Lesson for December 9, 2020
Knowing the Bible
Lesson 29
The Epistles of Paul – cont’d
The Book of Philippians
Date: 64 A.D.
Theme: Jesus Christ as our Prototype for Living
Philippians 2:5, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.” What verse 5 actually says is “Keep on thinking this doctrine within you, which also was in Christ Jesus.” You cannot use the information in the Bible until it has been transferred into your soul where it is useable. All thought resident in your soul must have vocabulary storage. But vocabulary alone will not do it. With the vocabulary a believer must be organized categorically so he needs categorical storage. To fulfill the command to keep on thinking this doctrine, which was also resident in Christ Jesus, a believer must have “epignosis” (spiritual) doctrine in the soul. This doctrine must have a frame of reference in the memory center, but this is impossible unless you have developed a spiritual vocabulary and have stored categories of doctrine in your soul. Only then will a believer be able to apply doctrine, which is spiritual wisdom.
To reach our goal of spiritual maturity and beyond, we must have the same mental attitude and motivation that Christ had in order to reach our final objective. Advancing believers will experience greater testing as they continue their spiritual growth. Therefore, they must have a mental attitude like the mental attitude of our Lord Jesus Christ as he was advancing to His final objective, the Cross. While He was on earth, He faced greater pressure and testing than we will ever know and yet He reached His final objective of paying for the sins of the entire human race. This means that the mental attitude of Jesus Christ was one of total grace orientation — total dependence upon provisional grace provided by God the Father and the power of God the Holy Spirit. We have the exact same grace and power!!!!
The grace orientation of Jesus Christ was the application of grace, consciousness based on grace and dependence on the grace plan of God. He was aware of the plan of God, He knew it in His humanity through doctrine He had studied and learned, He knew it in His deity, He was there with the Father when the decrees were given. Jesus Christ utilized, to the maximum, all of the doctrinal principles of grace. Jesus Christ never stopped applying Bible doctrine. He even quoted Scripture while on the Cross.
Therefore, having the same attitude (thinking doctrine) that Christ had is a command for any believer who wants to advance to spiritual maturity, super-grace and ultra-super-grace. Doctrine must still be number one priority in the life of a believer if he expects to grow spiritually. Problem-Solving Devices must be known, understood and used on a consistent basis, especially the Rebound Technique and the filling of the Holy Spirit without which a believer cannot continue to advance spiritually.
Jesus Christ was our prototype, our example, our standard. He had the perfect way of thinking, the perfect attitude toward God, Himself, and others. Therefore, when the Bible says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” it means to emulate Christ in thinking the same way He thought which was Divine Viewpoint Thinking based on Bible doctrine in His soul.
The Book of Colossians
Date: 64 A.D.
Theme: Christ in You the Hope of Glory
Colossians 1:25-27, “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of His glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
The mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations indicates that Paul had some new doctrinal information to share. Mystery is the Greek word “musterion,” which was originally used to depict the doctrines and the secrets of one of the Greek fraternities. Here it refers to the classification of doctrine pertaining to the Church Age. The whole system of doctrine pertaining to the Church Age was totally unknown by any Old Testament prophet. Therefore, during the Church Age there is an entirely new realm of doctrine to be learned, and it is the responsibility of the pastor-teacher to teach it. (Romans 16:25,26; Ephesians 3:1-5)
And what exactly was this new mystery doctrine? Christ in you, the hope of glory. The moment you are saved, Christ comes to dwell within you. The indwelling of Christ is taught in John 14:20 where Jesus anticipated it. It is also taught in Galatians 2:20; Romans 8:10; II Corinthians 13:5. But the indwelling of Christ reveals the riches of the glory of God. And the way these riches are revealed is by means of the filling of the Holy Spirit. Remember that Jesus Himself said He would send the Holy Spirit to be our guide and teacher. This means that the Holy Spirit is the revealer of truth in the Church Age. (John 16:5-15)
The Book of I Thessalonians
Date: 54 A.D.
Theme: Experiential Sanctification
The theme of this book is threefold: 1) to remind this young group of believers of the foundational truths that Paul had taught them 2) to encourage them to continue to follow the principles of holiness and practical sanctification and righteousness 3) to comfort them with regard to those who have already died as believers. Acts 17:1-9 gives the story of Paul and his team’s visit to Thessalonica. The big complaint against Paul and his team was, “These men are turning the world upside down.” Why? Because he trained people to go out and reach people, and these people went out and reached people who reached people, and soon it snowballed throughout the region. This is the indigenous concept from an indigenous church. You cannot have an indigenous church with a successful missionary operation apart from the motivation from Bible doctrine. They had to be trained in basic Christology before they were ready to evangelize the world for Christ and that is what they did. They became followers or imitators of Paul and his team. They began to share the Gospel message and it spread throughout the region as a result. And more importantly, they became imitators of Jesus Christ. They followed His example. This was all done as a result of taking in doctrine on a consistent basis as they put into practice what they had been taught. They became “doers of the Word and not hearers only.” First of all they received the Word, and as a result of receiving the Word they became imitators.
