Who cares and why does it matter?

I’m glad you asked that question. If you attend many of today’s evangelical churches days, you might recognize either one, or both of those concepts of the ‘natural’ human condition being presented as the truth. We report, you decide.

Answer: Pelagius was a monk who lived in the late 300s and early 400s A.D. Pelagius taught that human beings were born innocent, without the stain of original or inherited sin. He believed that God created every human soul directly and therefore every human soul was originally free from sin. Pelagius believed that Adam’s sin did not affect future generations of humanity. This view became known as Pelagianism.

Pelagianism contradicts many Scriptures and scriptural principles. First, the Bible tells us that we are sinful from the moment of conception (Psalm 51:5). Further, the Bible teaches that all human beings die as a result of sin (Ezekiel 18:20; Romans 6:23). While Pelagianism says that human beings are not born with a natural inclination towards sin, the Bible says the opposite (Romans 3:10-18). Romans 5:12 clearly states that Adam’s sin is the reason sin infects the rest of humanity. Anyone who has raised children can attest to the fact that infants must be taught to behave; they do not have to be taught how to sin. Pelagianism, therefore, is clearly unscriptural and should be rejected.

Semi-Pelagianism essentially teaches that humanity is tainted by sin, but not to the extent that we cannot cooperate with God’s grace on our own. Semi-Pelagianism is, in essence, partial depravity as opposed to total depravity. The same Scripture passages that refute Pelagianism will also refute Semi-Pelagianism. Romans 3:10-18 definitely does not describe humanity as only being partially tainted by sin. The Bible clearly teaches that without God “drawing” us, we are incapable of cooperating with God’s grace. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44). Like Pelagianism, Semi-Pelagianism is unbiblical and should be rejected.

NOTE 1: the above brief definitions of Pelagianism and semi-Pelagianism were found online at the GotQuestions? website. There are other, more detailed definitions out there. If this short post piqued your interest, go for it.The recommended source for the information was taken from The Moody Handbook of Theology by Paul Enns.

NOTE 2: The above citation from John 6:44 is the first half of the complete passage which reads “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” Sinners come to Christ and He raises them up. I know ‘arguing from silence’ never proves a point, but the fact that there is no ‘if’, between ‘coming’ and being ‘raised up’, might have something to say about the eternal security of the believer. But that’s another discussion entirely.

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by Dan Phillips courtesy of Pyromaniacs

“Thank God for the blood of Jesus, but. . .”

Jarring title? Hear me out.

As I drove to work the other day, I prayed. I was thinking about how short I fall in every area of my life: as a father, as a husband, as a Christian, as a churchman, as a blogger, as a friend, as a brother, as a citizen….

Then I said, “Thank God for the blood of Jesus” — and immediately cringed to hear myself pray it.

“Cringed”? Why? How could such an absolute core-truth of Christianity bring a wince, a recoil?

Simple: because I’ve heard that sort of talk used so often by folks whose concern is to paper over their ongoing, deliberate, unrepentant sin. I’ve heard Jesus’ blood adduced to explain why it makes sense to grant a glorious eulogy to a man who apparently died an open, unrepentant homosexual clergyman; to rationalize ongoing open violence to the fifth commandment; to tut-tut open defection from the Word of God.

And so that is the background against which those wonderful words make me cringe. Listen: Jesus did not shed His blood on the cross to make us feel okay about our ongoing, deliberate, unrepentant sin. Jesus did not shed His blood to make sin okay; He shed it precisely because sin is not okay, has never been okay, will never be okay.

So what about my prayer, my praise? I went on to think just how much I needed and still need the blood of Jesus, all the time, even while striving as hard as I might (as opposed to yielding to sin, like the horrible examples I mentioned). I thought, What if God said “You pick the area of your life that I can judge you on. Pick your strongest, best, most consistent area”? What then? Easy. I’d be doomed, instantly doomed, forever doomed. No sooner would the test be distributed than I’d hear “All right, pencils down. Test over.”

