MAX KLEIN BIBLE MINISTRIES
The Seven Baptisms
Written by: Max Klein
Baptism means identification or association:
Introduction:
1. This meaning began in Homer's time. Homer wrote of the one-eyed giant, Cyclops who had trapped Ulysses and his men in a cave and was eating them one at a time. The ingenious Ulysses devised a plan. He had his men sharpen a large log and together they rammed this log into the eye of the one-eyed Cyclops rendering him blind. They identified (baptized) the sharpened log with Cyclops’ eye which changed Cyclops from a seeing giant to a blind giant. Having blinded the Cyclops, they were able to maneuver their way out of the cave. Another example by Homer: Homer's Odyssey, book 9, used baptism for hot metal identified (baptized) with water when a smith dipped a piece of hot iron into water. This is how a blacksmith would temper swords in the ancient world. After this identification, the sword was made stronger and so less likely to bend.
2. Xenophon said that the Spartan military recruits after finishing infantry training would identify (baptize) their spears with pig’s blood. They would run by a barrel of pig’s blood and thrust their spears into this blood. This ritual, identified their spears with killing and the soldier’s readiness for combat with the enemy.
3. Euripides used the word for a ship identified with the bottom of the sea when it sank. Before sinking, the ship was valuable; after sinking it had no value at all.
4. So "baptize" in the classical Greek meant to identify one thing with another so that the characteristics of the original thing were altered. Therefore, the interpretation of the word "baptism" is identification with something that brings about a change.
5. There are a number of cognates related to this Greek word such as bapto, baptizo, baptisma, baptismos, baptistes, and embapto. A few examples follow:
6. John 13:26, “Jesus then answered, ‘That is the one for whom, I shall dip [the future of the Greek word bapto] the morsel and give it to him. So, when he had dipped [the aorist participle of bapto; the sop now takes on a new meaning that of honor] the sop [the morsel], He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.”
To give someone a sop [a special bit of food usually a piece of bread or meat with a tasty sauce] was the highest honor of a banquet. At a banquet a special piece of bread or meat was prepared along with a special sauce for the guest of honor who would then honor someone by giving it to that person. Jesus as the guest of honor took this sop and dipped it into a special sauce and gave it to Judas. In this way, the Lord Jesus Christ honored Judas as a member of the family of God, and for his ministry as an apostle to the Lost Sheep of Israel. This honor should have given Judas second thoughts regarding his plan to betray Jesus to the Sanhedrin.
7. Matthew 3:7, “but when he [John the Baptizer] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism [identification: the Greek word baptisma], he said to them, “You brood of vipers [poisonous snakes], who warned you to flee from the wrath to come [Baptism of Fire: identification with the fire of Torments and then the Lake of Fire]?”
8. Hebrews 6:1-2, “Therefore, leaving behind the elementary teaching about Christ, let us advance to maturity, not laying again the foundation [of the basics such as]: a change of thinking about dead works [just as an unbeliever must have a change of mind about Christ to obtain salvation, so the believer must have a change of mind about legalism (dead works) in order to obtain the spiritual life], and of faith toward God [Faith-Rest Drill], (2) doctrine of baptisms [the Greek word baptismos; a reference to the seven types of baptism as found in Scripture] as well as the laying on of hands [ritual rebound in the age of Israel], and of resurrection from the dead, and of eternal judgment [the Great White Throne Judgment].
9. Matthew 3:1, “In those days John the Baptizer [the Greek word baptistes; when John baptized someone into the Jordan River, the converts were identified with the plan of God and his kingdom.] came proclaiming [as a herald] in the desert of Judea.”
There are two categories of identification in Scripture namely an actual identification or a real baptism and a representative identification or a ritual baptism which uses water.
The four real or actual identifications with something that has significance.
1. The Baptism of Moses: 1 Corinthians 10:1-2 presents the baptism of Moses, "For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; (2) and all were baptized [the Greek word baptizo] into Moses in the cloud [the Lord] and in the sea." This was a real identification in which Moses was identified with the Lord and the open path through the Red Sea and the Jews were identified with Moses. By the way, none of the Jews got wet, only Egyptian unbelievers who were immersed in the water as a means of death.
2. The Baptism of the Cross is found in Matthew 20:22, “But Jesus answered [Salome by addressing her sons] and said, “You [plural: a reference to James and John] do not know what you [James and John] ask. Are you [James and John] able to drink of the cup [bear the punishment of all the sins of the world] that I am about to drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism [the sins of the world identified with Christ followed by the Father judging them] that I am baptized with [identified with]?” They [James and John] said to Him, “We are able. [the dumbest statement that James and John ever made]” [I selected the longer text as did Jerome.]
3. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Retroactive Positional Truth and Current Positional Truth) occurs at salvation for Church Age believers only.
Colossians 2:12. Having been buried [aorist participle] with Him [Jesus Christ] by means of the baptism [God the Holy Spirit identified us with the burial of Jesus Christ as part of our salvation] by means of which [Baptism] you have been raised up [main verb] with Him [in union with Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of the Father] through faith [at the point of salvation] in the operational power from the source of God who has raised Him [the humanity of Christ was given a resurrection body] out from the dead [physical death].
Romans 6:3-9:
Romans 6:3: Or do you not know that all of us who [a correlative] have been baptized into [identified with] Christ Jesus [Current Positional Sanctification: we are in union with Christ in his life in heaven], have been baptized into His death [Retroactive Positional Truth and so identified with his substitutionary spiritual death on the cross]?
Positionally, (in union with Christ) we share His righteousness, heirship, priesthood, destiny, election, eternal life, royalty, sonship etc. All these making us a new spiritual species in Christ Jesus. The plural correlative hosoi (ὅσοι) means that if we were identified with Christ in heaven and we were, then also we have been identified with Christ in his substitutionary spiritual death in which he removed the power of sin nature. Thus, the sin nature should not have power over our lives.
A few more points will be noted:
1. Note that the baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation enters the believer into union with Christ at the right hand of God the Father which union is called current positional truth.
2. This verse also mentions identification with Christ in His spiritual death on the cross which identification theologians call retroactive positional truth. Retroactive positional truth also includes identification with Christ in His physical death and burial as well.
3. Identification with Christ in His death, then, has a two-fold connotation namely all personal sins were judged at the cross and since that is the case, God the Father is free to provide in grace, the Recovery Procedure. The second connotation is that good and evil were rejected by Jesus on the cross since good and evil are a part of Satan’s policy and plan. On the cross, Jesus relied on the proto-type spiritual life which operated under the two power options namely God’s power system.
4. So, the old sin nature’s ruling power over the Christian has been broken since all sins were judged on the cross and the Recovery Procedure has been provided. So, Retroactive Positional Truth has destroyed the sovereignty of the old sin nature over the life of the Christian.
5. Also, since Jesus rejected the good and evil policy of Satan so should the believer reject Satan’s policy of good and evil as the believer applies Retroactive Positional Truth.
Romans 6:4: Therefore, we have been buried together with Him through the identification [Baptism of the Spirit] into His death [physical], in order that just as Christ has been raised up from the dead [on Resurrection Sunday], through the glory of the Father [through the Father’s power], [So also we, the dead in Christ, will be raised from the dead by the power of the Father, and those alive at the Rapture, by the power of the Holy Spirit.] in this manner we also might walk in newness of life [Experiential sanctification should reflect our future ultimate sanctification.].
Christ had to die physically “and Jesus having shouted clearly with a loud voice said, Father, into your hands I deposit my [human] spirit, and having said this, he exhaled” (Luke 23:46). This last exhale caused His soul and spirit to depart from his mortal body resulting in physical death. Just as Christ had to die physically in order to obtain his resurrection body, so we must depart from our body of corruption, or mortality in order to receive our eternal body called our resurrection body.
The Newness of Life:
1. The newness of life provided through the baptism of the Spirit includes positional freedom from producing good and evil. Not only are we free from the tyranny of good and evil but we are also free from having to produce good and evil.
2. The believer has no obligation to improve the devil’s world through social action, socialism, welfare state, communism, environmentalism, or any social gospel, social action, getting involved, etc.
3. The human race is protected from Satan’s policy of good and evil through the laws of divine establishment which promote freedom instead of improvement at the cost of freedom.
4. In addition to the Laws of Divine Establishment the believer is insulated from good and evil positionally through the baptism of the Spirit.
5. Divorced from the Old Sin Nature positionally and its useless activity of human good and the function of evil, the life of the believer can be devoted to glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ through maximum knowledge and application of Bible doctrine.
Romans 6:5: For if we have become united with Him [Christ, the new husband] in the likeness of His death [the substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross], and we have, and not only this, but also, we shall be [united in the likeness] of His resurrection [Current Positional Truth: in union with the resurrected Christ].
Romans 6:6: Be knowing this [through Retroactive Positional Truth], that our old man [our former husband, the sin nature dates back to the Garden] has been crucified together [with Him], in order that the [human] body, with reference to its sin nature, [the sin nature located in the body] might be rendered powerless [when we use Recovery Procedure and the two power options], that we should no longer be slaves to the sin nature.
“Our old man has been crucified with Him” meaning that the power of the sin nature has been broken on the cross. Since the power of the sin nature was broken by the work of the cross, we as believers have no excuse for not executing the spiritual life. We will not be able to say to Christ at our evaluation that our sin nature was too powerful for us to execute the spiritual life.
A few points for further clarification:
1. Retroactive positional truth is that phase of the baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation which identifies the believer with Christ in His spiritual death, physical death and his burial.
2. In the substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross all the personal sins in human history were imputed to Christ, but at the same time the other two trends of the old sin nature were not imputed for judgment.
3. Good and evil is the policy of Satan as the ruler of this world and the function of the old sin nature as the sovereign of human life. In fact, the sin nature functions as the agent of Satan.
4. Good and evil were not imputed for judgment on the cross. Hence, in the spiritual death of Christ on the cross they were rejected to remain an issue in the angelic conflict, rejected to be perpetuated in human history as an issue every believer must face, and either overcome through the intake of doctrine or be entrapped by ignorance of doctrine and therefore lose out in glorifying God in time.
5. We are identified with Christ in His spiritual death, which means that we must understand that our sins have been judged and that good and evil has been rejected.
6. It all adds up to the fact that the sovereignty of the old sin nature over human life has been made powerless through retroactive positional truth.
7. The imputation of all personal sins of the human race to Christ on the cross means that the believer through the rebound technique is instantly forgiven sins, cleansed from all wrong doing which includes Satanic good and evil, restored to fellowship and filled with the Spirit.
Romans 6:7: For we who have died [the Christian is identified with the substitutionary spiritual death of Christ: theologically called Retroactive Positional Truth] have been acquitted [positional deliverance] from [the power of] the sin nature.
A few points for further clarification:
1. A dead person is discharged from the obligations of his former sphere of life. This is why the word “death” is used in this context. It is not a literal, physical death we are discussing but identification with Christ in His death.
2. As unbelievers we were under the authority of Satan as the ruler of this world, and under the authority of the old sin nature as the sovereign of human life.
3. Both the power of Satan and the old sin nature have been abrogated through the baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation.
4. This passage, then, emphasizes the annulling of the power and the authority of the old sin nature as the sovereign of human life.
5. Positionally, the power of the sin nature has been broken. Experientially, the old sin nature controls to the extent that we fail to understand and utilize the provision and support of logistical grace.
Romans 6:8: Now if we have died with Christ, and we have [retroactive positional truth], we also believe that we shall live in association with Him [the instrumental of association; a reference to Current Positional Truth].
In this verse, the 1st Class conditional sentence shows the relationship between Retroactive Positional Truth with Current Positional Truth. The protasis, the ‘if’ clause states the reality of Retroactive Positional Truth and the apodosis, the concluding clause states the doctrinal inference and the reality of Current Positional Truth. While Retroactive Positional Truth presents positional rejection and separation from good and evil as the policy of Satan and the function of the old sin nature, Current Positional Truth relates the believer to the function of the royal family of God. In other words, they have separate functions.
Romans 6:9: Knowing that because Christ has been raised from the dead [He received a resurrection body], no longer can He die; [physical] death is no longer a master over Him.
Analysis:
1. Retroactive positional truth destroys the sovereign authority of the old sin nature over human life. Current positional truth, on the other hand, destroys the limited authority of physical death in human life.
2. Instead of being ruled by the old sin nature located in the cells of the human body and influencing our souls toward sin, good and evil, we now have a new sovereign, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are identified with Him in His deaths, in His burial, resurrection, ascension and session.
3. Before salvation and the baptism of the Holy Spirit our lives were under the absolute rule of Satan who is the ruler of this world and under the rule of the old sin nature which is the ruler of life, and under the limited rule of physical death. All of that, of course, has been changed since salvation.
4. Now both retroactive and current positional truth have abrogated the authority and power of these former rulers. The power of Satan over our lives has been broken through identification with the rejection of good and evil namely Satan’s policy and plan and through our position in union with Christ. The power of the old sin nature is broken through retroactive positional truth and the power of physical death is broken through current positional truth.
5. Therefore, having studied these things by principle and by implication we are now ready for application, verses 12 & 13 specifically.
6. Having been positionally liberated from the sovereignty of the old sin nature as an absolute ruler, and the authority of physical death, we must recognise and apply doctrine for the experiential victory commanded in verses 11-13.
Galatians 3:25-28, “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under the authority of [have need of] a school bus. (26) For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (27) For all of you who were baptized into Christ [identified with Christ through union with Him] have clothed yourselves with Christ. (28) There is neither Jew nor Greek [no racial distinction], there is neither slave nor free man [no social or economic distinction], there is neither male nor female [no gender distinction]; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [All Christians have the same privileges and opportunities to execute the spiritual life.]”
Current Positional Truth, Elaborated:
In the Church Age, Current Positional Truth establishes our relationship with Christ as opposed to religion. It refers to the Church Age believer in union with Christ and is the key to understanding the Church Age and how the royal family came into being. Therefore, it is the basis for distinguishing between Christianity and religion. Christianity is a relationship with God without merit whereas religion is a system of works to gain the approbation of God. Never shall the twain meet!
The mechanics of Current Positional Truth is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, whereby the Spirit enters us into union with Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For also by agency of the one Spirit we are all baptized [identification resulting in becoming a new spiritual species] into one body [in union with Christ], whether Jews or Greeks [racial distinctions are removed], whether slave or free [class and economic distinctions are removed], even all were made to drink [the aorist passive, the voice of grace] the one Spirit [The Holy Spirit did not ask us whether we wanted to be put into union with Christ or not.].” Ephesians 4:5, “One Lord [becomes our Lord positionally at Salvation]), one faith [faith alone in Christ alone; Acts 16:31], one baptism [Baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place at salvation].”
Current Positional truth guarantees that there will be no judgment for believers in eternity, Romans 8:1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Thus, the condemnation which occurred at the first birth was removed at the 2nd birth. As a result of being born with the sin nature and the imputation of Adam’s Original Sin, we were condemned to the Lake of Fire for all eternity, but now that has been removed. Romans 5:12, “For this reason just as through one man [Adam] the sin [nature] entered into the world [procreation], and so spiritual death through the sin [the imputation of Adam’s Original Sin to the sin nature], and so spiritual death spread to all mankind, because all sinned when Adam sinned [since we were all genetically in Adam when he sinned, we will receive Adam’s Original Sin].” However, at our spiritual birth, the 2nd birth, our pre-salvation sins were all forgiven including Adam’s Original Sin. After which, the Spirit entered us into union with Christ where there is now no condemnation (Romans 8:1).
Current Positional truth qualifies the believer to live with God forever. To live with God forever, the believer must have eternal life and God’s perfect righteousness, 1 John 5:11-12, “And this is the deposition [testimony] that the God [the Father] has given to us, eternal life, and this life is in his son [Since we are in union with Christ, we share this life.]. (12) and he who has the son [a relationship with the Son] has the life [eternal life] and the one who does not have the son of God [relationship with the Son] does not have the life [eternal life].” 2 Corinthians 5:21, “And He [the Father] made Him who knew no sin [perfection] to be a sin offering [imputation of sins on the cross] as a substitute for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [current positional truth].” To live with God forever means you must have His life, and you must be as righteous as He is.
