Gregory Koukl's Blog, page 33
November 12, 2015
Answering an Objection to Grace: Why Not Sin?
The question ���If Jesus pays for all your sins, then why not sin?��� is an objection to grace anticipated by Paul in Romans 6:15: ���Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!��� The objection reflects a misunderstanding of who Christians are as regenerated ���new creatures��� and how we view our new life in Christ.
Yes, Christians are justified because of the perfect work of Christ on the cross and His application of this work to us in His work as our high priest. His righteousness becomes our righteousness when we turn to Him and are united to Him through faith in Him and His work for us. We���re righteous because of His works, not ours. But that���s not all there is to understand about the relationship between Christians and sin.
When we trust in Christ to save us from the punishment we deserve, we are acknowledging our sinfulness and need for Him. Romans 6 explains that when we���re united to Christ, we���re ���crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with������we die with Him, and then we���re raised with Him to a new life. Because of this, we���re to ���consider ourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.���
We are new people now, no longer slaves to sin. We belong to Christ. Therefore, we���re told, ���Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.��� We gave up our old bodies of sin when we died with Christ. Colossians 3 explains more:
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God���.
Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
This is how Christians now view sin. We renounced it all when we died with Christ.
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:1-4)
At the same time, because we are still fallen in a fallen world, because our bodies have not been fully redeemed as they will be in the resurrection, everything we do is tainted by our sinful fallenness. This is why we���re told in 1 John 1:8-10, ���If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us."
This means that as we continue in our lives, fully justified because of receiving the forgiveness and righteousness of Christ through faith, and considering ourselves to be dead to sin, we will yet sin. When we do, we confess those sins, and He cleanses us from them. This is an ongoing part of our lives. To deny this is to call God a liar (see ���Free to Say We���ve Sinned���). In other words, it���s not sinlessness that marks a Christian, it���s the attitude towards sin.
We rejoice in the grace that removes our guilt, but we don���t use it as an excuse for licentiousness. This is because, as Christians, our attitude towards sin has completely changed. We now hate it. We don���t cherish or protect sin. Instead, we confess it and ask for forgiveness. This is the attitude towards sin that has marked Christians from the beginning. In fact, both 1 John and Jude teach that we can recognize false Christians by their view of sin. ���Ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness��� are unequivocally condemned. They���re condemned as false Christians not because they���re not good enough to be Christians (no one is good enough to merit God���s grace!), but because their attitude towards sin proves they never died and rose with Christ. Those who have been changed by God and united to Christ will have a new view of sin. These are the ones who say with Paul, ���Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!���
To assume that Christians will use grace as an excuse to sin is to assume that Christianity is false���that God has not, in truth, called us ���out of darkness into His marvelous light,��� that we have not died with Christ and were not raised with Him as new creatures, that the old things have not passed away for us. It���s understandable that non-Christians would raise this objection, but it does not reflect the Christian view of our new life in Christ and our relationship to sin.
November 11, 2015
Links Mentioned on the 11/11/15 Show
The following is a rundown of today's podcast, annotated with links that were either mentioned on the show or inspired by it:
Commentary: Understanding the Parable of the Sower (0:00)
Listen to past podcasts
#STRask Podcast with Greg Koukl and Melinda Penner
Matthew 13 ��� Parable of the Sower
Sowing the Seed Recklessly by Greg Koukl
Questions:
��� Announcements:
STR Cruise to Alaska ��� August 6-13, 2016
1. When should Christian convictions lead someone to quit their job? (0:22)
2. How do you start an apologetics ministry? (0:31)
The Francis A. Schaeffer Trilogy
Be a Student of Your Craft ��� Commentary by Greg Koukl
Contact Ben Nagel if you're near Portage, Indiana and into apologetics
3. It's not fair for the Mormons to be damned when they're sincere and doing good. (0:46)
LDS Test Is Necessary, Not Sufficient by Amy Hall
Why Isn't Sincerity Enough? (Video) by Brett Kunkle
Is God an Exalted Man? by Amy Hall
LDS View of Atonement Clarified by Amy Hall
God Cares More about Behavior than Most People Think by Amy Hall
Listen to today's show or download any archived show for free. (Find links from past shows here.)
