05. The Fourth Area of Adjustment

Note: I wrote and submitted the following as a formal paper to a secular university for a course titled, “Religious Thought of Paul.” Although it is intended for an academic audience, ordinary readers may find it useful for three reasons. First, it makes a Scriptural case for the Christ-centeredness of Paul’s spirituality as something unique and impossible to fully comprehend by way of traditional theological inquiry. Second, it describes in great detail the three main applications of Paul’s use of the phrase “in Christ,” which provides some very practical spiritual lessons for all of us. Third, it offers a scholarly argument for Paul’s use of the word “all” (Greek: pas) to really mean “all” in the context of God’s Purpose in Christ, and not (as many suggest) to mean something less than all, each and every.

Scholars note the centrality of Christ in Paul’s writings and his frequent usage of this supporting phraseology. James D. G. Dunn finds that “the most prevalent and consistent” idea within Paul’s writings “was that of participation in Christ” (728). Curiously, in the very next sentence, Dunn admits that “the ‘in Christ,’ ‘with Christ,’ ‘through Christ’ motifs have proved themselves among the most difficult to handle within the ongoing dialogue provoked by Paul’s theology” (728).

Why do scholars find the essential foundation and pillar of Pauline thought, and the vocabulary he consistently uses to communicate that thesis, so difficult to understand?

Progressive Development of Pauline Thought

Scholars and theologians have long searched for a systematic theology of Paul, approaching his writings through the lens of academia, looking for a framework of precision that seems non-existent. Attempts to understand Paul, to organize his thought, or to categorize a formal system of Pauline teaching through the rubric of a systematic theology is so difficult, perhaps, because Paul had no intention of conforming to scholarly analysis or theological investigations. E. P. Sanders, in his attempt to posit a “New Perspective on Paul,” sounds frustrated at the end of his lengthy study when he writes, “Paul presents an essentially different type of religiousness from any found in Palestinian Jewish literature” (543, emphasis in original). Different? Yes; and thus, difficult to decipher – but only because Paul did not set out to write a systematic theology for the convenience of scholars who would pore over his every word. Paul’s letter to the Romans is the closest he comes to a systematic theology, and this is more by accident than by intention.

Paul was not called by God to be an apologist, theologian, or professor of religion. Quite the opposite, in fact; he would suddenly and unexpectedly repudiate his former position and fascination with the Jewish religion and commit himself to a completely different calling. Thus, it makes sense to ask when and where this dramatic shift took place. What happened to Paul?

The direction of Paul’s life was changed in an instant, and we know the exact moment when his destiny was forever changed. Something miraculous and supernatural happened to Paul on the road to Damascus.[1] What he experienced went well beyond the realm of intellectual apprehension, theological inquiry, or even rational thought. What happened to Paul was not the result of calculation, premeditation, or a long period of immersive study in which he eventually came to some new conclusions about God and made a few cosmetic changes to his personal belief system. Paul did not stumble upon an idea, a thought, an argument, or a doctrine on the road to Damascus. Paul did not respond to someone else’s persuasive presentation or emotionally moving message.

So we ask again: what happened to Paul? Simply this: Paul met the God-Man. Paul stumbled upon a Person. And, once Paul met the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus, he adopted a completely new set of values, beliefs, teachings, and practices that radically replaced the old ways of the Jewish religion to which he was long accustomed. In this I depart from Dunn, who posits that Paul “thought of his new faith in Jesus Christ not as a departure from that older faith [of Judaism] but as its fulfilment” (716). That Paul saw Christ as the spiritual fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel is essentially correct; but fully embracing that fulfillment, as Paul did, unavoidably triggered a departure from the old ways and forever separated him from orthodox Judaism. It prompted a foundational upset that drastically altered everything in Paul’s world and invited persecution from his fellow Jews. His acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah sparked a revolutionary shift in his views on Temple, Torah, Jerusalem, Israel, old and new covenants, clean and unclean foods, circumcision, justification by faith and not works of law, and even his concept of what constitutes a “real Jew” as evidenced by his subsequent dissolution of Jewish / Gentile distinctions. It is impossible to view these shifts as anything less than an astounding negation of the old Jewishness. In fact, this God-Man Whom Paul experienced on the way to Damascus so overshadowed his former religiousness that he would consider everything before that meeting with Jesus as “dung” by comparison:

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. (Phil. 3:8)

Christ now stood in the center of Paul’s world, and everything else (including Paul himself) would revolve around this God-Man. Thus, any attempt to understand “the religious thought of Paul” must, ironically, begin with his repudiation of his previous religious thought and his embracing of a spiritual and personal (as opposed to religious) relationship with Christ.

As this relationship deepened, Paul’s spiritual apprehension of Christ grew and his thought developed. His phraseology expanded to include the mystical vocabulary that Dunn, Sanders, et al. find so difficult to conceptualize: in Christ. What did Paul mean by this? Was this technical, legal jargon or spiritual, mystical nomenclature? Perhaps all of the above. In one sense, Paul looked upon the invisible “Christ in you” as “the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to his saints.”[2] Yet, Paul was not “mystical” in the sense of experiencing a connection with some ethereal, mysterious, impersonal entity or “force.” Paul speaks of knowing Him in the highly personal sense of fellowship and friendship. He also looks forward to a literal, visible return of Christ to gather His people together in a very real time and place:

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout… Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thess. 4:16, 17)

Paul’s first encounter with the risen Lord on the way to Damascus was as much a physical, visible presence (that others around him could at least partially perceive) as it was a personal, mystical, spiritual event: “Those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me.”[3] The brightness of that very real light from a very real Person left Paul physically blind for three days afterwards.

