3. Finding Simplicity

Covering 1 Thessalonians Chapters 1-4:

We are able to state the scope of the Gospel in two simple injunctions, (1) Believe into Jesus, and (2) Love one another. Yet it takes the writing of books and books to search out the Bible depths of meaning found inside of each.

As I tackle Gospel Word for 1 Thessalonians, I am confronted with that complexity. I want my organizational pattern to fit the many Gospel Verses as they are, without forcing any. Yet, making my pattern to be the Ten Ruling Verses does not provide a neat and tidy layout. Adding “Covenant” and “Life” helps, but there are other significant topics. I have spent some time wrestling with the problem, and I think I have come to a solution.

God Visible. The problem was what I have called the eleventh and twelfth ruling verses, we are the body of Christ, we drink of the same Spirit. That is the visible expression of the Lord Jesus, but what about the Father? I realized that, by rights, Ephesians 2:19-22 must be added as an essential part of “the eleventh and twelfth” ruling verses, the House of God, the visible expression of the Father. Of truth, Ephesians 4:16, the sharing from every part, is also the visible expression of the Father. Maybe the body of Christ is eleven and the House of God twelve.

But what do I call that? God Visible? Incarnation? The word “Completion” is too vague, most would not connect with its meaning. Things were getting very complex until they suddenly reduced, once again, to simplicity.

What Kingdom Really Is. I thought for a bit that I should do the chapters containing the ruling verses first, so that I could know how they are categories of Gospel Word – except they’re not “categories,” not really. I couldn’t find any advantage in that approach. You see, there are actually three categories of Gospel Word, Covenant, Life, and Kingdom. Or we could say it this way, Gospel Word is Life, and Life has two aspects, one inward and the other outward, Covenant and Kingdom.

Then I realized that the same thing was happening here as it was when I was trying to write the Patterns of the Kingdom. My pattern was about the ordering of society, but my words were a rough painting of the Father’s Face. Kingdom is God our Father, making Himself visible to all.

Life, Covenant, and Kingdom. Each of the ten Ruling Verses contain each of these three: Life, Covenant, and Kingdom, in full. Here is an example – John 17:3. This is age-unfolding LIFE, to know the One True God (Kingdom – God made visible) and Jesus Christ whom He has sent (Covenant, written on our hearts).

The goal of Salvation has two parts, knowing God and knowing one another, filled with all the fulness of God and committed life together. Yet to be “saved” is to be made just like the Lord Jesus, which is also the end meaning of the Covenant, what we are on the inside. And Life is every next step we take with the Father sharing our lives with us, inwardly and outwardly.

Changing Our Definition. We end up with six categories, or fifteen, with each of the ten ruling verses as a “category.” The eleventh and twelfth now come under the title of “Kingdom.” Kingdom is the only word that can be used, yet it’s meaning, out from the world, is all wrong. My hope is that the Gospel Comments will force a powerful and complete change to the definition given to Kingdom. Kingdom, Apocalypse, and Incarnation are the same thing, God made visible, to be known as He is by all, Love among us as the Father’s Face.

Definitions are a very important category, and I want to underline just how much Speaking Christ fills our Bibles. I will not put two categories together, rather, I may reference Life, Covenant, or Kingdom in the Ruling Verses comments.

Falling in Love with the Church. Finally, I realize that I do not know enough as of yet to write the “Gospel Word” explanation for the beginning chapter. I may even have to come back later to write the smaller “Gospel Word” explanation for James. What I will do is write something significant towards explaining Gospel Word in each lesson. After awhile, I might have some idea what it is. I must also set myself not to try to include everything in a passage that could be called Gospel Word. If it’s not clear to me, I will just remove the bullet point and go on to the next.

We can now proceed into 1 Thessalonians. And the truth is, “Finding Simplicity” is a great title for 1 Thessalonians as well. Paul presents a very personal picture of falling in love with the Church.

The Impartation of Life. • 4 Knowing you were already spoken to completion by God, beloved brothers and sisters. Verse 4 is Romans 8:30, the Ruling Verse of the Bible, already finished before anything begins.

• 5 For our gospel did not come into you inside of word only, but also inside of power and inside of Spirit Devoted (b), and inside of much full assurance and confidence, just as you are aware of what we were among you for your sake. • 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word inside of many pressures of travail [c] with joy of Spirit Devoted, 7 such that you became an example to all those believing… The first two chapters of 1 Thessalonians is a beautiful depiction of the impartation of Life from Paul to precious believers in Jesus inside of the travail of bringing forth Life.

