Ken Collins wrote a blog post <https://www.kencollins.com/answers/question-43.htm> explaining a teaching by Theophylact of Ohrid, an 11th century EO archbishop, on how to reconcile two apparently contradictory verses:
1) "Whoever is not against us is for us"
—Mark 9:40
2) "He who is not with me is against me."
—Matthew 12:30a
Essentially, Theophylact sees 1) applying to people, and 2) applying to spirits and ideas. So Collins writes,
Since Jesus is talking about spirits, and since angels are quite popular today, let’s imagine that you sense the presence of a spirit being and you are trying to tell whether it is an angel or a demon. If we apply Jesus’ discernment criterion, it is a very easy task.
If the spirit draws attention to itself, encourages you to develop a relationship with it, enjoys your praise, and thus leads you away from Jesus to glorify itself or to glorify yourself, it is a demon. Just tell it to go away in Jesus’ name and it will flee.
If the spirit prefers to be undetected, encourages you to develop a relationship with Jesus, gives Him all the glory, and only made itself detectable because you were in dire distress, then it is an angel.
The same goes for ideas. If you have an idea to make yourself rich and famous, it might be a shrewd business plan, but it is not a valid Christian ministry. (If being rich and famous was not part of the plan but it happens anyway, then it is God’s blessing.) If you perceive a need that no one else is meeting, and you decide to serve others in love and in Jesus’ name, while trusting God for your own well-being, then the idea came from God.
People who are not against Jesus are for Him. Spirits who are not for Jesus are against Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment