Does God Need Me or Just Want Me?

What is Our Purpose?
If you were to ask a group of Christians what our purpose is as human beings, they would tend to give ambiguous answers. Many would say they don't actually know. Some would say that we are created to be in relationship with God, but they would have a hard time defining the dynamics of that relationship; what it is at its core. A few would get very close to the answer and say we were created to glorify God, but when asked to define what glorifying God is, they wouldn't be able to narrow it down. Still others would say bearing fruit is our purpose, but wouldn't be able to define what that fruit is. The most common answer would probably be companionship, that we were created to fill a hole for friendship in God's heart.

People are often surprised when I explain that we have one purpose as human beings and that that purpose is clearly defined in the scriptures; it's not ambiguous, and it is not companionship.

What is that purpose? It is to do good works.

"For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Ephesians 2:10

The "fruit" answer is not incorrect, neither is the "glorifying God" answer. They are both right. But the fruit has a definition; it isn't ambiguous actions. It is good works, or law-keeping.

That's right "good works" equals "law-keeping"; they are the one and the same.

"Wrongdoing" is the breaking of the law, (1 John 5:17) thus "right-doing" is the keeping of the law (Romans 13:10). Any right or good action done in faith and love, is law-keeping.

You might be starting to see how we lost sight of our purpose to the point where the average Christian cannot define it. In many Christian circles works are seen as a bad thing. Works mean the law don't they, and Jesus died to nail the law to the cross. The law is the enemy; if we endeavor to do good works aren't we legalists who are committing mutiny against Christ?

Did Man's Purpose Change From Before Sin to After Sin?
Of course, the argument goes, there was a time when good works weren't legalism to perform. Adam could do good works and they were the purpose of His creation, to glorify God by doing these good works. But that was before sin. Now after sin good works stand in opposition to Christ; the one who endeavors to do them is trying to work their way to heaven and is saying with their actions "Christ is not the only way to heaven; I can get there by my own righteousness". We have a relationship with God through faith in Christ now. It is Christ who has done the good works on our behalf, and died in our place, and our only role is to rest in His finished work.

But, does that make any sense...how could the purpose of human beings change? If a kitchen company makes a can opener, then decides to use it for other purposes, like screwing in screws, it will be found to be completely ineffective in its new mission. Intrinsically tied into the function of a thing is its design. It's design takes on the dimensions and attributes it does so it can fulfill its mission. This is why a screwdriver has completely different properties from a can-opener. And it's why the can-opener is completely ineffective at screwing in a picture frame.

People, being created and designed beings are no different. Our nature and our design were given for the purpose of glorifying God, and so our mission can't change. We have brains that understand right and wrong for the purpose of choosing the right and witnessing for God. We can't now take on the mission of just resting in Jesus' finished work, with resting being our mission, when have a brain that is a moral agent.

Do you see what I mean? That brain is either going to do good works or wicked ones. Resting where you do neither good nor evil works is not an option for a human being; we're actually incapable of it.

And there is no other purpose other than glorifying God by our good works that is of sufficient meaning to make life worth living. No other purpose can meet the psychological and spiritual need of the human heart; everything else falls short.

Our Universal Human Problem
A serious and weighty problem begins to arise out of the fog of obscurity, becoming more clear and pronounced until it stands like a concrete wall in front of us blocking our view of the sun and casting darkness all around us.

If our purpose is to do good works, and we have sinned and become sinners, we can't live out our purpose. No wonder sinners are so miserable; they are going directly against the design of their entire humanity. And then the flash of insight: Jesus has to have saved us for the goal of bringing us back our original purpose. He can't have saved us just to keep us from the wrath and the flames. Salvation has to be deeper than that. He has to return us to our original purpose and make it possible for us to live it out.

In the above passage in Ephesians 2:10 it's not referring to Adam before sin being called to good works, it's referring to forgiven people after sin entered the picture being ordained for good works.

Our purpose is still the same! Jesus redeems us so we can once again enter into our created purpose. This is true redemption.

