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Alpha Course "Evil" Session questions
Apr. 15, 2002

Table of contents:

Nicky Gumbel said that "Even Jesus had evil thoughts..." Is this possible?
Are we sinful as babies or do learn to be evil?

Nicky Gumbel said that "Even Jesus had evil thoughts..." Is this possible?

Direct quote from Systematic Theology (Wayne Grudem) p.530.

"The virgin birth also makes possible Christ's try humanity without inherited corrupt moral nature from their first father, Adam (this is sometimes called "inherited sin" or "original sin"). But the fact that Jesus did not have a human father means that the line of descent from Adam is partially interrupted. Jesus did not descend from Adam in exactly the same way in which every other human being has descended from Adam. And this helps us to understand why the legal guilt and moral corruption that belongs to all other human beings did not belong to Christ."

In Luke 1:35, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; the Son of God."

p.535
The sinlessness of Jesus is taught frequently in the New Testament. We see suggestions of this early in his life when he was "filled with wisdom, and "the favor of God was upon him" (Luke 2:40). Then we see that Satan was unable to tempt Jesus successfully, but failed, after 40 days, to persuade
him to sin: "And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time: (Luke 4:13). We also see in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) no evidence of wrongdoing on Jesus' part. To the Jews who opposed him, Jesus asked, "Which of you convicts me of sin?" (John 8:46), and received no answer.

The statements about Jesus' sinlessness are more explicit in John's gospel. Jesus made the amazing proclamation, "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). If we understand light to represent both truthfulness and moral purity, then Jesus is here claiming to be the source of truth and the
source of moral purity and holiness in the world - an astounding claim, and one that could only be made by someone who was free from sin. Moreover, with regard to obedience to his Father in heaven, he said, "I always do what is pleasing to him" (John 8:29; the present tense gives the sense of continual activity, "I am always doing what is pleasing to him"). At the end of his life, Jesus could say, "I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love" (John 15:10). It is significant that when Jesus was put on trial before Pilate, in spite of the accusations of the Jews, Pilate could only conclude, "I find no crime in him" (John 18:38).

Paul also mentions God sent his own Son "in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin" in Romans 8:3. He also says " God made him who had no sin to be sin for us..." in 2 Cor 5:21.

How can he possibly has evil thoughts if He is Holy??? Can someone explain to me or perhaps Nicky Gumbel???


Are we sinful as babies or do learn to be evil?

We have a sinful nature because of Adam's Sin.

In Psalm 51:5, David says, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me" The inherent tendency to sin that attaches to our lives from the very beginning. Also, in Psalm 58:3 says "The wicked go astray from the womb, they err from their birth, speaking lies."
Therefore, our nature includes a disposition to sin so that Paul can affirm that before we were Christians "we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind" (Eph. 2:3). Anyone who has raised children can give experiential testimony to the fact that we are all born with tendency to
sin. Children do not have to be taught how to do wrong; they discover that by themselves. What we have to do as parents is to teach them how to do right, to "bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord" (Eph. 6:4)

 

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