14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world … 17 From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. (Galatians 6:14, 17)

Paul’s great aim in this epistle to the Galatians is the defence of the gospel. The core of this gospel, which he expounds throughout the book, is the fact that we are justified (meaning, ‘made right’ with God, or counted ‘as if we have never sinned’) through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross alone, apart from works (anything we ever did or will ever do).

The recipients of his letter—the Galatian church—had been led to Christ through Paul’s preaching (we see this in Gal. 4:13) and the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. As Paul recounts, they had begun their Christian journey well, having put their faith in Christ (see Gal. 3:2) and been filled with the Holy Spirit (see Gal. 4:6). They consequently walked in step with the Spirit, outworking what He worked in them at their conversion, even in the face of persecution (Gal. 3:28-29).

But then, a faction of the Jewish Christians, who regarded the Levitical laws of the Old Testament as binding on all Christians, came to the Galatian church, preaching what Paul calls ‘another gospel, which is no gospel at all’, and were leading some members of the congregation astray.

In Apostolic Astonishment, Paul retorted:

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Gal. 1:6-9)

What was the content of this ‘other gospel’? Essentially, these Jewish false preachers were telling the Galatian Christians that faith in Christ alone was not enough to save them; they needed to keep the Jewish laws, specifically those regarding circumcision, or else their Christianity wouldn’t be complete. To which Paul responded:

2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.

(Gal. 5:2-3)

Isn’t Paul being a bit too harsh? Is one small compromise such a big deal? Indeed, it is! Any attempt to add to the finished work of Christ on the cross is a slap in the face of Jesus, as it suggests he wasted his time going to the cross – we are well capable of achieving our own salvation without his help.

Paul encouraged the Galatian Christians not to allow themselves to be enslaved again under a set of rules (5:1). Faith in Christ means we are free from the ‘curse of the law’ (3:13). Practically, this means we live by faith in Christ for every aspect of our Christian lives. We no longer rely on our own strengths or abilities. We derive our strength and worth from the finished work of Christ on the cross.

In the cross:

1) We have total forgiveness for our sins (2:16). We owed a moral debt we could not pay. Christ paid the debt, and thus, our slate has been wiped clean and our sins ‘blotted out’ (Isa. 43:25, 44:22; Mic. 7:18-19; Heb. 8:12, cf. Jer. 31:34)

2) We have an inheritance waiting for us in heaven (Gal. 3:29). As an initial deposit and foretaste of what is awaiting us in heaven, God has given us His Spirit as a guarantee (Eph. 1:14)

3) We have become heirs with Christ – meaning we share His life and righteousness and have become members of God’s family. We are His royal sons and daughters (Gal. 4:7)

4) We are filled with God’s Spirit and can call God ‘Abba, Father!’ (Gal. 4:6). We are no longer slaves to sin but have become God’s children. We don’t have to prove ourselves to our Father; this is the critical distinction between a ‘son’ and a slave. Father loves us just because He loves us, in spite of us.

As Paul comes to the end of his letter, where we pick up our opening passage, he recaps everything he has been telling the Galatian Christians. He encourages them to put no confidence in the flesh but fully and only trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross. His summary statement, found in Chapter 6:11-17, can be summed up in this way:

“Boast in the cross!” “That is all that matters!”

Paul makes a similar conclusion to his letter to the Philippians. In the final chapter, he writes,

“Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—”

Paul uses the same root word (kauxáomai) translated as ‘boast’ in our opening passage. Thus, to boast in the cross is the same as to glory in it. This is contrasted with putting confidence in the flesh, which here represents ‘works’ or our own efforts, strength, abilities or merit.

Practical implications

What does it mean to boast or glory in the cross? Strong’s Greek Concordance defines kauxáomai as “living with ‘head up high,’ i.e., boasting from a particular vantage point by having the right base of operation to deal successfully with a matter”. Strong provides the word’s etymology, as likely derived from the root, auχēn (“neck”), i.e., what holds the neck up high or upright. Thus, to boast or glory in this context refers to living with God-given confidence.

In light of Paul’s teaching in Galatians, I suggest the following practical applications of boasting in the cross.

