Inhalt

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THE SOUL THAT SINS

The estrangement of Man by Man-Adam and the reconciliation to God by Man-Christ Jesus

AGBOLADE O. OLALEKAN

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Email: Lk4life09@gmail.com

Tel: +60-102-717-911

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

All Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, King James Version

Subject: Spiritual Non-Fiction.

THE SOUL THAT SINS

Published By:

BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

First Printing Edition, 2020

ISBN: 978-3-7487-5650-7

Dedication

To the Lord Jesus Christ who bore our sins and our infirmities and through whom this whole tragic event of estrangement is turned into salvation and reconciliation.

To the Holy Spirit my inspirer through whom inspiration is given.

To the great men and women of God all over the world who have taken upon themselves the Holy cross of Christ.

To every generation who inherited Adamic nature and earnestly longing for salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Acknowledgement

We are sum total of what we have learned from all who have taught us, both great and small by every medium in which knowledge is acquired, be it book, magazine, article, video tape, internet, etc.

I am specially grateful for the inspiration, wisdom of great men of God, spiritual transformational sources and roots of wisdom in which I have become a partaker both directly and indirectly like Pastor E. A. Adeboye, Bishop David Oyedepo, Pastor W. F. Kumuyi, Dr. D. K. Olukoya, Kenneth E. Hagin, Watchman Nee, Bishop T. D. Jakes, Myles Munroe, Prof. Ted Peters, Billy Grahams, Henry W. Frost, Helmut Thielicke, Bob Deffinbaugh.

I also appreciate the spiritual warmness and support of the elders, friends and my wife - Agbolade T. Adepeju.

The only one prayer I have for you all is that, May you not be found wanting in the kingdom when Christ shall return in Jesus name, (Amen).

Preface

WHAT IS SIN? The Greek words that are translated as “sin” in the New Testament include hamartia, meaning “to miss the mark,” as if an archer’s arrow were to miss hitting the target; adikia, meaning “injustice” or “un-righteousness”; and anomia meaning “to be without the law” or “lawlessness”.

Sin is a transgression of the divine law, or violation of a divine command; a wicked act; iniquity. Sin is either a positive act in which a known divine law is violated, or it is the voluntary neglect to obey a positive divine command, or a rule of duty clearly implied in such command. Sin comprehends not only action (commission), but neglect of known duty (omission), all evil thoughts, purposes, words and desires, whatever is contrary to God's commands or law. Actual sin is the act of a moral agent in violating a known rule of duty. Original sin, as generally understood, is native depravity of heart to the divine will, that corruption of nature of deterioration of the moral character of man, which is supposed to be the effect of Adam's apostasy; and which manifests itself in moral agents by positive act of disobedience to the divine will, or by the voluntary neglect to comply with the express commands of God, which require that we should love God with all our heart and soul and strength and mind, and our neighbour as ourselves.

Prof. Ted Peters, a Systematic Theologian, described sin as an ultimate religious devotion to a finite interest. It is an overriding loyalty or concern for the self, its existence and its prestige, or for the existence and prestige of a group. From this deeper sin, that is, from this inordinate love of the self and its own, stem the moral evils of indifference, injustice, prejudice, and cruelty to one's neighbour, and the other destructive patterns of action that we call "sins".

I was let into this subject when I was preparing to write books on subjects relating to my field of studies. I never planned writing book on religion subject, all I wanted was on professional and academics. But each time I put the resources together to start composing, I was always disturbed in my spirit until I had a revelation from the Lord regarding a sinful king in a small kingdom who oppresses and executes the inhabitants of the small kingdom because of sin. I was now beginning to think of where to start. He said start at the beginning and stop at the end. I picked up my pen, I wrote down “IN THE BEGINNING”, “IN THE END”. I began to meditate on what happened in the beginning and how sin started and also what will happen in the end. This eventually led me to this title “THE SOUL THAT SINS”.

