davidbowerkingwood

The Bible

The narrative found in the Bible does not follow traditional human perspectives on life and living; it is as if it was written by someone under the influence of an outside source who saw things from an entirely different point of view. It presents a scenario which seems entirely contrary to human reason and logic; the whole concept of sin and redemption being a case in point.

The primary message of the Bible involves only two men, Adam and Christ, the only two men who had God as their father; everything else that happens is simply the results of the actions of one of those two. The first man, Adam, failed by disobeying a direct command of God thereby causing his own spiritual death and the spiritual death of every descendent that would subsequently be born of a human father. The second man, Christ, was fathered by God, the Holy Spirit, and was the incarnation of the second person of the Trinity.

This time, God would come himself in the form of a created human man and take the necessary steps to redeem his fallen creation, steps which would include the painful death of his mortal human body on the cross and the unimaginable agony of becoming sin for all mankind, past, present and future.

A Wild Scenario

Now, for a moment, be honest with yourself; there is no man who could have dreamed up such a wild scenario; the creator of the universe coming as a servant to suffer and die in order to redeem his creation? Let’s face it, this is outside the realm of human reason and logic! What is even more incredible is this is the true reality in which we live!

This wild scenario continues after the work of redemption was finished by Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity, as now God, the third person, the Holy Spirit, permanently indwells all who receive Christ as Savior never to leave them again. This is done by giving them a new birth whereby their dead spirits are brought back to life and creating an entirely new race of humans, those who have living spirits and are permanently indwelt by God, the third person versus those who are still spiritually dead.

While nothing has changed in the physical appearance of those who have experienced the second birth, everything has changed in the eternal, spiritual reality that really counts. This is a truly permanent change that cannot be reversed as it is the work of God, not of man; God, the Holy Spirit, has restored the spirit that died in Adam to a new birth through the work of Christ and, in addition, has indwelt the newly born-again individual and will never leave them.

This time, God had devised a plan whereby human frailty and Satanic deception could never again result in the spiritual death of God’s creation and a new creation was to come into existence just after the First Advent came to a close.

A Totally New Humanity is Created

After Pentecost, May 25, 33 AD, a totally new kind of humanity came into existence; humans with a living spirit, like Adam had before the fall, but in addition have God eternally joined to them in an inseparable union which was established and is now maintained by the power of God! Nothing in the universe can break that union, absolutely nothing!

In Romans 8:38-39 this is referenced when it is written:

^“38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Living by Faith

While a great part of life responds well to human reason and logic there are areas where it just doesn’t seem to work. Mankind wastes a lot of time trying to reconcile human reason and logic with reality (evolution being an example) which is why we are cautioned to live our spiritual lives based on faith, not on reason and logic. One area which seems to be a particular puzzle to mankind is the subject of sin.

We all struggle with sin and when human reason is applied we can see ourselves coming up short. It is only logical that our sinful failures should exact some divine retribution which, by the thinking of some, could include the loss of our salvation. After acting in a certain way we may feel totally unworthy of God’s saving love but that application of human logic is totally contradicted by the narrative of the Bible. Let’s take a look at what the Bible reveals as the truth of our reality.

OSAS

OSAS is an acronym for once saved always saved; the popular expression for the eternal security of the believer. Christianity teaches that the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross provides an eternal, unalterable salvation for the one who accepts the finished work of Christ as the payment for their sins.

This very simple concept is amazingly difficult for many Christians to believe and accept. I find it saddening that so many who should be rejoicing with confidence in their salvation are afflicted by doubt and uncertainty when it comes to the security of their position as members of God’s family.

There seems to be a feeling that some sins are just too bad to be so easily forgiven by simple belief in the Lord as one’s Savior; certainly, they think, some sins are so hideous that some sort of special penance or additional payment is required for God to forgive those sins.

Notice particularly that I selected the word feeling because these ideas come from our own feelings of unworthiness. There are times when all of us are disgusted by memories of our failures and feel unworthy of salvation; feelings that God should just send a lightning bolt down from heaven and obliterate us giving us what we truly deserve.

In the last part we will examine how this all plays out in our lives; what are the ramifications of being a member of a relatively new race of man?