Positional truth guarantees the believer’s eternal security, Romans 8:38-39, “For I am persuaded that neither death [nothing in death] nor life [nothing in life] nor angels nor principalities [ruling angels] nor powers [human organizations] nor things present nor things to come (39) nor height [nothing in heaven] nor depth [nothing in Hades] nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Eternal life in Christ is for all eternity!
Positional truth belongs to all categories of believers whether they be apostate, mature, immature, spiritually adult, or carnal. Since Current Positional Truth occurs at the point of salvation before experience in the Christian life begins, it doesn’t depend on that experience. 1 Corinthians 1:2, “to the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus [at salvation], called saints together with all who call upon the person of Our Lord Jesus Christ, their [Lord] and ours.” So, even though you may be carnal or in reversionism, you still have positional truth. Being in union with Christ has nothing to do with what you do [experiential righteousness], or don’t do [failure to execute God’s plan]. Current Positional sanctification is completely the work of God the Holy Spirit and so is not based upon our volition, but on the sovereign decision of God. We make the decision to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but we don’t make the decision to enter into union with Christ “all were made to drink the one Spirit” as per 1 Corinthians 12:13. God the Holy Spirit graciously did that for us and so it cannot be undone.
Current Positional truth creates a new spiritual species in Christ as per 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ and he is, he is a new spiritual species. The old things have lost their power; behold, new things have come to pass.” You become a new spiritual species at salvation by being put into union with Christ. It is what God does for you, and therefore it is grace. It is not what you do after salvation, such as the self-righteous works of legalism. The “old things” have to do with spiritual death and those things related to that death; the “new things” refer to things you receive at salvation such as the 40 assets and the unique spiritual life.
Positional truth should motivate the production of divine good and a pattern of life compatible with royalty as per Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his creation, having been created in Christ Jesus [a new spiritual species with many assets] for the purpose of divine good production [via experiential sanctification] which the God [the Father] has prepared in advance [in eternity past, God the Father provided election and predestination as part of our Portfolio of Invisible Assets], that we in the sphere of them [election and predestination] may pattern our lives.”
Even though a Christian may die the Sin on to Death, he will not lose his position in union with Christ (1 John 5:18-20), and so cannot lose his salvation. In order for a believer to lose his position in Christ, he would have to sin in that status, but since the believer cannot sin in union with Christ, he cannot lose his position in Christ and so cannot lose his salvation. Thus, it is comforting and reassuring to a believer to know that even though a loved one may have died the ‘sin on to death’, he has not lost his salvation.
Because we are in union with Christ, we share His:
1. Eternal life, 1 John 5:11, “And this is the deposition [testimony] that the God [the Father] has given to us, eternal life [At salvation, God the Father imputes this life to the human spirit], and this life is in his son [The Christian also shares the life of Christ through union with Him]. (12) and he who has the son [a relationship with the Son] has the life [eternal life] and the one who does not have the son of God [relationship with the Son] does not have the life [eternal life].”
John 14:6, “Jesus said to him [Thomas], ‘I am the way, the truth and the life [eternal life]; no person [in human history] comes face to face with the Father [having an eternal relationship with the Father] except through Me.’”
2. Perfect righteousness, 2 Corinthians 5:21, “And he (God the Father) made him [Jesus] who knew no sin (perfection) to be a sin offering as a substitute for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him [positional truth]. Sharing the righteousness of Christ, we become the objects of God the Father’s love as per Romans 8:39.
3. Election, Ephesians 1:4, “just as He [the Father] has elected us for Himself in Him [Jesus Christ] before the creation of the world [in eternity past], that we may be set apart [experiential sanctification] and blameless [ultimate sanctification] in the presence of Him [Father].”
4. Destiny, Ephesians 1:5, “By means of love, He has predestined us for the purpose of adoption as adult sons to Himself through Christ Jesus our Lord according to the grace purpose of His will.”
5. Sonship, Galatians 3:26, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”
6. Heirship, Romans 8:16-17, “The Spirit Himself testifies together [bears witness] with our [human] spirit, that we are the children of God. (17) Now, if we are children and we are, also heirs, on the one hand heirs of God [the Father], and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed [if it is true that], we suffer with Him [pass all three stages of undeserved suffering], that also we might be glorified with Christ.”
7. Sanctification, 1 Corinthians 1:2, “to the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints together with all who call upon the person of Our Lord Jesus Christ, their [Lord] and ours.”
8. Priesthood, Hebrews 7:12-19, “For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change in the Law also. (13) For the One [the Lord Jesus Christ] concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe [the tribe of Judah] from which no one has officiated at the altar. (14) For it is evident that our Lord has descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests, (15) and this is clearer still, if another priest arises similar to Melchizedek, and there has, (16) who has become a priest not on the basis of physical requirement [a reference to the Levitical Priesthood] but on the basis of indestructible life [the Lord’s priesthood is forever]. (17) For this reason, it is witnessed, ‘You are a priest forever similar to the order of Melchizedek.’” [We are in union with Christ. Therefore, we are royalty and priests forever. We represent ourselves before God as royal priests.] (18) For, on the one hand, there is a rescinding of the former commandment [the Mosaic Law that authorized the Levitical priesthood] because of its weakness and uselessness (19) (for the Law brought nothing to completion), but on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope [the second door of hope for the Church Age believer—a personal sense of destiny—by which we enter the adult spiritual life] through which we draw near to God.”
Hebrews 7:26-28, “For it is fitting that we should have such a high priest, impeccable integrity, the One who cannot do evil, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; (27) Who does not need daily, like those Levitical priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for their own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He [Jesus] offered up Himself. (28) For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of His [God the Father’s] oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, who has become perfect forever [Jesus Christ is a perfect high priest].”
9. Royalty, 1 Peter 2:9, “ But you and only you are an elect [elect by God the Father] race [as a new spiritual species], a royal priesthood [since Jesus is a king-priest], a holy nation [God’s entity: a nation of priests: every Christian is a priest], a people for God’s own possession [a protected people], so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him [Christ] who has called [in eternity past] you out of darkness [spiritual death and the Cosmic Systems] into His amazing light [his plan];”
10. New Spiritual Species, 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ and he is, he is a new spiritual species. The old things have lost their power [Old Covenant]; behold, new things have come to pass [This would include the New Covenant to the Church.].”
Current Positional Truth changes our relationship with Angels.
1. Through current positional truth the believer is higher than angels positionally.
2. Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, and so superior to all angels. By virtue of being in union with Christ, every believer is now positionally superior to angels.
3. Positional truth has fulfilled the believer’s triumph with Christ in the angelic conflict. We are victorious with Him already.
4. Furthermore, positional truth demands compatibility with experiential righteousness. Therefore, the believer’s walk on this earth must be compatible with positional truth since we have perfect security in Christ, we have the freedom to choose for Jesus Christ, to love Jesus Christ, to respond to His love, and to fulfill our purpose on this earth.
What positional truth is not?
1. It is not an experience, emotions or ecstasies.
2. It is not progressive; it cannot be improved in time or eternity.
3. It is not related to human merit or ability.
4. It cannot be changed by God, man or angels. It is eternal in nature.
5. It is not obtained gradually as you grow in grace, but in toto at salvation.
6. It is not known apart from the metabolization of doctrine.
7. From understanding the doctrine of positional truth, we progress in our spiritual life, but we cannot improve it since it is perfect at salvation.
8. We are not in Christ because of what we do (execution of the spiritual life) or fail to do (fail to execute the spiritual life), but because of what God has done.
A few points of explanation:
1. The conclusion from positional truth, whether retroactive or current, is that the Christian must apply these doctrines to his spiritual life.
2. In Romans 7:1-4 where we have an illustration of a woman whose first husband has died freeing her to marry another. This is what actually happens to us as believers at salvation. The old sin nature is the husband up to the point of salvation, but at the moment we believe in Jesus Christ positionally the sin nature is dead, as it were, the first husband has died and we have a new husband through union with Christ. Retroactive Positional Truth removes our first husband, the sin nature whereas Current Positional Truth enters us into union with Christ, our new husband.
3. The old sin nature-husband is still around, still seeking to regain his control over his former wife, the believer. But union with the second husband, the Lord Jesus Christ, has broken the first husband’s authority over the former wife.
4. The Baptism of Fire:
Matthew 3:11, “On the one hand I [John the Baptizer] baptize you [believers] by means of water because of a change of thinking [about Christ], but the one coming after me is mightier than I whose sandals I am not worthy to lace [loosen, remove]. He himself will baptize by means of the Holy Spirit [a reference to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in the Church Age] and by means of fire [a reference to the Baptism of Fire at the 2nd Advent].”
Baptism of Fire: The baptism of fire (identification with fire) is defined as the judgment of unbelievers both Jew and gentile at the Second Advent. They will be removed from the earth and placed in fire for 1000 years until the Last Judgment, Luke 3:16-17; Mathew 25:31, 33. The analogy to the Baptism of Fire is found in Matthew 24:36-41. The one left in the field is the mature believer; the one taken is the unbeliever.
Parables of the Baptism of Fire:
1. The wheat and the tares (the unbelievers), Matthew 13:24-30, 36-40.
2. The good and bad fish (unbelievers), Matthew 13:47-50.
3. The ten virgins: five wise, five foolish (the unbelievers), Matthew 25:1-13.
4. The sheep and the goats (the unbelievers), Mathew 25:31-46.
5. The talent test, Matthew 25:14-30. The one talent man represents the unbeliever.
If Jesus Christ had not been rejected by the Jewish people, then the age of Israel would have continued until its completion (the Tribulation completes the age of Israel). (However, they did reject Jesus Christ as Savior and Messiah and so the client nation was destroyed, and the Church age was intercalated that is inserted before the age of Israel was complete.) After the completion of the age of Israel at the end of the Tribulation, comes the wrath of God namely the Baptism of Fire when the Lord removes both Jewish and gentile unbelievers from the earth and identifies them with fire forever. After which, the Millennial reign begins.
The Three Ritual Baptisms. None are extant at the present time. They are representative identifications in which water is used as a training aid to represent some principle of doctrine.
1. The Baptism of John is found in Matthew 3:2-6, “Saying, ‘Change your thinking [regarding Christ] for the kingdom of heaven is near.’ [The future king was already on the earth] (3) For this is what was communicated through Isaiah, the prophet saying, ‘The voice of one [John the Baptizer] proclaiming loudly in the desert [of Judea]. Prepare [the aorist tense is a one time-decision] the way of the Lord [an idiomatic expression for salvation]. Keep on making upright [the use of the Recovery Procedure followed by the development of experiential righteousness] His paths!’ (Isaiah 40:3) (4) Now, John himself kept on having a garment of camel’s hair [very uncomfortable] and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. (5) Then [after John went where God wanted him to be] Jerusalem kept on going out to him [face to face] and all Judea and all the districts around the Jordan. (6) and they were being baptized [identified with the kingdom] by him [under John’s authority] in the Jordan River [where Israel crossed when they entered the land], and they kept on confessing their sins [post-salvation confession of sins].”
MAX KLEIN BIBLE MINISTRIES
First Corinthians Chapter Eleven
A verse-by-verse commentary by Max Klein
Let us bow our heads; If we need to use the Recovery Procedure as found in 1 John 1:9, let us do so at this time that we might be in fellowship. (pause) Father, we thank you for the privilege and opportunity to study your word and for the freedom that you have provided for us here in Corpus Christi, Texas, U.S.A.; furthermore, we express our appreciation to God the Holy Spirit who will enlighten us regarding the message this morning. We as priests pray this through the person of our Lord Christ Jesus, our High Priest, Amen.
1 Corinthians 11:1
Be imitators of me, just as I also am [an imitator of the humanity of Christ as he fulfilled the Prototype Spiritual Life] of Christ.
µιµηταί µου γίνεσθε, καθὼς κἀγὼ Χριστοῦ.
A few succinct points:
1. Whenever Paul got out of fellowship with the Spirit, he would immediately use the Recovery Procedure.
2. Paul learned and applied the mystery doctrines of the Church Age.
3. As Paul studied the Prototype spiritual life of Christ, Christ became his role model.
Spirituality:
Definition and Description.
1. Contradictions cannot exist in the Protocol Plan of God for the Church. God is perfect; His plan is perfect. The problem is that we are imperfect. Being imperfect, we need something from God so that we can execute His perfect plan.
2. Therefore, the grace of God has provided two blessings to eliminate these contradictions namely the Filling of the Holy Spirit and the Mystery Doctrines of the Church Age.
3. All contradictions to the spiritual life are the result of negative volition in three categories: sin, parlaying human good into dead works, and parlaying good works into evil.
4. Sin, good, and evil are produced outside the Operational Type Spiritual Life, God’s power system. Operating within God’s power system, the believer is controlled by the Holy Spirit under the concept of Ephesians 5:18, “keep on being filled with the Spirit.”
5. Spirituality is the term used for the “Filling of the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, when we are in a state of sin, performing human good, or performing evil, we are not spiritual. We are outside of God’s power system with the sin nature in control of the soul.
6. The Filling of the Holy Spirit (or spirituality) is an absolute. Either the believer is controlled by the sin nature or by the Holy Spirit. Spirituality and carnality are mutually exclusive. Therefore, spirituality and carnality are absolutes in the Christian way of life, 1 John 1:6-7, “If we [Christians] say that we have fellowship with him [God the Holy Spirit] and yet we walk in darkness [in Satan’s system], we [the Christians out of fellowship] lie and, we do not apply [live] the truth. (7) If we walk in the light [learn and metabolize the Word under the Filling of the Holy Spirit] as he is [historical present] in the light [the humanity of Jesus Christ remained under the Filling of the Holy Spirit during his 33 years on the earth], we [Christians in fellowship with God the Holy Spirit] have fellowship with each other and the blood of Jesus, his son [the blood has to do with the Levitical sacrifices which portrayed the work of Jesus Christ on the cross: Redemption, Propitiation, Reconciliation] purifies us [namely our souls when we use the Recovery Procedure] from every failure [In addition to the meaning of sin, Hamartia also has the meaning of failure which includes not only sin, but wrong doing, everything the Christian produces when he is out of fellowship.].”
7. The absolute concept of the Christian life (spirituality) begins at the moment of salvation. At the moment we believe in Christ we are Filled with the Holy Spirit and enter into God’s power system. So, you cannot say that someone in fellowship is more spiritual than someone else in fellowship since any believer who is filled with the Spirit is filled as much as any other believer.
8. The relative concept of the Christian life is based on growth from perception of Bible doctrine, or lack of growth from ignorance of Bible doctrine. Spiritual growth is the relative concept of the Christian life. You can be a baby Christian, an adolescent believer or a mature Christian.
9. If we are filled with the Spirit at salvation, then why are we commanded to be filled with the Spirit as per Ephesians 5:18? Because the first time we sin after salvation, we lose the Filling of the Holy Spirit. In the status of post-salvation sinning, God the Holy Spirit still indwells our body, but He does not control our life. The Filling of the Holy Spirit is recovered through the function of the Recovery Procedure as per 1 John 1:9.
10. What is the purpose of the Filling of the Holy Spirit? Perception of Bible doctrine, execution of the Protocol Plan of God, and glorification of God as an invisible hero.
11. Why is the Holy Spirit given to every believer? Cognition of Bible doctrine and the execution of the Protocol plan are impossible with human IQ, even though a person may be genius. No one can understand the Mystery Doctrines apart from the Filling of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit provides the divine omnipotence, the divine IQ, the enabling power to understand these doctrines.
12. Are there degrees of spirituality? No. The Filling of the Spirit is an absolute state. You are either Filled with the Spirit or carnal. The Filling of the Spirit and carnality are mutually exclusive.
13. What is the relative concept of the Christian life? Cognition and inculcation of Bible doctrine which results in the various stages of growth.
14. Does the carnal believer or believer in Christian degeneracy lose his salvation? No. The forty things God gives to every believer at salvation can never be cancelled by the failure of the believer with the exception of the Filling of the Spirit.
