Chapter 4

Outline:

The hindrance to supergrace, verses 1-5

The principle of supergrace, verses 6-10

The production of supergrace, verses 11-17

Verse 1 — the hindrance of reversionism. “From whence” — an interrogative adverb poqen. It can be used specifically three ways. It is used in the scripture locally and translated “from what place” or “from where.” It is also used as to origin and translated “from what source.” It is also used as cause: “how,” or reason: “why.” We actually have the second here and it should be translated “From what source.” There is no verb here and the absence of a verb gives great intensity to this first verse. Here is the great hindrance to living the supergrace life.

“wars” — the nominative plural of polemoj, a classical Greek word for warfare on a mass scale, such as an armed conflict between nations. It is also, therefore, used in a strategical sense. But there is one thing specifically that rules out warfare in this passage, a prepositional phrase e)n u(mwn — “among you.” “Among you” immediately qualifies “wars.” This is addressed to believers. Specifically they are Jews who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and have received Him as saviour. The epistle to the Hebrews was written to reversionistic Jewish believers in Palestine. The epistle of James was written to reversionistic Jewish believers outside of Palestine. it is written to Christians. Among you” refers to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. “From what source [not wars] conflicts.” Whenever this is limited to a group of people who do not have armies that go to war then it also has another meaning. In fact this is the general meaning of polemoj in the Koine Greek as over against the Attic Greek. It refers here to fighting or quarreling where a lot of people are involved. In other words, a church brawl. This should be translated then: “From what source conflicts among believers.” These conflicts exists when believers enter into reversionism and seek to gratify their approbation and power lust by overthrowing or superseding the authority in a local church.

There is another word but the only trouble with it is that there are some other words in front of it not translated. We have a phrase — kai poqen maxai. Maxai refers to individual combat, it has a tactical connotation in the classical Greek and as it comes into the Koine Greek it has the idea of a squabble between two people. Polemoj is a donnybrook between a lot of people. So literally we have up to this point, “What is the source of conflicts and what is the source of quarrels among you [believers].” This is a source question. Why do churches fight? Why do churches split? Why do groups of believers split off from other believers after they have had the most vicious type of fighting? The next two words, “not hence.” We have a strong Greek negative o)uk plus e)nteuqen. E)nteuqen is used to indicate the reason for the source. A literal translation would be “is not the source,” and then we have “of your lust” which is a bad translation. We do not have the word for “lust” here. The word for lust is e)piqumia and it isn’t found here. Instead we find another word which should not be translated lust — h(donh, which is in the ablative plural here. The ablative is the case of source and was preceded by the preposition e)k. What does h(donh mean? Originally in the Attic Greek meant sensual pleasure. It also meant gratification and pleasures by which one seeks his happiness, either good or bad. But the word eventually in the Koine Greek came to have a critical meaning and it is a technical word for a frantic search for happiness through pleasure. Literally then, “What is the source of conflicts and what is the source of quarrels among you [as believers]? Is not the search out from your frantic search for happiness through pleasures?”

And now James further explains, “pleasures that war in your members.” And that is wrong too. The word “war” is all right, it is a present middle participle of strateuw in the ablative case because it matches the previous ablative h(donh. It means here “struggling” or “contending.” It is followed by “in your members” — e)n plus the locative plural of meloj which means “parts.” Also we have a possessive pronoun in the genitive case in the plural, so it should be “contending in the parts of your..” It is without swma or sarc and it refers to the soul.

Here is a perfect description of reversionism. A frantic search for happiness is the key to reversionism here, it is the result of going negative toward Bible doctrine. Negative volition toward doctrine puts scar tissue on the left bank of the soul. The frantic search for happiness and the subsequent blackout of the soul lead to warfare in the soul, described by the ablative plural of the present middle participle strateuw. The war in the parts of the soul results in emotional revolt, reversionism, and the practice of reverse process reversionism. Under reversionism and the practice of reverse process reversionism the conflicts and the wars among believers are intensified, and this become a major hindrance to the function of the supergrace life. In strateuw we not only have the present tense, linear aktionsart, the warfare continues in the soul, but the middle voice gives us a very interesting principle. We have a direct middle which is reflexive and each part itself intensely warfares in the soul resulting in outer conflict as well.

Verse 2 — hindrances through the principle of reverse process reversionism. “Ye lust” — and this really means to lust. It is the present active indicative of the verb e)piqumew and it means to lust, “You keep on lusting.” This refers to the lust pattern of the old sin nature: approbation lust, power lust, materialism lust, lasciviousness, and even the wander lust. This is describing a reversionistic believer. It is not necessary that people keep on lusting but a believer in reversionism is constantly in a state of lust which gives him wide emotional swings.

This lusting doesn’t change anything — “and you have not,” the present active indicative of e)xw plus the strong negative o)uk. That is frustration from the lust pattern. Reversionists are always frustrated.

“ye kill” — not correctly translated. It is the present active indicative of foneuw which refers to homicide, not legitimate killing (the function of the law and the exercise of capital punishment — Romans 13:4; Genesis 9:6; or the function of a soldier representing his country killing the enemy). So, “ye murder.” Here is a believer in reversionism.

“and desire” — bad translation. It is the present active indicative of zhlow which does not mean to desire, it means to be jealous. There is a principle here. Jealousy takes things by violence, murder takes things by violence, and that is why they have something in common. Jealous people are violent in their jealousy. In other words, we are talking about trying to get something that you want by violence, and we are talking about a believer in reversionism.

“and cannot obtain” — almost a good translation. “Cannot” is the present active indicative of dunamai plus the negative, which means you are not able. And then we have the aorist active infinitive of e)pitugxanw. The word means to obtain or acquire. You lust and are jealous but are not able to acquire; you murder but you are not able to acquire. A believer in reversionism wants self-gratification through some form of pleasure but the very thing that he seeks he destroys by his violence. Violence in the mind: jealousy; violence physically: murder.

Summary

1) This verse describes up to this point the pattern of frustration in reversionism. A reversionistic believer wants certain things, and there are certain pleasures by which he thinks he can be happy. Therefore he goes all out for these pleasures. But if he gets them, there are two things that can happen: by violence he will lose it; or, he will actually obtain what he wants by violence but he won’t have anything when he has it. This is a pattern of a believer in reversionism seeking happiness.

2) Anything we acquire through our action of lust, murder, or jealousy is not worth having whether it is people, things or power.

3) If you have to lust for it, if you have to kill for it, or if you have to be jealous for it, it will never make you happy.

4) No matter how hard you try or to what lengths you go, whatever you obtain in reversionism or through reversionism is not worth having.

5) Reversionism may express itself in lust, murder, or jealousy but what reversion obtains will never make a believer happy, only miserable.

6) It may be money, fame, or the opposite sex, but no happiness comes to the believer through that which is acquired through reversionism. (Remember that jealousy is a sign if reversionism)

7) You cannot recover from reversionism and rebuild the ECS, entering into the supergrace life, while seeking happiness or blessing while in reversionism. In fact you can’t have happiness once you are saved, apart from Bible doctrine.

“ye fight and war” — “fight” is the present middle indicative of maxomai. Maxomai means to quarrel or to dispute (between two people); “and war,” a present active indicative of polemew (between a lot of people). Literally, “you quarrel and fight.”

The present middle indicative of maxomai means that when you are fighting with one person you cannot be benefited. The present active indicative of polemew, which means that when you enter into a donnybrook that involves others, you’ve had it.

Summary

1) The frustration of reverse process reversionism produces factions and antagonisms — you quarrel and fight.

2) These factions cause believers to establish themselves as an authority.

3) Such believers often quote doctrine or scripture in distortion to attack the authority of a pastor-teacher.

4) Jealousy which is the sign of reversionism is also the motivator.

5) Jealousy causes the reversionistic believer to learn or to quote doctrine and scripture which appears to discredit the pastor or his authority.

6) The reversionist gains adherents on the basis of the doctrines or scriptures which he distorts. Those who adhere are not aware of the jealousy, they are only aware that someone has sold them a package by distorting doctrine. Result: There is revolt or the challenge of authority in a congregation. There is quarreling and fighting.

Next we have some anticipation. “Yet” is not found in this passage. The grace principle is introduced without a conjunction, without a particle, and without an adverb. Under supergrace the believer can ask and acquire. This is not really a principle on prayer, this is the principle of acquiring things. Here we have had a verse and a half on people who cannot acquire what they want. These people are all mixed up in their reversionism and they just go around causing problems, seeking something which they will never have. Now, all of a sudden we switch to the supergrace believer in principle, because the supergrace believer can ask and always have. Here is this verse this is addressed to the reversionist — “you have not because you asked not.” Under supergrace the believer can ask and have. What is acquired under supergrace is worth having. What is asked for under reversionism is not received because it is not worth having.

Here is a supergrace principle. “Ye have not” — present active indicative of e)xw plus o)uk. Then we have “because ye ask not.” “Because” is the preposition dia plus the accusative of a personal pronoun, su. It is translated “because.” The word “ye [you]” is accusative plural — “you all,” and then a present middle infinitive of a)itew, which means to ask — “you do not have because you do not ask” is the correct translation.

Literally: “You lust, and do not have: you murder, and are jealous, but you are not able to acquire; you fight and you quarrel, but under supergrace you do not have because you do not ask.” Under supergrace you ask and you have, but under reversionism you murder, you are jealous, you lust, and you never do have. Under supergrace, if you don’t have it is because you didn’t ask for it.

Summary

1) Under reverse process reversionism the believer will lust, murder, be jealous, without ever having or acquiring.

2) He can fight or quarrel to gain authority but he will never have it.

3) He can lust for a woman and never have her; she can lust for a man and never have him.

4) He can be jealous and never acquire; she can be jealous and never obtain.

5) believers can quarrel and fight for fame or authority and never obtain.

6) But recovery from reversionism through doctrine, the erection of the ECS, and the entrance into the supergrace life, always bring a phenomenal change. You get everything you ever wanted, and then some.

7) Therefore, under supergrace the believer doesn’t have it because he didn’t ask for it.

8) Under reversionism he can lust, kill, be jealous, fight, quarrel, but he will never have it. But if it is obtained through killing, lusting, jealousy, he still has nothing. But when you ask for nothing under supergrace it is something. Therefore under reversionism something is nothing, but under supergrace nothing is something.

Verse 3 — not all reversionists use violence and strife to satisfy their lust. There are some who distort spiritual principles like prayer to gratify their desires under reversionism and emotional revolt. Therefore they do not ask and receive because under reversionism they are distorting prayer, abusing prayer, to gain some end. If you use prayer to satisfy your lust you are not using prayer properly.

