SOTERIA: Salvation, the Savior and the Saved (2)

WHAT MOVES GOD TO SAVE (1)

Article by Pastor O’femi Ogunyemi

 

In this second part of the series, SOTERIA: Salvation, the Savior and the Saved, we are looking at the motivation for salvation. This is important because, looking at the incident of man’s fall, it is clear that the affliction of sin is self-inflicted.

 

You can read the first part here.

 

God has demonstrated His goodness to man right from the beginning. Before man came on the scene, God had put in place all that he would need for a good life. And, one will expect that with those gracious provisions should come a list of laws for man to keep. But there was only one given to man.

 

GENESIS 2:16-17:

“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

 

Many criticize and judge God harshly for putting this temptation before man, knowing that man is frail and would fall. Well, let’s set the records straight. First, God does not tempt anyone with evil and neither can He be tempted with evil (James 1:13). There is no evil in Him. Sin happens when man is enticed and lured away by his lust. Apostle James, by the Spirit of God, said this in the first chapter of his letter, in verses thirteen to sixteen.

 

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. (James 1:13-16).

 

This was what played out in the fall of man! God didn’t cause Adam’s fall. Adam fell because of his lust.

 

Secondly, Adam, in his original, pre-fall state, differed from us in many ways. He was made as God’s image (Genesis 1:26, 27), implying that he possessed some aspects of God’s attributes, e.g., righteousness, love, mercy, wisdom, and justice, as the crown of God’s creation. God is love. God’s nature is to give of Himself. In making Adam in His image, God shared some aspects of Himself with man. So, Adam had the equipping for a perfect life.

 

Augustine, the church theologian, described man in that state in Latin, posse non peccare, meaning able to not sin. It was the state we all would have come into, if nothing had gone wrong. But something did go wrong!

 

Another vital feature of man is the will. God made us able to choose. God wants us to love and obey Him. But He won’t force us. He desires a relation- ship that comes by our choice at realizing His immense love for us. Adam had options —to stay under God’s rule or rebel. This was the point of Genesis 2:16-17—giving man an occasion to exercise his will. The genuineness  of love is best ascertained where people have choices.

 

The chance for man to exercise his power to choose came in Genesis 3. In vv.2-5, satan sold the idea of equality with God to man, as against God’s plan original plan for man. Indeed, man has governmental authority on earth. But man’s authority on earth flowed from God and could work only as man stayed under God’s authority.

 

But satan perverted Adam’s view of God, so that he saw God no more as the good and caring Father, but a wicked and selfish God who did not want man to reach His full potential of becoming a god like Him. The thought of becoming a god consumed man. Then, though he could keep God’s law if chose to and had kept it so far, he chose to defy God. 

 

GENESIS 3:6:

“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.”

 

Man’s fall was not a matter of inability, but choice. Adam’s rebellion against God was an intentional act. And, by that action, humanity’s destiny was altered for the bad. Apostle Paul, in Romans 5:12ff., taught the terrible consequences of Adam’s choice on the human race.

 

• Sin and death  became perpetuated in the world (v.12-14; Romans 6.23).

 

• Spiritual death—cessation of man’s spiritual faculties and abilities (vv.15; 1 Corinthians 15.22).

 

• Condemnation—the adverse judgment for sin—came on all humans (vv.16, 18).

 

• All humans became sinners (v.19). From Adam, a nature corrupted by sin passed to all, making us inclined toward sin. Augustine described all humans in this state of the fall as non posse non peccare, meaning not able to not sin.

 

If humanity will ever get out of its miserableness under sin, then God must step into the situation. In the state of fall, we are completely incapacitated to rescue ourselves from the damning consequences of our sin. But why should God care, since we brought the misery on ourselves, and particularly, when the plan to save us would  cost the life of His precious Son?

 

(Series continues in the next episode.)