Christian living

Being made perfect

Jesus told his followers that they “must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), but he didn’t teach them how to achieve perfection. When a rich young man asked him what good deed he must do to have eternal life, Jesus’ response indicated that keeping the Ten Commandments wasn’t enough. Jesus said, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow me” (Matthew 19:17-21). Selling your possessions and giving to the poor might not be that difficult for some people, but for the rich young man it went against everything he had been doing to live what he thought was a perfect life. It says in Matthew 19:22, “When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great wealth.”

Ephesians 4:13 tells us that perfection is about reaching spiritual maturity and that the standard we will be measured against is “the stature of the fullness of Christ.” A description of spiritual maturity can be found in Hebrews 5:14 where it says, “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” The Greek word that is translated trained, gumnazo (goom-nadˊ-zo) is translated “exercised” in the King James Version of the Bible. Gumnazo also appears in Hebrews 12:11, which states, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasurable, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Discipline is one of the key elements of being made perfect. Hebrews 12:7-8 explains that God is treating us as his children when he disciplines us and that we should see discipline as a normal part of Christian living.

Hebrews 5:8 tells that Jesus “learned obedience through what he suffered.” Jesus experienced excruciating pain while he was dying on the cross. It was not something that he wanted to do. The night before his crucifixion, Jesus prayed that he would not have to go through with it. Matthew tells us, “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). Doing his Father’s will was of supreme importance to Jesus. He told his disciples, “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). Jesus never waivered in his commitment to give his life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). It says in Hebrews 4:15 that “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Hebrews 5:10 indicates that Jesus was designated by God as “a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.” Melchizedek met Abraham when he was returning from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him (Genesis 14:17). Abraham “gave Melchizedek a tithe because, as priest of God Most High, Melchizedek was a representative of God” (note on Genesis 14:18-20). Hebrews 7:3 tells us that Melchizedek “is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.” Because of the resemblance of Melchizedek to Christ, the brief encounter between he and Abraham was the foundation of messianic prophecy (Psalm 110:4, cf. Hebrews 5:6, 10; 7:1-28).

The end result of Jesus being made perfect was that he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him (Hebrews 5:9). Salvation in the Christian sense “is deliverance from sin and its spiritual consequences and admission to eternal life with blessedness in the kingdom of Christ” (G4991). Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Paul told the believers in Thessalonica that the will of God is your sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3). The Greek word that is translated sanctification, hagiasmos (hag-ee-as-mosˊ) “refers not only to the activity of the Holy Spirit in setting man apart unto salvation and transferring him into the ranks of the redeemed, but also to enabling him to be holy even as God is holy (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

It says in Hebrews 10:14 that by a single offering Jesus “has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” Even though it might seem like you are still in the process of being made perfect, this Scripture indicates that Jesus’ death on the cross made you perfect for all time. When Jesus was confronted by some Pharisees who told him Herod was going to kill him, Jesus responded with a remark about being made perfect. Jesus said to them, “Go and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow and the third day I finish my course” (Luke 13:32). Paul echoed Jesus’ statement, not long before he was martyred. Paul told Timothy in his last letter to him, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7, KJSB). Keeping the faith and being made perfect go hand in hand because you cannot be partially saved, either you are, or you aren’t. Paul said, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). The end result, being made perfect, doesn’t depend on us, it depends on Christ’s finished work on the cross.

The Lord’s Supper

The institution of the Lord’s Supper is recorded in all three of what are considered to be the synoptic gospels, the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which describe events from a similar point of view, as contrasted with that of John (Oxford Languages). Although the context and details of each gospel writer’s account of the Lord’s Supper varies, the key characteristics are the same. “Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’” (Matthew 28:26-28). In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul indicated that he had received a revelation from the Lord about this important event and was sharing it with the Corinthians in order to clarify the intention of the Lord’s Supper. Paul wrote:

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. (1 Corinthians 11:23-32).

The main point that Paul wanted to make was that the Lord’s Supper was intended to be a way for believers to avoid being condemned along with the world. The Greek word that is translated condemned, katakrino (kat-ak-reeˊ-no) means “to condemn by contrast, i.e. to show by one’s good conduct that others are guilty of misconduct and deserve condemnation” (G2632). Paul’s comment about condemnation had to do with the last judgment when unbelievers will be judged for their rejection of Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross. Jesus told his disciples, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18).

Paul indicated that believing in Jesus should involve remembrance of him through repeated celebration of the Lord’s Supper. The Greek term anamnesis (an-amˊ-nay-sis), which is translated remembrance, is a derivative of the words ana (an-ahˊ), a “preposition meaning on, upon, in” (G303) and mimnesko (mim-naceˊ-ko). Mimnesko is a prolonged form of the word mnaomai (mnahˊ-om-ahee), which conveys the idea of something being a fixture in one’s mind or of mental grasp (G3415). Remembrance of Jesus through the Lord’s Supper has to do with keeping his sacrifice on the cross in the forefronts of our minds so that we are continually aware of the fact that the penalty for our sins has already been paid by him. According to Luke’s gospel, Jesus said that his body was “given for you” and his blood was “poured out for you” (Luke 22:19-20). In other words, Jesus’ sacrifice was for our benefit, he died on our behalf. That is what Paul wanted the Corinthians to be completely aware of when they participated in the Lord’s Supper. Paul said, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:27). An unworthy manner means that you treat the Lord’s Supper as a common meal. You don’t look at the bread and the wine as being symbolic of Jesus’ body and blood. Paul said, “If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home” (1 Corinthians 11:34), suggesting that people were eating and drinking to satisfy their physical appetites rather than partaking in the Lord’s Supper to remind themselves of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us.

Paul instructed the Corinthians to “examine” themselves before they ate of the bread and drank of the cup (1 Corinthians 11:28). The Greek word dokeo (dok-ehˊ-o) “refers to a person’s subjective mental estimate or opinion or something…It always signifies a subjective estimate of a thing, not the objective appearance and qualities the thing actually possesses. Paul seemed to be concerned about whether or not the person who was participating in the Lord’s Supper thought it was appropriate to do so. Paul went on to say, “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Corinthians 11:29). When Jesus said that the bread was his body, he was talking about an organized whole made up of parts and members (G4983). Discerning the body would therefore have to do with a person determining whether or not he was an active member of the body of Christ. Paul later explained, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12).

According to Paul, the key to examining oneself and discerning the body seemed to be the individual’s opinion of his involvement in Christ’s activities on earth. The reason why this is a subjective estimate rather than the objective appearance and qualities of the person’s walk with the Lord is because a believer’s involvement in God’s kingdom is visibly undetectable. Jesus told the religious leaders, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is! or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Luke 17:20-21). The Greek word that is translated midst, entos (en-tosˊ) means “inside” (G1787). The internal location of the kingdom of God makes it necessary for us to pay attention to what is happening on the inside of our bodies, in our souls and spirits. When we examine ourselves, we are looking for evidence of Christ’s work in our hearts.

