There is an
awareness that follows the people of God, an awareness that there is something
that is better or greater than their own lives embedded (or shaped) into
the very fabric of who they are. That is
the concept of being (set apart) also known as holiness. Everything about God is holy and we are connected
to Him.
To be holy
is to be absolutely devoted to God in all that we do, demonstrating who He is
to the world through our lives. Holiness surrounds God’s throne because He is
so different than anything else, and we are seated with Him in heavenly places.
He raised us up with Christ the
exalted One, and we ascended with him into the glorious perfection and
authority of the heavenly realm, for we are now co-seated as one with Christ!
Ephesians 2:6 (TPT)
The Hebrew
concept of holiness is “set apart”; that is, we are a people 'set
apart' for God, even as God is 'set apart' from all other gods. By
coming to Christ Jesus, like I said grace has embedded holiness into our lives, this is God’s
doing, yet we are still to make the right choices and to yield to Christ Jesus and His
Word as the Holy Spirit lives in us and speaks to us.
Holiness is
not merely just about what we do, even though our actions are important, but it
is more about what we absorb and is made apparent as we live out our lives in
God’s presence. It is what we become, Christ Jesus is our holiness.
For it is not from man that we draw
our life but from God as we are being joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. And
now he is our God-given wisdom, our virtue, our holiness, and our redemption. 1 Corinthians 1:30 (TPT)
In 1 Peter
1:13 the translators use the word “children” which in the Greek language
is the word 'Teknon' which indicates that Peter is not referring to an infant
child, or children in the sense of a group of children with no affiliation to
their parent or to society in general, but as “offspring”, a begotten child which is specifically born within a family who has identity and
purpose, belonging.
A ‘teknon’ child hasn’t reached puberty yet, so they are not mature. It is important to make the distinction here because what the above passage is saying that we are a child of destiny because of God's choosing, not a child of chance.
And he chose us to be his very own,
joining us to himself even before he laid the foundation of the universe! Because
of his great love, he ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes
with an unstained innocence. For it was always in his perfect plan to adopt us
as his delightful children, through our union with Jesus, the Anointed One, so
that his tremendous love that cascades over us would glorify his grace—for the same
love he has for his Beloved One, Jesus, he has for us. And this unfolding plan
brings him great pleasure! Ephesians
1:4-6 (TPT)
There is an interesting
alternate Greek translation of the unique wording of this verse above that Paul used which could be translated “he chose us to be a ‘word’ before the fall of the world”,
The Greek word for “chose” is “eklegomai”, which is a form of the word ‘lego’
(which means to speak).
(Not to be confused with LEGO building blocks.)
Another way of defining this
verse further would be “He spoke ‘or called us out’ into existence to be a
word before Adam fell down”. We were called out to be sons before the fall in the garden of Eden.
Paul makes
an emphatic point in Ephesians 1:5 by using specific wording “For it was
always in his perfect plan to adopt us as his delightful children”, he uses the
word “huiothesia” from taken from the word “huios”, which means "a
son," and "a placing," signifying the place and
condition of a son given to one to whom it does not naturally belong, meaning adoption.
The word “Huios”
means the son who’s been marked as someone’s son because of the similarity between
the parents and the child, it is the similarity of facial features, character,
and attitude. To become a huios, does not automatically happen, they are
formed by discipline and obedience, it describes maturity.
Even though
the Bible translators utilize the word “children” to be politically correct in
our modern Bible translations to be inclusive of both male and female genders, the Greek wording does not reflect these gender-specific terms, it simply
refers to “sons”.
And we no longer see each other in
our former state—Jew or non-Jew, rich or poor, male or female—because we’re all
one through our union with Jesus Christ with no distinction between us. Galatians 3:28 (TPT)
We are all
sons as Christ Jesus is a son. We have
been adopted into the family of God so that we may be brought to full maturity
as fully formed sons of God, and as sons, we are heirs of the promises. As son’s we
take on the 'personality' or 'attributes' of our heavenly Father when we are in close relationship with Him, He is holy, so we
become holy.
"And consider the example that Jesus,
the Anointed One, has set before us. Let his mindset become your motivation. He
existed in the form of God, yet he gave no thought to seizing equality with God
as his supreme prize. Instead, he emptied himself of his outward glory by
reducing himself to the form of a lowly servant. He became human! He humbled
himself and became vulnerable, choosing to be revealed as a man and was
obedient. He was a perfect example, even in his death—a criminal’s death by
crucifixion!" Philippians 2:5-8 (TPT)
How much more should we humble and empty ourselves out before the presence of God so that we also may receive the fullness of Christ living within us and become all that God intended us to become.
There are fringe groups that adopt the “manifested sons of God” doctrine, which I believe takes this concept way too far, of which I do not espouse or recommend.
My purpose for writing this post is looking at the interpretation of the two Greek words “teknon” and “huious” and what it means for us to grow in a deeper relationship with our heavenly Father.
For further reading on these two words here is a resource of how they apply to us check out this site.
Be Blessed;
Stephen Barnett
No comments:
Post a Comment