The Way Into Christ

It is only human nature to want the way to heaven to be as broad and all-inclusive as possible, thus the more ways into Christ that can be found the better from a human perspective. We have people we want to see saved and yet we are pretty sure they are not, due to either the way they are living or to the beliefs they hold, thus a broad gate and a wide way to heaven would suit us just fine. But our love for one who does not walk in the light of truth cannot change the truth itself. No man is saved “unconditionally,” which is to say saved regardless of belief, character, and conduct. God saves sinners, true enough, but not while they actively engage in the practice of sin.

The fact remains that no matter how much we desire another’s salvation, it is up to them to bring their life into accord with God’s will, for neither you nor I can broaden the gate. “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matt. 7:14 NKJV)

Salvation is found only in Christ. “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12 NKJV) Jesus said he was “the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 NKJV) Again, he says, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved.” (John 10:9 NKJV)

The point I want to drive home is that salvation is found “in Christ” and not “out of Christ.” Paul speaks of “the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” (2 Tim. 2:10 NKJV) Redemption “is in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 3:24 NKJV) Elsewhere Paul says Christ “is the Savior of the body.” (Eph. 5:23 NKJV) The body of which he is the Savior is his spiritual body, the church, for the church is his body (Eph. 1:22-23, Col. 1:18), which makes being “in Christ” essential. We must be in that which Christ is going to save. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation,” (2 Cor. 5:17 NKJV), emphasis on “in Christ” and not out of him. Thus it is essential to be “in Christ,” for that is where “every spiritual blessing” is found (Eph. 1:3 NKJV), which, of course, includes salvation itself.

Having firmly established that salvation is found “in Christ,” how then does one enter into Christ? How many ways are there? The Bible teaches there are conditions for entering into Christ, prerequisites if you will, namely faith, repentance, and confession, all of which are absolutely essential to salvation but none of those things by themselves or even taken collectively will put you “into Christ.” Only baptism is said to do that—no, not baptism by itself, but baptism that is built on faith accompanied by repentance with a willingness to confess Christ. Baptism is the final step one takes to enter Christ and find salvation in him.

Hear the language Paul uses: “Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:3 NKJV), “as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27 NKJV), “for by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Cor. 12:13 NKJV), speaking of the body of Christ. Baptism puts one into Christ where salvation is found. Every passage here uses the phrase “baptized into.” That means something. It has significance.

How does this accord with the examples of conversions as we find them in Acts? In Acts two we have the first gospel sermon ever preached by inspiration, the apostle Peter doing the preaching.  As a result people were made believers. Were they saved when they became believers? God did not consider them saved, for his command to them through Peter was “repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.” (Acts 2:38 NKJV) Most in the denominational world would say they were saved after faith and repentance, but the rest of God’s command to them that day (be baptized) was not needed for salvation. Well, who are you going to believe? We ought to believe Peter and the Holy Spirit and not our denominational pastors.

Peter said, “Every one of you.” There were to be and are to be no exceptions. This brings to mind Paul’s statement to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 12:13, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” (NKJV) Note here again the phrase “we were all”—that is every one of us. No, Paul did not do a lot of baptizing personally, but that it was done as a result of his preaching and by those working with him there is no doubt, for “many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.” (Acts 18:8 NKJV) No one was considered as “one of them” who was not baptized either on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem (Acts 2:38) or at Corinth (1 Cor. 12:13).

Paul himself was made a believer and repented when Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus. Was he saved? Jesus told him directly, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9:6 NKJV) The Lord sent Ananias to tell him what he must do. What did Ananias tell him? “Now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins.” (Acts 22:16 NKJV) When a man’s sins are gone, washed away, he is “in Christ.” So no, Paul was not saved on the road to Damascus even though he came to faith and repentance there, not if the word “must” means must.

Paul equates baptism into Christ with putting on Christ. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Gal. 3:27 NKJV) When I put on a coat, I am in the coat. When I put on Christ, I am in Christ. That is where I need to be, for that is where salvation is found. Can one be in Christ who has not put on Christ?

