Fellowship – BT2: Bible-study knowledge won’t lead you to Relationship knowledge
Fellowship – BT2: Bible-study knowledge won’t lead you to Relationship knowledge
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My extensive studies on the Knowledge page make it clear that bible-info only results in more gnosis info-knowledge, sunesis inductive, rational, logical reasoning by sequitur ‘connecting-the-dots’ of the gnosis info to gain understanding-knowledge, and sophia wisdom that puts it all together for application, but none of this requires any koinonia relationship with/close-beside God whatsoever, and the scribes and Pharisees proved that!
The effective defense against false teaching or heresy is not more bible-info as so many churches and bible-colleges will tell you! The bible is exactly what the Jewish-teachers were using to confuse Jewish-Christians to go back into slavery to the Law! The scribes & Pharisees made their financial living from the Law and so they had a vested interest/agenda in promoting it.
Similarly, Peter also says that “scoffers . . . following their own sinful desires . . . will say ‘Where is the promise of Christ’s coming?’ . . . the patience (the delayed coming) of our Lord as salvation [opportunity for others] [I strongly urge you’all to] ongoingly hegeomai ‘be highly regarding by your leading opinion,’ kathos (adverbly) ‘down-from in like manner, just-as’ kai moreover [highly-regarding by your leading opinion’ in the beloved brother of us Paul, kata down/from the wisdom already-been-given to him [revealed by Jesus & His Spirit, thus prophetic, that Paul] already grapho wrote to you’all, hos (adverbly) ‘just as’ kai also in pas all/whole-of the epistole letters [from him], routinely/habitually speaking in them all-around/concerning these things (about the Lord’s coming), among which some things [in the letters] are difficult-to-be-understood, which the unlearned and/coupled unstable-thus-unreliable twist-to-pervert, hos (adverbly) ‘just as’ kai also tas-loipos ‘the others of a kind/class/category-of previously spoken of’ [the whole of] graphe scriptures, to their (the twisters) own destruction. Don’t be carried away with the error of [these] lawless people.” <Notes> a) 2 Peter 3:3-4, 16-17.
In content Peter’s argument is NOT that Paul’s letters are DEFINED as graphe scripture despite “proof texter’ proponents of the belief that the New Testament (NT) was always considered universally authoritative ‘graphe scripture’ even though no Church Fathers referred to it as such, and even argued against this notion, until a Catholic apologetics-theologian Tertullian in 208 AD resorted to applying graphe to the Christian’s highly-debated loose collection of writings, in a desperate argumentative-defense against the Jews and the so-called heresies of Monarchian Praxeas and Bishop Marcion – see Logos Word of God – BT11.
Instead Peter’s argument focused on the twisting of prophetic ‘kind/class/category of’ gramma writings that are difficult to understand, particularly prophecies about Christ’s coming, Paul’s letters of wisdom but particularly ‘all-around/concerning’ his prophetic writings of Christ’s coming in 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 2:19, 4:13-5:11 that caused so much confusion because of their “difficult to understand’ nature that Paul had to clarify in 2 Thessalonians 1:15-2:14. The 3 typical ‘kinds/classes/categories’ of OT graphe scripture or The Law, The Prophets, and The Psalms & other Writings. The twisters of ‘the difficult to understand’ parts of 1 Thessalonians convinced Christians to sell their property, probably to them for a bargain, forcing Paul to write 2 Thessalonians!
Peter adds the phrase “hos (adverbly) ‘just as’ kai also tas-loipos ‘the others of a kind/class/category-of previously spoken of’ graphe scriptures” to adverbly explain the verb “twisting-to-distort” NOT “pas all/whole-of the epistole letters of Paul” but “the others of a kind/class/category-of previous spoken of’ graphe scriptures. The definite article tas applies to loipos and NOT to graphe scriptures, because in all 3 places in the NT that graphe scriptures has no article, the context is clear they are referring to the ‘kind/class/category’ called The Prophets, and in the context of Peter’s argument in vv. 1:20-21, 2:1-2, 12, 3:2-3, 9 further is refined to ‘the other’ OT Prophets writings that regard the coming of the Messiah. You could argue that ‘the other’ could refer to the non ‘Messianic coming’ portions of OT Prophets.
