Chapter 2

“Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings.”

There is the thing that hinders divine provision. This is the great enemy when it comes to spiritual growth or any problem connected with it. These are all interchanges with only one overt manifestation at the end. The word “wherefore” means in view of the divine provision which is expressed in the first chapter, the provision of grace; the provision for peace.

“laying aside” — a)potiqemi meant originally to take off garments, and eventually it came to mean renunciation. It means to remove something and it was often used for the removal of soiled garments or things that are no longer presentable.

There are five characteristics given here that hinder the enjoyment of God’s grace in phase two. The aorist tense here indicates that these things must be removed at any point of time that they might become an issue. The middle voice indicates the volition of the believer involved and the participle sets up a principle.

“malice” is an accusative singular from kakia which means a desire to injure someone. For those who do have the ability to hate well it also means spite, petty antagonism. It means to derive pleasure from the misfortune and the discomfort of others toward whom you are antagonistic. These are boomerang type sins.

“guile” — doloj, which means fraud, deceit or duplicity. And this is the function of the emotional revolt of the soul, to live in guile or duplicity or deceit.

“hypocrisies” — an accusative plural of u(pokrisij. The suffix here indicates the act of hypocrisy. u(po means under and the word krisij comes from the word krinw which means to speak. To speak from under a mask. It was used of the actor in the ancient world. This is the phoney facade that covers the malice and the guile. Hypocrisy emphasises overt behaviour pattern with a total disregard to the inner life. Therefore, it becomes the cover for the emotional revolt of the soul.

“envies” — fqonoj. The word means jealousy, and every time you have a list of sins where mental attitude sins are involved this is always prominent because it is very common and very dangerous. Jealousy is total disorientation to the grace of God. Jealousy in unbelievers is disorientation to life. Jealousy has as a background true or pseudo inadequacy. It is always the button that starts an emotional revolt of the soul.

“evil speakings” (the result of envies) — katalalia. Lalia is a noun for speaking, kata means against. It means to speak down or to speak against. It refers to conspiracy, gossip, maligning, judging, nit-picking.

If these five things are habitual then actually you have a potential or an actual emotional revolt of the soul. These are all soul irritants. And the laying aside of these things can only be accomplished by what is said in verse two - by Bible doctrine. It is impossible to deal with these sins in any other way.

Verse 2 — “As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word.” The word “sincerity” is wrong. And, by the way, sincerity is never a virtue; it is a front. It is the Greek word a)doloj. Doloj is guile; “a” is a negative. No duplicity; no guile. So the word “sincerity” doesn’t even exist here. It means non-duplicity.

“milk of the word” is not correct either. The word “milk” doesn’t even occur here. Logikoj is the noun. We have here the word logoj with a suffix that is different. The words “reasonable service” in Romans 12:1 is logikoj. In our verse, 1 Peter 2:1, it is translated “milk of the word” but actually it is “reasonable service”. So it would be “without deceit reasonable (or spiritual) service.”

Now there is an analogy here. We know that because of the word “as” which begins verse two. There is an analogy between physical and spiritual growth. Physical growth begins with physical birth; spiritual growth begins with spiritual birth. So “new-born babes” happens to be correctly translated. It is brefoj, which means a baby just born or a baby on its mother’s breast. This is a word used for the experiential condition of a person at the moment he accepts Christ and shortly thereafter.

The next word is an aorist active imperative of e)pipoqew — “desire” the sincere milk of the word. But you can’t translate an imperative that way. The word means to have an intense desire for something, to have a deep love or a deep affection. The aorist tense refers to any point of time in phase two, and the active voice has to do with the desire for Bible doctrine, a desire that comes with the new birth. The imperative mood is a command from God. So as believers “desire”. What should we desire? The without deceit portion of the Logoj. You see, you can’t take it in all at once; there is no such thing as instant growth. Logikoj would be a piece of the bread, not the whole loaf. It does not means spiritual service or reasonable service and it does not mean milk. It means the whole realm of doctrine. But it means a little bit of it at a time. And it isn’t “sincere”. Bible doctrine is “without deceit.”

“that ye may grow thereby” — there is a purpose in the daily function of GAP — the aorist passive subjunctive of a)uzanw, which does mean to grow. The aorist tense means that at any point of time when you are taking in the Word of God you are in the growth pattern, at any point of time when you are functioning under GAP. This is the most important objective in life. The passive voice means the believer receives growth by means of the daily function of GAP. The subjunctive mood means that growth is potential.

“that ye may grow thereby” — the word is not “thereby. We have the preposition e)ij plus sothr — “because of salvation.” It should be translated, “that ye might grow on account of salvation.”

Verse 3 — We start out with a first class condition but there is no verb, “so be.” It is “If you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” The word for “taste” is geuomai, which does mean to taste. This is an aorist middle indicative. The aorist tense means the point of time at which you were saved. That point of time was divorced from time and perpetuated forever.

Some people say that this is not really a person being saved. It is the same concept as in Hebrews 6:4 where they tasted salvation. Always the proof as to what this means - the Lord tasted death for us in Hebrews 2. The reason the word “taste” is used here is to emphasise the grace of God. Tasting has the concept of non-meritorious appropriation. It takes just a little faith to be saved and tasting brings that out. The middle voice is reflexive to emphasise volition at the point of salvation. The indicative mood is the reality of both salvation and eternal security.

“gracious” — xrhstoj. Translation: “If you have tasted [and you have] that the Lord is gracious.”

Verse 4 — “chosen of God” emphasises the doctrine of election. The Greek word is e)klektoj. It is where we get the word “election.” And “of God” is “from the immediate source of God” — para.

The doctrine of election

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

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

3. Election took place as a part of the eternal life conference, the doctrine of divine decrees — John 15:16; Ephesians 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2. Potential election becomes a reality at the cross. Jesus Christ was elected in eternity past and when you believe in Christ you enter into union with Christ and therefore share His election. The potential becomes a reality through positional truth.

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

5. Election takes place at the moment of salvation — 2 Timothy 1:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:4.

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

7. Orientation to election comes through the doctrines residing in the human spirit — Titus 1:1.

8. The regenerate Jews of the previous dispensation also had an election as a part of the plan of God — Romans 11:1-7.

Verse 4 — The words “to whom” is literally “face to face with whom,” proj plus the accusative. The antecedent of the pronoun is Jesus Christ, and the point is that we are face to face with Jesus Christ at the point of salvation. Salvation is a technical term and we generally associate it with eternal life. It is true that salvation includes eternal life but it includes much more than that. It is actually entering into a relationship with God. And this particular prepositional phrase, along with everything that comes in the next four or five verses, actually defines Christianity. Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship with God in time and in eternity. And like everything else that is related to God it has divine design. This means that the point we first believed in Jesus Christ was the point at which we entered into the plan of God. It is a permanent relationship because of the character of God, not because of our character.

“coming as unto.” “As unto” is not found in the original, therefore “coming” carries more weight than appears on the surface. It is a present middle participle of proserxomai. Proj means face to face with; e)rxomai means to come or to approach. It even means to relate. Here it actually means to come face to face with. The present tense is dramatic. The moment we enter into relationship with God. The moment we believe in Jesus Christ, that is the most dramatic moment in our life. The middle voice is reflexive and it indicates that we are benefited by entering into a relationship with God. The participle indicates that God does the same thing for everyone who believes in Him.

“a living stone.” The word “living” is a present active participle and it indicates eternity. And the One with whom we enter into a relationship is eternal life — 1 John 5:11-12. In this passage the word “stone” is used for a building. The living stone or the eternal life stone is Jesus Christ. The Greek word for stone here is liqoj, a generic term for stone. It means a stone which is going to be used for something. It might refer to a flat stone on which people are going to write or it might refer to a precious stone which will be polished and put into jewellery. So it can be a building stone, a tablet for writing, or a precious stone. Because liqoj is used in that sense it indicates that Christ had a purpose; it also indicates that we will have a purpose. So we have come face to face with the eternal life stone which has a purpose. The purpose of this eternal life stone was to provide for us His life, eternal life. So He was rejected by men; He was chosen by God, and He is the highest on the scale of values — the word “precious.”

Christ as the living Stone

1. Christ is the Rock of salvation — Exodus 17:1-7; 1 Corinthians 3:11; Isaiah 28:16; 1 Peter 2:4.

2. Christ is the Rock of judgement for the unbeliever — Isaiah 8:14; 1 Peter 2:8.

3. Christ is also the Rock of provision for the believer — taught in the Hebrew of Isaiah 26:3,4.

4. Christ is said to be the Rock of perfection — Zechariah 3:9.

5. Christ is the foundation stone for Israel — Isaiah 28:16; Psalm 118:22.

6. Christ is also the foundation stone for the Church — Matthew 16:16; Ephesians 2:20-22.

7. Christ is the destroying Rock at the second advent — Daniel 2:34,35.

“disallowed” — indicates the fact that historically Christ was rejected as Messiah; it refers to the fact He was rejected by the two greatest systems of law in the ancient world; and that when He was on the cross He was rejected by God the Father as a part of the judgement. The verb a)podokimazw means to repudiate from the ultimate source of one’s self or from the ultimate source of a system. When it is used of law it is the ultimate source of a system. It is a perfect passive participle. The perfect tense is the total repudiation of Christ during His incarnation. He was rejected as King; He was rejected by the law; He was rejected as saviour; He was rejected by God on the cross. The passive voice: Christ received rejection which He did not deserve.

A)podokimazw could be used for the cross as an expression of the judgement of Christ for our sins, or it could be used for the law, both Jewish law and Roman law which repudiated Christ, or it could be used for the citizens of Judah. And the phrase that follows indicates the citizens of Judah.

“of men” — the preposition u)po means authority, “by the authority of men”. In other words, religion, the Pharisees who ruled Israel rejected Him. And they were responsible, of course, for helping to get Christ on the cross historically. But in contrast to religion — Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees — we have God’s attitude.

“but chosen of God” — e)klektoj, which means elected. The word “of” is a preposition but it is a different one — para means from the immediate source of God. God the Father is the immediate source of the election of Christ. The Father elected Jesus Christ to go into the world and to become the saviour of the world by being judged.

This living stone is said to be “precious” — e)ntimoj. This is a compound noun. E)n means in the sphere of and timoj means honour. In the sphere of honour means the most highly valued. Jesus Christ is highest in the Father’s scale of values. In other words, Jesus Christ is the most valuable thing the Father had and He gave the most valuable thing for our salvation. In eternity past Christ is the elected; in time He is the most valuable. He is the living stone.

Verse 5 — “lively stones” — really “living stones” — a present active participle for zaw which means “ye constantly living stones”. And we have the plural for the same word — liqoj, which means a useable stone. “You yourselves as always living stones.” Since the point of faith in Christ the believer has a relationship with God that will never change. So the weak enters into the strong and the weak therefore becomes strong positionally. That is why we are called rocks. Christ is the Rock; we are in union with Christ, therefore we are eternally living rocks. So God found a way in eternity past to take all kinds of people who believe in Jesus Christ and make them strong positionally. No matter how weak we are as a person we are just as strong as a strong person because we are in union with the same person, Jesus Christ. Christianity is a relationship, it is not something you do for something. Not only is the believer a rock but he is not even a rock out of the rock pile; he is a rock in the building. Christ is the foundation Rock; the believer is a rock in the building, in a relationship with God.

