The Minor Alteration

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not parish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”- John 3:16 & 17 

In our land and country today a major Biblical truth has been tampered with; this is not a statement made with great pleasure, or high-minded feeling, but rather extreme sadness.  This truth, that some have conveniently altered is this: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners; on a personal, case by case, basis.  Now, how has this been altered?  As such, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners; and did, you are now saved, no personal change required.  In short, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote: “It is justification of the sin, without justification of the sinner.”  A minor alteration, to a major Biblical truth, that has caused and is causing massive issues. 

When Adolf Hitler was campaigning for political power in Germany; one of the political institutions that he needed behind him was the German Church.  Dietrich Bonheoffer (the same man as mentioned above), who was right in the middle of it, wrote that if the German Church would have shunned Hitler instead of embracing him; odds are good he would have never been able to make it to the status of Fuhrer (dictator).  However, the atmosphere of the German Church at that time was one that: confirmed, offered sacrament, and ordained; pretty much anyone.  In short, they had been, and were still, a Church without any Biblical standards.  They were a church that encouraged zero personal salvation.  So, when Hitler began persecuting the Jews; the “Church” should have stood up for them, but they stood behind Hitler.  Moreover, the people of Germany stood behind Hitler as well.  Why was that?  The German Church had cultivated a country of spineless Christians; and a spineless Church.  They were being led by those who “desire to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.”(1 Timothy 1:7)  These men tampered with that most base Biblical truth, and cultivated a Christian culture that had no Biblical knowledge and no personal experience with Jesus Christ.  So, when their country needed them the most, needed them to be their moral compass that compass had lost its heading and Germany was lost to the storm of this madman.   

The minor alteration of justification of sin, without justification of the sinner; gives rise to just that, a nation of sinners who are not justified.  This ideal of Jesus saved everyone no matter how you live totally undermines all that Christ stood for; all that he died for.  He died to “save his people from their sin;” in “this present world.”  God has always wanted a personal relationship with his creation and to say otherwise is not only grossly untrue, but counterproductive.  As an illustration of what I am trying to say; consider if you were to walk into the doctor’s office next week for a check-up, and the doctor finds some cancerous cells.  However, when returning to see you he simple says: “yep, fit as a fiddle.”  You go home thinking all is well, but then by and by your health tells you otherwise, but it’s too late.  The failure to deliver the truth results in a lack of action to change your lifestyle, to seek treatment, to eradicate the sickness that is killing your body.  The same is true for your spiritual man; the failure of those who know the truth to deliver the truth results in a lack of change, and the sickness of sin continues to destroy.  Moreover, it raises a crop of Christians who affirm in themselves and others the very thing that is destroying them, and we wonder why our country is losing its moral compass.  

The truth is the antidote to the apathy.  It will eradicate the false influence, and abolish the inbred sin in a man’s heart and life.  What is the truth?  Jesus Christ.  If Christ be lifted up he will “draw all men unto him.”  He is the healing of the nations.  Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners, on a personal level.  He came to save us, each one, from our sins.  He has saved and will save all who come unto him.  So, let us “search the scriptures” for in them we will find a treasure to call our own.