However, it’s a far stretch from the context that Peter is referring to The Law or Psalms & other Writings because the early Jewish-Church used only 2.6% of the OT to convert/catechize Jews to Jesus, which were the Messianic passages and showed little regard for the other 97.4% – see Logos Word of God – BT5a, BT6, and BT9. But it’s an even farther stretch from the context that Peter is referring to Paul’s “wisdom letters” to them or others on any subject as be equated to scripture. The add-on phrase sure isn’t convincing, especially since no other NT writing hints at this! It’s just so far out of the context of Peter’s argument that the ‘Messianic coming’ kind/class/category of OT scripture is being twisted just-as the same kind of people twisting Paul’s “Messianic coming’ portions of his other ‘letters of revealed prophetic wisdom.” To this day, the ‘scoffing twisters” always seem to target prophetic writings to con Christians into some sinful, lawless agenda of theirs, not often targeting the clear-cut rules, psalms, wisdom-sayings or history of biblical writings.
In either case, you can’t fight fire with fire, as the Catholic Church also tried to do through rational, logical, reasoning, gnosis info-based “apologetics.” You can argue with the bible-expert people and the “twisters” of biblical writings all day long and gain little ground. This is not an effective defense against being conned by their “winds of doctrine.” Ultimately you have to fight fire with buckets of the “Living Water” of the Holy Spirit’s revelational knowledge that only comes through koinonia intimate relationship with/close-beside Jesus as God.
Genuine, full, experiential, relational epignosis knowledge absolutely requires koinonia relationship by-the-means-of Holy Spirit. It’s the only WAY to actually be “taught by God” (a). <Notes> a) John 6:45; 1 Thessalonians 4:9, both citing Isaiah 54:13, cf. Jeremiah 31:33-34 as cited by Hebrews 8:10-11.
From 1980-1983 I was taught by the Church of Christ that you could have better koinonia relationship with God by studying your bible every day to know the “Word of God.” I was pretty faithful: I had underlined and highlighted my bible; written cross-references in the margins; added a topical reference in the back; filled up notebook after notebook with study notes; created flash-cards to memorize key verses for witnessing and battling sin; attended a bible-study in the dorm almost every other day and faithfully invited people to it; and went to Wednesday and 2 Sunday services along with Friday-night campus ministry meetings. Every one of these meetings had a sermon to take more notes from. I can honestly say that the longest prayer at all these meetings in all that time was about 5 minutes, always asking God for something! Their worship was 4-5 songs out of a hymnal with no instruments, followed by 30-45 minutes of teaching. Just about the time you started feeling something spiritual actually happening in the worship, it was time to go onto something ‘more important,’ like the announcements! Sometimes their announcements or church-business meetings far exceeded the worship time and for sure, the prayer time! And they called that a “Worship Service.” BUT I knew a lot ABOUT God and the bible from the bible!
But in 1983 after seeking God for a month in prayer every morning to the top of McKale Center at the University of Arizona where I was finishing, after my church broke up due to “leaders” vying for power, after I had my first Spirit-baptism where I actually koinonia connected-with God and experienced His presence, I found out that I had no previous experience of actual koinonia fellowship with God after my water-baptism ‘tears of joy‘ experience. After you’ve known the real-thing, it makes the counterfeit really stand out, just like bank tellers can spot a fake bill right away! Previously, I always struggled to have a real koinonia communion with a God because I hadn’t had any distinct awareness of God since my water-baptism and not one person I knew from that church had either! People would tell me, “Christianity isn’t about feelings but about faith.” But I found from exhausting bible-study and experience that was completely wrong, too! I never knew you could have God-visions or dreams, and could akouo “hear” or eido “see” or experience prophetic rhema words from God, because my church said that all died away with the apostles. Careful study and experience proved that to be wrong, too!
But around May of 1983 everything started changing with my first Spirit-baptism! Then another in 1985! Then after much study of the bible and church history I learned that I was being lied to in many areas! They were “blind guides leading the blind” (c). Paul dealt with this very same problem with the Corinthian Christians who were just plain ignorant: “Now concerning Spirit-kind-of grace-gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant (a): You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to MUTE idols, however you were led. Therefore I would not in fact have you be ignorant (a) . . . Now there actually are varieties of grace-gifts but the same Spirit . . . For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom and to another the utterance of gnosis-info knowledge kata down-from/according-to the same Spirit . . . to another prophecy . . . various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit” (b). Churches can’t pick and choose what they want to believe or practice from the New Testament. <Notes> a) ognoeo, where we get agnostic, b) 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, c) Matthew 15:14.
