CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLIES INTERNATIONAL P.O. BOX 888 COFFS HARBOUR N.S.W. 2450 AUSTRALIA Category A2 Sheet 2050/9703 CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY... COLOSSIANS 1:27 BIBLE STUDIES VOLUME 2 EXALT THE NAME OF JESUS
Category A2 BIBLE STUDY NUMBER 4 READING We know that we are born-again sons and daughters of God because the Spirit of God in our hearts tells us so. GALATIANS 4:6 "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." The Spirit has been placed in our hearts to give us KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 2 CORINTHIANS 4:6 "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 1 CORINTHIANS 2:12 "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." He does this first by testifying or bearing witness with our heart, which we feel rather than think about - we just know deep within us. ROMANS 8:16 "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." 1 JOHN 5:6 "...And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is TRUTH." 1 JOHN 5:10 "He that believeth on the Son of God HATH THE WITNESS IN HIMSELF..." But this is not all there is to the matter. God is very careful to tell us that our feelings - what our heart tells us - can lead us astray. JEREMIAH 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" We have already seen not to trust our mind: now we go one step further. Sometimes even when we know what the scriptures say, we feel differently: for instance, we may feel unworthy or sinful, even though we know that God has forgiven us all our sins and given us HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS (2. CORINTHIANS 5:21). The scripture tells us what to do when this happens: 1 JOHN 3:20 "For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things." God knows more than our heart does! So when our heart tells us something that God says is wrong, we believe God and ignore our heart. But how does God tell us it's wrong? Not by the Spirit's witness in our heart, obviously! The answer should be clear already, but here is one more scripture (!): 2 PETER 1:18-21 (Peter has been describing a voice which he heard coming from heaven: see MATTHEW 17:1-6) "And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a MORE SURE WORD of prophecy (speaking forth); whereunto YE DO WELL THAT YE TAKE HEED, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place... knowing this first, that no prophecy of SCRIPTURE is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." The first and most important point is that no matter what you think or feel or hear - even voices from heaven! - there is always one thing MORE SURE and MORE RELIABLE: THE WORD OF GOD. As we come to know God's Word and rely upon it, the thoughts and the feelings die away and we just live by the Word only. This is exactly what God would have us do: He has given His Word just for this purpose. PSALM 119:105 "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." MATTHEW 4:4 "But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by EVERY WORD that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." We can never stick too closely to the Word or place too much emphasis on it, because God has exalted it higher than anything in His creation and made it equal with Him! sa2050au Page 1
Category A2 BIBLE STUDY NUMBER 4 PSALM 138:2 "I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for THY TRUTH: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." JOHN 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and THE WORD WAS GOD." All other things - the earth, the heavens, our bodies - will pass away: ONLY GOD'S WORD WILL REMAIN. MATTHEW 24:35 (Jesus speaking) "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." 1 PETER 1:24-25 "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURETH FOR EVER. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." It is clear from these verses that God esteems His Word highly, and it is understandable that He does not permit any changes to it: what HE has said stands for ever, but anything we try to add besides will be destroyed. We can neither ADD to the Word, nor TAKE AWAY anything: every word of it counts, and nothing else can stand beside it. The whole Bible is full of warnings to us about this. DEUTERONOMY 4:2 "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought (take anything away) from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you." DEUTERONOMY 12:32 "What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it." PROVERBS 30:5-6 "EVERY WORD OF GOD IS PURE: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." ECCLESIASTES 3:14 "I know that, whatsoever God doeth (including what He says!), it shall be FOR EVER: NOTHING CAN BE PUT TO IT, NOR ANY THING TAKEN FROM IT: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him." REVELATION 22:18-19 "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." Because all these scriptures are so clear and so final, those people who would try to put forward their own ideas often use the notion of interpretation, that is, they will take a scripture from God's Word and say that it 'really means' something else, which happens to be one of their own theories. They call this 'interpreting' the scripture. We have read God's warning against this in 2. PETER 1:20, which tells us that no scripture can be interpreted by anyone, because the scripture is not some other man's idea, which would need interpreting, but was written by men "moved by the Holy Ghost." And the same Holy Ghost that caused the scriptures to be written is freely given to us, working in us to reveal what God has said. 1 CORINTHIANS 2:12-13 "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that WE MIGHT KNOW the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which THE HOLY GHOST TEACHETH; comparing spiritual things with spiritual." Nothing could be clearer: God has given us the Holy Spirit so that we can understand the things that concern Him, in particular, the Bible. We cannot understand the Bible without the Spirit, because it does not and cannot make sense to our natural minds: because of this people turn instead to 'interpreting', which is basically trying to understand the scripture with the mind. God says that this cannot be done. sa2050au Page 2
