Are Our Sins Only Forgiven As We Forgive Others?

Carrying on from our last look at the so-called "Lord's Prayer," we note that the section of the prayer regarding the forgiveness of sins. This teaching, just as the sections regarding the coming Kingdom and God's will in heaven that we examined is also foreign to the current age. The condition stated is the forgiving of our sins (debts) as we forgive others their sins against us. This is doubly problematic.

Our Father who is in heaven,
hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come;
Your will be done
on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

For if you forgive men for their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men for their sins, neither will your Father forgive your sins.

-Matthew 6:9-15

The Lord's addition in his sermon in verse 15 emphasizes the necessity of forgiving in order to have sins forgiven. The two-fold problem is this in the current age: (a) our sins are already forgiven and (b) we do forgive others in order that our sins will be forgiven. Some might take these truths and accuse us of trying to get out of forgiving others, but the scriptural truth is that the standard in the current age (the truth for today) is much higher.

And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has resurrected together with Him, having forgiven you all sins. 

-Colossians 2:13


Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outbursts, and blasphemies, with all malice, be taken away from you. And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you. 

-Ephesians 4:31-32

 

We forgive because Christ has already forgiven us. We stop to note that forgiveness of sin ("God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them" 2 Cor 5:19) is complete. God is holding no one's sins against him. This is why all judgment has been committed to the Son. The Son will judge the works of men for reward, the prize, crowns, etc., but not for sin as sins were fully atoned for in his death, lack of decay in the grave, and resurrection. Men must be reconciled to God to have Life, however. 

For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. The Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all men should honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

-John 5:21-23

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

-John 20:30-31

God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them, and has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you in Christ’s stead: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

-2 Corinthians 5:19-21

 

Why We Cannot Enter the Heavenly Places Yet

Arguably the most common prayer in Christendom is what men call "The Lord's Prayer." When I was in Catholic School we would repeat it daily and we knew it as the "Our Father." When I was in my very conservative parish in the very conservative Archdiocese of Philadelphia under the auspices of the very conservative Cardinal Krol, I'm fairly certain every penance I was ever assigned included the repetition of some number of "Our Father" prayers. For the sins of an 8 year old (at least how I framed them) would get me assigned something like "ten Our Fathers and twenty Hail Marys." 

Later, when I was part of a very liberal parish under the liberal Paulist Order of priests I would get a penance of "go home and hug your father." I'd rather be assigned a Novena and a trip to the Vatican than that! I'm kidding. My father was a very good dad, he just wasn't the hugging type. But the "Our Father" was still very much part of daily RC life. In our youth program, we used the prayer set to contemporary music at youth meetings.

All that said, it is not only Catholics who have wedded themselves to "The Lord's Prayer." Many "Protestant" congregations use it as a congregational prayer weekly. Catholic music artist Matt Maher had a hit on contemporary Christian radio with his version of the prayer.

Pulling the lens back, as we have covered previously, almost all of Christendom can't find its way out of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, where the prayer is found, despite the very words spoken there that seemingly contradict the gospel we preach. There is no contradiction if you rightly divide (understand the context and hope and plan in view). As I see it, men seemingly just explain it all away or reinterpret clear words to fit preconceived beliefs when they come to what should be troubling verses.

Here is the prayer the Lord gives to Israel (with his additional statement at the end):

Our Father who is in heaven,
hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come;
Your will be done
on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

For if you forgive men for their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men for their sins, neither will your Father forgive your sins.

-Matthew 6:9-15

I post the entire prayer for context, but we will focus on only a couple aspects of the passage.

The prayer pleads for God to send his Kingdom to earth. This should seem odd to people who generally believe that (a) the church is somehow already the Kingdom or (b) they are destined for a heavenly home. I won't break that down any further. I note it because it is the immediate context of the next request in the prayer. But we should pause and think of the implications of all of our stated beliefs.

Some may ask me, why would we not want the Father's will to be done on earth as it is done in heaven? First let's note that millions upon millions (including Catholic "saints") have been praying this prayer, every day, for 2000 years. That's trillions of repetitions. Yet God's will on earth is no closer to being fulfilled here than it was in the second century. Some might argue the earth is filled with more violence, more wickedness, and more sin than ever.

