Part Two:
The Transformed Life

Preface

Spiritual growth is a life-long, ongoing process. In this process of maturing, every believer needs a thorough grasp of what can be called ‘Truths That Transform.’ These are growth truths of Scripture designed by God to transform us into the image of Christ. These are the truths that enable us to live more and more dependently on the Lord in accordance with the principles of Scripture. This means faith in the power of God rather than faith in our own schemes for how to live the Christian life.

There is a propensity in all of us to try to live the Christian life in our own strength, ever seeking to measure up to what we or someone else thinks we ought to be. The principles found in this series of lessons take believers through the faith/growth truths of Scripture that, when understood and appropriated by faith, enable them to experience change from the inside out through the Spirit of God.

These lessons build on the basics covered in Part One: The Assured Life, and at the same time prepare the way for the studies in Part Three: The Multiplied Life.

Introduction

The Scripture emphatically declares: “For the righteous one will live by faith” (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11); “Now without faith, it is impossible to please Him” (Heb. 11:6); and “for we live by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). It is so important that we do not underestimate the importance of faith in the life of the believer that to overemphasize it is almost impossible. Some might respond that works are also important and quote James 2:15f for support. But the emphasis of Scripture is that bonafide works must be the product of faith in the person and plan of God which sets God free to work in the heart and life of the individual.

Faith brings the power of God into the life of the believer. We become the children of God and justified by faith, but we are also to live and experience the Christ-exchanged life by faith. The Christian life from start to finish is of necessity a life of faith—a life of dependence on God and His grace provision for us in Christ. It is a supernatural life to be accomplished by God through faith in the Spirit who, as a gift from God, indwells every believer from the moment of salvation. As God’s gift, the indwelling Spirit accomplishes a variety of ministries each of which are vital to the believer’s spiritual life. We can no more live the Christian life by self effort than we can manufacture a resurrected body by our own effort.

The Apostle Paul rebuked the believers at Galatia for their failure to recognize this very important principle. They began by faith in Christ, but because of the pressure of legalists they had moved into the realm of human achievement through religious works for spirituality. In fact, he viewed their failure to understand this as the result of being bewitched. Such is undoubtedly the product of Satan’s deception.

Galatians 3:1-5 You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified! 2 The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort? 4 Have you suffered so many things for nothing? —if indeed it was for nothing. 5 Does God then give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law or by your believing what you heard?

Reasons faith in the power and plan of God is absolutely necessary:

(1) Because of the nature of man.

Ephesians 2:1-3 And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest.

(2) Because of man’s inherent weakness.

Romans 6:19 (I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.) For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

Romans 8:3-4 For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Matthew 26:41 Stay awake and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

(3) Because of the blindness and deceptive nature of the world in which we live.

John 12:46 I have come as a light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in darkness.

John 14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides with you and will be in you.

1 Corinthians 1:20 Where is the wise man? Where is the expert in the Mosaic law? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made the wisdom of the world foolish?

Ephesians 2:2 in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience,

Ephesians 4:19 Because they are callous, they have given themselves over to indecency for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

(4) Because of the activity of Satan and his forces.

Ephesians 6:10-18 Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11 Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. 13 For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good news of peace, 16 and in all of this, by taking up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 With every prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and to this end be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints.

(5) Because we are totally inadequate and God alone is adequate, it is vital that we learn to walk by faith with every step.

2 Corinthians 2:16 to the latter an odor from death to death, but to the former a fragrance from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?

2 Corinthians 3:5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,

As we have received Christ by faith in the message of the Gospel (God’s witness concerning His Son or justification through faith) so we are to walk step by step by faith in the Bible’s message of sanctification.

Romans 1:17 For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.”

Colossians 2:6-8 Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and firm in your faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 8 Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

Faith is such an inherent part of the message of Bible that a study on faith is fundamental and essential to the transformed life. As we think in terms of spiritual growth and the transformed life, I’d like to begin with an emphasis on faith because we need to guard against four serious problems that work against faith and spiritual transformation.

Problems We Must Guard Against

A Spirit of Legalism

Legalism is a disposition in which man seeks to establish his own righteousness with God. It is man doing good deeds or religious works to impress God, to merit God’s blessing, or even to impress people. Legalism relies on human resources rather than on God’s resources of grace, on human abilities rather than on divine enablement. Legalism brings glory to man rather than to God. In summary, we may define legalism as “ my effort using my resources to obtain God’s blessing to my glory.”

Romans 4:1-2 What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, has discovered regarding this matter? 2 For if Abraham was declared righteous by the works of the law, he has something to boast about—but not before God.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast.

In a number of passages, the Apostle Paul strongly warns against legalism in any form. The author of Hebrews also warns against what he calls “dead works,” a reference to all that men do (any kind of religious works or human good) to meritoriously acquire either salvation or spirituality.

Romans 10:1-4 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites is for their salvation. 2 For I can testify that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not in line with the truth. 3 For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law, with the result that there is righteousness for everyone who believes.

Galatians 3:1-5 You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified! 2 The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort? 4 Have you suffered so many things for nothing? —if indeed it was for nothing. 5 Does God then give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law or by your believing what you heard?

Galatians 5:1-5 For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery. 2 Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all! 3 And I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace! 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness.

Hebrews 6:1 Therefore we must progress beyond the elementary instructions about Christ and move on to maturity, not laying this foundation again: repentance from dead works and faith in God,

Hebrews 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.

In the life of the Christian, good works, Christian labor, and endurance, etc., are to be the result of spirituality—being rightly adjusted to the Spirit of God through faith. The details of this will be discussed later in the lesson on The Spirit-Filled Life.

Compare the NIV’s grammatically accurate translation of 1 Thessalonians 1:3: “because we recall in the presence of our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (emphasis mine).

Working in the Energy of the Flesh

This means working in the energy of our own strength—our own abilities, talents, or resources. One of the strongest evidences of mankind’s fall into sin and his alienation from God is his proneness, indeed, his commitment to operate independently of God. As in the beginning with Eve, this is where Satan still seeks to deceive and tempt us the most. True, salvation through faith in Christ means the believer is a new creation with a new nature or new capacity for knowing, loving, and choosing for God. But the old nature, the self-life, or the flesh as it is also called, still struggles to control. The most prominent characteristic of the flesh is that of self-dependence—seeking to handle life apart from God’s plan and resources.

A few words are needed regarding the sinful nature or the flesh. The “flesh,” as used metaphorically by the Apostle Paul, may be defined as that indwelling spiritual principle or force, that strong disposition in all of us to operate out of our own resources independent of God to meet our needs and wants, the things we perceive we must have for security and significance, etc. The “flesh” is the opposite of trust in God. It is a spirit of independence and faith in self. As faith in self, it is a commitment to do our own thing, in our own way, and from our own resources. The flesh is evil, sinful, and anti-God. That “flesh” is often used of this propensity within man is clear from Jeremiah’s warning in Jeremiah 17:5.

The Lord says,
“I will put a curse on people
who trust in mere human beings,
who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength,
and whose hearts have turned away from the Lord.”

This passage points out four key concepts about the flesh: (a) the act of depending on human resources, (b) the act of depending on human resources rather than on God’s resources, (c) such an act is in essence, a turning away from God, and (d) such an act brings a curse, it is detrimental.

As a force in man’s life, the flesh is man’s natural means of protection. As man’s natural means of protecting himself, it is a way that seems right to man, it feels natural, but its end is the way of death.

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a person,
but its end is the way of death.

The Mentality of Our Culture

As never before in human history, the very nature of our modern society undercuts true dependence on God. With all the advances in modern science and technology in health, convenience, comfort, speed, power, amusement, information, etc., man’s natural spirit of independence and self-sufficiency has become even more acute. In spite of the gigantic social and moral problems facing society, mankind generally thinks in terms of “we are sufficient.” The Scripture, however, declares we are not and cannot even direct our lives. Jeremiah wrote, “Lord, we know that people do not control their own destiny. It is not in their power to determine what will happen to them.” (Jer. 10:23).

Jeremiah 9:23-24 The Lord says,
“Wise people should not boast that they are wise.
Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful.
Rich people should not boast that they are rich.
24 If people want to boast, they should boast about this:
They should boast that they understand and know me.
They should boast that they know and understand
that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth
and that I desire people to do these things,”
says the Lord.

The Imbalance of Passivity

This is the “let go and let God” mentality which teaches believers are to sit back and let God do it all. Ryrie warns about this as an imbalance of what the Scripture teaches. He writes:

… there is the view which emphasizes the idea that God does all that needs to be done for us in the spiritual life. We not only can do nothing; we must do nothing; otherwise we will hinder the work of God in our lives.³²

So that we do not misunderstand this emphasis and Ryrie’s comment about it, let me quote what he says just prior to the above quote.

Let it be said, too, … I am not suggesting that the entire teaching is wrong; it contains, in my judgment, an imbalance because some aspect of the spiritual life has been emphasized in a manner disproportionate to the place given to it in the Scripture. ³³ (Emphasis mine)

This is basically the issue of taking personal responsibility to appropriate God’s resources. The hundreds of commands in the New Testament make this clear. Certainly, we are to do these things in dependence on God’s resources, but we are nevertheless responsible to do them. God is not going to do them for us.

Dependence on the power of God and effort on the part of the believer are not mutually exclusive. Self-discipline and Spirit-dependence can and must be practiced at the same time in a balanced spiritual life. Dependence itself is an attitude, but that attitude does not come automatically; it usually requires cultivation. How many genuine Christians there are who live day after day without even sensing their need of dependence on Him. Experience, routine, pride, self-confidence all tend to drag all of us away from that conscious dependence on God which we must have in order to live and act righteously.³⁴

In all obedience there must be the balance of disciplined dependence. A number of New Testament passages teach this truth and if we fail to see this balance, we will become imbalanced, and end up in a very unbiblical position. For instance, note the element of personal responsibility in the following passages:

Romans 8:13 (for if you live according to the flesh, you will die), but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.

Galatians 5:16 But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.

2 Peter 1:5-8 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith excellence, to excellence, knowledge; 6 to knowledge, self-control; to self-control, perseverance; to perseverance, godliness; 7 to godliness, brotherly affection; to brotherly affection, unselfish love. 8 For if these things are really yours and are continually increasing, they will keep you from becoming ineffective and unproductive in your pursuit of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ more intimately.

1 Timothy 4:7-10 But reject those myths fit only for the godless and gullible, and train yourself for godliness. 8 For “physical exercise has some value, but godliness is valuable in every way. It holds promise for the present life and for the life to come.” 9 This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance. 10 In fact this is why we work hard and struggle, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of believers.

To be sure, each of the above commands are to be done in the Spirit by faith in God’s strength, but still we have a vital part—we are responsible. God does not walk in the Spirit for us. We see the blending of these two concepts, responsibility and dependence, in the following two passages:

Colossians 1:29 Toward this goal I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully works in me.

1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

Understanding the balance between dependence on God’s resources and expending human energy while depending on God’s enablement protects a believer from two serious errors. It protects him from:

… (1) the error that there is some sort of a switch which he can touch in order to turn off the current of temptation and keep it from coursing through his being; (2) the Christian life is a passive one in which all the believer does is ‘yield.’ If yielding means I decide to be what I truly am in Christ through the Spirit’s power no matter how great the struggle then it is clear that there will be much battle even as Paul stated when he wrote that ‘the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, for these are in opposition to one another, …’ (Gal. 5:17). The spiritual life is neither automatic or passive.³⁵

We might add, the spiritual life is not only not automatic, or passive, but it is also not painless. Bill Lawrence has a good summary of the issues under a section called, “We are responsible to obey by faith.”

In a sense, the believer’s responsibility in the spiritual life can be summarized in one word: Obedience.

The bottom line of the believer’s responsibility in the spiritual life is obedience. Believers are to do what God has told them to do and they can do what God has told them to do because the Holy Spirit makes this possible, though not without the exercise of discipline.

Discipline is not a matter of obeying God in our own strength even as we obeyed our parents or our employers in our pre-Christ days. Discipline is a matter of faith, because, “whatever is not from faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23). Discipline must be an act of trust in God’s resources through which the believer draws upon the infinite power of God and meets His righteous standard.

Obedience by faith means that we act by dependence on the Holy Spirit and count on His enabling power as we trust Him. It means that we do act, that we exercise every ounce of energy the Lord Jesus Christ “… mightily works within …” us (Col. 1:29). We act in His power; we obey through the Spirit’s resources. We act, but Christ does it through us in the sense that it is His power that enables us to do what He commands. In terms of power, He does it through us; in terms of activity, we do it through Him. We do what we could never do in our own capacity: we obey God and live up to His righteous standard.

Your obligation is not to do it in any strength of your own, or to try to do it, but to do it in the enabling power of the indwelling Spirit … You will do it in the enabling power of the indwelling Spirit and this is where the believer’s responsibility brings him. That is the thing that constitutes the ability to live the spiritual life and that is none other than the ability to walk by means of the Spirit in your daily life. That is the salvation from the reigning power of sin … Therefore you fall back upon the infinite power--think of it--the infinite power of the indwelling Spirit.³⁶ (ital. orig.).

We draw on the Spirit’s power through a simple prayer of dependence in which we acknowledge our inability to accomplish anything for God apart from Him. We tell the Spirit, “I cannot do this in my own power. I give myself to You for You to enable me to do what You want me to do and I thank You by faith that You will keep Your promise to me to enable me to obey and serve You.” Then we act on that prayer and move to do the thing for which we are trusting God. In that moment we discover the infinite power which enables us to do what we could never do on our own.³⁷

Any of these dangers will not only kill our joy in Christ, but more importantly, they leave us powerless to truly experience God’s deliverance and the Christ-exchanged life, i.e., Christ producing His character in us or the fruit of the Spirit. Because these two dangers are faithless in our new life in Christ, our position in Him, and in the power of the indwelling Spirit, they leave us powerless to deal with our spiritual enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Colossians 2:16-23 Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days— 17 these are only the shadow of the things to come, but the reality is Christ! 18 Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels pass judgment on you. That person goes on at great lengths about what he has supposedly seen, but he is puffed up with empty notions by his fleshly mind. 19 He has not held fast to the head from whom the whole body, supported and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. 20 If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world? 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” 22 These are all destined to perish with use, founded as they are on human commands and teachings. 23 Even though they have the appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship and false humility achieved by an unsparing treatment of the body—a wisdom with no true value—they in reality result in fleshly indulgence.

Among the truths that transform there are those that relate to spiritual disciplines like prayer, Bible study, and worship. While these are crucial for building faith and cultivating our walk with the Lord, we should never do them to merit God’s favor because we already have His favor as believers in Christ—we are complete in Him.

Colossians 2:10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

Ephesians 1:3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ.

Rather, these spiritual disciplines are to be done as acts of simple faith, out of a spirit of faith-dependence on the Lord. We do them to develop and maintain a deeper faith relationship and walk with God—never to achieve status with God.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own understanding.
6 Acknowledge him in all your ways,
and he will make your paths straight.

Romans 1:17 For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.”

2 Corinthians 5:8 Thus we are full of courage and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Just as we eat wholesome meals for physical strength, so we are to study the Bible and pray that we might grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ and experience God’s strength.

1 Peter 2:2-3 And yearn like newborn infants for pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up to salvation, 3 if you have experienced the Lord’s kindness.

2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the honor both now and on that eternal day.

But what is faith? How do we develop faith? What about the object of faith?

The Basics of Biblical Faith

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.

Faith means learning to trust God for what we cannot see with our visible eyes. It means learning to think and act on the principles and promises of the Word regardless of how things seem to us. We are told to walk by faith and not by sight. Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God.

2 Corinthians 5:7 for we live by faith, not by sight.

Hebrews 11:6 Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

There are two key concepts we learn from these verses:

We Cannot Please God Without Faith

Faith is the modus operandi for the Christian life. It is God’s desire and plan that we learn to live by faith because faith acknowledges our weakness and rests in God and in His provision. It glorifies God. But faith in what?

Faith Consists in Two Concepts

(1) We must believe that He is. We must believe in the existence of God. But according to the Bible, a true belief in God’s existence includes faith in His transcendence and essence. Transcendence is the concept that God exists outside and beyond the universe. Essence speaks of who God is as the independent and sovereign God who is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, infinite, and unchangeable, holy, love, veracity, etc.

(2) We must believe that He is also a rewarder of those who seek Him. This means belief in the personal love of God, belief in the provision and care of God. Included in this is the concept of God’s immanence, that though transcendent, He is nevertheless involved in the affairs of the universe, and that the creation cannot exist or function properly without Him and His intimate involvement.

Mankind is totally dependent on God for his existence, for his happiness, and for his security and significance. And God cares about us intimately.

For many Christians, the Christian life is devoid of God’s power. It is simply a matter of doing the best they can to conform to certain expected standards. Some are more successful at conforming externally to the pattern of their peers than others, but even for these, there is generally the awareness that something is missing. Some find comfort in the fact that no one is perfect; everyone has their weaknesses. Because they are doing their best, they hope God understands.

Unquestionably, no one is perfect. Maybe we are doing our best and certainly God does understand, but this does not alter the fact that unless we are walking by faith in God and His plan and provision, we are missing the abundant life Christ offers. Our best is not what God wants. He wants faith in His best—the Lord Jesus—His very own Son and the fullness of blessing He has made available for us in Him.

Think about these facts:

(1) No one can live the Christian way of life any more than they can perfectly keep the Old Testament Law or the Sermon of the Mount (cf. also Rom. 7:1-25).

Romans 3:9-20 What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin, 10 just as it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one,
11 there is no one who understands,
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
together they have become worthless;
there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.”
13 “Their throats are open graves,
they deceive with their tongues,
the poison of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood,
16 ruin and misery are in their paths,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

Galatians 3:10-14 For all who rely on doing the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not keep on doing everything written in the book of the law.” 11 Now it is clear no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous one will live by faith. 12 But the law is not based on faith, but the one who does the works of the law will live by them. 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”) 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles, so that we could receive the promise of the Spirit by faith.

(2) If we could live the Christian way of life without God’s enablement, why do you suppose God would send the Holy Spirit to indwell us?

John 7:37-39 On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and 38 let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.)

John 14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides with you and will be in you.