We need to always remember Jesus himself commanded baptism (Matt. 28:18-20 NKJV)—the Great Commission. Why did he do so if it does not matter to him and is non-essential for salvation? Put yourself for a short moment of time into the apostles’ shoes who received this commission (verse 20 teaches we have received that commission as well, for it has been handed down to us). Jesus tells them to make disciples (learners, those who will follow one’s teaching) of all nations, baptizing them into “the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matt. 28:19 NKJV) That is a command. There is no choice about it.

Question—how do you do that in today’s world where people have swallowed the denominational line that you need not be baptized? We are commanded to baptize those made disciples, yet they refuse, thinking it unnecessary even though Jesus commanded it. It ought to be obvious that discipleship ends at that point where one balks at a command and refuses obedience.

I have said nothing on Mark 16:16, the words of Jesus, “he who believes and is baptized will be saved,” but do I need to? I do not think so. If words mean anything, it is self-explanatory.

I want to deal with some objections. There are many passages in the Bible that, if one wants to be a careless scholar, he can lead himself astray. For example, take a passage like Rom. 5:1-2, written by Paul, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand.” (NKJV) Or, here is another, “even the righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe.” (Rom. 3:22 NKJV) A careless scholar takes these passages and many similar ones found throughout the New Testament and says “see, here it is, salvation is by faith and baptism has nothing to do with it.”

Some things are obvious about this kind of scholarship. For one thing, it pits the writer, Paul, against himself, not only in other books of the Bible he wrote but in this very same book itself—the book of Romans. If the reader will just read on to chapter 6, he will find baptism.

“Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.” (Rom. 6:3-8 NKJV)

How about the person who has not been baptized into Christ’s death? What if you have not been “united together in the likeness of his death?” (Rom. 6:5 NKJV) The text says “if we have.” (Rom. 6:5) It does not say “if we have not.” Baptism is into Christ (Rom. 6:3), and that being the case, it is also into the benefits or blessings of Christ’s death. You only walk in newness of life, a new creature, a new creation, when you arise as such from the waters of baptism, for “our old man was crucified with him.” (Rom. 6:6 NKJV) Crucifixion means death. We were baptized “into death.” (Rom. 6:4) We arise from the baptismal waters to “walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4 NKJV) because “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Cor. 5:17 NKJV) The text says “If we died with Christ.” (Rom. 6:8 NKJV) It does not say “if we did not die with Christ.” We need to reason as we read.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (Jesus speaking, John 3:3 NKJV) “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (Jesus, John 3:5 NKJV)

A man is saved by faith—the Bible teaches that—but it is a faith that truly believes and thus acts. That is why, on the Day of Pentecost, when God told the people, speaking through Peter, to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, the people did it. Why? Because they believed God’s message. That is why Paul, then known as Saul, was baptized when God, speaking through Ananias, told him to arise and be baptized and wash away his sins. Why? Because he believed what God’s messenger Ananias told him.

Faith or belief has been perverted today. Thus today you cannot read Peter’s sermon as delivered on the Day of Pentecost in Acts two, believe it, and be accepted as a man of faith by the majority in Christendom. Why? Because the consensus is today that you do not have to believe what Peter said to do for the remission of sins, and if you do believe it, that is heresy. Thus there can be no faith in what Peter preached as a command to the people that day. Faith today thus means no faith. Yes, it is strange and hard to reason out (maybe because there is no reason to it). It is a perversion of faith. Scriptural faith means you believe what Peter preached, not disbelieve it.

In the Bible, when it comes to salvation, faith and obedience are so linked together that there can be no saving faith without the obedience that proceeds from it. Here is a perfect example. Heb. 3:18-19, “And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” (NKJV) Why did the children of Israel under Moses’ leadership not enter the land of Canaan, the land of rest? Because they heard God’s command to go take the land, but they did not believe God (did not believe he would give them the power to overcome the inhabitants) and, not believing, they would not obey. That is where most of Christendom is today with baptism. They know what the Bible clearly says about it, but they are unwilling to obey because they do not believe plain statements of scripture concerning baptism’s function and purpose.

