The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)

In Luke 15 and 16, Jesus tells five parables in a row. The first three are about lost things; a sheep, a coin, and a son. The last two are about lost lives; a shrewd manager loses his livelihood and a rich man loses his life.

1. Story of the lost sheep (Luke 15:4-7)

2. Story of the lost son (Luke 15:8-10)

3. Story of the lost coin (Luke 15:11-32)

4. Story of the lost job (Luke 16:1-13)

5. Story of the lost life (Luke 16:19-31)

I hope you know these parables are stories, not documentaries. They’re illustrative, not descriptive. Yet many people, including respected Bible teachers, consider the last story as some sort of Discovery Channel special. They treat the parable of the rich man and Lazarus as the Wikipedia entry for Hell. It isn’t. It’s a story and like all of Jesus’ stories it contains a powerful message.

If you’ve forgotten, the story is about a rich guy who dies and ends up in torment in Hades where he has a conversation with Abraham about sending warnings to his five living brothers. It’s gripping stuff! It would make a great movie. But as I say, it is not the Wikipedia entry for Hell.

There are three takeaways from this story, two of which are probably wrong.

Takeaway #1: Hell is a place of eternal conscious torment

“The rich man is in agony. Jesus is telling us that Hell is a place where sinners will suffer eternal conscious torment.” Except this story isn’t about Hell at all, but Hades. Different place.

In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. (Luke 16:23)

Jesus did speak about Hell from time to time (and we would do well to heed what he says about it), but not in Luke 16. This is a story about Hades, the abode of the dead. Hades is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Sheol, which is sometimes translated as “the grave” or “the depths.” Don’t ask me if Hades/Sheol is a real place – I’ve never been there – but the Jews certainly thought it was.

Sidebar: The KJV (along with older versions of the NIV) translates Hades as Hell but as I explain elsewhere, the meaning of the English word Hell has changed since the KJV was translated. Hades is not Hell. In Jewish culture, it’s the place people go when they die. This leads to the second takeaway that is probably wrong.

Takeaway #2: Hades has two compartments – smoking and non-smoking

In the story, the rich man is in the bad part of Hades, but Abraham is in the good part and so is Lazarus. From this some have concluded that Hades has two compartments, and the good part is called “Abraham’s Bosom.” This is a little weird because the Bible says a lot about Hades/Sheol and nowhere else is there any mention of different neighborhoods.

But that’s not the only weird thing Jesus says about Hades in this story:

The Jews understood Hades to be a place of silence (Ps 31:17, 115:17), yet in Jesus’ story the rich man chats with Abraham like it’s the most natural thing in the world.The Jews knew Hades as a place where the dead make no plans (Ecc 9:10), yet in the story the rich man is scheming like there’s no tomorrow.

In the Bible, Hades/Sheol is described as a dark, quiet place. There’s no talking, no scheming, and certainly no torment. In the hundred or so scriptures that describe Hades/Sheol, fire is never mentioned. Yet in Jesus’ story the rich man is in fiery torment. It’s odd. It doesn’t fit. It’s like hearing about an Eskimo getting heat stroke.

These deliberately messed-up details reinforce that Jesus is telling a story. The details are merely the scenery for the play. They’re not that important. What isimportant is the conversation that takes place between the rich man and Abraham.

Why am I saying this? Because there is a treasure in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, but if you think Jesus is giving us a Wikipedia entry for Hades or Hell, you’ll miss it. This leads me to the third takeaway, which is the one that actually matters.

Takeaway #3: God’s grace is greater than death

This story makes a lot more sense if you’re Jewish, for Jesus is alluding to a Psalm that would’ve been familiar to his listeners. It’s Psalm 49 and as we look at bits of it below, think of the rich, dead man in Jesus’ story.

Hear this, all ye peoples; Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world, both low and high, Rich and poor together. My mouth shall speak wisdom, and… I will incline mine ear to a parable. (v.1-4, ASV)

Like Jesus, the Psalm-writer has a story to tell. Here it is:

They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him… The fool and the brutish alike perish, and leave their wealth to others. (v.6-10, ASV)

Despite all his money, the rich man couldn’t save himself or his brothers from death.

Really! There’s no such thing as self-rescue, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. The cost of rescue is beyond our means… (Psa 49:7-8, MSG)

The one who trusts in himself and his money is a fool. Money can’t save you, for everybody dies in the end.