“are built up” — this is the continuation of the Church Age. It is the present passive indicative of o)ikodomew, a word which has to do with construction. Some time is it used for the erection of an ECS. Here Peter is using it for the continuation of the Church during the Church Age. During the Church Age people will always be saved and rocks will be put in to the building all the way to the Rapture. When the building is completed the Rapture will occur.

Remember that the foundation for this building is union with Christ, so every rock actually has a root in the foundation. Obviously then it is a spiritual house. A spiritual house emphasises, not only positional truth and Christianity as a relationship with God, but it indicates a permanent spiritual establishment in the devil’s world and it emphasises the angelic conflict. The greatest conflict in this world is a spiritual conflict and this is a house that stands up against all the storms of the angelic conflict.

“an holy priesthood” — emphasises freedom, privacy and privilege in serving the Lord in full-time Christian service. Every believer is in full-time Christian service; there is no such thing as a layman. Peter was just another priest; you are a priest; every believer is a priest. Every believer is permanently in the plan of God and as a priest he has the right of serving God. A priest served God in the Tabernacle, and later on in the temple. A priest served God in spiritual service; the believer is in a spiritual conflict and he serves God in spiritual service. And, without exception, every believer is a priest; every believer is in full-time Christian service.

“holy” — a(gioj.

The doctrine of sanctification

1. The word “holy priesthood” is really a set-apart priesthood, a sanctified priesthood. A(gioj means set apart. It is also the word for “saint.” Every believer is a saint. This is an adjective. The noun is a(giothj which is the word “holiness”. It means set-apartness unto God. Holiness always emphasises who and what God is, never who and what we are. This is where human viewpoint intrudes. We have the idea that holiness has to do with something we are. But holiness is who and what God is; He has set us apart unto Himself. Then we have another noun, a(giosunh, translated generally “sanctification.” Then there is another word, a(giosmoj, which is “holiness” — the concept of being related to God. The verb is a(giazw — to set apart.

2. Basically, all words for sanctification or holiness connote separation, unto someone or something, generally in the Word of God separation unto God. Separation unto God always emphasises the work of God, not any human work or ability or talent.

3. There are three agents of sanctification: The Son of God — Hebrews 10:10,14; the Holy Spirit — Romans 15:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; the Word of God — John 17:17; Ephesians 5:26.

4. Brief description of phase 1 sanctification: Phase 1 sanctification is positional truth, union with Christ — 1 Corinthians 1:2,30; 6:11; Hebrews 10:10,14.

5. Phase two sanctification is composed of the filling of the Spirit — 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2, plus the daily function of GAP — John 17:17; Ephesians 5:26. This is experiential sanctification, and the ultimate in phase 2 sanctification is the ECS.

6. Phase three sanctification is the believer in a resurrection body — Romans 8:29; 1 Corinthians 1:8; Philippians 1:21; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 1 John 3:1,2.

7. How phase 3 sanctification is acquired: The acquisition of a resurrection body at the Rapture of the Church - 1 Cor. 15:51ff; ultimate sanctification is not completed until all human good is judged — 1 Cor. 3:11-16; the removal of the old sin nature — Philippians 3:21.

8. Experiential or phase two sanctification has several objectives: This is the intensified stage of the angelic conflict. Every believer is a priest and therefore in full-time Christian service, so the first objective is to give every believer representation in the Church Age. The second objective is to establish divine viewpoint in the devil’s world. The third is to produce category one love response — produced by doctrine. The fourth objective is the erection of the ECS and the fifth is to produce divine good in the devil’s world from the filling of the Spirit, from the function of GAP and from the ECS.

9. Phase two sanctification depends upon the function of the believer’s priesthood in two areas: rebound — 1 John 1:9, and learning Bible doctrine and/or growing in grace — 2 Peter 3:18.

Our next word is the word “priesthood”. Jesus Christ is a High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek — Hebrews 5:6,10; 6:20;7:17,21. Since every believer is in union with Christ we share His priesthood. This leads to the doctrine of the universal priesthood of the believer which is taught in 1 Peter 2:5, amplified in 1 Peter 2:9, and taught in three passages in Revelation — 1:6;5:10;20:6.

The doctrine of the modus operandi of the priesthood

Remember that every Christian is in full-time Christian service. There are two ways in which every Christian is removed from the ranks of the layman. First of all he is a priest and secondly he is an ambassador. Because of this he happens to be in full-time Christian service. His full-time Christian service is what ever he does — his job, or whatever he does in life. This is done as unto the Lord when operating under the principles of God’s grace.

1. Rebound. Every believer is a priest and therefore he has the right to represent himself before God. This means that he must represent himself in carnality (on earth). In heaven Jesus Christ represents every believer; He is our defence attorney — 1 John 2:1,2. But on earth the believer represents himself by personally confessing (naming or citing) his sins. This is a part of the doctrine of the privacy of the Church Age in which a believer lives his life in privacy as unto the Lord. Self-judgement — 1 Corinthians 11:31 — is a part of the priesthood but it also says: Judge not that ye be not judged — don’t judge others.

2. Prayer. Being a priest, however, does not make one a good prayer warrior.

3. The spiritual sacrifices. This is taken from the modus operandi of the Levitical priesthood. There are four basic spiritual sacrifices — all are mentioned in Hebrews chapter 13.

The first is praise — Heb.13:15. Praise does not mean to be talking. One phase of praising is your expression of your love for Jesus Christ but praise also includes as its basic ingredient listening to that which praises God, which is the Word. The Word is designed to honour God.

The second is the production of divine good — Heb.13:16a. This is a spiritual sacrifice.

The third is giving — Heb.13:16b. A part of our priestly function is giving.

The fourth indicates that the priesthood on earth is organised on the basis of spiritual gifts. So the fourth one is obedience to the pastor-teacher — Heb.13:17.

“to offer up spiritual sacrifices” — an aorist active infinitive of a)naferw. Ferw means to offer, a)na means again and again. To offer again and again in any point of time spiritual sacrifices — not animal sacrifices — Rebound, 1 John 1:9; prayer, Hebrews 4:16; the spiritual sacrifices of praise, Hebrews 13:15; divine good, Hebrews 13:16a; giving, Hebrews 13:16b; obedience to the pastor-teacher, Hebrews 13:17. These are said to be spiritual sacrifices and this is only a partial list.

“acceptable” — an accusative feminine plural of a triple compound adjective, e)uprosdektoj. E)u is an adverb which means good or well. Proj is a preposition meaning face to face. Dektoj is the noun from dekomai meaning to receive. So it means to receive as good face to face. And that is why it comes to mean “acceptable” and well pleasing.

Now what is acceptable good face to face with God? The answer is the spiritual sacrifices which come from the priesthood. The word “spiritual” is important because there are many sacrifices being made which are not a part of the priesthood today - the system of do-good, the merit system that many churches have set up, the Christian education gimmicks, the young peoples’ gimmicks, the systems of penance which are increasing in fundamentalist circles.

“to God” is God the Father, the author of the divine plan who designed the whole concept of grace.

“by Jesus Christ” is dia plus the genitive and should be translated “through the instrumentality of Jesus Christ”. Grace comes through Jesus Christ.

Therefore in verses 6-8 we have a brief parenthetical dissertation on occupation with the person of Christ. This is actually an historical, exegetical, dissertation. Historical because Jesus Christ is the ruler of the Jews in His humanity; exegetical because it quotes Isaiah 28:16.

Verse 6 — “Wherefore,” dioti, which means “because of this.” Because the believer is part of the spiritual house; because every believer is part of a square block perfectly fitted into the spiritual house positionally.

“it is contained” — periexw, present active indicative. It means to encompass or to enclose.

“in the scripture” — reference to Isaiah 28:16 which is now quoted. The basis for having square stones in the spiritual house in the Church Age is found right here — “I lay in Zion a chief corner stone.” “I lay” is present active indicative of tiqemi. It means to deposit, to assign, to constitute, to appoint.

“a chief corner stone” — a)krogwniaoj, which means a foundation stone that pulls two corners together. One wall is Israel — past dispensation; the other is the Church — a spiritual house. What is the link? There is a corner stone, Jesus Christ. Christ came at the end of the Jewish dispensation as the king of the Jews. He is David’s Son; He is also the Head of the Church. He is still the king of the Jews and will return in that function at the second advent and the beginning of the Millennium. In the meantime we have a spiritual house. Every believer is a perfectly fitting block in the spiritual house because he is in union with Christ. It is strictly positional.

“elect” means that every believer is in the plan of God as of the moment of salvation. The Father designed it this way. The Father is perfect; His plan is perfect. Therefore, positionally we will always be perfect. Experientially we are sinful, failures, or whatever it may be until the day we depart from this life. “precious” means the most valuable one. And each believer is the most valuable one because he is in union with Christ.

“he that believeth” — this is how we enter the spiritual house. This is the point at which, positionally, we receive all of the 40 things from God. “He that believeth” is a present active participle, the verb is pisteuw.

“shall not be confounded” — aorist passive subjunctive of kataisxunw, to be ashamed or to be disgraced. At salvation we have non-ashamedness positionally. The subjunctive mood is a potential thing. Non-ashamedness is exclusion also from the last judgement and it is a potential thing depending on whether you believe in Christ or not. The whole positional structure of God’s plan depends on whether you believe in Christ or not. So the subjunctive mood recognises human freedom in pisteuw and in kataisxunw.

Your attitude toward Jesus Christ as a believer pretty well determines your attitude about everything in life. Mental attitude is one of the most important things you have going for you in life, or one of your greatest enemies. Here is a passage which talks about, first of all, the believer’s attitude, then the unbeliever’s attitude and the believer’s attitude again.

Verse 7 — “Unto you” is a dative case pronoun in the emphatic position. It is a dative of advantage; it is to your advantage to be a believer. It means you are going to spend all eternity with the Lord.

“which believe” — a dative plural, present active participle of pisteuw. The present tense of this participle is dramatic. One of the most dramatic decisions in life is the decision one makes to believe in Christ. The active voice: man must initiate the action; man must believe in Christ. The participle: salvation by faith is the principle throughout all history.

“precious” — timh, of highest value. This is Jesus Christ; that is where He belongs. It is people who take in Bible doctrine every day who place Him in this position. Only the believer can reach the point of occupation with Christ.

The unbeliever’s attitude is described under the word “disobedient” which means to reject Christ as saviour. We can’t expect anything from the unbeliever because Jesus Christ doesn’t mean anything to him.

“but” — conjunction of contrast between the attitude of the believer and the attitude of the unbeliever.

“unto them” — a dative of disadvantage; “which be disobedient” — a dative plural, present active participle of a)pistew. Pistew means to believe and “a” is a negative. It means not to believe, or actually to refuse to believe.

“the stone” — liqoj. Every believer is positionally a stone in the building. But there is the chief stone and this is the chief stone. We are in union with the stone; therefore we are liqoj.

“the stone which the builders disallowed” — here is attitude toward Christ. The builders are the religious Jews during the time of the incarnation, the scribes, the Pharisees, the hypocrites. This is the aorist active indicative of a)podokimazw. This word means to reject from the ultimate source of one’s self after putting someone on trial and after having the facts. The religious Jews of Jesus’ day had the facts. They first examined very carefully everything pertaining to Jesus Christ, the God-Man; they saw all of the evidences, they were observers of the miracles, and having gone through all of the facts they rejected Jesus Christ.

“the same” is literally “the same one”; “is made” is an aorist passive indicative of ginomai and it means “is become” or “has become.”

