A Stronger Free Will Defense: Arguements against Predestinationism

Let me start off with a quick attack. If predestinationism is true, then evangelism is the most selfish act possible. You think God needs your help to bring someone to him? If it’s God who chooses how and when we will be saved, then he doesn’t need your help. If you say you helped bring someone to Christ, aren’t you taking credit for what God did? For what only God can do? If “Total Depravity” is true, evangelism is pointless. No one could share the love of God with an unsaved person because they are to “depraved” to accept or understand it.

Now that I got that out of the way it’s time for me to show you the verses in the Bible that prove my point. God does not choose who will believe in him, nor does he choose who will not believe in him. God does not predestinate individual people, but he does predestinate believers. What I mean by that is: God doesn’t say to himself before someone is born that, “I want Joey to be saved, therefore I will make him believe in me. I will pre-determine whether he chooses life or death.” What God does say before anyone is born is, “I have decided that everyone who believes in my name and the work of my son shall inherit the kingdom. I have pre-determined that anyone who puts their faith in me will go to heaven.” From now on I will show you verses that explain God’s will that all should be saved and verses that describe the choice God gives us: we believe in him or not, we choose life or death.

No one is more special in God’s eyes than anyone else. But, believing in predestination puts you on a pedestal. If you believe you are saved because God chose you to be saved, then you are saying that you (before you realized you were saved) were better than me. God does not do things randomly; therefore he must have had a reason to pick you over someone else. So, what makes you better? Why does God love you more than someone else who is not saved but is willing to seek him? John 3:16, the verse everyone knows says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son…” Who does God love? The world! Who did God give his son for? The world! If God chooses who would be saved then this verse would read, “For God so loved the chosen elect that he gave his only begotten son.” Therefore, God does not choose who will be saved because we know that God gave his son to the world and not the chosen elect. Because God gave his son to the world, anyone can be saved. All you have to do is believe. The only way God could give his son to the world is if the whole world had a chance to receive the son.
Now I will offer a proof for free will based on this verse:
1. A person is not saved if they do not receive Jesus.
2. In order to receive Jesus, a person must have the ability to receive him.
3. Each person is part of the world
4. If something is given to an object, if the object has the ability to receive, the object can receive the given item.
5. God gave Jesus to the world.
6. God does not do meaningless actions.
7. Therefore- The world, each person, must have the ability to receive Jesus.

Conclusion: Since God does not do meaningless actions, then if God gave the world his Son, it must be because the world has the ability to receive his son. Each person is a part of the world, which means that each person has the ability to receive the gift God has given us. Predestination says that God chooses who receives his son, therefore not allowing/preventing some from receiving his Son. It follows that predestination stated that not all people have the ability to receive Jesus, since God chooses who has the ability. Therefore predestination is invalid.

1 Timothy 2:4 says, “God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved…” As you can see, God wants everyone to be saved. How are we saved? By believing in him. So, God wants everyone to believe in him. If God chose who would believe in him, then he doesn’t want everyone to be saved. Let me illustrate this with an example: I am in the mood to eat apples. So I go to the store to buy them. Now, the only apples that I will allow to come into my shopping cart are green ones, because I don’t like red apples. In order for apples to be green, it must have a green pigment in its cells. So, when I got to the store I only allow apples with the green pigment in them to get into my cart. Now, I love apples and am very hungry, so I want all the apples to be green (have a green pigment) because I want as many apples as possible. But, the apples have or do not have the green pigment independently of what I want. I did not make the apples green; I just chose the ones that were green. To relate that to humans. God (the hungry shopper) does not choose who has the spirit or believes in him (have the green pigment); he only chooses those with the spirit (green apples) to come into heaven (the cart). God wants all to be saved (the shopper is very, very hungry) he wants as many people to be saved as possible (wants all apples to be green and not red) but people have the spirit or do not have the spirit (have or do not have the green pigment) independently of what God wants.

1 Timothy 2:6 says, “Who gave himself as a ransom for all people.” Again, God would not give someone a ransom if they were not able to accept it, that would be illogical and pointless. Therefore all must be able to accept the ransom.

2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is longsuffering (patient) to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all come to repentance.” The KJV says God is longsuffering to us-ward and the NIV says God is patient with you. These verses tell us that God is patient with us! What is God showing? Patience. Who is he showing it to? Us. Why is he showing it? Because He is “not wanting anyone to perish.” From this we can conclude that it is our job “to come to repentance.” That is the only way in which God can be patient with us. If it was God’s decision whether or not we came to repentance, then God would only be being patient with himself. If it is God’s choice as to whether we are saved or not, there is not patience required toward us. God could put Jesus into our lives at any point – no waiting/patience necessary.

Next- I know that logically the absence of proof is not proof of absence but let me bring to light the way faith is portrayed as opposed to the way it is never portrayed. In Hebrews 11:1 it says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see…” [NIV] “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…” [KJV] Notice these things do not say “certainty FROM what we do not see,” nor “the evidence FROM things not seen.” Also notice that the bible never mentions faith FROM God or faith from Jesus, but faith in God and faith in Jesus! Romans 10:17 tells us exactly where faith comes from, “So faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” God does not give us faith; we attain faith by hearing the word of God. Also, the bible has never lead me to believe that I am justified by the constraint of God’s choice, or that I am justified through the will of God.

