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 Thessalonians Chapter One
A verse-by-verse commentary by Max Klein
When nearly everything one reads, hears, and sees is evil, it is easy to become distracted by all the evil people, ideas, thinking and solutions. However, we must not allow ourselves to be distracted by all this Satanic activity. Rather, we must focus on the solutions found in the plan of God and on executing the spiritual life. If we spend more time reading, listening, and discussing with one another about all the evil that is happening than we do learning, thinking, and talking about the Word of God, is it surprising that we are distracted.
Genesis 12:3a, “And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you, I will curse.”
A Prayer for America by R. B. Thieme Jr.: Heavenly Father, we come to You in humility to pray for the deliverance of the United States of America. Our client nation is in jeopardy, virtue has given way to degradation, spiritual faith and abundance have declined into complacency and apathy, and terrorism is at our gates. We are spiraling down into degeneracy. We are brought to our knees Father, not by an enemy, but by You. We recognize that when believers fail, the client nation fails and is punished. Many believers in Jesus Christ in this country are confused about the spiritual life. They have neglected Your infallible Word and have not followed the colors to the high ground of spiritual maturity. But we also recognize, Father, that our nation still has a chance to recover, if believers wake up and begin to fulfill the very purpose for which they are still alive. We pray they might rebound, know the Truth, and keep moving. May they hear the trumpet call to fall in and advance to victory in the spiritual life. Heavenly Father, we come to You in recognition that You have all the answers. Only You can provide the solutions that will turn the tide of history. We are in Your hands. You can deliver us at any time. So may there be a turning to Thee and the revival of prayer in our country. And when we do not even know how to pray for ourselves, we know God the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us with “groanings which cannot be uttered,” and our Lord Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest, makes intercession for us at Your throne. We are thankful Heavenly Father for the opportunity of being tested. We have no fear when we reside in the plan of God. We know we will survive these adversities with the courage, true peace, and tranquility that come from Bible doctrine circulating in our souls. We know that You cause all things to work together for good to those who love You and are elected on the basis of Your predetermined plan. We are grateful, Father, for the opportunity as believers to stand in the gap for our nation, to be invisible heroes and have an impact on history in the time in which we live. We thank You that Jesus Christ controls history, and that He never overlooks the advance of the believer to the high ground. Thank you for continuing to give us the necessary time to implant the doctrines from Scripture in our souls so that we might fulfill our responsibilities to the client nation. May we remember, we are here to glorify You. We pray for our President and our national leaders. May they have courage and wisdom to make decisions that are honorable and compatible with Your plan for this nation. May they calmly and efficiently plan and execute the destruction of our enemies. We pray for those in the military. May they not be discouraged, frightened, or disturbed. May each one know that in battle, killing the enemy is not immoral or sinful. We remember those whose names are in our church bulletin, men and women in uniform fulfilling the principle of freedom through military victory. And we pray for the Berachah Battalion at this crossroads in our history. Protect every member from harm as they face our enemies. Heavenly Father, we have been given a unique spiritual life and the basis for the recovery of the pivot. We pray the renewed power of the spiritual life in these United States will play its part in the defeat of our enemy, and great blessing will be restored in this land. Our enemies call us satanic, but may they learn to call us Christian as they see the Power of Heaven itself! Father, we pray in this time of national crisis for a revival such as we have not seen before in our history. We ask this in the name of the King of kings and Lord of lords, even Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
As you know, we do not take political sides for we are here for a much greater reason. We are here to make the gospel clear and to teach the spiritual life to growing believers. However, I should make it clear that a Client Nation to the Lord cannot exist under Marxism, and we are eyewitnesses to a Marxist takeover of the United States. First, they burned down our cities without a whimper. Then, they shut-down and destroyed our businesses by spreading fear related to some virus that has a virulence somewhere between a common cold and the flu, and now – well you know the rest of the story.
1 Thessalonians 1:1
Paul and Silvanus [Silas] and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians [a local church], because of [Galatians 1:24] God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and prosperity from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Παῦλος καὶ Σιλουανὸς καὶ Τιµόθεος τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ Θεσσαλονικέων ἐν θεῷ πατρὶ καὶ κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ· χάρις ὑµῖν καὶ εἰρήνη.
Translators sometimes do strange things for example in the Greek, the three names mentioned above are written in their Greek forms (Paulos, Silvanos, and Timotheos), but in the English translation Paul and Timothy are written in their English forms, and Silvanus is in Latin. Why!
The Greek word hupo is most frequently used to express agency. In fact, agency is express by hupo more than all the other methods put together.
Four other prepositions are used to express agency, but it is rare such as ek in Galatians 4:4, para as in John 17:7, apo as in 1 Corinthians 3:18, and dia as in Matthew 1:22 to express intermediate agency. Occasionally, the instrumental case without a preposition is used to express agency as in Romans 8:14.
The preposition en with the instrumental is used to express instrumentality as in 1 Corinthians 4:21, “should I come to you by means of a rod?” or in Revelation 6:8, “to kill by means of the sword, famine, and death.” So, the Greek preposition en with the instrumental is used to express instrumentality, not agency.