Along with his mystical and spiritual apprehension of Christ came a similar revelation of the Body of Christ, the “church” (ekklesia) as the synthesis of all believers who constitute “a called-out assembly” (Young 166) of people who have been spiritually joined to Christ – and by extension joined to each other – as “one Body in Christ.”[4] Again, the genesis of this revelation is in Paul’s Damascus experience:

…[Saul] fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” (Acts 9:4, 5)

Paul was, in fact, persecuting what he thought were wayward Jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah. In this surprisingly intimate rebuke (the repetition of “Saul, Saul” is reminiscent of the tone Jesus used when correcting “Simon, Simon,” “Martha, Martha,” and “Jerusalem, Jerusalem”), a seed is planted for a mystical Pauline Ekklesiology. “I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting” is but the extension of the basic truth already conveyed in the Matthean text: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”[5] Here, Paul must have perceived that in some inexplicable way, Christ and His people are one. This marked the beginning of Paul’s view of the spiritual “Body of Christ” comprising all believers – a revelation that would, many years later, culminate in some of the loftiest spiritual language in the New Testament: that God “hath put all things under [Christ’s] feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.[6]

Thus, Paul’s mysticism, and the basis for his en Christo phraseology, is a remarkable encounter with Jesus that comprises both a personal and a corporate sense of spiritual oneness with Christ.

Overview of Pauline Usage

With the Damascus encounter firmly in mind, we may now turn to Paul’s writings. These are meant to convey the depth of a spiritual union he perceived to exist not only between Christ and Paul but between Christ and all believers. Yet these writings are not intended as theological tomes or sophisticated manuals of doctrine. Paul did not publish books; he wrote letters. These letters express something of the revelation of Christ to his brothers and sisters in the Lord, as the Spirit led him to write by way of a sometimes rambling correspondence that is intimate and personal. The only structure is a somewhat standard opening and a somewhat standard closing; everything in the middle seems extemporaneous, winding, and liquid – as the Spirit moves him. As a result, trying to construct a systematic theology from these writings is understandably difficult, yet intriguing. In nearly every case these letters were written in response to a practical situation: a question, dispute, or trouble arising among the ekklesias that he loved, served, and prayed for. The urgency of the situation called for a response, and Paul’s concern for the ekklesias invariably drew a heartfelt, passionate reply from him. In the age before ease of travel and mass communication, a written letter dispatched by courier was the best option. Later, when Paul is a prisoner of the Roman government, a letter is his only option; thus, the letters become increasingly important and more frequent. They represent a vital link between him and the ekklesias who must now make do without his physical presence.

These letters were recognized by the early Christians as “God-breathed” and were preserved and handed down to us as Scripture. The fine spirit and richness of these letters reflect the depth of Paul’s mystical, spiritual and literal representations of Christ and are embedded with the unique phraseology of en Christo and its derivatives. As we examine the Pauline letters[7] for the signal phrase in Christ and its permutations, we find a pervasiveness that reflects the centrality of Christ in Paul’s thought, life, and work. There are many variants of the key phrases, and Dunn regards them as generally occurring under three main headings:

1. In Christ / In Him / In Whom. By Dunn’s reckoning, the phrase en Christo occurs 83 times in Paul’s body of letters (396). In addition, by my count and according to Strong, “in Him” occurs 13 times and “in Whom” appears 12 times, depending on how one reads the passages in question; thus, this first heading covers about 108 instances.
2. In the Lord / In the Lord Jesus. Dunn puts the phrase en Kyrio, and variations such as “in the Lord Jesus” or “in the Lord Jesus Christ” at 47 instances (397).
3. With Christ / Into Christ / Through Christ. This heading also includes variations of with Him, into Him, through Him, etc. that “express the same sense of communality of believers rooted in its dependence on their common experience of participation with Christ” (Dunn, 403). These passages portray believers as sharing in the crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, seating, and ruling with Christ. These and similarly constructed phrases occur about 50 times.

Three Manageable Concepts

As impressive as these occurrences are, it is easy to get lost in the sheer volume of terms and phrases. Another way to grasp their significance is to think of them conceptually, rather than become bogged down in specific syntax. The various applications of the term in Christ and its derivatives do seem to convey three degrees of depth, each somewhat overlapping the other, but all communicating three remarkable (yet manageable) concepts. I will categorize these as: Christ for us, Christ as us, and Christ in us.

1. Christ “for” us (the Mediator). This represents “Christ in the gap,” the One Who bridges the gulf between God and Man: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”[8] Paul consistently describes God as the primary benefactor, mankind as the primary beneficiary, and Christ as the God-Man through Whom God and mankind are brought together. This primarily has to do with the reconciliation of the world, solving the sin problem, and bestowing spiritual blessings on those who believe. Everything that God wishes to do for mankind is always presented as being done in, by, through, or with Christ – there is never any avenue of grace, salvation, blessing, or path to God outside of or apart from Christ. Oddly, Dunn wanders from the obvious when he states that “Paul never properly explains” why faith had to be in Christ rather than simply in God, and that “[p]resumably he could have envisaged a saving faith which was not focused in Christ as such” (727). Such a bizarre notion is completely foreign from Paul’s writings and his thought.

