Tag Archives: Christ Life

The Life in Us

23 Monday Jan 2023

Posted by in Isaiah 45:7, Studies

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Hello!  Welcome to a new week and a new post on Renaissance Woman.

One day last week, I perchanced to listen to a bit of a conversation on Bible translations.  The two participants were talking about the dangers of reading translations done by just one person as opposed to other translations; ones that actually lived up to the word “translation” (as opposed to being called a “paraphrase”) because they were made by committees of scholars. One of the participants inferred bibles translated by a committee of scholars are more trustworthy than those translated by a single person but I don’t necessarily agree.  I have found translators have an incredibly difficult time not translating the Bible according to what they think it ought to say rather than sticking to the meanings found in the original languages.

One such case in point is the NIV translation of the Bible.  This is a popular translation.  According to Amazon.com, since its publication in 1973; the NIV has sold 16o million copies1.  I own a copy myself: a NIV Journal Bible because I find the columns an invaluable space to note the Greek words that have been translated by different English words: sometimes in the same sentence.  Despite the NIV being translated by a committee of scholars and despite some key changes made in the 2011 update, given the choice, it is not a translation I would trust to be the only one I read.

But then, no translation is perfect.  I have already pointed out how the translators of the King James Version were bothered by the word Elohim in Psalm 8:5 and chose to render it as “angels” rather than “God” despite there being the Hebrew malak translated angel or angels in numerous other passages.  And yet, the KJV does translate Galatians 2:20 as “…the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God” rather than “”the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God” which is how the NKJV as well as many other translations renders it.  It’s a small change-“of” to “in”-but it shifts the meaning and focus from His faith in us as our strength to live our lives to our having to have faith in Him.    

Despite the inaccuracies and inconsistencies of the various translations, I love reading my Bible.  I enjoy reading it in different translations because the rhythms resulting from the different word choices help me to look at passages in a different way.  I honor my brothers and sisters who risk their lives by merely possessing a Bible and I am grateful I live in a country where I can possess as many copies in as many translations as I like.  It is a privilege I never take for granted.  I do have a favorite translation which I read the most because the language suits me.  I think the best translation of the Bible for everyone is the one that suits that person.  For example, the Action Bible does not appeal to me in any way.  However, I recently read an article that said the Action Bible is the version that is appealing to new believers in various regions of Africa.  Just because it is not a version I care to read does not mean it is not a version the Holy Spirit would use to open others’ eyes to the truth of Jesus Christ.  Who am I then to say what is good or evil?

Bible reading and the disagreements over translations have been weighing on my mind as I’ve conducted my study on evil.  Just reading a translation, any translation, does not give a complete nor accurate picture of the meaning of evil.  For example, let’s compare the Strong’s Concordance list of scriptures containing the word “evil” in the books of Matthew and Romans.  There are 19 occurrences in the Book of Matthew.  In all but three, “evil” is used to translate the Greek word poneros (G4190). Two exceptions are Matthew 24:48 and 27:23 where the Greek word is kakos (G2556) and the third is Matthew 6:34 where “evil” is used to translate kakia (G2549). The opposite is true in the Book of Romans.  There are 17 occurrences in Romans and all but two are translations of kakos.  Romans 14:16 does not have a reference number next to it in the Strong’s.  The passage is “Then do not let your good be spoken evil of” and the word “evil” is supplied by the translators as they sought to make the meaning of blasphameo (G987) clear.  The other exception is Romans 12:9 where we are to “abhor what is evil” and the Greek word there is poneros.  We can glean a bit of the differences of meaning through a careful reading of the context of these scriptures but we cannot help but bring our own definition of “evil” to these passages.  The words in the Greek mean very different things and I am convinced something is lost with a mere reliance on an English translation.

Poneros means “hurtful, bad, evil, grievous, lewd, malicious, wicked” and derives from ponos which means “toil”.  It is a word that relates to effects rather than character and is the word translated “evil” in the scriptures describing deeds and works as well as the heart and eye (See Matt 9:4, 12:34, 15:19, 20:15, John 3:19, 7:7).  It is also the Greek word found in the scriptures describing “evil spirits” and the “evil one” (See Mat. 5:37, 6:13, Luke 7:21, Luke 8:2, Luke 11:4, John 17:5, Acts 19:12).  Kakos is a primary word and means “worthless, bad, evil, harm, ill, noisome, wicked” and-despite the definition-is not interchangeable with poneros in that kakos is intrinsic meaning the “badness” or “evil” belongs naturally to the subject being referred to. Kakos relates to character.  This fascinated me because I would have expected kakos to be the word describing both evil spirits and the evil one and it is not.  I need to take a much longer and deeper look at why this is so.

