PEACE THAT DEFIES THE MIND

In the languid lushness of a cool late autumn day I find peace in the serenity of the sun pierced woodlands, adrift with cascading shafts of light. The peaceful silence harmonizing with the ceaseless whisper of the wind caressing leaves as trees sway gently to a rhythm all their own: The sheer beauty of nature resting in preparation for the winter struggle ahead. This is man’s peace. Real peace, spiritual peace, is a calmness of soul that defies understanding, a reckoning that knowing God is better than knowing why, a willingness to trust God no matter what. Real peace is most precious… most needed, when our heart is screaming in fear, worry, anxiety, as our life flows out of control in an avalanche of emotion. Life is messy and the whys of life will always haunt us… if we let them. But the peace that defies mental contemplation and calms our heart is ours for the asking anytime, anywhere, during any circumstances: It is a free gift of God’s amazing Grace.

The Apostle Paul said those who live godly “will suffer.” The Apostle Peter spoke of “fiery trials” that test one’s faith. God Himself promised to chasten, rebuke, and scourge every son and daughter (that would be us, saints). James, the brother of Jesus, admonished saints to “count it all joy when you fall into various trials”, the wording in the Greek clearly referring to adversity, affliction (sickness) and sorrow. And then there is tribulation, persecution, suffering which produces obedience, and the life “pressures” that produce transformation into Christlikeness, the stuff Paul was referring to when he said we saints are “appointed to adversity and affliction.” Small wonder Jesus called “The Way”, salvation, “difficult.” Saints, God’s peace in our life will be under constant attack from the powers of darkness who like nothing better than to assault our peace and cripple our spiritual life.  But just as Jesus triumphed over death and the grave, God’s peace triumphs over all the power of the enemy of our soul.  

Having the supernatural peace of God is the foundation upon which we live the Spirit led life, walking in/with the Holy Spirit. Fear, worry, being anxious – in a word doubting God – is Self’s emotional response to the bad of life and is antithetical to God’s peace, directly opposed and mutually incompatible. Saints, we cannot worry and pray effectively at the same time, nor can we worry and worship God at the same time, or worry and walk in the Spirit at the same time. When we turn in trust to God, willfully refusing to worry – denying Self control of our mind – “setting our mind on things above” -- the Holy Spirit raises a standard against all that would distract us from God’s abiding presence and rob us of His peace. You see, God’s love is, in reality, the indwelling presence of His Son… His life radiating in and through us as The Prince Of Peace! It is God’s will for His saints to be at peace and to walk in His peace, regardless of life’s circumstances. The peace of God is accessed through obedience to God’s word by which we also demonstrate our love for Him:

* “If you love Me, keep My commandments. (Jn. 14:15)

* “Fear not, for I am with you … I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Is. 43:10; Heb. 13:5)

* “Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.” (Pr. 3:5, AMPC)

* "In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.” (Pr. 3:6, AMPC)

* Cast down and refute arguments and reasonings, and every thought that exalts itself against the true knowledge of God, “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:5)

* “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Col. 3:2)

* “Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report … meditate on these things.” (Phil. 4:8)

* “Rejoice in the Lord always, [delight, gladden yourselves in Him; again I say, Rejoice”! (Phil. 4:4, AMPC)

* “Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.” (Phil. 4:6, AMPC)

* “And God’s peace shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:8, AMPC)

“FEAR NOT, FOR I AM WITH YOU …

I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU”

“BELOVED, I PRAY THAT YOU MAY PROSPER IN ALL THINGS AND BE IN HEALTH, JUST AS YOUR SOUL PROSPERS” (NKJV)

Let’s deconstruct this much maligned verse to determine its true meaning:

“I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health” was a common greeting frequently found in first century letters, used by Christians and pagans alike, and very similar in meaning and intent to our twenty first century greeting “I trust this letter finds you well.” Misunderstanding this “formula greeting” has led to two misinterpretations of 3 John 2: 1) That Gaius had been ill. 2) That John’s words invoke a blessing or provisioning of prosperity and health.

