WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:18.320 Welcome to Trouble in Paradise. Most Christians 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:21.219 are taught to understand the gospel by starting 00:00:21.219 --> 00:00:24.199 with one central question. How am I forgiven? 00:00:24.420 --> 00:00:27.780 Forgiveness is clearly central to the New Testament. 00:00:28.170 --> 00:00:30.250 Again and again, you see that through Christ, 00:00:30.390 --> 00:00:32.969 sins are forgiven, reconciliation with God is 00:00:32.969 --> 00:00:36.049 possible, and humanity is offered mercy and restoration. 00:00:36.509 --> 00:00:39.189 So, how am I forgiven feels like an obvious question. 00:00:39.350 --> 00:00:41.990 Because we all know we've sinned. We all know 00:00:41.990 --> 00:00:44.490 we need forgiveness. But that question assumes 00:00:44.490 --> 00:00:47.509 something. And it's an assumption most of us 00:00:47.509 --> 00:00:50.450 have never really questioned. Is forgiveness 00:00:50.450 --> 00:00:53.789 the gospel? It's essential. Without it, there's 00:00:53.789 --> 00:00:58.460 no gospel. But it is not the gospel itself. wasn't 00:00:58.460 --> 00:01:02.159 invented by Christianity. The Greek word evangelion, 00:01:02.299 --> 00:01:05.519 good news, was already used in the ancient world. 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:07.980 One of the clearest examples comes from an inscription 00:01:07.980 --> 00:01:11.260 celebrating the birth of Augustus, dating to 00:01:11.260 --> 00:01:14.019 around 9 BC, the Priene calendar inscription. 00:01:14.379 --> 00:01:17.840 It calls his birth the beginning of the good 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:20.640 news for the world. His birth was proclaimed 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:23.920 as good news, a gospel. So when Mark the evangelist 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:26.859 opens with the beginning of the gospel, of Jesus 00:01:26.859 --> 00:01:30.079 Christ, it is not neutral. It is a direct claim. 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:32.840 You have heard of the gospel of Caesar. This 00:01:32.840 --> 00:01:35.739 is the real one. Because a king has been born, 00:01:35.879 --> 00:01:39.500 a ruler who will bring peace, order, and stability. 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:41.959 In the Roman world, that kind of announcement 00:01:41.959 --> 00:01:44.519 did not appear out of nowhere. It was preceded 00:01:44.519 --> 00:01:47.180 by heralds, sent ahead to announce the arrival, 00:01:47.379 --> 00:01:49.799 call people to prepare, and frame the message 00:01:49.799 --> 00:01:52.859 so it would be properly received. The gospel 00:01:52.859 --> 00:01:56.359 of Caesar came with its own forerunners. So when 00:01:56.359 --> 00:01:58.500 John the Baptist appears, preaching repentance 00:01:58.500 --> 00:02:01.379 and preparing the way, this is not random imagery. 00:02:01.659 --> 00:02:04.659 It is a deliberate parallel. St. John the Baptist, 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:07.359 the forerunner, as the Orthodox still call him, 00:02:07.459 --> 00:02:11.099 occupies the same role as the heralds of Caesar's 00:02:11.099 --> 00:02:14.199 gospel. The difference is simple. What was propaganda 00:02:14.199 --> 00:02:17.280 under Rome becomes truth in Christ. And in that 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:19.259 same world, there was a confession people were 00:02:19.259 --> 00:02:22.680 expected to make. Caesar is Lord. And that wasn't 00:02:22.680 --> 00:02:25.120 just political language. Caesar wasn't seen. 00:02:25.550 --> 00:02:28.770 just as a ruler. He was honored as a divine figure, 00:02:28.949 --> 00:02:32.349 the son of a God, one who carried authority that 00:02:32.349 --> 00:02:35.090 was not just earthly but sacred. So to say Caesar 00:02:35.090 --> 00:02:38.490 is Lord was not just loyalty to the empire, it 00:02:38.490 --> 00:02:42.090 was participation in a religious reality. When 00:02:42.090 --> 00:02:44.250 the first Christians began proclaiming the gospel, 00:02:44.490 --> 00:02:47.409 they were stepping directly into that world. 