Come Follow Me LDS- 2 Corinthians 1-7 Part 2

Hidden, Adversity & Genes'
- 'Hidden' & 'Eternal' are behind the veil
- We are in mortality to experience adversity, but not to be crushed
- Why is Abraham 'Father Abraham'?

 

 

Come Follow Me

LDS Mormon New Testament 2 Corinthians Bible

 

in this episode we're gonna talk about

things that are hidden adversity and

genes there we go okay in this episode

we're going to study second Corinthians

chapters four five six just a little bit

of seven I’m gonna get a little bit more

conceptual in this episode we won't hit

as many verses and I might go on a

tangent or two here because there's a

couple of very interesting things here

that I want to interlace here through

through some of the things that Paul is

addressing here starting off with

chapter four let's go down here first of

all verse 1 therefore seeing we have

this ministry as we have received mercy

we faint not in other words starting off

what he's doing here is he's laying out

a theme here of not being overcome right

that there is work there is adversity

there are problems but that we're not

going to be overloaded here because of

the mercy of god so we're not going to

faint and that's also a reference we can

make that a reference at least to

section 89 if you take a look at the

last part of that section here and then

come back here to chapter 4 and look at

the beginning and at the end of chapter

4 as well verse 2 but have renounced the

hidden things of dishonesty not walking

in craftiness nor handling the Word of

God deceitfully but by manifestation of

the truth commending ourselves to every

man's conscience in the sight of God so

what he's saying here is that they are

renouncing the secret things the right

word here is secret they this is from

the route that we know of which is

klepto right a club don't

Maniac is somewhere not that steals

necessarily someone who hides things and

then takes them right and so these are

secret things he calls these things

secret that are things of deceit and

that are from the adversary and he

continues with this theme here about

things being hidden and he says in verse

3 but if our gospel be hid it is hid to

them that are lost so for us the hidden

things that we have in the gospel are to

our only hidden to those that are lost

verse 4 in whom the god of this world

says that very clearly the god of this

world to the lower world remember going

back to Genesis 1 Paul hits the creation

here again heaven and earth right the

god of this world is not the savior and

it's not God the Father this world that

we live in is not really ours we are

strangers in a strange land in whom the

god of this world hath blinded the minds

of them which believe not lest the light

of the glorious gospel of Christ who is

the image of God should shine unto them

so we're gonna get lights and darkness

things that are hidden both things that

are hidden which are evil so deceit and

things that are hidden from those that

are lost right the eternal things that

are hidden now here's an interesting

point about the word hidden here when

you're talking about the hidden things

of God and that is that here in the

Greek when he talks about the hidden

things of God he's not using the same

word that has the root klepto in it he's

using a different word which means

veiled so we get a little bit of what I

believe here has a lot more to do with

Temple imagery so the things of God are

veiled right they are behind the veil

they are protected from the rest of the

world Paul loves to use the veil and II

references oftentimes our body along

with

the veil because our body is the veil or

a veil and it brings up another point

that's really interesting and that is

here we have the word hidden which is

also the word veiled in in Greek can

be the word veiled and is in this

instance the word in Greek but in Hebrew

the word Alam is what is used for the

hidden God and a lot of people used to

be fascinated we're told often times and

ancient documents about the Israelite

hidden God well how is he hidden well

he's hidden because he's behind the veil

right he is hidden from the rest of the

world because his throne is in the Holy

of Holies and it's behind the veil but

interestingly enough the other term that

uses the Hebrew yellamma

and uses the same word is the word

in English eternal so when we talk about

what was oftentimes cited as the hidden

God anciently that is the eternal God

and so things that are eternal are

hidden things that are eternal are

behind the veil or as we've talked about

oftentimes in this podcast they are in

the beginning the things that happen in

the beginning are the eternal things of

things in the council in the

pre-existence that's what the Holy of

Holies represents another way of looking

at the differences between these kind of

veils that we're talking about the

things of God and eternal things being

veiled being held back behind the veil

and the things from the god of this

world that are hidden which are

dishonesty deceit it's such a craftiness

as we might think about The Wizard of Oz