15. The spiritual believer imitates the humanity of Christ in the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union. 2 Corinthians 3:3, “Being manifested [to people and angels] that you are a letter from Christ [the Christian imitating the humanity of Christ], having been ministered to by us [Paul and his team]; therefore, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tables of stone but on the tablets of the human heart [stream of consciousness].” Ephesians 5:1, “Therefore [a transitional particle: as a result of Ephesians 4:17-32; which dealt with arrogant preoccupation with self and others], become [believers involved in subjective arrogance] imitators of your God [This is a reference to the humanity of our Lord as he lived on the earth for 33 years as our role model for the spiritual life.] as beloved children.”
Why the Father designed a special spiritual life for the humanity of Christ?
God the Father knew that the humanity of Christ would be under constant attack by satanic forces and that his mission would be the most difficult mission anyone would ever have. Thus, the humanity of Christ would need a much more powerful spiritual life than what Israel had in the Old Testament (The believers in Israel had a powerful spiritual life based on the content of the Old Testament Scriptures and the teachings of the prophets and priests, but they did not have the Filling of the Spirit). The humanity of Christ on the other hand was given the power of the Holy Spirit at birth (Isaiah 11:1-2). Furthermore, he would not only have the power of the Word as it is found in the Old Testament, but also the power of God’s Word as found in the New Testament (As a prophet to the Church, He knew what would be in the New Testament). The spiritual life given to the humanity of Christ had to be extremely powerful in order for Him to fulfill His unique mission of the Cross.
This same spiritual life has been given to us, and since we have the same spiritual life that Christ had, we can learn how to execute this spiritual life by studying the life of Christ. In other words, precedence for our spiritual life is taken from the spiritual life of Christ.
The humanity of Christ, our role model demonstrated perfectly how to execute the spiritual life. Thus, we are to imitate his spiritual life which can be illustrated by a few examples: He was Filled with the Spirit as per Isaiah 11:1-2; Matthew 4:1 tells us that Jesus was led by the Spirit namely his humanity functioned under the authority and power of the Spirit; He grew in grace and doctrine as per Luke 2:52; He applied God’s Word when tested by Satan Matthew 4:4-10 and walked by faith as per Matthew 8:24 and was so relaxed from his application of God’s word that He slept through a violent storm; He applied impersonal love toward mankind as found in Luke 23:34a: . . .Father forgive them . . ., and personal love toward God the Father was expressed by the phrase, “not my will be done, but your will” (Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36 and Luke 22:42).
16. The Cosmic believer imitates the unbeliever. Therefore, one cannot distinguish between the unbeliever in the Cosmic System from the believer in the Cosmic System for both are serving Satan. Any sin, Satanic good or evil can be committed just as easily by a believer as by an unbeliever.
17. Spirituality is the function of the royal priesthood. The Christian Filled with the Spirit is not subject to the Mosaic Law since he is under a higher law which is called the Law of Spirituality. Therefore, the Christian is not subject to the Mosaic Law or the Levitical Priesthood, even though functioning as a royal priest, he fulfills the Mosaic Law. Galatians 5:18, “But, if [assumed to be true] you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law [Mosaic Law].” Romans 8:2-4, “For the law [principle] of the spirit of life [our spirituality] through the agency of Christ Jesus [tested and proved the Prototype Spiritual Life in his humanity] has set you free from the law of sin [carnal state of the believer: 1 Corinthians 3:1] and death [perpetual carnality resulting in the sin unto death as per I John 5:16]. (3) For the Law [is not a system of power, but can only be implemented by the determination of one’s volition] was powerless [has no divine power provided implementation other than metabolized doctrine] in that it was weak through the flesh [sin nature], God having sent His own Son [deity] in the likeness of the flesh of sin [true humanity of Jesus without a sin nature] and as a substitute for sin [He who knew no sin became sin for us] he [God the Father] condemned sin [personal sins] in the flesh [God the Father judged the humanity of Christ]. (4) In order that the righteousness [legal requirement] required by the Law might be fulfilled in us [church age believers using the two powers of the spiritual life can fulfill the righteousness required by the Law], who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
The Mosaic Law was never designed to provide the Church Age believer with a spiritual life. Even the Old Testament believers did not derive their spiritual lives from the Mosaic Law. Adam, Enoch, Noah and Abraham all lived before the existence of the Mosaic Law. Moses was a mature believer at 40 years old (Hebrews 11:24-27) and saw the burning bush at 80 (Exodus 3:2); all before he received the Mosaic Law. Their spiritual lives were primarily related to applying God’s Word by faith to their lives and situations. (Read Hebrews chapter eleven). The above verse clearly states that the Church age believer cannot be both under the authority of the Holy Spirit called the Filling of the Spirit and under the Mosaic Law.
There are two powers in the spiritual life of the Church Age believer namely the Filling of the Holy Spirit, and Bible doctrine (primarily learned from the New Testament Epistles) circulating in his stream of consciousness. The Mosaic Law has no power; it contains the Ten Commandments: you will not; you will not etc. It contains some Christology and Soteriology and many laws related to how the believer and unbeliever should live under the Laws of Divine Establishment, but no power. Although the Mosaic Law is for our instruction, we do not learn about the spiritual life from it. Where do you think we learn about the Filling of the Spirit, the Indwelling of the Spirit, the Baptism of the Spirit, our spiritual gifts, ambassadorship, the royal priesthood, our rewards and loss of rewards, the Church Age standards regarding marriage et cetera? This information is all found in the New Testament Epistles. There are two powers in the spiritual life, and the Mosaic Law is not one of them for the obvious reason that the Mosaic Law had no power!
18. The spiritual believer functioning under the Two Power Options produces divine good which is classified as “gold, silver, and precious stones. The carnal believer produces dead works which is classified as “wood, hay, and stubble.” 1 Corinthians 3:12-15, “Now if any man builds on the foundation [Christ] with gold, silver, precious stones, [produced in fellowship and so rewardable] wood, hay, straw [produced out of fellowship and so not rewardable; degrees of Satanic good and evil], (13) each man’s work [based-on experiential righteousness] will become evident; for the day [The Evaluation Platform of Christ after the Rapture] will show it because it is to be revealed by fire, in fact the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work [sin is not an issue at the Evaluation]. (14) If any man’s work which he has built upon it [the foundation] remains, he will receive a reward. (15) If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss [of his escrow blessing for eternity], but he himself will be delivered, yet so as through fire. [the believer himself does not go through fire, but he will think so when he is in shame, sees all of his works burned-up.]” Hebrews 6:1, “Therefore, leaving behind the elementary teaching about Christ, let us advance to maturity, not laying again the foundation [of the basics such as]: a change of thinking about dead works [just as an unbeliever must have a change of mind about Christ to obtain salvation, so the believer must have a change of mind about legalism (dead works) in order to obtain the spiritual life], and of faith toward God [faith rest drill],”
19. Without the Filling of the Holy Spirit and the concept of spirituality, there can be no contentment, no personal sense of destiny, no occupation with Christ, therefore, no tranquility in life. Hence, there are eight principles of unhappiness which result from failure regarding spirituality under the Filling the Holy Spirit.
(1) If you are not content with what you have now, you will never be content with what you may have in the future.
(2) Contentment is based on the Filling of the Holy Spirit and inculcation of Bible doctrine. You cannot have one without the other.
(3) Contentment is based on capacity for life from Bible doctrine and the Filling of the Holy Spirit. Contentment is not based on human prosperity, wealth, or success.
(4) Discontent becomes malcontent. If every wish, dream, and desire of your soul were given to you without the Filling of the Spirit and Bible doctrine, you would be miserable.
(5) The only true happiness in life comes from capacity for life. Capacity for life and happiness depends on the Filling of the Holy Spirit and cognition of Bible doctrine. “The fruit of the Spirit is [joy] happiness.”
(6) God provides capacity for life and happiness at each stage of spiritual advance and growth through the Filling of the Spirit and metabolized doctrine in your soul.
(7) Progress in the Protocol Plan of God means that the Filling of the Holy Spirit balances the capacity for what you have with the enjoyment of what you have. The only thing that improves with your spiritual growth is your capacity for life.
The Distinction briefly between the Indwelling and the Filling of the Holy Spirit.
The purpose of the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit is to provide a temple in the body of every Church Age believer for the indwelling of Jesus Christ as the Shekinah Glory and the indwelling of God the Father. No believer in the Old Testament was ever indwelt by the Spirit nor will any believer in the Tribulation or in the Millennium be indwelt by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
Both the Sin Nature and the Holy Spirit reside in the body of the believer and wage battle against one another for control of the soul. Galatians 5:17, “For the Flesh [sin nature] desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit is against [totally opposed to] the sin nature for these [two] are constantly battling against each other [for control of the soul] [and you have subordinated yourselves to the sin nature] so that you [Galatian believers] are not doing the things which you might wish to do [Even though most wished to execute God’s will, they were failing.” This is expressed through a 3rd Class Conditional Clause]. Either the soul of the Christian is controlled by God the Holy Spirit under the concept of Filling or the sin nature will control the soul.
Regarding the Filling of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit provides the power for the believer to understand, metabolize, recall and apply Bible doctrine to his experience. John 14:26, “But the mentor, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, that one will teach you [the disciples, by application to all Christians] all things and bring to your remembrance all things which I have communicated to you.” 1 Corinthians 2:10-12, “But to us for our benefit, God [the Father] has revealed [his plan for the Church Age believers] through the Spirit [the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit] for the human spirit [through the Filling of the Spirit] investigates all things even the deep things from God [revealed in Scripture], (11) for what man understands [who among men has known] the things [thoughts and ideas] of man except the frame of reference of man [by building knowledge upon knowledge via his human I.Q.] which is in him [the soul with the frame of reference via human I.Q.]. Even so, the things [thoughts] of God no one has known except the Spirit of God [The Holy Spirit teaches our human spirit through His power and authority via the Filling of the Spirit]. (12) Now, we have not received the world’s frame of reference, but [we received] the spirit [human spirit] from the source of God in order that we may know the things [pertaining to our spiritual life] graciously given to us [freely given and undeserved] for our benefit from God.” Galatians 5:22-23, “But the production of the Spirit is love [of which the primary components are as follows: knowledge of God and his plan, righteousness, justice and grace], happiness, tranquility [soul-prosperity], patience [only in the sense of having very good control over one’s emotions; not reacting emotionally especially to anger], kindness based on grace, divine good-production, faith [advanced faith-rest drill], (23) humility, self-discipline, over such things, there is no law.”
Enablement Versus Enduement.
Enablement is the present ministry of God the Holy Spirit to Church Age believers. Enablement is the availability of power from the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit to every believer. The same divine power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the power available to every Church Age believer. Ephesians 1:19-20, “And what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who have believed for the working of His superior power, which superior power He made operational by means of Christ, when He raised Him from the dead.”
Enduement explains the ministry of God the Holy Spirit to believers throughout all of the Old Testament dispensations. This doctrine explains the difference between the Old Testament spiritual life and the spiritual life of the Church Age, which is far greater for the individual believer. When the resurrection of the Church occurs followed by the Tribulation, everything reverts back to the Old Testament since the seven years of the Tribulation is the last part of the Age of Israel.
Enduement is defined as the divine endowment of God the Holy Spirit’s power to certain Old Testament believers and on a temporary basis. So, only a small percentage of Old Testament believers ever received this endowment of power. This enduement was given to certain Old Testament believers to provide wisdom, doctrine, leadership, administration, prophecy, and communication, but above all, the writers of Scripture had this enduement. Regarding enduement for these writers, we have the following definition, “God the Holy Spirit so supernaturally directed the Old Testament writers of Scripture that without waving their intelligence, their individuality, their personal feelings, their literary style, or any other factor of personal expression, God’s complete and coherent message to mankind in the Old Testament canon was recorded with perfect accuracy in the original languages, the very words bearing the authority of divine authorship.”
Who are those who had this power of enduement? Joseph was endowed with the Holy Spirit for wisdom, leadership, and for the responsibility of preserving the Jewish people, Genesis 41:38-39, “Then Pharaoh said to his servants, ‘Can we find a man like this, in whom is a divine spirit?’ (39) So, Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has informed you of all this [via enduement], there is no one so discerning and wise as you are.’” Moses and the seventy elders of Israel were endowed with the Holy Spirit for leadership, Numbers 11:17, 25, “Then, I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit who is upon you, and will put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it all alone. (25) Then, the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him [Moses]; and He took of the Spirit who was upon him [Moses] and placed Him [the Enduement of the Spirit] upon the seventy elders. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do it [prophesy] again.” Certain persons with skills related to the worship of Israel received the enduement of the Spirit, Exodus 28:3-4, “You shall speak to all the skillful persons whom I have endowed with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister as priest to Me. (4) These are the garments which they shall make: a breast piece and an ephod and a robe and a tunic of checkered work, a turban and a sash, and they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister as priest to Me.” Exodus 31:1-9, “Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, (2) See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. (3) I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, (4) to make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, (5) and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship. (6) And behold, I Myself have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the hearts of all who are skillful I have put skill, that they may make all that I have commanded you: (7) the tent of meeting, and the ark of testimony, and the mercy seat upon it, and all the furniture of the tent, (8) the table also and its utensils, and the pure gold lampstand with all its utensils, and the altar of incense, (9) the altar of burnt offering also with all its utensils, and the laver and its stand,” Certain judges received the enduement of the Spirit: Othniel in Judges 3:10, Gideon in Judges 6:34, Jephthah in Judges 11:29, and Samson in Judges 13:25. Saul was given the power of the Holy Spirit in 1 Samuel 10:9-10 and then lost it in 1 Samuel 16:14 and never recovered it. David in 1 Samuel 16:13, “Then, Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him [David] in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah.” Daniel had the enduement of power from the Holy Spirit as per Daniel 4:8, “But finally Daniel came in before me [Nebuchadnezzar], whose [Chaldean] name is Belteshazzar according to the name of my god, and in whom is a spirit of the holy gods; and I [Daniel] related the dream to him, saying,” Daniel 5:11-12, spoken by Nitocris, the second daughter of Nebuchadnezzar and married to King Nabonidus and so was now the queen mother. Perhaps Nitocris did not share her husband’s exile [He exiled himself and turned the throne over to his son Belshazzar], or perhaps she was just visiting Babylon. Nevertheless, she was in the capital on the night of Belshazzar’s party. “There is a man in your kingdom in whom is a spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father, illumination, insight, and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father the king, appointed him chief of the magicians, conjurers, Chaldeans, and diviners. (12) This was because an extraordinary spirit, knowledge and insight, interpretation of dreams, explanation of enigmas, and solving of difficult problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Let Daniel now be summoned, and he will declare the interpretation.” Though this is not an exhaustive list, it is enough to make clear the concept of Enduement.
Conclusion. Less than one percent of all believers in the Old Testament had any relationship with God the Holy Spirit. How then did Old Testament believers have a spiritual life without the Indwelling and Filling of the Spirit? God always had a plan and a system for spirituality in every dispensation. Every human being has equal opportunity for salvation and every believer has equal opportunity to execute God’s plan for a specific dispensation. The Church Age is unique in the provision for the spiritual life, but this uniqueness never implies any handicap for other believers in other dispensations. God provides everything necessary for every believer in every dispensation to fulfill the will, plan, and purpose of God.
1 Corinthians 11:2
Now, I praise [Paul has been rebuking them for ten chapters; it’s time for a little praise] you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the ordinances [but there was a problem with the feast before communion and the problem of some being out of fellowship], just as I delivered them to you [during his 18 months in Corinth].
Ἐπαινῶ δὲ ὑµᾶς ὅτι πάντα µου µέµνησθε καὶ καθὼς παρέδωκα ὑµῖν τὰς παραδόσεις κατέχετε.
This means that they have been praying for Paul and therefore have been entering into his ministry through prayer. So, he commends them at this time for their remembrance of him. The word “remember” is a perfect tense which means that they have been remembering Paul through prayer in the past and have been faithful in it ever since.
Prayer:
Sequence for Private Prayer:
1. Recovery Procedure: "If we name [acknowledge] our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us [cancel] our sins for our benefit and to purify us from all wrongdoing." (1 John 1:9)
Use of the Recovery Procedure is the first and most important consideration. "If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear." (Psalm 66:18)
2. Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving is appreciation and gratitude for all that God has done in grace (freely given and undeserved). The more you love God and the more you appreciate Him, the greater is your “attitude of thanksgiving.” "In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
3. Intercession: Intercessory prayer is praying for others. This aspect of prayer is a ministry of Christian service in which you provide a barrage of support for those in need.