The best translation of the Greek preposition en in this context would be the meaning of “because of.” Though somewhat rare, it is used as in Galatians 1:24, “And they were glorifying God because of me (en emoi).” Because of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ the missionary team composed Paul, Silvanus and Timothy was formed and led to Thessalonica to establish a church there.
Traditionally, Thessalonica was founded in c. 316 BC by the Macedonian general Cassander who named it after his wife Thessalonike, daughter of Philip II of Macedon. Thessalonica was an ancient city of Macedon in northern Greece and was made the capital of the Roman province of Macedon. It was famous for its seaport and was on a major trade route to the east, and so was flourishing with a population of about 200,000, and continued to thrive as one of the most important cities in the Byzantine Empire.
On his 2nd missionary journey, Paul and Silas departed Antioch of Syria, went through Cilicia and Southern Galatia. At Lystra, a city of Galatia, Timothy joined the team. These three then went to Troas. At Troas, Luke joined the team on their way to Macedonia. (When they (Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke) arrived in Philippi, Macedonia, Luke remained there (about 6 or 7 years) and did not rejoin Paul until he passed through on his 3rd missionary journey, and thereafter remained with Paul.) The Pauline team (Paul, Silas, and Timothy) after leaving Philippi, passed through Amphipolis, Apollonia and then to Thessalonica where they established a church. Because of the danger there, the brethren sent Paul and Silas by night to Berea where they had a great ministry. Timothy remained in Thessalonica, but later joined Paul and Silas in Berea. Then, religious Jews from Thessalonica came to Berea and stirred up crowds against the Pauline team, but mainly against Paul. So, the believers sent Paul out of the city and then escorted him to Athens while Silas and Timothy remained behind in Berea as per Acts 17:14, 15. When Paul arrived in Athens, he sent word that his team left in Berea were to join him as soon as possible as per Acts 17:15, 16. After Silas and Timothy arrive in Athens, Timothy delivers a report about the Thessalonians to Paul. From Athens, Timothy is sent back to the Thessalonians possibly with 1 Thessalonians circa 52 A.D. to encourage them through this teaching. Paul having left Athens, goes to Corinth. While in Corinth, Timothy and Silas arrived bringing some funds from the Philippian Church and a report regarding the Thessalonica Church. After hearing the report, Paul wrote 2nd Thessalonians circa 53 A.D.
There were some problems in this local church of Thessalonica. First, some believers in the church had become unruly, causing internal trouble. This is always the case when a church gets started. For this reason, 1 Thessalonians 5:15 as well as 2 Thessalonians 3:6,7,11 were written. Secondly, the church was enduring terrible persecution as per 1 Thessalonians 2:14 and 3:2-4. Thirdly, some of the believers anticipating the Rapture had sold out their businesses and were idle. They had some doctrine regarding the Rapture, but obviously not enough.
How does the writing of Thessalonians fit in with Paul’s other epistles? 1 and II Thessalonians were the only epistles written during the 2nd missionary journey. On his 3rd missionary journey, he wrote Galatians, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, and Romans. In his 1st Roman imprisonment, Paul wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. Then, he went to Spain on his 4th missionary journey possibly from 63-67 AD. On his return, he wrote 1 Timothy possibly from Philippi, Titus from Nicopolis where he was arrested and returned to Rome and 2nd Timothy from the Mamertine Dungeon in Rome.
The salutation, “Grace” and then “prosperity.” If the believer is willing to exploit the grace plan of God, he will eventually receive great soul prosperity. Grace is the entire plan of God which plan is divided into three parts: phase one, Jesus Christ came into the world through the virgin birth; died a substitutionary spiritual death on the cross for our sins, he rose again, ascended, and was seated at the right hand of God the Father. Phase two is the believer in time. In time, God provides all the assets by which the believer may execute the plan all the way to maximum glorification of God. Phase three is eternal life in our resurrection bodies in a state of great happiness where we will be with the Lord forever.
1 Thessalonians 1:2
We [Paul, Silvanus, Timothy] keep giving thanks to God for you always, making mention of you at the time of our prayers [These three continue to pray for this new church even after they had departed],
Εὐχαριστοῦµεν τῷ θεῷ πάντοτε περὶ πάντων ὑµῶν, µνείαν ποιούµενοι ἐπὶ τῶν προσευχῶν ἡµῶν, ἀδιαλείπτως
Paul and his team had great capacity for life because of their spiritual lives. It was true that the Thessalonians as a whole were doing unusually well in their spiritual lives. So, being thankful to God for them was not particularly difficult, but keep in mind that Paul was also thankful for the nasty Corinthians. You haven’t gone very far in the spiritual life unless you can thank God for everything in your life both the difficulties as well as the blessings. This will not happen until you can say with Paul in Romans 8:28, “In fact, we know [the mature believers] that to those who love God, He causes all things to work together for good [divine production via the application of the Problem-Solving Devices] to those who are called according to His predetermined plan [in the divine decree].”