“Ye ask” — present active indicative of a)itew. Literally, “You keep on asking”; “and you receive not” — present active indicative of lambanw plus the negative. Why? — “because,” dioti — “ye ask.” Notice there is one change here, the present middle indicative of a)itew. The present tense is linear aktionsart but the middle voice is indirect middle, which means you ask for yourselves, again strengthening the idea of lust: “because you keep on asking for yourselves.” Here is the believer in reversionism. Then we have the word “amiss” which is the adverb kakwj, which means “evily” or “wickedly.” In other words, this is the adverb describing reversionism. Here is the believer in reversionism using the nonviolent way to gratify his lust. However, the purpose is the same as the believer in reversionism in the previous verse trying to gratify his lust through violence.

“that” introduces a purpose clause — i(na plus the subjunctive. No matter what system they use all reversionists seek to gratify lust.

“ye may consume” — dapanaw means to squander. It is a constative aorist. The active voice: the reversionistic believer produces the action of the verb which is squandering in a frantic search for happiness through pleasure. The subjunctive mood indicates the purpose clause. Next we have, one more time, the preposition e)n plus the locative of h(donh.

“You keep on asking, and you do not receive, because you keep on asking for yourselves evily [in reversionism], that you may squander it in your frantic search for happiness through pleasure.”

Verse 4 — the word “adulterers” does not occur in the original. The verse begins “Ye adulteresses.” This brings us in verses 4 and 5 to hindrance through the function of reverse process reversionism. “Ye adulteresses” is the vocative plural from moixalij. It is feminine. There is only one vocative. We do not have “Ye adulterers and adulteresses.” The reason we have this in the feminine vocative plural is because a believer in reversionism is an adulteress. All believers are members of the body of Christ in the Church Age. Jesus Christ in the analogy is the right man and we as believers the right woman. He initiates His love to us through Bible doctrine; we respond through the daily function of GAP. As we respond we initiate in the field of grace. This is called initiation and counter initiation which is a part of the right man, right woman relationship in category #2 love, and becomes the illustration and the analogy for our relationship with Jesus Christ under category #1 love. So adulteress refers to a Church Age believer in reversionism practicing reverse process reversionism.

Now we have the principle after the vocative — “know ye not,” the perfect o)ida used as a present tense plus the negative o)uk. This is used for a challenge to believers who are in reversionism and should be reversing and getting out, or those on the verge, “that” — the conjunction o(ti used after a verb of knowing or perception to indicate the content of the principle of doctrine which is now applicable. The principle is now stated: “Friendship,” the noun is filia, a feminine noun for the believer in reversionism described as the adulterous. It is the strongest word for love and rather than translate it “friendship” it refers to pseudo love fanaticism as a part of the practice of reverse process reversionism; “love of the world” — the genitive of kosmoj, which describes Satan’s kingdom. This is a genitive of description. In a genitive of description the objects of pseudo love in reverse process reversionism are defined and described under the concept of the kingdom of Satan.

“is” — present active indicative of e)imi, the absolute status quo verb. Then we have the word “enmity” which is the Greek noun e)xqra, and it really means alienation. it is exactly the same concept as we have in Philippians 3:18 where the reversionist is called the enemy of the cross. Here and throughout this passage the reversionist will be called the enemy of God. Next we have “with God” in the English, but this is the ablative singular of qeoj plus the definite article, “alienation from the source of the God.”

Literally, “You adulteresses [believers in reversionism], do you now know that the love of the world keeps on being alienation from the source of the God.”

Summary

1. The world or the kosmoj is the devil’s kingdom on earth.

2. The fall of the first Adam was the devil’s coup de tat by which an angel [Satan] superseded a man [Adam] as the ruler of this world.

3. Adam and the woman were the first citizens of the devil’s kingdom because at the point of their sin they became spiritually dead, possessing an old sin nature.

4. The first act of these citizens of the world or the devil’s kingdom was human adjustment. Subjectivity came with the fall, and subjectivity demands human adjustment and thereby assumes that human adjustment is reestablishing relationship with God — operation fig leaves.

5. Mankind is born into the devil’s kingdom because he is born with an old sin nature.

6. Once man believes in Jesus Christ he is born again, he is born into the kingdom of Jesus Christ — born into the Lord’s eternal kingdom.

7. This means that the new believer is no longer spiritually dead but alive unto God.

8. This means that God the Father is the author of operation grace and the source of all blessing to those in the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

9. This blessing of grace is administered through Bible doctrine, especially in the supergrace life.

10. But the believer in reversionism is the enemy of the grace, therefore the enemy of the cross where grace was first manifest.

The doctrine of enemyship

1. The carnal believer is the enemy of God — Romans 8:7,8. The carnal believer is a believer who stays out of fellowship, who never uses rebound. The carnal believer, in effect, is a spiritual moron.

2. The reversionistic believer is the enemy of the cross — Philippians 3:18.

3. Reverse process reversionism in category #1 love produces alienation from God, James 4:4, and therefore he becomes the enemy of God.

4. Demons are also the enemies of God — 1 Corinthians 15:25; Hebrews 10:13.

5. Unbelievers are the enemies of God — Romans 5:10; Colossians 1:21.

6. The pastor who levels with reversionistic believers is regarded by them as their enemy — Galatians 4:16.

Next we have a second sentence in this verse which is application — “whosoever therefore” is the way the application begins: o(j e)an o)un. O)un means “therefore”; o(j is a relative pronoun used at the beginning of an indefinite relative clause; e)an is used generally for the introduction of a third class condition, used here in connection with o(j it simply means “whoever.” We now begin an indefinite relative clause used for the application — “whoever therefore will"— aorist passive subjunctive of the verb boulomai, used here for a decision of the will after careful or previous deliberation. Previous deliberation is not always careful deliberation but it is used both ways in the Greek. The aorist tense constantly describes every decision of the believer by which he arrives in reversionism. So it is a constative aorist. The passive voice; the subject receives the action of the verb. The believer receives reversionism as a result of deliberate decisions. The subjunctive mood goes with that particle e)an, and it gives us the third class condition, only here it is an indefinite relative clause, and an indefinite relative clause connotes the option whereby this believer could have gone into supergrace in the same amount of time that it took him to go into reversionism. In other words, the indefinite relative clause is a beautiful way of saying, Look you made hundreds of negative decisions, and while you were making them you could have been making positive decisions so that now you would have an ECS and be entering into supergrace. We translate that” “whosoever therefore has decided.” Then we have the present active infinitive e)imi to amplify boulomai — “to keep on being.” It takes a lot of decisions to get to this point.

“friend” — now we have the word filoj, a lover; “Whosoever therefore has decided to keep on being a lover of the world.” We have the objective genitive of kosmoj again. A lover of the world is a believer in reversionism. In whatever form or doctrine Satan reveals himself the reversionist latches on with pseudo love fanaticism. The next word is “is.” That is not a correct translation. We have the present middle indicative of kaqistemi which does not means to be, is not translated “is”; it means to appoint. The middle voice here is the indirect middle of the reflexive middle, and so he appoints himself e)xqroj tou qeou, “the enemy of God” — the status of the reversionistic believer.

Translation: “You adulteresses [reversionistic believers], do you not know that the love of the world keeps on being alienation from the source of the God? Therefore whosoever has decided to be a lover of the world appoints himself an enemy of the God.”

Verses 5 and 6 are very difficult to communicate. Verse 5 mentions Proverbs 3:34 but doesn’t quote it. Instead it goes into a parenthesis which goes into verse 6, and continues into the “more grace” part. “More grace” is a part of the parenthesis. It is not “more grace,” the translation is incorrect. There is no word for “more” there. Then we have the actual quote of Proverbs 3:34 at the end of verse 6.

Beginning verse 5 — how does a reversionist think? He thinks subjectively. It is impossible for a reversionistic believer to be objective in his thinking. “Do you think” — wrong! It is the present active indicative of dokew. Dokew is subjective thinking. It is present active indicative and is used to indicate subjective thinking or opinions. The reversionistic believer is subjective in his thinking, in his opinions, in his conclusions. Therefore dokew should be translated “Or do you presume.” The next word is “that,” the Greek conjunction o(ti, again used after a verb of perception to indicate the content of a subjective opinion, since the verb of perception is dokew for subjective thinking. After dokew we have o(ti and again it is used to indicate the content of the subjective opinion. “Do you presume that.” Sometimes “that” doesn’t mean “that” it just is used as a sign of an opinion or a conclusion, and depending upon the verb of perception which it precedes, what kind of opinion or conclusion is coming forth. In this case we have a subjective, erroneous opinion. Then we have the words h( grafh for “the scripture,” referring to the Old Testament — “saith,” present active indicative of legw. Legw is used to cite an Old Testament passage and it is used to cite Proverbs 3:34 which is not quoted until the end of verse 6.

The next words “in vain” is the adverb kenwj should be translated “to no purpose.” Notice at the end of the verse in the English Bible there are two words, “to envy.” They do not occur there in the original. After the adverb kenwj we have a prepositional phrase — kenwj proj fqonoj. Kenwoj plus proj plus the accusative of fqonoj, and fqonoj means “jealousy.” Proj means face to face.

Translation: “Or do you presume that the scripture says to no purpose, face to face with jealousy.”

Jealousy is a sign of reversionism. To whom does the scripture speak to no purpose? What is the scripture Here? Proverbs 3:34. When we get to the word “jealousy” we start a parenthesis, a quote from the scripture — Proverbs 3:34 as it is translated from the Septuagint. Now here is the pattern of the passage: “Or do you presume that the scripture says to no purpose, face to face with jealousy,” and then we have a parenthesis, and all of the way down through verse 6 this is what the scripture says: “God resisteth the proud but gives grace to the humble.” That is the quotation. God is the enemy of the proud, and the proud is the reversionist. Reversionism is a believer is enmity with God.

The word “spirit” in verse 5 is the Holy Spirit. It refers to the third person of the Trinity — “that dwelleth in us.” “That” is the relative pronoun o(j; the relative pronoun has as it antecedent, the Spirit, so it is “the Spirit who.” The word “that” is the neuter form of the relative pronoun because pneuma is a neuter noun. But we, recognising Him as a person — “the Spirit who.” The word “dwelleth” is the aorist active indicative of katoikew, and it is an intensified verb. It means to indwell permanently. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist, the Holy Spirit is in to stay. The active voice: God the Holy Spirit Himself indwells every believer. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that God the Holy Spirit indwells every believer and the verb should be translated “and the Spirit who indwells us is in us.” In other words, “in us” is an additional prepositional phrase, e)n plus the locative. The word “lusteth” in the English translation is unbelievable. This is the present active indicative of e)pipoqew, the strongest word for passionate love, pure passion, good passion. It is a strong word for love and it includes all the passion that goes with true love. So it should be translated “deeply loved” — “the Spirit who dwells permanently in us deeply loves.”

God the Holy Spirit indwells every reversionist. However, the reversionistic believer has grieved the Holy Spirit and therefore does not benefit from His ministry.

The doctrine of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit

1) The fact of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Church Age is given in Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 6:19,20; Galatians 3:2; 4:6.

