Hermeneutics Lesson 02

Three Ways to use God's Word

The Gospel of John was written to prove that Jesus was/is the Son of God (John 20:30-31). In it we see several times that He was asked for His witness that God worked in His life. Every time that He was asked, He gave His witness. This is in spite of the fact that it was His enemies who were asking and even though they did it for the specific reason of discrediting Him.

If the Son of God has to meet this requirement, so do we. Further, like the witness of the Son of God, our witness must be accepted to testify in the Court of God when we appear at the judgment seat of Christ. Jesus had three different witnesses, and we also need each of these three different witnesses. The Bible gives us three different ways to use the word of God. Each ways produces a different witness in our personal life. Therefore, we need to use the word of God in each of these three different ways of God.

It is not enough to have God's Word. We must use it God's way. Many people don't know God's way and end up with error. (Example of the measuring tape used to measure a 3dimensional object.) God gives us 3ways to use His Word in order to end up with 3different witnesses that we need when we are judged by God for the deeds done in the flesh (Romans 14:12 and 2Corinthians 5:9).

The Jewish Law required the testimony of two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:7; Matthew 18:16; 26:60; John 8:17; 2Corinthians 13:1; 1Timothy 5:19; Hebrews 10:28; Revelation 11:3) for any legal claim made. A witness does not just see what happens but they also testify in court. In order to testify, a witness has to be accepted by the court. For example, God will not accept the lies of a devil at the Judgment Seat of Christ (Romans 14:10 and 2Corinthians 5:10-11).

Three Ways seen in the life of Jesus.
How Jesus lived before His resurrection is our example of how to live in the flesh using the power of the holy Ghost. There is a lot of good doctrine in 'What Did Jesus Do', but you must look in the Gospels and not listen to what liars claim.

The Gospel of John presents Jesus as the Son of God (John 20:30-31). He refused to answer certain questions from religious leaders. However, even as the Son of God, Jesus could not refuse to answer their question about what His witness was. The example that He gave to us uses 3types of witnesses which were:

God working in His personal life (John 5:17-23, 36)
His ministry to others was approved by God's men who were:

John the Baptist (John 5:31-35)
Moses (John 5:45-47)

He interpreted God's Word properly:

The Father (John 5:37; Matthew 3:17; 17:5; Mark 1:11; 9:7; Luke 3:22; 9:35)
The Scriptures (John 5:39)

Three Ways seen in the 'Great Commission'.
The 'Great Commission' can be found in Matthew 28:18-20, which says And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in Heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. God puts each of these 3witnesses into our lives while we do the 'Great Commission' and we do not get these witnesses any other way. Within the 'Great Commission' we see what God gives us which is:

A personal relationship:

All power is given unto me in Heaven and in earth: We need God's power in our personal life before we can do anything else in the 'Great Commission'.
Go ye means 'Go each and every one of you personally'. What others in the church do will not be accepted when we are personally at the judgment seat of Christ.

A command to minister in two specific ways: teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: These are the basic ministries of the church.

We are to teach all nations. This means getting even lost politicians to understand and obey God's law, even if they are not willing to be personally saved.
People are not to be baptized until after they are saved but the church is to teach all nations, even the lost. When people are truly saved they are to be identified (baptized) with the Trinity and be part of the family of God.

A constraint on doctrine: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: This means teaching people to not just sit in church and listen or to read their Bible but to also get off their 'blessed assurance' and obey the literal interpretation of Bible.
A conditional promise of blessings that is based upon personal obedience: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world: this promise is added (and) to prior commands. Disobedient people don't receive this promise (their personal assurance is not added) and they worry about losing their salvation. In addition, continued disobedience results in loss such as the loss of all that prior generations had in this country that we no longer have and, on a personal level, the fact that the majority of prayer requests are for health (death) issues.

Three Ways to be seen in our personal life when we face judgment.
God's Word gives us a different way to get each of these witnesses in our life and we can not get these witnesses any other way. (Example of highway to Florida, Canada and Idaho). Thus we see God's promise to do the work through us if we let Him.

We are told God's way to have God work in our personal life:

In the Gospels we read about Jesus is our example of how to live in the flesh using the power of the holy Ghost. Hebrews 5:8 says Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. Some things are only learned through personal experience. Sitting on our 'blessed assurance' in church does NOT get God to work in our personal life. We must get up and do as Jesus did if we want the help in this flesh that is promised.
I've had multiple miracles in my life. I've told religious people, who were disputing my doctrine, that we should pray for God to make the person who is wrong either sick or dead. If you aren't positive enough about your doctrine to back it with your physical life then you have no business risking someone's soul on your doctrine.
We must live by faith and walk by faith (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:7; 4:12; 6:4; 2Corinthians 5:7; Galatians 2:20; 3:11-12; Hebrews 10:38). That is an ever increasing life of obedience to the God of the Bible.
Example of car starter.
Reformers Unanimous teaches specific ways to do these things.

