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If Christians can sin willfully and still be justified, then why did God drive Adam & Eve out of the Garden of Eden? Why couldn't they still remain in His fellowship and perfection?
If Christians can sin willfully and still be justified, then why did God drive Adam & Eve out of the Garden of Eden? Why couldn't they still remain in His fellowship and perfection?
Adam's relationship with God was based on remaining in perfect obedience to God's command to not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That was the only command that the Lord had given to Adam. It was a volitional test for Adam in order for his volition to have something with which to work. God set that particular tree in the Garden and then gave Adam a command not to eat its fruit.
As long as Adam obeyed that command, his relationship with God continued. God had always known that Adam would fail the volitional test and used Adam's disobedience to advance His plan. God had told Adam that if he ate the fruit in disobedience to God then, ''dying you shall die.'' (the correct translation from the Hebrew of Gen.2:17.) 'Dying' refers to Adams spiritual death [separation from God] which occurred immediately after eating the fruit. 'You shall die' refers to Adam's physical death which occurred more than 900 years later and which was the result of his spiritual death.
When Adam sinned, he acquired an old sin nature and now when any member of the human race is born, that person is born with an old sin nature which is genetic and is passed down through the male when the sperm fertilizes the egg. When the fetus emerges from the womb and the baby is born, the old sin nature becomes active and at that point God imputes Adam's original sin to that sin nature. This results in being born physically alive but spiritually dead and in need of salvation. Before Adam sinned he didn't need salvation. After he sinned, he then became in need of salvation.
Adam's relationship with God depended on never disobeying God. But by causing every member of the human race to be born spiritually dead, God has placed the entire human race under the umbrella of grace. By being in need of salvation from the moment of birth, God made it possible for man to enter into a relationship with Him through one simple act of faith in Christ.
Our personal sins were never imputed to us for comdemnation. We are comdemned because of Adam's original sin. Our personal sins were stored up until that moment in history when Christ came into the world and paid the penalty for our sins at the Cross. The work of Christ on the Cross removed sin as a barrier and now when we believe in Christ for salvation, we step over the line where the barrier of sin used to be and enter into a permanent relationship with God which can never be lost.
Before he sinned, Adams point of contact with God was divine love. But after he sinned and then believed in Christ for salvation, his point of contact with God became divine justice, not love. Our point of contact with God is divine justice, not divine love. Yes, God loves us, but the demands of His righteousness must be met. When we believe in Christ, God the Father imputes His very own righteousness to us and so when He sees us, He sees His own righteousness in us and then pronounces us justified.
When Adam sinned, he couldn't remain in fellowship with God because he had come under divine cursing. What the righteousness of God demands, His justice must curse. And so that is why God provided a means of salvaton for us.
I didn't do a good job of arranging my reply in a way that provides the best possible flow of thought but hopefully it is clear enough.
Didn't man get a bum rap, having to suffer for Adam's sin? Why couldn't we all have been given our own shot in paradise? If we ate the fruit, then let God bounce us out on our @sses afterwards.
Didn't man get a bum rap, having to suffer for Adam's sin? Why couldn't we all have been given our own shot in paradise? If we ate the fruit, then let God bounce us out on our @sses afterwards.
LOL humans love fruit, especially when it is flavored with knowledge. May as well just bestow the result on us too. It saves time.
Mike555 - so you believe that God intentionally created this nightmare of a world as we know it? Why was He grieved about it before the flood if He already knew about Adam's fall beforehand? Why did He repent of making man if it was His plan for them to fall?
Genesis 6
5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
The Bible says that when there is wilful sin, there's no more sacrifice. Hence, Christians that have the heart and mindset to sin wilfully are not justified. If they ask for forgivness and repent, with a sincere heart and contrite spirit, God forgives them. True Christians fear God enough whereas they would not "wilfully" commit sin. We're convicted or our sins and strive hard not to repeat them, understanding the process of deliverance. We all have areas in which we're weak, so our constant and fervent prayer is that God strengthens us in those areas, purifies us, purges us of all iniquity and disciplines us so that we can be better, more wise and worthy disciples.
Last edited by teejuris; 09-20-2009 at 03:03 PM..