On the contrary, we find that “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses against them”[9] and “when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.”[10] Interestingly, this reconciliation in Christ is presented by Paul as having already occurred prior to anyone’s acceptance or belief – indeed, while we were “yet sinners, Christ died for us”[11] – and Christ is said to have already secured peace between God and man: “[God] having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all [Greek: pas] things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.”[12] Christ truly “died for all”[13] but that there yet remains a fuller deliverance for “all” is clear from Paul’s deduction that “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive”[14] – not all at once, but “every man in his own order.”[15] This is positioned as a future event based on an accomplished fact. Does he mean that “all in Christ” will be made alive (in a way that limits vivification only to the saints), or that “all” will believe into Christ and thus “all” will be made alive, without restriction? The words “As in.. so in…” gives weight to the latter interpretation – just as Adam introduced sin and eventually passed spiritual death to all persons without exception, so also Christ has introduced righteousness and will eventually pass spiritual life to all persons without exception.

Towards that end, Paul conveys that in the “fullness of times” God intends to “gather together in one all things in Christ [pas en Christos].”[16] Paul aligns his life and ministry with that ultimate purpose in mind, explaining that his personal mission includes preaching this all-encompassing Christ and “warning every man, and teaching every man, that we may present every man perfect in Christ.”[17] The Greek phrase translated three times here as “every man” is pas anthrōpos (Strong, #3956 and #444), the same phrase translated elsewhere as “all men”– for example, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men [pas anthrōpos]… for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; Who will have all men [pas anthrōpos] to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth… Who gave himself a ransom for all [pas].”[18] Thus, Paul sees God working through Christ as “the Savior of all men [pas anthrōpos], especially [but not exclusively] of those that believe.[19]

Notwithstanding, Paul preaches that “God… commandeth all men [pas anthrōpos] everywhere to repent.”[20] He pleads with those enemies whom God has already reconciled to stop being enemies and instead “be ye reconciled to God”[21] in return. His constant preaching, warning, teaching, and praying shows that Paul did not interpret the universality of Christ’s work for pas anthrōpos to mean that sinners could now pray an easy prayer to an easy Jesus for an easy salvation and continue living in sin. Yet, Paul’s Christ is infinitely greater than Adam; Paul exudes unlimited confidence in the efficacy of the cross of Christ to far surpass the sin and failure of Adam, arguing that “as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous”[22] and that “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”[23] It is difficult to imagine how Paul could conceive of a grace through the sacrifice of Christ that abounds “much more” than the sin of Adam if that grace fails to convert and restore all who died in Adam.  Paul sees Christ as the Last Adam[24] Who reverses the destruction of the First Adam by abolishing death[25] and eventually defeating death,[26] robbing the grave of its victory and giving those newly liberated from death saving faith and final victory in Christ.[27] After that “cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all [pas] rule and all [pas] authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all [pas] enemies under his feet.”[28] The final “putting down,” the climax of God’s purpose in Christ as described by Paul, is inescapable, universal, and total: “When all [pas] things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all [pas] things under him, that God may be all in all [pas en pas].”[29] We do not have to speculate as to the real intention of “all” here – Paul himself explains the one and only exception to the use of the word “all” as self-evident: “But when he saith all [pas] things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all [pas] things under him.”[30] In other words, God is the obvious exclusion to the “all” who are subdued and saved under Christ; in the end, God will be “all in all” but He will never be under all. Certainly Paul would not specifically argue for an unlimited sense of “all” in this place but would, without explanation, intend a limited sense of the word “all” elsewhere.

To parse Paul’s frequent use of the word “all” in these critical texts as to infer a meaning less than “all” is to unfairly limit the largeness of his vision of Christ and to accuse him of repetitive, disingenuous and fanatical overstatement. On the other hand, if Paul really believed that “all” meant all mankind, every person who has ever lived or died, without exception, then it does help to better understand both the greatness of his comprehension of Christ and his willingness to consider everything apart from Him as “dung” by comparison.

If God is working in Christ to reconcile, make peace and bestow life to “all” then Paul sees Him working all the more to bestow blessings “especially” on those who already believe: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all [pas], how shall he not with him also freely give us all [pas] things?”[31] For Paul, being in Christ is the beginning of something completely new and represents a total break from the past: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”[32] Within this refreshing newness Paul sees that God “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.”[33] In every respect, Christ represents a spiritual sufficiency that not only satisfies the righteous requirements of God but satisfies the spiritual need of mankind. And, since “all the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwells in Christ,”[34] it stands to reason that those in Christ lack nothing, but “are complete in Him.”[35]

2. Christ “as” us (the Substitute). This represents “Christ in my place,” the One Who not only stands in the gap between God and mankind to bridge the two, but takes the place of mankind to suffer the penalty of sin and attain a victory on humanity’s behalf. According to Paul, God treats the death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seating in heavenly places of Christ as if it were our own, placing saints “in Christ” and thus identifying believers with Him at each point. All our sinfulness is attributed to Him and all His righteousness is attributed to us: “[God] hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”[36] And so, “of [God] are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.”[37] As with the reconciliation of the world in Christ on the cross, Paul places the beginning of the believer’s mystical substitution in Christ at the cross: “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him.”[38] From there, Paul situates us squarely in Christ at every step: “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.”[39]And so the togetherness of those who have been crucified with Christ extends from there. Those who were crucified with Christ were also “dead with Christ,”[40] “buried with Him,”[41] and “risen with Him,”[42] both in the sense of being made alive in Christ and in the sense of having ascended with Him to rule in the heavenly sphere: “[God] hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”[43] They key word here is together, which helps us better appreciate Paul’s sense of what it means to be both in Christ and with Him.

