Chapter 11

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is a parenthesis designed to show that even before doctrine was in writing, and when there was only a partial canon of scripture, that doctrine was available and that people from the beginning of time have been able to reach the supergrace life by the constant intake of doctrine. They have not thrown away as trash the Word of God. They have not gone negative, they have as we have seen from u(pomenw and u(pomonh the cognate persisted and continued in taking in doctrine.

In this chapter we have a roster of Old Testament supergrace heroes. In verses 1-3 we have the importance of Bible doctrine; in verses 4-7 we have the roster of the Age of the Gentiles; in verses 8-22 we have the roster for the period of the patriarchs; in verses 23-38 we have the roster for the age of the law; and in verses 39 and 40 we have the difference between and Old Testament and a New Testament supergrace hero.

Now we have the importance of doctrine in verses 1-3. We begin now with the advance to the supergrace status. Bible doctrine is important in the advance to the supergrace status.

Verse 1 — the emphatic or intensive use of the conjunctive particle de is the first thing we have. It acts as a connection with the previous verse. It should be translated “In fact.” In other words, we move right on with the concept. In the previous verse we have “But we are not the retreating type of believers designed for the purpose of destruction; but the doctrinal type for the purpose of doctrinal possession of the soul. In fact ...” It goes right on.

Faith here, and in the next two verses and throughout this chapter generally refers to doctrine or what is believed, and it is used to indicate the function of GAP. The noun here is pistij. You have “In fact faith”, but it should be “In fact doctrine.” The word pistij has three different meanings in the Greek language. The first meaning: that which causes trust and faith. Therefore translated faithfulness, reliability, proof, and pledge. This is a very common word in the New Testament. It means that which causes trust and faith. The second meaning of this Greek word is faith in the active sense of believing, and it is always translated, then, “faith”, “trust”, and “confidence”. Then there is a third use of the word which is quite common and never correctly translated throughout the New Testament: that which is believed, the body of faith or belief, and therefore translated “doctrine”. Here in verse 1 we have “doctrine”. And all the way through we are going to see, for example: Verse 4 — “By doctrine Abel offered”; verse 5 — “By doctrine Enoch was translated”; verse 7 — “By doctrine Noah, being warned”. Noah wasn’t warned by faith, he was warned by doctrine. Faith doesn’t warn you, doctrine warns you.

“doctrine is” — the present active indicative of the verb e)imi. The present tense is a static present, it represents a condition as perpetually existing. The active voice: doctrine produces the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative for a dogmatic assertion. This phrase begins the study of the importance of doctrine in the sequence of the book. Faith is not defined in Hebrews 11:1-3, doctrine in relationship to chapter 10:39 is being defined. Hebrews 19:39 is amplified by chapter 11:1-3. Then comes the parenthesis for the battalion of witnesses in verses 4-40. Then the actual high ground in Hebrews 12:1-3.

Now what is doctrine here in the advance to the high ground? It says that doctrine is “the substance.” Incorrect. We have u(postasij, a predicate nominative. The word means reality, confidence, and assurance, as well as substance. But here it means reality. “In fact, doctrine is the reality.” There is no excuse ever for not being persistent in taking in the Word. It is available, and when it is available and you are positive there is no such thing as an excuse. “In fact, doctrine is the reality,” and what you are saying when you omit to take in doctrine on a consistent basis is that there is something more real to you than doctrine. When you say that — go back to Hebrews 10:35 — you are throwing away as trash, as worthless, your confidence in doctrine. Why? Because “In fact, doctrine is the reality.” It is our reality.

“of things hoped for” — the ablative plural of the present passive participle e)lpizw. This word means to have confidence but it is in the passive voice so it means to receive confidence. The ablative plural of source means we have to translate “from which.” The ablative case denotes the source of our confidence. The source of our confidence is Bible doctrine. The present tense is a customary present, it denotes that which habitually occurs. The passive voice: the believer receives confidence from doctrine. The participle is circumstantial. The circumstantial participle eliminates any excuse you have ever had, ever. We are without excuse.

So far we have: “In fact, doctrine is the reality from which we keep receiving confidence.” Doctrine is the source of our confidence: our confidence in the Lord, our confidence in His plan, our function in the plan.

The next noun says “the evidence” — e)legxoj, it means “proof” with a view toward convincing. It means proof or persuasion rather than correction. E)legxoj also has the connotation of correction in classical Greek, but now it simply means proof or persuasion. Doctrine is proof of evidence. What does it prove? It proves that Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father and is real to us. It proves that the Father has a plan, the plan of the Father is real. It proves that the Father has always existed, the essence of the Father becomes real. It proves that God then Holy Spirit is the source of our power, the power of the Spirit is real. All spiritual reality is bound up in Bible doctrine and nothing else.

“things” — the genitive plural of pragma, a descriptive genitive that means the noun should be translated “events” or “matters.”

“not seen” — wrong. We have the present passive participle of blepw plus the negative o)uk, and it should be translated “not being seen.” The present tense is a retroactive progressive present which denotes what was begun in the past and continues into the present. The passive voice: the subject, matters or events, receive the action of the verb. The participle is circumstantial.

The unseen world of the angelic conflict is only known through doctrine; the unseen members of the Trinity known through doctrine; the reality of divine viewpoint known only through doctrine. So there are many unseen things. We look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are unseen. The things which are seen are temporal but the things which are unseen are eternal.

“In fact, doctrine is the reality from which we keep receiving confidence, the proof of matters not being seen.”

Principles

1. The more doctrine we learn the more real becomes the unseen supergrace blessings designed from eternity past.

2. The more doctrine we learn the more real becomes the Lord Jesus Christ. “We see him who is invisible.”

3. The more doctrine we learn the more real becomes the plan of God and the perfect essence of God behind that plan.

Verse 2 — the explanatory use of the word gar follows. Since doctrine is all of these things gar sets up a sequence to explain how doctrine is related to people in the Old Testament. They did not have a completed canon of scripture and for 2000 years there was no scripture at all. So we have an explanation that doctrine was still available to them, there never has been a generation to which doctrine was not available.

“by it” — the preposition e)n plus the instrumental singular of the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj. The demonstrative pronoun always refers to something near at hand, something important in the context. Here it refers to doctrine. Literally, “For by means of it [doctrine].”

“the elders” — the nominative plural of presbuteroj. The word really means here “men of old” or “ancient people”. it is a reference to the supergrace heroes of the Old Testament times.

“obtained a good report” — the aorist passive indicative of marturew which means to witness. At least that is what it means in the active voice. In the passive voice it means to be witnesses, to be well spoken of, or to be approved. Since this is the passive voice it means here to be approved. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist which views the action of the verb in its entirety but emphasises the existing results. The action of the verb is constant function of GAP and following the colours, no matter what. The existing results mean taking the high ground or the attainment of the supergrace status. In other words, we have the continual function of GAP until the point of reaching the high ground. This is a culminative aorist which emphasises the results but looks back and sees the process by which they were obtained. The passive voice: the men of old received the action of the verb, they received divine approval through the daily function of GAP. The indicative mood is the historical reality of the fact that in olden times, long before there was a canon of scripture, people reached the high ground because they were positive, because they wanted doctrine, and God provided it.

Translation: “For by means of doctrine men of old gained approval.”

Principles

1. The gaining of divine approval is the entrance into the supergrace life. The men of old or the ancients were able to reach supergrace without doctrine in writing as we have it today. They had to have positive volition and they had to submit to a system of discipline, whether it was angelic creatures providing the information, prophets or, later on, Levitical priests. But until the time of Moses there was no written doctrine at all, it was always communicated by some person.

2. If the ancients could take the high ground of the supergrace life without having the amount of doctrine that we have in the royal family then there is no excuse for anyone of us failing to take the high ground.

3. Perseverance was always the key when doctrine was not available as it is now. The principle remained the same, and it is the persistence, the tenacity, of understanding the issue and sticking with it that counts.

Verse 3 — doctrine not only plays a great part in the life of any believer and is the means of reaching maturity or supergrace but doctrine is also the basis for understanding history. So we see the importance of Bible doctrine in orientation to history in this verse.

Again we have the phrase “through faith”. This time it is simply the instrumental of means from the noun pistij. And it means “by means of doctrine.”

“we understand” — the present active indicative of the verb noew. It means to perceive but it means perception based on the fact that you have already learned something. It means to build knowledge on knowledge, perception upon things you’ve already understood. The present tense is a retroactive progressive present, it denotes something begun in the past and continuing into the present. The active voice: the royal family produces the action of the verb by learning dispensational doctrine and other doctrines pertaining to the interpretation of history. The indicative mood is the reality of perception in this area. In other words, the believer must be oriented in two ways. Verse 2 says we must be oriented to our object which is to follow the colours until we reach the high ground of the supergrace life. The other objective is that while we are moving through life we are involved in the history of our time and therefore we must be able to understand history and God’s activity in history through Bible doctrine, so we orient to our own personal situation and we also orient to the circumstances of our life.

“that” is simply a translational device for indirect discourse; the word for “worlds” is an incorrect translation, it is the accusative plural of the noun a)iwn and it refers to ages. “By means of doctrine we learn that the ages.” The ages are the dispensations. This is a part of the accusative of general reference with the infinitive. And when you have a noun in the accusative case with the infinitive it really isn’t the subject but we call it the subject because it indicates the one who is producing the action of the infinitive. So we translate it, “By means of doctrine we learn that the dispensations were framed.”

“were framed” is the perfect passive infinitive of katartizw, and it means to put in order, to complete or to make complete, to prepare, to fit together, to arrange. Here it means to have been put together. The perfect tense is a dramatic perfect. That is the rhetorical application of the intensive perfect. That means it is even stronger than something that happens in the past with results that go on forever. The passive voice: dispensations or periods of history receive the action of the verb. The infinitive is not only the accusative of general reference but it indicates the divine purpose: God is going to control history. History will never get out of hand. God will allow the volition of angels and the volition of members of the human race to run their free course but you will never run your course to where you run out of history.

“by the word” — ordinarily we would expect logoj but here we have r(hma. R(hma means planning. It refers to the planning of God in eternity past. It means the decrees of God. Then we have the ablative of source, qeoj, and it should be translated “from the ultimate source of God.”

“so that” — the preposition e)ij plus the accusative of the definite article. It should be translated “with the result that.”

“things which are seen” — the present passive participle of blepw, literally “what is being seen”. The passive voice: the events of history receive the action of the verb. It is a circumstantial participle, and it is best translated “with the result that what is being seen.” What is being seen by us is history. We are enmeshed in the events of history, and while we are as they are occurring in our day we have another objective, we are advancing toward high ground. So we live in time of historical uncertainty and at the same time we are fulfilling our purpose for being here. Which means that God not only provides for us to advance but He also provides the very basis in history whereby this is possible. History caters to the royal family; God caters to the royal family historically. God provides historically for positive volition; God caters to positive volition. He not only caters to the individual but He caters to the whole national entity. In other words, Jesus Christ controls history. History is designed to glorify Jesus Christ. Positive volition toward doctrine on a persistent and consistent basis is the means by which this is accomplished. Therefore the events of history never get out of control so that some positive believer is kept from reaching higher ground. As goes positive volition with members of the royal family, so goes the nation.

“were not made” is incorrect. We have a perfect active infinitive of ginomai plus the negative mh. It should be translated “has not come to pass” — “what is being seen has not come to pass.” The intensive perfect again. Disaster is seen, disaster is a great potential on every hand, and yet there is something invisible holding everything together. In effect, this passage is saying historically the events of history are regulated by the positive volition of those who are members of the royal family of God. Your attitude toward Bible doctrine not only has personal and individual repercussions but it has phenomenal effects upon history. God honours positive volition toward doctrine. The individual positive volition of any member of the royal family of God can change the course of history.

“of things which do appear” — this is a prepositional phrase, e)k plus the ablative plural from the present passive participle fainw. Literally, “from those that are visible.” The present tense of the participle is aoristic present. It is for punctiliar action in present time, it refers to the people and leaders in your immediate periphery of history, and the leaders and the people and the establishments systems seem to be holding us up. But in reality you are holding them up. It is this great invisible power of positive volition toward the Word that is in reality the thing that makes the establishment go, and the establishment, then, is the visible overt part of it. The passive voice: the subject, the people in your range of observation, receive the action of the verb. They are the ones who are visible.

Translation: “By means of doctrine we learn that the dispensations have been put together by the decree from God, with the result that what is being seen in history has not come to pass from what is visible in history.”

Principles

The doctrine of dispensations proves that history is in the hands of God and that history never gets out of control. People get out of control, life gets out of control, circumstances of life get out of control, but never out of God’s control. Even though history occurs in the devil’s world the events of history are shaped by God. So you have to remember a principle of history: God had the good sense to know before hand everything that would ever occur in history. No historical event, no catastrophe of history, has ever caught God off-guard. He knew about that catastrophe in eternity past. God made provision, therefore, to control history without controlling human volition. So that free will is still the issue in the creation of man and in this stage of the angelic conflict. Therefore, our understanding and interpretation of history is based upon the knowledge of doctrine. Bible doctrine resident in the soul is the basis of correctly evaluating our own spiritual advance and our personal relationship to history.

The doctrine of the importance of doctrine

1. Bible doctrine is the content of the canon of scripture with emphasis on the communication of that content by teaching and instruction. Doctrine is the communication of Bible information on the basis of exegesis, classification, analysis, and interpretation of scripture. Since Bible doctrine is the mind of Christ it must be communicated by authorised personnel — prophets, Levitical priesthood, apostles, pastor-teachers.

2. In His dying breath the Lord Jesus Christ made doctrine the spiritual legacy of the royal family of God — Psalm 31:5, “Into your hands I deposit my spirit, for you have delivered me, O Jehovah, God of doctrine.” And that is the declaration of the deliverance. Jesus Christ was delivered by doctrine resident in His human soul. The greatest and most important moment in history was the cross. And what is unseen and what is invisible about the cross is the fact that Jesus Christ went to the cross because of doctrine in His human soul, and He endured the cross because of doctrine in His soul, and in His dying moment He passed on the legacy of doctrine to the entire royal family. That is how we follow the colours.

3. The legacy existed in Old Testament times — Psalm 138:2, “I myself will worship toward the temple of your holiness, and I will celebrate your person because of your grace and because of your doctrine; because you have magnified your doctrinal teaching over your reputation.”

4. Bible doctrine pre-existed the human race. Bible doctrine was with God in eternity past — Proverbs chapter eight.

5. Attitude toward Bible doctrine determines whether the believer is blessed or disciplined — Proverbs 8:33-36.

6. Therefore, doctrine is the basis for the distribution of supergrace blessings, but it must be doctrine resident in the soul through the daily function of GAP — Isaiah 53:12.

7. Bible doctrine is more real than empirical knowledge — 2 Peter 1:12-21.

8. The plan of God is both advanced and vindicated through Bible doctrine — Isaiah 53:10; Romans 3:4.

9. Lack of doctrine destroys a nation — Hosea 4:1-6.

10. The communicator of Bible doctrine authorised for the Church Age is the pastor-teacher — Ephesians 4:11-13; Colossians 1:25-29; Hebrews 13:7,17.

11. The communication of doctrine establishes the balance of residency in the soul of the believer. Bible doctrine is transferred from the written page of the Word to the soul of the believer under the function of GAP. The purpose of this transfer is to establish in the soul of the believer the balance of residency. As the badge of royalty we are indwelt by the Spirit. We are commanded to be filled with the Spirit, that is how God the Holy Spirit controls our soul.

12. Consequently the importance of consistency in the function of GAP — Hebrews 10:25, 35, 36.

a) The promise in Hebrews 10:36 has to do with your personal supergrace paragraph.

b) The promise refers to the blessing of supergrace promised in eternity past. Therefore the importance of the consistent function of GAP.

c) Consistency is the secret of growing up spiritually, therefore the secret of taking the higher ground of the supergrace life.

d) The believer must be challenged to GAP it daily no matter what.

e) Basic distractions include people on the outside who are pulling in another direction, or people on the inside who irritate, or mental attitude sins, or failure of rebound, or the desire for entertainment over the desire for doctrine. Colossians 2:6,7.

13. The results of doctrine resident in the soul.

a) It produces confidence for phase two, as per Hebrews 10:35; 2 Corinthians 5:6-8.

b) It causes the divine viewpoint ion the right lobe — Isaiah 55:7-9; 2 Corinthians 10:5

c) It orients the believer to the plan of God — Isaiah 26:3,4; Romans 8:28.

d) It produces stability of mind — James 1:8.

e) It is the basis for divine guidance and the execution of God’s will — Romans 12:2,3.

f) It leads to capacity for loving God and occupation with the person of Jesus Christ — Philippians 3:10; Ephesians 3:19; Hebrews 12:2,3.

Chapter 12:1,2

In the first three verses we have a three-paragraph field order. Paragraph one authorises the advance — verse 1; paragraph two is the objective of the advance — verse 2; paragraph three is the encouragement to advance, to follow the colours — verse 3.

Verse 1 — the authorisation for the advance. The first word is a triple compound inferential particle Toigaroun, and intensive inferential. It always relates to something that has been given in the context, and what is does is go back beyond the parenthetical chapter and goes to Hebrews 10:39. This compound particle recognises the parenthetical nature of Hebrews chapter eleven, and that is why we can carry out the sequence of doctrine by skipping for the moment verses four through forty. The compound particle, then, recognising the parenthesis picks up the thought again from Hebrews 10:39. The supergrace heroes of the Old Testament, portrayed in chapter eleven, are a source of encouragement to the royal family to advance, and they take the high ground in their day with very little support compared to what we have in the Word of God. In other words, many of the Old Testament saints did not have very much doctrinal exposure from the written Word. They were positive toward doctrine and they received their doctrine from other sources. In fact, there was no written Word at all until the time of Moses. The principle is that doctrine has always been available even before the canon of scripture. The supergrace heroes, being a source of encouragement to the royal family to advance, give us a reason. For this reason there must be a three-paragraph field order in keeping with that doctrinal concept. The order is to follow the colours and it is given in three paragraphs So we translate toigaroun “for that very reason therefore” — because we are not the retreating type, because we have not given up, because we have not backed off from doctrine, because we have not become indifferent to doctrinal teaching. Because we were positive toward Bible doctrine, because we were not designed to depart from this life under the sin unto death and maximum discipline, because God’s grace has designed us for tactical victory through supergrace, we are therefore commanded to advance.

“seeing we also” is simply the adjunctive use of the particle kai, and here it is correctly translated “also.” With this we have the personal pronoun — “we also”,

“are compassed about” is not a correct translation at all. There are actually two participles here. The first is the present active participle of e)xw which is a favourite of whoever wrote Hebrews. It means to have and to hold, and obviously this type of language is necessary when you advance to the high ground of the supergrace life. The present tense is a static present for a condition perpetually existing. We will always have the roster of Old Testament supergrace heroes in chapter eleven, verses four through forty. And because we will always have this roster and because we will always have this battalion of witnesses before us, therefore we can only join them on the high ground of supergrace. The active voice: the royal family is encompassed in the concept of “we”, the subject. The royal family has a roster of supergrace heroes and are therefore encouraged to follow the colours to the high ground. The participle is concessive. A concessive participle can be translated “since we keep having.” The present middle participle of perikeimai is the second one which is involved in this phrase. It means to be placed around, to be surrounded by in the sense of combat support. We again have the static present for a condition which perpetually exists, and the static present refers to the heroes of Hebrews 11:4-40, they form a battalion of permanent support and encouragement to us as we advance to take the high ground. The direct middle voice is one in which the agent, the royal family here, participates in the results of the action. In other words, the royal family is supported in their advance to the high ground by the past victories of Old Testament saints. The participle is circumstantial. So at this point we have, “For that reason, therefore, since we keep having surrounding us.”

“us” is the dative plural of an indirect object. The pronoun is e)gw. The indirect object indicates the ones for whom the action of the participle is performed and, again, we are talking about members of the royal family of God.

The words “so great” is a very strong qualitative demonstrative pronoun tosoutoj. This particular demonstrative emphasises some kind of a great quality. It can be translated “so great” or “such great”. “Such great seems to go better here. The accusative is the direct object of the first participle, e)xw, so we have to translate, “since we keep having such great.” And “such great” refers to the battalion of witnesses, the Old Testament supergrace heroes. The absence of the definite article emphasises the quality of the pronoun, and with this double emphasis on quality it demands some additional English words. Since it refers to the roster of supergrace heroes given in Hebrews 11:4-40 we will simply translate “since we keep having such great supergrace heroes.”

Then they are called “a cloud of witnesses”. This is the subject of the second participle. First of all, we have the word for cloud, nefoj. This word is in the nominative case to indicate it is the subject. We have with it a genitive plural, martuj, a descriptive genitive to tell us of what the cloud is composed. It is composed of martuj and this means supergrace heroes. They give testimony to the fact that it is possible to take the high ground even without a completed canon of scripture. So we have literally, “For this reason, therefore, since we keep on having such great supergrace heroes, a cloud of witnesses surrounding us.”

“let us lay aside” — the aorist middle participle of a)potiqhmi. The word is incorrectly translated, it is translated like a hortatory subjunctive which it isn’t. This participle has antecedent action to a hortatory subjunctive but it isn’t one. It should be translated simply, “having taken off” or “having stripped for action.” The aorist tense here is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It takes the concept of stripping for action and regardless of its extent or duration it gathers it up into a single whole. Stripping for action means constant, consistent, persistent, positive volition. So the constative aorist includes positive volition toward doctrine, assembling in the local church classroom in spite of anything that would keep it from happening. The middle voice is an indirect middle which emphasises the agent, the royal family, as producing the action of the verb rather than participating in its results. We have a circumstantial participle depicting the believer as either a runner stripping down to run a race or troops getting ready to go into action against the enemy.

The next phrase is “every weight”, and o)gkoj means burden or impediment. So in this case it means “having removed every impediment”. The impediment includes anything that keep us from concentrating on doctrine, anything that keeps us from consistently taking in doctrine. Impediments, therefore, can include anything from social distractions, anything that keeps someone from class, or in class anything that keeps one from concentrating.

“and the sin” — the accusative singular direct object of a(martia. This recognises specifically now that we cannot advance apart from rebound. The sin also has something to describe it. We have several other words. In our English Bibles we have “which doth so easily beset.” We have an adjective, e)uperistatoj, and it means “easily ensnaring” or “easily entangling.” It is a reference to whatever is current in your life by way of area of weakness. The area of weakness will change from time to time so there is no such thing as specifying a direct sin because everyone has different areas of weaknesses at different times. So it is simply “the easily ensnaring sin”, and this is removed by the rebound technique. So again there is an emphasis here on the rebound technique as a part of stripping for action for the advance.

The doctrine of the rebound technique

1. By definition rebound is a technical term for the believer’s restoration to fellowship. Carnality puts the believer out of fellowship and loss of the filling of the Spirit; rebound puts him back in fellowship.

2. The concept of rebound.

a) Rebound must be understood in the light of relationship with God. Jeremiah 3:13 teaches this principle.

b) Rebound must be correlated with positional truth by the royal family of God — Romans 8:1.

c) The frame of reference for rebound is the efficacious death of Christ on the cross, being judged for our sins. In other words, all we do in the actual function of the rebound technique is to name our sins. How we feel about them is totally inconsequential. 1 John 1:7; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24.

d) Rebound means restoration to fellowship with God plus the recovery of the filling of the Holy Spirit — Proverbs 1:23; Ephesians 5:14 cf. verse 18.

e) Eternal security is the prerequisite to understanding the rebound technique — Romans 8:38,39. The believer sins after salvation but such sin is carnality, not loss of salvation — 1 Corinthians 3:1-3; 1 John 1:8, 10.

3. The mechanics of the rebound technique. First of all, confess it — 1 John 1:9. Confess means to name or to cite; forget it — Philippians 3:13,14; isolate it — Hebrews 12:15.

4. There is an alternative to rebound. Both carnality and reversionism are the results of refusing or rejecting the rebound technique. Or it can be simply the result of failure to use it properly, because if you add anything to naming your sins privately to God the you are not forgiven. The alternative to rebound, then, becomes very important because the alternative is great discipline — 1 Corinthians 11:31. Self-judgement is the same as naming your sins.

5. The discouragement to rebound. Legalism is the discouragement to rebound — Luke 15:11-32; 2 Corinthians 2:5-11.

6. The Old Testament rebound commands are also to be found in abundance — Proverbs 28:13; Psalm 32:5; 38:18; 51:3,4.

7. There are biblical synonyms for rebound: Confess — 1 John 1:9; to judge self — 1 Corinthians 11:31; yield in the aorist tense — Romans 6:13; 12:1; lay aside every weight — Hebrews 12:1; be in subjection to the Father of lights — Hebrews 12:9; lift up the hands that hang down — Hebrews 12:12; make straight paths — Hebrews 12:13 (In Hebrews 12:1-15 the major subject is divine discipline and it is interesting to note that there are four different ways in which rebound is described in that passage); “arise from the dead” is literally, “stand up again out from deaths” — Ephesians 5:14; put off the old man — Ephesians 4:22; acknowledge thine iniquity — Jeremiah 3:13.

8. Helping others to rebound under grace has a series of grace principles.

a) The mechanics of grace in helping others to rebound — Galatians 6:1.

b) The mental attitude of grace in helping others to rebound — Matthew 18:23-35.

c) The application of grace orientation — Colossians 3:13.

d) The reward for helping other members of the royal family to rebound — James 5:19,20

Our passage says, “For this reason, therefore, since we also keep on having such great supergrace heroes, a cloud of witnesses surrounding us having removed every impediment and the easily ensnaring sin.”

Next we have “let us run” — the present active subjunctive of the verb trexw. Trexw is a different word from walking because it has to do here with advancing. We are advancing toward the high ground of supergrace. So this verb follows the analogy of advancing toward the enemy on the run which we simply call a charge today. The present tense is tendencial, it is used for an action which is commanded though not taking place at the moment. It represents the idea which is intended. The active voice: the royal family is commanded to participate in the action, and this is the hortatory subjunctive in which the writer orders the readers to join him in a course of action specified by the verb.

“with patience” is literally “with endurance” — dia plus the genitive of u(pomonh. U(pomonh means with patient expectation or with endurance. Endurance connotes the persistence of positive volition. It has the same connotation as “unbending” in Hebrews 10:23.

“the race” — this doesn’t necessarily mean race. A)gwn has two connotations. First connotation: a race in a stadium; second connotation: a conflict, a tactical situation.

“that is set before us” — the present middle participle prokeimai. it means to lie before to be present but it also means goal or objective, and so it should be translated “the objective before us.” So we have “let us advance with endurance in the conflict to the present objective.”

Translation: “For this reason therefore since we also keep on having such great supergrace examples a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, having removed every impediment and the easily ensnaring sin let us advance with endurance to the present objective.”

Verse 2 gives us the objective of the attack. “Looking unto Jesus” — the present active participle of a)foraw is best translated “look away.” The verb connotes concentration on the objective which is occupation with Christ and should be translated therefore “Be looking away.” The present tense is tendencial which means that the action is not taking place but is the objective. It is the objective once you get on the high ground of supergrace. The active voice: the royal family focuses attention on the objective, the objective being occupation with Christ. The participle is used as an imperative and that is why it is translated “Be looking away toward Jesus.” In other words after a glance at the supporting battalion, those who have already made it, move out and keep moving in the area of your objective.

“the author” — a)xhgoj does not mean someone who writes a book, it means a leader a ruler or a prince. The noun connotes a ruler or a prince on the basis of having begun something, to have begun a dynasty, to be the originator of a kingdom. Jesus Christ is our prince-ruler in the sense that he started the royal family of God on the cross, and from the cross to His session at the right hand of the Father. The definite article in the accusative is translated as a possessive pronoun, and it should be “our prince leader” or “our ruler.”

“and finisher” — the accusative singular of the noun teleiwthj and it means “perfecter.” The word means consummater or completer, the one who brings through to final attainment. So we have our prince-leader and the one who brings to attainment of supergrace.

“of our faith” is wrong. There is no pronoun “our.” The ablative singular from pistij connotes doctrine again as we saw in Hebrews 11:1-3. It should be “by the doctrine.” “Be looking away toward Jesus our ruler and the one who brings to attainment of supergrace by the doctrine.” That is the only way we will ever get to supergrace. This means doctrine in the soul. This emphasises both the means of attaining supergrace through doctrine resident in the soul as well as the objective of supergrace which is occupation with the person of Jesus Christ. When you put these two things together it means once you get to the high ground you have to hold it, and you hold it the same way you got there — by doctrine.

The relative pronoun “who” refers to the Lord Jesus Christ, and the words “for the joy” is incorrect. This is a classical Greek prepositional phrase and it is designed to just stand out and hit us — a)nti plus the ablative of xara is the make-up of the prepositional phrase. It should be translated “in exchange for the happiness.”

“that was set before him” — the present active participle of prokeimai but it is used as an adjective. It is what is called ascriptive. Prokeimai as an adjective means “present.” So it is “the present perfect happiness.”

The word “him” is a possessive dative singular intensive pronoun meaning “his present perfect happiness”. So, “Be looking away toward Jesus our prince leader and the one who brings to attainment of supergrace by the doctrine, who instead of [or in exchange for] his perfect always-present happiness.” In other words, to go to the cross Christ turned in His perfect happiness for maximum pressure and misery. Bearing our sins was the most excruciating thing that could ever happen to the perfect Son of God. In order to fulfil the Father’s plan for the incarnation He had to turn in His always-present happiness for the intensive agony of the cross.

What caused the Lord to exchange His perfect happiness for a horrible misery, and what motivated our Lord to become a sin bearer and to be our substitute? The answer is found in Bible doctrine resident in His human soul. He was willing to make that decision, He had the courage to make that decision, because He had maximum Bible doctrine resident in His soul. Doctrine motivated Jesus Christ to endure the cross. The resolving of the angelic conflict and man’s salvation through His own efficacious sacrifice indicated the saturation of doctrine in the soul. In other words, He had an objective and He didn’t want it. He had to turn in His always-present perfect happiness in order to meet that objective. We are the beneficiaries of the fact that He did. In other words, doctrine had the dynamics to carry Him to the fulfilment of the objective, and in that way He set the way for us to get doctrine in the soul, to fulfil the objective before us. So just as doctrine motivated the Lord to go to the cross so doctrine motivates the royal family to advance, following the colours to the high ground of the supergrace victory. Therefore the importance of doctrine resident in the soul.

Next we have “endured”, the aorist active indicative of u(pomenw which means “with endurance”. The aorist tense of this verb is constative, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety and it takes the occurrence of the cross, Christ being judged for our sins, and gathers it all up into one entirety. The entirety lasted some three hours, the most agonising three hours in history. It was so terrible that the temptation was there to leave, but He never did. Doctrine carried Him for three hours. He had enough spiritual resources of the soul to make it all the way.

The word “despise” is not a correct translation. It is the aorist active participle of katafonew which means to disregard. It means to treat with contempt, to treat with scorn. The dramatic aorist was used for a result which was accomplished — salvation. Jesus Christ produced the action of the verb. This is circumstantial. It also has simultaneous action with the main verb. He “endured the cross, disregarding the ignominy.”

“and is set down” — perfect active indicative of kaqizw which in the perfect tense is a dramatic perfect. In other words, he is seated in the past with results that go on for the entire Church Age. He splits the plunder of the victory with us, it is the basis of our supergrace blessing. Christ produces the action of the verb. The indicative mood is a dogmatic reality of the declarative — “at the right hand of the throne of God he has sat down.”

Translation: “Be looking away toward Jesus our prince leader and the one who brings us to the attainment of supergrace [by doctrine]; who instead of his always-present happiness endured the cross, having disregarded the ignominy [shame, disgrace], at the right hand of the throne of God he has sat down with the result that He remains seated in the highest place of honour.”

Verse 3 — we have an explanatory use of the particle gar which pulls together the principles involved in this passage. The first two verses demand a little more explanation before we get into the subject of the perspective of the high ground.

“For consider” — the aorist middle imperative from the verb a)valogizomai which means to think something over very carefully. Because we have an ingressive aorist here we begin to think as a result of what we have just learned. The ingressive aorist in which the action as signified by the aorist is contemplated at its beginning. In other words, this is entrance into the constative idea and when you enter into it it is called ingressive. So it is translated, “And let yourselves begin thinking about.” “Yourselves” comes from the permissive middle which represents the agent or the believer voluntarily yielding himself to the results of the action and securing the results of the action in his own interest. The imperative mood is an order. So we are commanded to begin thinking about, but this command can only be obeyed when we understand the principles in the first two verses of this passage.

“him” is the accusative singular of the definite article used as a demonstrative pronoun, and translated “such a one.” When the definite article is used as a demonstrative pronoun it gives it great emphasis. Reason for this: once you get on the high ground your perspective changes, you scale of values changes, your ideas of celebrityship change. And when it says “For let yourselves begin thinking about such a one” this means that Jesus Christ is the only celebrity and that being a supergrace hero you have an entirely different viewpoint of life, of celebrityship, of things around you, of what is really important.

“that endured” is the perfect active participle of u(pomenw. U(pomenw is characteristic of the advance to the high ground of the supergrace life. This advance is based upon consistency, persistence, gutting it out, enduring, and that means the continuation and perpetuation of positive volition. The perfect tense is an intensive perfect, it views the action as completed and emphasises the existing results. The results include the efficacious sacrifice of Christ, His saving work on the cross, and then His dying words in which He passed on the colours to each one of us so that we can follow the colours; so that as He persisted, we can persist; as He was positive, we can be positive; as He was consistent, we can be consistent. We also have the resurrection, ascension and session as a part of that strategical victory included here in the results. The active voice: Jesus Christ produced the action of the verb by enduring the cross and in enduring the opposition prior to the cross. This is a circumstantial participle and it now historical in its connotation.

“such contradiction” — the word “contradiction” is really “opposition.” The word “such” is a correlative demonstrative pronoun toioutoj. This takes us back to classical Greek. It means with great intensity. Such opposition was such intense opposition. The word for “opposition” is a)ntilogia. “For let yourselves begin thinking about such a one [Christ] having endured such opposition.”

“of sinners” in incorrect. We have u(po plus the ablative plural of a(martoloj. While u(po is usually a preposition of authority, when it is used with the ablative it expresses agency. So it should be “by the agency of sinners” or “by the sinners.” In other words, the Lord Jesus Christ endured the most unusual and intensive opposition that anyone ever endured in all of history. He was the greatest and yet He was treated as the lowest.

“against himself” indicates that the whole target for Satanic opposition during the incarnation was the Lord Jesus Christ. He intensified his activities to the utmost and because our Lord followed the colours, because He was consistent, because He was persistent, and because He gathered so much doctrine in His soul, He was able to wade through all of this opposition.

“lest” is the conjunction i(na plus the negative. it is a negative purpose clause. It means “in order that you be not.”

“wearied” — the aorist active subjunctive of the verb kamnw which means to be fatigued, to be worn out, or exhausted. It means to carry on and do your job even though you are completely and totally shot down. Which is what our Lord did. The pressure was phenomenal but He carried on anyway. The aorist tense is the ingressive aorist in which the action signified by the aorist is contemplated from its beginning. The active voice plus the negative is the purpose of the royal family in not producing the action of the verb. In other words, weariness, fatigue, despondency, discouragement are all included in the idea. The subjunctive mood plus the negative indicates prohibition.

Then we have the word “and faint.” There is no word “and” in our passage. “Becoming feeble” is the present passive participle of e)kluw. The present tense is the iterative present, it describes what recurs at successive intervals and therefore it is the present tense of repeated action. In the passive voice the believer receives — with negative volition he receives fainting of soul, he receives despondency, discouragement, loss of courage. The participle is known as a complementary participle, it is used to complement the idea of the action of the main verb, and the main verb is to become weary or fatigued.

“in your minds” is literally “in your souls.”

Translation: “For let yourselves begin thinking about such a person [Jesus Christ] having endured such opposition by the sinners against himself, in order that you do not become fatigued in your souls.”

Fainting in the soul is the function of the reactor factors in the first stage of reversionism. Reactor factors include such things as self-pity, guilt complex, jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, disillusion, disenchantment, boredom, loneliness or overcome by self-pity.

This particular verse now leads us into the new perspective of the high ground. There is a whole paragraph on the Word of God that connects with this idea of fainting and becoming feeble in the soul — Philippians 3:4,5. The more you press the attack the more the pressure on you, the more the enemy begins to look for your weakness, what makes you discouraged, despondent, bitter, jealous, what keeps you from the Word of God, etc.

The reason this passage is so apropos is that by human standards the apostle Paul as Saul of Tarsus was truly one of the great all-time celebrities in the area of celebrityship called Judaism. Therefore, when he speaks on this subject he can point out to us from his own life that there is something more important than being a celebrity in one’s field, and that in reality once you become a member of the royal family of God celebrityship belongs to Jesus Christ, and that when a believer is negative toward doctrine and neglects doctrine, in effect he tries to rob or steal from Jesus Christ His celebrityship. This is blasphemous and reversionistic and this will explain the disciplinary passage in Hebrews 12:4-15. None of us have the right as members of the royal family to ever try to steal honour or fame or celebrityship from the Lord Jesus Christ. The way we do this is to neglect the Word of God and by so doing to intrude upon the celebrityship of Christ by placing something over it, something becomes more important.

Philippians 3 verse 4 — Paul’s human celebrityship is the subject of this verse. We begin with a conjunction translated “Though.” The word is kaiper. Kai is one of the most common conjunctions in the Word of God; the particle per which goes with it is non-translatable, it is used to intensify a conjunction, it emphasises the meaning of a word to which it is affixed, and it should be translated here, “although.” It indicates that Paul has a greater basis for confidence in the flesh and that he is a true human celebrity. And Paul almost has to break up and laugh because the Judaisers have set themselves up as celebrities to the Philippians. The Philippians are a Gentile church, they are made up of mostly retired army personnel from the Roman army. Their whole background in Gentile, they do not have one clue as to what Judaism is all about. So when the Judaisers came to Philippi to attack the local church there they all thought maybe this was something that Paul hadn’t let them in on. In reality, these were Paul’s greatest critics, and one of their approaches was to say that Paul didn’t take you far enough.

“I might have” — the present active participle of e)xw plus the pronoun in the proleptic position, e)gw — “Even though I,” and then we have to add “I myself” because of the proleptic position of the pronoun. “Even though I myself might have.” E)xw in the present tense is a pictorial present, it presents to the mind events or a process in occurrence. The pictorial present brings up something very graphic, something that you can stand and say, “Isn’t that beautiful.” Paul is going to present Saul of Tarsus, an unbeliever, who reached the peak of self-righteous celebrityship, who reached the peak in the field of legalism and in the field of Judaism. Judaism was the frame of reference for his self-righteousness. Therefore he is going to say “Even though I myself might be having”, the descriptive or pictorial present. The active voice: Paul as the human celebrity in the field of Judaism produces the action of the verb. The participle is concessive in which Paul concedes his superiority over all other people in Judaism and in reality, in the sense of human standards and human celebrityship, he did qualify. So he mentions that now under the word “confident” — the accusative singular direct object of the noun pepoiqhsij. This word is built on the verb poiew and it means the ultimate in confidence.

“in the flesh” — prepositional phrase e)n plus the locative of sarc. Here the word “flesh” stands for human standards of celebrityship. “Even though I myself might be having confidence in human standards of celebrityship.” He said he might be; he isn’t, of course. The reason that he says this is found in the end of verse 3 — “and have no confidence in the flesh” — “have no confidence” is a perfect participle — “have no confidence in the flesh with the result that I will never have confidence in the flesh.” In other words, the apostle Paul from the high ground can look out and get a new perspective of life.

“If” is a conditional particle e)i, and plus the indicative mood it introduces a first class condition. Remember that a conditional clause is the statement of a supposition, the fulfilment of which is assumed to secure the realisation of the potential fact expressed in the companion clause. We call the supposition clause the protasis and the companion clause where we have the conditions for the supposition is called the apodosis. So we have a first class condition, if and it is true. “If any” — the enclitic indefinite pronoun means “anyone,” tij without an accent. Actually, it is “If anyone other.” The word for other is a)lloj, meaning another of the same category, therefore he is referring to Jews functioning in Judaism.

The word “thinketh” is presumptive thinking, subjective thinking, the present active indicative of the word dokew, subjective thinking or holding a subjective opinion. Therefore we translate it “presume.” All subjectivity involves arrogance. Objectivity involves humility or modesty. “If anyone of the same kind [category] presumes” — the customary present denotes what habitually occurs among the Judaisers, they always presume. The active voice: the Judaisers produce the action of the verb. The indicative mood is a declarative indicative to indicate a first class condition.

“he hath whereof he might trust” — the perfect active infinitive of peiqw which means to have confidence. The perfect tense is intensive, it indicates a completed action and emphasises the existing results as subjective arrogant over confidence. The active voice: the Judaisers produce the action of the verb. This is an infinitive of result. However, there are three different kinds of infinitive of result. There is the actual result, the intended result, the conceived result. Here we have the conceived result. “And not having confidence in the flesh, even though I myself might be having confidence in the flesh. If anyone of the same category [Judaisers] assumes to have confidence in the flesh, and they do.” Then he adds e)gw mallon — “I more.” That is an objective dogmatic statement, and it is the kind of a statement that makes everyone hate you. They say you’re arrogant and you’re proud, but it is interesting that the shoe is on the other foot. Arrogance belongs to the Judaisers and Paul is truly a very humble, modest person. He isn’t proud at all. He is speaking not from arrogance but from true achievement in the field of Judaism.

“I more”

1. Paul indicates objective confidence in his superiority in the field of Judaism.

2. Paul was established as the top celebrity in the field of self-righteousness of all time.

3. If salvation had been through legalism, if spirituality has been through legalism, if any achievement can come from legalism, then Paul is the achiever. Paul would be in heaven by his own works, would have been spiritual through his own ability in the field of self-righteousness. And Paul would have been the most saved person ever.

4. If salvation had been accomplished through Judaism Paul would have been saved as Saul of Tarsus and would have taught salvation by works to the Philippians. But he didn’t. When he came to Philippi what did he teach? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” — Acts 16:31. So obviously the Philippians had it historically in mind. Paul never taught anything like the Judaisers.

The false perspective of the old standards is give, beginning in verse 5.

Principles

1. Paul had the highest rating under Judaism. By every standard of Judaism Paul is tops, so he could truly say that he was a human celebrity by the standards of Judaism.

2. Under the legalism of Judaism Saul of Tarsus was a great celebrity and already had an impact on history as a human celebrity.

3. The Gentile believers of the early Church had been infiltrated and influenced by Judaism. Judaism was the antithesis of Hellenistic culture and quite attractive to Gentile believers.

4. Judaism appealed to Gentile believers as a new way of life antithetical to the Greek way of life. It appealed to them because it was self-righteous and therefore eliminated the amorality and immorality of Hellenism.

5. For this reason three groups in the early church were very susceptible to Judaistic legalism— the Galatians, the Corinthians, and the Philippians. The Galatians and Corinthians bought it, the Philippians were headed off at the pass.

6. These peoples were impressed by legalism because it was new, it was different, it was fascinating, and it seemed to go with salvation in the sense that it called for an entirely new way of life.

7. The categories of Judaism in which Paul up-classed all the Judaisers are listed in this paragraph, and in this paragraph, verses 5, 6, remember that these are the norms of Judaism, not the norms for any form of celebrityship among the people of our own country.

a) Ritual confidence — “circumcised the eighth day.” “Circumcised” is the dative of advantage from peritomh. The principle of circumcision with the Jews was the highest type of ritual confidence and it immediately indicated anyone who was circumcised on the eighth day was obviously in Israel. The ritual had been distorted into legalism and while Paul had been circumcised on the eighth day this gave him a tremendous celebrityship of race. Circumcision therefore has this connotation. The idea of being circumcised on the eighth day in Paul’s time was a racial superiority. Always, as long as there are old sin natures there will be racial problems but remember that circumcised on the eighth day reminds us of the fact that racial problems have nothing to do with the colour of one’s skin, nor of one’s background. What is actually said here by way of celebrityship is to be circumcised on the eighth day — even in Paul’s day racial purity had more or less disappeared, though not entirely — by the standards of Judaism was racial superiority. It should be remembered that racial problems have nothing to do with the colour of one’s skin. All racial problems come from the old sin nature — from mental attitude sins. Old sin nature problems exploit differences in features, differences in skin, differences in background.

The first point is a ritual problem which is related to a race. The race has its start with a ritual and the true meaning of this will come up later with Abraham. For the moment let us note that this is a ritual confidence related to a racial confidence.

b) Racial confidence — “of the stock of Israel,” e)k plus the ablative singular of genoj which means “from the race”. So we have “from the race of Israel.” Israel is the name given to Jacob when he reached supergrace status, it became both the racial and the national designation for the Jews who are the descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob. And of salvation can be claimed on the basis of physical birth then Paul would automatically be saved and therefore would not teach “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” However, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob demands a new birth. Paul therefore had not confidence in the flesh and he rejects confidence in birth or racial confidence. There is a slight overlap. The ritual of circumcision overlaps into the race of Israel, and this will again overlap into the nation. He will be from the tribe of Benjamin. So birth is the great issue at the start. And what kind of a birth you are or the source of your birth is of no consequence. All human standards are eliminated by the glorious high standards of God’s grace.

c) Family confidence, or national issue — “the tribe of Benjamin”. The tribe of Benjamin had four superiorities: 1. They were great military types, therefore they had military celebrityship. Out of all of the tribes of Israel Judah and Benjamin have true military celebrityship. 2. They had the first king over Israel, therefore they had royal celebrityship. The Judaisers came from a lot of the no account tribes, like Dan and Ephraim, or from Asher, the good-time boys that never amounted for anything. All Paul had to do with the Judaisers was to say, “I am Saul of Tarsus, born of the tribe of Benjamin”, and he shut them up because he is a celebrity and they are not. 3. They were loyal to the Davidic dynasty in the great revolution. Hence, they also had character celebrityship. The men of Benjamin are famous for being men of great character, character including loyalty and faithfulness to a principle or to persons.

4. They were a part of the southern kingdom and therefore they had stability or establishment celebrityship.

The tribe of Benjamin, next to Judah, is about as great as you can be — four types of celebrityship in their history. To be able to say I am from the tribe of Benjamin means immediately that by human standards great celebrityship is involved.

This says literally, “from the tribe of Benjamin. We have the ablative of fulh here, and if relationship with God had been based on family prominence or national prominence or family connections then Saul of Tarsus would have been saved at birth and Saul of Tarsus would have been recognised as one of the greatest people. But neither ancestry nor family determine salvation or celebrityship. And yet down through the ages of history ancestry has been used by the arrogant in order to establish themselves as superior to those in their periphery, whether it is a society, whether it is a city or a nation or a church or a social organisation, etc. This is the principle of superiority by caste.

Then we have a national confidence brought out in E(braioj e)c E(braiwn, “an Hebrew from the Hebrews.” This is really a cultural superiority. This refers not only to Jewish nationalism and patriotism but to conservatism in culture contrasted with the liberal Hellenistic culture which had infiltrated Israel. We have two kinds of Jews, the Hellenistic Jews who were liberal and the Orthodox Jews who were conservative. “Hebrew from the Hebrews is an Orthodox Jew. So Paul as Saul or Tarsus resisted liberalism in culture, he resisted liberalism in tradition. And if salvation had come from nationalism, patriotism, and conservatism, then Paul would have been saved; for Paul as Saul of Tarsus was one of the great men of his day. He was a dynamic person who had a great impact on history as a Judaiser himself because he was a “Hebrew from the Hebrews.”

“Circumcision on the eighth day, from the race of Israel, from the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew from the Hebrews.”

5. Religious confidence. This is where his self-righteous celebrityship comes in — “as touching the law” is kata plus the accusative singular of nomoj, and it should be translated “with reference to the law.”

“a Pharisee” — here is the great historical tradition of Israel from about the second century on. Pharisee means everything that is conservative, separatist, a patriot, one who is oriented to nationalism. The New Testament writers mention the Pharisees many times under the assumption that the readers knew all about the Pharisees. Today, of course, we do not. They emphasise not the general doctrines of the Pharisees but those that differed from our Lord and Christianity. Basically speaking, many of the doctrines of the Pharisees are ones with which you would heartily agree. The traditions of the Pharisees actually began with conservative theology in the days of Ezra, about 459 BC, and down to the second century they were believers who were quite strong in conservatism. In other words, the great conservative party in the history of Israel for 500 years came from believers in the time Ezra, right down to the time of John Hercanus over a period of about 250 years. But the conservatives, even though they came from believers and their background was doctrine, they departed from it, and that is the history of the Pharisees at the time of our Lord. They were still conservatives without the source, Bible doctrine. They had added their own traditions and they had substituted strong character and self-righteousness for the grace orientation principles. Around 134 to 104 BC the Pharisees became very powerful under John Hercanus who became virtually the ruler of the Jews. When John Hercanus saw that the Pharisees were trying to control the state he began to persecute them, but on his death bed he told his wife to stick with the Pharisees because they were the ones who had the best character. In his lifetime he had crucified over 800 Pharisees and he had ruled from 134 to 104, a period of thirty years. His wife took his advice and from that time the Pharisees dominated the Sanhedrin. However, the Pharisees had some stebacks under Antiper and under Herod who were Arabs and who ruled that area. They persecuted the Pharisees terribly but by the time that Herod died the Pharisees petitioned for Roman help and received it, and from then on the Pharisees really ruled the southern kingdom. In our Lord’s time the Pharisees, of course, opposed Him because over a period of nearly 400 years they had lost the source of their conservatism. The source is Bible doctrine.

Translation: “Circumcision on the eighth day, from the race of Israel, from the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew from the Hebrews; with reference to the law a Pharisee.”

Verse 6 — “Concerning zeal” should be “with reference to zeal.” It is kata plus the accusative of zhloj. The Judaisers were proud of the fact that they had a principle on which to stand, they were proud of the fact that they persecuted the apostle Paul as the apostle of grace. Now the apostle Paul goes back in his own life to the time when he was an unbeliever and says “With reference to zeal persecuting the church”, the present active participle of diwkw. The present tense is a historical present with linear aktionsart connotation. Saul of Tarsus as an unbeliever produced the action of the verb. The participle is circumstantial. “The church” refers to the royal family on earth, and if the standard or measurement is zeal Paul was superior to all people in Judaism, he was superior to his peers among the Judaisers. He persecuted and killed all kinds of Christians, the Judaisers did not. The Judaisers opposed Paul and they only persecuted grace types. The apostle Paul made no distinction between grace types, legalistic types, between those who were growing and those who were not. His persecution included killing, jailing, dispossessing, taking away the possessions and driving people out of the general area of Palestine. Therefore, as a person with zeal under Judaism Saul of Tarsus was greater in zeal, sincerity, conviction, than the Judaisers. They were inconsistent, he was consistent. So if zeal, conviction, and sincerity could save or make for celebrityship then the apostle Paul had arrived when he was an unbeliever. But since Paul has taken the high ground of the supergrace life he rejects salvation by zeal, salvation by sincerity, plus salvation by false conviction. In addition to that he has treated them in celebrityship by human standards but he now regards this as skubala, in verse 8, which is an accusative plural of skubalon. It means “dung”. The plural means an accumulation.

Now we come to the part which is the final stage as far as the Judaisers are concerned in the field of celebrityship — sanctimonious confidence, self-righteous confidence, “touching the righteousness which is in the law.” This is kata plus dikaiosunh and, again, it means “with reference to”; “with reference to self-righteousness which is in the law.” Now we have to insert a verb which was not even translated, the aorist active participle of ginomai — “having become.” This is a constative aorist which contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety, and the action of the verb in its entirety is keeping the law, in the same way in which the rich young ruler kept the law. It is a self-righteousness. The apostle Paul exceeded all other people in keeping the Mosaic law. As Saul of Tarsus he produced the action of this circumstantial participle.

“blameless” — while Paul was a very moral man as an unbeliever, extremely self-righteous, he was the worst sinner who ever lived, according to 1 Timothy 1:12-15. He was the epitome of self-righteousness, morality, and sanctimoniousness. So if salvation could come through keeping the law then the apostle Paul would have gone to Philippi and said to keep the law instead of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. But to the contrary he rejects this facet of celebrityship under legalism and says in reality that man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ — Galatians 5:16.

Translation: “With reference to zeal, persecuting the church; with reference to self-righteousness in the law, having become blameless.”

In these last two verses we have established a super celebrityship by human standards in the field of Judaism. This is the background for the two verses that form a principle which goes with Hebrews 11:1-3. In verses 7 and 8 we have the true perspective of the new standard of supergrace. This is the perspective from the high ground.

Verse 7 begins with the adversative conjunction a)lla which sets up a contrast between human celebrityship and being a supergrace hero, or contrasting confidence in false standards and confidence in God’s plan — “But.”

“what things” — the nominative neuter plural from the qualitative pronoun o(stij means “what category of things.” This is a reference to the standards of human celebrityship. And, again, we have a problem because Judaism is not a problem today in this country or in this part of the world. Therefore, while we must remember that while we do not have today the same concepts of celebrityship the principle of human celebrityship exists here as it existed in Paul’s day among Jews universally located throughout the Roman empire. This is a reference, by the way, to false standards and the erroneous perspective of the unbeliever or the reversionistic believer.

“were” — the perfect active indicative of the verb e)imi. The imperfect tense is a customary imperfect for what had regularly or ordinarily occurred in past time. The active voice: Saul of Tarsus produced the action of the verb in the field of legalistic human celebrityship. The declarative indicative indicates an absolute fact in past history.

In connection with that we have the first word that helps us, a key word, to understanding these next two verses, 7 and 8. It must be understood that the word “gain” translated in the singular is really in the plural. This is the predicate nominative plural of kerdoj. It is in the plural; it is translated as a singular. The singulars and the plurals are very important in this passage, they actually set up the contrast between divine perspective from the high ground and human perspective from the viewpoint of the unbeliever.

“What category of things were gains” — summary

1. The plural refers to the seven gains of Paul’s human celebrityship in Judaism.

2. These seven gains formed confidence in the flesh by standards of Judaism.

3. These are the things that the Judaisers used to say one person is a celebrity and another is not. These are human standards of celebrityship.

4. While we as members of the family of God no longer have standards of Judaism as the criterion for celebrityship there is some norm, some standard of the soul, which in human viewpoint holds our admiration to the point of establishing in our minds the concept of human celebrityship. All believers enter into the Christian life and start to grow and carry in their souls certain concepts from their unbelieving life or from any life they have had before doctrine. And they carry standards of celebrityship through admiration of certain categories.

5. Therefore, a sample of the possibilities in this field. In our society we have athletic celebrities, drama celebrities, musical celebrities, art celebrities, business celebrities, social life celebrities, professional celebrities, and so on. There is nothing wrong with greatness in any of these fields. The issue is that as you advance toward the high ground if there is ever a conflict between the celebrityship status and the celebrityship of Jesus Christ then you have to decide what your standards are. If you are taking in Bible doctrine it is no issue. If you are not taking in doctrine any celebrityship could turn you negative toward doctrine. That is why the apostle Paul is very strong on this particular concept.

6. Facing the fact that we are all human, have normal capacity for life, we all have norms and standards in the conscience of the soul where our admiration for someone attaches to them some system of human celebrityship.

7. There is a second problem: the idea of trying to attain human celebrityship. Believers often strive for these things, making them a lifetime obsession.

8. In our striving for them or in our association with those who have achieved human celebrityship we neglect Bible doctrine, and that neglect of doctrine is the issue in focus here. Nothing must keep us from consistency in the field of positive volition toward doctrine.

9. By taking the high ground of supergrace we avoid the celebrityship pitfalls. Therefore the principle of doctrine which emerges from the two verses is extremely important in our advance toward the supergrace life.

“But what category of things were gains [advantages]” — principles

1. Persistent positive volition toward Bible doctrine orients to the grace perspective. If you are consistent you may make mistakes along the way and you may fail in these areas but your persistence in being positive toward doctrine will eventually carry you to a point of maturity where this will no longer be a problem and you will no longer be involved in the push-pull of the celebrityship of Christ versus human standards of celebrityship. In other words, for the royal family there is true versus pseudo celebrityship.

2. Disorientation to grace is the first floor of the edification complex of the soul. It comes first in consolidated growth. It has to come first. Grace orientation includes understanding perspectives we are studying in these two verses.

3. Therefore we must come to recognise that when Christians have attained certain areas of celebrityship through grace that this is a part of their supergrace paragraph, supergrace blessings. And we must distinguish between pseudo celebrityship and supergrace blessing.

4. Therefore the standards of grace from doctrinal teaching and standards of human fame or gain are set up in contrast in the soul, and eventually the prevalence of doctrine will eliminate the human standards as being important. You will come to realise that if the Lord doesn’t provide it, it is not worth having.

5. Therefore, doctrine resident in the soul provides a new set of standards.

6. The seven standards of fame under Judaism have been eliminated by taking the high ground of supergrace.

7. Paul therefore has presented under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit diagraphical material necessary to make a point. This is not, however, the basis of his confidence or the basis of his supergrace fame or renown.

8. The divine viewpoint of supergrace has replaced the human viewpoint of pseudo celebrityship. Therefore Paul’s perspective is from the high ground. And Paul is not saying to you, if you have through God’s grace received something that it should be regarded as a pile of dung. Only that which is attained by human ability is in the perspective here.

“to me” — the dative singular of the personal pronoun e)gw. And Paul now indicates that this is a dative of disadvantage. It is to his disadvantage to put any confidence in human celebrityship.

“those” — the nominative plural of the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj. Demonstrative pronouns are very important because they always are used to specify something in context, now understood by us. So the word “those” in the plural refers to the human gains or advantages under Judaism as celebrityship. A better translation is “the same things.”

“I counted” — perfect middle indicative of e(geomai. Originally in the Classical Greek it meant to be a guide. To be a guide you had to know something. The idea is to be a guide, to have knowledge as a guide, to be an expert on a subject and therefore to be a guide. Here it means to conclude as an expert. The perfect tense is a dramatic perfect. The dramatic perfect is the rhetorical intensive perfect and therefore it emphasises the fact that whenever Paul speaks on the subject of legalism or Judaism he speaks as the world record holder. He is an expert. The middle voice: the subject acts with a view toward participating in the outcome of the action of the verb. The middle voice stresses the subject as the agent of the action. This is an indirect middle emphasising the subject or agent as producing the action. The indicative mood is declarative, a reality of the fact that the apostle Paul was the, and is the, expert. “I myself have concluded” is the best translation; “myself” is a reflexive pronoun which indicates the indirect middle; “I” is the subject; and “concluded” is the best translation.

“loss” — notice we had “gains”, plural; we have “loss,” accusative singular from zhmia. The word means “disadvantage” or “loss” and it is the singular. All of the seven gains are lumped up into one loss. Later on he is going to call them a pile of excrement, but right now he simply calls them “loss.” This is the high ground perspective. From the standard of Judaism these seven areas of celebrityship are gains, but from the standards of supergrace they are one loss or one disadvantage. On the high ground human celebrityship is replaced by the celebrityship of Christ. Principle: Once you become occupied with the person of Christ all human attainment becomes loss or disadvantage, and you lump them all together regardless of the different areas of human attainment. In other words, the supergrace hero has a new perspective as well as new blessings.

“for Christ” — dia plus the accusative of the definite article plus the word for “Christ.” So it is translated “because of the Christ.” Here is occupation with Christ as the first and foremost characteristic of the supergrace life and the basis of an entirely new set of values and a new perspective.

Translation: “But what category of things were gains to me, these same things I myself have concluded loss because of the Christ.”

Summary

1. This is the perspective of the high ground. That is, this is the attitude of the believer who is now occupied with the person of Christ.

2. This attitude is not acquired by renouncing or giving up any human recognition or human achievement. Doctrine must replace where replacement is necessary, and where doctrine doesn’t replace doctrine implements. That is the Christian way of life.

3. It is the attitude of those who follow the colours to the high ground of supergrace where all human achievement or fame is eliminated from the soul to be replaced by the celebrityship of Christ. Don’t give up anything that is energy of the flesh, just take in doctrine and allow the course of spiritual growth to replace or to implement.

4. If you have been promoted in some activity of life do not reject or renounce the promotion.

5. Follow the colours, GAP it to the high ground of supergrace. When you do there will be both replacement and implementation.

6. In giving you these blessings God is glorified.

7. In other words, you fulfil the principle of grace sharing the plunder of victory. You enjoy the benefits of your own tactical victory and maximum doctrine in the soul will provide the standards, the capacities, the perspective to enjoy to the utmost whatever God has and whatever God is providing for you personally.

Verse 8 — “Yea, doubtless, and” — a)lla men o)un ge kai. A)lla is an adversative conjunction. While the conjunction is adversative it also has an emphatic use, so here it means “In fact.” Since it is here both emphatic and confirmatory, and since it follows the affirmative particle men we can translate it “More emphatically.” Then there is a third particle, the inferential particle o)un — “therefore”. The fourth particle ge emphasises the word with which it is used, hence it becomes an enclitic particle appended to a word, and it refers to the word to which it is appended. Therefore it is translated “even” because it is appended to kai which is translated “also.” There is really no true translation in the English but this is as close as we can come: “More emphatically, therefore, even I also.”

“I count” — present middle indicative of e(geomai. The expert is speaking again. This is the aoristic present for punctiliar action in present time. The present time is Paul on the high ground of supergrace. The punctiliar is his conclusion based on doctrine resident in his soul. The middle voice is the permissive middle in which the agent, the supergrace believer Paul, is represented as voluntarily yielding himself to the results of the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative for a dogmatic statement.

“conclude all things” — the accusative neuter plural, paj. This is a part of the accusative of general reference. With it we have a definite article — “the all things.” There is not word “but” here in the original. We have a verb form, the present active infinitive of e)imi — “the all things [of human celebrityship] to be.”

“loss” — the accusative singular of direct object of zhmia again which means loss or disadvantage.

“for the excellency of the knowledge” — this is a prepositiona.l phrase, dia plus the accusative of the present active participle u(perexw used as an adjective. This is an ascriptive use of the participle and in the ascriptive use it means surpassing. With that we have a noun, gnwsij, and so we translate: “for the sake of the surpassing greatness of the knowledge.” Note what the surpassing greatness of the Christian way of life is: the knowledge” of doctrine — “of Christ Jesus my Lord.” There is occupation with Christ expressed.

“for whom” — dia plus the accusative of the relative pronoun o(j — “because of whom.”

“I have suffered the loss” — wrong! This is the aorist passive indicative of zhmiow which means in the passive voice to forfeit. You translate it like an active voice: “I have forfeited.” This is replacement, not give up. The culminative aorist views the event in its entirety, it regards the action of the verb from the viewpoint of existing results. In other words, what Paul is saying is “I have all these world’s records. I took in doctrine today, tomorrow, the next day, the next day. I persisted in taking in doctrine until I reached the high ground, and when I reached it at that point I had total replacement. Not one of those world’s records meant a thing tome anymore.” The passive voice: Paul received the action of the verb, “loss”, by following the colours to the high ground of supergrace, by persistence in the intake of doctrine. The indicative mood is again declarative for a dogmatic reality. “all things” — back on the plural of paj again. This is the accusative of direct object. “The all things” refers to the gains of human celebrityship, it refers to all of the apostle’s world’s records.

“and do count them” — the present middle indicative of e(geomai, “I keep on concluding them.”

“but dung” — the accusative plural direct object from skubalon. Remember that this is God the Holy Spirit directing the apostle. There is probably no better way of expressing the viewpoint of supergrace from the high ground than to see all energy of the flesh achievement as a pile of excrement. That is the true perspective.

The doctrine of dung

1. Human excrement, or dung, is used in the Word of God to illustrate or to portray certain principles of doctrine. From the standpoint of vocabulary alone there are numerous Hebrew words — five prominent ones and about five minor ones — for human excrement. There is at least one Greek word. Hebrew: ashpot. It is used euphemistically and it is used figuratively for any degrading situation or condition. It is also used for something that is as low or useless as anything can be — 1 Samuel 2:8; Psalm 113:7; Nehemiah 2:13; 3:14; 12:31. There is another word: gelel. It is simply another way of describing the human excrement concept — Job 20:7; 1 Kings 14:10; Ezekiel 4:12, 15; Zephaniah 1:17. There is a very closely related word, galel, and another which is considered one of the more vulgar words, domen. Then there is peresh which is literally translated “feces”. These words are all used in the Word of God in some context to teach a point of doctrine. They are not the only words.

2. Dung is used to describe the celebrity standards of legalism or pseudo celebrityship — Philippians 3:8.

3. Dung is used to describe the administration of the fifth cycle of discipline to a national entity. Dung is used for defeat in battle by which the military establishment is destroyed. The loss and destruction of the military destroys national freedom and function. The dead soldiers, therefore, become the basis of losing everything in a national entity. Jeremiah 9:22; 16:4 — the civilian population.

4. Dung is used to portray the judgement of the wicked. It is applied to the prosperous wicked or the prosperous believer in reversionism. There is a false prosperity provided by Satan for certain believers in reversionism — Job 20:4-7.

5. Dung was used to threaten and intimidate the Jews to surrender to the Assyrians — 2 Kings 18:27; Isaiah 36:12.

6. The interruption of the Jewish Age plus the fifth cycle of discipline to the southern kingdom is described in terms of dung in Malachi 2:3.

7. Dung is used to describe the fall of mighty ones under human celebrityship — Lamentations 4:5.

8. Dung is used to describe the uselessness of the reversionistic believer — Luke 14:34,35.

“that” — the conjunction i(na introducing a purpose clause; “I may win” — the aorist active subjunctive of the verb kerdainw which means to gain. The aorist is a culminative aorist, it views the action of the verb in its entirety but emphasises the existing results, that is, taking the high ground of supergrace, having a new perspective of life, occupation with the person of Christ, capacity for life and capacity to enjoy divine blessing. The active voice: Paul produces the action. The subjunctive mood is potential. While Paul has qualified the element of contingency exists for the readers down through the ages. And then to demonstrate that everything depends upon attitude toward doctrine, and not simply attitude toward doctrine in one day, but every day — “in order that I may gain Christ”, which means supergrace.

Translation: “More emphatically therefore, even I also myself conclude the all things of human celebrityship to be loss for the sake of the surpassing greatness of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: because of whom I have forfeited the all things of human celebrityship, and keep on concluding them piles of dung, in order that I may gain Christ.”

Hebrews 11:4

Verse 4 — we have a parenthesis now which goes through verse 40. In this parenthesis we have the roster of Old Testament supergrace believers, the supergrace heroes of the past. This is used as a basis of encouragement to the royal family. In verses 4-7 we have a roster from the Age of the Gentiles, a roster of antediluvian supergrace heroes. Three people have been selected who are representative of the antediluvian period of history. In verse 4 the first of these is supergrace hero, Abel.

The first phrase that must be clarified is the opening two words “By faith”. This is the instrumental of means, and the noun itself is pistij which has a number of possible translations. Here it means doctrine or what is believed. So a translation of the instrumental of means: “By means of doctrine.” The implication is doctrine resident in the soul.

“Abel” — the word is taken from Habel, and is brought into the Greek A((bel. The word in the Hebrew means vanity, nothingness, or vapour. The name assigned indicates disillusion on the part of the original parents. B the time that Abel was born they had discovered what they had left behind by way of perfect environment, and they had discovered some of the repercussions in history of the old sin nature, and they had come to a point of disillusion and discouragement. Therefore, they expressed their disillusion and discouragement by giving the second-born son the name of Abel. Abel was the first person in the human race to be both physically born and to be born again. His parents were born again but remember that they were created. His name is apropos to the principle of grace orientation, for it is Abel, the first person who was born and then born again, who was also the first person in that category to reach the supergrace life. And as he reached the supergrace status he did so in the same way that we do, by doctrine. However, our doctrine is in written form, his was in revealed form.

“offered” — the aorist active indicative of prosferw. The aorist tense of this verb is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It takes all of the ritual sacrifices of Abel, regardless of their extent or duration, and gathers them up into a single whole. In other words, the manifestation of the inner doctrine came out in the ritual of animal sacrifice, and the constative aorist gathers up into one entirety every sacrifice that Abel ever made portraying doctrine in the soul. This is the true meaning of ritual. Ritual must be comparable to something in the soul, it is an overt manifestation or an overt teaching of what someone actually has in the soul. Here we have a case, one of the first cases in history, of ritual. The animal sacrifices were a part of worship ritual and they were meaningful to Abel because Abel had doctrine in his soul to the maximum, he was a supergrace believer. Therefore the constative aorist gathers up into one entirety every time that Abel offered an animal sacrifice. It signified to him the entire plan of grace — everything from the cross to the glorious eternal future that comes to those who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The active voice: Abel actually produced the action of the verb through the continuous offering of pertinent animal sacrifices. The indicative mood was declarative for a dogmatic and unqualified assertion. Therefore when it says by means of doctrine resident in the soul Abel offered, it means two things. It means that he had a maximum amount of doctrine and it means that he had the privilege of expressing this doctrine through ritual and that this ritual was very meaningful and very important to him. Ritual was not a means of gaining the approbation of God, it was an expression on the part of one who had reached the high ground of supergrace.

“unto God” — a dative of indirect object from the noun qeoj. The dative of indirect object indicates the one in whose interest the offering is sacrificed. The offering is sacrificed in the interests of the Lord. We also have with this the definite article, “the God.” “By means of doctrine [resident in the soul] Abel had offered to the God.”

“a more excellent sacrifice” — there was not simply the matter of offering a sacrifice but it was the offering of a sacrifice which is meaningful. This indicates that certain types of gifts and sacrifices, bloodless gifts, were provided also by his brother Cain, but they had no meaning, there was no doctrine in Cain’s soul. Cain was an unbeliever, he had not received the Lord and not positive, therefore, toward any doctrinal revelation. So “more excellent”, then, indicates that there is a comparison here with someone else who was trying to contact God or worship God through ritual. “A more excellent” is the accusative singular direct object of a comparative adjective pleion, and as a comparative adjective it is correctly translated “more excellent” or, better yet, “greater.” It is the comparative of the adjective poluj, and the best translation today in modern English is “greater” — “a greater sacrifice.” And, again, we have a noun in the accusative case — qusia, indicating both food gifts as well as animal sacrifices.

The sacrifice of Abel was greater for two reasons. The first reason: Abel was a believer; Cain was not. it is impossible for anyone who is an unbeliever to enter into any ritual that will worship God. The ritual is meaningless, the person is not born again and does not have a relationship with God. All worship is predicated on the principle that you have made that all-important decision to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore Cain, who was not a believer, was eliminated from even being considered under the principle of ritual. The greater sacrifice therefore went to Abel who was a believer. Attitude toward Christ determines acceptability of worship Secondly, Abel was a growing believer who reached the supergrace status. He was constantly taking in doctrine as doctrine was available to him in that particular era of history. Abel was positive and responded to the doctrine. The whole key to this verse is that Abel who was no only a believer but a believer with doctrine resident in his soul.

“than Cain” — the preposition para plus an indeclinable noun Kain which means “than Cain.”

“by which” — the preposition dia plus the genitive of the relative pronoun o(j should be translated “through which.”

“he obtained witness” — the aorist passive indicative of marturew. The verb means not only to witness but in the passive voice it means to receive approval, to receive testimony of approval or deposition of approval. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist viewing the action of he verb in its entirety but regarding it from the viewpoint of existing results. As a result of constantly taking it in there was doctrine resident in the soul, and when we get to the point of accumulation of doctrine or supergrace we have a culminative aorist, a deposition to the fact that he was pleasing God. The indicative mood is declarative, it is a dogmatic statement of viewpoint. He really pleased God, not by the offerings but by the accumulation of doctrine in the soul leading to a meaningful ritual and a relationship with God in worship.

“that he was” — present active infinitive of e)imi, the verb to be. This is a static present representing the verbal idea of perpetually existing, he always had this status. The active voice: Able produces the action of the verb as a supergrace hero, namely his offerings included both ritual and reality. He demonstrated the fact that he was justified, vindicated by God, and he went on to the high ground of the supergrace life through Bible doctrine. And he had many blessings in life, but included in his blessings was the fact that here is a man whose worship was so fantastic that the dynamics of his worship became an issue in history. Here is a man who was so occupied with the Lord, who was so occupied with Christ through doctrine in the soul, that he stands as a monument in history for what worship really is. In the active voice here Abel produces the action of the verb as a supergrace hero.

“righteous” — the predicate nominative of dikaioj. There are a number of words for “righteous” and “righteousness”. This one refers here to his imputed righteousness or his justification at the point of salvation.

The doctrine of imputation

1. Under the concept of imputation Abraham is the pattern for the Word of God. Abraham received divine righteousness at the point of salvation — Genesis 15:6. Abraham believed in the Lord and it was credited to his account for righteousness. Imputation, therefore, recognises one of the problems of the old sin nature. We are all born on the debit side of the ledger. We are born with the sin nature which produces sins; we are born with human good which can produce only -R. Therefore, we have a problem. When Jesus Christ went to the cross He cancelled this debt — Colossians 2:14; He cancelled the IOU that was against us on the cross. That takes care of the problem of sin, but we also have the problem of relationship with God. God is +R, we are -R. Therefore, He credited to our account +R, the righteousness of God. This righteousness is received by each one of us at the point of salvation.

2. Divine righteousness is only imputed on the basis of faith in Christ — Romans 3:22.

3. Many Gentiles in the Old Testament times found God’s righteousness by believing in Christ, while many Jews who were hung up on the Mosaic law missed imputation — Romans 9:30-33.

4. The imputation is the basis for justification — Romans 4:22; 5:1.

5. Imputation encourages faith in Christ — Romans 4:24,25.

6. Imputation also becomes a motivator for the function of GAP — Philippians 3:8,9; Hebrews 11:4.

7. Imputation is based on the work of Christ on the cross — 2 Corinthians 5:21.

The doctrine of justification — the result of the imputation of righteousness.

Thirty-six things happened to us at the moment of salvation. Among those is the crediting to our account of God’s righteousness, and then God looks down from heaven and sees His own righteousness credited to out account. Therefore He says, “Vindicated,” and vindicated means justified.

1. Justification means vindication. The meaning is derived from a number of words in the Bible. These words are always translated “justify” or “justification” but they really mean vindication.

2. There are various categories of justification. For example, there is phase one justification — Christ taking our place and dying for our sins for our salvation. Phase two is the believer in time from the time of his salvation to the time he departs. Phase three is the believer in eternity. There is a vindication or justification for every part of the plan of God. Phase one justification occurs at the moment we believe in Christ — Romans 3:28; 5:1; Galatians 3:24. Phase one justification is based upon faith in Christ.

3. Phase one justification is based upon the principle of grace — Romans 3:24; Titus 3:7.

4. Therefore, phase one justification does not occur through the Mosaic law or keeping the Mosaic law — Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16; Romans 3:28.

5. The mechanics of phase one justification is the imputation of divine righteousness to the one believing in Christ — Genesis 15:6; Romans 3:33; 4:4,5, 11; 9:30-32.

6. The work of justification was accomplished by Jesus Christ on the cross — Romans 5:8,9.

7. Because the work of our justification was accomplished on the cross Christ was resurrected to relate justification to the strategic victory of the angelic conflict — Romans 4:25.

8. Phase two justification or vindication is the function or production of the supergrace life — Hebrews 11:4; James 2:21-25. In the book of Romans we have justification by faith; in the book of James we have justification by works. These are in perfect harmony, they refer to two different phases of the plan of God. Phase one: justification by faith. Phase two: justification by works. Abel performed a ritual time and time again. He had the ritual of animal sacrifices and in offering these sacrifices to God he was actually indicating the doctrine in his soul, the supergrace status, the great blessing from God. The supergrace life is God pouring out blessing to us. Phase two vindication is the function or production of the supergrace life.