00:02:47.590 --> 00:02:50.129 I want this to sink in a bit. The gospel, then, 00:02:50.250 --> 00:02:53.530 by definition, can't be reduced to forgiveness 00:02:53.530 --> 00:02:56.219 for sins. It must include forgiveness for sins. 00:02:56.599 --> 00:02:58.800 Because to live in the kingdom, you need to be 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:00.879 put right with God. You need the relationship 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:03.460 to be established or restored. But they were 00:03:03.460 --> 00:03:06.280 not just offering a religious message or a formula 00:03:06.280 --> 00:03:09.460 about justification or a method for getting people 00:03:09.460 --> 00:03:11.780 saved. Not a moment you can reduce to a single 00:03:11.780 --> 00:03:14.000 prayer. Not something you could wrap up and say, 00:03:14.060 --> 00:03:16.340 now you're in. It wasn't a system you applied. 00:03:16.599 --> 00:03:19.180 They were making a direct challenge. Because 00:03:19.180 --> 00:03:21.639 their confession was just as simple and far more 00:03:21.639 --> 00:03:24.810 dangerous, Jesus is Lord. not caesar and that 00:03:24.810 --> 00:03:27.750 carried real consequences because to say jesus 00:03:27.750 --> 00:03:30.169 is lord in a world where caesar was worshipped 00:03:30.169 --> 00:03:32.949 as lord was to reject the entire structure of 00:03:32.949 --> 00:03:35.310 authority around you it was denied that caesar 00:03:35.310 --> 00:03:38.030 was divine to deny that his rule was ultimate 00:03:38.030 --> 00:03:41.789 to deny that his gospel was actually good news 00:03:41.789 --> 00:03:44.409 and that's why this wasn't just a private belief 00:03:44.409 --> 00:03:47.909 it was a public declaration that a different 00:03:47.909 --> 00:03:50.169 king had come that a different victory had been 00:03:50.169 --> 00:03:53.210 won that a different kingdom had begun And that's 00:03:53.210 --> 00:03:56.930 what the word gospel meant. Not a formula, an 00:03:56.930 --> 00:03:59.430 announcement. This is what has happened. And 00:03:59.430 --> 00:04:02.509 because this has happened, now you repent. Now 00:04:02.509 --> 00:04:04.969 you believe. Now you live as a citizen of that 00:04:04.969 --> 00:04:08.569 kingdom under that king. Because the gospel refers 00:04:08.569 --> 00:04:11.330 to events, something that has taken place, a 00:04:11.330 --> 00:04:14.210 victory. And forgiveness is part of that. But 00:04:14.210 --> 00:04:16.589 it's part of something larger. The goal isn't 00:04:16.589 --> 00:04:19.490 forgiveness in isolation. Forgiveness is caught 00:04:19.490 --> 00:04:22.149 up in a much bigger movement. A restoration, 00:04:22.529 --> 00:04:25.709 a reign, a victory over sin and death itself. 00:04:25.970 --> 00:04:28.790 And once you see that, something else starts 00:04:28.790 --> 00:04:31.529 to stand out. Because if the gospel is that big, 00:04:31.610 --> 00:04:34.910 if it's about a king, a victory, the restoration 00:04:34.910 --> 00:04:37.209 of humanity, then starting with the question, 00:04:37.350 --> 00:04:39.730 how am I forgiven, might already be too small. 00:04:39.810 --> 00:04:43.129 Not wrong, but incomplete. Because it narrows 00:04:43.129 --> 00:04:45.470 the problem down to something I've done. But 00:04:45.470 --> 00:04:47.689 the gospel seems to be addressing something larger. 00:04:47.870 --> 00:04:51.209 Something about what humanity is. And that's 00:04:51.209 --> 00:04:53.730 when another question begins to surface. Not 00:04:53.730 --> 00:04:56.850 just, what have I done wrong? But what am I? 00:04:56.949 --> 00:04:59.350 Because we don't just say, I've sinned. We say, 00:04:59.470 --> 00:05:01.949 I'm a sinner. And that might sound like the same 00:05:01.949 --> 00:05:03.750 thing, but it's not. One describes something 00:05:03.750 --> 00:05:06.470 I've done. The other describes something I am. 00:05:06.810 --> 00:05:09.509 And once you say, I am a sinner, you've made 00:05:09.509 --> 00:05:11.649 a claim about your condition. So now the question 00:05:11.649 --> 00:05:14.410 shifts. Am I someone who becomes a sinner because 00:05:14.410 --> 00:05:17.350 I sin? Or someone who sins because I already 00:05:17.350 --> 00:05:19.939 am one? If it's the second, then the problem 00:05:19.939 --> 00:05:22.560 doesn't begin with my actions. It begins before 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:26.560 my actions, before I choose, before I act, before 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:28.980 I do anything at all. And once the problem is 00:05:28.980 --> 00:05:32.060 located there, everything else starts to shift. 