Tag Archives: Sinful Nature

The Meaning of 1 John 3:9

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Four Views That Appeal To This Verse 1. The works-righteousness view This view teaches that one earns or keeps salvation by good works, and thus that the person who chooses to sin has forfeited any right to heaven. This view contradicts the Bible’s clear teaching on salvation as God’s gift through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9), purchased for us not by our works but by the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross (Romans 3:24–25, 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:24). 2. The instantaneous sanctification/Wesleyan view This view states that it is possible for a believer to have an experience following conversion in which the principle or root of sin is removed and replaced by love for God.

Come Home Spot, Come Home—Deuteronomy 4:25–31

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My brother used to have a dog named Spot. Neighbors would come over to watch Spot use his front paws alone to hop down the back stairs. Spot would also pace around the backyard hoping to find an escape through the fence. He looked and looked every day to find his escape, wearing a dirt path in the yard along the fence. He probably thought that an escape would make him the happiest dog in the world. He finally did find the strength to dig a hole under the fence and accomplished his life’s goal—he escaped to freedom!

Babel, Part 1

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God’s judgment of the Tower of Babel was one of the greatest catastrophes in the history of the world. In one moment, a massive, highly complex building project, involving the entire human race, came to an end. Thousands of workers, linguistically unified and Satanically inspired, suddenly found themselves incapable of communicating with each other. Overwhelmed by fear and frustration, each worker took his family and moved away from the others. Mankind has never recovered. But what really happened, and why? For centuries, Bible students have wondered about the following three statements: • “Come, let us build for ourselves .

Ministering in the Spirit

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Romans 8:4 “…who walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 3:3 “…are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” 2 Corinthians 10:3 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh.” Galatians 5:17 “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” The New Testament etches a mark between the old nature and the new, between the flesh and the spirit (John 3:5,6).

Do We Really Know the Gospel?

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Each year, as I teach the doctrine of salvation, I give a quiz to test my students’ understanding of the Gospel. I ask them to imagine that they are in a hospital room, calling on an unbeliever who is at death’s door. The students have time for only twenty-five words to communicate the Gospel. After the 25th word, the patient has passed away. What would the students say in this situation? Are they able to express the Gospel so concisely that if the mortally ill person responds properly, he is saved?