9. The means of phase two justification or vindication is following the colours to the high ground, persistence in GAPing it daily, persistence in taking in the Word of God until a maximum amount of doctrine resides in the right lobe, the erection of the ECS — Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:35.

We have so far in verse 4 — “By means of doctrine [resident in the soul] Abel had offered to the God a greater sacrifice than Cain, through which offering he received confirmation that he kept on being righteous” — he kept on possessing +R, his supergrace status indicated that God had vindicated him at the point of salvation.

Now we have a new formation of words here set up in Classical Greek style to alert us to something that is very important. Next in the phrase we have a genitive absolute which includes a noun and a participle, both in the genitive case. The noun in the genitive case is the subject of the participle. The noun is the genitive case of qeoj plus the definite article — “the God.” God the Father is the author of the plan. As a member of the royal family of God, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ you are in the plan. You are left in this life for one reason only: so that God can demonstrate as a part of the angelic conflict that you can have blessing in your life. God’s desire is to bless you, God’s purpose is to bless you, God is here to provide blessing for you as a member of the family of God. And you can either accept that blessing in the way that He has provided, which is the only way, or you can stick around for discipline.

“testifying” — the present active participle of marturew means to make a deposition or to testify in a courtroom. It is also used here as a translation from Genesis 4:4 where the qal imperfect is shaah. Putting the two together it means something a little different, it actually means to approve. It means a testimony that approves, a deposition that approves. In genesis 4:4 we have literally, “But Abel, he also brought from the firstborn of his sheep and from their best parts. Therefore Jehovah approved of Abel and his offering.” The word “approved” is the qal imperfect of shaah. Now we have marturew used to translate that word. Therefore it should be translated “the God approving”. The present tense is an historical present which views the past event with the vividness of a present occurrence. It is like taking the fact that over 5000 years ago God the Father approved of Abel. He vindicated Abel at the point if believing in Christ. Not only did He vindicate or justify him but He provided for him Bible doctrine for his soul. Abel was consistent in taking in this doctrine, he followed the colours to the high ground of supergrace tactical victory. Once he was on the high ground he began to express his doctrine in the soul in terms of the ritual of animal sacrifice. Therefore the offerings pleased God because the reality of the ritual was in his soul, he had the doctrinal assets of his soul, he was a supergrace believer, and he was obviously blessed in many ways because in those days materialistic wealth was measured in terms of cattle. He said that he had sheep and he was constantly bringing sheep. He was offering them as sacrifices. Obviously, then, he had a great deal of materialistic wealth. He was blessed of God under supergrace conditions of the time, he was extremely wealthy. He was prosperous and had that perfect happiness that goes with supergrace, but above all he was occupied with the person of Christ, he had maximum capacity for category #1 love and he expressed his category #1 love in a repetition of animal sacrifices which were pleasing to God. So the active voice: God the Father produced the action of the verb — approval. The participle is circumstantial.

“of his gifts” — the preposition e)pi plus the locative plural of dwron, which means he brought repetitious sacrifices, he brought many animals and placed them on an altar and went through the apropos ritual.

“and by it” — the preposition dia plus the intensive pronoun a)utoj. A)utoj is used as a demonstrative pronoun, an intensive pronoun, a personal pronoun. Here it is an intensive pronoun to emphasise identity of someone in context. It should be translated, “and through the same.” It refers to the sacrifices and comparable doctrine resident in his soul.

“he being dead” — the aorist active participle of the verb a)poqnhskw. This word is used for death here because he died violently, he was the first murder victim in history. The aorist tense is a dramatic aorist here, it states a present reality with the certitude of a past event. Even though he was suddenly removed from this earth he had everything that life had to offer him over a long period of time before his departure through physical death. The active voice: Abel produces the action of the verb. Abel was murdered by his brother Cain but his testimony regarding doctrine in the soul kept going after his death and, as a matter of fact, he is a permanent monument to the grace of God and the importance of taking the high ground, the importance of positive volition toward doctrine. The active voice: Abel produced the action of the verb, he was murdered by his brother Cain but his testimony again regarding doctrine in the soul continues forever. In other words, Abel had something resident in his soul that continued long after his death. The temporal participle means “while having died.” This is also a concessive participle recognising his death without going into details.

“yet” — the adverb e)ti denotes a given situation in a positive statement and it is still continuing, so we translate it “still.”

“speaketh” — or “communicates,” the present active indicative of the verb lalew. He still speaks or communicates. The static present represents a condition which is perpetually existing, we will always have throughout all of history and forever the fact that Abel reached supergrace, and Abel is a monument to the fact that you can have ritual and have it meaningful of a basis of worship and a basis of expressing love provided there is comparable doctrine in the soul. And even though he was removed violently from this earth the doctrine resident in his soul was not removed, it is a permanent monument as to the importance of Bible doctrine. So we have a static present representing a condition which will perpetually exist. The active voice: the supergrace status of Abel meant maximum consistent doctrine resident in the soul. This maximum doctrine was the motivation for the numerous sacrifices and the ritual into which he entered. These sacrifices communicated the importance of Bible doctrine to the soul and the importance of following the colours to the high ground. The indicative mood is declarative representing the action of the verb from the viewpoint of reality and certainty.

Translation: “By means of doctrine [resident in the soul] Abel had offered to the God a greater sacrifice than Cain, through which offering he received confirmation [or approval] that he kept on being righteous [justified], the God approving his sacrifice; and through the same [sacrifices, with resident doctrine] while he had died he still speaks [communicates to us the importance of Bible doctrine].”

1. What does Abel communicate? This verse says that he has died but still communicates something, he is still speaking to us. What can Abel say to you and to me down through the corridors of history since his murder? What can the life and the death of a person who lived over 5000 years ago say to us?

2. First of all, Abel communicates the importance of Bible doctrine resident in the soul. Every believer must have positive assets of the soul, without which he has no life. You cannot survive or enjoy life, you cannot have happiness or blessing in life no matter what you are doing, without resident assets of soul.

3. Abel communicates the importance of following the colours to the high ground of the supergrace life. Once we accept Jesus Christ as saviour we are left behind with an objective — to reach the high ground of the supergrace life. The only possible way that we can reach this high ground is to be consistent in taking in doctrine.

4. Abel has been dead now for over 5000 years but his testimony or his deposition comes down through the corridors of time to remind the royal family of God of the importance of persistence, of understanding the objective and driving toward the objective, of closing in on the objective, of staying with it no matter what — persistence of positive volition toward doctrine and the importance of GAPing it to supergrace.

5. Doctrine in the soul glorifies God and perpetuates the dynamics of God’s plan.

6. Note the attitude of Abel’s peer, his brother Cain. Cain was jealous of Abel, Jude 11, but jealously did not hinder the deposition of Abel. In other words, Abel was not petty, he did not lower himself to become jealous in turn. He ignored the hatred, antagonism and the jealousy of his brother and moved right on with his objective.

7. Cain rejected Bible doctrine, John 8:44, but this did not distract Abel from positive volition toward doctrine.

8. Cain murdered Abel with his sacrificial knife, 1 John 3:12 in the Greek, but the death of Abel did not hinder the advance of doctrine or the importance of doctrine resident in the soul of the believer, it merely accentuated it and showed that no matter how you depart from this life dying grace still applies in every sense of the word. Therefore the tragedy is not the death of Abel but Cain as a murderer going through life in great misery and, as an unbeliever, doomed to eternity in the lake of fire.

9. Doctrine cannot be stopped by jealousy or by murder. In other words, nothing can stop Bible doctrine.

10. Here then is the testimony of one who was murdered. Next we are going to have the testimony of a supergrace hero who never did die.

Verse 5 — a second antediluvian supergrace hero. “By faith” — the instrumental singular of the noun pistij. This noun has several meanings. It is used for the substance of right doctrine appropriated, it is used for faith, it is used for conviction, and sometimes it is used for confidence. The fact that the word pistij has other meanings that faith is well substantiated by the best etymologists, including Arndt & Gingrich on page 669 — “This word means that which is believed, the body of faith or doctrine.” So it is doctrine that is the connotation here. Because it is the instrumental of means it is so translated — “By means of doctrine.” It is understood from the general context that this means Bible doctrine in the soul, the residence of Bible doctrine from the daily function of GAP.

“Enoch” — Enoch is the son of Jared and the father of Methuselah. Methuselah was a supergrace hero but is not mentioned in this passage. Genesis 5:18, 21 begin a commentary on Enoch. He is called the seventh generation from Adam, he is also by occupation or profession a prophet, he was a communicator of Bible doctrine. As a communicator of doctrine Enoch had first of all to assimilate doctrine through the function of GAP as it existed at that time in history. Whatever the form it was not written form but he concentrated on doctrine, learned it, and through his spiritual gift communicated it. Enoch was a supergrace believer of that period of history, one of three mentioned in our context.

“was translated” — the aorist passive indicative of the verb metatiqhmi which means to convey from one place to another. Meta means a change; the verb tiqhmi means to place something. So it means a change of place. In the passive voice it means to be transferred. The aorist tense is a constative aorist which contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety, the removal of Enoch from the earth apart from physical death is gathered up into an instantaneous entirety. (The story of Enoch is found in Genesis 5:22-24) Enoch’s supergrace paragraph included this principle. So we can add something now to supergrace blessings. One of the great supergrace blessings is dying grace, but in addition to that we have a supergrace blessing for some to depart from this earth apart from physical death. This will be the blessing of the Rapture generation, this was a blessing for Enoch. The indicative mood is declarative for a dogmatic statement of reality from history. This is an historical fact that Enoch departed from this life apart from physical death and that he was transferred from phase two to phase three without dying. The translation or the transferring of Enoch is a monument to the reality of supergrace blessings designed in eternity past for every believer. And Enoch pressed on to the high ground by following the colours, by GAPing it daily, and he had a wonderful period of time on the earth and when it was all over he just one day departed from this life without seeing physical death. So it should be translated, “By means of doctrine resident in the soul Enoch was transferred.” This is the transfer from earth to heaven without death. There is no particular reason for his transfer, he is not coming back. He is not one of the two witness involved in the Tribulation. Enoch is a Gentile so he is not involved in that operation.

The word “that” is a translation device for the infinitive, and the word “that” is not found in the original. It is a legitimate translation device when you want to change an infinitive into to a finite verb to smooth out the translation. So it goes with “that he should not see” which is the aorist active infinitive of o(raw plus the negative. The culminative aorist views the transfer in its entirety and emphasises the existing results. We have just had an aorist tense, a constative aorist, that takes up in a point of time the transfer from earth to heaven. The culminative aorist indicates that this was made without seeing physical death, so the culminative aorist emphasises the existing results — this man arrived in phase three without going through physical death. The active voice: Enoch produced the action of the verb by not seeing death. The infinitive is an infinitive of result. But actually, there are three types of infinitive of result. There is the actual result, the conceived result, and the intended result which is a combination of purpose and result. Here we have an actual result — “with the result that he should not see death.”

Death is described in its calmest terms — qanatoj, which means death in its academic sense. In the previous verse we had violent death — a)poqnhskw.

“and was not found” — the perfect passive indicative of the verb e(uriskw. They searched for him. This is called the imperfect tense of duration in which the writer implies that the process has been completed at a given point in the past. It is very similar to the pluperfect except that it does not deal with results. The passive voice: Enoch received the action of the verb, he couldn’t be found anywhere. The indicative mood is a declarative indicative for a dogmatic statement of reality. Remember that a transfer is different from physical death. In physical death the soul leaves the body and the body stays on the earth, but in a transfer such as we have with Enoch the body goes along and there is no body or sign of Enoch at all left on the earth. Obviously there was consternation from his own family when he was never seen again. But apparently from his own teaching he made it very clear that this was going to happen so they did understand, i.e. those who were positive toward doctrine. For those who were negative to doctrine no explanation would ever work. The same thing will be true at the Rapture. People think that the Rapture is going to stir up a lot of people because believers are going to disappear. In the first place there will be mighty few believers on the earth as we get down to that last great apostasy that precedes the Rapture. Therefore the few believers that are on earth and suddenly disappear are not going to stir up much. And there will immediately be a lot of Satanic propaganda to ignore the whole thing.

The supergrace paragraph has not only has +H, promotion, success, all of the various types of blessings in life, prosperity, etc., but it also has something about death. Under supergrace there is a special type of dying grace for those who die, in other cases there is no death involved at all — that was true of Enoch, that will be true of one generation at the end of the Church Age.

“because” — we have a very strong conjunction here, a compound conjunction, dioti, made up of dia and o(ti. It is a very strong “because”.

“God” — o( qeoj, “the God,” a reference to God the Father; “had translated” — the aorist active indicative of metatiqhmi again, means “transferred”. We have a culminative aorist which views the transfer in its entirety, it emphasises the existing results, he was not found any more on the earth. This was Enoch’s last supergrace blessing in time. His supergrace paragraph called for numerous blessings, terminating in transfer to heaven apart from physical death, and this verse concludes that dying grace is one of the supergrace blessings.

The doctrine of dying grace

1. By definition dying grace is the believer’s experience of physical death or dying under the provision of grace whereby the individual believer has blessing and happiness in death. His death has a minimum or no pain, maximum happiness, and the soul is stimulated to the maximum in its last moments in the physical body. Not all believers go out under dying grace. Believers in reversionism do not go out under dying grace, they go out under the sin unto death. It doesn’t change their status in heaven but it is God’s last opportunity to discipline them.

2. Dying grace removes the fear of death — Psalm 23:4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the deep darkness of death.” This is describing the manner of dying and dying grace. “I will not fear” — dying grace is such a marvellous doctrine that it eliminates the idea of fear connected with death. “I will not fear harm” — a miserable death — “for you are with me” — God is with every believer, and especially every supergrace believer, at the moment of his dying.

3. Dying grace, therefore, is a supergrace blessing — Hebrews 11:5; Psalm 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his godly ones [supergrace believers].” A supergrace believer gets the best possible send-off into heaven.

4. Description of dying grace — Job 5:21-17. The believer cannot die until the Lord is ready to take him home. Instruments of death cannot kill the believer until God’s plan calls for the believer to die.

“By means of doctrine resident in the soul Enoch was transferred with the result that he should not see death; and he was not found because the God had transferred him.”

“him” refers to Enoch, it is an intensive pronoun and the intensive pronoun emphasises identity. It can be translated “him” or “the same one.”

Now we have another sentence in this verse. It begins with the explanatory use of the particle gar, a little explanation is necessary.

“for before his translation [transfer]” — pro plus the ablative of metaqesij, translated “for before his transfer [to heaven].”

“he had this testimony” — the perfect passive indicative of the verb marturew. The perfect tense is dramatic, it is the rhetorical use of the intensive perfect and therefore it has great emphasis on existing results. In the passive voice this particular verb means to be witnessed, to be well spoken of, to be approved. Because of the dramatic perfect plus the passive voice it should be translated, “he had obtained the testimony in the past with the result that the deposition stood.” This is the result end of the dramatic perfect. The indicative mood is a historical reality. And what is the deposition that stands even to this moment?

“he pleased” — the perfect active infinitive of e)uarestew, and it means to please — “that he had pleased”; “God” or “the God.” The perfect tense is an intensive perfect again, emphasising the fact that he kept pressing until he reached the high ground. Enoch produced the action of the verb by persistent positive volition. He was one of the most persistent people in all of history. The infinitive represents actual result. “God” is in the indirect object of the dative case. Under the dative of indirect object it indicates that the one in whose interest the act of reaching the high ground is performed. God is glorified by anyone reaching high ground and God was glorified by Enoch reaching the high ground.

Translation: “By means of doctrine resident in the soul Enoch was transferred with the result that he should not see physical death; and he was not found because the God had transferred him: for before his transfer to heaven he had obtained the testimony in the past with the result that the deposition stood, that he had pleased God.”

Pleasing God is a matter of entering the supergrace life. Entering the supergrace life means consistent, persistent positive volition toward doctrine, never for a moment letting up on the intake of doctrine, pressing the attack constantly under all circumstances of life, making it a way of life to take in doctrine today, tomorrow, the next day and the next. This means reaching the high ground of the supergrace life.

The implications of all of this are given in verse 6.

The word pistij has three different meanings in the scripture. It means faith, and that is the most common meaning. It also means conviction but it also means doctrine.

Verse 6 — the connective particle de is used simply to carry on a transition and to show that after taking up two of the antediluvian supergrace heroes a principle of doctrine comes out of the fact that one died violently and one didn’t die at all, and therefore their departure from this life was as antithetical as departures could be. But with both of them somehow their lives are related to death and both of them had a very dynamic departure from this life as a part of their supergrace paragraph. Even though one was violently murdered he suffered no pain or no problem. His murderer, of course, suffered extensively for a long period of time on the earth. The second one didn’t die at all but they both had something very definitely in common. The particle de should be translated not “but” but “and”.

Next we have xwrij as an improper preposition plus the genitive singular of pistij which means doctrine — later on we will see that other connotations of the word exist. “And without doctrine”, and it always means here what is believed or doctrine resident in the soul.

“impossible” — the accusative singular adjective adunatoj, which demands some kind of a verb to smooth it out in the English, and without doctrine resident in the soul it is impossible. However, “impossible” is an accusative of general reference with the infinitive. That means we have something special coming up. While not properly the subject of the infinitive the accusative of general reference describes the person or the concept connected with the action of the verb, and therefore it is translated as the subject of the infinitive. The infinitive is to “please,” the aorist active infinitive of e)uarestew which means to please as indicated in the translation. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it gathers up into one entirety the action of the verb. Pleasing God is consistent and persistent positive volition toward doctrine resulting in following the colours to the high ground. So it has to be gathered up into one concept: every positive decision to take in doctrine regardless of distractions. Regardless of mental attitude sins, regardless of traps of any kind, regardless of any factor in life, here is the issue. The constative aorist gathers up everything it takes to please God, and everything it takes to please God is simple positive volition toward the Word of God on a daily basis. Pleasing God, again, is persistent and consistent positive volition toward doctrine resulting in following the colours to the high ground of supergrace victory. The active voice: the subject, the royal family of God, produces the action of the verb but never apart from Bible doctrine. The infinitive is an infinitive of intended result. An intended result is when the result is indicated as fulfilling a deliberate aim, it is a blending of purpose and result. It should be translated, “And without doctrine resident in the soul it is impossible to please God.”

The first question we should ask ourselves is: Who am I trying to please in this life? If you have placed anyone ahead of God in this category then this principle is lost to you, you are the salt that has lost its savour, you have lost the preservative ability and the influence of your life and the purpose for being here. Inevitably you have to come to the place, often through discipline, of through many tragedies and heartaches, where God is going to be pleased. You are here as His guest, you are a member of the royal family of God, you have a home in the holy of holies, a home in heaven, forever; and you have been left here to take the objective, to take the high ground and to hold it. The Christian way of life isn’t complicated and it isn’t filled with a lot of gimmicks. None of us can please God without doctrine in the soul and none of us have ever received doctrine in the soul without submitting to academic discipline.

Now the explanatory use of the particle gar indicates why there is only one way to please God in this life. Without doctrine in the soul it is impossible to please God” — “for he that cometh” is wrong. We have the present active participle of proserxomai. The word means to approach, to occupy one’s self with, and that is the meaning here — “for when one is occupied with the God”. The present tense is the customary present for what habitually occurs or may be expected to occur once you get positive and stick to your guns. A lot of people are distracted for one reason or another and if there is a conflict between a Bible class and some person, the person wins; a Bible class and entertainment, the entertainment wins, etc. The present tense means you must be customarily occupied with “the God.” The active voice: the royal family of God produces the action of the verb through positive volition toward doctrine. The participle is a temporal participle.

“to God” — an instrument of association from qeoj plus the definite article, indication to some extent who and what God is, so “the God” makes it very strong as to who and what He is. This emphasises the reality of essence, the reality of the members of the Godhead. It should be translated “with the God.”

“must believe” is also wrong. We have two verbs, the first is an impersonal type verb dei, the present active indicative of dew, is used in the Koine Greek and in the papyri for the compulsion of duty. It indicates the fact that no matter where you go in life you are going to face the issue of authority and discipline, for duty is a combination of authority and discipline. If you don’t face it in one area you are going to face it in another, and if you can’t face it you are going to wash out as far as life is concerned. So we have the impersonal verb of compulsion of duty. It also has to do with inner necessity. Here we have inner necessity growing out of a given situation. So it is translated “must.” But it means more than must, it means compulsion of duty, it means necessity growing out of a given situation. Given situation: you are born again, you are a member of the royal family of God, your life now has meaning and purpose and definition, the Word of God has defined your objectives and your definition in life. Therefore, you must comply with these things. The second verb is an aorist active infinitive of pisteuw. Pisteuow means to believe but it also has other meanings. It means to give credence, to be convinced of something so that you become dogmatic about it. It means the presence of dogmatic reality in your soul. It means the presence of the unlimited divine operating assets of doctrine. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it gathers into one entirety the concept of the verb — “he must be convinced.” He must be convinced by resident doctrine. The issue: first of all you expose yourself to a little doctrine and it becomes resident. That doctrine must convince you of the importance of going on with doctrine. Then you get a little more doctrine by going on with doctrine. Then the accumulation of doctrine in your frame of reference means that you are convinced from doctrine in your soul that you must go on with doctrine. And then you get some more doctrine in your frame of reference and then you must be convinced. Then you get tests in the form of people, in the form of things, entertainment, mental attitude reactor factors. So whatever it is that tests you the frame of reference, Bible doctrine in your soul, says one thing: you must press on, you must follow the colours. You must be convinced by resident doctrine. That means that when you are making your decisions they had better be made on the doctrine you now have in your soul, for every advance in doctrine is based upon a decision today, tomorrow, the next day and the next.

“that he is” — present active indicative of e)imi. This is absolute status quo and has to do with the essence of God and the fact that God exists in tree persons. The present tense is a static present. God always exists, there will never be a time when He doesn’t exist. God always exists in perfect character, there never will be a time when God is unfair. So we have the principle that He exists and always will and always has — the static present. The active voice: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit produce the action of the verb. The indicative mood represents the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality, therefore a declarative indicative of unqualified assertion and dogmatic reality.

The we have a second “he is” which is not he is at all. It is ginomai which means to become, the present middle indicative. Not only is “He is” but He becomes something under certain circumstances. So we have “that he is and he becomes.” This “become” is very important. The middle voice is the intensive or dynamic middle which emphasises the part taken by the subject, the subject being God. The form of the indirect middle stresses the agent as producing the action of the verb, so we translate it, “and that he himself becomes.” No we have a static present to go with the static present of e)imi. Here is one of those conditions like we have in John chapter one. We have e)imi, to be, and we have ginomai, to become. These are both state of being verbs. One is an absolute state of being and the other is a relative state of being. So God is and He becomes. He always is in essence, He always is in person — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit being involved here — but God the Father, for example, becomes something under certain conditions of interest to us. Therefore, the intensive middle, the static present, and the declarative indicative, unqualified assertion of dogmatic reality — “and that he himself becomes.”

“a rewarder” — the predicate nominative of ginomai, misqapodothj and it means, just as translated “a rewarder” — “and that he himself becomes a rewarder.” What is the reward? God always is, and that is a fact, and doctrine tells us that. The reality of the existence of God is the simplest forms of doctrine, but the fact that God is a rewarder, now that is possible or not possible. That can be a yes or a no, depending upon your attitude toward doctrine. Doctrine which makes God a reality is also the basis for divine blessing in your life. What does this add up to? It adds up to the fact that while God always exists, and while there exists in God’s plan a supergrace paragraph with your name on it you may or may not get it, that is why we have ginomai. He becomes a rewarder. God is not a rewarder, He becomes one. He becomes one on the basis of the first five verses that we have already studied in this chapter — by doctrine resident in the soul. With doctrine resident in the soul we become aware of Him from the standpoint of His essence, from the standpoint of His person, from the standpoint of His plan. We become aware of the invisible — “we see him who is invisible.” “We do not look at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal” Therefore the phrase, “them that diligently seek” is the key to defining this is relationship to doctrine. This is a dative of indirect object of the definite article. The dative of indirect object indicates the one in whose interest the supergrace blessings are rewarded or distributed.

With this we have a dative plural of advantage, present active participle of the verb e)kzetew, and the word means to diligently or earnestly seek,” it is a verb of obsession. It means that something becomes so important in life that it crowds out other things just like an obsession will. It means that Bible doctrine and its importance becomes the obsession of your life. It means to seek out, to search for, to continually, habitually seek in the participial form. The verb, therefore, is a verb of consistent positive volition toward Bible doctrine. The present tense, therefore, is a third static present in this verses; a static present for a condition which perpetually exists. This emphasises the importance of being consistent in the function of GAP. The believer must persevere, he must endure, he must gut it out, he must keep on taking it in, taking it in. The participle is circumstantial. We have, therefore, “and that he himself becomes a rewarder to them” — dative of advantage — “who diligently seek him” — the accusative singular direct object of the intensive pronoun a)utoj. A)utoj is used in many ways, as a personal pronoun, a demonstrative pronoun, an intensive pronoun. As an intensive pronoun it is used to emphasise identity, and identity is emphasised here to the maximum. “Him” is God, and seeking Him is not running around and having some holy-roller experience, seeking Him is gutting it out day after day with doctrine. Those who diligently seek Him are the people who are monuments of greatness in this passage, the supergrace heroes.

Translation: “And with doctrine resident in the soul it is impossible to please God; for when one is occupied with the God he must be convinced by resident doctrine in the soul that he is [essence and Trinity], and that he himself becomes a rewarder to those who diligently seek him.”

Principles

1. Note how this verse unfolds the principles beginning with the importance of doctrine resident in the soul.

2. As the believer begins to absorb Bible doctrine through the function of GAP he finds that the doctrine resident in his soul does two things. First of all, he becomes more and more convinced as to the reality of the essence of God and the reality of each member of the Trinity. This becomes very real to him. Then a second thing happens, doctrine begins to formulate in his soul the difference between what God wants and what the individual or someone else wants. Immediately it sets up a conflict in the soul and resident doctrine dictates one course of action whereas the rest of the soul — the emotions — and the old sin nature dictate another course of action. So that you will face the conflict until through reversionism doctrine is submerged and the valves are frozen in the right lobe. But until that happens there will always be, when Bible class is going on, wherever you are, warning bells going in the soul. If they have stopped then you are down the line in reversionism.

3. The persistence in learning doctrine causes the believer to seek Him who invisible. The invisible becomes more real than the visible.

4. This in turn begins the true development of category #1 love. Category #1 love is based upon Bible doctrine in the soul, the same doctrine that tells you to keep following the colours to the high ground is the same doctrine that forms capacity to love the invisible God.

5. Such capacity intensifies the love of the living Word as well as the love of the written Word.

6. This motivates the believer to be consistent in the assembling of himself together for the purpose of learning more doctrine. For more doctrine means more love toward God, more capacity to orient to God’s plan, more capacity for life, one step closer to the objective.

7. This causes the construction of the ECS. The first floor is grace orientation, mastery of the details of life, relaxed mental attitude, capacity for love, occupation with Christ; these areas of structure begin to build one on the other. This leads to occupation with Christ and supergrace life, the high ground. But once you get there to stay there is the issue. It is staying there that means the victory. It is exploitation of the breakthrough that counts. Just because you get there isn’t enough.

Verse 7 — supergrace hero #3 of the antediluvian civilisation. “By faith” — and again we have the instrumental singular of pistij, “By means of doctrine resident in the soul.” Noah is the last of the antediluvian trio of supergrace heroes. The first 500 years of his life were passed off in silence. We assume that during that time he was going back and forth and never quite making the objective of supergrace. During that time he reached the high ground on several occasions, only to be pushed back and to lose the advantage. The dramatically Noah and his three sons are mentioned in Genesis 5:32 and chapter six verse 10. They are mentioned in such a way as to indicate the last 450 years of his life were years of supergrace.

“being warned” — the aorist passive participle of xrhmatizw. The word means to utter divine communication or revelation. As close as it can be translated is “having been warned”, but it means to be warned by doctrine. Doctrine is not only a source of capacity for life, capacity for love, capacity for happiness, receiving the rewards of supergrace blessing, but doctrine is also a source of warning, a system of warning signals in the soul about many things in life. Doctrine, then, is a system of warning but only as it is resident in your soul. Your life was designed after salvation to have doctrine in the driving seat dictating your course of life, and your volition must respond to the doctrine which is resident in your soul. Therefore, “by means of doctrine resident in the soul Noah having been warned.” The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety, it takes the communication of pertinent doctrine and regardless of how long it took for Noah to understand it, gathers it into a single whole so that this doctrine was resident in his soul and caused him to understand the course of history and to take the proper action. The passive voice: Noah received the action of the verb. He stuck it out with doctrine and attained supergrace. The circumstantial participle has antecedent action to the main verb, and the main verb is “prepared and ark.” When you have doctrine in the soul you take the proper action eve though you are in the minority, even though people say that you are crazy or on the lunatic fringe or that something is wrong with you. Whatever they may say about you doctrine is going to make you in the minority and there is one principle of doctrine you might as well learn right now: the minority is always right.

“of God” is not found in the original manuscript; “of things not seen as yet” — the preposition peri plus the genitive of the definite article. Then we have a negative adverb, mhdepw — “not yet” — and with it a present passive participle of blepw which means to see. So all of this is a part of a rather unusual prepositional phrase. It should be translated, “about things not yet being seen.” So he was warned of things which had not yet occurred in history. As a supergrace believer Noah received doctrinal information about the termination of the antediluvian civilisation. This doctrinal information was a part of Noah’s supergrace blessing. Principle: Supergrace believers always receive adequate warning before any major catastrophe in history. Their warning system gives them the opportunity to take action that will glorify God. That ship that Noah constructed was action. It was the source of ridicule until the flood came. This information came to Noah at least 120 years before the flood, according to Genesis 6:3. The divine revelation was the basis of further supergrace blessings both in survival of the catastrophe and after. So supergrace blessings often follow a pattern: warning followed by the catastrophe followed by supergrace prosperity. Noah took action. He took minority action. He gave daily for 120 years a minority report. He was laughed to scorn. They ridiculed him, they mocked him, they made life miserable for him, but for 120 years he fulfilled the principle of u(pomenw and never changed. When your stubbornness or your conviction or your decisiveness is based on Bible doctrine in the soul, you have it, you have something worthwhile and something great. Greatness is in finding the right track and staying on it.

“moved with fear” — bad translation. He wasn’t moved with fear. It should be “having been motivated by reverence” or “occupation with Christ.” We have the aorist passive participle e)ulabeomai. This word means to be concerned, to be reverent, or to have respect, respect for authority. Because of the construction here it means to be motivated in that area. The constative aorist gathers up into a single whole Noah’s supergrace occupation with Christ, doctrine resident in the soul — maximum doctrine. Noah received motivation by this occupation, that is the passive voice. The passive voice of e)ulabeomai means to receive motivation in the sphere of the action of the verb. The action of the verb: occupation with Christ or reverence or respect and, passive voice, being motivated by it. The circumstantial participle put together means ‘having been motivated by reverence he prepared”. No he didn’t, he constructed — aorist active indicative of kataskeuazw which means to construct, to construct on the basis of a specified blueprint. The culminative aorist in employed when you wish to view an event in its entirety but to regard it from the viewpoint of existing results. And we do not have the time it took to build that ship, nor do we have the exact specifications, only the general specifications which are given in Genesis. But this aorist emphasises the results. One day there was a completed construction. The entire course of the construction is in view but the completed results are emphasised. The active voice: why did he build a ship out on dry land? Answer he was motivated by occupation with Christ; he was motivated because he loved the Lord. He wasn’t motivated by people around him sharing and encouraging and loving and all the other idiotic things that people use when they are emotional rejects. The indicative mood is the declarative, indicative representing the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality.

“an ark” — kibwtoj, which is a chest or an ark or a box or a ship; “to the saving” — e)ij plus the accusative of swthria meaning deliverance; “for the purpose of deliverance of his family” — the only ones who responded. The seven members of Noah’s family were all who were delivered with him, and here is the principle: Blessing by association. Supergrace blessing is the means of blessing those in the periphery who are not supergrace types — in some cases not even saved.

“by the which — dia plus the genitive of the relative pronoun o(j, and this means “through which [doctrine resident in the soul].”

“he condemned” — aorist active indicative of katakrinw. The culminative aorist is used to view the results of everything that Noah did that pleased God. Here we have in one ball of wax his positive volition, we have the doctrine resident in the soul, the doctrine that motivates him. He reaches supergrace — occupation with Christ. He builds his ship. All of this is in the face of the strongest possible human opposition, as well as Satanic. In other words, Noah stood alone as the only living supergrace believer. The only other possible supergrace believer was Methuselah and Methuselah died just before the first water hit the earth in the flood. So there were two great men on the earth and both of them stood up against all the opposition. It takes a great deal of strength, a tremendous amount of doctrine in the soul, to stand up against continual opposition over a long period of time. It is often said by those in the television media that if you listen to them long enough they will convince you no matter what your views are because they will say it often enough to where in weakness you will succumb at some point. And once you succumb at one point you will succumb to the whole cosmos system. That explains why people have gone from strong conservatism to liberalism to socialism to communism. The whole world condemned Noah, the whole world ridiculed him, and he didn’t do anything but to stick to his knitting — stick, stick, stick. By sticking to it he condemned them. One man turned the whole course of history around. Supergrace concept: it is possible in times of great catastrophe that just one supergrace believer on the earth can turn the whole course of history. In this case Noah turned all of their condemnation back on them. For 120 years they gave him every bit of pressure but in the end of that time he turned the whole thing back on them and, katakrinw, he condemned them. He condemned them by being a supergrace believer, he condemned them by sticking with doctrine, he condemned them by living his life on the basis of what doctrine resident in his soul dictated. And so he turned the whole course of history around. The active voice: Noah produces the action of the verb by responding to divine warning, by his supergrace life. In other words, he not only got to the high ground but he held it, and nothing would move him off that hill.

“the world” is the kosmoj, it means the organised population of the world under Satan. That means that he turned the whole thing around. But he didn’t snipe back at those people, he didn’t argue, he let them have their laugh; he just ignored the whole thing and concentrated. He was a man of great and deep concentration, he was occupied with the person of Jesus Christ as few people have been in history. As a result of his total occupation with Christ gave him the highest honour that any man could ever have. God spun the whole course of history around Noah. One man can change the course of history. And he doesn’t do it, all he does is just concentrate on what is important, what pleases God. The only way you can please God is with doctrine resident in the soul. It was doctrine resident in the soul that turned around the course of history.

“and became” — the aorist active indicative of ginomai. This is, again, a culminative aorist and it is designed to go with the ginomai in the previous verse: “he is, he becomes.” So God becomes a rewarder when man who is the recipient becomes something.

Verse 7 — we have not yet explained “and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” We have in the word “heir” klhronomoj which is a predicate nominative. It goes with ginomai, and it is used of Christ in Hebrews 1:2 where is says, “in the last he has communicated to us [the royal family] by means of his unique Son whom he has appointed heir of all things.” This is the second time now that we have had klhronomoj. it is now used for us as believers in time in supergrace. In place of self-righteousness there is a supergrace righteousness: “heir of the righteousness,” the genitive singular of dikaiosunh, used here for the experiential righteousness that belongs to the supergrace hero.

“which is” is not found in the original manuscript; “by faith” is wrong, we have the preposition kata plus the accusative of pistij, and that means “pertaining to doctrine.”

Translation of verse 7 — “By means of doctrine resident in the soul, Noah having been warned about things not being seen [the destruction of the earth], having been motivated by reverence [occupation with Christ], he had constructed an ark for the purpose of the deliverance of his family; through which doctrine resident in the soul he had condemned the world [the antediluvian population], and had become the heir of the righteousness pertaining to doctrine.”

To be an heir of righteousness is to have an entire new way of life, the antithesis of self-righteousness, a true righteousness that has no self-righteous energy of the flesh production in it, it is strictly a righteousness based on inner resources of the soul. And the fact that we are heirs of righteousness, even as at the present time, Christ is the heir of all things is a reminder that their is a relationship between the heirship of Christ of all things and the fact that one of the supergrace blessings is to inherit a true grace righteousness.

The doctrine of heirship

1. By definition the doctrine deals with the various categories in which grace has provided an inheritance for both time and eternity.

2. The basis of our heirship in the royal family:

a) Heirship is based on sonship — John 1:12; Romans 8:16;17. So heirship is based upon the fact that we are in the family of God. Our heirship, which comes under the heirship of Jesus Christ who is the heir all things, begins at the point of salvation. We in this dispensation are not simply born into the family of God but are born into the royal family. Galatians 3:26 — that is where our heirship begins.

b) Heirship is based upon the death of another — Romans 5:8. Therefore the heirship of the royal family is based on the new covenant — Hebrews 9:15. So we have an eternal inheritance tied into the fact that we are royal family and tied into a new covenant. And the fact that we are still alive on this earth being the heirs of God, having a new covenant and a royal family, demands that there be some type of heritage in time. We do not wait for heaven for that heritage.

c) To inherit from God one must possess the life of God which is eternal life — 1 John 5:11,12. Again, this strengthens the idea that if all of this comes to us in an inheritance at the point of salvation then there must be something in time which is absolutely phenomenal.

d) All of the heirs of God have been justified by grace — Titus 3:7.

e) Therefore salvation is the qualification for this inheritance — Colossians 1:12. Any realisation of the inheritance in time comes from the light of Bible doctrine.

3. The believer has a supergrace heritage in time. This is a righteousness related to doctrine. It is a righteousness on the outside related to doctrine on the inside. The balance of residency in the soul is made up of the filling of the Holy Spirit plus Bible doctrine. The combination of the two produces something on the outside which is the exact antithesis of self-righteousness — Hebrews 11:7.

4. The heirship of the royal family is based on the divine decrees of eternity past — Ephesians 1:11. The heirship of the royal family, then, is based upon something we have and have always had from eternity past. There is the possibility of missing the heritage in time. And, incidentally, this heritage is called the heritage of righteousness. In other words, you an have social prosperity, economic prosperity, sexual prosperity, leadership prosperity, any form of materialistic prosperity, and it becomes a part of your righteousness. Whereas self-righteousness is never related to any blessing in life, and that is the final principle that comes out of Noah. Noah was a unique person in that one man with doctrine resident in his soul changed the course of history. God allowed history to revolve around the hub of one man’s life at a crisis point in history, the end of one civilisation and the beginning of another. But there is also a righteousness which is totally foreign to the thinking of man. All righteousness which is self-righteousness is related with strain, is related with denying one’s self of what appears to be pleasant in life, everything that is fun or illegal or illegitimate, and therefore self-righteousness is a terrible strain. But the righteousness which belongs to supergrace is not, and it is a righteousness associated with greatness, it is a righteousness that is associated with great leadership, a righteousness associated with great wealth, success, and wonderful relationships in life. So it is a righteousness which is a part of the capacity for life, and it is a great thing. It is the exact antithesis of the animal life so that it is based entirely upon the resources of the soul.

This is our heritage. God did not give us a heritage in time without putting it and relating it to something worthwhile so that we could enjoy and appreciate the whole thing. Therefore there is the inner resource of the soul through doctrine which has a righteousness which goes along with it and a righteousness which is associated with prosperity.

In the divine decrees God gives to every believer in supergrace a righteousness based on doctrine, a righteousness that is a comfort, not discomfort, a comfort to you and a comfort to others, never a discomfort to anyone — Ephesians 1:11.

5. The indwelling Holy Spirit is the down payment of the inheritance of the royal family — Ephesians 1:14. The believer who reaches supergrace has the super praise of His glory. This is a test of the righteousness of supergrace. It may be an historical test, it may be a disaster or a pressure test, it may be a test known to no one, it may be a test known to everyone, but it is a test which results in praise. But it is super praise. When a supergrace believer meets the tests of life with the inner resources of doctrine the result is the super praise of His glory.

6. Our inheritance is part of the divine promise — Galatians 3:29. Our heirship is based upon the character of God, and therefore the promise of God. The promise of God and the character of God are related in this matter.

7. Our inheritance is secure forever — 1 Peter 1:4,5.

8. The supergrace life has a temporal inheritance for the royal family of God — Hebrews 6:12. if you become apathetic toward doctrine then, of course, you lose out on the supergrace life. But if you are positive and persist you become imitators of them who through doctrine and persistence inherited the promises. The inheritance of the promises has to do with supergrace blessing in time. So again, the emphasis in this doctrine is not only on phase three but the emphasis and challenge is on phase two to reach the high ground of supergrace. Same thing in 1 Peter 3:9.

9. Doctrine resident in the soul is the means of supergrace heritage in time — Proverbs 8:21; Psalm 16:5; Ephesians 1:18.

Philippians 3:12 — the concept here is that once you get into supergrace you have a new perspective, everything is different.

“Not as though” — the Greek is o)ux o(ti which picks up the thought after the parenthesis which 3:4-8 left off. O)ux is a very strong negative and the reason it is in this form is because it is used before words beginning with vowels or rough breathings, and therefore it is spelled in this way. But it is exactly the same as the Greek negative o)u and also o)uk. It is spelled three different ways depending upon what kind of words are around it in the sentence. It is the strongest single negative in the Greek language, it denies the reality of an alleged fact, it is a clear-cut negative making no as a final and objective answer. O(ti is a conjunction, and is the conjunction used after e(geomai in verse 8 and therefore it is used again. E(geomai is verse 8 says, “I conclude.” In verse 12 we have o(ti to indicate a second conclusion. The first conclusion dealt with the piles of dung; the second conclusion now takes us to another aspect of the supergrace life. “Not that I conclude,” literally, or “I conclude not that.”

“I had already attained” — “already” is h(dh, a correct translation, but there is also another meaning which is a little more in keeping with the context. “Before now” is the meaning of the adverb, and that is the meaning here, “already” or “before now”. “Before now” indicates that the apostle Paul has just arrived once more at the supergrace life, that he had been on the high ground, that he had gone reversionistic, that he had been driven off the high ground by reversionism, and that he has just come back once more. But he does not feel that he has stabilised at this point and before he becomes stabilised he wants to make a point. We have the aorist active indicative of lambanw which means to receive supergrace, to attain it or to receive it. This is a constative aorist which views the action of the verb in its entirety. It does not refer to the resurrection body of the previous verse, verse 11, but it refers back to verse 8, the last phrase which says literally, “and I keep on concluding them [human systems of celebrityship] piles of dung in order that I may gain Christ,” which means to seize and to hold the high ground of the supergrace life. The active voice: Paul until now had not produced the action of the verb, that is, he had been recovering from reversionism over a period of four years. His discipline from the Lord had included two years imprisonment in Caesarea, two years of imprisonment in Rome. And he writes the prison epistles having just again reached the objective, but he has not as yet [in Philippians] held the ground. Before he stands to hold the ground for the last five years of his life he wants to make a point. The indicative mood is the reality of once more reaching the high ground of supergrace. He has followed the colours for the last four years, he has made a phenomenal recovery from reversionism. Literally we have now, “Not that I have concluded I have before now received supergrace status.” So he concludes two things. The first at the end of verse 8; the second, verse 12, “Not that I have before now received the attainment [supergrace].”

The word “either” should be translated “nor”; “were already perfect”, and again, h(dh means “before now,” and with it this time we have the perfect passive indicative of teleiow which means to come to the goal, to bring to an end, to accomplish, to bring to the goal in the sense of accomplishment of an objective. “Nor have before now reached the objective of supergrace.” In other words, for four years he has been moving back up. He has now recovered but he has not yet held this ground. This is the only chance he would have to make this point because by the time he writes the next letter, Ephesians, the position is consolidated. Once you gain the objective it has to be consolidated. Reaching the objective is teleiow. It is in the perfect tense which is an intensive perfect recognising the action is completed and now emphasising the result that he has reached the objective, he must hold it. The passive voice: Paul receives the objective, advancing to supergrace by following the colours. The indicative mood is the reality of supergrace status.

Literally then, “Not that I have concluded I have before now received supergrace status, nor have before now reached the objective of supergrace.”

“but” should probably be translated, “now then”; this is a continuative use of the particle de.

“I follow after” — the present active indicative of diwkw means to pursue or to press an attack. He has reached the high ground. The key to everything in life is doctrine. There are two issues. The one in verses 4-8 was human prosperity, human celebrityship is “dung.” But once you become a supergrace hero and receive blessings the enjoyment of those things is the perpetuation of doctrine in the soul and the continual intake of doctrine. And once you get there you must consolidated and exploit the breakthrough, and that is perpetration of positive volition. So he says, “Now then I keep pressing”, a retroactive progressive present denoting what has begun in the past and continues into the present time. The active voice: Paul produces the action of the verb and he produces it by going from reversionism to supergrace in four years of time. On 29 May of 57 AD the apostle Paul hit Jerusalem and hit the all-time low in his spiritual life. He entered Jerusalem as a reversionist, he began to function as a reversionist, making the vow in the temple, and would have died the sin unto death except for the grace of God and the use of the military to intervene and to save his life. So from May of 57 AD the discipline of the apostle began, and it began with the fact that there was a conspiracy of forty to kill him. Therefore, there was a change of venue and he was removed. The apostle was in terrible reversionism and therefore there was a change of venue to Caesarea. After this he was two years in Caesarea. During that time he appeared before some of the greatest people in the Roman empire at that time. He appeared before Felix, Festus, and Agrippa. He was forced to say, “I appeal to Caesar.” He eventually arrived in Rome in the spring of 60 AD. By this time he is on reversion recovery and from 60-62 his reversion recovery was completed. As a result he wrote the prison epistles — Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon which have the highest type of doctrine anywhere in the Word of God, outside of Hebrews itself. This doctrine is the backbone and the core for orienting to the entire royal family dispensation. At the end of 62 AD he went before Nero and was acquitted. Then the next missionary journey, the fourth, the last five years of his life. He was acquitted in 62 AD, he died in 67 AD, five years later, when once more he was made a prisoner in Rome and we decapitated by the order of Nero. So from 67-67 AD he had five more years and these were all years from the high ground. So what he is actually saying to us here is something that he followed himself. He said “I keep pressing.” Once he hit breakthrough, once he hit the weak spot in the line and moved in, he kept pressing — “now then I keep pressing.” And the indicative mood is the declarative indicative representing the verbal idea from, the viewpoint of historical reality and unqualified assertion. Paul was pressing the attack on the ground of supergrace status.

Principles

1. Having once more reached the high ground Paul will not be driven off this time. The last five years of his life were going to be phenomenal. Out of it come seven great epistles, the four prison epistles and the three pastoral.

2. As a result of the tremendous battle that he had all of the way through, never again will this man go into reversionism. “I keep on pressing.” Doctrine is his life more than it ever was before.

3. This time he will exploit the breakthrough, he will keep on pursuing, he will keep on taking in doctrine. He will not only hold his position but he will advance beyond that which any person in all of history ever advanced. And while Noah represents to us a believer who was just one man who turned around the course of history he only turned around the course of history in his generation. So Noah represents to us a man who turned around the entire course of history on one generation, but the apostle Paul turned around the course of history for every generation from 62 AD until now, and as long as time continues. In all of the history of the Word of God there never was a greater man for pressing the attack than the apostle Paul. Those last five years of his life have changed the course of many generations and have had impact on someone in every generation.

So far this is what we have: “Not that I have concluded that I have before now received supergrace status, nor have I before now reached the objective of supergrace: but now then, I keep on pressing.” He pressed the attack.

“if” — the conditional particle e)i, and it is a very unusual one. When you have a third class condition the conditional particle is e)an plus the subjunctive, but a change came into the Koine Greek and suddenly we have “a” plus the subjunctive for a third class condition — it is a very rare and unusual one. You see, e)i is the particle for a first class condition — e)i plus the indicative. But here we have e)i plus the subjunctive mood. So what kind of a third class condition is that? It is not a true third class condition, and it can’t be a first class condition because it has the subjunctive mood in the verb. Now we have e)i plus the subjunctive. In other words, it is a way of showing, “Now that I have arrived, I will never make the same mistake again.” And in effect the apostle Paul is saying, “Press on, press on.” He consolidated his gains. In other words, he took the attitude that there is nothing in life more important than doctrine and he never let up. So we have a third class condition with a first class condition particle to show that while it’s still in doubt at this stage it is not on doubt in his mind. He doesn’t know that he only has five more years but he knows that as long as he is living there is only one things he is going to do, and that is to press the attack.

“that” — the conjunction kai is used in the adjunctive sense, so kai here means “also.” The third class first class plus the adjunctive kai means “that also.” He is saying, therefore, “that also” rather than “if.” You can’t translate this “if”, the translator made a mistake.

“I may apprehend” — the aorist active subjunctive of katalambanw. It means to seize, to attain, to make one’s own, to overtake. “I keep on pressing that also I might seize and hold the high ground of supergrace.” There is no “if” there at all. He will press for the rest of his life and therefore he will take doctrine further than anyone ever had before. And he will demonstrate the fact that a person can have an old sin nature and live in this life and have great failures and make great mistakes and still press and become the greatest of all supergrace heroes. We have a culminative aorist here, it views the event of taking the high ground in its entirety, but it emphasises the existing results. Once you hit the high ground you’re only living the normal life of a high priest. Normality for the royal priesthood begins on the high ground. Now he is going to exploit the breakthrough. The active voice: Paul produces the action of the verb, the attainment of supergrace, seizing and holding the high ground. The subjunctive mood: this is the potential subjunctive implying future reference and is qualified by the element of contingency, the element of contingency being overcome by the consistent positive volition of Paul.

The next phrase says, “that for which also” — e)pi plus the locative of the relative pronoun o(j plus the adjunctive use of kai. It means “on account of which high ground also”; “I am apprehended” — wrong. We have katalambanw, this time meaning to overtake. “I was overtaken also.” In other words, the Lord Jesus Christ pursued Paul and overtook him — grace pursuing. The constative aorist contemplates the work of Christ in its entirety. He pursued the apostle Paul as Saul of Tarsus, then He provided doctrine giving Paul a chance to respond and to grow. Therefore we see the tremendous aggressiveness of our Lord pursuing positive volition from an unbeliever all the way to supergrace. Paul recognises that he has been overtaken in the pursuit. The passive voice: Paul receives the action of the verb, the Lord in grace overtook him. When grace overtook him then he had a purpose. Here is what you have to see. Here is the Lord, as it were, pursuing Paul. Then He overtakes him. Once He overtakes him He goes right on past out in front so that Paul follows the colours, doctrine, to the high ground.

Philippians 3:12 — “Not that I have concluded that I have before now received supergrace status, nor have I before now reached the objective [the high ground of supergrace];” — that doesn’t mean that he hasn’t been on the high ground but it does mean that there is something that must be linked up with supergrace — “now then I keep on pressing that also I might seize and hold the high ground, on account of which high ground of supergrace also I was seized and held by Jesus Christ.”

Principles

1. Everything which Christ did to save the believer has meaning in time as well as in eternity.

2. This means that God has a purpose for every member of the royal family of God in time. Therefore, your life has meaning, purpose, and definition.

3. The royal family is seized and held by Christ for a purpose on earth related to a purpose in heaven.

4. This purpose is defined in terms of the objective for phase two — to follow the colours of Bible doctrine and take the high ground of supergrace. While that is the end of one thing it is also the beginning of something else.

5. Once taken, the believers commands from God include the principle “seize and hold.”

6. From the standpoint of sheer mechanics there is little change from the concept of positive volition: persistence in positive volition toward doctrine no matter what the cost.

In anticipation of the next verse, Paul has not failed to reach the high ground before but he has failed to seize and hold the high ground. He has failed to maintain that position. You can’t simply get there and then retreat, get there and retreat. This form of instability is ruinous and causes the believer to miss the boat entirely. In between getting there and then retreating is human failure, our failure, our failure known to us, our failure known to others, our failure therefore as a means of perpetuating future failures. Nothing could be worse than that. So Paul says he must ignore past failure and keep pressing. That is the key in this verse.

Christ seized us and held us in eternity past. Christ seized us and held us when we were invisible and we have the learn the fact that we can seize Him when He is invisible. Dying grace is a bridge between supergrace blessings in time and surpassing grace blessings in eternity. And if you don’t seize and hold then you miss the bridge.

Verse 13 — “Brethren” is the vocative plural referring to the royal family. And in spite of past failure and in spite of the fact that Paul has advanced up the hill and retreated he now sees that there is something more than reaching it. To reach the objective defines a new objective, and that is exactly what he is going to say.

“I count not myself” — the present middle indicative of the verb logizomai. Logizomai means to evaluate. The negative adverb o)upw which means “not yet”. The reason we have “myself” in there is because this is the present middle indicative. The present tense is aoristic present for punctiliar action in present time. In other words, every now and then we have some experience, good or bad, some failure or some success, some pressure, something in life that causes us to evaluate — a normal, objective evaluation. The middle voice is a direct middle, it refers the results of the action directly to the agent with reflexive force. That is why he says, “I evaluate myself.” The indicative mood is the declarative indicative representing the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality.

“I evaluate myself as not yet to have apprehended” — the word “apprehended” is the perfect active infinitive of katalambanw and it means to seize and hold. “I evaluate myself as not yet to have seized and held,” Paul says. He is on the high ground, he has arrived at supergrace, but he evaluates himself as not yet seizing and holding. So you can be on the high ground and start the normal function of the royal priesthood but that is seizing but not holding. The perfect tense is a consummative perfect. The consummative perfect is not an existing state but a process completed. And the process, he says, “I count not myself to have seized and held” in the sense of the process. The active voice: with the negative adverb o)upw Paul has not yet consolidated his position on the high ground. There is still something he needs to do to consolidate. The infinitive is the intended result in which the result is indicated as fulfilling a deliberate objective. In other words, a blend of purpose and result.

Translation so far: “Royal family, I evaluate myself as not yet to have seized and held the high ground of supergrace.” The issue in this passage is not getting back to supergrace but holding it.

“but this one thing” — the conjunctive particle de used in an adversative sense, plus the nominative neuter singular of the word e(ij — “but one thing.” This is an idiom of concentration. We can translate it “but one thing on which I concentrate.” As long as the believer is alive reaching the objective of the high ground [supergrace] means that there is a consolidation which must follow. It is the same as follow-through in any form of athletics. Therefore the believer must concentrate on one thing. He must keep pressing, keep advancing. No matter how you fail you must get up and keep moving. You can fail on the high ground but you get up and you move on. Life on earth for the royal family is a matter of persistence once you reach the high ground. Once you get to the high ground there is always a phenomenal pressure. And there must be exploitation of the breakthrough — keep pressing, keep pressing. One thing this means is that you can’t sit around and be morbid about your failures.

“forgetting” — the present middle participle of e)pilanqanomai. If you are going to press on you can’t look back It means to forget, “constantly forgetting.” The present tense is a static present representing a condition as perpetually existing. The middle voice is them permissive middle representing the agent as voluntarily yielding himself to the results of the action, or seeking to secure the results of the action in his own interest. The participle is a telic participle expressing a purpose for phase two. Ordinarily expressed in the future participle but occasionally in the present. So the negative part of pressing is constantly forgetting what lies behind.

“those things which are behind” — your failures, in other words. The Greek says ta men o)pisw — an idiom for what lies behind. We have here ta, the things; men is an untranslatable Classical Greek or Attic Greek particle; o)pisw is what is behind. This applies not only to your past failures in the area of reversionism but it applies to past sins and failures in carnality as well. Carnality is handled by the rebound technique; reversionism and the lapses of reversionism are handled by a persistent positive volition toward doctrine, a comeback, a recovery. Paul has just completed the most remarkable recovery in history and the results of his recovery are obvious in the content of doctrine, they are obvious from the fact that right here he learned a lesson. He not only took the high ground but he held it, and he held it for the next five years until his dying breath came. And because he held it this man has the greatest impact of any man in human history.

The other side in principle — “and”, the particle de for a mild contrast — “but”; “reaching forth” — the present middle participle of e)pekteinw. This word has two connotations. It is used of a sprinter’s last burst of speed before he hits the tape. It is also used for exploiting the breakthrough in a military situation. The present tense is a customary present, it denotes what habitually occurs when one constantly forgets what lies behind and makes his life doctrine in the sense of never relaxing positive volition. Paul discovered that once you reach the high ground you are dictated to by the frame of reference in your soul, and the frame of reference in your soul is doctrine. Doctrine influences your volition so that you are not doing something to please someone, you are not taking in doctrine to get something, you are taking in doctrine because in your soul your inner resources have dictated the course of action. Therefore we have the permissive middle again where the agent voluntarily yields himself to the results of the action and secures the results of the action in his own interest. That isn’t his objective but that is the way it turns out in the permissive middle. This is a telic participle denoting a purpose for phase two.

“but constantly stretching toward or pressing toward or advancing toward”; and we have “those things which are before” — toij de e)mproqen. It goes with what lies behind and it means exactly the same thing in the opposite direction. It means “what lies before,” the high ground of supergrace. It is a dative plural of advantage. What lies before is strictly for your advantage. And what lies ahead once you get up there? Normal function of the priesthood, pressing all of the way to the end of your life however long or short it may be, so that you go from supergrace blessing to dying grace blessing to surpassing grace blessing without missing a beat. And you lay hold of the invisible.

Translation: “Royal family, I evaluate myself as not yet to have seized and held the high ground of supergrace: but one thing on which I concentrate, forgetting what lies behind but pressing toward the objective [what lies before, the high ground of supergrace].”

Summary

1. Here Paul emphasises the importance of maintaining a persistent positive volition toward doctrine after you have attained the objective. Once you have attained the object you don’t let up, you now start to roll.

2. Remember that this is autobiographical. Remember that if you think you’ve had failures you could never match Paul. When you go to heaven don’t try to match failures, he will beat you every time!

3. In four years of divine discipline Paul lost four years, so if anyone wants to be a cry baby about the past perhaps Paul has a right to shed four CCs of tears! He has really messed things up — four years out of an extremely valuable life. And that isn’t all, he only has five to go before he crosses the bridge of dying grace. Therefore, he has lost four valuable, valuable years. The great apostle himself has been set back by reversionism. He should have gone to Spain but he didn’t. He should have gone west from Rome but instead he turned around and went south east to Jerusalem. Geographical reversionism led to operational reversionism, and the road back is a very hard road for someone like Paul because having accomplished both reversion recovery and the reconstruction of the ECS, and to take all the discipline he had coming for four years has given him a scar-filled life. And he now emphasises the principle the principle of doctrine: “Look, I’m up here once again and I’ll tell you what I am going to do. I’m going to press, I’m going to keep going.”

Verse 14 — “I press” is the present active indicative of diwkw which means to pursue. In the present tense it means to keep advancing. So here it means to bear down, to keep on advancing. This is a retroactive progressive present denoting something which has begun in the past and continues right up to this moment. He is keeping on advancing. The active voice: Paul advances after he reaches the high ground. The indicative mood is the declarative for historical reality in autobiographical material.

“toward the mark” — kata plus the accusative of skopoj. He has already reached the objective but the objective was never called skopoj, so what is he driving for now? He is driving for persistent positive volition to the skopoj, and the skopoj is the moment that a Roman officer will march him out and have him kneel down and decapitate him. He is pressing all the way to death. So he is pressing toward the mark or the new objective. He is on the high ground but on the high ground he has already told us from katalambanw there is a seize and hold objective.

“for the prize” — the preposition e)ij plus the accusative of brebeion which is surpassing grace blessings. Not supergrace, surpassing grace! He is in supergrace and in supergrace, like with all people in supergrace, there is a phenomenal accumulation of blessing. Brebeion means two things. It means, “All right I have arrived.” He followed the colours — doctrine. He is now up on the high ground of supergrace and he has blessings showering on him at this point. But he is going to drive with those blessings. Those blessings are the greatest things you can have in life and they belong to you in time. But there is a wall here and he is going to drive for five years right into that wall. Then, that wall has a beautiful bridge, dying grace. If you hit the wall with supergrace you have dying grace, and supergrace converted to dying grace is always convertible to surpassing grace. Surpassing grace is phase three blessing and it is the most beautiful advance in the world because you advance from saving grace to supergrace, from supergrace to dying grace, from dying grace to surpassing grace. And that is the road to glory, and he is on it now, and he is not going to look back, and he is not going to slack up.

“of the high calling” — literally, “the upward station” — the adverb a)nw, meaning upward, plus the genitive singular of klhsij which means station in life, position, or vocation. This is a possessive genitive referring to the high ground of supergrace as the beginning of something new. Salvation is the beginning of something new, positive volition is the beginning of something new, supergrace is an objective but once you reach the objective it is always the beginning of something new. You have an objective in life but every time you reach that objective you start another one. The accomplishment of one objective means to seize and hold, and seize and hold doesn’t mean to stand there, it means to move to the next objective. And therefore he says, “I keep advancing for the purpose of reward belonging to the upward station in life.” The upward station in life is the continuation of positive volition toward doctrine leading to dying grace, leading to surpassing grace. “Calling of God” is wrong, it is ablative of source from qeoj plus the definite article, and it should be “from the source of the God.” Saving grace, from God; supergrace, from God; dying grace, from God, surpassing grace, from God. Same source for each advance.

Translation: “I keep advancing to the objective of the high ground of supergrace for the purpose of reward belonging to the upward station of life from the God in Christ Jesus.”

Now let us put together all three verses:

Verse 12 — “Not that I have concluded that I have before now received supergrace status, nor have I before now reached the objective: now then I keep on pressing, that also I might seize and hold the high ground of supergrace, on account of which high ground also I was seized and held by Christ Jesus.”

Verse 13 — “Members of the royal family of God, I evaluate myself as not yet to have seized and held the high ground of supergrace; but one thing on which I concentrate, forgetting what lies behind but pressing toward the objective.”

Verse 14 — “I keep advancing to the objective for the purpose of reward belonging to the upward station of life from the God in Christ Jesus.”

Summary

1. There is a relationship between the supergrace blessings of time and the surpassing grace blessings of eternity.

2. The link between them is dying grace.

3. Dying grace bridges the gap between supergrace status in time and surpassing grace status in eternity. This is the believer going from grace to grace.

4. For example, Abraham’s salvation grace is found in Genesis 15:6, so we know that he was the beneficiary of saving grace.

5. Abraham’s supergrace blessing is related to his sexual prosperity. The Bible emphasises this in Romans 4:17-21 and Hebrews 11:11,12. The sign of his sexual prosperity was circumcision.

6. Abraham’s surpassing grace blessing is related to something specific, the heavenly Jerusalem — the heavenly Jerusalem of Hebrews 11:9,10; Revelation 21:2,10. The sign is living in a tent in time.

7. The dying grace principle that links Abraham’s supergrace blessing with his surpassing grace blessing is Hebrews 11:13.

8. Dying grace is the bridge that takes the believer from supergrace blessing in time to surpassing grace blessing in eternity.

9. Here, then, is the importance of Bible doctrine resident in the soul, the driving principle of follow the colours. Never give up on doctrine. Even when you reach the high ground, intensify your efforts. Why? Because this is the road to glory. On to glory means going from saving grace to supergrace, from supergrace to dying grace, from dying grace to surpassing grace. In other words, in time it takes doctrine to see the invisible, but once we cross the bridge of dying grace we see Him face to face. But this is the point: When you seize and you hold the high ground and you walk across the bridge of dying grace you recognise Him immediately and say, Hello there! Whereas if you die as a reversionist it is a miserable death, and when you arrive in heaven your first words will be, Who are you?

The doctrine of supergrace

A. General definition and classification.

a) Grace is all that God is free to do for man on the basis of the cross and, more than that, on the basis of His character because God designed the cross.

b) Grace is God’s freedom to love the believer in Christ and to express His love in a perfect plan for that believer. God is free to give without us earning anything so He is free to give on the basis of His love.

c) In eternity past — the doctrine of divine decrees — God found a way to save man and bless him. The key is the cross because the cross frees God to give, to give without strings.

d) Grace is the plan of God, therefore, on behalf of man.

e) Grace is the plan, the policy, the function of divine modus operandi.

f) Grace depends on the essence of God, the character of God, therefore grace depends on who and what God is, and that means who and what God the Father is, who and what God the Son is, who and what God the Holy Spirit is.

g) Grace is what God can do for man and still be consistent with His own essence — which is everything. And the only issue ever is volition, but that is because volition is an issue in the angelic conflict but it is always non-meritorious volition. For example, supergrace comes by resident doctrine in the soul but resident doctrine in the soul means that you must recognise what God has provided. He has provided the Word, He has provided a communicator of the Word, He has provided a classroom — the local church — and your volition is related to all three of these factors.

There are five categories of grace, and they are sequential.

a) There is saving grace, like Ephesians 2:8,9. Saving grace includes all that the Trinity has done to accomplish salvation. The Father planned it, the Son executed it, the Holy Spirit reveals it. This is the simplest form of grace to the believer, therefore the key to all other types of grace. For example, you know that you are saved by faith, that you can’t earn it or deserve it or work for it. You know that you were saved when you were spiritually dead, you know that you couldn’t even understand the gospel issue apart from the ministry of God the Holy Spirit, you couldn’t be saved apart from the work of Christ. He said, “Finished” on the cross. You couldn’t be saved if God the Father hadn’t planned it in eternity past and when you put all these things together there is no way that you could ever take any credit for salvation.

b) Living grace. This includes all that the Trinity does to keep the believer alive in this earth. Under living grace there are several principles we should remember: 1) God provides for both the supergrace believer as well as the reversionist. Living grace means God keeps you alive by grace. It means you will be here as long as He wants you to be here, that there is no way you can depart as long as God wants you here. As long as God wants you here there is no way that you will ever depart from this life. 2) Being alive on the earth is a part of the angelic conflict. 3) We are alive for a purpose — to have an attitude toward doctrine. After salvation we are kept alive for one reason: basically to have an attitude toward God’s Word, Bible doctrine. Everything else is appended to that basic concept. 4) Consistent positive volition means supergrace and the beginning of the road of glory — supergrace, dying grace, surpassing grace. 5) However, negative attitude toward doctrine means reversionism and divine discipline. And remember, the consequences of negative attitude toward Bible doctrine are too horrible to contemplate — loss of supergrace in time, loss of dying grace in transition, loss of surpassing grace forever. And it is terrible to think that forever, rolling around in eternity, is your surpassing grace paragraph unclaimed. 6) Since divine discipline is confined to time God often keeps the believer in phase two for discipline — Hebrews 12:4-15. So He keeps us for discipline or blessing, depending upon our attitude toward doctrine. You have a choice of two roads as long as you are alive: the glory road which takes you to the high ground of supergrace, dying grace, surpassing grace; but then there is the gory road — negative volition, all the stages of reversionism, divine discipline, the sin unto death and arriving in heaven just barely intact and losing out on a surpassing grace paragraph even as you lose out on your supergrace paragraph.

c) Supergrace.

d) Dying grace, the bridge between supergrace blessings and surpassing grace blessings. It is the bridge for the supergrace believer who seizes and holds the high ground. The whole angelic conflict in the royal family stage is based on this principle of following the colours to the high ground of supergrace and holding. Then there is a bridge, and that bridge is dying grace. Supergrace is absolutely fantastic, dying grace is better than supergrace, and surpassing grace is the best yet.

e) Surpassing grace: the rewards and blessings of eternity for the supergrace believer. In eternity past God designed for each believer a supergrace paragraph for time and a surpassing grace paragraph for eternity — Ephesians 2:7 says literally, “That is the approaching ages [eternity] he might demonstrate his surpassing grace riches [eternal blessings and rewards] in generosity toward us in Christ Jesus.”

Definition of supergrace.

a) Supergrace is a synonym for Christian maturity.

b) The nomenclature is derived basically from James 4:6 which says literally from the Greek, “But he gives greater grace [supergrace]. Therefore he says, The God opposes the arrogant [reversionist] but he gives grace to the humble [the supergrace type].”

c) In this verse arrogance is reversionism, humility is supergrace status.

d) Supergrace status is described from the viewpoint of God’s essence in Ephesians 1:19 — “And what is the surpassing magnitude of his omnipotence upon us [the fact that in eternity past for each one of us He designed a supergrace paragraph that has the most phenomenal blessings] the believing ones, according to the norm of the operational power [the Holy Spirit] of the ruling power [doctrine in the Bible], of his inner power [doctrine resident in the soul].”

e) Supergrace is described as a pursuing grace in Ephesians 1:6. It is called a pursuing grace because in eternity past God designed supergrace blessings for us before we existed. Now these overtake us as we follow the colours, as we take in doctrine daily — “Resulting in the recognition of glory [the identification of the glory road, following the colours to the high ground of supergrace, maintaining our high ground to the point of death] from the source of his grace, from which he has pursued us with grace in the one having been loved.” God has pursued us through Jesus Christ.

f) Glorification of God by the Church comes in every generation through the distribution of supergrace blessings: Ephesians 3:20,21 — “Now to the one himself being able far beyond all things to do infinitely more than that which we could ask or be imagining” — this applies to both paragraphs. You and I are incapable of even imagining what God has for us in our supergrace paragraph or in the surpassing grace paragraph, but you don’t have to wait until you get there to know how wonderful it is — “according to the power [doctrine resident in the soul] itself effective in us, to him be the glory in the church” — the Church has a glory road — “and in Christ Jesus with reference to all generations, forever and ever. Amen [I believe it].”

g) In 1 Timothy 1:14 supergrace is described in terms of abundance. Whatever God has for you it is more than more, it is abundant.

h) Supergrace, therefore, is the adult stage of spiritual growth attended by maximum blessing from God, which blessings glorify God. Remember, you are always receiving from God but in receiving and in getting and obtaining God is glorified. He is glorified by your rewards in heaven.

i) Supergrace, then, is the ultimate in spiritual growth and the basis for the normal function of the royal priesthood.

j) Supergrace is the sphere of life in which the royal family reaps what God sows instead of reaping what we sow. As long as we live we reap what we sow until we get to supergrace.

B. Supergrace is the objective of phase two: Ephesians 3:16-19 — “In order that he might give you, according to the riches of his glory [two paragraphs, supergrace and surpassing grace], to become strong [to advance to supergrace] by means of power [doctrine resident in the soul] through his Spirit [the function of GAP] with reference to the inner man [the place where doctrine is received for growth]; that the Christ may be at home in your right lobes [doctrine, frame of reference, occupation with Christ] through the doctrine [resident in the soul]; in love [the filling of the Spirit], after having been rooted [doctrine in the right lobe], after having received the foundation [doctrine in the human spirit], in order that you all might have a complete ability to comprehend in the company of all saints” — which means that following the colours means assembling in the classroom provided by God in living grace — “what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height” — What is the breadth? Looking out toward supergrace, looking from supergrace to surpassing grace, looking at the wonderful bridge that connect the two — “and come to know the surpassing knowledge love of Christ [knowledge love of Christ is occupation with Christ, supergrace blessings], that you might be filled up with all the fullness of God.” You have two paragraphs and those two paragraphs are the fullness of God.

C. The characteristics of the supergrace life.

a) The best description of supergrace comes from Psalm 23:5,6 — “My cup overflows [SG²]. Dogmatically grace will pursue me all the days of my life” — when you seize and hold the high ground grace pursues, keeps after you, never lets you go.

b) The overflowing cup is supergrace capacity for life plus the supergrace blessings in paragraph SG² with your name on it.

c) These blessings fall into two separate categories: spiritual and temporal.

d) The spiritual blessings include occupation with Christ , inner resources to cope with any disaster in life, and at the end of it, dying grace.

e) Temporal blessings include promotion, success, wealth, prosperity [not necessarily all for one person but these things in variation], prosperity social, prosperity economic, prosperity sexual, prosperity material, prosperity technical [advance in some area of life that is very technical], and with these things stability and dynamics of living producing often great leadership.

D. God is waiting to provide for you and for me supergrace blessings — Isaiah 30:18, “Therefore Jehovah longs to be gracious to you, and therefore he waits on high to have compassion on you; for Jehovah is a God of justice [God is fair, demonstrated by His provision of the paragraphs]; how blessed are those who long for him [positive volition toward Bible doctrine].”

E. The importance of Bible doctrine in the attainment of supergrace status — Hebrews 11:1-3. Doctrine is the reality from which we keep on receiving confidence, the proof of matters not being seen.

F. Therefore there is a new perspective of supergrace — Philippians 3:4-8.

G. We have the command, therefore, to advance to supergrace — Hebrews 12:1-3.

H. The importance of retaining the objective — Philippians 3:12-14.

A summary of the principle that we have had up to date

1. In eternity past as part of the divine decrees omniscient God provided for every believer two paragraphs of special blessings — SG² is the supergrace paragraph, special blessing in time; SG³ is surpassing grace paragraph, special blessings in eternity.

2. The attainment of these special blessing paragraphs both occur in time. This is your only chance to get SG² and SG³, there is no opportunity to attain these things by the function of eternity.

3. In other words, while the believer cannot lose either salvation or heaven he can lose supergrace blessings in time and surpassing grace blessings for eternity.

4. They are both on the line in time on the basis of your attitude toward doctrine.

5. After salvation attitude toward doctrine is the issue resolving the angelic conflict.

6. Therefore, consistent negative volition toward doctrine means reversionism and its attendant losses — loss of supergrace blessings in time, loss of dying grace, loss of surpassing grace blessings in eternity.

7. Through living grace God provides everything necessary to make doctrine resident in your soul — physical life, food, shelter, clothing, doctrine, a communicator of doctrine, and a classroom to learn doctrine.

8. The only thing involved with the believer is his volition, God provides everything else. Volition in man is the issue in the angelic conflict.

9. God provides, and you either say yes or no.

10. Consistent yes means supergrace, dying grace, surpassing grace. In other words, you get everything that is coming to you from eternity past.

11. Consistent no means reversionism, discipline, sin unto death, minus SG³ and/or no reward in heaven.

The outline of the next section of Hebrews 11. We are going to be studying verses 8-22 which area deals with the supergrace roster of patriarchs. We will study in this section four men who made it all the way; Abraham in verses 8-19; Isaac in verse 20; Jacob, verse 21; Joseph, verse 22. Only the first one receives detailed comment and that is to set the pattern. Here are four generations of men who went down the road to glory, all the way to surpassing grace. The pattern is found in verses 8-19. In verse 8, Abraham’s living grace; verses 9 and 10, Abraham’s surpassing grace; verses 11 and 12, Abraham’s supergrace; verse 13, the missing link, Abraham’s dying grace; verses 16-16, the test of surpassing grace; verses 17-19, the test of supergrace. Therefore, there are three things that we must have in mind clearly before we resume the details of that passage — the doctrine of supergrace, the doctrine of dying grace, the doctrine of surpassing grace.

But before we go back to supergrace, one principle: the missing link. On the road to glory there is one missing link, the thing that hooks it all up.

1. There is a relationship between supergrace blessings in time and surpassing grace blessings in eternity. In other words, we are talking again about SG² and SG^3. SG² = supergrace blessings in time; SG³ = surpassing grace blessings for eternity.

2. The link between maturity in phase two and rewards in phase three is dying grace.

3. Dying grace bridges the gap between supergrace blessings and surpassing grace blessings.

4. This is known as going from grace to grace. Cf.. Romans 5:20. The life of every believer should be advancing in five stages of grace. Grace must always abound, that is God’s plan for your life. There is saving grace, living grace, supergrace, dying grace, and surpassing grace.

5. Abraham’s supergrace blessings in time related to his sexual prosperity — Hebrews 11:11,12; Romans 4:17-21. The sign of this prosperity was circumcision — Romans 4:11,12.

