Chapter 1

 

            Purpose of the epistle

            Hermeneutics: the science of biblical interpretation. There is probably no greater demonstration of the principle of hermeneutics than the epistle of 1 Peter. 

 

            Four laws of hermeneutics

            1. The law of first mention. The meaning of a word is determined by its first use in context.

            2. The law of progress. God reveals His doctrine, His plans and His eternal purpose gradually and progressively. Illustrated by the doctrine of the mysteries which are pertinent to the Church Age only.

            3. The law of unity. This says that all parts of scripture agree without any actual discrepancy. (There are occasionally apparent discrepancies which are easily resolved. But actual discrepancies do not occur)

            4. The law of recurrence. The Holy Spirit goes over the same ground adding detail and teaching by repetition.

            Repetition is one of the most important principles in the teaching of Bible doctrine.

 

            Eight axioms of hermeneutics

            1. The true object of speech is the impartation of thought.

            2. Language is a reliable means of communication.

            3. Usage determines the meanings of words.

            4. The function of words depends on its association with other words.

            5. The true object of interpretation is to apprehend the exact thought of the author.

            6. Truth must accord with truth. The statements of truth apparently discrepant can be   harmonised when the facts are known.

            7. An assertion of truth excludes that to which it is opposed.

            8. One cannot interpret without understanding what he interprets.

 

            Three principles of hermeneutics

            1. Exegesis — the analysis of the passage from the standpoint of the original language. It includes grammar, syntax and etymology.

            2. Categorisation — in which a doctrine is extracted from numerous passages and detailed. (Doctrines are taught in different passages but each passage makes a different contribution to the doctrine)

            3. Isagogics — the study of the historical background, the social life background, the custom background, the etymological background of the language. In other words, it is a hermeneutical principle: the Bible must be interpreted in the time in which it was written.

            All of these principles are best demonstrated by two books in the New Testament: Ephesians and 1 Peter.

            Verse 1 — Salutation. The first word denotes the human author of this epistle written from Rome, which is the Babylon of 1 Peter 5:13, at about 65 AD. There was no Babylon, Rome was just called by that name by some at that time. This man has come a fantastically long way since the day that our Lord was on earth. In other words, Peter did something that all believers should do normally, he grew in grace. Spiritual growth, then, is one of the most important factors in your life. Peter achieved the thing that was most important: spiritual growth. And one of the most remarkable things about the Petrine epistles is to be able to contrast them with his life during the incarnation, and his colossal failure in Galatians chapter two where he had the unprecedented experience of being braced by another apostle — Paul.

            Peter is the type of person that we can appreciate because he is a man of great failures and yet his failures never slowed him down. This first thing we learn by even finding the word “Peter” on the page here is the principle of God’s grace. If you are willing to go on, so is God. God will walk an extra mile with you almost every time. And, you say, when doesn’t He? Very simply, when you are dead! In other words, the very fact that the word “Peter” occurs in 65 AD at the beginning of this epistle as the human author is a declaration of the grace of God. It is also a declaration of the fact that somewhere along the line Peter discovered grace. We start out in this first epistle with the word “Peter” and when we get to the end of the Petrine epistles it is “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.” Knowledge of Jesus Christ is e)pignwsij and it refers to the fact that Peter started out rather shaky but he wound up loving Jesus Christ as few people ever have. And how do you suppose he learned to love Jesus Christ? The Petrine epistles explain how love for Jesus Christ is achieved — through doctrine. Every doctrine mentioned in these two epistles is a doctrine that is necessary for capacity to love God. And so these are love epistles. We respond to the love of God through Bible doctrine.

 

            Peter

            1. The name is an acquired name, not his name of birth. He was known as Simon, son of Jonas. He acquired the name Peter which means “little stone.” The story is found in Matthew 16:13-19. So the name which he attaches here is the name given to him by Jesus Christ. And why does he use this name and why doesn’t he use Simon Peter? Because when he wrote this epistle his love for Jesus Christ was phenomenal and, therefore, any name he uses is a name associated with Jesus Christ, not with his physical birth. Principle: Your physical birth doesn’t mean a thing. It is your second birth that counts.

            Peter made many mistakes and he failed in many ways but he became a great person in many different ways. And everything is connected with his spiritual growth.

            2. The keys to the kingdom in Matthew 16 refer to the gospel plus the privilege of communication. Every believer has the keys to the kingdom when it comes to the gospel. Peter is going to call himself, in this epistle, a bishop [which is a pastor really] and, as such, he had the privilege of communicating Bible doctrine. Peter knew that Bible doctrine was the key to loving God. The keys to the kingdom are associated with love. When you receive a key it is something that fits a lock. And Peter understood, even from the beginning, that to love God requires a phenomenal amount of doctrine. Who possesses the keys to the kingdom today? Any believer who is functioning daily on GAP. Every time you learn a doctrine that is just another key that fits another lock that explains that the kingdom of God is total plan for you and for me.

            3. The keys potentially belong to every believer priest — John 20:23.

            4. No one deserves the keys, including Peter, as illustrated by Galatians 2:11-21.

            5. It is impossible for God to give the believer what he earns or deserves — Romans 4:4,5.

 

            “To him that worketh, is the reward not reckoned according to the standard of grace, but according to the standard of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness.”

            God cannot give you what you earn and deserve. If you want to go on a point system with God you are deeper and deeper in debt, you are bankrupt spiritually. God can only deal with you in grace.

 

            Introduction to the epistle

            1. According to 1 Peter 5:12 Peter dictated this epistle to Silas.

            2. Closely associated with Peter in writing this epistle was another great failure - John Mark, 1 Peter 5:13.

            3. The letter was written from Rome.

            4. The time of the writing is 65 AD during the persecutions and sufferings under Nero.

            5. At the time of this writing Paul was in Spain on the fourth missionary journey. He left Mark and Silas in Rome. They linked up with Peter who came to Rome during Paul’s absence.  

            6. Peter is in charge in Rome during Paul’s absence and he is writing to the provinces because the persecutions of Nero are spreading to the Roman provinces.

            7. While Paul is away, Peter under the ministry of the Holy Spirit, writes to these provinces to prepare them for the pressure to come. Therefore there is a secondary purpose for this epistle: to prepare believers for pressure.

 

            “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ”. Peter pulls his rank. “Apostle” — a)postoloj — [stellw = send; a)po = from or to]. It is simplistically assumed to be “one sent” and tied in to missionary activity. But this is not what it means. It is actually a term for highest rank. It was actually the highest flag rank in the Athenian navy. The meaning of a word is determined by its usage, and while the word means one sent it means the naval department of Athens sending a man to command the fleet. So it is the highest word for rank; it is an absolute dictatorship spiritual gift. And it has absolutely no application to any missionary or anyone else that is going from point A to point B on the Lord’s service or ostensibly on the Lord’s service.

            There were very few apostles, they existed only during the period when the New Testament canon was being completed, between 30-96 AD. There are no apostles today. An apostle had authority over all the churches. They were elected by God the Father — Romans 1:1; they belong to the Church Age only; they were all appointed by the Holy Spirit — 1 Corinthians 12:11,28; they were all appointed after the ascension — Ephesians 4:8, 11; they were all eyewitnesses to the resurrection — Acts 1:22; each apostle was given some additional miraculous powers — the gift of healing and the gift of tongues [which some used and some did not] which were occasion gifts. These gifts were never used unless it was vitally necessary. In the case of Paul we know of two cases during his lifetime where the gift of healing was withdrawn. They do not signify, then or now, any spiritual status — Acts 5:15; 16:16-18; 19:11-12; 28:8,9; 1 Corinthians 14:18-19.

            Peter addresses this epistle to “the strangers.” This is a dative plural from parepidhmoj — these are people who are residing in a country which is really not their own country. They are strangers or sojourners or exiles. These are Jewish believers living in these Roman provinces. They belong in Judea but they are exiles. They are also said to be elect ones. Actually the word begins in verse 2 in the English Bible but it begins before the word “strangers” in the Greek. In other words, the Greek says: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect ones, the strangers scattered … “They are the elect ones; God has a plan for them, even though they are going to face great suffering.

            They are said to be scattered — diaspora, which means dispersal. It is a reference to the Jewish believers who have been dispersed throughout the Roman empire. So we have a translation which looks like this: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect ones [believers], to the exiles of the dispersion located in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.”

            All five provinces are in the genitive singular and this means that Jews living there are permanent residents of these five provinces. The five provinces mentioned move in a geographical circle and are all located in the present Turkey. There are several which are omitted such as Lycia and Pamphylia in the south, they did not become Roman provinces until 74 AD. This epistle has to be before 74 AD because Lycia and Pamphylia are not yet provinces. It also has to be before 70 AD because the temple in Jerusalem has not been destroyed by the Romans. And it has to be written at a time of maximum persecution effort, and therefore the date is very easy to establish — 65 AD.

            Pontus was a Roman province on the Black Sea. This region was a tremendous political complex. It had been a Greek republic; it had been temple estates; it had been under Iranian baronies. This area was famous for one of the great men of history — Mithradates. He held up the Roman conquest in that part of the world for a long time. In fact the Romans did not conquer it until after his death. He gave a permanent type tranquillity to that area.

            Galatia was the central region of Asia Minor, south of Pontus, and it was unique in that the Romans never conquered it. The Galatians are the ancestors of the Irish. It was not a Roman Province until 25 BC and the reason it became one is because the last king of Galatia decided that the Romans were going to rule the world and that eventually they would have a just rule. Therefore, he said in his will that he was going to leave his kingdom to the Romans. And he did.

 

 

            Cappadocia was the eastern province of Asia Minor and included part of Armenia. It became a province in 17 AD under Tiberius. In 70 AD Vespasian united it with lesser Armenia and to one of the great bulwarks of the empire. This particular province was famous for its sheep and horses but it was also famous for something else: it raised great fighting men. And the men of Cappadocia responded in a phenomenal way to the gospel. It became a great Christian centre. The country itself is high mountains, beautiful green valleys, and it has a tremendous number of caves. When the Romans established the Sixth Legion [the Thunderbolt Legion] they went to this province and they took only Christians, and in 174 AD this was the greatest military organisation in the Roman empire. It was an all-Christian legion made up of recruits from Cappadocia.

            The Roman province of Asia is simply the province which has Ephesus as its capital and the seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3 are all in the Roman province of Asia.

            Bithynia was the northwest province and is famous for the fact that here is where Pliny wrote his famous letters to Trajan about the large number of Christians in his province.

            These five provinces are famous, not only because they are all in the same general location, but because Christianity flourished here more than anywhere else in the first century. In that time of great pressure and difficulty and disaster the greatest place for Christianity are these five provinces. They fulfilled what Jerusalem failed to do and what all of the other great areas failed to do. Peter is now writing to them to prepare them for two things. He is going to teach them how to love the Lord and he is going to prepare them for disasters about to fall upon them.  

            At the end of verse two there is a sentence which, in principle, is the whole book but specifically is this chapter — “Grace unto you and peace be multiplied.” Verse 1 actually introduces the epistle; verse 2 introduces the chapter.

 

           

The doctrine of grace

            1. Grace by definition. Grace is all that God is free to do for man on the basis of the cross.

            2. The concept of grace. Grace depends on who and what God is; grace never depends on who and what man is.

            3. The challenge to grace is legalism. Legalism is the antithesis of grace. If we can do even one work in the plan of God and gain blessing from it then the plan of God is not grace.

            4. The objective of grace is to set apart the believer. The principle of grace is sanctification. The greatest thing that God the Father can do is make the believer like His Son. This requires three stages:

                        a. Positional sanctification — we are set apart at the point of salvation; we are entered into union with Christ.

                        b. Experiential sanctification — accomplished immediately by the filling of the Spirit [being in the bottom circle]. But over the whole period of phase two it is accomplished by the function of GAP.

                        c. Ultimate sanctification — in which we receive a resurrection body. In a resurrection body we have a body exactly like that of the Son of God — Philippians 3:21; 1 John 3:1,2.

            5. There has to be a point where grace starts — the entrance factor — 1 Peter 2:3. Every believer enters the grace of God at a point. It is called “tasting” — at the point of salvation. At that point the whole work of God goes into effect.

            6. The divine attitude. God has to have a consistent attitude with regard to grace. His attitude: He is constantly waiting to pour out His grace on every believer. This attitude is expressed in Isaiah 30:18,19.

            7. The occupational hazard of grace — disorientation to grace — Hebrews 12:15; Galatians 5:4.

            8. Grace is phase one is expressed throughout the scripture — e.g. Psalm 103:8-12; Rom. 3:23,24; 4:4; 5:20; Eph, 2:8,9.

            9. Grace in phase two. It is seen in many facets of the Christian life — prayer, Heb.4:16; suffering, 2 Cor. 12:9,10; growth, 2 Pet, 3:18; stability, 1 Pet. 5:12; the whole modus vivendi of the Christian life, Heb. 12:28; 2 Cor. 1:12; production of the Christian life, 1 Cor. 15:10.

            10. The implications of grace:

                        a. God is perfect; His plan is perfect;

                        b. A perfect plan can only originate from a perfect person — God.

                        c. If man can do anything meritorious in the plan of God it is no longer perfect;

                        d. A plan is no stronger than its weakest link — e.g. Legalism or human good would be a weak link.

                        f. There is no place and no provision in God’s plan for human good; it is rejected by God.              g. Human good is always associated with the mental attitude sin of pride.

            11. There are four areas of pride which reject grace:

                        a. The pride of the believer who does not believe in eternal security. The reason he does not believe is that he thinks his sins are greater than the plan of God or that his sins are greater than the grace of God.

                        b. The pride of the believer who succumbs to suffering or adversity. He actually   thinks that his suffering are greater than the provision of God.

                        c. The pride of pseudo spirituality. This is the believer who is so impressed with his taboos, his ecstatic experiences or his ascetics or his morality that he thinks that these things are greater than the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

                        d. The pride of the emotional believer who simply lives by feelings or emotions which he makes the criterion. He thinks his feelings or how he feels or his emotional pattern is more important than Bible doctrine.

            “Grace unto you.” “Unto you” is dative of advantage. Inevitably it is to your advantage to be the recipient of grace — “and peace” — e)irhnh , which means tranquillity, harmony, etc. Peace is the result of grace. There are actually two kinds of peace mentioned in the New Testament. One is reconciliation — Ephesians 2:14-17 — which simply means that Jesus Christ removed the barrier between God and man, and therefore made peace. The second is found in Philippians 4:7 and is a result of the relaxed mental attitude, tranquillity of soul.

            “be multiplied” — plhqunw, aorist passive optative. The aorist tense means that this is a period of time when the believer has an edification complex of the soul. So the aorist tense gathers up, as it were, into one ball of wax every time the believer takes in Bible doctrine under the principle of GAP. The GAP on a consistent basis results in an edification complex so the aorist represents the kind of action the verb has. The voice represents the relationship between the subject and the verb, and in this case the subject receives the action because this is passive voice. Grace and peace being multiplied are received through the function of GAP. Again, when you receive doctrine under GAP then you begin to receive grace multiplied and you have peace. The optative mood here expresses the writers wish or desire. Peter is a communicator of doctrine and he desires that doctrine be taken in under GAP because the intake of Bible doctrine is the basis for multiplying grace in your life. This is your capacity to appreciate God who is the provider of grace.

