Identifying the cosmic system, part 15 John 15:19; 1John 3:8-10; 5:18-19.

Title: Identifying the cosmic system, part 15 John 15:19; 1John 3:8-10; 5:18-19.

 

 

1 John 3:8 the one who practices [does or commits] sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

 

Verse 8 represents the old nature that any believer can live in. This is why we went through so many scriptures on Tuesday night.

 

1 John 3:9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

 

Verse nine represents the new nature or divine nature that any believer can live in. This is why we went through so many scriptures on Tuesday night.

 

1 John 3:10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of [from] God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

 

Verse 10 represents the choice that any believer has between the two natures. One nature the world loves but it puts you in opposition to God and the other nature the world hates and puts you in closer fellowship with God.

 

“children” is teknon a term for a child under training. We could translate it as student.

 

It is likely that John remembered a conversation between Jesus and the religious Jews in the temple.

 

John 8:31 Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;

 

John 8:32 and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. " 

 

John 8:33 They [the Pharisees back in vs. 12-13] answered Him, "We are Abraham's offspring [sperma = seed], and have never yet been enslaved to anyone [lie]; how is it that You say, 'You shall become free'?"

 

John 8:34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin [old nature].

 

John 8:35 "And the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son [new creature] does remain forever.

 

John 8:36 "If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.

 

John 8:37 "I know that you are Abraham's offspring [physical seed; not “God’s offspring”]; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.

 

John 8:38 "I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father." 

 

John 8:39 They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you are Abraham's children [teknon = students], do the deeds of Abraham.

 

Abraham’s deed was to believe the promise that God had made to him by which he was credited with righteousness.

 

GEN 15:5-6

And He took him outside and said, "Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

 

The rather thick irony is that they claim to be children of Abraham and desire to kill Jesus who is the promised seed of Abraham.

 

GEN 22:18

And in your seed [the Christ] all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.

 

So Abraham had faith for salvation and then some years later, after a lot of training, failure, more training, success, more training, failure, rinse and recycle, he obeyed the word of God in a very difficult command. The command given by Christ in verse 32 to the believers is to abide in my word.

 

1 John 2:14

I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

 

The same word is used, “meno” meaning to abide or to remain and not leave, which is the same word used in John 15 as the branch abides in the vine.

 

John 8:40 "But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do.

 

Can you imagine Abraham’s faith, all the promises concerning the unconditional covenants, David’s promise and faith in a Son that would sit on the throne forever, the expectation of all the OT saints all dashed away because religious Jews born in the line of Abraham stoned the Messiah to death?

 

John 8:41 "You are doing the deeds of your father." They said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God."

 

John 8:42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me; for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.

 

John 8:43 "Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word [1 Cor 2:14].

 

1 Cor 2:14

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

 

John 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.

 

John 8:45 "But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.

 

John 8:46 "Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?

 

John 8:47 "He who is of God [out from God; same construction as in 1John 3] hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God."

 

Since the unbeliever is in view in this passage and the believer is in view in 1John 3, with the same grammatical construction, it reveals that a believer can live just like an unbeliever and be a student of the devil, meaning a student of his cosmic system.

 

Go back to:

1 John 3:8 the one who practices [does or commits] sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

 

The transition from the old nature to the new nature is right between them in that Jesus Christ has destroyed the works or the systems or schemes of the devil.

 

1 John 3:9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

 

1 John 3:10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of [from] God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

 

Whether we are an infant, a child, a young man, or a father we are always students of the word of God.

 

The point in verse ten is that you’re either in the plan of God and a continuing student of God or you’re in the cosmic system and you’re a student of the devil. You can’t be both at the same time.

 

It is a terrible shame and waste of life to be a new creature in Christ, a son of God in the RFOG and spend your life as a student of the devil; an expert at his cosmic system.  

 

Possessive genitives of teknon mean that you belong to one or the other, but not in position. As a believer, your pattern of thinking, your nature that you are exercising belongs to one or the other.

 

If your pattern of thinking belongs to the cosmos then you don’t do a right thing in a right way (practice +R) and you have no impersonal unconditional virtue love for the RFOG.

 

1 John 3:10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of [from] God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

 

When the believer is involved in the cosmic system he is called the enemy of the cross, Phil. 3:18; the enemy of God, Jas. 4:4; antichrist, 1 John 2:18; the disciple of the devil, 1 John 3:10.

 

If you find yourself in your flesh and therefore in the cosmic system, confess and get out immediately!

 

The indicative mood of the verb “are” in verse 10 is declarative, representing the verbal idea (the conflict of systems; God’s plan and the cosmos) from the viewpoint of reality.

 

And here is the reality: No believer is strong enough to function on his own strength in this life. Therefore, he is either under divine power inside the legacy plan of God or he is under satanic influence inside of the cosmic system.

 

Inside the legacy plan from God the student or disciple of God is functioning to the glory of God, but inside the cosmic system he is the student of the devil and he cannot glorify God.

 

If you find yourself in your flesh and therefore in the cosmic system, confess and get out immediately!

 

At the time Gnosticism gave believers and unbelievers a dual track of moral degeneracy or immoral degeneracy. Gnosticism taught that all matter was evil so naturally your physical body does evil things and so they taught there was nothing wrong with that. But they also had a spiritual side which was full of morality and asceticism where followers denied themselves of natural things. The same and more are offered today.

 

There are no extremes in the plan of God, simply grace. Extremist have a hard time resisting the temptations and lures of the cosmos.

 

Again it is not practice in verse ten but should be translated as “does” or “commits” and in the present tense it means all the times that unrighteousness and hate and fear or unforgiveness is committed rather than love. At these times you are not from God (ek) or rather, living in the divine nature. You are living in and through the old sin nature.

 

The body and the soul are neutral while the natures are not. The body and soul of the believer can be under the influence or either nature and never both or neither of them.

 

An unbeliever cannot be neutral in this sense since he only has one nature. His only hope is under the laws of divine establishment, which is not a nature, but a law that keeps his old nature corralled so to speak.

 

To begin with, "the old nature" is not the body or the soul. The body itself is neutral as is the soul: they can be used either by the old sinful nature or by the new divine nature.