Paul said, “But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31). Paul used two different words that are both translated judged in this verse, diakrino (dee-ak-reeˊ-no), which is also translated discerning in 1 Corinthians 11:29, and krino (kreeˊ-no), which means to give an opinion or decide something judicially (G2919). The point that I believe Paul was trying to make was that when believers look at themselves from an internal perspective, they are able to see themselves the same way that God does. It is obvious to them whether or not they are functioning as a member of the body of Christ. Paul may have emphasized the importance of believers being able to discern that for themselves because he didn’t want unbelievers to assume that participation in the Lord’s Supper would exempt them from God’s judgment (Matthew 25:31-46; John 13:27).

Participation

The gross immorality that was taking place in Corinth caused Paul to focus most of the message in his first letter to the Corinthians on idolatry. Many of the members of the Corinthian church had recently been converted from paganism and were having difficulty breaking habits of their former lifestyles (Introduction to the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians). After he talked about the prize he expected to receive for his faithful service to God (1 Corinthians 9:24-27), Paul went on to explain that participation in idol worship was a form of demonism. Paul told the Corinthian believers, “I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?” (1 Corinthians 10:20-22). The Greek word that is translated partake, metecho (met-ekhˊ-o) means “to share or participate; (by implication) belong to” (G3348). Paul connected participation in certain activites to membership in an organization or belonging to a cultural group. Celebration of the Lord’s Supper was an exclusive practice of believers in Christ and Paul wanted the Corinthians to understand that pagan sacrifices were intended for those who were worshippers of Satan.

Paul said that he didn’t want the Corinthians to be participants with demons. The Greek word that is translated participants, koinonos (koy-no-nosˊ) is derived from the word koinos (koyˊ-nos) which means “common, i.e. (literally) shared by all or several, or (ceremonial) profane” (G2839). According to the Mosaic Law, priests were expected to distinguish between the holy and the common. Something that was considered to be holy had been sanctified or set apart, something that was consecrated to God (H6942). No one that was common or unsanctified could be in the presence of God (Exodus 19:9-25). When Paul talked about participation in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 10:16), he used the word koinonia (koy-nohn-eeˊ-ah). Koinonia is derived from the Greek word koinonos and means “partnership, i.e. (literal) participation, or (social) intercourse” (G2842). Koinonia is most often translated as fellowship. Paul used the word koinonia in 1 Corinthians 1:9 where he said, “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” The fellowship of believers was first discussed in the book of Acts. Not long after the church in Jerusalem was established, Acts 2:42-47 tells us:

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Luke indicated that “all who believed were together and had all things in common” (Acts 2:44). The Greek word that Luke used that is translated common is koinos. Koinos is believed to be derived from the word sun (soon) which denotes “union; with or together i.e. by association, companionship, process, resemblance, possession, instrumentality, addition etc…Particularly of society, companionship, consort, where one is said to be, do, suffer with someone, in connection and company with him” (G4862). Sun is often used in the gospels to indicate that Jesus’ disciples were with him. Luke used the word sun the most of any other New Testament writer. Sun appears 24 times in the gospel of Luke and 51 times in the book of Acts. One of the things that may be connected with the Greek term sun is culture. It’s possible that culture is a byproduct of sun or that the development of culture is evidence that the type of union that sun represents has actually taken place. The four activities that are mentioned in Acts 2:42, the apostles’ teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers could be identifying features of the Christian culture and would thus be evident whenever sun has taken place in a group of believers.

Paul used the example of the Israelites journey through the desert after God delivered them from slavery in Egypt to explain to the Corinthians that the activities associated with a culture do not in and of themselves make someone a participant or sharer in that particular society. Paul said:

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. (1 Corinthians 10:1-5)

Paul noted that all of the Israelites had done the same activities and made special mention of the fact that they had all drank from the spiritual Rock that was Christ. “Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased” (1 Corinthians 10:5). What Paul meant by God not being pleased was most likely related to his comment about receiving the prize in 1 Corinthians 9:24. Paul asked, “Do you not know that in a race all runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.” Paul went on to say, “But I discipline my body and keep it under control lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27). The point that I believe Paul was trying to make was that God is not pleased with fake Christians. Being disqualified means you complete the race, you participate in all the activities, but don’t get any credit for it because you were just going through the motions, you weren’t really saved.

An imperishable prize

Paul spent a lot of time in his first letter to the Corinthians rebuking them for their bad behavior, but about halfway through his message Paul shifted his attention to the reason why it was important for believers to keep themselves pure. Paul explained that his responsibility of preaching the gospel made it necessary for him to live his life in a way that would attract others to Jesus. Paul began by stating:

Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. (1 Corinthians 9:16-18)

Paul described his responsibility as a stewardship. The Greek word that is translated stewardship, oikonomia (oy-kon-om-ee-ah) means “administration (of a household or estate); specially a (religious) ‘economy’ (G3622). Oikonomia is used in Ephesians 1:10 in reference to God’s plan of salvation. Paul said of Jesus, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan (oikonomia) for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (Ephesians 1:7-10). Paul believed it was his responsibility to administer or dispense the riches of God’s grace and he did it “free of charge” (1 Corinthians 9:18) so that he might receive a reward that was more important to him than monetary compensation.

Paul indicated that God’s spiritual economy operates based on the riches of his grace (Ephesians 1:7, 10). Paul’s concept of God’s spiritual economy may have come from Jesus’ parable of the dishonest manager. Jesus taught his disciples:

“There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.

“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Luke 16:1-13)

Jesus differentiated between sons of this world and the sons of light. The two categories that he was referring to were the unsaved and believers. The dishonest manager represented the unsaved person who works for God. The dishonest manager was shrewd because he realized that the goal was to cancel people’s debt (forgiveness of sins). That is what God’s grace does for believers, but the dishonest manager took credit for cancelling the people’s debts so that his master’s debtors would show their gratitude to him.

Paul associated preaching the gospel free of change with his reward for being a faithful servant. Paul explained in his second letter to the Corinthians that the reason he did not take any money from them was because there were false apostles who were disguising themselves as apostles of Christ so that they could make money from preaching the gospel. Paul told the Corinthians, “I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way…And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds” (2 Corinthians 11-8-15).

Paul concluded his discussion about his motive for preaching the gospel free of charge with a brief illustration of the spiritual contest that all mature Christians must participate in. Paul asked:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

Paul likened preaching the gospel to a race and said “all runners run, but only one receives the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24). The race that Paul was referring to was one that took place in a stadium. Paul most likely wanted to convey the idea of living in a public arena where one’s actions were on display and were being scrutinized or perhaps, judged by others. Paul said, “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things” (1 Corinthians 9:25). The Greek word that is translated athlete, agonizomai (ag-o-nidˊ-zom-ahee) is used figuratively to mean “(to contend with an adversary) or genitive (to endeavor to accomplish something)” (G75).

