All in me

“I have read the Bible and found many errors, all of which were in me.” Greg Mathis

I don’t know Greg Mathis. 

I began to read this – “the Bible…found many errors” – and I was shocked by the audacity! 

Then I read the punch line – “all of which were in me” – and I was shamed by the accuracy!

Sin takes, costs, and keeps

A riff on or derived from combining an old saying and thoughts preached last night on Jonah chapter 1 by Brother Herman Johnson, at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, July 29, 2025.

• Sin will take you farther than you want to go.
• “Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord”
• Sin will cost you more than you want to pay.
• “he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof”
• Sin will keep you longer than you want to stay.
• “Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”

(I still generally am not going to post on Wednesdays, but I thought this was too good to pass up, and I already had it typed up.)

Jesus and our sin

The Saviour of Sinners.

1 Timothy 1:15.

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

’Twas a heaven below,
The Redeemer to know,
And the angels could do nothing more;
Than to fall at his feet,
And the story repeat,
And the Saviour of sinners adore!

Introduction.

The regular non-Calvinistic missionary Baptists (Fundamental Baptists, Independent Baptists, Landmark Baptists, Missionary Baptists, Southern Baptists) of the Southland have become weak on the subject of sin: (1) weak theologically, using language moving toward a nature with a tendency to sin and away from an inherent and inherited sin nature; and (2) weak practically, in preaching against sin, and disciplining sin in the church (e.g., so that known public wickedness is tolerated for members in a local church). Both problems go hand in glove. 

In theology, notice for example the change from the 1833 New Hampshire Confession of Faith to the 1963 Southern Baptist Faith and Message (with language still the same in 2000).

NHCOF: “…in consequence of [the fall] all mankind are now sinners, not by constraint but choice; being by nature utterly void of that holiness required by the law of God, positively inclined to evil; and therefore under just condemnation to eternal ruin, without defense or excuse.”

BFAM: “Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation.”

Ephesians 2:3 clearly states we are “by nature the children of wrath.” The 1963 modified the state of the sinner in the world, so that the posterity of Adam inherit “a nature and an environment inclined to sin” rather than “being by nature utterly void of that holiness required by the law of God.” In an 1889 debate with Campbellite J. A. Harding, Baptist J. B. Moody’s strongly worded proposition on depravity read thusly: “The Scriptures teach that man is so depraved in mind and heart that he is unable without a direct enabling power of the Holy Spirit to obey the Gospel of the Son of God.” 

Jesus came to save sinners and forgive sins, but he was not weak on sin. His rhetoric clearly and forcefully condemns sin. Notice these teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sin is an internal, inherent matter.

Mark 7:15 There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.

Mark 7:20-23 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

There is none good, but God.

Mark 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

“Being evil” is an apt description of mankind.

Matthew 7: 11 If ye then, being evil…

• In this lesson on prayer, Jesus teaches that all people are evil (not just that they do evil, but that they are evil).

The self-recognizing sinner is commended, and the self-righteous Pharisee condemned.

Luke 18:13-14 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other…

None are without sin.

John 8:7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

We owe a debt we cannot pay.

Matthew 18:24-25 ten thousand talents…he had not to pay… 32 I forgave thee all that debt

• God’s forgiveness of sin is like the King forgiving his servant a debt he could not pay.

All need repentance.

Matthew 9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Luke 13:3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Luke 24:47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Acts 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Conclusion.

Jesus and the Bible teaches our depravity is personal, inherited, complete. This whole person is affected by sin, in body, mind, spirit, and will, so that there is nothing good in any of us to commend to God. Only by the grace of God and Spirit of God can we be led to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If we could pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, so to speak, The substitutionary crucifixion of Jesus Christ on the cross would be savage, senseless, and needlessly wrong. If we cannot determine the sickness, how can we determine the cure? God’s straight arrow of total depravity drives man from his self-reliance to a despair whose only relief is found by falling at the feet of a merciful Saviour!

If you do not properly abhor your sin, you cannot properly adore your Saviour.

Is Giving Children the King James Bible a Sin?

In a recent debate, the ubiquitous anti-KJVO apologist Mark Ward asserted that the King James Bible should not be given to children. 