2) There are synonyms for the indwelling of the Spirit found in the Johanine epistles and Gospel, “unction” — 1 John 2:20, and “anointing” in verse 27.

3) The prophecy of the indwelling of the Spirit for the Church Age is given in John 7:37-39. It tells us that the Holy Spirit did not indwell Old Testament saints. The Holy Spirit was not yet given because Christ was not yet glorified. Also John 14:16,17.

4) The indwelling of the Holy Spirit must be distinguished from the indwelling of Jesus Christ. Christ indwells the believer — Romans 8:10; 2 Corinthians 13:5. He indwells for the purpose of fellowship; the Spirit indwells for the purpose of function. Maximum fellowship with Jesus Christ, however, comes from the erection of the ECS and entrance into the supergrace life — Ephesians 3:17-19.

5) The indwelling of the Holy Spirit must also be distinguished from the filling of the Holy Spirit. The indwelling occurs at the point of salvation and continues forever; the filling of the Spirit occurs at the point of salvation and continues until the believer commits his first sin after salvation. Then he is out of fellowship and must recover the filling of the Spirit through rebound. So we must learn to distinguish between Ephesians 5:18 and this passage. All believers are indwelt by the Spirit; all believers are not filled with the Spirit.

6) The function of the Holy Spirit in GAP is the primary purpose for indwelling. It is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit to make Bible doctrine real to the believer — John 14:26; 16:12-15; 1 Corinthians 2:9-16; 1 John 2:27. In this way the Holy Spirit is responsible for both the inhale and the exhale and the cycling of Bible doctrine.

7) The universal indwelling of the Holy Spirit is necessary because of the change of the angelic conflict, Beginning with the death, burial and resurrection the angelic conflict shifts gears. We are now in the intensified stage of the angelic conflict. The intensified stage of the angelic conflict began the moment that God the Father said to Jesus Christ, “Sit down at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” The enemies are the demons, the fallen angels including Satan, and at that point the angelic conflict intensified so that the Church Age is the intensified stage of the angelic conflict. Again, God the Holy Spirit did not indwell any believers until the Church Age began.

Verse 5 — “Or do you presume that the scripture says to no purpose, face to face with jealousy, (The Spirit who dwells permanently in us deeply loves

At this point we begin a study of the supergrace life — James 4:6-10. However, the concept of this verse goes right on, and the first word, “But,” in verse 6 is not correct. This is the particle de translated like an adversative particle. But this is not an adversative particle, it is used here in the transitional concept of the particle and should be translated “Moreover.” “Moreover he gives greater grace”) — end of parenthesis. “He gives” is a reference to God the Holy Spirit. “He” is the subject and it is the present active indicative of didomi. The subject is God the Holy Spirit who deeply loves us. Moreover because He deeply loves us He gives” — present linear aktionsart, He keeps on giving. Active voice: the Holy Spirit produces the action. The indicative mood is the reality of it. The mechanics of administration: The ministry of God the Holy Spirit in GAP whereby we receive Bible doctrine into our souls.

Next we have the word “more,” a very unfortunate translation. We have the accusative feminine singular of the comparative of megaj. Megaj means “great” but the comparative is translated by a suffix in the English — “greater.” It is also in the feminine, emphasising that we the recipients are regarded as the right woman to the Lord Jesus Christ as the right Man. “He gives greater grace.” “Grace” is xarij. Greater grace is the supergrace life, in contrast to just grace. God the Holy Spirit gives supergrace through His gracious teaching in the field of GAP whereby doctrine becomes a part of our souls.

Because of the parenthesis and the postponement of the quoting of Proverbs 3:34 we now have a repetition of the legw citation. This time with it we have a compound made of dia plus o( which is called an inferential conjunction. The inferential conjunction dio is going to hook up the first legw with the legw now used. “Wherefore” should be translated more literally, bringing out the compound concept of dia plus o( , “on which account.”

“he says” — present active indicative of legw. In other words, when you are going to quote something but you are not ready to quote it, and you cite it. We have already has legw once, outside the parenthesis. So we go on to the parenthesis after “jealousy.” Now we are down to the end of the parenthesis and we are going to quote. The first legw talks about Proverbs 3:34, but you don’t quote it right away. It is supposed to be quoted right after legw but you don’t because you have something else to say. When you finally get around to quoting Proverbs 3:34 you have to put dio in as an inferential compound to show that you are going to finally get to the quotation. Then you do your quoting, and that is how you know when the parenthesis ends. “Wherefore he saith” and now the parenthesis is ended.

Then we get to the quotation of Proverbs 3:34 — “The God” — o( qeoj, reference to God the Father, the author of the divine plan known as operation grace. This quotation sets up a contrast between reversionism and the supergrace life — “resists the proud.” That is reversionism. “Resists” is the present middle indicative of a)ntitassw — “to be against the ranks of God.” A)nti means to be against; tassw means to be in line, it is a military word like u(potassw. It means to be under the authority of someone in ranks. So “God resisteth” means He is opposed to anything in the devil’s kingdom. When a believer gets into reversionism he becomes the lover of the kosmoj. In the kosmoj he is in the tassw, he is in the ranks of Satan. “God opposes” would be a better translation than “resists” the proud. Notice that the reversionist is always described in terms of mental attitude sins — jealousy, pride. The present tense is linear aktionsart, He keeps on opposing. The middle voice is the reflexive middle: God Himself does it. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that God is opposed to people who are in reversionism.

“the proud” is u(perhfanoj which means arrogant. It is a dative of disadvantage. There is no advantage in reversionism. The word “arrogant” or “proud” here is used in a technical sense for the reversionistic believer, not for someone who is proud but for reversionism as a permanent state of arrogance and jealousy.

Next we have the adversative de — “but.” In contrast to God’s attitude toward reversionism we now have God’s attitude toward supergrace, “giveth.” This time it is God the Father rather than God the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit gives greater grace, that is in the parenthesis. Now we are on the other side of the parenthesis and God the Father — present active indicative of didomi, “keeps on giving grace,” a reference to the fact that the supergrace believer has maximum capacity for grace blessing and therefore receives maximum benefits from the plan of God. The word “humble” is used to describe the supergrace believer, not in the sense of self-effacement, but the word tapeinoj means a supergrace believer. he is oriented to the plan of God and he is in the ranks of God. Humility refers to a supergrace believer who has subordinated himself to the plan of God. In this particular noun tapeinoj we have again the dative plural, and this is the dative of possession in which personal interest in doctrine is emphasised to the point of ownership. The supergrace believer has doctrine; he owns doctrine now in his soul. The soul is the bank account. Every time you take in doctrine you are adding to your bank account; you, are adding to the divine operating assets, you are adding to the function of divine capital. So the humble is a rich person in doctrine. He is the believer who possesses the supergrace life.

Translation: Verse 5 — “Or do you presume that the scripture says to no purpose, face to face with jealousy (The Spirit who dwells permanently in us deeply loves.

Verse 6 — “Moreover, he gives greater grace on which account he says), The God opposes the arrogant [the believer in the ranks of Satan’s army] but gives grace to the humble [the supergrace believer].”

Verse 7 — this starts out with a constative aorist tense, which means in a series of points of time in phase two. It is a passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb. It is a command, an imperative mood: “Be subordinate to the God.” How do you do it? There is authority in heaven; there is also authority you can see. Every born again believer has an assignment to a congregation which has his right pastor. The right pastor is his immediate authority. If you cannot accept the authority of a pastor then move on. Somewhere there is your right pastor and that is your authority. The pastor is under authority too, he is responsible to God. But there is also another authority: the Word of God. However, the Word of God does not become your authority until it is in your soul. Doctrine in your soul is your authority and submission to God is based upon the doctrinal content of your soul. And you can only get doctrine by GAP in a congregation. Ultimately you must respond to the authority of doctrine in your soul. That is being spiritually self-sustaining and you reach this in its full maturity under the supergrace life.

“therefore” is an inferential conjunction o)un, stating a conclusion from the previous verse. “Therefore be subordinate to God” — the dative of qeoj plus the definite article. The definite article defines the noun rather than giving the quality of the noun. In quality God is absolutely supreme, but you don’t know that, you are simply subordinate to God in the sense of getting a little doctrine today, a little doctrine tomorrow, a little doctrine the next day, and so on. In the buildup of this doctrine you will see the quality of God. The absence of the definite article defines quality in the noun, but the definite article simply emphasises the meaning of the noun. The meaning of the noun is the absolute authority. There is no greater authority in the universe than God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The definite article refers to the Father as the author of the plan under which we are benefited. So, “therefore be subordinate to the God.” This is a responsibility which is only fulfilled by the supergrace believer, and it is fulfilled in all believers to the extent in which they actually have taken Bible doctrine into their souls through GAP. So the most important thing you do is to take in the Word. This is where you learn doctrine which becomes the authority in your soul. On the other hand, the neglect of Bible teaching and the neglect of GAPing it leads to reversionism which is rejection of the authority of God.

Once you have obeyed “Therefore be subordinate to God,” automatically you are doing something else. We next have a word which is not found in the English — “but resist.” We have a conjunction. “Resist” is also an aorist active imperative of a)nqisthmi; anti means against; i(sthmi means to stand. It means to stand against but it came to mean “oppose.” It is preceded by de used as an adversative particle — “but.” So we have “but oppose.” The aorist tense is constative. The active voice: every believer does it with Bible doctrine in his soul. As you are subordinate to God by the accumulation of doctrine in the soul, at the same time you enter into opposition to Satan who is the ruler of this world. The word for “devil” is diaboloj and it is not a transliteration. The word devil is way off base here; devil means slanderer. So, “but oppose the slanderer.” However, the word is simply a title for Lucifer who is the ruler of the world. We have a dative of indirect object and the indirect object here is the one toward whom the active of resistance is performed. And it is performed for your own benefit, therefore it becomes a dative of advantage in the indirect object form. The supergrace believer resists the devil by Bible doctrine in his soul. You cannot resist the devil by throwing the Bible at him! You can only do it with doctrine in your own soul. The same principle is brought out in 1 Peter 5:5-9. The only person who really can oppose the devil and can fulfill this is a supergrace believer.

Notice what happens when under supergrace you oppose the devil. How do you oppose the devil? Doctrine in the soul. The way in which you are subordinate to God is the way in which you oppose the devil so that he runs away — “and he will flee from you” on the basis of Bible doctrine in your soul. “He will flee” is a future middle indicative of feugw. “He will flee” means to escape, to avoid, to run from you, to shun. The preposition a)po plus the genitive plural means he will escape from your presence, you periphery. Bible doctrine in your soul is ultimately more powerful than the ruler of this world. Therefore doctrine is the means by which we become subordinate to God and at the same time oppose the devil, the ruler of this world.

