Wednesday, February 27, 2013
What is Torah to a Christian? - Rabbi Ralph Messer
Rabbi Ralph Messer teaches on how the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, is relevant to the modern day Christian. This video excerpt taken from the DVD series "Detroit Tribal Revival" filmed at the Word of Faith International Christian Center in Detroit, Michigan. For more information on the ministry of Rabbi Messer, and the full DVD series visit http://www.Torah.tv
Internationally acclaimed Bible teacher, conference speaker, and Spirit-filled minister, Rabbi Ralph Messer is the President and Founder of Simchat Torah Beit Midrash (STBM) a congregation and school based in Colorado. With an Apostolic and Evangelistic anointing, Rabbi Messer actively teaches the Hebrew Roots of the Christian Faith, fulfilling the great commission to make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:19). As the founder of Simchat Torah Beit Midrash, Rabbi Messer is pioneering a work to bring the "Good News" of Yeshua (Jesus Christ) in the Torah to the ends of the earth.
Should Christians Follow The Old Testament? (The Torah)
Robert Walter is a non-Jewish man keeping and teaching that all believers should do their best to keep the Bible commands of the old testament. Robert wants all believers understand the Hebrew roots of Messiah Yeshua.
"It is necessary to confess our sins to those whom the dispensation of God's mysteries is entrusted." Basil, Rule Briefly Treated, 288 (A.D. 374).
Tradition / Church Fathers
I. The Early Church’s Practice of Oral Confession
Do not come to prayer with a guilty conscience." Epistle of Barnabas, 19:12 (A.D. 74).“In church confess your sins, and do not come to your prayer with a guilt conscience. Such is the Way of Life...On the Lord's own day, assemble in common to break bread and offer thanks; but first confess your sins, so that your sacrifice may be pure." Didache, 4:14,14:1 (c. A.D. 90).
"Moreover, it is in accordance with reason that we should return to soberness[of conduct], and, while yet we have opportunity, exercise repentance towards God. It is well to reverence both God and the bishop." Ignatius, Epistle to the Smyraeans, 9 (c. A.D. 110).
"Moreover, that this Marcus compounds philters and love-potions, in order to insult the persons of some of these women, if not of all, those of them who have returned to the Church of God--a thing which frequently occurs--have acknowledged, confessing, too, that they have been defiled by him, and that they were filled with a burning passion towards him. A sad example of this occurred in the case of a certain Asiatic, one of our deacons, who had received him (Marcus) into his house. His wife, a woman of remarkable beauty, fell a victim both in mind and body to this magician, and, for a long time, travelled about with him. At last, when, with no small difficulty, the brethren had converted her, she spent her whole time in the exercise of public confession, weeping over and lamenting the defilement which she had received from this magician." Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1:13 (A.D. 180).
"Such are the words and deeds by which, in our own district of the Rhone, they have deluded many women, who have their consciences seared as with a hot iron. Some of them, indeed, make a public confession of their sins; but others of them are ashamed to do this, and in a tacit kind of way, despairing of [attaining to] the life of God, have, some of them, apostatized altogether; while others hesitate between the two courses, and incur that which is implied in the proverb, 'neither without nor within;' possessing this as the fruit from the seed of the children of knowledge.
" Irenaeus, Against
Heresies, 1:13 (A.D. 180).
"Father who knowest the hearts of all grant upon this Thy servant whom Thou hast chosen for the episcopate to feed Thy holy flock and serve as Thine high priest, that he may minister blamelessly by night and day, that he may unceasingly behold and appropriate Thy countenance and offer to Thee the gifts of Thy holy Church. And that by the high priestly Spirit he may have authority to forgive sins..."
Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition, 3 (A.D. 215).
"The Pontifex Maximus--that is, the bishop of bishops--issues an edict: 'I remit, to such as have discharged (the requirements of) repentance, the sins both of adultery and of fornication.'" Tertullian, Modesty, 1 (A.D. 220).
"In addition to these there is also a seventh, albeit hard and laborious: the remission of sins through penance...when he does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord." Origen, Homilies on Leviticus, 2:4 (A.D. 248).
"For although in smaller sins sinners may do penance for a set time, and according to the rules of discipline come to public confession, and by imposition of the hand of the bishop and clergy receive the right of communion: now with their time still unfulfilled,
while persecution is still raging, while the peace of the Church itself is not vet restored, they are admitted to communion, and their name is presented; and while the penitence is not yet performed, confession is not yet made,
the hands Of the bishop and clergy are not yet laid upon them, the eucharist is given to them; although it is written, 'Whosoever shall eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.'" Cyprian, To the Clergy, 9 (16):2 (A.D. 250).
"Moreover, how much are they both greater in faith and better in their fear, who, although bound by no crime of sacrifice to idols or of certificate, yet, since they have even thought of such things, with grief and simplicity confess this very thing to God's priests, and make the conscientious avowal,
put off from them the load of their minds, and seek out the salutary medicine even for slight and moderate wounds, knowing that it is written
, 'God is not mocked.' God cannot be mocked, nor deceived, nor deluded by any deceptive cunning. Yea, he sins the more, who, thinking that God is like man, believes that he evades the penalty of his crime if he has not openly admitted his crime…I entreat you, beloved brethren, that each one should confess his own sin, while he who has sinned is still in this world, while his confession may be received, while the satisfaction and remission made by the priests are pleasing to the Lord?" Cyprian,
To the Lapsed, 28-29 (A.D. 251).
"It is necessary to confess our sins to those whom the dispensation of God's mysteries is entrusted." Basil, Rule Briefly Treated, 288 (A.D. 374).
"These are capital sins, brethren, these are mortal." Pacian of Barcelona, Penance, 4 (A.D. 385).
"For if any one will consider how great a thing it is for one, being a man, and compassed with flesh and blood, to be enabled to draw nigh to that blessed and pure nature, he will then clearly see what great honor the grace of the Spirit has vouchsafed to priests; since by their agency these rites are celebrated, and others nowise inferior to these both in respect of our dignity and our salvation. For they who inhabit the earth and make their abode there are entrusted with the administration of things which are in Heaven, and have received an authority which God has not given to angels or archangels. For it has not been said to them, 'Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.' They who rule on earth have indeed authority to bind, but only the body: whereas this binding lays hold of the soul and penetrates the heavens; and what priests do here below God ratifies above, and the Master confirms the sentence of his servants. For indeed what is it but all manner of heavenly authority which He has given them when He says, 'Whose sins ye remit they are remitted, and whose sins ye retain they are retained?' What authority could be greater than this?
'The Father hath committed all judgment to the Son?' But I see it all put into the hands of these men by the Son." John Chrysostom, The Priesthood, 3:5 (A.D. 387).
"
The Church holds fast its obedience on either side, by both retaining and remitting sin; heresy is on the one side cruel, and on the other disobedient; wishes to bind what it will not loosen, and will not loosen what it has bound, whereby it condemns itself by its own sentence. For the Lord willed that the power of binding and of loosing should be alike, and sanctioned each by a similar condition…
Each is allowed to the Church, neither to heresy, for this power has been entrusted to priests alone. Rightly, therefore, does the Church claim it, which has true priests; heresy, which has not the priests of God, cannot claim it. And by not claiming this power heresy pronounces its own sentence, that not possessing priests it cannot claim priestly power. And so in their shameless obstinacy a shamefaced acknowledgment meets our view. Consider, too, the point that he who has received the Holy Ghost has also received the power of forgiving and of retaining sin. For thus it is written: 'Receive the Holy Spirit: whosesoever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.' So, then, he who has not received power to forgive sins has not received the Holy Spirit. T
he office of the priest is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and His right it is specially to forgive and to retain sins. How, then, can they claim His gift who distrust His power and His right?"
Ambrose, Concerning Repentance, I:7-8 (A.D. 388).
"All mortal sins are to be submitted to the keys of the Church and all can be forgiven; but recourse to these keys is the only, the necessary, and the certain way to forgiveness. Unless those who are guilty of grievous sin have recourse to the power of the keys, they cannot hope for eternal salvation. Open your lips, them, and confess your sins to the priest. Confession alone is the true gate to Heaven." Augustine, Christian Combat (A.D. 397).
