You seldom hear any except Pentecostals preach from the Book
of Acts, especially Acts chapter 2 unless they skip or minimize what is called “speaking
in tongues” or glossolalia. Furthermore, it is not unknown tongues
because “unknown” is not in the Greek. Of course, the language of God was
unknown because it was not the vulgar (common) language of the hearer. I have
written on the gift of tongues before, do not have that gift, and that is okay,
according to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. Tongues may be for a sign for Jews alone
(1 Cor 1:22), but Paul allows that it was a sign for unbelievers (1 Cor 15:22).
With that said, speaking the language of God, not an unknown
language, must be interpreted to be understood by any unbeliever because
they are not privy to the language of God. Obviously, if anyone already believes,
speaking in another language is vanity.
For many centuries, the Roman church spoke and unknown
language and to this day the Coptic Church speaks another dead language.
Neither interpreted for understanding, and over the years, especially, the Roman
church’s doctrine became the Pope’s bulls because few understood Latin. They
believed the Pope and disbelieved Holy Scripture, and the result was papal
infallibility rather than doctrinal immutability.
The language of God became a dead language
as well, remaining in its grave from the time of the Church fathers until the
Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles in 1906. Since that time, speaking in
tongues has been speaking in UNKNOWN tongues because most often nobody
understands and seldom is it interpreted according to Paul’s rules of order to
the Corinthian Church.
Now move forward to another questionable doctrine — that of “preservation
of the saints.” God does indeed “preserve the saints,” but whether “saints” are
“elected” or “persuaded” remains a major dissension in the Church. Herein are
direct mentions of the doctrine of preservation of the saints:
O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. (Psalm 31:23)
For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. (Psalm 37:28)
Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. (Psalm 97:10)
He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. (Proverbs 2:8)
The Doctrine of “Preservation of the Saints” is Holy Scripture spoken by inspired
writers, perhaps David and Solomon themselves. At least, David (1 Sam 16:13) was
led by the Holy Spirit. The Hebrew word in Psalm 31:23 translated as “preserveth”
is natsar, which also means “watches over” or “guards from danger” (Strong’s
Dictionary). “Preserved” in Psalm 37 above is shamar; “to keep, guard,
observe, give heed” (ibid). Shamar is used in the last three verses.
The Lord does preserve the saints in that He watches over and keeps them
from danger. The best example of that is Job who Satan accused of God having a “hedge”
around him to keep him safe (Job 1:10). Satan said rightly because the Lord did
not deny it and the test was whether Job’s faith in the Lord to preserve him
was substantial to overcome the tests of Satan. That is the test for sainthood.
Just who are “saints?” In Hebrew, they are the chaciyd —"the
faithful, kind, godly, pious, and holy” (ibid). In short, they are the
faithful ones.
So, what is faithfulness? The Hebrew word for that is ‘aman — those
who “uphold, established, and stand firm” (Ibid), obviously in reliance on
and reverence to the Lord. “Stand firm” for how long? “Five minutes, one day, a
year, or for a lifetime? Obviously to the end! Then when is the end? It is when
Satan can no longer influence the saint. When his tests cannot be taken.
Paul describes “the end” — “Then comes the end, when He delivers
kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all
authority and power” (1 Cor 15:24). The end comes when he delivers the preserved
to His Father. When is that? When the dead in Christ rise first followed by
those remaining alive in Christ. The end comes in one of two ways: (1) When a person
dies, or (2) when the saints are caught up with Jesus. (1 Cor 4:15-17).
Faith is a gift from God and that makes a saint, according to Strong’s.
(Ephes 2:8), but what must the recipients do with their “gifts?”
Keep the faith! “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep
the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Rev 14:12). Thus “saints” are
those who keep their faith in Jesus and practice the commandments of God. For
how long? To the end, or until they either are caught up or die.
Saints “keep the faith” and as long as they are “saints,” judged by their
obedience — inevitably to love God and others — then the Comforter aids them
(John 14:16). The “Comforter” is the Holy Ghost of Jesus, and rather than fear,
His “Ghost” brings Comfort. He does not keep the faith for you, but “Comforts”
to enable the saint to be obedient. Jesus gave the gift, but His Ghost is with
you during the tribulation of the saints. Paul spoke of that as well: “Moreover,
brethren (saints), I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which
also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are
saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you
believed in vain” (1 Cor 15:1-2)
Paul was writing to the saints. He declared the gospel truth, and what “truth”
was that? Standing firm in the Word (Jesus’s sayings), and to hold fast to the
Word. What was the Word? From the Psalms and Proverbs, that the Lord would preserve
the saints. Paul gives the contingencies for the preservation: stand firm (the
definition of faith) and “hold fast” to what Paul preached.
The alternatives to those contingencies are apostasy (abandoning the Word)
or “falling away” (Heb 6:6). “Fall away” from what? The faith. The saint forfeits
his or her preservation, by remaining in the world, and they remain “unsafe.” If
it was “saved” rather than preserved (safety), then no one could be unsaved
because that is irrational — one is either saved or not saved,
but if “saved,” it cannot be reversed!
Saints are preserved, not saved. Those with the assurance of their
faith, are as if already saved, but they are only preserved until they endure
to the end “He that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Mat 10:22). God does
put a “hedge” of safety to preserve saints as He did Job. Job could have cut
down the hedge by succumbing to the wiles of Satan just as Adam did when he
left the hedge of safety around the Garden (Gen 3:24). “Hedge” in Job 1 is
Hebrew suwk, to entwine.
As the Comforter, saints are not “filled” with the Holy Ghost but entwined
with Him. “Filled” is the final condition when the saint is glorified
because God cannot cohabitate with sin, “Whosoever is born of God doth not
commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is
born of God” (1 John 3:9). How does anyone know whether they are saints are not,
short of the sign of speaking with the language of God? They cease continuing in
sin. Inevitably, what is sin? TO BE as God… rather than doing what is right in
God’s eyes, it is doing your own will without regard to God’s Will.
How does the Comforter preserve? He convicts the sinner that he has
sinned. That seems to discomfit, but if a saint, repentance for sin relieves the
tension between the saint and God, and guilt is relieved when God forgives.
Saints are not saints when they live with sin, because they are not
entwined with God. The Devil is not in them, but he attempts to regain his heir
by any means, and Job’s tests shows how tenacious the Devil can be!
The points to this commentary are two: (1) To dispute the necessity
of speaking in tongues as Paul did, and (2) to dispute “eternal security” as
Paul did as well. (He tackled them at the same time to the same people as divisive.)
It is true, God does preserve the saints,
but they can “open the jar” that He preserves and expose the contents to the world.
Jesus refers to His “jar” as His “Cup.” I believe it was more like a spiritual
chalice, or the Holy Grail, that unbelievers always search for but never find,
because the saints have it on loan from God. It is Christ within the souls (cups)
of the saints!
(picture credit: BibleScripture.net; "Paul Preaching to the Corinthians)
No comments:
Post a Comment