6. Abraham’s surpassing grace blessing in eternity is related to the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven — Revelation 21:2,10; Hebrews 11:9,10. And the sign of this prosperity was the fact that Abraham lived in a tent — Hebrews 11:9.

7. The principle of dying grace links the supergrace blessings of time with surpassing grace blessings of eternity — Hebrew 11:13.

8. Dying grace is the bridge that takes the believer from supergrace to surpassing grace. In other words, it is the bridge that takes the believer from one grace blessing in time to another grace blessing in eternity.

9. Therefore, supergrace is the best for time. Dying grace is better, surpassing grace better than the best.

10. You cannot lose with grace, and the road to glory, then, is obvious: from saving grace to living grace, from living grace to supergrace, from supergrace to dying grace, from dying grace to surpassing grace. That is the perfect way in which human volition becomes enmeshed with grace and God is glorified. This is the driving principle that we are studying of following the colours and this is what it means “on to glory.”

The doctrine of supergrace (cont)

I. The issue, therefore, of phase two.

a) God loves every believer with maximum love regardless of temporal status of that believer.

b) This maximum love is based upon propitiation, the Godward work of Christ on the cross.

c) According to 1 John 4:19 it is possible for the believer to love God in time.

d) However, no believer loves God until he knows Him. The key to everything is Bible doctrine in the soul.

e) No believer loves God until there is doctrine resident in his soul through the daily function of GAP.

f) The supergrace believer has maximum love for God because of maximum doctrine resident in the soul — Romans 8:28; Ephesians 3:19; 1 John 4:19.

g) God has two ways of expressing His love to every believer in time: 1) To the supergrace believer He expresses through blessing — blessing in time, supergrace blessing; blessing in eternity, surpassing grace blessing. 2) To the reversionistic believer God expresses His love through discipline in time, loss of surpassing grace paragraph in eternity.

J. The role of happiness in the supergrace life.

a) The key to supergrace is happiness or sharing the happiness of God.

b) Therefore the supergrace life is characterised by the total happiness spectrum, ranging from tranquillity on one end to ecstatics on the other.

c) The same doctrine which provides supergrace blessings also provides +H from God.

d) The top floor of the ECS is the beginning of supergrace, and the top floor is +H — Philippians 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:16.

e) The fulfilment of +H through accumulation of doctrine resident in the soul is at the entrance into the supergrace life, so that we have 1 John 4:4 fulfilled.

K. The relationship of the various categories of grace, and the relationship in all of them to their involvement concept. Under salvation grace, for example. Salvation grace is all the Trinity does for us at the point of salvation. We enter into that in a non-meritorious way by faith — Ephesians 2:8,9. And that is the beginning of a plan, a plan which in part there is no volitional involvement and in part there is. Take, for example, the second type of grace which is living grace. With living grace you have no control over how long you stay here but you have control over what happens in the sphere of living grace and for all eternity. In other words, under living grace God provides life, God provides food, clothing and shelter, God provides text book, the Bible, the communicator, the pastor-teacher, and the classroom, the local church. God provides everything necessary for you to remain alive in this earth as a part of the angelic conflict, and He has a certain amount of time for you on this earth. That is living grace. And when you depart, that is the point of your death, and it is either going to be over the golden bridge of dying grace because you’ve taken the high ground, or it is going to be down on the bamboo bridge with no dying grace. So in this whole principle of living grace God even prolongs life so that there may be a response to discipline. You have a paragraph forever with your name on it, a surpassing grace paragraph, and only you can claim it. And you don’t claim it in heaven, you claim it in time. Yet get it by attitude toward Bible doctrine. So then, living grace gives you the opportunity for all of the other graces. So this is the relationship. The length of time from the cross to your departure from this life is the length of time in living grace that you have the option. God has given you enough time to go from salvation to the end of your life and in that time to have followed the colours, to seize and hold the high ground and to go across that golden bridge called dying grace, and to move to the higher ground of your very own surpassing grace paragraph. So the relationship to the categories of grace is important.

L. The categories of supergrace are represented in the whole history of Israel. These merely show the variety of areas in which supergrace paragraphs are emphasised. We don’t always have exactly the same thing. There is always one thing that we have in the whole periphery that stands out. For example, Abraham’s peripheral prosperity was sexual prosperity, and Abraham was almost 100 years old before he got to the high ground and held it. Therefore, seizing and holding the high ground when you are 99 and sexually dead, and the main part of your paragraph is sex, you can see immediately there were some problems! But it didn’t bother Abraham because once he seized and held he knew that this was what God had for him. And he was circumcised and entered into fantastic sexual prosperity. And, of course, from that sexual prosperity came the only new race that we have had since the end of the flood. David represents supergrace leadership in both military and national categories. Then there is Isaiah who represents supergrace leadership in communication of doctrine. He is the greatest Bible teacher and prophet in the period of the southern kingdom. Then there is Jeremiah who represents supergrace blessings in time of national catastrophe. We have actually seen in Hebrews 11 that one man can actually change the whole course of history, and when Noah hit the high ground of supergrace God made him the hub for history. The apostle Paul is the illustration of the type of person whose supergrace prosperity was the greatest amount of doctrine for all time. And as a result the whole history of the world from his time on revolves around Paul in every generation. Daniel represents supergrace promotion and leadership and blessing, just like Joseph, in a Gentile periphery; whereas Paul represents supergrace blessings of a Jew when Israel was dispersed under the fifth cycle of discipline, the Jewish Age is interrupted, and Abraham’s progeny in Saul of Tarsus, the apostle Paul, holds the all-time record for doctrinal blessing.

M. The promotion of supergrace — Psalm 84. This psalm actually talks about a temple, and there was no temple. This is a psalm written by the sons of Korah and there was no temple when the sons of Korah were doing their writing.

Verse 1 — “How lovely are thy dwelling places, O Lord of hosts!” His dwelling places are the places where supergrace believers live; high ground. And where else is a dwelling place? On the golden bridge, how long it takes you to die. And where else is a dwelling place? On the other side in eternity where you have SG³, surpassing grace. So the dwelling places are SG² and SG^3. They are not “lovely”. The word for lovely in the Hebrews means the utmost beauty, the beauty which charms, a beauty which enhances, a beauty which gets into your soul and you think about it and remember it. “O Lord of hosts!” is referring to the fact that God is the God of the armies of heaven as well as earth.

Verse 2 — “My soul longs” — positive volition toward doctrine; “even yearns” — intensifying the intake of doctrine; “for the courts of the Lord” — the court is where the Word is taught. So the temple or the dwelling places are where the victories are won, but the victories are won by spending a lot of time in the courts. In a sense the local church is a court; “my right lobe and my flesh [my human ability to sing] sing with +H to the living God.”

Verse 3 — “The bird also has found a home [doctrine]” — the bird is a wanderer. In other words, where doctrine is that is the place where home is; “and the swallow a nest” — the swallow is a bird that migrates from place to place and regularly comes back to the same place; “for herself where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.” The altar always takes us back to the initiation of grace which is salvation grace.

Verse 4 — “Blessings to those who dwell in thy house” — persistence in doctrine; “they are ever praising thee. Selah [think about that].”

Verse 5 — “Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee” — resident Bible doctrine, getting to the high ground; “in whose right lobe are the highways to glory” — supergrace, dying grace, surpassing grace.

Verse 6 — “Who passing through the valley of Baca [valley of tears]” — and crying so much they “make a spring; however the early rain [doctrine] also covers it with blessing” — doctrine in the soul in time of great tragedy in your life. You can be in the valley of Baca and have great blessing. So even in the greatest tragedies and heartaches of your life doctrine will take you through the valley of Baca just as doctrine takes you to the high ground of supergrace.

Verse 7 — “They go from strength to strength” — the first strength is the high ground, SG², and you have your SG² paragraph and everything that God has for you, and you seize and you hold. That is strength. What is coming up next? Death is coming up next. Death is considered something related to weakness, but you’re going from SG² to strength, and this is a golden bridge over the chasm from time to eternity and that is dying grace, and therefore another strength. You don’t die in weakness, you die in strength under dying grace. And as you cross the bridge you come over now to your next paragraph, surpassing grace. So you go from strength to strength to strength.

“every one of them” — not found in the original. It should be “they go from strength to strength appearing before God in Zion.” In other words, the whole principle here is that when you go from strength to strength you come face to face with God. You may be in time and you can’t see God, but when you get on the high ground you see the invisible. “We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” — 2 Corinthians 4:18. When you get on the high ground you can look over and see what was invisible before. This is the fantastic blessing that goes with occupation with Christ.

Verse 8 — “O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.”

Verse 9 — “Behold, our shield O God” — the shield is an item of military equipment used in advancing. No army ever carried them while retreating. The whole concept of a shield is advance; “and look upon the face of your anointed one” — that is David speaking. In other words, ‘Look God, I’m moving toward you, look on my face.’

Verse 10 — Here is how you advance, get back to those courts, wherever your right pastor and local church is. “For a day in class [Bible class, learning doctrine] is better than a thousand [out raising hell]. I would rather stand at the entrance of Bible class than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”

Verse 11 — “For the Lord God is a light and a shield” — in other words the glory road is light ahead of us, all we do is follow, and He is a shield, He protects us on the flanks and to the rear as we move forward — “the Lord gives grace and glory” — saving grace, living grace, supergrace, dying grace, surpassing grace. And the last three are glory. And when you get to the high ground of supergrace you have one paragraph, SG², and you have the assurance of the second paragraph, SG³, and this is what it says: “No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly [with integrity]” — integrity here means doctrine. He does not hold any good thing from those who walk in the Word.

Verse 12 — “O Lord of hosts, blessings to the one who has confidence in you.”

N. The areas of supergrace capacity. There are five basic ones. a) Freedom — Romans 8:21; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Galatians 5:1 — In the sphere of freedom Christ has freed us. “Stand fast, therefore, stop being enmeshed again by the yoke of slavery.” The yoke of slavery is any form of reversionism. The one in view in the context is legalistic reversionism. b) Life itself — 1 Samuel 17:47; 18:5. Capacity for life comes from supergrace capacity. c) Love, all three categories — Category #1, Deuteronomy 6:6; category #2, Song of Solomon 8:6,7; category #3, 2 Samuel 1:26. d) Happiness — Psalm 9:1,2; 21:1; 31:7. e) Sufferings — 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.

O. The reality of the celebrityship of Jesus Christ. Once you hit the high ground one thing becomes obvious. There is only one celebrity — many heroes but one celebrity — on the glory road. There are many supergrace heres but there is only one person in the royal family who is a celebrity and that is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince leader of the royal family of God. In supergrace status the believer becomes occupied with Christ. Occupation with Christ makes heaven a reality, makes death an anticipated blessing, and makes life absolutely fantastic. So that you have the best in life, better in dying, better than the best for all eternity.

Our passage for the reality of the celebrityship of Jesus Christ is Lamentations 3:21-25.

Verse 21 — “This I recall to my mind” — function of the frame of reference, the function of the memory centre; “therefore I have confidence.” This is spoken by Jeremiah as a supergrace believer seizing and holding the high ground of supergrace, anticipating dying — although he is going to live to have the oldest advanced supergrace in age of anyone — and anticipating the glories of SG³ as well.

Verse 22 — “The grace expressions of the Lord are never exhausted, there will never be an end of God’s grace.” God never runs out of grace, cannot run out of grace, will not run out of grace. Even when you are under discipline your discipline is grace. The grace expressions of the Lord are never exhausted. They were not exhausted at salvation, they were not exhausted in time, they are not exhausted on the high ground of supergrace, they are not exhausted crossing the golden bridge of dying grace, they are not exhausted in SG³, the surpassing grace blessings of eternity. Why? Because God is fair, therefore His compassions never fail, it says, but it should read “cannot fail.” God could neither run out of grace nor run out of compassion. Grace is the principle, compassion is His personal attitude toward you.

Verse 23 — “They are new every morning;” — another day on this earth means another day of living grace, and after you have advanced another day of living grace and the great principle of supergrace they are new every morning — “great is thy faithfulness.” God never lets us down.

Verse 24 — the conclusion: “The Lord is my portion, says my soul” — and what says that in the soul? Doctrine resident in the soul; “therefore I have confidence in him.”

Verse 25 — “Absolute good is the Lord to those who wait for him” — that means to follow the colours to the high ground; “to the soul that will seek him.”

P. Supergrace, therefore, is part of the road to glory. a) There is a relationship between the supergrace blessings of time and the surpassing grace blessings of eternity; b) The link between the two is dying grace; c) Dying grace bridges the gap between supergrace status in time and surpassing grace status in eternity. Therefore, the road to glory is grace to grace and supergrace is a part of that road; d) For example, Abraham’s salvation grace — Genesis 15:6; e) Abraham’s supergrace blessing related to his sexual prosperity — Hebrews 11:11,12; f) Abraham’s surpassing grace blessing related to the heavenly Jerusalem — Hebrews 11:9,10; Revelation 21:2; g) The dying grace principle which links Abraham’s supergrace blessing with his surpassing grace blessing is Hebrews 11:13; h) Dying grace is the bridge that takes the believer from supergrace blessing in time to surpassing grace blessing in eternity; i) Therefore, we have the importance of doctrine resident in the soul, the driving principle of follow the colours, the principle of pressing, pushing to the higher ground, pressing to the objective of Philippians 3:12-14. And we press from saving grace to supergrace, from supergrace to dying grace, from dying grace to surpassing grace. In other words, in time it takes doctrine to see the invisible God but once we cross that bridge we are with Him face to face.

Q. Attitude toward doctrine in time determines all great blessings in eternity. a) In eternity past God designed for each believer two paragraphs: supergrace for time; surpassing grace for eternity. These are blessing paragraphs. b) The believer cannot lose either heaven or salvation but he can lose both paragraphs. c) He can lose supergrace blessings in time through negative volition toward doctrine and subsequent reversionism. d) He can lose surpassing grace rewards in eternity by the same negative volition toward doctrine. e) Therefore, attitude toward doctrine on a daily basis is the determining factor for the angelic conflict and for us glorifying God as members of the royal family. f) Negative volition means loss of blessing in time as well as in eternity — minus SG², minus SG³. g) Therefore, again, the importance of seizing and holding the high ground by pressing with positive volition after reaching supergrace. In other words, the command is seize and hold. h) The attainment of supergrace reaches the objective and immediately establishes a new objective, as per Philippians 3:12-14. i) In this passage (Philippians 3) seize and hold means not only to attain supergrace status but through continuous, persistent positive volition toward doctrine hold that status until death. j) Note the sequence of advance: grace to grace, glory to glory: —

Saving grace attained by faith in Christ advances us into the royal family of God forever. Living grace is divine provision that keeps the believer in phase two for the attainment of blessing or divine discipline, whichever is chosen by the believer. The provision of living grace includes both doctrine, a communicator of doctrine, and a place to receive doctrine under strict discipline. Supergrace is a maximum amount of doctrine resident in the soul resulting in the believer’s spiritual maturity. It is the place of occupation with Christ, the place of sharing God’s happiness, the place of temporal blessings as well. And it is the road to dying grace. Dying grace, then, is the bridge between supergrace and surpassing grace, between paragraph SG² and paragraph SG³. Surpassing grace is the eternal reward and blessing of the supergrace believer.

There are two different ways to go from time to eternity. Categorically, any believer goes from time to eternity, goes from whatever his spiritual status in time happens to be to eternity as a believer. The moment that he believed in Jesus Christ he became the recipient of eternal life and will always have that eternal life and will always be in the family of God. For the spiritual birth is a permanent birth and when a person believes in Christ he is said to be born again, born into the family of God. In this particular situation we are talking about the royal family of God or the Church Age. Anyone who is born in this age immediately becomes a member of the royal family and is his own priest and representative before God. The issue has always been the same but it is dramatised now by the fact that we have a completed canon of scripture. It is possible to pass from time to eternity by way of a golden bridge called dying grace. This means the person who passes in this way has already been the beneficiary of the supergrace status, and that means supergrace blessings or the fulfilment of SG², his paragraph with his name on it. SG² is a paragraph that is designed in eternity past for every believer. It includes everything from occupation with the person of Christ to such wonderful and glorious things as the ability to handle all difficulties in life through the inner resources of doctrine, wealth, success, prosperity, dynamic leadership ability, many wonderful and unusual things. And to seize and to hold the high ground of supergrace all the way to death means to pass over the bridge of dying grace. This takes us, then, into eternity where is waiting for each one of us who passes over this bridge paragraph SG³, the surpassing grace paragraph. This route is taken only by those who seize and hold the high ground of supergrace, as per Philippians 3:12-14. This is the glory road, and to reach the point of surpassing grace means that the individual believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has followed the glory road from saving grace to living grace, to supergrace, to dying grace, to surpassing grace. In the eleventh chapter of Hebrews we will need to understand three great doctrines — supergrace, dying grace, surpassing grace.

There is also another road that goes from time to eternity for the believer. The believer never loses his salvation; the believer never loses eternal life. But the believer who is negative toward Bible doctrine gets into reversionism. The reversionistic road from time to eternity is the road of the sin unto death. This is a miserable dying, this is the last piece of discipline that God ever gives the believer. The sin unto death is preceded by all kinds of divine discipline. Once the believer goes from time to eternity under the sin unto death — he has previously lost SG² in time — he is minus SG³. He will spend eternity in the presence of God, he will be in heaven forever, his salvation is not in doubt or in question, but he definitely has the loss of the rewards and blessings that are related to SG³.

The doctrine of dying grace

1. By way of definition dying grace is the experience of physical death by the supergrace believer. It is dying under divine provision for grace whereby the individual believer has blessing and happiness in death. There may be pain but pain is offset by the blessing and the happiness of this type of death. There is minimum or no pain, there is maximum happiness, and during the entire process of dying there is total soul stimulation.

2. Dying grace, therefore, removes the fear of death — Psalm 23:4.

3. Dying grace is a supergrace blessing — Psalm 106:15; Hebrews 11:5.

4. The description of dying grace is given for us in Job 5:21-27.

5. Dying grace is the bridge between supergrace blessings and surpassing grace blessings.

a) Abraham’s supergrace blessing in time was related to his sexual prosperity — Hebrews 11:11,12; Romans 4:17-21.

b) The sign of this prosperity was Abraham’s circumcision at age 99.

c) Abraham’s surpassing grace blessings in eternity are related to the fact that God has a city for him — the eternal city, the heavenly Jerusalem — Hebrews 11:9,10; Revelation 21:2,10.

d) The link between Abraham’s supergrace blessings in time and his surpassing grace blessings in eternity is dying grace. Dying grace is the principle which links supergrace with surpassing grace — Hebrews 11:13.

e) In time it takes doctrine to see the invisible God.

f) But once we cross the bridge called dying grace we see Him face to face.

g) Therefore, dying grace is the linkup between time and eternity. It is making the transition from time to eternity with minimum pain and maximum blessing. In following the colours we advance on the road to glory from saving grace to supergrace, from supergrace to dying grace, from dying grace to surpassing grace.

6. Therefore, the importance of seizing and holding the high ground — Philippians 3:12-14. In eternity past God designed for each one of us a supergrace paragraph. These supergrace blessings are designed to glorify God and, again, we call that supergrace paragraph SG², the ² referring to time, ³ refers to eternity. Phase two is the believer in time. Under SG² God has a lot of wonderful things for everyone of us. But SG² is a part of the angelic conflict and it is optional. Whether you ever get it or not depends entirely upon the consistency of your attitude toward Bible doctrine. Since man was created to resolve the angelic conflict man’s resolving of it was always related to his volition. SG² is available, and once you get there you seize and hold there. That is for time, and it is the ultimate of blessing for time in every sense of the word. You can both lose blessings in time and reward in eternity by failing to seize and hold the high ground. The believer cannot lose heaven and he cannot lose salvation, all he can lose is heaven on earth and SG³ in eternity. And when he has lost those he has really lost something.

7. The relationship between supergrace and surpassing grace is found in dying grace — Hebrews 11:13, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”

Hebrews 11:13

“These” is the nominative plural from the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj, referring to something in context comparatively near at hand in contrast to another demonstrative pronoun e)keinoj, meaning something obscure, something far away from the context. E)keinoj is not used here. The very first word here in the plural indicates that while Abraham is the pattern for going from saving grace to living grace, from living grace to supergrace, supergrace to dying grace, dying grace to surpassing grace, he was also followed by his son Isaac in this pattern, as well as Jacob.

“all” indicates that they departed through physical death. Death is palatable for the supergrace believer because it is simply a step from one step of wonderful blessings to a set of even greater blessings. It is going from paragraph SG² to paragraph SG³. Therefore, no matter what the means of dying it doesn’t make any difference, it is going from the best to better than the best by way of a better road.

“died” is the aorist active indicative of the verb a)poqnhskw, one of several words for death, and it is used here simply for physical death in contrast to what was in the previous verse. In the previous verse there is another word for death nekrow, but that is used for sexual death. The a)po part indicates here that it has the connotations of the greatest type of blessings. So when it says they died it is referring to a great, great blessing. The aorist tense is a constative aorist which contemplates the action of dying in its entirety. It takes the occurrence of dying and no matter how long it took these men to start on the bridge and gathers it all up into one entirety. The active voice: the supergrace believers produced the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal idea from the standpoint of reality. Dying grace is a dogmatic reality.

“in faith” — the preposition kata plus the noun pistij. Pistij means what is believed here and/or doctrine. Pistij has three meanings. It means faith, it means very strong confidence, and it also means doctrine or the content of what is believed. Cf.. Arndt and Ginchricht on page 669 — pistij means that which is believed, a body of faith or belief.” In other words, doctrine. So we translate, then, “According to doctrine resident in the soul all these died.” That is the correct order in the Greek.

But notice there was something they did not received: “not having received” — the aorist middle participle of komizw. In the active voice this word means to bring. In the middle voice it means to carry off for one’s self, to carry off plunder, to receive reward or wages or recognition. So we will translate it as it is in the KJV, “not having received,” with the negative mh. We also have a culminative aorist tense which views the action of the verb in its entirety but it emphasises the results in a negative way. In other words, they lived in time and they passed from time to eternity, and during that time they received many blessings. But there is one thing, at the end of this time they had not received a certain promise. That is what the culminative aorist says to us from the Greek. The direct middle refers the results of the action directly to the agent so that the agent participates in the results which are the blessings of surpassing grace. And the point is that while in time he did not receive the blessings of surpassing grace. Then we have a participle which is circumstantial, plus the negative, which means that in time neither Abraham nor any believer receives the blessings of his surpassing grace paragraph. The attainment of these special blessings depends upon reaching phase three or eternity. So “according to doctrine resident in the soul these all died not having received the promises” — the accusative plural direct object of e)paggelia. The plural here means that each one of these men had his own SG³ paragraph, but he didn’t receive it in time. All you get in time is SG² which is phenomenal. However, the adversative conjunction sets up a contrast between not receiving eternal rewards in time but still enjoying supergrace blessings in time.

“but having seen them afar off” — so the point is, they did not actually enjoy in time that great city that Abraham has in SG³ because it belongs to eternity. When you are in supergrace and you’ve been there, where you seize and hold the high ground, when these great blessings from God begin to come to you so that God is glorified by them and you are benefited by them, you begin to see something of eternity. That is what we have in the phrase, “having seen them afar off,” the aorist active participle of o(raw means to get the overall perspective. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety, and it gathers into one entirety Abraham’s supergrace experience of looking over the chasm from time over to eternity and seeing these wonderful things. O(raw means to see everything in general, to get an overall perspective. This is where we get our English word “horizon”. It means to get the overall picture. As you take in doctrine and take in doctrine and take in doctrine, and begin to move to the high ground, and when you get to the high ground and seize it and hold it, then you get a chance at a broad panorama, the broad perspective, of heaven. What a glorious thing it is and what wonderful things you have on the other side. That is what is used here for a supergrace believer with the broad perspective. Abraham could stand at the edge and view the whole thing, something that only the supergrace believer does. For the believer who has SG² it becomes a fantastic and phenomenal thing. So Abraham didn’t mind living in a tent as a millionaire, as the most successful man of his day, as a great leader, as an unusual person. He didn’t mind living in a tent because he was standing on the high ground, holding it, and looking toward the higher ground of SG³ — “having seen them afar off” or “from a distance.” The distance in this adverb is that distance between time and eternity for the individual supergrace believer. From the high ground of supergrace Abraham could look out and look into eternity and see what we see by Revelation 21:2, 10, that beautiful city coming down from heaven, the heavenly Jerusalem which is the personal property of Abraham. It is a part of his SG³ paragraph.

The next phrase, “and were persuaded of them,” is not found in the original, but the next phrase “and embraced them” is. It is the aorist middle participle of a)spazomai which means to salute. It had two original meanings. It means to embrace erotically or sexually, or it means to salute. Actually, it means to greet other members of the human race. Abraham personally embraced all of his blessings of SG³ across the chasm. He did it by doctrine, they were real to him. On the other side of the chasm was eternity, and he could look over the chasm into eternity and actually embrace these. It also means to salute in the sense of recognition of rank or authority.

“and confessed” — o(mologew which means to acknowledge, “also having acknowledged.” A supergrace believer who seizes and holds the high ground acknowledges something. This is a dramatic aorist, it is an idiomatic device for emphasis. It states what has just been realised. In the supergrace status the continuation or the perpetuation of supergrace brings about the realisation of surpassing grace. The active voice: anyone who seizes and holds the high ground, as per Philippians 3:12-14, will come to produce this action. The participle is a concessive participle in which supergrace believers in continuing to hold the high ground acknowledge that it is only going to be better. Supergrace is the most fantastic blessing in life but beyond it is something better, the passing from time to eternity — dying grace. And there is something better than the best, and that is the surpassing grace paragraph in eternity.

“that they were” — the present active indicative of e)imi. The present tense is an historical present in which a past event is viewed with the vividness of a present occurrence. The supergrace heroes, like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, produce the action of the verb in this context. The indicative mood says this is an historical reality, people have actually gone this route.

“were strangers and pilgrims” — “stranger” is cenoj; “pilgrims” here is parepidhmoj, which means to be a transient, a passing-through type of person. That is exactly what we have here, a passing-through person, a person who is going from grace to grace and glory to glory. So they acknowledged that they were strangers and transients, passing through from grace to grace and from glory to glory “on the earth”.

8. Therefore, dying grace is the transition to surpassing grace — 2 Timothy 4:7,8. “I have fought a good fight” — seizing and holding the high ground of supergrace; “I have finished the course” — that means to reach the bridge, the point where you initiate the salute to eternity; “I have kept the doctrine” — Paul followed the colours to the point of death. “Therefore, in the future there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness” — surpassing grace blessing; “which the Lord, the righteous evaluator, will award to me on that day; and not to me only, but also to all those who love his appearing.”

Dying grace (cont)

9. The exceptions to dying grace:

a) The sin unto death. The reversionistic believer dies miserably under discipline, and through losing his supergrace paragraph in time he also loses his surpassing grace paragraph in eternity. The sin unto death is the transition between time and eternity with benefit of SG² and SG^3.

b) Transfer without dying — Hebrews 11:5,6 where we have Enoch transferring from time to eternity without seeing death. We have a second illustration in the Rapture generation, transfer from time to eternity, and all supergrace believers at the Rapture fall into this category. There will be a lot of other people besides supergrace believers in the Rapture, however the ones involved there are simply blessed by association. A reversionist will be blessed by association at the Rapture, he will also go from time to eternity without seeing death — 1 Corinthians 15:51-57; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.

Hebrews 11:5 — “By faith” is the instrumental singular of pistij. Pistij, again, means three things: faith, confidence, and also what is believed, the body of belief and/or doctrine. It means doctrine here and should be translated “By means of doctrine resident in the soul.” The instrumental case is instrumental of means.

“Enoch” — was a prophet, which means he was a communicator of Bible doctrine. And to learn doctrine he had to study the materials made available by God. We do not know the actual mechanics by which Bible doctrine was communicated at the time of Enoch but he had consistent and persistent positive volition. He kept pressing, he never let up. The result was that he accumulated more doctrine in his day than anyone else had ever accumulated. Therefore, when it came time for Enoch’s transfer we have a very rare type of situation, the drawbridge is let down from the other end.

“was translated” — Enoch was transferred, not translated. That is exactly what the aorist passive indicative of metatiqhmi means. It means to convey from one place to another. The passive voice means to be transferred. The aorist tense is a gnomic aorist for an historical fact so certain that it is described in the aorist as though it was actually occurring right now. Therefore it is an idiom for the culminative aorist and the culminative aorist views the transfer in its entirety but emphasises the existing results of obtaining surpassing grace without ever going through physical death. The passive voice: he receives the transfer. The indicative mood is the declarative indicative representing the action of the verb from the viewpoint of reality. Enoch went from supergrace to surpassing grace without the experience of physical death.

The transfer of Enoch is a monument to the fact that a person can break every frontier of knowledge and come down to something that is absolutely and completely fantastic. It is possible to be so strong in positive volition, to be so stable a person, to be so remarkable a character, that you keep driving, keep driving, keep driving, and that you accumulate more doctrine than anyone who ever went before. So much so that, in effect, the doctrine in your soul puts the bridge between time and eternity down, and by putting it down already God just says why bother with death. That is what He did with Enoch.

God in eternity past has designed two paragraphs for each believer. These paragraphs are optional depending on your attitude toward doctrine in time. The supergrace paragraph is for blessing in time; the surpassing grace paragraph is for blessing in eternity. Persistent positive volition toward doctrine results in attaining the supergrace status but entering supergrace and sticking it out are two different things and it is the holding and the saturation of doctrine afterwards that is the issue with Enoch. Enoch was so strong after he reached the high ground that he seized and held in such a wonderful way that he parlayed the principle of supergrace into surpassing grace without ever dying.

The word “that” is a translational device used by the translator to show a result infinitive. Therefore it is legitimate in this case.

“he should not see” — the aorist active infinitive of o(raw plus the negative mh. The culminative aorist here views the transfer from time to eternity in its entirety. It emphasises the existing results, i.e. after you cross that bridge, even if you don’t die, you move on to surpassing grace. The active voice: Enoch produces the action of the verb, of transferring from supergrace to surpassing grace without dying at all. The infinitive is an actual result of passing from supergrace in time to surpassing grace in eternity minus death. He went down the glory road without ever dying.

“death” — the accusative singular of qanatoj, used here for death in its simplest form of the soul leaving the body.

“and was not found” — the imperfect passive of e(uriskw which means to find, to search, but here in the passive voice it means to be found. With the negative it means not to be found. The imperfect tense of duration implies that the process has been completed at a given point in the past. It is very similar, therefore, to the pluperfect. The process is completed, he simply was not found. People looked for him and they finally realised he wasn’t there. The passive voice: Enoch received the action of the verb, not being found on the earth because of a transfer minus death. The indicative mood is the declarative mood for the historical reality of the fact that Enoch was transferred from time to eternity apart from death.

Immediately we have a question. Why didn’t Enoch transfer from supergrace to surpassing grace by the usual manner, by dying? Because dying grace is related to the supergrace paragraph. For anyone who holds supergrace the last part of the paragraph is dying grace. Dying grace is definitely a part of SG² . But Enoch is unique because his dying grace is related to his surpassing grace paragraph. That is unique. So with Enoch it is different. Dying grace was hooked up to his SG³ and therefore since in eternity there is no death he couldn’t go to heaven by death. The drawbridge is lowered from eternity for him. The same thing happened to Elijah and the same thing will happen to the Rapture generation.

Another question comes up. Why was that over in SG³? If dying is related to SG² you are going to die physically, but if dying is related to SG³ then you cannot die because SG³ has no dying clauses, there is no death in eternity. There is only death in time. So great was the intake on the part of Enoch, so great was his occupation with Christ, so consistently did he hold his ground, so stabilised was his life, so dynamic was his leadership, that in eternity past God said that this man will come out of time but there will be no drawbridge on the side of time. He said this man is going to shock his generation and be a monument forever to the fact that no one by being faithful to the living Word — and you can only be faithful to the living Word by being faithful to the written Word — will ever lose out. In this life Bible is more important than anything else and everything else is related to it. The tactical victory in the angelic conflict is related to your attitude toward Bible doctrine — your daily attitude. Your attitude toward doctrine determines your activity in the angelic conflict. There is blessing related to the faithful intake of doctrine, there is pressure, there is testing. Everything that is difficult, everything that is a problem, everything that is distracting is related to Bible doctrine. Enoch went through all of that. Elijah and Enoch advanced so far and so fast in supergrace that transfer apart from death was warranted. Where are the orders written? If the orders are written in SG³ then you depart from this life without dying.

The concept

1. Dying grace is like a drawbridge.

2. Ordinarily the drawbridge is let down or controlled from the time side of the chasm.

3. Dying grace is a blessing of supergrace. Therefore the drawbridge is let down on the time side.

4. But in this passage we have the drawbridge let down from the eternity side. There is no death.

5. The same thing will happen to supergrace believers in the Rapture generation.

6. Because the Lord is to meet the Rapture generation in the air that drawbridge called dying grace will not be lowered. Instead, the bridge will be lowered from the eternity side. This means that all carnal believers at the Rapture, all immature believers at the Raptures, all reversionistic believers at the Rapture will also be transferred at the same time. Their transfer is blessing by association.

“because” — the conjunction diote; “the God had transferred him” — now we have the aorist active indicative of metatiqhmi. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety, it take the transfer of just a few seconds and gathers it up into a single entirety. God the Father produces the action of the verb by transferring Enoch and the transfer was written up in his SG³ paragraph, and being written up there no death is involved. The indicative mood is declarative for the historical reality of Enoch’s transfer without dying.

“for before his transfer,” literally; “he had this testimony” — perfect passive indicative of marturew. The passive voice means to have a deposition. The deposition is written in the past with the result that the deposition continues to exist. The deposition is this passage. The perfect tense is a dramatic perfect. The dramatic perfect is the rhetorical use of the intensive perfect. The intensive perfect is a process completed and results from that process forever. In this case, Enoch receives the deposition in the past with the result that the deposition is a monument to God’s grace forever. The passive voice: Enoch received the approval of the deposition with the result that it stood, and the monument of this approval is the transfer of Enoch from time to eternity without death. And you have to take your body along! The indicative mood is the declarative indicative for an historical action, the action of the verb is represented from the viewpoint of reality. He obtained the testimony in the past with the result that the deposition stood and stands forever — “he pleased God.” The whole issue is that here is a man that God has put his death in SG³ so he wouldn’t die, and He put his death there because he pleased God. This is the perfect active infinitive of e)uarestew. The intensive perfect means that he pleased God in the past with the result that God is still pleased. The infinitive represents an actual result. “God” here is the dative of indirect object of qeoj plus the definite article — “the God.” The dative of indirect object indicates the one in whose interest the seizing and holding of the high ground is performed. Positive volition in time means the attainment of supergrace. In the case of Enoch it meant supergrace and surpassing grace. The attainment of each paragraph blesses the believer, but here is what the dative says: While we keep thinking about the wonderful blessings that Enoch had in time and the wonderful blessings he had in eternity, and the wonderful way in which the golden drawbridge went down so that he went from time to eternity without dying, we forget the big issue — God was glorified in the whole thing. The principle we should never forget: When we reach supergrace we are blessed but God is glorified.

Translation: “By means of doctrine resident in the soul Enoch was transferred with the result that he should not see death; and he was not found, because the God had transferred him: for before his transfer he had attained the testimony in the past, with the result that the deposition stood, that he had pleased God.”

Verse 6 — the principle of pleasing God. “But without faith” — we have “And without faith”, xwrij, an adverb used as an improper preposition, plus the genitive of pistij. Pistij means doctrine. So it is “And without doctrine.” If you are minus doctrine in your soul you cannot please God.

“impossible” — a)dunatoj. This is the accusative singular adjective, it is the subject of the infinitive, and the infinitive is “to please,” e)uarestew, this time in the aorist active infinitive. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It follows the pattern of Enoch in context, takes the occurrence of Enoch’s advance down the glory road to the high ground of supergrace, and regardless of the extent or duration of it gathers it up into a single whole. It includes in the entirety Enoch’s salvation grace, living grace, taking and holding the high ground, and moving from the high ground of supergrace to the higher ground of surpassing grace, without that bridge called death. The active voice: the subject includes not just Enoch but those addressed in the epistle to the Hebrews, the royal family of God. Hence, the royal family of God in the Church Age can produce the action of the verb of pleasing God. The infinitive of intended result is a blend of purpose and result in the royal family. When the result is indicated as fulfilling a deliberate aim or goal it is called intended result. The intended result in pleasing God is to take in doctrine, to take in doctrine, to keep moving forward, to press forward, to follow the colours, to advance to the high ground.

“for” — the explanatory use of gar; “he that cometh” — proserxomai here means to occupy one’s self with something. This is the customary present for what habitually occurs or may reasonably be expected to occur. Occupation with Christ causes the believer to seize and hold the high ground of supergrace. Seizing and holding means to be occupied with God as well as with Christ. The royal family can produce the action, according to this active voice. This is a temporal participle, and the temporal participle says, “when you do it you are pleasing God too.”

“must believe” — there are two verbs here. “Must” is a correct translation, it is taken from the verb of compulsion of duty, the impersonal verb dei. But the aorist active infinitive of pisteuw means to be convinced here rather than to believe. He must be convinced by doctrine resident in the soul in supergrace status. Again, the constative aorist gathers the action of the verb into its entirety. The verb gathers into one ball of wax all the doctrine in the soul which makes the invisible God real as to His person, His essence, His plan, His decrees, the special blessings of SG² and SG^3. All of these things become real in the soul. The infinitive is also a purpose type infinitive.

“that he is” — this is the reality of God, not the existence of God. This is talking about a believer on the high ground where he is, as it were, face to face with the invisible God. The static present represents a condition assumed as perpetually existing. Then, the second “he is” is wrong. It is the present middle indicative of ginomai — “that he is and that he becomes.” He is to become something is what is really means — e)imi plus ginomai. God exists to become something for you. God is real to you as a source of blessing, the only source.

“a rewarder” — that is paragraph SG^3. That is the whole story of Enoch. God became so real to Enoch on that high ground of supergrace that God became the rewarder in SG³ , and He rewarded Enoch in an unusual way, He simply took him across the bridge without death.

“to them that diligently seek him — this articular participle has a definite article as the dative of indirect object as well as the dative of advantage. The dative of indirect object says here that to the royal family in whose interest both SG² and SG³ were written in eternity past God is the rewarder. The present active participle is a very strong participle for earnestly seeking, searching, desiring something, very strong positive volition. The static present is for the perpetual existence of this positive volition with the believer who seizes and holds the high ground.

Translation: “And without doctrine resident in the soul it is impossible to please God: for when one is occupied with God he must be convinced [by the inner resources of resident doctrine] that he is, and that he becomes a rewarder to those who diligently seek him.”

We have Abraham’s living grace in verse 8; Abraham’s surpassing grace in verses 9,10; Abraham’s supergrace in verses 11,12; Dying grace, verse 13. We have the test of surpassing grace in verse 15,16; the test of supergrace in verses 17-19.

Verse 8 — the living grace of Abraham. “By faith” is the instrumental singular of pistij, and it mans “by means of doctrine.”

“Abraham” — not mentioned here is Abraham’s saving grace, because that is taught elsewhere and is not pertinent to the subject. We do have a very strong statement of Abraham’s saving grace in Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:1-5. This chapter gives a lot verses to Abraham because he illustrates the pattern of the glory road of the royal family. The glory road actually begins at the point of salvation — saving grace; phase two is living grace; following the colours to the high ground — supergrace; crossing the bridge of dying grace; and then on the other side in eternity — SG³ or surpassing grace.

“when he was called” — the present passive participle of the verb kalew. The present tense is an historical present, it views the past event with the vividness of a present occurrence. The call was based on the fact that Abraham was positive toward doctrine. In fact, he had accumulated enough doctrine to be almost ready to enter into supergrace when he was called. This indicates the fact that regardless of geographical location or any other factor that might be considered isolation Abraham had enough information right where he was in a famous heathen city, Ur of the Chaldeas. The passive voice: Abraham received the action of the verb on the basis of doctrine resident in the soul. The participle is temporal, which is why we translate it “when he was called.”

After this point in the verse the Greek word order is different, so different that we are not justified in following it as it is in the King James version. Next in the Greek comes the word “obeyed,” the aorist active indicative of u(pakouw. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist, it views the event in its entirety, namely the accumulation of doctrine in the soul through GAP as GAP existed at that time, but regards the verb from the viewpoint of existing results, namely Abraham had now acquired enough doctrine and had made enough spiritual advances to be ready to make a major change of residence. Abraham had enough doctrine to accept a tough challenge. He knew he was getting into something that was going to be rough. All of this is covered in the word “obeyed” here. The active voice: Abraham produced the action. The indicative mood is declarative for historical reality. Under the principle of living grace God provided for Abraham in Ur of the Chaldeas the necessary doctrine and everything necessary to move out. The principle of divine guidance there demands that a person who is going to make a permanent geographical change like Abraham was from Chaldea to Canaan, a major change of life, has doctrine in the soul.

The doctrine of divine guidance

1. There are three categories of the will of God as far as phase two is concerned. As far as history is concerned there are three types of categories of will. There is #3, bullheadedness — your volition; #2, invisible headedness — angelic volition; #1, correct and absolute sovereignty — God’s volition.

2. The cardinal principle of divine guidance is found in 1 John 3:23, and it is broken down into two categories. It is God’s will for each one of us to believe in Jesus Christ, and secondly, it is God’s will for each believer to advance down the glory road. This starts with the filling of the Spirit and/or love which John emphasises.

3. The humanity of Christ has free will — Matthew 20:22; 26:42; Hebrews 10:7,9. The implications are obvious. Man has volition and volition must be tested. Man was tested in the garden. Outside of the garden we still have the test, the cross. But for those who have passed the cross test there is another test. There is the test of doctrine to the high ground of supergrace and then there is the test on the high ground — seize and hold. After that there is no test because the sovereignty of God takes over, then the golden drawbridge is lowered and you walk across, dying grace, into eternity. But as long as you are in time volition is an issue. The implications: no free will in mankind means no free will in the humanity of Christ. No free will in the humanity of Christ means no redemption and no salvation. But, of course, we do have redemption and salvation and we know that our Lord had free will because He expressed it — “Father if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not my will but thy will be done.” It was not a conflict of wills in deity, it was the will of the sovereignty of God the Father versus the will of the humanity of Christ. So man does have free will. The principle of divine guidance is based on the fact that man does have free will and that if man does have doctrine in the soul, as per our passage, then man’s residency of doctrine plus his volition will make a combination whereby he does the will of God from true motivation — doctrine in the soul — plus the use of his free will. So man’s free will plus doctrine resident in the soul means the execution of the will of God and the glorification of God.

4. There are several types of the will of God which must be executed: directive will, permissive will, and overruling will of God. It was the directive will of God that called Abraham out of Ur of Chaldea, and it was the directive to which he responded. However, when he got hung up at Haran it was the overruling will of God that hauled him out of Haran and put him into Canaan. The will of God said go from Ur to Canaan, and he stopped off at Canaan. So he went part way with the directive will of God and when he was hung up then God just overruled him.

5. The academic principles of divine guidance. a) Knowledge — doctrine resident in the soul, Psalm 32:8; Proverbs 3:1-6; Isaiah 58:11, Romans 12:2. You must know Bible doctrine to understand the will of God. It is knowing the will of God that makes it possible to execute the will of God, therefore the first and major issue in divine guidance is resident doctrine in the soul. Resident doctrine in the soul is the basis for knowing the will of God as well as being motivated to do it. Then, b) there is the principle of yieldedness which is the filling of the Spirit, the means of execution of the will of God — Romans 6:13; 12:1,2; Ephesians 5:17,18; 1 John 1:9. And c) there is growth. This is the factor involved in uprooting Abraham from Ur of Chaldea — 2 Peter 3:18.

6. Phase two categories of the will of God. a) The viewpoint will of God, what does God want me to think? That is solved by resident doctrine; b) The operational will of God, what does God want me to do? That is solved by resident doctrine; c) The geographical will of God, where does God want me to be? That is solved by resident doctrine.

7. The mechanics of the will of God — Acts 11. Guidance through prayer, verse 5; guidance through objective thinking, verse 6; guidance through contact with the Word, verses 7-10; guidance through providential circumstances, verse 11; guidance by means of the filling of the Spirit, verse 12; guidance through fellowship and companionship and the data compared, verses 13,14; guidance through scripture memory, verse 16.

8. Divine guidance reaches a routine peak in the supergrace life, it becomes automatic —

Hebrews 11:7.

“By means of doctrine in the soul when Abraham was called he obeyed” — “to go out” — the aorist active infinitive of e)cerxomai, which means to be uprooted, to be drastically pulled away from some place where you have all of your roots. The aorist tense is a dramatic aorist, it states a present reality with the certitude of a past event. The idiom here is a device for emphasis and it is a result which has just been accomplished. The aorist infinitive denotes the eventual result. The active voice: Abraham produces the action. He has enough doctrine resident in his soul to say, “I am going to leave Ur” — and family and everything that is wonderful and great. The infinitive is called an instrumental infinitive, it functions as a noun in the instrumental case. It is not the verbal type use of the infinitive, it is a very rare situation called an instrumental infinitive and it should be translated, “he obeyed by going out.”

“into a place” — this skips operation Haran and simply takes him to Canaan — e)ij plus the accusative of topoj. The “place” was Canaan.

“which” — the accusative singular of the relative pronoun o(j whose antecedent is topoj/place.

“he should after receive” — we have two verbs here. The first is an Attic Greek verb, the imperfect active indicative of the verb mellw, which means to be about to be. This is the Attic inceptive imperfect signifying the initiation of a process. It denotes an action which is on the point of occurring. And with it we have the present active infinitive of lambanw, an historical present. The word means to receive. The active voice: Abraham produces the action. The infinitive denotes God’s purpose. We should translate this, “By means of doctrine resident in the soul when Abraham was called he obeyed by going out to a place which he was about to receive.”

“for an inheritance” — e)ij plus the accusative singular of klhronomia which means inheritance just as translated. It refers to part of the Abrahamic covenant.

“and he went out” — aorist active indicative of e)cerxomai. So he was challenged to go out and he did it. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety — the whole trip from Ur to Canaan. The active voice: on the basis of Bible doctrine resident in his soul Abraham was motivated to keep moving geographically to the place where God would provide for him both SG² and his future great city, SG³. The indicative mood is declarative for a historical reality.

And here is how he went — “not knowing” — present middle participle of e)pistamai which means knowledge gained by contact, by prolonged practice. And we have the negative mh with it. This is the direct middle which refers the results of the action directly to the agent with reflexive force. God knew it, of course, but he didn’t know it. So it should be translated with the middle voice here, “not knowing himself”.

“whither” — literally, where — pou; “he went” — this is simply e)rxomai in the present middle indicative. The pictorial present portrays the event in the process of occurrence. The direct middle stresses the agent with a view toward participating in the outcome of the action. The indicative mood is declarative for historical reality.

Translation: “By means of doctrine resident in the soul, when Abraham was called he obeyed by going to a place which he was about to receive for an inheritance; and he went out not knowing where he was going.”

Analysis

1. This verse summarises living grace in the life of Abraham, living grace with emphasis on resident doctrine, positive volition, and being motivated by doctrine before reaching maturity.

2. The change of geographical location was the basis of separating Abraham from his family and his relatives, as per the Abrahamic covenant. There is a principle here. When family and relatives hold you back then family has to go, and relatives have to go.

3. Therefore there is an important principle. The glory road, which is saving grace, living grace, supergrace, dying grace, surpassing grace, was not open to Abraham in Chaldea; not because of Chaldea but because of his family and relatives. Abraham never hit supergrace until he was totally separated from all of his relatives.

4. It was necessary for Abraham to have a permanent change of residence. His growth was involved, the glory road was involved.

5. Abraham was uprooted in time so that he would have roots forever.

6. Note also the principle of living grace in the area of supply and demand. Abraham had positive volition which demanded the presentation of doctrine. Doctrine was available to him in Ur of Chaldea up to a point. The gospel, basic doctrine, and advancing doctrine were available to Abraham in Ur of Chaldea. Where it ceased to be available God had to uproot Abraham and get him out of there.

7. Principle: Wherever there is positive volition toward doctrine God supplies the spiritual food, the manna from heaven, even if it means a permanent change of residence.

8. The circumstances in Ur of the Chaldees militated against following the colours to the high ground of supergrace. Abraham could go so far but in the environment of influence by family, friends, social life, all of these things influenced him into going neutral toward doctrine. Therefore the importance of his change of circumstances.

9. When environment is not conducive to persistent positive volition toward doctrine, necessary to keep pressing, then God uproots.

Summary

1. God provided enough doctrine in Ur of Chaldea to give Abraham the inner resources to obey the command for a change of residence. Abraham obeyed because he was motivated by doctrine in his soul.

2. When environment becomes a hindrance to positive volition toward doctrine then environment must be changed.

3. Note also the basis for divine guidance in any period of history — Bible doctrine resident in the soul.

4. As a member of the royal family of God, as your own personal priest responsible to God, this resident Bible doctrine must become the dictator of your soul.

5. As members of the royal family of God Church Age believers become spiritually self-sustaining through doctrine resident in the soul.

6. Abraham did not know the place where he was going but he knew the one sending him there.

7. While Abraham did not have enough doctrine in Ur to reach supergrace he did have enough doctrine to obey orders for a change of residence. The change of residence was designed to give him his supergrace paragraph.

8. To obey the Lord’s commands the believer must have doctrine in the soul, not information on where he is going.

9. Therefore, the issue in knowing and executing the will of God is doctrine resident in the soul through the persistent and daily function of GAP.

10. Under living grace God provides everything necessary to remain alive in phase two.

11. But God also provides under living grace the means of accumulating doctrine in the soul — the textbook which is the Bible, the professor who is the pastor-teacher, the classroom which is the local church.

Verse 13 — “These” is the nominative plural from the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj, the way the Greeks had to show that they were referring to someone in the immediate context. The immediate context goes two ways. There are five people involved by o(utoj, four men and a woman. The plural here increases the scope to include all of the patriarchs between verses 8 and 22. All of the patriarchs started out very poorly and if you had observed the early life of Abraham or Isaac or Joseph not one of them would have ever passed a peer rating from you or from me. We would have flunked them as being a total loss in their generation. Here are five grace people mentioned by the demonstrative pronoun “these.” They all started poorly, but we all start poorly. Even some after starting fail, then get up and move back up the hill, fail, and get up and move back up, and so on. This is the “forgetting those things which are behind” area. Abraham was 76 years old before he ever did anything that really pleased God. But all of these kept going, they caught on and they moved to supergrace. The dynamics of doctrine can never be discounted, even when you appear to be running out of time, even when the sands of time are low and have about run out.

“all” — the nominative plural of paj. The principle that all the patriarchs encompassed and carried on with doctrine, moved in the right direction, so that they all faced death the same way is given in these two words — “These all.” It means that no matter how many failures they had — and the Bible records a number of their startling failures — they all wound up with that same bulldog tenacity that they were going to drive on regardless. And they drove on, and they pressed on, and they seized and they held the high ground of supergrace, and they faced death not as something horrible but as something rewarding. We start out death by saluting something on the far hill of eternity and we wind up by embracing it.

“died” — aorist active indicative of a)poqnhskw, here used for physical death. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of dying in its entirety. The active voice: the subject always produces the action of the verb and we have a plural subject, five people in view in the context. They all followed the same pattern, they produce the action of all reaching supergrace. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality. Dying grace is a dogmatic reality for the supergrace believer. It is the means of transferring from time to eternity. The past part of the paragraph SG² deals with dying grace, the manner we are to die, the length of time we are to take, the place we are to die, and when in our lifetime that this will occur.

“in faith” — kata plus the accusative of pistij, “according to the norm and standard of,” and the way this should read is, “According to doctrine [kata plus pistij] resident in the soul all these died under the principle of dying grace.”

“not having received” — aorist middle participle of komizw. In the active voice it means to bring but in the middle voice it means to carry off to one’s self plunder or reward or first prize. It connotes receiving wages, receiving reward. Here the verb is used to designate the rewards and blessings of the surpassing grace paragraph, and to get surpassing grace you have to have supergrace. No supergrace, no surpassing grace. No supergrace, no dying grace. No supergrace, nothing! — except discipline, discipline, and the sin unto death. “Not having received here means not having received surpassing grace. Principle: You can’t receive SG³ in time, it belongs to eternity. The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety, and during the entire time of supergrace living on the earth the believer never receives his surpassing grace rewards. The constative aorist gathers up into a single entirety life — phase two — and in phase two we have no SG³. The middle voice is a direct middle which refers the results of the action directly to the agent so that the agent participates in the results, not having a surpassing grace paragraph in time. The participle is circumstantial, plus the negative which means that neither Abraham nor any of the patriarchs nor anyone else ever receives his surpassing grace blessings in time.

“promises” — the accusative plural direct object e)paggelia. E)paggelia in the plural means that you have more than one type of blessing in SG³, that is, if you are in supergrace. While surpassing grace rewards cannot be received in time they can be anticipated.

Summary

1. As a part of the divine decrees in eternity past omniscient God provided for every believer two different paragraphs — SG², supergrace blessing in time, and SG³, surpassing grace paragraph of blessings and rewards in eternity. Both paragraphs are special blessings, designed only for you. And either you claim them or they are never claimed.

2. The attainment of these special blessing paragraphs depend on the daily attitude of the believer toward doctrine while in time, while under living grace.

3. Believers have volition in the soul and it is there for a purpose, it is there to be a part of the angelic conflict, so that the believer’s volition is the centre of the angelic conflict for the Church Age.

4. Consistent and stabilised attitude toward Bible doctrine determines entrance into supergrace and surpassing grace blessings.

5. While the believer cannot lose his salvation or his place in heaven he can lose supergrace blessings in time and surpassing grace blessings in eternity. And of you lose supergrace you not only lose surpassing grace but you lose dying grace as well. Remember that dying grace is the bridge between supergrace and surpassing grace, and that the other road into eternity is low crawl over ground glass under the sin unto death.

6. Consistent negative volition toward doctrine results in the various stages of reversionism.

7. Reversionism means that living grace becomes the administration of divine discipline to the believer.

8. Such divine discipline not only means personal misery but it means loss of blessing — loss of SG², loss of SG³, and the golden bridge between them.

9. Loss of dying grace means the sin unto death — maximum discipline in time and a miserable, horrible death.

10. By attitude toward doctrine the believer has the option of gaining or losing SG² and SG^3.

11. The believer has the alternative of dying grace or the sin unto death .

12. The key issue in time is attitude toward Bible doctrine.

13. This issue exists not only for our blessing but for the resolving of the angelic conflict.

“but” — adversative conjunction a)lla. This sets up a contrast between not receiving SG³ in time but still enjoying the anticipation of it in time.

“having seen” — aorist active participle from o(raw for the panoramic view. It is used here for anticipation of paragraph SG³. The aorist tense is culminative, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety but emphasises the existing results of that entirety. The entirety includes seizing and holding the high ground of supergrace by being consistent in positive volition toward doctrine. The resultant accumulation of doctrine resident in the soul anticipates and appreciates supergrace blessing in eternity. Principle: Supergrace status perpetuated in time gives the perspective of surpassing grace status in eternity. The active voice: Abraham in supergrace produces the action of the verb, he anticipated SG³. The participle is circumstantial for the perspective of maximum resident doctrine in the soul anticipating SG³.

“them” — the accusative plural of the intensive pronoun a)utoj. Surpassing grace blessings in eternity are involved in the word “them.” This is the attributive use of the intensive pronoun and it should be translated “but having seen the same.”

“afar off” — from a distance. This is the adverb porrwqen. Abraham looked over and saw his paragraph SG³. He saw his great city. The distance described by this adverb is the space or interval between time and eternity. From the high ground of the supergrace life Abraham could see from a distance part of his SG³.

“and were persuaded of them” is not found in the original text, but the next phrase, “and embraced” is — the aorist middle participle of a)spazomai which means two things. In the Classical Greek it means to embrace erotically or to embrace in greeting. In the Koine Greek this word means to salute and it was used by the Roman soldiers at this time in the Roman empire in that way. It is a constative aorist. The salute is when you begin to die because all you can do is see it. The salute is explained by the fact that Abraham could actually see SG³ waiting for him at the other end of the bridge. So he saluted from afar. So the constative aorist actually gathers up into one entirety the salute-embrace. The principle: Dying grace was designed to be the last and best, the dessert for the supergrace believer. The dessert comes after a marvellous ten course meal! So dying is dessert. The middle voice is the indirect middle which emphasises the agents. The participle is circumstantial for the entire experience of dying grace which begins with a salute in time and terminates with an embrace in eternity. The constative aorist includes the entire length of time it takes to cross the golden bridge from time to eternity in dying grace.

“and confessed” — the aorist active participle of o(mologew which means to acknowledge. The divine viewpoint advances in the soul causing the believer to advance in life and to reach the dessert stage, and to enjoy to the maximum the walk over the bridge. The active voice: the supergrace believer in holding his position on the high ground not only salutes his surpassing grace blessings of the future but acknowledges his temporary residence on earth in the present. So we have a concessive participle in which the supergrace believer looks around and concedes that he is a temporary resident in this world. In his temporary residence on earth he enjoys supergrace blessings but the closer he comes to the bridge of dying grace the more he acknowledges that the temporary blessings of supergrace are going to be replaced by something better. And, furthermore, the closer he comes to the bridge of dying grace the more he is attracted to his SG³, and therefore he salutes them in time and embraces them in eternity.

We next have the conjunction o(ti which is used to reveal the content of what one thinks and concludes. The writer is now drawing conclusions.

“that they were” — present active indicative of e)imi, the historical present in which a past event is viewed with the vividness of a present occurrence. The active voice: the five patriarchs in context produced the action. The declarative indicative is for historical reality in the field of conclusive and dynamic thinking.

“strangers” — cenoj, which means strangers in the sense of having total divine viewpoint of life. “and pilgrims” — parepidhmoj, transients. It means to be a passing through type.

Translation: “According to doctrine resident in the soul, all these died under the principle of dying grace not having received the surpassing grace promises, but having seen the same from a distance, and having saluted and embraced them, also having acknowledged that they were strangers and passing-through types from grace to grace, form glory to glory, on the earth.”

The doctrine of the Abrahamic covenant

1. The Abrahamic covenant is the compilation of all the promises of God to Abraham and to his descendants related to the glory road, including saving grace, living grace, supergrace, dying grace, surpassing grace. When these promises emerge, a new race, the Jews, and a new nation, Israel. Remember that a covenant is a disposition made by one party, God, in favour of another party, in this case Abraham and his descendants. Therefore a covenant requires two parties, one party favouring the other.

2. The original three-paragraph covenant is found in Genesis 12:1-3. Paragraph one is separation; paragraph two is blessing; paragraph three is miscellaneous. Paragraph one is Genesis 12:1 — “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house [immediate family]. Paragraph 2, verse 2, — “And I will make you a great nation [national promise], and I will bless you [personally — supergrace], and I will make your name great [surpassing grace], and so you will be a blessing [by association].” Paragraph 3, the miscellaneous. The reason it is miscellaneous is because it has three clauses in it. The blessing by association clause is the first one, the anti-Semitism clause is the second, and the Messianic blessing clause is the third.

3. The Abrahamic covenant includes an additional promise of land — Genesis 13:14-16. This land belongs to the Jews in the future, not now. The Jewish Age is interrupted, the Jews do not have any right to the land promised here until Christ returns. Any land they get there now they get the same way we get our land — you kill off the natives. This promise of land to Abraham will be fulfilled in the Millennium. Genesis 15:18-21. The Nile River is the southern border, the River Euphrates in the northern border.

4. Furthermore, God has promised Abraham a city suspended over the land — Revelation 21:2, 10.

5. The covenant includes the seed of Abraham, not just Abraham personally — Genesis 22:15-18.

6. The Abrahamic covenant was reiterated to the next generation — to Isaac, Genesis 26:3,4.

7. The Abrahamic covenant was the basis of the Exodus deliverance of Israel — Exodus 6:2-8. Verse 5, “the groanings of the children of Israel … and I have remembered my covenant.” The are called the children of Israel, they are not called Israel, they are not a nation. They weren’t a nation during the entire lifetime of Moses, they did not become a nation until they were settled in the land under the leadership of Joshua. They remained transient for one more generation because of reversionism. What part of the covenant is remembered in verse five? The part that says Abraham, you are not only a new race but you are a new nation. The new race part had been fulfilled. God went to tremendous lengths to deliver the Jews — without their co-operation, by the way. “I will bring you to the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob … I will give it to you for a possession.” That part of the covenant was fulfilled in the Age of Israel, and that part of the covenant was lost until the Millennium through reversionism and the fifth cycle of discipline.

Verses 9 and 10 — Abraham’s surpassing grace. Verse 9 — “By faith,” the instrumental case of pistij. Pistij has three meanings: faith, strong conviction, Bible doctrine. This same doctrine which caused Abraham to seize and hold supergrace at 99 until the end of his life was the same doctrine which provided him with surpassing grace.

“he sojourned” — the aorist active indicative of paroikew. It means to dwell as a temporary resident. We use the word transient. It means to be in a transitory stage. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety and it gathers up into a single whole the supergrace living in Canaan. The supergrace living in Canaan was closely related to Abraham’s identification of his surpassing grace blessings, and that is why we have the emphasis of these two verses. The active voice: Abraham as a supergrace believer produced the action of the verb and it was seizing and holding the high ground, as per Philippians 3:12-14. This is what motivates Abraham to live in a tent. From the high ground of supergrace Abraham could see his surpassing grace. The indicative mood is the declarative indicative representing the verbal idea from the viewpoint of supergrace reality. Abraham seized and held with the result that he went from grace to grace and glory to glory. This should be translated, therefore, “By means of doctrine resident in the soul he lived as a temporary resident.” Since Abraham was on the road to glory he was just passing through Canaan on his way to dying grace and surpassing grace. This was the land he would some day own but he didn’t own it when he was passing through it. Therefore Abraham could not stop to build a permanent residence. In eternity past as a part of his surpassing grace paragraph God had built him a permanent residence and therefore living in a tent was Abraham’s pressing, seizing, holding the high ground. He is a millionaire but he will not build a castle, he will not build a city of any kind. He is going to seize and hold and the testimony of his tenacity, his stability in the supergrace life is the fact that he remained in a tent.

“in the land of promise” — the preposition e)ij plus the accusative of the noun gh. it should be translated “with reference to the land.” We also have with this a descriptive genitive, e)paggelia. This is “the land of the promise.” The definite article merely indicates that this was a well-known promise, the doctrine of the Abrahamic covenant. Abraham’s spiritual progeny will live in that land forever but in his life time Abraham was living there as a transient and not a citizen. It just happened that the road to glory took Abraham right through the centre of Canaan.

“as a stranger” — the comparative particle o(j plus the accusative singular a)llotrioj which means here a foreign land; “as to a foreign land” rather than “as a stranger.”

“dwelling” — the aorist active participle of katoikew which means to live in. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety, it gathers into a single whole time in phase two in which Abraham logged in supergrace in Canaan. The constative aorist simply takes up the time they [Abraham, Isaac and Jacob] were in supergrace in the land. It further indicates that these patriarchs all reached supergrace and held their ground so that they advanced on the road of glory to dying grace. They kept advancing in spite of reversionistic failure and in spite of carnal failure and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all crossed the bridge called dying grace. The participle is circumstantial emphasising the fact that they lived in tents as a testimony to the reality of the unseen surpassing grace blessings of eternity.

“in tabernacles” — a large tent, e)n plus the locative of skhnh.

Summary

1. Living in a tent was a testimony to the reality of surpassing grace blessings and rewards forever. They knew. They had a tenacity of divine viewpoint.

2. To live in a tent in Abraham’s time was to invite disaster. People in the ancient world were simply not safe in tents.

3. Wealthy people like Abraham lived in fortified homes surrounded by great walls, fortifications.

4. Tent walls were no protection against the invading armies, the mercenaries, the bandits, that roamed the ancient world at that time. Good human viewpoint!

5. However, Abraham’s security was not based on fortifications, massive walls, or any system of human security, but in the Lord. Under the principle of living grace God provided doctrine and security to Abraham in a tent.

6. The reason for Abraham living in a tent will be amplified in the next verse.

“with” — here are the next two generations. If ever there was a wonderful illustration, “Train a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it,” you have it right here. Parents often despair in the training of children when they reach the teenage bracket and seem to go in every direction but the right one. They key to that proverb in the scripture is “when he is old [mature].” Sometimes the parents never live to see the changes that come about as a result of training them right in childhood. When it says “with Isaac and Jacob” that is meta plus the words for Isaac and Jacob — “with Isaac and Jacob,” a wonderful testimony of the faithfulness of parents in really driving home spiritual truths and giving a spiritual foundation in the home. Where else can you get divine viewpoint outside of church except in the home. In the home is where divine viewpoint should be presented. So never give up on presenting divine viewpoint.

Principles

1. “With Isaac and Jacob” is an amazing announcement by God the Holy Spirit speaking through the unknown writer of Hebrews that the Word never returns void from the mouth of parents to what appeared to be, on the surface, wayward children.

2. This prepositional phrase says in effect that not only Abraham but his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob all reached the objective of supergrace, and when they did they held until death. All three of them went over the golden bridge of dying grace.

3. So here is a beautiful record almost buried from sight, but these words are so precious and so important. So much of Genesis is left out that whatever the Holy Spirit sees fit to emphasise in Hebrews 11 must receive our undivided attention and concentration. Therefore, three generations — father, son, and grandson — all turned their backs on reversionistic failure and advanced up the road to supergrace, dying grace, surpassing grace. And notice what they are called now …

“the heirs with him” — heirs of the Abrahamic covenant. They are heirs of their very own, each has SG² and SG³, and they all attained it. We all have the paragraph. There is one word in the Greek, the genitive plural of apposition sugklhronomoj, which means joint heirs.

“of the same promise” — this means that the Abrahamic covenant included SG² and SG³. We have the use of an intensive pronoun with this, a)utoj, emphasising the identity of the two paragraphs — “joint heirs of the same promise.” And “the same” is a very strong intensive pronoun in the Greek, it emphasises the fact that each one in eternity past had an SG² and an SG³.

Verse 10 — we start out with the explanatory use of the particle gar, “For.” It explains the reasons why we have three generations of patriarchs who lived in tents. In these three generations they all did the same thing. We have seen the pattern — saving grace, living grace, supergrace, dying grace, surpassing grace.

“he looked” — imperfect middle indicative e)kdexomai. It means to anticipate or wait with expectation. It describes the believer who is holding the high ground of the supergrace life and by persistent positive volition toward doctrine on the high ground he knows that he has SG³ in the bag. The imperfect tense is the progressive imperfect of description, it denotes a process vividly represented as going on in past time and it refers to a constant and steady anticipation of surpassing grace blessing on the basis of maximum doctrine in the soul. Abraham in supergrace anticipated surpassing grace and he knew that he had a city coming up, as per Revelation 21:2,10. In other words, he set the pattern, he followed the colours to the high ground — consistent positive volition. Once he was on the high ground he held. Then he could look over and see his surpassing grace reward. He lived in a tent until he crossed over the bridge that brought him into phase three and his SG³ paragraph. He anticipated it in time. “For he himself kept waiting with anticipation.”

“city” — polij refers to a gigantic city in space in the future; “which hath” — the present active participle of e)xw, meaning to have and to hold, sometimes just to hold. The present tense is a futuristic present, it denotes an event which has not yet occurred but is regarded as so certain in thinking that in the mind it is already contemplated as coming to pass. The active voice: the city produces the action of the verb. This is Abraham’s city, his surpassing grace city paragraph. The participle is circumstantial.

“foundations” — the accusative singular direct object plus the definite article. The noun is qemelioj which means foundation.

“whose” — relative pronoun; “builder” — texnithj, which is a designer of buildings, an architect; “and maker” — dhmiourgoj, which means contractor or builder — “whose architect and contractor is the God.” The architect and the contractor are two different functions in the construction of the building, but one person does them and this is one contractor who will always be in business.

Translation: “For he himself kept waiting with anticipation for a city having the foundation, whose designer and builder in the God.”

Principles

1. This city is a part of Abraham’s SG³. As we will see later, on it is a part of Isaac’s and Jacob’s as well.

2. The city is called the heavenly Jerusalem and is mentioned by John the apostle — Revelation 21:2,10.

3. In order for Abraham to have this city he had to seize and hold the high ground of supergrace. So to maintain supergrace in time means not only the spiritual and temporal blessings of supergrace but there is something else in everyone’s supergrace paragraph, the anticipation of phase three.

4. In this passage we have already seen two things. We have seen Abraham’s living grace — verse eight; Abraham’s surpassing grace — verses 9,10. We are no anticipating Abraham’s supergrace in verses 11, 12. In verse 13 we will get Abraham’s dying grace, and in verses 14-16 we will get the test of dying grace, the test of SG³.

The doctrine of the missing link

1. There is a relationship between supergrace blessing in time and surpassing grace blessing in eternity.

2. The link between maturity in phase two and the rewards of phase three is dying grace.

3. Dying grace bridges the gap between supergrace blessing and surpassing grace blessing — there is a bridge between time and eternity for the supergrace believer called dying grace.

4. This is the principle of going from grace to grace, like Romans 5:20, “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Going from grace to grace is the abounding of grace.

5. Abraham’s supergrace blessing in time was related to his sexual prosperity — Hebrews 11:11,12; Romans 4:17-21. The sign of this prosperity was circumcision.

6. Abraham’s surpassing grace blessing in eternity is related to his heavenly city — Hebrews 11:9,10; Revelation 21:2,10. The sign of this prosperity — living in a tent — Hebrews 11:9.

7. The principle of dying grace links the supergrace blessings of time with the surpassing grace blessings of eternity — Hebrews 11:13.

8. Therefore dying grace is the bridge that takes the believer from grace blessing to grace blessing by way of grace blessing.

9. Supergrace is the best for time, dying grace is better, surpassing grace is better than the best. 10. There is a principle: You cannot lose with grace.

11. Here then is the driving principle of following the colours.

12. It is impossible for God not to keep His word. God cannot change His word any more than He can change His character or His essence. God keeps His word in time, God keeps His word in eternity.

The doctrine of surpassing grace

1. Definition:

a) Surpassing grace refers to the special blessings and rewards belonging to the supergrace believer in eternity.

b) In eternity past under the divine decrees God designed for every believer two special blessing paragraphs — SG² and SG³.

c) SG² paragraph contains spiritual and temporal blessings for the mature believer.

d) The spiritual blessings include occupation with Christ, sharing God’s happiness or +H, inner resources of resident doctrine for adversity and testing, dying grace.

e) Temporal blessings include wealth, promotion, success, prosperity — social, economic, sexual, material, technical, and leadership dynamics.

f) The second paragraph of special blessing is SG³, the surpassing grace paragraph for blessings and rewards in eternity.

g) For the believer who seizes and holds the high ground of supergrace there is special rewards and blessings in eternity. These rewards and blessings are above and beyond the normal blessings of heaven.

2. A specific surpassing grace blessing is Abraham’s eternal city or the new Jerusalem. In supergrace Abraham anticipated this city — Hebrews 11:9,10. In dying grace Abraham and his progeny embraced the city — Hebrews 11:13.

3. Crowns are used to designate surpassing grace rewards for eternity. The first of these is the crown of life — James 1:12. This crown of life means the believer constantly loving God is the one who has followed the colours to the high ground of the supergrace life and has maintained occupation with the person of Christ. You maintain it by constant, persistent, consistent positive volition toward doctrine. Once the believer has attained the high ground of supergrace he must seize and hold. Seizing and holding is taking in doctrine every day of your life in spite of distractions. There are many tests, many pressures, to drive the believer off the high ground into reversionism. Continued positive volition toward doctrine, persistence in the daily function of GAP, holding the high ground until physical death, is a guarantee of dying grace and SG³. And in SG³ you have as one part of your SG³ paragraph a crown of life. Therefore, holding supergrace until death the believer attains both dying grace and surpassing grace, and in surpassing grace the crown of life. The crown of life is an eternal reward. Once the believer reaches supergrace status he is challenged, he is tested to hold his ground. But by holding he goes from the best things in life to a permanent change of station which is better than the best and includes a crown — Revelation 2:10.

The second crown in the scripture is the crown of glory — 1 Peter 5:4. Peter is writing to pastor-teachers, so this is a very specialised thing for those who have the gift of communication.

Philippians 4:1 — “Therefore, my brethren, my loved ones, my deeply desired ones.” Paul is calling them that because he loves his congregation and he deeply desires one thing for them, that they will come and listen. So he is not throwing some sentimental nonsense at them, he is showing the respect that a pastor-teacher must inevitably have for anyone who is faithful in coming under his ministry. You cannot help but respect people when they are faithful under all circumstances. “Deeply desired ones means he desires their continued faithfulness, they are his sheep and he knows that by their persistence in coming under all circumstances that they have something glorious in time, something better in dying, something better than the best in death. “ … my happiness” — Paul recognises, as all pastor-teachers do that their happiness is in the faithful part of their congregation, and that faithful part is their victory crown. Who gets the crown? “My brethren,” the loved ones, the deeply desired ones. They become his victory crown, but don’t misunderstand, he isn’t getting the crown here, they are getting the crown. They get the crown of life. “ … in this way” — doctrine resident in the soul of the supergrace believer — keep on being stabilised” — it takes stability to get there —”by the Lord, ones worthy of love.”

1 Thessalonians 2:19 — “For who is our hope, or happiness, or crown of exaltation? Is it not you “— So Paul has a crown of exaltation — “in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?” There will be an administration of crowns for those who have an SG³, and Paul says that his happiness, his crown of exaltation, will be the members of his congregation who after the Rapture at the judgement seat of Christ will receive SG³ paragraphs. This verse implies that the pastor has a crown of glory but it is really those in his congregation who are faithful to the teaching of the Word, and when any member of the congregation of a local church perseveres in the function of GAP that person will reach supergrace. The continuation of GAP after supergrace all the way to dying means that person will have dying grace and surpassing grace. The pastor’s job is to be faithful in teaching the Word under the ICE principle (Isagogics, Categories, Exegesis), and that member of the congregation who is positive will get on the high ground and stay there until the bridge. Once he gets to the bridge he doesn’t have to call the pastor to hold his hand, he walks over the golden bridge with his own salute at one end and his own embrace of SG³ on the other, and a pastor is not necessary. The pastor’s job to faithfully teach the Word of God, and as he faithfully teaches the Word of God it is that Bible doctrine that he communicates that is transferred to your soul, and it is doctrine resident in your soul that gives you your supergrace blessings in time and your surpassing grace blessings in eternity. Surpassing grace is a phenomenal thing, and the sad thing is that every pastor ought to know surpassing grace because it clues him in on his objectives. All of these verses say the same thing, the pastor is faithful and he winds up having a congregation all decorated forever under SG^3. 1 Thessalonians 2:19 implies that the pastor’s crown of glory is the surpassing grace blessings of his congregation.

Then in 1 Thessalonians 2:20 he says, “for you are our glory and happiness.” When any member of the congregation of a local church perseveres in the function of GAP that person will reach supergrace and continue to hold the high ground with the result that he will come to dying grace and have a ball!

