Modern Phariseeism

Hey all!
Although I need to take the time to actually write a post of my own, that time is not today. However, I do feel that I should at least post something. So, I have something I would like to share with you all.

In my Bible studying recently, I've been looking at the Pharisees more in depth. So today as I was surfing the web for relevant information, I came across this article on modern day Phariseeism. I was surprised by the insight the author had, and his ability to show me one of the many areas where I have fallen short of God's will for my own life. I hope you all will take the time to read though it, and that it will challenge you just as it has challenged me.

God Bless.                                    

Modern Day Pharisee

"Seven Things the Lord Hates", Love Your Enemies Part 3

"There are six things which the Lord hates,

Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:

17 

Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

And hands that shed innocent blood,

18 

A heart that devises wicked plans,

Feet that run rapidly to evil,

19 

A false witness who utters lies,

And one who spreads strife among brothers."

(Proverbs 6:16-19)

Good day to you all.

Since I have been speaking about loving your enemies lately, I want to speak about something which many persons get stuck on. That is the hatred of God.

How can God love and hate at the same time? When we look at the Bible, we can see that there at least seems to be a God of hatred and of love. Like Proverbs 6:16-19 states, there are many things which Yahweh hates. From that set of verses alone, it even sounds like God hates people, and not just their sins. If we look further in the Bible, this idea of God's hatred for individuals is further confirmed.

"The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.
5 The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked,
And the one who loves violence His soul hates.
6 Upon the wicked He will rain snares;
Fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup.
7 For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness;
The upright will behold His face." (Psalm 11:4-7)

An especially relevant passage gives us a long list of sins which the pre-Israeli inhabitants of the Promised Land committed continuously. This list included child sacrifice, adultery, witchcraft, cursing one's parents, homosexuality, bestiality, and incest. All of these abominable actions made the Lord exceedingly furious. As He declared,

 "You are therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to live will not spew you out. Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I will drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them (the peoples committing sin)." (Leviticus 20:22)

Furthermore, if we take the Bible at its word, then we will see that God is always furious. Yet, this is not just God being angry at sin, rather He is angry with sinners. In fact, this anger is one of violent (not to be confused with murderous) hatred.

"Arise, O Lord, in Your anger;
Lift up Yourself against the rage of my adversaries,
And arouse Yourself for me; You have appointed judgment.
Let the assembly of the peoples encompass You,
And over them return on high.
The Lord judges the peoples;
Vindicate me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and my integrity that is in me.
O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous;
For the righteous God tries the hearts and minds.

"My shield is with God,
Who saves the upright in heart. 
God is a righteous judge,
And a God who has indignation every day. 

"If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword;
He has bent His bow and made it ready.
He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons;
He makes His arrows fiery shafts.

"Behold, he travails with wickedness,
And he conceives mischief and brings forth falsehood.
He has dug a pit and hollowed it out,
And has fallen into the hole which he made. 
His mischief will return upon his own head,
And his violence will descend upon his own pate." (Psalm 7:6-16)

Looking at just these few verses, we find that God is a God of righteous, pure, and even violent hatred (I do not know what is more violent than God sharpening Hist sword to cut down those who do not repent). This fact makes many nervous, since these verses seem to say that God is unloving. Thus, they come up with relatively complicated, or at least nice sounding explanations.

The most well-known explanation that I have found is that God only hates the sin, but not the sinner. However, if we look at the above verses, we find that this simply cannot be the case. If God "hates... a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers" (which are both people, not actions), hates "one who loves violence", and abhorred the Canaanites, then God must apparently hate sinners and not just their sins.

A second well-known explanation is that the Old Testament (and the parts of the New Testament that say the same) is not inspired by God. I am not even going to argue about this. However, if one believes this, please do not claim to be a follower of God for you are calling God a liar. 

So, if we wish to take God at His word, we must believe that God does hate sinners. 

Now, what does all of this have to do with loving your enemies? It determines our message of pleading for them to repent and obey God. As I said before, we love all men and long for the wicked to turn from his ways and live. However, if we do not tell them why they must do so, why do we think they will repent? 

In Psalm 2, we find a good summary of the content of our pleas to the unsaved.

