The "You Will Not Die" Lie

Ever since the serpent tempted Eve by saying - "You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:4-5), Satan has been subtly planting in the human subconscious the tempting idea that we can get away with sneakily flouting the commands of God, the laws of nature, or the rules of civilized society.

In Deuteronomy 29:18-20, Moses warned the Israelites - "lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns away this day from the Lord our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that produces bitter poison; and it happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, 'I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart,' so that the drunken and the sober are destroyed together. The Lord will not pardon him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book shall lie on him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under the sky." This is a clear warning against an individual's harboring an idea that he can calmly and peacefully violate the laws of God, nature, or society, and nobody will know the difference. Instead, Moses said this notion is unforgivable and will bring calamity both on that person or persons and on those around them. Even our most private actions have repercussions on society!

Moses concluded his admonition to the Israelites thusly - "I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants; to love the Lord your God, to obey His voice, and to cling to him; for He is your life, and the length of your days; that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them" {Deuteronomy 30:19-20). Don't fool yourself by thinking that you can outsmart God: the results can be fatal, both for you and for those around you!

Even just a casual, careless action such as leaving a door open can invite bees, mosquitos or other bugs inside that might sting or bite you or others. Yielding to the urge to fill our stomachs every mealtime very easily leads to obesity ("He who indulges... bulges!"), which in turn can lead to diabetes and amputation, cancer, heart attack or stroke, hip or knee failure, etc. This is why the Church encourages fasting - especially during Lent - to tame the stomach's passions. The sensation of a full stomach reaches the brain only after the stomach is full, so the secret is to stop eating while you're still hungry: you won't die: our society has such a great surplus of food that we have to throw away even some of what's donated to charity. So don't worry about dying of starvation! And close the doors!

In chapters 6 and 7 of the book of Joshua, we read about the Israelites marching around Jericho for seven days and capturing the city when its walls collapsed. They were warned not to take any plunder for themselves, but to destroy everything except to consecrate any gold or silver they found to the Sanctuary. Achan, however, cleverly decided he could hide some plunder from God and the Israelites: "when I saw among the plunder a beautiful Babylonian robe, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it" (Joshua 7:21). This caused the tribes of Israel to suffer a humiliating defeat at the hands of an inferior military force. It should be a warning for us not to think that our superior military will protect us even while we violate the laws of God, nature, and civilized society.

The Lord doesn't issue His commandments and laws because He's some kind of spoilsport that doesn't want us to have any fun: the psalmist David wrote about Him - "Who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies; Who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Psalm 103:5). He knows what's best for us, and He will satisfy our desire with things that are good for us.

But people persist in yielding to the serpent's temptation of Eve: "You will not die! Go ahead and indulge in illicit sex! Have another drink... and another! You can steal that item while nobody's looking! You can get away with speeding 50 m.p.h. in a 35 m.p.h. zone! You can park next to that fire hydrant, or in some other no-parking zone... just this once, you won't get caught!" And then the results "just happen" - AIDS, a conviction or loss of a job for theft, a car accident, a speeding or parking ticket. Those old laws of God, nature, and society just seem to be so persistent, don't they?

The story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 is another example of people trying to fool God. It didn't work: they dropped dead in front of Saint Peter. Sometimes we have to say hard things to people who are faking their Christianity: Saint Paul had to confront the Christians in Corinth because of incest taking place among them: "For though I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. For I see that my letter made you sorry, though just for a while. I now rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you were made sorry to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly way, that you might suffer loss by us in nothing. For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world works death" (2 Corinthians 7:8-10).

Note in the above Scripture that St. Paul differentiates between two kinds of "I'm sorry." A person can feel sorry for being caught: it's a form of shame for one's bad deeds being made public. But the good kind of feeling sorry is being "made sorry to repentance." This kind is "godly sorrow [that] works repentance to salvation" - and that's a good thing! We can't fool God by just saying, "I'm sorry," and expect to be forgiven, even when we fully intend to keep on doing the same old thing. Real, godly sorrow is repentance, which means turning away from sinnong and toward doing what is good and right.

Lent is a time not only for contolling the passions of the stomach, but all of the passions of the flesh and the spirit, especially the temptation that "You will not die! - you can get away with it just this one time (and maybe the next... and the next). Let us really and truly repent of yielding to those urges, and turn away from them, not just feel sorry about being caught!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 18 Mar. 2017.)

