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Review of Lessons 1-3
This lesson will be a review of lessons 1-3. We will go over some of the content of these lessons by way of actual repeat, and also by way of additional scriptures that are either parallel scriptures or cross reference scriptures. We will also look to the Lord to add fresh revelation to our new foundation.
Scriptures
1Cor 2:6-16 Please read this passage from the Bible as it is too lengthy to write here.
1Cor 2:7
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery (3466: Musterion), even the hidden (613: to conceal away) wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:”
Col 1:25&26
“Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word (3056: logos) of God;
Even the mystery (3466: Musterion) which hath been hid (613: to conceal away) from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest (shown by divine revelation) to his saints:”
John 1:1
“In the beginning was the Word (3056: Logos), and the Word was with (2258:toward) God, and the Word was God.
John 1:4
“In him was life (2222:zoe); and the life was the light (5457: phos: luminousness, to make manifest) of men.
Ephesians 1:18
“The eyes of your understanding (1271: dianoia: imagination) being enlightened (5461: photizo, related to the word phos: to give light); that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.”
Ephesians 4:18
“Having the understanding (1271: dianoia: imagination) darkened, being alienated from the life (2222:zoe: divine life) of God through the ignorance (want of knowledge) that is in them, because of the blindness (hardness) of their heart:”
Discussion of Above Scriptures
Understanding Man’s Creation and Fall
To begin to understand Man’s fall, we need to understand Man’s creation. To understand his creation, we need to understand God’s purpose, for He works everything after the counsel, or purpose, of His own will (Eph 1:1).
To understand purpose, we go back, way back, to the beginning. Two scriptures are especially helpful in understanding the mystery of God’s purpose for mankind. These are Gen 1:26 and John 1:1.
Gen 1:26
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion…”
John 1:1
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Let’s look first at John 1:1 and then we will pursue an understanding of Genesis 1:26.
“Word” in the above scripture is “Logos”. The definition of Logos from the Greek Lexicon is as follows:
3056: Logos – to speak, Intelligence, a word as the expression of that intelligence. Logos, when it refers to discourse, is regarded as the orderly linking and knitting together in connected arrangement of words of the inward thoughts and feelings of the mind. (LA)
So the Logos can be the orderly linking and knitting together of the thoughts. A home builder would call that a “plan” or a “blueprint”. So, in the beginning was the “Plan”.
Doesn’t it make sense that God, as a master builder, would start everything off with a plan, with the PLAN?
False doctrine vs. God doctrine False teachers vs. God teachers
It is important as we approach Scripture that we do not bring our pre-conceived ideas but that we allow the Holy Spirit to conceive His ideas in us as we sit at the gates of His wisdom. Many of you may have a “doctrine” already about Genesis 1:26 and most of you, if you have spent any considerable length of time in church, will certainly have one on John 1:1. But are these “doctrines” or teachings of man or of God?
Let us be careful to lay aside the doctrines of man and enter into the teachings of God. How can you tell the difference?
For one, the doctrines of man lead you to man and the doctrines of God lead you to the Father and the Son. Also, the doctrines of man will eventually contradict themselves in light of further scriptural investigation, so you may be “encouraged” to check with your priest or pastor before you “study too much on your own”.
On the other hand, the doctrines of God become clearer and clearer the more you study and the deeper you dig. The doctrines of man stay in your head and become a stumbling block to your pursuit of God’s passion, while the doctrines of God become a revelation leading to an impartation that will empower you to become like your Father in Grace and Truth.
A true teacher of the Word will equip you with the ability and the tools to study the Word on your own, and then anxiously await your new discoveries that he/she might share in them with you. Not so a false teacher. A false teacher of men’s doctrines jealously guards his source of information, which is usually never the Bible, and may in fact discourage you from getting to deeply into “only one source”, namely, the Bible. A false teacher will try to get you to rely heavily on his “anointing” and will dissuade you from leaning on the Spirit of the only anointed one, Jesus Christ.
False teachers will tell you that if you study the Bible “on your own” that you may fall into deception and confusion. A true teacher of the Word will, again, equip and train you so that you can “study on your own”, because a true teacher knows that the knowledge of God and Christ is so unlimited that the more people there are digging into the Word on their own, the more the Holy One gets unveiled to His hungry ones.
So, let us pretend that we have never been taught by false teachers and, laying aside every hindrance and pre-conception, take a fresh look at John 1:1 and Genesis 1:26.
Ok, back to the Logos, the Plan.
Let’s replace the word ‘Logos’ with the word ‘plan’ in John 1:1 and see how that reads.
“In the beginning was the plan (Logos), and the plan (Logos) was toward (with) God, and the plan (Logos) was God.”
The above rendition of Gen 1:26 is without question accurate to the most common Greek text that we have available to us. The interpretation of this accurate rendition is where we must be very careful. The best way to interpret this is, of course, with other Scripture. Therefore, let’s take a look at some other Scriptures that will help us clarify the interpretation, but first, join me while we listen in on a heavenly conversation:
God, could you please repeat that?
The following conversation between God and some key angels reportedly took place sometime between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:27 in God’s throne room.
“So God, what do you have there in front of you?”
The Plan
“What plan?”
My Plan
“Ok, so what is the plan?”
Me
“Ok God, we understand that it is your plan, but what is the beginning and the end of it?”
I AM
“Ok God, we’re not really following you here, but we can tell you are building or making something pretty cool with that elaborate plan in front of you, what is it going to look like when it is done?”
God
“Are you saying what we think you are saying?”
Yes
“Can we help?”
Sure, let’s make man in our image, and after our likeness, and let them have dominion.
“But God, that would mean you would have to duplicate yourself!”
That’s the Plan!
“So, there is going to be two of you?”
Oh no, many more than that! I am creating and forming my Family. I will have many sons that bear my likeness and glory! This one will just be the first!
“Wow, we gotta see this!”
You shall indeed!
“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh…seen of angels…” (1Tim 3:16)
Scriptural Support
Gen 1:26 “Let us make man in our image (spiritual nature), and after our likeness (soul duplicate), and let them have dominion…”
1John4:2 “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus (name of the Father: character and likeness of God) Christ (image: new spiritual nature) is come in the flesh (the plan (logos) of image and likeness was fulfilled in a man of flesh) is of God…”
1Tim 3:16 “And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness (godlikeness): God was manifest in the flesh (a flesh person became the exact duplicate of the Father in his soul), justified in the Spirit, seen of angels…”
Psalms 82:6 “I have said, Ye are gods (elohims); and all of you are children of the most High.”
John 10:35 “If he called them gods (theos), unto whom the word of God (Theos) came, and the Scripture cannot be broken…”
Col 1:25,26 “…to fulfill the word (Logos: plan) of God; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints…”
Rom 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God…”
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