The Great Forgery: Four Ways to End the Blend
I wish I could say I was the perfect teenager growing up. However, I succumbed to the whims of teenage mischief. I might have on a time or two (maybe more) forged my mother’s signature to let me out of school early. I mean, who needed Geometry? However, too many forged letters can lead to unwelcoming consequences. This true of school and of the church.
Pastors have a habit of forging God’s signature to promises that God did not make (Stanley, 2023). However, it is not only pastors that are forging God’s signature. We as a body of Christ do this to each other as well. This is often not done out of malice; whether it is a pastor or loved one or a friend, this happens because we want to meet the expectations of the person we are serving. However, in this attempt to meet expectations, people do not receive the messages God intended, receive misinformation, and/or misapplication of information. This may result in leaving the body of Christ with confusion, anger, shame, heartache, and more.
Proclaiming Promises
Proclaiming promises of God is a beautiful proclamation when done correctly. Each convenant, Old and New Testament, has its purpose and its promises. Yet, what seems to occur is people, whether pastors or lay people, blend the covenants of God resulting in supplying promises that are not ours.
The Old Testament covenant was God’s covenant with ancient Israel. It was not a covenant with individual people, but with the entire nation. It was a “if I do, then God must” arrangement. When leaders disobeyed God, the entire nation felt the consequences. Ancient Israel knew they were in the will of God when the circumstances were good. Additionally, the Old Testament did not teach or address eternal life. However, the New Testament covenant provided a different arrangement and a new concept: eternal life.
Circumstances were no longer the predicting factor in being right with God in the New Testament. In the New Testament we look to one event: the crucifixion. Through the blood of Jesus, our circumstances no longer determine if God is for or with us. We no longer have an “if, then” arrangement. We now have the promise of eternal live because all was settled on the cross!
The promises in each testament have a purpose. While the Old Testament covenant promises may apply to us, they are not for us (Stanley, 2023). In the New Testament Jesus’ death brought a new covenant, an eternal covenant. When we blend these covenants, we are tempted to judge God’s faithfulness based on our circumstances. But this is an Old Testament way of living. The New Testament way of living allows us to look to the cross and the resurrection so that we may live in eternal promises, not “if,then” promises.
How to End the Blend
1) Study Scripture
Part of a pastor’s duty is to study and share God’s word with us. However, they cannot hide it in our hearts for us. To assess whether we are receiving a promise made to us or for us, we must know God’s Word so that we may “make you [ourselves] wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 3:15). Additionally, we know “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (1 Timothy 3:17). However, we must understand the word to apply the word as God intends.
One caution in studying scripture is we need to be mindful of not choosing just one verse. Teachers, preachers, and other reachers of Christ may be prone to do a one-verse study and provide inappropriate meaning and application of that verse because they did not look at the full context of the verse.
For example, Jeremiah 29:11 is a well-known quoted verse that is often given to teens as they graduate and navigate a new world of freedom. However, reading the entirety of the passage will reveal what occurred before Jeremiah 29:11: seventy years of hardship and suffering. The passage does not mean that we will not have suffering and God will give us the yellow bring road. What this verse is actually stating is that even in the hardship, God is with us, and we do have hope and a future in spite of the hardships.
It is in spending time with God and His word, He reveals himself. To ensure we are receiving and giving what God intended, we must take time to sit with the Father and know his truths in full.
2) Understanding Logos and Rhema
Logos is a Greek noun that appears 330 times in the New Testament. It’s meaning is “word, speech, utterance, or message.” It is the objective truths that God has communicated to us through scripture, Christ, etc. John 1:1 provides clarity for this use, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”
Rhema, on the other hand, is a Greek word referencing when God, the Holy Spirit, speaks personally to us and our hearts often through his word. This is where we may receive insight into a verse personally for us. With that being said, know that anytime we may receive rhema, it will not go against God’s character or his truths. God cannot be divided within himself, so any word He gives us personally will display his heart and character (Revelation 1:8, Mark 3:24).
To ensure we do not blend promises, understanding the objective truths (Logos) of God’s word will be necessary. Additionally, we would be wise to remember that rhema is a personal message to us that may not apply to someone else. Therefore, we must be careful in applying the same truth we received to another, or we may commit spiritual bypass.
3) Recognize and Address Spiritual Bypass
Spiritual bypass may happen in two ways: 1) we do it to ourselves and 2) we do it toward someone. When we commit spiritual bypass toward ourselves, we are willing participants (albeit often unconsciously). We would rather quote the scripture, believe the spiritual mantra, etc., than address the pain we are in. In short stints, spiritual bypass in this form can be a coping skill; however, long-term use can result in depression, delayed grief, etc.
When spiritual bypass is committed toward us though, we are not willing participants. We may be seeking validation or guidance for the pain we are experiencing, only to hear a scripture, platitude, etc., that leaves us feeling dismissed, unheard, shamed, or judged. We may be presented a Hallmark God amid our horror story leaving us with more questions, more doubt, and more pain.
While we may receive spiritual bypass from someone, we may also do this to someone. Whether it is from the pulpit or the people, spiritual bypass can happen. To ensure it does not happen toward us or others, we need to be aware of our own pain, our purpose in speaking the verse or spiritual word, and recognize it is the Holy Spirit’s place to transform someone, not ours. This can be done not only through studying God’s word, but also through prayer.
4) Prayer
Prayer is a powerful spiritual discipline that allows us to enter the Holy of Holies bringing our requests to God (Philippians 4:6-7). No matter the season we are in (i.e. grateful, doubtful, etc.), we can ask for God’s guidance through His word. The words we pray can be spoken in full or the groans of our spirit; either way, God will hear us (Mark 11:24; Romans 8:26).
I remember a time I was struggling with depression and had not picked up my Bible in four months. And, in whatever utterances I had, I asked God to reveal Himself to me. And He did. From that, I learned that I could ask God to reveal himself, and he will do so in a way that I can receive it. Through logos and rhema, God allowed me to experience him in a new healthy way. The same is true for us all. We can all approach God’s throne with our requests in full confidence that God will help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
Even if we experience the letdown of forged promises or dismissal from spiritual bypass, we can pray for God to guide us in how to approach the situation or person to address those matters. Additionally, praying for God’s wisdom as we study his word so that we may see his truths for us will be critical in ending the blending.
Final Thoughts
All God’s promises are truth. However, the old covenant applies to us, it was not written for us. The New Testament heralds in a new promise: eternal life. It is not an “If,then” covenant. It is a personal promise that death and hell have been conquered, and that even in the trouble we face, Jesus is with us. Through prayer, studying scripture, understanding God’s words to and for us, and recognizing the purpose of those words, we can “hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).