Plastic People Plastic Words

During my younger years there was a saying among my group of mates for anything that was not legitimate; plastic. For the most part we applied this to people. If people did not appear or act in a way we considered genuine, we called them plastic people. In other words they were false, fake, phony.

In a similar way, the Bible calls the message of false teachers plastic, however unless you read it in Greek you might miss it. In 2 Peter chapter 2, Peter is warning about false teachers and their ungodly lifestyles. Lets look at the first few verses:

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. (2 Peter 2:1-3).

 

 

Now lets dig a little deeper, looking into verse 3 and the words translated here fabricated stories. Other versions might translate it as feigned words, words of deceit or false words. They come for the Greek 'plastois logois' and the Greek word 'plastos' is where we get the word plastic from (plastos means molded). In the New Testament, this word plastos means "being mentally constructed without a basis in fact", fabricated, false (BDAG p.823). Just as an aside, this is the only time this word appears in the New Testament (so it is a NT Hapax). So our word plastos combined with the word 'logos' in the plural gives us plastois logois, or false words.

So beware of plastic people and their plastic words. They will be among you and they will bring the Truth into disrepute and they will exploit you because they are greedy. May The Lord bless you and open your mind to the truth that is in His Scriptures (Luke 24:45).


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Running To Win

Son of Flint & Bearded Dragon

I was talking to a friend recently about his Christian walk and his study of the scriptures. Over the years we have helped each other with brotherely advice (sometimes after a stumble) and I was talking about how Paul, when writing to the Corinthains said "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize" (1 Corinthians 9:24).

I suggested he take his walk and study "one bite at a time" and "chew slowly". I also mentioned he take "one step at a time".  You see, without plainly stating the scripture, what we were discussing was the very next verse in 1 Corinthians 9, where Paul, building on his theme of atheletes states "Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever" (1 Corinthians 9:25). So it is not too far off the track to talk about training, one step at a time, adding to the whole, one brick at a time, buidling upon a sure foundation (Luke 6:46-9).

As I have explained to many in my personal life, the more I study the Bible, the more I feel a sense of urgency about the Church getting its house in order so She may present herself pure when the Bridegroom arrives. Nevertheless, whether you think we need to move faster, or slow but steady, let us be sure to adapt Paul's attitude. He says: "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" Philippians 3:14. Let us also press on.

Greek Spot 5 Hebrews 4:18 Hard Heart Porosis

It's been a little while since we have 'done' a little Greek'. This is because we have been busy with our other Postmodern Church type entries.

For some background to this entry, please open your Bible and read Ephesians chapter 4.

Let's look at Ephesians 4:18. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. We are going to focus on just one word here: 'hardening', or in some translations, 'hardness'. This word is translated from the Greek root 'porosis'.

For the use of this term in the ancient world, outside of the New Testament, we can look to both Hippocrates 5th/4th century BC physician, and Galen the 2nd/3rd century AD physician and surgeon (Greek English Lexicon BDAG). In a literal sense it means 'the covering with a callus' & 'the formation of a callus in repair of a fractured bone'. However it is used here in Ephesians (and other parts of the Bible) in a figurative sense to mean; dullness, obstinacy, having a blunted mind, or simply hardened.

So what can we take from this? Let us not allow our hearts to become so calloused that we become like the World around us, thereby being at risk of succumbing to evil passions and greediness. And how do we stop our hearts becoming hardened? Go back and read Ephesians verses 4:1-3 & 14-16, and keep your thoughts on Jesus (Hebrews 3:1).

Like some further reading on this topic? See Hebrews chapter 3 & Psalm 95, (where the term concerning hardened hearts is from a different Greek word. You can look it up in Strongs concordance number: 4645).

How Do We Know We are Hearing From God?

If you haven't read our earlier blog entry titled "Who wants to talk about the things of God" please take the time to go back and read it as the initial story in it is also related to this post. You can click through to it here: http://likeflint.blogspot.com/2011/10/who-wants-to-talk-about-things-of-god.html

Now allow me to share a brief story which I heard from someone else so I am taking it at face-value and I have no reason to disbelieve it. There was a Christian man who while driving his car thought he heard God telling him to close his eyes, let go of the sterring wheel, and put his faith in God. I am sure most readers will know what the outcome was; he had an accident. Was he foolish to do that, was he lacking in faith or is there something else going on?

I think this story and the one from last week demonstrate that there are a number of believers in the Church today who have little understanding of God and clearly do not read or understand His Word. Sadly, I could have chosen a number of other stories to demonstrate this but I think these will suffice. Also, as it appears to be the norm with our blog, there is so much we could discuss here, but with a view to keeping things short, lets look at just one issue; How do we know we are hearing from God?