Just to be thorough, the Greek word kakia is the noun while kakos is the adjective.  The words do not carry different meanings.  

One more example because it makes me shake my head in wonder: “evil” appears three times in Titus and each time it translates a different Greek word.  The passages are Titus 1:12, 2:8, and 3:2. The phrase in Titus 1:12 is “evil beasts” and the Greek word is kakos.  Titus 2:8 says “…having nothing evil to say of you” and Titus 3:2 says “speak evil”.  The Greek words are phaulos (G5337) and blasphemeo, respectively.  I include this because I would not necessarily think the words all translated by “evil” had different meanings in the Greek based on context.  The Strong’s Concordance is, of course, based off of the King James Version.  Different translations have sometimes chosen to use different words in the passages I’ve listed but then they too end up having their own inaccuracies.  Again, no translation is perfect.

Paul says two things to Timothy which will bring me to my material point.  The first is in 2 Timothy 2:15 where Paul says, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” and, as I have heard that used to stress the importance of studying the Bible, I include it here.  The second is 2 Timothy 3:16 where Paul says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”  The NIV (ha!) but also the ESV as well as other translations have “god-breathed” instead of inspiration. 

I don’t disagree.  As I said, I love reading my Bible.  I do so for enjoyment and I can’t put into words how my knowledge of the Lord has grown through studying the Bible.  Looking beyond the language of my translations into the Hebrew, Greek, and even Aramaic is also invaluable to my increasing knowledge.  But, I do not consider my reading and study a substitute for knowing God, personally and intimately.  Paul also wrote, “our sufficiency is from God who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:5.-6).  The Spirit gives life.  I cannot say that too many times.

In recent days, the social media algorithms have sent me various posts which all have contained the same message: the number one way to grow closer to God is to read your Bible.  That is not true. You can definitely come to know about God by reading your Bible but; to know Him, which in the original languages carry the intent of the same level of intimacy as the marriage relationship, is only possible in the Holy Spirit.   It is the Spirit alone who ministers life-the very life of Jesus Christ-to us by dwelling in us.  My Bible Teacher recently pointed out the Persons of God are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, not Father, Son, and Holy Scripture.  I am concerned that all I hear is a stressing of first and foremost reading the Bible.  The Holy Spirit is not mentioned.  Ever.

Do not allow yourself to be kept from living to the fullest the life of Christ Jesus which is yours now through the Holy Spirit.  The same Spirit who inspired the writers of the Bible lives in you.  So read your Bible in whatever translation you choose but take the time to close your Bible.  Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you the truth of you in Christ and Christ in you. If you do not know your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit right now, ask Him to open your eyes to this reality.  Do not settle for knowing about our God, but KNOW HIM!

May the Spirit of wisdom and revelation open the eyes of all our hearts.

Amen.

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

1. NIV/The Message Parallel Bible (New International Version): Zondervan: 9780310928898: Amazon.com: Books

References

The New Testament in Four Versions, Christianity Today Edition, Washington, D.C. 1965

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

Interesting Reading

Where Did the NIV Come From? | The Story of the NIV (thenivbible.com)

NIV changes “sinful nature” to “flesh” | Freedom In Christ Ministries (ficm.org.uk)

The Men Who Wrote Scripture Were Led by the Spirit – BJU Seminary

My Missing Piece

12 Monday Dec 2022

Posted by in Isaiah 45:7, Studies

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Hello and welcome to Renaissance Woman where, this week, I am returning to my Isaiah 45:7 study.  I am still in the beginning stages of studying “evil” with the intent of understanding just what God meant when He said, “I create evil.”

I must say, it does appear to be a hopeless undertaking.  I looked up “evil” in the Davis Dictionary of the Bible and found this as the first sentence: “The origin of evil is a problem which has perplexed speculative minds in all ages and countries”.1  The Hastings Dictionary doesn’t appear to hold out much hope either because, at the end of the entry for “evil”, I found: “The speculative question of the origin of evil is not resolved in Holy Scripture, being one of those things of which we are not competent judges”.2

These two statements did almost obliterate an enthusiasm already dampened by the sheer vastness of the subject of evil.  If such august personages as Aquinas, Calvin, Plato, and Plotinus have turned their minds to the subject of evil and failed to find a definitive answer as to its nature and source, what hope did I have?