Shaped by the Human. James said that the Word of Life, the very Seed of God, is implanted inside of us. Paul presents here and elsewhere that the individual believers through whom that Word of Life comes impart themselves also with the Seed of God. Paul presents a God who shapes His own Word by the human vessel through whom that Word comes. As Paul said elsewhere, “You follow me as I follow Christ.” This was not Paul being a “vicar,” a substitute; rather, it was a synergeoing together of Paul and the Father such that Paul’s love for these brethren was the Love of God shared with him.

Then, that same quality of imparting the personalness of the human carriers of that Word continued “such that you became an example to others,” a further impartation.

Synergeoing with God. Paul does use the word “synergeoing” elsewhere to describe this relationship of “working together” with God. For that reason we can see a definition of that concept in verse 5. The Gospel comes as Word (synergeoing with God) inside of power, inside of Spirit Devoted, inside of full assurance of faith, and inside of “what we are among you.”

It is the last point that makes the coming of Gospel Word truly real, which then excludes much of “stadium” evangelism, as such a thing contains NO personal impartation over time. We realize now how often Paul describes the entrance of Gospel Word into believers in Jesus. When we know that such Word comes out from God’s desire, as James said, we take Paul’s many descriptions seriously.

Life as the Image of the Father. • Ruling Verse 1: Our Salvation is full and complete from the start. Our path is to learn of Christ Jesus, to be taught of the Father, that which is already True.

• Life: The Gospel Word that implants Life into us comes inside of four things together: inside of power, inside of the Devoted Spirit, inside of full assurance of faith, and inside of the impartation of the human carrying that Word. All four are necessary for the generation of Life.

• Life: The goal of the Gospel is the revelation of the Father through humans together, that is, as our love for one another. We who receive the Word also receive the example and ways (image) of the one speaking that Word into us. This passage of Gospel Word is likened to travail in bringing forth life. We then impart our own souls with that same Word to others.

Understanding Opposition. • 10 And to abide inside of His Son out from the heavens, whom He raised out from the dead, Jesus, the One continuously and actively drawing us to Himself out of the coming angry opposition [d].

Suddenly, I understand God’s meaning for “wrath,” translated here as “angry opposition,” the response of humans to Jesus. God is reciprocal, and He responds to reciprocity. – Be it unto me according to Your word. – Be it unto you according to your faith. David said this, “To the twisted, You will show Yourself twisted.” This does not mean that God Himself is twisted; it means that people draw out from God what they are and what they want.

God’s Position. A number of months later, Paul will describe God’s real position towards all. – How that God was inside of Christ reconciling and reconnecting the world-cosmos to Himself, not counting to them their false steps [not knowing in His mind any sin or disconnection] (2 Corinthians 5:19). Nonetheless, humans retain the authority. The hostility begins with humans against God; through their “faith,” then, they draw from God the same hostility, for the present season.

Now, the topic is to abide inside of Jesus, which is Ruling Verse 10. It will be over forty years before John writes John Chapters 14 & 15. John states that those who will not abide inside of Jesus are “taken as branches to be burned.” This is the same picture as the reciprocity of angry opposition.

Safe inside of Jesus. This is NOT a threat, “Prove to Me that you love Me or I will fry you,” as many claim. It is simply a picture of Salvation – RUN into Jesus, and He will keep you safe.

The One continuously and actively drawing us to Himself. Even “running into Jesus” is an act of reciprocity, for He is the initiator of all, actively drawing us to Himself. Of course, the word “drawing us to Himself” carries the same connotation as “Follow Me.” It means the continuous and active impartation of Jesus to us, making us to be just like Himself. This is all part of “symmorphosed with His image.” This is very critical for us now, for we indeed are living in the time of the greatest angry opposition against God in human history. Jesus keeps us safe inside of Himself.

Abide in Me. Even though symmorphy and image are implied throughout this chapter thus far, we will stay with “abide inside of Jesus.” 

• Ruling Verse 10: All humans are at war against God in angry opposition, for no reason whatsoever, as Jesus said. We run into Jesus, completely safe inside of Him, through faith, through our confidence that He is True. We are able to do that because He is always drawing us to Himself.

Our understanding of Gospel Word is increasing out from our text. Think of the four things through which Gospel Word comes. Two are of God, power, and the Devoted Spirit who carries the impartation of God’s own soul. Two are of the human speakers, full assurance of faith and the impartation of their own soul. All these synergeo together.

You Had Become Beloved. • 7 But we were gentle in the midst of you, as a nursing mother would cherish her own children. 8 So, yearning over you, we were well-pleased to have imparted to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own souls, because you had become beloved to us.

• 19 Who, then, is our hope, or joy, or crown of boasting and exultation? Is it not even you, in the face of our Lord Jesus, inside of His presence? 20 For you are our glory and our joy.

