Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord. This is the heart of the good news Christians proclaim to the world. Too often, however, we find ourselves unable to explain what this confession means, that is, how it illuminates our situation and why it is good news. In response to the question about how Jesus saves us, we resort to other confessional assertions: Jesus “gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:3). Or, Jesus was “delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25). Or, “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them” (2Corinthians 5:17).
These words were no doubt overflowing with transparent meaning for Paul and his hearers when he first uttered them. But after 2,000 years of use in worship and teaching they tend to become formulas we are taught to repeat on certain occasions. We assume we know what they mean because we know when to say them. I do not question the genuine faith, commitment, and spiritual experience of anyone who confesses these words. We need not understand our faith to great depth in order to love Jesus Christ for who he is and what he has done, to feel deep gratitude for God’s mercy, and to live for him our whole lives. Nevertheless, wouldn’t our genuine faith be strengthened, our love deepened, our commitment reinforced, and our witness emboldened by gaining a deeper understanding of our faith that Jesus is Savior and Lord? And this is what I am hoping to accomplish in this miniseries on Jesus as Savior.
In the previous four essays I’ve addressed the nature of sin, the forgiveness of sins, and the possibility of healing sin’s destructive consequences. Today, I want to address one of the most difficult and mysterious aspects of Jesus saving activity, that is, how Jesus liberates sinners from sinful condition of the will that makes sinful acts inevitable. In the first essay in this series I defined sin in these words:
Sin is a condition of the human will in which we affirm our own private interests and trust our own private judgment about good and bad instead of trusting and affirming the perfect will of our Creator. Out of this condition of the heart arise sinful acts, acts that attempt to force God’s creation into conformity with our wills. In sin, we substitute ourselves for God. We attempt to become our own protectors, providers, and judges. We act as if we were wiser, stronger, and better than God. Rejecting our own created nature, we try to remake ourselves according to our fanciful image of what we wish we were. Then we begin working to remake the rest of the world into our distorted image, creating death and destruction everywhere.
Paul, John, and all other New Testament writers are completely confident that “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23; see also 5:12) and that “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us…If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us” (1John 1:8-10). They are certain that human nature is always accompanied by a condition that inevitably produces sinful acts. How can Paul and John be so confident that everyone who has ever lived and ever will live sins? (Jesus Christ is the one exception. For how could Jesus save us from a condition from which he suffers and needs to be saved?) Do they think sin is part of our created nature? No, this answer is not an option because it makes sin a divine creation and sinful acts an innocent expression of human nature. It is neither. How can we understand this strange situation? As you have already guessed, this paradox or mystery has been addressed in the traditional doctrine of original sin.
The Western (Roman Catholic and Protestant) church’s doctrine of original sin derives its classic formulation from Ambrose and Augustine (4th and 5th centuries). The Eastern church (Orthodoxy) rejects it. The term original sin possesses several nuances of meaning. It means Adam and Eve’s original sin that brought sin and death into the world. The doctrine differentiates between the created nature of Adam and Eve and their act and its results. Because of Adam’s sin, created human nature now finds itself wounded, weak, and bereft of the support it needs to fulfill its task of living as God’s image in the world. And in a second sense, the term original sin refers to the condition into which every human being is born, that is, wounded, weak, and bereft of the support it needs to fulfill its task of living as God’s image in the world. (*For another meaning of “original sin,” see the note below.)
And because human nature is born in this weakened state, a person’s first interior acts of will turn inward to affirm their own private interests above those of others and the divine will. By the time a child reaches the age of reason and can make free choices among alternatives, the will to private interest, conditioned first by weakness and ignorance, has been reinforced by habit to form a sort of second nature impossible to escape. This second nature feels like our true self. The prospect of losing this “self” strikes us as a threat of slavery, alienation, and death. In our personal sins, our weakened condition and our false self expresses itself in our own acts in the world. In this way our inherited weakness becomes our enacted guilt.
How does Jesus Christ save us from this condition? As we saw in previous essays, Jesus embodies and enacts God’s forgiveness in his cross, and in his resurrection grounds our hope that sin’s destructive effects will be repaired. How does Jesus liberate us from the original condition from which sinful acts continually arise and cause offense and harm? It should not surprise us that a radical problem demands a radical solution. If our original weakness becomes a second nature (a false self) through our in-turned will and our sinful acts, the only way out is death and resurrection. The old self or the sinful nature must be purged and human nature strengthened, healed, and supported so that we can live as images of God. This change is so dramatic that the New Testament speaks of it as a new birth or a new creation that results in a new human being.
