Super-Grace
At the moment you believe in Jesus Christ, you receive thirty-six things, one of which is an appointment as a priest (1 Pet. 2:5, 9). However it is one thing to be appointed a priest and something else to function under the priesthood. Just being saved doesn’t mean a thing as far as your service for the Lord on this earth is concerned. Until you enter into SUPER-GRACE, you cannot serve God to the maximum effectiveness. _“Super-grace” is that stage in the Christian’s life which lies beyond the point of spiritual maturity and which appropriates and utilizes God’s grace toward maximum function and production.
In the meantime, you are going to go through all kinds of growing pains; you’re going to think you’re an expert at every stage—and you’re going to be trouble for some poor pastor to whose lot it will fall to counsel you. In fact, too often the desire to be counselled is merely a desire for attention. Most people don’t need counselling. What they need is BIBLE DOCTRINE!
There is only one way that any believer can ever basically function under his priesthood, and that is through the intake of Bible doctrine. But as a new believer, you cannot accomplish this by reading the Bible for yourself. You are just born into a new kingdom and are totally ignorant of anything that God has provided. The great objective for you as a priest—the only objective which you can actually fulfil successfully for a while is the intake of doctrine.
The provision whereby the believer can take in doctrine is the “grace apparatus for perception” (GAP). You must hear doctrine communicated by a pastor-teacher under the filling of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:10) It is then understood objectively in the left or perceptive lobe. This information is called “gnosis” in the Greek (knowledge in the staging area). Now, once you understand what has been taught, volition goes into operation. Positive volition expresses itself in a non-meritorious manner—FAITH. Faith cycles the information into the human spirit, where it becomes “epignosis” (1 Cor. 2:11, 12). “Epignosis” is “over or beyond knowledge”, that is, knowledge beyond the staging area. It is doctrine in the human spirit, which is usable. “Epignosis” is cycled into the right lobe in the filling of the Spirit, where it goes into the frame of reference and memory centre; it begins to form vocabulary and categories and to change norms and standards to line up with God’s norms and standards; and it is finally put on the “launching pad” to be utilized.
“Epignosis” also has another function: it is used as building material for the erection of the “edification complex” in the soul (ECS), which is the objective of the growing Christian and is the identification of maturity in the believer. It consists of five “floors”: (1) Grace Orientation (awareness of your place and purpose in the plan of God) (2) mastery of the details of life; (3) the relaxed mental attitude of “agape” love (mental occupation with Christ and absence of mental attitude sins); (4) capacity to love in all categories (one—toward God, or occupation with Christ; two—toward right man or right woman; three—toward friends); and (5) PLUS - H (+H) (God’s perfect happiness shared with the believer in time, although it is a temporary sharing).
The ECS is the reflected glory of God and the means by which believers can glorify God. Basically, you don’t glorify God by what you do, but by the spiritual assets of the soul. Bona fide production is the result of these assets. Therefore, in order to glorify God, you must develop the assets in the soul to the point of maturity, and this can be done only through Bible doctrine.
Once you have achieved an edification complex, you face a great issue: either you move into super-grace or you retrogress into reversionism.
From +H it is very easy to move to intensify GAP, to continue taking in doctrine on a daily basis and to enter supergrace, which is the goal of the mature believer.
At that point, you begin to function as a priest in the true sense of the word, and you begin to fulfil the purpose for which you have been left in this world as a believer. Furthermore, at this point, you enter vigorously into the angelic conflict. By now you are also mature enough to distinguish between divine and human good.
The big problem comes when people get close to maturity and they decide they know it all—that they have arrived! And that’s when they fall apart. (1 Cor. 10:12).
They begin to neglect Bible doctrine, and things that hurt begin to happen. When you neglect bible doctrine, you will eventually go negative towards it. That puts scar tissue on the left bank of the soul. At first you are not negative in the absolute sense—the process is gradual. It often starts with a date or a party which interferes with Bible class; and since you know everything anyway, you begin to neglect and disregard the teaching. This opens up “mataiotes”—a vacuum in the soul.
A believer cannot be demon-possessed, for his “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 6:19); but Satan gets to the believer through the “mataiotes,” which sucks in doctrines of demons (I Tim. 4:1) — false doctrines and human viewpoint. Once these infiltrate, they attack true doctrine in the right lobe, and his norms and standards become the norms and standards of “cosmos diabolicus.” His frame of reference and categories change so that he thinks in terms of “brotherhood” (so-called), internationalism, anti-establishment, anti-military, etc., and there is nothing on the “launching pad” except propaganda—let’s love the Communists, beat the drums for ecology, give away our money to panhandlers and hippies!
Now while this is going on, the old sin nature is not idle. Whenever scare tissue is built up on the left bank of the soul through negative volition toward doctrine, you will inevitably get into some practice or some system which will build scar tissue on the right bank. If the trend of your old sin nature is toward lasciviousness, then by hell-raising, you build scar tissue on the right bank of the soul. If the trend is toward asceticism, you start to build your righteousness on someone else’s unrighteousness, or you begin to look for some second-blessing type of experience, some rosy glow. Once you get enough scar tissue on the right bank, you have a blackout of the soul.
Scar tissue of the soul also leads to emotional revolt of the soul. The emotion revolts against the right lobe. The right lobe is the “right man” of the soul and should run the soul. The emotion is a responder and therefore analogous to the “right woman.” Butonce you have emotional revolt in the soul, you shut down the valves to the right lobe, and you become a sucker for anything in the Devil’s world. Finally, your beautiful edification complex begins to crumble, until you are in a state called reversionism. and you will begin to practice reverse process reversionism. All this may take only a short time, or it may take forty years, as in the case of King Saul. But no matter how long it takes, you are on your way to the sin unto death. These are the results of retrogression in the Christian life.
We are going to turn over the coin and see the results of progression in the Christian life, particularly after you have reached the point where you have erected an edification complex in the soul. From there, you can enter the SUPER-GRACE LIFE, which is the state in which you really begin to live as a believer. It is the capacity to enjoy what God provides. The purpose of this book is to challenge you to get into the super-grace life and to find out what it’s all about. But before we can get into super-grace, we must first understand with grace is.
Therefore, I am going to give you the Biblical principles of grace.
Definition. The definition of grace includes several factors. First, grace is all that God is free to do for man on the basis of the cross. Second, grace is God’s freedom to express His love to mankind without jeopardizing His essence. God’s essence is God’s character. The three Members of the Godhead possess sovereignty, absolute righteousness, justice, love, eternal life, omniscience omnipotence, omnipresence, immutability, and veracity. God the Father wants to love the human race, but He has to have freedom to do so. He can’t love us at the expenses of some of His other characteristics. If He compromises His character, it is weakened, and His love is worthless. The important thing in love is character, not maudlin sentimentalism nor some kind of gushing.
{Note: This was written in 1973 ~ today in 2001, it is said that the Love of God is the Integrity of God—the Whole of God’s character.}
God’s righteousness cannot fellowship with sinful man, for “all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23). Even our righteousness is MINUS “R” (Isa. 64:6). His justice must condemn a spiritually dead race (Eph. 2:1; Rom. 6:23). Therefore, His righteousness and justice stand in the way of His love toward mankind. Yet God found a grace way to love us without compromising His character (Eph. 2:4). In His sovereignty He made a divine decision to reach man which satisfied the righteousness of the Father; on the cross. Christ bore our sins, which satisfied the justice of the Father. Now love and eternal life can come through the “grace pipe” to man—but only by way of the Cross (Rom. 5:8; 1 Pet. 2:24). Therefore, grace is the plan and work of God on behalf of man, and grace begins at the cross.
When you BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, you come under maximum love (Rom. 5:10). No matter what kind of a believer you are, God will always love you with a maximum love—not because of who and what you are, but because of who and what Christ is! When you understand this, you begin to understand the principle of grace.
A third factor in defining grace is the principle of freedom: on one can truly give apart from freedom. God gives out of total freedom because of the cross. Anything that is given to you in the right way is given on the basis of freedom. When one gives in freedom, no strings are attached. If giving is a bribe for affection or love or attention, it does not stem from capacity for freedom. This emphasizes the importance of the super-grace life. The super-grace life gives you the capacity for freedom whereby you have the ability to give not only of your finances to help someone, but to give of yourself in love. You are free to do so because you are not seeking attention or affection or trying to bribe someone for something.
The fourth definition relates grace both to the cross and to the super-grace life. Grace is God’s plan as well as God’s policy for Homo sapiens. It is a plan, a policy, a function and a mechanic of divine modus operandi and modus vivendi.
The Concept of Grace. Grace depends on the essence or character of God; therefore, grace depends on who and what God is, not on who and what man is. Grace is what God can do for man and be consistent with His own essence.
This is illustrated by propitiation, and the application is fantastic. It’s the most wonderful thing in the world to realize that God didn’t save you because He needed your help, your scintillating personality or your status symbols of life. That is the Madison Avenue type of Christianity we have today. You and I need God—He doesn’t NEED us! It’s not what we give up or do for Him, but what He has done for us! Nothing depends on us—everything depends on God!
God has chosen to use the least deserving of all His creation—“HOMO—SAPS”!! And that is His phenomenal grace! If He did the most for us when we were His enemies (Rom. 5:8-10), what will He do now that we are His children? Much more than the most! And He does more than the most through the super-grace life. You’ll never be grace-oriented if you have your eyes on what you are doing for God, or what anyone is doing—even our pastor. Preachers aren’t any different from anyone else. We all have old sin natures; but God has chosen pastor-teachers to communicate doctrine. It isn’t the pastor’s life that is important—it’s his message—and that is grace!
None of us is anything; and that’s the beauty of God’s plan. God is perfect; His plan is perfect. If one born-again member of the human race can do anything in the plan of God, the plan is no good. A plan is no stronger than its weakest link. Now, honestly—would you like the plan of God to depend on you? Thank you God, His plan doesn’t depend on me, but on Someone who is perfect!
The Issue of Grace. The believer must sort out the difference between grace and legalism. Legalism is man’s ability and works intruding into God’s plan. Man always has some talent, some ability, some plan or gimmick, some public relations concept, some Madison Avenue idea that he wants to incorporate into God’s plan. But anything man throws into God’s plan, if it neither destroyed nor neutralized, because grace rejects the energy of the flesh—human good and human ability, human viewpoint ideas. Man’s works or plans cannot coexist with God’s. They are mutually exclusive. This means that when we are born again we bring nothing to God; God brings everything to us. The sooner you get with this grace principle, the sooner you will be able to utilize His blessing.
Many of you are trying to bribe God through giving. You want a girl friend or success in business or a better job, so you ante ten percent into the collection plate. Some of you are trying to bribe God by witnessing to ten people a day. You’re on a point system, a works system. You can’t bribe God! The sooner you learn that, the better off you’ll be. One of the things that really irritates Satan is that God takes fallen creatures, inferior to angels, saves them, gives them thirty-six things at the point of salvation, and uses them against the most phenomenal army in the universe—the army of demons! The believer with doctrine in his soul is armed. Doctrine is his “ammo” for the angelic conflict.
Christianity moves on the basis of doctrine—not on personalities. Pastor-teachers come and go; but doctrine goes right on. Nearly two thousand years ago, the cannon of Scripture was completed. All hell tried to stop it; but in 96 A.D. it was completed and circulated, and it is still here today. It will still be here tomorrow and forever. That’s what counts—not you or I!
Grace, Sanctification and the Angelic Conflict. The greatest thing that God can do for the believer is to make him like His Son. Jesus Christ is the only Celebrity in the Church Age, and the objective of grace is to make every believer like Him. Man was created to resolve the angelic conflict; therefore, Christ had to become a human being, not an angel, in order to resolve the conflict (Heb. 2:14-16). The first Adam lost the victory through the fall; the Last Adam won the victory through the cross (Col. 2:14; Heb. 2:14). Through the cross grace found a way to take man, created inferior to angels, and make him superior to angels. This is accomplished in three stages of sanctification.
Stage 1: Positional Sanctification, administered by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit’s entering the believer into union with Jesus Christ. Christ was made lower than angels (Heb.1), but became superior to them at the moment He was seated at the right hand of the Father. Since believers are in union with Christ, they are positionally higher than angels.