“the head of the corner” refers to the fact that Jesus Christ is the ruler of the Jews, the legitimate ruler forever. He is the Son of David and on both sides He is descended from David. On the side of Solomon He is descended through Joseph who is His legal but not His real father; on the side of Mary He is descended from Nathan (Solomon’s brother). So Jesus Christ is the legitimate Heir to the throne of David on which He will reign forever. But Jesus Christ is also the Head of the Church. He is the cornerstone: the ruler of Israel and will rule forever; and He is the Head of the Church.

Verse 8 — an amplification of the unbeliever’s attitude toward Christ, and then in verse 9 an amplification of the believer’s.

“And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, to those who stumble at the Word.” This tells us something. A “stone of stumbling” is the Greek word proskomma which actually refers to a shock, to trauma, shock to moral or religious senses. Here it means a shock to the religious sensibilities of the Jews. So we could take this “stone of stumbling” and call it a traumatic experience for the religious Jew. And therefore He became a rock of offence. For the first time we find Peter using the word petra (which is not Peter), a gigantic rock. Peter’s name is Petroj; he is just a chip in the rock. That is why to make his point he first of all uses liqoj. Christ is liqoj; all believers are liqoj — in union with Christ. But he does not say all believers are petroj, and in union with petra. This simply means he derives himself from this relationship — so, “Thou art Petroj and of this petra I will build my church”. The Church is built on Christ. Petroj means a little chip of a stone. So liqoj is used to teach positional truth because Peter doesn’t want anyone to get the idea that he has some primacy; there is no such thing. Now he uses the word “rock” to indicate all of the magnificence of Jesus Christ in hypostatic union.

“rock of offence” — skandalon, which means anything over which one stumbles, anything which causes one to stumble. So skandalon means rejection, rejection of Christ resulting in ruin, the ruin of the last judgement.

“which stumble” — dative plural present active participle of proskoptw. Proskoptw means to cause shock to religious sensibilities. In other words the religious Jews took offence at Christ because of the principle of grace. The religious crowd are shocked by the gospel as taught in the Word because it excludes human good and human participation.

“at the Word” — i.e. what the Bible teaches. Where do unbelievers get their sloppy attitude about Christ? They stumble at the Word. By way of application, where do believers get their sloppy mental attitude? They stumble at the Word — only it is Bible doctrine instead of the gospel.

“being disobedient” — this time we do not have a)pisteuw but we have a)peiqw, which means to refuse to believe, to be disobedient. Here it doesn’t have the concept of direct rejection of Christ as it does rejection about what the Word teaches about Christ. Christ did all the work on the cross and when the believer takes a look at that he doesn’t like it; he wants to help.

“where unto” — e)ij, a directional pronoun. E)ij plus the relative pronoun means “into which.” Into which “they were appointed” — tiqemi here has to do with the doctrine of divine decrees. It was God’s will and God’s provision for everyone to be saved — Romans 5:6; 2 Corinthians 5:14,15,19; 1 Timothy 2:6; 4:10; Titus 2:11; Hebrews 2:9; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 2:2. All of these passages teach that the entire human race was appointed into salvation. The unbeliever fails to keep the appointment; he has rejected Christ.

Now from the unbeliever we have an application to the believer. Your mental attitude toward doctrine, which in effect regulates your mental attitude toward Christ, determines your orientation to God’s plan on this earth.

Verse 9 — “But ye” — this is a conjunction of contrast plus a pronoun in the emphatic position — but you and only you. This narrows it down to believers and this demonstrates that verse 8 was an illustration.

Here we have a fourfold description of the believer and each one of these is designed to show that he was designed to appreciate Christ. Each adjective describes an aspect of positional truth which is directly related to the believer’s mental attitude and orientation to grace.

“But ye are a chosen generation” — an elect race. This means that God has a purpose for our life.

“a royal priesthood” — this is the only dispensation up to now where every believer is a priest and every believer is in full-time Christian service. Why are we royal? Because Jesus Christ is a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He is seated at the right hand of the Father as a priest, but that isn’t all; He is seated there as a king. He is a king-priest and we are in union with Christ, therefore we are not only a priesthood, we are a royal priesthood. That is something the Levitical priesthood never was.

“a holy nation” — the nation is the Church. Being a holy nation means to be entirely separated unto God. This nation is God’s entity. The word “nation” is used because it is associated with Gentiles, and while many Jews are born again during the Church Age this is really the Age of the Gentiles, the times of the Gentiles. Therefore we are a separated unto God nation.

“a peculiar people” — peripoihsij. Poihsij is from poiew, to do. Peri means around. The suffix sij is the action. “The action of doing around” is the way it appears literally. But actually it means all around you God has done something and that means you are protected; you are a dot in the middle of a circle. And that comes to

mean, not peculiar, but a “protected” people. You are a born again believer and therefore God has protected you with a wall of fire around you.

“that” introduces a purpose clause — “ye should show forth.” If Jesus Christ is timh (highest value) — verse 7 — then this purpose clause is fulfilled: “ye should show forth” is the aorist active subjunctive e)xaggellw. Ex - outside of; a)ggellqw, to announce. But it comes to mean something else. It means to communicate to others. “The praises” — a)retaj, the excellencies “of him” [Christ]; “who hath called you” — kalew is a verb which goes with election. Aorist tense — eternity past; active voice — in eternity past you were called out; participle — this is God’s plan from eternity past. You didn’t come into the plan of God just in time. God knew that you would believe, and therefore in eternity past He made provision for you. So the word “you” has great emphasis.

“out of darkness” [kosmoj diabolicus] “into his marvellous light” — the Greek word is qaumastoj, meaning glorious or amazing. Light is a characteristic of God; light is a characteristic of doctrine. His amazing light is turned on in your life through Bible doctrine.

Verse 10 leads to the concept of trophies of grace. “Which in time past not a people” — not in the plan of God; “but” — conjunction of contrast — “now [after salvation] the people of God”.

“which had not obtained mercy [in the past]” — perfect passive participle of e)leew. It doesn’t mean to obtain mercy so much as to receive grace. And it is a perfect tense: in time past you had not received grace with the result there was not grace in your life. But now, by way of contrast, you have received grace — same verb, aorist passive. Aorist tense: the point of time when you believed in Christ. That point of time is divorced from time and perpetuated forever. The passive voice: you received these things, they are not earned or deserved. This is a participle indicating this is God’s plan for the Church Age; there is not other plan; you are in it; you might as well face up to it, and you can’t face up to it without Bible doctrine.

The priesthood of the believer is declared in the first ten verses; the last half of the chapter is the experience of the priesthood. The priesthood of the believer is designed to make or break you. If you follow its precepts from your own volition it is going to be a source of blessing; if you reject its precepts it is going to be a source of cursing. A study of the Levitical priesthood in the Old Testament on which this is based reveals that it was composed of people who were either very happy or very miserable, but never in between. So the rest of this chapter is devoted to the principle that there is no in between.

Verse 11 — “Dearly beloved” — a)gaphtoi, which means beloved ones. So our very first word tells us something: this is the title of a relaxed mental attitude experientially; this is the title of the believer in union with Christ. God the Father loves that believer with the same amount of love that He has for His Son, Jesus Christ. A)gaphtoi, then, is a reference to the priesthood as in 1 John 3:1,2, a reference to positional truth, and a reference to the fact that as a believer priest it is important to have agape - relaxed mental attitude.

“I beseech” — present active indicative of parakalew, to command, not to beg. Wherever you find the word “beseech,” like in Romans 12:1, it is “command” .It is an order.

“strangers” — paroikoj, means someone who is well-known living in a land which is really not their land. It might be translated a temporary residence, but not a stranger. We are not strangers to this world. This would be to deny the citizenship in our country; this would deny the divine institution; this would deny the whole concept of nationalism and patriotism. So the word “strangers” actually refers to a temporary residence.

“pilgrims” — parepidhmoj. The verb e)pidemew from which this is taken means to dwell among people as a well-known person but as a visitor. It almost means to be a VIP and to be visiting. And there is a sense in which every believer priest is a VIP dwelling temporarily on this earth, not to be disassociated with his circumstances. In other words not to be disassociated with his citizenship.

“abstain” — present middle infinitive of a)pexw. The infinitive has the force of an imperative, except for one thing. It is an imperative that denotes a purpose. In a straight imperative you are given a command but you are not given the purpose for the command. In an infinitive you are given a command but you are given the purpose behind the command. The is a present tense which means it keeps on being a command. The middle voice indicates the action of volition in responding to this command and it brings out the simple concept of the priesthood which is free will - volition, human freedom. This is a compound verb: a)po means ultimate source; e)xw means to have or to hold. So the word doesn’t mean to abstain so much as it means to keep, to possess. And here it has the concept that it possesses what goes before and it rejects what follows. So what goes before? Strangers and pilgrims. So it means possess your priesthood and in possessing your priesthood you reject what comes after it. That’s why it is translated “abstain,” which basically becomes a good translation because you can’t communicate all of that exegetical concept from the Greek.

“fleshly lusts” has to do with the emotional revolt of the soul. There are three types: mental attitude sins, lust pattern, human good. Ordinarily the OSN influences the emotional pattern in a combination of these things. But the lust pattern is separated here because it represents the fact that it is very easy for people who are believer priests to get entangled with the cosmos through a desire — approbation lust, power lust, materialism lust, lasciviousness, etc. These are called fleshly lusts to identify them with the OSN. Rarely, but occasionally, the word “lust” means normal desire, like hunger, or sleep. And because the word has been used that way generally there is some means of identifying it with the OSN and here we have the word “fleshly” — e)piqumia, lusts.

“war against the soul” — OSN lusts have a direct line to every part of the soul and tries to influence them. They also work on the emotions and allows the emotions to do the work. That is the emotional revolt of the soul.

Self consciousness has two areas that are connected with lust: pride on the one hand and self pity on the other. Both of them are connected with the lust pattern. And when a believer priest begins to function on the basis of pride or self-pity he is not longer functioning on his priesthood. Therefore, in the realm of self-consciousness fleshly lusts “war against the soul” — present middle indicative of strateuw, which is not the ordinary word for war. It is the word from which we get strategy. This is a strategic move; this is not a tactical execution.

Fleshly lusts war against the mentality of the soul and produce mental attitude sins.

Volition has to do with two things: attitude toward doctrine and attitude toward the communicative authority of doctrine. Some people never quite get a hold of doctrine because they will never accept the authority of another person, and this has to do with their own lust pattern.

Emotion. The attack against emotion is the emotional revolt of the soul.

The conscience. Lusts set up human norms and standards, human goals for your life, and therefore divorce you from your part in the angelic conflict.

Verse 12 — “Having” is a present active participle which means to set up a pattern of life — e)xw, to keep on having. The word “conversation” does not mean speaking conversation. The Greek word is a)nastrophe and it means a way of life or manner of life.

“honesty” — kaloj, a Classical Greek word for symmetry. Eventually it came to mean good quality, free from defects. Finally it comes to mean noble and honourable. It really has to do with the function of the soul.

“among the Gentiles” — the word “Gentiles” is used for unbelievers in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, the Roman province of Asia and Bythinia. In other words, the area of 1 Peter 1:1.

“that” introduces a result clause. The word “whereas” is “in the which thing” .Lit: “With the result that in the which thing they speak against you as evil doers” — katalalew [Lalew = to speak; kata = against]. It means to malign — “they malign you as doing wrong.” This is a part of the angelic conflict, a part of having your good evil spoken of.