           

            Verses 2-12, the multiplication of grace

            Grace is multiplied in eight different ways:

            1. Grace in multiplied in the work of the Trinity — verse 2a.

            2. Grace is multiplied in the termini of God’s plan — verse 3.

            3. Grace is multiplied in divine inheritance — verses 4,5.

            4. Grace is multiplied in suffering — verse 6.

            5. Grace is multiplied in the whole faith-rest principle — verse 7.

            6. Grace is multiplied in occupation with Christ or category one love — verse 8.

            7. Therefore, grace is multiplied in the plan of God - verse 9,10.

            8. Grace is multiplied in the canon of scripture — verses 11-12.

 

            Verses 13-25, the multiplication of peace

            1. Peace is multiplied in mental attitude — verse 13.

            2. Peace is multiplied in sanctification — verse 14-16.

            3. Peace is multiplied in prayer and, again, occupation with Christ or category one love — verse 17.          

            4. Peace is multiplied in redemption — verses 18-19.

            5. Peace is multiplied in the plan of God — verse 20-21.

            6. Peace is multiplied in the ECS — verse 22.

            7. Peace is multiplied in the Word of God — verses 23-25.

 

            Verse 2 — grace is multiplied in the work of the Trinity. The verse begins with the word “according to.” The preposition is kata, the preposition of norm and standard. Kata indicates that God has a standard for His plan. This norm or standard is the character of God the Father, the character of God the Son and the character of God the Holy Spirit. And verse 2 actually begins with “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father”— Grace depends on God the Father — “through the sanctification of the Spirit” — grace depends on the ministry of the Holy Spirit — “unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” — grace depends on Jesus Christ.

            “according to the foreknowledge” — prognwsij - predetermined purpose based upon a complete knowledge of the facts. The foreknowledge of God comes from His omniscience. This noun is used in Acts 2:23 also and it is interesting that only Peter uses this word. He used it in his speech on the Day of Pentecost and he uses it here at the beginning of his epistle. Peter was impressed by God’s purpose, and the fact that billions of years ago God knew everything that Peter would do and God provided everything for Peter. So there was no place for Peter to take any credit; there was no place for Peter to intrude with his own human good. This is a very technical substantive and it indicates that God the Father has a great deal in everything to do with grace being multiplied. “According to the norm or standard of the predetermined purpose with knowledge of all the facts from God the Father”. God the Father is the author of the plan. He is called the Father because through regeneration we enter in to a permanent family relationship with Him. Prognwsij with God the Father also indicates that billions of years ago God had a complete knowledge of everything we would ever face and He provided for it at that time. He also knew that we would have free will. In fact, He designed us that way and therefore He knew which way our free will would operate at any given point. “in the sanctification of the Spirit” — the word “in” is the proposition e)n plus the instrumental. It should be translated “by means of the sanctification of the Spirit.” In other words, the Holy Spirit is the means of setting us apart in the plan of God. The old sin nature and negative volition get us out of the plan of God; the Holy Spirit sets us apart in the plan of God because sanctification means “set apart” — we are in union with Jesus Christ. So when we are out of the bottom circle [out of fellowship] we are also out of the plan of God. And in order to get back in we have the rebound technique which gets us back into fellowship — 1 John 1:9. The sanctification of the Spirit is being in the bottom circle. And in the bottom circle the Holy Spirit controls us and by controlling us He keeps us in the framework of the plan of God.

            The word for sanctification is a(giasmoj, it means set apartness. God the Holy Spirit actually sets us apart. It is accomplished through the filling of the Spirit, being in the bottom circle.

            “unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” The word “unto obedience” is the preposition e)ij plus u(pakoh, translated “because of obedience.” In other words, because Jesus Christ was obedient to the plan of the Father — phase 1, the cross. The word “sprinkling” — rantismoj is a word which takes us back to the Levitical offerings before the cross. Rantismoj was actually the activity of the priests in sprinkling the blood. It actually portrays a positive attitude toward Christ. Blood here refers to the work of Christ on the cross and does not suggest that he bled to death. A(ima, which is the word for blood, means blood literally in the veins but it also means the principle of judgement. The blood was literal when the animal was sacrificed in the Levitical offerings and the blood was collected by the priests. The sprinkling of the blood simply means the person is positive toward Christ. The blood of the animal depicts Christ being judged. The physical death of the animal depicts the spiritual death of Jesus Christ on the cross. The sprinkling of the blood indicates believing in Jesus Christ; it is positive volition toward the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Principle: Jesus Christ did all of the work of salvation.

            Verse 3 — Grace is multiplied in the termini plan of God. Since God has no beginning, grace has no beginning. Since God has no end, grace has no end. The only problem we have is how to find grace in between the two “no ends.” We begin with a verbal adjective e)uloghtoj which is translated in our English Bibles “blessed.” It means two different things. It means praised or it means celebrated; it is a verbal adjective used only of God. This verbal adjective means perfect character, perfect planning, perfect functioning. It is used in this passage for God the Father and God the Son. It also applies to God the Holy Spirit but He is the author of scripture using human agencies.

            “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” — God the Father is the one who in eternity past provided this fantastic plan of grace. He is called the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ because in this plan He sent the Son, and the word “obedient” in Philippians chapter two — “he became obedient unto death” — is the reason for calling the second person of the Trinity the Son and the first person the Father. In their deity they are coequal and coeternal. This is language of accommodation for us who are members of the human race; we understand father and son and obedience. The Lord Jesus Christ had to become obedient to the plan of the Father or there would be no grace. The word “blessed” really refers to eternity past when God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit existed, and no one else. They are the objects of perfect praise.

            “according to” — kata, a preposition of norm or standard and God’s norm and God’s standard is compatible with His character — “according to his abundant mercy.” The word “his” is a genitive of the pronoun a)utoj. This particular preposition emphasises the perfect character and the perfect quality of God, and it also emphasises that which stems from His perfect character and perfect quality. The word “abundant” — poluj — refers to the greatness in quality of His “mercy” — e)leoj which when used of God means grace in action toward us. The word “mercy” is God the Father providing something for us in time. Because God was perfect in eternity past He can only provide something which is perfect in time. But since He is dealing with time, time must have a starting place. Time has a starting place for us when it comes to God’s mercy or God’s grace in action — i.e. “he hath begotten us again.” Whatever we are by physical birth is totally meaningless, it is what we are because of the new birth. Whatever inequalities exist in physical birth they are removed by this particular phrase for the believer — “hath begotten us again” — a)nagennaw, which means to be born a second time. It is inevitable that as the human race continues on the earth inequalities will be magnified. Inequalities were not nearly as great when the human race began. The more people the greater the inequalities exist in the human race. Therefore, whatever characteristics acquired in life they only add to the inequality. Therefore God’s grace has to start at a point where inequality is removed and by having a new birth as the entrance into His plan all inequalities are removed. The Holy Spirit is the agent of regeneration — Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:23. So at this particular point in the verse we have all three members of the Trinity brought into the plan of God.

            To demonstrate that on the other side of time is eternity and God’s grace will continue to exist we have our next phrase, “unto a lively hope.” “Unto” is the preposition e)ij, a directional   preposition which is pointing to the eternal future. The word “lively” is bad translation. In the Greek it is a present active participle of zaw. Zaw means to live. The present active participle is linear aktionsart — constantly living, always living, “hope” — e)lpij, the Greek word for confidence. So what is the direction? It is a constantly living confidence which is the resurrection from the dead. We are going to have a resurrection body — “by the resurrection from the dead,” dia plus the genitive, which should be translated “through the resurrection of the dead”. Now the resurrection of the dead is meaningless unless the Lord Jesus Christ is raised first. So Jesus Christ the firstfruits is the basis for our confidence. He is the only one who has risen at this point and the fact that He is risen and is seated at the right hand of the Father is the basis for confidence.

 

            The doctrine of the first resurrection

            1. Christ is the firstfruits — 1 Corinthians 15:20,23; Romans 1:14; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 2 Timothy 2:8; 1 Peter 1:3. Christ is risen.

            2. The Rapture of the Church — 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51-57; Philippians 3:20, 21; 1 John 3:1,2; John 14:1-3.

            3. The Old Testament saints and the Tribulational martyrs — Daniel 12:13; Isaiah 26:19,20; Matthew 24:31; Revelation 20:4.

            4. The Millennial saints. These are composed of two groups: those who are alive at the second advent; their progeny — some will be believers and some will be unbelievers. The believers are those who are in the fourth section of the first resurrection.

 

            The doctrine of the second resurrection

            1. Hell is prepared for the devil and his angels — Matthew 25:41.

            2. There is a resurrection of damnation — John 5:29.

            3. The distinction of two resurrections is taught in the Old Testament as well as the New - Daniel 12:2.

            4. The second resurrection is composed of unbelievers only who are judged on the basis of human good at that judgement and cast into the lake of fire — Revelation 20:12-15.

 

            “from the dead” — preposition e)k — literally, out from the dead. E)k indicates a literal, physical, bodily resurrection. There is no such thing as a spiritual resurrection, as the liberals teach.

 

            Verses four and five, the look forward to inheritance

            We are the beneficiaries of God’s grace in time but His grace extends to resurrection, a physical thing, and also to another principle: we are the heirs of God through resurrection. Just as Christ rose from the dead — He is the heir of God in His physical being — so we in our human bodies in the future are going to share in this resurrection of the Lord Jesus and, as a result, we are going to have an inheritance.

            Verse 4 — Notice after the phrase “resurrection out from the dead to an inheritance” we have the same preposition e)ij which looks forward, looking forward to the future. We are heirs now, we will have the reality of our heirship in the future. The word for inheritance is klhronomia. It means the reality of the inheritance in the future. We are heirs as from the point of salvation but in the future we are going to realise our inheritance. Klhronomia means a definite, specific possession.

            Our inheritance is described as “incorruptible” — a)fqartoj. The “a” in this Greek word is called an alpha privitive negative. The fqartoj means to be perishable, and with the “a” in front of it means to be “not perishable,” therefore enduring. In other words, our inheritance is not destroyed by our death. It is also said to be “undefiled,” which is a)miantoj. Again the “a” is negative and miantoj refers to garbage, excrement stains. And we are non-defiled — no garbage in heaven.

            “that fadeth not away” is a compound adjective, a)marantoj which means non-dried up, non-decayed. There is no drying up of the glory, the happiness, or the blessings of God’s grace.

            Now we come to our first verb form which is a perfect passive participle of terew — translated here “reserved.” It means permanently guarded, to preserve something that belongs to self. We belong to God; He preserves us. The perfect tense means that He has preserved us since the day we accepted Christ and we have that preservation forever. The passive voice tells us that we receive it; we don’t earn it; we don’t deserve it. The participle indicates that it is a divine law.

            The area of our permanent preservation will be “in heaven” — e)n plus the locative of sphere, in the sphere of heaven. That is where our inheritance is preserved forever. The Church Age believer is always identified with heaven as far as phase three is concerned. “For you” is a directional preposition — e)ij.

 

            The doctrine of eternal security

            There are at least ten different approaches to the doctrine.

            1. The positional approach — Romans 8:38,39. This says that the believer is in Christ and he never gets out of Christ, and there is no way he can.

            2. The logical approach — Romans 8:32, “much more”. The principle is that if God did the most for us while we were His enemies, what will He do for us now that we are His children? The answer is: “much more.” This “much more” is found is found five times in Romans 5.

            3. The anthropomorphic approach — Psalm 37:24; John 10:28, we are in His hands; we can never get out of His hands.

            4. The experiential approach — 2 Timothy 2:12-13. In that passage we have the fact that believers can turn around and deny the Lord but they cannot lost their salvation by such denial.

            5. The family approach. We are born into the family of God and we can never change it - John 1:12; Galatians 3:26.

            6. The inheritance approach — 1 Peter 1:4,5.

            7. The approach from the standpoint of the sovereignty of God. In 2 Peter 3:9 He is not willing that any should perish. Therefore, Jude 24,25 — once you believe in Him He is able to keep you from falling.

            8. The body approach — 1 Corinthians 12:21; Colossians 1:18. The head cannot say to any member of the body, “I do not need you”.

            9. The sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit — 2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30.

            10. The approach of the Greek tense. In this context we have the perfect tense of terew — once guarded, always guarded — and we have in Ephesians 2:8 the perfect tense of swzw which is the word to save — the perfect tense, saved in the past with the result that we keep on being saved forever.

 

            Verse 5 — “Who are kept by the power of God.” Here is another word for guarding, but a different word, frourew — to guard in a garrison. This means that as believers garrisoned on this earth we are guarded by the power of God. “By the power” is e)n plus the instrumental case of dunamij — by means of the power of God. Genitive of source, the power belongs to God.

            “through faith” — dia plus the genitive of pistij. This is our walk; we walk by faith not by sight. Faith is the reality of the unseen — Hebrews 11:1. “Unto salvation” means that on earth the direction to the plan of God is salvation. In time as unbelievers e)ij is used, direction is the cross. All of this starts with the cross — e)ij, unto salvation. The word “ready” means to be prepared. And it doesn’t mean we are prepared, it means God has prepared us to be revealed by resurrection body. The Greek word is e(toimoj — a noun which refers to the fact that God prepares us; we do not prepare ourselves.

            “to be revealed” — aorist passive infinitive of a)pokaluptw which means to be unveiled as a bride, and it is a reference to the Rapture of the Church. That is when we become the bride. Now the bride is revealed to the world. This aorist tense refers primarily then to the second advent when we return with Christ to the earth as per 1 Thessalonians 3:13; Jude 14. The resurrection is when the body becomes the bride. The bride is unveiled at the second advent of Christ — operation footstool. The passive voice: the believers of the Church Age are revealed at that point. The infinitive: it is God’s purpose to reveal the Church in resurrection body at the second advent as a part of the angelic conflict.

            “in the last time” is a reference to an epoch or a dispensation rather than a succession of events. The “last time” refers to the last time in the Church Age, when Christ returns.  

            Verse 6 — “Wherein ye greatly rejoice.” The word “wherein” is a relative pronoun which means “in which”. It refers to any time in the Church Age when there would be adversity or apostasy or difficulty. “Ye greatly rejoice” means to celebrate — a)galliaw. It means to have a party on a relaxed basis or doing something you want to by way of celebration. The reason we need the etymology for this verb is because in this particular verse everything is wrong. There is suffering at the end of this verse. And the believer, through Bible doctrine, is designed to celebrate victory at a time when everything is difficult. So “in which” refers to all the Bible doctrine and all the principles of doctrine and the multiplication of grace which we have had right up to this verse. These are the inner resources in the day of suffering or adversity. Any time you suffer or are in adversity the doctrine that you pick up and study and absorb on a daily basis becomes the basis of celebration. This is a present middle indicative. The present tense is linear aktionsart, which means that any time we hit a period of suffering we have the inner resources. The middle voice is called a volitional middle, it indicates a series of decisions that have prepared one for an adverse situation. The series of decisions are obviously — with the present tense, linear aktionsart — the constant exposure to Bible doctrine. The believer who is constantly making decisions for Bible doctrine — to take it in, take it in, take it in — is going to have resources in time of disaster, difficulty, heartache, problems, and so on.