"Just as in the Old Testament the priest makes the leper clean or unclean, so in the New Testament the bishop and presbyter binds or looses not those who are innocent or guilty, but by reason of their office, when they have heard various kinds of sins, they know who is to be bound and who loosed." Jerome, Commentary on Matthew, 3:16,19 (A.D. 398).
Top
No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
New International Version (©1984)
No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
New Living Translation (©2007)
Those who have been born into God's family do not make a practice of sinning, because God's life is in them. So they can't keep on sinning, because they are children of God.
English Standard Version (©2001)
No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.
New American Standard Bible (©1995)
No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because His seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God.
International Standard Version (©2012)
No one who has been born from God practices sin, because God's seed abides in him. Indeed, he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born from God.
King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Aramaic Bible in Plain English (©2010)
No one who is begotten from God commits sin, because his seed is in him and he is not able to sin because he has been begotten from God.
GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Those who have been born from God don't live sinful lives. What God has said lives in them, and they can't live sinful lives. They have been born from God.
King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin; for his nature remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
American King James Version
Whoever is born of God does not commit sin; for his seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
American Standard Version
Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin, because his seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of God.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Whosoever is born of God, commmitteth not sin: for his seed abideth in him, and he can not sin, because he is born of God.
Darby Bible Translation
Whoever has been begotten of God does not practise sin, because his seed abides in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God.
English Revised Version
Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin, because his seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of God.
Webster's Bible Translation
Whoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Weymouth New Testament
No one who is a child of God is habitually guilty of sin. A God-given germ of life remains in him, and he cannot habitually sin--because he is a child of God.
World English Bible
Whoever is born of God doesn't commit sin, because his seed remains in him; and he can't sin, because he is born of God.
Young's Literal Translation
every one who hath been begotten of God, sin he doth not, because his seed in him doth remain, and he is not able to sin, because of God he hath been begotten.
Barnes' Notes on the BibleWhosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin - This passage must either mean that
they who are born of God, that is, who are true Christians, do not sin
habitually and characteristically, or that everyone who is a true
Christian is absolutely perfect, and never commits any sin. If it can be
used as referring to the doctrine of absolute perfection at all, it
proves, not that Christians may be perfect, or that a "portion" of them
are, but that all are. But who can maintain this? Who can believe that
John meant to affirm this? Nothing can be clearer than that the passage
has not this meaning, and that John did not teach a doctrine so contrary
to the current strain of the Scriptures, and to fact; and if he did not
teach this, then in this whole passage he refers to those who are
habitually and characteristically righteous.
For his seed remaineth in him - There is much obscurity in this expression, though the general sense is clear, which is, that there is something abiding in the heart of the true Christian which the apostle here calls "seed," which will prevent his sinning. The word "his" in this phrase, "his seed," may refer either to the individual himself - in the sense that this can now be properly called "his," inasmuch as it is a part of himself, or a principle abiding in him; or it may refer to God - in the sense that what is here called "seed" is "his," that is, he has implanted it, or it is a germ of divine origin. Robinson (Lex.) understands it in the latter sense, and so also do Macknight, Doddridge, Lucke, and others, and this is probably the true interpretation. The word "seed" (σπέρμα sperma) means properly seed sown, as of grain, plants, trees; then anything that resembles it, anything which germinates, or which springs up, or is produced.
It is applied in the New Testament to the word of God, or the gospel, as that which produces effects in the heart and life similar to what seed that is sown does. Compare Matthew 13:26, Matthew 13:37-38. Augustin, Clemens, (Alex.,) Grotius, Rosenmuller, Benson, and Bloomfield, suppose that this is the signification of the word here. The proper idea, according to this, is that the seed referred to is truth, which God has implanted or sown in the heart, from which it may be expected that the fruits of righteousness will grow. But that which abides in the heart of a Christian is not the naked word of God; the mere gospel, or mere truth; it is rather that word as made vital and efficacious by the influence of his Spirit; the germ of the divine life; the principles of true piety in the soul. Compare the words of Virgil: Igneus est illi vigor et coelestis origo semini. The exact idea here, as it seems to me, is not that the "seed" refers to "the word of God," as Augustin and others suppose, or to "the Spirit of God," but to the germ of piety which has been produced in the heart "by" the word and Spirit of God, and which may be regarded as having been implanted there by God himself, and which may be expected to produce holiness in the life. There is, probably, as Lucke supposes, an allusion in the word to the fact that we are begotten (Ὁ γεγεννημένος Ho gegennēmenos of God. The word "remaineth" - μένει menei, compare the notes at 1 John 3:6 - is a favorite expression of John. The expression here used by John, thus explained, would seem to imply two things:
(1) that the germ or seed of religion implanted in the soul abides there as a constant, vital principle, so that he who is born of God cannot become habitually a sinner; and,
(2) that it will so continue to live there that he will not fall away and perish. The idea is clearly that the germ or principle of piety so permanently abides in the soul, that he who is renewed never can become again characteristically a sinner.
And he cannot sin - Not merely he will not, but he cannot; that is, in the sense referred to. This cannot mean that one who is renewed has not physical ability to do wrong, for every moral agent has; nor can it mean that no one who is a true Christian never does, in fact, do wrong in thought, word, or deed, for no one could seriously maintain that: but it must mean that there is somehow a certainty as absolute "as if" it were physically impossible, that those who are born of God will not be characteristically and habitually sinners; that they will not sin in such a sense as to lose all true religion and be numbered with transgressors; that they will not fall away and perish. Unless this passage teaches that no one who is renewed ever can sin in any sense; or that everyone who becomes a Christian is, and must be, absolutely and always perfect, no words could more clearly prove that true Christians will never fall from grace and perish. How can what the apostle here says be true, if a real Christian can fall away and become again a sinner?
Because he is born of God - Or begotten of God. God has given him, by the new birth, real, spiritual life, and that life can never become extinct.
Clarke's Commentary on the BibleWhosoever is born of God - Γεγεννημενος, Begotten of God, doth not commit sin: "that is," say some, "as he used to do, he does not sin habitually as he formerly did." This is bringing the influence and privileges of the heavenly birth very low indeed. We have the most indubitable evidence that many of the heathen philosophers had acquired, by mental discipline and cultivation, an entire ascendency over all their wonted vicious habits. Perhaps my reader will recollect the story of the physiognomist, who, coming into the place where Socrates was delivering a lecture, his pupils, wishing to put the principles of the man's science to proof, desired him to examine the face of their master, and say what his moral character was. After a full contemplation of the philosopher's visage, he pronounced him "the most gluttonous, drunken, brutal, and libidinous old man that he had ever met." As the character of Socrates was the reverse of all this, his disciples began to insult the physiognomist. Socrates interfered, and said, "The principles of his science may he very correct, for such I was, but I have conquered it by my philosophy." O ye Christian divines! ye real or pretended Gospel ministers! will ye allow the influence of the grace of Christ a sway not even so extensive as that of the philosophy of a heathen who never heard of the true God?
Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleWhosoever is born of God,.... In a figurative and spiritual sense; who are regenerated, or born from above; who are quickened by the grace of God, and have Christ formed in them; who are made partakers of the divine nature, and new creatures in Christ; which spiritual birth is not owing to men, to the power and will of men, but to the grace of God; and is sometimes ascribed to the Father, who of his own will and abundant mercy begets souls again to a lively hope, and saves them by the washing of regeneration; and sometimes to Christ, who quickens whom he will, whose grace is implanted, and image stamped in it, and by whose resurrection from the dead men are begotten again; and chiefly, to the Spirit of God, who is the author of regeneration, and of the whole of sanctification: and such as are born of him are alive through him, the spirit of life entering into them, and live to God and upon Christ, and breathe after divine and spiritual things, and have their senses to discern them; they see, hear, feel, taste, and savour them; and desire the sincere milk of the word, for their nourishment and growth; and have every grace implanted in them, as faith, hope, and love: and of every such an one it is said, he
doth not commit sin; does not make it his trade and business; it is not the constant course of his life; he does not live and walk in sin, or give up himself to it; he is not without the being of it in him, or free from acts of sin in his life and conversation, but he does not so commit it as to be the servant of it, a slave unto it, or to continue in it; and that for this reason:
for his seed remaineth in him; not the word of God, or the Gospel, though that is a seed which is sown by the ministers of it, and blessed by God, and by which he regenerates his people; and which having a place in their hearts, becomes the ingrafted word, and there abides, nor can it be rooted out; where it powerfully teaches to avoid sin, is an antidote against it, and a preservative from it: nor the Holy Spirit of God, though he is the author of the new birth, and the principle of all grace; and where he once is, he always abides; and through the power of his grace believers prevail against sin, and mortify the deeds of the body, and live: but rather the grace of the Spirit, the internal principle of grace in the soul, the new nature, or new man formed in the soul, is meant; which seminally contains all grace in it, and which, like seed, springs up and gradually increases, and always abides; and is pure and incorruptible, and neither sins itself, nor encourages sin, but opposes, checks, and prevents it:
and he cannot sin; not that it is impossible for such a man to do acts of sin, or that it is possible for him to live without sin; for the words are not to be understood in the sense of those who plead for perfection in this life; for though the saints have perfection in Christ, yet not in themselves; they are not impeccable, they are not free from sin, neither from the being nor actings of it; sin is in them, lives in them, dwells in them, hinders all the good, and does all the mischief it can: or in such sense, as if the sins of believers were not sins; for though they are pardoned and expiated, and they are justified from them, yet they do not cease to be sins; they are equally contrary to the nature, will, and law of God, as well as the sins of others; and are oftentimes attended with more aggravated circumstances, and which God in a fatherly way takes notice of, and chastises for, and on the account of which he hides his face from them: nor does the phrase intend any particular single sin, which cannot be committed; though there are such, as sinning wilfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, or denying Christ to be the Saviour of sinners, and a sacrifice for sin, and hatred of a Christian brother as such, and sinning the sin unto death, or the unpardonable sin; neither of which can be committed by a regenerate man: nor is the meaning only, though it is a sense that will very well bear, and agrees with the context, that such persons cannot sin as unregenerate men do; that is, live in a continued course of sinning, and with pleasure, and without reluctance, and so as to lie in it, as the whole world does: but rather the meaning is, he that is born of God, as he is born of God, or that which is born of God in him, the new man, or new creature, cannot sin; for that is pure and holy; there is nothing sinful in it, nor can anything that is sinful come out of it, or be done by it; it is the workmanship of the Holy Spirit of God; it is a good work, and well pleasing: in the sight of God, who is of purer eyes than to behold sin with delight; and an incorruptible seed, which neither corrupts nor is corrupted; and though it is as yet an imperfect work, it is not impure: the reason of the impeccability of the regenerate man, as such, is
because he is born of God: for that which is born of God in him, does, under the influence of the Spirit, power, and grace of God, preserve him from the temptations of Satan, the pollutions of the world, and the corruptions of his own heart; see 1 John 5:18; which the Vulgate Latin version there renders, "the generation of God", meaning regeneration, or that which is born of God, "preserveth him": this furnishes out a considerable argument for the perseverance of the saints.
Vincent's Word StudiesWhosoever is born (πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος)
On the form of expression, see on 1 John 3:4. Rev., begotten. The perfect participle indicates a condition remaining from the first: he who hath been begotten and remains God's child.
His seed
The divine principle of life.
Cannot
See on 1 John 3:6. Conceived as a perfect ideal, life in God excludes the possibility of sin. Compare Romans 4 throughout.
Geneva Study BibleWhosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his {m} seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
(m) The Holy Spirit is so called by the effect he works, because by his power and mighty working, as it were by seed, we are made new men.
People's New Testament 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. The thought is that he does not live a life of sin. The spirit born of God, the new creation, does not sin, and cannot sin and remain God's child, but sometimes the old nature revives and for a moment exerts its power. See Ro 7:20. See PNT 1Jo 5:21.
For his seed remaineth in him. The principle of divine life, and hence he cannot live a sinful life.
And he cannot sin, because he is born of God. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit (Joh 3:6). This new nature cannot sin. If we sin, it is the old nature revived. Unless at once we repent and flee to him he will depart from us.
Wesley's Notes 3:9 Whosoever is born of God - By living faith, whereby God is continually breathing spiritual life into his soul, and his soul is continually breathing out love and prayer to God, doth not commit sin. For the divine seed of loving faith abideth in him; and, so long as it doth, he cannot sin, because he is born of God - Is inwardly and universally changed.
King James Translators' Notesis born: or, has been born
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary9. Whosoever is born of God-literally, "Everyone that is begotten of God."
doth not commit sin-His higher nature, as one born or begotten of God, doth not sin. To be begotten of God and to sin, are states mutually excluding one another. In so far as one sins, he makes it doubtful whether he be born of God.
his seed-the living word of God, made by the Holy Spirit the seed in us of a new life and the continual mean of sanctification.
remaineth-abideth in him (compare Note, see on [2642]1Jo 3:6; Joh 5:38). This does not contradict 1Jo 1:8, 9; the regenerate show the utter incompatibility of sin with regeneration, by cleansing away every sin into which they may be betrayed by the old nature, at once in the blood of Christ.
cannot sin, because he is born of God-"because it is of God that he is born" (so the Greek order, as compared with the order of the same words in the beginning of the verse); not "because he was born of God" (the Greek is perfect tense, which is present in meaning, not aorist); it is not said, Because a man was once for all born of God he never afterwards can sin; but, Because he is born of God, the seed abiding now in Him, he cannot sin; so long as it energetically abides, sin can have no place. Compare Ge 39:9, Joseph, "How CAN I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" The principle within me is at utter variance with it. The regenerate life is incompatible with sin, and gives the believer a hatred for sin in every shape, and an unceasing desire to resist it. "The child of God in this conflict receives indeed wounds daily, but never throws away his arms or makes peace with his deadly foe" [Luther]. The exceptional sins into which the regenerate are surprised, are owing to the new life principle being for a time suffered to lie dormant, and to the sword of the Spirit not being drawn instantly. Sin is ever active, but no longer reigns. The normal direction of the believer's energies is against sin; the law of God after the inward man is the ruling principle of his true self though the old nature, not yet fully deadened, rebels and sins. Contrast 1Jo 5:18 with Joh 8:34; compare Ps 18:22, 23; 32:2, 3; 119:113, 176. The magnetic needle, the nature of which is always to point to the pole, is easily turned aside, but always reseeks the pole.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary3:3-10 The sons of God know that their Lord is of purer eyes than to allow any thing unholy and impure to dwell with him. It is the hope of hypocrites, not of the sons of God, that makes allowance for gratifying impure desires and lusts. May we be followers of him as his dear children, thus show our sense of his unspeakable mercy, and express that obedient, grateful, humble mind which becomes us. Sin is the rejecting the Divine law. In him, that is, in Christ, was no sin. All the sinless weaknesses that were consequences of the fall, he took; that is, all those infirmities of mind or body which subject man to suffering, and expose him to temptation. But our moral infirmities, our proneness to sin, he had not. He that abides in Christ, continues not in the practice of sin. Renouncing sin is the great proof of spiritual union with, continuance in, and saving knowledge of the Lord Christ. Beware of self-deceit. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, and to be a follower of Christ, shows an interest by faith in his obedience and sufferings. But a man cannot act like the devil, and at the same time be a disciple of Christ Jesus. Let us not serve or indulge what the Son of God came to destroy. To be born of God is to be inwardly renewed by the power of the Spirit of God. Renewing grace is an abiding principle. Religion is not an art, a matter of dexterity and skill, but a new nature. And the regenerate person cannot sin as he did before he was born of God, and as others do who are not born again. There is that light in his mind, which shows him the evil and malignity of sin. There is that bias upon his heart, which disposes him to loathe and hate sin. There is the spiritual principle that opposes sinful acts. And there is repentance for sin, if committed. It goes against him to sin with forethought. The children of God and the children of the devil have their distinct characters. The seed of the serpent are known by neglect of religion, and by their hating real Christians. He only is righteous before God, as a justified believer, who is taught and disposed to righteousness by the Holy Spirit. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. May all professors of the gospel lay these truths to heart, and try themselves by them.
No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
New Living Translation (©2007)
Those who have been born into God's family do not make a practice of sinning, because God's life is in them. So they can't keep on sinning, because they are children of God.
English Standard Version (©2001)
No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.
New American Standard Bible (©1995)
No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because His seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God.
International Standard Version (©2012)
No one who has been born from God practices sin, because God's seed abides in him. Indeed, he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born from God.
