Is Oral Sex Wrong According To The Bible Within Marriage?

What Does The Bible Say About Oral Sex And Masturbation Within Marriage?

Question : What does the Bible say about oral sex and masturbation within marriage?

Answer : Greetings in Jesus name! This is one of the most taboo subject to speak within the Christian circles, yet most Christians are in a great need to find Biblical answers to such questions because the world in our times is filled with all such loads of sexual orientation which is freely accepted and also practiced by them. Today's young people in Christian circles rather than finding their belief and faith in the God of the Bible to get transformed, they get conformed to world's pattern of thinking and live miserably in their life because of great guilt and confession cycle. It is good to confess the guilt to God and live, but it is always better to overcome and live in satisfaction through living a victorious life of faith (1 John 1:9; 5:4-5).

Within marriage, the Bible clearly says, "3 Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 But I say this as a concession, not as a commandment." (1 Cor 7:3-6). In other words, Paul is saying, wife give yourself in sexual pleasure as needed by your husband, husband give yourself in sexual pleasure as needed by your wife, and the point which he is emphasizing is not fulfilling your own urge but that of the other spouse. The above Scripture also points to the fact that giving oneself in to masturbation and fantasy world of sinful addictions that come through pornography is not allowed within marriage as it is a spiritual adultery and will lead the marriage in to chaos and confusion which is not the will of God (Matt 5:27-30). Focus on self life and self fulfillment and being obsessed with it may even easily lead a person to physical defilement through adultery and fornication which is one of the major cause of divorce in our times (Matt 5:31-32). The husband has no authority to self-stimulate the genitals for pleasure, but the wife does. In the same way a wife has no authority to self-stimulate her genitals for pleasure, but the husband does.

This shows that oral sex and stimulation of genitals by the spouse is acceptable within marriage, as it is also referred in the Scriptures in the Book of the Song of Solomon, where we see the same practiced between a bridegroom and bride either orally (Song 2:3; 4:12) or with their hands (Song 2:6). If masturbation and self-stimulation is done with the blessing and in the presence of one's spouse, the end result is not giving pleasure to the other partner but rather to oneself which is again a sin which is never condoned anywhere in the Scripture. So whether masturbation done in the presence of one's partner or masturbation of giving in to self-pleasure which is done in isolation, it is still masturbation of self-pleasure which most of the time will accompany with unbiblical lust of fantasizing, pornography and all kinds of evil perverse behavior when it is allowed to continue without resisting it for holiness of purifying of one's hands and heart according to God's Biblical standard within one's married life (Jam 4:7-8, 9-10). Masturbation is a spiritually childish thing to do, when we know that there is no edification of love expressed through it within a married life (1 Cor 14:20; 1 Cor 8:1, 2-3).

God is concerned about the love for each other within a family (Eph 5:21, 24-25). He wants all Christians, including husbands and wives, to be kind to each other, patient, respectful and unselfish (Eph 5:28-29; 1 Cor 13:4-7; Col 3:12-13). God destroyed the society of Sodom because it was full of ungodly people, expressing enormous selfishness, total lack of love, extreme spiritual depravity, and major rebellion against God in which they were hell bent to oppose the marital life of natural love and affection between a husband and wife, and went after strange flesh of practicing perversity of selfishness in being involved in gay and lesbian sex to bring the wrath of God upon themselves (Gen 13:13; 19:4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11; Rom 1:21, 26, 27, 28; Lev 20:13). Instead of Christians staying as a holy people, practicing the same sexual orientation of the world and the practice of it will only bring the wrath of God on us along with the world (Rom 1:18, 32; 2 Thess 1:6, 7-8; 2:11-12).

So Paul the apostle tells the husband and wife to practice self-control through fasting and prayer once in a while [i.e. say weekly once or two weeks once] to be spiritually fit and healthy for continuing faithfully in a godly and happy married life. Then once the time of fasting and prayer is over, he says to the couples to come together to give themselves to the other spouse in sexual pleasure within their marriage and not withhold sexual intimacy except for that appointed time of prayer for spiritual purposes, lest Satan tempt you and get in to the family life because of lack of self-control on your part through solo-sex or masturbation, spiritual adultery of pornography, or physical adultery of infidelity or through all kinds of sexual perversity and immorality (1 Cor 7:5-6).

So if a husband and wife both enjoy the act of oral sex by mutual enjoyment within their married life and also enjoy stimulating the genitals of the other spouse, it is perfectly alright as we have already seen the Bible refer to it as an act of expressing erotic love between a bridegroom and a bride or a husband and a wife. Oral sex and genital stimulation of one's partner cannot be a substitute for copulation, but it is more like a added foreplay ingredient to the way sexual life within marriage is spiced up for the Glory of God, or can be used when the other forms are not viable during a particular period of time due to any reason medically or practically. But copulation is the best and main course of marital sexual life without doubt as God has made genitals made for each other naturally.

Another important question to consider within marriage is, 'Will you pressure your spouse for oral sex if he or she finds it unpleasant?' If so, then you are unkind and should learn to control yourself for the pleasure of your wife which is more important within marriage (Eph 4:2). It is more important that a husband or a wife realize to express their likes and dislikes within their sexual life, and even kindly outdo each other in mutual agreement for the sake of their loved one in showing kindness to each other and not be driven just by erotic lust without love which never pleases God. In short, we should “treat [our] wives with consideration” (1 Peter 3:7) and vice-versa, and never as a object of lust to fulfill our sexual drives.

