Doctrine #43: Uniqueness

Before God formed Jeremiah in his mother's belly, God knew Jeremiah. This had to be after conception. There had to be something there for God to form. Jeremiah was sanctified in his mother's womb and ordained a prophet.

Key Doctrine: God did not cause people to be conceived. Parents cause conception, which was why Jesus was the only person God caused to be conceived. God responded to what was provided. God formed after a person was conceived.

Jeremiah doubted his ability to speak because of his age. The word "child" meant "young man," someone under the age of service to God which according to the Bible was either twenty-five years old (Numbers 8:24) or thirty years old (Numbers 4:3) depending on the application.

God told him not to fear because He would be with him and give him the words to speak. Notice, God said to not be afraid of "them." Was Jeremiah going to be persecuted for the words he would speak?

A warning to those who valued appearance. This person was hiding their thoughts and did not want to look like they were without understanding or wisdom.

Quoted in Romans 9:20-21. Can the creation say to the Creator: You did not make me?

This fourth poem, like the first two and the fifth, was composed of twenty-two verses. This poem was divided into three parts: verses 1-11 concerned the miseries that had fallen upon Judah; verses 12-20 concerned the causes for judgment on Judah; verses 21-22 was a prophecy of the punishment of Edom and the final restoration of Israel.

The temple had been completely torn down by the Babylonians.

The lives of the Jews were turned from fine gold to clay pitchers.

Verse 4 was quoted in 1 Corinthians 2:9.

The righteousness of our works was as a "polluted garment" compared to the Righteousness from God (grace). God's Righteousness led to Salvation. Our righteousness led to Reward, but has no effect on our Salvation.

The Jews were telling God that they were clay for Him to mold. They submitted their will to His Will.

Paul referenced Malachi 1:2-3. Please read all of Malachi 1 from this commentary to get the full explanation, especially if you do not agree with the following: "hated" meant "loved less." So, this verse also showed that everyone was not created equally: God loved Esau, but He loved Jacob more.

In the Malachi verses immediately after Malachi 1:3, God called His people "Jacob" and the nation of Edom "Esau." The rest of the Malachi passage showed God treated Jacob better than Esau. In Malachi 1, both Jacob and Esau responded to God's different level of love by being disobedient. So, the closest interpretation for the previous verses had nothing to do with being "good." Here is the summary that is written in this commentary for Malachi 1:

Esau was "hated" (loved less) than Jacob. Both responded poorly, which justified God. There was nothing God could have done to cause Esau and Jacob to be righteous and focus on Him because He tried both methods, and both chose to focus on themselves. God's loving response was to punish both of them. All of the calamity that came upon Esau and Israel was in response to how each of them chose to live. Also, both of their responses justified God's decision to turn His focus to people outside of His people: Gentiles.

The passage from Malachi showed that even though God loved Jacob, it did not result in Jacob choosing to be obedient to God. That point blatantly contradicted the Calvinistic interpretation above because God calling Jacob (His people) did not result in the Jews choosing Salvation, which was why God said He would offer Salvation to the Gentiles. The Malachi passage supported the contextual interpretation from above.

Paul referenced the scripture from Malachi to support his point (reason) that being Jewish did not equate to being Righteous as well as God loving Jacob more from birth did not result in all the Jews attaining Salvation. Remember, we are all "children of the promise" and it is up to us to walk by the Spirit in order to be "elect." Paul showed that God stopped having mercy on the Jews and reached out to the Gentiles because He was looking for people who would recognize the value within Him (glorify Him as God) to accept justification by faith. Notice, how this interpretation continued to fit the context of the following verses.

Paul addressed his premise in contrastive fashion. Paul spoke for people who would oppose his premise by stating his opposition's premise: God was unrighteous to stop having mercy on the Jews.

Doctrine: There is no unrighteousness with God. God is always completely Right and always completely Just. Predetermining an individual's Salvation would not be Right nor Just.

Key Point: No matter what rationalization is stated, God predetermining an individual's Salvation would be making God responsible for a person's Salvation and justifying man. God would be to blame for people spending eternity in the lake of fire, which would not be a reason to recognize the value within God. Paul supported his perspective on this second presentation of the premise by referencing Exodus 33:19.

Doctrine: God's mercy is an effect of God being always completely Right. Whomever God has mercy on will be as an effect of it being Right to have mercy on them in that moment. Also Matthew 5:7 stated that those who showed mercy would get mercy. That meant God's mercy was also an effect of God being always completely Just. God's Nature (Right and Just) guides God's mercy. Remember, as Paul focused on the Doctrine of God's mercy, it must fit the context of everything we have read so far.