People, despite their wealth, do not endure; they are like the beasts that perish. This is the fate of those who trust in themselves… (Psa 49:12-13, NIV)

The rich build edifices and fund charities in the hope that their name will live on, but what good is that when you’re dead?

They are appointed as a flock for Sheol; Death shall be their shepherd… And their beauty shall be for Sheol to consume… (v.14 ASV)

The rich, along with everyone else, are herded like sheep to Sheol. Their fine houses, luxury cars and Botox treatments don’t last. Nothing remains.

But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol; For he will receive me. Selah. (v.15 ASV)

“Now, let me tell you some good news,” says the Psalm-writer. “God’s grace is greater than the grave. God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself.”

Grace greater than the grave

This is wonderful news for those who trust in the Lord and it’s a heady warning for those who trust in themselves. The final verses of Psalm 49 help us interpret Jesus’ parable:

Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases; for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him… A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish. (v.16-17, 20 NIV)

In this life it’s easy to be distracted by wealth and comfort, but those things are deadweights if they distract you from God. Whatever you have, you can’t take it with you. If you think your money can save you, says the Psalm-writer, you’re as dumb as a beast.

Heed the Psalm and the parable and you won’t be seduced by the transient comforts of life. You’ll understand that only God can redeem us from the grave.

That’s a life-saving takeaway, right there, yet there’s even more to this parable than that.

Is Grace a License to Sin?

Grace-preachers attract sinners and that is a good thing. If you are a sinner :– you have come to the right place! Sinners are welcome in the House of Grace. I wish our churches were magnets for sinners for that would be a sure sign we were preaching the true gospel of grace.

If this scandalizes you then you may want to avert your eyes from the One called the Friend of Sinners. Jesus didn’t wait for sinners to come to Him; He literally went into their homes and got Himself invited to their parties. That’s because grace is for sinners. It is not for those who think they are basically good and decent people. As Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mt 9:13).

So I suppose I should be thrilled that I get a lot of correspondence from sinners – and I am. What is less thrilling is the correspondence I get from saints who think they are sinners and who want me to validate their choice to act like sinners.

Why do saints act like sinners?

Some may do it out of ignorance (“I am holy? I didn’t know!”) or out of a fatal belief that they can live by law and call it grace (“I’m just trying to live by the red letters of Jesus”). But a saint who acts like a sinner is a hypocrite – they are acting like someone they are not.

In a recent post I dealt with five questions I typically hear from hot-blooded young men. But today I want to answer the biggest question of all…

Is grace a license to sin?

No. It is true that grace brings freedom and that includes the freedom to make poor choices, but if you use your freedom to enslave yourself to sin, then you have missed the point of grace:

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Gal 5:1)

The purpose of grace is to liberate the prisoner and give life to the dead. Grace is also good news for the poor (Lk 4:18-19). So if you use grace to enslave or impoverish yourself by making dumb decisions and indulging the flesh, then you are setting aside grace. You are not using it for its intended purpose. Grace liberates, but if you use your freedom to discard your freedom, then what was the point? You are no better off than when you started.

Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. (Rom 5:20)

Don’t ever fall for the lie that says “I can go on sinning so that grace may abound.” True, your sinning won’t affect God’s love for you, but it will surely affect you. It will enslave you and ultimately kill you. This is not God’s will for your life.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. (Rom 6:1)

Grace is no more a license to sin than electricity is a license to electrocute yourself. True, you can use electricity to electrocute yourself but God forbid that you would! That’s not what it’s for. God created electricity so you could enjoy light and warmth and ESPN’s Sports Center. Grace, like electricity is meant to bring life not death and there is no life in sin.

We need to see sin for what it really is. It is not some benign activity like making coffee or hitting free-throws down the stretch. As God warned Cain, Sin is a crouching beast that desires to master you. Running after Sin is about as smart as poking a pit-bull with a stick.

They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!

The apostle of grace wrote much about how sin enslaves and he wasn’t just talking about sinners: “You are slaves to the one whom you obey” (Rom 6:16). Now please understand I am drawing a big fat line between a saint who occasionally sins and a saint who runs after sin. There is a big difference. The former finds himself doing what he doesn’t want to do; the latter is doing exactly what he wants to do. If you are troubled when you sin, relax – your discomfort is actually a sign of the new nature and new desires within you. Your heart is to please the Lord. But if you are untroubled when you sin – perhaps because you think grace is a license to sin – then wake up and smell the coffee. Something is very wrong.