King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Aramaic Bible in Plain English (©2010)
No one who is begotten from God commits sin, because his seed is in him and he is not able to sin because he has been begotten from God.
GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Those who have been born from God don't live sinful lives. What God has said lives in them, and they can't live sinful lives. They have been born from God.
King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin; for his nature remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
American King James Version
Whoever is born of God does not commit sin; for his seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
American Standard Version
Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin, because his seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of God.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Whosoever is born of God, commmitteth not sin: for his seed abideth in him, and he can not sin, because he is born of God.
Darby Bible Translation
Whoever has been begotten of God does not practise sin, because his seed abides in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God.
English Revised Version
Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin, because his seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of God.
Webster's Bible Translation
Whoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Weymouth New Testament
No one who is a child of God is habitually guilty of sin. A God-given germ of life remains in him, and he cannot habitually sin--because he is a child of God.
World English Bible
Whoever is born of God doesn't commit sin, because his seed remains in him; and he can't sin, because he is born of God.
Young's Literal Translation
every one who hath been begotten of God, sin he doth not, because his seed in him doth remain, and he is not able to sin, because of God he hath been begotten.
 |
For his seed remaineth in him - There is much obscurity in this expression, though the general sense is clear, which is, that there is something abiding in the heart of the true Christian which the apostle here calls "seed," which will prevent his sinning. The word "his" in this phrase, "his seed," may refer either to the individual himself - in the sense that this can now be properly called "his," inasmuch as it is a part of himself, or a principle abiding in him; or it may refer to God - in the sense that what is here called "seed" is "his," that is, he has implanted it, or it is a germ of divine origin. Robinson (Lex.) understands it in the latter sense, and so also do Macknight, Doddridge, Lucke, and others, and this is probably the true interpretation. The word "seed" (σπέρμα sperma) means properly seed sown, as of grain, plants, trees; then anything that resembles it, anything which germinates, or which springs up, or is produced.
It is applied in the New Testament to the word of God, or the gospel, as that which produces effects in the heart and life similar to what seed that is sown does. Compare Matthew 13:26, Matthew 13:37-38. Augustin, Clemens, (Alex.,) Grotius, Rosenmuller, Benson, and Bloomfield, suppose that this is the signification of the word here. The proper idea, according to this, is that the seed referred to is truth, which God has implanted or sown in the heart, from which it may be expected that the fruits of righteousness will grow. But that which abides in the heart of a Christian is not the naked word of God; the mere gospel, or mere truth; it is rather that word as made vital and efficacious by the influence of his Spirit; the germ of the divine life; the principles of true piety in the soul. Compare the words of Virgil: Igneus est illi vigor et coelestis origo semini. The exact idea here, as it seems to me, is not that the "seed" refers to "the word of God," as Augustin and others suppose, or to "the Spirit of God," but to the germ of piety which has been produced in the heart "by" the word and Spirit of God, and which may be regarded as having been implanted there by God himself, and which may be expected to produce holiness in the life. There is, probably, as Lucke supposes, an allusion in the word to the fact that we are begotten (Ὁ γεγεννημένος Ho gegennēmenos of God. The word "remaineth" - μένει menei, compare the notes at 1 John 3:6 - is a favorite expression of John. The expression here used by John, thus explained, would seem to imply two things:
(1) that the germ or seed of religion implanted in the soul abides there as a constant, vital principle, so that he who is born of God cannot become habitually a sinner; and,
(2) that it will so continue to live there that he will not fall away and perish. The idea is clearly that the germ or principle of piety so permanently abides in the soul, that he who is renewed never can become again characteristically a sinner.
And he cannot sin - Not merely he will not, but he cannot; that is, in the sense referred to. This cannot mean that one who is renewed has not physical ability to do wrong, for every moral agent has; nor can it mean that no one who is a true Christian never does, in fact, do wrong in thought, word, or deed, for no one could seriously maintain that: but it must mean that there is somehow a certainty as absolute "as if" it were physically impossible, that those who are born of God will not be characteristically and habitually sinners; that they will not sin in such a sense as to lose all true religion and be numbered with transgressors; that they will not fall away and perish. Unless this passage teaches that no one who is renewed ever can sin in any sense; or that everyone who becomes a Christian is, and must be, absolutely and always perfect, no words could more clearly prove that true Christians will never fall from grace and perish. How can what the apostle here says be true, if a real Christian can fall away and become again a sinner?
Because he is born of God - Or begotten of God. God has given him, by the new birth, real, spiritual life, and that life can never become extinct.
Clarke's Commentary on the BibleWhosoever is born of God - Γεγεννημενος, Begotten of God, doth not commit sin: "that is," say some, "as he used to do, he does not sin habitually as he formerly did." This is bringing the influence and privileges of the heavenly birth very low indeed. We have the most indubitable evidence that many of the heathen philosophers had acquired, by mental discipline and cultivation, an entire ascendency over all their wonted vicious habits. Perhaps my reader will recollect the story of the physiognomist, who, coming into the place where Socrates was delivering a lecture, his pupils, wishing to put the principles of the man's science to proof, desired him to examine the face of their master, and say what his moral character was. After a full contemplation of the philosopher's visage, he pronounced him "the most gluttonous, drunken, brutal, and libidinous old man that he had ever met." As the character of Socrates was the reverse of all this, his disciples began to insult the physiognomist. Socrates interfered, and said, "The principles of his science may he very correct, for such I was, but I have conquered it by my philosophy." O ye Christian divines! ye real or pretended Gospel ministers! will ye allow the influence of the grace of Christ a sway not even so extensive as that of the philosophy of a heathen who never heard of the true God?
Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleWhosoever is born of God,.... In a figurative and spiritual sense; who are regenerated, or born from above; who are quickened by the grace of God, and have Christ formed in them; who are made partakers of the divine nature, and new creatures in Christ; which spiritual birth is not owing to men, to the power and will of men, but to the grace of God; and is sometimes ascribed to the Father, who of his own will and abundant mercy begets souls again to a lively hope, and saves them by the washing of regeneration; and sometimes to Christ, who quickens whom he will, whose grace is implanted, and image stamped in it, and by whose resurrection from the dead men are begotten again; and chiefly, to the Spirit of God, who is the author of regeneration, and of the whole of sanctification: and such as are born of him are alive through him, the spirit of life entering into them, and live to God and upon Christ, and breathe after divine and spiritual things, and have their senses to discern them; they see, hear, feel, taste, and savour them; and desire the sincere milk of the word, for their nourishment and growth; and have every grace implanted in them, as faith, hope, and love: and of every such an one it is said, he
doth not commit sin; does not make it his trade and business; it is not the constant course of his life; he does not live and walk in sin, or give up himself to it; he is not without the being of it in him, or free from acts of sin in his life and conversation, but he does not so commit it as to be the servant of it, a slave unto it, or to continue in it; and that for this reason:
for his seed remaineth in him; not the word of God, or the Gospel, though that is a seed which is sown by the ministers of it, and blessed by God, and by which he regenerates his people; and which having a place in their hearts, becomes the ingrafted word, and there abides, nor can it be rooted out; where it powerfully teaches to avoid sin, is an antidote against it, and a preservative from it: nor the Holy Spirit of God, though he is the author of the new birth, and the principle of all grace; and where he once is, he always abides; and through the power of his grace believers prevail against sin, and mortify the deeds of the body, and live: but rather the grace of the Spirit, the internal principle of grace in the soul, the new nature, or new man formed in the soul, is meant; which seminally contains all grace in it, and which, like seed, springs up and gradually increases, and always abides; and is pure and incorruptible, and neither sins itself, nor encourages sin, but opposes, checks, and prevents it:
and he cannot sin; not that it is impossible for such a man to do acts of sin, or that it is possible for him to live without sin; for the words are not to be understood in the sense of those who plead for perfection in this life; for though the saints have perfection in Christ, yet not in themselves; they are not impeccable, they are not free from sin, neither from the being nor actings of it; sin is in them, lives in them, dwells in them, hinders all the good, and does all the mischief it can: or in such sense, as if the sins of believers were not sins; for though they are pardoned and expiated, and they are justified from them, yet they do not cease to be sins; they are equally contrary to the nature, will, and law of God, as well as the sins of others; and are oftentimes attended with more aggravated circumstances, and which God in a fatherly way takes notice of, and chastises for, and on the account of which he hides his face from them: nor does the phrase intend any particular single sin, which cannot be committed; though there are such, as sinning wilfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, or denying Christ to be the Saviour of sinners, and a sacrifice for sin, and hatred of a Christian brother as such, and sinning the sin unto death, or the unpardonable sin; neither of which can be committed by a regenerate man: nor is the meaning only, though it is a sense that will very well bear, and agrees with the context, that such persons cannot sin as unregenerate men do; that is, live in a continued course of sinning, and with pleasure, and without reluctance, and so as to lie in it, as the whole world does: but rather the meaning is, he that is born of God, as he is born of God, or that which is born of God in him, the new man, or new creature, cannot sin; for that is pure and holy; there is nothing sinful in it, nor can anything that is sinful come out of it, or be done by it; it is the workmanship of the Holy Spirit of God; it is a good work, and well pleasing: in the sight of God, who is of purer eyes than to behold sin with delight; and an incorruptible seed, which neither corrupts nor is corrupted; and though it is as yet an imperfect work, it is not impure: the reason of the impeccability of the regenerate man, as such, is
because he is born of God: for that which is born of God in him, does, under the influence of the Spirit, power, and grace of God, preserve him from the temptations of Satan, the pollutions of the world, and the corruptions of his own heart; see 1 John 5:18; which the Vulgate Latin version there renders, "the generation of God", meaning regeneration, or that which is born of God, "preserveth him": this furnishes out a considerable argument for the perseverance of the saints.