Doctrine: God is the source of mercy and Salvation. People are responsible for choosing to show mercy and choosing to receive Salvation by faith. Paul continued to support this premise by referencing Exodus 9:16.

Paul used Pharaoh as an example of God ceasing to show mercy. Do not get distracted by the phrasing of God hardening Pharaoh's heart. If you need the full explanation for how God hardened Pharaoh's heart as an effect of Pharaoh's choices, begin reading in this commentary from Exodus 5. Pharaoh's heart being hardened was all in response to Pharaoh's response to what he thought was an injustice. Pharaoh did not think well of God, he did not see value within God. Furthermore, remember in 1 Samuel 6:6, the Philistines warned each other not to be like Pharaoh and instead chose not to harden their hearts. Instead, they recognized God's value and made offerings.

Doctrine: Mercy is the time between the unjust act and the equaling out of Justice. Paul used this verse to support the premise that God stopped showing Pharaoh mercy, God did not allow an indefinite time between Pharaoh's unjust acts and the equaling out of Justice. However, Paul also referenced that God did initially show mercy to Pharaoh for a long enough time that Pharaoh was raised up. Basically, Paul just gave an example where God showed mercy to Pharaoh, even though God knew Pharaoh would not humble himself, so that God could demonstrate His power when He stopped showing mercy. Remember, God can also give you a good influence because He knows it will result in bad because of the sin in your body/flesh/brain in order to make you aware of this sin. Your response to your sin would prove whether you were a believer (valued God) or not (value yourself above God): either confession and repentance or pride and self-justification.

Next, Paul's third presentation of his premise took the form of two philosophical questions from a contrastive perspective: If God could unilaterally make His will happen, why did God find anyone guilty? Paul showed these two statements were inexorably linked: Not being able to withstand God's Will would lead to God not being able to condemn anyone! Paul blatantly showed Calvinism is contradictory regardless of any rationalization Calvinists present for God not being unrighteous when He condemned people against their will. As Paul had done with the first two presentations of his premise, he supported this third presentation of his premise by referencing scripture. This time it was Isaiah 29:16.

Paul referenced scripture to make the reader aware that God is the Creator and we are the thing that is created. Some could misinterpret this to support Calvinism: God does whatever He wants and His reasons do not have to make sense. If Paul supported Calvinism or did not believe we could understand the reason, this would have been the end of his explanation. However...

As Paul's fourth presentation of his premise, Paul stated the conclusion we saw earlier: God initially showed mercy to Pharaoh so that God could show His power when He stopped showing His mercy. This tied into the other point Paul made: It was Right and Just for God to initially show mercy even though He knew Pharaoh would never humble himself, it was not wrong for God to continue to show mercy even though He knew Pharaoh would only choose to harden his own heart. God was not showing mercy to Pharaoh for Pharaoh's benefit, as if God thought Pharaoh would actually humble himself. God showed Pharaoh mercy in order to do more miracles for the Israelites. Was it wrong to do that? Paul's answer was "no, God's decision to show mercy, then not to show mercy was Right and Just, there was not a better option than the way God handled Pharaoh."

Summary: So far, Paul has made the point that everyone was perfectly deserving of punishment/destruction in response to choices they made, to not recognize the value within God and actively walk according to the flesh. For anyone at this point to conclude that our existence was predetermined would contradict everything Paul had written to this point and make God Wrong and Unjust. Verses 22 and 23 showed Paul stated it would be Right and Just for God to show mercy to people He knew were not going to humble themselves in order to show His power when He stopped showing mercy. However, Paul had not concluded this sentence.

Look at verses 22 through 24 again. Paul's point in this sentence was to liken what God did with the Christians to what God did with the Israelites in Egypt. Paul began this chapter stating his sorrow for the Jews not accepting justification by faith. Recall, the Jews continued to reject God during the times of the kings, despite God appealing to Israel through the prophets. Paul stated the same questions that people could ask about Pharaoh could also be asked about the Israelites prior to Jesus' resurrection. Why did God extend mercy to the Jews for so long, when God knew that it would never result in the Jews completely humbling themselves before God? Paul's answer was, "So that God could demonstrate His power and call another people out once He stopped showing mercy to Israel." Like we saw Paul do with the first three presentations of his premise, he supported this premise with scripture.

Paul quoted Hosea 2:23 to support his premise. This scripture proved that God knew His People would never choose to humble themselves and He would have to call out another group of people. The New Testament (Greek) word for "church" was ekklesia which meant "the called out ones."

Verses 14-30: the Parable of the Talents.

"Talents" were given to the servants according to their own ability (uniqueness). The talents came from the master.

Two servants gained more by trading: interacting with others according to their uniqueness. The servant with one talent went and hid it; he did not interact with anyone.

The servant with five talents gained five more. He was profitable. The lord called him good and faithful.

