His Question

How does that same application of the word all apply in other biblical references?

In particular would be Romans 3:22-24? The “all” here refers to both the righteousness from God that comes through faith in Jesus Christ to “all” that believe (v.22), and the “all” who have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (v.23). Of which this same “all” from verses 22 & 23 are justified freely by His grace and through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ (v.24). If the same “all” is those who believe, those who have sinned, and those who are redeemed through Jesus–and we understand that two out of those three scenarios: ability to believe and ability to be redeemed can refer only to the elect, then can the third scenario: sin, only be the attribute of the elect. Or am I to interpret the “all” as the “elect” only when dealing with redemption?

It seems that a truer reading of the scripture is that: God’s righteousness comes to all who will believe, for we are all sinners in need of redemption, and that this redemption comes only through Christ.

My Response

There is a rule that requires context to always provide an understanding of how the word “all” is used, but that doesn’t require the word to be used in the same precise, wooden manner in all cases. Every time we run across the word “all” we must check the context to ensure our working definition of “all” in that instance matches the context. Thus the golden hermeneutic rule:

Context is king, a text without context is a pretext for a proof-text.

Let us look first at the English term all. This word alone serves as:

adjective pronoun noun

verb and has four idioms.

It is of use in communicating quantity, whole collection, extent, duration, or quality/degree. Here are some examples:

Thus, simply picking which of these five possible usages is appropriate is an exercise in context! Most of us do this without thinking about it, and it is natural to use the word in each of these ways, yet context is essential for appropriate usage. Of most interest to us is the use of “all” to communicate quantity and whole collections.

Apple Analogy

All apples grow on trees. I picked all of these apples. Some of these apples are red, some are yellow. There is no difference between red and yellow apples, for all grow on a tree, and were picked by me. All the red apples go in that bucket and all the yellow apples go in this one. Take all the apples to the store.

The first sentence uses an “all” that is universal in scope and is meant to include every apple that ever was or ever will be; however, it would be silly to interpret the last sentence in the same scope. The last sentence assumes the same scope as the “all of these” in the second sentence.

In the fourth sentence, the “all” is limited by growing on a tree and being picked by me. Given that growing on a tree is common to the universal scope used in the first sentence, it is actually the phrase “were picked by me” at the end of the sentence that does the limiting.

We see that in a normal paragraph, the scope of “all” can rightly be extremely flexible. It seems reasonable to assume the scope of “all” is just as malleable and usable in Scripture, thus we need to be diligent in pursuing context to understand the word’s usage in conveying concepts to us.

We must be careful that we do not interpret a word’s usage according to our own desires but according to the intent of the author.

Romans 3 – Chapter Context

All scripture quotes are NIV unless otherwise indicated.
(Did you see what I did there, using the word all? Hehehe, I crack me up sometimes!)

The Statement:
“God’s righteousness comes to all who will believe, for we are all sinners in need of redemption, and that this redemption comes only through Christ.” We are in violent agreement on this statement.

In this case, your opening phrase “God’s righteousness comes to all who will believe” necessarily limits “all” to the elect. There are those who will NOT believe, therefore God’s righteousness does not come to them. We do not say “God’s righteousness comes to all” because it necessarily only comes to those who believe, and those who believe are a subset of the universal “all” of mankind.

The second phrase “for we are all sinners in need of redemption” is a little muddled. It can rightly be understood in two fully truthful ways.

• The universal all of mankind are indeed sinners in need of redemption.
• The subset of the universal all of mankind that are elect are indeed sinners in need of redemption.

Although we can understand the “all” in this phrase either way, I would be inclined to interpret the meaning of the second phrase in the same limited scope as the first for two reasons:

• the sentence begins “all” referring to a smaller subset
• the “all” in the second phrase is not redefined as having a wider scope.

To completely clarify the scope issue, I would propose restating the sentence along these lines, “Except Christ, every human who has, or will have, ever existed is a sinner in need of redemption; however, God’s righteousness comes to each one who will believe, and this redemption comes only through Christ.”

We can see the same pattern occur in Romans.

1. Romans 1:16-17 – The Righteousness of God is revealed from Faith.
2. Romans 1:18-2:5 – God’s Wrath on mankind (Universal Set)
3. Romans 2:6-11 – God is not partial in this, all races. (Jew & Gentile Sets)
4. Romans 2:12-3:8 – Specifically discuss’ God’s faithfulness & the Law (Jewish Set)
5. Romans 3:9-20 – No One Is Righteous (Universal Set)

Romans 1:18-3:20 are particularly compelling scriptures for understanding Total Depravity within the Doctrines of Grace. The scope of these verses demonstrate universal application, Paul further breaks things down into how it applies to both Jews and non-Jews, Paul discusses how it applies specifically to Jews, and finally he restates the universal application of the doctrine.

“What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.”  The first “all” –”Not at all!”–deals with extent rather than quantity. I would submit that it is like saying, “Not to any extent!” The second “all” is of great interest to our conversation; “all,” in this sentence refers to a collection. We see that Paul defines this set, “Jews and Gentiles alike.” Understanding the term “Gentile” to mean “any and everything NOT a Jew,” we begin to apply a universal scope for the set.

Furthermore, Paul pulls in other scripture (Psalms 14:1-3; 53:1-3; Eccles. 7:20) in verses 10-12 to demonstrate total depravity, and here he uses the term “no one“. “No one” is a set as well, it is an empty set. This empty set compared with the positive set of “all” further leads us toward understanding the second “all”, in verse 9, as having the broadest, most inclusive scope possible.