“There comes a point at which it’s so close to this ditch that actually it is a sin for a given Bible translation to be handed to children. I’m saying we’ve reached the point where there’s a sufficient number of readability difficulties that it’s time to turn away from the King James in institutional contexts. Would I say it’s a sin to hand to your child? Here’s what I’d say, quoting the King James: ‘to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin.’”

Some people have tried to defend Mark by saying that he “misspoke.” I am not aware that Mark has said he misspoke. Regardless, this is not an isolated statement. He recently said much the same in an interview with Scott Ingram. He also is pretty clear about the sin issue in his book Authorized. He says that using the King James Bible “for most situations…using the KJV violates Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians 14” (Authorized: the Use and Misuse of the King James Bible, p. 137). And what is disobedience to God’s instructions through an inspired apostle, if not sin? I do not believe Mark misspoke. If he has, he needs to clearly and flatly, without caveats and calculations, say that using the KJV and giving the KJV to others to use IS NOT a sin.

Even folks who are not supporters generally of the King James Bible recoiled from such a claim. One of those folks is James Snapp Jr. In a recent blog post he brought out several points against what Mark said. I found one particularly intriguing contradiction of Mark’s claim that I had not thought about previously. It is this – even the practice of Bible publishers disagrees with Mark’s assertion about not giving a KJV to children.

“Mark Ward: … Thomas Nelson Publishers disagrees with you. They publish a children’s version of the KJV. Lo and behold Hendrickson Publishers also publish a Children’s KJV New Testament. Lifeway and Holman Bible Publishers also publishes a Kids KJV. There are even KJV Bibles marketed to be given to illiterate babies. The KJV Armor of God Bible is marketed with the claim that it is ‘perfect for ages 6-10.’ Is it sinful to give such Bibles? No.”

I suppose one could argue that these publishers are merely creating those Bibles in order to make more money. However, I think it would be hypocritical for Mark himself to make such an argument, since he has been making a living in the Bible publishing industry.

Since I wrote the above, Mark has added a new video to his repertoire, Continuing the Conversation, in which Mark is supposed to clarify his statement about giving the King James Bible to children. You can listen yourself to see what you can find about it.

And now there is another video, Mark interviewed by Dwayne Green in Its SINFUL to give a KJV to a CHILD? | Debate Retrospective with Mark Ward. As best I can understand, these are clarifications that ultimately fail to clarify. Mark even said, “There’s my slight sort of clarification that really isn’t.”

The Days of Noah

…and the Days of Now.

Genesis 6:5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that (1) every imagination of (2) the thoughts of his heart was (3) only evil (4) continually.

1. The wickedness of man is total, all-encompassing. 
2. The wickedness of man is inherent, internal.
3. The wickedness of man is impudent, unmitigated.
4. The wickedness of man is constant, unrelenting.

Total hereditary depravity.

Applauding sin, repentance, and confession

This link is provided for context rather than “pick on” one person. This scenario plays out over and over. A pastor or other church staff openly confesses a sin or indiscretion to the church. The congregation applauds. What have we become? We should not applaud sin, even the confession of it. We should grieve over with a godly sorrow. One commenter on this said, “Save the standing ovations for the football field.”

What our ancestors might have thought was an April’s Fools joke has become an all too common practice.

Grace Abounding

In his book Strictures on the Plymouth Antinomians, Joseph Cottle attributed the following story to one he charged as being an antinomian preacher, which preacher spoke as follows to one of his congregants who was in a state of intoxication.

“Ah! Judith! I see you have forgotten your Lord, but he has not forgotten you.”

Cottle was aghast at the reply, condemning it, while I might say that a different Saviour would do me no good. No, grace does not lead us to continue in sin, but grace is greater than all our sin!

“Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin!” (From the chorus of “Marvelous Grace” by Julia Harriete Johnston, 1849-1919)

Romans 5:20

“…But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound”

Romans 6:1-2

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid…”

Isaiah 49:15

“Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.”

1 John 3:20

“For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.”

Debate On Inherited Sin

Links to a Debate On Inherited Sin and Total hereditary depravity

• Debate On Inherited Sin, First Affirmative
• Debate On Inherited Sin, First Negative
• Debate On Inherited Sin, Second Affirmative
• Debate On Inherited Sin, Second Negative

What is sin?

What is sin?

