Between Faith and Knowledge

Post 230

There is a perpetual problem when trying to communicate, and that is the differences between two perspectives.

We both read the same scriptures.

But what you hear from the Spirit is slightly different that what I hear even though it is the same message, the reason is because each of us is a different vessel with different histories, and as God delivers his perfect message into the imperfect vessels of clay, the entire and perfect message does not come through in a form useful to everyone. This is called interpretation, and the weak link is our “clayness”. This is not a problem though a challenge to reconcile in fellowship, but it can be improved.

Add to that the people who feel they too get an interpretation from the scriptures but it does not come from the Spirit of God but only from their own imperfect mind as they read. How are we to discern the truth from all this confusion? The simple answer is found in James 3:13-18. But the answer is not actually simple because of the engrafted error we find present in these last days.

Let me explain:

In Luke 24 we read the narrative of events just after the Crucifixion from the perspective of the disciples. To us its easy to read in the mystery of the Gospel message but to them it was as real as it gets, their messiah whom they placed all confidence in had been killed and they had no idea what to make of it.

“Much perplexed”, “afraid”, “their words seemed to them as idle tales”, “wondering in himself at that which was come to pass”; these are the descriptions given regarding their confusion even after two angels reminded them that Jesus told them all this would come to pass (Luke 14:6-8), and yet the narrative continues following two of them as they went that same day to a village called Emmaus (Luke 24:13-14) “and they talked together of all these things which had happened.”

These are not Pagans, they are not even the Jew who rejected the Christ, these are Jesus’ own followers. And because they were Jews we know they knew well “Moses and the prophets” (The Jewish Old Testament), but they still had no idea what to make of the recent events that seemed to go so horribly wrong.

They were greatly confused.

Was it due to a lack of study? Was it a lack of knowledge of the scripture that hid the proper interpretation from them? No. In fact it was probably the authorized education from the temple priests they did have that hid the interpretation from them. We see the additional support for this in the Apostle Paul, who being as formally educated and zealous for God as a person can get, went about killing the followers of the Christ he spent his life looking for. No; The answer is not found solely in the education of knowledge… but neither is it exclusive from it.

The problem of confusion lies in our pre-conceived comprehensions of what is being communicated. These men were discussing and reasoning through the recent events and their meaning, but were not getting anywhere with the effort.

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In Luke 24:15-17 we see Jesus incognito join these two as they were worrying over these things and he began not with simply the instruction of knowledge, but with where they were in heart;

“What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?” he was addressing the spirit of their perspective and not telling them they had it all wrong.

Their trouble was not a lack of knowledge of the events or even a lack of knowledge of scripture; their trouble was one of perspective.

And so Jesus drew out of them the specifics of their perspective as a place to begin.  Please take the time to read this perspective in Luke 24:18-24. Where did they have it wrong? It was not in the events, and it was not in their scriptural understanding of hope, they had it all right, but were still sad because of perspective.

Then the risen Jesus declared them fools and slow of heart to believe. But believe what?

The prophets of the scriptures that gave them confidence to trust that Jesus was he which should redeem Israel! The very thing they trusted in was the same thing that made them sad because they didn’t understand what it said and so the events appeared to dash the scriptures though they actually fulfilled them!

They never doubted the prophets but by a wrong perspective of them they began to doubt the very messiah that every fiber of experience confirmed to them was indeed Jesus. The only flaw in their whole comprehension was their perspective, which they clung to rather than the one they knew to be the messiah of the scriptures. Perspective is so powerful.

There are three parts to this problem:

1)            The scriptures that foretold the messiah

2)            The man Jesus who was obviously that messiah

3)            Their perspective of the way prophecy said things were supposed to turn out but didn’t.

With this combination of elements there is no solution, no matter how diligently it is contemplated (John 3:10,12).

“O fools *1, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his Glory?” Luke 24:25-26

Here was the single and pivotal point to resolve all the wrong perspective! “Is this not what scripture said was supposed to happen?” They had not been trained to see in the scriptures these things, they had been trained to see their own rescue, and what better time to be rescued than when under the thumb of the GDE of Rome?

This single question of Jesus re-aligned the focus to then see another perspective, and THEN Jesus burst open the scriptures to reveal what was hidden in plane sight;

“And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” Luke 24:27 (that shows these things must happen as they did and why).

What a change of heart they must have had, from sadness to the ecstasy of joy in now seeing the recent events as the long prophesied big picture plan of God Almighty shown all through the scriptures! Now they could see in scripture the proof that indeed Jesus was and is the messiah and there is no discrepancy between what was written in prophecy and the events that played out. The only thing that changed was their perspective, but what a difference a change of perspective makes!

