Christianity vs. Religion And The Three-Phase Plan Of God
Christianity is a relationship between God and man based on the work of Christ on the cross. God offers all and humans receive the gift. God is free to do all He does for us because of the intersession of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Religion, in all its forms, is man’s attempt to gain salvation or approval of God through works. Man offers something and God rejects it. Religion is Satan’s attempt to convince people that man can do something for salvation. In other words, Christianity is God reaching out to mankind; Religion is mankind trying to reach out to God.
The Three-Phase Plan of God:
1) Salvation: Salvation is given by God’s grace to all who will accept the gift through faith alone in Christ alone. Two words derived from the Koine Greek word group “pistuo” are “ pistis” and “pistuo”.
Pistuo: word group
Very important in debunking the idea that one is not eternally secure in salvation through faith alone in Christ alone.
Faith: Pistus (noun)
Believe (verb): Pistuo (as in John 3:16)
The definitions of these words indicate that you have absolute trust in the source of these promises and that the promises are accurate and true and worthy of absolute confidence.
Grace = Gift. God is free to give all believers in Jesus Christ the gift of salvation and eternal security because of the work of Christ on the cross. (John 3:16; John 10:27-28; John 20:31; Eph. 2:8; among many others.)
Acts 16:25 is a wonderful example of what has been discussed so far.
We find the Apostle Paul and Silas in jail in Macedonia. An earthquake hits, springing open the jail doors and setting free all the prisoners, but Paul and Silas remain. The jailer, who was told that he would be killed if they escaped, was so upset at the thought of Paul and Silas escaping that me moved to commit suicide, but was stopped by Paul, who assured the jailer that he and Silas had not escaped. The jailer, trembling with fear, brought the two men out from the jail and asked, “What must I do to be saved?”
It is Paul’s responsibility as an Apostle and an evangelist to tell the jailer exactly what he needs to do. Paul answers: “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, and your entire household.”
2) The believer in time: Once you are saved, what next? The believer must study doctrine and apply it. (2 Pet. 3:18; 2 Tim. 2:15; Acts 17:11)
3) The believer in eternity: (Eph. 2:Death means soul and spirit goes immediately to Heaven. (2 Cor. 5:7-8) Death is a benefit, a promotion for the believer. That is why the believer is commanded in scripture to have no fear of death.
4) Faith must have an able object. Gandhi, Mohammed, Buddha, and others like them were human, and not legitimate targets of faith. Jesus Christ, who was both human and divine, as the only Son of God, is. (1 Cor. 3:11).
Conscience And The Problem Solving Devices:
Development of the Believer’s Conscience
Conscience is that part of the stream of conscience that enables a person to distinguish between right and wrong. The conscience is designed to motivate the person to do what he recognizes to be right and refrain from doing that which he recognizes to be wrong. However, the believer’s conscience can direct him to do the right thing or misdirect him to do the wrong thing. The standard that determines whether a believer’s conscience directs him to do right or misdirects him to do wrong is Bible doctrine. Thus, the conscience is the believer’s internal governor that is designed to monitor moral or spiritual uprightness in one’s motives, intentions, and desires.
As the conscience is developed through spiritual growth, flaws in one’s thinking are exposed and at that point can be corrected by positive volition to the biblical standard. Upon entering the Christian life as a new believer, a person’s motives for thought, decision, and action are driven primarily by a love for self and not for God. Learning about God from the Word of God is the only way to alter and ultimately change those motives.
After salvation, the new believer’s intentions behind his thoughts, decisions, and actions are focused on his own agenda and not God’s agenda. Learning about God’s agenda from the Word of God is the only way to alter and ultimately change those intentions. After salvation, the new believer’s desires related to his thought, decision, and action, are influenced primarily by the lust patters of his sinful nature rather than the desires of God. Learning about God’s desires from the Word of God is the only way to alter and ultimately change those desires. Therefore, for the new and immature believer, motives are driven by self-centeredness, intentions are focused on one’s own agenda, and desires are influenced by the lust patterns.
For the advancing and mature believer, motives are driven by reciprocal love for God, intentions are focused on God’s agenda, and desires are influenced by Bible doctrine. Therefore, for the positive believer, his conscience becomes the storage center for biblical norms and standards, right priorities, and a scale of values based on divine viewpoint.
To sharpen our understanding of these terms we need to define them from English dictionaries.
1) Norms and standards:
Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, s.v. “norm”:
An authoritative standard; a model. A principle of right action binding upon the members of a group and serving to guide, control, or regulate proper and acceptable behavior.
Ibid. s.v. “standard”:
Something established by authority, custom, or general consent as a model or example; a criterion. Applies to any definite rule, principle, or measure established by authority.
2) Priorities:
Ibid. s.v. “priority”:
Superiority in rank, position, or privilege.
3) Scale of values:
Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary, 2d ed., s.v. “scale”:
A system of grouping or classifying in a series of steps or degrees according to a standard.
Ibid. s.v. “value”:
To appraise; to place a certain estimate of worth on in a scale of values; as I value health above wealth.
Let’s take these definitions and relate them to the renovation of the believer’s soul, from the human viewpoint he brings into the Christian life to the development of divine viewpoint in the soul. First, “norms and standards.” The new believer must recognize that the “authoritative standard or model” for behavior is contained in the Bible. It imposes God’s “principles of right action” upon the believer. Its instruction is intended to “guide, control, and regulate acceptable behavior” through the development of wheel-tracks of righteousness. Further, these “standards” are established by God and deal with “rules, principles, and measures” that originate from God’s perfect righteousness. Consequently, when we develop within our conscience divine norms and standards then we have an internal governor that “guides, controls, and regulates” our thoughts, decisions, and actions according to the will of God.
Secondly, “priorities.” In order to acquire within our souls the norms and standards established by God, we must willingly place Bible study as our top priority in life. Remember, ALL thought, decision, and action that is based on the divine viewpoint of Biblical truth resident in your soul results in blessings from God.
Righteousness demands righteousness. When you acquire righteous norms and standards in your conscience and use them in your thinking then righteousness demands that justice bless you. The more divine truth that you think, the more you will be blessed. Thus, the greatest protection for you, your family, your loved ones, and your nation is your continued accumulation of divine norms and standards in your stream of consciousness. Again, this requires that Bible study remains the top priority in your life.
Finally, “scale of values.” Divine norms and standards enable you to effectively and objectively enter into self-appraisal. If you value the divine norms and standards then they become the scale by which you can analyze your own thinking, decision-making, and behavior.
The establishment of divine norms and standards and the development of a biblical scale of values are dependent upon placing top priority on the Bible as your ultimate and only resource for acquiring divine viewpoint in your soul. When a Christian believes that the Bible is literally the Word of God then He can place his confidence in what the Word of God says. When the Christian comes to believe that what the Word of God says is more real than the reality he faces, then he has courage toward life and circumstances.
Confidence and courage are not only built on knowledge of doctrine but also a conscience that assures the believer that he is making the right decision from a position of strength. When a believer sees the power of the Word of God at work then three things are increased in his spiritual life:
1) His confidence in the Word of God is increased as he learns that doctrine works.
2) His courage toward life and circumstances is increased as he experiences first-hand its power.
3) His reciprocal love motivation is increased as he comes to know personally about God’s undiminished love for him.
As a result his conscience is strengthened as he comes to realize that he did the right thing in a right way.
As the believer grows in grace his norms and standards change as he develops a new scale of values. At every stage of spiritual growth the believer must be left free to regulate his own life on the basis of his own conscience.
Carnality and False Teaching
When the believer sins he moves into status-quo carnality and becomes susceptible to the influence of the world (human viewpoint), the flesh (the sinful nature), and the devil (doctrines of demons).
1 Timothy 1:19 - Keeping doctrine and a good conscience which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck regarding their faith. Among these are Hymanaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered over to Satan, so they may be taught not to blaspheme.
1 Timothy 4:1 - But the Holy Spirit explicitly states that in latter periods of time [ the dispensations of the Incarnation, the Church, and Tribulation ], some believers will become apostate from doctrine, paying attention to deceitful spirits and concentrating on doctrines from demons
v 2 - by means of hypocrisy of liars, seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.
Titus 1:15 - To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but their mind and conscience are defiled.
The Satanic Academy of Cosmic Didactics has a faculty of false teachers and a curriculum of false doctrine. The student body is made up of both unbelievers and believers who extend their stay in carnality. Faculty members of the Cosmic Academy have consciences that are seared with a branding iron and their teaching causes the conscience of the believer to become defiled. The cosmic professors are said to speak lies in hypocrisy. In other words, they know they are lying. This is the plague that infects the souls of believers in the United States today. Most of the Cosmic Academy’s professors justify their actions on the weak premise that the end justifies the means.
Believers who remain in status quo carnality will eventually believe the lies and their consciences will become defiled. In Titus 1:15 the word for “defiled” is:
/ miaino / - to pollute, contaminate, or defile; refers to moral defilement.
Moral defilement refers to the breakdown of the biblically established norms and standards and scale of values developed in the soul of the believer. That defilement can actually take one of two courses: (1) moral degeneracy or (2) immoral degeneracy.
Moral degeneracy is related to the sin nature’s trend toward self-righteous arrogance, which expresses itself through legalism. Immoral degeneracy is related to the sin nature’s trend toward lasciviousness and lawlessness, which express themselves through antinomianism.
No matter which course the degeneracy of one’s conscience takes, it results in the loss of integrity characterized by the descent from a higher to a lower level of thinking.