            Now we have two adverbs which introduce suffering. The first of the two adverbs is o)ligon. It means “a little.” It is here an adverb of time so it means a little time. And this first adverb is designed to show you that whatever you do in this life you don’t have much time. And the idea that you can celebrate under conditions of great adversity is something that belongs to a short time here on the earth. It is something you can never experience in eternity; you can only experience perfect happiness. Now the whole thrust of verse 6 and the rest of this chapter is to the effect that God says, “Look, I am leaving you in the devil’s world and there is something I am going to give you: the inner resources so that you, from your own free will, can choose to take from me my very soul [Bible doctrine] that which causes you to celebrate even in great adversity.” There are two approaches to having the blues. You can take something from the outside and put it in [like hitting the bottle] which might be construed as a temporary solution. The repercussions down the line are very bad. Or you can have the inner resources of doctrine. We only have a short time here and Bible doctrine is the thing that makes the difference. So the first of the two adverbs is to remind us that whatever we have in time is going to be short, and the capacity to enjoy life is going to come out of Bible doctrine.

            The next adverb is a)rti. It means a present moment. The moment here of course is a moment of suffering. The Christian life is made up of moments. Every moment is a moment of celebration or a moment of regret and Peter will develop this. The regret moments are the mental attitude sin moments. The celebration moments are the RMA (relaxed mental attitude) moments. The moments we regret will always be related to our own soul and that is the kind of suffering we have in verse 6. And the moments we do not regret when we have capacity to love God, capacity for life, are going to be free from mental attitude sins. In other words, you have in your soul the resources to make yourself miserable [mental attitude sins] or you have the resources for happiness — doctrine. Your happiness does not depend upon circumstances around you, your happiness depends upon what you are using in your soul. You are either drawing upon the resources of Bible doctrine or you are drawing upon the resources of mental attitude sinning, because mental attitude sinning is the OSN adjustment to life [the adjustment by anger, bitterness, jealousy, cruelty, hatred, etc]. Inevitably, if you are a mature adult and if you are moving toward maturity spiritually you must take the responsibility for your own misery or your own happiness. Since the day you were born again you make your own misery or your own happiness because the issue is clear, Bible doctrine is your happiness, your capacity for life. If it isn’t Bible doctrine you are using then you are going to go on human resources and no one goes on human resources without mental attitude sins. And the resources of Bible doctrine make for perfect happiness. And not just perfect happiness but in the midst of any difficulty of life, celebration.

            Then we have a first class condition followed by two words — “if [1st class condition] need be.” We have a present active participle of the verb dew, a verb of necessity. Actually it doesn’t have a good translation and “need be” is not a good translation. We could say, “if necessary” [and it is]. In other words, a certain amount of suffering is necessary during the o)ligon, the short time we are here as a believer. Why? One of the manifestations of God’s love is faithfulness to you in every circumstance of life — provision for you at every point. Your whole Christian life is o)ligon; it is narrowed down to specific points, a)rti. In those points, in your Christian life, it is necessary to have a varying type of experience. If love was always just sweetness and light and always a certain type of thing people would get the wrong idea. There would be no capacity for love. Love finds us in various stages and God provides in the prosperity stages and He provides in the suffering stages [celebration]. You have to respond to God’s love and when you respond with positive volition your positive volition doesn’t wait for a period of suffering, it responds to God’s love daily by taking in doctrine. And then as you have taken in doctrine and cycled it and built an ECS [edification complex in the soul] there is a time of celebration even when you hit a time of suffering. But if you are negative toward God’s love and you have not responded to it then you have nothing to celebrate. And inevitably you will go back on human resources and human resources which, as Peter will emphasise, are mental attitude sins. People compensate in their souls by the use of mental attitude sins. That is why it says in Hebrews, “Let no root of bitterness spring up” — a root of bitterness springing up is human resources; bitterness is a mental attitude sin.

            “ye are in heaviness” — aorist passive participle of lupew which means to be in suffering, to be in pain, to be in distress. And the aorist tense matches the second adverb. You are going to be in suffering. There will be times when you will be in suffering. The passive voice: the believer receives the suffering as a basis for blessing but only under conditions where inner resources are available. By inner resources is meant the capacity to love God on the basis of Bible doctrine. And this participle is what is called a circumstantial participle which merely points to a period of time in your life when there will be suffering. And you can draw upon divine resources only if they are available, otherwise you will inevitably draw upon human resources and when you habitually in time of pressure draw upon human resources you habitually compound suffering. The suffering designed for blessing by your volition turns into cursing-type suffering. You have made a series of decisions not to take in Bible doctrine and therefore having made decision after decision, when the suffering comes you are going to use human resources. You have no divine resources. And using human resources means that you are going to compound and intensify the suffering and you are going to turn it into cursing. In other words, God turns suffering into blessing, that is all that God can do; that is compatible with His character. Man turns suffering into cursing; that is compatible with man’s character. There are no divine resources unless you have Bible doctrine.

            In the second verse we read “grace be multiplied.” Now how is grace going to be multiplied? Grace multiplies from the inside. Multiplication is like having money in the bank; there is a percentage of interest, as it were. You have it in there and the multiplication comes when suffering hits in a point of time. Then the interest isn’t simply +H [which is something that you get apart from this], but Peter is talking about having the inner resources and, as a result, celebration. At the point of time when the suffering hits instead of going to human resources and compounding the suffering, you come up with celebration.

            “through” — and again we have e)n plus the locative case. It should be translated “in the sphere of.”

            “manifold” — poikiloj, which means diverse. “Temptations” is just not temptations, peirasmoj here means calamities or adversities. Diverse adversities. If you just have one kind of suffering you get used to that. These are just points of time in your short Christian life, it doesn’t go on all the time.

            Corrected translation of verse 6: “In the sphere of which [doctrine] you keep on celebrating, although for a little while at the present time, if it is necessary [and it is], you receive suffering in the sphere of diverse adversities.”

            Verse 7 — How is this going to be multiplied under grace? “That the testing of your faith”. “That” is a purpose clause. The word for “trial” is dokimion. The ion at the end of the word indicates a little trial, nothing really. It may be a great catastrophe as far as we are concerned but nothing with doctrine. The testing refers to that by which anything is tested, it means testing for the purpose of blessing. This is a Greek noun which has a purpose tied into it.

            “of your faith” — this is a genitive singular of pistij. This is the same word that is used for transferring Bible doctrine from the perceptive lobe to the human spirit. The word “being” is not found in the original. “Much more precious” appears to refer to the faith but it doesn’t. It refers to the testing of faith. Testing for the purpose of blessing is much more precious, or literally, of greater value. There is no verb. With the elimination of the verb we actually have “much more precious”, a comparative adjective going back to the noun, the testing, not the genitive “of your faith.” It is testing that is of greater value. “greater value” is polutimoteron. It is taken from several Greek words: poluj which means much; timh which means value; the suffix teron is a comparative suffix and therefore it should be translated “of greater value.” Suffering is of greater value under the conditions of the previous verse where you have the resources of Bible doctrine in your soul, in your human spirit. Then suffering is of greater value than gold. Gold was generally associated with details of life which are related to fun, happiness, and so on.

            The word “faith” in itself is a genitive to describe the inhale. Faith here is the vacuum cleaner that sucks in Bible doctrine so that you have inner resources in time of calamity or disaster. And it is of greater value that gold that “perisheth” — a present middle participle of a)polumi, which means to be destroyed or to lose it. In other words, it is completely removed from you, either by destruction or you could lose the gold in other ways. But you can’t lose doctrine. Gold perishes but doctrine doesn’t, that is the contrast here. Which is of greater value, the inner resources of doctrine or money? Gold is here and gone tomorrow; doctrine is permanent. When you spend doctrine you still have doctrine. If you want to have your cake and eat it you can! There is a way you can throw it away - by neglect. But it stays when you spend it in time of suffering. So the resources of Bible doctrine are infinitely of more value than gold.

            “though it [the doctrine] be tested,” not the faith. Faith is in the genitive; faith modifies testing; “with fire” or through fire. “It be tested” is dokimazw — a present passive participle, it means to test for the purpose of blessing. Present tense: it will always work that way when you use doctrine; passive voice: you receive the doctrine, you receive the testing and where doctrine and testing meet that is the point of celebration. In time God has the privilege of demonstrating His love for you under the most adverse of circumstances. But it must be freely given and it must be on the basis of your volition. And you give your love to God daily when you take in Bible doctrine.

            “though” is a particle. Always watch the particles. De is really a circumstantial particle to go with a circumstantial participle — “though it be tried with fire”. Notice that the aorist participle was circumstantial. Now we have a present passive participle which emphasises and amplifies the aorist participle. Suffering takes place in an increment of time. It is an intensity of suffering as indicated by the present participle. The present tense is linear aktionsart and the passive voice tells us that in this testing we receive something and dokimazw indicates that we receive blessing.

            “even though it is through [not with] fire” — dia plus the genitive.

            When you are having a love affair with the Lord Jesus Christ by the daily intake of Bible doctrine then you are going to notice something here. You are going to reflect His glory. The noble man is the glory of God; the woman is the glory of her right man. “Might be found unto the praise and glory and honour”. “Might be found” means to discover and to gain or obtain. The Greek verb is e(uriskw. What is the gain in e(uriskw? Praise, honour and glory. The reflected glory of God. We can reflect His glory in time of prosperity and no one thinks anything of it. We can reflect His glory in time of adversity and it becomes the most obvious thing in the world to angels and to the world.

            The word “unto” — e)ij is a directional preposition as a rule. Often it expresses a result, you are going in a direction. Adversity meets doctrine in your soul and the result is celebration. When you celebrate you are reflecting the glory of God and this preposition is used to show the direction of the celebration.

             First of all we have the word “praise,” a straight love response or a counter response. You respond to God and God, as it were, applauds you. This word was originally used for applause — e)painoj. Eventually it came to mean commendation, approval, and so on. It really means approval by applause. So the principle here is that there is some unheard, unseen applause in heaven.

            The next word is “glory” — doca. God is glorified by you from your free will taking in doctrine daily and then using it. That is reflected glory. The second word “honour” is glory, and the third word “glory” isn’t glory, it is value, timh. Doca has to do with the time when the disaster hits; you reflect the glory of God. But timh has to do with in eternity you are going to always reflect the glory of God through using His resources and responding to his love at this point of suffering. This is glory of the highest value and it describes rewards in eternity. And what is the reward? You will reflect the glory of God forever for something that occurred in time. When you used His resources in time it means you are going to reflect His glory forever.

            The basic instrument of human love is the soul, as illustrated by category two and category three love. It is quite obvious that the soul can have a visible or an invisible object without impairment of capacity. And the capacity to love God whom we have not seen is described now in 1 Peter 1:8.

            We begin with a relative pronoun [Whom] which refers to a member of the Godhead who is not visible to us though He is the visible manifestation of the Godhead. Jesus Christ was the visible member of the Godhead in the Old Testament and in His earthly ministry but once this epistle was completed a principle was established by the phrase “ye see him not”. In the middle of verse 8 “ye see him not” means that Jesus Christ as God is invisible to us just as the Father and the Holy Spirit. But it also means that Jesus Christ as true humanity is also invisible to us. He is now seated at the right hand of the Father and cannot be seen by us until we depart with Him.

            We are discussing the principle in verse eight of loving Jesus Christ though we do not see Him; a principle which is antithetical to the human viewpoint of life. The relative pronoun refers to Jesus Christ. “Whom” — Jesus Christ; “having not seen” — o(raw. We live in perhaps the end of the Church Age where the canon of scripture is completed. Therefore Jesus Christ is not visible — aorist active participle of o(raw. O(raw means a panoramic view. The aorist tense means in any point of time while we are on earth. We can never look around and see Jesus Christ. The active voice plus the negative means that every individual believer priest on the earth during the period of the Church Age has not seen Jesus Christ. The participle here indicates several things. First, the action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb — “ye love.” It also indicates a principle which will continue throughout the Church Age. People are not going to see Jesus Christ once the canon is completed and once this epistle is completed. The same idea is found in 2 Corinthians 4:18 — “while we look not at the things which are seen but the things that are not seen.”

            “ye love” is a present active indicative of a)gapaw which has to do with the mental attitude part of love and is the third floor of the ECS. The first floor is grace orientation. If you are going to have capacity for love it is going to come out of the ECS and love demands grace orientation. The second is mastery of the details of life and it does have some effect on capacity for love because people who love materialistic things, for example, never seem to have the ability to love persons; they always seem to get the things before the person. Then we get to relaxed mental attitude, the third floor, which is freedom from mental attitude sins. It is absolutely imperative as a basic capacity for love to be free from mental attitude sins because they are the grace destroyers of capacity for love - jealousy, vindictiveness, pride, etc.

            That leads next to the capacity for love which is the verb filew which is the highest type love. This is the point at which one has arrived. Then we are going to see +H. In this particular verse we are going to have the celebration of having the capacity for love and we have the relaxed mental attitude. Grace orientation is omitted because the entire chapter deals with orientation. Mastery of the details of life is the subject of the third chapter. Capacity to love is really the result of the others and, therefore, not an issue to Peter at this time. So under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit he has selected a)gapaw rather than filew because a)gapaw comes first. There must be a relaxed mental attitude or a relaxed or a relaxed attitude in the mentality of the soul before filew can permeate the soul. In other words, as long as there is an habitual mental attitude sin pattern this holds up the construction of capacity for love. And the principle remains as Peter has presented it right here. The use of a)gapaw rather than filew says, in effect, mental attitude sins hinder capacity for love. Where mental attitude sins exist capacity for love is curtailed to that extent, if not altogether. Therefore, both capacity for love and perfect happiness are out of reach at that particular moment.

            “Whom having not seen ye love” — this has to do with the principle of the third floor of the ECS. The same concept is found in 1 John 2:5 but with a different emphasis where the emphasis is on the ECS. Here the emphasis is on category 1 love. The object of love is the invisible God and first of all He must be the object of a relaxed mental attitude before this capacity develops. So in both of these floors we are looking at category one love.

 

            The doctrine of category one love — the principle of occupation with the person of Christ in the Church Age.

            1. Category one love is a response to the love of God. It is a love that belongs to the believer only; it is a believer responding to God’s love. Therefore, all category one love is related to God — cf. OT believer, Deut. 6:5; NT believer — Hebrews 12:2.