“Pray” is translated from the simple Greek verb euchomai, which is used seven times in the New Testament and translated would, wish, or pray, with the original literal meaning “to speak out, to express a wish.” Euchomai’s translation is context dependent which in this passage, considering it is part of a common secular greeting, is clearly “wish”, as it is translated in the KJV, rather than “pray.” If this were a prayer John would not have used this common secular greeting and would have, no doubt, used the compound verb proseuchomai, the primary New Testament Greek word for “pray” which is translated pray 121 times.

“Prosper”, the Greek euodoo, means a good road, a good journey...  “To have a good and safe life journey”, and does not impose the idea of wealth. It is noteworthy the proper Greek words for prosper/prosperous (i.e., evimero, evdaimonas) do not even appear in the New Testament Greek manuscripts.

“Be in health”, compound words translated from the Greek Hugiaino, means safe, sound and well. John is simply wishing by way of greeting that his letter finds Gaius, an old friend and spiritual warrior safe, sound and well on his journey of life, and adds “just as your soul prospers”... just as your soul’s journey has been safe, sound and well, a fact attested to by the brethren (i.e., verse 3). John was simply wishing that the physical health of his old friend Gaius was equal to his spiritual health, which he knows to be robust.

“In all things” immediately follows “pray” (i.e., “wish”) in the New Testament Greek manuscripts and KJV, rather than following “prosper” as the NKJV has it. John’s wish for his old friend encompasses all matters of life.

 “BELOVED, I WISH THAT IN ALL THINGS YOU HAVE A GOOD LIFE JOURNEY, AND ARE SAFE, SOUND, AND WELL, JUST AS YOUR SOUL’S JOURNEY HAS BEEN SAFE, SOUND AND WELL” (John’s Translation)

Endnote: The Wisdom Of Agur: “Give me neither poverty nor riches -- Feed me with the food allotted to me; Lest I be full and deny You, And say, “Who is the Lord?” Or lest I be poor and steal, And profane the name of my God.” (Prov. 30:8-9)

FOUR DON’TS OF SCRIPTURE INTERPRETATION

1) Don’t take verses out of their context: A verse taken out of context is pretext.

2) Don’t allegorize or overly spiritualize verses: When the plain sense of a passage makes common sense, seek no other sense.

3) Don’t cherry pick verses: Consider all related passages as a topical whole.

4) Don’t establish doctrine on the wrong book: “God ... has in these last days spoken to us by His Son…” (Heb. 1:1-2). The New Testament... God’s new will, is the primary roadmap for New Covenant believers.

The Apostle Peter called people who “twist” the scriptures “untaught and unstable” and said it would lead “to their own destruction.” We “twist” scripture when we:

*Take a verse out of its context to impose a different meaning.

*Allegorize/Spiritualize a verse to impose an unintended meaning.

*Cherry pick verses to support our “pet” meaning, ignoring related verses which don’t.

*Use Old Covenant Law and historical passages to establish New Covenant truth.

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth: God commands the diligent study of His Word, that we “work” at “rightly dividing”, interpreting, “the word of truth.” Interpretative tools will be of little help if we don’t diligently study God’s word. Truth, the tenets and precepts of our faith, is revealed by the Holy Spirit who organizes the word we have assimilated into meaningful doctrines... sets of beliefs that define our life in Christ. And, the Apostle Paul established three as the minimum number of substantiating verses necessary to establish a doctrinal truth, three verses correctly interpreted that is.

Without assimilation of God’s word we become a rudderless ship adrift on a sea of half-truths, vulnerable to every whim of the enemy. Whether we wrongly interpret scripture ourselves, or receive wrongly interpreted “truth” from others, the results are the same.  The enemy loves nothing better than drawing us off course with half-truths that appease our carnal fleshly nature Self. This is why we are commanded to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” The study of God’s word must become a committed lifestyle if we are to “fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.”  