No matter how much effort we invest, sin and its accompanying evil will remain unexplainable. Why? It is because of the lie and the deceit. Inherent in sin is the denial of truth. We cover up our unwholesome motives and violent acts against others with a veneer of goodness. We sugarcoat our garbage. Everyone has a stake in hiding the truth of sin. This makes uncovering the mystery of how sin works difficult, because wherever and whenever we dig, lies rush in to fill the hole. Lying frustrates the process of reasonable conversation and thinking. More than this, sinful activity is at bottom both self-destructive and world-destructive.

From my own simple point of view and in connection with this book, I simply define sin as temporal pleasure that destroys everlasting treasure. The notion of the state of sin needs attention. What is “the state of sin”? It is the condition in which we find ourselves estranged from God. Our relationship with God is broken, and this fundamental break causes other breaks, such as alienation from other people and even from us. The broken relationship with God, who is the source of all life, is what subjects us to death and anxiety over the prospect of nonbeing. In this situation of estrangement, we act. And an act that expresses this estrangement is an act of sin. As we grow and come into our own personal consciousness, we wake up to find ourselves already within the state of sin. When we commit a sin, we do not present evil for the first time to a previously innocent world. Sin was here before we arrived. We are drawn into sin by forces that surround us. In this sense we are not the sole authors of what we do.

There have been many objections to the idea of original sin. It seems unfair. Put most succinctly, the question we raise is this: why should I be blamed for something Adam and Evil did? Just because Adam and Eve could not resist the temptation of eating the forbidden fruit, is it just for God to punish me and everyone else in my generation?

When we described Adam's eating of the Eden apple as the onset of the malady of sin that has been passed-on to all subsequent generations through genetic contagion, we began to see ourselves as suffering for what our ancestor did. Our only guilt is that we were born into Adam’s family, which really involves no personal guilt at all. The theologian of twentieth century put the Idea of a “state of sin” as distinct from the “actual sin” that individual commits. We are born into the state of sin, they suggested, even though we do not commit actual sins until after we arrive. But these moderns redefinition do not really erase our problem. Now the question arises again. If I am born into a sinful state, how can I personally be responsible for that state? Why am I in need of salvation?

Introduction

If the fall of man were to have occurred in our times, one could hardly conceive the consequences. I would imagine that some people in legal authorities would immediately file a suit—against God and in defense of Eve and her husband - Adam. The suit would probably be pressed on the ground of illegal eviction. And after all, we would be told, “this alleged sinful act was performed in the privacy of the garden and by two consenting adults”, by saying that the crime (if indeed there was one) and the punishment were totally out of proportion. Could God really be so serious in what this account claims to report? Because of a mere bite of “forbidden fruit” the man and woman were evicted and would suffer a lifetime of consequence? And more than this, that due to this one act; the whole world and all mankind will continue to suffer from the contagious syndrome

But several serious questions do arise in connection with the account of man’s fall. Why, for example, must Adam assume primary responsibility when Eve is the principal character in the narrative? To put the question in more contemporary terms, why did Adam get the blame when Eve did all the talking?

The stories of the fall of Satan and the fall of Adam and Eve are parallel, which may mean that the former was an extrapolation based on the other. Because Adam and Eve are the primordial parents to which we are heirs, their guilt is passed-on congenitally. When the Psalmist writes,” Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me, the reference is not to one of the Psalmist’s mother's indiscretions. The reference rather to the situation of sin into which we all are born, symbolized as a contagion that has been passed down not only through three or four prior generations, "...For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me. Exodus 20:5", but all the way back to the mother and father of our race. Sin, is a hereditary disease that is in need of a cure.

The structure of the first chapters of Genesis demands this description of man’s fall. In Genesis chapters 1 and 2 we read of a perfect creation which received God’s approval as being “good”. In chapter 4 we find jealousy and murder. In the subsequent chapters mankind goes from bad to worse. What happened? Genesis 3 answers this question.

And so this chapter is vital because it explains the world and society as we observe it today. It informs us of the strategies of Satan in tempting man. It explains the reason for the New Testament passages that restrict women from assuming leadership roles in the church. It challenges us to consider whether or not we continue to “fall” as did Adam and his wife in the process of becoming like God.