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:35.079 Because now the focus can no longer be on how 00:05:35.079 --> 00:05:37.639 I live or what it means to live under the reign 00:05:37.639 --> 00:05:40.360 of Christ. It has to move somewhere else. Now 00:05:40.360 --> 00:05:43.319 the question becomes, how is that condition dealt 00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:46.600 with? How is that guilt removed? And this is 00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:49.379 where the emphasis of the gospel begins to narrow, 00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:52.500 where what was once the announcement of a king 00:05:52.500 --> 00:05:55.439 and a call to live under his rule becomes centered 00:05:55.439 --> 00:05:58.600 almost entirely on personal sin, forgiveness, 00:05:58.860 --> 00:06:01.180 and going to heaven. Because if my problem begins 00:06:01.180 --> 00:06:04.379 before I'm born, if there's no meaningful distinction 00:06:04.379 --> 00:06:07.259 between Adam and me, then everything has to resolve 00:06:07.259 --> 00:06:10.360 around forgiveness and how that forgiveness is 00:06:10.360 --> 00:06:12.420 applied to me. And before going any further, 00:06:12.500 --> 00:06:14.899 I need to be clear. I'm not denying that we're 00:06:14.899 --> 00:06:18.399 sinners. I'm not denying that we sin. I'm not 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:20.319 denying that we need forgiveness. That's not 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:22.839 the question. The question is, when did I become 00:06:22.839 --> 00:06:25.920 a sinner? Did I become a sinner because I sinned? 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:29.079 Because I chose wrongly? Because I acted against 00:06:29.079 --> 00:06:32.540 God? Or was I already a sinner before I ever 00:06:32.540 --> 00:06:34.959 chose anything at all? This is where it stops 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:38.120 being abstract. Think about an infant. Not a 00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:40.579 child who's grown. Not someone who's acted. An 00:06:40.579 --> 00:06:43.259 infant. Before any decisions. Before any willful 00:06:43.259 --> 00:06:46.319 actions. Before anything you would normally call 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:49.040 sin. What are they? Are they already guilty? 00:06:49.480 --> 00:06:52.139 Already in need of forgiveness? Already under 00:06:52.139 --> 00:06:54.259 something that has to be removed? Or are they 00:06:54.259 --> 00:06:57.060 something else? A human being born into death, 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:00.120 into weakness, into a condition that will lead 00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:03.100 to sin, but not yet guilty of anything? Because 00:07:03.100 --> 00:07:05.019 however you answer that question, you've just 00:07:05.019 --> 00:07:07.720 answered when you believe a person becomes a 00:07:07.720 --> 00:07:10.279 sinner. And you can see how different traditions 00:07:10.279 --> 00:07:12.959 have tried to answer that question. In Roman 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:16.379 Catholic theology, the answer is clear. The infant 00:07:16.379 --> 00:07:19.300 is born with inherited guilt, which is why baptism 00:07:19.300 --> 00:07:22.819 happens immediately, because something real has 00:07:22.819 --> 00:07:26.319 to be removed. But confirmation is delayed, separated, 00:07:26.759 --> 00:07:29.560 it's pushed later. So something must be done 00:07:29.560 --> 00:07:32.480 immediately, but participation is still in the 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:35.899 future. And in many Protestant and evangelical 00:07:35.899 --> 00:07:38.740 traditions, the shift goes even further. You 00:07:38.740 --> 00:07:41.079 begin to hear a language like age of accountability. 00:07:41.579 --> 00:07:45.220 Listen to that phrase, accountability. Because 00:07:45.220 --> 00:07:47.800 right in the middle of it is another word, ability. 