Knowledge, Superimposed

22 Monday Apr 2024

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Greetings!  Welcome to Renaissance Woman and another post in my current Bible study on the Whole Armor of God as described in Ephesians 6.

I’ve been focusing on the Helmet of Salvation and, while I have by no means exhausted the subject of salvation, I have decided to let all I’ve learned frizzle (one of my new favorite words) for a bit and move on to another aspect of the Armor.  In last week’s post, I quoted 1 John 2:17; “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”  With this passage in mind, I determined that the Belt of Truth would be my next focus.

I write “Belt of Truth” but the Literal Translation has “girded your loins about with truth”.  The King James has “having your loins girt about with truth”.  The Amplified has “having tightened the belt of truth around your loins” and the New International has “with the belt of truth buckled around your waist”.  My Greek Interlinear Bibles have the word perizosamenoi.  This word means “to gird all around” and “to fasten one’s belt” according to the Strong’s Concordance.  The word is a verb (in the aorist tense which fascinates me [more on that in later posts]) so the passage is describing an action rather than referring to an object e.g. an actual “belt”. 

Perhaps there is nothing to be gleaned by this but it’s something I’m allowing to frizzle as I prepare for further study on this subject.  For the sake of this and future posts, I refer to the “Belt of Truth” but am keeping in mind Jesus says of Himself: “I am the way, the truth, and the life…” (John 14:6).  This is just another brick in the foundation of my belief that the Whole Armor of God is a description of Jesus Christ Himself and each aspect of the Armor is painting a picture of our covenant life in Him.  We gird our waists with the truth that is Jesus Himself.  Earlier in this same gospel Jesus is speaking to Jews who have believed Him and He says: “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).  As I began to think about what it means to gird ourselves with truth who is Jesus Christ, I needed to take some time to think about knowing the truth who is Jesus Christ.

There is a passage in Ephesians I keep going back to as I study.  It’s found in Ephesians 3 and I will begin quoting in verse 14: “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height-to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

I have been meditating on the words “filled with all the fullness of God” but, as I began to think about knowing the truth who is Jesus Christ, I began to wonder about the word “knowledge.”  During the course of this entire study, I have looked at many passages which contain the word “knowledge”.  I’ll cite two examples.  The first is in Ephesians 4:13: “…till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…”  The second is in 2 Corinthians 10:5: “…casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God…”  What I wanted to know is, was our English word “knowledge” being used to translate one Greek word or many?  I think “to know, understand, grasp with the mind” whenever I read the word “knowledge” but, if my previous studies have shown me anything, it’s that I am often missing facets of meaning in the scriptures because the same English word is often used to translate different Greek words.

I more than halfway expected it so felt hardly any surprise at all when I looked up the word “knowledge” in the Strong’s Concordance and found it was used to translate four distinct Greek.  Incidentally, it’s the Greek sunesis (G4907), defined as “a mental putting together, the intellect, knowledge, understanding” which most matches my personal definition of knowledge.  I mention this because sunesis doesn’t appear in any of the passages I’ve quoted which means I have already got to question my previous understanding of these passages.

What are these passages saying?  The three I have quoted in this post don’t contain different Greek words per se.  Both Ephesians 3:19 and 2 Corinthians 10:5 have the Greek word gnosis (G1108) which the Strong’s defines as “knowledge, science”. Ephesians 4:13 has epignosis which the Strong’s defines as “recognition, full discernment, acknowledgment.” 

Gnosis is the noun derived from the verb ginosko which means to “experientially know”.  The definition for gnosis in the Strong’s Concordance isn’t extensive but the definition found on Bible Hub helps to add some detail to my mental picture.  The entry on Bible Hub defines gnosis as “functional (working) knowledge gleaned from first-hand (personal) experience, connecting theory to application; ‘application-knowledge’ gained in (by) a direct relationship.  Gnosis (applied-knowledge) is only as accurate (reliable) as the relationship it derives from.”