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What perspectives do you now hold that hinders such joy in the absence of conflict in your faith? Today I see many sad Christians who don’t doubt the scriptures but the circumstance in their life seem to prove the result is not what God had in mind. Our ministers and bible schools teach us the scriptures, but give us, or at least support, our wrong perspective of it and we remain blind to the actual truth in application of scripture just as the two on their way to Emmaus.

All the study and learning in the world cannot alter a wrong perspective but only make it stronger. Only the Spirit of the Risen Christ the Son of God can open our eyes to see plainly what the scriptures have said all along. But here is a curious thing:

Jesus did not reveal himself to them as he expounded. To them he was just a learned man explaining the scriptures in a way they had never heard. Clearly their hearts perceived what he said was true (v.32) but they did not comprehend it was Jesus… and then “he made as though he would have gone further” v.28,

What is that all about?

It is prophetic instruction: “But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them” v.29.

This tells us that when we are enlightened by God and perceive his spirit instructing us, it is our job to constrain the Lord to stay with us as long as he will. We must play our active part lest he leave before he intends. Jesus wanted to stay, intended to stay, gave them every opportunity to ask him to stay, but whether he stayed or not was in their hands.

We see in v.31 that he didn’t actually tarry long and didn’t even finish the meal, so why bother constraining the Lord to stay at all?

Because of what took place in that short period. If they had not constrained him to stay they never would have figured out it was Jesus himself ministering in their presence!

All the expounding on the scripture was exciting to them, but it was in that last brief moment, having been constrained to tarry, that he opened their eyes even further to see it was the risen Lord actually in their midst. This is what motivated them to hi-tail it back to Jerusalem immediately, not bothering to wait till morning (v.33) to tell the Apostles and the others that “The Lord is risen indeed!” v.34.

It was not the explanation of the scriptures that did that, though necessary to get to that point, but the personal presence of Jesus Christ that blew away the sadness! No amount of expounding on scripture can reach that place, but Jesus came to them while they discussed and reasoned with the events (v14-15). Confused theory and speculation of the

interpretation and meaning of his resurrection from the dead had been turned into clear reality by experience which made sense of the scripture! On what equal plane do you suppose these men would now be willing to discuss the meaning of scripture with someone educated but who without the experience must analogize away the actual resurrection which is of course impossible? Proper faith goes far beyond knowledge but nevertheless does not leave knowledge behind. Proper faith is not illogical or irrational to him who experiences it but can be nothing else to him that does not (I Corinthians 1:18). To him who believes, prophecy is more sure than experienced reality to which we must take heed until the experience of the Holy Spirit comes and fills our heart (II Peter 1:18-21) as he did with the travelers to Emmaus. Jesus did not rebuke them for their confusion, he instructed them as they diligently attempted to reason what they knew.

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Let’s apply a bit of perspective adjustment to see things in a new way:

“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

II Peter 1:2-4

There is so much packed into this one sentence that we must focus our attention so that we don’t get rabbit trailed from our intended topic. Read this verse at least three times and actually try to follow the links in his chain of reasoning:

How is grace and peace multiplied to me? Through the knowledge of God and Jesus, which is how God’s power has given us all things relative to life and godliness. How is his power given? Through the knowledge of Jesus who called us specifically to glory and virtue: The colon tells us that this glory and virtue are what is used to give us very, very great and precious promises. What are those promises? That by the glory and virtue we are called to, we can participate in God’s divine nature since we have escaped the decay/ ruin that is in the world because of longing for the forbidden. Did you hear that?!

God has promised that we can partake of his divine nature, if we follow this chain of application! But what a chain it is.

Why is it so complicated? For the same reason Jesus spoke in parables. Many in slothfulness will simply drop out here because “it makes their head hurt”, but I expect better for you:

In both cases here, the word knowledge is 1922 epignosis; from 1921; recognition, i.e. (by implication) full discernment, acknowledgment.

It is important to understand that this full discernment of God is not to be confused with the word knowledge later enjoined in verses 5 and 6 which is;

Knowledge 1108 gnosis; from 1097; knowing (the act), i.e. (by implication) knowledge:- science.

1097 ginosko; a prolonged form of a primitive verb; to “know” (absolutely) in a great variety of applications with many implications…

We are informed that this incredible partaking 2844 of God’s divine nature is a result of applying the acknowledgment of God that gives us all that we need regarding life and godliness.

Partakers 2844 koinonos; from 2839; a sharer, i.e. associate.

