GOD-CENTEREDNESS
GOD-CENTEREDNESS
I’ve had a particular topic on my heart. As I’ve tried to “get it on paper”, I have found it quite difficult knowing where to begin with this topic. It seems “inseparable” from sub-topics and related topics. The topic is “God-Centeredness” – particularly, God-Centeredness vs. Man-Centeredness in the Christian Life and Ministry of the Church. If I were to ask you “Where should I begin?”, it seems certain you would say, “Well, obviously, begin with God (rather than Man).” In turn, I would ask, “Why is that so obvious?” The answer is our subject matter.
In order to address the topic of “God-Centeredness”, we need to investigate God’s intention – His plan and purpose – in creation. And in order to properly understand this, we need to see things from God’s point of view. And in order to have God’s point of view, we need to adopt an eternal perspective. I don’t think it should be difficult to acknowledge that we all tend to be Man-Centered rather than God-Centered, see things from a self-centered point of view rather than God’s point of view, and give much more thought to the affairs of this life than eternity. Therefore, we would also need to ask, “What can be done about changing all this?” Or better, “What has God provided as a means of changing our tendencies?” The Biblical answer would be – the cross – not only the message of the cross, but also the way of the cross – a rare topic for the present generation (and the subject matter of another message).
So let’s “stack” the topics, as it were:
Ø The Divine Perspective - Seeing from God’s Point of View
Ø The Divine Intention - God’s Eternal Plan and Purpose in Creation
Ø God-Centeredness in the Christian Life and Church
Ø The Divine Rectification - The Way of the Cross as God’s Solution to Self-Centeredness (which we must save for another message)
The Divine Perspective
Seeing from God’s Point of View
Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes: “He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.”[1] I believe we can understand Solomon to be saying something like this: “It seems like there is a purpose to creation[2], and although Man cannot totally understand it now,[3] God has created him such that it is his very nature to want to know and understand God’s eternal plan and purpose in creation.” The Amplified Bible says it this way: “He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy]….” The Young’s Literal Translation actually offers a hope for some “satisfaction”, as it were, even during our time on earth. It reads like this: ”… that knowledge He hath put in their heart without which man findeth not out the work that God hath done from the beginning even unto the end.” However, I believe that in Ecclesiastes, Solomon was speaking a perspective on a life lived apart from God. But I also believe that God does want us to understand His Eternal Plan and Purpose in Creation. I believe this simply because He has revealed it in the Scripture: In Ephesians 1:4-5, the apostle Paul states: “Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be his through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before him. Because of his love God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children—this was his pleasure and purpose.”[4]
In this passage, the phrase “before the world was made” shows us that in order to properly understand God’s Eternal Plan and Purpose in Creation, we must see from the Divine Perspective – we must see from God’s Point of View – that is, from an eternal perspective. God’s perspective is an eternal one. Man’s perspective is temporal. The Scripture[5] tells us that what we see is “temporal”, but what we don’t see (God and the things of God) are “eternal”. “Temporal”[6] means enduring for a while, for a season. If we are needing and wanting to know where it all came from and where it is all going, we need an eternal perspective – understanding that which was in the heart and mind of God before creation, and will remain after the earth passes away.[7]
Along with this eternal perspective, Seeing from God’s Point of View requires our agreeing with and submitting to God’s perspective on things. We must “sit where God is sitting”, as it were, and look outward and “see what God is seeing”, in order to understand things from His point of view. This puts God where He rightfully belongs in our lives – in the center. God’s point of view on things is given to Man by God’s Spirit in God’s Word, the Bible. If we agree with and submit to a Biblical perspective on things, we will have a God-centered point of view and not a Man-centered point of view. This is absolutely necessary to understand God and His Eternal Plan and Purpose in Creation, which plan and purpose also include our personal lives. We can therefore appreciate the apostle Paul’s Spirit-motivated prayer for the Church: “We are asking God that you may see things, as it were, from His point of view by being given spiritual insight and understanding.”[8] The “spiritual insight and understanding” are the eternal truths given to Man by God’s Spirit in God’s Word, the Bible.