(3) If we could live the Christian way of life and serve the Lord without God’s power through faith, why would the Lord Jesus give the Holy Spirit the title of the “Helper” or the “Enabler” (John 14:16, 26)? Why would He point to the disciples’ inadequacy apart from the Spirit (John 16:7-15) and tell them not to attempt any ministry until the coming of the Spirit (Acts 1:4-8)?

John 14:16 Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever

John 14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and will cause you to remember everything I said to you.

John 16:7-15 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I am going away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong concerning sin and righteousness and judgment— 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. 12 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but will speak whatever he hears, and will tell you what is to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will receive from me what is mine and will tell it to you. 15 Everything that the Father has is mine; that is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what is mine and will tell it to you.

Acts 1:4-8 While he was with them, he declared, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait there for what my Father promised, which you heard about from me. 5 For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 So when they had gathered together, they began to ask him, “Lord, is this the time when you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He told them, “You are not permitted to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.”

Because of all we face in the enemies of God who are arrayed against Christians, the world around us, the flesh within us, and the devil against us, the Christian life and ministry is an absolute impossibility apart from God’s supernatural ability which must be appropriated moment by moment through faith. The nature of these forces and our weakness necessitates the need for nothing short of the divine power of God. To think that we can live the Christian life is the height of ignorance or pride. So then, what is faith?

The Details of Biblical Faith

The New Testament Word for Faith

The New Testament word for “faith” is pistis. It means conviction of the truth or reality of anything; belief in something or someone. In the New Testament it is used of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and spiritual things, generally with the included idea of trust or reliance. The verb form is pisteuo which means “to believe, rely on, trust in.” It often occurs with prepositions to stress the concept of “personal trust and reliance as distinct from mere credence or belief.”³⁸

A Definition of Biblical Faith

Biblical faith is confidence and trust in the ability, power, skill, and promises of another—specifically the God of the Bible as He is revealed in Scripture. In terms of New Testament theology, faith or belief is reliance (belief and confidence) on the work and grace of God’s plan. This includes all phases of salvation and sanctification, the past (deliverance from the penalty of sin), the present (deliverance from the power of sin), and the future (deliverance from the presence of sin).

Biblical Faith Is Non-Meritorious

Biblical faith is not a work, it is the one thing we can do without doing anything. Faith consists not in doing something, but in receiving something. Salvation is a gift which one receives by faith. Does a gift cease to be a gift simply because we receive it? No!

John 6:26-29 Jesus replied, “I tell you the solemn truth, you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate all the loaves of bread you wanted. 27 Do not work for the food that disappears, but for the food that remains to eternal life—the food which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has put his seal of approval on him.” 28 So then they said to him, “What must we do to accomplish the deeds God requires?” 29 Jesus replied, “This is the deed God requires—to believe in the one whom he sent.”

These Jews thought in terms of works for salvation, but the Savior taught that salvation was a gift, the product of the work of God in Christ, which was to be received by believing in the Son of Man, the Messiah, upon whom God had placed His seal.

Faith is an admission of our spiritual inability and helplessness to merit or work for salvation or even to handle our own life apart from God’s grace provision as revealed in the New Testament. When we drive over a bridge to cross a gorge, for which there is no other way to cross, we are saying we are trusting the bridge to get us to the other side. But we are also saying, we can’t get to the other side on our own without this bridge.

Romans 4:1-5 What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, has discovered regarding this matter? 2 For if Abraham was declared righteous by the works of the law, he has something to boast about—but not before God. 3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, his faith is credited as righteousness.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast.

Titus 3:5 he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit,

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Faith is a rejection or repudiation of any confidence in the flesh (cf. Jer. 17:5-9; Rom. 3:9-24). Therefore, recognizing our helplessness and the sufficiency of Christ, biblical faith rests in God’s complete and finished work and provision in Jesus Christ or Christ’s merit. Faith brings merit not to self, but to the object of faith, the Lord Jesus Christ and all that comes to us in Him.

Philippians 3:1-9 Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! To write this again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! 3 For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, exult in Christ Jesus, and do not rely on human credentials 4 —though mine too are significant. If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human credentials, I have more: 5 I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee. 6 In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless. 7 But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ. 8 More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things—indeed, I regard them as dung!—that I may gain Christ, 9 and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness—a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness.

Romans 4:25 He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification.

Romans 11:6 And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

Hebrews 4:10 For the one who enters God’s rest has also rested from his works, just as God did from his own works.

Faith Is Not Always Demonstrated by What We Are Doing for God

This is a popular notion, but not quite true. Works may actually demonstrate faith in oneself or in other false objects of faith as with the Pharisees who were meticulous about works. Certainly, an active and growing faith will produce works in the life of a believer, but in reality, biblical faith demonstrates what God, in His power and grace, is doing for, in, and through the one who is believing God.

Philippians 2:12-13 So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence, 13 for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort—for the sake of his good pleasure—is God.

Philippians 4:13 I am able to do all things through the one who strengthens me.

This is why we should never praise a person for his faith. We may be thankful for having faith and thank God for the faith of others (cf. 2 Thess. 1:3). We may also be rebuked or rebuke others for a lack of faith (cf. Matt. 6:30), but in the final analysis who is glorified by our faith? The object of faith of course! Why? Because faith is simply a disposition which allows something or someone to do for us because of what it is or who they are.

Whenever we sit down in a chair, we exercise faith in the chair. We show we believe the chair will hold us up. Our faith simply brings the chair and our posterity together so we can rest, but we aren’t sitting on our faith. Our faith doesn’t hold us up, the chair does. Who is to be congratulated, us or the chair? The chair, of course, or the one who made it. Our faith glorifies the creator of the chair. Likewise, biblical faith simply allows God to be God in the person; it brings God into action; it glorifies God. Faith is non-meritorious.

We can compare faith to a clutch and its workings in a standard shift automobile. The clutch relates the power under the hood to the wheels on the road. This is how we move an automobile down the road. We get down the road not just by the engine or by the wheels but by that which relates the two together. That’s the part faith is designed to play in the life of the Christian.

Faith Must Have a Valid Object

This is the reason biblical information is so important. It brings our faith to bear on the right objects of faith no matter what area of life is involved. Faith in the wrong object is worse than no faith at all.

1 Corinthians 15:12-19 Now if Christ is being preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty. 15 Also, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified against God that he raised Christ from the dead, when in reality he did not raise him, if indeed the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless; you are still in your sins. 18 Furthermore, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished. 19 For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we should be pitied more than anyone.

Illustration: If we are driving a piece of equipment that weighs 20 tons and try to cross a bridge with a 10-ton load limit because we believe the bridge will support us, the results will be disastrous. Our false confidence will destroy us.

Three things a valid object of faith must be or have:

(1) It must be ABLE and FREE to save.

Hebrews 5:7 During his earthly life Christ offered both requests and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death and he was heard because of his devotion.

Hebrews 7:25 So he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

James 1:21 So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls.

James 4:12 But there is only one who is lawgiver and judge—the one who is able to save and destroy. On the other hand, who are you to judge your neighbor?

(2) It must be AVAILABLE to save.

Acts 17:26-27 From one man he made every nation of the human race to inhabit the entire earth, determining their set times and the fixed limits of the places where they would live, 27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

Romans 8:34 Who is the one who will condemn? Christ is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us.

Romans 10:13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Hebrews 7:25 So he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Hebrews 9:24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands—the representation of the true sanctuary—but into heaven itself, and he appears now in God’s presence for us.

Hebrews 13:5-6 Your conduct must be free from the love of money and you must be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you and I will never abandon you.” 6 So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

(3) It must be WILLING to save.

John 3:16 For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Hebrews 10:9-10 then he says, “Here I am: I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first to establish the second. 10 By his will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Philippians 2:6-8 who though he existed in the form of God
did not regard equality with God
as something to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself
by taking on the form of a slave,
by looking like other men,
and by sharing in human nature.
8 He humbled himself,
by becoming obedient to the point of death
—even death on a cross!

1 Peter 5:7 by casting all your cares on him because he cares for you.

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

Faith Does Not Operate in a Vacuum

For faith to function accurately and properly it must have information—it must have accurate biblical content to believe and appropriate. In Scripture there is “faith,” trust or confidence in the Lord, but there is also “ the faith,” the objective body of revealed truth which is to be believed or appropriated by faith. “The faith” is the content of our faith, the things we are to believe which form the index for faith.

Jude 3 Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you about our common salvation, I now feel compelled instead to write to encourage you to contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.

Ephesians 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God—a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ’s full stature.

Acts 6:7 The word of God continued to spread, the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.

1 Timothy 3:9 holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.

If faith is to be effective, it must have a valid object which includes the right content. This is a tremendously important principle. The Lord Jesus reduced all of Scripture to two great commands: loving God and loving one’s neighbor as himself.

Mark 12:28-34 Now one of the experts in the law came and heard them debating. When he saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 The expert in the law said to him, “That is true, Teacher; you are right to say that he is one, and there is no one else besides him. 33 And to love him with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he had answered thoughtfully, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Then no one dared any longer to question him.

Those who promote situational ethics often claim that the only thing which should control or dictate what one does is love. They claim the only rule for action is to do the most loving thing. But what is that? With man’s self-centered bent and his natural spiritual blindness, we need the content of God’s Word to show us what the most loving act really consists of or we will be cast on the tossing waves and shifting sand of human ideas.

Others would say, “We have freedom in Christ; we are not under the law. We are simply to follow the leading of the Spirit.” The Spirit, however, does not lead us contrary to the principles of the Word. The Bible is the Word of Truth and the Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. The Holy Spirit never contradicts the Word which He Himself inspired. This is one of the reasons there is such an emphasis in the Bible on knowing what the Word teaches in an accurate way.

Psalm 119:9 How can a young person maintain a pure lifestyle?
By following your instructions!

2 Timothy 3:16-17 Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.

Faith Must Be Personal

We cannot operate on the faith of someone else. Each person must personally receive Jesus Christ by faith.

John 1:12 But to all who have received him—those who believe in his name—he has given the right to become God’s children

John 12:48 The one who rejects me and does not accept my words has a judge; the word I have spoken will judge him at the last day.

People must personally know and believe the principles and promises of the Word if they are to experience God’s work in their lives so that there is true spiritual change. Each person must mix faith with the promises of God to enter into God’s rest, or His provision for any aspect of salvation.

Philippians 2:12-13 So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence, 13 for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort—for the sake of his good pleasure—is God.

Romans 14:5 One person regards one day holier than other days, and another regards them all alike. Each must be fully convinced in his own mind.

Romans 14:10-14 But you who eat vegetables only—why do you judge your brother or sister? And you who eat everything—why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God.” 12 Therefore, each of us will give an account of himself to God. 13 Therefore we must not pass judgment on one another, but rather determine never to place an obstacle or a trap before a brother or sister. 14 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean in itself; still, it is unclean to the one who considers it unclean.

Hebrews 4:1 Therefore we must be wary that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it.

Biblical Faith Is Not Blind Faith

(1) God has provided abundant evidence in creation for the fact of His being.

Psalm 19:1-6 The heavens declare God’s glory;
the sky displays his handiwork.
2 Day after day it speaks out;
night after night it reveals his greatness.
3 There is no actual speech or word,
nor is its voice literally heard.
4 Yet its voice echoes throughout the earth;
its words carry to the distant horizon.
In the sky he has pitched a tent for the sun.
5 Like a bridegroom it emerges from its chamber;
like a strong man it enjoys running its course.
6 It emerges from the distant horizon,
and goes from one end of the sky to the other;
nothing can escape its heat.

Romans 1:18-20 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness, 19 because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse.

(2) We have abundant evidence from archaeology, history, fulfilled prophecy and many other things for the reliability and inspiration and acceptance of Scripture.

Psalm 19:9-11 The commands to fear the Lord are right
and permanent.
The regulations given by the Lord are trustworthy
and completely just.
10 They are of greater value than gold,
than even a great amount of pure gold;
they bring greater delight than honey,
than even the sweetest honey from honeycomb.
11 Yes, your servant finds moral guidance there;
those who obey them receive a rich reward.

2 Timothy 3:16 Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

2 Peter 1:19-21 Moreover, we possess the prophetic word as an altogether reliable thing. You do well if you pay attention to this as you would to a light shining in a murky place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you do well if you recognize this: No prophecy of scripture ever comes about by the prophet’s own imagination, 21 for no prophecy was ever borne of human impulse; rather, men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

(3) We have an abundance of evidence for the truth of the resurrection. All this evidence is so tremendous that to deny it one must actually deny his own rational processes because of a prejudice against the miraculous. Faith, however, is not based on rationalism or human reason, nor on experience or empiricism. It is also not irrational nor blind nor contradictory to known and verifiable truth.

Acts 17:31 because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, having provided proof to everyone by raising him from the dead.

John 7:17 If anyone wants to do God’s will, he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from my own authority.

Faith Must Be Progressive

There is immature (weak) faith and mature (strong) faith. Like a plant, faith must be fed and strengthened.

Romans 4:20 He did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.

Romans 14:1-2 Now receive the one who is weak in the faith, and do not have disputes over differing opinions. 2 One person believes in eating everything, but the weak person eats only vegetables.

Ephesians 4:13-16 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God—a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ’s full stature. 14 So we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. 15 But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head. 16 From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together through every supporting ligament. As each one does its part, the body grows in love.

1 Thessalonians 3:2 We sent Timothy, our brother and fellow worker for God in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen you and encourage you about your faith,

1 Peter 2:2 And yearn like newborn infants for pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up to salvation,

2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the honor both now and on that eternal day.

Faith can and must grow or it will become inactive, non-functional, and dormant. The classic illustration of this is James 2:14-20.

James 2:14-20 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can this kind of faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and eat well,” but you do not give them what the body needs, what good is it? 17 So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith without works and I will show faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; well and good. Even the demons believe that—and tremble with fear. 20 But would you like evidence, you empty fellow, that faith without works is useless?

As seen above, biblical faith does not operate out of a mindless vacuum. It is related to what we know and are thinking. The content of our minds, the stuff we think with, is that which gives validity, vitality, and growth to our faith. Bible doctrine gives faith the right object or direction, expression, power, and vigor. How, then, does our faith grow?

(1) Faith grows by hearing and learning the Word.

Romans 10:17 Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 And so we too constantly thank God that when you received God’s message that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human message, but as it truly is, God’s message, which is at work among you who believe.

(2) Faith grows by the ministry of the teaching, verifying work of the Spirit of God.

John 16:11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

Romans 8:16 The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children.

Ephesians 3:16-20 I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, 18 you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who by the power that is working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think,

1 John 2:27 Now as for you, the anointing that you received from him resides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, it is true and is not a lie. Just as it has taught you, you reside in him.

1 John 3:24 And the person who keeps his commandments resides in God, and God in him. Now by this we know that God resides in us: by the Spirit he has given us.

(3) Faith grows by the variegated trials of life which cause people to look to the Lord and His provisions for life.

James 1:2-4 My brothers and sisters, consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything.

(4) Faith grows through the encouraging, teaching, and supporting ministries of other believers.

Ephesians 4:11-16 It was he who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God—a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ’s full stature. 14 So we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. 15 But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head. 16 From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together through every supporting ligament. As each one does its part, the body grows in love.

1 Thessalonians 3:2 We sent Timothy, our brother and fellow worker for God in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen you and encourage you about your faith,

1 Thessalonians 3:10 We pray earnestly night and day to see you in person and make up what may be lacking in your faith.

1 Thessalonians 5:11-14 Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, just as you are in fact doing. 12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who labor among you and preside over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them most highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, admonish the undisciplined, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient toward all.

The Lies We Believe

The lies are beliefs, notions, attitudes, and expectations that do not fit with the truth of the Word of God.

General Nature

These lies include everything from the strategies by which we attempt to handle life on a daily basis to what we believe is needed to be saved or to be spiritual. The Bible refers to these false belief structures through a number of metaphors, some of which are listed below. Regardless, they are the product of ignorance or rebellion and are the execution of our plans and not those of the Lord.

Isaiah 30:1-2 “The rebellious children are as good as dead,” says the Lord,
“those who make plans without consulting me,
who form alliances without consulting my Spirit,
and thereby compound their sin.
2 They travel down to Egypt
without seeking my will,
seeking Pharaoh’s protection,
and looking for safety in Egypt’s protective shade.

Some illustrations of these pictures of self-dependent strategies are:

(1) Trusting in one’s own strength.

Jeremiah 17:5 The Lord says,
“I will put a curse on people
who trust in mere human beings,
who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength,
and whose hearts have turned away from the Lord.

(2) Broken cisterns that hold no water.

Jeremiah 2:13 “Do so because my people have committed a double wrong:
they have left me,
the fountain of life-giving water,
and they have dug cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water.”

(3) Self-made firebrands by which people seek to lighten their path.

Isaiah 50:11 Look, all of you who start a fire
and who equip yourselves with flaming arrows,
walk in the light of the fire you started
and among the flaming arrows you ignited!
This is what you will receive from me:
you will lie down in a place of pain.

(4) Influences from the East—human substitutes for faith in God and His plan of salvation and spiritual deliverance.

Isaiah 2:6 Indeed, O Lord, you have abandoned your people,
the descendants of Jacob.
For diviners from the east are everywhere;
they consult omen readers like the Philistines do.
Plenty of foreigners are around.

Religious Illustrations

These lies include any method that depends on human works for salvation; things people do in the belief this will save them such as attempting to keep the Law or a set of religious rules, keeping the sacraments, asceticism or some form of self-denial.

Romans 10:1-3 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites is for their salvation. 2 For I can testify that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not in line with the truth. 3 For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

Colossians 2:16-23 Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days— 17 these are only the shadow of the things to come, but the reality is Christ! 18 Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels pass judgment on you. That person goes on at great lengths about what he has supposedly seen, but he is puffed up with empty notions by his fleshly mind. 19 He has not held fast to the head from whom the whole body, supported and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. 20 If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world? 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” 22 These are all destined to perish with use, founded as they are on human commands and teachings. 23 Even though they have the appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship and false humility achieved by an unsparing treatment of the body—a wisdom with no true value—they in reality result in fleshly indulgence.

Another variation of this is believing in Christ but, rather than faith alone in Christ alone, adding some religious work such as circumcision, baptism, walking an aisle, promising to give up our sins, etc., as a means of salvation (cf. also Rom. 4:1-16).

Galatians 3:1-3 You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified! 2 The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort?

