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Letters of Truth - Spirit of the Word - Covenant Eschatology - Introductory Note - New Stuff A PURIFYING HOPE
by Ray Prinzing"Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that has this hope in Him purifies himself, even as He is pure."
(1 John 3:1-3).We are admonished to "Buy the truth, and sell it not." (Prov. 23:23). As I pondered this one day, in my thoughts came the question, What is truth? And the answer was right there, "Your Word is truth." (John 17:17). So then the question came, "What is the Word? And the Spirit spoke into my thoughts- "The Word is the REVEALED WILL OF GOD, anointed and made internally yours." We need more than "just words" from a black bound volume-- for "the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2 Cor. 3:6). So when the Spirit of God quickens a word in your heart, that becomes HIS WORD TO YOU for that day. It does not have to be formed into "King James Version" vocabulary, but when HE speaks, receive it, and let it work in you more of His purpose.
Now, our "text verse" begins, "Behold..." The word is plural, behold you, ALL OF YOU! Let us all ponder together on His special love bestowed on us.
"WHAT MANNER..." The Greek is "potapos" meaning: of what sort or kind, and it holds within it the thought of being foreign to those around. For sure, the love of God is of a KIND that is utterly foreign to the world, though among believers it is becoming a little more familiar. "Agape"-- a love that is self-sacrificial and unconditional, freely giving without a thought of any return. No wonder the world questions "What manner of love is this?"
It is the same word that is used of our Lord, in Matthew 8:27, when they asked, "WHAT MANNER of man is this?" He was so extremely different from all other men, in His word, and in His deed; in His authority, and in His power; that they could only stand in awe, and ask, "What manner of man is this?" In the midst of the storm, He could stand up in the boat, and command the storm to abate, which it did, and left them asking, "What manner of man is this?" He could speak words of love and compassion, tenderness and care, coupled with a firm authority; He could cause the blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, the dead to rise up again, until they said, "WHAT MANNER of man is this?" He is utterly foreign to the natural realm. They could not understand Him with their carnal mind.
"What manner of love the Father has bestowed..." Bestowed-- the word is "didomi," in the perfect tense, and thus speaks of giving something to someone, so that the gift becomes a permanent possession. The unconditional love that He imparts to us becomes eternally ours, nothing can take it away from us, not even our sins and short-comings. "God so loved the world that HE GAVE..." And there is nothing that can ever diminish or take away what He has bestowed. You might fashion your own little world of unbelief, but that does not change God's action and love toward us. "If we believe not, yet He abides faithful: He cannot deny Himself." (2 Tim. 2:13).
Paul confirms this word which John gives, and states, "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 8:38-39).
What love He has bestowed upon us, "that we should be called..." Not just in the sense that the "divine call" is placed upon us, but literally, TO GIVE A NAME TO, to be NAMED. "Called the sons (children) of God." Thus HE SHARES WITH US OF HIS IDENTITY. He names us, acknowledges us to be His own children-- a part of the family of God, so that we share in His identity.
I remember many years ago, when the Doctor carried a little baby down the hallway, placed him on a blanket at the Nurse's station, and said to me, "Here is your boy, count his fingers and toes, etc. he is all there." And I looked at the baby, and said, "That is Daniel Prinzing," and he immediately was identified as being of the Prinzing lineage. He was NAMED-- given an identity, and he belonged to us.
The very moment we receive the SEED OF GOD'S LIFE into us, and He bestows His love upon us as a permanent possession, naming us as His children, we are immediately identified as being of the God-lineage.
Long ago God said to Israel, "The Lord has avouched (guaranteed, affirmed) you this day to be His peculiar people, as He has promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments; And to make you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, AND IN NAME, and in honor; and that you may BE A HOLY PEOPLE unto the Lord your God, as He has spoken." (Deut. 26:18-19).
"AND IN NAME." The name speaks of the nature and character of a person. In that our God is so marvelously great, He has many names, each revealing to us another facet of His nature and character, etc. We ascribe unto Him many titles: He is Wonderful, Counselor, Prince of Peace, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, etc. Then we have all the compound names of Jehovah-- as our Healer, our Banner, our Righteousness, our Provider, our Defender etc. All of these names and titles help us to identify Him to us. But now He states that He will make a people high above all nations "IN NAME." He is ready to share His identity with humanity-- it is utterly awesome and amazing!
