Godly Correction (4 of 5)

Mankind’s morals, standards, and practice of correction have varied across the span of many ages and throughout a widespread diversity of cultures. Understanding correction as God has revealed in scripture will help today’s followers gain the right perception to exercise correction acceptably and effectually.

Expression of Correction

Human emotions are revealed in the act of correction through speech, choice of words, facial expression, and body language. The more severe a correction is, the greater the boldness and confidence in speech, sharpness in words, scowl in visage, and zeal in body language.

Boldness & Confidence

Those who are led by the Holy Spirit are granted boldness to speak God's word. Rejection and persecution are often received in response. God gives encouragement to not be afraid or dismayed when this occurs; but to expect it, speak with confidence, speak boldly, and be comforted with his promised outcome.

Jeremiah 1:6-8 KJV - "6 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. 7 But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. 8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD."

Jeremiah 1:17 KJV - "Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them."

Isaiah 41:11-12 KJV - "11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. 12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought."

Acts 4:29 KJV - "And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,"

Acts 4:31 KJV - "And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness."

Acts 9:29 KJV - "And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him."

Acts 13:46 KJV - "Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles."

Romans 10:20 KJV - "But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me."

2 Corinthians 10:2 KJV - "But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh."

Philippians 1:14 KJV - "And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear."

Acts 28:31 KJV - "Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him."

2 Corinthians 11:7 KJV - "Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?"

Sharpness

Thayer's Greek Lexicon (apotómōs) compares sharpness and sharply to curtly; a demeanor that appears rude due to its severeness and abruptness.

(View apotómōs definition)

Thayer's Greek Lexicon (apotómōs): “a. abruptly, precipitously. b. tropically, sharply, severely …our curtly”

Some may refer to such speech as unkind and harsh. Though unpleasant to the hearer, the desire and intent behind the expression is love and edification.

2 Corinthians 13:10 KJV - "Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction."

Titus 1:13 KJV - "This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;"

Matthew 11:20 KJV - "Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:"

Mark 16:14 KJV - "Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen."

Matthew 23:13-17, 19, 23-29, 33 KJV - "13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. 14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. 15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. 16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! 17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? ... 19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? ... 23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, ... 33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" (see in context Matthew 23)

Acts 23:3-4 KJV - "3 Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law? 4 And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest?"

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 KJV - "1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?"

1 Corinthians 11:22 KJV - "What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not."

Angry Visage

Anger is a natural human emotion that is seen in someone's visage. Anger can be expressed with either a selfish or selfless intent. Righteous anger is selfless and is also void of bitterness, hatred, and disparage of others. To have righteous anger is to hate sin and the destruction and separation it causes. 

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Definitions

Visage: appearance of countenance, facial expression

Disparage: To think, speak, or treat someone or something as having little worth.

Genesis 30:2 KJV - "And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?"

2 Samuel 12:5-6 KJV - "5 And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: 6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity." (see in context 2 Samuel 12:1-15)

Job 32:2-3 KJV - "2 Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God. 3 Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job."

Mark 3:4-7 KJV - "4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. 5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other." (see in context Mark 3)

Galatians 2:11 KJV - "But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed." (see in context Galatians 2)

Zealousness

Zeal is a devout passion that compels someone to take action. It is made manifest through behavior; especially through body language. Righteous zeal fulfills the two greatest commandments; first loving God with all ones heart, soul, mind, and strength, and second, loving ones neighbor as themselves. Zealousness contends for God's righteousness, seeks to magnify his Word, and desires to save other's from destruction. When righteous zeal is expressed against sin, it does not appear affectionate and kind to the receiver. The love in zeal tends to be unobtrusive to everyone but witnessing victims. An act of righteous zeal is honored by God.

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Definition

unobtrusive: Discreet, not clearly seen, unnoticeable, not attracting attention.

Deuteronomy 9:12-21 KJV - "12 And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image. 13 Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: 14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they. 15 So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you. 17 And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes. 18 And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. 19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also. 20 And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time. 21 And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount." (see also Exodus 32)

Exodus 32:30-32 KJV - "30 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. 31 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. 32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin-; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written."

Numbers 25:5-13 KJV - "5 And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor. 6 And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 7 And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; 8 And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. 9 And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. 10 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 11 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. 12 Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: 13 And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel."

John 2:13-17 KJV - "13 And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; 16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. 17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up."

Psalm 69:9 KJV - "For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me."

1 John 4:17 KJV - "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world."

*This study continues in Godly Correction (5 of 5).