So when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

-Acts 1:6

In the first century, when the Apostles were looking for, and expecting the return of Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom in Israel (Matthew is a gospel to Israel alone, cp. Matthew 15:24, etc.), they were much closer to that reality. This is the hope of Acts 1, Acts 3, and all through the Acts and Acts age epistles. Since the end of the Acts age, we are NOT looking for an earthly Kingdom (while we note it is still going to come in an age to come). 2000 years removed from that hope, Christendom is still begging God to have his will done on earth.

The greater point, however, is that the Kingdom can't come until Israel accepts their Messiah: "For I tell you [Israel], you shall not see Me again until you [Israel] say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’" (Matthew 23:39; Psalm 118:26). We see the offer of the return of Christ and the restoration of the Kingdom in Israel in Acts 3 from Peter, but we have covered that elsewhere. Suffice to say, the Kingdom will not come even if over a billion people are praying Matthew 6 daily (as they do).

The problem today is not Israel's unbelief (temporarily set aside as Paul revealed the heavenly hope in Ephesians). The problem is that God's will is not being done in heaven. It's helpful to be honest and realize we are not going to beat Satan. We resist him (cp. Jude 1:9, James 4:7). We recognize him and his wily ways. Satan deceived the first century believers by standing in pulpits and his angels by posing as prophets and teachers and calling themselves apostles (2 Cor 11:13-15). Today we see the same from a false Christendom.

Why do we resist Satan? Why are we called to "put on the whole armor of God?" We do this because the heavenly places are currently poisoned. The Lord will one day cleanse both the earth and the heavenly places of the evil principalities and powers, but until then we put on the armor of God. God's will is not being done in the heavenly places.  

Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

-Ephesians 6:11-13

We note this verse from Job 15 and add brief commentary from The Berean Expositor:

`The heavens are not clean in His sight' [Job 15:15b]; but, when Satan is cast out, and the earth purged of all evil, His attitude to `the things on earth and things in heaven' will be changed, but as to the things themselves that have been destroyed and burned up, how can they be `reconciled' in any sense of the word?"

-The Berean Expositor, Volume 25 (1935, excerpt) 

Satan is cast out of the heavenly places during Israel's future tribulation. When we look at Revelation 12 we see Israel being persecuted and fleeing into the wilderness. It is during this future time that the cleansing of the heavens begins.

And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer [there was no longer any place for them in heaven - RSV]. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

-Revelation 12:7-9

The future destiny found in the resurrection out from the rest of the dead of the believer who steps into the promise is blessings in the heavenly places. Those who achieve it (not resurrection itself as Life is free gift) will sit with Christ in the cleansed heaven places, but not before. As we've seen previously, resurrection is also a future hope. 

When [in the future] this corruptible will have put on incorruption, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then the saying that is written shall come to pass: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

-1 Corinthians 15:54

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

-Ephesians 1:3

He raised us up and seated us together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages [future] He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

-Ephesians 2:6-7

It is in an age yet to come that the heavenly places are cleansed and prepared. It is only then that any thought of God's will being done on earth can be contemplated. That cleansing begins with the casting out of Satan to the earth during Israel's tribulation. Trillions of prayers can go up begging God to have his will be done on earth now as it is being done in heaven. But God's will is not being done in heaven now. 

So when will this prayer make sense? It will makes sense when it is prayed by those to whom it was given (Israel) in her hour of testing (the coming time of Jacob's Trouble). It is not "the Lord's Prayer" nor is it "the Our Father." If we must give it a name, it is rightly, "the Tribulation Prayer." 

We have been led astray by tradition and teachers for 2000 years.

Next time, we will examine how the section of  the prayer regarding the forgiveness of sins  ("forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors") and our relationship to both God and fellow believers in this age. This line, as the prayer for God's will in heaven, cannot be lifted out of the Matthew 6 prayer and applied today.

The Big Boys on the Gospel of the Kingdom in Matthew

Checking in With the Big Boys on the Beatitudes (Matthew 5)

Odd Thing We Say to the Bereaved Spouse (Matthew 23 and the Sadducees)

The same day the Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry his wife and raise up children for his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers with us. The first died after he married and, having no children, left his wife to his brother. Likewise the second and third, on to the seventh. Last of all, the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the seven? For they all had her.” Jesus answered, “You err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

-Matthew 23:23-32

My mother passed away in 2019. We knew her passing was near so, fortunately, locally and via Face Time we were able to have much of the family with her. She spent her last several years in a Catholic assisted living facility in the next town. My grandmother was in the same facility in the mid 1990s until she passed. In the intervening years, my mother would often visit residents and lead a singalong. She was well-known at the facility.