            2. Capacity for category one love stems from the function of GAP — Colossians 3:1,2. GAP, of course, builds the ECS.

            3. Maximum category one love results in the edification complex in the soul [ECS] — Philippians 1:20,21; Ephesians 3:17,19; 1 John 4:17,18.

            4. For the believer in the Church Age category one love response occurs first through the filling of the Spirit — Ephesians 5:2, cf. 5:18.

            5. Like the right man in category two love, Jesus Christ is the aggressor in category one. And He initiates through Bible doctrine and the principle of grace. The principle of grace emphasises His character in initiation and doctrine is giving something of Himself. The believer responds to what God gives of Himself. The filling of the Holy Spirit makes it possible for the intake of doctrine under GAP. So responding to doctrine is analogous to maximum happiness of the woman in the physical relationship. Ephesians 5:25-27; 1 John 4:4-10, 19.

            6. Therefore capacity for love is based on the daily function of GAP — Phil. 3:7,8; 2 Tim. 1:13.

            7. The believer who does not love Jesus Christ under category one is under a special curse which can be a perpetual discipline — 1 Cor. 16:22. This is a Church Age curse; it does not belong to the Jewish Age. A)naqema marenaqa means accursed until the Lord comes. [This is meeting the Lord in the air, not the second advent.] Once you go back to the Tribulation you are back on a specialised priesthood again and this particular discipline is not pertinent.

            8. Category one love is the true motivator for Christian service. Take, for example, witnessing. You talk about what you love and you do it with ease.

            9. Divine love is initiated through grace. Hence, capacity of the believer for category one love intensifies grace action in his life. Grace emphasises the character of God. So how is God going to give you something of Himself? At salvation He gave you eternal life and +R but He cannot give you that which is inherently His and eternally His so, as long as you are in this life, He gives you something of Himself through His thinking, for doctrine is the mind of Christ — 1 Cor, 2:16. And the believer, by becoming the recipient of doctrine, is able to take this doctrine into his life and not only reflect the glory of God but to operate in grace himself — Daniel 9:4; Psalm 31:23; 119:132; 1 Cor. 2:9.

            10. Category one love is commanded to all the Old Testament saints — Deut. 6:5, 10, 12; 11:1, 13.

            11. For the believer category one love is the basis for happiness as well as capacity for category two love — Deut. 30:16.

            12. For the believer, category one love is the basis for the capacity to enjoy life — Deut. 30:20.

            13. Category one love provides courage in battle — Joshua 23:10,11.

            14. In as much as the object of category one love is God, and since God is invisible, we can only see God, love God, appreciate God, have capacity for category one love, through His Word. In other words, it is impossible to love God apart from His Word - Psalm 119:165, 167; 1 Peter 1:8.

 

            Notice several things about “ye love.” The present tense is linear aktionsart. The more you take in doctrine the greater becomes your capacity to love God [Cat. 1] and the basis for the capacity. The active voice: you do your own loving; you don’t have anyone else doing it for you. There is a tendency among all young people, when they are young, to let a group do their thinking. The active voice: the subject produces the action of the verb — you do your own thinking. The indicative mood is the reality of being able to love God. It means also that this is the main verb. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. The aorist participle: “having not seen.” First we don’t see Him but then we love Him.

            Now we have a second relative pronoun. “In whom [Jesus Christ] now.” “Now” is an adverb - a)rti. It means “at this time.” It can be translated at this moment or at the present moment. In other words, while you are on this earth “ye see him not” — present active participle in contrast to the aorist active participle. In the first phrase we have o(raw, aorist active participle; now we have present active participle. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb, a)gapaw, present active indicative, “we love.” Now the present active participle picks up the concept of the aorist active participle but gives it a new meaning. The present active participle is the strongest type of linear aktionsart and at the same time sets up a principle. So the principle that is set up is picked up from here. We still haven’t seen and we keep on not seeing Him as long as we are in phase two. This is a sanity, safety participle because at some time some people get so carried away they think they see Jesus. This is for your sanity and for your safety, you never are going to see Jesus Christ as long as you are on this earth, except through the Word.

            It also does something else. Even though you are not able to see Jesus Christ and you keep on not seeing Jesus Christ, yet He becomes a reality. And the key to the reality is what happens after doctrine hits your left lobe. “Though at the present moment you keep on not seeing him, yet believing” — the present active participle of pisteuw goes with the present active participle of o(raw. What do we keep on believing? Doctrine into the left lobe as gnwsij. And as we go positive and keep on believing what we learn we transfer it into the right lobe where it is e)pignwsij and the basis for loving God. You are going to begin to build and get to that RMA [relaxed mental attitude], and from there you get the capacity to love, and so on. You get your capacity to love, not from doctrine in the Bible but, from doctrine in the human spirit — digested and ready to use. Believing is the intake of doctrine — gnwsij is converted to e)pignwsij by faith.

            “ye rejoice” is not a correct translation. It is a)galliaw which means to celebrate. This is a present middle indicative. Present tense: you keep on celebrating. What is the basis for celebration? Doctrine in the human spirit — e)pignwsij. Middle voice [reflexive]: you do it yourself, the subject acts upon itself for its own benefit. You act upon yourself by listening to the teaching of doctrine so you get it in your left lobe as gnosis. You act upon yourself by believing it and transferring it to the human spirit where you are benefited. The indicative mood - the reality of Bible doctrine in the human spirit.

            Notice: You celebrate with joy, and we have the instrumental case of xara — by means of joy, literally. Joy begins to develop in the life. This is the fifth floor of the ECS.

            “unspeakable” — a)neklalhtoj. Lalhtoj means to speak; e)k means out from your own soul; an means it is there but you can’t get it out. So it means indescribable, inexpressible. +H is inexpressible it is so great. And where is plus H? Plus H is in the place called “full of glory.” This is the perfect passive participle of docazw. This word means to have glory, reflected glory. Here is the believer responding to category one love. The believer is taking in doctrine and responding to the glory of God. God initiates with doctrine; the believer takes in doctrine and as a result here is reflected glory. Now the verb actually means to glorify. In the perfect tense and the passive voice it means having received glory. So the perfect passive participle means “having received glory.” When you take in doctrine and take in doctrine, and believe it, then you begin to receive glory. First stage, grace orientation; second stage, mastery of the details of life, and so on. When you reach the fifth stage you have joy, and once you have joy it means you have completed capacity for life and RMA, and now you celebrate. And you constantly celebrate. The perfect tense gives permanence to “having received glory.”

 

            The doctrine of happiness — or what happens when you respond to the love of God.

            1. Happiness is related to the essence of God. God always possessed perfect happiness in eternity past and this happiness is a part of God’s character. Grace is the expression of God’s happiness.

            2. Happiness is related to the divine decrees. In eternity past God desired to share His happiness and express His happiness. And since grace glues His character together, grace becomes the expression of His happiness.

            3. Happiness then is accomplished through grace. In grace God found a way to share His happiness with man — the sharing of salvation by grace, Ephesians 2:8,9; the perception of doctrine for the believer.

            4. Such happiness is confined to the plan of God. Man enters the plan of God by faith in Christ — John 20:31. However, we must remember that being saved is not the recipe for instant happiness. Happiness is only a potential, not a reality for the believer. The reality comes from the daily function of GAP and the erection of the ECS — 1 John 1:4.

            5. The ultimate of happiness in time is found from the top floor of the ECS — John 17:17. The first happiness in the Christian life comes from the filling of the Spirit — Galatians 5:22.

            6. Recognition of human happiness in time. In the devil’s world there exists pseudo happiness. It is temporary and superficial. It depends upon the details of life, pleasant environment and circumstances. Such happiness often depends on getting one’s way in life. Human happiness has limited capacity. Boredom, restlessness, instability, frustration, mental attitude sins, neutralise this type of happiness. Therefore, human happiness does not sustain in time of adversity.

            7. God has designed phase two happiness to be permanent and stabilised in the ECS — John 17:13,17. Plus H provides capacity to enjoy God, to enjoy the details of life when they exist, to be happy without the details of life when they do not exist. This happiness is sustaining and is a part of inner resources in the most difficult circumstances of life.

            8. Recognising a problem in both languages, the word “blessed” occurs in both the Hebrew and in the Greek. In the Hebrew it is ashere, and in the Greek it is makarioi. In both cases we have a plural but they have translated it “blessed”. In both cases it is talking about a happiness that comes from the edification complex which comes through the daily intake of doctrine. And this “happiness” should be translated happinesses (pl) because it is a multiple repercussion type of thing.

            9. We therefore have the daily build-up of happiness. The daily build-up of happiness

under the priesthood of the believer is the daily function of GAP — Matthew 4:4; James 1:25.

            10. Such happiness protects from disillusion. First of all, disillusion regarding the circumstances of life — Phil. 4:11,12. Secondly, disillusion regarding the details of life — Hebrews 13:5,6. Thirdly, disillusion regarding believers — Hebrews 12:2.

            11. Inner happiness enhances capacity for love.

            12. Inner happiness is commanded for phase two — Phil. 4:4, but it is a command which can only be obeyed through the daily function of GAP — Jeremiah 15:16; 13:17; 1 John 1:4.

            13. Inner happiness is provided for phase three — Jude 24.

 

            Corrected translation: Verses 7,8 — “That the testing for blessing of your faith, of much greater value than gold which is destroyed though it [testing for blessing] receives testing through fire, might be found to result in commendation, glory and honour at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

            Whom not having seen you keep on loving; whom at the present moment you see him not, yet constantly believing, you are celebrating with indescribable inner happiness and having received the glory [the ECS].”

            Translation of verse 8: “Whom [Jesus Christ] having not seen ye keep on loving; whom at the present moment ye see him not, yet constantly believing, ye are overjoyed with indescribable inner happiness, and having received glory.”

            Notice the last phrase “having received glory.” This is the basis for “receiving,” a different word in verse 9.

            Verse 9 — “receiving” is a present middle participle of the verb komizw, a word which means to receive back with interest. It has the concept of receiving back what is promised but to receive it back with interest. It is not only a matter of seeing a promise fulfilled but of seeing more than anticipated. This verb has a twofold connotation. It means that in phase two [the believer in time] when the believer erects the ECS through Bible doctrine, he receives the doctrine and the ECS is the interest. He receives more than anticipated. Then it means in phase three [the believer in eternity] he receives a resurrection body. This is more than anticipated and both of these are connected with the soul. The passage says: “Receiving back with interest the ultimate destiny of your faith, the deliverance of your souls.” The word for end is teloj, the word for ultimate destiny. The word “faith” in the genitive singular of pistij and it means at the point of salvation. The moment you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ you begin to receive back with interest. The ultimate of phase two is the ECS; the ultimate in phase three is the resurrection body. At the point of faith in Christ the soul is saved and that is all. Once a person has a saved soul his soul is only saved, it is not fulfilled. The fulfilment of the soul is accomplished in phase two and in phase three. Only in phase two, if the believer makes enough decisions to take in Bible doctrine. Every decision to take in Bible doctrine is the deliverance of the soul in phase two. In phase three it is taken out of our hands because we are given a resurrection body which is the permanent home of the soul for all eternity. So we have the word “salvation” without the definite article. Greek word, swthria. Here is the accusative singular it means deliverance. It is referring here to the deliverance of the soul. Remember that “receiving back with interest” is a present tense. It means it is a constant thing. The middle voice: you are benefited; the participle is the law of God based upon grace.

            The soul at the point of salvation is unfulfilled just like bride during the wedding ceremony is unfulfilled. The fulfilment comes afterward and it is a decision, a decision, a decision, positive, positive, positive; daily positive decision to take in doctrine with the result that an ECS is erected. That is the fulfilment of the soul in time. And then in eternity the resurrection body does the same thing. So the deliverance of souls is twofold and it is all based upon grace.

            Peter has actually drawn a contrast between present pressure of phase two and future happiness in phase three in verse six. Now we actually have another contrast based upon fulfilment of your soul based upon your own volition, and fulfilment of the soul based upon God’s volition. Phase three is God’s volition; phase two is your own volition. And while you are in the process of receiving back with interest in phase two you are also loving the one who is unseen. Your capacity for love is based upon doctrine.

            Verse 10 — “Of which salvation the prophets have inquired.” It is literally “concerning which salvation” — we have swthria again but this time we have peri. Salvation can be used for faith in Christ; it can be used for deliverance in time; it is also used for deliverance in eternity - the deliverance of ultimate sanctification. In other words, salvation is used wherever the scripture uses sanctification.

            These two words, salvation and sanctification, are on a parallel course. Salvation: phase 1, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” That is also called sanctification because at the point of salvation every believer enters into union with Christ. So that is positional sanctification, and on a parallel course with phase 1 salvation. Phase 2 salvation is divine deliverance through grace and so is phase 2 sanctification, except that phase 2 sanctification specifies mechanics, like the filling of the Holy Spirit plus the daily function of GAP. Phase 3: salvation is used for the resurrection body; phase 3 sanctification — resurrection body, called ultimate sanctification.

            “Concerning which salvation” is actually the relationship between phase 1 and phase 3. The phase 3 deliverance of ultimate sanctification under the resurrection body is in view as it relates to phase 1. When you accept Christ as saviour you have no idea of the marvellous things in store under God’s plan for phase 3. It is something that has to be understood as you begin to grow in grace. The principle: “Concerning which salvation the prophets” has to do with every category of sanctification. The prophets, of course, did not understand the filling of the Spirit and the universal indwelling of the Spirit but they did understand the function of GAP. The prophets here refer to the writers of the Old Testament scripture.

           

            The categories of prophets

            Category one prophet: Only two persons have ever been in category one — Torah. Moses wrote the Torah, the Pentateuch. Moses was unique and the only one who had the same uniqueness, and even a greater uniqueness, was the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Lord Jesus Christ did not write the Old Testament scriptures, they are written about Him. They are His mind; they are His thinking. The word “prophets” in 1 Peter 1:10 has no definite article, which places emphasis on the prophets as writers of Old Testament scripture. You see, there were great prophets like Elijah and Elisha who were not writers. If we were talking about prophets in general there would be a definite article. But in the Greek the absence of the definite article limits this to writers of the Old testament.

            Category two prophet: They wrote the second section of the Hebrew canon and are called the Nabiim. These would be such as Joshua, whoever wrote Judges, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and the men who ministered with them — Ezekiel and the twelve [so-called Minor prophets]. Daniel was not included.

            Category three prophets: These did not have the office of prophet. They are kethubiim. Daniel was not a prophet by office; Solomon was not a prophet by office; David was not a prophet by office. They had the gift of prophecy. They also include Ezra, Nehemiah, the writer of Chronicles.

            In the formation of the canon of scripture the Old Testament writers had to be prophets by gift or by office. In the New Testament scriptures the writers had to be apostles or one closely associated with an apostle, like Mark who was not an apostle but was associated with Peter, and like Luke who was not an apostle but was associated with Paul. In the formation of the canon, then, God used a special type of gift. And in each case God the Holy Spirit provides information.