One thing that would help men greatly in understanding faith is if they would learn what a synecdoche is. A synecdoche is a figure of speech “by which we speak of the whole by a part, or a part by using a term denoting the whole…This is many times the case with the salvation of sinners. The whole number of conditions is indicated by the use of one. Generally the first one is mentioned—that of faith—because without it nothing else could follow.” (Prof. D. R. Dungan, Hermeneutics, pages 300-305) We should not read the Bible, come across the word faith, and think without giving it thought that it necessarily means mental assent alone. Be a scholar and study it out and see, based on the context and the totality of New Testament teaching on the subject, what the word means where it is located.

I want to deal with one other passage, and that by Peter, before closing. In Acts 10:43, Peter is at the house of Cornelius preaching and says this, “To him all the prophets witness that, through his name, whoever believes in him will receive remission of sins.” (NKJV) This is the same Peter who preached on the Day of Pentecost that those there must repent and be baptized for the remission of sins. Has he now changed his tune in chapter 10, at a later date, and is he now preaching another gospel?

No, for in the New Testament, faith and baptism fit together as a unit. It is simple; if you believe, if you truly believe, you are baptized. Again, did Peter change his tune here versus what he taught on the Day of Pentecost, no, not at all. The text says five verses later, speaking of Peter addressing Cornelius and his household, “And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.” (Acts 10:48 NKJV) One who believes in Jesus believes what Jesus said, and what Jesus said was “he who believes and is baptized will be saved.” (Mark 16:16 NKJV) What Jesus said was, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5 NKJV) Yes, even Cornelius had to be baptized and was “commanded” to do it.

Baptism is a test of the purity or sincerity of faith. It is not whether you believe me but whether you believe Jesus and his apostles. Yes, there is only one way into Christ, but man has sought out many inventions to try and circumvent the way of the Lord.

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God Hardening The Human Heart

Does God ever harden people’s hearts? No doubt about it. Every Bible student is aware of God’s hardening of the heart of Pharaoh back in the book of Exodus. This was God’s plan before Moses arrived in Egypt. “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.’” (Exod. 4:21 NKJV)

Why did God do this? He tells us, as he told Pharaoh, “But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” (Exod. 9:16 NKJV) Paul quotes this passage in Rom. 9:17 and then in the very next verse says, “Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.” (Rom. 9:18 NKJV) God willed to harden Pharaoh’s heart.

Does God harden people’s hearts arbitrarily--just pick out people at random to harden their hearts? We know he does not, for “God is love.” (1 John 4:8 NKJV) He “desires all men to be saved.” (1 Tim. 2:4 NKJV) He is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV) “He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” (Lam. 3:33 NKJV) God does not harden a heart willingly, since a heart hardened against God represents a lost soul. There must be a reason that God hardens a heart.

There are difficult issues involved in understanding this subject. Whose hearts does God harden? Why? How does he do it?

Many that I have read after are pretty much under the conviction that the way God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and thus the heart of others whom he has hardened, is through his word. That is to say, God gives a command that a man does not want to receive and obey. He (the man) refuses to do so. The man thus hardens his own heart, but there is a sense in which it could be said God hardened the man’s heart by giving the commandment. The idea is that God’s word is the tool that God uses to harden the heart.

We can see there is truth that words can harden hearts from our everyday conversations and simple observation. Say the wrong thing to someone, innocent as your intentions may have been, and the first thing you know they are angry at you and develop a hardened attitude toward you. Hopefully, in your adult life, this has seldom happened to you personally, but I think we have all seen or observed the thing.

There is no doubt God’s word, when directed at one’s heart, can harden a heart already inclined to disbelieve and disobey (belief being against their perceived self-interest as they see it). His word rebukes the sinner, who then gets his back up and rebels even further.

There is much merit in the argument that God’s word does harden some. However, is that the only means God uses to harden people’s hearts he hardens? That is a very difficult question to answer. After all of the plagues were over and Pharaoh had released the children of Israel to leave Egypt, God instructs Moses to camp at Pi Hahiroth by the sea (Exod. 14:2), the reason being, “Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD.” (Exod. 14:4 NKJV) Here it seems a further hardening was coming. God intended for Pharaoh and his army to enter the Red Sea for their destruction.