The Conscience and Prayer
Intercessory prayer—the act of praying for others—should be motivated by one’s reciprocal love for God and by a conscience that has norms and standards based on biblical mandates. The Bible is clear that we are to pray for others but not just those we like or for believers only. Here are some examples.
1 Timothy 2:1 - First of all, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,
v 2 - for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
Compare this with Paul’s comment in:
2 Timothy 1:3 - I thank my God whom I serve with a clear conscience, the way my ancestors did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers, day and night.
The Lord brings even our enemies into the picture when he instructs us in:
Luke 6:27 - “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
v 28 - bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
The Lord practiced what he preached from the cross when he said in:
Luke 23:34 - “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
Stephen executed this very same prayer as he was being stoned in:
Acts 7:60 - Falling to his knees, Stephen cried out with a loud voice, “Lord do not hold this sin against them!” And having said this, he fell asleep.
These passages of Scripture command us to pray for all men, even our enemies and those who persecute us. Since prayer for all is the divine standard then integrity demands that it become a part of the believer’s norms and standards and his scale of values. So the issue in intercessory prayer is not whether you like the person, consider him worthy, or is even a believer. The reason you pray for people is because conscience requires it.
The unbeliever with establishment integrity keeps the laws of divine establishment, e.g., he obeys the law. But his motivation at its base is from fear of punishment. The believer with Christian integrity keeps the mandates of Scripture as well as the laws of divine establishment. His motivation is his conscience which is his internal advisor on right and wrong function. He does it because it’s the right thing to do. Thus, when the believer prays for others, even his enemy, it is an expression of reciprocal love motivation for God.
Conscience and the Problem-Solving Devices
1. Rebound
Efficiency in the execution of the problem-solving devices is dependent upon the believer having a clear conscience. For example, if its norms and standards are still susceptible to guilt then the conscience is weak and the problem-solving devices cannot be deployed.
Quite often unbelievers are raised in a religious environment that requires works for salvation and imposes guilt and penance as the means of spirituality. This results in moral degeneracy. The person is oriented to energy of the flesh as the way of salvation and human good as the means by which the favor of God is won. This amounts to a subtle way of manipulating God which is blasphemous. The conscience is thus weakened by these non-biblical, erroneous, and even heretical notions causing the person to become falsely confident of salvation and self-righteous about his dead works. Consequently, religious types who, following salvation, enter into a grace ministry bring with them this legalistic background and consequently, a weak conscience. Because they have been trained from youth that recovery from sin requires guilt, penance, and some form of good works, they have an extremely difficult time orienting to the grace recovery procedure of rebound and keep moving.
Guilt is a part of the emotional complex of sins. It causes the believer to condemn himself for actual or imaged offenses. It eventually causes the person to have a sense of inadequacy and sooner or later leads to arrogant pre-occupation with the correctness of his behavior. This results in self-righteous arrogance.
There are three sources of manipulation in the life of any believer who is under the emotional complex of sins:
1) The manipulation of self through guilt. Usually involves self-justification and self-deception.
2) Because of guilt he is manipulated by others.
3) Self-denial projects his own guilt outwardly so that he manipulates others. This is usually the motivation for the legalistic believer to become involved in crusader arrogance.
Guilt produces the human-good problem-solving device of restitution. This word is defined by:
Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “restitution”:
Making reparation to one for loss or injury previously inflicted. The action of restoring a person to a previous status or position. The fact of being reinstated.
Thus restitution is a mental gymnastic that relieves the soul of the guilt through reparation, i.e., acts of restitution.
Guilt can also result in fear, worry, anxiety, and stress due to dread—an extreme level of internal stress in apprehension of impending disaster, i.e., divine discipline. Guilt becomes a sin when the believer rebounds but fails to isolate his sins.
Once you confess a sin, you put your problem in the hands of the Lord; you have no right to take it back. Since God has blotted out your sin, what right do you have even to look back, to cry or to feel guilty about that sin? It doesn’t belong to you any more! If you take the sin back and fret over it, you will create self-induced misery. If you want to live like this, it is your business; but to worry about your past sins or to have a guilt complex is to perpetuate carnality by mental attitude sins.
Philippians 3:13 - Brethren, I do not evaluate myself to have laid hold of it yet [ the strategic objective of the spiritual life—/ pleroma / status ], but one thing I concentrate on: Forgetting those things which are behind [ confessed sins for past failures and resultant discipline ] and reaching out toward those things which are ahead [ escrow blessings in time and eternity for the mature believer ],
v 14 - I keep driving [ the double-column advance ] for the objective [ spiritual maturity ] in pursuit of the decoration [ escrow blessings in time and eternity ] of the upward call [ the saving ministry of the Holy Spirit ] of God which is in Christ Jesus [ union in Christ ].
Therefore, feeling guilty about a sin is a sin of arrogance. Once sin is confessed, you must forget as God has forgotten. Otherwise you become subjective about our sins and you lose the perspective of our purpose on earth: to glorify God to the maximum by becoming an invisible hero.
Conclusion: a conscience that is corrupted by guilt destroys a believer’s ability to maintain status-quo spirituality through rebound and thus disables his ability to deploy and apply the other nine problem-solving devices.
2. Filling of the Holy Spirit
The filling of the Holy Spirit is the on/off switch of the Christian way of life.
The conscience must fully understand that the filling of the Spirit is accomplished by confession alone to God alone and has nothing to do with paying penance, doing good deeds, performing rituals, repeating mantras, genuflecting, hand jive, or even owning a Yard Mary. The conscience must also fully understand that the filling of the Holy Spirit is maintained by avoidance of sin, not morality, being a good citizen, or performing human good. The conscience must accept the fact that the spiritual life is empowered by the Holy Spirit, that it is an option, and, once acquired, can be maintained for prolonged periods of time when it becomes a spiritual skill.
A conscience that has been defiled by the idea that human works are necessary to acquire and maintain spirituality is weak and causes the believer to be weak. Deluded into a system that elevates energy of the flesh up to the same level as the power of the Holy Spirit, the believer blindly follows a false agenda. Further, he has been neutralized in the angelic conflict and has unwittingly becomes an emissary of Satan.
A strong conscience has confidence that, following rebound, his postsalvation sins are forgiven, enabling the believer to keep moving in his spiritual life without dwelling on past failures. Moving forward with one’s spiritual life includes the utilization of the next problem-solving device.
3. The Faith-Rest Drill
This problem-solving device starts with the believer’s willingness to claim promises which enter him into a place of rest. That place of rest is the tranquility of soul that occurs when by faith the believer puts his trust in the One he can’t see. He does this by trusting in the promises of God’s Word. But what if the conscience is not clear because of a failure to understand grace or perhaps degraded by guilt? The result is an inability through guilt or false doctrine to achieve the tranquility of soul that is available through the promises of the Bible. Here are twelve to consider:
Matthew 11:28 - “Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”
Psalm 18:30 - As for God, His way is blameless; the Word of the Lord is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.
Luke 1:37 - With God nothing shall be impossible.
Hebrews 11:1 - Faith is the confidence of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
1 Corinthians 2:9 - Eye has not seen nor has ear heard, neither has there entered into the minds of men the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.
Philippians 4:6 - Stop worrying about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication after thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God,
v 7 - and the peace of God that passes all understanding shall garrison your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 10:13 - There has no testing taken you but such as is common to man; God is faithful, Who will not allow you to be tested beyond what you are able, but with the testing will provide a way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Isaiah 40:31 - Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings as eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will march and not grow weary.
Isaiah 41:10 - Do not fear for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
Philippians 4:11 - Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.
v 12 - I know how to get along with humble means and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering and having need.
v 13 - I can do all things through Christ Jesus Who strengthens me.
Psalm 56:4 - In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?
Hebrews 4:16 - Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
The stability of soul that results from claiming promises enables the believer to concentrate on the doctrines he knows.
A weak conscience can’t claim promises because the believer doesn’t believe he is worthy of God’s grace, or thinks his sins are too big for God’s grace, or that these promises are effective only in the spiritual life but not for the physical life. But the divine decrees have incorporated into God’s perfect plan all your needs and requirements for both life and godliness. You will be logistically sustained until God Himself calls your soul and spirit home to be with Him.
With a strong conscience the believer is able to rest on the promises, concentrate on the doctrines, and reach doctrinal conclusions. These doctrinal conclusions allow God to resolve the problem as the believer prepares his soul to orient and adjust to whatever decision the perfect plan of God holds for his life. The next two problem-solving devices enhance proper orientation and adjustment.
4. Grace Orientation
The conscience that is founded on biblical norms and standards is equipped to deal with many of the injustices that are typical in life. Rather than becoming angry and bitter and striking out through violence, revenge, and crusader arrogance, the believer with a strong conscience is able to turn victim status into a means of evangelism.
1 Peter 2:18 - Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable.
v 19 - For this finds favor if, for the sake of conscience toward God, a man bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.
v 20 - For what credit [ with God ] is there to you if [ and let us assume it is true for the sake of argument ] when you sin and receive punishment for your wrongdoing and you endure it. What credit is there for enduring just punishment [ divine discipline ]? None. [ If you do what is right and suffer, this finds favor with God. This is undeserved suffering and is a blessing from God. Such suffering glorifies God. Misery from divine discipline is self-induced and does not glorify God ].
v 21 - But if when you do what is right and you suffer for it and you endure [ Royal Law ], this is grace associated with God [ for you have been called for this purpose since Christ also suffered for you ].
This passage was originally directed toward those who were in a condition of slavery and, of course, still does. However, its application is to be utilized by any who are subordinates in any system of authority.