right what is behind the Wizard of Oz

behind that veil it is fraud it's fake

and oftentimes in our minds we think it

is this great big power but it only is

if we give it that strength and we're

told that in

the afterlife that we're going to that

the adversary is going to be unveiled so

to speak and we're gonna look and we're

gonna say this is it this was the

problem kind of like The Wizard of Oz

and then in verse six he says for God

who commanded the light to shine out of

darkness to me this is another reference

going back to that light that covered

the deep or chaos and the void in the

creation story hath shined in our hearts

to give the light of knowledge of the

glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ

so he's continuing here with additional

temple imagery and throughout all the

Pauline letters look for this he

oftentimes is going back to the creation

story and the Garden of Eden so even if

you think there's a little bit of a

stretch there go with it and see if as

you continue to read through these

chapters if you don't find a little bit

more that you can unearth by thinking

about the symbolism of the creation

story and the Garden of Eden and then he

goes through this idea that we are in a

state of opposition that's thrown at us

continually and he goes through this by

saying the following here starting in

verse 8 he says we are troubled on every

side but not distressed we are perplexed

but not in despair persecuted but not

forsaken cast down but not destroyed so

again this is the purpose this is why

we're here in mortality is to test us

through this adversity this is part of

the rules of living in this world with

the god of this world and these

principles that exist is that we've been

lowered down from our pre-existent home

to be living in not just in an earthly

sense in a physical sense and a temporal

sense but in a mortal sense of

living under different rules and these

rules are what are going to test us and

this body is what is going to help test

us and then he starts bringing up

something interesting and I'm gonna I'm

gonna go off on a tangent here in a

minute on this but he says for we which

live this is in verse 11 for we which

live are always delivered unto death for

Jesus for Jesus's sake that the life

also of Jesus might be made manifest in

our mortal flesh so he could be talking

about a physical resurrection here or he

could be talking about how our decisions

and our spirit change the state of our

body and how we are also as he is

talking about this opposition that is

given to us how we are supposed to

overcome it and that we're not going to

be giving more than we can handle as

we're told is it one of the concepts of

the gospel so our spirit overcomes the

body and then he says here in verse 13

something interesting we have we having

the same spirit of faith according as it

is written I believed and therefore have

I spoken we also believe and therefore

speak if you have not looked at my

episode on the four phases of the

priesthood I would recommend that to do

that because right here are the first

two that I speak of oh the under the

ironic priesthood and that is when he

says belief here we have believed this

is a decision this is agency and

therefore once you get to that position

then you speak and so these here are the

first two phases that I see here in the

priesthood that he's mentioning and then

just a shout-out to literary devices

here and what we might call what is

called structural parallelism or chiasmus

and in all of the Pauline letters

here we see this structure put in place

and if you ever are able to look for

references of chiasmus in

the letters of Paul I recommend that you

do it because this is something that is

under the principle or the interpreter

number three that I go over of

authorship I haven't talked a lot about

this but Paul is writing in a specific

literary with specific literary devices

and one of the ways that you do that is

with this structural parallelism or chiasmus

where you have a and then the next

thought is B and then the next one is C

and then you get the center of the

structure which we could say is D and

there could be a number of these letters

but let's say here it's D and then it

goes back to C and then back to B and

then back to a so the first heard this

before right the first shall be last and

the last shall be first that statement

in itself is a chiasmus and here you

can see in chapter 4 here he started off

with talking about fainting and about

hidden things and here at the bottom of

the chapter he says here in verse 16 for

which cause we faint not but though our

outward man perish or the body yet the

inward man is renewed day by day our

spirit so in other words every day we

get older and we're eventually going to

lose our body it is mortal but our

spirit which is eternal right changes

and grows day by day but actually our

body does too so I want to go over here

in a minute then he says here in verse

17 were the same idea of this opposition

he says for our light affliction which