It is noteworthy that Paul does not identify believers with either the birth or the sinless earthly life of Jesus; the language of in and with describes a spiritual oneness that joins believers together with Christ at the cross; and from there, they proceed together with Christ through death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the throne. It is also important to note that Paul’s mysticism stops short of claiming that believers share in the deity of Christ; Paul nevertheless describes a remarkable spiritual unity that elevates believers to the status of “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.”[44]

3. Christ “in” us (the Indwelling Presence). This represents “Christ in my heart,” the One Who lives in me as I live in Him. The Johannine portrayal of Christ as “the Vine” and believers as “the branches”[45] characteristically comes to mind as the foremost example of the spiritual union of Christ and His followers – as the branch abides in the Vine and produces fruit, so we are to abide in Him, share in His life and bring forth spiritual fruit. The Pauline portrait supports this concept with language that describes both Jews and Gentiles being “grafted in” by faith in Christ to partake of the “root and fatness” of “the good olive tree” or otherwise being “cut off” if they do not continue in Christ.[46] Beyond merely bridging the gap or simply taking our place, Paul presses further to describe spiritual union as mystery hitherto hidden, but now revealed as “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”[47] He sees Christ not only in the heavenly realm, not only visible in the clouds at His return, but within: “Christ lives in me.”[48] Paul uses two examples to show what he means in the spiritual sense of Christ and the believer: “What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.”[49] This “joining” to the Lord is spiritual, and is taken for granted by Paul as having already been accomplished in Christ; in the cross, “the two became one” in spirit.

This represents something very different from the idea of mystical union as understood and practiced by notable mystics such as St. John of the Cross or St. Teresa Avila. Rather than viewing union with God as the end result of spiritual exercises and mortification, Paul sees union with God as the impetus that makes walking with God possible. Believers are already one with God because they are in Christ; they need only stay in Christ and continue in Him: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.”[50] Moreover, this spiritual oneness exists not only for the private enjoyment of individual seekers, but extends and applies as well to the relationship between Christ and believers in toto. Paul again resorts to the analogy of marriage within the same “mystery” framework:

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Eph. 5:30-32)

Summary and Conclusion

We have thus seen that Paul’s mysticism began at Damascus and developed from there into a three-fold apprehension of Christ: Christ for us, Christ as us, and Christ in us. The uniqueness of Paul’s thought can be attributed to a radical Christocentricity that found a practical expression as Paul responded to the emergent spiritual needs of those to whom he ministered. As such, he did not delineate a theological construct or formal doctrinal system; but, if there is such a theology we can draw from Paul, the pervasiveness of the en Christo family of vocabulary shows that Christ is the foundation, the cornerstone, the pillar, the goal, and the center of his thought. Dunn concludes: “For Paul Christianity is Christ. Any restatement of his theology, any theologizing which seeks to sustain a dialogue with Paul will simply have to recognize this” (729).

Along with “knowing Him”[51] and being “found in Him”[52] personally, Paul was daily concerned for the salvation of pas anthrōpos as well as the spiritual growth and maturity of the ekklesias.[53] Therefore, proclaiming and handing down a Christ-centered faith was Paul’s primary motivation, and his letters must be read and interpreted in that light. Towards the end of his life Paul charged Timothy that “the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”[54] In the absence of an organized religious structure, it is clear that what Paul wanted to be committed and passed on was not a systematic theology, but an awareness of the Person of Christ as comprised in both a spiritual and a practical expression of Jesus as “Christ who liveth in me… the son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”[55]

Works Cited

Dunn, James D. G. The Theology of Paul the Apostle. Eerdmans, 1998.

The Holy Bible: King James Version. Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1995.

Sanders, Paul. Paul and Palestinian Judaism. Fortress Press, 1977.

Strong, James. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. World Bible Publishers, 1989.

Young, Robert. Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible. Hendrickson Publishers, 1984.

[1] Acts 9ff.

[2] Col. 1:26, 27.

[3] Acts 22:9.

[4] Rom. 12:5.

[5] Mt. 25:40.

[6] Eph. 1:22,23.

[7] I include here all of the epistles traditionally attributed to Paul in the King James Version, including the pastoral epistles, but excluding Hebrews.

[8] 1 Tim. 2:5.

[9] 2 Cor. 5:19.

[10] Rom. 5:10.

[11] Rom. 5:8.

[12] Col. 1:20. Frequently (and inconsistently) the King James Version translates pas as “all things” instead of simply “all.” Presumably the extra word “things” is supplied to make the text more readable; but if we look at certain passages translated as “all [things]” and think of them as “all [people]” it creates an interesting new perspective – one that perhaps the King James translators did not wish to convey.

