Foundation

I do believe that truth never contradicts itself, nor does it vary at all. It was the same in the apostle’s time, and it is the same today (Isaiah 40:8). And I am firmly convinced that the scriptures teach all things necessary for spiritual life and godliness, and that the Lord has a heart experience and grace for all who are willing that will help them to live to a full Bible standard.

“According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”* (2 Peter 1:3-4)

This scripture and many others plainly teach an experience that God has for us which makes us “partakers of the divine nature” in the sense that our hearts are purified by His blood and we are daily enabled by divine assistance to live a life of victory and conquering power over sin, “having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” Just as it is natural for the carnal heart to live unto sin, so it is natural for the regenerated heart to live unto righteousness (Romans 6:17-22).

The experience in the heart, wrought by the power of God, and the scriptures go together. It is not possible to properly understand the Bible unless we are inspired to understand by the same Holy Spirit that first inspired the writing. An attempt to carefully follow the teachings of the Bible without having the word written in the heart will only result in man’s best efforts to live up to God’s requirements. But diligent obedience from a transformed heart (born from above) will result in the Living Word in the heart. The soul will naturally want to do what is in the Word, and the Word will naturally be according to the same life that is written in the heart. This new covenant (as contrasted with the one of the Old Testament) is mentioned in Hebrews 8:10, “I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” And, again, writing to ones who had this experience at Corinth, the apostle declared, “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.”* (2 Corinthians 3:3)

The Old Testament experience of legal justification was inadequate in God’s eyes; He used it only as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, to a better sacrifice, and to better results in the human heart. “The law and the prophets were until John, since that time the kingdom of heaven is preached and every man presseth into it.”* (Luke 16:16) It is still being preached, and men are still pressing into it. I am so glad, that by God’s great mercy to me, I was able to press into it, and am washed and made clean.