The overseers of this facility were primarily Irish nuns. Fairly conservative from what I could tell. I didn't interact with them much. I spent my time with the day to day staff. I only note that as this entry concerns a brief moment I had with the nun I assume was the Abbess. 

When my mother finally breathed her last, this nun whispered in my ear, "She's with Michael now." "Michael" referring to my father who had passed away in 2014. Obviously at that moment, I wasn't going to engage in a theological discussion with the nun, but she should have known that was she was saying was, in light of long-standing, codified, common Catholic teaching, nonsense. Worse that that, it was terrible heresy deserving of condemnation (anathema).

If anyone says that after the grace of justification has been received the guilt is so remitted and the debt of eternal punishment so blotted out for any repentant sinner, that no debt of temporal punishment remains to be paid, either in this world or in the other, in purgatory, before access can be opened to the kingdom of heaven, anathema sit [“let him be anathema” or excommunicated].

-Council of Trent (Sixth Session, Canon 30, fully affirmed in by the Second Vatican Council and the current Catechism of the Catholic Church

She was putting both my mother and father into heaven (in her understanding of it). This is not a study on the doctrine of Purgatory, but even if my father had somehow finished paying for his venial sins in God's torture chamber by then (five years being a rather light sentence, for the record), unless that nun somehow had a confirmed vision that my mother was a "Saint," my mom had just enter her own torture chamber.

As we noted in a previous study, the Catholic Church isn't quite sure what Purgatory is. Some say it is not necessarily a fire. These same teachers, who would point to "Saint" Thomas Aquinas and his Summa Theologica in defense of other aspects of their faith, would then be questioning his definitive statement that punishment in Purgatory is, indeed, "fire." But whatever they teach on any given day, it is stated that they do know this, "it is painful." But whatever it is, they must affirm the doctrine. 

"Saint" Augustine (note that some Reformed theologians like RC Sproul hold Aquinas and Augustine among the greatest Christian thinkers and theologians despite this horrific denial of the work of Christ) had this to say of Purgatory (stating clearly as did Aquinas that Purgatory is a fire):

"This fire of Purgatory will be more severe than any pain that can be felt, seen or conceived in this world." -Augustine (xli De Sanctis, as quoted by Aquinas)

That being the fate of both my parents, it would not be a very fun reunion. The nun affirming my parents were both somehow already in heaven was a dual sin for which she will pay her own debt in fire (according to their own teachings). It could be argued she is excommunicated which carries and even greater danger according to her own church.

But we can expect such confusion (or deception) from the Catholic Church. In terms of Evangelical believers (who hold and affirm the complete and sufficient work of Christ), their confusion (although not as abhorrent to Christ) is also found in statements they say about the deceased.

My believing Father-in-Law passed away several years ago leaving a believing widow. She has moved into a Christian retirement village and is free to marry again. If she does not, I am certain (as I've heard the equivalent at other funerals) many will speak of her reunion with her late husband. But what if she had remarried? What do we say then? (The Catholic nun has this problem as well, but since their heresies are far greater, it is of less concern.)

This illogical (unbiblical) understanding of the state of the dead, namely that believers are in a bodiless, conscious state in what they understand as "heaven" immediately upon death, should be easily dismissed. But the latter error (which still presents the remarriage problem) poisons not only our understanding of death, but our appreciation of what Christ accomplished on our behalf (what he conquered for us). Our victory is in resurrection and the celestial body and in a future immortality.

There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies. The glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

-1 Corinthians 15:40

For this corruptible will [future] put on incorruption [celestial body], and this mortal will [future] put on immortality. When this corruptible [terrestrial] will have put on incorruption [celestial], and this mortal will [future] have put on immortality, then [future] the saying that is written shall come to pass: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”  

“O death, where is your sting?
O grave [Greek: "Hades," the state of the believing dead], where is your victory?"

