|
SECTION F – The Conduct of
Mankind (1:18 -
3:20)
Balanced
by SECTION f - The Conduct of The Saints (12:01
- 15:07)
01:18 For God's indignation
is being revealed from heaven
on all the
irreverence and injustice of men
who
are retaining the truth in
injustice,
'…God's indignation…'
The Greek orgê means indignation, or anger. It is different from thumos, FEEL, which is better rendered fury, see Lk.4:28.
Paul, here, begins his
indictment against humanity, detailing and emphasising the damned situation
it finds itself in. But, we must remember that this is an evangel - good news - from God. So, the
bad news that follows in this indictment must be more than compensated for by good news of what God has in
store. The 'balance' could be brought merely from the negative to a zero.
That would be good news. But, how would the sufferings and trauma of the
meantime be justified? We must remember that we are accountable for what we are given to work with, but we are not responsible for the outcome as
diverse forces beyond our control are in operation. The 'balance' must be
taken to a positive value to make the intervening experience worthwhile for God and for all
humanity. The worse and the more hopeless the situation is, the greater the
blessings must be in contrast. It must reveal God's righteousness and
produce, not mere hope and thankfulness, but an expectation and the elation
of a completely satisfying remedy.
Meanwhile, God's
indignation is being revealed.
Rather than saying that it had been
revealed some time before and finished with, or that it will be revealed sometime in the
future, but not yet, this passage speaks of a continuing operation. It continues to be in effect.
Man has been constituted a sinner (Rom.5:19a),
with a dying condition passed
through from Adam, and so he cannot help but continue to be sinning and cannot escape from being irreverent and unjust
(Rom.5:12). Salvation from these is entirely beyond him. But, being
irreverent and unjust, he draws on himself the indignation of God. He is
double-done-for, so to speak. He is caught in a vortex of evil totally beyond his control and
ability.
Even we, who are believers,
still find ourselves doing what we know we should not, doing what we do not
want to, because of this mortality that is still our lot. It will be only
at our being snatched away to be with the Lord that mortality and
incorruption will be things of the past. The dying factor being removed at
that instant, it follows that we will not sin any more.
Rom.5:12 Therefore, even as through one man sin entered into the
world,
and
through sin death,
and
thus death passed through into
all mankind, on which all
sinned
Rom.7:18-20 For
I am aware that good is not making its home in me
(that
is, in my flesh),
for
to will is lying beside me, yet to be effecting the ideal is
not.
19 For it is not the
good that I will that I am doing,
but
the evil that I am not willing,
this I am putting into practice.
20 Now if what I am not willing, this I am doing,
it
is no longer I who am effecting it, but Sin which is making its home in me.
1Cor.15:53-56 For
this corruptible must put on incorruption,
and
this mortal put on immortality….
then
shall come to pass the word which is written,
Swallowed
up was Death by Victory.
55 Where, O Death, is
your victory? Where, O Death,
is your sting?
56 Now the sting of Death is sin,
Meanwhile, God has locked
man in stubbornness, sentencing him to be under His indignation, the more
direct and drastic measures to be effected in the near future.
Eph.5:5-7 For
this you perceive, knowing that no paramour at all
or
unclean or greedy person, who is an idolater,
has
any enjoyment of the allotment in the kingdom
of Christ and of God.
6 Let no one be seducing
you with empty words, for because of these things
the indignation of God is coming on the sons of stubbornness.
7 Do not, then, become joint partakers with them,
Col.3:5-7
Deaden, then, your members that are on the earth: prostitution,
uncleanness, passion, evil desire and greed, which is idolatry,
6 because of which
the indignation of God is coming on the sons of stubbornness--
7 among whom you also
once walked, when you lived in these things.
Mt.24:21,22
for then shall be great affliction,
such
as has not occurred from the
beginning of the world till now;
neither
under any circumstances may be occurring.
22 And, except those days were discounted, no flesh at all would be saved.
Yet,
because of the chosen, those days shall be discounted.
Dan.12:1
"In that era shall stand up Michael,
the
great chief, standing over the sons of your people.
Then
comes to be an era of distress
such as has not occurred
since there came to be a nation on
the earth, till that era. …
01:19 because that which is
known of God is apparent among them,
for God manifests it to them.
It is also a sentence that is being carried out presently. It
is being revealed now by man's
evident aberrant and shameful, degrading behaviour. Being irreverent and
unjust, he will shy away from
truth. He cannot tolerate it because it reveals the inherent weakness and
helplessness he does not want to admit he has. He is in a state of denial
and will seek every possible way to rationalise his position - even to
accepting a 'responsibility' for his actions so that he would have chosen his own path and not be under obligation
and subjection to any being - even if it be God, Himself. So, man deludes
himself into thinking that he has a 'free will' with the 'privilege' and
the 'right' to choose his own career independent of God.
Act.14:16,17
Who,
in bygone generations, leaves all the nations to go their ways,
17 although
He leaves Himself not without the testimony of good acts,
giving
showers from heaven and fruitbearing seasons,
filling
our hearts with nourishment and gladness."
Act.17:23-28
For,
passing
through and contemplating the objects of your veneration,
I
found a pedestal also, on which had been inscribed,
`To
an Unknowable God.'
To
Whom then, you are ignorantly devout,
This
One am I announcing to you.
24 The God Who makes
the world and all that is in it,
He,
the Lord inherent of heaven and earth,
is
not dwelling in temples made by hands,
25 neither is
He attended by human hands, as if requiring anything,
since
He Himself gives to all life and breath and all.
