One of the scriptures that have guided my approach to the word of God over the years is the one found in 2 Timothy2:15, where Paul enjoined his young disciple, and by extension believers today to "study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth". Salient points are worth noting for our attention and comprehension here:
1. Our approval with God is contingent on our study of his word. We all know the worth of God's approval from other passages of scriptures; the man who gains approval with God walks in favor of men(Luke 2:52). Still, this same scripture echoes this same truth that I will share as no 2
2. The study of the word will avert shame in the world. The workman, the study man, the one who labors in the world won't be ashamed in the world because he is steeped in the word! Hence in another place, Paul told Timothy to count of " double honor" the elders who labor in the word! (1 Timothy 5:17). The honor of the church is rooted in the study of the word. The church that is deep and steep in the world will not see shame! Spiritual labor in the world is worthy of double honor in the world.
During the last pandemic, some churches will not succumb to the pressure of the globalist to make everyone conform to their restrictive measures of bondage and fear Some men of God defied the world and it standard. When Shiloh 2020, an annual December gathering of believers in Nigeria that always sees hundreds of thousands gather was held onsite as against the online church they want us to have, many fear the worst: there would be death, the second wave will come, there would be a spike, and all they said. The church stood its ground on the word and the word prevailed, 6 months after, the aftermath of that glorious event like many others are testimonies of what only Jesus can do! The honor of the church is in honoring the word! And this begins when we become a student of that word.
3. Word labor is spiritual labor and work! This is why the man who studies the word is referred to as a WORKMAN! The study of the word is work it is spiritual labor, that is why for even many believers sitting to watch movies all day is easier than sitting on the word all day! It is not surprising then that we have a church that is strong in religion but weak in the expression of God's power!
This spiritual labor is what brings us into the rest of God! This is why the writer of Hebrews asserted that there is a rest for the people of God, but also enjoined us to labor to enter into that rest, how paradoxical! (Hebrews 4:9,11). But he didn't just stop here, he showed us how what we must labor in the next verse of that chapter(Hebrew 4:12) and that is the WORD OF GOD. For the study of the word will elevate us above the troubles of the world! (Matthew 7:24-27). Hallelujah.
THE FOCUS AND THE CONTENT
This informs my reason to always do a thorough word study of the books of the Bible on our blog every now then, at least every year. The last thorough study was in the book of LUKE, one of the synoptic gospels of Jesus. But in this new series, we will be studying in the next 21 or more installments of this series, the book of JOHN! For in this book we will see how the "word became flesh and dwelt among us". Or in other words, by paraphrasing the words of C.S. Lewis, we will see how the Son of God became the Son of Man so that the sons of men can become the Sons of God! More than any other book of the Bible and compare to the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the book of John was a revelation of the DIVINITY OF CHRIST. This is the best book you can read on CHRISTOLOGY! It is the most red-lettered part of the Bible, every page glows and flows with the word of the master! And you know the words that he has spoken unto us, they are " spirit and life"!
While the other synoptic gospels tell us what Jesus said and did; John tells us who Jesus is: the Son of God! The Synoptics focus on the signs and sayings of Christ; John emphasizes the identity of Christ. Early church father Clement of Alexandria called John “the spiritual Gospel” because of its deep insight into Jesus’ divinity. John in opening up the book wasted no time in telling us what the purpose of his book was going to be about, it was all going to be about the word, the CHRIST, who is the same with God!. He wrote in John 1:1,
|||, In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God |||
The divinity of Christ was announced from the first verse and peradventure after reading through all of the content of the book and yet you don't understand what all these writings were about, John spelled it out again why he wrote the book in John 20:31
||| Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God |||
There you have it, John came across very plainly, " so many miracles Jesus did and which some have written about that are not in this book, but THE ONES I have documented here I did them for one purpose to show the DIVINITY OF CHRIST, that he is the SON OF GOD". This is why the book of John documented only seven miracles of Jesus and these seven, six are peculiar to only the book of John! Now compare this to the other book of the gospels, especially the book of Mark that detailed about twenty miracles and mention ten others! John carefully selected the miracles of Jesus that he documented in his book to show one aspect of Christ's divinity and the miracles were no small miracles. There is no casting out of small demons, only the overthrow of Satan himself ("now will the ruler of this world be cast out," 12:31). No healing of 'everyday' diseases. The paralytic healed in John (ch. 5) is not just lame but has been lame for no less than 38 years. The blind man healed in John was blind even from birth (ch. 9). The one-story of resurrection in John was not done to a fresh corpse, like the widow's son in Luke, but due to a body dead for four days that had started to rot and smell (Lazarus in ch. 11). All of the miracles were impressive and grand and all with one intent and purpose to show that this CHRIST is divine, same and one with the father!