The resurrected Jesus Christ is first of these new human beings. Paul contrasts Jesus with Adam:
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive (1Corinthians 15:20-22).
45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man (1 Corinthians 15:45-49).
God saves us from our sinful condition by including us by the power of the Spirit in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, so that we share in the effects of his death and resurrection.
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life (Romans 6:3-4).
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here (2Corinthians 5:17)!
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Colossians 3:1-3).
In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1Peter 1:3).
We must still die our own death, but we do not have to die alone. The meaning of our personal death is completely changed. Apart from Jesus, our death would be merely the final results of sin, which wishes to live without God. With Jesus, our dying will be definitive separation from the second nature or false self of sin and irrevocable joining Jesus Christ in his resurrection from the dead. In this state, we will be completely liberated from the conditions that made sin possible and inevitable. We will be forgiven, healed, and liberated. This is, in part, what we mean when we confess that Jesus Christ is Savior.
In future essays we need to consider the question of whether our liberation from the power of sin is still altogether in the future. How does Jesus’ liberating power affect us here and now, before we actually join him through our dying and rising?
*Note: In the traditional western doctrine of original sin, the term original sin also means the “guilt” of Adam’s sin we inherit from Adam. Without going into it in this essay, I reject this teaching as unbiblical and self-contradictory.
ifaqtheology 
Ron
got your new book yesterday…oh Boy!!!
to late for me, to comment tonight,,,,
although,maybe tomorrow hope your cough is better…
rich
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Lost my voice Tuesday and had to cancel lectures Wednesday and Thursday. Regaining a bit of voice today. Glad you got the book.
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JUST TO START RON
A LITTLE INTRODUCTION
THIS IS SORTA KINDA ME TO DAY
🙂
Exactly what was in God’s mind when he created. What did he want to accomplish out of the deal.
Now then no more than four words.
If we want to think about the purpose answering this question of creation. The Telos.
It’s nothing more and nothing less.
In my opinion.
when the Trinity got together. And decided to create.
When it was all said and done.
They would have a
FAMILY.
This works with every aspect of love that I can think of. Throughout the narrative of the story.
church =family=true believers as god calls it…the redeemed of the father from death thanks to the Son.
EPH.1
1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints [in Ephesus], the faithful in Christ Jesus. 2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ. 4 For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love. 5 He did this by predestining us to adoption as his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will— 6 to the praise of the glory of his grace that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight.
1..
GAL. 4 N.E.T. BIBLE
1 Now I mean that the heir, as long as he is a minor, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything. 2 But he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 So also we, when we were minors, were enslaved under the basic forces of the world. 4 But when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights. 6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who calls “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son, then you are also an heir through God.
Heirs of Promise Are Not to Return to Law
8 Formerly when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods at all. 9 But now that you have come to know God (or rather to be known by God), how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless basic forces? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again? 10 You are observing religious days and months and seasons and years. 11 I fear for you that my work for you may have been in vain. 12 I beg you, brothers and sisters, become like me, because I have become like you. You have done me no wrong!
2..
Exhortations to Households
eph 5 N.E.T. Bible
22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, 23 because the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church—he himself being the savior of the body. 24 But as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her 26 to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word, 27 so that he may present the church to himself as glorious—not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In the same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one has ever hated his own body but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 for we are members of his body. 31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. 32 This mystery is great—but I am actually speaking with reference to Christ and the church.
3..
GAL. 4 N.E.T.
27 For it is written:
“Rejoice, O barren woman who does not bear children;
break forth and shout, you who have no birth pains,
because the children of the desolate woman are more numerous
than those of the woman who has a husband.”
28 But you, brothers and sisters, are children of the promise like Isaac. 29 But just as at that time the one born by natural descent persecuted the one born according to the Spirit, so it is now. 30 But what does the scripture say? “Throw out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the son” of the free woman. 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman.
· Well this fixes the button on my shirt.
let’s put this life in it’s proper perspective.
that is I think that this life is nothing more than a major cartoon show.
The good Lord fixed it all!!