Titus 2:11 says “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” This verse alone disproves/refutes the Calvinistic doctrine of ‘Irresistible Grace.’ This verse tells us that God’s grace has appeared (been shown) to everyone. But as we all know, not everyone goes to heaven. This means that some people who have seen this grace have turned it down and not accepted it. Therefore God’s grace is resistible!

Deuteronomy 24:16 says “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.” In the T (total depravity) doctrine of Calvinism there is this theory of “Original Sin” and this theory basically says that because Adam sinned and we are all born of Adam, we are all guilty of that same sin. Therefore we are born sinful leading to our total depravity. But, as the verse in Deut shows, we are not help accountable for someone else’s sin. All will be put to death for their own sin! We don’t deserve death because of Adam’s sin; we deserve death because of our own sin. The Bible says “through one man’s sin death entered the world.” When Adam sinned, all his offspring now had a sinful nature, but are not guilty of sin until they commit their own first sin. There is also a verse in Romans that says “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Why do we all fall short? Because we all have sinned. This verse does not say “For Adam has sinned and all fall short of the glory of God.”

If the fact that we are descendants of Adam means that we are born sinful, then Jesus was sinful.

For my final points I will use three passages, 2 that show us it is our choice whether or not to choose God/life or death; and one that shows how God is not the one to plant the seed of faith in our hearts. The first comes from Deuteronomy 30:15-20 which says, “15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Here God is telling us to choose life! It is the person’s choice whether or not to choose God. This verse would be contradictory if God was the one to choose for us.

2nd passage, Ecclesiasticus (Ben Sirach) 15:11-20: “Say not: "It was God's doing that I fell away"; for what he hates he does not do. Say not: "It was he who set me astray"; for he has no need of wicked man. Abominable wickedness the LORD hates, he does not let it befall those who fear him. When God, in the beginning, created man, he made him subject to his own free choice. If you choose you can keep the commandments; it is loyalty to do his will. There are set before you fire and water; to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand. Before man are life and death, whichever he chooses shall be given him. Immense is the wisdom of the LORD; he is mighty in power, and all-seeing. The eyes of God see all he has made; he understands man's every deed. No man does he command to sin, to none does he give strength for lies.” This passage can also be found at http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/sirach/sirach15.htm. But, what this verse is saying is clearly evident. And though this book lies within the apocrypha, it is still used for teaching.

The last passage comes from 1 Corinthians 3:5-8: “5What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.” Now, was it God or man who planted the seed? Was it God or man that started the process? It was man! Someone plants the seed of faith in us by sharing with us the word of God, and once that seed is planted (once we believe) God then does the growing part by continually sanctifying us. It now makes sense to put 2 verses together- “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” and “being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phil 1:6). You see, once we choose accept Jesus, once the seed is planted; God then helps us grow. He changes us, and then continues to sanctify us through his word.

The True Meaning of Death

Did the Serpent lie when he told Adam and Eve that when they ate the fruit they would not die? Why do we still die, even though Jesus took the curse? It turns out that most of us have an incorrect definition of death when it comes to these passages. Death, is actually an end to immortal spiritual life which is equivalent to life without God. I shall now try to prove this to you using different passages in the Bible.

When Adam and Eve were being tempted by the Serpent he said, “You will not die.” As the story unfolds we see that after Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they did not physically die. They still could walk around and live their life. So, did God lie to them when he said to not eat of the tree or you will die? Of course not, but seeing as Adam and Eve did not fall to the ground God must have meant something other than physical death. After God “found out” that Adam and Eve ate from the tree he kicked them out of the garden. This action represented two things: First, A&E could no longer eat of the tree of life and therefore would no live forever. Their immortal life that they had died as soon as they ate of the fruit. We also know this because Paul tells us that “the wages of sin is death.” What this sin also did was to end their personal relationship with God. God walked around in the Garden and talked to Adam before they were kicked out. But after the sin, they no longer had that relationship. Therefore, the sin they committed did lead to their death. The death of immortal life and a life with God.

Next up comes Jesus. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” Jesus died so that we might live. Everyone would agree with me when I say that Christ took our punishment for our sins upon himself on the cross. This had to happen because again, the wages of sin is death. But, if Jesus took the curse for us, we do we still die by the curse? If Jesus died so that we don’t have to, why is my grandmother not alive right now? If Jesus was supposed to take our punishment, why will I never see the age of 100? This is because the definition of death, used in these contexts, being a stoppage of the heart is wrong. What death actually means is a lack of immortal life, a life without God. This means, that if Christ really did take away the punishment of death then Jesus had to have lost eternal life, to be without God. This, as it turns out, is exactly what happened. Jesus did lose his eternal life; that is the whole reason why Jesus had to be resurrected from the dead! If he had not lost his life, the resurrection would not have much meaning. Also, we know from what Jesus said when he was on the cross: “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me,” that Jesus was without God for a certain period of time. It all makes sense! Again, Jesus was resurrected so that he could be with the Father!

Now, I would like to focus on verses Paul writes that explain this matter further. One verse that I like to point out is Ephesians 2:12-13 which says, “Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and WITHOUT GOD in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” This verse shows how we were once without God, which by definition is: dead. We were dead because we were without God, but because Jesus came we are made alive. This is what it means when the bible says, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions” (Ephesians 2:4-5). Also, in Colossians it says, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins” (Colossians 3:13). Add this with Romans 8:10-11 which says: “10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” These two verses make it evident that before Christ comes in us we are dead, and once he joins us we are made alive. Therefore, this death that these verses are talking about is not a medical death, but a death of eternal life and/or a life without God.

