THE 1 John 1:9 CONTROVERSY 5: STAYING ON THE SAME PAGE

June 15, 2016June 15, 2016 / thesouldoctor / Leave a comment

“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you.” John has a message from Jesus and he does not want his readers to miss what he is saying. In fact, he uses excessively longer phrases and more words to emphasize the meaning of his teaching when he could have simply used shorter phrases and fewer words. For example, he could have simply said, “God is light.” or he could have said, “There is no darkness in God.” It is as though John is saying, “This is what I mean and this is what I don’t mean.” He wants all Christians who read this to be on the same page.

What is this message? “God is light and in him is no darkness at all.”

John teaches that God is light. He uses the term “the light” (v.7) later but that has another meaning. In this verse it refers to God’s nature and essence as light. This is not physical light, but spiritual light that spreads everywhere and invades everything. His essence is truth, purity, holiness. In him there is no darkness at all. John emphasizes that there is not one bit of darkness in God. James says “There is never the slightest variation or shadow of inconsistency.” in God. (James 1:17 Phillips). God is untouched by the darkness of sin and He is “absolutely perfect…there is nothing in him …which would dim or mar the pure splendor of his character.” (Barnes).

With this is mind, the Apostle takes another sharp turn in his teaching and He puts truth and lies; light and darkness; obedience and sin; deception and honesty; reality and fantasy; saying and walking side by side. John says that the talk and action of some of the people does not match up to God’s standard of fellowship, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not do the truth.” (v.6). These are very strong words. He calls these people liars and says they are not practicing Christians. People have no fellowship with God if they practice sin. They are living a lie. Truth is not just sterile doctrinal beliefs that you can distance yourself from. Truth is all about how you behave and act. God is in his nature is light and not in any way dark and what he says is light and not in any way dark. So in this passage the word truth means acting lawfully and walking in darkness is living in deception and disobedient behavior.

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Walking in the light of God means that we are drawing closer to God.We act and live in that light. His word and truth are like light that exposes our errors and deception has nowhere to hide. We welcome that because he cleanses us and purifies us continually from all sins. Now John again wants to make sure we are staying on the same page by showing our fellowship with God and one another is by these two things: walking the light of God and his cleansing holiness by the blood of Jesus.

Then John takes another turn and says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (v. 8) The Bible teaches here that people who deny indwelling sin and do not admit their wrongdoing have gone so far off course they are believing their own lies. They claim to know the truth but they are deceived. Saying one can reach a place where they never sin after they are saved is a terrible error. Saying that we can live without confessing our sins or be disobedient is also a soul damning teaching. John say these type of people have deluded themselves to the point their hearts are evacuated of truth.

The Apostle turns again in this winding passage, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (v.9). We MUST freely admit we have sinned, God says we MUST consent to this truth. Notice HE is faithful and just it says. As the Amplifies comments, “he is true to His own nature and promises.” The ISV says that “he might forgive us and might cleanse us of our sins.” As we must pray to receive an answer to prayer we must confess our sins to be forgiven. Christ forgave us on the cross, but we still must ask his forgiveness as proof that the truth is in us and that he is loyal and consistent in all his ways.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (v.10). The dangers of misrepresenting Christ and his teaching should always be on our mind. He says if we do not say what he says about sin we are saying God is falsifying his Word and misrepresenting Himself. In effect, we call God a liar. Unthinkable! This failure also shows exposes that the Word is not in us if we say such things. It used the word “truth” in verse six but here it says “word.” This is a person who insists they know “the Word” and refuse to own up to their sin nature and their acts of sin. We are actually destitute of God’s life-giving Word if we refuse to, “humbly welcome the word of truth that will blossom like the seed of salvation planted in your souls.” (James 1:20Voice).

“John condemns the man who claims that he is so far advanced in knowledge and in the spiritual life that sin for him has ceased to matter; he condemns the man who evades the responsibility for his sin or who holds that sin has no effect upon him; he condemns the man who has never even realized that he is a sinner. The essence of the Christian life is first to realize our sin; and then to go to God for that forgiveness which can wipe out the past and for that cleansing which can make the future new.” (Barclay).

Christ’s Manifest Presence

September 20, 2013September 20, 2013 / thesouldoctor / Leave a comment

The Bible teaches that Lord is enthroned and inhabits the praises of his people (Ps. 22:3).

This praise here is he Hebrew word tĕhillah-an exuberant, spontaneous singing. The people here are the church, his saints who have been given grace to respond to the love of the Lord with all their hearts.

