Authors: Paul Ellis

The Gospel in Ten Words (25 page)

BOOK: The Gospel in Ten Words

8.82Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

ads

[36]
These lyrics of longing come from Song of Songs 3:1
–
2, 5:6 and Psalms 42:1.

[37]
Just as Isaac was
born in the power of the Spirit (Galatians 4:29), you were born into your new
life by the Holy Spirit. “It is the Spirit who gives life [
He is the
Life-giver
]” (John 6:63, AMP). The Holy Spirit is both the means by which
you first entered into union and the sign that you are now in union. “
We are sure that we live in union with God and that he
lives in union with us, because he has given us his Spirit” (1 John 4:13, GNB).

[38]
G4854
(sumphutos
),
Thayer’s and Smith’s
Bible Dictionary
.
Like Dr. Strong, these
lexicographers
interpret the word as meaning
connate
which comes
from the Latin word conatus,
from
con-
“together” and
nasci
“be born.” The
Oxford English
Dictionary
defines
connate
as “(of parts) united so as to form a single part.”

[39]
Paul addressed the Philippian Christians as the “saints in
Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:1) and then exhorted those saints to greet all the
other “saints in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:21). Just as there are no saints
outside of Christ Jesus, there are no sinners in Christ Jesus. If you are in
him, you are a saint.

[40]
See Isaiah 24:16 and Jeremiah 23:5, 33:15.

[41]
In scripture, the desire for union is often expressed as a
calling to fellowship or
koinonia
(see, for example, 1 Corinthians 1:9
and 1 John 1:2
–
3).
Koinonia
literally
means participating in the life of God that is in Christ Jesus. It is another
word for the spiritual union all believers have in common with Christ.

Chapter 5: Accepted

[42]
Jesus’ acceptance of
frail Peter is recorded in Luke 22:31–34. Jesus’ acceptance of Judas as
“friend” is recorded in Matthew 26:50.

[43]
Dr. Seuss,
Oh, the
Places You’ll Go!,
HarperCollins, 1957/1990.

[44]
Source unknown. To
the best of my knowledge, announcements similar to this one were first heard in
mid-western Catholic and Lutheran churches in the early 2000s.

Chapter 6: Holy

[45]
Isaiah and John both
had visions of heaven. Isaiah heard six-winged seraphs singing “Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3).
John saw four living creatures who never stop saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the
Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come” (Revelation 4:8).

[46]
For regulations
forbidding trimmed beards see Leviticus 19:17; for tattoos see Leviticus 19:28;
for bacon see Leviticus 11:7. Lepers who wanted to be holy had it particularly
tough as they were deemed untouchable and had to go around in mourning clothes
shouting “Unclean! Unclean!” (Leviticus 13:45).

[47]
G5046 (
teleios
),
Strong’s Exhaustive
Concordance
.

[48]
This is a reference
to Jesus’ ministry as our high priest. “Although he was a son, he learned
obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of
eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high
priest in the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 5:8–10). As God’s Son, Jesus was
sinless and perfect. But he could not represent us and free us from captivity
until he had identified with our death. “Since the children have flesh and
blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy
him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all
their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14–15). God
demands eternal perfection. Either you must be perfect or you must be represented
by one who is. A high priest such as Jesus meets our need—One who is holy,
blameless, pure, and exalted above the heavens (Hebrews 7:26).

[49]
Most gym instructors
will tell you that your holiness requires an act of your will combined with the
daily sacrifice of your body. But Hebrews 10:10 says, “By that will” meaning
the will of God, “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of
Jesus Christ once for all.” It’s a simple equation: His will plus his sacrifice
equals our holiness, once for all.

[50]
To paraphrase Psalm
34:10, “The young (immature) lions may grow weak and hungry (become needy), but
those who trust the Lord lack no good thing (are whole, their needs amply
supplied).” To put it another way, those who look to the flesh to meet their
needs will remain incomplete, but in him you are complete—wholly whole and
lacking nothing.

[51]
Note that the NIV
translation of 1 Peter 2:5 says you “are being built… to be a holy priesthood”
which sounds as though you are not presently holy. However, Young’s Literal
Translation of that passage conveys the more accurate sense that you are being
built up
as
a holy priesthood. The NIV translators would agree with this
interpretation. Four verses later they note that you are, right now, “a chosen
people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9).

Chapter 7:
Righteous

[52]
See Revelation 3:1
–
6.
How do we soil our
clothes? By trying to make ourselves righteous. “Our righteous acts are like
filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). What is appropriate attire in God’s eyes? Being
clothed with Christ and the robe of
his
righteousness (Isaiah 61:10). These two kinds of righteousness—ours and his—are
mutually exclusive. But don’t make Luther’s mistake of thinking that
“Christians are snow-covered dung.” You are not righteous on the outside and
rotten on the inside. In union with the Lord you are as righteous as he is (see
2 Corinthians 5:21).