The prefix epi means on, upon, above, and/or over when used with other words and the Strong’s Concordance also has “superimposition” which means “to put, lay, or stack on top of something else.”  Epignosis then is referring to an experiential knowing that is far and over and above what we can manage on our own and this experiential knowing is sourced in the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the anointing spoken of in the 1 John 2 passage and is the One who teaches us concerning all things.  Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:17).  I’ve only begun this portion of my study have already seen something in this passage I have never seen before because the Greek word translated as “knows” (neither sees Him nor knows Him) is ginosko-experientially know-but the Greek word translated “know” (but you know Him) is eido which means “be aware, behold, consider, perceive.”  It is seeing that becomes knowing and I find that so beautiful.

We experientially know the Holy Spirit but we are aware of and perceive Him because He dwells within us.  Jesus again says of Him, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.  He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.”

The Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of Revelation so our gnosis of Jesus is sourced in the Holy Spirit.  However, there appears to be an epignosis-a superimposed experiential knowing-which, while it also is sourced in the Holy Spirit, is deeper than gnosis.  I hope to delve deeper into this in the upcoming weeks but, until then, may we each one know we are filled with the Spirit.  May we be aware of His dwelling within us and may our epignosis of Son of God increase moment by moment.  May we clearly see and know Jesus Christ who is the truth that girds us as we face the day.  

Hallelujah!  Amen.

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Ephesians 6:14 Interlinear: Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about in truth, and having put on the breastplate of the righteousness, (biblehub.com)

Strong’s Greek: 1108. γνῶσις (gnósis) — a knowing, knowledge (biblehub.com)

The Comparative Study Bible, Zondervan Bible Publishers, The Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1984

Green, Jay P., The Interlinear Bible: Hebrew, Greek, English, 1st Printing of Larger Print Edition, Authors for Christ, Lafayette, Indiana, 2007

Guralnik, David B., Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition, William Collins+World Publishing Co., Inc., Cleveland • New York, 1974, 1976

Marshall, Alfred, The NIV Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, Regency Reference Library, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1976

Rodale, J.I. The Synonym Finder, Warner Books, Rodale Press Inc., Emmaus, Pennsylvania, 1978

Strong, James. LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1990

No Limits in Sight

15 Monday Apr 2024

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Hello and Welcome to Renaissance Woman where, this week, I am continuing my study on the Whole Armor of God with my focus on the Helmet of Salvation.

My previous posts on the Helmet of Salvation have focused on the protection, saving, healing, and renewing that takes place in our minds.  This was a useful avenue of study for me but I have been pondering the passages of scripture that speak of Jesus as the head and us as His body and wondering if it wouldn’t behoove me to spend some time on how those passages of scripture relate to His being a Helmet of Salvation.

The passages I’ve been pondering are these:

Colossians 1:18: “and He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence”

Colossians 2:18-19: “Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he had not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God”

I’ve also been pondering Paul’s writing his hope that we “may grow up into all things into Him who is the head-Christ” which is found in his letter to the Ephesians and, along with all of these passages, there has been a fragment of scripture floating through my mind but one where I could not remember where in the Bible it was located.  I did some research and found it in Psalm 133:2 which says, “It is like precious oil upon the head, Running down on the beard, The beard of Aaron, Running down on the edge of his garments.”

I felt as though there were something important here to see but, beyond the obvious (Jesus is the Head and we are His body) no clear picture was coming together.  I thought I’d let it simmer on a back burner in my mind for a bit and return to it in a few months but then I read two things which caused my out-of-focus mental picture to sharpen.  The first was Psalm 133:1.  Verse 2 picks up in mid-thought so I was curious what the context of “it is like the precious oil…” would be.  The Psalm opens with, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”

The second thing I read was a statement in William Gurnall’s The Christian in Complete Armour:  “Be very careful of giving thine enemy hand-hold.  Wrestlers strive to fasten upon some part or other, which gives them advantage more easily to throw their adversary; to prevent which, they used-1. To lay aside their garments; 2, To anoint their bodies” (Gurnall, Vol 1. pg 120).

Reading this statement on the heels of having studied Colossians 2:15 which says, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them…”, I saw with clarity how, joined as we are to the Head Jesus Christ, protected and nourished by Him, partaking of His divine nature and thus His same anointing, of course no enemy can get a grip on us!  I was reminded of Hebrews 7:25: “…He is able to save to the uttermost…” and I amused myself for a bit imagining all enemies attempting to snag a hold merely sliding off into a puddle at my feet. 