Only a real Christian who has the Lord on the throne of their heart will be aflame with the joy and rest of the Holy Spirit. Only that person desires to engage their Lord with exuberant joyful singing! Worship is never boring to them-that is why they sing with joy!

First, biblical praise simply means worshiping God for who he is-his nature and character as revealed in the scriptures. That is why I love the old hymns, that focus on the loveliness of Jesus and the glory of our heavenly Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit.

When you hear the saint singing they do not ask him for anything they just sing loud and strong about him-that He is love; He is holy; He is faithful and He is powerful. Praise acknowledges the Lord Jesus who says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Rev. 1:8). The saint counts on the fact that with him, I have no need!

Second, we worship God for his actions: for what he has done what he is doing and what he will do (Hab. 3:2). Psalm 111 says that, “The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.” We are thankful to God for his salvation and the forgiveness of sins; the sweet infilling of the Holy Spirit and answered prayer. We thank God for his protection, provision and power over sin. We thank God for giving us the strength to work, providing our needs, for physical health and well being. Thank God that he allows us to serve him by helping others, giving and encouraging others. There is something about thanking God in and above everything that brings joy!

Third, this sort of praise boldly responds to the involvement, even the invasive power of God that comes on the scene of our lives. When he is enthroned it is called “the throne of grace” where we can find mercy and help in the time of need (Heb 4:16). Praise him in the time of need! Jesus is alive and real and ready to be there for us. He never changes, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Heb. 13:8). He will come to you in power. In this type of praise there is more than acknowledging that God is everywhere. This is talking specifically about the unique worship of the saints. Jesus said that it is his manifest presence (John 14:21-23). What is the manifest presence?

AW Tozer puts it this way:

“The Presence (of God) and the manifestation of the Presence are not the same. There can be the one without the other. God is here when we are wholly unaware of it. He is manifest only when and as we are aware of His Presence. On our part there must be surrender to the Spirit of God, for His work it is to show us the Father and the Son. If we co-operate with Him in loving obedience God will manifest Himself to us, and that manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light of His face…our pursuit of God is successful just because He is forever seeking to manifest Himself to us. The revelation of God to any man is not God coming from a distance upon a time to pay a brief and momentous visit to the man’s soul. Thus to think of it is to misunderstand it all. The approach of God to the soul or of the soul to God is not to be thought of in spatial terms at all. There is no idea of physical distance involved in the concept. It is not a matter of miles but of experience.”

Ah there is no distance between us and God! He is ever seeking to show himself to us and rid us of that the misconception of distance! Oh let us praise him with our whole hearts. May he be joyfully enthroned in our lives and I believe that we will experience him more and more and that the light of Christ will be seen in our lives. This praise declares that Jesus is here to save, deliver, heal and set free. We will know him not only as dear, but near.

JESUS AND GRAVITY

September 14, 2013September 14, 2013 / thesouldoctor / Leave a comment

I never seen anything like it. At first, I thought I was seeing things or hallucinating.

One moment he is standing talking with us answering our questions and then the next moment he begins to…rise in the air.

How could this happen? Why is this happening?

It was if gravity lost its power for a moment. He did not float it was though a invisible power pulled him upward.

He waved goodbye and became smaller and smaller and then he vanished in the clouds. All of us were stunned. It was like a dream.

I felt like shouting, “Don’t leave us!” But he was gone.

We just kept staring at the clouds wondering if he would come down again.

He has disappeared before and we thought he would reappear. So we just waited.

All of a sudden two beings that came from nowhere-heavenly messengers beautiful and powerful stood by us and spoke up. I thought I would have a heart attack. They told us,

“Galileans why do you keep staring into heaven? This SAME JESUS that was taken up from you into heaven will come again back to earth in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

I was excited and sad. I missed him already.

THE 1 JOHN 1:9 CONTROVERSY 3: UNDERSTANDING FORGIVENESS

September 11, 2013February 8, 2016 / thesouldoctor / Leave a comment

There are days you can feel you are just learning things you thought you understood but I think humility should always be the product of good theology. Don’t you?

So once again lets go into 1 John 1:9. Now it is clear that from this passage that God meets the Christian at the point of their failure each and every time. he is never seeking to punish them for sins that he allowed Christ to be punished for-that would be what we call double jeopardy.

While our sins are already forgiven the UNDERSTANDING of that sin being forgiven must be illuminated to us TIME AND TIME AGAIN.