My big Big Brother ( My Father’s Son) , said that he was going to give me a gift( The Spirit), and I would be able to have instant communication with him and my dad anytime I wanted to.
And my brother would fix it so that my life would be a joy, if I only knew the nature of my life.
The end result of this life for me now that I am my father’s son. And that’s all my big brothers doing.
Can I understand just how much I am cared fore, that I get to live forever, time to have that attitude of gratitude.
Yes to be sure this is not my home.
This is a cartoon show.
And with my new moral imperative and ethical indicative,trying to see life like my brother,
I try to tell people just how wonderful my dad is.
Even though I might my have my own personal whack O meter, that runs on a scale of 1 to 10.
And generally when I’m looking at the world around me it seems to be about a 9.As a compared to my Brother’s example.
And as my brother Paul said if there’s anything good there’s anything noble if there’s anything of good report think on those. Philippians somewhere…
You know come to think of it, if people don’t think I’m weird and strange an different. kinda like ya know, just tooo happy.
I’d be beginning to wonder whose kid I really AM. I mean if my fathers for me who can be against me.
And my father always has my back because of my big brother.
he always knows what I’m doing he gave me that gift.
If I just wasn’t happy or a ecstatically happy or totally overjoyed at the prospect of the promises that I have been given by my father.
I would B beginning to wonder that I’m just not reading HOW he told me to read…
RON
i would do more although
i am afraid i am taking a long way around to get at topic…let me know.. edit this or just throw it out. no biggie bro
gal 2 net
15 We are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, 16 yet we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. 17 But if while seeking to be justified in Christ we ourselves have also been found to be sinners, is Christ then one who encourages sin? Absolutely not! 18 But if I build up again those things I once destroyed, I demonstrate that I am one who breaks God’s law. 19 For through the law I died to the law so that I may live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing!
blessings
rich constant
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Ron
i forgot one scripture it should be put after eph.5:32
sorry
1st.cor 15
20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man. 22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he has brought to an end all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be eliminated is death. 27 For he has put everything in subjection under his feet. But when it says “everything” has been put in subjection, it is clear that this does not include the one who put everything in subjection to him. 28 And when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.
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I wonder, what implications does this have for our understanding of baptism?
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This is an important question with many subsidiary questions attached. It asks about the relationship between the “objective” enactment of salvation and the subjective appropriation of salvation. Clearly, human beings, since their glory is their freedom and reason, must at some point freely accept God’s love and return that love. Our faith, repentance, and submission to baptism is the beginning of our free acceptance. But just as the fullness of salvation cannot be experienced in this life, the purity and fullness of our acceptance cannot be experienced. Hence the question arises whether or not our response within the horizon of our earthy lives is our only opportunity to accept salvation. Since even the most sincere acceptance and submission here and now cannot complete our response, the previous question gains legitimacy even if no definitive answer is forthcoming.
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Good article. It has helped me to clarify my own thoughts concerning original sin. Children are of course usually thought of as harmless and pure. However, as Dr. Highfield argues the inherited nature isn’t a completely different nature, but rather a nature that is weakened and so cannot avoid choosing our own judgements of bad and good instead of God’s judgement. Especially prior to reason, a child’s behavior results in a self-centered being. This second self is then familiar, because it is all we have ever known. Killing it is a fearful thought, but Jesus did say, if any man wishes to follow me he must first die.
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Upon reading this, I have been baptized and desire to be renewed each day to be more similar to Jesus Christ in true liberation and true freedom. Instead of original sin, I would want to return to my original self which was good as we stated in class as the “imago dei.”
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That is a wonderful resolution. Do you mean you baptized today? Or that since you have been baptized you want to renew that commitment each day?
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Dr. Highfield, you were careful to note that the Western view of original sin includes the Catholic and Protestant denominations and is rejected by the Eastern Orthodox church. I am curious—what is the Orthodox view of original sin? Do they reject that Adam and Eve’s first sin brought sin into the world (which would seem to be implied in the paragraph)? Would they then hold that sin is endemic with creation itself?
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John Chrysostom (c. 347—407), a famous Eastern bishop said this:
For the fact that when he [Adam] had sinned and become mortal, those who were of him should be so also, is nothing unlikely. But how would it follow that from his disobedience another would become a sinner? For at this rate a man of this sort will not even deserve punishment, if, that is, it was not from his own self that he became a sinner. (Tenth Homily on Romans; NPNF, 1st ser., 11, p. 403. His comments refer to Romans 5:19.)
