More Misconceptions

Another major misconception about Father-God’s nature of love and mercy comes from an unfortunate carryover from the Mosaic Law which sets the tone in Hebrews 12:5-11 NKJV :

And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.” Proverbs 3:11-12

 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

This passage is often used by law-minded pastors and teachers to say or imply: “No pain from God, then no gain from God.” Where does this notion of punishment and pain come from? It is found in verse six, which is a quote from the pre-Cross book of Proverbs 3:11-12. Hopefully that realization should trigger a red flag and raise this question for a New Covenant, grace-based believer: “Does that Old Testament verse apply to me as a totally forgiven, righteous saint in Christ or not?” If God now punishes believers by scourgings and whippings, post-Cross, then Jesus’ died in vain because that would mean that His substitutionary suffering and death changed nothing. But the glorious truth of the whole Gospel is that Jesus’ cross changed everything for believers. Consequently, passages from the whole Old Testament, and especially from the Mosaic Covenant, must be discerned properly in light of Jesus’ Finished Work of His Divine Exchange with all believers in order to avoid being mentally stomped on by the “elephant” of Galatianism.

The author of Hebrews quoted the above passage from Proverbs accurately. But by introducing it, he brought the negative concept of “punishment” into the post-Cross era, even though God’s entire wrath was exhausted on the body of Jesus when He became mankind’s sin. That is why God had to forsake Jesus just before His death. But now, the good news for us is that Father-God views and deals with us believers as He sees and relates to the exalted Christ Jesus because we are spiritually united with Christ in God – who also lives in us. So, the unfortunate inclusion of this passage potentially casts a negative bias about God because of the translator’s choice of which word he picks among the various possibilities for the general notion of “correction” listed in a Greek concordance.

In this case, all the Greek words related to “correction” in this passage (that do not come from Proverbs 3:11-12 written in Hebrew) come from the same Greek root word and they all carry the primary meaning of “training, teaching, educating, nurturing and disciplining.” However, the Old Testament form of correction was apparently punishment by whipping and or scourging, so a secondary “implied” meaning is “punishment.” That is a big difference in tone and practice from the process of teaching and training to help change wrong assumptions and beliefs that lead to unprofitable behavior.

The goodness of God leads to New Covenant repentance (a change of mind), says Romans 2:4b, while punishment causes fear, alienation and distance. It is not uncommon for people to go from anger to hate towards what they were initially afraid of. Another major difference is that punishment focuses on penalizing a person for doing something in the past (getting even) while discipline focuses on helping to change another person’s mind of what to do differently in the future.

Training up a child by beating him is obviously not the same form of “correction” as training him through teaching and discipling the way Jesus did with His disciples. Did He beat or punish any of them? Of course not. When He did speak pointedly to Peter or to the Pharisees, for example, it was to get them to change their mind to agree with God – i.e. repent. He was motivated by love, not hate. Jesus even restored the ear (that Peter had impulsively cut off) of the man who came to help arrest Him in the garden. It was another grace-based demonstration of Father-God’s mercy. In fact, Jesus was in the process of going to Calvary to absorb the punishment we all deserve, not to dish-out even more! Similarly, Paul mirrors the tone of the New Covenant by reminding them, in 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12, what kingdom they are a part of now as God’s children:

For you know that we treated you as a father treats his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God who calls you into His Kingdom and glory.

Now can you see how the above translation of this passage could imprint or reinforce a very erroneous mental picture of Father-God’s nature in your mind – especially if your natural father used hurtful punishment rather than godly discipline to correct you? This is another area where believers often need the renewing of their mind by the Holy Spirit to properly process negative past experiences so that they can then train up their own children God’s way, which leads to life, not death – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

It starts with coming to know who your loving Father-God really is, despite whatever lies and hurtful experiences and concepts this fallen world system, other people, your flesh or the devil have planted in your mind. Coming to know and believe the truth will progressively set your mind free to see and think the way Father-God does, according to 2 Corinthians 5:16:

 Therefore from now on we recognize no one by the flesh (physically). Even though we have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.