Galatians 5:1-5 For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery. 2 Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all! 3 And I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace! 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness.

Titus 3:5 he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit,

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast.

Other Illustrations

These lies include any method by which people seek to handle life, to find peace, significance, joy, satisfaction, or security apart from faith in God’s plan for us in the person and work of Christ. Such constitutes a false belief system. When we pursue power, position, praise, wealth, pleasure, comfort, acceptance, etc., as our means of joy, peace, security, and significance, we are looking to these false sources of trust in the belief they will give us what we perceive will meet our needs. Whatever they give will be temporary and dependent on good circumstances and desires that are self-centered. This means we will be manipulating, hurting, or walking on others in the process.

Some excellent books that cover this last category in detail are Defeating the Dragons of the World, Resisting the Seduction of False Values, Stephen D. Eyre, InterVarsity Press. The Lies We Believe, Chris Thurman, Thomas Nelson Publishers. Myths the World Taught Me, R. Scott Richards, Thomas Nelson Publishers. Why Settle for More and Miss the Best, Tom Sine, Word Publishing.

Explanation of the Faith-Rest Life (Heb. 4:1-16)

Hebrews 4:1-16 Therefore we must be wary that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For we had good news proclaimed to us just as they did. But the message they heard did them no good, since they did not join in with those who heard it in faith. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’” And yet God’s works were accomplished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works,” 5 but to repeat the text cited earlier: “They will never enter my rest!” 6 Therefore it remains for some to enter it, yet those to whom it was previously proclaimed did not enter because of disobedience. 7 So God again ordains a certain day, “Today,” speaking through David after so long a time, as in the words quoted before, “O, that today you would listen as he speaks! Do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken afterward about another day. 9 Consequently a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God. 10 For the one who enters God’s rest has also rested from his works, just as God did from his own works. 11 Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account. 14 Therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help.

The Meaning of “Faith-Rest”

The noun used for “rest” in Hebrews 3 and 4 is the Greek katapausis, “a putting or causing to rest.” It means “resting” (active) or “rest” (passive). It is common in the Septuagint for God’s rest (Isa. 66:1), the people’s rest (1 Kings. 8:56), or the Sabbath rest (Ex. 35:2).

In Acts 7:49 (based on Isa. 66:1) it denotes God’s rest, i.e., the place where he fixes his presence. The verb form is katapauo and means “to cause to cease or rest” with the following shades of meaning, “to end” (actions or conditions), “to restrain” (used of persons), “to give rest” (i.e., cause suffering to cease), usually with God as the subject in the Septuagint, and “to rest or cease from works” (cf. Ex. 20:11). As we will see, it looks at a rest which God gives because of the work God has accomplished.

Usage of the Word “Rest”

Eight times katapausis is used in Hebrews 3 and 4 and in each case it is used of God’s rest or the rest that God supplies (3:11, 18; 4:1, 3, 5, 10, 11). Once the noun sabatismos, “a Sabbath rest,” is used in 4:9. This word is found only in this passage and seems to have been coined by the author to express the rest of God anticipated in God’s creation rest and in that of the Old Testament ordinance. The verb form, katapauo, is used three times: of God who rested after He finished creation (4:4), of Joshua’s failure to give rest in the ultimate sense (4:8), and of those who enter God’s rest as He rested from His works in creation (4:10). God rested when He had finished the work of creation and a rest for the people of God has been available ever since.

Contextual Meaning

Hebrews 3 begins with a comparison between Christ and Moses (3:1-6). This naturally leads to a comparison between their followers. The writer uses the conduct of the Israelites as a means of challenging his readers to a walk of confident faithfulness with God through a faith that rests in the sufficiency of Christ who is the fulfillment of all that is seen in the Old Testament. There was a promise in the Old Testament that God’s people would enter into God’s rest, one anticipated by God’s rest after creation. The writer sees this promise as ultimately fulfilled only in Christ. In drawing attention to this, he shows from another angle that Christ is God’s final word to mankind (cf. 1:2); He is the means of God’s rest both now and in the future.

Doctrinal Meaning

The term “rest” is a descriptive synonym of God’s various provisions for man, ultimately including His provision of salvation. It describes God’s provision from the standpoint of means, resting by faith in God’s work, and the results, ceasing from works, enjoying and resting in what God has provided. Let me elaborate.

(1) The term “rest” is used because it portrays the results of God’s work as historically illustrated in creation (vv. 3b-4). It refers to what has been accomplished by God for man. Eden was a place of rest and dominion for man where he could enjoy the perfect provision of God. In Eden, man could enter into the fruit of God’s labors. This was lost, however, by the fall. There is the need, then, of another rest.

Hebrews 2:5-10 For he did not put the world to come, about which we are speaking, under the control of angels. 6 Instead someone testified somewhere:
“What is man that you think of him or the son of man that you care for him?
7 You made him lower than the angels for a little while.
You crowned him with glory and honor.
8 You put all things under his control.”
For when he put all things under his control, he left nothing outside of his control. At present we do not yet see all things under his control, 9 but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by God’s grace he would experience death on behalf of everyone. 10 For it was fitting for him, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

(2) The term “rest” is used because God’s provision is entered by faith apart from human works. The rest (a picture of deliverance) is based on the work God Himself has accomplished as in creation, and symbolized in the Sabbath rests of the Old Testament.

(3) The term “rest” is used because, as God rested because of His creative labors, so He gives man rest in the sense of repose, deliverance, or salvation. Rest, as a picture of God’s salvation, has three aspects:

• Salvation from sin’s penalty (analogous to Israel’s deliverance out of Egypt which was to be remembered by keeping the Sabbath rest).

Deuteronomy 5:15 Recall that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there by strength and power; therefore, the Lord your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

• Salvation from sin’s power (analogous of Israel’s entrance into the land).

Deuteronomy 12:10 When you do go across the Jordan River and settle in the land that he is granting you as an inheritance and you find relief from all the enemies who surround you, you will live in safety.

Joshua 21:44 The Lord made them secure, in fulfillment of all he had solemnly promised their ancestors. None of their enemies could resist them.

• Salvation from sin’s presence. The future hope and inheritance of believers when they will have rest from their labors on earth, from their enemies, and when they may also have the privilege of reigning with Christ (cf. Heb 2:5-10).

Hebrews 1:13-14 But to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? 14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to serve those who will inherit salvation?

This is the primary focus of Hebrews 3 and 4. Reigning is dependent on faithfulness as members of the household of Christ. To be faithful, however, we must hold fast our confidence in Christ, i.e., resting by faith in the sufficiency of the Savior rather than turning back into some form of legalism

The faith-rest life is a life which encompasses three aspects:

First, it is a life in which the believer rests through faith in the finished work of God in Christ as God’s final word to man.

Second, stemming from this basic confidence in Christ, it is then a life which the believer enters through faith into God’s daily rest, His provision for strength and faithfulness, prayerfully and dependently laboring in the strength which our great High Priest supplies (4:16).

Third, it is a life in which the believer, through faith, anticipates God’s final rest, the rest of His inheritance in the kingdom of God.

In essence then the faith-rest life includes the three phases of God’s salvation—past, present, and future. Works or fruit in the Christian life are to be a result of the faith-rest life.

The “Rests” of Scripture

1 Corinthians 10:6 These things happened as examples for us, so that we will not crave evil things as they did…6:11 Some of you once lived this way. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Based on the use of the word “rest,” “Sabbath,” the analogy of Scripture, and the concept of Old Testament types or examples, the following is a suggested amplification for the various rests of the Bible.

Creation Rest

God rested on the seventh day, after the completion of creation (Gen. 2:1-3). He rested not because He was tired, but because He had finished His work of creation. This points out one of the basic elements of God’s rests, the cessation of labor because the work is done, finished by God. Adam and Eve were able to enjoy this rest of God in a perfect environment. Adam and Eve had a vocation: they were to care for the garden, and were to populate and have dominion over the earth. They were to walk with God in perfect fellowship, and there was no toil nor sweat of the brow as in a cursed earth.

Genesis 2:1-3 The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them. 2 By the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing. 3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.

Sabbath-Keeping Rest

The Sabbath rest was inaugurated for Israel as a special sign for the nation. It stood for:

(1) God’s emancipation of Israel from bondage in Egypt.

Deuteronomy 5:15 Recall that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there by strength and power; therefore, the Lord your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

(2) An ordinance to give rest from labor.

Exodus 23:12 For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, in order that your ox and your donkey may rest and that your female servant’s son and any hired help may refresh themselves.

(3) A sign to the nation that it was the Lord who sanctified them as a people for His own and who supplied their needs.

Exodus 16:23 And he said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a time of cessation, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Whatever you want to bake, bake today; and whatever you want to boil, boil today; and whatever is left put aside for yourselves to be kept until morning.’”

Exodus 31:13-17 “Tell the Israelites, ‘Surely you must keep my Sabbaths, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. 14 So you must keep the Sabbath, for it is holy for you. Everyone who defiles it must surely be put to death; indeed, anyone who does any work on it, then that life will be cut off from among his people. 15 Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; anyone who does work on the seventh day must surely be put to death. 16 And the Israelites must keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between me and the Israelites forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.”

Ezekiel 20:9-12 I acted for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations among whom they lived, before whom I revealed myself by bringing them out of the land of Egypt. 10 So I brought them out of the land of Egypt and led them to the wilderness. 11 I gave them my statutes and revealed my laws to them. The one who obeys them will live by them! 12 I also gave them my Sabbaths as a reminder of our relationship, so that they would know that I, the Lord, make them holy.

This was a sign for Israel that as God had provided creation for man, so He had redeemed them, would provide for them, and would one day provide a new spiritual creation that would also lead to a restoration of all that was lost.

Canaan Rest

Entrance into the land of promise with the promise to defeat Israel’s enemies was also viewed as a rest provided by God.

Deuteronomy 12:10 When you do go across the Jordan River and settle in the land that he is granting you as an inheritance and you find relief from all the enemies who surround you, you will live in safety.

Joshua 21:44 The Lord made them secure, in fulfillment of all he had solemnly promised their ancestors. None of their enemies could resist them.

Psalm 95:11 So I made a vow in my anger,
‘They will never enter into the resting place I had set aside for them.’”

Hebrews 3:11-19 “As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’” 12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes the living God. 13 But exhort one another each day, as long as it is called “Today,” that none of you may become hardened by sin’s deception. 14 For we have become partners with Christ, if in fact we hold our initial confidence firm until the end. 15 As it says, “Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks! Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 16 For which ones heard and rebelled? Was it not all who came out of Egypt under Moses’ leadership? 17 And against whom was God provoked for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear they would never enter into his rest, except those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.

Numbers 14:23 they will by no means see the land that I swore to their fathers, nor will any of them who despised me see it.

By way of an analogy for the Christian, this is a daily rest, a faith rest for the problems of life, a rest amidst pressure and the enemies of God with the promise of a God-provided victory. Even though Joshua took Israel into the land of promise and they experienced a great deal of victory over their enemies, another rest was still anticipated in the Old Testament. This is clear in that the author of Hebrews quotes David from Psalm 95 to show a rest still remains for the people of God in David’s time. If Joshua had given them the final rest, David would not have spoken of another rest (Heb. 4:4-10). Four times the author shows a rest remains today (4:1, 6, 9, 11 quoted above).

Salvation Rest

The salvation rest ultimately anticipates the millennial and eternal rest. The fall of man in sin resulted in the loss of creation’s rest or the loss of dominion. It was wrested from man by Satan who became the god of this world. The promise of Genesis 3:15 anticipated the regaining of this rest through the seed of the woman.

Genesis 3:15 And I will put hostility between you and the woman
and between your offspring and her offspring;
her offspring will attack your head,
and you will attack her offspring’s heel.

The Sabbath rests of the Old Testament, while they had special historical significance to Israel, anticipated the work that God would do through the One who would come. This is the focus of Hebrews 1:4-4:13. God’s Son, the final Word from God, will restore all that was lost by man as the victorious God-man King. This ultimate rest has three aspects:

(1) An Eternal Rest: Salvation from sin’s penalty, the gift of eternal life through faith in Christ.

John 1:12-13 But to all who have received him—those who believe in his name—he has given the right to become God’s children 13 —children not born by human parents or by human desire or a husband’s decision, but by God.

John 3:16 For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 3:24 But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:23 For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast.

This was accomplished by the finished work of God in Christ and is received as a free gift through faith in Christ. Thinking that salvation or God’s blessings could be worked for, Jesus was asked what they might do to work the works of God. Christ answered, “This is the deed God requires—to believe in the one whom he sent.” (John 6:29). Salvation is the work of God in Christ and it can only be received as a gift through faith.

(2) A Daily Rest: Every day is a Canaan type of rest in that we can possess our blessings and have victory over our enemies—the world, the flesh, and the devil. For this to occur, however, we must rest by faith in the sufficiency of God’s complete work and provision for us in Christ. We must know what we have in Christ (Rom. 6:1-7), believe and count on it to be true (Rom. 6:8-11), and present ourselves by faith to the Spirit of God to reproduce the character of Christ in us (Rom. 6:12-14).

Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law so that I may live to God.

Galatians 5:5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness.

Ephesians 5:18 And do not get drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit,

In that this rest constituted a call to discipleship, I believe this is the rest offered by the Savior in Matthew 11:28-30:

28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry.

(3) An Eschatological Rest: This is the millennial rest in which believers, as rewarded saints, will be able to reign with Christ. While heaven is guaranteed for all believers, rewards and reigning with Christ depend on faithfulness in the daily rest, walking by faith as partners with Christ who overcome through the strength of the Savior’s life (cf. also Gal. 5:1-26; Rom. 8:1-17; 1 Cor. 3:12-15; 9:24-27).

Revelation 2:26-27 And to the one who conquers and who continues in my deeds until the end, I will give him authority over the nations—
27 he will rule them with an iron rod
and like clay jars he will break them to pieces,

Revelation 3:21 I will grant the one who conquers permission to sit with me on my throne, just as I too conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

The Danger of Failing to Live the Faith-Rest Life (4:1)

The rest that God offers is still available today (Heb. 4:1, 6, 9). Some might think that Joshua had been given the promised rest, but the author stresses the rest still remains both for the present and the future (cf. vss. 8-9). Therefore, just as Israel failed to enter God’s rest (their inheritance in Canaan) because of an unbelief that led to disobedience through the hardening of the heart, so today there must be a godly fear and diligence (vs. 11) lest we too come short of God’s rest (cf. 3:18-19).

This is the daily rest which gives God’s strength to His people to overcome and the privilege of reigning with Christ as rewarded saints in the Savior’s future kingdom on earth. But why is this such a danger?

The Means and Nature of the Faith-Rest Life (4:2-3, 10)

God’s rest is declared and explained in the promises of His Word—the good news of salvation in Christ—past, present, and future. This good news they (and we) have had preached to us. Those promises, however, must be believed or rested in through faith. We must mix faith with the promises of God.

The recipients of this book were believers who had trusted in Christ for salvation (3:1; 4:3; 10:19-25), but there are three phases of God’s salvation rest. They had entered into the first phase, the rest of God’s salvation from sin’s penalty. Heaven was assured, but not heavenly rewards. There was grave danger of failing to finish their work on earth and therefore of losing rewards because of failing to continue to cling to the Savior through faith.

1 Corinthians 3:12-15 If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 each builder’s work will be plainly seen, for the Day will make it clear, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test what kind of work each has done. 14 If what someone has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If someone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

2 Timothy 4:7-8 I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith! 8 Finally the crown of righteousness is reserved for me. The Lord, the righteous Judge, will award it to me in that day—and not to me only, but also to all who have set their affection on his appearing.

To be rewarded and reign with the Savior in the future rest, there must be faithfulness in phase two of God’s rest—the daily rest of faith in the fullness and sufficiency of Christ (4:16). The daily faith-rest leads to a life of obedience as active partners with the Savior who partake of His saving life through fellowship (3:1, 14). This is phase two, the faith-rest of deliverance from the power of sin, overcoming evil, and the power to do good through faith in the power of God.

Finally, there is phase three, the rest of ultimate salvation which includes special rewards or crowns for faithful service when our work on earth is finished just as God rested when His work of creation was finished (cf. 1 Cor. 3:12-15 quoted above).

1 Corinthians 15:57-58 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! 58 So then, dear brothers and sisters, be firm. Do not be moved! Always be outstanding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

2 Timothy 4:7-8 I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith! 8 Finally the crown of righteousness is reserved for me. The Lord, the righteous Judge, will award it to me in that day—and not to me only, but also to all who have set their affection on his appearing.

These Hebrew Christians were being pressured to return to the Old Testament system of the Law and its legal demands or Judaistic works as a way of life. As in the books of Galatians and Colossians, they were being told they needed something more than Christ. The main issue here is not faith versus works for salvation (the author considered them saved), but a strong confidence in the sufficiency of Christ who is superior to everyone and everything in the Old Testament. Such confidence or rest in Christ should lead to productive works that result in rewards in Messiah’s kingdom because the believer will have finished his course (cf. Heb. 12:1-2; with 2 Tim. 4:7-8).

The History of the Faith-Rest Life (4:4-9)

In verses 4-9 the author explains why the rest still remains today and traces a brief history of the rest of God. Even after Joshua’s time, David spoke of the rest of God in Psalm 95. “Consequently a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God.” (4:9).

The Characteristics of the Faith-Rest Life (4:10-16)

1. It is a life that rests in God’s finished work by faith (v.10)

Entering God’s rest in any phase of His rest means resting from one’s own work just as God did from His. This is an instruction in that it reminds us that all phases of God’s rest can only be entered through faith. This is also, and this is the primary focus here, a reassurance that one day, just as God rested when He completed His work of creation, so we too will enjoy our eternal rest or inheritance when we have completed our task, the race laid out before us (cf. Heb. 12:1-2).

2. It is a life that is diligent to enter God’s rest (v. 11)

Since the rest remains and since we can one day enter our ultimate inheritance of reigning with Christ, we need to be diligent that we might enter that final rest as overcomers when our labor on earth is over. Since, however, faithfulness in the daily rest is a matter of faith in the sufficiency of the Savior who gives help in our time of need (4:16), this is also a call to diligence to enter the daily rest of continued confidence and trust in Christ.

