Category: Theology

“Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; then I will welcome you” (2 Cor. 6:17).

Who is Paul the Apostle talking when he says “their midst”? It is the society of unbelievers, those who are lawless and walk in darkness. We are supposed to “come out from among them” (2 Cor. 6:17 NKJV).

Physical Separation

This coming “out” can be physical and spiritual. We can “be separate” from society physically, by staying away from “fellowship” or hanging out with them. This would include moving our place of residence. This is what the desert fathers and mothers did.

Spiritual Separation

But this is usually interpreted spiritually. We are to be separate from “agreement” with society. Meaning, we are to reject the values and behaviors of the unbelieving community. “Do not touch what is unclean” means to not participate in activities that are not pleasing to God and are against His commandments.

Hermits are separate from the unbelieving world in mind and body. They withdrew from society and its influence. For they know that “Bad company ruins good morals” (1 Cor. 15:33).

Unclean Influences

But hermits also separate from the influence of society that comes through the entertainment industry. TV, radio, books, and now the Internet bombard us with the values and false ideas of sick and fallen society.

A true hermit will “come out” and “be separate” from all the unclean influences of the world, the flesh, and the devil. These are cleaver enemies of God and His ways, and we need to be watchful. Guarding the gates of our eyes, ears, and minds.

“So God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27).

Patriarchy is a real thing. In this passage, we are clearly told that the image of God is “male and female.” Yet where do we see the feminine aspect of God.

Holy Ruach

Actually, we see it in the fact that the Holy Spirit (ruach) in the Hebrew language is a feminine noun. In the New Testament, she becomes neuter. Even the pronoun is neuter, “the Spirit itself” (Rom. 8:16 KJV). This is the correct literal translation.

But modern translators change this to “Himself” (NKJV, NIV, NASB). But why not translate it “Herself?” There is no precedence for the masculine, but there is for the feminine. So why is there no translation reflecting this?

Holy Sophia

We also see in the Old Testament another feminine figure named Sophia, usually translated as Wisdom. When God established the heavens, Sophia was there. The Bible says that Sophia was beside him, like a master worker. She was daily His delight (Prov. 8:22-31).

In the Book of Wisdom, Sophia is described as guiding the Israelites during the Exodus through the wilderness: “she gave the holy ones the reward of their labors, conducted them by a wondrous road, became a shelter for them by day a starry flame by night” (Wis. 10:17 NAB). Could Sophia be the name of the Holy Spirit?

Holy Mary

The lack of the feminine was later filled by the exaltation and veneration of Mary as the Mother of God. Clearly, the void caused by the lack of the feminine created a felt need in the Church.

But patriarchy will not allow the feminine to reach all the way up to the Divine. That even though the “image of God” is both “male and female.” Nor can it accept that the Holy Spirit is not a “He.” Perhaps it’s true that in the beginning, man created God in his own image.

Too many Christians trade a faith troubled by doubt, for a doubt troubled by faith. If this faith walk was easy everyone would be walking, but then if would have little value.

A faith that can’t be tested, can’t be trusted.

Good things are worth working for. A faith that can’t be tested, can’t be trusted. Faith is not believing certain things about God, faith is a wholehearted truth in God. A trust the endures the questions.

And questions will come, especially if you want to know the truth. It is only in the dark that your trust in your Guide can really be tested. It is when God makes no sense that we must trust the most.

It is in the hard times that we grow the most.

I wish I could tell you it will all work out. But I can’t. What appears bad to us may be good from a higher perspective. I don’t say this as a platitude. It is true. It is in the hard times that we grow the most.

Muscle is built by pushing and pulling against resistance. It is called resistance training. Likewise, faith is built by trusting in the hard times, when things make no sense. There is no other way to build trust than in trusting when it makes no sense to trust.

No pain, no gain.

No pain, no gain. Pain tells you where self is still alive. Only the living feels pain, the dead do not. Once you are completely death to self, the pain will cease. But this is usually a long journey with many small mortifications.

As we turn the page on another year, we must face the uncertainty. Welcome to the end of the world and the beginning of something new.

We Can’t Go Back

We can’t go back, nor should we want to. For Jesus said, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. We need to be “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead” (Phil 3:13). For God wants to “do a new thing” (Isa. 43:19).

Let Go of the Past

But we must let go of the past. Forgive and forget, or else we will never be free to go on with God. God wants to take you deeper, are you willing?

Every step we take is either moving us closer to God and His plan for our life, or we are taking a detour.

Embrace the Pain

Embrace the pain, the suffering. It is the only way to find freedom. I know it doesn’t make sense.

The way out is the way through. It’s the paradox of the spiritual world. What we resist, persists. What we fear we create. And the way to be strong is to be weak.

Learn from all, but cling to none, except God Himself. For only He alone is infallible and all-wise.

But God reveals His secrets to those who pursue Him. And God is not a respecter of labels, denominations, or titles.

I have found pursuers of God in Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Churches. I have found them in all ages, and in all nations.

The key is to be open to truth no matter where it is found. Even if it’s not from your religion. Because, as St. Augustine said, all truth is God’s truth.

Be humble, be teachable, and listen to the voice of truth in the most unusual places.