How we know Paul preached a new gospel

Did Paul preach the same gospel as Jesus? Did he preach the same gospel as Peter? Throughout his letters Paul makes many attempts to get people to see that his message is new and different. We will see how Paul’s use of the terms “my gospel,” “mystery,” and “revelation” gives proof to the fact that Paul preached something new. We will also use logic to show why Paul does preach something different.

First off, let’s start with the obvious. Jesus had 11 or 12 disciples (depending whether or not you want to include Mathias) that followed him and agreed with his teaching. So, why didn’t Jesus choose 1 or more of them to spread the gospel to the Gentiles? He had 11 perfectly capable men who were more than willing to preach the good news, so why did Jesus pick someone new to spread the “gospel of the grace of God?” (Acts 20:24). It only makes sense that Jesus wanted another Gospel preached as to why he chose a new man. But was there a different Gospel to preach, other than the one the disciples knew, the one Jesus preached to them? Yes there was, and that gospel was one centered around God’s grace. The fact that Jesus had to die, and his death and resurrection led the way to everyone’s salvation. Jesus became the curse for which we were under because we sin, he then died to take the punishment of that curse, and rose 3 days later so that we, too, might live again with him. And to accept what Jesus has done for us all we have to do is put our complete trust in him and his finished work on the cross, and that no works we do can take part in our attempt at salvation. This sounds so obvious to us, we’ve been taught this for most of our lives, and a lot of people thought the disciples knew this too. But, as I shall show you, they had no idea.

Twice in Mark and twice in Luke the Bible shows us that the disciples did not understand the fact that Jesus had to die. In Mark 8:31 it says, “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” This passage goes to show that the disciples did not know that Jesus must die and rise again. They did not want Jesus to die and Peter thought it would be stupid if Jesus did die. It follows that if the disciples did not know that Jesus had to die then they did not know what Jesus’ death would actually do for all believers. They did not know what God wanted, as shown by the bolded/underlined verse, but they had in mind only what they wanted. Next, in Mark 9:31 it says, “… ‘The Son of Man is going to be delivered over to human hands. He will be killed, and after three days he will rise.’ But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.” Again, we see here that the disciples did not know or realize that Jesus had to die. Even after Jesus told them this second time, they still did not see it. Not only did they not know what Jesus meant, but they did not even ask him. These verses clearly show us that the disciples were in the dark when it came to Jesus’ death and therefore did not know what his death would do.

Continuing on with Luke in the first passage we will look at is 9:43 which says, “While everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples, “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be delivered over into human hands.” But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.” More proof that not only did the disciples not know what Jesus meant but that God the meaning from them on purpose. God did not want them to know what Jesus’ death and resurrection was all about. It was not for the 12 to know what God had in mind so the God could reveal it to Paul. Yet again in Luke 18:31 we see the same story: “Jesus took the 12 aside and told them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.’ The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.” This is the final time I am going to say this: The disciples did not know that Jesus had to die. They did not realize what the significance was in Jesus’ death and resurrection, as these 4 passages pointed out. Why? Because God did not want them to know.

God now moves on to establish a new dispensation. This time all will be saved solely by placing their faith in Jesus, and not by works. This is God’s gift of grace. Nothing we do can help us attain salvation; it is all about what Jesus did. Now, God has to make this known to everyone, and that is why he chooses someone new to reveal this mystery to. Now I will go through the reasons we can know that Paul preached a different gospel.

First, I will start with the fact that Paul proclaims the massage he teaches as “my gospel.” In Romans 2:16 Paul says, “This will take place on the day when God judges everyone’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.” Again, in 2 Timothy 2:8 he says, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal.” And finally, in Romans 16:25-26 Paul says, “Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all Gentiles might come to faith and obedience.” These verses, and especially the last one, clearly show that what Paul preaches is his gospel and no one else’s. God revealed it only to him and it was revealed when God wanted it to be. Who else uses the term “my gospel”? No one! Now, let’s go through that last verse word by word. Once Paul uses the term “my gospel” he then goes on to explain what that is. Paul’s gospel is the massage he proclaims about Jesus Christ. What does Paul preach about Jesus? That he paid the punishment for our sins with his death and that his resurrection allows us to live with him also, and that all we must do is believe in him. Then Paul in this verse says that his gospel is “the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past.” We all know what Paul means by “revelation” because in Acts we hear the story of how Jesus revealed a message to Paul. Now, the mystery which was hidden is exactly what Paul preaches now; that Faith alone in Christ will save us because of what Jesus’ death and resurrection meant. The next words used in this verse are important and usually skipped. They are: “but now.” These two words put together mean that the object in the sentence did not exist prior to a certain period, though the event does exist after that period. To put it another way, the message or mystery Paul preached was not made known prior to Paul BUT NOW the mystery or message is made known. The plan behind Jesus’ death was not known before Paul, but has now been made known to Paul through the revelation. Soon after these words comes “by the command of the eternal God” which shows us why this mystery hadn’t been known before- because God did not want it to be made known. When Paul is converted God commands the mystery to be made known through the revelation Paul receives.