It is important to remember that the disobedience of Israel to which the author again refers in this verse had its source in unbelief, in a failure to mix faith with the promises of God (3:18-19; 4:2). The warning here is not against losing eternal life, but of being disqualified for rewards which will include reigning with Christ.

1 Corinthians 9:27 Instead I subdue my body and make it my slave, so that after preaching to others I myself will not be disqualified.

Revelation 2:26-27 And to the one who conquers and who continues in my deeds until the end, I will give him authority over the nations—
27 he will rule them with an iron rod
and like clay jars he will break them to pieces,

Revelation 3:21 I will grant the one who conquers permission to sit with me on my throne, just as I too conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

3. It is a life that is open to God’s Word (v.12)

Early on in this warning, there was the call to listen and heed the voice of the Spirit of God (3:7, 15) which of course is heard in the Word of God. Failure to listen to God’s penetrating Word, which reveals the inner life with its motives and causes of unbelief, will result in a failure to walk by faith.

The Word of God is itself a protection against a life of unbelief when it is cherished and carefully listened to. Faith comes by carefully hearing and taking heed to the Word of Christ. The Psalmist declared: “In my heart I store up your words, so I might not sin against you.” (Ps. 119:11).

Romans 10:17 Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ.

Not only is God’s Word a power the Spirit uses to keep us from sin, but it is a power He uses to enable us to detect sin because, like a judge and a sword, it is able to penetrate and reveal the condition of the inner life.

4. It is a life that knows we are accountable before God (v. 13)

We must never suppose that the true condition of our inner life is undetected before God. He knows all the details of our lives inwardly and overtly and we must know and live in view of the fact we will all be held accountable for the use of our lives at the judgment seat of Christ. If at this time our lives have been marked by disobedience because of a failure to walk by faith, we will suffer loss of rewards. This undoubtedly includes the loss of our inheritance rest in the sense of reigning with Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done while in the body, whether good or evil.

5. It is a life that is confident in our access to God (vv. 14-15)

We can be confident in our access to God because we are resting in the finished work of Christ and His priestly ministry at God’s right hand (4:14-15). There is every reason to hold firmly to the Savior and walk by faith because He sits as our sympathetic and concerned High Priest at God’s right hand where He acts as our advocate and intercessor. He is one who, though without sin, has been tempted in every way and who can feel for all we are going through.

6. It is a life that goes confidently to the throne of grace (v. 16)

With such a High Priest, we can go boldly (confidently) to the throne of grace to find the mercy and help we need. Here is the assurance that we have access through this sympathetic High Priest to a sovereign God and His gracious and sovereign provision (brought out in the words “throne of grace”) for whatever life might bring. Our need is to daily and dependently rest in and look to our all-sufficient Savior.

One of God’s provisions for prevention against a life of sin is the high priestly ministry of the Savior as our intercessor and advocate in which He prays for us, and where we have the privilege of going to Him for aid. This is beautifully illustrated in a number of ways in the gospels (cf. Mark 6:45-52; Luke 22:31-32; John 17:1ff).

Hindrances to the Faith-Rest Life (Heb. 5:11-6:6)

1. Ignorance

Ignorance of God’s Word and its revelation of God, of man and his true condition in sin, of what He has done for us in the person and work of Christ, of what believers have in Christ, etc., is, of course, fundamentally the greatest hindrance to the faith-rest life.

Both the written Word (the Bible) and the Living Word (Jesus Christ) are God’s revelation to mankind to move people from unbelief and their attempt to live life apart from the true God to faith in God and His plan of salvation as it is found solely in the person and work of Jesus Christ. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17). Jesus, speaking to those who had believed in Him, said, “and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Then, when praying to the Father regarding His disciples and all who would believe in Him, He said, “Set them apart in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17).

The book of Hebrews was written to remove the ignorance of its recipients concerning the superior ministry of the Lord Jesus. It declares Him to be the final revelation of God and the ultimate vehicle of God’s revelation to man. He is far superior to the prophets, to angels, and to Moses in that He is no less than God’s Son and God of very God Himself (Heb. 1:1-14).

The recipients of this letter, and this includes all believers of all ages, needed to rest in the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus as their Savior and get on with the walk of faith and the ministry to which God had called them. Their lack of understanding in the superiority and sufficiency of Christ’s person and work, however, was hindering their walk of faith. People can only walk by faith when they understand and believe they are perfected once-for-all by simple faith in Christ as the all-sufficient Savior.

Hebrews 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.

Hebrews 10:10 By his will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Hebrews 10:14-19 For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy. 15 And the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us, for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws on their hearts and I will inscribe them on their minds,” 17 then he says, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no longer.” 18 Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus,

One of the problems they faced was a doctrinal ignorance that was foundational to a walk of faith. They needed to grow and press on toward maturity and so must we (cf. Heb. 5:12-6:1). Unless we are resting in the sufficiency of Christ, we will turn to some form of dead works or human achievement for spirituality or to meet felt needs.

2. Indifference

Hebrews 5:11-12 On this topic we have much to say and it is difficult to explain, since you have become sluggish in hearing. 12 For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances. You have gone back to needing milk, not solid food.

Coupled with the problem of ignorance was the age-old problem of a spirit of indifference or apathy toward spiritual things (verse 11). Continuing his desire to remove their inadequate understanding, the author of Hebrews was encouraging his readers to a greater confidence of faith in the ministry of the Savior as a priest because of the greatness of His priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. He sensed it was hard to explain, however, because of his readers’ apathy or slowness to learn. As verse 12 indicates, plenty of time had lapsed for them to have moved on to maturity, but their apathy had held them back from growing and grasping the fullness of what they had in Christ.

What causes apathy or a sluggishness toward attentively listening and learning the truth of God’s Word? Spiritual apathy is basically caused by a spirit of self-sufficiency. Here again is the problem of the flesh with man neglecting the grace of God and trying to operate from his own resources apart from faith in God.

Hebrews 12:15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no one be like a bitter root springing up and causing trouble, and through him many become defiled.

Galatians 3:1-5 You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified! 2 The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort? 4 Have you suffered so many things for nothing? —if indeed it was for nothing. 5 Does God then give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law or by your believing what you heard?

This self-sufficient mentality, which results in indifference to God’s truth, manifests itself in many ways: in materialism, in religionism, in legalism, in emotionalism, in the occult, or in any of the substitutes by which man seeks to achieve happiness, security, or acceptance with God apart from faith in God’s plan as it is revealed in the Bible. Dependence on human works or achievement whether religious, ritualistic, or altruism is one of the most prominent ways.

Analogies to Warn
Us Against Independent Living

We have mentioned these previously, but because this is such a constant problem, let’s review them.

(1) We tend to turn to the influences or substitutes of the world for our needs, rather than to the Lord.

Isaiah 2:6-15 Indeed, O Lord, you have abandoned your people,
the descendants of Jacob.
For diviners from the east are everywhere;
they consult omen readers like the Philistines do.
Plenty of foreigners are around.
7 Their land is full of gold and silver;
there is no end to their wealth.
Their land is full of horses;
there is no end to their chariots.
8 Their land is full of worthless idols;
they worship the product of their own hands,
what their own fingers have fashioned.
9 Men bow down to them in homage,
they lie flat on the ground in worship.
Don’t spare them!
10 Go up into the rocky cliffs,
hide in the ground.
Get away from the dreadful judgment of the Lord,
from his royal splendor.
11 Proud men will be brought low,
arrogant men will be humiliated;
the Lord alone will be exalted
in that day.
12 Indeed, the Lord who leads armies has planned a day of judgment,
for all the high and mighty,
for all who are proud—they will be humiliated;
13 for all the cedars of Lebanon,
that are so high and mighty,
for all the oaks of Bashan;
14 for all the tall mountains,
for all the high hills,
15 for every high tower,
for every fortified wall,

(2) We tend to walk by our own firebrands by which we seek to find our own way.

Isaiah 50:10-11 Who among you fears the Lord?
Who obeys his servant?
Whoever walks in deep darkness,
without light,
should trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on his God.
11 Look, all of you who start a fire
and who equip yourselves with flaming arrows,
walk in the light of the fire you started
and among the flaming arrows you ignited!
This is what you will receive from me:
you will lie down in a place of pain.

(3) Like sheep, we tend to wander, go astray by turning to our own way.

Isaiah 53:6 All of us had wandered off like sheep;
each of us had strayed off on his own path,
but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him.

(4) We tend to build our own cisterns to quench our thirst, but these are always broken cisterns that actually hold no water and they constitute forsaking the Lord, i.e., independent living.

Jeremiah 2:13 “Do so because my people have committed a double wrong:
they have left me,
the fountain of life-giving water,
and they have dug cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water.”

(5) We tend to lean on the arm of the flesh, here defined as trusting in man rather than on the mighty power and provision of God (Jer. 17:5).

Self-Protective Strategies of Human Independence

These include unconscious human strategies people use for avoiding pain and gratifying personal desires such as:

• Retaliation, revenge tactics
• Withdrawal, hiding, running away, avoidance
• Activity—overwork, busyness
• Overly talkative, dominating conversations
• Denial, projection
• Narcotization—drugs, alcohol
• Striving for recognition, power, money, position, etc. for security or significance
• Blaming others or conditions
• Compensation—covering up undesirable traits by focusing on desirable ones

Conclusion

So what’s the need? Psalm 51:16-17 gives us the answer.

Certainly you do not want a sacrifice, or else I would offer it;
you do not desire a burnt sacrifice.
17 The “sacrifices” God desires are a humble attitude—
O God, a humble and repentant heart you will not reject.

The need is brokenness. Brokenness occurs when we come to the end of ourselves so that we experience, recognize, and confess the futility of our own strategies by which we have attempted to live life apart from faith in God’s full provision for us in Christ.

What does God do regarding our self-sufficiency? He works in the lives of believers as a Father who disciplines (Heb. 12:5-15) and as the Vinedresser who prunes the branches to make them more productive (John 15:1-7). He does this to bring us to the point where we will stop struggling to handle life apart from the faith-rest life, i.e., apart from faith in the person, promises, principles, purposes, and plan of God for every area of life. In this regard note the comments of the Psalmist in Psalm 119 regarding affliction.

• Verse 67: I used to suffer because I would stray off, but now I keep your instructions.
• Verse 71: It is good for me to suffer, so that I might learn your statutes!
• Verse 75: I know, LORD, that your regulations are just. You disciplined me because of your faithful devotion to me.

The Psalmist clearly saw the affliction of his life as the tool of a loving and faithful God to remove his self-sufficiency, to draw him back to God, and please note, to rekindle his hunger for and trust in God’s Word which the Spirit of God uses to reveal our sin and to keep us from sin.

Psalm 119:11 In my heart I store up your words,
so I might not sin against you.

James 1:2-4 My brothers and sisters, consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything.

1 Peter 1:6-9 This brings you great joy, although you may have to suffer for a short time in various trials. 7 Such trials show the proven character of your faith, which is much more valuable than gold—gold that is tested by fire, even though it is passing away—and will bring praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 You have not seen him, but you love him. You do not see him now but you believe in him, and so you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, 9 because you are attaining the goal of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 4:12-13 Dear friends, do not be astonished that a trial by fire is occurring among you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice in the degree that you have shared in the sufferings of Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may also rejoice and be glad.

Carefully read Psalm 119, but as you do, note that, with the exception of verses 1-3 and 115, the entire Psalm is addressed to the Lord in praise, petition, and confession. In this Psalm, the Psalmist praises God for the power and greatness of His Word. He refers to God’s Word in every verse except verses 90, 122, 132, and to show the nature and its dynamics, he uses ten different terms for it. He also prays for deliverance and strength according to the principles and promises of God’s Word, but chiefly he is acknowledging his own insufficiency to handle his sin and life in general apart from God and His Word.

A Proper Response

Dear Heavenly Father, I confess my total insufficiency to handle life apart from you; You alone are sufficient. I confess that I have been trusting in my own strength and struggling to live my life through my own strategies for security, significance, and happiness. I admit I have been trying to get my needs met through (replace the following with what applies to you) controlling people and circumstances, through seeking praise or recognition from people, through my achievements, through possessions, through pleasure, etc. I ask you to revive and strengthen me according to the promises of your Word and the new life I have in Christ. Help me, by your grace, to walk in the power of your life through the Holy Spirit. Give me the grace to replace my self-dependence with a deep dependence on Christ.

³² Charles C. Ryrie, Balancing the Christian Life, Moody Press, Chicago, 1969, p. 183.

³³ Ibid.

³⁴Ibid., p. 189.

³⁵William D. Lawrence, Dallas Seminary notes, 1993, p. 13-15.

³⁶ Lewis Sperry Chafer, “The Believer’s Responsibility,” transcription of a class lecture, Dallas Theological Seminary, pp. 1, 5.

³⁷ Lawrence, pp. 13-6-7.

³⁸ G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1937, p. 361.

Multiplying the Life Through Our Spiritual Gifts

Introduction

For years, the body of Christ, the church, has been hampered by a clergy mentality that makes a strong distinction between the professional clergy and the lay person. This clergy or minister mentality fails to see and function under the New Testament truth that every believer is a ministering priest who is to be ministering for the common good of the body of Christ according to the gifts God has given him.

I have had the privilege of pastoring several independent Bible teaching churches over a period of 28 years. While some of the people attending these churches were new converts, many came from different denominational backgrounds and naturally possessed the typical view of the local church and its pastor. On a few occasions, I had people introduce me to their friends as their “minister.” In other words, they saw me as “the Minister” or “the Pastor” who was there as the paid professional to preach, teach, counsel, visit, and keep the administrative wheels running smoothly.

As the chapters that follow will seek to show, believers individually and the church as a whole exist to be good stewards of the truth of God in evangelism and discipleship through the exercise of the gifted members of the body of Christ. We exist for the mission of penetrating the world and building believers so that they become healthy ministering saints. And while other factors hurt this mission, certainly one very large contributing factor is the “clergy/layman, retailer/consumer” mentality that is so prevalent in our society. The idea of becoming a mission-oriented church with every believer a minister scares people. They are much more comfortable with the concept of paying others to do the work of ministry for them. But the New Testament teaches us that church leaders are to be like coaches who should be training others for the work of ministry according to the spiritual gifts of each believer.

Ephesians 4:11-16 It was he who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God—a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ’s full stature. 14 So we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. 15 But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head. 16 From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together through every supporting ligament. As each one does its part, the body grows in love.

This clergy/layman mentality has produced a crisis in the church today that is having serious consequences on the spiritual health of the body of Christ. Concerning this condition Hull writes:

The evangelical church has become weak, flabby, and too dependent on artificial means that can only simulate real spiritual power. Churches are too little like training centers to shape up the saints and too much like cardiopulmonary wards at the local hospital. We have proliferated self-indulgent consumer religion, the what-can-the-church-do-for-me-syndrome. We are too easily satisfied with conventional success: bodies, bucks, and buildings.¹²³

Hull continues:

What obvious truth causes the saints to squirm? Simply this: the church exists for mission. The church lives by mission as fire exists by oxygen. The church does not exist for itself. This collides head-on with the self-indulgent ego-driven psycho-babble mentality that dominates evangelicalism. Look at the best-selling Christian books, listen to the television evangelist, talk to the average parishioner; the common thread is preoccupation with felt needs … the preoccupation and prioritizing of felt needs over Christ-commanded activity must stop.¹²⁴

There are two purposes for this chapter: (a) to demonstrate from Scripture that every Christian, as a member of the body of Christ, is a believer priest whom God has gifted for the purpose of ministry, and (b) to encourage the discovery and exercise of one’s spiritual gifts for ministry to the church and in the world. Only then will we become good stewards of God’s grace since recognizing and using our gifts is a very important part of being good stewards of all that God has entrusted to us.

The Apostle Peter challenges us with our mission as God’s people in 1 Peter 2:9 which says:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

But vital to our ability to proclaim the excellencies of God is Peter’s word to us in 1 Peter 4:10-11.

Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of the varied grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, let it be with God’s words. Whoever serves, do so with the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God will be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

For reasons of time and space, and in keeping with the purposes just mentioned, this study will not attempt to discuss, at least in detail, some of the more difficult subjects of spiritual gifts as: Are all the gifts listed in the New Testament in operation today such as the miraculous gifts of miracles and healings, or tongues and interpretation of tongues, etc. (the cessationist versus the non-cessationist issue)? Are the gifts listed in the New Testament just illustrative of the kinds of gifts God has given, or, when combined together, do they give us an exhaustive list of the gifts God has given to the body of Christ? Though the cessationist issue will be briefly mentioned, a detailed discussion of these issues is beyond the scope of this study. The goal here is to awaken believers to who they are in Christ (gifted servant/priests) and to encourage them to become functional for the Master as His ambassadors in a hurting and fallen world.

Key Passages on Spiritual Gifts

Romans 12:3-8 For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think with sober discernment, as God has distributed to each of you a measure of faith. 4 For just as in one body we have many members, and not all the members serve the same function, 5 so we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually we are members who belong to one another. 6 And we have different gifts according to the grace given to us. If the gift is prophecy, that individual must use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is service, he must serve; if it is teaching, he must teach; 8 if it is exhortation, he must exhort; if it is contributing, he must do so with sincerity; if it is leadership, he must do so with diligence; if it is showing mercy, he must do so with cheerfulness.

Ephesians 2:19-22 So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, 20 because you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

1 Peter 4:10-11 Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of the varied grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, let it be with God’s words. Whoever serves, do so with the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God will be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

1 Timothy 4:14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift you have, given to you and confirmed by prophetic words when the elders laid hands on you.

2 Timothy 1:6 Because of this I remind you to rekindle God’s gift that you possess through the laying on of my hands.

Stewardship Principles From Scripture

1 Peter 4:10-11

Verse 10. Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of the varied grace of God.

(1) The word “gift” is the Greek word, carisma, which means “a gift of grace, a free gift.” It is especially used of special spiritual abilities given by the Spirit for God to enable Christians to serve the body of Christ. They are grace gifts sovereignly given by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:4, 11, 18). A friend of mine put it like this: “ Spiritual gifts are those endowments of power which enable us to carry out the vital functions of our body life in Christ as members of His body. These endowments are a supernatural enablement so that supernatural results are produced.”¹²⁵

(2) All believers have at least one spiritual gift. There can be no fudging here. Regardless of what you may think, God’s Word teaches us that every Christian has a spiritual gift. The same truth is expressed by Paul in Romans 12:6 and 1 Corinthians 12:7. At the point of salvation, when we believe in Jesus Christ as Savior, we become members of the body of Christ by the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit who places us into union with Christ. According to the analogy portrayed in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, each believer becomes a gifted member, like an arm, or a foot, or an eye with ability and a function to perform. This is a matter of grace and the sovereign work and choice of the Spirit, never our merit or works (1 Cor. 12:4, 11, 18).