Stage 2: Experiential Sanctification. After the construction of the edification complex of the soul, the believer enters into the super-grace life; therefore, super-grace is the principle of experiential sanctification. In Stage 2, believers are able to defeat angels only under super-grace.
Stage 3: Resurrection or Ultimate Sanctification. The body of the believer in resurrection becomes exactly like the body of Christ in resurrection; and as a result the believer is physically superior to angels. He is POSITIONALLY superior at the cross (stage 1); SPIRITUALLY superior through super-grace (stage 2);
PHYSICALLY superior at the Rapture of the Church (stage 3)
Notice that in each one, GOD DOES THE WORK! Inferior mankind becomes superior through the principle of grace sanctification.
The Entrance Factor of Grace. Every believer has tasted the grace of God at least once. (Heb. 6:4; 1 Pet. 2:3). You cannot enter the plan of God without tasting grace. When you believe in Christ, you taste His grace, and you receive thirty-six things you neither earn nor deserve. This grace package cannot be cancelled or destroyed by either man or angels—not even by God himself. Among the thirty-six things received at salvation is propitiation (1 John 2:2), whereby the believer, regardless of his spiritual status, is under maximum grace. But grace can find a place to lodge only where there is capacity for grace. Entering the plan of God by faith in Christ does not give you CAPACITY for grace. Therefore, God had to construct a whole series of things in grace for you (Jas. 4:6): the filling of the Spirit, GAP, the edification complex, and the super-grace life; and these are MORE GRACE!
Capacity for grace increases on the basis of the intake of doctrine. The filling of the Spirit is the means of beginning capacity for a new believer, and the construction of the ECS increases that capacity; but ultimately, capacity for grace is the super-grace life. Grace never goes where it is not wanted. That’s why some believers will never know the wonderful things God has for them as His children.
The Occupational Hazard of Believers. The greatest hazard in the life of the believer is disorientation to grace through reversionism (Gal. 5:4; Heb. 12:15). After one has erected the ECS through the function of GAP, the great danger to moving on into super-grace life is reversionism.
The Divine Attitude in Grace. God is constantly waiting to pour out His grace on every believer (Isa. 30:18-19). Some of you will know what this means, and some of you will never know because you will never reach the ECS by means of the daily intake of doctrine through GAP and then continue into super-grace. After the ECS has been erected, progression is absolutely necessary in order to go into super-grace and the fantastic blessing waiting there. But some of you will go into reversionism and never know what hit you! The objective of this book is to challenge you to move on in spite of ANYTHING—in spite of any situation, in spite of situation, in spite of friends or even of loved ones!
Grace in Phase One. The principle of grace in Phase One (salvation) is found in many passages, such as, Psalm 103:8-12; Romans 3:23, 24; 4:4; 5:20; Ephesians 2:8,9; Hebrews 2:9 — to mention a few. Salvation is all grace because Jesus Christ did all the work. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9).
Grace in Phase Two. This is the believer in time. The first principle is prayer (Heb. 4:16). No one is completely effective in his prayer life until he reaches super-grace. This is the place of dynamics in prayer. This is where prayer has maximum faith-rest function and usefulness. The second area is suffering (2 Cor. 12:9, 10). Super-grace suffering is designed for blessing. The third area is growth (2 Pet. 3:18). The first part of this verse, “grow in grace,” refers to the construction of the edification complex; the last part, “and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” refers to occupation with Christ in super-grace. The fourth area is stability (1 Pet. 5:12; Heb. 13:9). The fifth area is in modus vivendi of Christianity demands the function of supergrace. As a result of this, we have the sixth function of super-grace—the production of divine good (1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Cor. 6:1). In other words, you don’t have to WORRY about hustling out to do something for God. You don’t force production—it will come beautifully through doctrine.
Grace and Giving. Grace orientation is the bona fide motivation and thought pattern for giving in the Church Age (2 Cor. 8:9; Phil. 4:14-18). You have to be free to give properly, and freedom comes through the intake of doctrine. The intake of doctrine builds the ECS; the continuation of doctrine after you build an ECS puts you in the super-grace bracket. Once you are in super-grace, you are really free to give: you understand the principle of giving without strings or coercion. _
Grace in Suffering. Through grace, God is able to bless the believer in the midst of pressure, suffering and adversity. Grace is the only sufficiency for suffering in Phase Two (2 Cor. 12:7-10).
The Axioms of Grace. (1) God is perfect; His plan is perfect. (2) A perfect plan can only originate and function from a perfect God. In other words, a perfect plan must have a perfect Source. (3) If man can do anything meritorious in the plan of God, it is no longer perfect. (4) A plan is no stronger than it’s weakest link. For this reason, grace excludes all human merit, all human ability, all human good.
“Do-gooders” and “bleeding hearts” will never make it under God’s Plan. That’s super-reversionism! (5) Since legalism and human good are the enemies of grace, works of human righteousness have no place in the plan of God. (6) All human good is associated with the greatest mental attitude sin—PRIDE. The most devastating mental attitude sin is jealousy; but the worst is pride.
Four Areas in Which Pride Rejects God’s Grace. These explain Satan’s pride; they explain human pride and why pride is the WORST mental attitude sin.
(1) The pride of the believer who rejects the doctrine of eternal security. To reject eternal security you have to be the most fat-headed person in Christendom. Why? Because it amounts to thinking that your sins are greater than the Plan of God.
(2) The pride of the believer who succumbs to pressure and adversity. He thinks his sufferings are greater then the grace provision of God.
(3) The pride of pseudo-spirituality in which the believer thinks that his human systems are greater than the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in his life. His human system may be personality imitation or observation of certain taboos. It may be confusing the means with the result. It may be some system of relativity - e.g., “My sins are more refined than your sins; therefore, I am spiritual.” It might be spirituality by asceticism, programism or ritualism. All of these are pride systems: “I’m doing something. I have found the way. I speak all this gibberish under ecstatic conditions; therefore, I am a great believer!” So human pride is associated with any system of pseudo-spirituality, and is sustained by human pride.
(4) The pride of the believer in emotional revolt of the soul. He assumes that his emotions and feelings and experiences are more important than Bible doctrine.
The Relation of Grace to Divine Operating Assets. This is found in such passages as John 1:14,16,17; Corinthians 1:4,5; Ephesians 1:6, 7.
The Principle of Super-Grace (Jas. 4:6). “He gives greater grace.” Jesus Christ moved into super-grace (John 1:14-17). There are many portions which explain and develop the concept of super-grace for the believer in Jesus Christ. The passage we will examine will be primarily Philippians 4 and James 4.
The first ten verses of Philippians 4 give us the function of the edification complex of the soul as a prelude to the super-grace life. In many previous studies we have established the fact that the erection of the edification complex in the soul is the point of maturity for the believer in Jesus Christ. But this only brings him to the point of maturity without the benefits of maturity. The Christian life really begins, as far as function and production are concerned, after the ECS is erected. So, the question is, what’s beyond the ECS? Or, after maturity—what? There is the great territory of SUPER-GRACE—generally unknown and unexplored in our generation! Because of widespread reversionism in Christendom today, this area continues to be unexplored and unexploited.
In the first three chapters of Philippians, Paul has warned us concerning reversionism; now in the fourth chapter, he describes the great blessing of moving into the super-grace life. As we begin this chapter, there are six principles we should keep in mind. (1) No one remains the same in Phase Two (the Christian life). As a believer-priest, you either advance or retrogress, but you do not stand still. Phase One (salvation) takes just a second. Faith in Jesus Christ requires only a simple and brief act of positive volition. Phase Two begins one second after you believe in Him and continues until death or the Rapture, whichever occurs first. Phase Two is divided into two parts—living and dying. Phase Three is the believer in eternity in the presence of the Lord after death or the Rapture (2 Cor. 5:8; Rev. 21,22). (2) Retrogression means carelessness in the function of GAP, the accumulation of scar tissue on the soul, emotional revolt and blackout of the soul, reversionism and the practice of reverse process reversionism. (3) We are challenged to move forward after reaching maturity. (4) The believer cannot afford to spend much of his time recovering from reversionism
(5) Recovery from reversionism simply brings you back to the point of maturity, but doesn’t move you into the super-grace life, where the real benefits begin to accrue. That involves an intense thrust of GAP and sometimes takes years. (6) Few believers live very long in the penthouse of the edification complex (+H). They either move on into something greater (God’s +H perpetuated and intensified—Phil. 4:4), or they retrogress into various stages of reversionism, which leads to self-induced misery and discipline.
Verse 1 of Philippians 4 gives us the principle of how to move into the super-grace life. It has to be through the continuation of the function of GAP producing stability in your life. You don’t move forward on your emotions. The intake of Bible doctrine is the only way any believer will ever move forward. Doctrine is manna from heaven; it is your life! It is as important to your spiritual life as the air you breathe is to your physical life.
“Therefore, my brethren, loved ones, deeply desired ones, my happiness and victory crown; in this way (ECS status) keep on being STABILIZED by the Lord, ones worthy of love (verse 1).
“Therefore” — in view of all the principles in which believers grow from spiritual infancy to the point of the ECS (Chapter 1), in view of the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ as the only Celebrity in the Christian life (Ch.2), in view of the importance
of discipline (Ch. 3) — the believer is now ready for the doctrine which leads him to true spiritual maturity in the Christian life: capacity for love and happiness, capacity for life, and capacity for freedom.
“Therefore, my brethren” — members of the family of God ..… We enter the family of God by the new birth through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:12; Gal. 3:26). The life of every believer has meaning, purpose and definition! No matter how insignificant you think your life is, as far as God is concerned, it is important. No matter how you may have failed, you are still alive; therefore, God has a purpose for your life. Phase Two does not depend on who and what you are, but on WHO AND WHAT CHRIST IS! It depends on orienting to grace as quickly as possible. Even though you may think of yourself as a second-class Christian, you are a believer in full-time Christian service. You are a priest, appointed at the moment of your salvation, and God has a plan for your life.
The fact that you are alive right now means that you can recover from any failure, any disaster, any difficulty, and go on to the great principle of the super-grace life. God has left you here primarily for one reason — not to hustle and work around a church — not even to witness and pray, but to reach the place of super-grace and function in your priesthood to the maximum capacity.
“Dearly beloved” is literally, “worthy of love,” Now you may say to yourself, “What have I ever done to make me worthy of love, as far as God is concerned?” Obviously, in view of God’s essence, none of us is worthy of God’s love. But Jesus Christ is worthy of the Father’s love, and because every believer is in union with Christ, we become worthy of the Father’s love through Christ. (Eph. 1:6)
Paul also has a deep love and desire for the Philippians. Their pastor, Epaphroditus, is at this time on leave in Rome to visit Paul; but as founder of the Philippian church and writer of this epistle as an Apostle, Paul is again their temporary right pastor. They are his “joy” in time because down through the years they have so responded to his doctrinal teaching that they are a great source of happiness to him. There are two kinds of joy: one, the +H, which indicates the top floor of the ECS; and two, the follow-through of +H in the super-grace life. The two together make up the greatest happiness which it is possible to have in the Devil’s world — a life that really counts. This happiness is a part of Paul’s capacity for love.
Most believers are unaware of the fact that both types of happiness are open to them. However, you don’t get there by doing things or by clapping your hands and singing, “I have the joy, joy, joy.” You get there by learning doctrine. Yet we have people today warning believers to be careful of getting too much doctrine or they will become stagnant. That’s the Devil’s own propaganda!
New believers should not be DOING anything — they are spiritual babies. No one expects a baby to get a job and earn his own living the minute he is born, or for many years after. We all have to go through a long learning process before we are able to work or to stand on our own. That’s true in the spiritual life as well. You are in training from the moment you are saved until you erect the edification
complex. The intake of doctrine through the function of GAP is the means by which this is accomplished in the spiritual life. With a crash program of GAP, you could get there in eighteen months or two years. And then you’re really ready to live!
You are designed for living through the cross. But the fulfilment for living is in the super-grace life. Many of you have remained in bondage to legalism since the day of your salvation. Someone grabbed you right after you were saved and told you that you couldn’t grow until you gave up five things that always shocked that person. So your whole Christian life has consisted of giving up the “big five.” Some of you are in bondage to emotional revolt of the soul and reversionism, and you’ll never have the experience of the happiness for which you are frantically searching because the capacity come from DOCTRINE!
