You know why there are certain schools that are superior than others? It's because the curriculum there are superior and the teachers there are superior also. And concerning spiritual truth, the Lord said that the student cannot be greater than the teacher. And so it is always wise to find the best one in town and stay with him. : )
Anyway, this is actually a reply to a friend on the topic, the fallen state of man. Not that I have a Phd in this discipline but that I rely upon the Holy Ghost for revelation.
So what do we mean by the fallen state of man? We say that he is spiritually dead. That I agree. But that man cannot perform any spiritual act because he is dead spiritually, because one must have spiritual life first before he can perform any spiritual act, on the logical basis that life precedes action, this I see is erroneous.
So I state, it is not true that the natural, carnal, un-born again man cannot perform any spiritual act. But rather I believe that everything about man is spiritual and that whatever he say or act has spiritual implications, whether he is born again or not. In fact all of mankind wants to be spiritual except maybe the Atheists. But I doubt their convictions because God has put eternity in a man's heart. Now the KJV translated the hebrew word "olam" as "world" when it actually means eternity. Here is the ESV translation:
Ecc 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
This explains the spiritual yearning in every man and the many forms of religion all around the globe. This fact is also recorded in the Bible:
It is not that we cannot complain against God because He is God, and He is all powerful. We cannot charge God of wrong doing not because He is the Potter and we are the clay but because there is just no inquity in God. He is Holy and He is perfect. But the Apostle Paul used such arguments in his difficulty to explain spiritual truths to a carnal church.
You know, there is what is called the operation of God:
Col 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
And if we really know God, we would also know the operation of God. We ought to know the ways of God. Not the one referring to the way of righteousness but to the way that God does things.
Sure it is God who grants repentance, and a sinner if left alone by God will not repent on his own. And we do affirm this:
Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
and again:
Joh 15:5 ... for without me ye can do nothing.
But if God grants a person repentance, how does He do it? Does God turn a dial inside a man's heart and there you go, we have a repentant heart? What is the operation of God concerning repentance? How does he do things? Let's read that passage again from Jeremiah:
Jer 31:19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.
How did he come to repent? He said after that he was instructed. And so the operation of God there was through the instruction.
And another look at that passage from Acts:
Act 5:30-31 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. (31) Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
It says, Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior... This was the operation of God. The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner. As the Apostle Paul says, for to provoke them to jealousy! If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. (Rom 11:14)
So how does God grants repentance? God is creative, He has so many ways. Jonah had to preach to Nineveh, and they repented.
And what about the prodigal son? Was it God who pushed him until he was sleeping and eating with the swine? No, it was Satan who pushed him there. But the very thing that Satan did, the same God used and brought forth good from out of it.
Anyway, this is actually a reply to a friend on the topic, the fallen state of man. Not that I have a Phd in this discipline but that I rely upon the Holy Ghost for revelation.
So what do we mean by the fallen state of man? We say that he is spiritually dead. That I agree. But that man cannot perform any spiritual act because he is dead spiritually, because one must have spiritual life first before he can perform any spiritual act, on the logical basis that life precedes action, this I see is erroneous.
So I state, it is not true that the natural, carnal, un-born again man cannot perform any spiritual act. But rather I believe that everything about man is spiritual and that whatever he say or act has spiritual implications, whether he is born again or not. In fact all of mankind wants to be spiritual except maybe the Atheists. But I doubt their convictions because God has put eternity in a man's heart. Now the KJV translated the hebrew word "olam" as "world" when it actually means eternity. Here is the ESV translation:
Ecc 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
This explains the spiritual yearning in every man and the many forms of religion all around the globe. This fact is also recorded in the Bible:
Act 17:22-23 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. (23) For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
Clearly those people are not born again yet they perform the spiritual act of worship.
