Category: what we believe

What We Believe – We are Born with a Fallen Nature

September 10, 2018 by ChristianHolinessDaily

We have been looking at our core beliefs. What is it that we believe at Christian Holiness Daily? We have given a broad overview. We proclaimed that we believe in one God it the persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Last week we spoke of our belief in the divine inspiration of Scripture. Today, in part 4, we look at mankind’s sinful nature.

Early one morning, Jesus walked from the Mount of Olives to the Temple where He began teaching. He was interrupted by a group of Pharisees who presented to Him a conundrum: a woman caught in the act of adultery. What should be her punishment, they asked Him. You know the story.

It was a trick question, designed to discredit Jesus, whose popularity scared the Jewish leaders. According to the Law, she should be stoned until dead. According to Jesus’s own words, He did not come to condemn. If He commanded she be set free, He would break the Law. If He commanded that she be stoned, He would not be true to His teachings.

Jesus ignored their question, stooped to the ground and began to write in the dirt. After a few minutes, He rose to His feet and addressed the men. “Let he who is without sin throw the first stone.”

He knelt and again wrote on the ground. One by one, the Pharisees and scribes left. When Jesus looked up, He asked the woman, “Where did everyone go? Is no one left to condemn you?”

She was, perhaps, afraid to look up, and, when she did, she was astonished. Only Jesus remained. “No one, my Lord,” she said, voice quivering.

“Neither do I condemn you,” He said with the faintest of smiles. “Go and sin no more.”

How could Jesus know that not a man there would be without sin? Because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. You see, we were all born into sin. We are a fallen people living in a fallen world.

It all goes back to the beginning. Adam and Eve were created with free will. They were made innocent, free of sin, a part of God’s family. It seems that Yahweh visited with them daily in the Garden of Eden, His earthly home. They lacked nothing, and were able to eat of any and all of the fruit-bearing trees and plants in the garden. All but one. Their needs were fully provided. They had been given jobs. They were to rule over the world with their Creator.

Then the Tempter approached them, twisting and turning through the garden, just as he twisted and turned the truth. He convinced Adam and Eve to sin. When Adam sinned, all humanity was cursed.

There is no lack of evidence of man’s fallen nature. Everyone I know has sinned. My mother is a saint, but she sinned. My sister is the most holy woman I know, yet she sins. No one had to teach my children to lie; rather, they had to be taught not to lie. David says in Psalm 51:5 that he entered this world as a sinner, as do we all. Paul says in Ephesians 2:3 that we are “by nature children of wrath.” Genesis 8:21 finds God declaring that it is a human inclination to be evil, even from childhood.

Romans 5:12 tells us that both sin and death came into this world because of Adam. That is why we are unable to steer clear of sin. We are cursed.

You may be thinking, “That seems mighty unfair.” And you are right, but for three things. First, you and I would have sinned just like Adam and Eve had we been created first. In fact, I have no doubt that my sin would have been much greater than Adam’s. Second, to curse the human race because our progenitor committed a sin, seems unusually harsh, even cruel. It would be cruel had God not already provided for redemption, even from the foundation of the universe (Revelation 13:8). Last, we do not have to continue to live in sin. Just as Adam brought sin into the world, and as a result, caused all mankind to be condemned, so one man – Jesus, the Son of God – brought redemption into the world.

One righteous act, the crucifixion of Jesus, has made those who trust in him justified and made righteous. Because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God washes our sins away with His grace so that we may reign with Him in righteousness eternally (cf. Romans 5:17-20).
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Holiness is, perhaps, the most misunderstood concept in Christianity. Anyone who has striven to follow the life of Christ can likely tell you that it is impossible to do. No one can match His love, His grace, or His compassion. For no one but Jesus is perfect. Once the believer is filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit, though, he or she is filled to the brim with the love of Christ, and desires nothing more than to please God and follow in Christ’s steps. The love of sin is gone. In its place is a love and passion for others. That is Christian Holiness. This is Christian Holiness Daily.

What We Believe – Divine Inspiration of Scripture

September 8, 2018 by ChristianHolinessDaily

We have been talking about our core believes. What do we, at Christian Holiness Daily, believe? In part one, we gave an overview of our beliefs. In part two, we talked about our belief in one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Today we look at the inspiration of Scripture. Today on Christian Holiness Daily.

We believe in the divine inspiration of Scripture in its original form, as found in the Old and New Testaments, and that they contain all truth necessary to faith and Christian living.

So, yes we do believe that all Scripture is God-breathed. Though some of the writers of the 66 various books that comprise our Bible lived as much as hundreds of years apart, they had one thing in common. They were all inspired by the Holy Spirit. I believe that the transcripts, in their original languages, every jot and tittle of every letter of every word of the Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit.

That is not to say that the Holy Spirit dictated to the writers, nor does it mean that the writers did nothing more than transcribe. It means that the writers drew inspiration from the still small voice of God. Yet, each book is distinct and told in the unique voice of its author, its human author, the writer, prophet, or apostle who wrote it at the urging of God. Because it was penned by humans, each with their own perspective and each with their own human flaws, we receive 66 very different books. We have histories, biographies, poetry, prose, letters, each one written for a different purpose, and each one serving its own purpose today. As example, we have four very different views of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Different because each were written by a different person, and each from different perspectives, and each with a different audience in mind, and each with a different purpose. Each book was written by mere humans, but because the Scriptures were inspired by God, we find no contradictions in the Bible when taken in context.

