MATURITY AND SPIRITUAL RENEWAL THROUGH UNDERSTANDING THE WORD

We tend to equate growth and transformation with mountaintop experiences or loving relationships. Therefore, we find it hard to believe that there is a powerful correlation between transformation and what we know and believe (Romans 12:2).

An example might be helpful. I trust my wife completely. Therefore, I have entrusted everything to her and am grateful for her. If instead I believe that she is having an affair with the neighbor, I will feel entirely differently about her. Instead of gratefulness, I will feel bitterness and might even want to take revenge. This belief will also profoundly affect my behavior towards her.

This same principle pertains to the way we think about ourselves. If I believe that I am inferior to others and that they look down on me, I will probably resent and avoid them. Besides, as a social creature, I might even resent myself and practice self-harm.

Therefore, what we know makes all the difference in the world. This is also true about what we believe that Scripture is teaching. If I believe that I have to deserve and earn God’s love, I will probably resent Him, knowing that I’ll never be good enough to earn any mercy from Him. This principle pertains to the way we understand the entirety of the Scriptures. Let me use the example of one verse I’ve struggled to understand:

·       Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. (1 Peter 4:1-2 ESV)

Your reaction might be as mine:

·       I haven’t “ceased from sin.” What’s the matter with me? Have I missed the boat? Besides, there aren’t any sinless Christians. Perhaps this verse is in error?

Either interpretation – I’m a loser or Scripture is wrong – will upset our faith. Therefore, it is important to meditate (Psalm 1:1-3) on these verses to arrive at an understanding consistent with the Scriptures.

Here is the solution that I have adopted. Although we are not going to be sinless in this life, we can be totally sold out for the Lord. While we will continue to struggle against sin and even slip into it, we will no longer pursue and justify our sins. I think that this is what Peter meant by “ceased from sin.”

Can we Scripturally justify this conclusion? I think so. The Psalmist made this same distinction:

·       Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. (Psalm 19:13)

What is this “great transgression?” One that is “presumptuous” or intentional, and there are many examples of this distinction (Hebrews 10:26; Ephesians 4:18-19; Numbers 15:30). Although the Psalmist doesn’t claim that this would make him “sinless,” he does claim that he would be “blameless” (free from presumptuous or intentional sins), the way that Job had been described.

Yet we still have to assume responsibility for our unintentional sins. If I accidentally bang into an elderly person, I have a responsibility to apologize and to even make sure that she is okay. The Israelite had to bring a blood offering for even unintentional sins:

·       “But if you sin unintentionally, and do not observe all these commandments that the LORD has spoken to Moses…And the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the people of Israel, and they shall be forgiven, because it was a mistake, and they have brought their offering, a food offering to the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD for their mistake…But the person who does anything with a high hand (premeditated), whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.” (Numbers 15:22, 25, 30-31)

Even the one who had sinned with premeditation could be forgiven, like King David who had committed adultery and had Bathsheba’s husband Uriah killed. However, he had to suffer greatly for his sins. No amount of animal sacrifices could undo their consequences.

To summarize, we have looked at three categories of sin:

1.    Intentional (These become the “sin unto death” – 1 John 5:16-17 – as one refuses to repent in the face of the evidence.)

2.    Unintentional

3.    Un-blameworthy (Wiped clean by confession and repentance)

I am assuming that Peter had these important distinctions in mind when he wrote, “ceased from sin.” Any sin is blameworthy but confession can wipe it away entirely – 1 John 1:9; 1 Timothy 1:15-17; Job 42:7-8). His next verse seems to bear out his understanding of “ceased from sin”:

·       For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. (1 Peter 4:3)

These sins represent an intentional sinful lifestyle. These same sins can also overtake immature Christians. Nevertheless, while mature Christians will thoroughly reject these sins, they are still prone to them, since we all continue to battle against our fleshly fears and desires (Galatians 5:17; Romans 7:25; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

It’s important to realize that we will not reach moral perfection in this world (1 John 1:8-10; 3:2; James 3:2). When we believe that this is possible, we will be inclined to ignorantly put others up on a pedestal and to follow them without question. Instead, we all have this treasure in earthen and very fallible bodies (2 Corinthians 4:7). This means that we must suffer all kinds of afflictions on our road to Christ-like-ness (4:8-11).

Let me now give you another example from Peter’s next chapter about the trials that a Christian must anticipate:

·       Resist him [Satan], firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (1 Peter 5:9-10)

We must know that we are called to suffer “fiery trials” in order to prepare us to meet Jesus (1 Peter 4:12-13). If we don’t understand this, we will be inclined to think, “Why is God allowing this to happen to me. Evidently, I am not one of His favorites.” Such doubts will only cause envy and resentment. Instead, we need to know that it is because He loves us that we are afflicted. He chastens all of His children (Hebrews 12:5-11).

We also need to understand that the suffering is only temporary and will be followed by eternal joy, as Peter’s 10^th verse claims. When we know this, we can endure. King Solomon didn’t know this. Consequently, he hated life (Ecclesiastes 2, 3). This is why the Bible teaches that spiritual renewal comes through what we understand through the Scriptures, which are able to make us complete (2 Timothy 3:16-17):

·       So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day…as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16,18)

Once we understand this, we will also be armed against the many glowing reports of a new therapy or lifestyle that has produced joy and fulfillment (Colossians 2:8-10). What we believe is our life and hope.