Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy approaches Bible teaching with a passion for getting the basic doctrines explained so that the individual can understand them and then apply them to circumstances in their life. These basic and important lessons are nestled in a framework of history and progression of revelation from the Bible so the whole of Scripture can be applied to your physical and spiritual life.
Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
NT Framework - How absolute is Absolute Sovereignty?
When you take a characteristic of God and apply mans rational thoughts to it, does this end very well?
More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com
This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).
Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament Framework. Today a smaller, bite-sized piece from the larger lesson. We hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 2:Does anybody know what docetism means? From the Greek doceo? It means illusion. So the ancient view of Jesus' humanity being simply an illusion, that's the idea. And modern extreme Calvinism. I don't mean to step on anybody's toes, but watch, because these presuppositions, they seep into everything and you have to unearth these and find them, otherwise you may be beholding to some of these and not knowing it right. You pick these things up like you pick up gum on your shoe. You don't even realize it till later, and they're sticky, they're hard to get off, they're a mess. So watch what happens here.
Speaker 2:Presupposition again God is the pure ideal, just like neoplatonic idea of a projection of God, this ultimate ideal. And he? But look at this, there's something added here he is the only reality. Well, if he's the only reality, then everything down here is just what An illusion. It's just an illusion. That's the key to these two views. The conclusion of this view was that, well, jesus, he only appeared to be human. He wasn't really human, his human form was only an illusion. Now, most held this because they viewed him as so divine. They said well, he can't be human, he's so holy or divine, he's so God. So everything of his humanity was just an illusion. Okay.
Speaker 2:Now extreme Calvinism. Why do I say this is similar? It's similar because in extreme Calvinism the sovereignty of God is so great that history is determined and human freedom is really just an illusion. I mean, you know their view. I mean, all extreme Calvinists would say, no, there's no such thing as free will. They might discuss things like you know, possibly we're free agents, but they would never say we have free choice or free will, right? They are violently opposed to that free will concept. Why are they so opposed to that? Well, because God's sovereign. I mean, if you hold a free will, you're rejecting God's sovereignty. This is the way they think. And in their view then all of history is totally determined. Well, in that view, do we really have any say in any matter at all? I mean, no, it's already totally determined. So if you're sitting there right now thinking about what we're saying or listening or going to sleep, that was all just determined, okay, by God sovereignly. And they try to talk around it, I know and try to explain, it gets really complicated discussions in their books. But to try to somehow basically just talk around it to satisfy people intellectually that well, there's something there and this really works or something, but it's really just a lot of hot air and talk. History is totally determined in this view, and so any concept of you having free will or freedom or making genuine choices is really just an illusion, and that's why I link this concept to ancient Docetism about Christ's humanity.
Speaker 2:But Docetism doesn't explain how the Word was made flesh. Let's look at 1 John 4.2. One of the early tests for orthodoxy was does the person, the teacher or the prophet, say that Christ has come in the flesh? If they denied it, they were not a true teacher or prophet. So 1 John 4, verse 1, says Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world, and by this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. I mean, was it just an illusion? Was his human form just an illusion, or is this verse saying that he actually came in human flesh? See, but there were a lot of people in the first century who were already denying this. This is probably Gnosticism or pre-Gnostic ideas, which developed later into what was called Docetism. So these were popular views at the time, and so this is written in the text. Say this is a test. If anybody says he hasn't come in the flesh, that is not from the Spirit of God is a test. If anybody says he hasn't come in the flesh, that is not from the Spirit of God. Okay, how about John 1.14. John 1.14.
Speaker 2:So this gets us into some interesting passages. John 1.14, the whole discussion of the Word, which we know is the second person of the Trinity. He's the one through whom everything came into being. Verse 3. And in verse 14, it says the Word became what? The illusion of right. He looked like flesh and that what it says? No, of course. It says he came in the flesh, talking about the actual flesh, and he dwelt among us and we saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the father, full of grace and truth. Okay, so another passage is showing for sure that he came in the flesh. In colossians 2 9, all the fullness of deity dwells in him in bodily form. That one could be questioned, because it says form. But I've shown you other passages that say he came in the flesh, so they're unquestionable. It doesn't explain that he was actually touched. I mean, if he was just an illusion. Can you touch an illusion? 1 John 1, 1-4?. 1 John 1, 1-4.
Speaker 2:1 John 1, 1-4, which I'll read what was from the beginning, what we heard, what we've seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and we touched with our own hands, concerning the word of life and this life was manifested. We have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and manifested to us. So we saw it, we touched it. What did they see and touch? They touched eternal life. Well, who's eternal life? Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Jesus Christ himself is eternal life. When we believe in him, see, his life is given to us. What is that life? It's eternal life. That's what we're receiving. We're receiving Him, his life. They saw it, they touched it. That's not an illusion.
Speaker 1:That's real. Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app and until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.