Ephesians 6:18–19, “With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the [power of the] Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. (19) Also, pray on behalf of me (Paul), in order that doctrine might be given to me, in the opening of my mouth with confidence to communicate the mystery pertaining to the Gospel.”
Prayer for others falls into two categories: believers and unbelievers. When you pray for unbelievers, it is primarily for their salvation. Romans. 10:1, “Brethren, the motivation [desire] of my heart [stream of consciousness] and my prayer to God [the Father] on behalf of them [unsaved Israel] is for their salvation.” [Paul has a tremendous tenderness of soul for those who are not saved. Paul recognizing that prayer cannot coerce or overcome the freewill of anyone does not ask the Father that his brethren be saved, rather Paul’s prayer to the Father expresses his volition and desire, not the volition of the people for whom he is praying.] Regarding these Jewish unbelievers, Paul used every opportunity available to him to witness. If you are willing to witness, God will bring the unbeliever to you.
Regarding believers, there are several categories for which you can pray. Pray for those who have certain spiritual gifts of communication such as pastors, evangelists, and missionaries. Comparatively few believers actually possess these communication gifts, but all believers are in full-time Christian service and can share in these ministries through prevailing prayer. Although prevailing prayer is bona fide, the following example was a complete failure.
Acts 12:5-7, “So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was a continuous, extended one [the Greek adverb ektenos from the verb ekteino] by the church to God [the Father]. (6) On the very night when Herod [Agrippa 1st] was about to bring him forward [to have him executed as he did James, the brother of John], Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. (7) And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter's side and woke him up, saying, "Get up quickly." And his chains fell off his hands.”
Acts 12:12-16, “And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. (13) When he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer. (14) When she recognized Peter's voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. (15) They said to her, ‘You are out of your mind!’ But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying, ‘It is his angel.’ (16) But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed.” It is quite clear that there was no faith function in these prayers. In other words, they didn’t believe that the Lord would deliver Peter even though this appears to be what they were praying for. Long prevailing prayers lasting an entire night do not imply success. It is quite clear that the Lord delivered Peter in spite of the church’s failure in prayer.
Pray for those in positions of authority in the church. Pray for those who work in the church. Pray for those who are ill. Pray for missions. Pray for loved ones and friends (Acts 21:5). Pray for those in the military, the police, and the fire department. You also are mandated to pray for those who despitefully use you, for those who seek to do you harm and hurt, whether they be believers or unbelievers. Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. (Luke 6:28; cf. Matthew. 5:44) You also are mandated to pray for the nation and its leadership. Moses made some of the greatest intercessory prayers in history for the reversionistic nation of Israel.
The following was said after the evil creation and worship of the Golden Calf: Exodus. 32:9–13, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. (10) ‘Now then let Me alone, that My anger [anthropopathism] may burn against them and that I may destroy them [all at once including the children]; and I will make of you a great nation [out from your loins].’ (11) Then, Moses entreated the Lord his God, and said, O Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt [for a purpose] with great power and with a mighty hand? (12) Why should the Egyptians [and other peoples as well] speak, saying, with evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth? [Most of the Egyptians who remained behind in Egypt were not interested in the gospel message. So, who cares what they thought. However, Moses realized that it would not be beneficial to give them and other peoples as well, a reason for maligning the truth and hindering evangelization.] Turn from Your burning anger and change Your thinking about doing harm to Your people [as a whole; most of the adults will be executed over a period of time and Moses understood this, but the children will go into the Land]. (13) Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, I will multiply your descendants [this could have been done through Moses of the tribe of Levi] as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever. [If this had been done through Moses, the Jewish entrance into the Land would have been delayed for at least 400 years]"
Numbers 14:12–19 follows the Jewish military’s refusal to enter the Land, “I will smite them with pestilence and dispossess them [all at one time], and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they, (13) but Moses said to the Lord, ‘Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from their midst, (14) and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, O Lord, are in the midst of this people, for You, O Lord, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. (15) ‘Now if You slay this people as one man, then the nations who have heard of Your fame [the Ten Plagues in Egypt] will say, (16) 'Because the Lord could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the desert.' (17) But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, (18) ' The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty [the reversionistic Jewish adult believers will die in the desert; they will not go into the Land], visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.' (19) Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness [allow the next generation to enter the Land], just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now."
Paul’s intercessory prayer for Philemon in verse 6, “[And I pray: elaborating on the phrase, ‘making mention of you’ in verse 4] that the fellowship [koinonia koinonia] of your [singular: Philemon’s] doctrine might become effective [energy] by means of the metabolized knowledge [επιγνόσις epignosis] of every good [doctrine] which is in us [plural: in the souls of Philemon & Paul; good manuscript support, also the context: verses 1, 4, 5] directed toward Christ [occupation with Christ]. In this prayer, Paul does not ask God for anything; rather he states his desire for Philemon namely that Philemon executes the spiritual life.
In 2 Chronicles 7:14, we are commanded to pray for our nation. “And if My people [client nation] who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways [reversionism], then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
4. Petition or praying about your needs. In such a prayer, a Problem-Solving Device must be used such as the Faith-rest Drill, the Divine Decree, Logistical Grace etc. We all have personal needs or problems of one kind or another which God the Father has already provided a solution in the Divine Decree possibly because of a prayer or more than likely because He wants to give us “far more abundantly beyond all that we could possibly ask or think.” Hebrews 4:16a may apply, “Let us therefore draw near with confidence [based upon a Problem-Solving Device] to the throne of grace”. Petitions address those particular circumstances for which there is no direct statement or solution from Scripture. (If provision for your own needs or solutions to your problems are found in the Word of God, do not petition for those things. For example, we are Filled with the Spirit automatically when we use the Recovery Procedure. Therefore, do not pray a meaningless prayer by saying, “Fill me with the Spirit.” Since we are protected under the doctrine of Logistical Grace, you don’t need to ask for protection. However, you may state in prayer to God the Father that you appreciate His protection of you. Furthermore, you don’t ask God in prayer to provide for information for the wayward Christians as if He has not provided perfectly for them.
As you learn Bible doctrine and advance to maturity in the spiritual life, you will understand both the constraints and the fantastic opportunities of your prayer life. In spiritual maturity, you will reduce the number of your personal petitions while expanding your capacity for intercessory prayer.
Ten reasons why prayer is not answered:
1. Lack of faith, Matthew 21:22, “And all things, whatever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive [logical future].”
2. Lack of prayer, James 4:2c, “You quarrel and fight, and you do not have because you do not ask [failure to pray].” The apostate believer does not pray and so fails in his responsibility to pray. Apostasy is the cause; failure in prayer is a result. Therefore, if a person is going to solve this failure regarding prayer, he must first solve the problem of apostasy.
Examples of doctrinal requests in prayer: You may ask God to deliver the United States based upon the States having a sufficient number of Pleroma believers. This would be a doctrinally sound request. You may request from God the Father that the Lord heal a very sick or dying spiritual believer. Your request must be based upon some doctrinal issue like Logistical Grace.
3. Selfishness, James 4:3, “You ask but you do not receive because you ask for yourself that you may squander it on your lusts [in your frantic search for happiness].” The Christian life must include correct thinking and motivation. If a Christian makes a prayer-request based on ignorance and false motivation, how can an omniscient and righteous God grant such a request! In verse two the apostate believer didn’t pray. In this verse the apostate believer prays, but with evil motivation.
4. Carnality in general, Psalm 66:18, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear [my prayers]”
5. Lack of compassion, Proverbs 21:13, “He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor, will also cry himself and not be answered.”
6. Lack of domestic tranquility, 1 Peter 3:7, “You husbands in a similar manner, live with them according to knowledge, as the weaker vessel [dependent upon her husband for fulfillment as a responder], since she is a woman; and show her honor as a joint-heirs of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.” If a couple are arguing and fighting all the time, they will be out of fellowship.
7. Pride or self-righteousness, Job 35:12,13, “There they cry out [in prayer], but He does not answer because of the pride of the evil men. (13) Surely, God will not listen to an empty cry [prayer] nor will the almighty regard it.”
8. Lack of the Filling of the Spirit, Ephesians 6:18, “By means of every prayer and petition, be praying on every occasion of prayer in the [Filling of] Spirit, also with reference to this prayer, be on the alert with all persistent determination and petition on behalf of all saints.”
9. Lack of obedience, 1 John 3:22, “Furthermore, whatever we have asked, we receive from him because we keep his mandates and keep on doing the things that are pleasing in his sight.”
10.Lack of compliance with the divine will,1 John 5:14, “In fact, this is the confidence which we have toward him [God] that if [3rd class condition with an indirect middle] we ask anything according to his will, he [God the Father] hears us.”
A few statements regarding prayer:
1.We do not use prayer to hire God to do what we want done.
2.Too many believers use prayer to get their own way, not God’s way.
3. Prayer must be compatible with God’s will and God’s way, not our will and our way.
4. Prayer must recognize who and what God is, not who and what we are.
5. Prayer is not designed to get us out of trouble, but to express our helplessness, our humility, our total dependence on God rather than on human ability and power. Prayer is our recognition and orientation to His grace and His mercy toward us.
6. Prayer is not designed to manipulate God, but to perform and conform to the will of God.
7. Prayer is not what we want, but what God wants for us.
8. Prayer is our recognition and orientation to the grace of God.
9. Prayer is an expression and extension of Bible doctrine resident in the stream of consciousness of the soul. We fail in prayer because we fail to understand and utilize Bible doctrine.
10. Prayer was never designed to fulfill our lusts and selfish desires, but prayer was designed to fulfill the will, plan, and purpose of God for our lives and to give us access to heaven while still living on earth.
Five Mistakes in Prayer:
1. The Christian assumes that God has emotion which He doesn’t and so prays with emotional appeal. This Christian does not understand anthropopathisms, and so thinks that God actually has regrets, anger, loathing, compassion etc.
2. The Christian thinks that prayer is a problem-solving device when it isn’t. This type of Christian usually prays for miracles. Paul’s prayer was not only asking for a miracle, but it was also a violation of the integrity of God. God’s integrity demanded that Paul receive undeserved suffering. (2 Corinthians 12:5-10)
3. The Christian prays for things that are resolved in other ways for example the Christian who prays for protection or food when he is already being provided with these via God’s Logistical Grace Pipeline.
4. The Christian whose prayers are in conflict with the integrity of God for example a Christian may pray to make America great again when the righteousness of God is demanding severe punishment for the nation. A Christian may pray for rain in a drought-stricken area when the Lord has already instructed the Weather Angels to bring about that drought.
5. Generally, don’t ask for personal blessings since God wants to give you much more than you could ever pray for. Ephesians 3:20, “Now to him [to God the Father] who is able to do infinitely more than all we could ask [in prayer] or think on the basis of the power [the Filling of the Spirit and metabolized doctrine] that keeps working in us for our benefit.” The only thing which prevents God from blessing us is our lack of capacity. So, don’t ask for blessing, just develop more capacity through your spiritual life.
Applications:
1. If you desire your prayers to be private, then don’t pray them during the time of public prayer.
2. If you pray a prayer that is contrary to the teaching from this pulpit, then I will have to challenge it because in effect you are challenging this ministry and furthermore you are possibly having some influence on this congregation.
3. If you claim that God is answering your prayers, then you should be more specific in your prayers. For example, if you desire to pray for rain then state the amount, the time and the location for example 10 inches within the next 3 weeks, soaking all of Texas. If the Lord should direct the weather angels as such so that exactly 10 inches falls within the 3 weeks drenching all of Texas, I will assume that you are another Elijah.
4. If a Texan should pray for rain, and rain should cover Texas entirely within a week or so of that prayer, is the Lord answering this person’s prayer or is the Lord providing rain for the ten million Christians within this area under the concept of Logistical Grace Provision?
5. When Paul was being transported to Rome to face trial under Nero, he didn’t pray for good weather, but rather advised not to sail since it was the time when terrible storms usually occurred. If Paul had prayed for good weather during that time of the year when terrible storms occurred on the Mediterranean, it would have been asking for a miracle.
6. After leaving Egypt on year 40, the Jews were suffering from a lack of water. At that time, Moses neither prayed for rain nor did he instruct the citizens of Israel to pray for rain. Rather, the Lord provided water since that was required to sustain the Jews under the concept of logistical provision.
Prayers in Scripture:
Paul prays for the Ephesians:
Ephesians 1:17-18, "I pray that the God of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory may give to you a lifestyle of wisdom and revelation concerning him through metabolized doctrine [human volition is involved]. (18), That the eyes of your right lobe [of their souls] may be enlightened [through your advance in the spiritual life] so that you may know what is the confidence [regarding escrow blessings in time and in eternity] of His election [the objectives], what are the riches of His inheritance in the saints. [escrow blessing for time and eternity]."
Paul is praying for the spiritual life of the Ephesian believers without violation of their volitions. In his prayer for them, he is merely stating how to become a great believer.
1. Although Paul is praying to the Father, he is not asking the Father to provide anything for these Ephesian believers other than what he has already provided.
2. In this prayer, Paul desires wisdom and revelation for these Ephesian believers, but realizes this will not happen apart from the Ephesian’s desire to learn about the spiritual life.
3. Paul clearly states that God the Father has already provided the means of obtaining revelation and wisdom which is via the two power options “through metabolized doctrine.”
4. Paul prays that the Ephesian believers may be enlightened and so have confidence regarding their Escrow Blessings. Paul however makes it quite clear that this can only be done through the advance to spiritual maturity.
Paul’s Prayer for Philemon:
Philemon 4-6, “I thank my God always when making mention of you [Philemon] at the time of my prayers, (5) after hearing of your [Philemon’s personal] love and doctrine which [the singular relative has a collective force] you [Philemon] have toward [the Greek preposition pros means face to face and thus implying personal love] the Lord Jesus and [your unconditional love and doctrine which you have] toward [the Greek preposition eis is directional only and so non-intimate implying impersonal love] all the saints, (6) and I pray [ elaborating on the phrase, ‘making mention of you’ in verse 4] that the fellowship [fellowship occurs during Bible teaching: the pastor along with the congregation enjoying doctrine together] of your [singular: Philemon’s] doctrine [truth learned in a Bible setting] might become [the subjunctive mood recognizes the free will of Philemon] effective [energy in the stream of consciousness] by means of the metabolized knowledge [επιγνόσις epignosis] of every good [doctrine] which is in us [plural: in the souls of Philemon & Paul; good manuscript support, also the context: verses 1, 4, 5] directed toward Christ [occupation with Christ].”
A few points regarding this prayer:
1. Paul prayed for Philemon and we can assume other great believers as well.
2. In this prayer, Paul knew that Philemon would continue taking in the Word of God “that the fellowship of your doctrine.”
3. Paul prayed in the subjunctive mood (Philemon’s volition would need to be involved) that the Biblical truth being assimilated by Philemon would become effective energy in the soul of Philemon through the normal metabolization process and contribute towards Philemon’s love for Christ.
A prayer patterned after Paul’s prayer above: Father, I pray for all the adult believers in the United States and even beyond our borders who are at spiritual maturity or advancing toward that objective that the Biblical information which they are learning from a prepared pastor might become spiritual energy by being metabolized and related to the truth stored in their stream of consciousnesses to strengthen their love for the members of the Trinity with emphasis on their love for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul prays for the Philippians:
Philippians 1:3-5, 9, “I am giving thanks to my God for every memory of you, (4) Always, in my every prayer for all of you when offering prayer with inner happiness, (5) Because of your contribution [monetary] from the first day until now, for the purpose of spreading the gospel. (9) In fact, I pray this prayer, that [purpose and objective] your love [they had great capacity for love] may be caused to abound still more even to a greater degree by means of doctrine [faith perception] and resultant all discernment [application of doctrine].”
1. Since Paul had great capacity for gratitude, he expresses his thanksgiving for great believers.
2. Paul with much metabolized doctrine and subsequent happiness in his soul, had fond memories of other great believers.
3. Although Paul is praying to God the Father, he requests nothing from him. He in recognition of the free will of the Philippians merely states his desire for the Philippians to continue their spiritual growth.
