It isn’t my intent to delve into the discussion you, Brett, Lucy, and Shield Maiden had except to say by and large I am coming from Brett’s point of view on this subject.

The promised reply is now in a new post on my blog, which I hope all will read.

I understand that there may be other disagreements — particularly because we do not subscribe to the Armenian position taken by men like Michael Pearl — but I’m afraid I cannot carry the discussion further on those matters at this point in time.

Just know that I respect you and Gracie very much and encourage you to keep writing. Both of you are excellent communicators and your abilities will only improve with practice. May God bless you!

She was very dissatisfied with what she wrote when she wrote it, but considering that she didn’t have the time to write a book, she posted it in faith. She is very passionate about this topic (if you didn’t notice) and well she should be for although she is ‘only’ sixteen she has been a Christian for about ten years and has only just become passionate about her God as she has understood this truth in the past eighteen months. Replying to Ryan’s post is in fact a Hard Thing that she felt God called her to do. She is therefore in the position (as I am) of having heard and understood what she is trying to explain from multiple people who had studied it out for themselves and taught with great clarity, but we two are just finally catching on and consequently have a harder time explaining it ourselves.

However, we both agree it is a topic well worth discussing, searching out, trying to explain, and challenging one another on. Both of us greatly dislike writing as a general rule, because when we do we usually feel as though we butchered our topic. More and more however, God has been putting both of us in the position of having to write out what we are trying to relate and trusting Him to use our weakness.

If you read this post please do not assume that I am looking for an arguement. I am very willing to learn and need to be challenged. We have discussed whether or not this is worth our time, and we decided that we are not haggling over pointless arguments, but rather we are trying to understand the very core of our faith. Also, you, whom we already respect and agree with about 99% of the time, are a good place for us to try to explain what we believe. Not only can we edify one another by the discussion but if we can’t explain ourselves sufficiently to you, how are we going to fare when we try to tell someone who has never heard of God? Therefore, I ask for your patience. I chose to post my thoughts here when I first read the discussion: http://www.seetheking.blogspot.com

I have a bad habit of ‘butting in’. I’ve realized that I don’t accept people with grace…just letting them have their say without trying to correct them or adding an unneeded comments. It just doesn’t help you OR your brother keep the peace on the blog. You might disagree, but I myself have seen the contention that I help add to.

Please, please don’t think I am upset with either of you! I admire your evident love for God’s Word and I realize we are on either sides of an issue that has been debated for centuries — though I realize Gracie that you and Lucy are not in complete agreement either.

I apologize if there was any way in which I misinterpreted or misrepresented either of your positions. Lucy, I accept your apology, though I’m not really sure what there is to forgive!

Let us continue to pursue the truth together — in love and with grace. I just can’t wait until Heaven when Christ himself will explain these things fully to us. For now we see as in a mirror dimly, but then, face to face. =)

Your Brother In Christ,
Brett

Brett:
I wasn’t implying that at all. I’m glad you said something!

I’ve got to stop. I was going to add much more, but I have realized I need to accept people with grace, like the bible says, not correct them.

Brett…I apologize. And I mean that.

Your sister in Christ
Lucy

I think it is important to stress that I am not disagreeing with God’s clear commands in Scripture to stop sinning. I am not saying that it is excusable for Christians to continue in old patterns of sin. I think it is unfair for you to imply that because I believe that Christians must fight their old nature that I am somehow making allowances for sin. Perhaps I am mistaken, but that implication seemed clear to me.

I also believe that we agree more than we think we do. You yourself admit that we are still tempted by sin. I merely argue that such temptation is our old man rearing his ugly head. When we do as you suggest and remind ourselves of the biblical truth that we have died to sin and believe God’s Word enough to say “no” — that is victory in our fight with our sin. And it might not be a “struggle” or a “hardship” for you, but it sure is hard for me and everyone else I know — that’s why we must depend entirely on God’s grace.

Before we were saved we had no choice but to sin — that is what it meant to be slaves to sin. Now that we are saved we are free from that bondage to sin, free from the condemnation of our sin, and now can be victorious over sin through Christ living in us. That is what it means to be dead to sin.

When a real slave is told that he’s been freed the statement, “You are free!” is the reality of what he is — he is free. His challenge now is to begin acting as though that statement is a reality — and that is the struggle.

When God’s Word tells us to “consider ourselves dead to sin” the underlying implication is that we can be dead to sin, but not acting as if we are dead to sin. We must constantly think of ourselves as dead to sin because if we don’t we will continue to act as if we are slaves to sin, even after we have been set free! When Christ told the woman caught in adultery to go and sin no more the underlying implication is that she could still sin. Otherwise, the command would have been unnecessary.

Our process of sanctification is learning to act like what we really are in Christ. We are dead to sin and we are perfectly righteous in the sight of God because of what Christ accomplished on the Cross. That is justification. But to say that we immediately act perfectly righteous is not supported by Scripture or by practical experience. That is the process of sanctification which Scripture tells us will only be completed when Christ returns (Phil. 1:6).

Again, I wish I had the time to actually develop a comprehensive defense of my position, but I know that countless wiser, godlier men have already done so, and I direct you to them. Specifically I know that Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology does an excellent job of taking into account the whole counsel of God’s Word as it lays out biblical positions on sin, justification, sanctification, and everything beside.

Thank you both for sharing your thoughts and for keeping your speech seasoned with salt! May God richly bless you as we all strive to accurately divide the Word of Truth.