Basics

1
Basics

• An exploration of basic Christian doctrine by
  means of study of the newly-proposed EFCA
  Statement of Faith

2
We believe in God's Gospel

• Our identity as the Evangelical Free Church of
  America is centered on Gods evangel, the gospel
  of Jesus Christ, who died and rose again to give
  us eternal life. To God's glory, the gospel is
  the power of God for the salvation of all who
  believe. Our fundamental theological convictions
  are aspects of this gospel.

3
1. Gods gospel originates in and demonstrates
the holy love of the eternal, triune God

• We believe in one God, Creator of all things,
  holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing
  in a loving unity of three equally divine
  Persons the Father, the Son, and the Holy
  Spirit. This one God, all-knowing and
  all-powerful, has, in love and grace, purposed
  from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and
  to restore His fallen creation for His own glory.

4
2. Gods gospel is authoritatively announced in
the Scriptures

• We believe that God has spoken through the
  Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments. They
  are the verbally inspired Word of God, without
  error in the original writings, the complete
  revelation of His will for salvation, and the
  ultimate authority that stands over every realm
  of human knowledge and endeavor. Therefore, the
  Bible is to be believed in all that it affirms,
  obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in
  all that it promises.

5
Article 3AnthropologyorThe Doctrine of
Humanity
6
An excerpt from the movie,Good Morning,
Vietnamstarring Robin Williams asa US Armed
Forces disc jockey
7
(No Transcript)
8
Discussion at your table

• Where did humans come from?
• Are humans different from chimpanzees? How?
• Did you feel conflicted by the movie excerpt?
• Did it remind you of a vague awareness of a
  fundamental contradiction in yourself?
• Is something fundamentally flawed in us?
• Could there be any deeper human need than
  overcoming this fundamental flaw?
• Are we capable of doing that on our own?

9
3. Gods gospel alone addresses our deepest human
need

• We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His
  image, but they sinned through the temptation of
  Satan, corrupting that image. As a result, all
  humanity is alienated from God and under His
  wrath and can be rescued, reconciled, and
  restored only through Gods gracious work in
  Jesus Christ.

10
Article 3 of the Statement of the Faith
We believe that

• God created Adam and Eve
• in His image
• but they sinned
• through the temptation of Satan
• corrupting that image.
• As a result,
• all humanity is alienated from God and under His
  wrath, and
• can be rescued, reconciled, and restored
• only through Gods gracious work in Jesus Christ.

11
God created Adam and Eve

• In Genesis 11 creation ex nihilo is taught.
• 1st creation account. Compare Gen 1.24 to 1.26.
• 2nd creation account. Go to Gen 2.7, 15, 18-25
• What does the passage imply about the value of
  men and women?
• What does it infer about the meaning of marriage?
  (Can it have meaning between persons of same
  gender?)

12
in His image

• Genesis 1.26-27 (image), 2.7 (dust).
• Psalm 8.3-6.
• How does the image of God in us distinguish us
  from other animals?
• Dominion over animals and all creation
• Awareness of right and wrong, conscience
• Propensity to worship and communicate with
  deities
• Awareness of mortality and concern for what lies
  beyond death
• Compulsion to discover and create
• Capacity to recognize beauty, truth, logic
• So, are we heavenly beings? Or,
  animals? --Hugh Ross, Creation as Science,
  p. 78

13
but they sinned

• Sin preceded humanitys creation For if God did
  not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them
  into hell (2 Pe 24, ESV).
• Genesis 2.16-17 3.1-7 (the temptation)
• The snake speaks only twice but it is enough to
  offset the balance of trust and obedience between
  the man and the woman and their Creator, leading
  to
• Humanitys original sin disobedience motivated
  by the desire for wisdom, or knowledge of good
  and evil, apart from God.

14
Obedience or Disobediencein Deuteronomy 30.15-18

• See, I set before you today life and prosperity,
  death and destruction. For I command you today
  to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways,
  and to keep his commands, decrees and laws then
  you will live and increase, and the Lord your God
  will bless you in the land you are entering to
  possess. But, if your heart turns away and you
  are not obedient I declare to you this day that
  you will certainly be destroyed. (NIV)

15
The Disobedient Quest for Wisdom

• Gen 3.6 the woman not God?! saw that the
  fruit of the tree was good and also desirable
  for gaining wisdom.
• Gen 3.1 The word arum translated crafty is
  not primarily a negative term in the Bible but
  suggests wisdom and adroitness. (It occurs eight
  times in Proverbs and twice in Job).
• While Genesis implies God was keeping knowledge
  of the good for the humans (only He can know the
  good), the serpent suggests to Eve that God is
  keeping knowledge of the good from the humans.
• Adam and Eves disobedience of God appears
  motivated by a quest for wisdom and "the good"
  apart from God's provision.

