The soul of man, which is the man (Gen.2:7), is made of three parts - (i) mind, or the thinking organ, (ii) will, or the deciding organ, and (iii) emotions, or the feeling organ. Unlike English, the bible has THREE loves:
- agape - the perfect love of God
- philadelphia - brotherly love
- eros - the physical love of attraction
After Peter had denied the Lord thrice, and was again restored, our Lord Jesus asked Peter if he LOVED Him in John 21:15-17. The Lord asked Peter if he "AGAPEO" Him. But Peter had learned something by his failure. He answers; "I PHILEO you". Again our Lord Jesus asks Peter; "Do you "AGAPEO" me? But Peter stands firm and answers; "Lord, you know I PHILEO you". The our Lord Jesus is satisfied and asks Peter the third time; "Do you PHILEO me?
What is learned from this exchange? It is that we do love our Lord, but with an IMPERFECT love. Not that Philadelphia is an imperfect love, but that it is not up to the standard of Christ's love. It can fail. The love required by a man to be obedient to the commands of Jesus is "AGAPE" - the love of God.
John 14:15 says;
"If ye love (AGAPEO)
me, keep my commandments." And this in turn brings us to one of the most crucial points of the whole Bible. IN ORDER TO MEET GOD'S REQUIREMENTS WE NEED A CHANGE OF NATURE! Even bandits can love their fellow bandit or love a woman ("philadelphia"). But who can love Christ the way He requires? You can't, UNLESS you have a change of nature! And this brings us back to Eden.
What was God's purpose with Adam. Was he not created in order? YES! But he was an orderly HUMAN. To be LIKE God and to display God by being His IMAGE, a man must be like Jesus - a mixing, or organic mingling of HUMAN life and DIVINE life. When one eats fruit the metabolism starts to work on the fruit and after some hours, if we cut the man open, we will not find the fruit. It has become organically ONE with the man. In the Old Testament God was the center of Israel. He dwelt WITH them. God was in the Tabernacle and on each side of the Tabernacle encamped three Tribes. It was;
God here ... and Israel there. Close ... but separate. The New Testament is totally different. God dwells IN His people. He is organically ONE with the man He lives IN (Jn.3:6; 1st Cor.6:17). God is not THERE ... and we are HERE. WE have an INSEPARABLE UNION. So much so that
"we are made partakers of the divine nature!" (2nd Pet.1:4).
And because this divine nature is intrinsically ours, we are in the position to tap into it. And not only tap into it, but allow it to permeate our whole souls too. Our mind should go from the self-seeking, degraded mind of the Adamic man to the mind of Christ. Our will, our decisions, should more and more be in favor of obeying Christ. And our EMOTIONS should go from the standard feelings of a robber to loving Christ (and one another) with AGAPE - the love "up to the standard of" Jesus. The road is long and rocky. We ever tend to fall back to our degraded humanity. But by constant watching, and constant contact with our Lord Jesus, we can slowly, but surely, be transformed into His image (2nd Cor.3:18). Notice the PROCESS and PROGRESSION in a Christian's life in
2nd Peter 1:3-11:
- In verse 3, "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, ... " we have the rebirth
- In verse 4 we have the result of rebirth; "... that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, ... ."
- In verse 5 WE must add. "... giving all diligence, add to your faith ... ." How do we add? By going to the grocery store? By visiting Bethlehem? NO! By returning to verse 3! We have, IN HIM, all things that are needed. And where is that PLACE? Where is Jesus for the Christian? IN THE HUMAN SPIRIT (Jn.3:6). Christ, "as that Spirit that we should RECEIVE" (Jn.7:39), with His FULL HUMANITY mixed with His DIVINITY, dwells in our humans spirits.
- In verse 6 to 7we see what must be added. All the VIRTUES of our Lord Jesus. Notice the progression. Verse 7 has, as the second last virtue - PHILADELPHIA. But the last thing we can add is AGAPE!
- In verse 10 we learn why we must ADD the virtues of Christ - "... to make your calling and election sure: ... ." What is this? Is not our rebirth enough? NO! Our rebirth is the adding of the very God to our human spirits, but man is a SOUL (Gen.2:7), and the nature and life of God in Christ must PERMEATE our souls. Why? So that the reason we were called and chosen can be attained. And what is that? To get to heaven? I think not! The GOAL of your calling and elections is in Genesis 1:26-28 and Romans 8:29. TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE AND LIKENESS OF CHRIST - AND THEN RULE THE EARTH. This brings us to verse 11.
- In verse 11, "For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." It is only those who have gone through this process of being conformed to the image and likeness of Christ who will be found WORTHY to be co-kings with Christ in His KINGDOM ON EARTH. In Daniel Chapter 2 we are introduced to the remaining four world Gentile Powers, starting with Babylon. In Daniel 2:34 it says that Christ will crush Gentile rule. And in verse 35 Christ's Kingdom will "fill the EARTH"! Then, in Daniel 7:27 we find that not only Christ will rule this Kingdom, but that He will have a "PEOPLE" who will rule with Him. And to do this you must be LIKE Christ. God cannot afford to have corrupt people running His Kingdom.
Christ needs men and women who will OBEY Him - like David did. And who will obey Him? Those who LOVE (AGAPE) Him. The Christian who does not go through the process of being CONFORMED to the image of Christ, by (i) fiery trials (1st Peter 1), and by (ii) ADDING VIRTUES (2nd Peter 1) will not be equipped to be LIKE Christ and RULE LIKE CHRIST.
THAT ... is our calling and election. If the Christian does not reach a state in his/her walk where we can finally LOVE Christ with the perfect LOVE (AGAPE), we will not make our calling and election sure.
Wow. Please forgive the long posting. I got carried away.