Vincent's Word StudiesWhosoever is born (πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος)
On the form of expression, see on 1 John 3:4. Rev., begotten. The perfect participle indicates a condition remaining from the first: he who hath been begotten and remains God's child.
His seed
The divine principle of life.
Cannot
See on 1 John 3:6. Conceived as a perfect ideal, life in God excludes the possibility of sin. Compare Romans 4 throughout.
Geneva Study BibleWhosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his {m} seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
(m) The Holy Spirit is so called by the effect he works, because by his power and mighty working, as it were by seed, we are made new men.
People's New Testament 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. The thought is that he does not live a life of sin. The spirit born of God, the new creation, does not sin, and cannot sin and remain God's child, but sometimes the old nature revives and for a moment exerts its power. See Ro 7:20. See PNT 1Jo 5:21.
For his seed remaineth in him. The principle of divine life, and hence he cannot live a sinful life.
And he cannot sin, because he is born of God. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit (Joh 3:6). This new nature cannot sin. If we sin, it is the old nature revived. Unless at once we repent and flee to him he will depart from us.
Wesley's Notes 3:9 Whosoever is born of God - By living faith, whereby God is continually breathing spiritual life into his soul, and his soul is continually breathing out love and prayer to God, doth not commit sin. For the divine seed of loving faith abideth in him; and, so long as it doth, he cannot sin, because he is born of God - Is inwardly and universally changed.
King James Translators' Notesis born: or, has been born
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary9. Whosoever is born of God-literally, "Everyone that is begotten of God."
doth not commit sin-His higher nature, as one born or begotten of God, doth not sin. To be begotten of God and to sin, are states mutually excluding one another. In so far as one sins, he makes it doubtful whether he be born of God.
his seed-the living word of God, made by the Holy Spirit the seed in us of a new life and the continual mean of sanctification.
remaineth-abideth in him (compare Note, see on [2642]1Jo 3:6; Joh 5:38). This does not contradict 1Jo 1:8, 9; the regenerate show the utter incompatibility of sin with regeneration, by cleansing away every sin into which they may be betrayed by the old nature, at once in the blood of Christ.
cannot sin, because he is born of God-"because it is of God that he is born" (so the Greek order, as compared with the order of the same words in the beginning of the verse); not "because he was born of God" (the Greek is perfect tense, which is present in meaning, not aorist); it is not said, Because a man was once for all born of God he never afterwards can sin; but, Because he is born of God, the seed abiding now in Him, he cannot sin; so long as it energetically abides, sin can have no place. Compare Ge 39:9, Joseph, "How CAN I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" The principle within me is at utter variance with it. The regenerate life is incompatible with sin, and gives the believer a hatred for sin in every shape, and an unceasing desire to resist it. "The child of God in this conflict receives indeed wounds daily, but never throws away his arms or makes peace with his deadly foe" [Luther]. The exceptional sins into which the regenerate are surprised, are owing to the new life principle being for a time suffered to lie dormant, and to the sword of the Spirit not being drawn instantly. Sin is ever active, but no longer reigns. The normal direction of the believer's energies is against sin; the law of God after the inward man is the ruling principle of his true self though the old nature, not yet fully deadened, rebels and sins. Contrast 1Jo 5:18 with Joh 8:34; compare Ps 18:22, 23; 32:2, 3; 119:113, 176. The magnetic needle, the nature of which is always to point to the pole, is easily turned aside, but always reseeks the pole.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary3:3-10 The sons of God know that their Lord is of purer eyes than to allow any thing unholy and impure to dwell with him. It is the hope of hypocrites, not of the sons of God, that makes allowance for gratifying impure desires and lusts. May we be followers of him as his dear children, thus show our sense of his unspeakable mercy, and express that obedient, grateful, humble mind which becomes us. Sin is the rejecting the Divine law. In him, that is, in Christ, was no sin. All the sinless weaknesses that were consequences of the fall, he took; that is, all those infirmities of mind or body which subject man to suffering, and expose him to temptation. But our moral infirmities, our proneness to sin, he had not. He that abides in Christ, continues not in the practice of sin. Renouncing sin is the great proof of spiritual union with, continuance in, and saving knowledge of the Lord Christ. Beware of self-deceit. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, and to be a follower of Christ, shows an interest by faith in his obedience and sufferings. But a man cannot act like the devil, and at the same time be a disciple of Christ Jesus. Let us not serve or indulge what the Son of God came to destroy. To be born of God is to be inwardly renewed by the power of the Spirit of God. Renewing grace is an abiding principle. Religion is not an art, a matter of dexterity and skill, but a new nature. And the regenerate person cannot sin as he did before he was born of God, and as others do who are not born again. There is that light in his mind, which shows him the evil and malignity of sin. There is that bias upon his heart, which disposes him to loathe and hate sin. There is the spiritual principle that opposes sinful acts. And there is repentance for sin, if committed. It goes against him to sin with forethought. The children of God and the children of the devil have their distinct characters. The seed of the serpent are known by neglect of religion, and by their hating real Christians. He only is righteous before God, as a justified believer, who is taught and disposed to righteousness by the Holy Spirit. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. May all professors of the gospel lay these truths to heart, and try themselves by them.
Are Men Born Sinners? --the doctrine of original sin contradicts the Bible
|
|
Chapter 11
CAN CHRISTIANS LIVE WITHOUT SIN? It is hard to understand how a thinking person can read the Bible and still believe in original sin.
The Bible commands men to depart from all sin, to keep God's commandments, to be holy because God is holy, and to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect.
The Bible teaches that all men ought to live without sin and that they can live without sin by God's grace and the power of his indwelling Holy Spirit.
The Bible also teaches that Christians do live without sin and overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil.
But the doctrine of original sin contradicts the Bible and teaches that no man, not even the Christian, can live without committing sin:
From this original corruption,
whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.
Westminster Confession.
This corruption of nature, during this life, doth remain in those that are regenerated. Westminster Confession.
They deplore their inability to love their Redeemer, to keep themselves from sin, to live a holy life in any degree adequate to their own convictions of their obligations...They recognize it as the fruit and evidence of the corruption of their nature derived as a sad inheritance from their first parents.
Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. II, p. 273
...whereby he is utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite unto all that is spiritually good, and wholly inclined to all evil, and that continually, which is commonly called original sin, and from which do proceed all actual transgressions.
Larger Catechism.
No man is able...by any grace received in this life, perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but doth daily break them in thought, word, and deed. Larger Catechism
Anyone who has read much of God's Word knows that the above declarations are altogether foreign to the Bible.
The Bible teaches that the believer can live without sin. Its pages are filled with promises to the believer that he can live a holy life and have victory over sin, temptation, the world, the flesh, and the devil:
Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Matt. 1:21
Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin...If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. John 8:34, 36
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. I John 5:4
Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. I John 3:6.
And we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. I John 5:18
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. I John 3:9
Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Rom. 6:14
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. Jude 24, 25
Now, who are we going to believe?
