The Carnal Mind...

I would like to share on a subject which has largely been misconstrued. And this misunderstanding has robbed many of their effectiveness in the things of God. What is the Carnal mind? What also does it mean to be spiritually minded? Our text for study is Romans 8:1-10. Verse  1 tells us,  'There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.' (KJV) It's interesting to note that the original text doesn't read this way. It reads as, 'Therefore no condemnation to them in Christ Jesus'. The other part, '....to those who walk not  after the flesh, but after the Spirit', is a commentary on that verse that found its way into later manuscripts. So, what then did Apostle Paul mean by the terms, 'The Carnal mind' and being 'Carnally minded'?  Verses 4-6 zero in on our subject matter; That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. What does it mean to 'walk after the flesh'? To some, it's to pursue earthly pleasures or to live after the senses. That's not true in this context. Since scriptures explain scriptures, let's examine other scriptures to explain this. Galatians 3:3-4, 'This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?' From this context, we see that Paul equates living by the Law of Moses to being in the flesh and Faith as being in the Spirit. Therefore, we can see that righteousness comes upon those who walk not after the flesh (the law) but those that walk according to the Spirit (faith). Then, we see that to be Carnally minded is death. What does this mean? The Law is the ministration of death- 2 Corinthians 3:7. To live by the law is death because sin takes occasion of the law to slay man - Romans 7:11. To be spiritually minded is life and peace. The spiritually minded is one who deports his life within the paradigms of the finished works of Christ by faith. It produces life (Romans 6:23) and peace (Galatians 6:15-16). Then, we see some further information in 7-8, 'Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.' Why is this so? People who live by the law aren't subject to God's law. Paul explains this in Romans 10:3, ' For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.' Look at this! Those who live by the law haven't submitted themselves to God's righteousness! This is the Carnal mind! When we submit ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus, it's not just our allegiance to him, it's our commitment to claim him as our righteousness and depend solely on him as our acceptance before the Father. Then he says that 'those in the flesh cannot please God'. Why? He explains this in Romans 3:20, 'Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.' The Carnal mind, being an adherent of the law, is not justified in God's sight. If there was any doubt about what it meant to be Carnal or Fleshly, verse 9 resolves it; But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. If it meant actions, it would have read differently. But, the believer isn't in the flesh because the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of adoption dwells in him. Because, we believe, we are in the Spirit! #TrueLight #Pleroma

The 'Sum' Life in Christ!

We have been called into a Union with Christ insomuch that we are partakers of whosoever happened to him from the Cross to the throne. This is the 'Sum' life! The word, 'sum' is a Greek prefix which means, 'together'. It has other variants such as 'soo', 'suz'and 'sun'. Let's look at some few 'sum' scriptures! Ephesians 2:5, 'Even when we were dead in sins,hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)' The phrase, 'quickened us together', comes from a Greek word, ' suzōopoieō'. 'Suzōopoieō' means to, 'jointly resurrect'. When Christ was raised from the dead, we also were raised from the dead unto a new life! It's the life of righteousness, where we have been made alive in God's realm of being! Glory to God! Verse 6, 'And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:'. Here, we have the phrase, 'sit together', translated from, 'sugkathizō'. It means to 'sit in company with'. We sit in Christ, far above all principalities and powers! We are born of God as Christ was born of God! As he is, so are we in this world! #Reflection #Fellowship #Pleroma

Summorphos!