We’re not talking about ongoing, deliberate, unrepentant sin here, either (on this subject). We’re just talking about the weakness, shallowness, inconstancy, inconsistency, and fleshly carry-overs that plague believers. The ongoing reality of Romans 7:14-25. Do we need the blood of Jesus there? Oh, yes, I think we do. I know for a fact we do.

Now here’s the final, biting irony: I have this fear that many of those who thank God for Jesus’ blood as I mentioned — because of how good it makes them feel about their ongoing, deliberate, unrepentant sin — have not yet been touched by that blood.

Why?

Because that same blood that purchases forgiveness also purchases freedom (Romans 3:27; Ephesians 1:7; Matthew 1:21; Hebrews 9:14). When we die with Him, we die to sin’s lordship (Romans 6). If we are still under that unbroken domination, that lordship, we’ve not died that death. Though we are never and in no way justified because we do battle with sin, justification is the beginning and cause of a lifetime of such a battle. The battle is not a component, but it is an effect.

So thank God for the blood of Jesus.

Not because His blood makes my sin okay, but because His blood makes me okay with God, and delivers me from sin’s guilt and power.

Through the shedding of Christ’s blood, I am forgiven for my sins (Matthew 26:28), and I am counted perfectly righteous in God’s courtroom (Romans 5:9). In Christ I have the price paid to secure my freedom, through His blood (Ephesians 1:7). Christ’s blood turned God’s wrath from me (Romans 3:25), and cleansed my conscience from dead works, that I might serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14). By Christ’s blood I have confidence to walk right into the presence of God without terror (Hebrews 10:19). As I walk in the light, Christ’s blood continues to cleanse me from all sin (1 John 1:7). His blood has loosed me from my sins (Revelation 1:5).

In fact, I might bring it all ’round to this:

• The sign that Christ’s blood has been applied to me is not that I feel good about my sin
• The sign that Christ’s blood has been applied to me is that I am dead to sin and alive to God in Christ, that I continue day by day to turn to Christ from sin, and walk in newness of life.

Thank God for the blood of Jesus.

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For there is some danger of falling into a soft and effeminate Christianity, under the plea of a lofty and ethereal theology. Christianity was born for endurance…It walks with firm step and erect frame; it is kindly, but firm; it is gentle, but honest; it is calm, but not facile; obliging, but not imbecile; decided, but not churlish. It does not fear to speak the stern word of condemnation against error, nor to raise its voice against surrounding evils, under the pretext that it is not of this world.

It does not shrink from giving honest reproof lest it come under the charge of displaying an unchristian spirit. It calls sin ’sin,’ on whomsoever it is found, and would rather risk the accusation of being actuated by a bad spirit than not discharge an explicit duty. Let us not misjudge strong words used in honest controversy. Out of the heat a viper may come forth; but we shake it off and feel no harm.

The religion of both Old and New Testaments is marked by fervent outspoken testimonies against evil. To speak smooth things in such a case may be sentimentalism, but it is not Christianity. It is a betrayal of the cause of truth and righteousness. If anyone should be frank, manly, honest, cheerful (I do not say blunt or rude, for a Christian must be courteous and polite), it is he who has tasted that the Lord is gracious, and is looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God. I know that charity covereth a multitude of sins; but it does not call evil good, because a good man has done it; it does not excuse inconsistencies, because the inconsistent brother has a high name and a fervent spirit. Crookedness and worldliness are still crookedness and worldliness, though exhibited in one who seems to have reached no common height of attainment.

-Taken from God’s Way of Holiness, 1864. — HORATIUS BONAR (1808-89)

Courtesy of The Reformed Traveler

Lately, in another set of online forums, I’ve been engaged in a discussion around the externality of punishment for those who reject Christ in this life. There seems to be a popular thought among some Christians that while eternal life is, in fact, eternal, punishment is only temporary. That’s not anything new, and indeed appeals to our naturally human sensibilities. In the course of that discussion I found the following:

What the Bible Says About Hell

by
Sid Litke, Th.M.
slitke@sbcglobal.net

Key Facts About Eternity

(1) Everyone will exist eternally either in heaven or hell (Daniel 12:2,3; Matthew 25:46; John 5:28; Revelation 20:14,15).

