Part Two:Basic Biblical Presuppositions for

Pastoral theology and a Biblical model for understanding human motivation

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Basic presuppositions for pastoral theology

1. The extent and gravity of sin:“Sin, in this popular misunderstanding, refers to

matters of conscious volitional awareness of wrongdoing and the ability to do otherwise. This instinctive view of sin infects many Christians and almost all non-Christians. It has a long legacy in the church under the label Pelagianism, one of the oldest and most instinctive heresies. The Bible’s view of sin certainly includes the high-handed sins where evil approaches full volitional awareness. But sin also includes what we simply are, and the perverse ways we think, want, remember, and react.” 2

Most sin is invisible“Most sin is invisible to the sinner because it is simply how the sinner works, how the sinner perceives, wants and interprets things. Once we see sin for what it really is; madness and evil intentions in our hearts, absence of any fear of God, slavery to various passions… (next slide)•Eccl. 9:3; “…madness is in their hearts while they live”; •Ps. 36:1’There is no fear of God before his eyes.•Titus 3:3 3For we ourselves were once foolish… slaves to various passions and pleasures…

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Once we see sin for what it really is; madness and evil intentions in our hearts, absence of any fear of God, slavery to various passions then it becomes easier to see how sin is the immediate and specific problem all counseling deals with at every moment, not a general and remote problem. The core insanity of the human heart is that we violate the first great commandment. We will love anything, except God, unless our madness is checked by grace.”

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Unconscious problems

People do not tend to see sin as applying to relatively unconscious problems, to the deep, interesting, and bedeviling stuff in our hearts. But God's descriptions of sin often highlight the unconscious aspect. Sin - the desires we pursue, the beliefs we hold, the habits we obey as second nature - is intrinsically deceitful. If we knew we were deceived, we would not be deceived. But we are deceived, unless awakened through God's truth and Spirit.

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Sin is a darkened mind, drunkenness, animal-like instinct and compulsion, madness, slavery, ignorance, stupor. People often think that to define sin as unconscious removes human responsibility. How can we be culpable for what we did not sit down and choose to do? But the Bible takes the opposite track. The unconscious and semiconscious nature of much sin simply testifies to the fact that we are steeped in it. Sinners think, want, and act sin-like by nature, nurture, and practice.”

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Worth remembering1. What we simply are, and the perverse ways we

think, want, remember, and react.2. Most sin is invisible to the sinner because it is

simply how the sinner works, how the sinner perceives, wants and interprets things

3. Sin is the immediate and specific problem all counseling deals with at every moment, not a general and remote problem

4. Sin - the desires we pursue, the beliefs we hold, the habits we obey as second nature - is intrinsically deceitful

5. Sinners think, want, and act sin-like by nature, nurture, and practice

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Biblical model – a holistic understanding

1. One, the Bible treats human beings as responsible for their behavior.

2. Two, everyone of us has been raised by sinners and what we experienced in our homes and in our childhood has impacted our inner motivations.

3. Three, many of our desires, even those exercising a significant influence on how we think, speak and act is hidden from our view.

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Sin works principally thorough deception

Heb. 3: 13But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin• Daily problem• Unmortified sin within us progresses in its

effect • Deceit will frequently cause us to minimize

or miss what sin is doing in us9

Basic presuppositions for pastoral theology

2. The Centrality of the heart.

• It is the scriptures preferred term for describing the inner thoughts, plans, judgments, discernments, longings, and conscience of human beings

• Its care is given the utmost soberness in the scriptureso See: Pro. 4:23; Matt. 12:34b; Matt. 6:21

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3. The present benefits of Christ.• God has fully pardoned me from the

guilt of sin• He has given me the Holy Spirit to

indwell me.• God has given me the word and a new

mind capable of comprehending the ‘sinfulness of sin’

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4. God’s call to change: Scripture repeatedly exhorts and expects change.

• I Cor. 9:24 ‘run that you may obtain it”• I Tim. 6:12 ‘fight the good fight of faith’• Romans 7:23 – ‘sin warring against me’• I Peter 2:11 – I beg you… abstain from

fleshly lusts which war against your soul

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5. A life style of repentance and faith –Martin Luther opened the Reformation by nailing The Ninety-Five Thesis to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral. The very first of the thesis was “Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ… willed that the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.’•Sanctification is a daily life of standing on the promises of the gospel; exposing indwelling sin’s deception; turning to Christ and calling upon the Holy Spirit to weaken the power of indwelling sin.

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