2A13
© Jeff Stacey | Last updated: 22 September 2016
2A13. BY GOD’S GRACE, HIS NATURE COULD STILL BE EXPRESSED TO AND THROUGH PEOPLE:
God’s ongoing commitment to all people and His intended roles for them
2A13(title) By God’s GRACE, His nature could still be expressed to and through people
There continued to be an intensifying focus onto people and their roles on Earth. God still intended to express His own nature by making Himself known TO and THROUGH them.
2A13(sub-title) God’s ongoing commitment to all people and His intended roles for them
God remained committed to all people [2A8]. His continued interacting with them was the centre from which all else derived [2A4].
God specified His two basic requirements for them [2A10]. These were the basis of His CONDITIONAL way for them to be accepted by Him.
IF they loved God wholeheartedly and obeyed His two basic requirements [2A11(a)] THEN in grace they could be accepted by Him and be in an ongoing loving relationship with Him. He would make Himself known TO and THROUGH them positively [2A11(b)]. In this way they would fulfil His intended roles for them, sharing with Him in accomplishing His primary purpose. God provided all that people needed to fulfil these roles [2A9].
But God also starkly warned them that His Enemy was ready to control them IF they did NOT obey His two basic requirements [2A12]. Devastating outcomes would be the result. Potentially these could engulf whole peoples and their cultures.
2A13(a) Had God’s intended roles now replaced or modified His original roles for Adam and Eve?
No, the same basic paradigm [1A13] was again in force, as follows:
God’s overall paradigm for all people had not changed. The core feature continued to be His demand for them to fulfil His defined responsibilities. That was how they were to express their complete commitment to Him.
But instead of being responses to just one simple requirement [1A10] their necessary obedience had become massively more complex. They were now equipped with a conscience that gave them knowledge of good and evil [2A10(c)]. So they had to assess every life-situation ethically, decide what was RIGHT and then DO it. This was further complicated by the fact that God’s Enemy now had direct access to this internal processing by them! [see 2B23]. So along with their self-serving desires and their influences upon each other, they had multiple provocations to do what was NOT right.
Yet God in grace was providing a CONDITIONAL way for them to still share with Him in accomplishing His primary purpose [2A11]. He had not replaced His intended roles for them but only modified the way they could still be fulfilled. Wholehearted commitment to Him was still required. So there was a continuity rather than a complete difference between His requirements before and after the FALL.
2A13(b) How would it all now work out?
God in grace had now put in place His way for fallen, sinful people to still fulfil His intended roles for them. How it all actually worked out is presented in Chart 2B.