 

            “the prophets have inquired” — but they didn’t inquire. “Inquire” is e)cetew, which means investigate — aorist active indicative. It means diligent investigation. It implies daily function of GAP.

            Just to make sure we understand we have another verb — “and searched diligently.” The first word, e)cetew, means to investigate diligently and the aorist tense means in a point of time, like today, tomorrow, the next day, and so on. In other words, through GAP. The next verb is called “searched diligently” — e)cereunaw. The word e)c — e)k again — out from; e)reunaw means to explore or to trace. It means to explore new areas of doctrine. It was necessary for writing the Old Testament. So we have two verbs here; each one is an aorist active indicative. One is the result of the other. The first one means the diligent investigation of GAP, the second is putting it all together in a frame of reference and putting doctrine on doctrine.

            “who prophesied concerning grace.” “Who” is a relative pronoun referring to the prophets of the Old Testament who were Old Testament writers. “Who prophesied” — aorist active participle. They prophesied of grace as they went along. The word “of grace” is “concerning” — peri. Literally: “Who prophesied concerning grace.”

            “unto you” — accusative plural. Peter is talking to believers at the beginning of the Church Age and you can learn grace form the Old Testament as you learn it from the New Testament.

            Corrected translation: “Concerning which salvation prophets [writers of scripture] have investigated diligently and traced carefully, having prophesied concerning grace to you.”

 

 

            Doctrine of grace

            1. Grace is all that God is free to do for man on the basis of the cross — salvation. Grace is the work of God on behalf of man; grace is the title of God’s plan.

            2. Grace depends on who and what God is, never who and what man is.

            3. Grace eliminates all programs, all human good.

            4. The principle of grace in sanctification: The greatest thing that God can do for the saved person is to make him like His Son. This is accomplished in three stages: phase one sanctification, He enters us into union with Christ. Positionally we are now higher than angels; phase two, the filling of the Holy Spirit plus the function of GAP; phase three, resurrection body. We are exactly like His Son because we have a resurrection body.

            5. The entrance factor of grace: Every believer has tasted the grace of God at least once , 1 Peter 2:3.

            6. The occupational hazard of grace: disorientation to grace through ignorance of Bible doctrine and through the function of mental attitude sins. This is emphasised in Hebrews 12:15; Galatians 5:4.

            7. The divine attitude: God’s attitude is that He always wants to give us on the basis of His character; He is trying to give us on the basis of grace. In fact God is constantly waiting to pour out His grace to every believer — Isaiah 30:18,19. And the only thing that hinders is negative volition. We are the hindrance.

            8. Grace in phase one: salvation — Ephesians 2:8,9; Psalm 103:8-12; Romans 3:23,24; 4:4; 5:20.

            9. Grace in phase two: a. In prayer — Hebrews 4:16; b. In suffering — 2 Corinthians 12:9,10; c. In growth — 2 Peter 3:18; d. In stability — 1 Peter 5:12; e. In the modus vivendi of the Christian life - Hebrews 12:28; 2 Corinthians 1:12; f. In the production of divine good through grace — 1 Corinthians 15:10; 2 Corinthians 6:1.

            10. Grace is the only answer to the intensified stage of the angelic conflict. This is brought out in 2 Corinthians 12:7ff, where Satan is buffeting or punching the Apostle Paul. Grace is the answer.

            11. The implications of grace: a God is perfect; His plan is perfect. b. A perfect plan can only originate from a perfect God. c. If man can do anything meritorious in the plan of God it is no longer perfect. d. A plan is no stronger than its weakest link. Therefore, grace excludes the weak link - human merit, human ability, and human good. e. Legalism is the enemy of grace. f. There is no place in the plan of God for human good; there is no place for even the little leaven of legalism. It is a total and absolute exclusion. g. Human good is associated with the mental attitude sin of pride.

            12. Four areas in which pride rejects grace: a. The pride of the believer who rejects the doctrine of eternal security. They think their sins are greater than the plan of God; b. The pride of the believer who succumbs to the pressure of adversity - a much more subtle pride. He thinks that his sufferings are greater than the provision of grace. Again there is the rejection of grace; c. The pride of pseudo-spirituality, a common affliction in days of apostasy. He thinks his works, personality,     morality, taboos, are experiences which are greater than the plan of God. He inserts into the plan of God legalism — I am spiritual because … ; d. The pride of the emotional believer. Occasionally some believer thinks he has a super experience, and babbles in pseudo-tongues. He thinks his feelings are more important than doctrine.

           

            In verse 11 we now move on to the fact that grace is therefore a part of the canon of the Old Testament.

            The word “searching” means to explore; it is e)reunaw without the e)k. And it means to examine, to trace or to explore — all three as far as this context is concerned. It is a present active participle indicating that any man who wrote scripture was a person who had diligently functioned under GAP for perhaps years and had a completed frame of reference and an ECS before he began under the ministry of the Spirit to write scripture.

            “what” should be “with regard to what.” It is e)ij plus tij. E)ij is a directional preposition. It should be: “Constantly investigating with reference to what time,” and then the second phrase, “or what manner of time [what epoch].” The word for “time” or “epoch” is kairoj which means dispensation. The writers of the Old testament were all dispensationalists — “what dispensation.”

            “the Spirit of Christ which was in them.” The “Spirit of Christ” is a functional title for the Holy Spirit. It is a reference to the Holy Spirit who, obviously at this point, is providing information to Old testament writers about Christ. So it is a functional title. “Which was in them” — the Old     Testament writers were indwelt by the Spirit — “did signify” — delow, which means to bring to light. The Holy Spirit brought things to light inside.

            “when it” — the Holy Spirit. Pneuma is in the neuter gender and that is why we have the word “it”, but it is a reference to He, the Holy Spirit. “Testified beforehand” — promarturomai. The pro is before; marturomai is the middle voice form of the verb to witness or to bear testimony, often used to present information or facts. Here it means to present the facts before they occurred, the facts concerning the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit did this.

            “the sufferings of Christ” — the first advent, the cross; “the glory that should follow” — the second advent.

 

            The ministry of the Holy Spirit to Old Testament people

            1. The Holy Spirit indwelt some Old testament believers (only some) and always for special reasons. The reason here is writing the Old Testament scripture. [In the Church Age it is universal indwelling of the Holy Spirit] The ministry of God the Holy Spirit is on a limited basis to a few people in the OT — Joseph in Genesis 41:38; Bezaleel and Aholiab in Exodus 36:1; the seventy elders who assisted Moses in Numbers 11:18,25; Joshua in Numbers 27:18; certain Judges — Othniel in 3:10; Gideon 6:34; Jepthah 11:29; Samson 13:25; 14:6; 15:14; certain kings of Israel — 1 Samuel 10;9,10 and 16:13. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is mentioned specifically in connection with Daniel — 4:8; 5:11-14; 6:3.

            2. Believers who had the Holy Spirit could lose the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. This removal of the Spirit was one phase of divine discipline. We have the case of Saul where the Spirit was removed — 1 Samuel 16:14; David in Psalm 51:11 where David was in danger of losing the ministry of the Spirit and prayed “take not thy Holy Spirit from me” — a prayer the Church Age believer will never pray because hopefully he has some sense when it comes to doctrine! He does not live in that dispensation. 3. Old Testament believers could obtain the Holy Spirit by asking for Him — 2 Kings 2:9,10. Elisha was about to step into the shoes of Elijah and he wanted the same power — the ministry of the Holy Spirit — and he asked God. In Luke 11:13 — “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” This is to the Old Testament saints disciples. The disciples lived in two dispensations. We do not ask for the Holy Spirit in the Church Age, we receive Him at the point of salvation.

            4. Just before the ascension, and without their request, Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to ten disciples who were gathered to sustain them during the fifty days between His resurrection and the beginning of the Church Age — John 20:22.

            5. Once the Church Age begins every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit — John 7:37-39; 14:16,17; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19,20.

            6. In the Church Age a believer cannot lose the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He can only lose the filling of the Spirit, in which case he is grieving or quenching the Spirit but he doesn’t lose the Holy Spirit.

 

            “the glories that should follow” is not quite correct. The Greek says: “the after this [the first advent] glories”. There is no verb here. This is a reference to the second advent and the glories of the return of Christ.

            Verse 12 — “Unto whom it was revealed.” The relative pronoun refers to the human authors of the Old Testament canon. “it was revealed” — aorist passive indicative of a)pokaluptw, a compound verb. A)po is the preposition of ultimate source; kaluptw means to be revealed. All of these things were revealed from the ultimate source of God the Holy Spirit. Aorist tense: point of time when God the Holy Spirit provided the information. The aorist tense gathers into the point of time when the things were brought together for writing. The passive voice: the prophet received the information from God the Holy Spirit and the indicative mood is the reality of having God’s Word in writing — the Old Testament canon.

            “that” introduces a purpose clause — “that not unto themselves” — the Old Testament canon had great benefit for contemporary generations but it also has great benefit for us; “but unto us”. Peter is saying that men like Jeremiah were just as beneficial to me as they were beneficial in their own day; “they did minister” — imperfect active indicative of diakonew, which means to serve or to administer. In this case it means to administer doctrine. The perpetuation of the ministry of the Word of God in every generation.

            “these things” — refers to doctrine in the content of the Old testament canon; “which are now reported.” The word for report is a)nnaggelw which means the Old Testament is up for teaching. It means to study it and bring back a report; a)nna means back or again. In other words to communicate it after you study it.

            “unto you” — first generation believers of the Church Age; “by them” — literally “through them,” dia plus the genitive, a reference to the Apostles like Paul and Peter; “that have preached by means of the Holy Spirit.” The word for preach, e)uaggelizw, means to communicate good news which can be, of course, salvation or it can be Bible doctrine. “With the Holy Spirit” is e)n plus the instrumental case and it should be translated “by means of the Holy Spirit.” Always we go back to the Holy Spirit as the author of scripture — “sent down from heaven,” referring to the first advent of the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the Church Age.

            “which things” — the Old Testament doctrines; “the angels” — the higher creatures involved in the conflict; “desire” — e)piqumew, they have an insatiable desire for doctrine. Present active indicative — angels involved in the angelic conflict have an insatiable desire for doctrine; “to look into” — parakuptw, used in Luke 24:12 for Peter stooping down as he looked into the empty tomb. It means here to take a good look; it means to concentrate. Angels bend down and concentrate on doctrine.

            Literal translation of verses 11,12:

            Verse 11 — “Investigating with reference to what time and what manner of time [dispensation] the Spirit of Christ in them [the OT writers] brought to light when He [the Holy Spirit] testified beforehand the facts with reference to the sufferings of Christ, and the after this glories.”

            Verse 12 — “Unto whom it was revealed, that not only unto themselves, but to us they kept on ministering the things [doctrine] which are now reported back to us through them that have communicated the gospel by means of the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven; which things [doctrine] the angels have an insatiable desire to bend down and concentrate on.”

            Beginning in verse 13 we have the multiplication of peace. We start with the mental attitude which is the most important factor in the entire Christian life.

            “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind.” The mind does not have loins but the girding up of the loins is an ancient custom. It is like preparing the decks for action in naval warfare. “Gird up” is an aorist middle participle of a)nazunnumi. This particular verb occurs only here in the New Testament although it is used elsewhere in Greek languages. In the ancient world if you were going to run and you were wearing a robe it was a little difficult. So obviously you had to do something with the robe. Everyone wore a rather heavy belt and so they took the end of the robe and tucked it into the belt for running. So this means an action type verb then: preparation for action, preparation for production. And the loins here refer to the physiological parts of the anatomy which were used in running where the power and the strength came from. Associating these with the mind indicates the dynamics and the production that comes from thinking. Actually the word “mind” is thinking. It is a genitive singular of dianoia which does mean thinking. “Gird up the loins of your thinking.” Dia means through and noew means to think and so it means to think through and it means the thoughts that influence you. Everyone has thoughts which influence them.

            This is a command to mental attitude and it is followed by another command, “be sober”, which is a present active participle which really doesn’t mean to be sober. It means to have stability and orientation of mental attitude. This stability and orientation comes from category one love — the intake of doctrine, the accumulation of doctrine in the frame of reference and so on. 

 

            The doctrine of mental attitude

            1. As a part of the spiritual conflict there exists in the mentality of the soul a conflict between the divine and the human viewpoint. This is especially a conflict with the right lobe, since the left lobe is designed for perception and the right lobe is designed for retaining. Then we have the frame of reference and on one side there is doctrine and on the other is the human viewpoint of life and both of them get into the memory centre where they have a conflict. Then there are norms and standards which are human and norms and standards which are divine. They also enter into the conflict so that we have a struggle of the divine versus the human viewpoint in the right lobe. This is taught in Isaiah 55:7-9 where he says that God says: “My thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are my ways your ways.” The thinking comes before the action.

            In this type of a passage this is where your happiness begins or where your unhappiness begins — in the loins of the mind. The loins of the mind specifically now refer to the right lobe, sometimes called the heart, sometimes called the conscience with emphasis on the norms and standards. Here it is called the loins of the thinking, literally. And in the loins of the thinking you have divine versus human viewpoint. So the first point we need to realise is that the Christian life depends on your mental attitude. The mental attitude can be relaxed; the mental attitude can be sinful; the mental attitude can be divine or human viewpoint.

            2. God’s plan for the believer calls for a new mental attitude. Christianity — entrance into the plan of God — demands that you have a new attitude, that you begin to look at life from God’s viewpoint — 2 Timothy 1:7. The new attitude is “sound mind”; Philippians 2:5, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” So this is a new mental attitude.

            3. Mental attitude determines the character of a person — Proverbs 23:7 — “as a man thinketh, so he is.” The real you is what you think. And, of course, the real principle is that what you think is going to come out sooner or later.

            4. The new mental attitude is commanded for the Christian way of life in 2 Corinthians 10:4,5 — “bringing every thought into captivity for Christ”. This is accomplished by GAP. Bible doctrine comes into the left lobe [the perceptive lobe] and then volition works on it. Positive volition by faith transfers it down to the human spirit where it becomes residual doctrine, and then it is cycled up into the right lobe, and it goes into the frame of reference where it begins to form norms and standards as these are processed in the memory centre and this is where we get “bringing every thought into captivity for Christ” or divine viewpoint. The absence of the function of GAP means that there will be human viewpoint up in the right lobe and there is where the conflict begins to exist.

            5. Bible doctrine shapes the metal attitude [this is girding up the loins] and then becomes the mind of Christ — 1 Corinthians 2:16. Doctrine is the mind of Christ but it doesn’t become your attitude until it becomes a part of you through GAP.

            6. The constant inhale of doctrine into the human spirit produces confidence — 2 Corinthians 5:1, 6, 8. These three verses indicate that while you are building an ECS you also begin to build a phenomenal confidence with regard to life.

            7. Love is a mental attitude. You do your greatest loving in the mentality of the soul. This is where it starts — Deuteronomy 6:5; 10:12; 11:13. So capacity for love is resolved in the soul — 1 Corinthians 13:5. There are three categories of love: a. Category one, toward God — occupation with Christ, a soul love; b. Category two, the only touching love; c. Category three, friendship, is again a soul activity. All three depend on the soul.

