Tag: sin

Faith is personal commitment

I am currently reading an academic book in which professor of science Jane Plant seeks to convince readers to give up milk products as a means of diminishing both prostate cancer and breast cancer. To get us to make such a commitment, she amasses statistics, quotes much research and shares her personal experience, until an average reader would conclude she must be right. That first faith is a necessary step to a further commitment to stop all consumption of milk products. Those who believe will give them up, on the basis of her evidence.

There is a parallel here with Christian faith. Just as Professor Plant, setting forth her evidence, leads people to believe her thesis and to make a commitment that they will honour, so the Christian evangelist sets out the facts of Jesus’ amazing divine life, his death, his resurrection and his promises of forgiveness, so that the evidence leads seekers to faith. They thus believe that Jesus was the unique incarnation of the Son of God and trust in him as the saviour they need. When a person is sufficiently convinced by the evidence, faith leads to a personal commitment to Christ. 

Faith is thus a commitment to the person of Christ (comparable to a marriage commitment because it leads to a life-long relationship with him). It is based on an intelligent grasp of evidence that is found to be convincing. Contrary to what some atheists would have us believe, “faith” is not irrational. People just do not believe something unless is appears true. Checking out the evidence can persuade people that what is proposed is indeed true. We assess it, we think it through; we consider whether we agree, and if we do, we decide to believe it. To believe is to take as true, and act in consequence. 

Christianity is an evidence-based faith: Professor Carl R. Trueman, renowned theologian and historian, insists that “Christians… take history seriously. We have a faith rooted in historical claims,” he writes, “supremely the incarnation of Jesus Christ and the events and actions of his life”. As we read the historic accounts of Jesus in the Gospels, we see he constantly called people to believe in him, and to those who believe he promised not only full forgiveness, but “life abundant”, “eternal life”, which means entering into an eternal relationship with the God who loves you very, very much. This is the true purpose of human life: this alone gives true fulfilment. This is what we were created in God’s image for, in God’s brilliant plan. If you miss this, you are understandably bewildered, enshrouded in a cloud of uncertainty about the big questions of life. Jesus – and he alone – gives us authentic hope for real answers.

So being informed about Jesus is the first step to faith. As you consider him, you decide whether you are going to believe in him or not.

It’s all the more vital because we suffer from the “deadly cancer” of sin, and Jesus alone can grant full forgiveness and justification. From our general faith in the historic record of Christ, we need to become convinced that he brought the remedy of our spiritual cancer. Jesus offers deep spiritual healing, but his promises need to be believed, laid hold of personally. The Bible clearly asserts that those who believe are “justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2.16). The apostles’ message was, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved” (Acts 16.31). When we make a personal commitment to Christ, that is the faith that saves us. Then, and then only, are we “justified by faith in Christ”.

Clive Every-Clayton

0

Justified by faith

My recent posts have emphasised God’s amazing grace both in sending his Son to bear the just penalty of our sin, in our place, on the cross, and – on that basis – offering full, total, and free forgiveness of all our misdeeds, however awful they may have been. I explained that the divine forgiveness God grants takes the fuller form of “justifying” us. That means, he declares us officially not guilty and free from all condemnation.

This is a weighty theme, and one that is not as well-known and understood as it deserves, so I will clarify it here once more. It is the answer to a really profound question, formulated by theologian R.C. Sproul as “what may be the deepest existential problem a human being can ever face: how can a sinner, an unjust person, ever withstand the judgment of a holy and just God?” If we are all moral failures, it would seem we cannot survive in such a judgment. BUT… this is where justification comes in.

It helps to consider how God manages to justify the guilty sinners that we are – under three aspects that are expressed in the Bible. First, sinners such as me and you can be “justified by grace” (Titus 3.7); that means God grants this status, this salvation, purely out of his heart of love to the undeserving. We don’t have to earn it – indeed, we cannot. It is a gift freely given; that is the meaning of grace. This fact gives hope to the most awful of sinners. 

Secondly, we are justified on account of Jesus’ death, through the “redemption” accomplished through the shedding of his blood, (Romans 3.24-25, and 5.9), whereby he made a full atonement for our sins. This is unique in all the world’s religions – a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the world has been accomplished by the only one who ever could accomplish it – Jesus, the incarnate Son of God. Without that, the Just Judge of all the earth could not pardon a sinner without violating the requirements of Justice. That’s why God can justify us through Jesus’ work, for he alone fully paid for our sins in our place.