Prayer of Praise:
Father, I acknowledge your perfect provision to bring the unbeliever to the saving work of the cross via the Five Theistic Arguments that the unbeliever may use at God-Consciousness (awareness) to become aware of your existence. If the unbeliever after becoming aware of your existence does not desire further information, there is nothing else that can be done! On the other hand, if the unbeliever after reaching God-Consciousness should desire more information, I know that you will bring the gospel message to him at the right time under the concept of normal evangelism. However, if this particular unbeliever should reject this gospel message due to his having accumulated some scar tissue between the period of God-Consciousness and gospel hearing, you will then provide some pressure to break-down that scar tissue via Crisis Evangelism. If this should fail, there is nothing else that can be done since rejecting the gospel at Crisis Evangelism would completely fill the soul of the unbeliever at this time with scar tissue which tissue would have completely destroyed any possible further use of faith. Father, thank you for this perfect provision.
Father, the weak link is not in your provision, but in the volition of the unbeliever. With that in mind, I pray that the unbeliever might reconsider all that you have provided for him by way of the five theistic arguments and the gospel itself so that he might not only come to understand you, but also your plan for him.
1 Corinthians 11:3
But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man [the husband is responsible to Christ], and the man is the head of the woman, and God [the Father] is the head of Christ [as the head, He sent the son namely the humanity of Christ as per John 3:17].
θέλω δὲ ὑµᾶς εἰδέναι ὅτι παντὸς ἀνδρὸς ἡ κεφαλὴ ὁ Χριστός ἐστιν, κεφαλὴ δὲ γυναικὸς ὁ ἀνήρ, κεφαλὴ δὲ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὁ θεός.
Let’s begin this with understanding the Four Divine Institutions.
The First Divine Institution is the Individual and the use of his volition is his authority which volition is one of the components of the soul which is made up of self-consciousness, a conscience which must be filled with divine norms and standards, a mentality which operates through the biological brain, and volition as the authority of the soul. (The spark or breath of life is imputed to biological life at birth resulting in a soul having life which we call human life. Remember that in the Garden, God breathed into the biological life of Adam the breath of life, a spark of His own life which resulted in a soul having life aka human life. At the point of one’s death, this soul having everlasting life will be transferred to an interim body until the Rapture at which time the soul having everlasting life will be transferred into the resurrection body.)
Freedom does not imply equality. While people are not born equal or live in equality, they must have freedom of choice and the right to live in a free society pursuing a course of action compatible with their own aspirations or lack of the same. You have a right to go as far as your abilities and motivations will take you. If the individual uses his volition to adhere to the Laws of Establishment and avoids arrogance, he will develop great capacity for life, with humility and integrity. If he should be a Christian who has advanced spiritually all the way to spiritual maturity, he will be qualified for the next divine institution namely marriage along with the unbeliever who has developed his capacity from the Laws of Establishment only.
The Second Divine Institution is Marriage with the authority vested in the husband. Monogamy is a permanent relationship between one man and one woman as ordained by God to remind mankind that He has from the beginning a design. In other words, if God intends for a man to get married, he will bring the right woman to him at the right time as per Genesis 3:22-24, “and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he fashioned [literally built] into a woman and brought her to the man [The Lord brings the woman to the man at the right time]. (23) Then, the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh [the same species]; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out from Man.’ (24) Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother [form their own corporation] and have sexual intercourse with his wife, and they become one flesh.”
Their relationship, established in the garden, was continued after the fall. It has never been cancelled in any generation. Thus, marriage is the most basic and fundamental organization in the human race. Even the unbeliever, whose life is a total failure, can have great temporary happiness by marrying the right woman, Ecclesiastes 9:9, “Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life [describes the life of the unbeliever] which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil [his occupation] in which you have labored under the sun.”
Marriage is the basis for stability in society and for the formation of civilization. Marriage rejects the theory of revolution, anarchy, promiscuousness, or communal living. It is the protection for the home where the parents exercise authority over the children.
The Third Divine Institution is the Family with the authority vested in the parents. God has provided certain divine laws, such as the authority of the parents, to protect, care, nourish, provide, train, and discipline children to prepare them for a normal life. Children must be trained to respect the privacy, property, and rights of others, not to abuse freedom, and to have respect for authority. Furthermore, parents must teach poise, objectivity, respect for police, patriotism, and their sons, the willingness to serve in order to protect national freedom. Christian parents must also evangelize and provide pre-doctrinal training for their children, Deuteronomy 6:6-9, “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. (7) You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. (8) You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. (9) You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” It is the responsibility of parents not only to instill respect for the Word of God, but also the recognition of the authority of their pastor-teacher.
The Fourth Divine Institution is Nationalism. If the entire human race were under one rule with the exception of the Millennial reign of Christ, it would self-destruct (All international conspiracies in the Church Age is Satan attempting to centralize his power.) In order to perpetuate the human race and bring history to its logical conclusion, God has designed nationalism to protect the freedom and rights of its citizenry. The formation of the Jewish nation set up the perfect standard of what a national entity should be. The Biblical proof that nationalism is authorized by God is found in Genesis 10:5, “From these the coastland peoples spread. These are the sons of Japheth in their lands, each with his own language, by their families, in their nations.” Deuteronomy 32:8, “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.”
All nations who follow the norms and standards of divine establishment possess the following characteristics.
1. Interior protection of freedom is provided through a proper system of law enforcement, jurisprudence, and a system of law whereby a person is innocent until proved guilty, where only proper testimony is allowed and hearsay is not permitted, and where double jeopardy does not exist.
2. The exterior protection of freedom comes through a strong, well-prepared military.
3. A government of whatever category must protect the freedoms and rights of its citizens without interfering with those rights by the illegal use of power.
4. An economy must be based on free enterprise and capitalism. Labor has no right to dictate the policy of management. Smart management always takes good care of its workers however. Government, labor, or criminals do not have the right to superimpose their policy on management. The separation of business and state is an important distinction.
5. There must be a system of common law which prohibits crime and thereby protects the freedom, rights, life, and property of individuals. It must be a system of law which does not overstep the law by using the law to try to solve social problems. Law, therefore, must always be objective. Subjective distortion of the law uses legislation to invade individual rights, to steal personal property, and to erode human freedom, all in the name of the common good.
6. There must be a common culture which reflects the spiritual life, morality, esprit de corps, nobility, patriotism, and integrity of a nation through its literature, art, music, and drama.
7. There should be a system of government which functions under its power without abusing its power to destroy freedom and establishment. There should be an administrative body to represent the functions of taxation, law enforcement, honorable jurisprudence, maintenance of the military, and enforcement of law and order without the destruction of human freedom.
Another Passage related to this subject: Ephesians 5:22-25:
Ephesians 5:22, "Wives, be under the authority of [subordinate yourselves to] your very own husbands as to the Lord [her strongest motivation]."
The Greek word hupotasso means to be subordinate to, to be under the authority of and to obey. It is a durative present which means an action which begins in the past (at the point of marriage) and continues into the present. Freedom minus authority is chaos. You can’t have two people and have order unless one of them is the final authority, and the final authority in marriage is the man; that is the way it is. Apart from divinely constituted authority, the human race would be in chaos.
Authority orientation is very much a part of basic capacity for life because obedience to legitimate authorities produces humility whereas arrogance is developed by disobeying those authorities. Furthermore, humility is a virtue and is a part of happiness, arrogance on the other hand is the antithesis of virtue and produces self-induced misery and brings God’s wrath upon the believer. If a woman does not know about God’s system of authority and moreover will not adhere to it, she will never be happy in marriage or in life in general.
If a Christian woman will not obey the Lord who is perfect, how will she be able to obey her husband who is imperfect? If a woman rejects the spiritual life, she will never be happy with any man. That is why this verse also has the words “as unto the Lord.” The greatest capacity in life comes from harmonious rapport with God. That is why both the wife’s mandate to obey her husband and the husband’s mandate to love his wife (Ephesians 5:25) are based on harmonious rapport with the Lord. Thus, there is no true love in Christian marriage until there is true love for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:23, 24, "For the husband is the ruler [leader, head] of the wife, just as Christ also is the ruler [head, in the sense of authority] of the church: He Himself is the Savior of the body [a metaphor for the Church]. But as the church is subordinate to [under the authority of] Christ, so also wives are under the authority of [subordinate to] their husbands in everything."
Just as the Church is subordinate to Christ in everything so the wife is subordinate to the husband in everything, within the boundaries of his authority. Wherever an organization exists, someone must take the responsibility for making the final decisions in matters that require a decision. Can you imagine what it would be like in marriage if God had given 50% of the authority to the husband and the other 50% to the wife? The husband says, “Today we are going to eat out;” she says, On the contrary, today we are going to eat in the home.” He says, “Because of my job, we need to live In Hyderabad;” she says, “Because of my friends, we will live in Darjeeling.” Without established authority, orderly function cannot take place. However, all authorities have parameters. For example, if a husband commands his wife to assist him in a bank robbery, he has exceeded the boundaries of his authority and she must refuse.
Many wives resent being under their husband’s authority for they think that being in a subordinate position makes them inferior. This is a totally false concept. Ones position on the ladder of authority doesn’t make a person inferior or superior, rather the quality of one’s soul makes that person superior or inferior. This should be obvious to the most casual observer of people in authority. Some of the greatest morons and most evil people have ruled countries.
Furthermore, many women don’t realize that they were designed to be followers, not leaders. In this role, women can experience an intense happiness especially when married to a great man with wisdom and leadership. Of course, if a woman is married to an arrogant husband, she will have a very difficult time. Though she must obey her arrogant husband, she must do so without reaction. She can only avoid reaction by applying the Word of God to her difficult situation. In so doing, she will find herself responding to God the Father, God the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus Christ. In this way her happiness as a responder is preserved.
Ephesians 5:25, "Husbands, love your wives just as Christ [both his deity and humanity] also loved the church [with personal love] and gave himself [His humanity on the cross] as a substitute for her [impersonal love directed toward all unbelievers including those who would make up the church]."
The deity of Christ loved the church and still does since each member of the church universal has a double portion of divine righteousness. Jesus, the humanity of Christ loved and still loves the universal church since it is his royal family, and bride. So, the humanity of Christ was willing to bear the sins of the world which included the sins of those who would make up the church. Christ’s work on the cross was the greatest demonstration of love in all of history for it combined Jesus’s love for both God the Father which love motivated Him to bear the sins of the world and his love for His future bride (contract signed at salvation) and wife (the wedding feast occurring at the 2nd Advent.).
The Christian husband is to love his wife just as the humanity of Christ loved the Church. As Jesus was willing to sacrifice himself for the church, so the husband must be willing to sacrifice himself for his wife. In order to understand this, we must always remember the Four primary components of true human love namely knowledge, righteousness, justice and grace. In the protocol plan of God, Jesus maximized these four characteristics. So, in order for a husband to love his wife as Christ (with focus on his humanity), the husband must also maximize out these four primary characteristics (components) of love.
From these four primary components comes the following: Enduring devotion, the intense love that the humanity of Christ had for the Church (he had anticipated those who would believe in him). Christ, as the groom, loved the Church (his bride) so much that He gave Himself as a substitute for her, the church. Christian husbands are commanded to have this same intense love for their wives. This is a supernatural love that only a mature believer can execute. In the soul of the humanity of Christ there existed maximum humility, maximum integrity and capacity for love which can only come from a thorough understanding and execution of the spiritual life.
1 Corinthians 11:4
Every man who has something on his head [a hat or veil] while praying or prophesying [prophets taught in the church] disgraces his head [disgraces or dishonors his authority].
πᾶς ἀνὴρ προσευχόµενος ἢ προφητεύων κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἔχων καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ·
1 Corinthians 11:5
But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying [prophetesses taught other women in the pre-canon period of the Church Age]; disgraces her head, for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved.
πᾶσα δὲ γυνὴ προσευχοµένη ἢ προφητεύουσα ἀκατακαλύπτῳ τῇ κεφαλῇ καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτῆς· ἓν γάρ ἐστιν καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ τῇ ἐξυρηµένῃ.
We know it says that women should keep silent in the church, but there is a place for women teaching the children in a church. Even though there are no prophetesses today, women do have a natural gift of teaching which natural gift they may use in a Sunday school class (a prep-school). There is just one place they can’t teach and that is behind the pulpit of a church during a church service. Why? It has nothing to do with teaching, it is a matter of authority. There is no authorization in the Word of God for a woman to ever run a church.
What does it mean for a woman to have her head uncovered? (It has nothing to do with hats or veils.) Her head is uncovered when her hair is extremely short or when her head has been shaved. The point is that if a man gets up wearing women’s clothing, or has very long hair, he has lost his authority; if the woman gets up to teach her class or to pray, and her hair is extremely short or her head has been shaved, she is in disgrace and has lost her authority. In the ancient world, this was understood and so they punished women by shaving their heads. Shaving a woman’s head was punishment for adultery or for a female slave who had run away or where a woman had betrayed her country.
Whether a woman wears a hat or not is strictly personal taste. However, if a hat blocks someone’s view, then of course, it should be taken off. So, what is her covering, her glory? 1 Corinthians 11:15, “But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her [instead of a veil] for her hair is given to her for a covering.”
In the following verse, the Corinthians apparently would not allow Greek female slaves to enter the Church since they were not wearing veils. To the ignorant legalistic Corinthians, a woman not wearing a veil had her head uncovered.
1 Corinthians 11:6
For if a woman does not cover her head [with a veil], and some did not [Because Greek female slaves were not allowed to wear veils, it became an issue in the Corinthian Church], then let her also have her hair cut off since you Corinthians do not consider hair as a covering, [Paul in sarcasm is demonstrating just how ridiculous these legalist were]; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, and it is, let her cover her head [with her hair].
εἰ γὰρ οὐ κατακαλύπτεται γυνή, καὶ κειράσθω· εἰ δὲ αἰσχρὸν γυναικὶ τὸ κείρασθαι ἢ ξυρᾶσθαι, κατακαλυπτέσθω.
Paul is making reference to Greek slave girls and women who were not allowed under Roman Law to wear a veil on their heads. Apparently, the Corinthian Christians didn’t understand that a veil or a hat is in effect a covering over a covering and so not necessary. So, Paul spent much time explaining to these Corinthians that a woman’s hair is her covering and made it quite clear that this policy of not permitting these female slaves into the church must stop.
1 Corinthians 11:7
For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image [his soul was designed to be a leader] and glory of God [the Lord formed man from the minerals of the soil]; but the woman is the glory of man [since her soul was designed as a responder and her body was fashioned from man’s rib].
ἀνὴρ µὲν γὰρ οὐκ ὀφείλει κατακαλύπτεσθαι τὴν κεφαλήν, εἰκὼν καὶ δόξα θεοῦ ὑπάρχων· ἡ γυνὴ δὲ δόξα ἀνδρός ἐστιν.
1 Corinthians 11:8
For original man does not originate from woman, but the original woman from man [therefore, the man as a husband has the authority in marriage];
οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἀνὴρ ἐκ γυναικός, ἀλλὰ γυνὴ ἐξ ἀνδρός·
1 Corinthians 11:9
For indeed man was not created for the woman's sake, but woman for the man's sake.
καὶ γὰρ οὐκ ἐκτίσθη ἀνὴρ διὰ τὴν γυναῖκα, ἀλλὰ γυνὴ διὰ τὸν ἄνδρα.
The woman builds her life around the man not vice versa. For example, if a man’s job requires him to move to humid Houston, she must understand that it is her role to follow without complaining even though she may love her home in Denver.
Marriage, and related Subjects:
1. The following principles explain every problem in marriage, in romance, and in human relationships.
a. Application without truth is false.
b. Application without facts is folly.
c. Application from emotion is the life of the loser.
d. Application without principle or doctrine is distorted thinking.
e. Application without virtue is distorted living.
2. Doctrinal truth comes from the Scripture. You cannot base doctrine on experience. You cannot base doctrine by observing what other Christians are doing or failing to do. You must base doctrine on what the Word of God says. Neither empiricism nor rationalism is the source of absolute truth. If experience or what seems correct contradicts the Bible, then the Bible is correct.
