There are many key terms and concepts in Scripture like faith, hope, love, joy, grace, peace, pleasing the Lord, etc. that we come across as we read our Bibles, but often these are just vague concepts for many people. The following study is designed to provide a condensed biblical focus on what it means to please the Lord as it is found in the Word of God. As time allows we will provide other such condensed studies on key terms, especially of the New Testament.

(1) Pleasing the Lord should be the great ambition of every believers’ heart. As you can see, one of the motives is the Bema.

2 Corinthians 5:9-10 Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

1 Thessalonians 4:1 Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that, as you have received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you may excel still more.

(For a study on the Bema see the study entitled, The Doctrine of Rewards located in the “Theology / Eschatology” section on our web site.)

(2) Pleasing the Lord is not only to be a primary aim of every believer, but something at which we should all seek to excel, not to be accepted, but because we love the Lord and because of future rewards.

Hebrews 13:21 equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever.

(3) Ability to please the Lord is ultimately the result of His work in our lives as the Great Shepherd.

Ephesians 5:8-10 For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light {consists} in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4:1 …as you received from us {instruction} as to how you ought to walk and please God …

(4) Pleasing the Lord involves discovering and doing what pleases the Lord through living in the light of the Word. Pleasing the Lord means doing His will.

1 Thessalonians 2:4 But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men but God, who examines our hearts.

Galatians 1:10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

(5) Pleasing the Lord begins in the heart or the inner person.

Colossians 1:9-10 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Colossians 3:22-24 Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men; 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.

(6) Pleasing the Lord rather than men ought to be the motive for ministry, for marriage, and everything we do. Seeking to please men for selfish reasons ruins our capacity to follow the Lord, take a stand for truth or principle, love others unselfishly, and to thus function as God’s servants.

1 Thessalonians 2:15 Who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men.

(7) When we fail to please the Lord, we ultimately become hostile or at least useless not only to God, but to men. The only way to meet the needs of men is by first seeking to please the Lord by putting His agenda first (note the carry over in Rom. 14:17-18).

Romans 8:8 “And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

Romans 14:17-18 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

Please note, 1 Thessalonians 4:1 and 4:5 must be linked together. When men do not know God, they will be controlled by their lust patterns without any concern for pleasing God.

1 Thessalonians 4:1, 5 Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that, as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God just as you actually do walk, that you may excel still more.… 5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God;

(8) Those who are in the flesh and who do not know God (unbelievers), or those who are walking by the flesh (carnal believers) are incapable of pleasing God. Spirit filled believers are the only ones who have the spiritual capacity to please the Lord. These are those who manifest the fruit of the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 3:3-4 for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men?

Romans 15:1-6 Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not {just} please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached Thee fell upon Me.” For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus; that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 10:33 just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved.

(9) Pleasing God means learning to live for others and not simply to please ourselves. God pleasers are neither men pleasers nor self-pleasers. The only time we should seek to please men is when we seek to benefit them by putting their needs above our own for their edification or salvation. This may mean displeasing them through tough love.

Galatians 5:17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.

(10) The sinful nature or the flesh is a constant threat and antagonist to pleasing the Lord and ministering to others because of its inherent selfishness, whereas the filling of the Spirit is the means by which we are able to please Him.

Colossians 1:9-10 For this reason also, since the day we heard {of it}, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please {Him} in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Romans 14:17-18 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

(11) Pleasing God is to touch every sphere, area, and aspect of the believers life. The aim of pleasing God should have no restrictions or compartments.

Colossians 3:22-24 Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who {merely} please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men; knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.

(12) Pleasing God reaches into the work place. This illustrates the previous principle. Every believer has the responsibility to honor Christ in his work as a God pleaser, as one who does his work as unto the Lord, and not as a men pleaser. To do so ultimately causes us to please our employers through God honoring performance.

(13) Counting on our future rewards is to be a constant source of motivation.

2 Timothy 2:4 No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs (praagmateia, “activity, occupation, business, affairs”) of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

Luke 19:13 And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas, and said to them, “Do business (pragmateuomai, ‘conduct or be engaged in business like a banker or trader’) {with this} until I come {back.}”

1 Corinthians 7:25-35 Now concerning virgins I have no command of the Lord, but I give an opinion as one who by the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy. 26 I think then that this is good in view of the present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you should marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin should marry, she has not sinned. Yet such will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you. 29 But this I say, brethren, the time has been shortened, so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none; 30 and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess; 31 and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away. 32 But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; 33 but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. 35 And this I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is seemly, and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:9 Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

(14) We are warned against entanglements which hinder our capacity to please the Lord in doing His business as His servants and stewards of His grace. This especially true in times of distress. Celebacy gives more time for pleasing the Lord, but this is partly a matter of possessing the spiritual gift of celebacy. Note that Paul does not say that celebacy is better, only that it is good because of the capacity it gives to please the Lord and because of the present distress.

Philippians 1:10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;

1 Corinthians 7:7-8 and 26 Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that. 8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. … 26 I think then that this is good in view of the present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is.

Introduction

The blessings and privileges that believers have in Christ are bountiful, to say the least. Scripture declares, in fact, that we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph. 1:3), indeed, we are complete in Him (Col. 2:10). The outworking of these blessings mean a number of wonderful things in a Christian’s life. When understood and appropriated by faith, they mean peace, joy, happiness, comfort, encouragement, and significant purpose. But that’s not all, though this is often all you hear emphasized in many messages and in the conversations of Christians. It certainly seems this is the main focus of many, if not most people, in our comfort and pleasure-crazed society.

However, with our privileges come two more vital concepts: ‘strength’ (ability) and ‘accountability’ (responsibility). (1) Our blessings and privileges mean the ability, by the power of God bestowed in those blessings, to be different from the world as believers in Christ. We can live victoriously over sin and the self-life. (2) But they also mean the responsibility to do so, not in our own strength, of course, but through the ability God gives us through the Savior.

This poses a warning us: Spiritual privilege provides the basis for success, but it never guarantees it. Instead, spiritual privilege demands responsibility. This is part of the warning of this passage. But let’s not miss the context of this warning!

First, in the immediate context, chapter 10 is preceded in 9:24-25 with the image of the athlete as a challenging illustration for Christians. If a athlete is to (1) continue in the race to finish it, and (2) win the prize, he must rigorously train and discipline himself. He must restrain his appetites and compete according to the principles of discipline that promote winning or success; he must run in such a way that he may win (vs. 24).

Second, in verses 26 and 27 Paul shows how he had carefully applied this concept to his own life in view of the very real possibility of being disqualified himself from either finishing the race or from winning the crown. Later Paul could say, “I have finished the course,” and “in the future there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness” (2 Tim.4:7, 8).

Third, with this illustration in view, Paul then focused the church at Corinth on the history of the nation of Israel as an illustration of some of God’s people who were disqualified regardless of their salvation and the marvelous privileges they had (10:1-11).

Finally, he concluded these verses with an application of warning to Corinth and to us. First, we must each take heed lest we also fall (i.e. become disqualified). Second, we should each take courage in spite of the temptations and obstacles we face in the race because God is with us and He provides us with a way of life, the outcome of which is the capacity to handle temptation.

An Important Question: What has prompted all of this? With chapter 10, the Apostle is concluding his answer to their question about meats offered to idols. He begins with a warning in 10:1-13 and follows this up with an application specifically geared to the meat issue in 10:14–11:1. Of course, this involved the question of human taboos or doubtful things and the use of our liberty in Christ.

He divides the application into three parts: First, he deals with participation in heathen religious festivals (vv. 14-22), then with eating meat sold in the marketplace (vv. 23-26), and finally, with eating meat in a private home (10:27–11:1).

There are two key subjects which form the greater context for this concern about disqualification mentioned at the end of chapter 9. The first is that of Christian service or the ministry of those who should live by God’s wisdom to fulfill God’s purposes ( 1 Cor. 1:4, 5; 3:5f; 4:1f; 9:15-23). The second is that of Christian liberty and its proper use. Our liberty in Christ is not to be abused at the expense of others, or at the expense of our ministry to others, or at the expense of becoming disqualified from the rewards we can have for faithful service (see 1 Cor. 3:12f).

Though we do have liberty in Christ, and though God has given us all things freely to enjoy, and though we do have and can joy many things such as marriage, children, homes, recreation, and other forms of pleasure, such must never become our prime focus or goal. Compare God’s warnings to Israel (Deut. 6).

By disqualification we must understand that the apostle was not concerned that he (or we) might lose his (our) salvation. His personal concern and the issues here are: (1) abusing privileges, (2) exercising responsibilities, (3) glorifying the Lord, (4) failing or becoming disqualified in his work as an apostle so that he could not finish the race, and (5) the loss of rewards. This is a real threat for each of us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, as it was for the Corinthians and even for the Apostle Paul.

Therefore, to show just how real this threat is, he took the Corinthian church to an illustration in the history of Israel which, like the Church, had been blessed with tremendous blessings and privileges from God. If you need an illustration of people who had everything and blew it, then just take a look at Israel. And lest we become smug, we can be just like them and we have much more spiritually speaking than did they. We are all cut out of the same cloth, we are a fallen race whose chief characteristic is to go our own way seeking to live life by our own strategies for significance and happiness.

With this, let’s turn to the exposition of verses 1-13.

An Illustration:
The History of Israel and Her Spiritual Privileges
(10:1-5)

1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 and all ate the same spiritual food; 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness (emphasis mine).

The Plea Declared: What God wants us to know (vs.1a)

“For” connects chapter 10 with the image of the race and the possibility of disqualification of chapter 9. The connection flows from the truth that there is the responsibility for godly discipline because there is also the very real possibility of disqualification, as the life of Israel proves.

“I do not want you to be unaware (or ignorant).” This expresses the Apostle’s plea and what God wants us to grasp regarding the teaching and application of Israel’s history to our corporate and individual lives. I hope we do not miss an obvious general application here. This serves to emphasize that God does not want us to be living in a state of ignorance of the truth of Scripture because biblical truth is fundamental to spiritual health and running a good race. Because of our own sinfulness and because of the many deceptions of Satan, being ignorant or forgetting God’s truth is downright dangerous. God wants us to daily learn from and respond to the truth of Word of God. Hebrews 3:7 says, “today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation …”

The Privileges Described: What Israel experienced (vss. 1b-4)

The little adjective “all” is repeated five times in these verses. Just look at this. All together—the educated, the uneducated, the poor, the rich, the weak, the strong—all of them experienced the same supernatural blessings of God. This means that each one had the same opportunity and capacity to count for God to the maximum regardless of background. Now, what did they experience?