"Why are the nations in an uproar
And the peoples devising a vain thing?

The kings of the earth take their stand
And the rulers take counsel together
Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,

'Let us tear their fetters apart
And cast away their cords from us!'

 "He who sits in the heavens laughs,
The Lord scoffs at them.

Then He will speak to them in His anger
And terrify them in His fury, saying,

'But as for Me, I have installed My King
Upon Zion, My holy mountain.'

"'I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord:
He said to Me, "You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.

"Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance,
And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.
 "You shall break them with a rod of iron,
You shall shatter them like earthenware."'

 "Now therefore, O kings, show discernment;
Take warning, O judges of the earth.
 Worship the Lord with reverence
And rejoice with trembling.

Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way,
For His wrath may soon be kindled. 

How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!" 

This is our message: God is a God of vengeance. He cannot allow evil to stand in His presence, because it offends His holy nature. Yet, not only does He hate evil actions, He hates those who do evil. Because all men are evil (Rom. 3:10-18), all men are under God's wrath and hatred. We are His enemies, and He is preparing His weaponry in order to wipe us all out. Once we have been killed and brought before His judgement seat, He will cast all who are wicked into the lake of eternal fire, being tortured under His righteous hatred forever.

However, God declared to His Son, Jesus Christ, that He would have a Kingdom filled with sons of God as an inheritance forever. Since in Adam, all men are now sinners (Rom. 5:12), all men must be sentenced to Hell, for the wages of sin is eternal death in the lake of fire. Yet, if all men are sentenced to Hell, how can there be an inheritance of men for Christ?

In order to fulfill His promise to Christ, the Father decreed that His Son would pay the penalty of enduring the eternal wrath and hatred of God poured out upon Him for all those whom the Lord has chosen to save. Therefore, the Son came to Earth as a man, lived a perfect life and was crucified by the Father as a perfect sacrifice. As a result, God's wrath for those whom He would save was satisfied eternally.

Yet, how will this substitution be granted to us? How can we escape the wrath of God? We must repent from our wickedness and worship Yahweh in fear. This is impossible for us, because repentance requires that we be born from God. Being born of God means that your soul is crucified with Christ, placed into the grave with Him, and then being resurrected with Christ unto a new soul (Rom. 6:1-11, cf. baptism of the spirit in John 3:5-8). As with one's natural birth, you have no power over this birth (John 3:8). Nevertheless, if you call upon the Name of the Lord, lay down your sins, surrender your life to the King, and fall upon your face in fear before your Heavenly Judge and Executor, He will save you (Rom. 10:13, Psalm 2, Matt. 4:17, Mark 1:15, 6:12, Luke 3:3, Acts 8:22, Jude 1, Acts 16:31, Rom. 10:9). Turn from your evil, for the wrath of God is at hand.


That is our message, the message of the Gospel. It comes forth in great measure from the wrath of God. Therefore, if one does not understand the hatred that God has for sinners, how can one understand fully the Gospel and its magnificence? If we wish to know how to love the unsaved, we must understand the hatred and love of God. If one throws aside the doctrine of God's hatred and judgement for sinners, then one finds an impotent, lackluster "gospel" devoid of any salvific or sanctifying power. Moreover, the holy and glorious God is thrown under the bus in exchange for some foofy, impotent, worthless excuse for a god. However, if all one speaks of is the hatred of God, then one causes a kind of demonic fear and belief (James 2:19) which cannot bring salvation. Also, the greatest attribute of the Trinitarian Lord, which attribute is love, is hidden and thus a demonic, sadistic god is put in God's place.

Therefore, I urge all of you to think about these things. Read the Word of the Lord, and understand who He is. Moreover, I beg of you to ponder the fearful majesty of our God. Do not take His love nor His hatred lightly. Instead, rejoice with trembling, glory in His grace, and serve Him with fear (Deut. 10:12, 1 Samuel 12:24).

God Bless.

Love Your Enemies

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48)

Good day to you all, Brethren. For quite some time, I have wanted to write upon one of the most important subjects of all time. This subject lies at the foundation of Christianity, being not only the  summation of the way in which the Children of God must walk, not only the breath and life of believers, but it is also the foundational element of God and the great gravity which binds together the Holy Trinity. Love is the basis of all that God does, has done, and will do. Therefore, we can rightly say that love is not merely a description of God, but rather that God is love (1 John 4:7-8). 


