Chapter 3

There are three practical results of the ECS. The first is found in verse 1. Once a person becomes a mature believer he is ready to subject himself to divinely ordained authority. The word “authority” becomes a reality. Freedom does not mean freedom from authority, freedom means the privacy and the right to function within the framework of his soul. But authority is necessary to protect one’s freedom and one becomes subject to authority — without resentment, without bitterness, without rancour, without any of the usual rebel concepts of the soul.

The second result of the ECS is one of the most practical found in any book anywhere; the ability to control the tongue. A small member of the body and yet is potentially the most dangerous, the most destructive of any member of the body — verses 2-12.

The third is the stability of life — verses 13-18.

Verse 1 — “My brethren,” a)delfoi mou refers to, first of all, Jewish people but Jewish people who are believers. By application it refers to all members of the family of God, Galatians 3:26, and it refers to us who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“be not” is incorrect. It is the present active imperative of ginomai plus the negative mh. Ginomai means to become something. Here it should be translated “definitely stop becoming.” The reason is because ginomai is in the emphatic position in the Greek, and the negative also adds to the emphasis.

The word “many masters” is poorly translated. We have polloi didaskaloi . The believers who had been scattered by persecution, Jewish believers who had left Jerusalem, and had moved to all parts of the Roman empire all seemed to have a tendency at this time which was very dangerous to their Christian experience. They all tried to take over. They all had the idea that they could teach, that they were pastors, that they were communicators. And literally this says, “My brethren, definitely stop becoming many teachers.” The noun didaskaloj is one of the titles for the pastor of a local church. The word means to communicate to a group with authority. The pastor of a local church is a didaskaloj and each local church has only one. When it says “stop becoming many teachers” this is an attempt to usurp the authority of the pastor of the local church. Today it finds itself under the abuse of the plurality of elders.

It must be understood that the background for this prohibition is the fact that the local church is the classroom for Christianity in this dispensation. The pastor is the teacher. Didaskaloj means to teach with authority and this means that the pastor is the final authority in the local church.

Summary

1. By trying to teach something contrary to or by being critical even of the pastor’s messages the individual believer sets himself up as a teacher and as one of greater authority in the field of doctrine.

2. In this way a believer being critical or trying to tell the pastor what to teach and how to teach manifests lack of maturity. This lack maturity begins the process of negative volition toward doctrine.

3. There is another problem in connection with rejection of authority. Rejection of authority is often related to a Narcissus complex, and there is a principle of Narcissistic reverse process reversionism in which the reversionistic believer places elf and self opinion above that which is taught in the local church. Every believer has a right pastor but this believer in reverse process reversionism can reject the teaching of the right pastor and set up himself as the criterion.

4. In this type of reversionism the believer transfers the authority of the right pastor to himself. He learns just enough doctrine to titillate his pride without giving him recognition of grace and grace orientation. This is tantamount to self making self an inconsequential person.

5. When you take on the authority of a teacher you also receive the discipline of a teacher, which is double.

6. But since you are not a teacher you cannot receive the double blessing of a pastor-teacher, all you can do is receive the double discipline which you have assumed.

7. God intends for Hebrews 13:7, 17 to stick during the Church Age. So when you seek to usurp the authority of the pastor-teacher you demonstrate reversionism, immaturity, and all of the accompanying maladies of the spiritual life.

“knowing” — perfect active participle of o)ida used as a present. O)ida is a perfect tense used as a present tense for doctrine in the right lobe. There is something in the frame of reference and knowing is to bring it out into the categories, into the norms and standards, and to put this doctrine on the launching pad in order to make an application; “that” — o(ti is used as a conjunction for introducing a principle, and it introduces an objective clause after a verb of knowing or seeing or feeling. The objective clause is the principle from o(ti: the solution to any problem that a believer may have comes from objectivity in the use of Bible doctrine.

“we shall receive” — future middle indicative of lambanw. The future means that once you set yourself up as an authority under Narcissistic reverse process reversionism, once your pride converts you into an inconsequential person, once you set your opinions up and your concepts up whereby you are teaching and taking the authority from the pastor, then [future tense] you have something coming. You have double discipline, as if you were a pastor. The middle voice is reflexive: you do this to yourself. The indicative mood is the reality of double discipline for believers who cannot understand or accept or function under authority.

Literally, “knowing that we shall take to ourselves” — “the greater.” Here we have a comparative which indicates double in this case, the comparative of megaj, which means “great ,” and the comparative form here means “greater.”

“condemnation” is the noun krima and the ma suffix connotes results, and it should be translated “ a more severe execution of judgement.” Krima means a judicial sentence passed.

Translation of verse 1: “My brethren, definitely stop becoming many teachers, knowing that we shall take on ourselves a more severe judgement.”

Not only does the usurping the prerogatives of the pastor teacher double your discipline from God but at the same time it manifests hopeless immaturity and instability. Hopeless because the solidifying of the pride cements your opinions into the practice of Narcissistic reverse process reversionism.

Eight possible ways to fulfil this verse — and enter into double discipline

(These must all be accomplished within the framework of a local church)

1. Set yourself up as an expert as over against your pastor. Comment to your friends about how wrong he is about this point and that point.

2. Be critical about the general content of the pastor’s message. Make sure to tell others that he is mixed up about this subject, and it is better if you can name at least two other subjects about which he is “mixed up.”

3. The next step in making yourself a teacher is to becoming sporadic or to phase out altogether attending the services, or even stay out as a Sunday School teacher. In other words, immaturity always goes about in the clothing of humility by is characterised by a colossal egocentricity, plus pompous self-opinionatedness.

4. Set yourself up as the final authority on what the pastor ought to teach and what he ought not to teach. In this way you set yourself up as the teacher without even teaching yourself.

5. Teach false doctrine or communicate false doctrine in the congregation among your friends, or even at social gatherings. If you get the opportunity speak at the “Young Peoples” or teach in the Sunday School, or give a “devotional” whenever you can. In this way you can undermine both the message and the authority of the pastor and guarantee to yourself double discipline.

6. Get on the telephone and criticise the message, the manner of delivery of your right pastor. To do this you have to assume his prerogative and his office, therefore you receive what would have been his discipline.

7. In accepting your own authority and rejecting the pastor’s (in other words you substitute your own authority for his) make it a point, get the word around, that you are not going to go back to church until the pastor straightens up about this or that, whatever it may be.