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. (Tit 2:11-12)

I am aware that some use this scripture to promote behavior modification thus condemning those who are struggling to overcome sin. (If you are trying to overcome sin, check out the excellent links at the end ofthis post.) The point I want to make here is this: The grace of God that brings salvation teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness. So any grace that isn’t teaching you to say “No” is counterfeit grace. Is grace a license to sin? Only if it is fake grace.

So why do I still sin?

I suspect there are two reasons. Either you don’t knowwho you really are and you are still running on the operating system you had when you followed the way of the world. Or you are an unbeliever. The grace that teaches us to say no only comes through faith. If you don’t believe you can say no then, guess what, you won’t. This is why it is imperative to declare what the Bible says is true about you.

If you are a Christian you are a new creation. The new has come and the old has gone. When you came to Christ you did not sign up for a program of life-long reform and self-improvement. That way lies disaster and disappointment. Christ is your life. Learn to allow Him to express His flawless, sinless life through your earthen vessel.

When you get up in the morning, look at yourself in the mirror and declare “I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I am His dearly loved child.” When you’re about to click on a link that you should not click or when reaching for some substance that is killing you, say it again: “I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I am His dearly loved child.” This is not the power of positive thinking. This is a frail human being tapping into the inexhaustible riches of His transforming grace through faith.

Have faith in God – His grace is powerful! It is the only thing on this earth that can give us freedom from sin and sinning. Live under the fountain of His grace and sin shall not be your master (Rom 6:14).

Conditional Acceptance? (2 Corinthians 6:17-18)

“God loves you just as you are and not as you should be.” That’s the gospel of grace in one sentence!

Manmade religion says you have to clean yourself up before you approach the Lord, but grace shouts, “Come as you are!” So how do we explain this passage which seems to say something different:

Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. (2 Cor 6:17-18)

This sounds like conditional acceptance, as though we have to purify ourselves before we can come to God. At least that’s how DIY religion interprets it. “You have to separate yourself from the pollution of the world before God will accept you. You have to watch how you live or your Father may reject you.”

What a horrible thing to say! Can you imagine saying that to your children? “Sin and you’re out of the family!” Yech!

Is Paul preaching conditional acceptance?

If Paul is preaching conditional acceptance in 2 Corinthians 6, then he is contradicting himself when he declares “accept one another as Christ accepted you” (Rom 15:7). The good news is not “work hard and you might get accepted. (That’s not news and it’s certainly not good.) The good news is that Christ has accepted you! God has made us accepted in the Beloved (Eph 1:6).

In the covenant of grace, God takes all the initiative:

He loves us first (1 John 4:19)He forgives us first (Col 2:13)He accepts us first (Rom 15:7)

…and all we can do is respond to what he has done.

You need to settle this in your heart. You are not a son or daughter because you avoid unclean things. You are a child of God because you have been adopted:

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. (Rom 8:15-16)

So what is Paul saying when he says “touch no unclean thing and you will be my sons and daughters”? He is not saying we purify ourselves to become his children. Rather, we purify ourselves because we are his children. He is saying the same thing that John says here:

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)

Do you see? Paul and John are painting pictures of the holy lifestyle that holy people live.

It’s be holy, not do holy

Some people read these scriptures on purification and conclude, “I have to separate myself and withdraw from the world and make myself holy.” Yet Jesus never told his disciples to withdraw from the world. In fact, he sent them into the world while praying that God would “sanctify them in it” (see John 17:15–18). Paul said something similar:

I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. (1 Cor 5:9-10)

Jesus didn’t avoid sinners – he loved sinners. He ate with them and revealed God’s grace to them. Same with Paul. He travelled to some of the most pagan places on earth and he brought the aroma of Christ with him. Same with us. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are God’s mobile home. Everywhere we go, there Jesus is.

Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. (2 Cor 7:1)

This is a favorite scripture of holiness preachersbecause it’s a new covenant exhortation that can be made to sound like an old covenant command. But it must not be read through a graceless lens as though you could somehow perfect yourself through dead works.

Christ is our holiness and he is already perfect. How can you improve upon perfection? By his one offering he has perfected those that are sanctified (Heb 10:14). One with the Lord, you are just as holy and perfect as he is. That’s the gospel truth.

