What Did Job Know About God’s Will?

from Google Images

We need to remember that the story of Job is given us in a context before the Mosaic Covenant. There was no Law, per se! So, what did Eliphaz mean, when he referred to the law, which came from the mouth of God, which he further defines as the words of God (Job 22:22)? In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he claimed that at one time in the history of mankind men knew God, but they didn’t honor him as God, and, as a result, their hearts and imaginations became dark (Romans 1:21). In other words, they lost the light of the truth. They declared themselves wise, meaning clever, in the way of wickedness (Romans 1:22; cp. 16:19), but, if the Law of Moses didn’t exist, what was wickedness? What image of God did men reject in favor of what they held to be a ‘better’ way of doing things (cp. Genesis 3:4-7)?

 

They Kept Not Their First Estate!

from Google Images

Jude tells us that the patriarchs of the antediluvian era “kept not their first estate, and left their own habitation…” but what does this mean? Aside from the evil of leading one into error, one of the most grievous problems with wrong doctrine is that it is so difficult to erase falsehood from the minds of folks who believed it, even after one agrees the false doctrine isn’t true. The picture it paints in one’s mind is very difficult to expunge. The word Jude uses for kept is tereo (G5083), and it has to do with observing, protecting and guarding. The same word is used of keeping the Commandments (Matthew 19:17), of keeping the sayings of Jesus (John 8:51), of guarding a prisoner (Acts 24:23), and of keeping oneself in the state in which he presently is (James 1:27) etc.[1] The latter has to do with what Jude intended for us to understand.

 

Who Are Jude’s Angels?

from Google Images

Jude points to a time before the Genesis Flood for his second example of the Lord’s judgment. He mentions the wicked who “kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation…” (Jude 1:6), as described in the KJV. Other translations phrase it differently but they all give the same sense, and they tell us the wicked are spirit beings, angels, who sinned.[1] Yet, how would an angelic rebellion, which the Bible **never** describes or even mentions,[2] be helpful to Jude to use as an example for what was occurring during the first century AD against the Church and the Gospel of Christ? Many are quick to interpret what was done, but they are not so quick to show why Jude chose that particular event to serve as a warning against the wicked deeds of the false teachers during the first century AD.

 

James’ Man of Peace

from Google Images

James’ question in verse-1 follows immediately upon his description of the man of peace who is endowed with wisdom from above. (James 4:1; cp. James 3:17-18). In an earlier study I mentioned that Paul’s list of qualifications for a church overseer in 1Timothy 3:2-7 takes into account the idea that he shouldn’t be a brawler (G269), a Greek word made up of a negative particle ‘a’ (G1) and mache (G3263), which is used in 2Corinthians 7:5 and James 4:1 for fights and in 2Timothy 2:23 and Titus 3:9 the same word is translated strife. In other words, the man of peace (James 3:18) is a person who doesn’t engage in fights or disputes (strife).

 

The World of the Ungodly

from Google Images

In 2Peter 2:4-9 Peter wrote of three examples of God’s judgment in the book of Genesis, which he likened to the judgment God would bring upon the false teachers and those who trusted in them in the first century AD. In a previous blogpost I discussed the first example, the angels (2Peter 2:4), saying they were not spirit beings, but men. They were messengers, whom God intended to lead the world in the antediluvian period and teach the people about God. Nevertheless, most of them seemed to have rebelled, so God darkened their minds (cf. Romans 1:21), which is the sense of the Greek word tartarus (G5020). This darkening of the mind keeps one from seeing his tragic fate brought on by his sins. The only remedy for this darkness is to repent and come into the council of God—submitting to the Gospel.

 

What Was the Sin of Genesis 6?

from Google Images

In Genesis 6:1 we find that the men began to multiply on the face of the earth and that “daughters” were born unto them. One might ask why this is significant. How could men multiply at all without “daughters” of other men being born, so men could marry them and produce families? This is the manner in which men multiply. So, why would Genesis 6:1 make this point?