"He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds."
Titus 2:14

What Did the Cross Accomplish?
Many Christians see the Christian faith this way: The law is the enemy, and Christ is our Savior from the law. Grace and the law are at odds with one another, polar opposite principals and systems. Law brings bondage and death. Grace brings freedom and life.

They read verses like 2 Corinthians 3:7 which declare the law to be the ministration of death for us, and Romans 4:15 which states the law brings wrath, and they conclude our enemy is the law and Jesus is our Savior from the law.

But is Jesus our Savior from the law? No! He's our Savior from the penalty of the law, which is a very different thing altogether. He's also our Savior from sin.

How is the penalty of the law different from the law? The penalty of the law is something only guilty parties fall under.

The law is good. Angels keep it, and what is the result? Perfect peace and love and joy in heaven with one another and with God. No death, sickness, discord, abuse of any kind.

We break it, and what is the result? Pain, abuse, death, the exact opposite of what the loyal angels have.

We are too quick to forget that it is the breaking of the law that causes every kind of evil thing we see in this world.

We stand before the Judge who is Jesus, as guilty criminals. What is it that makes us criminals? That we broke the law.

Do you see how the law is a good thing? If the law were a bad thing, then we wouldn't be criminals for breaking it. We'd be revolutionists or something positive.

But no, we are very clearly criminals, under the penalty of death.

Jesus died in order to pay the penalty of a good law that He wanted to uphold, and to make a way where grace could be extended to guilty offenders so we did not have to die.

This is grace. Grace happens when the demands of the law are met by God Himself, instead of us. Grace does not do away with judgment, it just involves the judgment falling on Christ in our place.

If the demands of the law aren't met there could be no grace. Rather than being against law and justice, grace cannot even be made possible without them. It takes law and justice together with a Substitute who agrees to take the penalty in our place, to produce grace. Grace depends on them; without them there is no such thing as grace.

If Jesus wanted to do away with the law, He wouldn't have met its demands; instead He would have let us back into heaven without ever dying on the cross. This would have communicated to the universe that the law was no longer in effect and had been done away.

Jesus did not abolish the law, He fulfilled it!

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Matthew 5:17

Wow, Christ established the law for all time by meeting its demands on the cross.

What this means is the original law was never done away with, and it is still binding in the universe.

This is Justification

Justification is what happens when we turn to Jesus, repent of our sins and accept Jesus' death as the payment in our stead. This appropriates His blood to our account.

Jesus died for everyone in the world, but not everyone chooses to appropriate the blood. Some choose not to. Those people are not forgiven and will have to pay the penalty for their own sins in the judgment.

You'll notice in the passages in the scriptures that speak about the law that the Bible says over and over again that we are not justified by the law or by the works of the law.

"But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith."
Galatians 3:11

"For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law."
Romans 3:28

What these verses are saying is we cannot pay or offer anything when it comes to our justification. Legalism says we can be good enough by our actions to earn our own right into heaven. Legalism is blasphemy because it says a person can atone for their wrongs by doing good works. The only atonement is Jesus Christ. No man can atone for their own sins.

Appropriating the Blood

What happens when we appropriate the blood and are justified? It is us that has changed, not the law.

The law has the requirement of keeping it perfectly, with zero sin. Even one sin caused Adam to fall under the death penalty.

Jesus kept the law perfectly as a man in our stead. He met this requirement.

The law has a requirement of death to anyone who breaks it, even one sin committed against the law requires death.

Jesus paid that penalty on the cross in our place.

The old us with our stained record of sin, dies, and is buried. We are released from our life record of sin. It is wiped clean. That person dies, and a new person emerges at conversion. Baptism represents this death (Romans 5:3-5)

The sin record of the old man, along with the old man himself is gone, buried in death.