Paul’s illustration of a runner in a race suggests that he was referring to public life in general. Paul said, “All runners run, but only one receives the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24). This seems to suggest that in spiritual conflict it is typically for a single Christian to be competing against a mass of unbelievers for the victory. This viewpoint makes sense from the perspective that in the 1st Century, Christians were very few in number compared to the masses of the Roman Empire and were scattered throughout the regions that Paul visited on his missionary journeys. In reference to the runners, Paul said, “They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable” (1 Corinthians 9:25). Paul contrasted the physical aspect of the runner’s race to the spiritual in his reference to the perishable and imperishable wreaths that could be obtained. Paul’s use of the pronoun we indicated that he was talking about all believers when he said we do it to receive an imperishable prize. I believe the point that Paul was trying to make was that a believer’s public life always involves spiritual conflict due to the presence of unbelievers in the world. Therefore, a believer’s life needs to be lived in such a way that it is viewed as a public contest that can only be won from a spiritual perspective if the believer remains faithful to his commitment to Christ.

Paul stated, “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things” (1 Corinthians 9:25) and said of himself, “I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:26-27). Paul reference to being disqualified was probably meant to convey the same idea as what happened to the dishonest manager in Jesus’ parable. Jesus said the rich man called the manager in and said to him, “What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager” (Luke 16:2). The rich man removed the manager from his position. Paul indicated that in order to receive the prize, he had to exercise self-control, discipline his body and keep it under control. The King James Version of the Bible states it this way, “But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:27). The Greek word that is translated keep under, hupopiazo (hoop-o-pee-adˊ-zo) means “to hit under the eye (buffet or disable an antagonist as a pugilist), i.e. (figurative) to tease or annoy (into compliance), subdue (one’s passions)” (G5299). What Paul was talking about was beating himself up rather than letting his opponent do it. In other words, Paul needed to be tough on himself so that he didn’t get overpowered by his spiritual enemy. Paul said, by doing this, he could win the contest and he would receive an imperishable prize.

Paul elaborated on the concept of an imperishable prize later on in his message to the Corinthians. Paul said:

I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:50-58)

Paul said he was revealing to the Corinthians a mystery, something into which they must be initiated or instructed before it could be known (G3466). Paul said, “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). Paul was referring back to something that Jesus said to the Jews who wanted to kill him because he made himself equal with God. Jesus told them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (John 5:25). Jesus went on to say, “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28-29). According to Jesus, the imperishable prize is the resurrection of life. In other words, believers will not only have imperishable bodies after the resurrection, but they will also have imperishable lives, “i.e. blessed life, life that satisfies” (G2222).

Sexual immorality

Christianity as a religion was meant to replace Judaism, which was the expression of the covenant that God established with the Israelites, the ancestors of the Jews. There was a lot of confusion in the early years of Christianity about what was expected of Christians; how people became Christians, and how they were supposed to live. Many of the Jews that converted to Christianity wanted to hold on to the traditions that they had followed for many centuries, in particular, the requirement for males to be circumcised. During the time of the Apostle Paul’s ministry, there was a heated debate about this matter. Acts 15:1-2 tells us:

But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.

Paul and Barnabas were considered to be key leaders in the Christian movement and were both filled with the Holy Spirit. “When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them” (Acts 15:4). It was important that Paul and Barnabas had not only been set apart for the work of preaching the gospel (Acts 13:2-3), but also had been designated by the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 13:4-12). The stories they shared about the work God was doing among the Gentiles was taken as factual evidence of God’s will in the matter. Acts 15:6-12 states:

The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

The discussion between Paul and Barnabas and the Jerusalem Council resulted in a letter being written to the Gentile believers in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia (Acts 15:22-23). The letter stated:

“Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.” (Acts 15:24-29)

The requirement that believers “abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled” had to do with the Gentile culture of that day which involved pagan worship practices that were offensive to God, but the stipulation that believers abstain from sexual immorality had to do with them being a member of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians focused on sexual immorality in the context of the Church being defiled. Paul stated in his letter, “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you” (1 Corinthians 5:1-2). Paul’s harsh judgment of the sexual immorality that was going on was based on his comparison of it with pagan practices. Paul said it was “of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans” (1 Corinthians 5:1). Paul went on to say, “You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 5:5). The destruction of the flesh was “spoken of a temporal destruction of the flesh, leading to restoration and salvation of the soul” (G3639). Paul indicated that the destruction of the flesh was the result of the believer being delivered to Satan. What Paul meant by being delivered to Satan was that the sexually immoral believer should be allowed to continue in his sinful behavior so that the ruin and destruction in his life that resulted from it would drive him back to the Lord. Jesus gave an example of this in his parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). The prodigal son squandered his property in reckless living, but when he came to himself, he arose and came to his father and said, “I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (Luke 15:21). In response, the son’s father called for a celebration, stating, “’For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate” (Luke 15:24).

Paul made it very clear that the person that was involved in sexual immorality in Corinth was in fact a believer. Paul said:

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.” (1 Corinthians 5:9-13)

Paul indicated that in order to not associate with unbelievers who were sexually immoral, believers would have to go out of the world. Paul also noted that it was not his place to judge outsiders, but then, he urged the Corinthians to purge the evil person from among them.

Paul’s explanation for why believers should flee sexual immorality was that they should not be dominated by anything (1 Corinthians 16:12). The Greek word that is translated dominated, exousiazo (ex-oo-see-adˊ-zo) means “to control” (G1850). Exousiazo is derived from the word exousia (ex-oo-seeˊ-ah), which designates, “Power over persons and things, dominion, authority, rule” (G1849). Exousia is sometimes translated power and sometimes authority. During Jesus’ ministry, the Jewish leaders often challenged his authority to do the things he did. On one occasion, Matthew’s gospel tells us:

And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. (Matthew 21:23-27)

Following this exchange with the chief priests and the elders, Jesus told the parable of the two sons (Matthew 21:28-32) and the parable of the tenants (Matthew 21:33-40) to communicate his point that obedience is evidence of submission to someone’s authority. When Paul said that believers should not be dominated by anything, he meant that they should not submit themselves to Satan’s authority by doing the things that he wants them to.

Paul told the Corinthian believers:

The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:13-20)

Paul said that every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body (1 Corinthians 6:18) and then, argued that believers are not their own, but were bought with a price. The point that I believe Paul was trying to make was that Jesus’ death on the cross gives him the right to control everyone’s behavior who has claimed his death as payment for the penalty of their sin. Paul wanted believers to understand that sexual immorality was an indicator that a person was not under the control of Jesus Christ, and therefore, even if he was saved, it proved that he had not submitted himself to God’s authority.

