apophenia2

apophenia2
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Just a thought, Gentle Reader!

Epilogue

Gentle Readers,

It seems almost anti-climatic to leave our wee study of Paul without so much as "by your leave"!

I hope that you realize (those of you that have read all 15 parts, small does of truth/sugar makes it go down a wee easier) that I barely scratched the surface of the theology of your Apostle and mine. Such a brilliant mind, and most of his deeper thought came as a ‘prisoner of the Lord" for us Gentiles! I thought and look through my extensive library and ran across this sermon which rather sums up so much of what I have tried to say in my own bumbling way. I do hope you’ll take the time to read it in it’s entirety.

The Bible and The Cross

"Through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His Cross; through Him, I say, whether things upon earth or things in the heavens." (Col.1:20).

The sphere of reconciliation is declared-- "all things...upon earth or things in the heavens." Describing the glory of Christ in creation the apostle declares-- "In Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth." But when he tells of reconciliation, it is in the opposite order: "things on earth and things in the heavens." The creative order was that of heavens first-- the reconciling order, of earth first. It is not for us to discuss now as to whether this planet of ours is indeed the center of the universe. It is certain there are far reaching stretches of creation of which we know nothing. It is enough at the moment to recognize the fact that, for the purpose of our apprehension of the meaning of life we are compelled to deal with the universe as circling about the earth on which we live. Recognizing necessity, the apostle shows that reconciliation begins here and later affects the heavens. That which demands reconciliation is here, but that which is here exerts its influence to the utmost bound of the creation of God. Heb. 9:23 and context.

This conception of the world at once lifts it and our theme into highest dignity and vastest importance. If we can grasp it, it will deliver us from all mean thinking about our own lives, our own sin, our own redemption.

The sphere of reconciliation is first that of "things on earth." That is not, however, the phrase which startles us most, but "things in the heavens." This all-inclusive term has reference first to angels-- intelligences described elsewhere as "thrones, dominions, principalities, powers." These are included in the reconciliation Christ wrought on His cross.

The conception is a remarkable recognition of the cosmic unity of the universe. Man is seen at the center. Beyond are the far-reaching realms which he is incapable of understanding during his earth-life. At the center of all things Paul sees the CROSS. He declares that by that cross God reconciles all things (lit. "The all") unto Himself. Yet the phrase "things in the heavens" takes us one startling step further. The sphere of reconciliation is not only man,-- not only the created beings in the heavens above him,-- it is that of the very Being of God. Remember the words of the Psalmist-- "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." Omitting for a moment the fact that they have met and kissed, let us consider them separately. They all exist in the nature of God. If we reverently think of God as apart from the mystery of evil, we recognize the perfect harmony of these: mercy, the tenderness bending over in love: truth; which is uprightness, stable, and builds: righteousness, which is a straight line without deviation; peace, which is absolute safety. All these coexist in the nature of God.

The introduction into the universe of the principle of sin breaks up the harmony of these and there is the necessity of reconciling within the very being of God. He is a God of truth. In His universe a being violates truth. How is it possible for Him to bend in tenderness and love over such a one whose action threatens the stability of the universe? God is the God of righteousness of that which cannot deviate from absolute rectitude. The introduction into the presence of essential righteousness of that which contradicts it must make peace impossible. It is not by the caprice of a God who is a despot, but because of the necessity of the essential facts of His Being, that, the moment sin existed in the universe there was need for reconciliation, if mercy and truth, righteousness and peace, were to meet and kiss each other.

The consideration of the suggested sphere of reconciliation leads immediately to our second line of thought,-- that of the nature of reconciliation. This is expressed in the words "unto Himself," or more literally, with reference to Himself. Here again we begin on the lowest level-- "things on earth." What is the nature of the reconciliation necessary to the restoration of order? Fallen man misrepresents God, and "science governs nature." The results? Chaos, instead of cosmos. In the words of the prayer Jesus gave to His disciples, the supreme thing is that His name be hallowed, His kingdom come, His will be done on earth as in heaven. The reconciliation here is restoration to the government of God. The healing of the wound, the closing of the breach, the gathering into one of all that has been scattered. (Eph. 1:10).

