August 14, 2008

• A little outside the box…

  Lately, some questions have been going through my mind. So let me jump right into it.

  Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but when we hear a minister or pastor or even a prophet speaking the word of God…when they say, “Thus saith the Lord…” we tend to believe that this is definitely what the good book says. But if someone says, “I want, or I prefer, or I will, or I would that you…” even standing in the position of a man of God, expounding upon “church” or even “biblical” principles; do we still say or believe that what they are espousing is actually “the” word, or their word?

  Someone I know and love, a friend who knows my position on this particular issue, showed me this last night:

  1Ti 2:8  I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

  1Ti 2:9  In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;

  1Ti 2:10  But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.

  1Ti 2:11  Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.

  1Ti 2:12  But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

  1Ti 2:13  For Adam was first formed, then Eve.

  1Ti 2:14  And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

  1Ti 2:15  Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

   

  He tried to say that Paul was speaking “as God.” Really? Cause I don’t even see Christ doing that. What did Christ constantly say? I don’t do my will, but the will of Him who sent me. Not one time can I recall that Christ told the people do His will. Yet several times, we see evidence of Paul saying exactly that; “I will that…”or “I would that…” and so on. Is this not subjective? Is this not Paul telling what he prefers, not what thus saith the Lord.

   

  Paul is setting up church doctrine. When I looked up the word “doctrine,” this is what I found: “a particular principle, position, or policy taught or advocated, as of a religion or government.”

   

  A doctrine then, is not “the word” of God, but is a principle, position or policy advocated by a governing body. Any institution has to set up a doctrine, or rules and procedures of operation. However, it’s one thing to say thus saith the Lord concerning a principle, and quite another to say, “I will.”

   

  I also noticed that that word “I” came up alot in the book of the 2 Corinthians, where Paul is so busy boasting. For instance, look at this:

   

  2Cr 2:1  But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness.

   

  Is Paul writing as God here? No. Clearly, he is writing as Paul, and speaking as Paul. So when I get told that certain things Paul says in the first person is “the word of God,” I have to question it, particularly when it espouses a pride based issue against any group or people.

   

  Christ was not about that. Christ did not segregate. He did not oppress. He came to give us all freedom through Him. He came to restore what was in the beginning before the fall, and that was total unity. There was no greater than or lesser than because just like God Himself, the Spirit and the Father worked in one accord…a complete unit.

   

  Do I believe that Paul was God’s man? Yes. Do I believe he was perfect? No. Paul came from a highly religious background. He was all about law, so it is not illogical or surprising that he was the one to set up the church doctrine. Even he spoke about his own failings and the war of his flesh and his spirit. Was that also the word of God as written in Romans? No. It was the word of Paul, because God cannot war in Himself between flesh and spirit. He is not flesh. Was Paul’s words there a guide point, a principle for us, yes, but God’s words…no.

   

  This is why God gave Paul the thorn…because Paul walked in a spirit of pride. He was always boasting…he claimed on the Lord, but it was obvious that it was more about himself, because the word “I” came up quite often and a lot of it appeared to be about Paul’s embarrassment if the he found the church “not as he would.” He was clearly stealing a bit of God’s glory, thus the reason for the thorn. And, aren’t we responsible to distinguish between grace and law, and walk in grace?

   

  Do I say all this to discredit Paul? No, however, aren’t we also called to discern and walk in wisdom as well as with grace? Paul was writing letters to the church. In those letters, he spoke of his trials, tribulations, and how well the ministry was going. He also advised the body of believers (the church) on certain principles of conduct because of the issues that were coming up and being brought to his attention.

   

  Did he give this advice by God’s word? Most of the time, yes. However, I clarify this statement by pointing out that when the prophets came to speak the word of God to a given leader or person in the Old Testament, they never used the word “I” or “I will.” They always said, “Thus saith the Lord.” The only prophet that I personally know of that started to incorporate his own will into what God told him, was Balack, and was almost killed for that reason.

   

  Let me also say, that part of our responsibility as believers, is to study to show ourselves approved, and to discern the spirit of any given thing. Thus, I’m not going to take the word of any pastor, just because they hold a title; especially when a title is clearly only applicable in importance to a chosen few in the echelon of those in positions of power.

   

  Ok…you’re probably questioning that last statement, so let me clear it up. What happened to the woman who gave the two mites? She gave her all for the Lord, and what happened to her? Jesus gave her a title. Jesus said that she would forever be remembered for her sacrifice. However, she’s a woman…so that title is meaningless, because a title would give her (a woman) position and authority over men, and in accordance to the book of Timothy, that’s not supposed to be.

   

  1Cr 1:10  Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and [that] there be no divisions among you; but [that] ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

   

  Look at the reference point in this verse. Paul is beseeching the brethren, in the name of Jesus. So clearly Paul is speaking as representing God here. But look at this:

   

  Act 5:36 For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought. 

   

  This guy started boasting…got full of himself and was destroyed. Below, Paul is both discussing boasting, and doing the boasting, so he was given a thorn.

   

  Rom 3:27 Where [is] boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 

  2Cr 7:14 For if I have boasted any thing to him of you, I am not ashamed; but as we spake all things to you in truth, even so our boasting, which [I made] before Titus, is found a truth. 

  2Cr 8:24 Wherefore shew ye to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love, and of our boasting on your behalf. 

  2Cr 9:3 Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready: 

  2Cr 9:4 Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting. 

  2Cr 10:15 Not boasting of things without [our] measure, [that is], of other men’s labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly, 

  2Cr 11:10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia. 

  2Cr 11:17 That which I speak, I speak [it] not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting. 

   

  There’s a lot of “I” in there among all that boasting. But even Paul himself stated this:

   

  Rom 3:28   For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

   

  My friend, the same one who showed me those verses in Timothy, told me that I still have to obey the law, despite Christ’s sacrifice. He says that I have to obey the governing law of the land. I don’t have issue with that, if it is not violating a biblical principle. However, my point to him was that through Christ, we are to walk by grace, not by law. When we walk in His grace, we would automatically have a tendency towards civil obedience as well as spiritual. The difference then, is that the obedience is not forced upon us as a matter of law, but a willing choice as a matter of grace. This, imo is where the church is falling short in its teachings. It is too focused on forcing an issue of obedience for the purposes of control, and not really teaching people to walk in God’s grace by faith. Am I wrong? What is your opinion on this matter?

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