Hatred of Sin

"You who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked." Psalm 97:10

One of the most important marks of one who is born again is the hatred of sin. Before we are made new by the blood of Christ, sin is the very thing we ever desire. We are born in sin and sin consumes our lives (Romans 3:9). Sin itself is the rebellious practice of pleasing ourselves against the very will of God: the act of lawlessness in the face of God's righteous commands. If once we have been made new creations we do not despise the rebellion against God's law there has not been true repentance. True repentance is the changing of ones mind and nature specifically in the context towards the law of God. This is, in essence, a change from loving sin to hating the very practice of it. 

If this is true we must rely so greatly upon the grace of God through His holy spirit to daily convict us and lead us; for we know none of us is without sin (1 John 1:8-10) and thus none of us has reached a perfect zealous hatred of sin. Without the daily grace of God in sanctification and forgiveness we would never remain on the straight and narrow path for, "My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber." (Psalm 123:2,3).

We all can testify to the wicked flesh that we are still attached to and its vicious hatred of the law of God. But as new creations in the spirit we must put to death our flesh daily and seek to love the Law of God with all of our being.

"...but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin." Romans 7:23-25

By: Tim Snyder

The Purpose of the Law

 “Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners…” 1 Timothy 1:6-9


God gave the law to people who were rebellious and unrighteous, and therefore, completely unable to keep the lofty moral demands of the law. Why would God, who is infinite in wisdom, give demands to people who are utterly unable to perform them? Either God delights to cause misery in the consciences of those who continually fail to keep His law, and wishes only to bring condemnation to men, or He has another purpose entirely. Obviously, we know that God does not do what I previously proposed. God is a God of love, mercy, and goodness; it would be contradictory to His nature to have a purpose that excludes love or grace toward mankind. So what then was God’s intent in giving Israel the law? The purpose of the law God gave was to lead men to Christ; therefore it wasn't, in the main, given by God in the hope that it would be perfectly obeyed by the people.

The law was meant to show mankind the desperate plight of his own sinfulness in order to lead him to the grace and mercy that is in Jesus Christ. Law prepares the heart for grace. The law was the tutor, or guardian, to lead men to Christ (Galatians 3:24-25). The law imprisoned all under sin so that we would receive the grace that is in Christ through faith (Galatians 3:22-23). The law shuts every mouth, and holds the whole world accountable to God; for no one can be justified by his own efforts to satisfy the law’s demands (Romans 3:19-20). The glory of God in Jesus Christ is the focal point of all of Scripture. The law highlights and magnifies the grace of Jesus, beckoning all people to cast themselves upon this grace. The law’s purpose is to condemn all men so that they might forego seeking salvation through the merits of self-effort, and seek salvation through the mercy of God in Christ.

To miss this is to miss the whole purpose of the law, and to misunderstand this is to misunderstand the whole law. If you don’t get this, you will never understand the cross. That’s why Paul, in 1 Timothy 1:7, said of the false teachers, who desired to be teachers of the law, that, “they understand neither what they are saying nor the things about which they make confident assertions.” They don’t understand that God’s intention was to use the law to show man his corruptness and sinfulness, and thus, show him his great need of a salvation outside of himself; specifically, the salvation by the grace of God through faith alone. Salvation was never meant to be through a righteousness gained by one’s own self before God. This may sound strange, but the law wasn't given primarily to be obeyed. It was given primarily to reveal mankind’s sinful nature (Romans 7:7-12). And by doing that, it leads people to a gracious Savior.

Once the law has accomplished its primary function in bringing people to the mercy of Jesus, it serves an entirely different purpose and function (I will later address the functions of the law in the life of a Christian). It no longer serves primarily as a condemning force leading people to God’s grace; though it ought to serve as a constant reminder to the Christian of his great need for Christ’s grace.

Grace. In actuality, grace is the purpose of the law. It’s all about God’s glorious, undeserved, unmerited, and infinite grace. God’s intention in giving His law was to lead men to the grace of God, so that they may ever exult in His endless mercy and love, and boast only in the cross of Christ. Give up self-effort to earn righteousness, embrace the self-realization that the law provides, and thrust yourself fully upon divine mercy, the grace of God in Jesus Christ. For by works of the law no person shall be justified before God.

By: Chris Blaise

The Oft Rejected & Ignored Orthodoxy

Predestination. The word is used multiple times in the New Testament (Romans 8; Ephesians 1; Acts 4), and the idea is expressed all throughout the entire Bible (Jeremiah 1; Galatians 1; Acts 13). Both the word and the idea imply that a certain act will definitely take place because the sovereign God previously decreed that it would happen. I think the question ought to be asked: if that is true, and the Bible is unequivocal on the matter, why not take it for what it says? As an Arminian, this idea was borderline impossible for me to reconcile (most of my Christian life I embraced Arminian theology). To say that God predestined certain events to certainly happen seemed to me an irreconcilable idea because of my strong persuasion of the dignity of human will in relation to God’s will. In order for my doctrinal system to work, ultimately decisions involving mans future must be left to him.

The mere idea expressed in the verses that either speak
of God’s predestination or allude to the idea was a crushing blow to to the theology I ardently held to. The omnipotent, sovereign God decreed what would happen in the future, but ultimately man must give his “ok” for the event to occur. Do you see the contradiction of that statement? It would be a blatant contradiction for me to affirm such a statement. Psalm 115 says, “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.” Not maybe, not possibly, and definitely not man willing. He absolutely does all that He pleases and purposes to do.

Did you know that the Bible not only speaks of God’s predestination concerning events like the cross of Christ, but also speaks of God’s predestination in reference to our individual salvation? “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (Romans 8:29) It’s a provocative thought, maybe even unsettling and offensive to some believers; nonetheless, the Bible clearly teaches it. God predestined you and me to be His before He ever created the universe ( Revelation 13:7-8). It isn't a possibility that those who He predestined will be His; it is a surety.

As the verse below reads, “in love he predestined us… according to the purpose of His will.” Not because He looked through the corridors of time and saw that you would accept Him, but because of His own purpose and will. He works all things according to the counsel of His will, thus if He purposes, who can thwart that sovereign purpose?

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved… In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will…” Ephesians 1:3-6

By: Chris Blaise