God's way to have God work in the ministry: Matthew 10:5-6 says: These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matthew 15:24 says: But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Yes, Jesus did minister to non-Jews, but most of the ministry was reserved for the house of Israel. Likewise, today God reserves blessings for people who are actively part of His church and gives very few of them to other people.

All of us know from personal experience that being part of a family gives us things that we can not get while living alone. The church is God's family on this Earth.
We each have responsibilities to help others in our family. The same is true for God's family (the church). Only infants take and don't give in a family, but they are expected to grow up and start helping out.
John the Baptist taught the basics of church doctrine: repent from sin and towards God.
Moses: humble ourselves in obedience to God. God killed the disobedient and blessed the obedient and still does the same today.
Jesus said to lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven (Matthew 6:20; 19:21; Mark 10:21; Luke 12:33; 18:22). We only do this by letting God work through our life to minister to others.
God does this through the local church. We will not do these things on our own and even if we do, we are not be helping others to grow unless we obey God and take others with us. (1Timothy 5; 2Timothy 4:1-5; Titus 2; Revelation 3:19).
The Study on Proverbs 9 tells us God's way to build a ministry.

God's way to interpret His Word.

God hath established the world by his wisdom Jeremiah 10:12; 51:15. What God establishes does not move or change because God does not change (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8).
Proverbs 8 tells us that God used wisdom and understanding when He created the world. We find God's rules of creation using the Scientific Method. God does not change (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8). The rules of math and the (true) Scientific Method do not change for any circumstances. We use math and the (true) Scientific Method to understand creation. While Psalms 19 tells us that creation is a witness of God, God's Word is to be a greater witness. Thus we saw the foolishness of men claiming that they had 'proved that the world was flat' when they relied upon 'revelation given to holy men' for their basis of understanding creation. We also saw that the Scientific Method proved that way to be foolishness. Since we have an 'absolute method' for understanding creation and God's Word is a better witness, then we need at least as reliable way to understand God's Word.
1Timothy 6:20-21 says O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.
Claims of 'evolution' and 'Big Bang' are proven to be science falsely so called because they violate God's way of the Scientific Method and Laws of Math.
Psalms 8 tells us that God's creation gives Him glory while Psalms 138:2 tells us for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. God's Word should be a greater witness of Him than His creation is.
We did not understand God's Laws of Creation until we started using the Scientific Method. We will not understand God's Laws of Understanding His Word until we use an equivalent method.
1Corinthians was written to people who were spiritually immature because they thought that the teachings of preachers was equal to, or better than, the word of God. The divisions in that church was less than the divisions among so-called Bible believing Fundamental Conservative Baptist churches of America that exist today.
Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed because that church had saved preachers preaching religious traditions which went against what the word of God literally says. America is heading towards the same destruction because Bible believing Fundamental Conservative Baptist preachers claim that Baptist traditions are the proper interpretation of the word of God.
Scripture interprets scripture. Don't tell me your interpretation of a verse, show me how you got it from the Bible using God's method of interpretation. You can't do that until you know God's method of interpretation.

You can see the Study called Logic under The Hermey Menu option, but it was one of the first papers written and can be hard to follow. Basically, the logic that is the basis of all Mathematics and the true Scientific Method is a 'Pure Logic' that does not change for anything in creation and existed before creation and will still exist after God created the new Heaven and new Earth. This is not what people call 'my logic' and it is too abstract for most people to understand. That said, you can try to read the paper or just accept that since God is no respecter of persons , so also must His method of understanding His Word be no respecter of persons . God's perfect word is a perfect picture of a perfect God and we need a perfect way to understand God's Word and end up with NO errors and NO 'problem verses'.

Additional material:

When Satan tempted Jesus there was nothing wrong with the scripture that he quoted. However, he left out a critical part of the context and thereby changed it and used that changed version to tempt Jesus. Much of the doctrinal error that is taught today is because people follow the example of the Devil and quote the Bible out of context. God says that He will curse you for that.

For more than 25years I have been proving that there are no conflicts in the Bible. I have found that if people stick to three simple rules they can eliminate at least 95% of doctrinal error.

Always keep the interpretation within the context of what the Bible is really saying.
Always use God's punctuation and division by sentences for understanding. It's OK to use verses for witnessing, preaching and memorization, because that is what people are used to and there is enough of a problem getting the spiritual message across. They don't need the additional confusion from changing formats, unless it actually helps to clarify. However, for personal understanding God tells us to use sentences.
Use proper definitions of words that are obtained by a proper Bible Word study. Even the Webster's 1828 dictionary can lead to doctrinal error.

Application: Finding God's meaning for names of the Son of God.

There are many applications but only one interpretation of the Bible. People think there are many interpretations because they have been taught to use the methods of getting an application when searching for an interpretation. When I listened to doctors who preached medicine according to medical schools, I took 28 scripts/day and was told that I would take that many and more for the rest of my life. I was heading for an early grave. When I found medical advice based upon proper scientific methods, I managed to reduce that to 5scripts/day and can see the way to reduce it to zero.

