A blog written by a teenage Christian theologian. This blog explores various issues related to Christianity-from a Reformed perspective. I post an article weekly: so be sure to sign-up for updates. Please note that all Bible references are from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. Also, feel free to interact with me in the comments section or by e-mail in the "send message" section. If you include your email, I will try to answer you back
II. Although, in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the First Cause, all things come to pass immutably, and infallibly;h yet, by the same providence, he ordereth them to fall out, according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.i
(h) Acts 2:23; Isa 14:24,27 (i) Gen 8:22; Jer 31:35; Isa 10:6-7; Exod 21:13; Deut 19:5; 1 Kgs 22:28-34
God decrees all things, yet, all things occur in accord with free will. This is one of the most difficult mysteries of the scripture: God infallibly determines whatever happens and yet people act freely.
The most important question any person can ever answer is “Who do you say I am?”- Jesus Christ, Mark 8:29. The identity and person of the Lord Jesus is the fundamental question that one’s eternity hangs on. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, who is fully God manifested in flesh, who is co-eternal, co-equal, and consubstantial with the Father? Did he live a sinless life, was crucified, atoned for the sins of the elect and suffered for the world and rose again the third day? Today, I would like to discuss the identity of Jesus Christ and why this is important to our salvation.
Jesus Christ is God the Son manifested in flesh (1 Tim. 3:16). This means that Jesus is the one, true God living among us as a man. He is not a demi-god, rather he is the fullness of the godhead bodily (Col. 2:9). Everything God is, was manifested in flesh as Jesus . However, Jesus is not the Father in flesh, he is the eternally-begotten Son of the Father in flesh. The Father is impassible and immutable, meaning that he could not die on the cross or incarnate, so he sent his passable Son as his agent to die for us (I John 4:14). Jesus Christ is God the Son, the second Person of the Trinity, co-equal with the Father, come to us as a man. God loved us so much, that the second Person of the Godhead became a man to save us from our sins. Jesus is not the brother of Lucifer, nor is he a created being: Jesus is the eternal creator of all things. He is the eternal God. The Lord Jesus is the eternal Son of God made flesh. Jesus is not merely a good teacher or a prophet: he is Jehovah God come in flesh.
Jesus Christ died for us on the cross. Here is another place where the identity of Christ is very important. Did Jesus die and rise again? He died on the cross for every person and he bought salvation for the elect. He suffered the pain of death and crucifixion for the sins of the world. No mere man could die on the cross for us, only a man who is God in flesh, can. He died the death that us sinners deserved: he was the sinless Son of God; yet he died for sinful mankind. We must believe in his death and resurrection; as well as his substitutionary atonement. Jesus had to die because we needed a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus rose physically from the dead too, Jesus had to rise again both physically and spiritually in order to conquer death and save us.
We also must acknowledge the full humanity of Christ. It is not enough to say Jesus is God, we must recognize that Jesus is also a true human. Jesus Christ must be fully man to truly be able to empathize with us and to save us. Our savior had to be a man so that he could die for us and experience the temptations that we do. He is fully man, everything that you or I can do or experience, Jesus could do too. He prayed just like we pray, he felt the pain of the cross for us. Only as a true man could Jesus die for us on the cross.
Why is the identity of Jesus important for our salvation? Because, Jesus said in John 8:24 that unless we believe that he is the I am, we will die in our sins. We must acknowledge Jesus Christ as Jehovah in flesh, he is not some lower deity nor is he just a man. He is God himself in flesh. Jesus Christ is God living with us as a true human being. Who do you say I am? I say Jesus is the I Am made flesh!
Editor’s note: this week’s blog article is responding to a video on YouTube. I have never responded to a video in terms of a blog post before. I actually had a different topic planned for this week but I moved that to May 11, 2020 The other day, I saw a video by John Schoehelt at Truthortradition, a ‘biblical’ Unitarian ministry called “Don’t wait to be saved”, published 9-6-19 [embedded below]. In this video, the biblical doctrine of The Perseverance of the Saints was so misconstrued with‘Once Saved, always saved’, that it became a license to sin. The Bible teaches that true Christians will continue in the faith until the last day [John 10:27-29, Phil. 1:6] but it also warns us that sinful people, regardless of if they claim Christ or not, will eternally perish [I Cor. 6:9-11]. Because this group is Unitarian, meaning that they deny the trinity and the deity of Jesus, some may wonder why I am taking the time to respond to their video. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints- part of reformed theology [which is my systematic theology]- is often characterized by some as what Schoehelt describes; namely, that we can do any sin and as long as we say “Jesus” we’ll go to heaven; I want to explain why Reformed Christians cannot be charged with giving people a license to sin. This is not the orthodox reformed position; and I want to provide a reformed response to this video.
The relevant sections of this video are from the 3:30-4:45 mark. Starting at 3:30-3:48, Schoehelt says:“I get to smoke, i get to drink. I get to be with women or men or whatever...you can live like that after your saved: Jesus Christ loves sinners”. While the last part of this statement is correct, what he fails to see is that Christ’s love for sinners requires him to call them to repentance. Because Jesus loves sinners, he calls them to abandon their sin and trust him for salvation [John 6:11]. The wages of sin is death [Rom. 6:23] so to love sinners is to warn them about the consequences of sin. True love calls sinners to repent, not enables their sin. We are to conduct oursselves in a way that glorifies God, not indulge ourselves in sin. At 4:12-4:15, Schoehelt says “But the fact of the matter is, wilful sin doesn’t keep people from being saved“ What a lie! The Apostle Paul says in I Cor 6, that those who live in wickedness will not enter heaven. Also, in Heb 12:14, we read that without holiness, no one will enter heaven. Yes, willful sin keeps people out of heaven. According to Heb. 10:26, if we sin after we know the truth, we no longer have Christ’s blood applied to us. At 5:34-5:37, the error continues, “Go find me a Christian that isn’t a sinner”, this statement could be true on the surface. According to I John 1:8, if Christians say that we are sinless we have deceived ourselves. However, according to I John 3:9, those who are truly born again do not make a practice of sin. Schoehelt’s statement, in the context of the video, supports the idea that true Christians can live in open, unrepentant sin. This is false. True believers, who have the Holy Spirit, do not desire sin, but Christ. Lastly, at 5:45-5:47, we hear the following lie-”Sin doesn’t keep you from heaven:”. Actually, it does! {“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”-1 Corinthians 6:9-10”}.
Now, let me explain the biblical doctrine of perseverance. What the Bible teaches is that those whom God predestined to salvation come to Christ (John 6:37, Acts 13:48). These people receive a heart that desires Christ. These people are the ones who endure to the end. They do not desire sin, because they have been born again, with new desires and nature. Someone who claims to follow Christ, but lives worldly, lies (I John 2:4). One cannot follow Christ while living in the flesh (Rom. 8:8), so what Schoehelt describes- ie, a true Christian living sinfully, is actually an impossibility. No true Christian openly practises sin, but holiness.
Finally, I would like to encourage those who follow Schoehelt to stop following him. Not only does he deny the trinity and the deity of Christ-cornerstone, basic doctrines of the Christian faith- but now he supports sin. True Christians believe in the holy trinity, acknowledge Jesus Christ as eternal God, and forsake their sins to follow him.
