A Devotional Study of the Living Word of God

Psalm 119:97 I wonder sometimes about our relationship to the Word of God, if we are not loving the Law and we say; “I love Jesus” would God consider that a lie? Well, not if we could remove the whole epistle of 1 John. Especially 1 John 2:3-11.

Good Morning

God is not complicated, He has not buried His word so that He or His Word cannot be searched out, but there is an in depth element to search for truth. If we involve ourselves in ministry and I hope we do, it does not take long to see that many people, young and elderly are confused about biblical principles of the Word of God. They seem to have a knowledge of God, understand that they are saved, but seeing God in their personal life is hard for them to comprehend. We can hear them say; I am saved so why go any further? I suppose that is a good question, but if we allow ourself to think this way, it is the same to say, well; “I'm alive so why go any further than that?” And, there are people like that, too! But, God did not bring us into the world and give us a body of flesh to do nothing with, nor did He send His Son into the world and allow us to be saved through His Son's Blood to do nothing with being born again, either! Now, the point! There are two Greek words to consider. One is epignosis and the other is gnosis these are almost the same in meaning but very much different in application. All of us have epignosis it is the same as our English word, “knowledge” and with simple knowledge we try to understand God. Also we study long and hard and we apply ourselves to the wisdoms of the world and gain an education. Even this wisdom is nothing more than understanding the principles of learning and has little to do with biblical study. The only way to have a solid knowledge of biblical truth is to have gnosis or as the Bible describes this word; “spiritual knowledge or spiritual wisdom” In fact; another theme of the Book of Romans is “gnosis” the word is found at least eleven times. Romans 1:9, 11; 2:29; 7:6, 14; 8: 4, 5, 6; 12:1, 11 and 15:27, also note John 4:23 and 24. Each of these verses translates the word gnosis as the word “spiritual” or “spirit”. So, if you are not in the Spirit while you study, you will not gain spiritual wisdom and go from the study confused and discouraged..

Romans 2

Romans 2:17-18 We should remember that the apostle writes to the Jews and includes the gentiles, but he is not showing favoritism to them. He is in these passages going to conclude that the Jews are as guilty before God as the rest of the world. The law given to Moses, they do not rely on, but they do boast, they even claim to know (epignosis) His will and they give approval of the excellent things of His Word.

Romans 2:19-28 He will also say that they feel confident to guide the spiritually blind, know how to instruct the foolish, able to teach the young, that they even have a form of knowledge (epignosis), they know the law. But he says that they do the same as the unlearned. They steal, commit adultery, worship idols, rob the temple treasury, dishonor God, break the law of true circumcision and judge wrongly. Outwardly, they look holy, but are not practical in biblical holiness, they are guilty, like the gentile.

Romans 2:29 True Judaism is an inward work of the Spirit (gnosis), just as it is for those gentiles who are willing to lay aside from the heart a knowledge of God for a personal Spiritual experience with God. Whose praise is not of knowing the letter of the Law, but a praise from God Himself because the Spirit confirms that the heart is sanctified in Truth. (Justification, Sanctification and Glorification).