[53]
G5526 (
chortazó
),
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance
.

[54]
Surely you don’t need
a scripture to back this up but if you do, here are fourteen: Acts 13:39,
Romans 1:17, 3:22, 28, 4:5, 24, 5:1, 9:30, 10:6, Galatians 2:16, 3:8,24,
Phlippians 3:9, Hebrews 11:7.

[55]
At least two accusers
are identified in the Bible. One is the law, a.k.a. Moses (John 5:45), and the
other is the devil (Revelation 12:10). The Holy Spirit accuses no one of sin,
not even sinners.
Jesus said the Holy Spirit would
convict the world “in regard to sin
because
men do not believe in me”
(John 16:9). The issue is not wrongdoing
but unbelief. (Wrongdoing follows wrong believing.) To blaspheme or slander or
speak falsely of the Holy Spirit is to refuse to allow him to convince you that
Jesus is the once and final solution for sin.

[56]
See Ezekiel 3:20,
18:24–26, 33:13. In the Old Testament, even your best righteousness wasn’t good
enough. Elihu asked Job whether he seriously thought that his righteousness was
better than God’s righteousness (see Job 35:2). In case Job had any doubts,
Elihu pointed out that just as God is unaffected by our wickedness, so is he
also unimpressed by our righteousness (Job 35:8). It was a lesson lost on the
Israelites. God flat out told them, “I will expose your righteousness and your
works, and they will not benefit you” (Isaiah 57:12). Jesus said something
similar: “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the
teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew
5:20). The point? Our righteousness doesn’t pass muster. We need the
righteousness he freely provides.

Chapter 8: Died

[57]
See Colossians 2:20,
Romans 6:8, and 2 Corinthians 5:14.

[58]
Didn’t Paul say he died daily? He did (see 1 Corinthians
15:31
–
32), but he was referring to the dangers
and hardships he faced in preaching the gospel. “I fought wild beasts in
Ephesus!” He was not preaching a works-based theology of dying to self. Paul
understood that you don’t crucify the new
man. We don’t die to self, we
died to the law (Romans 7:4, Galatians 2:19)—including the law that says we
must die to self.

[59]
Watchman
Nee,
The Normal Christian Life,
Tyndale House, 1977, p.52. Nee asks,
“Must we ask God to crucify us? Never! When Christ was crucified we were
crucified; and his crucifixion is past therefore ours cannot be future” (pp.44
–4
5).

[60]
The Greek verb for sin is
hamartano
̄
(G264 in the Strong’s
numbering system). However, Paul uses the noun
hamartia
(G266) in
Romans
5:12, 6:12, 14, 17, 20 and 7:11, 14, 20
and about 40 other places in Romans
.

[61]
If this is not clear
to you, read Galatians 2:16–21 in the Message Bible and the lights should go
on.

Chapter 9: New

[62]
G2537 (
kainos
),
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon
.

[63]
Sources for the poem “Who am I?”: I am a saint (Ephesians
1:1, Philippians 1:1 Jude 1:3), a trophy of Christ’s victory (2 Corinthians
2:14, AMP); born of imperishable seed (1 Peter 1:23), a new creation (2
Corinthians 5:17); complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10, KJV) and perfect
forever (Hebrews 10:14); a child of God (1 John 3:1), the apple of my Father’s
eye (Psalms 17:8); one with the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:17) and the temple of the
Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19); eternally redeemed (Hebrews 7:25, 9:12) and
completely forgiven (Colossians 2:13); seated with Christ in heavenly places
(Ephesians 2:6); righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21), holy and blameless (Ephesians
1:4); hidden in Christ (Colossians 3:3) and eternally secure (Hebrews 6:19); my
beloved’s and he is mine (Song of Songs 6:3); the head and not the tail
(Deuteronomy 28:13); blessed with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), a
joint heir with Christ (Romans 8:17); a competent minister of the new covenant
(2 Corinthians 3:6); bona fide and qualified (Colossians 1:12), chosen (John
15:19, Colossians 3:12, 1 Peter 2:9) and anointed (1 John 2:27); his royal ambassador
(2 Corinthians 5:20), a missionary to the world (Matthew 28:19); as bold as a
lion (Proverb 28:1) and more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37); the salt (Matthew
5:13) and light of the world (Matthew 5:14); the sweet smell of Jesus to those
who are perishing (2 Corinthians 2:15); a tree planted by the water (Psalms
1:3, Jeremiah 17:8), and a fruitful branch (John 15:8); king o’ the world
(Revelation 1:6, 1 John 5:4) because His victory is mine (1 Corinthians 15:57);
the disciple whom Jesus loves (Romans 5:5, Ephesians 1:6) and by the grace of
God I am what I am (1 Corinthians 15:10).