Virtue Went Out
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1. Introduction 2. The Nature of Virtue 3. Channels of Divinity 4. Conclusion |
Introduction
We come before you in thanks for your work in our lives, and for this day in particular, which you have appointed for us to draw near to you. We are blessed by both the Sabbath and the New Moon, which, coming together, ever reminds us of the judgment we are daily undergoing, and our perfect rest within that judgment.
As we study together your Word, we pray that each of us receives precious truths to strengthen us in both of those states. In the name of Yahshua we pray, amen.
A couple chapters later, we read of a specific event at which Yahshua healed someone: “And a
woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians,
neither could be healed of any, came behind Him, and touched the border of His garment, and
immediately her issue of blood stanched. And Yahshua said, ‘Who touched me?’ When all denied,
Peter and they that were with him said, ‘Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest
thou, “Who touched me?”’
“And Yahshua said, ‘Somebody hath touched me, for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.’
“And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before Him,
she declared unto Him before all the people for what cause she had touched Him, and how she was
healed immediately. And He said unto her, ‘Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee
whole. Go in peace.’”
This same incident is repeated in Matthew’s Gospel, the relevant portion being here: “And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Yahshua, immediately knowing in Himself that virtue had gone out of Him, turned Him about in the press, and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’” (Mat 5:29, 30)
You will notice that all these passages have a word in common, “Virtue.” These are not the only verses in the Bible that use this term, (they are all in the New Testament) for there are three others.
They are:
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Phil 4:8) “[Grace … unto you ] according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue.” (2Pet 1:3)
The last passage, also from Peter’s second book, is in that “Ladder of Sanctification” passage that we have studied before in such places as The Highway of Holiness, and in some of our camp meeting sessions: “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge.” (2Pet 1:5)
I will say, though, that the first three passages, which are the focus of today’s study, use a different word for virtue than the last three. The word used in the last three passages is areté, and this has a meaning similar to the way we use the term in English: pertaining to moral goodness, purity, modesty and so on.
The first word, which is used to describe the force behind the healing miracles, is entirely different, and it is certainly an interesting choice by the King James’ Version translators. The word is dynamis, and it shows up in English words like dynamic, dynamo, dynamite. Do you know what it means?
The Nature of Virtue
For example, we read of a parallel here, “But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.” (Psa 59:16) Then there is this: “For Elohim hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2Tim 1:7)
Of Yahshua specifically we read, “But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (He said unto the sick of the palsy) ‘I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.’” (Luke 5:24)
The word for “power” in that verse has essentially the same meaning as dynamis, but here, as in other places, we see that the “power” Yahshua had was not one of physical might, nor of ordinary intellect. It was not even strength of will that was being addressed here, although He certainly had all these as needed for His ministry. The power of Yahshua being showcased in the Gospels, and especially in the miracles of healing, was the power that He had over sin, and this only by His connection with Yahweh whose principles are the opposite of those behind sin. In other words, it is based on the concept of virtue as we understand the term in our language.
Now if we go to the passages in question, we find Yahshua saying that the virtue, or the power, had gone “out” of Him. He felt the power in Himself either lessen, or flow through Him – two possibilities. We can make a case, based on a number of verses, for both of these analogies. In terms of the virtue flowing through Him from the Father in something of a “stream,” we may read verses like this one:
“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.” (John 15:26) This verse, which we have looked at in other contexts, shows the Spirit of Yahweh being described as that “which proceedeth” from the Father. Unlike the Son, who is a complete Being unto Himself, the Spirit is described with words that indicate a continuous stream.
We read also: “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 14:4)
This concept is repeated in Revelation: “And He said unto me, ‘It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.’” (Rev 21:6)
In terms of the virtue in Him being “stored,” like charge in a battery, perhaps, we have verses such as this one: “And when [Yahshua] had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray; and when the evening was come, He was there alone.” (Mat 14:23)
Another: “And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” (Luke 6:12)
Still another: “A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.” (Mat 12:35) The word “treasure” there does not mean “riches,” but instead specifically this: a place where important things are stored. A second witness to that second idea is, “Then said [Yahshua] unto them, ‘Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of His treasure things new and old.” (Mat 13:52)
Finally we have this verse that speaks of the citizens of Heaven, “For Yahweh, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of Yah in the face of Yahshua the Messiah. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” (2Cor 4:6, 7) With our understanding of what that word “treasure” means, we see now that what Paul says is, “The light from Heaven, which shines in our hearts, is stored with us, as earthen vessels.”
Yahshua, in taking the form and nature of humanity, became subject to the same principles, limitations and blessings as any one of us. He did nothing that we, by faith, cannot do, except for the sacrifice on behalf of all humanity, which was exclusively His to offer as the undefiled Son of the Most High and the “Angel” of The Covenant.
So how, then, do we deal with these two concepts? We have verses that speak of energy, spirit and life flowing through Yahshua, and by extension all believers, like water through a river. But then we have verses that speak of energy, spirit and light being given to us, and stored up for use at a particular time, or whenever we have need. Yahshua certainly had to take specific times to Himself to commune with the Father, which would not be the case if the power He received from the Father was always being refreshed within Him automatically on a perpetual basis.
