In our last message in pt.2 of this series I talked about how and why free will terrified Augustine then, and terrifies his followers now. And how that fear caused Augustine, Luther, and Calvin to forsake free will.
And in pt.1 how that rather than face the truth that all men have free will. They instead would just make things up so that they can remain in their gnostic delusion. The flesh being evil by its very nature the foundation for all gnostic thinking, and the strong delusion Paul spoke of in 2Thes.2.
And today in pt.3 we will see the real harm that comes from believing Augustine’s doctrine of original sin and sin nature as it pertains to salvation. Because of the strong delusion Satan has brought to the church through Augustine most people have come to believe that because their guilt is removed when they realize their sins have been forgiven this is salvation. But, salvation is far more than any good feeling they may have when they are forgiven for all the bad things they ever did.
This is why John wrote in 1John1:9 that when they confess their sins Jesus is faithful and just to forgive their sins. AND to cleanse them from ALL unrighteousness. Because after they have been forgiven they still need to trust in Jesus to be righteous. Because it is their faith in Jesus that joins them in relationship to Him that is righteousness for eternal life.
So if they only believed that forgiveness of sins saved them. And that their freedom from the guilt they were feeling was the end of the matter. They will still be locked in their sin, confession, and then forgiveness pattern. Just as their Jewish predecessors who were under the law were. Having to come over and over again for forgiveness of sins as Heb.10:1-4 shows.
Because even after being forgiven for their sins the need for future forgiveness of sins remains in their conscience. Because they do not know that a personal relationship with Jesus is needed in order to purge the conscience from the dead works of the law.
So that for us who do know Jesus there no longer remains any need to give any place in our thoughts regarding the keeping of the law. But, only a personal relationship with Him that results in His love being shed abroad in our hearts that now leads us and guides us. Giving not more heed to the law’s requirement for continued sacrifice for sins.
This is why Paul said in 1Cor.6:11 regarding the law’s prohibitions to eating certain meats that “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
And this is also why in Gal.3:23-26 Paul told the Jew they no longer need the law to be their schoolmaster. And that trusting in Jesus is righteousness. So that any good works we may do become only the by-product of the love shed abroad in our hearts by our relationship with Him. And any bad works are not imputed because there is no law.
This belief that they must continue the sacrifice of law keeping, and asking forgiveness when they fail, causes all manner of problems with the way they interpret the scriptures.
It is what causes them to read vs. like Rom.5:12 to mean that death is the result of having Adam’s sin imputed to them. So that men are punished for someone else’s bad works. So that the obverse must also be true making salvation to them the result of having someone else’s good works imputed to them.
This not only makes good or bad works according to the law the central focus in salvation. And therefore the definition of righteousness to these who believe Augustine’s original sin and sin nature doctrine. But, it also makes imputation that method by which we are made righteous. Rather than our relationship with Jesus being our righteousness unto eternal life.
Using passages like Rom.5:18,19 where Paul says, “Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” as proof of their error.
But, If imputed sin or imputed righteousness was the correct way to interpret Paul’s teaching here this means that if a man is condemned it is by someone else’s works. And that if a man is approved or righteous it must also be by someone else’s works. Making the righteousness they claim is received by faith, a righteousness that is of works. A works righteousness Paul says in Phil.3:6-9 is both “dung” and “loss” compared to knowing Jesus.
So you see the problem is that Paul taught that righteousness for salvation can not be by works. Not even the works of Christ. But, only as Gal.2:16 says “by the faith of Christ”. And in Rom.4:1-5 that only when we believe God as Abraham did are we righteous.
A righteousness that is unto eternal life because it is apart from works done by anyone. And neither is it by imputation as if it is placed to our account. But, as Paul says in Gal.3:21 righteousness is the relationship.
And even in the Old Covenant Jesus told them in John6:28,29 when asked what they must do to do the work of God that “This is the work of God. That ye believe on Him who He hath sent.”
So by believing Augustine’s teachings men have caused great harm to their understanding of what it means to be saved. Actually coming to believe what is the opposite of what Paul taught. And by this rejecting the sola fide, the salvation that is by grace through faith alone, the scriptures plainly teach.
Works has become an idol to them. Because they have placed works over them instead of God as the means by which they are made righteous. Rather than simply trusting God. So that trust is then the righteousness that is salvation. Because it is our trust in Jesus in response to His love toward us that defines our righteousness. For righteousness is our relationship with Him.
This is why the law remains such an integral part of their belief system. Proven by statements pastors make like “we are not under law but we must still keep it”. When Paul says in Rom.7:1-6 that the believer’s relationship to the law must be as that of a woman to her husband after he is dead. Null and void so that the Jew is free to marry another.
So if you find yourself returning over and over again to confess bad behavior. This is indicative of the fact that you have not yet been set free from the law. But, are still bound to it and its constant reminder of the sin defined by it.
This is why when we read about what Paul said about the man given over to a reprobate mind. We see that where being made reprobate starts is with idolatry. Idolatry that Paul in Rom.1:26 says is against man’s nature to do.
So if we believe Paul we will agree that it is man’s nature not to sin. And we will see that the delusion is to think otherwise. A delusion Jesus said is brought on by “the deceitfullness of riches, the cares of this life, and the desire for other things.” And James says happens when a “man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”
Here James speaks of death as eternal separation from God as a result of rejecting Jesus. This is the finished sin. The finality of a life lived in rejection of Jesus.
So Augustine, rather than face this truth that it was their own free will that causes men to sin. Just as it was when Adam first sinned. Augustine, along with his disciples Luther and Calvin, whose teaching it is that every seminary student learns, chose the delusion that it is because the flesh is evil by nature that causes their slavery to sin.
But, only in facing the truth can man find the liberty that is in Christ to be completely and utterly set free from sin. From it even in our consciousness. No longer to be led about by “touch not and taste not”. But, instead by our God given free will fortified by God’s grace. Which is His love in action.
Knowing that to sin is not caused by man’s predilection to it by the nature of the flesh. But, by his own free will unencumbered by what Augustine called necessity. But instead fortified by that nature because of free will, that Augustine falsely believed does not exist.
Because as Paul said in Rom.1:26, man does that which is against his nature when he sins by not believing God. And does not do so because it is in his nature to. And to believe that it is his nature to reject God is the strong delusion Paul spoke of in 2Thes.2.
So what actually has happened to Augustine and those who believe his teachings is the strong delusion Paul spoke of in 2Thes.2. Caused by the terror of facing the fact that whatever they think or do is the product of free will.
So we must reject the pagan gnostic lie that the flesh is evil. And receive the truth that it is with our free will and God’s grace that is given to every man that we come into a relationship with Christ. A relationship that is righteousness.
As Paul says we must choose of our own free will to confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus. And to believe in our hearts that He has raised from the dead. Only then will we be saved. And Joshua who said “Choose this day whom you will serve.”
So the choice is yours. Will you choose with your own free will to trust in Jesus for eternal life? Or be terrorized as Augustine was by the notion that we are accountable to God by that free will? To leave salvation as he did to the whim of a capricious and hateful god who sends babies to hell.
The Bible tells us that God is love. And that He has shown His love to the whole world in sending Jesus to join with us in our mortality and death. So that through faith in Him and His resurrection we shall join with Him in immortality and eternal life.
If you will choose to believe in Jesus and His resurrection you will be made a child of God and heir to His kingdom. If you will choose forgiveness and a relationship with Jesus that is righteousness then you will have eternal life. If you will do this… then I will see you there or in the air!
