Archives for February 2012

A gracEmail subscriber forwards a post by someone who argues that a true Christian never sins but always does what is right, quoting 1 John 2:3-4 and 3:6-10 as proof. "What about that?" my correspondent asks. * * * The message of First John is clear and convicting: if we claim to be God's children, we must "walk" in God's light and not in sin's darkness (1 John 1:5-7). Yet we are not without sin or above sin, and anyone who makes such a claim is self-deceived and makes God a liar (1 John 1:8, 10). One blessing of "walking in the light" is continual cleansing from all sin by the blood of … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber asks whether Jesus was really tempted to sin, since the Bible says that God cannot be tempted and we say that Jesus was God in human flesh. * * * To become our Savior and high priest, Jesus "had to be made like [us] in every way" (Heb. 2:17). In that respect he both suffered and was tempted (Heb. 2:18). Jesus' ministry began with his baptism by John, immediately after which he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Matt. 4:1-11). The night of his betrayal and arrest, he faced Satan's temptation again in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt. … [Read more...]

A preacher objects to my saying that fallen human beings are dead spiritually because of sin and are unable to repent and believe without God's gracious supernatural enabling. "This is a human doctrine," he claims, which "smacks of Calvinism and is not biblical." Besides, he argues, God commands repentance and faith, so humans must be able to do them. * * * Those who do not take sin seriously will never be able to take seriously the divine grace which delivers us from sin. Until we know our own helplessness and inability to climb up to God, we will never appreciate God's coming down to us in … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber in South America asks about living by the flesh and living by the Spirit in Galatians 5 and in Romans 8. "How can the believer sometimes show the works of the flesh? And how can one who has not been born again demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit?" * * * Luther said that the Christian is simul iustus et peccator -- "righteous and sinner at the same time." There is never a day when we stand before God righteous because of what God sees in our performance. But there is never a day when, trusting Christ alone for approval by God, we stand any way other than righteous, even … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber in Alabama asks why Jesus taught his disciples to pray that God "lead us not into temptation" (Matt. 6:13) yet the Epistle of James says that God "does not tempt anyone" (Jas. 1:13). * * * Jesus points us to God's sovereignty -- all that happens is under God's control even though he does not cause everything that occurs. James points us to God's character and purpose. God does not entice anyone to evil. God does not wish for people to do evil, and it gives him no pleasure when someone does what is wrong. Satan is the tempter of humans, but he cannot act beyond the … [Read more...]

A thoughtful gracEmail subscriber writes: "It is true that we are sinners as a result of Adam's sin -- he was the doorway through which sin entered the world. Adam has become our father in a physical sense, and also in a figurative sense in regards to sin. This is similar to the person described as 'the father of those who play flutes' (Gen. 4:21). We do not inherit sin -- we are influenced and corrupted by the sin brought into the world through Adam." * * * I understand your point. However, I believe that Paul is saying more than that Adam introduced sin into the world and that we were … [Read more...]

A learned lady from a sophisticated denomination came upon the notion that we all fell in Adam and are born with a fallen nature which needs regeneration by the Holy Spirit. She promptly dismissed this entire doctrine as "some simple minded theology about our diseased spiritual DNA." What does the Bible say? * * * Good sister, some of the deepest and most profound thinkers through the centuries have confirmed what you so easily dismiss as "simple-minded." I invite you honestly to consider whether any aspect of your own personhood is unaffected by the pride which puts self in place of God, or … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber asks whether Adam "infected" his descendants with the spiritual disease of sin or merely "exposed" his posterity to that fatal malady. * * * I understand Scripture to teach that Adam did both those things. Certainly he exposed all humankind to sin. God originally created a sinless world and if Adam had not sinned, his descendants would have been born that world without sin. However, Adam did sin and all his descendants have entered a world filled with sin instead. "Sin came into the world through one man" (Rom. 5:12). In a manner of speaking, Adam also infected his … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber in the Northwest asks why God made humans if he knew in advance that they would rebel against him. * * * Scripture does not answer this question directly, although it suggests that God's endowment of human beings with the ability to reject him demonstrates the extent of his desire for loving relationship -- a reality which requires choice (by humans) and risk (by their Maker). What we do know is that humans, quite unaided, are completely able to reject the Creator who gives them existence. This is also our universal experience, since every one of us rebels against God … [Read more...]

A believer on-line in the Northwest asks, "If God made man, to what extent is the Creator liable for the creature's behavior? Didn't God know before making humans that they would rebel against him?" * * * You ask something to which I do not find in Scripture a clear explanation. I can only affirm what I do see repeatedly taught there, namely, that humans, quite unaided, are completely free to reject the Creator who gives them existence. "Why" or "how" this is true, I simply cannot explain. Yet our universal experience confirms what we cannot logically comprehend, since every one of us rebels … [Read more...]