(3) Our gifts are to be viewed as a stewardship for which we are responsible as “good (Greek: kalos, noble, praiseworthy, useful) stewards.” The word “steward” is the Greek oikonomos, “a manager or servant of a household.” The management activity usually involved financial transactions requiring a careful accounting of funds received and disbursed. The concept of responsibility then extended to non-financial matters. So a steward is not an owner. Instead, he is a manager of what belongs to another and is held responsible to carefully account for his stewardship.

The parable of the faithful and sensible steward in Luke 12:41-48 illustrates the issues involved here. The steward of this passage was responsible to see that all the other servants were properly fed, but his performance was subject to review by his master with the possibilities of reward or loss based on his faithfulness. In verse 48, the word “entrusted” is used in connection with the concept of stewardship. This is the Greek paratiqhmi, that, in this context, carries the idea of what is entrusted to the care, protection, and/or investment by another.

(4) Peter also teaches us gifts are given for “serving one another.” They are for the common good of the body of Christ as an expression of love (1 Cor. 13) and never for personal gain or selfish agendas (1 Cor. 12-14). The Apostle Paul defines the common good by such things as edification (building up the body of Christ), exhortation, consolation, and instruction, attaining unto a mature man in Christ, etc. (1 Cor. 12:7; 14:3-5, 17, 19, 26, 31; Ephesians 4:11-16).

Verse 11. Whoever speaks, let it be with God’s words. Whoever serves, do so with the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God will be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

(5) While all gifts are designed to serve others (vs. 10), the Apostle Peter classifies the gifts into two basic categories, (a) speaking (teaching, exhortation, etc.) and (b) serving (showing mercy, helps, administrations, giving, etc.) (vs. 11). But the emphasis here is not so much on the nature of the gift, but on that which should govern the use of the gift.

(6) For those who speak, that which should characterize what is spoken is the Word of God rather than their own viewpoint. Man’s tendency, of course, is to espouse his own ideas in accord with his personal agendas or bias, even when claiming to be teaching the Bible. Many times teachers use the Bible to lend authority to what they are teaching. And too often the Bible is misused through very poor exegesis, which means a careful explaining of the text based on context, grammar, contextual meaning of words, historical/cultural background, etc. The result of such a failure is eisegesis in which the person reads into the text their own ideas. James warns that being a teacher of God’s people is very serious business because of the responsibilities involved (Jam. 3:1). So God requires us to be dedicated students who handle the Word of God carefully so that our teaching is truly based on God’s truth and not our own ideas.

2 Timothy 2:15 Make every effort to present yourself before God as a proven worker who does not need to be ashamed, teaching the message of truth accurately.

(7) For those who serve in other ways, Peter teaches that they must do so by the strength which God richly supplies rather than in their own strength (see 1 Cor. 15:10; Col. 1:29). All stewards need to be serving out of the source and sphere of fellowship with God and dependence on Him (John 15).

(8) With the words, “to whom belongs the glory and dominion, …” Peter reminds us that no matter what is done, the purpose or ultimate goal is God’s glory and dominion (rule) through the Lord Jesus. This forms a fundamental principle and a warning that should guide the whole of the Christian’s life and ministry as a steward of the various aspects of God’s grace. Due to our innate self-centered tendencies, it is far too easy to serve from selfish agendas—to be accepted by others, or for praise, position, or prestige. This was one of the problems that Paul addressed with the church at Corinth. Some of the Corinthians were using their gifts, especially the more spectacular or showy gifts like tongues, for personal gain. Paul said, “The one who speaks in a tongue builds himself up, …” (1 Cor. 14:4a). In other words, they were using this gift for selfish purposes. Though the one who speaks in a tongue does not understand what he is saying (vs. 14), he is still edified personally by the emotion and satisfaction of the experience. Clearly, his primary motive is not according to the excellent way of love for others (1 Cor. 12:31b-13:13; 14:4b, 12) and, therefore, it cannot truly be designed to glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31).

1 Corinthians 4:1-3

In verses 1-2, Paul teaches us three principles that are tremendously important to the exercise of spiritual gifts as stewards of God. The principles apply to how we should view others and the exercise of their gifts, and how we should think of ourselves in the exercise of our own gifts. Typically, people tend to focus on the style and personality of others in their ministries and in the use of their gifts, especially in connection with pastors and expositors of the Word. As 1 Samuel 16:7 teaches us, people are impressed by things like human charisma, dynamic personalities, physical looks, voice, intellectual prowess, and oratorical skill. God, on the other hand, sees the heart and shows no such partiality (Acts 10:34; Rom. 2:11; Gal. 2:6; Eph. 6:9). He looks for something far different in a steward; He looks for faithfulness that stems from a heart of love and devotion to Him (cf. Rev. 2:1-5 with 1 Thess. 1:3). The Thessalonians also had works, labor, and endurance, but it was the product of faith, love, and hope which focuses our attention on the inner life as the real resource of the good works of the Thessalonian believers. So what are these principles?

(1) “Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God” (verse 1).

Rather than idolizing others, putting them on a pedestal, or comparing people with people based on human standards of measurement (cf. vss. 6-7; 2 Cor. 10:7-12), we are to see other believers (including ourselves of course) as simply instruments, servants, and stewards of God’s grace. (Note and see the preceding context of 1 Cor. 3:5-9 as the background to 4:1-2.)

“One should think about us this way …” is a direct imperative, a command. It clearly states how God demands that we regard our teachers or others in the use of the stewardship of their gifts. Paul used the third person perhaps to make it more general (it should not be viewed as a permissive imperative), but what he said here is a command and is equivalent to, “You regard us in this manner.”

“Think” is the Greek logizomai which means “to calculate, reckon,” and then “to evaluate, estimate, look upon, put in a class as.” It is used in the Greek Septuagint in Isaiah 53:12 in the sense of “he was classed among the criminals.” How then are we to view people in the use of their gifts?

We are to view them “as servants.” This is the Greek $uphreths. Originally it referred to one who was “an under rower on the lower tier of a ship.” It then came to be used of a servant or an assistant who serves a master or superior. It carries the idea of subordination and stresses the servant’s relation to the Lord and to others as a servant, not a superior. We are to view one another as servants under the authority of Christ.

“Stewards” is oijkonomo" and, as seen previously, focuses on the fact that none of us are owners, but servants who have been entrusted with great responsibility and accountability. The Apostle Paul was responsible to dispense the Word of God to other servants. Any positive and godly results that come from a person’s ministry is always the result of God who “causes the growth” or gives the increase (1 Cor. 3:6).

(2) “Now what is sought in stewards is that one be found faithful.” (verse 2).

This verse points us to the second principle. What God requires, and so what we are to look for in ourselves and in the stewardship of others, is a faithfulness that flows from a heart that is right with the Lord.

“What, then, are we to look for and require in ourselves and in others? Dynamic, scintillating personalities? NO! We should look for those who are “trustworthy.” “Trustworthy” is the Greek pistos, “reliable, faithful, dependable, inspiring faith, trust.”

What is needed for a man or woman to be faithful? The key to this question is found in the two parts of our word “faith-ful.” A faithful person is one who is full of faith. At the same time, such a person inspires faith and faithfulness in others. Pistos is used of God and of the truth of Scripture, both of which inspire faith.

(3) “So for me, it is a minor matter that I am judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.” (verse 3).

In this verse, Paul shows us another important principle and one that is certainly related to understanding and trusting in the principles of verses 1-2. The only opinion that really matters is God’s, and since I am His servant and what He wants from me is a faithfulness that stems from loving Him, I must not derive my sense of significance and confidence from the opinions of people. In the context of 1 and 2 Corinthians Paul deals with human opinions or judgments, those based on human standards where the focus is on the outer man, the kind mentioned above (again, cf. 1 Sam. 16:7 and 1 Cor. 4:6-7; 2 Cor. 10:10). Certainly there is a place for proper assessment from the right people when discerning our gift and its development. And we should also be open to loving rebuke when we are walking contrary to the Word. But we must guard against putting too much stock in the praise or criticism of others. We simply must not look to the opinions of people for our sense of significance whether negative or positive. A good friend whom we trust that will honestly level with us is different. Their input can be a means of positive growth and change.

Since gifts are the products of God’s grace, they should never become a matter for boasting in self or in others nor in self-depreciation because of the lack of a gift that another Christian has. This is true even when one diligently uses his or her gift(s) because in the final analysis, it is God who works in us both to will and to do (Phil. 2:13), and who both gave and prospers the use of our gifts (Rom. 12:3; 1 Cor. 12:4-6; 15:10).

Romans 12:3-8

The Context and Root for the Exercise of Spiritual Gifts (12:1-2)

The first 11 chapters of Romans are doctrinal and lay the biblical foundation for the Christian life. With chapter 12, Paul moves to the practical application and results that should follow for the Christian in his day-to-day life in a world that is very much opposed to the plan of God. The key idea or focus of this practical section is on relationships. Ours is a world of relationships and it is vital that we learn how God wants us to live in those relationships. So the Apostle discusses six relationships that are vital to our ability to live in the world as the people of God:

• In relation to God (12:1-2)
• In relation to the church (12:3-16)
• In relation to society (12:17-21)
• In relation to the state (13:1-7)
• In relation to the future (13:8-14)
• In relation to Christians when they disagree (14:1-15:13)

The most important and foundational relationship of all is a person’s relationship to God. If that is wrong all our relationships will be wrong whether in the home, in the church, or in society. In all of this there are really only two main relationships. One is with God and the other is with people. The Savior taught us that the Law (or the Word of God) can be boiled down into two great commands: to love God with all your heart, and then, out of that relationship, to love one’s neighbor (Matt. 22:34f; Mark 12:29-31).

Here in Romans, the Apostle teaches us the same truth. Romans 12:1-2 is a call for the consecration or presentation of the believer’s life to God as a reasonable act of worship that should flow out of the awesome mercies of God described in the preceding chapters. It is in essence the launching pad for the believer into the service of God in all the other relationships of life.

This service must first and foremost be to God, expressed through service to others. Our service of worship should be the logical outflow of God’s Word and His work in our lives. It is a reasoned worship, not at all like the frenzied, sensual, self-indulgent worship of the heathen. To practice this kind of worship, we must cease being shaped by the world around us, and have our minds renewed and transformed so that we look at all things from a divine perspective.

The verses which follow spell out the exercise of this renewed mind in greater detail. Paul outlines in verses 3-8 the Christian way of thinking concerning spiritual gifts.¹²⁶

Paul, an Illustration of Spiritual Gifts at Work (12:3a)

“For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you…” Here Paul shows us that even his teaching about spiritual gifts that follows is the product of his own spiritual gift, “the grace given to me” (cf. 1:5). Whatever our ability and function in the body of Christ, it is the product of gift(s) given to us by God. Note also that the exercise of his gift here was done through a letter written from afar. This illustrates how God can use our gifts in various ways from all over the world through the medium of letters, books, magazines, radio, TV, computers, and now the Internet.

The Call for Sound Personal Evaluation (12:3b)

“To every one of you.” This serves to emphasize the universal meaning and application of the whole issue of spiritual gifts. Again, no believer is exempt from the need to know and apply this truth.

“Not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think with sober discernment.” The NIV has, “think of yourself with sober judgment.” Sound or sober judgment is swfronew, “to be of sound mind, be reasonable, sensible.” It is used of the demoniac who, after the demons had been cast out by the Savior, was described as “clothed and in his right mind” (Mark 5:15).

So there is a call here for each believer to know what his spiritual gifts are, and, based on that knowledge and conviction (i.e., “faith”), seek to know what ministry or ministries God wants him to have in the body of Christ. This conviction begins with a sound evaluation of our spiritual abilities with the result that we arrive at a well-balanced evaluation of our gifts. But contrary to the focus in our society today on self-esteem, the warning here is against arrogance or thinking too highly. So, there is in this a call to think soundly, sensibly. The standard for how we think is “as God has allotted to each a measure of faith,” or as the NIV translates it, “in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” But what is “the measure of faith” God has given or allotted?

“Allotted” is merizw, “to deal out, assign, divide, apportion.” That which God gives or apportions is called, “a measure of faith.” But what is the measure of faith? “Measure” is the Greek metron which may be used of the instrument of measure, or, as here, the result of what is measured out, the quantity and quality of what is given. In this context, it refers to spiritual gifts, the spiritual endowment of power given by God to each believer to minister to others.

“Of faith” points us to the source or the channel. Either it is looking at the fact that God gives spiritual gifts to those who exercise faith in Christ, or it refers to faith that must be exercised to grasp the nature of one’s gift as given by God, and then to exercise it in ministry. Both concepts, of course, are true.

A great amount of hurt occurs to the body of Christ when believers overrate their own gifts or those of others (1 Cor. 3), or undervalue their gifts or the gifts of others (1 Cor. 12). Wiersbe writes:

It is not wrong for a Christian to recognize gifts in his own life and in the lives of others. What is wrong is the tendency to have a false evaluation of ourselves. Nothing causes more damage in a local church than a believer who overrates himself and tries to perform a ministry that he cannot do.¹²⁷ (Sometimes the opposite is true, and people undervalue themselves. Both attitudes are wrong.)

The Call for Faithful Cooperation (12:4-8)

(1) The Analogy of the Body (12:4-5). Using the analogy of the human body, Paul describes the relationship all believers have as gifted members of the body of Christ, the church. In forming the body of Christ, the Holy Spirit has created a unity in diversity just as with the human body. Though we are one body in Christ, we are many members and each believer is a vital part of His body and has a special spiritual function to perform. This analogy is explained in more detail in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. Verse 5 stresses three important elements: unity (we are one body), diversity of functions (individually members), and mutuality and dependency with each member belonging to all the others (one of another).

(2) The Responsibility (12:6-8). As with the human body, the nature of this spiritual body demands that each member exercise his gift(s) unselfishly for the health and growth of the body (see 1 Cor. 12:12-31). Seven gifts are listed, but this is, of course, not exhaustive (see also 1 Cor. 12:8-10, 28-31, and Eph. 4:11).

A brief description of these and the gifts listed in other passages will be given below. For now, the purpose in focusing on the particular passage discussed above is twofold:

First, as part of the process of being transformed by the truth of the Word and commitment of life to Christ (Rom. 12:1-2), we want to help believers grasp who they are in Christ—gifted ministers. As mentioned earlier, God has not called us to be spectators or those who sit, soak, and sour and pay others to minister to us. Rather, He wants us to sit, soak, and then, out of the transforming power of God’s truth, to serve.

The second objective is simply motivation. Understanding our giftedness as members of the body of Christ should help to motivate us to discover our gifts and get involved in ministry.

Definition of Spiritual Gifts¹²⁸

Positively (What It Is)

Basic Definition and Explanation

The primary Greek word used in the New Testament for spiritual gifts is carisma, “a gift of grace, a free gift.” It is related to caris which means “grace.” Gifts are never merited or earned.

(1) Gifts are a special grace-given ability (nature or essence)

(2) Gifts are given by the Holy Spirit (a divine endowment) (source)

(3) Gifts are given to each believer in Christ (recipients)

(4) Gifts are for service to the body of Christ that it may grow quantitatively (evangelism), qualitatively (edification), and organically (developed ministries and offices in the church) (immediate purpose)

(5) Gifts are for the glory of God (ultimate purpose)

Spiritual gifts are God’s special gifts given to believers to enable them for special service to the body of Christ and in the world. When related to the gift of ministry or service or helps, it may include natural talents received at birth.

Synonyms for Spiritual Gifts

(1) “Gifts” (1 Cor. 1:7; 12:4; 1 Pet. 4:10). Greek word is carisma.

(2) “Grace” (Acts 4:33; Romans 12:3; 2 Cor. 8:7). Greek word is caris.

(3) “A measure of faith” (Rom. 12:3)

(4) “Manifestation of the Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:7)

Negatively (What It Is Not)

(1) It is not an office in the local church like elder or deacon. Certain gifts are needed to function effectively in those offices, but an office and a gift are not the same thing.

(2) It is not a particular geographical area or a place of service. It is the ability to serve, not the place where one serves. A teacher may teach in Sunday School, in a seminary, in a home Bible study or as a missionary in any part of the world.

(3) A spiritual gift is not a particular age group. A person may feel more at home teaching children than adults, or vice versa. But if one really has the gift of teaching, he can learn to adapt to a variety of age groups, though God may very well give him a burden for a certain age group.

(4) A spiritual gift is not a particular specialty or method of ministry. The gift of teaching may be used through radio or through writing or through the classroom, etc.

(5) It is not a certain personality type (vivacious, scintillating, dynamic, etc. (cf. 1 Cor. 2:1-5 with 2 Cor. 10:10).

Distribution of Gifts

Gifts Are Distributed by the Holy Spirit

According to 1 Corinthians 12:4 and 11, the distribution of spiritual gifts is the product of the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:4 and 11 Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit…11 It is one and the same Spirit, distributing as he decides to each person, who produces all these things.

The Holy Spirit, then, is the primary agent in the giving of gifts. While the Lord as the head of the body directs the distribution of the gifted people and their ministries, and the Father brings about a variety of effects (1 Cor. 12:5-6), the gifts themselves are given only by the Spirit.

Gifts Are Distributed to Every Believer

As illustrated in life and as stated by Scripture, no one person has all the spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12:29-30), but every Christian has at least one spiritual gift (1 Pet. 4:10). This helps us to see why it is so important for all believers to know what their gifts are and use them. No one is to be a one man show. No believer can even begin to do all that is needed. The need is for leaders to train, motivate, and delegate ministry to others in the church according to their giftedness and God’s leading.

Gifts Are Distributed on the Basis of Grace

(1) Gifts are not distributed on the basis of spiritual maturity. The church at Corinth was a carnal church yet they appeared to have an abundance of gifts (1 Cor. 3:1-4, 7).

(2) Gifts are not distributed on the basis of education. Compare the disciples (Acts 4:13; 2:6-8).

