Tag Archives: Jesus the Anointed One

“He Also Has Become…”

04 Monday Mar 2024

Posted by in Studies, Whole Armor of God

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Hello Readers and welcome to another post on Renaissance Woman!  If this is your first post, I am currently in the middle of a study on the Whole Armor of God as described by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6 verses 10-18a.  My current focus is the Helmet of Salvation so, as you read on, you may wonder why I am (still) writing about obedience.  There are two passages of scripture that have convinced me that understanding what the Bible means by obedience is crucial to understanding what it means for Jesus Christ to be our salvation.  For that is what I believe: salvation is not something Jesus did for us before disappearing into some far off heaven somewhere.  He Himself is salvation.

That is a thought I want to focus on in future studies.  For this week’s post, I must take another look at obedience.  2 Corinthians 10:4-6 says, “For the weapons of our warfare  are not carnal but  mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and  every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready  to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.”  Hebrews 5:8-9 says that Jesus, “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.  And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”

In these two passages, I see a connection between obedience and both Spiritual Warfare and Salvation.  There is a third passage that comes to mind as I meditate on the first two.  I am going to quote an extensive portion as it all pertains to the point I will attempt to make in this post: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.  Therefore God has also 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” (Philippians 2:5-11).

The Greek word translated “obedient” in the Philippians passage is of the same family as the word translated “obedience” in the first two quoted.  “Obedient” is hupekoos (G5255) and is an adjective.  “Obedience” is hupakoe (G5218) and is the noun.  The Strong’s Concordance says both words come from hupakouo (G5219) which is the verb.  The word itself means “attentive hearkening, compliance, submission, to listen attentively, to hear under as a subordinate, to heed or conform to command or authority.”  I’ve already gone through these definitions and performed some study on just what “the obedience of Christ” means so I don’t want to take too much time performing what would amount to repetition.  And yet, if these are the meanings of the words, what does it mean for Jesus Christ having to learn to attentively listen to God?  What does it mean to my understanding of who Jesus is if I must think of Him in terms of being subordinate to God?  Who is Jesus, really?

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke record Jesus asking a form of that question to His disciples.  Jesus first asks, “Who do men say that the Son of man is?” or “Who do men say that I am?”  The disciples give their various answers and then Jesus asks: “But who do you say that I am?”  This question is just as pertinent now as it was then.  I have asked people who wish to share their belief system with me this same question: “who do you say Jesus is?” and the answer I receive most often is “we believe He is the Son of God.”  That answer does make it sound as if we would be of one mind regarding the foundation of our belief but different people mean different things when they say “He is the Son of God.”

R. H. Ben-Shalom makes this point in his book Papa’s Last Words: They Lied About God.  In his chapter titled “Christ” he writes: “The phrase the “sons of God” has many meanings.  It can mean spirits without flesh, spirits in flesh who trust and obey God, or those who have been resurrected into their glorified bodies” (Ben-Shalom, Pg. 88). 

Those who answer me with “we believe He is the Son of God” can potentially mean many things but a great many of the answers boil down to this: whatever they mean by “the Son of God”, they do not intend to suggest Jesus is equal to God nor is He God.  They will use scripture to undergird their belief.  One such is John 5:30 where Jesus Himself says, “I can of Myself do nothing.  As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.”  Another passage I hear quoted a great deal is Mark 10:18: “…Why do you call Me good?  No one is good but One, that is, God.”  A third is John 5:19: “…Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.”

If these were the only passages of scripture we ever heard, who could blame us for doubting that Jesus is the divine Son of God: the Eternal Word made flesh?  But, these aren’t the only passages.  We must consider John 8:58 where Jesus declares, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” We must also consider John 10:24-33: “Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, ‘How long do You keep us in doubt?  If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.’  Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe.  The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.  But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.  I and My Father are one.’  Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.  Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father.  For which of those words do you stone Me?’ The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”

On Jesus’ claim to be Divine R. H. Ben-Shalom writes; “C. S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, is correct in his deduction: Y’hoshua the Anointed One (Jesus the Christ) was either who He claimed to be, or a demonic false prophet, or a madman.  The Instruction of Yah, blessed be His Name, and the ancient Jewish legal system did not condemn you for being a “son of God” in the sense of being a human devotee of God.  It did not condemn you for being a Torah-keeping anointed one.  The ancient Jewish legal system, however, condemned you for blasphemy, such as claiming to be the Son of God in reference to being God, or of God, meaning divine.  The Sanhedrin, the Jewish court, condemned Y’hoshua the Anointed One for only one reason: He claimed to be the Son of God in the sense of being God.  History attests to His existence.  History attests to the only accusation that led to His execution and death on the cross” (Ben-Shalom, pg. 90).