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:51.420 The ability to respond. The ability to choose. 00:07:51.579 --> 00:07:55.300 The ability to be held responsible. So what does 00:07:55.300 --> 00:07:58.259 that assume? It assumes there's a point where 00:07:58.259 --> 00:08:01.259 that ability begins. A moment where someone becomes 00:08:01.259 --> 00:08:04.899 capable, which means they were not before that. 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:07.279 And now you have two different answers to the 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:10.100 same question. The problem is already there from 00:08:10.100 --> 00:08:13.100 the beginning. Guilt is present and must be removed. 00:08:13.639 --> 00:08:16.459 And the other says the problem becomes real when 00:08:16.459 --> 00:08:19.319 the person becomes capable, when the will is 00:08:19.319 --> 00:08:21.560 able to respond. And this is the point. These 00:08:21.560 --> 00:08:24.699 aren't just different practices. They're different 00:08:24.699 --> 00:08:28.399 assumptions about what a human being is from 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:31.300 the beginning, what the will is, what it's capable 00:08:31.300 --> 00:08:34.279 of. Because whether you say it explicitly or 00:08:34.279 --> 00:08:36.860 not, you are answering the same question. Is 00:08:36.860 --> 00:08:40.600 the human from the start already guilty and unable? 00:08:41.070 --> 00:08:43.830 or wounded, but still capable of responding when 00:08:43.830 --> 00:08:45.990 healed by grace. And you've also said something 00:08:45.990 --> 00:08:48.590 about their will. Because if the problem is already 00:08:48.590 --> 00:08:51.850 there before any action, then what can the will 00:08:51.850 --> 00:08:54.769 actually do? Is it capable of turning toward 00:08:54.769 --> 00:08:58.649 God? Or is it incapable, unable, something that 00:08:58.649 --> 00:09:01.690 must be overridden? And this is where the idea 00:09:01.690 --> 00:09:04.970 of original sin starts to look different. Because 00:09:04.970 --> 00:09:07.509 in much of Western Christianity, original sin 00:09:07.509 --> 00:09:11.350 is understood primarily in terms of guilt. something 00:09:11.350 --> 00:09:13.450 inherited, something that needs to be removed, 00:09:13.610 --> 00:09:16.009 something that places you under condemnation 00:09:16.009 --> 00:09:18.769 from the get -go. But there's another way of 00:09:18.769 --> 00:09:21.929 understanding it, not as inherited guilt, but 00:09:21.929 --> 00:09:25.070 as inherited death. A humanity that has become 00:09:25.070 --> 00:09:28.529 subject to corruption, to decay, to mortality, 00:09:28.710 --> 00:09:31.350 and because of that, fear enters in, weakness 00:09:31.350 --> 00:09:34.769 enters in, disorder enters in, and sin flows 00:09:34.769 --> 00:09:38.389 out of that condition. Because when death reigns, 00:09:38.389 --> 00:09:41.429 everything begins to bend around it. We grasp. 00:09:41.690 --> 00:09:44.929 We fear. We protect ourselves. We turn inward. 00:09:45.450 --> 00:09:48.149 And in doing that, we sin. So the problem isn't 00:09:48.149 --> 00:09:50.490 just that we are guilty. It's that we are dying. 00:09:50.669 --> 00:09:54.090 And sin is what that looks like over time. And 00:09:54.090 --> 00:09:56.389 for many Protestants and Evangelicals, even hearing 00:09:56.389 --> 00:09:59.289 that, that death drives depravity, can sound 00:09:59.289 --> 00:10:02.049 like a downplaying of sin. But in reality, it's 00:10:02.049 --> 00:10:04.590 the only way to understand it. Because if sin 00:10:04.590 --> 00:10:08.049 is rooted in death, in corruption, in fear, in 00:10:08.049 --> 00:10:10.669 a humanity that is unraveling, then it's not 00:10:10.669 --> 00:10:13.850 smaller. It's deeper. It's something that runs 00:10:13.850 --> 00:10:15.950 through everything. And this is where something 00:10:15.950 --> 00:10:18.690 else becomes clear. In many evangelical settings, 00:10:18.950 --> 00:10:21.370 you'll hear people say they don't believe in 00:10:21.370 --> 00:10:23.889 original sin, at least not in the sense of inherited 00:10:23.889 --> 00:10:26.730 guilt. And yet at the same time, the way salvation 