The third crown in our study is the crown of righteousness

a) The crown of righteousness is a surpassing grace reward of eternity.

b) Whatever its specific form in eternity the principle of the crown of righteousness is obvious right now.

c) It is one thing to arrive at supergrace, it is another thing to stay there.

d) It is staying there which is in view in the crown of righteousness as well as Paul’s great statement in Philippians 3:12-14.

e) The crown related to sticking is a surpassing grace reward called the crown of righteousness — not your righteousness but the righteousness of God which emerges in the believer who seizes and holds the high ground. The crown of righteousness is a surpassing grace reward for all supergrace believers who seize and hold on the basis of the utilisation of the inner resources of doctrine and adding to these inner resources by continued positive volition.

f) By continued positive volition doctrine in the soul increases.

g) This increase forces a divine type righteousness to the surface as well as stabilising the inner life of the believer. When this increase meets death the result is dying grace on the one hand and the crown of righteousness on the other hand — 2 Timothy 4:7,8.

3. The key to surpassing grace blessing in eternity is pleasing God in time. There is no way to get SG³ by anything you do in eternity. SG³ and SG² are both obtained in time, and once you become aware of the fact that you have your SG² it is just a matter of hanging on to it until you die. So no one ever leaves this life without knowing that he has reward in eternity, blessing in eternity under SG³. No man ever died as a supergrace believer without having enough doctrinal common sense to know that on the other side he has some phenomenal things waiting for him. So that in effect no supergrace believer ever dies without the salute and the embrace.

The principle is, is accomplished by persistent positive volition toward Bible doctrine resulting in supergrace blessings in time, dying grace is transition (the transfer). Hebrews 11:5,6 tell us the story of this principle. Without doctrine resident in the soul it is impossible to please God. When one is occupied with God the perpetuation of supergrace in time by consistent positive volition toward doctrine he must be convinced by the inner resources of resident doctrine that He is — God as a source of blessing — and that He becomes a rewarder to those who diligently seek Him.

4. The judgement seat of Christ is the basis for the administration of SG³ to the royal family of God — 2 Corinthians 5:10. This says several things:—

a) The formal presentation of paragraph SG³ to the royal family occurs after the Rapture of the Church at the judgement seat of Christ.

b) The entire royal family of God, the Church Age believers, will at that time be in resurrection bodies ready for the total and eternal enjoyment of surpassing grace blessings. There is a relationship between the enjoyment of SG³ and resurrection. In a body of corruption you can enjoy SG² but in a body of resurrection you enjoy SG³.

c) There is one word in 2 Corinthians 5:10 that should be explained since it is mistranslated in the KJV — “evil.” The word is fauloj, a very very gutter type word for human excrement — “whether good or fauloj.”

d) The judgement seat of Christ eliminates any necessity for judging or maligning other believers, hence the surpassing grace of eternity demands the privacy of the priesthood in time so that each believer can live out his own life as unto the Lord — Romans 14:10-12.

James 1:25 — “But the one having looked intently [positive volition and concentration] into the perfect law of freedom [the Bible], and having persisted [in the function of GAP], the one having become not a hearer of oblivion” — a person who comes to Bible class but he gets so mad because he can’t stand exegesis, etc. — “but a doer of assigned occupation” — a believer advancing, following the colours to the high ground of supergrace — “this man shall be happy in the act of doing.” You can seize and hold the high ground for the rest of your life and be happy the whole time. Compare this to James 2:12,13 — “So keep speaking, and so keep doing [seizing and holding], as they who through the law who through the law of freedom [Bible doctrine] are about to receive judgement [evaluation, SG³].” There comes a time when it is possible to have judgement without mercy. “For judgement without mercy [grace] for those not having produced mercy [grace]” — not having produced supergrace, not having come to the point of dying grace. God judges without grace, and that means that in eternity any believer who fails to seize and to hold the high ground is going to be in heaven forever and ever, and get to look at the streets of gold and have all the “funsville” or whatever it is people have in heaven, but they are not going to have anything like what the supergace/surpassing grace believer has. In other words, when you come up to the judgement seat of Christ as you will after the Rapture, in your resurrection body, and you stand before the Lord, if you have not crossed that golden bridge you will be judged without mercy. That does not mean the lake of fire. It means that you lose SG³. And God is firm about it. There is a difference in eternity between those who have SG³ and those who do not — “and grace exalts judgement.” Note that the rewards at the judgement seat of Christ is called “judgement” in these verses and it is based on grace in action — supergrace in function. Therefore, the judgement seat of Christ is a time of gain or loss of SG³. 1 Corinthians 3:11-16 more or less teaches the same thing. Cf. Hebrews 6:7-12. “For the ground [the believer positive toward doctrine], having drunk the rain [the daily function of GAP] coming many times upon it [positive believers], and producing a harvest of crops [SG²] useable by them [by the Godhead] because of whom it [supergrace believer] is also cultivated [obtains blessing, supergrace plus surpassing grace], from the source of the God. But when it is growing thorns [minus SG²] and thistles [minus SG³] it becomes worthless, and near a curse [the sin unto death], whose end [the thorns] is for burning [loss of SG² and SG³]. But, beloved ones, we have been convinced of better things [G² and SG³] concerning you, and things attached to salvation, if also in this manner we keep communicating doctrine to you, and we do. For the God is not unjust to disregard your occupation [the pastors teaching the royal family], also the love which you yourselves [pastors] have demonstrated toward his person [the pastor occupied with Christ], having ministered [teaching of the Word] to the saints [royal family], and continue ministering [so that they can persist]. And we [pastor-teachers] continually desire each one of you [royal family in the congregation] individually to demonstrate the same devotion [to doctrine, advancing toward supergrace] toward the full assurance of the confidence in doctrine [SG²] until termination [dying grace leading to SG³]. Lest you become apathetic toward doctrine, but become imitators of them [supergrace heroes of Hebrews 11], the ones who through doctrine and persistence inherit the promises [SG³].”

There is a principle. The reversionistic believer can lose his supergrace blessings in time, his surpassing grace blessings in eternity, but this does not mean loss of salvation or loss of heaven — 2 Timothy 2:11-13. Entrance into phase one or salvation is a guarantee of entrance into heaven in eternity. “If we persist [seize and hold the high ground of supergrace] we shall also reign with him [SG³], but if we deny him [negative volition toward doctrine resulting in reversionism] he will also deny us [SG³].

The apostle Paul used the background Isthmus Games to dramatise the judgement seat of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 — “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run [all believers are running, i.e. living grace], but one receives the prize [SG³]. So run in such a way that you may win. And everyone who competes [in the Games] excerciseth self-discipline in all things. They do it to receive a perishable reward, but we an imperishable [SG³]. Therefore, I run in such a way as not without a goal; I fight in such a way as not to beat the air; I discipline my body, and keep it in training [physical exercise, comparable to consistent positive volition toward doctrine], lest having preached to others I myself should be disqualified [from SG³].”

Everything in the book of Hebrews revolves around the proper interpretation of history. The interpretation of history, Godward side, is based upon the angelic conflict and man created as an extension of it. This means that we must always be motivated by Bible doctrine in the soul as a part of the victory of the angelic conflict. In eternity past God was cognisant of history, every stage of history, your own personal birth and your life in this earth, the day you accepted Christ as saviour and entered into the plan of God. The first phase of the plan of God is saving grace, and under the principle of saving grace God provided everything necessary for salvation totally apart from any human ability. The motivation for providing this was Bible doctrine presented to you in the form of the gospel. No one has ever accepted Jesus Christ as saviour unless he was motivated by a certain specialised type of doctrine called the gospel. Whether you know it or not, the day you believed in Jesus Christ and you were born into the family of God you believed in Jesus Christ because of doctrine in your soul called the gospel, and that gospel was a reality to you through God the Holy Spirit. He made it real to you, and from that time on God designed the whole grace plan so that you would always be motivated by doctrine. If you are not motivated by doctrine you are nothing. There are five areas of grace from time to eternity. Only God can take an absolute factor like grace and insert time and keep it absolute. The gospel: You understand it, we have talked about the blood of Christ, it is toward sin, toward man, and toward God — redemption, sinward; reconciliation, manward; propitiation, Godward. All of that is accomplished by God and the whole thing is worked out by God. And here are we in time as variables in time and God hits us with His information — doctrine, specialised doctrine called the gospel. This is not a variable, it is an absolute. It cuts through the variable factor and reaches the soul though the ministry of the Holy Spirit (and someone who will give straight information). This is absolute information. One simple person filled with the Spirit giving the truth gives an absolute which cuts through the variables with this information which simply describes what He did about it, what the divine solution is — He has given to every person who will believe in Christ an eternal life without compromising His character. Doctrine is an absolute. The word pistij mistranslated “faith” in our passage means doctrine or what is believed. The first stage is salvation, saving grace, everything that God did for us in a moment of time, and we move immediately into a second stage — living grace. Living grace is divided into two absolutes. Absolute #1, you are alive. Why are you alive as a believer? Because it is God’s will for you to be alive, and since it is His will for you to be alive He sees to it that you will always have plenty of good air to breathe and food to eat. Absolute #2, under living grace God has provided a means to get more truth than you had when you accepted Christ. God wants you to have more doctrine than you had when you believed in Christ. God does not intend for you to feed like a sparrow! Therefore God has provided everything whereby you can feed on the Word of God. That is living grace. Why are we alive and what are we doing here? We are here to move forward to what God designed for us in eternity past, because long before the variables existed God took two paragraphs of solid, dogmatic, absolute blessing — SG², SG³ — and he designed them for you personally. And He said, “The day of give that to you that will be the day when I am glorified by your volition.” Because both of these special blessing paragraphs come through motivation from within, doctrinal motivation from within. You must be motivated from inside. And to reach that high ground under living grace we follow the colours, GAP it daily. Then when we seize and hold we have SG². Jesus Christ is glorified when He can give you the best. Therefore in time you can have the absolute — occupation with the person of Christ, resident doctrine to meet any exigency of life. You have a whole line in your paragraph on what you have — spiritual blessing, God’s +H. You have a second line filled with temporal blessings, the blessings of promotion, success, wealth, prosperity. And then you have a sentence on dying.

In Hebrews 11:7 there is a principle that is extremely important to us as believers. Noah is a perfect demonstration of two great points. a) The majority is always wrong. b) One man can face up to history with doctrine in his soul and change the course of history.

Majority rule or a majority vote is a parliamentary procedure, a means by which a group of mad, mixed up people make a decision. Majority rule doesn’t mean a thing and what the majority says is wrong. Noah was one person in the wildest time of human history. With Bible doctrine in his soul Noah defied history and changed the course of history. That is the answer to the problems we have in our country.

“By means of doctrine resident in the soul Noah” — Noah is one supergrace believer who stood alone. He ignored the majority because inside he had Bible doctrine, maximum doctrine. When God the Holy Spirit wants to reduce this to its clearest, most lucid summary He picks the only one in all of the world who was truly a supergrace believer. And that isn’t all, he seized and held the high ground for 120 years before the crisis of history that changed history.

“being warned” — aorist passive participle of xrhmatizw. Just one person could be warned. The aorist tense is a constative aorist and it actually covers a period of 120 years. When Noah took the high ground by following the colours for 120 years he seized and held. During that 120 years God would warn him about the course of history. A believer with maximum doctrine becomes the accurate interpreter of history. The passive voice: Noah received the doctrine along with all categories necessary to seize and hold the high ground of supergrace. The participle is circumstantial plus antecedent action. He did something, he “prepared an ark.” The words “of God” are not found in the original.

“warned of things not seen as yet” — a combination of several things. All of them make up a Greek idiom. In fact, it is Classical Greek, not Koine — peri plus the genitive plural of the definite article is the way the idiom begins. With the definite article we also have a participle which is the object of the preposition, therefore an articular present passive participle of blepw which means to glance. But we also have inserted into this prepositional phrase the adverb mhdepw, and there lies the principle. “Not yet” means there was no way on the earth that disaster appeared. It was a time of great prosperity, a time when people had more than they ever had, a time when the arts and sciences and dramas and entertainment was developed to the maximum. It was a most unusual time, it was a time of the greatest human apostasy in all of human history, but it was also a time of the development of maximum types of pleasures and activities in every field of life. “By means of doctrine resident in the soul, Noah having been warned about things not yet being seen.”

Now there is an issue. Noah took in the Word of God and he took on the Word of God and he took in the Word of God, and suddenly he found himself with divine viewpoint facing the whole world. “By means of doctrine resident in the soul Noah having been warned about things not yet being seen.” Noah was a supergrace believer, the only supergrace believer in the antediluvian civilisation, except one other Methuselah. The day the flood crisis hit Methuselah departed from this earth, but Noah stayed. Noah was God’s man for the crisis.

“moved with fear” is wrong — the aorist passive participle of e)ulabeomai. The word means to have reverence, respect for authority, to be occupied with. The aorist passive participle actually refers to motivation by occupation with Christ, motivation by doctrine in the soul — “motivated by reverence [by occupation].” The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it gathers into a single whole 120 years Noah’s occupation with Christ. Motivated by love for Christ he did something. He did something to meet the crisis. He did something to express doctrine in his soul, he dramatised the doctrine in his soul because he built an ark.

“prepared an ark” — he didn’t prepare it either; aorist active indicative of kataskeuazw. Kata means he started at the bottom and built up. Kata means “down”, so it means to construct. The culminative aorist says one day he finished it too. The active voice: he was motivated by doctrine to do it. Everybody said there was no need for it, there would never be a flood. They all said he was wrong and Noah just kept right on building and said, “I’m right!” The word “ark” is kibwtoj which means a chest or a box.

“to the saving of his house” — e)ij plus swthria, “for the deliverance of his family.” The word is not “house”, it is “family”.

The world ridiculed and condemned Noah for a 120 years but this passage says, “through which [doctrine resident in his soul] he condemned the world.” The word is katakrinw which means to talk down. The culminative aorist is employed when it is wished to view an event in its entirety but to regard it from the standpoint of existing results. For 120 years he took it but in the end he straightened out the world. God used one man. A wheel must operate on some form of an axle. Noah is the axle, and the whole history of his generation turned around Noah. It was going in one direction and it turned and went in another direction. He condemned and judged the world and “became”— ginomai, aorist active indicative. It is a culminative aorist, Noah produces, the action, and the indicative mood is a historical reality of the declarative.

The interesting thing is, it says “through which doctrine resident in the soul he had condemned the world and had become heir of the righteousness.” And “heir of the righteousness” refers to SG³, surpassing grace. The word klhronomoj is the normal word for heirship. What is his SG³ paragraph called? “Heir of righteousness.” That means “rightness. Dikaiosunh means “righteousness” but it also means “rightness.” Noah was right and the world was wrong. But he is the heir of the one who is always right. Noah was a great man in time but heir of righteousness is eternity. God gave Noah SG² in time but eternity is timeless — SG³, it has not time in it. And Noah being right in time through doctrine in his soul and the world was wrong, and he became the heir of righteousness, his SG³ paragraph. He has a phenomenal eternal blessing. God used him to change the course of history by doctrine in his soul — the dynamics of resident doctrine — but God did more than that, God had on the other side a phenomenal thing. Noah turns the whole thing around and starts the postdiluvian civilisation, but more than that, in this turn around which is based on doctrine Noah is the one man who glorified God and he becomes the heir of righteousness “pertaining to doctrine.”

“by faith” — kata pistij means “pertaining to doctrine”, resident in the soul. So he had become the “heir of righteousness pertaining to doctrine.” One man can turn the course of history.

Translation: “By means of doctrine resident in the soul, Noah having been warned of things not being seen [the destruction of the earth], having been motivated by occupation with Christ, he had constructed a box for the purpose of the deliverance of his family; through which [doctrine resident in his soul] he had condemned the world [antediluvian population], and had become the heir of the righteousness pertaining to doctrine.”

If God can use one person with doctrine to turn the course of history what can He do with a lot of people with resident doctrine? The answer: God does much more than the most. Doctrine resident in your soul under supergrace status can change the course of history.

Chapter 11:11 via Genesis 17:1-9

Philippians 1:21 says, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” In one sentence that covers the principle of God’s plan by which God is glorified. “For me to live is Christ” is occupation with Christ as a part of the supergrace life. The supergrace life is the maximum spiritual growth factor. It is spiritual maturity and is a synonym for maturity emphasising the glory of God and the blessing of the believer in maturity. It all starts with salvation. The moment that you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and receive Him as saviour you come under the principle of saving grace — Ephesians 2:8,9. One second later we are in phase two, the Christian way of life or living grace. God provides everything to keep us alive so that our volition can enter into the tactical operation of the angelic conflict. By following the colours, the daily function of GAP, we finally reach that high ground of the supergrace life where we have paragraph SG² — ² is for phase two or time, SG is for supergrace. This is where that which was designed for us in eternity past as special blessing becomes a reality in our lives. The first sentence in SG² deals with spiritual blessings — occupation with the person of Christ, sharing the happiness of God, enjoying the residency of doctrine to meet every exigency of life. Then the second sentence deals with temporal blessings — promotion, success, great wealth, prosperity, social and sexual prosperity, economic prosperity, technical prosperity, material prosperity, many types of prosperity are involved. The third and final sentence in SG² has to do with dying prosperity. God has provided a way for us to die under dying grace so that death becomes greater than anything that we have in life. We go over that golden bridge called dying grace — this is for supergrace believers only — and we reach the other side which is eternity where we get paragraph SG³ for those who seize and hold the high ground of the supergrace life. From this supergrace life we make the transfer into eternity and there we receive our surpassing grace blessings. In SG³, ³ is for eternity, SG is for surpassing grace, and this is everything that God has provided for us in eternity by way of special blessing. There are class distinctions in eternity as there are class distinctions now. The basis of them in eternity will be grace only. Therefore some people will have a phenomenal SG³ and some will be minus SG³ and yet saved, and yet have nothing to show for life on this earth as a believer. All of this is a picture of the glory road of the royal family. From saving grace to living grace, from living grace to supergrace, from supergrace to dying grace, from dying grace to surpassing grace. This is the glory road that honours the Lord Jesus Christ.

In verses 11-12 we have the supergrace of Abraham, mentioned briefly here but expanded in other passages.

Verse 11 — “Through faith”. It is interesting that in Hebrews 11 verse 1 we should have “Now faith”, and then in verse 3 “through faith”, in verse 4 “by faith, verse 5 “by faith”, verse 7 “by faith”, verse 8 “by faith, verse 9 “by faith”, and then we come to “through faith” again but it is still the same instrumental of pistij. While the translators seemed to like to jump around we still have the same noun, pistij, and it is still in the same instrumental and it still means “by means of doctrine.” So we have “By means of doctrine [resident in the soul].”

The word “also” is not quite correct. It is technical but this is the ascensive use of the conjunction kai. Kai has a number of different meanings. Here it means “even”.

“Sarah” — even a woman! “Even Sarah herself.” That means a lot of things. It means that a woman advances spiritually when she is either a) under the authority of her right man when he is advancing spiritually — she is following the colours because her right man is. She is under the authority of her right man who is under the authority of a pastor and recognises it and sticks with it, or b) the woman does not have her right man or lost her right man in a disciplinary shuffle, or failed all the way around and therefore she must recognise the authority of her pastor-teacher, and is very difficult for a woman because a woman like to be pleased, she likes to be wooed, she likes attention, she likes individual recognition — she is designed for that. Women truly have a problem in learning doctrine and they learn doctrine better through these two conditions: where they recognise the authority of the pastor-teacher and they recognise that the authority is a spiritual one, that it relates to Bible doctrine and the teaching of Bible doctrine; and the second is that they have their right man. If they do and they follow him they will often advance beyond him spiritually in their enthusiasm for the Word of God. Since they recognise the authority of their right man and since they are very happy with their right man it is easy for them to objectively recognise the authority of the pastor-teacher — without hang-ups, without subjectivity, without hypersensitivity.

Sarah herself indicates the principle. She did reach supergrace. It took her a much longer time. Abraham was there first, and for a while she was under the principle of blessing by association. When Sarah became pregnant at age 89, and when she gave birth to Isaac at 90, that was blessing by association. It took Sarah a longer time to get there. She finally managed but Sarah was a rebel type woman. She was the type of a woman who had been very frustrated over the years because she had been barren.

When it says “Sarah herself” we actually have two Greek words here. The first is the proper noun Sarra, and that represents the Hebrew word Sarah which is “princess.” Obviously now she is advancing and she is no longer called Sarai, which means nagger, and we find her name now changed to “Princess.” There is a reason for Sarah being called Sarai, a very beautiful woman who had lost out on all the points systems for the evaluation of women in her society. She grew up in a Semitic society where having children and having male children and perpetuating the line was extremely important. We do not live in such a society and therefore cannot perhaps understand in full her frustration. But being beautiful and brilliant she also became a very frustrated, horsy female. Eventually, of course, she grew up but she had a difficult time doing it because all of her life she was admired, all of her life everyone spoke well of her, envied her beauty and her brains. But there was always one serious problem. She failed to fulfil the motherhood function and therefore the motherhood status, the male child being born, was denied her. Therefore she reacted to this and became very bitter. It was a test to Abraham’s faith-rest technique and, later on. to his supergrace status. But it became the means over a period of twenty or thirty years of turning Sarah into a real “bitch.” Therefore, for her type to break out of this type of reversionism, the bitterness of her reversionism, and to advance spiritually was very difficult. So God the Holy Spirit tells us, however, that she finally attained that status, and this speaks volumes for her greatness, for her persistence, for the fact that she continued day in and day out to take in the Word in spite of reverses and failures of all kinds.

“By means of doctrine resident in the soul even Sarah herself” — we have the intensive pronoun a)utoj which functions to emphasise identity. The name was changed from Sarai to Sarah. Abraham’s wife through whom the Lord fulfilled the promise of a son was to live 37 years after the birth of Isaac, she died at age 127. Isaiah is the only prophet who named Sarah after her death. He did so in 51:1,2. Paul mentions the deadness of Sarah’s womb in Romans 4:19 and cites the promise received in Romans 9:9. The apostle Peter eulogises Sarah and her submission to her husband — that only took her about 90 years but she finally learned. 1 Peter 3:6 is a eulogy to Sarah and her obedience to her right man, and how that obedience became the result of her spiritual advance.

When a woman is hooked up to an apostate right man she must give doctrine first place. She owes her first allegiance to doctrine and not the jackass who has peeled off. On the other hand, when there is positive volition toward doctrine on the part of the right man he is the leader to the high ground of the supergrace life.

“received” — the aorist active indicative of the verb lambanw, the ordinary Greek word for receiving. We have a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It takes the occurrence of the revival of Sarah’s sexual capabilities after the menopause and gathers them into a single concept. The whole point is that in this constative aorist Sarah was 89 years old. She was sexually dead. And from 89 on, when Abraham reached the high ground of supergrace (seized and held) his SG² was centred around sexual prosperity. Abraham himself was sexually dead, he was totally incapable of copulation. When Abraham reached the high ground and held he was 99 years old. Sarah, who would be capable of sex, had passed the menopause and was out of it too, so both of them were sexually dead. This constative aorist gathers up into one entirety the revival of the sexual capabilities of Sarah so that she could respond to her right man and the two together could have 37 years of sexual prosperity. The sexual prosperity included youthful beauty restored. The active voice: as a supergrace blessing, Abraham’s which she shared, Sarah received the restoration of her physical beauty and her sexual capabilities. The indicative mood is the historical reality of the declarative indicative.

Notice how it is described. We don’t have the word “beauty,” we don’t have one of the many Greek words for sex, but we have a word which describes and relates it to her spiritual life and to the spiritual life of her right man, Abraham, and to her long-time husband — the accusative singular direct object of the noun dunamij. The word “strength” is the way it is translated but it is stronger than that, it means in the Greek “inherent power.” She received her inherent power. Her inherent power is found in three areas — her soul, which by now was receiving a lot of doctrine to that she could fulfil what to us is the balance of residency. She had resident doctrine in her soul — “by means of doctrine resident in her soul even Sarah.” So she is now approaching supergrace. She also has the great beauty of her face and body. Then she has the revival of her total sexual apparatus which she had lost after the menopause — not that she was incapable of sex but she was incapable of enjoying sex, and furthermore her right man was totally incapable of sex. Strength means she received the normal function of her sexual and reproductive organs long after the menopause had occurred.

“to conceive” — the preposition e)ij plus the accusative of katabolh. It is a prepositional phrase, not an infinitive. Katabolh means “deposit”; e)ij plus the accusative means “for.” So we have “for the deposit”. Then we have with that a descriptive genitive singular from the Greek noun sperma, the word for “seed.” “By means of doctrine resident in the soul even Sarah herself received inherent ability for the deposit of seed.” The rejuvenation of Sarah’s sexual apparatus can only be understood in the light of several other passages in the Word of God.

Genesis chapter 17. In the first eight verses of this chapter we have the anticipation of supergrace. Abraham is advancing up the high ground and is about to reach the top. He is 99 when the chapter opens and he is sexually dead. Sarah is 89, past the menopause and therefore also sexually dead.

Verse 1 — “Abraham was ninety years old and nine.” When it says he “was” it is the qal imperfect of hajah, and it means “and it came to pass that Abraham was ninety-nine years old.” He was 86 at the end of the previous chapter, there are thirteen years between chapters 16 & 17.

“the Lord appeared” — the niphal imperfect of ra’ah. The niphal is reflexive and it should be translated in a reflexive way, so “Jehovah himself appeared and said.”

“I am the Almighty God” — ani El Shaddaw, “I am the God of many breasts.” Shaddaw is in the plural and means many breasts. That means many blessings and it refers to supergrace. The breasts denotes supergrace blessings plus the source. The source is the milk of the Word of God, Bible doctrine. The word El means “I am the omnipotent [or powerful] God of many breasts. That is, God has designed in eternity past supergrace blessings for you. Abraham is very close to supergrace, this is an encouragement to keep pressing.

“walk” — the hithpael imperative of halak which means “advance”. The hithpael stem, the imperative mood, “keep advancing.” Then the next imperative, “be thou perfect” — the qal imperative of hajah which means to become, and then the noun tamim which means to be complete, sound, entire, and it is used for supergrace status or spiritual maturity. It means to become a supergrace believer.

“And it came to pass that Abraham was ninety-nine years old, and Jehovah himself appeared to Abram, and said, I am omnipotent God of many breasts [supergrace blessings]; keep advancing under my supervision and become mature [a supergrace believer].”

Verse 2 — the confirmation of his supergrace blessings. “I will make” is a qal imperfect, nathan. Predicated on reaching supergrace status God will provide the supergrace blessings related to the revelation, “I am the God of many breasts.” The word “multiply is actually a part of the supergrace blessing, the hiphil imperfect of rabah. The hiphil stem is causative active voice and it means that God will be the source of multiplication. The multiplication is related to and the result of Abraham’s supergrace sexual prosperity. “That I may give my covenant promises [supergrace] between me and you,” is what it says literally, “with the result that I will cause to multiply thee to the maximum.” This means a complete restoration of sexual apparatus as a part of SG². Abraham had spiritual blessings at this point, he was occupied with Christ. He had come to the point of sharing God’s happiness, he has maximum doctrine in his soul, he also has great wealth, leadership dynamics and other things, but the emphasis is on the sexual because Abraham is to begin a new race. Therefore, God says, “I will cause you to multiply to the maximum.”

Verse 3 — Abraham’s GAP subordination. “And Abraham fell on his face: and God talked with him.” The word “fell” is the qal imperfect of naphal which is an act of recognition of authority in Chaldea. It means to prostrate. He did so for two reasons. He recognised the authority of God’s person and he recognised the authority of God’s Word. The two together make a beautiful authority picture. Having recognised and subordinated himself to divine authority God talks to him — the piel imperfect of dabar. The talk is encouragement, God doesn’t teach him a lot of doctrine, he already has learned that. God puts the doctrine to work by way of encouragement. The piel stem is the intensive stem for the fact that God is now applying information for him, “saying.” The qal infinitive construct indicates that more is said than is recorded. The posture of Abraham recognises God’s authority and the listening and concentrating of Abraham recognises the authority of the Word. Now we have an extrapolation from the divine decrees.

Verse 4 — “As for me” is wrong. All we have here is Ani, the personal pronoun “I.” “I, behold, my covenant is with you.”

“thou shalt be” is the qal perfect of hajah, and it doesn’t say “thou shalt be.” It is “you have become” — a prophetic perfect. Abraham has arrived at the high ground — “a father of many nations.” Abraham is called “father” in several ways: “father of us all” in Romans 4:11,16 — a reference to the fact that Abraham is the pattern of salvation, as per Genesis 15:6; “the father of circumcision” in Romans 4:12. Abraham is the father or the originator of the Jewish race and the Jewish race began when Abraham was circumcised at 99; “the father of many nations”, a title given to him again in Romans 4:17, and it is a reference to Abraham’s progeny from supergrace, sexual prosperity — Genesis 25:1-4.

“I, behold, my covenant is with you, therefore you shall become the father of many Gentile nations” — as well as the implications. Abraham’s sexual supergrace prosperity is going to be more extensive, even but Sarah. This takes us to operation Keturah.

Verse 5 — “Consequently your name shall never again be called Abram.” Abram means the father of high and windy places, the father of high altitude. In effect, it means the father of nothing and that is what Abram had been all of his life. He married this beautiful woman in Ur of the Chaldeas at a time when the Chileans were perpetuating their families because the Chaldeans were the most famous people on earth. Sarah was always barren. So “father of high altitude” came to mean father of nothing. He had no children and this was considered to be a disgrace. But it was a disgrace that he bore simply because he dearly loved Sarah. She was his right woman and to him it made no difference. And God kept hitting with this idea that he was going to have a progeny.

Verse 6 — and God said, “I will cause you to be prolific to the maximum [not fruitful].” Parah in the hiphil means to be prolific. God is causing all of this through the sexual prosperity of his supergrace paragraph. Here again is the promise of great supergrace prosperity resulting in maximum progeny.

“furthermore I will give you nations” — the word “make” in the KJV is the qal perfect of nathan and it means to “give” nations — “kings shall spring forth from you.”

“I will cause you to be prolific to the maximum, furthermore I will give you nations from your sexual prosperity, and kings shall spring forth from you.”

Verse 7 — the new race is mentioned. “I will establish thy seed”. The qal perfect of qum means “I will cause it to come to pass.” The hiphil emphasises that God will produce this in grace totally apart from the hopeless situation of Abraham. “Thy seed” is the masculine singular of zera and refers now to the progeny of Abraham. The suffix refers to Abraham, the singular noun refers to the new race which comes through Isaac and Jacob, not the many Gentile nations that will also come from Abraham’s prosperity. Remember that Abraham is the source of one new race and that is through Isaac and Jacob. But from Keturah he will also be the source of many Gentile races.

“Furthermore I will establish my covenant between me and you and your progeny after you” — the new race, the Jews — “for an everlasting covenant in their specific generations.” In other words, Abraham is not only the father of a new race but that race also has father Abraham as the pattern for salvation, for living grace, for supergrace, dying grace, and surpassing grace. Abraham is the be a pattern of God’s grace, a monument to it, forever.

Verse 8 — a new nation. “Furthermore I have given you and your seed a land of your residence” — the land of Abraham’s residence is the land where he is now located — “all the land of Canaan for an eternal possession; also I will become their Elohim.”

The ritual anticipation of seizing and holding is brought out in verses 9-14. Verse 9 — “Therefore, Elohim said to Abraham, Now as for you, you shall guard my covenant, you, and your progeny after you in their specific generations.” The Abrahamic covenant is to be guarded.

Principles

1. The Abrahamic covenant can only be guarded by positive volition toward Bible doctrine. In other words, the Abrahamic covenant can only be guarded by seizing and holding the high ground of supergrace.

2. Abraham’s positive faith response to doctrine will become evident from his circumcision. The fact that he has reached the high ground will be demonstrated by him. He will actually overtly do something to show that he is going to seize and hold, that he believes that God keeps his word, that doctrine resident in his soul is a reality to him.

3. The sign of seizing and holding is circumcision. Circumcision represents the principle of faithfulness to the Word of God as well as perpetuation of the racial heritage of Abraham. Circumcision represents supergrace blessings. It represents the fact that Abraham with doctrine in his soul recognises that God will take care of his hopeless situation.

4. Circumcision becomes a ritual, then, with both a spiritual and physical connotation to Israel. 5. In Genesis 17:5,6 the promise of supergrace sexual prosperity is repeated to Abraham at the time of his sexual death.

6. However, Abraham was circumcised in his dead phallus, as per Genesis 17:26.

7. The meaning of Abraham’s circumcision is in spite of hopelessness of sexual status Abraham recognises that God will overcome hopeless circumstances, that He has in fact provided for them in eternity past. Abraham came to recognise that the solution to his temporal problem existed before he did, something every believer recognises as he reaches supergrace. The solutions to our problems came in eternity past.

Notice the trend of this chapter from verse 4, “By means of doctrine Abel”; verse 5, “By means of doctrine Enoch”; verse 7, “By means of doctrine Noah”; verse 8, “By means of doctrine Abraham.” Then, skipping down to verse 20, “By means of doctrine Isaac”; verse 21, “By means of doctrine Jacob”; verse 22, “By means of doctrine Joseph”.

Here are the patriarchs but in the midst of this in verse 11 we have the name of one woman. “Through faith” is the instrumental of pistij — “By means of doctrine resident in the soul Sarah.” But is isn’t “Sarah also,” it is “even Sarah herself.” This is the great key. It is more difficult for a woman to reach supergrace than a man. It is easier for a woman to be more interested in doctrine but not to reach supergrace. Reason: the woman was deigned to be a responder. As a responder she is designed to respond to one man, her right man. If her right man is moving toward supergrace, or has seized and held, she will follow his lead if she truly loves him. Therefore she is following his authority in listening to the teaching of the Word. But if she is minus her right man it is extremely difficult for her to ever reach supergrace, just as it is difficult for a woman to work or to do anything but respond to her right man. Reason: women are confused about authority. It is very difficult for a woman to be objective about the authority of a pastor-teacher.

“had received strength [ability]” — this was her SG², and the word dunamij here is used for the revival of her sexual apparatus, inherent strength for the deposit of sperm — “for the deposit of sperm.” The next phrase, “and was delivered of child”, is not found in the original.

“when she was past age” — we have an ascensive kai, “even”. And then the next phrase is strictly a prepositional phrase and not a verb. It is the preposition para plus the accusative of xairoj. In addition to that we have one other word here, the genitive of h(likia. When you put it all together it says literally, “even beyond the proper time of life.” So we have so far, “By means of doctrine resident in the soul, even Sarah herself received ability for the deposit of sperm even beyond the proper time of life,” meaning that she was almost 90 years old.

Sarah was a phenomenal woman, a woman of great courage, greater than most of the men of her time because she had a strong tendency toward subjectivity. This comes out from her original name, Sarai, which means “bitch” or “contentious,” or “complainer,” or “nag,” or a combination of all of these things. In other words, a highly beautiful, highly unstable, highly subjective woman. When you have everything going for you there always has to be some flaw, and the flaw according to the ancient world in Sarah’s day, it was a part of the prosperity package to have children. In every case where the woman was barren it was a great test to her, regardless of how beautiful she was, regardless of any other factor. So the flaw was the act that Sarah was barren. She was in a total hopeless situation. On the positive side, is it possible for a mixed-up, flaky female to snap out of it and get cracking. A woman, Sarah, had her right man and yet she always had rejected the authority of her right man. As a matter of fact Sarah often spent her time trying to set aside the wishes of her right man in everything. She complained to him, she tried to wear him down by nagging and sap the strength of his life. She tried to make him over into what she wanted. But she always had this thing that messed her up and that was the fact that she was barren and subject to criticism herself in the society in which she lived. With all of these factors against her and with the reaction that set in, she was bitter about her failure to have children, she was very upset and antagonistic toward her right man, so much so that you have to add to bitterness implacability. She refused most of the time to recognise authority and it always took a lot of Abraham’s strength and concentration to get her in line, so that he did not have strength and concentration for the normal things of life that should have occupied his mind. But worst of all was the fact that she constantly was trying to help Abraham to rationalise on the matter of SG², she was always looking back toward home, dragging her feet and didn’t want to go into the land, she was always ready to leave the land, to get up and go. She was constantly pulling in the wrong direction.

Abraham had a choice to make and most of the time he made the wrong choice. There is nothing that destroys a man quicker than to follow a woman instead of the will of God. For example, it was the will of God for Abraham to stay in the land. What did he do? He went out of the land. Sarah was all for that, she was ready to lie. To duck away from a man’s authority a woman has to be a liar and a deceiver and a reactor. But all of the things that made her a deceiver and a reactor against her situation and against Abraham all meant that she was a liar and a deceiver, and a liar and a reactor against doctrine, so that she was always behind Abraham spiritually. She was always subjective about doctrine. It isn’t that she was totally negative toward doctrine, it is that her subjectivity produced negative reactions — he mental attitude sins, her jealousy of Hagar later on, her bitterness toward Abraham and her situation, her desire to liberate herself by running Abraham and running everything else, her desire to have the ostentations of life — Abraham was wealthy but there was no ostentation in the wealth. So there were always these factors that produced a tremendous negative attitude in her while she really wasn’t negative. The greatness of Sarah is the fact that all of these were eliminated from her life by rebound and by persistence. Her supergrace paragraph calls for sexual prosperity, conception and motherhood. to fulfil the paragraph God had to perform a physiological miracle, the total revival of her sexual apparatus and the total revival of her physical appearance with her physiological revival. Remember that the basic concept of sex between right man and right woman is pleasure and not conception. She had, after age 89, many wonderful times of pleasure but she still only had one son. Sarah made it to supergrace.

“because” — the conjunction e)pei used here is the causal meaning. Notice how she got there. Supergrace is never attained without that strong objectivity of divine viewpoint, encouragement from doctrine in the soul which gives an increasing occupation with the person of Christ. You must learn to respond to the Lord and you respond to the Lord by positive volition toward doctrine. Between you and the Lord is the doctrine that will give you a love for the Lord. Therefore you have a series of problems, a structural type problem. If you [a woman] are responding to your right man and your right man and your right man is negative toward doctrine then you must choose doctrine over your right man. If you are responding to a right man who is positive then you have an easy problem for he will lead you in spiritual things as in all things. If you are minus right man then you have a strong tendency toward the reactor factors. So that the problem of the woman being interested is easy because when a woman is reacting in one thing she is finding interest in something else. Women often seek interest in spiritual things as a solution to temporal things rather than in fulfilling the purpose for which every woman is in the royal family of God which is to follow the colours and seize the high ground. So basically there are three factors: she has a right man who is negative and therefore she is more interested in her negative right man than she is in the word; she has a right man who is positive and therefore he leads her, and that is the simple one; she is minus her right man and in some stage of reaction constantly frustrated, like Sarah. And here is how she did it from one phrase from God’s Word:

“she judged” — she didn’t do that, you can’t be objective and judge others. It says “she concluded” — e(geomai. Sarah did have an easier time than most. If God does not have a right man for a woman then it is easy. If there is no right man from eternity past then her concentration on the Word is simple. Or if her right man is positive then she follows him. But these two factors are the easy factors, the difficult factor is a negative right man. The only answer to that is e(geomai. In the etymology of this word — God the Holy Spirit is very sparing in the use of words — it does not mean to judge, it means to think, to conclude, and the conclusion is based on being an expert in a field. E(geomai originally meant a guide. A guide is an expert who knows the way from point A to point B, a guide always is a guide because he knows something. The point is that Sarah, who failed in every part of her life, became an expert in the field of doctrine. And when she had maximum doctrine in her soul then she was able to draw conclusions. She overcame all of her problems by doctrine in her soul, and as the doctrine increased she became an expert. What did she do with her doctrine? She started to draw conclusions about the Lord! So her conclusions were based on doctrine. But notice, it was doctrine in her soul that motivated her. Sarah is a perfect illustration of how with all the handicaps, the subjectivity, frustration, all of the mental attitude sins collected, it is possible to break through these barriers and move to the high ground of supergrace, but it must be done by motivation from doctrine in the soul. Sarah reminds us all of the importance of Bible doctrine. We must be moved by doctrine in the soul. Doctrine becomes the authority.

“because she concluded him” — there is no personal pronoun. It is a translation device for the articular participle. It is actually, “she concluded “faithful” — the accusative singular direct object of pistoj, the adjective. Of all the things that you could say about a woman! She concluded Him a rewarder, she concluded that God keeps His word, there were all kinds of conclusions, but what does a woman want more than anything else? Faithful! She finally found someone she concluded faithful. A woman does not have any security in life except the faithfulness of her right man. Abraham was not faithful. Even though she had sponsored it he went off to the tent of Hagar. Sarah had become very bitter because to her there was no such thing as human faithfulness. But she began to take in doctrine because Abraham stuck it out with doctrine and she began to follow him. And when she got doctrine in her soul she had enough to know that God is faithful. Once she found someone who was faithful she became positive and stuck with it. And here is one of the great women of history seizing and holding the high ground of supergrace because she concluded from doctrine in her soul that God was faithful, and concluding that she followed the colours, she was faithful and she never stopped following the colours. She finally found someone who was faithful, someone who was stable and never let her down.

“the one who had promised” — the articular aorist active participle of e)paggellw. How did she catch on to this faithfulness? In a very simple, yet wonderful way. She had seen the unfaithfulness of Lot to Abraham. She had seen the unfaithfulness of people all around her, she had witnessed many unfaithful things. She had seen everything in life that was bad and she had reacted to it. She had even turned Abraham into an unfaithful person and therefore she was thoroughly washed up with these things. But doctrine in her soul, inevitably brought her face to face with the essence of God. The essence of God made her thirst for doctrine and the cycle began — doctrine, the essence of God, more essence and more doctrine. She thirsted for doctrine, she became positive toward doctrine, she wanted more than anything else doctrine. As this cycle continued she began to grow up and a wonderful edification complex emerged in her soul. She followed the colours and she reached the high ground. She would have reached it with or without Abraham. Why? Because it no longer depended upon Abraham who was positive, it depended upon her. She was positive.

Once you discover from doctrine the faithfulness of God you can only be faithful to Him. Faithfulness begets faithfulness. How can you be faithful to God? One way only. Your faithfulness to Him is in how often you come to Bible class. When you are motivated by doctrine you come. If you are motivated by Bible doctrine in your soul you can’t stay away, but if you are motivated for some other reason you can be so busy with other things you haven’t time or you can be distracted by some person, etc.

The aorist tense of e)paggellw is a gnomic aorist for a fact of doctrine so certain as to be axiomatic in character. she finally concluded what was already true. It was true billions of years ago, it is true in time, it is true forever. There never was a time when it wasn’t true. So it is used to describe how Sarah was motivated to follow the colours. The active voice: God the Father in eternity past produced the action of the verb. He made a promise and that promise stands. He made lots of promises and all of them are tied up in SG² and SG³, and they are not available to the believer, even though they were made for him, until the believer responds to the faithfulness of God. And how does he respond? By being faithful to what God has placed in the world: Bible doctrine — Matthew 4:4. So your response to God’s faithfulness, by being faithful, by using your volition toward doctrine, results in getting SG², and holding means SG³. Between the two is dying grace. This is a circumstantial participle. Translation: “By means of doctrine resident in the soul even Sarah herself received sexual ability for the deposit of seed, though she was beyond the time of life for conception, because she concluded faithful the one who had promised.”

Principles

1. Sarah’s conclusions did not occur at the moment that Abraham received supergrace but shortly thereafter.

2. At first Abraham on the verge of supergrace laughed at God after Sarah’s conception — Genesis 17:15-19.

3. Then Sarah laughed in Genesis 18:9-15.

4. But by the time that Abraham and Sarah were both in supergrace status the sexual prosperity resulted in the birth of “laughter” [Isaac] — Genesis 21:1-3. Sarah’s literal laughter was not turned into laughter [a son] until the accumulation of doctrine resident in her soul meant the attainment of supergrace status.

Supergrace will give you a sense of humour! A sense of humour is the ability to relax and laugh at yourself.

The doctrine of faithfulness

1. There is only one person in all of God’s universe who was totally faithful to you and was related to you, and that is God the Father. This is not to say that God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are not faithful but the Father is the author of the plan. As the author of the plan the Father has more than His great love for you, a total faithfulness to you. He can only be faithful to you because of His perfect character. Divine faithfulness is the grace expression of God’s character to the believer, it is the manifestation of His perfect character. All faithfulness in the human realm resides first of all in the soul. People are faithful to different things in life. Faithfulness is an attitude toward something in life that you love, respect, admire or recognise its authority.

2. God is faithful to us in rebound — 1 John 1:9. If we name our sins He is faithful and just. That is the stability of God. it is possible for a human being to be faithful but he is never faithful and just in the sense that God is. The key to love is found in righteous character, in stability of soul, in the capacity of the soul. God’s faithfulness is always related to His character. Justice is a part of the sovereignty of God. Because God the Father is just He is also faithful. When a person can be faithful to us without compromising his character he has perfect stability, and God has perfect stability. God’s faithfulness in rebound teaches us the principle that His faithfulness is related to His perfect character.

3. God’s faithfulness is also related to His perfect plan — 1 Corinthians 1:9. We have been called in eternity past. In eternity past God was cognisant of all of our failures. The word “called” had to do with the fact that God called us or designated us — kalew also means to designate — in the decrees. For example, He called or designated us royal family of God forever. All of this designation in eternity past means that God found a way to save us and take us through every stage of grace from saving grace to surpassing grace without compromising His character. Therefore, one again, God’s faithfulness goes back to His perfect character.

4. God’s faithfulness in provision and blessing. This is inevitable. If God found a way to save us it is much easier to find a way to provide for us and to bless us — 1 Thessalonians 5:24. God’s perfect faithfulness in eternity past inevitably leads to God’s perfect faithfulness to you in time. Principle: If God was faithful to you in eternity past He can only be faithful to you in time where the variables become extensive, and He can only be faithful to you in eternity, the eternal future. He cannot be anything else — application of immutability as well.

5. God’s faithfulness in testing. 1 Corinthians 10:13. The first area of testing overtaking is living grace. After you pass a certain number of living grace tests then you start up the hill. Then you are going to be tested with regard to you love of doctrine. Is doctrine more important to you than family, social life, entertainment, someone you love, etc. So you are tested as you climb the hill and then when you seize the high ground, in holding you get the greatest test of all. Abraham’s greatest test was the offering of Isaac. o you are tested at the point of living grace, you are tested at the point of advancing, you are tested at the point of victory. So you have three categories of testing. In the preparation for the advance you are tested, in the advance you are tested, in the victory you are tested. This verse is for all stages.

What is the “way of escape”? It is doctrine resident in the soul. God provides the right doctrine for every phase of your spiritual growth. The way of escape is not something overt, it is doctrine. “That you may be able to endure it”.

6. God is faithful to the royal family of God — Hebrews 10:23, “Let us keep holding fast the confession of our confidence unbending.” Our confidence comes from resident doctrine. Doctrine is hooked up to the faithfulness of God. The more doctrine you have the more you see His perfect character, the more you see His perfect character the more you advance. The more you advance the less amount of importance is then attached to the things around you that were formerly important and distracting — “because the one having promised is faithful.”

7. God is also faithful to the reversionistic believer — 2 Timothy 2:13, “If we are faithless he remains faithful, he cannot deny himself.” His perfect character makes it impossible to be faithless to the reversionistic believer.

8. God is faithful to the believer in the realm of the angelic conflict — an invisible conflict, one with which in our human bodies we are unable to cope. Our human souls cannot perceive the tremendous spiritual conflict involved. Therefore 2 Thessalonians 3:3 tells us, “But the Lord keeps on being faithful, he will support and guard you from the evil one.” We are protected from the invisible enemies.

9. God’s faithfulness is a reality in supergrace status and getting to supergrace — Hebrews 11:11. 10. Conclusion:

a) Faithfulness is the consistency and stability of God.

b) Faithfulness is the perfection of God’s essence and the fact that He cannot be inconsistent with His own essence, nor can He compromise His essence.

c) Furthermore, faithfulness is the fact that God cannot change His essence and cannot be unfair to anyone. It is impossible for God to be unfair.

d) God is consistent with Himself, therefore He is faithful or consistent with us.

e) God keeps His Word. God makes many promises. Since eternity past God has made thousands of promises and God has kept every one of them.

f) There never was a time when God was unfaithful. The very thought of divine unfaithfulness is blasphemy.

g) Therefore unfaithfulness is totally incompatible with the very nature and character of God.

i) The very existence, function, provision, and blessing of the royal family now and forever depends on God’s faithfulness.

Verse 12 — “Therefore” — inferential conjunction dio plus the connective kai. It should be translated “And therefore.” Note that God the Holy Spirit in dealing with this great matter has chosen Romans 4 to give Abraham’s side but He has chosen Hebrews 11 to present a magnificent, wonderful woman. Even though this is primarily a chapter of supergrace heroes, male type, there are supergrace heroes female type, and none of them are greater than Sarah.

“sprang there” — the aorist passive indicative of ginomai, “there was born. The aorist tense is a dramatic aorist, it states a present reality with the certitude of a past event. It was quite a dramatic thing when “young” Sarah at age 90 gave birth to a son. The passive voice: Isaac receives the action of the verb, being born from the sexual prosperity of SG². The declarative indicative is the historical reality of the birth of Isaac, the fulfilment of God’s promise, the manifestation of God’s faithfulness in a hopeless situation. God is faithful in hopeless situations.

“even” — wrong! We have a connective kai which means “and,” “of one”, and the preposition a)po plus the ablative of the numeral e(ij — “from the source of one.” This refers to Abraham in status of sexual death at the time he reached the high ground of supergrace. Sarah is mentioned in the previous verse as the mother of Isaac. In this verse Abraham is emphasised as the father of Isaac. This is all that God the Holy Spirit has to say about the father here.

“and him” — the accusative neuter plural of the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj. It is plural here, “him” is singular. The demonstrative pronoun refers to someone close at hand in the context. Who is close at hand? Abraham and Sarah. God the Holy Spirit brings them both in at this point as being sexually dead. It should be translated “and these same ones.”

“as good as dead” — the perfect passive participle of nekrow which means to be dead, and the perfect tense is a dramatic perfect which is the rhetorical use of the intensive perfect, something that happens in the past with existing results. It should be translated, “and the same ones [Abraham and Sarah] having become sexually dead.” They weren’t as good as, they were, says the dramatic perfect. The results of sexual death indicate a completely hopeless situation. The passive voice: Abraham and Sarah receive the action of the verb. They received sexual death with the result that they kept on being sexually dead. The participle is part of the accusative of general reference. O(utoj now becomes the subject of the participle.

Summary

1. The rest of the verse quotes the promise of Genesis 15:5 which was requoted in Genesis 22:17 and requoted in Genesis 32:12.

2. The promise is based on Abraham’s supergrace paragraph.

3. The promise was extrapolated from his SG² to encourage Abraham to move to the objective of supergrace.

4. The promise as quoted is designed to emphasise the difference between a hopeless situation of sexual death and the faithfulness of God who has never died, who is perfect, and who can overcome any obstacle in life.

5. Therefore to understand the rest of the verse the quotation of a promise must be added.

From a hopeless situation of the sexual death of Abraham and Sarah comes a new race perpetuated into the second generation — Isaac.

“so many as the stars of the sky” — wrong! ta a)stra tou o)uranou is “the stars of the heavens”, not the sky. Technical but important.

“in multitude” is wrong. It is the locative singular from plhqoj, “in number.”

“and as the sand which is by the sea shore” — kai w( h( a)mmoj h( para to xeiloj thj qalasshj means “and just as the sand which is by the lip of the sea.” This is not a big beach, this is sand scattered among the rocks, little patches of sand innumerable but not concentrated.

Translation: “And therefore from the source of one hopeless couple was born Isaac, and these same ones [Abraham and Sarah] having become sexually dead [in contrast to the promises of Genesis 15:5], just as the stars of the heavens in number and the sand which is by the lip of the sea, innumerable.”

Summary

1. We have a contrast between the divine promise of supergrace blessing and the hopeless circumstances of sexual death. They are placed side by side to show that man cannot so anything about it. And side by side you have a hopeless situation with supergrace blessing to show the one who makes the difference is God, His perfect character, His perfect essence, is the guarantee of His faithfulness.

2. From this contrast we learn that there is no such thing as a hopeless situation. When you take a hopeless situation and put it next door to SG² what cancels out the hopeless situation? The essence of God. There isn’t a hopeless situation.

3. Man’s failure places him in a situation but God in grace turns the whole mess into blessing.

4. Note the fact that Bible doctrine resident in the soul of Abraham finally brought him to supergrace status.

5. In that status Abraham gave the order to circumcise himself because doctrine in his soul was more real than the hopeless situation of his phallus.

6. Circumcision became the sign of Abraham’s supergrace sexual prosperity.

7. It also became a monument to the fact that God overcomes. Therefore there is no way that we can ever take any credit.

8. Divine omnipotence overcame all.

9. Why? God must be true to Himself, God must be consistent with Himself, God cannot compromise God.

10. The reality of this truth came to Abraham through Bible doctrine resident in his soul at the time of circumcision.

11. The same reality came to Sarah through doctrine resident in her soul.

12. Together, Abraham and Sarah entered into supergrace sexual prosperity which historically resulted in a new race of Jews whose number is as the stars of the heavens. On the earth the number of Jews is a variable, but the number of Jews in heaven is as large as the number of stars in the galaxies.

11:13 via Philippians 3:15

Philippians 3:15 — The word “perfect” here does not mean self-righteousness. The first word really is “Therefore.” It is an inferential particle, o)un, designed to take up the preceding context, verses 12-14, the seize and hold passage, and to make an inference from it.

“as many as” is a correlative word, o(soj, which emphasises quality. Quality folks here refer to supergrace believers, those who have followed the colours to the high ground. The verb to be is not found here, it merely helps to smooth out the translation.

“are perfect” — we have nominative masculine plural adjective, teleioj, which refers to maturity or the supergrace life. “Therefore, as many as are mature” is the corrected translation so far.

“let us” is simply a device for handling the subjunctive mood here; “be thus minded” is the verb — present active subjunctive of the verb fronew which means to think objectively. We have already seen Sarah under dokew thinking subjectively, but here we have the principle of objective thinking. It is characteristic of the supergrace life and it is a part of the paragraph SG² to begin to have an objective attitude about life, about death, and about eternity. The present tense is retroactive progressive, it denotes what has happened in the past and continues into the present. Objective thinking begins before you reach the high ground and it continues once you seize and hold. The active voice: the supergrace believer produces the action — objective thinking about everything in life; no confusion, no subjective thinking, no human viewpoint. The subjunctive mood is hortatory — one in which the writer, recently recovered from reversionism, invites the readers to join him in a course of action. The course of action has been previously stated as “seize and hold.” How do you seize and hold? It is impossible to hold the high ground if you become subjective in your thinking. No one with subjective thinking can ever hold the high ground.

Subjective thinking has certain manifestations. It includes all the realm of mental attitude sins — envy, pride, jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, and so on. It is also manifest by pettiness or, along with pettiness, the desire to hurt — the vengeance complex. It also comes from areas like self-pity, all of the self concepts. Any expression of human viewpoint — failure to constantly take in Bible doctrine — which is any human viewpoint attitude, any human viewpoint scheme, the idea of advancing yourself by your cleverness, by your ability, by some pseudo system. It also includes a very interesting principle called hypocrisy in which hypocrisy is the means of gaining whatever you want — social prosperity, sexual prosperity, economic prosperity. Hypocrisy is a false means of attaining pseudo prosperity. In other words, you are nice to people you can’t stand so that you can have prosperity. This is the concept of the subjunctive mood and the course of action, then, is objective thinking. To seize and hold the high ground the supergrace believer must think objectively. This comes from the continuation of the intake of Bible doctrine. The superficialities of human celebrityship are also set aside as Paul has previously stated in the context of verse 8 — “piles of dung.” Doctrine becomes the inner motivation of life, doctrine becomes the basis of thought pattern, doctrine becomes the common sense, the good judgement, the objective thinking of such a believer. So it should read, “let us continue objective thinking.” In other words, the perpetuation of divine viewpoint through the consistent daily function of GAP.

The doctrine of mental attitude (Revised)

1. Definition.

a) The function of the right lobe or the heart of the believer is his mental attitude.

b) The sum total of all thought impulses which emanate from the launching pad or the believer’s right lobe. In other words, human viewpoint is the expression of cosmic norms and standards of life. The antithesis, the divine viewpoint, is the expression of Bible norms and standards. An attitude, then, is every thought impulse of the believer. All though impulses can be categorised into divine or human viewpoint.

2. Thinking is the real personality. Who are you? What are you? You are to some what your physical appearance connotes. You are a person and thinking is the real personality. What a person thinks in his soul is what he really is. Mental attitude determines both the character and the lifestyle of the person. Proverbs 23:6,7 — “Do not eat the bread of selfish man” — so this verse immediately establishes the true person. In his soul he is selfish and stingy — “or desire his delicacies.” Why? Because he may say, “Join me,” or “sit down and eat,” or he might even make motions toward picking up the check, but inside he is stingy, in his soul he is selfish. His attitude is entirely different from what he says. If a person is stingy and you sit down and eat with him it may kill him! It will disturb him. That isn’t really what he wants, it is just the thing he knows is what society demands that he say. “For as he thinks in his soul, so he is” — he is a stingy man, a selfish man, and if you sit down and eat with him it kills him — “for he says to you, Eat and drink, but his right lobe is not with you.”

Four things about these two verses:

a) The passage portrays hypocrisy as the background for a principle — a stingy person having to share and hating every minute of it.

b) In his soul a person thinks reality, whereas overtly and in hypocrisy he gives you the impression acceptable to society.

c) The real person is not the one who offered you the hospitality, the real person is the one who thinks — “I love him, I hate him; he is a jerk, he is wonderful.” The person who says sit down or let’s go out for a drink, that isn’t the real person. The real person is in that soul, what is said is meaningless.

d) What goes on in the soul is what the person is really like.

3. The conflicts of mental attitudes in the believer — Isaiah 55:6-9.

Verse 6: “Seek the Lord while he may be found.” This is addressed to a believer in living grace and the issue is positive volition toward doctrine. It means while you are in time you have the opportunity to take in doctrine. it is not evangelistic, it is addressed to reversionistic believers and it is a call to positive volition toward Bible doctrine in time. “Call upon him while he is near”, a reference to living grace being administered to a reversionistic believer.

Verse 7 — “Let the wicked” — a reversionistic believer; “forsake his way.” What is the way of the reversionist? Negative volition toward Bible doctrine. He must forsake negative volition toward doctrine. “And the unrighteous man [reversionist] his thoughts.” What are the thoughts of the reversionist or the unrighteous man? Human viewpoint. “And let him return” — here is the key; “to the Lord” — reversion recovery through consistent positive volition. And what will the Lord do? “And he will have compassion on him; and to our God; for he will abundantly pardon.” This is not salvation, this is restoration.

Verse 8 — “For my thoughts [divine viewpoint] are not your thoughts [human viewpoint of the reversionist], neither are your ways [reversionism] my ways, saith the Lord.”

Verse 9 — “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts [divine viewpoint] than your thoughts [human viewpoint].”

So we have a conflict in the soul between divine and human viewpoint. Human viewpoint exists, for example, in the royal family indwelt by the Holy Spirit and even filled with the Spirit through rebound but minus doctrine. When minus becomes plus then you have divine viewpoint. So the balance of residency is the key to whether you have human or divine viewpoint.

4. The command to divine viewpoint. Since doctrine is the mind of Christ — 1 Corinthians 2:16 — attitude toward doctrine determines the viewpoint of life For example, we are commanded in Philippians 2:5, “Keep on having this mental attitude in you which also was in Christ Jesus.” This command is obeyed by the daily function of GAP. Maximum doctrine resident in the soul is the source of divine viewpoint. 2 Corinthians 10:4-6.

Verse 4 — “(For the equipment and weapons of our conflict are not human attributes, but attributes of inherent power [resident doctrine in the soul] through God against the destruction of Satan’s fortifications).” Satan’s fortifications are destroyed by the thought impulse of your soul, divine viewpoint, the dynamics of Bible doctrine.

Verse 5 — we become aggressive in the soul. “Assaulting and demolishing cosmic thoughts [human viewpoint], and every obstacle of pride which attacks against the objective knowledge of God, and making a prisoner of every human viewpoint system of thought to the authority of Christ.”

Verse 6 — “Holding in readiness [the garrison of resident doctrine] to punish all deviation [human viewpoint], from disobedience [reversionistic human viewpoint] when your obedience [the daily function of GAP] has been fulfilled.”

5. Rapport in the royal family of God is based on the divine viewpoint — Philippians 2:2, “Fill up the deficiency with my inner happiness, that you keep on thinking the same thing [divine viewpoint], having the same love [mental attitude love], soul rapport in thinking [which comes through the divine viewpoint of life].” So rapport in the royal family is based upon maximum doctrine in the soul.

6. The function of the royal priesthood demands a new mental attitude — 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of sound mind [judgement].” There is the royal family with maximum doctrine, the balance of residency in the soul. Romans 12:2, “Stop being conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your thinking, that you may prove what is the will of God, namely that the will of God is good and acceptable and perfect.” There you have the mental attitude which is so important in the function of phase two.

7. Divine viewpoint from doctrine produces confidence — 2 Corinthians 5:1, “For we know [knowledge of doctrine] that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down [death], we have a building from God [resurrection body], a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” You never know when God is going to call you home but it is always important, as soon as possible in the Christian life, to have a mental attitude toward death, for your mental attitude toward death therefore improves your mental attitude toward life. It is imperative for us to have confidence with regard to eternity, confidence with regard to dying.

Verse 6 — “Therefore we keep having confidence, even knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord” — knowing these things.

Verse 7 — “(For we walk by doctrine resident in the soul, not by sight).”

Verse 8 — “We keep on having confidence, I say, and take mental delight in the fact that to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord.”

All the way through these four words, first we know and then we have confidence. Having confidence we understand and take mental delight in some of the greatest and most shocking things in life — death and transfer from time to eternity. So divine viewpoint from doctrine produces confidence for life, for dying, and for eternity.

8. Areas of life involving mental attitude.

a) Stability is a mental. The mental attitude of stability creates stability in the life — James 1:8, “A double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways.” Instability is not what you do, instability is the way that you think. Sloppy thinking leads to instability, clear thinking leads to stability. A double-minded person is an unstable person. So instability is an attitude of soul, instability reflects the attitude of the individual.

b) Prosperity is a mental attitude — Philippians 4:7, “And the prosperity from God, transcending human comprehension, shall garrison your right lobes and left lobes by means of Jesus Christ.” In other words, prosperity is found in your mental attitude long before it ever touches your life in any other way.

c) Giving in a mental attitude. “Each one [each royal priest], according as he has determined by means of his right lobe, so give, not out from distress of mind [pressure], nor from compulsion of emotions, for the God keeps on loving the gracious giver.” The gracious giver is the one whose mental attitude is of grace.

d) Worldliness is a mental attitude — Romans 12:2, “Stop being conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mental attitude, that you may prove what the will of God is, namely that it is good, acceptable and perfect.” Colossians 3:2, “Keep thinking objectively about the above things [divine viewpoint], not the things on the earth [human viewpoint].”

e) Evil is a mental attitude. Men perform things that are called evil but evil is a mental attitude. Matthew 9:4, “And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Why are you thinking evil in your right lobes?” You think evil before you ever do evil. All evil is spawned from the thought pattern of the soul.

f) Arrogance is a mental attitude — Galatians 6:3, “For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

So far in Philippians 3:15 we have, “Therefore as many as are mature [supergrace types], let us continue objective thinking” — supergrace is characterised by objective thinking — “and if” — conditional particle e)i used as a conjunction, it introduces a first class condition with the indicative.

“in anything” is simply a nominative neuter indefinite pronoun tij and it means “in anything at all.” The word “otherwise” is the adverb e(teroj, meaning “differently.” It goes with the verb and it has to do with thinking.

“ye be minded” is the present active indicative of fronew. This time the adverb cancels the objectivity and merely shows that this is human viewpoint.

“God” — o( qoej, “shall reveal,” future active indicative of a)pokaluptw, a gnomic future for a statement of fact or performance rightly expected under normal conditions in the daily function of GAP. God reveals all of our human viewpoint if we stay with it long enough — if we are patient, if we persist with the function of GAP; “even this” — we have the adjunctive use of kai plus the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj, meaning “this also.” Being in the nominative case it is the subject, not the object.; “unto you” is dative of indirect object.

Translation: “Therefore as many as are mature [supergrace believers], let us continue objective type thinking [divine viewpoint through resident doctrine]: and if you think differently in anything at all [and you do], this also will the God reveal to you.”

In other words, to seize and hold the high ground of supergrace the believer must continue to take in the Word of God as a means of maintaining that objective.

The perpetuation of supergrace status is now given in the next verse, verse 16. “Nevertheless,” the adverb plhn used as a conjunction, meaning “however”; “whereto” is a prepositional phrase, e)ij plus the accusative neuter singular of o(j. O(j is a relative pronoun used here in a rather unusual way. It means “However with reference to as far as”; “we have already attained” — the aorist active indicative of fqanw, and it means to advance, to take an objective. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It gathers into one entirety all the function of GAP necessary to reach the point of supergrace. Now that he is there he gives a command for himself and for all believers.

“let us walk by the same rule” is wrong. This is the present active infinitive of stoixew and it means to advance in ranks, it means to submit yourself to discipline. It doesn’t mean that you are running by yourself or advancing, it means to advance in line of rank. The present tense is retroactive progressive, it denotes what has begun in the past and continues up to the present time — following the colours in ranks with other members of the royal family of God. What does it mean to be in ranks? First of all, it means that you are under authority. You are under the authority of the pastor-teacher, you are under the authority of academic discipline. You are in ranks. That is why the local church is God’s classroom for the Church Age, and there will never be another. The infinitive is an imperative. “let us mind the same thing” is not in the original.

Translation: “However with reference to as far as we have progressed [supergrace status], keep advancing in ranks.”

Verse 13 — “These” refers to the fact that all of them were believers, they had advanced to the high ground, they seized and held, they had their special SG² paragraph, and in their special SG² paragraph they had great sexual prosperity, great wealth, great leadership dynamics, many wonderful things. But at the point of dying they had something better. Death for the supergrace believer is better than the best things in life. If you die under supergrace the last part of your supergrace paragraph is dying blessing, and dying is better than anything in life.

“These all” — “these” is a nominative plural demonstrative pronoun from o(utoj and refers to something important in the context. “These all” are an historical demonstration of the fact that if you live well you will die better. The word “all” is the nominative plural of paj, indicating that they were in the same family. No family can be separated by death where all the family are believers, but these are all supergrace believers which means they all lived well and their death was better than their life; yet, their life was the best of everything.

“died” — the aorist active indicative of a)poqnhskw which refers to physical death, to transfer from time to eternity. The beautiful thing is that this family is united in heaven. Death did not separate this family. The aorist tense is the constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. Life is preparation for dying. If you were to die today and it took, say, four hours to do so and all of that time you were rational and lucid, what you would have to say in those four hours would reflect the success or the failure of your life. The active voice indicates that only those who are supergrace believers can produce this action.

“in faith” — in doctrine, or according to the norm or standard of doctrine. That is the way to die without regrets — kata plus the accusative of pistij which means according to the norm or standard of doctrine resident in the soul. There is only one way to prepare for dying and that is to have doctrine resident in the soul. When doctrine triumphs in your life Jesus Christ triumphs in your life. When Jesus Christ triumphs in your life it is because you have reached supergrace and you are occupied with the person of Christ. The great issue is that doctrine might triumph in your life.

The word “supergrace” has become a technical theological word which describes the spiritual maturity of the believer. The word “super” is simply a corrected translation of the word “more” in James 4:6. When it says “he giveth more grace” the Greek word mean greater or super. “Super” is above and beyond the grace provision provided for ever member of the royal family starting at salvation. The moment we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the moment we receive Him as saviour, we come under the principle of saving grace. Under this principle God provides for us the most wonderful things related to salvation, a salvation which is so great that it is permanent and cannot be removed from us by our actions, the action of God, or the action of angels. All the power of heaven and earth cannot take away one person’s salvation. Then we move to living grace where God has provided everything to keep us alive in the devil’s world — alive and often healthy and well. He has also provided for us everything necessary whereby we might advance to the status of supergrace or spiritual maturity. He has provided the text book of the Word of God which is preserved for us forever. He has provided for us the gift of pastor-teacher, and through His faithfulness and His provision mean who have this spiritual gift at the point of salvation are inevitably prepared to teach faithfully the Word of God to a specific congregation. Then He has provided also the classroom which is the local church. It is only within the assembly of the local church that the Word is taught by an authorised teacher — the gift of pastor-teacher — and people in their exposure to doctrine make their spiritual advance. The advance is extremely important because as goes the spiritual maturity of any generation of believers so goes the history of that particular generation in any geographical location of this world. As goes the supergrace type so goes the course of history for that generation and sometimes even the influence, the impact on the next.

It is supergrace which is important for a number of reasons. First of all, because supergrace means the greatest blessings that you as a believer can have in this life. Furthermore, supergrace means a variety of blessings for each one of us as believers. The temporal blessings that accompany your paragraph SG² are variable and no two believers have exactly the same but all have maximum blessing. However, there is one thing that all supergrace believers do have in common and that is occupation with the person of Jesus Christ. Beyond occupation with Christ there is a great deal of variety until we come to the point of dying. While the point of dying will vary with each one of us dying as an experience is better than anything in life for the supergrace believer only. For those who are in supergrace at the point of death there is a special blessing in dying, a blessing that is superior to anything in life.

“these not having received” — the aorist middle participle of komizw indicates that there was something they did not have in time. As a matter of fact what they did not have in time was reserved for them in eternity. The verb means to receive, as translated. The aorist tense is a constative aorist and contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. In other words, all of the time that they were on the high ground of supergrace having wonderful blessings there is something that they could not possess as long as they were in time. They could not possess certain eternal blessings, blessings under paragraph SG³, i.e. certain things that we have forever and ever which distinguish us from other people who have eternal life. Remember there are class distinctions in eternity even as there are class distinctions in time. However, the class distinctions of eternity are based on grace, upon spiritual factors. The reversionistic believer does not have special blessings in eternity. He is there is a resurrection body, minus human good, minus the old sin nature, and also minus SG³ and all of its implications. The middle voice here is a direct middle, it refers the results of the action directly to the agent so that the agent participates in the results of the action — not having any surpassing grace. We have a circumstantial participle which means that neither Abraham nor any of the other patriarchs ever received any of their SG³ blessings in time. This sets a precedent. No supergrace believer ever receives his surpassing grace blessings in time.

“the promises” — the accusative plural of the direct object e)paggelia which refers here to SG³. So literally we have, “not having received the surpassing grace promises.” However, the next word is a conjunction that indicates the fact that while we have not received and cannot receive SG³ in time we can at least anticipate some of the things that are coming. The conjunction a)lla says “All right, so you can’t have phase three blessings but you can know that they are there.

“but having seen” — this is where Bible doctrine adds an additional blessing. As you have inside of your soul maximum doctrine and the filling of the Holy Spirit giving you a balance of residency you not only have the capacity to enjoy SG², you not only have the preparation for dying, but you have the ability to look out into eternity and to see the reality of the eternal future. You have the ability through Bible doctrine to see the next action after the Rapture of the Church — the function of the Tribulation, the end of the Jewish Age, the second advent of Jesus Christ, the ability to understand the Millennium and all Millennial passages, and not to confuse them with anything in the present. The culminative aorist of o(raw means that Abraham, through doctrine, could look down the corridors of time and anticipate even greater blessings. The entirety was seizing and holding the high ground of supergrace. The culminative aorist looks at the existing results, something better in dying and something better for phase three or all eternity. The principle is that supergrace status perpetuated in time gives the perspective of something better in dying and something better than the best for all eternity in paragraph SG³. Abraham, because he had so much doctrine in his soul, could actually look forward an anticipate these things. The participle is circumstantial for a believer who seized and held supergrace until his death and always anticipated something greater for eternity even though he had the best in time.

“them” — the accusative plural from the intensive pronoun a)utoj which always emphasises something in the context. That which is emphasised here are the surpassing grace blessings. It should be translated “but having seen the same blessings.”

“afar off” — the adverb porrwqen means in the future, in the unseeable future, we can anticipate a certain category of life, great blessing. So from the high ground of supergrace Abraham could look over and see surpassing grace and see a wonderful transfer.

The next phrase, “and were persuaded of them” is not found in the original. It is true but not found here. “and embraced them” — a)spazomai which means to salute and embrace. It means at the beginning of dying there is the salute. He anticipates by a salute, he embraces which is the reality of having it. This is the constative aorist, the salute and the embrace gathered up into one entirety making a constative type aorist. A constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety.

“and confessed” — the aorist active participle of o(mologew. It doesn’t mean to confess, it means to acknowledge. This is a dramatic aorist, it is a great idiom for emphasis, and it states that Abraham in supergrace came to realise there was even something better waiting for him in eternity and the means of transfer was going to be greater than anything that he had in life.

“that” — o(ti, this is a conjunction which is used for verbs of thinking or conclusion and sometimes it is merely translated “quote”.

“they were those who thought differently [not “strangers” but those who had divine viewpoint] and transients [not “pilgrims”] on the earth.”

These last two phrases mean that the best came to Abraham in life. And since he had the best in life and there was something better he realised that he was just a transient in life.

Translation: “According to doctrine resident in the soul all these died [under the principle of dying grace], not having received surpassing grace promises, but having seen the same from a distance, and having saluted and embraced them, also having acknowledged that they were strangers and transients [passing through from grace to grace] on the earth.”

The doctrine of dying grace

1. Categories of death in the Bible. There are at least seven different categories of biblical death.

a) Spiritual — separation from God in time. This is the fact that we are born spiritually dead.

b) Physical death — the human soul leaves the body.

c) The second death or the final judgement of the unbeliever and fallen angels.

d) Operational death or the believer’s failure to produce divine good — James 2:26.

e) Positional death. This is part of the baptism of the Spirit whereby the believer is identified retroactively with Christ on the cross, therefore he rejects human good and he is identified currently with Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of the Father. We are in union with Christ, we share His eternal life, His righteousness, His sonship, His heirship, election, destiny, everything.

f) Temporal death, the believer out of fellowship through personal sin.

g) Sexual death — Hebrews 11:11,12.

2. Bible comments about physical death in general.

a) Death is associated with ending revolution — Numbers 16:25-31.

b) Death is always a matter of the sovereignty of God based upon His perfect character — Psalm 68:19,20.

c) Love is stronger than death — Song of Solomon 8:6. Category #2 love is involved there.

d) God can and does prolong life under certain circumstances — Psalm 102:19,20; 12:23,24; 118:18; Proverbs 14:27.

e) Women must be taught to face the death of loved ones, the woman being a responder in her soul — Jeremiah 9:20-25.

f) The sin unto death does not bring glory to God — Isaiah 38:18.

g) Death cannot be faced when the norms, standards function of the right lobe is destroyed — Lamentations 1:19,20. This is the characteristic of a reversionistic believer.

h) Dying grace is a promotion for the believer — Philippians 1:21.

i) God provides dying grace — Amos 5:8.

j) God delivers the believer from death — Job 5:20; Psalm 33:19; 56:13; 116:8.

3. Definition of dying grace.

a) Dying grace is the death of a mature/supergrace believer.

b) It is the means of transferring the supergrace believer into eternity.

c) Therefore dying grace is the experience of physical death under special blessing, the special provision of grace whereby dying is greater than living. This implies minimum pain, maximum happiness, maximum soul stimulation, maximum utilisation of resident doctrine, and maximum blessing so that dying becomes better than anything you had in life. This is the ultimate in departure from this life.

4. Dying grace is the missing link. There is a relationship between supergrace blessings in time and surpassing grace blessings in eternity or SG³. Dying grace is the missing link between the two, it is the way in which the transfer is made.

