Siloam Springs Bible Church

In our December communion meditation, we looked at the importance of the Virgin Birth of Jesus. There were four reasons cited for the necessity of the Virgin Birth: 1) The doctrine of the Virgin Birth is essential to the trustworthiness of the Gospel record; 2) It gives us confidence in our Lord’s sinless nature; 3) This doctrine gives the only reasonable explanation of God’s Son taking on human flesh; and finally 4) It protects our Lord and his mother from scandal (Alva J. McClain, The Doctrines of Christ and the Holy Spirit. Unpublished class notes, Grace Theological Seminary, Winona Lake, Indiana).

Reasons two and three raise an important issue which requires further thinking. There is no doubt that Jesus is sinless, but was He able to sin or not able to sin? A lot of ink has been spilled, not always graciously, in answering this question one way or the other. In answering this question I think it difficult to ignore the apparent link of Jesus’ sinless nature to His miraculous conception. “And the angel answering said to her: ‘the Holy Spirit shall come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; wherefore also the Holy (One) which is born (of you, in some manuscripts) will be called the Son of God’ ” (Luke 1:35). Does this verse suggest that He was able to sin or that He was already confirmed in His holiness at birth, i.e., unable to sin?

Let’s look at this from the angle suggested by reason #3: the Virgin Birth gives the only reasonable explanation of God’s Son taking on human flesh. We understand that ordinarily when a child is conceived there is the creation of a new personality. But Jesus as the Son of God did not get His personality through His birth. He was Divine Person before His birth (John 1:1). So for God to bring His Son into human life, there was no need for the normal creative process. Indeed such a process would have been out of the question. The normal procreative process would have resulted in an entirely new personality! That Jesus Christ had a fully human nature is clear (Philippians 2:5-7), but He was one Person with both a human nature and a divine nature (John 8:23; 17:5; 1 Tim. 2:5; Rom. 1:3-4; 9:5).

If our understanding is correct, then we would have to say that Jesus was unable to sin. The fact is persons sin; natures do not. Every believer has both a new nature and an old sin nature. However, it isn’t the nature that sins but the person. I cannot escape my own guilt by blaming my sin on my sin nature. The sin nature may explain who I am and why I behave the way I do as a sinful human being, but the responsibility for my sin rests with me, the person. To say Jesus, Divine Person, could have sinned is to assert that God can sin. Unthinkable!

There is a very interesting verse in John’s first letter that sheds light on whether Jesus could sin: “Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin, because his seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of God” (1 John 3:9). It’s the principle that like begets like (Zane C. Hodges, The Epistles of John: Walking in the Light of God’s Love, 140-144). If it is true that the new life of the believer does not sin because it is born of God, how much more must this be true of His Son, Jesus Christ?

This doctrine is important for the following reason: Because Jesus Christ cannot sin, we have the hope that some day we will be free of sin forever, both actual and potential. We will be like Him (1 John 3:2). What hope would it be if being like Christ meant that we could still sin? None whatsoever. The regenerating work of Christ in the heart of every believer will be fully realized one day. We will be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.
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Question:  Pastor Dave, you didn't finish your story about the pregnant bride who already had five children.  Why were the church people happy and dancing about when the bride came down the aisle?

When we arrived in Africa we had absolutely no understanding of African marriage customs.  What we learned was that in our part of the world, an African marriage is actually a contract between two families.  The bride's family guarantees that the bride will bear children, and the groom's family pledges to take good care of the young lady.  If no children are born, then the groom's family has the right to send the bride back to her family.  That is a serious step because it means this woman is "spoiled" and will unlikely be chosen as a bride for someone else.  Usually, the bride's family will send the younger sister to the groom's family in addition to the first bride.

In African thinking if two people are married in church, it is permanent.  If children are not born to the family, too bad.  The groom's family cannot send the bride back.  So it is not unusual for two people to submit to a traditional wedding until it is certain that the couple is fertile and then a church wedding follows.  So in our case, when the pregnant bride came down the aisle dressed in her white gown, the church was over joyed.  They could all relax now that children were born and the marriage could now be made permanent.

One further note.  As our students at Rusitu Bible College learned from the Scripture what God intended for marriage, they were less likely to submit to traditional practices in marriage.  They would begin their lives together in permanent marriage convinced that God's intention in marriage is the relationship of a man with a woman, not a contract for child-bearing between families.

