FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
RENEWING
THE MIND – XXV
WHAT IS
MAN? - 5
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this
world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of IAUE.
What is
righteousness? It is a word that is
seldom used in any secular context.
Within the Scripture it refers to the flawless moral correctness and
perfection of character of IAUE. In
other words, it is what Genesis 1:26 refers to as “the likeness” of
IAUE.
Last week we
observed that one of the missions of Messiah was to provide for the restoration
of man to the image of IAUE.
Specifically, that refers to what is commonly referred to today as the “resurrection
body,” for we shall experience the redemption of our bodies as a consequence of
the resurrection of the saints. We saw
that such redemption would at least include losing our mortality in exchange for
immortality, losing our corruptibleness in exchange for incorruption, and
receiving back the garment of the glory of IAUE to conceal our nakedness. Anything more than this would just be more
cause for rejoicing.
Man was created in
the image and after the likeness of IAUE (Genesis 1:26). The image of IAUE refers to His appearance. Man was created to “look” like IAUE. IAUE has a head with two eyes, two ears, a
nose and a mouth. He has two arms and
two legs, a chest and a belly. How can
we say this with certainty? It is
because we were made to look like Him.
In Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden, Adam was responsible for causing
man to forfeit other attributes of IAUE’s appearance and some of the attributes
of his body (immortality, incorruption and glory). The sacrifice of Yahushua purchased the
redemption of our bodies, a restoration to the original design seen in Adam
when he was first created.
Today, we turn to
the “likeness” of IAUE. This word “likeness”
is from a root word meaning “like.” The
word “like” (along with the word “as”) is a word that introduces what in the
English language is called a “simile.” A
simile is an expression that compares one thing with another in order to give
the listener/reader an understanding of the nature of the thing being
compared. For example:
Today’s sunset is “like”
a Monet painting.
The food at that
restaurant is “like” the menu of Heaven.
Bob’s snoring is “like”
the trumpet section of an orchestra.
Terri’s cooking
always smells “like” a toxic chemical spill.
That dog’s pelt
feels “like” a satin sheet.
These illustrations
are all comparisons made as perceptions of the five physical senses of
man. Man quite naturally compares the
things which his/her body experiences with other things perceived by the five
physical senses in order to attempt to communicate to others the nature of
his/her experience of things in this world.
The greatest collection of similes in the Scripture is in Revelation 1,
where John attempts to describe the resurrection body of Yahushua. He says:
“one like
unto the Son of man”
“His head and his
hairs were white like wool, as white as snow”
“his eyes were as
a flame of fire”
“his feet like
unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace”
“his voice as
the sound of many waters”
“his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength”
John was attempting
to describe something that was entirely outside of the experience of man by
using comparisons with things within man’s experience. Unfortunately, we end up thinking of a man
with a lamb on his head, fire for eyeballs, molten brass for feet with rushing
water pouring out of his mouth, and everything bathed in glorious light. Obviously, that is not what John saw; but it
is impossible for us to understand what John saw until what he saw is also
within our own experience. A simile only
works when the imagery to which something is compared is being used to quantify
something that is also within the experience of the one to whom it is
spoken. Imagine if I said to you, “That
tarfillig was like cows dancing to Beethoven.”
You could probably imagine cows dancing to classical music; but because
you don’t have a clue what “tarfillig” is, you cannot possible understand the
simile. Only when you know what “tarfillig”
is will the simile make sense or edify you.
Man was created in
the “likeness” of IAUE. He was created
to be “like” IAUE. The “likeness” of IAUE, His nature and character, are made
known to us through the 6th sense gate of man, the heart. The heart of man functions much like a gasket
where the spirit and soul of man are joined together. It is the heart of man
that senses and perceives what is within the spirit and brings understanding of
it to the soul of man. When man is born
into the world, however, being born of the seed of Adam, he is born with a
spirit that is not connected to the
light and life of IAUE. The result is
NOTHING is communicated from the spirit through the heart to the soul of man. We
cannot become like IAUE if we cannot see or experience Him. Until we can experience His light and life,
He is tarfillig to us. As long as He is outside
the realm of our experience we cannot become like Him. Everything man learns
and comes to understand, both in knowledge and in character, he learns through his
other senses that can only communicate what he can see, taste, hear, smell and
feel in the physical world around him; and we are told in the Scripture that:
1 John 5:19b …the whole world lieth in wickedness.
It was the
separation of the spirit within man from the life and light of IAUE that
severed man from his inherent capacity to become “like” IAUE in His nature and
character. Nothing in this world is able to reproduce within man the life and
nature of IAUE. However, when man bows his/her knee to the Master Yahushua, and
in faith trusts in the provision he made for us at his impaling, we become a new
creature in Messiah Yahushua. What is this new creature? Was it a new body? No (but Messiah provided for a new body yet
to be revealed). Was it a new soul? No (but Messiah provided for our soul to be
transformed). Was it our spirit? Yes.
