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 | | From: | Norman Barry Cope | | Subject: | Could Jesus Sin? | | Date: | Sat, 08 Jan 2005 15:07:34 GMT |
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 | Dear all,
(Thank you to Deac Mod for explaining the presence of garbage in my earlier
post Re: Christian or New Age?)
The letter reproduced below was sent to Pastor FitzHenry and others over 3
years ago. We appreciate that we are opening up a 2000 year old debate,
which will not be resolved this side of eternity, according to God's will.
However, this n.g. may be interested in our replies so far, and we would be
interested in views on our letter.
In writing; , an RC friend
and a Professor Headley (both now deceased), and Jim Sutton of
alt.religion.christian.home-church have declared that Jesus could
sin.
In conversation, we have only encountered two gentlemen who believe Jesus
could not sin. One is a local minister of the Unity Church, the other a
member of the Plymouth (Close) Brethren here in Barbados.
In reading, notably, Dr. Walter Martin (now deceased) in his book The
Kingdom of the Cults believed firmly that Jesus could not sin.
Our relatives and friends in the Seventh Day Adventist Church are generally
backing away from the debate,
choosing to stay firmly with their belief that Jesus could sin. I have
posted the letter in alt.religion.christian.adventist, but so far there has
been no response. Contacts with other denominations have also drawn a blank.
One nephew,
a pastor of a pentacostal church in USA (website www.tonyproductions.com)
feels that for his personal relationship with Jesus, he prefers that He
could have sinned (but didn't!). (Rather than our view as expressed in the
letter to FH saying we would not disclose any defect in His character if it
existed).
We fully endorse the SDA directive to study the Bible, but we do not find
any reference there as to whether or not Jesus could have sinned. It seems
this debate developed later in the history of Christianity.Certainly, He did
not sin. Concerning His 'ability' to sin, we prefer the analysis of A.
Melville in the SDA 27 Fundamental Doctrines... who distinguishes between
innocent infirmities and evil propensities. We mortals have both, but Jesus
in His divine human form (different to ours) only had the former.
It may be that as mature Christians, we will have to beg to differ, and
continue to have fellowship in the way God has ordained.
Barry AC. (not sure why the Alleyne bit has been dropped in our postings!)
(Amended version was posted in alt.religion.christian.home-church)
LETTER TO SDA EVANGELIST - NO REPLY.
Barbados.
15th. April, 2001.
Dear Pastor FitzHenry,
We respectfully request your consideration of the following matter, which is
giving us concern as we endeavour to develop our relationship with Jesus. At
a deeply human personal level, we feel that if we love someone very dearly,
then the slightest intimation that there was some defect in that person's
character would be vehemently denied, true or false. We therefore find it
deeply disturbing that something regarding the human nature of Jesus, held
by so-called Christians, has come to our attention. Along with "break-away"
churches within the SDA movement such as "Truth for the Final Generation"
and "Thusia SDA" Trinidad, even among mainstream Adventists there are
individual members who believe that Christ could have sinned, and the
break-away churches go so far as to say that He dwelt in "sinful human
flesh". From our own searches of the literature, especially "Seventh-Day
Adventists Believe - 27 Fundamental Doctrines" (General Conference, Review
and Herald Publishers, 1988), it appears that the official SDA position
repudiates this, and strongly affirms the full divinity of Jesus as
manifested in the Holy Trinity. However, on the question of whether or not
Christ could have sinned, "27 Fundamental Doctrines" cites Philip Schaff and
Karl Ullman in support of the official SDA agreement with these authors that
yes, He could have sinned. (pgs 48 & 49 & references). Unfortunately, in
this section, there are no references to the Scriptures. Following the basic
SDA premise that the Bible is the ONLY authority from which we should
develop our spiritual relationship with Jesus, we would be profoundly moved
if you could refer us to those Scriptures that explicitly state that Christ
could have sinned.
We have, of course, already abandoned any attempt to find
Scriptural support for the idea that Jesus dwelt in sinful human flesh, for
it simply does not exist. Following up 15 Scriptural references supplied by
"Truth for the Final Generation" in support of their idea that Jesus dwelt
in sinful human flesh, and consulting four different English translations of
the Bible, out of the total of 60 readings we found ONE which was EXPLICIT
(incidentally in favour of our belief!). Romans 8.3 is translated in "The
Living Bible Edition", (Tyndale House Publishers, 1971) as: "He sent his
own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful, and
destroyed sin's control over us by giving himself as a sacrifice for our
sins." The other 59 references, one of the Bibles was of course the KJV,
were not as explicit as this, and therefore, it seems, more open to
interpretation. To put our question as simply and as briefly as possible,
please give us the Scriptural references which support the official SDA
position as hinted at in "27 Fundamental Doctrines" (pgs 48 & 49), and if
these do not exist please confirm us in our belief that Jesus could not have
sinned, and that, in fact, He was truly God in the fullness of the meaning
as conveyed by the concept of the Holy Trinity.
Kindest regards,
Barry and Malvina Alleyne-Cope.
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