26 Besides, He makes
out of one every nation of mankind,
to
be dwelling on all the surface of the earth,
specifying the setting of the seasons
and the bounds of their dwelling,
for
them to be seeking God, if, consequently,
27 they may
surely grope for Him and may be finding Him,
though
to be sure, not far from each one of us is He inherent,
28 for in Him we are living and moving and are,
Eph.1:11 …
being designated beforehand according to the purpose
of
the One Who is operating all
in accord with the counsel of His will,
01:20 For His invisible attributes are
descried from the creation of the
world,
being apprehended by His achievements,
besides His imperceptible power and
divinity,
for them to be defenseless,
The indictment continues.
No matter what he does or what excuses he uses, he cannot escape the fact
of a Being that rules over all. There is ever the evidence of God's handiwork
in the world that surrounds him, in the beauty of design and the meticulous
order that marks creation and in the marvelous occurrence of natural
phenomena. The evidence is simply overwhelming.
Ps.19:1-4 The heavens
are recounting the glory of El,
And
the atmosphere is telling the work of His hands.
2 Day after day is uttering a saying,
And
night after night is disclosing knowledge.
3 There is
no audible saying, and there are no words;
Their
voice is unheard.
4 Yet into the entire
earth their voice goes forth,
And
into the ends of the habitance their declarations…
Job.38:4-7
Where were you when I founded the earth?
Tell
if you know with understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements--for
surely you know!
Or
who stretched out a measuring tape upon it?
6 On what were its
sockets sunk? Or who directed
its cornerstone in place,
7 When the stars of the morning were jubilant
together,
And all the sons of Elohim raised a
joyful shout?
01:21 because, knowing God,
not as God do they glorify or thank Him,
but vain were they made in their
reasonings,
and darkened is their unintelligent heart.
Though man cannot escape knowing
God through His creative operations, he refuses to worship Him as God! Man wants to be his
own boss, proud of his 'independence', able to carry out his plans and to
achieve his own goals. He prefers to be in the position to offer God things
from what he achieves, from his own bounty, rather than be a humble
recipient from God's bounty. He wants to show God what he can do and
demonstrate his worth.
Most men do acknowledge
some 'Superior Being' (or beings) who, thus, is their God and accord Him
attributes intended to appease and flatter for, to them, God is also fickle
and vengeful. Somehow, men imagine that they can use God to their own
advantage. A common factor in religions is a system of rites and rituals in
ceremonial worship. With the performance of these, they expect God to
respond favourably, as if God were a genie to be summoned and ordered about
at their beck and call. The worship in Roman Catholicism and what is called
'Christian' orthodoxy is not far different only, perhaps, more sophisticated
and 'biblical'.
God is demonstrating His
indignation by confounding their 'reasonings'. This word is from dialogismos', literally, THROUGH-LAYizing,
laying facts in relation to one another to form the basis of opinion. So, He causes their logic
to become faulty. And He clouds their much-vaunted 'intelligence'.
1Cor.3:20.21 The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise,
that
they are vain.
21 So that, let no one be boasting in men,
Gen.6:5 And
seeing is Yahweh Elohim
that
much is the evil of humanity in the earth,
and
every form of the devices of its
heart is but evil all its days.
Mt.15:19
For out of the heart are coming wicked
reasonings,…
1Tim.2:8
I am intending, then, that men pray in every place,
lifting
up benign hands, apart from anger and reasoning.
Phil.2:14,15 All
be doing without murmurings and reasonings,
15 that you may become blameless and artless,
children of God,
flawless,
in the midst of a generation crooked and perverse
among
whom you are appearing as luminaries in the world,
Eph.4:17-19
By no means are you still to be walking
according
as those of the nations also are walking,
in the vanity of their mind, 18 their
comprehension being darkened,
being
estranged from the life of God
because
of the ignorance that is in them,
because
of the callousness of their hearts,
19 who, being past feeling, in greed give themselves
up with wantonness
to
all uncleanness as a vocation.
Eccl.7:29
See, I found this alone:
That
the One, Elohim, made humanity upright,
Yet
they seek many devisings.
Mt.6:23 Yet
if your eye should be wicked, your whole body will be dark.
If,
then, the light that is in you is darkness, how dense is the darkness!
01:22 Alleging themselves to be
wise, they are made stupid,
The indignation of God is
on all the irreverence and injustice of men who, though quite aware of the
truth concerning God (because the evidence of His power and dignity is
there for them all to see - so that they had no excuse), do not acknowledge
His glory and benevolence as GOD.
Though they may claim to be
intelligent and wise, and are themselves convinced that this is so, God confounds their logic and
emotions and they become, in fact, stupid! God makes them stupid! They theorise from the false premises that
they have come to accept and can only end up with faulty conclusions. It is
only because their peers and critics and followers are all under the same
stupefying cloud of self-delusion, that these consider their pronouncements
intelligent.
1Cor.1:19,20 For
it is written,
I
shall be destroying the wisdom of the
wise,
and
the understanding of the intelligent
shall I be repudiating.
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe?
Where
is the discusser of this eon?
Does
not God make stupid the wisdom of
this world?
1Cor.3:19,20
for the wisdom of this world
is stupidity with God.
For
it is written, "He is clutching the wise in their craftiness."
20 And
again, The Lord knows the reasonings
of the wise, that they are vain.
Rom.8:20
For to vanity was the
creation subjected,
not
voluntarily, but because of Him Who
subjects it,…
1Cor.1:21 in the wisdom of God, the world
through wisdom knew not God,…
01:23 and they change the
glory of the incorruptible God
into the likeness of an image of a corruptible
human being
and flying creatures and
quadrupeds and reptiles.