Now we have the other side of the coin, recovery from reversionism. In verse 8 our command this time is “Draw nigh,” the aorist active imperative of e)ggizw. The word means to approach, to come near, or to get closer. It is a constative aorist, and the constative aorist takes the believer either from the point of salvation to the ECS through GAPing it daily and into the supergrace life, or it takes the believer from reversionism to the ECS and supergrace. The active voice: the believer produces the action through GAPing it daily to recover from reversionism. We will see in this passage two factors in reversion recovery. One is the use of rebound and the other is the daily intake of the Word of God. Both are essential; both go together. The imperative mood is a command to believers who are in reversionism or moving toward reversionism in one of its stages, to get out, turn around and recover. The constative aorist demands many rebounds and many intakes of the Word of God. It doesn’t occur in one second.

Next it says, “to God.” This is the dative singular of qeoj without the definite article. The dative is first of all the indirect object by which the subject is benefited in the indirect object and there is great emphasis on the subject. Your are benefited by reversion recovery. This is also a dative of advantage. It is to your advantage to recover from reversionism. So when you combine the two you have a dative of personal interest and advantage. In addition to that the Greeks had a system. If they wanted to call attention to the identity of a noun they used the definite article, but if they wanted to call attention to the quality of the noun they omitted the definite article. Here we have the omission of the definite article which calls attention to the essence of God, the character of God. It should be translated: “Come near to God”; “and,” a transitional conjunction kai used is a continuative sense, “he will come near to you,” the future active indicative of e)ggizw. In other words, it is future to your rebound and your GAPing it to reversion recovery. The active voice: God will come near to you in the sense that He will honour your rebound, He will honour your GAPing it daily. If you do not GAP it daily your rebound is not going to do you any good. Rebound in reversion will last just a short time and being filled with the Spirit is not going to help you until you use the filling of the Spirit to take in the Word of God. So rebound in reversion does not help until you GAP it. It is the rebound plus getting the doctrine that counts.

“he will draw nigh to you” — this is a dative plural pronoun from the personal pronoun su, and it refers to all who are in reversionism. Again it is the dative of indirect object in which the subject is benefited by whatever is going on in the verb. In addition to that the verb acts in the interest of the subject so that the subject is benefited. The general principle, then, is a command for reversion recovery.

There are two other commands which involve the mechanics. The first command is a principle; the next two commands are mechanics. We have first of all, the cleansing of the hands which has to do with rebound. Then we have the purifying of the hearts, and that has to do with GAPing it. The principle has just been given: “Draw nigh.” That is a command in principle for reversion recovery. The mechanics involve two things: rebound and the consistent intake of doctrine. The cleansing of the hands: rebound; the cleansing of the heart: GAP. The two must go together, you cannot separate them. You cannot GAP it unless you are filled with the Spirit; you cannot possibly ever benefit from the filling of the Spirit unless you GAP it. It is only when rebound is linked with GAP that reversion recovery is possible. Rebound + GAP = Reversion Recovery.

The first of the mechanics, then, is the rebound technique declared here — “cleanse,” the aorist active imperative of kaqarizw. Again, it is a constative aorist, you need a number of rebounds when you go from reversionism to the ECS to supergrace. In that process the reversionist is going to have to rebound many, many times. So the aorist tense draws into one ball of wax every time he will use the rebound technique. “Draw nigh to God” is the principle of reversion recovery but you can’t do it until first cleansing your hands. Washing the hands is a picture of rebound. The word for “hands,” is without the definite article or the pronoun. It is not “your” hands, it is simply “cleanse [wash] hands.”

“Ye sinners” is technical here. It is a vocative plural from a(martoloj, and it means “sinning ones.” It refers technically to a believer in reversionism, not a believer out of fellowship. The Greek word connotes one who deviates from the path of virtue or divine norms and standards. In this case the believer is a sinner in the sense that he has left the standards of GAPing it, growing an ECS, and entering into supergrace. So specifically the dirty hands are the sins of the believer in reversionism, and they include the function of reverse process reversionism and the sins connected with that.

The word “and” is the continuative use of it — kai; “and purify,” the third aorist active imperative of this verse, from a)gnizw which indicates the importance of Bible doctrine. It means to clean up from pollution. Remember that the soul is polluted by reversionism. it is the kardia which is attacked by doctrines of demons, so there must be the cleansing of pollution in the right lobe before reversion recovery can be achieved. So kardia or “heart” is a technical word for part of the mentality of the believer’s soul, the right lobe. This can only be accomplished through GAPing it on a crash program.

“double minded” goes with “sinners.” It is another technical word for the reversionistic believer and it describes reverse process reversionism. The Greek word is diyuxoi which means “double-souled.”

Translation: “Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, sinners; and cleanse your right lobes from pollution, you double-souled.”

The alternative to supergrace, then, is obviously reversionism. So in verse 9 we have the alternative.

Summary

1. The alternative to supergrace is reversionism.

2. Once the ECS is erected the believer never stands still.

3. Either he continues in doctrine and enters the supergrace life …

4. Or he neglects, disregards, and rejects doctrine and enters into reversionism.

5. The previous verse 8 gave a command for reversion recovery followed by two mechanical commands. This verse gives commands to the believer who remains in reversionism as the alternative.

6. To remain in reversionism is to actually fulfill these commands.

7. To recover from reversionism is to have promotion and prosperity — verse 10.

8. Therefore verse 8 sets up an issue for the believer in reversionism. In verse 8: commands to recover; in verse 9: commands if he stays in reversionism.

9. Furthermore, if you commands of verse 8 and fulfill the mechanics this leads to promotion and prosperity of verse 10.

Verse 9 — the alternative to supergrace. (Or, what happens to the believer who remains in reversionism?)

The first command, “Be afflicted,” is the aorist active imperative of talaipwrew. The word means to endure affliction, to be tormented, or to be miserable. Here it is translated “become miserable.” The aorist tense is an iterative aorist, it views you when you first hit the bottom of reversionism, and before you start practicing reverse process reversionism the iterative aorist tells you what is going to happen. The active voice: the believer in reversionism obeys this command with or without his volition being involved. Why? Reversionism is the same as slavery, you no longer have freedom when you are in reversionism. Therefore as long as you stay in reversionism you will be miserable.

The second command: “mourn,” the aorist active imperative of penqew. This is a constative aorist. You become miserable and you end up grieving or lamenting no matter what you do.

The next aorist active imperative is “weep” — klaiw. It is a constative aorist ad we have the same structure as we had in the pervious verse. The principle is the iterative aorist, “Be tormented.” Then you have the mechanics. Now we have the same structure, the iterative aorist, and that is followed by mechanics.

There will be times when you will have fun or where you will have a temporary happiness called “minus H.” Remember that +H is God’s happiness given to you through grace; neutral H is happiness which comes from observing the laws of establishment; -H is a temporary superficial happiness which is quickly lost. In reversionism you will have periods of -H because you will be doing what you want to do and what you associate with happiness.

“let your laughter be turned to grief” — this is the first time we have an aorist passive imperative. If you follow the course of reverse process reversionism then laughter will be turned into grief. We have the aorist passive imperative of metatrepw. Metatrepw means a complete turnabout. It should be translated “laughter be turned to grief” — aorist passive imperative. The passive voice indicates that it started out being fun but because you are in a false position — reverse process reversionism; it started out with -H and it was converted into misery.

“laughter be turned” — “Your laughter” literally. The word for laughter is not the ordinary word, it is the noun gelwj which means fun, some kind of escapism, something you think is going to be enjoyable — “be turned to grief.” Now we have a culminative aorist, an aorist passive. It is e)ij plus penqoj. Penqoj is a noun which indicates the frustration that comes from what appeared to be fun turning sour; something that starts out right and turns out bad.

Next we have the word “joy” — h( xara, “the joy.” Ordinarily this is +H or neutral H; sometimes it is minus H, and that is the meaning here. “Joy” should be translated here, “your temporary happiness.” This time we have e)ij plus the accusative of kathfeia, which connotes a downcast look, a dejection, gloominess or depression, and it should be translated “and happiness to depression [or dejection].”

Translation: “Be miserable, both lament and weep: laughter be turned to grief, and happiness to dejection.”

Reversionism is the status of perpetual self-induced misery. These commands are to the believer in reversionism. They will be obeyed. Once you get into reversionism you put yourself into slavery, and if you persist in this slavery every act of misery or tragedy or grief or lament is a warning to get out. So in effect, God has set up a series of commands to the reversionistic believer in order to warn him that life is too short to be this miserable.

The doctrine of the sin unto death

1. The sin unto death is maximum punitive discipline from God to the reversionistic believer. No believer ever goes out under the sin unto death unless he was reversionistic. This discipline includes maximum self-induced misery, maximum pressure, terminating in physical death of the believer — 1 John 5:16; Psalm 118:17,18.

There are four reason why believers die: a) their work is finish; b) a special reason by God — the unusual one where martyrdom occurs; c) the sin unto death for reversionistic believers only; d) suicide.

2. Reversionism causes the sin unto death — Jeremiah 9:16; 44:12; Philippians 3:18,19; Revelation 3:16.

3. Reversion recovery eliminates all discipline connected with the sin unto death — 1 Corinthians 11:30,31; 2 Corinthians 2:5-10.

4. Case histories:

a) Lying to the Holy Spirit in reversionism — Acts 5:1-10. This is performing a good deed advocated by the Word but doing it for a false purpose.

b) The incest in reversionism — 1 Corinthians 5:1-5.

c) To fail to rebound before partaking of communion.

d) Rejection of Bible doctrine resulting in refusal to kill the enemy — King Saul, 1 Chronicles 10:13,14.; 1 Samuel 13:9-14.

e) A king in reversionism by the name of Hezekiah. His reversionistic foreign policy led to the sin unto death — Isaiah 30:1-3; 31:1-3. His recovery: Isaiah 38.

f) Reversionistic believers often blaspheme and buck the tiger regarding those who teach Bible doctrine. When a person goes reversionistic he often becomes antagonistic toward his right pastor — like those who were opposed to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:19,20.

5. The sin unto death does not mean loss of salvation — 2 Timothy 2:12,13.

6. The cancellation of the sin unto death: rebound plus GAP — James 4:8. The rebound function of 1 Corinthians 11:31, the change of attitude toward the authority of the Word of God and the communicator of the Word — 2 Corinthians 2:5-10; relearning Bible doctrine — Hebrews 6:1-6; the erection of the ECS — Ephesians 4:24.

This passage now deals with promotion and prosperity in the supergrace life.