I discuss this idea in my book The Faithful Creator.
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Over the past few months, I have been wrestling with the following questions: What does it mean to be truly human? Is my humanity something I want to live into and embrace, or get away from?
I appreciated your answer to these questions: “If our original weakness becomes a second nature (a false self) through our in-turned will and our sinful acts, the only way out is death and resurrection. The old self or the sinful nature must be purged and human nature strengthened, healed, and supported so that we can live as images of God. This change is so dramatic that the New Testament speaks of it as a new birth or a new creation that results in a new human being. The resurrected Jesus Christ is first of these new human beings.”
Thank you!
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“And because human nature is born in this weakened state, a person’s first interior acts of will turn inward to affirm their own private interests above those of others and the divine will. By the time a child reaches the age of reason and can make free choices among alternatives, the will to private interest, conditioned first by weakness and ignorance, has been reinforced by habit to form a sort of second nature impossible to escape.” ~Highfield
I agree with the above evaluation of the nature of humanity in that the desire to protect private interests against the interests of others and against the divine will is a path that leads to rebellion against God which is sin. I believe and affirm Romans 3:23. The above phrase “impossible to escape” may be true in the case of every human throughout their lives, but I wonder if it is a right way of thinking regarding each instance of sin.
I remember the first time I lied to my mother. I think I was approximately 5 years old. I wanted our neighbor Kyle to come and play with me and our new “cocker spaniel” puppies before we had to leave for church. Kyle had not yet figured out how to unlatch his gate, or climb the fence between our houses. I quickly taught him both how to unlatch the gate, and we were able to play with the puppies. Later, my mother told me that Kyle’s mother was very angry that he had left the yard, and that she would be very disappointed if I had helped Kyle get into trouble. Whether or not there was any ill-intent in teaching Kyle to operate a gate, I knew at that moment that it would be better to lie to my mother in the interest of self-preservation.
I still remember the moral struggle that went on inside of me in that moment, having thought about it many times since that moment. It didn’t feel “impossible to escape”, but rather something that I could have easily done differently, but didn’t. Further, throughout the sins of my adult life, I don’t believe any of my rebellious acts felt impossible to escape, and I often choose to escape sin. When I have sinned, there was a very real agency. Perhaps it is “impossible to escape” sin throughout the totality of ones life, but I believe through faith and my own experience that my own sin is by choice, and cannot be entirely explained as an expression of second nature.
None of these reflections are meant to imply that Dr. Highfield’s statement of “impossible to escape” are meant to be in the case of each sin, but it made me think of the individual action of each sin.
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Original sin baffles me and still leaves me feeling I have more questions than answers.
You say, “Because of Adam’s sin, created human nature now finds itself wounded, weak, and bereft of the support it needs to fulfill its task of living as God’s image in the world.” How does this not still in some way entail a kind of imbedded default toward sin in our nature (weakened or otherwise, it’s what we are slated with) and thus leave each individual human being as enacting an “innocent expression of our [inherited] human nature”? I feel that there is a direct contradiction here.
You say, it can’t be that “sin is part of our created nature… because it makes sins an innocent expression of human nature.” But then, our human nature as handed down by Adam is now bereft. How am I guilty then, by enacting the only human nature I have access to?
You also say, “By the time a child reaches the age of reason and can make free choices among alternatives, the will to private interest, conditioned first by weakness and ignorance, has been reinforced by habit to form a sort of second nature impossible to escape.”
So, weakness and ignorance of infancy are the cause of sinful instinct? Or do children only tend toward selfishness because of the sin of Adam? If our instincts from birth propel us toward self-service, this seems to point to a kind of divinely created sin-being, indeed.
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In this post I was attempting to state the paradox/mystery of sin and salvation we find in the scriptures. A defense of that paradox/mystery would call for another essay or series of essays. I would probably approach such a defense from two angles. The first attempts to break apart the paradox in either direction and creates unacceptable alternatives, that is, making sin completely natural and innocent or making evil so much an aspect of our nature that we are unredeemable. Second, one might argue from experience that we always find an element of freedom and an element of impotence in acts of sin. In sin we freely choose but we are also deceived about what we are choosing–a paradox indeed!