Paul uses the word “mystery” 15 times, and all are talking about the revelation of Jesus’ being the final piece of salvation. Let’s look at Romans 11:25 first. “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not think you are superior: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of Gentiles has come in, and in this way all of Israel shall be saved.” Now, this verse has a lot in it, but I only want to focus on the surface level of the mystery. The mystery here, which is part of the full mystery made known to Paul, is that Israel has experienced a hardening in part. Did Jesus ever preach that Israel would experience a hardening in part? Did Jesus even mention Gentiles coming in? No, he did not. This is part of the mystery that was revealed only to Paul. Now, don’t get me wrong, Jesus knew what would happen, but he did not preach it. He left it to his father’s plan, which was to reveal it to Paul. Now onto Ephesians 3:2-6 which says, “2Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. 6This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” The first thing we see in these verses is that the administration (dispensation in KJV) of God’s grace was given to Paul for us. Wow, this clearly portrays the teachings of the grace of God given to Paul, not to Peter or James or the rest of the disciples. Paul then reiterated that the mystery was made known to him by revelation, not by anyone on earth telling him. Peter didn’t tell him, nor did anyone else. In verse 5 Paul tells us that the mystery was not made known to men in other generations. Meaning that anyone who came before Paul did not know the mystery of God’s grace. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs with Israel. Now ask yourself, did Jesus ever preach that the Gentiles would be heirs also? No, he did not.

One more thing I want to show is that Peter, even after Christ died, did not realize the mystery of the gospel of the grace of God. In Romans 14:20 it says that, “all food is clean” which is contrary to what Leviticus says, but we know that the death and resurrection of Christ, along with God’s grace, changed many things. This is why Paul now says that all food is clean. But, if we look back at Acts chapter 10 we see Peter’s vision. In this vision Peter is told to kill and eat the animals that God sets down before him. But, Peter responds by saying, “Surely not Lord! I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” By which God responds with, “Do not call anything impure that God had made clean.” This discussion happens three times then God just lifts the animals away. The passage shows us the Peter still did not understand the mystery that God had kept hidden until revealed to Paul. Therefore Paul and Peter must have preached different things.

Finally, the last point I would like you to consider is that Paul says the word “grace” 87 times to show how we are saved today (grace through faith). But Jesus never mentions the word grace in his earthly ministry. Therefore we must realize that the two were preaching different ways of attaining salvation.

Do Paul and James Contradict?

Throughout my study of the Bible I have seen the various ways Paul tries to get the point across that we, as Gentile believers, are saved by “grace through faith” and not by works. (Ephesians 2:8). All throughout his letters you see him rebuking the different nations for digressing back to works based salvation. The Galatians thought they had to be circumcised and the Corinthians thought they had to speak in tongues. No matter how many times Paul preaches that we are saved solely through God’s grace, some people still don’t get it. So, after reading Paul’s letters I skipped to the book of James and saw many things that are the exact opposite of what Paul preached, but then looking back at the first verse I knew that James was speaking to the “12 tribes of Israel” meaning the Jews. That explains the contradictions. But the purpose of the paper is not to prove that different books are written to different people as 2 Timothy 2:15 says, I will leave that for another paper, but to prove that James and Paul preach opposite messages, in terms of salvation.

First, I’ll start by laying down some key verses found in the books of Paul that most of us already know. Romans 3:28 says, “For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” Therefore, our faith must not rest upon observance of the law, and observance of the law =works. This is shown in Romans 4:4-5 when it says “Now to anyone who works, their wages are not credited to then as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to anyone who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.” So, our works have NOTHING to do with salvation. Verse 4 says that when someone works they are owed money, and therefore it is not a gift. If I work 10 hours at McDonalds they will give me $70, not because they want to throw money away, but because they owe me. They are required to give me money based on my actions. In terms of salvation, Paul tells us that God’s grace is a free gift and cannot be earned. Nothing we can do can merit grace. Grace is not owed to us because of our actions; therefore we must have complete faith in Jesus’ finished work and realize there is nothing we can do to achieve salvation. Verse 5 clearly portrays this when it says “to anyone who DOES NOT WORK…” So, can works be any part of attaining righteousness? Can it be .0001%? No! Romans 11:6 says, “And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.” You can’t have part works and part grace; according to the definition Paul’s gives us, that is impossible. It’d either 100% grace or 100% works, the 2 cannot be combined. In order to attain righteousness we must not work, but trust God. Is this saying not to do any good works ever? No. Once we are saved, and even before, we should do good works, but those works should not ever be mixed with our perception of salvation.

Romans 9:16 says, “It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.” This also testifies to the fact that not even a desire to do what is good can save us. God’s mercy is all that can save us. Faith, putting your trust in God and Jesus, is the only way to be saved; nothing you do, but believing in what Christ did. Christ did all the work for you; just believe that and you in. Romans 10:4 reiterates that point when it says, “Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” Christ fulfilled the law FOR us; we don’t have to do anything! Just believe. Galatians 3:3 says, “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort?” Human effort is what Paul is trying to steer away from (again, I am only talking in terms of salvation.) God’s grace requires and demands no effort on our part. Nothing we can do can help us attain salvation.

I hope it is clear to everyone that we are saved by faith alone. Faith in Jesus and God’s grace. No amount of works can help us, or should be done, to attain righteousness.