To take part in the Twitter conversation during the live show (Tuesdays 4:00���6:00 p.m. PT), follow @STRtweets and use the hashtag #STRtalk.
November 10, 2015
Twisting Jesus' Words
I can overlook bad biblical interpretation every once and while. You���re probably the same. You see interpretive mistakes here and there, but you don���t always make a ruckus about it.
When my daughter came home with a badly-interpreted Bible lesson one day, though, I didn���t tolerate it. I spoke up.
She came to me with a handout she got from Sunday school. That morning���s topic was called, ���The Night Neighbor,��� a lesson from Luke 11:5-8 (NIRV).
Then Jesus said to them, ���Suppose you have a friend. You go to him at midnight and say, ���Friend, lend me three loaves of bread. A friend of mine on a journey has come to stay with me. I have no food to give him.��� And suppose the one inside answers, ���Don���t bother me. The door is already locked. My children and I are in bed. I can���t get up and give you anything.��� I tell you, that person will not get up. And he won���t give you bread just because he is your friend. But because you keep bothering him, he will surely get up. He will give you as much as you need.
After citing the above text, the handout had a list of ���Application Points.���
���Even though you are small, you can do big things with God���s help.
Sharing big means sharing before you���re even asked.
What can you share today before you���re even asked?���
In other words, whoever wrote this curriculum (and it���s a big-budget, highly produced lesson series used by many churches) believed that Jesus��� point in this passage was to teach about sharing. The Sunday school student is supposed to take note of the neighbor who was awoken at midnight, notice that he initially was reluctant to share his food, but that he eventually realized the error of his ways and gave his friend some bread.
Why was I so frustrated? Because Jesus was not trying to teach about sharing. How do I know? I follow a principle we teach at Stand to Reason: Never read a Bible verse. Always read the context. It���s the words before and after a passage that clarifies the meaning of the smaller unit of text. Indeed, as we���ll see in this passage, Jesus even explains the point of his ���night neighbor��� parable.
To be fair, I could see how a person might interpret this passage as a point about sharing. If the only thing you read was Luke 11:5-8 and didn���t read any context, then it makes sense that sharing might be a possible interpretation. It would be even more tempting to come to that conclusion if your goal was to teach children to share. But the context is available so there���s no excuse.
Notice the context of Luke 11:5-8. Jesus begins by telling his disciples the ���Lord���s Prayer,��� answering their request to teach them how to pray. After He tells them the prayer, He tells them the parable of the ���night neighbor.��� Then, Jesus concludes with these famous words: ���So here is what I say to you. Ask, and it will be given to you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. Everyone who asks will receive. The one who searches will find. And the door will be opened to the one who knocks.���
In other words, the context (the words before and after the ���night neighbor��� parable) is about how to pray and make your requests known to God. Jesus wants us to be persistent in our prayer. That���s His point.
The Sunday school lesson not only missed that point, but it also focused on the wrong person in the parable. Notice the handout points you to the neighbor. It asks you to consider being the person who���s awoken at midnight and asked to share. That���s not the person Jesus is asking us to look at in the parable, though, when taken in context. Jesus��� point is that you act like the friend who comes over and asks for bread. The friend was persistent in asking for help. Jesus also wants you to be persistent in your request to God. The Sunday school lesson identifies the wrong person in the parable because they ignored the context.
Some might think I���m overreacting. After all, it���s just a Sunday school lesson for kids. Sharing is still a great value. It���s no big deal.
I disagree. It is a big deal. First of all, if sharing (or giving) is a biblical mandate, then use passages that teach that. There���s plenty of them. Second, making a lesson from a passage that teaches a different point is bad hermeneutics (the art and science of interpreting the Bible). That means you���re not only misinterpreting the Bible, but you���re modeling bad interpretive principles to impressionable young children. Third, you���re ignoring an important message that Jesus is trying to teach: persistence in prayer. This is a great lesson for all people to learn, including children. Fourth, you���re twisting Jesus��� words to say something He didn���t mean. That���s a huge deal. We reasonably get angry when someone twists our words. How much more grievous of a mistake is it to do that to the words of God!
