Identifying the cosmic system, part 10 John 15:19; 1John 3:8-10.

Title: Identifying the cosmic system, part 10 John 15:19; 1John 3:8-10.

 

 

1 John 3:8 the one who practices [does or commits] sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

 

1 John 3:9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

 

Needless to say, we have here a verse that has been the source of a lot of confusion and often misinterpreted.

 

As in verse 8 the verb is poieo which is the Greek verb to do, to perform, to commit, etc. The Greek word for practice is prasso, but with the verb in the present tense it indicates every time a sin is committed. Imagine is like a dotted line with each dot being a personal sin. How many dots, how close together, and are there so many that it looks like a continuous line? That is certainly a good question that we could all take inventory on, but that’s not the point here. This is a statement. The one born of God does not commit sin.

 

For this to in any way mean sinless perfection is a wrong translation from all scripture and from John himself in this very epistle in chapter 1 verses 8 and 10.

 

The key word is “seed.” The Greek word sperma can mean a man’s seed, a seed of a plant, and metaphorically as offspring.

 

Sperma is used in the metaphorical sense of an offspring of God or what is the new creature made by God at the moment of salvation or the moment of second birth.

 

Every believer has a new nature within him, and that new nature cannot sin. John calls this new nature God's "seed."

 

When a person receives Christ as his Savior, tremendous spiritual changes take place in him.

 

He is given a new standing before God, being accepted as righteous in God's sight. This new standing is called "justification." It never changes and is never lost.

 

The new Christian is also given a new position: he is set apart for God's own purposes to live for His glory. This new position is called "sanctification.” Positional sanctification cannot ever change while the believer has a choice to live in the plan of God for his life and be sanctified or set apart experientially. Experiential sanctification has a way of changing from day to day. On some days we are much closer to Christ and obey Him much more readily.

 

But perhaps the most dramatic change in a new believer is what we call "regeneration." He is "born again" into the family of God. (Re: means "again," and generation means "birth. ")

 

Justification means a new standing before God, sanctification means being set apart to God, and regeneration means a new divine nature from God's nature, 2 Peter 1:4.

 

2 Peter 1:4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

 

Partakers is the Greek word for sharers or partners. There is a system by which we become partakers of the divine nature that we are and it is not simply a desire to do so.

 

2 Peter 1:3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

 

Divine power = the word of God and the filling of the HS.

 

Granted means to be given by grace and without strings attached. It is in the perfect tense meaning that there will never ever be strings attached to what God gives; therefore, this is a strong verb for gracious giving.

 

What is graciously given is divine power, and divine power by means of grace gives us everything that is capacity for life as well as execution of the spiritual life (godliness).

 

“All things” is a blank cheque signed by God Himself. You fill in the amount. How deep does your faith in the unlimited grace of God go? If it is deep then you patiently wait for all things related to life and godliness.

 

There is no word for “pertaining to.” Instead we have the preposition “pros” which face to face with or in intimate communion with. This is the same preposition used for your status with Christ directly after your physical death. So we have “intimate communion with the life from God as well as the spiritual life.”

 

The spiritual life cannot be lived without God the Holy Spirit and that statement is unique to the CA. No other age has such unlimited access to the power of the third person of the Trinity. So life refers to the intimate communion of the abundant day to day life of the believer in time and godliness refers to your intimate communion with the ministry of God the HS and the word of God.

 

Then we have the preposition dia plus the genitive of epignosis, which refers to metabolized doctrine and so it is correctly translated “through the metabolized knowledge.” One cannot understand the ministry of the HS nor the life that is hid in Christ without perceiving and metabolizing the word of God.

 

“of Him who elected us” refers to the Father who elected every believer to receive His highest and best.

 

Then we have “by His own glory and excellence” which is ok, but there is no indication of an instrumental usage. The Greek says “called us His own glory and excellence.” Naturally His own essence and virtue are in view when He elects every believer, but it is much more stated in the NT of that which we are called to. We are elected to something which is God’s highest and best and what is better than His very own essence and virtue? Sharing in God’s essence doesn’t make us gods but it does impart to the divine nature a wonderful selection of divine attributes, and to combine that with God’s virtue makes for a life beyond dreams, far greater than any materialism, promotion, or relations that your or I could possibly dream up.

 

 “seeing that His divine power (doctrine + FHS) has graciously given to us a blank check for intimate communion with the abundant life and the spiritual life through the metabolized doctrine of Him who elected us to His own glory and virtue.” (corrected translation)

 

 

2 Peter 1:4 For by these He has granted [graciously given] to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

 

“These” are the divine power, doctrine, the filling of the HS, grace giving from the Father, abundant life and spiritual life, metabolized doctrine, and election to God’s glory and virtue.

 

Then come the promises of the value of all of this.

 

If you believe the precious and magnificent promises that pertain to the value of the things in verse 3 you will become a partner with your divine nature, and if not, then he will be a stranger to you.