This reality is arguably the most important reality for us to grasp, and a full discussion of love would last for an eternity, since our God is eternal and unfathomable. However, in this post, I wish to discuss a specific aspect of love, one which is beyond us: love of our enemies.


Out of all types of love, this is probably the most difficult of all. Honestly, it is difficult to love someone who is always attempting to put you down or undermine your faith, or even kill you for believing Christ and obeying Him. It is difficult (to say the least) to do good to those who do evil to you (Romans 12:17-21, cf. 1 Peter 3:8-12). Nevertheless, it is commanded.


So, if we are to understand how we are to treat our enemies, the first question we must ask is: what is love?


Well, I can tell you that love is not a wonderful fluttering in one's heart over, or an infatuation with, someone, although those can be outward signs of love under certain circumstances. How do I know this? God, who is in a very real sense the essence of love itself, does not love in this manner.


"God is a righteous judge,
And a God who has indignation every day.

If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword;
He has bent His bow and made it ready.
He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons;
He makes His arrows fiery shafts.
Behold, he travails with wickedness,
And he conceives mischief and brings forth falsehood.
He has dug a pit and hollowed it out,
And has fallen into the hole which he made.
His mischief will return upon his own head,
And his violence will descend upon his own pate." (Psalm 7:11-16)

Therefore, God’s love for man does not necessitate giddy infatuation over them. Now, one may look at this passage and say that it shows a god of hate, not love. However, we in the modern church have been emphasizing the word love for so long that it has actually lost its original meaning and power. God is not giddy over sinners (or even us who are saved), nor is He romantically in love with anyone (the Song of Solomon was not a picture of the love Christ has for His Church, quite frankly that idea is absolutely revolting and blasphemous on so many levels). Nevertheless, God does love all men, even those whom He has righteously decreed to be created as hell-bound vessels of wrath. 

 

How is it that the Lord still loves those whom He is sharpening His sword against to slay? How is it possible to be absolutely furious with those who refuse to repent (Psalm 2:4-6), so furious that you command your Son to dash them to pieces with an iron rod (Psalm 2:9) and ultimately cast them into untold, eternal torment and yet love them? Honestly, I do not know. I firmly believe that this is a reality too deep for mortal man to understand, but it is true nonetheless.     

However, I will admit that this still does not seem like love to our modern minds. Honestly, few will look at these truths and see love behind them. Nevertheless, love is there. First of all, the Father does this out of love for the Son (since it was love that motivated Him to give all things into the hand of Christ) (John 5:20-23) and the Son then obeys the Father out of love (John 14:31), destroying the unrighteous and then giving the Kingdom back to the Father (1 Cor. 15:24-28). Thus, all this is done in an ultimate sense as a result of the love within the Trinity.

Secondly, God also does this in spite of the love He has for the perishing ones.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48)

 

This passage is found in the well-known Sermon on the Mount. Here we find a powerful declaration of God’s love even for those who hate Him. Firstly, Christ repeats a statement popular among the unsaved-yet-super-spiritual persons of all time: namely, love those that love you and hate everyone else. However, Christ declared that this idea is completely false. In fact, one must love not only his brothers, but also those who are enemies of yourself and God. Why? Because God does the same thing. In spite of the hatred of unbelievers, God showers innumerable blessings upon them. He grants them rain, sun, snow, food and happiness (Acts 14:17), and all other blessings (such as the sending of Grace and Truth incarnate, Christ Jesus, to proclaim the truth).

Yet, is this love, or is this mere concern for them? Well, we must look at this passage in further detail to determine this.

First, Christ states that we must be perfect just as our Father is perfect. Moreover, we are to be sons of our Father, and sons are called to become images of the Son (Romans 8:29), and Christ merely does what His Father does (John 5:19). Therefore, whatever we are commanded in this passage to do is what our Trinitarian God does.  

So, what are we commanded to do? Agape our enemies. In this text, Christ uses the word agape (ἀγαπᾶτε specifically) to denote what kind of love we must have for our enemies (those who hate us and thus hate God). This is not merely being nice to the other person, rather it is true love.