1) Daily living at the foot of the cross

To boast in the cross means recognising that so far as my efforts didn’t save me, neither can they add or take from my salvation. It is very easy to mentally assent that we’re saved by grace through faith alone yet live as though our salvation depends on our works. Living by faith means daily living at the foot of the cross, drawing from the power of Christ already at work within us (see Ephesians 3:20) to live the Christian life.

The questions below offer a quick test as to whether we’re walking the talk so far as living by faith is concerned.

a) Do you feel the need to ‘prove yourself’ to God so He doesn’t regret saving you?

b) Do you pat yourself at the back for being a ‘good person’, e.g., ’a good giver/tither’, ‘good husband’, ‘good father’, ‘good child’, or whatever else you hold yourself to be good at? Or you reckon that you are what you are solely by the grace of God?

c) Do you find yourself thinking God’ owes’ you certain blessings because of your obedience or service to Him in one way or another?

d) What is the first thought that comes to mind when you consider people whose lives are contrary to the gospel – for example, that drunk or addict in your neighbourhood? Do you find yourself thinking, ‘I thank God I’m not like that’?

2) Treasuring Jesus more than anything in the world

Is Christ your greatest treasure? To Paul, having Christ was everything. Even if living a gospel-centric life meant he would be persecuted, he didn’t mind. He was content to ‘bear on his body the marks of Jesus’. Boasting in the cross means being able to say with Asaph, “Whom have I in heaven but you, and there is nothing on earth I desire besides you” (Ps. 73:25), and with the hymnist, ‘Sɛ me wɔ Yesu a, me wɔ ade nyinara, sɛ Yesu bɔ me a, ade nyinara abɔ me” [If I have Jesus, I have everything, if I lose Jesus, I have lost everything]. Is Christ enough for you? Would you be content if God never did anything else for you after the cross?

In the same breath that Paul said he boasts in the cross, he added, “by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world”. In other words, nothing in the world was worth comparing to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ via the cross.

3) A life of devotion to Christ

Jesus said that those who have been forgiven much love much (Luke 7:47). Glorying in the cross means that we henceforth live every moment of our lives with the cross in view. To Paul, that meant being branded for Christ! He declares, “From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” (Gal. 6:17).

Isaac Watts, in his classic hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”, writes:

When I survey the wond’rous Cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but Loss,
And pour contempt on all my Pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God:
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to his blood.

In the final stanza, he avows:

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Watts is right. A true appreciation of the cross will culminate in only one response: a life sold to, enamoured, and entranced by the One who loved us and gave Himself for us that we might be forgiven.

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The age of accountability

It is not as if children don’t sin. Much as we would love to deny it, we see quite early in the behaviour of infants and little children, patterns that affirm a heart of sin—be it in the unkind words they speak to one another, in their self-centeredness and crave to have their way at all costs, in their bent to disobey the instruction of their parents, anger, tantrums, etc. These acts, though not well thought out by the child, are clearly sinful, going by the Biblical definition of sin.

Augustine notes in his Confessions¹, “Who is there to remind me of the sin of my infancy? (for sin there was: no one is free from sin in your sight, not even an infant whose span of earthly life is but a single day); who can remind me of it? Some little mite who is a tiny child now, in whom I might observe conduct I do not remember in myself? What then was my sin at that age? Was it perhaps that I cried so greedily for those breasts? Certainly if I behaved like that now, greedy not for breasts, of course, but for food suitable to my age, I should provoke derision and be very properly rebuked. My behaviour then was equally deserving of rebuke, but since I would not have been able to understand anyone who scolded me, neither custom nor common sense allowed any rebuke be given. After all, we eradicate these habits, and throw them off as we grow up. Yes, but I have never seen any sensible person throw away good things when clearing out, so can we suppose that even in an infant such actions were good—the actions of a child who begs tearfully for objects that will harm him if given, gets into a tantrum when free persons, older persons and his parents, will not comply with his whims, tries to hurt many people who know better by hitting out at them as hard as his strength allows, simply because they will not immediately fall in with his wishes  obey his commands, commands which will damage him if they were carried out?” 