Now, onto James. Here, I will start with a bang to keep you interested. Do you believe we are saved by faith alone? If so, then why does James in 2:24 say, “You see that people are justified by what they do and NOT BY FAITH ALONE.” Paul clearly says we are justified by faith alone, but James says we aren’t (they must be talking to 2 different people). Now, for some other verses in James. Chapter 2 verse 12 says, “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law…” Now, according to Paul, do you think we should act as if we are going to be judged by the law? I don’t think so. We should act as if we are saved by God’s grace, not judged by the law, but called to do good works. Then move down to verse 14 which states, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if people claim to have faith but have no deeds (NIV or “works” in KJV)? Can such faith save them?” The implicit answer is no. So what James is saying that faith without works cannot save you. This goes against what Paul says in Ephesians 2:8. This point is reiterated in James 2 verse 17: “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” But Romans 9:19 told us it did not depend on human effort. James literally says works MUST accompany faith, or that faith is dead, Again, James preached faith + works; not faith alone. One last time James says in 2:26, “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” I don’t think it can be spelled out more clearly that James believes salvation/righteousness = faith +works.

Now comes the confusing part, but eye opening once you understand it. Both James and Paul use the story of Abraham to back up their points. In Romans chapter 4. In verse 3 Paul writes, “What does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.’” In verse 13 he says “It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would he heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.” Verse 16 says, “Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace…” Paul shows us continually that is was strictly Abrahams’ faith that saved him and not any works. Not let’s go to James. 2:20-22 says: “You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our fat her Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the alter? You see that his faith and his actions were working TOGETHER, and his faith was made complete by what he DID.” So, James is saying that Abrahams’ works + faith gave him righteousness. So, is Paul or James correct, being that they say 2 opposite things?

Well as it turns out, unsurprisingly, they were both right. Paul recounts the story in Genesis 15 and James recounts the story in Genesis 22. So was Abraham declared righteous twice? Yessir. Romans 4:11 says “…So then he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised (Gentiles), in order that righteousness might be credited to them. AND he is then also the father of the circumcised (Jews) who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.” Continuing in verse 16; “Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring- not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’” So, why did Abraham have to be declared righteous twice? So he could be the father of all who believe. In order to be the Gentile’s father he must be justified by faith. And in order to be the father of the Jews he must be justified by faith + works.

Finally, I think it is correct to say that Paul and James preached different messages in terms of salvation. Paul said we just need faith. James said it is faith + works. These 2 messages do not conflict with one another because Paul is talking to the Gentiles and James it talking to the Jews.

Timeline

Why the Serpent is Satan.

Why the Serpent in Genesis chapter 3 is Satan

I. The serpent will be crushed under a man’s foot
A. Verse 15 says And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
1. The women’s offspring will eventually entail Jesus’ birth. And Jesus will defeat Satan.
2. Romans 16:20 says “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” This shows that God will crush Satan’s head under Eve’s offspring’s feet.
I. Orginial Liar
a. John 8:44 says “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
i. The Serpent is the original liar, The original liar is Satan. Satan is the serpent.

II. The Book of Revelation
a. Revelation 12:9 “The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.”
b. Revelation 20:2 “He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

III. Satan has only directly tempted God’s “sons” or the sinless
a. It is a fact that Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness. Jesus was perfect/sinless and God’s creation and had an obligation to fill, ordered by God. So Satan tried to destroy all that.
b. Who else was God’s creation? Who else was perfect/sinless? Who else had an obligation to God? And who was tempted in order to destroy all of that? Adam!
IV. Parallels between the beginning and end of chapters in Genesis.
a. Genesis 1
i. Beginning = starting creation
ii. End = finishing creation
b. Genesis 2
i. Beginning = Heaven AND earth were finished
ii. End = Man AND wife come together to become one (finished)
c. Genesis 4
i. Eve gave birth to Cain, and praised to Lord
ii. Seth gave birth to Enosh, and praised the Lord
d. Genesis 5
i. Self explanatory, it’s a list of Adam’s descendents
e. Genesis 6
i. Beginning = People began to multiply; Fulfilling what God commanded them to do
ii. End = “Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him”
f. Back to Genesis 3
i. Beginning = “Now the serpent was more craft than any other wild animal”
ii. End =Cherubim (4 faces, 3 being animals) and flaming sword
iii. This leads us to believe that there was something mystical/other-worldly characteristics of this serpent; which would point to Satan.
V. Dust
a. “and dust you shall eat all the days of your life” [serpent]
b. “you are dust and to dust you shall return” [man]
c. Satan feeds off of sinful people/actions. When the sinful man dies, he is together with Satan.
VI. How the stories go
a. Who is the Bad guy in this story? [serpent]
b. Who is the bad guy in the Bible? [Satan]
c. Serpent = Satan

Can We Stop Sinning?

