In our Bible study yesterday, Liz Sutter
taught us insightful truths that instantly changes the way you look at
life. Understanding the breakdown of the
verse noted below RADICALLY alters how you choose to respond to certain
thoughts and interactions with those around you.
This is a thorough
study. I encourage you to take the time to read to the end. Ask the Holy Spirit
to help you understand and comprehend and APPLY what is being taught. Are you ready?!?
1 Peter 3:10
“Do not rendering evil for evil or insult with insult, but
with blessing because to this you were called so that you may inherit a
blessing. For whoever would love life
and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful
speech.“
STUDY
The word “rendering”
in the Greek is very insightful. It has many meanings including:
Yielding:
to give away for one’s own profit what is one’s own (allowing our rightful inheritance to be snatched from us) to give
up, to give over, to give away, to give
myself up, to grant or to permit, to give to one asking, to bring forth, to
cause to come forth, to pay wages, to relinquish what is one’s own.
INSIGHT
We have the
blessings of Christ, until we relinquish them.
The idea here is that when evil comes “asking”, as it were, do we give
ourselves up to it? At that point of
agreement, we are calling that evil to come forth in our lives, because we have
granted the permission however subtly within our thoughts.
STUDY
The roots of
the word render indicate a state of separation, a place of distance, where we
offer, or give one something, let have, a place where we supply, furnish or
commit to someone.
The Greek
picture is giving a vineyard (to the devil) to be cultivated.
INSIGHT
As we agree
with the evil that comes to us we are, in essence, allowing Satan to
cultivate/plant his garden of thoughts, cares, and concerns in us. We are then banding together and abiding with
the evil that we opened the door to.
The Greek further speaks that when we give
over to someone, we follow them as a leader or master. It says that we commit a thing to one,
deliver it into ones power
When we then
yield our members to Satan’s device, he then is mastering us. It further says to
give someone to care for his interests, to give something to eat, to give food
to. We have delivered our authority to Satan.
Satan is causing his cares then to
become ours because we have offered him something to feast/to eat upon and to
use against us.
The final
Greek picture is this: “I have set before thee a door opened”. The rendering of
evil is when a thought comes to us that is not in agreement with the blessings
of the finished work(deliverance, peace, prosperity, health, the wholeness
Christ has for us) then we are presented with a decision. If we walk through
the door, by giving it permission to come, we have set the stage for death to
reign in our lives. We have given over
our authority into the hands of Satan to use to cultivate his own garden in our
hearts, renewing our minds to his will and plan, thoughts, and behaviors.
Are we
allowing death to reign in our lives by consenting to the evil that comes to
us?
We are to
resist this, not permit it or allow it by overcoming
it with blessing. Where it starts is
in our thoughts. When we yield to the evil (things as they ought not to be)
Satan has permission to rob us of our rightful inheritance, our rightful
blessings! WOW!!!
STUDY
Let’s move
on to the next words as they are powerful insights to us.
Evil. Here is used the widest sense.
Meaning that
which injures, to do harm to ones self, wrongful thoughts in mode of thinking,
feeling, acting; desire to injure; ill will, not such as it ought to be.
The Greek
here is saying that evil is in reality, not such as it ought to be. What ought to be are the blessing of Christ
flowing in our lives; what ought to be is our faith picture being our reality.
Insult
Meaning
abuse, railing, reviling, slander, reproach, to say harsh things/verbal
assaults, to spew bitter statements, mean spirited, demoralize words. The Greek
indicates here when we return the insult we then become the reviler, the abuser.
We simply are surrendering at the point to the one who is mastering our
members.
But
Moreover,
now, rather, on the other hand, given after negative sentences, moving to
something new, opposed to what goes before.
On the contrary (other versions says counterwise)
The Greek word
here means “to set against” to be opposed, opposite, contrary in principle and
in practice, hostile, antagonistic.in feeling and acts. The picture given is to be against as when “he
(Moses) stood before Pharaoh”.
Another
meaning is to serve as a transition (but) to something new; the ship which
stood ready to carry them over.
We know
Pharaoh as a type of Satan, we are to resist and overcome.
INSIGHT
When we are
confronted with evil, we are to set ourselves against it. This word counterwise
refers to a ship ready (the spirit is ready and willing) to carry us over (to
bring us the victory over our enemies)!!!!! Jesus is ready to carry us into His
victory, that we overcome Pharaoh/Satan by entering His victory. His finished
work.
As we dig
deeper into contrary, the roots of the word give a mode of acting, a state,
condition, or place referring the reader to Matt 21:21 where Jesus took his
authority and cursed the fig tree, and told the mountain to go into the sea. He acted contrary to the evil (when
things ought not to be so) that he saw. So I believe this is speaking to us to
be in a place of faith speaking to our enemy with authority and believing that
we already have the victory.
STUDY
Blessing
To speak
well of/ invoke blessing, praise, give thanks, pray of blessing, to cause to prosper, to make
happy, bestow blessings on, to do one
good, the blessings of the Messiah promised to Abraham, acting well/rightly.
Also, the
roots of the word refer to speaking or saying good, commanding, decreeing, mandating
with our words good, through prayer, speaking words containing true life and
imparting them to men, used in reference to discourse. Discourse in that a kind or style of speaking
which brings life - the sayings of God; His promises, words, counsels, commands.
Thinking, meditating, reasoning, calculating on good things, the idea of
bringing things to closure and to rest.
Blessing
involves “God calling things that are not, as though they were” Not being (as
they ought) to being (as they ought) Rom 4.