Will we accept the uncertain declarations of mere men or will we accept the sure Word of God? If, after all that God has said and promised in his Holy Book, it is still impossible to live without sin, then God is a liar, deceitful, and insincere.
Surely, if it is impossible to live without sin, God knows it! Yet he promises victory over sin. He commands holiness and Christian perfection. "Be ye holy, for I am holy." I Peter 1:15. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as you father which is in heaven is perfect." Matt. 5:48. Would God command us to walk in Christian holiness and Christian perfection if he knew it was impossible for us? I cannot believe it! Do those who propagate the evil doctrine of original sin know its implications on the character of God? If God knows that we can't obey him, if he knows that we are born with a corrupt sinful nature which makes obedience impossible, then he is insincere and deceitful in commanding us to do what he knows is impossible. And if God knows that we are born with a sinful nature that makes sin necessary, then all his promises of grace and power to keep us from sin are lies.
God cannot lie.
It is the doctrine of original sin which is a lie! For the Word of God reveals that God has always had his saints. He has always had a people that feared him, loved him, and kept his commandments. He has always had a people that did not break his commandments daily in thought, word, and deed:
There was Job, of whom God said, "A perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil." There was Enoch who "walked with God" and "was not, for God took him." There was Zacharias and Elizabeth who "were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." There was John the Baptist who was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. There was Joseph who was sold into Egypt, but who loved his brethren who sold him into Egypt, and kept himself pure in the matter of Potiphar's wife. There was Daniel who was taken captive to Babylon, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and all the holy prophets and holy apostles, and all the saints of both the Old and New Testaments. The Bible clearly teaches that God's people can and do live without sin. Therefore, the doctrine of original sin, which teaches otherwise, is a myth and a lie.
The four Scripture verses quoted earlier in this chapter (I John 3:6, I John 3:9, I John 5:4, I John 5:18) clearly teach that Christians do not have to commit sin. They show that there is no original sin, no corrupt sinful nature that makes sin necessary in the life of the Christian. Two of these verses have been very difficult for Christians to understand. They are I John 3:6 and I John 3:9. I John 3:6 seems to teach that anyone who commits sin never really knew God in the first place, and I John 3:9 seems to teach that it is absolutely impossible for the Christian to commit sin. An understanding of the tenses of the Greek verb does away with this misunderstanding.
In I John 3:6 the verb form menon is a present participle which emphasizes continuing action. It means is abiding or is remaining. The verb form hamartanei is the present active. It can denote either continuous or simple action. It means sins or is sinning. Next, the verb form hamartanon is used. It is a present participle which denotes continuous action. It means is sinning. The last two verb forms in I John 3:6 are heoraken and egnoken. They are both perfect active. The perfect denotes completed action in the past with results that continue into the present.
So that heoraken means seen and continued to see and egnoken means known and continued to know. I John 3:6, then, has the following meaning:
"Whosoever is remaining in him sins not; whosoever is sinning has not seen him and continued to see him, neither known him and continued to know him."
So the fact that a Christian may commit sin does not mean that he never really knew God. What it does mean is that by committing sin, he is not continuing to abide in Christ, and by committing sin, he does not continue to see and know Christ, whom he once saw and knew. You cannot sin against God and remain in him at the same time. You cannot sin against God and continue to see and know him at the same time.
In I John 3:9 the verb form gegennemenos is a perfect passive participle which emphasizes completed action in the past with results that continue into the present. It means has been born and continues to be born. The verb forms poiei, menei, and dunatai are all present active which denotes continuous or simple action in the present. The meaning of each one, respectively, is: do or is doing, remain or is remaining, and can or is able. The verb form hamartanein is a present infinitive which emphasizes continuous action. It means to continue to sin or to go on sinning. The verb form gegennetai is the perfect passive. It denotes completed action in the past with results that continue into the present. It means has been born and continues to be born. I John 3:9, then has the following meaning:
"Whosoever has been born of God and continues to be born of God does not do sin; for his seed remains in him: and he cannot continue to sin, because he has been born of God and continues to be born of God."
This verse does not teach that it is impossible for the Christian to sin. What it does teach is that it is impossible to stand begotten of God and go on sinning. The born-again experience and the committing of sin are self-excluding. One cannot exist where the other exists. If you have the seed of God in you and if you stand begotten of God, you cannot commit sin. If you commit sin, you cannot stand begotten of God.
These two verses militate mightily against the doctrine of original sin. They teach that the Christian who remains in Christ and continues to see and know Christ and continues to stand begotten of God both does not and cannot sin.
Surely if it is true that
"Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not," then there is no original sin, no corrupt Adamic sin nature in the Christian that makes it necessary for the Christian to commit sin. If it is true that "Whatsoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God," then surely there is no indwelling sin in the Christian that makes sin necessary and obedience to God's commandments impossible.
God testifies that "His commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world." I John 5:3, 4. If "The commandments of God are not grievous..." and if "Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world..." then there can be no original sin that makes God's commandments grievous and that makes them so impossible to keep that believers cannot overcome the world. The commandments of God are not grievous. They are not more than we can bear. They do not require what is impossible for us to do.
No, God is not a hard taskmaster.
He requires of us only what we are able to do.
If we had a sin nature which made it impossible for us to serve and obey him, he would not command: "Be ye holy, for I am holy." He would not say, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." But God does command us to be holy. He does require us to be perfect. So either God is requiring impossibilities and he has commandments that are grievous, or there is no original sin.
I John 3:6 and 3:9 also militate mightily against the doctrine of "once saved, always saved" and "once a child of God, always a child of God." Those who believe that once you are saved, you can never be lost equate physical birth and spiritual birth, and say, "I may be a disobedient child of my father, but I will forever remain my father's child." They seem not to realize that everything that is true about physical birth is not true about spiritual birth. There is an analogy between physical and spiritual birth, but no equation. If there is an equation between physical and spiritual birth, then we must forever remain the children of the devil. Isn't that true? Doesn't the Bible teach that all sinners are children of the devil? We should realize that we were all children of the devil before we ever knew God and became his children.
John 8:44, I John 3:8, 10, 12. Must we, therefore, forever remain the children of the devil because we were once his children? There is no equation between physical and spiritual birth. One cannot continue in sin and remain a child of God. "He that committeth sin is of the devil" and not of God. I John 3:8.
I John 3:6 and 3:9 show that the Christian who remains in Christ and stands begotten of God does not and cannot commit sin. This shows that it is a myth that there is a corrupt sinful nature inherited from Adam in Christians that makes sin in their lives a necessity as long as they are in this life. Nevertheless, men still plead a sinful nature as an excuse for their sins. They plead a sinful nature as an excuse for lukewarm and partial service to God. Then, even though they know they are defrauding God, they will say, "I may be a disobedient child of my Father, but I will always remain my Father's child." Oh, how men deceive themselves who think they can disobey God in some things and still remain the children of God for their obedience in other things! Such a religion is motivated by selfishness and is the religion of devils.
The doctrine of original sin is an evil doctrine and a doctrine of lies. It makes men deny that they are able to obey God and makes them excuse themselves while they commit sin. But there is no excuse for sin. If there were, God could not and would not command men to turn from all sin. But God does command men to turn from all sin and because God commands men to turn from sin we know that men can live without sin and that the doctrine of original sin is a lie.
Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. I John 3:6
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. I John 3:9
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. I John 5:4
We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. I John 5:18
But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Rev. 2:6
So has thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Rev. 2:15
Return to Original Sin Index Page HOME | FINNEY LIFE | FINNEY WORKS | TEXT INDEX | SUBJECT INDEX | GLOSSARY | BOOK STORE
Fourth Lateran Council, in 1215 AD,--invented auricular (heard by a human) confession.--AD 340]).
Some protestants mistakenly believe that the Fourth Lateran Council, in 1215 AD,
invented auricular (heard by a human) confession.
In reality, the Fourth Lateran
Council mandated annual confession for all Catholics - oral confession heard by
priests existed from the start of the Church.
Aphraahat the Persian Sage - "You [ADDED-roman catholic priests],
then, who are disciples of our
illustrious Physician, you ought not deny a curative to those in need of
healing. And if anyone uncovers his wound before you, give him the remedy
of repentance. And he that is ashamed to make known his weakness,
encourage him so that he will not hide it from you. And when he has revealed
it to you, do not make it public, lest because of it the innocent might be
reckoned as guilty by our enemies and by those who hate us" (Treatises 7:3
[AD 340]).
invented auricular (heard by a human) confession.