Spiritual Work

Many of the parables that Jesus used to teach his disciples were focused on work or labor of some sort. Jesus used the example of wise and foolish builders to teach his disciples the importance of using their minds in a skillful manner (Matthew 7:24-27). In the parable of the sower, Jesus emphasized the importance of being open to the influence of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 13:3-8, 18-23). Jesus used the example of the unmerciful servant to teach his disciples about forgiveness (Matthew 18:23-34) and laborers in a vineyard about the goodness of God (Matthew 20:1-16). The emphasis that Jesus placed on work and productivity indicate that the spiritual realm has some of the same characteristics as the material world that we live in. Jesus told his followers:

“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” (John 4:34-38)

The Greek word that is translated work, ergon (erˊ-gon) means to “toil (as an effort or occupation)” (G2041). The Greek word kopiao (kop-ee-ahˊ-o), which is translated labor, means “to feel fatigue; by implication to work hard” (G2872). Jesus told his disciples, “I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor” (John 4:38). The others that Jesus was referring to in this statement is not clear, but he may have been talking about the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ final instruction to his disciples had to do with their dependence upon the Holy Spirit to accomplish the mission that he gave them before he ascended to heaven (Matthew 28:16-20). Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

The Apostle Paul elaborated on Jesus teaching about spiritual work in his first letter to the Corinthians. Paul said:

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3:5-9)

Paul referred to the Corinthian believers as both God’s field and God’s building, linking Jesus’ parables to his work of preaching the gospel. Paul said that “each will receive his wages according to his labor” (1 Corinthians 3:8). Jesus talked about wages in his parable about laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:8). In this parable, Jesus said the laborers were hired at different times of the day, but they all received the same wages. When the ones who were hired first grumbled about it, Jesus said, “Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal with us who have borne the burden of the day, and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go, I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:10-16).

The idea that God treats all of his spiritual workers the same and rewards them equally was acknowledged by Paul (1 Corinthians 3:7), but Paul also indicated that the result or output of our work is what really matters. Paul said, “Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:12-17). Paul clarified which Day he was referring to when he said, “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5). The purposes of the heart are the decisions believers make that identify them as being either for or against Christ (G1012). Paul pointed out that the purposes of the heart would be disclosed and implied that it had something to do with the evidence of one’s spiritual intake. The Greek word phaneroo (fan-er-oˊ-o) means “to render apparent” (G5319). The English Standard Version of the Bible uses the word phagos (fagˊ-os), which means “a glutton” (G5314), instead of phaneroo in 1 Corinthians 4:5, and translates it as discloses. This seems to suggest that Paul was talking about a believer’s spiritual weight being the output or perhaps the gauge of how successful his spiritual work was.

The Old Testament of the Bible links weight with God’s glory. The Hebrew word kabowd (kaw-bodeˊ) is properly translated as weight, but as a masculine singular noun, its meaning is “honour, glory, majesty, wealth” (H3519). Kabowd is derived from the word kabad (kaw-bad), which means “to be heavy…The hands of both humans and God were described metaphorically as heavy, that is, powerful” (H3513). The effectiveness of one’s spiritual work may be gauged in terms of weight in the Bible because of the fact that wealth was associated with gold and silver which is measured in weight. A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms. When the Temple of God was constructed, many of the temple furnishings were made from gold and silver. It says in Exodus 25:39 that the golden lampstand was made “out of a talent of pure gold.” In today’s prices, the golden lampstand itself would be worth about 2.3 million dollars. Paul said of his work in the ministry, “Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest” (1 Corinthians 3:12). The Greek word that is translated builds on, epoikodomeo (ep-oy-kod-om-ehˊ) is only used figuratively. To build upon is “spoken of the Christian faith and Christian life, both the whole church and its individual members as built upon the only foundation, Christ, and implying the constant internal development of the kingdom of God and the visible church, like a holy temple progressively and increasingly built up from the foundation (1 Corinthians 3:10, 12, 14; Ephesians 2:20; Colossians 2:7).

Peter’s first letter looked at spiritual work from the standpoint of intense persecution. Peter said, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:6-9). Peter indicated that faith is more precious than gold and said that it is what will be tested when Jesus judges the world (1 Corinthians 3:13). Peter’s viewpoint was that believing in Jesus was the outcome or product of faith and said that it would result in the salvation of your souls. When Jesus was asked, ‘What must we do, to be doing the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent’” (John 6:28-29). The reason why Jesus identified believing as work was probably because it took a great deal of effort from a human standpoint. Jesus told his disciples, “if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20-21). The fact that faith can move a mountain makes it a very effective instrument for spiritual work. Jesus said that nothing is impossible, if you use faith to accomplish it.

Jesus’ parable of the persistent widow was intended to convey the point that it was not God’s unwillingness to answer prayers that was the problem with regard to accomplishing spiritual work. Luke opened the story with the comment, “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to lose heart” (Luke 18:1). And then stated:

He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 2:2-8)

Jesus’ question, “will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 2:8) was a rebuke to those who prayed constantly, but got no results.

Hebrews 11, which highlights the accomplishments of Old Testaments believers, begins with the statement, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation” (Hebrews 11:1). The Greek word that is translated conviction, elegchos (elˊ-eng-khos) means to have a certain persuasion, “in the sense of refutation of adversaries” (G1650). In other words, faith presupposes that there is a contradicting opinion about the things that we believe. Paul went on to say, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). Paul identified two requirements for drawing near or worshipping God. First, a person must believe that God exists. There needs to be an awareness of his presence in the world. In addition to that, a person must believe that God rewards those who worship him. The Greek word misthapodotes (mis-thap-od-otˊ-ace), which is translated reward, is derived from the words misthoo (mis-thoˊ-o) which means “to let out for wages, i.e. (middle) to hire” (G3409) and apodidomi (ap-od-eedˊ-o-mee), which means “to give away” or pay (-ment) (591). In that sense, a worshipper of God has to believe that not only does he exist; but also, that seeking God is a form of work, and God pays those who do it.

The ungodly

Peter’s second letter was written from a very practical standpoint in that Peter zeroed in on what he most likely considered to be the three most important aspects of successful Christian living: spiritual growth, awareness of false teaching, and the Lord’s return. Peter’s discussion of false teaching in the second chapter of his book, focused in on a particular group of people he referred to as the ungodly. According to Peter, the ungodly have known the way of righteousness, but have turned back “from the holy commandment delivered to them” (2 Peter 2:21). The Apostle Paul explained in his letter to the Romans that knowing what sin is makes us accountable to its effect. Paul said, “I was once alive. That was when I did not know what the Law said I had to do. Then I found that I had broken the Law. I knew I was a sinner. Death was mine because of the Law. The Law was supposed to give me new life. Instead, it gave me death. Sin found a way to trap me by working through the Law. Then sin killed me by using the Law. The Law is holy. Each one of the Laws is holy and right and good” (Romans 7:9-12, NLV). Paul’s conclusion that the Law is holy meant that the effect of knowing the Law was an awareness of right and wrong. When Paul didn’t know what he was supposed to do, he wasn’t accountable for doing it, but after he did know, he was held accountable for his sin. James concluded in his letter, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (James 4:17).