So what do we mean that man is spiritually dead? Spiritual death is separation from God. And it is sin that causes this. When the Lord Jesus was crucified, he did not only die physically but he died spiritually for He cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? How can the Father forsake Him when He is the Son of God? It is a simple principle of crime and punishment because the demands of Justice is that a wrong must not go unpunished and God himself declared that the wages of sin is death.
So what do we mean that man is spiritually dead? Spiritual death is separation from God. And it is sin that causes this. When the Lord Jesus was crucified, he did not only die physically but he died spiritually for He cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? How can the Father forsake Him when He is the Son of God? It is a simple principle of crime and punishment because the demands of Justice is that a wrong must not go unpunished and God himself declared that the wages of sin is death.
And during that time when the Lord Jesus was crucified to the cross, God laid on Him the iniquities of us all. He took responsibility for our sins and He tasted death for us. That is why after the resurrection, He was called the first born of the dead. Not that He was the first one to be raised from the dead because there were others before Him that was raised from the dead. But that the Lord Jesus was the first man to come out of spiritual death. I believe that this is what is meant by being born again, to come out of spiritual death, to be reunited with God, to be in fellowship with Him in the spirit and see and enter into His kingdom. And so to be spiritually alive, one has to be born again.
So how does one get born again? (Joh 3:8) The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
But is it the case that one should just find himself born again? Like waking up one morning and there it is, he feels the wind blows and then he is born again? I believe that is hardly the case. So how is one born again? I believe the answer is found in:
So how does one get born again? (Joh 3:8) The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
But is it the case that one should just find himself born again? Like waking up one morning and there it is, he feels the wind blows and then he is born again? I believe that is hardly the case. So how is one born again? I believe the answer is found in:
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
A man is a new creature because he is born again. The Scripture says "if a man be in Christ," and so the requirement is that a man be in Christ! But how does a man come into Christ?
A man is a new creature because he is born again. The Scripture says "if a man be in Christ," and so the requirement is that a man be in Christ! But how does a man come into Christ?
Recently I just learned about the principles of the doctrine of Christ.
Heb 6:1-3 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, (2) Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. (3) And this will we do, if God permit.
Now the Scripture doesn't tell us expressly and specifically that these principles are requirements for one to come into Christ but I believe that a thorough and firm understanding of these foundational principles will settle all our questions and contradictions concerning our faith.
And what are these foundational principles? They are:
1. Repentance from dead works
2. Faith toward God
3. The doctrine of baptisms
4. The laying on of hands
5. The resurrection of the dead
6. Eternal judgment
The primary of these is the repentance from dead works. And this now also is the point of contention for it seems to me that you have other kinds of repentance which are Passive Repentance and Active Repentance. But if one wants to be technical about the Word of God, I'd rather that we stick to terminologies expressly used in the Bible, and in this case, the terminology that is relevant is "repentance from dead works."
Now this to me is easy. Repentance means to turn away, and dead works are works of unrighteousness. It simply means to turn away from the path of the unrighteous, to turn away from evil and wicked deeds, or simply to turn away from sin. Now here it becomes relevant what I said earlier that our actions has spiritual implications. And sin does have fatal spiritual implications:
Gen 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
Heb 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Let us get the ESV translation for Gen 4:7 so we can get a better grasp of it.
Gen 4:7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it."
A simple deduction from Gen 4:7 is that we must overcome sin, otherwise sin takes over us. As the Apostle Paul says, if we yield to sin, we become slaves to sin. And sin does hold one captive until all that he does is only evil. And to the one who knows Christ, he is given caution lest he be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
While Heb 3:13 is addressed to a man in Christ, Gen 4:7 is addressed to a man without Christ. And so repentance from dead works applies both to the saved and the unsaved. And for both of them, the effect of sin is very much the same: it leaves them both dead.
While one is already spiritually dead and the other is alive in Christ, both are capable of committing a spiritual act, howbeit in this instance, it is sin. I believe at this point, the proposition that spiritual life must precede a spiritual act is misplaced if not totally wrong. But what about the spiritual act of repentance?
