WHAT IS AN "EMPHASIS" -- Monday:
"If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (Psalm 11:3)
When religious thinking is removed from God's appointed foundation, hopelessness begins a ruthless reign over men. Much of the Christianity of our day is anything but foundational. It majors on minors, and minors on majors. The heart and core of much teaching offered in the name of Jesus is off-center in every sense of the word.
"Emphasis" is to teaching what the foundation is to a structure. It is the support for the details, and the undergirding for the edifice of godly knowledge. Doctrinally speaking, the emphasis is the center of the theology; the hub from which every valid proposition proceeds. No proposition is valid that does not rest upon, and spring from, the foundation God has put into place.
In Scripture, truth is always singular, never plural. God, for example, declared Himself to be "abundant in truth" (Ex. 34:6). He is, in every sense, a "God of truth" Deut. 32:4). The "sweet Psalmist of Israel" (2 Sam. 23:1) besought the Lord, "Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me" (Psa. 25:5). John informs us "grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). Jesus affirmed that the knowledge of "the truth" liberated men from the bondage induced by sin (John 8:32). He announced that He Himself was "the truth" (John 14:6), and that God's Word "is truth" (John 17:27).
The consistency of the representation of truth in God's Word is remarkable. It is always in the singular, never in the plural -- NEVER! We read of "obeying the truth" (Rom. 2:8), "the truth of God" (Rom. 3:7), and "rejoicing in the truth" (1 Cor. 13:6). Satan's artifices are overcome by "the word of truth" (2 Cor. 6:7), and godly instruction is said to be "as the truth is in Jesus" (Eph. 4:21).
This is not a play on words! Truth is a body of interrelated reality. It all fits together harmoniously. No aspect of truth is in conflict with another. Every facet of truth blends with and enhances its counterparts. No part of truth may be viewed independently. It obtains significance as it is perceived in relation to the whole.
This condition postulates an emphasis: an overriding reason for the body of truth. To put it another way, the Bible is truly a "book," not a set of books. Its authors did not write because of a desire to convey their opinions, but because they were "moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Pet. 1:20-21). Motivated by Divine purpose, the Spirit moved "holy men" to write in such a manner as to ultimately illumine that purpose.
"Emphasis" is the reason behind the revelation. It is the point that prompted the inspiration of Scripture. It is the key that unlocks its meaning, bringing life and liberty to the believer. If a person does not know the emphasis of Scripture, he cannot comprehend the meaning of its details.
In matters of religion, it is not possible to avoid an emphasis. Rationality, an aspect of the Divine imagery in man, requires an emphasis, that is, a foundation. Without that foundation, thought degenerates into meaninglessness. Even those who teach error have a basis for their reasoning: a principle concept that dictates their particular proclamation. They have a doctrinal focus, or center of thought -- an "emphasis."
A passage that reveals a little known aspect of God is Second Thessalonians 2:8-12. Here Paul announces a Satanic initiative that will be accompanied by "all power and signs and lying wonders." He warns the church that this aggression will come "with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." The clear teaching is that the failure of men to receive the love of the truth, and consequently believe the Gospel, has provoked the loosing of Satan within the religious community. In my settled opinion, we are currently in the midst of this initiative, and the corrupted church is evidence of it.
Observe the reaction of God to men's rejection of the truth. How sobering it is! "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." What an arresting judgment! This accounts for the presence of religious charlatans! If men do not "acknowledge the truth," God will see to it that they have, and heartily embrace, a substitute that will justify their own condemnation. You cannot trifle with God!
Do not think that this "deluding influence" is confined to outrageous denials of the Deity of Jesus, the effectiveness of His death, and the reality of His resurrection – although those reprehensible positions and declarations do exist. Delusion has its greatest affect when it comes as an erroneous emphasis, a slanted view, or a corrupted perspective. In fact, this is why sectarianism dominates professed Christendom today, even though division is soundly condemned by the Word of God (Gal. 5:20). Where an appropriate emphasis exists, division can neither be created nor nurtured.
For the people of God to be divided, someone must embrace and declare an erroneous emphasis. What God has declared to be the main thing must be abandoned in favor of what men conceive to be primary. That erroneous emphasis may be the church itself, or winning the lost, or the worship of God, or the home. It can be holiness, or how a person is to be saved, or the role of men and women in the church. Some may choose to make a day the point of emphasis, or even the Bible itself.
It should be apparent that none of these things are of themselves wrong. They all have a place in the Divine scheme of things. But none of them are the main thing. None of them are the reality upon which everything else depends. They are not an appropriate emphasis.
Viewed from the standpoint of a Person, God's emphasis is Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. Considered from the standpoint of accomplishments, or works, the emphasis is "the wonderful works of God," especially as wrought in and through the Lord Jesus. Seen from the standpoint of an objective, the emphasis is God's "eternal purpose," an objective conceived before the foundation of the world.
The Gospel of Christ is the oracle that puts all of these things together. It announces the main Person, the main work, and the main objective. This is why an erroneous emphasis always neglects the Gospel itself. Consequently, it also minimizes the Person of Christ and what He has done and is doing, together with the purpose God has "purposed in Himself."
There is no sound word of teaching that does not spring from the Person and work of Christ, and the purpose of God. The more obvious those associations are, the more easily the truth is grasped, and true profit realized.
Just as truth is held together by an emphasis, so also is the lie. To be wrong, people have to have a wrong view, a wrong emphasis, a wrong "main thing." Wrongness proceeds from a misplaced emphasis, and blessed is the person who can discern such an emphasis and avoid it.
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, help me to see, embrace, and emphasize the main thing.