This episode of A Better Bible Study podcast is brought to you by our adult Bible study which ,while not associated with any particular congregation, is comprised by church of Christ members. This study tackles the spiritual cycles or progressions that the Holy Spirit reveals to us in the Bible.

Recap

            The previous episodes discussed the gospel, its components, the events of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and the  implications of the gospel. The implication tier of the gospel was labeled argumentative. This is breaking down the gospel into logical parts and being led to  a single conclusion. The next tier is the instructive implications, which tells what the gospel is, what it does, how it calls us, and what it hopes to achieve.

The third tier of implications is the revelatory. The gospel reveals truths and realities. It reveals the righteousness of God and the wrath of God. These truths are revealed and grasped only by the power of faith. They are not truths that come out of a logical explanation. It is here that we tackled the positive progression of faith, that is, the faith to faith process. Everything begins and ends with faith and spiritual growth is growing more and more in faith.

Beyond Trust

            The notion of faith is commonly associated with trust, credulity and being convinced or convicted of something that has no evidence. However, we saw that faith is more than these things. The Bible talks about faith as something that is more than trust.

One way to look at faith is its being like another sense. More than our five senses ,which only  perceives physical things, faith is like a faculty within us that allows us to understand and see realities that the mind cannot perceive.

Going back at Hebrews 11:1-3:

[1] Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. [2] For by it the men of old gained approval. [3] By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. (Hbr 11:1-3 NASB)

Faith assures us of realities that are unseen. It allows us to understand realities that cannot be easily grasped by the human mind, such as the universe is made from the word of God.

In Ephesians 3:19,  Paul talks about the love of Christ which is beyond knowledge. In Philippians 4,he speaks of the peace of God exceeding all understanding.

[19] and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

(Eph 3:19 NASB)

[7] And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

(Phl 4:7 NASB)

These realities we understand by faith, and faith comes by way of the gospel.

[17] So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. (Rom 10:17 NASB)

From faith to faith

            With faith’ we attain spiritual growth. With increasing faith, we become more and more desirous of the qualities of Christ. We come to value righteousness more so we live by and stay with these kind of faith. This is a positive progression.

Looking at positive progression:

[14] For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, [15] from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, [16] that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, [17] so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, [18] may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, [19] and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

(Eph 3:14-19 NASB)

Let’s break  this down to show progression.  The ultimate goal is for us to be filled with the fullness of God. And the progress to get there goes something like this.

(i)            Comprehend the  and know the love of Christ, be rooted and grounded in love, Christ has to dwell in our hearts through faith;

(ii)          First one comes when the inner man in us is strengthened with power through his spirit

(iii)         The inner man is strengthened because the Father grants that we be strengthened in power through his spirit in the inner man

The end result is that we are filled with the fullness of God. This is a sequential event that either happens to us or we become the product of this end result. What that means is that we become something other than we were. We become new.

What God wants from us is that we change what we are. The gospel is the cause of this.  What we do is a reflection of what we are. So the point is not to feel better. The point is to achieve godliness. As we approach this goal, we will want to do godly things and pursue godly things.

So if we want to change what we do, we will have to change who we are. The progression then is the progression in the inner man.

The entire New Testament reiterates this point over and over again.

[2] And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Rom 12:2 NASB)

In the above text, Paul writes that we must not be conformed to this world. We have to be transformed. Everywhere in the New Testament this message is repeated.  God wants us to be transformed. We need a renewing of the mind.

It has to be understood that no one can transform himself. God has to do that. Transformation does not mean giving more contributions or going to church more frequently. It means being changed into a more God-like person.

Furthermore, Paul prays:

[9] And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, [10] so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; (Phl 1:9-10 NASB)

In this text Paul shows the progression towards being sincere and blameless in the coming of Christ.  When love abounds in us, we approve of the things that are excellent.

Another outline of this progression in faith or spiritual growth can be seen in Ephesians 1:17-19.It says;

[17] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. [18] I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, [19] and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might. (NASB)

Here Paul teaches that faith allows us an insight into eternal things. This requires the “eyes of our heartâ€.  So we recall that faith is not just accepting things without proof. It is seeing realities with evidence provided by faith alone.

So these are positive progressions. When we have faith, we change from the actual us, to the ideal, which is more Christ like. So if we are progressing from faith to faith, if we are going through spiritual growth, then we become more like Christ, who was self-sacrificing, patient, long-suffering, generous, a  peace maker and wise. We become more like Christ as we go through this positive progression.

 

 

Negative progression

            Going through the positive progression of faith, we become more like Christ and our deeds reflect  a more  Christ-like character. This is morality. God defines what is good, we call it morality and as long as we link it to God, we know it is there.

There is no morality without Christ. However, we see that man has made a different definition which links morality to culture. So what may be acceptable in a certain culture may offend another. It becomes relative.

The problem of linking morality to culture is that there is no actual basis as to why we would say something is immoral or not. The driving force comes down to   punishment. For example, outside Christ, who would say that killing is immoral? Most people don’t want to kill because the law punishes it so the motivation is not morality. The motivation is avoidance of punishment or self-preservation or in other words, selfishness.

So in essence, finding a clear definition of what is right and wrong outside of Christ cannot be done.  It is clear that ,when our laws were drafted, they took into account the Bible’s teachings on right and wrong. This makes sense. But take that away, there will be no reason to obey the law except fear of punishment.

For next episode:

            Next episode, reading Romans 1:21-32 is suggested for an example of negative or reversed progression. It will be good if we are able to outline the progression as we do our bible study.

Thank you for watching this episode of the online bible study. Until next episode!