February 22, 2012 ©Homer Kizer
Printable, viewable format to see Greek or Hebrew characters
Common Greetings — Divorce ____________ Pharisees came up to him [Jesus] and tested him by
asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any
cause?" He answered, "Have you not read that he who
created them from the beginning made them male
and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his
father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and
the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer
two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined
together, let not man separate." They said to him,
"Why then did Moses command one to give a
certificate of divorce and to send her away?" He said
to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses
allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the
beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever
divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality
[porneia], and marries another, commits adultery."
(Matt 19:3–9 emphasis added) ____________ 1. There are certain passages in the gospels where the Pharisees lack of spiritual
understanding can be easily seen: in their questioning Jesus concerning divorce
is one of these places. But Jesus’ own disciples were equally without
understanding. The disciples said to him, "If such is the case of a man with his wife,
it is better not to marry." But he [Jesus] said to them, "Not everyone
can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there
are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs
who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who
have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of
heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it." (Matt
19:10–12) First, the best rendering of B@D<,\‘—porneia isn’t sexual immorality or
adultery, but “a marriage that shouldn’t have occurred,” or an illegal marriage as
in a man marrying his daughter or his mother or step-mother, or a woman
marrying a man under threat of death. When a marriage occurs which shouldn’t
have occurred, the marriage is void even if it has been consummated. An illegal marriage is also a marriage between an Israelite and a non-Israelite
[a foreign spouse], a situation that occurs spiritually when God gives a second
breath of life to one spouse in an existing marriage, but doesn’t give life to the
other spouse. The one spouse is involuntarily made a spiritual Israelite whereas
the other remains a child of disobedience, a spiritual Gentile. And it is this
situation that the Apostle Paul addressed when he wrote, To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife
should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should
remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the
husband should not divorce his wife. To the rest I say (I, not the
Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she
consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. If any woman
has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with
her, she should not divorce him. (1 Cor 7:10–13 emphasis added) Again, the basis for what Paul wrote is in his understanding of the word
porneia … a marriage that had been legal becomes illegal—as in an Israelite
marrying a foreign spouse—when the one spouse, the man or the woman, is born
of spirit as a son of God and the other is not. Because the marriage had been legal
and was made illegal through no fault of either spouse, if the unbelieving spouse
wishes to remain with the believing spouse, then the marriage is bound as it had
been before. If the unbelieving spouse does not wish to remain with the believing
spouse, the marriage is voided and both are free to remarry, but the believing
spouse is only free to marry another believer. The believing spouse is not free to
leave one illegal marriage and then make another illegal marriage. No truly born of God Christian should even entertain for a moment the idea of
marrying a person who has not also been born of God as a son. However, the
flesh body in which the now-living inner self dwells is often stronger than is the
will of the spiritual infant (i.e., the newly born of God inner self)., and as some of
the remnant of Israel that returned to Jerusalem from Babylonian captivity wed
foreign wives, born-of-God Christians will wed Christians not-yet-born-of-God
and think they do well: On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the
people. And in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite
should ever enter the assembly of God, for they did not meet the
people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against
them to curse them—yet our God turned the curse into a blessing.
As soon as the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all
those of foreign descent. … In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of
Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. And half of their children spoke the
language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of
Judah, but only the language of each people. And I confronted them
and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair.
