Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Big Difference 1 - Imputed sin vs. Sin taken away

In our kitchen we have a calendar that includes a Bible verse printed on every Sunday of each month. The verse from this past Sunday is Numbers 14:18. Actually, only the first part of the verse was printed:
"'The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.'" (It's a quote within quotes because the verse is a quote of Moses, who is quoting the Lord).

At first I was thinking that this might be a nice verse to share with others to provide some encouragement. However, as soon as I opened my PC Study Bible and came to this verse, I realized what I really already knew... this verse is not for Christians!

WHY?

Now, I am trying ever so hard to make this brief, although I'm tempted to go into all of the context here, but let me just get right to it. This verse is not for Christians, because first of all, the part of the verse I quoted represents part of what God has already done for Christians through Jesus Christ (it's a done deal!), but here's what really stuck out to me. The verse continues:
"'Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.'"

SOOOO much false Christian doctrine has been built upon this verse being ripped out of context!

Christian friends, here's the big difference between this Old Covenant passage from Numbers and the truth of the New Covenant:
Rom 4:5-8
But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:

"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin."

In Christ, not only does our sin NOT get passed on to the third and fourth generations, but it doesn't get imputed to us at all! In fact:

"Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John the Baptist in John 1:29).

If our sin is taken away, what sin is left for there to be imputed to us or to our children? Halleluiah!

3 comments:

  1. Great One! But be careful, there are so many 'curse breaking ministries' surviving on the basis on that verse from Numbers! Don't dare to shake their kingdoms!

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  2. Joel, this is awesome. So much of what we've been taught isn't for us. We've already been given our freedom but so many in the church remain in bondage because of an Old Testament mentality.

    Thanks for starting this series.

    Aida

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  3. Bino,

    I know, I know! I need to tippy toe around them, especially since I'm having a ham sandwich for lunch and I don't even know if my apple is
    uncircumcised
    !

    Aida,

    Amen! One reason I'm doing this is to point out what you're saying, that so much of what we've been taught isn't for us. As Steve McVey says, all of the Bible is "for" us but it's not all "to" us (or something like that). All the Bible is God-inspired, but we really must learn to rightly divide the Word of Truth and understand the context of each verse, paragraph, chapter and book.

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