Resisting "the Mystery of God"

[LovethroughDove]

Eph 3:3-5 - How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit

Eph 3:9 - And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ:

God has made known the mystery. He wants us to fully understand the mystery. Paul's epistles are where we learn the mystery of God and have full assurance and understanding. Ignorance will not be an excuse.

Indeed!

 

[smaller]

This is amazingly insightful, blew me away. It answers several of my questions about structure and dynamics of organizations - including churches. Thanks for posting it.

There are various phases of faith that we all encounter. For example, I sat under charismatic teachings for years without questioning them from a more encompassing 'as it is written' perspective or measure, taking in everything every leader said without questioning them or myself. As it turned out, even when they were full of LIES and were in reality, just a big religious show to milk cash out of the sheep. IN the name of Jesus and His cause, of course. Why would they claim otherwise, driving down the street in their new Mercedes or adding to their fine art collection or building their mansions or hob nobbing with the rich and famous?

I was blind to their self serving and nothing more. We can be really stupid sometimes.

But theology tends to knaw at our innards until we feel we have it all right. It was only when I self examined and determined that I personally was entirely WRONG did my spiritual eyesight begin to heal. At least in my perspective...

I learned to fear God in Christ for legitimate reasons. One of those reasons was even thinking I saw in full when in fact I saw nothing or at best, in part. I had previously followed my own imaginations that I 'thought' were Gods Directives. They weren't. That is the ground of Truth. That little internal voice that made me ignore reality proved to be an internal deceiver. There were in fact 'little voices' in the heads of everyone, claiming they were hearing from God, yet all coming to different conclusions. It happens continually in every sect. Many sects have resorted to strict ritualism in their gatherings just to avoid that reality. So many games we play with our minds in this arena.

It's not an easy lesson to learn. But no, none of us ARE God. None of us have anything better than partial sight. All of us have sin. We are all quite imperfect, except by the impositions of our religious imaginations. We can't arrive at a Perfect Conclusion unless we see that we aren't in those shoes. When we do, we'll ALL know it together.

Proverbs 28:14
Happy is the man that feareth alway:

We perfect our holiness in the fear of God. (2 Cor. 7:1)

It's one thing to claim to fear God. It's quite another to know it's reality.

 

[Malachi]

Eph 3:3-5 - How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit

Eph 3:9 - And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ:

God has made known the mystery. He wants us to fully understand the mystery. Paul's epistles are where we learn the mystery of God and have full assurance and understanding. Ignorance will not be an excuse.

This is the mystery of the Church, which certainly has been revealed. That is not the same as the mystery of God and the mytery of Christ which cannot be fully comprehended.

 

[Malachi]

... Our faith is what produces works, not our doctrine...

Let's take this as an example of why God makes doctrine the first priority in 2 Tim 3:16. According to Bible doctrine, the above is not an accurate statement.

It is GOD Himself who produces good works through us: "For it is GOD WHICH WORKETH IN YOU both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Phil 2:13). So according to Scripture -- Bible doctrine -- God within does the "willing" and the "doing", using Christians as instruments of His good pleasure. According to your statement it is our faith. which is incorrect. If you taught that to a new Christian, you would be misleading that person to their detriment.

I trust you can see now why Bible truth is so critical in discipleship. That is not to deny the importance of good works, but to lay the foundation for good works. And let's not forget that it is God who set the priorities, not man.

 

[Jesse]

Let's take this as an example of why God makes doctrine the first priority in 2 Tim 3:16. According to Bible doctrine, the above is not an accurate statement.

It is GOD Himself who produces good works through us: "For it is GOD WHICH WORKETH IN YOU both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Phil 2:13). So according to Scripture -- Bible doctrine -- God within does the "willing" and the "doing", using Christians as instruments of His good pleasure. According to your statement it is our faith. which is incorrect. If you taught that to a new Christian, you would be misleading that person to their detriment.

I trust you can see now why Bible truth is so critical in discipleship. That is not to deny the importance of good works, but to lay the foundation for good works. And let's not forget that it is God who set the priorities, not man.

Yes, and even not knowing this I will still produce good works.

Satan knows all doctrine, but is far from God.

 

[gr8grace3]

Hi Malachi,
I'm not meaning to downplay the importance of doctrine, and definitely there needs to be some rationalization form the hearer in order to comprehend. We also do need to have at least some knowledge in order to follow Christ, yet we don't all need to be scholars in order to do the same.

Our faith is what produces works, not our doctrine, the issue is we are not being taught to be disciples, people don't understand the concepts of picking up our cross daily (some people have no clue they are supposed to), dying to self so we can love others, etc.. I just think we have been indoctrinated enough and that is part of the problem, after all true religion is taking care of the widows and the orphans.

Yes, and even not knowing this I will still produce good works.

You will produce good works that are evil in Gods eyes.They may look good to all of us,But you will not produce divine good works without doctrine.
Heb 5:14~~New American Standard Bible
But solid food[advanced doctrine] is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil....this verse says that good and evil are hard to discern and that only advanced doctrine will help us to discern

The Mormons produce good works. They take care of widows and orphans. And it is evil in Gods sight. They are doing it without the right doctrine and motivation.

Have you ever heard of "moral degeneracy?" Basically, it is the idea that our moral lives and our "good works" is living the spiritual life. When it is so much more than that. And for the christians that think their moral life is the key to their spiritual life, are in fact producing "human good" which is evil in Gods eyes.

Satan knows all doctrine, but is far from God.

This will probably scare ya. But satan is closer to God then most of us give him credit for(he wants to be like the most High).That is why his counterfeits are hard/impossible for the natural man to discern and still hard for most Christians. And the reason why? Because they do not have doctrine resident in their souls.

What is a counterfeit? Some thing that is so close to the original that it can easily deceive. And satan has many counterfeits.
1) Counterfeit doctrine 1 Timothy 4:1
2) Counterfeit ministers 2 Corinthians 11:13-15
3) Counterfeit gospel 2 Corinthians 11:3-4
4) Counterfeit communion table 1 Corinthians 10:20-21
5) Counterfeit spirituality Galatians 3:2-3
6) Counterfeit righteousness Matthew 19:16-28
7) Counterfeit power 2 Thessalonians 2:8-10
8) Counterfeit gods 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4
9) Counterfeit modus operandi Matthew 23:1-38

Most people will think of Hitler and satan. Which is true, the Jews are Gods chosen people and satan would love to eradicate His people.

But most people do not see that satan operates the majority of the time like this.......religion and human good is his ace trump.

Without bible doctrine we will be deceived and we will not produce divine good. We will only produce "human good" which is evil to God.

 

[childeye]

I believe the mysteries of God are revealed by the Holy Spirit. Rationalism is a word with many connotations. Some are not sentiments born of Godly wisdom.
ra·tion·al·ism
ˈraSHənlˌizəm,ˈraSHnəˌlizəm/
noun
noun: rationalism
a belief or theory that opinions and actions should be based on reason and knowledge rather than on religious belief or emotional response.
"scientific rationalism"

• Philosophy
  the theory that reason rather than experience is the foundation of certainty in knowledge.
• Theology
  the practice of treating reason as the ultimate authority in religion.

The above definition is a rationalism I do not agree with. Or else whoever wrote this definition does not understand that the reasoning of the carnal mind is different than the reasoning of the Spiritual mind. To me, it implies that there is no God. Without the knowledge of God all reasoning ends up hypocritical or contradicting.