Class Notes: 3/4/2009

The Doctrine of Separation continued....2Thes 3:6; 2Cor 6:17; 2Tim 3:5


We are presently discussing The Doctrine of Separation that is the system for protecting one's spiritual life when dealing with those who are living in the kosmic system. that is found in 2Thes 3:6;2Cor 6:17; and 2Tim 3:5;

The Greek words that are used in these passages for this command are:

"Stello" that means to avoid." aphorizo" that means to be separated, and "apotrepo" that means to turn away from.

In 2Thes 3:6 Paul states it as a direct command and in 2Cor 6:17 and 2Tim 3:5 the Greek words are in the imperative mood of command.

Separation is the technique of mentally switching from personal love to unconditional integrity love or of physically separating in order to deal with those who are persistently living in the kosmic system.

We are presently examining the passage in Rom 12:1-3 where the process of separation from the kosmos is discussed.

Our expanded translation is:

Rom 12:2; Stop being manipulated by popular opinion but be transformed by the renovation of your thinking so that you may confirm what the will of God is, namely, divine good produced by divine viewpoint from maximum doctrine.

v3; I say through the grace that has been given to me to everyone who is among you, stop thinking of self in terms of arrogant self-centeredness beyond normal self awareness, but think clearly and logically from a sound mind so as not to be deceived by visual and rhetorical illusions as God has assigned to each one of us a standard of thinking from rules and principles contained in the doctrines of Scripture.

Last time we left of with Dr. C. I. Scofield's summary of the kosmos that is found in a footnote at Rev 13:8; in the New American Standard version of his Schofield Study Bible. On page 1787:

World (Greek "kosmos"): In the sense of the present world system, the ethically bad sense of the word refers to the order or arrangement under which Satan has organized the world of unbelieving mankind upon his Kosmic principles of force, greed, selfishness, ambition, and pleasure that are described in 2Tim 3:1-5;

Satan and his kosmos are the enemy of God and endeavor to prevent believers from doing the will of God advancing in his plan. This is shown in (Matt 4:8-9; John 12:31; John 14:30; John 18:36; Eph 2:2-3; Eph 6:12;).

The world system is imposing and powerful. It is often outwardly religious, scientific, cultured, and elegant; but, is seething with national and commercial rivalries and ambitions, It is only maintained in any real crisis by tyranny and force, and is dominated by satanic principles.

In 1John 2:15 John states that anyone who "loves the kosmos" does not have the "love of the Father."

In this passage, he uses "the protasis of a third class condition"…. maybe it's true for you or maybe not…. It introduces the conditional sentence using the third class condition of "if" "If anyone loves the world.

The apodosis then follows with the conclusion that when a person "loves the world" the "love of the Father is not in them."

The reason for a person's love of the world is explained in the next verse…

1John 2:16; because all that is in the world, the lust from the flesh (internal lust patterns of the sinful nature), the lust from the eyes (external stimulation), and the arrogant pattern of life (behavior patterns associated with the arrogance and hatred complexes of the kosmic system), comes not from the Father but from the world (kosmos).

v. 17; In fact, the world (kosmos) and its lusts will pass away, but anyone who executes the will of God keeps residing forever.

The Execution of the "will of God" is expressed in two ways and is summarized by John in: 1John 3:23; This is God's commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ (pisteuo: positive volition at Gospel-hearing), and that we love (agape: unconditional love) each other, just as He commanded us.

The will of God for the unbeliever is that they believe in TLJC It is not the desire of God that any should perish: 1Tim 2:4;

Peter also presents this in 2Pet 3:9; God keeps on being patient toward us, not decreeing that any should perish (eternal sentence to the lake of fire at the great white throne judgment) but that all (the human race) should come to repentance (metanoeo): to change one's mind about Jesus as the Christ).

The will of God for the believer is that they advance in their spiritual growth that results in developing the capacity to personally love God and unconditionally love others.

John's letter is directed toward the believers who are admonished as little children to be on guard against the temptations presented by the kosmos as they continue their spiritual advance.