            8. Worldliness is a mental attitude - Romans 12:2; Colossians 3:2. Most Christians believe that worldliness is something you do but that isn’t worldliness at all. Worldliness is what you think, strictly a mental attitude. Actually worldliness is the lack of the function of GAP in your life.

            9. Stability is a mental attitude. Your whole life balance is strictly a mental attitude — Isaiah 26:3,4 emphasises one side, the peaceful side; 2 Thessalonians 2:2 emphasises the other side. Right between these two, in our passage 1 Peter 1:13, emphasises how to get with it.

            10. We do certain things which are an expression of mental attitude if they are done properly. In fact almost everything we do expresses some kind of a mental attitude although there are some things that express no mental attitude, no mentality. Those are the acts of stupidity. But apart from the acts of stupidity there are certain things that we accomplish that reflect the mental attitude. For example, giving is a mental attitude. It is something you do but it involves a mental attitude — 2 Corinthians 9:7.

            11. Mental attitude sins produce self-induced misery — Proverbs 15:13. The greatest enemy you will ever have in your soul, outside of the satanic influences such as false doctrine, are the mental attitude sins. They are the worst of all categories of sins. They lead to other sins; they are compounded; but they also inflict great damage on your own soul.

            12. There is a principle of evil and there is the action or the production of evil. The principle of evil is what you think — Matthew 9:4; Galatians 6:3.

 

            The present active participle, “be sober” is nefw. Originally nefw simply meant non-intoxication and later on it came to mean freedom from any kind of mental attitude that hurts and destroys. Eventually it came to mean stability of mentality, the consistency of a relaxed mental attitude. So “be sober” doesn’t mean that you have to be solemn or that you have to keep a straight face or you’re not a great Christian! The idea here is a complete stability which comes from consistency of divine viewpoint in thinking grace.

            Translation: “Because of which, having bound up the loins of your thinking, be constantly stabilised and oriented.”

            Now we have our first imperative — “hope to the end for the grace.” The word “hope” is an aorist active imperative of e)lpizw. E)lpizw means “have confidence.” The next word “to the end” means add something to the confidence, the confidence will have results — “for the grace that is to be brought”. The grace that is to be brought in here is not grace at the second advent. The word “brought” means to be carried, a present passive of ferw. It means what grace is carried in — by doctrine. Whenever we start learning Bible doctrine daily under GAP this becomes revelation. This is literally at the point of enlightenment or in the sphere of enlightenment or by means of enlightenment. By means of enlightenment is the best translation. We have e)n plus the instrumental. The word “revelation” simply means enlightenment and this should be translated “by means of enlightenment” which is the daily function of GAP. This is not the second advent here. The noun is not technical here and in its general use it means the understanding of doctrine. This leads, of course, to the ECS and in the process of construction occupation with Christ is developed.

            Translation: “ … confident for the result that is to be carried in by means of enlightenment.”

            What is the result? The result of taking in doctrine is the confidence, the peace, the blessing that comes to you as an individual. So we now have the true process of sanctification. Sanctification is instantaneous at the point of salvation; sanctification is a process in time; sanctification is completed in phase three with the resurrection body.

            Now you will notice that in order to accomplish this process there has to be an obedience. So in verse 14 we have literally: “As children of obedience” — believers who take in Bible doctrine. They function daily under GAP for the erection of an ECS.

            “not fashioning” — present middle participle, susxrematizw. This word means not to be formed into a mould. It is very easy to form into some mould — “according to the former lusts of your ignorance.” Lusts relate the thinking to the old sin nature. Lust is the motivator for people in ignorance, either an unbeliever or a believer who doesn’t know doctrine. For example some people will work themselves almost to death for approbation lust [to get someone to tell them how great they are]. There is also power lust [throwing one’s weight around], materialism lust [slavery to the details of life], lasciviousness [lust for category two love without having category two love]. So all of these factors are lust factors which simply relate to the old sin nature.

            In the right lobe either the OSN nature is going to influence that right lobe or the human spirit with doctrine. There is going to be one or the other and sometimes there is a conflict in certain stages of growth. But the lust pattern starts a person out on a pseudo Christian life. The doctrine puts him on a sound footing. So the OSN and the human spirit given at the point of salvation are contributing forces to your right lobe and this is where the great mental attitude conflict is. So the former lusts then are not any particular brand of sin but are merely the desires of the OSN. The frustration of these lusts always produces in the OSN’s area of weakness, mental attitude sins.

            Your great enemy in all this: “in your ignorance” — e)n plus the locative of a)gnoia. All of this is accomplished in the sphere of ignorance. Ignorance is no excuse but lack of Bible doctrine causes you to live in a sense of thinking just like you would if you were an unbeliever.

            Verse 15 — “But as he which has called you is holy” is literally, “According to the standard of the holy one having called you.”

            “According to” — the preposition of norm or standard, kata. Next we have the phrase “the holy one having called you.” The “holy one” is an accusative singular referring to God the Father as the author of the plan — a(gioj. “Having called you” brings us now to the fact that the Father put you in His plan at the moment of salvation. You are in the plan of God. Therefore, when your thinking is human viewpoint it is incompatible with His plan, with who and what He is. He is called the “holy one” because the holy one indicates He has a perfect character. Each attribute in the essence of God is glued together by grace. And you belong to Him now. He has norms and standards which He brings to you through doctrine, and under the function of GAP you receive these things. That’s what it means by “according to the standard of the holy one having called you.”

            “having called you” is an aorist active participle of kalew. The aorist tense refers to an occurrence in eternity past; the active voice — the Father did it; the participle — the action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. The action of the main verb is an aorist passive imperative, “keep on becoming holy”. You can’t become holy until you are in the plan of God.

            Now that He has called you [in eternity past] now you can “be ye” or “become” — “holy”, which simply means to take on the character of God and obviously if you are going to be holy it means to have an ECS — fulfilment of the soul.

 

            The doctrine of election

            1. All members of the human race are potentially elected in the plan of God by unlimited atonement — 2 Timothy 2:10.

            2. Christ is elected from eternity past — Isaiah 42:1; 1 Peter 2:4,6.

            3. The election took place as a part of the eternal life conference which is the doctrine of divine decrees — John 15:16; Ephesians 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2.

            4. Every believer in the Church Age shares the election of Christ. This is accomplished in the mechanics of positional sanctification — 1 Corinthians 1:2,30; Ephesians 1:4; Romans 8:28-32.

            5. Election is the present as well as the future possession of every believer — John 15:16; Colossians 3:12.

            6. Election occurs at the moment of salvation — 2 Timothy 1:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:23; 1 Thessalonians 1:4.

            7. Election is the foundation of the Church — 1 Thessalonians 1:4.

            8. The regenerate Jews of the previous dispensation also had an election and they are also in the plan of God — Romans 11:1-7.

           

            “be ye holy” — aorist passive imperative of ginomai. Ginomai means to become — holy. Holy means an edification complex [ECS]. God is holy; if you are to become holy you have to have the ECS which reflects the glory of God.

            “in all manner of conversation” — e)n plus the locative, so it is in the sphere of “all manner of life.” “Conversation” doesn’t mean verbal conversation — a)nastrofh means a way of life. Your edification complex is your way of life.

            Translation of these two verses, 14, 15:

             “As children of obedience, not being moulded to the former lusts in the sphere of your ignorance: but according to the standard of the holy one [God the Father], become holy in all manner of life [the erection of the ECS].”

            The manifestations of the ECS: Grace orientation, mastery of the details of life, relaxed mental attitude [no MA sins], capacity to love, perfect happiness. This reflects the glory of God. This is what it means to become holy.

 

            The doctrine of sanctification

            1. Wherever you find “holy,” “sanctified,” “saint,” or “sanctification” it all means the same thing: to be set apart unto God’s plan and it means to line up with God’s plan.

            2. Sanctification has some agents. For example, in phase one sanctification which is salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ is the agent - Hebrews 10:10,14. A second agent is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. He is the agent in the function of GAP and therefore the agent in phase two sanctification - Romans 15:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 2:1. Thirdly, the Bible is also an agent in phase two sanctification; it is the means of building an ECS — John 17:17; Ephesians 5:26.

            3. Recognition of phase one sanctification — salvation. 1 Corinthians 1:2, 30; 6:11; Hebrews 10:10,14 — all of these verses indicate that there is a sanctification or a part of the plan of God fulfilled at salvation. This is actually every believer entering into union with Christ. So the means of accomplishing phase one sanctification is the baptism of the Spirit — 1 Corinthians 12:13.

            4. Phase two sanctification consisting of the filling of the Spirit under the function of GAP resulting in an ECS. The daily function of GAP equals an ECS, and that is phase two sanctification.

            5. Phase three sanctification is the ultimate. It consists of a resurrection body just like that of Jesus Christ. This is also the removal of the old sin nature — 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 1 Corinthians 1:8; 1 John 3:1,2; Philippians 3:21; Romans 8:29.

 

            Peter brings in documentation at this point. He wants us to realise that we are in the plan of God and so he documents it.

            Verse 16 — “Because” means in as much as — “it is written” — perfect passive indicative from grafw. We are going to have a quotation now from the Old Testament. The perfect tense means that the Old Testament canon will always stand; passive voice — it was received; indicative mood — the reality of the Old Testament canon. This is a quotation from Leviticus 11:44; 19:2; 20:7.

            “Be ye” this time is a future active indicative of e)imi. The future is used for the qal imperfect and it indicates the same as an imperative mood but it involves your volition. You are in the plan of God — positional sanctification — but whether you ever have an ECS or not depends on your volition. Are you going to get with doctrine or not? The active voice: the believer produces the action; the indicative mood sets up the volition.

            “holy” — a(gioj, holy ones. Holy ones are believers with edification complexes. In other words, the saint [believer at the point of salvation] is commanded to be a holy one. Between saint and holy one is the function of GAP and the construction of the ECS.

            Why? “Because I holy” — no verb. In other words, God is the author of the plan and God’s plan calls for believers under GAP to reflect His glory in time. The elect angels learn something of the grace of God when you become holy and/or have an ECS.

            Verse 17 — Prayer is one of those things that everyone does and doesn’t know what he is doing! But the Bible has a number of principles about prayer in various passages whereby it becomes one of the most effective vehicles in entering into the angelic conflict and the ministry of the communication of the Word of God. Prayer is really a soul exercise and it is the one way you can talk to God and not be insane. Prayer is a proper vehicle for the priesthood of the believer. It is really a love expression of the soul toward God and when it becomes an expression of such love it becomes very meaningful, whatever facet of prayer is involved. The meaningful part of prayer is the love response of the soul. This also means something else: the most effective prayer is not offered by those who are eloquent or who express themselves well verbally, but the most eloquent prayers are based upon those who have the capacity to love God.

            In the Church Age prayer belongs to the priesthood of the believer and therefore prayer is for believers only and the tranquillity which is described in prayer in this passage is the monopoly of Christianity.

            “And if ye call on the Father.” “If” is a first class condition — if and it is true. The word for call is a present middle indicative of e)pikalew. Kalew means to call and e)pi means upon, but when you put it together it is actually the principle and the mechanics of prayer, both. Present tense, linear aktionsart. Middle voice: to be effective in prayer you have to want to pray. If you are in love you want to love but if you’re not in love you don’t. And the point is, if you love God you want to pray and if you don’t love God it is a pain in the neck to pray. Your capacity for prayer, your effectiveness in prayer is going to be measured in terms of Bible doctrine under GAP. So the middle voice is   reflexive; it introduces the great principle of the priesthood of the believer — privacy and freedom. The volition of the believer and the freedom of the believer are involved. The indicative mood is the reality of the privilege of calling upon the Father.

            The next two words, “the Father,” are most important because here is where most people reject God’s authority which is the same as rejecting the authority of the Word of God. God the Father is the recipient of all prayer; you do not pray to the Holy Spirit and you do not pray to Jesus Christ. Since the Bible reveals the principles of prayer you either pray the Bible way or “forget it.” There is a reason for this. God the Father is the author of the plan. You go to the planner with any petitions and requests which you have with regard to His plan or the function of His plan. In addition to that Jesus Christ is the High Priest and it is Jesus Christ who opens the avenue of prayer for believers in this dispensation. This is why people pray in Jesus’ name. You are praying in Jesus’ name when you are filled with the Spirit when you pray. You have to be in fellowship for effective prayer. It is not necessary to end a prayer “in Jesus name.” All you are doing is to recognise the principle involved. The mechanics of prayer do not demand that you throw this phrase in. All prayer is addressed to the Father in the name of the Son and in the power of the Spirit. This is also taught in Matthew 6:6, which is not the Lord’s prayer but the model prayer for the disciples, and in Ephesians 3:14.

            The next adverb is a little lengthy. We have proswpoleptew. The proj indicates, first of all, face to face in prayer. This word actually means to come face to face with someone and have great respect for them. And with the changing of the omega in this word it means not to have respect or partiality, and it finally comes to mean in one word “impartiality”. This is an adverb of objectivity.

           

            What does the adverb mean?

            1. Prayer is the responsibility of the priesthood and the privilege of grace.

            2. In grace God the Father does not have more respect for one believer priest than another. Here is objectivity from the Father’s standpoint. Objectivity is obviously then a part of the grace plan and subjectivity is always an attack upon grace.

            3. Because of propitiation all believers are under maximum love from God.

            4. We as believers can please God but we can never earn His respect.

            5. God has respect for God. God has respect for the work of God and this emphasises positional sanctification.

            6. The Father has respect for the Son and we as believers are in union with the Son — Ephesians 1:6. Neither legalism or human good on our part impresses God.

            7. Prayer is not based on human merit. God the Father hears prayer on the basis of who and what Christ is. That is why we have impartiality here — without respect of persons. God has respect for our High Priest. And God hears our prayers, not because of us but, because of our High Priest. That is why we approach in the name of Christ.

            8. Therefore, every believer has exactly the same potential in prayer.

            9. However, experientially every believer does not have the same success at prayer. We are at different stages of growth.

 

            “who impartially judges.”   “Judges” — present active participle of krinw. Krinw means to judge and it also means to evaluate. All future judgements are committed to the Son — John 5:22. And since Christ is going to judge the world in the future and since He is our High Priest and related to the Father — He is coequal and coeternal with the Father — He has objectivity in judgement. God the Father who does the evaluating here also has objectivity. This is a present active participle which indicates that in prayer God the Father is discerning. Jesus Christ is going to judge in the future but as High Priest we approach through Him. He is not doing the judging. The Father is doing the discerning now in prayer.

            “according to every man’s work.” How do we get work in prayer? “According to” is the preposition kata which denotes norm, standard or criterion. He is not a respector of persons; He is objective, and yet all of a sudden we find Him discerning. And He seems to do it on a norm or standard of every man’s work. “Every man” is e)kastoj which does not have the word “man” in it. It has the connotation of individuality or personality and it means each one individually.

