This article was inspired by Air1 Radio’s verse of the day, Romans 12:9-10. Hope this blesses you today. Much love in Him, Suzie.
I wanted to take a closer look at these scriptures to find out what God said about the word “dissimulation”. This is what I found by looking at a few other scripture references and then I included other parts of the Everlasting Covenant principles along with it.
Dissimulation: dissembled, to withdraw, to separate,
Romans 12:9-10
“Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another”
Galatians 2:12-14
“For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he WITHDREW and SEPARATED himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews DISSEMBLED likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their DISSIMULATION. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel … ”
More defining the term Dissembled:
Jeremiah 42:20
“For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, AND we will do it.”
(Their hearts became divided and separated.)
Jeremiah 42:13-14
“But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God, Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell”
———————-
Back to Romans where God’s formula is revealed. Love is keeping God’s commandments. We’re told that true love doesn’t do any ill (bad/evil) to his neighbors or to God. This says, don’t allow your love to become separated or divided by doing evil. The instructions are to instead, hate all evil and only hold onto (think & do) what is good, what is righteous, what is just, what God says to do.
Romans 12:9
“Let love be without dissimulation.
Abhor that which is evil;
cleave to that which is good.”
———————–
2John 1:5-6
“And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had FROM the beginning, that we love one another.
And THIS IS LOVE,
that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.”
———-
1John 2:24-25
“Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard FROM the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain IN you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that He hath promised us, even eternal life.”
John 15:7
“If ye abide in Me, AND My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”
1John 2:7
“Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had FROM the beginning. The old commandment is THE WORD which ye have heard FROM the beginning.”
Dissimulation and Dissembled Summary:
In Jeremiah 42, they told the prophet to ask God what would happen to them and what they should do. The people also said that they would do what God said. But when they heard what the LORD said, they were afraid and decided not to do what He told them to do. They didn’t believe God. They didn’t trust God. They allowed fear to separate themselves from the LORD by their lack of faith in Him. It was disobedience that caused the dissimulation.
We all experience temptation. The point of temptation itself isn’t a sin. It is the crossroad we see every day we live. What we decide to do and which path we decide to take will determine where we end up, whether in sin or in obedience, life or death, under the blessings or under the curses.
Thankfully as long as grace and mercy are extended to us; God has given us, as believers, the ability to correct our path if we’ve chosen to sin. He gives it to us by His covenant of salvation. If we confess, repent and ask forgiveness of our past sins just like the Lord’s Prayer promises, the Bible tells us that God is faithful and just to forgive us of those sins and He will completely clean us from all unrighteousness. Those past sins are now completely erased forever. We are told that Jesus “ever liveth” to make intercession for us and that He is the only mediator between us and God the Father. The Lord’s Prayer is a daily prayer for daily bread and daily forgiveness; it’s not a one time event.
Hebrews 7:24-25
“But this man, because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
1Timothy 2:3-6
“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”
1John 2:1-6
“My little children,
these things write I unto you,
that ye SIN NOT.
And IF any man sin,
we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous:
And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not IN him. But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are IN Him. He that saith he abideth IN Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.”
(When we sincerely confess, repent and ask God’s forgiveness; we are keeping His commandments because that’s what He told us to do when we sin. This is how; even though we may fail by sinning, we can be reconciled and regain a right standing with God and become righteous and holy again – even though we mess up frequently every day.)
Despite the weakness of our flesh and despite God making provision for when we do sin; the goal is to NOT sin and God’s expectation is for us is “to go and sin no more”. We can’t reach a goal that we don’t have. The apostle Paul said that he pressed forward toward that mark – the goal. Just before that, he said that he let go of all the guilt of his past sins that could have weighed him down and overcome him.
Instead of allowing guilt to bring him down after he had already confessed and repented, he believed God forgave those past sins and the guilt was no longer necessary because he was no longer condemned- he was completely forgiven. More on guilt below.
Philippians 3:12-14
“Not as though I had already attained,
either were already perfect:
but I follow after,
if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind,
and reaching forth
unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
1John 1:5-10
“This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned,
we make Him a liar,
and His word is not in us.”
The proper function of guilt is to convict the unrepentant sinner of sin in order to get them to turn back to God and obedience. Once it’s accomplished its function, it no longer applies or is necessary. It becomes a block if we hold on to it after it has served its purpose and could bring us back down into the sin of unbelief – in not believing that God has forgiven us is a sin. Unbelief is the opposite of faith; and without faith it’s impossible to please God or be saved.
When we confess our sins, we are acknowledging that we believe God. When we repent and ask His forgiveness, we are believing God. When we let go of guilt from sins that have been forgiven by the LORD, we are acknowledging God.
2Corinthians 7:9-10
“Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed TO repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow WORKETH repentance TO salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”
Hebrews 11:6
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, AND that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”
Proverbs 3:5-7
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In ALL thy WAYS acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.”
Proverbs 16:16-17
“How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver! The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.”
The opposite of acknowledging God is to deny Him, which either way is manifested by what we do, by our actions, by our ways and by our works. This is how God says we show Him if we acknowledge Him or deny Him. Remember how Jesus asked His disciples and said, “But whom say ye that I am?”. That’s because it’s by our actions (thoughts, beliefs, words and action) we say Who God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are to us.
Titus 1:15-16
“Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God; but in works they DENY Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.”
If God is our Father and we are His children, then we will do what He does. We will be holy as He is holy. We will do what He does.
John 8:39
“They answered and said unto Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.”
1Peter 1:16
“Because it is written,
Be ye holy;
for I am holy.”
1John 3:10
“In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”