The context of this verse is one of the most beautiful realities of the Christian life. How is it possible to pull this out of its context and apply it as a general principle? And yet, most people who quote this verse do not have any idea what the context is. It actually has parenthesis in the English translation. What is the context?įirst, this verse is parenthetical phrase. And ask God for sight to apply this in our walk. Let us evaluate whether 1611 English conveys this concept in a modern world. Let us consider what the Greek words really mean. Let us consider the context of what the Apostle Paul was trying to tell the Corinthians. (for we walk by faith, not by sight:) (2 Corinthians 5:7 KJV).Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.But you might think so based on the number of cults that have been energized based on wrong applications of these two verses… It does not mean we have to blindly, stupidly, stagger through life based on “faith” of our leaders. “I walk by faith and not by sight.This verse does not mean we have to ignore our senses (touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste) or turn off the intelligence of our brains, to live as good Christians. He’s teaching us to walk by faith-not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). But He’s had to restrain Himself, because He is training us to govern our lives by the God kind of faith. It would delight Him to just walk into the room and sit down with us. ![]() The fact is, Jesus would like to appear to every one of us. But I’m warning you, it will set your faith back five years.Īt that point in my spiritual development, I would have come to rely on sense-knowledge faith, rather than on the faith that comes by the hearing of God’s Word. I kept after Him about it for so long that He finally spoke to me by the Spirit and said, Kenneth, if you keep asking Me to appear to you, I’m going to have to do it. Osborn … and I want You to appear to me!” Some years ago, when I didn’t understand that principle, I used to pester God to appear to me. He wanted to keep their spirits activated by believing the Word, instead of shutting down their spirits and simply believing He was alive because they had seen Him. He did it because He wanted them to be blessed or empowered. ![]() But the moment they recognized Him, He disappeared. They took in all that He said, and suddenly they knew Him. ![]() So Jesus began to preach to them (Luke 24:27-32). So Jesus, coming alongside them said, “What’s the matter with you boys?” (This is West Texas paraphrase.) Two of His disciples were walking down the Emmaus road talking sadly about Jesus. That’s why Jesus did what He did on the road to Emmaus. If you’re prone to depend more on sense-knowledge faith than you are on the Word of God, seeing some astounding manifestation in this natural realm can actually set your faith back. They think if Jesus would appear to them in the flesh, their faith would skyrocket. Many Christians today don’t realize that. To activate the believing equipment God has given every person, one must believe something he cannot see or feel-the Word of God. Faith is of the heart-the spirit-not the mind. Jesus said that kind of believing has no faith in it. When they told Thomas, he said, “Unless I see and feel, I will not believe.” ![]() Eight days before Jesus said these words to Thomas the Apostle, Thomas had refused to believe the report of the other disciples-that they had seen the Lord.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |