When we turn to 2 Peter: 1-10, our search reveals another mention
of gifts in verse 2, “...as His divine power has given to us all things
that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who
called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us excee-
dingly great and precious promises, that through these you might be
partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust.” According to the Apostle Peter, all things
having to do with life and godliness and the promises are gifts. Faith
is established as a gift from God, and; ("Faith cometh by hearing and
hearing by the Word of God." “without faith it is impossible to
please God.”) See Romans 10: 17 and Hebrews 11: 6...
I had missed something critical in this above passage and thought it
necessary to mention it here. From the passage in 2 Peter we find:
"Through these you might be partakers of the Divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust...."
Have you ever considered "partakers of the Divine nature," to be one
of the gifts of the Spirit? This is not ours because we deserve such. It
is certainly impossible to earn such a wonderful gift. In addition, this
is included; We escape the "corruption" of the world, "lust." This
is possibly the most important earthly gift outside of the gift of eter-
nal life and our source of that life is the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
In verse 5 we are given the opportunity to do something. I believe
the passage unique in Scripture, since it instructs believer (faithful)
to build on something established of the Lord. Faith is awarded by
the Lord, without regard to merit. It is a foundation on which we are
to build virtue, ("...all good and perfect gifts come from above...")
and to virtue knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, bro-
therly kindness and love. Each of the traits we are instructed to add
to our faith are traits we cannot develop on our own. Each one must
come from God. The passage comes with a warning. If we do not
add to our lives the traits listed, in the power of Christ, we cannot
be assured of salvation. Here, we are faced with a negative proof.
We are not the Children of God because we have, or are developing
the listed traits. The traits come upon, or follow after believers, since
there is that relationship.
(The apple does not fall far from the tree; the "Tree of Life.")
A way to summarize the above we learned in 1970 from Dr. Bill
Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, Intl.. His messa-
ges in a Lay Institute for Evangelism at Ridgecrest, N. C. opened
my eyes to the concept; As children of God, everything we do is of
faith. He presented “how to” messages on walking by faith, loving
by faith, worshiping by faith, witnessing by faith and giving by faith.
In subsequent sessions we learned some of the “Steps to Christian
Maturity,” showing everything a Child of God does is to be in faith.
One simple example of the way he taught; explained the Scripture,
several passages, that the Kingdom of God is not of the flesh or this
world. Every experience with God must by by faith. Since God is
Spirit and is not known through any of the five senses, we may only
experience Him by substance of hope and evidence unseen. There is
no proof in this. The Child of God does not look for proof, but the
Lord, has not left us without proofs. As we see above, when we love
the unlovely, perform good deeds without expecting reward, develop
patience, kindness, self control, and begin to become partakers of
Divine nature, it's proof enough for us, and those around us who see
we have begun, in the Spirit of God, to live a life above reproach.
The proofs are established when we try Him through giving our sub-
stance and are blessed a s a result. We have answers to prayer that
could only come from the Lord. To use another frame of reference;
we know the Spirit of God is working, around and through us, and
have come to the place of believing the unseen more than the seen
and realize the unseen is permanent. When our hope is in the Lord,
the things of this life are loosely held. Hope and faith in God are
paramount.
On the surface, our next passage seems to be unrelated, but as we
look closely, the first chapter of James, verses 16-20, issue a warning.