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“With Jesus, our dying will be definitive separation from the second nature or false self of sin and irrevocable joining Jesus Christ in his resurrection from the dead.”
I’ve never heard dying to self phrased this way, but it certainly makes sense – especially as you described our original sin as forming this “false self.” Who would not want to put a “false self” to the death, such that they might live fully and truly as who they really are! Dead to sin and alive in Christ, as it were. But also free of the fears and lies that so easily ensnare us, praise be to God!
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Read it!!
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“And because human nature is born in this weakened state, a person’s first interior acts of will turn inward to affirm their own private interests above those of others and the divine will. By the time a child reaches the age of reason and can make free choices among alternatives, the will to private interest, conditioned first by weakness and ignorance, has been reinforced by habit to form a sort of second nature impossible to escape. This second nature feels like our true self. The prospect of losing this “self” strikes us as a threat of slavery, alienation, and death. In our personal sins, our weakened condition and our false self expresses itself in our own acts in the world. In this way our inherited weakness becomes our enacted guilt.”
Does this “weakened state” refer to our physical as well as spiritual limitations? I ask this because children, when they are first born, don’t really seem to make choices so much as they respond to stimuli. Their interior acts of will are motivated by survival. The assertion of one’s needs appears to be biological and unavoidable, which makes me wonder how it would not be considered their nature?
Also if what is commonly referred to as humanity’s “sinful nature” is better understood as a nature created out of the compounding effect of our selfish choices, then what do we call the weakened and wounded human nature we start out with? It seems to be a nature with a greater propensity to sin than to do good, is that a misguided observation?
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The traditional doctrine of original sin asserts that before the fall, Adam possessed a grace of divine presence and power that gave him the “power not to sin.” His nature was aided by a supernatural presence. When Adam fell he lost the original grace and found himself “unable not to sin.” We are born without this additional grace and so cannot resist sin. Original sin is this “lack of sanctifying grace that ought not to be,” to use Karl Rahner’s words. Much of this discussion turns on the concept of the “natural.” And the whole thing is very complicated. But there is a core truth that should not be lost sight of. My post was about getting that core before us.
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That’s fascinating, I had never heard of Adam’s fall described as a loss of prior grace. It seems to fit very well with Christ’s giving of grace and Paul’s statements regarding both Christ and Adam. This also makes me wonder about the “knowledge of good and evil,” whether it refers to the absence of divine grace itself, or a condition that resulted in the absence of divine grace.
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Next time you are in the library pick up the Sacramentum Munde, a theological distionary edited by Karl Rahner. Read the article on original sin written partially by Rahner.
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just lost 6 hrs. work
boy oh boyh
ron
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I look forward to reading the additions in this series. The idea that we are inherent to original sin, through Adam is something I knew, but I guess did not fully grasp. Its death as Adam, to get to Life in Christ.
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1. Exactly what was in God’s mind when he created. What did he want to accomplish out of the deal.
Now then no more than four words.
If we want to think about the purpose answering this question of creation? The Telos.
It’s nothing more and nothing less.
In my opinion.
when the Trinity got together. And decided to create.
When it was all said and done.
They would have a
FAMILY.
This works with every aspect of love that I can think of. Throughout the narrative of the story.
church =family=true believers as god calls it…the redeemed of the father from death thanks to the Son.
EPH.1
1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints [in Ephesus], the faithful in Christ Jesus. 2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ. 4 For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love. 5 He did this by predestining us to adoption as his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will— 6 to the praise of the glory of his grace that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight.
1.
GAL. 4 N.E.T. BIBLE
1 Now I mean that the heir, as long as he is a minor, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything. 2 But he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 So also we, when we were minors, were enslaved under the basic forces of the world. 4 But when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights. 6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who calls “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son, then you are also an heir through God.
Heirs of Promise Are Not to Return to Law
8 Formerly when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods at all. 9 But now that you have come to know God (or rather to be known by God), how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless basic forces? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again? 10 You are observing religious days and months and seasons and years. 11 I fear for you that my work for you may have been in vain. 12 I beg you, brothers and sisters, become like me, because I have become like you. You have done me no wrong!
2.
