knows nothing. That is what the Bible says.

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;

People want to hear what they want to hear. Their ears are itching. Sound doctrine is foreign to them and they would rather not hear it.

Romans 16:17 Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.

There is a correct doctrine and those who teach contrary to that are to be avoided.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

Not just the teachings of Jesus but all Scripture. It is to be used for reproof and correction. If it is used for correction, that must mean some things are wrong and need to be corrected.

Titus 1:9 holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.

There is such a thing as sound and correct teaching. Exhortation is needed to be applied to those who contradict. In other words we can't just have the belief that whatever anyone believes is ok. Obviously he is talking about within the Christian community. The continual teaching of sound doctrine will exhort those who are wrong and bring conviction to them.

Heb 5:11-14 of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

God wants every Christian to be taught well enough that they can teach others. Some things in Scripture are hard to understand, such as the teaching about Melchizidek. The author of Hebrews criticized them because they were not ready for this teaching. It was necessary to go over the basics again and this was not good. Those who were still feeding on milk were considered unskilled in the word of righteousness and he referred to them as babes. This is not a good description. God wants each believer to grow in the word and become strong in the doctrine.

The bottom line is that there is truth and there is error. God has given us the Holy Spirit in order to help us to learn from all of the Scripture. This takes work, diligence and effort. It takes digging into the truth of the whole Bible learning how to discern one kind of text from another. It is necessary to learn the important teachings about salvation, redemption, justification, sanctification, etc. because in so doing we learn to know God better and to love Him more. Then we are better prepared, especially as Christian men, to lead and teach our families so that they too become godly people who can have an impact in the world.

Importance of Being in Christ - Part 7

What we have learned so far:

As Christians, we are in Christ. Being in Christ means He is our federal head; our representative. Also it means we died with him to the law and to the world – both the world religious system and the world system of lusts and temptations.

But it also means that when we died with Christ, we died to sin.

Romans 6:2 asks this question: “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” The author assumes that we would know the fact that we had died in Christ and that this would have an actual impact in our lives in the way we live. He goes on in the next verse to remind us that those who have been baptized into Christ were baptized into his death. That means that somehow, spiritually speaking, we were in Christ when he died and that his death counts as our death and that all of this precludes our living a life of sin.

In verse 6 Paul lets us know that our old man was crucified with Christ so that the body of sin might be destroyed and in the next verse lets us know that he who has died has been set free from sin. It's obvious that are going to have to take this by faith, because it certainly doesn't feel like we have been set free from sin. Sin seems to still exert enormous pressure on us. But notice what verse 14 says. Sin shall not have dominion over us. Even though sin is still present and there are temptations all around us, it does not have authority over us. It is a toothless tiger. We are not under obligation to it as we once had been.

How to put these truths into practice in the battle:

(Note that the following principles are based on believing and acting on the truth of what God has done and is doing, not on making man-made lists of do's and don'ts.)

First, we need to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. (Romans 6:11) This means that we are to count God's statements as true. It is not mind over matter. It is believing and acting on what God has told us.

Secondly, we are not to allow sin to reign. (Romans 6:12) Since sin no longer has dominion, we are not to allow it to reign. It will try, but it does not have the right to rule and so we should not allow it.

Third, we should not present our members as weapons of unrighteousness. (Romans 6:13) By members he means the parts of our bodies like our hands, feet and eyes. Sometimes we just hand over parts of our body to unrighteousness and then they are used as weapons against us. It's as foolish as a soldier handing his enemy his personal weapon so that his enemy can kill him with it. We have a choice as to who we give the members of our body to. Verse 13 says that we should give the members to God to be used for righteousness. So, you see, we have a choice. It is a conscious choice that must be made at each encounter with a temptation to sin.

The fourth thing to remember is that if we are a true believer in Jesus Christ, there is no condemnation. (Romans 8:1). We live under that umbrella that no matter how we falter and fail, there is no condemnation coming our way. That frees us to get up and try again knowing that God is working to help us do the right thing.

The fifth thing to remember is that I have been set free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2) There is a God-established law that sin results in death. A Christian has been set free from that. That is part of the salvation that we have in Christ.

Next, we need to understand that Jesus Christ was a man like we are except without sin. He was tempted, he got tired, he was a man. Because he was able to live his life without sinning, God tells us that in doing so he condemned sin in the flesh. In other words, he showed that man does not have to respond to temptations. He can overcome because of the power of God at work in him. That is what Romans 8:3 is telling us when it says that “he condemned sin in the flesh.”

Finally we need to realize that the requirement of the law is fulfilled in us as we walk according to the Spirit. The external law was never meant to accomplish anything except to show us our guilt and inability to keep God's commands. In the New Covenant God writes his laws on our heart so that it is in our heart to do the right thing and to live obedient lives. Even though we often fail, as we yield to his Spirit, we find ourselves fulfilling his commandments naturally.