Part 2 – Reversion to Darkness

This Article is part of a multi-part Study Series called Light and Understanding.

Every lost person who has come to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has known the initial thrill of total forgiveness of all sins. They’ve experienced the joy of deliverance from the eternal penalty of sin— in the Lake of Fire. The Bible, what once seemed “nonsensical,” is now viewed as invaluable. There is now a consciousness of sin, something absent prior to coming to Christ. Works-based religion, once appearing so “meritorious,” should now be recognized as worthless. Almighty God, once thought of as a distant and cruel tyrant, is now seen as our loving Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice on Calvary’s cross—His sinless shed blood and resurrection is now appreciated personally. There’s now eternal life, security, hope, peace, acceptance, love, and mercy. None of this was known before our faith in Jesus.

The above accentuates the spiritual light that God’s words bring when they are spoken in Gospel preaching and/or written in Gospel literature.  “… faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Rom. 10:17) It’s not until a lost soul becomes a saved soul, that he really begins to realize his former destitution and wretchedness. Many have rightly likened this unto a light bulb being turned on inside the human heart. What was hidden in shadows is now revealed. There’s a whole new worldview, a strange but fascinating and fitting way of looking at life.

However, sadly, spiritual confusion often then begins to creep in. As this new ungrounded believer bounces from one group to another, one belief to another, these contradictory churches and groups start introduce and pile on spiritual darkness. The new Christian, still eternally secure in Christ, often then starts experiencing the “lost” mentality it once suffered… no longer sure, or secure in his faith. So, there is a reversion to ignorance.

For the Christians returning to religion’s darkness, the Gospel and Scripture in general are no longer clear—now muddled by every belief imaginable. The high hopes at the moment of justification, being declared righteous before God, have disappeared. Christian thought and living now seems uncertain and burdensome – having returned to the Law of a performance based acceptance system they are burdened and uncertain. Whatever sharp Bible knowledge the soul had is now being worn down. At this point, some Christians just throw away the Bible in hopelessness. Many Christians go back to the world, indulging in human evil. Other, still go to and fro spiritually, many remaining in an organized church simply because of the seeming human “good” they do appeals to them.

All Christians need more of “the light of God,” and the clear and proper lenses necessary to see the truth of the all-encompassing “gospel of the grace of God.” God’s light is His word, but His lenses for us today come from the words of the Apostle Paul… as “The Apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13).

One of the most liberating, enlightening Bible passages is 1 Timothy 2:3-7:

3For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; [4] Who will have ALL men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. [5] For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; [6] Who gave himself a ransom for ALL, to be testified in due time. [7] Whereunto I (Paul) am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity (truth).”

The above verses briefly introduce the two most important issues in the world and it closes with details. Clearly, God has a “will” or desire (v4). Today, billions of precious people, Christians and non-Christians alike, wonder what they should believe and do. If they could come to realize what God wishes for them, their Christian life would be a whole lot simpler. If they would agree with Him, whatever He wants accomplished, and do what He is doing in this age, then they would know what to believe and know what to do. Thankfully we have His words through Paul for us today. We do not have to stay in spiritual darkness and confusion.

The above passage stresses these two major issues, “(God) Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth (v4). So, there’s the issue of salvation, and there is the issue of coming unto “the knowledge of the truth.” What do these mean exactly? Saved from what? “Knowledge of the truth” about what?

We’re not left to wonder, if we just look closely at the succeeding verses, we see that they actually form sub-points to v4. 5For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6Who gave himself a ransom for ALL, to “be testified in due time.” 7Whereunto I (Paul) am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity (truth).”

So here we see both “the light” bulbs and the lenses. The Pauline truth of “the gospel of the grace of God” is “the light,” and the lenses that reveal this truth in detail are Paul’s words for “the body of Christ.”

1Tim. 2:4 says, “[God our Saviour] Who will have all men to be saved….” Then, we read, “…and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” Verse 5 begins with “for,” a particle of further amplification: “there is one God, and one mediator between God and men… the man Christ Jesus” is “the one mediator between God and men….” Verse 6 “Who gave himself a ransom for ALL, to be testified ‘in due time.’”

And finally, verse 7 expands v6, saying: “Whereunto I (Paul) am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity (truth).”

So, there are the matters of 1.) “salvation” and 2.) “the knowledge of the truth.” “Salvation” involves the Lord Jesus Christ, the one Mediator between God and men, He “who gave himself a ransom for ALL.” The word “ransom” means “the redemption-price.” From birth, we were naturally slaves to sin, as descendants of Adam. Jesus shed His blood to pay the price to deliver men from ‘sin’s slave marketonce and for all.

23all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption [payment of the price to free us] that is in Christ Jesus: 25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation [fully-satisfying payment] through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God….” (Rom. 3:23-25)

Note: ALL iniquity (sin) is forgiven; see Titus 11:14.

Yes, the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).  Paul tells us through faith in Jesus Christ’s shed blood, we can approach and be united with Father God.

So, God’s first desire is for all people to be “saved”freed, deliveredfrom sin’s dominion. The spiritual deliverance at Calvary that was once reserved for Israel is now, in this age of pure grace, available to “ALL men” (Jew and Gentile) for All sin. This ALL-people gospel message is interwoven with “com(ing) unto the knowledge of the truth,” which we learn in detail from Paul, the Apostle to ALL men as Gentiles.