1 Thessalonians 1:3
Remembering without ceasing [in prayer] your production of faith [faith rest life] and labor of love [impersonal love] and endurance [applying the Problem-Solving Devices while remaining under the pressure of undeserved suffering] of confidence in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father,
µνηµονεύοντες ὑµῶν τοῦ ἔργου τῆς πίστεως καὶ τοῦ κόπου τῆς ἀγάπης καὶ τῆς ὑποµονῆς τῆς ἐλπίδος τοῦ κυρίου ἡµῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἔµπροσθεν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς ἡµῶν,
The Faith-rest Drill (a drill producing confidence and tranquility in the soul):
Walking by faith is a drill which must be practiced. This drill of applying God’s word to one’s difficulties and pressures produces tranquility in the soul. When the believer lives by faith, he applies biblical promises, principles and doctrines by faith to his experience. Living by faith is trusting in God’s thinking, not one's own false thinking. For example, God is perfect justice and as such he can only be perfectly fair to all his creatures, all the time. God is perfectly fair to you every second of every day. Therefore, it is incorrect thinking if you should think: ‘People and life are unfair to me’. Don't you realize that if a person treats you unfairly, God can discipline that person and provide extra blessing for you?
When the believer applies God's word to his problems and pressures, he will possess tranquility in his soul. Tranquility means two things: complete confidence in God, and freedom from mental agitation caused by emotional sins. When the believer is controlled by such mental sins as fear, worry, anger, hatred, jealousy, bitterness, self-pity etc., he will have stress in his soul. For example, if he worries about his family problems, stress will occur. This can be illustrated with the following simple formula: (problems + mental sins = stress) Stress produces an agitation in the soul, whereas applying Bible doctrine by faith produces a phenomenal tranquility in the soul: (problems + applying Bible doctrine by faith = tranquility).
Applying Biblical promises, principles and doctrine by faith has always been a part of the believer's spiritual life. Abraham was promised a great progeny by God through his wife Sarah (Genesis 12:2, 13:6) for God certainly would not encourage Abraham to produce his progeny through adultery. At first Abraham did not have the spiritual strength to believe this promise and in discouragement assumed that his progeny would come through Eliezer (Gen. 15:2, 3). Even when Abraham was 86 years old, he still did not believe that God could manufacture a progeny through his wife, Sarah. The little brat Ishmael via Hagar was not to be the fulfillment of Genesis 12:2 (Gen. 16:1-3, 16).
The promise was initially given to Abraham when he was still residing in his hometown, the 3rd Dynasty of Ur (Ur of the Chaldees). After leaving the 3rd Dynasty of Ur, Abram followed papa to Haran where he resided until Terah died. Abram finally arrived in Canaan at the age of 75 (Gen. 12:4). It took Abraham more than 25 years to accumulate enough Bible doctrine in his soul to develop a faith strong enough to believe that he would have a son through Sarah. “And so not becoming weak in that faith, he completely understood his own body which had become [sexually] dead when he was approximately one hundred years old likewise, he completely understood the deadness of Sarah's womb [passed menopause]. He [Abraham] staggered not at the promises of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God and being fully persuaded that what God had promised [a son through Sarah], God is able also to perform” (Rom. 4:19-21).
You see, as Abraham learned more and more about God, his confidence in God increased. Romans 10:17 states, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” The believer listens to the Word of God today, and a little faith is developed. Then he listens tomorrow, and a little more faith is developed, and then the following day, and he continues to do so for his entire life. In this way his faith becomes stronger and stronger.
This stage-by-stage development of faith is illustrated by one of the Hebrew words for faith, qawah. This was the word used to describe the binding process which would produce a strong rope and is used to illustrate the strong faith of the mature believer waiting on the Lord (Is. 40:31). In order to make a strong unbreakable rope, one would begin with a single strand of rope which in itself would be very weak. However, when this single strand is twisted around a second strand and then around another and another, a strong rope is developed. The principle is as follows: As more and more strands are twisted together, the stronger the rope becomes. This process involved in making a strong rope depicts how faith is developed in stages. The first strand of faith is extremely weak. However, as the believer twists more and more strands of faith together, he will eventually have a strong faith. As baby believers, our faith is like a single fine thread with little strength. However, as the believer learns more and more doctrine and gains experience in applying his faith to pressure situations, he develops a strong, ropelike faith. At that point he will be able to walk by faith with great strength (2 Cor. 5:7).
Before the Church Age, the spiritual life of the believer emphasized living one’s life by faith. For example, the Jews of the Exodus generation were taught how to walk by faith while they were still in Egypt. For example, they were all taught about the promise which God made to Abraham namely that God would give the Jewish people a country of their own, a prosperous land “flowing with milk and honey”. So, when Joseph was dying, he made his brethren swear to take his bones out of Egypt and bury them in the promise land (Genesis 50:25). So, Joseph’s bones remained unburied, which meant that the Jewish families living in Egypt would pass by the vault of Joseph, and the Father would be able to relate this story to his children. In this way they learned to trust in the Lord. They were taught that their spiritual life was to trust in the promises of God just as Joseph believed the promise of God. Thus, the Jews had a spiritual life before they crossed the Red Sea, before they received the Mosaic Law (the Mosaic Law taught about the cross, about confession of sins and many things related to establishment, but it didn't teach the spiritual life). The spiritual life of these believers was living their life by faith in God’s promises and principles.