In reality, the Fourth Lateran
Council mandated annual confession for all Catholics - oral confession heard by
priests existed from the start of the Church.
Aphraahat the Persian Sage - "You [ADDED-roman catholic priests],
then, who are disciples of our
illustrious Physician, you ought not deny a curative to those in need of
healing. And if anyone uncovers his wound before you, give him the remedy
of repentance. And he that is ashamed to make known his weakness,
encourage him so that he will not hide it from you. And when he has revealed
it to you, do not make it public, lest because of it the innocent might be
reckoned as guilty by our enemies and by those who hate us" (Treatises 7:3
[AD 340]).
[The penitent Christian] does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord
Origen
“[The penitent Christian] does not shrink
from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord and from seeking
medicine . . . [of] which the apostle James says: ‘If then there is
anyone sick, let him call the presbyters of the Church, and let them
impose hands upon him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;
and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and if he be in sins,
they shall be forgiven him.” (Homilies on Leviticus 2:4 [A.D. 250]).
Council of Nicaea
Council of Nicaea
“Concerning the departing, the ancient
canonical law is still to be maintained, to wit, that, if any man be at
the point of death, he must not be deprived of the last and most
indispensable Viaticum.” (canon 13 [A.D. 325])
And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he shall be forgiven’” (On the Priesthood 3:6:190ff [A.D. 387]).
Anointing of the Sick
John Chrysostom
“The priests of Judaism had power to
cleanse the body from leprosy—or rather, not to cleanse it at all, but
to declare a person as having been cleansed. . . . Our priests have
received the power not of treating with the leprosy of the body, but
with spiritual uncleanness; not of declaring cleansed, but of actually
cleansing. . . . Priests accomplish this not only by teaching and
admonishing, but also by the help of prayer. Not only at the time of our
regeneration [in baptism], but even afterward, they have the authority
to forgive sins: ‘Is there anyone among you sick? Let him call in the
priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with
oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick
man, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he
shall be forgiven’” (On the Priesthood 3:6:190ff [A.D. 387]).
Caesar of Arles
“As often as some infirmity overtakes a
man, let him who is ill receive the body and blood of Christ; let him
humbly and in faith ask the presbyters for blessed oil, to anoint his
body, so that what was written may be fulfilled in him: ‘Is anyone among
you sick? Let him bring in the presbyters, and let them pray over him,
anointing him with oil; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man,
and the Lord will raise him up; and if he be in sins, they will be
forgiven him. . . . See to it, brethren, that whoever is ill hasten to
the church, both that he may receive health of body and will merit to
obtain the forgiveness of his sins” (Sermons 13[325]:3 [A.D. 542]).
Council of Nicaea
“Concerning the departing, the ancient
canonical law is still to be maintained, to wit, that, if any man be at
the point of death, he must not be deprived of the last and most
indispensable Viaticum.” (canon 13 [A.D. 325])
Bishop Serapion
“We beseech you, Savior of all men, you
that have all virtue and power, Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, and we pray that you send down from heaven the healing power of
the only-begotten [Son] upon this oil, so that for those who are
anointed . . . it may be effected for the casting out of every disease
and every bodily infirmity . . . for good grace and remission of sins . .
. ” (The Sacramentary of Serapion 29:1 [A.D. 350]).
anointing of the sick was instituted by Christ our Lord as a true and proper sacrament of the New Testament. It is alluded to indeed by Mark, -- sacrament’s role in the life of the Church. Around A.D. 250,
The Sacrament’s Institution
Like all the sacraments, holy anointing was instituted by Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry. The Catechism explains, "This sacred anointing of the sick was instituted by Christ our Lord as a true and proper sacrament of the New Testament. It is alluded to indeed by Mark, but is recommended to the faithful and promulgated by James the apostle and brother of the Lord" (CCC 1511; Mark 6:13; Jas. 5:14-15).
The anointing of the sick conveys several graces and imparts gifts of strengthening in the Holy Spirit against anxiety, discouragement, and temptation, and conveys peace and fortitude (CCC 1520). These graces flow from the atoning death of Jesus Christ, for "this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, ‘He took our infirmities and bore our diseases’" (Matt. 8:17).
Mark refers to the sacrament when he recounts how Jesus sent out the twelve disciples to preach, and "they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them" (Mark 6:13). In his epistle, James says, "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven" (Jas. 5:14–15).
The early Church Fathers recognized this sacrament’s role in the life of the Church. Around A.D. 250, Origen wrote that the penitent Christian "does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord and from seeking medicine . . . [of] which the apostle James says: ‘If then there is anyone sick, let him call the presbyters of the Church, and let them impose hands upon him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him’" (Homilies on Leviticus 2:4).
In the year 350, Bishop Serapion wrote, "We beseech you, Savior of all men, you that have all virtue and power, Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and we pray that you send down from heaven the healing power of the only-begotten [Son] upon this oil, so that for those who are anointed . . . it may be effected for the casting out of every disease and every bodily infirmity . . . for good grace and remission of sins . . . " (The Sacramentary of Serapion 29:1).
Confession of Sins in the Bible and Beyond- with Alvin Glombowski and Maureen Barledge
Confession of Sins in the Bible and Beyond
Source: http://preachersinstitute.com/2011/04/13/confession-of-sins-in-the-bible-and-beyond/For those struggling with the necessity of Confession, or who need to preach about it, here is what the Scriptures and the Church Fathers say about the necessary participation in this Holy Mystery. This article was taken from the St. George Church of Prescott website.
Confession of sins is very much a part of Biblical
Faith and especially Biblical Christianity, and was
closely related to the worship of the True God.
From
the Old Testament on, it is clear that men should
confess their sins, and this practice, though often
neglected and denigrated by scoffers, offers real
remission of sins from God.
This is the Biblical
way, and the way of the early Church, as the
following quotes and citations will clearly
demonstrate. Indeed, any faith which professes to be
Biblical or which claims to follow the ways of the
early Church, but does not include confession as a
part of its teachings is demonstrably outside of the
stream of Christian teachings and practice
throughout the ages.
In The Old Testament
“...he
shall confess his sin that he has committed.
And he
shall make full restitution for his wrong,
adding a
fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did the
wrong.”
(Numbers
5:7)
“Those of Israelite descent separated themselves
from all foreigners, and they stood and confessed
their sins and the guilt of their fathers. While
they stood in their places, they read from the book
of the law of the LORD their God for a fourth of the
day and spent another fourth of the day in
confession and worship of the LORD their God.”
(Nehemiah
9:2-3)
“And read out publicly this scroll which we send
you, in the house of the LORD, on the feast day and
during the days of assembly: ‘Justice is with the
LORD, our God; and we today are flushed with shame,
we men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem, that we,
with our kings and rulers and priests and prophets,
and with our fathers, have sinned in the LORD’S
sight and disobeyed him. We have neither heeded the
voice of the LORD, our God, nor followed the
precepts which the LORD set before us.’”
(Baruch
1:14-18)
Required by John the Baptist
John the Baptist, inspired by the Holy Spirit, also
required confession of sins for the baptism of
repentance.
ED-{ck out the baptism with a rood awaking} for the real info
“Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in
the Jordan River.”
(Matthew
3:6)
“And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea,
and they of Jerusalem,
and were all baptized of him in the
river
of Jordan,
confessing their sins.”
(Mark
1:5)
In The New Testament Church
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray
for each other so that you may be healed.
The prayer
of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
(James
5:16)
“Also many of those who were now believers came,
confessing and divulging their practices.”
(Acts
19:18)
“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the
eternal life to which you were called when you made
your good confession in the presence of many
witnesses.”
(1
Timothy 6:12)
“If we confess our sins,
He
is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins
and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
(1
John 1:9)
And What The Early Church Really Did
The
Early
Church clearly taught
confession of sins, and in Church! Indeed, the
following citations clearly show that from the very
beginnings of the post-Apostolic Church down to the
present day, confession of sins was understood as
holy, necessary and effectual for the remission of
sins. Those who avoid it must necessarily find
themselves outside of Biblical thought on sin,
repentance and confession.