Category A2 BIBLE STUDY NUMBER 4 1 CORINTHIANS 2:14 "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit was often associated with anointing, that is, pouring of oil on someone's head (see for example: 1. SAMUEL 16:13). We have received the same thing (in a different way) with a much more wonderful result: 1 JOHN 2:27 "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and YE NEED NOT THAT ANY MAN TEACH YOU: but as the same anointing teacheth you of ALL THINGS, and is TRUTH (see 1. JN 5:6), and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." He is speaking, of course, of the Spirit that God has sent into our hearts. With this Spirit, the same Spirit that caused the scriptures to be written, we can understand all the things of God. As you encounter each new verse in these studies, read it through carefully and let the Spirit work on it in your heart. Never try to think it out or 'work out what it means', because your mind is incapable of this. We must simply wait until something 'clicks' inside and we just know in our heart what God is saying to us, even though sometimes we cannot put it into words. This means that often you will have to put a scripture aside and spend some time praying about it, asking God to reveal it to your heart. (Sometimes we speak of a verse being 'anointed' to someone: this means that the person concerned has had a 'revelation' about it, that is, that God has revealed something about it to him through the Holy Spirit, which is a perfectly normal sort of thing to happen.) This is the only way we can ever understand the scriptures, so we see that we must all pray often for much wisdom and revelation from the Spirit within us. What He does is to take each verse and change it from dead words into something LIVING, something that has a life of its own, and can in turn produce life. JOHN 6:63 "It is THE SPIRIT that quickeneth (that is, that MAKES ALIVE); the flesh (your thoughts and your feelings) profiteth nothing: the words that I (Jesus) speak unto you, they are SPIRIT, and they are LIFE." Only the Spirit can open the Word to us: our own minds cannot even begin to take it in (1 CORINTHIANS 2:14). We must realise right from the start that all our understanding must come from God. JOHN 3:27 "John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven." On the other hand, God wants us to get this revelation of Him - He wants us to understand deep in our hearts what Christ has done for us. COLOSSIANS 1:27 "To whom (us) GOD WOULD MAKE KNOWN what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY." Right from the start the Spirit works in our hearts, giving us real assurance that what we are hearing is truly the Word of God, the 'gospel' or good news of God's power in our lives. 1 THESSALONIANS 1:5 "For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in POWER, and in the HOLY GHOST, and in MUCH ASSURANCE; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake." By praying in the Spirit we give Him 'free go' to work through our hearts and reveal His Word to us - so we pray often for wisdom and revelation, and not only for ourselves but for each other as well. COLOSSIANS 1:9 "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding." As we all pray in the Spirit we come to know Jesus in us, and through Him to know God. We understand the things that are involved in our salvation, even though our minds cannot. God has, as it were, opened our eyes to His truth - not our actual eyes, but a different sort of eye, called "the eyes of our understanding"; we are SURE because of what He has said in His Word, and we KNOW that God is working with all His power in our lives. sa2050au Page 3
Category A2 BIBLE STUDY NUMBER 4 EPHESIANS 1:16-20 (Paul says, I...) "Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the KNOWLEDGE OF HIM: the eyes of your understanding being ENLIGHTENED; that ye may KNOW what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the EXCEEDING GREATNESS OF HIS POWER TO US-WARD (towards us) WHO BELIEVE, according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places." The pattern of learning should now be clear. God has given us the Word, which is in itself ALL TRUTH (JOHN 17:17). Thus everything we need to know will be found in the Bible. Likewise, anything we find in the Bible will be true. So in order to learn more of the ways of God we simply read, regularly. Afterwards, especially as we pray about the verses that we have read, the Spirit inside us begins to work on them and brings them to life in our hearts, so that we understand what God has said to us. If we do not read God's Word, we cannot know His will and we will soon be led astray: as we saw on the first page of this study, our feelings are just not reliable - ONLY the Word can guide us infallibly. It is therefore ESSENTIAL to read the Bible regularly - as essential as praying in the Spirit. The more we know of the scriptures the fewer mistakes we will make and God will truly be glorified in our lives - so all are exhorted to read diligently! 