ROME

Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:12 “If I have told you earthly things, an ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things.”
We went through this passage in a Bible study recently and it started me thinking of how true this is in different areas. By and large the earthly things are those that have happened in history, or here on earth. The heavenly things are usually the spiritual truths that the earthly points to. When we look at it from this point of view, it is easy to see that it naturally follows that if I do not believe the earthly I can never believe the heavenly. Jesus Himself gave an example when He spoke of the serpent in the wilderness. It was a historical fact that those who looked at the serpent were healed. The application He made was that those who believed in the Crucified Christ would have eternal life. It is not possible that those who cannot believe the story of the serpent in the wilderness would have no trouble believing that Jesus death could take away their sins.
A very important event in history was when John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” Only if I believe that Jesus died for all is it possible to believe that Jesus died for me. In I Corinthians 15 Paul takes the historical fact of the resurrection of Christ to prove the resurrection of the saints. It would not be possible to disbelieve the historical or earthly fact while at the same time believing the heavenly, although many pretend to do so.
There are a couple of examples that I am familiar with, as I grew up with them and also have been in contact with them more recently. One is that the Orthodox or evangelical denominations see the Old Testament as Theo-Centric or speaking primarily of God the Father. Jesus in Luke 24:44 and other places states very plainly that the Old Testament speaks of Him.
What’s the difference? Those who see the Old Testament as Theo-Centric tend to see the Father as the God of the Old Testament and the Son as the Man of the New Testament. They find it difficult to see that Jesus is fully God, equal with the Father. An example of this is in Philippians 2:6. In the KJV and other older Bibles you notice that it states that Jesus did not think it was “robbery” to be equal with God. The NIV has “did not think equality with God something to be grasped at.” According to the KJV Jesus felt perfectly comfortable to claim Godhood while in the NIV it indicates that He would make no such claim.
One more thing that I was taught was that man was made of two parts: body and soul. I was taught that soul and spirit were one. And again we ask: why is that so important? The history is in Genesis 2 where we read that God breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life (the spirit of God Himself) and man became a living soul. The soul is therefore the heart and core of the man. That’s who he is. It is correct to say then that I have a body and world consciousness and I have a spirit or God consciousness. See also Hebrews 4:12. I must remember that it is with my spirit that I am in touch with God. It is for this reason that for those who see man as only body and soul are very weak in the doctrine of the new birth. When I am born again it is in my spirit that I become alive to God.