8. Become an advocate of the false doctrine of the plurality of elders and make sure that as you advocate plurality of elders that the pastor is only one of the elders. Make sure that you get the word out that you, too, are an elder and that as an elder you carry the same weight as the pastor and even more. In this way, again, you can guarantee yourself double discipline.

Verse 2 — The second great characteristic of the ECS that leads to stability is the control of the tongue. If the tongue is loose the believer s unstable.

“For in many things we offend.” That isn’t quite what the Greek says at all. First of all we have the particle gar here used in an explanatory sense. The explanatory gar simply means “Now.” Next we have “in many things” — the accusative neuter plural of poluj, referring here to the whole realm of sin in all categories. This word is really the object of the verb, not the subject. (In the King James version we have it as the subject)

“offend” is the present active indicative of ptaiw. Literally this says, “Now we all stumble.” Ptaiw means literally to stumble — “we all stumble in many ways.” This general principle recognises the fact that believers after salvation still sin because ptaiw means to sin. Arndt and Ginchrich translates this verb “to commit a sin.” “Now we all commit sins in many ways,” and remember that “we all” is referring to believers, believers who have had an ECS, believers who had slipped into reversionism. The point is that after salvation you still sin. However the mature believer will avoid a certain category of sin. A mature believer avoids the sins of the tongue. The sins of the tongue are a demonstration of wide emotional swings in your soul and the more your tongue is loose with the sins of then tongue the more is demonstrated your instability.

Next is a first class condition, the protasis begins with “If” — e)i plus the indicative. “If anyone” — tij means anyone, not any man — “offend not” present active indicative of ptaiw plus o)uk, the strongest of negatives; “in word” — e)n plus the locative of logoj. This is an idiom which means “in speaking.”

“the same” — nominative singular of the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj , “the same person is a mature (not “perfect”) — teleioj means “mature.” Next we have the word “man.” It can be a man or a woman, the noun is a)nhr, a noble man, a mature noble man. The adjective plus the noun strengthens the concept of the mature believer.

“able” — a noun, dunatoj, referring to inherent power. The inherent power comes from the ECS. The ECS acts as a stabiliser in the soul as well as reflecting the glory of Jesus Christ. As a stabiliser of the soul it stabilises the tongue; “to bridle” — xalinagwgew. This is a compound. Xalinoj is a bridle. To bridle the whole body here really means to control the whole body. A)gw means to guide, to lead; xalinoj means with a bit or a bridle. So actually we have the word meaning to control.

Literally, “Now we all commit many sins. If anyone does not sin in what he says, the same person is a mature nobleman, able also to control the entire body.”

Interesting! Control the body, not the soul. Why? The soul has to have a link with the body and the link here in this case is the tongue.

Summary

1. Control of the tongue is the criterion for control of the rest of the body. This is also important for the intake of doctrine under GAP.

2. The principle is established by the specific statement in this verse: control of the tongue is the characteristic of the mature believer.

3. Therefore control of the tongue in the avoidance of the sins of the tongue is the sign of the erection of the ECS plus maximum doctrine in four parts of the right lobe — frame of reference, vocabulary, categories, conscience and the launching pad.

4. The next paragraph, verses 3-8, contain four illustrations of this principle.

Verse 3 — the first illustration: the horse. We begin with a noun from the previous verse, the bridle which controls the horse xalinoj. This is the word for the bit and the bridle. The horse is a very powerful animal and yet he has a very vulnerable spot by which he can be controlled, the mouth. The word “behold” introduces a first class condition and it should be translated “Now if” — e)i de , “we put bits in the horses’ mouths.” The word for “putting” here is ballw. With the bit in the mouth all of this phenomenal strength is actually under control.

Next we have the word “that” which introduces the preposition e)ij, and e)ij is a preposition of purpose in this case; “they may obey us” — present middle infinitive of peiqw. They do it themselves in spite of their superior strength; “and that we may turn about” — the present active indicative of metagw means to change their direction, at our will; “their entire body.”

Translation: “Now if we thrust the bit of the horses into their mouths, that they may obey us; also we change the direction of their entire body.”

The principle is that here is a big strong animal, having a mind of his own, and yet he can be very easily controlled. The analogy here is twofold; First of all, just as the bridle controls the entire body of the horse, so doctrine controls the entire body of the believer. Doctrine controls the body of the believer just like the bridle controls the body of a horse. The second analogy: the horse has more strength in his neck than man has in his entire body, and yet by using a bridle man is able to control the strength of the horse. The body of the horse with all of his great strength will follow a very tender mouth — i.e. where the bit makes contact. The believer, like the horse, follows his mouth. What the tongue of the believer says determines the content of his soul; it indicates what he really is.

Verse 4 — the second illustration goes from the animate to the inanimate: a ship. “Behold also.” Now we have the word “behold,” the last time we really didn’t have it. I)dou is actually an aorist middle imperative of o(raw but it is used as a particle to call attention to the second illustration. “Behold the ships also.” The noun here for ships is ploion. The ship is directed by the rudder.

“be they so great” — we have a nominative neuter plural of thlekoutoj and this particular word means “large.” It is a quantitative pronoun and it should be translated “being so large.” The ship is an inanimate object of great size which has a cargo and a purpose just as the horse is a large animal having strength and speed. The horse is used for transportation on the land and the ship for transportation on the sea. Both were considered to be the best systems of transportation in the ancient world and yet both were controlled by a very small thing. The power of the believer is useless without doctrine. The cargo and the purpose of the ship are useless without the rudder.

“Behold the ships also, being so large, and are driven” — present passive participle of e)launw which really means to be propelled, to advance. to make progress. In the passive voice it should be translated, “and are propelled.” Then we have “of fierce winds” in the King James version, but we have u(po plus the genitive of a)nemoj — “and are propelled under the influence of strong winds.”

“yet are they turned about” — present passive indicative of metagw; “with a very small helm,” or literally with a very small rudder. The rudder is comparatively small with regard to the size of the ship. The word here for “helm” is phdalion which means “rudder.”

The rudder controls the direction of a sailing ship. The winds exert a powerful influence in propelling the ship but it is the rudder that actually controls the direction. The body may strong and controlled by great muscles but what controls the body? The answer is the soul. The rudder controls the direction of a ship just as the soul controls the direction of the individual. Bible doctrine in the soul controls the direction of the believer.