The people who have responded to doctrine are Paul’s victory crown in eternity as well as his joy in time. Paul often used the analogy to the ancient games of the Graeco-Roman world — the Olympic games, the Isthmian games at Corinth, the Pythian games, etc. The victor’s crown was a crown of ivy leaves, which doesn’t sound like much of a reward for spending ten months in “beast barracks” training under the most rigid discipline. But the real reward is revealed when the victor returns to his hometown. A hole just large enough for him to walk through is cut in the wall of the city. He is no longer just an ordinary person; therefore, he does not walk through the city gates as other citizens. After he enters the city through the hole in the wall, it is sealed up and a plaque placed over the spot to memorialise his victory.
From there, the victor is honoured by a great parade through the city. After the shouting is over, the athlete is sculptured in bronze, and the statue is exhibited in a public. He is also given a cash prize, his children are educated at public expense, he is given a lifetime pass to the games in which he won an event, and he is eliminated from any future payment of income taxes.
Believers receive only the “well done” now — ivy leaves compared to the fantastic rewards which will be given in heaven to those who have fulfilled their priesthood in the supergrace life!
“In such a condition,” Paul goes on to say, “don’t lose ground.” In other word,
STAND FAST! KEEP ON BEING STABILIZED! This is the first command to keep moving into the super-grace life. How? “By the Lord,” or “by the thinking of the Lord.” The “thinking of the Lord,” is Bible Doctrine — the “mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16) — and emphasizes the importance of the perpetuation of GAP on a daily basis AFTER the erection of the ECS; for beyond the ECS lies the realization of a fantastic world of grace provision.
Now before Paul can go on with doctrine of the supergrace life, he has to stop and resolve a problem which has arisen in the local church. There was a personality conflict which had affected the entire church. Wherever personalities gather, the differences which always exist form the basis for conflict. Two ladies had gotten into a donnybrook in the Philippian church, and everyone in the church had taken sides. It could have destroyed the congregation if it had been allowed to continue.
“I admonish Euodias, and I admonish Syntyche to have the same viewpoint by means of the Lord.” (through Bible doctrine), (Phil. 4:2)
The word “beseech” (“parakaleo”) has several meanings; but here it means “to admonish.” It is beginning of a mild rebuke from headquarters. The first of these women is Euodias, whose name means “prosperous journey.” From her name it is concluded that she was a very capable businesswoman. Possibly she was a little on the intense side, wore tailored clothes and sombre shades. At this time she was engaged in a personality conflict with an other prominent woman in the church, known as Syntyche, whom she regards as a flighty social butterfly. Syntyche means “pleasant acquaintance” or “happy chance” .No doubt she is exact opposite of Euodias and regards Euodias as too ambitious and efficient.
Both of these ladies are playing a game of “spiritual king of the mountain” in the local church. They once had an edification complex, but have neglected doctrine for one reason or another and have gone into reversionism. The conflict between them is a part of reverse process reversionism. Although the object of their true love was Jesus Christ, they had become occupied with inconsequential persons, perhaps human celebrities. If they had a right man, he was phased out for the moment.
Only Bible doctrine in the right lobe can resolve personality conflicts among believers. If these ladies had obeyed the admonition in verse 1, there would have been no problem. Now they need to get back to doctrinal or divine viewpoint. The neglect of the daily function of GAP not only results in the function of reverse process reversionism, but if widespread enough, can turn a local church into a battleground.
We must understand that Christianity is not a change of personality. Many people today are teaching Christianity as a kind of system of psychology. They are analysing and defining personalities in psychological terms, making an issue of personality, and trying to solve problems from the human viewpoint, such as sensitivity training. Changing the personality is not the answer to any kind of personality conflict. God uses all kinds of personalities, and these are never to be an issue. In the following verses, Paul continues with the solution to the personality conflict and commands for the super-grace life.
“Okay — I request you also, reliable Syzygus (proper name, meaning, “yoke fellow”), give assistance to those women who teamed up with me in the gospel, with Clement also and the rest of my associates, whose names in the book of life (vs.3).”
“And”, which begins this verse in the English, is a confirmation of the preceding statement, and indicates the need to take a further step to solve the problem. It is usually translated “yes" .In our idiom, “okay” would best express the meaning. These ladies actually need two things to resolve their conflict: first, recovery from reversionism, which calls for the reconstruction of the ECS through the daily function of GAP; second, their conflict is so serious that spiritual leadership and authority from a mature male member of the congregation is necessary. Remember, their pastor, Epaphroditus, is absent and cannot step in and handle the situation. Therefore, the Apostle Paul is appointing a man in the congregation to take the place of leadership.
Now there is nothing charming or more beautiful and lovely than a woman, and God has given women a wonderful place in life; but it doesn’t include authority in a church! When woman get into reversionism, one of the first signs is a tendency to try and start running the church and the pastor and, of course, their husbands. If their husbands had exercised their authority at home, these two gals would never have gotten into the donnybrook in the church.
There is one super-grace type male in the church who is still totally objective and who hasn’t taken sides. His name is Syzygus, but I’m going to call him “Gus” for short. So Paul says, “Okay, Gus step in and straighten out these two reversionistic cats who have started a gang war in the congregation.” He will have to take the place of the pastor in this case. The pastor (shepherd) does two things for the sheep: on the one hand he feeds and protects them; on the other hand, he whacks them. Sheep are so stupid they can’t think; but when they get whacked with the stick, it is a reminder to get back in line.
The pastor is THE AUTHORITY in the local church. If you are not satisfied in your local church, don’t start trouble! You may know more doctrine than the pastor — but he still represents authority. It is not your job to straighten him out or to tell the other members in the congregation what he doesn’t know. If he isn’t feeding you the way you think he should, or you cannot respect his authority, it still doesn’t give you the right to start a fuss. You will be disciplined and judged. If necessary, just depart Quietly!
In the absence of the pastor, some qualified person has to assume authority — one in super-grace who has enough doctrine to use his authority without abusing it. “True” means three things: “genuine, legitimate and reliable.” All three describe a super-grace believer. He is genuinely objective; he can legitimately assume authority; and he can be depended on the handle the situation with justice and equity. The fact that Syzygus means “someone in harness” indicates he has had experience in recognizing authority himself. He went through “beast barracks” with Paul. No one ever properly exercises authority until he has learned to take authority. Sometimes to take authority you have to be ground down into the dust. You have to take it and take it and take it! It’s no fun — but the important thing is to learn to respect authority.
Some of you have pastors you don’t like. So what? That isn’t even the issue. The Scripture doesn’t say anywhere that you have to like the pastor. But it does say you have to respect his authority. Gus was under the authority of three pastors - Paul, Timothy and Epaphroditus. They all had different personalities, but they all cranked out doctrine; and Gus got the doctrine!
In the past, the two ladies in conflict had been associated with Paul and had been a fantastic help to him in the work of evangelisation in Philippi. They had worked with Clement also, who was of a different personality from Paul, as well as with many others in the church. When Euodias and Syntyche possessed the ECS, they had no trouble working as a team with many different kinds of personalities. Emotional revolt, reversionism, and their subsequent conflict have made casualties of them.
The mention of the “book of life” indicates that all these people were believers in Jesus Christ. The book of life originally contained the names of all members of the human race (doctrine of unlimited atonement). When anyone dies without believing in Christ as Saviour, his name is blotted out of the book of life (Rev. 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12; 20:15; 21:27).
After giving enough instruction to take
care of the problem, Paul stops and points them toward the goal of the
Christian life, which apparently only Gus has achieved. This goal is mentioned
in Philippians 4:4. But before we go any farther, I want to switch over to a
passage which explains why the two women were in this conflict and why any
conflict develops in a local church.
James 4:1-6
This passage is not dealing with military warfare. War is Biblical when it is necessary for the maintenance of freedom. We have freedom today in this country because men have fought and died on battlefields and killed the enemy! But “wars and fightings” connected with the prepositional phrase here, “among you,” indicates personal quarrels or strife. Conflicts develop when believers in reversionism seek to gratify approbation and power lust by overthrowing or superseding existing authority in the local church. This is the aggressive principle. The passive principle in a conflict results when reversionism causes a believer to become subjective. Subjectivity plus hypersensitivity in a believer makes him easily susceptible to a personality conflict. He is quick to take offence.
What is the source of these conflicts? The word translated “lusts” is “hedone” in the Greek, meaning “pleasures or passions,” and thus denotes “a frantic search for happiness through pleasure.” Our word “hedonism” comes from this word, which was a philosophical system as well as a modus operandi and modus vivendi in the ancient world. The reversionist has a choice for his frantic search for happiness: he can go the route of asceticism and agonize in the closet, go up on a mountain top and throw a fagot on the fire, dedicate, rededicate and reaffirm his faith (all the mixed-up emotional superficial, ignorant and blasphemous rigmaroles with which people are sublimating today); or he can go the route of immorality or lasciviousness.
Now this frantic search for happiness results from a condition in the soul. “Members” is literally “the parts of your soul,” including the old sin nature. Personality conflicts do not come from the body, but from the soul; they are antagonisms in the soul. The war in the parts of the soul results in both emotional revolt and reversionism. Under reversionism and the practice of reverse process reversionism, the conflicts and quarrels among believers are intensified. This becomes a major hindrance to the function of the super-grace life.
Hindrance Through the Principle of Reverse Process Reversionism (verses 2, 3). In these two verses the actual practice of reverse process reversionism is not in view, but the principle on which it is practiced.
You lust and do not have: you murder and are jealous, but you are not able to acquire (happiness); you fight and quarrel (under reversionism). (Under super-grace) you do not have because you do not ask (verse 2).
“Lust” in this verse is actually the word for “lust,” and is used for the lust pattern of the old sin nature - power lust, approbation lust, materialism lust, sex lust, etc. The believer in reversionism is constantly motivated and dominated by the lust pat- tern of the sin nature. The sin nature becomes dominant at the point of emotional revolt. There are three kinds of emotional revolt: (1) mental attitude sins from the area of weakness in the old sin nature; (2) the lust pattern; (3) the area of human good. Sometimes you have all three. This is a part of that warfare in the soul.
When the lust pattern is frustrated, it intensifies the lust as well as the frantic search for happiness and the practice of reverse process reversionism. A reversionist is in a constant state of frustration: he keeps on lusting and he does not have. So when you are frustrated, what do you do? You kill (the Greek word for “homicide")’ YOU MURDER! Here is a maximum attempt under reversionism to gain money or power or to gratify some desire. But “desire” is literally “to be jealous.” Murder is the overt sin; jealousy, the mental attitude sin. Both are vicious sins. Anything you acquire through jealousy, murder or- lust will never make you happy - whether it is a person or things.
In this verse, jealousy, which is a sign of reversionism, is also the motivator, while murder is a result of it. Under reverse process reversionism, frustration produces factions and antagonisms - “you quarrel and fight.” These factions will cause believers to establish themselves as an authority in some area. Such believers often distort doctrine or Scripture to attack or discredit the authority or ministry of the pastor. On the basis of the Scriptures they distort, they gain adherents, who are not aware of the jealousy involved - only the doctrine distorted to gain authority. The result is revolt in the congregation.
The last phrase in verse 2 introduces the grace principle. Under super-grace, the believer can ask and acquire. The only reason an ECS or super-grace believer does not have is that he does not ask. Under reversionism, the believer cannot ask and acquire. The reversionist can fight or quarrel to gain authority, but he will never have it. Whatever he manages to acquire will turn sour, or it won’t be worth it!
You keep on asking, and do not receive because you ask for yourselves evilly that you may squander it in your frantic search for happiness through pleasures (verse 3).
Not all reversionistic believers use violence, jealousy or strife to satisfy their lusts. Some distort spiritual principles, such as prayer, to gratify their desires. This is the ascetic-type believer. No matter how eloquent the prayer or how beautifully you pray as a reversionistic believer, you will not be heard.
Hindrance Through the Function of Reverse Process Reversionism (verses-6).
You adulteresses (“adulterers” is not in the original), 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 (verse 4).