We are then raised to life as a new person. This new person stands in a new relation to the law. Like a newborn baby we have a fresh record before God. We are now no longer at odds with God, no longer under the penalty of death. And when this new person sins, because Jesus is now in the equation, we have a High Priest we can petition for forgiveness of these new sins. (1 John 2:1, Romans 8:34)

Thus a way has been made for us to receive ongoing forgiveness and cleansing, as we walk in obedience to Christ.

This new person has a brand new nature that can keep the law and walk in obedience to God, because God has written His law on their hearts.

A Transaction Takes Place

Why doesn't everyone turn to Jesus and have His blood appropriated to their account? Because it involves a transaction. The transaction goes this way:

When a person turns to Jesus for forgiveness, they are agreeing to give up a life of sin. One cannot be justified who will not agree to the terms of the justification.

Think of this like a marriage. When a person gets married, they do so under the understanding that they will "forsake all others". The terms are what make their union a marriage. If they set different terms, or there are no terms, and a man and a woman hang out together but also sleep with other people, then what they have is not a marriage.

And sadly many people are doing this with God. They want Jesus in their life. They like many things about Him, in fact they respect many things about Him. But they don't want to forsake all others. They want Him and they want other idols too.

The terms of the relationship are that we forsake a life of sin. Some have called this legalism. But since law-keeping after being forgiven is not done to pay our debt, and the blood of Christ is looked to alone as our atonement, this is not legalism at all.

Why is law-keeping in the picture at all, you may be wondering?

It's there because the law is still in effect! The law has not been done away with, Jesus paid the debt, showing it's still in effect in the universe. Thus anyone who becomes a child of God is under His authority and under His law. Every subject of His kingdom is under His law. His kingdom and His law go together.

And sin is still evil. Sin is still the enemy, and the law is not the enemy. Jesus is trying to save us from sin. If He forgives us under the false terms that we can then go and sin freely, and that we do not need to keep the law, He isn't saving us from sin.

Think of it this way: our sins are bad, very wicked. They are the enemy or in other words we are the enemy initially. Because we've sinned it is good and just for us to be given the death penalty. However, Jesus out of His love for us pays that penalty. Now we can be forgiven and released from the penalty of the law -- death.

Are we released to go back to sinning freely again? Of course not! After a criminal serves their sentence in an earthly justice system, are they released under the pretense that they are then free to commit crime without the law being binding upon them? No! If the newly released prisoner commits a new crime, it's back to jail for them. The payment being met or the time being served does not do away with the law (in our case Jesus paid our payment). The payment is there because there is a law and because that law is binding.

If God wanted to allow us to sin freely and this was the goal, then He would have just not died on the cross at all, and this would have accomplished that goal.

But no He died to put sin to death -- both in the universe and in our hearts. He died to eliminate and defeat sin.

So what does He ask of us now, what are the terms under which someone is given forgiveness? To leave their life of sin behind. To see sin for the vile and wicked thing it is, and no longer pursue it. To forsake it.

The same way the wife forfeits the marriage if she doesn't agree to the terms, or she loses the marriage she had if she violates the terms and commits adultery, so those who seek to be in a relationship with Christ do not have one at all if they will not forsake a life of sin.

This doesn't mean God is silent in their lives. The Holy Spirit still convicts them, still speaks to them, God still intervenes on their behalf, trying to win them to a full surrender to Himself. They go to church and learn many wonderful things about God, see His goodness and come to understand His character. They may experience the Presence of God and they have His active agency in their lives, but they are not filled with God's Spirit, they are not changed in character in a fundamental way, and they do not have their sins forgiven, if they have not agreed to the terms.

They are not in a relationship with Christ, He's ministering to them from the outside.

But for the one who does agree to the terms, a fundamental change occurs.

We Stand in a New Relation to the Law
It is us that has changed, not the law.

The new way of faith doesn't abolish the law; it establishes it.

This is how Jesus could say "If you love me, keep my commandments." and John could say "And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments." 1 John 2:3 ESV

It is only the converted person who can keep the commandments. The unconverted person cannot keep them at all. (Romans 8:7)

The legalist is a hypocrite and a fake, endeavoring to keep God's laws in human strength and for nefarious purposes -- that of self-exaltation -- and of course failing miserably at actually keeping the law.