2 passages come to mind. Background on sinning
Romans 7: 14-25
14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
OK, so these verses first.
But I (this is Paul talking) am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. Slaves must obey their masters, which is in this case sin, that is why we must make Christ our master. This sin nature that Paul talks about lives in everybody. It is a side-effect of living in the flesh. Verse 23, “waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin.” All humans go through the same thing. We all want to do good and not sin. We have a debate within our minds, however small, about every action we take. Should we do this or should we do this? I feel that these verses explain to us, very clearly, that sin is powerful, affects everyone, and causes us to do what we don’t want to do.
Anything else you guys want to say?
The nest passage is one that everyone has surely heard. But did you know it was in the not only the Bible twice, but the same book twice. Look at Matthew 5:29-30 [read it]. Then Matthew 18:8-9 [read it]. Jesus here, isn’t exaggerating and isn’t making stuff up. He is dead serious. Back in those days, obviously Christ hadn’t died, so their sins weren’t forgiven by his blood, so sinning was a lot harder to wash away. Even so, Christ knew that there would be certain sins for people that they just can’t get over unless they cut off the source; the source being the eye, hand, or foot. It sounds extreme, but Christ knew how impossible it is to stop sinning. The eye, the hand, the foot are all flesh, and the flesh is death because of sin.
NEXT. Is there any chance of overcoming this struggle? Can we prevail over sin?
Well, the obvious answer comes to mind. We, alone, cannot prevail over sin. Only Jesus can do that! But let’s look at a verse
Galatians 5:16-18
16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
So, if you live by the Spirit, you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. This verse and the next verse lead me to believe that when Paul says to live by the Spirit, he means 100%. And if we are honest with ourselves, we have to agree that it is impossible to live by the spirit all 100%. Another point to go with that; in verse 18 Paul says “if you are LED by the spirit.” So there must be a difference between being LED by the spirit and LIVING by the Spirit. I feel we are all led by the spirit, and I think you guys would agree. Back to verse 17; “They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not what you want.” What does this verse mean? Is it saying that whichever one wins, the sinful nature or the spirit, that neither is what you want? I don’ think so. I think Paul and I are on the same page and that we WANT to do whatever the spirit wants, and DON’T want to do what the sin wants. Am I correct? But why doesn’t Paul say that the Spirit wins or that you do what you want to do. I think that Paul is saying that the sinful nature wins, and that we do what we don’t want to do. But, why does the sinful nature win? And not the Spirit? Because we don’t FULLY 100% live by the spirit. Because if we did live 100% by the spirit, we would not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
How about Romans 8:5-12
5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind of sinful man[e] is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind[f] is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
So, we are controlled by the Spirit, not sinful nature. Then why do we still sin? Well, what better time to use a parable, one that I made up. Most of us were controlled by our parents when we were young. They made us go to school, told us when to brush our teeth, told us when to eat, told us when to go to baseball practice; so I think it’s fair to say that they controlled us. But, it seems every day we found a way to disobey them. The sinful nature chose for us what we did, even though it was our parents who gave us physical life.
Also, Think back to Adam, here was a person who didn’t even know what sin was. He was not controlled by it in any way. He had no sin nature and what did he do? The same thing goes for Eve. That’s 2 people who knew not of sin and sinned anyways.
We will always sin, and that’s part of what makes Jesus’ sacrifice and God’s grace so awesome! We don’t have to follow the law to attain salvation. Romans 5:20 says, “The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase.” Then go back to verse 13 “to be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law.” So the law was brought in to this world to show the Jews and everyone after them, that they DO sin, and that they sin a lot. Just like us. Verse 20 again “…but where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” Also, lucky for us, we are not under the law, we are under grace. You might at this point be thinking that I’m telling you that it’s okay to sin. Or that you’re gonna be forgiven anyway, so just go ahead and sin. Since the law was to show us that we do sin, and we, as Christians, are not under the law, but under grace, shouldn’t it be okay to sin? Let me rephrase that question. Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? Well, for the answer, look at Romans 6:15 and you will get your answer…….. By no means! [finish reading passage]. So, just because we are forgiven of our sins, doesn’t mean we can keep on sinning. True, we will still sin, and God will still forgive us, but it is our calling to be like Christ; we are “slaves to righteousness.”
So, I’ll finish with the irony that is God. The only one who can save us from our sins- is the one who didn’t sin. It wasn’t Pilot who put Jesus on the cross, it wasn’t the Pharasies who put Jesus on the Cross, it wasn’t the Jews who put Jesus on the cross- it was OUR sins!
Back to Adam and Eve, there’s something I’d like to share with you guys. A theory as to why Adam is mainly responsible for Eve’s decision. Go to Genesis 2:16
“and the lord God commanded the man “you are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must no eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will certainly die.” So after reading that the only thing Adam could not do is EAT the apple. Could he look at it? Yes. Could he throw rocks at it? Yes. Could he take the fruit and throw it? Yes. He could do anything to the fruit except eat it. But, let’s see what instructions were given to Eve. Chapter 3:2 “the women said to the serpent, “we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” Hold on here! God didn’t say that! Find me in the Bible where God said “do not touch it.” He didn’t! So, I bet you $100 the devil was picking apples of the tree and juggling them, right in front of Eve and saying “hey, look at me; I’m touching the fruit and not dying.” Which led Eve to think that God was wrong and that she wouldn’t die. Therefore she ate the apple.

Did I Choose God or Did God Choose Me?