“they may by your good works [production]” — this is the production of a stabilised soul — “which they shall behold” — they notice it — e)popteuw, which means to act as a spectator.

How do they personally observe? “in the day of visitation [inspection]” .If this was simply a believer we would have to say it is the judgement seat of Christ because at the judgement seat of Christ other believers will obviously be present; in fact all of the believers of the Church Age. But why can’t this be the judgement seat of Christ? Because we are talking about unbelievers observing. So we have to go back to what the word “visitation” means — e)piskopoj also has a military connotation. E)piskopoj is used elsewhere for the judgement seat of Christ but not here. It is used for an inspection and parade, and it is an inspection and parade in which you have spectators — unbelievers.

“which they shall behold” — the word e)popteuw actually refers to being a personal eyewitness. And “they” refers to unbelievers who are called Gentiles. And the day of inspection therefore has to be something the unbeliever can observe. Therefore we go back to the whole military custom of the ancient world. Once a week there was an inspection and parade in a good military outfit. This was the way of keeping the troops fit. And in our lifetime as believer priests periodically we are going to be observed by unbelievers — “no man liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself.” And therefore we are going to be observed either with or without our cognisance by unbelievers, and these unbelievers sometimes get their only clue about the grace of God by what they see. And this might be a time of pressure, an interlude of happiness, or it might be a time of challenge for the national entity. This is a part of the angelic conflict and you don’t have to run around and witness to ten people a day, all you have to do is stand pat with Bible doctrine and you are going to be under observation. So the point is, the function of the priesthood on this earth in phase two is under observation from the unbelievers who are called the Gentiles, and they shall behold your production in the day of inspection. And your production has to do with how you face every situation in life as they observe it. This is not the judgement seat of Christ because unbelievers are observing; there will be no unbelievers at the judgement seat of Christ.

Verse 13 — The aorist passive imperative of “submit” — u(potassw - responsibility to state. U(potassw is used for a woman submitting to her right man; it is used for submitting to the functions of law, to the state; it is used in military in response to those in authority. In other words, it is used in a lot of ways in the New Testament.

“U(po” is a preposition of authority. Life is made up of authority, especially as you are a priest. The priesthood is one of the basic units of authority in the spiritual life — tassw means to stand in line. That means you are in line; you are subject to command. It was originally a military term. So it finally comes to mean to be in subjection to, to recognise authority of, to be subordinate to.

“yourselves” is a reference to believer priests. Now notice that God does not ever take Christianity and put it in the realm of the hippie. There is no such thing as a “Jesus Freak.” The priesthood of the believer is to be subordinate to the authority of the state, the laws of the nation. Therefore, nationalism, subordination and recognition of authority and patriotism, completely and totally eliminate any possibility of a hippie being anything but lawless. Here is the Word of God and it says “submit” — aorist tense, in every point of time; passive voice, subject receives the concept of submission and it is in the imperative mood.

“unto every ordinance of man” — the divine institution of human government. Now this passage does not endorse any type of government but it emphasises rather the principle of nationalism as opposed to internationalism. Internationalism is satanic; it is a part of the cosmos. This cosmic attack is constantly going on, it is a part of the satanic attack. And yet we are to recognise our citizenship, our responsibility to law and order, and to the form of government we have. There is one exception to this. Christian responsibility to a national entity ceases when that national entity lines up with satanic concepts; when there is a conflict between responsibility toward God, as in Acts 4:17-21. This is why Christians have a right to oppose any form of communism, and why we should be clear on the evils of socialism. “ordinance” means law and order structured from the Word - the principle of nationalism. It can be anything from a monarchy to a representative form of government.

Why should we do this? It says “for the Lord’s sake” — dia plus the accusative, which is “because of the Lord” .It is a part of our priesthood. This was written at a time when most forms of nationalism were monarchy and therefore the king is mentioned specifically. The king here simply represents to us the leader of a national entity or the system of authority in a national entity. How do we know that? Because the word “king” is followed by the phrase “as supreme", which is a present active participle, u(perexw, which means to be pre-eminent, to have the authority, to have the rule in a bona fide sense of nationalism.

Verse 14 goes on to describe other systems of government as they existed at the time of the Roman empire. So we have the phrase “or unto governors” — h(gemwn, which was the word for a Roman procurator or the governor of a province. So this is administrative leadership within a national entity. Sometimes this word is use for judicial leadership when such judicial leadership follows the principle and the objectivity of law, providing freedom and protection for the individual.

“as unto them that are sent by him” — all systems of authority have delegated authority.

“punishment” here refers to the punishment of crime, even capital punishment as in Romans 13:4 or Genesis 9:6. Notice that the whole purpose of law is to perpetuate the angelic conflict and this means law and order which protects freedom which makes the angelic conflict function.

“praise” here does not mean praise as we think of it. It means recognition or honour. E)peinoj is simply honour. A part of the priesthood is to so function under your national entity that is compatibility and therefore honour. This honour, by the way, is a testimony of the grace of God.

“them that do well” is a)gaqopoiew which means divine good. Divine good is associated with your patriotism. You can see that in a period of apostasy there will be very little patriotism, believers will be all confused and turn out to be conscientious objectors. This passage eliminates any possibility of anyone being a conscientious objector. The priesthood and patriotism are tied up by this passage.

Verse 15 — “For so is the will of God.” The word “is” is the present active indicative of e)imi. The present active indicative is absolute status quo. This is an absolute. The will of God, of course, has to be dogmatic, it is simple to understand. All you need is a lot of doctrine. The more doctrine you know the more you understand what the will of God is at any point in your life. Actually, the will of God in your life is simply the application of Bible doctrine and there is no divine guidance until you understand Bible doctrine. That’s all there is to it. You cannot be guided by God and you cannot be in the will of God until you understand the simplest of doctrines - like rebound. Doing the will of God is not something you feel or some instinct, it is the application of Bible doctrine to your life. And, like loving God, doing His will depends upon a maximum amount of Bible doctrine. So obviously those who are interested in doing the will of God must take in Bible doctrine every day, there must be inculcation of doctrine.

To the extent that you reject Bible doctrine, or to the extent that you reject the principle of the daily intake of the Word, to that point divine guidance is impossible in your life. And to that extent, at some time sooner or later, you will hit some snag that will force you into the company of someone who, in your opinion, has a lot of biblical understanding. This is bad and unnecessary. You should be doing the will of God every day of your life and the only way you can is by the application of Bible doctrine, and if you have no Bible doctrine you are going to follow human instincts and you are not going to do the will of God, even though you may feel secure in some system of self- righteousness.

Any time you are out of fellowship you are not in the will of God. So how do you get into the will of God? You rebound; you confess your sins to God — 1 John 1:9. So what is the will of God when you are out of fellowship? Rebound. What is the will of God for your daily life? Well, for one thing, it is taking in the Word. This is the start. It is impossible to know the will of God at any point without understanding comparable doctrine. And the more you get into doctrine the more you understand the will of God. The more you understand the will of God the more you are able to have absolute confidence with regard to your function and with regard to your orientation to the plan of God in time. In other words, Bible doctrine is to you spiritually what food is to you physically - an analogy which is carried out many times in scripture.

Now the will of God in this particular passage, which is dealing with relationship to your national entity, obviously has to be described in one word — “well-doing.” You have a direct relationship with God and a direct blessing under the plan of Grace. This is because you are a believer and in phase one you received 40 things; in phase two you have the experience of growing; in phase three you have a wonderful life with the Lord. But these are all direct blessings from God. But there are also indirect blessings from God - these are laws of God. We are blessed by following certain divine laws - divine institution number one whereby we function properly under freedom; laws for divine institution number two whereby right man and right woman get together; divine institution number three, which is family, and children grow up appreciating certain principles in life which our generation now does not appreciate; there is nationalism, divine institution number four where blessing comes from free enterprise in economy, from relaxed social life, from a strong military establishment, from a good internal police system and objectivity in law. This is all blessing indirect for both the believer and the unbeliever.

However, in this passage we are definitely dealing with the believer only and in verse 15 this is the believer being indirectly blessed through divine laws. So the will of God here is not defined in the usual spiritual concepts but it is defined by a present active participle, a)gaqopoiew. Poiew means to do and a)gaqoj means good, good of intrinsic value, inherent good, divine good. A)gaqopoiew is a present active participle and the present active participle always connotes linear aktionsart. Now what is the will of God for you as a citizen of your country? Well the principle of the present active participle and the meaning of the word means paying taxes, military service, voting, patriotism. It might mean serving on juries. Whatever it means it means that as you are related to your Lord and in your spiritual life you also recognise that your freedom, to worship the Lord without penalty, without the nation interfering, for example, is provided by divine law. These divine laws are operative in our nation and therefore the Word of God here and the will of God demands loyalty to such a nation that provides these things. And your loyalty is patriotism.

There is a reason for all of these things and it is related to the angelic conflict — “that ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” “Putting to silence” is a present active infinitive from fimow. Fimow really means to muzzle a dog. It doesn’t always mean just to quiet it. When you muzzle a dog he can still make noises but he can’t bite. So put to silence is not quite accurate, it really means to muzzle; it means these people can’t really bite. They have no basis for legitimate criticism of you as a slacker, as a traitor and coward, as one who is disassociated and disoriented from a bona fide national entity. Of course if you are a peacenik or a woman’s lib or some of these other idiocies then obviously people have right to bite you, in the sense of criticism. Ignorance is the key here — “put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” Foolish men are not males, they are people — male and female. People are ignorant of the gospel; they are ignorant of the grace of God; they are ignorant of the plan of God. And one of the ways that they are muzzled with regard to their antagonism to these things is by your own patriotism in fulfilling your national responsibilities. So actually this verse is saying in effect that fulfilling responsibility to your country is a part of your witness as an ambassador for Christ. It is a little stronger than that. “well-doing” indicates the recognition of authority which is going to come up in such phrases as “honour the king” and so on. A national entity, like everything in life, is based upon the principle of authority. There is nothing God’s laws, nothing in God’s plan, and really nothing in the structure of the universe that is free from authority. Authority provides freedom, not visa versa. When you destroy authority you destroy freedom. Most people think that anarchy is freedom; anarchy is not freedom. When authority of any kind is destroyed you destroy freedom and therefore the believer must always be on the side of authority. This is brought out in verse 16.

Verse 16 — “As free” is a nominative masculine plural of the noun e)leuqeroj, which really means a state of freedom. As a state of freedom it means the recognition of authority by which freedom is protected. You see, if there is only one person in the world there is no problem with authority because that freedom is free. But when you have people living close together by the thousands and the hundreds of thousands how can people living in a relatively congested area have freedom? How can you have freedom to drive down the street at the same time as everyone else? You have to have authority — traffic lights, speed limit, etc. Were it not for authority there would be chaos. In anarchy you have to have the strongest and the most violent to run right over everyone else. With authority you don’t have to resort to that. This is true in every facet of life. For example, no business is ever successful without having good authority. Even your physical health depends upon the principle of authority. The principle of authority is extremely important, but even more so because it is the basic concept for freedom of the believer priest in phase two under the function of the angelic conflict. So e)leuqeroj describes this principle. It is a state of freedom; it is a picture of the believer who is now free to function under grace. But grace has authority; grace has a number of authorities. Grace has the authority of doctrine; grace has the authority of the pastor-teacher. Even greater than that, grace has the authority of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And, therefore, the whole plan of grace makes it possible for the believers to be free to serve Jesus Christ as ambassadors, free to function under their priesthood. This freedom began at the point of salvation, at the point at which we received our priesthood, at the point at which we received our ambassadorship. We also come under the authority of the Word of God and we must come under the authority of some pastor who communicates Bible doctrine on an exegetical, categorical basis. But this freedom can also be abused, like any freedom. The abuse of freedom comes from rejecting the authority in that freedom. Go back to the traffic. If you reject the authority of the traffic signal and the other authorities that are set up to regulate traffic, and everyone else does, then you no longer have freedom to drive. It is chaos. And so we have to be very careful that in accepting and utilising and enjoying the freedoms that we have under God that we do not abuse them by destroying them. The destruction of these freedoms comes from the rejection of the authority which makes it possible for all of us to operate under these freedoms.