I have dealt with those two bases in past posts, but I have not yet mentioned how this full total pardon can be yours. If God is so eager to forgive – and he is – what do you have to do to be justified? The Bible’s answer is that we are “justified by faith in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2.16, Romans 5.1). That means we are totally forgiven and justified by God when we place our trust in the Lord Jesus and in the atoning work he did for us. This is the authentic and radically marvellous message of Christianity: the apostles made it clear in their early proclamation of the Gospel – for example, “All the prophets bear witness to Jesus, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10.43). And again, “Through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him all who believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law” (Acts 13.38-39).
So we who are guilty before God can be exonerated, acquitted, justified –

1. By God’s gracious kindness

2. Because Jesus died for sinners, and 

3. When we repent and put our trust in the Lord Jesus, calling on his name to save us.

It is this last faith commitment that clears away the barrier between us and God so that we experience his reality, his love and his transforming power. 

Clive Every-Clayton

0

God’s radical, total forgiveness

In one of his stories – that we call parables – Jesus used a powerful word to speak of God’s forgiveness. In the temple, a self-righteous worshipper was praying, thanking God as he enumerated the good things he did, comparing himself favourably with those he considered worse than himself. In a corner of the same temple, a broken-hearted outsider beat his breast as he pleaded with God for mercy for his sinful behaviour. This second man, said Jesus, was heard rather than the proud religionist, and he returned home “justified” (Luke 18.9-14).

To be “justified” is to be more than merely forgiven. It means he obtained the status of a man right with God, considered righteous in God’s eyes so as to be accepted as guiltless in the final judgment. This is God’s radical, total forgiveness and it assures the penitent that he has “no condemnation” to fear on the Day of Judgment.

In 1517 AD, Martin Luther hit on this glorious revelation, famously revalorising how God justifies sinners. In his day, religion taught that you had to earn your way to heaven. He had tried his best to do that but ended in despair because sin was deep in his psyche, even as a religious monk. Then he discovered in the New Testament that God was so kind and gracious that he promised to “justify” the sinner who turned away from all wrong and trusted Christ, the Saviour of sinners, to forgive him totally. Luther had grasped the biblical revelation that we are “justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law” (Romans 3.28). By a radical faith commitment, a person could be totally forgiven and made clean in God’s sight. And this was possible only because Jesus, on the cross, had borne the sinners’ punishment in our place, out of love for us. This work of atonement satisfied the demands of Justice, allowing the righteous Father to grant full and free forgiveness to those who came to trust in Jesus as Lord and Saviour.

That radical faith commitment is referred to in the Bible as “conversion”, or being “called” by God, or also being “born again”. It is a double decision: first, to abandon all evil conduct, turning away from all that God calls sin so as to start a new life in obedience to God. Secondly, to ask the Lord Jesus Christ, in faith, both to forgive and to clean up one’s life and to enter in, to dwell within, by his Holy Spirit, to enable that radical transformation to take place.

Now this step of commitment is how a person enters into the harmonious relationship with God, for the Father gladly accepts the repentant sinner and grants both his full forgiveness and the status of being justified.

Those who make that commitment can affirm with Luther and the apostle Paul: “We have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law” (Galatians 2.16). And “being justified by faith, we have peace with God by our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5.1).

Clive Every-Clayton

0

True abundant life

I have sought to show that in Jesus, God has revealed himself and has given us truth so we can obtain authentic answers to our deep existential questions. Our Creator knows perfectly what it takes for us, his human creatures to enjoy the abundant life he made us for, and he has spoken to the world by sending his Son from Heaven. Jesus’ life, teachings, death, and resurrection are so uniquely true that on that basis we can listen to him and trust the wisdom he brought us.

In fact Jesus himself made it plain: “I am come so that people may have life,” he explained, “and have it abundantly” (John 10.10). This abundant life we can enjoy here and now, even though Jesus also calls it “eternal life” because its pure happiness continues after death into eternity.

Jesus clarifies what the essence of this eternal life really is. When he prays to his Father, he says: “this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent” (John 17.3). As I have already shown in earlier posts, the real purpose of our human existence is to enjoy a positive, good, harmonious relationship with the God who loves us very much. That is what Jesus means when he speaks of knowing God – not just understanding theological truth, but being in a relationship with God, receiving his love and responding with gratitude. This is the true “Good Life”, the way to real happiness independent of circumstances. The day before he died, Jesus said to those whom he had trained, “if you know these things, you are happy if you put them into practice” (John 13.17). That’s the happiness I want for you.

God’s wisdom marks out the best way for human fulfilment. Our folly is that we follow other ways that in our blindness we think will bring us satisfaction: we are indifferent to God, or we misconceive of him; we ignore or spurn his word, we disobey his will, we live an anti-God lifestyle. Yet God kindly persists in seeking us. This revelation of a God who lovingly comes seeking sinners to draw them into his friendship is unique to Christianity. Jesus likened God to a shepherd who goes out to look for his lost sheep, finds it, and brings it home rejoicing (Luke 15.1-7).