What, then, is the reconciliation necessary for the heavens? Peter says "the angels desire to peer into the sufferings of Christ and the glory to follow." Bending over the world, they saw sin and suffering culminating in the experience of Christ. We must ever think of angels as finite; of all the principalities and powers, as limited. While loyal to the government of God, serving with perfect satisfaction, they watch the processes among men without foreknowledge of the issue. Their peering into these things was in the nature of inquiry. I am not suggesting there was even incipient rebellion in these high places. There was surely an expectation that there would be some explanation of the mystery of that which they recognize as a rupture in the nature of God, resulting from the presence of sin in the universe. Angels need an answer to their inquiry.

Again, reverently, we take a further step. Reconciliation, in order to completeness, must be such that, in the BEING of God there shall be possible the continued activity of Mercy and Truth, Righteousness and Peace, so that violence be done to none.

All this leads us finally to the consideration of the supply of the reconciliation which is revealed in His words, "Peace through the blood of His Cross." The Gnostic teachers were suggesting the necessity for the inter-mediation of angels. They were declaring the need for ascetic practices, urging voluntary humility, and even the worship of angels. Paul, recognizing the necessity for reconciliation, not merely as between man and God, but throughout the universe, in the heavens as well as the earth, declares that it is provided in "the blood of His Cross."

In this connection it is necessary to repeat a warning and utter a solemn protest against the idea that when we speak of the Cross, we refer only to a Roman gibbet, and to the death of a Man thereon. If He of the Cross were Man only, then all this writing of the Apostle is not only foolish, but vile dreaming, mirage, and nightmare; a delusion and a snare. On the other hand, if He of the Cross be the Image of the Invisible God, the original Creator and Sustainer of the Universe, the Firstborn out of the mystery of death into life, then in the presence of His Cross I begin to tremble, and yet to believe the declaration that through that Cross He reconciles all things (ta panta-- the universe) unto Himself upon the earth and in the heavens.

Through that Cross there is first the reconciliation of things upon the earth. This is established first by the creation of peace with God in the case of man, and then in the peace of God throughout the order over which redeemed man reigns. The process is a slow one as mortals count time. The travail is an agony, the conflict is unto death, but the victory is assured; and that victory is the reconciliation of all things upon the earth, first of man to God, and then of the whole creation to man in that peace of God which issues from the establishment of His throne, and the right relation thereto of all the kingdom.

Through that Cross also, there is the reconciliation of things in the heaven. We call to mind again the picture of angels desiring to look into these things. As they did so they became conscious of the profoundest depth of the mystery in the hour when Jesus died. It was the mystery of which we spoke before, that of the death of a pure and sinless and therefore deathless Being. Personally, I can have no doubt about the literal accuracy of the Bible story that in the hour of that death the sun darkened. My wonder sometimes is that it ever shone again. The angels saw in the mystery a revelation. They knew the person whom they saw die, and recognized that the death of the Christ must have some profound significance in the economy of God. Through the death of the Lord they beheld man reconciled to God. They saw salvation provided for the sinner in his losing from his sins. They saw the resultant cooperation of the saints as, conformed to His dying, they came to living knowledge of Himself, shared the power of His Resurrection, and entered into the fellowship of His sufferings. They saw these saints bearing through to lower reaches of God’s creation the renewing forces which had remade their own lives.

What effect, think you, had that working out into visibility of the passion and power of the love of God upon the watching angels? It was for them a new unveiling of God. In that Cross they saw Him as they had never seen Him. The essential Light of Deity shone whiter, for holiness was vindicated as never before. The essential Love of Deity shone redder, for compassion was manifested more perfectly. The essential Life of Deity was realized more fully, for all its values were revealed more absolutely. I can imagine that, as the Lord Jesus Christ died, and all the issues of His dying were revealed to them, angels borrowed the song of the Psalmist, and chanted to the measure of their own perfect music:

"Mercy and truth are met together;

Righteousness and peace have kissed each other."

Reverently we come to the last fact in our consideration of this supply of reconciliation. Over two hundred years ago John Leland, a Baptist minister of Massachusetts, preached a sermon which he entitled "The Jarrings of Heaven Reconciled by the Blood of the Cross," in which he attempted to set forth a picture of the high courts of heaven and of the conflict within the very nature of God as the result of the presence of sin in the universe. The sermon may accurately be described as highly imaginative, but that is not a condemnation. There are matters so high that we can never hope to reach them save by the exercise of imagination.

