Personal Thoughts

Our present suffering and the Glory to come, which we will share in, make up the theme of [Romans 8:18-30]. Godet calls this “a career of suffering”^⁠1 for a believer in Christ. Expect it!

“For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;” – Philippians 1:29

It is common to interpret this section of Paul’s theology as the voice of comfort [verse 28] instead of—what the context requires—a recognition of, what Godet called, “a state of misery”^⁠2 in which all creation shares [verse 22].

There is always a “but” with God in which He shares the blessing following the trial.^⁠3 All creation groans along with us, a state of suffering not unnoticed by the Spirit [verse 26], whose intercession is timely and undeniably effective.

Suffering  …but Glory to come.

Here’s the “but” [verse 28] —namely the love relation we have with the omnipotent, omniscient God of all creation. The suffering is temporary [verse 18]. The glory is coming! The problem is that we don’t like any suffering. In Peter’s words, “But even if^⁠4 you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “ [1 Peter 3:14 NIV] The fact that God (forgetting He thinks in eternal terms) puts a clock on it [Revelation 2:10] is little comfort at times. Yet His Spirit explains, what we now know, having undergone such trying circumstances, that faith is bolstered [1 Peter 1:7]^⁠5 which, in turns, leads to a greater and emboldened resolve to witness [James 1:3].^⁠6 Patience (in our language “hangin’ in there”) actually accomplishes in us what God wants to perfect in us [James 1:4].^⁠7 As Paul explains it here: “It all works for good….” [Romans 8:28].

Romans 8:18

Thus we begin by announcing that suffering for Christ will always be followed with the most glorious blessings:

Verse 18: To explain, I reckon [reason], that the sufferings we endure now presently [in this life] are not worthy to be compared with [in proportion to] the coming glory that is about to be revealed in [for] us [in which we shall share].

Paul’s choice of words matter:

1. Reckon:  I judge after calculating.^⁠8 Paul never rationalized away suffering but accepting it, gave it its true value in relation to all the blessings of heaven that await us. [Romans 5:3-5].
2. Worthy: present sufferings put on the scale (balance) with God’s glory. The word comes from an old term meaning to move the needle of the scale.
3. Glory: God’s glory is far weightier. In fact the Hebrew for “glory” means “heavy.” Moses wrote, [Deuteronomy 28:58] “fear this glorious [weighty] and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD.” [This word comes from the idea of weighing silver, the heavier, the more valuable or its worth.]
4. Sufferings: Here, sufferings, has to include or encompass all hardships, circumstantial and by evil design as well as all physical pain and misery as well as emotional or mental. The word encompasses the entire gamut of unwelcome feelings and hurt associated with or as a consequence of our witness for Christ.
   • If this were not the case, Paul might be suggesting that some forms of suffering were either not compared with the glories of Heaven to come [he left them out as if God might not care?] or, most objectionable, some hardships might be weightier matters (more important or valuable to God and us than heaven!) or somehow outside the preview or purview of an all seeing and loving God. This is clearly not possible! Godet calls our suffering “the actual condition of our earthly life” and he includes “bodily infirmities and the necessities of life.” In other words, all suffering!
   • In 2 Corinthians 4:17 Paul referenced the trials that are the result of our witness that, in his words, “for the moment” [verse 16] exhaust us, weary us. These are put on one side of the scale and the prospects of a glorious eternity on the other side. God’s blessings outweigh them!
   • Here in Romans, Paul thought—to be fair—we will add to that side of the scale every source of unhappiness, pain, and misery that is a consequence of our faithfulness to God’s Word [Matthew 5:10].
     

     “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.

     It didn’t even move the needle. Even the lightest or smallest, most incidental blessing of God alone would outweigh all the trials and infirmities of this life.  I trust we agree with Paul.  I’ll shock you: Even if there were no heaven to come, God’s faithfulness, His love and grace, to me in this life, alone, has made serving Him all worth it!