We cannot improve upon or perfect what Christ has done. This is not about withdrawing from society or locking yourself away in the hope of perfecting yourself. That’s how cults form!

In this passage Paul is saying, “Don’t get distracted by worldly concerns. Don’t follow or join yourself to those who reject Jesus. Don’t tear yourself in half by saying yes to the Lord and yes to those who oppose him. Don’t let the world manipulate and label you and diminish you, but stand secure as a dearly-loved child of God.”

Live as a beloved and accepted child of God and you will never be seduced by the hollow promises of this world. You will be free!

ARE THERE DEGREES OF JUDGEMENT ?

Jesus once told a parable about servants

getting beaten up and cut to pieces by their master. It sounds like a sadistic version of Downtown Abbey. And it’s a story that fills many Christians with terror:

That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (Luke 12:47-48)

What are we to make of Jesus’ words? They seem so inconsistent with the grace and unconditional forgiveness that he demonstrated on the cross. I guess what we need is balance. We need to remember that Jesus frequently beat his lazy disciples, sometimes with many blows, and sometimes with a few. We also need to remember that God scourges his children and his whippings are a sign that he loves us.

Of course this is not true! Jesus did no such thing and your Father doesn’t scourge you!

But according to the nose-punching preacher, he might, so you’d better get busy. You’d better change, you lazy Christian, and starting producing his fruit. Because one day the master will return, line up his servants, and beat them according to their faithfulness.

I’m being facetious so that you might see how thoroughly ridiculous this picture of Jesus is. Yet it is a picture that is regularly preached. We are told that God judges us and there are degrees to his judgment. Those who sin ignorantly get lesser punishment while those who sin willfully get a greater punishment:

If you lose your job it’s because you sinned. And if you lose your child then you must’ve sinned big. You need to repent!

This is a most wicked message yet I hear these sorts of stories all the time. When a natural disaster strikes or there is a shoot-up at the local school, and you can bet your house that some self-appointed prophet will say God is judging the nation for its sin.

Law = degrees of judgment

“But doesn’t the Bible indicate degrees of punishment?” Indeed, it does – in the law. Under the law-keeping covenant, different sacrifices were required for different sins (see Lev. 4). Unintentional sins required one kind of sacrifice while intentional sins required another kind of sacrifice. This seems fair, doesn’t it? Small sin = small punishment; big sin = big punishment.

But there’s a problem. In God’s eyes, sin is sin. Since the smallest sin is enough to mar the sublime perfection of his holiness, the smallest sin is enough to disqualify you from his holy presence. As a friend of mine describes it, the law is like a plate-glass window that you can just as easily break with a piano as with a BB-gun pellet. Sin big or sin small and you’re a law-breaker either way.

Read the old covenant and you will find chapter after chapter prescribing different remedies for sin. But read the new and you will only find this:

He sacrificed himself once and for all, summing up all the other sacrifices in this sacrifice of himself, the final solution of sin. (Heb 9:26b, MSG)

Under law, there are many sacrifices for sin, but under grace there is only one – Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Christ’s sacrificial death is the once and final solution for all your sin – past, present, and future.

Grace = no degrees of judgment

I am not saying there are no consequences to sin. Sin is destructive. Sin hurts people. I am saying that under grace it is meaningless to talk about degrees of judgment. Either Jesus paid the penalty in full or he didn’t – there’s no in-between.

It’s important that you see the difference between law and grace. Under law, you have to work down your sin debt and the bigger the debt the more you must work. But under grace, Jesus has cancelled the debt and you don’t have to work because he already did!

So all this talk about degrees of judgment and greater condemnation for certain types of sin seems rather pointless.

No zombies in the House of Grace

“John,  you have referred to the old covenant law. But what about that New Testament verse where James says teachers will be judged more strictly (Jas 3:1)?” Do you really think Jesus is going to line up all the teachers on Judgment Day and beat some of them? As I have explained elsewhere, that’s not what James was saying at all.

In the final analysis, there are no degrees of judgment. You’re either in or out, dead or alive, a sheep or a goat. There are no half-goats or half-sheep or zombies in the kingdom of God.

So what does Jesus mean when he says, “the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows”? Does he mean that some of the sheep are going to be taken aside and given a quick beating before being admitted into heaven? Does he mean some of the goats will be given fire extinguishers for their trip to hell?