Only the one living by faith in Christ can keep the law. The one who looks to self for their righteousness cannot keep the law.

Faith establishes the law.

"Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law."
Romans 3:31

The new way of walking by faith does not take away the law, rather it establishes it. The whole purpose of living by faith in Christ is so we can produce good works of law-keeping...so we can love.

Christ redeemed us to make us able to love, which is what obedience to the law is; it's the Bible's definition of love.

"Love is the fulfillment of the law." Romans 13:10

That's right love is a legal matter! Too often we think of love as some nebulous sentimental term. And the world certainly sees love to be that way. Culture bombards us with images of love that are nothing more than sexual attraction, or a desire to curb loneliness and find companionship.

But the Bible's definition of love (which is the true definition) is that love is a principle; the principles found in the law. Law and love go together.

But many of us are living out our love for God and man like the couple who live together but refuse to get married and make their love a legal matter. They think what they have is equivalent to marriage and that their love is deep.

But they show they have a counterfeit of love by the fact they won't get married. And the Christian shows their love for God by accepting His law and making it their authority, not by taking the position that the law is nailed to the cross.

Marriage is love, living together is not love. What makes the difference? The principles in the law.

When we keep the law, we use the principles that make our love genuine; when we break the law we use immoral principles that make our love something else entirely from love -- selfishness.

Another example is a same sex couple. They can claim what they have is love. And if all that defines love is companionship and sexual expression, then what they have is love.

But how do we know what they have isn't love? The law. The law is what makes the distinction and tells us what love is.

The law gives us the definition of love.

Paul says it this way: "I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
Romans 7:7

And this goes for any other idea too, not just coveting. The only way we know an action or thought or idea is a right one or a wrong one, is by the law.

So if you downplay or toss out the law, it becomes impossible to really love.

And notice how it is the post-Christian generation who have embraced gay marriage and LGB and transgenderism. Because this generation does not take God's law as their authority and look to it for the definition of right and wrong, they do not have the Bible's definition of marriage and sexual love. They've lost their bearings because it is the law that gives us our bearings.

Not Under Law But Under Grace

And so it must be that grace and faith do not negate good works. They can't be at odds with one another.

In one of Paul's famous passages where he states "you are not under the law, but under grace", notice the context....

Paul starts off in Romans 6 verses 1-6 talking about what we just described above, about baptism and how at conversion the "old man" (the sinful nature) dies, and a new self is raised to life. He explains that he who has died in this way is free from sin.

So he is speaking about a converted person here, someone who has come to Jesus for forgiveness, and has taken hold of the grace of God and entered into a relationship by faith with Christ.

He then speaks of Jesus death and then says:

"11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.

Then He says to consider yourselves alive to God in Christ Jesus, and to offer every part of yourself from your thinking and mental abilities to your energy levels to your sexual drives and expression, as instruments to God as instruments of righteousness.

"Righteousness" or right-doing as we explored above, is synonymous with law-keeping.

He's contrasting two opposing natures here. He's saying do not use your talents and abilities and body to sin, but use all these abilities to do good works.

And then he finishes off the statement by saying sin no longer has to be your master as you are no longer under its power, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Romans 6:11-13

Look at all the good works he mentions in the passages. And he's not speaking of Adam before sin. These good works are being produced by God in the heart and actions of new believers, sinners who have converted to the faith.

The new heart God gave them at conversion is what produced the good works.

What is the conclusion to make here? The only right conclusion is that the term of not being "under the law" can't mean the law no longer applies to you. When Paul says "You are not under the law but under grace", he has to mean you're not under the penalty of the law.

As we talked about in an earlier part of the article, the "old man" dies with Christ in baptism. It is the old man who is under the penalty of the law. So once the old man dies, the new person who is raised to life is not under the penalty of the law. This person is under grace. Meaning this person does not have to die the second death penalty for sin. This person is a new person, with a clean record through Christ.