It has to do with pride that might come as we believe credit is due us
for spiritual gifts. If we have a sense of accomplishment or believe our
gifts are the result of some merit of our own, we tend to be verbose,
unresponsive to advice of others and short on patience with those we
believe to be less gifted or spiritual than are we. Since each is a gift
from God, we are totally undeserving. This brings a humble Spirit,
that comes with each Spiritual gift. The more one is spiritually gifted,
the greater the humility. To put it another way, when one receives a
gift of the Spirit, meaning an ability given by God, not naturally ours
by birth, there is an accompanying sense of unworthiness on the part
of the beneficiary. The sense of humility might even be evidence that
an ability is, in truth, a gift from the Lord and not natural ability. As
we continue in James to 4: 6-10 we find support for this. The giving
of “more grace,” is certainly related to humility of spirit and God’s
resistance to the proud and grace to the humble is supported more
strongly in verse 10: “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and
He will lift you up.” If we conclude; the more one is blessed of the
Lord, realizing the gifts are from Him, the "natural" result will be a
“broken and contrite” heart. (In Psalm 51: 17, "The sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.These, O God, You will
not despise." As we move now to Hebrews 8: 10-13, a quote from the
Old Testament, we are reminded of the greatest gift of all. In verse 12
I will “be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their
lawless deeds I will remember no more.” What greater gift could we
ask? In an earlier passage there is the gift of the law written on our
hearts. The interesting development; we no longer need teachers, but
may be taught what we need by the Holy Spirit. Under the “Old Cove-
nant,” the Spirit came upon certain chosen vessels of God. The Spirit
apparently came and went like the wind. Under the New Covenant,
every believer is baptized of the Holy Spirit and as the Lord promises,
in Matthew 28, “and lo I am with you alway.” Another place He says,
“...I will never leave you...”, the understanding is the Holy Spirit, resi-
ding upon and within the believer will not leave. This gives believers
of the New Covenant a great advantage over the Old Covenant belie-
ver. Since the Lord is constantly available in us, the gifts remain, the
knowledge remains and there is no evidence falling from that grace is
an option. This is consistent with the orthodox position. The Spirit of
Jesus Christ, living His life in the believer, is in control of the life, per-
fects that believer through the process of sanctification. In verse 26
of the 10th chapter of Hebrews we find a disturbing concept:
“If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge
of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin...”
(Hebrews 10:26)
This may refer to one who has come face to face with our Lord Jesus,
rejects Him, continuing to rebel against the truth. In this case there is
obviously no hope for that person as long as this continues. This pas-
sage does not (in my view) teaches loss of salvation for believers who
may slip into sin. There is indication he was not born again, but kno-
wing truth, continues to reject it for love of this world system or a sin-
ful lifestyle. {The rich young ruler, Mark 10: 17-22)}
Hebrews 8: 10-13, 10: 16-23
There are those among us who believe you and I, as Children of God
only need the “assistance” of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ when we
perform “Spiritual” tasks. I disagree with this concept simply from
references in writings of the Apostle Paul requiring death to self/flesh
and new life in Christ. Since we are dead to our selves or the flesh,
how can we do anything outside our relationship with Christ. To try to
live for the Lord God in this manner could lead to Spiritual and emo-
tional problems resulting in schizophrenia. We must live whole lives,
preserve our integrity in Christ and refuse the temptation to separate
life into sacred and secular. This could result in the personal justifica-
tion of sin in our lives. According to Scripture, we as God’s children
are born along in every situation we face, by our relationship to Jesus
Christ, without exception. When we sin, we make Christ a part of sin?
That may be why he commands us not to sin. (Quench the Spirit?) Sin
in the life of a believe is as critical as is sin in the life of one who does
not know Him. God help us live a "life above reproach" He has made
available to each as we walk with Jesus Christ in the Spirit of God. The
better we know Him, the less likely we are to have a sin problem. Can
there be an excuse for the prevailing ignorance of God's will and ways
apparent in the lives of people of the church today. We have his word
on it.
Do not allow it to stand when someone, in your hearing deni-
grates religion. It is clear when someone thinks of religion as a
substandard idea and fails to grasp the true meaning, they have
not read the following passage from God's Word, the Bible:
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is, to visit
the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself
unspotted from the world." James 1:27 There are times when
the definition of "True Religion" is not lived out by followers, but
that does not negate the Word of God on the practice.
.