-1 Corinthians 15:53-55

 

We have covered the issue of death before, but we note again here that the doctrine of bodiless entry directly into a mythical version of the real "heavenly places" makes the resurrection of no importance. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul leads to many errors ("making the word of God of no effect through your tradition" -Mark 7:13).

Next time we will briefly address why we cannot currently enter the heavenly places. 

Back to our example from the surviving partner remarrying. Christ addressed this issue when the Sadducees tried to trick him. Their trick didn't work on him, but what would Evangelicals say today? Note the Lord goes straight for resurrection, not some mythological intermediary state. 

Jesus answered, “You err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

In resurrection (when the believer becomes immortal after his time in the grave, the state of the dead, that is, in Hades, 1 Cor 15:55), there is no marriage. Now, I'm the first to admit I cannot grasp what that is like as I am now walking in a body of death for which God has provided the marriage relationship. But it is true nonetheless. In resurrection, we become like the angels in that particular aspect. That is, angels neither marry nor are given in marriage. 

But the error of bodiless "souls" will be perpetuated until the end of all things both in both Catholic and Evangelical circles. 

Water Baptism is Not for the Current Age

A vast majority of Christendom not only practices baptism (in several forms), but a clear majority deem it necessary for redemption. We have noted in other studies that the practice of baptism is not for believers in the current age. We have made reference to the practice as being part of the washing of the Levitical priesthood. Let's look again at the practice.

Before we get to the practice itself, we note two things about the practice that help us to rightly understand the meaning and purpose of the practice. And even as we note these, we point to Adam, Abel, Noah, and Abraham (all in uncircumcision) coming to faith without a ritual of washing either before or after their justification. We note that there is nothing in the instructions from God to Adam, Noah, Abraham, etc. regarding this ordinance. This is important as the primary goal of "rightly dividing the Word of Truth" (2 Tim 2:15) is understanding who is being addressed in context of the age in which they lived.

• The practice is related to the nation of Israel, the land, and the earthly plan of God
• There is more than one baptism in scripture

We note these as I hope it will become apparent that, specifically, water baptism is connected to certain truths as spiritual baptism is quite distinct. Looking at these in light of the practice of right division noted, we should start to pull out the ordinance as found in scripture then place it back in its context. 

Just for a starting thought, you will find no mention of a water ritual in the post-Acts epistles. The multiple baptisms (identification, water, spiritual) seen the Acts age are reduced to "one baptism" in Ephesians and that is not a baptism in water. 

There is one body and one Spirit, even as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 

-Ephesians 4:4-6

Colossians warns of the earthly ordinances. These ordinances are not inherently evil, but just as animal sacrifices for sin in the current age would be a denial of the greater truth of the sacrifice of Christ, so do the earthly ordinances connected to the earthly plan do damage to the current hope "in the heavenly places."  We do not observe Sabbath laws or other commandments given to the earthly chosen people. This includes those declared a "statute forever." 

Therefore let no one judge you regarding food, or drink, or in respect of a holy day or new moon or sabbath days. These are shadows of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 

-Colossians 2:16-17  

The statutes, the ordinances, the law, and the commandment, which He wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever. And you shall not fear other gods.

-2 Kings 17:37

 

 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ

-Ephesians 1:3
 

He raised us up and seated us together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

-Ephesians 2:6

We must address the word itself as its common use in English has taken on a life of its own. The different English forms of the word come from different Greek forms of the word. The Greek is essentially transliterated into English. That is, the word is just spelled so an English reader can pronounce it, but it is just a restating the word from the original language. The concept of baptism comes from Israel and the word "baptism" comes into the English from the Greek translation of the original Hebrew.

When we hear someone speaking in Hebrew (a dead language brought back to life by Zionists), we must create words for things that did not exist when the language went dark. It is odd to hear an Israeli speaking in Hebrew and then a word like "telephone" jumps out. As ancient Israel had no telephones, a modern word is inserted. With the word "baptism" we have a similar phenomenon. 

The Old Testament (phrase used for convenience sake) practice of washings in baptisms (from the Greek) is carried over into New Testament Greek and eventually into English. Along the way, I would say that the meaning and origin have been lost and replaced by a more pagan/Roman understanding of the practice than it had from the original Hebrew/Biblical understanding.

We'll have to leave that there. Suffice to say when we read the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew texts) we find the word for washings transliterated into English word "baptism" (and related).

