Shalom KBC, thank you again for your explanations. I think we may be looking at Elohim's plan in some what a similar fashion. To plainly explain it, Elohim created carnal man (Adam) to be against Him (sold into the slavery to commit sin by creating him/us FLESH-Romans 7:14), for the FLESH cannot and will not OBEY Elohim, it is impossible to do so (Romans 8:5-8). Then, at the APPOINTED time in the history of carnal man, He sent Yeshua to redeem us back from being sold into the slavery to sin.
Well I think I have to disagree with you on this one. Your wording places God in a bad light by implying that he set us up without a choice but to fail, which would mean we didn't have free will. When man the creature was formed from the dust of the ground he had no life, This is the carnal man who like all other natural creatures has instinct as part of it nature and none of the creatures are actually subjectible to God's laws because they don't have the intelligence to make those types of decisions, they operate on instinct. After man was formed God then breathed life into him or in effect gave a carnal creature a part of himself to rule the creature. Note that our bodies are not and never were our own;
1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own...
But, we do typically have the power to overrule the carnal side. If you did not have the carnal instinct of your body to influence you then of course it would be a lot easier to resist that which is considered sinful but, the carnal side was never meant to have the power to rule an intelligent mind. I base this rationale on these verses;
1 Corinthians 10:
11Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
12Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
13There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God
is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear
it.
You see all of mankind has was able to and indeed did make a free choice to submit to what they were tempted by, look carefully at these verses;
Romans 6:
12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13Neither yield ye your members
as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin:
but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members
as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Romans 6:
16Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
18Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
19I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh:
for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
You see, people are being instructed to make a free will choice because the carnal creature is still there trying to influence their minds with its common temptations and the instructions being given here are that you are not to yield to it and not to let it reign in your carnal body. There would be no need for such instruction if indeed you were no longer being tempted after accepting Christ. I will also point out here that you could not sin either if there was no laws to transgress. So, in fact there are laws that still exist and there are still temptations from within, the difference now is that there is a new covenant / system in place that you can have faith in that will allow you to have hope for a continued existence even though you had been full of sin.....
Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 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. 18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
So, if you are not walking in the spirit / following the direction of the holy spirit with the intent to do God's will then the only thing you could be doing is giving in to the lusts of the flesh and sinning and I know this because it is written;
1 John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. 6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. 7 Little children, let no man deceive you:
he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
Notice what is written about satan..... he was sinning from the beginning long before the law was ever given to the Jews and yet how could he possibly sin if there were no laws to transgress?
Now if someone believes they are saved and is still committing sins such as those sins named above then my question is "do you feel they are in fact saved"?
Ken Brown said:
This is the blessing He is sharing with us in TURNING us away from ALL our iniquities (Acts of the Apostles 3:26). We can look at it like how our immune system and inoculations works, we FIRST have to be exposed to a less deadly form of a disease (FLESHLY sin), so that we can be protected from the eternal disease (Spiritual sin), which cannot be cured. Our FLESHLY sin is what killed or sacrificed Yeshua and once we come to a knowledge of the Truth concerning this, we really only have one choice to make...flee from that sin, and no longer dwell therein. Elohim's plan is foolproof in teaching us to stop sinning, unless we truly prove to Him that we are WILLFUL transgressors (Galatians 2:18), and then the only outcome is what Hebrews 6:8 says. Blessings in The Name, ImAHebrew.
It was not our flesh that sinned.... it was our spirit that was temped by our flesh to sin and we yielded to it. My understanding is that God has provided us with examples of what sin is and he has promised to give us a helper (the holy spirit) to guide our choices if our full intent is to be like him and in this way we can resist the tempter and grow to be even as Christ is.
James 2:8 If ye fulfil
the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: 9
But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. 10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. 12
So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
James 2:14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
God is not turning us away from sin, the holy spirit (helper) is simply there to advise us of what God wants and it comes down to our free choice to obey or not.