Once you are no longer content to remain “ignorant” but instead “routinely/habitually ask, seek, knock by faith” (a) to “see, hear and feel” from God by the means of the “good grace-gift . . . the Holy Spirit” as Jesus calls us to do in the Lord’s Prayer (b), “not being led by a mute idol,” you will never go back to just bible-study gnosis info-knowledge! Jesus said we have to “akouo hear/listen to understand/know My Voice” (c) and “eido mentally ‘see’ to perceive/know My Voice” (d) to actually be MY sheep! <Notes> a) Luke 11:9-11, b) Luke 11:13; Matthew 7:11, c) John 10:27, d) John 10:4.
That’s why Paul prays for Ephesian Christians that: “the Father of glory may give you the Spirit of wisdom and/coupled of revelation by-the-means-of [singular] genuine, full, experiential, relational epignosis knowledge of Him, having already had [with ongoing results] the eyes of your heart enlightened/illuminated eis ‘toward and reaching the goal of’ to already [with ongoing results] eido mentally ‘see’ to perceive/know . . . the hope . . . your inheritance . . . dunamis dynamite-like enabling-power eis ‘toward and reaching the goal of’ us” (a). Paul does the same thing for Colossian Christians, asking for “Spirit-kind-of wisdom and/coupled sunesis ‘connect-the-dots’ understanding-knowledge” (b). We must have revealed/uncovered, anointed eido knowledge (c) prophetic knowledge! Jesus reveals the Father to those He chooses (d). This is the “koinonia relationship” completely-different-in-kind New Covenant Way! <Notes> a) Ephesians 1:17-19, b) Colossians 1:8-12, c) Matthew 11:27; John 17:6, 26, d) 1 John 2:20, 27.
Reflections:
As Christian musicians, isn’t that what we want the worship music to accomplish – to bring ourselves and others into that intimate fellowship with God? Well we can’t lead people to something we are not experiencing ourselves, even during that very moment! You can’t give what is not flowing through you! Don’t we want to offer more than the Pharisee-scribe expertise of the scriptures? It failed them! According to Matthew 15:14 and John 5:37-39, Jesus said they were “blind guides” that really didn’t ginosko experientially, relationally know God even though they had “diligently studied/searched the scriptures.”
Don’t you want to be directly “taught by God” as promised, and communicate this through your music? Shouldn’t your music just be a natural extension of your conversational-prayer para WITH/CLOSE-BESIDE God and being meta changed by the close proximity? Don’t we want music that brings another Spirit-baptism to and through you to others? The most powerful bands are those that surrender-control fully to allowing the Holy Spirit spontaneously guide them so that ALL of their music is anointed and prophetic and a spontaneous “New Song.” Shouldn’t your music inform others of the Spirit’s grace-gifts instead of keeping them ignorant? Shouldn’t your music be saying, “Come Holy Spirit – we dechomai warmly-welcome You to have complete control over ALL of us, even bringing signs & wonders to confirm and give demonstrable-proofs of the gospel logos message, so our trusting-relying-faith will not be in men but in God?”
Spiritual Education, gnosis Bible-info isn’t epignosis relationship knowledge, using the bible to win arguments against bible-experts a waste of time and not often Christ-like, The conn artists twist the scripture, Better to confirm the gospel with signs wonders and miracle demonstrable-proofs of the Spirit, Better to share the effect of God’s relationship on you as your witness, My experience with bible-knowledge verses direct-connection relationship knowledge, We aren’t supposed to be led by mute idols like studying bible writings like the scribes & Pharisees, We are supposed by led by the prophetic voice of God by the Spirit, We aren’t supposed to be ignorant of the Spirit’s gifts but zealously pursuing them by prayer, We are supposed to hear the voice of Jesus, We are supposed to prophetically gaze at him to be transformed, We are to ask seek knock for the Spirit and His gifts