The Bible clearly reveals, "6 And this also is God's will: that you never cheat in this matter by taking another man's wife because the Lord will punish you terribly for this, as we have solemnly told you before. 7 For God has not called us to be dirty-minded and full of lust but to be holy and clean. 8 If anyone refuses to live by these rules, he is not disobeying the rules of men but of God who gives his Holy Spirit to you." (1 Thess 4:6-8, LB). In other words, God's will is that we should live a pure life within our marriage, by avoiding to become dirty minded by fantasizing about other women outside of one's marriage because God is definitely concerned with our thought life to be pure before Him, and therefore will punish us if we think it is not that serious to be involved in masturbation and pornography which always leads us to fantasize of other women outside of the marriage boundary. In other words the question to be asked is, 'Why do you want oral sex? Is it for pure sexual pleasure or is it to fulfill a sexual fantasy derived from porn?' Any motive of impurity other than to love one's spouse through giving pleasure to her or get loved by receiving these acts by mutual enjoyment is forbidden by God and therefore will punish you terribly for taking another man's wife in thoughts to fantasize as it is a serious matter in His sight. Sex within marriage must be pure and holy from our heart and spiritual mind, having love for each other, and that will always please God. Disobeying God's sexual rules might make us end up living without any joy, peace and righteousness of the Holy Spirit in our married lives (Rom 14:17; Acts 5:32; Eph 5:18). Definitely the lust of flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life will never glorify God in anything, and all these will make you move away from God's goodness and pleasure of enjoyment with in His will for your married life and living (1 John 2:15-17). Stay away from all sexual immorality and live in His holiness to see the blessedness of enjoying a little heaven on earth within your family life and day to day living!

Much Blessings....

Do We Need To Get Our Feet Washed From Jesus, If Not, Are We Denying God's Grace?

Do We Need To Confess Our Sins To Stay Saved? Are We Showing Ignorance Of God's Grace When We Confess Our Sins To Him Asking Him To Forgive Us?

Question : We agree that we do not need to confess every sin we commit each day in order to "stay saved," but is any type of confession and request for forgiveness appropriate? For example, is it appropriate for believers to say, "Father, I'm sorry for sinning and I ask you to wash me clean"? Is it OK for us to get our feet washed (using the language of John 13) when we feel the need to? Are we denying God's grace or showing an ignorance of God's grace when we confess our sins to Him, asking Him to forgive us?

Answer : Greetings in Jesus wonderful name! Confession of our sins is a precondition to having fellowship and intimacy with God. Clearly John the apostle has revealed, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9). In fact John himself told why he has revealed the above truth is to make all believers have fellowship and intimacy with the Father God and His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ our Lord (1 John 1:3-4), and stay in the heavenly joy to sustain ourselves through the wear and tear of this life. Fellowship with God is the sunscreen and protection cream of heaven with which we keep ourselves from the sun burns of this earth. Also the same is repeated in the same context by different writers of the New Testament :

"14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb 4:14-16). In other words, we obtain mercy and find grace from God only when we continue to confess our sins to Jesus who is our High Priest.

"21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does." (James 1:21-25). Here in the above verse we see that if we confess our sins to lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness from ourselves, and then continue to hear the Word of God and obey it by the grace of God that we receive after our confession, then James the apostle is saying that we will be blessed in whatever we do through our lives for the Glory of God.

There are some people today who, because they fail to comprehend the extent of divine forgiveness, deny the clear teaching of 1 John 1:9 and teach other to do the same. They say that to pray for forgiveness reveals unbelief and thus a healthy Christian shouldn't experience guilt if he understands Christ's total forgiveness. They say, why seek forgiveness when you already have it? So this brand of false Christian proclamation makes people more guilty of their sins as it get accumulated to deny them constant fellowship with God, and misguide them from the only way to alleviate them of their guilt of sin which is through confession of sin to Jesus who is our High Priest. Thus rather than helping Christians draw near to God (James 4:7-10), they are reinforcing the barrier of sin that interrupts their relationship with God (Isa 59:2; 1:16-17, 18).

For a believer it is important to understand the first thing that happens to him in salvation, it is the eternal thing that God does for Him called as union, and the other is fellowship. These are two important things we need to understand in our Christian life and in the reading of the Scripture, if we mix the two, we will be confused totally. The Bible says that when repent and look to God through Jesus for salvation from sin for the first time in our lives, Jesus comes forwards to forgive of our past, present and future sins once and for all time (Eph 4:32; Heb 10:14, 15-18), then seals us with the guarantee of salvation which is the seal of the Holy Spirit until the day of rapture in which we will be glorified forever with our glorious sin-free eternal body (Eph 1:13-14). Once we are saved, we are kept that way safe for eternity ahead in that saved state by God and that is why God calls it "eternal salvation" (John 10:27-28, 29-30; Heb 5:9; 9:12). In other words, we did not do anything except believe God and receive Jesus for salvation, God did everything to save us and he has also done enough already to keep us saved for eternity ahead. Therefore, we cannot do anything to undo our salvation by our works. We are saved by grace through faith, kept by God safely through that same faith through grace which is a gift of God and there is nothing we can do to salvation like add a crown for ourselves with our own strength as though salvation is not yet complete with Jesus and that we need to finish what Jesus has started on the Cross (John 19:30; Gal 3:3), but instead we know salvation is complete in Christ Jesus when we received Him as our Savior and now we are hidden with Christ in God (Rom 5:10; Col 2:10, 15; 3:3), and all we can do now is boast about God's goodness and greatness who has given it all freely to us (Eph 2:8-9, 6-7; 2 Cor 10:17; 1 Cor 1:30-31; Rom 8:32). So a believer in Christ is one spirit with the Lord and for eternity he stays that way by the grace of God (1 Cor 6:17). Hallelujah! This is union-salvation. Union salvation reveals that we do not have to confess our sins to stay saved because it is a gift of God given to us, but confession of sins after we are saved keeps us in fellowship with God to make us enjoy His Presence which others wise is not possible. If we fail to confess our sin, we will live a miserable life of condemnation even though we do not have to stay that way as we are always free to choose to confess to God our sins and get cleansed from our sins by the Blood of Jesus.