As God seeks to bring us into the pure joy of being in a harmonious relationship with himself, he knows that our first need is to be forgiven. He has therefore taken the initiative, sending his Son on a Love Mission, so that by giving his life on the Cross our sins are “paid for” by our Saviour. This opens up the way for God to receive all sinners who turn to him, asking his forgiveness.

So now it is up to each one of us to respond to his generous kindness. God is not far away; he is knocking on your door. You need to hear his voice, calling you to turn to him. You can “hear” him as you read his life and words in the Gospels and then, he promises, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8.31-32). 

The truth of the Gospels is what we can believe. Jesus said, “whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life” (John 5.25).”This is the will of my Father, that whoever sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life” (John 6.40). 

And “whoever” includes you! 

Clive Every-Clayton

0

Cornelius’ deep insight

It’s maybe good to lay again the foundation of our authentic hope for answers: when I say that only God can furnish us with satisfying, true answers to our existential situation, I mean that there is literally no way of finding true answers any other way. Human thinking is inherently flawed and inadequate to the task.

Cornelius Van Til was a professor of both theology and philosophy, with deep insight into apologetics. His thought is as profound as it is radical, and I summarise in simple terms his demonstration of the absolute need of the God revealed in Christian Scripture for being able to know anything at all.

  1. We all constantly live and act as if reason is valid. This is the universally experienced way we think. We are rightly considered rational creatures. We check things out by our reason, and require rational answers.
  2. The question is: on what can we ground this experienced fact that reason is valid? No-one wants ridiculous illogical answers: why is that? 
  3. Reason is the opposite of chance. We make our life-decisions reasonably, not on the basis of chance.
  4. It is unreasonable to think that reason came from chance occurrences, i.e. from something less reasonable than itself.
  5. Since reason is an aspect of our personal nature as human beings, the only possible ground for the validity and reality of reason is in a Person of supreme or ultimate Reason. “Unless God is back of everything, you cannot find meaning in anything” (Van Til). 
  6. An infinitely wise Creator God is thus the indispensable necessary ground for any reasonable thinking at all. To refuse this is to opt for the illogical.
  7. All who reason therefore tacitly (and unknowingly) assume God as the ultimate ground to validate their reasoning.
  8. Even the atheist cannot argue against God without needing to hold (consciously or, more often unconsciously) to the existence of an all-reasonable God as the only ground for believing that their reasoning process is valid.

Cornelius Van Til writes therefore that the atheistic materialist has to face an irresolvable problem here, for “on his assumptions, his own rationality is a product of chance.” If our brains resulted from chance movement of atoms and molecules, there is neither real intelligence, nor personality: both are illusory.

We are rational beings and our reason requires true answers to our basic vital questions. There can be no satisfaction to this need except through the infinite wisdom of God’s mind; he alone can answer our dilemma. Without a rational Creator on whom we can ground the validity of our rationality, we are for ever lost in confusion, for the very value of our mental processes would be undermined. 

And the great news is that this Rational God is no mere philosophical supposition: the God who is there has revealed himself and communicated truth through his Son, Jesus, sent into the world to teach us. 

John’s Gospel starts by affirming: “In the beginning was the Word”. The Greek word translated “word” is logos, from which we get our word logic. John goes on to tell us that “the Word” was the Creator: “all things were made by him; without him nothing was made that has been made.” Then the Gospel says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”: the Creator God became incarnate, and “we have seen his glory” – the glory of the Son of God sent from the Father. “He has made God known” (John 1.1-18).

Authentic hope for answers can only come through Jesus who brought God’s wise answers to our existential questions. Jesus’ life and teaching is the evidence that God has spoken to the world.

Clive Every-Clayton

0

How do we know?

Maybe you’re wondering if all this is true, that Jesus’ death was a perfect atonement for our sin. Anyway, how can we know? How can we be really sure? 

The supreme proof of the whole truth of Christianity and the saving value of Christ’s death is the fact that he rose from the dead. This totally unique historic event demonstrates for all time the divine nature of Jesus, the Son of God. It was the first emphasis of the disciples’ proclamation, just seven weeks after the crucifixion, in the very town where Jesus had died. Having seen the risen Christ, spoken with him, eaten with him – even touched him, they were authentic eye-witnesses to the fact of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. They simply proclaimed the powerful truth, and thousands were convinced and became the first believers of the Christian church in Jerusalem. 