God in Christ always initiates HIS love acceptance and forgiveness and comes to us when we sin. forgiveness has been secured before our sin but it is secured by our faith and confession in the time of need (Heb. 4:16) or the time we need forgiveness. God will never refuse to forgive us or hold a grudge against us. It has always been his way (1 John 4:10). He makes sure that we know that there is no need for fig leaves borrowed from the “wallowing in guilt tree” when we have the robe of Christ’s righteousness. Our sins are already forgiven by the application of the sense of forgiveness and deliverance from its guilt are applied each and every time we confess.

The Christian has no problem immediately confessing his sin to God -confession means to know, account and yield to the truth that they are not only forgiven of all sins but they are dead to sin and that sin has been conquered at the foot of the cross (Rom. 6). That is why the Christian does not practice sin. They are called and empowered by the Holy Spirit to put off the old man and put on the new man.

A genuine believer hates sin and sees it as destructive to their life and others. Knowing the price Jesus paid for sin, Calvary love (agapao) is constantly before their eyes through the Holy Spirit who has poured the love of God (all the work of Jesus on Calvary) into their hearts (Rom 5:8). It is that love that gives them joy not to focus on sin but accept by faith the forgiveness already procured at Calvary for them.

While our sins are already forgiven, as we confess our sins we understand God’s forgiveness and God helps us to put sin out of our lives and overcome them.

This is my humble understanding of the subject so far.

THE 1 JOHN 1:9 CONTROVERSY 1: DEALING WITH GNOSTICS

September 11, 2013February 8, 2016 / thesouldoctor / 1 Comment

I am taking a stab at what has become the 1 John 1:9 controversy, so be patient with me, I am still learning.

The warp and woof of cults and false doctrine is to make a square peg fit into a round hole so scripture must be interpreted by scripture not by what we want it to mean. OK?

John was writing this to two groups: the Gnostics and Catholics (code for true Christians not Roman papists). Many of the creeds were written due to Gnostic heresies. We are not talking about Agnostics but Gnostics. An Agnostic is one who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God. The Gnostics believed in an elite knowledge that brought an individual a cosmic “awakening” not salvation from sin by Christ. But then again they are not sure how to define themselves! To understand Gnosticism, they say, “one needs something very much like a musical ear. Such a Gnostic “musical ear” is not come by easily. ”

Christians commit sin or sins. Big surprise. The Bible says so. But we confess our sin. We agree with God who have fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. Gnostics don’t homologeo or say the same thing that God says about the existence of sin in humans and in the world. Gnostics reject the law entirely or as they say, For man, the universe is a vast prison. He is enslaved both by the physical laws of nature and by such moral laws as the Mosaic code.

The Bible says you are a liar if you don’t see that sin is real. In fact, the Bible says you call God a liar if you don’t think so. The Gnostics were such liars. They do not believe man is spiritually dead in sin (Eph. 2:1) but they are in a state of stupefaction and need an some sort of “awakening” from this “stupid” semi-conscious or unconscious state-to knowledge of the universe and transcendence. Gnostics see no need for salvation or regeneration like the Bible teaches (John 3:3-8). They have no need for anything like faith or good works. They say, What effects the awakening is not obedience, faith, or good works, but knowledge.

But what does the Bible says about sin? It is breaking the law of God. “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” (1 John 3:4-6NIV).

Many who have rediscovered the gospel of grace face the false accusation of being antinomian or lawless. But those who study scripture realize that Christians do not mix the law and gospel for salvation. They understand like Luther, “The Law is for the proud and the Gospel for the brokenhearted.”

The law cannot save, no good works can satisfy God’s law which demands perfection. In fact the law crushes, “the sinner’s hopes of escaping God’s wrath through personal effort or even cooperation… first comes the law to proclaim judgment and death, then the gospel to proclaim justification and life.” (Bavnick).

BUSTED

June 17, 2013June 17, 2013 / thesouldoctor / Leave a comment

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Phil. 3:12).

I found this to be a fascinating verse.

The King James says that God “apprehended” Paul.

That word at first blush seems very strong to us, a word used in police work.

Was Paul was arrested, collared and even “busted” by God?

Well, having seen the actions of Saul of Tarsus now called Paul, this does not seem so far-fetched. Once, he thought he believed right and lived right-better than anyone he knew. But later, he described himself as the foremost of sinners on God’s most wanted list and an insolent opponent of the gospel of Christ (see 1 Tim 1:12-17).