(3) It also appears spiritual gifts are not distributed on the basis of desire or prayer because they are evidently given by the sovereign will of the Spirit when He places believers into the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:11-13).

Scripture asserts all believers have a gift. If gifts were not given at salvation, then there would be a time when that assertion would not be true. Sometimes 1 Corinthians 12:31 is used to teach believers should pray and seek spiritual gifts, but this verse was addressing the need for the church at Corinth to promote or manifest zeal for those gifts which edify rather than the showy gifts.

First Timothy 4:14 and 2 Timothy 1:6 in all probability “refers to what had happened at Lystra on Paul’s second missionary journey. It was then that Timothy, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, had been amply endowed with this gift. Of this and of the character of his task he had been made aware through (dia) prophetic utterance of inspired bystanders.”¹²⁹ The prophetic utterance declared the fact to Timothy and all those around and the body of elders present with Paul acknowledged it by the laying on of hands.

The Distribution of Some Gifts Were Limited as to Time

While this is a tremendously debated issue, the evidence of both Scripture and history support the view that the Spirit has not given all the gifts to every generation. Certain gifts of the Spirit were employed in the earliest stage of the church to authenticate the message of the apostles and prophets, and to lay the foundation for the church. Ryrie writes:

There were foundation gifts of apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:20), which gifts do not appear in the periods of building the superstructure of the church. Those who were contemporary with Christ experienced certain miraculous gifts of the Spirit which were not experienced by the generation which followed Him (Heb. 2:3-4).¹³⁰

Sometimes it is argued that Hebrews 2:3-4 teaches the miraculous gifts mentioned in verse 4 are continuing today because the present participle, “confirmed,” shows these gifts to be continuing. But this is a genitive absolute which functions adverbially and it is dependent on the main verb of the sentence to which it belongs. Those advocating the continuation of these miraculous gifts try to connect it to the future verb of verse 3, “how will we escape.” They would translate, “how will we escape while or since God is continuing to testify …” or something similar to this.

But the closest and the most natural verb to connect this participle to is the word “confirmed” of verse 3. “Confirmed” is an aorist indicative active which most naturally refers to a past historical fact. The participle, then, points to the means of confirmation, “by signs …” But the question is to whom? It was “to us (the writer and those of his generation) by those who heard (the apostles who walked with the Lord), God also testifying with them (i.e., those who heard).” In an article published for The Biblical Studies Foundation’s Web page (www.bible.org), Dan Wallace gives a very in-depth grammatical explanation of this passage and then summarizes his conclusions as follows:

All in all, Hebrews 2:3-4 seems to involve some solid inferences that the sign gifts had for the most part ceased.¹³¹ Further, it offers equally inferential evidence of the purpose of the sign gifts: to confirm that God was doing something new. The whole argument of Hebrews rests on this assumption: there is a new and final revelation in Jesus Christ (cf. 1:1-2). He is the one to whom the whole OT points; he is the one who is superior to the Aaronic priesthood, to prophets, and to angels. He is indeed God in the flesh. Is it not remarkable that in this exquisitely argued epistle, the argument turns on Scripture over against experience? The strongest appeal the author makes to the audience’s experience is to what they were witnesses to in the past. If the sign gifts continued, shouldn’t we expect this author (like Paul in Gal 3:5) to have employed such an argument?

I do not pretend to think that this sole text solves the problem of the duration of the sign gifts. But whatever one’s views of such gifts, this passage needs to be wrestled with.¹³²

Development of Gifts

Gifts are to be discovered, developed, and used through faith, hard work, and prayer (Rom. 12:3; Col. 1:29-2:2; 1 Cor. 15:10).

Although the Spirit is the source of spiritual gifts, the believer may have a part in the development of his gifts. He may be ambitious in relation to his own gifts to see that they are properly developed and that he is doing all he can for the Lord (1 Cor. 12:31). To covet the better gifts is not a matter of sitting down and conjuring up enough faith to be able to receive them out of the blue. It is a matter of diligent self-preparation. For instance, if one covets the gift of teaching, he will undoubtedly have to spend many years developing that gift. The Holy Spirit is sovereign in the giving of gifts, but in the development of them He works through human beings with their desires, limitations, ambitions, …¹³³

Description of the Gifts

Division and Classification

Note that in the following chart, the Word of Wisdom and Word of Knowledge could be synonyms for the gifts for apostleship and teaching.

Romans 12:6-8	Ephesians 4:11	1 Peter 4:11
Prophesying Ministering Teaching Exhorting Giving Ruling Showing mercy	Apostleship Prophesying Evangelizing Pastor-teachers or Pastors and teachers	Speaking Serving or support

1 Corinthians 12:6-10	1 Corinthians 12:28	1 Corinthians 12:29-30
Word of wisdom Word of knowledge Faith Healing Miracles Prophesying Discerning of spirits Interpretation of tongues	Apostleship Prophesying Teaching Miracles Healing Helping Administrations Tongues	Apostleship Prophesying Teaching Miracles Healing Tongues Interpretation of tongues

As mentioned previously, some believe that these lists are only illustrative of the gifts God gives to the church since the lists vary and are only partial when compared together. However, the New Testament is a unit of God’s revelation to us and together they give us a complete list of the spiritual gifts given to the church. In addition to these, however, there are many natural and developed talents that people have and can use in the exercise of these spiritual gifts. For instance, some teachers are also gifted artists and are able to enhance their gift of teaching through their artistic ability. I have also known artists who were gifted at teaching, and they were able to lend support (helps) to teachers in creating neat overheads in a class presentation.

Classification According to Function and Use in the New Testament

Definition and Explanation of the Gifts¹³⁴

A. Apostleship (Eph. 4:11; 1 Cor. 12:28)

Apostleship can have both a general and a limited meaning. In a general sense the word means one who is sent, or a messenger. The Latin equivalent is the word missionary. In a general sense every Christian is a missionary or an apostle, because he has been sent into this world for a testimony. Epaphroditus is an illustration, for the word “apostle” is used to describe him (“and your messenger,” Phil. 2:25). However, in the specialized sense of the gift of apostleship it refers to the Twelve (and perhaps a few others like Paul and Barnabas, Acts 14:14). They were the leaders who laid the foundation of the church and they were accredited by special signs (Eph. 2:20). Since this was a gift that belonged to the earliest period of the history of the church when her foundation was being laid, the need for the gift has ceased and apparently the giving of it has too. “And are built upon the foundation of the apostle and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone” (Eph. 2:20).

B. Prophecy (Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:10; 14:1-40; Eph. 4:11)

This word also is used in both a general and a limited sense. In a general sense it means to preach; thus, generally speaking, preaching is prophesying, and the preacher is a prophet in that he speaks the message from God. But the gift of prophecy included receiving a message directly from God through special revelation, being guided in declaring it to the people, and having it authenticated in some way by God Himself. The content of that message may have include telling the future (which is what we normally think of as prophesying), but it also included revelation from God concerning the present.

This too was a gift limited in its need and use, for it was needed during the writing of the New Testament and its usefulness ceased when the books were completed. God’s message then was contained in written form, and no new revelation was given in addition to that written record.

The gift of prophecy may have been rather widely given in New Testament times, though the record mentions only a few prophets specifically. Prophets foretelling a famine came from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of these was named Agabus (Acts 11:27-28). Mention is made also of prophets in the church at Antioch (Acts 13:10), and Philip had four daughters who had the gift of prophecy (Acts 21:9). Prophets were also prominent in the Corinthian church (1 Cor. 14).

C. Miracles (1 Cor. 12:28) and Healing (1 Cor. 12:9, 28, 30)

This is the ability to perform special signs. Paul exercised this gift at Ephesus when he performed miraculous healings (Acts 19:11-12). And yet, even though he had the gift of miracles, he did not consider it usable in the cases of Epaphroditus (Phil. 2:27) and Timothy (1 Tim. 5:23). The gift of healing seems to be a specific category within the larger gift of miracles. An example of the gift of miracles which is not a case of physical healing was the blindness called down on Elymas the sorcerer in Paphos, Cyprus, by Paul on the first missionary journey (Acts 13:11).

Distinction should be made between miracles and healings and the gifts of miracles and healing. The spiritual gift is the God-given ability to perform miracles and healings for the purpose of serving Him. However, a miracle or healing may be done apart from the exercise of the gifts. The miracle of the physical sign accompanying the filling with the Spirit recorded in Acts 4:31 was completely apart from the exercise of a gift on the part of any person. The miracle of Aeneas’ healing at Lydda was apparently a result of Peter exercising the gift of healing (Acts 9:34), while the raising of Dorcas at Joppa by Peter might not have been the result of exercising a gift but the result of God answering prayer (Acts 9:40). Thus every miracle or every healing is not the result of the respective gift being exercised.

Consequently, then, it does not follow that if one considers the gifts of miracles and healings temporary, he also is saying that God does not perform miracles or heal today. He is simply saying that the gifts are no longer given because the particular purpose for which they were originally given (i.e., to authenticate the oral message) has ceased to exist …

If the giving of these particular gifts was limited to the early church, in what light is one to regard the question of healing today? Here are some issues to consider in finding the answer to that question.

(1) As has been stated, God can and does heal apart from the exercise of the gift of healing. He does answer prayer, and He answers it in regard to physical problems, but such answers to prayer are not the exercise of the gift of healing.

(2) It is obviously not the will of God to heal everybody. For example, it was not God’s will to heal Paul of his thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:8-9).

(3) Miracles and healing must not be equated with supernaturalism. In general it is a favorite pressure approach of faith healers to say that if you believe in the supernatural power of God, then you must also believe in His power to heal in the case at hand. This is simply not true, for it is a non-sequitur. God does not have to use His supernatural power to prove that He possesses it. Furthermore, any gift given once has been given to the whole church.

(4) To disregard human means in the matter of healing and simply pray for a miraculous cure is like praying for a harvest and then sitting in a rocking chair without planting or cultivating. God more often than not uses human means in the accomplishing of His purposes. This is true in matters of health too.

(5) Those who claim that the gift of healing is exercised today have to admit that the gift is limited in its effectiveness, for they do not claim to heal decayed teeth or suddenly mend broken bones.

(6) Reports of miraculous healings (within the limitations already stated) may be true (but this is not necessarily related to the gift), may be false, may be the cure of something that was psychosomatic.

Naturally all of these six considerations do not apply to every case, but they are germane to the whole question of healing today.

D. Tongues (1 Cor. 12:10)

Tongues are the God-given ability to speak in another language. In the recorded instances in the book of Acts the languages of tongues seemed clearly to be foreign languages. There is no doubt that this was true at Pentecost, for the people heard in their native tongues; and it seemed to be the same kind of foreign languages that were spoken in the house of Cornelius (for Peter says that this was the same thing that occurred at Pentecost, Acts 10:46; 11:15).

The addition of the word “unknown” in 1 Corinthians 14 (found in some translations like the KJV) has led many to suppose that the tongues displayed in the church at Corinth were an unknown, heavenly language. If the word is omitted, then one would normally think of the tongues in Corinthians as the same as those in Acts; i.e., foreign languages. This is the natural conclusion. Against this view stand 1 Corinthians 14:2 and 14, which seem to indicate that the Corinthian tongues were an unknown language. In any case, the gift of tongues was being abused by the Corinthians, and Paul was required to lay down certain restrictions on its use. It was to be used only for edifying, only by two or three in a single meeting and then only if an interpreter were present, and never in preference to prophecy. The gift of interpretation is a corollary gift to the gift of tongues. The gift of tongues was given as a sign to unbelievers (1 Cor. 14:22) and especially to unbelieving Jews (v. 21). If the need for the sign ceased, then of course the gift would no longer need to be given. (See discussion on 1 Cor. 13:8 at the end of this section.)

What about tongues today? One cannot say that God would never give this gift or others of the limited gifts today. But everything indicates that the need for the gift has ceased with the production of the written Word. Certainly the standard Pentecostal position that tongues are the necessary accompaniment of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not valid. … It is usually fruitless to discuss the experiences people have; one can only measure all experience by the written Word. Even if tongues be not limited or a temporary gift, the emphasis of Scripture is not on the use of this gift. Also, one should remember that the fruit of the Spirit does not include tongues, and Christlikeness does not require speaking in tongues, for Christ never did. May God give us humility and faithfulness enough to remain open to all that originates from Him and only to that.

E. Evangelism (Eph. 4:11)

The meaning of the gift of evangelism involves two ideas—the kind of message preached (i.e., the good news of salvation) and the places where it is preached (i.e., in various places). The message is the gospel and the evangelist’s ministry is an itinerant one. In the example of Paul’s own life, the length of stay in one place on his itinerary sometimes lasted as long as two years (Acts 19:10) and sometimes only a few days (Acts 17:14). Apparently one may do the work of an evangelist even though he may not possess the gift, for Paul exhorts Timothy, who was a pastor, to do the work of an evangelist (2 Tim. 4:5).

F. Pastor (Eph. 4:11)

The word “pastor” means to shepherd; therefore, the gift of pastor involves leading, providing and caring for, and protecting the portion of the flock of God committed to one’s care. In Ephesians 4:11 the work of teaching is linked with that of pastoring, and in Acts 20:28 the duty of ruling the flock is added. The words “elder,” “bishop,” and “pastor” (translated “feed” in Acts 20:28 {KJV}) are all used of the same leaders of the Ephesian church (cf. Acts 20:17 and 28).

G. Ministering (Rom. 12:7; 1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:12)

Ministering means serving. The gift of ministering is the gift of helping or serving in the broadest sense of the word. In the Romans passage it is called the gift of ministering; in 1 Corinthians, the gift of helps; in Ephesians we are told that other gifts are given for the purpose of helping believers to be able to serve. This is a very basic gift which all Christians can have and use for the Lord’s glory.

H. Teaching (Rom. 12:7; 1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:11)

Teaching is the God-given ability to explain the harmony and the detail of God’s revelation. Apparently the gift is sometimes given alone (Rom. 12:7) and sometimes it is given along with the gift of pastor (Eph. 4:11). It is more obvious in the case of the gift of teaching that this is a gift that can be developed and must be trained. If we may assume that Peter had the gift, then it is clear that he had to do some studying of Paul’s epistles before he could explain them to others (2 Peter 3:16).

I. Faith (1 Cor. 12:8-10)

Faith is the God-given ability to believe God’s power to supply specific need. Every man has been given a measure of faith (Rom. 12:3), but not everyone has been given the gift of faith. Everyone may believe God, but this cannot be the same as possessing the gift of faith—otherwise there would be no significance to its being listed as a separate spiritual gift.

J. Exhortation (Rom. 12:8)

Exhorting involves encouraging, comforting, and admonishing people. Note that this is a separate and distinct gift from the gift of teaching. In other words, teaching may or may not involve exhortation, and contrariwise exhortation may or may not involve teaching.

K. Discerning Spirits (1 Cor. 12:10)

Discerning spirits is the ability to distinguish between true and false sources of supernatural revelation when it was being given in oral form. It was a very necessary gift before the Word was written, for there were those who claimed to bring revelation from God who were not true prophets.

L. Showing Mercy (Rom. 12:8)

This is akin to the gift of ministering, for it involves succoring those who are sick and afflicted.

M. Giving (Rom. 12:8)

The gift of giving concerns distributing one’s own money to others. It is to be done with simplicity, i.e., with no thought of return or gain for self in any way.

N. Administration (Rom. 12:8; 1 Cor. 12:28)

This is the ability to rule the church.¹³⁵

1 Corinthians 13:8

Some consider that the expression “they (tongues) will cease” in 1 Corinthians 13:8 is a proof that tongues specifically was a limited gift. The argument against such an interpretation is that the passage is contrasting the present state with the eternal state and therefore is not speaking of the gift of tongues. However, it should be noted that the wider and immediate context is talking about the gift of tongues to a very great extent and there is no reason not to consider that it is the gift spoken of in this verse.

It is also worthy of note that the principal thesis in Chapter 13 is that love never fails even though tongues and prophecy do and even though the whole present imperfect state fails. There is no necessity in the passage to make the end of tongues the same time as the end of the imperfect or temporal state. Tongues could cease before time ceases and eternity begins without destroying the point of the passage. Indeed, such a progression may prove the point better; i.e., Paul is saying that (1) when tongues cease love abides, and (2) even when time itself comes to an end, love will abide.

There are positive indications in verse 8 that tongues would cease before prophecies and knowledge. Of prophecies (the oral communication of God’s truth before the books of the canon were written) and knowledge (the special understanding of these prophecies) it is written that they shall be done away ( katargeo, “rendered inoperative”). Of tongues it is said that they shall cease ( pauo). Furthermore, the verb “done away” used in connection with prophecies and knowledge is in the passive voice, indicating that someone (God) shall make them inoperative. The very “cease” used in connection with tongues is middle voice, indicating that they would die out of their own accord. (See Appendix 9 regarding the middle voice.)

Finally, it is rather significant that only prophecy and knowledge are mentioned in verse 9; tongues are not. It is as if Paul meant his readers to understand that the gift of tongues would cease before the gifts of prophecy and knowledge. After all, the fact that there are temporary gifts must have been quite evident in the early church since the distinctiveness of apostles would have been very apparent to all. To indicate that tongues or other gifts were also temporary would have been no shock to the readers of the New Testament epistles. Unfortunately, we too easily forget today that the Scriptures clearly teach that some of the gifts were temporary (Eph. 2:20). It looks as if 1 Corinthians 13:8 specifies that the gift of tongues belongs to that category too.

Final thoughts on the nature and use of spiritual gifts:

(1) It seems gifts differ even within the same gift as with teaching, exhortation, etc. This is evident in the differences we see in the biblical characters of the Bible who had some of the same spiritual gifts. It appears that Barnabas, Paul, and Peter each had the gift of prophecy and teaching, but their ministries were very different and used differently by God (cf. Acts 13:1-2 with 1 Tim. 2:7; 1 Pet. 5:1). Recognizing that our gifts differ (Rom. 12:6) should promote individual freedom in their use according to those differences as long as we are not acting against the Word of God.