After we are saved we still have the sin nature within us and that leads us in to sin when we are not careful to avoid it by trusting the Holy Spirit continually with our will and using His power to overcome by faith (1 John 1:8; 2:1-2; Jam 1:14-15, 13, 12). God and sin cannot go together, so when we sin what will happen is that God will restrain the conscious of His Presence which we enjoy in fellowship with Him and that is what is death, which is separation from His Presence. Though God does restrain His precious Presence when we sin, he does not leave us not forsake us as He has promised to us (Heb 13:5). And He has promised if we choose to confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness to bring back the consciousness of His Presence so that we could again have unbroken fellowship with Him again (1 John 1:9).

Of course we all sin now and then, but if we walk in the light of His Word that comes as a guidance through the Holy Spirit to keep us in fellowship with God Himself (Psa 119:105), then automatically all our sins will be cleansed by blood of Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit to keep us in fellowship with Himself and also one brethren with the other (1 John 1:7). So it is not just appropriate for believers to say, 'Father, I'm sorry for sinning and I ask you to wash me clean,' it is mandatory for any believer when God the Holy Spirit convicts them of sin their lives (John 16:8). But other wise we do not have to bother what sin we have sinned in our thoughts and actions each and every day, because staying in fellowship with God through His Word and the Spirit automatically keeps us cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Praise the Lord!

Here is John 13:3-17, "3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” 8 Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.” 12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them."

Why did Jesus wash the feet of His disciples? Jesus washed the feet of his disciples to show how even though we all are children of God, we need to humble ourselves before God and others if we are to serve them all with the grace of God (1 Peter 4:8, 10; 5:5-6; James 4:5-6). Actually a feet washer in a place will be the slave who will do it, but Jesus has made Himself to come in to the form of a human bond slave of God that He wanted his disciples also to likewise learn from Him (Php 2:5-6, 7), as God expects all his born-again children to become in the likeness of the Character of Jesus to glorify Him (Rom 8:29; Matt 5:48). Also Jesus clearly expressed the union part of the salvation that people experienced when they were forgiven of their sins once and for all time by God when they were born again, get bathed or immersed in water [i.e. baptized] and receives God's Holy Spirit they become spiritually clean, but after that a person starts to walk toward the destination that God has marked for his child (John 21:18-19, 21). At that time Jesus was symbolically saying to apostle Peter that only his feet will get dirty walking in sandals of salvation on the filthy roads of Palestine in the first century thus comparing it with a sin nature that makes us dirty (Eph 6:15), therefore made it imperative and crucial for all believers that their feet be washed through confession for wrong doing of sins to God and others before a communal meal or fellowship with God through Jesus' body and blood start to take place (1 Cor 11:27, 28-29, 31; 2 Cor 13:5-6; 7:10; Rom 10:10-12; Matt 5:23-24; 26:26, 27-28), especially since people reclined at a low table and feet were very much in evidence, a believer's life which is transparent and who have reclined to follow Jesus in humility will begin to show some sinful dirt outside that will get accumulated in their life due to the sin nature that is within them (Psa 51:2-4, 5-6, 7). Therefore Jesus has told that they who were bathed by the Word of God's forgiveness by being born again through the Word He has spoken over them, need only to be washed further in their feet which is the confession of sins to God after they were saved (Eph 5:26; John 8:34, 36; Matt 9:5-6; Luke 5:20; 7:47-50), thus a believer who is clean being born again only needs to be washed of the sins of their sin nature in their day to day lives because they are already in eternal union with God as His child for eternity ahead which conveys that God positionally and literally in His sight has already forgiven all their past, present and future sins. Having a humility before God and others to acknowledge our sins when we are convicted by the Holy Spirit will bring a cleansing of our heart and soul through the blood of Jesus from the sin we have done in our daily life to maintain the fellowship part of salvation with God (Jam 5:15-16). Hallelujah!

To your question, "Are we denying God's grace or showing an ignorance of God's grace when we confess our sins to Him, asking Him to forgive us?" As we have seen above through the expounding of the John 13 Scriptures, we are not denying God's grace or showing an ignorance of God's grace when we confess our sins to Him, but on the contrary we are receiving God's grace and thus get established in the grace of God to be clean and pure like Jesus through our confession of sins to God and men which washes our heart that is evil and make us tainted by its nature of evil when left unchecked (Jer 3:13, 14, 22; 17:9, 5; Mark 7:8-9, 20-21, 22-23). So finally it is not ignorance of God's grace, but rather the knowledge of how to receive mercy and God's grace in the time of our need that makes us to confess our sins to God and thus enjoy God's abundant grace which in turn makes us to reign on this earth spiritually over sin, sickness and death for the Glory of God (Heb 4:16; Rom 5:17).

Much Blessings....

Should We Embrace Guilt Or Reject It?