5. In us: The word used here for “in” includes the idea of “for” It is a weakness of the English not having the equivalent of the Bible word. In us and for us means “The glory will not consist only in our own transformation [in], but also in the coming of the Lord himself, and the transformation of the universe [for us].

I translate verse 19 freely:

Indeed, the expectation of [God’s whole] creation anticipates [excitedly] the revealing of the sons [children] of God.

I know! I can’t wait, either!

You are not alone!

You never were. [Hebrews 13:5].

¹ Godet, Commentary on Romans. Page 311.
² Ibid. Page 312.
³ compare the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-12.
⁴ Peter writes of suffering in a form called “the optative” which speaks of something possible but not thought probable. Burton calls it a “concession” [Burton, Page 115 section 286: “It is probable that he (Peter) intends to affirm that blessedness comes, not in spite of, but through, suffering for righteousness’ sake.”] See also 1 Peter 3:17.
⁵ “that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,”
⁶ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
⁷ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
⁸ Luke 14:28, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it …Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

Can a believer lose their salvation? Can they go back into sin to where they are no longer a Christian, disowned by God? I pondered this question recently coming to the conclusion that such an idea is highly improbable because of three scriptural truths. (1) We are born again—not simply good people, now [2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15]. (2) we are being conformed to the image of Christ [Romans 8:29] It’s happening now! [2 Corinthians 3:18] And our minds are being transformed as well [Romans 12:2]. Our salvation is not a static, but a dynamic, aspect of who we are in Christ. And (3) This conformation along with His word written on our hearts is in accordance with the covenant promise of Jeremiah 31:33ff. It seems that the divine effort in all of this along with God’s promised grace [and love, Romans 8:28] make it highly unlikely that we could ever go back to being the person we were before salvation [Romans 8:35].

If this be possible, my warning to all would be: don’t go there!

Circumcision? Ouch! [You have to be Orthodox to get it.]

On the other hand Hebrews 6:4-6 is a warning to the Jewish Christian who still cherishes the Torah and desires to practice its rituals, which can no longer bring them into God’s favor or forgiveness [Hebrews 10:1ff]. In fact, shock of shocks, that was never God’s purpose with Torah Law! [Galatians 3:24-25].

(I wonder how many people see a Sunday morning ritual as a guarantee for salvation even as they live the rest of time unaware of God’s interest in them.) In that regard, I am, also, reminded of the 10 virgins [Matthew 25:1ff], five of which lost out because their oil “ran out.”

Can we say it this way: it is like two travelers waiting at the train station. One has secured their ticket carefully and wisely in their belongings while the other left it on a seat in the terminal. When the train came at midnight after the ticket counter was closed, this foolish, would-be, passenger couldn’t locate their ticket and while the other boarded, they were retracing their steps. The train left without them. They lost their ticket (they lost their salvation? Or did I stretch this parable beyond its intended emphasis—to be always alert in prayer?)

Did They Turn Around, Only, or Go Back To Who They Were-That is the Question!

Peter [2 Peter 2:20] chimed in “if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.” The question might be asked, Is backsliding the same as being backslidden?

There is a bit to unwrap here because I don’t think we can isolate these scriptures from the Biblical message of New Covenant grace in which it is written. There are 2 words for “if” (‘if ever’ & ‘if in the case that’; this second is used here. compare: Hebrews 6:9 NIV) as well as 2 words meaning to “go back” (“backslide” means to some believers “to return completely” into sin. Used here in 2 Peter 2:22 of dogs and pigs; the other is used in 2 Peter 2:21 NIV “to turn back”).

The wonderful thing about this word “to return” is that it is Old Testament lingo for repentance [Acts 26:20]: returning to the Lord! Peter’s use of it here is somewhat exceptional! [Way to go, Pete!]

The verb tense is also important (the perfect in 2 Peter 2:20 ESV suggests a state or condition, “after having escaped … if they are again entangled, they are -in a state of—worse off than before” ).