5. Dying grace is for the supergrace believer — Psalm 33:18,19.

6. Dying grace removes fear from death — Psalm 23:4.

7. Dying grace, therefore, is a supergrace blessing — Psalm 116:15.

8. Dying grace is the bridge between supergrace blessing and surpassing grace blessing — Hebrews 11:13.

9. The importance of seizing and holding the high ground of supergrace. In the first eight principles of dying grace we have seen how important it is to be in the supergrace status at the point of physical death. The importance of seizing and holding the high ground of supergrace is related to the plan of God in eternity past. In eternity past under the concept of the doctrine of divine decrees God knew about each one of us. He designed some special paragraphs of blessing to give us the maximum that time and eternity have to offer, but they are also designed to glorify God to the maximum. Maximum glory comes to God by way of the fulfilment of these paragraphs. The one who has SG² glorifies God in time. Under SG² the first category of blessing is spiritual blessing, and spiritual blessing means occupation with the person of Christ, sharing the happiness of God, the completion of and ECS, resident doctrine to meet every exigency of life. And then with that we have temporal blessings, and this often becomes a motivator to people but it is a false motivator — to take in doctrine so you can be promoted or very wealthy or successful, etc. All of these things are incidental and God is glorified by giving these things, and there is where the emphasis lies in the glorification of God Himself. Then the third category has to do with dying, so that dying grace is a blessing of supergrace, the greatest blessing in supergrace, the highest blessing of supergrace. But these special blessing are all designed to glorify God, and the link between these two paragraphs, the one that puts the two of them together, is dying grace. So dying grace is described as a bridge going from time to eternity. Therefore the key to everything is being able to seize and hold the supergrace life or to maintain the stability of spiritual maturity. They key there, of course, is continued positive volition toward Bible doctrine. Philippians 3:12-14 is the passage which goes with point 9. “I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.” That refers to the doctrine of divine decrees. In eternity past we were seized and held by Christ Jesus, so that we have these special blessings paragraphs from millions of years ago.

10. The relationship between supergrace and surpassing grace, then, is found in dying grace. We live to reach supergrace, we die to get to surpassing grace. Hebrews 11:13.

11. The exceptions to dying grace. a) The disciplinary exception which is known as the sin unto death. This discipline is the exception to dying grace, it includes maximum misery and pressure in time and only increased misery and pressure for the dying stage leading to eternity. And once the believer reaches eternity he has nothing to show for his life on the earth. He has not glorified God in time, he will have no special blessings in eternity by which God is glorified. He is minus SG³ as he was minus SG², and therefore the transition between time and eternity is of the utmost pain, misery, horror, disaster, everything that is monstrous. b) The transfer without dying — Enoch in Hebrews 11:5,6. c) The Rapture generation which will depart from this life without seeing death. The Rapture generation is interesting because at the time of the Rapture there will be supergrace believers, those who have seized and held the high ground and have enjoyed paragraph SG². They will be transferred to eternity and SG³ by way of the Rapture. The question is not what about the supergrace types, but what about the reversionists, the carnal types, those who are not on the high ground. The answer is they are blessed by association and they, too, go into eternity and their status in eternity with regard to blessing is dependent upon the same principles in time.

12. The description of dying grace. Job 5:19-27 has a great deal to say about living and dying and dying grace.

13. Dying grace therefore is an advance on supergrace — Philippians 1:20,21. “To die is gain” — SG³.

14. Dying grace can be accomplished in several ways. There are basically three ways. a) The maintenance of supergrace until death, and this places dying grace in SG² paragraph. This is the normal way for the supergrace believer to be transferred to eternity. It is a part of the supergrace blessing, it is the last one on earth and the best. It also, therefore, makes dying better than any blessing in time. b) A PCS (permanent change of station) from time to eternity, but this time the PCS is accomplished as a part of the paragraph SG^3. This is the case of Enoch. c) The transfer from time to eternity by means of resurrection. This is the Rapture case.

To the unbeliever death is a reminder to be prepared. There is only one preparation for death and this is the important decision of life by which we come to accept Christ as saviour. Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ prepares that individual for death in the sense that he will have a resurrection body, that he will have the privilege of living forever in the presence of God. Therefore death is settled by that decision. However, because of the doctrine of surpassing grace and because of the special blessing concept it does become necessary to recognise that for the believer the preparation for death is the constant intake of Bible doctrine, the principle of residency of doctrine in the soul. For the unbeliever the death of others is a reminder of the shortness of time and that time hangs by a very fine thread, a thread that can be snapped at any moment for any one of us. Therefore it becomes important to constantly take in doctrine. Life is a constant preparation for death. Death, therefore, becomes the desert for the supergrace believer. Death is also a reminder of the futility of gain in this life — the futility of profit, the futility of human celebrityship, the futility of everything that is considered important in life — for once a person begins to die all of these things fade away and only eternal things count. Mark 8:36,37.

The death that we are studying is dying grace, something which is fantastic because it sets aside all of the horrors of death. It is a greater blessing than any blessing in life because of who and what Christ is and because of His magnificent provision in the written Word. Death means for us many wonderful things. It means that we have an inheritance which is “incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.” Death means fur us, therefore, blessing, for doctrine resident in the soul accumulated day in and day out leads to the supergrace life, and the supergrace life is a life of special blessings designed for you in eternity past — not just special blessings for you but glory for God, for in giving you these blessings under supergrace status it is God who is glorified, we are the beneficiaries. No matter how great are the blessings in life under SG² the blessing of dying is much, much greater. But from the standpoint of those who are left behind it is inevitable that a supergrace believer will leave behind those who love him. Therefore there is the principle of James 1:18, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. ”The perfect gift here is the Lord Jesus Christ who provides for us in living as well as dying, as well as eternity. He is so described as a gift — John 3:16. The gift is described in relationship to the cross in Romans 6:23. So we as believers respond as per 2 Corinthians 9:15 — “Thanks be unto God [the Father] for his unspeakable gift.” And because of this gift and because we have received this gift, and because we have followed the colours to the high ground, then we recognise that our departure from this life is described as a good gift. If you are a supergrace believer it means that you are a good gift to someone in this world. It is inevitable that a supergrace believer will have those in his periphery who dearly love him and totally appreciate him, and therefore he is the good gift. And the departure from this life of that good gift. When God sees fit to take any gift from us by physical death it is always a reminder to us of many things. It is a reminder that for the believer time and eternity are only a temporary separation and that the death of loved ones isn’t the end of anything for we will see them forever and ever and ever in eternity. Loved ones cannot be separated by death because of who and what Christ is.

Philippians 3:17-18

Verses 17-21 are related to the next section of Hebrews 11. Verse 17 — the first word is a vocative referring to the royal family of God, “Brethren,” related to the Church Age context refers to those who are members of the royal family. The word to “be” is a present active imperative of the verb ginomai and means to become. It means to become something generally that you are not in the present imperative. The customary present here is for what may be reasonably expected to occur if you stay with doctrine. If you continue in Bible doctrine, if you persist no matter what, if you are faithful in positive volition toward the Word then it is inevitable that you will reach supergrace.

“followers together” — the nominative plural of summimhthj, it means “co-imitators.” The active voice of the verb “to become” refers to the royal family, any believer. The imperative is a command and the predicate nominative “co-imitators” means that Paul is following the colours and he wants the rest of the royal family to join him in this action. The apostle Paul, like all of us who reach the high ground, achieved or attained supergrace status by constantly living in the Word, intake of doctrine on a consistent basis. And so when he uses the word co-imitators he is referring to the fact that all of us, including apostles or who appears to be truly great, has reached the high ground exactly the same way. The apostle Paul sets himself up as an example under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit when he uses the genitive singular of the personal pronoun e)gw. This is an objective genitive and it is correctly translated “of me.” “Members of the royal family, be co-imitaters of me.” This is a reference back to Philippians 3:12-14 where the apostle has now arrived now again on the high ground of supergrace and intends to hold at all costs. He is not going to fail again. And in this he asks that each generation of the royal family joins him in this action. As a matter of fact God the Holy Spirit so directed him to use this order in order that we, some nineteen hundred years later can follow this same command and this same principle.

There are certain believers who move ahead. It is all right to observe these believers provided you have the doctrine to make a proper reconnaissance and provided you are not nosy and trying to judge someone.

The word “mark” is the present active imperative skope which means to make a reconnaissance, to “scope out.” We will translate it “keep observing.” The word “them” is the accusative plural of the definite article and it refers to believers who seize and hold the high ground. The definite article is actually used here as a demonstrative pronoun. The definite article can be used as personal pronoun, a demonstrative pronoun, a possessive pronoun or an intensive pronoun.

“which walk” — it is just like when there are people are up ahead of you advancing, just simply follow them. We have a present active participle of the verb peripatew, used here for the believer who reaches the high ground, seizes and holds it, as per the principle of Philippians 3:12-14. The present tense is retroactive progressive, it denotes what is begun in the past and continues to the present time. They have reached the high ground, they are seizing and holding. The active voice: the supergrace believer produces the action of the verb. The participle is circumstantial for supergrace living.

The adverb which comes up next is o(utoj, “in this way.” The adverb is really not translated; “so as” is literally, “even as.”

“ye have” — the present active indicative of e)xw. Retroactive progressive present denoting again what has begun in the past and continues to the present time. The royal family produces the action of the verb by reaching the high ground and becomes an example, The declarative mood is for historical reality in every generation; “us” refers to Paul, Timothy, and Epaphroditus mentioned in Philippians 2:17-30. The word for “example” is tupoj, a part of a double accusative an means “pattern” here.

Translation: “Members of the royal family of God, become co-imitaters of me, and keep observing those who keep walking in this way, even as you keep having us for a pattern.”

The point is: Follow the pattern of those who expose themselves to the teaching of the Word of God. It does not mean to imitate their lives, imitate their peculiarities.

The doctrine of walking

1. Definition. Walking is a literal activity of life in which most members of the human race have so engaged that it does not need explanation, except where the scripture is concerned. Actually, the mechanics of walking became the basis for another use of the Greek verb. It becomes an analogy to the believer living in the devil’s world during the intensified stage of the angelic conflict. While the Hebrew also uses the word for other dispensations it does mean pattern of life, lifestyle, and it does refer to function, progress, advance of the believer in phase two.

2. Nomenclature. There are three Greek words and one Hebrew word. The Hebrew verb is halak, used many times not for someone literally walking somewhere but for someone’s pattern of life. The Greek words which are used for the royal family include peripetaw which refers to lifestyle, and as such it is used for the modus operandi of the royal family of God in time. There is another word translated “walk” which is not quite correct, though very close — stoikew, often translated “walk” but it means a certain type of walking, it means marching. It means marching in ranks, marching as a part of a military organisation. it can be translated “walk” provided that you understand the disciplinary connotation involved. It is used in Romans 4:12; Galatians 5:25; 6:16; Philippians 3:16. Wherever it is so used it does refer to lifestyle but it refers to lifestyle under a principle of authority and under the pattern of self-discipline. The third word is one of those words that we have taken from the Greek and has now become and English word — o)rqopodew. Here is where we get the word “orthopedics.” The word is used in Galatians 2:14. It not only means to walk but it means to walk straight. Orqoj means straight and podew is “foot.” All three of these words are used in the New testament for the lifestyle, for the function, for the modus operandi of the believer, for the modus vivendi of the believer.

3. Walking depicts the believer living his life in relationship to Bible doctrine. it depicts the believer living his life is relationship to Bible doctrine — Ephesians 5:8. To be the children of light or light’s children means to be walking by means of doctrine. 3 John 3 — “I was very glad when the brethren came and made a deposition regarding your doctrine, how you are walking in doctrine.” Walking in doctrine refers to living your life by means of doctrine resident in the soul.

4. Walking, therefore, becomes a synonym for the lifestyle of the royal family in the devil’s world — Romans 13:13, “Let us keep walking as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.”

5. Walking is related to the function of GAP, the intake of doctrine — Colossians 1:10. “That you might walk worthy of the Lord” — that is taking in doctrine on a daily basis — “pleasing God in all things” — We have learned from Hebrews 11:6 that we please God with maximum doctrine resident in the soul — “constantly producing in the sphere of good work” — all genuine and divine good production comes from Bible doctrine in the soul. You must be motivated by the Word but the Word has to be inside of you before the motivation can occur — “constantly receiving growth by means of the e)pignwsij [doctrine in the soul] from the source of the God.”

Colossians 2:6 says, “As you have received to yourselves the Christ Jesus the Lord, keep on walking in him.” In other words, you receive Him on the basis of information you have in your soul called the Gospel. The Gospel is a part of doctrine. You had this information on the inside and you acted on it, and that is the way you are to walk as a believer — doctrine in the soul making your decisions. Your actions your thought patterns, your production, everything is motivated by and based on resident doctrine in the soul.

6. Walking is related to faith or non-meritorious positive volition. 2 Corinthians 5:7 — “We walk by faith and not by sight.” The life pattern of the believer is based, on faith or doctrine and is not based upon human viewpoint.

7. Walking describes the function of the filling of the Spirit. Romans 8:2-4, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, the God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for a sin offering, condemned sin in the flesh: in order that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but walk according to the Spirit.” In other words, walking is used in Romans 8:4 to indicate either the Holy Spirit controlling your life or the old sin nature. If the old sin nature controls your life the area of weakness produces sins, the area of strength produces human good, and the lust pattern produces motivation. This is called walking according to the flesh. But if the Holy Spirit controls, then you have a different type of production. This is called walking in the Spirit.

8. Walking describes the supergrace status — Philippians 3:17. See also Romans 6:4; Ephesians 4:1.

9. Walking describes reversionism — Ephesians 4:17,18.

This prepares us now for Philippians 3:18 and 19, a warning against slipping back into reversionism. The apostle Paul has slipped into reversionism, had lost his hold on the high ground of supergrace, and therefore he feels that it is fitting to warn others about the same situation.

Verse 18 — “For” is an explanatory use of the particle gar which indicates the necessity of holding the high ground once you reach it. You can’t let up the intake of doctrine because you have reached supergrace or obtained maturity, and Paul now states the fact by way of an explanatory particle.

“many” refers to a large number of believers who reached the high ground only to fall back into reversionism. It is the nominative masculine plural of poluj. The word “walked” is the present active indicative of peripatew. The present tense indicates these people remained in reversionism at the time that Paul writes. They have failed, gone into reversionism, and they stay there. They are in different stages of reversionism. The active voice: believers who were once very close to the top or had reached supergrace have now reverted and in their reversionism they are producing another type of action. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that every person who has ever prayed for a “first-century, old fashioned Holy Ghost revival,” who wanted to go back to the way things were as of Pentecost thought that at that time they always had the rosy glow, all on fire, and they were all great believers, didn’t get that from the Bible but had heard it from someone who had said it elsewhere. In the first century there was widespread reversionism actually.

“of whom” is literally, “concerning whom”; “I have told you” — Paul is now saying “I told you so.” He says it every now and then. “I have told” is the imperfect active indicative of the verb legw which means to speak, to say, to tell, to communicate. “Concerning whom I kept saying” — the imperfect tense of duration means linear aktionsart in past time. Paul had told them again and again and again.

“many times” — pollakij. Frequently and patiently the apostle Paul warned the royal family about reversionism and its consequences. Then he adds rather slyly, “and now,” the adverb of time nun plus the conjunctive particle de. He is enjoying this and savouring it. The attack of Judaism and reversionism on the Philippian church made it necessary to repeat his warning again.

“I tell you” — present active indicative of legw. He is going to tell them again. He is not satisfied with telling them many times in the past. They have failed in this area and therefore he is now about to lower the boom on them again, only this time he is going to tell them weeping. However, you have to remember that he was writing at the time. This, by the way, is an aoristic present for punctiliar action in present time. This is not linear aktionsart, this is an aoristic present tense which means he is not going to keep crying the rest of his life and he is not going to keep telling them the rest of his life. They have one last chance. Principle: You will be warned about something many times and then the time will come when you are beyond warning. It is that “beyond warning” that you have to watch very, very carefully. And why do you get beyond warning? Because you have ceased to concentrate, you have ceased under the ministry of the Holy Spirit to take it in, to recognise the importance of doctrine. So the aoristic present means there is one more time he is going to warn them. The active voice: he is going to be faithful in warning them. The indicative mood: he is going to do it come hell or high water.

“you” is not found in the original manuscript, it is put in to smooth out the translation; “and now even weeping,” the present active participle of klaiw. And this is an historical present to indicate he actually wept as he did it. The historical present views the past event with the vividness of a present occurrence.

Now we must have an explanation for his weeping since it is in the Word of God. Why bother to put it in? Why is he crying? Weeping here is an emotional compassion plus just a wee bit of frustration. Paul has talked his heart out, as it were, and was seeing very little response from these people to whom this was originally written. He is weeping to think that they had been exposed to all of the warnings, all of the safeguards against going into reversionism, but it didn’t keep them from doing it. “Even now weeping I tell you” — Paul was a man of compassion. Paul wanted these people to move on to the high ground, to have God’s happiness, to share the great things that are for all believers on the high ground. The tears of Paul obviously dramatise and emphasise the failure of the Galatians and the Corinthians in the field of reversionism.

Then we have to add something not found in the English, but is in the Greek — “they make themselves the enemies of the cross.” They are the enemies of the cross, that is true, but that isn’t what it says here. They make themselves the enemies of the cross. They do it with their own free will, they do it with their attitude toward doctrine. You make yourself God’s enemy when you go negative toward Bible doctrine. The word for “enemy” is the accusative plural direct object, the noun is e)xqroj which means very definitely reversionism and very definite antagonism toward grace things. The cross is the epitome of grace and they are antagonistic toward anything that is grace oriented.

“the cross of Christ” — a possessive genitive to make a distinction. There were many crosses in the history of the Roman empire and during the period of the Roman republic. This is a specific cross, the cross of Christ. The same idea of the reversionist being the enemy of God is found in 1 Samuel 28:16 where Saul receives the rebuke from Samuel when Samuel comes back from the dead. Samuel said, “Why then do you ask me since the Lord has departed from you and he has become your enemy.” All Samuel did when he came back to talk to Saul was say, “Saul you are the enemy of God.” All of us in reversionism are the enemies of God. To the extent that you have neglected Bible doctrine you are God’s enemy.

The doctrine of enemyship

1. Definition. The Bible specifies by categories certain stated hostilities, certain alienations whereby two parties are estranged. This becomes the basis of communicating doctrine. The word “enemy” is used to teach various categories of doctrine, and the irreconcilable enmity is stated by use of nouns such as “enemy, adversary” and so on. The word “enemy” is used to portray certain aspects of Bible doctrine.

2. Satan and fallen angels are the enemy of the believer. Satan, as the ruler of this world, is your enemy. So you not only have a powerful enemy but you have an unseen enemy. Satan has a great organisation of demons. It is the demons who spend a great deal of time trying to hinder the believer from getting to the high ground of supergrace and trying to pitch of the high ground those who reach the objective. 1 Timothy 5:14; 1 Peter 5:8 — “Be stabilised.” Being stabilised is one of the greatest protections against the unseen enemies, the demons. Stability means maximum doctrine in the soul, for doctrine resident in the soul is the stabiliser of the believer.

3. Demons are not only your enemies but obviously they are the enemies of God — 1 Corinthians 15:25; Hebrews 10:13.

4. Unbelievers are the enemies of God — Romans 5:10; Colossians 1:21.

5. Both categories of enemies of God, demons and unbelievers, are to be judged by the lake of fire — Hebrews 10:27.

6. The carnal believer is the enemy of God — Romans 8:7,8.

7. God is the enemy of the reversionistic believer — 1 Samuel 28:16.

8. The reversionistic believer is the enemy of God — James 4:4, “you adulteresses” .All reversionists are females in their souls.

9. The reversionistic believer is the enemy of the cross — Philippians 3:18.

10. The pastor who counters legalism with the truth [doctrine] is considered the enemy of the legalist — Galatians 4:16.

Philippians 3:19-21

Verse 19 describes four of the characteristics of reversionism. The Philippian believers were retired Roman military types, women involved in business, a very unusual congregation, primarily Gentile, in a Roman colony. Because they were Roman citizens and had certain privileges in the empire they were not naive at all. However, Paul recognises that the debacle in Corinth and among the Galatian churches means that everyone has a blind spot. There are two normal ways in which people can be deceived: a) being naive; b) to have some blind spot in life. And really, the four characteristics of reversionism which are given here are to cover a blind spot in these otherwise very wise believers of the Philippians congregation.

The first of these is that the reversionist transfers from time to eternity by means of maximum discipline, by means of the sin unto death. So it doesn’t pay to be a reversionist, God sees to it. Just as God is glorified as we are blessed under SG², so God is not glorified by having to transfer from time to eternity a member of the royal family in a painful, miserable, disciplinary status; therefore a very strong negative force to get people to recover and to get back with doctrine. This is the kind of force that doesn’t do much good. If you are forced to take in the Word of God to avoid the horrible death and the discipline of reversionism then you are unstable, and when it takes this kind of force to get you to do anything in life you have to recognise that there is something wrong with you. If you come to Bible class because a whip is cracked or because something is held over your head, because you are afraid of dying the sin unto death, and you should be, you will go along for awhile but you will be unstable and will peel off again. The only true motivation, says this verse by its content, for taking in the Word of God on a consistent basis is the inner resources of your own doctrine and the increasing love of Jesus Christ through more and more doctrine becoming resident in your soul. As this becomes the motivator then you have the real thrust for life and at the same time capacity for life. You are never bored, never subjective, and you lose that rebel instinct of resenting anyone’s authority but your own.

So this is a very strong statement when it says “Whose end destruction” .We are talking about the enemies of the cross. The genitive plural from the relative pronoun o(j refers to the reversionists of the previous verse. The antecedent, then, for o(j are the enemies of the cross as the Philippian reversionists were so described. The word for “end,” teloj, means the termination of phase two. It refers to the reversionist coming to the point of dying. God has disciplined the reversionist constantly and consistently, God has been faithful in discipline to the reversionist, He has expressed His love in a constant and consistent way, He has made life very miserable for the reversionistic believer and now there in His own very special type of desert, a horrible death.

“destruction” describes that death in one word, the noun a)pwleia. It means technically the sin unto death. Actually the word means ruinous destruction. Ruinous destruction means something that is miserable, painful, and horrible.

The doctrine of the sin unto death

1. Definition. The sin unto death is the means by which God transfers the reversionist from time to eternity. It is dying by means of maximum punitive discipline, the antithesis of dying grace.

2. Documentation. Old Testament: Psalm 118:17,18. Verse 18 — “… but he has not given me over to the sin unto death.” New Testament: 1 John 5:16 — “… there is a sin unto death.”

3. The cause for the sin unto death. The cause is prolonged and unchecked reversionism. Jeremiah 9:13-16 — “Because they have forsaken my law [my doctrine] which I set before them.” No one ever goes out under the sin unto death without having every opportunity to go out by way of supergrace. God is fair, God is just. “… and have not obeyed my voice” — rejection of authority in communication — “nor walked [halak for a manner of life, a way of life] according to it.” They have not walked or lived or functioned according to Bible doctrine in the soul.

“But have walked after the stubbornness of their right lobe” — stubbornness of heart is negative volition toward doctrine producing scar tissue of the soul; “and after Baals, as their fathers taught them.” They were taught something negative, something wrong.

“Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold I will feed this people with wormwood” — whenever a people get scar tissue of the right lobe they will believe anything that is false. Wormwood is the same as strong delusion in 2 Thessalonians 2, and it means that they will take it into their frame of reference, it will become a part of their memory centre, their vocabulary, their categories will be worked around in this, they will have the norms and standards to accept it as true, and on their launching pad they can only apply to life human viewpoint. That is the wormwood.

“and I will give them poisoned water to drink” — an idiom which indicates that they are definitely poisoned in their minds. Just as poisoned water causes tremendous pain in the abdominal region so false teaching, false doctrine, and human viewpoint cause extreme pain and anguish in the soul.

“I will scatter them among the nations [5th cycle of discipline], whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send a sword after them [military disaster] until I have annihilated them” — the administration of the sin unto death in a time of national disaster, the worst type of sin unto death. In other words, Jeremiah tells us that the sin unto death can be administered in different types of environment. It can be administered under prosperity, under adversity, under national catastrophe.

A second passage on the sin unto death is found in Jeremiah 44:12 — “And I will take away the remnant of Judah [the reversionists]; there were some reversionists who survived the fall of Jerusalem when Nebuchadnezzar conquered it. Some of these people were positive at the time of the fall and now they have become negative, they are a remnant; “who have set their mind on entering the land of Egypt to reside there” — these were the environmentalists, they wanted to move from the rubble of the southern kingdom of Judah into the nice environment of Egypt; “consequently they will all meet their end in the land of Egypt; they will fall by the sword, they will meet their end by famine; the small and the great [reversionists] will die by the sword and famine” — the sword does not mean military, it means crime. It means that criminals will constantly harass them. The famine means that economically they will never fit in, they will not get jobs and they will starve to death or die of some form of exposure that is very painful. Therefore “they shall become a curse, and object of horror, and imprecation and a reproach.”

Revelation 3:15,16 — the church at Laodicea.

4. The sin unto death does not mean loss of salvation — 2 Timothy 2:11-13. “Faithful is the word [doctrine]: For if we died with him, we shall also live with him;” — In other words, the royal family are in union with Christ and are identified with Christ forever — “if we endure [seizing and holding the high ground of supergrace] we shall also reign with him [SG³ reward and blessing]; if we deny him [reversionism], he will also deny us.” In other words, the reversionist is minus SG² in time and he is minus SG³ in eternity. So he loses out for both time and eternity the special blessings. And remember, it is the special blessings which glorify God. God is only glorified by the special blessings. However, even though the reversionist loses out on these special blessings he doesn’t lose his salvation. “If we are faithless, he remains faithful; he cannot deny himself.”

5. There are four ways for the believer to transfer from time to eternity. a) The sin unto death — for reversionists only; b) Dying grace for the supergrace believer — maximum blessing; c) A supergrace believer making the transfer under paragraph SG³, as did Enoch, Elijah. This is done without dying; d) All royal family believers at the Rapture.

6. Case histories of the sin unto death:

1) Special horrible death for monetary reversionism — Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5:1-10.

2) Phallic reversionism — for the incestuous Corinthian, 1 Corinthians 5:1-5. This type of sin unto death is always extremely painful and means loss of health, and Satan personally handles the loss of health.

3) Ritual reversionism. Self-righteous reversionism and legalistic reversionism often fall into this area, except for one problem. This is failure to appreciate the ritual in its true concept and therefore to flaunt it. How do you flaunt ritual? The Corinthians did it very simply. The got drunk before the communion. They were greedy and a whole lot of other things. 1 Cor. 11:30,31.

4) Mental attitude reversionism — disobedience to God’s will and God’s plan. This is one that involved king Saul who broke down mentally in the field of reversionism. He was so busy with internationalism and loving everyone that he refused to kill the enemy. He refused to do so because he had neglected doctrine, the laws of establishment had disintegrated in his soul. He refused to do so on the same basis that he did many other things in his reversionism: his jealousy and his attempt to kill David fall into the same category of his reversionism — 1 Samuel 13:9-14; 1 Chronicles 10:13.14.

5) Verbal reversionism, 1 Timothy 1:19,20 — Hymenaeus and Alexander. This is almost a misnomer because it involves mental attitude sins which make you hostile toward another believer and by which you seek to hurt that other believer.

6) Human viewpoint foreign policy on the part of a ruler — king Hezekiah in Isaiah 30:1-3; 31:1-3. He stated his foreign policy and this is the foreign policy for which he was given the sin unto death in Isaiah 38.

7. Rebound as a factor in reversion recovery — 1 Corinthians 11:30,31; James 5:20, reversionism is a delusion.

8. The consistent function of GAP is necessary for reversion recovery — James 4:4-8. The reversionist in his feminine soul responds to whatever the world offers by way of pleasantries, entertainment, pleasant thoughts, and so on.

The second characteristic of the reversionist is enslavement to the emotional patterns — “whose God is their emotional pattern.” Emotions minus the function of the right lobe leads to maximum instability. Emotional people are not people who have emotions, they are people whose emotions have revolted against their right lobe. We are all emotional in the sense that we have emotions. Emotions were designed to be responders to what we have in our right lobes, but when the emotion takes over you have instability because you cannot think with emotion and that is what the unstable person does, therefore they become enslaved to their emotions. When a person goes into emotional revolt he is minus doctrine in his right lobe. He rejects his right lobe and simply lives for pleasure.

The third characteristic: they are distracted by human celebrityship. “His glory is his dishonour,” literally. The word for “glory” is doca plus the definite article used as a possessive pronoun. “Glory” here is used for that which they respect, admire, revere, that to which they assign celebrityship or admiration. They give glory to that which is dishonourable. it is like assigning glory to a great athlete just because he is a great athlete, not nobility of soul. The reversionist is trapped by the superficialities of pseudo celebrityship, he can’t be entertained without becoming involved.

The fourth area: they are enmeshed with the human viewpoint — “who mind earthly things.” The present active participle fronew means they keep thinking or they have the viewpoint. They “keep thinking about earthly things,” literally. The accusative plural of e)pigeiroj means “about earthly things.”

Translation: “Whose end [death] destruction, whose God is emotion, his glory is in his dishonour, who keeps on thinking about earthly things.”

These are the four characteristics about which the Philippians had to be on their guard.

Verse 20 gives is the concept of the royal family. “For our conversation” — the explanatory particle gar plus politeuma which refers to citizenship. The Philippians really had politeuma, therefore they were the most secure people in their day. They lived a long way from Rome but they had perfect politeuma, they system set up by the Romans which started in Rome, spread to central Italy, then northern Italy, and eventually to the entire western world. The greatest thing that could happen to you living away from Rome and away from Italy was to have politeuma — Roman citizenship through which you were safe anywhere. It was Paul’s travelling card, by the way. Politeuma comes from politeia. Politeia is Roman citizenship and politeuma is the security of Roman citizenship. The two words are very close. “For the sphere of our citizenship security is [exists]” — present active indicative of u(parxw which means “exists.” God has given us politeuma, the best politeuma of all which can never be taken from us. “For our security citizenship keeps on existing.” We have a static present, active voice for members of the royal family only. We have a declarative indicative, it is a reality now and forever. It keeps on existing where there is plenty of everything, security, everything that has been decreed, and already exists for you “in heaven” — e)n plus the locative of o)uranoj, “in the sphere of heaven.” Here the whole concept of citizenship and security is brought into focus for our citizenship is heaven, and we have perfect security.

“from whence” — “even from the place,” literally, “we anticipate the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” The word “we look” is to eagerly anticipate. So great is our citizenship we are looking forward to living there. We live outside of our permanent residency, we live in the devil’s world but we are only temporary residents here. It is interesting that even the worst reversionist has politeuma and will be transferred at the proper time.

Translation: “For the seat of our security citizenship exists in heaven; even from which place we eagerly anticipate the Saviour.”

Who anticipates the Saviour eagerly? The supergrace believer only — a)pekdexomai is occupation with Christ. When you truly love someone you can’t wait to see them. That is what a)pekdexomai means.

Verse 21 — the anticipation of surpassing grace. “Who shall change” — every supergrace believer anticipates surpassing grace. “Who” is a relative pronoun referring to Jesus Christ; “shall change” is metasxhmatixw which means to transform. This is referring only to the supergrace believer who eagerly anticipates seeing the Lord — “Who shall transform”, predictive future, this happens in the future.

“our vile body” is wrong — to swma thj tapeinoj which means “the body of our humility.” Tapainwsij is a descriptive genitive and it goes with the noun swma, and it means “body of our humility.” This means a body that doesn’t stay the same, a body that ages, that loses its symmetry, its power, its health. The present home of our souls are bodies of humiliation. “Who will transform the body of our humiliation.” And how is it going to be? Perfect.

“that it may be” is not found in the original. Next we have the word “fashioned” which isn’t fashioned at all, it is a noun in the accusative, sunmorfoj which means “in conformity with.”

“his glorious body” — we will have a resurrection body exactly like His; “according to the working” is according to the operational power, “through which he is able to subordinate the all things to himself.”

Translation: “Who will transform the body of our humiliation, in conformity with the body of his glory, according to the operational power through which he able also to subordinate the all things to himself.”

Hebrews11:14,15

The first thirteen verses of this chapter have brought into focus three major principles. These principles are related to glorifying God in time and doing so in a rather unusual way. For it certainly is unusual that receiving the special blessings from God under paragraph SG² is at the same time the only means of truly glorifying Him. Everything else is incidental and relegated to detail. The major thrust is taking in doctrine consistently, reaching the high ground of supergrace, seizing and holding as we saw from Philippians chapter 3 verses 12-14.

Under paragraph SG² there are three categories of special blessing designed by God for you personally in eternity past. The first of these is category spiritual blessing: occupation with the person of Jesus Christ, sharing God’s +H or perfect happiness, the inner residency of Bible doctrine to cope with all of the exigencies of life, and other types of spiritual blessings. Also included as a spiritual blessing, practically everything that you do under the conditions outlined here results in the production of divine good.

Then we have a second category: the temporal blessings. These include promotion, unusual wealth, great success in some fields, prosperity — social, sexual, materialistic, technical, economic, etc, leadership dynamics, many temporal type blessings of an unusual nature.

The third category has to do with dying grace, making the transfer from time to eternity by means of very special and wonderful blessing. In fact, this is the last and the best of all the supergrace blessings. Then there is receiving in eternity that paragraph SG³ which is defined in several ways in the scripture.

But the point is that we have seen up to now the importance of the supergrace believer, the importance of the constant, continual intake of Bible doctrine, the importance of going from time to eternity under a better blessing than any blessing that life has to offer, the importance of glorifying God in supergrace, dying grace and surpassing grace. This is the road to glory and this has been outlined by two categories of supergrace heroes from the Old Testament. The first category were the antediluvian civilisation heroes. The second category are the patriarchs, the supergrace heroes in the age of the patriarchs — Abraham, Isaac and Joseph.

In verses 14-16 we have the test of surpassing grace. In verses 17-19 Abraham’s supergrace is tested. Both SG² and SG³ are tested in time.

Verse 14 — we begin with the explanatory use of the particle gar which links up the concept and thought in the passage — “For.”

“they that say” — we have an articular present active participle from the verb legw which means to speak, to say, to communicate, it always has some connotation of verbalisation. The present tense is a historic present in which the past event which is in view here is viewed with the vividness of a present occurrence. This is an idiom. We have the present tense for something that happened three or four thousand years ago. The active voice: the patriarchs produce the action of the verb. The participle is circumstantial. It should be translated, “For they who say.” The definite article here is used as a relative pronoun and is transferred by the word “who.”

“such things” — the people who say “such things” are the patriarchs, they produce the action of the verb in the participle. “Such things” is an accusative neuter plural, a direct object from a correlative adjective toi o)utoj which actually refers to what has gone before. This, by the way, is another bit of Attic Greek. In the neuter gender here we have a subject matter. This is a reference to the acknowledgement that they as supergrace believers were strangers or transients on the earth and that they thought differently from those around them, and that they didn’t mind being different because difference actually came from residency of doctrine in the soul. Because they had doctrine in the soul it didn’t bother them at all because they were maligned, misunderstood, judged, ridiculed. The words “such things” is simply a Classical Greek way of pulling everything in the chapter together at this point. “Such things as these” is the way you have to translate it, and that is that doctrine is more important than anything else, that doctrine is the way to glorify God. they stood for divine viewpoint, they stood for the dynamics of Bible doctrine in the soul, everything that was important in life.

“declare plainly” is not a good translation and not bad, it just doesn’t bring out what is here nor does it really connote what the verb has to say. We have the present active indicative of e)mfainizw. The word means to communicate, to reveal, to make clear, to explain. To make clear really emphasises what is in the passage. So it should be translated, “they make it clear.” The retroactive progressive present denotes what has begun in the past and continues to the present time. Supergrace heroes of the past always have a message for us. That is why God the Holy Spirit has seen fit to give us a roster of supergrace heroes and to present a message through these people. So they make it clear, and the supergrace heroes produce the action of the verb. The indicative mood views the action of the verb from the standpoint of absolute reality. So we do have a principle of reality here which is now emphasised. So far the translation should read, “For they who say such things as these make it clear.”

“that” — the conjunction o(ti introduces the conclusion as to what is made clear. O(ti is an interesting conjunction. Sometimes it isn’t even translatable because it is used for quotation marks. It is usually a conjunction to bring out the conclusions of what someone is thinking or doing or emphasising. Here it brings out what is being made clear.

“they seek” — the present active indicative of e)pizhtew which means not to seek but to strive, to desire to know something. The present tense is, again, a retroactive progressive present, that which has begun in the past and continues up to the moment of the present. This is also known as a present tense of duration and it means as long as there is time and as long as there is phase two they kept striving or pressing toward the goal which is surpassing grace blessing in eternity. In other words, what it is it that the lives of these men are trying to make clear? It is simply that there are men who have the ability to understand the true issue of living on this earth after salvation. It is to wade through all of the idiocy, the guff, the human viewpoint, the asininity of life, and to get right down to the true issue which is Bible doctrine resident in the soul. It is to understand that this is the issue in the angelic conflict which is the greater conflict and understanding this issue to stick with it. All you have to do is to understand the issue and to stay with it, to persist, to be consistent, to be stabilised, to have the grit to wade through all of the opposition, distractions, everything that would keep you from doctrine and to stay with the daily function of GAP. The active voice: the supergrace believer produces the action. In this case we have specifically, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph all involved here. The indicative mood is declarative for a historic reality. And what is it that they keep striving for? Once you begin to get maximum doctrine in the soul you have great blessing in time but you realise that there is something better than all the wealth in the world, all of the success in the world, all of the promotions in the world. everything that can be truly regarded as a standard of greatness. When these things are achieved you can enjoy them but you realise that there is something more than this, because these are the things you have in time and there is something beyond time called eternity. So the point is that we are really pushing toward eternity future. In eternity past something was designed for us so that in eternity future we can have something that glorifies God and perpetuates the blessing in time on a greater scale into the blessing of eternity. That is exactly what we have in this verse.

“For they who say such things as these make it clear that they keep striving for a heavenly fatherland [or country].” The word for “country” is patrij which means everything that we are going to have in the eternal future — your resurrection body in which you will have maximum blessing, paragraph SG³. There are people who see that issue and push toward it.

Verse 15 — “And truly if.” This is interesting because it shows the options open to any believer at any time. He can always slip back into reversionism, sometimes he might find it a little more comfortable than the constant driving, the uphill drive toward the supergrace life. This is the connective use of the conjunction kai plus more of the Classical Greek, an Attic Greek affirmative particle — kai plus the participle men, a Classical Greek word. It has been traditionally translated “on the one hand.”

With this we have the word “if,” a conditional particle e)i which introduces a second class condition. It is correctly translated “if” but here it represents a second class condition.

“they had been mindful” — the imperfect active indicative of mnhmneuw does not mean mindful at all. It means to recall to mind, to remember, and here in the imperfect tense it means to keep on remembering. “And if on the one hand they had been remembering.” We have a progressive imperfect denoting progress, linear aktionsart in past time. This is the imperfect of duration. The active voice: with the second class condition it means that the supergrace patriarchs in this passage did not look back to their native land of Chaldea. That would have been geographical reversionism. “For if on the one hand they had been remembering [but they did not].”

“of that” — the objective genitive from the demonstrative pronoun e)keinoj which means something distant in the context, in this context it is Ur of the Chaldeas. Ur of the Chaldeas is a remote object because these people with doctrine in their souls did not look back to the pleasant circumstances of their youth, their early life, a place where they had an excellent childhood.

“from whence” — the preposition a)po plus the ablative of the relative pronoun o(j. It should be translated correctly, “from which.”

“they came out” — the aorist active indicative e)kbainw, “from which they had originated.” The aorist tense is a culminative aorist viewing the event of leaving Ur of the Chaldeas in its entirety but regarding it from the existing results of never looking back.

“they might have had” — here is the possibility of geographical distraction and possible geographical reversion. We have the imperfect active indicative of e)xw plus a)n, a little particle that separates the protasis from the apodasis of the second class condition. The verb is e)xw, it is translated “they would have had” because we have a tendencial imperfect, often translated like the perfect tense. The tendencial imperfect for an end not attained in past time but tended toward realisation. In other words, they were tempted. The tendencial imperfect says there were times when they looked back and were tempted to go back to Ur of the Chaldeas. It wasn’t that they were not tempted, that they never thought of Ur of the Chaldeas, but it was that they kept on going and they did not turn around and go back ever over that period of seventy or eighty years when these temptations existed. So the possibility of the distraction is there, says the tendencial imperfect.

“they might have had opportunity” — the accusative singular direct object from xairoj. Xairoj means time, and they did have xairoj which means favourable time and therefore meaning favourable time that comes to mean opportunity — “they would have had opportunity.”

“to have returned” — the aorist active infinitive of a)nakamptw which means to return, to turn back, and literally it means to bend back. In other words, to bend back in the sense of going back as a weakness, going back as a failure. The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. There were many opportunities to turn back or to bend back from the glory road. Each opportunity is a test for both surpassing grace as well as supergrace. In other words, the constative aorist gathers up into one entirety every chance they had to bend back toward Ur of the Chaldeas. The active voice: the believers on the road to glory are tested by distractions, retrospections, human viewpoint, self-pity, other mental attitude sins, the so-called sirens of life. These testings are a part of the function of human volition in the soul of the advancing believer. There are times when you will be tested, you will find distractions which will pose as a threat to your advance through positive volition. The purpose, then, of the test is always to choose between sticking it out in Bible class day in and day out or running off in the direction of the distraction.

Translation: “And if on the one hand they had continued remembering that country from which they had originated [but they did not], then they would have had opportunity to have circled back [in reversionism toward Chaldea].”

Principles with regard to verse 15

1. Reversionism in its various stages creates opportunities to get off and stay off the road to glory. The gory road is supergrace, dying grace, surpassing grace.

2. Once reversionism influences volition to circle back or bend off the road to glory many human viewpoint opportunities and rewards and enticements are lying in ambush waiting to deprive the believe of his paragraphs SG² and SG³.

3. Negative volition toward doctrine creates opportunities for human pleasure, human success, human celebrityship. These in turn are set-ups for divine discipline.

4. The rewards of cosmos diabolicus, including any form of temporary success, are superficial, frustrating, and again, the set-ups for divine discipline and eventuate in the sin unto death.

5. From our study of the last few verses note the tenacity of the patriarchs, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph who never looked back and whose aberrations were temporary and quickly changed from rebound back to doctrine.

6. Ur of Chaldea beckoned as part of the sirens test and neither Abraham or Sarah ever looked back.

7. The believer does not sit around and wait for his destiny but he prepares daily by the function of GAP, by constant and consistent positive volition toward Bible doctrine.

8. What is the best preparation for promotion, success, prosperity, right man/woman, leadership responsibility? The answer: Bible doctrine resident in the soul. The only way to acquire this is the daily function of GAP. So the daily intake of doctrine is, preparation for life, preparation for dying, and sure reward and special blessing — SG³ — in eternity. Again, the believer does not sit around and wait for his destiny but he prepares for it daily by the intake of the Word of God.

Verse 16 — “But,” the conjunctive particle de used as an adversative. “But on the other hand.” The word “now” is the adverb nun, generally considered to be a temporal adverb, which it is, but not here. This is logical rather than temporal, it introduces a real situation after an unreal conditional clause. The second class condition is an unreal conditional clause and therefore is translated “Not now but as a matter of fact.”

“they desire” — present middle indicative of o)regw which means to aspire to, to strive for, to desire, and all of the meanings are true on the road to glory, therefore it means to desire and strive. It refers to, after saving grace, living grace. Living grace applies to every believer who is alive on the face of the earth, he is alive by courtesy of God Himself. The present tense is an historical present in which a past event is viewed with the vividness of a present occurrence. They desired in the past but the present tense is used as an idiom of drama. The middle voice is permissive middle representing the agent, the supergrace patriarchs, as voluntarily yielding themselves to the results of the action. That is, they seek to secure the results of the action in their own interest. The declarative mood represents the verbal idea from the standpoint of reality. It should be translated, “But on the other hand as a matter of reality they themselves desire and strive for something better.” This is saying that these are people who reach supergrace, people who on this great road of living grace, are not only kept alive by the air they breathed, by the food they ate and by the shelter they enjoyed, but God has also provided something else under living grace — spiritual factors. The spiritual factors are very simple — a local church, the classroom, and the textbook, the Bible, and the teacher, the pastor-teacher. The pastor-teacher has the authority in the area of the local church and when his authority is followed by positive volition toward Bible doctrine then you have the advance to the high ground. That is the daily function of GAP reaching SG², the supergrace paragraph, the highest blessings you can have in time. These blessings are divided into three categories. The first of these is spiritual blessings — occupation with the person of Christ, sharing God’s happiness, having happiness at all times under all circumstances, maximum Bible doctrine resident in the soul so that you can meet all of the exigencies and problems of life. Then there are the temporal blessings that are also included as the second category — success, promotion, etc. When one stays in supergrace to the point of death then there is the permanent change of station by way of dying grace, the third category. This means that dying is better than anything else in the supergrace paragraph, better than anything that has occurred in time, it is the greatest and highest and most noble way to make the transfer from time to eternity. Anyone who crosses this golden bridge has a second paragraph, SG³, surpassing grace blessings designed in eternity past. These are the special blessings and rewards for the believer who held the high ground of supergrace, the place of tactical victory, to the point of death and crossed over that bridge. Once you have your supergrace paragraph and some of the blessings related to it it makes you realise that there is something even greater than this. The greater-than-this is dying. Beyond dying there is something greater than that. That is what happened to these people.

“But on the other hand, as a matter of reality, they themselves desire and strive for a better ...”

“better” — the objective genitive singular of the comparative adjective kreisson, and it is the comparative of a)gaqoj and correctly translated “better.” Notice it says, “a better country.” The word “country” is not found in the original, as noted by the italics. It should be translated “and strive for something better.” Something better is SG³. In other words, once you have the best that life has to offer you realise through the very doctrine by which they were attained that there is something better than these things, though these things are the objectives of life for most people. Something better is something that will last forever, something that you can take with you and only is greater and better and far superior.

“that is, an heavenly” — “that is” is simply the nominative masculine singular of the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj. it is talking about something in the immediate context, paragraph SG³ or surpassing grace blessings and rewards. The words “an heavenly” is simply an appositional type genitive taken from an adjective e)pouranioj which means both heavenly and eternity. That is, “heavenly” a blessing and reward under SG³, something that is eternal. So far this is the way the translation goes: “But on the other hand as a matter of reality, they themselves desire and strive for something better, that is, heavenly [blessing and reward of SG³].”

Paragraph SG³ — the doctrine of surpassing grace

A. Definition.

1. Surpassing grace refers to special blessings and rewards belonging to the supergrace believer in eternity. They do not belong to the reversionist.

2. In eternity past under the doctrine of divine decrees God designed for every believer two special blessing paragraphs. These are special blessings, not the ordinary blessings of grace. The first is SG² and the second is SG³, supergrace and surpassing grace. Under SG² we have blessings for time, special blessings for the supergrace believer only — spiritual blessings all of which revolve around the principle of occupation with Christ, sharing the happiness of God, and being able to cope with any of the adversities of life; temporal blessings; and dying grace. The supergrace believer is the spiritually mature believer.

3. There is also paragraph SG³, the surpassing grace paragraph for blessings and rewards in eternity, while specified under certain conditions they are obscure, inscrutable so as not to provide a false motivation.

4. For the believer who seizes and holds the high ground of supergrace there are special rewards, special blessings in eternity, above and beyond the normal blessings of heaven. SG³ is above and beyond.

One thing that must be added to these two special blessing paragraphs is this: The attainment of SG² glorifies God. God is glorified when He can give special blessings in time and special blessings in eternity. Where do we get the words “surpassing grace”? Ephesians 2:7 — “That in the approaching ages [eternity future] he might demonstrating his surpassing grace riches in generosity toward us in Christ Jesus.” This is the ultimate objective on the road to glory and this is the reason for being in time, so that we can reach that point of maturity through resident doctrine where God is glorified in time by providing for us SG² and God is glorified forever by the provision of SG³. Special blessing always means God is glorified because God is the provider, the giver, the initiator of these special blessings.

There are several passages, Hebrews 11:9,10; Revelation 21:2, 10, which deal with a specific. Abraham and Sarah are going to live forever in their very own city. There is no city in the world as great as this. This is just for Abraham. This is just peanuts, he has other things too. This just shows what can happen. It also brings up a very interesting principle: Can you take it with you? With what you take with you there is more on the other side. You take doctrine with you and the doctrine you have accumulated in your soul becomes the basis for the most fantastic wealth — not only living forever and ever but having phenomenal wealth, phenomenal happiness, things that are so fantastic.

Crowns are used to designated surpassing grace rewards for eternity. The Romans had a system of high decorations and they were called stefanoj, crowns. Crown in the New Testament doesn’t refer to what a king wears on his head, it refers to something an athlete wears at the Olympic games or it refers to the highest military decoration. it not only meant something by which the person was recognised and given great honour but it represented money for life. The reason that the crown is used in rewards is to indicate you have this highest award but we aren’t told what it is. Stefanoj is used in these passages to indicate that you are in for these awards under SG³ but you won’t know until you get there just how much it amounts to. The “monetary” award is unknown. All you see now in the Word of God is the fact that you wore a Roman helmet, you were a noble Roman, now you have the crown, and you just see the crown. The crown doesn’t tell you anything except that you are the holder of a highest award. A crown means you hold the highest award in heaven where there will be class distinctions.

With that in mind we will take another quick review of the crowns. The crown of life — James 1:12, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under testing.” Testing what? Testing to see if you can stay on the high ground, testing to see if you can seize and hold supergrace. There is a crown for you if you seize and hold. All you have to do is to get to the golden bridge of dying grace and you’re in. The point is, can you seize and hold? Once you get a bit of prosperity, does that keep you away from Bible class? If you come to Bible class when you’re only in trouble you’re not holding. All you have to do for the crown of life is keep going, and once you get on the high ground if God makes you a millionaire, stay with it. The crown of glory — 1 Peter 5:4 is the crown that belongs to the pastor-teacher. The crown of righteousness — 2 Timothy 4:7,8. So there are a number of different crowns.

The key to surpassing grace blessing in eternity is pleasing God in time, as per Hebrews 11:5,6.

The judgement seat of Christ is the time of distribution of SG³ to the royal family — 2 Corinthians 5:10; Romans 14:10-12; James 1:25 cf. 2:12,13; 1 Corinthians 3:11-16; Hebrews 6:7-12; 2 Timothy 2:11-13.

The translation from verse 8 — “By means of doctrine in the soul when Abraham was called he obeyed by going out to a place which he was about to receive for an inheritance; and he went out not knowing where he was going.”

Verse 9 — “By means of doctrine resident in the soul he lived as a temporary resident with reference to the land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, joint heirs of the same promise.”

Verse 10 — “For he himself kept waiting with anticipation for a city having foundations, whose designer and builder is the God.”

Verse 11 — “By means of doctrine resident in the soul even Sarah herself received sexual ability for the deposit of sperm though she was beyond the proper time of life for conception, because she concluded faithful the one who had promised [in eternity past].”

Verse 12 — “Therefore from the source of one hopeless couple was born Isaac, and these same ones [Abraham and Sarah] having become sexually dead [in contrast to the promise of Genesis 15:5], just as the stars of the heaven in number, and as the sand which is by the lip of the sea innumerable.”

Verse 13 — “According to doctrine resident in the soul all these died [under the principle of dying grace], not having received the surpassing grace promises, but having seen the same from a distance, and having saluted and embraced them [SG³], also having the knowledge that they were strangers and transients in the earth.”

Verse 14 — “For they who say such things as these make it clear that they keep striving for a heavenly home [or fatherland].”

Verse 15 — “And if on the one hand they had continued remembering that country from which they had originated [but they did not], then they would have had opportunity to have circled back [reversionism].”

Verse 16 — “But on the other hand as a matter of reality they themselves desire and strive for something better, that is, heavenly blessing and reward [SG³]...”

At this point we are ready to resume but we must remember one word from verse 8 — “city.” Remember that both SG² and SG³ are designed to glorify God while simultaneously blessing us with special blessings. As a part of the doctrine of divine decrees in eternity past there are two special blessing paragraphs, SG² for time and SG³ for eternity. These are special blessing paragraphs and their purpose when directed toward the believer is special blessing, and toward God this is the way in which He is glorified. The whole issue as we have studied it is to seize and hold the high ground of supergrace [maturity], and when we seize and hold by following the colours we have paragraph SG² which is divided into three categories. The first category is spiritual blessing — occupation with the person of Christ, sharing God’s +H or God’s perfect happiness, and the inner residency of doctrine to cope with any circumstance, and adversity, any tragedy, any catastrophe of life. Then we have a second category, the temporal blessings which include everything from promotion to success, to extreme wealth, to prosperity, etc. A third category is the dying category, and under this principle by seizing and holding as we have studied in Philippians 3:12-14 we reach the point of dying. And we cross that golden bridge. This is the permanent change of station by way of dying grace from time to eternity. On the other side for those who cross this bridge, in contrast to the sin unto death, also have in eternity paragraph SG³.

Now we have come in verse 16 to the word “wherefore,” an inferential conjunction. The conjunction dio means “therefore.” We are now coming to a very important conclusion, a conclusion which has something to do with the actual understanding of certain portions of this great chapter.

“God” — o( qeoj, “the God.” The definite article merely describes the one with whom we are familiar and is generally translated “God” without the definite article.

“is not ashamed” — When you realise that we are equipped with an old sin nature, that we have an old sin nature. We you realise that “He knoweth our frame” and that we are flesh and have our own special brand of frailty, and then you have the fact that God is not ashamed of something, it is time to perk up and to notice what on earth could be related to us in any way and God isn’t ashamed. “Is not ashamed” is the present passive indicative of e)paiscxunomai. The word is a middle or passive in form but active in meaning, it is what is called a deponent verb or a defective verb. The present tense is a historical present for a past event viewed with the vividness of a present occurrence, a Greek idiom using the present tense to emphasise some past historical event. The past historical event has to do with the relationship between God and the supergrace believers in context, i.e. the patriarchs.

“to be called” — present passive infinitive of the verb e)pikalew which means to be called or to be designated, to be surnamed. Not found in the translation but a part of the original Greek text is the accusative plural direct object of the intensive pronoun a)utoj. It is rather important here as the intensive pronoun always is because the function of the intensive pronoun is to identify the supergrace heroes, and there are people here of whom God is not ashamed. This is what is called the attributed use of a)utoj and it is therefore translated “the same ones,” the supergrace patriarchs. “Therefore the God is not ashamed of the same ones [the supergrace patriarchs] to be designated their God.”

“for,” the explanatory use of the conjunctive particle gar, an explanation of what has just been said. A little amplification is necessary and in this way for the second time in our context we meet that word “city.”

“he hath prepared” — the aorist active indicative e)toimazw, and when we come to this verb at this particular point we are talking about SG³ for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for Sarah and for Joseph. The dramatic aorist states the present reality of paragraph SG³ to these patriarchs. The active voice: God has prepared for them a special city. The indicative mood is the declarative indicative for a dogmatic assertion.

“for them” — the dative plural intensive pronoun a)utoj. Again we have the attributive use of a)utoj, “for the same ones.” This is the dative of indirect object indicating the ones in whose interest God has prepared this heavenly Jerusalem, this city which is the key to paragraph SG³ as illustrated by verse 23.

The word “city” is the accusative singular direct object of poluj. “City” has the equivalency of crowns. City is for the Old Testament supergrace hero what crown is for the royal family of God, Church Age. In other words, simply a designating point for paragraph SG³ without revealing the actual details of SG³.

Translation: “But on the other hand as a matter of reality they themselves desire and strive for something better, that is, heavenly blessing and reward: therefore the God is not ashamed of the same ones to be designated their God: for he has prepared a city for the same ones.”

We are going to see “city” now for the third time but notice that both times that we have had it it has been in the form of an adjective. Now we will move to verse 23. This is the illustration of that word “city.”

Verse 23 — “By faith” is the instrumental singular of the noun pistij which has numerous meanings. It is the papyri which have revealed the true etymology of this word but all of the meanings of pistij fall into three categories. First of all, the category of that which causes trust and faith under which it means faithfulness, reliability, a pledge, or a proof. A second meaning is faith in the active sense of believing. Faith, trust or confidence is the meaning in that category. A third meaning, and the one which is pertinent throughout Hebrews 11, is that which is believed, the body of faith or belief and therefore translated “doctrine.” It refers specifically to doctrine resident in the soul. “By means of doctrine resident in the soul.”

“Moses” is not the subject of this verse. Moses is an object in the verse but he is not the subject. This will be brought out by the passive voice verbs which indicate that the real subjects of this verse are the two supergrace heroes that bridged the gap between the patriarchs and the law in the Age of Israel. Between the two we now have a very interesting phenomenon, the parents of Moses as outstanding supergrace heroes. The commentary of the Holy Spirit in this passage is very brief, very pithy, and every word counts. While Moses is the subject beginning in verse 24, really he is the basis by which the greatness of his parents was manifest. Moses is not the subject in verse 23, the subject are his parents.

Levi had a number of sons. Levi is a half brother of Joseph and he was a contemporary of the patriarchs who came into Egypt. He had only one son in whom we are interested, Kohath. Kohath had a son and a sister. The son’s name was Amram. Amram married his aunt, Jochabed. Leviticus 18:12 forbids this kind of marriage. Amram means “high people.” Jochabed means “whose glory is Jehovah.”

“when he was born” — the aorist passive participle of gennaw which refers to birth. It is the participle that is interesting. Not only does it have antecedent action as an aorist participle but it is a temporal participle. It is correctly translated, “When Moses was born.” The passive voice: Moses receives the action of the verb. He didn’t have a thing to do about his birth so it should be understood that he is not the hero of this verse. He is the hero of verses 24 and following but he is definitely not the hero here. The passive voice simply tells he didn’t bare anyone here, he was born, and no one is a hero at the point of being born. In reality the heroes of this verse are going to be his parents, by way of anticipation. And further, to add to it, the real hero of the verse is our city. The city is not apparent here.

“was hid” — this is the main verb. The third person singular means Moses was hidden. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. In other words, however long it took for Moses to be born, Moses was born. Then we note that the next constative aorist is three months when he was hidden after he was born. The passive voice: Moses as the subject receives the action of the verb. “By means of doctrine resident in the soul [of his parents], when Moses was born he was hidden.” The indicative mood is the declarative indicative for historical reality plus the main verb in the sequence of antecedent action — he had to be born before he was hidden!

“three months” — the accusative singular trimhnoj. In its proper place it is a direct object, but it is more than that, it is the accusative of extent of time and explains how long he was hidden, and therefore the exact duration of the constative aorist.

“of his parents” is a prepositional phrase, the preposition u(po plus the ablative plural of pathr used for parents. In u(po plus the ablative agency is connoted and therefore it should be “by his parents.”

We also have one of those apparent intensive pronouns but this one is used as a possessive pronoun to give great emphasis to the identity of the object being hidden as a very important object. So when it says “his parents” it is an intensive pronoun in the possessive genitive, used as a possessive pronoun to give great emphasis to the object being hidden as being very valuable.

So far we have, “By means of doctrine resident in the soul, when Moses was born, he was hidden for a period of three months by his parents.”

Moses was born about 1520 BC. This is important because it is during the period of a very dynamic dynasty in the history of the Egyptian empire, the 18th dynasty of the new Egyptian empire. It includes Amenhotep the first. This also includes the Thutmose crowd. Thutmose the first died without having a son and heir, and his daughter Hapchetsit married Thutmose the second. Under Thutmose the third Egypt reached its peak. When Moses was born the king was Thutmose the first. Exodus 1:15,16,22. The edict was to rob Israel of any future vigour and to utilise them, in slavery. Exodus 2:1,2 — she hid Moses for three months. Exodus 2:1,2 doesn’t tell us a thing, but Hebrews 11:23 tells us something. His parents hid him not because he was beautiful, they hid him because they had doctrine in their souls. The problem lies in what is beautiful. Beautiful in the Hebrew is beautiful but beautiful in our passage isn’t beautiful.

“because” — the causal conjunction dioti. This tells us why they hid him. Because he was beautiful? No.

“they saw a proper child” — “proper” is not proper. “They saw” is aorist active indicative of o(raw. If they wanted to see a beautiful child or a “proper” child all they had to do was blepw for that. This is o(paw, it is in the aorist tense and it is a constative aorist which gathers up into one ball of wax all of the doctrine they ever had. They are seeing something with doctrine resident in the soul. It says “by means of doctrine resident in the soul, when Moses was born,” and this means that Amram and Jochabed has accumulated a tremendous mass of doctrine, and the constative aorist simply gathers up into one entirety all of the doctrine that they have in their souls by which they see something. “They saw” — the active voice: both parents were believers with divine viewpoint, both parents produced the action, both parents with doctrine resident in their souls didn’t see something in the baby they saw something related to the baby. The indicative mood is declarative for the fact that they did have doctrine and they did see something. The word “child” means infant, it is paidion.

The problem here is the word “proper.” It is an adjective which modifies paidion, infant.” Both paidion and the adjective are in the accusative. The adjective is a)steioj. The noun that goes with this adjective is a)stu which means “city.” The adjective a)steioj means “pertaining to a city.” This is the problem. No one could ever work out how a baby could be pertaining to a city so they just decided to do something else with it, they had to do a little hedging here. They finally came to say that a)steioj meant someone with city manners, therefore someone who has good manners. But thanks to archeologists and the recovery of so much papyri dealing with the Koine Greek they can’t get away with this. This still means “pertaining to a city.” The look at a baby and he pertains to a city, so they hide him. The literal translation is, “an infant pertaining to a city.” “By means of doctrine resident in the soul, when Moses was born, he was hidden for a period of three months by his parents, because they saw an infant pertaining to a city.”

The parents saw something

1. There is a city in this context which is very important. It is a specific city mentioned in Hebrews 11:10, 16. That city does something. When you see that city in context like this it reminds you of paragraph SG³ for Old Testament types, just as the word stefanoj or crown reminds of SG³ for the royal family of God, believers of the Church Age.

2. The city is related to surpassing grace blessing and reward for the patriarchs in eternity.

3. This city, therefore, is a part of the paragraph SG³.

4. The point is that the parents of Moses had so much doctrine in their souls that they were able to identify Moses as God’s man to deliver Israel from slavery. They were supergrace believers moving on to surpassing grace and they saw their city, and they saw that this was the child who would be in that city too. So the whole thing was related to doctrine, to doctrine resident in their souls.

5. They discerned that the preservation of Moses, saving his life from the edict of Pharaoh, was a part of their supergrace function resulting in their surpassing grace reward. So the parents of Moses are supergrace believers who demonstrate their status by saving this son under the edict of death by Pharaoh Thutmose the first. For this they will have, and do have, their SG³ blessing and reward in eternity. They are a part of that great city.

Acts 7:20 — “In which time Moses was born, and he was pertaining to a city to the God.” The principle is, just as crowns are the surpassing grace designation for the royal family of God so the eternal holy city is the designation for the surpassing grace blessings and rewards for the patriarchs of Israel.

Paragraph SG³ — the doctrine of surpassing grace (cont.)

B. The eternal holy city is used to designate the surpassing grace rewards and blessings for the patriarchs and the leaders of Israel. Hebrews 11:9,10,16,23; Acts 7:20; Revelation 21:2 which verse does not refer to the details of SG³ but to the principle of SG³, just like the crown is the principle of SG³ for the royal family of God; Revelation 21:10 — “and having the glory of God.” Few people in history have ever glorified God the way Moses did and it will show for all eternity. Moses is related to that city. But few people have ever had a greater opportunity than his parents to look at life from the divine viewpoint and join in with the glory that Moses would bring to God, and the greatness of Moses who was one of the greatest all-time people who ever lived.

We have been studying the challenge to SG³, the challenge to surpassing grace blessings. Obviously this was a key to everything that we are studying in this passage. We move on now to the test of supergrace, verses 17-19.

The Abrahamic covenant, (Review and addition)

1. By definition the Abrahamic covenant is a compilation of all the promises of God to Abraham and his descendants related to the glory road, starting with saving grace, then living grace, supergrace, dying grace and surpassing grace. A certain number of the descendants of Abraham are going to follow the road to glory, they are going to believe in Jesus Christ and receive Him as saviour. They are going to persist in positive volition toward doctrine and therefore if they are Old Testament descendants they are going to have the city which represents all of the glories of surpassing grace. If they are members of the body of Christ, Church Age believers, then they are going to have the crowns represented by paragraph SG³.

2. The original three-paragraph covenant dealing with Abraham is found in Genesis 12:1-3. This is merely an outline of things that God continued to promise and amplify by way of promise, but the original three paragraphs of the Abrahamic covenant is in Genesis 12:1-3. The first paragraph deals with separation. One of the great tests that came to Abraham was the fact that his family got in the way. Eventually God had to eliminate his family. Paragraph two deals with blessing — Genesis 12:2. Paragraph three is miscellaneous and deals with a number of subjects pertaining to the future of Israel. The first phrase is a blessing by association sentence, the second deals with anti-Semitism, and the third phrase deals with messianic blessing. So we actually have the original three paragraph covenant, and from this God makes many amplifications and many citations to encourage not only Abraham but his progeny (seed) or his descendants.

3. The Abrahamic covenant is the basis for beginning the Palestinian covenant or a promise dealing with land. This promise is found in Genesis 13:14-16. This was amplified in Genesis 15:18-21.

4. Furthermore, God has promised Abraham a city forever. The last thing that the Jews would ever conquer was the land of the Jebusites which was a city state on the top of a hill. It is now known as Jerusalem. But the Jebusites held out until the time of David.

5. The covenant includes the seed of Abraham — Genesis 22:15-18.

6. The Abrahamic covenant was reiterated to the next generation, and this is why we have Hebrews 11:20,21, and 22.

7. The Abrahamic covenant was the basis of the Exodus deliverance of Israel — Exodus 6:2-8.

8. The Abrahamic covenant was reiterated to the third generation, Jacob — Genesis 35:12.

9. The Abrahamic covenant became the basis of Joseph having something greater in dying than he ever had in living — Hebrews 11:22.

When any believer seizes and holds the high ground he will be tested in three areas: a) SG³ will be tested, and we have already seen that. b) SG² will be tested, and we will see that next. c) Dying grace will be tested.

So he will be tested on dying, he will be tested on blessing in time, he will be tested on blessing in eternity.

We move now to testing in time, the test of supergrace. Verse 17 — “By faith,” the instrumental of means of the noun pistij. Again, this noun has three separate connotations. a) That which causes trust and faith. it’s translation is “faithfulness, reliability, proof or pledge.” b) Faith in the active sense of believing, which is faith, trust, or confidence. c) That which is believed, the body of faith or belief, i.e. doctrine. “Doctrine” is the meaning here. “By means of doctrine resident in the soul Abraham.” He is the first Jewish patriarch. As a supergrace believer he seized and held the high ground, and in this context we have recorded his greatest test in seizing and holding.

“when he was tried” — the present passive participle of peirazw, “when he was being tested.” Peirazw means to test for good or bad, to put to the test to discover what a person is really like under pressure. Pressure brings out the best in you for pressure is designed to show to others, and to bring out into the open, that which is in your soul, namely Bible doctrine. Abraham has had a lot of doctrine resident in his soul, it has been eighteen years since Isaac was born. Abraham now has maximum doctrine in the soul and therefore the test is going to bring out the maximum resident doctrine. The present tense is an historical present to show a past event with the vividness of a present occurrence. The passive voice: Abraham received the action of the verb as a supergrace believer. The participle is a temporal participle and therefore, “By means of doctrine resident in the soul Abraham, when he was being tested.” He was under pressure. What did he do?

He offered up” — perfect active indicative of prosferw. He offered up the most valuable, the most important thing in the world, his only begotten son Isaac. Prosferw means to offer with the intent of slaying just as God commanded. The perfect tense is a consummating perfect in which not the existing results but the process is emphasised. The action is completed but the means of completing the action is the thing that is emphasised here. The active voice: Abraham produced the action being tested as to whether he would hold the high ground under conditions of offering to God under divine command his only begotten son and the most loved thing in all of his life. The indicative mood is the declarative mood for historical reality.

To make sure that we understand, the word “Isaac” is given next, ton )Isaak — “the laughing one.” While the proper noun is indeclinable, Isaac is not indeclinable. The definite article tells us that Isaac would be in the accusative if Isaac could be declined. Certain proper names which are brought in from the Hebrew into the Greek are not declinable. Therefore ton )Isaak. Isaac is nominative, ton is accusative, and it all simply means that here is something very special. God had to show to the world as well as to Abraham that everything that Abraham had the source was God, and the source of the blessing glorified God. The fact that God could provide these things for Abraham had to be tested from time to time so that Abraham, like all supergrace believers, would not lose track of the source. God is the source. Abraham had great wealth, God was the source. The test does two things. It perpetuates glorifying God — or not — and it keeps the proper supergrace perspective for the one who has maximum doctrine. It also becomes a test of the angelic conflict. Is doctrine still more important than what doctrine produces. That is the issue here. Is Bible doctrine more important than what Bible doctrine produces — wealth, prominence, success, leadership dynamics, sexual prosperity as in the case of Abraham, etc. Is that more important to you than doctrine itself. Now we will take a test and see. “Take your son Isaac and take him out and sacrifice him.” That brings everything into focus. Often the easiest way to lose the high ground and to jump into reversionism is to be so enamored with what maximum doctrine gives, what is produces, that the product becomes the focus and the person becomes so enamoured with what God has provided that he forgets the source and he forgets doctrine and he neglects doctrine. Abraham had to face this test. If ever there was a person who was tested it was Abraham.

The doctrine of the testing of Abraham

1. The preparation for testing.

a) In this verse doctrine resident in the soul is the issue.

b) God’s delays are a part of progress.

c) God has to wait to give the believer supergrace blessings of paragraph SG² — Isaiah 38:2.

d) The hardest thing for God to do is to give us something with no strings attached, to give us something for nothing under the principle of grace which is the only way He gives.

e) Once the believer seizes and holds the high ground of supergrace God gives SG² blessings and God is glorified by so doing.

f) The function of GAP plus doctrine resident in the soul is the basis for divine testing of the believer’s progress. Progress must be tested. If you make progress in the Christian life it will be tested. The greatest tests in all of your life come after you reach the high ground. The reversionist does not know anything of great testing, all he knows is discipline. So the function of GAP plus doctrine resident in the soul is the basis for all divine testing of the believer’s progress.

g) The daily and consistent intake of doctrine is the preparation for all supergrace testing. Abraham’s testing is based on the Abrahamic covenant which he knew better than we do.

2. The principle of waiting on the Lord. Obviously this is a factor in the doctrine of Abraham’s testing.

a) Waiting on the Lord is the maximum use of resident doctrine in the soul. Sometimes it is the faith-rest technique, this is basically the concept for launching divine viewpoint from the right lobe.

b) The principle of waiting on the Lord is to perpetuate application or faith-rest into hopeless situations and maximum pressures.

c) Waiting on the Lord is the build-up of resident doctrine and its constant application to life. Psalm 37:7 — “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him.” How do you rest in the Lord? Bible doctrine daily. “Wait for” means you wait for blessing and you wait for testing. Your doctrine must be resident so you can wait for blessing and anticipate, and wait for testing and anticipate. Psalm 37:34 says “Wait for the Lord” — that is what Abraham did; “and keep his way” — the daily intake of doctrine; “and he will exalt you to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off you will see it” — SG³, whereas they have lake of fire. Isaiah 40:31 — “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain strength” — special blessing, paragraph SG² and, in the future, SG ³; “they will walk and not become weary” — stamina from supergrace!

3. The importance of Abraham’s supergrace paragraph. Abraham’s supergrace paragraph is tied up in Genesis 17, circumcision, and Romans 4:17-21, sexual prosperity; and it must be fulfilled in the promise of the Abrahamic covenant, that Abraham will have descendants from his own loins.

4. The development of Abraham’s testing. The testing began with the barrenness of his wife, Sarah — Genesis 11:30; 16:1.

5. Three categories of reversionistic traps. Abraham would move forward to the high ground and then fall off into reversionism. He would bend back, circle back, and fail.

a) Family distractions. There was his father, Genesis 11:31,32, and his nephew. And his wife caused a real problem because of her mental attitude sins.

b) Geographical aberrations. Genesis 12:10-20, he went to Egypt when he was told to stay in the land. As soon as there was a famine in the land, a test, he failed to pass it. And again in Genesis 20:1-18 he did the same thing.

c) Self-centred reversionism. On one occasion we find Abraham rebuking God — Genesis 15:1-6. But then we find this same man meekly turning around and obeying his wife in Genesis 16:2. That is highly inconsistent.

6. The triumph of supergrace. This is the background for the rest of our passage. How could someone make such a tremendous sacrifice as Abraham did? How could someone give up something that was more important to him than anything else in life? And what is the real issue in this testing? Answer: Romans 4:17-21.

Here is where Abraham received his confidence. Here is the key to SG², SG³, and Abraham’s dying grace. Abraham, at the time, was a very miserable person. He was 99 years old and his life was a record of instabilities going up the hill and falling off, going up to supergrace and going back to reversionism. He would reach a high point of maturity but fail to hold. Finally, at 99 he went up and stayed. The reason he did is because of the very nature by which God presented to him the hopelessness of his situation and the fact there is no such thing as a hopeless situation. God laughs at hopeless situations because sitting there in heaven is your paragraph SG².

Romans 4:17 begins with a parenthesis. “As it is written” — the adverb kaqwj presents a causal concept here. This adverb can be used four different ways. It can be an adverb of comparison, translated “just as.” Sometimes kaqwj denotes degree — “to the degree that.” It is often a temporal adverb introduced by the word “when.” It is a causal adverb and a causal adverb is translated “since” or “in so far as.” So, “Since it is written.” No matter how hopeless a situation is remember this. The Word of God guarantees no hopeless situations. Hopeless problems can only be resolved by Bible doctrine. And it has to be transferred into the soul which is why we have the prefect passive indicative of grafw which means to write. The perfect tense here is an intensive perfect meaning that it stands written, it is written in the past with the result that it stands written forever. The passive voice: the subject, the Bible, receives the action of the verb. The ministry of God the Holy Spirit in inspiration is involved in this passive voice. The declarative indicative mood is the unqualified assertion that the canon of scripture is completed and closed, and that it stands forever and all hell cannot destroy the Word of God. It is the Word of God that lives and abides forever, and it is the Word of God that is important, and it’s Bible doctrine that is important, not your experiences.

So it stands written in the past. What does? The fact that Abraham has a promise. We have a quotation now — “that you are going to be the father of many nations.” This is the tragic thing about the whole situation. Abraham had to come to the point where he believed this, and that was his problem. Abraham is said to be the father of us all, that is a spiritual concept. But this is a physical concept whereby a new race would be born, and that is exactly what we have in this particular passage, except for one or two changes.

“I have made” is incorrect. It should be, “I have decreed.” This is the perfect active indicative of tiqhmi which means here to decree or to so order something. The perfect tense is a consummative perfect which emphasises not the existing state, which is hopeless to Abraham, but the process by which the SG² will be completed. The active voice brings in the sovereignty of God in eternity past as a part of the divine decrees. The declarative indicative simply represents the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality. Now Abraham has to decide what is more real, his hopeless situation or what God decreed. And there is no way you have decide for what God decreed unless you have maximum doctrine in the soul. If you don’t have maximum doctrine in the soul you will always go with them hopeless situation. The sovereignty of God in eternity past has already solved the problem, and this is what Abraham learned so that when he was tested in paragraph SG², when he was tested with regard to offering his son it really was no problem at all. The three happiest days of Abraham’s life were the three days it took him to go to Mount Moriah to offer his son. He wasn’t upset or disturbed then because he had already learned the principle that you must learn, to seize and hold the high ground. You must learn that solutions have existed in eternity past and that man cannot improve these solutions in any way. Therefore, it becomes a matter of spiritual growth, and from this spiritual growth in reaching the high ground, then you are going to claim and latch on to the divine reality in the Word rather than the human reality — hopeless situation.