When we come out of the water it is as if the us that broke the law and had the death sentence has died, and we are a new person who can be in right relation to God and His law now.

And this is the very next point Paul makes in the subsequent chapter.

He points out that the law has authority over someone as long as they are alive, using marriage as an example. The law of marriage -- the 7th Commandment -- as well as all the other laws, only apply to a living person. It is not a sin for a widow to marry again, because her husband is dead, but it is a sin for a married woman to sleep with someone she is not married to while her husband is alive.

7 Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? 2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. 3 So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man. (Romans 7:1-3)

And then Paul says we died to the law through Christ liberating us from that life record we had with the law that called for our death.

4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

But does Paul then say that now that we are liberated from that record that we are no longer under the authority of the law as the new person we rise to be at baptism?

No, right away he says we produce fruit. And fruit is good works of law-keeping. So there's an immediate direct reference to law-keeping by faith.

In the analogy the woman's husband dies, so she is out of the first marriage. The authority of the law for the first marriage is obsolete. She is no longer required to remain faithful to the first husband, and she is no longer his wife. She is now a widow; she is now out of the marriage altogether. What does she do now? She marries another man, enters into a new marriage, and is she bound to the new man? Yes! For her to cheat on the new man would be adultery.

She is under a new covenant with the new man under the authority of the law. It is her first marriage that she is no longer bound by.

Let's stop here for a second. Here we see the new relation we stand in with the law. Just as the woman has entered a new marriage with a new man -- one who is alive -- so we've entered into a new "marriage" with God. By the old man dying, we were set free from our relation to the law in that person. Our record of wrongs was wiped clean by Christ's death and us dying which signifies the acceptance of Christ and the death of the old self.

Our new man is now married to Christ, and is under God's law through Christ by faith, just as the woman is now in a binding marriage with the second man in the analogy.

Notice that the "new man" is still under the law! Every marriage involves the law. Notice that after her first husband dies the woman is not released from the law, to sleep with whomever she desires to, and for it to not be sin because she's no longer under law. She isn't freed from the law itself, to do any wicked deed she desires; what she is freed from is requirement of the law as it related to her first marriage. That marriage is over, so the requirement of faithfulness to that first husband is no longer obligatory.

The woman then goes and immediately enters a marriage relationship with the second man. She is now bound by the law for that second man. To marry again would be adultery.

In the same way our old man is dead, our new man is raised and the new man is now married to Christ. The law is not obsolete, we now keep the law in the new way of faith.

The old man, the old us that deserved death died through Christ and was released from that record, and raised to new life. The new person we emerge as is still under the authority of the law, but through Christ who forgives and covers their sins as their Advocate, and the person can now produce fruit, which is law-keeping by faith.

The reference to fruit is a clear reference to the person producing good works through Christ.

How Good Works are Now Possible
Paul then goes on to offer further explanation for how the good works are possible for the new believer when they weren't possible before our new birth by explaining that when we were in the realm of the flesh -- that is we were without the Holy Spirit living in us because we were under the penalty of death and we hadn't yet accepted Christ -- we could only do sinful acts.

5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh,[a] the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.

But now that we have died through baptism and conversion, we are released from that whole sin record and standing with God, and forgiven of our sin, and filled with the Holy Spirit so we can keep the law through the Spirit with right motives and holy attitudes, and not only keep the law externally and superficially without a heart change and the Spirit living in us.

6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
Romans 7:6

The Letter and the Spirit
The words "written code" are translated from the word grammatos in Greek, meaning "letter". Paul is saying we can keep the law in our hearts now, the spirit of the law, and not just the letter of the law. Keeping the letter is just doing behavior modification but no change in the heart has taken place. This is hypocritical, legalistic, and works-based. But when the Spirit changes the heart and the person keeps the law by faith in Christ, this is not legalism.