Christ took hold of him right on the street as it were, not even in “church.” He was not a religious clone like so many today. He was saved by grace not human method’s. A light from heaven flashed and it incapacitated and blinded him (Acts 9). Jesus stopped him in his tracks wondering why Saul continued to persecuted HIM.

Paul was attempting to stop the gospel of Jesus and Jesus stopped him.

Thank God the religious right, or “progressive” left had no say in this! Paul at worst was not executed, nor thrown into prison or at best given community service. In fact, Paul would be God’s favored instrument, “to turn people from darkness to light and from Satan’s control to God’s.” (Acts 26:16).

Paul says that Christ took possession of him that day and made him his own. The word used for “take hold of” or “apprehend” is katalambanō and Thayer describes it as “Christ by his holy power and influence laying hold of the human mind and will, in order to prompt and govern it.”

That is an awesome description of salvation.

Salvation was the intervention of God and his kingdom in the human heart. Christ had to put the brakes on Saul’s deception that would have destroyed him. He dried up his religious momentum with one phrase, “I am Jesus!”

He was blinded to his deeds for God and confronted with Christ, by Christ. All his deeds all his religious beauty became pale, his pious strength drained from him, and his theological vigor disappeared and his ecclesiastical energy was gone (see Dan 10:8). He found nothing mattered to the one true God except the person and work of his beloved son, Jesus.

Some would be resistant (no pun intended) to this God being so enterprising in his saving grace. But the biblical understanding surely shows that God is eager to save us from our sins and give us eternal life. Salvation is found only in Christ.

The words “I am Jesus” are the words that bring light to the darkest of hearts and thank God today we are busted by his grace.

DEFINED AND CHISELED CREATIONISM

May 9, 2013May 9, 2013 / thesouldoctor / Leave a comment

“The Creator of heaven and earth”

This short article may give some offense, but I stopped attempting to ‘relate’ to unbelievers and started just giving them the Word. I recommend you do the same. Why? I like what Matt Slick says, “No matter how convincing the evidence or good the logic, an unbeliever cannot come to the faith because his fallen nature will distort how he perceives the truth. The only thing that can ultimately change him is regeneration.

People cannot believe the truth because they are dead spiritually. The Creator must give them new life before they can. That explains a lot.

God is our awesome Creator (Isa 40:28). The Bible insists in calling the world and the universe “creation” (Mk. 10:6; Rom. 1:20; Heb. 4:13). The things in the world were “created” (Ps. 148:5; Rom. 8:39). The Bible admonishes us to “remember our Creator” (Eccl. 12:1). We need our memories refreshed as we read the Bible and it shows God power to heal, restore, give life by referencing Creation. Isaiah says, “God, the LORD, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth…” (Isa. 42:6). And again, “For the LORD is God, and he created the heavens and earth and put everything in place. He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos. “I am the LORD,” he says, “and there is no other. (Isa. 45:18).

The young earth/Creationism doctrine is the result of the plain reading of the Bible. There is no room for any other interpretation and you cannot use the Bible to prove any form of evolution. There are so many idiotic moderates even in the church and they water down the gospel with the spittle of human philosophy. Evolution, plain and simple, is a great anti-Christ heresy, yet it stirred up lazy theologians and believing scientists to go back to scripture. Most apologetics come about that way.

So let me begin with this. For starters, you can only call yourself a Creationist if you believe:

In the existence of the Trinity-the God of the Christian Bible.
The Earth is only thousands not millions of years old.
God Created the Heavens and Earth in a literal six 24 hour days by his spoken word.
Adam and Eve were a literal couple, male and female and that is God’s model for spirituality and sexuality.

By the way, it seems that the things that get attacked most are the existence and nature of God, the age of the earth, the days of creation and the heterosexual model of marriage.

The World was created by God speaking it into existence. He exists and he creates. “For when he spoke, the world began! It appeared at his command.” (Psalm 33:9NLT). The entire universe owes its existence to God, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” (Heb. 11:3). We have already discussed the Bible’s and the creedal view of who God is and the great reward of believing in him and seeking him out in prayer (Heb. 11:6).

The Bible was created in six literal days. (Ex 20:11; 31:17). “If you think about it, an infinite Creator God could have created everything in no time. Why, then, did He take as long as six days? The answer is given in Exodus 20:11 Here we find that God tells us that He deliberately took six days and rested for one as a pattern for man—this is where the seven-day week comes from. The seven-day week has no basis for existing except from Scripture. If one believes that the days of creation are long periods of time, then the week becomes meaningless.”

