Part 9 of 12
Who
or What Are Believers to Live and be Guided By?
Who
or what are believers to live by and be guided by in their daily
lives?
Many
Christians would proudly answer “We don’t live by the words of any man,
we live by the Bible!” Then some would say “We follow Jesus!”
Each answer is only somewhat correct, but on dangerous ground, as we will see in
this installment.
The
Bible is God’s inherent written word that reveals the Lord and points the way
to salvation for mankind. 2 Timothy 3:16 All
scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness:
Christians
need to realize it is impossible actually follow the Bible entirely because it
contains incongruous requirements placed upon men from dispensation to dispensation.
Consider for example God’s dietary requirements for people at various times,
under differing dispensations. It would be Biblical to eat only vegetation
according to Genesis 1:29. But then also it would be Biblical to eat meat and
potatoes per God’s instruction to Noah in Genesis 9:3. And then it would
be Biblical to limit what specific meats may be eaten per the laws given to the
children of
It
should be obvious from the foregoing that we cannot follow all of the Bible’s
instructions simultaneously. So what shall we do? How then is one to please God
in the light of these contradictory dietary instructions for those who would
walk in accord with God? The simple answer is that we need to strive to be “dispensational,”
not simply Biblical.
Every
error of denominations and cults that claim Christianity are based upon Bible
verses out of context – they ignore the fact of “dispensational”
differences. Believers today need to see that they are not under
the instruction of “the dispensation of innocence” or “the
dispensation of conscience” or “the dispensation of human
government” found in Genesis, nor “the dispensation of the Law”
that came later and continued through the time of Jesus on earth as seen in the
Gospels. Later, Paul declared believers are “not live under the law
but “under grace” (Rom 6:14) in this day of “the dispensation of
the grace of God” (Eph 3:2). Paul, as THE Apostle to the Gentiles (Rom
11:13) tells Timothy believers are permitted to eat all foods received “with
thanksgiving … and prayer” (1Tim 4:4-5). Believers need to understand
their dispensational relationship with God if they are to be led spontaneously
by the “Spirit of Christ” within them (Rom 8:14). We learn of this
new grace relationship mainly from Paul’s thirteen epistles.
Something
simply “being in the Bible” as spoken by God to someone in the Old Testament
or by Jesus of Nazareth as accounted in the four Gospels is not a guide for
believers today, under “the dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph 3:2).
The words spoken by God in the Old Testament and by Jesus as recorded in the
Gospels must be properly interpreted by noting …as to whom
they were directed. Jesus was minister to the circumcision (Rom 15:8) and as
such, His words were directed to and intended for “the lost sheep of the
house of
Christians
need to realize that “Jesus of
Today
God leads believers by “the Spirit of Christ” within
the believer (
Romans
8:14 For as many as are LED BY THE SPIRIT of God, they are the
sons of God.
Galatians
5:16 (WEY) This then is what I mean. LET YOUR LIVES BE GUIDED BY
THE SPIRIT, and then you will certainly not indulge the cravings of your
lower natures.
1
John 2:27 But THE ANOINTING WHICH YE HAVE RECEIVED OF HIM ABIDETH
(DWELLS) IN YOU, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same
anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even
as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
The
Spirit anointing that dwells in believers is HIM – Jesus Christ. The
resurrected Lord Jesus Christ now is the non-physical “life-giving
Spirit” (1Cor 15:45) who indwells the believer as his new life.
Paul
here below says the grace believers at
“Therefore
FROM NOW ON WE RECOGNIZE NO ONE according to the
flesh; even THOUGH WE HAVE KNOWN CHRIST ACCORDING TO THE FLESH,
yet NOW WE KNOW HIM (JESUS) IN THIS WAY NO LONGER. 17
Therefore if anyone (believer) is in Christ, he
is a NEW creature; the old things passed away; behold, new
things have come. (2 Corinthians 5:16-17, NASB)
What
a remarkable statement from Paul. Most believers dare not to heed Jesus of
Nazareth’ words that He spoke to “the lost sheep of the house of
This
is why Paul also writes this. “Therefore let no one
sit in judgment on you in matters of food and drink, or with
regard to a feast day or a New Moon or a Sabbath. 17
Such [things] are only the shadow of things that are to
come, and
they have only a symbolic value. But the reality (the
substance, the solid fact of what is foreshadowed, the body of it) belongs to
Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17 (AMP) Paul is
saying all these external ceremonial aspects of religion are of “time
past”; they are not the issue today – the reality is the indwelling Christ.
We need to know that the reality is Christ as “the Spirit” in our spirit, leading and guiding us spontaneously from within. Thus, we are not to practice WWD? (that is, What Would Jesus of Nazareth Do?). The believer today is alive by Jesus as He now is – that is as the resurrected life of Christ within their spirit. Thus, believers must come to know Jesus as He now is – as the indwelling “Spirit of life.” Christ is now close at hand for every believer; as close as their breath. As believers, can know the resurrected “Spirit of Christ,” by our Spirit union with Him within us; and we are to live as He chooses to move within us, to live through us.
1
John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is
come, and hath given us an understanding, (SO) THAT WE MAY KNOW
(GINOSKO, COME TO KNOW) HIM THAT IS TRUE (REALITY), and WE
ARE IN HIM that is true, even (that is,) IN HIS SON JESUS CHRIST.
THIS IS THE TRUE GOD, AND THE ETERNAL LIFE.
The
“Spirit of Christ” is the reality of God’s love and life that
believers may and must “come to know.” “The Spirit” within
us is the witness and presence of the living Christ. He is in us with both the
essence Jesus’ humanity and His divine overcoming and empowering life.
Romans
5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed;
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by
(through) the Holy Ghost which is given
unto us.
Truth
is verity or reality. 1 John 5:6 This is he that came
by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by
water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth
witness, because THE SPIRIT IS TRUTH (REALITY).
It’s
only as “the Spirit” that we can realize and know God in Christ in a
real way. Apart from the intimacy of “the Spirit” that we as
individuals can enjoy personally, we can only know about “Jesus of
Jesus
prophesied of His resurrection life coming out of His death here. John
12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall
into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it
bringeth forth much fruit. Jesus died
and was resurrected to BECOME the “life-giving Spirit” (1Cor 15:45).
Each believer is “born of God” by “the Spirit of Christ”
as God’s “Seed.” 1 Peter 1:23 Being born
again, not of corruptible seed (Gk. sperma), but of incorruptible, by
the word (Christ) of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. Every
child of God is born of God’s Christ-Seed.
“The Spirit” that Paul writes of is Christ “the Lord” who rebirths and then transforms believers from within as they turn their hearts (2Cor 3:15) to behold Him. “Changed,” as seen below, is a “metamorphosis” that is a total transformation process as we seen in caterpillars becoming butterflies.
2 Cor. 3:17-18 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18But WE all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are CHANGED (Greek., METAMORPHOO) INTO THE SAME IMAGE FROM GLORY TO GLORY, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
As
I’ve written so often, “glory” simply means “expression.” The “Spirit
of Christ” in the believer is the believer’s only “hope” of
expressing His glorious life and nature. This transformation in the believer is
the automatic and spontaneous expression of Christ’s “Spirit of life”
flowing in and through the believer. Being containers of the Lord’s life, He
uses our mind, emotions, and will as organs of His expression on earth
today. Only by His work in us can we live as yielded unto the Lord, outwardly
expressing His right-living through our entire being.