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The Active Power of Faith

“And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

When God grants the gift of faith that enables us at the point of salvation (Ephesians 2:8), it should not be seen as a static power that merely resides in our minds but rather an empowerment that is expected to grow into a dynamic and demonstrable “divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4-9).

Faith preserves and protects us. Jesus insisted, “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24). These words are precise. Once faith is exercised, an eternal transaction takes place wherein a person is “passed” from spiritual death to eternal life. This is an absolute change and eliminates the possibility of hell (John 10:28-29).

Faith is power for effective prayer. The “mustard seed” promise in Matthew 17:20 does not refer to size or amount but to quality. The Greek comparative hoce, translated “as” in that passage, refers to the same kind of faith as the mustard seed. Just so, the promise of Matthew 7:7 (that if you ask and seek, you will find) depends on our confidence (faith) in the heavenly Father.

Faith is our “shield” against the Enemy. The seven pieces of God’s armor identified in Ephesians 6:10-18 include “the shield of faith” that provides an ability “to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (v. 16). That shield is defensive in the sense that it only provides protection when we use it to block the “darts.” The active use comes when we “resist the devil” (James 4:7) “in the faith” (1 Peter 5:9).

Do you use faith as God intended? HMM III

Renewing of the Holy Spirit

“...the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” (Titus 3:5)

The Holy Spirit’s eternal impacts on our lives (regeneration and renewal) are brought together in this text in a rather unique way. To begin with, the Greek words are unusual—“regeneration” being used only twice in the New Testament and “renewal” only five times in various forms. They come together only in this passage.

“Regeneration” (paliggenesia) means to “birth again.” The connection to our salvation is well established and does not need much explanation here. “Renewal” (anakainosis) in its variations is a bit more difficult to describe—especially since there is the possible linguistic connection to the “washing” (bath) of regeneration. That is, the section could be translated “the Holy Spirit’s bath of regeneration and renewing”—thus equating the two terms. Most translations, however, treat the terms as separate actions or conditions for which the Holy Spirit is responsible. This fits best with the rest of the biblical data.

Perhaps the most well-known passage focusing on renewal is Romans 12:1-2. In this precious reference, we are commanded to present (yield) our bodies as holy and acceptable living sacrifices. We are to refuse to be conformed to the world but to be transformed (metamorphoo = “permanent change”) by the renewing of our mind. The instrument by which the transformation comes about is the new mind (intellect)—a grace-gift imputed at salvation by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:16; Hebrews 10:16). This renewal takes place in the “inward man” (2 Corinthians 4:16), which “is renewed in knowledge” (Colossians 3:10) according to the image of the Creator. Thus, the renewal comes about intellectually, through the ministrations of the Holy Spirit, as we seek, study, store, and obey the magnificent Word of God. HMM III

It Is Christ

“Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” (Romans 8:34)

In our text, Paul asks if there is anyone who can issue a guilty sentence against believers. In light of all Christ has done and the fact that the Father “hath committed all judgment unto the Son” (John 5:22), only Christ has the authority to condemn. Will Christ condemn those for whom He died? Obviously not, and Paul gives four reasons why the very suggestion is absurd.

First: “It is Christ that died.” He is the very one who left heaven to die as a substitute for us. True, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), but “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3). Certainly, the one who bore condemnation for us will not turn and condemn us.

Second: He “is risen again.” He did not stay in the grave but rose victorious, proving that God the Father accepted His sacrifice. Certainly “the firstborn from the dead” (Colossians 1:18) who desires “that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29) will not turn and thwart His own work and plan.

Third: He is even now “at the right hand of God,” where He is, among other things, preparing a place for us (John 14:2-3). He intends for us to join Him and will not condemn us. One would think He had done enough for us, but no.

Fourth: He “also maketh intercession for us.” As long as we, His “brethren,” still live, He is interceding to God on our behalf. He asks the Father for our acceptance, not for our condemnation.

If the only one with authority to condemn will not condemn, then we have the assurance that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). JDM

God Knows Me

“O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.” (Psalm 139:1)

Perhaps the most frightening attribute of God is that He knows everything about us. Everything! He has “searched” (literally “penetrated”) us and “known” (“understood”) us. And since God is both omnipresent and omniscient, it obviously follows that nothing escapes His conscious knowledge about us. He observes our ordinary activities (v. 2) and our innermost thoughts. “Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways” (v. 3). The Hebrew word translated “compassest” suggests that He actually sees the formation of the words in our tongues before we begin to speak them (v. 4). That means that we are transparent to Him; we cannot deceive Him in any way. He knows what we are going to think; we cannot hide anything from Him. God knows what only we know about ourselves and those things we won’t even admit to ourselves.