Note that baptízo is not "translated" but is transliterated in our English Bibles. To transliterate is simply to transcribe (a word in one alphabet) into corresponding letters of another alphabet. 

-Greek Word Studies from the Austin Precept text commentary of the Bible

The idea of "baptism" has taken on some degree of mysticism in modern Christendom, but if we hope to understand the word, we must get back to its basic usage. It is a picture and description and not a word that casts a spell. We see that one can be "immersed" in several ways. This is important when we come across the word in Paul's Post-Acts epistles.

 

The idea behind the ancient Greek word for baptized is “to immerse or overwhelm something.” The Bible uses this idea of being baptized into something in several different ways. When a person is baptized in water, they are immersed or covered over with water. When they are baptized with the Holy Spirit (Mt 3:11, Acts 1:5) they are “immersed” or “covered over” with the Holy Spirit. When they are baptized with suffering (Mk 10:39), they are “immersed” or “covered over” with suffering. Here, Paul refers to being baptized - “immersed” or “covered over” in Christ Jesus.

-Commentary, David Guzik, pastor of Calvary Chapel in Santa Barbara, California

 

Consider how W.E. Vine explains the word.

 

baptizo was necessarily transliterated into English, as there was no equivalent in our language. “To immerse” would be simply “to plunge into.” To baptize is to put into water and take out again. It involves immersion, submersion, and emergence—death, burial and resurrection. The word was used among the heathen Greeks of articles which underwent submersion and emergence, as in the case of the dyeing of a garment. 

- Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson

 In the idea of immersion, we have the idea of identification. If I immerse myself into Bible study or into any project, I become identified with those practices. One one "dips" something, it can be symbolic of an "immersion" or complete picture of a greater truth. We further note that the practice takes us back long before many teachers like to start the discussion. That is, it has origins and significance long before John the Baptist (who is from the priestly line of Levi).

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth... Now Elizabeth’s full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son. When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her. So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias. His mother answered and said, “No; he shall be called John.” 

-Luke 1:5, 57-59

 

The word bapto is found nine times in the law of Moses, where it is used of dipping in blood, or in oil, or in water (Exod. 12:22; Lev. 4:6; 14:6; Num. 19:18 and Deut. 33:24). While the references in the New Testament to Pharisaic traditions do not take us back to any Old Testament passage, they do indicate that baptism is in no sense a New Testament rite or custom (Mark 7:8, Luke 11:38), and the inquiry by the Pharisees of John the Baptist was not to ask the meaning of baptism, but why he baptized if he were neither Christ, Elijah nor that prophet? (John 1:25), which again shows clearly that baptism was no new thing.

-Charles Welch "Baptism" (excerpt)

 Three New Testament verses with references to the Old Testament texts (from Acts Age epistles) further shed light on the grand theme of baptism.

1. The reference to the Ark and the Flood (1 Peter 3:21-22)

God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. Figuratively this is like baptism, which also saves us now. It is not washing off the dirt from the body, but a response to God from a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ

2. The crossing by Israel of the Red Sea (1 Cor 10:1-2)

I would not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea

3. The carnal ordinances of the tabernacle (Heb 9:9-10)

This is an illustration for the present time, showing that the gifts and sacrifices offered could not perfect the conscience of those who worshipped, since they are concerned only with foods and drinks, ceremonial cleansings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.

The eight saved through the judgment of the flood (physically rescued) were the ones kept dry. Peter, pointing to an uncircumcised Gentile in Noah (before Abraham), notes that "baptism" is an identification.  The washing is symbolic. Just as the priest stood offering bloody sacrifices "which can never take away sins" (Heb 10:11), so the priestly washings could never take away sins. 

Let us turn to Mark.

He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.

-Mark 16:16

Many who offer water baptism rituals would teach today that water baptism follows salvation (as it is commonly used: justification, redemption, the granting of Life). The Lord and Peter are clear that the salvation spoken of in that age followed faith and the ordinance. This might lead one to conclude that the sacramentalist then has it right: faith, then baptism, means resurrection life. The problem in reading it this way is that we must then ignore the rest of the Lord's words.

These signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

-Mark 16:17-18

 All of this is part of the Lord's calling to Israel and, specifically, to the calling of the Apostles sent to the Circumcision (and Paul as he ministered to Jews in the Acts Age). When Paul has the scales taken from his eyes in Acts 9:18, he is afterward baptized. (We do not address infant baptism here as it can nowhere fit any biblical account of baptism.) Was Paul still in his sin until the ritual? No, he already had the calling of God on his life. 

We note very clearly in Acts 10 that when Cornelius and his house have the Holy Spirit fall on them and they display the gifts the Jewish believers had been experiencing for years at that point (Cornelius was a believer before Peter entered his house) he was only then baptized. That is, Cornelius not only was a believer, he had the baptism and gifts of the Holy Spirit before he saw any water.

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the word. All the believers of the circumcision who had come with Peter were astonished, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in other tongues and magnifying God. Then Peter continued, “Can anyone forbid water for baptizing these, who have [already] received the Holy Spirit as we have?” So he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days. 

-Acts 10:44-48

As an aside here, there is no record of anyone specifically being baptized "in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt 28:19).

When Paul shares his testimony in Acts 22 we are given a few more details to note.

“Ananias, a devout man according to the law, who was well spoken of by all the Jews living there, came and stood by me, and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that moment I looked up at him. “Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Just One and to hear His voice, for you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you wait? Rise, be baptized and wash away your sins, and call on the name of the Lord.’

-Acts 22:12-16

Would we today (or even the sacramentalist churches) describe someone called a "Christian" as "a devout man according to the law?"  Would the opinions of local Jews be of any concern for the believer of this current age? 

We've covered elsewhere the Apostles placing on Gentile believers the laws concerning Gentiles living among Israel as found in the Pentateuch. In both Acts 15 and Acts 21 the Apostles distinguish between Jewish and Gentile believers (as Paul does in his seven Acts Age epistles). We know from Acts 21 that Paul was still teaching circumcision for the Jewish believers as he was warning Gentile believers that circumcision meant a required obedience to the law.

Paul, as we know, was also very adamant that the law had nothing to do with justification (Rom 3:28, etc.) and neither did circumcision. Abraham was justified in uncircumcision (Rom 4:11-13, etc.). The law was wholly separate from the gift of resurrection life by grace through faith. The latter being true since Adam. 

It would be good here if the reader would compare Paul's statement in Romans 4:2 and the statement in James 2:21 which seemingly contradicts it in their contexts. We see there different aspects of justification in these passages. James writing a purely Jewish audience in light of the coming tribulation and establishment of the Kingdom in Israel. Paul addressing the gift of resurrection life, freedom from the Adamic curse of death and decay.

We will not divert into a study of the concept of "saved" here, but this idea must also be rightly divided. We quickly offer a few verses to consider. 

Examining Another "Claimed" Promise in Context (Psalm 5:12)

There are a number of YouTube channels that feature daily prayer. That's fine. Of course these range from the charismatic to the Catholic to the ultra Orthodox and everything in between and beyond! The prayer I want to address today is from an Evangelical channel. Clearly I would most likely be at odds with a Catholic or Orthodox prayer, but what of the Evangelical offering?

I wrestled with the idea of posting the video listing the channel, but I decided against both as this is not an attack on the man. I do not know him and I am not familiar with the full breadth of his beliefs. So, I will limit myself to a few points in today's prayer video.

The overall goal of this blog (and of my podcasts) is not to tell you what to believe. I encourage every individual believer to seek to "rightly divide the Word of Truth" (2 Tim 2:15). This is a lifelong process, but I fear most believers never seek to rightly divide God's words and find themselves claiming things for themselves or even confusing the hope of this current age with promises and plans for other people in other ages.

The YT prayer in question quotes a number of verses but builds its foundation on Psalm 5:12.

For You, Lord, will bless the righteous;
You surround him with favor like a shield.

-Psalm 5:12

So, what's the problem?

First, just so we understand, I am sure to emphasize that ALL the Word of God is profitable. I want to be sure to note that God does bless the righteous and God will surround the righteous with favor. That is part of God's character. "God is Love" is also relevant in all ages and is unchanging. But just because God's character doesn't change, doesn't mean his promises and plans and applications do not change. God's love and God's blessings manifest in different ways according to his different plans and purposes. 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ...

-Ephesians 1:3

This comforting verse has a much different realization than a physical or financial blessing on earth.