Verse 10 — “Humble yourselves,” the aorist passive imperative of the verb tapeinow. Tapeinow is not explained as to mechanics, only the principle is given in James. The mechanics are given in 1 Peter chapter 5. The aorist tense is a constative aorist and it refers to a believer oriented to grace, positive toward Bible doctrine, submitting himself to the principle of discipleship as taught in the Word of God. Discipleship means a student under discipline, under authority. The constative aorist refers to every time the believer does this; when the believer assembles with positive volition, taking in the Word of God under the principles of GAP. The principles of GAP demand a pastor-teacher with authority, members of the congregation (believer-priests) in the pews without authority (that is what discipleship is), just discipline and information. The passive voice indicates that the believer receives the mental attitude necessary to take in doctrine. He receives it from grace orientation; grace orientation comes from the intake of doctrine. The imperative mood is a command to persist in the daily intake of doctrine until one reaches the point of promotion which is the supergrace life. The aorist active imperative could be translated, “Receive humility,” or “Receive grace orientation,” or “Become humble.” The trouble with using the word “humble” in the English is that people associate it with some stupid modus operandi whereby a person goes in for some form of self-effacement, something where they are giving up something or agonizing, etc. Therefore people do not really understand what this means. “Receive grace orientation” is the best translation.

“in the sight of the Lord” — we have a preposition that is rather rare: e)nopion, which means “in the sight of” or “in the opinion of” or “in the presence of.” We will use “in the presence of the Lord.” Again, this command is accomplished by entering the supergrace life by the daily function of GAP.

Then we have the verb of promotion: “he shall lift you up,” is the future active indicative of u(yow, which means to promote. The future tense means future from the daily function of GAP. The active voice: God does the promoting. The indicative mood is the reality of God’s promotion or prosperity or both.

Translation: “Receive humility (supergrace) in the opinion of the Lord, and he will promote you.”

Principle: If God doesn’t promote you, you are not promoted. The Lord only promotes in supergrace where He can pour out maximum blessing where the believer has the capacity for prosperity and for authority.

The same principle is illustrated in Joshua 3:7 — “And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel” — until God does it, it isn’t done; “that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.” In verse 8 he adds this little phrase: “And thou shalt command.” It is obvious that now Joshua is command of all Israel because this command was to be given to the priests, and anyone who is over the priests and over the high priest is in charge of Israel. So Joshua is ordered to begin giving commands; he is promoted.

There is an amplification of this in 1 Peter 5:5,6. it is also quoting the same Proverb that James 4:6 quoted — Proverbs 3:34. Both of these parallel passages are structurised on the quotation of Proverbs 3:34 from the Septuagint. We begin 1 Peter 5:5 with an adverb, “Likewise.” O(moioj means “in the same way” or “in the same manner.” The adverb which begins this passage is the link between the first four verses and this paragraph. In the first four verses of 1 Peter 5 we have the responsibility and the authority of the pastor-teacher. The pastor has authority to the congregation. In this passage now the congregation has authority — over themselves. They have responsibility to themselves and it is all put together in this particular paragraph. O(moioj sets up the link between the responsibility and the authority of the pastor in verses 1-4 and shows there is a parallelism even though the functions are not the same, and the authority of the member of the congregation. The latter’s authority is doctrine which he can’t get enough of. He also has in his soul volition, and these two constitute his authority which leads to his responsibility. His responsibility is to humble himself. And how does he do it? By becoming a student, by sitting in a pew. Therefore the adverb links the first four verses with the next two. “In the same way” is the best translation to establish the principle of linking up.

“Ye younger” — the nominative plural of newteroj. The word is made up of the noun neoj which means young or novice, and the comparative suffix e(teroj. We have the concept here that novices in Scripture are those who are novices by comparison with the pastor. So the word “younger” here means “novice by comparison.” It is used for the congregation as a reminder that they are disciples, they are students, by comparison with the pastor-teacher they are in a state of ignorance; and it his responsibility to change that state through teaching to cognisance. This requires self-discipline.

“submit” — the aorist middle imperative from u(potassw. Tassw means “ranks”; u(po means “in the ranks,” “under the authority of.” So the verb means to be under the authority of or to place one’s self under the command of someone else who is in authority. In the local church there is just one person in authority when the local church assembles and that is the pastor-teacher. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it refers only to the time when you are in assembly. The middle voice: the subject which is the believer in the pew, the novice, participates in the results of the action — learning doctrine. The middle voice relates the action more intimately to the subject. Her is it s a direct middle, a reflexive middle: “you yourself be under the authority of.” This is “humbling yourself” in the sense of accepting the authority of someone else. The imperative mood is a command to every believer priest in a specific local church.

“unto the elders” — the dative plural of presbuteroj, which means “old man” in the sense of authority, not in the sense of an old man. So we have: “In the same way, comparative novices, be under the authority and command of the pastor elder.” It is in the plural because every local church has its own pastor-elder or pastor-teacher. “Pastor-teacher” indicates function; “pastor-elder” indicates authority. Again, we have a dative case, and it is a dative of indirect object which indicates the one for whom the act of submission is performed. The act of submission is performed for the Lord Jesus Christ in order to gain doctrine. The act of submission is also performed for the pastor-teacher because it is impossible to communicate doctrine without believers in the pew, filled with the Spirit, positive toward doctrine, self-disciplined, concentrating, whether they like the subject or not. This, again, is discipleship. This is also dative of advantage, and it is to the advantage of the congregation to have spiritual food on a daily basis presented by the pastor-teacher.

Next we have the word “all,” the nominative masculine plural of paj (After the word “all” the rest of it is not in the original text: “of you,” “be subject to,” “one another,” “and”). It should read “all you congregation be clothed.” “Be clothed” is an aorist middle imperative of e)gkomboomai. It doesn’t really mean to be clothed. It is necessary to go back to the Attic Greek on which this verb is based, and the key is found in an Attic Greek noun, komboj. Komboj would be comparable to a belt. It actually means a band, a belt or a string by which you put a garment on or make it stay on, keep it on, or fasten it. E)gkomboomai means to fasten garments, or make them stay on, or keep them on by some kind of a string or belt or something of this sort. “Fasten yourselves together” is the correct translation — aorist middle imperative. What does it mean? It means that when the local church Bible teaching starts everyone should be pulled together — a pastor-teacher communicating [the authority]; a congregation concentrating under the power of God the Holy Spirit. Komboj means to tie it all together, it doesn’t mean to be clothed at all. It means to be fastened together with humility. It isn’t what we are wearing, it is how we are all pulled together.

“with humility” — the accusative singular of tapeinofrosunh. It is actually a compound. Tapeinoj means humility or grace; frhn means thinking. “Humility” is not correct, it should be “grace thinking.” Grace thinking is thinking about everyone else and the objective for being in the local church and hearing the Word of God.

Added here are the words “to each other.” In the text is the word a)llhloij which is the dative plural of one another of the same kind. “To each other” is the best translation.

Why this command? The word “for” in the translation is not “for.” O(ti here should be translated “because.” O(ti introduces Proverbs 3:34, which we have already seen in James. It begins with the words “ the God” — o( qeoj, referring to God the Father; “resisteth” — present middle indicative of a)ntitassw. Tassw means ranks; a)nti means against — “against the ranks.” It comes to means “to oppose.” In the middle voice it means to set yourself in opposition to — “the God opposes.” He always opposes reversionism and negative volition toward doctrine. The middle voice indicates that God Himself does this.

“the proud” is really “the arrogant” — the dative plural of u(perhfanoj. Fanoj means to be inflated and u(per means to be over, and so you have over-inflation. This is the arrogant or the proud. It is a technical word for reversionism or for the believer who never goes positive the first time after salvation. There are two types of believer who are opposed by God: the reversionist and the spiritual moron. Both of them are in a status of negative volition toward doctrine, and these are the over-inflated; they have lots of hot air and no doctrine. So the arrogant can be the reversionist or the spiritual moron, or anyone who is consistently negative toward Bible doctrine — “the God opposes the arrogant.”

“and giveth grace” — the adversative use of de and it should be translated “but,” plus the present active indicative of didomi and xarij. Those who are positive toward doctrine have the capacity for grace and they are given grace. They are called here “the humble.” “To the humble” is dative plural of tapeinoj and is used to describe the believer who is positive toward doctrine, who is willing to come and sit and listen and concentrate.

Translation: “In the same way, comparative novices, be under the authority and command of the pastor-elders. All of you congregation fasten yourselves to each other with grace thinking: because the God opposes the arrogant but gives grace to the humble.”

Verse 6 — declares promotion and prosperity under supergrace. “Humble yourselves” — aorist passive imperative of tapeinow. It means “Become grace orientated.” The aorist tense is the constative aorist, for each time the believer assembles himself under strict academic discipline, learning doctrine from a pastor-teacher. The constative aorist looks at every gathering of the believer to learn doctrine, every function of GAP, and takes it up from the standpoint of the whole thing. The passive voice: the believer receives grace orientation from positive volition toward doctrine. The imperative mood is a command to all believers to learn doctrine from their right pastor.

“therefore” — the inferential use of o)un for a conclusion in the immediate sentence or paragraph. O)un is related to the quotation of Proverbs 3:34. A conclusion is made from this quotation: because of that quotation, “become grace oriented,” positive volition toward doctrine, “under” — the preposition u(po means “subordination.”

Next we have the word “mighty.” This is an adjective kratioj.

Words for “power”: dunamij = inherent power. Generally it refers to omnipotence in the essence box.

e)nergeia = operational power. It often refers to God the Holy Spirit.

kratoj, the noun = ruling power. Used as a suffix in English, e.g. democratic. It is generally used in the New Testament for doctrine in the canon.

i)sxuj — endowed power: when doctrine is transferred from the canon to the soul of the believer. It is doctrine in the soul.

Notice the order of these words. It starts with God. God has the ability to grace us our and provide, so His ability goes into operation — the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in GAP. Doctrine which He has provided for us in the Word is transferred to the soul. It takes four words to actually portray doctrine going from the mind of Jesus Christ or the Word of the Father to your soul.

We also have some adjectives, and the third has an adjective — kratioj, which means ruling power. It is the adjective for ruling power rather than the noun. Therefore it is going to modify the noun and explain the noun. Bible doctrine is the ruling power. And so when we submit or become grace oriented or humble ourselves “under the authority of the mighty,” the “mighty” is Bible doctrine which is the link between us and God and which is the basis for our understanding God. Then we actually have an anthropomorphism” “hand of God.” We have the accusative singular of xeir for hand — u(po plus xeir. God doesn’t really have hands, the term is used to explain through human anatomy the various principles and functions of God.

“Therefore become grace oriented [through positive volition toward doctrine] under the authority of the ruling hand of the God [God the Father].”

The “ruling hand of the God” is Bible doctrine. This is God’s authority on earth during the Church Age and during the time when the devil is the ruler of this world.

“that” introduces a purpose clause — i(na plus the subjunctive mood in the verb which introduces a purpose clause — “that he may exalt.” Now we have our same promotional verb that we had in James 4:10, the aorist active subjunctive of u(yow. The word means to promote. This is a culminative aorist. Note: The constative aorist means all of the hours you have spent listening to the teaching of Bible doctrine. Now we have a culminative aorist. This is the result: God promotes. The culminative aorist finds the believer in supergrace — “that he may promote.” If God doesn’t promote you, you are not promoted. The subjunctive mood portrays the purpose clause rather than being potential. Of course, promotion is potential depending upon your attitude toward doctrine and your consistency in the function of GAP. But that is not the point here, the point is this is a purpose clause. It is God’s purpose to promote you.