In the analogy of this illustration we have the ship representing the body. The winds are the influences of environment and education and training. The rudder is illustrative of the tongue and the helmsman is the soul. So the rudder handles the direction, the soul expresses the direction of the individual.

“Behold the ship also, being so large, and propelled under the influence of strong winds, yet are directed under the influence of a very small rudder.” The next word is “withersoever” — adverb o(pou means “in what direction.” Then we have “the governor” which is actually quite a few words in the Greek — h( o(mh which actually means “impulse, purpose or will,” then “tou e)uqunontoj, a present active participle, and it is from the verb e)qunw which means to direct, or to guide or steer. So actually o)rmh means impulse, purpose, will; e)uqunw means to steer. So it should be “the will of the one who does the steering.” We will call it simply “a helmsman.” Then we have the word “listeth” — a present middle indicative of boulomai which means to function under a predetermined plan; “in what direction the will of the helmsman determines.”

Translation: “Behold the ships also, being so large, and propelled under the influence of strong winds, yet are so directed under the influence of a very small rudder to whatever direction the will of the helmsman determines.”

What is the thrust of this passage? Somewhere both of these illustrations have one thing in common, something that is being repeated to drive home a lesson. It is obvious. The horse is large, strong, fast, and is controlled by that small bit in his mouth. The second one is that a ship, also large but the control spot is small. “Small” is analogous to the tongue in the human body. The tongue is small; the body is large. With all of the damage that can be done to another with the human body there is a small part of the body with which can be done the most damage. The tongue is by far the greatest weapon that you have. The tongue can be a source of great blessing or it can be a source of great devastation and destruction. It all depends on what you have in your soul, for what you have in your soul is going to come out through the tongue.

Summary

1. The rudder illustrates the tongue of the believer, is analogous to the tongue of the believer.

2. The helmsman represents the believer’s soul.

3. The ship is the body of the believer.

4. The winds that propel the ship are a picture of the environment, the influence, the training, education of the individual.

5. The mature believer controls the tongue through doctrine in the right lobe and the function of the ECS.

6. The reversionistic believer is guilty of the sins of the tongue — gossip, maligning, judging, lying, etc.

In verses 5 and 6 we have an interpretation.

Verse 5 — “Even so” is the adverb o(utoj. It means “In this way.” The adverb introduces the interpretation to the previous illustration — “the tongue,” h( glwssa. The tongue is the instrument of speech. “In this way the tongue is,” present active indicative of e)imi — “keeps on being”; “a little member,” the nominative neuter singular of mikroj. “In this way the tongue is a small part of the body, and boasteth” — present active indicative of a)uxew, a classical Greek word and it means loud, boisterous boasting. This verb is in the present active indicative and it had four cognates in the Greek: a)uxh which means a braggart, a noisy braggart; a)uxeij, a person who is bragging to impress someone; a)uxhma, means to content of the boasting; a)uxhmatiaj, which means a boaster.

“great things” — megala. It means to boast so as to cause a lot of trouble. “In this way the tongue is a small part of the body but keeps on boasting great things, stirring up great trouble” is the concept.

Now we go to the third illustration. Again we have i)dou — “Behold,” a particle based upon the aorist middle imperative of o(raw. It is used to call attention to something very important. It can be translated “see” or “look now.” Up to this point we have several categories of illustrations. First of all, in verse three we had illustration animate things — horses. In verse four, illustration inanimate things — ships. Now we go in verse five illustration dangerous inanimate things — fire. “Look how great a matter” — the translation is mixed up here. The problem is in “how great a matter.”

Literally, it says. “See how such a small fire burns up such a large forest.” In other words, the sins of the tongue can burn up and destroy a congregation. The sins of the tongue can destroy category #2 love, category #3 love. The sins of the tongue can ruin any organisation, any business or any society or fraternity, or any group of any kind. The tongue is the most destructive weapon in that group.

Translation of verse 5: “In this way the tongue is a small part of the body, but keeps on boasting great things. See how such a small fire burns up such a large forest.”

Verse 6 — “And the tongue is a fire” kai h( glwssa pur — this explains the previous verse. The tongue is small. Just like a little fire can burn down a whole forest the tongue is a small object which controls and determines the course of large objects, like the bit in a horse’s mouth, like the rudder in the helm of a ship, like a little flame in a large forest. The tongue is a small object which controls and determines the course of large objects. For example, the tongue under the ECS is a wonderful thing; the same tongue under the conditions of reversionism is a monster of destruction.

“a world of iniquity” — o( kosmoj thj a)dikiaj. This is the genitive form of a)dikiaj which means “injustice, deceitfulness, wrongdoing, wickedness.” We could translate this “the kosmoj of wickedness.” “The tongue is a fire, the kosmoj of the wickedness.” The believer in reversionism uses his tongue to practice reverse process reversionism. The believer in maturity uses his tongue to express the wonderful glories of the ECS. So one again we have the principle, the tongue when the believer is in reversionism is a fire, it is the kosmoj of the wickedness. It is a double monster because the tongue says what is thought, so first of all when something is said, when the tongue is used to express evil — slander, maligning, gossiping, judging. There is also behind it mental attitude sins: jealousy, vindictiveness, implacability, bitterness, hatred, etc.

“so is” is not found in the original. Instead the original MSS has the present passive indicative of kaqistemi. Kaqistemi means to be ordained, to be ordered, or to be placed, and it should be translated here “the tongue is placed,” not “so is” — “among our members,” or literally, “in our anatomy.”

“as that which contaminates” — present active participle of spilow. Spilow is one of the words that means to get your garments spotted with garbage or something foreign to the garment. The tongue is placed in the structure of our anatomy so that “as that which contaminates the entire body.” What goes out of the mouth is much more filthy and dangerous than that which goes out of the body from any other source, is what this passage is saying.

Summary

1. In this passage the tongue is linked to the mentality of the soul.

2. The tongue is that little member which expresses the content of the soul.

3. If the soul is filled with mental attitude sins and lust functions then the tongue expresses these things and contaminates not only the body of the speaker but other bodies as well — since people do not generally talk to themselves.