Well, firstly, I do not seek to provide a definitive answer.  Even if I were to do so, the odds against anyone else agreeing I had done so are astronomical.  And yet, my enthusiasm was restored during the retreat I attended earlier this month as I sat in the airport terminal reading a book while waiting for my flight.  The book was “Authors and Their Public in Ancient Times” by George Haven Putnam.  I both laughed and somewhat sadly acknowledged the truth of what he wrote in his introduction.  Mr. Putnam spoke about his reasons for writing what he called an “essay” stating it was to “trace, as far as might be practicable, from the scattered references in the literature of the period, an outline record of the continuity of literary activity, the methods of the production and distribution of literature, and the nature of the relations between the authors and their readers”.3  He then when on to write:

“The majority of my reviewers were ready to understand the actual purpose of my book and to recognise that my part in the undertaking was limited to certain general inferences or conclusions as to literary methods or conditions.  In one or two cases, however, the critics, ignoring the specified purpose and the necessary limitations of the essay, saw fit to treat it as a treatise on classical literature and devoted their reviews almost exclusively to textual criticisms and corrections.”4

This made me chuckle but it restored my enthusiasm because, no matter what I discover or what conclusions I draw at the end of this study, someone will argue.  Knowing and accepting that is liberating.  Some arguments are useful but there are those who argue for the sake of arguing.  I cannot tell you how many times someone has argued against something I have said but has done so by picking up a phrase or even a single word, constructing their argument on that, and ultimately ignoring the material point I took some pains to make.  This is irritating and yet these critics are also useful because I have learned-and am continuing to learn-how not to fall into the trap of arguing back and forth about something that really had no bearing on the main point in the first place.  I include “am learning” because there are still times when my mind gets caught up in refuting this or that and it takes a moment to mentally step back and realize, “wait a moment: we’re not even talking about the same thing!”

And so, expecting arguments and not expecting a definitive answer on the origin and nature of evil, just why am I conducting this study?  1 Peter 3:15 instructs us to “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you”.  That is what I am seeking to get out of this study.  I want to understand as much as I can so I at least have both a scripture and study based answer for any question I am asked.  The question specific to this study is; “why did God say He creates evil?”  Since I am trusting the Holy Spirit to guide me into all truth, I am looking at the scriptures that pop into my mind as I am conducting the study and the first scripture is Psalm 8:5.  For the sake of context, I’ll begin quoting in verse 3: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him?  For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor.”

The bit of scripture that popped into my mind was “you have made him a little lower than the angels”.  You might be wondering what that could possibly have to do with evil so allow me to tell you how and why I got here.  This translation: “a little lower than the angels”, is not accurate.  The Modern Young’s Literal has it, “and cause him to lack a little of Godhead.”  The Amplified renders it, “but little lower than God” but adds [or heavenly beings] as a disclaimer while the NIV says, “little lower than the heavenly beings” but adds the footnote “or than God”.

The Bible fascinates me and one thing that keeps me wondering is why the translators have chosen to translate certain passages the way they have.  The only answer I have is that their theology couldn’t hold up to what the original language is actually saying and they thus translated passages to say what they thought they ought to say.  This particular passage is one such case in point.  If you have a Strong’s concordance, I encourage you to open it to the “Angels” entry and look at the list of numbers.  You’ll see 4397, 4397, 4397, 4397…and then you’ll see 430.  4397 relates to malak in the Hebrew and it means “to dispatch, as a deputy or messenger”.  This is the word usually translated as “angel” or “angels”.  430 is the word Elohim which is not translated as “angel” or “angels” anywhere except Psalm 8:5.  It is, however, very often translated as “God”.  For example, in Genesis 1:1 “God” = Elohim. 

The word translated “lower” is the Hebrew chacer (H2637) and it does mean “to lack.”  I looked it up in the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon and over and over again the word is used to mean “lack”.  It is only by stretching both the intent of the words and the imagination that one can came up with “lower than the angels” as a correct interpretation of Psalm 8:5.  The Hebrew says, “made to lack from God” though I quote it to myself as “lack from Elohim”: I prefer the Hebrew word.

It is because “lack from Elohim” is how I have long thought of Psalm 8:5 that it popped into my mind as I was looking up “evil” in the Dictionary of New Testament Theology.  I read through a brief comparison of the different theories on evil and then read, “Whichever cause is regarded as the basis of evil, even when it is seen as hamartia (Sin), it must not be regarded as personal guilt, for it is not the result of a free and responsible personal decision but of a lack.  It may be the lack of knowing the divine providence (Socrates), or of the working of a cosmic power.”5

I read that, Psalm 8:5 popped into my mind, and I took a moment to consider the evil in the world as the result of a lack.  A lack of what?  With Psalm 8:5 in mind, I must first consider it as a lack from all that God is.  This lack is the will of God for he made man to lack and, more than that, called man good.