And, because they have been
made stupid, they cannot 'see' and appreciate the glory of God and, thus,
reject the One appointed by God to
represent Him, that is, the Image of the invisible God. Instead, they
now synthetise and represent the glory of the incorruptible God, the
Creator, by images of His creatures such as humans and animals, and even of
imaginary things. They heap to themselves statues and paintings and icons
etc. This is the trait of all religions. Roman Catholicism is replete with
such abominations, and 'Christian' orthodoxy is becoming increasingly
enamoured with such 'symbolism'.
Isa.40:21-23 Are
you not knowing? Are you not hearing?
Was
it not told to you from the beginning?
Do
you not understand from the foundations of the earth?
22 Who is sitting over
the circle of the earth,
and
its dwellers are as grasshoppers?
Who
is stretching out as a thin gauze the heavens,
and
bagging them out as a tent to dwell in?
23 Who is making
chancellors to be nothing?
The
judges of the earth He makes as chaos.
Jer.10:10-13 And
Yahweh [is] an Elohim of truth,
He [is] a living Elohim, and a king eonian,
From
His wrath shake does the earth,
And
nations endure not His indignation.
11 Thus do you say to
them,
The
elohim Who the heavens and earth have not made,
They
do perish from the earth, And from under these heavens.
12 The maker of the
earth by His power,
The
establisher of the world by His wisdom,
Who,
by His understanding, stretched forth the heavens,
13 At the voice He
gives forth, A multitude of waters [is] in the heavens,
And
He causes vapours to come up from the end of the earth,
Lightnings
for rain He has made, And brings out wind from His treasures.
Ps.135:15-18 The
fetishes of the nations are
silver and gold,
The work of human hands.
16 They have a mouth,
but they cannot speak;
They
have eyes, but they cannot see;
17 They have ears, but
they cannot listen;
Indeed,
there is really no spirit in their mouth.
18 Like them, may
their makers become, all who are trusting in them.
Isa.40:18-20 Then
to whom will you liken El?
And
what likeness will you arrange
for Him? 19 A carving?
That
which is made, or is cast by an artificer,
and
a refiner with gold is stamping it,
and
chains of silver he is refining, a likeness is he making it.
20 A provident one
will choose a heave approach of wood that will not rot.
He
will seek for himself a wise artificer,
to
prepare a carving with no blemish.
Isa.40:25,26 "Then
to whom will you liken Me, and whose equal will I be?"
saying
is the Holy One.
26 Lift your eyes to
the height and see; Who created all these?
Who
is bringing forth their host by number?
He
is calling to all of them by name,
because
of vast virility and resolute vigor, and not one of them is deranged.
Isa.44:9-17 Formers of carvings, all of them are
a chaos.
And
makers of their coveted idols
shall fail to benefit.
And
their witnesses they will fail to see and fail to know,
that
they may be ashamed,
10 Who form an el, and cast a carving which fails to benefit.
11 Behold! All his
partners are ashamed. And the artificers, they are blushing.
They
are convening. All of them are standing together.
They
shall be afraid. They are ashamed together.
12 Sharpening is the
smith the adz, and he contrives to do it in the coals.
And
with picks is he forming it. And contriving it with the vigor of his arm.
Moreover,
he is famishing and there is no vigor,
and
he drinks no water, and is faint.
13 The carpenter
choosing wood, stretches out a tape.
He
is drawing the carving with red ochre. He is making it with gouges,
and
with a circle former is drawing it.
And
he is making it as a model of a man,
as
the beauty of a human, to dwell in a house.
14 He cuts down for
himself cedars, and is taking juniper and oak,
and
the tough is his among the wildwood trees, planted by the Lord,
and
the downpour is making it grow.
15 And it comes to be
for a human to consume.
And
he is taking of them for warmth.
Indeed,
he is igniting it and bakes bread.
Indeed,
he is contriving an el, and is
worshiping it.
He
makes it a carving and is falling on his
knees and face to it.
16 Half of it he burned up in the fire.
And on this half of it he is eating flesh.
He
is roasting a roast and is satisfied. And by its embers he sits.
Indeed,
he is warming himself, and is saying, `Aha! I am warm! I see light!'
17 And the remnant of it he makes into an el.
To a decaying tree, to it is he
falling on his knees and face.
And he is worshiping, and praying to
it,
and
saying, `Rescue me, for my el are
you!'"
Isa.44:19,20 And
he is not recalling to his heart,
and
no knowledge is there, nor understanding to say,
"Half
of it I burned up in the fire, and, indeed, I baked on its embers bread,
roasting
flesh and eating. And the rest of it I am making into an abhorrence.
To a decaying tree am I falling on
my knees and face!"
20 Grazing on ashes, a
trifling heart turns him aside.
And
he is not rescuing his soul,
nor
is he saying, "Is not a falsehood in my right hand?"
Isa.46:5-7 To whom will you liken Me, and make Me
equal,
and compare Me, and we shall be alike?
6 Squanderers of gold
from a purse, and silver,
with
reed scales will they weigh.
They
will hire a refiner and he will make of it an el.
And they will fall on their knees
and face. Indeed, they will worship!
7 And they will bear
it on a shoulder, they shall be burdened with it.
And
they will leave it on its bottom, then it is standing.
From
its place it is not being removed.
Indeed,
he is crying to it, yet it is not answering.
From
his distress it will not save him.