00:10:26.730 --> 00:10:29.330 is presented, the emphasis on a decisive moment, 00:10:29.529 --> 00:10:32.250 the language of being saved or not saved, still 00:10:32.250 --> 00:10:34.629 assumes something very close to it. Because even 00:10:34.629 --> 00:10:36.750 if the language changes, the structure often 00:10:36.750 --> 00:10:39.549 remains. The idea that something is fundamentally 00:10:39.549 --> 00:10:41.950 wrong from the beginning, that a person stands 00:10:41.950 --> 00:10:44.789 in need of a decisive change. And historically, 00:10:44.789 --> 00:10:47.649 those ideas come from the same theological soil 00:10:47.649 --> 00:10:50.350 as confessional Protestantism, which has been 00:10:50.350 --> 00:10:52.990 very explicit about original sin, about the will 00:10:52.990 --> 00:10:55.730 being bound, about humanity being unable to turn 00:10:55.730 --> 00:10:58.350 toward God apart from grace. Because doctrines 00:10:58.350 --> 00:11:00.750 don't disappear just because the language changes. 00:11:00.889 --> 00:11:03.389 They continue to shape. how we understand the 00:11:03.389 --> 00:11:06.049 human person, what we think is wrong, and what 00:11:06.049 --> 00:11:08.289 we think needs to happen. And if that's the problem, 00:11:08.429 --> 00:11:11.730 then everything begins to change. The will is 00:11:11.730 --> 00:11:15.309 not something that has to be replaced. It's something 00:11:15.309 --> 00:11:18.750 that has to be healed. And when I say wounded 00:11:18.750 --> 00:11:21.990 or infer wounded, I don't mean lightly. I don't 00:11:21.990 --> 00:11:24.190 mean slightly damaged. I mean something far more 00:11:24.190 --> 00:11:28.110 serious. Orthodoxy is not Pelagian or semi -Pelagian. 00:11:28.230 --> 00:11:30.929 The opposite of Pelagian isn't an ability. And 00:11:30.929 --> 00:11:32.889 this is where another assumption starts to come 00:11:32.889 --> 00:11:35.070 into view. We've been taught to think in extremes. 00:11:35.389 --> 00:11:38.370 Either the human person is capable or completely 00:11:38.370 --> 00:11:42.309 incapable. Either Pelagian or unable. But that's 00:11:42.309 --> 00:11:44.009 not actually the historic Christian distinction. 00:11:44.210 --> 00:11:47.230 Because the opposite of Pelagianism is an inability. 00:11:47.610 --> 00:11:50.549 It's dependence. It's not a will that can save 00:11:50.549 --> 00:11:52.889 itself. And it's also not a will that is completely 00:11:52.889 --> 00:11:56.710 absent. But a will that is real, wounded, and 00:11:56.710 --> 00:11:59.330 entirely dependent on God for its healing. A 00:11:59.330 --> 00:12:02.149 will that can respond, but only because it is 00:12:02.149 --> 00:12:05.350 being restored. The will can become so disordered, 00:12:05.370 --> 00:12:09.009 so entangled, so turned in on itself, that it 00:12:09.009 --> 00:12:12.350 can feel almost gone. Wounded in that sense can 00:12:12.350 --> 00:12:15.470 mean mortally wounded, but not destroyed. But 00:12:15.470 --> 00:12:18.210 so distorted that without healing, it cannot 00:12:18.210 --> 00:12:21.129 function as it was meant to. And that healing 00:12:21.129 --> 00:12:23.820 doesn't come from the will fixing itself. It 00:12:23.820 --> 00:12:25.740 comes through union with Christ, through His 00:12:25.740 --> 00:12:27.779 death and resurrection, through the power of 00:12:27.779 --> 00:12:29.559 the Holy Spirit, through the breaking of what 00:12:29.559 --> 00:12:32.799 binds us, and through a life that continues to 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:35.600 turn toward God, not as merit, but as trust. 00:12:35.820 --> 00:12:38.899 If that's the problem, the cross becomes victory 00:12:38.899 --> 00:12:42.159 over death. Salvation is no longer just forgiveness. 00:12:42.360 --> 00:12:45.460 It becomes healing, restoration, participation 00:12:45.460 --> 00:12:49.360 in life. And the will is not something God overrides, 00:12:49.399 --> 00:12:51.980 but something He restores. So the question isn't 00:12:51.980 --> 00:12:54.350 just, How am I forgiven? The deeper question 00:12:54.350 --> 00:12:57.049 is, what kind of creature am I? And depending 00:12:57.049 --> 00:12:59.269 on how you answer that, you don't just get different 00:12:59.269 --> 00:13:01.149 doctrines, you get a different gospel.