The Divine Intention
God’s Eternal Plans and Purposes in Creation
The Divine Perspective - Seeing from God’s Point of View – shows us something crucially important: The Divine Intention - God’s Eternal Plan and Purpose in Creation goes way beyond meeting Man’s needs. Firstly, God does not exist for Man (Man-Centeredness); Man exists for God (God-Centeredness). Secondly, the Divine Intention - God’s Eternal Plan and Purpose in Creation – goes back before time – before the creation – before Man fell into sin in the garden – and before the Father sent the Son to this earth to redeem Man from sin. Does it sound right to you, that God created Man so that He could redeem him from sin – end of story? Was that God’s eternal plan and purpose? Don’t we just know in our hearts that our God had something much better than that in His heart and mind?
Let’s look at Paul’s words again: “Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be his through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before him. Because of his love God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children—this was his pleasure and purpose.”[9] The Divine Intention - God’s Eternal Plan and Purpose is to have A FAMILY OF SONS IN THE SON. While redeeming us from sin was necessary for God to fulfill the Divine Intention, it is not His eternal plan and purpose in creation. And if we only have this Man-centered / Needs-oriented perspective – that God’s main pre-occupation is in redeeming, saving, healing, and blessing Man, then, not only have we missed the Divine Intention, but our understanding of the whole of the Christian life, the mission and ministry of the Church will all be askew with a self-centered perspective.
So, the Divine Intention – God’s Eternal Plan and Purpose in Creation was to “make us his children” — a family of sons in The Son – “THIS WAS HIS PLEASURE AND PURPOSE.” In Revelation 4:11, we see that around the throne in heaven it is being declared: "You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created."[10] From this Scripture passage we learn that God created MAN BECAUSE IT GAVE HIM PLEASURE.
The first question and answer of the Westminster Catechism[11] is this:
Question 1: “What is the chief and highest end of man?” (That is, “What is the purpose of creation?”)Answer: “Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.”
So we see that God created Man FOR HIS PLEASURE, and intends for Man to have his source of pleasure in God. We also see, at least from the point of view of those who were in the Westminster Assembly, that God is “Number One” – that is, “It’s not about you.” It’s all about God. Again, God does not exist for Man (Man-Centeredness); Man exists for God (God-Centeredness). We get this indication in the Scriptures right from the beginning: Genesis 1:1 reads: “In the beginning, GOD ….” Yes, everything began with God – not Man. Scripture teaches that everything comes from – has its source in – God. The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 11:36: “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. [For all things originate with Him and come from Him; all things live through Him, and all things center in and tend to consummate and to end in Him.] To Him be glory forever! Amen (so be it).”[12]
God-Centeredness In The Christian Life And Church
In Psalm 14:2 David wrote: “The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God.” I believe that in Exodus 19:4-6 God told us what it is that He wants Man to understand: He set us free from the bondage of this world and “bore us on eagles wings, and brought us to Himself…. to be a special treasure to Him”[13]. He did this because He has always desired to have a people who would be “a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation”. In other words: God desires a Church - that is, a people set apart from all other people - who would minister, not only to one another, but primarily to Him – a people who are His “special treasure”. In Ephesians 1:18 Paul wrote that God has “an inheritance in the saints”. Listen to some of the various translations[14] of what Paul wrote in Ephesians 1, verse 11 about the Church:
· “we were made a heritage”
· “we were also made His inheritance”
· “we have also been chosen as God’s portion”
· “we were also made God’s portion”
I think we have to admit that, in contrast to this spiritual perspective, the humanism that pervades our times has changed the focus of the modern Church’s theology, spirituality and ministry so that it has become less and less God-centered, and more and more Man-centered. Evangelicals and Charismatics enjoy talking primarily about what God has done and will do FOR MAN. Some Liberals remind us about what should or must be done BY MAN. While Pentecostal and Holiness traditions major on what God has and still desires to do IN MAN. None of this is wrong – it is just OFF-CENTER. It is Man-centered, instead of God-centered. Whereas, in his various epistles to the churches, the apostle Paul puts forth a very God-centered perspective:
· “For FROM HIM and THROUGH HIM and TO HIM are all things.”[15]
· “For BY HIM all things were created…all things were created THROUGH HIM and FOR HIM.”[16]
· “…HIM, FOR WHOM are all things and BY WHOM are all things.”[17]
· “…FROM WHOM are all things, and we exist THROUGH HIM.”[18]
We also have the personal testimony and exhortation of Paul and his co-workers: “For the love of Christ compels[19] us, having concluded this, that One died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him Who died and rose again on their behalf.”[20]
In the first chapter of Paul’s Letter to the Church in Colossae, I believe he establishes a foundation for a God-centered, rather than a Man-centered church ministry – An approach to ministry where the Church focuses on loving and ministering firstly to the Lord rather to itself; and the Lord, Who is love, in turn ministers to the people – both sovereignly, as well as, through one another. We have already mentioned verse 9 from the J.B. Phillips translation: “We are asking God that you may see things, as it were, from His point of view by being given spiritual insight and understanding.” Now look at verses 17 and 18: “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also the Head of the body, the Church; and He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place (or “the preeminence”[21]) in everything.” The Greek word, proteuo, means to be given first place in rank and influence. “He is before all things…” The Greek word, pro, means He is above, superior in all things.[22] “In Him all things hold together.” The Greek word, sunistano, means are held together, are sustained. When is it that a marriage, a relationship, a church do not hold together? When we do not allow Christ to be the Head – when we do not give Him first place or the preeminence.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying that ministering to the many needs of people is wrong. What is wrong, from a Biblical perspective, is when ministry to people comes before ministry to God, when the goal of being held together with one another comes before being held together in God, and when the desires of people occupy first place on the agenda, when it is the Lord Who should have the preeminence.
So, from a Biblical perspective, it is without question that we absolutely need to have:
Ø The Divine Perspective - Seeing from God’s Point of View
Ø The Divine Intention - God’s Eternal Plan and Purpose in Creation
Ø God-Centeredness in the Christian Life and Church
It does not so much depend upon our own abilities to attain to and develop “spiritual insight and understanding”, but upon our humility and willingness to forsake Self-Centeredness for God-Centeredness. But since we unfortunately tend to be Man-Centered rather than God-Centered, we need to ask, “What has God provided as a means of changing our tendencies?” The Biblical answer is the cross – not only the message of the cross, but also the way of the cross. This will be the subject matter of the next message: The Divine Rectification - The Way of the Cross as God’s Solution to Self-Centeredness.
[1] Ecclesiastes 3:11
[2] See the preceding verses 1-10 in Ecclesiastes 3.
[3] Although, the Young’s Literal Translation puts it differently:”… that knowledge He hath put in their heart without which man findeth not out the work that God hath done from the beginning even unto the end.”
[4] Good News Translation
[5] I Corinthians 4:18
[6] (Greek) proskairos: Strong’s # 4340
[7] Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33, II Peter 3:10-13
[8] Colossians 1:9 The New Testament in Modern English by J.B. Phillips
[9] Ephesians 1:4-5 The Good News Translation
[10] New Living Translation
[11] In 1643 when the Long Parliament of England called the Westminster Assembly to produce the Westminster Confession, it also asked for a directory of "catechising". The Catechism was completed by the Westminster Assembly in 1647. It was then adopted by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1648 and by the Presbyterian Synod of New York and Philadelphia in 1788.
[12] The Amplified Bible
[13] New King James Version: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
[14] The Logos International Study Bible: Thomas Nelson, 1972.
[15] Romans 11:36
[16] Colossians 1:16
[17] Hebrews 2:10
[18] I Corinthians 8:6
[19] NKJV
[20] II Corinthians 5:14-15
[21] NKJV
[22] Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible # 4253 and Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words.
