The Effects of Sin John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God." In this passage Jesus is informing Nicodemus of mankind’s serious need to be raised to spiritual life from their natural state of spiritual death. The word that is translated “see” in this verse is used not in the physical sense but in the sense of understanding or intellectual perception. Jesus is literally saying unless a person is born from above by the regenerating grace of God he simply does not have the ability to perceive or understand the kingdom of God. William Hendriksen’s commentary on this verse is worth noting: When Jesus speaks about entering the Kingdom of God, it is clear that the expression is equivalent to having everlasting life or being saved. The Kingdom of God is the realm in which his rule is recognized and obeyed and in which His grace prevails. Before one can see that kingdom, before one can have everlasting life in any sense, one must be born from above. It is very clear, therefore, that there is an act of God which precedes any act of man. In its initial stage the process of changing a person into a child of God precedes conversion and faith.5 John 6:44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” This verse explicitly denies that man has a free will ability to equally accept or reject the gospel. The Greek text of this passage denies, in no uncertain terms, any inherent ability to either chose Christ or reject Him. Because of our bondage to sin and natural tendency to suppress the truth in unrighteousness, we simply will not submit to the gospel. When unregenerate man hears the gospel he will always turn from it. The Greek text says ouvdeis dunatai evlqei/n prosj me (oudeis dunatai elthein pros me). This verse literally says that no one has the ability, in and of themselves, to cause themselves to believe in Christ. This one verse denies free will in the libertarian sense and is sufficient grounds for all to reject this idea. The great reformer, John Calvin, had this to say about this verse: He (Jesus) does not merely accuse them of wickedness, but likewise reminds them, that it is the peculiar gift of God to embrace the doctrine which is exhibited by Him; which He does, that their unbelief may not disturb weak minds. For any so foolish that, in the things of God, they depend on the opinions of men; in consequence which, they entertain suspicions about the Gospel, as soon as they see that it is not received by the world. Unbelievers, on the other hand, flattering themselves in their obstinacy, have the hardihood to condemn the Gospel because it does not please them. On the contrary, therefore, Christ declares that the doctrine of the Gospel, though it is preached to all without exception, cannot be embraced by all, but that a new understanding and a new perception are requisite; and, therefore, that faith does not depend upon the will of men, but that it is God who gives it.6 Romans 8:7-8 Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Emphasis added.) The clear words of this passage are obvious in their meaning. However, because it is so often the case that our sinful minds would suppress God’s truth, the interpretation of Kenneth Wuest is here added to further drive home their point: The Greek has it, “For those who are habitually dominated by the flesh put their mind on the things of the flesh” The flesh here is the evil nature. “Dominated” is from kata (kata), “down.” The present participle is used, the state being continuous. This is an unsaved person, habitually dominated by the indwelling sinful nature. “Mind” is phroneoµ (fronew), “to direct the mind to something, to seek or strive for.” The word speaks of a deliberate setting of one’s mind upon a certain thing. The unsaved person is dominated by the evil nature habitually, and habitually puts his mind on those things that the sinful nature has always welling up within itself, the things of sin. The words “carnally minded” are to phroneµma teµs sarkos (to fronhma th" sarko"), literally, “the mind of the flesh.” “Flesh” here refers to the evil nature. It is the genitive of possession. The mind is possessed by, thus controlled or dominated by the evil nature, a description of the unsaved person. That person is dead in trespasses and sins, dead in the sense that he is separated from God and His life, for death is separation, and is on his way to a final and everlasting state of death in eternity. The words “spiritually minded” are to phroneµma tou pneumatos (to fronhma tou pneumato"), literally, “the mind possessed by the Spirit,” thus a mind controlled or dominated by the Holy Spirit. That person possesses the life that God is, and peace, the Greek word for peace in its verb form meaning “to bind together that which has been separated,” thus, the believing sinner, bound together with God and His life after having been separated by sin. The reason why the mind dominated by the evil nature represents a state of death in the person so constituted, and results in final death, is that it is at enmity against God. “Subject” is hupotassoµ (uJpotassw), a military term meaning “to arrange in order under” a commanding general, for instance. Such a mind is not marshalled under the command of God, but of Satan. Consequently, those who are within the sphere of the evil nature, are not able to please God. These are, of course, the unsaved. Denney explains: “The reason why the mind of the flesh terminates so fatally: it is hostility to God, the fountain of life. Alienation from Him is necessarily fatal. It is the flesh which does not (for indeed it cannot) submit itself to God; as the seat of indwelling sin it is in permanent revolt, and those who are in it (a stronger expression, yet substantially identical with those who are after it, verse 5), cannot please God.” Translation. For those who are habitually dominated by the flesh, put their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are habitually dominated by the Spirit, put their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to have the mind dominated by the flesh, is death, but to have the mind dominated by the Spirit, is life and peace; because the mind dominated by the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not marshal itself under the command of the law of God, neither is it able to. Moreover, those who are in the sphere of the flesh are not able to please God.7 1 Corinthians 2:14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. This verse is so clear it hardly seems needful to comment. However, the sinful and prideful mind being what it is, it may be necessary to spell out this verse’s meaning letter by letter so to speak. The natural man in this passage refers to unregenerate, unbelieving people; in other words, man in his natural fallen state apart from the regenerating grace of God. Paul is saying in this passage that what God has revealed to His people is beyond the comprehension of unbelievers. They simply do not have the ability to grasp the truth of God’s plan of salvation. Apart from the work of the Holy Spirit to save, man will only see the gospel as foolishness. Gordon Clark’s commentary on this verse states: The sensual man….does not welcome truth as a guest in his home. That is, he does not accept divine truth as true. He does not believe them. This does not mean that he does not understand them. College students today, brainwashed by the socialistic public schools into believing in the dignity and essential goodness of every human being, understand the doctrine of total depravity fairly well, if it is explained by the Christian professor; but they consider it to be outrageously false. It is more ridiculous than believing the earth is flat, and so they do not know it as true. They know it well enough. The most accurate answer to a question on justification by faith was written in a college exam by the one student in the class who most vigorously rejected it. When the verse here says that that they do not know the doctrine, it means they do not know it as true; and the reason is immediately given: for it is spiritually evaluated. The sensual demonic student cannot properly evaluate what he explains so accurately on his quiz paper. Naturally, such persons cannot believe, for as Jesus said of the Pharisees, “Therefore they could not believe because Isaiah said again, He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts; that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their hearts, and be converted, and I should heal them” (John 12:39-40). 8 These few verses alone state that: Men cannot of themselves believe in Christ. Men cannot of themselves subject themselves to God’s Law. Man cannot of themselves accept the things of the Spirit as being true. Because of man’s bondage to sin, his natural hatred of God, and tendency to suppress the truth in unrighteousness, it is not possible for man to make decisions that are free from his enslavement to sin. Just as it is impossible for God to lie, because God by nature cannot lie, (Heb 6:18) so it is impossible for man to choose to do things which are contrary to his own sinful nature such as love God, obey God, or believe the gospel. Man’s will simply is not free from sin but is instead a slave to it. Slaves (by definition) are not free. Yeah But….Answering Common Objections
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 16:38:59 +0000
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