We see from certain portions of Scripture, however, that before a certain age, which we will call the age of accountability, God does not hold us accountable for sin. The Bible does not put a number to this age—only God knows—and it will be futile to speculate with regards to the exact age of accountability. However, somewhere in the mystery of God’s grace, we see that children who cannot repent for themselves will not have their sins charged to them. If that is true, then it is true of all children who fit this description regardless of ancestral heritage (whether born to Christian parents, Muslim parents, Hindu parents or not). Jesus said let the little children come to me, for the kingdom belongs to such as these; and he did not differentiate between the children of those who believed in him and those who did not.

Some relevant passages are:

Numbers 14:28-31:

Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected.

(The ‘little ones’ were not punished along with the adults for the sin of grumbling against God and complaining, although we are told that the whole congregation grumbled and complained (Numbers 14:1-12)).

Isaiah 7:15-16:

He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.

(The Bible here makes reference to the age at which one is able to tell evil apart from good and to refuse evil and choose the good. Before then, although one may commit sins (deviate from the appointed pathway), they are not held accountable).

Re: The people of Nineveh and those who haven’t heard the Gospel

Does the argument that infants are not held accountable for sins they commit because they do not know ‘how to reject the evil and choose the good’ justify the people of Nineveh whom God Himself said did not know “their left from their right hands”? (Jonah 4:11). And by extension, does this apply to those who have never heared the gospel?

The answer for that is found in Romans 1:19-20 where Paul argues that there is no excuse for all those who can discern God’s attributes in nature (namely His glory) and the written law of God on their hearts (Romans 2:14-15):

For what can be known about God is plain to them [that is, to mankind] because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. Therefore, they are without excuse. (Romans 1:19-20)

 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them. (Romans 2:14-15).

Infants are clearly not in the position to understand nor perceive God’s glory as revealed in nature, nor do they have the mental capacity to understand it—certainly not in the same way as an adult would. (Please see also John 9:41). In all this, we can trust that that the Judge of all the earth will always do that which is right (Gen. 18:25).

Conclusions and Application 

In summary, this article captures the belief that,

1. Infants, like all mankind, are directly affected by the sin of Adam and therefore suffer the consequences that were brought upon all of Adam’s posterity, namely death and a nature of sin.
2. Despite being born with a nature of sin, the Bible teaches that we are held accountable for our own actions, not that of Adam or any of our forbearers.
3. We can infer from Scripture that until a certain age, which we call the age of accountability, we are not held accountable for our sins, but absolved by the mercy and grace of God.
4. This applies to all those who die before they reach the age of accountability—and this applies to all infants regardless of race, colour or parental heritage.

For anyone who has lost a loved one in infancy, you can be comforted in the knowledge that they are with the Lord. By extension, this exposition challenges the worldview of a heaven that will be sparsely populated. On the contrary, heaven will be very colourful. The heavenly choir will be filled with the joyous refrain of infants of all race, colour, and tongue—all who died in infancy and by the grace and mercies of our Lord were saved and granted a place in his presence where there is joy forevermore! (Whether they will remain infants forever, or grow up in heaven? Only God knows!)

One parent who lost a seven-month old son remarked instructively,

My son’s death is a great motivation for me to live right for God. God and heaven are ultimately my greatest reasons for living as a Christian, but I am also convinced that my son died as an innocent infant and is with our Father. In that case, I want to be where he is too when the time is up.

This is a great example of  how we ought to apply this teaching to our lives as Christians.

What this teaching is not seeking to encourage is a neglect of bringing up our children in the fear of the Lord.

I have heard of parents who neglect to teach their children about God under the pretext that the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them anyway, so why bother? The irony is that every parent’s wish, like mine, is to see their children grow to outlive them and not to die as an infant—even though it is far better than living. Thus, it behooves us to bring up our children in the fear of the Lord. As noted earlier, only God knows the actual age of accountability for each of our children. A seven or nine-year-old may be able to come to grips with their sinfulness and their need of a saviour—it may be at an earlier or later age, it doesn’t matter—ours is to introduce them to the rescuing love of our Saviour and pray he opens their hearts unto salvation.

The Bible is clear on the fact that there is no remission of sins except by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 9:22). If infants who pass to glory are to be saved, we can be sure that it will be based solely on the finished work of Christ on the cross. For you  dear reader, who has yet to place your faith in the Lord Jesus for salvation, the invitation is extended to you. Why don’t you put trust in Him now?

