You may say, “You are mad Ian, or You are just wrong”.
Now you may not read any more of this article, but I would encourage you to read the whole article.
Sin does not get a chance to get into heaven, on the other hand, the sinner who turns from evil to a belief in Jesus through grace with the act of repentance will.
God does not want us to be fearful. He wants us to read and understand His Word to gain assurance in the knowledge of our salvation. Thus in 2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (New King James Version)
Assurance should be the state of every Christian, but sadly many are still in the state of insurance just in case Christianity is right.
What is the fear of the Lord for the Christian
Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (New King James Version)
Wisdom comes from the assurance brought about by the infilling of the Holy Spirit and as we read God’s words of instruction found in the Bible.
The fear of the Lord is based on a guarantee of belonging to God.
The fear of the Lord is not a state of believing in doom and destruction for the Christian. It is knowing the power of a loving God whom you do not want to be isolated from, because of your own actions.
The Christian who is led by the Holy Spirit when he or she sins knows the urgency in the heart to repent to maintain the lines of communication with God.
The repentant believers having known the void that is felt in the heart by all unbelievers because of sin before salvation, will do everything to avoid this state of hollowness in their Christian Walk. The remedy being repentance!
We all need to obey God this side of the resurrection to avoid loss.
What is the fear of the Lord for the unbeliever
An unbeliever has very little or even no knowledge of God, or the outcome of an ungodly life, thus having no fear of God, or that there is a heaven or hell. But if you want a sinner to think about eternity, ask a simple question. “Are you afraid of death? Then you can introduce the Bible and show Scriptures like the ones below.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, and keep His commandments. For this is the whole duty of man. 12:14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it is good, or whether evil. (MKJV)
1Peter 4:17 For the time has come for the judgment to begin from the house of God. And if it first begins from us, what will be the end of those disobeying the gospel of God? (MKJV)
Matthew 13:48 which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. 13:49 So it shall be at the end of the world. The angels shall come out and separate the wicked from among the just, 13:50 and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (MKJV)
As I have already said, “We all need to obey God this side of the First Resurrection to avoid demise.” But for the person who does not repent while living and then dies he or she will wait in the grave until the Second Resurrection (Revelation 21:8) where they will be judged along with some who think they are Christians.
Christian Misunderstanding of Scriptures
1Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those being lost, but to us being saved, it is the power of God. (MKJV)
Palatable preaching is the removal of Scriptures or teachings which may offend some who may be listening. It is the softening of hard sayings found in the Bible in the hope of getting more people to join the local church. When we the Church lowers the standards just to get commitments, we fail to get converts. It is a sin and failure of the contemporary church when we do this.
It could be said another way, and that being should we preach or teach people that they need to accept Jesus, or be accepted by God?
Both! We need to say to the lost they are lost in sin and in need of accepting Jesus through repentance so that they will be accepted by God.
Christians when preaching or witnessing say to other Christians or unbelievers, “God hates the sin but loves the sinner” to make the Gospel of Jesus the Christ more palatable which is not a true understanding or interpretation of God’s Word.
Let us look at God and hate in the Bible
God is fundamentally a God of love, but He also has the capacity to hate as you will see in the next three Scriptures.
Psalm 5:4 For You are not a God that enjoys wickedness; nor shall evil dwell with You. 5:5 The foolish shall not stand in Your sight. You hate all doers of iniquity. 5:6 You shall destroy those who speak lies; Jehovah will despise the bloody and deceitful man. (MKJV)
Proverbs 6:16-19 These six Jehovah hates; yea, seven are hateful to his soul: 17 a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that plots wicked plans, feet hurrying to run to evil, 19 a false witness who speaks lies, and he who causes fighting among brothers.
Psalm 11:5 Jehovah tries the righteous; but His soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence, 11:6 On the wicked He shall rain snares, fire and brimstone; and a horrible tempest shall be the portion of their cup. 11:7 For the righteous Jehovah loves righteousness; His face looks on the upright. (MKJV)
Malachi 1:2 I have loved you, says Jehovah. But you say, In what have You loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? says Jehovah; yet I loved Jacob, 1:3 and I hated Esau and made his mountains a desolation, and his inheritance to be for the jackals of the wilderness. (MKJV)
Literally, “God hates all evildoers and their sins,” However, His plan to send Jesus shows His loving benevolence and grace towards His creation.
Romans 5:8 But God commends His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. (MKJV)
God knew all the sins we were going to commit before we did them, nevertheless His plan was to show us amazing grace and love through and by His son Jesus the Christ.
God’s love
1 John 4: 8 The one who does not love has not known God. For God is love. (MKJV)
This makes it clear that God is love. However we do have a problem when reading our English Bible as it only has one word for love when in fact there are Eleven different loves in the Old Testament and then in the New Testament there are another eight different loves mentioned, however in the Greek there are another two words used to describe certain types of love, storge and eros love, but these are only alluded to.
For the purpose of this study, we are only looking at two forms of love, agapao and Phileo to see the slight change in our positional standing with God.