Every system of authority can be abused and is. Consequently, when the believer finds himself the victim of unfair and unjust authority he must rely on his conscience to manage the circumstances involved. The conscience is instructed in 1 Peter 2:18-20 to develop the norm and standard of endurance with patience under pressure.
Verse 18 begins the passage with a mandate: the servant is to submit with respect to his master, both the “good and gentle” as well as the “unreasonable.”
Colossians 3:22 - Slaves, in all things obey whose who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
v 23 - Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men;
Colossians 3:24 - knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
v 25 - For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.
A conscience that is grace oriented to the Royal Law is prepared to bear up under the most intense of pressures that come from unfair treatment. The man with the weak conscience complains, foments rebellion in others, and becomes a loser without portfolio. The believer who is grace oriented has the poise under pressure to submit and to do so without wrong motivation.
Military training provides ample opportunity for a young man to confront unfair and unjust treatment on a daily basis. Young men, not young women. There is no place for women in the profession of combat arms. A woman is a detriment to any unit in which she functions and poses a threat to the security of the nation she endeavors to serve.
Numbers 1:2 - Take a census of all the congregation of the sons of Israel … every male, head by head
v 3 - from twenty years old and upward, whoever is able to go out to war in Israel. You [ Moses ] and Aaron shall muster them by their armies.
Nahum 3:13 - [ Why Ninevah was destroyed by the Babalonians in c. 612 B.C. ] Behold, your people are women in your midst! The gates of your land are open wide to your enemies.
Jeremiah 51:30 - [ The Lord’s analysis of Babylon’s army when under siege from the Meads & Persians in 539 B.C. ] The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting, they stay in the strongholds; their strength is exhausted, they are becoming like women.
These verses gives women who are in or are considering becoming a part of combat arms the opportunity to orient and adjust to biblical and pastoral authority with both poise and grace. No extra charge!
Training in combat arms under the most intense of unfair and unjust treatment is absolutely necessary if young men are going to be prepared to properly function under the abnormal conditions of warfare. Any intrusion into that preparation that in any way causes that training to be diminished, altered, or scaled down is a treat to their lives and the national security and should never be permitted by any government truly interested in the safety of its citizens.
No matter what system in which you find yourself, it is critical to have a conscience based on Bible doctrine so that you can handle unjust treatment in the same gracious manner that you handle fair treatment. A principle emerges: Only the Royal Law and the Supreme Court of Heaven are designed to resolve insults, offenses, or disputes. No honor and no spiritual power resides in retaliation. The only real power resides in virtue love and submission to the system.
The various attributes of virtue love are developed through spiritual growth, or the left column. This is the next problem-solving device and it contributes heavily to the norms and standards of the conscience.
5. Doctrinal Orientation
In Isaiah we learn what God thinks about human viewpoint:
Isaiah 55:8 - “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
v 9 - “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
v 10 - “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
v 11 - so shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty without accomplishing what I desire and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
In this passage the Lord instructs us that our norms and standards and our scale of values are not even close to being the same as His. His standards find their source in absolute truth and they cut wheel-tracks of righteousness that are different from ours. But just as the atmosphere of the first heaven provides water for the earth resulting in physical nourishment for the eater, so also does the third heaven provide the water of the Word for the spiritual nourishment of the one who metabolizes its message. The latter accomplishes the desire of God when the water of the Word falls on good soil and the seeds of truth germinate within the conscience of the believer.
It is through the left column advance that new norms and standards are developed and one’s scale of values is overhauled. It is from this renewed and refurbished conscience that our thoughts become God’s thoughts and our ways become God’s ways giving us doctrinal orientation to the issues we confront. With a conscience built on the absolute standards of God’s word we are able to accurately distinguish between right and wrong and act accordingly. This result is noted in:
2 Corinthians 4:2 - But we have renounced the things hidden because of shame [ norms and standards built on human viewpoint, influence from the sinful nature, and the doctrines of demons ], not walking in craftiness or watering down the Word of God, but by the unveiling of doctrine [ metabolization of Bible doctrine in the left column advance ], commending ourselves to every person’s conscience in the sight of God [ ambassadorship function ].
Renunciation of things hidden refers to a conscience that previously functioned on guilt or arrogance. Both enable a person to justify wrongdoing.
A guilty conscience justifies wrongdoing in the form of moral degeneracy such as performing certain acts that are viewed personally as a means of “making it up to God.” A guilty conscience also justifies wrongdoing in the form of immoral degeneracy such as performing certain acts that are calculated to conceal one’s guilt from others, e.g., lying, duplicity, deceit, framing innocent people, defamation of the character of others, and even murder. A conscience driven by arrogance functions under the three arrogant skills of self-justification, self-denial, and self-absorption. These are examples of shameful acts that a believer had previously hidden in his conscience but has now renounced because of doctrinal orientation to correct thinking from Bible doctrine.
The more doctrine a person learns then the more biblical standards he accumulates in his norms and standards and scale of values. As the conscience grows in its doctrinal orientation the behavior patters, character traits, and lifestyle of the individual changes accordingly for the better. There is a clear understanding of what is right and what is wrong. There is a clarity of thought about one’s responsibility as a person and to orient and adjust to those standards.
A strong conscience leads to spiritual self-esteem, which is where one’s confidence in the Word of God establishes a personal sense of destiny and enters him into the adult spiritual life. This is the point at which the two columns merge at the base of the high ground. The right column has all the while been developing a motivation for the advance through a reciprocal love for God. This reciprocal love provides the courage for the advance as one’s love for God causes an intense desire to serve God without fear of any consequences associated with decisions he makes from a clear conscience.
1 Timothy 3:9 - With a pure conscience, keep holding the mystery, even doctrine.
It is the mystery doctrines of the Church Age that reveal to us the thinking of Christ with regard to the spiritual life of this dispensation. The mandate to “keep holding the mystery” identifies the most vital function of the royal family: to continually learn, retain, and apply the doctrines of the Church.
When consistency occurs in this area then the believer has entered into the sophisticated spiritual life and with his “clear conscience” has become skillful in the use of the tandem problem-solving devices.
A Personal Sense of Destiny
Definition:
The word “sense” means “conscious awareness.” And in this problem-solving device the thing about which one becomes consciously aware is his personal destiny. The word “destiny” has several aspects that relate to the problem-solving device:
a. It refers to a predetermined course of events.
b. It refers to the power that determines the course of events.
c. It refers to the agency that determines the course of events.
The predetermined course of events is the Church Age and the two aspects of divine grace that serve as a motivation for the believer:
a. Antecedent grace: emphasizes the fact that God's grace precedes human life on earth, therefore, all human thoughts, decisions, and actions are preceded by the grace of God. Principle: God’s undiminished love for us goes back to eternity past and is manifest in human history by means of the divine decrees.
b. Eschatological grace: relates to our future and includes dying grace, resurrection grace, and eternal grace.
There are two agencies that determine the course of events in the Church Age: (1) the sovereignty of God and (2) the free will of man. The power sources that determine the course of events are (1) the omnipotence of God and (2) the delegated omniscience of the Holy Spirit in the function of the three spiritual skills. As a result a personal sense of destiny must recognize the omnipotence of God and the will of God in the life of a believer.
Omnipotence and a Personal Sense of Destiny:
Principle: God can do all He wills to do, but He may not will to do all He can.
God does not do anything contrary to His divine essence, therefore, God cannot deny Himself. Since God has decreed that the believer will have an eternal future and a resurrection body and has the omnipotence to bring them about, then God cannot deny these things to the believer.
God does not choose to do everything immediately from His own omniscience. He has delegated His power to intermediate agents such as the Church Age believer. Although the divine decrees make certain all that is knowable it must be remembered that in human history the sovereignty of God and the free will of man must coexist by divine decree.
Some things God has decreed to occur unconditionally, such as the rapture, the Tribulation, the Second Advent, and the Millennium. But others are decreed conditionally, based upon human free will. For example, man chooses from his own volition to comply with divine mandates and as a result the justice of God will bless that believer. God decreed the blessing in eternity past but the historical fulfillment was conditional upon the free will decision executed by the believer.
On the other hand, man chooses from his own volition not to comply with divine mandates and as a result the justice of God must punish that believer. God decreed the punishment in eternity past but the historical fulfillment was conditional upon the free will decision executed by the believer.
In these illustrations we see the directive and permissive wills of God. Thus the issue in the spiritual life of the Church Age is free will, which makes the believer personally responsible for his own decisions.
A personal sense of destiny includes a dependence upon the grace provision of divine power rather than dependence upon human power. The grace provision of divine power through the mentorship of the Holy Spirit becomes a personal sense of destiny when the double-column advance merges at / pleroma /: “all the fullness of God,” mentioned in:
Ephesians 3:19 - to get to know the love of Christ [ this is His undiminished love for us from eternity past ] which goes beyond knowledge [/ gnosis /: academic understanding ] so that you may be filled [ mentorship of the Holy Spirit ] resulting in the fullness of blessing [/ pleroma /: spiritual maturity ] from the source of God.
The demonstration of the veracity of this system is found in the Incarnation when the humanity of Christ relied exclusively upon this double-column advance under the enabling power the Holy Spirit. With this very same power, the Church Age believer can either advance in the plan of God or become a loser. When he chooses the advance he lives a life beyond / gnosis / as is mentioned in Ephesians 3:19. When the believer uses delegated power to make the advance then / epignosis / doctrine from the left column and reciprocal love motivation from the right column, merge into a personal sense of destiny. We can see all of these concepts either stated or implied in:
Ephesians 3:19 - to get to know the love of Christ [ knowledge of divine love that results in reciprocal love motivation: the right column ] which goes beyond knowledge [/ gnosis /: metabolized doctrine in the left column ] so that you may be filled [ delegated omnipotence of the Holy Spirit ] resulting in the fullness of blessing [/ pleroma /: spiritual maturity ] from the source of God.