(2) Everyone has only one life in which to determine their destiny (Hebrews 9:27).

(3) Heaven or hell is determined by whether a person believes (puts their trust) in Christ alone to save them (John 3:16, 36, etc.).

Key Passages About Hell

(1) Hell was designed originally for Satan and his demons (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10).

(2) Hell will also punish the sin of those who reject Christ (Matthew 13:41,50; Revelation 20:11-15; 21:8).

(3) Hell is conscious torment.

· Matthew 13:50 “furnace of fire…weeping and gnashing of teeth”

· Mark 9:48 “where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched”

· Revelation 14:10 “he will be tormented with fire and brimstone”

(4) Hell is eternal and irreversible.

· Revelation 14:11 “the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever and they have no rest day and night”

· Revelation 20:14 “This is the second death, the lake of fire”

· Revelation 20:15 “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire”

Erroneous Views of Hell

(1) The second chance view – After death there is still a way to escape hell.

Answer: “It is appointed unto men once to die and after that the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

(2) Universalism – All are eternally saved.

Answer: It denies the truth of salvation through Christ which means that a person decides to either trust in Christ or else he/she rejects Christ and goes to hell (John 3:16;3:36).

(3) Annihilationism – Hell means a person dies like an animal – ceases to exist.

Answer: It denies the resurrection of the unsaved (John 5:28, etc. – see above). It denies conscious torment (see above).

Objections to the Biblical View of Hell

(1) A loving God would not send people to a horrible hell.

Response: God is just (Romans 2:11).

· God has provided the way of salvation to all (John 3:16,17; 2 Corinthians 5:14,15; 1 Timothy 2:6; 4:10; Titus 2:11; 2 Peter 3:9).

· Even those who haven’t heard of Christ are accountable for God’s revelation in nature (Romans 1:20). God will seek those who seek Him (Matthew 7:7; Luke 19:10).

· Therefore God doesn’t send people to hell, they choose it (Romans 1:18,21,25).

(2) Hell is too severe a punishment for man’s sin.

Response: God is holy-perfect (1 Peter 1:14,15).

· Sin is willful opposition to God our creator (Romans 1:18-32).

· Our sin does merit hell (Romans 1:32; 2:2,5,6).

· What is unfair and amazing is that Christ died for our sin and freely offers salvation to all (Romans 2:4; 3:22-24; 4:7,8; 5:8,9).

Biblical Terms Describing Where the Dead Are

· Sheol – a Hebrew term simply describing “the grave” or “death” – Does not refer to “hell” specifically

· Hades – A Greek term that usually refers to hell – a place of torment (Luke 10:15; 16:23, etc.)

· Gehenna – A Greek term (borrowed from a literal burning dump near Jerusalem) that always refers to hell – a place of torment (Matthew 5:30; 23:33)

· “Lake of fire”- the final abode of unbelievers after they are resurrected (Revelation 20:14,15)

· “Abraham’s bosom” – (Luke 16:22) a place of eternal comfort

· “Paradise” – (Luke 23:43) a place of eternal comfort

· “With the Lord” – a key phrase describes where church age believers are after death (Philippians 1:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:17; 2 Corinthians 5:8)

· “New heavens and earth” – where believers will be after they are resurrected (Revelation 20:4-6; 21:1-4)

Conclusion

Our curiosity about the abode of the dead is not completely satisfied by biblical terms or verses. What we do know is that either eternal torment in hell or eternal joy in heaven awaits all people after death, based on whether they trust in Christ’s payment for sin or reject Christ.

____________________________________________________

Sid Litke, Th.M., a 1984 graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, is currently pastoring the Open Door Bible Church in Port Washington, Wisconsin.

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