You don’t have to read any portion of Scripture very long to discern that God’s definition of faith involves trusting Him to fulfill His Word more than how we feel because of present circumstances to the contrary. We will go through very strong emotional experiences in life ranging the gamut from death to life and even traversing both the worldly and heavenly realms, but contrary to what our feelings may tell us, the actual truth of the matter is that such can never alter God’s love for us. It’s a far surer thing than our temporal emotions can confirm.
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Very few words found in the Bible have caused so much debate and division as the six occurrences of “predestined“, two of which occur right here. Some translations substitute “determine before” or “ordain” as the English equivalent of the Greek word “proorizo” (pro-or-id-zo). Nevertheless this is at the heart of the matter where Calvinism and Erastianism and who knows what other related “isms” that have bumped heads. I’m not a scholar who will be able to definitively bring to a close for everyone the issue of predestination, but because my focus is the application of God’s Word I just have to ask, “Why is it that we seem to miss Paul’s point that the purpose of predestination is ‘to become conformed to the image of His Son?’”
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I think it’s very revealing that Paul refers to the difference on which people “set their minds“. He doesn’t say “set their hearts” or “set their souls“, but “set their minds“. It’s a distinction that is important to note throughout Scripture which truly describes our inner workings. The mind is most often associated with the quality of our conscience, that is whatever guides our personal choices. In this case, the mind “set on the flesh” is not “subject itself to the law of God“, indicating a conscience not willing to choose to abide by His Word and ways but another.
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Paul is in the midst of explaining one of the most difficult struggles every single believer in recorded history has experienced, the conflict of one’s new nature in Christ with the old nature of this world. Paul makes the distinction between a heart and soul renewed by the Spirit versus our physical body — the “flesh“, which is fallen because of sin and continues to seek the world’s ways of doing things. In a sense, every believer has “good intentions” to live differently according to God’s Word and ways, but is constantly being pulled towards the ways of the world by the fallen, earthly body still tilting toward sin. How can I be “practicing what I would like to do” instead of “doing the very thing I hate“?
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The most common illustration of spiritual faithfulness in both Testaments is marriage. Israel was to be God’s bride just as the church became Christ’s. But the repeated description used of those who are supposed to be His but continue to “be joined to another” is adultery. One of the tangible proofs of the existence of God’s love for us is that He takes the quality and depth of our personal relationship with Him so seriously, so personally. It’s not merely rules and regulations with Him, but the degree to which we’re committed to this marriage.
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As a noted and respected life-long preacher of God’s Word has noted over and over in his own sermons over the years, “Why is it that non-Christians often know how Christians should behave better than Christians do?” Yes, why is it that non-Christians know that Christians shouldn’t smoke or do drugs, shouldn’t get drunk, shouldn’t be promiscuous regardless of their marital status, and yet Christians live as if they don’t? The simple yet tragic answer is that sin is still their master.
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I’m not much for some of the “faith” teachings going around these days, all of them rooted in some form or another of “If your faith is strong enough it will obligate God to answer in your favor.” It’s not biblical and often begins with encouragement to begin by “visualizing” what it is you want, focusing not on the Creator but on something created. But there is a point of focus that helps us look beyond the conditions of this present life and begin experiencing something of the next, and this is focusing on the fact that just as Christ overcame this world, so He has enabled us to do the same. (more…)