In verse 23 the Apostle, an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin, admonishes his fellow Israelite Christians: “Let us (himself included) HOLD FAST TO OUR PROFESSION OF FAITH.” When we profess our faith in Jesus Christ to save our souls we are in fact professing that we will believe and obey His Word, which is both the basis of our faith and the rules by which we are sanctified. “Faith comes from hearing (and reading) the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17), the same Word that will judge every one of us (Jn. 12:48). In John 17:17 Jesus asks the Father to “… sanctify them (the apostles) by Your Truth, Your Word is Truth.” God’s Word is His will which He left for us in written form. His will is summarized in the Ten Commandments, the first two of which summarize the other 8 which summarize the entirety of the Tora (Law) and the writings of the prophets. Upon the first two commandments hang the entire Law which must be obeyed in order to inherit the salvation made possible by Christ’s sacrifice. What happens when a parishioner who has heard the Word of God, professed to embrace Its Author, then refuses to obey it? He tells us.

Verses twenty-six to thirty-one: Note in verse 26 that Paul includes himself three times (“we” “our”) in his warning to those who have heard (or read) God’s Truth, professed to believe it, then reject it in favor of the heathenism practiced by those within Catholicism/Protestantism. The apostle knew that his salvation depended on his obedience to God’s Word “unto the end” (Mat. 10:22). He knew that to fail to do so would make him “castaway”–a reprobate in the eyes of the Lord (1 Cor. 9:27). Peter wrote concerning the knowing-but-not-doing issue in his second letter to the church in chapter 2 verse 22. Here he compares one who hears, believes and embraces God’s word then turns from it to a sow that, having been cleansed of sin, returns to her mire, and a dog that, having vomited out the poison (false gospel–Gal. 1:6-9) it has consumed, returns to it (2 Pet. 2:22). Having dealt with both hogs and dogs, I have seen both acts take place. By comparing backslidden believers to those animals the Lord reveals His attitude toward those who wear crosses and carry Bibles but refuse to honor the One who hung on a cross by obeying His Words found in their Bibles. As Paul says in verse 26, to follow the animals’ examples is to nullify the sacrifice paid by Jesus Christ. We are bought with a price and commanded to obey the One Who paid that price (1 Cor. 7:23). Now we will hear Him tell us how He feels about those who rebel against Him while professing to obey Him.

In verse 27 Paul identifies cross-wearing, Bible-toting, Scripture-quoting, church-going counterfeit Christians as God’s “adversaries.” The words “Satan” is translated “adversary,” meaning God’s “enemy” (vs 13) who will suffer the “judgment and fiery indignation” of God which will “devour” him because, as we are told in verse 27, he has “trodden under foot the Son of God, counted the blood of the covenant (Law) by which they were sanctified an unholy thing and rejected the Spirit of grace.” In verses 30,31 Paul makes certain that we know he is referring to church people by calling the objects of God’s wrath “His people” who are in “the hands of the living God”–a “fearful” place for a rebel to find himself. That the Lord, through Paul, was addressing the church is also brought out in 1 Peter 4:17,18 where God, through the apostle, states that judgment must begin in the church, and that only the righteous will be saved, and they just barely. By judging oneself, one will not need to be judged by the Lord: “Judge yourself (so) that you be not judged” (1 Cor. 11:31). There is only one Standard by which we can judge ourselves–God’s Holy Bible. IT ALL COMES BACK TO GOD’S WORD. L.J.