of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:2-3). He goes on to point out that man cannot know God through his natural mind but only through the mind being renewed to be the mind of Christ through the Spirit (v. 5-8). Those who walk in the flesh cannot please God (v.6). Unfortunately, this applies to much of Christianity today.
The Christian sometimes thinks he can be justified by his good works but the truth is he can only be justified through his faith in Christ. The good and lasting works will come through this spiritual relationship, not vice versa. You cannot please God with good Works. Christ said: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21-23). No amount of good works, unless done according to the Spirit of God, are of any avail.
Paul says of the earth then and more so now: “For the creation was made subject to vanity [literally futility], not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Going back to the fall of man, God subjected creation to a futile state. Futility is variously defined as a state of no importance, trifling, untrustworthy, ineffective, and useless and denoting that the state of man is vain and his strivings unjustified (Webster’s Dictionary). However, God did not subject it to that state without a way out. He did it in hope that the fully manifested Sons of God would come along and release creation from that hopeless state (Romans 8:20-210.
Finally he identifies the Sons of God (plural) as those who are led by the Spirit of God (Rom 8:14). He prays that we be “adopted” as Sons, grafted into the vine of the chosen people Israel. “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory” (Hebrews 2:10). Christ is the first fruits but many Sons, like Him, will come forth; those who know the voice of the Lord and be led by Him.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul again contrasts the Spirit man from the natural man. In advocating that we speak not the words of man’s wisdom but the wisdom of God by His spirit (v.13). He goes on in his rebuke in verse 14: “the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Christ spoke to the multitudes, knowing they had no eyes to see or ears to hear what He was saying. “Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Elijah, which says, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive” (Matthew 13:13-14). God give us eyes to see what is ours in the Spirit realm and ears to hear what Christ is speaking to us!
Paul took the gospel of Christ where it would not have gone otherwise. The majority of the original Apostles remained in Jerusalem for many years converting Jews. Paul went to the ends of the known earth. He traveled widely in some of the most demonically possessed nations in the known world including Greece, Macedonia and Rome and its provinces. He taught beneath the great Greco-Roman architectural wonders that pervaded the earth at that time. He spoke in ampatheaters and in people’s homes and small gatherings. Wherever he went he ministered the gospel despite his frailties as a man.
SPIRITUAL FATHERS
“…if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. (1 Corinthians 4:15). Paul was a spiritual Father. He gave birth to the Corinthian church and fathered it as the members came into the maturity of Christ, as a natural son grows up under a natural father. .
1 Corinthians 4:15 (above) contains the word Father two times. They are different words in the Greek but when read together they describe the relationship Paul had with the church. The first father used is the Greek word “pater”. This denotes a natural father but its spiritual meaning is much deeper. The word is from a root signifying a nourisher, protector and an upholder; one with an advanced knowledge of Christ (1 John 2:13). It also refers to God as the creator and in I John 2:14 we read, I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. In this chapter, John addressed the children, the fathers, and the young men, repeatedly.
This word denotes the continuing relationship a father has with those who have been born anew (John 1:12-13). Paul referred to himself as a wise masterbuilder. According to the grace of God which was given unto me as a wise masterbuilder, I laid a foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:10-11). The father is the masterbuilder; the sons build on that foundation. (Vine’s Expository Dictionary, pp. 1865).
The second reference is “gennao” which means to beget. It means the physical begottening of children. Spiritually, it is used as:
“the act of God in the birth of Jesus Christ (Acts 13:33, Hebrews 1:5 & 5:5).
“the impartation of spiritual life by a gospel preacher” (1 Co. 4:15; Philemon 10) “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness which belongs to the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).
“impartation of God’s divine nature to the believer (John 3:3, 5:7; 1 John 2:29; the New American Standard Key Word Study Bible).
Thus Paul defines his ministry as a spiritual one of begetting (birthing) believers into Christ and his continuing relationship of fathering. As John said:” I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning” (1 John 2:14).
Paul was bringing out an important truth. Paul was a father, and he had a sense of responsibility for his people. A father is responsible for what he begets or creates. Old wisdom recognized this principle: If you saw a man drowning in a river, you should not rescue him. If you rescued him and were responsible for saving his life, you became responsible for him. From that time on, he became your charge. Therefore, you would have to take him home and feed him; your children could go hungry while you fed a stranger that you had pulled out of the river.
Paul said, “I exhort you to be imitators of me” (see above). He said for the Corinthian church to be a responsible father just he was. He says by inference to be responsible in the relationships you have. Whoever one begets he is responsible for. That is one of the things that drive a spiritual father. He knows that he has begotten sons in the Spirit. He has become a spiritual father to lead them. He may scold them, drive them, push them to give and to work, and push them to care for one another and to love one another, but he does this because He loves them. Paul spoke a Word from God that created something in their hearts. When he saw what grew as a result of that word he knew that he was responsible. So we are responsible for one another, even to our spiritual fathers, to create them into a deeper Father ministry.
The Father is the progenitor. “I [Paul] have planted; Apollos watered; but God has given the increase. So that neither the planter is anything, nor the waterer; but God the giver of the increase (1 Corinthians 3:5-7). The Father does not exalt himself with his spirituality with spiritual pride. He recognizes his ministry as an essential