[13] 2 Cor. 5:15.

[14] 1 Cor. 15:22.

[15] 1 Cor. 15:23.

[16] Eph. 1:10.

[17] Col. 1:28.

[18] 1 Tim. 2:4.

[19] 1 Tim. 4:10.

[20] Acts 17:30

[21] 2 Cor. 5:20.

[22] Rom. 5:19.

[23] Rom. 5:20.

[24] 1 Cor. 15:45.

[25] 2 Tim. 1:10.

[26] 1 Cor. 15:26.

[27] 1 Cor. 15:55-57.

[28] 1Cor. 15:24.

[29] 1 Cor. 15:28.

[30] 1 Cor. 15:27.

[31] Rom. 8:32. I note here that Paul is quite capable of qualifying pas with hēmōn pas, “us all” – or hymin pas, “you all” (Eph. 4:6) – whenever he wishes to convey a less-than-universal sense of “all.” Or, he can simply use tis, “some,” as in: “I am made all [pas] to all [pas] that I might save some [tis]” (1 Cor. 9:22).

[32] 2 Cor. 5:17.

[33] Eph. 1:3.

[34] Col. 2:9.

[35] Col. 2:10.

[36] 2 Cor. 5:21.

[37] 1 Cor. 1:30.

[38] Rom. 6:6.

[39] Rom. 6:5.

[40] Rom. 6:8.

[41] Rom. 6:4.

[42] Col. 2:12.

[43] Eph. 2:6.

[44] Rom. 8:17.

[45] Jn. 15:1-8.

[46] Rom. 11:17-24.

[47] Col. 1:27.

[48] Gal. 2:20ff.

[49] 1 Cor. 6:16,17.

[50] Col. 2:6.

[51] Phl. 3:10.

[52] Phl. 3:9.

[53] 2 Cor. 11:28.

[54] 2 Tim. 2:2.

[55] Gal. 2:20ff.

This philosophy gives us the illusion of a manageable deity, a “god” who is under our control, having no choice but to respond to a prayer properly worded or recited. A person of average intelligence should be able to see that this is a ridiculous caricature of God – it is a misrepresentation and a deception. The widespread popularity and success of these teachings should make us at least a little suspicious as to the spirit which prompts men to perpetuate it. It cannot be the Holy Spirit.

Jesus takes it for granted that His disciples will pray. This is why four times in a row He says, “WHEN you pray” and not “IF you pray.” But from these brief excerpts of Scripture we learn that there are at least two classes of prayer. One is unacceptable to God, and the other is well-pleasing to Him. One is of hypocrites, the other is of a pure heart. One is done openly to be seen of men, the other is hidden to be seen of God alone. One is nothing more than vain repetition to accomplish my own ends, and the other accomplishes God’s purpose.

Now if we pray the prayer of the hypocrite we are wasting our time. God will not respond, He will not move, He will not listen to such praying. That is not to say that someone (something?) will not answer this self-centered prayer: but the answer, when and if it comes, will not come from the Father in heaven. Much praying is done in vain because the one praying has never gone to the Word to investigate the kind of prayer that is well-pleasing to God. Just as there is a worship that is “spirit-and-truth” and there is a worship which is fleshly and vain, so there is a “spirit-and-truth” sort of praying and a flesh-and-blood praying which is done in vanity.

So by the grace of God we would like to look to the Lord to teach us to pray. Let us ask Him to show us the sort of praying that is acceptable to Him.

How Not to Pray

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners that they may be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have already received their reward” (Matthew 6:5).

What makes a prayer hypocritical? It is a prayer which is done in public to be seen of men. It is an outward show to make one appear spiritual to others. It calls attention to one’s self through loud volume, lengthy discourse, or spiritual-sounding vocabulary. It is primarily done for ceremonial benefit only, for the listening ear of men, and not for God. We want to be seen and heard and observed. We wish to be known as “prayer warriors” so we prefer to do our praying in public, by the altar, in church, or at the prayer meeting, so everyone can see us. We would have people know us as watchmen, prophets, and intercessors. But what matters most is not how people perceive us, but how we truly are before God.

Hypocrites typically use public praying to preach or make demands upon others. I was in a meeting once when a newcomer was asked to pray. Before long he began talking about his financial needs as if he were talking to the Lord, but it should have been obvious that he was merely letting it be known to all present that he expected a monetary gift. He even said, “I pray that someone will give me the money I need.” And of course, after the meeting, someone did. But neither the one who prayed nor the one who “answered” his prayer were in the Spirit. This man should have been rebuked, but no one rose to the occasion, including myself. So we all missed the Spirit, but we learned a lesson. And we never heard from the man again.

Preachers are equally guilty of hypocritical long-windedness. It is interesting to observe how differently someone prays when standing upon a platform before others compared to how they pray in other places. They seem to believe that the spotlight calls for certain words and phrases to be used that they would not otherwise use. This, too, is done for the benefit of the listeners. “Oh, he can pray such powerful prayers!” they exclaim. But this does not mean they are necessarily powerful with God.