Supernatural Direction and Protection: “all were under the cloud” (vs. 1b)

“Were” is an imperfect of past continuing action. From the very beginning, as they left Egypt they all enjoyed the guidance of the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. As they journeyed on from Sinai to Kadesh they experienced God’s guidance and His protection.

“Under the cloud,” according to the context and the Greek word used here, this signifies “under” not simply in the sense of location, but under in the sense of protection; it was like being under the shelter of the Almighty.

So, (1) today, believers in Christ have the promise of God’s guidance and direction by the Scriptures and by the Spirit of God. Likewise, (2) being in Christ, all believers are hidden and protected in God, their Savior (Col. 3:3). In Him believers are super-conquerors (Rom. 8:32-32). In Him they are accepted and have access in the Beloved (Eph. 1:6).

Supernatural Liberation: “and all passed through the sea” (vs. 1c)

“Passed through” is best viewed as what we call a perfective aorist which, by the context here, looks at a completed, finished experience. The Israelites had been boxed in and from their perspective death was certain. There was nothing they could do in their power to be saved. They faced the Red Sea in front of them, had the armies of Pharaoh behind them, and the wilderness on either side. Yet God worked supernaturally: He parted the Red Sea, delivered Israel and destroyed Pharaoh’s armies. When it was all over they stood on the other side, delivered from the bondage of Egypt by the power and grace of God.

So today, men without Christ stand helpless, the bondslaves of sin and facing certain death. Yet, God has worked supernaturally through the person and work of His Son to provide a once-and-for-all salvation, a complete and perfect deliverance from the penalty and power of sin. As believers in Jesus Christ, Christians are a delivered people, a people who have passed out of death into life (see also Deut. 6:23; 1:30f).

“I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life, and will not be condemned, but has crossed over from death to life (John 5:24, NET Bible).

Supernatural Identification: “and all were baptized into Moses…” (vs. 2)

The word “baptized” signifies the truth of “identification.” It’s important to note here that the only people who got wet were the Egyptians. Though the fundamental idea of the Greek verb, baptizw, is “to dip, immerse, plunge or to place into,” the outworking of this metaphorically is that of identification. The word was used of a dyer of cloth who would dip a piece of cloth into the dye to change its color. It would go into the dye one color, like white, and come out another. In the process the identification of the cloth was changed from white to a blue or red piece of cloth.

By their obedience to Moses’ commands, and belief in what God was doing, they became identified with the leadership of Moses and united together as the people of God under Moses, God’s spokesman, and so also identified with God’s deliverance.

So likewise today, when a person trusts in the Lord Jesus, they become united into Him by the baptizing, identifying work of the Spirit, and to one another in the body of Christ. In this position in Christ all believers share all that Christ is—His righteousness, His Sonship, inheritance, death, resurrection, ascension, and session, etc., and we become members of one another with responsibilities to each other in that relationship.

Supernatural Nutrition: “and all ate the same spiritual food” (vs. 3)

This, of course, was the manna which God provided daily to sustain His people. So likewise, Christians have the Lord Jesus, the ‘Bread’ from heaven who sustains our life and upon whom we are to daily feed by living in the Word and by abiding in Him: counting on Him as our source of life.

Supernatural Libation: “and all drank the same spiritual drink” (vs. 4)

The Rock which gave water spoke of Christ who, as the preincarnate Christ, actually followed them, sustaining and meeting their needs in the wilderness, day after day. Likewise as believers today, Christ has given us the water of the Word and the refreshing water of the ministry of the Holy Spirit which sustains and ministers to those believers who will walk by the Spirit and drink from the fountains of the Word.

By the last three blessings Paul undoubtedly had the two ordinances of the church in mind—baptism (which portrays Spirit baptism), and the Lord’s supper (which portrays faith in the person of Christ and our need to continue to live by His life). But please note, these two ordinances portray spiritual facts and truth—truth that is to be appropriated by faith and by responsible Christian living. They portray our privileges and blessings in Christ, but they do not afford the believer with some magical protection by which we may presume upon the Lord and by which we may, in self-dependent rebellion, simply go our own way as did Israel, thinking that we have it made because of our blessings.

Now why this emphasis on the fact of Israel’s blessings? To stress the reality of the danger of disqualification to all of us. Privilege never guarantees success. We must exercise our responsibility to discipline our lives and to stay close to God. Thus in verse five we see how the nation became disqualified and was not able to enter the land of promise.

The People Disqualified: What happened to the privileged nation (vs. 5)

Deuteronomy 1:29-40 "Then I said to you, 'Do not be shocked, nor fear them. 30 'The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked, until you came to this place.' 32 "But for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God, 33 who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go.

34 "Then the LORD heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and took an oath, saying, 35 'Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers, 36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and to his sons I will give the land on which he has set foot, because he has followed the LORD fully.' 37 "The LORD was angry with me also on your account, saying, 'Not even you shall enter there. 38 'Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter there; encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 39 'Moreover, your little ones who you said would become a prey, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them, and they shall possess it. 40 'But as for you, turn around and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.'

Verse 5 of our passage in 1 Corinthians 10 begins with an emphatic statement of contrast. The word “nevertheless” is the Greek conjunction alla, the strongest conjunction of contrast in New Testament Greek. It emphatically brings out the contrast here between how many were blessed, ALL, versus how many with whom God was not pleased; with most of them (Deut. 1:34-40). Though gracious, this is tremendously understated. Over two million people came out of Egypt, 600,000 men able to go to war twenty years and older, their wives, approximately another 600,000, and probably 800,000 children or more. That’s 1,200,000 adults not including the mixed multitude from Egypt. But only two of the original 1,200,000 adults were allowed to go into the land of promise. The rest were laid low, literally, their carcasses were strewn across the wilderness. What an obituary column the paper could have had had they had a paper.

Application: Do we understand what this means? First, it means all but two were not only disciplined severely, but they were disqualified from their ministry and purpose as a special people of God (cf. Ex. 19:5,6; 33:14-16; Deut. 4:6-8). They utterly failed to accomplished God’s purposes for their lives. Here we have a timeless warning: THE PEOPLE WITH THE MOST APPROPRIATED THE LEAST.

Second, it also means that we too can be disqualified and fail in the ministry God has for us—and we have even more than they did (Eph. 1:3). This was Paul’s concern and needs to become our concern as well. May we not presume upon God and simply rest in the fact we are Christians who are blessed with every spiritual blessing, nor in the fact that we are in a Christian environment surrounded by godly people, or that we are in a Bible teaching church, as great as those blessings and privileges are. Let us not trust in our privileged position and think we have it made for, though heaven is secured for us by the power of God as a free gift by grace, we are not exempt from failure, from disqualification in the race and from the loss of rewards. Again, we can never lose our salvation, but we can fail to use our salvation responsibly. And like Israel, we will have to face the consequences of our failure to live and use our privileges in Christ responsibly.

12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13).

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm 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 forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles 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 all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, (Ephesians 6:10-18).

So what are some of those consequences?:

1. Loss of fellowship with the Lord and the power of God on our lives (Eph. 4:30; 1 Thess. 5:19; Psa. 66:18)

2. Loss of rewards (I Cor. 3:12f)

3. Loss of glory to God (I Cor. 6:17-19; 10:31).

4. Loss of fulfilling our goals or nonproductive (John 15:2f).

5. Ineffectiveness in the horizontal relationships in life (Mark 12:28-31; Eph. 5:22f depends on 5:18).

6. We become pawns of Satan and the world system around us (Eph. 6:10f; 1 Pet. 5:6-9).

7. Creates unhappiness and dissatisfaction (Ps. 32:3-4).

8. Brings divine discipline on our lives (Heb. 12:5f; 1 Cor. 5:3f; etc.).

What else are we to learn from the history of Israel? This grim record is punctuated with a warning and a special reminder on either end of those verses, verses 6b-10 which describe the sins of Israel (cf. vss.6a and 11).

Our Instruction:
Lessons We Should Learn from the History of Israel
(10:6-13)

6 Now these things happened as examples for us, that we should not crave evil things, as they also craved. 7 And do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, " The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play." 8 Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. 9 Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. 10 Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:6-13).

The Principle of Biblical Examples (vss. 6, 11)

“These things” of verses 6 and 11 refer to the history of Israel, specifically, (1) their blessings or privileges, (2) their failures, and (3) their disqualification from God’s purpose. But also and in general, “these things” refer to the whole Old Testament revelation and its truth regarding the history of God’s activities in Old Testament times.

Paul says, they “happened as examples for us.” “Happened” doesn’t mean these things just happened by chance. The verb is ginomai means “to come to be,” but not simply by chance. In other words, the things that occurred in the Old Testament were more than simple historical events; they were allowed by the sovereign will of God and recorded by God through the human authors of Scripture because God had us in mind; they provide us with analogies, illustrations, and Old Testament types designed to warn, instruct, and encourage. In general, they were designed to influence our lives positively for God and His purposes for us.

In other words, Israel’s history is divinely designed to speak to us. We should see it as it is, God’s personal word to us, not just to encourage us or bless us, but that we might be all that we were designed to be—instruments to the glory of God (2 Cor. 4:6, 7).

Well, then, what does Israel’s history say? What are we to learn from this particular passage which Paul has called to our attention?

The Purpose of These Examples (vss. 6b-10)

Many of the lessons of the Old Testament are positive, providing comfort, hope, encouragement, etc. But because of our own sinful natures some lessons are negative and provide us with instructive warnings. They are designed to halt attitudes and behavior that are inconsistent with our new life in Christ. Such are these negative examples. They show what we should not be as well as what can happen to us if, like Israel, we take our blessings for granted and presume upon the Lord.

Since disqualification is always a real danger, the Corinthians’ complacency toward the Word, their emphasis on the showy gifts, their externalism in worship, and their strong tendencies toward self indulgence, required immediate correction or they too would be disqualified. The Corinthian church did not have a long ministry. They failed to take heed.

Let’s note two principles:

First, Christian freedom was never meant to lead to self indulgence, but to inner self-controls that lead, in turn, to servant-like living that thinks of others above ourselves; serving according to the will of God (Gal.5:13; I Cor. 9:24-27; 10:23, 31, 32).