The Primitive's view is that the spiritual act of repentance is purely an act of God and not of the sinner because of the following passages:
2Co 7:10-11 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. (11) For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
Jer 31:19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.
Act 5:30-31 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. (31) Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
And to quote from that author, he says:
"This should forever put to silence that idea that repentance was the sinner's act; hence we conclude that it is not the duty of the servants of God to go out preaching that repentance is the sinner's act, and trying to get sinners to repent, or to tell the people that God had exalted His Son Jesus Christ to accept the repentance if the sinner would act it, as nearly all of our modem divines are teaching; but Paul told Timothy, 2 Tim. ii. 24-26, "And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." Oh! that the time would come when we could see and hear all of God's true servants going forth in the strength of Israel's God and in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, and not stop to inquire what God it will do, but go and portray to a world, lost in sin, the riches of God's grace, and the goodness and mercy of God, in giving His Son to die, the just for the unjust, that we poor rebels might have life and salvation through His blood, and leave the event with God. "Peradventure God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and they may be delivered from the snare of the devil;" and as we go, oh! that God would send conviction home to the hearts of poor dying mortals, through the agency of His Holy Spirit (for there is no other agency that can quicken the dead to life), and bring the poor soul to repentance."
This really sounds convincing but it is hardly the truth. In fact it is but just one of the devices of Satan to hinder the ministry. At it's core, it is hardly edifying and puts the believer at a standstill. And the necessary converse of this is that, it is God's fault why there are people who do not repent because God never granted them repentance.
But to know God, means to know His character. Sure Paul said, Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? (Rom 9:20)
Heb 6:1-3 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, (2) Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. (3) And this will we do, if God permit.
Now the Scripture doesn't tell us expressly and specifically that these principles are requirements for one to come into Christ but I believe that a thorough and firm understanding of these foundational principles will settle all our questions and contradictions concerning our faith.
And what are these foundational principles? They are:
1. Repentance from dead works
2. Faith toward God
3. The doctrine of baptisms
4. The laying on of hands
5. The resurrection of the dead
6. Eternal judgment
The primary of these is the repentance from dead works. And this now also is the point of contention for it seems to me that you have other kinds of repentance which are Passive Repentance and Active Repentance. But if one wants to be technical about the Word of God, I'd rather that we stick to terminologies expressly used in the Bible, and in this case, the terminology that is relevant is "repentance from dead works."
Now this to me is easy. Repentance means to turn away, and dead works are works of unrighteousness. It simply means to turn away from the path of the unrighteous, to turn away from evil and wicked deeds, or simply to turn away from sin. Now here it becomes relevant what I said earlier that our actions has spiritual implications. And sin does have fatal spiritual implications:
Gen 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
Heb 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Let us get the ESV translation for Gen 4:7 so we can get a better grasp of it.
Gen 4:7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it."
A simple deduction from Gen 4:7 is that we must overcome sin, otherwise sin takes over us. As the Apostle Paul says, if we yield to sin, we become slaves to sin. And sin does hold one captive until all that he does is only evil. And to the one who knows Christ, he is given caution lest he be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
While Heb 3:13 is addressed to a man in Christ, Gen 4:7 is addressed to a man without Christ. And so repentance from dead works applies both to the saved and the unsaved. And for both of them, the effect of sin is very much the same: it leaves them both dead.
While one is already spiritually dead and the other is alive in Christ, both are capable of committing a spiritual act, howbeit in this instance, it is sin. I believe at this point, the proposition that spiritual life must precede a spiritual act is misplaced if not totally wrong. But what about the spiritual act of repentance?
The Primitive's view is that the spiritual act of repentance is purely an act of God and not of the sinner because of the following passages:
2Co 7:10-11 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. (11) For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
Jer 31:19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.