[A footnote here: Some Greek manuscripts used the first word “to return” (backslidden: back to where they were) in 2 Peter 2:21 KJV. But the Committee that decides these things when the Greek text was compiled preferred the word “to turn back:” 2 Peter 2:21 NIV (backsliding, in a sense, facing the wrong way, “turning their back to God” says the NIV) …I smile at the twists and squirms we endure. 😊 ]

मुझे माफ़ कीजिए – Samahani sana – lo siento mucho – es tut mir so leit –मलाई धेरै माफ गर्नुहोस्

I’m so sorry but there’s a little more here! “After having known [experienced. what?] “the way of righteousness” [God’s covenant faithfulness] they turn away from—let’s go with: “they turn their backs on”—the holy commandments delivered to them verbally [taught them].” As Jewish as this sounds, Christianity has commandeered the word “commandments” [1 Timothy 6:14]. They are now what Christ taught [John 15:10].

Then I read in a commentary, “the Holy Scripture teaches that relapsing from the state of grace is possible.” Another seemed to disagree: “This verse underlines the seriousness of apostasy” and added 2 Peter 2:22 references 2 animals that Jews did not think “clean” and the meaning is “they revert to their true nature” which means, if these animals signify apostasy, they were never saved in the first place.

Have fun interpreting Peter!

Free Will or Predestined-That is the Question!

Are we predestined or do we have free will? The question is pointless because again, we are lining up scripture against itself because we fail to see the context: the New Covenant grace. Both sides are part of relationship [Philippians 2:12-13].

“Predestined” is Greek for planning ahead of time, and God has done a ton of planning [Hebrews 4:3; 9:26; 1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8; 17:18]. Neither predestination nor free will alone determine or define relationship.

A Covenant with God is Relational

We have to consider the entire Bible for context. And that context is the covenant relationship we have with God. For that relationship to be real we need the freedom to participate in it willingly. God’s grace is God’s participation—and grace is a powerful love! “Who we are” in Christ or “what we do” as Christians—alone—does not define that relationship.  Both are indicators of the reality of our salvation: faith and works: a faith that is faithful, a faith in action. (Thank you, Brother James, for saying it! James 2:24).

[For that matter, “Who God is” and “What God does” in our lives are inseparable aspects of His relationship with us – Hebrews 11:6].

You’re near done reading this. Hang in there a few more words!

Zooming Out To See the Bigger Picture!

In teaching through Zoom overseas, I talk relationship exclusively [Christ and His Bride] and they like how I use the examples I have accumulated after 55 years of marriage [Ephesians 5:32]. We have defined righteousness as “covenant faithfulness.” And fellowship, too, speaks of a growing intimacy with God which germinates and sprouts in the soil of persecution [Romans 5:3; Philippians 3:10]. You get the point.

Finally!

I like what one Asbury U student testified, “It is not who I am but whose I am.”

Probably only American believers struggle with this issue because our world has been so quiet when it comes to persecution—thanks to the First Amendment.

This might be changing.

I’m done.

[Taken from my Booklet: A Reasonable Salvation]

An interpretation of Scripture that is merely historical or theological but fails to offer a serious and practical approach to living the Christian life is—what I call—a linear view of God’s Word. But His Word is far more dynamic than this, which is to say, His Word is a source of daily wisdom that can, from a spiritual perspective, address any stressful circumstance or decision which should occasion an answer from God. And life is crammed full of such moments! Faith is far more than creed. Faith must include a life that honors the growing relationship the believer has now with God through Christ. Calvary provides us by faith an eternal life, but a linear perspective sees the word “eternal” and may fail to emphasize the “life in the Son” which has commenced at salvation.

“And this is the record,” John explained Salvation, “that God hath given to us eternal life.”

But there is more:

“and this life is in his Son” [1 John 5:11].