A personal sense of destiny is the point where the two columns merge into the adult spiritual life. Here the believer lives his life with a view toward eternity rather than the exigencies of the devil’s world. With both doctrine and reciprocity merged into one, the believer has a clear picture of God’s plan for his life and with delegated omnipotence he begins to utilize with great efficiency the adult problem-solving devices: (1) PSD #7, personal love for God, (2) PSD #8, unconditional love for mankind, (3) PSD #9, sharing the happiness of God, and (4) PSD #10, occupation with Christ.
Our personal sense of destiny enables us to use the power of the Holy Spirit to develop the confidence and courage necessary to take the high ground. This confidence begins to mature at spiritual self-esteem, it becomes independent with spiritual autonomy, and achieves invincibility with spiritual maturity. Realizing the availability of this power and using it in your thinking is a major part of fulfilling your personal sense of destiny.
Are You Better than a Bird?
Birds do not have a personal relationship with God nor do they have a means of having fellowship with God. In fact, it should be emphasized that birds do not have souls, they do not have a conscience, and, therefore, they are not held morally responsible for their actions. Nevertheless, they all have a destiny as is confirmed by our Lord in:
Matthew 6:26 - “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they?”
Matthew 6:27 - “And which of you by being anxious can add eighteen inches to his height?”
Matthew 10:29 - “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
v 30 - “As a matter of fact the very hairs of your head are numbered.
v 31 - “Therefore, stop being afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
The conscience that regards fear does not understand his destiny. In order to help the fearful believer orient to grace and doctrine, the Lord teaches the destiny of birds. His conclusion may be compared to an a fortiori conclusion. This is a Latin prepositional phrase which means “with stronger reason,” a system of logic in which a greater is compared with a lesser and by comparison an inference is formed.
A fortiori was used as a system of debate in which one would take an accepted fact as a premise and by comparison produce an inescapable fact. The accepted fact is that God feeds birds and not one of them dies until God gives His approval. The inescapable fact that follows is that God will do the same for us especially since we are of greater importance and of greater value to Him than are sparrows. Consequently, a person with a personal sense of destiny is able to eliminate fear from his soul. He has a personal relationship with God, he has the power to execute the plan of God, and in so doing he is under divine protective care.
Without a personal sense of destiny based on antecedent and eschatological grace, the believer can never be completely free from fear.
The more things you surrender to fear, the more things you fear. The extent to which you surrender to fear, the greater your capacity for fear. The greater your capacity for fear, the more you increase the power of fear in our life. The more you increase the power of fear in your life, the greater you failure to utilize the spiritual skills. Therefore, fear eliminates the spiritual skills and produces a loser believer.
This is how a believer sows the wind and reaps the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7a).
We are better than birds. If you can’t use the a fortiori comparison of our Lord to rest in the care of divine grace then you have no spiritual self-esteem and as a result you have no personal sense of destiny.
Psalm 36:7 - How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God [ the undiminished love of God ]! And the children of men take refuge [/ chasa /: figurative, to place one’s confident trust in God ] in the shadow of Your wings [/ sel kanaph /: idiom for the divine protection provided by the undiminished love of God to his children who seek refuge in Him ].
This confident trust expressed by David indicates that he had the Old Testament equivalent of a personal sense of destiny and relied upon the integrity of God for protection from not only his enemies without but also his sinful nature from within. Our Lord further emphasizes the imagery of protection provided by the lovingkindness of God with another wing analogy in:
Matthew 23:37 - “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.”
This verse emphasizes the principle that in human history the sovereignty of God and the free will of man must coexist by divine decree. God’s love is undiminished but man’s volition remains free.
The Conscience and a Personal Sense of Destiny
A personal sense of destiny is the point where the believer moves from spiritual adolescence to spiritual adulthood. With that move comes an accompanying mental attitude that is based on a conscience that has gone through the renovation process required for executing the adult spiritual life. Several passages make mention of this renovation:
Ephesians 4:22 - That, in reference to your former manner of life [ the thinking of a loser ], you lay aside [ by means of rebound and the double-column advance ] your old self [ a thought process dictated by old sin nature ], which is being corrupted [ by a defiled conscience ] in accordance with the lusts of deceit [ the agent provocateurs ].
v 23 - and become renewed [ restoration of divine viewpoint ] through the agency of the Holy Spirit by means of your thinking [ doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness that results in a clear conscience ].
v 24 - And that you put on the new man [ the adult spiritual life beginning with a personal sense of destiny ], by the will of God which has been created by means of capacity righteousness [ achieved by the left column advance ] and holiness toward God from doctrine [ reciprocal love from the right column advance ].
A defiled conscience leads to involvement in the three arrogant skills:
1 Corinthians 10:12 - Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
Such a defiled conscience results in self-deception:
Galatians 6:3 - If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
A defiled conscience produces evil thoughts:
Proverbs 12:5 - The thoughts of the righteous are just but the counseling of the wicked are deceitful.
Isaiah 59:7 - Their feet rush into sin and they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil thoughts; ruin and destruction are their paths in life.
Jeremiah 6:19 - “Hear, O land: behold, I am going to bring disaster on this people, the production of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my doctrines, and as for My law, they have rejected it also.”
Summary
The objective of a personal sense of destiny is to execute the spiritual life of the Church Age resulting in maximum glorification of God. This is accomplished by becoming a winner believer who has maximum doctrine circulating in the seven compartments of the stream of consciousness. From that inventory of ideas the believer becomes an invisible hero who has historical impact in five invisible categories
1) Personal Impact: Blessing by association to anyone who is associated with the mature believer.
2) Historical Impact: The Client Nation is blessed by the Pivot of mature believers within its population.
3) International Impact: Involves the impact of the missionary who has double impact. Not only is he a blessing to his Client Nation but also to the nation in which he functions.
4) Angelic Impact: The mature believer becomes a witness for the Prosecution in the rebuttal phase of the appeal trial of Satan. When the believer attains a personal sense of destiny, God begins to permit certain suffering and testing so that believer can demonstrate reciprocal love for Him.
5) Heritage Impact: Those with whom the mature believer was associated in his life are blessed after his death.
A personal sense of destiny begins with the development of personal love for God. Reciprocal love for God in the right column eventually develops into personal love for God when that column merges with the left column at a personal sense of destiny. Personal love for God is reciprocal love but from the standpoint of a mature believer. This is amplified in:
Romans 8:28 - We know [ left column advance to a personal sense of destiny ] that to those who love God [ right column advance to a personal sense of destiny ], He [ God ] causes all things to work together for good [ all things do not work together for go for those who do not have reciprocal love for God ], to those who are called on the basis of a predetermined plan.
Principle: Having a destiny is positional sanctification. Having a personal sense of destiny is experiential sanctification.
Fulfilling one’s destiny demands metabolization of doctrine in the left column to the point that the conscience can function on a maximum inventory of ideas related to antecedent and eschatological grace. Fulfilling one’s destiny also demands reciprocal love for God in the right column to the point that the conscience can develop the norms and standards that can sustain personal love for God in the face of testing and suffering.
Personal Love for God
This problem-solving device works in tandem with the seventh which is unconditional love toward mankind. Personal love for God is the primary device while unconditional love for mankind is secondary to it. This means that the believer must develop personal love for God before he can legitimately direct unconditional love toward his fellow man. To be effective, both of these problem-solving devices must be dependent upon grace and doctrinal orientation.
Doctrinal orientation is developed in the left column’s advance where Bible study under the mentorship of the Holy Spirit enlarges the doctrinal inventory in the stream of conscience. From that doctrinal inventory, personal love is developed that results in a motivation based on reciprocal love for God.
The development of personal love for God motivates the desire to take in more doctrine. Ultimately, one’s personal love for God not only motivates intensified Bible study but also results in the application of unconditional love toward one’s fellow man. This sequence is documented in Scripture we have recently noted:
1) Spiritual growth in the left column is motivated by the development of personal love for God in the right column.
1 John 2:5 - Whoever continues to keep His Word, in him the love for God has truly been accomplished.
The phrase “the love for God,” appears in the Greek as / he agape tou Theou /. The word “love” (/ he agape /) is a noun of action with the objective genitive “for God” (/ tou Theou /). Thus, “the love for God” refers to the believer’s reciprocal love for God from motivation developed in the right column. If both columns move forward simultaneously then the conscience is consistently being transformed. This transformation changes one’s behavior toward others under the principle of unconditional love for one’s fellow man. The Lord Himself sets up the tandem principle in:
Mark 12:28 - One of the scribes … asked Jesus, “What commandment is the foremost of all?”
v 29 - Jesus answered, “The foremost is [ Deuteronomy 6:4 ], ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord [ Hebrew: [/ Shema, Yisrael! Adonai Elohenu, Adonai echad / ].’”
/ YHWH /, or Jehovah is the personal name of each member of the Trinity. It’s root meaning is “the self-existing One.” Being self-existing all other creatures owe their existence to Him. About 90 percent of the time it is used for Jesus Christ because He is the revealed member of the Godhead.
When the Jews encountered this name in the Scripture they were afraid to speak it considering it to be too sacred to say aloud. Therefore, they substituted the word for “Lord,” which is Adonai.
/ Elohenu / is a derivative of Elohim and is translated “God.” It is the name of God from the standpoint of divine essence and thus refers to two or three members of the Trinity. The Trinity is one in essence but three in personality. Essence is expressed by the plural Elohim and the individual personalities are referred to by the singular Jehovah or Adonai.
