Word study "Jesus is Lord anyway" (3/6/16)
I said that today's study is deceptively simple. There are issues there that need some subtlety - and more to the point - a great deal of faith. If Jesus is sovereign Lord, then what does it mean when the preamble to the study says that "He has given each of us free will to live out our lives the way we like"? Do we conclude that God chooses to limit His sovereignty in favour of human 'free will'?
If "the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers" (2 Co 4:4), how can humans even be free, or held accountable? Is Christ Lord when bad things happen to us? Of is it the case that God will always keep His children safe and well and our suffering is a reflection of our lack of faith or a temporary triumph of Satan. Jesus was very clear in Luke 13 that both natural disasters and the evil of men are what every one of us deserves and are not outside of God's sovereign control. We are spared what we deserve only because of grace.And our ideas of judgement and grace only come into full focus when see see how sinful we are and how holy God is.
The Bible knows nothing of man's "free will". But it clearly asserts our moral accountability for real moral choices. We must hold both the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man together, because the Bible teaches both. God does harden human hearts and give humans up to their sin, not arbitrarily, but as an act of judgement.(Romans 1, 9). This does not absolve us of our accountability. This is hard to understand and accept.
The fact that those who reject God will suffer eternal conscious torment is another topic that comes up in today's discussion. This is set against the idea that the consequence (i.e. destruction) of sin is eternal, not the suffering thereof. Limited sin, the thinking goes, should merit only limited suffering. But we said that this annihilatist view does not take into account the infinite holiness of God against whom we have transgressed. Passages like Rev 14:10 and Mt 25:46 are quite clear about the idea of hell.
The Lordship of Christ is comprehensive. We worship one who is infinitely great and infinitely good. He gives us rest = complete freedom from self-striving (Mt 11:28). In His sovereignty he invites us to join Him in the work of salvation (Mk 1:17). He always works things out for our good so that we are conformed to His likeness (Ro 8:28).
If "the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers" (2 Co 4:4), how can humans even be free, or held accountable? Is Christ Lord when bad things happen to us? Of is it the case that God will always keep His children safe and well and our suffering is a reflection of our lack of faith or a temporary triumph of Satan. Jesus was very clear in Luke 13 that both natural disasters and the evil of men are what every one of us deserves and are not outside of God's sovereign control. We are spared what we deserve only because of grace.And our ideas of judgement and grace only come into full focus when see see how sinful we are and how holy God is.
The Bible knows nothing of man's "free will". But it clearly asserts our moral accountability for real moral choices. We must hold both the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man together, because the Bible teaches both. God does harden human hearts and give humans up to their sin, not arbitrarily, but as an act of judgement.(Romans 1, 9). This does not absolve us of our accountability. This is hard to understand and accept.
The fact that those who reject God will suffer eternal conscious torment is another topic that comes up in today's discussion. This is set against the idea that the consequence (i.e. destruction) of sin is eternal, not the suffering thereof. Limited sin, the thinking goes, should merit only limited suffering. But we said that this annihilatist view does not take into account the infinite holiness of God against whom we have transgressed. Passages like Rev 14:10 and Mt 25:46 are quite clear about the idea of hell.
The Lordship of Christ is comprehensive. We worship one who is infinitely great and infinitely good. He gives us rest = complete freedom from self-striving (Mt 11:28). In His sovereignty he invites us to join Him in the work of salvation (Mk 1:17). He always works things out for our good so that we are conformed to His likeness (Ro 8:28).
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