example, Jesus observed the religious and moral external
activities of the Pharisees and concluded that there was a
spiritual empowering actuator behind what they did: "You
are of your father, the devil..." (John 8:44).
Mankind always has a derived spiritual condition, based
on the spiritual indwelling of a spiritual being, and a
derived behavior expression, manifesting the character of
the spiritual being who is energizing (energeo, to work in)
and enacting (en-actus, to do in) the human activity.
Whenever we might refer to a man being good, it is
never in the same sense that "God is good." Man is not
essentially good, constitutionally good, inherently good or
intrinsically good. Man is not by nature good; neither does
he establish goodness; nor is he self-generatively good. A
man's goodness is relative to his deriving the expression of
God's character of goodness in his spiritual condition and in
his behavioral expression.
Consistent reasoning must apply this to the opposite
expression also, in the realm of theodicy. God is good. The
Evil One is evil. Man is evil, not in the same sense that the
Evil one is evil. Man is not essentially evil, constitutionally
evil, inherently evil, intrinsically evil. Man is not by nature
evil; does not establish evil; is not definitively evil; is not
wallpaper
(WallPaper)
#1