Does The Holy Spirit Convicts The World Or The Believer Of Sin?

Question : We agree that the Holy Spirit never condemns us for our sins as believers, but does He ever make us uncomfortable when we sin? To me, this is a very loving act of the Father, not wanting us to get comfortable doing things that could destroy our lives and the lives of others. Isn't that something to be embraced? And doesn't that drive us to the cross rather than away from it?

Answer : Greetings in Jesus wonderful name! The work of the Holy Spirit has been clearly described by Jesus in the following verse, "7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged." (John 16:7-11). The above verses shows that when the Holy Spirit comes to a believer personally, He will not condemn him of sin when he sins, but rather He will convict the world of sin that tries to misguide a believer, then He will point out to the righteousness of Christ that frees him from further condemnation (2 Cor 5:21; Rom 8:1), and then will point to the Cross of Jesus that has made the works of Satan and his demons to become nullified so that the believer will again have faith to continue to fight against the temptation of the evil One (Col 2:14-15; Luke 22:31-32). Sin comes in to the life of a believer when they give place to unbelief in their heart, which takes root and desensitizes their conscience of any guilt or conviction of sin that comes through the voice of the Holy Spirit spoken within (Heb 12:1, 25; 3:13-14, 19), and then righteousness of God is not realized to be received and enjoyed by many believers because they live by sight sensing that Christ is not present physically, and therefore they have no faith. But always because of the Holy Spirit present within a believer, the Holy Spirit after conviction of sin will lead us who are believers to confess our sin to Jesus and therefore in exchange receive again the righteousness of Christ by faith confession (Rom 4:13, 5, 6, 9; 2 Cor 5:7; Rom 10:6-7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13). And finally the Holy Spirit will show to the believers that Satan and his demons are already judged by God in Christ and therefore they need to renew their mind by the Word of God to continue to stay in the testimony of faith through confession, and therefore experience the victory of the power of the blood of Jesus through their testimony against all evil spirits in their lives (Rom 8:3-4; Rev 12:11). In other words, the Devils do not understand the righteousness in the heart of a believer until they confess that testimony with their mouth which will make the demons flee in all directions. The demons are not omniscient to know what righteousness of Christ He has gloriously restored within them when the believers agreed with Him to acknowledge their sin against Him, and so the moment the demons hear the testimony of the confession of the believer against them by faith in the blood of Jesus which was shed for them, once they hear from their mouth they stop accusing them to flee because of the power of God, and they the believers thus get delivered of the oppression of demons over them.

Guilt is the natural God-given mechanism within all humans that makes us feel bad when we do wrong or sin against God, which makes us to look to God for relief from it. There's two kinds of guilt in the Bible. There's Godly sorrow that leads a person to repentance (2 Cor 7:10), this is the uncomfortable feeling that comes to a believer when they sin and is the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Usually when guilt doesn't lift of us, we should check our self whether there is unforgiveness within us against others as Jesus tells us how important it is to forgive those who have wronged us, or how we can be turned over by God to the tormentors (evil spirits) until we repent and forgive others if we are unforgiving (Matt 18:23-35). Bitterness against others makes guilt to continue in the heart of a believer, regardless who or what it's about, and it defiles a man (Hebrews 12:15). There's a guilt that brings worldly sorrow in to the heart of man which will bring condemnation without Christ that will lead that person to death (Matt 27:3-5), that is a separation from God and from the consciousness of the goodness of His Presence (2 Cor 7:10). The writer to the Hebrew says, "...draw near [to God through Jesus] with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water [of His Word]." (Hebrews 10:22), which teaches us that the conscience become cleansed when a believer draws near to God through the blood of Jesus. Hence a believer should accept the guilt as a indication for him to turn to God and realize it as a need for himself to confess of his sins and be cleansed by the blood of Jesus to against get restored in fellowship with God (Ezek 18:20; Num 14:18). But for a unbeliever, the more guilt comes in to them, the more their conscience will become evil and darkened to accuse them of their wrong doing (Rom 1:21), which if they will deny and keep on sinning more and more without turning to Christ, they will get desensitized in the conscience of their spirit which will lead them straight to unrepentant life which leads to the hell fire in the end (Rom 1:26-27; 2:15; Eph 4:19; 1 Tim 4:2). All humans without Christ will smoke out and get covered with ashes of guilt like a olden day hanging lamp to cover the glass chimney fitted over the base of their conscience that is present within their spirit (Prov 20:27), which will get darker and darker with in their heart as they get older and older in their age without getting saved.

Both to the unsaved and saved, it is God's love that makes them uncomfortable when they sin. Until God gives them up totally in to their debased mind, there is always hope for the sinner to get saved and for the believer to turn again to God in repentance (Rom 1:26, 28; 2 Thess 2:11-12; Heb 6:4-6; 10:26-29). Actually repentance means God suffers and waits to bear with us in His love (2 Peter 3:15), when God waits for us, He expects and knows that we will repent at some point of time, and so it is God's goodness that leads us to repentance (Rom 2:4). Sin will always destroy our lives and the lives of others, so when we as the children of God get comfortable in sin, God will wait for us to repent for sometime and will check whether we judge ourselves to then try to turn away from sin and stop being involved in it (Rev 2:21; 1 Cor 11:31), after which God will chasten His children whom He loves to justify them and separate them from the world which will get condemned by Him for their sins latter at the end (1 Cor 11:32; 1 Peter 4:17-18, 19; Heb 12:5-6, 7, 10-11). The Scripture tells all believers to willingly embrace the chastening of the Lord, because when it does come to us because of the love of God towards us, it is for our eternal profit that God allows certain temporal uncomfortable happenings of chastening.