So we now have the phrase “not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness.” “Not using” is a present active participle of e)xw [to have] plus the negative — “Not having liberty as a cloak of maliciousness.” The word for “liberty” here has the same root but is a slightly different noun — e)leuqeria, which means freedom on the basis of authority — not restraint but authority. E)leuqeroj is the state of freedom and therefore e)leuqeria is the experience of freedom. The former is the principle and state of freedom, the latter is the recognition of the authority so that freedom is practiced.

Now we are not to use e)leuqeria as a cloak of maliciousness. What does that mean? The word cloak — e)pikalluma means not a cloak but a veil, something that really covers the face, the face representing the other side of the soul. Behind your face is your soul. The word for maliciousness, kakia, means evil. What is evil here? Evil is rejection of authority. Kakia here means failure as a believer to define the authority at any particular phase of our freedom and to reject it. That is why we are called at the end of this verse “the servants of God.” And as a part of our service we function under authority so that we function under our freedom so that the angelic conflict is perpetuated. This is amplified in verse 17.

Verse 17 — “Honour all.” This doesn’t mean all people. This means those who have certain types of authority. It doesn’t even say to love them. The word “honour” is an aorist active imperative of timaw, which means respect for authority. The aorist tense is dealing with a principle. It gathers up into one ball of wax every encounter you have with authority which provides freedom for you. The word “all” does not mean all people at all. That’s insanity. But it is defined by the context as the whole realm of human authority - parents, teachers, police officers, judges, civic government, military leaders, executives in business, pastors, and so on. “All” means all of those who have some form of authority that contributes to the protection of your freedom.

“Honour all” does not mean loving anyone or everyone, but as believers we are in God’s family and so we now have the word “love” as a present active imperative of a)gapaw. The present tense, linear aktionsart, active voice [you do it], imperative mood - this is a second command in contrast to the aorist active imperative of “respect the authority of all who are in authority.” “Love” refers to a mental attitude love which is only produced under conditions of the filling of the Spirit and which is defined as freedom from mental attitude sins. A)gapaw is a love strictly in the soul; it is a love whereby the right lobe is minus mental attitude sins because there is no emotional revolt and because no mental attitude sins are being cranked out of the OSN. Therefore this is the relaxed mental attitude of the believer’s soul under conditions of the filling of the Spirit, and on the negative side, no pride, no bitterness, no jealousy, no vindictiveness, no implacability, not hatred toward the object - “brotherhood” — a)delfothj, an unusual word which refers to the family of God. Actually we have here a relaxed mental attitude toward the family of God. This does not mean that you have to be friendly with every believer, that you have to be friendly to believers, that you have to gush over believers and say nice things to them, and so on. All this means is that whether you know other believers or not you have a relaxed mental attitude, you are totally free from any mental attitude sins toward that believer. You are not responsible to know every believer, to love every believer. The smarter you are, the smaller your circle of friends, the greater your discernment. You have a right to friends under category three love and this category three love does not include every believer. You will have those with whom you are very close, and that’s it. You are not required to run around and be friendly to a lot of people; you are required to have an RMA toward all believers.

“Fear God” — a present middle imperative from fobew, a verb of concentration and it not only connotes fear as translated but it also connotes occupation with, as not translated — occupation with God, concentration on God. The word “fear", by the way, also means to reverence. However, reverence is not too well understood by people, it is another word for concentration. The present tense means that this must be the continuous attitude of the believer; the middle voice is reflexive and indicates that the believer acts upon himself to obey this command, the imperative mood. Now how does he act upon himself to do it? He acts upon himself to do it by taking in doctrine because, in effect, this is a verb to describe love for God. And it is in contrast to a)gapaw because a)gapaw means an RMA, but having a relaxed mental attitude with God doesn’t cut it. You must have a category one occupation and your capacity for this comes from doctrine. So a more literal translation: “Have respect for the God.”

And then finally a word about the national entity. “Honour” — this time present active participle again — imperative — timaw, which means recognise the authority of the king. The king indicates the time in which the Bible was written. The king represented authority in a national entity and here is the authority of divine institution number four.

Verse 18 — “Servants” in the time of the Roman empire referred to those who worked as slaves or those who worked in some particular labouring type job. The word which is used here, o)ikethj, was originally used for domestic servants. Today it refers to any one who is working under a supervisor. Generally the term applies to those who are working under the category of labour.

“be subject” — the present middle participle of u(potassw indicates the principle. It is one of the strongest of all Greek verbs for authority. It means to be responsive to duly constituted authority, to be subordinate, to recognise the authority of whoever happens to be the boss on the job. Other passages of scripture indicate that this might be a good supervisor, fair, unfair, bad, all categories. But the responsibility of the believer is to recognise the authority of the person regardless of what kind of a person he is and recognition of authority with regard to the work on the job.

“masters” — despothj, refers to someone in a supervisory capacity. It is where we get the English word “despot.” It refers to management and it refers to capital and it’s a dative of advantage, one of those little points of exegesis and principles of syntax that indicates that capitalism is a bona fide system under free enterprise and recognised by the Word of God. Free enterprise is one of the divine laws of economy and the violation of this particular divine law has disastrous results — the rise of socialism which is a cosmic or satanic system. Everything related to socialism is anti-biblical and anti-divine law. One of the signs of national decadence is economic collapse because free enterprise. A maximum number of people being paid wages keeps these people in the area of law and order, but if you take away the jobs and you put them on socialism you destroy law and order. The only thing that keeps society in its structure is the system of capital and management in free enterprise. The law can’t do it; the law can only pick up X number of people who are lawless. The fact that a population receives a pay cheque is the only thing that keeps them on the side of law and order and in the structure of society. If you deprive them of that pay cheque for X number of months they are going to be lawless and desperate. This eventually leads to the disintegration of society.

So there has to be structure in the economy of the national entity and there are only two ways to get around what God has provided in divine laws. The first is a system of government takeover of industry and in all of history no government which takes over industry has ever succeeded in running industry. The very fact that they take it over indicates that they are mediocre and mediocrity never ran industry successfully and never will.

How do believers fit into the picture if they are on the labour end? They are to be come obedient to their despothj, to management.

“with all fear.” Very rarely is the believer commanded to fear in the sense of what is often construed as a mental attitude sin. One of our big problems in both the Hebrew and the Greek is the fact that we have words for “fear,” like foboj which is the noun here and the Hebrew word yare. These words are not only are used for the mental attitude sin of fear but they also have two other meanings. In additional to the mental attitude sin they have a concept of respect and occupation with. The word “fear” is often used as a word of concentration: love, occupation with. Sometimes the word is used in connection with respect. A boss or a manager is not commanded to be loved but have must have the respect of those in his organisation. That is, he must know what he is doing. Those who exercise authority must know what they are doing and this is why some people can never exercise authority, because they never know what they are doing and they slip into tyranny, to bullying; and they are very childish and it is just a matter of being spoiled and getting their way rather than actually functioning under the true principle of authority. The phrase “with all respect” means that authority carries responsibility. Like everything else in life business runs on the principle of authority without which industry would collapse. A person may not like their boss but they do not have to like their boss; it isn’t even required as a believer. But you must respect his authority. Bible doctrine causes us to understand the principle of authority and to operate under it. Your testimony is to do your job as efficiently as is possible.

There are two kinds of management. First of all there is “the good and gentle” and then there is the “froward.” Notice that you are to respond to the authority regardless of whether he is good and gentle or also froward.

“good” is a dative plural, a)gaqoj. This means good of intrinsic value and used in the case of management it actually means someone who knows how to handle management, the situation. He knows his job, he knows how to meet every particular problem, and so he is actually a good manager, a good boss. It is always easier to work for a good executive. This does not mean a sweet personality, it just means he knows what he is doing. In other words, “good” here means efficient.

“gentle” — e)pieikej, to be reasonable. It is always better to have a boss with excellent executive ability and who is reasonable. As long as he is reasonable he is an easy person to work for.

“froward” — skolioj, which means crooked, unfair, and surly. Here is means a person who is incompetent. You are going to have from time to time incompetent management. What do you do about it? Well there is a passage in Colossians 3:16, 17 — you still have to respect his authority and it is good training for you to be occasionally under someone who is unfair, incompetent and absolutely no good at all. It is a good chance to see if you recognise the principle of authority because the principle of authority still stands. Leave his incompetence in the hands of the Lord.

The rest of this chapter is devoted to suffering.

The doctrine of suffering

1. The general causes of suffering: a. Loss of health; b. The function of justice and law; c. Other people [Everything from gossip, persecution, ostracism, violence, etc.]; d. Privation [hunger, thirst, exposure]; e. Weather; f. Social [loneliness and boredom]; g. Mental [soulish, everything from mental attitude sins, to scar tissue and emotional revolt of the soul].

2. There are two general categories of suffering: suffering in time and suffering in eternity. Suffering in time involves both the believer and the unbeliever. Unbelievers suffer in time in violation of laws, divine and human, self-induced misery, soul problems, and so on. The believer also suffers in time in the same ways that the unbeliever can but in addition to that the believer suffers in some rather unique ways. Then we have suffering in eternity. For the believer there is no suffering in eternity — Revelation 21:4.

3. The premise of suffering [for believers only] — four concepts: a. All Christian suffering is designed for blessing in time — 1 Peter 1:7,8; 4:14; b. The exception is divine discipline — Hebrews 12:6; c. The exception is removed by the rebound technique — 1 Corinthians 11:31; d. Cursing is always turned to blessing through rebound — Romans 8:28 is the principle even if the suffering, greater or diminished, continues. The concept is that you can only be blessed by the suffering.

All suffering for the believer is on a grace basis. It is always a good idea in covering a passage which deals with suffering to pause to examine other concepts of suffering from other passages.

A review of the doctrine of suffering

1. Suffering is often caused by having the details of life but not having the capacity to enjoy the details of life. It is one thing to have details but it is something else to enjoy them. These details can be materialistic things; they can be people. You have to have capacity for these things or you can find yourself suffering under the most unusual circumstances. This what happened to Solomon during a period of being out of fellowship; this is the story of Ecclesiastes.