After looking those passages over, it occurred to me that all the verses that speak about the “flow” from the Father, through Yahshua, and through us, dealt specifically with the spirit and energy associated with life, wisdom and instruction. The verses that speak about the gifts of Yahweh being “stored” within us have to do with the energy and spirit associated with light, healing and other kinds of miracles. I cannot find much overlap between these concepts, therefore my conclusion was that there are two distinct kinds of power that we receive from Yah. The power of life, which involves wisdom and teaching, flows continuously through us… and it is certainly necessary that life be continuous. That is, perhaps, obvious upon reflection. On the other hand, the power that deals with acts of faith, even miraculous and supernatural acts of faith, is something that is obtained from Yahweh through prayer, communion with the Divine, and kept within us as “treasure” until such a time as it is needed.
We find a sort of physical evidence of this concept in the way that certain individuals such as Moses would “glow” in a visible way after spending time in Yah’s presence. These are issues not commonly discussed in modern sermons, but they are written for our edification.
I will deal a bit more with this concept, that life flows but the dynamis for miracles is stored, a little later on, and support it with other verses. But it should be obvious from the life of Yahshua that this is indeed so. Life was with Him continuously, and the Spirit always within Him. Yet there were occasions, generally after spending time with crowds (for whom He performed many miracles) that He would take some time to Himself, away from others, to be with the Father alone. Yahshua could certainly receive more dynamis, more miracle-working “virtue,” at any time as needed. We read of His prayer before the raising of Lazarus, for example – although that was mostly for the observers… to demonstrate how they should do it, and that they should have confidence in the resurrection.
For us, because again, Yahshua was our example in all things, we read, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” (James 1:5) Receiving divine wisdom is certainly a miracle.
In addition, it seems that there are specific times when it is best to pray for this power, this strength. Yahshua often prayed at night, but this was because His ministry kept Him occupied with the performance of works of faith during the day. We may read, “It is of Yahweh’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.” (Lam 3:22, 23)
Although we are not told specifically when to pray, (besides “always”) we know that many of the New Testament actions are fulfillments of the types of the Old Covenant. In this case, we may read of the prayers and sacrifices that took place in Israel every morning and every evening. (1Ch 16:40, 2Ch 2:4, Ezra 3:3) We read the Psalmist saying, “As for me, I will call upon Elohim, and Yahweh shall save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice.” (Psa 55:16, 17) It may be that our minds and bodies are most receptive to the grace of Yah during these points in our daily physical cycles.
Now, I do want to include a note of caution that may be useful here, before moving on. It is often very useful to apply analogies to the characteristics of divinity. We need to be careful, however, about taking the specifics too far, just as some Christians do with Yahshua’s parables. This error, of taking analogies too far, is what many nominal Christians use to support the doctrine of everlasting hell, and the immortality of the soul. It is also what got Kellogg into trouble earlier in Adventist history. We should not take these concepts too simplistically and say, “Life from Yahweh is just like a stream,” or “Power from Yahweh is stored in us exactly like a battery.” Spiritual things can be more subtle than that, and so these things may have some parallels we can use for discussion and understanding… but we must also understand that the analogies have limitations.
Trinitarians get into this issue when trying to talk about the Godhead. As I have said in other studies, we do not know (and maybe cannot know) just what the Holy Spirit IS, but we certainly have enough information to declare with authority what it is NOT, namely a co-equal, co-eternal Person of the Godhead in the same sense the Father and Son are. The danger here comes from thinking of divine concepts as being limited to the extent of our understanding about them. If we fall into this trap, we try to squeeze them into mental “models” or paradigms, and in so doing invariably end up with man-made tests of orthodoxy, or creeds. In this case, I would say that concepts like rivers and batteries are useful analogies, and we can discuss these concepts through them, but we just need to be aware that they can be taken to less useful extremes. Are there any questions or comments at this point?
Life is an "automatic" thing that is given, but miracle-working power is stored up in a cache kind of thing? And that, based on prayer for it, basically?
I do not want to get ahead of myself too much in the study.
Channels of Divinity
One of the things that further supports my conclusion of the two kinds of strength from Yah is a statement by Ellen White that in Christ was life that was “unborrowed.” The full quote for that phrase is found here: “Jesus declared, ‘I am the resurrection, and the life.’ In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived. ‘He that hath the Son hath life.’ 1 John 5:12. The divinity of Christ is the believer’s assurance of eternal life.” [The Desire of Ages, p. 530] If His life was His alone, which can also be shown through 1Tim 6:16, then we must understand the strength that He obtained from Yahweh at specific points in order to work miracles was separate and distinct from this. That power was “derived” and “borrowed” from the Father and then “stored” in a sense in exactly the same way WE can do it, although life is not original in us. Does everyone understand what I mean by that?
The subject there is "our Lord Jesus Christ," not the Father. This corresponds with Mrs. White's statement about His life being underived.
