The Law of Appearances or "Seven Times As."

 

By. Milton Alonso Granados

·       The Law of Appearances or "Seven Times As."

Ø  2 Corinthians 6:1-10.

In chapter six of his second letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul strongly appeals for them to make the most of the benefits of Salvation and God's grace. Suffering should not be an excuse for not living a life of success and fulfillment.

In his reasoning, the apostle puts his religious life as an example, and for this, he lists sufferings such as tribulations, needs, anguish, scourges, prisons, tumults, work, wakefulness, and fasting (Vs. 4,5).

The adverse circumstances that the apostle was going through were indisputable realities; however, for his disciplined mind: punishment, sadness, and poverty (among many other sufferings) were only "an as;" or a circumstantial and passing appearance and not a permanent or positional truth.

Everything that happened in the life of the apostle Paul would have been enough for anyone to decay in his faith, yet this man of God chose to put his trust and joy in the eternal and not in the temporal.

From verses 8 to 10 of 2 Corinthians 6, Paul repeats the word "as, Seven times."

For each of these "Seven relative or passing truths," the apostle has a firm and well-positioned confession of faith.

Each of these statements is a living testimony of a mind that remains in the stillness and dominion that comes from God's great Rest.

1.      As deceivers, and yet true

2.      As unknown, and yet well known

3.      As dying, and behold, we live

4.      As chastened, and not killed

5.      As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing

6.      As poor, yet making many rich

7.      As having nothing, and yet possessing all things (2 Corinthians 6:8–10). King James Bible Version

All the "as" that the apostle uses here expresses an apparent state of persecution, sadness, anguish, and poverty. Still, the absolute and positional truth of faith that the apostle lived in his spiritual life was quite different.

In Paul's life, there was no room for laments, defeat, or failure, because his gaze was not fixed on the temporary; but in the eternity of the One who has declared us forever blessed and in victory (Ephesians 1:3; 1 John 5:4; Romans 8:28-39).

What this man of God says in his writing and by his example is: What you can see "only seems to be." The truth of God in me, which I believe, is that I find myself joyful, in victory, and having so much to bless others.

In these "Seven as or Seven apostolic declarations," we find the light that shows us the difference between a relative and temporal truth and an eternal and spiritual truth.

A truth subject to time, because it is temporary, changes, so at some point, it will "cease to be." But an eternal truth, having come from God and being positional and consummated, remains forever. The relative feeds fear: the permanent one gives confidence and security because it is immovable!

The "law of as, or the law of appearance," expresses a great truth that could transform how we perceive things. And perhaps more importantly, it teaches us what our attitude should be to the adverse circumstances of life.

The apostle Paul was one who, when he deserved to look back at tribulations, was only to remember that suffering and pain are passing and impermanent. That is why the believer must focus on the ever-more excellent and eternal weight of glory and thus neutralize the time of anguish and pain.

According to the law of compensation or sowing and reaping, each of these difficult moments is one more pearl that is added to our reward or said in apostolic words: "For this slight momentary tribulation produces in us an ever more excellent and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:8,9,17).

Paul, like Jesus, was a faithful believer in the law of balance and divine justice; for him, everyone who is to suffer for the sake of the Kingdom of God is to be justly rewarded (Matthew 10:42; Mark 10:29,30), which is why he wisely chose to base his joy on the eternal and not on the temporal.

This man of God shows that one of the most important keys to success in his ministry was the peacefulness and rest received by those who trust in God's power and protecting word (1 Thessalonians 5:16; Hebrews 4:1,2).

We have benefit, or advantage from the Divine Word, only when we receive it by believing it in faith, enforcing in our lives the Psalm (37:4), which advises us: "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."

The apostle Paul declares to the Corinthians a great measure of faith, or spiritual rule: (For we live by faith, not by sight); So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Corinthians 5:7; 4:18).

For the believer to live a permanent triumph in the face of adversity, he must first respond positively to the Word of Faith and the Consummation of the Acquired Inheritance. Seeing what is not seen makes us experience here and now all the resources provided by God from eternity.

Paul and Silas clearly show what a mind not subject to the natural senses can experience (Acts 16:23-26).

What for us would be an undeniable reality of pain; for them, it was only an appearance because their gaze was fixedly anchored on the dimension of the eternal and positional realm (Hebrews 6:17-19; Ephesians 1:15-23; Colossians 3:1-3).

Indeed, the peace and trust that comes from Divine Rest affected their natural senses to such an extent that their experience related to the security of The Day That Never Ended and not to the transient and relative of the temporal!  

The Rest of God

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