 

God's eternal plan in Christ Jesus was for man to have the same form as Christ. It was his  dream that we became vital partakers of his divinity! That is why we got born again! In the New birth is the revelation of the begotten of God! In our knowledge of God's love is the discovery of our origins, through birth, in God! Romans 8:29, 'For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren'. This is mind blowing! Here, we get to find out that God conformed the believer into the image of his son, such that Jesus became firstborn. The word, 'conformed' comes from the Greek, 'summorphos'. It means to have the 'same form as another'.Many have thought the idea of being conformed to his image is the 'Imitation of Christ'. This is no imitation, rather it's a transmutation! It is a Glorious change of form from earthy to heavenly!  This is the present day revelation concerning Jesus Christ and the Father; he no longer is the 'ONLY BEGOTTEN' of God, but through his Glorious resurrection, he has become the  'FIRST BEGOTTEN'! This same truth is mirrored in Colossians 1:18, 'And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.' Jesus is the firstborn from the dead; so we are too! He enjoys preeminence as firstborn, but we have got as much as he has got; we are joint-heirs! Why should this be? Love is the reason why! Love has birthed us bona fide sons of God having the same form as our Lord Jesus! Little wonder he calls observing the Lord Jesus as the Glory of God amounts to looking into a mirror! As he is, so are we in this world! #Reflection #Pleroma

In Fellowship in with the Son.

1 Corinthians 1:9 arrays before us our calling. It reads thus: God [is] full of faith, trustworthy, loyal and faithful –through Whom you folks were called and invited into a common being and existence of (or: partnership, participation, fellowship, sharing and communion with) His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord (Owner; Master). (JMNT). This is remarkable! Sadly, many believers haven't understood the concept of fellowship. The idea of fellowship, to many believers, means talking to God, praying to him and him talking to you. This is the outward working, the fruit of Fellowship. Fellowship is much bigger that just talking, talking is an effect of fellowship. The word, 'fellowship' comes from a Greek word, 'Koinonia'. Koinonia refers to 'partnership, sharing and paricipation'. It points to a 'commoness, consanguinity, sameness'. In the light of this, a fellowship can be defined as a relationship between beings of the SAME kind, those with a ground of COMMONESS'. We are in Fellowship with the son of God! This Sonhood is the basis, the COMMON ground of our fellowship. What this implies is that we are as much sons of God as much as Jesus is! This is what it means to be in fellowship with the son of God! Hebrews 2:11, 'For indeed he who makes holy and those being made holy all have the same origin, and so he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,' (NET). We have the same origin; we mirror Christ in this world! Christ came as the revelation of the life of the Father (1 John 1:2). This life was unknown to this world until Jesus came as the first manifestation of the character and potentialities of the very life of God! This is the very life we possess and have been called to manifest- 1 John 5:13. On this ground, we can approach God boldly because he loves us, just as much as he loves Jesus -John 17:23. This makes prayer more than a religious activity, but a rich time of interaction with God on the basis of the fellowship we have so graciously been invited into. Glory to God! #Reflection #Pleroma

Prolonging his days.

The Christian's calling is to be the manifestation of the life of Christ, such that Christ Jesus will literally rule and reign through us. The New Creation is a man who has Christ living  and reigning in and through him! Isaiah 53:10 gives us God's mind concerning Jesus Christ and the Church. It goes, this way, 'Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.' Our emphasis is on this portion: 'He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days'. What does this mean? This particular portion has been marked out by most translators as a 'difficult-to-interpret-text'. Only few translations have the glimmer of the idea. One of such is the Young's Literal Translation. It reads thus, 'And Jehovah hath delighted to bruise him, He hath made him sick, If his soul doth make an offering for guilt, He seeth seed--he prolongeth days, And the pleasure of Jehovah in his hand doth prosper.' This shows us the progressional nature of this revelation. '...he seeth seed- he prolongeth days...' In his seeing of seed is the prolonging of his days. The Christian is an offspring, a result of the work of Christ. Jesus uttered these precious words in John 17:11, 'And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.'  He left us in this world to be his perpetuation. This is the day of Christ, and we are his outshining! Matthew 10:40, 'He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.'  Every part of the body is an offspring of the head and is charged with carrying out the purposes of the head. Jesus is alive through us in this world. He is the head, we are his body and we go by one name, Christ! We live for his glory! We are called to be exhibitions of his glorious person! #Reflection #Pleroma

The Destiny of Love.

