Effects of Spiritual Disclosures
By Jonathan Mitchell
The spiritual disclosures on offer to us in the NT writings make it clear to us that we can do nothing to bring about our salvation. Deliverance is the work of the Lord. He brings us to birth, and gives us His Spirit and His Life. He resurrects us from the interior death that was passed on to us from Adam (Rom. 5:12). He releases us from our prisons of addiction and distortion. It is all by His Grace which He brought to us through His Faithfulness, and then the gift of His Spirit.
A baby comes into being as the result of conception, through the union of its parents. It was the "work," first by both parents, and then by the mother (cf Gal. 4:26). Spiritual birth releases us from the bondage of the Law of Sinai (Gal. 4:25). Once born, the mother feeds and cares for the baby until it has grown and can feed itself, but even then, parental care and training are needed to bring the child to adulthood.
Jesus broke bread, then told His discipled, "Take this and eat it; it is My body." That taking and eating was the "first work" of a "born one (a child)" (Jn. 1:12-13). In time, the child grows and develops, and it begins to "do things."
Once "made alive" in Christ - once raised up and seated with Him (Eph. 2:5-6), and once matured in Christ - we are expected to be "led by the Spirit" (Rom. 8:14) and do the works that He did (Jn. 14:12). This is where Jas. 2:14-26 has relevance and comes to apply to us. That passage is not speaking about aspects of being saved, or born again, but rather, it is about the faith and fidelity of walking in the Spirit and "being" the body of Christ, here and now, while producing good deeds. Neither Abraham nor Rahab were "justified" by works (Jas. 2:21, 23, 25 - JMNT), but lived in faith (cf Heb. 11:8-11, 31). Luther missed this, but then he was probably using manuscripts that had punctuation marks inserted incorrectly (cf The Jonathan Mitchell New Testament). In Eph. 2, we find beautiful information, and instruction about Good Works:
8. For you see, by (or: to; in; for; with) the Grace and joyous Favor you are (you continuously exist being) folks having been delivered (rescued; kept safe; saved; made whole; restored to your original state and condition) so as to now be enjoying salvation through this Faithfulness (or: Loyalty; Fidelity; trust; faith; confidence), and even this not forth from out of the midst of you folks, [it is] the Gift of, and from, God (or: the Gift which is God; or: the gift pertains to God), [cf Rom. 4:16; Phil. 1:29; Jn. 4:10; 6:44]
9. not out of works (or: not forth from the midst of actions or deeds done; = not self-produced; = not from the Law or the old covenant), to the end that no one could boast, [Rom. 3:20; 4:4-6]
10. for the fact is, we are (continually exist being) the effect of what He did (or: His creation; the thing He has constructed; the result of His work; His achievement; His opus; the effect of His Deed): people being founded from a state of disorder and wildness (being framed, built, settled and created; being changed from chaos to order), within, and in union with, Christ Jesus, based upon (or: founded and built on) Good Works (virtuous actions; excellent deeds) which God made ready in advance (prepared beforehand), to the end that we could, should and would walk about (= live our lives; order our behavior) centered within, in union with, and in the sphere of, Them. [cf vs. 15, 4:24, below; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:14; Col. 3:10]
It was to a called-out assembly that the risen Jesus said, "I stand at the door and knock" Rev. 3:20). In this letter, which He had sent to the ekklesia in Laodicea, He offered intimate fellowship to them, but they had to open the door to Him in order for them to enjoy His table fellowship. The Life in Christ is not just a "ticket to heaven," it is a life of responding to God, and doing what He said. In Lu. 6:46, Jesus said:
"So why are you folks constantly calling out to Me, 'Lord! O Master' (or: repeatedly summoning Me, 'Lord... Lord'), and yet you are not habitually doing, performing, or practicing, what I am repeatedly saying (laying out)?"
Humans normally come to this life through a birth canal, and then they must begin breathing. They are birthed into air, but in order to continue living, they must breathe-in the air into which they have come. In God, we can live and exist (Acts 17:28). In the beginning, Adam became a living soul by God breathing into his nostrils the Breath of Life. So Adam had the Air of God within him, but now he had to exhale and breathe in the air in which he now existed. From then on, he lived in the air and also had the air within him. So it is with our Life in God. Our spirits and God's Spirit(s) inter-inhabit with each other.