Second, true freedom is not the freedom to do as we please and run wild and unrestrained—that is its own form of slavery and the worst kind. Rather, true freedom is the capacity to do as we ought by the grace and power of God (see 2 Pet.2:18-19). Freedom means the responsibility to make right choices which starts by resting in God’s grace and supply for being Christ-like in our behavior.

Perhaps a good illustration of restrained freedom is a train. When is a train free to do what it was designed to do? When it’s off the track and unrestrained, or when it is restrained by the tracks on which it was designed to operate?

Therefore, paralleling the five-fold blessings described above, Paul now describes a five-fold failure, all of which occurred from their failure to live responsibly in the light of their new blessings in the Lord. One of the chief thrusts of Scripture is that our new life in Christ, with all of the resultant blessings, should lead to changed lives, lives that are consistent with our calling (cf. Rom. 12:1f; Eph. 4:1f; 5:1f; Titus 2:10f; I John 3:1f).

So we have here five sins which are related to each other as root to fruit. Verse 6b shows us the root, and verses 7-10 show us the natural fruit. Each of these mentioned had a specific historical circumstance behind it, but the first takes us to the heart of the problem.

So what were the problem sins of Israel that Paul warns against?

Insatiable cravings and Inordinate desires (vs. 6b)

1 Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the LORD; and when the LORD heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. 2 The people therefore cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died out. 3 So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD BURNED among them.

4 And the rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, "Who will give us meat to eat? 5 "We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, 6 but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna. " 7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. 8 The people would go about and gather it and grind it between two millstones or beat it in the mortar, and boil it in the pot and make cakes with it; and its taste was as the taste of cakes baked with oil. 9 And when the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.… 34 So the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had been greedy (Numbers 11:1-9, 34).

13 They quickly forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel (Psalm 106:13).

Literally, the Greek text says, if I might coin a word, “that we should not be cravers (those who crave) of evil things.” “Crave” is a noun which means, “one who craves.” The Greek word, epiqumhths is an intensive compound noun. It comes from one word, “upon,” and another word, “to desire.” It means to keep your desire fixed upon something. This noun, plus the present tense of the verb “to be,” in the verb that follows (epiqumew), describes this as an enduring disposition, state, or condition of the heart or mind, a condition of greed or craving of the heart.

This brings out the principles of (a) insatiability and (b) loss of control. Things never satisfy or fulfill as we expect or hope, and in our pursuit of them they can literally dominate us. When we crave something, it creates a mad and fruitless search for happiness and fulfillment in the thing desired which it can never provide.

1. When we lust for things we are in essence worshipping and seeking our happiness, security, and meaning in those details regardless of their nature—position, power, prestige, possession, pleasure, etc.

2. When we lust for things, we are at the same time operating under the demonic and human delusion that things have the god-like ability to bring happiness and security and significant, etc. The one who craves something treats that something as if it were God with the capacity to make him or her happy and secure. This is a form of idolatry.

What we must not fail to grasp is that craving things stems from a deeper root problem, from wrong perspectives, values, belief systems, and priorities.

The root problem the Israelites faced was that their hearts were never truly fixed upon their spiritual blessings or upon the Lord. While some meant business with the Lord, the majority didn’t and things became their treasure. The result? Things also became their master (cf. Matt. 6: 24; 1 Pet. 1:13-15).

So, when our perspectives, belief systems, values, and priorities are wrong, we become like Israel who craved evil things. Of course, some of what they craved was not evil in itself, but it became evil because they put it before the Lord. Here is a spiritual and psychological law. Our view or perspective of life and what we believe will make us happy and secure always determines our values, our values in turn always determine our goals, and our goals always determine our pursuits, that for which we thirst. Either we are those who thirst after righteousness, or we are those who crave after evil things. And all of this determines our manner of life, our behavior.

The history of Israel should help us get our perspectives right, then our values, and then our priorities. This in turn should result in one who “thirsts after righteousness” and who is thus under God’s control, rather than on who “lusts after evil things” and comes under the control of the sinful nature.

1. For the concept of our perspectives compare Matthew 6:19-20; I Peter 1:13; and Luke 12:15, 23.

2. For that of our values compare Matthew 6:21; and I Peter 1:18-19.

3. For the concept of priorities compare Matthew 6:33; I Peter 1:17.

Now an important question: What exactly do the evil things include? Were they evil in themselves? As mentioned, no, not always. Israel craved the past pleasures of Egypt as summarized in their cry, “Give us meat to eat” (Num. 11:4-34; cf. especially verses 33-34). In principle however, the evil things refer to two categories:

1. That which is always evil and contrary to the will of God, like idolatry, immorality, etc.,

2. It may also refer to that which in itself is not evil, but which becomes evil because of our disposition toward the thing desired.

Some things may be legitimate in and of themselves like eating meat that has been sacrificed to idols, but it may not God’s will for us because of other principles that apply. Will it cause a brother to stumble, or have I become obsessed with it? If so, then it becomes evil. God knows what is best for us, and if we continue to crave something He may give it to us, but the results are often bad (Ps.106:15).

Legitimate things become evil when they possess us and become the objects of our devotion, or our security, or our happiness rather than the Lord. One of the first things that will take a person away from God and that can lead to disqualification so that spiritual privileges are abused is a desire for something other than what God has planned for us. Or to put it another way, we can know we have moved away when we begin seeking our happiness in the details of life rather than in the Lord, or when we value things more than God or our walk with Him and the ministries He has for us.

In this regard we should note that the four following sins are a by product of the above, a further degenerative manifestation of the sinful nature left uncontrolled. In our society today these sins are rampant—not just in the unbelieving world but in the church, the body of believers. Why? Because we live in an extremely materialistic society, a world of ‘things,’ a world where no matter where you turn the things of the world are vying for our attention and aspiration. O, that we would remember John admonition, “do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him” (1John 2:15).

When we fall into the condition of craving things or loving the things of the world, unless this is arrested, we become more and more disobedient, falling deeper and deeper into sin as we see illustrated in the example (bad example) of the Israelites. Today it is common to see believers caught up in idolatrous materialism (coveting everything in sight), in adultery and immorality, in impatience and dissatisfaction, and in rebellion to authority in the home, in the church, and in government.

Idolatrous Behavior (vs. 7)

Ephesians 5:5 and Colossians 3:5 teach us that any form of covetousness or greed is a form of idolatry. One does not have to bow down to an idol of wood or stone to be guilty of this idolatry. It can apply to anything men can covet: popularity, position, power, prestige, pleasure, possessions, marriage, or just being noticed by someone.

Why does it become idolatry? Because it becomes a form of worship wherein we are seeking from these objects of worship what only God can give (Ps. 62:1f).

Immoral Actions (vs. 8)

The immorality referred to here is sexual immorality. The Greek word is porneuw, “to commit fornication.” It is a general term and refers to just about any kind of sexual misconduct. Sex, as with all of the things that God has designed for our blessing, is good and beautiful. It was designed for procreation and for our happiness and enjoyment within the framework of marriage and a loving relationship of deep commitment for life. It was meant to add flavor and quality to life, but it ceases to fulfill its purpose when we go on the mad search for happiness in another person or just in marriage itself. We can become obsessed with marriage, with romance, and with sex. In the process we can lose the capacity to savor sex within the confines of marriage, so we go looking for what we visualize as better, more exciting, more rewarding. We go looking for excitement in the forbidden. Ours is a society that has become totally preoccupied with sex. It’s worshipped like a god. Sex seems almost to ooze from the pores of our American life. The moral erosion has been accurately captured by Sorokin who wrote about this over forty years ago and, of course, things have progressively grown worse. He writes,

…in the last century, much literature has centered on the personalities and adventures of subnormal and abnormal people,—prostitutes and mistresses, street urchins and criminals, the mentally and emotionally deranged, and other social derelicts. There has been a growing preoccupation with the subsocial sewers,—the broken home of disloyal parents and unloved children, the bedroom of a prostitute, a “Canary Row” brothel, a den of criminals, a ward of the insane, a club of dishonest politicians, a street-corner gang of teen-age delinquents, the office of a huckster, the ostentatious mansion of a cynical business Mogul, a hate-laden prison, a “street care named desire,” a crime-ridden waterfront, the courtroom of a dishonest judge, the jungle of cattle-murdering and meat-packing yards. These and hundreds of similar scenes are exemplary of a large part of modern Western literature, which has become increasingly a veritable museum of human pathology.

There has been a parallel transmutation of the experience of love. From the pure and noble or the tragic, it has progressively devolved. The common and prosaic, but usually licit sexual love that is portrayed in the literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries has in the last fifty years been increasingly displaced by various forms of abnormal, perverse, vulgar, picaresque, exotic, and even monstrous forms,—the sex adventures of urbanized cavemen and rapists, the loves of adulterers and fornicators, of masochists and sadists, of prostitutes, mistresses, playboys, and entertainment personalities. Juicy “loves,” “its,” “ids,” “orgasms,” and “libidos” are seductively prepared and skillfully served with all the trimmings.

Designed to excite the fading lust of readers, and thereby increase the sales of these literary sex-tonics, much of contemporary Western literature has become Freudian through and through. It is preoccupied with “dirt-painting” of genital, anal, oral, cutaneous, homosexual, and incestuous “loves.” It is absorbed in literary psychoanalysis of various complexes,—the castration, the Oedipus, the Tetanus, the Narcissus, and other pathological forms. It has degraded and denied the great, noble, and joyfully beautiful values of normal married love.¹

Insurgent and Impatient Opposition (vs. 9)

We live in a society of the ‘quick fix’ and in a time when almost everyone is bent on immediate gratification. This problem is not new; it was Israel’s problem, and it could also be ours. In fact it is a sure sign of immaturity and carnality. John T. Watkins suggests that three patterns underlie many of the impulse-control problems we see in our society today.

1. Infantilely believing that one has to have what one wants, or infantilely demanding, dictating, or insisting that desires be satisfied at all costs;

2. Eegocentrically believing that circumstances must not be difficult and that life should be easy;

3. Believing that any difficulty, delay, or inhibition is too awful to stand.²

Insolent Unbelief (vs. 10)

Insolent unbelief is rebellion to authority and God’s established chains of command. People always want to do their own thing when they are controlled by a craving after evil things. When people are like this, they rebel against being accountable to anyone because it might hinder getting what they crave.

The Principle of Instruction (vs. 11)

Again Paul repeats the principle of verse 6, but now he adds “were written for our instruction.” The word “instruction” is the Greek nouqhsia. It literally means “to put sense into the mind.” But in its use it connotes two concepts:

1. It carries the idea of “blame or censure” and involves correcting something that is wrong in one’s life by the exposition and study of the Word through teaching/preaching, in a one-on-one situation, or through personal Bible study.