4. The human body is like a horse or a ship, large but controlled by a small object.

5. The tongue is a small member of the body but it controls the entire body as a link with the soul.

6. The tongue is like a small flame, expressing evil of the soul and igniting the entire body.

“and setteth on fire” — present active participle of flogizw, which means to set on fire. The word “course” is not quite correct, it is the word tropoj and with the word “nature,” genhhsij it means “birth” or “successive generations” or “existence” really. So that literally we have the wheel of birth which is an idiom for the pattern of existence or the cycle of existence. Literally then, “and setting on fire the cycle of existence.”

Translation: “And the tongue is a fire, the kosmoj of the wickedness: the tongue is placed in the structure of our anatomy as that which contaminates the entire body, and setting in fire the cycle of existence.”

Summary

1. The cycle of existence is the pattern of action and reaction in life.

2. The tongue is the meeting point of the cross-roads between the cycle of evil in the soul, and that cycle inflames the body.

3. The cycle includes evil thoughts, evil expressions, evil deeds.

4. Evil deeds produce more evil thoughts which lead to evil expressions of the same — reaction.

5. With the tongue in the middle of the cycle of evil thoughts and evil expressions, evil deeds become a vicious circle, constantly ignited by the tongue.

6. The tongue expresses mental attitude sins which produce reaction in the body.

7. The tongue will express the mental attitude sins — jealousy, implacability, bitterness, vindictiveness — toward a right man or right woman causing the cycle of reverse process reversionism in unfaithfulness, socially and sexually.

8. Either the act of fornication or social unfaithfulness involves someone else’s right man or right woman and this becomes the enmeshing of a vicious cycle. Unfaithfulness, an act of the body, causes a mental attitude sin reaction which leads to the expression of a mental attitude through the tongue which produces a reaction in the body, etc., etc.

“and is set on fire of hell” — the present passive participle of flogizw is “being set on fire.” Then “of hell” is u(po plus the genitive of geena, which we call genhenna. When there are two “e” together there is an “h” place in there. U(po plus the genitive means “by the agency of” gehenna.

Translation: “"And the tongue is a fire, the kosmoj of wickedness: the tongue is so placed in the structure of our anatomy as that which contaminates the entire body, and setting on fire the cycle of existence [thinking, peaking, doing]; and being set on fire by the agency of gehenna.”

What does it mean, “being set on fire by the agency of gehenna” ?

1. Gehenna refers to the Valley of Hinnom which was south of Jerusalem. This is where the Jews dumped their garbage and burned it, and this is where they offered their children to Moloch under Baalism — 2 Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 7:31; 19:2-6.

2. Being a garbage dump for several centuries means that there was always a fire in this Valley of Hinnom.

3. Therefore the name, the Valley of Hinnom, became a popular word for hell in the Jewish language — Matthew 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33. The Jewish word is brought into the Greek as gehenna rather than hell.

4. Gehenna is equivalent to the lake of fire in revelation 19:20; 20:10.

5. The lake of fire or Gehenna or hell is not a place of annihilation since both the beast and the false prophet are going to live there for a thousand years without being annihilated.

6. Comparing this phrase “by the agency of Gehenna” with Matthew 25:41 it is concluded that the cycle of evil has its source from Satan himself. This is further strengthened in our context by the use of kosmoj. Satan is the ruler of the kosmoj [world].

7. The devil is the ruler of the kosmoj — Luke 4:5-7; John 12:31; 13:30; 16:11. So this phrase identifies the activities of the old sin nature with their origin and final destiny. Evil is the agency of Gehenna.

Verse 7 — the word “every kind” is the nominative of paj plus fusij. Fusij here refers to species, and it should be translated “For every species.” Then we have four categories of species mentioned with regard to the lower creation. The first category is the genitive plural of qhriwn Qhriwn refers to mammals, wild animals on the land as a rule. It says that every species of these things have been tamed, but they have not been tamed and the Greek doesn’t say they have been tamed. Some things can be tamed and something have not been tamed. “Is tamed” is present passive indicative of damazw. While damazw does connote under certain conditions taming it really means to subdue or control. The present tense is linear aktionsart moving into every era of history. In every generation something in the animal kingdom has been subdued and controlled. Tamability is not really implied, though it is true that in some cases there are tame lions, for example. Subduing is one thing, taming is another. Controlling is one thing, taming is another. This word damazw should be translated “controlled” or “subdued.” really that is more in keeping with the analogy.

“and of birds” — again a genitive plural of petainon. Birds have also been controlled, subdued, and even tamed; “and of serpents” — e(rpeton, from where we get our English word “herpetology.” Snakes have been tamed. They are not only controllable but many of them are tameable — “things in the sea,” e)nalioj, marine creatures. They are all controllable. While man can control the greatest of these creatures he cannot control his tongue. This is the development of this illustration.

“is being controlled” — present passive indicative of damazw; “and has been controlled” — perfect passive indicative of the same verb, damazw — “by the essence belonging to man” — literal translation. “Essence” means his soul, not his physical strength. In his soul man has devised ways to control, to subdue and to tame lower creation. But from the essence of his soul he has not devised any way to control his tongue.

Translation: “For every species of animals, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of marine life, is being controlled, and has been controlled by the essence belonging to man.”

Verse 8 — “But” is the particle de used as a conjunction of contrast, the contrast between man being able to subdue and control wild and dangerous creatures of the lower creation but not able to subdue, tame or control his own tongue; “the tongue” — accusative singular of the noun glwssa. Notice in the King James version it says “But the tongue can no man tame.” By putting “tongue” first it is deprived of its case, it’s case is accusative. The accusative case is the object of the verb in the Greek, so it should read literally, “But no one of mankind is able to tame the tongue.” The tongue should really come last in the sentence. The word “can” is the present active indicative of dunamai, but it has a negative and it means “not able,” “no ability.” “No man” is literally “No one.”

“to tame” — the aorist active infinitive of damazw. “But no one of mankind is able to tame the tongue.” Then we have “an unruly evil.” We have a compound noun a)katastasoj, it means unstable or restless, not unruly. The word kakoj is “evil” — “the tongue an unstable, restless evil.”

“full of” — mestoj, which means “filled with”; “deadly,” which is literally, “death-carrying” — a noun which is in the compound form qanathforoj. Foroj means “full of,” it also means “to carry”; qanatoj means “dead.” We should translate this “death-causing” or “death-bringing” poison. The Greek word for “poison” is i)oj.

