Spiritual Notes II

Augustine - 4 States of Sin in Man

Augustine argued that there are 4 states, which are derived from the Scripture, that correspond to the four states of man in relation to sin: (a) able to sin, able not to sin (posse peccare, posse non peccare); (b) not able to not sin (non posse non peccare);(c) able not to sin (posse non peccare); and (d) unable to sin (non posse peccare).  The first state corresponds to the state of man in innocence (before the Fall); the second state of the natural man after the Fall; the third state if for the regenerate man; and the fourth is the glorified man.     

I Am - Deity of God 

Gary Manning Jr

“I am” (ἐγώ εἰμι), by itself, is not a code for the name of God;

In the New Testament, ἐγώ εἰμι is used by Jesus, Judas (Matt 26:25), Gabriel (Luke 1:19), the blind man (John 9:9), Peter (Acts 10:21) and Paul (Acts 22:3, 26:29, Rom 11:13, 1 Tim 1:15), always to refer to themselves. This matches the use in Greek outside the NT. The Septuagint uses “I am” (ἐγώ εἰμι) in very normal ways. God uses the phrase often, but so does Jacob (Gen 27:32), Deborah (Jdg 5:3), Gideon (Jdg 6:15) and others. As I have searched through other works written in ancient Greek (Philo, the Pseudepigrapha, Plato and other philosophers), I have run across many such ordinary occurrences of ἐγώ εἰμι.

“I am” is only intended to refer to deity in some of Jesus’ sayings;

• “They saw Jesus walking on the sea… and they were frightened. But he said to them, “It is I (ἐγώ εἰμι); do not be afraid.”” (John 6:19-20)
• “Truly, truly I say to you: before Abraham was, I am (ἐγώ εἰμι).” (John 8:58)
• “Jesus said to [the soldiers], “Whom do you seek?” They answered “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus answered “I am he (ἐγώ εἰμι).” … when Jesus said to them “I am he (ἐγώ εἰμι),” they retreated and fell to the ground… Jesus answered “I told you that I am he (ἐγώ εἰμι).”” (John 18:6-8)

In each of these three, the context suggests that Jesus’ deity is implied.

Paying too much attention to the “I am” part of the sentence distracts readers from paying attention to the rest of the sentence.

I have often noticed, when listening to sermons or reading student papers about “I am” sayings in John, that there is so much focus on the “I am” part, and its purported reference to deity, that the actual claims found in the rest of the sentence are overlooked. These claims (bread of life, good shepherd, door, life, etc.), while consistent with Jesus’ deity, are usually about some other nuance of Jesus’ identity.

To sum up: the gospels clearly teach about Jesus’ deity. But that doesn’t mean that everything Jesus says is about his deity! “I am” (ἐγώ εἰμι) is such a common phrase that it cannot be taken as some sort of code word that always refers to deity. 

Natural Law

Natural law is the legal theory upon which the Christian West was founded. It holds that a moral code is written on the hearts of men, valid for all peoples and places, providing a basis for moral certainty guiding human action. This moral law in human nature provides the general guidelines upon which all law is based. The Ten Commandments, for example, are often described as a succinct summary of natural law.

 The left is taking the country to chaos through bizarre misinterpretations of the law. No longer relying upon precedent or even the strict lines of the Constitution, just about anything can be legally justified—abortion, assisted suicide, complete sexual license, new “transgender rights,” pronoun tyranny and other practices. Law is fluid and changeable to whatever suits the person’s passions.

Son of Man 

from RC Sproul:

Daniel had a vision in the heavenly court of God.

Daniel 7:13-

“I saw in the night visions

,and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.14 And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.

The Son of Man was given authority to judge the world
The Son of Man is a heavenly person who descends to this world whose principal role
is His visitation to this earth is that of the heavenly judge. And then He returns to the presence
of God in His ascension. Jesus said "No one ascends to the Father except He who has first descended from Him. Jesus claim of the Son of Man was not of humility but a claim to divine authority. Ex. He said to His enemies when Jesus healed on the Sabbath, "I did this that you may know that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Again and again, the title "Son of Man" that Jesus uses for Himself is a highly exalted title.

Son of God - someone who does the will of the Father

How do you know the Bible is True? (John MacArthur)

The most foundational question of all.
1-The person of Jesus Christ
The presentation of the person of Jesus Christ is beyond comprehension.
It says in the Bible about Jesus “This man has never spoken like any other man before”
He is not some person from someone’s imagination.  How can you explain Resurrection?
There were 500 eyewitnesses to the Resurrection, who did not expect it.
How do you explain the 12 apostles who were scared of their own shadow and went out to hide
become the trumpet for Christ and changed the world?

2-The Old Testament has more than 324 prophecies about Jesus Christ that have been fulfilled.  There are other prophecies that have not been fulfilled yet (not until the end times). The Bible is full of Messianic prophecies. Mathematician Peter Stoner counted the probability of one person fulfilling even a small number of them. And he concluded, the chance of a single man fulfilling “just” 48 of the prophecies found in the Tanakh (Old Testament) would be one in (10 followed by 157 zeros)!

3-Science – when people were saying the world is flat, the Bible says it’s a sphere(round)(Isa 40:22).  When people are saying that the earth floats in space, the Bible says that it turns on an axis (rotates on its own axis) Job 38:12-14.

4-Archeology-Ancient writings, ancient lands and events and structures have been found presented in the Bible (The Dead Sea Scrolls)

5-The Word of God does what it says it will do… it transforms lives.

Heidelberg Catechism - Divided into 3 parts:

Guilt, Grace, Gratitude

Biblical Interpretation -

Hermeneutics - the science and art of Biblical interpretation.

(Gr. Hermeneutike “interpretation”)

The rules one uses for searching out the meanings of writings, particularly biblical texts.

Exegesis

Exegesis literally means, “to lead out of.” Exegesis means that the reader starts with the text and draws conclusions, about the meaning, based on historical-cultural and grammatical analysis. When you follow this line of thought, God`s word remains authoritative.  You can grasp what God is trying to teach you rather than beginning with your own ideas and twisting God`s word to make it fit your own opinions.

Gr. Exegesis, “interpretation,” from

exigeisthai, “to draw out or to explain”

Eisegesis literally means “to lead into.” Studying Scripture with this approach doesn’t do the text justice because it often leads to open-ended misinterpretation. “Eisegesis is concerned only with making a point, even at the expense of the meaning of words (Gotquestions.org).” The Eisegetical method places man`s word above God`s Word.

"Usage has restricted the meaning of hermeneutics* to the science of Biblical exegesis, that is, to the collection of rules which govern the right interpretation of Sacred Scripture. Exegesis is therefore related to hermeneutics, as language is to grammar, or as reasoning is to logic."