            “work” — e)rgon. E)rgon can mean work but e)rgon doesn’t mean it here, it means business.

            Translation: “to evaluate according to the standard of each one’s business.” God evaluates prayer on the basis of your business. He has a right to intrude into your privacy and does. And your business is to build and ECS and your effectiveness in prayer is measured in terms of your ECS. That is why some people never get anywhere in prayer. “Each one’s” refers to a believer priest, male or female.

            “pass” — aorist passive imperative. This is an order — a)nastrefw, which means to spend time in the sense of putting principles or doctrines into practice. The principle or doctrine being put into practice here is prayer. But it isn’t just prayer, it is prayer as a response to God’s perfect love. The aorist tense is a point of time when the believer takes in doctrine so he has the capacity to love. The passive voice - the subject receives the action of the verb in the passive voice - the believer as a priest receives through doctrine the capacity to love God. And the imperative mood has to do with the principle of occupation with Christ or category one love response. Prayer is one of many category one responses to God. The word “pass” means to spend your time or concentrate your time.

            “time” — the word here refers to a succession of events — xronoj, one day at a time.

            “sojourning” — indicates that we are only here for a relatively short period of time compared to eternity. It is really a noun in the genitive singular — paroikia, which means temporary residence. “spend your day by day time in temporary residence” — phase two.

            “in fear” — e)n plus the locative of foboj, which means in the sphere of fear, which means amazement, respect, and is actually a love response. This is not fear in the mental attitude sin sense. It connotes occupation, love response, concentration. So prayer is occupation with God — category one love response — and obviously then, great tranquillity.

            Corrected translation: “And if you call upon the Father, whose impartiality evaluates

according to the standard of each one’s business, live by certain principles during the time of your temporary residence in the sphere of occupation with God.”

 

 

 

            Concepts of prayer which are fulfilled

            1. The approach to prayer is fulfilled here. All prayer is addressed to the Father - Ephesians 3:14; in the name of the Son - John 14:13,14; in the power of the Spirit — Ephesians 6:18.

            2. Every facet of prayer is fulfilled, like rebound — 1 John 1:9; thanksgiving — Ephesians 5:20; intercession — Ephesians 6:18; petition — Hebrews 4:16.

            3. Promises that are fulfilled. When you are occupied with God the Father through category one love, you’re not thinking about believing His promises — you are. Cf. Matthew 21:22; Mark 11:24; Matthew 18:19; Jeremiah 33:3.

            4. All of the principles of function are fulfilled. For example, prayer must be offered by a believer priest — John 15:7; prayer must comply with every other part of the plan of God. For example, the grace of God in the faith-rest technique — Matthew 21:22; prayer must be offered according to the will of God and if you have capacity to love God you will fulfil this — 1 John 5:14; prayer must be offered in fellowship. The whole grace pattern of life is fulfilled — “Let us come boldly to the throne of grace” — Heb. 4:16.

            5. Being out of fellowship, being ignorant of doctrine, being stunted in your spiritual growth, indicates why prayer is not effective in your life. Potentially it is but not experientially. 

 

            Verse 18 — “Forasmuch as” is o(ti in the Greek. It actually means “because.”

            “ye know” is the perfect active participle of o)ida. The perfect active participle indicates that doctrine is in the right lobe as well as in the human spirit. So o)ida indicates that first of all the   pertinent doctrine, which is redemption, has entered the left lobe where it is understood through the filling of the Holy Spirit, that it has been accepted by the volition of the believer involved and, therefore, by faith transferred to the human spirit. Redemption is then cycle into the right lobe and is a part of the frame of reference and is brought into the memory centre in order to understand certain principles.

            “because ye know” — the perfect tense means the doctrine is cycled through and is in the frame of reference. O)ida is used for doctrine in the human spirit at well as in the frame of reference. What is known is now mentioned — “ye were not redeemed,” an aorist passive indicative of lutrow, which means to be freed from a slave market on the payment of ransom or payment for liberation. In other words, you go free; someone pays. The aorist tense is a point of time in which this is accomplished . The passive voice: redemption or liberation from the slave market of the old sin nature is received by grace. The indicative mood is the reality of redemption at the point of faith in Jesus Christ.

 

            The doctrine of redemption

            1. The principle of redemption is found in John 8:31-36. These Jews said that they were never in bondage to any man. In reality, at the time that they spoke, they were in bondage to their old sin natures; they were in bondage to the Roman Empire; they were in bondage to the Sanhedrin; and they were in bondage to legalism.

            2. Christ purchased our redemption on the cross — Galatians 3:13; Psalm 34:22; 1 Peter 1:18,19.

            3. This doctrine also has application. Redemption is a doctrine which the believer can apply in time of pressure and catastrophe — Job 19:25,26 .When Job said, “my redeemer” he had enough doctrine to have entered into category one love. He applied the doctrine of redemption to a specific pressure situation.

            4. Redemption results in the biblical doctrine of adoption - Galatians 4:4-6. Adoption in Bible times occurred when a boy was fourteen. He was adopted into his own family and accepted as a mature person. The point is: the moment you believe in Jesus Christ you enter into a relationship. Adoption is an adult relationship and once you have been redeemed you are now free to respond to God’s love — manifest through doctrine. To be adopted is u(ioj — an adult son. The moment you accept Christ as saviour, experientially you are brefoj — a baby on the breast. But you are also i(uoj at the same time. This is a relationship; you cannot have love without a relationship.

            5. Redemption provides the basis for eternal inheritance — Hebrews 9:15.

            6. The purchase price of redemption is the blood of Christ which represents the spiritual death of Christ on the cross — Ephesians 1:7; 1 John 1:7; 1 Peter 1:19.

            7. Redemption provides the basis for justification — Romans 3:24.

 

            “not with corruptible things.” The word “corruptible” is fqartoj, which means perishable or subject to decay. If you are going to have a true freedom that truly makes you free, the purchase price has to be something that cannot be lost or destroyed; something that is nonperishable.

            “silver and gold” — the word “silver” means silver coins; the word “gold” here means gold coins. The Greek word for gold is xrusoj but when you want to show that it is not gold but a gold coin then you have a different form, xrusion, which is a gold coin.

            “from” is e)k, used to indicate total freedom. It should be “out from.”

            “your vain conversation” — the word “vain” is mataioj which means futile or worthless, useless. And the word “conversation” means manner of life — a)nastrofh. And what is the futile manner of life here? First of all, “by the tradition of your fathers” is simply an adjective, a triple compound adjective, patroparadothj. The word pater means father, para is immediate source, and dotes is a form of the verb to give — didomi. It means inherited from your fathers.

            In breeding, people inherit certain characteristics through genes but they also inherit certain concepts. But God is fair and no matter what genes you have inherited this is all provided for through doctrine. But the worst thing and the greatest problem you inherit is the thought content, the concepts, the mental attitude sins, the habits of soul which are not a matter of genes. These are the ones that are hard to break.

            The issue here was the fact that legalism was passed down from one generation to the other without check because of lack of response to Bible doctrine. So the result is a futile, a worthless manner of life “from the tradition of your fathers”.

            Translation of verse 18 — “Because having known you did not receive redemption by means of perishable things, namely silver coins or gold coins, from your useless manner of life inherited from your forefathers”.

            Verse 19 — “But,” conjunction of contrast [between legalism inherited from Judaism and grace inherited from Bible doctrine] “with the most precious” — the instrumental case of timioj. Timioj means costly, of great price, and here is means most valuable. Translation: “But by means of the most valuable blood”.

            Blood refers to literal blood on the one hand, and it refers on the other hand to blood and life as a sacrifice. Whenever we have the phrase “the blood of Jesus Christ” and any phrase where it is used as expiation, then it is referring to life.

           

            The doctrine of the blood

            1. Blood in the Old Testament refers to life because blood was the seat of animal life — Leviticus 17:10-14.

            2. Animal blood in the Old Testament was used to represent the spiritual death of Christ on the cross - Leviticus chapters 1-3. The animal blood was literal but it represented a spiritual death — Christ bearing our sins - Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 10:19; 13:20; 1 Peter 1:2.

            3. The doctrine of redemption was communicated by means of animal sacrifices in the Old Testament — Hebrews 9:22.

            4. Christ did not die physically on the cross by bleeding. But rather He dismissed His spirit to the Father after His work was finished - Luke 23:46; Matthew 27:50. Jesus died by an act of volition, not by bleeding — John 10:18; Mark 15:37; John 19:30. The blood of Jesus was still in His body after His death — John 19:33,34.

            5. The blood of Christ is part of a representative analogy between the physical death of animals in the Old Testament and the spiritual death of Christ on the cross — 1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:21.

            6. The blood of Christ portrays four different doctrines in the field of soteriology [the doctrine of salvation]: a. Redemption, Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18,19; b. Justification, Romans 5:9; c. Sanctification, Hebrews 13:12; d. Expiation, Revelation 1:5.

            7. The blood of Christ through the doctrine of expiation is the basis of the rebound technique. That is why 1 John 1:7 goes with 1 John 1:9. And we have the same thing portrayed in Leviticus chapters 4 and 5 where we have the rebound offering. 

 

            Verse 19 — “But with the precious blood of Christ.” The word “precious” in the Greek is timioj in the instrumental and it really means most valuable, most costly, greatest price, most   expensive. Your salvation was the most expensive thing God ever paid for. The currency was the blood of Christ - Christ bearing our sins in His own body on the tree.

            “as of a lamb” — sets up an analogy to the Levitical offerings — o(j plus a)mnoj [used for a sacrificial lamb] relates Christ to the animal sacrifices.

            “without blemish and without spot.” The word “without blemish” is a)momoj — blameless. A blameless human being. How is it possible to have a blameless human being? And what does a)momoj really mean here? It means there came into the world, through birth, a person without an old sin nature and, therefore, born with a human spirit. How is this possible? By means of the virgin birth.

            “without spot” — a)spiloj, which means that Jesus Christ went to the cross without ever personally committing a sin.

 

            The doctrine of impeccability

            1. Christ did not have an old sin nature and did not commit and act of personal sin during the incarnation — Hebrews 4:15.

            2. But Jesus Christ was definitely tempted in the area of His humanity [His deity could not be tempted, of course] — Hebrews 4:15; Matthew 4:2-11.

            3. With Adam in innocence and Christ in hypostatic union all temptations came from outside - in the sense that neither had an old sin nature. That does not mean that there were no temptations but that the old sin nature was not there. Volition was there and as long as a person has volition they are going to be tempted in the soul.

            4. All the temptations to Christ came through His human nature — James 1:13. This means that the humanity of Christ was temptable but the deity of Christ was not temptable.

            5. Christ resisted the greatest of all temptations in two areas. At the beginning of His ministry - Matthew 4 — and then at Gethsemane, at the end of His ministry as He was about to go to the cross — Luke 22:42; Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:35,36. The Gethsemane temptation was a great volitional test. The first Adam failed the volitional test; the last Adam passed the volitional test.

            6. Summary: The humanity of Christ was temptable; the deity of Christ was not temptable. The humanity of Christ was peccable [able to sin]; the deity of Christ was not peccable. But when you put the deity of Christ and the humanity of Christ together, then you have to come to a conclusion: he was temptable but impeccable. He was temptable only in His humanity but He remained impeccable. And for that reason we are born again.

            The next principle is found in verse 20 where this was ordained in eternity past.   

 

            Verse 20 — “Who verily was foreordained.” The relative pronoun refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. The words “was foreordained” is actually the perfect passive participle of proginwskw. Ginwskw means to know through the experience of observation and pro means before. The entire word means to know in advance and generally it is translated to “foreknow.” The word “foreordained” is incorrect. The Greek word for foreordain is proorizw, which means to predesign or fabricate. Both of these words together indicate that in eternity past God the Father designed a plan in which Christ is the focal point. The perfect tense of the verb means that the entire plan of God was decreed simultaneously, although it unfolds in time chronologically. The passive voice indicates that Christ received foreordination based on the omniscience of God the Father. The participle of this verb indicates that the existence of the plan of God in eternity past was a reality. In effect, this plan of God is eternal; it always existed.

 

            The doctrine of divine decrees

            1. The decrees are defined as the sum total of God’s plan designed in eternity past.

            2. The plan centres around the person of the Lord Jesus Christ — 1 John 3:23; Ephesians 1:4-6.

            3. Entrance into the plan of God is based on the principle of grace whereby the sovereignty of God and the freewill of man meet at the cross. This is the doctrine of the marriage of grace and faith — as per Ephesians 2:8,9.

            4. God’s plan was so defined in eternity past so as to include all events and actions related to their causes and conditions as a part of an indivisable system, every link being a part of the integrity of the whole.

            5. Without interfering with human volition in any way God has designed a plan so perfect that it includes cause and effect, directive, provision, preservation and function for all believers.

            6. Under His plan God has decreed to do some things directly, some through agencies [like Israel and the Church], some through individuals.

            7. Therefore, there are primary, secondary and tertiary functions within the plan of God. But all these constitute one great comprehensive plan: perfect, eternal, unchangeable, without loss of integrity.

            8. The plan of God is consistent with human freedom. Human freedom demands privacy. God does not limit or coerce human freedom. However, distinction should be made between what God causes, like the cross; and what God permits, like sin.

            9. This demonstrates that man has free will. God never condones or causes sin. The fact of sin in the human race demonstrates man’s free will. In the perfect environment of innocence God warned man against sin and its consequences.

            10. Distinction should be made, therefore, between divine decrees which are related to the plan of God in both design and action and divine laws which regulate human conduct and function in the universe.

            11. God’s decrees do not arise from His foreknowledge. The foreknowledge of God makes nothing certain. The foreknowledge of God merely perceives in eternity past the things that are certain.

            12. This is the difference between our verb in this passage — proginwskw, foreknowledge - and foreordination, proorizw. The decree makes them certain.

            13. Therefore, the elect are foreknown and the foreknown are elect. In other words, God knew ahead of time which way every free will would decide at any given point in history. This does not imply divine coercion. God’s plan merely anticipates every decision of history. As free will decides, so God has provided.

            14. Since God cannot contradict His own essence He plans the best for the believer. God is perfect; His provision is perfect.

            15. The cross was decreed in eternity past but the human volition of Christ decided for the cross in Gethsemane — Matthew 26:39, 42.

            16. No decree in itself opposes human freedom. But once the choice is made your free will is committed to a course of action or to a plan. Then the function of the decrees does limit your human freedom while at the same time giving your volition freedom to serve God in phase two.

 

            “before the foundation of the world.” The word for “foundation” is katabolh. This word means the laying of a foundation and it indicates, not the restoration of the world in Genesis chapter one [the earth was restored for man’s inhabitancy], but the earth itself and the entire universe which is much older than man. Katabolh is the genitive of the word kosmoj which indicates the organised world. The plan of God preexisted in God’s mind; the manifestation, of course, unfolds chronologically. This is brought out by the aorist passive participle “was manifest” — the Greek verb fanerow. This is a reference to the incarnation for the central fulfilment of this plan.

