Balanced Truth of the New Creation Reality - Ebele UzoPeters

I used to think the great need of the church was for theologians to be filled with the Spirit; now it is evident that the need for the Spirit filled teachers to be well grounded in theology is just as great.

Theology, though a misnomer, is strong in hermeneutics. A lot of what is called hermeneutics in pentecostal circles is just amplified private interpretation. One person starts teaching his own interpretation of a thing, say righteousness for instance, and keeps saying it until it spreads.

That's not how biblical interpretation works. Righteousness is the ability to stand before God without the feeling of inferiority or guilt. Fine. That's a good definition, but Righteousness is also the ability to deny one's self, lose one's rights, and live for God and for God alone. How about that?

It is not only right standing. It is standing right. This means that it is not just the Father saying (1) I am pleased with you; it also is (2) You do only the things that please me. It is not only Christ's finished works. It is His workmanship.

This means that it is not just that (1) God has worked some things in me with pleasure; but that (1) I am working those things out with fear, and with trembling.

So righteousness is not only what God has made me in Christ; righteousness is also how I walk with God in Christ. God did not only create me in Christ, He prepared a path for me beforehand, that I should walk in it.

If I teach people how to walk with God in Christ, and I have not taught them who they are in Him, I have not taught righteousness. If I teach people who they are in Christ, and stop; I have not taught righteousness. If I say "don't teach dos and don'ts, just teach them who they are in Christ"...I am not talking about righteousness, I am only presenting my own ideas.

I've heard people say this and then turn around and say "the Bible has instructions for right living, we teach right living BUT....

BUT WHAT?

If a believer does not live right, it does not affect His salvation?
If a believer is not living right, it does not affect what he has been made in Christ?

My brother, that is a lie. It is a subtle lie. I urge you to stop believing it. I know many have preached and taught it. I do; but it is not true.

The Bible says in 2 Peter 1:9. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

Does that sound like an unaffected righteousness?

The Bible says in Romans 8:13. FOR IF YOU LIVE ACCORDING TO THE FLESH YOU WILL DIE; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

It does NOT say...guys you cannot die, but just don't live according to the flesh. It warns....living like this leads to death.

Or can an unaffected righteousness die?

Say your righteouness is Christ from today till tomorrow, and nothing is wrong with your scriptural fact, but something is wrong with your hermeneutics

So let's do away with the poor one-sided misrepresentation of God's truth and say what the Bible says, the whole of what the Bible says, and nothing more or less.

We know there are some who think one sin has destroyed everything God did for us in Christ and who teach that a believer is righteous until his next sin

That is NOT true

Must we therefore now take the opposite extreme and say a believer is righteous no matter what he does, because he has been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus?

Because that is also NOT true. The Bible says in 1 John 3:7. Little children, let no one deceive you. HE WHO PRACTICES RIGHTEOUSNESS IS RIGHTEOUS, just as He is righteous.

So I used to think the great need of the church was for theologians to be filled with the Spirit; now it is evident that the need for the Spirit filled teachers to be well grounded in theology, is just as great.

Your education in theology is complete when you know everything the Bible says about any one thing, and you speak of that reality in the context of the whole truth. These are the teachers we need today. To this all the apostles gave witness

Talk about Pauline revelation from now till tomorrow. This is what Paul taught. He taught righteousness as right standing and standing right. He said "You are seated with Christ... Walk in Him...Put away lying... Speak the truth". He said "Don't live like the unsaved. (You have not so learned Christ... Ephesians 4:20)

John said (Not tomorrow, or after living right but right...) NOW are we the sons of God.....EVERYONE that has this hope PURIFIES HIMSELF (1 John 3:1-3)"

Someone comes along and says "Sir, try hard as I want to, I cannot live right"

The church does not need the one who says "If you can't live right, you are not saved. You are not righteous" filling me with guilt and preparing me to try harder and end in despair. The church does not need the one who says 'Don't worry, you are righteous no matter what you do" filling me with impunity and unrepentance, and preparing me for apostasy.

We need the one who says "you are righteous so you live right". "But I have tried to and I'm failing", "Sister, are you righteous?". "Yes brother, I am", "Does a dog try to bark?" (I mean..no one should say a dog isn't a dog until it barks. Neither should one say concerning a dog making cat and chicken sounds...don't worry, that does not affect its dog-ness)

"No brother. It barks because it's a dog", "Have you been made righteous, sister?", "Yes, I have!", "Then hallelujah, praise the Lord! You live right!" The one who keeps saying that until the day dawns and the Daystar rises in the heart of the listener...

That is the Lord's faithful workman in these last days, who rightly divides the word of truth. So invite me to word conferences and camp meetings to laugh in the Spirit and rejoice in the word....but I tell you, I also am badly in need of a historical and exegetical seminary education.

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