Faith Testing:
When God gives a spiritual life to the believer, He is going to continuously test that believer’s spiritual strength. Therefore, the Jews were tested regarding their spiritual life as they were leaving Egypt. As the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day, God the Son, the only manifest person of the Trinity, led them deliberately into a trap. He led them into a cul-de-sac at the Red Sea. There were mountains to the north and south and the Sea was to their front. Suddenly, behind this great multitude of Jews, arose a great cloud of dust. Pharaoh Amenhotep II was leading the greatest military force in the world at that time. Facing this great military force was over a million untrained Jewish slaves. The only Jewish people with any military training were Moses and possibly Joshua and Caleb. This was a hopeless situation from the human viewpoint. However, nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37). As a matter of fact, this was a test of faith because God had already promised the Jews that they would worship him at Mount Horeb:
“Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.” (Ex. 3:1) “And He said, certainly I [God] will be with you [Moses], and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain [Mount Horeb and Mount Sinai being the same]” (Ex. 3:12).
Although there were more than one million Jewish adults, only Moses had the spiritual strength to apply this promise to this hopeless situation. While those Jews were immersed in fear and screaming about dying, Moses said, “Do not fear. Stand still and watch the deliverance of the Lord. The Lord will fight for you today” (Ex. 14:13). The Jews should have passed this test, but they kept concentrating on the problem - namely the advancing Egyptian military, rather than the solution - trusting in God’s promises. Initially, Moses concentrated on the advancing Egyptians in order to understand the situation, but when he realized that their situation was militarily hopeless, he concentrated on a divine solution, a solution based on his confidence in God and the promise which God had given him. So, he walked by faith and remained very calm in this tense situation.
Principles of Fear and Stress:
“As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians marching after them. They were terrified and screamed to the Lord.” (Ex. 14:10) The Jews used faith in salvation; now they needed to apply the God’s promises by faith to this pressure situation at the Red Sea. If one does not use faith for salvation, it is hopeless, so also if one does not use faith in the spiritual life, it is hopeless. Colossians 2:6 states, “Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus your Lord [a metaphor for believing in Jesus Christ as one’s savior], so be walking in him [the spiritual life after salvation]”. We used faith for salvation, now we must use faith for the spiritual life. The only difference is the object of faith. In salvation the object of faith is the Lord Jesus Christ. In the spiritual life the object of faith is the thinking of Jesus Christ.
To the arrogant Exodus generation, security was more important than their relationship with the Lord. As a result of their emphasis on personal security, they became involved in the emotional sin of fear which is an irrational state of emotion.
God does not answer prayer when the believer is out of fellowship and controlled by his sin nature (Ps. 66:18). The Jews should not have prayed the prayer of “Help! Help!” Rather, they should have prayed to the Father thanking him for this opportunity to watch the Lord’s power in delivering them at the Red Sea. Fear however destroyed their perspective of the situation.
Principles related to fear:
1. It is possible to learn a lot of doctrine and yet fall apart in a sudden pressure situation.
2. Sudden disaster often places the believer in a panic situation resulting in a failure to apply doctrine to that situation.
3. The courageous person is able to think under great pressure, whereas the person with fear is not able to think rationally under great pressure. The difference is the ability to concentrate under pressure. Now, if you have a problem concentrating in normal situations, you will surely have a problem concentrating under pressure in an abnormal situation.
4. Concentration is not only required in learning Bible doctrine, but even to a much greater extent in applying Bible doctrine. This is especially true when historical disaster occurs, because in historical disaster, a person may have several categories of pressure to deal with, namely personal, national, and sometimes even international.
5. Adversity and great pressure can easily lead to stress in the soul when truth is not applied to the situation. When a believer is under stress, he is not able to think objectively.
The Jews expressed all the above principles of fear through their rebellion against Moses: “They said to Moses, ‘Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?’” (Ex. 14:11a).
Now keep in mind that these Jews did not have to leave Egypt. Moses did not force them to leave. Arrogant people never take responsibility for their decisions. Furthermore, Moses was only God's agent. It wasn't his idea to bring the Jews out of Egypt; it was the command of God. God was going to remove the Jews from Egyptian slavery in order to make them a special nation (client nation) in history.
A coward dies many times, but a brave man dies only once. Under fear, emotion took control of these believer’s souls, and they became irrational. In their state of irrationality, they possessed a false view of their situation. Their false viewpoint was that they were already dead. The true view was that God would deliver them.
“Is this not the word which we spoke to you in Egypt? Let us alone that we may be slaves to the Egyptians because it is good for us to be slaves to the Egyptians rather than to die in the desert.” (Ex. 14:12)
Initially, when the Jews heard that God was going to remove them from slavery, they welcomed the idea: “And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.” (Ex. 4:31)
However, once the Egyptians started to give them a hard time, they changed their minds about going: “And they said, may the Lord look upon you and judge you [Moses and Aaron]! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” (Ex. 5:21)
Even with the continued assurance of the Lord, the Israelites refused to humble themselves to God’s purpose. “And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’ Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage.” (Ex. 6:8, 9)
Principles related to stress:
1. Adversity is outside pressure of life; stress is inside pressure of the soul.
2. Stress is caused by oneself; adversity is caused by other people and outside circumstances.
3. Adversity is inevitable; stress is optional.
4. Stress destroys the spiritual life of the believer. Therefore, the believer must name the sin which caused the stress to God the Father as soon as possible.