And yes, through our connection with the Son we have always life in us. That is not something we must store... in fact, if we could store it, it would mean we could break the connection at times and be alive temporarily without His presence. That is impossible :)
We pray first :)
It seems clear, and supported by both Adventist writings and the Scriptures themselves, that virtue and power are not the same as everlasting life. They go together, often, but are not the same. They are “grace upon grace.” But I spoke of another example to demonstrate the difference, and that may help you to grasp it more fully.
We can show it in this way: There are different kinds of vessels. Paul writes, “Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?” (1Cor 12:29, 30) The implied answer to these rhetorical questions is “No” in each case. This is one of the clearest ways to show that the popular (and relatively modern) doctrine of “speaking in tongues,” as the term is used by “charismatic” churches these days is entirely false. Paul specifically teaches that not all will speak with tongues, therefore to use this as evidence of being filled by the Spirit based on a couple of examples where both these separate events happened at the same time is completely unscriptural.
We can also look at the work of exorcism. We read, “And when [Yahshua] had called unto Him His twelve disciples, He gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.” (Mat 10:1)
Ok, so were all the disciples fully converted at this point?
Did those further examples that I gave help you to see the distinction I am making?
Is that clearer for everyone?
Pastor said that he has envisioned this as storing up extra life. And that's certainly not incorrect. It is all agape, all life, all love, all from Yahweh. What I am talking about is a "type" that we seem to use differently. One active, one passive.
One continuous, one given at specific times, for specific functions...and interestingly, does not depend upon full conversion to be effective. Although, like the baptism of water and baptism of the Spirit, we would hope they go together, and in the 144,000 certainly will.
This understanding of miracle-working virtue also underlines the importance of personal prayer, as I was saying to Guerline earlier. Even Yahshua, who was One with the Source of the stream of life needed to take time to “recharge” for the work ahead of Him.
His 40-day fast in the wilderness before He began His ministry is a powerful reinforcement to this idea, if we are now able to see what was happening during that time. Yahshua was being prepared to hold the “treasure” of Heaven by the Holy Spirit, so that He could accomplish all things to the perfect pleasure of the Almighty. He already had everlasting life but now He was preparing for something specific.
This is why Yahweh would have us pray always, but particularly before embarking on a mission, or some great task, such as the courtroom issue that Luke was talking about. Remember, confession of sins needs to be specific. So, too, do our requests for special blessings. As the Scripture says, Yahweh knows already what we need, and has planned ahead accordingly. Even so, we benefit from the prayers by asking for, and receiving by faith, dynamis, virtuous power, to do the works of Heaven, both the spectacular ones and those with less outward impact.
I am not suggesting here that we begin to use prayer as some kind of a formal thing to prepare us to go out and work miracles…. No, prayer must never become mere ritual, and as I said, the truth is more subtle than the crude analogy can fully capture. And in fact, I am saying almost the opposite. What I am saying is this: We are called to go forth and work for Yahweh, whether or not we are “charged up” for it. The experience of Moses shows us just what this can look like. And this work to which we are called may involve dramatic acts of faith. What we must do is be sure that our relationship with the Father and Son is strong enough, and close enough, so that we can receive what we need from them at the appropriate time. Let us be aware, more deeply from this point forward, of the effects that our prayers have on Heaven and on ourselves. If we are diligent in this, we may be assured that Yahweh, who knows all things, will always send us strength, help in times of need and trouble… and that is really the bottom line, regardless of how subtle the principles involved appear to be.
Conclusion
It is not, of course, a power on which we can presume, and we had good discussion of that just now. In other words, though I have received eternal life from the Almighty, I cannot take it upon myself to declare out of my own impulses, “Now I will go out and heal the sick,” or “Now I will go out and cast away demons,” or “Now I will go out and evangelize China – though I have no intention of actually learning the language.” No, we do these specific kinds of things if we are called to them, and sometimes, yes, our desires after coming to the faith are strong indicators of our callings. But we have also seen the shipwrecks caused when presumption accompanies a partial knowledge of these things. It is even worse when we find those not even yet confirmed in the faith trying to rush out and be something they are not… they learn some new doctrine, some new truth (often hearing it from us for the first time) and then they throw away the parts of our teachings that do not appeal to their flesh, and we end up with just another independent minister, another counterfeit gospel.
Each of us, every single one of us, is called to something. We all have a part to play in this last Harvest, and we may be sure that Yahweh will reveal to us what this part is. We have among us writers, speakers, missionaries, translators, healers, money-earners, administrators, even a martyr or two… these are all worthy roles, and for each role there is a blessing, a virtue, a power, that comes down to us from the Father for the perfect operation of these things in agape-love. Let us, then, seek our place in the Kingdom, the “Me-shaped gaps” in the stone-wall of the Temple, to use an analogy from our previous studies, and then ask and joyfully receive the virtuous power to stand in that place effectively.
Now remember, we can meet again this afternoon to talk about this idea after we have done some digesting, but are there any questions for now, before we close?