Numerous efforts have been made by those antagonistic to the Christian faith to deny these historic events: none have proved to be compelling. The Master had taught the apostles to speak the truth. They would never have lied about his resurrection since they witnessed it. Liars do not keep lying in the face of the persecution, even to martyrdom; the disciples suffered for the truth that they would never deny. 

The apostle Paul sums up what he preached: “That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas [Peter], then to the twelve [apostles]. Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive… Then he appeared to James… Last of all … he appeared to me” (1 Corinthians 15.3-8).

The resurrection of Christ therefore proves at least three things:

  1. That Jesus had spoken the truth when he predicted he would rise again. Few people realise the astounding fact that on several occasions in his public speaking, Jesus had prophesied that he would rise from the dead after three days. No-one else has ever predicted their resurrection, have they? If they did, did it happen? Of course not! But Jesus did! (Check it out: Mark 8.31; 9.31, 10.33-34, similarly reported by Matthew, and by Luke). Jesus also made other allusions to his resurrection. He declared: “I lay down my life of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again” (John 10.17). The night he was arrested he fixed a meeting place with his disciples: “After I am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee” (Matthew 26.32). This is surely mind-boggling!
  2. That Jesus was indeed the divine Son of God. He was “declared to be the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1.4). This is an integral part of who Jesus was. Christians believe it because the evidence is right there in the historic records.
  3. That his sacrificial death for the saving of sinners was approved by God the Father who raised him from the dead. The resurrection was the Father’s way of showing that the atoning sacrifice had been perfectly accomplished.

This means that God has intervened in history; he has spoken to mankind; he has created the way for sinners to be forgiven by Christ’s atoning death. Jesus has conquered death; he is alive and able to receive all who turn to him in repentance and faith. That furnishes experiential proof, so believers know it is true.

Clive Every-Clayton

0

Mission accomplished

When Jesus was dying on the cross, two “famous last words” with deep, but obscure meaning.

The first is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15.34). To understand this properly we need to know that it is actually a quotation from the first verse of the prophetic Psalm 22, in which the sufferings of the Messiah are predicted. Centuries before crucifixion was invented, this psalm made the astonishing prophetic statement, “they have pierced my hands and my feet” (v16). 

One may then ask: did the Father abandon his obedient Son on the cross? It is of the essence of hell to be forsaken by God, excluded from the warm experience of his loving presence. Is that what Jesus felt on the cross?

His cry of dereliction came when “he bore our sins in his body” on the cross (1 Peter 2.24), accomplishing the atoning sacrifice necessary so that God’s forgiveness could be granted freely and in accordance with absolute justice. Jesus’ cry expresses the Saviour’s anguish as he voluntarily took on himself, out of love for us, the full weight of the hell that we deserve for our transgressions, so as to save us from it.

The eternal punishment of hell that sinful humans incur was condensed on the infinite, divine Son of God – and that provoked his anguished cry. His supreme sacrifice, endured out of compassion for lost humanity, was the way of granting salvation to the likes of me and you. This was the greatest act of love in all the history of the world!

The second mysterious cry was Jesus’ last: “It is finished!” (John 19.30). This also was not a shout of despair but a victorious cry of accomplishment. Jesus had previously affirmed that his aim was “to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (John 4.34). It was his saving work that needed to be “finished”. In John 17.4, he prayed in anticipation on the eve of his death, “Father… I have finished the work that you gave me to do”. Finally, having made the perfect and unique atonement by giving his life “as a ransom for all” (Mark 10.45), shedding his blood “for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26.28), he spent his last breath proclaiming that his mission was accomplished.

So Jesus died, “the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3.18). He was “the Lamb of God” introduced by John the Baptist, “who takes away the sin of the world” (John1.29).  He was the perfect human fulfilment of the Old Testament animal sacrifices offered previously which were never effective, but rather prophetically didactic, looking forward to the coming of Christ who “was sacrificed once to bear the sins of many people” (Hebrews 9.28). Now no more is needed. “All is finished”.

We owe our salvation to Jesus: he was the only sinless person who could offer his life in the place of sinners. As the divine Son of God, his human sacrifice had value far beyond that of a mere man dying in the place of another. His death had infinite value to atone for the sins of a vast multitude.

As his mission and sacrifice have been so perfectly accomplished at the cross, God, on that basis, offers full and free forgiveness, by grace, to all who repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Clive Every-Clayton

0

A fall you can recover from

The Bible’s first three chapters recount what Christian theology refers to as “the Fall of man – how a pure creation became contaminated by evil. The original ancestors of the human race, created positively good, yet free to choose, were given one simple prohibition: not to eat of one particular tree in the Garden of Eden. God warned of serious consequences in the event of disobedience to this one commandment: “The day you eat of it, you will die”. Adam and Eve chose to disobey. The New Testament comments: “sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin” (Romans 5.12). Sin “came into” human existence; it was not there before. But now humans have become sinners, subject to all kinds of evil and death.