The spirit within man was revived, reborn, reconnected to the light and
life of IAUE.
1 Corinthians 15: 45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a
living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first
which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is
spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth,
earthy; the second man is the Master from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are
they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are
they also that are heavenly.
Yahushua is a
life-giving spirit; but notice the simile in this passage of Scripture. “As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.” The new birth produces within us a
life that is “like” the heavenly life.
It is “like” IAUE’s life. Not only is life birthed within us, our
newborn spirit is immersed into Messiah.
We are in him, and he is in us (see 1 Corinthians 12:12-14; John 17:20-23). Finally, within man’s spirit, the life and
light of IAUE can be communicated through the heart to the soul of man. The capacity to mature after the likeness of
IAUE is restored in the newbirth.
2 Corinthians 5:14 For
the love of Messiah constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died
for all, then were all dead:
This verse by the
hand of Paul provides a preliminary explanation of the new creature we have
become in Messiah (see 2 Corinthian 5:17). Becoming a new creature in Yahushua Messiah is
predicated upon our having first died in Messiah.
A story is told of the American civil war that
a family in Virginia had two sons. In
the early part of the war, the elder son received a draft notice to be
conscripted into the Union army. Because the role he played in the support of
the family was critical to the continuation of their farm and the family’s
livelihood, the younger son reported to the Union army in his brother’s name. During the course of the war, the younger son
died. Later in the war, the Union army,
looking for new eligible young men to serve, appeared at the family’s house to
see if they had any sons of age to go to war; and they found the elder son
there. They attempted to conscript him
into the service but his father said that he had already served in the Union
army and had died. They checked the
service records and sure enough, they saw that this young man had been drafted,
served, and died in combat. Since he had
already died, they could not draft him; and he remained with his family. He could not be forced to serve the military again,
as he had already died in his brother who had served in his name. Was this not just a technicality? Yes; but
one with legal force. The elder son had
died in his brother and was buried. The
records were unmistakable.
There is a logical
expectation of this kind of substitutionary death. The surviving one can no longer expect to
continue to live his own life as he might have intended. He is indebted to live the remainder of his
life for the one who had died in his place.
2 Corinthians 5:15 And that he died for all, that they which live
should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them,
and rose again.
Romans 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of
us as were baptized into Yahushua Messiah were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Messiah
was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted
together in the likeness of
his death, we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is impaled with him, that the body
of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve
sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed
from sin.
Of what benefit is
the new birth, the new creation, to man if he chooses not to lay down his life
which has been conformed to this world to take up the life that has been
created in his spirit? Do we actually
believe that the new birth is an end unto itself? It is not.
It is a means to an end.
1 Corinthians 15:34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of IAUE:
I speak this to your shame.
John 17:3 And this
is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true Elohim,
and Yahushua Messiah, whom thou hast sent.
In last week’s post,
we saw that the “likeness” of IAUE could be defined in one word: righteousness. It was righteousness that Adam lost in the
garden; and the loss of righteousness is why he then gave birth to a son after
his own likeness, and not after the likeness of IAUE. It is righteousness that Messiah died to
restore to man; and it is Messiah’s own righteousness that is communicated to
man through the new birth. Understanding
this transfer of righteousness is key to our becoming like IAUE. Becoming a new creature does us no good if we
do not allow the righteousness of IAUE to be communicated through our heart to our
soul, and to become conformed to it. By
now, you may have noticed that this is the process that is defined by the verse
that heads up our current series of lessons.
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this
world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of IAUE.
We have died in
Messiah. We have been raised to new life
in Messiah. Messiah is in us and we are
in him; and his righteousness within us is to transform us into the likeness of
IAUE’s character. How does that
happen? It occurs only as we come to
understand, embrace and DO the will of IAUE.
More on this next
week.
Kingdom
heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
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