Class Notes: 11/17/2010

To stay on course, believers must simultaneously advance in Reciprocal Love and Bible Doctrine


In our study we have seen that the basis for all true love is God's love. This makes our love a response to his love. This response is called reciprocal love.

Reciprocal love expresses the mutual love relationship between God and the Church Age believer under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit whereby the believer responds to the perfect love of God with Bible Doctrine under the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit.

Last time we were discussing God's grace recovery procedure for believers when they fail. They are to simply name their sins to God; the result is forgiveness of sins, the exit from the cosmic system, the recovery of the filling of the Spirit, and the resumption of the spiritual life.

Last time we concluded with the following principles:
No rebound means no filling of the Spirit and therefore no spirituality.
No rebound means no spiritual life or no life under the power of the Holy Spirit.
No rebound means sin nature control of our soul.
No rebound means false doctrine in the soul, which means garbage in the subconscious
No rebound means three arrogance skills take over the believer's life.
No rebound means the human good and evil of Christian degeneracy.

By rejecting rebound the believer becomes the enemy of the Cross, Phil 3:18; and the enemy of God, James 4:4;

The believer becomes psychotic or double-minded, James 4:8; Under the control of the OSN, Rom 8:7; 1Cor 3:1-3; A disciple of the Devil, 1John 3:8;

The believer is driven off course from grace, Gal 5:4; becomes a tortured and unstable soul, 2 Pet 2:7-8, 14; and shipwrecked, 1Tim 1:19;

Without rebound there is no spirituality Eph 5:18; and no spiritual life Gal 5:16,18,25;
There is no fellowship with God. That means no reciprocity or reciprocal love for God.

Without rebound no believer can abandon their own agenda at the door of hope; therefore, without rebound, no believer can enter the adult spiritual life of virtue-love.

The believer who fails to use rebound becomes a loser because they fail to use the only recovery procedure that God has provided.

We saw in 1John 1:7; that we have fellowship when we are functional in the spiritual life. The Bible describes fellowship in four categories:

Fellowship is a Bible teaching situation between a pastor and his congregation as described in 1John 1:3a;

The believer has fellowship with God the Holy Spirit when filled with the Spirit.

Fellowship with God the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, 1John 1:3b;
Christian fellowship contributes to rapport with God.

Rapport with God must precede rapport with people.

1Cor 1:9; "God is faithful, through Whom we have been called into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord."

2Cor 13:14; "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you."

1John 2:5; "But whoever keeps His word, in Him the love for God has been attained."

As a result of this there can be fellowship between believers who are simultaneously in fellowship with God.

Reciprocal love and doctrine are the motivation for the spiritual life, Eph 3:16-17, 19a; 2Thes 3:5;

The objectives that exist on the high ground of spiritual maturity are occupation with Christ and the fullness of blessing from God (pleroma". These two areas comprise the highest point of the spiritual life and they merge to form maximum glorification of God because at that point God is free to convey maximum grace to the believer without compromising his integrity.

God is free to convey what was set aside for the believer in eternity past. Eph 1:3; The righteousness and justice of God approve of the conveyance from the Love of God that is executed through the grace of God.

In the advance, motivation from reciprocal love for God and doctrine must go together, if we are going to reach the high ground of spiritual maturity.

Both objectives are related to the mentorship and doctrinal teaching of God the Holy Spirit.

The principle of John 14:26; along with Eph 3:17a; "that Christ may be at home in your hearts by means of doctrine;" Eph 3:19a; "and get to know the love of Christ, which goes beyond academic knowledge," and, 2Thes 3:5; "And may the Lord direct your hearts to the love for God, and to the staying power of Christ by means of the spiritual life pioneered by our Lord."

The motivation of reciprocal love results in occupation with Christ that is the first strategic objective of our spiritual life that is described in Eph 3:17; as "Christ residing in your hearts" or stream of consciousness.

The function of reciprocal love for God becomes the status of the fullness of blessing from God or "pleroma" as described in Eph 3:19; "that you may be filled up with all the fullness of God."

In this passage, the Greek word translated "fullness" is "pleroma" ."Pleroma" demands simultaneous function of metabolized doctrine and motivation from reciprocal love for God.

If the believer fails to take in doctrine on a consistent basis or if they fail to apply the doctrine they have learned as the response of reciprocal love for God, then both are destroyed.

Doctrine is destroyed for lack of motivational love. Motivational love is destroyed for lack of doctrine in the soul.

Believers will not persist long enough to learn sufficient doctrine to advance in the spiritual life unless they have motivational love for God.

Bible doctrine only works if you have the right motivation. Reciprocal love for God is the right motivation for consistent intake of doctrine.

The believer who alleges that "doctrine doesn't work" is an example of a believer who has not chosen to persist in doctrine from the motivation of reciprocal love for God.

We see from this that there is a tandem advance to the highest and best of the spiritual life and both are enabled by God the Holy Spirit.

He is our mentor in teaching us doctrine and from that teaching of doctrine, we learn of God's love for us in eternity past, in time, and at the point of our physical death.

From our cognizance of the doctrine that reveals God's love for us, we develop reciprocal love motivation that causes us persist in learning doctrine.

This results in two advancing columns in our soul, that God has provided for the attainment of the high ground of maximum glorification of God.

These two columns are the dynamics of our spiritual life. One column is a system of motivation and the other column is a system of thinking from doctrine.

Maximum glorification of God includes the winner believer with maximum Bible doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness and the invisible hero who is motivated by reciprocal love for God.