Romans 3:20 sums it up nicely using the empty set, “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.“  Verse 22 then begins the transition into the doctrine of atonement, specifically in contrast (verse 21) to the depravity revealed under the Law.

Romans 3:23 – Exegesis

Romans 3:22-24:  “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”  The “all” in verse 22 is clearly limited in scope, with the  same, precise limitation as in Romans 1:16.

Compare:

everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

vs.

all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile

In no way does this teach that “the righteousness of God is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all, including those who do not believe.” Those who do not believe will not receive. (Note: we are not saying that those who do not currently believe can not come to believe and then receive, we are simply stating that belief must occur before receipt. This is the domain of the doctrine of election, which is not explicitly addressed in these verses.)

Because the word “all” in prior verses–1:16 and 3:22–is limited in scope to those who believe (or the elect), I argue that the context here limits the “all” in verse 3:23 to the same scope. Although I do agree that the phrase “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” is also universally applicable, by definition of applying to “all” in the universal sense, it is likewise applied to the limited subset of believers. However, if the intention here in verse 23 is that “all” applies to the universal scope, then without redefinition/qualification, the “all” in verse 24, taken to its logical conclusion, will eventually make us into universalists and heretics!

Let us consider those which history indicates make up Paul’s audience in Rome–the elect, made up of both Jewish converts and non-Jewish converts. Other letters by Paul indicate a tension between Jewish and non-Jewish believers, and we can often see Scripture speaking to that tension. We also see these first chapters of Romans repeatedly speaking to this tension. I submit that we could, therefore, clearly restate Romans 3:22-24 as follows, without losing or modifying any truth that Paul is attempting to communicate to us.

Paraphrased: “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for both Jewish and Gentile believers (all) have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and both Jewish and Gentile believers (all) are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

I believe that you will agree that this restatement is completely truthful. I also believe it is the simplest and most effective way to understand what Paul is communicating in these verses. Other interpretations I’ve heard only lead to significant theological issues further downstream as one works toward logical conclusions.

Compare NIV vs ESV

NIV: 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—

ESV: [22] the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: [23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, [25] whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

Notice how verse 24 in the ESV assumes the “all” used in verse 23. Upon comparison, the ESV both communicates the meaning of the text most effectively and better reflects the original Greek text (where there is no explicit “all” in verse 24 – compare 23 vs 24 online in the Greek.).  Thus, we can conclude that  the scope must be the same. Also note that in the ESV verse 24 ends with a comma rather than an period thereby including the first half of verse 25 in the context of the sentence, and further limiting the scope of “all” with the end of the sentence “to be received by faith.”

According to an universal “all” in 3:23, a similar universal interpretation must be assumed in 3:24. Consequently, Romans 8:30 would teach that the universal all are glorified. If that be the logical conclusion, we would be required to teach “the universal all go to heaven” and hell is empty.

Justification, Redemption, Atonement & Propitiation

Romans 3:25 in the English Standard Version (and Greek) clenches it for me. Simply put, if one has had their sins atoned for, God’s wrath towards them propitiated–justified and redeemed–then the individual must no longer fear punishment. The wrath of God is satisfied, his judgment complete, and that individual stands before God with none to condemn him/ her.

How horrific it would be if Christ atoned for my sins, but then I was sent to hell anyway! This speaks directly to the justice of God, who would be double dipping if he punished twice for the same sin.  

Imagine a judge that fines a man for breaking a civil law like speeding. This man cannot pay the fine, but his brother who is in court walks up and pays the clerk, all the while the man is protesting his brother paying this fine for him. The clerk accepts the check; the fine is paid, but then the judge has the bailiff haul the man to jail anyway to serve time because he did not pay the fine himself and protested his brother paying it for him. This is injustice, and the judge is a foul perverter of the law. God would be considered the same if he accepted Christ’s work on the cross as atonement and propitiation for the universal “all,” then sent any of them to hell.

The “all” in verse 22 is limited/qualified to “all who believe.” Furthermore, verse 25 confirms this limitation by adding the phrase “received by faith.” Couched between these obvious qualifiers, the “all” in verses 23-24 is most accurately interpreted within the same limited scope. The text then requires an understanding of these particular “all’s”  as limited to the elect and does not allow for a broader scope, regardless of how truthful it might be to take verse 23 out of context and apply a broader scope.

[23] Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. [24] So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, [26] for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. [27] For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. – (Galatians 3:23-29 ESV)

When Rob first posed this question to me, my mind flashed to a picture of a person sitting at a desk in a dimly lit room with pen and paper and Bible open before him.  Hearing the word study conjures an image, and from that image, I took Rob’s question to mean, “Does Scripture command us to sit down with scripture, pen and paper and read it, take notes, look up definitions with a concordance or dictionary, use cross references, and come to a conclusion that is concise and applicable?”

Of course, Rob warned me about using 2 Timothy 3:16, which states, “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness….”  His admonition was to consider to whom this was written.  Timothy was a leader responsible for a group of believers.  He stated that this statement is unequivocally applicable to church leaders, but was it applicable to all believers?  And if you know Rob, you know he doesn’t like quick unexamined answers based on assumptions.  So of course, I feared this was some sort of trick question.  I began to rack my brain for verses concerning the command to study scripture.