5. There is a definite relationship between stress and cognition, namely stress lowers cognition.
6. Stress makes a person forgetful and impairs the memory in regards to acquiring new knowledge. Therefore, stress impairs the ability to learn.
7. Stress affects a person's perception of reality. At the Red Sea the Jews with stress in their souls considered themselves already dead.
8. If a person remains in a stress situation too long, all his cognitive ability will be destroyed, and he will enter into a psychotic state.
People controlled by emotion and possessing false priorities easily succumb to fear when pressure occurs. If the Faith-rest drill or some other problem-solving device is not used when a person faces difficult problems or pressures, the believer will easily enter into a state of fear. In a state of fear and stress, he cannot solve his problems rationally. Only the stable Christian with doctrine in his soul can handle the pressures of life and glorify God.
Strength in Faith, Weakness in Emotion:
Now, after God had delivered the Jews, they sang beautifully praising him for their deliverance, but singing does not imply spiritual strength. These believers were not praising and singing because they respected and loved God. They were expressing their appreciation to God for delivering them. Their appreciation was based on their emotional relief from being delivered, not on their appreciation of the Lord. To these Jews the most important priority in their life was their safety, not a harmonious relationship with God. Praising God and singing hymns has meaning if one has a close relationship with God based on knowledge. However, if the believer is ignorant of God and His plan, his relationship with God will be related to emotion. An emotional relationship has no strength!
One can relate to a hymn cognitively or emotionally or both since a hymn contains both lyrics and melody. The purpose of the lyrics is to stimulate thought whereas the purpose of the melody is to stimulate one’s emotion pleasurably. If the believer understands and appreciates the lyrics of a hymn only then can he benefit from his singing and at the same time enjoy the melody. However, if the believer does not understand and appreciate the lyrics of a good hymn, his singing has no spiritual value and becomes a meaningless emotional activity related only to the melody. “The Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my deliverance. This is my God, and I will praise him. My father's God; I will extol him.” (Ex. 15:2) “The chiefs of Edom were dismayed; the leaders of Moab, trembling grips them; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.” (Ex. 15:15)
Three days after the Jews sang ‘the Lord is my strength’, they demonstrated that they had no spiritual strength at all for they immediately began complaining under the pressure of a simple test. Then one year later after singing about how confident they would be in combat, and how fearful the Edomites, Moabites and the inhabitants of Canaan would be of them, the Jewish army refused to enter the land and wept all night in their fear of the Canaanites! So, the Edomites, Moabites and the inhabitants of Canaan didn't need to worry about that generation of Jews for those men were too cowardly to fight their way into the land (Num. 14:1-11). You see, a believer can sing and praise God until he passes out from exhaustion, but all of this is meaningless unless that believer has strength in his soul from knowledge of God and a continuous fellowship with Him. These Jews produced sinful emotion on one side of the Red Sea and non-sinful emotion on the other side of the Sea. They swung from one end of the emotional spectrum (fear) to the other end (relief from being delivered). Only Moses had divine thought in his soul and true capacity to handle all situations in life. So, when he sang, it had meaning, but for the rest of the Jews singing was meaningless their singing was based on emotion. So, every time they had a pressure situation, they would worry and fear about their safety and never even once considered God’s provision and plan for their lives. So, they continued to complain and complain until they died in the desert because the majority of these Jews never learned to apply the Word of God by faith to their experience.
“For we also have been evangelized as they had been [the Jews of the Exodus generation were believers], but the word they heard [after salvation] did not profit them, because those who heard it did not mix it [knowledge of the Word] with faith. For we who have believed [in the promises, principles and doctrines of God’s word] enter into the rest [of contentment and tranquility from trusting in God].” (Heb. 4:2, 3)
Impersonal love:
1 Corinthians13:4-8a, “Love is not swayed by emotion [is forbearing], love is kind [merciful], love is not jealous, it does not brag [is not shamelessly disrespectful in thought, speech and behavior, insulting, presumptuous], is not inflated with arrogance [the advance stages of arrogance]. (5) does not behave dishonorably [indecently, or unmannerly], is not self-seeking [self-promoting; preoccupied with self, self-indulgent, irrationally ambitious] it is not provoked [does not become irritated, bitter, angry, petty, hypersensitive], does not react to evil [is not mindful of wrongs, does not react to the injustices or wrongs that comes into his life, does not think in terms of retaliation, does not react to hatred or antagonisms], (6) does not rejoice over injustices [violation of truth], but joyfully sides with the truth [rejoices in the truth] (7) It covers all things [keeps all things confidential: true love respects the privacy of another; it literally means to throw a cloak of silence over all things: avoids gossip, maligning, judging, vilification], always believes [advance function of the faith-rest drill] always has confident expectation [regarding one’s personal destiny both in time and in eternity], always perseveres [always maintains its relationship with God in a state of happiness under the testing of the three stages of the adult spiritual life], (8a) Love is never phased out [falls down, done away with, comes to an end],”
Endurance: 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, then also heirs, on the one hand heirs of God [the Father], on the other hand, joint heirs with Christ if indeed, we suffer with Him [If we pass undeserved suffering as He did], that also we might be glorified with Him [Just as Christ was glorified, so also the great believers].”