16
The Intriguing Role of Eating

• God's first blessing, "you are free to eat ,
  and first command but you must not eat Gen
  216-17 focus on eating.
• Then, in Gen 3.5, it is over "eating" that the
  snake raised doubts God knows that when you eat
  of it, your eyes will be opened.
• Adams and Eves acts of disobedience (Gen 3.6)
  are simply described as "she ate it . and he ate
  it.
• Finally, Gods punishment of the man was that he
  was no longer "free to eat" (Gen 2.16) of the
  produce of the land, but rather through painful
  toil you will eat of it. (3.17)
• OT feasts and sacrifices. The last supper.
  Lords Supper.

17
So, what is sin?

• By this act in the garden, humans called in
  question the very nature and ordering of
  existence whereby they lived as creatures in
  utter dependence upon the grace and provision of
  their Creator.
• By this act, humans blasphemously withheld the
  worship and adoring love which is ever their
  proper response to Gods majesty and grace.
• Sin is that fundamental defect or missing of the
  mark that results when humans fail to trustingly
  center their lives on God.
• Mans sin lies in his pretension to be God.
  (Niebuhr).
• (from Evans, C. S. (2002). Pocket dictionary of
  apologetics philosophy of religion (Page 107).
  Downers Grove, Ill. InterVarsity Press and Wood,
  D. R. W., Wood, D. R. W., Marshall, I. H.
  (1996, c1982, c1962). New Bible Dictionary.
  Includes index. (electronic ed. of 3rd ed.) (Page
  1105). Downers Grove InterVarsity Press.)

18
Article 3 of the Statement of the Faith
We believe that

• God created Adam and Eve
• in His image
• but they sinned
• through the temptation of Satan
• corrupting that image.
• As a result,
• all humanity is alienated from God and under His
  wrath, and
• can be rescued, reconciled, and restored
• only through Gods gracious work in Jesus Christ.

19
through the temptation of Satan

• Who is this Satan? Rev 12.9 "That ancient
  serpent called the devil or Satan referred to
  in Genesis 3.1-5, 14-15.
• In the NT, the prince of the power of the air,
  the spirit that is now at work in the sons of
  disobedience (Eph 2.1-2, ESV) or the ruler of
  this world (Jn. 1430).
• Satan is always depicted in the Bible as hostile
  to God and working to overthrow the purposes of
  God.
• Men may so give themselves over to Satan that
  they in effect belong to him. They become his
  children. By this it is evident who are the
  children of God, and who are the children of the
  devil (1 Jn 3.10, ESV)
• The NT describes a great conflict between the
  forces of God and those of evil led by Satan but
  Satans authority is derivative from God.

20
The Great Conflict

• Christians (and even archangels, Jude 9) are
  engaged in this great conflict in which Satan
  disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cor.
  1114). We need discrimination and
  stout-heartedness, but determined opposition will
  always succeed. Resist the devil and he will
  flee from you (Jas. 47).
• The express purpose of Jesus coming into the
  world was to destroy the works of the devil. (1
  Jn. 38)
• With the cross in his sight, Jesus said, the
  ruler of this world is coming (Jn. 1430).
• We can be sure of Satans limitations and defeat.
  Paul assured us that, the God of peace will soon
  crush Satan under your feet (Rom. 1620).

21
corrupting that image.

• How has mans sin corrupted Gods image in man?
  
• Humanitys changed attitude to God is indicated
  in Adam and Eves actions after their sin. They
  hid themselves from God (Gen 3.8). Created for
  fellowship with God, they now dreaded encounter
  with him.
• Humanitys dominion over creation now involved
  painful toil (Gen 3.17-19)
• With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father,
  and with it we curse men, who have been made in
  Gods likeness. James 3.9 (NIV)
• Gen 3.19 to dust you will return.
• -- from Wood, D. R. W., Wood, D. R. W.,
  Marshall, I. H. (1996, c1982, c1962). New Bible
  Dictionary. (Page 1106). Downers Grove
  InterVarsity Press.

22
More Effects of the Corruption of Sin

• Spiritual ignorance Mt 416
• A mind controlled by the sinful nature Ro 85-8
• Unbelief Jn 336
• Living in sinful pleasures Lk 1513
• Acting in ways that lead to death Heb 61
• Spiritual death, a condition in this life of
  alienation from God because of sin, leading
  ultimately to the second death, the permanent
  separation of unbelievers from God.

