Plumbing the Depths

13 Monday May 2024

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Hello Readers!  Welcome to Renaissance Woman and to a new installment in my study on the Whole Armor of God.

In his description of the Whole Armor of God in his letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul tells us to “Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth…” “What is truth?” Pontius Pilate asks as he questions Jesus.  Jesus had already answered that question while in the Upper Room with His disciples: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  Here then, is our answer.  The truth is not some abstract thought.  It is not a malleable thing subject to shifts in emotions or culture nor is it changeable as knowledge increases.  The Truth is a person.  He has a name. 

There is intense pressure among some to use His proper name.  A great number of us have grown up calling Him Jesus.  There are others who insist it is only right and proper to use His Hebrew name, Yeshua.  We only say “Jesus” as His name has undergone a series of transliterations and pronunciation as the letter “J” came into use therefore it is right and proper to refer to Him as “Yeshua.”  After all, that is the name Gabriel gave to Mary so it is His true name.

The Bible does stress the importance of His name.  Perhaps some of the best known passages are:

Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

John 20:30-31: “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

Acts 4:8-12: “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.  This is the “stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone”.  Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Philippians 2:9-11: “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Truly, just considering these few passages, the Name of Jesus is of utmost importance. 

However, I find the proper name for our Lord and Savior to be far more complicated than using a Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Anglicized, or any other pronunciation of His name.  The Book of Revelation describes Jesus this way: “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.  And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.  His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns.  He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.  He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God” (Rev. 19:11-13).

This passage is one I meditate on as I consider the meaning of “name”.  Names in the Bible were not labels pasted on people in order to differentiate one from another.  Names represented a calling or destiny and it was the meaning that was important and not so much the pronunciation.  Consider the lists of Kings in the Old Testament.  Joash is also referred to as Jehoash and Azariah is also called Uzziah.  Joash means “fire of Yahweh” and Jehoash means “Yahweh has bestowed”.  Azariah means “helped by God” while Uzziah means “my strength is Yah”.  Reading the stories of these Kings in the Books of Kings and Chronicles shows how apt the meanings of these names are.  They were not just names but were descriptions of who these men were and how they lived.

The meaning of both the Hebrew and Greek words translated as “name” reflect this.  The Hebrew word is shem (H8034) and, while the Strong’s does define it as “position, appellation, mark or memorial of individuality” it also defines it as “honor, authority, character, fame, named, renown, report.”  The Greek word onoma (G3686) has an almost identical definition.  The Strong’s defines onoma as “a name, authority, character”.  This is an important distinction to grasp because “having a good name” in the Biblical sense does not mean having a name that sounds nice: one’s name was the summation of one’s character.

That the name of Jesus has to mean more than correct pronunciation is made clear by two passages in the New Testament.  The first is found in Luke 9:49-50 where: “Now John answered and said, ‘Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us’.  But Jesus said to him, ‘Do not forbid him for he who is not against us is on our side.’”

The second is found in Acts 19:13-15: “Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, ‘We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.’  Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.  And the evil spirit answered and said “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?’”

The difference is obvious.  The first person was operating in the authority and character of Jesus while those described in the second were using the name of Jesus like a talisman. The name which is above every other name is not a magic word dependent on correct pronunciation.  His name describes who He is and what He does.  His name means “rescue, deliver, save,” and our salvation is found in His person.  It is the honor, authority, character, and renown of the One who bears that name which bows every knee and elicits the confession “Jesus Christ is Lord!” to the Glory of God the Father.

The Strong’s Concordance says something interesting in the entry for onoma.  The entry states the word is from a presumed derivative of the base of 1097.  The Greek word found under the number 1097 is ginosko which we’ve already looked at in previous posts.  It means “to know absolutely”, “to know by experience.” It’s been said in previous posts but it must be said again: ginosko is the verb form of the noun gnosis and The Bible Hub definition of gnosis includes “Gnosis (applied-knowledge) is only as accurate (reliable) as the relationship it derives from.” 

It is knowing Him that is of paramount importance.  We know the Truth and the Truth makes us free.  We are free to not be afraid of mispronouncing His name.  We are free to call Him by other names as the need arises: Faithful and True, Word of God, Healer, Savior, Brother, Friend.  We are free to have such union and intimacy with Him that the words spoken by our God through the prophet Hosea are made our reality: ““’And it shall be, in that day,’ Says the Lord, ‘That you will call Me “My Husband” and no longer call Me “My Master” (Hos. 2:16).

Our union with the Lord Jesus Christ is so intimate we are called His Bride.  The vitality of this relationship is what is important.  The Apostle Paul writes to Timothy: “But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife” (2 Tim. 2:23).  I see a trend of argumentation among Believers.  If we can win the argument, prove that we are right and the other person wrong, then we have proved that we know the truth.  But, the truth is not the result of an argument: the truth is a person and His Name is called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Emmanuel-God with us.  English being my native language, I call Him Jesus.

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

Just for fun: this link has a chart showing how the name of our Lord and Savior is pronounced in different languages:

Jesus (name) – Wikipedia

References

Those Confusing Kings – Reflections (kencarlson.org)

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

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

The Whole Truth and Nothing But

06 Monday May 2024

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“Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth…”

“Pilate said to Him, ‘what is truth?’”

What is truth?  We can go to dictionaries and find truth’s definition.  The world will tell us truth is art or something of the like.  We will hear others speak of “your truth” and “my truth” which makes truth subjective.  But then, if it is based on feelings, opinions, or emotions which are variable from day to day and even moment to moment, it cannot possibly be truth.  There has to be an absolute.  We may have different experiences of this absolute therefore our understanding and perspective may differ but there must be that thing that is unchangeable underpinning it all: truth.

