Grace

Dying You Shall Die

Dying You Shall Die

God gave Adam and Eve all the trees of the garden to eat from except for one. He told them they must not eat from one particular tree:

“16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 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.”” (Gen. 2:16–17 ESV)

Of course, they did eat from the forbidden tree, but they did not die the day they ate from it. What’s going on here? Why didn’t they die on the day they ate? Did God say one thing and mean another? If God meant what He said, why did He let them off the hook? Wasn’t God’s penalty for eating from this tree capital punishment? 

There are three common interpretations that attempt to reconcile what God said would happen with what actually transpired. 

  1. Adam and Eve died immediately in the sense that they lost their immortality.
  2. Adam and Eve began the process of aging and dying.
  3. Adam and Eve died spiritually. 

I propose that none of these three explanations are correct and that God did indeed mean that He would enact judgement in the form of death on the very day they ate.

Continue reading →
Posted by Eddie Lawrence in Genesis, Grace, Judgement

Am I a Legalist?

According to a recent study, almost half of people with high blood pressure don’t know they have it. The longer it goes on the more damage is done to your body. Legalism is kind of like this. One of the reasons that legalism is so dangerous is because people don’t realize they are a legalist. Are you a legalist? Take the 25 question quiz below and find out.

Continue reading →
Posted by Eddie Lawrence in Grace, Legalism

Grace vs. Legalism

Dove

It’s difficult for people to find biblically sound middle ground on some topics. If cheap grace is at one extreme, then legalism is at the other. Although legalism is not a word found in the Bible, the concept of legalism certainly is. Legalism is the heresy that motivated Paul’s letter to the disciples in Galatia. The dictionary defines legalism as:

Continue reading →
Posted by Eddie Lawrence in Grace, Legalism

Grace and Law

Dove

Law is a very important part of several covenants documented in the Bible. The Old Covenant was given by God through Moses to the ancient Israelites. It was a national covenant and only Jews were subject to it. More than 600 commandments comprised the law under this covenant!

Continue reading →
Posted by Eddie Lawrence in Grace

Cheap Grace

Dove

There is a dangerous and unbiblical concept taught by some which states that people can be reconciled to God merely by acknowledging that they have faith in Jesus. There is little to no emphasis on instructing the new Christian to turn their back on sin (repent), make Jesus their king, allow Jesus to transform their life to be more like Him, live a clean life filled with good works, etc.

In other words, the emphasis is on the benefits of Christianity without acknowledging the commitment. The end result of this teaching is a person who believes they have obtained eternal life from Jesus, but displays no signs of a changed life and gives no indication that they understand the need to obey Him.

Continue reading →
Posted by Eddie Lawrence in Grace