23
As a result

• What does this phrase, as a result, imply?
• Yes, cause and effect.
• Was this cause THE major turning point effecting
  ALL the remainder of human history? Does it
  explain human history ever since?
• Once aware of it, humans must ask, What shall we
  do? Can it ever be reversed, or ended?

24
all humanity is alienated from God and under His
wrath

• Since sin is against God, he cannot be complacent
  towards it or indifferent with respect to it. He
  reacts inevitably against it. This reaction is
  specifically the wrath of God.
• The wrath of God must not be interpreted in terms
  of the fitful passion so commonly associated with
  anger in us. It is the deliberate, resolute
  displeasure which the contradiction of Gods
  holiness demands.
• It is not to be construed as vindictiveness but
  as holy indignation nothing of the nature of
  malice attaches to it. It is not malignant hatred
  but righteous detestation.
• We may not reduce the wrath of God to his will to
  punish. Wrath is a positive outgoing of
  dissatisfaction as sure as that which is pleasing
  to God involves complacency.
• The wrath of God finds its parallel in the human
  heart, exemplified in a perfect manner in Jesus
  (Mk. 35 1014)
• --from Wood, D. R. W., Wood, D. R. W.,
  Marshall, I. H. (1996, c1982, c1962). New Bible
  Dictionary. (Page 1108). Downers Grove
  InterVarsity Press.

25
can be rescued, reconciled, and restored

• How has God responded to the problem of sin and
  corruption? Through Jesus we can be
• rescued Jesus, who rescues us from the coming
  wrath (1 Thess.110, NIV)
• reconciled Therefore, since we have been
  justified through faith, we have peace with God
  through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 5.1, NIV)
• restored But our citizenship is in heaven. And
  we eagerly await the Lord Jesus Christ, who
  will transform our lowly bodies so that they will
  be like his glorious body. (Phil. 320,21, NIV)
  now we are children of God, and we know that
  when he appears, we shall be like him (1 Jn.
  32, NIV)

26
Reconciliation

• Reconciliation properly applies, not to good
  relations in weak moments, but to the doing away
  of an enmity, the bridging over of a quarrel. It
  implies that the parties being reconciled were
  formerly hostile to one another.
• The Bible tells us bluntly that sinners are
  enemies of God (Rom. 510 Col. 121 Jas.
  44).
• So, the way to reconciliation lies through an
  effective grappling with the root cause of the
  enmity. Christ died to put away our sin. In this
  way he dealt with the enmity between man and God.
  
• The NTs stress is always on mans being
  reconciled to God, not vice-versa, because it is
  mans sin which has caused the enmity. It is
  mans sin that has had to be dealt with.
• --from Wood, D. R. W., Wood, D. R. W.,
  Marshall, I. H. (1996, c1982, c1962). New Bible
  Dictionary. Includes index. (electronic ed. of
  3rd ed.) (Page 1002). Downers Grove InterVarsity
  Press.

27
only through Gods gracious work in Jesus Christ.

• The history of mankind is finally subsumed under
  only two complexes
• sin-condemnation-death (arising from our union
  with Adam)
• righteousness-justification-life (arising from
  our potential union with Christ)
• These are the two orbits within which humanity
  lives and moves. And, so we turn to
• --from Wood, D. R. W., Wood, D. R. W.,
  Marshall, I. H. (1996, c1982, c1962). New Bible
  Dictionary. (Page 1107). Downers Grove
  InterVarsity Press.

28
4. Gods gospel is revealed in history supremely
through the Person of Jesus Christ

• We believe that Jesus Christ, Israel's promised
  Messiah, is God incarnate, one Person in two
  natures, fully human and fully divine, having
  been conceived through the Holy Spirit and born
  of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was
  crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from
  the dead, and ascended into heaven, where, at the
  right hand of God the Father, He is now our High
  Priest and Advocate.

29
5. Gods gospel is accomplished through the work
of Christ

• We believe that Jesus Christ, as our
  representative and substitute, died on the cross
  as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our
  sins. His shed blood and resurrection are the
  only ground for salvation, and it is through
  faith alone in Christ that anyone is justified
  before God.

30
How might your thoughts have changed on these
questions?

• Where did humans come from?
• Are humans different from chimpanzees? How?
• Did you feel conflicted by the movie excerpt?
• Did it remind you of a vague awareness of a
  fundamental contradiction in yourself (and
  others)?
• Is something fundamentally flawed in us?
• Could there be any deeper human need than
  overcoming this fundamental flaw?
• Are we capable of doing that on our own?