When we endeavored to keep the law apart from Christ without the Spirit we produced only sinful fruit; we couldn't do it. But now we can.

"And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

2 Corinthians 3:6

The letter kills. What is the letter? It's when you know what the right thing you ought to do is, but you're powerless to do it because you're without Christ. And what is the Spirit? It's when the Holy Spirit lives in you at conversion and changes your heart so you can keep God's commandments with a right spirit and in the inner man. It's deeper than outward actions.

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances."

Ezekiel 36:26-27

Put more succinctly, the letter is knowledge of right and wrong. And the Spirit is God writing His law into our hearts.

Describing the state just before conversion, when a person sees the law and it's goodness, but is completely unable to perform any good deed in their character because they are sinful within them Paul says

10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

3 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Even though the law is good, it's powerless to change our hearts. So when we look at it, we stand condemned before it. The person finds themselves in a puzzling and hopeless situation where good is outside of them. It's beautiful, it's right, it's desirable, but they can never be good. They can only be condemned by that good law. Because they are a wicked criminal in the sight of that law.

And things would stay that way forever if it weren't for Christ. But praise be to God, that what the law was powerless to do for us, Christ did by becoming a man, dying in our stead, and making forgiveness possible, and a new nature possible for us.

Through Christ we can not only see the beauty and goodness of the law, but be transformed in our own hearts to keep that good and just law and be conformed to the image of Christ in the inner man.

"For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh,
in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."
Romans 8:3-4

Does God Need Me or Just Want Me?

I've seen people ask the question "Does God need me or just want me?" They feel guilty for hungering for a relationship with God where they are not optional, but necessary. They feel that since God can exist without them and created all things, that it is a denial of His divinity to think that He could need us.

But there is a reason why this line of thinking is so troubling to them; it destroys both the purpose and the value of human beings. This idea that we are not necessary, and are merely wanted companions of God, actually makes people into accessories and dehumanizes them.

Losing sight of the law of God not only confused people about the purpose of man, it also turned our purpose into something sentimental and not objectively valuable.

If we are only companions and there is no law in effect, then God is not the Lawgiver, and we are not moral agents who can glorify Him by doing good deeds, and also we're not objectively valuable without the law either. We provide sentimental value to God; it's subjective and feelings-based, not objective and truth-based. In other words, there's no real value.

God could live without us; He doesn't need us, but He prefers to have companions rather than not to have them, so He creates us.

This view of things makes God out to be a person who is eternal and omniscient, but strips Him of His authority as Lawgiver. It also lets men off the hook for sin. Jesus is a Friend. He saves us from sin the same way a firefighter might give their life in a fire to save a child from the flames. There's no real moral element to things, thus people are not accountable to God for their sins in any real way.

All of these things go together.

What is the Truth?

The truth is God needs witnesses. Just as a king needs a kingdom, and the title of 'king' is tied into His kingdom, God He needs subjects under Him to carry out His purposes and glorify His Name.

God can't witness for Himself. Well, He can in some ways, in ways far superior to our witness. There is no comparison between His witness to Himself and our witness of Him, but this does not mean our witness is unessential. Out witness is not an optional add-on; it's intrinsically important. Christ witnessed to the love of the Father on Calvary, and to the immutability and eternal nature of God's law by paying the death penalty showing the law cannot be abrogated, and the Spirit witnesses of Christ by teaching us from the scriptures and convicting us in our hearts. They testify of each other.

But there is a witness none of them can do and for which we were created. You see, God would not have created us if there was no purpose for us. God doesn't create things that serve no function. All things were created for Christ and their value comes from that function of serving Him.

"For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him."

Colossians 1:16

Each thing's function is what determines its value. Each thing is derived its value from its relation to Christ. People are valuable at the level we are because we glorify God; animals who do not serve the purpose of glorifying God directly by making moral choices of faith and love, have some value and so animal rights come into the picture and are a real thing according to the Bible, because animals are important little creatures, but their value is far beneath that of man.