The divinity and humanity of Jesus is a vast subject and one I cannot possibly address in a short blog post.  1 Peter 2:7-8 says, “…The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense” so I am certain the debate on Jesus’ identity will no doubt rage until the day “every eye sees Him”.  However, truly knowing Him is possible to whosoever wishes it.  I would draw your attention back to Matthew 16.  “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” Jesus asks, and then He asks; “But who do you say that I am?”  Simon Peter answers, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”.  Jesus’ reply is: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”  If any of us want to know who Jesus is, we have the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, the Spirit who testifies of Jesus, the Spirit who leads us into all truth, the gift of God, living inside of us.  We do not need flesh and blood to tell us who Jesus is: His Spirit in us will reveal to us who Jesus is.

As to what I believe about Jesus learning obedience, meaning He had to learn to listen attentively to His Father’s voice as one subordinate; I return to the passage in Philippians.  My NKJV renders verse 7 as, “but made Himself of no reputation”.  The Amplified has it, “But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity]”.  The New American Standard says, “but emptied Himself” and the New International says “but made himself nothing.”  I cannot imagine what it was like for the Word, the One by whom everything was made, the One who is-according to the wording of the Amplified Bible-“essentially one with God and in the form of God” (Phil. 2:6), to empty Himself in order to become one of us.  As one of us, He had to learn to listen attentively to the voice of His Father, the same as we must learn to listen attentively to the Voice of Jesus Christ, the One who has the name which is above every other name.  I cannot express how grateful I am He did so, because, being made perfect, He is both the author and Captain of our Salvation.

There is a fantastic declaration in Isaiah 12:2: “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For YAH, the Lord, is my strength and my song; He also has become my salvation.”  Behold, Jesus the Anointed One, the Unique Son, the only begotten of the Father, the Word made flesh!  He limited Himself to a flesh body and became one of us!  He died but the grave could not hold Him!  Behold, He liveth forevermore and sits at the right hand of the Father!  Behold Jesus, the One who is our salvation!  He is eternal salvation now to all who obey (attentively listen to) Him!

Hallelujah! 

Amen.

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

References

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

Aland, Kurt, Synopsis of the Four Gospels, United Bible Societies, USA, 1982

Ben-Shalom, R. H., Papa’s Last Words: They Lied about God, ERAS Press, 2020

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

Testing the Spirits-Part Two

22 Monday Feb 2021

Posted by in Walking in the Way

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Revelation 1:8 records Jesus saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End…who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”  J. Preston Eby has a teaching series on the Book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ called “From the Candlestick to the Throne” and Part Ten is entitled “Who Is and Was and Is to Come”.  In Part Ten, Mr. Eby shares a different interpretation of 1 John 4:1-4.  Mr. Eby begins in 1 John 2:22-23: “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?  He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.  Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”  Mr. Eby states 1 John 4 is an elaboration of these verses and says:

“These verses have a deeper meaning!  They are not speaking of the fact of Jesus Christ having lived on earth as a man.  Almost anyone will admit that!  But the profound truth which all of popular religion has missed, is the fact of the Christ actually coming into this flesh, my flesh, your flesh, and becoming an eternal and inseparable part of us!  Millions confess Him who was, but very few in this dark age confess Him who is!…“…ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them (the antichrists): because GREATER IS HE THAT I-S IN YOU (your flesh), THAN HE THAT I-S IN THE WORLD” (I Jn. 4:3-4).”1

I had a bit of a knee-jerk reaction when I read this.  The spirit of Antichrist?  In churches?  In me?  Is such a thing possible?  Years ago I read studies on the book of Revelation which taught the Rapture and The Antichrist.  Further study had me looking at how John used the word “antichrist” in his letter and I learned it had to mean more than an Antichrist rising in the last days because there were already “many antichrists” when John wrote his letter (1 John 2:18).  There was nothing I could find that suggests John was writing about a period of time thousands of years in the future.  Therefore, he was aware of many antichrists at work while he was alive and writing and his letter makes clear how to recognize these spirits. 

I haven’t looked at, or really thought about these passages in 1 John in years; not until they surfaced in my mind after listening to the video.  This along with Mr. Eby’s interpretation made me think I need to take another look at what the spirit of antichrist really means and what John meant when he said to “test the spirits”.