However, it was Psalm 133:1 which struck me.  I read verses 1 & 2 together and thought about how difficult it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.  In fact, if I take a long look at our society, I would say it is impossible for us.  But then, maybe it was never expected for us to try to live in unity.

If this study on the Whole Armor of God has showed me anything it is that this Christian life is all Jesus Christ.  It is not we who live, it is Christ living in and through us.  We do not love in our own strength, His love fills us and overflows out of us to the world around us.  We do not do our best to believe and have faith, our faith is His faith.  We do not strive to be righteous, our righteousness is His.  We do not stand and fight the enemy in our own strength, we are made to stand in His covenant love and life and rest in His victory.  When it comes to living in unity with the brethren, it is not left up to us.  We are not to strive to be like Jesus Christ but are to live in the realization that we are IN CHRIST is He is IN US.  Unity.  True unity is found in Jesus Christ and everything He is and has is ours through the working of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible makes clear the Holy Spirit is the anointing that was upon Jesus and is upon us.  Acts 10 tells the story of Cornelius the Centurion and Peter’s Vision and also records Peter saying, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (verse 38).  1 John 2:17 says, “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”

I think it’s important to keep in mind Jesus’ description of the One He would send during His conversation with His disciples at the last supper (found in chapters 13-17 of John’s Gospel) when reading 1 John 2:17 because John is not describing some thing as the anointing but rather a Person.  That Person is the Holy Spirit and yet we do not merely have an experience of the Holy Spirit without also experiencing the Son and Father.  I think we have been taught to think too much in terms of separation when it comes to God.  It’s like we’ve been taught to believe we have one relationship with Jesus, another with the Father, and yet another with the Holy Spirit assuming we have belonged to denominations that believe the Holy Spirit is still at work today rather than having ceased with the death of the last Apostle.

The being of God is unity which is a subject I don’t have the space to elaborate on in this post.  I will share two passages of scripture.  The first is also found in 1 John 2 where the Beloved Apostle writes, ““he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also” (verse 33b).  The second is 2 Corinthians 3:17: “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”  We are filled with the fullness of God and that’s all of Him: Father, Son, and Spirit.

In His letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul writes, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, will all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.  But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift…for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head-Christ-from whom the whole body, joined and knot together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Eph. 4:1-7, 12-16).

Paul ends this letter with “Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.  Amen.”

I wonder if we would not begin to see brethren dwelling in unity if we began offering grace to all those who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity because it is Jesus alone who is the Head.  The passage in Colossians 2 warns us not to be cheated of the reward we have in Jesus Christ by those who have not held fast to the Head.  Let us not only hold fast to Him who is the Head but grow up in all things into Him who is the Head.

The Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance.  Where are the boundary lines to that inheritance?  Is there ever a moment when we would hear, “this far and no further” or could it be the words of C.S. Lewis are accurate and there is only “further up and further in”?  Let us cease being afraid to leave behind the “discussion of elementary principals of Christ” and “let us go on to perfection”.  What is there to fear?  We are made complete in the One who is not only the Head of all principality and power but has disarmed all principalities and powers having made a public spectacle of them (See Hebrews 6:1-3, Colossians 2:15).  May the anointing Holy Spirit open our eyes for us all to see that we abide in the One who is perfect love and who thus casts out all fear.  May we see that because we abide in Him and the Father is also in Him, we have been brought to complete unity.

Above all, may the Holy Spirit bring us to see that, as we abide in His love, we put on the love which is the bond of perfect unity! It’s all Jesus Christ and there are no limits to His love!

Hallelujah!  Amen.

 Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Gurnall, William, The Christian in complete Armour, Volume I, Seventh Printing, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts, 2021, Page 120

Lewis, C.S., The Chronicles of Narnia, The Last Battle, HarperCollins Publishers, Barnes & Noble, Inc. New York, New York, 2009, Pages 753-760

Death to Life; Darkness to Light

08 Monday Apr 2024

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Hello Readers!  Welcome to Renaissance Woman!