3. Success in Christian marriage is related to truth. Application of doctrine cannot be made without inculcation of the principles of doctrine. You are designed to learn doctrine and apply it from your own soul. You have to learn doctrine, metabolize it, apply it, and use it to solve problems. The pattern is learning, thinking, and solving. For the Christian, the basic solutions to marriage are spiritual. So, the necessity for spiritual growth.
4. Problems in marriage cannot be solved by psychologists nor by anyone else. All psychological solutions from counseling are not only human viewpoint but are someone else’s thinking. Neither psychology nor the thinking from someone else’s frame of reference can solve the problems in another person’s marriage.
5. Success in marriage begins before marriage. While marriage inevitably changes people for the better or for the worse, they are basically no better in marriage than they were as single individuals. Winning and losing lifestyles carry over into marriage. If two Christians were losers spiritually before marriage, they will be losers in marriage and vice versa apart from spiritual growth. Success in marriage begins in childhood where children are either obedient or not. In childhood, children are commanded to respect and obey both parents as per Ephesians 6:1-3, “You, Children keep on obeying your parents in the Lord; because this is right and just. (2) Be respecting your father and mother for such is the first commandment with a promise of blessing. (3) That you may prosper, and you shall have long life [a full life] on the earth.” Disobedience in childhood where the child does not accept the authority of the parents, brings about arrogance and damages the soul with scar tissue. This may not become apparent until faced with the pressures of marriage.
6. There are three stages in the man/woman relationship namely the attraction, compatibility and rapport stages.
Attraction:
(1) This first stage elicits interest or attention; hence, an attractive quality in another person.
(2) There are two man/woman relationships in which attraction occurs, first in romance and then in marriage.
(3) Attraction is generally overt and emphasizes physical appeal. It can include many things, such as allurement, enticement, or fascination. It may include physical beauty, overt personality, or seeing the fulfillment of one’s personal standards (the knight in shining armor).
(4) Attraction is the reconnaissance stage of the man/woman relationship. It has to do with the superficialities of life, such as dress, appearance, personality, manners, smell, and sex appeal. This stage is the empirical approach and is dangerous since you assume that what you see is what you get, and that is rarely true in marriage.
(5) Attraction is the blind stage of romance or marriage since a person often sets aside, ignores, or is blinded to the flaws or potential flaws in the object of romance. He doesn’t see the real person.
(6) Since attraction is often based on libido, most people get married in this stage, which is a great disaster.
(7) The attraction stage has not come to grips with the problems the other person has or can create, and has not resolved any of the problems of incompatibility, or even recognized the existence of incompatibility.
(8) The attraction stage has not yet faced the facts of life. Do you have the capacity for marrying this woman and can you handle her additional problems? Another person’s problems may be the catalytic agent that destroys the relationship.
(9) Concentration on the object of love in the attraction stage has a very narrow field of vision, often resulting in the erroneous conclusion that the object of your love is the only person in the world for you.
(10) This false confidence of subjectivity rejects or ignores warning signs against marrying this person. Rationalization, simply dismissing the warning signs.
(11) People who get married in the attraction stage have very little chance of success, but it can be overcome by strong spiritual growth.
Emotional revolt in the attraction stage: When the believer is overpowered by emotion in the attraction stage, virtue and stability in romance are virtually eliminated. The removal of virtue and wisdom, caused by emotional revolt of the soul, is in direct contrast to the normal and legitimate emotional function of romance and love.
(a) Emotional revolt of the soul results in blotting out everything that sustains love such humility, integrity and wisdom. This is because emotion has no doctrinal content, no ability to think or reason and so if emotion takes control, then bad decision will occur.
(b) Emotional revolt of the soul often emphasizes premarital sex, and therefore, handicaps marriage.
(c) Emotional revolt of the soul brings into romance two categories of sins: the sins of arrogance such as jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, revenge, slander, gossip, maligning and the sins of emotion such as fear, worry, anxiety, hatred, anger, violence, and murder.
(d) Emotion is irrational arrogance which blots out reality and virtue and ignores the Problem-Solving Devices.
(e) While emotion can respond to love and does, it cannot be love.
(f) Emotional arrogance is a system of converting reality into illusion and hallucination.
(g) The strength of romantic love is virtue, which is produced by consistent perception and application of God’s Word which transitions from attraction to compatibility.
Compatibility:
(1) Compatibility is the capacity of a man and a woman to combine and remain together without undesirable after effects.
(2) Compatibility is a mutual tolerance, motivated by three categories of virtue-love: personal love for God the Father, impersonal love for all mankind, and occupation with the Person of Christ.
(3) Compatibility is a total adjustment to the other person so that he or she is the most important person in the world to you.
(4) While attraction is the blind stage of romance, compatibility is the enlightened stage. In this stage, you have learned the strengths and weaknesses of the object of your love, and you have already resolved most of the problems of the relationship. Whatever the sins, failures, and weaknesses of your partner, they do not diminish your love for him or her.
(5) Compatibility is the Problem-solving stage of romance; therefore, it is the best time for marriage. Those involved have used the privacy of their own priesthood to solve the problems in the relationship.
(6) In compatibility, both male and female take responsibility for their own decisions. Tolerance and understanding prevail in this stage.
(7) When attraction in romance becomes disappointment or disillusion, you can end the relationship forever, but when attraction in marriage becomes disappointment or disillusion, you cannot jump out and be in the directive will of God.
(8) Compatibility must be established before marriage, not after marriage. Do not get married in the attraction stage, but first attain compatibility. No decision should be made about marriage until you have all the facts required, and all the facts are not in until you have reached the stage of compatibility.
(9) The greatest manifestation of compatibility is conversation. A successful marriage is a long conversation that seems all too short. Your moment-to-moment compatibility is in conversation.
(10) Premarital sex destroys those standards of virtue upon which compatibility is based. Premarital sex causes the fornicators to use emotion as the strength of their love, and emotion has no strength. The strength of romantic love is virtue, which is produced by learning, thinking, and solving problems using Bible doctrine.
Rapport:
(1) Rapport is the harmonious stage of romance and marriage. This is the status quo of sympathy and empathy through coalescence of souls and spiritual identification with the object of your love.
(2) This is the fusion of opposites in the understanding of feelings, thoughts, and attitudes of the object of your love.
(3) This is the fulfillment of the divine mandates of marriage. Colossians 3:18-19, “Wives, be subordinate to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be bitter against them.” Ephesians 5:22, “Wives, be subordinating yourselves to your own husbands as to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself as a substitute for her.” The husband is required to have personal and impersonal love in marriage. The wife is required to have respect, enforced and genuine humility, objectivity and teachability.
(4) Rapport is where wisdom from metabolized doctrine pays great dividends in human relationships, including how to rear children.
7. An ode to a loser: Personal love in the human race always begins, then turns out base. Minus virtue, it cannot stand; loss of control, it’s out of hand. Love is the victim of its own decision; life without virtue has no precision. The arrogant cannot give it; the loser cannot live it. Frustrated love becomes an obsession; the lover fails and loses possession. You cannot hold a husband or wife; for minus virtue, all is strife. So, think again before you leap; without virtue, life is cheap. Your love becomes a real frustration; leaving you as a bitter illustration.
8. One liner:
a. Intimacy should not destroy privacy.
b. Love is motivation for communication, but it takes more energy to communicate than it does to copulate.
c. Possessive people are possessive because they are preoccupied with themselves.
d. The arrogant male does not take responsibility for anything in marriage; therefore, he reverses the role with the woman.
e. A good husband is a man who is unattractive to other women.
9. Marriage for the Christian is the most difficult, the most challenging, and the place of more failures than anything else in life. Failure in marriage is a failure of the believer’s own spiritual life.
10. Marriage is designed by God as a divine institution for both believers and unbelievers. However, in the Church Age, Christian-marriage must be in harmony with the spiritual life. In other words, the Christian can only have a great marriage in spiritual maturity.
11. In a bad marriage as marriage progresses, it retrogresses because attractiveness begins to disappear as people age. Flaws that were hidden by youth and attractiveness become manifest in older people. In a good marriage, as the two people grow older and become less attractive, the relationship becomes sweeter.
12. Any relationship in life must be founded on principle. In order for marriage to continue, there must be an understanding of the principles of Bible doctrine. You cannot build a marriage on human viewpoint, practical application, or philosophical writings. You must know and apply biblical principles.
13. No marriage will last without the capacity for love, just as no believer can advance to maturity without capacity. Legalism and moral degeneracy as well as immoral degeneracy destroy the capacity for love and consequently destroy marriage. So, marriages do not fail because of financial problems, unfaithfulness, or other controversies, but because believers fail to execute the Protocol Plan of God and thus, never acquire capacity for love.
14. Personal Love and Intimidation. If the man is intimidated by his wife, he cannot have full capacity for personal love. Intimidation begins in romance, not in marriage. Intimidation in marriage eliminates capacity for love and substitutes fear. Fear introduces emotional and irrational sins which complicate the marital relationship. The husband can be intimidated in two categories namely by a strong woman who assumes the masculine role in marriage, and secondly by a weak woman who intimidates by nagging, self-righteous arrogance, and legalistic activism. A woman in polarized legalism is always right in her own eyes and is always trying to superimpose her viewpoint on her husband. Intimidation in marriage becomes a problem without solutions when one or both partners are ignorant of the Problem-Solving Devices.
15. The unharnessed woman in marriage rejects the authority of her husband. Therefore, she will inevitably enter the three stages of Christian degeneracy. 1 Corinthians 11:8-9, “For the man does not originate from the woman, but the woman from the man; for indeed, the man was not created for the woman, but the woman was created for the man.” A harnessed woman under authority with great patience is a blessing to the man, and receives the greater happiness.
16. Marriage and family are tests regarding one’s spiritual life since they are problem-manufacturing devices. No relationships in life are more dramatic than the relationship between the man and woman in marriage or between parents and children. Therefore, marriage and family demand the best from every believer.
17. What you really depend on in life will determine the status of your marriage. To depend on Bible doctrine means ultimate (not immediate) success. To depend on the advice of others means confusion, misdirection, and ultimate failure. Success or failure in marriage is a reflection of your spiritual life.
18. Marriages fail for two general reasons. First, getting married in the attraction stage of romance and secondly never growing up in marriage and so never attaining the stages of compatibility or rapport.
Taboos and other points in the Selection of a Mate.
1. If you are a believer, do not marry an unbeliever, 2 Corinthians 6:14-15, “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness [those with imputed righteousness] and lawlessness [disobedient to God’s command to believe in Christ], or what fellowship has light with darkness? (15) Or what harmony has Christ with Belial [worthlessness used for Satan], or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?” If you become a believer after having been married to an unbeliever, do not seek a divorce for you will have the opportunity to evangelize your spouse.
2. If you are positive to doctrine, do not marry a person who is negative to doctrine or your Biblical convictions. Spiritual compatibility is the only hope for resolving many of the problems in marriage.
3. Do not regard marriage as the solution to the problems of life. Marriage is not a problem-solving device, but a problem-manufacturing status. The more problems you carry into marriage, the less chance the marriage has of succeeding. If you cannot solve your problems while alone, you cannot solve them in marriage.
4. Do not marry on a wave of libido, which is tantamount to getting married in the attraction stage. This is especially true in teenage marriages.
5. Do not marry a person involved in substance abuse, which includes alcohol and drugs.
6. Do not marry to escape from an unhappy home life, abusive parents, or an unhappy set of circumstances.
7. Do not marry a status symbol, for security, or because of peer pressure. Status symbols are usually troublesome persons. Do not marry for money, or to improve your economic situation, or for financial security. Do not go in debt to get married. Do not believe that two people can live as cheaply as one person.
8. Do not marry because you love and want children. Children do not improve a marriage, nor do they ever save a marriage.
9. Do not marry a person for his or her beauty or attractiveness alone. Beauty gives little indication of the real character of a person. Beauty blinds the ignorant, the shallow, the superficial, and the non-discerning person. Beauty can be a disguise for flaws and defects. These need to be recognized before marriage. Beauty fades and is often corrupted by arrogance. Without virtue, beauty is often susceptible to flattery.
10. Do not marry a person unless you are in the compatibility stage of your relationship. The compatibility stage has five characteristics.
a. Spiritual compatibility. If you can’t agree on doctrine, the same pastor, or the same local church, you will have trouble. This is the most difficult of all compatibilities to recognize.
b. Mental compatibility. This is discovered through conversation.
c. Physical compatibility. This is determined after marriage, and the discovery is fun. Sex is a learning process.
d. Economic compatibility is agreement on how to handle finances.
e. Recreational compatibility. This is the most important compatibility in the attraction stage.
11. Avoid getting married under peer pressure. It is better to take your time and avoid making a mistake.
12. The Septuagint says in Proverbs 18:22, “Whoever finds a good wife receives grace from the Lord. But he who divorces a good wife divorces a blessing and takes a woman who is unchaste and stupid.” The Hebrew says, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains grace from the Lord.” It appears that the LXX may not be a part of the Word of God, but the principle is certainly true.
13. Do not marry a neurotic person, which is dangerous to the soul and mental compatibility. This type is too unstable, too emotional, too hysterical, too self-centered, and too self-destructive to adjust to marriage. No marriage to a neurotic person ever works out.
14. Do not marry a divorced man except under those circumstances dictated by the Word of God: his former wife has died, he divorced his wife prior to salvation, his former wife has remarried, he is the innocent party of an adultery divorce, or his divorce involved the desertion of his former wife.
15. Do not marry any man unless you can submit to his authority in three categories: his spiritual authority, his mental authority, his physical authority. The mental and spiritual are far more important than the physical.
16. Do not get married until you have the capacity for marriage. This capacity requires the ability to deploy the following Problem-Solving Devices: Personal love for God the Father, Impersonal love and sharing the Happiness of God and to have some love for the Lord Jesus Christ.
17. The Christian can only be consistently happy if he is a mature believer for only the mature believer Shares the Happiness of God. Sharing the Happiness of God and Occupation with Christ are two sides of the same coin.
18. If two unhappy people, a couple who cannot maintain happiness under pressure, get married, how can they have a happy marriage! Then, people wonder why there are so many unhappily married Christians. The answer should be obvious: no capacity for marriage.
The Problem and Danger of Premarital Sex:
1. Premarital sex destroys the virtue and values on which compatibility and rapport in marriage are founded. Generally, both men and women enter into premarital sex to satisfy their libido; hence, the involvement of the third arrogance skill, which is self-absorption.
2. Premarital sex generally occurs in the attraction stage of romance which premarital sex in this stage of romance blocks off and closes the door for entering compatibility and rapport, the second and third stages of romance. Therefore, it makes a direct attack on two postulates in marriage. The first postulate: marriage is more than finding the right person; marriage is being the right person. Premarital sex eliminates being the right person, so that the finding of the right person is frustrated with hang-ups and regrets. The second postulate: A happy marriage is like a long conversation that always seems too short. This conversation begins in the attraction stage, increases in compatibility and reaches its peak in the rapport stage in which stage marriage should occur.
3. Premarital sex becomes the enemy of marriage, and can destroy a marriage long before the marriage occurs. Marriages are often destroyed by the pattern of sexuality in adolescence and young adulthood. Premarital sexual experience has an adverse effect on post-marital sex. Periods of unrestrained licentiousness are often followed by periods of unrestrained guilt and depression. Promiscuity before marriage creates handicaps for marriage. The couple involved in fornication and other forms of promiscuity are in the process of destroying the very Biblical standards of virtue required for a successful marriage.
4. One of the dangers of premarital sex is the development of an arrogant problem regarding self-gratification, in which a single person desires sexual sensation rather than an honorable relationship with a sexual partner in marriage. So, instead of developing integrity, the person follows his lust pattern creating scar tissue in the soul and garbage in the sub-consciousness, and at the same time destroying the physical potential of having wonderful sex with his or her mate in marriage. Self-gratification is no substitute for integrity and honor.
5. Principles of Application.
a. Application without truth is false.
b. Application without fact is fiction.
c. Application from emotion is irrationality.
d. Application without principle is life without direction.
e. Application without doctrine is distorted learning.
f. Application without virtue is distorted living.
