"I went into Baker Books (Christian bookstore in Grand Rapids, MI) where first you see the new books and then you get to the old books. I've always found the old books to be the ones I'd be interested in.
"It's fascinating how all these new books have the structures of theology and systematic theology and doctrine and all this stuff and it's all structured in a very similar way," explains Richard Jordan.
"Systematic theology was developed in church history, basically founded on the ideas and approach of Thomas Aquinas. It's the way you organize thinking together.
"You hear about bibliology and pneumatology and anthropology and soteriology, and all the different ologies, and so forth and that's all the different branches of theology. The idea is if you study those things then you get this whole host of information.
"The difficulty is that that the information is structured together; all of the parts of the house are put together on the lot, but there's a blueprint about how to put them together successfully that isn't used.
"What you have to have is a blueprint. Paul says in I Corinthians 3:10: According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
"You have to have a blueprint about how you put the doctrine together so that you have the house built. Imagine a building like our church here and you try and put all these parts to the building together but you didn't have a blueprint.
"Consequently, you don't know where a window goes. You don't know where the lights are supposed to be. You just came in one day and said, 'Well, you know I'm an electrician; I think I'll do all the electrical work here,' and you start doing it willy-nilly.
"I used to do roofing work. If you showed up at the worksite and it was cool outside, what might you think would be a good thing to do that day? Roofing work because it's good to do that in cool weather.
"So, if you show up at the worksite and there's the shingles and the nails and you say, 'Well, I think I'll lay some roof,' and you roll that felt out there on the grass and you get the little plumbline and start putting out shingles on the front lawn, you could lay them as straight and perfectly square as you want to but the problem is you're putting them in the wrong place. They're not made to be put on the front lawn; there made to be put on the roofing after the structure's been completed.
"If you take truth, perfectly presented, but it isn't structured into your understanding according to the divine pattern, it will do you no more good--it will be of no more value--then those shingles out there on the ground in the rain.
"So what you have to have is a way to put the doctrine together the way God designed it to be put together so that it will produce in you the impact He wants you to have."
*****
Paul writes in Ephesians 3:: May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;” And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
"It says He wants you to comprehend with all the saints, with everybody. This is not something for a particular, small elitist group. This is not something limited to a privileged few. Everybody, every saint, every member of the Body of Christ is to be able to comprehend this.
"If you're going to know the love of Christ, it's going to be because you understand the breadth, the length, the depth and the height, but you notice Paul didn't tell you of what. Oh, what Paul? So that's where the commentaries, they jump off the end of the pier.
"In grammar there's a thing called an ellipsis. If I say to you, 'Shut the door,' what's the subject? You, but it's not in the sentence. It's 'you' understood; you understand it's there. I don't have to say 'David, shut the door.' I can just say, 'Shut the door.'
"In the context here, what's the subject of Ephesians 3? It's this great mystery that's been revealed through Paul. So the breadth, length, depth and height of what? What he calls in verse 11: 'according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus.'
"All that God's doing through the Lord Jesus Christ, He wants you to see the dimensions of that and comprehend it. I love that word comprehend. You see the 'prehend' at the end of it? That comes from the Latin word 'prehendry.' A monkey has a prehensil tail. That means that monkey has a tail that can grasp on to a limb and hold on and not let go; get a grip on it.
"When you comprehend, you take your mind and you get a grip on something. You get your mind around it so that you grasp it. You make it your own. It's mine. I got it!
"The fascinating thing is he says in verse 19, 'And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.'
"Now, wait a minute, I'm supposed to grasp something that's passed knowing. You say, 'What is that?!' He's not saying you can't know it, because he just told you God could give you the capacity and the supernatural ability. What's He's saying by it 'passeth knowledge' is it's a never-ending process."
(new article tomorrow)
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