How do we know we are hearing from God? How could our car-driving fellow-believer have avoided an accident? Well to begin with, believers are cautioned to test the spirits (1 John 4:1-3) to see whether they are from God. When we are dealing with anything of a spiritual nature we must use some caution. So many people (authors included) have foolishly followed after false teachings/teachers without consulting God's word and have ended up in "spiritual car crashes". I strongly urge readers to become "good Bereans". This means that after you listen to your pastors/preachers/speakers/friends or whoever, or when you read this blog/that book or whatever, you will search the scriptures to see if what is being stated is true (Acts 17:11). We ignore this advice at our own peril. It is that serious.

Now what about my friend (from earlier post, see above) who told me he doesn't need the Word because he follows the Spirit? He only has part of the truth. Jesus said "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come" John 16:13 (See also John 15:26). Now we know that Jesus is both the Truth (John 14:6) and the Word (John 1:1 & 1:14) so it is my contention that the Spirit of God will lead you to both Jesus and His Word (The term translated 'word' here can mean both 'word' or 'the indpendant personified expression of God' see BDAG, 'logos', or any decent Greek Lexicon). It is my belief that God's Spirit will guide you to the truth that is to be found in Jesus and the Scriptures (see 2 Tim 3:15,16).

So how do we come to an understanding of how the Spirit of God operates in our lives? How do we know we are hearing from Him? We turn to His Word; "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby" 1 Peter 2:2. We believe God does speak to us via His Holy Spirit today, but We also believe He will absolutely not contradict what is written in His Word. So for us to avoid spiritual deception or even physical harm, we must study His Word. What advice did Paul give to young Timothy? He wrote "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" 2 Timothy 2:15. Shame on us if we ignore this exhortation. If we do, we will wind up making foolish statements like my Christian brother did when he told me he has little need for God's Word. Not only that, but we disrespect our Lord Jesus who said "Heaven and earth will pass away. But my words will never pass away" Luke 21:33.

We all need to seek God through his Spirit and His Word. We believe that if we seek God's Spirit, He will lead us to His Word. We also believe if we seek God in His Word, His Word will lead us to His Spirit. What do you think?

Who wants to talk about the things of God?

Sometime ago I was discussing a piece of Scripture or two with a Christian brother who part way into it cut me off and explained that he didn't need to know too much of the Word because he just went by the Spirit. Following this, he abruptly changed the topic. At first I was a little taken aback because this was a man who had been a Christian for some 20 plus years, but I soon came to realise in this Post-Modern era, that this is not such an abnormal position for fellow believers to hold. Now there are a couple of things going on with this attitude (one being whether we are to be led by the Spirit of God, or to follow His Word, or both. I plan to address this issue in an upcoming blog so check back soon for that) but what I would like to focus on here is the willingness or otherwise of believers to discuss the things of God.

With this in mind, take a little time to consider how many of your fellow-believers willingly discuss the things of God with you. Do many of them have only a surface understanding of the Scriptures? Do others look at you blankly if you talk about God, Jesus or the Scriptures, especially outside of the church setting? Do they change the subject? Are many of them more comfortable discussing sport, movies, music, celebrities or anything but the things of God? Does this type of shallow believer describe people you know? Yourself?

Anyone that knows me personally will tell you there was a time when it described me, so I have been as "guilty" of this type of attitude as anyone, which is partly why I feel qualified to discuss it. Now some reading this might think "So what? I've said the 'sinners prayer', I have my ticket to heaven, that's all I need to know". Well if that's you (or me), we need to go to the Word of God and see what it says. Perhaps some of us need to take the time to check our hearts.

When writing to the Corinthians, Paul said "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?" (2 Corinthians 13:5). This is very good advice, but if you are going to take this advice, keep in mind the following: Every man's way is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts (Proverbs 21:2). God knows our hearts, so whereas we might be able to deceive ourselves into thinking we are fine, God cannot be fooled. Perhaps we need to adopt the attitude of the Psalmist who said "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23-24).

It is our prayer that you will be encouraged to examine yourself and that you might invite God to examine your heart as well. If we know more about our favourite sports team than we do about Abraham, or if we can discuss the intimate details about our favourite celebrity but we cannot discuss our Faith, then it is well past time to stop and take stock. It is my belief that when we do this, we will have the opportunity to demonstrate a more effective witness to the people around us, both to believers and unbelievers. Please take the time to let us know if this encourages you to do so.