(2) Gifts are to be used according to the truth of God’s Word (our index for faith and practice). The are to be used for His glory through the strength which God supplies (1 Pet. 4:11; Col. 1:29; 1 Cor. 15:10), and in ways that are fitting to the nature and purpose of each gift (Rom. 12:6-8). While individual differences exist in our gifts, how we exercise our gifts and the attitude that motivates us is as important as the fact that we do exercise our gifts. This is evident by the qualifying phrases of Romans 12:6-8 (according to the grace given to us, according to the proportion of faith, with liberality, with diligence, with cheerfulness), and by the warnings of 1 Cor. 13 (with love) and 14 (for the edification of the church).

(3) All gifts are important and needed (1 Cor. 12:15-25). Just as with the members of our physical bodies, there are no unimportant gifts, but all do not have the same priority (1 Cor. 12:28-31).

(4) God both gives and uses our gifts according to His own sovereign choice and purposes in accord with how He places us in the body (1 Cor. 12:4-6; Mark 4:20).

(5) Gifts constitute God’s primary place of ministry for believers. Gifts are a declaration of God’s will and calling for our lives (cf. Rom. 12:2 with vs. 3).

(6) Where and how we are to use our gift(s) is a matter of God’s individual leading and whether or not we are listening to His leading (cf. Acts 16:6-10; 1 Cor. 12:4-6). Therefore, believers need to discern their gift(s) through thinking properly about themselves in the light of Romans 12:3, and through the encouragement and input from other believers (1 Tim. 1:18; 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6).

(7) All believers are to show mercy, give, walk by faith, and help others, but some believers have special gifts which enable them to excel in each of these areas (Rom. 12:7-8; 1 Cor. 12:9, 28).

Principles Related to Responding to God’s Call

Since every believer in the church age is a priest of God, there is a general sense in which he or she is also an apostle ( apostolos, “a delegate, a messenger, one sent on a mission”), not in the technical sense like the twelve and Paul, but in a general sense as one sent out by God, a representative whom God has called for special works of ministry (Matt. 28:20; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; 3:15; Eph. 2:10; Phil. 2:25 { apostolos, your messenger or sent one; see also 2 Cor. 8:23}; 2 Cor. 5:20).

Backing up this call are the promises, authority, resources, and provision of a sovereign Lord who has promised never to leave nor forsake us. The word for apostle, the Greek word apostolos, means one equipped and sent out by the provision and authority of another. This means two things: (a) What God has called you to do He has gifted you to do, and what He has gifted you to do He has called you to do (Matt. 28:19; 1 Pet. 4:10-11; 1 Cor. 12:7; Col. 1:29). (b) Whatever God has called you to do, He will provide for with the necessary resources to do that job or ministry, but according to His timing and in His way (see Neh. 1 and 2).

How do we determine God’s calling?

Negatively: I have too often seen preachers or missionaries work people up into an emotional state in order to get them to give their lives to some kind of full time service. This is basically a form of manipulation. Determining God’s call is not by a feeling, an emotional high, or by allowing someone to make you feel guilty, or by the burden of someone else.

Positively: Determining God’s will starts by the consecration of our lives in response to the mercies of God as we are exhorted to do in Romans 12:1-2.

(1) By biblical vision and understanding—by realizing God can and wants to use each of us. God has given each of us the ability and responsibility to minister. I have known people who were afraid to do the work of ministry because they felt they would be encroaching on the “minister’s” job. Every believer has permission to minister; indeed, he is called to minister. This is God’s plan for the church.

(2) By spiritual gifts. We need to each grasp the concept of spiritual gifts and know the gift(s) God has given us (Rom. 12:3). God’s call begins with Romans 12:1-2, but this should be followed up with Romans 12:3f, evaluation of one’s gift. I have known people who have been convinced by a preacher in a very emotional service, that God had called them to preach yet they had no idea what their spiritual gift was. Such is getting the cart before the horse.

(3) By burden—by letting God put His burden for each of us on our heart. God does, of course, use the preaching of the Word, and He often uses missionaries and others to make us aware of spiritual needs of the world as part of building a burden in our heart. But we need to be careful not to manipulate people. Decisions and burdens need to be of God and not of man. We each need to be asking God to direct us and to give us a burden for what He wants according to His gifts, leading, provision, and timing.

(4) By intimacy and fellowship with the Lord. It’s through the abiding life that we are in a position to hear what the Lord is saying to each of us. It is too easy for us to mistake self-centered objectives like praise and applause for God’s will or call.

(5) By realizing we can make mistakes, it’s okay. God has built into each believer the basics for the ministry He wants us to do (age, background, perhaps even some training, environment, and interests all in conjunction with our own spiritual gifts). Some people hold back from ministry because they have been paralyzed by fear, the fear of failure or of making mistakes.

(6) By realizing that God has called us to suffer because ministry in a hostile world often means suffering, and that He is always with us no matter what (Col. 1:24; 2 Tim. 1:8; 2:3,9; 1 Pet. 4:19; 3:17; Heb. 13:5-6).

Hindrances to Good Stewardship of Our Gifts

(1) The belief God only calls preachers, evangelists, missionaries, etc.

(2) Fear that we will fail, we will be persecuted, or that we don’t know how.

(3) Personal agendas in ministry for various reasons of covetousness—position, power, praise, applause.

(4) Apathy, lack of devotion to the Lord and the body of Christ.

(5) A wrong view of the church as an organization rather than an organism.

An Organization Versus An Organism
Membership (as in a club)	Disciples, (members of His body)
Spectatoritis—Sit, Soak, and Sour (the spiritual couch potato)	Participants—co-laborers, partners who sit, soak, and serve
Consumerism—I am here to be served and to get	Ministry—Service to others—helping believers grow that they may labor with others
Clergy/Layman—we pay you, the minister, to serve us	Every believer is a ministering priest
Self-centered godliness—making satisfaction, comfort one’s religion; using God like a genie136	God and other-centered godliness—Mark 12:28-31; Eph. 4:11-16

¹²³Bill Hull, The Disciple Making Pastor, Fleming H. Revell, Old Tappan, NJ, 1988, p. 12.

¹²⁴ Ibid., pp. 13-14.

¹²⁵ Robert Deffinbaugh, Romans: The Righteousness of God, Lesson 36, Biblical Studies Foundation, www.bible.org, electronic format.

¹²⁶ Deffinbaugh, Romans.

¹²⁷ Warren Wiersbe, Be Right, Victor Books, Wheaton, IL, 1977, p. 140.

¹²⁸ Part of what follows is taken from The Holy Spirit by Charles Caldwell Ryrie, pp. 83-92.

¹²⁹ William Hendriksen, A Commentary on I and II Timothy and Titus, 2nd ed., Banner of Truth Trust, London, 1964, p. 159.

¹³⁰Charles C. Ryrie, The Holy Spirit, Moody Press, Chicago, 1965, p. 84.

¹³¹ To be sure, not all of them had yet: John was still to write his Revelation of Jesus Christ. (But since the author of Hebrews was most likely not from John’s circle of influence, for all practical purposes the gift of prophecy might even be viewed as dead as far as he was concerned.) At the same time, “signs and wonders and various miracles” is the normative description of healing and miraculous deeds, not prophetic words.

¹³² Daniel B. Wallace, Ph.D., Associate Professor of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary, Hebrews 2:3-4 and the Sign Gifts, The Biblical Studies Foundation, electronic format.

¹³³ Ryrie, The Holy Spirit, p. 85.

¹³⁴ The material that follows, points A-N and the discussion on 1 Corinthians 13:8, is taken from Ryrie’s The Holy Spirit, Moody Press, pp. 85-91. Keep in mind that the translations of various verses or parts thereof used by Ryrie in this section were taken from the King James Version.

¹³⁵ Following the translations of the KJV (1 Tim. 3:5 and 5:17), Dr. Ryrie is undoubtedly referring to the ability to guide or direct the affairs of local churches, but in view of the abuses I have seen over the years, I believe a better term for “rule” would be “lead.” This is more consistent with our Lord’s warning in Luke 22:24f and that of Peter in 1 Peter 5:1f.

¹³⁶ Modern Christians tend to make satisfaction their religion. We show much more concern for self-fulfillment than for pleasing our God. Typical of Christianity today, at any rate in the English-speaking world, is its massive rash of how-to-books for believers, directing us to more successful relationships, more joy in sex, becoming more of a person, realizing our possibilities, getting more excitement each day, reducing our weight, improving our diet, managing our money, licking our families into happier shape, and whatnot. For people whose prime passion is to glorify God, these are doubtless legitimate concerns; but the how-to-books regularly explore them in a self-absorbed way that treats our enjoyment of life rather than the glory of God as the center of interest (J. I. Packer, Keeping in Step With the Spirit, Fleming H. Revell, Old Tappan, NJ, 1984, p. 97).

Understanding Our Mission

The Great Commission

Each of the gospels, though they each vary in the wording, conclude with what we can call the Great Commission. And Acts, which continues what Jesus began, basically begins on the same note.

Matthew 28:19-20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Mark 16:15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

Luke 24:46-48 and said to them, “Thus it stands written that the Messiah would suffer and would rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.

John 20:21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. Just as the Father has sent me, I also send you.”

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.”

Right from the very beginning when the Lord was calling His disciples do you remember what He told them? In Matthew 4:19 He said, “Follow me, and I will turn you into fishers of people.” In Mark 1:17 we read, “Jesus said to them, 'Follow me, and I will turn you into fishers of people.'” But it is important to realize that fishers of men are not born. They are made. They are made by knowing the Master and knowing and following the Master’s plan (or vision) rather than their own. To drive that principle home, He illustrated it to them on a couple of occasions.

One illustration is found for us in John 21:1-14. It is an event that occurred after the resurrection in one of Christ’s post-resurrection appearances and just before His ascension, but also not long after He had told them, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” The story begins in John 21:1. It’s the story of seven of the disciples who, probably in their impatience and frustration, went fishing and fished most of the night without success, but who, at the command of the Lord, pulled in a great catch of fish.

Now remember, this is a story of one of the ten post-resurrection appearances of the Lord just prior to His ascension and absence from the earth. In this scene, the Lord was manifesting Himself to men as the risen Lord and inviting them to personal fellowship with Him as the source and meaning of their lives.

This event dramatically portrays that which the living Christ is to us and is doing today—calling men and women away from lives of frustration and futility to lives of meaning and productivity as they learn to live in vital communion with Jesus Christ and through following the Master’s plan for life.

But further, this story also portrays the typical tendencies and weaknesses of men as they tend to operate in and of themselves without waiting for the Lord, without His plan, strength and energy, and direction which, of course, only comes from intimate fellowship with the Savior.

John 21:1-14 After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. Now this is how he did so. 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael (who was from Cana in Galilee), the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples of his were together. 3 Simon Peter told them, “I am going fishing.” “We will go with you,” they replied. They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4 When it was already very early morning, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 So Jesus said to them, “Children, you don’t have any fish, do you?” They replied, “No.” 6 He told them, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they threw the net, and were not able to pull it in because of the large number of fish. 7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” So Simon Peter, when he heard that it was the Lord, tucked in his outer garment (for he had nothing on underneath it), and plunged into the sea. 8 Meanwhile the other disciples came with the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from land, only about a hundred yards. 9 When they got out on the beach, they saw a charcoal fire ready with a fish placed on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said, “Bring some of the fish you have just now caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and pulled the net to shore. It was full of large fish, one hundred fifty-three, but although there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 “Come, have breakfast,” Jesus said. But none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Let’s note a few things from this passage:

“After this” refers to the seven great selective signs concluded by the resurrection which John describes in his gospel, but the purpose of these signs is clearly stated, “that you may believe …” It is designed to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ alone as the Son of God and the only means of salvation (cf. 28-31). John 21 is an epilogue or postscript designed to reveal the person of Jesus Christ in certain ways that are vital to our mission in the absence of Christ’s literal presence on earth.

“Jesus revealed Himself again to the disciples…” Who manifested Himself? Jesus, the resurrected one who had died for our sin. This is a special manifestation of the risen Christ. What did He do? He manifested Himself. “Revealed” is phaneroo, “to shine forth, make clear and visible.” The verb is somewhat causative and the text means that Jesus intentionally made himself to shine forth. It does not simply say, “he appeared” (cf. 1 Cor. 15:4,5). Christ was intentionally revealing certain things about Himself that are vital for us to grasp during His absence from us as the resurrected and ascended Lord of life.

Christ manifested Himself to the disciples, to believers, to those who were his followers, to those to whom He had given and would repeat again the Great Commission and to whom He had said, “follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” But this group was restless and uncertain. Their hopes were now revived, but they were in need of His direction and fellowship. They had a resurrected Savior, but they were in a fog. What were they to do now? How were they to act?

Where Was This Done? At the sea of Tiberius where these men went fishing. Tiberius is the Roman name for the Sea of Galilee (John 6:1, 23). It was sometimes called this because the city of Tiberius, the capital of Galilee, was located on its shores. But we should note that this was an area very familiar to the disciples both as fishermen (Mark 4:16 and Luke 5:1), and as disciples for they had spent much time with the Lord by and on this sea. The sea in Scripture is often a picture of the sea of mankind. So here they were in their own backyard so to speak, in very familiar surroundings. How much we need to see this! The Lord wants to take our lives as they are—our family circumstances and conditions, our businesses, our routines—the things we take so for granted and do so automatically, that we think we can handle so well, and then He uses those very things to manifest just how much we need Him for meaning and success according to His standards.

When Did He Do This? The timing of this is significant!

“Again” (vs. 1), that is, following other manifestations of the Lord. The disciples all knew now that Christ was very much alive and were convinced of that (cf. 20:26-29).

But compare Matthew 26:32—He would meet them in Galilee so they were to go to Galilee. Also note Matthew 28:7, 10, 16. Here we see He designated a particular mountain where they were to wait for His arrival and manifestation. This was their responsibility and need for the present. They were to assemble and wait; they weren’t ready for service. Activity and work wouldn’t solve their restlessness. What they needed was Christ—waiting and looking for Him.

“When it was already very early morning, Jesus stood on the beach” (vs. 4). This manifestation occurred after a long night of futility and frustration. WOW! WHAT TIMING! Note the Lord’s words here in the passage which calls attention to their lack and failure, but also offers His fellowship and provision.

Why Was This Done? As the Prologue, chapter 1, reveals Jesus Christ as the pre-incarnate God who became flesh that He might reveal God and become the perfect substitute for man, so chapter 21, the epilogue, reveals what Christ means to us as the incarnate and glorified God-man in our life and ministry. It reveals the frustrations we have with life, the way life never satisfies when we are not operating out of fellowship with the resurrected Christ as a result of not following His instructions and being involved in His purposes. It illustrates the failure we experience when we operate by our schemes as well as the success we can experience when we operate by His directions or the ‘Master’s Plan.’ Finally, it demonstrates the importance of fellowship to our mission and ministry and our ability to effectively use the Master’s Plan.

But the Great Commission does not end in the gospels. It is picked up immediately when we come to the book of Acts which is a continuation of all that Jesus began to do and to teach. So, in the very first chapter, the Lord tells the disciples, “but you will …” (1:8). What exactly is the Great Commission? What exactly is our mission? The most complete presentation of the Great Commission is Matthew 28:18-20.

I do not mean to imply by what has been said that our only mission or purpose in life is the Great Commission. I don’t believe that it is. But it is such an integral and indispensable part of our purpose as believers in Christ that without it, trying to live as Christians is like trying to build a house without nails and mortar or the things needed to hold it together. It is one of the prime reasons for being and it provides added meaning, peace, and purpose.

There are probably very few who have never heard a message on the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20. While I am confident that the greatest problem with our failures in evangelism and outreach is not information, but motivation, burden, courage, and availability, still, there is a lack in our understanding regarding our mission and a proper understanding of this passage.

And even where that is not the case, we need reminding as Peter put it in 2 Peter 1:12-13. If we are to be effective in our mission, we do need to understand exactly what that mission entails. This must become our vision, the goal and purpose of the church. Goals are what drive and motivate us. But if our goals are unclear or wrong, then we will lack the drive and direction we need as God’s people (Pro. 29:18; cf. Jud. 21:25).

Though I won’t be following this particular outline, a good way to look at this passage is through the perspective of the following outline: (1) Armed with His Authority and Power (vs. 18); (b) Aligned with His Aim or Purpose (vss. 19-20a); and (c) Assured of His Attendance or Presence (vs. 20b).

The Structure and Meaning

To properly grasp the mission or aim of this Commission given to the church, we need to understand both the structure of these sentences and the meaning of this structure. Without this we are left with an unclear understanding of what the Lord is calling us to do as the church.

Verse 18 introduces the commission with a statement concerning the Lord’s authority and power which forms the foundation for courage, comfort, and motivation for the mission to which the Lord has called us.

Verse 20b, concludes with the assurance of Christ’s continued presence providing us with another word for courage, comfort, and motivation. The mission itself is spelled out in verses 19-20a.

What exactly is the main thrust and aim of the Great Commission given us by our Lord? What’s the core?

The original Greek has one main verb supplemented by three participles. The one main verb, “make disciples,” points us to the primary mission and aim. The three participles, “go,” “baptizing,” and “teaching,” tell us what is involved in making disciples. Literally, the text says, “going, make disciples, baptizing them, … teaching them to observe all that …”

The First Participle “Go”

The difficult part of the structure is deciding how to take the first participle, “going.” There are two views prevalent today. One is to give this participle the character of an imperative or command in which it would mean “go.” The other is to give it an adverbial character like “having gone” or “in your going” or “as you go make disciples.” Apart from a specific context, both ideas are grammatically legitimate. Greek participles can be used like an imperative, but only the context and usage can determine if a particular instance has the meaning of an imperative.

The usage of this construction and context does indicate this should be understood as a command, “go,” but while this is true, we must never lose sight of the fact that the main command and mission is that of making disciples.

The following are illustrations to show this means “go,” as an imperative, from usage:

• Genesis 27:13 in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, we have poreuthentes enegke which means, “go, bring.” The Hebrew has two imperatives. There are plenty of other examples of this in the LXX (Gen. 37:14; Ex. 5:18).
• Matthew 9:13, “go and learn what this saying means.” The Lord was not saying here, “In your going, learn what this meant.” The same concept is true in the following verses.
• Matthew 11:4, “Go tell John what you hear and see:” Matt. 28:7, “Then go quickly and tell his disciples,” Mark 16:15, “Go into all the world and preach …” and Matthew 2:13 and 20, “Get up, take the child.” Certainly the angel was not saying something like, “when you go, take the child,” or “in your going, take the child.” This was an urgent command.

