Is Paul's teaching about our Holy life or how to controll our wife?

Here is a question I received about women's place in the church and my response.

Hello Rick Rosamond! According to 1 Tim 2:8-15. Paul said that women ca not leadership or pastor in Church. Why this statement written by God? Should women be in Church leadership or pastor position? As apostles why did Jesus choose twelve apostles men only? (by pastor D B) You do not have any example in the Bible have women serving( by Pastor D B) nowadays women can be leadership or pastor in Church . Why? Is this correct? Thanks

 

 

people have debated this issue for decades. First let’s be clear Paul is not speaking of leadership or pastor positions. He is speaking of the mystery of the bride of Christ...the church as His bride. In verse five he speaks of the true man Christ Jesus. This thought is bookended at fifteen. We are all “the wife” who must learn in silence with all subjection and never ursurp the authority of the man.

 To improve our understanding we must take everything Paul has said into account. Paul has before stated that we are a new creation in Christ...that it is no longer I but Christ in me...that in Christ there is neither male no female.

 Paul is not debating himself but expounding on the understanding of our relationship with our new husband and Father. Only Christ has paid our dowry with His own life so only He is worthy to speak to His church and teach them...if He is not speaking through us we should be silent.

The life of God in us, being one with us growing to maturity makes us all as Mary when she conceived a Holy child from God. This new man placed in us the savior of all men, the living word of the Father...Christ in us the hope (expectancy) of glory.

Why were the original twelve all men...utility. I have a plastic cup I take with me when I go somewhere or work in the yard. The liquid it holds is no greater than liquid from the delicate glassware I drink from at dinner; however the container can withstand greater abuse.

Should women speak in the church? No, but then again neither should men. Only Christ has paid for the privilege of being the husband of the church.

The bible is filled with women doing the work of God in both the old and new testament. As far as this whole leader thing goes Jesus warns us greatness in the reign of God comes from the Father doing His work through you not by what we ourselves do. We are called to be servants, followers, and witnesses but The Father alone is our leader. Men who seek leadership instead of fellowship should be allowed more time to mature in the Lord.

The question is if the Spirit of God lives in a woman why we would ignore Him.

 

Living the life of God

It has been several weeks since I last published a blog post. Any expert will tell you that there is no better way to kill a blog than to write sporadically. My answer to this belief is no amount of knowledge can be substituted for our living.
This is the heart of why I write; to encourage every man to trust, rely and expect YHWH to do what He has promised and live in us. I desire so much to share this revealed gift with others but only what YHWH has spoken can be trusted. So I try to be a vessel of His Spirit and show this promise by showing His word simply.
I love to study, analyze, and meditate on his word, but we must never let this become an end unto itself. Yeshua did not come that I would know facts and formulate systems of action. Instead He, in His own words, came that I might have life and life more abundant.
YHWH is life; His word is merely a witness of that life. If you were to memorize every word it would not make you know Him. To know Him is to be made one with Him; not to be in His being or have Him in your being but instead to become one being. In short the believers life is in the living.
I had become so focused on sharing the word that I was forgetting that I was to be a living word.
I will continue to write the discussions of scripture that so many have been gracious enough to consider. They often are like a fire in my bones. Yet I must also live beyond just research, contemplation and writing.
with all that is in me I pray that each of us grows in grace, peace, and the knowledge in Him of being one.
your friend and brother Rick.

The new covenant: Romans part 9

Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

  But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.

 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Romans 7:1-17

Many commentators have said that chapter seven deals with a man before redemption; it does not. Such a perception causes us to miss the benefit of the raw principles of how to live in the life Yeshua has provided. Paul is speaking to believers who are in the midst of a conflict of how the new birth is to be lived out in their present living.

In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul addressed a gentile church that was fracturing into divisions and thought Christian liberty meant that sin was an acceptable way of living (1 Corinthians 1:10-11 & 5:1-2). Paul answers them as the rod of YHWH with all vehemence that they have errored (1 Corinthians 1:13-16 & 5:4-5). We see this same reaction in the letter to the Galatians when they believe that Messiah has done His part now they must do the works required by Moses to complete their redemption. The Spirit again is a club crushing the flesh when Paul writes that if you go this way you have no part in redemption(Galatians 5:2-4).