Setting The Record Straight

In short, God is not a withholder or an ogre or a hateful judge or a mean punisher at His core. And He sends no one to hell. Adam’s rebellion back in the Garden put mankind on a train bound for hell. God is legally able to offer mankind a new train – the Romans 10:9-13 “Express to Heaven” – because Jesus willingly absorbed all just punishment for all sin, forgave all of mankind, and paid for everyone’s ticket to heaven with His own life. Now it is up to each person to freely choose to repent – to “change trains” – by accepting and redeeming God’s free ticket of salvation, bought for you by Jesus’ own blood. This qualifies anyone who receives Jesus’ free gift to be part of God’s family forever – and to be Jesus’ Bride to as well. This is what it means to be fully “reconciled to God.”

God’s view of Jesus’ new creation Bride is as a righteous, blameless, glorious, beautiful, regenerated creation – and all believers, collectively, are in Christ Jesus already, spiritually speaking. That is God’s perspective of Jesus’ accomplishment. So again, what “works” must we  do to be Jesus’ spotless Bride? None! It was all done 2000 years ago for all who would believe and receive Him down through the corridors of time. Now finally, that unseen reality is increasingly being manifested on earth like God wants it to be and the elephant of mixture is being overcome. How? By God’s saints discovering, living in and enjoying the butterfly life of Jesus’ radical Grace Gospel and spreading the truth about Jesus’ Finished Work to all mankind, according to the will and plan of our gracious Father-God.

Our Message As God’s Ambassadors: Love Has Made A Way Across The Chasm

Therefore, as Father-God’s ambassadors, we are commissioned to lovingly announce to unbelievers God’s exceptionally good news to them from 2 Corinthians 5:19. And what is that again? Jesus’ Finished Work, done on behalf of fallen mankind, accomplished:

1) the total forgiveness of all of mankind’s past, present and future sins and, consequently,

2) all of mankind is now reconciled to God – from God’s viewpoint. (Please don’t forget that important qualifier).

It’s almost as if the spiritual separation between God and Adam never happened. Metaphorically, Jesus’ cross was the missing plank that bridged the yawning chasm. What remains for unbelievers to “do?” Be reconciled to God by grace through faith in what Jesus has already done. How? Just walk across the “plank” of Romans 10:9-13, into our loving God’s waiting arms. Isn’t this the sense of what the angels prophesied at Jesus’ birth when they announced new hope to a fallen mankind: “… (God’s) peace on earth, (His) good will toward mankind,” Luke 2:14b. That is why the Savior’s coming was such good news that replaced all the bad news from Adam to Calvary. He brought the grace and truth of His supply instead of the demands of more Law. He made all things new for you to receive and enjoy, believer!

I hope you have enjoyed this exploration of God’s offer of the butterfly life and have been invigorated by inhaling the freeing atmosphere of Jesus’ whole Gospel of His lavish Grace. Father-God has always been good, despite the devil’s lies and the misgivings and chaos caused by Adam’s Fall. My little book, 46 Lies That Trap Many Christians presents a summary of 46 key biblical truths, offered as a review and resource to equip the saints to help combat the lies so common in circles where Galatianism reigns – even in churches.

Equip yourself with Big Picture thinking – the way God sees – to enable you to resist the lies of the devil who is bent on stealing the truth of your true identity and the other blessings and benefits of Jesus’ Divine Exchange. Jesus reversed what Adam did to the human race so that, never again, must the world system, the flesh or the devil reign over those in Christ. We have Father-God’s promise, actualized in Christ Jesus through His Finished Work. Again, He declares it like this in Romans 5:17:

For though, by the one offense, death reigned through Adam, yet so much more shall those who receive both an abundance of grace and (God’s) gift of righteousness, reign in life through Jesus Christ.

When Jesus declared “It is finished,” He meant it! His grace-based Gospel is “Jesus + nothing else!” Accept and rest in all He has done for you so that you can enjoy the butterfly life in Him and pollinate others with Jesus’ whole Gospel of lavish Grace. It is the revelation of Father-God’s true nature and His ultimate intention to include every willing human in His family forever.

The thief (the devil) comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy. But I (Jesus) came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly, John 10:10.

Thank you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit for ALL You have done. Help me to bathe my mind in your true truth, now and forever. Amen

Coming up soon: The next song and Post presents many highlights of Jesus’ Gospel revealed primarily to Paul to help you renew your mind (repent) from common misconceptions of who God really is and what Jesus did for us on Calvary and beyond. The following week’s song is actually a prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to Bathe My Mind With Your Truth – Jesus’ Fifth Gospel of total Grace. It was this Holy Spirit-inspired song that sprung open the doors of revelation to Jesus’ Gospel to me, starting in 1989. Invite Him to be your only “reference point.”