Man can only receive God's gift of salvation
"through faith in God". As the scriptures says: It is
through faith that a righteous man has life
(eternal life). And this is accomplished from
start to finish by faith. (Rom. 1:17, NLT)
16E.1 If
man can only attain salvation "through faith",
as God's gift, what did God do to all men?
In Romans 11:32,
the answer is given:
"For God has made all people
prisoners of disobedience, so that He might show mercy to them
all." (TEV)
God made all people prisoners of
disobedience.
16E.2
What is meant by "all people were made prisoners of disobedience"?
No less than our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
explains, thus in Mathew 26:41,
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into
temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
(KJV)
Man was made prisoner of disobedience which
simply mean that man is
weak, hence susceptible or prone to commit sin.
16E.3
Where lies the
weakness of man?
The Lord did not refer to physical
strength when He said the flesh is weak.
Apostle Paul explains in Romans 7:18:
For I know that in me (that is, in my
flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will
is present with me, but how to perform
what is good I do not find. (NKJV)
The same verse in other versions of the Bible:
And really, I know of nothing good living in me, in my natural self, that is,
for though the will to do what is good is in me,
the power to do it is not:
(New Jerusalem Bible)
Man's weakness is in performing what
is good. Man lack the power to do what is good.
What is this good
that man find it hard or lack the power to do it?
Therefore the
law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. (Romans
7:12, NKJV)
Man find it hard to follow the
laws and commandments of God, thus he is prone to commit sin.
16E.4 Because man as flesh is weak—prone
to commit sin, what does he need?
In Rom. 7:24, Apostle Paul
put forward this rhetorically
question, thus:
"What an unhappy man I am! Who
will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death?" (TEV)
The same verse in another version of
the Bible:
What a wretched
man I am! Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death?
(NJB)
Undoubtedly learned that he was,
Apostle Paul knew that as
flesh, he needed to be rescued or saved, because his body is
doomed to death or
will surely lead him to death.
16E.5 From what
death does man
need to be saved? What has God decreed against the sinner, against one who lets
his weakness rule his whole being?
The answer is given in the following
verses:
For the wages of sin is death; but the
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (
Romans 6:23, KJV)
Then Death and
Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death
(Revelation 20:14, NKJV)
The wages or payment for sin is death.
This is the second death in the lake of fire. This is the full
payment of sin.
16E.6
Why then, did God made man in such a
condition
(weak—prone to commit sin or prisoners of
disobedience),
that he need to be rescued or saved from
the second death?
In Romans 11:32,
the answer is given:
"For God has made all people
prisoners of disobedience, so that He might show mercy to them
all." (TEV)
God made all
people "weak—prone to commit sin or
prisoners of disobedience" so that He might
show mercy to them all.
Man in such a
pitiful condition—"weak—prone to commit sin or
prisoners of disobedience"—will need God in
every aspect of his life and
God becomes
indispensable in his life.
If a man wants to be
saved from the second death in the lake of fire,
he must have faith in God, so God will be
merciful to him, in so doing he will receive
God's gift of salvation.
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