God created Adam and Eve and “God made them male and female from the beginning of creation.” (Gen 1:27; 5:2; Mt. 19:4; Mk. 10:6). Marriage and sex was a gift from God to be shared among a man and woman in lifelong relationship of marriage. The account of Adam and Eve is not an allegory. It is not a fairytale. That was the way God made them. It is a defiance and rebellion against God to believe anything other because he made them in his image (Gen 1:26-27; Rom 1:21-25). It is idolatry of the worst kind for someone who claims to be a Christian to promote any other lifestyle. If you claim to be homosexual, you cannot use the Christian Bible to endorse your lifestyle. So stop doing it. Use some other book if you like. All that is being promoted today, let’s be honest, is all about politics and people who have perverted genuine sexuality and spirituality who want to build their own tower of Babel and be the pathetic gods of their own lives.

But that is yet another Bible account which explains much of what is happening today.

GRACE AND PEACE

April 30, 2013April 30, 2013 / thesouldoctor / Leave a comment

“The Maker of Heaven and Earth”

God is the Creator of the universe and he demonstrates two specific things: His Grace and Peace.

The book of Genesis is one of the most important books in the Bible because it introduces us to God as the Creator and well, like any book, many people go for the beginning chapters.

They read, “In the beginning God.”

Here they learn about God right out of the starting gate. Here God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are seen at work planning, speaking and active. God cares and is involved because he made everything. That says it all.

He is “the God of all grace.” (1 Pet 5:10). He is “the God of Peace” (1 Thess. 5:23). Grace and Peace kick off in the Bible and we should see that and talk about that to others. Believe in this God of grace and peace. When there was nothing and no one and what is now our planet was unformed and unfilled, the all-powerful Yahweh made all things. God brings his light and life. He monopolizes all goodness grace and peace.

God was not only involved but he was copious and meticulous in his actions. Creation seems so mysterious, people read about earth’s birthday more as a play by-play of the Creator’s actions all the time overlooking God’s creativity (Prov. 8). We see more of his muscle than his genius. His motive for creating all things was Jesus. “For through him God created everything and without him nothing was made that has been made (Col 1:16; John 1:3). He extends the gift of his Son by his grace. Grace is God’s detailed initiative to act in generosity and love. We are still discovering the wonders of creation that show us how caring and doting our Heavenly Father really is. We see he brings life where there is no life and when he does it is a spectrum of light. He fills all emptiness with his gifts and His presence. When he acts in grace, he is eager to show his goodness. His grace causes everything to multiply, it has endless variety and it is done with eagerness. When God made a paradise for men and women in which to live, He did so out of His lavish kindness, His grace. In fact, the book of Genesis gives the most used illustrations for grace by the prophets and apostles. Grace is all about God: His initiative, intervention and involvement. It shows the wisdom and understanding of his grace and how he enjoyed to plan ahead to save us, to shower down the wealth of His forgiveness and grace upon us bring us into his own family through Jesus.

With the close of the six days of the spectacular show of his power, he stopped creating. He made a day of rest. “His works have been finished since the creation of the world.” (Heb. 4:3). It was not just for ritual observance, for cessation of work does not mean one is at rest. A vacation can be more stressful than restful. Holy activity springs from being at rest in one’s relationship with God. Rest is seen right away as God takes one day and makes it holy. He sanctified it. “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and was refreshed.'” (Ex 31:17NLT). God has given us a new creation and that is the rule we walk by, not being propped up by religious do’s and don’ts. Paul says, “God’s peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God.” (Gal 6:16). Rest and refreshment are the inheritance of the child of God because of Jesus (Heb. 4). How does he do this? As the God of peace he sanctified us (1 Thess. 5:23) so we need not struggle for what we already are and have been given. The God of peace puts an end to confusion (1 Cor. 14:33) and through his peace he produces everything in us that is pleasing to him (Heb. 13:20-21). There are so many preachers teaching how people can attain rest, by doing this or that. However, the Bible says it is simply accomplished by believing what Jesus has said.

Let me finish up with a quote by Martin Luther, “Grace remits sin, and peace quiets the conscience. Sin and conscience torment us, but Christ has overcome these fiends now and forever. Only Christians possess this victorious knowledge given from above. These two terms, grace and peace, constitute Christianity. Grace involves the remission of sins, peace, and a happy conscience. Sin is not canceled by lawful living, for no person is able to live up to the Law. The Law reveals guilt, fills the conscience with terror, and drives men to despair. Much less is sin taken away by man-invented endeavors. The fact is, the more a person seeks credit for himself by his own efforts, the deeper he goes into debt. Nothing can take away sin except the grace of God. In actual living, however, it is not so easy to persuade oneself that by grace alone, in opposition to every other means, we obtain the forgiveness of our sins and peace with God.”