"God at the first did visit the nations, to take out of them A PEOPLE FOR HIS NAME." (Acts 15:14). And the call goes forth, "Bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called by My name: for I have created him for My glory." (Isaiah 43:6-7).
No wonder we read, "Therefore the world knows us not, because it knew Him not." Obviously, if they do not know Him, neither will they know anyone called by His name. And Jesus said, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." (John 17:16). The more you lose your world-identity, and take on the new creation identity in Christ, the less you fit into this world. Your citizenship is in another realm-- the heavenly, and this is a realm that is utterly foreign to the world. Indeed, it is quite foreign to a lot of religious realms too, for they actually know Him not.
"Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord,... and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you." (Matt. 7:22-23). Know-- the Greek word is "ginosko" meaning: to know by experience. To have an intimate understanding and knowledge of another, based upon experience with them. When you have a deep communion with one, sharing the secrets of their heart, you come to know the nature and character of a person. This is far more than merely sharing surface opinions, like "it's a nice day," or, "looks like it might rain," "let's go for a cup of coffee and chat a bit." That's not coming to KNOW a person. But when you walk with them through deep trials, share their grief and joy, and become vulnerable because you are openly exposing your inner self to them-- then you get to really know someone.
When you KNOW HIM by experience, in the intimate knowledge of His love, of His grace, of His mercy, and He reveals to you an understanding of His plan and purpose, then other people can impute to Him all sorts of strange ideas of what "God is like," with doctrines that deny Him as He truly IS, and you can simply say to them, "You do not KNOW Him! He is nothing like you say. You charge Him with false motives and gross distortions of His character."
When there is nothing in common, no intelligent appreciation for the same things, no mutual understanding of things, then we are AS FOREIGNERS, of a different breed, a species that they cannot relate to, and they will look at you, and simply say, "I don't know you." You are a stranger.
Certainly HIS NATURE is foreign to the world, and as it becomes our nature also, we are to them as "pilgrims and strangers." But, John writes, "Now are we the sons (Greek, children) of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be. It is not yet made manifest! This WHAT suggests something unspeakable, contained in the likeness of God. There are marvels in Him which are yet to be revealed, beyond all we can ask or think. "We don't know what we shall become in the future. We only know that, IF REALITY WERE TO BREAK THROUGH, we should reflect His likeness, for we should see Him as He really is!" (Phillips translation).
Ah, no man can tell you today the real WHAT-- what we shall be. There are various speculations-- where revelation ends, speculations begin-- but the mind of man cannot conceive THE WHAT of God. He is so ALL GOD, and we are yet so human, that except for the small glimpses He gives of Himself to us, we do not know what we shall become. But this much we do know, BECAUSE WE ARE HIS CHILDREN, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM. And when reality breaks through, "Then shall I know even as also I am known." (1 Cor. 13:12).
"And every man that has this hope in Him purifies himself, even as He is pure." (1 John 3:3). What a hope we have IN HIM, and it challenges us, it energizes us, it woos us onward towards purity, even as He is pure.
Purify-- to cleanse, make clean, and very akin to the word holy, holiness. It is HIS STATE OF BEING-- HE IS pure! It is an attribute of God by which He maintains the integrity of His whole nature. He is HOLY, He is WHOLE. He is ETERNALLY COMPLETE, never one part missing. We are so fragmented-but the promise remains, "Whenever that which is complete comes, that which is incomplete and fragmentary will be done away." (1 Cor. 13:10, Wuest).
What hope we have in Paul's prayer, "That you may be FILLED through all your being unto all the fulness of God." (Eph. 3:19, Amp.) AMEN!
Now, just a brief thought from a cognate word study (words of the same or similar nature). In the 11th century they used the word "HAIL." If you drop the "i" you have HAL, or HOL. Literally saying, "how are you? or, howls your health?" Bespeaking of physical well-being. If you take this word HOL and place a w in front, and an e after, you have our present day word, WHOLE, as to our mental soundness. And when you take the word HOL and add a y, you have the word HOLY, which refers to our spiritual state of being. How is your physical well-being? He is our life! "If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal body by His Spirit that dwells in you." (Rom. 8:11). How is the wholeness of your mental state? Ah, "God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (2 Tim. 1:7). And how is your spiritual state? He processes us "that we might be partakers of His holiness." (Heb. 12:10).
