Chapter # 13 Paragraph # 2 Study # 6
January 17, 2021
Humble, Texas
(Download Audio)
(093)
Thesis: Because "The Night's Advance" was both a failure and revealed to be such, we who are awaiting the Dawn of Day have certain "obligations".
Introduction: In our study last week I focused upon the "advance" of The Night and explained how the verb is used in texts wherein an objective is sought by certain actions. I made the claim that Paul was considering the crucifixion of The Christ as the "finale" of The Night's effort to keep the Promise of God from being kept. Because that final act was proven to be a huge mistake by reason of the resurrection of Jesus from the grave, the "Next Development" is "the advance of 'The Day' toward the 'Dawning'", which is a reference to Jesus' return in power and great glory with the Hosts of Heaven to establish the objectives of the Second Coming.
Given these two major theses of divine revelation, those who "believe" that The Night's Advance was stymied, and that The Day's onset of true victory is near, have certain present obligations. We are going to consider two of them in this study.
- I. These Obligations Are "Expected".
- A. Paul uses a deliberate "literary tactic" to highlight the believer's response to this "faith" in the frustration of The Night and the imminence of the dawning of The Day.
- 1. He begins with three verbs that, though they are translated as imperatives, are actually subjunctives.
- a. According to Robertson, subjunctives can be used as exhortations to action, but have a specific distinction built into them.
- 1) This specific distinction was, apparently, first mentioned by a grammarian named Mutzbauer and, subsequently, quoted by Robertson to the effect that "the fundamental meaning of the subjunctive [is] the attitude of expectation", whereas the imperative is fundamentally demand.
- 2) This means that Paul is approaching the issues of "response" by the "believer" in terms of what is "expected".
- a) A "profession" of faith is not the same thing as "believing".
- b) Biblically, "faith" invariably yields some form of activity that belies its "faith" underbelly.
- c) Thus, because The Night "advanced", but did not achieve its objective, and The Day's "objective" is the next issue on the table, "faith" in those two realities makes certain that the "believing" responses will "belie" the "faith" beneath them.
- d) Thus, Paul begins with three "expectations" of "faith's" impact.
- i. That we lay aside "the works of The Darkness" (i.e., "The Night").
- ii. That we clothe ourselves with "the weapons of The Light" (i.e., "The Day").
- iii. That we walk in ways suitable to "The Day", even though it has not yet arrived in its full reality ("It", Paul says, is only "near").
- b. Thus, Paul is not technically "exhorting" but, rather, laying out what the "expectations" are regarding "faith" in the absolute failure of The Night and the eventual success of The Day.
- 2. Then he deliberately switches to two imperatives.
- a. That we "clothe" ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.
- b. That we continually refuse to make plans to satisfy the lusts of the flesh.
- 3. Thus, he makes it plain by this literary tactic that he understands that it is "faith" in the facts that will fulfill the expectations of faith by the dual imperatives given in 13:14.
- B. What those expectations are.
- 1. The verb "believed" in 13:11's "duh" statement introduces the issue: "faith's" responses.
- 2. Those who "believe" should, therefore, "lay aside" what he calls "the works of The Darkness".
- a. The verb "lay aside" is illustrated by Acts 7:58 to mean "to take off (as a garment) and put aside in order to keep the built-in restraints from hindering one's actions".
- b. What is to be "laid aside" is identified as "the works of The Darkness".
- 1) At this point Paul moves from "The Night" to "The Darkness" to shift the focus from the attempt, by 'advancing', to block "The Day" from dawning, to the essential issue of "The Darkness" as the primary characterization of "The Night" as providing a cloak to keep eyes from being able to discern (i.e., "deception" will be the BIG umbrella methodology).
- a) At issue here is the ever-present contrast between what "eyes" see, or do not see, and what "faith" believes because of words from God.
- b) In terms of "The Darkness", there is a "blindness" that depends upon false appearances to succeed.
- i. The "appearance" of success is due only to the "permission" of God to allow the infection to fester until it is time to excise it.
- ii. Until God's permission to allow the development of the mystery of iniquity (2 Thessalonians 2:7) ends, "victory" is deceptively apparent: Genesis 15:16).
- 2) The "works" to be "laid aside".
- a) "Works" are expenditures of energy in specific actions (Romans 2:6-7) to bring about the "objective(s)" of the "advancement" of The Night, or of The Day.
- b) "Works" are expenditures of energy that are typically "seen" as the outcomes of a person's deliberate choices, followed by effort, so that they "should" get the credit for them (3:27 compared with 4:2).
- c) As "works of The Darkness", these "works", to be banished from our hearts/minds, are all of those efforts which are designed to obtain "positive recognition" and the "praise" associated with that recognition.
- 3. Those who "believe" should, alternatively, "clothe themselves" with the weapons of The Light.
- a. The issue of "clothe oneself" is the opposite issue of "laying aside": "pick up" what is necessary to the task that the former restrictions of the "clothing" made difficult.
- b. The NASB's "armor" is faulty as its translation of Ephesians 6:11 shows.
- 1) In every use of the word mistranslated "armor", a specific "weapon" is involved (as in Romans 6:13, as well as the other few texts in which it is found).
- 2) In the corollary text (6:13), the "weapons" are the members of the body as "instruments of righteousness": thus, the "weapons" are our members "weaponized" in terms of actions of righteousness.
- 3) And, in the terms of 'warfare' in Paul's writings, our "weapons" are tools held in the right hand and the left (2 Corinthians 6:7) and are not "fleshly", but divinely powerful tools that focus upon proclamation of truth as well as the practice of it (2 Corinthians 10:3-4).