/ Echad / is a numerical used as an intensive pronoun and means “same” or “unique.” Here it emphasizes Jesus Christ as the unique God of Israel Who, in hypostatic union, would become their Messiah.
Jesus Christ quotes to the scribe the Jewish confession of faith referred to by them as The Shema. The true Jew is the one who believes in the concept of Messiah in hypostatic union: undiminished deity and true humanity in one Person. Salvation was received from God through faith alone in Messiah alone.
Christ quotes The Shema to the scribe in order to emphasize that he must first believe in Him—Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel—before he could hope to understand and apply the greatest commandment which the Lord states next in verse 30. Before going there we need to note the corrected translation of verse 29.
Mark 12:29 - Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! Jesus Christ is our God, Jesus Christ is unique;
Mark 12:30 - [ Deuteronomy 6:5 ] and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.
Our love for God has its source in doctrine, the stream of consciousness, and the mentorship of the Holy Spirit. Four aspects of the double column advance are noted in context:
1) “Heart” is / kardia / and refers to the seven compartments of the stream of consciousness where / epignosis / knowledge about God is stored.
2) “Soul” is / psuche / and refers to the essence of the human soul but with emphasis on volition, the decision maker with regard to metabolization of doctrine into the kardia and its application projected outwardly toward God as reciprocal love.
3) Mind is / dianoia / and here has the technical meaning of “the ability to perceive.” Its use in this verse is examined by:
Kittel, Gerhard (ed.). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Vol. 4. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), 966:
Dianoia. In the Synoptic Gospels, the main sense is “understanding,” “mind.” The fulfilling of the first commandment, namely, to love God (Mark 12:30 and parallel passage Deuteronomy 6:5) claims the whole man, his whole heart, his whole soul, his whole spiritual life, and his whole strength. The requirements of the new divine order affect the moral consciousness, the point in man’s being which determines his ethical attitude.
Dianoia thus indicates that the moment knowledge about the Person of God is metabolized it affects the conscience. The believer’s perception of the love of God causes his conscience to become motivated by a reciprocal love for God.
4) “Strength” is / ischus / and means “capacity,” “power,” “strength,” and “ability.”
This word is closely associated with the Greek word / dunamis / which also means “power.” The power in view prophetically is that of the filling ministry of the Holy Spirit and utilization of the Grace Apparatus for Perception. “All your strength” thus refers to the two power options and the three spiritual skills.
All four of these nouns are an ablative of source. Therefore, our passage reads this way in corrected translation:
Mark 12:29 - [CTL] Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! Jesus Christ is our God, Jesus Christ is unique;
v 30 - [ Deuteronomy 6:5 ] and you shall with reciprocity love the Lord your God from the source of all your stream of consciousness, and from the source of all your soul with emphasis on volitional response to revealed truth, and from the source of grace perception that positively affects the norms and standards in the conscience, and from the source of the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.’
v 31 - “The second is this, [ Leviticus 19:18 ] ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
This is the second of the tandem problem-solving devices. One must be motivated by a reciprocal love for God before he can effectively and honestly project unconditional love toward his fellow man. The greatest execution of unconditional love toward one’s fellow man is the Royal Law which our Lord quotes from Leviticus 19:18 and which we will note in our next paragraph.
The Apostle John also emphasizes the tandem concept in 1 John 4:7 through 5:3:
1 John 4:7 - Fellow believers, let us unconditionally love each other because love is from the source of God. Furthermore, everyone who loves unconditionally has been born from the source of God and has come to know God.
Only believers have the capacity to love others unconditionally and that love is the result of his knowledge about the love of God.
v 8 - When anyone does not love unconditionally, he has not come to know God [ failure in left column advance ] because God is perfect love.
v 9 - By this the love of God has been manifested in our case because God has sent His uniquely-born Son into the world in order that we might live [ both temporally and eternally ] by means of Him.
v 10 - By this, virtue love exists, not because we have loved God [ the love of God is impossible in spiritual death ] but because He loves us [ the perfect undiminished love of God from eternity past ] and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins.
v 11 - If God loves us and He does, we also have become obligated to love one another [ rationale for unconditional love and execution of the Royal Law ].
1 John 4:16 - And so we have come to know and we have believed [ left column advance by means of the Grace Apparatus for Perception ] the virtue love which God has for us [ directed toward his righteousness which we receive at the moment of salvation; Rom 3:22 ]. God is love, and the one who remains in that love [ through reciprocal love motivation ] remains with God, and God remains with him.
God has always loved us. This verse describes fellowship with God under the principle of harmonious rapport with God through the doctrine of reciprocal love motivation. True worship is thinking as God thinks.
Reciprocal love is directed toward God aggressively through enduring devotion and responsively through respect.
1 John 4:17 - Because of this [ reciprocal love ], virtue love [ personal love toward God the Father and unconditional love toward all mankind ] has been brought to completion [/ pleroma / ] that we may have confidence in the day of evaluation [ at the Judgment Seat of Christ ] because just as He is [ Jesus Christ using the prototype spiritual life in the Incarnation ] so also are we in this world [ executing the operational spiritual life of the Church Age ].
Each one of us will be evaluated at the Judgment Seat of Christ. We will be evaluated on one principle: the spiritual life of the Church Age demands responsible decisions based on a clear conscience developed from biblical norms and standards that motivate us through reciprocal love to execute the spiritual life. This means that Bible doctrine is number one in our scale of values.
As a result, God’s love is fulfilled in us when we love Him personally and our fellowman unconditionally.
1 John 4:18 - There is no fear in reciprocal love for God [ personal love for God resulting in unconditional love for all mankind ]. But mature love casts aside that fear, because fear keeps on having punishment [ volitional responsibility and divine discipline ], and the person who fears [ one in whom adversity has become stress ] has not been brought to completion [ a personal sense of destiny in which he has total confidence in God ] by means of reciprocal love.
God’s love is the point of reference for the spiritual life. Fear is a form of emotional sinning that places your soul under the control of the Old Sin Nature. Reciprocal love is harmonious rapport with God where the soul is under the control of the Holy Spirit.
Fear sees the problem. Faith sees the solution. Emotion never solves a problem. Faith accepts the fact that the problem has already been solved. Love does not produce fear but harmonious rapport with God. Fear is overcome by our reciprocal love for God in response to His undiminished love for us. His perfect love is our point of reference in the spiritual life. Thus the next verse takes up the principle of reciprocal love for God and what motivates it:
1 John 4:19 - We love [ reciprocally ] because He first loved us [ eternally ].
The King James Version inserts the masculine pronoun / auton /, “Him,” as the direct object of the verb “love” at the beginning of verse 19: “We love Him.” However, this pronoun does not appear in the more ancient Greek manuscripts and therefore its appearance in the King James Version indicates its insertion by a transcriber.
There are only three pronouns in this verse: “we,” “He,” and “us.” The first two are called “nominatives of personal emphasis.” This is a grammatical construction from the Classical Greek that sets up a dramatic contrast between the two subjects, each in the nominative case. The first of the nominatives of emphasis is the plural pronoun:
/ ego / - “We”
The second nominative of emphasis is the singular pronoun:
/ autos / - “He”
The first phrase, “We love,” has no direct object which places emphasis on the subject who is the Church Age believer that has reached a personal sense of destiny. The action produced by these believers is the present active indicative of the verb:
/ agapao / - “reciprocal love”
present: Gnomic; used to make a statement of a timeless fact; a state or condition that perpetually exists, therefore the action continues without any time limit.
Principle: The perpetually existing condition that is a timeless fact is the believer’s reciprocal love for God in response to the undiminished love of God. The undiminished love of God can only be revealed through Bible study. Therefore, “We love” indicates that these believers have made it to a personal sense of destiny by means of the double-column advance.
active: Church Age believers produce the action by means of reciprocity: paying back what they have received. God loved us with an undiminished love from eternity past and once we learn of this we develop a mental attitude of reciprocity. Reciprocal love is a response to divine love.
indicative: Declarative; historical status of the Church Age believer who enters into the door of hope or confidence which is a personal sense of destiny.
What causes our reciprocal love for God comes next, introduced by the causal conjunction:
/ hoti ] - “because”
Then comes the second nominative of personal emphasis. This time it is the singular pronoun:
/ autos / - “He”
This is followed by the nominative adjective:
/ protos / - “first”
This adjective is used for the first in a sequence and indicates that the action produced by God precedes the action produced by the Church Age believer. God loved us in eternity past before we loved Him in time. The pronoun refers to God and therefore He is the subject of the second verb of the sentence, this time it is the aorist active indicative of:
/ agapao / - “loved”
aorist: Culminative; places emphasis on the results of a completed action. The completed action is God’s love for us in eternity past. The result is reciprocal love by the Church Age believer.
If we love God it is because we have learned about the undiminished love of God for us in eternity past. Thus the results include the concept of the double-column advance. Because we grow in grace we acquire the knowledge of God’s love for us. As we accumulate this knowledge we develop a reciprocal love motivation for God. The two columns merge at a personal sense of destiny where we enter into the sophisticated spiritual life of the Church Age with spiritual self-esteem.
active: God produces the action in eternity past: He loved us first.
indicative: Declarative; expresses a fact that has been a reality from eternity past to the present hour and extends into the eternal future and thus emphasizes both antecedent and eschatological grace.
The final word in the verse is the third pronoun, the only direct object in the verse: the accusative plural of:
/ ego / - “us” This refers to the first pronoun of personal emphasis, “we,” and means that God loved “us” first. Thus the phrase, “because He first loved us,” explains the source of the Church Age believer’s motivation behind “We love.”
