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Rightly Dividing the
Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15)
WWW. 2Tim215.Net
Established November
2008 Published: July 31,
2020
“For this is good
and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be
saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4).
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Welcome y’all to HBS.
“ For they
themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and
how ye turned to God from idols (this is faith) to
serve the living and true God (this is love); And to
wait for his Son from heaven (this is hope), whom he raised
from the dead, even Jesus,
which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1:9-10).
If you recall awhile
back I said we take a longer look at the three grace virtues faith, hope,
and love (charity) so that’s why we haven’t moved on.
Faith, Hope, and Love
The Completed
Scriptures
The Grace Trinity of
Faith, Hope, and Love
In
addition to the blessing of the completed Word of God, Paul wrote in 1
Corinthians 13 of the blessings of faith, hope, and love for
the Body of Christ is to live by these grace virtues. Two other passages, both found in Paul’s
first letter to the Thessalonians, contain these virtues, which again points to
the reason why we haven’t moved on in our study. They are the following: “Remembering without
ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love,
and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight
of God and our Father;” (1 Thessalonians 1:3). The phrases “work of faith, “labour
of love” and “patience of hope” was the language of his prayer for
the Thessalonian saints (1 Thessalonians 1:2).
This prayer reveals how Believers should pray today. You see, part of copying Paul’s life most
certainly includes imitating his prayer life, “ But let us, who are of the day, be
sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an
helmet, the hope of salvation” (1 Thessalonians 5:8).
Paul
regarded faith and love as our “breastplate.” A breastplate was designed to defend the soldier’s
heart, the source of faith and love. “Hope” here refers to the soldier’s
helmet an item designed to protect the head or the mind. So, let’s be clear the “Hope of salvation”
does not mean we are to hope our salvation is genuine and long-lasting. I say this because the uneducated individual
might view the expression “hope of salvation” with a question mark at
the end of it. It may cause them to
think in terms of the earthly definition of hope, which generally suggests the
idea of something yet to be received, thus it remains hoped for. But elsewhere Paul wrote: “For we are
saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a
man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it”
(Romans 8:24-25).
Here Paul focused on
something that has not yet been received.
How, then, can the Believer possess salvation (1 Corinthians 15:2),
and yet “hope” for it? The answer
is to be found in the fact that words may be used in different senses in
the Scriptures. There is a sense in
which salvation has already been received, i.e., we received the forgiveness of
all our sins past, present, and future, the very moment we believed Paul’s
gospel (Romans 16:25-27; Galatians 1:4; Colossians 2:13). And yet, in another manner of speaking, we “hope”
for a salvation yet to come (1 Thessalonians 5:8), which is “nearer than
when we first believed” (Romans 13:11), but is yet to be obtained in its
fullness (2 Timothy 2:10). So then, the
“hope of salvation” is not something that might or might not happen it
is as certain as any other promise of God.
One day future every true Believer will “fly away” and be
fully free of the temptations and wiles of Satan, and the difficulties this
life presents and their salvation will be fully realized (Ephesians
1:11-14).
The
word “faith” is a verb. It means to
believe what God has said, more specifically, what God has said in each
dispensation for God’s program and plan change from one dispensation to
another. Please note God Himself does
not change, but the manner in which He deals with mankind most certainly changes. Today in the dispensation of the grace of God
a Believer has the assurance of salvation and
eternal life because he or she believes God will do what He has said. It’s that simple. The Lord Jesus Christ has done the work of
salvation. Remember, shortly before He
expired on the cross He said, “It is finished.” Therefore, not one more thing needs to be
done. Our part in God’s salvation plan is
simply to believe God. Please note I did
not say believe “in” God I said believe God.
We believe this because God has said He will not accept those who try to
pitch in and help Him by adding human effort in any form to Christ’s perfect work
of salvation. Therefore, the only path
to Salvation is the one God has declared for this age: “Now to him that
worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him
that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness” (Romans 4:4-5; Ephesians 2:8-9, 3:1-12).
Let’s
be clear, the word “hope” is short for the Believer’s joyful, sure, and
confident expectation of what God has promised.
Because of this, it’s related to “faith.” It doesn’t mean hope in the sense of “I hope French
fries comes with that,” or “I hope I win the lottery.” The biblical meaning of “hope” is a
confident assurance in God and in His Word. Thus, a Believer’s “hope of salvation”
and eternal life translates to a confident and sure expectation that God will
do exactly what He has promised (1Corinthians 15:12-23).
