As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
This is a series of brief devotional articles on The Orthodox Catechism (“OC”), a Particular Baptist document written by Baptist pastor Hercules Collins in 1680. Read the series.
No matter who you are, who your parents are, how much education you have (or don’t have), this one thing is true—God’s law tells us that we’re each in very great trouble (see Answer 3). The obvious thing is to figure out how to fix this problem.
This is a series of brief devotional articles on The Orthodox Catechism (“OC”), a Particular Baptist document written by Baptist pastor Hercules Collins in 1680. Read the series.
Question 2 from the Orthodox Catechism told us that one of the three things we must know to have the comfort that we belong to Jesus is “how great my sin and misery are.” We’re in very great trouble, and we can’t get out of it. If that’s true, then …
“… the idea of total in total depravity doesn’t mean that all human beings are as wicked as they can possibly be. It means that the fall was so serious that it affects the whole person.” - Ligonier
“We should recognize and live in accordance with our redeemed identity in Christ…. Yes, we are covered by the righteousness of Christ. We are His saints, His holy ones. But there are three tenses of salvation” - Randy Alcorn
“That misunderstanding of Isaiah 64:6 has caused many Christians to believe that it is impossible for a Christian to please God. If their best works are filthy rags, there’s nothing they can do to please him. This is a profoundly unbiblical notion through and through.” - John Piper
“The assumptions embedded throughout redemptive history make clear that some sins are worse than others. Consider several examples.” - Kevin DeYoung
There is no shortage of passages exhorting Christians not to sin.1 So it is no surprise that John also acknowledges in his first letter that Christians can sin.2 It might be surprising, then to discover that John says that “All those who are born of God sin they do not do.”3 John adds that they do not, “because His seed abides in him.”4
“Christians can be guilty of making pithy statements of a theological nature that require a lot of explanation for the phrase to be accurate. If an explanation is not offered, we are sometimes demanding a lot of the reader to put all the pieces together.” - Ref21
Read Part 1.
Not only did God’s curse upon humanity entail a spiritual death; it also resulted in physical death or the dissolution of the body. You may recall God’s judicial pronouncement on Adam:
Discussion