Note
the dates of these documents! Of
special significance is their recognition that
confession and absolution must be received by a
sinner before receiving Holy Communion, for:
“whoever . . . eats the bread or drinks the cup of
the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of
profaning the body and blood of the Lord”
(1
Cor. 11:27).
ED- note{ they were combining- a church banquet part with the pass-over feast}
The Didache -
The Earliest Christian Catechism (pre-dating some of
the canonical writings of the New Testament):
“Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to
your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way
of life. . . . On the Lord’s Day gather together,
break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your
transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure”
(Didache
4:14, 14:1 [A.D. 70]).
The Letter of Barnabas:
“You shall judge righteously. You shall not make a
schism, but you shall pacify those that contend by
bringing them together. You shall confess your sins.
You shall not go to prayer with an evil conscience.
This is the way of light”
(Letter of Barnabas 19 [A.D. 74]).
St. Ignatius of
Antioch
“For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are
also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the
exercise of penance, return into the unity of the
Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they
may live according to Jesus Christ”
(Letter to the Philadelphians 3 [A.D. 106]).
“For where there is division and wrath, God does not
dwell. To all them that repent, the Lord grants
forgiveness, if they turn in penitence to the unity
of God, and to communion with the bishop”
(ibid., 8).
St. Irenaeus of
Lyons
“[The Gnostic disciples of Marcus] have deluded many
women. . . . Their consciences have been branded as
with a hot iron. Some of these women make a public
confession, but others are ashamed to do this, and
in silence, as if withdrawing from themselves the
hope of the life of God, they either apostatize
entirely or hesitate between the two courses”
(Against Heresies 1:22 [A.D. 189]).
Tertullian of
Carthage
“[Regarding confession, some] flee from this work as
being an exposure of themselves, or they put it off
from day to day. I presume they are more mindful of
modesty than of salvation, like those who contract a
disease in the more shameful parts of the body and
shun making themselves known to the physicians; and
thus they perish along with their own bashfulness”
(Repentance 10:1 [A.D. 203]).
St. Hippolytus of Rome
“[The bishop conducting the ordination of the new
bishop shall pray:] God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. . . . Pour forth now that power which comes
from you, from your royal Spirit, which you gave to
your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and which he
bestowed upon his holy apostles . . . and grant this
your servant, whom you have chosen for the
episcopate, [the power] to feed your holy flock and
to serve without blame as your high priest,
ministering night and day to propitiate unceasingly
before your face and to offer to you the gifts of
your holy Church, and by the Spirit of the high
priesthood to have the authority to forgive sins, in
accord with your command”
(Apostolic Tradition 3 [A.D. 215]).
Origen of
Alexandria
“[A final method of forgiveness], albeit hard and
laborious [is] the remission of sins through
penance, when the sinner . . . does not shrink from
declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord and from
seeking medicine, after the manner of him who says,
‘I said, “To the Lord I will accuse myself of my
iniquity”
’.”
(Homilies on Leviticus 2:4 [A.D. 248]).
St. Cyprian of
Carthage
“The apostle [Paul] likewise bears witness and says:
‘ . . . Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of
the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the body and
blood of the Lord’ [1 Cor. 11:27]. But [the
impenitent] spurn and despise all these warnings;
before their sins are expiated, before they have
made a confession of their crime, before their
conscience has been purged in the ceremony and at
the hand of the priest . . . they do violence to
[the Lord’s] body and blood, and with their hands
and mouth they sin against the Lord more than when
they denied him”
(The Lapsed 15:1–3 (A.D. 251]).
“Of how much greater faith and salutary fear are
they who . . . confess their sins to the priests of
God in a straightforward manner and in sorrow,
making an open declaration of conscience. . . . I
beseech you, brethren, let everyone who has sinned
confess his sin while he is still in this world,
while his confession is still admissible, while the
satisfaction and remission made through the priests
are still pleasing before the Lord”.
(ibid., 28).
“[S]inners may do penance for a set time, and
according to the rules of discipline come to public
confession, and by imposition of the hand of the
bishop and clergy receive the right of Communion.
[But now some] with their time [of penance] still
unfulfilled . . . they are admitted to Communion,
and their name is presented; and while the penitence
is not yet performed, confession is not yet made,
the hands of the bishop and clergy are not yet laid
upon them, the Eucharist is given to them; although
it is written, ‘Whosoever shall eat the bread and
drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be
guilty of the body and blood of the Lord’ [1 Cor.
11:27]“
(Letters 9:2 [A.D. 253]).
“And do not think, dearest brother, that either the
courage of the brethren will be lessened, or that
martyrdoms will fail for this cause, that penance is
relaxed to the lapsed, and that the hope of peace
[i.e., absolution] is offered to the penitent. . . .
For to adulterers even a time of repentance is
granted by us, and peace is given”
(ibid., 51[55]:20).
“But I wonder that some are so obstinate as to think
that repentance is not to be granted to the lapsed,
or to suppose that pardon is to be denied to the
penitent, when it is written, ‘Remember whence thou
art fallen, and repent, and do the first works’
[Rev. 2:5], which certainly is said to him who
evidently has fallen, and whom the Lord exhorts to
rise up again by his deeds [of penance], because it
is written, ‘Alms deliver from death’ [Tob. 12:9]“
(ibid., 51[55]:22).
St. Aphraahat the Persian Sage
“You [priests], then, who are disciples of our
illustrious physician [Christ], you ought not deny a
curative to those in need of healing. And if anyone
uncovers his wound before you, give him the remedy
of repentance. And he that is ashamed to make known
his weakness, encourage him so that he will not hide
it from you. And when he has revealed it to you, do
not make it public, lest because of it the innocent
might be reckoned as guilty by our enemies and by
those who hate us”
(Treatises 7:3 [A.D. 340]).
St. Basil the Great
“It is necessary to confess our sins to those to
whom the dispensation of God’s mysteries is
entrusted. Those doing penance of old are found to
have done it before the saints. It is written in the
Gospel that they confessed their sins to John the
Baptist [Matt. 3:6], but in Acts [19:18] they
confessed to the apostles”
(Rules Briefly Treated 288 [A.D. 374]).
St. John
Chrysostom
“Priests have received a power which God has given
neither to angels nor to archangels. It was said to
them: ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose,
shall be loosed.’ Temporal rulers have indeed the
power of binding; but they can only bind the body.
Priests, in contrast, can bind with a bond which
pertains to the soul itself and transcends the very
heavens. Did [God] not give them all the powers of
heaven? ‘Whose sins you shall forgive,’ he says,
‘they are forgiven them; whose sins you shall
retain, they are retained.’ What greater power is
there than this? The Father has given all judgment
to the Son. And now I see the Son placing all this
power in the hands of men [Matt. 10:40; John
20:21–23]. They are raised to this dignity as if
they were already gathered up to heaven”
(The Priesthood 3:5 [A.D. 387]).
St. Ambrose of
Milan
“For those to whom [the right of binding and
loosing] has been given, it is plain that either
both are allowed, or it is clear that neither is
allowed. Both are allowed to the Church, neither is
allowed to heresy. For this right has been granted
to priests only”
(Penance 1:1 [A.D. 388]).
St. Jerome of Stridonium
“If the serpent, the devil, bites someone secretly,
he infects that person with the venom of sin. And if
the one who has been bitten keeps silence and does
not do penance, and does not want to confess his
wound . . . then his brother and his master, who
have the word [of absolution] that will cure him,
cannot very well assist him”
(Commentary on Ecclesiastes 10:11 [A.D. 388]).
St. Augustine
of Hippo
“When you shall have been baptized, keep to a good
life in the commandments of God so that you may
preserve your baptism to the very end. I do not tell
you that you will live here without sin, but they
are venial sins which this life is never without.
Baptism was instituted for all sins. For light sins,
without which we cannot live, prayer was instituted.
. . . But do not commit those sins on account of
which you would have to be separated from the body
of Christ. Perish the thought! For those whom you
see doing penance have committed crimes, either
adultery or some other enormities. That is why they
are doing penance. If their sins were light, daily
prayer would suffice to blot them out. . . . In the
Church, therefore, there are three ways in which
sins are forgiven: in baptisms, in prayer, and in
the greater humility of penance”
(Sermon to Catechumens on the Creed 7:15, 8:16 [A.D.
395]).
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)