Yes indeed, when ever we are chastened because of certain impurity of sin that sticks on to us in spite of confessing our sins to the Lord regularly to keep ourselves under the protection of the Lord, then God does at a certain point of time will allow the devil to do his work against us, but at the end of the ordeal like to Job, He will turn all the bad things that happened to us in to good of double blessing in our lives, and will gift us with a repented purified life for His Glory ahead (James 5:9, 10, 11; Job 1:5, 10, 12; 2:3, 6-7, 10; Job 9:20; 32:2; 35:6-8; 38:1; 40:1-7, 8-14; 42:1-5, 10, 12; Luke 22:31-32). 

When ever God lovingly chastises, we need to look to love of the Cross to bow ourselves down to God in repentance of dust and ashes, so that God may be able to restore the double blessing of both eternal and temporal to us with much joy in his heart towards us (Job 42:6, 10, 12, 17; Zec 9:12; Isa 61:7). Every problems we face in our lives should drive us to the cross rather than away from it, if we really want to be blessed by God at the end of all the ordeal we face (Luke 9:23-24; 1 Peter 5:6-7, 10-11; 3:12; Heb 10:35-36). Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Glory be to God!        

Much Blessings....

Are There Two Kinds Of Sanctification?

Are We Sanctified Already Or We Need To Be Sanctified?

Question : A leading hyper-grace teacher claims that the doctrine of progressive sanctification is a "spiritually murderous lie." Does that mean that grace preachers like Charles Spurgeon, who believed in progressive sanctification, taught this alleged lie? And if "progressive sanctification" simply means to walk out our holiness with the help of the Spirit, what is so dangerous about this teaching? Put another way, do you reject the concept that the one who made us holy now calls us to live holy lives in thought, word and deed, thereby "completing our sanctification in the fear of God" (2 Cor 7:1)? Doesn't Paul say we are called saints (that is who we are) and called to be saints (that is how we live)? (See 1 Cor. 1:2.)

Answer : Greetings in Jesus wonderful name! There are two kinds or aspects to sanctification of a child of God, one is the truth of what Jesus has done for all believers, the other is how we respond in faith to what He has done for us. So we can safely call the first thing of what Jesus has done for us as positional or completed sanctification which we received from Jesus at out conversion, the other kind is a calling from God to respond in faith and gratefulness to stay separate from sin, self and the world that taints the Glory of God when we are involved in it. And this is the progressive or continuing sanctification which is the work of the Holy Spirit that has started after the time of our conversion and will continue to the day till we die to go on to be with the Lord to see Him face to face. By being conformed to the image of the Lord day by day in our Christian lives, we see the Lord dimly as in a mirror now, but at least more and more each new day (1 Cor 13:12). So we need to purify ourselves until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we will not be taken by surprise of His Holiness by failing to see more and more of it now itself (1 John 3:2, 3; Luke 21:34; Heb 12:14). The more nearer we become transformed in to His image, the more we will be able to see the Lord working in and through us (1 John 1:7, 9).    

In the following verses we see both the sanctification mentioned, "10 By that will [of God's New Testament promise] we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all... 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." (Heb 10:10, 14). When we see the phrase "we have been sanctified", it speaks in past perfect tense which shows that there is nothing that need to be done to further our sanctification because we have attained a perfect positional or completed sanctification which actually Jesus has achieved to make us perfect before the Father or in His sight, but it doesn't stop there but continues. Not in a sense that we need to add something to make it more perfect, but rather we see that the very perfection that Jesus has achieved for us through that one perfect offering of sacrificing Himself by which He has "perfected forever those who are being sanctified," is to make us more sanctified progressively through transformation by the Holy Spirit from one level of His glory to the other Higher level of His glory (2 Cor 3:18), which is progressive or continuing sanctification. We are involved in progressive or continuing sanctification not to make ourselves acceptable to God through it, but as we are already accepted in Christ Jesus and are justified by our Father God, we are giving voluntarily ourselves and our bodies to be transformed by the renewing of our mind so that we might be able to fulfill the good or acceptable or the perfect will of God (Rom 12:2). Through this progressive sanctification we out of gratitude for what Jesus did for us already, we moment by moment choose to put off our old self and put on the new man of Christ's nature to glorify God in our daily lives (Eph 4:22, 23, 24). So the doctrine of progressive sanctification is not a "spiritually murderous lie," but rather a complete picture of truth that gives us all a reason to be thankful to God so that we can receive His reward according to our doings (Rev 22:12).

The doctrine of progressive sanctification is God's clear call to live a grateful life of gratitude towards Him, that is why Paul prayed for all believers saying, "23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it." (1 Thess 5:23-24). The Holy Spirit is the Agent in sanctification (Rom 15:16; 2 Thess 2:13; 1 Pet 1:2; 1 Cor 6: 11), so our separation to God (1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:2) and the course of life befitting those so separated (1 Thess 4:34,7; Rom 6:19,22; 1 Tim 2:15; Heb 12:14), can only be achieved through co-operating with the Holy Spirit in our day to day lives. But God want us to be confident of this one thing through His promises, that He who started this good work through the Holy Spirit will finish it until the end of our lives (Eph 2:10; Php 1:6).

I believe that Spurgeon was a grace preacher and is also the prince of preachers as he was lovingly called by people, he has preached the doctrine of progressive sanctification which shows that a person of His stature had a clear understanding of this important doctrine.