Read full blog post here: CHRISTOLOGY: A STUDY OF THE BOOK OF JOHN(AN OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK OF JOHN)
1. Our approval with God is contingent on our study of his word. We all know the worth of God's approval from other passages of scriptures; the man who gains approval with God walks in favor of men(Luke 2:52). Still, this same scripture echoes this same truth that I will share as no 2
2. The study of the word will avert shame in the world. The workman, the study man, the one who labors in the world won't be ashamed in the world because he is steeped in the word! Hence in another place, Paul told Timothy to count of " double honor" the elders who labor in the word! (1 Timothy 5:17). The honor of the church is rooted in the study of the word. The church that is deep and steep in the world will not see shame! Spiritual labor in the world is worthy of double honor in the world.
During the last pandemic, some churches will not succumb to the pressure of the globalist to make everyone conform to their restrictive measures of bondage and fear Some men of God defied the world and it standard. When Shiloh 2020, an annual December gathering of believers in Nigeria that always sees hundreds of thousands gather was held onsite as against the online church they want us to have, many fear the worst: there would be death, the second wave will come, there would be a spike, and all they said. The church stood its ground on the word and the word prevailed, 6 months after, the aftermath of that glorious event like many others are testimonies of what only Jesus can do! The honor of the church is in honoring the word! And this begins when we become a student of that word.
3. Word labor is spiritual labor and work! This is why the man who studies the word is referred to as a WORKMAN! The study of the word is work it is spiritual labor, that is why for even many believers sitting to watch movies all day is easier than sitting on the word all day! It is not surprising then that we have a church that is strong in religion but weak in the expression of God's power!
This spiritual labor is what brings us into the rest of God! This is why the writer of Hebrews asserted that there is a rest for the people of God, but also enjoined us to labor to enter into that rest, how paradoxical! (Hebrews 4:9,11). But he didn't just stop here, he showed us how what we must labor in the next verse of that chapter(Hebrew 4:12) and that is the WORD OF GOD. For the study of the word will elevate us above the troubles of the world! (Matthew 7:24-27). Hallelujah.
THE FOCUS AND THE CONTENT
This informs my reason to always do a thorough word study of the books of the Bible on our blog every now then, at least every year. The last thorough study was in the book of LUKE, one of the synoptic gospels of Jesus. But in this new series, we will be studying in the next 21 or more installments of this series, the book of JOHN! For in this book we will see how the "word became flesh and dwelt among us". Or in other words, by paraphrasing the words of C.S. Lewis, we will see how the Son of God became the Son of Man so that the sons of men can become the Sons of God! More than any other book of the Bible and compare to the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the book of John was a revelation of the DIVINITY OF CHRIST. This is the best book you can read on CHRISTOLOGY! It is the most red-lettered part of the Bible, every page glows and flows with the word of the master! And you know the words that he has spoken unto us, they are " spirit and life"!
While the other synoptic gospels tell us what Jesus said and did; John tells us who Jesus is: the Son of God! The Synoptics focus on the signs and sayings of Christ; John emphasizes the identity of Christ. Early church father Clement of Alexandria called John “the spiritual Gospel” because of its deep insight into Jesus’ divinity. John in opening up the book wasted no time in telling us what the purpose of his book was going to be about, it was all going to be about the word, the CHRIST, who is the same with God!. He wrote in John 1:1,
|||, In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God |||
The divinity of Christ was announced from the first verse and peradventure after reading through all of the content of the book and yet you don't understand what all these writings were about, John spelled it out again why he wrote the book in John 20:31
||| Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God |||
There you have it, John came across very plainly, " so many miracles Jesus did and which some have written about that are not in this book, but THE ONES I have documented here I did them for one purpose to show the DIVINITY OF CHRIST, that he is the SON OF GOD". This is why the book of John documented only seven miracles of Jesus and these seven, six are peculiar to only the book of John! Now compare this to the other book of the gospels, especially the book of Mark that detailed about twenty miracles and mention ten others! John carefully selected the miracles of Jesus that he documented in his book to show one aspect of Christ's divinity and the miracles were no small miracles. There is no casting out of small demons, only the overthrow of Satan himself ("now will the ruler of this world be cast out," 12:31). No healing of 'everyday' diseases. The paralytic healed in John (ch. 5) is not just lame but has been lame for no less than 38 years. The blind man healed in John was blind even from birth (ch. 9). The one-story of resurrection in John was not done to a fresh corpse, like the widow's son in Luke, but due to a body dead for four days that had started to rot and smell (Lazarus in ch. 11). All of the miracles were impressive and grand and all with one intent and purpose to show that this CHRIST is divine, same and one with the father!
Read full blog post here: CHRISTOLOGY: A STUDY OF THE BOOK OF JOHN(AN OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK OF JOHN)