Okay, I’m being facetious again. But I can’t help it because I have heard all sorts of silly sermons about proportional punishments and greater judgments based on this one scripture. I’ve heard smart people say dumb things like, “God judges us according to our knowledge of sin.” No he doesn’t. That’s the old covenant. In the new God does not judge us according to sin at all, but according to Jesus.

The fact that we are even having this conversation shows us how sin-focused we have become. We need to renew our minds, stop dwelling on our badness and our remedial works, and focus instead on Christ’s goodness and his finished work.

Brennan Manning used to say:

I am now utterly convinced that on Judgment Day the Lord Jesus is going to ask each of us one question and only one question: “Did you believe that I loved you?”

The ultimate question we must ask ourselves is notHave I done good or bad? or Have I balanced my bad deeds with good deeds? The ultimate question we must ask is, What have I done with Jesus? It’s how we answerthis question that leads to the different responses Jesus describes in the story.

Misunderstood Bible Terminology

Many verses, especially from the epistles of the apostle John, have been used as a whip to beat the church back into obeying the Old Covenant Law. A good understanding of grace and righteousness would go a long way into clearing up the fog surrounding these topics of discussion, such as the terms “fellowship”, “practicing truth”, “committing sin” or “lawlessness”, etc. Undivided attention and prolonged concentration is strongly recommended for this one. 

Fellowship It is commonly believed that whenever a believer messes up in regard to their moral behavior, that they fall out of fellowship with God and that they need to confess their sins in order to restore such “fellowship”. However when viewed from this perspective the term “fellowship” (better known as “fellowshipping with God”  in Pentecostal circles) would then refer to a feeling of intimacy that comes and goes depending on our ability to perform at our best. This is not what scripture has to say, in fact not even once in the entire New Testament is the word “fellowship” described in this manner, especially when it pertains to our relationship with God.

The term “fellowshipping with God” is not even used once in the entire Bible. It is a phrase that has been made up by people to refer to their own quiet time with God and through the last few decades it has been twisted by legalistic to make believers feel guilty and stand accused of being “out of fellowship” with God if they didn’t allocate a certain amount of time per week to prayer and Bible study.

On the contrary, here are a few examples of how the word “fellowship” has been used in Biblical terms:

• For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?
• And what communion has light with darkness?
• And what accord has Christ with Belial?
• Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? (2 Cor 6: 14b-15 NKJV)

Take NOTE How these opposing entities are contrasted with each other: righteousness vs. lawlessness, light vs. darkness, Christ (anointed) vs. Belial (worthless) and believer vs. unbeliever.  It says that such opposites cannot have fellowship with one another, meaning they are not compatible. Just as Christ cannot have fellowship with Belial, in the same way a believer is not to be considered by the same measure as an unbeliever.

If a person is therefore out of fellowship with Christ it means that they have not been born again and they fall under the same category as darkness, Belial, and lawlessness in the above verse.

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Cor 1: 9 NKJV)

We were called into the fellowship and therefore when we put our faith in Christ we are now in the fellowship.

If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. (1 John 1: 6 NKJV)

This verse makes it abundantly clear that, the apostle John is talking about OUR POSITION in Christ, not our behavior. We cannot say that we have fellowship with God  (in other words that we have been born again) if we walk in darkness (which means we have not actually been born again), because then we would be lying. In simple English: You cannot say you are a Christian if you have not been born again!!

Practicing Truth or Righteousness Vs. Walking in Darkness

Now of course the pessimist or legalist would say, “Yes but what about the parts in the previous verse that says “walk in darkness” and “practice the truth?” The answer is simple: once again this is not referring to our own works of righteousness; in fact it has nothing to do with our behavior.

The terminology used by the apostle John for being Born-again is to “practice righteousness” or “practice truth” or “walk in the light” (we will deal with “walking in the light” a little later).
If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. (1 John 2: 29 NKJV)
We know for a fact that every believer on the planet messes up from time to time. It’s clear therefore that the above verse can’t be referring to our behavior, because this would imply that anybody who makes a mistake is not born of God. In contrast, when John talks about those who “commit sin” or who “practice lawlessness” or “walk in darkness” he is referring to the unsaved.