• It is the glory of God not honored.
• The holiness of God not reverenced.
• The greatness of God not admired.
• The power of God not praised.
• The truth of God not sought.
• The wisdom of God not esteemed.
• The beauty of God not treasured.
• The goodness of God not savored.
• The faithfulness of God not trusted.
• The commandments of God not obeyed.
• The justice of God not respected.
• The wrath of God not feared.
• The grace of God not cherished.
• The presence of God not prized.
• The person of God not loved.
• That is sin.

Attributed to John Piper in an e-mail I received.

Follow the science?

Maybe the problem is that those who use the phrase do not even know what it means.

“But of course, you know, children aren’t supposed to die,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky in an interview with Bret Baier in which he challenged her to call out a Supreme Court Justice for spreading COVID Misinformation.

I can’t say how many times I have heard someone say “children aren’t supposed to die” – even people whose scientific or religious knowledge teaches them that is not a true statement.[i] And yet, many of us just shake our heads in solemn agreement, as if it is a universal truth. Well, I ain’t gonna take it anymore. Today I resist.

There is nothing in our scientific or religious knowledge that tells us that children aren’t suppose to die. In fact, everything in our ubiquitous learned experience denies that statement. And yet we make it, and make it, and make it.

What we mean is that we don’t want to see children suffer and die. We wish to see them live long and prosper. And hopefully that feeling is universally true for us, one and all. “Children aren’t supposed to die” expresses a yen within us. Nevertheless, the statement is not true – it is emotional, a statement or expression of feeling. For persons in places of leadership in religion, science, health care, and so on to assert such as simple truth is misleading and unhelpful.

“Let me not see the death of the child.”

“the child died”

“it is appointed unto men once to die”

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[i] Another way I have heard it is “children aren’t supposed to die before their parents.”

Equality

John Shore is a progressive blogger who advocates the “full and equal” acceptance of LGBT people “within Christianity.” In 2012 he posted an article which I later found and responded to briefly. Though he says “take God at his word,” regarding homosexuality his piece shows a peculiar propensity to shift and shade the Bible when it speaks on that topic, while holding the helm steady when the Bible condemns the kind of behaviour he loves to hate.

He made a point in a way with which I agreed:

“Heterosexual Christians are being unbiblical by using the clobber passages as justification for applying absolute standards of morality to homosexual ‘sins’ that they themselves are not tempted to commit, while at the same time accepting for themselves a standard of relative morality for those sins listed in the clobber passages that they do routinely commit.”[i]

I agree with Shore’s assessment. Often we condemn the sins of others while dismissing our own. It is the height of hypocrisy for heterosexual Christians to condemn homosexual sexual sin while excusing heterosexual sexual sin. This is all too common in some churches. Jesus warns us to think soberly, “…why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?”

I do not agree with Shore’s solution. He thinks that condemning homosexuality based on the Bible is “the morally incorrect choice.”  His solution drops biblical standards of morality as they apply to homosexual sins. A consistent application of his approach would mean no sins should be “clobbered” – even those sins he loves to hate. I doubt he would like that end game.

The biblical solution is to turn the word of God loose. Let the Bible hit the sins of each and every one of us right where we live – adultery, anger, arrogance, backbiting, boasting, cheating, covetousness, deceit, disobedience to parents, divorce, drunkenness, envy, fornication, gluttony, gossip, hate, homosexuality, idolatry, ignoring widows and orphans, jealousy, lust, lying, maliciousness, man-stealing, murder, pedophilia, pride, prostitution, racism, seditions, sloth, strife, theft, treachery, trickery, whoremongering, woman-stealing, witchcraft, xenophobia. We will all be better for equal clobbering of sins. Jesus does not say that we cannot and should not help others remove their “motes.” If we cannot say there is a mote but must pretend all is well, all help is lost! However, “Thou hypocrite,” first and foremost “cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” A large dose of humility works well, seeing all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

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[i] Notably, he puts the homosexual’s “sins” in “quotes” – while not favoring to do the same for the “sins” of conservative heterosexual Christians.

The deceitful wicked heart

Man’s problem and God’s cure.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Diagnosis, sin. Inbred, ingrained sin in the heart, that is both deceitful and desperately wicked. It is not just the actions, but the heart itself that is sinful.

