When we see Jesus always doing whatever the Father was doing, it
means that, in everything Jesus did for people, we see what the Father was
doing for people.[1] The
gospels not only tell us what Jesus is like; they clearly tell us what the Father
is like.[2]
When we see the apostles doing their ministries as branches of the
vine bearing fruit to this day, what we see them willing to do for the church
expresses something of what Jesus was doing for his church.[3] The apostles
“flesh out” what it looks like for Jesus to shepherd the church because the
Triune God loves the church.
When Paul told us, “For I want you to know how great a struggle I
have for you…”,[4] he was telling us how strongly God was working in him to will and to
work for his good pleasure, and how devotedly Paul was working out his own
salvation with fear and trembling because of the reality of God’s work in him.[5]
This means that, Paul’s desire that “their hearts may be
encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full
assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ,
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,”[6] is our
Father’s desire for us.[7]
I encourage each of us to turn on our relational circuit with God as
best we understand how to do so,[8] and thank
him that he wants our hearts to be encouraged in fellowship with one another,
that he wants us to know the satisfaction of hearts that are truly knit
together in agapè-love,[9] and that
he wants us to feel the restfulness of full assurance of understanding.
Thank our heavenly Father that he wants us to have the genuine
knowledge of his own mystery, which is Christ. Thank him that he wants to make
his hidden and secret reality known to us so that all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge that are hidden in Christ are revealed to us so we may, “rejoice
with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.”[10]
Not only will our joy-based relational circuits build in our brains
as we express appreciation for these wonders no matter how little we have experienced
them, but our willingness to know God like this means that we will be
encouraged, just as he desires for us. We will be blessed with the very attachments
in Christ that we long for way down deep under our layers of self-protection. We
will feel that elusive assurance of understanding and knowledge that is
desperately needed in a world of ignorance and blindness. And knowing Christ in
his kingdom will feel like we have found a treasure in a field that we would
give up everything to enjoy as our own because it is so much more valuable than
whatever we have experienced in the world.[11]
Not only is this specific lesson an encouragement to us all, but it
is also an invitation to look at all the men who served God so devotedly and
allow our hearts to receive their work as evidence of the Father’s great love
for us. His agapè-love consuming these men’s hearts, minds and souls, tells us
how determined our Father is to seek us, find us, and bring us home.[12]
As was said of one man of faith, the same can be said of all the
servants of God who gave us the holy Scriptures: “through his faith, though
he died, he still speaks.”[13] And what
each of these men speaks is that their God is here for the knowing as our God.
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave
the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the
will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”[14]
© 2020 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English
Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition:
2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News
Publishers.)
[6] Continuing Colossians
2:1-3
[7] This is also obvious
from II Timothy 3:16-17 that shows that the words written down by the human
writers of Scripture were actually breathed-out by God himself, which is why we
can live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God as Jesus taught
(Matthew 4:4) by letting the words of Scripture dwell in us richly (Colossians
3:16).
[8] In physical terms,
this means trying to relate to God in relational attachment rather than merely
left-brain agreement. In spiritual terms, this means deliberately seeking to abide
in Jesus as branches in the vine so that his life and ours are united in
fellowship.
[9] Agapè
is the distinctive love that unites God and his people. It means: “love (affection) n. — a strong positive emotion of regard and affection”
(Bible Sense Lexicon).
[12] Luke 19:10; I Timothy
1:15; John 14:23
We all know that a picture
is worth a thousand words. However, the same can be said about words
themselves. Not only is this true of those who love writing, but it is very
distinctly true in relation to the breathed-out words of God. I often find in
my prayer-journaling that one word of Scripture can easily take a thousand
words or more of pondering and meditation.
Over the Christmas break I
have been struggling through how to obey by faith God’s instruction to, “Submit
yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw
near to God, and he will draw near to you.”[1] This is God’s plan for reconciling with him when
we are caught in spiritual adultery with the world.[2]
My problem is that I feel
like an utter failure at not only doing this, but even knowing HOW to do it so
that I am real in the doing and it is real in the fulfilling.
With all that in mind, I
began my time with God by starting with the first word, “submit”. I
immediately began to wonder if the grammatical breakdown would tell me something
I was missing. It had the sense of, “Oh no, is this another ‘plural’ I’ve
been trying to apply as a ‘singular’”!?
Sure enough, not only is
that the case, but unfolding the word in each aspect of its grammatical properties
blew me away with how much God is telling me/us. It is very encouraging.
So, first of all, the
definition of the word, “submit”.
Submit: to be submissive v.
— to be or become inclined or willing to submit to orders or wishes of others
or showing such inclination.[3]
Already, just from the
definition, this word is telling us to let ourselves become willing to submit
to God’s orders or wishes regarding the issue of our adulterous activities with
the world and our corresponding animosity towards him.