In my search, I noticed I could make an exception for every command to study scripture.  The kings of Israel were commanded to copy all the word of the law (an arduous task considering the lack of word processors back in the day) and to keep it before them all their days.  But of course, they were kings!  Were the common folk commanded to do so?  Not that I could think of.  And then I quickly referenced Psalm 119, noting to my surprise no specific command to study God’s Word, or law.  Instead, this “love poem to God’s Law” included numerous pledges by the author to study and meditate on the Word.  I didn’t think that it was evidence enough to support the statement that Scripture commands us to study scripture.

At the same time, I could not find enough evidence to support the statement that scripture does NOT command us to study scripture.  Running through passages like Deuteronomy 6:4-9,  “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”  Then Luke’s account of the Berean converts in Acts 17:11, “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”

And in scanning through New Testament references to the word “scripture”, I began to understand that every letter written, whether a gospel account or pastoral exhortation, assumed that believers had at least a cursory understand of scripture, using phrases like, “Have you never read…?” and “This happened that scripture might be fulfilled….” And “Don’t you know what scripture says….?” The book of Hebrews is filled with references to scripture, citing God’s Word repeatedly in a tone suggesting the familiarity of the listeners to the passage quoted.

All I could conclude was that though there is no direct command in scripture that all believers should study scripture, somehow, knowing scripture is very important.  But what, exactly, is my relationship to scripture, the written word of God as recorded in the Bible?  I am not a leader.  I am not a teacher or a preacher.  Is it really all that important that I sit down every day with my Bible, pen, paper, and concordance? If I don’t, am I sinning? And if it is that important, what about the millions of people throughout history and around the world in our present day who can’t read or don’t have access to a copy of scripture in their language?  Are they helplessly living in violation of God’s expectations?  Are they ignoble, unlike the Bereans who searched the scriptures diligently?

Then came the moment where I think the answer to the question and Rob’s intention in asking it collided.  I took a step back and asked myself, “Well, what do you mean by ‘study’?”  I don’t mean to get overly picky on word choice, but what I really called into question was that very first picture image that popped into my head.  I admire Rob a lot, and I’m learning that maybe with him, as with any good teacher, that the process of learning is less the ability to come up with the correct answer than it is the process of learning HOW to think.  He wasn’t asking me a trick question to see if I could get the right answer, but he was asking me to think more clearly.

So, does scripture command us to study scripture?  I think it asks me to do much more than that.  In reading the passage in Deuteronomy 6, I come to the conclusion that I must live it, breathe it, eat it, talk about it.  When I read the account of Creation in Genesis, I then look around me to see the effects of God’s spoken Word.  I have to be constantly aware of it, defined by it, and dominated by it.  I can “study scripture” without being able to read, as many believers have done over the centuries.

Just as Paul reminded Timothy of the usefulness of scripture for himself, he commanded that Timothy devote himself to the public reading of scripture, to preaching, and to teaching in 1 Timothy 4:13. So it was important to Paul that believers at least HEAR God’s written word.  And there are countless examples throughout the Old and New Testaments of God admonishing His people to hear what He has said.  So I should listen to it, memorize it, think about it, meditate on it.  And if I have a copy of scripture, or the written word of God, and I am literate, then I should sit down in my dimly lit room with my pen, paper, and concordance, because it is a great way to set my mind and heart on the path to being dominated by that word.

In thinking through all of this, I recalled one of the most memorable things I have learned from a pastor. He shared the opening verses of Hebrews, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways,  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son….”  His diligent study of the scriptures as a leader in the church lead him to teach his congregation that in the Greek, the phrase is “God spoke to us in Son” as if “Son” were a language, like I would speak in Spanish or Hebrew.

God’s Word, all of Scripture, all of Creation, is summed up in Jesus Christ.  God did not simply provide for me to have a copy of His written word, He gave me The Word Himself, who dwells in me by His Spirit, and to whom all the written word points. I can learn of Him by reading written accounts, talking about Him, listening to the things He said, and looking around to see what He has created.  As I study in my “dimly lit room”, I must look to Jesus Christ to make my time fruitful, so that the result of my study always serves to make me look more like Him.

Our great friends the Stranathan Family and Lighthouse Baptist Churchare throwing an adoption party for the Hines Clan. If you haven’t heard, we are adopting Collin, Abbigail and Ethan Thursday the 17th in Mississippi.

WHOOT!!!!

Please RSVP by Wednesday August 24th if you will make it.

We sincerely hope you can join us for this celebration.

But to the point of this post, I propose that riddles provide excellent critical thinking exercises, and that anyone who proposes to study anything, should desire to hone their critical thinking skills.

A good friend of mine James Babbington and I had a number of conversations around riddles back in the day. He is an excellent thinker, problem solver, and riddler. One of the things I would repeatedly hear him remark on is the elegance of the appropriate solution. Ask him about it sometime and he will wax philosophic on the topic. He is correct as well, one of the most beautiful pieces of answering a riddle or logic problem is the pure elegance of the answer. Once you have it, you know you have it because of the quality of the excellence of the answer, you will not need anyone else to confirm it.

Your hermeneutic is very important in both solving problems and in studying anything. Most folk don’t even know what a hermeneutic is, of the ones that do, most do not know how to suspend or avoid their own nor adopt another. Excellent problem solvers do this regularly, even if they themselves do not formally know the definition of the word. In the most general sense, I intend to use the word hermeneutic as a particular method or strand of interpretation.

