Growth in Godliness
Jesus, when praying on the night He was betrayed, said, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent," John 17:3. What I would like you to take home from my opening thought in this post is this, the intellectual recognition of Jesus' words in John 17:3 is not enough to know what He stated fully. To learn something in total is to experience it by the whole person. To the Hebrew, Biblically, the entire person must involve their intellect, emotions, and will or the place where we make choices; each of the three parts of our being is necessary before a person can say accurately, I know.
Therefore, when properly executed, our intellect becomes the gateway to an emotional response that does not corrupt what our experience tells us about the godly choices we should make.
What You Know That Ain't So
The old adage says, "It's not what you know that will hurt you; it's what you know that ain't so." When considering how to understand the Bible, it is imperative we do not read into the scriptures anything other than what God means to say. Such knowledge comes from properly understanding the required rules to know what another means by what they write. Furthermore, regarding scripture, prayer is not an accessory to understanding. It is a necessity.
Just as a person who wears rose-colored glasses sees everything with a reddish tint, it is possible to see scripture through the distorted eyes of established but unbiblical tradition. Furthermore, in the context of deciding between selfish jealousy or unselfish love, Paul urges us in Galatians 5:16, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." The desire of the flesh when understanding the Bible is also to place a wrong emphasis upon "religious and intellectual" men over the Word of God itself. I acknowledge before my readers that I have done this numerous times to my detriment.
What You Know That Is So
Further still, Christians are in a war with the devil; it is a war of words. "And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world" Revelation 12:9. "Great dragon" is a giant serpent that can see its prey from afar, in any hiding place. That person who does not take the devil seriously because they belong to Jesus is not wise by not taking the scriptures seriously that warn us repeatedly to take him seriously. He is the devil or slanderer and liar who does everything possible to corrupt God's Word. Such corruption is often accomplished through pride, as we find in 1 Corinthians 8:1b (emphasis added): "Knowledge makes arrogant or proud (inflates), but love edifies." Learning the Bible is meant to make us humble, not proud. Satan does not care what the Bible is intended to accomplish; He seeks to overthrow God's planss by corrupting His Word. We must take that seriously.
What You Know That Liberates You
"So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free," John 8:32-33. In response, the religious leaders of His day, said they were Abraham's descendants and were never slaves to anyone, but at the time they were under Roman rule. Talk about deceived and not knowing it.
Again, Jesus, speaking to His disciples in the upper room, said, "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you" John 14:16-17. When Jesus said the world could not receive the Holy Spirit because it does not see or know Him, He was undoubtedly referring to those in the religion handed down by Moses, the very people who called for His death by crucifixion.
When Jesus says, "The truth shall set you free," He refers to His truth, the only truth, and He never refers to our personal opinion of what the Bible says. The idea that people have a right to their opinion about the Bible comes from the pit of hell. There is one and only one opinion that matters, and that is God's. For this reason, prayer is not an option for understanding God's Word.
As his name declares, Jacob was a thief. He stole his brother's birthright and blessing and his uncle's best of the herd. When he feared what his brother might do, he sent all others ahead and was left alone. A man showed up, and they began to wrestle. Was the man a thief? He was willing to put Jacob's thigh socked out of joint, yet Jacob asks for the man's blessing. Did the man bless Jacob, and if so, what was the blessing?
Jacob received a new name: Israel, which means God will rule. God rules in the hearts of His people best when they pray. When the man asked Jacob to let him go, Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." When God's blessing is more important than life itself, know you've received it. There is no greater blessing than to value God's Word over your opinion.
Furthermore, Jacob said, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved." Now, the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel (the face of God), and he was limping on his thigh. Jacob was given something by which to remember God's face. He was leaning on his staff when he blessed his son Joseph's children, Hebrews 11.
For those who believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Paul says, "For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ," 1 Corinthians 4:6. In Jewish understanding, the heart is the mind, the emotions, and the will.
How blessed are you?
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