Spiritual Gifts part 206: The goal of the race is spiritual maturity.
Pastor-Teacher
John Farley Wednesday, December 21, 2011 Spiritual Gifts Part 206: The goal is spiritual maturity, where the life of Christ is manifested in us.
The word for “race” in Heb 12:1, agona, is in other places translated as a “fight”. It can mean a contest, a fight, or a battle. The combat objective in the angelic conflict is to seize and hold the high ground of the “supergrace” life: the life of the spiritually mature believer . We are to flee from some things and pursue other things instead.
“Flee” is the present active imperative of
to move quickly from a point or area in order to avoid presumed danger or difficulty – “to run away, to flee, flight”.
Other verses in the NT epistles tell us to also flee fornication (1Co 6:18), idolatry (1Co 10:14), and youthful lusts (2Ti 2:22).
“Pursue” is the present active imperative of the Greek verb to follow with haste, and presumably with intensity of effort, in order to catch up with, - “to run after, to chase after, to pursue.” to move quickly and energetically toward some objective – “to hasten, to run, to press forward, to press on.” to do something with intense effort and with definite purpose or goal – “ to do with effort, to strive toward.” Did you ever experience as a reality in your soul that you cannot do both of these at once?
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