“you” — the accusative plural of su indicates that any believer can enter the supergrace life, be promoted, and become prosperous. He has capacity for freedom, capacity for life, capacity for love, capacity for responsibility.

“in due time” — e)n plus the locative of kairoj. This is not heaven, this is on earth. it means in time, and not “due time” but “in the proper time.” Kairoj refers to an era; it refers to your generation; it refers to while you are living on the earth. It does not refer to reward in heaven, it refers to promotion and prosperity in time.

Translation: “Therefore become grace-oriented [through positive volition toward doctrine] under the authority of the ruling hand of the God, that he may promote you in proper time.”

James 4:10 — “Receive humility, in the opinion of the Lord, and he will promote you.” That is the principle. In order to get mechanics we go to 1 Peter 5:5,6.

Verse 11 — another manifestation of reversionism. “Speak not evil” — present active imperative katalalew. Lalew means to communicate; kata = down, against, according as. Put the two words together and it comes to mean to slander, to defame, to speak against someone by maligning, by gossip, using your voice to neutralise someone else. The present active imperative plus the negative mh means they were doing something and should now stop it. Literally, “Stop slandering one another” — the objective genitive plural of a)lloj means another of the same kind; a)delfoi — “members of the family of God.” This is a sign of reversionism. It can also be a sign of being a spiritual moron. Both are saved. The spiritual moron is negative toward doctrine from the point of salvation, negative toward rebound, and simply never grows up spiritually. This passage is not dealing with spiritual morons, it is dealing with people who have been positive toward the Word of God, believers of Jewish background. At one time the grew up to the fact of having an ECS, but negative volition toward doctrine had worked its toll; they had lost the ECS and were now in reversionism, and one of the functions of reverse process reversionism is slander.

Now follows the principle: “he that speaketh evil” is incorrect. It is the present active participle of katalalew which means, again, to malign or slander. We are taking up the principle: the one slandering. The present active participle is linear aktionsart. Reversionism is a constant series of mental attitude sins followed by sins of the tongue. This is what some people use in their frantic search for happiness. Some people are never happy unless they are downgrading, ridiculing, gossiping, maligning, using character assassination of those in their periphery. This is a form of playing spiritual king of the mountains. By maligning everyone else it is assumed that one is better than everyone else. “The one habitually slandering his brother” — “a brother” [not ‘of his brother’], the genitive singular of a)delfoj which refers to a fellow believer in the royal family of God. The objective genitive is a little more personal relationship with the subject than the ordinary accusative case would be. So this means to slander believers whom you know, believers in your periphery.

“and judging” — the present active participle of krinw, another form of the sins of the tongue. Slander means to malign people without a basis. Judging means to have some information, erroneous or not, and to use it. They are both equally sinful. This time we have the pronoun, “his brother.” Both of these sins of the tongue emanate from mental attitude sins.

“speaketh evil” — or slanders; present active participle of katalalew — the mood of reality, a real situation from which the principle is taken.

“of the law” — an objective genitive singular without the definite article of nomoj. Therefore this law will have to be defined, but we can tell one thing right now: the absence of the definite article calls attention to the quality of the noun. This noun has a very high quality. Katalalew as used has no quality; krinw as used in context has no quality; but this word, minus the definite article, has some special quality. The quality will have to be determined in some way because nomoj is use in many ways. Nomoj is used for the Mosaic law; nomoj is used for the Old Testament scriptures; nomoj is used for the entire canon of scripture; nomoj is used for Bible doctrine. And there is a hermeneutical law which says the meaning of a word is determined by its use in context. In this context we will discover the meaning of nomoj. The one who maligns of slanders law also judges law.

What law?

1. To determine the meaning of nomoj we must recognise its exegetical setting which is a noun without a definite article. Whatever this noun is by definition it is something of high quality.

2. The meaning of a word is determined by its use in context. The meaning of a word in the Bible is determined by its first usage in context, and the first usage of nomoj in context takes us back to James 1:25 and 2:12. At the end of 2:12 we have the phrase “the law of liberty [freedom].”

3. The law of freedom in James 2:12 is Bible doctrine providing capacity for freedom, capacity for life, capacity for love in supergrace.

4. Freedom is the function of supergrace. Law of freedom — James 2:12, the believer through Bible doctrine functioning in the supergrace life.

5. Slander is maligning or judging the principle of the supergrace life. Remember that the principle of the supergrace life is freedom: freedom to love God, freedom to serve God, freedom to appreciate life under God. This freedom is based on doctrine — James 1:25. Bible doctrine is the perfect law of freedom.

6. Like mental attitude sins which sponsor sins of the tongue these sins of the tongue are an attack upon the supergrace life. When you malign and judge other people you are in effect attacking the supergrace principle. They may be everything you say they are and much worse, but every believer has a right as a believer priest to live his life as unto the Lord without interference from you — except children or believers under some kind of authority, such as the military.

7. When a believer reaches supergrace the sins of the tongue are controlled.

“and judges law” — ‘judges’ is the present active indicative of krinw, and again we have nomoj which is the very Bible doctrine that brings you to supergrace.

Summary

1. In these three categories of sin — mental attitude, sins of the tongue, overt — the first two categories are the worst, with one exception: murder.

2. Whenever believers individually or in groups begin to go apostate one of the first things they do is to begin to develop the habit of maligning, slandering, judging, nit-picking, gossiping — sins of the tongue.

3. Because in effect to malign other believers is to set yourself upon a pedestal of sand. In effect, maligning and slandering other believers is tantamount to autocelebrityship.

Again, the absence of the definite article emphasises quality. Nomoj is high quality — doctrine. In this case remember that the law refers to the law of liberty (James 1:25; 2:12) which is Bible doctrine.

“but if” — e)i de. This includes a particle used as an adversative, therefore a conjunction of contrast, and a particle to introduce a first class condition. E)i — “if,” an adversative particle and therefore “but.” So we say, ‘But if.’ “But if you judge the law.” The first class condition recognises that you do, it is a conditional clause of reality. Nomoj, again, without the definite article has the same high quality. This recognises the alternative which it true: If you keep on judging doctrine.

“you are not” — present active indicative of e)imi plus the strongest negative o)uk — “you are not” (emphatically); poihthj nomou, “a doer of law,” not “the law.” A doer of law is a person living the supergrace life. So, you are not a doer of doctrine, a doer of nomoj. Nomoj means in context Bible doctrine.

“but a judge” — the adversative conjunction a)lla plus krithj — “but a critic.”

Translation: “Stop slandering one another [of the same kind], members of the royal family of God. The one slandering a member of the family of God, or judges his brother, slanders law [Bible doctrine in the supergrace life], and judges law [Bible doctrine]: but of you judge law [doctrine], you are not a doer of law, but a judge [a reversionistic, maligning believer].”

Verse 12 — “There is” is the present passive indicative of e)imi, “There keeps on being.” There always will be.

“one” — the numeral e(ij, referring to God the Father who ultimately is the source of all doctrine.

“lawgiver” — nomoqethj. Nomoj is for law or doctrine; qethj is from tiqhmi which means appointer. There is one person who authorises or appoints or designs; there is one doctrine designer. That is not quite correct. E(ij is the subject and should be translated “one is lawmaker and judge.” Again, we have no definite articles. God the Father is the designer of doctrine; God the Holy Spirit gets it into print for us.

“who” — relative pronoun referring to the Father — “keeps on being able,” present active indicative of dunamai, referring to the omnipotence of God the Father.

“to save” — here we do not have salvation. It is not an issue here at all. We have an aorist active infinitive of swzw which here means to deliver. This is a constative aorist which gathers up into one whole every time God delivers us. Active voice: God provides the deliverance. The infinitive: It is His purpose to deliver.

“and to destroy” — another aorist active infinitive of a)pollumi. This is the first hint as to what happens to the reversionistic, slandering believer. A)pollumi means to destroy or put to death. It is a reference to the judgement of the reversionistic believer with the sin unto death. There is a principle here. If you persist in reversionism you will end up dying the sin unto death. In this context maligning and slandering is a warning. If you persist you will not only fall off the mound of sand but you will wind up at the bottom of the hill dead — the sin unto death.

Deliverance is the first hope for the reversionistic believer in context. If you are still alive and you are in reversionism you can recover. The recovery is through GAP. The other concept here is that if you persist in ignoring these warnings then you face maximum discipline, the sin unto death.

“who art thou” is not correct. There is no ‘who’ here as such, it is really an interrogative pronoun — “You, who are you” is the way it should be translated. ‘You’ is a very strong word here in the Greek. ‘You, who are you judging someone in your periphery?’ The present active participle of krinw with the interrogative pronoun is designed to awaken the believer to the fact that he is in reversionism and that he is totally out of line. The word ‘another’ is the adverb plhsion and therefore with the definite article it means ‘neighbour.’ Plhsion means someone near, but when you put the definite article with plhsion it means neighbour. It actually refers to believers in your periphery.

Translation: “One is lawgiver and judge, who is able to deliver or destroy: but you, who are you judging a believer in your periphery?”

Verses 13-15, reversionism in the area of business activity.

Verse 13 — “Go to” is actually a word which started out to be a verb. It was a present active imperative of a)gw which means to go. Here we have it in the imperative mood which means “Go.” Eventually it became a particle of interjection or a particle of exhortation. As a particle of exhortation it means ‘Come now’; as a particle of interjection it means ‘Go to Hell.’ That phrase has become an interjection idiom. An interjectory idiom means a short phrase or word which expresses displeasure, antagonism, or desire to have one’s privacy. But in our verse this is the exhortation, not the interjection.

“ye say that” is the present active participle of legw — ‘you who say.’ We have certain believers whose problem is money; not lack of money but an inordinate desire for money, money lust. We now have a description of a reversionistic believer involved in business activity, making money. It is the reversionistic believer who has an unusual fondness for money who gets into the category of slavery to the details of life. Every believer who finishes the ECS has mastery of the details of life. But when he loses through reversionism the ECS, mastery of the details of life is replaced by slavery to the details of life.

These people say, “Today” — shmeron, an adverb. Then they also says, a)urion, “tomorrow.”

This phrase introduces to us a reversionistic believer occupied with making money to the exclusion of everything else. In other words, he is occupied with making money under reverse process reversionism. “Today or tomorrow” does not connote another day in which to take in doctrine but another day for the opportunity of making a lot of money. The believer who is in supergrace wakes up in the morning and says, “If I am still here tomorrow I’m going to get doctrine, all the doctrine I can.” That is the difference in attitude. “Today or tomorrow” presents the beginning of an attitude. Instead of each day in the life of a believer being another day in which God has graced him out and he is going to get more doctrine, we find instead the reversionistic believer looking at each day from the standpoint of his slavery. He is a slave to the details of life and he is frustrated because he lacks money with which to acquire these things.