 

Yet, what is this love? Well, I would argue that the best summation of agape love is found in 1 Corinthians 13.

“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

This love, agape love, is the love which we must have for all men, not merely fellow believers. This is not to say that we love those outside of the Church in the same exact way as we love those inside the body, for we are commanded to give especial love to the Church (Galatians 6:10). Nevertheless, we must be patient, kind, selfless, humble, gentle, enduring, hopeful, unfailing, never keeping a record of how they have wronged us. 

 

This has huge implications for us. For example, this is one of the reasons why we Christian workers are called to do good to our unsaved masters (Eph. 6:5, 1 Peter 2:18, Titus 2:9-10). In all of this, we are to work hard, as for the Lord (Colossians 3:22-24). Why would we do so? Well, we love both God and man, and we long for all men to escape the wrath to come. Like our Lord, we do not take pleasure in the destruction of the wicked, but rather long for them to turn from their evil ways and live (Ezekiel 18:23). We realize that living a holy life will make an impression upon those who are outside of the faith, and thus our hard work may lead to the repentance of our unsaved bosses. This is love, and this is what motivates us in all our dealings with the unsaved, even those who hate us.

Again, we are called to love those outside of the Church. This is key, since if we love only those inside the Church, what reward do we have? It is easy to love those in the Church, because they will love you back. However, it is so much harder to truly love those outside of the Church because they will often hate us in return. Nevertheless, it is still commanded of us, and is a demonstration that our love for God and man is far greater than the “love” which the unsaved have for one another.

Now, does love always bring peace? No, for Christ came to bring a sword, not peace (Matthew 10:34-36), and our love will inevitably stir up hatred, even possibly amongst those closest to us. This is not because we are unloving, rather our patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, self-control, etc., is of the Spirit, and God is light. As I have said before, men love darkness and hate light (John 3:19-21), and therefore will hate our love. Moreover, they will really hate the message which we lovingly preach (Eph. 4:15), which is Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 1:23), and this reveals their sins, which is something they fear (John 3:20). Therefore, it is the very love we have for them and the message it compels us to preach that will both draw some and repel others. As wise men have said, love hurts.

Because of what we originally declared about this passage (from Matthew 5) being based upon a command to be like our Heavenly Father, loving whom He loves and in the same way, we must also conclude that God has this same required love for those who hate Him and will hate Him eternally. God must love all men with agape love, otherwise He would be no better than the unsaved. It is this love for all, coupled with His justice, fury, holiness, faithfulness, kindness, mercy, gentleness, goodness, and all of His other attributes that sets Him above all men. Moreover, the degree to which we imitate this love is the degree to which we are set apart (sanctified) from those who hate the Lord.

God’s love for all men is the type of love described in 1 Cor. 13. Look throughout the Bible (especially in the life of Christ), and we see God’s patience, kindness, humility, selflessness, lack of swift provocation, forgiveness and passing over the times of ignorance, not retaliating against those who spat on Him, hatred and sadness over evil but joy over truth, bearing all things, full of hope, and enduring even the worst of trials unscathed. Overall, His love never failed, and never will fail. What love is this!

One could go for an eternity about this subject, but I must close sometime. So, let me close with this. We must love all men, even those that would kill us. We must never cease to do good to all men (Galatians 6:10), not only through teaching them the truth, but also through doing general good things for them (Romans 12:19-21). We must be like the Good Samaritan, showing mercy to and loving your neighbors, even those who are of a nation which collectively hates you, in our case, those who are citizens of the kingdom of Satan (Luke 10:25-37). Ultimately, it is not enough to love those within the Church. We must also love those who hate us, for that is a love beyond humanity: the agape of God.

Grace and peace to you all.

The Understandable Standard

                Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. 

Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind. 

Because we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. Because when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”—and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 

So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, Because no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. 

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. 

...the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. 

Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness...

These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.” 

This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. 

Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 

...Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 

Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

 

(Selected portions of 2 Peter)

 

Brethren, I hope that you take the time to read through, not only the above portions, but the whole of 2 Peter. It is quite a magnificent book of which I am just now being shown the vast significance. If I could mine through this book in proper detail, as is demanded by it, it would take far more posts than I can currently dedicate to it. Moreover, my knowledge of the Greek is not currently up to par, which it must be if I am to properly take away the full teaching of this text. Therefore, I will be focusing upon a very small portion of teaching found therein which has been brought to the fore of my mind recently by the Lord's working in my life.

This post will be focusing upon the understandability of all Scripture, its objectivity and its sufficiency to instruct us on what it is truly saying. In doing so, this will shed light upon the destructive blasphemy which proceeds from many persons claiming to properly understand the Word and Christ. I pray that the Lord will use this to steady the knees of the weak in faith and crush the legs of the proud.

 

Have you ever been in a debate about some theological issue, and had the person with whom you are speaking say, "Well that's just your interpretation!", or, "You can't say that is what the Bible truly means, since the Bible is subject to the interpretation of the individual!" Maybe the other person did not say that, but you yourself did. Either way, you understand the two theologies which are conflicting here. These I will call Self-perceived Interpretation and Spirit-led Interpretation. 

 

If we study these two theologies, we find the former theology declares that it is the individual on his own that determines what the Scripture means. This presupposes that men come to the Bible with presuppositions, gained from life-experiences, environment, culture, and teachings gained from parents or parental figures. These presuppositions, etc., are inseparable from the individual and thus, unknowingly, color his thinking about the text of Scripture. Thus, even if one still argues that the Scripture has only one "true" interpretation, such interpretation cannot be made by the people of today. Therefore, Scripture is not understandable and thus one cannot now say, "Thus saith the Lord". Either this, or one just believes that the Bible was never understandable to begin with and thus every interpretation of it is just as valid as the next.

 

The latter theology also rests upon the idea that the Bible is not understandable. That is, it is not understandable to man's mind (please pay careful attention to what I am writing so that you understand what I am saying), because man cannot understand the truth. This is because they are totally depraved, unwilling to submit to God and His teaching (Rom. 3:10-18). As a result, the Lord blinds their eyes, stops their ears, and closes their minds (Isaiah 6:9). Thus, we find that although the Word of God is sown upon many men, most of them do not understand it (Matthew 13:18-22). Thus, according to the Parable of the Sower, misunderstanding is not the fault of the Word of God, but of the unrepentant heart of the hearer. 

 

In spite of this, the Word of God is understood by some (Mat. 13:23). This is an impossibility if we rely upon men to do this, because understanding of the Word always brings forth fruit unto righteousness, which is in keeping with repentance, without which no man will see God (Luke 3:8-9, 6:43-45), and we know that it is impossible for man to save himself from the wrath of God (Mat. 19:25-26). Therefore, there must be an outside agent which grants him understanding of the Word. What (or who) is this agent? The Holy Spirit is according to 1 John 2:27 (cf. vs. 20-21, Acts 10:38, 44-48, 2 Cor. 1:21-22, John 14:25-26, 16:12-15). Thus, it is the Spirit of God that illuminates the mind, bringing men to the true knowledge of God and sanctifying the repentant with the truth of the Bible (John 17:17, cf. Rom. 8:28-30). 

 

Knowing the above, we can declare, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Spirit is more than capable of granting knowledge to the repentant and does so according to the Will of the Father and of Christ. Therefore, the Bible can ultimately be understood, but only to those whom the Lord has subjugated and granted sonship.

 

Now that we have sufficiently spoken to this issue of Spirit-led Interpretation, let us turn to 2 Peter (as I said I would).

 

To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. 

 

According to this first portion, the Lord has granted to us everything we need  for life and godliness. What is the vessel utilized for this granting? It is the true knowledge of God and our Lord Jesus Christ. This knowledge comes through understanding the Scriptures, for nothing else is sufficient for equipping the Man of God for every good work (cf. 2 Timothy 3:14-17, 2:15, 24-26, 3:1-9). Only through faith in this Word will we be granted moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. If these things are not found in a man, then he is not saved since no good tree bears bad fruit, and every bad-fruit-bearing tree is cut down and thrown into Hell (Luke 6:43, Mat. 7:15-23).     

