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As Christians, we often think that sin is the source of human problems. This kind of thought is supported by biblical passages that show that sin had to be removed from the human race in order for them to be eligible to regain a relationship with God. 

Passages like this one confirm this:

John 1:29  The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

We also know that not only did Jesus come to take away the sin of the world from a spiritual point of view, but that He took that sin upon Himself at the cross as well.

All this is true, but we can sometimes deduce ideas that are not in line with the truth.   

Thinking that sin is the problem will lead us into deep error.

When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, they sinned, that is, they voluntarily missed the point, the objective that God had for them. Sinning is the act of missing out on what God has planned for us.

 If we think that Jesus died on the cross simply to remove sin then we are way off.

This kind of idea will unfortunately give a wrong view of ourselves.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they certainly let sin into their lives, which distorted their appreciation of good and evil, but more importantly Adam and Eve lost their relationship with God.  So of course that relationship became more and more tenuous over time as sin did its work in human thought.

Since sin entered the world, every human being has lost his or her position as a son or daughter of God, and all that goes with it.

This is the heart or source of the problem. Sin is what has caused the loss of this position, but it is the fact that we have lost this position that is the heart of the problem.

 

When we lost that position in the kingdom of God, we lost among other things:

 

Jesus did come to die on the cross to take away the sin of the world, but that is not the point on which we should remain focused. Taking away the sin of the world is a consequence of Jesus' coming, but the main purpose of His coming, besides offering His life on the cross, is to restore us to that position of sons and daughters of the kingdom of heaven.

I used to say that we are not former sinners who have been saved, but we are sons and daughters who have found our way home. 

When we understand and integrate this truth within us, the perspective changes dramatically. We understand that our salvation gives us first of all the possibility of regaining our position as sons or daughters, even if we had nevertheless retained our "status" as sons and daughters.

This is what Jesus wanted to show in the parable of the prodigal son in:

Luke 15:21  And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

From this account of the prodigal son, Christians often have the impression that he had lost his status as a son. It is true that he had lost the position of son because he was no longer on his father's property to carry out his duties, but even when he was among the pigs, far from home, he was still his father's son, he had retained his sonhood.

Luke 15:24  for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

The truth we have just seen above is confirmed here in this word of the father. 

The original word translated as "death" is NEKROS. This word gives the notion of being dead, but it also gives the image of being: "inactive in the realisation of what is right" or "stripped of strength or power, inactive, inoperative".

In other words, this prodigal son had simply stopped doing what he was meant to do. He had ceased to use his position as a son, ceased to use his power in his father's house. But in spite of all this, he was still his father's son.

It is exactly the same for us who are God's creatures. Through the new birth we have regained our position as sons and daughters. This is what Jesus came to enable us to take back, at the cross, and not simply to spiritually remove sin from our lives.   

So the sin was only an effect of the problem!

But the fact that we had lost our identity as sons and daughters in the image of God was the problem.

So don't just seek not to sin, even though that is a very good endeavour. Seek to reactivate in your life:

For Jesus came primarily to restore your access to all this.

 

Bye for now...

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