One prominent feature of the book of Ezekiel is the declaration of individual responsibility (Ezekiel 3:16-21; 14:12-20; 18:1-32; 33:1-20). In Ezekiel 18:1-32, the Lord was setting aside an old proverb in Israel (Ezekiel 18:2, cf. Jeremiah 31:29, 30) and replacing it with one of his own: ‘The soul who sins shall die’ (Ezekiel 18:4, 20). In the Old Testament, God’s people were treated as a national unit, and their sustenance and material prosperity were often affected by the sins of the minority (cf. Joshua 7:1, 4-11, 16-26). Consequently, God was just when he spoke of ‘visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children’ (Exodus 20:5). Ezekiel 18:1-32, however, looks beyond material ramifications and considers the eternal results of sin. This is implied by the use of the term ‘soul’ (Ezekiel 18:4) and the command to ‘make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit’ (Ezekiel 8:31). Many righteous people were going to die in the siege, and many would be carried to Babylon (as Ezekiel and Daniel were). The eternal fate of each person, however, was determined by his or her individual relationship to God” (note on Ezekiel 18:1-32). Speaking through Ezekiel, God said:

“But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:21-24)

Hebrews 6:4-6 expands on the topic of individual responsibility by including the result of redemption that was made available through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It states:

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

“This much debated passage likely discusses unbelievers who have ‘fallen away’ (v. 6) by consciously rejecting the spiritual enlightenment they have received (v. 4). They had experienced a taste of God’s goodness (v. 5) and may even have been part of the assembly. They had given intellectual assent to the truth of Christianity, but their apostasy demonstrated that their professed faith was not genuine. In turning away from the sacrifice of Christ, perhaps to return to the Judaism they previously espoused, they rejected the only means of salvation that God has provided. Their deliberate apostasy was so severe that they could not be ‘restored’ (anakainizein [G344]) to repentance. Judas Iscariot is an example of one who, although outwardly associated with the things of the Lord, ultimately chose to turn away” (note on Hebrews 6:4-6). Hebrews 10:26-27 adds, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”

Peter received instruction from the Lord about the importance of doing God’s will once it has been made known to us. Luke 12:35-48 states:

“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

Jesus used the role of a servant to emphasize the absolute obedience that was required of those in his ministry.  The harsh treatment that the servant received from his master, he cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful, showed that he could not be restored to his former state of grace.

Peter argued that the ungodly were being kept under punishment until the day of judgment because they despised authority. He said, “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. The Greek word that is translated authority, kuriotes (koo-ree-otˊ-ace) “denotes ‘lordship’ (kurios, ‘a lord’)” (G2963). In the King James Version of the Bible, kuriotes is translated government, suggesting that the ungodly are anti-government. It says in Judges 17:6, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Doing what is right in ones’ own eyes does not necessarily mean that a person is anti-government. The ungodly are irreverent toward God and therefore, see themselves as the supreme authority.

An example of irreverence toward God can be found in Judges 17:7-13, which states:

Now there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. And the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn where he could find a place. And as he journeyed, he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn where I may find a place.” And Micah said to him, “Stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year and a suit of clothes and your living.” And the Levite went in. And the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. And Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.”

Micah’s ordination of the Levite wasn’t prescribed by the Mosaic Law and his assumption that God would prosper him because he had a Levite as a priest was unfounded.

The Hebrew word that is translated prosper in Judges 17:13, yatab (yaw-tabˊ) appears throughout the book of Deuteronomy in connection with keeping God’s commandments. After reciting the Ten Commandments, Moses said to the people of Israel, “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well (yatab) with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.” Peter described the ungodly as “bold and willful” and said that “they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones” (2 Peter 2:10). Blaspheme is the use of speech to bring down another’s value, honor, due-respect or to injure another’s reputation in the eyes of others (G987). Micah’s claim that the LORD would prosper him because he had a Levite as a priest (Judges 17:13) was blaspheme not only because it devalued the office of priest, but also because it dishonored God’s intention of blessing his people through their obedience to the Ten Commandments. Micah lowered God’s standing to that of a pagan god who was worshipped because of his supposed ability to control the seasons, weather, and grain (note on Judges 2:13).

Micah’s irreverence toward God was most likely rooted in his practice of idolatry. It says in Judges 17:4-5 that Micah had a carved image and a metal image in his house. “And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household gods.” Later, when the images, the ephod, and the household gods, along with the priest that he had ordained were taken from his home, Micah said to the men who stole them, “You take my gods that I made and the priest, and go away, and what have I left?” (Judges 18:24). Micah’s response implied that he had lost all of his spiritual capability as a result of the images and the priest being taken from him. Judges 18:30-31 tells us, “And the people of Dan set up the carved image for themselves and Jonathon the son of Gershom, son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. So they set up Micah’s carved image that he made, as long as the house of God was at Shiloh.” The sons of Moses were not authorized to serve as priests. The priesthood was initially reserved for Aaron and all his descendants, but “God entered into a special covenant with Phinehas’ descendants (Numbers 25:13) following his zeal for God’s honor” (note on Numbers 25:6-13). God’s covenant with Phinehas was “an unconditional divine promise to maintain the family of Phinehas in an ‘everlasting priesthood’ (implicitly a pledge to Israel to provide her forever with a faithful priesthood)” (Major Covenants in the Old Testament, KJSB, p. 16). Along with that, the second commandment explicitly stated, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:4-6). The mention of the carved image and the priests being set up until the captivity was probably meant to draw attention to the fact that the Danites’ idolatry was a contributing factor in Israel being expelled from the Promised Land.

Peter described the ungodly as being “like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed” (2 Peter 2:12) and then, went on to say, “They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of darkness has been reserved” (2 Peter 2:14-17). The debauchery of the Israelites was evident not long after they took possession of the Promised Land and is clearly portrayed in the account of the Levite whose concubine was sexually abused while they were traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the hill country of Ephraim. The men of Ephraim were from the tribe of Benjamin. An old man who saw the traveler in the open square of the city was concerned about his safety and invited the Levite to spend the night in his home. Judges 19:21-30 tells us:

So he brought him into his house and gave the donkeys feed. And they washed their feet, and ate and drank. As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, worthless fellows, surrounded the house, beating on the door. And they said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him.” And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not do this vile thing. Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out now. Violate them and do with them what seems good to you, but against this man do not do this outrageous thing.” But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and made her go out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. And as morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, until it was light. And her master rose up in the morning, and when he opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, behold, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. He said to her, “Get up, let us be going.” But there was no answer. Then he put her on the donkey, and the man rose up and went away to his home. And when he entered his house, he took a knife, and taking hold of his concubine he divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. And all who saw it said, “Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day; consider it, take counsel, and speak.”