We have been emphasizing the idea that Salvation is being in covenant with God, as much as, Abraham or Moses ever were. God is a Covenant-God and He has more than drafted a “New” covenant for us. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, it has been officially instituted. As we have been saying, this speaks to a relationship we have with Him. The covenant view honors the commitment between God and us with an emphasis on our devotion and faithfulness to God. Covenant is an agreement, a contractual arrangement, in which both parties are responsible for that relationship. I know: we are excited about God’s part in protecting us, healing us, providing for our needs, etc. But we might become lax as regards our part?

We have also noted that certain biblical terms carry the idea of covenant which must be underscored. To be clear: fellowship is intimacy and “…[righteousness] implies relationship.” Nothing yells “new covenant” more than this! Scholarship learned,

“A man is righteous when he meets certain claims which another has on him in virtue of relationship.”

In a word: covenant.

Emphasizing the relationship with God is a realistic and reasonable approach to a study of the Word. This requires a more dynamic understanding of Scripture, a view of God’s Word more like personal letters written to each believer. And this requires that our knowledge of God is experienced and not just an academic pursuit. Such learning results in a growing intimacy with God [Philippians 3:10].

“.. Though the gospel is capable of doctrinal exposition,” Bishop Lightfoot observed. “though it is eminently fertile in moral results, yet its substance is neither a dogmatic system nor ethical code, but a Person and a Life. [Christ]” As Paul asserted,

“For me, to live is Christ…” [Philippians 1:21].

[A thought for all those who love to dig deeper into the Word of God.]

Galatians 3:13 reads the same in 15 English translations: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us,” Only in the New Living Translation do we read, “But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung [hanged?] on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing.”Who is the ‘us’? Whose “curse” did the Savior bear?

Lightfoot says, “The expression [redeemed from the curse] is to be explained partly by the Hebrew idiom … but still more by the religious conception which it involves.” [Galatians, Page 139] This idea is prominent in Leviticus 16:5-10 with the type of the “scapegoat” [a goat sent into the wilderness after the Jewish chief priest had symbolically laid the sins of the people upon it]. Verse 10 reads, “the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it.”

Paul clarified, according to scholarship, that he and “the Jewish race” were “redeemed” or “ransomed” by Christ taking “the curse,” which Lightfoot interprets was, “pronounced” by the Law, Torah. This tells Lightfoot that the ‘us’ is Israel! Paul’s use of the term “curse,” which comes from Deuteronomy 21:23 [“he that is hanged is accursed of God’] specifically and solely concerning Israel’s status before God and makes no reference to the Church or to Gentiles [Deuteronomy 27:15-26 lists a dozen curses for Torah breakers, in particular].

So Lightfoot clarifies [Galatians 3:14] “The Law, the great barrier, that excluded the Gentiles, is done away in Christ.” Israel broke the Law and inherited the curse; the Law was simply blocking the Gentile’s way to Salvation. To continue Galatians 3:14, ” .. the Gentiles [now that Israel’s curse is removed] are put on a level with …Jews and, so united, [We, now, can]… receive the promise in the gift of the Spirit through …faith.” [Page 140].

So says Ephesians 2:14-16. Reading from the Amplified, “For He is … our bond of unity and harmony. He has made us both [Jew and Gentile] one [body], and has … destroyed… the hostile dividing … us, By abolishing in His.. flesh the enmity [caused by] the Law with its decrees and ordinances …that He from the two might create in Himself one …out of the two, … making peace … to reconcile to God both [Jew and Gentile…] in a single body by means of His cross.”

Wright comments, “The curse which has come upon Israel has thus caused the promises made through Israel to get stuck! And it is this curse, with this result, from which, according to Galatians, the Messiah has redeemed ‘us’.” [Page 140].

Wright continues, “The point about the” curse”, and the Messiah bearing it on behalf of others, is not that there is a general, abstract curse hanging over the whole human race.” [Page 139]. It “hung” only over Israel! The curse had to be [the Amplified Bible says] “abolished.” Wright called it “stuck” [like a log-sham?] which had to be removed to free the way for our, Gentile, salvation.

