Tag Archives: Union with the Trinity

Forming the Light

10 Monday Jan 2022

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Photo by Walter Strong

Last week I wrote about asking questions of the Holy Spirit, especially “why”.  I do ask “why”, even though I know I may not get an answer.  My thought on that is, God already knows the “why’s” rattling around in my head so my wanting to know why isn’t a surprise to Him.  I have found if I just ask Him the why of things then it’s with Him, I can trust He’ll answer me when and if He is ready to do so, and my mind is clear to ask Him other questions.  A question I ask with far greater frequency that “why” is, “what does this mean?”

I have had many scriptures interpreted for me by organizations that do, I am sorry to say, have far more dedication to tradition than a desire to know what the scripture actually says.  Scriptural Interpretation is more in line with who these organizations have decided God is than in line with who He has revealed Himself to be.  It can be a struggle to come to a passage of scripture and look at it with fresh eyes, laying aside all I’ve been taught to believe it says, and to have the Holy Spirit teach me what it means.

One of the scriptures I’ve been meditating on for a few years now is Isaiah 45:7: “I form the light and create darkness.  I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.”  I find this a difficult passage to understand, even after I read it within the context of the surrounding verses.  God is making a point that He alone is God: there is no other.  Yes, I believe that.  This is the same God declared by John to be love (1 John 4:16).  Yes, I believe that too.  What then, does this passage mean?  It doesn’t seem possible that a God who is love would create darkness and calamity but I read these words spoken by God Himself.  I want to know and so I present the passage to the Holy Spirit and ask, “What does this mean?”  Then I begin a word study.

Being a rather linear, methodical sort of person, I begin my study with “I form the light”.  Hebrew is a fascinating language, a language of pictures, and I am not very far into my study before a picture begins to take shape.  The Hebrew word for “form” in this passage is yatsar (H3335).  The Strong’s Concordance gives this definition: “probably identical with 3334 through the squeezing into shape, to mould into a form; espec as a potter; fig to determine (i.e. to form a resolution):-earthen, fashion, form, frame, make, potter, purpose”.

Of course I want to press on to the creating darkness and calamity part of this passage but I cannot.  My attention is seized by this picture of light being squeezed into a shape and being molded into a form.  I see Jesus in this brief line of scripture and I am awed by Him.  I remember how often Jesus is compared to light, especially John 1:4, “In Him was life and the life was the light of men”, and the words of Jesus Himself in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world”. 

While remembering these scriptures among others, I was also reminded that Jesus’ name means “salvation.”  His name is Yeshua-Jesus being an anglicized pronunciation-and this is so exciting when I read passages like Isaiah 49:6: “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel: I will also give You as a light (!!!) to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation (yeshua) to the ends of the earth”. 

“I form the light”.  In these four words, I see Jesus, the Word of God, the One we meet in the act of creating in Genesis One, becoming man.  I remember Philippians 2:5-7: “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”.  Some translations, including the English Standard Version and New American Standard have “emptied Himself” rather than “made Himself of no reputation”.  I find the idea of Jesus emptying Himself to be a stronger word-picture revealing all He sacrificed in order to become man. 

I think about 2 Corinthians 8:9: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”  I also think about Jesus’ prayer: “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5).  I think about these scriptures and wonder if I’ve ever really thought about them and I wonder if I’ve ever understood what they mean.

I don’t know that I, finite and human that I am, can understand what it was like for The Creator to become His creation.  I ponder the words “squeezed into shape” and “moulded into form” and think it must have been agony.  I think about Jesus being “The Lamb slain before the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8) and wonder at the intention of God.  There’s a hymn that goes, “O how He loves you and me…He gave His life, what more could He give?” The thought expressed here is the truth: Jesus did give His life on the cross.  And yet, He gave so much more than that.  He gave His Life, a God-life beyond description, when He became human. He gave His life before He ever got to the cross.

The Creator becoming His creation is an expression of a kind of love which I have not yet begun to understand the breadth and length and height and depth.  I am absolutely certain I do not fully understand what it means to be the object of that love.  Jesus became one of us.  My value then is the life of God Himself.  What an identity that is!  And, it’s not just mine.  His life is the light of humankind and He is salvation to the ends of the earth.  The value of every other human being is the life of God Himself. 

This then is my prayer in this upcoming week.  I pray this love with which I am loved becomes so real to me that it permeates every thought I have and directs every action I take.  I pray the same for each of you.  May we know what it means to live and move and have our being in Jesus Christ whose life is the light. 