With that in mind He said, “I have decreed thee.” “Thee” is the accusative singular of the personal pronoun su. The accusative is the direct object, “you and only you” Abraham, not someone else. So Abraham must face this for himself. This is the principle of “aloneness.” There is a point at which we are alone in facing hopeless situations versus divine provision in eternity past.

“a father” — pathr. Abraham has never been a father under any legitimate system. He has been pathr but that was a part of another reversionistic aberration. This is what is called a double accusative. Pathr is in the accusative, the pronoun is in the accusative, and “father” [pathr] here means new race, originator, progenitor, ancestor.

“of many nations” — the word “many” means great sexual prosperity. Yet he is sexually dead! The fatherhood of Abraham comes into focus at this point. First of all, Abraham is the father of us all — Romans 4:11,16. This refers to the fact that Abraham is the pattern of salvation for all people who are saved in any dispensation. Pattern: Abraham had believed in the Lord and it was credited to his account for righteousness. Abraham is called the father of circumcision in Romans 4:12. That means the originator of a new race. He is the father of many Gentile nations — Romans 4:17, fulfilled in Genesis 25:1-4.

Abraham gets this information when he is sexually dead and it is almost like rubbing salt in the wound. The “father of many nations” when he is the father of zero nations and there is no possibility of his ever being the father of one person, much less a nation. The idea of having a rather extensive progeny is totally foreign to his thinking because it is a hopeless situation.

“before him” is wrong. We have an adverb, katenanti which really means “in the presence of.” This is actually an “improper” preposition, a technical word for a preposition that truly wasn’t a preposition but originally was an adverb, and the adverb changed its mind and decided that there was a common language coming up and no longer a classical language, like Attic Greek, that it wanted to become an improper, and it looked around for an object and when it finds an object it is called an improper preposition. In other words, it was originally an adverb. Whenever you find these improper prepositions they always are highly emphatic. We translate this “in the sight of whom.” This means that Abraham came to the place where he said, “All right, I’m in a hopeless situation, So what!” There is no such thing as a hopeless situation with God, and there cannot be any such thing. Therefore God has an answer to this. Abraham has enough doctrine (when he reached the supergrace point) resident in the soul to know that there is an answer. This is what is meant when is says “he believed — the aorist active indicative of pisteuw, which means to believe, to have confidence, and so on. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist, it views the event in its entirety but it emphasises the result. In other words, the constative part of the aorist is the hopeless situation. But the culminative aorist simply tells us that out of this hopeless situation came a solution that glorified God and blessed Abraham. God not only solves problems but He blesses the one who has the problem in solving it. In other words, the hopeless situation when it is solved glorifies God. God has found way to glorify Himself and at the same time to bless us in the solution. The active voice: Abraham produced the action of the verb by maximum doctrine in the soul. The declarative indicative represents the verbal idea from the viewpoint of historical reality. This really happened.

“even God” — the objective genitive of qeoj. He had believed God; “who qickeneth” — the present active participle of zwopoiew. The present tense is a pictorial present in which the distinctive force of this tense is used to present to the mind a picture of an event in the process of occurrence. The active voice: God performed the miracle necessary, not only to give procreative powers to Abraham but at the same time to revive the whole structure of Sarah. Abraham “had believed God, the one reviving the dead.” There is no resurrection here, nekroj means sexual death here.

“and calleth” — the present active participle of kalew. Kalew means designating as well as calling. This is a dramatic present. The active voice: God produces the action. The accusative neuter plural of the definite article is translated “those things,” it is a reference to the dead and dormant organs of Abraham and Sarah.

“which be not” — present active participle of e)imi plus the negative mh. It actually means “not existing.” “Calling the not existing as though it existed.” A hopeless situation is changed by God.

Verse 18 — “Who against hope.” The relative pronoun o(j refers to Abraham at age 99. Then we have para plus the accusative of e)lpij which means hope, confidence, expectation. Para plus the accusative here means “beyond expectation.” Abraham was beyond expectation of solution. In other words, there was no human solution.

“believed” — the culminative aorist of pisteuw. This is the way he called upon the inner resources of doctrine, for the faith-rest technique takes the inner resources of doctrine, calls upon them, brings them up and uses them.

“in hope” is e)pi plus the locative of e)lpij and the locative of e)lpij means confidence. This time we have e)pi plus e)lpij instead of para, and it means something different. It means “at the point of confidence.” The point of confidence is maximum doctrine in the soul and reaching the supergrace life. When you are on the high ground then faith reaches down into the inner resources of the soul and pulls out the right angle for the right situation and fires away, and a dynamic person glorifies God in the midst of the devil’s world in the angelic conflict. “that he might become” — the word “that” is another preposition, e)ij, plus the infinitive introducing a result, an intended result which became a real result — “in order that he might become.” It is the doctrine in the soul that counts. The culminative aorist of ginomai here means that the results are many. The results are personal sexual happiness for Abraham and Sarah, but more than that a new race and the last race in history is born.

“the father of many nations” — not just of the new race but many nations; “according to that which had been spoken.” Now we have a quotation from Genesis 15:5 — “so shall your seed [progeny] be.”

At this point the concept changes and lines up with the last half of our passage which is Hebrews 11:17b. The hopeless situation, the challenge of supergrace doctrine, all ties in.

Romans 4:19 — we have a continuation from verse 18 in the conjunction kai, “and being not weak,” the aorist active participle of a)sqenew plus the negative. The aorist tense is an ingressive aorist, and plus the negative indicates that Abraham did not even start to become weak. At 99 years old what made Abraham strong? Climbing a hill! He followed the colours to the high ground of supergrace, he reached SG². Once he reached it he finally seized and held. And when hopeless situations came along to test his SG² he wasn’t even beginning to get weak. The first test he ever had when he reached the high ground was the fact that he was sexually dead and his wife was sexually dead. There was no possible way that he could have sexual prosperity, much less a progeny, much less a nation Israel. These things were impossible. But with God nothing shall be impossible, says the Word, and “not having become weak,” the active voice plus the negative, Abraham produced the action of the verb by doctrine in his soul. The greatest thing that can ever happen to us is to find ourselves helpless, to find ourselves weak where we would like to be strong, useless where we would like to be useful. In other words, to find that we have run out of gas as far as life is concerned, because when we get to that point we realise the need of Bible doctrine. And Bible doctrine does make the difference.

What was it he wasn’t weak in? “in faith,” the instrumental of pistij, what is believed, the body of faith, “by means of resident doctrine in the soul.” “And without becoming weak by means of resident doctrine in the soul, he considered not” — the aorist active indicative of katanoew. Noew means to think, kata means to think down or according to a norm or a standard. To think down means to concentrate, to understand, to perceive, to apprehend, to contemplate. The word “contemplate” is a good translation here. There is no negative here. It doesn’t say he contemplated not, there is no negative. He contemplated and it is a constative aorist which gathers into one syntactical entirety what he was thinking. What was he thinking about? His body, a portion of his body — swma, the phallic portion of his body which was dead. He has no sexual capability. The word “now,” the adverb e(hdh means “already”; “dead” — the perfect passive participle of nekrow, “considered his body already having died.” The perfect tense is the intensive perfect. It means that he had been sexually dead for thirteen years with the result that he was sexually dead at the time he was thinking about this. The passive voice: Abraham received this sexual death. The participle is ascriptive, it describes a hopeless situation. Already having become sexually dead with the result that he was permanently under sexual death, is the meaning of the phrase.

Now we have an enclitic adverb, pou, “approximately” — approximately a hundred years,” which means he was about a hundred years old.

Translation: “And without becoming weak by means of doctrine resident in the soul, he thoughtfully reflected and understood his own body already having become sexually dead [with the result that he was permanently under sexual death], living approximately one hundred years, and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb.”

Verse 20 — a man is a man because of what he has in his soul, not because of his physical makeup. The hopeless situation is a challenge to supergrace. “He staggered not” — the aorist passive indicative of diakrinw plus a strong negative, o)uk. Diakrinw means to be unstable, to zigzag, to waver, to be hot and cold. It means instability. So we translate this, “He did not waver.” One of the major characteristics of the supergrace life is stability. The constative aorist means that during the whole hopeless situation he didn’t bat an eye, he didn’t zigzag. He did not waver in his soul. The passive voice: Abraham did not receive instability. The declarative indicative is the reality of the fact that Abraham was stabilised by doctrine.

“at the promise” — e)ij plus the accusative e)paggelia, “with reference to the promise.”

“of God” should be “from God,” the ablative of source. He did not waver, the promise from God was so strong.

“but” — a very strong adversative conjunction — “was strong,” the aorist passive indicative of e)ndunamow which means to become invigorated or to revive the strength that is there. A promise merely revives the strength that is there. This is a culminative aorist, it recognises the entirety of the constative aorist but emphasises the existing results. All the Abraham’s doctrine was there from daily function of GAP. Insert a promise when you are down in a useless, helpless situation and that promise stimulates all this doctrine with the result that you are invigorated. The invigoration in Abraham’s case is also physical because of the miracle involved. Invigoration means the power to copulate.

“in faith” — the instrumental of pistij, “by means of doctrine resident in the soul.” And what happens when you are tested and when Bible doctrine is stimulated and the divine viewpoint prevails? God is glorified.

“giving” is the aorist active participle of didomi, “having given”; “glory,” doca, “to God.” What glorified God? God gave him paragraph SG², sexual prosperity. God invigorated him sexually. God was glorified by the sexual prosperity of Abraham. It is God who gives it, it is God who is glorified, and in the angelic conflict God is glorified when He can give any believer his SG². Yours has your name on it but whether you ever get it or not depends upon your attitude toward doctrine.

Verse 21 — “And being fully persuaded” is the aorist passive participle of plhroforew. Was Abraham any more of a man once he had sexual prosperity? No, he wasn’t. He was the same person. A man is a male with doctrine, dynamics in his soul. This is a gnomic aorist for an absolute truth. He was fully convinced before. The passive voice: he received the action of the verb through doctrine in his soul. The participle has antecedent action to the main verb. The main verb “he did not waver by means of doctrine.”

“that” introduces a conjunction, o(ti, to show the content of his thinking, the content of his being fully convinced.

“what he had promised” — “he” is God; e)paggellw refers to paragraph SG². This is an iterative perfect in which the promise God fulfilled to Abraham was repeated at recurrent intervals. It was a permanent part of Abraham’s life, the sexual prosperity from his paragraph SG². The middle voice is the indirect middle which emphasises the agent as producing the action of the verb rather than participating in the results — “what he himself had promised.”

“he was able also to perform” — poiew in the aorist active infinitive is very important here. It is the infinitive of actual result. Until Abraham reached supergrace it was the infinitive of intended result, but once he reaches supergrace with maximum doctrine in the soul it is the infinitive of actual result.

Translation: “Having been completely convinced that, what he himself [God] had promised in the past with the result that he kept on holding the promise open, he was able also to do it.”

This explains the test that we are studying in Hebrews 11:17. “By means of doctrine resident in the soul Abraham, when he was being tested, offered as a sacrifice the Isaac ...”

“and he that had received” — the aorist middle participle of a)nadexomai which means to receive from above, to receive again and again, to receive in the sense of welcoming someone you love, to receive in the sense of entertaining. The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety, Abraham received the promise of supergrace blessing. The constative aorist links eternity with time and gathers up into one entirety the formation of the decree, the actual formation of the paragraph, and the information revealed to Abraham. The middle voice is a direct middle in which the agent acts with a view toward participating in the results of the action. The participle is circumstantial. In these circumstances Abraham received in eternity past he received in time as a part of the doctrinal content of the Abrahamic covenant, and it was a reality to him through GAP.

“offered up” — the imperfect active indicative of prosferw which means to offer a sacrifice. The imperfect tense is inceptive, the inceptive imperfect for the initiation of a process. It denotes the beginning of an action which is on the point of occurring and hence it is a colloquial idiom comparable to our English “one went on doing a thing.” So it should be translated “he went right on offering.”

“his only begotten” — the definite article is used as a possessive pronoun, and with it we have the noun monogenhj — “the only born one in the promise.” This wasn’t the only son he had but this is the only one in the framework of the Abrahamic covenant, the only one related to his supergrace life. Isaac was his only child in the sense of the race, in the sense of the Abrahamic covenant, in relation to paragraph SG².

Translation of verse 17 — “By means of doctrine resident in the soul, when he was being tested, offered as a sacrifice the Isaac: even his only-born one, he went to sacrificing the one whom he had received as the promise.”

Summary

1. Abraham had received the promises of the supergrace paragraph SG². They had been revealed to him and were a part of the doctrine resident in his soul.

2. He had received a specific promise on several occasions — in Genesis chapters 15 and 17. As a supergrace believer he knew this would be fulfilled.

3. Having received supergrace blessings he was challenged: Are the blessings more important than the one who gave them? This is the test.

4. Abraham seized and held the high ground of supergrace by answering no, the giver is more important than the gift.

5. The blessings are not more important than the Lord who is the source of the blessing.

6. The blessings may come and go but the source we always have.

7. Therefore this is also the issue in surpassing grace blessings. In SG³ we have the source and the blessing forever.

8. God tested Abraham to determine his willingness to depart with the supergrace blessing at the command of the source. The source was more important than the blessing, God was more important than Isaac.

9. Abraham was willing because of doctrine resident in his soul which produced occupation with Christ. One of the facets of occupation with Christ is to be more aware of the giver than the gift. On other words, occupation with Christ is stronger than any supergrace blessing. And there is only one way to be occupied with Christ, and that is through Bible doctrine in the soul accumulated every day.

Verse 18 — “Of whom” is incorrect. The preposition proj plus the accusative can be translated in several ways. We have proj plus the accusative of the relative pronoun o(j and it means “toward whom.” That is, toward Abraham. It means it was given directly toward him before he faced the test, it was not said of him later.

“it was said” — aorist passive indicative of the verb lalew, a verb of communication. It is different from legw in that it implies teaching. It should be “it had been communicated.” The aorist tense is the constative aorist contemplating the action of the verb in its entirety. Here is the constative aorist referring to a momentary action from God repeated time and time again and gathered up into one entirety. God taught Abraham this principle.

“that” — the conjunction o(ti is used as a quotation mark or a summary of what was communicated. The latest communiqué before he faced the test was Genesis 21:12.

The quotation: “In Isaac” — e)n plus the theoretical locative of the indeclinable noun I)saak. The specific name of Isaac indicates the trend of Abraham’s SG² paragraph. The trend is obvious. Sexual prosperity would result in the birth of a son, Isaac, and a new nation would come through this son and not through any of the other children which Abraham had before or afterward. The supergrace testing must come through Isaac.

“thy seed” — soi sperma, “be called.” The word kalew means to call, the future passive indicative, but it also means a lot of other things too. What is really means in many passages connected with the divine decrees is “designated.” God had designated out of all the children of Abraham through which one would go the racial line. This is the predictive future which portrays an event expected to occur in a future time. But it is more than that, it is a gnomic future for a statement of fact or performance expected under normal conditions. The passive voice: Abraham’s seed. The word “sperm” is probably more important than the word “seed” because sperm is human, seed is not. The sperm of Abraham went in three categories. The progeny of Hagar, the progeny of Sarah, and the progeny of Keturah. But only the genes in the sperm through Sarah is the one that is the Jew. God designated that the sperm that impregnated Sarah would be a race, not a family. The passive voice: Abraham’s sperm receives the action of the verb, namely designating Isaac as a new race. The indicative mood is the declarative indicative for a dogmatic statement of fact that in the second generation from Abraham the sperm which caused the conception of Isaac meant a new race.

Genesis 22:1 — “after these things” means that everything that ever happened to Abraham that tested him. “that God did tempt” — should be “test,” the piel perfect from nasah which means to prove. God proved Abraham, which means test.

Verse 2 — “Take now thy son” — the qal imperative of laqach; “thine only born one”. Why is he called the only son? Because he is the only Jew.

“whom thou lovest” — qal perfect of ahabh for maximum love; “whom you have loved,” literally. “and get thee to the land of Moriah” which is a part of the land belonging to the Jebusites and is near the present location of Jerusalem. The words “get thee” is not correct, the qal imperative of jalak means “go.”

“offer him there for a burnt offering” — “offer him” is the hiphil imperative of alah and it means “cause him to be offered.” Alah means an ascending sacrifice. The hiphil stem is causative — “You cause it, you do it.” That is a test. The fact that he loves is a test.

“a burnt offering” — an offering where you slaughter the sacrificial victim and then burn the whole thing.

Verse 3 — Greatness is being able to relax and carry on with a routine in the greatest crisis of your life. Most people can never think clearly and objectively in a crisis because they don’t have the inner soul equipment to do it.

“and clave the wood for the burnt offering” — “clave” means to split, the piel imperfect of kaqa.

“and rose up” is the verb qum and it means his intention was to follow the orders of the Lord exactly. It is more than just a word of motion.

“and went” — that is the word of motion. Qum reflects the mental attitude, jalak indicates the fact that he actually walked there. He has already passed the test. Here is the greatest test of this type that anyone ever had and he is thoroughly prepared for it. Principle: It is the prepared believer who is great in the crisis. Being prepared means doctrine in the soul. Sooner or later every believer is tested by crisis circumstances and it is the preparation that makes the difference. And the same preparation by which you pass the test is the exactly the same preparation for really enjoying life.

Verse 4 — “Then on the third day” — three days of enjoying his son — “he saw the place afar off.” This was designated to him in some way not mentioned in the text.

Verse 5 — “Abide ye here” means stay here, the qal imperative of shub. They were to stay behind, they were not to climb the hill.

“I and the lad will go” — the qal imperfect of jalak, third masculine plural, “we will go,” literally. Then he said “we will worship” and “we will come again.” There are three verbs here and they all have the same morphology. All of them should properly be translated “we will go, we will worship, we will come again.”

The word “worship” is a double reflexive and should be translated, “we, both the young man and I, will worship.”

Verse 6 — “and laid it upon Isaac his son.” Isaac is young and strong. The point is that anyone who can carry the wood up the hill can strong-arm his old man into keeping him off that altar. In other words, Isaac had to be willing to go to the altar. This speaks well for his youthful training in Bible doctrine. The only thing Abraham carried was the fire and the knife.

Verse 7 — “Behold the fire and the wood but where is the lamb?”

Verse 8 — “My son, God will provide” isn’t exactly what he said. The qal imperfect of raah means to keep on seeing, and so a correct translation would be, “God will keep on seeing to it.” That is the model of every person who seizes and holds the high ground. There are problems here but God keeps on seeing to it. This is equivalent to God will provide, except that the imperfect tense means He keeps on doing it. But it means more than that, it means that God has already provided in eternity past and it is a matter of Abraham seeing how God has provided as the situation unfolds.

Verse 9 — “and bound Isaac his son.” This is the point at which we have a beautiful picture of the submission of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“to the wood” — our Lord Jesus Christ was nailed to the wood on that same spot or in that same vicinity.

Verse 10 — the qal infinitive construct of shachat means to cut his throat.

Verse 11 — the angel of Jehovah, the Lord Jesus Christ, stopped him. The doubling of Abraham’s name here means “perfect Abraham.”

Verse 14 — “And Abraham called the name of the place Jehovah-jireh.” This is generally give in notes as “God will provide”, and while God did provide that isn’t what it says. It is the qal imperfect of raah again plus Adonai — Adonai-jireh, which means “Jehovah keeps on seeing to it.” In other words, it isn’t that God just provided for this situation, it is that God keeps on providing. The point is that not just now with the ram caught in the bush does God see to it, but He keeps on seeing to it. Abraham says, the Lord keeps on seeing to it. All the way in life to the point of death, dying grace, and paragraph SG³, and once again Abraham sees the whole road to glory. What this really means is Jesus Christ keeps on seeing to it. God’s grace never breaks down like a machine.

Hebrews 11:18 — “Toward whom [Abraham] it had been communicated, In Isaac your sperm shall be designated.” That means that Isaac has to live to have children. It means that God will see to it. If God gives an order that seems to contradict that promise then God has to see to it.

Verse 19 — “Accounting”. The explanation of this word is found beginning in James 2:21. It is interesting how the various facets of Abraham’s victory are divided up. It was one of the most phenomenal of all supergrace victories because it was divided up between James and Paul and whoever wrote Hebrews and the book of Genesis chapter 22.

Notice, for example, James 2:20 — “Wilt thou know, O vain man.” Literally it says, “Are you willing to learn, O empty of doctrine person, that doctrine apart from production is unemployed.” This doesn’t mean that you’re doing some work for doctrine, it simply means that your thinking, your action, is divine viewpoint. Doctrine apart from production is unemployed, it is barren, it is non-productive.

Verse 21 — “Was not Abraham, our father [the Jewish race originated with him and he is the pattern of salvation], justified [vindicated].” The culminative aorist here is the fact that Abraham had prepared all of his life for this test by the daily function of GAP until at this point he had enough doctrine to meet the test. He met is beautifully, as we have seen, and so we have the existing results from the entirety. The entirety is maximum resident doctrine in the soul. He was vindicated by the fact that God supplied him an animal sacrifice because he never wavered from obedience to God in meeting the test. The passage really says literally, “Abraham our father, not from the source of works was he vindicated, having offered up Isaac his adult son on the altar.” He wasn’t vindicated by the work itself, he was vindicated by the doctrine that motivated him.

Verse 22 — “Seest thou how” is literally, “You see at a glance (blepw) how that the doctrine kept on working together with the production.” What was the production? He offered Isaac. He obeyed. We saw the whole course of his obedience in Genesis 22.

“faith” — this is pistij again, and it has the same meaning as in Hebrews 11, that which is believed or the body of doctrine.

“worked together” — sunergew, the inceptive imperfect, “kept working together.” Here is the beauty of Abraham’s great victory of supergrace. Doctrine kept in harness with the demand made by God. God said to sacrifice Isaac and doctrine said yes and moved out and obeyed at every point, without qualm. without any fear, without being disturbed or upset in any possible way.

“You see at a glance how that doctrine working together with production, and out of the source of the production of doctrine, it was consummated [completed, fully developed].” In other words, there is no greater demonstration of the power of the Word of God in one man’s life than operation Isaac.

Verse 23 — Abraham is called the friend of God. As a result of passing this great supergrace test he was called filoj qeou, “lover of God” [occupation with Christ]. This is an Old Testament title for a supergrace hero.

Verse 24 — “You perceive that out from the source of production a man received vindication and not from the source of doctrine alone.” Doctrine worked together with the situation.

This passage is saying that once you have a test, usually a test is some form of adversity, distraction, etc., it is doctrine that must work together with these to produce glory to God. The doctrine must be resident in your soul. In other words, you can’t pass any tests by going to the Bible and trying to read a passage or find a verse, nor can you memorise a verse and do it, nor can anyone quote a verse and do it. You have to do it on your own.

Hebrews 11:19 — “Accounting” is the aorist middle participle of logizomai means to calculate or to think on the basis of information in the frame of reference. “Having calculated” is the translation here. What did Abraham do when he faced a test? Doctrine resident in his soul worked together with the test. What is computerising? It is when you have a problem and machinery works together with the problem to solve it. So when you press the buttons eventually you get answers, the computer gives you the answers. And so as a believer with doctrine resident in your soul you have your own computer. Abraham had his own computer. The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It takes the doctrine resident in Abraham’s supergrace soul and puts it together for Abraham’s confidence. There was a test. Abraham was tested, but inside was resident doctrine and the resident doctrine overcame the test. But when a believer is minus resident doctrine and does not have balance of residency in his soul then he does not overcome the test. The middle voice is the direct middle, it refers the results of the action directly to the agent. The agent is Abraham and he acts with a view toward participating in the results of the action. And he did participate. The result was, he was going right ahead to kill Isaac. The participle is circumstantial.

When it says “All things work together for good” it means that doctrine in your soul works together with every test in life and overcomes the test. The greatest power in the world is Bible doctrine, the Word of God is alive and powerful and as resident doctrine in your soul it overcomes every test that you face.

“that” — the conjunction o(ti is used after verbs of cerebration to indicate the content of the cerebration without giving the detail wordage of the thought.

“God” — o( qeoj, “the God.” God solves the problem, God answers the situation, God takes care of it. God has given us this phenomenal residency of doctrine, and when we use it on a test then we become filoj qeou — “lover of God.”

“was able” — we do not have a verb here. The adjective dunatoj simply describes the ability of God. It could be translated “the able God” or “God is able” or “the God was able.” In other words, the adjective goes with qeoj — “the able God.” It refers to the inherent power of God. He learned enough about doctrine to know that there never was a test that was bigger than God. There must be your volition involved in the angelic conflict at the point of doctrine, and God uses His ability through the doctrine resident in your soul.

“to raise up” — present active infinitive of e)geirw. The present tense is an aoristic present, it means to raise him up immediately since the race must go on, not in resurrection. So this is really to raise up in the sense of resuscitation. The active voice: God produces the action. This is an infinitive of result, the conceived result. He already understood that God would have to raise him up immediately and that both of them would have to come down the mountain for God to keep His word.

The word “even” is the adjunctive use of kai and it should be translated “also”; “out from the dead” — e)k plus the ablative of nekroj.

“from whence” — the adverb o(qen, “for which reason.”

“received him” — “recovered him”, literally, the aorist middle indicative of the verb komizw, which means to recover in the middle voice. The culminative aorist views the action of the verb in its entirety and takes up the whole story of Genesis 22 — Isaac on the altar, etc. The declarative indicative is historical reality.

And how did he recover him? It doesn’t say through resurrection. The next phrase is important — “in a figure,” the preposition e)n plus the instrumental of parabolh which means a comparison. You put something alongside something else for a comparison. So, “he recovered him by means of a comparison.”

Translation: “Having calculated that the God also was able to raise up Isaac out from the dead; for which reason also he recovered him by means of a comparison.”

The comparison is an analogy to the cross.

Principles

1. The replacement of Isaac with an animal sacrifice is placed along side the resurrection from the dead as the basis of comparison. The substitute was the ram. Christ is the sacrifice substituted for us. Then the resurrection of Christ — Isaac coming back down the hill is the type or the comparison.

2. The event of Isaac’s recovery is used to illustrate the doctrine of resurrection from the dead, as well as to demonstrate the dynamics of the supergrace life.

3. The result was the Abraham received Isaac back, not from the literal dead but as an illustration of resurrection.

4. Consequently Abraham passed the supergrace test. Such testing was designed to add confidence in holding the high ground, and such testing from God is subject to failure on your part when you are minus doctrine but every time you pass a test from God it is subject to high and great reward in eternity. All testing is rewardable.

Verse 20 — how doctrine can make a man out of a wimp. Principle: Doctrine changes people for the better. Growing pains in the field of the Christian way of life are much more pronounced than they ever are in human life.

“By faith” — the instrumental singular of pistij means doctrine, not faith. This is technical for doctrine resident in the soul.

“Isaac” — Jitzchaq in the Hebrew, means laughter. He was born about 2061 BC. The birth was a part of Abraham’s supergrace prosperity. The sexual prosperity resulted in the progeny, the extension of the race of Israel. It also relates to the Abraham covenant.

Jacob conned his father concerning the birthright, the double portion. Isaac made the mistake and later on discovered it. Upon discovery of the deception Isaac took a doctrinal stand, and for the first time in his life on record in the scripture he recognised that it was God’s will that the elder should serve the younger. And all of his life, even though Esau was his favourite, he noted that it was Jacob who was the believer and that Esau was still an unbeliever. The supergrace Isaac who seized and held the high ground did so on the basis of talking a stand on Bible doctrine. He withstood all of the complaining of Esau. He took a stand contrary to his inclinations. He didn’t care for Jacob, Esau was his favourite. Doctrine resident in Isaac’s soul took precedence over his great love for Esau, his favourite son, and doctrine took precedence over the fact that he was put down by Rebecca whom he loved dearly. Doctrine was more real to supergrace Isaac who had finally found his courage on the high ground.

“blessed Jacob” — the aorist active indicative of e)ulogew. This is the culminative aorist, it views the event of blessing in its entirety but it regards it from the standpoint of existing results. The active voice: supergrace Isaac produced the action of the verb. He stood by his guns, he was never dissuaded. The indicative mood is the declarative indicative for an historical fact.

Summary

1. The blessing is recorded in Genesis 27:28-40. While Esau was the eldest twin and should have received his father’s blessing and inheritance it was Jacob, the young twin, who became the heir through deception. However, that was a part of God’s plan. The deception was merely the test, as all of us are tested once we reach the high ground.

2. The deception was discovered, but even though Isaac loved Esau who was his favourite he would never reverse the decision, though Esau worked on him for years. The real man takes a doctrinal stand no matter what his personal feelings are.

3. This, therefore, was an act of supergrace nobility based on resident doctrine in the soul and is comparable to the test of Abraham in Genesis 22.

4. In addition to the principle of doctrine, the elder shall serve the younger, there is a second principle by which Isaac held to his decision — Romans 9:6-14.

5. The line and the future of the race must follow the course of regeneration. The line of Israel and the future of the race in its inception must follow the course of regeneration.

6. This is because regeneration is necessary for the fulfilment of the Abraham covenant.

7. Supergrace Isaac understood the Abraham covenant. As a supergrace believer he was thoroughly aware of all that was involved and he understood a very important category of doctrine and utilised it. So it is doctrine working together with a test, and he emerges as a great man.

The application of the Abraham covenant

1. It was obvious to supergrace Isaac that unregenerate Esau could not inherit or perpetuate the doctrinal principles of the Abraham covenant.

2. Much as he loved Esau, Isaac knew from the divine viewpoint that the unbeliever was excluded from the Abraham covenant. Esau, a Jew, is not a Jew.

3. Therefore he made the great decision to let the blessing stand in spite of Esau’s protest and in spite of the fact that it put him down permanently. A real man always sees the true issue and never allows his pride to interfere.

4. Esau sought the reversal of his father’s blessing on Jacob with tears but there was no way he could change supergrace Isaac. Isaac stood fast and refused the most pathetic of crying entreaties.

5. Even at the point of death Isaac remained firm, demonstrating right up to his last breath that he was a supergrace believer under dying grace and that he had the courage and strength of character to stand by a good decision.

Next we have the twins, Jacob and Esau, mentioned. Jacob is mentioned first even though he is the younger because he was the heir and he was the line of Israel. Jacob was born again and was the true line of the Jewish race. Esau was an unbeliever and not in the race of Israel at all. He is mentioned because while he was given the blessing of a younger son he was never given the heritage. The blessing given to Esau did not change or reverse the heirship of the Abraham covenant. While Esau continually sought to reverse the blessing of Jacob, as illustrated by Genesis 27:34-38, the blessing given to Esau in Genesis 27:39,40 only confirmed the fact that the elder would serve the younger. The principle of doctrine remained and the doctrinal issue was kept clear, and the racial stand was pure because the Jewish race is not only the youngest race but it is the greatest in its foundation. It is founded on regeneration. Abraham had other children, Isaac had other children, but the race always went down for the first three generations through regeneration. That is why Jesus Christ has as one of His greatest titles, that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That means He is the God of those who are born again. He is the God of three generations who were not only racially in the same line but were spiritually in the same line, they all followed the same pattern.

“concerning things to come” — the preposition peri plus the genitive case of the present active participle mellw plus kai. When you have mellw as the object of the preposition in participial form, and you have the conjunction kai, you get “concerning things destined to be.” Mellw means to be about to be, to be destined to be, to be on the point of being. The present tense here of the participle is a futuristic present, it denotes an event which has not yet occurred but is certain that it will occur and therefore is regarded as already coming to pass. Therefore it is in the present tense. Things were going to happen. The Jewish race was going to keep on being, it would never be destroyed. The active voice: the Abraham covenant produces the action of the verb. The participle is circumstantial, it denotes the fulfilment of the Abraham covenant through Jacob and not through Esau.

Translation: “By means of doctrine resident in the soul, even concerning things destined to be [come]” — the fulfilment of the Abraham covenant.

Isaac blessed Jacob in the covenant, Esau out of it. He gave Esau all he could give an unbelieving son but he could not give him the spiritual heritage, so he was out. Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, but notice that he blessed them “concerning things destined to be.” Therefore, Isaac only blessed Jacob because Esau can’t be blessed, he is not in things to be.

Summary

1. Isaac was a weak sister all of his life but he became strong and decisive in facing the crisis of deception, for he was prepared by the intake of doctrine. Isaac the weak wimp became the man of steal and strength, and doctrine made the difference.

2. Even his preferential love for Esau did not change the blessing on which Isaac stood. It was the application of doctrine. The doctrine is the Abraham covenant.

3. While Isaac was deceived in giving the blessing to Jacob it did not change the fact that he made a right decision.

4. Only supergrace status and maximum doctrine resident in the soul gave Isaac the objectivity and courage to stick with a major command decision. This is one of the major decisions in all of history.

5. Isaac is a supergrace hero with great moral courage.

6. Once again laughter comes into the picture as his contemporaries and peers laugh at Isaac for being deceived by Jacob and Rebecca. It wasn’t just Jacob and Rebecca, it was also all the ridicule. 7. But the supergrace believer has great moral courage to stand by a right decision no matter how much pressure of ridicule.

8. What made the decision so difficult to maintain was the fact that Isaac wanted the blessing to go to Esau because he loved Esau. Because Esau was his favourite he would have excluded Jacob but when the test of deception cam he made the decision, he knew it was the right decision.

9. Even his own personal feelings did not prejudice Isaac into reversing a correct and doctrinal decision.

10. Doctrine resident in his supergrace soul was stronger than love and stronger than the pressure of ridicule.

11. Isaac the failure emerges as Isaac the supergrace hero, the man of objective wisdom, the man of noble courage. In effect, the man of doctrine. The Word became more real to Isaac than anything in life. Bible doctrine was more real than his love for Esau.

12. Here is Isaac seizing and holding the high ground for eternity where he has the highest honours of surpassing grace and blessing forever and ever.

Verse 21 — “By faith” is the instrumental of pistij, used here for doctrine resident in the soul of a supergrace believer. Pistij has three basic meanings: that which causes trust and faith, meaning faithfulness, reliability, proof or pledge; secondly, faith in the active sense of believing, translated faith, trust, or confidence; thirdly, the one used here in this verse, that which is believed, the body of faith or belief, therefore meaning “doctrine.”

“Jacob” — the Hebrew word is Jaaqobh, which means heel-catcher. What is a heel-catcher? It doesn’t really mean anything except that Jacob was the second one to be born of twins. Heel-catcher simply means that he was the second one to be born and he came out trying to get out first. The word Jaaqobh is derived from a verb, aqab, which means to be a chiseller, to be a con artist. It means to defraud or deceive or to make a living by deceit. And Jaaqobh means “the defrauder, the deceiver.” Later on he is going to have another name, Jisrael, “Prince of God.”

Jacob

1. He was one of two twins, the youngest. He was born when his father was sixty years old at around 2001 BC.

2. His name certainly was prophetic. He was an opportunist, a con artist, a chiseller, one of the outstanding deceivers of all time on record. He utilised everything to his own advantage. His brother’s hunger he used to purchase his brother’s birthright which included not only the double portion of Deuteronomy 21:17 but, more than that, the rulership of the entire family — Genesis 27:29 — as well as the title to the family blessing from God — Genesis 27:4 cf. verses 28, 29.

3. His impersonation of Esau was one of the neatest tricks anyone ever pulled. His father was blind and his impersonation of Esau caused him to receive the same blessing officially from his father Isaac. Esau had already sold this double portion birthright to Jacob, so Jacob had already bought it, but being the chiseller he was Jacob superimposed his own dishonesty on Esau. Esau would have cheated him out of the birthright that he had already sold. But Jacob realised the Esau was going to do this so he beat him to the jump. So the impersonation caused him to receive the blessing that he had already purchased.

4. Esau’s antagonism caused Jacob to flee to his uncle Laban in Haran. But uncle Laban made a great mistake when he started cheating his talented nephew because his talented nephew then had no qualms about taking uncle Laban to the cleaners. As a result of this he went back home and immediately he met Esau. While Jacob is a believer he is in reversionism. His twin brother is an unbeliever.

On the way back he stopped at a place called Jabok on the east side of the Jordan and there he was challenged to a wrestling match. In this match he was not only beaten up badly but he limped for the rest of his life. This wrestling match did many things for Jacob, the believer. First of all, since Jacob was the best of all wrestlers he assumed that there would never be another person any better. He learned the hard way that the Lord Jesus Christ could out wrestle him any day of the year. But it also did something else to him. It was the first time in all of his life that he could neither think his way out nor fight his way out of a jamb. All of a sudden he woke up and he realised that he was just another member of the human race, hopeless, helpless, useless. That was the beginning of his rebound and his reversion recovery. Therefore, when he came back there was a great change. He went all out for doctrine and he finally reached the high ground. Of course he was sorely tested after he reached the high ground of supergrace. He lose the woman he loved dearly, Rachel. Then later on he lost his favourite son, Joseph, and finally he lost his father Isaac. So he had on the high ground a series of rather shocking losses, but all of these with resident doctrine in the soul turned him into a phenomenal person. Therefore when he finally came to Egypt he began to see the other side of the supergrace life and he was a very strong supergrace believer, he was stabilised, he did have paragraph SG², he would go out under dying grace, and he would have paragraph SG³.

Verse 3 — “By means of doctrine resident in the soul Jacob.”

“when he was a dying” — the prefix “a dying” is an intensitive prefix but it is no longer pertinent in the English language. It is a translation of the present active participle of the verb a)poqnhskw, a reference here to dying grace. We will have to translate this “when in the process of dying.” The present tense is a descriptive present to actually describe the process of dying. The active voice: Jacob was in the sphere of dying grace, he had seized and held the high ground during his years in Goshen and he was now crossing the golden bridge of dying grace. This is a temporal participle and therefore we translate it, “while he was in the process of dying.”

“blessed” — the aorist active indicative of e)ulogew. This is a constative aorist which contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It takes the crossed hands incident of Genesis 48:13-21 and gathers it into one entirety. The active voice: Jacob in dying grace produced the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative for the historical reality of the crossed hand incident.

Summary of the crossed hand incident

Joseph was to be the double portion heir. This sets aside all of the older boys in the family. Jacob is now dying and he is seated on this occasion. When Joseph approached with his two sons. As he approaches he must get his older son, Manasseh, under the right hand of Israel, the hand of blessing. The elder shall serve the younger is the great principle of family doctrine here from which the race of Israel emerges on the basis of regeneration, by which Israel has a spiritual heritage. Ephraim, the younger son, he places under the left hand. The left hand of blessing is go out and do the best you can type of thing, but you don’t have anything to start with. All of the wealth and all of the family name goes to the elder. But we have seen that reversed with the twins. Israel or Jacob was himself was a younger son and yet he became the heir of Isaac. So it is Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not Abraham, Isaac and Esau. Now Joseph did the right thing by putting the older boy up under the right hand of blessing, the right hand of double portion. But he crossed his hands. He crossed his right hand over and put it on top of Ephraim’s head, then he crossed his left hand over and put it on the head of Manasseh. One more time the doctrine will prevail.

This is the issue. When Joseph approached with his two sons, again Manasseh was the eldest and Ephraim was the youngest. He made his approach to a nearly blind dying father so that Manasseh would come under that right hand of blessing. This was to be the double portion for the eldest son. But through doctrine resident in his soul, when Jacob saw what he did, he crossed his hands over immediately. And when he crossed them over he gave Ephraim, the youngest son, the double portion blessing. The crossed hands, therefore, illustrates the manner in which every believer receives grace blessing from God. We receive the blessings of the firstborn. There are two things that can be taught from this — the cross itself. Jesus Christ was judged for our sins on the cross that we might have the righteousness belonging to Christ. Christ is the firstborn; He is judged, He is cast out. In effect, Manasseh is cast out. So Manasseh is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. On the cross He was bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. He who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. That is the story of the crossed hands in one verse — 2 Corinthians 5:21. So Manasseh is cast out so that we can have the blessing. Christ bears our sins on the cross so that we can have +R forever. That becomes the basis always for grace blessing. So the elder shall serve the younger has this phenomenal grace blessing concept. The crossed hands, therefore, indicates the fact that the firstborn, Jesus Christ, is the basis for all of our blessing. And Jesus Christ had to be judged so that we could be the beneficiaries of grace blessing, beginning at the cross.

“both” — the accusative singular direct object of e(kastoj which is not the same as “both,” it means “each one.” Only one can get the blessing.

“the sons of Joseph” — refers to Ephraim the younger blessed over Manasseh the elder. The principle is that God does not bless the line of natural birth and privilege but God blesses the line of regeneration, the spiritual line. Always God blesses man by means of grace. That means that the natural line of privilege, of ability, is never the basis for God’s blessing. It is always the spiritual line. That is why Jesus said, Ye must be born again. So it is the spiritual line that becomes the beneficiary of grace — saving grace, living grace, supergrace, dying grace, surpassing grace. And again the principle, the elder shall serve the younger. This is a test of the inner residency of doctrine. And note the consistency of doctrine in the ascendancy. We have Seth over Cain, Abraham over Haran, Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Ephraim over Manasseh. This is a principle of grace, a principle that could not be broken, a title that could not be broken, and only a dying supergrace man had the wisdom to cross his hands and therefore counteract what Joseph had done. This was a phenomenal grace orientation decision.

“and worshipped” — the aorist active indicative of the verb proskunew. Proj means face to face; kunew means to kiss. The verb is actually formed from a custom of the ancient world to salute or do obeisance by prostrating one’s self on the ground and kissing of the hem of the robe or the feet of the person receiving the recognition. It became a Persian custom for saluting kings. Here it means to worship in the sense of communication of Bible doctrine. That is exactly what worship is. Worship is the communication of Bible doctrine — communication on the part of the pastor-teacher; reception on the part of the congregation. It describes now this very same thing. Jacob leaned on the top of his sceptre before his family he gave one of the most phenomenal messages that anyone ever gave in all of history. The culminative aorist of “worship” is the entire prophecy of Genesis chapter 49. It emphasises the results of the prophecy in history. In other words, this man gave his final message and what a wonderful way to go. The active voice: Jacob, as a part of dying grace, produced the action of the verb. The declarative indicative is for the dogmatic reality of Jacob’s dying words, forming the prophecy of Israel’s sons.

“on the top of his staff” — the word for “staff” here, r(abdoj, means a cane or a stick or a sceptre. It actually refers to his ruler staff, his badge of authority. We also have the possessive genitive of the intensive pronoun a)utoj emphasising that this was no ordinary stick of wood but was the sign of his family rulership. This phrase is quoted from Genesis 47:31, and there in the King James the translation is “upon the bedhead.” Actually, the Hebrew says “on the top of his sceptre.”

Translation: “By means of doctrine resident in the soul Jacob, while he was in the process of dying, blessed each one of the sons of Joseph, and worshipped leaning on the top of his sceptre.”

Jacob died about 1854 at the age of 147 and his dying words are Genesis 49. Notice it says, “he worshipped.” There are only two ways in which a person can worship: a) to teach doctrine; b) to listen to the teaching of doctrine. That is worship.

There are thirteen men involved, there are thirteen tribes in Israel. By Leah Jacob had Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. Then next we have Issachar, Zebulun, and one girl, Dinah. By Rachel he had Joseph and Benjamin. By Bilhah he had Dan and Naphtali. By Zilpah he had Gad and Asher.

In Genesis 47:27,28 we have Jacob’s great and dynamic use of resident doctrine, talking about dwelling, and so on. In 47:29-48:22 we have Jacob’s three looks. First of all he looked forward — 47:29-31. He is facing death, he is ready for death, Bible doctrine resident in the soul always prepares a believer for death. So he was thoroughly prepared. But he also looked backward — 48:1-7. His first recollection was a blessing in verses 4-6; his second recollection was sorrow and adversity, verse 7. The principle is obvious: Life is made up of both happy things and sorrowful things; blessing and misery. God has provided for the believer for both occasions. And he can look back with doctrine resident in his soul and have no regrets. Then he looked upward in 48:8-22, and in looking upward he gave a testimony to the grace of God in verse 8. Then we have his wise switch, the crossed hands, in verses 9-14. We have learned from that that God does not bless the line of natural birth or natural ability, he must be born again. And the second lesson was that the doctrine of substitution and imputation is the basis for God’s grace. Then the third important principle is the importance of being guided by doctrine. Doctrine must be more real than anything else in life. In verses 15 & 16 a special blessing for Joseph — regarding God’s faithfulness, verse 15; regarding the salvation and the deliverance through the Lord Jesus Christ, verse 16; the adoption of Joseph’s sons, verse 16b whereby we have 13 tribes instead of 12. Both of Joseph’s sons became a part of the tribes of Israel. Joseph received the double portion. Then we have Joseph’s attempt to correct Jacob’s prophecy in verses 17-19, and the double portion prophecy, verses 20-22, Jacob stood fast on Bible doctrine.

There are three great prophecies in Genesis: the prophecy of salvation, Genesis 3:15; the prophecy of the races, Genesis 9 & 10; the prophecy of Israel, Genesis 49. It is Genesis 49 that is covered by one word in the Greek of Hebrews 11, the word “worship.”

Genesis chapter 49.

Verse 1 — we have the fact that the sons are gathered.

Verse 2 is addressed to the sons of Jacob and/or the tribal structure of Israel.

Verses 3-15, we have the sons of Leah the first wife of Jacob. First of all in verse 3 we have Reuben. He had the greatest potential because he was the firstborn. In the Hebrew of verse 3 we have some fascinating things about the potential of the firstborn. His ability is called “excellency.” But his great abilities are neutralised by verse 4 — instability and incest. Reuben seduced Bilhah, one of his father’s mistresses. Verse 4 also gives the failure of the tribe. We have from Reuben, Dathan and Abiram, revolutionists, evil mean. There is no contribution to the tribe of Israel ever from the tribe of Reuben. Reuben’s punishment, “shou shalt not excel.” No leader, no great person ever came out of the tribe of Reuben. He lost the privileges of the firstborn — rulership to Judah, priesthood to Levi, double portion to Joseph.

Applications from verse 4:

a) Instability neutralises human ability and divine operating assets. An unstable person can never grow up

b) Instability leads to losing the spiritual focus. Unstable believers inevitably become reversionists and go out through the sin unto death.

Human ability is no guarantee for success. Human ability plus instability is a sure way to failure in the Christian way of life. Reuben had excellencies; he did not excel. Reuben had ability but was never able; he had potentiality but he was never powerful.

In verses 5-7 we have the two very close brothers, Simeon and Levi. They were cruel, instruments of cruelty. They were plotters — their secrets of verse 6. They worked each other up, verses 6,7. They were full of their own self-importance, devoid of mercy and grace. Because of their wickedness Jacob would have no fellowship with them, he repudiated them. They “digged down a wall” is incorrect, “they hamstrung cattle” is the correct translation. As a result of their failure Simeon did not receive at any time a portion of the land. The people of Simeon were scattered and they became the weakest tribe — Numbers 26:14. Simeon received only a couple of cities in Judah — Joshua 19:1-9. Levi likewise was scattered in the land, but Levi recovered. The dying words of Jacob turned Levi into a supergrace believer over a period of time. He recovered from reversionism, cursing was turned to blessing. Therefore, God did a very interesting thing. He took one of the cruellest men who ever lived and turned his family into a priestly line. And two interesting things happened. They were the great spiritual giants teaching the Word throughout every generation and they had better voices than anyone in Israel — Numbers 18:20,21. So Levi is pictured in recovery. The principles with these two sons: Cursing is turned into blessing by means of grace — doctrine in the soul, the importance of rebound, the importance of reversion recovery, as in the case of Levi. Simeon and Levi were deprived of their inheritance but not of their salvation.

Verses 8-12 — Judah. In verse 10 the sceptre means rulership and Shiloh means Messiah, the second advent is mentioned in Shiloh coming. The prosperity of the Millennium is given in verses 11,12. Judah is the first reference to the second advent in this context and at this point the prophecy moves in that area.

Verse 13 — Zebulun, meaning dwelling or habitation. He was the 10th son of Jacob, the sixth or the last by Leah. He is placed here in the sequence of his relationship to the Lord. After the reference to the tribe of Judah from which the Lord sprang, Hebrews 7:14 says, we have next the tribe which harboured the Lord, and that is the tribe of Zebulun. The character of Zebulun is given in Judges 5:18; 1 Chronicles 12:33, and there is a great deal said here — “a haven for ships.”

Verses 14, 15 — Issachar. He was the ninth son of Jacob, the fifth of Leah. He would rather submit to the yoke of slavery or bondage in order to keep his prosperity rather than risk losing possessions in the struggle for liberty, and that is the whole story of these two verses. Peace and prosperity at any price is Issachar. He is called a strong ass. An ass was an honourable animal at the time of Genesis 49. The ass is said to be crouching down. In other words, he is an honourable person but because he loved prosperity better than freedom and because loved his own personal gain more than patriotism he would never do anything about it, he would never buck the tiger. He would never rock the boat, he was always afraid he might lose something. The failure of Issachar is given in verse 15.

Bilhah’s sons are found in verses 16,17,18, 21. Dan is the first one. Dan never has a ruler, even though the word Dan means judge or ruler. “Dan shall rule his people” refers to the Tribulation. The Antichrist or the dictator of Israel in its time of great apostasy in the Tribulation is from the tribe of Dan. Dan always brought up the rear — Numbers 10:25. Dan was the first tribe to go into idolatry — Judges 18:30 — but the last to receive their inheritance in the land — Joshua 19:47. In the list of tribes in 1 Chronicles 27:16-22 Dan is mentioned last. In the list of Revelation chapter 7 Dan is not mentioned at all. Dan was always a tribe related to reversionism. Dan is omitted from the genealogies of 1 Chronicles 2-10, i.e. Dan is not mentioned by name. Dan is said to be in verse 17 a serpent, that is the Antichrist or the false prophet. The horse is Israel in the Tribulation, the rider is the Jewish remnant of the Tribulation. Dan is the serpent that bites the horse and tries to destroy the rider.

The cry of the Jewish remnant is given in verse 18. Naphtali in verse 21 means “my wrestling”. He was the sixth son of Jacob and the second by Bilhah. He is called a hind let loose. The hind is a deer mentioned for swiftness. Let loose means to get free from a trap. We have an interesting fulfilment of this in Revelation 7:6 when 12,000 Jewish evangelists are from the tribe of Naphtali and these at the point of the Rapture were in the trap of being spiritually dead. They are saved and they go on to do a tremendous job of evangelising.

Verses 19-20, Zilpah’s sons. Gad is the seventh son of Zilpah, Leah’s maid, and his name means fortune, good fortune, or prosperity. From Gad we learn that believers though sometimes defeated can bounce back and win, and he was a man who started out as a loser and ended up as a winner.

Asher means prosperity and he is the other tribe that is the great economic support to the nation. Asher is the whole concept of free enterprise.

Rachel’s sons. Joseph. Benjamin is the youngest and last — verse 27, the son of the right hand. He is called a wolf, and that does not mean that he is necessarily treacherous. Benjamin became the great source for the military greats in Israel. The word wolf here means the ability to work in conjunction with others, to form a combat team, and to be very courageous as a combat team.

All of these verses together tell us the great story of the dying words of Jacob.

Salvation is the point where you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. At that point you entered into the plan of God, a plan which is described by one word, grace. In one moment you received from God, without merit or ability or any human qualification, 36 things which put you in the plan of God forever. And not only in the plan of God but in the royal family of God forever. You have a very special new birth. The new birth of all of the Old Testament saints was a very simple one, they simply were regenerated by God the Holy Spirit. But yours is much more complex for not only are you regenerated by the ministry of the Spirit but at the same time the Holy Spirit enters you into union with Christ — the baptism of the Spirit. By being entered into union with Him you in a moment of time become royal family. You live in the palace forever, you occupy the holy of holies which was unoccupied during Old Testament times. In fact, the representation of heaven, the holy of holies, was forbidden for entrance by human beings except the high priest once a year on the day of atonement. Therefore you have something very special. You should have an understanding that you have a glorious future and that God only keeps you alive on this earth in order that you might have phenomenal blessing in time. Therefore we have the privilege of living grace. Living grace is everything that God has provided to keep you alive on this earth.

Our objective is to reach the high ground. That means that we follow the colours to the high ground which is merely the constant, consistent, persistent intake of doctrine. The most stabilised thing that you can ever do is to take in doctrine every day regardless of any other factor. Once we reach the high ground of supergrace, which is synonymous with maturity, there is a paragraph. This paragraph, SG², is a special blessing paragraph and it was designed for us in eternity past. This particular paragraph has special blessings for us. They may be categorically similar to others but they were designed for us and we are the only ones who can claim it. If you do not claim your paragraph SG² no one else will be able to claim it for you, it is for you and for no one else. It is made up of spiritual special blessings — occupation with the person of Christ, the concept of inner residency of doctrine meeting every exigency of life, sharing the happiness of God, being able to handle any situation in life, being spiritually self-sustaining. All of this is a part of the special blessing in the spiritual realm. The second area is temporal blessing — promotion, success, prosperity, social prosperity, sexual prosperity, technical prosperity, materialistic prosperity, economic prosperity. In addition to that we have leadership dynamics. There are many wonderful categories in which your specifics of temporal blessing are located. Then thirdly, we have dying blessing which is dying grace. This is the final category, paragraph SG² or your supergrace blessings for time. This is the means by which you make the PCS, the permanent change of station, from time to eternity. Then, after going over the golden bridge of dying grace, you are transferred into eternity, and there you have paragraph SG³, the special blessings for eternity.

Hebrews 11:22 — there is no mention of the greatness of his life, how he saved Egypt, his family, how time after time he was maligned and was the object of jealousy, how he was persecuted and sent to prison. All this verse does is mention his bones.

“by faith” is the instrumental singular of pistij, referring to doctrine. This is the instrumental of means and it should be translated “By means of doctrine resident in the soul.”

“Joseph” — he was born in 1910 BC. He was the eldest son of Jacob and Rachel but he is one of the younger sons in the family. The Hebrew name means to enlarge, to increase. It means prosperity. It comes from the Hebrew verb Jasaph means to enlarge, to multiply; and multiplication was the story of his life. Joseph is the qal active participle as well as the hiphil imperfect of that verb and it really should be translated “Cause to enlarge, cause to multiply, or even to prosper.”

Being his father’s favourite aggravated the jealousy of his ten brothers. He was one of the youngest in the family. Benjamin was the youngest. He was sold into slavery and eventually became the overseer of Potiphar’s estates. He was falsely accused of rape and wound up in prison from which he was brought forth and given supergrace promotion and prosperity. He held the Prime Minister’s office in Egypt and he caused Egypt to survive the great depression. Pharaoh was so impressed with this man that he changed his name to Zaphenath-paneah, which means “saviour of the world.” To Pharaoh the world was Egypt and it simply was a title which means he saved his country.

God the Holy Spirit permitted this to be recorded in Genesis for a reason. It is very rare that history has the meeting of such interesting principles: one supergrace believer saves a nation, saves his own family, and saves a great empire. It is not often that God promotes a supergrace believer to the point where he can save the nation but that is exactly what Joseph did. Joseph’s supergrace promotion occurred around 1883 BC at the age of 30. He seized and held the high ground for the next 83 years, dying in 1800 BC at age 110, and it is his dying that God the Holy Spirit has seen fit to emphasise in this particular passage. The Holy Spirit passes over a great life, passes over the use of great power, his wisdom, everything that he did to save the nation, and comes down to the point of his dying and mentions only his bones. The interesting thing about all this is what the Holy Spirit emphasises. God the Holy Spirit is impressed about the way this man died and what he did when he was dying. Dying is greater than living for the supergrace believer and dying grace is not as good as surpassing grace. So that things only get better starting at dying. What we do in dying demonstrates the dynamics of our life. Dying is a portfolio of your life. If you have nobility and greatness in life you will have nobility and greatness in dying. Dying is merely a quick summary of your life. Those who go out under the sin unto death, under terrible discipline and great pain, simply die in a reflection of their life. Death is a mirror that merely reflects what has occurred in the life time. For those who have spent their life accumulating doctrine and reaching the high ground of the supergrace life, seizing and holding, have a glorious death. But for the believer who is reversionistic, who is carnal, who neglects Bible doctrine, he has a horrible death. Dying is the real secret to everything because God has seen fit to make dying a reflection of living.

“when he died” — the present active participle of the verb teleutaw which means to come to an end. It is almost always used in the New Testament for dying, so this translation is good except for one thing. The present tense is a descriptive present for the process of dying. Here we have dying grace, the transfer from time to eternity by means of PCS. The active voice: Joseph produces the action of the verb. The participle is a temporal one and therefore it should be translated “while he was in the process of dying.”

“made mention” — this is the aorist active indicative of mnhmoneuw which means to remember, not to make mention. It also means to recall to mind. While he was in the process of dying he recalled something to mind that was very important. The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety, it takes the occurrence of recalling to mind a point of doctrine, thinking about the doctrine, commenting about the doctrine. So it is the whole process by which the doctrine suddenly came into focus. This doctrine had been stored, hadn’t been used for a long time. All of a sudden now, as he is dying, it is the most important doctrine that he could recall. The active voice: during the process of dying Joseph produced the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative for a historical reality. So while he was in the process of dying he recalled to mind.

“of the departing” is not quite correct. We have the preposition peri plus the genitive of e)codoj — “about the Exodus”; “of the children of Israel.” This refers to the patriarchs as they become a nation from a family over 400 years. Supergrace Joseph knew the doctrinal content of the Abrahamic covenant as well as the future of the nation Israel. The Abrahamic covenant had been well developed by this time. From it had come the Palestinian covenant. In addition to that we have Genesis 49, the great prophecy of how the tribes of Israel became the nation Israel. From this patriarchal system came a great nation and the future of that great nation. So the Abrahamic covenant is well sketched in by the time Joseph was dying, and in his supergrace status he remembers the dying words of his father Jacob — Genesis 49. He puts it together with the eschatology that he has received down through his training, the eschatology of the Abrahamic covenant. Cf. Genesis 35:12. Joseph is now going out under dying grace, his mind is very clear and he realises the importance of these things. He realises that the reiterations of the Abrahamic covenant were a part of the resident doctrine in the soul of his grandfather, his father, and himself. Therefore he must perpetuate the family concept, in dying he must remind the family that they are in the process of becoming a great nation. Therefore the dying statement of Joseph anticipates the fulfilment of the Abrahamic covenant as well as the necessity for the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt.

Another doctrine of the soul is also added here. He recognises another principle, the principle of resurrection. We have the adjunctive use of kai, meaning “also.”

“gave commandment” — here is a dying man knowing what he is doing. This is the aorist middle indicative of the verb e)ntelw which means to give specific orders, to give commands in a strong voice, to shout and to speak in a staccato way so that people jump. This is the culminative aorist in which the command is viewed in its entirety but emphasises the existing result. In other words, it only took him a couple of minutes to give the orders about his bones. That is the constative part. But the culminative aorist is the result. That is, he will not be buried.

“concerning his bones” — the preposition peri plus the genitive of o)steon. With it is the genitive singular of a)utoj, the intensive pronoun meaning his bones and no one else’s.

Translation: “By means of doctrine resident in the soul Joseph, when he was in the process of dying, recalled to mind about the Exodus of the sons of Israel; and gave orders concerning his bones.”

The reason he gave orders concerning his bones is this. Here is a man who refused to be buried in Egypt. He knew that he was refusing one of the greatest funerals they ever had in Egypt but he realised that his body should be in a certain spot because it would be meaningful to the next 400 years of generations. He wasn’t insisting on going home [Canaan] to be buried, he was insisting because for 400 years Jews in slavery would go to that coffin and they would say here are the bones of Joseph who said, “Do not bury me here, bury me in the land.” And they would say that one day they were going to take this coffin and leave Egypt. God has provided it for us, it is a part of His plan, it is a part of His will. They would say to their son, “Son , it may be your generation. If it isn’t your generation just carry on and live a normal life because we are going to become a large people and a nation in slavery. Then we will be born into freedom by the grace of God and it will be so startling and so unusual that no one will ever doubt the origin of the Jewish nation.” There was no Jewish nation when Abraham crossed the Euphrates and entered Canaan, and there was no Jewish nation when the patriarchs lived. Four hundred and thirty years after the death of Joseph a nation would be born out of slavery. The great population of people came into existence in slavery, which means that people can live normal lives under abnormal circumstances if they have Bible doctrine in their souls. The nation was born on the day of the Passover. There was no nation when Joseph died but Joseph in his great application of doctrine saw the nation, he saw the slavery coming up, he saw the problems, and he knew that the people would need encouragement. That coffin was the Bible of the Jewish people for 400 years. Therefore the commandment concerning his bones was more important than anything he did in his lifetime. The unburied coffin of Joseph became a teaching aid for the next four generations of Israel.

The saga of the bones of Joseph

1. The bones of Joseph left Egypt in that great exodus. When Moses assembled the people and they were ready to move out at the beginning of their great trek to Canaan: Exodus 13:19 — “Moses took the bones of Joseph with him; for he [Joseph] had made sons of Israel solemnly sware, saying, God will surely provide for you, and you will carry my bones from here with you.” Moses was the man of doctrine who kept the promise. That unburied coffin moved out with the people and at the front of the column for forty years was a reminder of the dynamics of Bible doctrine in the soul of one person. In fact, their only responsibility was to follow the colours. They followed the coffin. Why was it a coffin to them? Because they were reversionists. But in effect that coffin was their guidon, the national colours. To follow the coffin means to take in doctrine, day in and day out.

2. The bones of Joseph were forty years in the desert with Israel, carried by reversionists. They followed the coffin overtly but they did not follow the coffin spiritually. They didn’t follow it in the sense of taking in doctrine today, tomorrow, the next day. They had the greatest Bible teacher but they didn’t listen to his teaching and they revolted against his wonderful leadership, for Moses was a humble man under God with the most dynamic system of leadership the world has ever seen.

3. The bones of Joseph crossed the Jordan with the next generation under Joshua. The coffin was carried dry shod across the Jordan river, held up by the grace of God.

4. The bones of Joseph were finally buried 470 years after he made his speech — Joshua 24:32. Again, we have the principle of resurrection. Joseph in resurrection wanted to stand by his grandfather and his father. And in the resurrection which will occur at the second advent there will be a resurrection of regenerate Jews. There will be four generations of believers on the earth — Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph — who claimed paragraph SG², who made the transition from time to eternity by dying grace, and who claimed paragraph SG³.

Summary

1. There are two areas of doctrine which are emphasised by Joseph in his dying moments. The first is national eschatology, the future of Israel under the Abrahamic and Palestinian covenants. Secondly, the personal eschatology: the future of Joseph in resurrection body claiming paragraph SG³.

2. Joseph, therefore, is a classic example of a believer who seized and held the high ground, enjoyed paragraph SG², had something better in the PCS of dying grace, and had something better than the best in his surpassing grace paragraph of eternity.

3. Joseph’s supergrace blessings included promotion to Prime Minister of Egypt, social and sexual prosperity with his right woman, great leadership dynamics, one of the finest and smartest policy-makers to ever control a nation. Economic and materialistic prosperity came to Egypt through his policies. The inheritance of the double portion of Israel is a part of SG³, sharing the happiness of God, His occupation with Christ, his lack of bitterness and reaction toward his brothers and others who maligned him.

4. Joseph made the transfer from time to eternity by means of dying grace. He not only had a great death but he had one of the most dynamic deaths in history. Very few deaths influence history for four hundred years after that death. His did.

5. Not only did Joseph anticipate his own resurrection but he is included in the salute and embrace principle of the aorist middle participle of a)sfazomai which we studied in verse 13.

6. In other words, Joseph has in the future a glorious SG³ paragraph — surpassing grace, blessings and rewards forever and ever. These blessings will glorify God for all eternity. What more can you say about anyone in that he glorified God in time, he glorified God even more in dying, and he glorifies God to the maximum forever and ever.

Verse 23 — “By faith”, the instrumental singular of pistij. Pistij is used three ways in the Bible. It is used for that which causes trust and faith, therefore faithfulness, reliability. It also is faith in the active sense and therefore is translated “faith, trust, or confidence.” But here it is that which is believed or the body of doctrine and it refers to Bible doctrine resident in your soul, Bible doctrine that you have transferred from the Word of God into your own soul. Therefore we translate it “by means of doctrine resident in the soul.”

“Moses” — Moses is not the subject of this verse, he is the subject of the next verse. Moses was born at a very unusual and very difficult time. His parents merit attention because both of them had maximum doctrine in the soul and were supergrace types. They were great people all the way around. Amram means “high people.” Jochebed [Jokebedh in the Hebrew] means “Whose glory is the Lord.”

“By means of doctrine resident in the souls of his parents, when Moses was born” — the aorist passive participle of gennaw. This is a constative aorist and it gathers up into one entirety however long it took Moses to be born. The participle is a temporal participle, translated “when.”

There was crisis in the land. The Pharaoh who was ruling at the time, a man by the name of Thutmose the first, decided that the Jews were a vigorous race and that slavery wasn’t hurting them at all, that they lived normal lives under circumstances of slavery and that they were truly a tough people. He began to notice that these people were too tough to handle and he saw that the second generation would have trouble. Therefore he put out an edict. No male child was to be permitted to live. These parents now faced this edict at the moment that Moses was born.

“he was hidden” — the third person singular, aorist passive indicative of kruptw. The parents would not kill him, they refused to go along with the edict of the Pharaoh. He was hidden instead. The constative aorist means that they hid him for three months.

“of his parents” is wrong — u(po plus the ablative plural of pathr. U(po is a preposition of discipline; pathr in the plural means “parents.” It should be translated “by means of his parents.”

“because they saw” — the aorist active indicative of the verb o(raw which means they had a panoramic view. They saw something in this boy.

“a proper child” — the word “proper” is a)steioj, and adjective which does not mean proper or beautiful, or even well-formed. It is an adjective taken from the noun a)stu and it means “city.” So a)steioj means “pertaining to a city.” They saw something pertaining to a city.

Then we have with this the noun, the direct object, paidon, which means “infant.” They saw an infant pertaining to the city. In other words, it wasn’t the child they saw, it was the principle they saw. What they are looking at is someone who is a principle. By all means they should wipe him out, they should kill him, but they know that that is wrong all the way around and they refuse to do it on the basis of Bible doctrine in the soul. They are both supergrace believers but they see something else. They have heard the famous eschatological message of Isaac when he was dying, the famous eschatological message of Jacob when he was dying, and the famous eschatological message of Joseph when he was dying — Joseph’s bones. They remembered the bones of Joseph. By putting together the messages of their own forebears were able to realise a principle: this boy was going to be the means under God’s leadership of hauling those people out of slavery and starting a nation. Remember, Abraham is the father of the Jewish race but Moses is the father of the Jewish nation. They saw — not a “proper” child — someone who was going to be so great that he would have the greatest paragraph SG² anyone ever had and he would also have paragraph SG³ after he made that famous PCS — he went up into the mountain and was never seen again. Moses is going to have his city and, in fact, Moses will be one of the most highly decorated people in heaven. So he is a pertaining-to-a-city infant. In other words, here was a person who was going to carry on the whole thing and because of this they absolutely refused to kill him.

In three months time in looking at that child and thinking about that child, while the child is in hiding, another decision must finally be made. The decision: As long as this child had a destiny under God’s planning of grace, put the child in the Lord’s hands. There is a place for training and there is a place for not training. The parents had doctrine and they knew that that doctrine was going to be perpetuated and they had eschatological doctrine. This was the man who was going to be the leader to bare a nation. They saw this in him and that is why they saw him and an infant pertaining to a city, and that is why they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. The principle: rear them as a principle as well as someone you love.

“Infant pertaining to a city”

1. There is a city in the context of Hebrews 11. It is the specific city mentioned in 11:10 and 11:16.

2. This city is related to the surpassing grace blessing principle for Old Testament saints. In other words. it is related to paragraph SG³.

3. This city, therefore, mentioned here in the adjective, mentioned in the noun poluj in verses 10 and 16, is a sign of a general but not specific description of the entire paragraph SG³. The city is literal and real in the future but it is more than a city, it represents a lot of peripheral blessings which cannot be described. Remember that when we are talking about paragraph SG³ God does not give us specifics. For the New Testament believer we have the wreaths or the crowns, for the Old Testament believer we have the cities, but these are ways of describing something in terms of great blessing without giving the details.

4. The details revealed would falsify our motivation in phase two. In order to keep our motivation pure (motivation related to doctrine) we do not know the exact details of our future rewards. The point is that the parents of Moses had so much doctrine in their souls that they were able to identify Moses as God’s man to deliver Israel from slavery. They were able to so that when he was just a baby. This means that they had been spending a lot of time in doctrine and it means they understood Jacob’s great eschatological dissertation in Genesis 49 and Joseph’s famous dissertation about his bones. So they were the supergrace types. There is a principle here: Supergrace believers make the best possible parents.

5. They also discerned that the preservation of Moses — saving his life from the edict of Pharaoh — was a part of their supergrace function, resulting in their surpassing grace reward.

6. The parents of Moses are supergrace believers who demonstrated their status by preserving Moses from the edict of Pharaoh Thutmose the first.

7. For this they will have SG³ blessing and reward in eternity. They have a city.

8. By means of doctrine resident in their souls both Amran and Jochebed, the supergrace parents of Moses, defied the edict of Pharaoh Thutmose the first because they possessed their paragraph SG² and they related to their paragraph SG³.

9. They viewed their son Moses as an infant pertaining to a city. And this isn’t the only place we find this adjective. In the corrected translation of Acts 7:20 we read, “And it was at this time that Moses was born, and he was a child pertaining to a city to the God.”

10. Just as crowns and/or wreaths are the surpassing grace designation for the royal family of God so the city is designated for surpassing grace reward and blessing for the Old testament saints, specifically for the patriarchs.

“and they were not afraid” — the aorist passive indicative of fobew plus the negative. Fobew has two connotations. One of them has to do with the mental attitude sin called “fear” and the other has to do with an aspect of love called “respect or awe.” Remember that awe and respect are just as much a part of love as sex is between right man and right woman. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist which views the action of the verb in its entirety but empahsises the existing results: Bible doctrine in the soul removes fear. So they were minus fear, minus mental attitude sins. The passive voice: we have the plural subject, Amram and Jochebed, and they receive the action of the verb which is “no fear.” They were not afraid. The indicative mood is the declarative indicative viewing the action of the verb from the viewpoint of reality.

“of the king’s commandment” — the accusative direct object singular from diatagma which means an edict. With that we have the ablative of source from the noun basileuj, which means king, ruler or Pharaoh. it should be translated “of the edict from the king.”

Translation: “By means of doctrine resident in the soul, when Moses was born, he was hidden for a period of three months by his parents, because they saw an infant pertaining to a city; and they were not afraid of the edict from the king.”

The doctrine of surpassing grace (Review)

1. Definition:

a) In eternity past, as a part of the divine decrees and as the basis for glorifying God in the angelic conflict two special blessing paragraphs were designed by God the Father for every believer.

b) One special blessing paragraph is temporal — pertaining to time — and one is eternal.

c) Both are related to the believer’s growth and spiritual progress in time.

d) The mature believer is known as the supergrace believer — James 4:6, “greater grace.” Maturity is based on maximum doctrine resident in the soul through the daily function of GAP.

e) The two special blessing paragraphs are as follows: Paragraph SG² (“S” for super, “G” for grace, ^“2” for time). This is a supergrace special blessing paragraph for time only; SG³ (“S” is for surpassing, “G” for grace, ^“3” for eternity).

f) Surpassing grace special blessing and reward for eternity: For the believer who seizes and holds the high ground of supergrace, as per Philippians 3:12-14, there is special blessing and reward forever.

g) This special blessing and reward forever is over and above normal blessings of heaven and eternal life.

h) Surpassing grace, therefore, is the sum total of all the special blessings and rewards belonging to the believer in phase three.

i) The nomenclature is found in the Greek translation of Ephesians 2:7 which says, “That in the approaching ages (the eternal future) he might demonstrate his surpassing grace riches in generosity toward us in Christ Jesus.” The key: “surpassing grace riches” — paragraph SG³.

j) This is the ultimate objective in seizing and holding the high ground of the supergrace life. This is the optimum in glorifying God.

k) Principle: Anything that glorifies God results in maximum blessing to the glorifier — to the believer involved. That is grace!

2. The eternal holy city is used to designate the surpassing grace rewards and blessings for the Old Testament saints, specifically for the patriarchs and the leaders of Israel — like Moses, the parents of Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph.

Hebrews 11:9,10 — “By means of doctrine resident in the soul he lived as a temporary resident with reference to the land, as a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, joint heirs of the same promise: for he himself [Abraham] kept waiting with anticipation for a city [paragraph SG³] having foundations, whose designer and builder is the God.” There is the insertion of “city” as a designation point for unmentionable, unnamed, indescribable future rewards and blessings.

Verse 16 — “But on the other hand as a matter of reality, they themselves desire and strive for something better, that is, heavenly blessing and reward [SG³]: therefore the God is not ashamed of the same ones [supergrace patriarchs] to be designated their God; for he has prepared a city for these same ones.”

Verse 23 — “By means of doctrine resident in the soul, when Moses was born, he was hidden for a period of three months by his parents, because they saw an infant pertaining to a city; and they were not afraid of the edict from the king.”

Acts 7:20 — “And it was at this time that Moses was born, and he was to the God an infant pertaining to the city, and he was sustained three months in his parents home.”

Revelation 21:2 — “And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down of the heaven from God, made ready as a bride dressed for her husband.”

Revelation 21:10 — “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.”

Verse 11 — “Having the glory of God,” the city [e)xw, present active participle, ‘keeps on having’]. That is the close as we are ever going to get to finding out what are the detailed rewards and blessings involved.

Again, note the road to glory. The ultimate in glorifying God is maximum reward in eternity based on maximum doctrine resident in the believer’s soul in time. This maximum resident doctrine is equivalent to spiritual maturity, and again the principle, the mature believer glorifies God in time and in eternity.

3. Crowns or wreaths [stefanoj, not diadhma] are used to designate surpassing grace rewards for the royal family of God, i.e. the Church Age believer. Our generality for surpassing grace blessing is not a city, it is a wreath.

a) At the time of the writing of the New Testament the courageous Roman soldier was the recipient of a variety of spectacular military decorations.

b) These decorations included collars (made out of gold, silver, bronze), necklaces with disks attached (silver gold and bronze for the various decorations), and higher decorations were on arm bands. The highest of all were the wreaths — stefanoj. The translation should be “wreath” rather than a crown. The reason for that is that they wore it on the head as a crown. The wreath is the generality, and what is behind it is unknown to us today. That is why this word is used because it connotes greater rewards than appear on the surface. It also has great peripheral blessings that go with it — such as $100,000 per year! So obviously this becomes the perfect Bible word to describe the unseen, hidden blessings and rewards that belong to the believer who seizes and holds the high ground, crosses the golden bridge of dying grace, and moves into eternity to claim paragraph SG³.

c) Special decorations are also divided. There are certain decorations that belong to officers only in military service. The Romans were the ones who started special decorations. And the same thing is true again. God has provided special awards of another nature for the believer. One of these will be going to the parents of Moses.

d) The Roman historian, Livvy, wrote in the second century BC and he wrote about one centurion. This centurion’s name was Skurius Ligonistus. He had 22 years of service, he was a senior centurion in his legion four times. He had won 34 decorations, six crowns. The description given of this man helps us to understand what is written in the Bible about the New Testament decorations or paragraph SG³.

e) Two of the highest wreaths or crowns were the wreath of grass and the laurel wreath and the oak leaf. All of these are crowns, so there were variations of the highest award. So we have these various types of decoration from the Roman world which explain our system of decorations under surpassing grace. Three such decorations are specified in the Word of God, plus a number of other words that are related to them.