The believer who withstands and overcomes these temptations and advances to spiritual maturity will "reside forever," a phrase that makes reference to the resurrection body that will be decorated as described in Rev 2:7,10-11,17,26; and Rev 3:5,12,21;

Believers must therefore learn to separate from those influences that would cause them to deviate from the absolute principles of the divine standard and keep them from receiving the rewards that are associated with escrow blessings in the eternal state. Rev 3:11;

Separation is therefore necessary under a number of circumstances presented by the kosmos and those who promote it's ideas and lifestyle.

Peter informs believers who were once part of the kosmos and practicing in it's reversionism about the persecution they will receive from those they had previously associated with after they have separated from it in 1Pet 4:3-4;

When circumstances in life change, it causes a person without doctrine to react and enter into self-centeredness that can be expressed by a number of lust patterns.

The person expects to restore the happiness that the changed circumstances have destroyed by engaging in the desires of the lust patterns, but this frantic search for happiness simply enters them into a sequence of events that increases their frustration that never actually produces the desired happiness.

As the soul devolves into this self-destructive cycle the attempts to acquire happiness take on ever-increasing levels of degeneracy that are the expression of an unrestrained OSN.

Rom 13:13-14; discuss this. Verse 14 explains the solution to the problems that are described in verse 13. To "put on the Lord Jesus Christ" is idiomatic for spiritual growth that arrays the soul with the thinking of Christ that is acquired by learning the Word of God.

In order for this process to be effective the believer must refrain from the sins that are mentioned as well any others. All sins are preceded by thoughts that place the believer under the control of the OSN's lust patterns.

The power of the Word of God under the filling of the Holy Spirit and function inside the PPOG is the only means whereby the believer has the power to extricate themselves from the control of the OSN and to stifle the desires of the lust patterns of their OSN. This is described in Gal 5:16;

Because of the fall of Adam, the OSN is encoded into the DNA of every cell of the human body and each person's soul is inseparably united with this body until physical death or the exit resurrection.

Because of this on our own, with our own strength, we are all incapable of withstanding the constant assaults from the OSN which is why we must focus on the only solution by "putting on TLJC". Rom 6:6-11;

This is how believer abstains from doing these things and is separated at least mentally from those who persist in the kosmic lifestyle and it's degeneracy.

Objectivity toward one's weaknesses should motivate a believer to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit and doctrine in their soul to avoid situations that would expose them to temptations from the weaknesses of their OSN.

It is also important to avoid those who obviously do not have control of their lust patterns:

1Cor 5:9; I wrote to you in my epistle (a previous noncanonical letter to Corinth) not to associate with immoral people (pornos: sexual promiscuity).

v10 I did not at all mean with the immoral people of the world (unbelievers), or the covetous (pleonektes: those with materialism lust), and swindlers (harpax: to steal money or property by force, fraud, or deceit), or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world.

There is no way to avoid those in the world because believers are in it but not of it, but believer's are provided with a system that includes the doctrine of separation that protects them from the evil of the world. John 17:15-16;

1Cor 5:11; But now I write to you not to associate with anyone who calls himself a fellow believer if he should be sexually promiscuous (pornos), or in materialism lust (pleonektes), or an idolater, or a reviler (loidoros: those who verbally & maliciously denigrate another's reputation through the public lie), or a drunkard (methusos: a drunkard; Rom 13:13; syn., 1 Pet 4:3;), or a swindler (harpax) do not even eat with such a person.

v12 What do I have to do with judging those outside the church (unbelievers)? Do you not judge those who are within the church (believers are to evaluate their situation and when necessary separate from fellow believers who are guilty of the sins listed in the previous verse).

v14 Those that are without, God judges. "Remove from among yourselves the evildoer (in this case, the church member guilty of incest, as described in 1Cor 5:1).

This command to separate is quoted from God's mandate to Israel in Deut 13:5; Deut 17:7,12; Deut 21:21;Deut 22:21;




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