The solution is to never read a Bible verse. Always read the context, the parts before and after the passage you���re looking at. The only skill required to discover that context is ��� wait for it ��� reading. That���s it! You don���t need a fancy seminary education. If you can read a verse or passage out of context, you already have the tool you need to read it in context.
November 9, 2015
What Do You Think of the Videos That Have Exposed Planned Parenthood?
Alan shares his thoughts on the Planned Parenthood videos.
November 7, 2015
Is All Worship Equally Acceptable to God?
I have become increasingly concerned at the cavalier attitude many people have about how they approach God. There are many people who believe that it doesn���t matter how you come to God, so long as you come. They believe that the true God will take their worship���in whatever form and to whatever god���and transpose it onto Himself. On this view, it doesn���t really matter how I worship, as long as I���m sincere. Implicit in this thinking is the belief that all religions worship the same God.
For example, devoted Hindus sincerely worship Brahma as creator, Vishnu as protector, and Shiva as judge. Are we to understand that the true God will take the worship given to these three different gods and apply it to Himself? On this view, God isn���t really interested in the details of how and whom you worship, so long as you are giving it your best effort.
People inside and outside of the Church believe this is how God operates. They believe that He is more concerned with the individual���s sincerity than the veracity of what the person believes about God. However, there are two passages from Scripture that shed some light on this issue. First, look at Genesis 4:1-5:
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, ���I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.��� And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.
Was Cain worshipping the wrong God? Was Cain not being sincere? I think we can answer "no" to both of these questions. Then why didn���t God accept Cain���s offering? I believe the answer is clear: Even though Cain wasn���t coming to the wrong God, he was coming to the right God in the wrong way. Cain didn���t believe in God any less than Abel. Cain was sincere in his offering. He was a worker of the ground and thought that offering "fruit from the ground" would be acceptable. It turns out that even though Cain was sincere, he was sincerely wrong.
The problem was with how Cain approached God. Cain offered what he wanted, not what God had prescribed. (Imagine how much worse it would have been if Cain had approached a different god altogether!)
You can see the same thing in Leviticus 10:1-3:
Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said to Aaron, ���This is what the LORD has said: ���Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.������ And Aaron held his peace.
Here we see that same thing happen again, but this time God executes immediate judgment. Notice how, like Cain (and unlike those who worship Vishnu and Shiva), Nadab and Abihu weren���t worshipping a false god. From what we can tell, they were trying to worship and please the one true God. However, how they worshipped was not how God had directed them, and God punished them for their error.
I think these two examples demonstrate the importance of how we approach God. We need to get the details right. If it matters how we worship, how much more does it matter whom we worship! God is blazingly holy and will be worshipped on His terms, not ours. And His terms are that we must come to Him through Jesus Christ alone.
November 6, 2015
Links Mentioned on the 11/06/15 Show
The following is a rundown of today's podcast, annotated with links that were either mentioned on the show or inspired by it:
Guest: Sean McDowell ��� The Fate of the Apostles (0:00)
Sean McDowell's website
The Fate of the Apostles: Examining the Martyrdom Accounts of the Closest Followers of Jesus by Sean McDowell
Ethix: Being Bold in a Whatever World by Sean McDowell
The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach by Michael Licona
Listen to today's show or download any archived show for free. (Find links from past shows here.)
To take part in the Twitter conversation during the live show (Tuesdays 4:00���6:00 p.m. PT), follow @STRtweets and use the hashtag #STRtalk.
Only the Trinity Fits All of the Scriptural Data
In keeping with my own philosophy that Christians should first major in the majors before nitpicking on secondary issues, I have decided to tackle the question ���Who was Jesus?������along with the larger issue of the Trinity���in the next two issues of Solid Ground.
My broad goal is to make a clear, scriptural case for the Triune nature of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with a particular focus on the deity of Jesus Christ. And also show why the doctrine is critical to a sound understanding of the Lord we serve and of His work in our salvation.