Among the reasons for Jesus’ death, then, is removing Israel’s, not Adam’s, curse. But Paul never meant to even imply here that our salvation was not equally a rescue from sin. Paul, on occasion, liked to use different wording sometimes that mapped out a different path to repentance and reconciliation between Jew and Gentile because of the different starting points between them. Accordingly, Paul told us [Romans 3:30 NIV] “…there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised [the Jew] by faith and the uncircumcised [the Gentile] through that same faith [2 Peter 1:1 NASB95].”

David knew that God dwells in the midst of our worship [Psalm 22:3]. The Lord reminded us through Isaiah [Isaiah 57:15]  that He “dwells with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” In John 4:23 Jesus informed us “ true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” But we, as often happens, stopped listening too soon, for Jesus continues, “the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” Recently at the revival underway at Asbury University (and also in over 200 schools and universities) one speaker called the devotion and worship that was now in its third week (as of this writing) with persons from around the country and the world gravitating—almost like a pilgrimage—to the campus chapel to participate—he called it—

“in elevating Jesus Christ as a focal point, a radical humility, humanizing compassion, raw confession, a  self emptying consecration and a life altering commitment.^⁠”  

It was the contrite heart the prophet described experienced by a generation (generation z) of young hearts losing interest in everything except to celebrate the Savior’s Death and Resurrection, The Father’s Love, and the Spirit’s Presence. Many were meeting Jesus for the first time even without the evangelist’s convincing rhetoric or inspirational words.  It was the Spirit alone doing the talking and calling. Another speaker called it

“normal Christianity, why Jesus died.”^⁠ 

I was informed by a friend that this was happening on Methodist, Baptist, and Pentecostal College and University campuses. I recall Jesus’ prayer [John 17:23] for unity. It is being answered! The speaker then referenced James 3:17  as a description of what was happening—and is happening.

“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy”

Jesus explained in Luke 17:21 “The Kingdom of God is within you.”

In the midst of all this, one could envision God, perhaps with cherubim attending [Ezekiel 10:3] walking, strolling, joyously, between the rows of worshippers, touching hearts, saving souls, healing bodies, doing God’s thing God’s way, loving a generation who wanted Him almost as much as He wanted them.  “He seeks such…”

A Woman at The Well

Jesus corrected a woman desperate for love, hungry for a peace that would calm the storm in her soul. The Father seeks such, and this Samaritan woman was thirsty for love. In her desperation and need, Jesus brought her to another well, saying,

“whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” [John 4:14].

She discovered what generation Z was discovering in Asbury Kentucky that Jesus is the source of an unending joy and peace, a stream of living water that eternally quenches the thirst for meaning, for belonging, for love. God is not a religion but a most personal and intimate, loving, God who has been waiting for His opportunity to enter our lives with an eternity of promises [2 Peter 1:4], like a bridegroom with gifts anticipating the wedding [Song of Solomon 1:4]. 

Our worship should not, cannot end, because the God we worship is eternal and He will never tire of our love and fellowship. God created us for this moment, for this purpose, for this eternity. His love sought us to have us back ever since that day in Eden when Adam did what Adam did—and we in him.  

“He seeks such.” Jesus said.  And this is what everything is all about. This was why God created Adam. This is why Jesus went to the Cross.  This is why He saved us.  “He seeks such.”  As the song writer wrote, “Take joy my King in what you hear; let it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.” As the chorus is sung, “To worship You, I live to worship You, I live, I live. To worship You.”^⁠

Indeed, this all made available through the Savior’s death—from God’s perspective—yes—a most reasonable salvation.

I awoke this morning in a contemplative mood introspectively recalling past decisions and choices that proved me a kind-of maverick. If it should not be done, not because it wasn’t legal [whatever ‘it’ was, it was always legal] but, because it was inadvisable, and dumb, I gave it a second thought and often—Oh Why not! Perhaps, if no one else thought of it or the chances at success were statistically low, I had to try. Perhaps, the little boy in me had not grown up yet and I was still at play in my own adult-size fantasy. I like to imagine someone starting to pray for me when God interrupts and inquires with a sigh, “Okay, what has he done now!”