We speak of law and love, of truth and grace, of justice and mercy, and so long as sin does not exist there is no controversy between any of these. If there be no sin, law and love are never out of harmony with grace or each other; truth and grace go ever hand in hand; justice and mercy sing a common anthem. If the law be broken, what is love to do? If truth be violated, how can grace operate? In the presence of crime, how can justice and mercy meet? This is the problem of problems. It is not a problem as between God and man. It is not a problem as between God and the angels. It is a problem between God and Himself. It is answered in the Cross. "God was in Christ," from eternity, in the days of human manifestation, and surely also in the hour of the Cross. Thus, by the way of all the suffering consequent upon the conflict within His own nature, He found the way of reconciliation. By suffering wrought out into human history and in the sight of all the ages, through the Cross, He demonstrated that love meets law as it suffers and fulfills it; grace satisfies the demand of truth of meeting all the issues of its violating; and mercy can operate on the basis of justice, not because God has smitten and afflicted other than Himself, but because, in a mystery which baffles and bruises the intellect as it attempts to encompass it, God has gathered the whole into His own heart, and suffered to reconcile all things (the universe) unto Himself.

Thus, as Christ is the Centre, Source and Goal of the universe, His Cross is the centre, source and goal of reconciliation. The Ephesians letter is the complement of the Colossians. In that the Apostle teaches that through the Church the wisdom of God is manifested to principalities and powers in the heavenly places. Christ and His ransomed people are to exercise a ministry beyond that of today which is initial and preparatory, through all the coming ages. That ministry is to be that of an unveiling of the profoundest thing in the heart of God; the love which, operating through self-abandonment and sacrifice, ransomed, redeemed, and remade lost humanity. The angels will hear the music of love as they have never heard it, as the ransomed sing, "the old, old story of Jesus and His love." Sons of the morning are they, unfallen intelligences who have never known the misery of sin or its pollution; but they will hush their high anthems while the ransomed sing----

"He loved us, and gave Himself for us."

Thus for all the universe and for the ultimate ages, every proceeding in beauty from the Being of God, the Cross will abide the supreme revelation of God, through which all creation will come to an understanding of His holiness and His love, the deepest and truest thing of His being.

What a theme for imagination, which, nevertheless, is utterly incapable of encompassing all the glorious truth! We dream of the birth of ceaseless ages, of new creations, springing like fresh mornings from His wisdom and His might (ability); and as in unfailing procession they appear, Christ and His ransomed Church will sing to them the song of redemption, and while they know the might and majesty of God in the wonder of their life, they will only come to a true apprehension of His heart as we tell them that He loved us, and "loosed us from our sins by His blood."

"In the Cross of Christ I glory,

Towering o’er the wrecks of time.

All the light of sacred story

Gathers around it head sublime."

If by that Cross all things in the heavens are to be reconciled, and infinite peace is to follow, I dare trust it, notwithstanding all my sin and all my weakness. By the way of that Cross I am reconciled to God, and through it I find rest, infinite, eternal, undying. At last my rest shall be rest with the WHOLE CREATION, for the cosmic order will be restored through the mystery of God’s suffering as revealed in the Cross.

_____________________________________________________________

Rev. G. Campbell Morgan, D.D. The Cross and the Ages to Come, From "The Presbyterian"

June 1932, By Permission Scripture Studies Concern, 1050 East Grand Boulevard, Corona, California

Our Man, Paul

Part 15 conclusion

 Our man in the Middle East

Gentle readers,

While volumes have been written about Paul the Apostle and I would like to go on for more days than you have on this earth expounding on how much we owe that man I feel that you have at least an idea of what the apostle is all about. 14 Books no mean feat even by today’s standards . I mean it’s been like pulling teeth to get my little effort out. But Paul not only reaches down to where we live (have you taken the time to read any of his work yet)? The last word that we want to consider is the best as far as I am concerned and that is

Reconciliation Greek

ajpokatallavssw Apokatallasso (ap-ok-at-al-las'-so) in the Greek

It seems to me that words must be very important for several reasons men can not live together in harmony unless they can depend on others to provide the things we need to survive. And for men to live together they must be able to communicate with each other. Before the advent of telephones, computers, email mail and others means of talking to one another, the only means available was writing. And it seemed good that the Lord God would provide a means to communicate with His Creation! Thus writing became most important and following on the heels of writing was the understanding of the written word.

Now all of this seems obvious were it not for the fact that more wars, disputes, arguments have started over one man misunderstanding another. Even in the 21st century we still find that men don’t truly understand one another . And even more so when it comes to Religion.

But unfortunately Even among the most well meaning people there seems to be a problem in understanding what God has said much less what He means when He writes to us for our understanding. God’s word can be compared to an onion once you peel off the first layer there is another and then another and another until you get down to the center. Now each layer is complete in itself but it does not become the center until one strips away each layer to reach the very center.