is but for a moment worketh for us a far

more exceeding and eternal weight of

glory right so affliction as we said in

the last episode is necessary to grow

it's necessary for us to become more

like Christ Christ through an infinite

affliction an infinite sacrifice is who

he is because of that so if we are

exemplifying him if we are trying to

become

like him then we are going to take on

affliction as we must here in this world

and we're going to bear it remember when

Joseph Smith in section 121 was in the

jail in the Liberty jail and he's

praying and he's outraged at what is

going on there and the treatment that

they have in the suffering that they've

had and he prays and the Lord says hey

wait a minute have you even gone through

what Job went through and do you think

you've gone through what I've gone

through so why would the Lord allow him

to stay in there longer what is he doing

well he tells him he says this is for

your good and so here he's beyond that

Joseph Smith is beyond himself and the

Lord says you know look you're in a

mortal world I need you to be stronger

and who knows what changes were made in

Joseph Smith from that point on because

of what he went through there could he

have done what he did in Nabu would he

have been ready to build the temple

there and do what he had to do there to

reveal what he revealed well we'll never

know I suppose but the Lord seemed to

think that Joseph needed this affliction

because he said I'm not helping you yet

you need to bear this a little bit more

and do it with patience by the way and

then in 18 again while we look not at

the things which are seen so this is

things that would be in front of the

veil think of it that way these are

temporal things but at the things which

are not seen hidden which are veiled

behind the veil for the things which are

seen are temporal but the things which

are not seen are eternal right they're

hidden or eternal Paul knows exactly

what he's doing here then we go over to

chapter 5 and he again goes back to

Genesis to the Garden of Eden story here

and he says here in verse 2 for in this

we groan speaking about the difference

between the spirit and the body

earnestly desiring to be clothed upon

with our house which is from heaven well

the house which is from heaven would be

a resurrected body and he follows up

with that still we think about the

imagery of the of the Garden of Eden if

so be that being clothed we shall not be

found naked again this is symbolism

symbolism from the Garden of Eden and

it's a reference to those things and to

the priesthood to the Melchizedek

Priesthood that we learn about and go

through when we go through the temple

and then again he gives an example here

in verse 7 about the difference between

spiritual things and temporal things

again

earthly things or heavenly things and

earthly things he says very simply very

concisely for we walk by faith not by

sight and this reminds me of one of my

favorite scriptures which is proverbs 3

verses 4 & 5 trust in the Lord with all

thine heart and lean not unto thine own

understanding and something to the

effect of and acknowledge him in all thy

ways and he will guide you through your

paths more or less so there is a way to

do this to do life and it's not by our

sight it's kind of like the force from

Star Wars it's not by our own sight but

it's by faith it's by trusting learning

to trust on the principles of the gospel

and on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ

that's really the vision that we should

have above the temporal vision that we

use and then in verse 10 and here's

Roman to go off on my tangent for we

must all appear before the judgment seat

of Christ that every one may receive the

things done in his body

okay the things that are done in your

body there's a reason why why we have

these bodies number one I don't think we

could sense or feel the same things I

don't mean that as far as pain goes or

sense of touch I actually mean that

through emotion I don't think that we

could experience things emotionally the

way

we do our motions are very strongly tied

to our bodies and I think in many ways

that's what gives us an understanding of

opposition in all things it gives us our

context so these are things that we do

in our bodies our choices that we make

with our agency inside of our bodies it

has to be in a body just like we have to

do things by proxy in a body with

ordinances for the dead certain things

have to be done with a body and then he

finishes up in verse 10 by saying

according to that he hath done whether

it be good or bad so we are affecting

our bodies we are literally changing our

bodies by the decisions that we make and

the type of life that we live and of

course eternally in the resurrection we

will have a resurrected body based on a

certain degree of glory given to us

between our actions and decisions and

the mercy of God but here's what I

wanted to say about this there is a new

field of science that is called

epigenetics and this is fairly well

accepted in the science community it's