2. But it also includes the idea of an appeal to the volition. It looks for a response based upon the instruction and truth of Scripture (cf. 2 Tim 3: 16).

Scripture warns us, and calls for a response.

Our Exhortation:
To Take Heed in Light of the Peril
(10:12)

“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (10:12)

The Presumption: “let him who thinks he stands”

“Therefore,” is the Greek, %wste which points to an inference drawn from the preceding examples. It means that in light of the history of Israel and God’s intended purpose for recording this in Scripture and the ever impending peril this illustrates, the following must be taken seriously.

The clause “who thinks he stands” looks at the problem of presumptive self-confidence or over-confidence. Not over-confidence in the Lord, but in ourselves: presumption.

The word “thinks” is the Greek dokew. It is used of subjective judgment, judgment that is not based on objective facts. We may think we are safe from the behavior and sins of Israel, and we may think so because of our maturity, or years of faithful service, or present love for the Lord, or because of past victories, or abilities, or spiritual gifts, or accomplishments. But to think this way is to presume on the Lord. Actually, every step of our walk is contested by the three enemies of the believer, and only moment-by-moment dependence, watching carefully how we walk, is sufficient to overcome (Eph. 5:15-17).

Victory or deliverance is never based on our record; its basis is always the work of God (Read about the battle with Amalek in Exodus 17).

The Injunction: “take heed”

So what are we to do? We are to “take heed.” This is the Greek word blepw. Literally, blepw refers to the activity of the eyes and means “to see, to look at,” or “be able to see.” But it is also used metaphorically of the activity of the mind, of mental sight, and may come to mean “to direct one’s attention to something, consider, note carefully, or watch out for, beware of.” Included in this are the ideas of discernment, perception, or discovery. So we are never to take our walk for granted and just mosey along, indifferent and careless to everything around us, assuming we have it made for whatever reason.

Instead, according to the meaning and use of this Greek word and the overall context of the New Testament, we should do two things:

1. We are to walk carefully. We are to be on alert and aware of the dangers and temptations around us. We are to be on guard to our own areas of weakness and propensities to sin (cf. Rom. 7:15-25; Eph. 5:16; 6:13; Heb. 3:13; 4:1; 1 Pet.5:8).

2. We are to seek to discover and deal with those areas and things in our lives that are contrary to the Word and sound spiritual health (see Prov. 28:13; Ps. 119:59; 32:1-7; 1 John 1:5-10).

But just how do we take heed and obey this warning and what are some of the things that are necessary to do this? Taking heed means we must:

1. Recognize our weakness and need of the Lord’s constant help (Eph. 6:10f; Heb. 12:1; 1 Pet. 5:6-8)

2. Recognize and know the times in which we live and the danger this poses to our spiritual lives (Rom. 13:11-14; 2 Tim. 3:1f; 1 Thess. 5:1-11).

3. Recognize and be alert to the fact of our three enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil and his demonic forces, deceptions and strategies (1 John 2:15- 17; Jam. 4:3-6; Rom. 7:15-25; 8:4-7; Eph. 2:2; & 6:10-13).

4. Be prayerful. One of the ways that we can take heed and be watchful is in prayer (Eph.6:18; Col. 4:2). Prayer journals can be a very helpful way to remember.

5. Study and meditate on the Word regularly through daily time in the Word and by regularly assembling ourselves together (Ps. 119:15, 104, 105, 130, 165, 147, 148; Heb.3:7; & 10:24, 25).

6. Maintain right associations and fellowship with the saints especially around the Word (cf. Ps 119:61 with vs. 62; 1 Thess. 5:11, Heb. 10:23-24, and 1 Cor. 15:33,34).

7. Walk by means of the Spirit. Remember it is the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin, applies the Word to our hearts, and enables us to appraise and discern all things, including our own lives according to the Word, the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:15,16).

The Intention: “lest he fall”

To what does “fall” refer in verse 11? To carnality? Yes, but more. It refers to the concern of continued carnality that can lead to disqualification and failure to run the race God has laid out before us.

… but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified (1 Cor. 9:27).

Just how then, can we be disqualified? What was Paul’s concern? I think he had in mind four ways that we may be disqualified from service. One is permanent while the other three may be only temporary depending on how we respond to what God is doing in our lives (cf. 1 Cor. 11:30-32).

1. He may remove our power for service: this means a loss of effectiveness. Samson is an illustraiton (see 1 Thess. 1:5)

2. He may remove our performance: this means God may take away our ministry. King Saul is an illustration.

3. He may remove our presence: this means God may take away our life. This is the sin unto death. The man guilty of the sin of incest in 1 Corinthians 5 illustrates this truth, though it appears, according to 2 Corinthians 2 that the person involved repented and was spared (cf. 1 Cor. 11:30-32; 1 John 5:16-17).

4. He may remove our prize: This means God may take away our rewards or crown(s) (2 Tim.4:6-8; 1 Pet. 5:4).

Our Fortification:
To Trust God’s Provision and
Plan for the Problem of Temptation
(10:13)

“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it” (10:13).

We should note that this verse begins without a connective. It simply and abruptly begins with, “No temptation has taken you …” Why? After the above warnings one might just think, “who then can possibly stand?” So Paul begins abruptly and emphatically in order to stress a point. It is called asyndeton by grammarians. May I suggest that it is designed to draw our attention to God’s faithfulness, concern, awareness, and provision in the human problem of temptation. There is no cause for undue alarm or frustration, only caution, responsible behavior, and trust in the divine provision of God for whatever life might bring. The Lord is faithful, and furthermore, He is in control.

But what does Paul mean by “temptation?” The word used is the Greek peirasmos. It is used of (1) solicitation to evil or (2) of testing in the sense of a trial, of that which tests one’s character for good or for bad.

Temptations to sin come from Satan and our own sinful propensities or indwelling sin. The Lord, because of His holy character, never tempts men to sin (Jam. 1:13). However, God does test us with trials of various kinds and for various reasons to reveal our character, show our loyalty, to demonstrate His power, to develop our faith and dependence on Him, to cause us to grow, and to manifest Christ’s character in us.

So what are trials? They become mirrors of reproof and instruments of growth. In the trials of life we are, of course, sometimes tempted to sin in some form of rebellion or unbelief. But when this happens the temptation to sin comes from Satan or from our own sinful disposition and never from the Lord.

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death (James 1:13-15).

Verse 13 declares three things about our temptation and struggles with sin that are tremendously instructive: (1) the experience of our temptation is common to all of us, (2) the environment of our temptation is under God’s control, and (3) the escape from temptation is conferred by God.

The Experience of Our Temptation Is Common to all of Us

Regarding the commonality of temptation, may I suggest three things Paul is saying about temptation or testing in this first statement.

First, he is not saying that since this is a common experience, i.e., we all have the problem, let’s just throw in the towel, after all we are just human. This is not an excuse to give into temptation.

Second, and primarily, Paul is saying that our temptations are never unique just to us. They are common to all men, so we should not seek to hide behind the idea that our problem is different and thereby try to excuse our sin by its uniqueness. We must responsibly face, by faith and obedience, whatever the Lord allows into our lives.

But third, while there is a warning here, there is also great comfort and encouragement in knowing that we are not alone and that others have faced similar and even worse testings and temptations and have endured by the strength and faithfulness of God (cf. Heb. 11:2ff).

So first, Paul has warned us about the commonality of our temptations. Now, based on the faithfulness of God, He points out two more things that we can count on the Lord for in temptation.

The Environment of Our Temptation Is Under God’s Control

Now, this may seem strange to us, especially when being overcome by temptations, but the promise here is that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to handle. He knows our areas of weakness, the things that are controlling our lives, the motives, the fears, the strategies we are using to find happiness, etc. He knows our level of spiritual maturity or immaturity, and all the particulars of our lives at any particular moment.

So the point is He guards us against any temptation or testing which we could not handle. If that is true, we might ask, then, why do we keep on sinning?

When temptation comes we may not handle it, but it is not because God’s provision is not available or adequate, but rather it is because either we won’t avail ourselves of it or because we are too immature spiritually to know how. The Christian life is a life of faith, moment-by -moment, but faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). The Christian life is a life of growth (see 1 Pet. 2:1-2). Jesus said, “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32). Further, our inability to appropriate God’s deliverance may be because we have presumed upon our blessings, or because we have not been careful in our daily walk with God.

This also means when temptation or testing comes, (1) we can handle it through growth and maturity, and (2) that the Lord has allowed it for His own purposes, unless we are presuming upon the Lord. Let me briefly illustrate. The way to victory is often through the back door of defeat. Through our defeats and our battle with sin, God shows us that our strategies for making life work, such as gambling or alcohol or drugs or whatever a person has been pursuing, are totally inadequate for peace and life. These include all the various things men do in their search for meaning or to cover up their pain. In other words, we often have to come to the end of ourselves before we will truly pursue God and His plan for our lives.

So, this verse says that God limits the temptations He allows into our lives in accordance with His all-wise purposes.

WARNING: This does not mean, however, that we can take the Lord for granted, and ignore our responsibilities regarding temptation. For instance, we are told:

1. To flee from certain temptations (1 Cor.10:14; 1 Tim. 6:11; 2 Tim. 2:22). A classic illustration is Joseph with Potiphar’s wife in Genesis 39. This means avoiding those situations and environments that increase our temptation. One of the ways we do this is by support from friends and the right environment. “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals or character’” (1 Cor. 15:33).

2. To pray regarding temptation, “lead us not into temptation” (Matt. 6:13).

3. We are not to tempt the Lord (Deut. 6:16; Matt. 4:6,7). How do we tempt God? By unbelief, by despondency, by not trusting in His power and aid, and by being careless, unguarded, or by failing to take heed (1 Cor. 10:12).

So then, we are shown in Scripture that it is always wise to avoid unnecessary temptation and never to presume upon the Lord or tempt Him by playing with fire. When we do, we are going to get burned (Prov. 5:8).

Finally, we come to the third fact that we are to learn about temptation.

The Escape from Temptation Is Conferred by God

First, note the words “with” and “also.” This teaches that when we are walking with the Lord and trusting in His provision, i.e., not presuming upon Him (taking Him for granted), or tempting Him, then temptations and escapes always go in pairs.

Principle: There is no temptation without the corresponding escape, unless, of course, we are deliberately brazen and careless.