STUDY DILIGENTLY

INTERPRET RIGHTLY

PRESENT YOURSELF APPROVED TO GOD

BE UNASHAMED

FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH

LAY HOLD ON ETERNAL LIFE

(2 peter 3:16; 2 Tim. 2:15; 2 Cor. 13:1; 1 Tim. 6:12; Phil. 2:12)

WHAT BEING A “NEW CREATION” REALLY MEANS

“So that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new spiritual creation; the “old antiquated ways” of God, which do not belong to the new life in Christ Jesus, have passed completely away; behold, all the ways of God have become utterly new and qualitatively better.” (2 Cor. 5:17, John’s translation)

The death and resurrection of Christ began a new epoch in the history of man. The old things, the ancient customs of Jewish ritual observance, the Old Mosaic Covenant of the Law, the old forward looking ways of conceiving of the Messiah who was to come, and even Jesus as a man have all passed away in significance to make way for a new interpretation of life, the gospel, offered by Christ our Lord and Savior. “All things of God” became new (to man) when the veil of the temple, which was Christ’s body (Heb. 10:20), was rent in two ushering in the qualitatively better New Covenant of Grace -- the new will of God to man – defined by the new relational paradigm of being “In Christ”… grafted into Him, flesh of His Flesh and bone of His Bone. (Eph. 5:30)

To be “In Christ” is a very different thing than claiming to be “Of Christ”, of the Christian Party. The Apostle Paul made this distinction in the prior verse (vs. 16) when he stated he no longer knew Christ according to the flesh: Paul no longer laid stress on the local and hereditary “fleshly” aspects of the national Messiah of the Jewish people, for this Messiah was… and is Himself the Incarnate Word of God. It is of great interest and value to learn all we can about the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth – the historical aspect of the flesh life – but it is the present Life of Christ, and our union in Him – the spiritual/mystical aspect – that is of religious importance… life changing importance.   And anyone who is “In Christ” is a new creation, a spiritual creation qualitatively different than what Judaism offered. (see Jn. 3:3, Rom. 6:4, 8:29, Eph. 2:10, 4:22-23, Col. 3:10, etc.) “As many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death … that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” (Rom. 6:1-23)  Our slavery to sin was broken the moment we became new spiritual creations in God’s New Covenant of Grace. So the new creation refers to the “new process of salvation”, repentance, acceptance of God’s grace, and sanctification of and by the Holy Spirit. (2 Thess. 2:13) And sanctification is our separation unto God where He begins the work of making us into holy vessels… making us Christlike.

As an “application”, this scripture can be used to illustrate what God’s goal is in the believer’s life, old things are passing away -- our carnal fleshly nature”Self” is being crucified daily, and all things are becoming new -- our new divine nature is being released as we are “conformed to the image (nature) of His Son (Jesus)” by the Holy Spirit. (Rom. 8:29-30) Christ’s death and resurrection, and our identification with Him by faith, make our existence as a new spiritual creation possible, and although it is only partially experienced, the completion of our re-creation into spiritual beings having the character, virtues, values, and attitude of Jesus is assured. (2 Cor. 4:15 - 5:5)

Transformation into a new spiritual creation is the process of regeneration. (Titus 3:5) Salvation does not instantaneously conform us into the nature of Jesus: We do not instantaneously shed our old Self-Controlled nature (i.e., old man) and exhibit our new Holy Spirit-Controlled nature (i.e., new man). “For it is God who works in you (i.e., It’s a process) both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Phil. 2:13) And His “good pleasure” is our sanctification (1 Thess. 4:3), the fruit of the Spirit – Christ’s very own nature -- released within. Becoming Christlike that “He (Jesus) might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29) is a lifelong process. Understanding this passage is critical to understanding God’s plan for man.

