AUTHORITY AND SUBMISSION CHAPTER ONE THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTHORITY Scripture Reading: Rom. 13:1-7; Heb. 1:3; Isa. 14:12-14; Matt. 6:13; 26:62-64 THE THRONE OF GOD ESTABLISHED UPON AUTHORITY God’s works issue from God’s throne; God’s throne is established upon authority. All things have been created by the authority of God, and all laws on earth are held together through authority. Hence, the Bible says that God upholds all things by the word, which is of His authority (Heb. 1:3b). It does not say that God upholds all things by His power. God’s authority represents God Himself; God’s power only represents God’s works. It is easy to be forgiven of sin against God’s power, but it is not that easy to be forgiven of sin against God’s authority, because sinning against God’s authority is sinning against God Himself. In the whole universe only God is authority. All other authorities are appointed by God. Nothing is greater than authority in the universe; nothing can surpass it. Fo

IN ISAAC In a sense, in Isaac the transfer of life was accomplished but it was not fully completed. We know this by the fact that Isaac still begat Esau whom God hated (Rom. 9:13). This means that within Isaac the natural life still remained. Thus, we may say that in Isaac the transfer of life was not completed thoroughly. It was completed in Jacob. IN JACOB FIRSTLY BEING THE SUPPLANTER JACOB • At first, Jacob was a supplanter. His name means a supplanter. To supplant means to take the place of another, or to get something, through subtle means. Jacob was one who stole in a secret way. For instance, he stole from his uncle, Laban. Laban thought that Jacob was helping him with his flocks, but while Jacob was helping Laban, he made a flock for himself. This is an example of Jacob’s supplanting. At the first, Jacob certainly did not have the transfer of life. TRANSFORMED INTO ISRAEL, THE PRINCE OF GOD • God had a way to deal with Jacob. He trans

1 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF GOD’S CALLING Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 12:1-3 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles out of faith, announced the gospel beforehand to Abraham: “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” Galatians 3:8 INTRODUCTION In this chapter we come to the most wonderful section of the book of Genesis, the section on God’s calling (11:10—50:26). Genesis, a book of fifty chapters, is divided into three sections. The first section (1:1—2:25) covers God’s creation, the second (3:1—11:9) covers the serpent’s corruption of mankind, and the third cove