Second, we should note that the verse reads “the way of escape” and not simply “an escape.” Why? I think we are being warned here about seeking solutions to either temptations or testings that are not biblical. “The way” of escape refers to God’s methods for dealing with the problems of life as outlined in the Word of God (cf. Ps. 119:45, 133, & 165; Prov. 3:5-7; 14:12).

Third, the word “escape” is the Greek ekbasin which literally means “a way out.” But it is only used two times in the New Testament, here and in Hebrews 13:7. In Hebrews 13:7 it means “issue, result, outcome.” But it also had this usage or meaning in extra biblical writings.

This is significant. May I suggest something here? In the Hebrews passage it is used of that which is the outcome of a manner of life. There the outcome is godly character, but this is the result of a close walk with God, the fruit of men who have spent their life in the Word, the fruit of spiritual maturity.

Now what’s the point? It is my conviction that this is at least part of what Paul had in mind when he used ekbasin here in this passage. Our means of deliverance or the way out of temptation is not just the result of some one thing or some sudden deliverance which the Lord supplies like a man being snatched out of the fire. Though at times that may occur, that is not the primary promise here and this is suggested or supported by the words “may be able to endure it.” It’s not removal or escape from temptation like having a tooth extracted by a dentist that God is promising, but the ability to bear up under it, the capacity to handle it without sinning. It’s not removal or escape from temptation that God is promising, but the ability to bear up under it, the capacity to handle it without sin by the power of God. One of our problems today is that people are looking for quick and easy solutions and too often are being falsely promised the same by preachers who prey on the moods and mentality of our day where people want easy solutions without the pain of discipline and growth.

So instead, we have two important points:

• “The way out” is itself the fruit of something, an outcome, the outcome of adhering to the principles of the Word on a daily basis. Of course, the more we grow and the closer our walk with the Lord, the greater our ability to handle testings or temptation as long as we are taking heed to our walk.
• “The way out” means the ability to handle the temptation, not necessarily its removal, though ability to handle temptation often means our ability and responsibility to flee temptation.

This view is further supported by the next point which explains what the ekbasin, “the way out” means.

Fourth, the verse closes with “that you may be able to bear it.” The NASV, the KJV, the NIV translate this as a purpose or result clause. In other words, God gives the way of escape in order that or so that we can endure the temptation or testing without falling. But that is probably not the best way to take this clause grammatically according to two outstanding Greek grammars, those of A. T. Robertson and J. H. Moulton (The Prolegomena). Grammatically, it is appositional or explanatory telling us what the way of escape is. The NEB may have had this in mind when they translated this, “enabling you to bear it.” We could translate it, “the way of escape, the enablement to endure.”

The point is, “the way out” is the fruit, the outcome of walking with the Lord while also the ability to endure or to handle the testing or temptation. God, by His grace through the provision of fellowship with Him, provides the capacity to handle temptation and it is our responsibility to responsibly appropriate that into our life.

Explanation of “The Way of Escape”

But what is this way of escape that God provides in some specifics? They include the basic biblical principles of deliverance as:

• walking by the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:16; Rom. 8:2f).
• living in the Word (Ps. 119:9; 2 Tim. 2:16,17; Heb.3:7f; 4:12).
• fleeing or the principle of avoiding undue temptation (1 Cor. 10:14).
• praying faithfully and in faith (Matt. 6:13; Eph. 6:18).
• watching and controlling our mental processes and attitudes (2 Cor. 10:3-5; Phil. 4:8).
• walking circumspectly, soberly (I Pet. 1:13; 4:7; 5:8).
• living by faith (2 Cor. 5:7; Gal. 5:5).
• reckoning on our position in Christ (Rom.6:1f).
• seeking the right associations and fellowship (Heb.10:24-25; 1 Cor. 15:33, 34).
• having right perspectives, values, priorities and pursuits (Matt. 6:21f; Tim. 6:6f).
• reflecting on the consequences. Sin always has its wages—loss of fellowship, divine discipline, loss of effective ministry, destroyed relationships, loss of rewards, and most of all, dishonor to the Lord.

So, what has this text taught us?

1. From the greatest blessing can come the greatest fall. Privilege never guarantees success.

2. Privileges demand responsibility. We must never therefore take our privileges for granted or in time we may become disqualified.

3. Our privileges must be seen and used in view of divine goals and priorities. They are never an end in themselves.

4. When our lives become wrapped up in our privileges and the blessings of God rather than in God the Blessor, we lose the real joy of the blessing and fall into the empty pursuit of the details of life which, rather than providing satisfaction, can disqualify us.

5. In the light of the peril, we must walk circumspectly; we must take heed to our walk, keep our eyes on the Lord, and use our blessings in Christ for godly living. If we will do this, we will develop the ability to handle temptation and avoid disqualification.

---

1 Charles R. Swindoll, Strengthening Your Grip, Word: Waco Texas, 1982, pp. 57-58 quoting Pitirim Sorokin, The American Sex Revolution, Porter Sargent, Boston, 1956, p. 19

2 John T. Watkins, "The Rational-Emotive dynamics of impulsive Disorders" in Albert Ellis and Russel Greiger, Handbook of Rational-Emotive Therapy , Springer, New York, 1977, p. 135.

A little boy was told by his doctor that he could save his little sister’s life by giving her some blood. The six-year-old girl was near death, a victim of a disease from which the boy had made a marvelous recovery two years earlier. Her only chance for restoration was a blood transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the illness. Since the children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor.

“Johnny, would you like to give your blood for Mary?” the doctor asked. The boy hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled, and said, “Sure Doc. I’ll give my blood for my sister.” Soon the two children were wheeled into the operating room—Mary, pale and thin; Johnny, robust and the picture of health. Neither spoke, but when their eyes met, Johnny grinned.

As his blood siphoned into Mary’s veins, one could almost see new life come into her tired body. The ordeal was almost over when Johnny’s brave little voice broke the silence, “Say Doc, when do I die.”

It was only then that the doctor realized what the moment of hesitation, the trembling of the lip, had meant earlier. Little Johnny actually thought that in giving his blood to his sister he was giving up his life! And in that brief moment, he had made his great decision!

True love is this, that a person lay down his life for another (John 15:13). Little Johnny had done just that. At least he had done that in his mind. While his life demonstrates true love, with its other-centered focus and its all consuming passion for the welfare of others, it also demonstrates a crucial aspect of love that needs to be addressed more than ever by Christians today: Love must mature. It must relate to everyday life and be grounded in knowledge and insight.

Love, at its heart, is sacrificial, but it is also wise. Love cannot be reduced to the once-for-all act of offering oneself for another (though this might be the greatest demonstration of it), it must also live day to day with people. It must—if it is ever to approach Biblical love—attempt to clearly understand what it is doing and actions that befit it. It is this day-to-day aspect of Biblical love that is the special burden of this discussion. It is also the special concern of Paul in the book of Philippians, especially Phil 1:9-11. Let’s read the text and reflect on it for awhile.

1:9 And I pray this, that your love may abound even more and more in knowledge and every kind of insight 1:10 so that you can decide what is best, and so be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ, 1:11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

Out of his own great love for the Philippians, Paul prays for their love for one another. He prays that their love may abound so that they may be able to discern what is best…so that they may live lives filled with righteousness to the glory and praise of God. Did you notice an obvious fact, however: Paul is telling them his prayer. He’s sharing with them the actual content of his prayer. Why? Probably because this gives his prayer an exhortational force. That is, by sharing his prayers in this manner he is implicitly encouraging them to act on it!¹ While some people pray long prayers which are short on importance, this is a short prayer, long on importance.

Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer told the following story regarding prayer: It seems that a certain minister was in the habit of profound prayers, oftentimes resorting to words beyond the ken of his simple flock. This went on week after week, to the dismay and frustration of the congregation. At last, a wee Scottish woman in the choir ventured to take the matter into her own hands. On a given Sunday, as the minister was waxing his most eloquently verbose, the little woman reached across the curtain separating the choir from the pulpit. Taking a firm grasp on the frock tail of the minister, she gave it a yank, and was heard to whisper, “Jes’ call ‘im Fether, and ask ‘im for somethin’.”

So Paul doesn’t scrape the Milky Way, per se, or review of all of his latest theological insights—you know, to impress God—but calls God “Fether,” so to speak, and then makes his request known to God. Again, it’s a small prayer, but it contains huge, life-changing requests!

Paul says, “And I pray this, that your love abound even more and more….” Paul knows that even though they have struggles in the church and even though there is some selfishness—look at 2:3-4 and 4:2-3—he nonetheless recognizes the love they do have and asks God to grow it. He wants their love to abound (perisseuh) for the day of Christ, that is, to grow magnificently, not just in “dribs and drabs.” ^2,3 Theirs is to be a growing, deep, and abiding love.

“True love is a splendid host,” says, John Henry Jewett (The Epistles of St. Peter). “There is love whose measure is that of an umbrella. There is love whose inclusiveness is that of great marquee. And there is love whose comprehension is that of the immeasurable sky. The aim of the New Testament is the conversion of the umbrella into a tent and the merging of the tent in the glorious canopy of the all-enfolding heavens…Push back the walls of family love until they include the neighbor; again push back the walls until they include the stranger; again, push back the walls until they comprehend the foe.”

Paul says he wants the Philippians’ love for one another to push back and to overflow. It is to include everyone. The Greek term translated “overflow” is perisseuh. It connotes the idea of “abundance,” “richness,” and “supply unlimited.” It was a special word for Paul. He employed it to refer to God’s gracious acts on our behalf, and to the attendant blessing in our lives and our ensuing responsibility. Thus it refers to the abundant grace of salvation (Ephesians 1:8) and the abundance of our righteousness which the Spirit wants to produce in us. We have abundant joy because of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13). Further, we should overflow in our work for the resurrected Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58) and as Paul says here in Phil 1:9, we ought to overflow in our love for others. We ought to have an abundance of love for our Christian brothers and sisters.