Translation: “But no one of mankind is able to tame [control] the tongue; an unstable, restless evil, filled with death-bringing venom.”

Summary

1. In this analogy the mental attitude sins are the venom while the tongue is the fang which carries the venom to the victim.

2. The sins of the tongue manifest the restless instability of reversionism. Remember that in reversionism there are wide emotional swings, wide mental swings. That is why a reversionist praises a person one minutes and curses them the next. Reversionism is characterised by instability.

3. The sins of gossip, maligning, judging, manifest the reversionistic status quo in contrast to the mature believer with an ECS.

4. The mature believer with an ECS avoids the sins of the tongue.

5. His tongue does that for which is was designed. It expresses capacity for life, enthusiasm for life, love in all of its categories.

Verses 9 and 10: the tongue in reversionism.

Verse 9 — the word “Therewith” is an old English word and it doesn’t mean a thing to most people. It is a prepositional phrase in the Greek — e)n plus the instrumental of a)utoj, a reflexive pronoun. It should be translated, “By means of this.” In other words, “By means of the tongue.”

Next we have “bless we,” the present active indicative of e)ulogew, which can be translated here “speak well” — “of the Lord and Father,” a bona fide function of the tongue. It also can be the function of the tongue of a believer in reversionism trying to make points for blessing.

“and therewith [by means of this tongue] we keep on cursing” — kataraomai, which means to wish evil on someone, to curse someone, to condemn someone, to execrate. To execrate is more than just cursing, it can be maligning or judging.

“By means of this tongue we praise [extol, speak well of] the Lord and the Father; and by means of this tongue we keep on execrating mankind.”

So the tongue, then, portrays the principle of reversionism.

The doctrine of the sins of the tongue

1. Like all sins in this category the sins of the tongue emanate from the old sin nature — Psalm 34:13; James 3:6.

2. The sin of the tongue are motivated and sponsored by mental attitude sins, especially pride, jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, hatred — Psalm 5:9.

3. Out of the list of the seven worst sins, the seven sins that God abominates, three are sins of the tongue — Proverbs 6:16-19.

4. The sins of the tongue produce triple compound divine discipline — Matthew 7:1,2; Psalm 64:8.

5. Continuation of the sins of the tongue, or the habitual function of the sins of the tongue, is a sign of reversionism. This can eventuate in the sin unto death or maximum divine discipline — Psalm 12:3.

6. God protects and blesses the believer who is victimised by the sins of the tongue — Job 5:19-21.

7. Control of the tongue is a sign of the possession of the ECS, or beyond the ECS, the supergrace life — James 3:2.

8. The tongue in reverse process reversionism can produce enough slander, gossip, maligning, judging, to destroy an entire congregation — James 3:5,6.

9. Since the sins of the tongue can destroy an entire congregation of believers it is the duty of the pastor to constantly warn against them — 2 Timothy 2:14-17.

10. Troublemakers are characterised by sins of the tongue — Psalm 52:2. Believers are specifically commanded to avoid such troublemakers and separate from them — Romans 16:17,18.

11. The believer can actually lengthen his life and find great inner happiness by avoiding the sins of the tongue — Psalm 34:12,13.

“which are made” — perfect active participle of ginomai. Ginomai means to become. In the perfect tense it means having become, or having come into being in this case.

“after the similitude” is the preposition kata plus o(moiwsij. O(moiwsij actually has a double connotation. First of all, it means all mankind has the same essence of the soul, invisible but real. In other words, all of us in essence have the same. We do not use it in the same way. Secondly, each member of the human race, with the same soul essence, has a different personality, different character, so that he is distinct from all other members of the human race. In other words, all members of the human race are one in essence but many in personality and character, just as the Father, the Son and the Spirit are one in essence but are different in personality.

Translation: “By means of this tongue we praise [speak well] of the Lord and the Father; and by means of this tongue we keep on execrating mankind, having come into being according to the likeness of God.”

Verse 10 — “Out of the same mouth.” Here is the paradox. This emphasises the issue of reverse process reversionism. In its function we have a paradox, we have inconsistency, instability — “proceedeth,” the present middle indicative of e)cerxomai which means it comes out. The best translation is the word “emanates.”

“blessing and cursing” — e)ulogia for blessing, katara for cursing. “Out from the same mouth itself emanates blessing and cursing.” That is reverse process reversionism. The tongue is designed for blessing but from it emanates cursing. This is the instability of the tongue.

This calls for a conclusion after these illustrations, after the statement of the paradox of reverse process reversionism. “My brethren” — a)delfoi mou; “these things” — a reference to the reverse process reversionism expressed through the sins of the tongue — “ought not,” which is not quite correct. We have an impersonal verb here, xrh plus the negative o)u. An impersonal verb and its strong negative more like “there is no need.” “My brethren, there is no need for these things.” Then we have “to be,” but it is ginomai — present middle infinitive, to come to pass, literally. “My brethren, there is no need for these things to come to pass in this manner.”

Translation: “Out from the same mouth itself comes blessing and cursing. My brethren, there is no need for these things to come to pass in this manner.”

In other words, there is an answer for this: the erection of an edification complex in the soul, the continuation of GAP after the erection of the ECS. Beyond the ECS is the supergrace life and it offsets this type of thing.

Verse 11 — “Doth” is an interrogative — mhti. It means “does” and sets up a series of questions. The word mh means that these questions only have one answer. These are rhetorical questions, questions to illustrate, to teach; not questions to which answers are sought. The answer is already expressed before the question is asked.

The word “fountain” is phgh and means a well, usually a well related to a spring. Then we have the words “send forth,” the present active indicative of bruw which means to emit. “Does the well emit out of the Same opening,” and then we have the word for “sweet,” glukuj. The word for “bitter” pikroj and it refers to the water of the well. Literally: “Does the well emit out of the same opening sweet water and bitter water.” In other words, this rhetorical question establishes an illustration that you cannot get bitter and sweet water from the same well. A spring is consistent in the type of water that comes from it. The principle is established that while nature is always consistent the believer in reversionism is very inconsistent. His inconsistency and instability is best expressed by use of the tongue.