That this is certain we can ascertain from the following passage:

“And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I indeed will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gained honor for Myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.’” (Exod. 14:15-18 NKJV)

This hardening seems to have come when the Egyptians were on the very edge of the bed of the Red Sea. It is hard to see how this hardening was just a function of the rejection of God’s word, for this hardening seems to be in addition to the hardening that had occurred earlier. On its face, it seems to be a hardening separate and apart from the word.

In Joshua 11 we find a similar passage along much the same lines. Joshua and the children of Israel are at war against the inhabitants of Canaan (the Promised Land). The passage reads as follows:

“There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. All the others they took in battle. For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might utterly destroy them, and that they might receive no mercy, but that He might destroy them, as the LORD had commanded Moses.” (Josh. 11:19-20 NKJV)

There were seven nations in the land of Canaan that God wanted totally destroyed. They were the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites (Deut. 7:1-2). Why were they to be destroyed? Was it just to make room for the children of Israel? No, it was because of sin. “It is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out from before you.” (Deut. 9:4 NKJV) How sinful were these nations? “Every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.” (Deut. 12:31 NKJV) For other passages describing the sins of these nations in greater detail, see Lev. 18 and Deut. 18:9-14. God obviously did not harden hearts that were not already hard. It takes a hard heart to burn your son or daughter to death.

Both of these cases, that of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and that of the people who inhabited the land of Canaan, seem to be examples of what some would call a judicial hardening. God had determined to pass judgment on them due to their sins and thus hardened their hearts to bring about their destruction. It was judgment day for them.

Two points ought to be made here. (1) People seem to be under the impression, and I have heard it said most of my life, that one can always repent and obey God as long as there is life in them--the idea being that we are judged after death. There is just enough truth in this line of thought, the truth being that God is longsuffering, to make it exceedingly dangerous to a man.

In both the cases above, just cited, was God not executing judgment on men while they lived by ending their lives? Many other such examples could be given from the Old Testament, and then we have Ananias and Sapphira in the New Testament (Acts 5). I do not see where the Bible teaches that a man can go on and on and on in sin without any need of fearing God here and now. A person living in sin ought to be fearful every day of God’s judgment. I am not saying what God will do, but I do not see how we can say what he won’t do.

(2) The second point is that God inhabits eternity. He knows what will be tomorrow as well as what was yesterday. “I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done.” (Isa. 46:9-10 NKJV) He knows us from beginning to end. While we have free will, he knows what we will choose before we make the decision. You say, “How can this be?” It is one of the great mysteries of God how God can have foreknowledge and yet man have free will. Some things are beyond man’s ability to understand. Some things we must accept by faith.

The point to be made is that God does not harden a man for destruction who was going to repent, if given more time to do so, for God knew already what the man would choose. There is no evidence in the Bible to support the idea that God ever has or will harden a heart that is not already hard.

Whatever means God used to harden Pharaoh’s heart, or anyone else’s heart for that matter, is then in a sense immaterial for the very reason that God does not harden hearts that are not already hard. It was only after the sixth plague that the Bible says the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exod. 9:12). Prior to that plague, it was Pharaoh who hardened his own heart.

John 12:37-40 is a New Testament passage on this subject that has caused some people some problems:

“But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: ‘Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?’ Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: ‘He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes and understand with their heart, lest they should turn, so that I should heal them.’” (John 12:37-40 NKJV)

In this passage it sounds like the Lord made it impossible for people to believe by blinding their eyes and hardening their hearts apart from their free will, that is, he did it before and without giving them an opportunity for salvation. If that were the case, then it would not be true that God “desires all men to be saved.” (1 Tim. 2:4 NKJV) It would not be true that God is “not willing that any should perish” (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV). We thus know that if God did in fact blind their eyes and harden their hearts, and in some sense or way he did, for the text says he did, it was not before they had an opportunity for salvation.