I’ve had a particular topic on my heart. As I’ve tried to “get it on paper”, I have found it quite difficult knowing where to begin with this topic. It seems “inseparable” from sub-topics and related topics. The topic is “God-Centeredness” – particularly, God-Centeredness vs. Man-Centeredness in the Christian Life and Ministry of the Church. If I were to ask you “Where should I begin?”, it seems certain you would say, “Well, obviously, begin with God (rather than Man).” In turn, I would ask, “Why is that so obvious?” The answer is our subject matter.
In order to address the topic of “God-Centeredness”, we need to investigate God’s intention – His plan and purpose – in creation. And in order to properly understand this, we need to see things from God’s point of view. And in order to have God’s point of view, we need to adopt an eternal perspective. I don’t think it should be difficult to acknowledge that we all tend to be Man-Centered rather than God-Centered, see things from a self-centered point of view rather than God’s point of view, and give much more thought to the affairs of this life than eternity. Therefore, we would also need to ask, “What can be done about changing all this?” Or better, “What has God provided as a means of changing our tendencies?” The Biblical answer would be – the cross – not only the message of the cross, but also the way of the cross – a rare topic for the present generation (and the subject matter of another message).
So let’s “stack” the topics, as it were:
Ø The Divine Perspective - Seeing from God’s Point of View
Ø The Divine Intention - God’s Eternal Plan and Purpose in Creation
Ø God-Centeredness in the Christian Life and Church
Ø The Divine Rectification - The Way of the Cross as God’s Solution to Self-Centeredness (which we must save for another message)
The Divine Perspective
Seeing from God’s Point of View
Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes: “He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.”[1] I believe we can understand Solomon to be saying something like this: “It seems like there is a purpose to creation[2], and although Man cannot totally understand it now,[3] God has created him such that it is his very nature to want to know and understand God’s eternal plan and purpose in creation.” The Amplified Bible says it this way: “He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy]….” The Young’s Literal Translation actually offers a hope for some “satisfaction”, as it were, even during our time on earth. It reads like this: ”… that knowledge He hath put in their heart without which man findeth not out the work that God hath done from the beginning even unto the end.” However, I believe that in Ecclesiastes, Solomon was speaking a perspective on a life lived apart from God. But I also believe that God does want us to understand His Eternal Plan and Purpose in Creation. I believe this simply because He has revealed it in the Scripture: In Ephesians 1:4-5, the apostle Paul states: “Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be his through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before him. Because of his love God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children—this was his pleasure and purpose.”[4]
In this passage, the phrase “before the world was made” shows us that in order to properly understand God’s Eternal Plan and Purpose in Creation, we must see from the Divine Perspective – we must see from God’s Point of View – that is, from an eternal perspective. God’s perspective is an eternal one. Man’s perspective is temporal. The Scripture[5] tells us that what we see is “temporal”, but what we don’t see (God and the things of God) are “eternal”. “Temporal”[6] means enduring for a while, for a season. If we are needing and wanting to know where it all came from and where it is all going, we need an eternal perspective – understanding that which was in the heart and mind of God before creation, and will remain after the earth passes away.[7]
Along with this eternal perspective, Seeing from God’s Point of View requires our agreeing with and submitting to God’s perspective on things. We must “sit where God is sitting”, as it were, and look outward and “see what God is seeing”, in order to understand things from His point of view. This puts God where He rightfully belongs in our lives – in the center. God’s point of view on things is given to Man by God’s Spirit in God’s Word, the Bible. If we agree with and submit to a Biblical perspective on things, we will have a God-centered point of view and not a Man-centered point of view. This is absolutely necessary to understand God and His Eternal Plan and Purpose in Creation, which plan and purpose also include our personal lives. We can therefore appreciate the apostle Paul’s Spirit-motivated prayer for the Church: “We are asking God that you may see things, as it were, from His point of view by being given spiritual insight and understanding.”[8] The “spiritual insight and understanding” are the eternal truths given to Man by God’s Spirit in God’s Word, the Bible.