Notes :

1. The Confessions, Revised (The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century, Vol. 1) (Kindle Edition). New City Press.

The post On Infants, Heaven and Original Sin Part III appeared first on TGN.

In the previous article, we considered some oppositions to infants who die in their infancy going to heaven, proposed the contrary view, and set out to resolve the bottlenecks from the Biblical standpoint. We begin part II of this series by considering Adam’s sin and its effect on his posterity.

Adam’s sin

The relevant passage is Genesis 3:1-19.

We see from the passage some immediate consequences of the sin of our first parents:

1. The curse on the serpent (3:14)
2. The curse of painful childbirth (3:16). This has been so since then.
3. The curse on the ground (3:17-18). This is the reason the earth reverts to a wilderness condition whenever it is left unattended.
4. All of creation was affected. Creation has never been the same after the fall, nor will it be when sin is removed. Romans 8 teaches that the whole of creation groans in expectation of the time when it will be redeemed (vv20-22).

Adam’s posterity and the universality of sin 

All people invariably agree that there is something universally lacking in man. Not all are prepared to call it sin, but by our own actions and inactions, we prove the Bible’s assertion that we are what we are because of the problem of sin.

Recently in Ghana where I come from, there was a scandal in the football federation involving some officials who were accused of bribery and corruption. For a while, this was the main subject of discussion on various social media platforms. In one group that I belong, nearly everybody was of the mind that what the officials did was wrong and contrary to the code of ethics of their job. However, almost all of us admitted we were equally guilty of similar offenses; howbeit of varying degrees of gravity. It was a unanimous consensus that none of us could cast the first stone, as we weren’t without fault. What this inadvertently means is that we each admitted our sinfulness and lack of perfection. Some were more outspoken and admitted quite frankly they would not act any differently if they were presented with a reward (a bribe) that was tempting enough.

Opponents of the concepts of sin have tried fruitlessly to explain it away. One popular explanation appeals to the scientific theory of evolution. They argue that having come out of the backwoods just a few millennia ago, all we need is time to slough off the remains of our bestial past.

Another school of thought holds that what man needs is enlightenment. If we attained to a higher level of ‘awareness’, through the reading of books or by other pursuits of knowledge, we would achieve the level of goodness that will make our world a better place. These all sound wonderful in their respective rights; however, history is there to prove that time and enlightenment are not enough to deal with the problem of sin.

Verses like Isaiah 53:6, Romans 3:23 and many others teach that all (the whole world) have sinned. We see from the Scriptures that all humans are affected, and our whole being is affected. James says in many things we offend all (James. 3:2). John corroborates all this when he says that if we say we have not sinned, we deceive ourselves (1 John 1:8-9). The Bible teaches that our sinful state is as a consequence of the sin of Adam. The definitive proof for this is in the fact that we all age and die. None of us can escape death, including even infants (Romans 5:14).

The nagging question, however, is how did Adam’s sin affect the whole of humanity?

The Bible puts forward two explanations. Firstly, the whole of human nature was in Adam’s loins when he sinned, and we fell with him (or in him) when he sinned in the garden of Eden; what is termed as ‘seminal identity’. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews teaches this when he asserts that Levi paid tithes in Abraham to Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:9-10). This fits perfectly with the parallel which Paul provides in the passage in Romans 5 when he teaches that by our union with Christ through faith, we are made righteous. Not by our deeds, but purely based on the merit of Christ (grace).

The second explanation is one we are familiar with; the fact that as our federal head, when Adam sinned, all his posterity suffered the consequences. We see examples of this in our governments. If a parliamentarian who represents an area passes a law–whether good or bad, we all suffer the consequences. This is why the Bible doesn’t teach that our sinful state is on account of the sins of all our ancestors, but only that of Adam.

Thus, the phrase “we all sinned in Adam” (Romans 5:12). The term “original sin” therefore means sin originates from the original root of the human race. We are all born in this condition. As David put it, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51: 5).

With regards to infants

We have already established that infants, as well as adults, are born with the pollution and guilt of sin as a result of original sin.