I turned my mind to consider man placed in the garden with the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Man at this moment had the very breath of God in them and were not yet subject to death but had to look elsewhere for the source of their life.  They could eat freely from the Tree of Life but Life was something both exterior to them as well as interior.  That Life was provided by God in the form of the tree (exterior) but it was as they ate of its fruit that they would know Life (interior).  Man did lack from Elohim because Man did not have their own source of life to draw on.  In choosing the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, man really did believe a terrible lie.  Already without a source of life in themselves, they decided to make themselves their source anyway and decided it was right to know good and evil for themselves.  Of course the result was death.

I take a look at my own life and breathe a massive sigh of relief.  I do not have any life in myself!  I have no resources to meet my own needs much less the needs of others around me.  I can pretend with all my might and I might even fool a few people along the way but I am NOT enough.  The relief comes in knowing I was not designed to be.  I was made to lack from Elohim.  I was made to know Him alone as the source of my life.  And, what a blessed gift to be alive now.  I am not holding onto a promise of one to come who would one day crush the head of the serpent and restore to me what was lost.  The One has come!  Everything that was to be done, He did! 

Jesus Christ IS now, this very moment, my life.  He is my missing piece, the One who perfectly fits me because I was designed to live in union with Him (See Ephesians 1).  I no longer attempt to fit myself to anything else because I am complete in Him (Colossians 2:10).  What a blessed rest!

I have been meditating on Deuteronomy 30:19-20.  Moses declares he has set before the people of Israel life and death.  He begs them to choose life so that they may “love the Lord your God that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days”.  I pray to utterly know this truth for myself and I pray it also for each of you.  May we know Jesus for in Him is life and that life is the light of men.

Amen

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

  1. Davis, John D., Davis Dictionary of the Bible, Royal Publishers, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee, 1973, Page 234
  2. Hastings, James, Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible, Fifth Printing, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts, 2001, Page 247
  3. Putnam, George Haven, Authors and their Public in Ancient Times, Third Edition, Cooper Square Publishers Inc., New York, New York, 1967, Page iv
  4. Ibid., Page v
  5. Brown, Colin, The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Volume I, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1967,1971, Page 562

Other References

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

Brown, F., S. Driver, and C. Briggs, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, Eighteenth Printing, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts, 2018

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

Young, Robert, Modern Young’s Literal Translation: New Testament with Psalms & Proverbs, Greater Truth Publishers, Lafayette, Indiana, 2005

Let’s Put A Pin in That

23 Tuesday Aug 2022

Posted by in Walking in the Way

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Hello and welcome to another post on Renaissance Woman.

I do intend to move on to looking at the Hebrew letter Mem but, before I do that, I have come across another side path I have found it necessary to take.  I hope to be back to my main study track next week but we’ll have to see how it goes.

In last week’s post, I wrote; “The call to all mankind now is ‘Come!’” and included the scripture references Matthew 11:27-29, John 7:37-38, and Revelation 22:17.  To these three I ought to perhaps have added John 12:32 which says, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” which is a spectacular scripture I would love to hear more teaching on as I have only come across one.  There are other passages of scripture I could include but I think these four make clear that the call to return to the heart of God does go out to all mankind.  Perhaps though, as you read last week’s post, a passage popped into your head and you wondered, if it is true the call to Come! is to all mankind, then what does this passage mean?  It certainly popped into my head but I did not have the space to address it in last week’s post.  I am doing so this week and thus my brief foray down this side path.

The passage that popped into my mind was Matthew 22:14: “For many are called but few are chosen”. It is Jesus’ closing statement to the parable of the Marriage of the King’s Son.  You can read the parable in Matthew Chapter 22 verses 1-14 but, briefly, it is this: A king has arranged a marriage for his son and he sends his servants out to call those who were invited to the wedding.  The invited ones were not willing to come so his servants went to them a second time telling them all was ready.  Again, those invited refused to come.  Some busied themselves with tasks and others abused and killed the servants.  The king is angry and, after dealing quite harshly with those invited, tells his servants to go out and gather all they could find and bring them to the wedding.  The servants do so and verse 10 says “both bad and good” were brought to the wedding hall.  The king comes out to see the guests and finds one man who did not have on a wedding garment.  The king asks how the man managed to get in without a wedding garment and the man has nothing to say.  The king tells his servants to “bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (verse 13).  Then, Jesus ends the parable by saying “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

I read through the parable and found the act of choosing was all on the side of both those invited and those gathered by the servants.  The parable is not describing auditioning for the kingdom of heaven as in the call goes out and so we come with our very best ideas of what we think the caller wants and then he decides if we get the part or not based on how close we came to the ideal.  In describing Jesus’ statement in verse 14, the Abingdon Bible Commentary says, “This is a detached saying.  By it Jesus could only have meant that while many hear the word calling to repentance it is only a few who respond to the call.”1  I have a quibble with the word “repentance” but I’ll address that in a bit.  I do see that whether or not one was chosen was based on how they responded.

