Genesis 2:16-17 TREE OF LIFE: Eternal life depends
upon being subjected to and being submitted to live according
to God's Word, His authority, and His ethical and moral principles.
John 6:35 TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL: Independent
of God, who is life, not submitting to His authority, but relying
on one's own conscious and deliberate capability to distinguish
good from evil.
CHOICE: Man given power and ability to choose, to submit
to authority or not. The act of choosing is what makes man truly
human. In Genesis 3:6
, God's chain of authority was violated-the
act of submitting voluntarily in the Trinity, Adam to God, Eve
to Adam is all necessary in order to complete man in God's image,
being God's representative on earth, man in union with his wife,
to establish God's church.
REDEMPTION PLAN TO ESTABLISH THE CHURCH
Genesis 3:15 ,16 ,20
: God's mercy and grace given to Eve to
become the means of the redemptive process, "the mother of
all living." Here, again, Eve is told to submit to Adam and
Adam to exercise his authority.
Genesis 2:7 ,18 ,22-24
: Man was made from earthly elements,
woman was made from the substance of man-the ribs over man's heart.
Woman is of substance, mother of life, giver of life. Thus,
she has greater spiritual dimensions and the depth necessary in
order to make up the "deficiencies in man." Man is incomplete
and needs woman to complete him in order to bring forth the church.
Ephesians 5:22-25
: Adam is the protector of life, given dominion.
Man is to exercise control and authority to protect his wife from
any harm whatsoever because his very spiritual effectiveness depends
on her.
2 Corinthians 4:10-12
: Both husband and wife are to act in
the redemptive process- daily dying to reactions of the flesh,
meeting the other's needs, helping to remove the dross from one
another, becoming one flesh in mind and spirit.
Hebrews 5:8-9
: Through suffering, we learn obedience, becoming
perfect as Jesus. Sin in us, and we still face the challenge of
the world, flesh and the devil.
PERSPECTIVES
Ephesians 5:16-21
: Evil remains unless we replace it with
righteous actions. Being drunk is being filled with the world's
ideas, its philosophies, living by feelings, reacting instead
of responding biblically in the power of the Holy Spirit. B.Romans
12:1-2, Ephesians 4:22-24
: Commitment is critical, and it all
begins in the mind. Push out and cast away the garbage of self,
the world's ideas, and dwell on God's truths.
Philippians 2:3-4
: A Christian is a person who is governed
by thought, by understanding, by meditation, developing a spirit
of consideration for the interest and concern of others.
Ephesians 1:17-19
: Know who we are, what we are, and what
we can do in Christ Who is our wisdom, our strength, and our ability.
In ourselves, we are thoughtless, selfish, self-centered,
individualistic, self-assertive, opinionated, resent criticism,
impatient of others' points of view, and tend to be dictatorial,
hyper-sensitive and usually "walk out" when things are
not going our way.
There is nothing in ourselves to boast of; we are all damned,
all lost, all sinners. Thus, we are in a good condition to forego
all personal rights and seek the development and enhancement of
the whole and of every other part.
John 13:12
, Matthew 20-28
: Controlling principle is that Christ
is the Lord of our lives. This is what rules and governs us. His
life is our example ( John 14:21
.
We are to be servants to one another because Jesus taught
us to be. He gave His life, and in gratitude we keep His commandments
that His name might be recognized and glorified by our behavior.
1 Corinthians 3:11-13
, Philippians 2:12-13
: Works and reasons
outside of the Word of God are always based on fear. The human
standard is the sense- ruled mind which results in fear, sickness,
worry, bitterness, etc.
1 Peter 2:21-24
: We are to live this life not because it is
the thing to do or because others are doing it, but because Jesus
did it as an example for us to follow, by His grace.
Philippians 2:5-8
: Jesus' ultimate obedience, submission to
the Father, even unto death, gives us the power and authority
to do likewise as we submit one to the other, sacrificing our
own needs to meet the needs of others.
Hebrews 13:20-21
: A mind dominated by God's thoughts, nature
and ways is a Word-ruled mind which is never prepared to fail.