This week’s post is another installment in my study on the Whole Armor of God as described in Ephesians 6:10-18a and my particular focus is still the Helmet of Salvation.

The Greek word soterian is translated as salvation and means “to save, deliver, heal, preserve, make whole, rescue, safety, defense.”  The related word soter means “deliverer, savior”.  This entire family of words not only describes who Jesus Christ is but what He has done and continues to do in each of our individual lives.  I have been pondering the significance of salvation being referred to as a helmet and what it then means for our thoughts to be saved.  As I read Ephesians 6:12, I think of our wrestling against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places and how this wrestling takes place in our minds.

In last week’s post, I wrote: “Because we are in Christ, we are seated with Him in heavenly places.  How can that be since as I write this I am seated in my office chair in the office space inside my house?  We are seated with Him in the Spirit.  In this realm of Spirit, we encounter a spiritual enemy whose sphere of influence is our minds.  But, this enemy is a defeated one because Christ, who is our life, has destroyed the works of the devil.”

Am I making two contradictory statements?  How can I say Jesus Christ Himself is our armor, that His victory is complete therefore ours is complete in Him, and we are now seated with Him in heavenly places and at the same time say we encounter spiritual hosts of wickedness in the same heavenly places and our Christian lives are ones of warfare?  Which is it?  Both are true until our thoughts are utterly saved although a better word is renewed.  Just this morning I was reminded of Colossians 2:13-15 which says, “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.  And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”

This then is the truth.  Whatever power or ruler or principality or spiritual host we might encounter is disarmed.  Colossians 2 also says, “For in Him (Jesus Christ) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power” (see verses 9 & 10).  That is worth repeating: He is the head of ALL PRINCIPALITY AND POWER.  All means all.  Therefore, there is no other power-and that includes the Devil-who Jesus Christ is not the head of and has not disarmed.

How many of us know this?  How many of us have ever had it taught to us by our religious leaders?  Are we taught that Jesus Christ has disarmed and triumphed over every principality and power or are we told our enemy is so powerful it has the ability to deceive the majority of humanity and drag them into hell?  If it is true that Jesus has disarmed principalities and powers, triumphed over them, and is now the head of all principality and power, why is there still so much evil and suffering in the world?  I don’t wish to offer up pat answers, especially when suffering is so terrible and personal.  What I will offer are a few passages of scripture and a prayer the Holy Spirit increases our understanding.

The first is in 1 Peter 5:8 but I am going to quote from verse 6: “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”  I can’t find a passage anywhere in the New Testament where any of the Writers suggested they were worried about or afraid of the enemy.  James says “resist the devil and he will flee from you” (4:7).   What then could Peter mean by referring to the devil as a “roaring lion seeking whom he may devour?”  That certainly sounds terrifying but, taking all of this into consideration-principalities and powers being disarmed, Jesus the head of all principalities and powers, yet our enemy roaming about like a roaring lion-I would say our enemy is disarmed but still possesses a voice and a sphere of influence in which to use it.

That sphere is death and I am referring to death as a state of mind.  Before you close out of this post, consider these passages of scripture.  Romans 8:6-11 says, “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.”  At an earlier place in this same letter, Paul writes, “Therefore, just as through one man sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.  Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come” (Ro. 5:12-14).

This concept is repeated in 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 which says, “For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Hebrews had this to say about death: “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

I hope you can see the picture being painted by these scriptures.  Every human being on this planet has partaken of the life of Adam in that we are all flesh and blood and subject to death.  These scriptures don’t only refer to the physical death we are all subject to but also to a way of thinking that is death called being carnally minded.  The devil had the power of death and thus power over the carnal mind.  Disarmed he might be, but his voice is that of a roaring lion and, for those who have not yet come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, this voice resonates in their minds and causes terrible fear.

Those of us who have come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ are no longer carnally but Spiritually minded.  John 5:24 & 25 records Jesus saying; “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.  Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.”  1 John 3:14-20 says, “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren.”  “There is no fear in love,” John writes later in this same letter, “but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18).