Reason: Typo
If Christians can sin willfully and still be justified, then why did God drive Adam & Eve out of the Garden of Eden? Why couldn't they still remain in His fellowship and perfection?>>>scgraham
Mike555 gave a true traditional view of the story in Genesis.
What may be looked at is some key points in the whole of scripture to give us a clear picture of God’s intend in the creation of Adam.
First: What did God want out of Adam?
1.A son in His likeness, meaning, a son who had the ability to be independent, as like a god.
2.Be his own man, a living soul.
Second: What ingredients were needed to create this Adam?
1.A body of flesh (Eve) the mother of all living flesh
2.A spirit to make the body of flesh alive. (Adam, God’s breathe in the flesh = conscience)
Third: The most important of all and that is knowledge.
1.The tree of knowledge really means that Adam was given the ability to gain knowledge of both good and evil.
2.Upon Adam gaining of knowledge, he than becomes as like God, independent.
3.There can exist only but one God, not two and certainly not many.
Fourth: Tree of life, which means knowledge of God, who He is and how He relates to us.
1.Tree of life withheld from Adam to a later date, lest he take and live forever.
2.Tree of life comes in the form of a second Adam, this time as God in power and might.
3.Jesus is the tree of life bringing knowledge of who God is and redemption from the first Adam’s lost estate.
4.God’s righteousness is the only qualifier for entrance into heaven via His Son’s sacrifice and whose righteousness is granted us for life.
Here’s the deal, Salvation is won by Christ’s work on the cross and not by our own righteousness.
Meaning that salvation is not in lieu of our doing good, making our works unworthy or as filthy rags.
Salvation is granted and not earned.
That being said, we still sin, not unto death, but to our own consequences.
Therefore, that puts us all in the same category, believer and unbeliever alike.
The Bible says that when there is wilful sin, there's no more sacrifice. Hence, Christians that have the heart and mindset to sin wilfully are not justified. If they ask for forgivness and repent, with a sincere heart and contrite spirit, God forgives them. True Christians fear God enough whereas they would not "wilfully" commit sin. We're convicted or our sins and strive hard not to repeat them, understanding the process of deliverance. We all have areas in which we're weak, so our constant and fervent prayer is that God strengthens us in those areas, purifies us, purges us of all iniquity and disciplines us so that we can be better, more wise and worthy disciples.
One sacrifice, the sin that is unto death is done away with. For that, there remains no more sacrifice.
If we willfully sin, the sacrifice for death's sin does not apply.
Our willfulness to sin meets with consequences that will bring us to our knees, and that is our own fault.
Yet, God will forgive us after we've repent, 7 x7.
Mike555 gave a true traditional view of the story in Genesis.
What may be looked at is some key points in the whole of scripture to give us a clear picture of God’s intend in the creation of Adam.
First: What did God want out of Adam?
1.A son in His likeness, meaning, a son who had the ability to be independent, as like a god.
2.Be his own man, a living soul.
Second: What ingredients were needed to create this Adam?
1.A body of flesh (Eve) the mother of all living flesh
2.A spirit to make the body of flesh alive. (Adam, God’s breathe in the flesh = conscience)
Third: The most important of all and that is knowledge.
1.The tree of knowledge really means that Adam was given the ability to gain knowledge of both good and evil.
2.Upon Adam gaining of knowledge, he than becomes as like God, independent.
3.There can exist only but one God, not two and certainly not many.
Fourth: Tree of life, which means knowledge of God, who He is and how He relates to us.
1.Tree of life withheld from Adam to a later date, lest he take and live forever.
2.Tree of life comes in the form of a second Adam, this time as God in power and might.
3.Jesus is the tree of life bringing knowledge of who God is and redemption from the first Adam’s lost estate.
4.God’s righteousness is the only qualifier for entrance into heaven via His Son’s sacrifice and whose righteousness is granted us for life.
Here’s the deal, Salvation is won by Christ’s work on the cross and not by our own righteousness.
Meaning that salvation is not in lieu of our doing good, making our works unworthy or as filthy rags.
Salvation is granted and not earned.
That being said, we still sin, not unto death, but to our own consequences.
Therefore, that puts us all in the same category, believer and unbeliever alike.
Blessings, AJ
Then why did the power of the Holy Ghost kill Ananias and Sapphira?
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