Even if we already knew
that, look at how the different grammatical qualities of this word help us
appreciate it all the more.[4]
The grammatical breakdown
of “submit” in the original Greek of the New Testament is: verb, aorist,
passive, imperative, second person, plural. Let’s look at how each quality
helps us understand God’s expectation.
Verb = an action
This means that submitting
to God is something that will be evident in what we do. Of course, it is very
fascinating that one of James’ themes in the book is that our faith shows
itself by what it does and that faith that does not “do” is dead.[5] Our response to what God says is not complete
while we’re still thinking about it, but only when we have done the thing
required.
Aorist = (ingressive) stresses
the beginning of the action or entrance state
Don’t worry, I had to look
that all up to understand what it means. The sense is that, the aorist is not
focused on the tense of “submit” (whether it is past, present, or future), but
the aspect of “submit” (in this case leaving it as a simple action). The
focus seems to be on “just do it” without limiting it to when it should
be done. The expectation would seem that, if Father just told us to submit to
him, we would submit to him, and we would know we have done it when we have
done it.
Passive = the subject
undergoes the action of the verb
Since we, the church, are
the subject of this exhortation, this already tells us that this is something
we bring on ourselves rather than on others. Agapè is something we can only
express by doing unto others,[6] while submit in the passive is something we
surrender to ourselves. We are not trying to get someone else to submit to God,
but to get ourselves to submit to him.
Imperative (with the aorist)
= a task expected to be completed
While the aorist stresses
the beginning of something (get started on submitting), when it is combined
with the imperative it means that the task we are to get going on is expected
to be completed. No dawdling. Get started and don’t stop until you’re finished.
Second person = you
James is not telling us
what he is going to do, but what we are going to do. In the single word, “submit”,
it is clear that the expectation of fulfillment is on us. If we’re the ones
submitting to the world’s deceptions; we’re the ones who let ourselves repent
(change our minds) and have the faith that submits to God instead.
Now here is where that
notorious problem with English comes in because we tend to interpret “you”
in the singular and try to do these things all by ourselves. However, the Greek
regularly brings out that the “you” is not singular and that is why we
have so many problems trying to do what we are told!
Plural = you who are
the group addressed
This is actually the
biggest part of the lesson to me. My focus cannot be on how I do this, but on
how we do this. The problem was that the church itself was committing adultery
with the world together, so they had to corporately turn this around together (corporate
repentance + corporate faith).
It isn’t that we can’t
individually do this while our church culture continues its adultery with the
world. Rather, it is a picture of our Father’s will in the matter, which is
that the whole body would actively enter a submissive relationship with him
once again. As it is possible to have healthy parts of our body while all the
rest is suffering with a disease, that is never the best choice for each part
of the body. It is best for everyone that the whole body is in a state of
health for the good of all.
I just checked on the
other verbs in this sentence and both “resist” and “draw near”
are “verb, aorist, active, imperative, second person, plural”. That means that
they are identical to “submit” except in switching from passive to
active.
So, since submit is the
only verb that is passive, it sounds like it means that, once we have
surrendered to Father’s will and let ourselves submit to him, we then become active
in resisting the devil so he will flee from us, and in drawing near to God so
he can draw near to us.
It must be noted that,
when God calls us to draw near to him, it is talking about the God we have
offended with our adultery. And yet, when we return to him from that adulterous
relationship with the world, we will find his overwhelming grace drawing near
to us in agapè rather than bending us over his knee for a behind-the-shed
spankin’.[7]
Does this make you wonder
how much of our freedom to resist the devil so he will flee from us when we are
together, and draw near to God so he will draw near to us when we are together,
is resting on our willingness to let ourselves be churches that submit to God
together?
Up to this point, my word
processor says I have used 1373 words to ponder and share this with you. A word
from the Lord is so picturesque that it is truly worth thousands of words of
meditation and prayer to attach to him in what he is saying and doing, and join
him in his work with all our hearts, souls and minds.
Right now, joining Father
in this work of submitting to him means getting started right away to let this
take over my full being right now, and encourage all my relationships with
fellow believers to do the same together.
© 2019 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English
Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition:
2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News
Publishers.)
[2] James deals with this
in James 4:1-10 where he describes “friendship with the world” as “enmity with
God”, and reinforces this with the synonymous expression that being “a friend
of the world” makes us “an enemy of God”. Any churches that live this way together
are “adulterous people” (vs 4).
[3] The Bible Sense
Lexicon
[4] I had to look this all
up, so it was probably as new to me as it will be to most of you.
[6] Agapè is that
distinctive love of the kingdom of God that actively pursues what is best for
others in the sight of God (rather than what we would like to get out of the
relationship).
[7] The parable of the Lost
Son shows the repentance that changes its mind about what it loves from loving
the world to loving a home with Father. As the son drew near to his father, he
discovered his father was running down the driveway to draw near to him.
Definitely not what he expected.