Verse 12 — “Can” is the present active indicative of dunamai which means to be able. There is a negative mh with it. In this case the negative mh expects a negative answer. It should be translated “My brethren, can the fig tree bear [produce] olives?” The answer is no. The negative mh indicates that you must have a negative answer. The fig tree is the second illustration of reverse process reversionism. The word for “bear” here is poiew which means to produce.

There is more than meets the eye here because the fig tree is the national tree of Israel. In Isaiah we actually have the Jews portrayed as a fig tree. The olive tree is the national tree of the Greeks and in effect it is saying it is not possible for a fig tree to produce olives any more than it is possible for a Jewish mother and a Jewish father to have a Greek child.

“either a vine, figs?” — a vine is supposed to bring forth grapes. The believer is designed to produce compatibility with Bible doctrine and the laws of establishment, hence we have two good illustrations of reverse process reversionism. One pertains to the spiritual realm; one pertains to the laws of divine establishment.

This is followed by a statement: “so,” o)ute — “neither,” and there is no word for ‘fountain’ — “can salt water produce fresh.”

Verse 13 — we have a question. “Who is a wise man?” Tij sofoj is the whole question. This is really the first true question, the other have been rhetorical. Sofoj is used here in a very technical sense: wisdom in the absolute sense of divine origin and content. In other words, it is a reference to maximum doctrine in the right lobe, a completed ECS, and putting the two things together in the function of the supergrace life. “Who is a supergrace type?” And for the supergrace type we have “endued with knowledge.” There is one word for this in the Greek, e)pisthmwn which actually means to be a master of a subject, an expert in the field of doctrine. So we have “Who is a supergrace type and an expert in the field of doctrine among you?” In other words, only the supergrace believer will be consistent in the use of his tongue. There is consistency as well as great happiness in the supergrace life.

“let him show” — aorist active imperative of deiknumi. Deiknumi means to demonstrate, “let him demonstrate from an honourable manner of life.” The supergrace life is an honourable manner of life.

“his production” — ta e)rga. “Who is a supergrace and [doctrinal] expert among you? let him demonstrate his production from an honourable manner of life.” He will do so with grace orientation described by the phrase “meekness” — e)n plus prauthj, which does not mean self-effacement, it means grace orientation in the mind — “in the sphere of grace orientation of wisdom.” The word for “wisdom” is sofia, rather than sofoj, and it means “insight” into spiritual things as a part of the supergrace life.

Translation: “Who is wise and understanding among you and an expert in doctrine among you? demonstrate his production [Production is the follow-through in the Christian life. No Bible doctrine; no follow-through] from an honourable manner of life in the sphere of grace orientation application.”

The doctrine of reversionism

1. Reversionism is a believer retrogressing from an ECS to a state of total apostasy, including scar tissue and emotional revolt. In the process the ECS is destroyed. The process always begins with neglect of Bible doctrine — negative volition toward doctrine. In addition to this there is also a reversionism for the unbeliever, described in 2 Peter 2:17-22 — departing from the laws of divine establishment rather than departing from doctrine.

2. 1 Corinthians 10:12 is the principle of getting into reversionism. The person who gets into reversionism assumes that he has learned all that there is to learn or assumes that there is nothing more for him to know. A more detailed account of how you get into reversionism is found in Romans 6:16-23. The believer does not simply turn his back on doctrine when he enters into reversionism, he simply neglects it.

3. Illustrations: The Exodus generation — Exodus 17:3; Psalm 77; The Mizpah remnant of Jeremiah’s time under the governorship of Gedeliah — Jeremiah chapters 42,43, and 44; the Corinthian church in Paul’s day — 2 Corinthians chapters 10 and 11.

4. Galatians 5:4, the principle of reversionism is in the phrase “fallen from grace.” “Christ” does not occur at the beginning of the Greek sentence. Instead we have a verb first, the verb “become of no effect” — the aorist passive indicative of katargew. It is a compound: kata means norm or standard; argew means to be unemployed. It means to look at life from the standpoint of a person who is unemployed and doesn’t want to be employed. It finally comes to be null and void in the sense of being useless, powerless, unprofitable and non-productive. So this is addressed to reversionists in Galatia and it begins by saying, “You reversionists have become null and void.” The aorist tense here is a constative aorist, it is a process, it gathers up into one ball of wax, “you all have become null and void.” The passive voice: once you go negative toward doctrine the thing becomes a process. you receive. The indicative mood is the reality of reversionism in the Galatian churches. Next we have “whosoever,” the relative pronoun o(stij, and is probably a little more literally “whoever.” “Of you” is not found in the original — “are justified,” the present passive indicative of dikaiow which means to be vindicated — “whosoever are being vindicated.” “By the law” is e)n plus the instrumental of nomoj which is “By means of the law.” In other words, the Galatians had started out under justification by faith in Christ, had learned enough of the realm of doctrine to receive an ECS. The Judaisers came along and infiltrated the Galatian churches and told them they had to keep the law in order to be saved, and therefore they went for this doctrine. Since then they have neglected doctrine to the point of reversionism. Literally, “You all have become null and void [useless, powerless, unprofitable, non-productive]..” Then we should have “Christ” next but “Christ” is the object of the preposition of ultimate source, a)po. We have a)po plus Xristoj and it should be “from the ultimate source of Christ” — “You have become null and void from the ultimate source of Christ whoever are being justified [or vindicated] by means of the law.” The final phrase is “ye are fallen” — aorist active indicative of e)kpiptw. Piptw means to fall, e)k means out or away from or off from. It was a nautical term in the Greek world and was used for getting off course. That is exactly the way it is used here. It means to drift off course. Again we have the aorist tense of this which is the point of reversionism. The active voice: the believer goes negative toward doctrine with resultant scar tissue, blackout of the soul, emotional revolt and reversionism. The indicative mood is the reality of reversionism. “You have drifted off course from grace.” The supergrace life gives occupation with Christ; the Galatians have moved away from it. Reversionism is drifting off course from grace, it does not mean loss of salvation.

5. Reversionism rejects the authority of Bible teaching. Moses was one of the greatest Bible teachers of all time. His authority was rejected by the reversionistic believers of Israel — Exodus 16:20; 17:3; Numbers 11:5. Jeremiah, the greatest Bible teacher among the prophets — his authority was rejected — Jeremiah 44:16. Paul’s authority was rejected by the Corinthian church — 2 Corinthians 6:11,12 and the entire chapters seven, ten, and eleven. In other words, believers who sat under this the greatest Bible teacher of all rejected his teaching. Judas Iscariot is a good illustration of an unbeliever in reversionism, he rejected the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ.