Particularly in a day when prayer meetings, prayer gatherings, prayer retreats, and prayer warfare is being emphasized, it is important to understand what the Lord is looking for so we do not fall into a trap of vanity. The experience of many saints seems to indicate that the more we pray in private, the less we will pray in public. The words will be fewer, but they will be far more weighty and valuable. One brother was so broken before God privately that whenever he stepped into the pulpit to pray publicly, all he could do was fall over the lectern and weep, “Oh God!” That is the proper spirit, and how I wish we had more of this kind of prayer.

“But when you pray, enter into your closet, and after you have shut the door, pray to your Father in secret; and your Father, Who sees what is done secretly, will reward you openly” (Matthew 6:6).

Why does the Lord prefer secret prayer to prayer done in the synagogue (or in the church building)? Prayer which is most valuable to God is done in secret, in the prayer closet, in the inner chamber where no man’s eyes can see and no man’s ears can hear what is said and done. Thus, everything said and done in secret is for the Lord’s sake. Most public praying is done to be seen of men; hence, it has virtually no worth. An abundance of public prayer cannot make up for a lack of secret prayer.

As a child I took this Scripture literally. I would go into a closet and close the door, praying to the Lord in secret. When I got older I would climb to the top of a tree to pray and read. Or I would sneak out while it was still dark so I could pray. As I look back on my life these are the sweetest times of prayer and communion I have ever experienced.

It does not matter whether your closet is a literal closet or not. The issue is the sort of prayer that is offered, whether it is done to be seen of men or if it is done to be seen of God. If we are praying to the Lord for the Lord’s sake then we will want to keep holy things holy, private things private, and sacred things sacred. We will not easily repeat to others the intimate details of these encounters with God. It would seem almost sacrilegious to do so.

Is prayer and worship a lifestyle, or is it an event? If it is an event, if most of our praying is done once a week when we gather together, then we will be lacking spiritually. We will sense this lack when we try to flip a switch and become spiritual enough to pray. But our corporate prayers have their basis in our secret prayers. The real value is not what is seen outwardly, but what we are inwardly, beneath the surface, as we minister to the Lord in secret.

“But when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do: for they think they will be heard for their much speaking” (Matthew 6:7).

The Greek word for “vain” here is interesting. It comes from the base of another word which means “to handle or squeeze” and implies manipulation, as someone would manipulate clay to make it into something like a bowl or a vase. It is used by Jesus in another context, Matthew 15:7-9:

“You hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me, for in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.'”

There is such a thing as vain prayer and vain worship. There is such a thing as a sacrifice acceptable to God and a sacrifice unacceptable to God (see the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4). We know exactly what God seeks, and that is, “Spirit and Truth.” We also know what He considers to be vanity, manipulation, a waste of time, and self-centered. Vanity includes drawing near to Him with our mouth and honoring Him with our lips while our heart is far from Him. It includes teaching the things of man as if they were the things of God. It includes repeating the same prayers over and over again with a view towards manipulating God. It includes 95% of all that is said and done in a typical church service on Sunday morning. Continually asking God to bless our unacceptable worship every single week is an example of vanity. “In vain do they worship Me.”

It may come as a shock and a surprise to most people to learn that much of what they are doing, even the spiritual things (especially the spiritual things), are vanity. People have been taught that so long as they attend church and pray the right prayers for protection, blessings, power or anointing then everything will be well with them. People who relate to God in this way are behaving like heathens – Jesus says so. Heathen people are not irreligious. They worship! They pray! Hypocrites give! Hypocrites fast! Hypocrites do mighty works in the Name of Jesus! But according to Jesus, it counts for nothing. It is all in vain. They do not really KNOW Him, and He does not “know” them either.

“Do not be like [the heathen], for your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8).

Here is something interesting! Jesus says not to pray as if we would be heard for our much speaking or grandiose speech, because the Father knows what we need before we ask Him. Well then! What is the point of praying? If God knows what I need before I ask, why ask at all? If prayer is nothing more than making my needs known to God then perhaps we can stop praying, since He already knows what they are. But perhaps prayer, as Jesus teaches it, has very little to do with making requests to the Lord for my own needs to be met. If so, then to continue praying on the basis of my needs is vanity. Vanity is not only futility, but it is self-centeredness. Thus, “Do not be like the heathen, who vainly repeat the same prayers with a view towards getting their own needs met.”

Jesus does not say that since the Father knows what we need, we do not HAVE to pray – but if He already knows what we need then it should definitely change the WAY we pray. When we do pray we should not behave like a hypocrite or a heathen, obsessed with ourselves. Our needs are already known to the Lord. So it is not as though we have to go to God and inform Him as to the details of our situation in order to fully appraise Him of what is happening. We might give our doctor such detailed information so a proper diagnosis can be made, but the Lord does not need any assistance from us in order to help Him figure out the problem. Nor does He need us to tell Him what needs to be done, as if we know what is called for and He does not.

What if prayer is something deeper than rehearsing my needs to the Lord? What if prayer is a means toward a higher end than getting my circumstances and my surroundings in order? In other words, what if prayer is not about my needs, my desires, my wants, my requests, or my situation at all? What if prayer is meant to meet the LORD’S need? What if, instead of coming to the Lord with OUR expectation as to the outcome, we come to the Lord, interested in knowing what HIS expectation is? What if prayer is not about giving voice to MY will at all, but is about giving voice to HIS will?