And I made them take oath in the name of God, saying, "You shall
not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for
your sons or for yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on
account of such women? Among the many nations there was no
king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him
king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to
sin. Shall we then listen to you and do all this great evil and act
treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women?" (Neh
13:1–3, 23–27) About a month ago, I was asked a question about celebrating the so-called
Christian holidays of this world, in particular Christmas and Easter. I have in
times past written about why a Sabbatarian Christian would not celebrate
holidays rooted in paganism: I gave theological and historical reasons for not
doing so. But when a believer is married to a non-believer, or to a not-yet-born-of-God Christian, celebrating the holidays becomes an issue in the marriage that
will end the union; for the believer cannot celebrate, say, Christmas with its
mingling of the sacred [Christ] with the profane [the birthday of the invincible
sun] without openly defiling him or herself as Eve defiled herself and her
husband through eating the mingled fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good
and Evil. The not-yet-born-of-God Christian wife will use, again, Christmas to lay a
guilt trip on her believing husband, using emotional appeals to not deprive their
children celebration of this holiday, to pressure her believing husband into
compromising as Adam compromised his belief to the Lord when he ate the
forbidden fruit Eve offered him. Whenever a Christian mingles the sacred with the profane, the Christian has
defiled him or herself regardless of what words are or are not spoken. For in
mingling the sacred with the profane, belief of God leading to obedience is
polluted with unbelief leading to death … in a realm of absolutes, what has life
cannot also have indwelling death: life cannot coexist with death. Hence, the
fleshly body of every human person at this time was baptized into death in the
days of Noah, this baptism coming from Adam and Eve being driven from the
Garden of Eden. Even the fleshly body of the man Jesus the Nazarene died
physically and was dead, buried in the heart of the earth for three days and three
nights. In addition, the inner self [RLP¬ — psuche or soul] of every human person
born of Adam has been consign to death (cf. Rom 11:32; Matt 8:22) through
disobedience as a son of disobedience (Eph 2:2–3). When a Christian receives the
Holy Spirit [B<,Ø:" ž(4@< — pneuma hagion or breath holy] as a second breath
of life, the breath of God [B<,Ø:" 1,@Ø] in the breath of Christ [B<,Ø:"
OD4FJ@Ø], the inner self of the human person is raised from death [freed from
disobedience], not the fleshly body, which awaits liberation from indwelling sin
[disobedience] and death at the Second Passover liberation of Israel … at the
Second Passover liberation of Israel, the nation to be circumcised-of-heart [with
heart being a euphemistic expression for the inner self], all Christians will be
filled-with and empowered by the breath/spirit of God, thereby ending the
condition that Paul discovered when he did the very things he hated (Rom
7:15–25). At the Second Passover, the fleshly body of a person becomes
theologically invisible: whatever the inner self desires to do, the fleshly body will
do as an obedient wife does the will of her husband. Presently, the openly
expressed or latent hostility that exists (because of the hardness of hearts)
between a man and his wife reveals the status between living inner self of a
human person who has been born of God and the fleshly body in which this living
inner self temporarily dwells. The Apostle Paul’s fleshly members would no more do what he wanted than
the unbelieving wife will do what her believing head desires, with the mingling of
the sacred with the profane in the celebration of worldly holidays being a primary
example. Therefore, only when the unbelieving wife surrenders her will to the will
of her believing husband, or vice versa [the unbelieving husband surrenders his
will to the believing wife in matters concerning God], does what has become an
illegal marriage continue in force as a legal marriage. Hence Paul wrote, “For the
unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is
made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean,
but as it is, they are holy” (1 Cor 7:14) — the unbelieving spouse is made holy
because he or she surrenders his or her will to that of the believing spouse in
theological matters. An Israelite marrying a non-Israelite in marriage is a mingling of the sacred
[the Israelite] with the profane [the non-Israelite] to produce one flesh— The prophet Haggai records, On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of
Darius, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, "Thus
says the LORD of hosts: Ask the priests about the law: 'If someone
carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his
fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it
become holy?'" The priests answered and said, "No." Then Haggai
said, "If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body
touches any of these, does it become unclean?" The priests
answered and said, "It does become unclean." Then Haggai
answered and said, "So is it with this people, and with this nation
before me, declares the LORD, and so with every work of their
hands. And what they offer there is unclean. Now then, consider
from this day onward. Before stone was placed upon stone in the
temple of the LORD, how did you fare? When one came to a heap of
twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine
vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. I struck you and
all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with
hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the LORD. Consider from
this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month.
Since the day that the foundation of the LORD's temple was laid,
consider: Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree,
the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from
this day on I will bless you." (Hag 2:10–19) Because Israel in Samaria and in Judah [the house of Israel and the house of
Judah] had defiled themselves through the mingling of the sacred [YHWH] with
the profane [the queen of heaven], declaring that the queen of heaven was the
consort of the Lord and worshiping her as such, every offering that Israel and
Judah made was polluted as clean food becomes unclean when touched by a
person who is ceremonially defiled. By extension, the worship—the prayers—of a
believing spouse becomes defiled when these prayers are “touched” by unbelief.