James 1:12, “Happy is the noble believer who endures testing [passes the three categories of undeserved suffering] for having become approved [at the evaluation after the Rapture], he shall receive the wreath of life, which He [the Lord] has promised to those who love Him [demonstrated by learning and obeying His mandates].
While X explains the confidence of the unbeliever, Y & Z explain the confidence of the Christian.
1 Thessalonians 1:4
Knowing, beloved brethren, your election under the authority of God.
εἰδότες, ἀδελφοὶ ἠγαπηµένοι ὑπὸ [τοῦ] θεοῦ, τὴν ἐκλογὴν ὑµῶν,
Election and other related Printouts:
Under the printout of Election, the sovereign of God in eternity past elected all Church Age believers and placed them into His plan as royal priests with logistical support. This plan calls for the believer to receive highest and best from God. That highest and best is to receive the Escrow Blessings which he had deposited in eternity past. These blessings will not only glorify to the maximum the three members of the Trinity, but also bring great glory to the individual believer as well.
Now, that we have been elected, we must fulfill this election via the assets provided in Predestination. We have been predestined in Christ, the privilege to share in the destiny of Christ. The spiritual life provides us with the opportunity to maximize this destiny. Having executed this spiritual life fully that is having completed our destiny in time, we will receive our Escrow Blessings for both time and eternity.
Election, along with foreknowledge, predestination, justification and glorification, are all printouts from God’s computer. As it were, the omniscience of God in eternity past made a folder for each person who would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in time. Within that folder, he put the following files: foreknowledge, election, predestination, justification, and glorification.
Ephesians 1:3-5: Worthy of praise and glorification, the God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who [the Father] has blessed [escrow blessings] us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ [the escrow officer], (4) just as He [the Father] has elected us for Himself in Him [Jesus Christ] before the creation of the world, that we may be set apart [positional and experiential sanctification] and blameless [ultimate sanctification] in the presence of Him [Father]. (5) By means of love, He has predestined us for the purpose of adoption [into the royal family of God] as adult sons [adult sons then heirs; if heirs then a destiny]to Himself through [the person and work of] Jesus Christ according to the grace purpose of His will.
The action of an aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. Thus, in this passage the Father’s having blessed us occurs before the main verb of election. In other words, the deposit of escrow blessing occurred before God’s election. Since a time relationship has already been established between the depositing of escrow blessings and election, the aorist participle of predestination does not occur before the action of the main verb, rather it is simultaneous with the action of the main verb related to election. This is one of those exceptions to the Greek rule where the action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb because of the structure of this paragraph. So, election and predestination are simultaneous printouts of the divine decree.
Romans 8:28. “We [the mature believers] know, in fact, that to those who love the God [the Father], he [God the Father] causes all things to work together for good [for divine good-production via the Ten Problem Solving Devices] to those who are called according to a predetermined plan [the divine decree].”
Printouts and Volitional Freedom within the Divine Decree:
Romans 8:29-30: “[We know] that whom He foreknew [acknowledges what is certain in the Divine Decree; foreknowledge deals only with the actual, not the probable], He also predestined conformed ones to the image of His Son [via positional, experiential and ultimate sanctification], that He [the humanity of Christ] might be the first-born [as the head of the Church] among many brethren [Church age believers]. And whom He predestined, these same ones He also elected, and whom He elected, these same ones He also justified, and whom He justified, these same ones He also glorified.”
Foreknowledge, predestination, election, justification, and glorification are words which only apply to the Church Age believer, never to the unbeliever. These verbs in verses 29 and 30 are all in the aorist tense, which means they occurred simultaneously in the mind of God in eternity past. To use the analogy of a computer we could say that these were all simultaneous printouts from the computer of the Divine Decree.
Foreknowledge: In order to understand foreknowledge, we must first understand the omniscience of God, and how it related to the Divine Decree. The omniscience of God knows all the knowable simultaneously about his creatures. God knows every thought, motivation, decision and action of every person in history. He knows not only the actual outcomes that occur in history, but also all the probable or possible outcomes.
God does not think sequentially since his knowledge is eternal and simultaneous. His knowledge is not limited by time, a concept which was created specifically for the human race. (Genesis 1:14) Thus, the omniscience of God has always known every person who would believe in Jesus Christ and every person who would not. So, trillions of years ago, it was as if God typed your name onto a computer file and next to your name he typed “Believed in Jesus Christ.”
Since the normal human mind thinks rationally, it may be helpful to see the rational order regarding these matters. Rationally, omniscience occurred first, then the divine decree declaring all those who believed in Christ, and finally the printout of all “whom he foreknew” to believe in Christ. In other words, foreknowledge deals with the believer’s actual motives, thoughts, decisions and actions which were acknowledge by God the Father and then sovereignly decreed. So, omniscience deals with both the actual and the probable whereas foreknowledge only deals with the actual.
Predestination: Predestination is part of God’s decree providing everything the Church age believer needs to execute His plan, purpose and will. For some he predestined that they would die the ‘sin unto death’ (1 John 5:16) since he knew that they would never fulfill his plan in time. For others he predestined that they would die with the greatest possible blessing and happiness since he knew that they would become mature believers.