There is so much to be learned from this parable but I don’t want to stray too far from the main path of my Isaiah 45:7 study.  I will thus put a pin in this parable and will perform an in depth study at a later time.  In this post, I want to look at the responses of the various parties and especially at the one man who was found without a wedding garment.  Those who were of the invited ones chose not to come.  Those gathered from the highways by the servants came but would have had no time to procure a wedding garment.  Both the Abingdon Commentary and the commentary on this parable in The Passion Translation point this out.  The Passion Translation says, “Those invited to come from the streets had no opportunity to buy wedding clothes.  This wedding robe is a picture of the garment of righteousness that grace provides for us.  The man without the wedding garment had one provided but he didn’t want to change into new clothes.  A change is necessary, for our King provides garments of white linen for us to wear, our wedding garments” and then references Isaiah 52:1, Revelation 19:8 (TPT).2

Ellicot’s Bible Commentary describes how this providing of a wedding garment was a custom of the day: “The framework of the parable probably presupposes the Oriental custom of providing garments for the guests who were invited to a royal feast.  Wardrobes filled with many thousand garments form part of the wealth of every Eastern prince (6:19; Jas. 5:2), and it was part of his glory (II Kings 10:22), to bring them out for use on state occasions.  On this assumption, the act of the man who was found “not having a wedding garment” was one of willful insult.  The “wedding garment” is nothing less than the “holiness” without which no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14), and that holiness, as in the framework of the parable and in the realities of the spiritual life, Christ is ever ready to impart to him who truly believes”.3

I don’t know about you but, whenever I come across scripture references used to back up a statement, I look them up.  As I looked at the scriptures referenced in Ellicot’s Bible Commentary, I did not see that providing a wedding garment was indeed an ancient custom.  That cannot be inferred from those specific scriptures.  I checked through my history books and could not find a reference to that custom.  My history books do have examples of garments being given as gifts and there are examples of this in scripture as well.  (See Genesis 45:22, 2 Kings 5:22, Esther 8:15).  The internet did not help me as I searched for examples of kings providing wedding garments.  I was unable to find one but I did find that this was indeed a custom is a belief almost universally held.  That’s good enough for me at this moment.  I will continue to look into it-and if anyone does know of a reference, please let me know-but, for now, I put a pin in that as well.

That the wedding garment was provided is, I think, inferred by the parable.  That the man was expected to be in a wedding garment is clear and, when questioned, the man had no defense.  If there had been any way to appease the king, no doubt the man would have done so.  I accept the servants offered a garment to the man and he refused.  Vincent’s Word Studies speaks on the man not having a garment saying, “It is hardly possible to convey the subtle sense of the negative particle to the English reader.  A different word for not is used in the preceding verse, expressing an outward, objective fact which attracted the king’s notice.  The man had not a wedding garment.  When the king addresses the guest, he is thinking not so much of the outward token of disrespect, as of the guest’s mental attitude toward the proprieties of the occasion….It implies, as Dr. Morison observes, that the man was conscious of the omission when he entered and was intentionally guilty of the neglect.”4

Both the Abingdon Commentary and The Passion Translation point out the universality of the king’s call.  The Passion Translation says, “Many are called.  This can be understood to be a Semitic figure of speech that universalizes the invitation.  See also Matt. 20:28” (TPT)5 while the Abingdon Commentary says, “The deep universal note of the gospel sounds forth clearly in this parable.”6  I am fascinated by the fact that Matthew’s gospel says “both good and bad” were brought to the feast.  There was no distinction between the guests.  The right to stay and enjoy the king’s celebration was based entirely on whether or not they chose to wear the appropriate garment.  Just what is this garment?