To His chosen people, Israel,
God gave specific instruction regarding this matter - only to them and not to the other nations.
Jer.10:14 Brutish is every man by knowledge,
Put
to shame is every refiner by a graven image,
For
false [is] his molten image. And there is no breath in them.
15 Vanity [are] they,
work of erring ones,
In
the time of their inspection they perish.
16 Not like these [is]
the Portion of Jacob, For framer of all things [is] He,
And
Israel [is]
the rod of His inheritance, Yahweh of
Hosts [is] His name.
Ex.20:4,5 You
shall not make for yourself a carving nor any representation of that in the heavens above or that on
the earth beneath,
or
that in the waters beneath the earth.
5 You shall not bow
yourself down to them, nor be made to serve them,
for
I, Yahweh your Elohim, am a jealous El,…
Ex.20:23 You
shall not make anything beside
Me:
no
elohim of silver nor elohim of gold shall you make for yourselves.
Deut.4:15-19 You must be very much on guard against your
soulish desires
(since
you saw no physical representation at
all
on
the day Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire)
16 lest you should
bring ruin on yourselves
and make for yourselves a carving,
a physical representation of any
figure, a model of male or
female,
17 a model of any
beast which is on the earth,
a
model of any winged bird which flies in the heavens,
18 a model of any
animal moving on the ground,
a
model of any fish which is in the waters below the earth.
19 Guard yourselves
lest you should lift up your eyes toward the heavens,
and you see the sun and the moon and
the stars,
all the host of the heavens,
and
be induced to bow yourself down to them and serve them,
which
Yahweh your Elohim has
apportioned to all other peoples
beneath the entire heavens.
God rescued His people from
the common lot of humanity by revealing Himself to them. The other nations
were not privy to such revelation and continue to be under God's
indignation. Not being empowered by God, however, they soon reverted to
their 'instinctive' bent and became involved in idolatry.
Ps.106:19,20
They made a calf at Horeb,
And
they bowed down to a molten image.
20 They changed His glory into the model of a bull calf that feeds on
herbage.
Act.7:41-43 …
"And they make a calf in those days,
and
they led up the sacrifice to the idol,
and
made merry with the works of their hands.
42 Now God turns and
gives them up
to
be offering divine service to the host of heaven,
according
as it is written in the scroll of the prophets:
Do
you not offer Me slain victims and sacrifices
forty
years in the wilderness, house of Israel?
43 And you took up the
tabernacle of Moloch
and
the constellation of your god Raiphan,
the
models which you make, to worship them.
`And
I shall be exiling you beyond' Babylon.
Each time the people of Israel
turned to idolatry, however, God put them through severe hardships, even to
exiles, to drive home the lesson. This was not the case with the other
nations - God left them to wallow in their idolatry all that time.
Isa.44:18 They
do not know, nor are they understanding,
for
He plasters their eyes,
from seeing, and their hearts, from intelligence.
When the evangel of the
grace of God was given through Paul, however, God revealed Himself to the
chosen individuals out of the nations. Only then were they removed from the
jurisdiction of darkness, and the dominion of ignorance, into the kingdom
of the Son of His love, where God is revealed for Who He is.
1Cor.12:2 You
are aware that when you were of the
nations,
you
were led away to the voiceless idols, as
ever you were led.
1Cor.10:19,20
What, then, am I averring?
That
an idol sacrifice is anything? Or that an idol is anything?
20 But that that which
the nations are sacrificing,
they are sacrificing to demons
and not to God.
Now
I do not want you to become participants with the demons
1Thes.1:9
for they are reporting concerning us,
what
kind of an entrance we have had to you, and
how you turn back to God from idols,
to
be slaving for the living and true
God,
1Cor.8:4-6
We are aware that an idol is nothing in the
world,
and
that there is no other God except
One.
5 For even if so be
that there are those being termed
gods,
whether
in heaven or on earth,
even
as there are many gods and
many lords,
6 nevertheless for us
there
is one God, the Father, out of
Whom all is, and we for Him,
and
one Lord, Jesus Christ, through
Whom all is, and we through Him.
01:24 Wherefore God gives
them over, in the lusts of their hearts,
to the uncleanness of dishonoring their
bodies among themselves,
'..the lusts of their hearts..'
God's indignation is being revealed in that He makes it so that they give in to the
inclinations of their heart which, Scripture declares, is desperately
wicked. He gives them over
to be living in sensuality and for sensuality. They seek to gratify
the lusts of their flesh, becoming sensual rather than spiritual, becoming
soulish in their desires. They lose their sense of propriety and
self-respect, and flaunt their bodies to titillate and tantalise others.
Such fleshly behaviour is glamourised on television and in cinema under the
excuse of realism, in fashion on the catwalk and in magazines for 'sex
appeal', and in paraded raunchy lifestyles of the rich and famous.
Jer.17:9
Crooked [is] the heart above all things,
And
it [is] incurable--who does know it?
Mt.15:19,20
For out of the heart are
coming wicked reasonings,
murders,
adulteries, prostitutions, thefts, false testimonies, calumnies.
20 These are those
which are contaminating a man….
Rom.8:5 For those who are in accord with flesh
are
disposed to that which is of the
flesh,…
Rom.8:7,8
because the disposition of the
flesh is enmity to God,
for
it is not subject to the law of God, for neither is it able.
8 Now those who are in
flesh are not able to please God.
