The Doctrine of Salvation
How
"Righteousness by Faith"
Really Works
"Righteousness by Faith"
Really Works
Transcript of A-1
Welcome to our course on The Doctrine of Salvation - How “Righteousness by Faith” Really Works.
Let’s pray before we begin: Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your Word that explains Your great plan for our salvation. Please bless these studies by sending to us Your Holy Spirit. We want to understand Your Word, to draw closer to You and to be sanctified by Your Truth. We ask this in your Son’s precious name. Amen.
Section A of this Course is: What Is Sin? and Lesson 1 explores the Two Definitions of Sin
Before we begin our Bible study on The Doctrine of Salvation, we need to lay out some basic issues that will guide all the studies to come. The pivotal issue in any study of the gospel is the simple question: What Is Sin?
First, let us consider What did Jesus come to do? Matthew 1:21 tells us: And thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Sin is what caused us to be lost. Sin separated us from God, Who is the source of all life and righteousness. The Gospel is the Good News that God can save us from our sins. The question is: How?
The Doctrine of Salvation is the biblical teaching that explains HOW God can save YOU from your sins. Most of us assume we know what sin is, but as is typically true for most things that we assume without examining them carefully, our assumptions may be unproven suppositions that need careful rethinking.
Our situation is like a patient who makes an appointment with a physician. The most important thing the doctor can do for that patient is to make the correct diagnosis. What is the problem to be fixed?
It is exactly the same in our study of salvation. If the diagnosis of sin is correct, then the gospel remedy for sin will solve the problem, and we can have full assurance of our salvation.
On the other hand, if our definition of sin is unbiblical and based on misinformation, then the gospel that follows it is likely to be just as unbiblical, or even based on centuries of superstitious tradition, instead of on the holy Word of God.
The crucial question is: What is the issue about sin for which a human is found guilty, so guilty that he deserves to die, unless he is saved by the grace of God? We must be precise in defining the issue about sin that causes guilt, so that we will know exactly:
What is the most basic problem? Romans 3:23 tells us: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. But the real question is: How did we all sin? What caused us to come short of the glory of God?
The answer we give to this question affects every aspect of the gospel of our salvation. We know that Adam chose sin voluntarily. We know that he became guilty because of his choice. But what about us? Are we guilty because of Adam's sin; because we were born as descendants of Adam? Are we guilty because we inherited a fallen nature from Adam? Or are we guilty of sin because we chose, of our own free-will, to sin?
To this question, two basic answers have been given throughout the Christian era. Sin as Nature & Sin as Choice. Let’s first consider: Sin as Nature. Sin as Nature claims our condemnation (guilt) is the result of something called “Original Sin.” Original Sin does not refer to the first sinful act committed by Adam in the Garden of Eden. It refers to the idea that the state in which we are born (after Adam’s fall) makes us guilty of sin.
Because Adam sinned, we are born “sinners.” Is that right?
The common denominator in all of these views is that we are guilty or condemned because we are born into the human family. Our condemnation is based on our birth with a fallen nature into a fallen world. We are born lost because we inherited a fallen nature.
Even though we may choose to do many wrong things in our lives, we are lost sinners primarily because of our birth, before any choice ever took place. Sin exists in us before choice or even before our awareness of the existence or knowledge of sin. Sin exists in us before we can understand anything about right and wrong. Sin resides within us because of our birth into a fallen race.
What is the logical solution for this view of Sin as Nature? Sin as Nature is the reason that many Christians believe in the necessity for infant baptism. If we are lost at birth because of our fallen nature, it is extremely important to be baptized immediately as a sinful infant in order to wash our “sin” away!
Now let’s consider: Sin as Choice. Sin as Choice is the same as Sin as Nature, EXCEPT ONE THING. Both teach that when Adam sinned, something changed in Adam's nature. His nature changed from one of perfection and obedience to one of distortion, selfishness, and rebellion -- from a perfect nature to a fallen nature.
Both teach that we all inherit a fallen nature from Adam. Our fallen nature means that it is more natural for us to do wrong than it is for us to do right. The ONE difference taught by Sin as Choice is that we do not inherit guilt (no condemnation) for being born with a fallen nature. We inherit everything that Adam could pass on to his children, but we are not born as condemned sinners. Our fallen “sinful” nature does not make us guilty of sin, which must, by definition, be an act of our own choice.
We become sinners, fall short of the glory of God, lost and condemned, when we personally choose to rebel against God's revealed will. Does Sin as Choice teach infant baptism? NO!
These are the two teachings in Christianity about sin. Depending upon which teaching you choose to believe, the issues of righteousness by faith will be drastically (salvationally) different.
What we believe about justification, sanctification, and perfection will be different -- depending upon which teaching about sin we accept as Biblically true and accurate. An unbiblical teaching about sin creates an unbiblical gospel, a false doctrine of salvation!
Sin as Nature comes to us with impressive credentials. It was developed very early in Christian history. From the fourth century it has been the accepted, orthodox belief of most Christians. This was even the accepted belief during the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. This belief has become the dominant view of most churches today.
But as is true with all accepted beliefs, we must ask the question, Is this belief based on Scripture or on tradition? In fact, many beliefs and teachings which have been accepted into modern Christianity are not based on Scripture, but on ancient traditions.
Our question must always be: What does the Bible teach? As strange as it may seem, two different gospels are built upon these two different teachings: Sin as Nature & Sin as Choice:
If we want to be sure that we are believing and living the true Biblical gospel (the good news of HOW we are saved), then we must be very careful to learn from the Bible what sin really is, and on what basis we stand as condemned sinners in the sight of God.
Now we are ready to open the Bible and learn what it teaches about sin. When we have the correct understanding of sin, Nature or Choice, we will study the Bible more and learn how God saves us from our sins.