Act 5:30-31 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. (31) Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
And to quote from that author, he says:
"This should forever put to silence that idea that repentance was the sinner's act; hence we conclude that it is not the duty of the servants of God to go out preaching that repentance is the sinner's act, and trying to get sinners to repent, or to tell the people that God had exalted His Son Jesus Christ to accept the repentance if the sinner would act it, as nearly all of our modem divines are teaching; but Paul told Timothy, 2 Tim. ii. 24-26, "And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." Oh! that the time would come when we could see and hear all of God's true servants going forth in the strength of Israel's God and in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, and not stop to inquire what God it will do, but go and portray to a world, lost in sin, the riches of God's grace, and the goodness and mercy of God, in giving His Son to die, the just for the unjust, that we poor rebels might have life and salvation through His blood, and leave the event with God. "Peradventure God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and they may be delivered from the snare of the devil;" and as we go, oh! that God would send conviction home to the hearts of poor dying mortals, through the agency of His Holy Spirit (for there is no other agency that can quicken the dead to life), and bring the poor soul to repentance."
This really sounds convincing but it is hardly the truth. In fact it is but just one of the devices of Satan to hinder the ministry. At it's core, it is hardly edifying and puts the believer at a standstill. And the necessary converse of this is that, it is God's fault why there are people who do not repent because God never granted them repentance.
But to know God, means to know His character. Sure Paul said, Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? (Rom 9:20)
It is not that we cannot complain against God because He is God, and He is all powerful. We cannot charge God of wrong doing not because He is the Potter and we are the clay but because there is just no inquity in God. He is Holy and He is perfect. But the Apostle Paul used such arguments in his difficulty to explain spiritual truths to a carnal church.
You know, there is what is called the operation of God:
Col 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
And if we really know God, we would also know the operation of God. We ought to know the ways of God. Not the one referring to the way of righteousness but to the way that God does things.
Sure it is God who grants repentance, and a sinner if left alone by God will not repent on his own. And we do affirm this:
Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
and again:
Joh 15:5 ... for without me ye can do nothing.
But if God grants a person repentance, how does He do it? Does God turn a dial inside a man's heart and there you go, we have a repentant heart? What is the operation of God concerning repentance? How does he do things? Let's read that passage again from Jeremiah:
Jer 31:19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.
How did he come to repent? He said after that he was instructed. And so the operation of God there was through the instruction.
And another look at that passage from Acts:
Act 5:30-31 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. (31) Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
It says, Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior... This was the operation of God. The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner. As the Apostle Paul says, for to provoke them to jealousy! If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. (Rom 11:14)
So how does God grants repentance? God is creative, He has so many ways. Jonah had to preach to Nineveh, and they repented.
And what about the prodigal son? Was it God who pushed him until he was sleeping and eating with the swine? No, it was Satan who pushed him there. But the very thing that Satan did, the same God used and brought forth good from out of it.
And I thought it was for employment that I came to Qatar. Little did I know that I would get born again in just a few months. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! (Rom 11:33)
I hope you could see that God is never predictable. But concerning Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum, the Lord says:
Mat 11:21-25 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. (22) But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. (23) And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. (24) But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. (25) At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Is the granting therefore of repentance automatically results to repentance?
Rev 2:21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
And so we affirm 2Ti 2:25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; -- for indeed we must pray for them that oppose the truth, God peradventure will give them repentance.
And just above this verse we find: 2Ti 2:21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. (ESV)
This now is becoming lengthy, so I will cut it short. Up next: Faith Toward God.
I hope you could see that God is never predictable. But concerning Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum, the Lord says:
Mat 11:21-25 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. (22) But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. (23) And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. (24) But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. (25) At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Is the granting therefore of repentance automatically results to repentance?
Rev 2:21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
And so we affirm 2Ti 2:25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; -- for indeed we must pray for them that oppose the truth, God peradventure will give them repentance.
And just above this verse we find: 2Ti 2:21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. (ESV)
This now is becoming lengthy, so I will cut it short. Up next: Faith Toward God.
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