I also believe that it is not wrong to express "progressive sanctification" by the simple definition "to walk out our holiness with the help of the Spirit", which is absolutely true. But at the same time we as believers should understand that it is the love of God that has called us to respond in gratefulness and commit our lives to be conformed to the image of His Son Jesus our Lord, of which if we fail and continue to fail to respond positively, God will automatically correct us in His Love through chastening us if we willingly let Him do it in our lives (Rom 8:29-30; Heb 12:6, 7, 10-11, 14). Therefore, if we as believers fail to respond to God's call to progressive sanctification, we are those who will miss the eternal reward that God has for us (Rec 3:11), God doesn't lose anything except the joy of giving you His reward (Job 35:6-8; Acts 20:35). I mean if you miss it, he will joyfully give the same reward to another child of His who deserves it because of taking God and His word seriously, and thus co-operating with the Holy Spirit to be progressively sanctified until their death (Rev 2:10, 25; Matt 25:21, 23, 34; Luke 19:17, 19).

So we know now, God's Word sanctifies us progressively until the end of our lives: "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth" (John 17:17). God's Spirit also works with us to help us make good choices every time we are tempted, and therefore it is He who make us live in the empowerment of heaven to fulfill this progressive sanctification, as Paul also agrees with this doctrine to say, "For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live" (Romans 8:13). Take Spirit's help to be progressively sanctified and live in the abundant life that Jesus provides (John 10:10).

Apostle Paul continues saying, "Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Corinthians 7:1). This is the crux of the whole matter, if we fail to give ourselves to perfect ourselves in holiness through the help of the Holy Spirit, we will not just experience loss of temporal blessings from God, but actually eternal blessings of God which cannot be gained for eternity ahead forever once we choose to lose and waste the opportunity of it.

Having said it, I agree with you and can say that I do not reject but rather affirm the concept that the one who made us holy now calls us to live holy lives in thought, word and deed, thereby "completing our sanctification in the fear of God" till the end of our earthly lives (2 Cor 7:1). Yes Paul the apostle is right when he says that we are called saints (that is who we are by what Jesus has done for us) and therefore are called to be saints (that is how we live in gratitude by giving our body as a reasonable sacrifice for what Jesus did for us by His life, death and resurrection) (1 Cor. 1:2). There are no paradox in the sanctification of a believer in his/her Christian life, but we should make sure that we have both side of the coin or both aspect or kinds of sanctification in our understanding together to make it a real one and not a counterfeit. By failing to accept the truth of progressive sanctification, though all believer will not fail to enter heaven because of what Jesus has done already (1 Cor 3:15; Heb 9:28; 2 Cor 5:10-11), they will miss the eternal rewards that are marked by God to be given to them by failing to walk in the aspect of the other progressive side which God expects from us. 

Much Blessings....

We As Christians Should Live By The Law Or Not?

Did Christ Come To Destroy And Abolish The Law Or To Fulfill And Establish It More Deeply?

Question: Did Christ come to destroy and abolish the Law or to fulfill and establish it more deeply? I know that Bible cannot contradict itself, but how do we explain it? So we as Christians should live by the Law or not?

Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name! First of all we should understand that Christianity is not keeping a set of rules expecting to go to heaven based on it. It is more than that, it is giving our entire life in to the hands of God to get transformed in to His likeness based on God's grace that we receive, and grace of God is something that which also helps us to keep the laws of God out of love for God and not out of compulsion to get qualified for heaven. Going in to heaven is given to all the children of God as a free gift and it cannot be earned even if we continue to keep the law for a thousand years. But when we keep the law out of love for God and with gratefulness for what He has already done for us through Christ Jesus, then whatever we do for God out of that grateful heart, we get rewarded by God for it all now and for eternity. It pleases God when we believe Jesus Christ, and God gets more pleased further and further as we walk by faith in Jesus Christ and continue to fulfill the purpose of God for our lives. Praise the Lord!

When Christ said, "17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matt 5:17-20).

From the above verses we come to understand from Jesus Christ's own words that He came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it. This means in a greater extend, the Law of Moses and the prophets spoke not about anything in details except that Christ have to suffer for all humanity to redeem it before God and then have to enter in to His glorious abode in heaven, in short, the Old Testament is all about only one person and that person is Christ Jesus (Luke 24:25-26, 27; Acts 8:35). All Scripture leads to Christ and Christ only in details!

No Scripture will ever stop being fulfilled until everything gets fulfilled and that fulfillment has already come through life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and that is the good news of the Gospel of God to all humanity in which God has revealed how every human who accepts Christ as their personal Lord and Savior can be forgiven of their sins justly by God (1 Cor 15:3-4; Rom 3:25-26).

Christ has clearly expressed that those whoever breaks the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called as least in the kingdom of heaven, which means God expects all his children to line up to his commandments out of love for Him because His commands are all that which leads us to line up with the holiness of His character which He loves to see in us (1 Peter 1:16; Matt 5:48; Heb 12:9, 10-11). Always a father will rejoice when his little boy or girl follows his foot steps in his good character and actions and desires, that is what our heavenly Father also loves to see in us. If we will do and teach others the commandments of God out of our love for God and others we are already fulfilling the royal law that fulfills automatically all the laws of God because God's mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:8-12, 13; 1:22, 25-26; 3:2, 8-9; Rom 13:8-10), then we will be called great in the Kingdom of God. Christ also have clearly expressed that only if people receive the internal righteousness of faith which comes through faith in Christ and thus exceed the righteousness of Pharisees and Scribes who lived in extreme and strict righteousness that comes through external law keeping, they cannot enter heavenly Kingdom of God at all. To go to heaven or to become a child of God, law keeping cannot qualify anyone. Only believing in Christ and receiving the perfect righteousness of Christ, will qualify all humans for heaven in a moment of time (Php 3:9).    

