The Pastoral Ministry

Study notes

Chapter 7. Understanding the problem

To help the pastor understand the people he will regularly see in his personal ministry we need to consider of the history and background of the human race. Man is made up of three parts body, soul and spirit 1 Thess.5:23, Heb.4:12. The body is the outward flesh which contains the soul realm, that is the emotions feelings, desires and thoughts, and the spirit realm which is eternal Eze 36:26

What makes us man

Man receives his body/soul life at birth when he breathes - Gen.2:7 and his spiritual life at new birth - Eph.2:1. Adam missed eternal life because he did not partake of the tree of life in the midst of the garden - Gen.2:9.

Mans Original State

Man was created by God and the word Gen 1:26 - and was made in the image of God. Woman was also made in His image Gen.2:18-25, Eph.4:23-24, Col.3:10, Rom.8:29, 2 Cor.3:18, Col.1:15. His likeness was in intellectual and moral nature - not in actual form. Ps.17:15, Num.12:8, John 4:24, Col.1:15, God has a form which He manifests Himself Isa.6:1, Acts.7:56, Phil.2:6. It is impossible to say how much of this visible likeness was lost in the fall but there shall come a day when God shall change our vile bodies Phil.3:27. He was made of the dust of the ground and given an immortal soul. Man is different from the animals: He has self-consciousness. He has moral freedom. He is capable of abstract thought. He is capable of religion and worship. He was made lord of creation - Gen.1:28. Adam was the first man, we have all come from him - 1Cor.15:45-47, Acts 17:26, Luke 3:38.

Man As The Image Of God

Even though man has fallen into sin, certain qualities remain from the original image: Spirituality - like God, man's spirit is invisible and will not die. Man was created with splendid intellectual powers Gen.2:19, will, self-consciousness. He has a conscience to discern between good and evil. Rom.1:19-25. He was created to be head over all of God's creation - 1Cor.11:7.

What Was Man's Life Like Before Sin

He was connected with the earth, but also with God. He was intelligent (e.g. Adam named the animals.) He was happy and did not have to toil. His relation to God was one of filial dependence, but fearless communion. He was spiritually upright. Ecc.7:29. There was no conflict between the higher and the lower elements. He was sinless. The fall was therefore not a necessity. Adam had no inward urge to sin; his act of sin was disobedience by choice. Conscience is proof. Adam was not in a state of innocence like a child; his was a state of perfect holiness and true righteousness. He was on trial. He was like an acorn - perfect in embryo, but not developed. He was free to act in accordance with the divine will or against it. He was capable of being tempted, but under no compulsion to sin. Dr. Lloyd-Jones

The Fall - Man In Sin and its results

The Fall is literal history Gen.3:1-6, 2Cor.11:3, 1 Tim.2:13-14. Sin and temptation came from outside man, i.e. from Satan. There was nothing in him to produce sin. He had free will and could decide for or against any action. Man fell because:. He listened to slanders against God. He doubted God's word. He looked at what God had forbidden. He lusted after what God had prohibited 1John 2:16.He disobeyed Rom.5:19, 1Tim.2:14.
The Steps: .Satan attacked the woman. She listened, doubted and acted. Then Adam did the same. Why?. Ambition. Desire for a short cut to divine knowledge. But God's way is that of gradual development. Doubt. He doubted God's love. A departure from God in the realm of the mind. A resentment in man to the control of God. He pushed God's plan on one side. Man has been given a chance of redemption unlike the angels. Possibly because, man's temptation came from outside.
Adam became conscious of his flesh, he was ashamed of his nakedness - Gen.3:7. He became conscious of a sense of guilt within himself -Rom 3.19..He was afraid of God - He lost fellowship with God - Gen.3:22. He suffered spiritual death and was driven out of the garden of paradise - Gen.3:24. He discovered that life became hard. He had to tame nature around him - Gen.3:7-19 and his nature within but this battle he soon lost. The serpent was cursed - Gen.3:14. The woman was to have difficulties in childbirth - Gen.3:16. Her desire was to be to her husband.