1 John 4:19 - We love [ reciprocal love motivation ] because [ causal: reciprocal love is the result of what God did for us ] He [ God ] first [ in eternity past ] loved us [ with undiminished love ].
A few principles now on the Greek verb / agape /, to love:
/ Agape / is a monadic noun, meaning that it is one of a kind. The love of God is one of a kind that has existed from eternity past and constitutes the integrity of God.
God’s righteousness and justice are expressions of His love. Justice may change from blessing to discipline or from discipline to blessing based on the demands of righteousness, but God’s love never changes. We don’t have the power to change the love of God either through our successes or our failures. Our reciprocal love is a response to what God did for us in eternity past. The emphasis is on God’s initial love for us which by means of omniscience knew all about us before He created us.
Knowing of our spiritual depravity, God’s love provided salvation based on faith alone in Christ alone. Knowing of our failures as believers God’s love also provided rebound as the only way to recover the unique spiritual life.
God’s love in eternity past provided the basis for our reciprocal love for Him in time as we have just noted in 1 John 4:19. Knowledge of doctrine and reciprocal love motivation advance together and merge at / pleroma / resulting in occupation with Christ.
1 John 4:20 - If someone should allege, "I love God," and yet he hates his fellow believer, he is a liar. For if he does not love [ unconditionally ] his fellow believer whom he has seen, he is not able to love God [ with reciprocity ], whom he has not seen.
v 21 - Furthermore, we have this mandate from Him that he who loves God [ personally ] should also love his fellow believer [ unconditionally ].
1 John 5:1 - Everyone who believes [/ pisteuo /: faith alone in Christ alone ] that Jesus is the Christ [/ Christos /: Greek for the Hebrew Messiah and means the Anointed One ] has been born from God [ salvation by grace through faith ]. Furthermore, everyone who loves the Father [ reciprocal love for God ] loves everyone [ unconditional love ] who has been born from Him.
v 2 - By this we know [ left column / epignosis / ] that we keep loving the children of God [ unconditionally ] when we simultaneously love God [ reciprocally ] and keep His mandates [ simultaneous advance of the double columns ].
v 3 - For this is the love for God: that we might continue executing His mandates [ sophisticated spiritual life following the merger of the two columns at a personal sense of destiny ].
These passages introduce us to the tandem concept of the two virtue-love problem-solving devices: Personal Love for God and Unconditional Love for Mankind. We will now turn our attention to Personal Love for God, its origin and its application. And we will approach this from one of the verses we have just noted:
1 John 4:19 - We love [ reciprocally ] because He first loved us [ eternally ].
Our love for God is based on the fact that He loved us first. This in itself is a tandem principle. The love that comes first is the undiminished love of God for the human race that has always existed back into the infinite past.
When we become aware of the love of God through spiritual growth then we develop the capacity to express love for God in a system of reciprocity. Our knowledge of the love of God for us is brought to our attention by means of a demonstration that is referenced in:
Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died as a substitute for us.
This verse contains information that teaches us something about the love of God. It teaches us that the love God demonstrated at the cross was not personal love for us but rather unconditional love. The verse makes it clear that the love demonstrated was indeed “toward us” but it occurred “while we were yet sinners.”
The verb “love” is / agape / and it is transitive, meaning that it must have a subject and an object. However, the emphasis may be placed on either the subject or the direct object.
Stress on the subject means that the subject possesses the attributes of divine integrity and thus may direct his love toward unworthy objects, that is, those who do not have virtue. Such love is classified as unconditional love. Stress on the direct object means that the object possesses the attributes of divine integrity and thus the subject may direct his love toward worthy objects, that is, those who have virtue. Such love is classified as personal love.
Now to whom may God direct His personal love without compromising His Own integrity? The only worthy objects in eternity past were the other two Members of the Trinity, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. All three Members of the Godhead possess perfect love which constitutes the integrity of God. Each Member of the Trinity possesses perfect righteousness and perfect justice.
When mankind became an issue the omniscience of God was able to perceive the presence of sin in each and every member of the human race beginning with Adam. As a result the love of God could not maintain its uncompromised virtue if it directed its personal love toward a sinful humanity. Therefore, the integrity of God had to come up with divine solutions for the total depravity of mankind that would be compatible with divine love and not compromise its composites of righteousness, justice, and grace. A composite is according to:
Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “composite”:
Made up of various parts or elements; belonging to the terms collectively but not to each separately; a collective.
Therefore, love is not one thing; it is made up of several things. It may be defined as the integrity of God however that integrity has several composites. These composites actually include four divine attributes: righteousness, justice, grace, and omniscience. Consequently the love of God can be understood by defining its composites. Divine righteousness establishes the principles and standards by which love operates.
A principle is a fundamental law that establishes the standard by which truth is identified. These principles and standards find their source in the love of God and are backed by His sovereign authority.
Truth is a transcendent fundamental reality based on these eternal principles and standards. They are absolute, immutable, and unalterable. Therefore, divine righteousness is the point of reference for what God approves or condemns.
Divine justice is the function of divine love. Therefore, justice is the source of blessing or judgment based on one’s compliance or noncompliance with divine righteousness. What righteousness approves justice blesses. What righteousness condemns, justice punishes. Thus, righteousness and justice maintain the integrity of divine love by administering jurisprudence over the thoughts, decisions, and actions that are produced by human free will.
In summary, God’s perfect righteousness is the standard of divine love or divine integrity. God’s perfect justice is the execution of divine love or divine integrity. The love of God provides solutions to man’s problems by means of grace.
Man’s problems were known to God by means of His divine omniscience which was able to comprehend the sins, failures, and wrongdoing of the human race in the infinite past.
PRINCIPLE: Divine virtue love provides solutions that are administered through grace, compatible with immutable righteousness, and executed by incorruptible justice.
The love of God was demonstrated to us by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. This brings us back to our verse in:
Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died as a substitute for us.
“God demonstrates” is the present active indicative of the verb:
/ sunistemi / - “to stand together; to associate; to demonstrate”
present: progressive; signifies action in progress, or in a state of persistence. In the indicative mood it is related to present time. Because of varieties in this relation to present time, the progressive present tense may denote three points of view.
a) Description: indicates what is now going on; also called the “pictorial present” since its distinctive force is to present to the mind a picture of the events as in process of occurrence.
b) Existing results: refers to a fact which has come to be in the past, but is emphasized as a present reality; stresses the continuation of results through present time.
c) Retroactive: denotes that which has begun in the past and continues into the present; sometimes called the present of duration.
The use here is retroactive progressive present and refers to the undiminished unconditional love of God for the human race dating back into eternity past and continuing into the present. Since the tense indicates “duration” then we must conclude that the love of God continues undiminished from its original status quo of perfection to the present time. The demonstration of God’s love that is manifest to us is the saving work of Christ on the cross.
Once Christ was judged for the sins of mankind then God was propitiated, the barrier that separates mankind from fellowship with God was removed as a result of reconciliation, and, under unlimited atonement, all mankind was redeemed from the slave market of sin with a view toward setting them free.
This demonstration of divine love is manifest every time a person believes in Jesus Christ for salvation.
Conclusions Regarding the Retroactive Progressive Present of / sunistemi /:
The work of Christ on the cross that resulted in our salvation is referred to in theology as “soteriology,” from the Greek noun for salvation / soteria /. Soteriology consists of three major doctrines: redemption, reconciliation, and propitiation. Redemption is directed toward sin, reconciliation is directed toward mankind, and propitiation is directed toward God.
The aspect of soteriology that we will emphasize for the moment is redemption, for we need to bring into focus the undiminished love of God, how it is demonstrated to us through the saving work of Christ, and the mechanics of divine grace that makes His work compatible with divine integrity. The English word “redemption” comes from the derivatives of the Greek verb / luo /. The noun lÚtron / lutron / means “ransom” or the “redemption price of a slave.” It always denotes a vicarious gift whose value covers a fault and the creditor may freely choose whether he will accept the payment thus he may not be forced to do so. The vicarious payment indicates a willing third party whose act of redemption is performed as a substitute for another and for his benefit and advantage.
The willing third Party is Jesus. The ransom paid is His substitutionary spiritual death. The Creditor is God the Father Whose righteousness condemned man at physical birth through the imputation of Adam’s original sin. His willing acceptance of the Lord’s sacrifice is referred to as propitiation. The Lord addresses the subject of His redemptive sacrifice in two of the Gospels:
Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45 - “…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom [/ lutron ] for [/ anti / ] many.”
These verses and the subject of redemption is discussed by:
Vine, W. E. An Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1984), 919-20:
RANSOM:
LUTRON That Christ gave up His life in expiatory sacrifice under God’s judgment upon sin and thus provided a ransom whereby those who receive Him on this ground obtain deliverance from the penalty due to sin, is what Scripture teaches.
NOTE: Note that our Lord was judged for our personal sins so that they are never an issue. To believe in Him as our substitutionary sacrifice enabled the justice of God to credit to our account the righteousness of God. This is justification by which we are vindicated from the penalty of sin which is spiritual death. Spiritual death is based on the imputation of Adam’s original sin at the moment of physical birth.
In Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45, the preposition (following / lutron /) / anti /, has a vicarious significance, indicating the ransom holds good for those who, accepting it, no longer remain in death since Christ suffered death in their stead. There is a change in preposition in:
1 Timothy 2:5 - There is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
v 6 - Who gave Himself as a ransom [/ antilutron ] for [/ huper ] all [/ pas / ] …
Here we find the word, used as a substitutionary ransom. There the preposition is / huper, [as a substitute for]: “He gave Himself as a substitutionary ransom for all.” “All” is the ablative of / pas / and refers to the entire human race. This indicates that the ransom was provisionally universal, while being of a vicarious character.