Isa. 6:10 is where Isaiah makes the statement about the hardening of the heart that John quotes in John 12:40. This same passage from Isaiah is also quoted by Jesus himself in Matt. 13:14-15 and by Paul in Acts 28:26-27. There is a slight twist, however, in Jesus’ and Paul’s quoting of the passage, which helps clarify the text when considering how the hardening effect came about. Jesus in quoting the Isaiah passage says, “their eyes they have closed” (Matt. 13:15 NKJV), and Paul says exactly the same thing in Acts 28:27. Compare Matt. 13:15 with Acts 28:27 (Jesus and Paul) and you will see, at least in the New King James Version, the exact same wording in both verses, which I quote:

“For the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their heart and turn, so that I should heal them.” (Matt. 13:15, Acts 28:27 NKJV)

Jesus makes it clear that it was the Jews themselves who closed their eyes, and if you will read the Acts passage in its context (Acts 28:23-28), you will see Paul was blaming the Jews for a refusal to accept the message of the gospel. As stated earlier, God’s word can harden people who are already, in their own hard hearts, immune to it. When that is the case, it can certainly be said with justification that God has hardened a person’s heart. That is what we seem to have in the Isaiah quotation found in the New Testament passages listed above, people who already have hard hearts that are hardened even further by the hearing of God’s word. God hardened their hearts by his word.

We today seem to think that the door of opportunity for salvation remains open endlessly for a man. It makes, so we think, little difference whether I obey the gospel today or twenty years from now (assuming one should live that long). If we as Christians are living in unfaithfulness, we have much the same attitude about time. We think, I can always repent. However, the Bible says, “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor. 6:2 NKJV)

Not only do we not know the day or hour of our death, nor do we know whether we shall be hardened, making salvation impossible. I do not say God will directly harden your heart (nor would I say he would not), but I know you can harden your own, and I also know when people are rebellious long enough and beyond hope that God will give them up (Israel and Judah of Old Testament times being examples). Judgment day is not necessarily some day off in the distant future. For all practical purposes, judgment day for you or me is the day we die or otherwise become incapable of responding to the Lord. Here is a quote from the Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary, Vol. 2: New Testament, page 34; which I think is applicable: “The cumulative effect of unbelief is a hardened attitude that becomes more impenetrable as time progresses.”

God is a God of love who offers to all the hope of salvation, at least up to a point in time largely determined by our own hearts. God will use us to accomplish or fulfill his will. If we are willing, we can be a vessel of his for honor (2 Tim. 2:21). But if we are unwilling, he can, if he so desires, still use us for his glory as he did the Egyptians who drowned in the Red Sea. We get to choose which way it will be. We are all given free will for a time, but who can say how long or short a time that may be?

“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor. 6:2 NKJV) “Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” (Heb. 3:15 NKJV) Amen!

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On Sinning Without Law

That man has always been under some kind of law from God, I think there is little doubt. We know Adam and Eve were under law, but what about those who came after them but before the Law of Moses? The flood came upon mankind because of “wickedness” and “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Gen. 6:5 NKJV) The earth was “corrupt before God” and “filled with violence.” (Gen. 6:11 NKJV) Peter spoke of the world before the flood as “the world of the ungodly.” (2 Peter 2:5 NKJV)

Were these people innocent, not having a law of God before them for guidance and direction in life? Did they not have a way of knowing right from wrong, good from evil? There is no evidence we have of a written law, but we do know Noah was “a preacher of righteousness.” (2 Peter 2:5 NKJV) How did Noah know what was righteous and what was not? What is my point? It is threefold: (1) God had a law by which man was to live even if unwritten, (2) man had some means by which to know God’s will, and (3) man could sin “without law,” that is, in this case, without written law. God would and did hold man responsible for man’s lawlessness by means of the flood.

Moving up to the account of the events surrounding the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Bible says, “The men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD.” (Gen. 13:13 NKJV) Lamentations 4:6 speaks of “the sin of Sodom.” (NKJV, NAS) But there was no written law. They sinned against God, but they sinned without law, but only in the sense of written law. God had a standard, a law, against their conduct whether written or not.

To elaborate, Peter says, speaking of Lot and Lot’s time in Sodom, “That righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds.” (2 Peter 2:8 NKJV) Lot saw them; Peter called them “lawless deeds,” so there was law there even without a formal code, as was later found in the Law of Moses.

I have said all of this in order to lay some background material for Paul’s discussion of the sins of the Gentiles in Romans 1. (I remind the reader the Gentiles were never given the Law of Moses; it was given to the Jews at Mt. Sinai while the Gentiles remained without a formal law code or written law from God.) I cannot quote it all here, but the reader would be advised to stop and read Rom. 1:18-32 before proceeding. Paul lists the sins of the Gentiles, especially in Rom. 1:29-32. How did the Gentiles come to know these things were sins? They had no written law, and in that sense they were “without law,” a phrase Paul uses later in Rom. 2:12.

I ask again, how did the Gentiles come to know these listed sins were sins when they were without law? That they did know is evident, for Paul says in Rom. 1:32, “Who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.” (NKJV) They knew; Paul says so.

I do not propose in this piece to give you answers that would be mere speculation on my part as to how the Gentiles were to know sin from righteousness other than the fact that some things ought to be self-evident to all men. The Gentiles went for thousands of years, up until Christ, without any kind of formal law from God, but they “sinned without law.” (Rom. 2:12 NKJV) One might ask, how can this be, since “sin is the transgression of the law?” (1 John 3:4 KJV) That is the question.

This is my opinion, and mark it down as that, just opinion, which is that God has law (or, put another way, a set of standards for conduct) whether it is given to man or not, and any violation of that law is sin. For example, as far as we know, God never told Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel not to murder or kill. Does that mean Cain did not sin when he murdered his brother? (Should one not know instinctively that this is sin?)

Sin is the transgression of God’s law, but one can sin without a formal law being in place. How would one do that? Well, one could not do it today since all men today are under the law of Christ, but back in Old Testament times, after Mt. Sinai and God’s covenant that was made there with the Jews, things were different. The world was divided thereafter into two groups of humanity. You were either a Jew or a Gentile (anyone not a Jew was a Gentile). To the Jews, God gave a formal law—the Law of Moses. The rest of humanity was without law, that is, without a written formal code of law.

The Jews obviously sinned anytime they broke the Law of Moses. The Gentiles sinned without law, without a formal law code such as the Law of Moses. However, that does not mean they did not break God’s law, for God has a standard of right and wrong whether it has been delivered to man formally or not.

Sin is a transgression of God’s law, period. Romans 1:18-32 is the Holy Spirit’s listing of and condemnation of the sins of the Gentiles. Paul says, “where there is no law there is no transgression” (Rom. 4:15 NKJV), thus the Gentiles were under condemnation for the very reason that they had transgressed God’s law. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Paul said in Rom. 3:23 (NKJV), but that would not be true of the Gentiles in the period under discussion if they had no law of God to transgress.

Where did this law that was never formally given to the Gentiles, that the Gentiles lived under, and a law they could and did violate, come from, since it was not formally given? Some of it came, evidently, naturally or instinctively, as Rom. 2:14 says, “For when Gentiles who do not have the law do instinctively the things of the Law, these not having the Law, are a law to themselves.” (NAS)

The law the Gentiles lived under was not as strict as that the Jews lived under. Of that, there can be little to no doubt. When the scriptures talk about doing instinctively the things of the Law, they surely are not speaking of offerings, sacrifices, clean and unclean foods, etc., the kinds of things that were regulated in detail and could only be known by a direct revelation from God (the very thing the Gentiles did not have). The scriptures thus had to be speaking of things that relate to man’s relationship with his fellowman and of his reverence toward God. Paul summed up the fulfillment of the law when he said, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Gal. 5:14 NKJV) A Gentile was capable of doing that without a formal written code.

Did anyone, Jew or Gentile, ever live perfectly without sinning against the law under which he lived? Of course not! That is the point Paul is driving home in Romans chapters 1 and 2. He says, “We have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, ‘There is none righteous, not even one.’” (Rom. 3:9-10 NAS)

Paul says, “Through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” (Rom. 3:20 NAS) Does this mean that since the Gentiles did not have a formal written code or even an oral code from God, they had no knowledge of sin? No! Why not? Paul speaks of “the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending themselves.” (Rom. 2:15 NAS) Is there a man, living or dead, Jesus being the exception, who ever lived to manhood who could honestly say he never violated his own code of conduct, his sense of right versus wrong, never ever violated his own conscience? Our own hearts have condemned us all at one point in time or another.