Now through Christ's righteousness that has been received by faith in His life, death and resurrection which has come freely from God (Php 3:8-9), we do not do Law keeping to please God but rather we get saved through grace by faith and then keep the law out of love for God, and then through His righteousness that we have received by faith we live moment by moment, and by that same faith we walk in His grace which He provides us freely through Christ Jesus abundantly (Rom 3:27-28; Eph 2:8-9). Then we come to know God intimately through our relationship with Christ that is not started or continued by us to boast about it as though we have done something for God, but only we can give glory to God because it was He who started it, and it is continued and will be continued by God in Christ Jesus who has promised to finish the love story that has been started by Him through Christ Jesus (Php 3:10-11; 1:6; John 10:27-28). In other words, we are not saved by good works, but saved for good works which God has prepared beforehand for us to do it.

The point that many get confused is, they falsely think that faith destroy the Law of Moses and the prophets, but we see that the real understanding of faith is just the opposite, which means, the Law actually establishes our faith in Christ Jesus who fulfilled all of the Law and Prophets which spoke of Him (Rom 3:31). Here is a direct revelation of how Paul the apostle understood this matter, "19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator...23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor." (Gal 3:19, 23, 24-25).

So from the above verses we know that the Old Testament Jews who followed the Law were first kept under guard by the Law which acted as a tutor to restrain them from transgressions because all men do sin and have fallen short of the glory of God (Eccl 7:20; Rom 3:23), till Jesus would come to fulfill and establish the Law of God on earth through keeping it 100% without breaking even one of them and committing no sin at all his whole life (John 8:46). In other words, the law was given for Jesus to fulfill, but for the Israelite's it was given so that they could understand their inability to keep the law perfectly before God, and so would come to have faith in Jesus to start a relationship with God afresh and be justified to live a righteous life through faith, and then keep the law of God successfully by love and not by fear or compulsion by human tradition (Rom 3:20; Rom 10:4; Gal 3:22, 24; Matt 15:9).

Jesus Christ is the end of all law, and so keeping the law apart from the faith of Jesus Christ has no end purpose at all (1 Cor 9:21). But those who belong to Christ by faith keep the law of God towards Christ by the grace of Jesus that strengthens them to do it (John 14:15; Php 4:13; John 1:16). Now the law and the commandment's only purpose is to make sin become exceedingly sinful so that we might be desperate enough to run to Christ and experience the victory of serving the Lord through the law of faith by grace which increases in the knowledge of God with a renewed mind to make us operate in a higher and higher level of faith (Prov 18:10; Rom 7:13, 25; Eph 4:23; Rom 12:2; 7:12; 1:17; Eph 2:8-9; 2 Peter 1:2-4).

Now we know that fear comes through carnal knowledge of the law of sin, just as faith and all things that pertain unto life come through godly knowledge of the law of faith. In other words, it is the same law we read, one leads to death without Christ and His righteousness, the other leads to life and abundant living with Christ who has fulfilled the law for us who believe Him (Rom 8:2). Even if we by trying to keep the law slip in to law of sin by striving by our own strength, Christ has assured us that there is no condemnation for us because we are in Him, and therefore live in the Spirit always at all times which is the safety net we have for practicing righteousness of faith which sometimes may slide through by our fleshly nature and cause us to slip in to keeping the law for righteousness. So whenever we slip out and fall outside the will of God in sin, all we need to do is to confess our sin to Christ and then move on to try to walk in the Spirit again according to His guidance to continue to live in the righteousness of faith that pleases God. Instead of using the map of law by ourselves to pass through the impasse which is impossible, we trust and again surrender to the guide and let Him tell the route for us to travel by coming again to walk by the guidance of the Spirit of God who is our personal guide and trainer for us to keep the law of faith (1 John 1:9; Gal 5:16, 25; John 16:13-14). The amount of faith that we operate in is directly proportional to the revelation knowledge that we have of God through His Word (Rom 10:14), so the Holy Spirit trains us to practice the law of faith until we continue to please God by being consistently in the will of God and doing only what pleases Him always in a greater and greater degree (Heb 11:6; Eph 5:1; Matt 6:10; 2 Thess 5:16-18).

Thus Christ fulfilled the demands of the Mosaic law, which called for perfect obedience under threat of a “curse” if they fail even once, which no humans who practiced it nearly for 1500 years were able to fulfill it (see Galatians 3:10, 13; James 2:10). If any man thinks that by keeping the law now he can gain the favor of God in our times, then he is frustrating the grace of God and is making what Christ has done for Him to please God by faith without any effort of his own, go in vain and therefore will not receive the favor of God or the righteousness that leads to life (Gal 2:21).

Then what did Paul mean when he said, "For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace." (Eph 2:14–15)?

