Nipate
Forum => Controversial => Topic started by: GeeMail on October 15, 2014, 10:23:06 AM
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http://www.absg.adventist.org/2014/4Q/TE/PDFs/ETQ414_03.pdf
The Root of Temptation
Read: James 1:13, 14. Why is it important that God does not tempt
anyone? Where does temptation originate, and how can this knowledge
be helpful in our own struggle with sin?
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James is emphatic. Not only is God not the author of evil, He is not
the source of temptation either. Evil itself is the source of temptation.
According to this passage, the problem lies within us, which is the main
reason it’s so hard to resist.
Thus, the battle against sin begins in the mind. As much as many
might not want to hear it, the truth is that we choose to sin. No one can
force us (Rom. 6:16–18).
Sinful desires, inclinations, and propensities do constantly capture our attention. By using common hunting and fishing terms, James 1:14 describes these inward promptings. Our own desires lure and entice us, and when we give in to them, they finally hook and entrap us.
Read Ephesians 6:17, Psalm 119:11, and Luke 4:8. What common
theme is seen in all, and how does that relate to the question of victory over temptation?
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In the passages in James, he clearly separates temptation from sin.
Being tempted from within is not sin. Even Jesus was tempted. The
problem is not temptation itself but how we respond to it. Having a
sinful nature is not, in and of itself, sin; however, allowing that sinful
nature to control our thoughts and dictate our choices is. Thus, we have
the promises, found in God’s Word, that offer us the assurance of victory
if we claim them for ourselves and cling to them in faith.
Dwell on the idea that sin is always our own choice. (After all, if
it weren’t our own choice, how could we be condemned for doing
it?) What things can we do on a daily, practical level that could
help to keep us from making the wrong choices?
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http://www.absg.adventist.org/2014/4Q/TE/PDFs/ETQ414_03.pdf
When Lust Conceives
Read James 1:13–15 again. When does temptation become sin?
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Several Greek words are used in this passage to describe how sin
begins, and all of them are connected with giving birth. When a wrong
desire is nurtured, sin is “conceived,” like a baby in the womb. “Sin,
when it is completely grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:15, author’s
literal translation).
The picture is paradoxical. The process that is supposed to give life
results only in death (compare Rom. 7:10–13).
Sin, like cancer, takes over and consumes its host. We all know this, for we have all been ruined by sin. Our hearts are evil, and we cannot change them.
Read Genesis 3:1–6. Eve’s experience vividly illustrates the conflict
with sin. What steps led her into sin?
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At its root, sin begins with distrusting God. Satan, using the same
successful method by which he deceived a third of the angels
(Rev. 12:4,7–9), raised doubts in Eve’s mind about God’s character
(Gen. 3:1–5).
Approaching the forbidden tree was not sin, but taking and eating the
fruit was. Even so, wrong thoughts seem to have preceded her sinful act
(Gen. 3:6).
She adopted Satan’s suggestions as her own.
Sin always begins in the mind. Like Eve, we may think about the
supposed “benefits” of wrongdoing. Then our imagination and feelings
begin to take over. Soon we seize the bait and fall into sin.
Often we wonder how it could happen. The answer is easy: we let it
happen. Nobody forced us into sin.
“By earnest prayer and living faith we can resist the assaults of Satan,
and keep our hearts unspotted from pollution.
“The strongest temptation is no excuse for sin. However great the
pressure brought to bear upon the soul, transgression is our own act. It
is not in the power of earth or hell to compel any one to sin. The will
must consent, the heart must yield, or passion cannot overbear reason,
nor iniquity triumph over righteousness.”—Ellen G. White, “Christian
Privileges and Duties,” Signs of the Times ®, October 4, 1883
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Every Good and Perfect Gift
“Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:16, 17).
Although sin gives birth to death, God is the Source of life. He is the “Father of lights” (James 1:17), a reference to the Creation (Gen. 1:14–18).
God gives us birth to a new life, which is the greatest gift we
can get “from above” (compare James 1:17 with John 3:3).
Like Paul, who speaks of salvation as the result of God’s grace
(Rom. 3:23, 24; Eph. 2:8; 2 Tim. 1:9), James 1:17 calls salvation a “gift.”
More so, in the next verse, James makes it clear that salvation, this new
birth, is the result of God’s purpose and will for us: “In fulfillment of
his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth” (James 1:18, NRSV).
That is, God wants us to be saved. It was His will, from even
before we existed, that we should have salvation and a new life in Him
now and for all eternity.
How does James’s depiction compare with the description by Paul and
Peter of the new birth?
See Titus 3:5–7, 1 Pet. 1:23.
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Jesus, Paul, Peter, and James all connect salvation with the new birth.
God’s whole purpose in the plan of redemption is to reconnect sin-
battered and broken human beings with heaven. The rift was so big and
so wide that nothing humans could do could have ever bridged it. Only
God’s Word in human form, Jesus, could reconnect heaven to earth. The
inspired Word (2 Tim. 3:16) is uniquely able to breathe spiritual life into
those whose hearts are open to receive the gift.
In short, our “Father of lights” so loves us that, even as underserving
as we are, He gives us “every good gift and every perfect gift” (James
1:17, NKJV), the best of all gifts being Jesus and the new birth that He
offers.
What are the gifts you’ve been given “from above”? Why is it so
important to dwell on them? What happens when we don’t?
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