This is the generic problem I see: believers in the current age will take the words of Psalm 5 and assume bless and favor mean today what they have always meant. This is a problem that we also encounter when we see believers ripping Jeremiah 29:11 or Ezekiel 36:26 from their contexts. There we are dealing with national promises to a group of people that many want to extract and apply to themselves or to individuals.

While recognizing the plan and purpose in view and differentiating the manifestation of blessings, we do not exclude the idea of blessing itself in all passages. If a specific blessing is part of a future prophecy for the nation of Israel in the land then, yes, we are excluded. Psalm 5:12 is different, however, in that it does have universal principles. We can recognize that while still rightly dividing how the blessing attached is manifested differently in different ages. All three verses in question must still be rightly divided in context.

We are dealing with a national "you" in Jeremiah 29 and Ezekiel 36, so we cannot insert ourselves in there or redefine the blessings as stated.

For I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord, plans for peace and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

-Jeremiah 29:11

Also, I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

-Ezekiel 36:26

In Psalm 5, there are principles for individuals. What needs to be rightly divided there is are definitions of words like "bless" and "favor." 

Again, right division of the Word of Truth does not just involve dividing the promises and plans of God, it also involves righty dividing principles and outcomes. Whereas the "new heart" promised in Ezekiel is a future promise for Israel and it change will be known among the nations what God has done for Israel. Part of that promise there is that God "will cause you to dwell in the cities, and the waste places shall be built" (Ezekiel 36:33). As noted above, the pronoun "you" here is not universal. It is specific to Israel as is same pronoun in verse 26 of the chapter (often quoted in evangelistic meetings). These refer to God's plans for the earth.

The righteous in Israel addressed in Psalm 5 includes those of Israel faithful to the Law. Those who were "blameless" regarding its tenets (not sinless, but blameless in sight of the Law which included sacrifices for sin). We must rightly divide the subject (as we have above), but we must also rightly divide the application of descriptive words and definitions.  

The Book of Psalms opens with this sort of righteous living (according to the Law).

Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor stands in the path of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and in His law he meditates day and night. 

He will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
that brings forth its fruit in its season;
its leaf will not wither,
and whatever he does will prosper.

-Psalm 1:1-3

Is the promise here true for the believer of this age? Do we meditate on the Law of Moses and thus whatever we do prospers?  Obedience to the letter of the Law in the current age would be disobedience to the call upon Gentiles today. Even in that day, an uncircumcised Gentile could live peacefully among Israel, but he could NOT participate in the Passover. Not observing the Passover meal would not be disobedience for a Gentile. This was not a question of "salvation" (the gift of Life from the curse of death), but connected to blessings in the promised land.

How often did Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob or Joseph observe the Passover? Never. And Adam and Noah were never circumcised while Abraham was justified while still uncircumcised. The Law distinguished between Israel and the Nations, and it even distinguished among the circumcised and un uncircumcised among the nations.

Observe the month of Aviv and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Aviv the Lord your God brought you [Israel] out of Egypt by night. Therefore, you must sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God, from the flock or the herd, in the place where the Lord shall choose to place His name.

-Deuteronomy 16:1-2

 

So the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: This is the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner may eat of it. But every man’s servant bought with money, when you have circumcised him, may eat it. A foreigner or a hired servant shall not eat it. In one house shall it be eaten. You shall not carry any of the flesh outside of the house, nor shall you break a bone of it. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. Now when a stranger sojourns with you and keeps the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it. And he shall be as one that is born in the land. However, no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. The same law shall apply to him that is a native and to the stranger who sojourns among you.

-Exodus 12:43-49

Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? We are saying that faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it credited? When he was in circumcision? Or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.

-Romans 4:9-10

Abraham's faith was counted as righteousness while Abraham was in a state that would forbid him from obeying the command to observe the Passover (which he never did anyway as he was never a slave in Egypt).

Obedience depends on our definitions and our definitions depend on our calling. We might prosper in our hearts when we meditate on the teachings of Paul in Ephesians. There we are filled with thankfulness for what the Lord accomplished on our behalf on the cross and in his glorious resurrection. We would find none of this in the Law. We would know nothing of the heavenly calling. The focus in this age is not the Law for us gentiles and the hope is not earthly.

We, today, should also avoid the counsel of the ungodly as they were instructed, but we do not meditate upon the Law day and night.

