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If you can read the Gospels, then what you are reading is the teachings of the simple faith -- taught to the multitudes -- and the Gospels are written so that genuine Christians will learn how to enter the Inner House and learn the Mysteries of God directly from the Lord. And this is why Jesus commanded for us not to be called teachers -- or to teach, other than what each person must do to enter the inner Kingdom (Lk 17:20-21). And this is the True Meaning of the New Covenant -- i.e.,, "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them" (Heb 8:10-11 NKJ).
When James (Jacob), the brother of Jesus and first leader of the Jerusalem Congregation spoke of receiving the Word of God, he did not speak of it as something which was written in the scriptures or preached by men: "Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you" (James 1:21 NIV). What is James saying to us? That the Word of God is planted in us, and if we rid ourselves of all "...moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent" among the masses of people, this indwelling Word "...can save you"!
What is written literally in the Gospel is the simple faith for entry-level believers who, as Paul writes to the Corinthians: "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able" (1 Cor 3:1-2 NKJ). And Paul warned these Baptized and committed Christians that they could not comprehend the Mysteries of God because they were of a "natural" mindset that had yet to be transformed, and they would look upon the things of the spirit as "foolishness".
What is our true reality? The authors of the Bible itself attempt many times to warn the reader that they are in no way prepared to even envision their own true spiritual reality. While most Christians ignore what they fail to comprehend, it must be understood that a carnal person who uses less than 10% of his potential of mind -- i.e., a person of a purely natural mindset whose thinking is very much attached and dependent on the culture and things of this world -- are for the most part totally unaware of man’s inner soul and spiritual reality. Because their whole focus in life is directed outwardly, it is near impossible for them to even perceive and comprehend the spiritual concepts of the Bible -- and it is of these people, even when they claim to be believers in the gospel, of whom the Apostle Paul wrote that the things of the spirit appear to be "foolishness" (1 Cor 2:14) to them. In our endeavor to embrace reality through the higher teachings of the Word of God that Paul warns is beyond human comprehension, it is important that we recognize the universality of the Apostle’s words with respect to what he calls the “natural man” who is too carnal in his manner of thinking to even contemplate the Mysteries of God. And to these baptized and committed believers who he refers to as “babes in Christ” (1 Cor 3:1-2), Paul states: I will “...tell about the visions I've had, and revelations from the Lord. Fourteen years ago I was taken up to heaven for a visit. Don't ask me whether my body was there or just my spirit, for I don't know; only God can answer that. But anyway, there I was in paradise, and heard things so astounding that they are beyond a man's power to describe or put in words (and anyway I am not allowed to tell them to others)” (2 Cor 12:1-4 TLB). What did Paul see and experience that was not only beyond natural man's ability to comprehend, but was not lawful to tell what he saw to others?
In the Martyrdom of Ignatius (first Century Overseer of Antioch), Ignatius speaks of himself as a disciple of John. In his Epistle to the Ephesians he writes that he has been “initiated into the mysteries of the Gospel with Paul, the holy, the martyred”. In his Epistle to the Trallaus he speaks of the mysteries and writes: “Might I not write to you things more full of mystery? But I fear to do so, lest I should inflict injury on you who are babes. Pardon me in this respect, lest, as not being able to receive their weighty import, ye should be strangled by them”. Ignatius also writes that though he is aware of the mysteries, he is not yet “by any means perfect, nor am I such a disciple as Paul or Peter”. What preacher of the gospel today warns his congregation that if he was to reveal the true teachings of the New Covenant -- the Gospel of God -- he would “inflict injury on you who are babes” in Christ? What teaching of the Lord could a present-day preacher of the gospel reveal that the congregation of believers are not “able to receive their weighty import”? If Ignatius or the other early Church Fathers who knew the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God were with us today, what profound mystery could they speak regarding the true teachings of Jesus that believers today would be “strangled by them”?
With respect to what Christians believe today, Paul warned that until they underwent the process of spiritual transformation, they could only be given the "milk" of the gospel: “I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready” (1 Cor 3:2 NIV). Again it is important to understand the words of the Apostle when he warned that: “Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (Heb 5:13-14 NIV). The very words, “…who by constant use have trained themselves”, implies a faith that is thoroughly incorporated into a spiritual mindset and manner of living in accordance with the Royal Law of the Most High. Further, with respect to the level of truth, what the Apostle is stating is this: If you are still living and believing the “milk” of the Gospel -- i.e., “Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2 KJV); and in the words of the Apostle: “Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment” (Heb 6:1-2 NIV) -- then the Apostle states that such a person whose thinking is still bound by a carnal perception of the Word, “is still an infant, [and] is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness” (Heb 5:13). Why? Because these are the doctrines that were given to the “babes in Christ” (1 Cor 3:1 KJV) -- entry-level believers who were yet too carnal to comprehend the genuine revelation of the Christ of the Spirit and the Mysteries of God. Moreover, from a biblical perspective, the most egregious of sin against the Holy Spirit was for the believer to be stagnant, and remain an entry level Christian -- as is the case in the modern church today.
These facts conveyed to us by the Apostle Paul go to the very core of why spiritual truths are embodied in physical symbols when they are set before the people of the simple faith? In the words of the Church Father Origen, the resurrection was “preached in the Churches... for the simpleminded and for the ears of the common crowd who are led on to live better lives by their belief”. When Jesus warned that: “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27 NAS); the overcoming of the flesh and the lower nature, which is represented in the resurrection, is the resurrection spoken of by St. Gregory’s when he wrote, “the Resurrection is no other thing than ‘the re-constitution of our nature in its original form’”. And this higher spiritual reality -- which is our true spiritual reality as the prodigal sons and daughters of the Most High -- is the reality that is beyond carnal human comprehension -- and thus, can only be presented to entry-level seekers as the "milk" of the gospel that was intended to nourish "babes in Christ".
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In the same way that Jesus spoke of the Mysteries of God only in parables to the people -- allegorical portrayals of Universal Spiritual Truths which concealed the inner meaning from those who in the words of Ignatius were still of a natural mind and were not yet “able to receive their weighty import” -- in order for them to contemplate and permit the Universal Symbols in the parables to begin the process of enlightening the minds of the hearers. And while the believers of the simple faith are under the illusion that they see and understand the meaning, they only perceive to the depth of their own spiritual transformation as presented in the parable of the Sower and the Seed. In Truth, Only those who have become a Disciple -- who have picked up their own cross and walked in TheWay -- are able to comprehend not only the Mysteries of God, but the inner spiritual meaning of the scriptures that Paul correctly called the literal letter of the written word the "letter that killeth... Jewish fables". The key to understanding this reality is seen in the parable of the talents where those who knew not the Truth, were not held to the same standards as those those who did know the Truth -- i.e., "And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more" (Luke 12:47-48 NKJ). What this means is that Christians will be held to a higher standard than non-Christians -- and those who have the capacity to perceive the inner spiritual meaning of the written word, will be held to an even higher spiritual standard. And in part this is the basis of when Jacob/James wrote: "My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment" (James 3:1 NKJ). Why would those who teach "...receive a stricter judgment"? Why would those who know the Master's will be not only held to a higher standard, but be beaten with many stripes, while those who do not know the Master's will who are deserving of many stripes, will be beaten with only a few?
What are the requirements that are
being used in the judgment of the people?
