Yesterday we looked at the Three Thrones of Yahweh-Elohim and saw how our approach to them leads to at least eight different kinds of biblical personality types, seven of which are out of balance, unwhole and imperfect. There are more and if time permits we will examine these as well by looking at the same issue of perfection from a slightly different angle.

My main purpose today is to look at these Three Thrones as they reflect on our spiritual make-up and to try and heal some rifts between Evangelicals and Messianics who are mostly defending different pieces of turf and do not understand that both turfs are a part of Yahweh's Domain! Furthermore, I want to look at a third category of person whom both Evangelicals and Messianics tend to condemn because they do not understand that this person occupies a piece of turn which they both need. As we look at this I hope to be able to break down some walls of hostility and shed the light of emet (truth) into a sphere of darkness that has long been overdue for a springclean.

I am borrowing another of Neil Robbie's Venn diagrams today but with some major modifications. In it I hope, by the time we have finished today, to offer a neat explanation of the various approaches to the Besorah or Gospel that is to be found amongst believers (Evangelicals and Messianics) and what I call 'compassionate humanists'. We have, as I have already said, a threefold nature which when brought together makes for a complete, perfect sevenfold human being. I will explain that in detail now by looking at the three spheres in reverse order.

The first part of us (blue circle #1) was built for emunah or faith. That part of us can only be completed by trusting 100% in Yah'shua our Messiah (Jesus Christ). It is 'delivered' or 'saved' only through Yah'shua (Jesus). In submitting self-ownership to Yah'shua (Jesus) in this sphere of our being we become a young or immature believer - an Evangelical Christian! This is a or alef salvation. We can do absolutely nothing to be complete or perfect in this Sphere of the Son beyond trusting like a small child.

The second part of us (green circle #2) is what you might call our existentialist or Wisdom sphere. It is that part of all men designed to be a vehicle for human compassion, which is why I also call it the 'Compassionate Humanist' when it is operating in a soul. This sphere I call m or mem, the lev or heart part of a person. It is the libertarian which respects freedom of choice. Alone, without salvation or Torah, the person who lives in this sphere is a compassionate humanist, someone who naturally cares about other people. Those who know Yahweh who operate in this Sphere of the Mother have the gift or common grace of receiving, discerning and understanding the structure, order and purpose of His world and to act appropriately within it.

The third part of us (orange circle #3) was built for Law and Obedience. Only by living Yahweh's Torah can we find completion or t or taw salvation. This is the Torah that we are commanded to meditate on day and night and make our delight (Ps.1:1-2) for it instructs us on how we should and should not live, and draws people to Yah'shua (Jesus) as Deliverer (Saviour) when we fail to match its requirements. Once in Yah'shua (Jesus) we are enabled to live this Torah supernaturally which beings about great shalom (peace) and satisfaction. This is the Sphere of the Father.

As you will see from the Venn diagram above these spheres overlap when they are active in maturing souls. Very often, though, these spheres are closed in people down because of wrong choices leading to spiritual issues.

The person who lives exclusively in the first or a/alef sphere is the soul saved by emunah (faith). This sort of person has got saved out of a messy background, has lots of faith in Yah'shua (Jesus) but has no conscious need to be obedient to any kind of law or wisdom. There were many people like this in New Testament times. They were called the Corinthians and though they had plenty of faith, they were highly immoral (e.g. 1 Cor.5:1). They remind me, in numerous ways, of many of today's charismatics.

The person who lives exclusively in the third or t/taw sphere is what we call a legalist. They're trying to earn or prove their salvation. These people are usually cold, formal, godless moral failures. They are either very prideful, self-righteous 'holier than thou' people or they are simply overwhelmed by their own inability to live up to Yahweh's standards.

The person who lives exclusively in the second or m/mem sphere is a compassionate, capable hedonist who is generally wise, socially well-adjusted, gets on well with people but has no idea about Messiah and has little desire to obey Yahweh's Torah or Law. They have an aversion for rules. They do well at work, have a good social network and are respectable and well behaved when necessary but often let their guards down at week ends and go wild because they have no Torah boundaries.

These are the three main types represented by the blue, orange and green spheres.

Not everybody has two of these spheres completely shut down but those that do tend to either be very immature believers (rule-hating people with social issues), very authoritarian leglists (who love law and order but have other social issues and reject Yahweh), or wild hedonists (who hate rules and reject Yahweh). And those who have all three shut down are described in the Bible as "fools".

For most people these spheres are asymmetrical in size (see diagram to right). The person in this illustration is basically the social type, a decent sort of hedonist (green), who understands that some rules are necessary but who wants to keep them to a minimum (orange). There is little place for Elohim (God) in his life - he might consider himself an agnostic (blue). His life is out of balance in a major way that leads him into an endless cycle of doubt, conflict and confusion.

You will have noticed that both these diagrams have overlapping areas because people are rarely totally shut down in all but one sphere. Our personality or character is a synthesis of these spheres and their degrees of development and so overlap. We all tend to grow asymmetrically because of negative life experiences. The way they overlap governs our overall lifestyle and behaviour expressions. There are potentially an infinite number of these combinations, which is why everyone is unique, but also basic personality 'types' based on what is developped in the main three spheres and what is not.

Let us take area #4 which I call ta/alef-taw, where spheres #1 and #3 overlap. These are the 'conservative-fundamentalists'. They have salvation and Torah but no wisdom. Typically you will find amongst these people Evangelical soap box fire-fire-and-brimstone preachers, monks and not a few messianics who just don't know how to relate to people at all. They're fired up with emunah (faith) and torah (law) but just don't have compassion for people and can't socially relate.

The next group of people are the liberal Christians. They have salvation (or talk about it) and have wisdom. These people think deeply about the way the world works but are uncomfortabvle talking about the Torah, especially when it comes to sex. They are easy to get on with but tend to react with hostility to commandment-keepers and view them as some sort of plague. They're as comfortable around lawless (antinomian) believers as they are amongst socially-minded unbelievers. They usually falsely accuse wholesome commandment-keeping believers - and especially Messianics - of being 'legalists' in order to numb their conscience for their failure to be true to Yahweh's mitzvot (commandments).

Then you have the wise moralist and good, law-abiding neighbour who inhabits spheres #2 and #3. They're easy to get along with and would never dream of doing anything to upset their neighbours. No loud music at night or bonfires when you've got your washing out. This is the sort of person who runs a neighbourhood watch scheme and makes everyone feel safe. But Yahweh and Yah'shua (Jesus) are nowhere on the spiritual radar screen. There might well be called 'decent' 'men-of-the-world' but their 'niceness' can be a snare to new or weak believers in whose churches or assemblies the second sphere is absent.

Finally, we come to the complete person. They are saved by emunah (faith) in Messiah alone, they know and observe the mitzvot (commandments) faithfully to the best of their ability. And, as they are soaked in Yahweh's wisdom, they relate well to everyone they meet. This I call the tma/alef-mem-taw person, perfect and just in the ways of Yahweh. This is the Sevenfold Perfection to which we should be aspiring.

Acknowledgements

[1] Neil Robbie, Eight Biblical Personality Types