“Adulteresses” is addressed to all believers in reversionism practicing reverse process reversionism. The feminine gender is used to illustrate the analogy of right man - right woman and the relationship between Christ and the Church. Under Category One love, Jesus Christ is the Right Man; believers, the right woman (Eph. 5:22-33). Adultery illustrates reverse process reversionism in Category One love. The believer in reversionism is occupied with inconsequential persons under pseudo-love fanaticism (described as both “love and lover of the world” - “cosmos,” or Satan’s kingdom), while the Lord Jesus Christ, who should be the object of the believer’s true love, gets the shaft.
Now, whether you will go on into
super-grace or retrogress into reversionism becomes a matter of your VOLITION.
Every negative decision you make in a frantic search for happiness, every
decision you make under the influence of “doctrine of demons,” which infiltrate
through the “mataiotes,” all of the decisions made under emotional revolt of
the soul and reverse process reversionism are decisions for reversionism. These
decisions are DELIBERATELY negative when they could have been positive. The
believer in reversionism is the enemy of grace and therefore the enemy of the
cross where grace was first manifest (Phil. 3:18).
James 4:5, 6 must be understood in the light of a parenthesis, which has not been recognized in the English translation. I am going to give you the literal translation first without the parenthesis:
“Or do you (reversionist) presume that the Scripture says to no purpose, face to face with jealousy (or with you as a jealous person) (. . .), the God (Fattier) opposes the arrogant, but gives grace to the humble (verse 5)?”
We begin with the subjective thinking of the reversionist, who presumes that the Scripture doesn’t mean what it says. The Scripture he scorns is from Proverbs 3:34 (taken from the Septuagint), but is not quoted until AFTER the parenthesis. Inside the parenthesis we have super-grace; outside the parenthesis we have reversionism on one side and recovery on the other side, or the contrast between reversionism and super-grace. Now for the parenthesis:
Or do you presume that the Scripture says to no purpose, face to face with you as a jealous person (the Spirit who dwells permanently in us deeply loves; moreover, He gives GREATER GRACE, on which account He says) the God opposes the arrogant, but gives (super) grace to the humble.
The first word in the parenthesis, “Spirit,” is God the Holy Spirit. The Greek word translated “lust” is literally “to love deeply.” The Holy Spirit loves every believer, even those in reversionism. He gives believers GREATER GRACE - and that’s SUPER-GRACE! But the Holy Spirit gives super-grace through His teaching ministry of doctrine (John 14:26; 16:12-15; 1 Cor. 2:9-16). God the Holy Spirit, in other words, is the One who enables GAP to function.
On the other side of the parenthesis, we now have the quotation from Proverbs, in the Greek, the repetition of “he saith” (“lego”) indicates both the opening and closing of the parenthesis. God the Father, Author of the divine plan of grace, fights against the reversionist - the proud - another mental attitude sin, used on this side of the parenthesis as a manifestation of reversionism. In contrast, He gives super-grace to the humble (dative of possession) - the super-grace believer who possesses a maximum amount of doctrine AND CONTINUES TO TAKE IN DOCTRINE!
Now, in order to get the clearest picture of the super-grace life, we are going to have to skip back and forth between Philip- plans 4 and James 4. But before we resume in Philippians 4, I want you to remember some things. First of all, you must completely disassociate yourself with the concept that you are a second-class Christian unless you are hustling for God, witnessing to so many people every day, praying so many hours a day, making some kind of an all-out sacrifice, and all the other things generally classed as “doing great things for God.” Your soul was saved at the cross - not your body, not your energy. God is not impressed with either. The basic principle of Christianity is feeding the soul so that you can fulfil the purpose of the angelic conflict. The only way the soul can be fed is from the daily in- take of Bible doctrine. This cannot be emphasized enough, for there is no substitute for GAP.
Remember the issue in GAP: when doctrine comes into the left lobe as “gnosis,” God the Holy Spirit makes it objective reality. Faith or positive volition transfers it to the human spirit, where it becomes “epignosis." It is cycled into the right lobe and enters the frame of reference and memory centre; it be- comes a part of the vocabulary and categories as well as the norms and standards, and it is put into the launching pad where, of course, you get your first application of doctrine to experience. “Epignosis” doctrine is also erecting an edification complex in your soul, and you are moving to maturity. And here is where you have to be careful. You don’t stay here. Either you progress or you retrogress once you have completed an ECS. Progression is moving into super-grace; retrogression is moving into reversionism. This brings us back to Philippians 4:4.
Keep on having happiness by means of the Lord at all times; further, I will communicate, keep on having happiness (verse 4). The first command of this verse is to build an edification complex in the soul. The top floor of the ECS is PLUS-H (divine happiness) and indicates a completed ECS. The believer can possess happiness by means of doctrine — the only way in which an ECS can be erected in the soul. Most of the people who had become involved in the donnybrook between the two women in the Philippian church were in reversionism, and they needed to recover. Part of the recovery is the reconstruction of the ECS.
Now in the second half of the verse, there is something further (“again” is literally “further”) .This time the command is to go on from the ECS and enter into the super-grace life where PLUS—H is perpetuated and intensified. At this point we need to look at the categorical doctrine of happiness, which is the transitional doctrine between the PLUS-H of the ECS and PLUS-H in the super-grace life.
Happiness is related to the essence of God. God always possessed perfect happiness or PLUS-H in eternity past. This happiness is both a part of His character and the result of His character. It is impossible for God to be unhappy; it would be in- compatible with His essence (Deut. 28:63; Psa. 43:4). There- fore, God is not only perfect, but He possesses a perfect and eternal happiness (Rom. 1:25). Possessing perfect happiness, God is also the source of perfect happiness, which is acquired in the four stages of Phase Two. First of all, you get your first taste of this happiness from the filling of the Spirit (Rom. 14: 17; Gal. 5:22; 1 Thess. 1:6). PLUS-H also comes from the function of GAP (1 John 1:4), and, as we have seen, from the ECS (Phil. 4:4a) and the super-grace life (Phil. 4:4b).
Happiness is related to the plan of God. In eternity past God desired to share His perfect happiness with man in time. It is impossible for you to work up happiness. The things in this life that make you the happiest, if you get enough of them, can also make you miserable. Happiness cannot be realized apart from God (Psa. 5:11; 9:1, 2; 97:12; Hab. 3:18; Zech. 10:7b); there- fore, the entrance into the plan of God - salvation - is related to happiness (Psa. 9:14; 51:12). Happiness is accomplished through grace (Psa. 31:7). In grace God found a way to share His perfect happiness with man in time. Every benefit from God to man comes through grace (Psa. 21:1). Therefore, only the believer can possess this happiness (Eph. 2:8, 9). Grace is the means of administering salvation, and grace is the means of administering this happiness. Grace-happiness, which must be accomplished through doctrine, is described in Psalm 32:10, 11.
PLUS—H is confined to the plan of God. Man enters the plan of God by faith in Christ (John 3:16, 18, 36; 20:31; Acts 16:31). However, being saved does not imply instant or automatic happiness. PLUS-H is only potential. Between salvation and acquiring PLUS-H is much doctrine! You have to “GAP it” consistently. You can’t grow up spiritually by merely reading a chapter in the Bible every day. If you could, there would be no need for the gift of pastor-teacher. You have to get doctrine isagogically, categorically and exegetically. Salvation is often accompanied by a temporary happiness (Psa. 51:12), but this is not the PLUS—H or perfect divine happiness which comes from doctrine.
Doctrine and the function of GAP is the basis for PLUS-H (1 John 1:4). The first taste of PLUS-H comes through the filling of the Spirit (Rom. 14:17; Gal. 5:22; 1 Thess. 1:6). This joy can exist only when the believer is filled with the Spirit, although you don’t always experience PLUS-H when you are filled with the Spirit. The next step in PLUS-H is the function of GAP whereby the happiness of God is fulfilled in the believer through doctrine (John 17:13 compared with John 17:17). The next step is the erection of the edification complex of the soul, with joy or PLUS-H as the top floor (Neh. 8:10; Psa. 30:5; Phil. 4:4a). The final step is PLUS-H in the super-grace life (Phil. 4:4b; Heb. 12:2; 1 Pet. 1:8).
At this point we have to stop and recognize the other types of happiness. PLUS-H is God’s happiness shared with man in time through GAP and the super-grace life. But there are certain kinds of human happiness.
The Recognition of human happiness (2 Sam. 1:19, 20; Prov. 23:24, 25; Eccl. 9:9; 11:8, 9; Isa. 9:3; 62:5). In contrast to God’s happiness shared with the believer, let’s call legitimate human happiness “neutral-H.” Any member of the human race who follows the laws of divine establishment may have this “neutral-H.” For example, a man can be happy as a military hero - killing the enemy. That’s providing freedom for your country. There is happiness in the right man - right woman relationship under the laws of establishment, even if those involved are not in the plan of God (Eccl. 9:9). So there is a type of happiness for both believers and unbelievers under the principles of establishment.
Another type of human happiness is “minus-H." This is temporary, superficial stimulation. “Minus-H” happiness depends on pleasant environment, possession of the details of life, stimulating circumstances, having one’s own way or never being crossed. Boredom, frustration, restlessness, instability and reversionism neutralize this happiness. It isn’t worth much, and it won’t carry you anywhere. Whatever you have by way of fun doesn’t sustain you in a crisis.
In contrast, God has designed PLUS-H to be permanent, perpetuated and stabilized through GAP, the ECS and the super-grace life (Jer. 15:16; Matt. 4:4; John 13:17; John 17:13 compared with 17:17; Jas. 1:25). PLUS-H, in contrast to minus-H or neutral-H, is designed to bless and sustain in every circumstance of life, whether in prosperity or adversity. PLUS-H in the super-grace bracket gives capacity for freedom, capacity for life and love, and is the greatest thing you can have as a believer. But again, this happiness cannot exist apart from doctrine (1 John 1:4).
Super-grace happiness lies beyond the ECS (Phil. 4:4b). Once the believer achieves an ECS, he either retrogresses into reversionism or progresses into super-grace. You never stand still in the Christian life. Minus doctrine takes you into reversionism, by way of scar tissue, blackout of the soul, emotional revolt and the practice of reverse process reversionism. Plus doctrine moves you on to super-grace, and you add happiness to happiness. And I’m not talking about a rosy-glow experience on a mountain top somewhere after throwing a faggot on the fire and making a vow. There have been more let-downs after this type of operation, and it just won’t cut it. It takes day in and day out in Bible doctrine — keep going and keep going. That’s what moves you up to the super-Christian life (1 Thess. 5:16)! of establishment, even if those involved are not in the plan of God (Eccl. 9:9). So there is a type of happiness for both believers and unbelievers under the principles of establishment.
Another type of human happiness is “minus-H.” This is temporary, superficial stimulation. “Minus-H” happiness depends on pleasant environment, possession of the details of life, stimulating circumstances, having one’s own way or never being crossed. Boredom, frustration, restlessness, instability and reversionism neutralize this happiness. It isn’t worth much, and it won’t carry you anywhere. Whatever you have by way of fun doesn’t sustain you in a crisis.
In contrast, God has designed PLUS-H to be permanent, perpetuated and stabilized through GAP, the ECS and the super-grace life (Jer. 15:16; Matt. 4:4; John 13:17; John 17:13 compared with 17:17; Jas. 1:25). PLUS-H, in contrast to minus-H or neutral-H, is designed to bless and sustain in every circumstance of life, whether in prosperity or adversity. PLUS-H in the super-grace bracket gives capacity for freedom, capacity for life and love, and is the greatest thing you can have as a believer. But again, this happiness cannot exist apart from doctrine (1 John 1:4).
Super-grace happiness lies beyond the ECS (Phil. 4:4b). Once the believer achieves an ECS, he either retrogresses into reversionism or progresses into super-grace. You never stand still in the Christian life. Minus doctrine takes you into reversionism, by way of scar tissue, blackout of the soul, emotional revolt and the practice of reverse process reversionism. Plus doctrine moves you on to super-grace, and you add happiness to happiness. And I’m not talking about a rosy-glow experience on a mountain top somewhere after throwing a faggot on the fire and making a vow. There have been more let-downs after this type of operation, and it just won’t cut it. It takes day in and day out in Bible doctrine — keep going and keep going. That’s what moves you up to the super-Christian life (1 Thess. 5:16)! PLUS-H protects from disillusion. It protects you from disillusion regarding the circumstances of life (Phil. 4:11, 12), as well as regarding the details of life (Heb. 13:5, 6) and other believers (Heb. 12:2).