2. There is suffering from guilt reaction to sin and the suppression of this guilt reaction into the subconscious. This is a very serious problem. Any time you suppress guilt reaction it goes into the subconscious and it forms part of a principle of conflict. Your life is going to be made up of psychological adjustment versus spiritual adjustment to life. Psychological adjustment is not satisfactory in any way. The only permanent blessing and happiness comes from spiritual adjustment to life. So this particular point actually deals with trying to adjust to the problems of life through psychological devices. For example:

We have already seen that there are many reasons why believers suffer and it seems to be very

little consolation to most people even to suffer wrongfully. But this is the most difficult suffering to

endure because it is so unnecessary and suffering is so unpleasant. So at this particular point in our study

we are taking up the principle of undeserved suffering. This is grace suffering and that is exactly where

this verse starts in the Greek — “For this is thankworthy.”

The word “thankworthy” is the Greek word “grace” — xarij. “This is grace.” When we suffer undeservedly this is a grace principle. God has found a way to bless us in the most difficult adversities of life and it is grace when we suffer undeservedly.

Now the conscience is also brought in because of our norms and standards related to the problem of suffering. “if” is a first class condition; “if a man” is not a man at all, it is the Greek word tij and it should be translated “anyone” — any believer; “for conscience” is dia plus the accusative of suneidhsij and it should be translated “because of conscience.” The word sun in the noun is a preposition “with", and e)idhsij is taken from a perfect active infinitive e)idenai, the infinitive of o)ida, for knowledge in the right lobe. And it means to know with something; it means to have a norm or a standard.

a. There is rationalisation which is a technical psychological word as well as a common word in the English language. It means, psychologically, self-justification through some gymnastics in the mind. The mentality of the soul tries to justify or excuse anything contrary to one’s own norms and standards, or sometimes the norms and standards of a group, or even of society. Whenever you do do something which is contrary to your own conscience — the norms and standards in the right lobe — or you do something that is contrary to the norms and standards of others with whom you are acquainted or associated, or the norms and standards of society, this leads to a personal inner conflict and one of the attempts to solve this conflict is try to rationalise away what you have done.

b. A second way to adjust from the psychological device is called direct attack. It can be used to direct or coerce those in your sphere of life at some time. It is known academically as an anger adjustment to the problems and frustrations of life. It can be called a tantrum or burst of temper, getting your way by getting a little obnoxious. In other words, if you can’t get your way any other way, just simply “blow a gasket” until everyone gets back in line and you get your way and everyone is happy to accommodate you. It doesn’t always work. Sometimes you have someone who will straighten you out. Under this concept the individual has three goals in mind: first of all, to get attention; secondly, to control the people and the environment around him/her; thirdly, just to be spiteful and vengeful. Hence, to express implacability and vindictiveness.

c. The third adjustment to life is called defense mechanism. This mechanism protects the mentality of the soul or the human mind against things that are too strong for it to bear. Defense mechanisms can be a change of thought pattern or behaviour pattern and it is at this point that we can actually get into the fifth one — sublimation.

Defense mechanism also includes change of environment to solve problems.

d. Denial. This is an adjustment which ignores or attempts to ignore any difficulty or any danger. An example of denial would be the soldier who says, “There is only one bullet that has my name on it, all other bullets are

not dangerous.”

e. Sublimation — a very common system for trying to adjust to the difficulties of life. This is adjustment through finding a new outlet or drive for a frustration. There is a good sublimation whereby parents remove something dangerous from a young child and replace it with something harmless. But that is not the type of sublimation we are discussing here, the type which keeps one from “climbing the walls” by means of vodka and gin.

These are five systems of human viewpoint adjustment; these are psychological devices. Basically these psychological devices are often used to suppress those things which cause guilt reaction. Of course suppression into the subconscious is temporary and almost any kind of disaster will brings these things out into the open. So the issue we have at this point is spiritual versus human adjustment to life. There are several passages in the pastoral epistles that deal with this problem and deal with this type of suffering - suffering from guilt reaction.

I Timothy 1:5,6 — The word “end” [teloj] means the good aimed at. It often has the connotation of aiming at some good project. In this case the good project is called a commandment which is a noun, paraggelia, referring to the decree of phase two. God has provided everything that you will need in time from the moment you were saved until the moment you depart from this life. The word paraggelia is a technical word to cover God’s provision for you in time. This provision also includes any disaster or difficulty or need that you will have. This word actually eliminates the need for human adjustment or psychological devices to meet the problems of life.

“the end of the commandment is charity” — “is” is a present active indicative of e)imi to

indicate a dogma coming up, one dogma related to another to indicate a principle in life. The word “charity” is a)gaph love which is simply the relaxed mental attitude. You cannot have a)gaph love and have any mental attitude sin, including guilt reaction. This agape love is produced first by the filling of the Spirit, Romans 5:5, and also from the ECS — 1 John 2:5. And this type of love is simply freedom from mental attitude sins toward others. This love is said to come out from “a pure heart.” The word “pure” means rebound; the word “hear” refers to the dominant lobe with its frame of reference, memory centre, doctrine in the frame of reference, norms and standards, and viewpoint.

So the heart is the area where you have to face the problem of guilt reaction versus a relaxed mental attitude. The reason is because just off of this dominant lobe is a hatch which leads down into the subconscious where these things are often suppressed. A suppressed guilt reaction is a guilt reaction which has not been handled by grace provision. It is simply whitewashing until another day when the whitewash wears off. The “pure heart” indicates freedom from guilt reaction. “Good conscience” are the norms and standards. You have to have doctrine in the frame of reference. The good conscience is doctrinal standards replacing human viewpoint standards so that your viewpoint is divine.

“faith unfeigned” is the basis by which this is handled. Faith here refers to the whole realm of doctrine.

Unfeigned means without hypocrisy — a)nupokrithj. Krithj means to be an actor. “Without hypocrisy” means to have enough doctrine to be able to deal with guilt at any time that it occurs in the life. If the guilt reaction is suppressed into the subconscious it will remain there until some pressure brings it out. If during any given day you are under very difficult pressures that are totally unrelated the guilt reaction will come out into the conscious mind under those conditions but the real problem comes when you associate the problems with the sin that brought the guilt reaction. And by association with a disaster you are reminded of some “terrible” sin that you have been keeping down in the subconscious, and you say something like, God is punishing me for this [fill in the blanks]” .Now God is not punishing you for this sin so all this time you have had this as a suppressed guilt reaction. But when you have Bible doctrine, you have a good conscience [doctrine in the conscience], you have the heart pure [Bible doctrine comes into memory centre], then Bible doctrine deals with that guilt reaction and it goes forever. You just pick up and move on, never looking back. Sooner or later the guilt that you have suppressed will come out, some pressure will bring it out.

We do have suffering from hang-ups because this is taught in verse six.

Verse 6 — “From which some [believers with hang-ups] having swerved” .Having swerved is the aorist active participle of a)stoxew, which means to swerve away from something. In this case the believer, because he is negative toward doctrine, has swerved from doctrine. This is an aorist tense which refers to some point of time at which this occurs, or it can be a series of times when doctrine is available and rejected. The active voice: the believer does this from his own freewill.

“have turned aside” — not quite correct. The verb is e)ktrepw and it means to twist aside, it is a medical term for a dislocation of some limb. Actually here it is rejecting Bible doctrine, rejecting face to face teaching if you’re in a vicinity for it, and therefore it becomes the malfunction of GAP. The malfunction of GAP leads to the intrusion of psychological adjustment, human viewpoint adjustment to life, and as soon as you go in for human viewpoint adjustment for life you are in trouble and you bring suffering upon yourself. You must get back into spiritual adjustment — rebound, forgetting those things which are behind. The reason people cannot adjust spiritually is because they do not consistently take in doctrine. They didn’t “dislocate” their souls until they “swerved,” so swerving has to do with attitude toward doctrine and “having turned aside” is neglect of the daily intake of the Word of God.

As a result of that you wind up with “vain jangling,” a prepositional phrase — e)ij plus the accusative case. E)ij is a directional preposition and it indicates the direction in which you go. The noun in the accusative case is a very interesting one matailogoj. Matiothj is taken from this, i.e. the vacuum that opens up because of scar tissue of the soul. Matailogoj is the expression of that scar tissue.

Mataiothj, translated “vanity” in Ephesians 4 means a vacuum. Negative volition toward doctrine [they are free to reject it] builds scar tissue on the left bank of the soul. Scar tissue opens up the vacuum into which comes satanic viewpoint — cosmic doctrine, doctrine of demons — and it attacks the heart and triggers an emotional revolt of the soul. Once you are under emotional revolt of the soul, once you have in your right lobe Satan’s doctrines [you can’t be demon possessed but Satan’s ideas can be in your right lobe] and you express these things, the expression of mataiothj is matailogoj. Matailogoj is called “vain jangling” which is a beautiful way to translate it. Vain jangling is something that doesn’t make sense, and cosmic doctrine in your right lobe — satanic viewpoint — does not make sense. Matailogoj is psychological or human adjustment to life. And to the extent that you are involved in psychological or human adjustment your spiritual life is on the rocks because you seek a human solution when God has provided a divine solution. That is a cause of suffering.

Note 1 Timothy 1:19, 20 where we have a couple of illustrations. The word “holding” is having, literally — present active participle of e)xw in the present linear aktionsart means to keep on having.

“faith” — a concept of Bible doctrine in the sense of doctrine being transferred through GAP into your soul.

“and a good conscience” — Bible doctrine in the right lobe — “which some … having put away [having thrust away],” an aorist active participle of a)poqew, a very strong negative volition verb and here it means to push yourself away from Bible doctrine, to repel it.

“concerning the faith” is “concerning the body of doctrine” — “have made shipwreck,” to break a ship in pieces, nauagew. In other words, if a believer persists in this course of action for a long enough period of time it can result in the sin unto death.

“Of whom [concerning whom] is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme” — so this is extreme discipline. It is the same principle in 1 Timothy 3:9 but we will move to 1 Timothy 4:1,2. “Now the Spirit [Holy Spirit] speaketh expressly, that in the latter [subsequent] times some [believers] shall depart from the faith [from doctrine].” The word for “depart” means to desert, another verb fornegative volition toward doctrine — a)fihmi.

“giving heed to seducing spirits” — when you reject Bible doctrine you open up mataiothj and the word “giving heed” — prosexw means to apply the mind to something, to concentrate on it. So “they apply their mind to seducing spirits [demons] and the doctrines of demons.” A believer can walk around with his head full of the doctrines of demons — his norms and standards: doctrine of demons; his viewpoint: doctrine of demons. Not demon-possessed but demon influenced. Add to that the emotional revolt of the soul and you have the most miserable person in the world.

“Speaking lies in hypocrisy; and having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” The conscience seared means the actual scar tissue on the conscience that makes it impossible for the divine viewpoint. And this leads to very intense suffering.

Suffering from scar tissue on the soul — Ephesians 4:17-19.

Suffering from failure to isolate sin — Hebrews 12:15.

Suffering from the rejection of authority — Judges 19-21. The concept is emphasised at the end of the sermon on the mount and the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ — Matthew 7:29; 8:13. In chapter

8:5-13 we have the centurion who recognised the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore his servant was

healed. But in Matthew 7:29 we see the believer suffering from the rejection of the authority of the Lord and His Word. There is an excellent illustration in Jeremiah 7, especially verses 24-28, of the rejection of the authority of the Word of God — and the one who communicates it. God always teaches His Word through a communicator.

Suffering from rapid and accelerated construction of the edification complex of the soul [ECS]. It is possible to suffer to the extreme because of the desire for an ECS in a hurry. This is taught in principle in James 1:1-6. Suffering from interrelationship with those who suffer. Sometimes we suffer, not because we make our own suffering, but because someone else makes it for us — 1 Corinthians 12:26 gives us the principle. You have to relate that to Romans 14:7 where “no man liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself.” You can do something which causes others to suffer. This is illustrated in the life of David in two passages: 1 Samuel 21 and 1 Chronicles 21.