First, let us consider What did Jesus come to do? Matthew 1:21 tells us: And thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Sin is what caused us to be lost. Sin separated us from God, Who is the source of all life and righteousness. The Gospel is the Good News that God can save us from our sins. The question is: How?
The Doctrine of Salvation is the biblical teaching that explains HOW God can save YOU from your sins. Most of us assume we know what sin is, but as is typically true for most things that we assume without examining them carefully, our assumptions may be unproven suppositions that need careful rethinking.
Our situation is like a patient who makes an appointment with a physician. The most important thing the doctor can do for that patient is to make the correct diagnosis. What is the problem to be fixed?
It is exactly the same in our study of salvation. If the diagnosis of sin is correct, then the gospel remedy for sin will solve the problem, and we can have full assurance of our salvation.
On the other hand, if our definition of sin is unbiblical and based on misinformation, then the gospel that follows it is likely to be just as unbiblical, or even based on centuries of superstitious tradition, instead of on the holy Word of God.
The crucial question is: What is the issue about sin for which a human is found guilty, so guilty that he deserves to die, unless he is saved by the grace of God? We must be precise in defining the issue about sin that causes guilt, so that we will know exactly:
- From what does the gospel save us?
- Of what must we be forgiven?
- What must be healed for us to stop sinning? and,
- How are we released from the penalty of death?
What is the most basic problem? Romans 3:23 tells us: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. But the real question is: How did we all sin? What caused us to come short of the glory of God?
The answer we give to this question affects every aspect of the gospel of our salvation. We know that Adam chose sin voluntarily. We know that he became guilty because of his choice. But what about us? Are we guilty because of Adam's sin; because we were born as descendants of Adam? Are we guilty because we inherited a fallen nature from Adam? Or are we guilty of sin because we chose, of our own free-will, to sin?
To this question, two basic answers have been given throughout the Christian era. Sin as Nature & Sin as Choice. Let’s first consider: Sin as Nature. Sin as Nature claims our condemnation (guilt) is the result of something called “Original Sin.” Original Sin does not refer to the first sinful act committed by Adam in the Garden of Eden. It refers to the idea that the state in which we are born (after Adam’s fall) makes us guilty of sin.
Because Adam sinned, we are born “sinners.” Is that right?
- Some say we are guilty or condemned because we have inherited sin from Adam.
- Some say we are guilty or condemned because we are born as sons and daughters of Adam, who was the head of the human race.
- Some say we are guilty or condemned because we are born into a situation in which we are separated from God. We are born apart from God, and that separation is our guilt.
- Some say we are not even guilty for any of these things, but that we are born condemned as part of the fallen human race.
The common denominator in all of these views is that we are guilty or condemned because we are born into the human family. Our condemnation is based on our birth with a fallen nature into a fallen world. We are born lost because we inherited a fallen nature.
Even though we may choose to do many wrong things in our lives, we are lost sinners primarily because of our birth, before any choice ever took place. Sin exists in us before choice or even before our awareness of the existence or knowledge of sin. Sin exists in us before we can understand anything about right and wrong. Sin resides within us because of our birth into a fallen race.
What is the logical solution for this view of Sin as Nature? Sin as Nature is the reason that many Christians believe in the necessity for infant baptism. If we are lost at birth because of our fallen nature, it is extremely important to be baptized immediately as a sinful infant in order to wash our “sin” away!
Now let’s consider: Sin as Choice. Sin as Choice is the same as Sin as Nature, EXCEPT ONE THING. Both teach that when Adam sinned, something changed in Adam's nature. His nature changed from one of perfection and obedience to one of distortion, selfishness, and rebellion -- from a perfect nature to a fallen nature.
Both teach that we all inherit a fallen nature from Adam. Our fallen nature means that it is more natural for us to do wrong than it is for us to do right. The ONE difference taught by Sin as Choice is that we do not inherit guilt (no condemnation) for being born with a fallen nature. We inherit everything that Adam could pass on to his children, but we are not born as condemned sinners. Our fallen “sinful” nature does not make us guilty of sin, which must, by definition, be an act of our own choice.
We become sinners, fall short of the glory of God, lost and condemned, when we personally choose to rebel against God's revealed will. Does Sin as Choice teach infant baptism? NO!
These are the two teachings in Christianity about sin. Depending upon which teaching you choose to believe, the issues of righteousness by faith will be drastically (salvationally) different.
What we believe about justification, sanctification, and perfection will be different -- depending upon which teaching about sin we accept as Biblically true and accurate. An unbiblical teaching about sin creates an unbiblical gospel, a false doctrine of salvation!
Sin as Nature comes to us with impressive credentials. It was developed very early in Christian history. From the fourth century it has been the accepted, orthodox belief of most Christians. This was even the accepted belief during the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. This belief has become the dominant view of most churches today.
But as is true with all accepted beliefs, we must ask the question, Is this belief based on Scripture or on tradition? In fact, many beliefs and teachings which have been accepted into modern Christianity are not based on Scripture, but on ancient traditions.
Our question must always be: What does the Bible teach? As strange as it may seem, two different gospels are built upon these two different teachings: Sin as Nature & Sin as Choice:
- One gospel tries to solve the problem of being born a lost sinner and living constantly in a state of sin.
- The other gospel deals with the problem of a rebellious will and sinful choices.
- One gospel is concerned with the nature we inherit.
- The other gospel focuses on the character which God wants to develop in us.
If we want to be sure that we are believing and living the true Biblical gospel (the good news of HOW we are saved), then we must be very careful to learn from the Bible what sin really is, and on what basis we stand as condemned sinners in the sight of God.
Now we are ready to open the Bible and learn what it teaches about sin. When we have the correct understanding of sin, Nature or Choice, we will study the Bible more and learn how God saves us from our sins.