What sin is, where temptation comes from, and how it is fought.
Essay
David argues that Jesus was not tempted as we are, since the involuntary first moment of temptation is already sin for us; with Bavinck, he holds that Christ's temptations came from without, and that he went through every human trial but the guilt of sin.
Reading notes
Notes on Dane Ortlund's Deeper and How Does God Change Us?: growth rooted in God's love, justification outside in and sanctification inside out, defeating sin by looking to Christ, C.S. Lewis on muddy children, and identity in union with Christ.
Reading notes
Six notes from Kris Lundgaard's The Enemy Within on the sin that remains in believers: the deceitful heart, Paul's cry in Romans 7:24, how the flesh resists prayer, the broken harmony of mind, affections and will, and whether God gives enough time.
Notes on Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics · 3
Notes on Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics, pp. 277-375: angels, providence and secondary causes, humanity between angels and animals, Adam as head of humanity, sin as a parasite and privation of the good, and the moral law as the standard of sin.
Open questions
Questions David has not found satisfying answers to: where Scripture says we will be of higher stature than Adam and Eve before the fall, whether sin is more fluid than its familiar categories, and how unequal circumstances can be fair if man must choose God.
Essay
David pictures creation as a flawless vase broken by an outside force, and argues that humanity, made in God's image with the ability to withstand any pressure or yield to it, was not made imperfect by being able to deviate.
Essay
David argues that gambling addiction is better understood as overwhelming sin, namely greed, pride and the love of worldly pleasure, than as an addiction, and that even casual gambling is a gateway to temptation that Christians should guard against.
Essay
David argues that perfection is freedom from sin, that it belongs to intent rather than to objects, achievements or outward actions, and that real change comes from the disposition of the heart: searching it, praying for help and fixing our gaze on Christ.
The battle against sin rages on. Our Armor in this fight is set upon us by prayer. Do not miss your opportunity to arm yourself.
SIN, rather than 'twill out of action be,
Will pray to stay, though but a while with thee;
One Night, one Hour, one Moment, will it cry,
Imbrace me in thy Bosome else I dy:
Time to Repent (saith it) I will allow,
And help, if to Repent thou know'st not how.
But if you give it entrance at the Door,
It will come in, and may go out no more.
A desire plays the part of a need when it is put ahead of Christ.
Find the lamb, don't poke the snake.
God wills good and permits sin.
Our identity is not connected to sin. Sin is what keeps us from our true identity in Christ.
To kill our enemy, sin, we must not target it in our vision but look away from it. The further we look away the closer our eyes draw toward its opposite Christ.
There was no death before the fall. Therefore dinosaurs could not have died before Adam and Eve.
Praise God when you see your dirt for the fact that you see it means he is with you.
The LGBTQ community takes a month to celebrate themselves and call it Pride month. Celebrating Sin under the banner of an additional sin.
The practiced liar is the friend of the devil.
We defeat sin by looking to Christ. Just as a little toy sports car loses its attractiveness when you are invited to drive the real thing so too sin loses its appeal as we allow ourselves to be enchanted time and again with the beauty of Christ.