Inner happiness or PLUS-H stimulates and enhances capacity for love. Once the ECS is completed, the believer has capacity for freedom, for life and for love. These are enlarged and intensified and become a part of his happiness and fragrance of memory in Category One love (occupation with Christ - Luke 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24, 25); in Category Two love (right man-right woman), (Song. Sol. 3:1; 4:6 -frankincense and myrrh represent fragrance; 8:6); and in Category Three love (toward friends), (Phil. 1:3; 2 Tim. 1:5). One who loves has capacity for life; one who has capacity for life (through doctrine and PLUS-H) loves!
There is a future happiness even greater than PLUS-H in super-grace. This is a Phase Three happiness, including both the Millennium and eternity (Isa. 35:1, 2; 64:4, 5; 65:18, 19; 66: 10; Jude 24).
The negative axioms of happiness. You cannot build your happiness on someone else’s unhappiness. You cannot build your happiness on the details of life. You cannot build happiness on pleasant environment, on people you love, on sex, on fame, on lust nor on the overthrow of establishment.
The positive axioms of happiness. You can build happiness on the filling of the Holy Spirit. You can build more happiness on the intake of doctrine (GAP) and the ECS. You can build happiness to the maximum in the super-grace life. You can also build happiness on the capacity for freedom, life and love. This happiness is related to both the doctrinal provision of God and the function of the laws of divine establishment.
Happiness is related to both spiritual and human freedom. Spiritual freedom is found in the plan of God (Rom. 8:21; 2 Cor. 3:17; Gal. 5:1; Jas. 1:25; 2:12). Human freedom is found in the function of the laws of divine establishment.
We enter the plan of God by faith in Christ. Then, removed from the bondage of sin, we are free to serve, to honour, to worship, and to love Jesus Christ. This is the objective of the super-grace life.
Let your super-grace reasonableness be known to all mankind. The Lord is near (Phil. 4:5).
Here is a command to enter the super-grace life. “Moderation” is literally “over-reasonableness”; but here it becomes a technical word for the grace mental attitude of the believer as he lives in the super-grace life. How is it possible for your super-grace reasonableness to become known? Through the principle of “live and let live.” This means to recognize the privacy, rights and property of others; to have a relaxed mental attitude which avoids mental attitude sins; to mind your own business and live your life as unto the Lord and to no one else.
Right here is where we begin to have the dynamics of the super-grace life. There is no more relaxing or wonderful person than a believer who has gotten into super-grace. When you relax enough to mind your own business and to have freedom from mental attitude sins, you are going to have a ball! “To all men” indicates that super-grace has an impact on believers and unbelievers alike.
The word translated “at hand” has several meanings in the Greek. It could refer to the imminency of the Rapture, except for the fact that the context is super-grace. Although the Lord is also near in the sense of His omnipresence and indwelling, the emphasis here is the nearness of the Lord through the inner pro- vision of the soul through doctrine — the phenomenal grace provision of the ECS and super-grace. Since the super-grace life is the place of maximum grace provision and grace benefit, every believer ought to get there as rapidly as possible; and this, of course, depends entirely upon your intake of Bible doctrine.
Now, inevitably, when a believer enters the super-grace life, he becomes the special target of Satan. That doesn’t mean that the Devil attacks you personally; he has a great corps of demons to handle this chore. One of his particular aims is to get the super-grace believer to worry (1 Pet. 5:7, 8) in order to short-circuit him. Therefore we have another command for the super-grace life.
Stop worrying about even one thing, but in all (circumstances) by the prayer and the entreaty for personal needs after thanksgiving, let the things sought for be revealed in the presence of the God (Phil. 4:6).
Some of the Philippians were on the verge of the super-grace life; yet they had begun to worry, and that is going to cut them off immediately. You cannot worry and live the Christian way of life. It’s impossible! This doesn’t mean you are not a Christian; it just means that you are not going to live under grace. Worry is saying in effect, “grace is not adequate.” Worry is one of the easiest ways to blaspheme, for when you worry, you are saying that God can’t handle your case. Billions and billions of years ago. God knew every problem and every need you would ever have, and that’s when He supplied it. He doesn’t supply something when you yell, “God help!” He has supplied your needs in eternity past. So every time you worry, you insult God.
Worry is a mental attitude sin which separates the believer from the inner resources of Bible doctrine in the soul. Have you ever wondered sometimes what’s wrong? Here you’ve been taking in doctrine and taking it in, but somehow it’s not helping you. Well, you have available all the help you’ll ever need; but you’ve shorted out by worry. All those inner resources of grace lodged in your soul are not usable. Worry shuts down every valve to the right lobe.
Only the function of the faith-rest technique can offset this Satanic device (Psa. 37:4, 5; 55:22). Worry is excluded from the super-grace life by the DYNAMICS of the faith-rest technique. The super-grace life is designed to eliminate worry. Faith-rest is not only the answer to worry, but it’s the preventative of worry. But faith-rest must have “muscle” to be effective. A lot of you have been using the faith-rest technique for years, but you don’t have any muscle on it. Faith-rest has been only a temporary expediency to carry you through some difficulty; but you’ve never followed through and you’ve never grown.
Putting muscle on your faith is substituting the use of Bible doctrine in the soul for fear, worry and anxiety. Only the regular intake of doctrine puts muscle on your faith. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17). In other words, the daily function of GAP puts muscle on your faith. Once you get muscle on your faith, you head off worry before it gets started. The faith-rest technique becomes a breaker system. Worry overloads the line, and the breaker system goes out. You pull the switch by rebound, and the power comes back automatic- ally; everything is ready to function again. You just put it in the Lord’s hands and move on through the continued function of GAP.
The Right Congregation. Philippians 4:9, 10 takes us back to the role of the grace apparatus for perception and approaches it from two angles — the right congregation and the right pastor.
The things which also you have come to learn, and appropriated with approval, and have heard by concentration, and have seen perceptively by means of me - keep practicing these things, and the God of peace shall be together with you all (verse 9).
“These things” are the doctrines, principles, concepts and divine laws which provide the inner resources of the soul - primarily in the right lobe. They are also construction material for the edification complex of the soul. We have four verbs which describe learning under GAP. The first of these, “come to learn,” means “to learn from someone as a teacher”; “to appropriate to oneself through instruction”; “to be a disciple - that is, a student under the authority of a teacher.” It is the highest of all words for learning (super-grace bracket) and denotes learning under strict academic discipline. This includes and re- quires good manners, poise, concentration and self-discipline. You may not agree with what is being taught, you may not agree with the methods or the rules of the school or classroom; but as a student, you have no rights except to learn. The same thing applies while in the congregation. The constantive aorist of this verb means that you “GAP” it day in, day out; hence, this is super-grace learning after you have an ECS.
The second word, translated “received,” means “to receive as a matter of instruction”; “to receive into one’s possession”; “to admit or to acknowledge”; hence, the verb has a dual connotation of both receiving and taking over in the sense of agreement or approval. In the function of GAP, it refers to the construction of the ECS. As you take in doctrine daily and build up “epignosis” in the human spirit, you begin to construct the ECS in the soul. “You have come to learn and have appropriated with approval.” In other words, you agree with what you have learned.
That’s faith transferring the doctrine into the human spirit where it becomes “epignosis." Under the function of GAP, the believer both approves and appropriates “epignosis."
The first three words are actually in reverse order or graduated backward. You have to “receive” before you “learn." Then in the third word, “heard,” we go back a step farther to the place where GAP really begins. Before reaching the ECS, we have to listen, concentrate and accept the authority of the teacher. I did not say the LIFE of the teacher. That would make you a slave to a person. Doctrine depends on who and what God is. When I make the statement, “It’s not the man but the message,” I mean that when he gets in the pulpit after studying his heart out and communicates it in the ministry of the Spirit, the message is all you need to be concerned about. There’s no such thing as a perfect pastor; and whether he’s the sweet or tough type is not the issue. Some of the nicest pastors in the world have led people astray for years by their lovely personalities, but their messages have no content.
The fourth word, “seen,” means “to see perceptively.” Here is the believer seeing with the eyes of the soul. He has doctrine in the frame of reference in his right lobe, in the vocabulary (category section), in the conscience and on the launching pad. Now Paul does not set himself up as an example. He actually says, “by means of me.” He is the means of communicating doctrine. He is emphasizing his message - not his person.
At this point, after four verbs for learning, guess what you can do! You can PRACTICE - “keep practicing these things”; that is, keep taking in doctrine. Do it over and over and over! Never quit! It’s your soul food. And what is the result? God the Father, the Author of the plan of grace in which He found a way to provide “peace, harmony, benefit, welfare,” shall be together with you all. Here is God in relation to the super-grace life. This title goes with verse 7, where God the Father is the SOURCE of the super-grace life. In verse 9, the Father is the AUTHOR of super-grace. The Right Pastor. Now how does a congregation get all this? They have a right pastor!
But I have received very much inner happiness by means of the Lord, that already for some time your thinking on behalf of me has revived, toward whom also you have been thinking, but you had no opportunity (to demonstrate your love-thinking), (verse 10).
The PLUS-H which Paul has is the good response from his right congregation at various times when he teaches. His PLUS- H is “by means of the Lord” - that is, from doctrine as the mind of Christ and occupation with Christ as a part of capacity for love in Category One love of the super-grace life. This is actually Paul’s announcement of his entrance into the super-grace life for the second time. You see, Paul had gone into a state of reversionism by following his emotions (emotional revolt). Although God had told him not to go to Jerusalem, he went anyway (Acts 21). Then the pastors in Jerusalem refused to listen to Paul - the greatest Bible teacher of all time! They all began to tell Paul what HE should do: “Now, look here, Paul, our people won’t buy your grace teaching. If you want them to listen to you, you’re going to have to commit an act of legalism. You’re going to have to go into the temple and make an offering.”
When a grace person has to go into a place which has become legalistic to the core and make a vow in order to be heard, there’s something wrong! But Paul bought it. Why? Because he was in emotional revolt and reversionism. He almost died the sin unto death as a result, but God spared him. After that, he was under discipline for four years - incarcerated two years in Caesarea and two years in Rome. During that time, however, he made a reversion recovery and came all the way back to the super-grace life. During his imprisonment he had time to write the prison epistles — Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. The prison epistles are reversion recovery, super-grace epistles. They have the greatest concentration of doctrine for experiential Christianity. Compared to other epistles and writings of the New Testament, they are light on eschatology, but strong on reversionism versus super-grace.
The word for “care” (“phroneo” in the Greek) is literally “objective thinking.” This is in contrast to another verb, “dokeo,” which means “to think subjectively.” “Dokeo” - the thinking of a reversionist; “phroneo” - the thinking of a super- grace believer or one who is on the way toward super-grace. Many people in congregations make a habit of thinking of their pastor subjectively. This expresses itself in various forms — from having “roast pastor” at Sunday dinner to making his life an issue. One thing about the super-grace life —you become objective. You may have been a subjective thinker all your life; you may have related everything to yourself to the point of hypersensitivity. But once you enter the super-grace life, that’s all gone.
The thinking of the Philippians toward Paul is “love-thinking” in Category Three love. They had come to appreciate the Apostle Paul and his teaching again. Their “revived thinking” was manifested by the large offering sent to Paul by Epaphroditus. This offering freed him time-wise so that he could crank out doctrine. In verses 14 through 18, Paul gives a more detailed explanation and extensive “thank you” for the love offering. In the meantime, Paul must go on to other facets of the super-grace life.
Disorientation to the plan of God for the Christian life often begins with ignorance of the rebound technique. It seems to be very hard for some believers to understand that all you do to be forgiven is to name your sins privately to God — no breast-beating, no penance, no feeling sorry for sin! One of the most inconsistent things about legalistic people is that they think they cannot be for- given unless they feel sorry for the sins they have committed. All sin originates from free will and is committed deliberately, whether you know it is a sin or not. A lot of you are never going to be filled with the Spirit because you are waiting around to feel sorry for sin, or practicing some system of penance by which to atone for the sin. That’s legalism and disorientation to grace and is the reason why you never learn doctrine. So you run around and “do” things: you work for God, give your glowing testimony, try to work up a rosy glow! Everything in the Christian life depends on who and what God is; nothing depends on who and what we are. The sooner you get with grace and understand the principle of grace and how to smoke out legalism, the sooner you will get into the super-grace life.