Predestination coordinates with omniscience so that the free will of man is never violated. God never turns your yes into no and your no into yes. God’s omniscience typed into the computer of divine decree the thoughts, motivations, decisions and acts of every Christian. Based on this information, God was able to design a predestined plan for each believer. For some it means great blessings in time and in eternity; for others it means great misery in time and loss of the greater blessings in the eternal state.
God predestined for all Christians to be ‘conformed to the image of His son’ through Positional, Experiential and Ultimate Sanctification. Through positional sanctification, we are ‘conformed to His image’ by being clothed with his characteristics (Galatians 3:27). Through experiential sanctification some Christians will choose to make use of God’s provision for advancement in the spiritual life. These are the believers who follow God’s plan and advance to spiritual maturity, in doing so becoming conformed to the characteristics that the humanity of Jesus Christ acquired through the spiritual life given to him. Through ultimate sanctification, all believers will be freed of their sin natures as they are given a resurrection body like that of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Justification: Even though justification is a printout of the computer of the divine decree, it comes into effect for the individual when he makes a decision to believe in Jesus Christ. When this wonderful decision occurs, he is immediately given the righteousness of God. Once righteousness has been imputed, he is then justified: that is, declared perfectly righteous and qualified to live with God forever.
Glorification: Every Church age believer is glorified when he receives his resurrection body at the Rapture of the Church. Furthermore, the mature believer is glorified when God provides for him the greater blessings both in time and eternity. When God made Paul the greatest man of doctrine in the Church age, not only was God glorified, but so was Paul. After his evaluation by the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul will be given the Crown of Glory, the Crown of Life and the Crown of Righteousness. When others see Paul wearing his crowns, they will recognize Paul as one of the greatest men of history. Paul will have many blessing and privileges that others will not have. This will be a part of Paul’s glory. Paul used his volition to glorify God; God will in turn clothe Paul with great status, recognition and blessing.
Conclusion:
Omniscience preceded the decree, whereas Election, Predestination, Foreknowledge, Justification, and Glorification are ‘printouts’ from the decree. Election is the sovereignty of God desiring the highest and the best for the believer. Election connotes entrance into the plan of God whereas Predestination is the sovereign provision of God, namely his plan for the believer. Foreknowledge acknowledges only what is in the decree about the believer, namely the believer’s motives, thoughts, decisions and actions. God justifies the believer when he receives the imputation of divine righteousness at the point of salvation. Not only is God glorified when he can bless the believer with an eternal body and the greater rewards, but so is the believer.
1 Thessalonians 1:5
For our gospel did not come to you in word only [the gospel must be declared], but also in power [inherent power: divine power] and by the Holy Spirit [Common and Efficacious Grace], and by much assurance [the ambassador presents the gospel with confidence], as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake [our message and life were in agreement].
ὅτι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἡµῶν οὐκ ἐγενήθη εἰς ὑµᾶς ἐν λόγῳ µόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν δυνάµει καὶ ἐν πνεύµατι ἁγίῳ καὶ [ἐν] πληροφορίᾳ πολλῇ, καθὼς οἴδατε οἷοι ἐγενήθηµεν [ἐν] ὑµῖν διí ὑµᾶς.
Common and Efficacious Grace
The work of common grace is antecedent to the work of efficacious grace; We inhale the Gospel which is made clear by the Holy Spirit. Then, we exhale faith in Christ, which is made effectual by the work of God the Holy Spirit.
Regarding Common Grace, the unbeliever must hear and listen to the Gospel message or read it. When the Gospel is communicated, the Holy Spirit will make the gospel message understandable to the unbeliever. How can this be since the unbeliever is spiritually dead, and incapable of understanding spiritual matters since he does not possess a human spirit? 1 Corinthians 2:14, “But the soulish man [the unbeliever] does not receive the things from the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him, and he is not able to know them because they are spiritually discerned [the need for a human spirit].” So, this verse is telling us that the unbeliever cannot understand spiritual matters. However, though the gospel is spiritual phenomena, the Holy Spirit uses his power to makes the gospel clear to the unbeliever even though the unbeliever does not possess a human spirit. John 16:8-11, “And after that one [the Holy Spirit] has come, he will convince the world concerning sin, concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment. (9) And concerning sin because they have not believed in Me. (10) Concerning righteousness because I go to my father, and you will no longer see Me. (11) And concerning judgment because the ruler of this world has been judged.” John 10:27-28, "My sheep hear My voice [common grace, the divine call] and I know them [in eternity past] and they follow Me [efficacious grace]. I give to them eternal life and they shall never perish, and no one will ever snatch them out of My hand."
Once the unbeliever understands the gospel under the concept of Common Grace, God the Father will invite (the call of God) that unbeliever to enter into fellowship with His son through faith in Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:9, “The God [the Father] is faithful through whom [the Father] you were called into fellowship with His son Jesus Christ, our Lord.”