Hebrews 10: 16-17, "This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts,
and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more."
donporter,sr 11.02.12, edited 12.20.14, 3.10.15
of gifts in verse 2, “...as His divine power has given to us all things
that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who
called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us excee-
dingly great and precious promises, that through these you might be
partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust.” According to the Apostle Peter, all things
having to do with life and godliness and the promises are gifts. Faith
is established as a gift from God, and; ("Faith cometh by hearing and
hearing by the Word of God." “without faith it is impossible to
please God.”) See Romans 10: 17 and Hebrews 11: 6...
I had missed something critical in this above passage and thought it
necessary to mention it here. From the passage in 2 Peter we find:
"Through these you might be partakers of the Divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust...."
Have you ever considered "partakers of the Divine nature," to be one
of the gifts of the Spirit? This is not ours because we deserve such. It
is certainly impossible to earn such a wonderful gift. In addition, this
is included; We escape the "corruption" of the world, "lust." This
is possibly the most important earthly gift outside of the gift of eter-
nal life and our source of that life is the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
In verse 5 we are given the opportunity to do something. I believe
the passage unique in Scripture, since it instructs believer (faithful)
to build on something established of the Lord. Faith is awarded by
the Lord, without regard to merit. It is a foundation on which we are
to build virtue, ("...all good and perfect gifts come from above...")
and to virtue knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, bro-
therly kindness and love. Each of the traits we are instructed to add
to our faith are traits we cannot develop on our own. Each one must
come from God. The passage comes with a warning. If we do not
add to our lives the traits listed, in the power of Christ, we cannot
be assured of salvation. Here, we are faced with a negative proof.
We are not the Children of God because we have, or are developing
the listed traits. The traits come upon, or follow after believers, since
there is that relationship.
(The apple does not fall far from the tree; the "Tree of Life.")
A way to summarize the above we learned in 1970 from Dr. Bill
Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, Intl.. His messa-
ges in a Lay Institute for Evangelism at Ridgecrest, N. C. opened
my eyes to the concept; As children of God, everything we do is of
faith. He presented “how to” messages on walking by faith, loving
by faith, worshiping by faith, witnessing by faith and giving by faith.
In subsequent sessions we learned some of the “Steps to Christian
Maturity,” showing everything a Child of God does is to be in faith.
One simple example of the way he taught; explained the Scripture,
several passages, that the Kingdom of God is not of the flesh or this
world. Every experience with God must by by faith. Since God is
Spirit and is not known through any of the five senses, we may only
experience Him by substance of hope and evidence unseen. There is
no proof in this. The Child of God does not look for proof, but the
Lord, has not left us without proofs. As we see above, when we love
the unlovely, perform good deeds without expecting reward, develop
patience, kindness, self control, and begin to become partakers of
Divine nature, it's proof enough for us, and those around us who see
we have begun, in the Spirit of God, to live a life above reproach.
The proofs are established when we try Him through giving our sub-
stance and are blessed a s a result. We have answers to prayer that
could only come from the Lord. To use another frame of reference;
we know the Spirit of God is working, around and through us, and
have come to the place of believing the unseen more than the seen
and realize the unseen is permanent. When our hope is in the Lord,
the things of this life are loosely held. Hope and faith in God are
paramount.
On the surface, our next passage seems to be unrelated, but as we
look closely, the first chapter of James, verses 16-20, issue a warning.