The Book of II Thessalonians
Date: 54-55 A.D.
Theme: Confusion about the Rapture
II Thessalonians 2:1-5,“Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things?
Paul had previously taught them the doctrine of the Rapture and the Second Coming and that they would not go through the Tribulation period. Now false doctrine was being taught by false teachers and could have been a hindrance to them reaching spiritual maturity, if not quickly corrected by Paul.
The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him These people needed to be reminded of the true doctrine of the Rapture. The Greek word for gathering is “episunagoge,” which means to assemble. Rapture is a technical theological term for the resurrection of the Royal Family of God. Once the Royal Family of God is completed, the Church is resurrected to become the Bride of Christ. The Church Age is that period of human history when the Royal Family of God is being formed on earth. (Ephesians 1:22-23, 2:16, 4:4-5; Colossians 1:18, 24, 2:19) When the royal family of God is completed, then the Rapture occurs. (I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Corinthians 15:51-58) During the Tribulation (the conclusion of the Age of Israel), the bride of Christ (the Church) is prepared in Heaven by receiving a resurrection body exactly like that of the Lord. Then comes the Judgment Seat of Christ, when all Church Age believers are evaluated and rewarded. (II Corinthians 5:10)
There is no prophecy to be fulfilled between the Day of Pentecost when the Church Age began and the Rapture of the Church when the Church Age ends, which means that the Rapture could take place at any time after the Day of Pentecost in 33 A.D. It could occur at any time during our lifetime; no one knows the day nor the hour except God. The resurrection of the Church is the sovereign will of God and completely out of mankind’s hands. The resurrection of the Church is totally beyond our control because resurrection is the Lord’s victory. While the Rapture is imminent, the Second Coming is not. Before the Second Comingoccurs, there are many prophecies which must occur like the Rapture, the Tribulation, the Judgment Seat of Christ and the regathering of Israel into to the Promised Land. (Revelation 6-19)
The Book of I Timothy
Date: 62-68 A.D.
Theme: Church Order and Doctrine
Verse 3-5
“As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”
Verses 3-5 is the purpose of the pastor-teacher. This is not a detailed study of the pastor-teacher at this point. Timothy has already had that and understands all the principles of the pastor-teacher. These are special selected things to cause Timothy to refocus on his purpose, to fill in some gaps where he has failed to apply what he has learned from Paul. The purpose for which Timothy remained behind was to continue teaching the believers in Ephesus. This would also be a learning experience for Timothy, who still a young man with the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher. There were still believers in Ephesus who were being deceived by the satanic doctrine false teachers, Jewish fables and legends
Verse 4 is a second purpose of orienting to dispensational theology. The Old Testament scriptures can be easily distorted into legalism. The Ephesian church was under the influence of evil from the Gnostics. Myths refer to the pseudo spiritual heritage of the Jews. Not their true spiritual heritage but their pseudo spiritual heritage; not what is found in the Old Testament but what is found in the Jewish legends, legends which claimed that Moses had not written down all the mysteries that were revealed by God, and they claimed to have some extra information that Moses didn’t write.
The Judaizers had come to Ephesus. Many of them were believers but they are very legalistic. They were believers who were still depending entirely upon the Mosaic Law and did not recognize any change in dispensations. Therefore, they came to teach legalism, distorting the Mosaic Law into a system of legalism. They emphasized the Mosaic Law as the way of salvation, keeping the Law as a way of spirituality. So, keeping the Law was a popular form of reversionism in the early church, a form of reversionism that belonged to pastors and teachers who did not know of the change of dispensation.
The Book of II Timothy
Date: 63-68 A.D.
Theme: The Day of Apostasy
Chapter 3:1-7, “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” The Church has been in the last days since the ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven after the Resurrection. As time has progressed, the Angelic Conflict has intensified and will continue to intensify until the Rapture. We see signs of the deterioration of the world today as outlined by Paul in this chapter.
Satan is the ruler of this world system in which we live and the list of reversionistic sins in this passage are a part of his agenda to corrupt believers and unbelievers alike. The fact that the devil is found in Luke 4:5-7; John 12:31,14:30; 16:11; II Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2. False teachers are a part of the devil’s strategy and a big part in the devil’s trap. False teachers have a phony and hypocritical facade — Matthew 7:15; Romans 16:18. False teachers use human trickery and gimmicks to entice believers — Galatians 4:17,18; II Timothy 3:5-7. False teachers appeal to human ego and human pride — II Corinthians 10:12. False teachers promote legalism and self-righteousness — I Timothy 1:7,8. The devil’s policy is human good and evil. This passage outlines some of the tactics of Satan to keep the world in chaos and prevent unbelievers from believing in Christ and to keep believers in a state of reversionism.