In the letter to the Romans Paul is not beating back the wolves of false doctrine but instead he is using a shepherd’s hooked staff. This type of staff not only provided the shepherd with a support and balance for himself but was also used to draw sheep who were wondering astray back into the safety of the herd.

The debate in the church of Rome is about how to conduct oneself in the living out of the life given to us by Messiah. The gentile believers held that Jesus had taken on himself our death and given us life (this is true).This understandings lead them to the conclusion that our actions do not matter only our faith. Paul shows this idea is false by saying sin brings death in anyone who does it, that we are joined in Christ death, so if we walk in sin we are not yet living the new life.
The Jewish believers in Rome believed Yeshua gave us the life proclaimed by Moses when he said I have set before you life and death blessings and cursing (this is true).This understanding lead them to conclude that we now can keep the law if our heart is true towards YHWH. Paul shows this too is false by showing that no man can keep the law by his nature received from Adam.

Paul addresses chapter seven to these believers saying to those who know the law. The covenant of Moses was indeed a marriage contract proclaiming that by it Israel had become the wife of YHWH. The nation of Israel however was joined to another just as every man is; this other was the flesh of Adam.

 Israel showed itself it was an adulteress wife by a constant breaking of that covenant and joining itself to those things not allowed for. It was only the blood covering the mercy seat that stopped them from being killed as the law declared was the end of an adulteress’s ways. This covering of animal blood stayed their judgment but it did not take away the sin.

 In Messiah’s death we too die; that we may be free to be joined to the Son and be made one with His life. Furthermore we having died are freed from Adams dominion over us. Paul points out that since we have died in Messiah we are also dead to the imitation of the actions of life described in the law. We have now been betrothed to the life of the Father in Messiah.

This is the thing that we tend to overlook the law has not changed; it was and shall ever be the witness and instructor of what life is and is not. It is the covenant which has changed. The first was a declaration of intent to marry; the new is a consummation of that marriage. No marriage is consummated without the two becoming one. So the engagement made requirement of our behavior to be a suitable bride which we showed ourselves we were not. Though our espoused would have been right to judge us instead He took us still as a bride, purged us of our adulteries through the death of the cross, and consummated His marriage with us.

Having been purged of our own life we have been made one with Messiah and by that one with the Fathers life.

So did the description of life kill us? No; it showed us we were already dead. The more we tried to generate that life from our dead source the more completely it showed us our death.

This being true Paul gives us his personal testimony. When Paul says he was alive without the law but when the law came sin revived. Do you remember that time when the new birth came into your heart? For a time everything in life was painted Jesus; your speech, your hearing, your desires everything.

At a point we either read or were told how a lover of God must act; and when this happened our focus became what we would do for Him. This is the deception of sin that we can become our own maker; even if we desire to make ourselves His child, servant, brother, or bride. No amount of sincerity can change the fact that when we try to make our life we can only bring death.

It is this nature of sin that lies at the core of all that have been born of Adam. It is this self-generated man that must die at the cross so that our trust must be in God alone as our maker. The life He generates in us is His life and therefore the life described in the law.

 

The grace of God: Romans part 8

What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:15-23

At first glance it would seem that the question asked in verse fifteen of Romans chapter six is a repetition of verse one. If we take a closer look we see they are quite different.

The question of verse one asks the believer if we can continue in “the sin” since the power in grace is greater than the destruction of “the sin”. The difference between sins and “the sin” is this: “the sin” is the source while sins are the result.

“The sin” occurred when Adam rejected YHWH as his maker and life. He chooses instead of complete fellowship with the Father to become a self. Deciding to be his own maker and make his own life. Sins are the self-generated acts by which man attempts to reach Adams goal.

Pauls witness to us is that we who have placed our trust in the Fathers grace have through Messiah’s death put to death this rebellious desire. We have instead placed our trust in YHWH as our maker and source; fully expecting His life in us to be the generation of our living and acts.

The law teaches us what YHWH’s life generating our living looks like. The old man inherited from Adam who is trying to attain to life through his own generation is under the standard set by the law; under the law. The new man of faith in the Father and His messiah is receiving the gift of life manifested in his being; under grace.