NOTE: The redemptive work of Christ according to these three verses reveals that it was universal in nature and supports the doctrine of Unlimited Atonement. In 1 Timothy 2:6 the words for “redemption,” / antilutron, and the preposition “for”, / huper /, is followed by the ablative plural “all,” / pas /, and indicate that it was a substitutionary sacrifice willingly entered into by our Lord.
Thus, the three passages consistently show that while the provision of redemption was universal, for Christ died for all men, yet it is actually for those only who accept God’s conditions.
NOTE: Those who believe that Jesus is the Christ and that He offered Himself up as a substitutionary sacrifice on their behalf, being judged for their personal sins, are referred to as the “redeemed.” These believers are referred to in Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45 as the “many,” / polus /.
Redemption emphasizes the fact that we are sinners, not only as a result of our decisions to commit personal sins but in fact, we were sinners all the way back into eternity past.
We were condemned at physical birth by the imputation of Adam’s original sin to our genetically formed sinful nature.
Romans 5:12 - Just as through one man [ Adam ] sin [ the sinful nature ] entered into the world and so spiritual death through the sin [ of Adam ], consequently spiritual death spread to all men because all sinned when Adam sinned.
Adam was the original source of sin although he did not commit the original sin. His wife, Ishah, committed the first human sin but it is Adam’s sin that is transferred to his human progeny. Adam’s sin occurred after the woman’s sin yet Adam’s is referred to as the “original sin.” Is this because his sin was one of cognizance and hers was a result of deception?
True. Adam was created first and delegated by God to be ruler over all the earth which included authority over Ishah. With leadership authority comes the responsibility for the actions of those under your authority. Ishah was foolishly deceived but Adam had full knowledge in his decision to choose the woman over God and knew the consequences of that decision. Satan had to persuade the woman first rather than Adam because as the authority over Ishah, if Adam had sinned first he had only to command the woman to eat the forbidden fruit and she would have had to obey.
We all sinned when Adam sinned because Adam was the federal head of the human race. The Old Sin Nature is transmitted in a dormant state at conception through the male sperm. Therefore, the Old Sin Nature is genetic, encoded into the DNA of every cell of the body.
When Adam procreated with Eve, he did so in a fallen state, so that the physical result of his transgression spread genetically, first of all to Cain, who apparently got the full slug since he eventually murdered his younger brother Abel. Adam and Eve’s third-born son was Seth. All three received the transmission of their father’s sinful nature to which was imputed their father’s original sin.
Adam’s sin plus the Old Sin Nature equals spiritual death. At physical birth, God imputes soul life to biological life creating human life. Simultaneously, He imputes Adam’s original sin to the genetically formed sinful nature resulting in spiritual death. Consequently, we are born physically alive but spiritually dead and in a status of total depravity.
Before we are able to use our volition to commit personal sins, we are condemned at birth by the imputation of Adam’s original sin. Even if someone, in theory, were able to live a life completely free of personal sin, that person’s personal perfection would not save him because he was born with the guilt of Adam’s sin.
An illustration we can note exemplifies this principle perfectly. I have referred to our spiritual death as “being born with a runner on first base.” The illustration is based on a very famous and controversial baseball game played back in 1917 between the Boston Red Sox and the Washington Senators.
The controversy surrounded the ejection from the game of Boston Red Sox pitcher, Babe Ruth, and the subsequent performance of his replacement, Ernie Shore, who was credited with pitching a perfect game.
An official perfect game occurs when a pitcher retires each batter on the opposing team during the entire course of a game which consists of at least nine innings. In a perfect game, no batter reaches any base during the course of the game.
An official no-hit game occurs when a pitcher allows no hits during the entire course of a game which consists of at least nine innings. But in a no-hit game, a batter may reach base via a walk, an error, a hit by pitch, a passed ball or wild pitch on strike three, or catcher's interference.
No-hitters are not all that rare but pitching a perfect game is extremely difficult. For example, in the twentieth century there have been over 200,000 major league games played but only 14 perfect games have been pitched.
Here are the details of how the “sin” of Babe Ruth and the “perfection” of Ernie Shore combine to give us an illustration of how humans are totally depraved even if hypothetically they should manage to live a perfectly sin-free life. The game report comes from:
Coberly, Rich. The No-Hit Hall of Fame: No-Hitters of the 20th Century. Newport Beach: Triple Play Productions, 1985), 52:
“Only 26 Men Face Red Sox Pitcher after he Replaces Ruth, Who Passes Morgan.” By J. V. Fitz Gerald – The Washington Post. June 23, 1917.
Ernie Shore, Red Sox pitcher, made baseball history this afternoon in pitching a no-hit, no-run game against Washington. The Red Sox hit behind Shore and won the game, 4-0.
Temper displayed by Babe Ruth, star Red Sox pitcher, punched Shore into an opportunity to pitch one of the greatest games in the history of the national pastime.
In the first inning, Ruth questioned a decision of Umpire Brick Owens when the arbiter called a fourth ball on Ray Morgan, the first batsman to face him. When Owens called the fourth ball on Morgan, Ruth rushed to the plate to argue the point. Owens told him to get back in the pitcher’s box or he would send him off the field. “If you chase me, I’ll punch your face,” Ruth retorted.
“You’re through now,” Owens replied, waving the pitcher off the field.
That was Ruth’s cue to take a swing at the official. The Red Sox catcher tried to interfere and stop the blow, but Ruth’s fist landed on Owens’s ear.
That gave Shore his chance. He took Ruth’s place and after Morgan was thrown out trying to steal second, only 26 batsmen faced the Red Sox twirler.
Although Ruth’s dismissal from the game after facing only one batter was indeed controversial, a greater controversy developed after it was completed. For years baseball statisticians debated over whether the game was truly a perfect game. Initially it was contended that since all 27 batters were retired and the man walked by Ruth was retired while Shore was pitching then he should be credited with a perfect game. Purists however, objected pointing out that although Shore turned in a perfect performance, he was not the only pitcher in the game. Ruth was not perfect, walking Ray Morgan leading off the game. Therefore, the two pitchers should be credited with a combined no-hitter but Shore himself could not be credited with a perfect game. The debate continued for over fifty years until finally the purists won and Shore’s perfect game was turned into a combined no-hitter.
Here is the official ruling, published by:
Carter, Craig (ed.). The Sporting News Complete Baseball Record Book: 2000 Edition. (St. Louis: The Sporting News, 2000), 191:
PERFECT GAMES OF NINE OR MORE INNINGS
Ernie Shore of Boston is often included in the list of perfect game pitchers. In the first game of a June 23, 1917 doubleheader at Boston, Babe Ruth, the starting Red Sox pitcher, was removed for arguing with the umpire Brick Owens after giving a base on balls to Washington’s Ray Morgan, the first batter. Shore, without warming up, took Ruth’s place. Morgan was retired trying to steal second. From then on, Shore faced 26 batters, with none reaching base. Shore won the game, 4-0. He and Ruth are listed under the category “No-hit games of nine or more innings.”
In baseball parlance, Ernie Shore “inherited” Ruth’s base runner, Ray Morgan. Although Shore was not personally responsible for the base on balls that put him there, he nevertheless became responsible for any base runners that happened to be on base when he entered the game. Consequently, Ernie Shore inherited the “sin” of Babe Ruth once he entered the game and although his performance was perfect, the game was not. Ruth’s “sin” was transferred to Shore and no matter what the relief pitcher did he could not erase the fact that a runner had reached first base and that he had inherited responsibility for him being there.
There are four individuals that appear in the account of this game who help illustrate the total depravity of every person born into this world. Babe Ruth represents Adam. As Adam entered into this world with perfect life, so Ruth started the game “perfect” in that no runners had reached base. However when he walked Ray Morgan, he became imperfect.
Ray Morgan personifies Adam’s original sin for when he received the fourth ball and walked to first base, Babe Ruth was rendered imperfect. Brick Owens personifies the righteousness and justice of God. His determination that Ruth did not retire Morgan before four balls were thrown allowed the batter to go to first. The determination by divine righteousness that Adam chose to eat the forbidden fruit resulted in the demand that justice judge the sin. Further, as Adam was banished from the garden because of his volitional violence against the authority of God, so Babe Ruth was banished from the game because of his physical violence against the authority of Umpire Owens.
Ernie Shore is symbolic of Cain, Abel, and Seth. These sons of Adam inherited the original sin of their father Adam as the condemnation of “spiritual death spread to all men because all sinned when Adam sinned.” Ernie Shore inherited “Babe’s original sin” when he entered the game and thus it did not matter that he was perfect in his performance. Shore never had the opportunity to be perfect because he entered the game with Ray Morgan on first base.
When we enter the game at physical birth we are condemned at that moment by the presence of “Ray Morgan” on first base: Adam’s original sin imputed to our genetically formed sinful nature. We are thus born physically alive but spiritually dead and thus totally depraved and in need of a Savior.
Romans 5:12 - Just as through one man [ Adam ] sin [ the sinful nature ] entered into the world and so spiritual death through the sin [ of Adam ], consequently spiritual death spread to all men because all sinned when Adam sinned. The imputation of Adam’s original sin at physical birth is the basis for our spiritual death.