The Israelites’ decline in morality after they entered the Promised Land was considered to be equal to their spiritual growth during their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness at this point in time. Peter’s summarization of ungodly people’s behavior captures the essence of the Israelites’ situation. Peter said, “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: ‘The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire’” (2 Peter 2:20-22).

The crossroads of life

Our journey through life often includes many twists and turns, detours, and roadblocks, but the most important aspect of our travels are the decisions we make when we come to the crossroads of life. The crossroads are typically turning points and may determine whether or not we will continue or stop making progress toward our final destination. One of the ways we know we are at a crossroad is that we experience spiritual warfare and in extreme situations, may be confronted by God or the devil directly. The first crossroad of mankind occurred in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:1-7 tells us:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. 

The sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden changed the course of mankind. The issue that was presented to Eve was the truthfulness of God’s word and whether or not she was willing to obey God’s commandment even though she didn’t understand the reasoning behind it.

The Hebrew word massah (mas-sawˊ) is translated as both temptation and trial in the King James Version of the Bible. Massah appears in Deuteronomy 4:32-36 where Moses talked about the LORD being personally involved in the Israelites’ lives. It states:

“For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials (massah), by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him. Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.”

Moses listed trials along with signs and wonders, as well as war and great deeds of terror as acts of God that were meant to show the people of Israel that there was no other God besides the LORD. The Hebrew word massah “is actually two homographs – words that are spelled the same yet have distinct origins and meanings. The first homograph is derived from the verb masas (H4549), meaning to dissolve or melt, and it means despair. This word occurs in Job 9:23. The second homograph is derived from the verb nasah (H5254), meaning to test or try, and denotes a test, a trial, or proving. It is used in reference to the manifestations of God’s power and handiwork before the Egyptians at the Exodus (Deuteronomy 4:34; 7:19; 29:3[2])” (H4531). Massah also appears in Psalm 95 in reference to the Israelites’ disobedience in the wilderness. It states:

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
    let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
    as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers put me to the test
    and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. (Psalm 95:6-9)

Psalm 95:7-11 is quoted in the book of Hebrews as a warning against unbelief (Hebrews 3:7-11). Paul said, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:12-13).

Paul indicated that an evil, unbelieving heart could lead you to fall away from the living God (Hebrews 3:12). The heart is mentioned in all but four of the thirty one chapters in the Book of Proverbs and the heart’s condition is central to its theme of wise living. In the Hebrew language, “the heart is considered to be the seat of one’s inner nature as well as one of its components” (H3820). Proverbs 3:5-6 encourages believers to “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” The Hebrew word that is translated ways, derek (dehˊ-rek) “is most often used metaphorically to refer to the pathways of one’s life, suggesting the pattern of life (Proverbs 3:6)” (H1870). In Proverbs 8:1-2, wisdom is depicted as a woman that is standing beside the way trying to get our attention when we pass through the crossroads of life. It states:

Does not wisdom call?
    Does not understanding raise her voice?
On the heights beside the way,
    at the crossroads she takes her stand.

The Hebrew word that is translated stand, natsab (naw-tsabˊ) means “to station” (H5324) and suggests that wisdom’s role might be to direct traffic or to act as a crossing guard. It could be that wisdom’s job is to protect believers from the trickery of the devil and to make sure that we do not veer off course at critical points in our journey through life.

Proverbs chapter nine compares and contrasts The Way of Wisdom with The Way of Folly. It begins with a description of Wisdom’s attempt to invite those who are open to her influence to come and eat with her. Proverbs 9:1-6 states:

Wisdom has built her house;
    she has hewn her seven pillars.
She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine;
    she has also set her table.
She has sent out her young women to call
    from the highest places in the town,
“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
    To him who lacks sense she says,
“Come, eat of my bread
    and drink of the wine I have mixed.
Leave your simple ways, and live,
    and walk in the way of insight.”

Wisdom’s target audience is “him who lacks sense” (Proverbs 9:4). The Hebrew words that are translated lacks sense literally mean without heart (H2638/H3820). A person without heart could be someone that has no will of his own or perhaps, someone that is completely open to the influence of others. It seems likely that Wisdom’s plea to whoever is simple means that she is trying to reach those who have not yet made a commitment to follow the Lord. The woman Folly makes a similar plea in Proverbs 9:13-18. It states:

The woman Folly is loud;
    she is seductive and knows nothing.
She sits at the door of her house;
    she takes a seat on the highest places of the town,
calling to those who pass by,
    who are going straight on their way,
“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
    And to him who lacks sense she says,
“Stolen water is sweet,
    and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
But he does not know that the dead are there,
    that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

Folly’s plea is the same as Wisdom’s, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” and her target audience is the same, “him who lacks sense” (Proverbs 9:16), but Folly’s objective is very different. She says to him who lacks sense, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” Folly is appealing to the evil desires of naïve people in order to cause them to disobey God’s commandments (H3687/H3474). One of the characteristics of Folly that is mentioned is that she is seductive and it says that she knows nothing. The tactic that Folly uses to cause people to sin is to appeal to their sin nature or what the Bible refers to as the flesh. Jesus told his disciples to, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41).

Paul addressed the issue of the flesh’s weakness in the context of spiritual warfare in his second letter to the Corinthians. Paul said, “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete” (2 Corinthians 10:3-6). The Greek word that is translated warfare, strateia (strat-iˊ-ah) is used figuratively to refer to “the apostolic career (as one of hardship and danger)” (G4752) as well as “to contend with carnal inclinations” (G4754). Paul indicated that the weapons of the believer’s warfare have “divine power to destroy strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4). Paul was speaking metaphorically of strongholds as “those things in which mere human confidence is imposed” (G3794) and indicated that these strongholds consisted of “arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5). We know that Paul was talking about the believer’s mind or heart because he said we need to take every thought captive to obey Christ. The Greek word that is translated arguments, logismos (log-is-mosˊ) “suggests the contemplation of actions as a result of the verdict of the conscience” (G3053). Paul’s instruction to take every thought captive meant that we need to cancel out or at the very least refuse to pay attention to thoughts that violate our conscience or clearly contradict God’s word.