The Dictionary of New Testament Theology says, “the prep. anti originally meant “in the place of” and then “against”.2   Another source stated: “Antichristos can mean either against Christ or instead of Christ, or perhaps, combining the two, “one who, assuming the guise of Christ, opposes Christ’ (Westcott)”3   Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament has, “Antichrist: it may mean one who stands against Christ or one who stands instead of Christ…John never uses the word pseudochristos false Christ. While the false Christ is merely a pretender to the Messianic office, the Antichrist “assails Christ by proposing to do or to preserve what He did while denying Him.”4

I looked up anti in my Webster’s and found: “Anti: a person opposed to some policy, proposal, action etc.,…opposed; against facing, opposite, near, against, hostile to 2. That counteracts, that operates against, 3. That prevents, cures, or neutralizes”.5   Unger’s Bible Dictionary says, “The Greek preposition ‘anti, in composition, sometimes denotes substitution, taking the place of another; hence, “false Christ.”  The connection in which the word is used appears to import opposition, covert rather than avowed, with a professed friendliness.”6

Mr. Eby also writes, “Would God that Christians could be awakened to the glory of Him who is!…Truly, Christ in us is our only hope of glory!  HE IS the glory!  But antichrist will hear of no such hope of glory.  His hope does not rest wholly in the Christ within, but in his own ability and works, his own faithfulness or endurance.  He is cluttered about with laws, regulations, creeds, ordinances, observances, rituals, ceremonies, programs, traditions, and religious exercises of this order and that, all of which are designed to assure his right standing with God.  He is thus denying the Father and the Son, for the living Christ alone is not his life!”7

I think I understand what Mr. Eby is saying and I cannot disagree.  I’ve experienced a neutralized Christian life inside religious systems.  I have been in places where I was offered “in the place of”: program involvement, more Bible reading, more prayer, etc.  I knew Jesus lived in me: He’d come into my heart when I first believed and said the sinner’s prayer.  I could rest assured I would escape judgement and hell and would go to heaven when I died.  Until then, I was to attend a church and, if my life was a barren, dusty, thirsty place…there wasn’t an answer for that.  Where were the fountains of living waters the Spirit was supposed to be to me?

I cannot remember attending a church where the message was Jesus is my life NOW!  Christ, in me, my hope of Glory!  I think the reason for that is I rarely heard about the Holy Spirit.  I’d been baptized in the Holy Spirit but now I was on my own.  Nobody taught me exactly why I’d been baptized in the Spirit except now I could pray in tongues and that’s how I was supposed to pray when I couldn’t think of my own words.  There had to be something more.  How I thank God for the discontent that drove me to keep searching for the life the writers of the New Testament insisted I could have, the life Jesus promised I could have!  No rules and regulations: relationship with the Father and Son through the Holy Spirit.  Eternal life.  (See John 17:3) 

Is this sidelining of the Holy Spirit the spirit of antichrist?  I don’t know.  I’ve always believed the spirit of antichrist was a deliberate denial of Jesus Christ and I never experienced that.  On the contrary; I knew earnest, seeking people who loved Jesus.  Only, no one seemed to expect anything in Christ beyond what we had.  It’s a subject I’ll have to study more but it does bring me to my third litmus test: what is being said about the Holy Spirit?  More specifically, what is being said about His work in the lives of believers NOW!  It is a sad fact but this third test is where I find I cannot follow a teacher.  In Galatians 5:25, Paul says, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”  To which I add a resounding Amen.

  1. Eby, Preston J., Kingdom Bible Studies, From the Candlestick to the Throne, Who Is and Was and Is to Come, Part 10
  2. Brown, Colin, Dictionary of New Testament Theology Vol. 1., Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1975, Antichrist, Page 124
  3. Vine, W.E., Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee, Pages 53-54
  4. Vincent, Marvin R., D.D., Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament Volume II, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts, 1 John, Page 337
  5. Guralnik, David B., Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition, William Collins + The World Publishing company, 1976, Page 59 
  6. Unger, Merrill F., Unger’s Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, Moody Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1982, Page 68
  7. Eby, Preston J., Kingdom Bible Studies, From the Candlestick to the Throne, Who Is and Was and Is to Come, Part 10

Testing the Spirits-Part One

15 Monday Feb 2021

Posted by in Walking in the Way

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I listen to my favorite teachers and podcasts while I’m at work and, early last week, I listened to a YouTube video where another video was being discussed.  The other video was of a gentleman who was stating there was nowhere in the Bible where Jesus was called God.  I wasn’t paying much attention because I couldn’t fathom which version of the Bible this gentleman was reading in order to state a thing with such confidence.  Every version of the Bible I have available to me consists of the Old Testament which points to Jesus and the New Testament which reveals Jesus and tells me who I am in Him as well as who He is in me.  There is Jesus’ name: Yeshua in the Hebrew which means “He will save”.  There was Jesus’ not so subtle declaration in John 8: 58 where He says, “Before Abraham was I AM” using the Name God used when He revealed Himself to Moses.  There’s John 1:1-14 which is such a beautiful passage: I read and re-read and re-read it.  There are so many other specific scriptures I could list but the purpose of this post is not to convince anyone Jesus is God. (Except do read 1 Timothy 3:16!) I’m going to assume that, if you are reading this, you already declare Jesus is God from God, God manifest in the flesh, or are at the very least open to the possibility and I am going to get to my material point.