By default, your entire life, the sum of all your knowledge, is the window through which you interpret, that is your hermeneutic and you likely do not realize the power that it has over you. I regularly use riddles to determine how well another can solve problems, and even to what degree they suspend their own hermeneutic. One of my favorite riddles for watching hermeneutics at play in the wild is the Airplane vs. Conveyor Belt. It goes like this:

We are familiar with the treadmill? A man gets on, begins walking/jogging/running and a belt moves under his feet to allow him to simulate forward motion at whatever speed without actually moving.

Image we take a runway and replace it with a massive conveyor belt contraption. We then have an airplane rigged to wirelessly transmit it’s speed to the belt controller and program it such that the conveyor belt will always move under the plan, in the reverse direction of the plane, at the same speed of the plane.

You can imagine an ultralight or 747, and an appropriately sized runway rigged as an airplane treadmill, but for the sake of the argument, all parts and equipment are of such quality that the experiment will not negatively impact them beyond normal usage.

In attempting to take off, will the plane succeed in liftoff?

You can go Google airplane vs treadmill and read the myriad of response on the internet to see a good dataset of answers. When I ask people this question, I get a handful of categorically traditional responses.

• Most Common Answer – No. Because without moving forward there isn’t any air pressure around wings and thus no lift.
• Less Common Answer – Yes. Because the plane really doesn’t care what the runway does in this regard.
• That Guy – There isn’t enough data to deduce an answer or; I am so clever I can imagine a way to break the scenario so that the answer can be no.

 The answer is rather straightforward physics, yes the plane will take off.

The most common answer is hindered by hermeneutic. Life experience tells us that motor vehicles are propelled by the wheels.  For many, they daily go get in a car and their experience is one that says, If I put this car on the same contraption with the same rules, it would stay stationary. (As a side note, that isn’t a true statement, it’s just another way people interpret.) So it stand to reason, for them, that the plane must stay stationary as well. So we explain to them that the conveyor belt has a negligible friction affect on the plane that in no way prevents it from lifting off.

The undercarriage (or landing gear) of a plane is primarily the structure that supports an aircraft while it is not in the air, allowing the plane to taxi, takeoff, and land. Typically wheels are used, but skids, skis, floats, or a combination of these and other elements can be deployed, depending on the surface.

Our problem begs for wheels to be deployed. If you imagined skids, skis, or floats, you are likely that one that will be excited to tell us how you broke the problem. Wheels are elegant in this scenario, they are also the single most common deployment that everyone will be familiar seeing.  A wheeled undercarriage is also most often deployed as a simple tire, connected to an axle, with a braking mechanism (for landing). If your imagination insisted on having the brakes stuck in the scenario to prevent takeoff, or you Google’d up one of the exceeding few plane designs in existence that actually relies on propelled tires to assist in takeoff, you are probably that guy.

This question is so divisive because it is a trick question playing upon folks mind in interpreting the relative speed of the plane in respect to the earth, then convolutes the issue with the conveyor belt which, in most folk’s minds, acts like an invisible chain of friction/traction that binds the plane horizontally. They confuse speed with force. The treadmill can move with an opposing speed to the plane, but it does not apply an equal and opposing force, because wheel bearings transmit only a very small rolling friction. The question nowhere states that the treadmill counters the plane’s thrust or keeps it stationary; only that it moves in the opposite direction at the same speed.

Those in the Less Common category nod their heads at this point, go get some popcorn, and proceed to watch the fun. What happens next is nothing less than astonishing.

Most folk refuse to accept the answer. Utterly and completely, just flat out refuse. Their answer is no, and thus the answer is no. There will be a few who will look at the truth and go “Oh. Duh. I see that.” There be some more who will struggle with the anxiety, anger, and embarrassment that being wrong causes them, and will ultimately accept the answer. But the rest, the majority, they are fun to watch.

Folk will rage, they will argue, they will campaign, they will band together with people they might have never known before to convince the world that the the invisible chain of friction exists. Well, they won’t put it that way, but that becomes the logical conclusion of their arguments. Then, some of them will start gathering around that guy, you know, the one who is so clever he imagined a way to break the scenario? They would prefer to go down the street with that guy, who is typically very full of himself, than to grapple with and grasp the truth. The saddest part is this, that guy knows the truth, he gets it. His ego is so full of having people follow and group around him, he isn’t interested in explaining to them the truth, he wants to be glorified in pointing out exceptions.

What can we learn about humans from Google’n airplane vs treadmill and reading all the responses?

1. Few people have the ability to look past their hermeneutic and see the truth, regardless of how elegant it is.
2. A small number of people can easily see the truth when it is concisely presented to them.
3. A few more will struggle with truth that is presented, and eventually embrace it.
4. Many will choose to follow a (some will be the) self absorbed “teacher” who will tell them what they want to hear, that the answer can be no and it is ok for them to believe that.
5. Most will simply maintain that they are correct, effectively sticking their fingers in their ears and singing “neener neener neener” to avoid the truth.

Wayne Grudem says that “Prayer may be defined as follows: Prayer is personal communication with God”.

Now that is a mighty wide definition. Especially considering the various types of prayers that we can include; under the heading of “prayer” we have prayers of:

• Adoration
• Confession
• Intercession (asking something for others)
• Petition (asking something for ourselves)
• Praise
• Thanksgiving

Prayer is one of, if not the, most important activities of our Christian life. It is a conversation with God – a conversation in which the entire Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit) is involved.

Pray to God the Father

First off, we pray to God the Father. In Matthew 6:6 Christ tells us directly to “…pray to your Father … “, and then in Matthew 6:9 He proceeds to demonstrate it by starting His example with “Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven … ”. Christ specifically tells us here, in word and deed, that we are to pray to God the Father.