Likewise, the same things were stated about the servant with two talents. The servants who were profitable were made rulers over many things.

The servant who hid his talent stated that he thought the master was a hard man and reaped where he did not sow. This was not true. The talents came from the master. He did sow. However, the master stated he would judge the servant by the servant's own words. The servant was told he should have at least gained interest on the talent (which still would have been profitable) by giving it to the bankers. Notice, this would have required one interaction. Remember, the master was gone a very long time. Getting exactly what he sowed back after a long time was the same as getting back less. Just like in America's economy, a dollar fifty years ago was worth more than a dollar today.

The talent was taken away from the unprofitable servant and he was cast into "outer darkness." Notice, the talent was given to the servant who was most profitable. That was a wise investment by the master. Also, the unprofitable servant would have avoided being cast into "outer darkness" if he had one interaction with the banker. This parable was both a Salvation and Reward parable. The parable ended with Salvation: people either entered into the joy of the lord or outer darkness. However, how many talents each had was different, and became more different. This was Reward. The one with the most got even more. If the one who had less got more, then it would be possible that everyone could end up with the same amount of Reward in heaven.

There are different gifts that are all from the same Spirit. Again, these gifts are directly from the Holy Spirit.

Again, these gifts only happened by the Holy Spirit flowing through a believer. Any of these gifts could happen through any believer for the benefit of others, for the benefit of the church.

A list of gifts: word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues. All of these gifts were from the same Spirit.

These gifts were divided as God wills. They were manifested through believers who allowed the Holy Spirit to freely flow through them based on the need of the church.

Verses 13-27: concerned with the principle of uniqueness.

We are to be a living sacrifice. The word "sacrifice" meant "to kill flesh." This implied progress in being led by the Spirit.

We ARE our Mind/Soul. This showed the topic dealt with who the person is, not their office/position. We ought to be conformed to God, not the world. We ought to think well of God, not think well of the world. Transforming ourselves by the renewing of our minds comes by using these five behaviors:

1. Non-Contradiction

2. Causality

3. Contrastive Thinking

4. Growth

5. Fellowship

The result of all of this would be humility, not pride.

Paul's premise: We ought to see others as more excellent than ourselves, and they ought to see us as more excellent than themselves. This is humility. We ought to think well of others instead of thinking well of ourselves. How can we do this? By uniqueness. We can see everyone as better than ourselves in what God made them to be, and everyone can see us as more excellent in what God made us to be. Without valuing uniqueness, someone will be more excellent and someone will be less excellent, which opens the door to pride. Notice how this topic is built on the foundation of everything that came before it: people ought to think well of God because they recognize His intrinsic value. That is really the First Command. The effect of doing the First Command is the Second Command: that we think well of others. Paul then presented a physical example that valued uniqueness.

Verses 6-8: the Seven Motivational Gifts. In the Bible there are three different types of spiritual gifts each given by a different Member of the Trinity:

• Manifestational,
• Positional, and
• Motivational.

Paul's explanation of the Manifestational Gifts from the Holy Spirit was in the twelfth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians. Paul's explanation of the Positional Gifts from Jesus was in the fourth chapter of his letter to the Ephesians. Next, we will see everyone has a Motivational Gift that was given by God the Father when they were formed in their mother's womb. Your Motivational Gift is who you ARE without any effort.

Notice, the phrase "gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us" was past tense. These gifts were given by God to everyone, believer and unbeliever. The context here was why we should think well of others and how to make the Body of Christ more profitable. However, this did not mean only believers have these gifts.

Verse 6 named the first gift: "prophecy" – a perceiver; makes people aware of an issue. Perceivers are the Eyes of the Body. This gift is done with words and is focused on the past.

Verse 7 named two more gifts: "ministry" - a minister; fulfills an immediate need. Ministers are the Feet of the Body. This gift is done with actions focused on the future. Teacher – gives understanding; gives a WHY. Teachers are the Ears of the Body. This gift is done with words focused on the past.

Verse 8 named the other four gifts: exhorter - encourages toward the future. Exhorters are the Words/Breath of the Body. This gift is done with words focused on the future. Giver – gives a tangible gift. Givers are the Hands of the Body. This is the only gift done completely in the present. Ruler – an administrator; administrates a group of people towards a common goal. Administrators are the Mouths of the Body. This gift is done with words and focused on the future. "Mercy" – one who shows compassion; bears emotional pain. Compassion is the Heart of the Body. This gift is an action focused on the past. Compassion lifts someone out of a hole. Exhorter raises up someone who is not in a hole.