This tantalising allurement
to pleasure and indulgence in sex is a spur to aberrant behaviour patterns
in society and, arguably, provides the biggest incentive to human
endeavour. There is big business in the provision of such 'entertainment'
that appeal to the 'primal instincts' of man. Illicit and casual sexual
relationships are portrayed as 'natural' and irresistible. They are even
made to look cute and 'so fun'.
It has been so set by God,
that those who cater to their soulish desires have their minds blocked from
apprehending the things of the spirit. Such people cannot have a grasp on
spiritual values, looking on these as illogical, unfair, and stupid.
1Cor.2:14 Now
the soulish man
is
not receiving those things which are of the spirit of God,
for
they are stupidity to him,
and
he is not able to know them, seeing that they are spiritually examined.
Yet, these spiritually
degenerate and disqualified people are esteemed by others of like mind -
people who, instead of worshipping the Creator God in truth, prefer to pay
homage to false gods - beings and things created by God or which they
themselves create to accord with their own desires and imaginations.
Scripture, however, speaks
to believers in no uncertain terms. Death is still with us and we are prone
to sin. When death is removed from our make-up, when we are made immortal, we
will not sin. But, we are not to wait for that time to turn away from these soulish desires. These have
to be dealt with now,
immediately.
Rom.6:12 Let not Sin, then, be reigning in your mortal
body,
for
you to be obeying its lusts.
Eph.4:22-24 to put
off from you, as regards your former behavior,
the
old humanity which is corrupted in
accord with its seductive desires,
23 yet to be
rejuvenated in the spirit of your mind,
24 and to put on the
new humanity which, in accord with God,
is being created in righteousness
and benignity of the truth.
Eph.2:1-3 And you, being dead to your offenses and sins,
2 in which once you walked, in accord with the eon of this world,
in
accord with the chief of the jurisdiction of the air,
the
spirit now operating in the sons of stubbornness
3 (among whom we also all behaved ourselves
once in the lusts of our flesh,
doing the will of the flesh and of
the comprehension,
and were, in our nature, children of
indignation, even as the rest),
Col.3:5-7 Deaden,
then, your members that are on the earth:
prostitution,
uncleanness, passion, evil desire and greed, which is idolatry,
6 because of which
the
indignation of God is coming on the
sons of stubbornness--
7 among whom you also once walked, when you lived in these things.
Rom.13:14
put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and be making no provision for the
lusts of the flesh.
Gal.5:16,17
Now I am saying, Walk in spirit, and
you should under no circumstances be
consummating the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh is
lusting against the spirit,
yet
the spirit against the flesh.
Now
these are opposing one another,
lest
you should be doing whatever you may want.
Gal.5:24
Now those of Christ Jesus
crucify the flesh together with its
passions, and lusts.
Tit.2:12 disowning
irreverence and worldly desires, we should be living sanely and justly
and devoutly in the current eon,
1Jn.2:16,17 Be not
loving the world, neither that which is in the world.
If
ever anyone is loving the world, the love of the Father is not in him,
16 for everything that
is in the world, the desire of the
flesh,
and the desire of the eyes, and the
ostentation of living,
is
not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the world is passing by, and its desire,
yet
he who is doing the will of God is remaining for the eon.
01:25
those who alter the truth of
God into the lie,
and are venerated, and offer divine
service to the creature
rather than the Creator, Who is blessed for
the eons! Amen!
'…the truth of God…'
The truth of God can only be known through
revelation, whether it concerns the truth about God, about Who and What He is, or the truth that God
about what He is accomplishing,
about His operations.
False gods
The truth about God,
concerning His holiness and goodness and supremacy, is supplanted by the
myths and legends of false gods in idol-worship. These have arisen either
from illicit disclosures by disobedient messengers, or as products of man's
unbridled imaginations, where mere creatures are revered as gods, albeit
still with human instincts and desires and concupiscence.
1Pet.3:19,20
…being gone to the spirits in jail also,
20 He heralds to those
once stubborn,
when the patience of God awaited in the days of Noah
while the ark was being constructed,
Jude 6 Besides, messengers who keep not their own
sovereignty,
but
leave their own habitation,
He
has kept in imperceptible bonds under gloom
for
the judging of the great day.
2Pet.2:4
For if God spares not sinning messengers,
but
thrusting them into the gloomy caverns of Tartarus,
gives
them up to be kept for chastening judging;
To us, some of these heathen
representations seem somewhat weird and fearsome, but these may have a
semblance of what actually exists.
In the book of Ezekiel, we are given insights into some of the forms of
celestial beings, creatures of God, and these are quite different from that
of humanity. As an example,
Ezek.1:5-14 And
out of its midst [is] a likeness of four living creatures,
and
this [is] their appearance; a likeness of man [is] to them,
6 and four faces [are] to each, and four wings [are] to each of
them,
7 and their feet [are]
straight feet,
and
the sole of their feet [is] as a sole of a calf's foot,
and
they are sparkling as the color of bright brass;
8 and hands of man
under their wings--
on
their four sides, and their faces and their wings--
[are]
to them four; 9
joining one unto another [are] their wings,
they
turn not round in their going, each straight forward they go.
10 As to the likeness
of their faces,
the
face of a man, and the face of a lion, toward the right
[are] to them four,
and
the face of an ox on the left
[are] to them four,
and
the face of an eagle [are] to
them four.
11 And their faces and
their wings are separate from above,
to
each [are] two joining together, and two are covering their bodies.
12 And each straight
forward they go,
whither
the spirit is to go, they go, they turn not round in their going.