Jesus put it this way "You are worth more than many sparrows." (Matthew 10:31) This idea that people are more valuable than animals is a very Christian one. If you don't believe me, ask your atheist family members what they believe about this and you will see what I mean. The idea that people are more valuable than animals and hold dominion over them has shaped our society in the West in ways in ways that it isn't possible for societies that believe animals are on the same level of value as humans to ever achieve. We've been able to become a fully civilized society, whereas pagan peoples who put animals on par with people are often held back from full industrialization.

Our Function: Witnesses
What is it that human beings offer God and do for God? We witness to the goodness of God's character and His law when we choose to live by its principles and carry it out in our lives. This is really what "bearing fruit" and "glorifying" God means. The fruit shows what God and His law do for a person, for a subject of His kingdom. This is not something the King can do for Himself. He needs us.

Before sin every angel did this. The Bible makes it clear angels are moral agents, capable of living out the principles of the law when it describes Lucifer as perfect before sin, obeying God and carrying out His will (Ezekiel 28:15). And when it describes him as sinning in heaven (1 John 3:8), it shows Satan is a moral agent just like human beings are. And the purpose of men and angels is the same and doesn't change from before sin to after sin.

But sin added a new element. It added a cosmic war where instead of proving God's law and the goodness of His character and witnessing in favor of it, one of God's greatest witnesses became an accuser, or a false witness who began testifying against God. Lucifer went against his purpose and accused God of being evil, tried to bring into question His right to rule, and endeavored to take over His kingdom and be god in His stead.

Now that there is a war instead of just witnessing to God's goodness by our testimony and life, we now vindicate God and refute Satan's false charges by our choices and life witness.

The same role that in a time of peace was witnessing, is now vindicating.

And because Adam sinned and humanity all became sinners, our character must also be vindicated too, not just God's. Christ died to vindicate us before the cosmos, but we must also side with Him and choose Him, or His death for us will be in vain, for though He died for the whole world, the whole world won't be saved. We know this as fact.

Once Saved Always Saved?
Just as God has to prove Himself holy in the sight of the universe and refute Satan's accusations against Him, each of us has to have a testing time, where it is proved whose side we are on.

Once the war started in heaven and Satan was cast out of heaven, God put a tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden. That's right, it was God who planted the tree!

"And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil."
Genesis 2:9

This tree was a test. God was giving Adam and Eve an opportunity to come in contact with the other side of the equation -- Satan and his kingdom -- in a controlled environment, where God could protect Adam.

God couldn't take away Adam's free will and make it impossible for Adam to sin and side with Satan. That would go against a core human right, and God's government protects our human rights.

The tree was the test. Adam failed the test. So Jesus agreed to come and die to pay the price of Adam's sin.

However, even after conversion, what is still left in a person's life? The test!

Since we all have free will, we still need to be tested and show whose side we're on in the war.

Satan is no longer confined to a tree as he owns this world, and before conversion he owns us and we're his slaves. After conversion Christ owns us but we still encounter Satan's temptations every day.

Our lives become the testing time. It's in this life that we choose where our loyalty lies. And this is one of the key reasons once-saved-always-saved can't be true. It doesn't allow for free will. It doesn't allow for a person to fully side with God, and be vindicated in the eyes of the universe. (1 Corinthians 4:9)

Vindication takes time. You have to prove -- over time -- whose side you're on. You cannot be vindicated by being converted. It happens when that declaration at conversion is tested in various ways throughout your life, and your character is tried to the uttermost. At the end of all this testing, if your house stands on the rock rather than crumbles to the ground from the storms of life, a person is vindicated.

Tied up with God's vindication is our own. Our lives either give a true testimony that glorifies Him and helps vindicate His Name, or they give a false witness if we side against Him. This is what gives meaning to life. Human beings were created to serve a purpose greater than themselves, and we cannot have happiness unless we are looking beyond self to the Name and kingdom of Jesus.

