We know that sin hurt the 1st Man and Woman. It caused them to suffer in their relationship with God. And it caused them to have to die. Furthermore, it caused them to suffer in labor and in childbirth.
We know that redemption exists with God, and that despite all of these problems with sin, there can be forgiveness and eternal restoration. We call this "Eternal Salvation."
But is the problem of sin only about Eternal Salvation? I know we can't do much about suffering in labor and in child birth. And I know we can't completely remove the sin nature that exists in our "flesh," as Paul described it.
But if God gave Man the ability to do right, surely this still is the reality despite our sin nature? Surely, even though we have a compulsion to rebel against God, we are still able to do right?
I would suggest that when Paul and the authors of the NT warned the Church about sin they were not just concerned about our having Eternal Life. No, the problem with sin is that it always drives us away from obedience to God, and thus disturbs the purposes of God.
So sin is an ongoing problem that goes beyond the issue of our own Eternal Salvation, in my view. It is more a matter of letting God's word continue to prevail in our choices so that God's will is done every day, and not just in the eternal future.
What we do in obedience today does not really save the people who obey, if they are already "Saved" Christians. What it really does is affect other people, involving both their obedience and their Salvation.
We are not just to avoid sin to get Saved. More, we are to avoid sin so that we *do* God's will, and allow His word to prevail in our lives, as well as in the world. God gets glory from the demonstration of His word in our lives, so that His Presence is demonstrated in acts of good men.
Salvation is really about the demonstration of God's character in human works. And it is the establishment of that righteousness on an eternal basis. But it begins with the exposure of the problems of sin, whether it affects our own Salvation or not.
We know that redemption exists with God, and that despite all of these problems with sin, there can be forgiveness and eternal restoration. We call this "Eternal Salvation."
But is the problem of sin only about Eternal Salvation? I know we can't do much about suffering in labor and in child birth. And I know we can't completely remove the sin nature that exists in our "flesh," as Paul described it.
But if God gave Man the ability to do right, surely this still is the reality despite our sin nature? Surely, even though we have a compulsion to rebel against God, we are still able to do right?
I would suggest that when Paul and the authors of the NT warned the Church about sin they were not just concerned about our having Eternal Life. No, the problem with sin is that it always drives us away from obedience to God, and thus disturbs the purposes of God.
So sin is an ongoing problem that goes beyond the issue of our own Eternal Salvation, in my view. It is more a matter of letting God's word continue to prevail in our choices so that God's will is done every day, and not just in the eternal future.
What we do in obedience today does not really save the people who obey, if they are already "Saved" Christians. What it really does is affect other people, involving both their obedience and their Salvation.
We are not just to avoid sin to get Saved. More, we are to avoid sin so that we *do* God's will, and allow His word to prevail in our lives, as well as in the world. God gets glory from the demonstration of His word in our lives, so that His Presence is demonstrated in acts of good men.
Salvation is really about the demonstration of God's character in human works. And it is the establishment of that righteousness on an eternal basis. But it begins with the exposure of the problems of sin, whether it affects our own Salvation or not.
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