The consequences of the fall on all mankind

All were made sinners - Rom.3:23, Isa.53:6, James 3:2,1 John 1:8,10. There is no righteousness outside of Christ - Rom.3:9-10, Ps.14:2-3, Isa.53:6, we are all under a curse 1 John3:8-10, Eph.4:18, 1Cor.2:14. The natural man cannot believe the things of God - Jer.17:9,Gen.6:5, Tit.3:3, Eph.2:3, Col.3:5-7. The entire moral and intellectual nature of unredeemed man is corrupted by sin -Rom.7:5-24, Eph.2:2. Man is a slave of sin.
Conclusion: The present standing or condition of man outside of Christ is pictured in the Bible as dark and hopeless. One word expresses it `lost' utterly `lost' - Isa.6:1-5, Job 42:5-6, Ps.14:2-3.

What is Sin

Sin is moral evil, and may be described as missing the mark James 4:17, revolt against authority - 1Sam.15:23, transgression of the law - 1John 3:4, guilt, unfaithfulness, treason, vanity, perversion, a twist in nature - Rom.1:26-32. Sin is in man's heart. It is in him at birth - Rom.5:12 and comes out from him Matt.15:19. Sin is universal. The whole of human nature was in Adam, when Adam fell, all fell. Sin is a condition from which acts of sin come - 1John1:7-9. Sin is directly related to God and His law and is a lack of conformity to it - Rom.5:13 bringing a sense of guilt and failure.

What about Man today

Original sin is inherent in human nature from birth and is the inward root of all the sins we commit. Therefore we are all born under the penalty of Adam's sin and are guilty of Adam's transgression - Rom.5:12-19. As Adam's sin and death are passed on so Jesus’ grace and life from death is given to all who believe. When God reveals Himself to us we become aware of our uncleanness - Isa.6:5 and a pressure within of evil and to do wrong. It is said, therefore, that man is totally depraved.
This does not mean he cannot get worse but that he has no hope of getting better. He will enjoy every aspect of sin even if the outworking of guilt and uncleanness continue. Man has an inherently corrupt nature which is against God and His law - Eph.2:15..All mans powers are misused and perverted - Ps.51:5, Jer.17:9 Rom.7:5-13, Rom.8:7. The Bible uses many terms to describe this state of corruption. The flesh - Rom.8:13, the old man - Rom.6:6. The law in our members - Rom.7:5, the body of sin and death, Rom.6:6, 7:24: the carnal mind - Rom.8:7. The flesh is that principle in fallen nature which resists the Holy Spirit - Gal.5:17. Man is controlled by the lust of the flesh (food, drink, sex) and of the mind (pride, envy, anger, jealousy) 1John 2:16. He becomes the tool of Satan and sin sears his conscience - 1 Tim.4:2.
Man can become outwardly religious - Matt.15:8 and capable of natural good but his motives are wrong. He is not prompted by the word of God. He cannot change his own nature - John 1:12-13 and does not understand spiritual truth - 1Cor.2:14. His future destiny outside of Christ he shall die in his sins - John 5:28,29, 1Cor.15:22, 1Thess.1:8-9, Rev.20:15, Matt.25:41-46, Rev.21:8. He shall be eternally in the lake of fire - Matt.7:19, John15:6, Isa.66:24, Heb.6:8, Heb.10:27, Matt.13:30, 41-42 in a place of conscious and unending torment - Luke 16:26. The destinies of eternity are settled in the life that now is.
Conclusion: The future state of those who reject the redemption offered to them in Christ plainly declared to be a state of conscious unutterable, endless torment and anguish. This conception is an awful and appalling one. It is however the Scriptural conception also and reasonable one when we come to see the appalling nature of sin, and especially the appalling nature of the sin of trampling under foot God's mercy towards sinners in rejecting God's glorious Son whom His love has provided as a Saviour. R.A.Torrey.