It has to do with pride that might come as we believe credit is due us
for spiritual gifts. If we have a sense of accomplishment or believe our
gifts are the result of some merit of our own, we tend to be verbose,
unresponsive to advice of others and short on patience with those we
believe to be less gifted or spiritual than are we. Since each is a gift
from God, we are totally undeserving. This brings a humble Spirit,
that comes with each Spiritual gift. The more one is spiritually gifted,
the greater the humility. To put it another way, when one receives a
gift of the Spirit, meaning an ability given by God, not naturally ours
by birth, there is an accompanying sense of unworthiness on the part
of the beneficiary. The sense of humility might even be evidence that
an ability is, in truth, a gift from the Lord and not natural ability. As
we continue in James to 4: 6-10 we find support for this. The giving
of “more grace,” is certainly related to humility of spirit and God’s
resistance to the proud and grace to the humble is supported more
strongly in verse 10: “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and
He will lift you up.” If we conclude; the more one is blessed of the
Lord, realizing the gifts are from Him, the "natural" result will be a
“broken and contrite” heart. (In Psalm 51: 17, "The sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.These, O God, You will
not despise." As we move now to Hebrews 8: 10-13, a quote from the
Old Testament, we are reminded of the greatest gift of all. In verse 12
I will “be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their
lawless deeds I will remember no more.” What greater gift could we
ask? In an earlier passage there is the gift of the law written on our
hearts. The interesting development; we no longer need teachers, but
may be taught what we need by the Holy Spirit. Under the “Old Cove-
nant,” the Spirit came upon certain chosen vessels of God. The Spirit
apparently came and went like the wind. Under the New Covenant,
every believer is baptized of the Holy Spirit and as the Lord promises,
in Matthew 28, “and lo I am with you alway.” Another place He says,
“...I will never leave you...”, the understanding is the Holy Spirit, resi-
ding upon and within the believer will not leave. This gives believers
of the New Covenant a great advantage over the Old Covenant belie-
ver. Since the Lord is constantly available in us, the gifts remain, the
knowledge remains and there is no evidence falling from that grace is
an option. This is consistent with the orthodox position. The Spirit of
Jesus Christ, living His life in the believer, is in control of the life, per-
fects that believer through the process of sanctification. In verse 26
of the 10th chapter of Hebrews we find a disturbing concept:
“If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge
of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin...”
(Hebrews 10:26)
This may refer to one who has come face to face with our Lord Jesus,
rejects Him, continuing to rebel against the truth. In this case there is
obviously no hope for that person as long as this continues. This pas-
sage does not (in my view) teaches loss of salvation for believers who
may slip into sin. There is indication he was not born again, but kno-
wing truth, continues to reject it for love of this world system or a sin-
ful lifestyle. {The rich young ruler, Mark 10: 17-22)}
Hebrews 8: 10-13, 10: 16-23
There are those among us who believe you and I, as Children of God
only need the “assistance” of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ when we
perform “Spiritual” tasks. I disagree with this concept simply from
references in writings of the Apostle Paul requiring death to self/flesh
and new life in Christ. Since we are dead to our selves or the flesh,
how can we do anything outside our relationship with Christ. To try to
live for the Lord God in this manner could lead to Spiritual and emo-
tional problems resulting in schizophrenia. We must live whole lives,
preserve our integrity in Christ and refuse the temptation to separate
life into sacred and secular. This could result in the personal justifica-
tion of sin in our lives. According to Scripture, we as God’s children
are born along in every situation we face, by our relationship to Jesus
Christ, without exception. When we sin, we make Christ a part of sin?
That may be why he commands us not to sin. (Quench the Spirit?) Sin
in the life of a believe is as critical as is sin in the life of one who does
not know Him. God help us live a "life above reproach" He has made
available to each as we walk with Jesus Christ in the Spirit of God. The
better we know Him, the less likely we are to have a sin problem. Can
there be an excuse for the prevailing ignorance of God's will and ways
apparent in the lives of people of the church today. We have his word
on it.
Do not allow it to stand when someone, in your hearing deni-
grates religion. It is clear when someone thinks of religion as a
substandard idea and fails to grasp the true meaning, they have
not read the following passage from God's Word, the Bible:
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is, to visit
the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself
unspotted from the world." James 1:27 There are times when
the definition of "True Religion" is not lived out by followers, but
that does not negate the Word of God on the practice.
.
Hebrews 10: 16-17, "This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts,
and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more."
donporter,sr 11.02.12, edited 12.20.14, 3.10.15