Suffering from the rejection of right man [or vice versa]. The concept is taught in Ezekiel 23 and Ezekiel

17.

Suffering from divine discipline — Hebrews 12:6 states the principle. The best illustration is the intense suffering which came to David as a part of divine discipline in Psalm 38.

Suffering from rejection of the Word, hence the rejection of the Lord as the right man — Jeremiah 13.

Suffering from the angelic conflict — 1 Peter 3:17; Ephesians 3:9-13.

Suffering to demonstrate the power and provision of God’s grace.

Suffering to learn the value of Bible doctrine — Psalm 119:67,68, 71.

Suffering from national disaster — Isaiah 59:15-21.

Suffering from the emotional revolt of the soul — Jeremiah 2:24,25. This emotional revolt of the soul shuts

down the norms and standards of the conscience.

Suffering from war.

Suffering from the short circuit of the soul in tragedy or disaster — John 20:11-18.

The doctrine of the conscience

1. The conscience is located in the right lobe or the heart in contrast to the left lobe which is a staging area in learning — Titus 1:15. The heart is the dominant lobe and is the authority of the soul.

2. The conscience establishes a norm for evil or wrongdoing — John 8:9. Everything that you ever learn from childhood on comes into your left lobe which is called the nouj or the mind. Everything that you learn will go into your frame of reference and then will be brought into your norms and standards, so that by the time you are an adult you will have acquired through your background, through your academic activity, through your association with others, norms and standards. They may or may not line up with divine norms and standards. These norms and standards are called conscience and one of the things that the conscience does for the human race is to define sin, to define evil and evildoing. Depending upon the background and the training every person has some concept of right and wrong. So the conscience, then, contains those standards by which you do know that you have done something wrong or you have done something right.

3. The conscience establishes norms for both human and divine relationships — Acts 24:16.

4. The conscience functions on human thinking, as per Romans 2:15. However, in the case of the believer it functions on divine thinking as the believer learns doctrine — Romans 9:1.

5. Conscience is the basis for patriotism — Romans 13:5.

6. False norms and standards in the conscience produce legalism — 1 Corinthians 8:7.

7. The law of liberty and superseding laws are also related to the conscience in 1 Corinthians 10:24-29.

8. There is a principle of happiness which is based on compliance with one’s conscience — 2 Corinthians 1:12. In other words, to be consistent with yourself provides a certain type of tranquillity happiness.

9. Doctrine must be communicated on the basis of conscience, 2 Corinthians 4:2, otherwise there will be intellectual dishonesty.

10. GAP builds up the divine viewpoint in the conscience so that the building of your conscience, which is a part of growth, comes from the daily function of GAP — 1 Timothy 1:5, 19; 3:9.

11. The conscience can be destroyed with false doctrine and it can also be destroyed with scar tissue — 1 Timothy 4:1,2.

12. Conscience establishes norms for serving God — 2 Timothy 1:3; Hebrews 9:14.

13. Conscience is the basis for enduring maltreatment and misunderstanding without defending self — 1 Peter 2:19; 3:16.

“conscience toward God” — this is knowing enough Bible doctrine to have a set of norms and standards which are divine viewpoint. [This is rare today because of the malfunction of GAP and because of negative volition toward doctrine.] In other words believers possess divine viewpoint norms and standards and these are based upon the daily intake of Bible doctrine.

Under these conditions it is possible to endure suffering undeservedly. The word “endure” is a present active indicative of u(poferw. U(po means under, ferw means to bear or to carry, and the word means to bear patiently, to bear up under mistreatment. The present active indicative indicates that the mistreatment occurs over a long enough time to be a test.

“grief” is the accusative plural noun luph, which means sorrow, grief, affliction. It is a word which indicates suffering.

“suffering” is a participle — pasxw. The present active participle means to suffer, to endure suffering or pressure. The adverb gives us the key, “wrongfully” — a)dikoj.

“A)dikoj”

1. The adverb actually means undeservedly.

2. This introduces the principle of undeserved suffering in the life of the believer. There will be a certain amount of suffering in your life which is undeserved, and this undeserved suffering can only exist when you are in fellowship.

3. All undeserved suffering is designed by God for the believer’s blessing. Deserved suffering is divine discipline — Hebrews 12:6; undeserved demands growth so that you have conscience, divine norms and standards.

4. Time is the only opportunity for God to demonstrate His love to us through suffering. This is because there will be no suffering in eternity — Revelation 21:4.

5. Therefore, the experience of undeserved suffering is a manifestation of God’s love, and it is a demonstration of His perfect grace.

6. In undeserved suffering God provides the most fantastic blessings in the midst of undeserved pressures and sufferings.

7. This concept has already been implied in verse 18 where people work for people who can be froward or surly.

8. Regardless of how cruel the master, the boss, or the executive may be the believer is to endure the suffering on the basis of his norms and standards, on the basis of divine provision, and still do his job as unto the Lord.

9. The result has maximum impact of grace, sometimes even on the unfair and surly one in authority.

Verse 20 — the principle of undeserved suffering.

We start out with a qualitative interrogative pronoun, poioj, which means, What kind of credit? or What kind of glory? The word “glory” isn’t really glory, it is credit — kleoj. (Glory is doca) So literally: “What kind of credit”; “if,” 1st class condition [if and it is true] — “ye be buffeted for your faults” .The word for “buffeted” is a present passive participle, kolafizw, which means to be beaten with the fist, to be hit with pressures; “for your faults” — errors. The present active participle of a(martanw means where you have failed, missed the mark. Kolafizw is in the passive voice and it means to receive the punches of pressure and suffering. Then the present active participle means you did something to earn it; a(martanw is really a participle. The difference in the active and passive voice gives us our meaning in interpretation. You actually did something and you suffered for it; you earned it.

“ye shall take it patiently” — means to simply endure it. That kind of suffering does not bring credit or blessing. In other words, the believer out of fellowship expects discipline and suffering and affliction, and it is no credit to him for taking his punishment. The credit comes from undeserved suffering. Deserved suffering is divine discipline. The only blessing in deserved suffering is to profit by it as taught in Hebrews 12.

“but” — conjunction of contrast. The contrast is between deserved and undeserved suffering. We have another 1st class condition — “if,” recognising the reality of undeserved suffering.

“when ye do well” — a)gaqopoiew, to do good of intrinsic value, to produce divine good. It means the believer is in fellowship, is functioning under the ministry of the Spirit, is functioning under Bible doctrine, he has an ECS on the way, and he is producing divine good.

“and suffer” — the present active participle; “and ye take it patiently.” Taking it patiently doesn’t mean to take it patiently really. It is u(pomenw. Menw means to abide; u(po means to stay under.

“this acceptable with God” is literally, “this is grace from the immediate source of God,” not “with God” .The preposition para denotes immediate source.

Translation: “For what kind of credit if, when sinning and being punished, you shall endure? but, if producing divine good and suffering, ye shall endure, this is grace from the immediate source of God.”

Principle

1. Only God can convert disciplinary suffering into blessing. This is accomplished in the grace way — rebound.

2. Only the grace of God can convert cursing into blessing.

3. All undeserved suffering is designed for direct blessing from God.

4. This leads to an additional principle from this verse: the plan of God is greater than any suffering or disaster or catastrophe or pressure of this life.

5. Under grace God provided all the blessing in eternity past.

6. Mercy is God’s grace manifest in time, grace in action, the provision of God being utilised in time.

7. This means the believer can stay under or endure any suffering in this life, but he cannot afford to stay out of fellowship, or get out of fellowship.

The transition into verse 21

1. Only the grace of God can convert cursing into blessing.

2. God can take disciplinary suffering and turn it into blessing by means of the rebound technique of 1 John 1:9.

3. All undeserved suffering is designed for direct blessing.

4. The plan of God is greater than any suffering, any disaster, any catastrophe or pressure in this life.

5. Under grace God provided for all blessing in eternity past — doctrine of divine decrees.

6. Mercy is the provision of grace being utilised in time — mercy is grace in action.

7. This means that the believer will face a certain amount of pressure and suffering and adversity but there will never be a pressure or suffering or adversity which is too great for the

provision of God — “My grace is sufficient for thee.”

Verse 21 — “hereunto” is a prepositional phrase, e)ij touto — “into this", literally. All believers were called into this grace — undeserved suffering for blessing. All suffering in the Christian life is designed for blessing.

“were ye called” — aorist passive indicative of kalew. Kalew refers to the plan of God. The aorist tense: eternity past when God provided everything for your life. He knew every bit of suffering and pressure you would ever have. The passive voice: you receive the plan of God in its provision. The indicative mood is the reality of the plan of God from eternity past based on His character. And in the plan of God all suffering is designed for blessing, including the suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross. And from this point on for the next couple of verses Jesus Christ in His suffering on the cross is the copyhead.

“Christ also suffered” — aorist active indicative of pasxw. The suffering of Christ refers to undeserved suffering. There are two phases to the undeserved suffering of Christ. The first three hours on the cross Jesus Christ suffered physically - and it was undeserved. He was a perfect person, yet He was condemned by two systems of law. The last three hours on the cross He suffered soulishly, bearing our sins. And that was undeserved. So there could not possibly be any greater copyhead with regard to undeserved suffering.

Now which of the two types of suffering are actually involved in this context? It is very simple. “Christ also suffered for us” — preposition u(per [substitutionary]. Christ died for us and this refers to His spiritual death on the cross. His spiritual death provides salvation. He didn’t die for us physically. “For us” means “on behalf of us.”

us” — a present active participle of u(polimpanw. U(po means behind; limpanw means to leave. It means to leave behind and it means to leave for posterity. And so Jesus Christ left something for posterity.

“an example” — u(pogrammoj. Grammoj means to write u(po means under. To write under. You have the copyhead and so you write it [write under it] - the student following the copyhead. Christ is the copyhead of suffering, as well as the saviour. So a copyhead is the top of the child’s exercise book for learning to write. It included all the letters of the alphabet and was used to teach writing. A child would look at the letter and duplicate it. And the sufferings of Christ become a copyhead for the believer. Why? Because it is well established that Christ did not deserve to suffer, and it is also well established that He suffered far beyond anything we could ever endure. And it is also quite clear that out of His suffering came blessing beyond description. So it becomes a perfect illustration of the principle of undeserved suffering.

“that ye should follow his steps.” The word for follow here is e)pakolouqew which means to follow, and you have a preposition with it — e)pi which means “after.” In other words this means to follow after or to copy or to imitate the copyhead. Obviously we are not talking about Christ dying for our sins in salvation. The point is the suffering for blessing — undeserved suffering. So we copy after His tracks. Jesus Christ had perfect inner happiness in the midst of the greatest pressures of life, and the Father has designed phase two so that we can have perfect inner happiness in the midst of undeserved suffering and pressures.

There are two sources of happiness as far as phase two is concerned: prosperity — doctrine gives you the capacity to enjoy prosperity; pressure - doctrine gives you the capacity for happiness in pressure. So doctrine works two ways for two sets of circumstances. God has provided for the believer in suffering. So the words should be translated: “so that we can copy or imitate his tracks.”

The pattern of suffering is given in verses 22-23.