Therefore, Paul wants our love to richly abound to others, but it is a certain kind of love he has in mind. It is not just warm sentiment. That is, it is not a love that is divorced from practical wisdom, truth, and day to day living. It is a love that is to pour over into the lives of others on the basis of “knowledge” (epignwsis) and “every kind of insight” (pash aisqhsei). Only with such a foundation of knowledge and insight can real love lead to a life of discernment and a life filled with the fruit of righteousness. But what does Paul mean specifically by knowledge and every kind of insight? The first term knowledge is not what we generally think of when we speak about knowledge. We say that a person is “knowledgeable” or we refer to a particular discipline as a “field of knowledge.” In these cases we are basically referring to knowledge as factual information about this or that subject. But that is not what Paul has in mind here. The knowledge about which he speaks and the insight to which he refers is the kind of understanding that is able to bridge the gap between spiritual realities and Biblical truths and their application in every day situations. It is knowledge of God and it’s application in life via penetrating insight into practical situations in relationships. The two terms basically combine to express the single idea of personal, spiritual wisdom for godly living.⁴

Sydney B. Simon has said that “wisdom is grown when knowledge is lived.” This is the truth Paul is pushing in this passage.

There was once a very wise king. Wise because he knew how to get to the heart of an issue, as it were, and then give a wise and just ruling. One day two women appeared before him, each was a prostitute. The first woman stepped forward and pleaded her case. “My lord, the king,” she said, “I have a complaint against this woman. You see, the two of us live in the same house. I had a baby and then three days after my baby was born, this woman too had a child. Now there were only the two of us living in the house at the time.”

She continued, “During the night, my lord, this woman’s child died, when she lay on him. So, she quietly got up, made her way to where I, your servant, was laying, and took my son. She took my son, put him at her breast, and then put her dead son at my breast. When I got up in the morning to nurse and care for my son, I found that he was dead. But when the sun came up and the light entered the room, I quickly realized that it wasn’t my son after all.”

She no sooner had finished explaining this that the second woman looked at the king and angrily retorted, “No, the living son is mine and the dead son is hers.” Quickly the first woman responded and cried out, “No, the dead son is yours and the living child is mine.” And there they were standing, yelling and arguing before the king.

The wise king thought for a moment and summarized the situation: “The first woman says, My son is alive and the other’s is dead,” and the second says, “No, your son is dead and mine is alive.”

Immediately the king turned to his attendants and requested that they bring him a sword. So the attendant quickly brought a sword. Without hesitation the king said, “Cut the living child in two. Give half to one of the women and half to the other.”

The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved with compassion for her son and asked the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby. Don’t kill him.” But the other woman interrupted her and demanded that neither of them should have the baby. “Cut the living boy in half,” she demanded.

Then the wise king, Solomon by name, gave his ruling. Give the living child to the first woman. Do not kill him. She is his mother.”—1 Kings 3:16-28

Solomon had asked God for wisdom and the Lord certainly answered! Solomon, by the grace of God, was enabled to penetrate into the true nature of people, and according to God’s truth and justice, made an incredible ruling where love and truth were upheld. The lie was rooted out and the correct woman got her child back. So it is with us. Let us pray that the Lord enables our love for him and others to overflow in knowledge and every insight into life and the various circumstances in which we find ourselves. We need to learn to “live out” Biblical truth in a practical, every day kind of way. Vague notions of Scriptural truths, coupled with fuzzy understandings of how those truths apply in real situations, leads to a Christianity which has neither eyes nor a heart: it cannot see where it is going and doesn’t really care that much either. As Aristotle said, “Generalities are the refuge of the weak mind.”

But there are profound reasons Paul wants their love to abound with knowledge and depth of sight. Actually he gives two purposes for this. The first is so that they might be able to discern what is best…and the second is so that God will be glorified by the righteous quality of their lives. Let’s look at the first of these.

First, Paul says that he wants their love to abound in knowledge and every insight, i.e., depth of insight (so NIV), so that they might be able to decide what is best, that is discern what is best. Ah, yes, discernment. That rare ethical virtue that recognizes, as Philip Sydney has said, “that one should never wake a sleeping lion” and “a lean compromise is better than a fat lawsuit.” Discernment is arrived at by hard thinking and attentive listening, by thinking about the way things really are and the implications of one’s beliefs and actions. It involves clear perception or as Winston Churchill has said, discernment “is getting the true picture, whatever it is.”

The verb decide/discern (dokimazein) in Philippians 1:10 carries the idea “to prove something as credible, worthy, or true by testing it.” It was used to refer to the testing of metals and coins to appraise their worth. It is used in Luke 14:19 when a man who was invited to the great banquet said that he could not come because he had just bought five yoke of oxen and he needed to go and test them out, to see if they were any good. The identical expression, “decide what is best” appears in Romans 2:18 where it refers to a Jew approving a higher moral standard according to the Law and the revealed will of God.

In 1995 Jane Brody reported in the New York Times that Boston researchers had demonstrated for the first time that the eye has two functions.

“Just as the human ear controls both hearing and balance,” she writes, “the eye…not only permits conscious vision but also independently registers light impulses that regulate the body’s internal daily clock. Even people who are totally blind and have no perception of light can have normal hormonal responses to bright light.” This second function of the eye, which regulates the body’s twenty-four-hour clock, keeps in order our biological rhythms, such as sleep.⁵

May I suggest to you that the eye has yet another function as well? According to Jesus, the eye—that is, the “eye of the soul”—has yet a third and most important function, and it too concerns light and darkness: “Your eye is the lamp of the body. When your eyes are good, your whole body is full of light. But when they are bad, your whole body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness” (Luke 11:34-35).

The “eye of the soul”—that discerning function in all of us—regulates our heart twenty-four hours a day. It goes well beyond enabling physical vision and controlling our biological rhythms. It controls us, all right, but at a higher level—at the level of our spiritual experience. Thus, like the physical eye it too responds to stimuli, spiritual stimuli, however, and once trained by God through Scripture, the Spirit, and experience, it refuses darkness at the door of the heart and bids only light enter. When functioning well it gives us our vision of the spiritual world and guards our heart day in and day out. That “eye of the soul” is spiritual discernment; it gives us vision and regulates our moral lives.

This is what Paul is getting at here in Philippians 1:10. The discerning person asks questions about their beliefs and actions—questions such as: (1) what do I believe about God? Is it according to Scripture? Is it a deep personal and accurate knowledge or is it merely academic and powerless? (2) How then should I make choices in daily life? Just because something is permissible for me, does that mean it is beneficial (1 Cor 6:12a)? Is what I’m doing mastering me and, therefore, rendering me an idolater (1 Cor 6:12b-13)? Is what I want to do going to help or hinder someone else’s walk with the Lord? In other words, do I count my freedom in gray areas more important than the faith of another Christian? Concerning my actions, the bottom line is: “Am I acting out of love for others, or out of selfish desires?” The only thing that counts, says Paul, is faith expressing itself through love (Gal 5:6). These are the questions that discernment asks and it regulates it’s answers on the basis of Scriptural revelation, not just how I feel about something.

The goal of this discernment is to be able to know and choose the best course of action in any situation. Let me say at the outset that nobody, except Christ, has ever lived a perfect life, but God wants to train us to live like His Son (2 Tim 3:16-17). So hang in there. Discernment is the art of separating the best thing from the good things. This takes years and experience. According to the Christian Society Medical Journal (Spring 1977), choices are indeed important and it’s important when presented with options to make the best choice: “It may be true that there are two sides to every question, but it is also true that there are two sides to a sheet of flypaper, and it makes a big difference to the fly which side he chooses.”

The reason and goal for the discernment of the things that are best is so that Christians might live sincere and blameless lives for the Day of Christ. The term best (ta diaferonta) refers to that which is excellent, surpassing in value, that which really matters, is critical to spiritual growth and healthy Christian relationships.

The term sincere (eilikrineis) can be translated as “without spot” and refers to moral purity. Originally, the term was derived from two words: (1) “sun”; (2) “judge.” Together the sense was “tested against the light of the sun,” “completely pure,” and “spotless.” The picture may be, as Hawthorne has suggested, of someone bringing a garment or the like out into the sun to see if there be any stain or spot on it.⁶ From the time of Plato on it has been used in a moral sense, as is the case here in Phil 1:10 and in the rest of the NT (see 1 Cor 5:8; 2 Cor 1:12; 2:17; 2 Peter 3:1).⁷

The Christian Reader tells the following story of the purity Christians seek when God is working in their heart.

In the spring of 1995, revival broke out on many college campuses across America. One characteristic of this visitation from God was students dealing with sinful habits that they had previously let linger in their lives. Bonne Steffen interviewed several of the students for the Christian Reader; one student named Brian at Asbury College said:

“I was a leader on campus. We had invited Wheaton students to come and share. At first, I was praying for other people, but then I began to think about my struggles. I stood in line for three hours with one of my best friends all the time thinking, ‘How can I get up here and admit that I am less than perfect?’ But I also realized that being a Christian campus isn’t protection from the world. I have really struggled with lust. I found I wasn’t alone. It was an issue for a lot of others. Personally, I wanted the chain to be broken; I wanted that stuff out of my life. If it meant no magazines, no television, I was willing to eliminate them. A number of us signed a paper stating our desire for purity, which we put in a box and placed on the altar. I’m still accountable to other people. My deepest desire is to be pure in my heart and thoughts.”⁸

Purity is a serious issue and should be given great consideration, not just in the realm of sexual ethics, as Brian was discussing—as necessary and vital as this area certainly is—but also in all areas of life. We need to be sincere and pure in how we run our businesses, conduct our affairs, relate to our children, wife, relatives, non-Christian friends, etc. God demands purity.

God also demands that we be blameless (aproskopoi) that is, that we take great pains not to cause someone else to stumble in the Christian life. This word particularly concerns the use of our liberty in Christ. We ought to give careful consideration to what we do in front of other Christians lest they be needlessly offended. Of course, some Christians are what I call professional babies, grace killers actually. They will never grow up in the truth, emotionally or spiritually, and they want (need?) you to stay where they are. In fact, nothing makes them happier in discussions of liberty than to limit your freedom according to their so-called freedom. In that way they can easily evaluate where you fit and whether you pass their holiness/spiritual measuring test. Then they can decide whether or not to have fellowship with you. In truth, however, they pulled off the road toward growth several years ago, parked their lives (oh yes, and the emergency break is pulled hard), and have never ventured out again. It was too scary. They are more properly referred to as “those who cause both others and the gospel to stumble.” In short, Paul’s point here is that we must not unnecessarily cause others to stumble, but we must not allow our freedom to be limited by Christians who have never grown, nor do they care to grow.

In summary, do you want your life to result in the glory of God when Christ returns? Then live a righteous life; indeed, let your life be filled with the righteousness of Christ. If you want that, lead a pure and blameless life through discernment which arises out of love—a love which is grounded in a personal knowledge of God and the world, and, therefore, has profound insight into the way people are and behave. It is able to work out godly solutions to tough problems which plague many relationships.