Hence, whatever does not proceed from belief, from faith [same word in Greek] is
sin (Rom 14:23). And unless the unwilling spouse submits his or her will to the
believing spouse, those things that are done in the household of the believing
spouse are defiled because they do not proceed from belief/faith, but are a
mingling of the sacred with the profane. Because of the hardness of hearts—the unbelief of even Pharisees and
Sadducees—all of outwardly circumcised Israel was defiled as holy meat would be
defiled by touching the body of a dead person [Israel itself]. And because of the
lawlessness of greater Christendom, beginning in the 1st-Century when Paul
writes of the mystery of lawlessness being already at work (2 Thess 2:7)—because
Christianity defiled itself through accommodations made so that Christianity
would appeal to family-oriented Greek pagans, Christendom died from lack of
breath, the absence of the Holy Spirit, when the Apostle John died (ca. 100–102
CE). Christianity would not again breathe on its own for 1900 years; the Body of
Christ would not breathe on its own until the time of the end when the visions of
Daniel were unsealed so that they were no longer sealed and kept secret. For with
the return of life into the Body of Christ comes understanding that when the Son
of Man, uncovered Head and presently covered-by-grace Body, is revealed or
disrobed (Luke 17:30) at the Second Passover liberation of Israel, predestination
ends … The Apostle Paul wrote, And we know that for those who love God all things work together
for good, for those who are called according to his [God’s] purpose.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed
to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn
among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also
called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom
he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these
things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not
spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also
with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge
against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn?
Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was
raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding
for us. (Rom 8:28–34 emphasis added) A man does not marry his body, but is already one with his body, with the
inner self being the head of the body as a husband is the head of his wife. Thus,
the fleshly body in which a living inner self dwells is to this inner self as a man’s
wife is to the man, a reality that Jesus declared to His disciples but a reality they
were not able to grasp. However Paul understood this reality so it fell to Paul to
deliver this understanding to endtime disciples of Christ Jesus. What Paul doesn’t well explain and what he might not have understood is that
Jesus’ death at Calvary paid the redemption price for the Elect that are
foreknown, predestined, called, justified, and glorified as the Body of Christ (and
hence, one with Christ), but Jesus’ death at Calvary didn’t pay the redemption
price for those human persons who remain sons of disobedience regardless of
whether these persons profess to be Christians or not: Jesus’ death at Calvary
redeemed His Body that is and will always be one with Him, for the inner selves
of those human persons that form His Body (i.e., the inner selves of Christians
who are born of God in this present era, all of whom will be Sabbatarians with
love for their brothers, born and unborn) were foreknown by the Father,
predestined, called, justified and glorified through the indwelling of Christ Jesus
of His breath in which is the breath of God. The above is correct: the inner self that has received a second breath of life in
this present era is glorified through receipt of this second breath of life. The
fleshly body isn’t glorified and won’t be until Christ Jesus returns as King of kings
and Lord of lords. But the inner self as the Body of Christ—because the breath of
Christ dwells inside this living inner self and is therefore the Head of this non-tangible inner self—lives as its glorified Head lives. The death of uncovered firstborns, biological and legal, at the Second
Passover liberation of Israel will pay the redemption price for greater
Christendom … an “uncovered” firstborn, with all firstborns belonging to the
Lord (Ex 13:1–2, 11–15), is a firstborn who does not take the Passover sacraments
of Bread and Wine on the dark portion of the 14th day of Aviv, thereby renewing
the covenant by which Jesus bears the sins for many (Matt 26:26–28), and by
which bleating paschal lambs bore the sins of Israel in Egypt when the death
angel passed over the land in the days of Moses. Because it will not be Jesus’ death at Calvary that redeems unbelieving
Christians but the death of uncovered firstborns worldwide at the Second
Passover, those Christians who will be born of God and born filled with spirit at
the Second Passover were not and are not foreknown, predestined, called,
justified, and glorified in this present era. Yet every one of these Christians that
account for all of greater Christendom will be suddenly and for them,
unexpectedly filled with spirit and will potentially be part of the Bride of Christ
that will marry the Bridegroom at the Wedding Supper. But before these
Christians of greater Christendom can marry Christ as His Bride, they will have to
live in the Affliction as holy ones that keep the commandments and their faith in
Jesus (Rev 14:12)—and this they will not collectively do. Instead, as the nation of
Israel that left Egypt in the days of Moses rebelled against the Lord so that
because of their unbelief none of this nation except for Joshua and Caleb entered
into God’s rest (cf. Num chap 14; Ps 95:10–11; Heb 3:16–4:11, especially Heb
3:19), Christians in greater Christendom, except for the seven named churches
and a single fellowship [unit] of every other denomination or sect [equivalent to
the seven pairs of clean animals and single pair of unclean animals that boarded
the Ark], will perish spiritually during the Affliction, the first 1260 days of the
seven endtime years of tribulation. These Christians will constitute the Apostasy
or great falling away of 2 Thessalonians 2:3. And as the men of Israel numbered
in the census of the second year were replaced virtually man for man by the men
of the children of Israel (cf. Num 1:46; 26:51), the third part of humankind (from
Zech 13:9) will in the Endurance of Jesus—the last 1260 days of the seven
endtime years—replace greater Christendom virtually man for man, with this