When you enter into a relationship, one of the things that you should find out is the future of that relationship. A good way of finding that out is asking your partner this; where is our love leading to? Well, this is not a post on relationships. :) Recently, I have been meditating on the destiny of love; God's love for me. Why did he love me? For  what end did he love me? 1  John 5:16-17, 'And we have come by intimate experience to know and have believed, trusted and are convinced of the Love which God has continuously within us. God exists continually being Love, and the person continuously remaining within, and in union with, the Love, is continuously remaining within,  and in union with, God –and God constantly dwells within him and in union with him. Within this the Love has been brought to its goal, been matured, reached its destiny and is now perfected with us, to the end that we may continuously have confident freedom of speech within the day of sifting and separation, because just as That One is, we also continuously exist being: within the midst of this ordered System.' (JMNT). Whilst meditating on these verses, something caught my attention, '....Within this the Love has been brought to its goal, been matured, reached its destiny....' Love has a goal, love has a destiny! I'd like us to look at two aspects, 'The destiny of love' and 'How love fulfills its destiny'. What is Love's destiny? '.. To the end that we may continuously have confident freedom of speech within the day of sifting and separation, because just as That One is, we also continuously exist being: ..' (Verse 17). The end, the destiny of love is for us to have boldness in the day of judgment, because we discover something big; AS HE IS SO ARE WE IN THIS WORLD'. The destiny of love is the realization of this; our consanguinity with the Lord Jesus! How is this accomplished? This is observed in verse 16, 'And we have come by intimate experience to know and have believed, trusted and are convinced of the Love which God has continuously within us...' Verse 17 then begins, 'Within this the Love has been brought to its goal, been matured, reached its destiny...' Little wonder Apostle had the same revelations from God when he said that '...we might know the Love of God that passeth all understanding that we might be filled with all God's fullness' (Ephesians 3:19). This is God's dream, this is love's destiny; that I might know, 'As he is, so AM I in this world'! #Reflection #Pleroma

Observe as yourself!

One of the most amazing translations of 2 Corinthians 3:18 is found in the James Mitchell New Testament (JMNT). It goes thus, 'Having a face that has been uncovered and remains unveiled  –being folks who by a mirror are continuously observing, as ourselves, the Lord's glory, are presently being continuously and progressively transformed into the very same image, from glory into glory –in accord with and exactly as –from [the] Lord's Breath-effect'. What a marvelous conception! I'd like to major on a particular portion of this verse; 'being folks who by a mirror are continuously observing, as ourselves, the Lord's glory'. What a transcendent thought! '....observing as ourselves, the Lord's glory'.. This lets us know our expected attitude to the Word of God especially manifested in Christ Jesus. We are to 'observe as ourselves'. In other words, we acknowledge what we see in the Word as our reality! Too many believers have misunderstood the present truths of God's Word as prophecies for the future. They are hoping to become righteous, hoping to be holy, praying to be blessed. But, the Word says, 'Beloved, NOW  are we the sons of God' (1 John 3:2). They haven't understood the realities of God's Word today. Yet, God desires that we are established in the 'Present Truth' (2 Peter 1:12). This brings to mind the story of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:27-39. The man was studying God's plan of salvation as foretold by Prophet Isaiah concerning Jesus Christ, the saviour of the world. The fellow was confused, not knowing exactly what the Prophet was saying. But, the Spirit sent Philip to him. At the end of the day, he caught the picture, saw God's dream and SAW himself in God's plan! He saw that Christ came to save HIM. He received the blessing of salvation, because he 'observed as himself'. The attitude we have to the Word is crucial! James 1:21 says, 'Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.' The idea 'engrafted', supplies especially when you study it in the Greek is, 'implanted by nature'. In other words, the Word is to be a part of you. That happens as we, 'observe as ourselves'! And when we do, we become the very expressions of all God has made us in our spirits! Our language and lifestyle would be affected; we will begin to see, talk and act as the righteousness of God we are! Make this your attitude in studying the Word today! #Reflection #Pleroma