very very new there's some pushback from

it because Darwin is king in science

right and especially in biology and

evolution and this goes against a lot of

what Darwin taught now again I think

that Darwin is amazing myself he's given

us an immense amount of knowledge and

principles to follow but they may not

all be correct

we've talked a little bit about the

difficulty in jumping from species to

species with Darwin's theory there are

issues there and mathematical issues

there are impossibilities as many

would conclude of his theory but another

thing that comes up now with epigenetics

is that we actually can change our

genome we can change our DNA by our

decisions and our experiences so this

throws a lot of Darwin under the bus as

to how evolution might happen and it may

actually happen

both by nature and by nurture that's a

difficult thing for a lot of people to

accept at this point but through certain

experiences that we have a lot of these

might be very extreme experiences

especially stress but even diet can

change our genetic structure and it's

hereditary so when we talk about being a

good parent and how we want to give an

example to our children well it's also

what we might be passing on to them

certainly before they're born is a

certain genetic code that may have been

partially created by your experiences

and some of those experiences may have

happened through your decisions and so

here is a way that not just spiritually

we can affect our children and

physically through just birth and giving

them a body but epigenetics

says that we actually pass along a newer

altered genetic code based on our

experiences in our life up to that point

and that brings up a thought that I had

about Abraham and then brings us back to

Paul Paul's real message here throughout

all of his letters is this idea that we

all belong to Abraham and to Christ

Christ we are his spiritual sons and

daughters as we accept him and his

gospel so a spiritual lineage but

Abraham really is focused on a lot more

as a physical lineage you remember John

the Baptist talking to the Jews while he

is baptizing and he says oh you think

because you're from Abraham that that's

a big deal you know the Lord can change

these stones and make them like the kid

the children of Abraham but in the

gospel especially the restored gospel

there is definitely a focus

on being a part of the family of Abraham

and having his blood right because you

have under him if you go through the

idea of the God of Abraham then Isaac

then Jacob what you're getting there is

a physical lineage when you bring up

that term that gives you Israel who is

Jacob and his twelve sons and I just

wonder you know hypothesis here and

postulating if being brought into is

certainly his seed his blood has

been put out through most if not all of

the earth at this point with all of the

war and the Assyrians pulling the

ten tribes out and all of the those that

were left over and in Judah being

dispersed throughout the world

especially in the West and Eastern

Europe

I wonder if this isn't part of the plan

that might be necessary to be a part of

his family physically in some sense I've

always thought about that and why it

would be necessary to be a part of his

family and I just a thought here but why

would Abraham not be able to have Isaac

until he's around a hundred years old

how many experiences did he go through

up to that point how great of a man was

he up to that point did his genetic code

change over that period of time based on

his decisions bathed based on his

faithfulness based on the exertion of

faith throughout his life did that

change up to the time of Isaac being

born which would have been passed on

then to Jacob and then on to his twelve

sons just a thought it is very

interesting to me is Abraham the great

father because of his decisions not only

spiritually but what it did to him

physically

and having his blood is a benefit to us

because somehow it is a built in

physical legacy there is a certain

intelligence in a body that is a

descendant of someone like Abraham just

just a thought I know it's a tangent but

very interesting to me I'll have to do a

podcast on epigenetics at some point I

don't I'm not an expert at it so I would

probably have to get somebody in here

who is and then in chapter 6 I want to

go down to verse 14 and bring up

something that Paul talks a lot about

right again sometimes if we read this

improperly it seems like it's in a way

anti-Christian or in a way against the

example of what Christ said but there's

a difference in verse 14 he says be not

unequally yoked together with

unbelievers right so he's talking about

a separation for what fellowship hath

righteousness with unrighteousness and

what communion hath light with darkness

so he's saying look there needs to be a

separation between these things you need

to be separate from those that live on

righteously and again I brother said

before well what about Christ

who ate sat with the sinners of course

there is a difference here he's talking

