I've been thinking lately, as I read and re-read John, about the "sin nature" with which we are born. We've been doing a basic doctrine series at church, and this is one of those basic things we believe. No Pelagianism here! - - (Sorry. I'm in a church history class and only recently learned about Augustine and the Pelagian heresy.)
This morning I read John 5, and I had to stop and meditate on verse 24:
John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
All I'm saying in this post is "here it is again!"
It's the idea that Christ didn't come to condemn the world, but to save it (John 3:17). He didn't come to do what was already done - condemnation; he came to do what we are incapable of doing - salvation.
I know people who believe in the idea that when all is said and done, God will judge them based on good works; based on whether or not they were a "good person." Some of these people even think they're Christians.
This idea is essentially saying that there is some sort of neutral state in which we exist, and our deeds are weighed out in the afterlife. Good deeds = +1, Bad deeds = -1. If your sum total is positive, then congratulations! You get heaven!!
But Jesus clearly teaches that he came to seek and save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). We were already lost. There is no one who is "found" apart from Jesus. He came to transform that which was dead into life. He came to rescue and deliver us from the domain of darkness into His Kingdom! (Col. 1:13)
So - - the way to consider judgement is not whether your "good deeds" outnumber or outweigh the "bad deeds" (by the way, there are thousands of other serious theological problems with this line of thinking), but will you die a dead/lost/condemned man or woman? Will you die as one who was never delivered from death? Will you end this life having never been ransomed from the domain of darkness? That's it! There are no good and bad deeds to be placed on the scale at the entrance to heaven. It is only Jesus. And you will either know Him as Savior, or you won't.
Again - nothing ground breaking here. Just wanted to write it out.
That is all.
About Me
- Josh Cranston
- Collinsville, Illinois
- I live in Collinsville. I have a lot to learn. I will try to jot down thoughts and whatnot. I am married to a wonderful woman named Sara and we have four kiddos, Gabriel, Ben, Elle, & Jude. I love Phil. 1:20 and make it my prayer - that I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but that now, as always, with all boldness, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
2 comments:
I've been doing some study on the "sin nature" myself. I find it very interesting that the Greek word for sin (hamartia) means to miss the mark or fall short. This leads me to think that sin is not an action but a state of being. Our actions reflect our state of being. Only Jesus can transform our state of being.
Precisely.
Sometimes people look at sinning-as-"missing the mark" , and think that really means that it's somehow not a big deal (sinning).
"ALL sinning is - is missing the mark!" they seem to say like it's no problem.
But the second part of what you said here is important, I think. Our "missing the mark", or "falling short" is ALL we CAN do. We are mark-missers! That's who we are.
And, like you said, only Jesus can transform our state of being!!
Thanks Joshua! (by the way, [if you read this again] are you my old army-buddy Joshua?)
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