2 TIMOTHY 2:15 "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." This is all the more important because as we read the Word we learn MORE ABOUT JESUS: JOHN 5:39 "SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." If JESUS said this to unsaved people who refused to believe Him, how much more should we search the scriptures with diligence, knowing that they testify of the Jesus who IS OUR LIFE (COLOSSIANS 3:4). The very words themselves are life to us (JOHN 6:63; MATTHEW 4:4) and we must respect them as the true words of God, who works in us and gives us life. 1 THESSALONIANS 2:13 "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." God's Word does 'effectually work' in us because He has in fact placed it in our hearts: JEREMIAH 31:33 "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." DEUTERONOMY 30:11-14 "For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, THAT THOU MAYEST DO IT." This shows us yet another marvellous fact: God's Word is living in us. COLOSSIANS 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom..." 2 JOHN 2 "For the TRUTH'S sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever." This last verse says the same thing because, as we saw before, Jesus says, "THY WORD IS TRUTH." (JOHN 17:17). We are approaching the greatest fact there is about the Word of God. Remember that Jesus says, "I am the truth" (JOHN 14:6) and that His dwelling in us is our hope of eternal life (COLOSSIANS 1:27). This shows us already a strong connection between the Word and Jesus Himself. The next step is to see that it is the Word which saves us! sa2050au Page 4
Category A2 BIBLE STUDY NUMBER 4 JAMES 1:21 "Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity (excess) of naughtiness (badness), and receive with meekness THE ENGRAFTED WORD, WHICH IS ABLE TO SAVE YOUR SOULS." Just how important is this Word? Our salvation depends on it. God has magnified it above even His Name (PSALM 138:2) and grafted it into each one of us. It becomes a part of us. We share in it. The first verses of John show us the wonder of this Word that now dwells in our heart: JOHN 1:1-2 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." ('Word' and 'word' are the same, as we saw with 'Spirit' and 'spirit'.) Right back in the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth (GENESIS 1:1) the Word was there with Him. Although it was less than two thousand years ago that the last words were written down, the Word has been complete, determined by God, since before He began the creation! This Word now dwells in us! JOHN 1:3 "All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made." Yes, this same Word had His hand in all the work of creation. Another scripture that says the same thing is 2. PETER 3:5. No wonder that while the heavens and earth pass away, God's Word stands for ever! JOHN 1:4 "IN HIM WAS LIFE; and the life was the light of men." See again that our life is in the Word! And yet we know that CHRIST IS OUR LIFE (COLOSSIANS 3:4). Jesus says that He is the light of the world (JOHN 8:12). It was Jesus that created all things (COLOSSIANS 1:16). What is happening here? Is there a contradiction where one scripture says Jesus is so and so or did so and so, and another says the same things of the Word? The answer is revealed in all its fullness in: JOHN 1:14 "And THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, AND DWELT AMONG US, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the ONLY BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER), full of grace and truth." This says, simply, that the Word of God, that created all things and was equal with the Father from the beginning, became a human being and lived with men, at the same time making it clear that He was the 'only begotten' Son of God. This was none other than Jesus Himself, as Peter and others testified: MATTHEW 17:5 "While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This (Jesus) is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; HEAR YE HIM." Remember what Peter said, that the written Word is more sure than such a voice from heaven! But the point is that that same Word is Jesus Himself. In practical terms this means that if we want to follow Jesus we have to do what the Word says, and if we want to learn about the Word we must look to Jesus for it. And we know that Jesus is in us - the hope of glory. His Word tells us all we need to know for eternal life, AND THAT WORD DWELLS IN OUR HEARTS. 1 JOHN 5:9-13 "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. HE THAT BELIEVETH ON THE SON OF GOD HATH THE WITNESS IN HIMSELF: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is IN HIS SON. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life." The witness is in our hearts: Jesus Himself. As we read the Word and pray about it we realise that Jesus Himself is speaking to us in the words that we read, and His Spirit is 'anointing' them to us, making them alive in our heart. Both halves of this are equally important: if we read something and it doesn't 'click' we haven't understood it properly; take it to God and pray about it. On the other hand, if you think or feel something without knowing a scripture to back it up, you may be wrong. If you can't find the verse that you need, go and ask one of your elders. sa2050au Page 5