Writes a surgeon: I stand by the bed where a young woman lies, her face postoperative, her mouth twisted in palsy, clownish. A tiny twig of the facial nerve, the one to the muscles of her mouth, has been severed. She will be thus from now on. The surgeon has followed with religious fervor the curve of her flesh; I promise you that. Nevertheless, to remove her tumor in her cheek, I had to cut the little nerve.

Her young husband is in the room. He stands on the opposite side of the bed, and together they seem to dwell in the evening lamplight, isolated from me, private. Who are they, I ask myself, he and this wry mouth I have made, who gaze at and touch each other so generously, greedily? The young woman speaks.

“Will my mouth always be like this?” she asks. “Yes,” I say, “it will. It is because the nerve was cut.” She nods and is silent. But the young man smiles. “I like it,” he says. “It’s kind of cute.”

All at once I know who he is. I understand, and I lower my gaze. One is not bold in an encounter with a God. Unmindful, he bends to kiss her crooked mouth, and I so close can see how he twists his own lips to accommodate to hers, to show her that their kiss still works.

This is love grounded in personal knowledge of God and insight into people’s needs. It is a day to day love that knows what to do in each and every situation. It is a love which reflects Christ’s righteousness and is to the glory of God. While it is sacrificial, it nonetheless stands in contrast to the love of little Johnny; it is a love that completely understands what it is doing. It is, therefore, a maturing love.

1 So Martin, Philippians, 68.

2 Ethelbert Stauffer, TDNT, 1:50-51. There are several words in his prayer that need discussion and exposition in order to get the richness of what the apostle is asking God for. The first term is love. While Paul speaks only sparingly of love for God (Rom 8:28; 1 Cor 8:3), he nonetheless emphasizes love in relationships between Christians (1 Thess 4:9; Col 1:4; 3:19; Phlmn 5; Eph 4:2; 5:25; 6:23). Stauffer comments on Paul’s use of love (agaph) in his letters:

Paul takes up the command of Jesus that we should love our neighbors, and establishes it in the same way as the Lord. But his true interest is concentrated on brotherly love. The organic principle which is given once and for all with the orientation of love to the neighbour is here worked out in terms of organisation (sic). Neighbourly love, once a readiness to help compatriots in the covenant people of Israel, is now service rendered to fellow-citizens in the new people of God. It implies making the welfare of the brotherhood the guiding principle of conduct.

3 Stauffer, TDNT, 1:51; “Decisive definition is given to brotherly love, however, by the cosmic, historical kairov" [“time”] which demands it. Brotherly love is the only relevant and forward looking attitude in this time of decision between the cross and the tevlo" [“end”]. It stands under the sign of the cross. It is a readiness for service and sacrifice, for forgiveness and consideration, for help and sympathy, for lifting up the fallen and restoring the broken in a fellowship that owes its very existence to the mercy of God and the sacrificial death of Christ…With love the power of the future age already breaks into the present form of the world. As for Jesus, so for Paul agaph is the only vital force which has a future in this aeon [i.e., now until Christ returns] of death.”

Thus love is the active pursuit of other people and those things which are beneficial for them. Paul wanted the Philippians to understand that love, not division (4:2-3) or selfish ambition (2:3-4), should characterize their church. They ought to love one another, caring for the needs of others and humbly stand united in the defense of the gospel (1:26-30). There is an eschatology or future looking aspect to love in other letters of Paul and so also in Philippians. Paul says that it is his desire that their love abound…until the day of Christ.

4 The term epignwsis is used by Paul some 15 times in his letters (cf. the only verbal use in 2 Cor 1:13) and refers to such things as one’s personal knowledge of sin through the explicit demands of the Law (Rom 3:20). In Ephesians 1:17 Paul prays for the Ephesians (and others to whom the letter was sent) that God might give them spiritual wisdom and understanding so that they might have a better knowledge of Christ (cf. Eph 4:13; Col. 1:9). Thus it is a personal kind of knowing that is in view, not just mental assent to certain facts, like the width and depth of the Grand Canyon. Further, it is the kind of knowledge that is also closely related to ethics and behavior. Paul prays that the Colossians will be filled with the knowledge of God’s will so that they might walk worthily of the Lord (Col. 1:9-10). There is a focus in the pastoral epistles on the kind of knowledge that is according to the truth and leads to godliness (see 1 Tim 2:4; 2 Tim 2:25; 3:7; Tit 1:1). Outside of Paul 2 Peter 1:3-4 suggests that God’s power in our lives is made operative through our knowledge of him who called us (cf. 2 Pet 1:2, 8; 2:20). The writer of Hebrews also held a logical connection between epignwsis and moral behavior (Heb 10:26). Thus the reference here is to knowledge and depth of insight as “wisdom.”

The term aisqhsei occurs only here in the New Testament. It does, however, appear 27 times in the Greek Old Testament, 22 of which are in Proverbs. In Exodus 28:3 it refers to wisdom given to men by God for making garments for Aaron. In Prov 1:7 it is associated with the fear of the Lord and must be sought after from God (2:3). It is concerned with practical matters like speaking (10:14; 11:9; 12:23; 22:12) and general prudence and discernment concerning how to live rightly in relationships. It can be referred to as “tact” and the ability to understand relationships and situations with a view to practical action. Cf. O’Brien, Philippians, 77.

5 Jane E. Brody, “Human Eye Is Reported to Set Clock for the Body,” New York Times 5 (Jan 1995): section A, p.8. “Light passes through the retina and travels through a special tract in the optic nerves to a region of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the brain’s pacemaker. The light impulses then go on to the pineal gland, stopping to release a hormone called melatonin. Melatonin, the so-called hormone of darkness, normally reaches a peak in the blood at night when the lights are out. But when bright light is shown in the eyes, melatonin production shuts down.”

6 Hawthorne, Philippians, 28.

7 Friedrich Büchsel, TDNT, 2:397-98.

8 Bonne Steffen, “Cross-country Revivial,” Christian Reader (Sept/Oct 1995): 80.

I. AUTHOR--MOSES: Particular internal evidence argues that Moses was the author of most of Deuteronomy. There was also an editor who concluded the book after Moses’ death

A. Moses was the author of most of Deuteronomy:

1. These are the words Moses spoke at the Transjordan (1:1-5) across from the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth-peor in the land of Sihon (4:44-49), in the land of Moab (29:1)

2. “Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel ... I am 121 years old ... no longer able to come and go ...” and not allowed to cross the Jordan (31:1-2)

3. 40 years after what should have been an 11 day journey Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that YHWH had commanded him to give to them 1:2-3

4. Moses says, “The LORD our God” 1:6

5. All throughout chapters 1-4 Moses refers to himself as among the people: “we” (1:19; 2:1,8; 3:1,4,6,7,12), “I and you” (1:9,13,15,16,20,24,29,43; 3:13,15,16,18,19,20,21,23; 4:1,2,5,8ff; 5:5; 6:2; 8:1,19; 9:9,15-21,25-26; 10:2-3,5,10; 12:32; 13:18; 30:15,18,19; 31:2 ), “me”(1:14,17,22,23,37,41,42; 2:1,9 17; 3:2; 4:5; 6:1; 10:11; 18:15 ), “our” (1:6,19,20,25; 3:3; 5:2,3; 9:10), “us” (1:20,25; 3:1; 5:2), to this day (8:18)

B. Someone beyond Moses concluded the book of Deuteronomy:

1. The parenthetical discussion of the need for Israel not to take the land The Lord has given to another just as the nation will take the land of thier possession is presented in the past tense indicating that it was written after Israel had already taken the land and thus after Moses died: “just as Israel did to the land of their possession which the LORD gave to them” (2:10-12)

2. “As it is to this day” (3:14) seems to imply a later editor.

3. The settings are written from a 3rd person perspective “this is the ... which Moses ....” (1:1-5; 4:41-43,44--5:1a; 27:1; 29:1; 31:1,30; 32:48; 33:1). This could have been done by Moses as well as an “editor.”

4. The final chapter is written in the the 3rd person (except for 34:4 which is a direct discourse of the Lord with Moses from Mt. Nebo). This could have been added by Joshua with the Lord’s words communicated by Moses to him just before he died or communicated by the Lord to him. However one phrase, “since then no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses” sounds as though it goes beyond Joshua to a time when Israel was an established nation in the land. Beyond that one can not be certain of the timing of this last chapter

II. DATE: The internal record of the chronology from Egypt to Moab is helpful in a reconstruction of the date of 1406 B.C. (or following) for the writing of Deuteronomy:

A. The people departed from Egypt on the fifteenth day of the first month--March/April [Nisan] 15, 1446 (Num 33:3; cf. Ex. 12:2 ,5)

B. The people reached the wilderness of Sinai on the first day of the third month--May/June [Sivan] 1, 1446 (Ex 19:1)

C. The tabernacle was erected on the first day of the first month of the second year--March/April [Nisan] 1, 1445 (Ex. 40:17)

D. Leviticus is given during the one month interval immediately following the filling of the Tabernacle by the glory of YHWH and before the people prepared to leave Sinai for the promised land--March/April [Nisan] 1-30, 1445 (Num 1:1; cf. Ex 40:17)

E. Numbers opens with a census taken on the first day of the second month in the second year--April/May [Iyyar or Ziv] 1, 1445 (Num 1:1)

F. The cloud is taken up to begin to lead the people to the promised land from the wilderness of Sinai on the twentieth day of the second month of the second year--April/May [Iyyar or Ziv] 20, 1445 (Num 10:11)

G. The people sin at Kadesh=Barnea (Num 13--14) and are sentenced to wander 40 years in the wilderness (Num 14:33). Numbers covers 38 years and nine months (cf. Num 1:1 with Deut 1:3)

H. Aaron dies on Mount Hor on the first day of the fifth month in the fortieth year--July/August [Ab] 1, 1406 (Num 33:38)

I. Deuteronomy opens on the Transjordan on the first day or the eleventh month of the fortieth year after what should have been an eleven day journey--January/February [Shebat] 1, 1406 (Deut 1:1-3

J. Therefore, a more precise date for the giving of the book of Deuteronomy would be January or February 1, 1406 B.C.

III. AUDIENCE: The Audience was all of Israel

A. 40 years after what should have been and 11 day journey Moses spoke to the children of Israel 1:2-3

B. Chapters 1-3 describe historical Israel from the Exodus to their time at the Transjordan.

C. Chapter 4 is a charge to Israel (4:1) at Beth-peor (3:29)

D. The nation is charged outside of the land (7:1)

E. Chapter 5 is a summons to Israel across form Beth-peor (4:44-49; 5:1a)

F. The nation is about to cross the Jordan to possess the land (11:31)

G. The nation is about to disposses the nations from the land (12:2)

H. The nation has not yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the Lord is giving them (12:9)

I. The nation is told what to do “when you enter the land” (17:14; 18:9)

J. God has not yet cut off the nations or had Israel dispossess the nations and settle in their houses (19:1)

K. Israel is told “when you enter the land” implying that they are yet outside of it (26:1)

L. Israel is spoken to about the “day when you cross the Jordan to the land” (27:2,4,12

M. The sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days (34:8)

IV. INSTRUCTION / DESIGN:

A. rab in the piel has the sense of “making clear, distinct, explaning or expounding (cf. Hab. 22; Deut. 27:8 cf. BDB, p. 91) This is what Moses was doing with the Law which they had.

