Bill Bremer
Senior Member
Joined: 02/29/2016 Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 81
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Posted: 10/29/2016 at 2:47pm
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God instills deep
relationship with Himself in Christ by the Holy Spirit and gives us the
perspective of eternity. He fits us together and we thrive in the
environment of deep relationships with our brothers and sister in the
Lord as God perfects us. Peter lays out the aspects of relating with
eternal perspective in a few inspired words.
In
the same way you younger men must submit to your elders; and all of you
must gird yourselves with humility towards one another, for God sets
Himself against the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Humble
yourselves therefore beneath the mighty hand of God, so that at the
right time He may set you on high. Throw the whole of your anxiety upon
Him, because He Himself cares for you. Curb every passion, and be on the
alert. Your great accuser, the Devil, is going about like a roaring
lion to see whom he can devour. Withstand him, firm in your faith;
knowing that your brethren in other parts of the world are passing
through just the same experiences. And God, the giver of all grace,
who has called you to share His eternal glory, through Christ, after you
have suffered for a short time, will Himself make you perfect, firm, strong and established. To Him be all power unto the Ages of the Ages! Amen. 1 Peter 5:5-11 WNT
Let’s start with that bold sentence, then go back to the top and consider what Peter specifically reveals. God
will Himself make us perfect, firm, strong and established. The Greek word translated perfect is transliterated katartizō and is connected with make. This is God’s doing, implementing in-depth relationships. Vincent succinctly brings out the meaning:
Make perfect. The root of katartizō means to fit or join together.The
radical notion of the verb is, therefore, adjustment—the putting of all
the parts into right relation and connection. We find it used of mending
the nets (Mt 4:21), and of restoring an erring brother (Gal 6:1); of framing the body and the worlds (Heb 10:5; Heb 11:3); of the union of members in the church (1 Cor 1:10; 2 Cor 13:11). Out of this comes the general sense of perfecting (Mt 21:16; Lk 6:40; 1 Thes 3:10).
Firm—Shall stablish; which is akin at the Greek root to steadfast (1 Peter 5:9), and is the very word used by Christ in his exhortation to Peter, “strengthen thy brethren” (Lk 22:32). Possibly there is a reminiscence of this in Peter’s use of the word here. Compare 1 Thes 3:13; 2 Thes 2:17; Jas 5:8; Rev 3:2.
Strong—Shall strengthen. The Greek word occurs only here in the New Testament. Compare Eph 3:16.
Established—From a foundation. The radical notion of the word is, therefore, to ground securely. It occurs in Mt 7:25, of the house founded on a rock; in Heb 1:10, of laying the foundations of the earth. In Eph 3:18, it is joined with rooted. Vincent’s Word Studies
OK, back to the top.
- In the same
way you younger men must submit to your elders; and all of you must gird
yourselves with humility towards one another, for God sets Himself
against the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Treat one another with respect. Humble men and women readily fit together. God gives grace to the humble.
- Humble yourselves therefore beneath the mighty hand of God, so that at the right time He may set you on high. God disciplines those He loves. We receive God’s discipline, submitting to His hand humbly. The trials of life and death humble us. Persecution is humiliating (1 Peter 4:12-14) and, like Lot, greatly distressed by the immoral conduct of lawless people (2 Peter 2). But, we endure, looking forward to life in the world to come with perspective of eternity.
- Throw the whole of your anxiety upon Him, because He Himself cares for you. We take our anxiety to the throne of grace and leave it there (Heb 4:14-16).
- Curb every passion, and be on the alert. Your great accuser, the Devil, is going about like a roaring lion to see whom he can devour. Curbing
every passion takes good character. The Devil fights dirty. His biggest
weapon is the fear of death. But, Jesus died to render the Devil
powerless over us. Thus, Jesus set us free from the Devil’s bondage (Heb 2:14-15). And,
God delivered us. “It is God who has delivered us out of the dominion
of darkness, and has transferred us into the Kingdom of His dearly-loved
Son, in whom we have our redemption—the forgiveness of our sins” (Col 1:13-14). .
- Withstand him,
firm in your faith; knowing that your brethren in other parts of the
world are passing through just the same experiences. Still, the power of the forces of darkness is formidable. “This
is why you should take God’s whole armor; then you can resist when
things are at their worst and having done everything, you can hold your
ground” (Eph 4:13). http://billbremer.org/let-lord-make-strong/
- And God, the giver
of all grace, who has called you to share His eternal glory, through
Christ, after you have suffered for a short time, will Himself make you
perfect, firm, strong and established.
- To Him be all power unto the Ages of the Ages! Amen. After the regeneration (Mat 19:28), we, with our brothers and sisters will joyfully proclaim: “Hallelujah; Salvation, and glory, and power, belong to our God” (Rev 191b)!
Edited by Bill Bremer on 11/03/2016 at 9:11am
__________________ Bill Bremer Kingdom Relationships http://billbremer.org
billbremer04@yahoo.com
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