Andrew Murray, a Christian writer, once said, “The power of prayer depends almost entirely upon our understanding of who it is with whom we speak.” When we pray, we are talking to God, the Creator of the universe. He is far greater and more powerful than the universe He created, and yet He is there with us when we pray!

Pray through the Son

Paul says that “through Him (Jesus) we both (Jews and Gentiles) have access to the Father by one Spirit” (Ephesians 2:18). Jesus said that His Father would give “whatever you ask in My name” (John 15:15). We have no right, in and of ourselves, to approach God in any manner, much less prayer. But what we can not do, in and of ourselves, we can do through Jesus and His name. This is why you hear so many prayers end with “through Jesus our Lord” or “in the name of Jesus”. This is not merely a formula: it is our acknowledgement that we can only come to God through Jesus!

Pray in the Spirit

Occasionally, we may find it hard to pray. But that is precisely one of the reasons that Christ has sent the Holy Spirit to us. Paul says, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groaning’s too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-27). In a later post we will look in detail at the work of the Spirit. For now it is sufficient to know that when we pray, God is praying through us by His Spirit who lives in us as Christians.

Why Pray?

Developing a Relationship with God

Now that we have discussed what prayer is, we can move into the first point. Why Pray? Well, I submit that prayer is primarily about us developing a closer and better relationship with God. Reflect for a moment on your closest friend. Perhaps it is a parent, spouse, sibling, or just a close friend. How did you develop your relationship? Did it just spring into being? Do you know this friend a fully as possible, or is there still more for you to learn about them?

I would go out on a limb and say that you and your best friend are exactly that because you went through a process of getting to know each other. You talk together, sharing ideas and concepts with each other, and then you act on those ideas and concepts by doing things together. I would also say that you don’t know this best friend as fully as possible, there is still more for each of you to learn about the other, and your relationship is always capable of growing deeper; or even perhaps growing more shallow.

Is it not your experience when you and your friends spend time talking and doing things together you grow closer, but as you increasingly spend time away from each other you grow further apart? Can you imagine having and maintaining a close relationship with someone without spending time together talking and doing things?

This is precisely why prayer is so important to the Christian. God means to be our best friend! I’ve written much on the primary way that God speaks to us, through the Bible. Well, now we are talking about prayer – how we speak to God! As we listen to God speak to us, and as we speak to Him, we have conversations. As we converse, we come closer to knowing God, and as we come closer to knowing Him we desire to do more things with Him.

Faith in God

Prayer was not instituted so that we can let God know what it is that we need or want. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:8 “for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him”. No, prayer demonstrates our faith in God and is the means by which our faith in Him can increase. Wayne Grudem puts it this way, “When we humbly pray, demonstrating our dependence on God, we are also demonstrating that we are genuinely convinced of God’s wisdom, love, goodness, and power – indeed of all the attributes that make up His excellent character. When we truly pray, we as persons, in the wholeness of our character, are relating to God as a person, in the wholeness of His character. Thus, all we think or feel about God comes to expression in our prayer.” Do you see this? As we pray, all that we think or feel about God gets expressed through our prayers.

Fellowship with God

Not only does God want us to express our faith in Him. He also wants us to love Him and have fellowship with Him. This then is the second reason why we should pray. Prayer brings us into a deeper fellowship with God, in much the same way as talking to a friend brings us into a deeper fellowship with them.

Involved with God

As we pray to God, and our relationship with Him deepens, our desire to be more involved in activities with Him increases. Prayer allows us to be involved in activities that are eternally important. When we pray the work of the kingdom of God is advanced! So that prayer provides us the opportunity to be involved in a significant way in the work of God’s Kingdom.

Does God Always Answer Prayer?

I heard of a family who once visited the Grand Coulee Dam, and they were surprised to see that the visitors’ center was dark. It was a sunny day. So they thought the center might have tinted windows, but as they got closer they realized there were no lights on. They went in and saw that none of the displays were working. Suddenly it became clear: there was no power to the center. Due to a technical difficulty of some kind, the visitors’ center that sat only hundreds of feet from a hydroelectric dam had no power.

How could something be so close to the power source, yet not be plugged in? In much the same way, we can ask how someone can be close to God, yet their prayers aren’t “plugged in”. Let’s explore then, some of the “technical difficulties” that can contribute to difficulties in staying “plugged in” to God through prayer.

Un-Confessed Sin (Isaiah 59:1-2)

First let’s look at un-confessed sin. Isaiah 59:1-2 tells us “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or His ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” I have searched through scripture, and I can tell you that God never promises to answer the prayer of someone who is not in a relationship with Him. He might graciously answer the prayer of an unbeliever, but we have no right to expect that He will. As for the Christian, who is harboring some un-confessed sin, you must realize that our relationship with God can be marred by sin or disobedience.

Disobedience (I John 2:21-22)

Disobedience is a close cousin to Un-Confessed sin. John writes in I John 3:21-22. “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; ²²and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.” Because we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him. If we are conscious of any sin or disobedience toward God in our lives, we must confess it and turn from it so that our friendship with god can be restored and we can approach Him with confidence again.

