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| Category: Body/Mind/Spirit Work |
Date published: December 22, 2003 |
"OUT OF CONTEXT"
When someone makes a Biblical statement which is contrary to another persons belief, the first thing we hear is that they have taken the Scriptures `out of context'.
For the sake of understanding, let us explore this subject a bit and see just who, if anyone, is taking Scriptures out of context to further their own belief.
Exactly what would one be alluding to when speaking of taking Scriptures out of context? What is `Scriptural context'? The word `context' means; "The whole text of a discourse or writing", "A weaving together", "The structure or texture of a thing".
Since every denomination in existence makes a claim to basing their `belief' on the Biblical Scriptures, yet each denominations woven structure is in opposition to the woven structure of every other denomination, then who determines exactly what the text of the Bible actually is? Something is radically amiss.
Please, someone correct me if I am wrong, but it seems to me that the only ones who have ever been in a position to decide what the true `woven structure' of the Scriptures is, are the ones who wrote the Scriptures in the first place, and no one has the right to determine a woven structure of the Scriptures contrary to the statements of those writers.
On the assumption that the above statement is correct, then let us explore precisely what those writers had to say about the true subject matter, the woven structure of the Scriptures, the true `text' of the writing which comprises Biblical Scriptures.
I think I can prove beyond a shade of a doubt that the true and factual `text' of the Scriptures is `SPIRIT' and the true and factual context, or woven structure of the Scriptures is purely `Spiritual'.
The Bible makes mention of the spirit some five hundred and sixty eight times. Among the many passages on the subject we find Jesus saying in John 3;6; "...that which is born of the Spirit is spirit", and in the 8th verse he likens anyone who is born of the Spirit to the wind which blows where it listeth ("leans", or "according to its desire") and no one knows where they come from or where they go. He was not speaking of the wind or the Spirit here, but of the one who is born of the Spirit.
In John 4;23-24 Jesus shows that from that time on, the true worshipers would worship the Father in the spirit, for that was the ones whom the Father seeks to worship Him, because God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in the spirit. In other words, it does no good to worship God in the flesh, but only in the spirit.
Galatians 5 tells of the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit, and says to not just live in the Spirit, but also walk in the Spirit. We are told to not go by the works of the flesh, but go by the fruit of the Spirit, for there are laws against the works of the flesh, but there is no law against the fruit of the Spirit.
In Gal. 3;3 the apostle Paul asks this question of not just the church in Galatia, but he in Spirit asks this of today's churches also; "Are you so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Romans 8;6 says that to be Spiritually minded is life, but to be carnally minded is death. The word `carnal' is taken from the Latin word `carnis', which means `flesh'. So to be fleshly minded is death.
1st Corinthians 2;14 shows us that only the Spiritual minded can receive the things of the Spirit, for there is no way they can be discerned (seen with the mind), except by those who are Spiritual minded. They are Spiritually discerned.
In John 6;63 Jesus says that it is the Spirit which makes us alive, and in Romans 8;9 Paul said that if the Spirit of God dwells in you, then you are in the Spirit and not in the flesh. In the 16th verse Paul makes clear that the Spirit of God bears witness, not with our flesh, but with our spirit.
1st Cor. 2;13 shows we are not to compare Spiritual things with things based upon the flesh, but rather we are to compare spiritual things with spiritual. 1st Cor. 10;4 shows that the "rock" which the children of Israel drank from in Exodus 17;6 was not a literal physical rock, but it was a spiritual Rock, and that Rock was Christ.
There is no argument on my part that there was, at one time in the past, all of the people that the Bible tells us of. However, as is made plain by the Scriptures, that which was written about them had nothing to do with anything physical, for that which was written was an allegory.
An allegory is a story or fable which may, or may not be true, but has a hidden, underlying meaning. It is that hidden, underlying meaning that we must go by, not the story itself, as is shown in the fourth chapter of Galatians, for the story itself pertains to the flesh, but the allegorical part pertains to the spirit.
Even after reading here that what was written about the two sons of Abraham was actually speaking of the two covenants, we are so hung up on the flesh that when we read that story in Genesis the idea of two covenants never enters our minds. All we read about is flesh and blood, not spirit.
The fact that the story of Abrahams two sons and their mothers was written centuries before Moses was given the commandments on Mount Sinai, yet according to the apostle Paul, Hagar represented Mount Sinai and the law given there, proves that the Bible tells the same story over and over from every conceivable point of view.
All of the promises made by God were made to Abraham and his seed, and according to Gal. 3;16, that seed was Christ. In the same chapter, verse 29, it says that if you belong to Christ, then you are Abrahams seed. This is the true `Jew', and the chosen of God. So, all that belong to Christ are the seed of Abraham, and this is the body of Christ that all the promises were made to, and this is the `Jewish' nation God picked as His chosen people. These are the `Spiritual jews'.
It was said of Abrahams second son; In Isaac shall thy seed be called. The genealogy of Jesus runs back through Jacob via Judah to Isaac. Jacob, who was Isaac's son, became Israel, so when we read of the Israelites, or the children of Israel, we should be applying it to the body of Christ, instead of some nation over seas.
The reason we do not do such is because it was the `Jews' who had Jesus crucified. The `body', of whom Jesus was made the head, crucified Him. Thus, He came to His own and His own received Him not. This is speaking spiritually, for it is the hidden, underlying meaning behind the story of Abraham and his two sons.
If all of this does not prove that the "woven texture", or context of the Bible pertains to the spirit and not the flesh, then we are blind to the things of God. So, anyone who applies any interpretation of the Scriptures other than spiritual are the ones who are "taking it out of context".
I learned long ago that the Bible was a story about one person only, and that one persons association to God through Christ, and that one person is me. Each person can apply it to themselves the same way. Since God does not look on the outward, then when it speaks of man, it is referring to my soul. (God breathed the breath of life (spirit) into mans nostrils, and man became a living soul.) And when it speaks of the woman, it is referring to my mind.
All of the characters and the stories about them was a representation of different parts of me, and all that has transpired within me in my journey back to God.
Just as an aside, anyone who says that the reason Moses did not enter into the "promised land" was because he smote the rock, should go back and read Exodus 17;6. They will see that the Lord told Moses to smite that rock. Let us explore this a bit and see if we can get a new meaning out of this; that is, a spiritual meaning instead of a meaning based solely on the flesh.
Of all of the people who followed Moses out of Egypt, only two crossed the Jordan river, namely, Joshua and Caleb. All the rest who crossed with Joshua and Caleb were descendants of those who were in Egypt. Remember, we are talking of the allegorical meaning of this story, of the spirit and not of the flesh.
Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt represents Hope, within us, leading our spirit out of bondage to the flesh. Joshua represented Love and Caleb represented Faith. Once we reach the promised land, that is, the `land' of the spirit which was promised us, then Hope is no longer needed, for we have received that which we hoped for, and as Paul pointed out, Hope that is seen is not hope. We do not hope for that which we have. Only that which we do not have. Once the `land' of the spirit is reached, all we need then is love and faith. THAT is why Moses did not cross into the promised land.
I have heard certain people say that one could take the Bible and prove anything. One cannot. Going by anything other than the spirit `proves' nothing. Someone may be led to believe any thing, but that `anything' has not been proven. They have only believed an untruth with no proof, so they are held in unbelief.
R. D. 'Jack' Boggs
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