Satan’s promise had, in a backhanded way, come true. Adam and Eve had, in a sense become like God in the knowing of good and evil. But there is a great difference as well as some similarity. Both man and God knew good and evil, but in a vastly different way.

Perhaps the difference can best be illustrated in this way. A doctor can know of cancer by virtue of his education and experience as a doctor. That is, he has read of cancer, heard lectures on cancer, and seen it in his patients. A patient, also, can know of cancer, but as its victim. While both know of cancer, the patient would wish he had never heard of it. Such is the knowledge which Adam and Eve came to possess, forgetting that “ignorance of the law is no defense” how much more the known law. Hmm!

It is in this sense that we find ourselves alienated from God and existing in a state of original sin. The freedom we have lost is the freedom to live effusively out of the divine wellspring. Sin is not merely an individual thing. It involves others. It emerges from a network of human relations, for good or for ill. Whether it proceeds from the failed bonding of the psychopath's parents at infancy or conditioned by a web of conflicts. Sin is inter-subjective in character.

Here is not a book that we will regret having studied. It does depict the entrance of sin into the human race and the severity of the consequences of man’s disobedience. Speaking on the subject of sin without any reference to the root (the original sin) makes the subject incomplete. That is why Holy Spirit led me to start this work with chapter one, titled “In the beginning”. Chapter two elaborates the bridging of the gap of the original sin. Chapter three lays emphasis on the Apostle Paul question that reads “shall we continue in sin?” Chapter four greatly exposes us to the balance of God in relation to human sins. And in chapter five the book discusses the necessity of death in the whole generation which is the product of the original sin, and lastly in chapter six the book reveals what will happen in the end, as everything that has a beginning must sure have an end. Though it might not come quickly, however it will surely come. But beyond man’s sinfulness and the penalties it demands, there is the revelation of the grace of God. He seeks out the sinner and provides him with a covering for sin. He promises a Saviour through whom this whole tragic event will be turned into triumph and salvation, if and only if the souls that sin repent!

Chapter 1 - IN THE BEGINNING

The serpent suddenly appeared in verse one of Genesis chapter three rudely and without introduction. The serpent is said to be one of God’s creatures, therefore we must take this creature literally. While it was an actual snake, later revelation informs us that the beast was being used by Satan, who is described as a dragon and serpent. Revelation 12:9. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

The subtlety of satan

While we may wish to know the answers to questions pertaining to the origin of evil, Moses had no intention of supplying them for us here. The point God wishes to make is that we are sinful. Notice especially the approach which Satan takes here. He does not come as an atheist, or as one who would initially challenge Eve’s faith in God, but he manifested in different form as an “angel of light” 2 Corinthians 11:14. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. I like the way Helmut Thielicke puts this, he said: “The overture of this dialogue is thoroughly pious, and the serpent introduces himself as a completely serious and religious beast. He does not say: “I am an atheistic monster and now I am going to take your paradise, your innocence and loyalty, and turn it all upside down.” Instead he says: “Children, today we’re going to talk about religion, we’re going to discuss the ultimate things.”

Satan often stands behind the pulpit preaching to people by using the men of God who are susceptible, telling them what to say.

The wording of Satan’s inquiry is significant. The word ‘indeed’ (verse 1) is dripping with innuendo. The effect of it is this: “Surely God could not have said this, could He?” Now Eve should have never begun this conversation. It was a complete

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Texte: Agbolade O. Olalekan
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 06.09.2020
ISBN: 978-3-7487-5650-7

Widmung:
To the Lord Jesus Christ who bore our sins and our infirmities and through whom this whole tragic event of estrangement is turned into salvation and reconciliation. To the Holy Spirit my inspirer through whom inspiration is given. To the great men and women of God all over the world who have taken upon themselves the Holy cross of Christ. To every generation who inherited Adamic nature and earnestly longing for salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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