Law has condemned all men, even those the Bible refers to as being “without law,” for that phrase means only without a legal code of the likes of the Law of Moses.

There is a passage in Rom. 5 that raises questions that ought to be dealt with. It reads as follows: “For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.” (Rom. 5:13 NKJV)

If a person were to read this for the first time ever and have no knowledge of the Bible, he would think that God did not punish sin or hold man accountable for sin before giving to mankind a formal written code of law, but we have already discussed the account of the flood and why it came and talked about Sodom and Gomorrah, and we have even discussed how God held the Gentiles to account for their sins as recorded in chapter one of this very same book—the book of Romans. We have also discussed how men had law but just not a written law, and we have shown how the Gentiles violated the law, the light they did have.

My take on this verse (Rom. 5:13), then, is this—we take it at face value. What do I mean? It is a simple declaration, “sin is not imputed when there is no law.” (Rom. 5:13 NKJV) Thus, if sin exists at any place, anywhere, or anytime, among any people, then there was a law that was violated even though that law may not have been in the form of a written or oral code and may not have been in the form of a specific commandment such as Adam was given. Put another way, one could say it is impossible to sin against a law that does not exist; thus, if there is sin, there is law.

It is true, as some commentators point out, that there is no “the” before “law” in the original Greek of this Rom. 5:13 passage, but read in the context of Rom. 5:20, where, again, there is no “the” before “law,” I think it is obvious the law spoken of is the Law of Moses, for what other law was there that the text says “entered.” I know of none. Do you?

If Gentiles who lived in the period between Adam and Moses were eternally lost because of sin, how could it be said that sin is not imputed when there is no law (they had no law given by revelation as did the Jews)? We have already shown the wickedness of many in that time. The answer is there was law, just not a written code of the nature of the Law of Moses.

I add in closing that I do not presume to become the judge of the Gentiles before the Christian dispensation. That is God’s realm, not mine. I am only saying God was not unjust in those he condemned because they were “without law.”

What God will do with the Gentiles of those ages past who lived without a written code is a question only he has the answer to. I do know each of us will stand before the Lord on the Day of Judgment individually, not as a group, to answer for our own deeds. Luke 12:47-48 seems to teach we will be judged to an extent on our ability to know and do. My purpose in writing this article was certainly not to make myself a judge of the Gentiles or to answer questions men have been contemplating for centuries. But I do have an answer. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen. 18:25 NKJV)

Postscript: I reserve the right to revise my understanding of these matters, especially of the Rom. 5:13 passage, if in time to come I learn better. It is a difficult passage. While what a person must do to be saved in the scriptures is plain enough for all to understand, everyone will agree there are difficult passages in the Bible. One who reads the writings of others should always examine the scriptures for himself and never take any commentators’ words as the be-all and end-all of discussion.

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On Praying For Others

Is it a sin to not pray for others? When we think of sin, I am sure a failure to pray for others does not come immediately to mind like, say, lying, dishonesty, theft, slander, etc. and other more notorious sins. Yet, in the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 12, verse 23, we read this statement from Samuel spoken to the children of Israel: “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you.” (NKJV)

Now, I am not Samuel, but it makes you stop and think, does it not? Samuel was praying for God’s people. Are we exempt from doing the same? Are we under no obligation?

During Jesus’ ministry he once was asked what the greatest commandment in the law was . (Matt. 22:36) His response was to love God “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37 NKJV), but he then went on to talk about the second greatest commandment, which was “love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt. 22:39 NKJV) Do we pray for ourselves? If we do, are we not under obligation to pray for our neighbor? We are if we love him.