It means before Christ those groups of Jews and Gentiles could not eat together because of Sabbath keeping, circumcision, restricted foods, required washing's, and ceremonial contamination (Acts 10:28-29), in Christ they now worshiped together and needed no temple or other sacred place to sanctify it. All ceremonial distinctions and requirements were removed (cf. Acts 10:9–16; 11:17–18; Col. 2:16–17). These verse in Eph 2:14-15, does not speak of obliteration of religious law of 10 commandments or other laws related to it, but only speaks about the traditional, ceremonial, external and physical law for worshiping God as it has all been fulfilled in the substance which is Christ, of which only the shadow of it is recorded in the law which has been fulfilled by Him. In other words, the law was the photo of Christ, since Christ came to fulfill the law, the reality of it was seen physically by all and all of us continue to seek Him personally now and not through the photo of the ceremonial laws which is just a shadow of Christ (Col 2:17; 1 John 1:1-2; 2 Peter 1:18-19). Now in Christ, there is no difference between a Jew and a Gentile who has faith in Christ to please God and keep the commandments out of love for Him (Gal 3:28; Col 3:11; 1 Cor 9:21). The breaking of the barrier is what Christ's death did to bring together Gentiles and Jews as one in Him.

The apostles decided in the first century apostolic council that the law of the Jewish Fathers which had been a burden which they were not able to bear, should not be imposed on the Gentiles because God who sees the hearts of men and purifies it by faith and saves them and empowers them all with the Holy Spirit just as He empowered any Jew in the first century (Acts 15:6-11). So the only thing that the apostles and Holy Spirit commanded the largely Gentile Church of the first century is, "...you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell." (Acts 15:29). This is the only written commandment that they passed on instead of the ceremonial part of the Jewish law which every Jew has to keep to remain in the covenant. Even the Sabbath which was included for all Jews in the ceremonial binding along with the circumcision were all rejected for the Gentiles (Col 2:16-17), but the religious law of God which Moses commanded and prophets explained except the ceremonial laws of days, festivals, circumcision and Sabbath were binding and were in force upon the Gentiles too who kept the law not to fulfill the requirement to get qualified or to please God through it, but out of love for Him and gratefulness for what God did through Christ to make them all the children of God, and thus helping them inherit all the blessing of God by faith without striving through the fleshly strength of self-imposed religion (Col 2:18-23; 2 Cor 5:19, 21; John 1:12; Eph 2:11-13; Heb 1:2; Rom 8:16-17; Acts 20:32; Gal 3:29; 4:7; Eph 3:6; 1 Peter 1:4). God by sending Jesus in the likeness of the sinful flesh has condemned the sin in our flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk according to the Spirit's guidance as the sons of God, thus keeping the law out of love and gratefulness for God (Rom 8:3-4; Gal 3:26).

Another misunderstanding that must be cleared here is when the writer to the Hebrew says, "7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness,and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 13 In that He says, “A new covenant, ” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." (Heb 8:7-12).

Here in the above verses we see that it says, that the first covenant was with fault so God replaced it with a second and a new covenant. And also we see that at the end the writer also says that the first is out of date now and has been put aside forever. In the first covenant the traditionalistic Jewish people considered that the rabbinic instructions that the Rabbi's gave to be the proper interpretations of the law of Moses, and they concluded that, because Jesus did not scrupulously follow those traditions, He obviously was doing away with the law or relegating it to minor importance. The same happen when we hear the writer to the Hebrew say the above thing in the Bible, but the writer to the Hebrew was saying to all the Jewish conservatives that the Old way of keeping the law through the Rabbanic model is over, where by one's own strength they keep it to please God but failed because the law never gave them the strength to fulfill it as its purpose was to give knowledge of sin (Rom 7:7-12, 14, 15; 3:19-20; 9:31-32), but in the new agreement of God Jesus will seal the believer with the Holy Spirit and will fill them up with the Holy Spirit that they will not search for any rabbi's to interpret the Scripture for them (John 16:13-14; Eph 1:13-14; 5:18), but rather they will all read the Scripture and the Holy Spirit will not only will interpret and give the right context and understanding (1 John 2:20, 27), but will also write it all in their heart to instruct them to keep it by faith whenever the situations arise to hold the law of God without getting condemned if they fail in any aspect of the law because of God already forgiving their lawless deeds and sins of the past, present and future time once for all in Christ Jesus (Heb 10:11, 14-18; 9:14; Rom 8:1).

Why did then Jesus specifically tell people that He has not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it thus emphasizing it?

Kataluo (abolish) means to utterly overthrow or destroy, and is the same word used of the destruction of the Temple (Matt. 24:2; 26:61; etc.) and of the death of the physical body (2 Cor. 5:1). The basic idea is to tear down and smash to the ground, to obliterate completely. In several places, as here, the word is used figuratively to indicate bringing to naught, rendering useless, or nullifying (see Acts 5:38–39; Rom. 14:20).

So therefore, when people saw that because Jesus swept away the traditions of washing's, special tithes, extreme Sabbath observance, and such things, the people thought He was thereby overthrowing God’s law, but right from the beginning of his ministry Jesus wanted to make clear the matters about the law and discourage any misconceptions about His high view of Scripture. So hence Jesus said that He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it, thus implying clearly that abolishing of God’s law is the antithesis of the work and teaching of Jesus. We too who have in the past have thought that the law of the Old Testament were thrown out and have become useless should correct our wrong belief and thinking to believe rightly about the Scripture which Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away." (Matt 24:35), thus implying that the Word of God is eternal in nature and will by no means pass away until all that is written in them is fulfilled even to minute details, even whatever has been written in it for the time to come for eternity ahead (Psa 119:89; 1 Peter 1:25). This teaches us that the law of God and commandments of God will stay for at least until we all humans reach the new heaven and new earth at the end of it all and then eternity takes over in the set timing of God after which there will not be any time to measure.

Much Blessings.....