A branch grows out of a vine. It does not place itself into the vine, it is a product OF the vine. In the Vine analogy of Jn. 15, Jesus moves from the literal to an application of the Truth which He was sharing. He told us that once we come into being "joined to Him" (a work of the Spirit; 1 Cor. 6:17), we must continue to live in Him (remain and dwell in Him - Jn. 15:4-7). This was both a statement of Fact, and an admonition. All of the admonitions (and the advice) which are on offer in the NT, presume that the listeners are born ones, folks who are already alive in Christ. The theological phrase that describes this assumption is: "The imperatives (what we should do) are dependent upon the indicatives (the statements about what God in Christ has already done)." But, that said, much of the NT is composed of imperatives. We are "created for good works" (Eph. 2:10). But it must be understood that these works are the EFFECTS of salvation (new birth in Christ), not its cause!
Returning to the topic of "air," we realize that we live in air, and we are alive because the air continues being within us. Correspondingly, we live in God (Acts 17:28), and God lives within us (Jn. 14:20; Col. 1:27; Eph. 1:23b; 3:19b). Now God is Spirit, and we are married to God (through Christ: Eph. 5:32; 1 Cor. 6:17; Rev. 21:2, 9). We see, in Jn. 20:22, "He suddenly blows on, and says to, them (or: He breathes within [them], as to inflate them [note: same verb as used in Gen. 2:7, LXX], then is saying to them), 'Receive a set-apart spirit (or: Get [the] Holy Spirit; or: Take the Sacred Breath-effect)!'" We have had an intimate relationship with God, with the results that we exist:
"being folks having been born again (been regenerated; been given birth back up again), with the result of now being reborn-ones, not from out of a corruptible (or: perishable) seed that was sown, but rather, and in contrast, from an incorruptible (imperishable; undecayable) one: through God's constantly living and permanently remaining Logos (or: through a message or an expressed, laid-out thought of [the] continuously living and constantly abiding God; or: through means of a presently living and dwelling Thought, Idea, Reason, Blueprint, and Word, which is God; or: by means of a Flow of Information that is a Pattern-forming Influence in a transfer and input of Information that conveys Meaning from a living and staying God." [cf Jn. 1:1])
Because of all this, we must not commit adultery or prostitution by riding the Beast System (cf Rev. 17:3), or by mentally "co-habiting" with other spirits. Other spirits exist, as part of God's creation, but they are not the Way, the Truth, or the Life. Clean food nourishes us and gives us life, but defiled, adulterated food causes sickness and/or death. To say that worthless or evil spirits do not exist (i.e., things of the middle level: between the realm of the Spirit of God and the physical; or, between the realm of the holy and the realm of the profane and "natural," or "earthly") is like saying that there is no such thing as poison, or manure, or bad actions. During encounters with the "middle level" we must guard our hearts and avoid what God instructs us is unclean or harmful (cf Prov. 4:23-27; Eph. 4:1-18).
Our "union with all" is simply our existence in creation. But creation also involves separation and death. Our union with God is only in the realm of His Spirit - the joining of heaven with earth. That union involves becoming a part of the Second Adam (1 Cor. 15:45) - the Life-giving Spirit - which is our spiritual return into God (cf Rom. 11:36).
We learn all of this through the disclosures (or: revelations) which are presented to us in the Scriptures. As our spirits engage these writings and meditate upon what they mean, we receive the Life of the Spirit of the Word, and Its effect causes us to grow, mature and produce the Fruit of the Spirit. This Fruit is defined in Gal. 5:
22. Now the Spirit's Fruit (or: So the fruit from the Spirit; But the fruit which is Breath-effect; Yet the fruit of the Attitude) is: Love (unrestricted, self-giving acceptance; the drive to overcome existential separation; etc.), Joy, Peace (a Joining; binding together; [Jn. 3:16; 14:27]) Length of Time before a stirring of emotion (slowness of rushing forward; long-enduring; patience; putting anger far away), useful Kindness (actionable empathy - Caletha Ellis), Goodness ([cf Eph. 5:9; virtuousness; [2 Thes. 1:11b]), Faith (or: faithfulness; trust; loyalty; reliability; allegiance; fidelity),
23. gentle Friendliness (absence of ego dominance; mildness), inner Strength (self-control; [1 Cor. 9:25]). [The] Law is not down from (or: in accord with; a suppression of) such things (or: In the sphere of such [virtues], [the] Law does not exist; There is no code or custom against such Things; Law does not correspond to, is not along the line of, and is not on the level of such Things). [cf Jn. 15:5; Rom. 5:5; 1 Cor. 13; 1 Thes. 1:6b; 1 Jn. 4:16]
The process of growth continues,
Make it so, Lord. Thank you for these effects of, "the disclosure from God's sons" (Rom. 8:19 - JMNT).
Jonathan
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