Category A2 BIBLE STUDY NUMBER 4 You are now living with God in Christ. This is a wonderful life, and it centres around one thing: God's Word. It is a life of praying, reading and telling others of Jesus. Get into the habit now of frequent reading and you will be building wisely on a sure foundation. WHICH BIBLE? There is a bewildering variety of 'Bibles' available today. In the English language alone, there are the Douay Version, the Authorized ('King James') Version, the Revised Standard Version, the Knox Version, the Jerusalem Bible, the New English Bible, the 'Moffatt Bible', 'Good News for Modern Man' (or 'Today's English Version'), and many others. No two of these are alike! The obvious question is, how do we know what is the correct 'version' of God's Word? God makes a number of very important statements about His Word, in the Word itself: PSALM 119:89 "For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven." PSALM 12:6-7 "The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." As we have seen, we can neither add to nor subtract from God's Word. Here He says that it is fixed for ever, and in addition we are given a guarantee that God will preserve His Word, independently of men. This means that even if every man on earth were against Him, still the Word would be kept pure and intact. In particular, this means that right now there can be no part of the scriptures missing, or else God will have failed. So there is no problem about 'right' books being left out. On the other hand, there are still attempts to put wrong books into the Bible. Some of those versions named above include a number of extra books in the Old Testament, and add extra pieces to the existing books as well. The same extra material is included in some other Bibles in a separate section called 'The Apocrypha'. Right from the start the history of these books has been of people trying unsuccessfully to have them accepted as a true part of the Bible. They cannot belong, because they contradict other genuine scriptures in many places. None are ever quoted in Old or New Testaments. God has kept them out of His Word, and we need not consider them further. Now that we know what are the correct books for the Bible, the next question that arises is, what are the correct words within these books? Because of the perishable nature of parchments and papers the original copies of the books have not survived, and the earliest copies we have come from about 300 years later. Because of the enormous and prolonged persecutions of all Christians that took place in this period it is only by a miracle that the scriptures were not lost altogether. Instead God has, as He promised, kept His Word and preserved it, so that we can trust Him that no word of it has been forgotten. The trouble is that extra words have crept in: apparently if people were not sure whether something was scripture or not they put it in just in case! The result is that if we collect all the manuscripts from this period there are many small differences and a few big ones as well. Here are some examples: (1) Some copies are missing the last twelve verses of MARK (i.e. MARK 16:9-20). It is obvious that there should be something else to follow verse 8, but the fashionable 'wise' answer today is to say that the original ending is lost and that what we have is something someone else wrote to fill up the gap. But if this were so PSALM 12:7 would have failed. So the 'original' ending (that is, the one that the Holy Spirit intended to be there) must have survived, and of the three possibilities that we have, the one in our Bibles is the only real contender. So we can be quite certain that MARK 16:9-20 belongs in our Bible. (2) 1. John 5:7 is often omitted or changed in some versions. It is actually a good proof for the Trinity and states: "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the sa2050au Page 6
Category A2 BIBLE STUDY NUMBER 4 Holy Ghost: and these three are one." Instead, in corrupted Bible versions, verse 7 is omitted and verse 8 is changed, being split into two parts, to cover verse 7. Verse 7 is often quoted as: "And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth." Other examples can be found in the book "Let's Weigh the Evidence" by Barry Burton (Cat. B). This accounts for some of the more puzzling differences between Bibles. The third and simplest to deal with is simply a matter of translation. The Old Testament was written mostly in the Hebrew language, and the New Testament in a form of Greek. This means that before most of us can read the scriptures they must be translated, or rewritten in English. Unfortunately it is never possible to translate from one language to another completely accurately, just by the nature of the way people use words, so that sometimes what is said in the English Bible is not what was originally meant. A common example is the Greek word that means 'have faith'. It is usually translated as 'believe', but it means much more than that: to 'have faith' in God means to live your whole life through Him, completely trusting Him in everything you do and obeying Him in everything He asks. There just isn't an English word that means all that, so we have to use 'believe', and remember all the other things as well: ADHERING to Him, TRUSTING Him, RELYING on Him. This is the sort of thing that we have been putting in brackets when we quote a scripture (e.g. 'supplication' in EPHESIANS 6:18 means 'earnest pleading'). Once we realise that all of the different versions are made by men and therefore imperfect, there is very little to choose between them. We use the Authorized Version (sometimes called 'King James Version') because it is the most common and the most reliable. The more modern ones (Revised Standard, New English Bible) are more accurate as regards the second sort of mistake, although they sometimes go too far by relying on men's wisdom instead of what God has said. And when it comes to translation, all the modern versions seem to take much more liberty - replacing whole phrases and sentences with others that 'mean the same thing' because they sound more natural. This sort of thing is just plain dangerous. Many people at first find the Authorized Version too 'old-fashioned'. The trouble is that God's Word cannot change to keep up with the times! There just isn't a word in common everyday use for such things as 'righteousness', 'propitiation', 'grace', 'holiness', and so on. The solution is not to run to a 'modern speech' translation that waters down the sense until everyone thinks they can understand it in