Eph. 5 N.E.T. Bible
22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, 23 because the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church—he himself being the savior of the body. 24 But as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her 26 to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word, 27 so that he may present the church to himself as glorious—not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In the same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one has ever hated his own body but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 for we are members of his body. 31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. 32 This mystery is great—but I am actually speaking with reference to Christ and the church.
3.
1st.cor 15
20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man. 22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ, the first fruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he has brought to an end all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be eliminated is death. 27 For he has put everything in subjection under his feet. But when it says “everything” has been put in subjection, it is clear that this does not include the one who put everything in subjection to him. 28 And when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.
4.
GAL. 4 N.E.T.
27 For it is written:
“Rejoice, O barren woman who does not bear children;
break forth and shout, you who have no birth pains,
because the children of the desolate woman are more numerous
than those of the woman who has a husband.”
28 But you, brothers and sisters, are children of the promise like Isaac. 29 But just as at that time the one born by natural descent persecuted the one born according to the Spirit, so it is now. 30 But what does the scripture say? “Throw out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the son” of the free woman. 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman.
· Well this fixes the button on my shirt.
let’s put this life in its proper perspective.
that is I think that this life is nothing more than a major cartoon show.
The good Lord fixed it all!!
My big Brother ( My Father’s Son) , said that he was going to give me a gift( The Spirit), and I would be able to have instant communication with him and my dad anytime I wanted to.
And my brother would fix it so that my life would be a joy, if I only knew the nature of my life.
The end result of this life for me now that I am my father’s son. And that’s all my big brothers doing.
Can I understand just how much I am cared for, that I get to live forever, time to have that attitude of gratitude.
Yes to be sure this is not my home.
This is a cartoon show.
And with my new moral imperative and ethical indicative, trying to see life like my brother,
I try to tell people just how wonderful my dad is.
Even though I might may have my own personal whack O meter, that runs on a scale of 1 to 10.
And generally when I’m looking at the world around me it seems to be about a 9.As a compared to my Brother’s example.
And as my brother Paul said if there’s anything good there’s anything noble if there’s anything of good report think on those. Philippians somewhere…
You know come to think of it, if people don’t think I’m weird and strange a different. kind of like ya know, just too happy.
I’d be beginning to wonder whose kid I really AM. I mean if my fathers for me who can be against me.
And my father always has my back because of my big brother.
he always knows what I’m doing he gave me that gift.
If I just wasn’t happy or an ecstatically happy or totally overjoyed at the prospect of the promises that I have been given by my father.
I would B beginning to wonder that I’m just not reading HOW he told me to read…
The Topic Original Sin and Perfect Salvation
The Family of God: The Creation
To Start We Should Understand
at least two dynamics one is that we were separated from God because of sin, or failure to hit a mark of righteousness, or doing the right thing as God would have us do it, humanity.
And so suffer the consequences of those actions or action, as God deems fair and appropriate.
The beginnings or Genesis, is the story of God’s journey through creation, which is a work of restoration, for his family.
Who is God? make a long story short he’s the creator that loves his creation and that creation was very good.
Genesis 1 31 God saw all that he had made—and it was very good! There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day
Now Let’s See Where Everything Went wrong.
Now some would say that it didn’t go wrong that’s just the way that God planed, I don’t agree! So let’s see if we can get back and find out. What really happened.
#1 let’s just kind a look at what God was doing after he created man.
We have to remember this was all, God’s very good creation.
So we have to look at what we would call or how we would define God.
And define some of his intrinsic behavioral characteristics, but then we pretty much know those.
And I’ll put them down later.
Just as a note whenever I use the New Covenant Writings, that would be Acts through Revelation in conjunction with writings prior to that. They expose the mystery revealed for the purpose of restoration.
I used this Scripture as an intrinsic character quality of godliness.
2cor. 10. 1
Now I, Paul, appeal to you personally by the meekness and gentleness of Chris
Mat 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye harmless as doves.
. wise as serpents
Gen 1:26 And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness:
THE TRINITY IS RESPONSIBLE TO THEIR GOOD WORKS. AS WE ARE CALLED TO BE CHANGED INTO CHILDREN OF THE LIGHT, RESPONSIBLE TO HIS GOOD WORKS ALSO.
.
FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE INITIATED
1:31 God saw all that he had made—and it was very good! There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.
“Who told you that you were naked?
