Russ used an excellent analogy regarding nature. At its very best, nature is simply nature. It brings glory to God by being nature. Man on the other hand brings glory to God by being satisfied in Him. We become transformed into His image by choosing to worship God. In that our minds are renewed and our behavior is conformed into His will - we become living sacrifices.
He then moved to how our mind works. The premise is that the mind controlled by sinful nature will respond to a situation with sin while the mind controlled by the Spirit will respond with the fruit of the Spirit. That is, no one or nothing can make us sin, we choose to sin - or not. The simple example is, "I walk into a room and tell a joke. One person is offended, another doesn't get it, another laughs, another gets embarrassed, etc.. What's the difference? The same story-teller delivering the same words in the same manner. The difference is the hearer and their belief system. What they think of the topic, what they think of the story-teller, what has happened to them earlier that day, etc.."
Here's how this looks;
A - activating event
B - belief system
C - consequential feelings
D - decisive behavior
The process is that A (an activating event) occurs. Then C, we feel something (consequential feeling) and from that, D, flows some behavior (decisive behavior). Too often we focus on controlling feelings and behavior. This is not wrong, but the real issue is B, the belief system.
Of course if man is unregenerated, then he is a slave to sin. He willfully obeys the lies of his father, Satan. The problem with the believer is that while we are made new, we still hold on to these lies in our conscious and subconscious mind. The conscious ones are usually easy (er, easier) to deal with. We try to stop killing, stealing, whatever. But the subconscious is tougher. We're often unaware and these kinds of lies are often rooted in our worth and our security.
What's the solution? Turn to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit and then day in and day make God the center of our affection to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. An excellent study to help with this is The Search for Significance by Robert McGee. Satan's lie is basically that our worth equals our performance plus the opinions of others. God's truth on the other hand is that our worth equals what God says about us. The key with this and with any other lie is that we must recognize when our belief system is not in line with God's truth. Then, rather than focussing completely on the circumstance, our emotion, or our behavior, we need to identify the lie and replace it with God's truth - through the Spirit and His Word.
A simple test to know if you are believing a lie is to look at the emotion - is it the fruit of the Spirit?
The Search for Significance deals with four age old basic lies Satan throws our way.
Lie 1 - Those who fail are unworthy of love and deserve to be blamed and condemned. God's truth, 1 Jn 4.9-10, propitiation, we are deeply loved by God.
Lie 2 - I must meet certain standards to feel good about myself. God's truth, 2 Co 5.21, justification, I am completely forgiven and fully pleasing.
Lie 3 - I must be approved (accepted) be certain others to feel good about myself. God's truth, Col 1.21-22, reconciliation, I am totally accepted by God.
Lie 4 - I am what I am; I cannot change; I am hopeless. God's truth, 2 Co 5.17, regeneration, I am absolutely complete in Christ.
Now of course God still hates our sin and we must progress through sanctification but many believers never move forward because they are stuck in a lie or focussed on something other than changing their beliefs. We must replace Satan's lies with God's truth to grow in Him.
Now a funny thing happens in Charismatic circles that is less than helpful. When it comes to the nature of man, Anthropology, they really like the Trichotomy view over the Dichotomy. The issue for me is that I don't think the Bible teaches either. I think we can infer which is true (I lean to Dichotomy) but the Charismatic often doesn't really study it, he chooses it because it makes it easy to explain some odd "spiritual" behavior.
In the Trichotomy view, Ge 2.7, the Hebrew text is plural, i.e., "The Lord formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [lives], and man became a living being. The Dichotomist would agree but point quickly that this does not say spirit separate from soul and further, would argue this is referring only to the essence of life since "living being" is the same phrase used of animals in Ge 1.21-24.
The Trichotomist's favorite verse is 1 The 5.23 because lists "body, soul and spirit." Combine that with He 4.12 where we learn that the Word pierces soul and spirit - what else is needed? The Dichotomist would reply that Paul is simply emphasizing the whole and complex nature of man rather than attempting to differentiate parts. Hebrews is saying that the Word pierces to the dividing of the soul itself and the spirit itself. The soul and spirit are laid open not that they are separated from each other.
The Trichotomist then counters with 1 Co 2.14; 3.1-4 saying that man is natural, carnal, and spiritual but the Dichotomist counters with Mt 10.28; 1 Co 5.3, and 3 Jn 2 saying that body and soul are spoken of as constituting man.
And on and on it goes. Here's an the chapter from Grudem's Sytematic Theology that I think (because I agree with the Dichotomy) is excellent.
Net - there's good argument either way. I think Scripture is stronger for the Dichotomy perspective. More important to me than that is the dangerous extrapolation made be some Charismatics and it's because they like those other conclusions that they choose Trichotomy. It is not a good way to understand the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It opens the door to Gnosticism. It doesn't solidify the need to renew our minds and often leads to putting our minds in park.
Nope - one big no vote for Charismatic Dichotomy.
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1 comment:
Wow! I'm impressed--I think?
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