In Summary:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

* In Christ: “Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually ... For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body … and have all been made to drink into one Spirit … I am the vine, you are the branches.” Our Blessed Hope of eternal life with our Father is predicated on this simple phrase. It is the “One Baptism” of Eph. 4:5 that places believers into the Body of Christ, Not Water Baptism or Spirit Baptism, but Christ Baptism. (1 Cor. 12:13, 27; Jn. 15:5)

* New Creation: We become new spiritual creations when our enslavement to sin is broken through Christ Baptism and we are freed to choose righteousness or sin – submission to the Lordship of Christ or submission to the lord of this world and his resident cohort “Self.” We are and, in this life, will always be sinful creatures. The allure of life in this world – lust of the eyes and flesh, and the pride of life – is a powerful drug, and Self, our carnal fleshly nature, is an addict. Self will only relent through death making journeys to the Cross frequent and our transformation into Christlikeness a slow life long process. Our willingness to change paces our progress as the Holy Spirit “yearns jealously” to have all our heart to manifest the fullness of Christ’s nature within. Self-control, a fruit of the Spirit, is a most needed virtue as the Holy Spirit reveals that which is displeasing to God – peeling our heart like an onion. (James 4:5; 1 Jn. 2:16; Gal. 5:22-23)

* Old Things Have Passed Away: The Old Covenant of the Old Testament, with its festivals, feasts, rituals, ceremonies, and traditions – all undergirded by The Mosaic Law -- has passed away having brought us to the Cross of Christ. We should consider ourselves dead to The Law and The Law dead to us. Holding onto any part of The Law is a most serious affront to Grace, making one a debtor to keep the whole Law. (Gal. 2:19-21, 5:3; Rom. 7:4, 6)

* All Things Have Become New: The New Covenant of the New Testament with its superabounding grace and relentless love is here, now, to enable us to embrace God’s ultimate plan for mankind, our transformation into Christlikeness. This “New” is translated from the Greek kainos (i.e., kainos/anakainoo, new/renew), which means “new”, qualitatively new and different from the past, new in nature with the sense of better, unfamiliar, unexpected and wonderful:  Literally to make new again... and qualitatively better.   Kainos differs significantly from “neos”, another Greek word also translated new which means new in time, numerically another one newly acquired, but no different than the others. A look at the way kainos is used in scripture demonstrates its qualitative contrast to neos:

New heavens, New earth, New Jerusalem, New wine, New name (God names us), New song, New Covenant, New commandment (of loving one another), One New man (Jews and Gentiles), New man (us!), New tongues, New lump (us - unleavened), And New creation. “Behold, I make all things New.”

The “Things” in 2 Cor. 5:17 that have become “New” refers not only to the New Covenant, but the new spiritual creation of every person who is “In Christ” and living free from enslavement to sin. We need to understand when God renews something it is majorly new and majorly better - it is only “re” newed because He is changing something that existed before, making it so much better that He calls it “New.” When God renewed His covenant with us He went from the Mosaic Law of Leviticus straight to the Grace of John 3:16 to create a “New” Covenant with the blood of the Son of His love. And, when God made us a new spiritual creation He broke our enslavement to sin giving us a choice… the free will to choose righteousness over sin. It is this freedom from the chains of sin that allows us to pursue God… to be transformed… to become Christlike.

The first and unique renewing of the Holy Spirit saved us (Titus 3:5), and we are to put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge (Col. 3:10) as our inward man is renewed daily (2 Cor. 4:16) so we can walk in the newness of life (Rom. 6:4), and serve in the newness of the Spirit (Rom. 7:6), having a bold new living access into the holiest of holies (Heb. 10:19,20) - Through a life to a Life!

The Cross, the signature of Jesus, is our eternal invitation to come and dine at our Father’s table, now and forever. Living God’s plan is our choice to treasure and pursue with all our heart… or squander in pursuit of lovers less wild… the glitter of life in this world.

GOD’S PLAN IS TO MAKE US CHRISTLIKE

IN THOUGHT, WORD, AND DEED