Because of this, Jesus describes human depravity in our inner being, when he says: “From within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness” (Mark 7.21-22). Quite the opposite of the first couple’s holiness before the Fall! A great tragedy – but one from which we humans can be saved and healed.

The New Testament adds, in Romans 5.19, “By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners”. In other words, sin entered as it were into the bloodstream of humanity, and we are all infected with it. Thus we are vestiges of the original glory, tarnished by inherent corruption. That is how we are to understand our human reality. That is the Maker’s diagnosis – the true facts about our condition. And the Maker subsequently set in motion the means of redemption, restoration, healing, and forgiveness – we will come to that in due course.

But I want to refer again to Pascal’s brilliant explanation of this – what theologians call “original sin”, and he calls “the mystery furthest from our ken” (§131/434). It is so dense, I will have to summarise and simplify it. He says:

As a result of the Fall, all humans are born with an inner disposition to evil. He acknowledges that this doctrine – that we should suffer from the effects of our ancestor’s disobedience – offends our proud sensibilities. “Nothing jolts us more rudely than this doctrine,” he says. Yet – get this: without this revealed explanation (that none of us likes nor could have invented, but which was there in the Bible from the first) we are unable to explain the essential duality of good and evil in our nature. “But for this mystery, the most incomprehensible of all”, he wrote, “we remain incomprehensible to ourselves”! Only by grasping this revealed truth which appears so contrary to proud human reason, he concludes, only then “can we really know ourselves.”

Profound!

He sums up therefore “two equally constant truths. One is that man in the state of his creation… is made like unto God; the other is that in the state of corruption and sin, he has fallen from that first estate and has become like the beasts”. But he alludes also to a third state, “the state of grace”. This refers to the restoration of sinful man by the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sinful men and women can be forgiven by God’s grace, through the Cross of their Saviour; and they can be made new by the converting power of the Holy Spirit, becoming beloved children of God, saved from the consequences of their sins, welcomed by God into a warm ,loving relationship with him, for which they were designed.

Clive Every-Clayton

0

The deep human malady

Are people essentially good, basically corrupt, or somewhere in between? How to assess our human reality? By our own opinion? Our evaluation would tend either to hubris or low self-esteem, because, bizarrely, there is in our nature both good and evil. Our pride would emphasise the good; our realism may recognise the bad also. 

The difficulty is, you cannot truly understand yourself by yourself. This is the eternal conundrum already long before Blaise Pascal, he who excelled in “showing how vile and how great man is” (§119/423). He also had deep insight into the real cause of both our nobility and our baseness. The dual nature of man, he saw, has its explanation par excellence in the Bible, and he expresses it as if God was telling us: “It is I who have made you, and I alone can teach you what you are. But you are no longer in the state in which I made you. I created man holy, innocent, perfect… He was not then in the darkness that now blinds his sight, nor subject to death and the miseries that afflict him. But… he wanted to make himself his own centre and do without my help. He withdrew from my rule, setting himself up as my equal in his desire to find happiness in himself, and I abandoned him to himself” (§149/430).

In other words, our positive glory comes from being part of the unique species that was created in the image of God; our deep depravity comes from the fact that humankind has fallen away from that original holiness. This is the light from God that we need to make sense of our dual reality. God’s glorious creation is in ruins; and the fault is not God’s! Man has become a rebel: “men are the devils of the earth” (Schopenhauer). “Humans have a great capacity for wrong-doing,” wrote Jordan Peterson, a “proclivity for malevolent actions. Every person is deeply flawed. Everyone falls short of the glory of God” (12 Rules for Life, p.55 and p.62). And Malcolm Muggeridge stated, “The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality, but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact”. Yes, we resist it, don’t we? Yet in our sober moments, we must acknowledge it is true. “All have sinned”, says the Bible: “None is righteous” – in the sense of being perfectly good in God’s eyes (Romans 3.10, 23). And if we think we are the exception, the Bible brings us back to reality: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1.8).

We have said that God is our Creator, but he did not make us inherently evil; he made humankind in his image, in the likeness of a holy, good and loving God. That is the source of our inherent greatness. The source of our inherent sinfulness is due to a primeval rebellion, the disobedience of the first human couple, Adam and Eve.

That deserves separate treatment.

Clive Every-Clayton

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