Faith Defined
The Trinity has an eternal plan initiated by the “Father”, which is accomplished by each of them in fellowship(love), in their own respects(HOPE), in regard to their agreed participation in the plan(FAITHFULNESS). Which while being accomplished would define themselves and exhibit the loving faithfulness required on their part. Which exercise’s their loving kindness (love for that which is good ‘the Creation’), to which they are responsible. Consequently, the recipients of the unmerited favor of fellowship (in the “Spirit”). Which has been revealed, are obligated by and must correspondingly reciprocate in like Godly loving faithfulness, to facilitate the dynamic process of the eternal plan of a godly fellowship of loving fidelity through his Son’s Spirit bringing us into the family, restoration.
1 Cor3
. 19 For the wisdom of this age is foolishness with God. As it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness.” 20 And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”
Gen.3
3 Now the serpent was more shrewd than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made.
1 Cor. 3
16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17 If someone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, which is what you are.
Gen. 3
14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all the wild beasts
and all the living creatures of the field!
On your belly you will crawl
and dust you will eat all the days of your life.
15 And I will put hostility between you and the woman
and between your offspring and her offspring;
her offspring will attack your head,
and you will attack her offspring’s heel
1 John 2 Children of God
28 And now, little children, remain in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from him in shame when he comes back. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered by him.
Gen,1
26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.”
27 God created humankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them,
male and female he created them.
Gen 2
8 The Lord God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.)
Well now this pretty much sets the beginning, and Adam and Eve get to be put in the garden, and God and God tells him to enjoy everything to take care of it just one thing don’t eat from the tree of knowledge in the middle of the garden.
While they get to eat of the tree of life so God must’ve meant everything to go on and on and on.
God’s intention.
I’ll just leave that alone for right now. It just seems to me quite obvious.
And he said if you eat of the tree of knowledge on that day you’re gonna die.
And that’s just what he said.
Then you have the serpent he’s pretty hip slick and cool.
So he decides to kind of use his influence to deceive Eve even while Adam was standing there.
So he deceived the and you know the rest of the story.
And they get thrown out of the garden.
Remove from the presence of God’s rest.
God’s paradise.
Now let’s look at some of the things that transpired because they wanted to image their father. At least that’s the way the serpent put it.
How do you spell innocent here?
God told them in a way that they could understand not to do the very thing that they did.
The serpent just set up a scenario that was going to take a few thousand years for God to deal with righteously lovingly and kindly.
For trying to destroy the temple that God created which was the creation and so this plays out.
22 And the Lord God said, “Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not be allowed to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
Now the interesting part of this is that because we ate of the tree of knowledge humanity. And we know the difference between good and evil humanity.
Were the ones that are culpable, of course our innate desire is to image our Creator and to get back where we belong.
Since God is no respecter of persons anyone that’s born in the world and misses the mark of righteousness set before them, does evil, gets there just dessert.
You send you die.
Whoa what you mean die rich.
You’re separated from God.
We physically die because we don’t have access to the tree of life anymore.
So that’s a stopping point right now.
And will see how God continues this without compromising any of his intrinsic characteristics which are all good and loving and kind and one more Scripture.
EX.
34:5 And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there; and he made proclamation of the Lord by name. 34:6 And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed: “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness, 34:7 keeping loyal love for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”
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does this question I ask of THE of truth?
Now the question is how did Jesus the Messiah miss the mark of the law’s righteousness.
We are all taught he is without sin perfect in every way.
To explain this through Scripture is to understand Perfect Salvation.
to be able explain this through Scripture is to understand the Cross the hinge point.
To say it’s some silly matter of atonement THEORY is to demean the cross, God’s gospel and the Holy Spirit.
This IS The dynamic driving force of the new covenant. To understand this is to understand Paul.
Before Christ is raised through the power of God by the Holy Spirit.
There is no redemption.
there is no reconciliation.
Jesus the Messiah was the first.
So that when he is sent to Hades he is separated from God. Because of missing the mark of righteousness as stated by the law.
Acts 2
31 David by foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his body experience decay. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and we are all witnesses of it.
Is Christ Righteous under law?
If so?
How is God Righteous to CURSE his son?
Gal 4
4 But when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights.
Cursed is everyone who does not keep on doing everything written in the book of the law.”
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us
(because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”)
Gal 3
some more after rons new one
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Read it, and the great conversations in the comments !
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