The Greek word metanoia has been translated as “repentance” in most of our Bible translations.  It means “to change one’s mind”.  I don’t see it as merely thinking different thoughts though we humans have great powers of self will and the ability to train our minds to think a different way.  No, I see metanoia as changing one’s mind within the framework of Philippians 2:5: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”

There is a passage in 2 Corinthians that says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”  To be Spiritually minded is life, the Spirit is the Lord, and we have the mind of Christ.  Our thoughts then are joined to the One who disarmed all principalities and powers.  He is our Deliverer and Savior who protects our minds like a helmet.  Any thought influenced by the spirit of this world merely pings off the helmet that He is.  He keeps our minds safe while He renews them.  As our minds are renewed, we are transformed into His image.

Talk about mental health!  Isn’t it wonderful?

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville Tennessee, 1990

Quench Not the Spirit

01 Monday Apr 2024

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Hello Readers!  Welcome to Renaissance Woman and another installment in my bible study on the Whole Armor of God.  I am still looking at the Helmet of Salvation and, in this week’s post, am pondering the significance of Salvation being a helmet.

I wonder about the Apostle Paul’s letters.  Were they correspondence he dashed off in answer to questions?  Were his words ones he agonized over?  Did he have any idea his every jot and tittle would be scrutinized thousands of years later as we all take his advice to the Philippians and “work out our own salvation?” Did he have specific reasons for listing off the Whole Armor of God as he did?  Was “the helmet of salvation” intentional?  I suppose it doesn’t matter one way or the other: what matters is what the Holy Spirit shows each one of us as we study the Bible for ourselves.  I find salvation being a helmet significant.

The Greek word translated as “salvation” is, in its various conjugations; soter, soteria, soterion.  The root is sozo and the meaning conveyed is to save, deliverer, heal, preserve, make whole, rescue, safety, and defense.  The Greek word soma meaning “the body as sound, whole” is also related to sozo and so thinking of our salvation in terms of Jesus Christ our Deliverer rescuing and healing and preserving and making whole our physical bodies is accurate.  However, Paul describes salvation as a helmet which means we are delivered, healed, preserved, rescued, and made whole in our minds.

As I was meditating on the Helmet of Salvation, I began to see various quotes and hear Believers speaking on the importance of our thoughts.  The stress wasn’t just on the importance of what we think but how what we think flows out of us and into our world through our words and actions.  Several of the Bible Teachers I’ve followed for years have made the point we are actively creating the world around us as we speak out the thoughts in our minds. Luke 6:45 records Jesus saying, “A good man out of the good treasure of this heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil.  For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” The importance of our thoughts cannot be underestimated for whatever we are thinking is brought forth.

The emphasis of Paul’s Spiritual Warfare passages is on thoughts.  “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” he writes in 2 Corinthians (10:4-5) and then in his passage on the Whole Armor of God: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). 

No, wait a minute, I can hear some of you saying.  These passages are speaking of the Devil and his minions.  Spiritual forces, certainly, I agree; but the truth that I find has been passed over is where these spiritual forces are and just what they are affecting.  I have already posted studies on the 2 Corinthians 10 passage so am going to focus on Ephesians 6.

Before I can do so, however, I must quote two passages from Romans.  The first is found in 8:6-7 where Paul writes, “for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God nor indeed can be.”  The second is Romans 12:2 where Paul writes, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

I don’t know of any Believer who would not agree that we are changed when we first receive the Revelation of Jesus Christ as Son of God and Man, Lord and Savior, Risen and Ascended One who lives forever.  There is no way to stay the same when we see Jesus as He is.  But the how of “being transformed through the renewing of your mind” is where I am seeing Believers living far below all that is ours in Christ Jesus.  The how is summed up in read your Bible every day, pray at least (insert set amount of time) per day, and go to Church.  The focus is on training our minds on thinking a different way.  And, I agree it can work, but who can deny walking this path is one of success and failure depending on the power of the temptations of any given day?  I see the writers of the New Testament promising so much more. 

In the fourth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he expresses the same though as he did in Romans 12:2 but, this time, writes: “and be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Eph. 4:23). In chapter 2 of this same letter, Paul writes; “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”

Before the Holy Spirit opened our eyes so that we might see Jesus and turn from darkness to light, we walked according to the course of this world.  Our minds were affected by a spirit not of God.  We couldn’t help it.  We were born into this world and, from our earliest days, the ways of this world formed the thoughts of our minds and thus how we would be in the world.  But now, we know there is a new Spirit at work in us.  This Spirit is the Spirit of the Living God and is the source of a new mind and new way of thinking.  We do not have to train our minds to think different thoughts: we let the same mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus (See Philippians 2:5). 