Amen.

Unless noted otherwise, scriptures are quoted from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc. 1982

References:

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

Fruit of the Spirit-Goodness

03 Monday May 2021

Posted by in Fruit of the Spirit, Studies

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“But the fruit of the Spirit is…goodness” Galatians 5:22

I have said in earlier installments of this study that each fruit listed in this passage appears to flow one from the other.  That this is true was never made clearer than looking at “goodness” for this week’s post.  I spoke last week on how “kindness” in this passage was translated “goodness” in other scripture passages and I wondered how the “goodness” which comes next in the Apostle Paul’s list differed.  In turns out, that’s not an easy question to answer.

The entry in the Strong’s Concordance does not really elaborate on “goodness”.  The Greek word used by Paul is agathosune (G19) and it has the definition of goodness, virtue or beneficence.  The primary agathos (G18) gives the definition of “good (in any sense, often as a noun)-benefit, good (-s, things), well”.  I don’t know about you but I am left thinking, “Well, good but I’m not seeing anything new here.”  It turns out we’re not alone. 

Richard Chevenix Trench states: “Agathosyne (G19) is one of many words where revealed religion has enriched the later language of Greece.  Agathosyne occurs only in the Greek translations of the Old Testament, in the New Testament, and in writings directly dependent on these.  The grammarians never acknowledged or gave it their stamp of approval and insisted that chrestotes (G5544) should always be used in its place…The difficulty in precisely defining agathosyne occurs primarily because there are no helpful passages in classical Greek literature where the word is used.  Although classical usage can never be the absolute standard by which we define the meaning of words in Scripture, we feel a loss when there are no classical instances to use for comparison. It is prudent first to consider chrestotes.  After determining its range of meaning, it will be easier to ascertain what agathosyne means.”1 

I conducted a study on chrestotes (G5544) last week so will not repeat that work here.  Trench does go on to quote Jerome saying: “…the Stoics define it thus: chrestotes is a virtue willingly ready to do good.  Agathosyne is not much different, for it also seems ready to do good.  But it differs in that it can be more harsh and with a countenance wrinkled by strict standards for one to do well and to excel in what is demanded, without being pleasant to associates and attracting crowds by its sweetness.”2

Trench uses the illustration of Jesus driving the money lenders from the temple (Mat 21:13) and speaking harshly to the scribes and Pharisees (Mat 23:1-39) as agathosune.  Trench contrasts these examples of what he calls “righteous indignation” with Jesus’ reception of the penitent woman (Luk 7:37-50) and in all his other gracious dealings with the children of men which illustrate chrestotes.

I did not find this helpful.  Interesting, to be sure, but there was still no revelation.  I checked each occurrence of agathosune in the New Testament to see if usage could help me understand.  There are four: Romans 15:14, Galatians 5:22, Ephesians 5:9, and 2 Thessalonians 1:11.  I looked up each one and had to read all of the 5th chapter of Ephesians in attempt to get a grasp on what Paul is saying.  I still had no revelation and ended my study for the night utterly confused as to what this goodness is.  I was so confused I couldn’t express myself to my mother who, looking equally confused after I’d spoken with her, told me to wait on the Spirit who would give me revelation.  Always good advice.  After all, if I believe Scripture is god-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16), and I do, who better to tell me what it means than He who inspired it? 

I started this post by pointing out how each of the fruit listed in this passage flows one from the other.  That is true but it isn’t the entire truth.  There is only one fruit.  The Greek word here is singular, not plural.  Each word listed by the Apostle Paul reveals more of The Fruit of the Spirit within us which is the very person of Jesus Christ.  All of them are a revelation of who He is and who He is in us.  As I meditated on the meaning of agathosune and waited on the Holy Spirit, I had Zoom Church and Bishop Malcolm Smith shared a message that showed me what true admonishment from someone filled with the fruit of the Spirit looked like (Romans 15:14). This goodness could be defined as “let us speak the truth in love (agape)” (Ephesians 4:15).

I saw an online study that said the speaking the truth in love the Apostle Paul talked about was speaking that which is doctrinally correct.  I do not agree.  Jesus is the truth (John 14:6) and this fixation on correct doctrine and the subsequent bickering between denominations has nothing to do with the fruit of the Spirit.  Ephesians 5: 8-11 says, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.  And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather expose them.”  Romans 15:14 says, “Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.”  As this goodness is found only in the Indwelling Christ, so is the necessary knowledge.  I am convinced we cannot truly know what is acceptable to the Lord unless we know the Lord through His Spirit. 