A people who dismiss the diagnosis will have no idea of a cure. Our society and even many of our churches reject the diagnosis of the deceitful and wickedness of man deep down in his heart – a diagnosis they cannot know by applying human reasoning. Only God searches, tries, and knows man’s heart. We cannot muse and meditate until we figure out the problem. Nevertheless, by revelation God has diagnosed the problem. “All have sinned.” “There is none good.” “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” “There is none good, but one, that is, God.”

By revelation God has prescribed the answer, the cure.

Isaiah 53: 4-5 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Acts 8:34-35 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

I’m a sinner

...how ’bout you?

Steve Brown tells that his friends say that all the preachers they know claim, “I am a sinner” – but that they actually believe him when he says it!

We are Barabbas

All four Gospels record what seems to be a matter incidental to the great story of the crucifixion of Jesus. Yet that incident plays an important role in the story, and teaches an important lesson. The Passover custom in Jerusalem called for the release of a prisoner, as a favor to the people (Mark 15:6). When Pilate would have released Jesus from the sentence of death, the Jews cried out for the release of a man named Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus instead (Cf. Matthew 27:20-23).

The name of Barabbas is mentioned 11 times in 10 verses of the Gospels. He is also alluded to once as a murderer in a sermon at Solomon’s porch in Jerusalem (Matthew 27:16, Matthew 27:17, Matthew 27:20, Matthew 27:21, Matthew 27:26, Mark 15:7, Mark 15:11, Mark 15:15, Luke 23:18, John 18:40, Acts 3:14). The name Barabbas corresponds in meaning to the person of Jesus Christ. The prefix “bar” (βαρ) means “son of” – as can be seen by comparing the following verses:  Matthew 16:17, John 1:42, Mark 10:46, and Acts 4:36. “Abba” (αββα) means father – as can be seen in the following verses: Mark 14:36, Romans 8:15, and Galatians 4:6. Barabbas was “a son of (the) father” in comparison and contrast to Jesus, The Son of God the Father, his only begotten Son (Cf. John 1:18, John 3:35, 1 John 4:14, 1 John 4:9).

Barabbas was a lawbreaker. He was a robber, murderer, and seditionist[i] (Luke 23:18-19, John 18:40, Acts 3:14). Barabbas was not just “alleged” or “accused” but guilty, worthy of death – by both Roman and Jewish law.[ii] Barabbas had been sentenced and held over for execution (Mark 15:7). Yet Barabbas, the guilty, goes free (Matthew 27:26).

Jesus was a law fulfiller (Matthew 5:17). Though he had gone about doing good (Acts 10:38), he was accused as guilty (Matthew 26:66). He was in fact without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Yet Jesus, the innocent, is crucified (Matthew 27:26).

We are Barabbas, the guilty. We are sons of our father, Adam (Romans 5:12). We are sinners (Romans 3:23), lawbreakers (James 2:10), thieves (John 10:1), murderers (1 John 3:15), and insurrectionists (Romans 8:7). We are guilty (Romans 3:19). We are in bondage (Hebrews 2:15, Psalm 102:19-20). We deserve to die and are sentenced to death (Romans 6:23, James 1:15, Hebrews 9:27). 

Jesus is our substitute. He is the Son sent by the Father to save us from our sins (1 John 4:14). The innocent was executed that we might be released. Jesus died in Barabbas’s place. Jesus died in the place of his people (Matthew 1:21, John 11:49-50). Though the effects of the substitution may be different, Jesus died in place of Barabbas, and in place of his people. We are Barabbas, the guilty set free.

“Himself he cannot save.”

Insulting foe, ’tis true;

The words a gracious meaning have,

Though meant in scorn by you.

“Himself he cannot save.”

This is his highest praise.

Himself for others’ sake he gave,

And suffers in their place.

(Thomas Kelly)

…who died for us… 1 Thessalonians 5:10

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God… 1 Peter 3:18

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[i] In rebellion against civil authority

[ii] “Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death.” Numbers 35:31. The fact that Barabbas was being held for execution is evidence that he was guilty under Roman law, since these crucifixions took place under the authority of the Roman government.