What does it mean to be reconciled?

To ask what reconciliation means strikes fear into any theologian or Bible

scholar who would dare to bring up the subject of reconciliation and even more so, since the doctrine of so many denominations, groups and creeds are based on teaching of some head, who while not holding the Scriptures as unable to speak for themselves and only if we were to listen to the man rather than to be a Berean and to "search the scriptures" to see if these things are so.

Our desire is to study the scripture and to let God’s word speak! Like Ezra of old we wish "to open the Book" and learn from it. Let us begin to see what God has said.

ROMANS 5: 10 "For if, when we were enemies, we were RECONCILEd to God by the death of his Son, much more, being RECONCILEd, we shall be saved by his life."

1co 7:11 "But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be RECONCILEd to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.’

2co 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath RECONCILED us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

2co 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye RECONCILED to God.

Eph 2:16 And that he might RECONCILE both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

Col 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to RECONCILE all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

Col 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in

your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he RECONCILED

For if, when we were enemies, we were RECONCILEd to God by the death of his Son, much more, being RECONCILEd, we shall be saved by his life.

Reconciliation is a change from enmity to friendship. It is mutual, i.e., it is a change wrought in both parties who have been at enmity. God rather than punnish one who has offended Him rather brings the person who has been an enemy to the place where with "no strings attached" can now become a friend- a best friend!

In Colossians 1:21,22, the word there used refers to a change wrought in the personal character of the sinner who ceases to be an enemy to God by wicked works, and yields up to him his full confidence and love.

In 2 Corinthians 5:20 the apostle beseeches the Corinthians to be "reconciled to God", i.e., to lay aside their enmity.

Romans 5:10 refers not to any change in our disposition toward God, but to God himself, as the party reconciled. Romans 5:11 teaches the same truth. From God we have received "the reconciliation" (RSV), i.e., he has conferred on us the token of his friendship. So also 2Cor. 5:18,19 speaks of a reconciliation originating with God, and consisting in the removal of his merited wrath. In Ephesians 2:16 it is clear that the apostle does not refer to the winning back of the sinner in love and loyalty to God, but to the restoration of God's forfeited favor. This is effected by his justice being satisfied, so that he can, in consistency with his own nature, be favorable toward sinners. Justice demands the punishment of sinners. The death of Christ satisfies justice, and so reconciles God to us. This reconciliation makes God our friend, and enables him to pardon and save us.

So it was given to the Apostle Paul, the theologian to bring to light the fact that it was God bringing us to Himself, for in fact Gentle Reader we would not, you would not come to God on your own. Let’s face it Gentle Readers, if left to ourselves we would never come to the Father on our own!

The picture that Paul wants us to understand is that in the Greek apokatallasso is to exchange hostility for friendship. In other words God wanted you to come back to the point where we could walk together as friends just as Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden in "the cool of the day" (Gen. 3:8 ). No longer do we have to fight, or war, or kill. Nor do we have to do anything to please God. You should also pay attention to the fact that it is only Paul and in his epistles that we learn about the fact that we have been Reconciled!

What do we have to do to get this great gift? It’s so easy that it becomes hard for many- accept! Just accept God at His word! God accepts us.

How that for a finish Gentle Reader?

That’s why I constantly tell you over and over that "You are accepted, you are valued, you are loved,

By God and Gentle Reader by me also!

Love,

Denis

 

 

 

 

 

 

Misunderstanding the directions

Part 14 The Words we use sometimes of time are confusing

Gentle Readers,

We have been looking at some words and expressions that out Apostle, Paul has used we come to one now that has been corrupted that to even try to explain what it means will force some to have their eyes ripped out for the heresy, that I now will share. (However heresy is only heresy if it’s not true, and there is a truth that is truer than truth- Get that?)

Eph 1:22 (21) And hath put all [things] under his feet, and gave him [to be] the (b) head over all [things] to the church, Our word is Church which is the Greek ekklesia which simply means " a gathering". The meeting place of the brothers was almost always in Paul’s time the house of a Brother or Sister or both- as in 1Co 16:19 The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.

Rom 16:5 Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my wellbeloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.