            “in these last times.” We have a preposition here — e)pi. Generally this preposition means upon. It is translated here “in” — that is where locality is involved. Then we have an adjective, skatoj, which is translated “last” but really means “latest.” Then the word for time, xronoj, which means historical moment.

            “In these latest of times” refers to the latest moments in the dispensation of Israel. Christ, in His incarnation and His death, came in the Age of Israel. He had to come and offer Himself under the Davidic covenant as the Son of David who would reign forever. He could not do that in the Church Age; it had to be accomplished in the Age of Israel.

            “for you” is dia plus the accusative. It should be translated “because of you.”

Corrected translation: “Who having been foreknown before the laying of the foundation of the kosmoj, but received manifestation in these latest of times because of you.”    

            Verse 21 — “Who”, a second relative pronoun referring to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only saviour — Acts 4:12; “by him” — dia plus the genitive which should be translated “through him.” Christ is the only means of entering the plan of God.

            “do believe” — incorrectly translated. “Do believe” looks like a verb. In that case we would have the verb pisteuw, but instead we have the noun pistoj. This gives it great emphasis. The accusative plural of pistoj should be translated: “Who through him believers in God.” The word “in” is a directional preposition e)ij. In other words, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ becomes in effect a part of the plan of God to be trusting in all members of the Godhead. The manifest person for salvation is Christ.

            “that raised him up from the dead.” The word “raised up” is the aorist active participle of e)geirw. The aorist tense refers to that point of time when the resurrection occurred; the active voice, the Father did it; the participle, it is a part of God’s plan in eternity past.

            “from” is the preposition e)k — out from. It means a literal physical bodily resurrection from the dead.

            “and gave him glory.” The word “gave” here is didomi in the aorist active participle. This means to give His humanity glory. His deity always had glory and the glory of His deity could never be changed. “Glory” here refers to the ascension and the seating of Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father. Glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ intensifies the angelic conflict and demands a change of dispensation. There were several things that demanded the change in dispensation from Israel to the Church. The first was the fact that Christ is now seated at the right hand of the Father and therefore superior in His humanity to all angels. The second reason is because forty years into the Church Age the nation Israel, as it existed then, would go out again under the fifth cycle of discipline and would be out until the second advent.

            “that” introduces a result clause.

            “your faith” — pistij, operational faith in phase two, the Christian way of life. This is the way by which we transfer doctrine from the mind to the human spirit and make it operational.  

            “and hope.” The word for “hope” means confidence — e)lpij, confidence in the divine plan; “might be” — a present active infinitive of e)imi. The present tense means always during phase two. The active voice means the believer can understand and function under the plan of God and know what he is doing. The infinitive denotes God’s purpose. “Might be” indicates some kind of potentiality rather than reality and so it would be better translated “to be.”  

            “in” — e)ij plus the accusative singular of qeoj — toward God.

            Corrected translation of the verse: “Who through him are believers in God, having raised him out from the dead, and having given him glory; with the result that your faith and confidence to be in God.”

            In the King James version verse 22 is a victim of having things added to it and it also a victim of erroneous translation. For example, we start right out in the verse with the word “seeing ” There is no such word as “seeing” in the original language. Actually, the original language starts out with the phrase “having purified.” It is a perfect active participle of a)gnizw. This means to purify or to become pure through forgiveness of sins. It is a reference to the rebound technique which results in the filling of the Holy Spirit which is necessary for the intake of Bible doctrine. The intake of doctrine into the soul is the means of erecting an ECS.

            “Having purified your souls” is the beginning of the translation here.

 

            The doctrine of the soul

            1. In category homo sapien the real person is located in the soul — Genesis 2:7. This means that the human body is a temporary residency for the soul. The human body is only to accommodate the soul during life on this earth and when the soul leaves the human body it is a permanent arrangement. The next time the soul has a body it is a resurrection body — 2 Cor. 5:1-4.

            2. The soul is made up basically of four characteristics: self consciousness — awareness of one’s own existence; mentality — made up of two frontal lobes of which the left is the mind [perceptive lobe], and the right is the dominant lobe; volition — the basis for resolving the angelic conflict; the emotion — the responder of the soul; conscience — norms and standards.

            3. The soul has lungs or breathing apparatus — Psalm 42:1.

            4. The Bible distinguishes between the soul and the spirit of mankind. For example, the original man was trichotomous — Genesis 2:7 — “ … breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives (pl).” The human spirit is merely a storage space for doctrine; the human soul is the function of man, the real person. The unbeliever became dichotomous — 1 Cor. 2:14; Jude 19. Incorrectly translated in both cases. However, when a person is born again he becomes trichotomous — 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

            5. Only the soul was made in the image of God. All “image of God” passages are dealing with the soul - Genesis 1:26,27 and Genesis 2:7. And the image of God does not mean that we have the essence of God in the soul; it means that the soul is invisible.

            6. Only the soul and not the body is saved at salvation — Psalm 19:7; 34:22; Mark 8:36,37; Hebrews 10:39; 1 Peter 1:9. The body is said to be a body of corruption; it is subject to physical death; it is subject to disintegration after physical death; it is not saved.

            7. The soul must be saved because of the presence of spiritual death in the form of the old sin nature — Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1.

            8. The soul is a place of knowledge — Proverbs 19:2. It is therefore the area of infiltration from Satan and the doctrines of demons — Matthew 10:28; 1 Timothy 4:1.

            9. The soul becomes the battle ground for phase two in the angelic conflict — Psalm 143.

            10. The soul is the area of mental attitude sins — Zechariah 11:8; Job 21:25.

            11. Because of scar tissue the soul is the seat of misery — Psalm 6:3; 106:15; 119:25,28,81.

            12. The soul is the area for capacity for love — 1 Samuel 18:1; 1 Peter 1:22.

            13. Physical death is the departure of the soul from the physical body — 2 Cor. 5:8; Job 27:8; Psalm 16:10.

 

            This is a bad translation because the next phrase says, “having purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit.” “Through the Spirit” is not found in the original. This is a definite case of adding to the Word of God and confusing it. However, the word “in obeying” is simply the instrumental case of u(pakoh. This is literally, “by means of your obedience to the truth”. First principle: the Bible demands recognition of its authority. If you do not recognise the authority of the Bible you’ve had it as far as the Christian life is concerned. Secondly, the Bible demands recognition of the authority of the communicator, which means the communicator must know before he can communicate. This is also why the pastor is the head of the local church. A third principle is quite obvious: some people cannot take in Bible doctrine because they are generally in rebellion to everything in life, namely the emotional revolt of the soul. This is what happened to the Corinthians; they couldn’t take it from Paul. This is what happened to the Jews of Judah in the days of Jeremiah and it is what happened to the Jews in the days of Moses. Obeying the truth indicates respect for authority. The word for truth here is an objective genitive of a)lhqeia. It means systematic truth; it refers to Bible doctrine or a system of doctrine.

            Corrected translation:  “Having purified your souls by means of obedience to the system of doctrine.”

            “unto unfeigned love of the brethren”. We begin with the directional preposition e)ij. This is a result now of Bible doctrine. The word unfeigned is an adjective in this prepositional phrase — a)nupokritoj, which means without hypocrisy. The a)n is negative, u(po is under, kritosj is a mask — without speaking from behind a mask. It means not to be a phoney; it means the love is genuine.

            “love of the brethren” is all one word in the Greek — filadelfia. This is made up of two words: filoj, the strongest word for love, and a)delfoj which is the word for brother. In other words, it is the fourth floor of the ECS, and the illustration is category three love. This is not the love that is commanded for all believers. All believers cannot possibly produce filadelfia. Reason: this is the ECS directed toward genuine love of the brethren. Genuine love of the brethren is not the same as loving the brethren.

            “love the brethren” is generally in the Greek the imperative form of a)gapaw. This is the filling of the Holy Spirit; this is a relaxed mental attitude; this is a)gaph love. But you will notice that we have filoj in   filadelfia and not a)gaph. We are commanded to love all believers in the sense of a)gaph. It simply means not hating anyone, not having any mental attitude sins toward another believer. Filoj is never commanded to all believers because it is impossible. You cannot crank this out without the fourth floor of the ECS and without a lot of doctrine in the right lobe. This is maturity, and filadelfoj means the edification complex and whatever people you have this type of love for in category three it must be genuine, unfeigned. True love has to be honest. But it is important to realise that you are not required to gush over everyone around.

            “see that” is not in the original.

            “love one another of the same kind.” The word for love here is the aorist active imperative of a)gapaw. The aorist tense indicates something is established. In the ECS we have already put on the fourth floor — capacity for love, filadelfoj. But if you are going to have the fourth floor you have to have the third first — the relaxed mental attitude of a)gapaw. The aorist tense means that this floor is established first; it is the basis for the next one. The active voice, this must come from you and the imperative is the mood of command. You are commanded a)gaph love [category two] — the function of the soul; it is never a function of the body. The body is temporary; the soul is permanent. Category three is strictly a soul love; therefore it is designed to go on forever and the capacity for it goes on forever. But it is based upon a relaxed mental attitude and that is why a)gaph must come first, because a)gaph is the stability of the soul. It means that the soul is functioning according to divine design, that there are no mental attitude sins. A)gaph in the dominant lobe elicits response from the emotions, which means the suppression of the OSN with its mental attitude sins. But when the soul is in revolt, when the OSN backs up, then you do not have a)gaph love and you do not have stability of the soul. So a)gaph is really the stability of the soul; it is sanity.

            Verse 22 — “having purified your souls” involves the rebound technique but it involves the intake of the Word of God. You have to make a daily decision to take in the Word of God. No matter how the body may age the soul is ageless. The inner beauty, the real you, the stability and the happiness do not reside in having physical beauty. So what ever food exists for the soul must be eternal food. The physical body wears out and that which sustains it. Food spoils and both the body and the means of nourishing the body are both very temporary, and both spoil in time. But the soul of the believer has a type of food which is eternal — the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever, verse 23. There is no way to destroy Bible doctrine. And, therefore, when your soul feeds daily on that which is eternal it is eternally, and at the moment, blessed and benefited.

            “love one another of the same kind” — literal translation, is a mental attitude love toward all believers. That means all believers; it is indiscriminate. There is one word that comes after this and it is the adverb “fervently.” It is the Greek word e)ktenwj which means “intensely.” It indicates that love is a concentration. It doesn’t mean concentrating on the object of love; it means concentrating on the producer of it — God. Therefore, the adverb is a transitional adverb to bring us into the next paragraph — the importance of the Word of God. It is Bible doctrine in your soul that makes it possible for you to have a relaxed mental attitude toward all kinds of other believers. And the word “intensely” means concentration. But it is concentration on the Word which provides the purified soul. A purified soul in context is a soul which is stabilised and therefore free from mental attitude sins. How do we know that? Because of the last phrase at the end of verse 22 — “out from the heart.” The heart is the ruler of the soul and this is the place where you have from doctrine that relaxed mental attitude from norms and standards. Your viewpoint becomes divine viewpoint and therefore you have a relaxed mental attitude toward, not only believers, but toward people in general.

            How do you get to the place of purification? The answer is found in verses 23-25. First of all you have to be saved. So the first word is …

            “Being born again” — a)nagennaw. Gennaw means to be born; a)na means again. The perfect tense means you have been born again in the past with the result that you keep on being born again forever. So that is phase one — salvation.

            “not of corruptible seed” — the preposition is e)k, “not out of corruptible seed.” The word corruptible is an adjective, fqartoj, which actually refers to decay, perishable, or subject to decay. The word “seed” is sporoj. It is interesting that sporoj is used because physical seed is the word sperma. Sporoj is used because this is soul seed. This a spiritual birth, the soul being saved, the soul being reborn. Translation: “not out from perishable seed”.

            “but of incorruptible” — a)fqartoj. “Qartoj” — subject to decay, “a” is a negative. It means not perishable. How is this possible? By the Word.

            “by the word of God” — dia plus the genitive of logoj. It should be translated “through the Word” or “by means of the Word.” Dia plus the genitive connotes instrumentality. This explains John 3:5 where regeneration is attributed to two sources — “born of water and of the Spirit”. Born of water refers to the Word — Ephesians 5:26; James 1:18. Of the Spirit refers to Titus 3:5 — the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. It is the contact with the Word of God that causes the new birth.

            “liveth and abideth forever” — “forever” is not found in this passage, but liveth and abideth are both present active participles and they connote forever. The thing by which we are born is eternal. First of all it is said to live. That is zaw, present active participle; then menw -- both connote permanency. Translation: “by means of the word of God, living and abiding.”

            Starting in verse 24 we have a quotation for Isaiah 40:7,8.

            Verse 24 — “All flesh” referring to the human race in general — “as grass.” The word for grass is xortoj. There are many types of grass but this is grass that stands in a field and is used for animal food. All flesh is   analogous to the grass of the field. In other words, we have to have something to live on and all the glory of the same. That grass which is used for food or which fades is like the human race.

            “as the flower” is a)nqoj, which refers to wild flowers which are very beautiful. The point is that the human race is like grass which is used for fodder and the flowers which fade out in the summer. The human race is very temporary.

            “the grass withereth” — zerainw, it dries up and disappears. “the flower” which is the glory of man “falleth away” — e)kpiptw, it falls to the ground and that is it. piptw means to fall, e)k means down. The flowers are the details of life. These things in life that are attractive disappear, they fall away.

 

            Summary

            1. The details of life are temporary in contrast to the Word of God which is permanent. If you emphasise in your soul the details of life you are a slave to the details of life. But if your emphasis is the Word then you become the master of the details of life.

            2. The analogy demands that the believer put Bible doctrine before the details of life. By so doing he will enjoy the details of life that he has and he will not be disappointed or frustrated when these are lost to him.

            3. In this way stability of soul is established and the emotional revolt is avoided.

            4. However, if the believer puts the details of life before doctrine then he has self-induced misery and he is full of scar tissue. And the next step is the emotional revolt of the soul.

            5. he believer’s capacity for life depends upon doctrine, not the details of life.

            6. Therefore the believer must have the Word of God which lives and abides forever in two places:  Doctrine must reside in his right lobe — which rules the soul — and doctrine must reside in his human spirit which is the basis for erecting the ECS.

           

            Verse 25 — “But the word of the Lord” — in contrast to the grass withering and the flower falling off — “endureth forever.” This time we do have “forever.” “endureth” is a present active indicative of menw, which means it abides. Bible doctrine in you right lobe, in your human spirit, abides — present tense, linear aktionsart. And there is a prepositional phrase that goes with it — e)ij ton a)iwn which means forever. The word of God endures unto the ages of the ages — forever.

            And to make sure that there is no possibility of avoiding the interpretation of this passage — “and this is the word which by the gospel is preached to you”. The gospel is a part of doctrine

            So the Word of God abides forever; the Word of God, therefore, taken in every day is something you can take with you. So if you want to save up something you can use now and spend now, and spend for all eternity and take it with you, the answer is to take in Bible doctrine every day.