Which is: my ears perked up when I heard this same gentleman say he had the holy spirit which had shown him these things.  That arrested me and I mulled on it for days.  I, of course, do not agree the spirit teaching this man comes from God at all but there is no discounting his sincerity.  It took me quite a chunk of time to digest the irony of someone saying they have the holy spirit who has revealed Jesus is not God when 1, if Jesus is not God there is no possibility of the Holy Spirit and for this I point you to John Chapter 16.  The entire chapter is worth reading but for the sake of this post I am referencing verses 7-16.  And 2: if Jesus is not God made flesh, and assuming God still had a reason to pour His Spirit out on us humans, what would He say?  John 15:26: But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.”

And so, while I don’t believe this gentleman and I are hearing from the same spirit, how can I be certain?  Well, the Bible gives me guidelines.  There is 1 Corinthians 12:3 which states, “Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.”  There is Romans 8:15-16 which state, “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”  The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”  There is 1 John 4 which popped into my head while I was listening to the video and verses 1-5 state; “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.  And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.”

The Amplified has, “…prove (test) the spirits…By this you may know (perceive and recognize) the Spirit of God: every spirit which acknowledges and confesses [the fact] that Jesus Christ (the Messiah) [actually] has become man and has come in the flesh is of God [has God for its source]; And every spirit which does not acknowledge and confess that Jesus Christ has come in in the flesh [but would annul, destroy, sever, disunite Him] is not of God [does not proceed from Him].”

Francois du Toit expounds on disuniting Jesus in the Mirror Study Bible and it’s so great I have to share it.  Verse 3 and his commentary state: “No so-called “spiritual revelation” that fails to communicate the revelation of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, is of God.  This is the anti-Christ spirit that you have heard of and even now witness in the world.  Any idea that Jesus Christ is not the incarnate word of God does not originate in God but is the typical pseudo mindset of the spirit of this fallen cosmic system. (The Latin rendering from the 2nd century reads, “No spirit that would separate the human Jesus from the divine Christ, is of God.”)1

My Archeological Study Bible tells me John wrote this passage to refute Gnostic heresy and I found an interesting blurb on Gnosticism which I’ll quote parts of:

1 John 4.  Gnosticism was one of the earliest Christian heresies.  Gnostic writings are many and varied, frequently drawing upon Platonic concepts, imagery from the New Testament and pagan myth…Certain broad observations can be made of Gnostic literature.

  • From the Greek word gnosis meaning “knowledge”, Gnosticism was a movement that claimed to provide secret knowledge about God.  Its adherents considered the Biblical God, the Creator of the world, to be an inferior god.  In Gnostic teaching the material world was innately evil and thus its Creator a lesser deity.
  • The Gnostic Savior, rather than providing atonement for sin, brought the knowledge of humanity’s “true” divine origins, thus freeing people from their ignorance and enslavement to the material world.
  • Some Gnostics believed that “the Christ” (a kind of spiritual anointing or presence) came upon the man Jesus at his baptism and departed before his crucifixion—thus, that there was no lasting union of divine and human natures in Jesus.  In their view, the true Christ had no physical body. 
  • One particular brand of Gnostics, called “Docetists”, believed that Jesus was actually a divine spirit who only appeared to be physical: His body, they argued, was not truly flesh but was only an illusion.  First John 4:2 (“Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God) refutes this teaching.  Possibly those whom John countered were forerunners of the groups that later wrote Gnostic texts.

John’s warnings indicate that heresy can come in many forms, often in the guise of apostolic teaching.  Those who deny the humanity of Jesus are equally as heretical as those who deny his deity.  In addition, any doctrine that understands the created, material world to be intrinsically evil is dangerous and misguided.2

I find this so fascinating, especially in light of the idea of “Christ Consciousness” I see gaining momentum today.  I do not know if it’s “now more than ever” but certainly the necessity of testing, proving, and discerning the spirits if they be of God is just as important as it was when John wrote his letter.  Here are two of my three litmus tests:

  1.  Who is this person saying The Father is?
  2. Who is this person saying Jesus is?

My third litmus test is in regard to the Holy Spirit and, for that, I want to look at another interpretation of 1 John 4 I found.  I plan to share that next week.

To be continued…

  1.  du Toit, Francois, Mirror Study Bible, Francois du Toit, 2012, Page 473. “Scripture taken from THE MIRROR. Copyright © 2012.  Used by permission of The Author.” 
  2. Archaeological Study Bible, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2005, “The Reliability of the Bible: The Gnostics and their Scriptures”, Page 2029