Furthermore, He is everywhere around each one of us (vv. 7-10), wherever we are or could be. He fills all space, and there is no escape. We cannot hide from God. He is wherever we go. The apostle Paul once observed: “For in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). This very intimate and complete knowledge about us is what makes God’s salvation such a marvelous matter. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8). God loves us in spite of what we have become. Yet, since He knows what we could be, He gives us eternal life through His Son so that we will realize, one day, what He knows we shall be. HMM

The Amen

“For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” (2 Corinthians 1:20)

“Amen” is a most remarkable word. It is transliterated directly from the Hebrew into the Greek of the New Testament and then into Latin, English, and many other languages so that it is practically a universal word. It has been called the best-known word in human speech.

The word is directly related—in fact, almost identical—to the Hebrew word for “believe” (aman), or “faithful.” Thus, it came to mean “sure” or “truly,” an expression of absolute trust and confidence. When one believes God, he indicates his faith by an “amen.” When God makes a promise, the believer’s response is “amen”—“so it will be!” In the New Testament it is often translated “verily” or “truly.” When we pray according to His Word and His will, we know God will answer, so we close with an “amen,” and so also do we conclude a great hymn or anthem of praise and faith.

The word is even a title of Christ Himself. The last of His letters to the seven churches begins with a remarkable salutation by the glorified Lord: “These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God” (Revelation 3:14). We can be preeminently certain that His Word is always faithful and true because He is none other than the Creator of all things, and thus He is our eternal “Amen.”

As our text reminds us, every promise of God in Christ is “yea and amen,” as strong an affirmation of truth as can be expressed in the Greek language.

It is, therefore, profoundly meaningful that the entire Bible closes with an “amen.” “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen” (Revelation 22:21), assuring everyone who reads these words that the whole book is absolutely true and trustworthy. Amen! HMM

Out of the Ivory Palaces

“All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.” (Psalm 45:8)

Psalm 45 is one of the Messianic psalms, quoted as such in Hebrews 1:8-9. The section so quoted (vv. 6-7), which immediately precedes our text, begins with one Person of the Godhead addressing the Messiah also as “God,” whose throne is eternal. Then, He says, “Oh God,...thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” The “oil of gladness” was the holy oil used for the anointing of priests and kings and was compounded of a mixture of spices that included myrrh and cassia (Exodus 30:22-25). Since the Messiah had been anointed to be “above his fellows” (first as High Priest, then as King of kings), “all his garments” would bear the sweet aroma of the holy ointment.

At the birth of Christ, His garments were “swaddling clothes,” and the gifts of the wise men included a supply of myrrh and frankincense (Luke 2:7; Matthew 2:11). At His death, they gave Him to drink “wine mingled with myrrh [and]...parted his garments” (Mark 15:23-24). Then once again His body was wrapped in linen clothes and anointed with myrrh and aloes (John 19:39-40) for His burial.

The psalmist sees Christ (i.e., “Messiah,” both Greek and Hebrew titles meaning “the Anointed One”) emerging triumphantly from the “ivory palaces.” These mansions with their ivory walls and pearly gates are of shimmering white beauty in the distant heavenly city that will someday descend to Earth (Revelation 21:2, 10-21).

The Lord descended once from these ivory palaces to take on human flesh in Mary’s womb, thence to a burial in Joseph’s tomb. But someday He will again come forth, anointed as eternal King, and then “shall the people praise thee for ever and ever” (Psalm 45:17). HMM

A Truly New Thing

“How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man.” (Jeremiah 31:22)

Long ago, the wise man concluded: “There is no new thing under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). That nothing is now being created is even recognized as a scientific law.

But God reminds us as He reminded His backsliding people of Israel that He has, indeed, created one new thing in the earth. Since only God can “create,” a really new thing would have to be produced directly by the Lord Himself. Of course, God had completed His original work of creating all things long ago (Genesis 2:1-3), including a marvelous mechanism for human reproduction. Nevertheless, because of man’s sin, He very soon had to begin a work of reconciliation, and this included a primeval promise that “the seed of the woman” (Genesis 3:15) would come someday to accomplish this great work. Since all normal reproduction requires male seed, such a miracle would mean God would have to create a new thing when the appropriate time came. At that time, as Isaiah prophesied many years later, “a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,” and that Son would be “the mighty God,” who would establish His kingdom “with justice from henceforth even for ever” (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7).