Koinonia: Communion, Community and Fellowship

"The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2). This verse aptly describes passing along the Gospel from one generation of faithful and capable believers to the next generation. What is it that we pass along?

"The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" (1 Cor. 10:16). This is the most important meaning of koinonia in the New Testament because it is when we commune in the Body and Blood of Christ that we become the Church, the Body of Christ on earth:

"For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread. When he had given thanks, He broke it, and said, 'Take, eat. This is My body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of Me.' In the same way, he also took the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of Me'" (1 Cor 11:23-25).

It should be very clear that "This is My body... This cup is the new covenant in My blood." When we partake of communion, we take His very Body and Blood, and thereby we are united with Christ. Thus communion is the very real, physical foundation for Christian community and fellowship. Second, by repeating this, it keeps in our memory the saving act of Christ on the Cross.

There's another important element in this context that we have in common: in verse 23 we read - "that which also I delivered to you..." and in verse 2 - "hold firm the traditions, even as I delivered them to you." The Greek verb for "deliver" is "paradidomi" - literally to "transmit" or "pass along"; and the noun "tradition" is "paradosis" in Greek, or "that which is transmitted or passed along." St. Paul teaches us here that we must hold firm to what binds us together in the fellowship or communion of the Body and Blood of Christ. It was "passed along" at first orally, then in writing: "So then, brothers, stand firm, and hold the traditions which you were taught by us, whether by word, or by letter" (2 Thes. 2:15). Tradition is both oral and written. In a semi-literate culture such as in the first-century church, much of what holds it together is oral songs and stories that are memorized and repeated over and over, shared and passed along from one generation to the next.

So the next aspect of koinonia is "community" or "common, shared life." In Romans 15:26-27 we read, "For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution (koinonia) for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings."

Also, "By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution (koinonia) for them and for all others" (2 Cor. 9:13). The context here is that St. Paul is encouraging the Corinthian believers to voluntary give aid for the church in Macedonia - "So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction. The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Cor. 9:5-7). Again, this assumes private ownership of property, not communal ownership or forced communism.

Writing to the Hebrew Christians, St. Paul says, "Do not neglect to do good and to share (koinonia) what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God" (Heb. 13:6).

But living in community requires responsibility for oneself - "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. But let each man test his own work, and then he will take pride in himself and not in his neighbor. For each man must bear his own burden" (Gal. 6:2,4-5). While we ought to care for someone who is unable to care for himself, it is each person's own primary responsibility for himself and his family. Also: "But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel" (1 Tim, 5:8). Just as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, there may be some who "fake it," pretending to share while they only want to "take it," not give. St. Paul warned against this: "For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: 'If a man will not work, neither shall he eat.' We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies" (2 Thes. 3:10-11).

Thirdly, koinonia is "fellowship" - 1 Cor. 1:9 tells us, "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship (koinonia) of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." Jesus Christ is the foundation of our fellowship. The Early Church experienced real fellowship: "They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship (koinonia), in the breaking of bread, and prayer" (Acts 2:42). How did they do this? "All who believed were together, and had all things in common. They were selling their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need" (Acts 2:44-45). The word for "common" is "koinos" in Greek, from the same root as koinonia. It is important to note here that the verb tense "were selling" indicates a continuing, incomplete or unperfected action: the first disciples didn't immediately give up all of their possessions: the story of Ananias and Sapphira tells us their right to continue owning private property was kept intact, their fatal problem was lying about giving to the Church the full price of the property they sold.

Act 4:32 repeats this practice: "And the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul. And not one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own. But they had all things common." Again, this was a gradual, unperfected action: "Nor was there anyone needy among them; for all who were owners of lands or houses were selling them, and were bringing the proceeds of the things which had been sold, and were placing them beside the feet of the apostles; and they were distributing to each, to the degree that anyone had need" (Act 4:34-35, EMTV).

Writing to the church in Ephesus, St. Paul tells of the ministry God gave him "...to bring to light what is the fellowship (koinonia) of the mystery which from eternity has been hidden in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ" (Eph. 3:9). The Apostle Paul thanked God for the Philippian believers - "for your fellowship (koinonia) in furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now" (Phil. 1:5). And finally, looking forward to his martyrdom, St. Paul writes, "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship (koinonia) of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death; if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead" (Phil. 3:10-11).

Thus we see the scarlet thread of koinonia woven throughout the New Testament, in the lives of the Apostles and the Early Church. May we become sharers of this Good News!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 04 Mar. 2017.)