THE PROVING AND REPROVING BENEFIT OF THE WORD OF GOD
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Our Father designed the word of truth to make a positive impact in the son’s life as he uses the doctrine as a tool to “prove” the things that God values and esteems by the things of this world that ourselves, and man has been “conformed” unto, and as such, His word is also designed to “reprove” the son when he comes across these vital decisions that may come up in his life where he is ‘beseeched’ by God the Father and all His “mercies” to allow the word of truth to go to work for him in the circumstances of his life. And he becomes convicted by what God word says unto him while his outward man still desires to live according to this world, but as he sees the Father’s desire for the son to “present” his body a living sacrifice, and once the son is able to successfully “prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God;” he becomes ‘reproved’ by the word of God when he does not walk as “a living sacrifice” as he ought.
Eph 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
Eph 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Eph 5:3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
Eph 5:4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
Eph 5:5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Eph 5:6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
Eph 5:7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
Therefore, when the son reaches the book of Ephesians in his education, he sees the advanced doctrine that he is to build upon from Romans chapter 12, and here we are given the reproving doctrine to show us why we ought to present our bodies a living sacrifice. We are shown here that we are to walk in love in all that we do, because Jesus Christ Himself loved us as our example, and also was our sacrifice as not only our Lord and Savior, but our example so that we too will out of love give up of this world, and the things mentioned in verses 3 thru 5. And these are some of the things that we can follow after in this world, but a son at this stage in his education ought to be able to not be “deceived” by these things, because he is able to “prove” them by “the light.”
Eph 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
Eph 5:9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)
Eph 5:10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
Eph 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
Eph 5:12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
Eph 5:13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
Eph 5:14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
There is no “fruit” in the things of this world, in other words there is no benefit to your vocation, or to the Lord Himself when we “partake” of the things of this world. We are to use “the light” (the word of truth) to “reprove” what things are “unfruitful” in our lives that actually are a “shame” in God’s eyes; and it ought to be viewed the same way with the son also, because the son already learned in the doctrine of Romans 12 what is “acceptable unto the Lord.” So by the time he gets to Ephesians verse 10, he should fully understand how to do what verse 11 says as a son who has grown by the doctrine of the Father, and he has gained the “fruits” of His word in the details of his life. And it is the doctrine that we will later see in the verses below the causes the son to mature when it comes to ‘proving and reproving’ aspect of God word, and by the time the son gets to the book of Colossians he is able to excel at “proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.”
Col 3:8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Col 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Col 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Col 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Col 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
Col 3:14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
Col 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Furthermore, as we see Paul exhort the saints to “put on,” and “let,” the doctrine effectually work within them, because he knows that they “have” put on the “new man, which is renewed in knowledge.” He knows that within their inward man ‘dwells’ the word of Christ, but his exhortation unto them is that they be more consistent ‘putting on,’ and ‘letting’ the word of God work effectually within them as it ought. And it is the objective that the son reaches the point where the word of God will “dwell” richly within him in “all wisdom,” and having “all wisdom;” he is now fully equipped to be able to “prove” what is acceptable unto the Lord on a consistent basis, and because this is the case, he is “reproved” by the word of God on a less consistent basis as well. The son at this point in his education spends more time as the “new man” than he does as the “old man” in the details of his life, which is contrary to the way he used to walk as he followed the course of this world as the “old man with his deeds.”
Rod Jones