When I asked my bride—now of near 55 years—to marry me, I was at college earning a buck an hour in a part time position on campus, with no driver’s license and owning only “literally” the shirt on my back [it was a T Shirt that was black from use], and no place to rent anyway as a married couple —any local apartments for rent were already gobbled up by wiser planners of pending matrimony. My, then, “boss” thought I was planning a wedding a year from that June when school was out. “No,” I corrected him, “this June!”

But in my own defense, my real goal was always noteworthy, like negotiating a career change at age 50 with no money and little emotional resources left in my clinical despondency. The drive to try was historically part of me by then [probably genetic]. Perhaps, the crazier the idea the more I thought, “Why not!” But over all this professional commotion and personal drama, there was God and His grace and providence—and peace—which always gave me a sense that He had my six (as they say).

I have probably at least a hundred smaller examples of trying something that I knew going in would challenge either my abilities and/or my intelligence—any or all of which give example of the fact that I like to think for myself—even when those who knew me best and cared thought I was losing my grip on reality. For those spiritually minded folk: sometimes the line between faith and “nuts” is blurry, and I think I was on the side of faith!

As a footnote, this is the primary reason I keep my intellectual distance from our youngest who is working on his “MDiv” [Master of Divinity] and is in full time ministry. My advice to him would be “Don’t do or say what I do or say—except always love your mother.” This because he is a leader with a heart which I can not improve on. God has him. I call him my “Samuel.” I have written over 20 books with which I decorate a shelf in his library with a proviso: Don’t read them—at least not until you get your degree.

I’m at it again! I am currently writing a book on a theory of the atonement which I do not find explained quite this way. It is not spelled out specifically in our worship songs or hymns or even in the preacher’s sermons, although, for anyone who loves the Lord, it is common knowledge. There are a couple well known scholars that at least suggest that I am on to something. No one will be reading it anyway. It’s Okay.

The Asbury Revival currently ongoing on the campus at Asbury University in Kentucky is more than a taste of heaven. Not only are young people discovering that God’s presence was never a figment of a Christian parent’s or grandparent’s imagination but that a personal relationship with our Creator and Savior is very real on a level of fellowship and communion before unimagined. They are receiving from Him something that cannot be argued away. The voices of a thousand philosophers and ideologues eternally silenced because at last God has spoken.

“My sheep hear my voice and they follow me.” Jesus affirmed, [John 10:27] and we, the elderly who have spent our lives in God’s Word, are beyond words overjoyed (even to tears) that the grandchildren of a nation growing up in a world, ever slipping farther from God, have heard from heaven. We know what they are experiencing and that at last many are learning to identify the call of God to worship—worship Him—in Spirit and in Truth [John 4:24].

They are not playing at church. No man has choreographed a move of the Spirit of God—nor could they. Pastors and church leaders have in a most literal way stepped aside and have given these young hearts over to God. Habakkuk’s prayer is being answered. Habakkuk 1:5 “Look on and pay attention, all nations, awestruck with astonishment, because I am doing something in your time that if it were only reported (and you had not witnessed it for yourself) you would never believe it.”

But believe it! What always seems to go unsaid is God wants this generation more than they want Him! Our Lord must be tired of being objectified in ritual and prayer, of hearing us always crying for the next this or that, all the while others fault Him for every woe this poor planet has endured. At last here is a generation gathered to simply enjoy His presence and declare their love for Him. This does not suggest that He will not answer requests. He most assuredly will …and is! But oh to launch out a thousand miles into the deeper waters of God’s presence and be lost to all my own concerns wrapped up in only His and Him.

Stay as long as you want. Stay forever! But my prayer also is that this sweeping move of the Spirit of God will reach the high schoolers in the churches as well, that catechism classes and youth meetings will cease their programs, put them only on hold, while God turns each recreation center and gathering into an “upper room.” There is nothing scary about weeping repentantly before Him Who gave Himself on a cross to rescue you from all the evil around you. There is nothing frightening about “joy.”

I invite all young folk to come and see.

Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for mankind! Psalm 66:5 NIV

²⁵ .. husbands, … love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her.… ³¹ As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” ³² This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one… Ephesians 5:25, 31-32

Parables and other forms of the metaphor are very much a part of our cultural imagination. One analogy often overlooked is why God chose to create the marriage bond monogamous between one man and one woman. God would create for Adam only Eve to form a “oneness” that culturally has been all but lost since their quest to discover what “evil” was all about. Jesus regretfully lamented on divorce, “because of the hardness of men’s hearts” [Mark 10:5]. 

Divorce along with same-sex unions, and polygamy were not God’s design because God intended the marriage union as a metaphor representing “Christ and the Church” [Ephesians 5:32]. The mystery of marriage “oneness” is a spiritual bond. Perhaps this bond is only recognizable after decades of working through confrontations, arguments, and misunderstandings. Perhaps, a couple only after many years begins to recognize their love has climbed somehow to a higher level unseen in all the busyness of life. Nonetheless, in later years, to their utter surprise, even without the flowers and weekly dinner dates, something has happened to “cement” [the Bible word ‘cleave’] them together. 

Husbands are enjoined to love their wives “just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” [Ephesians 5:25]. Somewhere alone in the memory of our first parents, we can assume, is a moment when such a love as this made sense to them. But a spiritual depravity would rob us of the insight to see that this “oneness” in marriage is worth pursuing.

Most husbands since “the Fall” might only complain about the lack of submission and respect wives show—missing Paul’s point entirely. Nonetheless, this metaphor serves to highlight the mystery which only begins to reveal its secrets to those few couples whose love has endurance and longevity.

Some husbands enjoy the leadership role when society is passing out accolades but they cringe away and hide in the shadows when the task requires sacrifice. Yet, Christ’s love for His Church put Him in the fore when evil needed to be defeated which, as we know,  led to His crucifixion.

There is, or should be, a consciousness that almost instinctively moves a man to risk all for family. Little boys dream of such adventures with punches thrown in defending fair maiden. But this seed of manliness must be culturally watered to germinate and the gardener is another man, a “father.” A true lover, a man who knows the secret of an enduring romance, is the only one who can cultivate in a boy both the desire to defend love and the tenderness to recognize that love when the time comes.

In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself – Ephesians 5:28

This verse interpreted:  If a married man cares about his own happiness, he will focus on hers. Happy Valentines Day!

Objective Biblical Truth is defined as an interpretation of Scripture that is universally valid, absolutely true, and unassailably correct. Interpreting scripture is known as the study of hermeneutics but scholars maintain three principles which are, themselves, presumed reasonable paving the way to a true understanding of scripture:

1. All interpretations of scripture are biased. We filter our understanding of the message of scripture through our understanding of life, of culture, of personal experience, and of education.
2. There is no understanding of scripture other than such that is mediated by this bias. All interpretation of scripture is in fact in part subjective. Most Christians accept without question denominational distinctives as full gospel even though these teachings are designed to distinguish one church from another—divide and not unite.
3. But, and this is important to note, bias is changeable by a continued study of the Biblical text. Through continuous contact with God’s Word either through devotional reading or personal study true believers (and not just church attenders) develop a life changing affection for the Word. They experience what they are studying because it is the responsibility of the Spirit to guide believers [John 16:13] into all objective truth, truth that is “universally valid, absolutely true, and unassailably correct.”

It is this third point that supports my contention that there is an objective truth to learn which God is sharing through the Spirit’s ministry with all His church, every believer, who prayerfully and studiously pursues it [Jeremiah 3:15; Luke 1:77; John 16:8-15]. But this is a process since the Word of God frequently confronts personal bias which through humility can be challenged and overcome [John 8:32].