The first of these stefanoj-type awards is the crown of life. Remember that the stefanoj is the highest award the Roman army gave to its military personnel for combat. The stefanoj of life is one of the three categories of rewards that are open to believers in this dispensation. James 1:12 is the wreath or the crown of life, not a crown like a king wears but a wreath like a gallant Roman soldier wore at the time that the New Testament was written — “Blessed is the man who perseveres under testing;” — persevering under testing is the issue here — “for having become approved, he will receive a wreath [stefanoj] of life, which God has promised to them constantly loving Him [occupation with the person of Christ and a part of the supergrace life].”

Principles

1) The believer constantly loving Christ is the supergrace believer, the one who seizes and holds the high ground. Occupation with Christ is synonymous with constantly loving Christ.

2) There are many tests and pressures to drive the believer off the high ground and to defeat him, causing him to enter the various stages of reversionism. Reversionism does not glorify God.

3) However, continued positive volition toward doctrine, persistence in the daily function of GAP, results in seizing and holding the high ground until death transfers us to eternity.

4) By holding and maintaining maturity until death the believer attains paragraph SG³ in the category of the wreath of life, the highest award that God can give a believer in eternity, and the wreaths are only used to categorise rewards for the royal family of God.

5) The exact nature or variations in this award are unknown and we have to fall back on the principle of the Bible must be interpreted in the time in which it was written. A wreath or a stefanoj, the highest decoration one could receive in the Roman army, was equivalent to winning the medal of honour plus $100,000 a year for life. We do not know what is involved in the rewards of eternity. All we know is that the wreath represented a lot of things that were unseen, and that is exactly why God the Holy Spirit selected the word stefanoj to designate our eternal rewards. But whatever it is, it is fantastic. It is better than anything in life.

6) The reason is obvious. Motivation in phase two must always come from Bible doctrine resident in the soul.

7) So fantastic is the implication of the wreath or crown of life that the very mention of its essence would distort motivation in this stage of the angelic conflict.

8) The wreath or crown of life is an eternal reward or decoration, part of paragraph SG³ above and beyond the possession of eternal life and a resurrection body.

9) To hold until death means permanent change of station by way of dying grace, followed by eternal reward. Revelation 2:10 mentions this same wreath.

The second one is the stefanoj or wreath of glory. This is the highest decoration available in eternity for the pastor-teacher. This is a special decoration for faithfulness in communication of doctrine on the part of those who have the gift of pastor-teacher. It is inevitable that the diligent and faithful study of the Word in preparation for teaching will bring the individual pastor-teacher to the high ground. He can’t help but get there by his own diligent study. 1 Peter 5:4; 1 Thessalonians 2:19,20 — “our glory and happiness” refers to the faithful pastor who faces a faithful congregation in the study of the Word of God; Philippians 4:1.

The stefanoj of righteousness is a surpassing grace reward also in eternity. It is a very obvious principle, the word “righteousness” is the key. It actually has the concept of staying on the high ground and the righteousness involved is not your personal righteousness but is the grace righteousness concept — 2 Timothy 4:7,8. The crown is a supergrace reward for all supergrace believers who seize and hold the high ground and utilise the inner resources of doctrine. So it is righteousness based upon divine viewpoint, righteousness of the soul.

4. The key to surpassing grace blessing in eternity is pleasing God in time. This is accomplished by persistent positive volition toward Bible doctrine resulting in supergrace blessing in time, dying grace transition, surpassing grace rewards in eternity.

5. The judgement seat of Christ is the basis of the administration of SG³ to the royal family of God — 2 Corinthians 5:10. The formal presentation of SG³ to the royal family occurs after the Rapture of the Church at the judgement seat of Christ and the entire royal family will be assembled at that time. Those who have lived their lives in reversionism or reached the high ground and failed to hold are called fauloj which is translated “worthless” in 2 Corinthians 5:10, and that is not the correct translation. Fauloj refers to excrement. Good, on the other hand, refers to what is produced from doctrine resident in the soul. The judgement seat of Christ also has a present application. Before you begin to decide that you know how to do it , and that you could do it better and that you are the world’s best critic, remember Romans 14:10-12. This means that ultimately Bible doctrine resident in the soul is designed so that we can live our lives unto God. That is important. If you live your life as unto God it is because you have doctrine in your soul.

Supergrace is the key to blessing in time and the basis for reward in eternity — James 1:25 cf. 2:12,13.

“Mercy [supergrace function] exalts at judgement.” In other words, the person who walks off with an SG³ paragraph in eternity exalts — like winning a very important football game and being enthusiastic about the win.

Verses 24-28 depend upon understanding the historical background. The appliance of isagogics here is very simple. The Bible must be interpreted in the time in which it was written. What is now said about Moses is very brief, it is in summary form from God the Holy Spirit, and it demands isagogical filling. First of all, a summary of what takes place between verses 23 and 24.

1. Israel was 430 years in the land of Egypt — Exodus 12:40,41. The Jews entered the land in BC 1871. Moses was born in BC 1520. The Exodus occurred in BC 1441.

2. The Hyksos dynasty were Semitic invaders of Egypt. They were friendly to Joseph. They were the ones who brought in horses and chariots, they brought in the battle bow so that eventually the Egyptian infantry became archer infantry. Joseph came to power in the Hyksos dynasty.

3. The expulsion of the Hyksos dynasty gave rise to the most famous dynasty of Egyptian rulers, the 18th. The first man to come into importance was Amenhotep I. He was followed by his son-in-law, Thutmose I. “Mose” or Moses is an Egyptian name. The Moses of the Bible does not have a Jewish name. Moses means “Mac” in Egyptian, like MacDuff — son of Duff. The illustration is Thutmose I, which means son of Thoth. Moses means “son of”; Thoth was one of the gods of Egypt. Thutmose I had a legitimate daughter [Hatshepsut] and an illegitimate son. Thutmose II. He wanted his son to get on the throne so he married him off to his daughter, Hatshepsut, but he died very shortly thereafter. But they had a daughter. After Thutmose II died Hatshepsut had an adopted son, Moses. She also had a legitimate daughter but Thutmose II called Neferure who was one of the most beautiful women of her day. She and Moses were very much in love, and Hatshepsut had made Moses the crown prince and was to be the next Pharaoh of Egypt after she died. By the time he was forty they were going to make sure by marriage to Neferure so there would never be any opposition. This was the basis for Moses at age forty making a decision. He walked away from her, and by this time Moses had established himself as the greatest man in Egyptian history.

4. Moses was born during the reign of Thutmose I. He lived as the adopted son of Queen Hatshepsut. He could have been and was to be the next Pharaoh of Egypt. Hatshepsut had picked Moses to be her successor.

Amenhotep I founded the dynasty. (Amenhotep II will be the Pharaoh of the Exodus) He lived 1546 — 1525 BC. Egypt was one of the greatest centres of learning from Amenhotep I to Cleopatra.

Hapchetsit’s regency. Thutmose lasted until 1504 BC, his rule was from 1508-1504 before he was poisoned. Hapchetsit’s regency was from BC 1505-1482 during which she proved that some women are very capable rulers. She brought great prosperity to the empire. One reason was that she picked great administrators. She was holding the regency for Moses. She intended for him to marry her daughter Neferure. During the childhood of Moses she had a famous Prime Minister, an administrative genius.

Thutmose III, 1482-1450 BC, the greatest Pharaoh in Egyptian history. He was 5 feet four inches tall, whereas Moses was very tall. He was brilliant but feisty. Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 2, part 1, page 319:

“Incontestably he was the greatest Pharaoh ever to occupy the throne of Egypt. His vigorous exploitation of the resources of the empire, his very considerable augmentation of national wealth in Egypt, his efficient organisation of the internal administration of the country, his vast program of building, his notable advances of Egyptian art-culture achievement; this we must agree is one of the great insight and many-sided diverse abilities of this talented Napoleonic little man who appears to have excelled not only as a general, a statesman, an administrator, but also as the greatest horseman of his day.” The successor of Thutmose III was his son Amenhotep II by his second wife.

Amenhotep II was the Pharaoh of the Exodus. He was famous for his physical strength, his military ability. He was successful in four great military campaigns against Syria, he established a great frontier in the Sudan. His eldest son died at the Passover and he was succeeded by his younger son, Thutmose IV. This is the Pharaoh who had a famous dream that is recorded on an immense slab of red granite on the Sphinx of Giza. He dreamed while he was a young man that his older brother would die and that he would become the Pharaoh. This dream was fulfilled by the slaying of the firstborn in the tenth plague of Exodus 11 and 12.

Two points of introduction. The first deals with the first year in the life of Moses, the second deals with the 39 silent years in the life of Moses.

We have already seen that in the first year of his life he was hidden by his parents for three months — Hebrews 11:23; Exodus 2:1,2. Then we see how that Moses was put in a basket and drifted off into the Nile — Exodus 2:3-10.

Acts 7:21 summarises this first year of his life by saying, “And after he had been put out to die, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and reared him as her own son.” This verse also gives us, in effect, 39 silent years.

So we have a second point of introduction brought up: the 39 silent years. Moses was roughly one year old when he was delivered back to Hatshepsut, and she adopted him. Very shortly he would be named the crown prince, the next Pharaoh of Egypt.

The 39 silent years

1. These are the years between Hebrews 11:23 and 24. In the Exodus account these are the same years between Exodus 2:10 and 11.

2. One verse, and one verse only, describes those 39 silent years: Acts 7:22. Acts 7:21 implies the 39 silent years; Acts 7:22 describes them. Literally from the Greek: “And Moses was educated in all of the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a dynamic man in words and in deeds.”

3. Moses was reared in the highest echelon of Egyptian society. He lived in the palace of the regent queen, Hatshepsut, as her adopted son.

4. He was brought up in the palace and was educated in the famous Egyptian colleges and universities.

5. Moses was a genius in many of the fields that he studied.

6. Moses was handsome, very strong, very gregarious. He was an accomplished public speaker and a great military leader. It was Moses who delivered the Egyptian empire from the Ethiopian menace.

7. Moses was also a great architect and contractor. He was loved by what must have been one of the most beautiful women in the world at that time, Neferure, the daughter of Hatshepsut.

8. Hatshepsut herself is a very attractive woman.

9. Moses was a man of great physical strength and athletic accomplishment.

10. By the time he was 40 years old Moses was the greatest man in Egypt, and Egypt was the greatest empire in the world. The genius of Moses overshadowed his palace rival, Thutmose III who himself was a genius and who, when Moses made his decision, would be the greatest king in Egyptian history.

11. Hatshepsut, however, was holding the throne for Moses, and her regency was highly successful.

12. But Moses makes a decision, reported in verses 24-26 of Hebrews chapter 11. He made a decision when he was forty years old, a decision which causes him to reject the throne of Egypt, a decision that was made on maximum doctrine resident in the soul.

13. The decision of Moses to turn down the throne made it possible for Thutmose III to immediately ascend the throne. It was a decision that cost him the love of Neferure who had to marry Thutmose III.

Verse 24 — “By faith” is the instrumental singular of pistij. This is what is believed, the body of doctrine. Here it is used technically for doctrine resident in the soul of Moses. At 40 years of age Moses had reached spiritual maturity. Forty years of age is not described here but is mentioned in both Exodus 2 and Acts 7. Moses had received his first instalment of paragraph SG². It included leadership dynamics, great wealth, promotion, a phenomenal number of areas of success. It included some of the most unusual personality traits and leadership traits of all time. He had prominence, technical and social prosperity.

“Moses” — remember that while the name is not originally Jewish or Hebrew it is originally an Egyptian name.

“when he was come” — the aorist active participle of ginomai means “when he had become.” This is the constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It contemplates the 39 silent years. For one year Moses was with his mother and father being nursed. We have 39 years gathered up into one syntactical entirety. The active voice: Moses produces the action of the verb by becoming great in those 39 silent years. At the same time he advanced spiritually as he advanced to fame in Egypt. The advance was coterminous so that by the time he was forty years of age he was a strong believer as well as the greatest man in Egypt. Note: Everything that is worth having in life is not worth having until you are mature. Maturity is related to capacity for life.

So Moses became great in forty years. At the same time he advanced spiritually to supergrace, and that is why we have the instrumental of means singular of pistij, indicating his supergrace status at age forty when he made one of the greatest decisions anyone ever made. Principle: Great people make great decisions. Greatness is in the soul, and great people make great decisions.

The participle is a temporal participle. It also, because it is an aorist participle, has antecedent action to the main verb. The main verb is the decision refused. But he did not refuse or make the decision until he was a mature person. He knew exactly what he was doing. Mature believers know what they are doing. Ignorance is no excuse for the mature believer.

“to years” — there is no word for years here in the Greek. We have a predicate adjective, megaj, which means “great” or “prominent.” So, “By means of doctrine resident in the soul Moses, having become great.”

Acts 7:22-23 is a part of the speech of Stephen that God the Holy Spirit recorded and we learn many things from Stephen that we did not otherwise know from the Old Testament.

Verse 22 — “And Moses was educated in all of the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a dynamic man in words and in deeds.”

Verse 23 — “But when he was approaching the age of forty” — Hebrews 11:24 said “when he had become great”; Acts 7:23 says he approached forty. Notice these are parallels. He was approaching forty and he had become great. Hebrews talks about his greatness; Acts 7 talks about his age — “it entered into his right lobe to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel.” He was fully cognisant of his origin.

Hebrews 11:24 — “By means of doctrine resident in the soul Moses, having become great.” At forty years of age Moses had become the greatest man in the Egyptian empire. He became the great celebrity in one of the most advanced of all cultures at that time. He was a product of the world’s greatest educational system for hundreds of years which was located in Egypt.

Remember that the action of the aorist participle, ginomai, plus the adjective megaj, precede the action of the main verb. The main verb is a)rneomai and at this point we are ready to study one of the greatest decisions anyone ever made in history. And it was a great man who made a great decision. It was a supergrace hero making a supergrace decision. Supergrace people can make supergrace decisions. Moses made a decision to renounce the throne of Egypt and in doing so to renounce the most beautiful woman in Egypt, and in effect to renounce Egypt. In making this decision Moses who was the greatest patriot in Egypt now becomes the greatest enemy of Egypt. And he decided to visit his brethren. His brethren were in slavery. And when he makes his decision to renounce the throne of Egypt it is a twofold decision, he identifies himself with his own people, the Jews. Until his death he remained the enemy of Egypt and he was responsible for killing more Egyptians, was responsible for more Egyptians dying, was responsible for the only defeats the Egyptians ever took in the 18th dynasty, was responsible for turning Israel once and for all against Egypt for he spoke with disdain of the garlics and the cucumbers of Egypt, and many other things pertaining to Egypt. A man made a decision that turned him from the greatest patriot of his adopted country to the greatest enemy of his adopted country. He became, in effect, the greatest of all Jewish patriots and the father of the Jewish nation.

This man for forty years was never appreciated by the Jews. He could not pass a test with his contemporaries. They despised him. They were jealous, bitter, vindictive, and of all of the people who came out of Egypt there was only one person who truly admired him and loved him, and eventually he married her. She was an Ethiopian princess. But everyone was against him and he never missed a beat, except once. That is why he never crossed the Jordan.

“refused” — aorist middle indicative of a)rneomai. The word means to refuse, to renounce, to deny, to repudiate, but with the infinitive it narrows it down to refusal or repudiation. The aorist tense is dramatic. The middle voice: this is a defective verb and therefore it is active in meaning though middle in form. Moses produces the action of the verb, he refused or repudiated. “Refused” is a better translation with the infinitive. The indicative mood portrays the main verb of the antecedent action of the participle. So we have, “By means of doctrine resident in the soul, when Moses had become great he refused.”

“to be called” is wrong. This is the present passive infinitive of legw, and legw here means to be proclaimed. He refused to be proclaimed. The present tense is the historical present in which a past event is viewed with the vividness of a present occurrence. The passive voice: Moses receives the action of the verb through his own decision. In effect, he repudiated the throne of Egypt, he rejected the daughter of Hatshepsut whom at that time he dearly loved, and he became the greatest enemy that Egypt ever had. The infinitive is an infinitive of intended result in which a deliberate objective in fulfilled, and this combines both purpose and result in the verb.

The word “son” is the nominative singular of u(ioj, adult son, and it means a title here. With “Pharaoh’s daughter” it means the crown prince, the heir apparent to the Egyptian throne. Moses was being groomed by Hatshepsut to be the next Pharaoh of Egypt and this explains the hatred and antagonism of Thutmose III, not only toward Moses but even more toward Hatshepsut.

“Pharaoh’s daughter” — the possessive genitive singular from qugathr, plus the word for Pharaoh which is an indeclinable title.

Translation: “By means of doctrine resident in the soul, when Moses had become great, he refused to be proclaimed heir apparent, the son of the daughter of Pharaoh.”

Verse 25 — “Choosing” is the aorist middle participle of a(irew. It means in the active voice to take or pick. But this is the middle voice which has a different meaning. The middle voice means to choose. It should be translated here, “Having chosen.” It is used here for the decision of Moses.

6 things about the aorist tense here

1. it is a constative aorist and it takes the details of his decision and gathers them into a single syntactical entirety.

2. Moses reached supergrace, and through maximum doctrine resident in his soul he began to see the issue in becoming the crown prince and the heir apparent of Queen Hatshepsut. He was about to become the Pharaoh of Egypt. They are not a nation yet, but he saw his own race in slavery. Moses said, “For 400 years the Egyptians have enslaved my race, and God may use me to release them but not by way of taking the throne of Egypt.” No Pharaoh of Egypt is going to release them apart from the grace principle, therefore he refused the throne.

3. This aorist says that the source of doctrine which Moses possessed in his soul was obviously from his own people in slavery. Doctrine came out of Israel. The source of this doctrine was his own race. Moses has a country and Moses has a race. There is a racial issue with Moses, and it is based upon the fact that he has a nation to which he has been loyal and which God has raised up, and of which he is a part. And here is a man who has to choose between his nation and his God. If he ascends the throne, says this aorist, then he has chosen for his nation and his own personal ambition. But of he identifies himself with his people instead of going up to the throne, and joins them in slavery, which he did, he is doing it God’s way. That is a supergrace decision. An immature person would say, “I will take the office and use it for the glory of God.” The office in the land is to be used to administer and to lead the people under right principles of doctrine, period. You don’t use public office to advance the cause of Christ in the sense of getting people to accept Christ.

4. Over a period of forty years Moses had had a great deal of contact with his own people in slavery, originally through his mother who nursed him.

5. Therefore, being in the Egyptian palace for forty years did not hinder Moses from taking in doctrine, as illustrated by the way the previous verse begins — “By means of doctrine resident in the soul Moses...”

6. The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. Moses maintained continual contact with his own people by means of which he received Bible doctrine in his soul. And the constative aorist which we have before us takes into consideration the fact that he was a supergrace believer with maximum doctrine resident in his soul — the basic characteristic of s supergrace believer. When Moses reached supergrace status he was forty. He faced the issue in this verse. We now come to grips with this issue by the constative aorist.

The middle voice of a(irew

1. Because the middle voice is the only form used in the New Testament for this verb, it becomes what is known as a deponent verb. A deponent verb is middle in form but active in meaning.

2. Therefore the deponent verb says that Moses produced the action of the verb — “having chosen” is our verb here.

3. Moses made the most dynamic decision in all of his life. He made a divine viewpoint decision all the way. He rejected all of the temptations, all of the attractions including that beautiful woman who was waiting to be his bride.

4. The potential of Moses was fantastic. He could have been the greatest ruler in Egyptian history instead of Thutmose III.

5. He was greater than the one with whom he was reared in the palace, Thutmose III.

6. Thutmose III was the greatest ruler in Egyptian history but Moses overshadowed him from the first forty years in every department.

7. Hence, by comparing Moses with Thutmose III we can see the dynamics of an obvious decision whereby Moses would have been the greatest man in Egyptian history.

8. But Moses through Bible doctrine resident in his soul chose something else: something painful, something filled with misery and pressure and tremendous difficulty. Moses had to turn his back on the woman he loved at that time. He had to leave all of the great things he had earned.

9. Moses chose God’s way, and no one ever loses by choosing God’s way. (A man in authority never has friends, he only has principles. To be fair and just to all he must stand on the principles and ignore loved ones or friendship or anything else).

The participle itself is circumstantial. The circumstances include Moses in supergrace using the doctrine resident in his soul to choose God’s way rather than the way of obvious fortune, the way of human celebrityship, the way of human success. Remember also that the circumstantial participle throws in the most beautiful woman that Moses had ever met and the one with whom he had the most rapport in the first forty years of his life.

Next we have the comparative adverb mallon, translated “rather.” The comparative adverb is used for preference, choosing one thing instead of another. Moses didn’t make a decision to choose for one thing, he made a decision to choose one thing instead of another, to choose an obscure thing instead of an obvious thing. The obvious thing was ascending the throne of Egypt; the obscure thing is God’s will for his life and God’s plan for his life. It was obscure at the time he made his choice and the adverb tells us that. He chose God’s will, obscure to him at this moment, over a beautiful woman, over a great throne, over leadership of the greatest empire at that time.

This word comes first in the Greek sentence, and so we translate is that way: “Rather having chosen.”

“to suffer affliction” is the present passive infinitive of sugkakouxeomai which occurs only this one time in the New Testament. The verb covers all that Moses chose and understood that he was choosing. It means to suffer, to be mistreated with someone else. It means to identify yourself with someone who is being abused and to be abused with them. It means to suffer with others who are suffering. We can translate it, “to endure maltreatment with.” The present tense is the present of duration. In other words, a retroactive progressive present, what has begun in the past and continues into the moment of writing. By his association with the Jews in slavery and his persistence in the function of GAP with them, Moses encountered adversity and pressure from the palace.

What Moses really did was to leave the palace. When he turned in his resignation as crown prince and walked out of the palace he went down to the Jews in slavery. He identified himself with them, and the first thing he did was to kill a taskmaster. The second thing he did was to run away. The next thing he did was to come back the next day and find out the Jews had all voted against him — which was the story of his life. God called him to lead the Jews and the Jews voted unanimously to reject him.

The passive voice: Moses received the action of the verb, persecution and maltreatment in Egypt. This is nothing to do yet with the Exodus. The infinitive is an infinitive of actual result.

“with the people of God” is the instrumental singular from noun laoj plus the definite article. Laoj means people, and it refers to a nation about to be born. It is a reference to the Jews in slavery to the Egyptian empire.

“rather than” is both disjunctive and a comparative particle h). The disjunctive is translated “or”, the comparative is translated “than.” We translate it here, “rather than.” So we have: “Rather having chosen to endure maltreatment with the people of God [the Jews in slavery] than ...”

“to enjoy” — incorrect, there is no “enjoy” here. It is the present active infinitive of e)xw. The present tense is an iterative present, and it should be translated here “to keep having.” The iterative present describes what recurs at successive intervals, it is called the present tense of repeated action. The active voice: Moses, the crown prince of Egypt, the heir of Queen Hatshepsut, produces the action of the verb of having forty wonderful years, and this could be perpetuated by becoming the Pharaoh. This is an infinitive of actual result and it should be translated, “to keep having the pleasures,” to perpetuate the pleasures rather than to enjoy.

“the pleasures” — the accusative singular direct object of a)polausij which means enjoyment or pleasure. It is in the singular, not the plural.

“of sin” is the ablative singular of source, a(martia — “from sin”: “to keep on having pleasure from sin.” This is temporary pleasure from sin. The word temporary is the word “for a season,” the adjective proskairoj — “to keep having temporary pleasure from sin.”

Translation: “Rather having chosen to endure maltreatment with the people of the God, than to keep having temporary pleasure from sin.”

Summary

1. The possibilities presented by the literal translation of this verse are most enlightening with regard to the first forty years of the life of Moses.

2. They are the silent years. However, God the Holy Spirit has opened the door to some rather fascinating possibilities because of this verse. The possibilities are brought out by the alternatives to his decision — temporary pleasure from sin.

3. It is obvious that Moses was consistent in the function of GAP because he did reach supergrace and made a supergrace decision.

4. The source of his doctrine has to be the Jews with whom he maintained some sort of association.

5. As Moses became a famous man in such areas as physical beauty, spiritual growth, plus the accomplishments of genius in the field of personality, public speaking, writing and music, etc., there emerges a totally attractive personality. And like everyone else he has an old sin nature.

6. Add to this a young man of great accomplishment — Acts 7:22. This verse is the commentary on the forty silent years.

7. But extra-biblical sources hint at a man whose accomplishments of genius were both phenomenal and diversified. Moses was a genius in national administration, military science, an engineer without parallel. He fascinated the Egyptians.

8. Not only was Moses the most handsome, well-built man of his time but he carried with his physical beauty a tremendous number of talents as an expression of his genius. To such a man the details of life come easily, and this is the point that must be emphasised from this verse. The details of life he possessed.

9. This makes the decision of Moses the greatest decision anyone ever made, greater than appears on the surface.

10. Moses reached the supergrace life with the result that he had maximum doctrine resident in his soul.

11. From these inner resources of doctrine Moses made his decision. Christ was more important to Moses than the temporary pleasures of human celebrityship. Remember that “sin” is in the singular, the pull was from “sin,” his old sin nature, his lust pattern: his approbation of lust, power lust, materialism lust, sex lust, all of them were a part of his old sin nature. The pleasure from sin refers to his old sin nature.

12. Doctrine was more important to Moses than the great pull of the lust pattern of the old sin nature and the dangling before his eyes perpetual details of life.

13. Dangling before Moses was the total attractions of success, pleasure, human celebrityship; a big package for the lust pattern of the old sin nature.

14. The allurement of cosmic prosperity was not as great as the inner residency of Bible doctrine and the accompanying occupation with Christ.

15. Moses turned his back on the greatest system of glamour in the ancient world until the Roman empire. He rejected glamour for glory. He kept going on the road to glory. (All believers face glamour versus glory at some time in their lives, it is one of the tests on the high ground) No one ever passes the test of glamour versus glory without doctrine resident in the soul. Moses pressed on. He had SG² and he would have more of SG². He had dying grace eventually and he had SG³, and he moved down that road.

No decision in history ever brought more glory to God, more honour to our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. No decision ever brought more blessing in time and eternity to one man than to Moses.

The principle by which the parents made one of the great decisions of history in verse 23 to preserve the most unusual man who ever had a sin nature: The situation is the same in every age. There was first of all the beginning of God’s plan — saving grace, Ephesians 2:8,9. Then immediately the believer walks into living grace. Living grace is all it takes for God to keep one believer alive on the earth in the devil’s world in phase two. Living grace is divided into two basic categories. a) All of the mechanics to keep any believer alive — the air you breathe, the food you eat, the shelter you enjoy, the clothes you wear, the transportation by which you get from point A to point B, all that is necessary to keep you alive in order that you might take in doctrine and be a part of the angelic conflict. b) The spiritual provision of living grace. You have been provided a local church [classroom], a textbook {the Word of God], and an authority to communicate the Word to you [gift of pastor-teacher]. This also is a provision of living grace. It is the second provision, linked with the first, whereby you come to Bible class alive and you follow the colours to the high ground of supergrace. Reaching the point of supergrace means that you reach a normal point. Supergrace is synonymous with maturity, and here you have one of several special blessing paragraphs designed for you in eternity past — paragraph SG². SG² is divided again into three categories. The first is the spiritual blessing — occupation with the person of Jesus Christ, sharing the happiness of God, the principle of having resident doctrine for every exigency of life. The second category of paragraph SG² are the temporal blessings which God has provided for you specifically. They vary as far as emphasis in the life of each believer, but they include great wealth, great success, promotion, prosperity, social prosperity, sexual prosperity, materialistic prosperity, economic prosperity, technical prosperity in some field, and leadership dynamics. Generally, the third category is the dying grace category, the means by which the individual believer makes his PCS from phase two to phase three. He takes the high golden bridge and this is better than anything he had in life. Then, when you get to the other side there is paragraph SG³, a series of blessings and rewards above and beyond having a resurrection body, minus the old sin nature, minus human good.

Both SG² and SG³ were designed for you in eternity past. Whether you attain them or not, whether you claim them or not, depends upon your daily and consistent attitude toward Bible doctrine. For those who are negative there is the alternative. Every member of the royal family who is negative toward doctrine is a sucker, a stupid ass. Reason: God keeps him alive under living grace for the purpose of punitive measures. First of all there is warning discipline, then there is intensive discipline, and then there is the low crawl through the thousand yards of ground glass called the sin unto death as a transfer into eternity.

Verse 26 — “Esteeming” is the aorist active participle from the verb e(geomai. E(geomai means to be an expert in a field. It was originally used for evaluation, for being a guide. A guide has to be an expert in the field in which he is guiding. But here it means to conclude — “Having concluded”, and it means concluded on the basis of resident doctrine. The aorist tense is a constative aorist and takes into consideration everything we have studied in the last verse. Two sides of the coin: first of all Moses was to be the ruler of Egypt and the next Pharaoh, and up until the time that he made this decision the greatest patriot in Egypt. But he had to consider his own people, the Jews. And in making a decision to reject the throne it was also a decision to go to the Jews from that time on. Moses for the first forty years of his life was the greatest friend that Egypt ever had and for the last eighty he was the greatest enemy that Egypt ever had. He personally did more to destroy, to kill, to put down, to defeat that great 18th dynasty empire than all of the great armies of the world at that time. Once he became the enemy of the Egyptians the Egyptians never had a greater enemy. So remember that the constative aorist is a two-sided coin. The active voice: Moses through resident doctrine produced the conclusion. The participle is circumstantial.

Verse 25 — “Rather having chosen to endure maltreatment with the people of God than to keep having temporary pleasure from sin.”

1. The possibilities presented by the literal translation of this verse are most enlightening with regard to the first forty years of the life of Moses.

2. These are the 39 silent years of his life. However, God the Holy Spirit has opened the door to some rather fascinating possibilities brought out by the alternative to his decision.

3. It is obvious that Moses was consistent in the function of GAP.

4. The source of his doctrine has to be the Jews with whom he maintained an association while he was growing up in the palace of Thutmose II and Queen Hatshepsut.

5. As Moses became a famous man in areas of physical beauty, spiritual growth, plus accomplishments of genius in the field of personality, public speaking, writing and music, there emerges a totally attractive personality.

6. Add to this a young man of great accomplishments — like Acts 7:22. He was a man of dynamics in words and deeds. This verse in the only commentary on the silent years.

7. But extra biblical sources hint at a man whose accomplishments of genius were both phenomenal as they were diversified.

8. Moses was the total genius, being great in national administration, military science, construction which so fascinated the Egyptians.

9. Not only was Moses the most handsome and well-built man of his time but he carried with his physical beauty a phenomenal number of soul talents by which his genius was expressed.

10. To such a man the details of life came easily. The attraction of the details of life can be understood in their enumeration: success, money, pleasure, social life, sexual life, loved ones, health materialistic things, status symbols, there are some of the things involved.

11. This makes the decision of Moses much greater than appears on the surface.

12. Moses reached the supergrace life with the result that he had maximum resident doctrine in his soul.

13. From these inner resources of doctrine Moses made his decision. Christ was more important to Moses than the temporary pleasures and superficialities of human celebrityship.

14. Doctrine was more important to Moses than the details of life.

15. Dangling before Moses was the total attraction of success, pleasure, and human celebrityship.

16. The allurement of cosmic prosperity was not as great as inner resident doctrine accompanying the occupation with Christ. Doctrine in his soul was greater than any outside factor.

17. Moses turned his back on the greatest glamour the world has ever offered and continued on the road to glory. He chose glory over glamour.

18. Therefore Moses took the grace way. He pressed to attain paragraph SG², dying grace as his PCS, and he has one of the greatest SG³s for all eternity. No decision ever brought more glory to God and more blessing to any member of the human race, and there never was, excluding always our Lord Jesus Christ, a greater person in all of history with the exception of one other Jew whose name was Saul of Tarsus.

That means we have come to his conclusions, and the word “esteeming” which begins verse 26 should be translated “having concluded on the basis of the inner residency of doctrine”. But immediately we have some very serious exegetical problems. By way of approaching the problems, at this point the English translation does not follow the word order of the Greek text. That isn’t necessarily difficult; only occasionally. The departure from the Greek word order is so radical, however, in the English translation as to warrant a revised translation.

This sentence actually begins in the Greek with what is considered to be the key to everything — meizona plouton. Meizona is the accusative neuter plural, the direct object of the comparative from megaj, and it is translated correctly, “greater.” Plouton is the accusative singular with the plural of the comparative and it should be translated “greater riches,” and it begins the verse. Remember that we have an accusative plural in meizona. The comparative is in the plural, the noun plouton is in the singular. “Greater riches” — what is greater than what Moses is contemplating. He is about to marry the most beautiful woman in Egypt, he was about to enter the highest point of Egyptian history as an established genius in many fields. The comparative is the key. What is better than all of this? No one ever faced such a temptation to every kind of greatness, every kind of pleasure, every kind of fun there is in life.

h(ghsamenoj is next, “having concluded”; “than the treasures of Egypt” — the ablative of comparison plural qhsauroj which means not just money but things that people have always valued: diamonds, jewellry, weapons, beautiful people, all kinds of things. “Treasures” includes everything that was within the grasp of Moses. Moses concluded that there are greater riches in doctrine; “of Egypt” — we have a possessive genitive, and Egypt had treasures like no one has ever heard of.

“Having concluded on the basis of resident doctrine in the soul” — this is legitimate in translation, we put first this particular participle — “the discipline from Christ”, the ablative of source; “the riches of Egypt greater than the reproach of Christ” The word “reproach” is the accusative singular of o)neidismoj which means “discipline.” Discipline from Jesus Christ was greater riches than the treasuries of Egypt. That is what the verse is saying.

Next we have the explanatory use of the particle gar, translated “for” or “for you see.”

“he had respect” — imperfect active indicative of a)poblepw. This means more than to have respect, it is the ultimate in discipline. The word is a self-discipline word, not punitive discipline. This means to keep on concentrating. The imperfect tense of duration means a process has gone on in the past up to the time indicated in the context. In other words, linear aktionsart in past time. The active voice: Moses produced the concentration in past time by means of resident doctrine in the soul. This verb gives us a new view of life. Concentration is the secret to capacity for life. A person who can concentrate is a person who never gets bored. Concentration is the secret to everything in life. The indicative mood is declarative for the historical reality of the fact that Moses found a point of concentration that you cannot duplicate. You cannot fake occupation with Christ, it is developed by maximum doctrine in the soul. Optimum application of maximum doctrine in the soul inevitably turns your look upward. You cannot fake it; “for you see he kept on concentrating.”

“unto the recompense of reward” — e)ij plus the accusative of the noun misqapodosia which means reward or payment of wages. Misqoj means wages; a)po, from the source of one who pays; dosia, to give. Here is a reference to the reward of paragraph SG² plus dying grace as a PCS from time to eternity, plus paragraph SG³ forever and ever. So he concentrated on the reward.

Translation: “Having concluded on the basis of doctrine resident in the soul the reproach from Christ [divine discipline] greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for you see he kept on concentrating on the reward.”

He concentrated on the reward because of the source of the reward; not the reward as such but the source. He decides from the perspective of resident doctrine in the soul that even divine discipline is better than everything that the world has to offer, and that kind of scale of values doesn’t come easy.

The characteristics of Moses’ decision

1. It was made when Moses was the greatest man in Egypt. He was in maximum human celebrityship. Moses had already achieved the success that later characterised the reign of the one who grew up in the palace with him and lived under his shadow — Thutmose III. Moses fully understood the approbation of human celebrityship, so that the decision was not a reaction to any failure or disillusionment.

2. It was made when Moses was humanly mature. It was the decision of a mature person. Therefore it was not the decision of callow youth. Moses was a mature man of forty years, says Acts 7:23.

3. Moses was also spiritually mature. That means supergrace, of course. He had maximum doctrine resident in his soul, maximum concentration and objectivity. Moses had reached the high ground of supergrace and he had no impulsive or emotional altar call and he didn’t go out to some camp and throw a faggot on the fire!

4. The decision was made at the lowest ebb of Jewish history. As a people in slavery for four hundred years there was no opportunity for advancement for Moses by identifying himself with the Jewish people. By identifying himself with them he could become a slave but there was no chance for promotion. On the contrary, when Moses tried to do something for the Jews they rejected him — Exodus 2;11-14; Acts 7:23-28.

5. It was made at a time when Moses was aware of having temporary pleasure from sin. Every detail of life, every human form of approbation, every system of human power, every sensual and stimulating experience of life, was available to Moses. He was rejecting more than the throne of Egypt, he was rejecting the greatest system of approbation and pleasure open in the ancient world until the Roman empire. The flesh pots of Egypt were famous for 3000 years. They were an allurement to Abraham, to Moses, to Ptollemy, to Caesar, and others.

6. It was made under maximum use of Bible doctrine resident in the soul. That is how you come to conclude that discipline from Jesus Christ is greater than all the treasures of Egypt.

7. It was made, therefore, in the perspective of the divine viewpoint of life whereby discipline from God is greater than all the riches, all the treasuries of Egypt.

Verse 27 — “By faith he forsook”. This is coming down now to this great decision, a decision whereby Moses lost everything in life related to happiness and blessing and prosperity, whereby he turned his back on everything in order to do what God had for him, and became one of the greatest men in all of human history.

“By means of doctrine resident in the soul he forsook” — the aorist active indicative of kataleipw. Kataleipw deals with a great principle of two sides to a decision. The concept here is to give up or abandon. We have already seen what he is moving toward and we will se it again. But this is the negative side, he gave up everything that was fantastic. To leave behind, to give up, to abandon, is the meaning of kataleipw. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it gathers into one entirety the function of doctrine in the soul of Moses whereby every phase of this decision he was able to handle by resident doctrine in the soul. The constative aorist gathers up into one entirety everything that Moses faced in this decision. This is a further explanation of the decision of Moses made in verse 24. This does not refer to the failure of Moses — Exodus 2:11-15; but the greatness of Moses — Hebrews 11:24.

Principles in this decision

1. There is no contradiction between Hebrews 11:27 and Exodus 2:11-15.

2. Again, the constative aorist gathers into one entirety the function of doctrine in the soul of Moses whereby he gave up Egypt and human celebrityship.

3. This is a further explanation, then, of the great decision of verse 24.

4. The temporary failure of Moses in trying to deliver the Jews by his own strength is not an issue. He recovered from that energy of the flesh problem and it is not covered in Hebrews, it is covered in Exodus 2.

5. So there is no contradiction between Hebrews 11:27 and Exodus 2:11-15. The decision of Hebrews 11:24-27 is the function of supergrace resident in the soul, while the failure of Exodus 2:11-15 is the mechanical failure of wrong execution of a right decision.

6. In other words, Moses’ decision to renounce the throne of Egypt was a great one made through the function of resident doctrine in the soul.

7. But Moses’ instant decision to kill the Egyptian overseer was a part of the wrong function of going to people under the assumption that they would follow his leadership immediately. He was God’s man for the deliverance of Israel; he knew it. He assumed that it could be accomplished instantly.

8. The explanation is given in Acts 7:25 — “And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was giving them deliverance through him: but they did not understand.”

9. In other words, the decision of Moses to renounce the throne of Egypt was a great decision of a supergrace hero. But his decision to go to the enslaved Jews, as their deliverer, was premature and incorrect mechanics of energy of the flesh. It only knocked him off balance temporarily.

10. God would use Moses to deliver the Jews from slavery, but in the next generation. God’s timing is perfect; Moses’ imperfect. Moses was not lined up with God’s timing. It would be forty years more and the resurgence of doctrine among the Jewish slaves before they were ready to be free. You have to be prepared for freedom. Moses’ contemporary generation was not spiritually prepared for deliverance.

11. It would be the children of Moses’ contemporary generation who would be delivered from slavery.

Notice the principles of interpretation in comparison of these passages

1. We have only mentioned in Hebrews Moses renouncing the throne of Egypt, making way for Thutmose III — Hebrews 11:24-27.

2. Moses then went to the people to deliver them — Exodus 2:11-15. The problem is that he was wrong in assuming that the Jews understood that God would use him to deliver them. But they did not understand — Acts 7:25.

The active voice of this verb: Moses produced the action of the verb through doctrine resident in his soul. He produced it as a supergrace believer. The indicative mood is declarative, it represents the verbal idea from the standpoint of reality, from the standpoint of dogmatic historical reality.

Literally then, we have so far: “By means of doctrine resident in the soul he gave up the throne of Egypt.”

“not fearing” — the aorist passive participle of the verb fobew, “not fearing” or “not being afraid.”

The doctrine of fear

1. Fear is a mental attitude and a mental attitude sin — 1 Samuel 17:11,24. Like all mental attitude sins it attacks the soul and anything that attacks the soul is attacking the vital lifeline. The most important part of your life is what goes on in your soul, the real you is the soul. Therefore fear is a part of the makeup of your soul when obviously you do not have the inner residency of Bible doctrine.

2. Fear therefore, is the sign of reversionism — 1 Samuel 18:12, 29; 21:12; 28:20.

3. On the other hand lack of fear is a part of mental attitude dynamics — Hebrews 13:6 as well as 11:27.

4. Legitimate fear is related to the supergrace believer failing — Hebrews 4:1.

5. Love is the absence of fear — 1 John 4:18. Remember that love is basically a mental attitude.

6. Fear is not a part of the divine plan for the believer — Exodus 14:13,14; Joshua 8:1; Deuteronomy 31:8; Isaiah 41:10; 1 Chronicles 28:20; 2 Samuel 1:7.

7. Courage or lack of fear is a sign of supergrace status — Psalm 3:6; 56:3,11; Hebrews 11:27.

8. Fear as used for occupation with Christ is a part of supergrace status. The word “fear” in the original language has another meaning: “occupation with.” There are certain passages where fear is used in that sense — 2 Samuel 23:3; Nehemiah 5:9,15; Ephesians 5:21; Job 28:28; Psalm 19:9; 34:11; Proverbs 1:7; 9:10; 10:27; 15:16; Malachi 3:16; 1 Peter 2:17.

“not being afraid” — the aorist tense is a constative aorist, it gathers into one entirety Moses’ lack of fear from Thutmose III. The aorist tense merely gathers up into one entirety, regardless of the duration, his lack of fear. He was plus maximum doctrine. The passive voice: Moses received the action of the verb which is to be devoid of fear in making his famous decision to give up the throne of Egypt. The participle has antecedent action to the main verb, “he gave up.” So he was not afraid before he made the decision.

“of the wrath” — the accusative singular direct object of qumoj refers to anger, and this is an anger which has built up over forty years. Remember that Moses and Thutmose III were contemporaries living in the palace and constantly in competition, and Thutmose always came out second best.

“of the king” — the genitive singular is a descriptive genitive of basileuj describing Thutmose III. Basileuj refers here to the fact that Thutmose came to the throne immediately. There was undoubtedly a coup de tat immediately, and the fact that there was a coup de tat is well documented in Egyptian history.

“for” — we have the explanatory use of the particle gar. This particle is designed to explain exactly what is meant here.

“he endured” — the aorist active indicative of katerew. The word means to be strong, to be stabilised, but it means really to be strong under pressure. This is a culminative aorist viewing the action of the verb in its entirety but emphasising the results. The active voice: Moses had this motivation and endured as a supergrace believer. The declarative indicative is used for the dogmatic reality of strength in the soul under pressure. Moses not only had all the prosperity and lived it to the maximum but he also was able to handle every adversity of life and handle it to the maximum. “He became strong under pressure” is what the verb says.

“as seeing” — the relative adverb o(j used as a conjunction, and it should be translated “as long as.” The conjunction introduces the characteristic quality of a person in supergrace and at the same time is used as a temporal conjunction, “as long as.” The word “seeing” is the present active participle blepw which means a glance. The customary present is used here for what may be reasonably expected to occur in the life of a supergrace believer when he faces adversity. The active voice: Moses produced the action of the verb. The present tense of blepw means that he kept looking at Christ, he kept being occupied with Christ. We have a temporal participle which is always translated like a temporal clause.

“him who is” is not found in the original.

“invisible” — the direct object in the accusative case a)oratoj, and it means “the invisible one” and refers to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Translation: “By means of doctrine resident in the soul he [Moses] gave up the throne of Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king [Thutmose III]; for you see he became strong under pressure as long as he kept seeing the invisible one.”

We are strong as long as we are occupied with the person of Christ.

The doctrine of occupation with Christ

1. Definition and description.

a) Occupation with Christ is the highest spiritual function of the believer in time.

b) It is the category #1 love of the supergrace believer or the believer in mature status.

c) Since Christ is the manifest person of the Godhead it becomes maximum love for the second person of the Trinity.

d) Therefore, occupation with Christ is the maximum expression of category #1 love toward God. Christ is the representative of the Trinity in our relationship with God. That is because He is our saviour, because He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, because He is in hypostatic union, the God-Man, because He is the royal high priest forever, because He is the true ruler of Israel. Deuteronomy 6:5, a command to Israel in the Old Testament. “You shall love the Lord your God [Jesus Christ] with all of your heart [the right lobe]” — there must be maximum doctrine in the right lobe, doctrine in the frame of reference, doctrine in the memory centre, doctrine in the vocabulary, categorical doctrine, norms and standards based on doctrine, with the result that maximum category #1 love is directed toward the visible member of the Godhead, Jesus Christ who is described here as Jehovah or the Lord — “and with all of your soul” — doctrine must be resident in the soul — “and with all of your power” — the power here is the inner residency of doctrine. Man is incapable of loving God apart from Bible doctrine. It is Bible doctrine that leads to our salvation. The Gospel is doctrine. It is Bible doctrine accumulated in the soul through the daily function of GAP that leads to development of all of the categories of love and the one in focus here, category #1 toward God. Hebrews 12:1,2 says basically the same thing in our description.

2. Occupation with Christ begins at the believers entrance into the supergrace life — Colossians 3:16,17. “And the doctrine from the Christ, let it keep on dwelling in you abundantly to the point of wealth [supergrace], in all wisdom [the application of doctrine] teaching and warning self and others by grace in your hearts, keep singing to the God by psalms of praise by means of spiritual things. And all, whatever things you so in word or in deed, keep doing all things by the person of the Lord Jesus Christ” — occupation with Christ, therefore, becomes the greatest motivator in life — “constantly giving thanks to the God” — the mental attitude of thanksgiving and its occasional verbalisation is in view here — “even the Father through him.” That verse adds up to the fact that the only way to become spiritually self-sustaining is to be on the high ground of supergrace, not only to take in doctrine but to seize and hold, to stay there no matter what comes in life, to have and to enjoy paragraph SG² in all of its categories and to anticipate that salute and embrace, SG³.

3. Occupation with Christ obviously glorifies Christ — Ephesians 3:19-21. “And come to know the surpassing knowledge love of Christ [occupation with Christ], that you might be filled up with all the fullness from the God” — category #1, paragraph SG², the spiritual blessings, the resident doctrine in the soul to handle every situation in life — “Now to the one himself being able far beyond all things to do infinitely more than that which we could ask or be imagining [paragraph SG² — for time], according to the power being itself being effective in us, to him the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus” — “to him” refers to God the Father who planned your personal SG² paragraph in eternity past. The attainment of these things is totally dependent upon doctrine in the soul, not what you are doing for God — “with reference to all generations” — every generation of believers in the royal family of God from the time of Pentecost until the Rapture occurs will have the accomplishment of the tactical victory of the angelic conflict through an issue of Bible doctrine, with all Bible doctrine located in the text of the scripture. The canon of scripture contains all the doctrine in writing. This was never done before the Church Age, the age of the royal family of God.

4. By means of occupation with Christ the function of GAP is possible. Occupation with Christ is accomplished through the function of GAP. The only way to occupation with Christ is through the daily function of GAP. The persistence of perception of doctrine accumulates maximum residency of doctrine in the soul. The basic characteristics of supergrace are related to occupation with Christ and man’s sense of accomplishment by human ability and effort can never be compared with the daily function of GAP producing supergrace status.

Jeremiah 9:23,24 — “Thus saith the Lord, The wise man shall not boast in his wisdom, furthermore, the successful man shall not boast in his success, the rich man shall not boast in his riches” — True supergrace, you have these things from God and you don’t boast in them, you are occupied with the person of Christ — “For the one boasting [the reversionist in the warning stage of reversionism] let him boast in this principle, to be caused to understand [the function of GAP] and prosper” — understanding of doctrine resulting in prosperity — “even to know me [occupation with Christ], I the Lord manufacture grace, judgement [discipline]” — and every believer is either in one category or the other, grace or discipline — “and justice in the earth” — God is fair. Judgement means discipline for the reversionist, justice means the protection of freedom under the laws of establishment — “for in this I take pleasure, decrees the Lord.”

The same concept of GAPing it to supergrace is found elsewhere in the scripture. Ephesians 4:20 — “But you [members of the royal family of God] have not been taught in this manner the Christ.” Or, 3:18,19 — “In order that you might have complete ability [living grace] to comprehend in the company of all saints [the local church], what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and come to know the surpassing knowledge-love of Christ, in order that you might be filled up with all the fullness [supergrace blessing] from the God.”

5. Occupation with Christ eliminates the superficialities of human celebrityship — Philippians 3:7,8. Gaining Christ means to hold the high ground. Bible doctrine in the soul will give supergrace, and supergrace recognises the celebrityship of Jesus Christ, and you step aside and relax and lose all of your arrogance and have true humility. True humility is a mature believer occupied with the person of Christ, totally relaxed, proving nothing and enjoying everything.

6. Occupation with Christ motivates the pastor-teacher to communicate doctrine so that the royal priesthood reaches its objective — Hebrews 6:10.

7. The mechanics of GAP produce the dynamics of occupation with Christ. James 1:19 — “Know this, my beloved brethren, everyone keep on being swift for the purpose of hearing, slow for the purpose of talking, slow with reference to anger” — Are you slow to gel mad in class? Verse 21: “Wherefore, having removed all pollution” — pollution has to do with soul environment and it has to do with mental attitude sins [rebound] — “and receive and retain in the sphere of meekness [respect for the authority of the communicator — “the impregnated word, which is able to deliver your souls.” The impregnated word is exactly the same as doctrine resident in the soul.

James 2:20 — “But are you willing to learn, O empty of doctrine man, that doctrine apart from production is unemployed.” Verse 21: “Abraham, our father, not from the source of works was he vindicated, having offered up Isaac, his adult son, on the altar? Verse 22: “You see at a glance how that doctrine kept on working together with production, and from the source of production the doctrine was completed [fully developed]?” Verse 23: “And the scripture was fulfilled which said, Abraham believed the God [Jesus Christ], and it was credited to his account for righteousness; and [from saving grace to supergrace] he was designated [filoj qeou] lover of God [occupation with Christ].”

8. We have an illustration of occupation with Christ. The illustration of occupation with Christ is found of right man-right woman — Ephesians 5:25-33.

9. Occupation with Christ is related to the strategic victory of the angelic conflict — Colossians 3:1,2. “If, therefore, you have been raised in the Christ [positional sanctification], keep on desiring to possess and endeavouring to obtain the above things [SG², dying grace, SG³], where the Christ is sitting on the right hand side of the God. Keep thinking objectively about above things, not things on the earth.”

10. Therefore characteristics of occupation with Christ:

a) Occupation with Christ is the basis for the supergrace believer contributing to national blessing — Deuteronomy 30:15, 16, 20.

b) Occupation with Christ produces combat courage and victory in battle — Joshua 23:10,11.

c) Occupation with Christ is the basis for preservation in testing — Psalm 31:23,24.

d) Occupation with Christ is the basis for stability and great happiness — Psalm 16:8,9.

e) Occupation with Christ results in supergrace blessing — Psalm 37:4,5.

f) Occupation with Christ is the basis for strength, dynamics, power under pressure — Hebrews 11:27.

g) Occupation with Christ avoids boredom or soul fatigue — Hebrews 12:3.

Translation of Hebrews 11:27: “By means of doctrine resident in the soul he [Moses] gave up the throne of Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king [Thutmose III]; for you see he became strong under pressure as long as he kept seeing the invisible one.”

Hebrews 11:28 — up until now in this chapter we have had verses starting out with “By faith”. Here we have “Through faith.” We know that “By faith” is the instrumental singular of pistij in its passive meaning: doctrine resident in the soul. Now we have something very different here in verse 28 — “through faith.”

Verse 28 — “Through faith” is the instrumental singular of pistij, used in the sense of what is believed and/or doctrine, the body of faith or doctrine resident in the soul. It should be translated like all of the rest of the verses in this chapter, “By means of doctrine resident in the soul.”

The subject now refers to Moses. Moses kept the Passover and Moses went through the Red Sea. Others, up to two-million, were also involved but Moses is the one especially in view at this point.

“he kept” is the perfect active indicative of the verb poiew. Poiew has a number of meanings, all of which cannot be used. The one that fits the situation here is the verb to execute. It means to do, to make, to produce, but here it means to execute. He executed the Passover, which means he did it. The perfect tense is a dramatic perfect. This is the rhetorical use of the intensive perfect, and that is the one where the action of the verb is completed and the results go on, only the results are intensified. While poiew means to do, to make, to produce, the dramatic perfect changes the meaning here, and it means to establish or to institute or to execute. Moses himself produced the action of the verb although there were others who did likewise. This, however, only refers to the one to whom the Passover was the most significant. And that is the issue here. The Passover was more significant to Moses than to any of the Jews who went out of Egypt. Actually, he led out a great number of reversionists. Moses and very few others were actually in supergrace status, and while they went along for the ride and killed the lamb and sprinkled the tops and the sides of the doors as per instructions — and saw the results, the preservation of the firstborn — nevertheless they failed to understand the full significance of what was going on. The reason they failed to understand is because they lacked Bible doctrine in the soul. No doctrine resident in the soul means failure to understand what God is doing at any time. The active voice: Moses did it, Moses was the leader, Moses was the man with doctrine, Moses was the man who had it.

“the Passover” — the word for “Passover” is an indeclinable noun in the Greek, pasxa. It is taken from the Hebrew pesach, which is the word for the Passover.

So far the translation is: “By means of doctrine resident in the soul he executed the Passover with the result that is became a permanent institution.”

The doctrine of the feasts

1. Definition. The word “feast”, like the Passover, is derived from the Hebrew noun chag. The word is taken from a verb which means to jump for joy, to jump when you are happy, to celebrate. The feast was designated as commemorations and celebrations of God’s grace. A feast, then, is the celebration of the grace of God. They were tests of resident doctrine in the soul, like the Lord’s table or the Eucharist is to us. The commemorated grace blessings derived from doctrine resident in the soul. So we have to call them grace orientation commemoratives.

2. The feasts related to the first advent. There are four of them that were related to the first advent and the first one is the Passover. The Passover occurred on 14 April, 1441 BC. Cf. Exodus 12:1-14; Leviticus 23:5. It portrays the work of Jesus Christ on the cross with special emphasis on redemption. It also portrays one other principle. It portrays freedom from slavery, the beginning of a nation. All nations begin at the point they attain their freedom. Therefore it recognises the principle of freedom in life. But it also recognises something else. The Passover is not the only feast and by virtue of the fact there were other feasts it is a reminder that no one enjoys freedom unless he is in God’s plan of grace. One must have capacity for freedom and this comes from Bible doctrine in the soul. The Passover is the first of the feasts, it has a dual connotation: freedom and the beginning of a nation. It connotes at the same time the beginning of God’s plan. God’s plan begins at the cross. Grace always begins at the point of salvation.

The second of the first advent feasts was the feast of unleavened bread. It occurred immediately following — 15-21 April, a week-long feast. It portrays phase two or living grace. It portrays the concept of everything that God has to do to keep a believer alive in the devil’s world. It means that only God keeps any of us alive. Living grace means that God keeps us alive, we do not earn it or deserve it or work for it. The feast of unleavened bread is described in Leviticus 23:6-18 and in 1 Corinthians 5:8. Jesus Christ is called the Bread of Life and that is not always a salvation title but a title of sustaining us in this life. We are here and we are what we are by the grace of God. That is living grace, it means that we are here and alive because of who and what God is and because of His grace. The Bread of Life means something else. Bread means food, food sustains life. When Christ is called the Bread of Life it means he is the sustainer of our life on this earth, and we are alive by courtesy of our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. Unleavened bread is also a picture of the hypostatic union, Jesus Christ as the God-Man and the one who is qualified to be and became the only saviour.

The next feast is called the firstfruits. The firstfruits always occurred the first Sunday after the Passover and therefore it was in the feast of unleavened bread. Leviticus 23:9-14 portrays it. It is described in its significance in 1 Corinthians 15:20,23. It represents the resurrection. it also, then, becomes a picture of surpassing grace or paragraph SG³, all that the believer will have by way of reward in eternity. The Sunday of the feast of the firstfruits was a reminder of a principle, that only in time can you acquire paragraph SG², dying grace, and paragraph SG³; they cannot be acquired in eternity. They can only be attained by persistent, consistent, never-give-up, stubborn, hard-headed, I’ll-never-change-my-mind, all the way. God gives you one day at a time to take in Bible doctrine. Whatever else you do that day it is that which is foremost and important, and it is that point which is tested every day. Every day creates a free will issue: Will I take in doctrine or will I not? For those who say yes every day to doctrine, they follow the colours to the high ground to their paragraph SG², they are on the road to glory, and they acquire paragraph SG³ forever and ever and ever.

Sunday, by the way, has always been the first day of the week because more important than anything else in life is Bible doctrine. So the firstfruits was a sign of the resurrection, a picture of the possibility of attaining SG³, and therefore it becomes another picture of the glory road.

The fourth feast was the feast of Pentecost, a one-day feast which occurred fifty days after the Passover. It always occurred in the first week of June. Leviticus 23:15-21. It represents a number of things. It represents the beginning of the fifth cycle of discipline or the time of Israel’s dispersion. It represents also the beginning of the Church Age and the calling out of the royal family of God. It also represents the fact that no adversity in life is too great for the believer on the high ground. There is no disaster, no adversity, no trial, no heartache, no problem in life too great for doctrine in your soul. That is the only place where doctrine copes with problems. If doctrine is not in your soul it doesn’t cope. The only doctrine that you can use for disaster is the doctrine resident in your soul. So in the days of blessing, the easy days, you accumulate doctrine for the disaster days. When you do this the disaster days become easy days and golden days just like all of the other days. So this is the concept of Pentecost and these four feasts are related to the first advent of Christ.

3. Next we have the big gap, an elapse of time where there are no feasts. The big gap is the elapse of time between Pentecost and the feast of the Trumpets. That is a six-month elapse of time. Again, it represents the calling out of the royal family, the time of the Church Age. Remember that the Age of Israel was interrupted by the cross, resurrection, ascension and session of Christ. The Church Age is simply an insertion. Then the Age of Israel is continued with the Tribulation. In other words, the doctrine of intercalation, the principle of the big gap or the elapse of six months without a feast.

a) Intercalation means insertion. The Jewish dispensation was interrupted by the strategical victory of Christ, His death, burial, resurrection, ascension and session.

b) A new dispensation was inserted called the Church Age.

c) Intercalation is the intensified stage of the angelic conflict.

d) The Church Age as intercalated is a mystery, not known to the Old Testament writers — Romans 16:25,26; Ephesians 3:1-6; Colossians 1:25,26.

e) Doctrines pertaining to the Church Age are not found in the Old Testament. Where the Church Age information would have occurred in the Old Testament there is a parenthesis.

f) Doctrine pertinent to the Church Age is intercalated by the New Testament epistles.

g) The Old Testament reveals doctrine up through the session of Christ, then skips the Church Age and reveals the Tribulation, second advent and Millennium.

4. The second advent feasts. There are three of them. The first of these is the feast of the Trumpets — Leviticus 23:23-25. This represents the termination of the fifth cycle of discipline to Israel and the regathering of Israel and the establishment of them as a nation. The fact that Israel will be regathered at the end of the Tribulation and at the second advent is taught in Isaiah 5:26-30; 10:19-23; 11:11-16; 14:1-3; 60:4-6; Joel 2:16ff; Zechariah 10:6-12. So the feast of the Trumpets is a regathering type of thing. In other words, it is a time when old friends meet under perfect conditions. Therefore it represents in another beautiful way to the supergrace believer the social prosperity of having true friends and great friends and having something worthwhile for all eternity. The Trumpets is a reminder that we will get together in eternity, even if not on earth.

The next feast is the feast of atonement — Leviticus 23:26-32; Hebrews 9:24-28; Romans 3:23-26. It represents the fulfilment of the unconditional covenants: the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic, and New covenants to Israel. These are given to the born-again Jews of the past dispensation. The eternally saved of Israel will have the land and the covenants forever under Jesus Christ, and this is a reminder of paragraph SG³.

The next feast is the Tabernacles. This is blessing on earth; the atonement is blessing in eternity. The Tabernacles: Leviticus 23:33-43; Zechariah 14:9, 16. It is a picture of the Millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a reminder of what Jesus Christ will produce on the earth — the prefect environment because Satan is bound and demons are removed from the earth, as per Revelation 20; the optimum spirituality which will exist in the concept of Isaiah 65:24 or Joel 2:28,29; or Israel restored as a nation, the fulfilment of the unconditional covenants, the objectivity in administration of justice, the perfect environment, creation is loosened from the power of sin, the animal life loses its ferocity.

5. The feast of Hanukkah, 25 December through 1 January. This is where we got the idea of celebrating Christmas. Christ was not born on 25 December, 25 December was when the temple was cleansed from all of the pig’s blood of Antiochus Epiphanes and the human blood of all the people he sacrificed. Hanukkah is the independent celebration of Israel. It was first celebrated on 25 December 164 BC when the temple was cleansed from the corruption of Antiochus Epiphanes. It meant freedom through military victory. Military victory always is the basis for providing human freedom.

6. The relationship to the agricultural economy of the ancient world. All of these feasts also had an economic connotation.

a) The Passover was held during the time of the latter rains or the barley harvest and was a reminder of the importance of free enterprise.

b) The feast of the firstfruits was held during the wheat harvest and it was a reminder that God has provided through free enterprise, the only basis for sustaining a nation.

c) Pentecost was the time when the early figs were ripened, a reminder to the Jews always that under free enterprise there is opportunity for new business, and that it must be done by following diligent laws of economy in establishment.

d) During the six months between Pentecost and the Trumpets there was the great olive, fig, and date harvest, depicting the principle that even the delicacies of life all come from free enterprise.

e) The Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles were observed during the early rains and the time of sowing, a reminder that as a nation sows against divine institutions they are destroyed, as they sow by the utilisation of the divine institutions they survive and become great. All great nations have been founded on the basis of the laws of divine establishment. These three feasts were related to the sowing time of the agricultural economy of Israel.

f) The feasts were related to the practical everyday living of the Jews, and a principle emerges: Bible doctrine has practical and temporal applications as well as spiritual blessing. Bible doctrine is the producer of common sense.

g) We have the Sabbath month as a feast. This is called Tishri. This was the seventh month, equivalent to the last half of September and the first half of October. The Sabbath month was a special month is all Jewish history. The Jews had a thirty-day month, a twelve-month year. So to compensate for this they had to have a leap year in which they added a month. On leap year they had 13 months in the year. The seventh month or Tishri had seven feasts. The first day of the month they had the feast of the Trumpets and the feast of the New Moon. On the third day of the month they had a special commemoration for the murder of Gedaliah. On the seventh day of the month they had the fast for the golden calf incident. The tenth day of the month was the feast of Atonement. Then on 15-21 of the seventh month the feast of the Tabernacles. On the 22nd day the solemn assembly and prayer for rain, and on the 23rd day they celebrated the dedication of the first temple.

“By means of doctrine resident in the soul he executed the Passover with the result that it became a permanent institution.” It was Moses who under the teaching of God set up the original seven feasts in Israel. Leviticus 23 is the chapter and that chapter was written by Moses himself. All of the original grace commemoratives were set up by Moses. In other words, the whole structure of holidays was set up by Moses at the beginning of the Jewish nation. Other holidays came along, but the structure of holidays is grace, doctrine resident in the soul. The holidays are only meaningful to those who have doctrine resident in the soul. A vacation is based upon capacity for life, capacity for life is based upon maximum doctrine in the soul.

“and the sprinkling” — we have the ascensive use of the conjunction kai, and it should be translated “even”; plus the accusative singular direct object from prosxusij which means “sprinkling” as translated, but it means to have a sprinkler. It means that they took a small reed or a clump of them and dip it in the blood and paint on the sides of the door and the top. So it is a reference to the painting of the blood on the doors of the first Passover.

“of the blood” — the genitive singular of a(ima plus the definite article. This is a descriptive genitive telling what they actually painted on the door.

“lest” — i(na is used here as a conjunction for a final clause, i.e. a final clause that denotes purpose, aim or goal. This is a negative purpose, we have with it a negative, mh, stating the purpose in a negative way, and the negative will be translated with the verb. So we translate it “in order that” or “so that.”

“he that destroyed” — the present active participle of o)loqreuw. It is used here as a substantive adjective. This is what is called the ascriptive use of the participle, the participle is used like an adjective, not as a verb. An ascriptive category is one in which the participle always acts as an adjective, sometimes as a substantive. Here it is used with the article and the idea is that we actually have here an adjective with the substantive understood. It should be “the destroying one” or “the destroying angel.” “The destroyer” is probably good enough. It refers to Exodus 12:23.

“should not touch them” — “should not touch” is the aorist active indicative of qigganw which means to harm, to touch in the sense of destroying. In other words, this tells us the means by which the death angel killed the firstborn in the house of Pharaoh and throughout all of Egypt. It was a matter of just touching them. The aorist tense is a gnomic aorist in which a generally accepted fact or truth is so certain, so axiomatic in its character that it is described by the aorist as though it were actually occurring now. The destroying angel produces the action of the verb, says the active voice. That means where the blood was sprinkled the destroying angel did nothing. This is a prohibitive subjunctive with the negative mh, meaning that no person who had sprinkled blood on the door, no person who had blood of a sacrifice, would be touched by the plague. But it means more than that, it means that those who had doctrine offered the Passover, or they were under the influence of those who had doctrine. It means that Moses told these people to do it and they were preserved. Moses did it because by doing so he set the pace and he also warned them that this would be the means of preservation. And they obeyed him, they accepted his authority. So the first principle is that Moses offered the Passover and it was Moses who set up the system for preservation. The point is very simple. One supergrace believer like Moses preserved all of the firstborn children in the whole Jewish nation. One supergrace person can save thousands and thousands of people. That is all it takes: one supergrace believer. So here again is the principle of preparation. You as a supergrace believer may have the opportunity as Moses did of delivering and protecting thousands of people.

“them” — he offered the Passover, it did not touch “them.” If you study the passage you will find that they offered animals too, but it was Moses who made it possible for them to be delivered in this fashion. The word “them” is the genitive plural of the intensive pronoun a)utoj. A)utoj takes people and sets them apart in a separate category, at least as far as the context is concerned and momentarily. The objective genitive means they received the action of the verb being related to the verbal idea. But the intensive pronoun itself emphasises the identity of those who were preserved. They were preserved because of who and what Moses was. Moses was a supergrace believer with maximum doctrine in the soul, and therefore it should be translated instead of “them”, “the same ones.” So they recognised his authority on this occasion and they responded to it.

Translation: “By means of doctrine resident in the soul he [Moses] executed the Passover with the result that it became a permanent institution, even the sprinkling of the blood, in order that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch the same ones.”

Summary

1. The divine instructions regarding the Passover were carried out by one supergrace believer, Moses.

2. It was maximum doctrine resident in the soul of Moses that resulted in the observation of the first Passover.

3. An entire generation of firstborn were preserved by the blood sprinkled on the tops and the sides of the doors. But it wasn’t the blood that did it, it was obedience to God’s Word that did it, and it was God’s Word in Moses. God uses supergrace believers.

4. That generation of firstborn who were preserved would be the one to cross the Jordan and enter the land.

5. This is a principle of blessing, blessing by association with supergrace.

6. The supergrace believer is not only the hub around which history revolves but he is the protector of all in his periphery. That is, he is the protector of his family, his friends, those associated in his business or social life, and sometimes even a nation as in the case of Moses.

7. Jesus Christ controls history.

8. In His sovereign grace Christ shapes the course of history around the supergrace believers of every generation.

9. Moses was that supergrace hero around which the history of Israel was formed. Moses is Mr Israel.

10. Remember that the Passover was the birth of the nation. It was the means by which they were delivered from slavery. There was no nation while they were in slavery. The nation was born when they came out of slavery and out of Egypt.

11. It was the mean of enriching them with 400 years of back wages. The Jews left Egypt very wealthy.

12. Therefore there was no nation until the Passover. There was no freedom, no privacy, no blessing until the Jewish nation was born on that Passover day.

13. Therefore no nation ever had a greater spiritual heritage.

14. It was the supergrace doctrine in the soul of Moses that caused the Passover to be executed according to divine command. The divine energy came from doctrine in the resident of Moses.

15. The Passover, then, is not only a grace commemoration but it is a part of paragraph SG² for Moses. Moses had leadership dynamics and it took of all of his leadership dynamics to get the Jews to observe that first Passover.

Verse 29 — “By faith” is the instrumental of pistij, the instrumental of means. And, again, pistij is technical here for doctrine resident in the soul. Reducing the Christian life to its simplest common denominator, everything depends upon the intake of Bible doctrine, not what you do but how you listen, what you hear, what you perceive, what through GAP becomes a part of the permanent needs and provisions of your soul. “By means of doctrine resident in the soul.” This is used here for doctrine in the soul of supergrace Moses. The Jews in passing through the Red Sea were blessed by association with this great man.

“they passed through” — the aorist active indicative of diabainw, which means to go up through. It refers to walking, as the scripture says, dry shod through the Red Sea. The aorist tense is a constative aorist which contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. In other words, it takes the Red Sea incident and regardless of how long it took to get two-million people through the Red Sea it covers the whole thing in a single concept. The active voice: the Jews produced the action of the verb and they did so by being associated with one supergrace believer. Two-million people were delivered because of one supergrace believer. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal idea from the standpoint of historical reality.

“the Red Sea” — the accusative direct object of the adjective e)ruqroj which means “red,” plus the accusative singular of the noun qalassa for “sea.”

“as” — the comparative o(j used to clarify the fact that people do not walk through a sea unless something has happened to the sea. It is used to explain the fact that the part through which they walked had been set up for them, separated at the command of God. So we have the phrase, “by dry land” — the preposition dia plus the genitive of chroj, and then the word for “land,” gh.

“which” — the genitive singular of the relative pronoun o(j whose antecedent is dry land.

“assaying to do” — we have a Classical Greek idiom which occurs only here in the New Testament. We actually have two words. The first is the aorist active participle of lambanw which means to receive or to take. With it is the accusative singular of the noun peira which means to test. So lambanw with peira means to receive a test. But we have an aorist participle here and the constative aorist takes the occurrence of the Egyptian pursuit and gathers it up into a single whole. From the time they left Egypt until the time they reached the red Sea the entire Egyptian pursuit is put into one syntactical entirety. The active voice: the Egyptian’s army produced the action. This is a temporal participle and it also has antecedent action to the main verb “were drowned.” So it actually means “when they attempted to pursue.” Literally it means to receive a test but that is not the meaning here at all. The idiom means to attempt to pursue. The Greek had an idiom for it because while they attempted to pursue they never caught up. Therefore you can’t use ordinary Greek words for pursuit, you have to use something that indicates the fact that they only tried to pursue. They were not successful and the only thing they ever caught was trouble and eventual death.

“were drowned” — the aorist passive indicative of katapinw. Kata means “down”; pinw means to “drink.” They drank too much water! It means to gulp down, to swallow down, and here it means to drown. Again, we have a culminative aorist which views the event in its entirety but emphasises the results. They attempted to pursue, that is a constative aorist. The culminative aorist is what they finally caught up with, their own drowning. The passive voice: the Egyptian army received the action of the verb, drowning. The indicative mood is declarative and indicating the main verb.

Translation: “By means of doctrine resident in the soul they passed through the Red Sea as through dry land: which they, the Egyptians, in attempting to pursue were drowned.”

There are three kinds of people involved in this incident: Category supergrace believer, category reversionistic believer, category Egyptian unbeliever. The Egyptian unbelievers died immediately. Reversionistic believers will die over the next forty years. Supergrace believer Moses was the basis, God’s instrument, for the deliverance. They were associated with him in this deliverance, they will keep on being associated with him, but they will not repent in the sense of changing their minds toward doctrine, they will not rebound, they will not get with doctrine. There will emerge a few who will be in supergrace and they are the ones who will be blessed with Moses, and the rest will go down, their bones will be strewn over the desert over a period of some forty years. So we end with the life of Moses here but the lessons that God the Holy Spirit wants us to have in the context of Hebrews eleven actually deal with such things as blessing by association. If you are in reversionism the only way that you will ever get your hands warmed by the fire on a cold night is to somehow be associated with a supergrace believer. Supergrace believers are prepared for anything; reversionists are prepared for nothing. God always uses and blesses the supergrace believer by making him the instrument of delivering even thousands of reversionists.

Verse 30 — we have one verse on a whole generation, the Joshua generation. In verse 31, of all the people in Israel not even Joshua is mentioned. We leave Moses’ generation. In the next generation the greatest person was Rahab the harlot!

“By faith” — the instrumental of pistij used for doctrine resident in the soul.

“the walls of Jericho” — this is the subject, the nominative plural of teixoj, one of the Greek words for walls, and it means big walls, fortification type walls. “Jericho” is an indeclinable noun, I)erixw, and is a transliteration from the Hebrew word Jericho, pronounced Yericho. It actually means “fragrance” in the Hebrew, and in the Semitic language of the original here it means Moon City. It was a hell-raising, wild, lovemaking town, a good time town. It was the most important city in the Jordan valley, according to Numbers 31:12; 34:15; 35:1. It was the gateway to entering the land. It was a large fortified city and it had to be taken before the Jews could enter the land on a tactical basis. Jericho was destroyed around the year BC 1400. Jericho was given to the tribe of Benjamin, Joshua 18:21. The men of Jericho help Nehemiah rebuild the walls, according the Nehemiah 3:2. Several New Testament references to Jericho are interesting: Matthew 20:30; Mark 10:46; Luke 19:1ff. In Joshua 6:26 a curse was pronounced with the destruction of the city, “ … cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and rebuilds the city of Jericho. With the loss of his firstborn he shall lay its foundations, and with the loss of his younger son he will construct the gates.” There was a man who ignored this curse by the name of Hiel. In the days of Ahab Hiel decided to rebuild the city. 1 Kings 16:34 — “In his days did Hiel, the Bethelite, rebuild Jericho; he laid the foundation of it with the loss of Abiram, his firstborn, and at the construction of its gates he lost his youngest son, Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Joshua, the son of Nun.”

“fell down” — the aorist active indicative of piptw. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist in which the action of the verb is considered in its entirety but the existing results are emphasised. Actually it says the walls fell out. The walls of Jericho were an obstacle to the conquest of the land and they had to be overcome by grace. Only the walls around the home of Rahab were actually preserved. The walls are comparable to the pressures, the disasters, the difficulties that believers face today. When you come up against an unsolvable problem you are looking at the walls of Jericho, and then you must learn the lesson that only God can flatten walls like that. The reversionistic believer is impressed by the size of the walls and the impossibility of assault. The supergrace believer is impressed with the Lord who flattens walls. That is what is being said by this verse. The indicative mood is declarative for historical reality.