 

Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind. Because we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. Because when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”—and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.  

So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, Because no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. 

 

Peter understood that the Holy Spirit grants the repentant knowledge of the truth and will lead them into further understanding of the Word. This is why he knows that these believers already have been established in the truth, and that he can stir them to the aforementioned love and good deeds (cf. Hebrews 10:24). This is not only because the Spirit is capable of producing this, but also because the declarations and doctrines which they have pronounced are not misleading falsehoods about Christ. Rather, the Message (Logos) from God (which is, and is summed up in, Christ, cf. John 1, esp. vs. 17) which they preached was sure and powerful (Hebrews 4:12), powerful enough to produce light within the hearts of the repentant and create good works within them. 

 

How is this possible if men cannot understand it? The message preached by the Apostles (which is only "Christ and Him crucified", 1 Cor. 1:23) was crafted solely by the Holy Spirit and not by their own imaginations (2 Tim. 3:16, cf. John 14:25-26). Because of this, we can say that, just as the other prophecies of Scripture, the doctrines of God found within the whole of Scripture is not a matter of the interpretations of the individual. Rather, they were created by the Holy Spirit who spoke directly through the Prophets, Writers, Apostles, and the Son. Therefore, as we established above, the Spirit interprets the Scripture and reveals it to the repentant (I may speak about how this happens later, but for now let us move on), and thus the Word has a fixed meaning understandable to those whose hearts have been born of the Will of God (John 1:12-13). 

 

"Are you saying then that all those denominations out there are then wrong!"

 

If anyone agrees with the Word, then he is right. However, if anyone disagrees with the Word, he is wrong. This has nothing to do with "us vs. them". Rather, it is truth vs. error. If one refuses to believe the Word, he is by definition wrong, no matter who he is. However, this is not merely his fault, since no man understands or seeks after God on his own (Rom. 3:11). Rather, the Spirit has not worked in them yet to produce that fruit of knowledge. Therefore, they do not understand because their hearts are still holding on to some sin or another. This is not to say that misunderstanding a passage means that you are not saved. Rather, it means that you are immature in your faith in some area, and thus must be propelled onward by other believers to understand the Word, all through the working of the Spirit.

 

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. 

...the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. 

Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness...

These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.” 

But do not be deceived, there are wolves among us. These are men who declare destructive heresies, teachings which are not in accordance with the Words of Christ (1 Tim. 6:3-10). In doing so, they act as Balaam, a sorcerer who lead Israel astray towards other gods (Numbers 31, esp. vs. 16). This is especially true of those who preach that the Bible cannot be understood. Why? Because if the Bible cannot be understood, then God is a liar for saying all that He has, and may every man be found a liar and God be found blameless (Rom. 3:4). Therefore, if someone proclaims that God is a liar, he does not know the Scriptures nor the power of God, and thus must repent and believe the Gospel. For those who preach these heresies, they are stains and blemishes on the Church, loving to deceive others, enticing them by their lusts to follow after the Devil, speaking words out of arrogance, sensual, enslaving men in their sins, dogs returning to vomit and pigs returning to the mudpits from whence they came (cf. Jude). 

 

Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.     

Again we find that some Scripture is hard to understand. The Holy Spirit here declares that some of what Paul wrote, as well as other portions of Scripture, are hard to understand. However, it is only impossible to understand for those who are untaught and unstable. Truly, you can know what every verse means if you are taught of God. However, if you are unstable, not only will you twist the "harder" parts of Scripture, but you will also twist the rest of Scripture. 

 

Because of this, we must be on our guard so that we are not brought into the error of the untaught and unstable. If we are not on guard, we will no longer be steadfast in the truth, stunting our growth in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is why the truth is so vital, and why we must believe that every verse can be understood. If we do not, then it is impossible to grow in Christ, and God's Promises are null and void.

Am I saying then that everyone who disagrees with me is wrong? No, nor am I saying that disagreeing with me on an issue is wrong in any form. Rather, anyone (including myself) who disagrees with the understandable standard of the Word of God is wrong. This doctrine must be held high, for without it we Christians of all people are to be the most pitied (1 Cor. 15:9).

 

May Christ grant you all the Knowledge of Himself.