Paul concluded his statement about destroying spiritual strongholds with a warning that we need to be ready to punish every disobedience when our obedience is complete (2 Corinthians 10:6). Paul was likely speaking figuratively of the filling of the Holy Spirit (G4137) and meant that believers should allow God to correct their thinking processes by submitting themselves to the Holy Spirit’s influence in their hearts and minds. Paul used the example of something he referred to as his thorn in the flesh to make the point that God’s power is able to overcome the strongholds that Satan establishes in our minds. Paul said:

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

The Lord told Paul that his grace was sufficient for him. The Greek word that is translated grace, charis (kharˊ-ece) refers to “divine influence upon the heart” and indicates “favor” on the part of God by removing the guilt associated with our sin (G5485).

Paul referred to his thorn in the flesh as “a messenger of Satan” that had the ability to harass him (2 Corinthians 12:7). The Greek word that is translated messenger, aggello (angˊ-el-os) “most frequently refers to an order of created beings superior to man (Hebrews 2:7; Psalm 8:5)” (G32). Paul described this angelic order of beings in his letter to the Ephesians. Paul told the Ephesians to “put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:11-12). Paul indicated that the spiritual forces of evil reside in heavenly places. Therefore, it can be assumed that our minds are accessible to beings in the spiritual realm.

Moses’ repetition of the law in the Book of Deuteronomy included several references to purging “the evil from their midst” (Deuteronomy 17:7, 12; 19:19; 21:21; 22:21, 22, 24; 24:7. The Hebrew word that is translated midst, qereb (kehˊ-reb) “denotes the center or inner part of anything…but especially the inner organs of the body…This place was regarded as the home of the heart from which the emotions spring” (H7130). Typically, the phrase purge the evil from your midst was associated with the death penalty and most often had to do with stoning a person to death. You might think that killing people who committed serious crimes would eliminate evil, but it seems that the punishment was actually intended to deal with evil that was affecting the people who were left behind. Deuteronomy 21:18-21 states:

“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.”

The Hebrew word that is translated purge, baʾar (baw-arˊ) means “to kindle, i.e. consume (by fire or by eating)” (H1197). A word that is derived from baʾar is baʾar (bahˊ-ar) which is properly translated as “food (as consumed); i.e. (by extension) of cattle brutishness; (concrete) stupid” (G1198). It seems that purging the evil from our midst is related to taking down strongholds that exist in our minds in that actions and memories cannot be erased, but they can be consumed or you might say sacrificed by submitting them to God.

The Old Testament sacrifices depicted submission to God through their purifying effect and atonement for sin. James encouraged believers to submit themselves to God in order to purify their hearts. James exclaimed:

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

James referred to people that are stuck at the crossroads of their lives as being double-minded. The Greek word that is translated double-minded, dipsuchos (dipˊ-soo-khos) means “two-spirited, i.e. vacillating (in opinion or purpose)…This person lives one life for himself and lives another for God” (G1374). The double-minded person is vulnerable to the pleas of Folly because they appear to be the same pleas as those of Wisdom’s. It says about Folly’s house in Proverbs 9:18, “But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.” It is only through submission to God that we can be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:5-11, 29-31) and be able to resist temptation by God’s grace (James 4:6-7).

Jesus modeled submission to his Father at the crossroads of his life. During his temptation in the wilderness, Jesus used God’s word to resist the devil. It says in Matthew 4:1-3, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ But he answered, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’” Jesus didn’t do what the devil told him to even though he was hungry and could have turned the stones into loaves of bread if he wanted to. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed that he wouldn’t have to go to cross, but left the outcome in God’s hands. It says in Matthew 26:39, “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.’” Jesus made it clear that it wasn’t his will to die for the sins of the world. When Jesus fell on his face, he placed himself in a posture of submission and in essence was giving up on the situation. It wasn’t that Jesus was stuck and didn’t know what to do. Jesus knew what he needed to do and didn’t want to do it, but he allowed God to decide for him and prayed the second time, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done” (Matthew 26:42).

Missing the mark

The Israelites journey from Egypt to the Promised Land was not a long one from a geographical standpoint. Deuteronomy 1:2 tells us, “It is eleven days journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea.” And yet, the Israelites didn’t reach their destination until forty years later (Deuteronomy 1:3). Moses’ review of the Israelites’ journey made it clear that it was God’s will for the people to take possession of the land immediately. Moses said:

“The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negeb and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’” (Deuteronomy 1:6-8)

The statement, I have set the land before you meant that God had already transferred ownership of the land to the Israelites; but the catch, so to speak, was that in order to live in the land, the people of Israel had to drive out the previous tenants and possess it in their place (H3423). Moses’ account of Israel’s refusal to enter the land is recorded in Deuteronomy 1:19-33. It states:

“Then we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and terrifying wilderness that you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us. And we came to Kadesh-barnea. And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’ Then all of you came near me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may explore the land for us and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up and the cities into which we shall come.’ The thing seemed good to me, and I took twelve men from you, one man from each tribe. And they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out. And they took in their hands some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and brought us word again and said, ‘It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.’ Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. And you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”’ Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread or afraid of them. The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the Lord your God, who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go.”

Moses encouraged the Israelites to not be afraid and to trust that God would fight for them, but ultimately he concluded that the people of Israel didn’t believe what God had told them (Deuteronomy 1:32). Moses used the Hebrew word derek (deh’-rek) three times to emphasize the fact that God was directing the Israelites’ course (Deuteronomy 1:31, 33) and was setting them up for success, not failure, but the people were determined to go back to their former lives of slavery in Egypt (Numbers 14:3-4).

Moses told the people, “And the LORD heard your words and was angered, and he swore, ‘Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give your fathers…And as for your little ones, who you said would become prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. But as for you, turn, and journey into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.’ Then you answered me, ‘we have sinned against the LORD'” (Deuteronomy 1:34-41). The Hebrew word that is translated sinned is chata’ (khaw-taw’). Four main Hebrew words express the idea of sin in the Hebrew Bible, with this word used most often. Its central meaning is to miss the mark or fail. It is used in a nonmoral or nonreligious sense to indicate the simple idea of missing or failing in any task or endeavor. In Judges 20:16, it indicated the idea of a slinger missing the target…The word is used the most to describe human failure and sin. It indicates failure to do what is expected” (H2398).

John the Baptist introduced Jesus to the world with the statement, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). The Greek word that John used that is translated sin, hamartia (ham-ar-tee’-ah) is derived from the word hamartano (ham-ar-tan’-o) which means “to miss the mark, swerve from the way.” Metaphorically, hamartano means “to err, swerve from the truth, go wrong; speaking of errors of doctrine or faith” (G264). Jesus described himself as “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). In a metaphorical sense, what Jesus meant by this statement was that following him would result in spiritual success, hitting the mark so to speak. The Greek word that is translated way, hodos (hod-os’) means “a road; (by implication) a progress (the route)” and in John 14:6 hodos is “spoken by metonymy of Jesus as the way, i.e. the author and medium of access to God and eternal life” (G3598).