But! Hang on Gentle reader, Ekklesia is comprised of ek ‘out’ and kaleo "to call" and truly means a "called out asembly" in Classical Greek from the 5^th century BC onward and was used for the assembling of "citizens" of the city (polis) for legislation and other public business. We find the word used in the Septuagint for the gathering of Israel for some definite purpose, the usual word is Sunagoge Heb. (Synagogue) When Christ used the word that you read as church He was transforming the word to mean His assembly (of believers) making it distinct from Judaism. He was not starting a new work, or a new Religion, or a new church! He was as God calling back people to himself. In Jesus time He was calling the Jewish people out of their prescribed rituals and formalities - back into the relationship that God had wanted when He walked in the cool of the day with Adam and Eve.

It was Paul that saw beyond the Jewish scope of Christ Ministry (of course Paul had to be blinded first to see that God wanted all of mankind to come to Him). It is extremely significant that Paul states that there is only ONE body Eph. 4:4 which is the "real" universal church". Some teach that unless you belong to this denomination or that one, you just haven’t arrived yet! Other teach that their local assembly, along with other local assemblies who agree with them are "The Church" and that no one else is part of the church no matter what they believe. Biblically however, no earthly denomination or group can be called "The Church." Christ called His family {a gathering together} not "churches"! Many groups that hold a Sunday meeting are (I am sad to say) not taught in Scripture and many more in fact are inherently weak in either theology and method (choosing rather methods from this man or that person rather than the Word and the Words that God has given. God called Paul to begin bringing others Jew and Gentile alike into the Family of God which makes up the "Body of Christ"

for those who want a wee bit more here is some food for thought.

Love,

Denis

 

Mat 16:18 (5) And I say also unto thee, That thou art (l) Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the (m) gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

(5) That is true faith, which confesses Christ, the virtue of which is invincible.

(l) Christ spoke in the Syrian tongue, and therefore did not use this discourse to distinguish between Petros, which signifies Peter, and Petra, which signifies a rock, but in both places used the word Cephas: but his meaning is what is written in Greek, in which the different word endings distinguish between Peter, who is a piece of the building, and Christ the Petra, that is, the rock and foundation: or else he named him Peter because of the confession of his faith, which is the Church's as well as his, as the old fathers witness, for so says Theophylact. That confession which you have made, shall be the foundation of the believers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Words of Paul and God’s meaning

Gentle readers,

It is God who gives us not only the words but the thoughts behind them. When I search for a word to convey a meaning to Marti sometimes I get frustrated because my mind is working faster that my tongue can get the words out. But when we write even the act of putting quill to keyboard will provide the Lord to give us just the “right expression” for God to get through!

Paul uses several words to express God’s thoughts to his readers, for example: Paul calls believers (or rather God through Paul) the Holy [ Greek Hagioi, or Hegiasmenoi] These believers were the holy because they had been incorporated into the body of Christ by baptism (Rom 12:13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality) So we all become one in Christ by virtue of Identification with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Through the action of the Spirit of God, whether we are Jew or Gentile. God brings us into His family. Whether we are slaves or free, all were given to drink that living water of that same Spirit 1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

Another term that Paul uses is “Those in Messiah [Hoi en Christo (I)] Because they are baptized into Christ, the Holy (Saints) can be said to be “in Christ”- or in Messiah-Jesus or in Jesus-Messiah. So Paul can say Gal 1:22 “And was unknown by face unto the *churches of Judaea [*or a better translation the Judaean gatherings] which were in Christ: “ Or similarly 2 Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ,[ khris-tos'] he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new

And in another place Paul refers to “the called” [Kletoi] Paul thinks of the Brothers as summoned to holiness Rom 1:6 Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 1Co 1:24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
House fellows [Oikeioi]: Since the followers meet mainly in each others homes [oikoi], Paul calls them, in general house fellows of our trust Gal 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Those of the Path or Way (Hoi tes Hodou ) This term has become common by the time of the Acts of the Apostles. Therefore Luke can speak of detractors or persecutors of the path Acts 22:4 And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. Of debating or understanding the Path/Way. Acts 19:23 And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. Acts 24:22 And when Felix heard these things, having more perfect knowledge of that way, he deferred them, and said, When Lysias the chief captain shall come down, I will know the uttermost of your matter.

So you can see Gentle Readers, that the name that God Gave is far better than we would give ourselves. Which reminds me of another name. Which we find in the Book of Revelation Rev 22:4 And they shall see his face; and HIS name shall be in their foreheads. Which I take the liberty of developing the thought “Property of the Most High God".
So much to think about Gentle reader, finish your Irish coffee and last one who leaves make sure that we leave a light on for those late comers.
See you next time...
Love,
Denis