Wrong Motives (James 4:2-3)

Wrong motives account for another large portion of prayers that are interpreted as “un-answered”. Not everyone that prays to win the lottery wins! James, the brother of Jesus, writes: “²You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. ⁴You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

Imagine if you will, that Jesus is your husband and you go to Him and ask Him for some money. You have every intention of taking this money that He gives you and going out to meet your lover and having a fine time, all financed by your husband! This is exactly what James is talking about here. People pray wrongly, asking God to give them His resources, so that they can go about using those resources to fuel there passions which lead them further away from God! Adulterous people! Can you truly conceive of a husband who would give his wife money if he knew this was his wife’s intentions? Then how much less can we expect our all knowing God to fall for such a ploy?

God gives only “good gifts” (Matthew 7:11)

Then there are times when what we ask for simply isn’t good for us. How often does a child ask for something, with good motives, that simply isn’t good for them at the moment? In Matthew 7:11 God only promises to give us “good gifts”. John Stott says that God will answer “no” if the things we ask for are “either no good in themselves, or not good for us or for others, directly or indirectly, immediately or ultimately.”

Answer may be either “yes”, “no”, or “wait”.

This being said, when we pray, the answer may be one of the following:

• Yes
• No
• Wait

We should be extremely grateful for this; however, the majority of people I speak to seem to resent it. If we were given absolutely everything we ever prayed for, I dare say we would never pray again. I personally thank God that he has not done all that I have asked Him to do, and I am very grateful that He did not see fit to give me things that I asked for, and that He closed certain doors in my face. And I think that any Christian who has been a Christian for some time will appreciate this sentiment. Ruth Graham (Married to Billy Graham) told an audience once, “God has not always answered my prayers. If He had, I would have married the wrong man – several times.” Sometimes we will not know during this life why the answer is no.

That is why the promises in the Bible that prayers will be answered are sometimes qualified. For example, John writes, “if we ask anything, according to His will, He hears us” (I John 5:14). The more we get to know God, the better we will know His will, and the more our prayers will be answered.

How Do We Pray?

There is no set way to pray. Prayer is an integral part of our relationship with God and therefore we are free to talk to Him as we wish. God is not interested in hearing us repeat meaningless words; He wants to hear us express what is on our hearts. Having said that, some people find it helpful to have a pattern for prayer. For some years I used the mnemonic ACTS.

ACTS Acrostic

A – Adoration

The A stands for adoration. That is praising God for who He is and what He has done.

C – Confession

The C stands for confession. This is where we ask God’s forgiveness for anything we have done wrong.

T – Thanksgiving

The T stands for thanksgiving. This is were we thank God for all he has done in our life.

S – Supplication

The S stands for supplication. This is were we ask God to act on our behalf, the behalf of friends, and for others.

Model of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13)

Additionally, some people follow the pattern of the Lords prayer.

“Our Father in Heaven” (vs. 9)

We have already discussed earlier what this means. Under this element of the Lords Prayer I would spend time thanking God for who He is and for my relationship with Him and for the ways in which He has answered prayers.

“Hallowed be Your name” (vs. 9)

I Hebrew some ones name signified a revelation of that person’s character. To pray that God’s name be hallowed is to pray that He be honored. When we look around the world today we see that God’s name is being dishonored. We should start by praying that God’s name is honored in our own lives, in our church, and in the society around us.

“Your kingdom come” (vs. 10)

God’s kingdom is His rule and reign. That will be complete when Jesus comes again. But this kingdom broke into history when Jesus came for the first time. Jesus demonstrated this presence of God’s kingdom in His own ministry. When we pray, “Your kingdom come” we are praying for God’s rule and reign to come both in the future and in the present. It includes praying for people to be converted, healed, set free from evil, filled with the Spirit, and given gifts of the Spirit, in order that we may together serve and obey the King.

“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (vs. 10)

This is not resignation; it is releasing the burdens that we carry. Many people are worried about the decisions they face. The decisions may be about major or minor issues, but if we want to be sure that we don’t make a mistake we need to pray, “Your will be done.” We will discuss this more next week, when we discuss how God guides us.

“Give us today our daily bread” (vs. 11)

We interpret here that Jesus is referring to our basic needs. Martin Luther said it indicates, “everything necessary for the preservation of life, like food, a healthy body, good weather, house, home, wife, children, government, and peace.” God is concerned about everything you and I are concerned about. Just as I want my children to talk to me about everything that they are concerned about, so God want to hear about the things we are concerned about.

“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (vs. 12)

Jesus teaches us here to pray for God to forgive us our debts – that is the things that we do wrong. Now some would say, “Why do we need to pray for forgiveness? Surely when we come to the Cross we are already forgiven for everything: past, present, and future?”

It is true, as we saw in the lecture on why Jesus died, that we are totally forgiven for everything, past, present, and future because Jesus took all our sins on Himself on the cross. I find the best analogy to be the one given by Jesus in John 13 when Jesus moves to wash Peter’s feet. Peter says, “No, you ain’t ever gonna wash my feet!” To which Jesus answers, “Unless I wash you, you have no part of me.” So Peter replies, “Well in that case, wash my whole body.” Jesus says, “A person who has had a bath needs only wash his feet to be clean; his whole body is clean.”

This is a picture of forgiveness. When we come to the Cross we are washed clean and forgiven of all sins. However, as we continue in our relationship with God and we are walking through the world, we do things that tarnish our friendship with God. Our relationship is always secure, but our friendship is sullied with the dirt that we pick up. Each day we need to pray, “Lord forgive us, cleans us from the dirt.” We don’t need to have a bath again, Jesus has done that for us, but a measure of cleansing may be necessary every day.