God's Constitution
We've spoken of good works and of law-keeping, and explained how these things are synonymous. Now let's talk about what the law is. The law is the inherent rights of God and of man. It is not just a written document; it is very real principles of right that originate in God's character. Really the law exists in Christ's character -- this is the true law -- and then the written document is an official transcription of the principles of the law put into language.

The character of God is the basis of the law; this is where it comes from and what it really is.

It is heaven's Constitution, the foundation on which God's government rests. It's eternal. The breaking of it is sin, because to break any of the principles or precepts found within it, is to wrong God or one's neighbor.

The law has definition; it is not ambiguous, good works which God wants us to do, it is the keeping of heaven's Constitution which He wants us to do.

You can't replace it and do something else instead and still be glorifying God as an obedient subject under His authority. For instance, there are couples who claim to love each other but who will not marry one another. They've replaced marriage with cohabitation. Instead of this being another way to glorify God, it ends up being sin, which robs God of the glory due Him by their obedience.

You cannot improve upon God's law. Attempts to do so just end up being sin.

Love is the fulfillment of the law. Romans 13:10

Keeping God's Constitution towards God and man is love. Here we see that love is a higher principle than what the world claims it to be, for the world often paints love as mere companionship, or sexual expression.

Love is to render to God and to people the respect due them as outlined in the law. People must be treated as beings possessing dignity and worth.

Marriage needs to be entered into as a way of two people coming together to serve the joint purpose of glorifying God, not merely for things like feelings of loneliness or wanting a companion. The goal should be to aid one another in fulfilling their God-given role and place in God's work to the best of their ability.

Unfortunately many believe the law of Christ is something different from the 10 Commandments. They believe this law of Christ is known through a combination of what the Bible says, and direct revelation from the Holy Spirit. The Bible doesn't tell us everything that is considered to be wrong, they say; it gives some examples like lying, for instance, but it doesn't tell us everything, so in order to know if an action I'm about to do is right or wrong I need to shoot up a prayer and God will impress me as to that action's wrongness or rightness by His Holy Spirit convicting me and impressing me.

This way of knowing right from wrong, divorces the Spirit from the Word. The Holy Spirit and the Word (Christ), and the relation of Christ with the Bible (the written Word), have an eternal dynamic. The roles they operate in are part of God's eternal truth outlined in His Word, and deviations from it cause people to arrive at paganism and false doctrines that are unbiblical.

The Holy Spirit is not a pendulum who swings one way or another in order to tell us right from wrong. He can use only the Word and reason (for those who do not have access to the Word) to convict us of truth. He must not speak on His own, but must teach the Words of Christ.

The Bible spells out right and wrong in clear lines. It's the 10 Commandments, which are 10 categories. All actions fall under these 10, so you can use them to evaluate any action or thought to see if it is a holy and right one, or an unholy and sinful one.

Some even believe actions can be wrong for one person and right for another person. While this is true sometimes, the principles of right and wrong never change, and so the basis you would use for why something could be right for one person and wrong for another never change.

For instance, you can say "It's not always right for a person to eat 1800 calories per day." That might be right for one person, but for a bodybuilder, it would be a sin for him to eat such little calories since his body needs more. You would be right. It's a sin to undereat if you do it on purpose and it's purposeful neglect going on.

The principle on which you decided this is that a person should eat the amount that allows their body to function optimally, and not eat less and deprive the body, or eat more and clog the body.

It's this principle that determines right and wrong, not the number of calories.

This does not mean that right and wrong are different things for different people because one Christian determines she needs to eat 1800 calories per day and the bodybuilder determines he needs to eat 5000 calories per day.

Right and wrong is the same for both of them; gluttony is always a sin and starving oneself is always a sin. it's the details that are different. i.e. how many calories they individually need to keep their body functioning.

It's not possible that the Holy Spirit would convict people differently in this case. The same underlying principle would be used to convict both. Only the details could be different, but not the law of right and wrong.

So right and wrong can't be different things for different people. But there are some Christians who think this is the case.