On the one hand, some New Testament teachings make it sound as if we cannot be forgiven and saved as long as we have sin in our lives. For example, Jesus teaches us to pray (in the Lord’s Prayer) “forgive us our sins AS we forgive those who sin against us” and then a few verses later explains this by saying: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” On the other hand, passages such as Romans 8:31-39 make it sound as if nothing can separate us from the love and forgiveness of God. So how do we reconcile these teachings?
At Woodland Hills, we believe we first need to stop and refocus the question. When many Christians ask these kinds of questions about salvation, they make two mistakes. First, they think that “being saved” primarily means “being saved from Hell.” And second, they approach the question with a “legal” picture of God, meaning they frame the question in terms of a courtroom, where God is both the judge and the prosecuting attorney, and we are the sinful defendant.
We believe this is the wrong view of salvation, and not the best context in which to pose the question. Salvation is not primarily about “being saved from Hell,” but rather it is primarily about being restored to the image of God as we were created to be. This means being slowly but surely transformed into one who agape-loves God, other people, themself, and creation (what we call the “four directions of love”).
Rather than a legal/courtroom image, we see the more dominant image throughout the Bible as a marital image: God as the divine Groom seeking his wayward bride – first as Israel in the Old Testament, and then as the church in the New Testament (see Isaiah 54:1-8 ; Isaiah 62:5; Mark 2:18-20; John 3:27-30; Ephesians 5:25-32 ; Revelation 19:7-9). So, the real question we should ask is how a love relationship works in a good, loving human marriage, and use that as the best guide to how it works between God and us.
In a marriage, two people enter into a covenant where they promise to love each other until death. Now, we all know that no young married couple perfectly loves each other the way they promised to. There are ups and downs, mistakes made, anger expressed, selfishness that they both fall into. And yet, a good, healthy marriage is not one where both people are “perfect” from day one. Rather, a good marriage is one where both people are honest about their faults, confess when they have hurt each other and pledge to continue to grow as loving spouses into the years.
That is what God wants with his people. If we had to forsake all known sin in our lives before God was willing to love us, we would never have the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to begin to break away from habitual sin patterns. What God does require is what every covenant relationship requires—“faith and repentance” (Mark 1:14-15).
The biblical meaning of “faith” (pistis in Greek) is to put your covenant trust in your partner’s character and promises to you. The biblical meaning of “repentance” (metanoia in Greek) is to make a 180-degree change of mind, and turn from an old pattern of self-centered life to a new way of life as a covenant keeper. When we do this toward God through confession of sin and the making of a heart-commitment to God and his people, God meets us with the regenerating presence and power of the Holy Spirit. And then we spend the rest of our life growing more and more into the image of Jesus, who is the perfect image of God.
What does this mean for someone who struggles with an addiction, like a pornography habit or alcohol addiction? It means that they should come into covenant relationship with God through Jesus, expressing trust in his love and promises and confessing the sin that they are habitually trapped in. As God embraces such a person and the Holy Spirit takes residence, this provides the presence and power of God to progressively move out of the habitual sin.
I need help! I pray every day for Jesus to help me with my opiate addiction and study the bible all day long. I love to learn all about the lord and I watch nothing but bible study programs because I sincerely love the bible. I go on for awhile and I’m doing good but I always fail. I can’t stop using and I cry everyday asking for Holy Spirit to resist. I’m not saved I know because I’m not obeying Jesus and denying my flesh and I’m terrified to go to hell and be separated from god. Am I just damned for hell? Why won’t god fix me and help make me normal like everyone else. Or why can’t I resist some days? P
Dear Megan,
Thank you for your vulnerability in sharing such a difficult thing with us. First, we want you to know that struggling with addiction does not damn you to hell! Salvation is less about “being saved from Hell,” and more about being restored to who we were created to be—people who love God, others, ourselves and creation!
Rather than a courtroom scene where God decides if we are good enough, the Bible tells us that God wants a relationship with his people like that between a groom and his bride. Just like in marriage, God promises his faithfulness to us no matter what the ups and downs are. He doesn’t expect us to be perfect! If we had to be sin-free before God could love us, we’d never have his help to be able to break away from addictions! We don’t have to earn his love through things like Bible reading, we have his love to begin with. When we are able to trust and believe in his love, we are able to live in relationship with him—a relationship that is not defined by our mistakes.
Your addiction does not exclude you from relationship with God. As someone struggling with addiction, you, like everyone else, are invited into a relationship with God through Jesus, by expressing trust in his love and promises and confessing the sin that you feel trapped in. As God embraces you and the Holy Spirit lives in you, you will have the presence and power of God to move more and more out of the addictions you feel stuck in.
Struggling with addictions is HARD, but you don’t have to do it alone. For extra support, feel free to check our our Recovery in Christ support group here: whchurch.org/support_group/recovery-in-christ.
—Emily from the Communications Team
Passing along a response from Greg Boyd –Emily from the Communications Team
Hi Megan,
I’m glad you reached out to us for help.
Before I address your opiate addiction, I wanted to give you a solemn reassurance that I sense you could really use. Megan, the fact that you can’t currently kick your opioid addiction does NOT mean that you are “just damned to hell.” Your addiction, as tenacious as it is, is no match for God’s limitless love for you! God’s love is eternal, unconditional, and utterly relentless in pursuing you! That’s what Jesus’ death on the cross reveals. Jesus thought YOU were worth becoming a human and dying for — and he doesn’t make mistakes! And the very fact that you so clearly long to be right with God and so earnestly seek him tells me you have a heart that is open to God, which would not be possible if the Holy Spirit wasn’t already working in your heart! This is so important, Megan, because working to get right with God out of a love that you already have, for FREE, is infinitely more powerful than trying to get right with God out of fear of damnation.
You are, right now, loved and cherished by God as though you were the ONLY person God ever created and as if you were the ONLY person Jesus died for. The more you can place your trust in and surrender to this truth, the more power you’ll find in becoming a person who is able to permanently say “no” to opioids (or any other substance).
Okay, now about your addiction.
It sounds to me, Megan, like you’ve been trying to break your addiction on your own (while asking God for help). The thing is, ‘God never intended us to grow in our reflection of Christ — including our freedom from addictive substances — on our own. That is why almost all the ethical instructions of the New Testament are addressed to groups, not individuals. This is true for every aspect of our spiritual growth, but it’s MUCH MORE crucial when it comes to substance addiction!
So, I would STRONGLY encourage you to reach out to others to help you through this. Do you have fellow believers whom you trust to share your addiction with, to help encourage you in the struggle and to hold you accountable?
Whether you do or don’t, I would also encourage you to enter the twelve step programs of Narcotics Anonymous or Alcoholics Anonymous. In either group you will meet people who completely understand the stronghold that drugs and/or alcohol can have over anyone, including believers. And you’ll find a program that has helped tens of millions of alcoholics and addicts find freedom!
For NA meetings in your locale, check here https://na.org/meetingsearch/find-na
For AA meetings (which tend to be more plentiful and which also deal with any kind of addiction), check here https://www.aa.org/find-aa
So, my friend, be assured that your addiction does not for a second put you outside God’s love or outside God’s salvation, but also I encourage you not think you’ll be able to kick this nasty addiction on your own. Seek help in others. That’s what they are there for — and I have a hunch that, once you’re free, you will become one of the people God uses to help others recover from their addictions.
Our failures come our credentials in the kingdom of God!
In his love,
With confidence in your future freedom,
Greg Boyd