Now, by in context, I mean a few different things. First, it doesn’t due to take a passage that is not meant to stand on its own two feet, pull it from the Bible and teach on it. As example, one shouldn’t teach parts of the book of Job, for not all of Job is representative of God’s word, for parts of it express the doubts, fear and frustration of Job’s friends, and their words may not necessarily reflect God’s heart. But, that is not all I mean when I say that the Bible should be read in context. It means that we should do our best to figure out the times in which the writer lived. What was his social context? Was he a slave or a servant of the King? Was he a prophet or a doctor? Was he a national leader or an outcast? The answers may lend insight to his words. We should also bear in mind the audience to which he wrote. Let’s take another look at the Gospels: one of the writers wrote for a primarily Jewish audience while another wrote for a primarily Greek audience. Still another wrote for posterity. With what purpose did the writer pen his book. Was it to make a point or to teach a lesson? If so, then don’t expect events told in the book to necessarily be in chronological order. That book, though, that wondrous book, is full of the power of God to the one who studies it carefully and prayerfully.

We believe that God has preserved his Holy Word So that modern translations. Some translations attempt to be more literal than others, like the NASB, and so are more difficult to read. Some strive only to be easy-to-read and are not so concerned with accurate translations, like the New Living Translation. Others strive to find the middle ground, fairly reliable translations that read smoothly when read aloud, like the NIV or the NKJV. Others attempt to bear in mind the contexts that we discussed and come up with an accurate translation and one that takes into account the original recipient of the texts. Such is the ESV and Lexham English Bible. So which ones reflect the Holy Word of God as written thousands of years ago? That would be the NASB, the ESV, and the Lexham. The latter two use the most recently discovered, older textual fragments, including parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, along with the texts that Bible publishers have relied on for years and they consider the times and cultures of the writers and recipient to translate the original language into appropriate English words and phrases.

The remarkable thing is that after thousands of years, we have – by the power of God – the unblemished Word of God through which we may find salvation and live like Christ.
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One God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

September 6, 2018 by ChristianHolinessDaily

I have received, in the past few weeks, several emails and phone messages asking exactly what we believe at Christian Holiness Daily. So we have decided to spend the next two weeks examining exactly what we believe. Yesterday I gave an overview of eight significant doctrines that, put together, constitute our holiness doctrine. Today we take a closer look at the first of those – we believe in one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In Old Testament Judaism there is no commandment more important than these: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one” and “Thou shall have no other gods before me.” There is but one true God, Yahweh. He is one. Which begs the question, if He is one, what do Christians mean when they speak of the Trinity.

Person of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

First, the word Trinity is not found anywhere in the Bible, but the concept of the Trinity is found throughout Scripture. In Genesis 1, we see the Spirit of God move upon the waters. Later, David pleas with God not to take His Holy Spirit from him (Psalms 51:11-13). Isaiah writes in 63:10 that the Nation of Israel grieved the Holy Spirit and made God their enemy. In 48:16, Isaiah announces that he is endowed with the Holy Spirit.

The Person of Jesus in the Old Testament

We see God appear as a man to Abraham. This, according to many theologians, is a a theophany, pre-incarnation visit of Jesus on earth. Psalms 33:4-7 (ESV) personifies the Word of God:

For the word of the Lord is upright,

and all his work is done in faithfulness.

He loves righteousness and justice;

the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,

and by the breath of his mouth all their host.

He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;

he puts the deeps in storehouses.

The Apostle John makes it clear that the Word is Jesus.

Indeed, when three men who appear to Abraham, one of them is Jesus. The visit is considered by many as a foreshadowing of the entire Trinity.

Some believe that passages where the name of the Lord is repeated three times, like Numbers 6:24-26, is an indication of the Trinity.

The Trinity in Second Temple Judaism?

With so much evidence of the Trinity to be found in the Old Testament, why was there no theology of a Trinity to be found in Judaism? In fact, according to Dr. Michael Heiser, by the Second Temple Period, many Jews believed that Yahweh was actually Two in One, Yahweh Above and Yahweh Below, or God in Heaven and God who appears in the form of man. There was, apparently, no thought given to the Spirit of God as a distinct person.

The Trinity in the New Testament

In the New Testament, we see the Trinity manifested at the baptism of Jesus. Jesus, fully God and fully man, is in the Jordan River. The Holy Spirit descends on Him like a dove. The Father’s voice is heard to say, “You are my beloved son; with you I am well pleased.”

At the end of Matthew’s Gospel, we read the Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Not only does Jesus name all three members of the Trinity here, but He implies the coming of the Holy Spirit. In Revelation 1:18, Christ calls Himself the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and End.

Again, John, who earlier named Jesus as the Word of God, teaches (in 1 John 5:6-10) about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Here are His words:

This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony.

John, however, was not the only apostle to develop the idea of the Trinity. Paul takes it for granted as he closes 2 Corinthians (13:14).

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

How May Three be One?

It is difficult to understand how three may be one. A pastor I met recently believes that there are not 3 persons in one, rather he believes that the one God shows Himself in three distinct ways. This pastor – and the denomination to which he belongs – is in the minority of Christians. Most Christians believe that God is both three distinct people in one, all at the same time.

Yet, if that be true, how are we, mere humans, supposed to understand it? I don’t know that we are. Maybe the Trinity is a faith thing. As a child, I fully accepted the various illustrations of the Trinity, as three sides of a triangle, if the lobes of a leaf of clover, as – to paraphrase C.S. Lewis – faces on a cube, yet none of them are adequate to explain the profound beauty and complexity of our God and the way in which He had chosen to reveal Himself to His creation.

As an adult and a prolific reader, I can better relate to the Trinity as I can to the imaginative alien creations of science fiction novelists, but that too leaves me with inadequate understanding. That, though, may be a little sacrilegious.

So it is by faith that we – or I – accept that God is three in one, knowing that it is through faith in Jesus Christ, Who proclaimed that He and the Father are One, that we find salvation. Through the mercy of God we are saved and one day, when we see Him gave to face, we may understand who God is.

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