Wolves are not sheep, any believer has the spirit, the verse in Jude says they don't have the spirit and as a result they are discerning the word of God naturally, according to the natural man. If you don't have the spirit you are unsaved. All believers have been baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ, sealed by the Spirit, indwelt by the Spirit, taught by the Spirit, led by the Spirit and as a result can cry Abba Father.
I was rather thinking about the other men spoken about in your @
#3,027 comment where you said, "
Paul also said that men would arise from among the church speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them."
Acts 20:29 is the most common verse that brethren cite when speaking about the meaning of the term wolf. In this instance, the term used by the Apostle Paul is grievous wolf. The Greek says, βαρύς (barus) - of grievous, which means to press a severe burden on a person. It also means vicious and cruel. Without mercy. It is very different from the term used in Matthew 7:15, where we read of ravenous wolves. The Greek says, αρπαγες (harpage) - of ravenous, which means to destroy, rob and steal. In Matthew 7:15 the Lord warned of false prophets as ravenous wolves. These ravenous wolves come into the flocks; they are not of the flock. In the same way the grievous wolf of Acts 20:29 warning comes into the flock - he is not of the flock. So Acts 20:29 speaks of the grievous wolf.
In Acts 20:30 Paul also identified that there are men who arise from within the flock. Yet Paul does not call these men, wolves. Those whom Paul said would come into the flocks, were grievous wolves, and in saying “Also of your own selves, shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them,” Paul identifies a different class of men. Of this diverse group of men we see the Greek conjunctive καὶ - where the object is λαλοῦντες διεστραμμένα τοῦ - ‘speaking perverse things.’ The principle characteristic of these men is speaking perverse things. Paul does not call the men who speak perverse things, wolves, but he does identify that they will draw disciples after themselves. The proper understanding of this secondary group of men Paul identifies prophetically, is that they ought to be called heretics, and not wolves. Paul also identified who the grievous wolves would be.
“You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 20:18-21
It was the Jews who were trying to come into the flocks of Christ in the first century in order to reassert a full requirement of the Law of Moses upon believers. These Jews were actually opposing Christ Himself in the very same spirit that the Pharisees opposed Christ face to face in Judaea. What characterised those men of Judea was a desire to murder Christ and what characterised these men of whom Paul speaks, is their willingness to murder him. This corresponds with reality, in that Satan was a murderer from the beginning. Just as the Lord told some of the Pharisees that their father was the devil, so Paul recognised that those Jews, whose representatives, were coming into the flocks, were murderers in no less a meaning. In Paul’s case they were literally trying to murder him because he was able to resist them.
I believe that it is essential to know who we are speaking about when we incite a claim that has it that men are wolves. It may be especially important when we attribute to men unbelief and so make of them vessels fit for destruction. What is left for a man we assign to unbelief if we say to the flocks they are wolves of Acts 20:29 then to another class of men Acts 20:30 the term wolf also - and yet we intend to speak about the flocks of God?
So my question now, brother is do you see the men of Acts 20:29 and Acts 20:30 as the same type of man - namely all wolves?
Perhaps the distinction can be found in:
“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. “He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. “He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me.” .John 10:11-14 NASB
John 10:11-14 tells us that the principal character of the hireling is cowardice. And regardless as to the idea that a hireling is someone who is working for pay, the meaning is cowardice.
We can see this principle clearly in the example of Paul, who said, “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” Paul kept these wolves out of the flock at considerable cost to himself, and by that means, proved himself to be a good shepherd. No doubt it was for this precise reason that he was able to say, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.”
One of the chief difficulties we have when seeking to understand spiritual reality is that we so often miss ordinary reason. By abrogating common sense, we may lose the simplicity of a thing and end up chasing after mystical explanations. We either receive our understanding by a revelation of the Holy Spirit or else we use our reasonable minds to lay hold of the Scriptures properly. If we claim to have received revelation and then share contrary to a simple reading of Scripture; are we not in danger of becoming false ourselves?
In looking at this passage from John 10:11-14 we can see that there are three principle actors. The good Shepherd, the Hireling and the Wolf. Unless we see the detail of this, while seeking to understand the biblical wolf, we may find it difficult to comprehend the hireling altogether and lose the meaning of the wolf as well.