Jesus’ true identity was a questioned throughout his ministry. At one point, there was a division among the people because no one was willing to openly declare their allegiance to him. John 7:40-52 states:

When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

The Pharisees question, “Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?” implied that none of the religious leaders were followers of Christ, and yet, Nicodemus “was one of them” (John 7:48, 50). “When Nicodemus urged the other Pharisees to consider Christ’s words before determining whether he spoke the truth, they sought to discredit him” (note on John 7:52). The Greek word that is translated believed, pisteuo (pist-yoo’-o) means “to have faith” (G4100). When pisteuo is used of God, it means “to believe in God, to trust in Him as able and willing to help and answer prayer.”

The fact that none of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in Jesus, or at least were unwilling to admit it, indicates that for the most part the Jews no longer had a relationship with God. Therefore, it’s not surprising that the Jews wanted to get rid of Jesus (John 12:9-11), but there were some who believed, and Jesus told them, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). To be set free means that you are liberated or exempt from punishment. The specific kind of freedom that Jesus was talking about was freedom from “the power and punishment of sin, the result of redemption (John 8:32, 36; Romans 6:18, 22)” (G1659). The Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith” (Romans 3:23-25).

Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve apostles that Jesus chose to be a part of his ministry, was excused from the upper room shortly after Jesus washed his disciples’ feet. John tells us:

After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side, so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night. (John 13:21-30)

We aren’t told why Judas decided to betray Jesus. The only thing we know for sure is that Satan entered Judas before he left the upper room. The reason why Satan was able to possess Judas was because according to Jesus, he wasn’t clean (John 13:10-11). The Greek word that Jesus used that is translated clean, katharos (kath-ar-os’) is associated with spiritual rebirth (G3824) and suggests that Judas wasn’t born again. Jesus told his Father, “While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me, I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12).

Jesus told his disciples that the Holy Spirit played a role in the judgment of sin. Jesus said, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged” (John 16:7-11). Jesus referred to Satan as the ruler of this world, but also noted that his judgment had already taken place. Jesus went on to say, “I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Jesus was able to declare his victory over the world even before he died on the cross because he lived a sinless life. Isaiah 53:4-12 indicates that Jesus’ death was intended to pay the penalty for our sins, not his own. It states:

Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
    yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
    so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
    and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
    stricken for the transgression of my people?
And they made his grave with the wicked
    and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
    and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
    make many to be accounted righteous,
    and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
    and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
    and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
    and makes intercession for the transgressors.

“The words ‘transgression’ (vv. 5, 8), ‘iniquity’ (vv. 6,11), ‘offering’ (v. 10), and ‘sin’ (v.12) clearly indicate that Christ died for the disease of man’s soul, not the disease of his body. Jesus’ death on the cross delivers man from sin. Deliverance from sickness is yet to come (Revelation 21:6)” (note on Isaiah 53:4-12). According to Isaiah 53:12, Jesus bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. The Hebrew word that is translated intercession, paga’ (paw-gah’) suggests that Jesus is still in the process of aggressively pursuing people that have missed the mark (H6293).

Peter’s denial of Christ is an example of how far we sometimes go to distance ourselves from the God that died in order to save us (John 18:15-18, 25-27). When Pilate asked Jesus what he had done to make the Jews want to kill him, Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world” (John 18:36). Jesus wanted Pilate to be aware that another realm existed besides the physical realm. The Greek word that is translated world, kosmos (kos’-mos) means “orderly arrangement, i.e. decoration.” When Jesus said, My kingdom is not of this world, he wasn’t talking about our planet. He was talking about “the present order of things, as opposed to the kingdom of Christ…Specifically: the wealth and enjoyments of this world, this life’s goods” (G2889). Jesus also said, My kingdom is not from this world. The Greek word that is translated from, enteuthen (ent-yoo’-then) means “on both sides” (G1782). In other words, Jesus’ dominion is not limited to a single realm (G932).

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul talked about success in the Christian life in the context of winning a prize. Paul said, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). The Greek word Paul used that is translated mark, skeptomai is where the word skeptic comes from. It means, “to look about” (G4649). I believe the point that Paul was trying to make was that we need to be clear about the mark in order to not miss it. We can’t just wander aimlessly through life and expect to achieve God’s purpose for it. Paul said that we must present ourselves to God “as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:13-14). Paul indicated that sin has no dominion over believers, but like the Israelites who had to drive out the previous tenants of the Promised Land and possess it in their place, we have to present ourselves to God or rather, yield ourselves to God in order for him to be able to use us to accomplish his will.

God's eternal kingdom

As creator of the universe, God exercises divine control over all things. One of the unique abilities that God has is to ordain events and circumstances that accomplish a specific, desired outcome. In other words, God can make things happen the way he wants them to. The Hebrew word hayah (haw-yaw) means “to exist, i.e. be or become, come to pass” (H1961). In Genesis 12:2, God told Abraham “…I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be [hayah] a blessing.” “The use of hayah in such passages declares actual release of power, so that the accomplishment is assured — Abraham will be blessed because God has ordained it.”

The prophet Isaiah, who lived approximately 700 years before Jesus was born, wrote about future events that were ordained by God. He stated, “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3). John the Baptist fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy and declared about Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:23, 29). Jesus’ ministry on Earth was a part of God’s divine plan of salvation that was intended to correct the effects of every human’s sinful nature. Instead of death and eternal punishment, all who trust in Jesus for their salvation will receive forgiveness of their sins and live forever (John 3:16).

The mechanism by which God chose to save mankind was the death of his son Jesus on the cross (John 14:6). After Jesus was resurrected from the dead, he entered into heaven and now sits on the right hand of God (1 Peter 3:22). The book of Hebrews reveals what is taking place in heaven while Jesus waits for his eternal kingdom to be established on Earth. It says in Hebrews 4:14-16, “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

Jesus’ role of great high priest in God’s eternal kingdom consists of two primary responsibilities, making sure that all who get saved stay saved and go to heaven when they die. During his ministry on earth, Jesus told many parables about things getting lost, such as a coin (Luke 15:8-10), a sheep (Luke 15:4-7), and a son (Luke 15:11-32). In each of these stories, the lost thing was found and restored to its rightful owner. After he told these parables, Jesus talked about an unjust judge that refused to respond to a woman’s plea for help. He told his disciples:

And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her; lest by her continual coming she weary me? and the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:4-8)

The point I believe Jesus was trying to make was that God is willing to answer our prayers, but he won’t do it unless we exercise faith. Therefore, it is Jesus’ responsibility to keep our faith alive and active through continual use (Hebrews 6:4-8). God was so certain that Jesus would be able to fulfill this responsibility that he confirmed his new covenant with an oath. It says in Hebrews 6:17-18, “Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.“