Yes, HE IS OUR HEALTH, OUR WHOLENESS, AND OUR HOLINESS. This is not something we try to make happen, but it is the outflow of His life in us. The Spirit is the Source of life. It is not a "mind-control-thing." It is not mind over matter, as we try to work out whatever it is we need. We are HIS workmanship, and He works in us whatever is needed in every dimension. It is a principle of genetics. YOU SHALL BE HOLY, BECAUSE YOUR FATHER IS HOLY.
His character traits are to be found in you-- holiness is guaranteed!Holiness is not something we set about to do, but it is what we are IN HIM, BECAUSE of what HE IS! We are in the process of BEING BORN AGAIN, and while it does not yet appear what we shall BE, when He has finished His working in us, "like ones to Him we shall be." (Wuest). It is not our self-effort, it is WHAT HE IS that counts. Holiness is hereditary. Phillips makes this very clear: "The man who is God's son does not practice sin, for God's nature is in him, for good, AND SUCH A HEREDITY IS INCAPABLE OF SIN." (1 John 3:9). God's nature within a people! What a tremendous hope in Him!
King James Version: "Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin; for HIS SEED remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is BORN OF GOD."
What manner of love is this, to make us His sons? Born again, partakers of the divine nature, by genetic heredity we shall possess HIS SEED OF LIFE in true holiness. This is far different than the erroneous doctrine that some teach on our being "adopted into the family of God." Men take the natural happenings of our day, and try to build a spiritual truth on it, and they err. They say that God is going about gathering to Himself these children of men, carnal-minded creatures that we are, and He adopts us, places us in His family, and we are now to be called by His name-- notwithstanding that they all still have the same old nature and character of the flesh. If you adopt into your natural family a child of another culture, etc. you will find many things in their nature that are far different from your own. It is because they have a "different father" and his nature is being revealed.
God is not calling us "sons" if we have been begotten by the spirit of the world. He calls us HIS SONS WHEN WE ARE BEGOTTEN OF HIM-- and born of His Spirit, possessing His character and nature. Paul does speak of receiving "the Spirit of adoption," (Rom. 8:15), so what does he mean? We note that the word "adoption" comes from a Greek word that means: placement as a son. It does not mean that orphaned children, begotten by other fathers, having other natures, are suddenly accepted into a family, as our present day way of adoption goes. Rather, the Word is clear, "That the heir, as long as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father." (Gal. 4:1-2). When he has been fully trained and developed, disciplined and grown, then the father specifically PLACES HIM IN THE POSITION OF A SON with all the rights and privileges of maturity. He was begotten by the father, he had the father's nature, but he needed to GROW UP. He was not a bastard, he did not have some other man's lineage in him, but though he was born AN HEIR, he could not exercise the rights of that position until placed there by the father. A vital part of our hope is this PLACEMENT AS A SON. His children are generated by His Spirit, and all have His nature.
Christendom proposes an amalgamation of the children of all the religious fathers (denominations, etc.), to make them one big happy family, supposedly called "the family of God," Then they wonder why they are not happy when they come together-- all of different natures, different cultures, birthed by these different spirits, and they cannot harmonize with each other. They fight and split over all these inner characteristics which are but expressions of their religious lineage. Only as each of us are BORN FROM ABOVE, with our heavenly Father's nature, can we come together-- because of our ONENESS IN/WITH HIM. If you are ONE WITH CHRIST you cannot be far from others who are also one with Him.
It is when HIS SEED (nature, essence) is in us, that we are rightly His. Thank God for this personal ministration of His Spirit as HE PLANTS His seed in each of us, so that which is "born of God" has the heredity of the Father, and as they are nurtured, processed, matured, they will show forth His image and likeness-- expressing HIS righteousness, His love, etc.
Let there daily be a submission, a yielding to His INDWELLING, for IN HIM we have our hope for the ultimate fulness of the NEW BIRTH PROCESS. "It pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me ..." (Gal. 1:15-16). Methinks that in the final analysis, when we stand before God, He will have one major question to ask of us-- "HOW MUCH OF MY SON IS IN YOU?" He would reveal His Son (in all His image, likeness, nature) in and through us to His glory and praise.
The question is not, how much have you done? How many have you converted to some theology? For looking past all the peripheral involvements, and at the heart of the matter He will look to see HIMSELF reproduced in you! In that day, may He also be able to say, "These are My sons in whom I am well pleased," for it will be the Christ-life manifested in each one.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy we have been BORN ANEW TO A LIFE OF HOPE through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Peter 1:3, Moffatt).