I want to consider these two together, even though they are in two different categories, for these two lines draw closely together the impartation of life with being members of one another, the eleventh and twelfth ruling verses, which is now part of Kingdom.

Imparting Image. Wow! “Imparted to you our own souls,” even as the Spirit of God is imparting the Father’s own soul. The impartation of the Gospel is extraordinarily personal, inside of great tenderness and kindness. Then Paul uses the metaphors of both mother and father, for Gospel Word is not just the implanting of seed, but also the conveyance of image. – “This is who you are, little one, this is what we do.”

I am and have been a father and I have watched the mother of our children for years, and I know that in both, I am seeing the very Heart and Face of our God shared with us. 1 Thessalonians 1 & 2 carry the first impartation of Paul’s gospel into the human experience, God as He is.

Imparting Our Own Souls with God. In just the same way, then, that our own children are the Joy and reward of our lives, so also are our brothers and sisters inside of Christ. Just as we impart ourselves to our own children, so we impart ourselves to them and they to us.

• Life: As Gospel Word comes through us to others, it does much more than generate Life. With the power of the Devoted Spirit, it carries the image of God’s own Soul, and with our faith, it carries the image of our souls. With God, we impart our own souls to our brethren, even as they do to us.

• Kingdom: We know that we are inside of the revelation of the Father, that is, the Kingdom, when the faces of our brothers and sisters have become as Jesus to us. Their great weight of Value has become our reward and our Joy.

Love inside of Devotion. • 12 May the Lord now make you to increase and to abound in love into one another, and into all, just as also we love into you, • 13 and into strengthening your hearts blameless inside of devotion inside the presence of our God and Father inside of the immediate presence of our Lord Jesus, with all His devoted ones.

• 3 For God’s desire [h] is that you be made Devoted [by God], that you stay away from sexual immorality; 4 that you be aware how each of you should win his own vessel inside of purity, devotion, and honor. – 7 For God has not called us upon impurity, but inside of devotion.

• 9 Now, concerning brotherly love, you have no need for me to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God into loving one another.

Two Large Arenas of Word. Part of these verses is Ruling Verse 8, Love one another. However, “Love one another” is a Kingdom reality. In fact, it is the flow of power as the Kingdom, God among us.

When I was laboring over my “categories,” I thought that I had placed a lot of stuff into “Covenant.” At the same time, there were many things, like the principles of completion and the pathways of power that had no place to fit. Kingdom is also very large, containing many things, and thus justifies leaving Covenant, its counterpart, as the same. The pathways of power are a Kingdom concept, the power of the Devoted Spirit moving inside the heavens through our authority. Reciprocity is the Means of Devotion, how God operates inside Himself and towards all as a Living Being.

Defining Devotion. I have just added a further explanation of why I chose the word “devotion” to take the place of “holiness” in the JSV. ~ “Holy” is not wrong, yet it places our eyes upon our own human performance. The English word “devotion” carries no religious baggage and is the exact meaning of the Greek halig. “Devotion” places our eyes fully upon God, the One to whom we are devoted. Devotion is our reciprocity to God, returning to Him what He first gives to us. ~

I need to add that as a definition, but I had to reduce it for space. The longer version is in the “Notes on Translation.” Definition: Devotion places our eyes upon God, the One to whom we are devoted. It is our reciprocity to God, returning to Him what He first gives to us.

Taught of God. Even though I have four verses marked, these result in only two comments. Paul goes back and forth between Devotion and Love One Another, for Devotion is the Reciprocity of God by which Love actually happens.

Then Devotion is further defined as the very opposite of sexual immorality. Sexual immorality is devotion to the base object of the beastly self. I will not expand on such a thing, but one can comprehend how such worship so demeans the Glory of God intended to be revealed through humans. Devotion is ruled by this absolute fact, that God alone removes sin. Iniquity, as we will see in 2 Thessalonians 2, is humans trying to do what God alone must do.

Love comes from God teaching us personally of Himself.

How Love Increases. • Ruling Verse 8: We love one another only as God personally teaches us of Himself. God alone is Love, and we are able to love only inside the continual acknowledgement of the Father sharing with us our relationships together inside the Church. Then, as we acknowledge God as Love among us, so our love for one another increases and abounds.

Paul is giving us a large definition of the Means of Devotion inside of Kingdom, that is, the revelation of the Father. Before we write our comment, let’s spell out what he describes. In 3:13, Paul says that we are to do something, that is, strengthen our hearts blameless, inside a specific place, clearly a description of the Most Devoted Place in the Tabernacle, and thus Ruling Verse 6. Yet Paul expands on the meaning of that Place, that it is the presence of God our Father.