Question:  Pastor Dave, from last week's message I understood that in order to connect people to Jesus we need to know their culture, their world-view, and their language.  The problem is that I am stuck on how to apply the illustrations from Africa.  I find it hard to understand the culture of the low income such as not showing up for work, having money for beer but not for diapers, driving without a license, and so on.  I am glad that we are having more opportunities to interact with folks outside our cozy circle of friends, but feel very inadequate of how to communicate.  So how do we actually become "all things to all men so that [we] might win some?"

This is a great question and one that bears some really careful thought.  We are a very task-oriented culture, and we tend to look at ministry as something on our list of 'to-dos' to tick off once we've done it.  There are two components to effectively communicating with folks from a different culture.  First, we've got to get to know them.  Second, they've got to get to know us and trust us.  Sponsoring events like movies, chili suppers, icecream socials, etc. in an effort to attract people from the outside is problematic.  Why?  We don't know people from the outside and they don't know us.  It shouldn't surprise us if they wonder what our agenda is.

Our experience in Africa convinced me that to reach people one has to become a part of the community and live in a "fish bowl" so the community can see how you live and get to know and trust you and your family.  So I believe the most effective way of reaching the trailer court next door would be for someone of our congregation to go live there with the purpose of learning that culture, gaining trust of the community, and showing the love of Christ.  We want to reach the Mong people?  We send someone to live among them.  Again, if we want to reach Hispanics, learn Spanish, for sure, but also live in the community, become part of it, and gain the trust of the people there.  When you live with people you begin to learn how they see the world and what they value.  Punctuality, coloring within the lines, and truth-telling may not be very high in their hierarchy of values.  Learning their values will come from living with them.  Knowing what they value will give direction on how we might present the gospel.  We watched missionaries in Africa who lived in white neighborhoods commute to the high density suburbs for ministry to Africans with limited results.  It's not impossible to minister cross-culturally this way; just a whole lot tougher. 

Whoa! you say.  This is a really big step.  Yes it is.  We're a lot more comfortable visiting a community, doing a job, hold some services, and then leave.  It's the "We've done our job" mentality and it's our culture. (By the way, ministry like this has its place and is a good thing.  I am not against it.)  In the rest of the world where long-term relationships are so much more important than tasks, doing a job will be appreciated but is not as likely to produce long-term spiritual results.

Because this is such a big step, I'm not sure we're ready for this,  but it is worth the time to give the challenge of it some serious thought.

Thanks for this question.

Living by Wisdom’s principles only makes good sense because that’s how we were created. Wisdom knows what makes us tick; she knows what will give us joy and satisfaction. However, Wisdom is God’s possession; it comes only from Him. So the pages of God’s Word, the Bible, are loaded with wisdom, principles that will help us live lives of fulfillment and satisfaction. That kind of living is out of reach of gold, silver, jewels, and even Master Card. It only comes by wisdom; wisdom is priceless!

The writer suggests acquiring wisdom takes work: “applying your heart to understanding…” “and if you look for her as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure…” (2:2-3, NIV) “…and those who seek me shall find me” (8:17, NIV). Sounds like work! The writer seems to suggest that acquiring wisdom is an ongoing task. There’s always more to mine. When does one stop seeking? Is there just so much treasure? Probably not. So just how do we go about acquiring wisdom? Let me list a few ways:
• Read Proverbs. After all, the stated purpose of the book is to provide wisdom, instruction, understanding, prudence, knowledge and discretion, learning and guidance (1:1-6).
• Read the whole Bible. If wisdom is God’s and God has given us His word, then surely His wisdom is found on the pages of Scripture. “The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple” (Psalm 119:130, NIV).
• Be a persistent searcher—have the attitude of a prospector (2:2-3).
• Listen.
o To parents. “Listen my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They will be like a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.” (1:8-9, NIV).
o To teachers, i.e., school teachers, but more so to bosses, job trainers, older people, mentors, books (read widely but well) such as biographies of great people and Christian leaders. Read good fiction.
• Make friends of wise people. This is especially true if you are looking for a life’s partner. Look for a prospective spouse who is also prospecting for wisdom.
• Become a keen observer of life.
o People (Read history and biography selectively. For example, Paul Johnson, a British journalist has written a concise history of the American people. Johnson loves the US and is very positive about our history.)
o Nature
• Learn from your experience, especially your failures. Don’t allow bitterness and resentment mist the lesson to be learned.

You can’t buy wisdom for any amount of money. Wisdom is God’s possession, but He’s offering to make it available to you and me. It’s available to all, but it takes hard work to get it. So when you get it, it’ll be worth it. Wisdom—priceless!