Called
Used of
Christ calling persons to be his disciples, to cause to pass from one state
into another, called to participate in, and enjoy the blessings of the heavenly
kingdom, to embrace to offer of salvation by the Messiah, to appoint one to
salvation,
Implies a
suggestion of duties /assignment to a post.
“That blessing you should
inherit”.
Same as
prior – but that we were called to receive praise, laudation, blessing of
Christ, of God.
Inherit
Acquire,
obtain, used in reference to believers claiming their earthly inheritance
assigned by the Lord, to become a partaker, used to denote the tranquil and
stable possession of the land crowned with all divine blessings under the
Messiah, possessions by the right of sonship in Christ, to receive the
blessings of Gods kingdom promised to Abraham by the favor of Christ
INSIGHT
It is important to note that we do
not bless in order to inherit a blessing, but we bless because blessing is our
portion, our inheritance.
We have the
blessings of wholeness through the finished work.
Our true
identity is in Christ, our identity is not of our fleshly nature. As we agree
with these blessings of Christ (even thou we may not see them) through faith
and by His grace, we are claiming them for our lives. Faith always says, “I have it!”, even when we
don’t. At creation when darkness was hovering over the earth, God did not say
“Oh its dark”, he did not acknowledge the dark.
He simply spoke “Light be”.
I see this
principle: He didn’t permit the darkness!
He stood against it with blessing (commanding the word of God - calling
things that are not as though they were).
We are made
in the image of God, and when God spoke, he saw. It was His pattern - speaking and then seeing
the manifestation. When evil comes
knocking, we are to think/speak His blessing, for it is the ship that carries
us over - over our enemies that seek our demise.
As this
thought pattern leads us into the next verse, it is showing us how to see good
days!! Who does not want to see good days? Jesus wants us to see good days! Let’s
agree with Him that we have good
days!!!
1 Pet 3:10b
“For whoever would love life and see good days must keep his
tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.“
STUDY
Love
To take
pleasure in, Christ living his life through the believer, choosing God’s choices,
embracing His will and obeying through His power, steadfast love, cleaving,
grateful recognition of benefits received.
Life
Active and
vigorous devoted to God, and blessed, to denote a happy life and every kind of
blessings,
A life
breaking forth from the abode of the dead, a tree whose fruit gives and
maintains eternal life
Good
Outward and
inward good things, the benefits of the Messianic kingdom, a peaceful
conscience, such as one ought to be, wholesome,
affecting the mind agreeable-comforting and confirming what is spoken of
the divine promises, and the gospel and its promises full of consolation. Useful/beneficial, peaceful conscious, makes
reference to a covenant
Refrain
Cease, quit,
come to an end.
Hebrew ~ keep
from (Psm 34:13)
Watch guard,
look at, consider, examine.
Tongue
Used of
flowing speech, projecting point.
Evil
Of
speaking evil in the widest sense, speaking
of not such as it ought to be.
Lips
Banks of
rivers, seashore, a pouring place of water, and opening, gulf/door.
To speak
Say, to
express the souls thoughts.
Deceit
Bait, bait
to allure, hook people, to snare, advertising the bait, concealing the hook,
trickery.
INSIGHT
In order to
keep the tongue, we must go back to the heart.
When the heart is full of God,
its abundance will flow in godly speech.
Godly speech is filled with faith agreeing with all His covenant
blessings, even if we do not see them, faith says we believe and then we shall
see them. We set our heart to live by
things we cannot see and cannot yet feel.
The righteous are to live by faith and call things that are not as
though they are. To call things that are not as they ought to be (definition of
evil) as they ought to be (definition of good and the finished work coming to
pass in our lives) Steadfastly blessing, thanking, praising , having a merry
heart and loving all bringing about good days.
A little
background is that verse in 1 Pet 3:10-12 is taken from Psm. 34. In this Psalm, David has escaped from the
King Ahimelech by pretending to be crazy because he was afraid he would be
killed. It was a very low point in his
life. He sought refuge in the cave
Adullam. In that low point he turned his eyes on Jesus. In fact Adullam means “to turn aside”. David turned aside from looking at himself
and his trouble, focused on God and began to praise Him. He turned aside from
the evil (things not as they ought to be) and crossed over by blessing
(blessing, praising, etc.).
He was
joined by 400 men who, in 1 Sam. 22, says these men sought out David and were
distressed, discontent, and in debt. (the 3rd army). These men ran to David for
refuge (a type of Christ). He began to teach them in this Psalm and he became
their captain. He taught them how to
have good days.
David, here
being a type of Christ, was a sought out by the poor and needy and by the end of
his encouragement to these men, they became a mighty army accomplishing much
victory over their Philistine enemies. The Bible says of these men after
Adullum (1 Chron 12), they were mighty
men of valor, trained for war, who could handle shield (faith) and spear(word
of God), and whose faces we like the faces of lions and they were as swift as
gazelles on the mountains. Also 1 Sam 23
unfolds their stories.
STUDY
Debt
Meaning, we
were in debt - we owed a debt we could not pay, in word and deed we were marked
with a multitude of transgressions, but also in that time means they had lost
all of assets, and theirs was harsh punishment for debts unpaid.
Distress;
anguish, narrow place, oppressed, pressed hard upon
Discontent;
angry, bitter, vexed, enraged, provoked, grieved
INSIGHT
When we more
fully understand what the Holy Spirit is showing us in 1 Pet; I believe we
become like David’s mighty men - overcoming because of the finished work.
Choose not to live like your enemy in countering evil for evil. Live like God,
countering evil with blessing so you will love life and see good days!
Guest blog
by Liz Sutter.
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