Paul doesn’t just make this point in his letter to the Ephesians.  Our new life in the Holy Spirit is described throughout Romans 8: “who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit…for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death…for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit…But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.  Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.  And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you…for if you live according to the flesh you will die but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

The secret is Spirit.  How crucial it is we don’t quench the Spirit for it is now the Spirit of the Living God who is the source of our thoughts! No longer is it the Prince of the Power of the Air, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Because we are in Christ we are seated with Him in heavenly places.  How can that be since as I write this I am seated in my office chair in the office space inside my house?  We are seated with Him in the Spirit.  In this realm of Spirit, we encounter a spiritual enemy whose sphere of influence is our minds.  But, this enemy is a defeated one because Christ, who is our life, has destroyed the works of the devil.

I don’t think the Bible in any way suggest “the mind of Christ” is something that overpowers ours.  We don’t cease to be as Christ lives in us and we are conformed to His image.  What I see the Bible describing is a covenant bond akin to marriage.  Picture a married couple living and loving for years.  They can finish each other’s sentences and there are times words aren’t even necessary for communication.  They have grown together into one.  Our covenant with Jesus is the same.  His mind doesn’t wipe ours out: we grow in union through the covenant bonds of love until we are so One we think the same thoughts.  I’ll have to continue this thought next week (if God allows!) so will close with this:

 Jesus Christ, who IS our Salvation, has not only delivered us from sin and death but delivered us into His life.  We are joined to Him, are of one Spirit with Him, and everything that is His is ours: His life, His victory, His mind. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul gives thanks to the Father who “has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light” and “has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Colossians 1 12-13).  Has delivered.  Now.  It’s all ours because He has lavished His Spirit on us and poured His Spirit into us.

There is a beautiful promise of God recorded in Ezekiel.  As you read it, take some time to let it sink in that the promise is fulfilled in Christ Jesus and is our state of being now and forever:

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

Amen.  It is so!

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville Tennessee, 1990

Brought to Rest

25 Monday Mar 2024

Posted by in Studies, Whole Armor of God

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Hello, Readers!  Welcome to another week and another post on Renaissance Woman!

In last week’s post, I mentioned I was facing some difficulties.  Storm clouds were gathering on the horizon of my life and I didn’t know what was going to happen.  I still don’t.  There have been a few flashes of lightening and rumbles of thunder but the storm has not erupted in full fury.  It could be the storm has merely been postponed or it could be it will all come to nothing.  I didn’t know what was going to happen last week and I still don’t know.

All of which has got me thinking about salvation.  “Put on the Whole Armor of God,” Paul writes in Ephesians 6.  “Take the helmet of salvation…” What do we think of when we think of salvation?  The Strong’s Concordance lists soterion (G4992) as the Greek word translated salvation in this passage which means “defender, defence, salvation.”  Soterion comes from soteria (G4991) which expands a bit on the definition: rescue, safety, deliver, health, salvation, save, saving.  The Strong’s says soteria is derived from soter (G4990) which means “a deliverer, God or Christ”.  Soter comes from sozo (G4982) which means “to save, deliver, protect, heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole”. 

I find all of these definitions interesting and even helpful but what truly matters is what I believe about Jesus and salvation.  Do I believe salvation is something Jesus made available to me before He went off to be with the Father in some far off heaven somewhere and now I must believe and have faith in order to receive the salvation He’s made available?  Or, is He Himself my salvation and thus salvation is my reality as His life is lived in me through and by His Spirit?  To me, these are two opposite belief systems even though they might use the same words.  The first points us to Jesus because He is away from us.  Jesus is in heaven (wherever that is) and that’s where we’ll get to go when we die.  The salvation He has bought for us is summed up in our being saved from hell.