Verses 11 through 13 state an absolute principle - how the super-grace life should function. They describe the believer whose happiness never changes because he has an edification complex and because of the intensity of the intake of Bible doctrine (cf. verse 9). Now this is not reserved for certain Christians; it is the NORMAL Christian life for all believers! But as in physical life, the believer must grow and mature to this place through the intake of spiritual food daily. A lot of believers move up for awhile, then fall into the valley of reversionism. The Lord clobbers them and they recover. They get so far, and down they go again — up and down — and they miss the super-grace life completely. That’s not a normal Christian life—that’s adolescence. Stopping anywhere short of the completed ECS is the ABNORMAL Christian life.
About 95 per cent of all born-again believers are living a pseudo, abnormal life. They are not only missing the boat, but they have found some Satanic substitute or gimmick, some do-it-yourself kit, some system of emotional revolt or reversionism, and they are impressed with their own righteousness and what they are doing. They have their “bag,” and they’ve got to do their thing! The woods are filled today with abnormal Christians who are impressed with their own genius, Christians with a pleasing personality who pass for spiritual giants. It gets them by with a lot of people, but it’ll never get them by with the Lord. The Lord is not impressed by the things you use to impress others. He is not impressed with a Madison Avenue facade. Never in the history of the Christian Church have there been so many things to keep believers from doctrine! We don’t need the weirdos, the holy-rollers or the “I-love-Jesus” types who don’t even know Him, much less love Him. We don’t need the Christian education gimmicks and points programs; we don’t need lonely hearts clubs or Christian country clubs. We need today, as we have never needed before, NORMAL CHRISTIANS - believers who are serious about doctrine.
I want you to notice that when Paul talks about the normal life, he doesn’t even mention witnessing, prayer, dedicating, re- dedicating or speaking in tongues. He discusses the normal Christian life in terms of facing circumstances in life. Some of you want to be babies all of your lives. You want to be nursed along and patted on the head and told how great you are. But you will never achieve normality until you reach the point of verse 11!
“Not that I speak with reference to need (lack, poverty); for I have come to learn in whatever circumstances I am, to keep on being content, based on self-sufficiency and independence.” (verse 11).
No matter what the circumstances of life were, Paul was not changed. He was not a slave to circumstances. Before Epaphroditus had arrived with the love offering, Paul was down practically to nothing. So this might be called an adverse set of circumstances, humanly speaking. But he did not want them to think that up to this point he was depressed, upset or disturbed because he didn’t have anything. Therefore, he was quick to add, “Not that I speak. . . .” He had thanked them in verse 10; but in verse 11, he wanted to make it clear that he was appreciative for this gift, not because he was broke and now he was on easy street, but because of the love behind it. The point was that he had just been in a period of great adversity. And how was he in that period? He had the super-grace life, and so he was fine! It didn’t make any difference whether he was rich or poor; super-grace passes the adversity test, and it passes the prosperity test. Some of you may be just as broke as you can be. Does that upset you? Are you worried? If you are, you’ve had it! You already know that worry short-circuits everything. The issue is to face the changing circumstances of life with the super-grace principle of total stability and PLUS-H so that you are not a slave to your circumstances. And how do you get this way — by witnessing to ten people a day? By praying an hour a day? By being counselled for thirty minutes a day? By memorizing five hundred verses? Is that what the Scripture says? That is what a lot of people would like to read into it. But notice: “I have learned” — LEARNED, LEARNED!
It isn’t what you’re doing that counts; it’s what you are learning. Everyone has to have his “bag” today. But this verse is saying, “Drop your bag and start learning!” “To learn” has the connotation of learning under strict academic discipline. Paul himself learned under strict discipline. He learned in the school of reversionistic recovery. The local church is our class- room for learning doctrine.
“Manthano” in the Greek is a word for “learning” in super-grace. This is learning after you have an edification complex. A lot of you aren’t in the “manthano” bracket. You have been sidetracked by doing, doing, doing! But the normal Christian life is orientation to whatever state you are in; it is consistency of life under super-grace.
The word for “content” is a technical word meaning “to be independent, free, self-sufficient, and therefore content.” It is not the contentment of a purring cat; it’s not contentment based on someone’s patting you on the head or stimulating your approbation or power lust. It is the contentment of the believer in the super-grace life who is self-sufficient on the basis of doctrine. By that I mean he has erected the ECS with PLUS-H in the penthouse and has moved into capacity for freedom, capacity for life and love. These capacities add up to a perfect sufficiency which leads to contentment, m every generation there are those few who will persist in staying with doctrine — taking it in day by day by day in all parts of the Word, and will reach super-grace. They will break through the soul barriers and get into the normal Christian life — believers living beyond the ECS.
I know both how to live in extreme pressure or degradation and how to live in prosperity. In all places and in all circumstances, I have been taught the secret both how to be well fed and to be hungry; both how to pros- per and to be in poverty (verse 12).
This begins with the real secret to the Christian life — “I KNOW!” It is the first of several uses of the word “oida” —a perfect tense used as a present tense for the consolidation of doctrine in the right lobe under super-grace. As a result of having the frame of reference filled with doctrine, doctrine in the conscience and on the launching pad, “epignosis” doctrine for the structure of the ECS, Paul says, “I know.”
Paul knew how to live in humility — in an adversity situation in which there is no way out, no human solution; and he knew how to live in prosperity. These are antithetical circumstances of life where super-grace remains exactly the same. The repetition of the verb indicates that the same grace assets are used for adversity as for prosperity.
“Instructed” (“mueo”) is a word meaning “to be instructed in the mysteries of a fraternity.” In fact, this verb is the basis for the noun (“musterion"), which is translated “mystery." “Musterion” indicates the doctrines of the fraternity which are known only by those in the fraternity. They became known as “the secrets,” and to learn them was “mueo” — “to be initiated by learning the secret doctrines of the fraternity.” Once you learned them, you had at your command the system of secrets or doctrine. It is once again a word for the super-grace life. This is learning doctrine beyond the edification complex. The “secret” is defined by four infinitives of varying circumstances. The first, “to be full,” means “to be totally and completely satiated,” and therefore is an infinitive for prosperity. “To be hungry” is an adverse circumstance; yet super-grace is designed for you to have PLUS-H either way. The last two infinitives describe the same antithetical circumstances. A lot of people think that if they are “good Christians,” they will always be happy and everything will go right. That is NOT the Christian life. You must understand that no matter how far you advance in the Christian life, you will never be free from changing circumstances. But that shouldn’t frighten you —not if you understand the principles of doctrine and you have that super-grace packet in your soul. Maybe some of you will receive tragic news before the week is out. Will you be one of those who will need counselling and help, or will you move right on with doctrinal self- sufficiency so that you won’t have to run to anyone?
There is a parallel principle to Philippians 4:11, 12 found in Hebrews 13:5-7, and we should look briefly at this passage.
The manner of life without love of money (super-grace life): constantly being content with the present things; for he has said, and the statement stands forever, “I will not, no never, not even, not never abandon you nor desert you” (verse 5).
This passage begins with the word “conversation,” and ends with the same word in verse 7. But it no longer has the connotation it carried 300 years ago. Today we would say, “manner of life,” “turn of mind,” “conduct,” or “character." Our manner of life, then, should be without covetousness. This refers to the mastery of the details of life, or the second floor of the ECS.
Now we advance a step and see the principle of the super-grace life: “constantly being content (doctrinally sufficient, can be accomplished only in the super-grace life. How is it possible to be constantly content with the “present things” — that is, those things you have in your possession at the present time? “For he hath said. ...” The perfect tense here means that it is a permanent statement with results that go on forever. The permanent statement is a quotation from the Old Testament, which occurs five times (Gen. 28:15; Deut. 31:8; Josh. 1:5; 1 Chron. 28: 20; Isa. 41:10): “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” In the Greek, “never” is the strongest negative you can have! Then follows a super-grace application in verse 6: So that, being confident, we (believers in super-grace) say. The Lord (title for deity) helper to me (in time of weakness or danger): I will not fear what mankind shall do to me (verse 6).
“Fear” is a mental attitude sin; but the super-grace life wipes out mental attitude sins of pride and jealousy, as we have already seen, and now fear. In the stability of the super-grace life, we have no fear as to what mankind might do to us. Why not? Because we have a relationship with Christ. However, confidence is proportionate to our occupation with Christ. Occupation with Christ in the SUPER-GRACE LIFE eliminates all fear!
Now verse 7 gives us the immediate source of the super-grace life:
“Keep concentrating on the ones ruling you; they are such a kind who have communicated to you (for your advantage) the Word from the source of the God (Bible doctrine), from the source of whom keep on emulating the faith (excelling in doctrine), concentrating on the issue of the manner of life.”
“The ones” refers specifically to pastors communicating Bible doctrine. So the immediate source of the super-grace life is your concentration on the message of the pastor. God has given them the authority to rule, to lead and to guide those in their congregations through the communication of doctrine. The pastor-teacher is the one who leads the believer into the super-grace life. The local church is the classroom, where there must be strict academic discipline, concentration, and the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.
“Faith” with the definite article in the Greek refers to what is believed, and becomes technical for Bible doctrine. From the pastor’s teaching, emulate the doctrine. “Emulate” denotes a conscious effort to take in doctrine; and this must be done through the function of GAP, the erection of the edification complex and entrance into the super-grace life.
“Considering” is again “to concentrate” — not on the “end,” but on the “issue or objective” of the manner of life in super-grace. And notice, it is not the issue of the PASTOR’S manner of life, but the issue of YOUR manner of life! The issue is not hustling in a program or giving your glowing testimony; it is not trying to do great things for God nor any of the little hypocritical, sincere but phoney, superficial activities in your life. The issue is learning Bible doctrine! The issue is a soul filled with doctrine! The issue is to get you into the super-grace life, and that’s the only issue between the moment of your salvation and the moment the last “brick” is put into your ECS! Until you get there, you haven’t even begun to fight! Now back to Philippians.
I have endowed power (super-grace provision) for all things by means of the one who keeps on pouring the power into me (Phil. 4:13).
This verse applies to the super-grace believer only! “I can do,” as it stands in the English, is not only a poor translation, it is a subtle mistranslation. It becomes an attack on the grace of God. “Ischuo” doesn’t mean that YOU can do anything; it means “endowed power.” It is not power you acquire or power exercised or utilized, such as “energeo.” It refers to Bible doctrine transferred from the page of the Bible to your soul by way of GAP. The super-grace life has endowed power for all things — all circumstances.
“Through Christ” is not found in the original. It is literally, “by means of the One who strengthens me,” or better, “who pours power into me.” How does Jesus Christ keep pouring power into you? The continued intake of Bible doctrine after the erection of the ECS pours power into the super-grace believer to the point of super-grace dynamics (Psa. 138:2). “The Word of God is alive and powerful” (Heb. 4:12)! The erection of the ECS isn’t the time to quit. It’s the time to pour it on — to drive harder.
I used to have a coach who would always say in the fourth quarter: “Hit ’em harder — hit harder than you’ve ever hit in your life! They’re weak; they’re shot; they’re worn out! Hit ‘em - hit ‘em - hit ‘em!” And even though he was talking to tired, worn-out individuals, he always gave us an edge. He actually had us believing those guys were so tired it would be like walking on marshmallows. So we hit them harder. We won a surprising number of games in the fourth quarter just on that!
Now that’s the idea here. You get past that ECS, and it’s time to hit harder. That’s the time to really dig in and study, study, study! That’s when Bible doctrine begins to pay off and put things together. That’s when you have the endowed power of the super-grace life — the package that makes you the victor over every circumstance of life.
However, you have done honourably, having shared, and therefore entered into partnership (with me) in my pressure (Phil. 4:14).
Paul picks up the thread of verse 10 as an amplification of the principle of giving in the super-grace life. Since “Giving” has been discussed more fully in another book, we will not take this section up in detail. However, certain principles in connection with giving under super-grace should be noted.
Paul was the recipient of a great love offering; but he did not thank the Philippians simply to tell us that we should be thankful to people who give us things. He was explaining the conditions under which they gave this money, as well as a great principle: grace giving under the super-grace life is giving WITHOUT STRINGS! Giving without strings, giving without expecting some kind of praise and giving because you have capacity for life is an art! And receiving should be done in the same way.