 The relationship of the law is quite different for the old and new man. The old man finds it is an unwavering judge of the absence of life within him and a reminder of the death that shall be the culmination of all his efforts. The new man sees it teaching him the fullness of the result of the promise he has placed his trust in. The Law is for those who trust the Father as their maker is an illumination of what the Father is making them to be.

Paul ask us since we are no longer trying to obtain to the law as a standard do we continue in the acts of selfishness from which we have been set free. The self is separate from the fellowship of YHWH’s life and is therefore dead. When we experience this then we know that every self-generated act can only bring us to that death.

We yielded the actions of our members to bring forth our own selfish acts when our trust was placed in us as our own maker. Since our trust is now placed in the Father then we now should yield the actions of our members to that which He is making us.

The old man from Adam thinks to change himself by the things he does. This is blindness; for a man cannot generate from himself anything but what he already is. When the Father opens our eyes we see that the life of the Father made living in us changes who we are and thereby the things we do. “The obedience” is to turn from our own dead works and have faith (trust, dependence, and expectation) in the Father as our maker and only source.

The payoff for the constant work of trying to make oneself is to become a self; alone with no fellowship, separated from all, in short death. In contrast the gift given by YHWH through Messiah is to be one with the creator of all seen and unseen; brought into a complete fellowship having no separation between the Father and us, in short eternal life.

I and my Father are one.

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Deuteronomy 30:19 20 “… I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life…

 

The nature of God's life: Romans part 7

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin; for he that is dead is freed from sin.

Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. ROMANS 6:1-15

Years ago I was in Guatemala. I flew into the capital in the mountains and took a bus down to the coast. It was a memorable ride; on one side was an unforgiving rock face and on the other was a dizzying drop. If we left the road in either direction it would mean certain death.

In a similar fashion the way of life witnessed to us in the scriptures is more often than not presented to us in two equal truths that if either one is ignored could mean our death. We have a perfect example of that of which I speak found in the witness of Paul in Romans chapter six.

Paul started by establishing that all men Jew and gentile believer as well as all unbelievers are relegated to death by their very nature of sinfulness. The self given by Adam at the core of every motive and action showing forth the death we all inherited from him. The hopelessness of this situation is not comparable to the hope of glory given to those who place their full trust, dependence,and expectation in the redemption of the Father found in Messiah.

The fulfilled promise of life is so much greater than the death of the fall. It is like light and dark. We allow ourself to think of them as opposing forces but in truth darkness only exist where there is no light present; when light is present darkness is shown to be an immaterial illusion. Paul has shown that though this darkness of death is found in all mens heart the gift of life through the obedience of Yeshua the Messiah is a power that overcomes the penalty and power of sin to a degree that is beyond comparison.

Embracing this truth provides for such a release of our burdens that our eyes become open to the fact that our failures can never overcome the success of the Fathers redemption in Messiah. We see that the wrath poured on our Saviour was complete and that for YHWH to place His wrath upon a believer would mean that what was upon Yeshua was not sufficient. Without the equal truth of our need for holiness and righteousness in our living; we might well come to the conclusion that our sins do not matter. We could fall victim to the idea that if we trust in what He has done then our own actions are of no consequence in YHWH's eyes. While it is true that our Father desires to change who we are not simply what we do; it is equally true that what we do is a reflection of who we are.

Paul builds an undeniable case that far exceeds the thought of our actions do not matter if we are in grace. He shows that the effect of being in grace is a change so magnificent that to continue in our old conduct is impossible. Paul ask a simple question, in the Greek it reads, do we continue in the sin that grace may abound. It is not the acts of sinfulness he refers to but the first sin. When Adam chose to trust in his own self to provide life.

Paul ask the believer; do you not understand that the witness of water baptism is a token of our true baptism into death by our being made one with Messiah. When Yeshua died and was buried we also died and where buried. This being true when the Father breathed His life into Messiah and raised Him from death all of us who are in Him where raised also into the shared life of the Father.

The old man born from Adam was crucified with Yeshua that the sin of the self generated life would be destroyed in a shared death. In this shared death we are made free from the slavery of our sinfulness from the self generated life.

To paraphrase Paul... do the math. If the old mans self generated life is dead through our fellowship with Messiah and by such its sinful nature then our new God generated life also has a new nature of righteousness. So is it possible to live in grace and not have our actions be according to the nature of our new life.