It is called the “hermeneutical spiral” which is actively changing lives in every open Bible study not assembled to promote a set of doctrines but open to discuss and understand the text. Granted, some scriptures seem more culturally significant than eternally meaningful; for example, when Jesus sent His disciples out by twos without a purse or an extra pair of shoes [Mark 6:8; Luke 10:4]. Later, the Savior condescended to even carrying weapons [Luke 22:36] which probably is not related to their mission to spread the news of the coming Kingdom. Many labor through the prophets which seem boringly and woefully repetitious and some of the Psalms make more sense  to octogenarians than the youth.  But these are all “The Scriptures.”

The Spirit is teaching His church and using each to minister this truth to the others, but it requires a dedicated commitment and hunger to know God, accompanied by a lifestyle of prayer. When we come together this way opening the scriptures is an adventure into a more objective revelation of God’s Word because it not only makes “head” sense but  “heart” sense, as well.

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 2 Timothy 3:16 NLT

Do we really want to know what the Lord says to us in His Word? Ask His People! They who are learning to live the message are more equipped to share it with others than any person of “letters.”

Look into Genesis 1:1 the first four words in English, “In the Beginning, God….” Have we graduated in our understanding beyond these four words? I haven’t! This is a fundamental statement putting into words a fundamental truth about God that He is eternal because when everything else began, He was already here! And upon this revelation we build all our beliefs and hopes.

In light of this truth we explain life and develop a perspective that interprets our circumstances from blessings to disasters. Howe in his work, “Objectivity in Biblical Interpretation” would call our belief in God’s existence “fundamental” which refers us to [our] vision of reality. God’s existence is in Genesis 1:1 the “self-evident truth which [is] tacitly acknowledged in everything we comprehend and assert.” Our lives, how we live, hereafter reveals whether we embrace these words as truth …or no.

The Context?

Let’s dig deeper. My son tells me that our interpretation of Scripture needs a context. What is the context here? It is either the eternity God dwells in or, if we need to hear from the text, “In the beginning…” In the beginning of what? In the beginning of the universe? The earth? These will be created directly, according to the text. Maybe, after the form of narration used in ancient Israel, we might categorize the creation of all things as a “beginning” of God’s creative genius at work. He would take a day off and then go back to creating [Psalm 51:10]. But let’s step back one step: Is this in the beginning of “time”?

Time

Did God create “time”? Time measures change and, primarily now since the “fall,” decay, atrophy, entropy, and all forms of a universe that—we are told—is running down. If we are talking “time” maybe the text is looking ahead after Eden. If Adam and Eve had not sinned, would we even need watches or smart phones now? The problem with interpreting all this is the omniscience of God. Did He create a universe that came with a clock knowing what the first pair would do or did God tearfully give the universal winding stem a turn or two after they bit into the forbidden fruit? Or does it matter?

What matters is that we are now “in time” and our eternal God put us here for a season, which is obvious, since if our presence in this life were permanent, it wouldn’t be “in time.” Now, why would an “eternal” God do something like that!? Would you build a world—all that exhausting work and passion [on the 7th day He “rested”]—knowing it would all perish just after you built it? [No matter how many billion of years you think this globe has sustained the assault of meteors and all, compared to eternity, we are talking minutes of time.] Now, why would God do that?

Eternity

Well, He wouldn’t!

An eternal God does eternal things.

Our stay here: learning obedience, learning humility, learning to talk to God, getting to know Him on a personal level, learning to follow in His footsteps in the sands of time out of this valley of sorrows [Ps 23], is only a first step on our journey into His eternity. It makes no “eternal” sense for God to want our fellowship for this life only.

Take a closer look at the parentheses that embrace this existence: in Genesis 1:16 He made the sun and in Revelation 22:5 He gets rid of it because He has made something called in the Greek text of Matthew 19:28 a paliggenesis [Titus 3:5], a new Genesis! the NIV interprets this, “the renewal of all things.” Revelation 21 speaks of a new heaven and a new earth. I am beginning to see it!

Are you excited yet!