their heads! Rather we must pray frequently for understanding of the scriptures, and read them often, so that the words and ideas are no longer strange to us. In these sheets most of the difficult words will be explained as they appear, and if you find any others you can always ask your pastor or elders. Another advantage with the Authorized Version is that it comes in so many different shapes and sizes, with all sorts of different 'extras' added. Some things to watch for when you are buying a Bible are: (1) Maps: Some people find these helpful, and many Bibles have a small selection at the back. Illustrated Bibles have many other pictures as well, but these are rarely any use and may distract you. (2) Italic Type: Is the sort of lettering that slopes to the right: it is used in many Bibles to indicate words which have been added to the English to complete the sense of the Hebrew or Greek. Most of these are necessary and there can be no argument about what words should be added. (3) Marginal Notes: All but the cheapest Bibles have a column either down the centre of the page, or at the side, which gives references to the main text. These are of three types: one gives alternative translations which in the New Testament at least are usually more accurate than those in the text. The second type of reference gives one or more scriptures which have something in common with the verse referred to. Some of these are useful, for example, when an Old Testament (O.T.) verse is quoted in the New Testament (N.T.): The O.T. verse will usually have a reference saying 'cited...', and the N.T. verse will have one saying 'cited from...', so that you can easily see what the sa2050au Page 7
Category A2 BIBLE STUDY NUMBER 4 connections are. Others are less useful, for example, sometimes a reference will give all the other verses where a particular plant or animal is mentioned, or a type of 'grammatical construction' is used. There are also notes giving explanations, which are usually very few, only giving the equivalents of weights and measures or the value of money: these are rarely important for understanding what is happening. (4) Commentaries, etc.: Either at the back of the book or along the bottom of the page some Bibles have notes and 'helps' to 'understanding' the scriptures. It is wiser not to use these but to get ALL your understanding from the scriptures themselves, by reading and by prayer: 1. JOHN 2:27. (5) Other 'Helps': Some Bibles have all sorts of added extras: short histories, time lines, tables of weights, lists of festivals, 'hints on how to read the Bible' - almost everything imaginable. Again, it is wiser on the whole to ignore these. Two sorts of 'extras' are common: 'Bible Encyclopaedias' or 'Bible Dictionaries' list various words and give explanations of their meanings and significances. This again is dangerous, as they are all written by men, who for all we know might have been unsaved. In general, no 'help' should be used unless it causes you to turn back to reading the scriptures themselves; if it becomes a substitute it must not be used. A 'Concordance' is simply a list of words used in scripture, each word accompanied by a list of places where it occurs in the Bible. This is obviously a great help in finding a particular verse, and some Bibles have a short one at the back, although if you want a complete concordance that lists every scripture you will have to buy it separately as it is at least as big as another Bible. The shorter ones are easier to handle, but you may not be able to find the particular verse you want. But then you can always ask your pastor or an elder. When you buy a Bible (Authorized Version) look out for italics and for a good 'margin'. The other things do not matter as much, and you can buy a book of maps or a concordance separately if you want them. If you do not mind the extra expense you can get Bibles with extra room down the sides of the page for you to write your own notes in (called 'wide-margined' editions), but these are not cheap. (One of the advantages of the Authorized Version is that all these things are readily available: most of the other versions come in only one or two ways.) A Bible that is cheaply bound will save money now, but remember that you will use it a lot and it will need replacing sooner. BE DILIGENT IN YOUR READING! sa2050au Page 8
Category A2 BIBLE STUDY NUMBER 5 FASTING THE FLESH Right in the very first Bible study we saw that we are dead to ourselves and that all our life is now in Christ. COLOSSIANS 3:3 "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." We have been made COMPLETELY NEW, and because of this it is to be expected that we will live in a new way. ROMANS 6:3-4 "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptised into his death? 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." That is, just as Jesus began a new life three days after He died, so we have begun another life - the change is just as complete because it is all accomplished "by the glory of the Father". One thing only keeps us alive: JESUS IN US. COLOSSIANS 1:27 "To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY." Because He is in us and we are in Him EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED: we are walking IN A NEW LIFE. 