The Ecclesiastical Journey
This is to address the guide of the ecclesia, their goal on earth, and to combat human traditional insights of biblical writings. This is in no way to demonize or attack any group that believes the following: papacy, sola scriptura, cessationism, John Nelson’s theory, and anything else dared mentioned. This is not a writing in favor of Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, and Eastern Orthodoxy. I acknowledge each group has an element of truth, but also elements of error.
The Guide of the Ecclesia
The Ecclesia, after the falling away of the unified church, sought after methods to rely heavily on in favor of their personal comfort and preference. Humans have the tendency to use finite and limited resources rather than trusting God (being infinite and trustworthy). This is the main obstacle for every human on earth, including me since we live in a fallen state. But honestly, God has given us a way apart from fallen methods and limited resources. God has brought the Spirit into the world, so that all may come to trust God over any method or system that we hold as trustworthy.
The Roman Catholics are correct in affirming spiritual guidance from leaders, but they distort this by adding the notion of an inerrant Pope and a hierarchy into the church. The Protestants are correct in affirming spiritual guidance from writings of Christian messengers, but they distort this by adding the notion of scriptural inerrancy and scriptural sufficiency. Although I agree these two are correct in refuting one another, they aren’t correct in their methods for the church. The issue of an inerrant Pope is that it denies the reality of human fallibility and limitation of one person over all existing believers. The issue of sole scripture is that it denies the reality of biblical ambiguity and diverse beliefs that came from using this same method (e.g. Baptists, Lutherans, Pentecostals, Methodists, and so on). The Protestants will use 2 Timothy 3:16, 17 to confirm scriptures equip a believer, but 2 Peter 3:16 states that an ignorant and immature man can twist the writings. A Christian is not immune to ignorance or immaturity when handling the Scriptures. This is where the R. Catholics affirm that church leaders are required in giving understanding to the Bible for ignorant men, so they’ll use verses like Phillip aiding the Ethiopian man in fathoming the Jewish Scriptures. But church leaders aren’t always reliable in fathoming Scriptures since they also aren’t immune to ignorance or immaturity. Since we are hundreds of years apart from early church thinking, we certainly will fathom the passages from an impure perspective.
The growth of an average Christian believer is dependent on three sources: the inspired writings, prudent elders (not aged men) of faith, and the greatest of these is the Holy Spirit. The infant or carnal believer is aided by the Scriptures and elders of faith, which brings about environmental maturity; however, these two guides do not generate empowered maturity. The only tutor or guide that brings about true and substantial maturity is God — the Spirit of grace.
“You have received the Lord’s anointing which lives within you, so you require no one to teach you [as primary guides]. But God’s anointing [or inspiration] will teach you all true things without error, so remain in God as you have been taught” (1 John 2:27).
It is written for your understanding and persuasion, “It is neither the one who plants, nor is it the one who waters that give increase, but only God gives growth” (1 Corinthians 3:7). It is not the one who aids as a mature leader or a writing from the first Christians, but God generates maturity in a believer. Of course, there is no implication that we don’t really need aids from others except God. In a way, a plant may be deprived of good soil and watering, but God is still able to bring growth, just with difficulty. God should be the primary guide because this is where maturity remains and is authentic, but if God is secondary to none while the two are primary, the believer is stagnant in growth and cannot decide apart from using them. The infant becomes not only stagnant and dependent, but his maturity becomes subjective to these two things. If he realizes that the writings aren’t inerrant and the leaders were tainted by error in tradition, then he loses faith in some sense. But the Spirit of God builds upon a man’s heart, molding it into maturity that is forever. The guides of these two sources for a believer aren’t primary and aren’t perpetual, but the Spirit lasts forever.
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans 8:14).
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future” (John 16:13).
The Early Church did well without having an official set of Christian writings. This was not their reason or pillar of faith, but the extravagant reality of the Spirit moving through persons, because in the face of all religions, why would they consider the gospel apart from works of power combined with love? Why do we expect people to recognize the gospel truth when there are various religions in their face? There should be other sources like power and love, not just history and philosophical coherency, to guide a broken world into divine life. The doctrine of biblical inerrancy is truly replaceable with the notion of philosophical and historical coherency, prophetic fulfillment, and the living experience of God.
The first Christians and after them depended on God’s Spirit for guidance in the amidst of persecution and heresies, and perhaps sometimes divisions. The Spirit for a mature and mystical believer is guided by two coherent forces. The believer of this kind is empowered by divine wisdom and enlightened by divine revelations. These are the basic components for divine inspiration: moral and revelatory inspiration. The presumed Paul makes this clear:
“I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the [personal] knowledge of God…” (Ephesians 1:17).
The Book of Solomon’s Wisdom gives an interesting pre-Christian perspective or theology (and early church fathers praised this writing):
“We can barely guess what is on earth and discover it by much labor, but who can determine what is in the heavens? Who can know God’s mind unless they are given Wisdom and the Holy Spirit from above” (Wisdom 9:16, 17).
Wisdom is a moral empowerment from God, which is necessary for spiritual maturity. And true revelations are experiential communions with the Divine. It is not limited to one event but it is a continuous event for the saint. Wisdom is not instruction but an empowerment. Instruction exists only in the mind, but wisdom exists in practice. Yes, wisdom can inspire the mind in right philosophy but it also inspires the person in right practice. This is the essence of wisdom. Revelations aren’t to be mistaken with writings that had an revelatory origin, but the latter is no longer living and active. Only the former carries more weight than the latter.