The columns are designed to protect their mutual flank. Reciprocal love motivation protects the mutual flank of advancing Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine cannot advance successfully unless it is protected by reciprocal love for God. Doctrine without the right motivation will end up the disaster of some form of pseudo- spirituality

The mutual flank demands simultaneous advance because doctrine without reciprocal love motivation fails to pass the categories of testing that are necessary for blessing, resulting in discouragement or the rejection of rebound as a problem solving device.


A believer with a compromised the mutual flank will suffer discipline and be miserable and it can lead to compromise to the point where the believer loses out on the spiritual life completely.

Reciprocal love motivation without doctrine becomes a system of religious emotionalism. Doctrine without reciprocal love motivation results in legalism.

Therefore, doctrine and reciprocity must advance together to reach the high ground of the spiritual life until they merge into maximum glorification of God.

Doctrine and reciprocal love merge on the high ground to glorify God in both the appeal trial of Satan and in the function of serving our Lord under the principle that Jesus Christ controls history.

This merger is the individual impact of the winner believer in the Church Age as a member of the royal family of God.

Eph 3:16, "that He may give you on the basis of the riches of His glory that you might become strong with power through the personal agency of the Spirit in our inner being,"

"That you might become strong" is the result of the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit teaching the believer Bible doctrine.

The Church Age believer, through the power and ministry of God the Holy Spirit, advances to a personal sense of destiny that is the first tactical objective and the starting point of the push to the high ground of spiritual maturity.

"With power" refers to the power related to God and the spiritual life. The power is the simultaneous advance of the two columns. The power is not the power of Bible doctrine alone or the power of reciprocal love motivation alone.

"In our inner being" refers to our stream of consciousness or our thought life.

God the Holy Spirit teaches us the "all things" of John 14:26; when we are filled with the Holy Spirit per the divine mandate of Eph 5:18. Along with teaching us doctrine, God the Holy Spirit motivates personal love for God in our soul. Phil 2:13; Gal 5:22;

The believer receives the filling of the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation. When the believer sins, he loses the filling of the Spirit and the sin nature overruns the command post of the soul. The only solution is the application of the recovery procedure of 1John 1:9.

Rejection of this divinely provided recovery procedure results in perpetual OSN control of the believer's soul and continual punishment until the believer who persists in sinning dies the sin face-to-face with death.

During the interim, the believer who persists in functioning under the control of the OSN is overcome by the four horsemen of apostasy: emotional revolt of the soul, permanent negative volition, blackout of the soul, and scar tissue of the soul.

Eph 3:17, "that Christ may be at home in your hearts through doctrine, when you have become firmly rooted and have become established in a secure place in virtue-love,"

Perception of pertinent doctrine is a part of reciprocity or personal love for Christ.
"When you have become firmly rooted" is a reference to basic doctrine related to reciprocal love for God.

The secure place is the high ground of spiritual maturity. Being established in a secure place is the result of the fulfillment of reciprocity, having that permanent love motivation for your advance.

Eph 3:18; "may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth,"

We have four impersonal substantives in this verse that cannot be identified without knowing something in the context to which they relate. They relate to the immediate context, that has to do with the doctrine of reciprocity.

Width is the ten problem solving devices deployed on the FLOT line of the soul.

Length is the two power options that combine in synergy to form the ten problem solving devices.

Height is the execution of the protocol plan of God that results in the believer becoming a winner or invisible hero.

Depth is the divine initiative of antecedent grace in eternity past providing every believer with their very own unique portfolio of invisible assets.

Eph 3:19; "and get to know the love of Christ which goes beyond academic knowledge, that you may be filled up resulting in all the fullness of blessing from the source of God."

We should get to know the love of Christ because our Lord Jesus Christ is the revelation of the integrity of God.

The ingressive aorist tense indicates the beginning of an action and is translated "get to know." This is also an infinitive of command.

Eph 3:20; "Now to Him who is able to do infinitely more than all we ask or think, on the basis of the power that keeps working in us,"

Eph 3:21, "to Him the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus with reference to all generations of this unique dispensation. Amen.

Another passage that discusses this is "1John 4:19; "We love because He first loved us."

Believers should love God because God first loved us, but this does not automatically happen with all believers.

In eternity past God knew each and every one of us and He loved each and every one of us, and His love for us was not diminished even though He knew everyone of our sins. Therefore, it is important for us to understand this as it relates to the spiritual life of the Church Age.

No matter what happens to us in the form of difficulty, heartache, or tragedy, we are here for a special purpose. As we meet the problems of life with the power of the spiritual life, it brings us to a personal sense of destiny.

"We" refers to the believer, who has reached a personal sense of destiny and is advancing toward the high ground of spiritual maturity

The word "He" refers to God. The fact there is no direct object after the word "love" makes this very dramatic. It emphasizes God without ever mentioning Him. The construction makes this is a dramatic Greek idiom.

The object of God's love is the human race in general, but in the context, more specifically, the object is believers.

We respond to God's love with reciprocal love for God.

The gnomic present tense of the Greek verb "agapo" (translated "love") describes a state or condition that perpetually exists. This indicates virtue and integrity in God's love as a part of the spiritual life and exists in all generations of human history, that is both amplified and intensified in the Church age.

We love because God loved us. Now we have the opportunity of recognizing what He did with our sins and failures and loving Him because He first loved us.

The love of God is parlayed into the love for God, when we learn what our spiritual life is all about.

Divine love is not a matter of attraction, but of capacity from integrity. Hence, God's love has perfect, eternal capacity from His divine essence, and we respond with reciprocal love in time.

This is our soul capacity. Soul capacity for virtue-love includes: persistence in the filling of the Holy Spirit and the use of rebound when necessary, and continual perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine, so that we duplicate the spiritual life pioneered by our Lord Jesus Christ during his unglorified humanity.

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