ALL POWERFUL

April 26, 2013April 30, 2013 / thesouldoctor / Leave a comment

“Almighty”

When we come such words we can only worship God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. John says, “Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd or the roar of mighty ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder: “Praise the LORD! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.” (Rev. 19:6).

God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost is ultimate uniqueness and there is none like Him. He is the A to Z, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending of totality. He is the Trinity three in One. One God, not three. He has control of everything natural and supernatural. He is absolutely invincible. He cannot be cannot be stopped or reversed.

Yahweh, God is invincible, in every sense and aspect such as strength, speed and intellect. He is beyond cause and effect, logic and reason, and can make anything happen without limits and imagination.

El Shaddai, rules all things. He handles any situation. He has all-incredible skill and wisdom. He creates anything and everything from nothing. He is self existent and self sufficient.

The one God the Bible declares, exists outside of everything and yet is concerned with even the smallest thing. He knows no bounds. He is immutable and immune to change. He is everywhere, at once, at all times. He knows everything and anything and has full comprehension of the the smallest quark to the immense universe and eternity.

He manipulates and creates concepts, shapes and destroy all forces. He can create or erase life all at once. He is beyond life and death. He is immortal. He brings everything back to its original state. He renews all things. He controls the extent of existence itself. He is totally unstoppable. It is amazing how there is a certain sense in the Apostles Creed of not only defense of the faith but holy defiance in these words against those who would attempt to make the Christian God less than He is or compare him to false gods of pagan religions.

Arthur Pink says, It is very beautiful to link together the following passages: “He walketh upon the waves of the sea” (Job 9:8), which expresses God’s uncontrollable power. “He walketh in the circuit of Heaven” (Job 22:14), which tells of the immensity of His presence. “He walketh upon the wings of the wind” (Ps. 104:3), which signifies the amazing swiftness of His operations. This last expression is very remarkable. It is not that “He flieth,” or “runneth,” but that He “walketh” and that, on the very “wings of the wind”—on the most impetuous of the elements, tossed into utmost rage, and sweeping along with almost inconceivable rapidity, yet they are under His feet, beneath His perfect control!”

GOD, THE ULTIMATE MALE

April 25, 2013April 25, 2013 / thesouldoctor / Leave a comment

“God the Father”

GOD is the ultimate male the Bible uses the terms “he” or “him” to refer to God. God is NOT seen in terms of female at any time and there is no generic Deity as well. This idea was not the invention of man, nor a preferred translation, it is a revelation of God.

I read that the word Father is from the Greek root Pater (where we get the word patriarchal) which means one who supports, nourishes and protects. In God’s created order, the father is the head of the household and demonstrates a likeness to that of God the Father over his creation and love for his family. When it comes to salvation everyone is equal male and female but this structure has not changed and the patriarchal template cannot be distorted by liberal theology. It is a great infidelity and heresy to call God “mother” or “goddess.”

God the first person of the Trinity was always the Father. In the accounts of Jesus Christ in the gospels God is seen as the Eternal Father, first person of the Trinity. James Orr says,

“To reach the heart of the truth of the Divine Fatherhood it is necessary to begin, not with man, but with the Godhead itself, in whose eternal depths is found the spring of that Fatherly love that reveals itself in time. It is first of all in relation to the eternal Son-before all time-that the meaning of Fatherhood in God is made clear (John 1:18).”

He is Father to the world like an inventor only in a way where he made all things out of nothing. But think of this: it was through the eternal Son of God, that God secured our souls salvation and changed our status from illegal aliens to dearly loved family.

We should ask, “Did God have to have us as children to be called “Father”? Is it because he is the Creator and cares for all his creation?”

The answer is a definite, “No.”

It is because He has always had a Son, Jesus, the eternal Son of God. This is the beauty of the Trinity. He is the Eternal, Heavenly Father. Christ offers us through his blood, the status and relationship he enjoyed with God before the universe began.

I must say that although is through Christ as a mediator we have been brought into relationship with God, the Father has always loved us with the love he has for his Son in his sovereignty and good pleasure (Eph. 1:4). Jesus says now, “The Father himself loves you dearly because you love me and believe that I came from God.” (John 16:27).

Soul Health Care

Proclaiming Christ as the Great Physician of the Soul

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