The Divine Intention
God’s Eternal Plans and Purposes in Creation
The Divine Perspective - Seeing from God’s Point of View – shows us something crucially important: The Divine Intention - God’s Eternal Plan and Purpose in Creation goes way beyond meeting Man’s needs. Firstly, God does not exist for Man (Man-Centeredness); Man exists for God (God-Centeredness). Secondly, the Divine Intention - God’s Eternal Plan and Purpose in Creation – goes back before time – before the creation – before Man fell into sin in the garden – and before the Father sent the Son to this earth to redeem Man from sin. Does it sound right to you, that God created Man so that He could redeem him from sin – end of story? Was that God’s eternal plan and purpose? Don’t we just know in our hearts that our God had something much better than that in His heart and mind?
Let’s look at Paul’s words again: “Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be his through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before him. Because of his love God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children—this was his pleasure and purpose.”[9] The Divine Intention - God’s Eternal Plan and Purpose is to have A FAMILY OF SONS IN THE SON. While redeeming us from sin was necessary for God to fulfill the Divine Intention, it is not His eternal plan and purpose in creation. And if we only have this Man-centered / Needs-oriented perspective – that God’s main pre-occupation is in redeeming, saving, healing, and blessing Man, then, not only have we missed the Divine Intention, but our understanding of the whole of the Christian life, the mission and ministry of the Church will all be askew with a self-centered perspective.
So, the Divine Intention – God’s Eternal Plan and Purpose in Creation was to “make us his children” — a family of sons in The Son – “THIS WAS HIS PLEASURE AND PURPOSE.” In Revelation 4:11, we see that around the throne in heaven it is being declared: "You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created."[10] From this Scripture passage we learn that God created MAN BECAUSE IT GAVE HIM PLEASURE.
The first question and answer of the Westminster Catechism[11] is this:
Question 1: “What is the chief and highest end of man?” (That is, “What is the purpose of creation?”)Answer: “Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.”
So we see that God created Man FOR HIS PLEASURE, and intends for Man to have his source of pleasure in God. We also see, at least from the point of view of those who were in the Westminster Assembly, that God is “Number One” – that is, “It’s not about you.” It’s all about God. Again, God does not exist for Man (Man-Centeredness); Man exists for God (God-Centeredness). We get this indication in the Scriptures right from the beginning: Genesis 1:1 reads: “In the beginning, GOD ….” Yes, everything began with God – not Man. Scripture teaches that everything comes from – has its source in – God. The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 11:36: “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. [For all things originate with Him and come from Him; all things live through Him, and all things center in and tend to consummate and to end in Him.] To Him be glory forever! Amen (so be it).”[12]
God-Centeredness In The Christian Life And Church
In Psalm 14:2 David wrote: “The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God.” I believe that in Exodus 19:4-6 God told us what it is that He wants Man to understand: He set us free from the bondage of this world and “bore us on eagles wings, and brought us to Himself…. to be a special treasure to Him”[13]. He did this because He has always desired to have a people who would be “a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation”. In other words: God desires a Church - that is, a people set apart from all other people - who would minister, not only to one another, but primarily to Him – a people who are His “special treasure”. In Ephesians 1:18 Paul wrote that God has “an inheritance in the saints”. Listen to some of the various translations[14] of what Paul wrote in Ephesians 1, verse 11 about the Church:
· “we were made a heritage”
· “we were also made His inheritance”
· “we have also been chosen as God’s portion”
· “we were also made God’s portion”
I think we have to admit that, in contrast to this spiritual perspective, the humanism that pervades our times has changed the focus of the modern Church’s theology, spirituality and ministry so that it has become less and less God-centered, and more and more Man-centered. Evangelicals and Charismatics enjoy talking primarily about what God has done and will do FOR MAN. Some Liberals remind us about what should or must be done BY MAN. While Pentecostal and Holiness traditions major on what God has and still desires to do IN MAN. None of this is wrong – it is just OFF-CENTER. It is Man-centered, instead of God-centered. Whereas, in his various epistles to the churches, the apostle Paul puts forth a very God-centered perspective:
· “For FROM HIM and THROUGH HIM and TO HIM are all things.”[15]
· “For BY HIM all things were created…all things were created THROUGH HIM and FOR HIM.”[16]
· “…HIM, FOR WHOM are all things and BY WHOM are all things.”[17]
· “…FROM WHOM are all things, and we exist THROUGH HIM.”[18]
We also have the personal testimony and exhortation of Paul and his co-workers: “For the love of Christ compels[19] us, having concluded this, that One died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him Who died and rose again on their behalf.”[20]
In the first chapter of Paul’s Letter to the Church in Colossae, I believe he establishes a foundation for a God-centered, rather than a Man-centered church ministry – An approach to ministry where the Church focuses on loving and ministering firstly to the Lord rather to itself; and the Lord, Who is love, in turn ministers to the people – both sovereignly, as well as, through one another. We have already mentioned verse 9 from the J.B. Phillips translation: “We are asking God that you may see things, as it were, from His point of view by being given spiritual insight and understanding.” Now look at verses 17 and 18: “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also the Head of the body, the Church; and He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place (or “the preeminence”[21]) in everything.” The Greek word, proteuo, means to be given first place in rank and influence. “He is before all things…” The Greek word, pro, means He is above, superior in all things.[22] “In Him all things hold together.” The Greek word, sunistano, means are held together, are sustained. When is it that a marriage, a relationship, a church do not hold together? When we do not allow Christ to be the Head – when we do not give Him first place or the preeminence.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying that ministering to the many needs of people is wrong. What is wrong, from a Biblical perspective, is when ministry to people comes before ministry to God, when the goal of being held together with one another comes before being held together in God, and when the desires of people occupy first place on the agenda, when it is the Lord Who should have the preeminence.
So, from a Biblical perspective, it is without question that we absolutely need to have:
Ø The Divine Perspective - Seeing from God’s Point of View
Ø The Divine Intention - God’s Eternal Plan and Purpose in Creation
Ø God-Centeredness in the Christian Life and Church
It does not so much depend upon our own abilities to attain to and develop “spiritual insight and understanding”, but upon our humility and willingness to forsake Self-Centeredness for God-Centeredness. But since we unfortunately tend to be Man-Centered rather than God-Centered, we need to ask, “What has God provided as a means of changing our tendencies?” The Biblical answer is the cross – not only the message of the cross, but also the way of the cross. This will be the subject matter of the next message: The Divine Rectification - The Way of the Cross as God’s Solution to Self-Centeredness.
[1] Ecclesiastes 3:11
[2] See the preceding verses 1-10 in Ecclesiastes 3.
[3] Although, the Young’s Literal Translation puts it differently:”… that knowledge He hath put in their heart without which man findeth not out the work that God hath done from the beginning even unto the end.”
[4] Good News Translation
[5] I Corinthians 4:18
[6] (Greek) proskairos: Strong’s # 4340
[7] Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33, II Peter 3:10-13
[8] Colossians 1:9 The New Testament in Modern English by J.B. Phillips
[9] Ephesians 1:4-5 The Good News Translation
[10] New Living Translation
[11] In 1643 when the Long Parliament of England called the Westminster Assembly to produce the Westminster Confession, it also asked for a directory of "catechising". The Catechism was completed by the Westminster Assembly in 1647. It was then adopted by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1648 and by the Presbyterian Synod of New York and Philadelphia in 1788.
[12] The Amplified Bible
[13] New King James Version: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
[14] The Logos International Study Bible: Thomas Nelson, 1972.
[15] Romans 11:36
[16] Colossians 1:16
[17] Hebrews 2:10
[18] I Corinthians 8:6
[19] NKJV
[20] II Corinthians 5:14-15
[21] NKJV
[22] Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible # 4253 and Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words.
posted by Unknown at
12:40 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home