We are continuing in our study of prayer as part of the PPOG or Predestination Eph 1:3-5; Rom 8:29; for the purpose of determining just how and what we should pray for. At the moment we are examining Paul's prayers and we have seen in that the major focus in his prayers has been for them to appropriate by Grace the spiritual resources that God has provided and advance in God's plan for their lives.
In this segment, we are examining Paul and Timothy's prayer in Col 1:9-12; where Paul is praying for the believer's spiritual growth.
9- Because of this, since the day we heard Epaphras' report we have not stopped praying for you asking that you would be completely filled up with the knowledge of God the Father's intent in the sphere of wisdom and spiritual understanding.
10- to the end that you would conduct yourselves with conduct becoming the Lord to please Him completely while being prolific by divinely good activities and growing in
the knowledge of God,
11- because of the omnipotence empowering you in accordance with the power of God's glory for maximum perseverance and patience, accompanied by joy
12- Constantly being thankful to the Father, who has qualified us for a share of the assigned inheritance of the saints by means of the light.
The word translated "qualified" is the aorist active participle of the Greek word "hikanoo" which means to "make competent for" or to "qualify one for" or to be "sufficient or adequate for".
We have seen how God qualifies the believer at the point of their salvation through their position in union with TLJC.
This position is "in light" or "by means of light".
Believers are children of light Eph 5:8; One must be a "child of light' in order to conduct their life as a child of light.
God rescued believers out of darkness at the moment of their salvation by Grace through Faith alone in TLJC alone and transferred to the sphere of his Beloved Son Col 1:13; Acts 26:18–20;
A discussion of the believer in light occurs in Eph 5:8-9;
Eph 5:8 - You were formally darkness “skotos “ (refers to one’s previous unregenerate status in the slave market of sin), but now you are light in the Lord “phos “(union with Christ as a new spiritual species) walk Greek word“ peripateo “(lifestyle produced by behavior patterns and character traits) as children of light (analogy for momentum in the spiritual life inside the PPOG).
Eph 5:9; - (Because the fruit of light “ karpos + phos” (production in the Christian walk from the source of divine viewpoint under the mentorship of the Holy Spirit) is produced (This passage is an ellipsis and the verb is missing "is produced" is added for clarity) in the sphere of goodness (agathos) (divine good; that which is profitable, beneficial, virtuous; the fulfillment of the plan of God), and in the sphere of righteousness “dikaios” (refers to the integrity of God and the believer's capacity from the application of Bible Doctrine), and in the sphere of truth “ aletheia” (doctrine in the believer's stream of consciousness)
Divine good production is the fruit that results from continuing in the spiritual advance all the way to spiritual maturity.
“Goodness” or “Divine good” which is the fulfillment of the PPOG, is associated with the means of achieving that objective.
“righteousness,” a component of the integrity of God which is built in the believer as capacity from the application of Bible Doctrine and
“truth” which refers to “epignosis” or spirit taught doctrine in the believer's soul.
All of this is accomplished within an environment of light or spiritual enlightment und the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit that promotes spiritual growth:
The purposes for natural light were established in Genesis 1:14; To divide the day from the night, to designate signs, seasons, days, and years, and photosynthesis.
In the spiritual life “light” speaks of the status quo of spirituality made possible through acknowledging known sin and executed by mans of the filling of the Holy Spirit.
The three spiritual skills enable the believer to grow in grace and accumulate truth in the stream of consciousness.
The three spiritual skills are:
The filling of the Holy Spirit is the first spiritual skill and also the first power option in the believer's spiritual life. Without the filling of the Spirit the believer does not have the power to live the Christian way of life.
It is the filling of the Spirit that converts human I.Q. into spiritual I.Q., so that we have equality to learn spiritual phenomena. The spiritual I.Q., provided by our Mentor, is the equal opportunity under divine control of the spiritual birth and the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit.
This God-given equality is based on at least forty benefits that were received at salvation.
The second spiritual skill which is also the second power option is the metabolized doctrine circulating in the believer's stream of consciousness through the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit.
The more the believer learns doctrine, the more doctrine will be circulating in their stream of consciousness, which has seven compartments, (1) the frame of reference, (2) the memory center, (3) vocabulary storage, (4) categorical storage, (5) the conscience, (6) the momentum department, and (7) the wisdom department.
The third spiritual skill is the problem-solving devices deployed in the soul. From the combination of the first two power options comes the execution of the predesigned plan of God, beginning with the deployment of problem-solving devices in the soul. The believer can then meet any situation in life and solve any problems in the privacy of their own soul through their own personal application of Bible Doctrine under the mentor ministry of God the Holy Spirit in the privacy of their own personal priesthood.