In this first installment, I aim to accomplish four things. First, I want you to understand the significance of the Trinity. Next, I want to look briefly at the alleged problem of the Trinity. Third, I want to offer a clear, concise, coherent definition of the Trinity. Finally, I want to address the alleged contradiction of the Trinity and silence that objection once and for all.
For many, the Trinity seems to be a mysterious, intractable difficulty. I think they���re mistaken. I���m convinced the Trinity is not a problem, but a magnificent solution to a host of other problems. Most importantly, only the Trinity is consistent with God���s own self-revelation in both Testaments:
Only the Trinity can make sense of the love of God as an intrinsic moral excellence, a holy affection continuously given and received from eternity past among the divine persons. Only the Trinity can turn Jesus��� sacrifice on a cross into a testament of God���s love for the world, since it was God���s blood, shed by Christ, that purchased Christ���s church (Acts 20:28). And only with the Trinity can a man suffer a finite amount of time, yet cover an eternal debt for a countless multitude, since the man was Himself the God of infinite grace.
Read the rest of The Trinity: A Solution, Not a Problem Part 1.
November 5, 2015
November 4, 2015
Links Mentioned on the 11/04/15 Show
The following is a rundown of today's podcast, annotated with links that were either mentioned on the show or inspired by it:
Questions:
��� Announcements:
STR Cruise to Alaska ��� August 6-13, 2016
1. How do you initiate spiritual conversations with strangers? (0:01)
Ryan's pevious call to Greg (listen at 44:33)
Unsilenced: How to Voice the Gospel by James Boccardo
What if Christians Were "Unsilenced"? by J. Warner Wallace (review of Boccardo's book)
The Best Question to Ask When Starting a Conversation about God by J. Warner Wallace ("What do you think happens after we die?")
2. Should Protestants and Catholics date? ��� Continuation of Ryan's call (0:06)
#STRask Podcast ��� iTunes, RSS, STR website
Justification by Faith Alone ��� Free teaching series from R.C. Sproul
Is the Reformation Over? by R.C. Sproul
, by Greg Koukl (on inclusivism)
Welcome to College: A Christ-Follower's Guide for the Journey by Jonathan Morrow
3. From a Calvinist point of view, why did Jesus speak in parables ? (0:21)
4. What happens when we die���Heaven or Hell, or spirit sleep? (0:30)
Beyond Death: Exploring the Evidence for Immortality by Gary Habermas and J.P. Moreland
Greg's interview with Gary Habermas on near-death experiences
5. How important is it to obey the traffic laws in light of Romans 13? (0:42)
6. How do you know which books belong in the New Testament canon? (0:53)
Greg's interview with Michael Kruger on his book The Question of Canon
Listen to today's show or download any archived show for free. (Find links from past shows here.)
To take part in the Twitter conversation during the live show (Tuesdays 4:00���6:00 p.m. PT), follow @STRtweets and use the hashtag #STRtalk.
Free Event in Southern California: "A Vision for Youth"
I hear the stories again and again from around the country. I hear them from moms and dads, grandparents, pastors, and youth workers: Students, raised in the church and raised in Christian homes, encounter serious challenges to their faith and then walk away from God.
You hear the stories too. Maybe you've lived it with your own son or daughter. We're all well aware of the problem, but what can we do to stem the tide of students who walk away from Christianity? Join me for an evening of opportunity and action at Stand to Reason's upcoming event, "A Vision for Youth," on Sunday night, November 15th, from 5:00���7:00 p.m. at Grace Fellowship Church in Costa Mesa, California.
We'll enjoy a wonderful meal together. You'll hear a special message and challenge from former cold-case homocide detective J. Warner Wallace, author of Cold-Case Christianity and the newly realeased God���s Crime Scene. Also, I'll share about the exciting new plans we have to train up a new generation of ambassadors for Christ, and we'll extend an invitation to you to join our efforts and partner in our vision for youth.
All are welcome to this special night, so please invite your friends, family, and church leaders. You can RSVP with Dawnielle Hodgman at dawnielle@str.org. I hope to see you on November 15th!