- Agapao Love G25
In John 3:16, God’s action to love (agapao[1])everyone as a prize and desiring them unconditionally. The unconditional aspect of this love is simply directed towards all mankind because God delightfully made us. This does not conflict with Scriptures that say, “God hates the sinner”. The lost sinner is a servant of Satan therefore can be used by Satan to lead others astray.
Agapao love does not equate to happiness. God is not happy with everyone, because not everyone is calling on His Son’s name. This does not stop Him from showing agapaō love to all of His creation.
Some may say agapaō love is the most powerful Divine love as it is unconditional, but that definition is limited as we will see in 1 John2:15 when man operates in this type of love to get or own something.
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, 2:16 because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 2:17 And the world passes away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever. (MKJV)
John 3:16 For God so loved (agapao) the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (MKJV)
In a Spiritual sense of God’s agapao love says He loves everyone, but in the corrupted human sense man’s agapao love can be based on an understanding of God’s agapao love which may be good or bad. But it may also be based on a worldly desire for objects, which is not good when it is out of balance. Therefore to say agapao love is only a divine love it not totally correct.
The dynamic of trust is not necessary for the one showing agapao love, but the one receiving this love must grow to trust in order to believe so that they can grow towards a deeper love.
Phileo in the Greek is to approve, like, sanction; to treat affectionately or kindly, to welcome, befriend and show signs of love. God is pure. If we believe in Jesus, God loves (phileo) Jesus (1 John 5:2) and us completely (John 16:27) and we are treated affectionately, romantically sanctioned. The phileo love is conditional as we receive it and by maintaining the relationship with Jesus.
John 16:27 for the Father Himself phileo loves[2] you, because you have phileo loved Me and have believed that I came out from God. (MKJV)
In John 16:27 the Father’s love is “phileo” in Greek, which is a love with strong emotions, to treat affectionately. God phileo loves us tenderly, because we are committed disciples who love His Son (John 5:20; 11:3; 11:36; 12:25; 15:19; 20:2; 21:15-17). He calls us sons and friends with whom He shares warm and friendly love (Galatians 3:26, 2Corinthians 6:18, John 15:15). God saves us and if we respond to the call then He is happy. God may well be pleased with other actions we do out of this love, but His phileo love is complete.
1Corinthians 16:22 If anyone does not love (phileo) the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. The Lord comes! 16:23 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 16:24 Let my love (agape) be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. (MKJV)
Revelation 3:19 As many as I love “phileo”, I rebuke and chasten; therefore be zealous and repent. (MKJV)
We may conclude that phileo love is for family, group, companionship, relationship and of the same type members. This type of love may grow and develop into a powerful way of life.
In Phileo love, trust is a key component; it must be gained and maintained with integrity as we walk in the process of sanctification. Because God shows this intimate love we will find it is conditional based on the quality of the relationship with Jesus.
God’s perspective of love can be adjusted as He views us in the new light after salvation. He changes our position and our names by calling us sons. It is true to say our love must grow from agape love to phileo love so that we will reproduce out of an intimate relationship with God in a spiritual realm.
In Genesis 3:5 for God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as God, knowing good and evil. Then when the scriptures say God hates the sinner it is because He knows what sin can do to us. That being sin can destroy His beautiful creation and then to cause more destruction on and with others.
This is an extract from my book Augustine’s Error – It’s Not Sin it’s Repentance
Part of the problem of mankind is denial and the inability to take responsibility for one’s actions. After being placed outside the Garden, man couldn’t face the fact that he had brought this upon himself. He had eaten of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This was too much for his small brain to handle and man set about justifying himself (“the not me syndrome”). It is in the mind of man where the battle takes place!
The mind-exploding experience of man gained through the act of disobedience, has brought about an inability to deal with his problems and the lack of taking responsibility. Man could have taken responsibility for his actions. He could have repented and therefore we would still be in the Garden. Man couldn’t bring himself to this point, so God needed to step in and bring about His redemptive plan. God’s grace is the marriage of the redemptive plan and man’s action.
God, in His wisdom, always shows His plan as a precedent in the Old Testament and then in the final outworking in the New Testament. I believe this is to prove to all of mankind that it was no apparition.
In conclusion we are not to hold back on the truth found in the Word of God by making it more palatable as this has not as effective as some would think. We are the sons of God therefore we are to minister the truth to the lost and dying world letting them know God is love but he hates the sinner and their sins too. It is sad to say that many in and out of the Church are unaware that their eternity will be in hell. They need to hear that they can avoid hell by grace through the act of repentance and believing in Jesus.
We need to get back to what the Bible says.
[1] Strong’s, Hebrews and Greek Dictionaries G25 agapaō, to love (in a social or moral sense):
[2] Strong’s, Hebrews and Greek Dictionaries G5368 phileō, From G5384; to be a friend to (fond of [an individual or an object]), that is, have affection for (denoting personal attachment, as a matter of sentiment or feeling;
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