This principle stays consistent throughout all 3 of John’s epistles. Predominantly however these verses have been read through a legalistic point of view, causing much perplexity in the body of Christ. Committing Sin or Lawlessness Another shining example is 1 John 3: 4-9

Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. (1 John 3: 4-5 NKJV)

Once again John is referring to the unsaved here. Whenever the New Testament refers to those who “commit sin” or “practice lawlessness”  it does not have the same meaning as under the Old Testament when people were still judged according to the law. The only sin in the New Testament is NOT Believing in Jesus, as we also saw previously when we talked about “The Unforgivable Sin”. Verse 5 (above) depicts God’s answer to mankind’s problem of sin - He took our sin away and placed us in Christ where we now are completely forgiven and seen as though we’ve never even committed a single sin!

Read verse 5 again in this context. Is the light beginning to go on yet that John is not talking about our behavior in this epistle? Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. (1 John 3: 6 NKJV) This verse mentions another “buzz” concept, namely to “abide” in Him.

It’s really very simple to prove that this also refers to being saved and not to our own efforts to maintain a good standing with God. Simply do searches for the word “abide( s)” on any Bible software program and study the results. This verse further says that whoever sins “has not seen God or does not know God”, which implies NOT having a relationship with Him.

Many (if not all) sincere Christians who have had an intimate relationship with God for decades still make mistakes every day of their lives despite their best efforts. If this verse meant that they are disqualified from their relationship with God if they sin even once (because it doesn’t say “sin a hundred times” or “sin four times per day”), this would amount to no one on the entire planet being able to maintain a stable relationship with God.

Clearly therefore this is not the context of this verse. Let’s look at the subsequent three verses:

7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness [which means to be saved] is righteous, just as He [God] is righteous.
8 He who sins [an unbeliever] is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
9 Whoever has been born of God [a believer] does not sin, for His [God’s] seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. (1 John 3: 7-9 NKJV )

The Key here is verse 9. How is it possible that a believer cannot sin if we’re all too aware of how many mistakes we make? Simply because John is not talking about our behavior! He is still using the same terminology to differentiate between being saved or not. 

Read verses 7 - 9 again and let it sink in.

In verse 8, if John meant that anybody who commits an act of sin is of the devil, it would imply that all Christians are of the devil. Clearly this is not what he meant.

There are two main reasons why Christians can’t be called “sinners” anymore:

1.     The first being because they are no longer under the Old Covenant Law. And since there is no more law to break (and sin is defined as breaking the law) consequently their mistakes can no longer be called “sinning”. And where there is no law there is no transgression. (Rom 4: 15b NKJV)

2.     Secondly everybody on the planet falls into one of two categories: they’re either a sinner or a saint. Not once in the entire Bible is mention made of a “neutral” position somewhere in the middle. We either have God as our Father, or the devil. So a person is either a saint or they’re a sinner. A Christian can’t be a sinner.

Practicing Lawlessness or Unrighteousness

 Jesus basically used the exact same terminology in Matthew 7: 15 when He warned about the false prophets that would come in sheep’s clothing. What most people miss though is that down in verse 21 Jesus was still talking about these same people.

We’ll look at the entire text here so the skeptics can see for themselves:
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. (Matt 7: 15-20 NKJV)

These verses pertain specifically to the fact that an unbeliever cannot manifest the fruit of the Holy Spirit because they don’t have the Spirit living in them.

They may act kindly or behave in a very moral manner, but their hearts still remain evil and sinful, hence Jesus says they are “ravenous wolves” on the inside. Also, since Jesus is the tree of life and the good vine, He cannot bear bad fruit. This means that we as believers are the good fruit that He bears since His life is recreated in us. God the Father sowed His own Son and reaped more sons.

Now NOTE that in the next verses that Jesus is still talking about these same people (the false prophets and unbelievers):

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’(Matt 7: 21-23 NKJV)

In verse 21b Jesus says that “whoever does the will of the Father” shall enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now hang in there for the next paragraph; it may seem disjointed, but we will pull it all together at the end. In the gospel of John, Jesus also said the following:

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’. (John 3: 5-7 NKJV)

Here Jesus was referring to the two different births (natural and spiritual) of any human being that enters the kingdom of heaven –firstly they are born from the water of their mother’s womb (He was not talking about water baptism, because in verse 6 He specifically talks about being born of the “flesh” which means to be born into this world) and secondly they are born of the spirit, better known as being “born again”.