“after they were compassed about” — the aorist passive participle of kuklow which means to encircle: “having been encircled.” The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It takes seven days of marching around the walls and gathers it up into one entirety. The passive voice: the walls received encirclement. The participle is circumstantial having antecedent action to the main verb, “fall down.”

“seven days” — literally, “for seven days.” We have the preposition e)pi plus the accusative of e(pta for “seven,” h(mera for “days.”

1. For six days the army and the ark of the covenant were marched around Jericho one time.

2. On the seventh day the army and the ark marched around Jericho seven times. Then the priests blew the trumpets and the people shouted and the walls fell flat — Joshua 6:1-21.

3. The army did not attack by scaling and assaulting, the army did not even speak to those on the walls. It simply marched around the city depicting total human helplessness.

4. Helplessness is the basis for the function and operation of divine grace.

5. Furthermore, the marching troops were forbidden to speak — Joshua 6:10. The grace of God demands self-discipline on the part of the believer. The greatest demonstration of self-discipline is the control of your tongue!

6. The believer must avoid doing anything under grace. Restraint from human effort is necessary for operation grace.

7. Legalism is lack of self-discipline, lack of restraint from the energy of the flesh.

8. The order of the march. The were four divisions or groups in the march. The first division was the infantry. The second group was the band — seven priests with seven trumpets. The third was the ark of the covenant carried in the appropriate manner. Then, bringing up the rear, the second infantry division.

9. The order of march is a reminder that the believer in phase two is a part of a disciplined and orderly system (No “fundy” chaos!).

10. Grace does not mean lack of discipline and authority.

11. The seven days of marching around the city is a reminder of the importance of consistency and stability in the plan of grace. The believer must be consistent in his daily walk. Note that walking is considered non-meritorious and compatible with grace.

Translation: “By means of doctrine resident in the souls of supergrace believers the walls of Jericho fell down, having been encircled for seven days.”

Verse 31 — “By faith” is the instrumental singular of the noun pistij, used here for what is believed and/or Bible doctrine.

“the harlot Rahab” — R(aab h( pornh, “Rahab the prostitute.” The definite article in front indicates the fact that she was well-known in her generation. The interesting thing about her is that she went from zero to supergrace very rapidly. Why? She had no religious background, she had no illusions about people, she had no hang-ups. She was a totally objective person before she was saved. Then she heard about the Exodus and going through the Red Sea and this was the basis for her salvation. Since then everything she could learn had caused her to have doctrine resident in her soul so that when the reconnaissance team reached her city she was already a believer with maximum doctrine in her soul. Which goes to prove a point: Even in Jericho you can get Bible doctrine.

Rahab

1. Rahab was a woman of Jericho at the time of the Jewish entrance into the land — BC 1440.

2. She was a Gentile. It is interesting that in the generation following Moses it was a Gentile woman who was the only one mentioned in the roster of supergrace heroes. This was a great woman.

3. Rahab was not only a believer but one who had maximum doctrine resident in her soul. She was a supergrace believer when the reconnaissance team arrived in Jericho, is what this verse says.

4. When the two-man reconnaissance team entered Jericho they were immediately spotted.

5. When Jericho intelligence discovered the spies they sent troops to capture them, but Rahab hid them and lied to the troops.

6. Rahab completely outwitted the king’s troops and saved the lives of the reconnaissance team — Joshua chapter two.

7. The testimony of Rahab to the two men of Israel is recorded in some detail in Joshua 2:9-14.

V.9 — “I know that the Lord has given you the land.” This is a supergrace believer speaking, this is divine viewpoint. Just one woman in Jericho who has divine viewpoint, who knows Bible doctrine, who has doctrine resident in the soul.

V.10 — “For we have heard” — she concentrated on the message of doctrine — “how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you” — she has been exposed to doctrine. There were two things that impressed: what the Lord had done and, a divine institution factor, military victory — “what ye did to the two kings of the Amorites.”

V.11 — people were saved because Jewish military fought so well and killed the enemy. Killing the enemy one day led to the salvation of greatest believer of that generation, Rahab the prostitute — “for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.”

V.12 — “with my family, and give me a pledge of truth.”

V.14 — “our soul instead of yours to die”. That is an idiom which means “our life for yours.”

Matthew 1:5 — “And to Salmon was born Boaz by Rahab; and to Boaz was born Obed by Ruth; and to Obed Jesse.”

V.6 — “And to Jesse was born David, the king.” There are four women in the line of Christ. No Jewish genealogy ever has a woman in it, but here is God’s magnificent grace. The first woman was Tamar, a famous adulteress. The next is Rahab the prostitute. Then Ruth the Moabitess, and Bathsheba. These four women beautifully emphasise the grace of God.

James 2:25-26 — even James, like the writer of Hebrews, recognises that in her generation Rahab was the greatest. She is one of the greatest women of all time.

V.25 — “In the same way was not Rahab, the prostitute, vindicated by production from doctrine resident in her soul, when she entertained the messengers, and sent them out by a different way?”

V.26 — “For just as the body apart from the spark of life is dead, so doctrine apart from production is dead.” Here is another verse which emphasises doctrine resident in the soul of the former prostitute, Rahab.

Psalm 87:3,4:

V.3 — “Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God [Paragraph SG³]. Selah.” Who is going to get a paragraph SG³?

V.4 — “I shall mention Rahab and Babylon among those who know me.” Those who are going to get the city.

“By means of doctrine resident in the soul Rahab the prostitute ...”

“perished not” — the aorist middle indicative from sunapollumi plus the negative o)uk. The word means to perish with. The culminative aorist views the event in its entirety but emphasises the existing results. In other words, the constative concept of the aorist — which is not the one in view here — would be the time when Rahab was saved and under living grace began to take in doctrine until she reached supergrace. After she reached supergrace she had a chance to produce. The doctrine in her soul prepared her to meet her right man. Her right man was on a two-man patrol top perform a reconnaissance to see if there were any weaknesses in the defenses of Jericho. She was ready for him, she had doctrine in her soul. She hid and protected her right man and the other member of the patrol, got them out of there safely, extracted a promise as to her own protection. Here again is association with a supergrace believer. She perished not; they perished not.

The middle voice is the indirect middle, emphasising the agent as producing the action. The indicative mood is declarative of historical reality. She herself did not perish.”

“with them that believed not” — an articular participle, an aorist active participle dative plural of disadvantage from the noun a)peiqw which means to disobey in the sense of refusing the Gospel. So to “believe not” or “disbelieve” is all right. The ascriptive use of this participle denotes a substantive as belonging to a specific class — unbelievers. Hence, this is called a substantive adjective in which the participle is not accompanied by a noun and therefore functions as its own noun combined with the ascriptive or adjective sense. Therefore, “she herself did not perish with the unbelievers” — the citizens of Jericho, Joshua 6:25.

“when she had received” — the aorist active participle of the verb dexomai which means to welcome as guests, to protect. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it gathers up into one entirety the preservation of the two-man reconnaissance team. The active voice: Rahab produced the action of the verb through doctrine resident in her soul. The participle is both temporal and has antecedent action to the main verb.

“spies” — the accusative plural direct object of kataskopoj which means reconnaissance scouts.

“with peace” — the prepositional phrase meta plus the genitive of e)irhnh. It means peace in the sense of harmony. Rahab was more in harmony with Israel than her own people. This is what doctrine did for her.

Translation: “By means of doctrine resident in the soul Rahab the prostitute herself did not perish with the unbelievers, having welcomed the reconnaissance team with peace.”

Verse 32 — the first word “and” is simply a continuative use of the conjunction kai. Following this, “what shall I say more?” The word for “more” is the adverb e)ti which means further or additional information to what has already been given. This adverb is to indicate that sufficient information has been given and that summary is now in order. The present active subjunctive of legw, translated “I can say,” merely supports the fact that from here on in this chapter no longer will the details be given. Up through Rahab everything is more or less detailed when you consider the amount of space devoted to the subject. From this point on it is going to be simply a matter of summary. We have literary and oratorical idiom in this phrase e)ti plus legw — “and what more can I say?” The writer to the Hebrews indicates the impossibility to continue delineating in any great detail supergrace heroes and their relationship to SG² and SG³.

The summary begins with a conjunctive particle gar — “for”; “the time” — the nominative singular plus the definite article o( xronoj, is used for time as a succession of events, hence to continuation of the historical dissertation of supergrace heroes from the Old Testament. But now because of the idiom it is going to be in summary form.

“would fail” — the future active indicative of e)pileipw means to be insufficient, meaning that the subject matter of this great epistle must be rounded up very quickly. The best translation for the idiom is “for the time will leave me behind.” This is an idiom for lack of time; “me” is the accusative singular direct object of the pronoun e)gw, and we would simply translate that “for time would leave me behind recounting.” The word to “tell” is the present middle participle of diegeomai, and it means to recount in some detail — “for time would leave me behind in recounting detail” or “time would fail me if I go on telling you these things.” Diegeomai has a retroactive progressive present that indicates what has been going on up to this time in the chapter. From verse four to this time we have had a relatively strong detailed account of supergrace heroes. The middle voice is an indirect middle emphasising the agent as producing the action rather than participating in its result. We have a temporal participle which should be translated “while.”

“And what more can I say? for time would fail me while I go on recounting or telling.” And now he mentions a few that he would be discussing in detail were there time. The first of these is Gideon. “Gideon” is the object of the preposition peri, as also the others, Barak and Samson. We have peri plus the genitive, and then we have the proper names of certain judges and early kings and prophets. These are all mentioned as the object of this preposition. The preposition means “concerning” or “about.” Gideon is first, and the men who are selected are quite fascinating because they do not come from prominent tribes, they all come from low-class and useless areas. Therefore they emerged out of very handicapped backgrounds. Immediately this sets aside the old psychological adage that you cannot rise above your environment or that your environment explains all of the weirdo activities of your life. In effect, this passage says that environment is never a factor where a believer has Bible doctrine resident in the soul.

Look, for example, at Gideon. Gideon came from one of the worst tribes, the tribe that has the worst of all military records, the tribe of Manasseh. Furthermore, he was in that part of the tribe that never crossed the Jordan but lived in Gilead on the east bank. The Midianites and the Amalakites had taken over the land and Gideon was hiding out in the typical fashion of his tribe. He was down in a dugout and he had a little wheat but he hadn’t had time in running away to separate it from the chaff. So in the morning he was down in his dugout throwing the wheat up in the air. While he was tossing this up and down the Lord Jesus Christ was standing by leaning on a tree and said, “Hello hero”! From there on we have a dialogue which was the beginning of greatness for Gideon. Judges 6:12. He lived from BC 1250-1190 and did deliver the people.

The next person who is the object of the preposition is Barak. Barak means lightning flash, and he was slow, cowardly, and a “momma’s boy.” Barak was one of those areas where the Lord’s sense of humour and His grace meet and a hero emerges. He was also from one of the weaker tribes. He was also suppose to go out and deliver the Jews from the Canaanites under a very very famous soldier of fortune called Sisera. He lived between 1195 and 1155 BC so he was in the generation after Gideon. Then from the tribe of Dan who should emerge but Samson, and he was famous around 1085 BC. He was in the process of delivering the Jews from the Philistines but got involved in too many other things!

These three judges actually have the same grace pattern. They all came from inferior tribes. Mannaseh for Gideon, Naphtali for Barak, and Dan for Samson. These are all inferior tribes when it comes to defense of country, when it comes to military types. This does not imply that they did not have a few people who fought but they were not famous for joining up and fighting for their country. So God raised up occasionally a great one from these three inferior tribes. They lived in a time of reversionism and national crisis, and this is always a time when God in grace raises up the weak, the helpless, the useless, to demonstrate that He is in charge. They were grace oriented through Bible doctrine resident in the soul though they were handicapped from the human viewpoint. They became supergrace believers and delivered their country. Each defeated a superior power.

The next one is Jephthah who follows the exact same pattern. He was born a bastard son on the east bank of the Jordan. Possibly he was from Manasseh. He was ridiculed out of town, moved to Syria, and became very angry and resentful at the ridicule. He entered into the military and became a great soldier. Gradually he collected a band of mercenaries — non-Jewish. Then the Jews were invaded by the Amonites and as soon as they were they were looking around for help since they had let their own military disintegrate. They found that the only army that could help them was commanded by the mercenary they had ridiculed, Jephthah. So they had to go on their hands and knees and crawl to the one they had ridiculed. By this time also Jephthah had lost his bitterness because he had become a believer and had found Bible doctrine. As a supergrace believer he had the greatest military capabilities of his day and therefore he went into action to deliver Israel. While he was in the process he came up to a critical battle he made a vow concerning his daughter. He vowed to keep her single for the rest of her life, thus ending the possibility of perpetuating his family. He ruled from 1105-1099 BC.

The thing that is so impressive about these four men were not considered much and yet these are the kind of people that God’s grace picks up and moves into prominence in history. Again, the principle: Jesus Christ controls history. And Jesus Christ can pick up the one who defies all of the arrogance and pride of the human race — to talent, no wisdom, no background, no training, no human attractiveness — and shoving them forward in history and, as it were, thumbing His nose at the entire human and angelic races. This is grace.

The next phrase is not correctly translated — “David also.” We have David and then te kai, and then Samuel. It is translated “both David and Samuel.” Samuel is the last of the judges, David is a great supergrace king who has to be mentioned. Next to Moses when it comes to ruling David is the greatest king of all time and he is a supergrace hero in every sense of the word.

“and the prophets” — we now have the adjunctive use of kai and it should be translated “also the prophets.” That takes all the rest of the people in the Old Testament.

Translation: “And what more can I say? for time would fail me while I go on telling about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah; both David and Samuel, also the prophets.”

The prophets

1. The prophets refer to believers of the Old Testament who under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit communicated to the Jews the will of God, the plan of God, the future of Israel, in both written and verbal form.

2. Excluded from the text in this verse are prophets who existed before David, such as Moses and Samuel. But they are mentioned by name, therefore not included in this category at the end called prophets.

3. However, this category of prophets includes Elijah and Elisha — verbal communicators. Then both verbal and written: to the northern kingdom, Amos and Hosea; to the southern kingdom, Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah.

4. The word “prophets” also includes, in exile, Daniel and Ezekiel.

5. The word “prophets” also includes the post-exilic prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

In verses 33-40, the last part of this chapter, we have the exploits of Old Testament supergrace heroes, not a roster. We depart from the roster to exploits with emphasis not on the blessings but on how they met pressures, how they could face crisis after crisis, adversity, tragedy, trial, heartache, frustration; how they handled these things and became great in adversity. In verses 33-38 we have the actual exploits and in verses 39 and 40 we have the completion of the supergrace dissertation.

Verses 33 and 34 have a very simple construction. We have nine separate clauses designed to present the importance of Bible doctrine in the soul in time of adversity and in historical crisis. These nine clauses have maximum rhetorical force. In other words, each clause is a study in itself. In the syntactical structure there are no conjunctions or anything else linking each clause. We have the conjunctions omitted; these clauses are not connected. Each clause draws a spiritual conclusion in principle form.

Verse 33 — the first clause begins with the nominative plural relative pronoun o(j. The plural refers to all the great believers of the Old Testament. The antecedent to this clause is the list of supergrace heroes mentioned in the previous verses, and especially verse 32, but also it refers to other supergrace heroes who have not been mentioned or implied up to now.

“Through faith” is dia plus the genitive of pistij — “Through doctrine resident in the soul.” Dia plus the genitive connotes agency.

“subdued” — the aorist middle indicative of katagwnizomai which means to defeat. It means to defeat by crushing into the ground. The aorist tense is a constative aorist which contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety, and it takes all of the great military victories of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah and David, and gathers them all into a single whole. In effect, it says that over a period of 500 years of Jewish history all of their freedom came through military victory. The middle voice is the indirect middle stressing the agents as producing the action with reflexive force, so we have to translate “who themselves by means of doctrine resident in the soul conquered kingdoms.” The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality.

“kingdoms” is the accusative plural direct object of basileia referring to kingdoms and their military forces and indicating that they were always the aggressors.

Principle

1. Doctrine resident in the soul is the secret to military victory.

2. Doctrine resident in the soul provides courage to be aggressive in victory. Remember, victory is never won by the defense. You eventually have to attack. All of these men were aggressive and they always attacked a larger force with a smaller force. And there is the principle: the aggressor inevitably wins even when he has a smaller force. But you have to be tough and well-trained to be aggressive.

3. There never was and never will be victory apart from taking the offensive.

4. The emphasis in this clause is on military history as it pertains to national sovereignty. All nations maintained their sovereignty and their freedom by military victory. It is a historical principle.

5. Therefore in the cases in our passage Bible doctrine resident in the soul was the basis of winning battles and wars.

6. Bible doctrine resident in the soul is the key to military victory, freedom, and the maintenance of national sovereignty.

The second clause: “wrought righteousness” — “wrought” is the aorist middle indicative of e)rgazomai. It is used in the transitive sense to do, to accomplish, to carry out, accomplished. The aorist tense is a constative again, it gathers into one entirety the grace righteousness produced by supergrace believers from the inner resources of doctrine in the soul. Man is constantly producing what is in his soul whether it is from the old sin nature, mentality, emotion, or conscience of the soul. We produce what is in our souls just as we think on the basis of the vocabulary we possess in our souls. You can’t use someone else’s vocabulary to think, you have to use your own. You think on the basis of the resident vocabulary in your right lobe or heart. So here is grace righteousness produced from Bible doctrine in the soul gathered up into one syntactical entirety. The middle voice has the same reflexive concept of the indirect middle. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal idea from the viewpoint of absolute reality. These people in supergrace by means of doctrine resident in the soul actually produced a righteousness.

“righteousness” is the accusative singular direct object of the noun dikaiosunh. Like all of the derivatives from the original noun, dikh, it has numerous meanings that are related. it is used here in the moral sense of uprightness as a characteristic required by God; righteousness, therefore, in the sense of fulfilling divine requirements and statutes; righteousness in the sense of inner motivation from Bible doctrine, honourable conviction, a righteousness which finds its strength in doctrine as well as its source, a righteousness in the sense of doing what God wills, therefore a righteousness based upon the balance of residency in the soul. This is an experiential righteousness which we categorise in our day as phase two sanctification. Principle: Doctrine resident in the soul is the basis for accomplishing divine righteousness.

“Who themselves by means of doctrine resident in the soul conquered kingdoms, accomplished righteousness.”

Third clause: “obtained” — the aorist active indicative from e)pitugxanw which means to obtain or attain.

The aorist tense here

1. The aorist tense is constative, gathering into one entirety the special blessing paragraphs designed for each supergrace believer mentioned in context.

2. In eternity past as a part of the divine decrees and the basis for glorifying God in the angelic conflict two special blessing paragraphs were designed by God the Father — designed for every believer.

3. Paragraph SG² — special blessing for the supergrace believer in time.

4. The first category of that paragraph is a spiritual category — occupation with Christ, sharing God’s happiness [+H], maximum doctrine resident in the soul to meet all exigencies of life.

5. The second category of SG² — temporal, which includes success, wealth, promotion, prosperity.

6. Third category of SG² is dying. The basis for dying grace for believers who seize and hold the high ground of spiritual maturity.

7. Second special blessing paragraph is SG³ — surpassing grace, special reward, and blessing for all eternity.

8. For the believer in supergrace who seizes and holds the high ground [SG²] something better exists for him in dying, and something better than the best in SG³, reward and blessing in eternity.

The active voice: the supergrace believer who holds the high ground of spiritual maturity produces the action of the verb. He moves to glory on the basis of SG², dying grace, and SG³. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality. This is the mood of unqualified assertion and therefore it is a guarantee for the reality of the fact that God has for each believer special blessings. Whether you get them or not depends upon your attitude toward Bible doctrine.

The word “promises” is a genitive plural from the noun e)paggelia. It is used for divine promises or pleasures, it is a reference to paragraph SG² and SG³ with PCS dying grace included. The absence of the definite article calls attention to the supreme quality of SG² and SG³. This is an objective genitive in which the noun in the genitive case receives the action of the verb. This does not refer to messianic promises. Principle: Maximum doctrine resident in the soul is the basis for obtaining paragraph SG² and SG³.

“Who themselves by means of doctrine resident in the soul conquered kingdoms, accomplished righteousness, obtained promises.”

Remember that verses 33 and 34 have nine separate clauses designed to present the importance of Bible doctrine resident in the soul of the believer. These two verses have very strong rhetorical force called asyndeton. The syntactical structure of asyndeton is the omission of conjunctions to connect the clauses. It is very unusual to have clauses unconnected. We have nine of them here and each one presents a principle related to the residency of Bible doctrine.

The fourth clause: “stopped” — aorist active indicative of the verb frassw which means to stop, to shut, to close or to block. Here it means to shut rather than to stop. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist employed when it is wished to view an event in its entirety but to regard it from the viewpoint of existing results. The result of maximum doctrine resident in the soul was that Daniel stopped the mouths of lions. Daniel 6:21-22. The active voice: Daniel produced the action of the verb. It is obvious that Daniel is now listed officially as one of the supergrace heroes. The indicative mood is declarative for historical reality. Daniel was a supergrace hero and he is mentioned by this most famous of his deeds.

“mouths” is the accusative plural of stoma indicating the fact that the mouth of the lion is dangerous to human beings.

Summary

1. The ebb and flow of empires radically changes history. When you have one empire going down, as the Chaldeans were, and another empire coming to the front, as with the Medes and the Persians, this means radical changes in history. But radical changes in history do not change the objective for the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Daniel wrote in a time when empires were going and coming and history was in a state of radical flux. Even though this was true the objective for Daniel’s life remained the same. God’s plan for the believer continues in spite of radical changes in history.

2. God promotes supergrace believers like Daniel. This is a clear-cut case of promotion. Even though the entire personnel of ruling the empire changed it made no difference to the status of Daniel. As a matter of fact Daniel came out of obscurity to become number one administer behind Cyrus the Great and his father-in-law Darius Cyaxeres II. Maximum doctrine in the soul prepared Daniel for the leadership dynamics and the promotion which came to him out of the lions’ den. Daniel’s supergrace blessings, therefore, include promotion, technical prosperity and leadership dynamics.

3. Supergrace prosperity causes reaction from others. How did Daniel get in the lions’ den? Reaction. There was a personality conflict between 300 princes and Daniel. In other words, supergrace prosperity causes others to react. The reaction in Daniel’s case was jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability. However, the supergrace believer is not petty and does not stoop to retaliation. Daniel simply left everything in the Lord’s hands and the Lord vindicated him — called “all things working together for good.”

4. For the supergrace believer all things work together for good. The jealous princes tried to destroy Daniel with phony decrees, but God used this to destroy them. The principle: Jesus Christ controls history.

5. Darius Cyaxeres II was trapped by his own approbation lust in signing a phony decree and making it a part of the laws of the Medes and the Persians. When people get carried away with too much power the valve stem that reveals this is arrogance. This was the means of producing his own misery. So, mental attitude sins produce self-induced misery.

6. Legislation under divine institution #4 — national government, must be designed to protect the freedom and the privacy of the citizens in that constituency. They must have opportunity to succeed within the framework of their abilities, their energy and their drive, and all of this is based upon freedom.

Once you insert something phony, something incongruous, into national legislation as Cyaxeres did immediately you have a problem.

a) Legislation cannot solve social problems. Only God’s grace can do that. Legislation under God is not designed to solve social problems. One phony law ruins the power of legislation.

b) When legislation is distorted into socialistic and liberal panaceas it creates greater problems and destroys the freedom of its constituents under the evil guise of the greatest good for the greatest number.

c) Legislation of the government who sponsors it becomes evil and immoral when it forces people to make decisions regarding religion, business, retirement, employment, travel, living quarters, and marriage.

d) Legislation should be designed to protect the innocent and punish the guilty, but never coerce the individual into legitimate fields of human activity. What are the legitimate fields of human activity? If I have a company I have the right to hire and fire anyone. The government should not be able to come in and force the hiring of a certain percentage of minority groups.

e) By virtue of the principle of freedom the government does not have the right to tell me that I cannot believe in Jesus Christ, nor does it have the right to keep me from teaching the Word of God.

f) The government does not have the right to tell me whom I can hire or fire.

g) The government does not have the right to pick my friends and associates and force me into a social situation with people that I have no desire to have fellowship with.

h) These are matters of personal choice and freedom. Legislation must be designed to protect my freedom.

7. The supergrace believer with doctrine resident in his soul was happy in the lion’s den, while the unbeliever who put him there, who failed in the administration of his government, was miserable in the palace.

8. Every believer must face his own den of lions, and sooner or later you have your own den of lions. Daniel was being forced into something that was contrary to the Word of God and sooner or later you are going to face the same issue. How you face your den of lions depends on the amount of doctrine resident in your soul, and whether you are in supergrace or in reversion.

Maximum doctrine resident in the soul meets every exigency of life. Doctrine is the only preparation for testing and for crisis, and doctrine resident in the soul gives you the ability to never compromise the grace of God.

Verse 34 — the fifth clause: “Quenched” is the aorist active indicative from sbenumni and it means to extinguish or to put out. Here it means to neutralise. The fire was not extinguished, it was merely neutralised or robbed of its power. This is the story of Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednigo from Daniel chapter three, and now they are added to the roster of supergrace heroes. The aorist tense is constative, it gathers into one entirety the historical record of the fiery furnace. The active voice: three supergrace believers produced the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative for historical reality; “the violence” — the word “violence” is wrong. This is the accusative singular of the noun dunamij and it means the inherent power; “of fire” — the descriptive genitive singular of the noun pur, and it means fire. So literally it should be translated, “Neutralised the power of fire.”

Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednigo

1. No matter how much power any ruler or leader possesses he cannot control the course of history. Jesus Christ is the one who controls history and neither arrogance nor the abuse of power can change history. All impact of history is based on and related to the principles of Bible doctrine.

2. You cannot build your happiness on someone else’s unhappiness, as in the case of the jealousy, the maligning, and the accusation of Shadrach, Meschach and Abednigo. Malicious, vindictive, and implacable people always are trying to hurt others but they always wind up hurting themselves instead.

3. The believer must live his life as unto the Lord. He cannot be worried or disturbed about the opinions of others. People are going to think the worst of you sooner or later, this is a test in life. But you can’t spend your time running around justifying yourself. The supergrace believer must live by the principles of Colossians 3:16, 17, he lives his life as unto the Lord. That is the way you neutralise the fire.

4. The devil makes it easy for the believer to compromise the Word of God. since human government has no right to interfere with human volition in matters pertaining to God the believer must always take his stand on doctrine resident in the soul. Such doctrine resident in the soul makes Shadrach, Meschach and Abednigo the greatest of patriots, just as doctrine makes you a patriot. But when a government uses its power to destroy your relationship with the Lord, then you must take a stand against that government as evil and immoral.

5. Supergrace believers never dictate to the Lord any course of action — Daniel 3:17-18. Reversionists do. They say he is able to deliver, they do not say He is going to. Doctrine recognises the ability of God without superimposing human volition on the sovereignty of God. They are not seeking to bribe God.

6. Shadrach, Meschach and Abednigo did not know or suggest that God would or should deliver them from the furnace of fire, they simply took their stand on the basis of maximum doctrine resident in their souls. Supergrace believers always recognise the true issue of God’s sovereignty as well as their own human freedom. Whether God delivered them or not they refused to compromise doctrine by worshipping a golden image. The three men took their stand on the basis of doctrine resident in the soul and they did not try to bribe God for deliverance. Principle: Live by doctrine and leave the rest to the Lord. Leave the decisions to God.

7. The pride and arrogance of political rulers leads to the destruction of great and courageous soldiers. Military heroes are destroyed by politicians. The best soldiers in the Chaldean army were burned to death because of the mental attitude sin of a dictator politician, Nebuchadnezzar — Daniel 3:19-22.

8. Politicians repeat their same mistakes in different forms. When Nebuchadnezzar abandoned the attempt to force idolatry on his subjects he did so because God delivered Shadrach, Meschach and Abednigo. He immediately turns around then and tries to force the God of Shadrach, Meschach and Abednigo on all of his subjects. This means he hadn’t learned a thing. The power of government must never be used to coerce its constituents to believe in Jesus Christ.

9. Uncompromising supergrace believers are delivered and promoted. That is the neutralisation of the fire.

Maximum doctrine resident in the soul avoids compromise with Satanic systems such as religion, apostasy, reversionism. Doctrine in the soul is the only protection against compromise, worldly ambition, and pseudo-celebrityship.

The sixth clause: “they escaped” — aorist active indicative of feugw which means to escape. This is a culminative aorist. It is used for escape in combat because you have doctrine resident in the soul. It refers to an adverse tactical situation in which you are surrounded, in which other troops are fleeing, in which the army has fallen apart, and you stand fast and by virtue of your courage you are able to fall back, regroup, and escape death in combat; whereas those who run away are invariably killed. Therefore Bible doctrine gives the courage for the supergrace believer in combat to stand fast and not run away. The active voice of the verb refers to the supergrace believer who is a military type in combat. Because of Bible doctrine resident in the soul mean like David, Caleb, Jehoshaphat were delivered in time of disaster. Take Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 18:31 as an illustration of this. He cried out and Jehovah helped him. In other words, he had a personal relationship with Jehovah, Jesus Christ.

“the edge of the sword” — the accusative plural of the noun stoma which means mouth, and here it means “mouths of the sword.” The sword has many mouths. In other words, it is like a machine gun firing all around you but not hitting you. So the mouth of the sword is used to devour and the mouths of the sword refers to a tight combat situation. Principle number six: Maximum doctrine in the soul preserves the supergrace believer from desperate and hopeless situations in combat.

Next we have “out of weakness” — the preposition a)po plus the ablative of a)sqeneia which means helplessness, total helplessness — “from total helplessness.” In principle this describes every believer who has ever lived in the devil’s world. Every believer inevitably faces circumstances where he is hopeless, helpless, and useless. “were made strong” — the aorist passive indicative of dunamow which is the process of grace. The aorist tense here is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It is a reference to any supergrace believer who is at any time hopeless, helpless, useless. However, he has GAPed it, he is prepared for such a situation, and while he is totally helpless he has maximum doctrine in the soul. In other words, he has followed the colours to the high ground over a period of time and he is ready for this exigency. It takes the occurrence of going from zero to supergrace and then meeting any test that life has to offer. The passive voice: the supergrace hero receives the action of the verb through consistent positive volition, meeting all the problems and distractions of rejecting doctrine and staying with it. The declarative indicative represents the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality and certainty. This is unqualified historical reality.

The same principle is the one that Paul faced under the thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10. The answer that God gave him is the same principle that pertains here to Old Testament supergrace heroes. “My grace [SG², dying grace, and SG³. This is not for the ordinary believer] keeps being sufficient for you.” It is the linear aktionsart that makes it specialised in the field of SG². For my power is fulfilled by means of weakness [e)n plus the instrumental of a)sqeneia] or helplessness. Most gladly therefore I will boast in a)sqeneia in order that the power of the Christ may bivouac in my area.” The power of the Christ bivouacs in the area of the supergrace believer who faces a hopeless, helpless test and does nothing about it. The Lord does the work. “Because of which doctrine resident in the soul I am content in a)sqeneia, in insults, in pressures, in persecutions, in troubles on behalf of Christ; for whenever I am a)sqeneia, then I am strong.”

Isaiah, for example, was a man of this calibre. And this probably refers to Isaiah when in 701 BC the Assyrians invaded and the country was in a desperate situation. However, maximum doctrine resided in the soul of the prophet Isaiah and he came to the front in the Sennacherib invasion. He encouraged the people and God on behalf of one man destroyed one of the greatest armies that ever existed. So Isaiah, just like Noah, turned the course of history at that time. Maximum doctrine resident in the soul converts hopeless situations filled with helpless people into deliverance and great blessing. Both the deliverance and the great blessing glorify God. whenever God is glorified through maximum doctrine resident in the believer’s soul the believer himself becomes the recipient of great blessing.

Verse 34 — The eighth clause: “waxed valiant in fight” — the aorist passive of ginomai means to become something you were not before. The aorist tense is a constative aorist which gathers into one entirety the process of learning doctrine, the constant daily persistent exposure to Bible teaching, the function of GAP so that doctrine becomes resident in the soul. The entirety goes from zero doctrine in the soul to maximum. In other words, whoever does the “waxing” here he is a supergrace believer. The passive voice: supergrace believers receive the action of the verb, namely a by-product of maximum doctrine in the soul: courage and strength in battle. The indicative mood is declarative for historical reality. The word “valiant” is the predicate nominative masculine plural of the noun i)xuroj which means strong, mighty, powerful. It is a reference to battle courage and cool, brilliant decisions of commanders under tactical situations. The words “in fight” is the preposition e)n plus the locative polemoj. Polemoj means battle. So it should be translated, “became courageous [or strong] in battle.” While this clause obviously applies to the battlefield commander as well as to the soldier in ranks it does refer to specific battlefield commanders and those in ranks. It refers to those who through persistence in taking in doctrine reach the supergrace life and demonstrate through courage and tactical decisions the dynamics of doctrine resident in the soul.

The question arises as to whether this applies to the Maccabees, the sons of Matthias, who all fought for Jewish freedom. That question depends upon the extent of Hebrews chapter eleven. It does cover the entire dispensation of Israel, so obviously they must be included. But the principle is that men in time of disaster and men in time of peace have adopted and have accepted the great profession of the military, and as born again believers, those who have received Christ as saviour, they have been preserved alive under the same principle of living grace. Only under living grace there is a slight extension. They have been given food, shelter, and clothing. They have been provided exposure to Bible doctrine, though it is much more difficult for a man in military to take in doctrine because of preparation in his profession. Nevertheless this means that under living grace doctrine was provided for them. In addition to that it also means that they became highly proficient in their profession and they advanced following the colours to the high ground of supergrace. Under their paragraph SG² they received occupation with Christ, they had the inner doctrine to meet the exigencies of life, they shared the happiness of God, they also received promotion, success, prosperity of various types, economic prosperity, the principle of technical prosperity — they learned their profession. In addition to that many of them would have the great privilege of dying grace by staying on that high ground.

The eighth asyndeton leads to the eight principle. There are several lessons to be learned from this asyndeton. a) Maximum doctrine in the soul of the supergrace believer gives him battlefield courage and moral courage to make tactical decisions under the pressure of warfare. b) Supergrace believers have maximum doctrine in the soul and therefore, regardless of their rank, maximum doctrine means maximum courage and the ability to face every disaster in life, and the ability to be isolated from the pleasant parts of society in order to do something great for their country.

The ninth clause begins “turned to flight” — the aorist active indicative of klinw which means to cause to fall back or to put to flight. This is a culminative aorist which views the event in its entirety but regards it from the standpoint of existing results. In other words, when we have men in the military who have GAPed it, GAPed it, GAPed it, all the way to supergrace there is a result in combat. They put to flight the enemy. That is the concept of the culminative aorist. The supergrace believer in military produces the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative for historical reality. It should be translated “put to flight.”

The next word is “armies” — the accusative plural direct object of parembolh. The word actually means a fortified camp, a bivouac, a barracks, a headquarters of an army, or an army in battle array. So it doesn’t mean just an army, it means an army in action. The invading army in this case is the army in action; “of the aliens” — the genitive plural is descriptive; a)llotrioj describes the enemy army. So literally, “put to flight the invading armies of the enemy.”

We have in this verse four references to the military: “escaped from the mouths of the sword”; “from weakness were made strong”; “became courageous in battle”; “put to flight the invading armies of the enemy.”

The doctrine of warfare

1. The concept of warfare as taught in the Word of God.

a) In spite of man’s efforts for peace throughout the ages warfare will exist until the Millennium. Matthew 24:6.

b) The exception to warfare will be the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ, the last dispensation of history. Isaiah 2:4.

c) Man will not accomplish in the dispensation of the Church, nor in the Tribulation to follow, what only Jesus Christ can accomplish in the Millennium. The abolishing of war belongs to Jesus Christ, just as the solving of social problems belongs to Jesus Christ, just as the solving of life’s problems belongs to Jesus Christ.

d) Therefore, the Bible says warfare is a bona fide part of history. Ecclesiastes 3:8; Numbers 21:14.

e) There are some misnomers of warfare. Matthew 26:52 — “All who draw the sword shall perish by the sword.” This means to draw the sword in crime, and they shall perish by the sword or capital punishment.

f) The sword also refers to capital punishment in Romans 13:4 and not to the military.

2. The concept of the military. The fact that we are always going to have wars means that we are going to have the military.

a) Under the laws of divine establishment pertaining to divine institution #4, nationalism, all national freedom comes through military victory.

b) There are two factors involved in the protection of national sovereignty and freedom. The first is the spiritual factor. God protects national entities — Nehemiah 4:8,9. The second is the establishment of a military security system — Nehemiah 4:13-15.

Principles: 1) The failure of the military on the battlefield indicates lack of training, self-discipline, respect for authority, motivation to courage, spiritual incentive to resist and fight; 2) The failure of the military indicates a general lack of character and stability among the citizens of that national entity. The military is an index to the character of the people of a nation. 3) The Jewish failure during the Chaldean invasion by Nebuchanezzar — BC 587 — can be attributed to the spiritual and moral decline of the people. Jeremiah spent a whole book talking about the degeneracy, the reversionism, the apostasy of the Jews in that day. And because of these things the nation was wiped out. 4) God uses the military in action to demonstrate the degeneracy and decline of a nation. 5) Therefore the army becomes the index of national character. Armies defend freedom; armies also destroy freedom — Jeremiah 34:7. The issue of national sovereignty, integrity and freedom always depends on which army wins, the invading army or the army belonging to the nation. In this case the Chaldean army won and the Jews lost their freedom.

3. The military image of Jesus Christ. Throughout Jewish history the military image of Jesus Christ the God of Israel is beautifully portrayed. It began at the Exodus in the Red Sea deliverance — Exodus 14:14, “The Lord will fight for you today.” It was Jesus Christ who personally destroyed the great pursuing Egyptian army. The military image of Jesus Christ continued into the next generation and Joshua had the shock of his life in the generation after Moses. Joshua was making a personal reconnaissance when all of a sudden he encountered a soldier with a drawn sword. It happened to be the Lord Jesus Christ and it was one of those times when the Lord appeared in the form of a man or a theophany. He challenged Joshua. Joshua said he was in command of the armies of Israel, and Jesus Christ said, “No you’re not!” Then the Lord gave His rank, and it was Adonai Tsabaoth. This is mistranslated “Lord of hosts” and it occurs hundreds of times in the Old Testament. It is actually the title of the Lord Jesus Christ as the commanding general of the Jewish troops and it should be translated “the Lord of the armies.” So therefore His title alone gives Him the military image. So the Lord Jesus Christ fought for Israel in their deliverance. Joshua 5:13-6:2. This concept continues all of the way through history to the Armageddon campaign, the last great war in history which begins before but is concluded by the second advent of Christ. This concept, therefore, goes all of the way to the siege of Jerusalem — Zechariah 14:3,4. Jesus Christ holds the record for killing the most enemies of anyone in all of history. The record was established in BC 701 when the great Assyrian army under Sennacherib invaded the land. Isaiah 37:36, 37. The record is 185,000 killed! Jesus Christ will break His own record in killing the enemy at the Armageddon campaign — Revelation 19:11, 15. There is a principle here: War under many circumstances is right.

4. The principle of universal military training.

a) Universal military training demands total national conscription — Numbers 1:2,3.

b) There was one exception to this national draft — Deuteronomy 24:5.

c) The principle of mobilisation is found in Numbers 31:3-5.

d) Each generation must be trained in war under the principle of universal military training — Judges 3:1,2.

e) There must exist in the national entity a professional staff of high-ranking officers whose life is devoted to training, preparing, and planning for warfare — Luke 14:31.

f) True motivation for military training comes from God Himself — 2 Samuel 22:35. This also indicates the importance of physical training as a part of military training. Psalm 18:34; 144:1.

g) Military training, therefore, is useless and neutralised when men of a nation are apostate, reversionistic, full of emotional revolt, blackout, scar-tissue of the soul, full of degeneracy, antiestablishment, addicted to drugs, antagonistic toward authority.

5. Warfare is from God

a) Just warfare is from God — 1 Chronicles 5:19-22.

b) Draft-dodgers, slackers, deserters, discourage the military and are sinful before the Lord — Numbers 32:6, 14, 23.

6. The maintenance of peace by military deterrent. The Bible says that until Christ comes the only way to have peace is for the doves to arm themselves and become hawks. Preparedness acts as a deterrent to aggressive nations.

a) Military victory produces peace — Joshua 11:23.

b) God Himself has ordained the principle of peace through military victory — Psalm 46:7-9.

c) God also has to protect believers and certain nations from the crafty, evil, warlike nations which surround them — Psalm 55:20-23. The Lord Jesus Christ overrules stupidity in high places.

d) God destroys nations and empires — Psalm 68:30; Psalm 120:2,6,7. Just as God spanks the believer who doesn’t mind his own business so God spanks the nation that doesn’t mind its own business.

7. The supergrace believer and warfare. The last two clauses of Hebrews 11:34 dramatically portray the role of the supergrace believer in warfare. The supergrace believer becomes courageous in battle and he puts to flight the invading armies. Maximum doctrine in the soul gives the supergrace believer battle courage and moral courage so that tactical decisions are made and tactical actions are made that mean victory. Supergrace heroes are responsible for the defeat of invading armies. The testimony of supergrace David is given in Psalm 27:3 — “Though an army surrounds me my right lobe will not be afraid; though war rises against me, in spite of this I will keep on having confidence.” The supergrace believer is protected in combat — Job 5:20.

8. The principle of leadership in warfare. Proverbs 20:18 — “War plans are formed by wisdom in planning, and with wisdom make war.” Proverbs 24:1-6.

9. Warfare demands character. It demands moral and battle courage — Deuteronomy 20:1-8

10. Warfare is a means of discipline. God uses warfare not only to preserve the freedom of nations but He also uses warfare as a means of disciplining a nation — Judges 5:8. When the Jews began to go apostate they began to go idolatrous. They entered into reversionistic idolatry — “then war was at the gates.” Cf. 2 Chronicles 6:8,9; Jeremiah 6:22,23.

Verse 35 — “Women.” We have the nominative plural of the Greek noun gunh referring here to supergrace women; “received” is the aorist active indicative of lambanw. The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety, it takes the events enumerated above and gathers them into an entirety. it actually gathers up into an entirety two cases: the widow of Zerephath in the time of Elijah and the Shunamite woman in the time of Elisha. Both of these produce the action. The indicative mood is declarative for historical reality.

“their dead” — the masculine accusative plural of the direct object from nekroj. It is in the plural because in each case it was the only son. With this we have the intensive pronoun a)utoj, used here as a possessive pronoun — “their very own dead” or “their beloved dead” — very strong.

“raised to life” is wrong. We actually have a preposition e)k plus the ablative singular of a)nastasij which is used for both resurrection and resuscitation. Here it is resuscitation. And e)k plus the ablative indicates means, and it should be translated “received their dead by means of resuscitation” rather than the phrase “raised to life.” Raised to life implies a verb and there is no verb here, it is a prepositional phrase.

“Women received their dead by means of resuscitation.” In other words, they have lost something that was beyond hope but they received it back. Now what is being emphasised here? These women were in a hopeless situation and they had enough doctrine resident in their soul to handle it. The principle behind it is that a woman in the most desperate hour of her life is still a responder in her soul and because the pain of losing a loved one is in the soul then she goes to someone for comfort, someone who can bring out the doctrine in her soul — by conversation and, in this case, God saw fit to honour the tremendous doctrine they had accumulated by their contact with the prophets and brought the sons back to life.

The word “again” is a superfluous word used by the translator and not found in the original.

Notice the principle: supergrace women were benefited by doctrine in their souls. Here is the pattern. First they had doctrine in their souls. Then, having doctrine in their souls and losing something of great value, they also had great pain in their souls and there was a conflict between the two. They went to their right prophet — Elijah and Elisha — and God in those days answered the tremendous doctrine in the soul with miracles and they were able to handle it. The actual miracle is not the issue today because God rarely performs such a miracle since the canon of scripture was closed. Therefore the point that is being brought out is that these women did not go off the deep end. The point is that with doctrine in resident in the soul a woman can handle it. And there again is the impact of this passage, the fact that they had enough doctrine in the soul to cope with the situation.

“and others” — a)lloj, others of the same kind. This is the nominative plural and it means women; “were tortured” — the aorist passive indicative of tumpanizw which means to torture with instruments of torture. It is derived from a Greek noun tumpanon which is a Classical Greek word which connotes using a drum to drown out the screams of the victim. it means that the torture is effective, the victim screams and screams. And this refers to women, and they are screaming because of the pain in the body. The whole point is the soul hasn’t been touched. Tumpanizw can mean to be tortured with various types of torture instruments but it also implies rape or the abuse of the female body. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it gathers into one entirety all the torture endured by supergrace women. The passive voice: certain supergrace women received maximum torture. But even though they did they never betrayed their country or their friends. The declarative indicative represents the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality. In this case it is historical reality and it is women being abused physically.

“not accepting” — the aorist active participle of prosdexomai which means to receive, to accept, to wait for, to expect. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist, it views the accumulation of doctrine in the soul of the woman and the doctrine is greater than the threat of torture as well as the actual torture. Hence, the culminative aorist emphasises the existing results — refusal to accept deliverance as the means of betraying others. In other words, prosdexomai says with the negative that these women would rather be tortured and abused than betray someone they loved, to betray their country, to betray their friends, to betray their lover. That is great nobility. And the nobility doesn’t come on any basis except what is in the soul — doctrine.

“deliverance” — the accusative singular direct object of a)polutrwsij which really means “release” here — “refusing to accept their release [from the torture].” Of all of the truly difficult situations in life, here is one that you can understand. The first one was losing someone that you loved dearly. But here is being totally at the mercy of the most bestial type of men whose propensity for torture is maximum, and being under the most excruciating pain never once betraying someone you love or your country. How can you do that? Only one way: doctrine in the soul. Not only does the doctrine in the soul give the ladies the tremendous courage to stand up under this terrible torture but while their body may be destroyed or scarred for life it also gives them the strength to maintain that greatness of soul. And the very means by which she overcame the test of being subjected to torture and refusing to betray someone she loves is the very same way by which she continues in life to be a great person.

“that” is a conjunction i(na used for a final clause, to denote the purpose, aim or a goal. We will translate it “in order that.”

“they might obtain” — the aorist active subjunctive of tugxanw. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist, it views the entire course of their torture prior to their death but regards it from the viewpoint of existing results. The active voice: the women endured this torture even to the point of death because with doctrine in their souls they refused to betray someone they loved, a group of people, their own country. These women have something greater in the future — SG³.

“better” — the objective genitive singular from kreitton, a comparative of a)gaqoj; and with this we have a)nastasij which is an adverbial genitive meaning “after resurrection.”

Translation: “Women received their dead by means of resuscitation; and other supergrace women were tortured, not accepting their release in order that they might obtain something better after resurrection.”

The issue is not obtaining resurrection here but obtaining something better after resurrection — SG³. So again we see the dynamics of doctrine resident in the soul in the case of these wonderful ladies. The supergrace woman, because of maximum doctrine resident in the soul, is prepared for these two great tragedies. There is no adversity in life as great as doctrine resident in the soul, and doctrine resident in the soul therefore is more important than anything in life. And you can’t wait too long to get there. Every woman must be prepared.

Verse 36 gives us three of the maximum torture areas of life, therefore three maximum pressure areas of life. The word “others” takes us away from the ladies. We have a connective particle for “And”, de, used as a conjunction, correctly translated “And.” Then we have the nominative plural of e(teroj which means others of a different kind and refers now to men again or supergrace believers in general in contrast to the ladies of verse 35. “had” is incorrect. It is the aorist active indicative of the verb lambanw which means to receive, not to have. The aorist tense is a constative aorist which gathers into one entirety the pressures which are now enumerated in this context. These pressures are called “tests”. The active voice: supergrace believers of the Old Testament received these testings. The indicative mood is declarative representing the action of the verb from the viewpoint of historical reality.

“trial” — the accusative singular direct object of the noun peira. Peria from peirazw has a passive meaning which means to experience, and it should be translated “testing-type experience.” “And others received testing-type experience.” So we have supergrace believers again loaded up with doctrine and meeting every challenge of life. The principle that comes out of this particular passage by way of anticipation is this. There is no disaster, no trial, no heartache, no frustration, no soul pain, no physical pain, no inconvenience in life that is greater than Bible doctrine resident in the soul.

The plan of God

Saving grace begins at the cross. At the moment that we believer in Christ we receive from God 36 things immediately. Living grace follows afterward and living grace is divided into two factors. First of all in living grace, everything that is necessary to keep you alive in the devil’s world. That includes food, shelter, clothing, and transportation to get where you can receive doctrine. All of that is living grace. He has also provided at the same time the means of getting doctrine in the soul. The means of getting doctrine in the soul is first of all the pastor-teacher who communicates the doctrine, the text book which is the Bible and the classroom which is the local church. All of these are provided by God in living grace. Living grace, when it means positive volition toward doctrine, means following the colours to the high ground. Once we get on the high ground that is spiritual maturity or supergrace. There we have one of two special blessing paragraphs, paragraph SG², the special blessing that glorifies God. Once you acquire supergrace blessings it is God who is glorified, it is God who provides them. These supergrace blessings are divided into three categories. The first is spiritual — occupation with the person of Jesus Christ, the principle of doctrine resident in the soul meeting exigencies of life, the concept of sharing God’s happiness, all of the capacities for life based upon the soul are a part of that first category. The second category are the temporal blessings — great wealth, great success, prosperity (social and sexual), economic prosperity, technical prosperity, materialistic prosperity. And the third category is dying grace, the wonderful way of dying, going over that high golden bridge, a PCS from time to eternity by way of dying grace. On the other side is paragraph SG³. If you have SG² in time you have SG³ forever, the surpassing grace blessings and rewards in eternity, so great that they are indescribable. They definitely remain obscure for the purpose of keeping our motivation intact. Our motivation must be related directly to occupation with Christ rather than wanting the wonderful blessings that are coming in eternity. And for believers who are negative toward doctrine this road to glory — saving grace to living grace to supergrace to dying grace to surpassing grace — is not for them, it is only for those who are positive toward doctrine. Those who are negative go into reversionism. In going into reversionism there is first of all the warning discipline where the Lord Jesus knocks, and then the intensive discipline, and eventually the dying discipline called the sin unto death, and loss of SG² and loss of SG³. Many believers are going to be in heaven with a resurrection body, minus the old sin nature, minus human good, and nothing more — peons in heaven forever, there will be class distinction. Your attitude toward Bible doctrine determines it.

We have seen all of the wonderful things that we have as supergrace believers. Now here is a change of pace. Not only does supergrace mean great blessings, wealth and success and prosperity and promotion and many wonderful and fine things of this sort, but supergrace also means the ability to cope with any adversity in life, and here are some of the adversities mentioned. Testing-type experiences are now going to be categorised.

The first of these is a descriptive plural of e)mpaigmoj, it is called “mockings” in the KJV. The word means scorn, mocking, derisive torture, something very painful. It refers to torture inflicted verbally. Mockery is insulting or contemptuous action or speech and therefore it really comes to mean torture by ridicule and impudence. This type of torture is verbal and physical abuse of that part of any human being which should be private and free from public abuse. Therefore this noun connotes not only verbal abuse but physical abuse including exposure to public of nakedness, rape, molestation, and any other type of abuse that is degrading. it is also done publicly. This is a soul-type torture in which the soul rather than the body receives the maximum pain. Therefore the first category of testing type experience means soul torture. It means verbal and physical abuse which is degrading and painful to the soul.

“with scourgings” — the descriptive genitive plural here is from the noun mastic which is a whip. The whip refers to floggings. Flogging is categorically physical torture of the body in which the body receives the impact of the torture, whereas under mockings it is the soul that receives the impact of the torture.

There us a third category also mentioned in this verse. It begins with the word “yea,” the adverb e)ti which has temporal use. In its temporal use it means “still” or “yet.” It also has a non-temporal connotation for what is left or remaining, or that which is added to that which is already at hand. Therefore that is the meaning here, with the little particle de again it means “in addition.”

“bonds and imprisonment” — the word “bonds” is a descriptive genitive plural of the noun desmoj which means “shackles,” anything that ties the hands and the feet down or ties you to a wall or to a post. The word “imprisonment, also a descriptive genitive and the only one that is in the singular, is the noun fulakhj and refers to incarceration. This is torture by confinement and isolation of both body and soul from the normal course of life.

Translation: “And others received testing-type experience, that is, torture by ridicule and impudence [soul torture], and floggings [torture of the body], and in addition shackles and incarceration.”

So the three categories of torture used against supergrace believers in Old Testament times are summarised in this verse. This verse then tells us that out of these three general categories of pain and adversity and tragedy the believer with Bible doctrine resident in the soul can handle all of them. So supergrace not only prepares you for great happiness and blessing and participation in happiness and blessing but it prepares you for any adversity in life. So at this point in the study of Hebrews chapter eleven we reach a major conclusion, that the maturity of taking in doctrine in a day by day basis, seizing and holding the high ground of supergrace, prepares you for everything in life, and that no matter whether you are having a time of prosperity or having a time of great tragedy and adversity Bible doctrine resident in the soul prepares you for these things and it is the use of that Bible doctrine under every circumstance of life which glorifies God and becomes the tactical victory in the angelic conflict. So while this verse is categorical the next verse refers to specific ways in which certain Old Testament supergrace heroes were tortured and assassinated.

Verse 37 — We are now taking up historical illustrations without mentioning in this passage the names specifically. “They were stoned” — the aorist passive indicative of the verb liqazw which means to be killed with stones. The aorist tense is a constative aorist and gathers into one entirety the stoning of a supergrace believer in the past, the priest Zechariah in the year BC 836. In other words, Zechariah was a great man of God, s supergrace believer, and he was stoned to death in front of the temple between the altar and the temple building itself. The passive voice: Zechariah the son of the high priest Jehoiada received the action of the verb. This is not the same Zechariah who wrote the next to last book of the Old Testament. The indicative mood is declarative for historical reality. In the reign of king Joash the priest Zechariah was stoned to death because he was faithful in teaching the Word of God and exposing idolatrous reversionism — 2 Chronicles 24:20,21; Matthew 23:35.

“they were sawn asunder” — the aorist passive indicative of prizw which means to cut in two with a saw. This specifically refers to Isaiah. The aorist tense contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety and therefore the constative aorist simply shows from the time they tied Isaiah down and kept sawing until he was finally cut in two, at which time he died. Even though this is a very painful thing it was not painful in his case, God provided that wonderful blessing of dying grace as He did with Zechariah. So both of these, while they underwent normally a painful death, as supergrace believers they were able to handle it beautifully.

“were tempted” — the aorist passive indicative of peirazw which means to test for the purpose of discovering what is inside. it was used of an assayer who was testing ore samples for gold. In this case the test is for Bible doctrine in the soul. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It takes the testing and regardless of its extent or duration gathers it up into a syntactical whole. The passive voice: the believer with doctrine resident in the soul is tested regarding that doctrine. The indicative mood is the reality of the testing of resident doctrine in some pressure situation.

“were slain” — the aorist active indicative of a)poqnhskw should be translated “they died.” In other words, they were killed in many ways but dying for the supergrace believer is greater than anything in living. That is why this is a culminative aorist, viewing the killing with a sword here in its entirety emphasises the result, physical death, and the blessing of dying in this way. Supergrace believers were murdered.

“with the sword” is wrong, it should be e)n plus fonoj which means “by murder”; “from a sword,” literally. This is a reference to the death of the governor of the remnant in Jerusalem, Gedaliah.

It is not always God’s will to deliver the supergrace believer. This passage and the verses we have been studying indicate that principle. Sometimes the death of a supergrace believer is the plan and will of God rather than the continuation of his life. Some of the reasons for this may be inscrutable but some of them are obvious. God takes in death the supergrace believer at the peak of his spiritual life, and that is the principle.

Another problem is to be isolated from the normal channels of society where food, shelter, and clothing are available.

“they wandered about” — the aorist active indicative of perierxomai which means to be wandering around without roots. The constative aorist views the wandering around it its entirety. You may wander around for years, you may wander around for a short time, but it means to be lost and cut loose from normal channels of living. The connotation of the verb is also persecution and rejection, forcing them to wander from pillar to post. The supergrace believer produces the action of the verb by being rejected and isolated from society. They were persecuted, driven out of nations, out of cities, out of tribes, out of other organsations of the ancient world. The indicative mood is the historical reality of this fact.

“in sheepskins and goatskins” — we have a prepositional phrase, e)n plus the locative of mhlwth which is sheepskin but it means rough clothing actually, rough clothing in contrast to more sophisticated types of clothing. Both sheepskins and goatskins simply refer to very rough, crude, and uncomfortable clothing.

In the twelfth century there was a very wealthy merchant in Lyons in France, Peter Waldo. He read a Bible one day and was very impressed. The next day that he read it he found Christ as his saviour. He was a very prominent Roman Catholic layman and he was so impressed by what the Bible taught that he decided to give it to his friends. He paid a lot of money to two great language scholars of the time to translate the Bible into the French. And soon inside of the Roman Catholic church of the twelfth century there arose a group of believers. They were very much like the Plymouth Brethren. They began to meet, to pour over the Bible, and they developed into an organisation which were later called the Waldenses. They existed in the Roman Catholic church and out of it. The Roman Catholics finally had a big meeting about them and at the Synod of Barona in 1184 they put an anathema on Peter Waldo. The Pope was so curious about this bunch that he sent a man out to investigate. One of the things that he said in his report was, “The Waldenses went about barefooted, clad in sheepskins and goatskins, and had all things in common like the apostles.” The Pope started a crusade against these people in southern France. As a result they suffered all of the things that we have been reading about in this passage. In about 1316 the Pope Innocent VIII launched a great crusade and by 1487 there was an overall crusade to completely destroy the Waldenses. He called Charles VIII of France and the Duke of Savoy in northern Italy both to destroy them. He sent out an army of 18,000 to do it and they were driven from their homes from pillar to post, they went across mountain passes in the winter, they starved to death, they were pushed off of mountains, they were raped, they were killed, they were tortured, and in spite of that they continue until the present time. But they went through all of this opposition because they simply found in the Word of God the Lord Jesus Christ as saviour and, as a matter of fact, had a great influence all of the way over to Bohemia where the Hussites were greatly influenced by these people. Long before the Protestant reformation there always were born-again believer. There were those who were centering their lives in the Bible, there were those in opposition to the Roman Catholic church from the time when Romanism itself got off base in the time of Gregory the Great in the fourth century AD.

“being destitute” is the present passive participle of u(sterew and connotes being without food, shelter, and clothing. The historical present is employed when the past event is viewed as a present occurrence. These supergrace believers often found themselves in a time of economic recession or depression persecuted and destitute. Yet, everything was provided for them as in the case of Elijah.

“afflicted” — the present passive participle of qlibw means to be harassed, to be tortured, to put maximum pressure on someone; “tormented” means tortured, maltreated or oppressed.

Translation: “They were stoned to death, they were sawed in two, they were tested by pressure, they died by murder from a sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, suffering harassment, being oppressed.”

Verse 38, the great conclusion — “Concerning whom” is the genitive plural from the relative pronoun o(j; “the world” — o( kosmoj is that part of humanity ruled by Satan; “was not” — the imperfect active indicative of e)imi plus the negative o)uk. When you put it together in the perfect tense you have a progressive imperfect of description for a process completed at a given point in past time. The Satanic world of unbelievers, the reversionistic believers, produced the action of the verb. The indicative mood is for historical reality. “Of whom the world was not worthy.”

“worthy” — the predicate nominative of a)cioj. The believer with maximum doctrine in his soul is the only person of noble hero nature recognised by God. God recognises those with doctrine in the soul as the true great ones of life. These people were greater than the people who persecuted them in every way.

“they wandered” — the present middle participle of planaw means to go astray, to wander about. The word is used in the Greek for sheep who are lost and who are being hunted by wolves. They are no match for the wolves. The historical present is employed when a past event is viewed with the vividness of a present occurrence — “whole they themselves wandered about.”

“in deserts” — they had to go to isolated areas. They were out of cities, out of countries, out of places where life was relatively pleasant. We have e)pi plus the locative of e)rhmia which refers to a desert in the sense of an unpleasant desert.

“and mountains” — mountains in the rugged sense of being exposed.

“and dens” — sphlaion or “caves” where they have to find refuge and shelter; then the word “caves” isn’t a cave at all, it is an o)ph which means a hole in the ground.

Translation: (Of whom the world was not worthy:) while they themselves wandered about over deserts, and mountains, both in caves and holes of the earth.”

So these supergrace believers were ostracised from society. They were driven into isolated places where they would suffer some privation. A reversionistic society always excommunicates the supergrace believer who in reality is the preservation of that society. This is the amazing thing, that those who do the most for the human race, and those who bring the greatest divine blessing on any segment of society are always ostracised by that society. Which brings us, then, to the concluding principle from these verses. There is no one more inconsistent than the unbeliever, except the reversionistic believer. Their very source of blessing they seek to destroy.

Verse 39 — “And these all”, a phrase which gathers up into one roster those noble men and women, those who were believers in the past who thought it was important to take in doctrine on a consistent basis and to grow up. They are all put together now under these three words. We have the conjunction kai used to introduce a result of what precedes, and therefore kai should be translated here, “And so.” We are now getting ready for a summary. Then, with this kai we have a nominative masculine plural from the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj. O(utoj is used to designate something in context that is special, and it is something near in context. There are two basic demonstrative pronouns, the other is e)keinoj which indicates something more distant in context. The demonstrative pronoun is always used in the Greek language to designate an object in context, a very special object, something that is noble, something that is great. In effect, this particular demonstrative pronoun tells us we have studied only magnificent people. Obviously these supergrace heroes also failed from time to time but the difference between them and the reversionist is that they utilised the rebound technique, they recovered, and they never allowed their failures to hold them back. We also have another word, the nominative masculine plural of paj indicating that all are included. “And so all of these” — everyone who is mentioned.

“having obtained a good report” — the aorist passive participle of the verb marturew. Marturew has always been misunderstood because people take a transliteration called “martyr” and try to hook it up. This does not mean to be a martyr, it means something entirely different in the Greek. In the active voice it means to bear witness or to testify. It was used especially for testifying in courts. It means to confirm something. But it is in the passive voice here and the meaning changes, it means to receive approbation or a testimony. It means to be well spoken of and finally in the passive voice it comes to mean “approved.” Therefore it should be translated, “having received approval.” The aorist tense is a culminative aorist which views the function of a supergrace hero in his entirety but emphasising the results of holding the high ground — dying grace which is better, and then surpassing grace in eternity. Doctrine resident in the soul was the basis of their approval. They met and overcame every pressure, every catastrophe, every disaster, every problem that can exist in the devil’s world.

“through faith” — the preposition dia plus the genitive of pistij. Pistij means what is believed here, and what is believed refers to doctrine — “having received approval by means of doctrine resident in the soul.”

The importance of Bible doctrine

1. Definition. Bible doctrine is the content of the scripture communicated by teaching and instruction. Doctrine is the communication of Bible subjects on the basis of exegesis from the original languages. Both content, analysis and classification of subjects, as well as isagogics are involved in the presentation of doctrine. In other words, very simply doctrine is what the Bible teaches.

2. Biblical nomenclature for doctrine.

3. The legacy of believers in Bible doctrine. Psalm 138:2 — “I will worship,” hithpael imperfect of the verb shachah, and should be translated “I myself will worship” — “toward the temple of your holiness”, i.e. toward heaven where God lives. The next phrase says, “and praise,” the hiphil imperfect of the verb jadah and it means to celebrate. That is what worship is all about; “your person” — occupation with the person of Christ or the supergrace status manifest through its spiritual concepts. The word “for” is a causal waw and should be translated “because.” The word “loving-kindness” is incorrect, it is chesedh which means grace. This refers to saving grace, living grace, supergrace, dying grace, and surpassing grace; “and for your truth,” we have a causal waw plus the noun emeth used in the sense of doctrine. “I myself will worship toward the temple of your holiness [heaven, the real holy of holies] and celebrate your person [occupation with Christ] because of your grace and because of your doctrine.”

The second sentence in this verse tells us how this is accomplished — “for thou hast magnified,” the hiphil perfect of gadal — “thy word” is imrah, doctrinal teaching; “above all thy name” — literally, ‘over your reputation’. God has placed in the line, as it were, His reputation and related it to doctrine as a part of grace. And God has placed such emphasis on that that we are to understand from this verse that no one can understand the reputation of God, the character of God, the person of God, or any factor pertaining to God unless he has Bible. doctrine resident in his own soul.

“I myself will worship toward the temple of your holiness, and celebrate your person because of your grace and because of your doctrine; because you have magnified your doctrinal teaching over your reputation.”

In other words, doctrinal communication is the means of glorifying God in the angelic conflict. This is the tactical phase. Doctrinal teaching is the means of residency of doctrine in the believer’s soul. Maximum resident doctrine means supergrace status, supergrace status glorifies God. God is only glorified by the supergrace believer and by giving Him great blessing, and by the supergrace believer utilising resident doctrine to meet the exigencies of life. Therefore everything is tied up with doctrine resident in the soul.

4. In His dying breath the Lord Jesus Christ made doctrine the spiritual legacy of the royal family of God — Psalm 31:5 which is partially quoted in Luke 23:46 as the last statement of our Lord on the cross; “Into your hands I deposit my spirit, for you have delivered me, O Jehovah, God of doctrine.” God the Father is the God of doctrine. It was only possible for the Lord Jesus Christ to go to the cross on the basis of doctrine resident in His soul.

5. Bible doctrine preexisted the human race — Proverbs 8. It was not reduced to writing but it was in the mind of God.

6. Attitude toward doctrine determines whether the believer is going to be blessed or disciplined in time — Proverbs 8:33-36 which is really the overall summary of Hebrews chapters 11 and 12. Hebrews 11: supergrace and its blessings; Hebrews 12: discipline and its cursing. Every believer has to decide in which chapter he is going to live. “Listen to instruction [Bible teaching], and be wise [Bible doctrine resident in your soul], do not neglect it. Blessed [SG² and SG³] is the man who listens to me [doctrine], watching daily at my gates [the gates refer to the auditorium where they listened to Bible doctrine in OT times], waiting at my doors [the attitude of positive volition]. For he who finds me [doctrine] finds capacity for life, and obtains supergrace from the Lord. He who sins against me [rejection of Bible doctrine] injures himself [with divine discipline]; all those who hate me [doctrine] love death [the sin unto death].”

7. Therefore, doctrine is the basis for the distribution of supergrace blessings — Isaiah 53:12. Because of the cross, because of the saving work of Jesus Christ, we are now in that status called tactical victory or distribution of spoils, and by Bible doctrine resident in the soul we enjoy the distribution of spoils. These spoils were collected for us in eternity past and they were designed for us in the divine decrees as our very very own supergrace and surpassing grace blessings.

8. Doctrine is the basis for the distribution of surpassing grace blessings in eternity — Hebrews 11:9,10 cf. 11:13; James 1:25 cf. 2:12,13.

9. There is a principle at this point. Bible doctrine to the supergrace believer is much more real than empirical knowledge — 2 Peter 1:12-21. If there is a conflict between what you see, what you hear, what you smell, or even what you think, and what Bible doctrine says, Bible doctrine is always right. Bible doctrine is the criterion for the royal family of God.

10. Lack of doctrine destroys a nation — Hosea 4:1-6.

11. Bible doctrine is a part of the principle of living grace in phase two. Under living grace God provides both spiritual and temporal factors to keep the believer alive and progressing.

12. The plan of God is both advanced and vindicated through Bible doctrine — Isaiah 53:10; Romans 3:3,4.

13. The pastor or communicator of doctrine establishes the balance of residency in the soul of the believer. The principle of residency is threefold. First of all, we have God the Holy Spirit indwelling the body of every believer — 1 Corinthians 6:19. Indwelling refers to the believer’s body and it never refers to his soul. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in the soul is something different, it is temporary and can be cancelled. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in the body cannot be cancelled ever. Secondly, the filling of the Spirit — Ephesians 5:18. Thirdly, the indwelling of Bible doctrine. So Bible doctrine is transferred from the canon of scripture to the individual’s soul, the function of GAP. Therefore the vacancy of doctrine in the soul establishes a spiritual imbalance between filling of the Spirit and residency of doctrine, and this residency is implemented by the daily function of GAP creating a balance, and once that balance is created you are a mature believer and/or in the high ground.

14. Therefore the importance of consistency in the function of GAP. The command to go to Bible class is given in Hebrews 10:25 — “Stop neglecting the assembling of yourselves together as is the habit of certain ones, but by being an encouragement even so much as you see the day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:35 — “Therefore do not throw away as worthless your confidence in doctrine, which confidence keeps having rich distribution of blessing.” Hebrews 10:36 — “For you keep on having need of perseverance [persistence in the function of GAP] in order that when you have accomplished the will of God [GAPing it to supergrace] you might carry off for yourself the promise [SG² and SG³].” Colossians 2:6,7.

The results of doctrine resident in the soul, at least eight, are representative of what the scripture teaches.

a) Doctrine resident in the soul produces confidence for time — Job 5:24; 2 Corinthians 5:6,8. b) It produces divine viewpoint of life — Isaiah 55:7,8; 2 Corinthians 10:5.

c) It orients the believer to the plan of God — Isaiah 26:3,4; Romans 8:28.

d) It produces stability of mind — James 1:8.

e) It is the basis for divine guidance in the execution of the will of God — Romans 12:2,3.

f) It leads to occupation with the person of Christ and the capacity and the ability to love God — Philippians 3:10; Ephesians 3:19; Hebrews 12:2,3.

g) It attains and holds the supergrace status — Philippians 3:12-14.

h) it attains surpassing grace blessings in eternity — Hebrews 11:9,10, 13; James 1:25 cf. 2:12,13.

Therefore, Bible doctrine becomes the most important thing of all.

“You cannot choose your battlefield, God does that for you

But you can plant the colours where the colours never flew.”

“received not the promise” — “received not” is the aorist middle indicative of komizw. Komizw is used but the word for “receive” in the Greek is usually lambanw. Why do we not have it here? God owes you SG³ just as God owes you SG². In eternity past God the Father said, “I have a special blessing paragraph for you in time.” It was designed then. Your SG² is a reality. You may never get there but it is a reality, and komizw means God has already designed it. He owes it to you. It is just a matter of having enough doctrine to attain it. You can count on this: SG² is a down payment on SG³. Furthermore, the middle voice is a direct middle referring to the results of the action directly to the agent with reflexive force. So it should be translated, “did not receive to himself.” The constative aorist gathers up into one entirety paragraph SG³, your surpassing grace blessings forever. The indicative mood is the reality of SG³ on the basis of SG². All of us will die, as others in the past have, without receiving SG³. No one gets SG³ on the earth. The word “promise” is the accusative singular direct object from e)paggelia referring to paragraph SG³.

Translation: “And so all these [supergrace heroes], having received approval [SG²] by means of doctrine resident in the soul, did not receive for themselves the promise [SG³].”

Verse 40 tells us when the Old Testament saints will all get SG³. “God” — o( qeoj, “The God” — this is the genitive. How can you have a subject in the genitive case? It is very hard to do but the Greeks found a way to do it by way of what is called a genitive absolute, a system for getting the genitive case in the subject. Remember that the genitive case is a descriptive case as well as a possessive case, and both descriptive and possessive are true here. God becomes the subject but it is “our God” who is the subject. There is the possessive genitive. And it is our God who is the subject, that is the descriptive. it is God who is going to provide for supergrace believers surpassing grace blessings and rewards forever and ever. But the Old Testament believers are going to have to wait out the Church age. The royal family is first in line.

“having provided” — aorist middle participle of problepw. It means to provide but it meant originally to see beforehand, to see it before it happened. The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety, it gathers into a single whole the doctrine of divine decrees in eternity past, and your SG² and SG³ are all there, as well as all of these Old Testament supergrace heroes. The middle voice is indirect, emphasising God as the agent producing SG² and SG³ but doing it in eternity past. “The God himself having provided beforehand”. This is a causal participle denoting what is the ground of action for the main verb. Therefore it should be translated “since” — “Since the God himself having provided ahead of time.”

“some better things” — the accusative of direct object from kreitton which in the neuter means “something better.” This refers to the entire structure of the Church Age. It begins at the point of salvation with the baptism of the Spirit whereby suddenly you are late as far as history is concerned but you’re first in line. The baptism of the Holy Spirit makes you royal family forever and puts you up in the front of the line of God’s plan. As the royal family of God the believer of the Church Age lives at a time when the strategic victory has already been accomplished and the issue of the tactical victory is the basis for our intensive conflict. The death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ to the right hand of the Father has now settled the strategic victory forever. It is now a matter of tactical exploitation. The holy of holies was forbidden to the Old Testament saints because it was for us, the believers of the Church Age first. Add to this also the fact that for the first time in history, and exclusive to the Church Age, Jesus Christ also indwells every believer. Israel was dependent on a specialised priesthood from the tribe of Levi. We have a universal priesthood. The variety of sources of doctrine in the Old Testament were very confusing in confirmation of authority of the communicator. Now all divine revelation is reduced to writing, there is one source, the completed canon of scripture, and there is no extra biblical revelation. Concentration of doctrine provides a better system for communication and the gift of pastor-teacher, the provision of a classroom, the local church, all make it easier today than it ever has been before to achieve SG² in a hurry. Therefore the best dispensation in which to live is the one in which we live. Furthermore, the abrogation of the Mosaic covenant and the clear definition of the new covenant to the Church, a superseding principle, clarifies the issue of grace.

“for us” — peri plus the genitive plural of e)gw means “on behalf of us”; “that” is the conjunction i(na which introduces a purpose clause — “in order that.”

“without us” — an adverb xwrij is what is called an improper preposition, plus the genitive of e)gw. This is an adverb used as a preposition and is called an improper preposition. And xwrij plus the genitive means “apart from,” and so it means “apart from us.” Apart from us David will never get his SG³; apart from us Abraham will never get his SG³. “Us” is the Church Age believer. Apart from us the supergrace heroes of the Old Testament do not get their rewards. They are last in line and you have to have the first in the line before the last. As royal family we get ours first, so after admiring all of these fantastic supergrace heroes we are encouraged now to press on so that they can have theirs. “should not be made perfect” is wrong. We have the aorist passive subjunctive third person plural of teleiow and it means to be completed. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist employed to view the attainment of SG³ and dying grace in its entirety but to emphasise the existing results in the attainment of SG³. The negative mh indicates that these Old Testament supergrace heroes all have SG² plus dying grace. But mh plus the culminative aorist: they have not yet received SG³. They have not yet been completed. The completion will be eternity and receiving their SG³. So they are waiting for the royal family. The passive voice plus the third person suffix of the verb refers to the Old Testament supergrace heroes, plus the negative indicating that they do not have SG³. They are going to have it in the future but they do not have it and will not have it until we get ours first. Mh plus the subjunctive is a prohibitive subjunctive and it doesn’t mean it is potential, they will have it, it means they are prohibited from claiming it until we claim ours.

Translation: “Since the God himself [God the Father] having provided something better for us [the royal family], so that apart from us [royal family] they [OT supergrace heroes] should not be completed.”