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." We must be careful to remember this always: all things are become new - God says so! We see it with the eyes of our understanding. On the other hand, if we look around with our natural eyes we will see things that seem not to have changed: the most important is that we still seem to be walking around in the same body, the same flesh and blood. We MUST see - understand - that this is an illusion: WE ARE DEAD and CHRIST LIVES IN US. GALATIANS 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet NOT I, but CHRIST LIVETH IN ME: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." This is the wonderful reality of being a new creature in Christ: HE HAS TAKEN OVER. HE LIVES IN US - WE DON'T. OUR BODY IS NOW HIS BODY. 1 CORINTHIANS 3:16 "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" This same body died when we were baptised, receiving the wages of sin, which is death (ROMANS 6:23). Then Jesus came in, and His Spirit brought a new life through Jesus' righteousness. But now our body is no longer its own master: Jesus is in charge, not our 'flesh'. What this means is that our 'flesh' is still dead, but the Spirit is giving our bodies a new life. ROMANS 8:10-11 "And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but THE SPIRIT IS LIFE because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (make alive) your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." In other words, the life that we now live in the flesh we only live through Jesus in us - just what GALATIANS 2:20 says. This 'flesh' that we live in is more powerful than we may realise, for associated with it are all the old ways of life from the times past, all the habits, all the lines of thought. But because all these things are made new, we truly can walk in newness of life, with all the old ways just sa2050au Page 9
Category A2 BIBLE STUDY NUMBER 5 forgotten! The 'old man' that used to sin is completely destroyed, so that the old ways that are associated with sin do not concern us either. ROMANS 6:6 "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." This is a cause for great joy, because the flesh was, and is UNPROFITABLE - in other words, useless! All that we have that counts is Jesus' Word and the life that the Spirit gives: JOHN 6:63 "It is the spirit that quickeneth (makes alive); the flesh PROFITETH NOTHING: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." Before we were saved we lived 'in the flesh', that is, not only in our body, but bound to its ways and habits as well. Now that we have been made anew we are no longer 'in the flesh' but 'in the Spirit': ROMANS 8:9 "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Now as the flesh is dead and the Spirit is alive, there is simply no problem: we just follow the Spirit's leading and ignore the flesh. Trouble can only occur if we do not realise this fully and carry on as if the flesh were still alive. In practice this would mean keeping to the old ways of the flesh and making allowances for them: this is called living after the flesh or according to the flesh. It is obviously a lost cause because the flesh is already dead! IF WE GET ENTANGLED WITH DEAD THINGS WE WILL END UP DYING OURSELVES. ROMANS 8:13 "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." 'Mortify' just means 'put to death'. In other words, KILL OFF your old ways by showing them that they are already dead, and live only through Jesus - He is OUR LIFE (COLOSSIANS 3:4). We notice that we are told to do the mortifying through the Spirit - we cannot do it ourselves, because anything we do without God is of the flesh! The Spirit is given to us to help us by doing the work of mortifying as we yield ourselves to be led by Him: this He is more than willing to do, because our flesh is truly His enemy! GALATIANS 5:17 "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit (this means that it has a strong desire to subdue him), and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." There is a real battle going on in our bodies! We have already seen how this comes about in one part of our flesh, which is the MIND: God says something, and our mind refuses to believe it. The same sort of thing works in other parts of our flesh too: sometimes we 'feel' too tired to pray. This happened to Jesus' disciples once, and He told them what to do: PRAY ABOUT IT! This seems ridiculous to our minds, but that's flesh, too, so we must ignore it and do what Jesus says: MATTHEW 26:41 "Watch and PRAY, that ye enter not into temptation: the Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." What really happens is that our flesh tries to get our eyes off God and onto something else, often itself. If we live 'after the flesh' - in our old ways - our understanding is pointed only at the flesh; only if we live 'after the Spirit' can we truly understand God's ways - this means mortifying our natural or fleshly mind and using the mind of Christ (1 CORINTHIANS 2:14-16). ROMANS 8:5-8 "For they that are after the flesh do mind (here it means 'understand') the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded (to have a fleshly understanding) is DEATH; but to be spiritually minded (to have an understanding of the Spirit) is LIFE and PEACE. Because the carnal (fleshly) mind is ENMITY (hostility!) AGAINST GOD: for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." sa2050au Page 10
Category A2 BIBLE STUDY NUMBER 5 The whole nature of our flesh is one of rebellion - enmity - against God and His Law. This is so fundamental that not even God can restore our flesh: instead through Christ He gives us a NEW LIFE. JOHN 3:6-7 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh (and cannot be changed); and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born-again." No one can be saved unless they become born-again, because they are still in the flesh, and God cannot allow flesh into His heavenly kingdom: 1 CORINTHIANS 15:50 "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." By God's grace we have become dead to the flesh so that we might live for Him only and walk in newness of life (ROMANS 6:4). This means not just being 'in the Spirit', which we all are, but WALKING in the Spirit. GALATIANS 5:16 "This I say then, WALK in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." 