Tag Archives: Salvation

“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

Mind Over Mind

19 Monday Feb 2024

Posted by in Studies, Whole Armor of God

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Image by ha11ok from Pixabay

Hello Readers!  Welcome to Renaissance Woman where, this week, I am posting another installment in my Whole Armor of God study series.

My study passage is Ephesians 6:10-18a and I am currently looking at the Helmet of Salvation.  In last week’s post, I quoted 2 Corinthians 10:4-6: “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.”  This passage has been at the forefront of my mind as I have considered what ‘bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ’ means in terms the Helmet of Salvation protecting the head and thus our thoughts. 

Do you ever think about yourself? Of course we do but I mean paying deliberate attention to how exactly it feels when you think.  Do you recognize there is a YOU that knows YOU are thinking thoughts?  YOU are thinking and the thoughts themselves can be scrutinized, considered, and then either accepted or disregarded.  We are not separated from our thoughts because the chemicals associated with them affect our bodies but neither are they the masters of us.  Our brains are constantly absorbing information and, as we aren’t always aware of all we are absorbing, I do recognize that some of the thoughts that come into our minds are utterly foreign to who and what we know we are.  Still, the thought can be recognized as such and, while it can be exhausting, we do have the ability to decide which thought we are going to entertain and which we are not.  Therefore, it is a fact that we are the Masters of our thoughts.  It only remains to be seen whether we will choose to act in that capacity.

When we with conscious deliberation choose to act in that capacity we Believers in Jesus can find ourselves on the horns of a dilemma.  Many are they who level accusations of close-mindedness at us.  We have all seen the caricature of the close-minded person.  This is a person who will not learn either through arrogance that he or she knows all or through fear that if he or she entertains a thought that is different from his or her current belief system, he or she will be scorned and cut off.  In religious terms, there is the fear of the possibility of being led astray by a devil and ending up spending an eternity in hell.  Few people genuinely wish to be close minded and yet, there is no denying the very real danger of indiscriminate open-mindedness.  There are arguments and high things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God and which are well worth eradicating from the fields of our minds.  We Believers must be discerning, holding fast to what is good and rejecting what is not. 

How do we do that?  I am not a proponent of deciding for ourselves what is good and evil because that is eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the fruit of that tree is death.  This passage in 2 Corinthians tells us we are to be “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”  What does that mean?  Is that thinking only what our Church leaders tells us is okay to think?  Is it following the Bible like a rule book and obeying everything we read in it?  If that is so, what do we do when we encounter passages that appear to contradict each other?  And then, if we are among that group of Believers who have seen that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death (see Romans 8:2), what are we obeying?  Jesus did say, “if you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15) which He’d already given in John 13:34: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”  John the Beloved does expand on this a bit in his 1st letter: “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.  And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.  And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.”

I do think it’s important to note the Greek words translated as “keep” and “obey/obedience” in these different passages are not the same.  The Greek word translated as “keep” is number 5083 in the Strong’s Concordance: tereo which means “to guard from loss or injury”.  Obey is a bit more complicated: as I run down the list of scripture passages containing the word “obey”, I find there are 6 unique Greek words all translated as “obey” (there are 7 different Strong’s Numbers but 3980 is the verb form of 3982 [peitharchein, peitho] so I’m counting them as one word). I could spend weeks studying “obey” but, for the sake of this study, I will focus on the Greek noun translated “obedience” in 2 Corinthians 10:4: hupakoe (G5218) and the verb hupakouo (G5219) translated “obey” in various passages.

What do we think of when we hear the words “obey” or “obedience”?  The first meaning that comes to mind is “to do what one is told”.  Perhaps it is the same for you.  I admit I was surprised to find that wasn’t the meaning of the Greek word nor is it the first thing I read when I look up “obey” in the dictionary.  The first thing I read in the dictionary entry is “to hear” and that is backed up by the definitions for the Greek.  The Strong’s defines hupakoe (G5218) as, “attentive hearkening”.  It does go on to define the word as “by implication compliance or submission” but also says that hupakoe comes from hupakouo (G5219).  Hupakouo is defined as, “to hear under (as a subordinate) to listen attentively, to heed or conform to a command or authority”.  Hupakouo is a compound word formed of hupo (G5259) and akouo (G191).  Akouo means, “to hear” but I found the definition of hupo particularly interesting.

It means “under” or “beneath” but with verbs means “the agency or means-through”.  Returning to 2 Corinthians 10:5 in the Greek, I find that same little word tou which tells me the Apostle Paul is not admonishing us to force our thoughts to conform with strict obedience to some rigid system but is rather saying we are bringing every thought into captivity to Christ’s obedience.

Hebrews 5:8 says that Jesus “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.”  The next verse says, “And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey (hupakouo!) Him.”  The same Greek word is used by Paul in Romans 1:5-6: “Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ.” 

I have a 12-week study booklet on Romans.  I don’t even know how many years it has been since I first picked it up intending to spend 12 weeks in the Book of Romans and yet am still on question 2 of Week 2: “What might Paul mean by ‘the obedience of faith’?”  I still don’t have a concise answer to that beyond “it’s all interconnected and it’s all Jesus Christ.”  Romans 10:17: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith OF (tou) the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  The meaning of obedience is “attentive hearkening”.  The emphasis has to be on hearing. 

This post is getting to be rather long so I will close with this: we bring our every thought into the captivity of the obedience of Christ.  He is the Word of the Father.  His Spirit lives in us speaking the Word that is Jesus Christ to us.  Thus, we don’t have to worry that our bringing our thoughts into captivity means we are engaging in some form of religious close-mindedness.  Neither do we have to worry that our desire to hear and learn and live accordingly will lead us to dangerous levels of open-mindedness.  The same mind that was in Christ Jesus is in us through the Holy Spirit therefore we are not closed or open minded but rather Christ-minded.  We are joined to the Lord and are thus of One Spirit with Him.  May the Spirit of Truth guide us into greater understanding of this reality in Christ over the coming days.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Amen.

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

References     

2 Corinthians 10:5 Interlinear: reasonings bringing down, and every high thing lifted up against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of the Christ, (biblehub.com)

Guralnik, David B., Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition, William Collins + World Publishing Co., Inc., Cleveland • New York, 1970, 1976

Strong, James, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN, 1990

Wilson, Jared C., Knowing the Bible: Romans A 12-Week Study, Crossway, Wheaton, Illinois, 2013, Page 12