Then, still later, Jeremiah reminded his forgetful people of this same great promise: God would create, by His mighty power, a new thing, a perfect human without inherited sin and with no contribution from man, in the womb of a specially called virgin. She would compass that “holy thing” (Luke 1:35) with warmth and love for nine long months as it grew in her womb. Then, in the fullness of time, “God sent forth his Son, made of a woman” (Galatians 4:4), to “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). HMM

The Power to Edify

“Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction.” (2 Corinthians 13:10)

The Greek word oikodomos (translated as “edification”) pictures the building of a house. We still use the word “edifice” to describe a structure of some importance. Paul specifically said he had the “power” to edify and later called himself a “wise masterbuilder,” an architekton, who laid the foundation on which we would later build (1 Corinthians 3:10).

When Jesus used oikodomos to depict those who might build their house on a rock (His Word) or the sand (the ideas of men), He was painting a picture of how we should edify each other (Luke 6:48-49). The various gifts of leadership are to be used to “perfect” the saints in the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12), using the living “stones” that will build the “spiritual house” of God (1 Peter 2:5).

And like any good builder, the Christian carpenter has tools of the trade to assist the process. There are “things which make for peace” that must be employed (Romans 14:19). Most certainly “charity” is a major tool (1 Corinthians 8:1), along with good communication that does not “corrupt” the building work (Ephesians 4:29).

Since “all things” are to be done so that the church is edified (1 Corinthians 14:26), it surely follows that “fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions,” are not helpful (1 Timothy 1:4). Effective communication demands that those with whom we are speaking understand what is said, hence a mysterious “tongue” does not publicly edify like prophecy does (1 Corinthians 14:2-4).

An “edified” church walks “in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 9:31). HMM III

Walking in the Spirit

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1)

This promise in our text is followed in a later Pauline epistle by two nuanced commands in the letter to the church at Galatia.

“This I say then,” Paul says, “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). Then again, “if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25).

Although they appear to be the same command in English, there is a significant distinction in the original Greek language in which Paul penned the letters.

Both the Romans 8:1 and the Galatians 5:16 passages use the word perepeto, which carries the connotation to “walk around” and to “be at liberty.”

The second iteration in Galatians 5:25 uses stoicheo, which means to “step precisely,” to “march,” or to “go in procession.” It is the same command with a different emphasis.

The context of Galatians 5 stresses the difference between a lifestyle of fleshly behavior and a life controlled by the Holy Spirit. The “fruits” of the flesh and the “fruit” of the Spirit are diametrically opposed. They cannot exist together; they are not harmonious (Romans 8:5-8). We either mind the things of the flesh or the “things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:5).

The Christian walk has great liberty (Romans 8:21), but that liberty must “step precisely” in honesty (Romans 13:13), good works (Ephesians 2:10), and truth (2 John 4-6). Our walk is expected to be by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), and we are to conduct a spiritual warfare in the Holy Spirit’s power (2 Corinthians 10:3-5), protected by the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18). HMM III

The Wisdom of God

“And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.” (1 Kings 3:28)

Although God’s wisdom is expounded in depth in the Scriptures, there are only seven times that the specific phrase “the wisdom of God” is used as such. The above text is indicating that God’s wisdom can actually be manifested in men through divine inspiration. The Persian king recognized this also in Ezra. “And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges...all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye them that know them not” (Ezra 7:25). The wisdom of God thus is always consistent with the laws of God—that is, with the Scriptures.

The first New Testament reference is from Christ. “Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles” (Luke 11:49). Here the Lord is applying a scriptural principle from 2 Chronicles 36:15-16, in effect calling the Scriptures themselves “the wisdom of God.”

Then Paul three times uses the same phrase: “In the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God.” Human wisdom can never by itself discover God, but this very fact is bound up in the divine wisdom, revealed only through the Word of God. “We preach...Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” That is, through both the written word and the living Word, we can proclaim true wisdom. “We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery...which God ordained before the world unto our glory” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23-24; 2:7).

Finally, with God’s wisdom manifested through chosen men of God, we also can preach true wisdom in Christ “to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God” (Ephesians 3:10). HMM