This concept may be too radical for some, because it will require a further death to their Self. But since the Father knows what we have need of before we ask, prayer must not be primarily concerned with telling Him what He already knows. Since we are to pray, and since the Lord knows our needs already, does this not indicate a higher calling and a deeper work to be done in prayer than merely voicing my personal prayer requests? To the heathen and the hypocrite, who are so absorbed with Self, vanity (futility and self-centeredness) is evident everywhere, and in their praying in particular. According to the Scriptures, it appears that Jesus is bringing us to a deeper understanding of prayer. So after what manner SHOULD we pray then? Jesus makes it very plain.

How to Pray

“Pray after this manner: ‘Our Father in heaven, may Your Name be hallowed, may Your Kingdom come, may Your Will be done: as in heaven, so in earth'” (Matthew 6:9,10).

Now that we know the kind of prayer which is not acceptable to the Lord, it is time for us to look at the kind of prayer which is acceptable. The Lord Jesus is not giving us a prayer to repeat word for word, for that would be contrary to everything He has told us up to this point (observe how we still cling to it ritualistically anyway). Instead, He gives us a pattern, a prototype, a foundation of all prayer by saying, “Pray after this manner”, or, “Pray along these lines.”

At once we are lifted up from the earthly situation and are made to focus upon a heavenly Father, a heavenly Kingdom, and a heavenly Will. I believe it is so important for us to see this. Prayer does not begin on the earth, it begins in the heavens. It does not begin with man, it begins with the Father. It does not begin with man’s need, but with God’s will. Our praying is ineffectual because we pray as earthly men with an earthly perspective concerning earthly things. See how far and above this manner of praying is when compared to the hypocrite, praying in public to be seen of men! Prayer ought to bring us up into the heavenlies, not bring us down deeper into the earth. It ought to focus our vision on the Father, not on man, or the problems of man. Spiritual prayer begins in the Spirit; heavenly prayer begins in the heavenlies.

When we pray “after this manner” we are transported and elevated beyond flesh-and-blood, beyond the natural, beyond the earthly, beyond the seen-and-felt universe in which we live. We are at once brought into alignment with Someone larger than ourselves, Someone higher, Someone greater. This Someone has an agenda, and is working all things together in one accord towards this agenda. What is the agenda? It is the Will and the Kingdom. So what is the Will and the Kingdom? The Will is “all things in Christ” and the Kingdom is the fulfillment of that Will, when Christ has the preeminence. All of God’s movements are towards this End.

So the chief objective of prayer is to bring us into cooperation with the Father so that we are harmonious with Him – with respect to our love relationship as well as our working relationship. Much time and effort in prayer is spent trying to get God involved with OUR agenda, with OUR plans, with OUR goals, with OUR cause, with OUR needs, real or imagined. But after all, who is the Master? Who is the servant? Whose will are we seeking anyway: ours, or His? If we have not touched upon the Will and the Kingdom in our praying then we are praying in vain, because God cannot contradict Himself, and cannot answer such prayer. If our agenda is not harmonious with His then our agenda has to go. Most of our prayers are simply too small, too narrow-minded, and too constricted. We do not see anything beyond our present surroundings. We have not seen the big picture. We do not have a heavenly perspective. So to begin with we must empty ourselves of all preconceived ideas and seek the Lord’s Will and the Lord’s Kingdom when we pray, for this truly hallows the Father.

“Give us today’s bread again as usual; and as we have forgiven others their sins, so forgive us our sins'” (Matthew 6:11,12).

The Lord does not tell us NOT to make our requests known to Him. It is appropriate to thankfully acknowledge Him on a daily basis as our Provider and the One Who forgives. The difference is this. When we pray the Will and the Kingdom, when we lose ourselves and our agenda, when we come to the Lord to meet His need, then we will find our needs are met: but even if they are not met, we will not care. Our desire is for Him, and so long as we are in His Will and in His Kingdom, the issue of whether or not my personal needs are met becomes of secondary importance. Prayer is not the vehicle whereby I get my needs met. It is the means through which God’s Need is met. Now that I am praying on behalf of God’s Will and God’s Kingdom, now that I am praying in alignment with God’s desire for the ages, He will be sure to supply me with what I need (indeed, nothing can prevent it, for nothing has been able to prevent it for billions of years). As I have sought first the Kingdom, all that is required will be added to me. Not for my sake, you see, but for His sake. As I have vested myself into His Kingdom, He has vested Himself into my well-being. How could it be otherwise?

For after all, where is the Kingdom? Here, or there, in the future, in the past? No, the Kingdom is within you (Luke 17:21). When we pray God’s Will and God’s Kingdom, are we not asking for Christ to increase and for us to decrease? Are we not asking for Christ to have the greater preeminence in us individually as disciples? For the moment, forget about bringing the Church together or getting everyone to see the same thing. If each of us prayed this with no greater goal but for ourselves, would this not by extension include the entire Church, of which we are members? So we are praying for Christ to have the preeminence in us individually as disciples; in the Church corporately; and in all of creation collectively. We are aligning ourselves with some very powerful forces, all working together towards God’s Ultimate Purpose.