'Walking' with God is a simple thing: He has set us a path that leads to eternal life, and all we have to do is walk along it and claim the prize - in fact we already have it, because by believing in Jesus we have already died and risen into heaven: JOHN 5:24 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, 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." EPHESIANS 2:6 "And HATH raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." But the path that God has given us to walk along is narrow, and the flesh will by its nature try to drag us away from that path. The only way we can keep from falling off it is to walk in the Spirit. MATTHEW 7:13-14 "Enter ye in at the strait (narrow) gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Paul wrote of this and said that because of it he kept his body under control like a good athlete, so as not to miss out: 1 CORINTHIANS 9:27 "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection (under control): lest by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." There is only one solution, if we want eternal life - to let God mortify our flesh and put it under His own control. COLOSSIANS 3:5-6 "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience." It is time now to be specific and see just what things God does want mortified: FORNICATION means any sexual activity apart from natural acts between husband and wife. UNCLEANNESS means what it says (impurity). This means thoughts, words, acts - anything impure. INORDINATE AFFECTION just means uncontrollable emotion or passion. EVIL CONCUPISCENCE means a bad excessive desire. COVETOUSNESS is just hankering after something not yours - God says this amounts to IDOLATRY, which is making a god of it. Here is another list: GALATIANS 5:19-21 "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which sa2050au Page 11
Category A2 BIBLE STUDY NUMBER 5 I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." ADULTERY is when a man has sexual intercourse with another man's wife. (Both have then committed adultery.) LASCIVIOUSNESS is just excess, in any form. WITCHCRAFT means any use of charms or magic remedies or superstitions. This is of the flesh and has no place in God's work. HATRED is likewise of the flesh and must be mortified. VARIANCE means contention or fighting and arguing about doctrines. EMULATIONS means fleshly zeal - in other words, misplaced enthusiasm. WRATH is pure flesh and must be destroyed: JAMES 1:20. STRIFE is personal quarrels: these cannot be allowed in God's church - we are all saved. SEDITIONS occur when people 'stand apart' and refuse to submit to God on some point. HERESIES are simply personal opinions - these will go as we take on Christ's mind. ENVYINGS are like covetousness: wanting something not yours. MURDERS obviously have no place! DRUNKENNESS simply means DRINKING ALCOHOL. (There will be a later study on this.) REVELLINGS means wanton or loose behaviour. Some of these things seem harmless to our old minds - some are indeed common to all men - but God says they are works of the flesh, and MUST be destroyed: if we persist in them we will not inherit eternal life. Here is yet another list with the same terrible warnings: 1 CORINTHIANS 6:9-10 "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." EFFEMINATE means affectedly delicate men, that is, men who behave as a woman or unmanly. ABUSERS OF THEMSELVES WITH MANKIND are homosexuals. God demands that they come to him and be transformed. (The same applies to lesbians.) THIEVES likewise have no place except they repent. REVILERS use abusive language against others. EXTORTIONERS obtain things by violence or intimidation. We have gone into detail on these things so as to be sure where we stand: ALL have flesh that MUST be mortified. At the same time we must realise thankfully that Jesus' Blood has already cleansed us from all these things. 1 CORINTHIANS 6:11 "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified (set apart for God), but ye are justified (made RIGHTEOUS) in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." We know that we cannot be condemned for what goes on in our flesh because Jesus dwells in us and gives us His righteousness. GOD ONLY SEES HIM. ROMANS 8:1 "There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION to them which are IN CHRIST JESUS, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." But because of THIS SAME RIGHTEOUSNESS, Jesus has the POWER to destroy and mortify ALL our flesh. As far as He is concerned this is ALREADY DONE (ROMANS 6:6). 2 CORINTHIANS 2:14 "Now thanks be unto God, which ALWAYS CAUSETH US TO TRIUMPH IN CHRIST, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." MATTHEW 28:18 "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, ALL POWER IS GIVEN UNTO ME in heaven and in earth." JOHN 17:2 "As thou hast given him (Jesus) POWER OVER ALL FLESH, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." sa2050au Page 12