Then we have “we,” future active indicative from poreuomai. Poreuomai is used of the lea who goes from one spot to another in a hurry. It is an indicative of instability. The flea never finds a permanent home. The unstable reversionistic believer never finds a permanent home. Choice of locale is based on the intake of doctrine to the positive believer but to the reversionistic believer it is, Where can I make a bundle? “We will go.”

“into such a city” — the preposition e)ij, ‘into.’ E)ij has as its object the feminine accusative singular of w(dh, a demonstrative pronoun which means ‘this.’ But it is followed by the definite article which means double the demonstrative pronoun, so it means “this or that.” Finally, we have the accusative singular, the object of the preposition e)ij, polij which is the word for ‘city.’ “We will go into this or that city.”

This statement is a statement of frustration. A believer who is getting Bible doctrine and is positive toward it is not frustrated with his locale. Secondly, it is a phrase of instability. Thirdly, it is a phrase of restlessness, and always with restlessness it is a statement of boredom. Boredom is a sign of reversionism. Bored people have their brains in neutral. Once in supergrace you are not bored. You have capacity for life, capacity for love, capacity for freedom. No boredom.

“and continue” is the future active indicative of poiew which does not mean to continue, it means to make, to do, to produce — “and produce.”

“there” — in that place, the adverb e)kei.

“a year” — e)niautoj. In other words, they were not going to stay too long. We are like the flea. And what are they going to do? “Buy and sell” — e)mporeuomai, future middle indicative. An emporium means a general store of some kind, a place of business, a retail store. E)mporeuomai, future middle indicative, means not to buy and sell but to engage in business with the idea of making a profit; “and get gain” — future active indicative. The active voice brings us to the subject, the subject is going to make money. That is the idea. Kerdainw means to make a profit.

Translation: “Come now, you reversionists who say, Tomorrow we will go to this or that city, and shall work in that place a year, we shall both transact business and make a profit.”

Summary

1. It is all right to make money, but this is not a legitimate money maker, this is a reversionist looking for a bundle. So the reversionist enters into selfish planning which totally excludes Bible doctrine and his Lord.

2. Once a man becomes a believer making money this money making is a legitimate function and quite necessary. Being a believer does not hinder people from making a profit. Everyone, believer or unbeliever, under establishment has a right to legitimate profit.

3. However, to the believer making money is secondary to the erection of the ECS and entrance into the supergrace life.

4. The second floor of the ECS is mastery of the details of life in which the believer’s perspective changes from false to real objectives compatible with God’s grace.

5. The supergrace believer does not depend on money or wealth for his security or his happiness but possesses them on the permanent foundation of Bible doctrine. Therefore he can enjoy them.

The errors of the business reversionist

1. The reversionist takes time graciously give to him by God and distorts it into gaining money for selfish ends.

2. The reversionist believer looks for a place where he can get money rather than a place where he can get doctrine.

3. The reversionistic believer limits his time to a year in one place. He has no regard for God’s grace or God’s plan for his life.

4. The reversionistic believer is so occupied with money that he ignores the principle of grace function in his life.

5. His object is profit rather than growth in grace.

The doctrine of money

1. Money is designed as a medium of exchange. Coin type money was unknown until late in Bible times. Metals were used but they were metals by weight. A shekel of silver was not a coin, it was a silver bar — weight. In most cases where money is mentioned prior to coins it was in rings or ingots or bars. Coin type money was invented by the Lydians around the 7th century BC and the first known person related to coins was Croesus, King of Lydia.

2. Business/profit transactions are a legitimate function — Genesis; 23:9; Jeremiah 32:44. Capital is absolutely necessary for the function of an economy. The secret to economy is big business.

3. The giving of money is also an expression of the believer’s priesthood — not always, but under certain conditions.

4. Money as a god is a part of materialism lust and slavery to the details of life — Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:9,11,13. The principle of the Word is that money is a useful and helpful servant but a cruel and harsh master.

5. There are certain dangers with money with regard to the unbeliever. Remember that the unbeliever lives under the laws of establishment. There is danger for the unbeliever under four possibilities: a) Salvation cannot be purchased with money — Mark 8:36,37. Salvation is paid for by the blood of Christ — 1 Peter 1:18,19; b) Money causes the rich man to put his faith in the wrong things. He thinks of money as security rather than God as security, therefore he rejects the gospel — Mark 10:23-25; c) Money hinders the unbeliever from seeking salvation — Luke 16:19-31; d) Money has no credit with God — Proverbs 11:4,28; 13:7,11.

6. There is a danger in money for the believer. Money as a part of the slavery of the details of life; money as an expression of reverse process reversionism — Ecclesiastes 5:10-6:2; Annanias and Saphira in reversionism — Acts 5:1-10l. Paul deals with money because many of the Ephesian believers have become wealthy — 1 Timothy 3:6-12, 17-19; James 4:13-5:6.

7. The illusions regarding money. There are three cited in scripture: a) Money means happiness. That is an illusion, there is no happiness in money; b) Money is a means of security. That also is an illusion. Supergrace is the recognition of security but God’s grace is security — Matthew 6:24-33; c) Money can buy anything. But there are many things money cannot buy — salvation, true love, peace of mind, happiness, stability, etc.

Verse 14 — “Whereas” is the nominative masculine plural of the relative pronoun o(stij. This is a relative pronoun which deals with a certain principle: quality. it should be translated “Such a kind, and it refers to reversionists.

“know not” — present middle indicative of e)pistamai, a word used for knowledge gained by contact or prolonged practice. We have it here with the strongest single negative o)uk, the objective negative. (Mh is a subjective negative) O)uk is always used with indicatives. Such a kind who do not understand” — present tense, linear aktionsart. Middle voice; this is a directive middle, which means that the ignorance is non-beneficial to the believer. That is the first principle. Ignorance of doctrine is the worst thing that can happen to the believer.

Then we have another Greek word, poioj, which means ‘what kind’ — “of life.” We have a problem here of translation. The literal translation is, “Such a kind [reversionist] who do not understand what kind of life yours tomorrow.” Reversionists are ignorant of doctrine. “Life” here is zwh which is activity of life. There is no verb here, this is elliptical. The omission of the verb gives great emphasis on what we have coming up. Reversionists do not understand what kind of a life they are going to have tomorrow. They are under discipline. The end of reversionism is the sin unto death.

Next we have a verb. “For” is the explanatory use of the particle gar. Then we have “it is,” second person plural, present active indicative of e)imi, and it should be “you all [reversionists] are.” And what are they? A)tmij — a mist, a vapour trail, a wisp of smoke. A vapour trail is something that arrives on the scene with great fanfare, something which everyone gets their attention on. While they are still looking it disappears. So they make a big splash when they start, then depart and are forgotten. The reversionist is a vapour trail in the sky. Sic transit gloria munde (For the glory of the world passes way), that is the reversionist.

“that appeareth” — present passive participle of fainw which means to be visible, “being visible”; “for a short time,” but it is proj plus o)logon, ‘face to face with a short time’; “and then,” a continuative kai, then present middle participle of a)fanizw — disappearing.”

Translation: “Such a kind [reversionists] who do not understand what kind of life towards tomorrow. For you all [reversionists] are a vapour trail in the sky, being visible face to face for a short time, and then disappearing.”

Principle: Tome spent in reversionism does not count. The only time that counts is that spent in the supergrace life.

At this point we get into the problem of guidance. The only guidance that will work is when you are out of reversionism. When a believer is in reversionism he must make reversionistic recovery, then he is under the principle of divine guidance.

There are three great doctrines involved in verse 15: the doctrine of divine decrees, the doctrine of divine essence, the doctrine of divine guidance.

Verse 15 — “For that.” We have here a combination of things. “For that you ought to say” is a combination of three words — a)nti tou legein. A)nti is a preposition, tou is the definite article, legein is the infinitive form of the verb legw which means to say, to talk, to communicate. A)nti is used here in the substitutionary sense. Then we have the negative form of the definite article. It should read, “Instead you ought to say.” ‘You’ comes out of the infinitive. “You say’ is a present active infinitive with a plural personal pronoun in the accusative as the subject, and this is called the accusative of general reference. While there is no personal pronoun a pronoun is used to translate it. When you take an infinitive and give it a subject in the accusative case, which is just the antithesis of the ordinary exegetical, grammatical concept in the language. In all languages — Indo-European — the accusative case is the object of the verb. When you make the accusative case the subject of the verb it has great emphasis. The emphasis here goes like this: “Instead [of being in reversionism] you [reversionistic believer] ought to say this.” And you would always say this — present tense. The active voice: you are the subject. The infinitive indicates what should be said.

Then we begin with the word “if.” This is what the reversionists ought to say. The conjunction e)an plus the subjunctive introduces a third class condition. “If” here means potentiality of the situation. “If the Lord wills” — maybe He does and maybe He doesn’t. “The Lord” is o( kurioj and it refers to God the Father. Kurioj refers to deity; with it the definite article, o(, it generally refers to God the Father. Without the definite article it generally refers to the Son; there are some exceptions.

“If the Lord [God the Father] wills” — aorist active subjunctive of qelw which means to will or desire. It means to intend, it also means to design as well as to will or desire. It is a reference to the sovereignty of God the Father related to the decrees of God the Father. The aorist tense is a gnomic aorist in the sense that if it is His will then you are all right. It refers to eternity past when God the Father set up a plan for your life. The aorist tense, then, reminds us that in eternity past God knew every need we would ever have and He provided for it in grace. He provided for us in grace before we existed. The supergrace believer understands the pertinent doctrines which are involved at this point. We read literally, “Instead you ought to say, If the Lord has willed.” This brings out the concept of the gnomic aorist.

The doctrine of divine guidance

1. There are three categories of the will as far as man is concerned and as far as history is concerned. The first is the will of God (known as the sovereignty of God) and is always related to the plan of God and is never outside of the plan of God. It was not God’s will that man, when he was created, should sin. Obviously man had his own will by which he sinned. It was not God’s will that the angels sinned, they did so on the basis of their own free will. Satan said “I will” five times in Isaiah 14, the description of the first sin among angelic creatures. The first sin among human creatures was also an act of negative volition. Therefore we have three types of volition existing and extant in history: the will or sovereignty of God, angelic will, and human will.

2. The cardinal principle of divine guidance is found in 1 John 3:23. It is broken down into two parts or classifications. It is the will of God for members of the human race to believe in Jesus Christ. That is God’s primary will for the human race. The will of God for the believer is declared in terms of a)gaph love and/or spirituality. A)gaph love is often used in a technical sense for the filling of the Spirit, as illustrated by Romans 5:5; Galatians 5:22.