My children are born Ghanaians based on the relationship they have with me as their father. They don’t get to choose to be Ghanaian at birth—they simply are born Ghanaians. Because they were in me, they are born as black Africans by default, and there’s nothing they can do to change their skin complexion at birth. As Ghanaians, certain privileges are due them because of their nationality; for example, they are entitled to a Ghanaian passport, and they qualify to vie for the highest office of the land or for any political position they desire.

However, if they want a Ghanaian passport, they will need to apply for it, and if any of them wishes to be president someday, they will need to contest for it and be voted in. So, despite their status at birth, they need to act in a certain way or other to accrue certain benefits or not.

This analogy, though limited, attempts to convey the truth of the scriptures with regards to the application of the sin of Adam. Although we are all born sinners, the Bible doesn’t call us to repent for the sins of Adam as it were. Having received through Adam the knowledge of good and evil, we at least once in our lifetime or mostly choose evil instead of right when faced with good and evil choices. The evil choices we make instead of the good ones is what the Bible calls us to repent from.

We are each held accountable for our own sins (Eccl. 12:14). In the Old Testament, we are taught that the son shall not die for the sins of the father, nor the father for the sins of the son (Ezekiel 18:20). Acting upon the good and evil we know is what affirms our guilt of sin, just as my children will have to work upon their citizenship to apply for a passport or stand for presidential election.

qTo be continued…

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Recently, the 1997 year group of my alma mater, Ghana National College, received the sad news of the passing of one of our classmates. The news devastated us. Death indeed is devastating. Less than a year ago, my family also had to deal with the demise of my father. It was a difficult period for us. I believe you would also have experienced the pains of the death of a loved one before. Even if you haven’t, one day, the reality of death will stare you in the face. Somebody you know will die and you will have to face the pain.

Death is not a nice subject, nevertheless, it is a subject the Bible addresses.

Death is a reality of life, as natural as birth is. Once we are born, we will die. Ecclesiastes 3:2 tells us there is  “A time to be born, and a time to die…”. Now when someone dies we grieve and it is appropriate because the Bible tells us “…we should weep with them that weep”. (Rom12:12). But as we mourn our loved ones, God doesn’t leave us on our own in inconsolable sorrow.

In fact, for the believer, the Bible regulates how we must mourn the dead. To this I will turn to portions of a letter Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica. He said;

…sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him (1Thessalonians  4:13-14).

In the text above, we can glean a number of lessons for mourning or sorrowing for the dead. We find these two in the phrase “sorrow not, even as others which have no hope”

1: Sorrow With Hope

When Paul says “sorrow not, even as others which have no hope” what I believe he means is that, in our sorrow and mourning, we should do so as people with hope. To us believers, death is a departure to a glorious place in eternity removed from the sorrows and pains of this world (Rev 21:4).

As painful as death is, it is also  transition from this life into the presence of God.  Psalms 116:15 tells us “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints”. Here is a truth so marvellous to ponder over despite the difficulty of the passing of loved ones. Why is the death of a believer precious before God? Because that person has been called home to begin their journey of eternity (Luke 23:43).

2: Sorrow Without Hope

Because Paul says “sorrow not, even as others which have no hope”, it is clear there are those who sorrow without hope. To these people, death ends it all. There is no hope for an after life. But that is not what the Bible teaches. There is life after death and the Bible is very explicit on that. For those who don’t believe in Christ, when they die, according to the Bible, they are carried to hell.

Death is a reality of human existence we must all live with but as human beings, we are clearly aware every human being will taste of death. The death of another human being simply tells us one day we will all die. But death doesn’t end it all. Death ushers the soul into eternity, either eternal life or eternal damnation. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”(Hebrews 9:27).

These two forms of sorrow have two different implications. Those who mourn the dead with hope are those who have a hope of eternal life. However, those who think death ends it all must be ready for the reality of eternal damnation separated from God. In the text, again, Paul again teaches a very important lesson with regards to death: “Faith In Christ”.

He said “if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him”.

In these words is the gospel; the death and resurrection of Christ. If we believe in the death and resurrection of Christ, then in a similar fashion one day there will be a resurrection of all the dead. Christ died for sinners and if you believe in Him, then your eternal life is guaranteed. If you don’t, the opposite is true. Your eternity separated from the glory of God is also guaranteed. Faith in Christ has a correlation to our eternal destination.

Do you believe Jesus died and rose again?

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