In God’s holy Word, He speaks a lot about being approved by Him…and dis-approved by Him. Question: what makes you and me as so-called Christians approved or disapproved in the eyes of Almighty God?
And what happens to Christians who are actually disapproved by God after coming to faith earlier?
Before we jump to immediate conclusions about what we’ve heard from others, let’s go the His Word, the Word that stands forever after the grass withers and the flower fades…
The main Greek word group that expresses these themes is voracious…it can be seen as testing…testing and tested to see what is good, the proof of such, and rejecting what is not or has not been good. To God.
The first Greek word rendering our English word “approved” is dokimos, an adjective. The verses are very illustrative.
Romans 14:18 For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.
Romans 16:10 Greet Apelles, the approved in Christ. Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus.
1 Cor. 11:19 For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.
2 Cor. 10:18 For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends.
2 Cor. 13:7 Now we pray to God that you do no wrong; not that we ourselves may appear approved, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear unapproved.
2 Tim. 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
James 1:12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
What do we see here? We must be approved by Christ, approved in the assemblies we frequent, appear approved (vs. disapproved), be diligent to present ourselves approved, working to persevere through trails to be approved, then and only then do we receive the final crown that means eternal life.
It’s not automatic.
Wait a minute, you say. Marc, are you suggesting that we must work in some fashion to be approved by God in order to present ourselves to Him? Don’t you just believe and it’s a done deal?
No, I’m not saying that. God’s Word is proclaiming it! Loud and clear…
The Complete Biblical Library puts it this way as it describes the use of this word dokimos.
At the heart of Paul’s understanding of dokimos, “approved, tested,” lies the Old Testament principle that God tests and judges those He loves. Salvation calls for conduct that attests to it, especially in the face of adversity and trial.
Let’s continue on.
The next word, dokimazo, a verb of action, derives itself from dokimos, and means the following, again referring to The Complete Biblical Library.
In classical Greek the term was used for “testing” the genuineness of metals and coins. Furthermore, persons could be “put to the test” or “scrutinized.” And if this tested person were “approved,” dokimazo could also describe that state of acceptance…
…the testing process…salvages the good and discards the useless..(is to) primarily eliminate the dross and recover the valuable or genuine remains. That which has endured this process or trial is then “accepted” or “approved.”
Here’s the verses…
Luke 12:56 “You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time?
Luke 14:19 “Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’
Romans 1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,
Romans 2:18 and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law,
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 14:22 The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.
1 Cor. 3:13 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
1 Cor. 11:28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
1 Cor. 16:3 When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem;
2 Cor. 8:8 I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also.
2 Cor. 8:22 We have sent with them our brother, whom we have often tested and found diligent in many things, but now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you.
2 Cor. 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?
Galatians 6:4 But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another.
Ephes. 5:10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
Philip. 1:10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;
1 Thes. 2:4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts.
1 Thes. 5:21 But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;
1 Tim. 3:10 These men must also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach.
1 Peter 1:7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
What do we see here? We can prove what the will of God is, our works are tested, examine ourselves, approve only what is excellent or be blamed by God at the judgment, faith is tested by fire, and test the spirits especially in the church.
Then we have the noun, dokime, which renders these very interesting verses.
Romans 5:4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;
2 Corinthians 2:9 For to this end also I wrote, so that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things.
2 Corinthians 8:2 that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.
2 Corinthians 9:13 Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all,
2 Corinthians 13:3 since you are seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in me, and who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you.
Philippians 2:22 But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father.
What do we see here? Proven character, testing, ordeal, proof, proven worth. Can you see that this approval, proven worth, and overcoming ordeals are not automatic?
Now we turn to the disapproval part of this expose of God’s Word…you must stay with me for eternal life is at stake here.
This one use of the word, dokimasia, another noun, reveals this about God.
Hebrews 3:7-11 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me, AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS. “THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’; AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, ‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.'”
Wow. God destroys those who fail the test. His own people Israel. The same warning is seen over and over again. The results of the Israelites disobedience are detailed by the apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 10…more on that a bit later.
Now…
Dis-approved. What does that look like? How did the great apostle Paul use this term to proclaim a missing part of today’s Gospel?
The Greek word now has an “a” added to the dokimos term, to produce adokimos, or disapproved, disqualified, depraved, rejected, fail the test, worthless…
Like a-theist (no God), this is a-dokimos (no approval from God).
The verses reveal an extremely scary trend here.
Romans 1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,
1 Cor. 9:27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
2 Cor. 13:5-7 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test? But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test. Now we pray to God that you do no wrong; not that we ourselves may appear approved, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear unapproved.