6. Premarital sex not only abandons the virtue necessary for compatibility and rapport, but causes the fornicators to encapsulate their so-called romance in deceitful lust. Hence, the basis for their alleged romantic love is related to the sins of arrogance and the sins of emotion rather than virtue.
7. The strength of romantic love is virtue. For the unbeliever this virtue is attained through the observance of the Laws of Divine Establishment, Ecclesiastes 9:9, “Enjoy life with the woman [the man had integrity and so properly prepared himself for marriage likewise the woman] whom you love all the days of your fleeting life [since they are unbelievers] which He [the Lord] has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life [having a great marriage] and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun [the unbelieving man also has happiness in his right occupation].” For the believer, this virtue is attained through his advance to spiritual maturity. Only in spiritual maturity, can the woman and man obey the mandates found in Ephesians 5.
8. Loss of standards through premarital sex creates two categories of problems which destroy romance and marriage namely the problem of the arrogance and lust controlling one’s life and the problem of substituting emotion as the criterion for love and romance. This is tantamount to irrationality in the relationship since there is no doctrinal content, no Problem-Solving Devices, no common sense, and no discernment in emotion.
9. Reactions related to promiscuity: Entering a life of promiscuity with many sex partners results in Christian immoral degeneracy and reactions. The reaction of seeking comparable stimulation in chemical dependence when your sex is cut off. The reaction of depression, self-pity, and even suicide.
10. Biblical warning against premarital sex in addition to passage above. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification [experiential] that you should abstain [infinitive of purpose] from fornication [an illicit sexual life], (4) in order that each one of you [each believer, male and female] should know how to possess [middle voice: you are benefited] his own vessel [body] in sanctification [experiential sanctification] and honor.” Hebrews 13:4, “Let marriage be held in honor by all [who are married], and let the marriage bed be undefiled [the relationship of marriage unsoiled by infidelity], for you see [the reason for the previous statement] God will judge fornicators and adulterers [When a statement like this is made, it means an extremely harsh judgment].”
11. Premarital sex handicaps rapport. Both men and women enter into premarital sex to satisfy their own libido. When this occurs, there is no genuine love or sense of responsibility for their sex partners, the man especially violates any sense of responsibility when he engages in premarital sex. When a man seduces a woman for his self-gratification, the woman is left frustrated. This produces a handicap to achieving premarital rapport.
12. Why one should not have premarital sex! Premarital sex handicaps one from being the right person. Premarital sex eliminates being the right person, so that finding the right person is frustrated with regrets. Premarital sex generally eliminates the possibility of ever attaining compatibility or rapport in marriage. However, after marriage compatibility and rapport with diligent spiritual advance can still be accomplished.
13. Premarital sexual experience has an adverse effect on post-marital sex. Premarital sexual experience often hinders any chance of a successful marriage, because it eliminates both compatibility and the rapport stages of marriage. Premarital sexual experience often results in Christian immoral degeneracy which eliminates the virtue prerequisite for a successful marriage. Remember that the most important factor regarding sex is virtue.
14. Promiscuity destroys discernment. The attraction stage of romance may cloud one’s discernment and so is the most vulnerable to premarital sex. In the attraction stage of romance, premarital sex destroys the spiritual life, eliminates the understanding and use of the Problem-Solving Devices of the Protocol Plan of God, and keeps a lot of believers from ever executing God’s plan for their lives.
15. Recovery of virtue after it is lost through licentiousness: Promiscuity leads to emotional revolt of the soul, which converts a genuine personal love into pseudo love. Emotional revolt of the soul does not have capacity for true love. The irrationality of emotional revolt of the soul takes over the life and erodes the virtue-standards on which true love is based. For the believer, premarital sex substitutes the emotional complex of sins: guilt, fear, worry, hatred, anger, anxiety, and occasionally murder. Reestablishment of virtue not only includes the use of the Recovery Procedure, but demands inculcation of doctrine, and the function of the Problem-Solving Devices.
16. Illicit sex is one path to disaster. Why God forbids premarital sex. Periods of unrestrained licentiousness are always followed by periods of unrestrained guilt and depression. Licentiousness often results in suicide. Men and women are responsible for their own decisions in life. The woman uses her own free will to respond to the man’s sexual advances. She may blame the man afterwards, but she is just as guilty. The road to disaster is always paved with sex, drugs, and excessive alcohol.
17. Premarital sex destroys arousal patterns and mutually satisfactory fulfillment. There is a physiological factor in sexual arousal, as noted in the phrase “one flesh” in Genesis 2:24; Fornication destroys the rhythm and the pattern. Libido is the function of biological sex, but maximum effectiveness of sex in marriage depends on other factors such as status quo of the soul, the function of the spiritual life, and attainment of spiritual maturity. Major handicaps occur through premarital sexual activity which numb normal sexual responses and normal sexual rhythms. 1 Corinthians 6:18 implies that violation of premarital chastity decreases the source of sexual energy in marriage. This is why sex becomes dull for married people.
18. Generally, premarital sexual experience solidifies the mind-set a person will have toward sex for the rest of his life. Apart from the overruling grace of God, the effects of premarital sexual experience on the husband and wife are detrimental, and often disastrous.
19. Bondage verses liberation: The more premarital sex partners one has, the more difficult it is to adjust to one partner in marriage. Each premarital sexual relationship tends to be conditioned to the response pattern of the other person involved. Many premarital sexual encounters produce a variety of responses and rhythms. Hence, the sexual acts result in a specific response pattern for each person. A new premarital sex encounter does not extinguish the previous pattern of the previous sexual relationship. Therefore, promiscuity eventuates in sexual conditioning to a composite of one’s sexual affairs. Unrestrained sexual activity does not lead to freedom, but to bondage. Premarital control of sexuality is liberation for it prevents the handicaps of fornication etc. Undisciplined, uncontrolled premarital sexuality hinders effective sexual relationship in marriage. Premarital chastity produces self-control, which makes a husband an effective lover of his wife and the wife an effective responder.
Sexual Perversion:
This is the degeneracy of homosexuality and lesbianism etc. and its influence where it is accepted and not punished by the law. It creates a degeneracy that destroys a nation.
1. Both homosexuality and lesbianism are not only perverted sexual functions of the sin nature but also manifestations of reversionism and will be punished by the Supreme Court of Heaven as illustrated historically by God’s judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah.
2. Psychologist Alfred Adler admits that “homosexuals have a deep-seated revolt against adjustment to the normal sex role”, plus “a tendency to depreciate females, plus a display of increased over-sensitivity, ambition, defiance, distrust of others, and a desire to dominate.” Lesbians have a similar attitude toward men.
3. No one is born as a homosexual or as a lesbian. Rather these perversions are the result of the rejection of truth.
4. Other sexual abnormalities include: a) Transvestism: A male sexually stimulated by wearing the clothes of a female, and vice versa. b) Sadism: The derivation of sexual pleasure through cruelty and inflicting pain, humiliation, and other forms of suffering on individuals. In other words, they are sexually aroused through brutality. c) Masochism: The derivation of sexual pleasure from experiencing pain and humiliation. d) Necrophilia: Sexual relationship with a corpse. e) Necrosadism: Sexual arousal through the mutilation of a corpse. f) Sexual murder: Sexual arousal by killing another person of the opposite sex. g) Narcism: Sexual arousal from contemplating, admiring, or caressing one’s own body. h) Pedophilia: Called pederasty in which an adult, usually a male, is sexually attracted to younger boys. i) Bestiality: Sex with animals. j) Incest: The sin and crime of having sexual intercourse with a parent, child, sibling, or a grandchild.
All abnormal involvement in sexual sins can be reversed, but the road back to normality is not easy. As it took many sins to get to the point of perverted sexual activity, so, it will take many good decisions to recover. A believer will need to become extremely consistent in learning the Word of God while simultaneously avoiding these sins.
In summary of 1 Corinthians 11:9, “For indeed, man was not created for the woman’s sake, but the woman was created for the man’s sake.” It is a man’s world, and this is a great benefit to the woman. For the wife to render obedience or subordinate herself to the man, she has to be motivated by both impersonal love and personal love. God is fair and just in providing this mandate for women. Because of the uniqueness of the woman, she is honored, respected, and loved. Before a woman marries a man, she must be able to answer one critical question, “Will I submit to the authority of this man for the rest of my life?” The woman cannot answer this question in the attraction stage of romance. Other important questions include: Does he demonstrate impersonal love toward all? Is he manly, and yet still gentle? Is he thoughtful, courteous? What is his attitude in general and toward people in general? If you say “yes” to the wrong man who is an emotional child, who is arrogant, or jealous, your life and marriage will be intolerable slavery.
1 Corinthians 11:10
Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head [long hair relatively speaking; her hair symbolizes her willingness to use her authority related to her volition to submit to all bona fide authorities], because of the angels.
διὰ τοῦτο ὀφείλει ἡ γυνὴ ἐξουσίαν ἔχειν ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς διὰ τοὺς ἀγγέλους.
In this verse the woman is protected from angels by divine power and protected from man by her volition. All of this is pulled together in the woman’s hair as the badge. The hair is the sign that no angel will ever be able to cohabit with a woman again: this takes us back to Genesis 6. It is also a sign of her volition and her right to choose a man, the man of her choice, and be under his protection and his care, and to fulfill him, and so on.
A few points for Clarification:
1. The woman’s authority on her head refers to her hair, not to any covering such as a veil or hat. The woman’s hair is a picture of her freedom and her submission. Her freedom to accept or reject a man and her submission to the man she accepts. As a badge of submission, the woman’s hair conforms to the divine purpose for her life that is to complete a man. Her long hair is the badge of this authority, the outward sign.
2. A woman has free will to choose a man for a lifetime partner, or reject all men if she desires. Her hair is the badge of this authority. No man has control over a woman unless she gives him that right. Marriage is a woman surrendering her right to the man in exchange for his protection, his love, and for his fulfillment.
3. This same badge of authority is also the divine guarantee that she is protected from fallen angels and will never again be molested by an angelic creature as she was in Genesis 6.
4. The elect angels observe and rejoice in the long hair-badge. The angels can’t see inside of the soul, but they can see the long hair on the woman. They rejoice because they know that the woman is fulfilling her function: freedom in the single woman, submission in the marriage.
5. Man rejoices in the long hair because man is completed by the one who comes to him of her own volition and in response to his love.
1 Corinthians 11:11
However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.
πλὴν οὔτε γυνὴ χωρὶς ἀνδρὸς οὔτε ἀνὴρ χωρὶς γυναικὸς ἐν κυρίῳ·
God has designed the male and the female in the human race to be dependent upon each other. The man is designed as the leader and initiator; the woman the responder and also initiates in her response. While the man has the authority over the woman, he cannot get along without the woman. Furthermore, without the woman, there would be no civilization. Through understanding the Christian way of life, we come to understand how woman and man can have a harmonious relationship.
The man and woman are not only different in bodies, but in souls as well. Genesis 1:27, “And God created [the soul out of nothing] man in His own image [the soul of man was created in the shadow image of God], in the image of God He created [out of nothing] him; male and female He created them [their souls]."
1 Corinthians 11:12
For as the woman [biologically] originates from the man [his rib], so also the man has his birth [biological life] through the woman, but all things originate from God [The Lord created biological life which can be transmitted in the sperm and egg. Furthermore, God creates the spark of life which is imputed to the format soul located in biological life at the point of birth. Thus, man neither creates biological life nor does he create the invisible, everlasting soul. Man and woman merely unite biological life in the form of the sperm and egg at conception.]
ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ γυνὴ ἐκ τοῦ ἀνδρός, οὕτως καὶ ὁ ἀνὴρ διὰ τῆς γυναικός· τὰ δὲ πάντα ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ.
Genesis 2:21-25, “So, the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; (22) and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he formed into a woman [biologically] and brought her to the man [The Lord brings the woman to the man at the right time]. (23) Then, the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh [Adam recognized that she was of the same species]; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ (24) Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother [a new corporation is established] and shall have sexual intercourse with his wife, and they become one flesh. (25) And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.”
Biological life is mortal. God created the first biological life from the dust (chemicals) of the soil in order to form the biological life of Adam. Biological life such as your muscles, bones, organs, nerves, etc. will upon death break down into the chemicals of the earth or air. Biological life came from chemicals and returns to chemicals. (Eccl. 3:20)
Biological life preceded human life. In the garden God created first the biological life of Adam and then breathed into his nostrils the ‘spark of life’ (soul-life). This union of biological and soul-life resulted in Adam’s human life (Genesis 2:7). After the fall, God delegated to mankind the responsibility of perpetuating the material, biological life which is formed in the womb. This mankind does via the biologically alive sperm and egg. At birth God then creates the soul ex-nihilo and imputes it to biological life. As soon as the immortal soul-life unites with material biological life, human life begins. From thereafter, human life resides in the soul.
The definition in the paragraph below is taken from Thieme’s Bible Doctrine Dictionary page 244.
“Soul: The intangible, immortal essence of man that comprises the real person, giving him rational, moral, and relational capacities. The soul is distinct from the human spirit, which is acquired by the believer through regeneration (John 3:5–7; 1 Thess. 5:23; Heb. 4:12). The soul is the fully functioning though immaterial aspect of man that comes into being at the moment of physical birth, when God provides the igniting spark, or the “breath of life [neshamah chayyim]” (Gen. 2:7; cf. Isa. 42:5). Possession of a soul distinguishes man from all other living creatures—after making the “beasts of the earth,” God declared that He would make man differently, “in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Gen. 1:24–27). Like God, man’s soul has real but invisible attributes. The essence of man’s soul consists of self-consciousness (awareness of one’s own existence), mentality (ability to think), volition (ability to choose), and conscience (norms and standards, moral reasoning power). In the mentality of the believer’s soul are the left and right lobes, called in Scripture the “mind” and “heart,” used in the perception of Bible doctrine (Prov. 4:4; 23:7a; Phil. 4:7). God provides the soul of every human being for His own glory (Isa. 43:7), but man can choose not to glorify God. It is through the soul’s volition that an individual chooses to either accept or reject God’s grace gift of eternal salvation (John 3:18). For the believer in Jesus Christ, the use of volition determines whether he lives by his sin nature or by the grace provision of God (Gal. 5:16–17). For the believer to glorify God on earth, his soul must be sustained by the power of the Holy Spirit and fortified with the strength of God’s Word (2 Cor. 10:3–6; Heb. 10:39).”
1 Corinthians 11:13
Discern for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered [with very short hair or a shaven head]?
ἐν ὑµῖν αὐτοῖς κρίνατε· πρέπον ἐστὶν γυναῖκα ἀκατακάλυπτον τῷ θεῷ προσεύχεσθαι;
What does it mean to be uncovered? It means to be shaved. Common sense militates against a woman doing anything in the spiritual realm without her badge of authority which is her hair. The Christian woman must always have her head covered with hair whether she is in prayer, teaching Sunday school, or sitting in church listening to the teaching of the Word of God.
Under the concept of divine institution number two, marriage, the woman has the right to accept or reject the man who proposes to her. After marriage her long hair is the badge of her submission to her husband. What is long hair in a married woman? Her hair should definitely be longer than her husband and her head should never be shaved.
1 Corinthians 11:14
Does not even nature [the man should never wear the woman’s symbol of authority and her design as a responder] itself teach you that if a man has long hair [since long hair is the woman’s sign of humility and submission to bona fide authority], it is a dishonor to him [since short hair is a sign of his humility, authority orientation and his role as the authority in marriage and family life],
οὐδὲ ἡ φύσις αὐτὴ διδάσκει ὑµᾶς ὅτι ἀνὴρ µὲν ἐὰν κοµᾷ ἀτιµία αὐτῷ ἐστιν,
1 Corinthians 11:15
But if [3rd class conditional sentence indicating probability] a woman has long hair, it is a glory [can also mean glamour for her hair is a frame for her face] to her? For her hair is given to her for a covering.
γυνὴ δὲ ἐὰν κοµᾷ δόξα αὐτῇ ἐστιν; ὅτι ἡ κόµη ἀντὶ περιβολαίου δέδοται [αὐτῇ].
