Lesson for January 19, 2025

The Law of Volitional Responsibility

Lesson 3

The Choice

I Samuel 12:24, ^“Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.”

The gatekeeper of your soul is your volition. Each day you make the decision as to who you will serve. The result of your daily decision will be determined by what is most important to you. The Law of Volitional Responsibility says that whatever decision you make has consequences. If your daily choice is to serve God, your life will be filled with happiness and satisfaction, knowing that you have pleased your Heavenly Father and glorified Christ. If your choice is to serve anything or anyone else, your life will be filled with guilt, fear, uncertainty, divine discipline, and self-induced misery.

Ephesians 4:17-32 contrasts the two choices that believers are faced with each day.

Verses 17-19

^“So I say this, and affirm in the Lord, that you are to no longer walk just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their minds, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecent behavior for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.”

To walk like the Gentiles is a reference to living like an unbeliever. When Paul said affirm in the Lord, it was a very strong statement as to what was going to follow in the next several verses. We know that Paul did not hesitate to admonish believers when it was necessary. Affirming means every time Paul taught, he was obligated to teach accurate Bible doctrine. The Greek word for walk is “peripateo,” which means to have a pattern or way of life, a thought pattern, or a behavior pattern.

Paul was writing to believers who were already headed down the road to reversionism. Therefore, this was an admonition to get off that road and get onto the road to spiritual maturity. In the futility of their minds meant that their thought patterns were just like unbelievers. The Greek word for futility is “mataiotes,” which means emptiness or vanity. It has the concept of a vacuum in the soul.

False doctrine had infiltrated the vacuum in the souls of some of these believers. They had believed in Jesus Christ, they were members of the Royal Family of God, they could not lose their salvation, they were indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, and sealed by the Holy Spirit, but they were making the choice not to serve God.

Being darkened in their understanding is the Greek word “dianoia,” for understanding, which refers to the mind. Therefore, having become darkened in their understanding describes the result of the opening of that vacuum in the soul (“mataiotes”). The opening of the vacuum means that they had darkness in their thinking, which had been influenced by Satan. The darkness in their mind refers to the blackout of the soul where God and His Word are rejected or ignored. (II Corinthians 2:11, 3:14, 4:4, 11:3; Galatians 3:1-3; I Timothy 2:4; Titus 2:3)

Excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. If you have blackout of the soul, you are experientially alienated from the life of God. You’re still a child of God, a member of the Royal Family of God, but you have no spiritual life. This condition of the soul is the direct result of spiritual ignorance. When a believer fails to avail themselves of the accurate teaching of God’s Word, they eventually end up having blackout of the soul, which manifests itself as apathy toward God and His Word.

Because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous. The Greek word for hardness is “porosis,” which means blindness. The Greek word for callous is “apalgeo,” which means to cease to feel pain or past feeling. Together these words describe scar tissue, and in the case of the reversionist, scar tissue on the soul. Therefore, the definition of “hardness of the heart” is the blackout in the soul resulting in the hardness.

Have given themselves up to indecent behavior for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. Indecent is the Greek word “aselgeia,” which means sensuality or absence of restraint. The Greek word for impurity is “akatharsia,” which means moral uncleanness or defilement. The Greek word for greediness is “pleonexia,” which means a desire to have more and can’t get enough. Putting these words together we have a picture of the result of blackout of the soul and scar tissue on the soul.

Verses 20-24

^“But you did not learn Christ in this way,if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

“If” is a first-class condition meaning “if and you have.” Believers “heard Christ” through accurate doctrinal teaching Paul’s. This is how they had come to know Him, but they had wandered off into reversionism (former way of life). So, these believers had no excuse before God for sliding into reversionism.

You are to rid yourselves of the old self. Your old self refers to your former manner of life in reversionism. Rid yourselves becomes the road to reversion recovery. Rid is the Greek word “apotithemi,” which means to remove, as in clothing, but is used as an analogy for reversionism recovery by replacing human viewpoint thinking, attitudes, and actions with divine viewpoint, divine attitudes, and divine actions.

Which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit.The Greek word for corrupted is “phtheiro,” which means to be depraved, to decay, to rot or to destroy. We all have a corrupt sin nature that needs to be controlled. The sin nature can be controlled, but it will never ever be improved, which is why in our resurrection bodies we will have no sin nature.

The sin nature in the Scriptures is referred to by many names and phrases. The phase “the old man” is used in Ephesians 4:22 and Colossians 3:9. The word “flesh” is used in Galatians 5:16 and Ephesians 2:3. The word “carnal” is used in Romans 7:14 and I Corinthians 3:1-3. One of the most common designations for the sin nature is “sin” in the singular, as in Romans 5:12, I Corinthians 15:56 and I John 1:8.

And that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your mind means to have your mind restored, which is a process of returning to learning, believing, and applying accurate Bible doctrine. (Romans 12:1-2)

And put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth refers to getting back on track spiritually. These believers were new creations in Christ, but they were living like unbelievers, with a vacuum in their minds. They had moved away from learning and applying accurate Bible doctrine. Paul was urging them to return to accurate doctrine.

The likeness of God. These believers had the righteousness of God positionally, but they were not living that righteousness experientially. Created in righteousness means they had God’s righteousness by way of salvation but had no practical righteousness in their lives by way of applied doctrine. Practical righteousness can be produced in the lives of believers who are in fellowship with God and filled with the Holy Spirit.

Putting on the new self requires believers to start the process of spiritual growth again, while rejecting the false doctrine that had seduced them. Holiness is God’s strength of character that the Holy Spirit produces in a believer as they consistently take in accurate Bible teaching (the truth). This process will eventually lead a believer who has been in a state of reversionism back to living their spiritual life.