B. The purpose of Moses’ exhortation is so that the nation might live, possess the land, and obey God (4:1-2; 6:3, 17-19, 24-25; 8:1; 10:12--11:32)

C. Moses warns the nation so that they might not be judged but blessed by the Lord in the land (6:15-19, 24-25; 7:4, 9-16; 15:4-6,10)

V. THE INTERNAL COMPONENT: GENRE (narrative, covenant, etc.)

A. Parenthetical discriptions are given to explain Israel’s actions (2:10-12, 20-23; 3:9-11; 21:23)

B. Historical setting 1:1-5; 3:29; 4:44--5:1a

C. A recounting of History with respect to Israel’s wanderings 1:6--3:28

D. Story or recounting of the event is employed (1:19-46; 2:1,8,13b,24-25, 26-30, 32--3:1,3-8,12-22,23,26,29; 4:41-43; 5:22-23, 28a)

E. Dialogue (or direct discourse) is employed (1:6-8, 9-14, 16-18, 20-22, 27-31, 35-43; 2:2-7,9,13a,18-19,31; 3:2, 24-25, 26-28; 4:1-40; 5:1-5, 6-21, 24-27, 28b-31; 32-33)

F. A listing of commands -- legal literature
(NB -- many of these sections begin with an introduction concerning “the statutes,” or “commandments”)

1. 10 commandments 5:6-21

2. To Love God 6:1-25

3. To destroy the nations 7:1-26

4. To remember their historical relationship with the Lord (8--11)
(This is developed through the retelling the story of history with direct discours from Moses and God to heighten its effect. There is also a historical)

5. To not copy the practice of those in the land whose places of worship Israel is to destroy but to worship at a central location which the Lord will reveal (12)

6. To destroy anyone who would attempt to lead the nation away from YHWH to any false gods (13)

7. To separate themeselves from those in the land in how they mourn for the dead and eat their food (14:1-21)

8. To tithe of their produce each year before the Lord except for every 3rd year where it goes to the Levite in their city (14:22-29)

9. To remit all debt at the end of the seventh year for those of Israel for the Lord to bless them (15:1-18)

10. The first born are to be consecrated and then offered in a sarifical meal before the Lord except for those with defect (15:19-23)

11. Three times a year all of Israel’s men are to appear before the Lord with an offering: the Feasts of: Unleavened bread, Weeks, and Booths (16:1-17)

12. Israel is to appoint judges who rule uprightly and execute the judgements of God in order to purge the evil from the land (16:18--17:13)

13. Israel’s king is to be appointed by God from among the people andto not multiply horses, wives or silver and gold, but is to obey the Lord for continuity of his reign in the generations to come (17:14-20)

14. The Levitical priests from the whole tribe of Levi shall have no portion of the inheritance of the land with Israel but shall be specifically provided for, in addition to any of their own assets, through the offerings to the Lord since He is their inheritance (18:1-8)

15. When Israel enters into the land, the Lord does not permit them to imitate the detestable spiritual practices of the nations: child sacrifices, divination, whtchcraft, interpreting omens or sorcery, casting spells, or acting as a medium or spiritist by calling up the dead so that they will not be driven out of the land as the nations before them are are being driven (18:9-14)

16. The Lord will raise up a prophet like Moses to speak as a mediator between the people and the Lord, as the people requested of Moses, bringing judgement from the Lord upon all of those who do not listen to him (18:15-19)

17. Any “prophet” who speaks for another god or who says that he speaks for the Lord but is proven to be false since his words do not come true is to be killed by the people (18:20-22)

18. Israel is to prepare at least three and upto six cities of refuge (under God’s blessing) so that the nation might protect the unintentional manslayer from an angry advenger but not to protect the premeditated manslayer who must be brought before his advenger so that the Lord will continue to bless the land (19:1-13)

19. Israel is not to move his neighbor’s boundary mark from here the ancestors placed it to mark off the inheritence of the Lord (19:14)

20. A matter against a man is never confirmed on the witness of one person but on the evidence of two or three witness with false witnesses receiving the punishment they intended for their brother so as to purge the evil from the land and to be a deterent to others (19:15-21)

21. When Israel comes to battle against powerful enemies they are to realize that it is the Lord who is fighting for them, send home those who have unfinished beginnings in the land and to either wage a measured attack on distant cities or an unmeasured destruction on those peoples near to them (20:1-20)
(This unit contains: commands (1-20)which are often expressed through direct discourse (20:3-4,5-9)

22. In the event of an undetected homicide in the open country, the elders of the nearst city had to make atonement by breaking the neck of a heifer and then confessing their innocence before the priests above the dead heifer whereupon God would remove the bloodguiltness from upon the people (21:1-9)

23. Command with direct discourse by the elders (21:7-8)

24. Laws concerning the family are expounded: marring a captive woman, blessing the first born of an unloved wife and stoning a rebellous son (21:10-21)

25. Laws concerning community life in the land are given: buryial of a crimminal, responsibility toward neighbors, dress, animal life, building codes, purity rather than mixture in all of life, men who rape women, and children with stepmothers (21:22--22:30)

26. Laws concerning congregational life are given: whom to allow into the assembly, what to do with bodily funcitons, how to deal with runaway slaves, not to seek furtility from pagan gods (23:1-18)

27. Laws concerning the weak are given: charging interest, vows, eating when hungry, divorce, marriage taking pledges, kidnapers, leprosy, paying wages, responsibility for sin, widows, orphans and aliens, punishment of the wicked, leverite marrage, talionic justice, measuring weights, dealing with the ruthless Amalekites (23:19--25:19)

28. When Israel enters the land they are to offer the first fruits to the Lord at the place where He chooses to dwell declaring the Lord’s faithfulness to him and on the third year he is to give it to the Levite, stranger, orphan, and stranger in his city asking for the Lord’s blessing in obedience (26:1-15)

29. In a summary charge the Lord commands Israel to do all of the statutes and ordinances given with all of their heart and soul since they are in covenant relationship with Him so that in their obedience He may exalt the them as a people seperated unto Him (26:16-19)

30. Moses, the elders, and the Levites, exhort Israel to keep all of the commndments of the Lord and to proclaim them to the nation by writing the curses on Mt. Ebal where an alter and sacrifice are also to be placed and by writting the blessings on Mt. Gerizim by proclaiming them from each mountain as they cross the Jordan to the people (27:1-26)

31. The Lord promises to either bless or curse Israel in the land according to whether or not she follows Him in deligent obedience (28:1-68)

32. Moses renews the covenant with Israel at Moab by reviewing their historical relationship with the Lord, presenting it before those present and a future generation, telling of a future time when the nation will remember this covenant and be restored to its blessing, reminding them that these words are reachable so that they might obey the Lord, and reminding them that disobedience will bring about judgement from the Lord so they should choose obedience and life (29--30)

G. In a recounting of final charges Moses encouraged the Nation and Joshua to not fear but enter to take the Land, he gave the completed Law to be read to the nation each Year of Remission before the Lord, he was told by the Lord to write a song as a witness against the nation when Joshua was commissioned by the Lord, and he had the Law placed by the ark of the covenant as a witness against the nation (31:1-27)

H. Gathering all of Israel together to procliam one last time the need for obedience on their behalf for there to be blessing, Moses proclaims in his song the Lord’s magnivicant character which Israel will rebell against, and thus suffer judgment under the hand of the nations and then be delivered after they realized that the Lord alone is God (31:28--32:47)

I. Before Moses goes to Mt. Nebo to see the land which he may not enter due to his sin and then to be gathered to his people in death, He prophetically blesses the nation tribe by tribe (32:48--33:29)

J. As the last days of Moses came, he was shown the land from Mt. Nebo by the Lord, died and was buried in the plains of Moab according to the word of the Lord, mourned over by Israel, replaced in leadership by Joshua, but not replaced in Israel as a supreme prophet before the Lord (34:1-12)

VI. Purposes of Deuteronomy:

A. THE PERMISSION OF EVIL

1. YHWH does permit the nation to grumble at Kadesh-barnea (1:26-33)

2. YHWH does permit the defeat of his rebellious people in the land (1:44)

B. THE JUDGMENT OF EVIL

1. The nation receives the Judgment of God for not taking the land as commanded: the men and Moses will not see the Land (1:34-40)

2. The nation is defeat by the Amorites when they go to take the land against the command of YHWH (1:41-44)

3. YHWH does not hear the nation’s grief in their sin (1:45)

4. YHWH commands that the nation goes into wandering for 40 years 2:1

5. The Lord does warn the nation of judgment for rebellion against their covenant (4:1-40)

6. YHWH Elohim will judge his people if they disobey his law (5:8-10, 11,

C. THE DELIVERANCE OF THE ELECT

1. Promise is given by YHWH that even though Moses and the men of the exodus will not see the land, Caleb, Joshua and the nation’s sons will see and inherit the land (1:34-40)

2. YHWH commands the nation to go back toward the Land after 40 years (2:3 cf. vs. 7)

3. Moses recounts the statutes and judgments in order that the nation may live and possess the land (sounds contingent) (4:1)

4. The Lord does promise to deliver his people from judgment if (when) they turn again to him and listen to Him (4:29-31)

D. THE BLESSING OF THE REDEEMED

1. YHWH intends to bless his people with the possesion of the Land (1:6-8a)

2. YHWH Elohim intendends to bless His people if they will obey the Law (5:29, 32-33 “note under administration ‘Mosic covenant’”)