6. In reversionism the believer uses mental attitude sins to perpetuate carnality. In other words, when a person starts to go into reversionism he can find out in two ways. One is the sins of the tongue, the other is the mental attitude sinning. Once a believer goes into reversionism his mental attitude sins contaminate others. Hebrews 12:15, “Looking diligently” — present active participle of e)piskopew. Skopew means to look, e)pi means “upon, overlook.” Actually this is a military term for the inspector general. It means to make an inspection when it is involving others. It was used in a military sense, the inspector general’s department making an annual inspection, but when it is used for an individual as it is in this present active participle it means to take the responsibility for yourself. Every believer must take responsibility for himself. This is a part of his priesthood and a part of his ambassadorship. “Lest” introduces a negative purpose clause — “no one fail.” The present active participle of u(sterew means to fall short and it means here to go into reversionism, to fall short, to get below standard. The word “of” is a)po, the preposition of ultimate source. The object of the preposition is xarij — “grace.” “Lest anyone fall short from the ultimate source of the grace of God,” i.e. reversionism. The best translation for u(sterew here is “failing.” it is linear aktionsart and means to constantly fail.

There is a second negative purpose clause. When a believer starts to enter into reversionism he is plagued by mental attitude sins. Ordinarily he isn’t jealous but he becomes jealous; ordinarily he has an excellent disposition but he becomes vindictive and implacable. Ordinarily he is a relaxed, grace-type person, and he develops the intensity of pride. So that one way or another mental attitude sins reflect very quickly and act as a gauge, they warn that something is going on. These are warning signals that he is failing from the ultimate source of the grace of God. And that isn’t all. These mental attitude sins are liked a burned down cigarette in chain smoking. A person burns down one cigarette and lights one cigarette on another cigarette. That is called chain smoking. The one cigarette that is burned down is going to be called a “root.” “Lest any root of bitterness.” You get a root by getting a seed in the ground. The seed dies and then sprouts until eventually it becomes a strong root. Mental attitude sins sprout from the seed that dies. A sin which is committed can be dealt with by rebound, confession, so the sin is blotted out — equivalent to the seed dying. But being in reversionism a believer gets into operation overthink. He begins to think about that other person against whom he committed the sin, but in a vicious way — jealousy, bitterness, implacability, antagonism. And so in operation overthink he starts to sprout. This is chain sinning, mental attitude sins. The sin is blotted out, he is supposed to forget it, but he didn’t because he is reversionistic and in operation overthink. In the backlash and the reaction of overthink he sprouts mental attitude sin clusters. Bitterness is not one sin, it is a cluster of sins. It is always accompanied by implacability, vindictiveness. So he sprouts these things and up comes the bush, the tree, whatever it is. And here is a series of monsters based upon mental attitude sins. The root of bitterness sprouting is a sign of reversionism.

When a believer goes into reversionism and gets into chain sinning, mental attitude reaction and backlash, first of all he brings misery on himself — “you are troubled,” present active subjunctive of e)noxlew which means he is personally troubled — self-induced misery “and thereby [through this] many [the people in his periphery] be defiled.”

7. The biblical nomenclature for reversionism.

a. Drifting off-course from grace — Galatians 5:4.

b. Not one person failing from the ultimate source of the grace of God — Hebrews 12:15.

c. The uncircumcised of heart — Jeremiah 9:25,26.

d. The tortured soul of 2 Peter 2:7,8.

e. The unstable soul of 2 Peter 2:14.

f. Lukewarm — Revelation 3:15,16.

g. The enemy of the cross — Philippians 3:18.

h. Leaving your first love — Revelation 2:4.

i. Fallen — Revelation 2:5.

8. The recipients of the epistle to the Hebrews were involved in reversionism — Hebrews 5:11-14. Being in reversionism they could not understand the doctrines of the high-priesthood of Christ and the universal priesthood of the believer. So reversionism cuts a person of from certain types of advanced doctrines of the Christian life.

9. Reversion recovery is impossible apart from the daily function of GAP in the field of basic doctrine — Hebrews 6:1-3; Revelation 3:19-20.

10. Reversion recovery is impossible apart from separation from apostasy — Hebrews 6:4-6.

11. Reversion leads to perversion — Romans 1:26-27 — and produces national disintegration — Romans 1:29-32.

12. Reversion intensifies suffering; it leads to occupation with suffering — Psalm 77.

Verse 14 — reversionism cannot produce. “But” is a particle — de, used as a conjunction of contrast. We start out with a conjunction to show that we are no longer talking about the honourable life, we are talking about a manifestation of the dishonourable life which is reversionism. And we begin with a first class condition, “But if.” “If” is e)i plus the indicative. “ If and it is true,” says the protasis; “ye have” — present active indicative of e)xw, to have and hold or possess; “bitter jealousy” — pikroj is an adjective to describe jealousy. Pikroj, the word for bitter, in itself is a mental attitude sin in adjective form. Jealousy is always encompassed in bitterness. The word “jealousy” itself [“envying” in the KJV], is zhloj. “If you have bitter jealousy [and you do].” Jealousy always produces something — strife. It leads to the sins of the tongue. For “strife: we have e)riqeia which means contentiousness. “Strife” is not the best word. Strife means an overt fight. It should be “jealousy and contentiousness.” Contentiousness is in the mind and implies looking for a fight. It is a mental attitude of looking for a fight, an opportunity to hurt. All of this is said to be located “in your hearts” — e)n th kardia u(mwn refers to the right lobe, the mentality of the soul. The left lobe is called the mind, the right lobe is called the heart. The heart has the frame of reference, memory centre, vocabulary, categories, norms and standards, launching pad. “But if you have bitter jealousy and contentiousness in your heart [and you do]...”

The next verb “glory not” is the present middle imperative of kauxaomai which means to boast. The present tense plus the imperative means “stop doing something you are doing.” The middle voice says that you yourself have to make a series of decisions to stop it. So literally, “stop boasting” — “and stop lying,” the present middle imperative of yeudw. A person in reversionism does two things always. He is trying to make himself out to be honourable. To do so on the one hand he must boast — the whitewash — as if he was still in supergrace, and his boasting is lying.