No member of the human race is condemned on the basis of his personal sins, for all personal sins were collected into one PROM chip and imputed to Christ for judgment. Since none of our personal sins are ever imputed to us they cannot be the basis for our spiritual death. Adam’s sin is. Since our personal sins were imputed to Jesus Christ for judgment then He died spiritual death as a substitute for us. Therefore, the love of God for us in eternity past can only be demonstrated to the human race since a perfect God with perfect love cannot personally love spiritually dead people.
Since Adam’s fall resulted in the creation of the sinful nature and since that sinful nature spread to all men by procreation, all men are born spiritually dead. This spiritual death is activated at physical birth by the imputation of Adam’s original sin to the genetically formed sinful nature. Thus, human works of righteousness have no impact or consequence upon our spiritual status before the demands of a righteous God. We are born with Ray Morgan on first base.
Biblical Documentation of the “Ray Morgan” Factor
There are two verses that when considered together explain how the love of God in eternity past is demonstrated to a spiritually dead human race. First of all, the undiminished love of God that makes up divine integrity cannot be directed personally to objects that are totally depraved by sin. These sins must be dealt with in a fashion that does not compromise divine integrity and its composites of righteousness, justice, and grace. Further, the standards of divine righteousness must be defended and upheld but justice requires that that defense must be fair.
Fairness demands a hearing on the part of each individual regarding his fallen condition and objective consideration of the divine solution. Thus the grace plan of God insures that every person will either hear a clear presentation of the gospel or, if not, to deliver all those who for whatever reason don’t get that hearing.
All grace solutions are the product of the love of God from eternity past. Divine omniscience perceived that Adam would fall. God invented a plan that challenged Adam’s volition with a divine mandate so that as long as it was obeyed Adam would maintain “perfect human life.” But if Adam used his volition to rebel he would, by reason of that decision, create a barrier between himself and God. Further, his DNA would be so unalterably changed that his fallen nature would be passed on to his progeny in procreation.
At physical birth, Adam’s offspring, Cain, Abel, and Seth, inherited their father’s sinful nature. Further, to that sinful nature was imputed Adam’s original sin. Adam’s sons were born with “Ray Morgan” on first base and they could do nothing through human power to change it. This is an expression of the love of God by means of the grace of God and may be stated by this principle: Condemnation must precede salvation.
Those who are perfect need no salvation: Adam before the Fall. Those who are condemned are in need of salvation: Adam and his progeny after the Fall. Adam and Ishah were presented the gospel in the Garden and responded for salvation. Condemnation was removed by their faith alone in Christ alone.
Their sons were born condemned. Thus they were in need of a savior at physical birth. They grew to adulthood and were given the opportunity to choose for or against Christ. Cain relied on human works whereas Abel relied on the substitutionary sacrifice of an animal. Since Abel’s sacrifice was acceptable to God and Cain’s was not, Cain, motivated by anger, murdered his brother. Seth believed in Christ and actually was a part of the bloodline of Christ through Mary according to Luke 3:38.
By condemning mankind at physical birth through the imputation of Adam’s original sin, man is granted the opportunity to be saved through faith alone in Christ alone. Those who for whatever circumstances, die before reaching an age of accountability are saved. God’s love insures that every person must have the opportunity to respond to the gospel before justice may impose eternal judgment.
Four verses clarify this principle:
Romans 5:12 - Therefore, just as through one man [ Adam ], sin [ the sinful nature ] entered into the world, and [ spiritual ] death through sin [ the sinful nature ], so [ spiritual ] death spread to the entire human race because all sinned when Adam sinned.
Romans 5:8 - God demonstrates His own love to us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died as a substitute for us.
Romans 8:1 - There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
2 Samuel 12:22 - David said, “While the adulterine was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows, the Lord may be gracious to me, that the child may live.’
v 23 - “But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”
Principles:
Because David and Bath-sheba’s adulterine was born with Ray Morgan on first base, he was born condemned and in need of a Savior. But because he never had the opportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel, then justice could not in fairness condemn him to Torments. Therefore, the love of God provided the grace solution through which the child’s soul was saved and taken directly into the presence of the Lord. David knew and understood that following physical death the child could not return to him in this life. But David also knew that as a believer, he would at his death be reunited with his son in heaven.
Spiritual Death:
Because of Adam’s original sin every human being is born separated from God and incapable of appeasing His perfect righteousness. This results in the condition of total depravity, which speaks of our moral corruption and deterioration from evil thoughts or influences. This is the condition into which we are born making us totally helpless to perform any work, sacrifice, or lifestyle change that would enable us to enter into a relationship with God. This remains the status quo of every member of the human race until he enters into the spiritual birth that occurs at the moment of salvation.
The event that marks our entrance into spiritual death is the imputation of Adam’s original sin to our genetically formed sinful nature at physical birth. Adam was federal head of the human race but he abdicated his throne when he made the decision to eat of the forbidden fruit. In so doing Adam chose Satan’s policy over against God’s policy and this made Satan the ruler of this world.
Adam’s revolt against divine authority led to the creation of the sinful nature and a status quo of spiritual death.
The Source of the Sinful Nature:
The sinful nature is passed down genetically to each generation beginning with Adam. The sin nature resides in the cell structure of the body encoded into the DNA. The sinful nature is the source of all internal temptation. The man is the transmitter of the sinful nature because Adam committed the original sin of cognizance whereas Eve committed the original sin of ignorance.
1 Timothy 2:14 - It was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite deceived, fell into the transgression.
Romans 5:12 - Therefore, just as through one man [ Adam ], sin [ the sinful nature ] entered into the world, and [ spiritual ] death through sin [ the sinful nature ], so [ spiritual ] death spread to the entire human race because all sinned when Adam sinned.
The transmission of the sinful nature occurs at the moment of conception. This is the formation of biological life. This is not human life. The sinful nature remains in a dormant state during pregnancy and is not activated until the imputation of soul life at physical birth.
There is a Hebrew prepositional phrase that supports this conclusion. It is /m /fB: min beten: “out from the womb.” The preposition min, “from,” is translated as follows by:
Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs. The New Hebrew and English Lexicon. (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1979), 577-79:
Expressing the idea of separation, hence out of, out from; expressing separation or removal, whether from a person or place; separation away from; out of; removing; expelling; out of the midst of; coming forth.
Harris, R. Laird, Gleason L. Archer, and Bruce K. Waltke. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980), 512:
From; out of. Used with verbs of motion or separation; to go from, or to be away from. The preposition (min) is often attached to its noun with the “n” assimilated.
The Hebrew combines these two words (min: from, and beten: the womb) to form one word, mibeten, translated “from the womb.” The preposition min becomes extraordinarily explicit when used with verbs that express or imply separation or removal. In connection with these verbs the meaning of min is “away from,” “separation from,” or “out from.”
David uses this prepositional phrase to indicate that the sinful nature becomes operational at physical birth, not before:
Psalm 58:3 - [NASV] The wicked are estranged out from the womb [ mibeten ]; these who speak lies go astray from birth [ literally, from the womb: mibeten ].
“Estranged” and “go astray” (“astray” and “wayward” in the NIV) are both verbs of separation connected with the preposition min. The prepositional phrase that follows each verb conveys removal “from the womb.” This verse indicates there can be no wickedness until a person is separated from the womb. At the moment of birth when soul life is imparted, the sin nature is also activated. Adam’s original sin is imputed to the genetically formed sin nature. The sin nature, which is passed on through biological life, is not operational until birth. No one can be “wicked” or “speak lies” until they are born.
A similar view is expressed by:
VanGemerem, Willem A. Psalms. Vol. 5 in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Edited by Frank E. Gaebelein. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 406:
The nature of the wicked is amplified in two ways. First, they are wicked from birth. (Second) They begin to devise evil from their very youth.
Thus, we may conclude from Psalm 58:3 plus the commentaries that the sinful nature is not activated until physical birth and the simultaneous imputation of Adam’s original sin.
David understood that he inherited his sinful nature through procreation:
Psalm 51:5 - Behold I was born in iniquity and in sin I was conceived.
David informs us that at physical birth he inherited his sinful nature from Adam, the transmission of which came through his father, Jesse. By procreation Jesse’s sperm contaminated the original zygote that formed David’s biological life at the moment of conception.
Whether or not biological life comes into existence is solely the result of one or more human decisions. God does not create biological life, a man and a woman do. To assert that God creates biological life means that God approves of premarital sex, extramarital sex, polygamy, rape, and incest. Throughout history, pregnancies have occurred due to such activities, all of which are prohibited by the Word of God. If God creates biological life then the conclusion must be reached that in such cases God contradicts the meaning and purpose of his own prohibitions.
Human procreation results in biological life only. At the moment of conception the sinful nature is transmitted to the zygote of this newly developed biological life. That sinful nature, according to Psalm 58:3, remains dormant until physical birth. At the moment of physical birth God creates soul life and imputes it to biological life creating human life.
There is no human life until soul life is imputed. The newborn babe is physically alive. But with the imputation of soul life is the simultaneous imputation of Adam’s original sin to the genetically formed sinful nature. Thus the newborn babe is also spiritually dead.
This is condemnation! It is true of every person ever born no matter what the circumstances of his birth.
It could have been without benefit of clergy, the result of religious heresy, or the brutal act of sexual violence. It could have been the result of a loving relationship of a man and a woman in marriage but in every case the physical birth of a human being is always the same. The child is born physically alive but spiritually dead. This is the grace of God for condemnation must precede salvation. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All are totally depraved. All are in need of a Savior. This hopeless and helpless circumstance enables the love of God to provide the ultimate and only solution to the dilemma:
John 3:16 - [NASV] For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
This is the demonstration of God’s undiminished, unfailing, and unconditional love for the entire human race, expressed through grace, as His divine solution to the problem of our spiritual death.
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