In Genesis 3:1-7, we read abot the evil influence of "the serpent" (Satan - Revelation 12:9). Here, we must note the difference between temptation and sin. Satan tempted Adam and Eve. They sinned. They couldn't blame Satan for their sin. Temptation only became sin when they gave into temptation. It's the same with us. We are tempted, and we sin. The sin is our sin. We cannot blame someone else - even Satan. We dare not make excuses for ourselves. We must confess our sin. This is the way of receiving God's forgiveness (1 John 1:9).
A response to a comment by G. R. Osborne on Berkouwer’s understanding of the doctrine of final perseverance
In his contribution to Clark Pinnock (editor), Grace Unlimited (1975), G. R. Osborne states that Berkouwer, in Faith and Perseverance, pp. 9-10, “speaks of the time less ness of the doctrine of final perseverance, founded on ‘the richness and abidingness of salvation” (p. 188, emphasis mine). This single-sentence comment on Berkouwer’s view hardly gives a fair indication of the type of thinking found in Chapter 1 of Berkouwer’s Faith and Perseverance - “Time li ness and Relevance” (pp. 9-14, emphasis mine). Berkouwer insists that “the living preaching of the Scriptures, which offer no metaphysical and theoretical views about … ‘permanency’ as an independent theme in itself, does nothing to encourage ‘a continuity which is … opposed in any way to the living nature of faith” (p. 13). Berkouwer stresses that “The perseverance of the saints is not primarily a theoretical problem but a confession of faith” (p. 14) and that “The perseverance of the saints is unbreakably connected wi...
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