3. It is very important theologically to understand that the humanity of Christ had free will. The free will of the humanity of Christ illustrates the fact that all members of the human race have free will. The first Adam had free will and used it to sin. The progeny of Adam have free will. This is the basic concept of the law of divine establishment dealing with human freedom. The last Adam or Jesus Christ had free will. It is expressed in such passages as Matthew 20:22; 26:42; Hebrews 10:7-9. And here is the issue involved in the free will of the humanity of Christ: No free will in mankind would imply no free will in the humanity of Christ. Obviously His deity has sovereignty. Other implications would preclude salvation. The basic principle of divine guidance is based on the fact that man possesses volition of the soul and/or free will.

The soul has self-consciousness. Self-consciousness means that you are aware of your own existence and you know something about yourself. Then there are two frontal lobes. The left lobe is used as a processor of all information. There is where all objective information resides. It can go from there to the ‘heart’ or right lobe and enter into frame of reference, memory centre, vocabulary, categories; it sets up norms and standards, and the launching pad. The unbeliever functions under the system of perspicacity, only his system of perspicacity is based upon merit and human ability as well as inherent ability. But we are interested in the believer and in the believer’s soul we have volition, the whole reason for the believer existing — to demonstrate that under conditions of his volition he can choose for the plan of God and the grace of God as over against the plan of Satan and the phony facade of Satan. This is the only thing in man’s soul that he has in common with angels. Then we have the emotions, and the conscience which is located in the right lobe.

The basic principle of divine guidance is based upon the fact that man possesses volition and mentality, and all of the other factors of the soul. This is the basis for making decisions. Everything feeds into the volition.

4. There are three types of the will of God as it relates to humanity only. This is not a classification of the sovereignty of God as it relates to other members of the Godhead, as it relates directly to His plan, or to angels.

a) The directive will of God. Numbers 22:12 — the directive will of God for Balaam: Do not go to Moab. This is the will under which we should operate.

b) There is the permissive will of God in Numbers 22:20 — God permitted Balaam to go to Moab without killing him, even though it was not His direct will.

c) There is the overruling will of God — Numbers 23:5,15,26 where Balaam tried to curse Israel and did not succeed.

For your life there is the directive will of God; this is where you should be as much of the time as possible. The permissive will of God is, for example, the believer out of fellowship. He is still alive but not under the sin unto death; he is in reversionism. Then there is the overruling will of God. There are certain things that God will not permit, there are certain things that God protects, certain things that are inviolate, and He hinders those things being harmed.

5. We have academic principles of divine guidance. There are three principles under which we operate as far as doing the will of God is concerned. They include first of all the principle of GAP — knowledge of Bible doctrine. You cannot do the will of God unless you know the will of God — Isaiah 58:11; Proverbs 3:1,6; Romans 12:2; Psalm 32:8. God never designs anyone through emotion. GAP inevitably produces a second principle called ‘yieldedness.’ Yieldedness is two factors: the filling of the Spirit plus maximum knowledge of doctrine — Romans 6:13; 12:1,2; Ephesians 5:17,18. The third factor in divine guidance is growth. Under the concept of growth it demands the erection of the ECS and entrance into supergrace.

6. The phase two categories of the will of God include three: a) The viewpoint will of God. This answers the question: What does He want me to think? b) The operational will of God which answers the question: What does He want me to do? c) The geographical will of God which answers the question: Where does He want me to be?

7. Mechanics of the will of God. They are all found in a portion of one chapter — Acts 11:5-16. There is guidance through the proper use of prayer — verse 5; guidance through thinking — verse 6; guidance through doctrine — verses 7-10; guidance through providential circumstances — verse 11; guidance through the filling of the Spirit — verse 12; guidance through fellowship and companionship — verses 13-15; guidance through remembering a portion of the Word — verse 16.

“we shall live” — future active indicative of zaw. Zaw means the function of life, it is preceded by the word kai and it should be translated, “instead you ought to think that the Lord has willed” — then kai, “and do.” ‘Do’ is a future active indicative of poiew.

We have two future tenses here, the future tense of the verb to live and the future tense of the verb to do. Both of these are going to be translated, “The Lord has decreed [or willed], we shall live, and do [or function].” The future tense needs defining in the Greek.

1. The future is primarily an indicative tense, a reality tense.

2. The element of time in the future tense is very pronounced.

3. However, it also signifies the character of the verbal idea, but instead of presenting progress as the leading idea (like the present and the imperfect) it presents the general significance as being indefinite, like the aorist tense. In other words, all future tenses are not as simple as the future tense in English. The future tense in English is something that will occur in the future — generally translated by the word ‘shall.’

4. Future events in human thinking are more or less uncertain, and for that reason the morphology of the future tense in the Greek and the morphology of the aorist are very similar. Their concept is the same.

5. In the Greek language the future tense originates from the aorist subjunctive, therefore the punctiliar force of the aorist in the subjunctive in the Greek moves into the future tense, survives in the future tense.

6. The aorist tense indicates narrative in past time; the future tense anticipates an event in future time.

Why all of this? Because ‘we shall live and do’ are both gnomic futures. The gnomic aorist is something that is absolute or axiomatic, but the gnomic future here is a statement of fact for the believer who takes in doctrine. Living and doing may be rightfully expected under normal conditions of the supergrace life. If you reach supergrace you will do these things — ‘live’ and ‘do.’ Living has to do with the supergrace status and doing has to do with the function. The function can be thinking under supergrace conditions.

Translation: “Instead, you ought to say, If the Lord has willed, we shall both live [in supergrace], and function [in supergrace].”

Summary

1. The supergrace life lines up with God’s grace provision in eternity past. Once you enter supergrace you fit into the plan.

2. Therefore the supergrace life depends entirely upon God.

3. This becomes maximum security in time.

4. When everything depends on God you can’t miss the blessing.

5. Only in reversionism does the believer miss the blessing of grace. Reversionism destroys the lineup with God’s grace provision in eternity past.

6. The life of the reversionist is a vapour trail, seen for a moment and then disappears.

7. The life of the supergrace believer is a permanent monument established forever to the glory of God — cf. Lamentations 3:22,23.

The conclusion of this chapter discusses the production of reversionism — verses 16,17.

Verse 16 — described from the viewpoint of arrogance. “But” is the adversative use of the particle de. It sets up a contrast between supergrace provision and the production of reversionism. It sets up a contrast between the attitudes of supergrace in the previous verse and the mental attitude of the reversionist in this verse. Usually when reversionism is described in terms of its negative production mental attitude sins are used. For example, in verse 5 of this chapter we saw jealousy as the production of reversionism. Now in verse 16 we see pride or arrogance used to characterise it.

“But now” — the adverb of time nun, which means ‘now’ or ‘at the present time.’ This adverb represents the status quo of the believers mentioned in James 1:1. They were reversionistic. So the book of James, like the book of Hebrews, is approaching exhortation to the supergrace life but from a different viewpoint: Hebrews from the standpoint of the priesthood of the believer, James from the standpoint of the believer’s declared faith but not manifest faith.

“rejoice” — incorrectly translated in the KJV. We have the present middle indicative of kauxaomai which means to boats or to brag. It is present tense, linear aktionsart, middle voice. It is an intensive middle. The indicative mood is the reality of arrogance expressed through reversionism: “But now you keep on boasting through your boasting.” We have a preposition e)n plus the instrumental of a)lazoeia — “arrogant words.” This is the expression of the mental attitude sin in the reversionistic believer. “But at the present time you yourself keep on boasting with arrogant words.”

The word ‘all’ is a nominative feminine singular of paj. The feminine gender in the Greek indicates reversionism, responding to the wrong thing. Next we have the nominative feminine singular from toioutoj which should be translated ‘this sort’ or ‘this kind’ of thing. We then know what kind of thing it is because we have the noun kauxhsij with an active voice suffix. It means the act of boasting. Literally, “all this kind of boasting is,” the present active indicative of e)imi. The next word is not quite correct in the KJV. “Evil” is the nominative feminine singular ponhroj which means ‘wicked, evil, bad, worthless, vicious, degenerate.’ All of these meanings are pertinent and so we translate it “all of this kind of boasting is worthless [wicked, bad, vicious, degenerate, evil].” In other words, it is reversionism.

Verse 17 — “Therefore” is an inferential particle which introduces an immediate conclusion from the immediate context, o)un.

“to the one knowing” — dative singular, perfect active participle of o)ida. O)ida is inherent knowledge. The dative case means the individual knows better. The dative case would indicate that the subject participates in the action of the verb with results, and it indicates that the individual involved once had an ECS. “Therefore to the one having known” — perfect active participle. The one having known is a believer who formerly would be called by friends and acquaintances a ‘great believer,’ a ‘dynamic Christian,’ and by the Word of God recognised as a believer who had completed or almost completed the ECS. The principle here is that the greater the knowledge the better the volitional issue. The more doctrine you have in your soul the more lucid are the issues that face your volition. Negative in reversionism is characterised by clear understandings of the issue. At many points the believer knows exactly what he is doing, that he is negative toward doctrine, that he has rejected doctrine, that he has picked up something that is false, and that he is moving in a certain direction that is contrary to what God’s will for him happens to be.

“to do good” is literally, ‘the honourable things to do.’ The word ‘good’ is kaloj in the accusative singular. Kaloj is going to be used as the subject again. We have the accusative of general reference. Ten accusative case is used as the subject when the verb is in the form of the infinitive. So the word kaloj means ‘honourable.’ ‘The honourable thing to do,’ present active infinitive of poiew. What is the honourable thing to do? From our context we know that it is GAPing it, taking in Bible doctrine, growing in grace, moving up the line with the ECS, supergrace life, occupation with Christ.

“and doeth it not” — not doing it is going into reversionism. This is the present active participle of poiew plus our subjective negative mh. Mh is used here to indicate subjectivity. ‘And doeth it not.’ Why? Subjective frustration from the soul from moving into reversionism.

“to him” — dative singular of a)utoj. A)utoj is a reflexive pronoun used in the place of a personal pronoun for emphasis. It is in the dative of disadvantage. It is to the disadvantage of any believer to be in reversionism. So we have a reflexive pronoun referring to the reversionistic believer who still understands the issues. He understands that he should be taking in doctrine, he understands that there are objectives in learning doctrine — the supergrace life, and so on. The noun indicates the failure of reversionism and the perpetual discipline of the believer in reversionism leading to the sin unto death.

“it is sin” — present active participle of e)imi, ‘it keeps on being’; “sin,” a(martia which is used for sin in the concept of missing the mark, missing the bull’s eye. The bull’s eye is supergrace via the ECS. Sin s used here in the sense of a reversionistic believer who has missed the mark entirely. His life is characterised by sin and discipline and eventuates in the sin unto death.

Translation: “Therefore to the one knowing the honourable things to do, and not doing it, to him it is missing the mark.”