Is predestination real? Does God choose who goes to heaven and who goes to hell? Does he provide the faith we need to accept him? Is his grace irresistible? The answer to all these questions is NO. I believe that we have free will and it is our job to recognize God’s creation, Jesus’ love, and the Holy Spirit’s power. I chose to accept God and to believe in Jesus’ finished work on the cross. Jesus did not die just to save those he wanted to save, but he died to take away everyone’s sin, so that everyone had a chance to accept God’s grace and attain salvation. But how do I know this is so?
Let’s start with 1 Timothy chapter 2. It says “1I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone- 2for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3This is good, and please our God our Savior, 4who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God and one mediator between God and human beings, Christ Jesus, himself human, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all people.” This verse specifically says that God wants ALL to be saved and that Jesus paid the ransom for ALL people. John 3:16 reiterates this: “3For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” God loves the WORLD. Now, can anyone honestly say that scripture tells us that God chose a certain number of people to be saved? Do they tell us that Christ died to save the chosen? No.
Now, let’s look at 2 Peter 3:9 “9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but to come to repentance.” This verse also tells us that God wants all to come to repentance. But, before that, it says God is being patient with us. Why would this be so? Certainly it is not because God does not have the power to change our hearts immediately; because he does. God is not being patient with us because it takes a long time for him to convert our hearts, God can convert our hearts in less than a second. But, God is being patient WITH US because it is our choice as to whether or not we will accept Christ. If it was not OUR choice than God would only be patient with himself; which is not what the verse says.
Now, on to Romans chapter 3 starting with verse 22 “22This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of blood- to be received by faith.” Now according to this verse what is given to us by God? Answer: Righteousness and a sacrifice of atonement. Both these things are given THROUGH faith. Nowhere in the bible does it say that faith is a gift from God. Actually, faith being given to us by God contradicts the definition of faith itself. Faith is believing in what cannot be proven, believing in what we hope for. If God gives us faith that says he is real, then it is no longer faith, it is knowledge. If we think that God makes us believe in him, then we do not accept him on faith, we accept him because we are given the knowledge that he exists. [provide analogy here]. On to another point- Verse 24 says that all are justified freely by his grace. It does not say, in fact it says the opposite of, we are justified by the constraint of God’s choice, or we are justified through the will of God.
We all know the story of Abraham and Isaac, how God asked Abraham to offer his son Isaac on the alter to test Abrams’s faith. And right before Abraham was about to slay his son God says “ 12’ Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ he said. ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.’ “ God tested Abraham. Why? To see if Abraham truly feared God. It is Abraham’s choice whether or not to believe in/fear God. If it is not Abraham’s own choice, then God merely tested Himself, which is ridiculous! Therefore, it is our choice to accept God and have faith in him, not God’s choice.
What about God finding favor in certain people, mainly Noah. Genesis 6:8 says “8But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.” How did Noah find favor in the sight of the Lord? Easy, the only way he could have, by obeying God’s word and believing in God. Genesis 7:1 says “1Then the Lord said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation.” These two verses show that Noah found favor in God and that he was righteous. Nowhere in Genesis does it say that God chose Noah to believe. If God chose Noah to believe in Him, then He couldn’t find favor in Noah, because God made him do these things. If God controlled whether Noah would accept him or not, God would not find favor in him just because he did what God made him do. If you could control someone you would not like them simply because they did what you said, that doesn’t make sense. Imagine holding a gun to someone (this is the only way a human can directly control another human) and asking them to get you a glass of water. If they get you a glass of water are you going to then have more respect for the person or like them more? No. They are doing what you asked because you made them do it.
Genesis 6:6 says, “And the Lord was sorry he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” Why was the Lord angry? Because people were sinful and would not turn to God. So, from this verse it is obvious God does not chose who is saved, because this verse says he is sorry for making humans who would not choose him and continue only in evil! If God chose who he wanted to be saved, he would never have felt this way because he would have just opened some humans hearts to accept him.
I now feel that it’s time to move on and discuss some verses that are very confusing. Mostly, the verses that have the word “predestination” in them. But one thing I want to point out before I continue is that a lot of people have a crooked view of the word predestination. Notice that whenever the word it mentioned it is talking about a group of people, never a single person.
First up, Romans 8:29-30, “29 For those God forknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” Now, this is tricky, so feel free to read this paragraph over a few times. “those God forknew” refers to the believing Gentiles; God knew there would be a group of Gentile believers (that’s why he sent his son to die, so that Gentiles could also have their sins forgiven and be saved). So those Gentile believers were “also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son;” now conforming to the image of the Son is talking about a change in personality but also about being saved. God predestined ‘the forknown’ to be saved. The key here is to realize that the ones God forknew are not specifically Bob, Paul, Sara, Jim, Will; but the ones God forknew is the group of Gentile believers. Here is a metaphor that might make things clearer. God chose Gentile believers to be saved, but he didn’t choose who would be a Gentile believer. Another way is: All Gentile believers can get on this bus #2, and God is letting us all know that bus #2 is going to heaven. It is now our job to become Gentile believers, which gets us on the bus.
Next, we jump over to Ephesians 1:4-5 which says “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.” This verse’s first sentence starts right off by saying that God chose us to be saved. But who is the “us”? Paul writes this letter to Gentiles. Just as I said before God chose the Gentile Believers (as a group, not specific people) to be saved. Again, when in the next sentence, Paul says God predestined us for adoption, he is talking about Gentiles. Let me give you another example to back this up. Think back to Romans 11 and the ingrafted branch. Did God graft single person branches in or the whole Gentile nation? God grafted the whole Gentile nation branch in so that whosoever believes in Him shall never perish but have eternal life!

Are We Created In The Image Of God?