Now whether or not you consider the bread to be physical or spiritual (or both), it is provided daily. And, on a daily basis, forgiveness of sins is provided. Bread speaks to our Life, and forgiveness of sins speaks to our walk. Daily we require Life in order to live. Daily we offend others, and daily we offend God. So daily we have need of forgiveness. Quite frankly, whatever else we may think we need is summed up into these two things. Everything else is good to have, and God may be pleased to grant them, but they are not absolutely necessary. No one has a Scriptural “right” to make demands upon the Father for whatever they want, no more than my children should expect me to give them everything they ask for.

Since we are already blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3), the bulk of our prayers ought to be centered on God’s Will and not our wants. UNLESS – and here is where it gets interesting and powerful – UNLESS what WE want is what HE wants. God will deny no prayer that is in agreement with what He Himself wants to do. In fact, He is the One Who makes His Will known to us, so we can voice our agreement to it in prayer, so it will come to pass. Conformity to Christ includes wanting what He wants, and if this is taking place in us, the first place it will manifest itself is in our praying, for this is where the exchange of His Life for my life is taking place. And by now we should already know that God only wants ONE THING. Eventually, that is all we will want, and that is all we will be able to pray. The easiest way to get your wants met in prayer is to only want ONE THING.

“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: for the Kingdom is Yours, the Power is Yours, and the Glory is Yours. May it be so forever'” (Matthew 6:13).

As we begin with the Kingdom, so we end with the Kingdom. On what basis may we claim deliverance from evil? On the basis that the Kingdom is of God, the Power is of God, and the Glory is of God.

What is evil? All that is of Antichrist is evil. Antichrist resists God’s movement towards Christ as All in All. Whether or not this culminates in a last days dictator is beside the point. Antichrist has been with us from the beginning. The spirit of Antichrist has always resisted the preeminence of Christ, from Lucifer’s rebellion to the sins of your flesh. A thing does not have to be bad to be evil. It could be as an angel of light. Of course, bad things are evil, but even seemingly good things are evil if they are not bringing us further into Christ as All in All. So if God’s Highest Good is Christ, then anything less than Christ or apart from Christ is evil.

So many are under the impression that the devil has a kingdom, but a search of the Scriptures fails to produce a single shred of evidence to suggest this. “Thine is the Kingdom.” The Kingdom belongs to God. God never gave anything to the devil. Even in the Old Testament, before Jesus walked the earth, it is said, “The earth is the LORD’S, and the fullness thereof: the world, and they that dwell therein (Psalms 24:1).” Again, many are obsessed with the alleged “power” of darkness, and anyone who has the ability to deceive another has the ability to control them, but here we are told “Thine is the Power.” There is no intrinsic power of darkness, there is only power over individuals gained through deception. The True Power is not held by darkness, but by God, through Jesus Christ, in heaven as well as in earth (Matthew 28:18). Finally, “Thine is the Glory.” It is this Glory of Christ as He in fact is that manifests to us by revelation, and this Glory is indeed manifested in the heavens as well as in the whole earth (Psalms 8).

Now if we carefully look at these three items – the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory – we see that it is as much for earth as it is for heaven. It truly represents all that “as in heaven, so in earth” means. Yet there is, on the earth, something which seems to challenge the preeminence of Christ, as if to say that there is another Kingdom, another Power, and another Glory, whether it be of men or of satan (Luke 4:5,6). To pray in this manner is to declare otherwise. It is to stand upon the earth and give testimony that there is only One Kingdom, One Power, and One Glory, and these belong to the Father and to His Christ. Of course, we must see this and believe it in order to pray it. But this, essentially, is the Testimony of Jesus and the ministry of the overcomers.

The thing which hampers our praying the most is the smallness of our vision. Prayer is only a means to an End, and the End is to see Christ established as the Preeminent One on the earth as in heaven. Prayer aligns us with the heart of God so that we only desire the One Thing that He desires.

We cannot, we should not, have faith in prayer itself. How easy it is to put our confidence in a method or a technique for praying and begin relating to God like a heathen. How easy it is to put our confidence in man and begin relating to God like a hypocrite. It is interesting to see that as powerful as “the Lord’s Prayer” is, it is nevertheless done behind closed doors, and in secret. We are not told that we must go to strategic points on the globe in order to exercise our authority. We are not given the names of demons or principalities with which we must engage ourselves. Not at all. In our prayer closet, once the door is shut, we merely pray in this manner to the Father, and He will reward us openly.

And lest we forget, Christ is our reward. We seek not His things, but Him. We seek not our Kingdom, but His. We rely not in our power, but in His. And as we are decreased, He is increased, and His glory is revealed and made manifest in us and through us. This is true prayer, provided we are willing to leave our ground and come onto His ground, praying His Will and not ours.

O Father, reveal Your Son in us. Teach us to pray. Your Name be sanctified. We stand for your Kingdom and for Your Will in the earth. May Your Kingdom come – in us. May Your Will be done – in us. As in heaven, so in earth. We thank you that as we seek first Your Kingdom, everything we need is provided. Deliver us from all that is Antichrist, from all that is natural, from all that is flesh-and-blood, from all that is carnal, from all that is earthly, and establish us in the Kingdom of Your Dear Son. We recognize no kingdom but Yours, no power but Yours, no glory but Yours. May it be so forever. Amen.