Expert: Richard Aberdeen - 3/27/2011

Question
QUESTION: Answer:    
You are correct that there is more to it.  Paul went on to say, "so with the flesh I serve the law of sin".  A sinner is someone who can't obey either God's law or their own conscience all of the time, which is why Jesus died.  That is why Paul said, "with the flesh I serve the rule of sin".  We don't have any other option, because we can't obey God all of the time.  If we could obey God, then Jesus would not have died in the first place.  In God's grace, we are no longer required to obey God in order to receive his help, "for by grace we are saved" and, "we are not under the law, but under grace".  

What Paul emphasizes is what mattered to him, just like what Jesus emphasized is what mattered to Jesus.  There is a big difference between what someone says once or twice and, what someone repeatedly emphasizes.  Jesus repreatedly emphasized the importance of loving our neighbor as ourself and of especially helping the sick, poor and least among us, while Paul repeatedly emphasizes the importance of forgiveness.  This is because without forgiveness, we don't receive help from God and thus, we don't have any power to love our neighbor as ourself.  

Richard Aberdeen

www.FreedomTracks.com

Which is why He sent His Spirit to live within us, and us to become one with Him.
1 Corinthians 6:16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

[[[[[[[[ 17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.]]]]]]]

No longer I, who live, but Christ! We must come to see that we are not two spirits, His, and ours.... But one!

Perfect IMAGES, of the ONE reality... " Being of the same mind, and the same accord, and the same purpose"  Till Christ be fully formed in us!

 Galatians 4:19 My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ be fully formed in you—

Does this help clarify?

Sincerely In Christ
Respectfully yours
Barelohim.

ANSWER: I am familiar with all of that, I am also familiar with everything else in the New Testament, as I have read it many, many times.

One has to take everything in proper context in order to correctly divide truth from false, just as the Bible says, we should study to show ourselves approved unto God, so we can correctly divide the word of truth.  Of course, truth cannot itself be divided, as Jesus clearly said, a "kingdom divided against itself cannot stand".  Thus, to correctly divide the word of truth is to correctly understand it in proper context of the whole, separating it from what is not true.

For example, the issue of abortion is never mentioned anywhere in the Bible except for possibly in one esoteric place in Exodus, which meaning is not at all clear and is debated among scholars; some scholars say it does not even refer to abortion and the meaning of the text in Hebrew is lost to history, as often occurs within the languages of ancient societies.

Thus, any true follower of Jesus would never make a big deal out of abortion, as a follower of someone emphasizes what they emphazied and ignores what the leader did not address.  Jesus very clearly over and over and over again addressed how we should treat the already born, while he did not one single time ever mention anything concerning the unborn, as far as we know.  On the contrary, according to Jesus, one must be physically born and spiritually born in order to be able to enter the kingdom of heaven; to be born by "water" is a universal sign of human societies for  thousands of years, as pertaining to when a woman's water breaks, announcing the birth of a new human being into the world.

I have no desire to debate or even address the abortion issue, other than to point out the historically obvious, that a true follower of Jesus would center on the already born, rather than to pretend to care about the rights of the unborn.  To pretend to care about the unborn while voting for leaders who entirely screw the already born represents the very worst kind of human hypocrisy.  

And, any and every true follower of Jesus would admit that they are a sinner, who for now only sees "in part" and, the part we see is extremely small compared to what there is to know.  To not freely admit that we are a sinner, is to say that God sacrificed his only son for no good reason at all.  Paul clearly stated that anyone thinks they know what is true, does not remotely know what there is yet to learn and, as Jeremiah said, "as high as the heavens are above the earth", so are God's ways from our own.  Which is most likely why Jesus centers on human relations and, there is almost no theology found in the teachings of Jesus, other than very simple concepts such as "father", "friend" and "love".  That is because we know very little about God, as is quite obvious by the modern evidence of the size and scope of the observable universe, agreeing with the conclusions of Jeremiah, Paul and Einstein, among many others.  

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Query.
Mr Aberdeen,was Jesus able to sin, if He desired to do so? Or was He truly not *tempted in all things even as we are!*?
And if He sinned, would that make Him a sinner? Is one a sinner because of doing a sin, or is one a sinner because of their born nature?

In this chapter and verses we can see how God views things, compared to how we see things.
Hebrews7:  4 Now consider how great this man was, unto whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth out of the chief spoils.
 5 And they indeed of the sons of Levi that receive the priest’s office have commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though these have come out of the loins of Abraham:
 6 but he whose genealogy is not counted from them hath taken tithes of Abraham, and hath blessed him that hath the promises.
 7 But without any dispute the less is blessed of the better.
 8 And here men that die receive tithes; but there one, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.
 9 And, so to say, through Abraham even Levi, who receiveth tithes, hath paid tithes;
 10 for he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchizedek met him.

This is the same precept through the first adam. All mankind were in adam, so when adam disobeyed and was condemned, all that were in adam were condemned as well...!

Now, those born of the Last Adam, are seen as In ADAM. that what is accounted to The Last Adam, applies to all that are IN HIM!

Simple, eh?

Respectfully
Barelohim,

ANSWER: I told you, I'm not going to argue with you over what you believe or don't believe.  I only told you what I think is true, which is all any man, woman or child can do.

I know that I am a sinner; I knew I was a sinner when I was a kid, I knew I was a sinner in high school, I knew I was a sinner when I was young and living the singles and biker scenes, I knew I was a sinner when I was a truck driver, professional gambler, working in the construction unions and, I know I've been a sinner since I've owned my own business.  I was a sinner and, I remain a sinner.

Like the Bible clearly says, "if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us".

I'm not going to debate about this, I know that I don't always love my neighbor as myself and, I know why Jesus died.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Then when will you be not a sinner? For sinners aren't in the Kingdom of God!

With respect.

Barelohim

Answer
I will no longer be a sinner when I die and in the future, I am ressurected in a new form, as again the Bible very clearly says.  We don't know what our new form will be, as we only have experience of our current state.  Paul very clearly said, "not as if I have already attained"; someone who has not already attained, by definition, is still a sinner.