13 As to the likeness
of the living creatures,
their
appearances [are] as coals of fire--burning as the appearance of lamps;
it
is going up and down between the living creatures,
and
brightness [is] to the fire, and out of the fire is going forth
lightning.
14 And the living
creatures are running, and turning back,
as
the appearance of the flash…..
It is probably from disobedient
ones with forms such as these that most of the gods of the nations have
been fashioned after.
From the time of Adam and
until that of Noah, mankind had gone its own way, away from God and from
the knowledge of Him.
Gen.6:5 And
seeing is Yahweh Elohim
that
much is the evil of humanity in the earth,
and
every form of the devices of its heart is but evil all its days.
Gen.6:8 Yet Noah finds grace in the eyes of Yahweh Elohim.
Gen.6:9,10
Noah is a just man.
Flawless became he in his generations.
With the Elohim walks Noah.
10 And begetting is
Noah three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
It was just before the
flood, 'when the patience of God
awaited in the days of Noah while
the ark was being constructed', that the disobedient messengers revealed
themselves to some of humanity.
Of the eight who survived
the flood, only Noah is said to
have been just and flawless. It would seem that these others carried with
them, into the 'new' world, the belief in the illicit revelations of the
sinning messengers. From Ham came Nimrod, who made himself pre-eminent
among his contemporaries and placed himself even 'before the Lord'. He
became the focus of veneration and worship and of organised religion at Babel,
the chief city he established in the land
of Shinar. This is the common
origin of all human religion, and it spread throughout the world in the
dispersion after the fiasco at the tower that was being erected. The tenets
of what was believed at Babel
have even infiltrated and influenced 'Christianity'. The doctrine that God
is composed of a trinity of persons can be traced to the religious system
of Nimrod and Semiramis at Babel.
The Myth of 'Free Will'
The truth that God is the Almighty, the all-sufficient One in absolute
control of all that exists and of all that happens, is supplanted by the
doctrine that man has a free will
that empowers him to even obstruct and frustrate God's operations if he so decides. God can only save him
if he decides to be saved. If he
determines not to be saved, then
even God can do nothing about
saving him. It is even said that, to protect His integrity, God must respect even his wrong decision
as he exercises his inalienable and God-given
right. It is his decision that
determines God's response. This
is also a basic tenet of all religion.
And 'Christian' orthodoxy
has had no problem incorporating this into its theology. For example, it
teaches that if one decides to accept Christ as Saviour, one is saved. If
one decides to reject the offer of salvation, one will surely 'suffer an
eternity in hell'. This is taught in the face of Scripture which says:
Eph.1:11 ..the One Who is operating all in accord with the counsel of His will,
Isa.14:27
For Yahweh of hosts has counseled, and who will annul it?
And
His hand is outstretched, and who
will reverse it?
Job 42:2
I know that You can do all things,
And
no plan of Yours can be thwarted.
Isa.46:10 Telling from the beginning,
the hereafter,
and
from aforetime, what has not yet
been done.
Saying,
`All My counsel shall be
confirmed, and all My desire will
I do.'
Rom.11:34-36 For,
who knew the mind of the Lord?
or,
who became His adviser?
35 or, who gives to
Him first, and it will be repaid
him?
36 seeing that out of Him and through Him and for Him
is all:
to
Him be the glory for the eons!
Amen!
There is this fallacious
idea based on Matt.22:14, taken out of context, which says that 'many
are called, but few are chosen'. This only applies to the
kingdom evangel directed to the Circumcision. The evangel that is relevant
to us of the nations, the Uncircumcision, on the other hand, declares that only
the chosen are called, so that all those
being called, without exception, have
already been chosen
to be believers. And when God has
thus counseled, who in all of creation is able to
thwart it? What personal choice?
Where is the 'free will'
decision?
Rom.8:28-30 …
who are called according to the purpose
29 that, whom He
foreknew, He designates beforehand, also,
to
be conformed to the image of His Son,
for
Him to be Firstborn among many brethren.
30 Now whom He designates beforehand, these
He calls also,
and
whom He calls, these He justifies also;
now
whom He justifies, these He glorifies also.
The One Mediator
In all religions, followers
have access to their god, or gods, through the mediation of a priest system
with its stipulated rites and rituals. These priests act for their god to
the followers, and also act for the devotees to their god, acting as
mediators.
Roman Catholics as well as
most Christians look on their priests and ministers in the same light. And
this, in the light of Scripture which declares that:
1Tim.2:5-7 For
there is one God, and one Mediator of God and mankind,
a
Man, Christ Jesus,
6 Who is giving
Himself a correspondent Ransom for
all
(the
testimony in its own eras),
7 for which I was
appointed a herald and an apostle
(I
am telling the truth, I am not lying),
a
teacher of the nations in knowledge and truth.
Who could represent God,
except Christ, designated by the
invisible God Himself to be His Image. Who could act for creation, except the Christ, the
Logos, through Whom all has come into being! Who in all of creation is
qualified to have given himself up as a correspondent ransom for all, but
Christ, the Saviour. Yet, Roman Catholicism has had the audacity to
proclaim Mary as the co-Mediatrix.
Cults see their leaders in this position. Orthodoxy does not see that
ministers are given as guides, and not as usurpers of Christ's exclusive office.
The gift of life
Scripture teaches that,
unless God brings them to life again in resurrection, death would be the
end of the existence of those who die. This declaration, however, is
dismissed by the teaching that each man has an 'immortal' soul that continues to exist even after the
person dies. Death is said to be a change from one type of life to another.