about being unequally yoked that is

thinking again of a tandem of oxen with

a yoke on their back you're not

necessarily a team in life together

right I know people that I think move

out to that point of tolerance with

someone else where they take it well

beyond into a position of whatever is

going on out here is fine I'm not going

to judge right the opposite of that

would be

I'm very judgmental and I look down on

you and to me I think the answer is I'm

not even gonna say it's in the middle

somewhere I think it's Christ's answer

which is charity right love the sinner

but not the sin so you don't tolerate

the behavior but you love whoever is

causing the behavior or acting out the

behavior and you have to show that you

have to

show that love but that doesn't mean

that you tolerate everything and so Paul

here is talking about I think you don't

have to tolerate all this and you don't

have to bind yourself with the

unrighteous or in an unrighteous way

with others in verse 16 he says and what

agreement hath the temple of God with

idols so again unrighteous behavior

would mean that you in your values

hierarchy you have different values up

high than Christ and his principle the

principles of his gospel for ye are the

Temple of the Living God he says again

this is talking about our bodies and

again he's talking to Corinth a very

promiscuous society with two massive

ports and a lot of men away from home

coming into Corinth on a continual basis

a lot of money a lot of trade and a lot

of promiscuity here finishing in verse

16 he says and God hath said I will

dwell in them and walk in them sore

again our bodies are the hosts of the

Holy Ghost of the Spirit of God and I

will be their God and they shall be my

people and then he follows up again

concluding it by again talking about

that separation and not being yoked with

someone who's unrighteous wherefore come

out from among them and be separate

saith the Lord and touch not the unclean

thing and I will receive you so again

he's talking about the church both the

pagan converts and the Jewish converts

here being separate from this other

promiscuous world that is in Corinth

don't be a part of that behavior and a

part of that culture love everyone but

you don't need to tolerate all of that

and then chapter 7 here really is we can

condense this down to one verse or I'm

going to condense it down to one verse

and that's verse 10 and he tells us here

for godly sorrow worketh repentance to

salvation not to be repented of but the

sorrow of the world work

death so he again is giving us a

separation we talk about light and dark

the temple of God other temples separate

yourselves from those around you he

separates sorrow here and he talks about

the sorrow the godly sorrow and then he

talks about the sorrow of the world so

there is a difference and there is right

we we can all be very sorrowful even if

we are living righteously sorrow is

going to comfort to us it could come

from a family member it could come from

betrayal it could come from difficulty

in relationships we lose a good friend

or a family member we have difficulty

moving forward in something and

adversity and opposition rears its ugly

head and we have a hard time with it and

we get down but sorrow of the world is

going to take us in a very different

direction godly sorrow should take us to

repentance as he says that worketh

repentance to salvation it's kind of a

warning signal to us it's like hey you

need to fix some things you need to grow

a little bit you need to increase your

faith or you need a more prayer or you

need to think about this differently so

you need to repent and repentance is

what it means a change of heart or

correcting ourselves just a little bit

we need to correct ourselves improve

ourselves a little bit but the sorrow of

the world worketh death and there's a

great reference here in the scriptures

to Mormon 213 this is what it says it

explains what worldly sorrow is it says

but behold this my joy was vain for

there sorrowing was not unto repentance

because of the goodness of God but it

was rather the sorrowing of the Damned

because the Lord would not always suffer

them to take happiness and sin so the

sorrow of the world would be I want to

do all these things which are wrong but

maybe I'm mad at God or I'm mad because

of the consequences that I have

I don't want to change I want to keep

doing these things I just don't want all

these consequences to come along with

him

that would be worldly sir and so Paul in

these chapters and in all of his letters

here gives us consistently this yin and

yang of this separation between things

from sorrow to our temples our body and

our spirit to tell us that we are in a

world with a certain god of this world

where we need to live under different

rules than we're used to so that we can

be tested and that that testing is not

more than we can handle but we still

have to be tested so that we can grow

and learn and change our bodies and our

spirits into something more that

resembles the image of God I'll talk to

you next time