Solutions to stumbling blocks – God’s divinely inspired book; John 16:1. Part 2.

Title: Solutions to stumbling blocks - God’s divinely inspired book; John 16:1.

 

Difficult doctrines that go against preconceived notions can cause stumbling because of human viewpoint and lack of patience, John 6:61.

 

John 6:41 The Jews therefore were grumbling about Him, because He said, "I am the bread that came down out of heaven." 

 

One cannot go through the CWL with blinders on, just going through the motions, and never knowing or believing that the Bible is divinely inerrant, inspired, and God’s perfect message to mankind.

 

Therefore, the word of God should never become dull or monotonous, but rather constantly inspiring a child like faith and fascination with every revelation, connection, and fulfillment that the Scripture brings.

 

When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye

I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown
The dream is gone
“I have become comfortably numb.”

 

John 6:42 And they were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, 'I have come down out of heaven'?" 

 

 “out of heaven” could only mean one thing to them, and that was He was claiming to be God. This is incredible to them, even the disciples.

 

Now the OT prophesied that the Messiah would be man and God incarnate so they had no excuse here, but the fact is that the truth of this is upon them now!

 

There will be many times when the believer is brought to the threshold of finite time and infinite glory through doctrine and his faith is tested.

 

According to the Word of God and to human experience, man, apart from divine illumination, is wholly unable to receive or understand the truth about God.

 

 

 

 

Ps 14:2-3

The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men,

To see if there are any who understand,

Who seek after God.

They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;

There is no one who does good, not even one.

 

1 Cor 2:10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

 

1 Cor 2:11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.

 

1 Cor 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God,

 

1 Cor 2:13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

 

 “combining spiritual with spiritual” = to join together fitly the doctrine taught by God the HS to the human spirit of the divine nature within.

 

1 Cor 2:14 But a natural man [produced by nature or natural, earthly] does not accept [readily receive] the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness [silly] to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised [distinguished from the natural].

 

1 Cor 2:14

The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can't receive the gifts of God's Spirit. There's no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit — God's Spirit and our spirits in open communion. [Message Bible]

 

1 Cor 2:15 But he who is spiritual appraises [distinguishes so as to investigate] all things, yet he himself is appraised [investigated or judged] by no man.

 

 “appraises” - a`nakri,nw[anakrino] = to distinguish so as to investigate the natural from the spiritual.

 

In this context this verb means to have the wisdom from the doctrine taught to the believer by God the Holy Spirit so as to understand the truth behind all things natural and spiritual. It means to be cognizant of both so as to glorify one and put the other in its proper place. We are not to be ignorant of natural things [wealth for example] but rather to assign them their proper priority in our souls. Therefore, asceticism, monasticism, etc. are wrong. The spiritual believer appraises or distinguishes all things. This wisdom can only come from above since He alone is the only One who knows the difference between the two.

 

1 Cor 2:16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

 

What human has the Spirit of God that he can sit on God’s level and therefore discern truth? Mind of Christ - bread that came from above.

 

Lack of faith in the divine origin of Christ caused the Jews to stumble. Lack of faith in the divine origin of the Bible causes Christians to stumble.

 

They confuse the natural and the spiritual all the time. When the Jews saw Jesus feed the 5000 they concluded that they wanted Him as a natural king in order to defeat the Romans. Imagine an army that doesn’t need a supply line or a field hospital since every wound could be cured on the spot by General Jesus. He is so much more than this and so is the word of God so much more than instruction on how to live morally. There was no discernment or distinction between the natural and the spiritual.

 

Your life’s quest is to continually make that distinction and to order your priorities accordingly. The full realm of scripture must be understood in terms of place, timedispensation, importance, and application.

 

The mastery of any part necessitates the mastery of the whole.

 

If disproportionate emphasis is tolerated or fads in doctrines indulged, but little progress can be made in its accurate understanding.

 

We often don’t do what we are about to do, and I plan on doing it more often, and that is to take a break from translating specific scriptures and to look at the supernatural book called the Bible as a whole.

 

This increases faith so that when you are brought to the threshold of eternity, you are better equipped to believe what is naturally impossible.

 

Bibliology - the study of collecting, arranging, and explaining the divinely inspired truths of the Bible. Bible [Gr. Biblos] means book.

 

Part of this study would be canonicity, but we’ve already done that. I am just going to relay some of the points of introduction to bibliology from LS Chafer’s systematic theology, volume 1, chapter 2.

 

Though a book [quote] it does surpass all other books as to authority, antiquity, literature, and popularity, yet its peculiar supremacy is seen in the fact that it discloses the truth concerning the infinite God, infinite holiness, infinite sin, and infinite redemption. It is, therefore, reasonable to conclude that the Bible is itself infinite, and such it proves itself to be, for no human mind has fully comprehended its message or measured its values [not one, ever].

 

THE BOOK OF GOD. By this title it is intended to call attention to the claim everywhere present in the Bible, that it is God’s message to man and not man’s message to his fellow men, much less man’s message to God.

 

No other book, from any religion, is written like this.