Since the super-grace life is now being discussed from the standpoint of giving, verse 14 begins with an adverb used as a conjunction, which should be translated “however” to relate it to the previous dissertation on giving. The conjunction indicates that verses 11-13 do not imply lack of appreciation on Paul’s part. Far from it! Paul does appreciate this gift. But Paul’s no phoney. He’s not going to gush over the offering sent by the Philippians. They aren’t phonies either. They didn’t give with the idea that Paul would gush all over the place. The ones who contributed this offering were either on the verge of a completed ECS or they were moving into super-grace. They did not even expect a “thank you.” There was no desire for acknowledgment or recognition of it. The emphasis of verses 14-18 is on the Philippians who gave. They had the capacity to give. The point of this passage is not receiving but giving, and Paul is telling us how to give in super-grace.
A super-grace believer knows how to give without strings, without the expectation of a pat on the head, without the stimulation of approbation lust. Many of you are going to be great givers because you are going to get into super-grace, and you are going to give in a wonderful, thoughtful and marvellous way; you are never going to look for or expect a “thank you” or want someone to gush over you. People in emotional revolt never understand this. Giving from capacity for life and love is described here as “doing honourably.” A person who has capacity in the super-grace life is honourable; therefore, anything he does from his honourable character is a honourable function. Giving is a honourable function of the priesthood; but giving isn’t even meaningful until a believer has an edification complex on the way or until he enters the super-grace life. Giving without pressure or coercion is part of super-grace function, as well as giving on the basis of the inner resources of grace, apart from emotional involvement. The super-grace believer handles the assets of his life better than anyone else.
Moreover, you also know, Philippians, that in the beginning of the gospel, at the time when I went out from Macedonia, not one church had fellowship with me with reference to the matter of giving and receiving, except you only (verse 15).
Because even in Thessalonica ye sent (an offering) both once and twice because of my need (verse 16).
You have to learn to give and receive as a Christian. What- ever you did about giving and receiving as an unbeliever is no longer of any value. Your giving and receiving must be based up- on doctrine. The Philippians were the one church who gave because they had latched onto doctrine so rapidly, and they were motivated through doctrine to give.
Now Paul found it necessary to defend himself against some rather slanderous gossip that he had used the gospel as a means of getting rich. So he says in verse 17:
Not because I seek after (desire) the gift, but because I seek after the grace production accumulating to your account.
Paul did not desire the offering so that he might become rich, but because the Philippians, who were developing through doctrine a great capacity for life and love and freedom, needed an outlet to commemorate grace. People who develop a capacity for love need someone to love. Those who develop a capacity for life need to live. And that’s the principle here. God used the grace orientation of the Philippians to supply Paul’s need and at the same time to express their capacity. It’s a perfect balance. Their capacity implements his need so that he can move on and communicate doctrine.
Capacity is also the basis for production or fruit. Capacity moves out and becomes production. Any time you give of capacity, a vacuum is created in the soul and in the wallet. But grace replaces in the soul as well as in the financial realm, and it is recorded as divine good in heaven. All divine good will be re- warded. But, you say, “I don’t want any rewards; I don’t want any glory.” Don’t worry! It’s Christ who is glorified by your divine good. Why? Where did your capacity or your ability originate? From grace! God could wipe out your money or incapacitate your body or your ability to work in one second! Everything we have or are is grace!
Grace production accumulates to your account for Phase Three where Christ will be glorified with that accumulation. Giving, then, is a super-grace function, which pays super-grace dividends. These, in turn, glorify Jesus Christ, the Author of the super-grace life.
Moreover, I have received in toto all the monetary offering, and have more than enough. I have been fulfilled (financially), having received from Epaphroditus the things from you, a fragrant odour, a propitious sacrifice, pleasing to the God (verse 18).
The Greek word for “abound” means “to abound in the possession of full sufficiency,” hence, to have more than enough. Too many people think that those serving the Lord should just eek by. But here’s a passage that says a servant of the Lord should have MORE than enough. Many good, solid pastors all over this country are on starvation wages, while their congregations put money out for everything else in the world - from missionaries to buildings. When they do it at the expense of the pastor and his family, they are way out of line!
The primary giving of the right congregation is to the right pastor — not to the building or any other program. These things will come along in due time. I think one reason the Lord doesn’t honour a lot of local churches is that they lose sight of the fact that the congregation is responsible for the adequate financial support of their right pastor. Paul didn’t say, “I now have my needs supplied, and I’m going out and get a case of beans and a box of crackers, and I’ll be able to live for another month.”
Of course, now and then you find some pastor who has a guilt-complex about prosperity and thinks he has to suffer for Jesus, and he encourages this idiotic procedure. Forget it! When believers have edification complexes in their souls and enter the super-grace life, they will see that this verb is fulfilled with regard to their right pastor. His time must be free to study, study, study, study!
“The things” indicate not just the money, but the love that motivated the giving. And that’s why he calls it an odour, or literally, “a fragrant odour.” In the ancient world, pleasant memories were associated more through the olfactory senses than ours are. Therefore, Paul is saying that they have caused a fragrance of memory. Great giving comes from the function of the priesthood in super-grace; but bona fide giving begins when you start the first floor of the ECS. It is then divine good and is an acceptable sacrifice to God.
Now this is the New Testament sacrifice to God. The Levitical animal sacrifices are out. Under the universal priesthood of the believer and the High Priesthood of Christ, money is offered to God as a sacrifice. The Levitical sacrifices anticipated the cross; but they have been replaced by monetary sacrifices which commemorate the cross. Basically, then, giving is the commemoration of grace. The offering is not only a sacrifice to God, but is used to release the communicator of doctrine from the bondage of time and give him freedom to express capacity of life and love through doctrine.
Now my God shall fill up the deficiency of all your need according to the standard of his riches in glory by means of Christ Jesus (verse 19).
This verse is so often quoted out of context; but, it is a part of the super-grace life. “Supply” or “fill up” is our old friend “pleroo,” meaning “to fill up a deficiency, to fill with a certain quality (monetary replacement of what was given), to fully influence, and to fully possess.” Each meaning pertains to the concept of giving as an offering or sacrifice to God.
Because of sacrificial giving, there is a monetary deficiency, but God will replace the money given. No one ever impoverishes himself by giving to the Lord. The Lord does not remain in anyone’s debt! With the money fully replaced, the Philippians will be influenced to give again under the super- grace function of their priesthood because they are filled with a certain quality of doctrine; hence, they will be fully possessed with money and fully influenced by doctrine to offer that money as a sacrifice in the same way that the Jew of the Old Testament offered an animal under the Levitical code. Both offerings commemorated grace.
God is saying, “Not only will I replace what you gave so that you can do it again and again, but I will replace the motivation through the function of GAP again and again in the super- grace life.” As a part of the super-grace life, the principle of giving includes doctrine — doctrinal application or doctrine on the launching pad as well as money in the pocket. Whenever you give, you launch doctrine from the pad. So the pad is empty — “My God shall supply doctrine”; you get day by day teaching. So the pocket is empty — “My God shall supply money!” Philippians 4:19 is actually referring to two things: material and spiritual needs. In fulfilling the function of giving, God must provide for you the spiritual needs involved in grace-motivation as well as the financial needs which form the actual gift or offering. In other words, the spiritual and material meet and combine in the priestly function of super-grace giving. When you give properly, you not only give the money, but you launch doctrine! Remember, it is the doctrine that accompanies the giving and sets up the divine good principle that provides reward in heaven which glorifies Christ.
“Riches” generally refers to money; but here it means unlimited divine operating capital. God has provided us with unlimited divine capital under grace. In the mundane system of economics, it takes money to make money. But in the grace system of things, we must have NOTHING to gain money; and “having nothing” is the total super-grace picture. God in grace provides the capital for the function of the priesthood, and He provides it through the grace apparatus. Then when the time comes that someone else has a need. He will provide for you to meet the need of that person, just as He used the Philippians to meet the need of Paul. In this way, both the teamwork and super-grace set-up are able to function.
“In glory” indicates that Jesus Christ is going to receive the glory for all the divine good you produce. “By means of Christ Jesus” takes us back to the cross where grace begins. Then by means of the “mind of Christ” it continues in Phase Two with more grace, and reaches its peak in the function of super-grace beyond the ECS.
Now to the God and our Father, the glory forever and ever. I believe it (verse 20).
This is the third verse in a row which begins with a successive continuative particle. These are used to show that we are going right on with the subject; but in this verse we are going back to the Source. Ultimately everything that you have, your being, the very air that you breathe, the freedom that you enjoy, the things that you possess — everything in life that you hold dear or worthwhile — goes right back to God the Father, the Author of the plan of grace. His plan is designed so that there is only one Celebrity, Jesus Christ; one Person to be glorified — the God-Man, the unique Person of the universe; yet everything good ultimately has its source in the First Person of the Trinity.
No matter what happens in your life, in your country or in the world, and already national and world affairs are taking a bad turn, the Father will always be in His heaven. Nothing can change that! He can deliver us, if He so desires, in one second, or He can put us down in one second; so no one has a right to get on his high horse and think he can stand or fall by himself. In context with verse 21, verse 20 is saying that before we get to saluting other saints. God the Father must have the first salute!
The word “Father” denotes several things: first of all, authority. He is the highest rank, as it were. A father has authority over a son. Second, he is the provider, the basis of security for his sons. Third, a father loves his sons. God the Father is our Authority, our security and our provision. We are His children, and He loves us with a maximum love. Our testimony should be what God has done for us, not what we have done for Him. He must get the glory!
Then the Apostle Paul adds something that we must all add: “Amen” — “I believe it. I recognize it.” Remember that Paul has just come out of reversionism himself. He has just paid in discipline for reversionism in every way except the sin unto death. He has made a complete recovery; he is in the super-grace life again; and never has it been so clear that everything depends on who and what God is — nothing depends on who and what Paul is. Therefore, when he says, “I believe it,” that is the official termination of his dissertation on the super-grace life.
But now he recognizes a new principle, which both directly and indirectly relates to super-grace. As believers, we are members of the family of God; we live, as it were, in the same household. We are in the periphery of each other. Therefore, he says in verse 21:
Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which (are) together with me salute you.
This is a command for the believer in the super-grace life. “Salute” is a word for greeting and can be translated “greet, embrace or salute.” “Embrace” doesn’t apply here at all. You embrace only one person of the opposite sex. Category Two love excludes embracing a lot of people in the name of Christianity or any other phoney operation. You don’t embrace every saint, but you can “salute."
Now the erection of the ECS often divides the sheep from the goats in Phase Two. The sheep will go into the super-grace life, while the goats will go backward into reversionism. When believers grow up together in Bible doctrine and a number of them arrive at the same point of time with an ECS, a rapport in Category Three love is definitely established. However, this rapport can become a trap. Those who retrogress at the point of maturity will become a test for their friends: will love for friends cause them to become dupes and go along into reversionism with them, or will they have the backbone to keep taking in doctrine and move on into super-grace? Rapport in super-grace must be established with like kind to enter into the super-grace life. To continue friendships or love-relationships with reversionists can only lead to reversionism.
When a pastor sees a group of people get party-minded and peel off from Bible class, it is his job to protect the rest of the sheep. People going into reversionism often have to be booted out because some of the other sheep are so stupid they would go along for the ride. Verses 20 and 21 serve to remind you that when you get to the point of an ECS, you are not necessarily clear on your scale of values. But once you get it straight that it’s who and what God is that counts — not who and what people are, you can salute every saint with discernment.
“All the (super-grace) saints salute you, especially they from the palace of Caesar” (verse 22).
This is a specific reference to certain ones in high places. By this time Nero had constructed his golden palace, and there were many VIP’s who had their office and their function in the palace. Many of these had received Jesus Christ as Saviour, and “they salute you.”
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ associated with your spirit” (verse 23).
Remember that God the Father is the “Commanding General,” while Jesus Christ is the “Chief of Staff.” This in no way negates the fact that each Member of the Godhead is coequal and coeternal. But each One has, as it were, an assigned role in Operation Grace, the Father’s plan for the human race. This verse emphasizes the principle of the super-grace life — that what counts first is who and what the Father and the Son are. And how can the grace of Jesus Christ be associated with your human spirit? Through the continuous function of GAP which gets doctrine into the human spirit where it is usable!