Sin’s origins

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

The threefold origin of sin:

• In the universe of God’s creation, sin originated with the angel Lucifer. (1 John 3:8; Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezekiel 28:11-16; Revelation 12:9)
• In the world and the human race, sin originated with Adam. (Romans 5:12-19;1 Timothy 2:13-14; Genesis 3:1-21)
• In the individual, sin originates in the heart. (James 1:13-15; Mark 7:21-23; Jeremiah 17:9)

1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

[A debate related to this topic is whether God is the author or originator of sin. All things were made by God and he is sovereign over all, so in the ultimate sense all things originate with God and nothing was made without him (John 1:3; Proverbs 16:4; Isaiah 46:9-11; Ephesians 1:11). On the other hand, the Bible never speaks in terms of God as the author of sin, and anything that God does, by its very nature, cannot be sin (James 1:17; 1 John 1:5). It seems (to me) that Bible believers accept this enigma, while some really smart people on either end of the spectrum wrestle with it to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16).]

A Difference between Liberals and Conservatives

Liberals dismiss sins first, and then proceed to commit them. Conservatives commit sins first, and then proceed to dismiss them.

In contrast, Christians should confess sins while understanding “My crimes are great, but don’t surpass, the power and glory of God’s grace.”

[Note: this liberal/conservative difference is given as a general and slightly exaggerated illustration of different approaches, and is not intended to express a universal truth.]

Remembrance of Sins

"I think those are the sweetest moments in this life, when we have the clearest sense of our own sins, provided the sense of our acceptance in the Beloved is proportionally clear, and we feel the consolations of his love, notwithstanding all our transgressions. When we arrive in glory, unbelief and fear will cease forever: our nearness to God, and communion with him, will be unspeakably beyond what we can now conceive. Therefore the remembrance of our sins will be no abatement of our bliss, but rather the contrary." -- John Newton, in answer to a letter from a friend

Like a dog at the heels of its master

Man may put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter; darkness for light, and light for darkness; but this follows him as a dog at the heels of its master, a sense that virtue should be rewarded, and that sin must be punished. -- Charles H. Spurgeon, from his sermon Expitiation

Sinners

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

3 Facts About Sin

We inherit sin and death. It is part and parcel of humanity.
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

We come into the world not only prone to sin, but sinners by nature.
Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

We are unaware of our desperate sin condition until God reveals it.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

3 Ways People Relate to sin

Some people embrace and enjoy sin. This is a dismissal of the principle of sin, at least in their own cases, as well as the heinousness of it. (Cf. Hebrews 11:25)

Some people excuse and ignore sin. This is a recognition of sin as sinfulness, but ignoring it as sin when possible and excusing it when necessary. (Cf. Romans 2:15)

Some people recognize and repent of sin. This is a recognition of sin, as well as, by God’s grace, sorrowing over it unto repentance. (Cf. 2 Corinthians 7:10)

God and Evil

Isaiah 45:7 - I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Question. What is the meaning of "The LORD...creates evil" in this verse? Does God causes people to sin, based on this verse?

In this verse "evil" is set in contrast to "peace" rather than in contrast to "good". There is no problem with the word "evil" but with the connotation we put on it. We tend to "read into" biblical words the most common way we use it in our speech or writing, without comparing the full semantic range of meaning (and the context). Words gain meaning from their context. "Evil" is the most common way that the Hebrew word "rah" is translated in English (at least in the KJV & NASB) and it is used several times in Isaiah -- some times that speak of immorality or wickedness and some that speak of distress, calamity -- something "bad" happening. Isaiah 47:11, in its context, is a good example of how God brings evil, mischief and desolation upon Babylon in judgment. This evil is something that brings sorrow, distress, or calamity. It stands opposite to "peace" in this verse in Isaiah. It fits the context of God's judgment described in Isaiah 45. Peace is not inherently always a moral good, and evil in the sense of moral evil is not under consideration in Isaiah's statement.

Adapting to our modern sensibilities, some, if not most, modern translations have adopted the words like "calamity" or "disaster" in place of evil. "Evil" is a better translation -- properly understood, it better encompasses the totality of all the things that are the opposite of peace.

We must understand that God is the sole ultimate cause of everything. I don't see any way that a Bible believer can avoid that conclusion. First there was nothing but God. Everything that is came from God, even if in a secondary or derivative way. God the creator is the first cause of all things, and there is nothing that exists outside his divine governance.