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CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP
INTRODUCTION
For the Christian, everything, by necessity of Truth, begins with God. “Seek ye
first the kingdom of God, and all other things will be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).
God is always first. “In the beginning, God created the heaven and earth” (Genesis 1:1).
Creation is our beginning, but God is the creator who creates the creation and our
beginning. In the created order, God is hidden. He is invisible. He cannot be seen
immediately. Things spiritual arise later in the created order. Man always begins with
himself. First the natural, then the spiritual. Spiritual things do not appear first in the
world of men, but they are always first, nonetheless; because God has created the world
of men and all created things. In reality, God is first. Spiritual things precede natural
things, both physical and psychological. Man always assumes the physical first and then
the psychological. But, when men become mature, they discover that the physical is not
first, in truth, nor is the psychological.
This discovery requires a repentance (changing of the mind and, indeed, a
changing of the heart) and a new way of looking at reality (truth) and life (what I can see,
hear, know, feel and understand in this world of phenomena). We call this repentance of
the mind, not merely a change of mind (psychological), but a change of heart (spiritual).
This leads to faith in God as the beginning of all things. Once we come to know (not just
psychologically, but also and more importantly, spiritually) that God is the beginning of
all things, then we are transformed by faith. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for; it
is the evidence of things which are not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Thus, repentance and its
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consequence and companion, faith, is the beginning, a new beginning, a new birth for
man.
This “new beginning” occurs for each man, when he comes to know in truth that
natural, physical or biological things are not the beginning. Thus, a man is saved. He
becomes a new being, in very truth, the moment he knows that neither the physical nor
the psychological is first and of first importance. It is always God and things spiritual
which must be put first and foremost. When the natural man (physical and
psychological) first comes to know (in truth) that nature is not first, then he is “saved”
from the foolishness, vanity and evil of believing a lie, something which is not true. The
natural man cannot discover the full truth about God and things spiritual without help
from God above. Only God, the true God, the one true God, the only true God, the maker
of heaven and earth, the lawmaker, ruler and judge of the natural world can reveal the
things of the spirit to natural man (both physical and psychological man). Only God can
reveal a man’s true beginning and the start of man’s life, in truth. Without God’s
personal revelation of Himself, (as Theos), natural man cannot discover or know, in truth,
his true person, nature or identity. Natural man can know God to a certain extent (as
Theios) but he cannot know Him in truth as Theos. To know God as “Theios” is to know
Him as a natural man can know Him, but it is not to know Him as He really is in truth as
“Theios”. Only God Himself can reveal Himself to a natural man in truth.
A natural man cannot know God in truth (as Theos); he can only know God in
appearance (as Theios). To know God in appearance (as Theios), is to know Him
outwardly, externally, abstractly, superficially, naturally and psychologically, but it is not
to know Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23). Unless the natural born is given a
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personal revelation of God by God Himself, he cannot know God in truth. To know God
in truth is to know Him as He truly is. This second kind of the knowing of God (as Theos)
is not possible to natural man. It must be given to him by God Himself by way of special
or personal revelation. God can be known as Creator of the natural universe by human
reason and moral conscience as Theios, in His external being and deity. But this kind of
natural knowledge, which is universal among all men, is merely psychological; it is not
spiritual knowledge; it is not knowledge of God (as Theos) in spirit and in truth. To
know God in spirit and truth (as Theos), is to know Him as He reveals Himself personally
and, in particular, to each individual person. This latter kind of knowledge is not natural
and universal; it is spiritual, personal and in particular. When a man is thus “born again”
by repentance and faith, based on a personal revelation from the true and living God (as
Theos), then a man is able, for the first time, to know God (as Theos) in spirit and in
truth. Spiritual knowledge of God is not universal. Natural man knows God
psychologically, but he does not know him spiritually. Spiritual knowledge must be
clearly distinguished from psychological knowledge. Only some men possess the former
(in truth), but all men possess the latter. Theios is not Theos. The universal is not the
particular. Spiritual things are not knowable, discernable, or ascertainable by natural
things. All men have no knowledge of God in truth, but God cannot be known (as Theos)
by natural man. God’s true knowledge must come about by his own personal revelation
(in spirit and in truth).