Then, why this construction? Why not use two regular imperatives? Is it just an idiom without significance? First, the participle with the main verb is used in order to stress that there is one primary objective—making disciples. Making disciples is the core or heart of the commission. Second, the use of the participle shows the action of the participle is closely connected or vitally related to the main verb. It proposes the necessary way to fulfill the main verb.

Without going, the command to make disciples is impossible, especially when it involves all nations. Going is not a secondary option. You don’t catch fish in a barrel. We must do something that puts us in contact with people so we can win them to Christ and begin the process of making disciples. The going involves anything we do from hosting outreach Bible studies, getting acquainted with neighbors, or by crossing oceans to take the Gospel to lost tribes.

Both words, “go” and “make disciples” are in aorist tense which, in Greek, makes the action definite and urgent. The idea is “go and perform your calling.”

The Next Two Participles, “Baptizing” and “Teaching”

These two are not so problematic. They tell us the means or method for making disciples. How do we make disciples? By two activities—by baptizing them and teaching them which is equivalent to evangelism and edification. As Ryrie points out:

Baptizing is a single act; teaching is a continuous process. Disciples have to be baptized (an evidence of salvation—therefore, one may say that disciples must first be saved); then they have to be taught over and over to obey (observe all things).

In New Testament times, baptism served as one of the clearest proofs that a person had accepted Christ. Baptism was not entered into casually or routinely as is often the case today. Although it is clear in the New Testament that baptism does not save, to be baptized was to signify in no uncertain terms that one had received Christ and was also associating himself with the Christian group, the church.¹⁴⁰

See 1 Corinthians 1:14-17; 15:3 which show that baptism, though important, was not a part of the Gospel message. In other words, baptizing men and women in the name of the Father, etc., must naturally include and be preceded by the ministry of evangelism by which people come to know Christ and can then profess their faith through baptism.

The Setting and Context

Since the main verb and primary command of the commission is “make disciples,” we next want to focus our attention on this command for this is the heart of the Great Commission.

What does it mean to make disciples? To grasp this we want to focus on the cultural and contextual setting out of which arises the meaning and use of the Greek word matheteuo.

The Cultural Setting

The Basic Meaning: Matheteuo can mean “to practice the duties of a disciple,” that is, “to be a disciple (pupil or learner).” Or it can have a causative meaning, “make a disciple,” which is the meaning here. In general, a disciple was one who bound himself to another in order to acquire his knowledge and understanding.¹⁴¹ The use of this word by our Lord brings to mind the Rabbi-student context and setting, for it is in this cultural context that He used this term.

The word was used of students who lived in close fellowship with their teacher, they traveled with him, ate with him, attended festive occasions with him. The students of a teacher were characterized by complete submission to the authority of the teacher, as well as by a devotion to him which was to surpass devotion to father or mother and which displayed itself in service to the teacher.¹⁴²

The teaching or learning method was to sit at the feet of the teacher listening to him; to engage in a question and answer encounter with the teacher; to observe the actions of the teacher, especially how he conducted himself in regard to the Law or solved problems of conduct through his knowledge of Law and tradition.¹⁴³

After the strenuous studies the student was ordained through the laying on of hands and received the right to be called Rabbi. He then had the responsibility to pass on that which he had learned from his teacher and to make disciples himself.

The Biblical Context

The word disciple itself means “learner or pupil.” A disciple is one who is under instruction. It always involved a teacher-student relationship. John the Baptist had his disciples (Matt. 9:14), the Pharisees had theirs (Matt. 22:16), even Paul had his (Acts 9:25), and of course, the Lord had many disciples (Luke 6:17). A New Testament disciple is one who is under biblical instruction.

Some followed the Lord only a short time and then dropped off because of the cost. There was Judas who was unsaved, Joseph of Arimathea who was a secret disciple for some time, and there were others who belonged to the inner circle. The Lord expected discipleship to involve total commitment if one was going to be able to fully follow through as a disciple, but being a disciple and being a believer are not one and the same.

Salvation is a free gift but being a disciple means counting the costs. All believers should be disciples, but not all believers actually follow through as disciples.

Now, look back at the words of the Great Commission. What is the core assignment here? Win converts, hold great evangelistic rallies, pass out tracts, hold Bible classes and teach theology so we can defend the faith? No! One thing stands out, especially in the Greek, and only one: “Make disciples.”

Making disciples is the heart and center of the command. The three other actions tell us how, by going, baptizing (which assumes giving the Gospel and winning people to Christ), and teaching them as believers.

The Significance of the Setting and Context

When the Great Commission is viewed against the setting in which it is given, we not only find some significant insights, but some tremendous motivations.

(1) The Adoration by the Disciples (vs. 17)

Present in this scene is the risen and glorified Lord with the disciples bowing down to Him in worship and adoration. Though some were doubtful because it was hard for them to grasp the reality of the resurrection, the majority recognized this was the risen and glorified Lord, and as a result, they worshipped Him as Lord. The significant point is that the Great Commission was given in a context of worship and obedience. Responding to the Great Commission is naturally the product of worship and submission to the lordship of Christ. If we truly recognize who He is and truly worship Him in Spirit and in truth, we should commit ourselves to the propagation of the message of Christ to the world since He is its sovereign Lord and Savior.

(2) Assurance of His Authority (vs. 18)

The command to make disciples is based on the fact of His Authority. Note the “therefore” of vs. 19. This means the Lord’s unlimited authority in all areas. In the light of the cultural and rabbinic context or setting, making disciples under the authority of Christ includes the following:

• He alone is the master teacher and has the right to make binding interpretation and authoritative statements. He Himself is our ultimate teacher, a ministry He carries out through the work of the Holy Spirit, the Bible, the body of Christ, and the gifted teachers He gives to the body (John 16:12-15; 1 Cor. 4:4-6; Eph. 4:11-16).
• He alone has the right to reveal the will of the Father and teach His followers. All of us are to be in submission to His authority through the Scriptures, our authoritative index for truth. He alone has the right to be judge and make decision in accord with the righteousness of God.
• It means living daily in continual fellowship with Him, listening to His Word, learning from Him and putting His teaching into practice, and letting His life be manifest in our daily life. Discipleship calls for complete submission to Him with total devotion and service as we learn to pick up our cross and submit to His authority and leading.
• It means proclaiming His Word and seeking to bring others into this relationship, training them to in turn win and train others (2 Tim. 2:1-2).

Baptizing believers in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the sign or symbol that the old life and its connections have been broken and the person has entered into a new life by faith in Christ and a new fellowship with Jesus as their teacher and master.

Teaching is the instruction new converts are to go through to build them in the Word of the Master that they might become obedient students as well as disciples makers. They are to learn, put into practice, guard, and pass on that which Jesus commanded.

(3) Assurance of His Continual Attendance and Presence (vs. 20b)

Verse 20b gives us the promise of the Savior’s continual presence and teaches us He is available for our protection, provision, and guidance. But that’s not all. He is also present as our Teacher for constant fellowship, to receive our devotion, obedience, and ministry through the Spirit’s enablement as He promised. However, as His followers, unlike in the Jewish rabbinical tradition, though we teach others, we do not become rabbis, but remain His students with the command to make others students of the Master.

Conclusion

This, then, is the Great Commission and our mission. The Lord calls his church, and us as individuals to make disciples. In summary, what does this involve?

• It means going, getting out into the world to love and reach men and women for Christ. It means being involved through prayer, through loving neighbors, through building bridges or common ground, and from that, sharing the Gospel.
• It means baptizing them as a public declaration of their new life in Christ after winning them to the Lord through the Gospel message.
• It means building them in the Word, teaching them to know, guard, and apply the Word to their lives so they can in turn become disciple makers who are involved in this multiplication process through the ministry of the local body.

This is a call to commitment, to fellowship with the Lord, fellowship with other believers, time in the Word and prayer, along with a commitment to doing those things that will enable us to reach others for Christ and engage as many as possible in the process of making disciples.

We each need to ask the question, “where am I in this process?”

Understanding Our Means

Enablement for Accomplishing Christ’s Plan

Earlier I made reference to the way the early church, as it is recorded for us in Acts, grew by leaps and bounds with great power. In one place we read that the Lord added 3000 to His church, and shortly after that about 5000 (Acts 2:41; 4:3). But the important question is simply how do we account for such a phenomenon?

The book of Acts is often called the Acts of the Apostles because in it we see the work and ministry of the Apostles of our Lord continuing that which He began to do and to teach (Acts 1:1). But it is much more accurate to call this book the Acts of the Holy Spirit for the ministry and power of the Spirit is everywhere present and seen as the cause and source of the spread of the Gospel through the proclamation of Jesus Christ. Behind the work of the Apostles the executive activity of the Spirit of God was seen everywhere. The book of Acts is the story of men who both established the church and led the missionary enterprise. As Oswald Sanders remarks,

It is of more than passing significance that the central qualification of those who were to occupy even subordinate positions of responsibility in the early church was that they be men “full of the Holy Spirit.” They must be known by their integrity and sagacity, but preeminently for their spirituality. However brilliant a man may be intellectually, however capable an administrator, without that essential equipment he is incapable of giving truly spiritual leadership.¹⁴⁴

In view of our Lord’s teaching and promise to the Apostles in Acts 1:4-8, we should not be surprised at this. There He declared to them and to us that the means for our ministry and effectiveness lies totally in the ministry and power of the Spirit of God. Our success, our boldness, our courage, our ability is dependent on the Spirit of God. It is to be as it was in the days of Zechariah when the Word of the Lord came to Zerubbabel, “Not by strength and not by power, but by my Spirit, says the sovereign Lord" (Zech. 4:6).

Why is the ministry of the Spirit of God so important? Because of our insufficiency and because reaching others for Christ requires the miraculous work of the Spirit of God to convict and break through the hardness of the human heart, to illuminate the darkness of the human mind, and to regenerate the spiritual deadness of the human spirit. Nothing short of the power of the Spirit of God is sufficient. Making disciples, reaching and building men and women in Christ can be effectively accomplished only by spirit-filled people. Other qualifications are of course desirable, but to be Spirit-filled (controlled by the Holy Spirit) is indispensable.

The Age of the Spirit

From the standpoint of the believer’s walk with the Lord, the ministry of the Holy Spirit is one of the most important doctrines and promises of the Word for the church age. This age, the church age, is the age of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God’s special administrator, gift, and means of power to glorify and reveal Jesus Christ and to experience the Christian life.

The Promise of the Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the object of many marvelous promises in both the Old and New Testaments (Ezek. 36:24-27; 37:14; Isa. 44:3; 59:21; John 7:37-39; 14:16, 17; Acts 1:4-8).

The Fact of the Spirit’s Coming

The following passages describe the fact of the coming of the Holy Spirit as promised by the prophets and by the Lord Jesus (Acts 2:1-33; 10:43-44; 11:15-18; 1 Cor. 6:19; Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30; Gal. 5:5-25).

The Age of the Spirit Illustrated

The following diagram illustrates the distinctive ministry of the Spirit for church age believers in contrast to Old Testament saints.

The Ministry of the Spirit in Acts

The importance of the ministry of the Holy Spirit for this age is quickly obvious from a consideration of the following facts: (a) The words “Holy Spirit” are used 40 times in Acts, (b) “the Spirit,” referring to the Spirit of God, 14 times, (c) “by the Spirit” emphasizing agency, 4 times, (d) “filled” or “full” emphasizing His control is used in connection with the Spirit 8 times, and (e) in the majority of these passages, the Spirit of God is seen as the agent of action enabling and directing the church primarily in its missionary enterprise on earth. Also, compare the following: Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 6:10; 8:29, 39; 10:19; 11:12, 28; 13:4, 9, 52; 16:6, 7; 21:4.

Ministries and Purposes of the Spirit

Some see the purpose of the Spirit in our lives as power, some as performance, some as unity, some as the administration of the gifts of the Spirit, some as teaching, some as His miraculous workings and so on. All of these either are or have been ministries of the Spirit and are important to the body of Christ. However, to emphasize any one of these to the exclusion of the others, and especially to the exclusion of the chief emphasis of the Word, is to go off into error.

Jesus Christ is our life, the hope of glory. Therefore, the chief focus given to us in the Word is that the Holy Spirit in all His ministries is given to us to mediate the presence of Christ. He is given to manifest the person and work of Jesus Christ, to make Him known, and to make us aware of all He is to us (cf. Heb. 2:1-4; 6:4; 10:29 and the theme of the book).

The ministry of the Spirit is Christ-centered. It is neither man-centered, with an emphasis on our gifts, personalities, and experiences, nor is it Holy Spirit centered with an emphasis on His miraculous activities. Please note the following Scriptures: John 7:37-39; 14:26; 16:8-14.

The Holy Spirit, therefore, calls attention to neither Himself nor to man, but focuses all attention on Jesus Christ and what God has done in and through His Son. His purpose via all His ministries is to develop our faith, hope, love, adoration, obedience, fellowship, and commitment to Christ.

This thus becomes a criterion by which we may judge any spiritual movement and its biblical authenticity.

Summaries of the Spirit’s Ministries:

(1) Who the Spirit is: He is not simply a force or an influence or simply a power. He is a person and He is God the third person of the trinity, who as a person, can be grieved (Eph. 4:30), lied to (Acts 5:3-4), obeyed (Acts 10:19-21), resisted (Acts 7:51), and blasphemed (Matt. 12:31).

(2) What the Spirit is to believers:

• A seal (2 Cor. 1:21-22; Eph. 1:13)
• An anointing (2 Cor. 1:21-22; 1 John 2:20, 27)
• A pledge (2 Cor. 1:21-22; Eph. 1:14)
• A helper (John 14:16, 26)

(3) What the Holy Spirit does for believers:

• Convicts and reveals Jesus Christ to men (John 16:8-11)
• Regenerates believers to new life (Tit. 3:5)
• Baptizes believers into Christ (1 Cor. 12:13)
• Reproduces the character of Jesus Christ in those who submit to Him (Gal. 4:19; 5:5, 16-23)
• Promotes spiritual maturity (Gal. 3:1-3; 5:1-5; Heb. 5:11-6:6)
• Teaches, gives understanding in the Word (1 Cor. 2:9-16; Jn. 14:26; 16:11f; Eph. 3:16-18)
• Applies truth to our experience (Rom. 8:16; John 14:26; Eph. 6:18)
• Gives power to our prayer life (Eph. 6:18; Jude 20; Jn. 15:7; cf. Ps. 66:18)
• Gives meaningful worship (Jn. 4:23, 24; Eph. 5:18f; cf. Isa. 1:11f; 59:1f; Ps. 50:16f)
• Gives capacity, direction, ability, and burden for witnessing (Acts 1:8; 13:4; 16:6; 1 Thess. 1:5)
• Gives ability in service (1 Cor. 12-14; 1 Pet. 4:10—Refers to gifts of the Spirit to be exercised in the power of the Spirit from the motive of love, a work of the Spirit)

All these ministries demonstrate the importance of the ministry of the Spirit to our daily walk and particularly to our witness. Our responsibility and need, then, is to walk and minister by means of the Spirit (Acts 1:8; Gal. 5:16-26; Eph. 5:18). (For a more in-depth study on how to be controlled by the Spirit, see Part 2, Lesson 5.)

Conclusion

To be sure, we must understand that our means for fulfilling our calling or commission as believers in Christ is the filling of the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of God in control of our lives. We must not think of this only in term of witnessing as though when we get ready to witness, we must get filled with the Spirit like plugging a cord into an electric socket. It doesn’t work that way.

It should be noted, however, that nearly every intervention of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts had as its objective the spread of the Gospel to men and women. His great preoccupation, then as now, was to make the church a missionary church. Should His preoccupation not be ours too?¹⁴⁵

Since the Holy Spirit is so vital to the experience and character of Christ in our lives and to our witness, shouldn’t our walk by the Spirit of God become a priority in our lives, not that we might experience the ecstatic for selfish reasons, but that we might fulfill God’s calling? Without the filling of the Spirit, we fail. One tendency we face is to lean on our own abilities—our training, personality, looks, persuasiveness, or whatever. But we must remember God’s word to Zerubbabel, our effectiveness is “not by strength (human resources) and not by power (human strength, ability, or efficiency), but by my Spirit, says the sovereign LORD” (Zech. 4:6). Another tendency is that of fear, but God’s word to Zerubbabel is just as pertinent against fear as with self-confidence for the word to Zerubbabel was actually to give him courage in the face of hostility (see 2 Tim. 1:6-7).

Then exactly what is the filling of the Spirit and how do I get it?

Reduced to it simplest terms, to be filled with the Spirit means that, through voluntary surrender and in response to appropriating faith, the human personality is filled, mastered, controlled by the Holy Spirit. The very word filled supports that meaning. The idea is not that of something being poured into a passive empty receptacle. “That which takes possession of the mind is said to fill it,” says Thayer, … That usage of the word is found in Luke 5:26 (KJV): “They were filled with fear,” and John 16:6: “nstead your hearts are filled with sadness because I have said these things to you.” Their fear and sorrow possessed them to the exclusion of other emotions; they mastered and controlled them. That is what the Holy Spirit does when we invite Him to fill us.

To be filled with the Spirit, then, is to be controlled by the Spirit. Intellect and emotions and volition as well as physical powers all become available to Him for achieving the purposes of God … The now ungrieved and unhindered Spirit is able to produce the fruit of the Spirit in the life of the leader, with added winsomeness and attractiveness in his service and with power in his witness to Christ. All real service is but the effluence of the Holy Spirit through yielded and filled lives.¹⁴⁶

The mission the Lord has called us to in the Great Commission is to become an integral part of His program of making disciples. We will have neither the motivation nor the ability to do so with success without the means He has supplied—the indwelling Spirit whom He has given to each believer to take charge and enable us for Christ’s life in ours, a life motivated by His love and enabled by His power.

¹⁴⁰Charles C. Ryrie, So Great Salvation, Victor Books, Wheaton, IL, 1989, p. 103.

¹⁴¹ Cleon Rogers, “The Great Commission,” Bibliotheca Sacra, Vol. 130, No. 519, Jul 1973, 262f.

¹⁴² Ibid., p. 264.

¹⁴³ Ibid.

¹⁴⁴ Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership, Moody Press, Chicago, 1986, p. 97.

¹⁴⁵ Sanders, p. 100.

¹⁴⁶ Sanders, p. 101.