When we expand our look at Psalm 5, we can see truths that clearly cannot be followed directly.

But as for me, in the abundance of Your mercy
I will enter Your house;
in fear of You I will worship
at Your holy temple.

-Psalm 5:7

What men do with verses like this is redefine "Your house" and "Your holy temple" as being some gentile local church today anywhere on earth.  They have no problem redefining certain clear references that need no redefining. They readily turn the very specific temple with its priesthood, separate courts, and holy of holies in either a nebulous concept or a big building in suburban USA as they hold steadfastly to limiting corporate promises like prospering and blessing to the physical.  

This is convenient, but it robs from the original intent and it robs from the prophecies concerning the future temple and Israel's blessings in an age to come when Ezekiel 36 and Jeremiah 29 come to pass for that nation. The New Covenant itself is specifically give to Israel, the same people that had the Old Covenant. Yet those clear words are dismissed (as well as the future scope of the passage in Jeremiah 31) so men today can spiritualize and claim parts of it for themselves.

A temple and a land, and a nation are immovable objects. When we encounter the idea of mercy, however, we understand that it may manifest today differently.  While "worship" will look differently today, God's "holy temple" is very specific. The temple is the dwelling place of God. Yes, our bodies may be a temple, but if we try to equate the two, the equality falls apart quickly when we read of the Jerusalem temple past and the temple future.

Some additional context in Psalm 5: 

 Declare them guilty, O God;
may they fall by their own counsels;
cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions,
for they have rebelled against You.
 But may all those who seek refuge in You rejoice;
may they ever shout for joy,
because You defend them;
may those who love Your name be joyful in You.

-Psalm 5:10-11 

Again we note the difference between a principle and a direct application. We can pray this principle in the current age. David is singing of his enemies. Those enemies were both of Israel and outside Israel. David could expect to God move physically on his behalf. There is a twofold reason for this. In that age, God intervened directly in the life of Israel on her behalf according to his promises if they obeyed as a nation. We have no conditions or assurances today. God also made individual promises to David. We can claim neither set of promises or conditions for ourselves.

Neither your descendent nor my descendent will sit on the throne of David.

He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of His kingdom there will be no end.

-Luke 1:32-33

 

Blessed is the kingdom of our father David That comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! 

-Mark 11:10

David is the father of Christ and of the Kingdom in Israel. There is no way to insert some Gentile body into those promises and prophecies. Even when Gentiles were grafted into Israel in the Acts age for the state purpose of "making Israel jealous," the gospel of the Kingdom was still "to the Jew first."

As we pull the lens even farther back in scripture, we see that God's earthly blessings involve God's earthly plan and the earthly hope. Adam hoped for a restoration of Paradise on the earth. Israel hoped for all the land promised to Abraham on the earth. Israel looks forward to the new temple and reestablishment of the Kingdom under her Messiah on the earth. Even those who looked for something greater in the "city whose builder and maker is God" (the New Jerusalem) will see that city come down to earth. These speak of future things.

By faith he dwelt in the promised land, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs of the same promise, for he was looking for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

-Hebrews 11:9-10

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth.” For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea. I, John, saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, “Look! The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them. They shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.

-Revelation 21:1-3

Our hope is in the heavenly places. So the blessings we seek are spiritual and not earthly. If I pray from the Psalms, I should not expect "favor" or "blessings" to necessarily arrive in some tangible, physical, financial form as Israel would. 

I would not rob any believer of any part of God's word, but I would assert that if he wants to rightly pray with biblical expectations, he must rightly divide and interpret in context what he is reading and what he is praying.

If, as it seems, those commenting on the video are expecting financial gain and physical healing because of a promise in the Law, the Psalms, the Prophets or even in the earthly ministry of our Lord (which he said was for Israel alone, Matthew 15:24), they are wrongly dividing the Word of Truth.

That is a very different understanding than whether God can bless financially or heal physically or protect experientially. He very much can. It is not sinful to pray to that end. The distinction is in the expectation and the plan in sight. I would never say do not pray for healing or financial rescue. But don't expect that by "claiming" some promise to Israel or David or by thinking you meet the requirements for such blessings in the Law and the Psalms that God is obliged to bless or rescue. There is a very real difference there that must be understood.