Hello Readers and welcome back to Renaissance Woman where, this week, I return to my study on the Whole Armor of God as described in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians with my specific focus on girding our waists with truth and/or the belt of truth.  And, what is this truth with which we gird our waists?  Standing before Pontius Pilate, Jesus says, “For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.  Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”  Pilate then asks, “What is truth?”  The band Acapella answers this question in their song Standing Right in Front of You: “Pilate asks, ‘what is truth?’ Truth was standing right in front of Him.”  Jesus Himself is the truth: the absolute that underpins as well as fills and defines all that is.

What I have just written is the absolute truth.  But then, there are many Jesuses taught, just as Jesus Himself warned (See Matthew 24:24).  It seems every denomination has their own version of Jesus so how can we know the One we follow and worship is indeed truth?  How can we know for certain there even is a real live Jesus Christ and we haven’t merely chosen to follow a truth we have created for ourselves in attempt to make sense of all the chaos?  The passage from 1 John 2:27 (which I’ve quoted in previous posts) resonates the answer in my heart: “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”  We know Jesus Christ who is truth by the Holy Spirit.

In my post Knowledge, Superimposed I shared Bible Hub’s definition of gnosis (knowing).  The definition includes the words “Gnosis (applied-knowledge) is only as accurate (reliable) as the relationship it derives from.”  That has stuck with me: knowledge, in this case of the Truth that is Jesus Christ, is only as accurate and reliable as the relationship it derives from.

As I meditated on this, I had to concede there is some validity to the idea of the subjective “your truth” verses “my truth”.  The Sophist philosopher Protagoras would have said personal experience defines truth.  The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology cites Protagoras’ dictum of “man is the measure of all things” and relates his illustration of a wind seeming warm to one person and cool to another.  “It is not necessary to say that one view is true and the other false.  Each may be true for the person concerned” (Vol 3, pg. 876) which is a statement with which I can wholeheartedly agree.  Just because someone else’s experience differs from mine does not make me right and them wrong.

Plato disagreed with Protagoras on the nature of truth and asserted that truth could not be relative to the individual thinker.  He came down on the side of the philosopher Parmenides in his belief that what has the ability to change cannot be the truth.  There is the way of truth and the way of seeming or appearance.  Change belongs to the material realm-that of mere appearance-and there can be no change in what really exists.  Therefore, truth stands in contrast to appearance and to change.  This is a Biblical concept: “I am the Lord,” our God says in Malachi 3:6, “I change not.”

The Greeks loved a good debate.  I don’t think I would be a good debater because I don’t come down on either side of this argument.  I believe both are true and that any seeming dichotomy is reconciled within relationship.  There is an absolute truth: Jesus Himself.  I, along with every other individual, only understand and express the truth which He is in proportion to the extent, depth, and richness of my/our relationship with Him.

The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology describes the place truth held in the Qumran community.  “Entrance into the Qumran community is a conversion to truth and the initiates bind themselves to the precepts of truth by oath.  They are now within the sphere of influence of the spirit of truth…’This is the crucial point, for it is in proportion as a man is dominated by this spirit that he loves truth’” (Vol 3, pg. 882).

I considered whether or not to share the above quote because I don’t wish to infer I am in agreement with ones “entrance” into any community.  I don’t agree with the idea that any community or denomination or tradition understands truth better than another.  And, perhaps “dominated” is a bit harsh.  “Relationship” is a better word.  It is in proportion as a man or woman has been taught of the Holy Spirit, submitted to His guidance, and entered into relationship with Jesus Christ in and by this same Spirit that he or she loves truth.  This is the inheritance of every individual believer and does not belong to any one community or denomination.

I was fascinated to learn that the argument being hashed over in my day-that of truth being relative to the individual-is one that has been hashed over for over 2,000 years now.  My Mom quoted Ecclesiastes 1:9 when I was telling her this and I agree: “…there is nothing new under the sun.”  The world has nothing new.  All of its ways are reiterations of what has come before.  We only experience new when we realize we are new creations in Christ.

Jesus Christ is the Truth.  And, while our knowing Him does grow, it doesn’t change how much of Him, and In Him the Father, we possess.  We are filled with the fullness of God.  He does not parcel Himself out to us a bit at a time.  We do not earn more of Him by long prayer times and lengthy scripture readings.  It is our understanding, experience, and knowledge of Him that grows but His fullness is present to us each moment. 

The Truth with which we gird our waists is whole and complete.  I hope to look at this in more depth in the upcoming weeks but this the reality I will cling to in the upcoming days.  Everything Jesus is and has is mine because of His Spirit dwelling within me.  The same is true for each one of you. 

May the Spirit of Truth open our eyes for us all to see this is so! 

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

References

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

ARGUABLY GREAT BEGUN IN ANCIENT GREECE, THE RICH TRADITION OF DEBATE THRIVES IN TODAY’S SCHOOLS AND THE REALM OF POLITICS – The Morning Call (mcall.com)

Brown, Colin, The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Volume 3, Regency Reference Library, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1978, 1986, Pages 876, 882

A Brief Hiatus…

29 Monday Apr 2024

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I have begun looking at the word “Truth” as I continue my study on the Whole Armor of God with particular focus on “having girded your waist with truth”.

Unfortunately, circumstances were such that I could not devote the time I had planned to study. Therefore, there isn’t a blog post ready this week.

I hope to continue in my study and have something for next but, until then, I invite you to read a post from 2021.

Until next week!

I Die Daily

Knowledge, Superimposed

22 Monday Apr 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hallelujah!  Amen.

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

References

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No Limits in Sight

15 Monday Apr 2024

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

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

The passages I’ve been pondering are these:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hallelujah!  Amen.

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

References

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

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