I concur with all of the writers I’ve read who say it is the garment of Jesus’ righteousness.  I do not concur with those who speak of this garment as something external to us.  I hear teachers saying things along the lines of, “God doesn’t see your sin because He sees you through his Son” like we believers are wearing Jesus suits and that makes us acceptable to God.  God doesn’t see our sin because the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).  The parable is not explicit but I think washing is implied.  If those the servants brought in from the highways had no time to procure a wedding garment, neither would they have had time to bathe.  I cannot imagine a wedding garment would have been put over smelly stinking skin and then the guests sent in to the feast where their aroma would fight it out with the aromas of the food the king had had prepared.  I think this parable points to the fact that we are cleansed by the blood of Christ and we are presented to Him glorious, without spot or wrinkle or blemish by the washing of water by the word (Ephesians 5:26-27).  Not only are we cleansed but clothed in fine linen which is the righteous acts of the saints: not self-righteousness which is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) but the righteousness we now are in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). 

The call is to each one of us and it is not to repentance.  The fact that the Greek word metanoia has been translated “repentance” in our Bible is, I think, a travesty.  Repentance at its core means to do penance over and over and over and anyone caught in that loop does not know the truth: that Jesus Christ has put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself and did so one time for sins forever.  (Hebrews 10: 26, 10:12, 7:27).  Instead of repentance, metanoia! Change your mind! That Jesus Christ did live and die and rise again thus putting away sins is not dependent on our belief.  It was done long before any of us lived though He acted as and for all mankind and we living today were included.  The life it is possible to live is ours because Jesus our Saviour is self-giving love and whether or not we believe it doesn’t change what is.  However, it is impossible to live in the freedom that is ours in Christ Jesus without believing it.  Let’s remove the pin and no longer keep this life in Christ something to think about at a later time.  Heed His call!  Respond! Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes and change your mind!  Come and live a life where there is no guilt or condemnation.  Walk according to His Spirit rather than the flesh because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death! (See Romans 8:1-2) 

That is something to celebrate!

  1. Eiselen, Frederick Carl, Edwin Lewis, and David G. Downey, editors., The Abingdon Bible Commentary, The Abingdon Press, Inc., Nashville • New York, 1929, Page 988
  2. Passion and Fire Ministries, The Passion Translation, 2020 Edition, Broadstreet Publishing Group, LLC, 2020, Page 65
  3. Ellicot, Charles John, Ellicot’s Bible Commentary, Zondervan Publishing, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1971, Pages 733-734
  4. Vincent, Marvin R., D.D., Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament, Volume I, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts, Pages 120-121
  5. Passion and Fire Ministries, The Passion Translation, 2020 Edition, Broadstreet Publishing Group, LLC, 2020, Page 65
  6. Eiselen, Frederick Carl, Edwin Lewis, and David G. Downey, editors., The Abingdon Bible Commentary, The Abingdon Press, Inc., Nashville • New York, 1929, Page 988

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

More Reading on the Wedding Garment:

The Wedding Garment (gracegems.org)

He Got Kicked Out Of The Wedding! – Michael A. Verdicchio (confidenceandjoy.com)

My previous post on our thoughts being our garments:

https://renaissancewoman.blog/2022/06/20/hey-what-are-you-wearing/

Pathways of Peace

22 Monday Aug 2022

Posted by in Isaiah 45:7, Studies

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Good morning!  Welcome-or welcome back-to Renaissance Woman where I am continuing my study of Isaiah 45:7 specifically the word “peace” which is the Hebrew word shalom.  Shalom is spelled Shin (ש) Lamed (ל) Mem (ם) and, this week, I am continuing to look at the Lamed.

The word Lamed means “to learn, study, become familiar with” and also means “to teach”.  Over the past few weeks, I have written about the importance of having the Holy Spirit as our teacher.  Teachers, Pastors, and Church Leaders are important but it is the Holy Spirit alone who leads us into the truth that is Jesus Christ (See John 16:13, John 14:6).  Jessica Hottle recently posted to her social media “let Jesus guide you. Not people!” and that made me chuckle.  She made the same point I’ve been trying to make over multiple posts and thousands of words but she managed to do it in six. No one has ever accused me of brevity!  I agree: let Jesus be our guide.  In Matthew 11:29 He bids us come to Him and learn of Him and, as I’ve meditated on the meaning of the Lamed, I’ve been wondering just how in this day and age we learn from Jesus.

Interesting, the word Lamed spelled Lamed (ל) Mem (מ) Dalet (ד) but pronounced Lim-mood means “a disciple, one who is taught, a follower”.  I have heard people lament the age in which they have been born and heard them wish they’d been alive during Jesus’ day.  What would it have been like to walk with him on the shores of the Sea of Galilee! Oh, to sit at his feet, to walk with Him, to listen to His words as He spoke them!  Oh, to be one of His disciples!