I am reading a book right now that, after listening to that message, I realized also illustrates agathosune.  It’s called “The Power of the Spirit” and is a collection of writings by William Law.  As he speaks on the knowledge that comes from institutions of learning and institutions of religion he writes; “Let no one here imagine that I am writing against all human literature, arts, and sciences, or that I wish the world to be without them.  I am no more an enemy of them than of the common useful labors of life.  It is the application to the things of the Spirit of God of the same methods of learning and wisdom used by worldly scholars in earthly pursuits that I charge with folly and mischief.”3  

William Law goes on to say, “Consider first of all that true deliverance from sin is nowhere to be found for fallen man, but in these two points: (1) A total childlike faith in gospel salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ for man; and (2) A total resignation to, and sole dependence upon, the continual operation of the Holy Spirit in man.  Through Him, Christ becomes our never-ceasing light, teacher, guide, and living power whereby we can walk in all the ways of virtue in which He Himself walked in the flesh.  All beside this, call it by what name you will, is but dead work, a vain labor of the old man to recreate himself.  For nothing else is meant or taught by the gospel, but a total dying to self (called taking up the cross to follow Christ) that a new creature (called Christ in us) may be born into the purity and perfection of a vital life-union with God.

“Let the Christian world forget or depart from this true gospel salvation; let anything else be trusted but the cross of Christ and the Spirit of Christ; and then, though churches and preachers and prayers and sacraments are everywhere in plenty, nothing can come of them but a Christian kingdom of pagan vices, along with a mouth-professed belief in the Apostle’s Creed and the communion of saints.  To this sad truth all Christendom both at home and abroad bears full witness.  Who need be told that no corruption or depravity of human nature, no kind of pride, wrath, envy, malice, and self-love; no sort of hypocrisy, falseness, cursing, gossip, perjury, and cheating; no wantonness of lust in every kind of debauchery, foolish jesting, and worldly entertainment, is any less common all over Christendom, both popish and Protestant, than towns and villages.  What vanity then, to count progress in terms of numbers of new and lofty cathedrals, chapels, sanctuaries, mission stations, and multiplied new membership lists, when there is no change in this undeniable departure of men’s hearts from the living God.  Yea, let the whole world be converted to Christianity of this kind, and let every citizen be a member of some Protestant or Catholic church and mouth the creed every Lord’s day; and no more would have been accomplished toward bringing the kingdom of God among men than if they had all joined this or that philosophical society or social fraternity.”4

Harsh words?  Consider the words of Jesus in Matthew 7: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (verses 21-23)  Some translations have “workers of iniquity” in this passage. 

This is so important.  We must be filled with the Spirit.  Our lives must be lived in unceasing intimacy with Jesus Christ. If our denominations, doctrines, creeds, and knowledge have become a substitute for this living in vital union with Jesus through his Spirit, let us turn from them.  May we be full of His goodness, filled with His knowledge, and then may we speak the truth in His love.

Amen.

Unless notes otherwise, scriptures are quoted from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc. 1982

  1. Walker, Allen G., The New Koine Greek Textbook Series Supplements, 2019, Richard Chevenix Trench’s Synonyms, Page 139
  2. Walker, Allen G., The New Koine Greek Textbook Series Supplements, 2019, Richard Chevenix Trench’s Synonyms, Page 139-140
  3. Law, William, The Power of the Spirit, The Wisdom of This World Denies the Spirit, CLC Publications, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, 1971, Page 56
  4. Law, William, The Power of the Spirit, The Wisdom of This World Denies the Spirit, CLC Publications, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, 1971, Page 56-57

Other References:

“Fruit of the Spirit” Not “Fruits.” | Clint’s Corner (pastorclinthogrefe.blogspot.com)

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

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

Check out Bishop Malcolm Smith

Unconditional Love Fellowship | The Ministry of Malcolm Smith

Oh Joyous Day!

05 Monday Apr 2021

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But the Fruit of the Spirit is…joy…Galatians 5:22

I am continuing my look at joy this week.  When I started this series, I wondered whether or not there was an intention to the ordering of the attributes comprising the Fruit of the Spirit.  As I read John 15:11, I think that answer is yes.  This verse states, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may remain full.”  Jesus said this right after speaking on the vine and the branches, abiding in Him, and keeping His commandment to love.  Looking at this verse in the context of the full passage, I see His Joy flows out of His love. 