Now what does the Bible teach us about how to be born again? …that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Rom 10: 9-10 NKJV)

Once again it would “appear” as though we have a contradiction: In Matthew 7: 21 Jesus says that whoever does the will of the Father shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but from John 3: 5 and Romans 10: 9-10 we can conclude that whoever believes in Jesus shall enter the kingdom of heaven. The following verse sheds some light on what it means to “do” the will of the Father and “work” the works of God:

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent”. (John 6: 29 NKJV) As before we see that these expressions, even though they appear to imply that we have to do some external action or work, actually refers to an action of faith, of placing our trust in Jesus Christ. This is what it means to do the will of the Father. Then in Matthew 7: 23 Jesus tells those who “practice lawlessness” to depart from Him, referring to the unsaved again, just like we previously saw John do in his epistles. Jesus also said to them “I never knew you”. Can it be any clearer that in fact He was referring to unbelievers?

Practicing lawlessness does not mean breaking the 10 Commandments: it means not being saved. Obeying Commandments Let’s slam another nail in the coffin and prove to the legalists just how fully the grace of God has made provision for our natural human insufficiencies. Let’s try and figure this one out together. Remembering all that we have just learnt about those who “practice righteousness” and previously also about those who “commit sin”, it is obvious that John could also be talking about something else than obeying the 10 Commandments when he says that we need to “obey God’s commandments”. This is in fact a big favorite with those who still preach that we should live according to the Old Testament Laws.

Let’s take a look and see what John really meant:

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (1 John 2: 3-4 NKJV) Some other verses address this same issue and the aforementioned “abiding in Him” issue as well: Now he [someone] who keeps His [God’s] commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. (1 John 3: 24 NKJV)

From Paul’s letter to the Ephesians we know that every believer receives and is sealed with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that they are indeed saved:

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our that they are indeed saved: In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. (Eph 1: 13-14 NKJV)

We can therefore see that believers receive the Holy Spirit as a guarantee after they are born again and because He is sealed inside them He naturally will also “abide” with them and they with Him. Now in this context, read 1 John 3: 24 (above) again. Clearly John is saying that whosoever has the Holy Spirit (a believer), such a person also keeps God’s commandments. What “commandments” is he talking about? And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. (1 John 3: 23 NKJV)

When the very nature and character of the person of the Holy Spirit resides within a person, a natural result will be that they begin to change in their outward behavior. People will begin to notice a difference in the way they live. It can’t happen the other way round –somebody that acts in a well behaving manner can never through their good actions be changed on the inside –they need to receive the Holy Spirit first. This is exactly what the apostle John is talking about: When we believe in God and are born again, we will love one another more and more as a fruit of the Holy Spirit that abides within us. Obeying God’s commandments in the New Testament therefore means to believe in Jesus. Walking in the Light But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin. (1 John 1: 7 NKJV)

At a first glance, this verse seems to say that as long as we hold up our end of the bargain, Jesus’ blood will cleanse us from our sin. However to walk in the light as God is in the light is actually a result of God giving us His righteousness - again John is talking about our secure position in Christ here, not our behavior. 

Our position in Christ is eternally secured the day we put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. From that day on we “walk in the light”. Now some people may ask: “What is light?” In John 8: 12 Jesus said “I am the light of the world”, therefore we can conclude Jesus is light. When we are born again we are placed in Christ (1 Corinthians 1: 30, Ephesians 2: 10) and therefore we are in the light. But because we are in the light, we also become light: …you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. (Eph 5: 8 NKJV) Jesus also says we are the light of the world: You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. (Matt 5: 14 NKJV)

As He was (and still is) the light, so we have become as He is: ... because as he is so also are we in this world. (1 John 4: 17b NKJV)

Most of the arguments against the grace message come from the three epistles of John. Most legalists that read these books see it as a set of instructions that tell us what we are supposed to do, instead of reading it in the correct context (as we’ve already discussed previously):

The epistles of John were written by John to his “little children” who had just come out from under the false teachings of Gnostics.

John was by no means trying to tell them to “DO THIS!” or “DO THAT!” Instead he was telling them how secure they were in Christ, assuring them of their eternal salvation. 1 John 1: 7 (above) says the blood cleanses from every sin and to any sensible believer that should pretty much mean exactly what it says: every sin.

In the original Greek language the word that was used for “cleanses” was katharizo. This literally means to “continually cleanse”. So if we make a mistake the blood removes it completely and this happens day and night without ceasing.

Also if we believe we can “walk in the light” based on our own obedience, why then would we need the blood to continually cleanse us? Because now we are doing it all our self! No, we walk in the light because we have been given the righteousness of God as a free gift.