In the second, there is no separation because He is not away from us.  He is not God with us in the way that He was God in flesh walking the shores of Galilee all those years ago but neither is He God in heaven waiting for us to die and join Him.  He is God with us inside of us through the Indwelling Holy Spirit.  Thus, His salvation is not something separate from us we have to receive through our believing and having faith.  Rather, He is our very life (see Colossians 3:4) and therefore it follows that the salvation He is is also our very life.

The scriptures make it plain (to me anyway) that Jesus Christ IS salvation: it’s not something He has and bestows on us.  One of my favorite passages of scripture is found in Isaiah and echoes both Psalm 118 and Moses’ song recorded in Exodus 15.  Psalm 118:14 says, ‘The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.”  Exodus 15:2 says, “The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.”  Isaiah 12:2 says, “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For YAH, the Lord, is my strength and song, He also has become my salvation.” 

There is a story related in the second chapter of Luke’s Gospel.  “And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.  And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.  So he came by the Spirit into the temple.  And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said; ‘Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel’.” (See Luke 2:25-32).

My salvation then is a person whose very name means “Yahweh is salvation” (see meaning of Yeshua below).  This person is not separated from me.  I don’t have to go to a meeting place and get a dose of salvation to help me through the week.  Jesus Christ, who is my life, alive in me in and by His Spirit, means salvation is my state of being.  There is no situation I face where His salvation is not because He faces the situation with me.  His presence is always with me therefore His salvation is immediate.

What does that look like?  It looks like Christ in me, the hope of glory.  It looks like my being transformed into His image from glory to glory.  It looks like the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guarding my heart and mind.  It looks like all things being worked together for my good.  It looks like me living and moving and having my being in Christ Jesus.

While this is the truth of Christ in us and us in Christ, we still live in a world that abides by thought processes and ways of being that do not conform to-or even recognize-the life of Jesus Christ.  This world lies in the power of the evil one and those whose minds are still conformed to the patterns of this world will behave accordingly.  I read something in William Gurnall’s The Christian in Complete Armour which I do agree with but only partly.  Speaking on Ephesians 6:12, William Gurnall writes, “we wrestle not against flesh and blood…The Christian’s state in this life [is] set out by this word ‘wrestling.’…It is single combat.  Wrestling is not properly fighting against a multitude, but when one enemy singles out another, and enters the list with him, each exerting their whole force and strength against one another…The permanency or duration of this combat…lies in the tense we wrestle. Not, our wrestling was at first conversion, but now over, and we passed the pikes; not, we shall wrestle when sickness comes, and death comes; but our wrestling is; the enemy is ever in sight of us, yea, in fight with us.” (Gurnall, Vol 1. Pgs. 112-114).

 I read this and felt tired.  There is a modicum of truth to it.  We believers head everyday into a spiritually hostile world.  If Jesus were in some far off heaven somewhere bestowing salvation on us, it would mean we would have to conduct the warfare in our own strength to the best of our own ability with moments of refreshing from heaven.  Perhaps there would be victories but there would be the inevitable failures as well.  Since He is not: since He is in us, He is in our experiences with us.  He is our deliverance from the place we find ourselves.  He is our armor and He is the Victorious One.  I’ve already studied the word “stand” in Ephesians 6:10-18a but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded that the word is a covenant word and it means “made to stand”. 

“In the world you will have tribulation,” Jesus tells us, “BUT! Fear not!  I have overcome the world” (exclamation marks mine).  He gives us rest, even in the midst of the battle.  He is our armor.  He is our salvation.  He is all of these things to us right this very moment because His Spirit is in us and we are thus joined to Him.  The Spirit is the One who makes everything of Christ ours in every moment of our lives.  And so, my closing message for this week is Quench not the Spirit!  Let us cast all our cares on Him!  We may have to remind ourselves we have done so but there is nothing wrong with that.  We remind ourselves as often as we need to that, in this moment, Christ is our strength, our song, our light, and our salvation until we no longer need reminding.  He is our Helmet of Salvation, transforming us through the renewing of our minds!

It is so!  Amen.  

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) – What is the Meaning of Jesus’ Name? – Path of Obedience

Gurnall, William, The Christian in Complete Armour, Seventh Printing, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts, 2021

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville Tennessee, 1990