We are clearly commanded to love one another as disciples of Jesus, for none other than Jesus himself gave the commandment when he said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:34 NKJV) Thus, in the book of 1 John we read in chapter 3, verse 16, “By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” (NKJV)

If I am to love you as Jesus has loved you (and loved me), to the extent he gave his life for you, then surely I am to pray for you. Jesus prayed for us (John 17:20), and we are to “be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us.” (Eph. 5:1-2 NKJV)

But we are not just to love and pray for our neighbors and the brethren but even for our enemies, for Jesus himself has told us, “love your enemies” (Matt. 5:44 NKJV). You cannot love your enemy without seeking his welfare, and that certainly involves praying for him.

Paul asked the brethren to pray for him and his company, “Brethren, pray for us.” (1 Thess. 5:25 NKJV—see also 2 Thess. 3:1) The writer of the book of Hebrews requests prayers when he says simply, “Pray for us.” (Heb. 13:18 NKJV)

One prayer request by Paul seems to be more than just a request. To the Romans, he writes, “Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.” (Rom. 15:30 NKJV)

That one especially touches the heart, “I beg you.” Have you ever wished people would pray for you? I have wished they would pray for me. We often feel alone. People know us, but it seems too many are just figures passing in the night. They stop long enough to say hello, smile, and ask how you are, and then they are off and gone, and you are left alone with every single problem you ever had, and no one cares, or so it seems. We just wish someone cared enough to pray for us.

What is wanted is not just “Father, be with (you fill in the name).” What we want is people who really care, who really love us, whose prayer for us will be fervent, zealous, and deeply heartfelt. We want a sincere prayer from the heart, not just a word said in passing. When we become Christians who have taken God’s command to heart to love one another, only then will we get the kind of prayers that are sought and effective. It is “the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man” that “avails much.” (James 5:16 NKJV)

Paul prayed for others continually. To the Romans, he says, “Without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers.” (Rom. 1:9 NKJV) To the Colossians, he wrote, “We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.” (Col. 1:3 NKJV) To the Philippians, he wrote, “In every prayer of mine making request for you all.” (Phil. 1:4 NKJV) To the Thessalonians, he wrote, “We also pray always for you.” (2 Thess. 1:11 NKJV) In a personal letter to Timothy, he says, “Without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day.” (2 Tim. 1:3 NKJV)

We ought to pray for one another. Paul says, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” (1 Cor. 11:1 NKJV) Did Christ pray for his disciples? To ask is to answer. We are to “pray without ceasing.” (1 Thess. 5:17 NKJV) A question we all need to ask ourselves is how much of my praying time will I devote to praying for others? When I do pray for them, will it be with a deep heartfelt concern for their welfare or just to fulfill a requirement? I guess it comes down to how much I really love. That seems to be the bottom line, does it not? Does what is happening in the other guy’s life make any difference to me? The Bible teaches it should.

Jesus tells us to “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” (Matt. 5:44 NKJV)

Paul, in 1 Tim. 2:1-4, adds this, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (NKJV)

God is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV) In Rom. 10:1, Paul speaks of his praying for those who were not Christians, for his desire for them was that they might be saved. In 2 Cor. 5:11, he spoke of knowing the terror of the Lord and thus sought to persuade men. We too know something about the terror of the Lord and ought to be praying for those who need to obey the gospel, praying fervently on their behalf, praying that such events might transpire in their life that their eyes will be opened and they can see their need and will turn to the Lord.

We ought to be praying for the needy, the poor, the sick, the lonely, the alien, for those who have fallen away, the aged, the young, parents, children, and many, many others, for the list could go on. I have all of the proof I need to make up my mind whether or not it is a sin to not pray on behalf of others. I will pray for others and hope they will pray for me.

Will it do any good? James said it would (James 5:16), but it will have to be a “fervent prayer of a righteous man.” (NKJV) There are many, many people who need prayers beginning with little children to the very aged, and yet there is, I fear, a shortage of righteous men and women to do the job. It is a good work greatly needed.

“Epaphras,” Paul told the Colossians, “greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers.” (Col. 4:12 NKJV) The prayer of a righteous man is a labor of love. May God send us more righteous men and women willing to labor fervently in prayer for others, and I hope some of those prayers will be for you and me.

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