Joshua and Judges: Crossing the Jordan - Obeying God's delegated authority, part 5. Jos 1:16-18; 1Pe 3.Title: Joshua and Judges: Crossing the Jordan - Obeying God's delegated authority, part 5. Jos 1:16-18; 1Pe 3.
Announcements/opening prayer:
1Pe 3:1 In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own [unbelieving] husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives,
1Pe 3:2 as they observe your chaste [pure] and respectful behavior.
1Pe 3:3 And let not your adornment be merely external — braiding the hair [elaborate hairdo], and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses [apparel];
1Pe 3:4 but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.
Hidden person of the heart is used in contrast to the overt adornment. One can adorn a mannequin. A person ought to be bigger than any consideration of outward decoration.
Peter describes that personality, briefly in the case of these wives, as a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price.
This doesn't mean that she doesn't talk or has no opinions, but these are words that are used to describe the personality of Christ and from that we can gather their reality.
"Imperishable quality" - av,fqartoj[apthartos] = not liable to corruption or decay.
This is an incorruptible quality. Overt adorning gets taken off at night and reapplied the next day, but humility and self-control are permanent qualities that cannot be corrupted by cosmic ways, lust, or trends.
"gentle" - prau?,j[praus] = meek or mild, a character of TLJC:
Mat 11:29 "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle [praus] and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.
Mat 21:5 "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold your King is coming to you, Gentle, and mounted on a donkey,
Mat 5:5 "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
They won't inherit it in our day and age, but they will in the age to come, as was and is true of Christ. Think of the person of Christ and you find the proper way of gentleness or meekness.
1Ti 6:11 But flee from these things, you man of God; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness [meekness].
"quiet" - h`su,cioj[hesuchios] = inner tranquility and peace.
While eirene, used in Gal 5:22 and translated "peace" as one of the fruit of the Spirit has more of a nuance of soul prosperity as peace is the absence of war, chaos, and turmoil, whereas hesuchios has more of a nuance of inner quietness and tranquility that results from such a soul.
It is vital in all situations that we possess this quality.
1Ti 2:1-2 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
Respect for God's delegated authority, “all who are in authority” is always linked to a tranquil and quiet life with godliness and dignity.
So the Christian woman's adornment must be spiritual, not physical.
Personality is after all far more important than either physical beauty or the adornment which mere clothing affords. Personality, given by God, in the Christian woman, becomes a beautiful harmony of intellect, sensibility, and will.
Only by growing up spiritually will any believer find their true personality.
It bears itself in a gentle and tranquil heart, living without fear, smiling at the future, and dependent upon her true Husband and Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pro 31:25-26 Strength and dignity are her clothing, And she smiles at the future. She opens her mouth in wisdom, And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
A person ought to be bigger than any consideration of outward decoration. One can dress up a fence post.
If one finds it necessary to depend upon either physical beauty or clothing in order to make a favorable impression upon others, that fact shows that that person realizes his lack of those personal and spiritual qualities that make a robust Christian character.
Should we depend on God-made things for the character that impress upon others, which represents us, or man made things?
This leads to an interesting investigation about adornment. The NT has a lot to say about what we "put on" or adorn ourselves with. In our passage we see that proper adornment for the believer truly originates from within, from Christian character developed by a healthy relationship with the word of God and fellowship with the Spirit.
Let's start from the beginning. In the Garden we were perfect, created perfect by God, and unclothed. Our nakedness was not seen as it is after the fall because of our perfect, God given glory.
Adam and Eve before they fell into sin were adorned with an wrapping of the glory of God's perfection though they were naked.
We can call it glory since glory is the person of the Trinity and God made them, both male and female. I'm not saying that it was some kind of light or material thing, but they certainly had no need or desire to cover themselves. They had perfect self-esteem and a perfect spiritual life as it existed from them through their communion daily with the theophany of Christ and their enjoyment of the tree of life, and all the trees that were good for food and pleasing to the eyes.
Their glory was produced from within their inner beings and was truly representative of their inner spiritual lives.
Their spiritual lives existed as body, soul, and spirit communicated and learned from Christ in theophany. They were familiar enough with the Lord that they could discern His approach just from the sound of it. He came to them and they fellowshipped with one another. They did not compromise His perfect righteousness or justice since they were perfectly made by Him.
Then we sinned and lost our spiritual lives and any glory we had.
Gen 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
When they sinned, the power to adorn themselves spiritually left them, and finding that their bodies had death and sin and decay in them, they made clothing to cover up their sin and shame.
God made coverings for them. He clothed them. These clothes of animal skin were symbolic or types of the covering God would provide through Christ. The glory of God, far and above any outward covering or adornment, would be given to mankind through the spiritual death of Christ.
Gen 3:21 And the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
This was done right after the Adamic covenant was given:
Gen 3:15 He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel."
We fast forward to the eternal state and the resurrection body. Christ revealed His resurrection body.
We speak of uniforms adorning the resurrection body in eternity, but did Christ's body possess such a covering, or was it that His resurrection glory adorned Him? When He did appear to His disciples they thought they were seeing a spirit and nowhere in the gospel accounts is it stated that He's wearing anything after His resurrection. I am not drawing a conclusion on this, it is just an interesting idea.
When the saints receive their glorified bodies, that power of producing an outward adornment which comes from within and is truly representative of one's inner nature will return, and the saints will shine with the glory of a new life principle motivating their resurrection bodies. [Wuest]
This thought has opened something up for me. What we have been given at salvation, all of which is within, can adorn us without. It is more than a restoration of the covering glory of the Garden of Eden.
In eternity the overcomer will be clothed in an outer garment of white, but it is likely not something divorced from the inner nature:
Rev 3:5 'He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments;
We backtrack to time and our present salvation experience.
Without a sin nature and with the new nature in a perfect resurrected body, immortal, the spiritual nature within is able to clothe with glory the body without.
1Co 15:53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55 "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"
At salvation our outward adornments did not change, but within, everything changed in the most dramatic way - made brand new creatures in Christ.
At salvation we were baptized into union with Christ, being identified with Him forever, and so in time we are actually adorned with Him. This is in position, which all believers have.
Gal 3:26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
We are actually and literally adorned with Christ.
This is our position in Him and that position can be turned into an actual adornment without that the world can see if it chooses to look.
Rom 13:11 And this do, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.
Rom 13:12 The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
Rom 13:13 Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.
Rom 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.
And through study, faith, study, faith, application, study, faith, etc. we can learn to adorn ourselves with what has been given within, i.e., in thought, speech, and conduct being imitators of our Father in heaven and conformed to the image of the Son of God, our Lord and Husband.
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