Blessed-- eulogetos: to speak well of, celebrate with praises. It comes from the same root as our English word "eulogy." Often a eulogy is given at a funeral-- when one would speak well of the one who has died. From the person's life they draw out the good points, and offer these praises to honor the deceased. Or, at the end of one's career they have a testimonial dinner and say good things. But with God it is different, He does not have to wait to see what good things might evolve, of which a eulogy might be made. But HE CAN SPEAK THE GOOD WORD, and then proceed to fulfill it. He can give the eulogy beforehand, and guarantee that it will come to pass, because HE will be the One who works it all into you. He speaks the plans He has for you, and then He sets about to fulfill every detail in you.
Now, Peter writes, "Blessed be the God...." We can speak well of Him, we celebrate Him and His goodness, for HE has brought us INTO A LIFE OF HOPE, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Based upon this security of HIS LIFE, we now have tremendous hope for our own well-being. Considering that it was the compelling constraint in the merciful heart of God that purposed our redemption-- we have hope for a TOTAL NEW BIRTH, into His fulness.
Our hope, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, are linked together. "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." (1 Cor. 15:19-20).
All that we are BECOMING is BECAUSE OF HIM-- based upon His life freely given into us. It is BECAUSE He lives, that we shall live also. And His resurrection-- His being the firstfruit from the dead-- becomes the basis of our hope for the same resurrection life. Firstfruit is a PROMISE, for it assures us there is a glorious harvest to follow. HE opened the gates of death and arose triumphant. IN HIS RESURRECTION lies the hope of all creation. "For as in Adam all die, even so IN CHRIST shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order." (1 Cor. 15:22-23).
The Adamic nature is unto death. "By one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." (Rom. 5:12). But IN CHRIST is life, and "by the righteousness of One (Jesus Christ) the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." (v. 18). Thus, IN HIM SHALL ALL BE MADE ALIVE!
So it is-- He has bestowed His love upon us, named us as His own, and proceeds to work out in us all that He has purposed for us. We would GROW UP INTO HIM. "And every man that has this hope in Him purifies himself, even as He is pure." (1 John 3:3).
All of our HOPE is set on Him, rests on Him-- His work, His grace, His love, His finishing our faith. We are not our own purifiers. "Apart from Me you can do nothing." (John 15:5). "It is God which works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13). It signifies that WE YIELD OUR WILL TO HIS WILL. Therefore, the man who purifies himself has his hope resting upon God. This very fact implies a will to purify himself, not out of, nor independent of, this hope, but ever stirred up by his hope, he does "Press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 3:14). The will within us to press on, IS GOD'S WILL working in us. HE also empowers us to give ourselves to His purification. Thus in utter dependence upon the holy Spirit, we shun the evil, and choose the good-- choose to walk in the way He has set before us, choose to yield ourselves in daily surrender to Him, and this works to our purification.
"Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren." (1 Peter 1:22). Read the phrases in a reverse order-- THROUGH THE SPIRIT, by His enablement, OBEYING THE TRUTH as He reveals it to us, YOU PURIFY YOUR SOULS. Active daily obedience to the truth works its own purification. What a marvelous working of God!
Jesus said, "If you continue in My Word, then are you My disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU free." (John 8:31-32). The transforming power is in the truth-- and HE disciplines us, prepares us to receive the truth, and as it works in us, we are "Changed into the same image from one degree of glory to another ACCORDING AS THIS CHANGE OF EXPRESSION PROCEEDS FROM THE LORD, the Spirit." (2 Cor. 3:18 Wuest)
"That HE might sanctify and cleanse with the washing of water BY THE WORD." (Eph. 5:26). And also, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7). Wrought through the Spirit, along with the Word, and the continually cleansing of the blood, PURIFICATION IS TAKING PLACE, and we are made partakers of His holiness, yes, and of HIS WHOLENESS.
Since it does not yet appear what we shall be when this transformation is complete, therefore daily OUR HOPE stirs us up to follow on. "For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." (Rom. 8:24-25). Truly, "We through the Spirit WAIT FOR THE HOPE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS by faith." (Gal. 5:5). It well behooves us to "Gird up the loins of our mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (1 Pet. 1:13). Hope to the end-- hope right into the RESULT of His inworking. O the wonder of it all, God's redemption process in man. We praise HIM!