Faith comes, not by reason or by natural means, nor by any universal knowledge
common to men; it only comes by God’s own personal and particular revelation of
Himself in Spirit and in truth (as Theos). This is the secret of the spiritual man. All men
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may know Him in this spiritual way, but they must repent of their former way of knowing
Him naturally, psychologically, and without faith. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God” (Romans 10:9). Faith cannot come in any other way. Faith comes
by God’s personal revelation of Himself in His Son, Jesus Christ. Even in the ancient
world, the people of Israel knew God by faith when they believed on Him, by faith,
through His message to them concerning the coming of the Messiah. Jesus Christ is
Israel’s Messiah. He is the Son of God. He was sent by God (Theos) into the world, the
natural world, the world of nature and of men, in order that men might know Him in truth
(as Theos), and believe on Him in spirit and in truth, and worship Him as He truly is in
Himself (as Creator, Redeemer and Lord). This is a great spiritual truth. Not all men
have this knowledge. Spiritual knowledge is not universal. What natural men sometimes
refer to as spiritual knowledge is not spiritual at all; it is merely a vain imagination, a
deceit, a lying vanity, a psychological knowledge, a false religion. All of man’s religion
is, in truth, merely natural and psychological. They rise no higher than nature. They
partake of no enduring or everlasting truth. Human religions are universal religions, and
natural religions are merely man at his best state (Psalm 39:5). They contain no real
truth. They do know God as Theios (external and abstract knowledge about God), but
they do not know Him as Theos (intimate, personal, heart to heart, and spiritual in very
truth). The knowledge of this world, and of all its natural and human religions is merely
a knowledge about God (knowing that He is and that they owe Him a duty to worship
and obey Him and that they must render Him an account for how they live and conduct
themselves in this world and in the next, etc.), but it is never a knowledge of God in truth.
The world can only know God as Theios, but never as Theos, unless it is given by special,
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direct, personal and spiritual revelation from God Himself. True knowledge of God is
historical; it is not natural. But not all men have this true knowledge. Only those who
repent of their former sins and ignorance and who believe on the name of Jesus Christ,
the Messiah of Israel, the Son of God, who was born of the Virgin Mary and suffered
under Pontius Pilate, and who are born again and filled with His spirit, have the true
knowledge of God (as Theos).
All true knowledge of God is Christian (Messianic). Only those who know God,
through His personal revelation (Gospel of truth), can know Him in spirit and in truth.
First things first. God is first. Spirit is first. Nature is not God. Nature is not first. The
natural man does not know God by any physical or psychological (volitional, mental,
emotional) means. Nature can rise no higher than psychology. But psychological
knowledge of God is not a saving knowledge of God; it is not spiritual. The
psychological must always be divided from the spiritual. They are not the same. The
order of priority is simple: first the spiritual, then the psychological and then the physical.
But this refers only to knowledge in truth. When one begins with God, spirit is first.
When one begins with man, the natural is first. Human knowledge is foolishness to God.
By human wisdom all knowledge arises by a knowledge of things physical first, after
which comes the psychological. But such knowledge cannot attain to the spiritual in
truth; human knowledge cannot know God intimately, directly, immediately, personally,
absolutely, with certainty, heart to heart, in spirit and in truth. Only divine knowledge is
spiritual knowledge. It must be given by God Himself. No natural man can attain to it.
Heaven must give it. This is the nature of divine revelation (as Theos); it can only be
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given by God personally, through His own Son, Jesus Christ. “There is salvation in no
other name” (Acts 4:12).
This course on Christian discipleship and personal development follows God’s
own pattern of revelation and instruction. God is first. Spiritual things always precede
psychological things and physical things are always last. This “turns the world upside
down” (Acts 17:6). In the world, God is last and man is first. In the world, physical is
first, material is first, then comes the psychological. But this course follows the pattern
of heaven. This course is for spiritual maturity. This is knowledge which develops in
spirit and truth. The arrangement is twelve-fold. The first four lessons are spiritual and
refer to our salvation in Christ (1) God, (2) Gospel, (3) Repentance, and (4) Faith. These
are the four spiritual truths which save us by imputed righteousness. The second four
lessons refer to our psychological or soulish nature (mind, will, emotions). The soulish
knowledge is controlled by the spiritual (God, Gospel, Repentance, Faith). The second
four lessons change us psychologically from mere soulish men into spiritual men in the
soul. Lesson five is Meditation; lesson six is Happiness; lesson seven is Worship and
lesson eight is Character. All four of these psychological changes come about as we grow
in the knowledge of God day by day, becoming like Him more and more, not by
imputation, but by actual spiritual development in our soulish natures. “We are changed
from glory to glory by beholding Him steadfastly and continually” (II Corinthians 3:18).
The last four lessons refer to our outer man, our physical behavior and our visible walk
among men. Lesson nine is Guidance, ten is Obedience, eleven is Testing and twelve is
Victory. We move from the spiritual (lessons one through four) through the
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psychological (lessons five through eight) to the physical (lessons nine through twelve),
until we are fully restored to His image and likeness.