This love is described in the passage we all know so well: “For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.”  (John 3:16, Amplified).  If ever there was a verse to Selah (Pause and calmly think of that!), it’s this one.  It’s quoted too quickly, passed over without pondering what is said here, and I think there is an all too quick assumption that I understand what this means.  Familiarity breeding complacency, as it were.

The One who is Agape loved us so much that He gave Himself to and for the entire world that we might not be lost.  I know the word is “perish” in almost every translation but the Greek word is the exact same word translated “lost” in the beautiful parables shared in Luke Chapter 15: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the son who was lost.  The word is apollumi (G622) and is also the same word used in Luke 19: 10 where Jesus says, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”  I recently watched a pastor on You Tube and, while I did find his message interesting, I was a taken aback when I heard him say, “Jesus came to save you from hell.”  Well…I understand why he’s saying that but that’s not what Jesus Himself said.  He came to seek and save that which was lost.  He also said that he came that we might have life and that we might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)

I think the word “might” does make this passage sound uncertain.  We might have life the same as it might rain.  The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament gives this passage as: “I came that life they may have and abundantly may have.”  It’s a bit awkward, I know.  The Modern Young’s Literal Translation has it better: “I came that they may have life and may have [it] abundantly.”  Using “may have” to translate the Greek does make sense (echo G2192) as it means to hold as a possession or the ability to hold.  The New World Dictionary does say “might” and “may” can be used interchangeably but, while “might” is used to express a shade of doubt or smaller degree of possibility; the first definition of “may” is to be physically capable of doing, ability or power.  I see the meaning of the Greek repeated here and find a whole other pathway of study opening before me!  For the sake of this post, I don’t find any uncertainty in John 10:10 nor do I find any indication this life is reserved for a future time.

John 3:16 is quoted like eternal life is reserved for the future.  If we’ve made the right decision, believed the right thing, we won’t perish, i.e. go to hell after we die.  That’s not what the scripture is saying.  Jesus called us “lost”.  Now.  He came to seek and save that which was lost and he came that we would have abundant life.  Now.  Jesus does not leave us in ignorance of what this life is and, again, I don’t see that it’s something I have to die and go to heaven to attain.  “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

Another passage reserved for the future is, “…I go to prepare a place or you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”  In every church I’ve been in, I’ve heard that interpreted to mean this is something that won’t happen until Jesus returns and sets up His kingdom.  I recently heard Malcolm Smith teach on this passage.  Mr. Smith said there is nothing in the conversation Jesus had with His disciples, a conversation spanning chapters 13-17 of John’s gospel, which indicates Jesus meant something that was to take place in the far out future.  After speaking these words, Jesus was betrayed, tried, crucified, buried, rose again, ascended to the Father, and sent the Holy Spirit.  He thus finished the work God the Father sent Him to do, and through His Spirit, brings us into union with Himself.  The place is prepared for us now.  I had not ever heard this scripture interpreted this way.  It arrested me and I had to meditate on it for quite some time.  

I agree with Mr. Smith’s interpretation.  I do not remember if Mr. Smith quoted this scripture but, if this passage is something that does not take place until the end of the age, how is Ephesians 2:4-7 possible?  That passage states, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loves us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”  I cannot get around the now-ness of all of these verses.  I was dead in my trespasses, lost.  He came and sought me.  I have been made alive in Christ Jesus, now.  I sit with Him in heavenly places, now. 

Because I no longer believe this passage is referring to something that happens after we die or when Jesus returns, does this mean I don’t believe in Jesus returning?  No.  I believe there is still coming the times of restoration of all things (Acts 3:21).  Jesus refers to Himself as the one “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”  (Revelation 1: 8)  The point of this post is to stress the importance of knowing the Jesus who is NOW!  The Christian world has just finished commemorating the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Yesterday (Sunday) came the declaration, “Christ is risen!” and the answer, “He is risen indeed.”  Yes, He is.  In His own words, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.  Amen.” (Revelation 1:18)

I honor He who was.  I anticipate He who is to come.  My joy is in He who is alive and alive in me now.  He inhabits every moment of my life.  May we all see it!  I pray the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to behold it.

Alleluia!  Amen.

Unless notes otherwise, scriptures are quoted from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc. 1982

Reference Materials Used:

Guralnik, David B., Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition, William Collins + World Publishing Company, 1976

Marshall, Reverend Alfred., D. Litt., The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1958

Strong, James, LLD., 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