Supposedly, the souls of 'good' people, when they die, go to an eternity of
bliss in heaven, while the souls of 'evil' people go to an everlasting
punishment in hell. This is another basic tenet of all religion.
'Christianity' has been
using this teaching as an insidious ploy towards the conversion of people
to its fold. These unfortunates are being converted by error into more
error.
'Christian' Theology
Such erroneous doctrines
have become part of 'Christian' theology and constitute a watershed which
separates the 'Christian' from the 'heretic'. Can we not realise that
doctrines which accord with those of other religions (whose adherents are
all sons of stubbornness, and under the influence and control of Satan)
should be immediately suspect and rejected forthwith? They all walk:
Eph.2:2 … in accord with the eon of this
world,
in accord with the chief of the jurisdiction of the air,
the
spirit now operating in the sons of stubbornness
2Cor.4:3,4 Now,
if our evangel is covered, also,
it
is covered in those who are perishing,
4 in whom the god of this eon blinds the
apprehensions of the unbelieving
so that the illumination of the evangel
of the glory of Christ,
Who
is the Image of the invisible God, does
not irradiate them.
1Jn.5:19
We are aware that we are
of God,
and
the whole world is lying in the
wicked one.
Yet, the champions of these
extra-scriptural doctrines, gleaned and adapted from pagan sources, are
revered as stalwarts of the faith, men of God, of unrivalled spiritual
pedigree and unquestionable integrity. What they say is taken as 'gospel
truth', and the errors they teach become more entrenched.
Cannot we heed the
forewarning of Scripture which declares that:
2Tim.4:3,4
…the era will be when they
will not tolerate sound teaching,
but,
their hearing being tickled,
they will heap up for themselves
teachers in accord with their own desires,
4 and, indeed, they
will be turning their hearing away
from the truth,
yet
will be turned aside to myths.
01:26 Therefore God gives
them over to dishonorable passions.
For their females, besides,
alter the natural use into that which is
beside nature.
It is because men do not
give Him His due as God,
He 'abandons' them, as a display of His indignation, to degrading desires -
wantonness and homosexuality and mating with animals. Men are sentenced to such behaviour. God gives them over to such dishonourable passions. The disposition
of the flesh becomes overpowering and they become driven by shameful
desires which give rise to aberrant sexual behaviour. 'Their females'
(here, Scripture does not even call them 'women') have become drawn to the curse
of lesbianism and even to copulation with animals. And there is a rising
demand for pornography detailing these 'contrary to nature' actions.
Lev.20:14
As
for a man who takes a woman and her mother, this is lewdness.
With
fire shall they burn him and them
so
that no such lewdness may come up in your midst.
Lev.18:23b …
And
a woman shall not stand before a beast to copulate with it.
This
is decadence.
Lev.20:16 As
for a woman who approaches to any beast to copulate with it,
you
will kill the woman and the beast. They shall be put to death, yea death;
their
bloodguilt will be on them.
01:27 Likewise also the
males, besides,
leaving the natural use of the female,
were inflamed in their craving for one
another,
males with males effecting indecency,
and getting back in themselves
the retribution of their deception which
must be.
And today, homosexuality,
instead of receiving condemnation, is looked on as legitimate 'alternative
behaviour'. It has become common, acceptable, even fashionable, and paraded
unashamedly as a right of preference for the individual. Far from being
ashamed of their lifestyle, homosexuals openly display their preference in
marches, demonstrations, and legal actions. And they receive full
consideration so that it has become a crime to obstruct or discriminate
against their 'rights as individuals'! Cross-dressing becomes 'innocent
fun' and light-hearted entertainment. Same-sex 'marriages' are openly
solemnised.
This flaw in character,
rather than being looked on as something wrong, is being treated as an
unfortunate disease, the victims deserving understanding and compassion.
Under this subterfuge, professing homosexuals are even ordained into the
Christian ministry.
Lev.18:22 With a male you shall not lie as if going to bed
with a woman.
This
is an abhorrence.
Lev.20:13
As
for a man who lies with a male as if going to bed with a woman,
they
do an abhorrence. The two of them shall be put to death, yea death;
their
bloodguilt will be on them.
Heb.13:4 May
matrimony be honorable in all, and the bed undefiled,
for
paramours and adulterers will God be judging.
Lev.18:23a
You
shall not give your emission to any
beast to be unclean with it…
Lev.20:15 As
for a man who gives his emission to a
beast,
he
shall be put to death, yea death, and the beast shall you kill.
01:28 And according as they do not test God, to have Him in recognition,
God gives them over to a disqualified
mind,
to do that
which is not befitting,
The basis and beginning of
a true relationship with God is
the recognition and
acknowledgement that God IS GOD!
When THIS is properly in
focus, we possess a yardstick to verify truth. For, then, we are enabled,
given a mindset, to believe what our GOD declares through the scriptures
for us to believe! Scriptural faith is NOT just believing whatever we would
like to believe; it is NOT just
believing that there is a God.
Faith is believing what God declares
for our belief. It assumes that
what God declares to us is true!
Rom.10:17
Consequently, faith is out
of tidings,
yet
the tidings through a declaration of
Christ.
Heb.11:1
Now faith is an assumption
of what is being expected,
a conviction concerning
matters which are not being observed;
Heb.11:6 Now
apart from faith it is impossible
to be well pleasing,
for
he who is coming to God must believe
that He is [God],
and
is becoming a Rewarder of those who are seeking Him out.
Rom.4:20-22
yet the promise of God was not doubted in unbelief,
but
he was invigorated by faith,
giving glory to God,
21 being fully assured also,
that, what He has promised,
He is able to do also.