Now we move back to James 4 to conclude several principles in the super-grace function.
Therefore, be subordinate to (be under the authority of) the God, but oppose the devil, and he will escape from you (Jas. 4:7).
As believers, we must face the issue of obedience to God’s authority and the rejection of the authority of Satan as the ruler of this world. The world was originally restored for man’s rulership (Gen. 1:2, 28); but when Adam sinned, he lost the sovereignty of the world to the super angel. With the fall, Adam and the woman acquired an old sin nature and became the first citizens of Satan’s kingdom, or “cosmos diabolicus.” Since that time, all of us born into the world, with the exception of Jesus Christ, are born with an old sin nature, which renders us spiritually dead. The identification of citizenship in Satan’s kingdom is the sin nature, or spiritual death.
God made a way through grace for members of the human race to break out of the spiritual darkness of “cosmos diabolicus,” and that way was the cross, where Satan’s back was broken. While Jesus Christ was hanging on the cross. He was judged for every sin in the human race, past, present and future. As He bore our sins and became our Substitute, He suffered spiritual death for us and thus made it possible for us to be born a second time into a new kingdom. Those who through FAITH receive His substitutionary work on the cross are born again into citizenship in God’s kingdom — the “kingdom of the Son of his love” (Col. 1:13).
However, Satan will continue to reign until the Second Advent, at which time there will be a coup d’etat, and the Last Adam, Jesus Christ as the Son of David, will replace Satan and will rule the world. In the meantime, believers —particularly super-grace believers — are under heavy attack from Satan. Now, as members of God’s kingdom, yet still residing in “cosmos diabolicus,” God had to make provision whereby our priesthood could function during the reign of Satan. This provision includes the function of GAP, the erection of the ECS and the super-grace life.
A super-grace believer has settled the issue of submission to authority. To submit to the authority of God demands entrance into certain grace functions: the filling of the Spirit, the intake of Bible doctrine, submission to the pastor-teacher. God has designed a grace system for transmission of doctrine from the canon of Scripture into your soul. It is only doctrine in your soul which is usable; and this, of course, is the basis for the power and function of the Christian way of life.
“Submit” is a military word, which means “to be under the command or authority of someone.” It includes both the recognition of authority and the function under that authority. You have not fulfilled this command just because you have said sincerely that you want to do God’s will or you have thrown a fagot on the fire and made a vow to do God’s will. There’s only one way to fulfil the command to submit to God and that is to function under GAP daily. This becomes even more important when you reach the threshold of the super-grace life. Although subordination to the authority of God is the responsibility of every believer, it is properly fulfilled only in the super-grace life.
All the principles of authority revolve around the Word of God; hence the neglect of Bible teaching and doctrinal intake results in insubordination to God’s authority. This refutes the concept floating around today that all you have to do after you are saved is to read your Bible and thereby become an expert; then add to this a few books, and you will become a super expert! You cannot learn doctrine apart from the one who has the gift of pastor-teacher and therefore the authority. As long as you live you will be dependent on your right pastor, the final authority in the local church. Since you cannot feed yourself, you must go to the place where there is authority — a pastor-teacher communicating to a congregation. “Be subordinate to God” is a command, then, to stay with Bible doctrine and the teaching of the Word in Phase Two after erecting an edification complex.
“Resist” is another military word. If you are under the authority of someone in a military organization, the purpose is to wipe out the enemy on the battlefield. You can’t resist unless you are under authority. The command to resist is only given to those who are under authority. You are not truly under God’s authority unless you are in super-grace. Then once you are under His authority, as delineated by Bible doctrine, you can resist the Devil. But you have to be careful here. Resisting the Devil is not some emotional experience, but the use of doctrine in the soul. When you follow the first two commands, submit and resist, which indicate the super-grace life, you have a promise: the Devil will flee from you.
Even though the Devil is exceedingly more powerful, wiser and more subtle, and can outmanoeuvre any of us any time anywhere, yet under God’s direction, he flees. And notice, he will flee FROM YOU, or your periphery, and he will attack some other place where he finds a weak spot. In other words, where the super-grace believer stands is a strong point and Satan has to flee. But down the way is a reversionistic believer; so the Devil goes there and makes a tactical penetration.
Come near to the God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, sinners, and cleanse your right lobe from pollution, you double-souled (verse 8).
“Draw near” is a constantive aorist, referring to the believer who once more functions daily under GAP. This verse goes back to the reversionistic believer and is a command to recover. “Draw near” includes the entire function of GAP— rebound before you listen to the teaching of the Word, relearning the basic doctrines, and avoiding those things that would hinder the daily intake of doctrine. As a result, God will draw near to you in the sense of reversionistic recovery and re-entrance into the super-grace life.
Certain things hinder the recovery of reversionism, so we have another command: “cleanse your hands.” This is the rebound technique by which the believer regains the filling of the Holy Spirit so that he can submit to the authority of ICE Bible teaching. The “dirty hands” depict the believer’s sins in reversionism, particularly the mental attitude sins which identify reversionism (verses 5, 6). “Sinners” here are reversionistic believers.
“Purify your hearts” indicates the importance of Bible doctrine in the right lobe. The reversionistic believer has the valves to the right lobe shut down. He is not taking in doctrine, and the only information he gets is “doctrines of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1). He has cobwebs in his frame of reference; his memory centre has shorted out, as far as doctrine is concerned; and he begins to think in terms of anti-establishment, social action, brotherhood, and all the other pseudo-cosmic ideas. The double-souled person is the reversionist.
Now if you really want to stay in reversionism, there’s an alternative to super-grace. We have a verse on the opportunities and activities as well as commands to those who wish to AVOID the super-grace life.
Be miserable and lament and weep! Your laughter be turned to grief, and the happiness to depression, dejection (Jas. 4:9).
So you want to be a reversionist? Then here’s a command which you WILL OBEY: “Be miserable!” You will have no choice. Free will is for grace. God doesn’t say, “Now, you’re such a nice believer in reversionism — what would you like in the way of discipline?”
When you’re miserable, there are going to be some tears! What laughter you have — through a frantic search for happiness or escapism — will be converted to grief, and temporary happiness (neutral-H) will be converted to depression or dejection. Reversionism is the status of perpetual self-induced misery.
Verse 8 sets up an issue for the believer in reversionism. To obey the commands of verse 8 will keep the believer from obeying the commands of verse 9. Furthermore, obedience to the commands of verse 8 leads to the promotion and prosperity of verse 10.
Receive humility (super-grace) in the opinion of the Lord, and he will promote you (verse 10).
The principle of verse 10 is that if the Lord doesn’t promote you, you’re not promoted. Behind the principle there is a concept which is amplified in 1 Peter 5:5, 6:
In the same way, comparative novices (by comparison to the pastor), 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 (reversionistic or negative believers), but gives grace to the humble (believers who are positive toward doctrine).
Therefore, become grace-oriented (through positive volition toward doctrine) under the authority of the ruling hand of the God (function of GAP in the local church), that He may promote you in proper time.
There are three things in the function of a pastor-teacher:
first, his authority, which resides in the gift; second, his function - teaching doctrine; and third, his life. Now even though a pastor-teacher has an old sin nature like everyone else and he will sin and fail like everyone else, he will go right on being a pastor-teacher. It’s his gift and message that counts. God doesn’t promote some character who is now living a very moral life, who offends very few people, who is sweet and says all the right things! He promotes the humble.
Now, how do you “humble yourself” ?By dressing in rags? By lowering your head and shuffling your feet? By agonizing and giving up something? Through asceticism? No! Humility is mental subordination to Bible teaching and therefore, grace orientation. It is not self-effacement or whitewash. In the passive voice, the believer receives this humility through taking in the Word; in the imperative mood, the believer must “GAP” it until he gets into super-grace and then “GAP” it some more!
When you have the divine viewpoint of humility — grace orientation — the Lord will promote you. The Lord only promotes in super-grace — those who are dependent on who and what He is. He doesn’t promote those who have illusions and delusions that they are doing something for God! God gives grace through doctrine, then He gives promotion. Grace and doctrine always come first. There must be capacity for promotion.
Never before in our history has the nation needed super-grace believers as it needs them today. But YOU ALSO need super-grace as you’ve never needed it before. And you have the privilege and the challenge of entering into something that truly can glorify God!
ANGELIC CONFLICT: Unseen conflict in which the forces of Satan are warring against the forces of God.
COSMOS DIABOLICUS: Satan’s world system.
DISPENSATION: A period of time expressing the divine viewpoint of human history; the divine outline of history, or the divine interpretation of human history. EMOTIONAL REVOLT OF THE SOUL: Emotions dominating the mentality instead of responding to it. Contrary to the divine order whereby the heart or right lobe should control the soul.
FAITH-REST TECHNIQUE: Mixing the promises of God with faith; i.e., believing God, God’s Word.
GRACE APPARATUS FOR PERCEPTION (GAP): The provision of God whereby EVERY believer can understand EVERY doctrine, regardless of education or human IQ.
HEART: The dominant or right lobe of the mentality of the soul. (See Right Lobe).
“ICE” TEACHING: Isagogics, categories, exegesis. Isagogics: The interpretation of the Bible in its historical setting.
LOVE, CATEGORES OF: Category One-toward God; Category Two - toward right man or right woman; Category Three - toward friends.
“MATAIOTES”: Greek word translated “vanity,” as in Ephesians 4:17. This is a vacuum in the soul created by negative volition toward God or Bible doctrine.
OLD SIN NATURE: The “old man” of Ephesians 4:22; the Adamic nature or “flesh” of Romans 8:3,4; the principle of “sin” of Romans 7:8-20. The OSN has an area of weakness which produces personal sins; an area of strength which produces human good; a lust pattern; and trends toward asceticism and lasciviousness. PROPITIATION: The Godward side of the cross: God the Father’s satisfaction with the work of God the Son on the basis of the cross.
REBOUND: The believer’s being restored to fellowship with God through confession of his sins (1 John 1:9).
REVERSE PROCESS REVERSIONISM: The function of a reversionistic believer in which he rejects true objects of love and enters into pseudo-love fanaticism toward false or inconsequential objects of love.
REVERSIONISM: The loss of all or part of the Edification Complex through negative volition toward doctrine, scar tissue of the soul, emotional revolt and apostasy. RIGHT LOBE: The dominant lobe of the mentality of the soul, designated by two different Greek words: “kardia” (heart) and “noema” (understanding or thought). Right lobe has four areas: frame of reference with memory centre (final storage place for all knowledge and basis for learning new knowledge); conscience (norms and standards); vocabulary, in which categories are formed; viewpoint (use of vocabulary, conscience, frame of reference, leading to viewpoint of life on any given subject).
RIGHT MAN-RIGHT WOMAN: The concept that God has designed one specific man for one specific woman. Each member of the human race has a right opposite number, except in special cases where a person has the gift of celibacy.
SCAR TISSUE: The concept of “hardening of the heart.” Negative volition toward God or Bible doctrine puts scar tissue on the soul; i.e., the heart becomes “hardened” toward God and doctrine. Promiscuity, drug addiction, alcoholism, or any other frantic search for happiness puts scar tissue on the soul; i.e., no meaningful soul activity with other people is possible.
SIN UNTO DEATH: Maximum discipline to the reversionistic believer whereby he is removed, before his time, from Phase Two without benefit of dying grace. SPIRITUAL DEATH: Of Christ: separation from the other Members of the Godhead while bearing the sins of the world on the cross. Of the human race: separation from God in time; no fellowship with Him.
SOUL: The area of human life; the real person; located in the cranium. The soul has essence: self-consciousness; mentality (made up of two frontal lobes), volition, conscience, emotion, and the old sin nature (causing man to be spiritually dead).
OTHER BOOKS BY R. B. THIEME, JR. WHICH CONTAIN RELATED SUBJECT MATTER: Angelic Conflict Apes and Peacocks (Doctrine of Happiness) Blood of Christ Divine Good Vs. Human Good Edification Complex of the Soul Emotional Revolt of the Soul Faith-Rest Life Grace Booklets Dying Grace Giving — Gimmick or Grace? Grace Apparatus for Perception Greatness of Grace