I have a book on everyday life and customs during Bible Times and, out of curiosity, I looked up what it would have meant to be a disciple.  I read: “In Old Testament times, young men had the chance to become pupils of the prophets and priests.  Samuel, for example, was given to Eli while he was a small boy and trained by the priest.  The prophet Isaiah gave private teaching to a group of disciples.  These disciples lived with their masters, learning from them throughout the course of the day.  They sometimes sat at their feet, learning by lecture and discussion.  At other times they learned by their teacher’s example, or from object lessons that presented themselves throughout the day.  They would quiz their students, checking to see if any light bulbs were going on in their heads.  This one-on-one relationship was the best way to instill learning in the next generation…when Jesus walked upon the earth, he called disciples to his side, and for three and a half years they lived at his side and learned from his teachings.  Sometimes they sat at his feet (Luke 10:39), or learned from his example (John 13:15).  Many object lessons were presented to them (Mark 4:2), and Jesus quizzed them to see if they understood what was spoken (Luke 9:20). 

I laughed a little at the anachronism of “light bulbs going on in their heads” but zeroed in on the necessity of the one-on-one relationship.  I understand the desire to have been there in person at the beginning but I cannot help thinking how limited walking with the man Jesus would have been.  He couldn’t have a one-on-one relationship with all of his disciples at the same time.  I read through the gospels and find the crowds getting smaller and smaller until it’s just the Twelve.  Of the Twelve, only Three saw His transfiguration and, of the Three, only One laid with his head on Jesus’ breast.  Not everyone experienced the same level of closeness so I personally do not look on the days when Jesus walked this earth as a man as halcyon days.  Indeed, Jesus Himself 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 depart, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7).

Those days of Jesus’ ministry were limited to a tiny segment of the planet and, even if I’d been alive and living there and then, it would have been impossible to choose to be His disciple.  I don’t necessarily mean my gender would exclude me but rather that the custom of the day was a disciple would choose which Rabbi he wished to follow.  Not so with Jesus: He did the choosing.  It’s better to be alive in this moment because now we live in a day of no limitation.  The call to all mankind now is “Come!” (Matthew 11:27-29, John 7:37-38, Revelation 22:17). We don’t have to run after Him and ask Him where He’s staying because we know He sits at the right hand of the Father and we know we are in Him. 

 Luke 6:40 says, “A disciple is not above his teacher but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.” What an amazing thing it would be if all we had today was the same as that possessed by Old Testament and Jesus’ disciples.  We can read the Red Letters in our Bibles and learn from the very words of Jesus.  What an example He left for us to emulate!  How tremendous that His words and example are not all we have!  We do not live alongside Him but abide in Him and we know He abides in us because of His Spirit (1 John 3:24).  We do not have to strive to follow His example for His very life is in us and it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us.  We do not have to try to be like Him because His Spirit is the first fruits within us and we can know His promise is sure: when He is revealed, we shall be like Him. 

While studying the Lamed, I watched a video on the Shivimpanim channel.  The Rabbi mentioned the Hallel which are special prayers said on Holy Days and pointed out there are two Lameds within the word.  Hallel is also one of the root words that comprise Hallelujah, a phrase that means “Praise the Lord!”  The Lameds in the word Hallelujah are a beautiful lesson.  I know that I will be like my Teacher Jesus Christ because I see Him.  I see Him because His Spirit is within me opening my eyes.  With my eyes opened to behold Him, I cannot but shout, ”Hallelujah!” because I see Him, I know Him, and I have learned from Him.  This learning and knowing is at the very center of my peace.

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Amen.

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

Spiritual Mentor and Christian Life Coach – Jessica Hottle

 References

Everyday Living: Bible Life and Times, MJF Books, Thomas Nelson Publishers, New York, New York, 2006

(3) Secret of the Hebrew letter Lamed – YouTube

(3) LAMED – Secrets of the Hebrew Letters – YouTube

My Feet Are on the Rock

08 Monday Aug 2022

Posted by in Isaiah 45:7, Personal Essays, Studies, Writing

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Happy Monday and welcome to another post on Renaissance Woman.

Does anyone remember the poem The Blind Men and the Elephant by John Godfrey Saxe?  It’s a poem about six blind men who seek out an elephant so that, by observation, they might understand the creature.  Each of the six men encounter a different part of the elephant and liken it to something familiar: a wall, a snake, a fan, etc.  The last stanza of the poem states, “So, oft in theologic wars/The disputants, I ween/Rail on in utter ignorance/Of what each other mean/And prate about an Elephant/Not one of them has seen!”