22 Wherefore, also, it
is reckoned to him for
righteousness.
Without such a focus we
have no standard to gauge our behaviour, we lose our self-respect and
become involved with desires and resultant activities that are thoroughly
degrading.
Though a number of
paedophiles are being exposed, the figures indicate only the tip of the
iceberg. Distorted appetites are whetted through cinema and on the internet
by explicit scenes of sex, promiscuity, and sexual violence. Nudity, rape,
brutality, masochism, sadism are being subtly introduced into the living
room. Pornography is rampant, even among children at school. Everything is
experimented on in the name of sexual fulfillment and the thrill of the
moment.
The works of the flesh are
evident all around us. The situation is getting 'progressively' worse and
the family environment is eroded, becoming more exposed to the debilitating
and spiritually dangerous mindset of the world.
Gal.5:19-21
Now apparent are the works of
the flesh,
which
are adultery, prostitution, uncleanness, wantonness,
20 idolatry,
enchantment, enmities, strife, jealousies, furies, factions,
dissensions,
sects, 21 envies, murders, drunkennesses, revelries,
and
the like of these,
which,
I am predicting to you, according as I predicted also,
that
those committing such things
shall
not be enjoying the allotment of the kingdom
of God.
Eph.4:17-19
This, then, I am saying and attesting in the Lord:
By
no means are you still to be walking
according
as those of the nations also are walking,
in the vanity of their mind, 18 their comprehension
being darkened,
being
estranged from the life of God
because
of the ignorance that is in them,
because
of the callousness of their hearts,
19 who, being past
feeling, in greed give themselves up
with wantonness
to all uncleanness as a vocation.
Men want to appear
righteous and holy. There are those with some charisma who crave power and
authority over others, who crave to be leaders with dedicated followers,
and who claim an appointment by God in matters of spirit. And there are
others gullible enough to 'recognise' the supposed calling of these
'leaders' and to aid and abet them in their aspirations.
2Pet.2:1-3 Yet
there came to be false prophets also among the people,
as
among you also there will
be false teachers
who
will be smuggling in destructive sects,
even
disowning the Owner Who buys them,
bringing
on themselves swift destruction.
2 And many will be following out their
wantonness,
because of whom the glory of the
truth will be calumniated,
3 and in greed, with suave words, they will traffic in
you,
whose
judgment of old is not idling, and their destruction is not nodding.
2Pet.2:12-15
Now these, as irrational
animals,
born
naturally for capture and corruption,
calumniating
that in which they are ignorant in their corruption,
also
shall be corrupted, 13 being requited with the wages of injustice.
Deeming
gratification by day a luxury, they are spots and flaws,
luxuriating
in their love feasts, carousing together with you,
14 having the
distended eyes of an adulteress, and that
do not stop from sin,
luring unstable souls, having a
heart exercised by greed,
children of a curse.
15 Leaving the
straight path, they were led astray,
following
out the path of Balaam of Beor, who loves the wages of injustice,
01:29 filled with all
injustice, wickedness, evil, greed,
distended with envy,
murder, strife, guile, depravity, whisperers,
01:30 vilifiers, detesters of
God, outragers, proud,
ostentatious, inventors of evil things,
stubborn to parents,
01:31 unintelligent,
perfidious, without natural affection, implacable,
unmerciful:
Profit and power lie behind
the cultivation and exploitation of man's inherent weaknesses. Greed and
envy drive men to take unfair advantage of their fellowmen through cheating
and stealing and murder. Arrogant, they demand their rights but have no
respect for that of others. As the days progress, all the traits listed in
the passage become more evident, and we realise that we live in a godless
world.
2Tim.3:2-5
for men will be selfish, fond of money,
ostentatious, proud,
calumniators, stubborn to parents,
ungrateful, malign,
3 without natural affection, implacable,
adversaries,
uncontrollable, fierce, averse to the good,
4 traitors, rash,
conceited,
fond of their own gratification rather than fond of God;
5 having a form of
devoutness, yet denying its power.
01:32
those who, recognizing the
just statute of God,
that those committing such things are deserving of death,
not only are doing them,
but are endorsing, also, those who are
committing them.
And, because they do not
'check out' on God in order to worship Him in truth, God does not allow
them to develop proper spiritual values so that they think nothing of doing
what is morally and ethically wrong. We see the results of this attitude in
degenerative traits and practices all around us. But, not only do they
practise these degrading things themselves, they also approve such
behaviour among others of like mind.
John.4:24 God
is spirit,
and
those who are worshiping Him must
be worshiping in spirit and truth.
1Cor.2:14
Now the soulish man
is
not receiving those things which are of the spirit of God,
for
they are stupidity to him, and he
is not able to know them,
seeing
that they are spiritually
examined.
Ps.10:3-5
For the wicked one boasts over
the lusting of his soul,
And
the greedy one scorns, Yea, he spurns Yahweh:
4 In his haughty anger
the wicked one is not inquiring at all.
There
is no Elohim in all his schemes;
5 His ways are profane
in every season.
Prov.2:13-15
those who forsake the paths of uprightness
To
walk in the ways of darkness,
14 Who rejoice in
doing evil, Who exult in the duplicity of evil,
15 Whose paths are perverse,
And who are devious in their routes.
Back to:
Introduction
to Romans
Paul, Apostle of
the Nations
Chapter
1, Verse 1
Chapter 1, Verses 2-6
Chapter 1, Verses 7-17
Proceed to:
Chapter 2, Verses 1-10
Oct 2005
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