third part of humankind being born with spirit when the Holy Spirit is poured out
on all flesh (Joel 2:28) when the kingdom of this world is given to the Son of Man
(Dan 7:9–14; Rev 11:15–18), a onetime event that will never repeat itself. The Bride of Christ is not the Body of Christ, but will be one with Christ Jesus
through marriage … the Body of Christ is already one with Christ through the
indwelling of Christ Jesus so that Christ is the head of the every man that is today
a son of God whereas the head of a wife is her husband. Yes, in the resurrection of
the firstfruits, there will be disciples who are one with Christ through being the
Body of Christ and there will be disciples who will become one with Christ
through marriage just as there will be disciples who are called great and disciples
who are called least (see Matt 5:19) — just as on the fourth day of the Genesis “P”
creation account, there were two great lights created, one to rule the day, heaven,
and one to rule the night, the darkness that is the creation. Paul writes about the Body of Christ: For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the
members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with
Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews
or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many. … But as
it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as
he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As
it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the
hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have
no need of you." On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to
be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we
think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our
unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our
more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed
the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there
may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the
same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer
together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you
are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has
appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third
teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping,
administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are
all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess
gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? (1 Cor
12:12–14, 18–30 emphasis added) Is an Arian Christian of the same body as a Trinitarian Christian, with both
professing the Jesus is Lord, but with the Arian believing that as a created being,
Jesus is not the same—even though He is God—as the Father, whom they believe
created all things? Is the Trinitarian who assigns personhood to the breath of God
[B<,Ø:" 1,@Ø] of the same body as the disciple who is of the Church of God who
believes what the Apostle John wrote, that in the beginning was the Logos [Ò
7`(@H] who was God [1,ÎH] and was with the God [JÎ< 1,`<], and who created
all things made (John 1:1, 3) … Paul identifies the Logos, who was the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (the God of the living — Matt 22:32) as Christ Jesus: For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under
the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into
Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual
food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from
the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were
overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as
examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be
idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat
down to eat and drink and rose up to play." We must not indulge in
sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand
fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of
them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of
them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. (1 Cor 10:1–10) So by what Paul writes, Arians and Trinitarians are not Christians; however,
by what John wrote, they are: Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of
God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been
born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God,
when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love
of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments
are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God
overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the
world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one
who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:1–5) Both Arians and Trinitarians sincerely believe that Jesus is the Christ; yet
neither keep His commandments. Hence, a new category of Christians exist that
did not exist in the 1st-Century: unborn (as in not yet born) sons of God who await
spiritual birth coming to them at the Second Passover libration of Israel. It is
from these Christians that the Bride of Christ will come. A believing man has a head, Christ Jesus. A believing woman has a head,
Christ Jesus. Yet the man still marries the woman in this world, loves her as she
loves him, and these two are one flesh with the man being the head of the woman.
And so it is with Jesus and with Christians during the Millennium, when the Son
of Man reigns over the mental topography of living creatures … because two great
lights are created on the fourth day, the day when the firstfruits will have their
perishable flesh putting on immortality, the light that rules the day will be as
Adam was to his wife whereas the light that rules the spiritually lifeless creation
will be as Eve was to Adam: the great light that rules the day will be Christ, Head
and Body, whereas the great light that rules the creation will be the Bride of
Christ, one with Christ through marriage—and for this reason nations over whom
Jesus has reigned for a Thousand Years will rebel against Him when Satan is
loosed from his chains in the Abyss and goes forth to deceive the four corners of
the world as the serpent deceived Eve. They will rebel as a wife rebels because of
the hardness of human hearts even when circumcised by spirit. Unborn Christians are not predestined to be glorified in the same way that a
marriage made between a man and a woman may fail—and this is what Jesus’
disciples couldn’t fathom. A legal marriage for an Israelite only exists with
another Israelite, but once such a marriage is made, it cannot be broken by
unbelief. * "Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©
2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All
rights reserved."