Next we have “against the truth” — kata plus alhqeia. A)lhqeia sometimes means doctrine and sometimes it means what are the true facts of the case. Here it is “lying against what is true.” Boasting exaggerates. In the case of lying a talebearer doesn’t tell you the truth because if he did he would look bad. A talebearer who is boasting can only tell you lies, he has to look good. He has to cover his dishonour in reversionism with whitewash, and to do this he must boast and lie against what is true. The facts do not interest him, his hypersensitivity demands attention.

Translation: “But of you have [and possess] bitter jealousy and contentiousness in your right lobe, stop boasting, and stop lying against what is true.”

In anticipation of verse 15

1. Since the believer’s body is the temple of the Holy Spirit he cannot be demon possessed.

2. However, the believer can be indwelt with the doctrines of demons — 1 Timothy 4:1.

3. This doctrine of demons infiltrates the soul of the reversionistic believer. It is a gradual process beginning with the first neglect of doctrine — indifference.

4. Negative volition toward doctrine produces scar tissue on the left bank and on the right bank of the soul.

Verse 15 — boasting and lying against the truth is “This wisdom” — a)uth h( swfia. Swfia is sometimes used for the ECS, but when you destroy the ECS the devil puts up a pseudo ECS, and so swfia is a pseudo ECS here. So “this wisdom” is the application of demonic doctrine to experience. “This wisdom is not,” says James, “from above” — present active indicative of e)imi plus the strong negative o)uk, and then the adverb a)nwqen — “from above,” a very strong adverb for the presence of God. But this is not from above, this is false doctrine. And what is the source of this doctrine comes through mataiwthj? “This wisdom [demon doctrine] is not descending from above.” We have a present active participle here of katerxomai which means to go down or descend.

“but” — a)lla, a true conjunction which describes now the true characteristics of reversionism. The viewpoint and the wisdom of reversionism is three things. In our English Bible we have “earthly, sensual, devilish.” The first word is correctly translated, an adjective translated like an adverb, but that is all right — e)pigeioj. Geioj is “earth”; e)pi is “upon.” So it should be translated, “this wisdom is upon the earth.” The devil is the ruler of this world and any doctrine he has is here, it isn’t in heaven. The earth is the devil’s kingdom, this wisdom belongs to his kingdom. It is the wisdom of reversionism. The next word is “sensual” — yuxikoj which means “soulish.” This doctrine is found in the souls of unbelievers because they belong to the devil, unless the unbeliever is loaded up with establishment. The next word is an adjective, translated “devilish” — daimoniwdhj, it actually means “coming from demons.”

Translation: “This wisdom [demon doctrine] is not descending from above, but on the earth, soulish, coming from demons.”

Verse 16 — the instability of reversionism. “For” — the illitive use of the particle gar, which means it introduces a reason. Why all this? Because we are trying to explain that the motivation of a reversionistic believer is jealousy. Next we have “where,” the adverb o(pou which means “in what place” — “jealousy and contentiousness.” Next we have another adverb — “there,” e)kei, “in that place,” in the reversionistic soul. Hence the place where the reversionists gather is the place where jealousy and contentiousness exist; “confusion” — wrong. There is no “confusion” there, it is a)katastasia which is “instability” or “wide emotional swings.”

“and every evil work” — kai pan faulon pragma, which is literally, “every vile practice.”

Translation: “For in what place [the soul of the reversionist] jealousy and contentiousness, there [in the soul of the reversionist] instability and every vile practice.”

Verse 17 — we have a contrast from the previous verse. We have the particle de used as an adversative conjunction or a conjunction of contrast. We begin now with a contrast between the instability and anarchy of the reversionistic believer and the stability of the believer who has an ECS.

Next we have “wisdom” [the words “that is” are not found here] is the Greek word swfia, and is used here in the sense of Bible doctrine in the soul of a believer who is mature. This wisdom “from above” is Bible doctrine in the soul of the mature believer. “From above” is an adverb, a)nwqen, refers to the ECS plus maximum doctrinal intake.

Next we have the verb to be, “is,” the present active indicative of e)imi — “But the wisdom from above keeps on being.” Then we have “pure,” a nominative feminine singular noun A(gnoj, a word which describes deity and everything that belongs to it. Here it is a technical reference to the ECS and the supergrace life. It is not “pure” simply in the sense of morality but it means pure in the sense of the function of the plan of God, the capacity to receive and to utilise a maximum amount of grace from God. God’s grace has to have a place to go and it goes in the direction of capacity. So it is purity in the sense of maximum capacity.

“then peaceable” — nominative feminine singular from e)ihnikoj which means producing inner benefits. The word “gentle” means reasonable. By reasonable is mean a grace response to different situations in life. It is the antithesis of implacability — “easy to be entreated,” the adjective e)upeiqhj which means “teachable”; “full of mercy” means the extensive use of grace, the function of grace in action; “good fruits” is literally divine good production; “without partiality” is literally “impartial”; “without hypocrisy” — the supergrace life frees the individual from being phoney. The key is freedom. The person without hypocrisy is free.

“But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, producing inner benefit, reasonable, teachable, filled with mercy, filled with divine good production, impartial, and without hypocrisy.”

Verse 18 — the final phraseology of this chapter which prepares us for the next. “The fruit of righteousness” does not refer to fruit but a harvest, and the fruit of righteousness is literally, “Now the harvest of the ECS,” which is the subject of the next chapter.

“is sown” is the present passive indicative of speirw; “in peace” — the sowing here is taking in the Word of God daily. That is the sowing which results in the erection of the ECS. The word for “peace” here means benefit or welfare — E)irhnh. So the harvest of the ECS is sown in benefit. There is no more beneficial thing in the world than Bible doctrine.

“to the ones producing benefit” — poiew in the present active participle, referring to the one thing you can do in the Christian life. The word means to make or to do, or to produce. You can take in Bible doctrine and you are producing for yourself benefit at the moment but also benefit in the future. The benefits are not always obvious at the time of the teaching but they will come later.

“Now the harvest of the ECS is sown in benefit to the ones producing benefit.” The ones producing benefit are the ones who stick with Bible doctrine.