Here are some more verses to explain this:

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord... (Eph 5: 8a NKJV)

This says that we were once lost (in darkness), but now we have been born again (we have become light). And the city had no need of the sun, nor of the moon, that they might shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb. And the nations of those who are saved will walk in the light of it; and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. (Rev 21: 23-24 NKJV)

This passage says that those who have been saved will walk in the light. Once again “walking in the light” refers to the believer’s secure position in Christ and NOT to some physical thing they are supposed to do. Yes when we look at our behavior we will clearly see that we make mistakes every day and that we don’t necessarily walk in the light in our actions, but that is because our minds have not yet been fully renewed.

Until the day we go to be with the Lord there will always be some area in our lives that we will need to bring under submission to the authority of God, whether it be thought patterns, habits, or whatever. The point is that we don’t practice “correct behavior” in order to earn God’s approval, but it happens spontaneously as a result of us falling more in love with Jesus and becoming more and more aware of how wonderfully we have been saved. During our entire time spent on the earth we will always be able to improve our external conduct and bring it more in line with our perfect position in Christ.

But until we receive our glorified bodies, God has already provided more than enough grace to cover any mistakes we may make along the way. There is nothing wrong with living moral lives, but we should not use our ability to live ethically as the measure or standard of our relationship with God.

Open Access to God

We were created by God to be His children and enjoy unbroken fellowship and intimacy with Him.

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.”Ephesians 1: 4-8 (NLT)

Mankind lost relationship with the Heavenly Father through first Adam, but is restored back to fellowship through last Adam –Jesus Christ “ And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.”Romans 5: 16 (NLT)

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.”Romans 3: 23-24 
Before the fall, Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the evening in fellowship. Then, when Adam sinned against God by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, it brought death to mankind’s relationship with God. 

Man was cut off from intimacy with God and unable to be in God’s presence because of sinfulness. No matter how hard man tries in himself he can never make himself worthy to be in God’s presence, or restore himself back into right relationship with God. The role of the law covenant was to reveal to mankind how futile it is to try and relate to God through our own self-righteousness.
It’s only by receiving the gift of righteousness that we are restored back to that high place of close relationship with God. 

We can now enjoy intimate fellowship with him! Now our relationship with God is not based on our imperfect performance or our self-righteousness, but on the perfect righteousness that we have in Christ. We have peace with God and open access to Him “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.”Romans 5: 1-2 

 We have peace with God. There are no obstacles in the way to us drawing near to him. “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”Hebrews 4: 16 (NLT) 

You couldn’t be any closer to God! “For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.”Ephesians 2: 6 (NLT)

 You are always close to God! You are united with Christ and sit with him in heavenly places, and can enjoy unbroken access to perfect intimacy with him 24 hours a day. Sin cannot break your fellowship with God anymore! In the New Covenant now, even if you mess up and sin, it doesn’t cut you off from God or break your access to him, in any way! In the Old Covenant it did. That’s because the Old Covenant was a covenant cut between God and man. It was a covenant, where your relationship with God and the blessings or punishment you’d receive from him, were all based on your keeping of the law of God.
If you kept the law you would be blessed, and if you broke it you would be cursed. The problem is, because of man’s fallen state, it is impossible for anyone to perfectly keep the high standards of God’s law. 

Man is always going to fall short, and therefore, suffer the consequences. One of the consequences is broken fellowship with God. But the New Covenant is a covenant that God didn’t make with man, but between the Father and the Son, Jesus. That’s why it’s not reliant on our performance but on Christ’s perfect performance. God brought us into Christ and that’s how we come into this New Covenant. This is a much better arrangement! 

The good news is that now God relates to you through Christ’s perfect righteousness in you, and not your performance, whether good or bad! Therefore, you can have perfect and unbroken fellowship with God 24/ 7.

The proof of this is that the Holy Spirit does not leave you when you sin. If your sin made you unholy, the Holy Spirit would have to leave until you were made holy again. Then you’d have to be re-baptized in the Holy Spirit. This would have to happen every time you sinned! No, Jesus said in John 14: 16 that the Holy Spirit will never leave you. This demonstrates that we don’t have to be fearful ever again of being separated from the love of God but can walk in boldness in our relationship with him no matter what! 

“So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, ‘Abba, Father.’ For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.”Romans 8: 15–17 (NLT)

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us... 38And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-34,38,39 (NLT)