Category A2 BIBLE STUDY NUMBER 5 We know that because we are justified apart from what we do (that is, our works), we are in a state of liberty where nothing is unlawful for us. But this does not mean we can do what we like and still please God - He wants and expects us to walk with Him according to His ways which will mean according to His Word. 1 CORINTHIANS 6:12 "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." Things happen in our flesh from time to time at first, but they are not to be encouraged and must never get the upper hand. Rather we must mortify our flesh so that we can serve God and one another. GALATIANS 5:13 "For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion (or impulse) to the flesh, but by love serve one another." If we allow it, our flesh can push us on until it is completely restored and in full control: where does that leave God? To prevent this we must surrender ourselves to Him and let Him mortify. ROMANS 6:11-13 "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be DEAD indeed unto sin, but ALIVE UNTO GOD through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members (the parts of your body) as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." In fact God puts it as strongly as possible: we make ABSOLUTELY NO ALLOWANCE for our flesh or what it wants. Only Jesus counts, and He is OUR LIFE. ROMANS 13:14 "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts (desires) thereof." So God wants us to completely ignore our flesh and its old ways and surrender completely to Him. Because of Christ in us no more is needed - Jesus' Blood has already cleansed us from all our sin. So if your flesh stumbles, admit it to God and keep going on - He has promised that sin is forgiven and cleansed. 1 JOHN 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." As we walk in the Spirit the sin in our flesh dies off and we just live with God. But if we do make a mistake we must know that there is still no condemnation (ROMANS 8:1) because Jesus is pleading with the Father for us. 1 JOHN 2:1 "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate (a helper) with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." In fact, the same Jesus Christ the righteous is now in us and we are in Him, so that for all purposes we do not sin at all - 1. JOHN 3:9. Only our flesh does. All the more reason to get it mortified! EPHESIANS 5:18 "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit." As we walk in the Spirit our body is truly dead and all our life is in Jesus. Then, instead of the works of the flesh (GALATIANS 5:19-21), we start to show forth something different: the FRUIT of the SPIRIT. GALATIANS 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering (patience), gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." All these things together are called a fruit because they grow within us. You do not wake up suddenly one morning and find you 'have love' or any of the others! All we do is thank God that His Spirit is within us, and wait patiently in prayer for all these things to be manifest in our lives as the flesh is mortified. Truly all the work is already accomplished because the flesh is already dead - we only wait for the flesh itself to realise it! sa2050au Page 13
Category A2 BIBLE STUDY NUMBER 5 GALATIANS 5:24-25 "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts (its passions and desires). If we live in the Spirit (which we do), LET US ALSO WALK IN THE SPIRIT." Remember that Jesus has bought you - you are not your own (1. CORINTHIANS 6:19). It is only right then that we do walk as Jesus did: by the power of the Spirit. 1 JOHN 2:6 "He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." We walk as Jesus walked by crucifying the flesh, sharing in His death: then when the flesh is dead, Jesus can shine forth from us in all our lives. 2 CORINTHIANS 4:10 "(We) are always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." So that, like everything else, the mortifying of our flesh has already been done in Jesus: we simply thank God that He has already given us the victory over all the 'problems' of our flesh: the battle is the Lord's! 1 CORINTHIANS 15:57 "But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." FASTING One excellent way to mortify the flesh is to fast, which simply means not to eat, or to abstain from food. The immediate result is that our body cannot get what it wants, and learns that God is now in charge, which is good and proper. Normally when you fast you eat nothing and drink only water. Medical people tell us it is unwise to go for longer than twenty-four hours without water, although by God's help Queen Esther once fasted without water for three days (ESTHER 4:15-16) in the most drastic circumstances - her whole people was about to be destroyed. Generally in the Old Testament fasting was used in times of emergency or for special need. When the whole nation had been defeated twice in battle they fasted together (JUD 20:26). When they were defeated by the Philistines they repented and did the same thing (1. SAMUEL 7:6). The people fasted seven days after King Saul died (1. SAMUEL 31:13). King David fasted for a child that was dying (2. SAMUEL 12:16). King Ahab fasted when the Lord had promised to destroy all his house (1. KINGS 21:27). King Jehoshaphat prayed and fasted when he heard of an approaching enemy army (2. CHRONICLES 20:3). When Ezra was about to begin a long and dangerous journey he fasted and prayed to the Lord for protection (EZRA 8:21). Other people fasted in time of sorrow or when help was needed (NEHEMIAH 1:4 and 9:1; PSALM 35:13; DANIEL 6:18 and 9:3). When we come to the New Testament we see that the prophetess Anna fasted when she was 'of great age', probably over one hundred years old (LUKE 2:36-37). Most importantly, Jesus fasted (MATTHEW 4:1-2). Should we fast? Jesus says so: MATTHEW 9:14-15 "Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bride chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast." People were criticising Jesus' disciples for not fasting: Jesus replied that while he was with them it was just not right for them to fast. Of course Jesus is still with us, but no longer in His own body, and NOW is the time to fast. He does not say 'then may they fast' or 'then might they fast' or 'then I would like them to fast', but 'then SHALL they fast'. This puts the obligation on us to determine what God wants for us. The same thing is repeated in MARK 2:18-20 and LUKE 5:33-35. We see that Jesus is speaking of now because of the pattern given us in Acts: ACTS 13:2-3 "As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away." sa2050au Page 14