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THE
FIRST HUMAN SIN ANALYZED By
Man
is the only physical being that is morally accountable [and therefore the only
physical being who can sin] because he is the only being created “in the
image of God.” His accountability is threefold; he is accountable to
God, to others and to self (see Matt. 22:37-39; Titus 2:11, 12). Man’s
primary moral responsibility is upward to God. Indeed, if there were no
God, man would not be morally responsible, at all, for moral responsibility
rests in the fact that man was created in God’s image. It is, therefore,
absurd for an atheist to speak of moral accountability. When
Amnon, the son of David was about to force his
half-sister, Tamar, to sleep with him, she reminded him that “no such
thing should be done in Likewise,
Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil (Gen. 2:17; 3:1-3). Therefore, they were morally obligated to
refrain from eating of it. No such thing should have been done in Man’s
second moral responsibility is outward to others. He is to love his
neighbor as himself, and “esteem others better than himself” (Matt.
22:39; Phil. 2:3). After
reminding Amnon of his upward responsibility,
Tamar asked, “And I, where could I take my shame?” (2 Sam. 13:13a).
He was not only to refrain from sinning against God; he was also to refrain
from sinning against her. Likewise,
Adam and Eve had a moral responsibility to one another. She was to be “a
helper comparable to him” and he was to be her head. She was to
help [not hinder] him in his responsibilities to God. She sinned first by
eating, but also by encouraging him to eat. And he sinned by joining her in
[rather than reprimanding her for] the eating of it. Man’s
third moral responsibility is inward to himself. Because of the penalty
for sin (Rom. 6:23), man owes it to himself to refrain from sinning. That is,
he is to “exercise…that self-restraint that governs all passions and
desires, enabling [him] to be conformed to the mind of Christ” (Vine,
page 1067). Thus,
if Amnon were to persist in forcing Tamar to lie
with him, he would not only be sinning against God and against Tamar, but
against himself, also. Thus she said, “And as for you, you would be like
one of the fools in Likewise,
Adam and Eve owed it to themselves, as individuals and as a unit, to refrain
from eating the forbidden fruit. They knew that doing so meant certain death,
for God had told them so. The
first human sin involved three distinct changes. First, there was the change
of affection. We do not know how long they continued to love God. At some
point, however, Satan decided to get involved. By calling Eve’s attention to
the fruit’s supposed culinary, aesthetic and academic properties, and
calling into question God’s motives for prohibiting its consumption, the
serpent produced within her the love of knowledge (Gen. 3:6). Second,
there was the change of will, or volition. Again, we do not know how
long they refrained from eating the forbidden fruit, but eventually Eve was “drawn
away by [her] own desires and enticed. Then, when
desire [was] conceived, it [gave] birth to sin” (see James 1:13, 14).
Thus, obedience was exchanged for disobedience. Third,
having a change of affection and a change of volition, there was a resultant change
of relation. They were no longer rightly related to God as in their
innocence. They became friends of the serpent and enemies of God. & CHARACTER By
Stan Adams Character
is defined as “all things that a person does, feels, thinks by which that
person is judged as being good or bad, strong or weak. All those things that
make one person different from others: all of the special qualities or nature
that defines an individual.” One can have a good character or a bad one.
Christians are to be a people of high and noble character. We are to be
followers of our Master, Jesus, and His character in the flesh was the noblest
of all. The
Lord called us out of the world, and has said “do not to be conformed to
this world, but transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2). A
simple study of Old and New Testament characters shows us the type of
character we should have in service to God. We are to have PATIENCE LIKE JOB;
COURAGE LIKE DANIEL, SHADRACH, MESHACK AND ABEDNEGO; FAITH LIKE ABRAHAM; A
SERVANT SPIRIT LIKE MOSES; ENDURANCE LIKE PAUL; ENTHUSIASM LIKE TIMOTHY;
HUMILITY LIKE THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH; A CONFORMING SPIRIT LIKE PETER; AND LOVE
LIKE JOHN. All of these attributes, when incorporated into our respective
lives, help to mold us into the characters that would be pleasing to God. Too
many Christians, today, do not know where they stand. They wait for a crisis
and then they study and “take a position.” If we truly have a Christian
character, we will be able to prayerfully discern what is right and wrong and
chart our course long before a crisis arises. True Christians possess a
deep-seated sense of what is right and [what is] wrong. They really love doing
right, and do not feel cheated or slighted. Let’s all have the character of
Christ. [Via Sound Words] &
WALKING
IN THE SPIRIT
By
According
to Vine the word, “walk,” at times signifies “the whole round of the
activities of the individual life, whether of the unregenerate...or of the
believer…. It is applied to the observance of religious ordinances…as well
as to moral conduct” (page 1218). Physical
walking was important in the first century as the chief form of travel. Many
who live in large cities, today, walk to work. Indeed, walking is a necessary
part of many jobs. It is also an important form of exercise. In
Gal. 5:16-23, we see that it is by walking “in the Spirit” that “the
fruit of the Spirit” is produced. But if we wish to “bear much
fruit” as branches on the “true vine” (John 15:1-8) we must know how
to “walk in the Spirit.” Requirements
for walking include a beginning, a goal, sufficient effort, direction and
progress. This is as true in the spiritual realm as in the physical. As
profitable as “bodily exercise” may be, spiritual exercise
[“godliness”] is far more so. For, without it, we cannot inherit the We
begin walking in the spirit by being “buried with Him through
baptism into death” (Romans 6:4). The goal of a spiritual walk is
“an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away,
reserved in heaven” for us (1 Peter 1:4). Sufficient effort for a
spiritual walk is nothing short of “giving all diligence” (2 Peter
1:5). The direction of a spiritual walk is “toward the goal for
the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). And progress
in a spiritual walk is being “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58).
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