Another proof that your Motivational Gift is who you ARE is that each of these gifts was given with a qualifier. ("ruleth, with diligence," "showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.") If these gifts were only done by God's Spirit flowing through you, Paul would not have had to qualify these gifts with the right way to do them. These qualifiers also implied that there is a wrong way to do these gifts, which again showed that these gifts are not necessarily from the Holy Spirit through you. These are the only spiritual gifts mentioned in the Bible that come with qualifiers, because the ability to do them is in the control of the individual, which is a continuation of the theme of this letter: Salvation is the responsibility of the individual.

The Motivational Spiritual Gifts:

• Perceiver (Prophet),
• Teacher,
• Compassion (Mercy),
• Giver,
• Server (Minister),
• Administrator (Ruler),
• Exhorter.

Paul wanted each gift to give to the other members of the Body without hypocrisy, having integrity between what a person SAYS and what a person does. Notice, Paul gave qualifiers for love, because it is in the control of the individual. Paul then expanded on the premise he presented at the beginning of this chapter: seeing others as more excellent than ourselves, thinking well of others.

Verses 12-17: the church in Pergamum.

They were commanded to repent or Jesus would come quickly and fight against them with the sword of Jesus' Mouth, which is God's Word. How much more proof do you need to understand that spiritual warfare is not physical but is done by words and sentences?

Those who overcome: will eat hidden manna and will receive a white stone with a new name which only the man receiving will know. This "new name" will be the name of who you ARE, who God created you to BE. The word "name" meant "cause." Who you ARE is the cause of who God created you to BE.

As it related to our dispensation, the church in Pergamum represented the time from around 325 AD to around 600 AD. Constantine declared himself a defender of Christianity. While this seemed like a victory for Christianity, it actually resulted in Christianity being institutionalized. In the process of making Christianity available to the masses, it was infused with pagan practices, including hierarchy. Christianity had a good appearance (right WHAT), however the doctrines (HOW/WHY) were not completely from God.

The Word of God to Israel through Malachi after the captivity.

God said "I have loved you" to Israel. This verse was the foundation for this entire chapter. The Doctrine in this chapter was referenced in one of the most misunderstood chapters in the New Testament: Romans 9. In fact, the deceptive interpretation of this Doctrine is currently used to justify Calvinism: the belief that God can initiate His Will against the will of individuals, that people lack "free will." We will set this straight within this chapter...

The first step is to recall the definition of hate from Genesis 29:30: "to love less." Second, recall that the definition of love from Luke 6:35 is "to give without expecting in return from the one to whom you gave." These two verses ("yet I loved Jacob; but Esau I hated") stated that God gave more to Jacob than He did to Esau. Basically, God had two sons. He gave more to one than the other.

Esau's (Edom) response to getting less was to work harder in their own strength: "...but we will return and build..." God's response was that He would punish Esau even more. Basically, God's son that was loved less chose to respond to God by turning inward, to focusing on themselves even more. God wanted them to focus on Him so He would prevent them from making progress away from God, which was love because it would be for Edom's benefit.

Jacob (Israel) ought to have exalted the Lord in response to the love they experienced from Him and because of the understanding they got from watching Edom get punished for turning away from God.

Israel did not love God in response to His love. Basically, without the example of the son who was loved, people could have said to God, "Being tough on Esau didn't work. Maybe you should have blessed him." However, these first six verses of the Book of Malachi showed that it did not matter if God encouraged or hindered Jacob and Esau (respectively), both chose to turn away from God. Everything in this chapter proved that people have free will to respond to God and that if we choose to turn away from God, God will punish us for our benefit...because God is love.

Actually, Israel offered polluted (defiled, blemished) bread to God. Israel's response to being blessed, to God choosing to love Jacob, was to desecrate God's altar.

God told them to give these offerings to their governor to show them that even their human ruler would not be pleased with these offerings. When people state that "Jacob I loved" meant that God made Jacob righteous against Jacob's will, they have to ignore the context of that verse. We have seen that Jacob was not righteous despite God loving him. How could Jacob have continued to sin if God made Jacob righteous against their will?

A call to choose to return to God. God could not make Israel repent against Israel's will.

God said that he would not accept an offering from Jacob without their first repenting. Basically, God dealt with two "sons" differently. Both responded by justifying themselves and God would punish both in order to help them make progress back to God, which was love.

God's Name would be great among the Gentiles because His people chose to reject God. God could justly reach out to people that were not His people.

Summary: Esau was "hated" (loved less) than Jacob. Both responded poorly, which justified God. There was nothing God could have done to cause Esau and Jacob to be righteous and focus on Him because He tried both methods, and both chose to focus on themselves. God's loving response was to punish both of them. All of the calamity that came upon Esau and Israel was in response to how each of them chose to live. Also, both of their responses justified God's decision to turn His focus to people outside of His people: Gentiles.