Some have suggested that revelations aren’t necessary, but the Bible does not address every aspect of life, including abortion, pedophilia, and our personal roots of trauma and our manner of thinking. God brings an insight into our hearts, so we may fathom ourselves in a deep way. But also this insight of God is given in relation to know deeply the essence of the Divine. God even reforms our minds when we are blind to bias and fear, but the Bible is incapable of this. The Scriptures cannot give you a precise counsel for complex matters, but the Spirit of counsel will aid us. Some will use the Scriptures to affirm certain practices, but they will twist the verses in their mind. A great example of this is silencing women in church and forbidding divorce in an abusive marriage. Scriptural legalism produces a lack of moral discernment and of mystical growth. Some will use Jesus’ words to forbid divorce in general, because they see divorce as a sin. But divorce is a mere tool that requires just cause and moderation. If someone is in a marriage where their presence is empowering sin or abuse, it would be wise for the person to divorce since they are loving themselves and hindering sin. Loving one’s own is not sinful but valuing one’s own above others is sinful. Since the victim’s presence isn’t bearing fruit for the victim and abuser, then it is best to separate. The abuser worsens in attitude and the victim worsens in psychological and social well-being.
Without even using verses from a book that is mostly applied to their times, you can give counsel from a reliable source: divine wisdom and revelatory experience. The author of James points to the notion of celestial wisdom and John points to the notion of God’s Spirit. If this is the case, why then should we hinder others from walking in wisdom and revelations? A scriptural legalist is basing their moral judgement on carnal assumptions on the reading of Scriptures without rightly applying them. A mystical believer is basing their moral judgement on the Spirit of truth and wisdom.
A mystical believer judges everything from a spiritual source which is not tangible but intangible. A mystical believer draws wisdom from the Divine Spirit; he gathers counsel and insight from the Divine Spirit. He only knows and embraces the ways of God by the same Spirit, but those of flesh do not comprehend them because they operate from a distinct source. This is why scriptural legalism becomes manifest. Even the apostle Paul says this:
“This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ” (First Corinthians 2:13–16).
Nowhere in the passage does it claim that a believer, at the state of maturity, judges things from the reading of Scriptures. It is a believer inspired by the Spirit, taught directly of God (John 6:45; 1 Thessalonians 4:9). The term “carnal” in Corinthians implies spiritual immaturity, but “spiritual” implies maturity in ethics, doctrine, and faith (mysticism). Again, some will challenge this reading by the use of “do not go beyond what is written” (1 Corinthians 4:6). However, Paul was charging the Corinthians this command and not us, because they were spiritually immature as I noted before. Hebrews 6:1–3 says “go beyond the basic teachings of Christ and come into maturity”. If a believer of inerrancy goes by Scripture, he is to absorb this command and apply it. But, as for me, it is quite axiomatic that God intends for us to mature in every way, not to be hindered by distorted views of these letters. The Spirit is meant to be our foremost guide in setting wisdom and truth as a foundation, not the Bible which was written in many centuries before us, and mostly addressing their problems and not us. I am not saying we can’t draw important truths like Jesus’ status, the gospel message, and the church’s formation of worship, but not every statement in the Bible is factual or practical in our daily affairs.
The Goal of the Ecclesia
The main purpose of living is to love others and love God, which is based from right relationships and proper welfare. But there are other goals to expand the impact of love. Love can be expanded practically by equipping the ecclesia to maturity, discipling the nations, manifesting the powers of God, and knowing God in deep intimacy.
Some to their detriment will use the ceasing of revelatory gifts (e.g. prophecy, tongues, knowledge) written in 1 Corinthians 13:8–10 to support that the canonical scriptures replace any revelatory knowledge, and suggest “perfect” is alluding to the Bible. If it was alluding to the Bible, then Paul would have stated “perfect scriptures” to avoid ambiguity. Since there is confusion, the Bible is not perfect. In Koine Greek, “perfect” often refers to maturity, not inerrancy. And the Bible isn’t a revelatory experience like tongues, prophecy, or mystical knowledge, so the biblical canon being alluded to is doubtful. What Paul was saying is when the time of perfection or maturity comes, then the gifts will cease. What is coming is the church’s maturity in retaining a face-to-face experience of Jesus, unity (or union) of the faith and the powers of the age to come.
“11Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11–13).
“…in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,…” (Hebrews 6:4, 5).
Some argue that since the Bible has been perfected, we as the church have matured, except every faction of church disagrees on secondary and essential doctrines (e.g. baptism, eschatology, the doctrine of hell, ecclesiology, nature of God, PSA theory). Since we disagree even the essential doctrines, we have not attained unity of the faith. Since many do not know God by face-to-face experience, then the church is still not mature. Since we still operate in the gifts, we haven’t matured for the attainment of the powers yet to come. The spiritual gifts and offices are replaced by the mature things of the church — the powers, the unity, and deep mysticism. If we have actually matured and unified, not only do you remove apostles and prophets, but also teachers and pastors from this logical equation.
Final Thoughts
Since Christ came back in 70/80 AD, then what are we waiting for if this happened? If Christ came back, why is there no transformation and instant judgement? There are two reasons: First, God delegated authority to mankind (Adam the representative) to take care of the earth, so what makes you assume that God will contradict His nature from the beginning (Genesis 2:15; Psalm 115:16)? Second, Christ gave us the task to preach the gospel and disciple nations. Christ is a God of synergy or cooperation (Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:19). If God took all control, then He steals responsibility from us and we become morally sluggish without purpose. We would be stripped from maturity, purpose, and duty. So God is not coming any time soon until we as the church arise from infancy to maturity, so that creation may be liberated from its bondage (Romans 8:19–23). That is the purpose of the powers of the age to come. This also the purpose of sanctification and theosis. We will gain the powers to defy death, telepathically commune (no language barriers), control weather patterns, inspire communities of love, and walk in deep revelatory knowledge of God.
“Heaven must take Him in until the time comes for the restoration of all things, which God announced long ago through His holy prophets” (Acts 3:21).