God in nature has provided for the woman hair in abundance, and it can grow long and it can continue to be thick. Very few women ever become bald. The passive voice means that the woman receives her badge as a guarantee from God as to her volition and her rights in the human race. The indicative mood is the reality that the woman’s hair is her covering [not a veil or hat in Church]. This means that the women who were slaves in Corinth could come to church even though they did not have a veil. This the legalistic bullies did not understand.
1 Corinthians 11:16
But if one is inclined to be contentious [in context, these are the legalist who bullied the young ladies who did not have veils on their heads], and he is, we have no such custom [of demanding that the ladies wear veils], nor have the churches of God [this is not a custom in any of the churches].
Εἰ δέ τις δοκεῖ φιλόνεικος εἶναι, ἡµεῖς τοιαύτην συνήθειαν οὐκ ἔχοµεν, οὐδὲ αἱ ἐκκλησίαι τοῦ θεοῦ.
Galatians 5:9, “A little leaven [legalism] leavens the entire lump. [The Galatians ate a lot of bread, and so understood this].”
When you put a little leaven in a lump of dough, the leaven takes over the dough and the entire mass of dough becomes leavened. If a little legalism enters your soul, you will become entirely legalistic.
Leaven always represents something evil in Scripture (Exodus 12:8, 19; 13:7; 34:25). There are five different kinds of leaven in Scripture. In Mark 8:15 there is the leaven of Herod: worldliness. In Matthew 16:6 there is the leaven of the Sadducees: rationalism or human viewpoint. In Mark 8:15 and in Luke 12:1 there is the leaven of the Pharisees: religion. In 1 Corinthians 5:6, 7 there is the leaven of licentiousness. In Galatians 5:9 there is the leaven of legalism. The legalism of circumcision for salvation and the legalism of distorting the Mosaic Law into a system of spirituality turned their entire lifestyle into a lifestyle of legalism.
1 Corinthians 11:17
But in giving this instruction [about a woman’s covering], I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse [Bullies keeping ladies from attending the church].
Τοῦτο δὲ παραγγέλλων οὐκ ἐπαινῶ ὅτι οὐκ εἰς τὸ κρεῖσσον ἀλλὰ εἰς τὸ ἧσσον συνέρχεσθε.
In other words, with bullies at the door, it isn’t for the best interests of assembly worship; it is for the worse. The Corinthian believers were coming together not to worship, not to study the Word, not to observe the Lord’s table correctly, but they are coming together to bicker, to abuse, to bully, to judge, to malign, and to cause divisions.
1 Corinthians 11:18
For, in the first place, when you come together as a church [for assembly worship], I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it [not all are involved].
πρῶτον µὲν γὰρ συνερχοµένων ὑµῶν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ ἀκούω σχίσµατα ἐν ὑµῖν ὑπάρχειν, καὶ µέρος τι πιστεύω.
1 Corinthians 11:19
For there must also be factions [since arrogance produces divisions and factions] among you, so that those who are approved [the advanced believers] may become evident among you [out of factions, leadership arises].
δεῖ γὰρ καὶ αἱρέσεις ἐν ὑµῖν εἶναι, ἵνα [καὶ] οἱ δόκιµοι φανεροὶ γένωνται ἐν ὑµῖν.
Galatians 5:15, "But if you bite and devour each other [a reference to judging, criticizing, maligning, gossiping, lying, taking revenge based on jealousy, bitterness etc.] and you are, beware so that you are not consumed [destroyed] by one another."
The destruction of legalism is immense. In legalism, believers become immersed in mental attitude sins resulting in the function of the sins of the tongue. Legalism therefore, has no constructive power, but only destructive power when dealing with the problems which occur when interacting with people. Biting and devouring one another as a result of legalism produces such sins as jealousy, inordinate ambition and competition, gossip, maligning, judging etc. This is how Christians destroy themselves, others and their churches.
The Arrogance Skills explained: How do Christians justify the viciousness of attacking one another? They do this via the arrogance skills namely self-justification, self-deception and self-absorption. In self-justification, the believer rationalizes away his sins one way or another. Simultaneously, this believer is deceiving or lying to himself, and consequently does not confess his sins, and so remains out of fellowship. This results in the believer being immersed in mental attitude sins and other sins as well. This viciousness will continue until the believer uses the Recovery Procedure followed by inculcation in the knowledge of the spiritual life.
Relationship with God must precede relationship with people. Only spiritual advance and relationship with God provides the believer with the capacity to interact successfully with people. If a Christian has not obtained personal love for God the Father, he will not have the motivation or the power to deploy Unconditional Love and so, none of his relationships in life will work out.
Who are the approved ones? They are believers who know doctrine and who stand up under the bullying pressure of the legalists. The approved ones are not snowed by this pseudo spirituality, by this bullying, and they do not succumb to the temptation to join in and to bully the slave girls about the need for veils or hats. In other words, they do not succumb to herd pressure. Schisms or divisions in a church cause herd pressure. Leadership in any local church should be made up of individuals who know doctrine, who are mature, who can apply doctrine to experience, who neither bully others themselves nor permit others to bully.
1 Corinthians 11:20
Therefore, when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper [before the communion service itself],
Συνερχοµένων οὖν ὑµῶν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ οὐκ ἔστιν κυριακὸν δεῖπνον φαγεῖν,
1 Corinthians 11:21
For in your eating each one takes his own supper first [they had a meal before their communion service]; and one is hungry and another is drunk [This was a result of dissension in the church.].
ἕκαστος γὰρ τὸ ἴδιον δεῖπνον προλαµβάνει ἐν τῷ φαγεῖν, καὶ ὃς µὲν πεινᾷ, ὃς δὲ µεθύει.
The Lord’s supper does not refer to the Eucharist part, the bread and the cup. Rather, it referred to sitting around and eating while having fellowship. The meal, the supper before the communion service was a part of their worship. We have eliminated the former today and have only a communion service. We call the latter the Lord’s table, but they called the whole package the Lord’s table.
1 Corinthians 11:22
What! Do you not have houses [representing privacy] in which to excessively eat and drink? Or do you despise [treat with contempt] the church of God [by getting drunk during the worship service] and shame those who have nothing [some were too poor to contribute to the supper for many of these believers were slaves and were totally impoverished.]? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.
µὴ γὰρ οἰκίας οὐκ ἔχετε εἰς τὸ ἐσθίειν καὶ πίνειν; ἢ τῆς ἐκκλησίας τοῦ θεοῦ καταφρονεῖτε, καὶ καταισχύνετε τοὺς µὴ ἔχοντας; τί εἴπω ὑµῖν; ἐπαινέσω ὑµᾶς; ἐν τούτῳ οὐκ ἐπαινῶ.
Look, if you want to enter into excessive eating and drinking, do it privately in your own house. He isn’t commending it; he just saying that the church is not the place for it. The church is public assembly, not a private situation. Application: If you as a believer are going to demonstrate self-centeredness and arrogance, do it at home. Paul states that if the Corinthian believers do not want to share their food with others they should stay home. The purpose of the love feast, the supper before the communion service is to demonstrate the harmony and fellowship of believers, and there is no fellowship or harmony in freezing out the impoverished, the less fortunate, and so on.
1 Corinthians 11:23
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took the bread;
Ἐγὼ γὰρ παρέλαβον ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου, ὃ καὶ παρέδωκα ὑµῖν, ὅτι ὁ κύριος Ἰησοῦς ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ ᾗ παρεδίδετο ἔλαβεν ἄρτον
1 Corinthians 11:24
And when he had given thanks [at the end the Passover Meal], he broke it [the bread without leaven] and said, “This represents my body [which is given as] a substitute for you [genitive of advantage]; keep on doing this is remembrance of Me.”
καὶ εὐχαριστήσας ἔκλασεν καὶ εἶπεν, Τοῦτό µού ἐστιν τὸ σῶµα τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑµῶν· τοῦτο ποιεῖτε εἰς τὴν ἐµὴν ἀνάµνησιν.
The Lord Jesus Christ converted the celebration of the Passover Meal into the Communion-Memorial-ritual of the Church Age.
1 Corinthians 11:25
In the same manner, [He took] the cup also after supper saying, “This cup is the new covenant [a new spiritual life for Church Age believers explained in the epistles] signed in my blood [a verbal symbol representing redemption, propitiation, and reconciliation]; keep on doing this in as often as you drink in remembrance of me.
ὡσαύτως καὶ τὸ ποτήριον µετὰ τὸ δειπνῆσαι, λέγων, Τοῦτο τὸ ποτήριον ἡ καινὴ διαθήκη ἐστὶν ἐν τῷ ἐµῷ αἵµατι· τοῦτο ποιεῖτε, ὁσάκις ἐὰν πίνητε, εἰς τὴν ἐµὴν ἀνάµνησιν.
Christians are commanded by the Lord to observe the Eucharist until He returns at the Rapture of the Church.
Communion Service:
The communion service is actually a test to see if you love Christ. Can you concentrate on the Lord Jesus Christ long enough to remember him in obedience to his command, “Keep on doing this is remembrance of me?” Many believers cannot obey this command because they are ignorant of the pertinent doctrines, and this is tragic. Therefore, they cannot worship, because those who worship him must worship by agency of the Spirit and by means of truth (John 4:24). Occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ during the communion service is the ultimate function of worship. The Lord instituted the communion service in a previous dispensation. It was in the Upper Room that the Lord commanded, “Keep on doing this in memory of me”. Love demands memory. Therefore, Jesus Christ has given to his royal family this way of remembering him.
The Lord explained the bread as representing his body and the cup as representing his work on the cross. The bread represents the perfect integrity of the humanity of Jesus Christ in Hypostatic union. Eating the bread represents our having believed in him. Eating is a non-meritorious function and so it is with faith. When you eat of the bread, you are saying I have believed in Jesus Christ as my Savior. When you drink of the cup, it is also a non-meritorious function and demonstrates faith. All kinds of people can swallow liquid whether they are good or bad. Just as the bread represents his perfect humanity, so the cup represents his saving work on the cross. Therefore, when you meditate on the communion elements, your thoughts should be completely focused on the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:26
For as often as you eat this bread or drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death [His substitutionary spiritual death] until He comes [the Rapture of the Church].
ὁσάκις γὰρ ἐὰν ἐσθίητε τὸν ἄρτον τοῦτον καὶ τὸ ποτήριον πίνητε, τὸν θάνατον τοῦ κυρίου καταγγέλλετε, ἄχρις οὗ ἔλθῃ.
The Christian is commanded to celebrate in the Eucharist the substitutive atonement of Jesus Christ until the Church Age comes to a close at the Rapture.
1 Corinthians 11:27
Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, [out of fellowship] shall be guilty of sinning against the body [the person of the humanity of Christ] and the blood [His work on the cross] of the Lord.
Ὥστε ὃς ἂν ἐσθίῃ τὸν ἄρτον ἢ πίνῃ τὸ ποτήριον τοῦ κυρίου ἀναξίως, ἔνοχος ἔσται τοῦ σώµατος καὶ τοῦ αἵµατος τοῦ κυρίου.
The body of the Lord represents his perfect humanity and his blood represents his perfect work on the cross. When the believer participates in the Communion Service out of fellowship, he sins against both the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross which sin is punished severely.
1 Corinthians 11:28
But as a man must examine himself [to make sure that he is in fellowship with God], and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
δοκιµαζέτω δὲ ἄνθρωπος ἑαυτόν, καὶ οὕτως ἐκ τοῦ ἄρτου ἐσθιέτω καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ποτηρίου πινέτω·
Before the Christian participates in the Communion Service, he must examine himself to make sure he is in fellowship. If he is out of fellowship, he must acknowledge his guilt by stating his sins to God the Father.
1 Corinthians 11:29
For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself [the believer brings severe discipline upon himself] if he does not judge the body rightly [fails to get into fellowship].
ὁ γὰρ ἐσθίων καὶ πίνων κρίµα ἑαυτῷ ἐσθίει καὶ πίνει µὴ διακρίνων τὸ σῶµα.
If the Christian participates in the Communion Service out of fellowship, he will receive severe punishment from the Lord
1 Corinthians 11:30
For this cause many of you are weak [warning discipline], sick [intensive discipline] and a number of you sleep [dying discipline].
διὰ τοῦτο ἐν ὑµῖν πολλοὶ ἀσθενεῖς καὶ ἄρρωστοι καὶ κοιµῶνται ἱκανοί.
Because the Corinthian believers were participating in the Communion Service out of fellowship, they were experiencing three categories of divine discipline namely warning, intensive and dying discipline. Under warning discipline some Corinthians experienced weakness and a loss of energy through sickness or disease, others were seriously sick and a few even died.
Sleep is used as an analogy to the death of the Christian who dies before the Rapture. The Christian receiving his resurrection body at the Rapture of the Church is analogous to waking up from his sleep.
1 Corinthians 11:31
But if we judge ourselves rightly, but we are not [2nd Class Conditional Sentence, a contrary to fact conditional sentence: they are not naming their sins correctly to God the Father], we would not be judged, but we are.
εἰ δὲ ἑαυτοὺς διεκρίνοµεν, οὐκ ἂν ἐκρινόµεθα·
The Communion Service is an extremely important commemorative ritual. Therefore, the Christian must make sure that he is in fellowship while remembering the Lord in the Communion Service.
1 Corinthians 11:32
But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world [assuming that these believers upon receiving discipline will get back into fellowship].
κρινόµενοι δὲ ὑπὸ [τοῦ] κυρίου παιδευόµεθα, ἵνα µὴ σὺν τῷ κόσµῳ κατακριθῶµεν.
In this context, the Corinthian believers are being judged by the Lord since they would not judge themselves (name, acknowledge their sins to God the Father). (The contrary to fact conditional sentence in the preceding verse tells us that they are not naming their sins correctly). The Lord is disciplining them in order to put pressure on them to get back in fellowship so that they will not be judged under the 5 cycles of discipline along with their unbeliever counterparts if and when that should occur. If the Christian is in a state of apostasy when the cycles strike, he will be judged along with the cosmos.
Many unbelievers in this world are judged by God for many failures and sins. They are condemned and judged for their failure in government, in marriage and family, for their involvement in religion, for their antagonism and persecution of the Jews etc. To avoid these judgments, God disciplines the believer to teach him to respect Him, His commands and laws.
1 Corinthians 11:33
So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
ὥστε, ἀδελφοί µου, συνερχόµενοι εἰς τὸ φαγεῖν ἀλλήλους ἐκδέχεσθε.
1 Corinthians 11:34
If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment [from participating in the Communion Service out of fellowship]. The remaining matters I will arrange when I come.
εἴ τις πεινᾷ, ἐν οἴκῳ ἐσθιέτω, ἵνα µὴ εἰς κρίµα συνέρχησθε. Τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ ὡς ἂν ἔλθω διατάξοµαι.
Ordinances involve ritual. Ritual is meaningless unless the believer understands the doctrine involved. For communion you must understand not only the person and work of Christ on the cross, but its relationship to the Christian way of life. So, because the Corinthians failed to understand pertinent doctrines, the faithful observation of the ordinance related to the Eucharist was meaningless. Furthermore, persistent carnality without the use of the Recovery Procedure made it impossible for these Corinthians believers to enter into the true meaning of the Lord’s table.
Paul presented three problems in the Corinthian Church. The first one we saw was the problem of spirituality, the second, the problem of ritual related to the Eucharist, and the third is verses 3-15, the problem of ladies’ decorum in the church. Legalistic bullies existed in the congregation at Corinth, and as always with legalistic bullies, they were contentious about insisting that women wear veils (hats) in church. This presented a problem since many of the people who attended these services were slaves and these Greek slave girls did not have veils (hats). In the ancient world hats were really veils. Although these female slaves wanted to learn God’s word, these legalistic believers wouldn’t let these slave girls in without a veil even though these female slaves were not permitted to wear veils. If a slave woman went down through the streets wearing a veil and anyone knew she was a slave they usually grabbed her immediately, beat her up, shaved her hair off, tortured her, all sorts of things. She was fair game for anyone to do anything they wanted to do to her. Veils were worn by ladies only, never slaves. Ladies were defined as free women, not slaves. So legalistic believers were standing at the door and forbidding slaves to enter without a veil or a hat.