Last week was week 7 of the 8 week session on predestination and free will. The assignment for the class was to respond to four questions:
The passages that deal with this issues are 4 or 5 depending on how you count them. The one I want you to look at is 1 Corinthians 6:9 – 11. Paul here lists 10 categories of sin that, using his language, will not inherit the kingdom of God. In other words, will not enter, are excluded. But focus on verse 11. Paul acknowledges that some of the Corinthian believers had been in one or more of those categories. However, again using Paul’s language, “…you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” The implication is that those who were in those categories through a transforming relationship with Christ were no longer in those categories.
At the end of the discussion one of the people asked about the genetic issue, we had not addressed it well in our discussion. The short answer is that all of our sin is genetic. When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, they fell. Not partially but totally. The language is they died. The language throughout the Bible describing man’s condition prior to regeneration includes dead, slave, helpless, etc. We are genetically predisposed to sin; all 10 and more of Paul’s categories in 1 Corinthians 6:9 – 11.
So yes, sin is genetic, all of it. Not just the ones we want to justify. So Romans 3:20 stands, we are all in the same boat. Without God’s intervention in our lives, none of us would, in Paul’s words, inherit the kingdom of God.
- What does the Bible teach about homosexuality?
- Is it a legitimate life choice?
- Is it genetic?
- What is the appropriate Christian response to homosexuals in the community?
The passages that deal with this issues are 4 or 5 depending on how you count them. The one I want you to look at is 1 Corinthians 6:9 – 11. Paul here lists 10 categories of sin that, using his language, will not inherit the kingdom of God. In other words, will not enter, are excluded. But focus on verse 11. Paul acknowledges that some of the Corinthian believers had been in one or more of those categories. However, again using Paul’s language, “…you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” The implication is that those who were in those categories through a transforming relationship with Christ were no longer in those categories.
At the end of the discussion one of the people asked about the genetic issue, we had not addressed it well in our discussion. The short answer is that all of our sin is genetic. When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, they fell. Not partially but totally. The language is they died. The language throughout the Bible describing man’s condition prior to regeneration includes dead, slave, helpless, etc. We are genetically predisposed to sin; all 10 and more of Paul’s categories in 1 Corinthians 6:9 – 11.
So yes, sin is genetic, all of it. Not just the ones we want to justify. So Romans 3:20 stands, we are all in the same boat. Without God’s intervention in our lives, none of us would, in Paul’s words, inherit the kingdom of God.
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