This advance in the awareness of what God has done for the believer motivates the believer to want to learn more about God. 1John 4:19;
The end result is spiritual maturity, described by the Greek word “pleroma “ which means the fullness of blessing from God, which is the fulfillment of the plan of God for the believer's life which occurs to the maximum when the believer is in spiritual maturity with it's cognitive invincibility derived from maximum metabolized Bible Doctrine in the believer's thinking. Phil 4:13;
The concept of the believer's Spiritual growth "in light” can be compared to the process of natural growth of plants through the process called photosynthesis which also occurs "in light"
Green plants using the process of photosynthesis take,
Light energy, which corresponds to the filling of the Holy Spirit plus spiritual IQ from the Human Spirit (Grace Apparatus for Spiritual Perception or GASP) in the believer...
is used to convert through photosynthesis -->corresponding to the the mentorship of the Holy Spirit in the believer...
water, which corresponds to Bible Doctrine in the believer's soul...
carbon dioxide, which corresponds to the believer's volitional decision to reject the lie of the Kosmic system...
and minerals; which corresponds to the believer's motivation from reciprocal love for God...
into oxygen which corresponds to maximum doctrine in the believer's thinking.
Without photosynthesis which corresponds to spiritual growth... the earth’s atmosphere would be depleted of oxygen which corresponds to divine viewpoint thinking...
All living cells convert food into energy and structural components necessary for life (comparable to the Grace Apparatus for Spiritual Perception);
if plant photosynthesis were to stop corresponding to the spiritual advance of positive believers,
most living things would disappear from the earth in a few years which is also true spiritually as confirmed by the events of the Tribulation and why it must be shortened. Matt 24:22;
The light of the application of Bible Doctrine is converted into long-term memory traces, which result in the believer functioning in paths of righteousness, Psa 23:3;
Just as plants produce fruit from light, so does the believer who advances in spiritual growth by means of the light.
The fruit produced in the believer is divine good and is characterized by maximum glorification of God and occupation with the Person of Christ.
Eph 5:9; - (Because the fruit of light “ karpos + phos” (production in the Christian walk from the source of divine viewpoint under the mentorship of the Holy Spirit) is produced (This passage is an ellipsis and the verb is missing "is produced" is added for clarity) in the sphere of goodness (agathos) (divine good; that which is profitable, beneficial, virtuous; the fulfillment of the plan of God), and in the sphere of righteousness “dikaios” (refers to the integrity of God and capacity righteousness from Bible Doctrine in the believer ), and in the sphere of truth “ aletheia” (doctrine in the believer's stream of consciousness)
Eph 5:10; KJV is a better translation- "Proving"or Demonstrating what is acceptable to the Lord.
Once the believer advances to spiritual maturity he begins to demonstrate what is pleasing to the Lord. That demonstration has to do with the production of the fruit described in verse 9.
The word translated “trying to prove" (NASB) or "proving" (KJV) ” is the present active indicative of the Greek verb "dokimazo" which means to be approved after examination and trial; to examine critically. To examine with a view toward making an evaluation of the quality, character, worth, and significance of something.
The same word is used in Rom 12:2; where it is translated "prove"
This is where the idea of proving one’s salvation by “showing your fruits” is revealed as a heresy. Spiritual fruit or production is the result of spiritual growth. Once spiritual maturity is attained then the believer with positive volition automatically demonstrates what is acceptable to the Lord.
No demonstration is possible without spiritual growth and no spiritual growth is possible without salvation.
The present tense with the indicative mood indicates that the action of demonstrating that which is pleasing to the Lord occurs simultaneously with the action of the main verb.
The main verb is found in verse 9. It is the verb added by the ellipsis which defines the qualities produced by " light".
We have established that the "fruit of light" is the divine viewpoint of the adult spiritual life. Mature believers produce this fruit by having thoughts, making decisions, and taking actions based on their maximum knowledge of truth.
(A right thing done in a right way for the right reason at the right time)
In the process they simultaneously demonstrate that which is pleasing to the Lord.
The active voice indicates that the fruit of divine good produces the action by demonstrating acceptable behavior patterns and character traits from a lifestyle based on consistent application of Bible Doctrine.
The Indicative mood means this is a statement of biblical fact.
It is not really the mature believer themselves that demonstrates what is pleasing to the Lord instead it is God the Holy Spirit working with the Bible Doctrine in the believer with positive volition which produces the fruit of divine viewpoint thinking which provides the demonstration.
(Believers are the branch TLJC is the vine and production comes from the vine. The branch simply holds the fruit.)
The subject of the main verb in verse 9 is “the fruit of light", and represents divine viewpoint.
Thus the fruit produced is described as goodness, the believer's fulfilling of the plan of God in the advance to pleroma, righteousness which is motivated by reciprocal love for God, and truth, the believer's advance by the PMA of Bible doctrine.
Light, or spirituality, is the environment in which divine viewpoint is produced and includes the filling of the Holy Spirit and His mentorship through the Grace Apparatus for Spiritual Perception.
The mature believer by means of grace produces the fruit of light under the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.
The divine viewpoint expressed in the "sphere of light" becomes a demonstration of those things that are pleasing to the Lord.
Col 1:9-12;
9- Because of this, since the day we heard Epaphras' report we have not stopped praying for you asking that you would be completely filled up with the knowledge of God the Father's intent in the sphere of wisdom and spiritual understanding.
10- to the end that you would conduct yourselves with conduct becoming the Lord to please Him completely while being prolific by divinely good activities and growing in
the knowledge of God,
11- because of the omnipotence empowering you in accordance with the power of God's glory for maximum perseverance and patience, accompanied by joy
12- Constantly being thankful to the Father, who has qualified us for a share of the assigned inheritance of the saints by means of the light.