Verse 22 — “Who did not sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.” “Who” is a relative pronoun referring to the incarnate person of Christ. Because Christ was impeccable all suffering and all maltreatment which came to Christ was totally undeserved. In the middle of undeserved suffering Christ possessed perfect inner happiness and He possessed great blessing based on doctrine. In fact only doctrine sustained the Lord Jesus during those awful three hours when He was bearing our sins. He was forsaken by God; He was forsaken by angels; He was forsaken by mankind; and doctrine sustained Him.

“did no sin” — aorist active indicative of poiew plus the negative; “who did not sin” — impeccability. Therefore He couldn’t deserve any suffering; He couldn’t be disciplined.

“neither was guile found in his mouth.” Guile means deceit — doloj — treachery. Neither was treachery found in his mouth. This emphasises the sins of the tongue which cause so much trouble.

Verse 23 — “Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again.” This is an illustration of how He did not sin with His tongue. This sets forth Christ as the copyhead of undeserved suffering. He was sustained by doctrine; He was sustained by the ministry of the Spirit in His humanity; and we as believers can also be sustained by doctrine and be filled with the Spirit in the midst of the pressures of life.

So notice first of all, non-retaliation when it came to being tempted to sin verbally. He was often reviled, loidorew — the present passive participle means He received a lot of static, a lot of abusive speech, a lot of criticism and maligning and slander. He did not turn against those with the same thing — “reviled not again,” a)nteloidorew - He did not return the abuse. He avoided sins of the tongue.

“when he suffered, he threatened not” — His mental restraint. The word for “threaten not,” a)peilew, means He did not have mental attitude sins. This means He did not follow the sins of jealousy, bitterness, implacability, pride, and so on.

“he committed himself to him that judgeth righteously” — the faith-rest technique. In other words, what He did was to take care of these things by putting them in the Lord’s hands for judgement. Judging righteously refers to God the Father.

The context of verse 24 is suffering. It begins with a relative pronoun, “Who.” It has as its antecedent the Lord Jesus Christ; “his own self” — an intensive personal pronoun referring to the uniqueness of the person of Christ and, at this point, to the uniqueness of His suffering, suffering which is described here as different from the suffering that anyone has ever gone through in the human race. Reason: Christ is bearing the sins of the world; no one else has ever done that.

“who his own self bear” — aorist active indicative of a)naferw. The aorist tense refers to the point of time or the cross; the active voice: Christ is the only saviour and Christ actually took our sins; the indicative mood is the reality of the cross. The preposition a)na means above or again. The verb ferw means to bear or to carry, and when you put the two words together it means to bear aloft, to sustain a burden, to lift up a burden, or to carry a burden. And Jesus Christ carried the burden of our sins. He not only carried our sins but He carried the burden of them which is judgement. The sins of the world were not only poured out upon Christ but He was judged for them. Ferw would indicate them being poured out upon Him; a)naferw means that He was not only bearing them but He was judged. So we have the judgement of Jesus Christ for our sins on the cross.

“our sins” is the accusative plural of a(martia. This refers to the sins of the entire world in principle as well as in actual practice. This gathers all types of sins up together in one packet regardless of the consequences of any personal sin, regardless of what is bad or what is worse. This is the doctrine of unlimited atonement — 2 Corinthians 5:14,15,19; 1 Timothy 2:6;4:10; Titus 2:11; Hebrews 2:9; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 2:2.

“in his own body” emphasises the humanity of Christ. Jesus Christ could not be judged for our sins as God. This goes back to the essence of deity. As God He is sovereignty; sovereignty is not subject to death. Philippians 2 says he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The sovereignty of God cannot obey death. He is righteousness, justice, love, eternal life. Eternal life cannot die. Jesus Christ had no beginning; He has no ending. There never was a time when He didn’t exist as God and, therefore, as God He cannot die on the cross. Omniscience, omnipotence [He does not have the ability to die], omnipresence [He can’t reduce Himself to one point to die]; He is imminent and transcendent. Immutability: He cannot change any of His characteristics and go on the cross. About half of the characteristics of the essence of God are involved. So He had to become true humanity apart from human sin. He could not die on the cross if He had a sin nature so the virgin birth guarantees that He does not have a sin nature. The virgin birth also separated Him from the first Adam, so therefore He did not have the imputation of Adam’s sin. He lived a life free from personal sin although He was tempted in all points like as we are. So under impeccability Jesus Christ had a body, a soul and a human spirit. He did not have an old sin nature; He did not commit an act of personal sin; and, therefore, the sins of the world were poured out upon His humanity. He had no sins of His own; they were poured out upon His humanity and judged. The sins of the world were attached to Jesus Christ and, therefore, the importance of the phrase “in His own body.”

“on the tree” — the location of this sin bearing. The Greek word for tree is zulon, which is “wood,” a reference to the cross.

“that” introduces a purpose clause; “we being dead” — aorist active participle of a)poginomai. A)po means from and gino means to become. Here it means to be away from or to be unconnected with. To be unconnected with means to die, to die to a thing by renouncing it. It is actually a reference to retroactive positional truth. And the whole point is that we being dead to sins means that at the point of the cross sin is not the issue. When we approach salvation through the gospel, in the gospel sin is never the issue. Sin is a part of the gospel in that our sins are poured out upon Christ and judged, but sin is not the issue and what you do about sin is not the issue. It is what Christ did about sin. The only issue in the gospel is Christ. That is why in the presentation of the gospel it says, Christ died for our sins - Christ is the subject. Why? Christ is the issue; Christ bore our sins.

“having become dead unto sins should live unto the righteousness.” “Should live” is an aorist active subjunctive of zaw. This indicates life in phase two. It gathers up into one ball of wax your whole life on this earth. And it is not “unto righteousness,” it is “unto the righteousness” and it is a dative of advantage. It is to the advantage of the believer to produce the righteousness of Christ through the filling of the Spirit, through the daily function of GAP, through the erection of the ECS — Galatians 4:19, “Christ be formed in you” .

Then we begin a quotation from Isaiah 53: “by whose stripes we are healed.” This quotation is merely documentation from the Old Testament that Christ went to the cross. First of all, “by whose” is a relative pronoun referring again to Jesus Christ. From this point to the end of the chapter we quote Isaiah 53:5-6.

The first problem we have with the quotation is the word “stripes.” In the English Bible “stripes” is plural; in the Greek it is singular — molopj, which means a mark or a blow, a bruise. It is documentation regarding the cross. When Christ was hanging on the cross He was one massive bruise; He was one molopj from head to foot. This in itself was undeserved suffering, the first phase of His undeserved suffering. Other people have gone through that type of physical brutality — they have been the recipients of it — but the unique undeserved suffering is when He bore our sins in His own body on the tree.

“ye were healed” — aorist passive indicative of i)aomai, which means to heal, to cure; it also means to restore from a state of condemnation. It means to restore someone from the consequences of sin and it refers here technically to the doctrine of reconciliation. It does not refer to physical healing. The Hebrew counterpart means to bring together: “by his bruise we are reconciled — we are drawn together — with God.” So there is no physical healing involved in the atonement.

The doctrine of reconciliation

1. Reconciliation is the removal of the barrier between God and man — Ephesians 2:16; Colossians 1:20,21; 2 Corinthians 5.

2. The barrier includes sin. Sin is removed from the barrier by unlimited atonement and by the doctrine of redemption - Galatians 3:13;1 Peter 1:18,19; Ephesians 1:7; Romans 3:24; Hebrews 9:15.

3. The penalty of sin is spiritual death. This penalty in the barrier was removed by expiation — Colossians 2:14; Psalm 22:1-6. The sins of the world are poured out upon Christ and judged.

4. A part of the barrier is the fact that we are born physically alive and at the same time spiritually dead. The problem of physical birth is solved by regeneration - John 3:1-18; 1 Peter 1:23; Titus 3:5.

5. Man’s human good and relative righteousness is also removed as a part of the barrier. As a result of the cross God imputes to every believer His own righteousness — Romans 3:22; Philippians 3:9; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 10:14. As a result of the imputation of God’s righteousness the believer is vindicated or justified — Romans 4:1-5; 5:1; Titus 3:7; Galatians 2:16.

6. God has perfect character and cannot associate with imperfection. The cross also resolves this problem through propitiation — Romans 3:22-26; 1 John 2:1-2.

7. The problem of position in Adam is replaced by position in Christ. This is made possible by the cross — 1 Corinthians 15:22; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 1:3-6.

This is what it means by “ye were healed.” Aorist tense: a point of time divorced from time and perpetuated forever. You were drawn together with God in a point of time - the cross; you will be reconciled a million years from now, just as at the point of salvation. The passive voice: you didn’t earn it or deserve it or work for it; the indicative mood is the reality of reconciliation.

Verse 25 quotes Isaiah 53:6. “Ye were” is the imperfect active indicative of e)imi — you kept on being. This is prior to the cross, from the point of birth to the point you were saved.

“sheep” here indicates sheep without a shepherd, sheep going astray. Present middle participle of planaw. Prior to the cross you had no shepherd.

“but are now returned.” What does it mean to be sheep going astray? No shepherd, no protection, victimised by everything, eating everything that is bad as well as good; “but are now” — after salvation. The word “now” means now that you are saved, the cross and after. The word for “returned” means to be converted or to be turned back from wandering — e)pistrefw.

“unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” The Shepherd refers to the Lord Jesus Christ saving you. Christ is said to be the good Shepherd in John 10:10,11; He is the great Shepherd in Hebrews 13:20; He is the chief Shepherd in 1 Peter 5:4. As the good Shepherd He is your saviour, He died for your sins; as the Great Shepherd He provides for you in phase two; as the chief Shepherd He provides for you in phase three. So the word “Shepherd” is used in all three phases of God’s plan.

He is also said to be the “Bishop,” the e)piskopoj. The word “bishop” means guardian or overseer. Remember the soul is saved at the point of salvation, not the body — Mark 8:36,37; Hebrews 10:39; Psalm 19:7; 49:8. The body is not saved, it is delivered through resurrection.

The doctrine of the soul

1. In category mankind the real person is located in the soul — Genesis 2:7. The human body is a temporary residence for the soul — 2 Corinthians 5:1-4.

2. The essence of the soul: it has self-consciousness — Acts 20:10, mentality, volition, emotion, conscience.

3. The soul has lungs for breathing - inhale and exhale. The left bank of the soul is inhale and exhale toward God; the right bank of the soul is inhale and exhale toward man.

4. The Bible distinguishes between the soul and the spirit — Hebrews 4:12. The original man had a body, soul and spirit; he was trichotomous — Genesis 2:7. The unbeliever is said to be dichotomous; he has a body and a soul — 1 Corinthians 2:14; Jude 19. But the believer is trichotomous — 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Conclusion: the spirit is received at the point of salvation.

5. Only the soul was made in the image of God — Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7.

6. Only the soul is saved at regeneration — Psalm 19:7; 34:22; Mark 8:36,37; Hebrews 10:39; 1 Peter 1:9.

7. Since the soul contains knowledge — Proverbs 19:2; it is subject to satanic attack — Matthew 10:28; Ephesians 4:17-19.

8. The soul is the battle ground for phase 2 — Psalm 143.

9. The soul is the area for worst sinning — like mental attitude sins, Job 21:25; Zechariah 11:8.

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

12. The soul is also the area for capacities in life. For example, the capacity for love — 1 Samuel 18:1; 1 Peter 1:22.

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