This question has been the center of disagreement in my Bible study for a long time. And it’s time I did something about it. In order to answer this question I will need to do four things: define “image”, list my points, prove them using verses in the Bible, and show why other verses that look like contradictions to my argument are not.
So, what does it mean to be created in God’s image?
My first choice will be to debate the issue based on the definition of image being “sinless.” God is sinless, therefore, God’s image could also be sinless. When Adam was created, he was made sinless. Now, being made sinless is different from having the potential to sin. Adam obviously had the potential to sin, and he ended up sinning, but before that he was sinless. Once Adam sinned, I believe the sinful nature entered humans and therefore abolished God’s image in us. Now, let’s look at a very interesting verse: Genesis 5:1-2 says “1This is the list of the descendants of Adam. When God created humankind (Heb Adam) he made them (Heb him) in the likeness of God. 2Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them “Humankind” (Heb Adam) when they were created. 3When Adam had lived 130 years, he became the father of a son in his likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.”
Verse one is self explanatory and no one can find anything to criticize. Verse 2, on the other hand, brings up something to talk about. God named Adam and Eve “Humankind.” This makes one think that if God refers to “Humankind” then he could definitely be talking about just Adam and Eve. Now, verse 3, it directly says that Seth was born in Adam’s image. Why doesn’t it say Seth was made in God’s image? It seems verse 1 and 3 were written the way they were for a reason. The Bible has already told us, back in chapter 1:27, that Adam was created in God’s image, so why bring it up unless Moses is trying to prove a point and bring some differences to light? This leads me to believe that the image of God and the image of Adam are not the same thing. This would make perfect sense if the image of God referred to sinless and the image of Adam referrers to sinful. Are we now all born sinners? It would seem so according to Genesis 8:21 “21And when the Lord smelled the pleasing odor, the Lord said in his heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done.” God says that the heart is evil from youth, which can be taken as since we were born. Also, Romans 5:18-19 says “18Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. 19For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” Because of Adam’s sin, we were all made sinners, which can also be taken as born sinners.
Now that I have shown we are born sinners, I must continue on proving that we are no longer in God’s image. My first argument would be that since all of us are born sinners, we are all sinful, and therefore born in Adam’s image. For my accompanying reason I will take you to some verses. 1 Corinthians 15:49 says “49And just as we have bourne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man." This book, and consequently this verse, was written to Gentile believers. And what Paul is saying is that everyone has bourne the image of the earthly man, but only the believers in Christ will bear the image of the heavenly man. So, is God an earthly or heavenly man? Is Adam an earthly or heavenly man? It seems clear that we boar the image of the earthly man, and that means we boar the image of Adam and not God. My second verse comes from 2 Corinthians 3:18 “18And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord.” What this verse is trying to say, using clues from the verse in 1 Corinthians, is that we are being transformed from the image of the earthly man into the image of the heavenly man. You might now be wondering how this fits in with sinful/sinless. It would seem that this verse is implying that we started out as sinful but are transforming into something sinless. This fits with what Jesus has done for us. We all started out sinful and our objective is to become sinless so that we may be found righteous in his sight. But can we ever become totally sinless? No. So how do we get into heaven? We get our sins taken away and in effect become sinless. That is where Jesus and his work on the cross comes in, but I don’t have to tell you that.
Now, when trying to say that we still are born in God’s image, people usually refer to certain verses. The main one being Genesis 9:6 which says “6Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person’s blood be shed; for in his own image God made humankind.” Now, I’ll show you three reasons why when it says God made humankind in his image it is not talking about us. 1- humankind is a type of race, and therefore is only made once. When you or I are born, do we start a new race? Is humankind made again? A human being is made again, but not humankind. 2- Look back up at the top and read Genesis 5:2, better yet, I’ll re-type it: “2Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them ‘Humankind’ when they were created.” God specifically named Adam and Eve Humankind; just like you would call Mr. and Mrs. Johnson the Johnsons. So when God says humankind in 9:6 he is specifically talking about Adam and Eve. 3- We know what Genesis 9:6 says, but what does the next verse (Genesis 9:7) say? [To make my point clear I will put verse 6 & 7 together] “6Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person’s blood be shed; for in his own image God made humankind. 7And you, be fruitful and multiply, abound on the earth and multiply in it.” Why is that “And you” there? The reason it is there is to show that God was talking about someone else when he mentioned ‘mankind’ and now he wants to put the attention back on the person he was talking to in the first place (Noah).
But I must now digress to a previous question. What does it mean to be created in the image of God? I already gave one possibility, sinlessness. But, what else could it be? Two things that it is NOT are same physical feature as the creator or physical features imagined by the creator. Let me explain further. One might say that to be created in the image of God must mean to look like him, physically. But this cannot be so because God has no physical body or shape. Then another might say that to be created in the image of God means to be created in the way that God imagined us. God imagined a being with two legs and 2 eyes and 2 arms and so on… This could be true for Adam; but it also says that Adam “gave birth” to Seth in his own image. And it stands to reason that Adam did not have the power to create a human that looked the way he wanted it to. So both definitions concerning physical features are void. So, what else is there? It could be an intangible 3rd eye that allows humans to see God. We assume that Adam was able to see God as he was walking around in the garden and that is because he had the 3rd eye. But once sin entered the world, the 3rd eye died, and therefore Seth was born in Adam’s image without the 3rd eye. This holds true throughout the rest of the Bible because we know that if someone where to look at God, from Seth- on, they would surly die. But how does the 3rd eye correspond to “being transformed”? Easy, the unbeliever cannot see God and cannot form a relationship with him. But, when we accept Jesus into our lives we can then form a relationship with God and see him working in our lives and other’s lives.
Any other opinions as to what image means? A friend of mine brought up the opinion of the image of God being qualities of God, such as: feelings, thinking, rationalization, unconditional love, perfect peace, and the like. He suggests that Adam started off with 100% of these things, but when he made the wrong choice and sin entered then all of these qualities were watered down. We know longer have perfect rationalizing skills, our thinking, especially in terms of spiritual secrets is permanently flawed and there is no way of achieving perfect peace or showing unconditional love. This also coincides with transformation verse in that once we accept Jesus into our hearts he allows us to interpret the Bible, to have a greater peace and to love abundantly.
So, which of the three is the correct answer? I’m not sure yet…