2 Tim. 3:8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.
Titus 1:16 They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.
Hebrews 6:8 but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.
What do we see here? Disapproved, depraved minds, Paul’s struggle to not be disqualified and lost, testing ourselves or be failing the test, rejected faith, worthless deeds coming from worthless faith.
In every case, this term is used for lost souls, lost faith, people who are destined for hell and the lake of fire…
Again, we turn to The Complete Biblical Library.
The adjective adokimos occurs in the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament)…(only twice, Proverbs 25.4 = take away the dross; Isaiah 1.22 = your silver has become dross). It’s basic definition is “not passing the test,” “incompetent,” or “unqualified…”
In Hebrews..it calls to mind the harsh judgment of those individuals who have willfully rejected God…(and) of “worthless” land, an obvious allusion to those falling away and rejecting Christ…
In 2 Cor. 13.5 adokimos refers to a test which must be passed by the faithful people of God…and in 2 Tim. 3.8 it speaks to those who have rejected the truth.
So, then…
How do we know these are Christians failing the test? In 2 Tim. 3, we who are passing the test are commanded to “avoid such men as these.” The only people we’re to avoid are those still in the church that refuse to repent, and claiming the name of Christ.
The same doctrine runs in the gospels, and throughout the Word. In Matthew, Jesus command us to not cast our holy wisdom to pigs and dogs…(see DO NOT CAST YOUR PEARLS: ABOUT PIGS & DOGS [MONDAY MANNA 101] )
Even if that isn’t enough, even our dear brother, the mighty Paul called from his mother’s womb, was concerned with his own salvation, passing the test, so he wouldn’t be adokimos.
1 Corinthians 9:26-27 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be (adokimos) disqualified.
This is not, as many suggest, just a loss of rewards. For if we continue to on to 1 Corinthians 10, we see that the situation, or context, was the disobedient Israelites who were destroyed in the wilderness.
Let’s take a quick look at the 1 Corinthian 10 passage, verses 1-12:
For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.
Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.
Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY.” Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.
Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.
It seems obvious the sins described here are those leading to spiritual death throughout eternity in the lake of fire: idolatry, adultery, fornication, testing the Lord, grumbling….
This is confirmed in the Psalms too.
Psalm 78:31-33 The anger of God rose against them and killed some of their stoutest ones, and subdued the choice men of Israel. In spite of all this they still sinned And did not believe in His wonderful works. So He brought their days to an end in futility and their years in sudden terror.
These are sobering passages of Scripture…and not what we’ve been taught about God and His mercy. When this first dawned on me years ago, I was appalled at the teaching that had invaded the church of God. No wonder the number 1 problem in the New Testament was false teaching.
And…it seems the same is true even up to this current day.
Let us follow the Christ of God..let us strive to enter the narrow gate. Let us ask our Lord for the grace to overcome all temptations and to be found worthy to enter the new life…to be approved.
And not disapproved.
As said earlier, this walk is not an automatic easy pass into the final kingdom of God.
Closing words from our brother Peter, as he quotes the Old Covenant about an old old doctrine lest we think it new…
1 Peter 4:18 AND IF IT IS WITH DIFFICULTY THAT THE RIGHTEOUS IS SAVED, WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE GODLESS MAN AND THE SINNER?
And Jesus Christ Himself…
Luke 13:24 “Strive (agonize, fight, labor earnestly) to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”
For yet another perspective of the same doctrine, click here.
The good news is God wants all to be approved. The trouble is most created humans are never approved to the end of their lives. That’s our fault and dilemma.
God help us all…please pray for us here, dear ones, for we are under attack for preaching these words of truth.
May He richly bless you.
Please comment on this post right below. Feel free to write and proclaim your leadings in the Spirit in an honorable fashion.
Your friend and brother in fighting the good fight,
Marc
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Saints, we’re one day closer to Home, and Him! Love Him wholeheartedly!
You may view our Archives here: RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD – ARCHIVES; Complete Archives; feel free to write and proclaim your leadings in the Spirit in an honorable fashion. May our Father richly bless you with His grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, in order to walk worthy of His name.
Patte says
I really enjoyed & was challenged by your article, Marc. Great scriptures to ponder.
jesusislord says
Sister Patte,
I’ve followed your ministry for some time now online and have thanked God for your zeal, truth telling, and perseverance. Now I can add the quality of humility to your Godly traits in listening to an alternative view of a closely held doctrine of faith. I love you dear sister.
Brother Marc