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And also, brethren, I was not able to speak to you as Spiritual but as carnal, as inarticulate babblers in Christ. I gave you milk not meat. For thus you were not able, but neither yet now are you able, for yet you are carnal. For where among you is jealousy and strife are you not carnal and walk as humans? – 1 Corinthians 3:1-3
Experiencing the Christian life is something that all of us need to do by living out what God says. This takes some training because the salvation we have is not something we sit and wait for in the future, it can, and should be, used right now in our lives. We are the children of God, we have all things pertaining to life and godliness, we are those who are in Christ. Our lives need to show this.
Spiritual means we are emanating the things of the Spirit; that is, we are seeking to fulfill His desires in our lives rather than the desires of our flesh. We are focused on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God and living a life that is out from faith. Along with this we will be properly defending ourselves against our enemies and living out the righteousness that we have in Christ. This is the proper state for a Christian to be in.
There are two types of evil described in Scripture that are often not distinguished in many English translations. The first kind of evil (κακός) expresses someone who is doing wrong, doing that which lacks in character. The second form of evil (πονηρός) is the person spreading their erroneous ways to others. These expect and encourage others to participate in their wicked ways; hence, they are malignantly evil. A doer of wrong (κακοποιός) describes the character of a person who is known to do things in an untruthful, deceptive, or corrupt manner; a willingness to do things in a way they know is not correct to gain or to take advantage for themselves. In contrast to this type of evil is the concept of doing what is proper, which produces beneficial works rather than causing harm and calamity.
When the Jews sought to have Pilate put Jesus to death, they delivered Him over to Pilate as one who is a doer of wrong. However, Pilate found nothing in Jesus’ actions to indicate this; therefore, he told them to take Jesus and judge Him by their laws. However, the Romans did not allow the Jews to put someone to death; therefore, they required Pilate’s assistance to crucify Jesus, John 18:30-31. By continuing to hold Jesus, and ultimately fulfilling the desires of the Jews, both Pilate and the Jewish leaders are the ones who are actually doers of wrong, for they knew that Jesus had done no wickedness, yet still had Him put to death.
When it comes to the behavior of Christians, we are to abstain from fleshly lusts that war against our emotions (soul) while having a proper conduct among those who are not saved. When they speak […]
Hatred (στυγητός) expresses a despicable or loathsome attitude. It is in contrast to indifference (μισέω), which conveys the concept of not caring about the well-being of others unless it benefits you. Hate is a type of attitude likened to how a storm makes the sky appear in the distance: dark, gloomy, and threatening, Matthew 16:3.
“Hateful”, as an adjective, is only used once in scripture in Titus 3:3. In submitting to rulers and authorities so that we are ready in every good work, we are to put away blasphemy as we seek peace and show kindness to all. Not forgetting that in our former manner of life, we were disobedient, malice, and hateful while being indifferent to others. Since hateful and indifference are used together in the same sentence to describe a person’s attitude and activities, they do not carry the same meaning. This is important to note because many of our English versions translate indifference (μισέω) as hatred, thereby masking the actual meaning of indifference. The apostle John writes concerning those who say they love God but are indifferent to their fellow brother in the Lord. Since they are showing indifference to a fellow saint, they cannot be loving God, 1 John 4:20. This is not hatred towards others, but not being concerned about their well-being, for indifference expresses an attitude that is apathetic towards others because you have no particular interest in or concern about them. This cloaking in the meaning of indifference also impacts the saint’s understanding of the world system, for it does not have a loathsome or despicable attitude towards Christians; rather, it is indifferent to them. Therefore, the world system has no issue with using Christianity and Christians for its […]