Redemption

Redemption means deliverance from some evil by payment of a price. It is more than simple deliverance. Thus prisoners of war might be released on payment of a price which was called a `ransom (Gk. lytron). The word group based on lytron was formed specifically to convey this idea of release of payment of ransom. In this circle of ideas Christ as death may be regarded as ` a ransom for many- (Mark.10v.45). Again, slaves might be released by a process of ransom. Among the Hebrews we may discern a different situation, well illustrated in Ex 21v 28-30. If a man had a dangerous ox he must keep it under restraint. If it got out and gored someone so that he died the law was plain the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death but this is not a case of wilful murder. There is no malice aforethought. Thus, it is provided that a ransom (Heb. Koper) might be `laid upon him. He could pay a sum of money and thus redeem this forfeited life. The payment of a price for deliverance is the basic and characteristic thing. It is this, which makes the concept so useful for the early Christians.
Jesus had taught them that `Whosoever committeth sin is the servant (Gk. slave) of sin’ (Jn.8v34). In line with this, Paul can think of himself as carnal, sold under sin (Rom7v14), sold as under a cruel slave-master. He reminds the Romans that in earlier days they had been `the slaves of sin (Rom.6v17). From another point of view men were under the sentence of death on account of their sin. `For the wages of sin is death (Rom.6v23). Sinners are slaves. Sinners are doomed to death. Either way the ancient world would have regarded the situation as crying out for redemption. Failing redemption, the slavery would continue, the sentence of death be carried out. The cross of Christ is seen against this background. It is the price paid to release the slaves, to let the condemned go free.
The characteristic New Testament word for redemption is apolytrosis, a comparatively rare word elsewhere. It is found ten times in the New Testament and only eight times in all the rest of Greek literature. This may express the conviction of the early Christians that the redemption wrought in Christ was unique.
When we read of `redemption through his blood Eph.1v7, the blood of Christ is clearly being regarded as the price of redemption. It is not otherwise with Rom3v 24., `Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. Here Paul is using three metaphors, those of the law court, and of the sacrifices, and of manumission ( to free from slavery ). Our concern is with the last. Paul envisages a process of freeing, but by the payment of a price, the blood of Christ. Redemption is linked with Christ as death also in Heb.9v15. Sometimes, again, we have the mention of price, but not redemption, as in references to being `bought with a price 1 Cor.6v19. The basic idea is the same. Christ bought men at the price of His blood. In Gal.3v13 the price of redemption is given thus being made a curse for us Christ redeemed us by taking our place, by bearing our curse. This points us to the definitely substitutionary idea in redemption, an idea which sometimes receives stress, as in Mk.10v4 - a ransom for many. Redemption does not only look back to Calvary. It looks forward to the freedom in which the redeemed stand. `Ye are bought with a price, Paul can say, `therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s - 1 Cor.6v20. Precisely because they have been redeemed at such a cost believers must be God's men. They must show in their lives that they are no longer caught up in the bondage from which they have been released. They may be exhorted to `stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free Gal.5v1. Leon Morris,

Principles

Redemption was planned before the foundation of the world - we were chosen before creation Eph.1:4.
Redemption engages the attention of all three persons of the Trinity. The Father originates, the Son executes and the Spirit applies. The Father and the Son covenanted together before time. All on earth was given to the Son. Ps.8:6. He was given power over all flesh - John 17:2 - God made Him the head of the new humanity - His people - Eph.1:22-23
The plan of redemption is perfect. There is nothing contingent about it. God has timed everything - the flood; the sending of the Son - Gal.4: and he knows the number of His elect - 2Tim.2:19.
The plan of redemption will most certainly be consummated. It is certain that Satan will be destroyed and all things in heaven and earth will come together again Eph.1:10.
The plan of redemption centres in the Lord Jesus Christ and is revealed in the Old and New Testaments as the only way of Salvation.
The Lord Jesus Christ is therefore central.