Efficacious grace is the theological term for the work of the Holy Spirit related to faith in Christ. This doctrine might be classified as the doctrine of effectual faith since the faith of the spiritually dead person would be ineffective without help from God, the Holy Spirit. Therefore, efficacious grace is tantamount to effective faith, whereby the Holy Spirit takes the unbeliever's faith in Christ and turns it into his eternal salvation. Ephesians 2:8, 9, “For by grace [Common and Efficacious Grace] you have been saved through faith [of the spiritually dead unbeliever], and this [The Greek touto is neuter and so cannot refer to the previous two feminine nouns, but to the previous concept namely salvation] salvation is not out from yourselves, but the gift from God. Not out from works lest anyone should boast.”
1 Thessalonians 1:6
You also have become imitators of us and of our Lord [his humanity during those 33 years] by having received the Word in much adversity [outside pressure], with happiness [from applying God’s Word to their pressures] from the source of the Holy Spirit [The Holy Spirit was their mentor and counselor],
καὶ ὑµεῖς µιµηταὶ ἡµῶν ἐγενήθητε καὶ τοῦ κυρίου, δεξάµενοι τὸν λόγον ἐν θλίψει πολλῇ µετὰ χαρᾶς πνεύµατος ἁγίου,
1 Thessalonians 1:7
So that you became an example [a blueprint] to all who believe [dative of advantage] in Macedonia [northern Greece] and Achaia [southern Greece].
ὥστε γενέσθαι ὑµᾶς τύπον πᾶσιν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν ἐν τῇ Μακεδονίᾳ καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἀχαΐᾳ.
1 Thessalonians 1:8
For from you [the ultimate or original source; the original converts from Thessalonika], the Word of the Lord sounded out [the blast of a trumpet or the sound of thunder: evangelization], not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place [worldwide evangelism] your faith toward God has gone out [The Thessalonians were not only advancing spiritually, but also evangelizing dynamically], so that we do not have a need to speak anything [wherever Paul goes he finds the gospel message had preceded him via the Thessalonians].
ἀφ` ὑµῶν γὰρ ἐξήχηται ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου οὐ µόνον ἐν τῇ Μακεδονίᾳ καὶ [ἐν τῇ] Ἀχαΐᾳ, ἀλλí ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ ἡ πίστις ὑµῶν ἡ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἐξελήλυθεν, ὥστε µὴ χρείαν ἔχειν ἡµᾶς λαλεῖν τι·
Paul and his team spent up to 3 months in Thessalonica in order to establish the new believers in the fundamentals of the spiritual life. Paul and his team had turned the world upside down; then the Thessalonians likewise turned the world upside down. Acts 17:5, 6, “But the Jews [the majority of the religious Jews in Thessalonica] becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the market- place formed a mob and set the city in an uproar and attacking the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them [Paul, Silas and Timothy] out to the people. When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities shouting, ‘These men [Paul, Silas and Timothy] have turned the world upside down have come here also.’”
1 Thessalonians 1:9
For they themselves [converts via the Thessalonians] keep on reporting what manner of entering in [Paul, Silas and Timothy] we had unto you [these new converts heard about how Paul’s missionary team operated in Thessalonica] , even how you [Thessalonians] turned from idols to God in order to serve the living and true God,
αὐτοὶ γὰρ περὶ ἡµῶν ἀπαγγέλλουσιν ὁποίαν εἴσοδον ἔσχοµεν πρὸς ὑµᾶς, καὶ πῶς ἐπεστρέψατε πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων δουλεύειν θεῷ ζῶντι καὶ ἀληθινῷ,
Some of the believers that Paul ran into were converts of converts of converts. These converts all knew about Paul and his team and how the Thessalonians went from serving idols to serving the living and true God.
1 Thessalonians 1:10
And to wait [with anticipation for the Rapture] for His Son out from Heaven whom He [God the Father participated in providing a resurrection body for Jesus in the tomb] raised out from the dead, Jesus, who delivered us out from the wrath to come [the Tribulation for God does not mix dispensations].
καὶ ἀναµένειν τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν, ὃν ἤγειρεν ἐκ [τῶν] νεκρῶν, Ἰησοῦν τὸν ῥυόµενον ἡµᾶς ἐκ τῆς ὀργῆς τῆς ἐρχοµένης.
The Church will not go through the Tribulation since it will be the seven last years of the age of Israel. The Church will be raptured just prior to the Tribulation. At the start of the Tribulation, 144,000 Jewish men will respond to the gospel and be used to evangelize and teach the Word of God for the first half of the Tribulation, and then they will be decapitated. In the second half of the tribulation which is called the Great Tribulation, Moses and Elijah will handle evangelism and the teaching of God’s Word until they are murdered.
It is called the ‘wrath to come’ for it is a period when Satan will become very desperate and violent (the 144,000, Moses and Elijah all murdered). He will understand that he is losing the angelic appeal trial and so knowing that he has losing the case, will resort to tremendous violence.
This violence will only increase after Satan is booted out of heaven in the middle of the Tribulation. Revelation 12:9, 17, “Then the great dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who keeps on deceiving the entire inhabited world was hurled to the earth [from the 3rd heaven]; furthermore, his angels were thrown out with him. (17) and then the dragon was enraged with the woman [Israel], consequently he went off in a huff [arrogance plus anger] to make war against the survivors of her posterity, those who keep on observing the mandates of God [given to Israel in the middle of the Tribulation] and who keep on having the testimony of Jesus [by life as well as lips: testimony before God and the angels and even mankind].”