“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (vs. 13)

God Himself does not tempt us (James 1:13), but He is in control of how much we are exposed to the devil (For instance, look at Job 1 & 2 sometime). Every Christian has a weak area, be it fear, selfish ambition, pride, lust, gossiping, cynicism, or something else. If we know our weaknesses we can pray for protection again them, as well, of course, as taking action to avoid unnecessary temptation. We will consider this whole issue in about four weeks.

When should we pray?

The New Testament tells us to pray “always” (1 Thessalonians 5:17; Ephesians 6:18).

We don’t need a special building to pray. We can pray in the car, on the bus, riding a bike or the train, in the bed, in the middle of the night, wherever and whenever. As in a relationship like marriage, we can continue an ongoing conversation. Nevertheless, as in a marriage, it is necessary to have time together when you know you are meeting simply to talk. Jesus said, “when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to the Father, who is unseen” (Matthew 6:6). He himself went off to a solitary place to pray (Mark 1:35).

I find it helpful to combine bible reading with prayer at the beginning of the day, when my mind is most active. It is good to have a regular pattern. What time of day we choose will depend upon our circumstances and our particular make-up.

As well as praying alone, it is important to pray with other people. This could be a small group of two or three, for example. Jesus said, “I tell you that if two or more of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven” (Matthew 18:19). This could also be in a greater group of people, but regardless of how many come together to pray, it is important that we do come together and pray in agreement.

Conclusion

Prayer is at the heart of Christianity, because the heart of Christianity is a relationship with God. That is why it is the most important activity of our lives. As the saying goes:

Satan laughs at our words; Mocks at our toil; But trembles when we pray.

Tommy cracks me up … but that is a nice picture. For those of you who can’t quite read the text, click on the image to enlarge it.

Our memory verse this week (2 Timothy 3:16-17 – 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. ) is the basis of this proposition. Once you know what God says and how to put it into practice – you will be equipped for every circumstance in life!

J.I. Packer – If I were the devil, one of my first aims would be to stop folk from digging into the bible.

The whole premise is found on knowing what God says – and how will we know what God says if we do not study His word, Scripture? We are not referring here to merely reading the bible, because we can read and not comprehend! See Acts 8:30 & 31 –30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

We also are not speaking of devotional reading, which should very much be a part of your daily walk with Christ. Instead, we speak of Study – which includes discovery, comprehension, interpretation, and application and prior to starting to study the Bible, we must first agree on HOW we will study the Bible.

A Method

There are any number of ways to go about doing “bible study”, some of which are known to be ineffective and others which are known to be effective. Effective bible study is vital to any Christian and without attempting to insult your intelligence as a student, we intend to learn a most effective (if not the most effective) method – commonly referred to as the Inductive Method.

The Inductive Method – Overview

Book

1. Begin with Prayer
2. Read & Re-Read the Book
3. Identify the Type of Literature
4. Deal with the Book Objectively
5. Read with a Purpose (Who, What, When, Where, Why, How)
6. Discover the Context of the Book.
7. Read & Re-Read the Text – Discover Repeated Phrases & Words.
8. Identify a Main Theme that Summarizes the Book
9. Discover the Summary Statement for each chapter, it should support the theme

Chapter

1. Begin with Prayer
2. Look for the Obvious
3. Be Objective
4. Read w/a Purpose
5. Mark Key Words/Phrases
6. Make lists of the Keys
7. Search for: Contrasts, Comparisons, Terms of Conclusion, expressions of time.
8. Determine the Chapter Theme.
9. Determine the Paragraph Themes.

Word Studies

1. The Purpose for doing word studies is to understand the meaning of a word or words in the context you are studying
2. Essential Tools: Exhaustive Concordance & Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words
3. Further Word Study – meanings of the original Greek or Hebrew words – can be helpful to correct interpretation and application

Cross-References

1. A cross-reference is a reference to another Scripture that supports, illumines, or amplifies the Scripture you are studying.
2. The best interpretation of Scripture is other Scripture.
3. Helpful Tools: Concordance, Topical Bible, Reference System in your Bible.

Observation – What Does the Bible Say?

A text without context is a pretext for a proof-text!

Begin with prayer – this is a very effective method, but w/out the Spirit it is just that, another method!

See John 16:12-15 – 12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Begin with prayer, stay in prayer, end in prayer – saturate your study of God’s Word with prayer!

Identify the context – Look at the words, phrases, and sentences surrounding a particular word, phrase, or sentence. Word can mean different things, and context may be the only way to discover the meaning. Take the word trunk for example, it can mean:

• Car Luggage
• Elephant Snout
• Travel Luggage
• Tree Stem
• Swim Shorts

You need to see how the word relates to the other words around it.

Look for the Obvious – Facts, People, Place, Events.

Be Objective – John 17:17 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. Strive for a passion to be saturated in truth and adjust your beliefs and life accordingly. These teachings are absolutes on which to stake your life, character, and lifestyle on! There is a place for subjectivity – in your devotional reading; study is the place for objectivity.

Read w/Purpose – Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How!?

Avoid Application and Interpretation at this point!

Interpretation – What Does it Mean?

• Remember that Context Rules!
• Always Seek the Full Counsel of God
• Remember that Scripture will never contradict Scripture
• Do not base your Doctrine on an obscure passage!
• Interpret Scripture Literally!
• Look for the authors intended meaning of the passage.
• Check your Conclusions by using reliable commentaries

Application – How Does this Change My Actions?

• How does the meaning of this passage apply to me?
• What truths am I to embrace, believe, or order my life by?
• What changes should I make in my belief, in my life?

What does this passage teach?