Desire to Life. Inside of that Most Devoted Place, Paul also puts Jesus, His immediate presence enveloping all our brethren. – I and the children whom You have given Me. To strengthen one’s heart blameless is an action of faith that God is True. It is not an action of works, trying to do something we cannot do.

Then, God’s Desire is positioned as the opposite of immoral sexual desire. This is not referencing the marriage bed inside of devotion to God, but rather that utterly selfish act of momentary pleasure, rejecting commitment, and in disregard of and as the ruination of all others. In complete opposition, God’s Desire results in Life for others, inside of commitment, in everlasting pleasure and in life laid down and love poured out.

The Path of Life. Our devotion to God, our reciprocal return of His Devotion to us, then becomes God’s way to enter creation as LIFE. The Means of Devotion is God’s path of Desire, His Life as Gospel Word given for others, bringing Life to all.

• Kingdom: The Gospel continually references Jesus present here and now, that all Christians live inside the presence of God, inside the Most Devoted (See Hebrews 10:21-22). Here inside of God, we strengthen our hearts blameless, for God alone removes sin; God alone makes us pure. Our part is to believe and to place all of ourselves, even our sin and our shame, through faith into God. Our devotion to God is then the reciprocal return to the Father of God’s Devotion first given to us. This reciprocal Devotion is God’s Path through us to become Life to all, the Kingdom.

Finding Definitions. Now, here is the difficult one. I intend to ignore part of it. My purpose is Gospel Word that imparts Life, and not to participate with the serpent, “what do you think God means.”

• 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also God will carry those who have died, in joint-togetherness with Him, through Jesus. –16 because the Lord Himself, in a great shout, in the voice of an archangel, and in the trumpet of God, will descend out from heaven… 17 …connecting with the Lord into the air; • and so, we will always be jointly-together with the Lord [sharing the same form].

Nonetheless, this is a definition passage. When Paul says that we ARE the Body of Christ, he is speaking literally. We are just like Jesus ONLY if we see Him as He is. Then, the problem with a Biblical definition of “heaven” is that there is none.

The Unveiling. Let’s just go straight into the definitions.

• Definition: Heaven is not a geographical location somewhere else. Heaven is the realm of spirit, vitally connected to earth in all ways. All humans live in heaven and earth together at the same time. Our human spirit is “heaven” and the physical part of our body is “earth.” When the two are split apart, death happens (See James 2:26). In like manner, “air” is a metaphor of spirit, a picture of the heavens in which all live.

• Definition: Paul asserts that we together are the literal body of the Lord Jesus, His Spirit-Physic form forever towards all earthly and all heavenly. The phrase “down out from heaven,” does not reference a separated Jesus, for all believers, with earth bodies or not, are jointly together with Him, sharing the same form. It references, rather, the Unveiling of Jesus as He is.

The Word Transformed. Just as James has gone from being, in our minds “alongside of” the Gospel, to being the very meaning of the Gospel, so Paul has changed also. Paul has gone from being someone who said, “My gospel,” to being, in full impact to us, the apostolic authority of God sent by the Lord Jesus to His Church.

We are also seeing, by demonstration, how the Ruling Verses of the Bible rule how we think about every single verse. I am finally able to explain the Ruling Verse, Romans 8:28-30, as one vast concept, LIFE – entering us as Covenant and becoming through us Kingdom. The entire three verses are like an electrical dynamo, providing a place for every verse in the Bible to “discharge” its meaning inside of POWER.

The Ruling Verse. I will assume your intimate knowledge of Romans 8:28-30. It begins and ends with Kingdom. Synergeoing with God making all good is the end purpose of God for humans, the action of the Kingdom. Glory is the Father made visible. Thus the envelope, the perimeter, the purpose and place of everything is the Father free to be Himself towards all.

The beginning of the entrance of God, then, is the Pro-Thesis, God’s set forth Purpose from the beginning, Christ Jesus, the Covenant, the entrance of all Gospel Word. This Covenant, Word spoken into us, comes out from God Himself, His Pro-Knowing, and is seized inside of and directed by His Pro-Determination, to become that SPARK of Life, the center of everything, already SYMMORPHOSED.

Symmorphosed. That shared form with Jesus, made personal as each one of us, is established before all as the image and likeness of God, the very face of Jesus Christ. That shared form begins as personal to each, but it quickly multiplies into many, a family together, brethren just like the Lord Jesus Christ, many together as one, symmorphosed with His entire Glorious Body. Here is where we bring in “those who love God,” called and calling, for this is God’s passageway as LIFE into creation, symmorphosed with His death, sharing with Jesus in joining others with the knowledge of God, AND WE ALSO.

“Already justified” is Covenant, Jesus Sent into us. “"Already glorified" is Kingdom, the Father Revealed.