God’s Dictionary

The only way that anyone can know what they are talking about in regard to the things of God, is if they are defining what they are saying according to how it is defined in God’s dictionary. What does that mean, you may ask? Well, what we are really talking about here is divine understanding, or revealed truth; whichever way you care to say it. Let’s look at this passage from Isaiah to begin with: “With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?” (Isa. 40:14) This is referring to God of course, and the point being made here is that God alone is the author of all true knowledge and understanding. The apostle Paul gave the only method by which anyone can know anything at all about God, saying: “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God… Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth… For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ” (I Cor. 2:11,13,16). You may note that the last line there was in reference to the passage from Isaiah that is already noted here. The point of Paul’s writing there is that the only way by which anyone can truly learn of God, is to first have his Spirit, which things Jesus and the prophets and other apostles were in agreement with as well (Isa. 54:13; Jer. 31:34; Jn. 14:26; I Jn. 2:27). But the thing that needs mostly to be understood is that just having the Spirit doesn’t mean that someone will attain unto divine understanding, but rather it takes continually being led by the Spirit; and the Spirit of God only leads into holiness, or pureness of heart, and out of sin and the carnal nature (Rom. 8:5-7,13,14). You see, if one puts away the nature of sin and takes on the divine nature continually by the power of the holy Ghost, they will maintain the unity with God that they experienced by being baptized with his Spirit. The apostle Paul explained that if we mortify, or put off the ways of the “old man with his deeds,” and “put on the new man;” that we will be “renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” (Col. 3:8-10). And he also admonished us to “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2).

The scripture says that “he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit” (I Cor. 6:17). We are initially joined to the Lord by the Spirit baptism with the evidence of speaking in tongues, which experience is the remission of sins; but again, we must continue to be led by the Spirit in order to stay ‘one’ with the Lord. If we do stay one with the Lord, then we will learn how to think as he thinks, because we will develop the “mind of Christ,” or the “mind of the Spirit” (I Cor. 2:16; Rom. 8:27). This in fact is the ‘oneness’ that Jesus prayed that we would have as believers in him, and also is the oneness that is shared by he and the Father, as he also alluded to in the same prayer (Jn. 17:22-24). This is the same ‘oneness’ that the apostle Paul admonished and exhorted us to have as well (Rom. 15:6; I Cor. 1:10). If we are truly one with God and his Son, that means one mind and one accord. And by what means does this happen? “When the Spirit of truth is come, it will guide you into all truth” (Jn. 16:13). What truth, one may ask? The mind of Christ of course. So this also shows the truth of what Jesus meant when he said, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Jn. 8:31,32). And this also gives us the defining of what the word of God actually is as well, for Jesus said again; “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the [congregations]” (Rev. 3:22). What God’s Spirit SAYS is the word of God, and only those who continually follow after that Spirit are going to hear what it says and understands what it means (Psm. 119:105). And the flip side is that one CANNOTunderstand the truth of God while under sin, whether they have been born again or not. Reason being that their ‘oneness’ with God has been broken by the barrier of sin, and one cannot be in tune with God’s voice of the Spirit while under sin, because sin separates from God. And the grave danger and reality of this is that every doctrine and tradition of Christianity, including those that are exclusive to particular affiliations, are all subtle promotions of sin in the lives of those who hear them. The only real ‘truth’ that exists is the SPIRIT of truth, and that is just all there is to follow after, period! (Jn. 15:26, I Jn. 5:6) So all that is left to do is “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in THE faith” (II Cor. 14:5; Eph. 4:5; I Tim. 4:1). Amen, and may God bless all who will heed his voice (Jn. 10:4).