“Charity suffereth
long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself,
is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her
own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity,
but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things,
hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Charity never faileth:” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a).
Simply
said, “love” believes the best or gives people the benefit of the doubt;
it doesn’t jump to conclusions. “Love”
bears with one another’s short-comings; “love” hopes in the fact that “…all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). “Love” allows us to endure the insults,
ridicule, rejection, and scorn we receive for our faith and in serving others
in Christ’s name. “Love” means
giving our enemies what they don’t deserve, just as God has done for us.
Our
apostle Paul goes on to say, “Let no
corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to
the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby
ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour,
and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be
ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:29-32); “And walk
in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for
us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour”
(Ephesians 5:2).
The
world-at-large defines love as anything that brings them pleasure and that’s quite
different from the biblical meaning as you can plainly read. All one need do is look to the cross of
Christ Jesus to see that. So, from God’s
Word we learn there are tangible things we can do to show “charity” to
one another. For example, “Love
worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the
fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10); so, if you want to show the love of
God to each other then, “Let nothing be done through strife or
vainglory; but in lowliness of mind (humility) let each
esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others” (Philippians
2:3-4);
The
world’s view of love then is connected to one’s emotions, while the biblical
meaning of “love” relates to one’s mental attitude. Paul doesn’t leave us wondering what that
means for in Philippians 2:5 he said, “Let this mind be in you, which was
also in Christ Jesus:” Every true
Believer is to put on the mind of Christ.
“Put on” denotes something that you do; it’s not automatic or natural,
and that’s because the “old man” wants to take us one way and the
indwelt Holy Spirit intends to take us in the opposite direction, thus “the
spiritual conflict” Paul writes of in Romans 7.
Permit
me to illustrate: just the other day a
driver cut me off in traffic almost causing a rear-end collision. I did not have warm, fuzzy thoughts about
this careless person, if I’m being honest. But instead of going where my flesh, i.e., “the
old man” wanted to go I remembered that this individual was created in the
image of God and the Lord Jesus Christ died for them (Genesis 1:26-27; Psalm 139-14). Christ Jesus didn’t give them or me, for that
matter, what we deserved; He gave us mercy and grace while we were yet His
enemies (Romans 5:8-9; 12:1-21). So, in
a sense, I “Let this mind be in (me), which was also in Christ
Jesus:” I considered this person and their unkindly act with that
perspective and by that I mean to say I did not let my emotions rule the day. I
might not be able to change my feelings but I can certainly adjust my mental
attitude and where the mind goes the body soon follows. Because Christ lives in me I’m able to control
what I think and say. Paul said, “Finally,
brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good
report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any
praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned,
and received, and heard, and seen in me (imitate),
do: and the God of peace shall be with you” (Philippians
4:8-9).
Summing
up, all Scripture is written for our enlightenment but not all Scripture is
written to the Body of Christ nor is it about us. We must study all Scripture in the light of
Paul’s epistles, i.e., Romans through Philemon. Only in the letters of Paul do we find the “word
of Christ,” not in red ink but black, along with the marching orders for
the Body of Christ (Colossians 3:16). Paul’s
distinctive message and ministry must be recognized in order for the Believers
in this dispensation to fully understand “the mystery of His will”
(Ephesians 1:8-9). Once this is
accomplished, we discover Paul is more than just our apostle. He is our example (Philippians
3:17), he is our minister (Colossians 1:25), and he is our father
figure and instructor (I Corinthians 4:14-16; 1
Thessalonians 2:11).
The
letters of Paul are directed to Believers who have been saved by faith in what
God has clearly said in this dispensation of His grace. Paul calls this good news “my
gospel” (Acts 20:24; Romans 2:16, 16:25; 2 Timothy 2:8). As our apostle, Paul enlightens us regarding
our spiritual relationship and responsibility. We are to “walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith ye are called” (Ephesians 4:1); “And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath
forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32); “Walk
in wisdom toward them that are without” (Colossians 4:5). Paul prayed, “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” (Ephesians 1:17).
Paul
urges us to totally dedicate ourselves in the service of Christ (Romans 12:1). He affirms that we will “suffer for His
sake” (Philippians 1:29; 2 Timothy 3:12). But he also assured us that God
will empower us to perform the good works He has prepared for us (Ephesians
2:10), which includes “the ministry of reconciliation.” “For the love
of Christ constraineth us….” And “I can do all things through Christ,
who strengtheneth me” (1 Corinthians 5:14; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Philippians
4:13).
(To
be Continued)
GJ
Heitzman’s Ministry
All
Rights Reserved
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