Last week I posted on the Hebrew letters that comprise Shin ש and how I’ve come across two schools of thought on that.  One is that the letter is comprised of Vavs and Yods and the other is that the letter is a Yod, a Vav, and a Zayin.  Which is correct?  I don’t care one way or the other because, as I followed both paths, I found myself in the same place: 3 Vavs and 4 Yods give me the number 7 which is Spiritual Perfection and the number of the Zayin is 7 which is Spiritual Perfection.  I found value in looking at both but the study did get me thinking.   

I cannot count how many times over the past weeks and months I’ve heard believers of various denominations stress the importance of “sound doctrine.”  I have found “that’s not sound doctrine” is used as the final hammer strike on the last nail in the coffin of another person’s argument but there are times when the speaker will explain just what they believe sound doctrine to be.  I listen and sometimes agree and other times disagree.  This made me wonder, just who decides what “sound doctrine” is?  I see one denomination convinced what they teach is the soundest doctrine of all unlike this denomination whose teachings are based on false interpretations of scripture and definitely not like this other denomination whose teachings are a delusion of Satan.  I must infer then, that by “sound doctrine” what they actually mean is, “what our denomination teaches.”

What is doctrine?  The definition of the word is, “something taught, teachings, something taught as the principles or creed of a religion, political party, etc.; tenet or tenets; belief; dogma, a rule, theory, or principle of law.”  There is nothing in this definition that suggests a personal knowing and relationship is necessary.  Such is also what I find in those insisting everyone have sound doctrine: there is only a rare mention of knowing God for yourself.  I am not concerned with sound doctrine.  I am concerned with knowing the Father because knowing Him and knowing Jesus Christ is the very definition of eternal life.  “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). 

I recently read a book called Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Deibler Rose.  When the author married her first husband, Rev. C. Russell Deibler, she and her husband both knew they were called to the Mission Field and, specifically, the Philippines.  Mrs. Deibler was several years younger than her husband and had just graduated from school.  She relates in her book that, before the Church would allow her to accompany her husband to the Philippines, they tested her in doctrine and theology.  She passed the tests and was allowed to go.  While in the Philippines, World War II broke out and Japan took over the islands.  Mrs. Deibler and her husband were interred in separate camps where her husband died.  Mrs. Deibler spent four years in various camps and I was struck by how it was not doctrine or theology that sustained her: it was the vitality of her relationship with Jesus Christ.  Mrs. Deibler-Rose writes, “Experientially, I was learning to understand the comfort of the Holy Spirit.  Sometime during the dark hours I slept.  The sword of sorrow had pierced deep within me, but He had bathed the sword in oil.”  

This book gave a graphic picture of the difference between having doctrine-which is by definition a lifeless thing-and having a vital relationship with the Living God.  To me, those quibbling over whether or not someone’s doctrine is sound are like the blind men quibbling over the elephant.  Not one of them was wrong per se but neither were any of them correct.  Not one of them had fully seen. 

There is a passage in Colossians I’ve been meditating on for some time: “Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has 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” (Colossians 2:18-19).  Our reward is Christ Jesus.  He is our very Life.  In Him, we are made one with the Father.  Everything the Father has belongs to Jesus.  Everything Jesus has is ours because His Spirit lives within us and declares it to us.  (See John 16:13-15)

I know this not only because the Bible tells me so but because I KNOW HIM!  He is real!  He is alive!  He is alive in me right now!  This is not something reserved for the future.  It is not something I earn if I follow Jesus’ example and live a moral life.  He freely gives Himself to me, teaches me who He is, and brings me into relationship with Himself.  There is no substitute for knowing Him and this knowing is my litmus test.  I don’t compare what I hear from others with any doctrine: the Spirit within me guides me into all truth.  Jesus Himself is that absolute living truth and, as He has joined me to Himself, I am one spirit with Him.

Let none of us allow ourselves to be cheated of our reward by anyone who has not seen.  Let us hold fast to the Head who is Christ Jesus.  Let us test everything and hold fast to what is true.  “Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection…” and, finally, let us “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…” (Hebrews 6:1, Ephesians 4:15)

Amen.

All Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

The poems of John Godfrey Saxe/The Blind Men and the Elephant – Wikisource, the free online library

Guralnik, David B., Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition, Williams Collins + World Publishing Co., Inc., Cleveland • New York, 1970, 1974

Rose, Darlene Deibler, Evidence Not Seen: A Woman’s Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War II, A Ruth Graham Dienert Book, Harper San Francisco, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, New York, 1988