But hold on, there is a caveat (as there always is); these promises that allow us participation of the divine nature is contingent upon having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Yet here is where the modern Christian has been beguiled out of the access through the ignorance of God and of Jesus our Lord. Our lack of the knowledge of God has resulted in a blocking of grace and peace being multiplied unto us and we walk in the darkness of this world while struggling to follow Christ (Romans 1:18). We call him a liar when he says; “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29) because by experience it is not so. This II Peter passage tells us why if we would only believe it.

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After faith and before knowledge:

While most modern Christians are so entrenched in the lust of this world and struggling in their faith as if their ship is sinking while waiting for the rapture lifeboat to rescue them, the early disciples of Jesus had a similar perspective regarding the purpose of the messiah to save them from Rome.

It is not that these things wont happen, they will, but this shortsighted temporal focus resists the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord by which we have access to his divine power and participation in his divine nature…

Then Peter continues his instruction with; “and beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;” II Peter 1:5

It is a tragedy that we want a one verse answer to the ignoring all others.

Beside 846 autos; …of the third person and …of the other persons.

Meaning; “along with this” or “coupled with this”; giving all diligence to these things, also add to your faith virtue;

What this is saying is that verses 1-4 are describing the faith that we are to give all diligence to.

And to such faith we are to also give diligence to add virtue (703) which is what he said we were called to back in verse 3, along with glory.

Virtue 703 arete; from the same as 730; properly manliness (valor), i.e. excellence (intrinsic or attributed).

Glory 1391 doxa; from the base of 1380; glory (as very apparent), in a wide application (literally or figuratively, objective or subjective):- dignity, glory, honor, praise.

Virtue and glory are our calling. They are what the faith is to produce in us. They are the product of faith, they are our calling in the faith.

But we are not to add knowledge (the intellect of science) to our faith; we are to add virtue. Knowledge is then added to virtue. Why this order? Because the intellectual collection of information without adding that to an established virtue, simply produced pride and not godliness. Therefore, add to your uncorrupted faith, virtue.

But today we must root out the corruption of our faith which we have been subverted to accept as normal. Virtue is a great tool in that effort as we are to add virtue to the faith we have. With all diligence, purify and maintain your faith by adding virtue to that faith.

Then add the knowledge of God to your virtue. Now the introduction of knowledge has the instruction to enhance our virtue which increases our purity of faith.

And with knowledge you can add temperance, then patience, then godliness, then brotherly kindness, and finally genuine love.

Don’t imagine this is a weekend achievement; rather it is a lifetime goal. It is the maturity of a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. As you adventure through one layer of these compound character attributes of God, line upon line and precept upon precept, you will eventually begin again at a new and deeper level of faith to build the next layer of faith, virtue, knowledge etc. The diligence you give to this, results in the promise of verse 8:

“For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge 1922 of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And remember it is this acknowledgment of God that grants you the ability to partake in God’s divine nature. But note, there are two degrees of possession here; be in you, and abound: Not the same thing. Abound indicates a degree of what is in you, showing the increasing of these things as you give diligence to it. The fruit comes when these things abound in you.

“But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” II Peter 1:9

What is the result of such a one who was once purged but then forgot because of neglect? Read the whole of chapter 2! Woa!

If you don’t take the time to read the whole thing then focus on this part;

“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.” II Peter 2:20-21

Salvation is not about a free ride through sin; it is about the divine empowerment to dwell above sin where Christ sits on the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1-10).

Cast off your wrong perception of the faith and let God’s Spirit teach you what it actually says as you acknowledge God through reading his word afresh and applying it in the power of obedience. Christianity is not so much about the arriving but about the being. And yet there is indeed an arriving that we look for at the appointed time!

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*1 Fool:

Matthew 5:22b “…but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”

Fool 3474 moros; probably from the base of 3466; dull or stupid (as if shut up), i.e. heedless, (morally) blockhead, (apparent) absurd.

3466 musterion; from a derivative of muo (to shut the mouth); a secret or mystery: (through the idea of silence imposed by initiation into religious rites).

Fools: Luke 24:25 “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:”

453 anoetos; from 1 (as a negative particle) and a derivative of 3539; unintelligent; by implication sensual.

3539 noiel; from 3563; to exercise the mind (observe), i.e. (figuratively) to comprehend, heed.

At first it is somewhat hard to distinguish between these two Greek words both interpreted as “fool”, but Jesus himself declared the warning against calling a man a fool (Matthew 5:22) then calls his own followers fools (Luke 24:25); clearly there is a difference.

By the context of the Matthew statement expanded through Matthew 5:21-26 we understand the meaning of the condemned statement is to declare someone incapable of intelligence while the second application was a declaration of state of being that could be altered but has not been.

The first use is to declare a flaw in God’s creative work while the second declares the flaw is in the creation’s application of what is possible.

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