God uses the physical world to teach us spiritual lessons. I have seen God heal me while He brought severe judgment upon people who insisted that I was wrong about how to understand God's Word. 2Timothy 2:15 says Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. People who are not rightly dividing the word of truth are not using the 'Scientific Method' and end up in doctrinal error. Part of rightly dividing is separating it according to God's divisions that can be found already existing within His Word.

Hebrews 11:6 says But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. I spent year studying through each book of the New Testament close to 24 times each to find out how God's Word uses the various major names of the Son of God. There is a fairly even distribution of the use of Lord throughout the entire New Testament. About 2/3of the use of Jesus is in the Gospels with the name of Jesus used without Lord or Christ only 54 times outside of the Gospels. That's only 5% usage outside of the Gospels. Christ occurs by itself, in the Gospels, 54 times. That's 10% usage in the Gospels as opposed to the 34% for Lord and 67% for Jesus. In plain English, God is making a very definite division in His use of the terms Jesus and Christ with Jesus being the main role of the Son of God in the Gospels and Christ being the main role of the Son of God outside of the Gospels.

Below are summaries of the definitions for various names of the Son of God. For a more detailed explanation of each name, please see the Overview of the Lord Jesus Christ Study. For links to the notes that exist for every usage within the New Testament (over 4,000), please see the Verses document for the Lord Jesus Christ Study. For the note on a specific verse, please look it up in the Verses document or use the Lord Jesus Christ Study Menu to find the desired book, and then use the internal links to get to the desired verse note.

Lord:

Lord is the identification of a role and of the main person within that role, which is (usually) under a king as noted below. The Bible calls God the Father Lord. Lord also identifies God the Son and human men with this title / role. This role is identified with laws and legal matters such as judgment and loyalty. As said below, a king sets his personality and character upon his kingdom and makes general laws. The lord then makes specific laws to implement the laws and character of the king. The lord judges the subjects and determines if and how much they are obeying or disobeying the laws. The lord then administers rewards or punishments that he determines to try and bring subjects into compliance with his laws. Properly done, the 'blind statue of justice' applies to the judgment of the lord. That is, the same act is punished or rewarded regardless of whom the subject is who did the act being judged.

Jesus:

Two of the uses of this name are for men who are not 'God in human flesh'. While the main application of this name is 'God in human flesh', the interpretation is that it identifies a literal physical man. 1John and 2John were written because people emphasized the God part of Jesus, while downplaying, then denying, His human nature. That is how they got people to believe that He was/is not human like us. Jesus set aside His power as God in order to live like a weak human man and die as a man. In the Gospels He is our example of how to live in this flesh using the power of the holy Ghost. 'What Did Jesus Do' is valid doctrine but only if we search the Gospels for an answer. Every time that we read the name of Jesus and do not think of Him as a human man we are falling into the error which comes from true Biblical antichrists (1John 2:18; 2:22; 4:3 and 2John 1:7). One of the most obvious evidences of this error is when someone says Christ when the Bible says Jesus or the other way around.

Christ:

Christ is used within the Bible for the identification of a role and of the main person within that role. Part of the source of doctrinal error about Christ is that there is only one person Who ever could fill this role. Therefore, people think of Christ as a personal name rather than the identification of a role. In Ephesians 5:31-32 tells us that the relationship between a husband and wife is a picture of the relationship between Christ and the church. In the Bible, when we see Christ in or in Christ, it is talking about the relationship that is like 'marriage'. Thus, a married person is in a marriage relationship. The Bible also uses Christ for the role of the Son of God that is like 'husband'. Part of the confusion about this role is due to people not paying attention to the context and their not realizing this Biblical dual application of the name of Christ.

King:

King is the identification of a role and of the main person within that role. A king sets his personality and character upon his kingdom. God the Father is identified as King. God the Son, Satan and human men are also identified as kings. As such, each kingdom is different from other kingdoms. For example, the Bible makes a very definite difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Christ. Kings have lords under them. Think of CEO and president of a company or husband and wife in a family. Properly done, the king sets the general character of laws and the lord makes detail laws to implement the general laws made by the king.

Saviour:

God the Father, the Holy Ghost and God the Son as Lord and as Jesus and as Christ are all called Saviour. Think of parents. They work together to do the same job of bringing children into this world and teaching them how to grow up. Yet each parent does a different job. Thus, we have several Biblical Saviours Who each do a different job related to our personal salvation and sanctification, which is part of a true Biblical salvation.

Son:

A son, in the Bible has the same character as the father and may, or may not, be the physical descendent of the father. Paul led many people to the Lord, and he trained many preachers, but there are only 3men who he called son, and none of them was his physical descendant. In the Bible, Jesus is identified as the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Son of David, and just as the Son. John 14:9 tells us Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?. Jesus manifested the character of the Father. John 1:12-13 tells us But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Notice that this is talking about saved people because it says received him, which is past tense. Now notice that it says power to become the sons of God, which is future tense. Thus, we see that there are saved people who are not (yet) sons of God. We also see that we must use this power that comes from God, not religion, if we want to personally become a son of God.