• Is it general or specific?
• Does it apply only to specific people? To a cultural problem of the day? To a certain time in history?
• Has it been superseded by a broader teaching?

Does this section of Scripture expose any error in your beliefs or in your behavior?

• Are there any commandments that you have not obeyed?
• Are there any wrong attitudes or motives in your life that the Scriptures bring to light?

What is God’s instruction to you as His child?

• Are there any new truths to be believed?
• Are there any new commandments to be acted upon?
• Are there any new insights you are to pursue?
• Are there any new promises you are to embrace?

Beware of the Following

• Applying cultural standards rather than biblical standards
• Attempting to strengthen a legitimate truth by using a Scripture incorrectly.
• Applying Scripture out of a prejudice from past training or teaching.

Perseverance

There is an infamous sculpture by Bobbie Carly entitled “Self Made Man” which depicts the upper torso of a man who is chiseling himself out of stone. It captures and communicates with great clarity the western concept that we are who we make ourselves to be and celebrates those who claim to have “made something of themselves.” However, this fails to capture or communicate the biblical truth.

It is not our works that empowers our salvation; it is our salvation that empowers our works.

We see Ephesians 2:8-10 English Standard Version [ESV] teach this as clearly as any other scripture might, and there are numerous references to the fact that our works are not able to save us from judgment. Yet, the follower of Christ is commanded labor. In Jude, we see this tension.

In Jude 1:1, ESV we see that the letter is written to “those who are called, beloved of God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ” and in the doxology (Jude 1:24-25, ESV) we see that it is God who does this keeping. Thus, we see God calls, keeps, and presents blameless (justified) those He loves before the presence of His glory (glorified), reflecting as well what is seen in Romans 8:28-30, ESV. We see God as the author and master workman in all of this, we are His workmanship.

However, between verses one and twenty four, we find Jude 1:20-23, ESV wherein we are enjoined to:

• Build Ourselves Up
• Pray
• Keep Ourselves in the Love of God
• Have/Show Mercy
• Save Others, Snatch them from the fire

This is very well reflected in Philippians 2:12, ESV work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Having just demonstrated that God is the workman in all of this, it certainly appears that there is plenty of work at hand for us and some of these would appear to be contradictory. Build Ourselves Up? If God is doing the keeping, why are we “keeping ourselves?” Work out our own salvation?

At this point, many wrongly take the approach of saying, “If God is doing all the work I will simply sit back (like the inert stone in Bobbie Carly’s sculpture), cruise through life, and expect everything to have worked out (for me) in the end.” So many more take the approach of the upper torso in the sculpture, “I will make good decisions, labor hard, be a moral and ethical individual, follow the rules, and when God sees what I have done with myself it will go well for me.”

The student of God’s word will clearly see the answer to this tension in Philippians 2:12-13, ESV where the Christian is encouraged to obey God because it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. We see that God, the Master Workman, the author of our faith, inflames in us the desire (will) for His good pleasure as well as empowering us to labor (work) for His good pleasure.

Grant what you command, and command us what you will! – Augustine, Confessions Book 10 CH 29

Augustine’s 5^th century prayer displays this well. This is the method God has chosen to be the normal expression of His workmanship. We see through history that God chose the prophets and nations as the tools by which He shaped Israel, though we are aware that He could have simply spoken audibly from heaven and bypassed the use of Moses and Babylon, for example.

There is no surprise to discover Scripture teaching us that we can expect God to keep us, and that the method by which He does that is one wherein He works in and through us such that we are His obedient servants in keeping ourselves.

When recognizing a desire for God in his heart, a man tends to take an ownership of that desire that ignores God’s work in enflaming it. While standing back to look at the evidence of his faith (James 2:18, ESV), he immediately recognizes the effort that he put into the labor and takes ownership of that, while tending to fail to recognize that God authored that faith (Ephesians 2:8, ESV) and ordained (Ephesians 2:10, ESV) and performed thru him the work, the results of which he takes such pride in. In so doing, he denies our Lord and Master, perverts the grace of our God, and rejects authority.

The man of God looks into His perfect Word and sees the command “keep yourself in the love of God” and is enflamed with a desire to embrace and obey this command. Yes Lord! Is his response. He then applies himself to this effort, through prayer and diligence he searches through scripture to discover how he might best apply himself to it. All the while, praying as Augustine.

Though taking ownership and responsibility for pursuing this command, the Christian constantly praises God for the desire and ability. When surveying any progress made, the disciple thanks God for working through them. As others notice and comment on the work, the Christian is careful to glorify God and point towards Him as the master craftsman and author, humbly acknowledging their own role as an obedient servant.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Psalm 127:3-5 – children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Martin Luther comments on this verse, “Genesis 9:1 leads us to believe that children are a gift of God and come solely through the blessing of God, just as Psalm 127:3 shows. The heathen, who have not been instructed by the Word of God, believe that the propagation of the human race happens partly by nature, partly by accident, especially since those who are regarded as most suited for procreation often fail to have children. Therefore the heathen do not thank God for this gift, nor do they receive their children as the gift of God.”

Genesis 33:5 – God graciously gives children
Deuteronomy 7:13 – Blessings through children
Genesis 49:25 – Blessing on the fruit of the womb.
Deuteronomy 28:4 / 30:9 – Blessing on the fruit of the womb.

Matthew 7:9-11 – God gives good gifts.
James 1:17 – Good/Perfect gifts are from God.

James 4:15-17 – Pursue the Lords will, know “the right thing” and do it.