This episode applies the discussion of "fooldom" to believers, who might contend that "suppression of the truth" is not their issue, since they have confessed Christ as Lord. While many Christians have determined to glorify God with their lives, sincerely desiring to reverse the Great Exchange (Romans 1:23), very few believers, if any, have come under the total Lordship of Christ. The flesh is sympathetic to fooldom, leading to "foolish rationalizations" instead of "foolish speculations." Partial submission is the operative detente of the flesh, which naturally rationalizes some disobedience as tolerable. After all, no one is perfect. Rationalization among Christians therefore reflects a common means of suppressing truth, requiring believers to come under the total Lordship of Christ. "Fooldom" then is relevant to believers who take sanctification seriously and want to be conformed into the image of Christ.
An Incomplete Gospel Leading to Complete Ruin
This episode spells out the potentially devastating consequences of a sinner's profession of faith, devoid of repentance. Unfortunately many Americans claim to be Christians based on an incomplete grasp of the gospel. They may have recited a sinner's prayer, assenting to their need for Christ's sacrifice to cover their sin-debt. But accessing the benefits of Christ's sacrifice was based on believing, apart from any repudiation of their sinful lives. John MacArthur illustrates an encounter with "easy-believism" in which a strip club owner made a profession of faith in Christ at a church, but nevertheless continued to promote sin with his business. Churches and evangelists are at fault when they incompletely explain access to salvation, dumbing down or leaving out entirely the need for repentance. The results are spurious "decisions for Christ" that amount to fire insurance policies designed to secure heaven, without any corresponding change in heart or behavior. The result is that many have false assurances of salvation based on an incomplete gospel presentation. Sadly, the self-delusion, reinforced by the Church, now acts to inoculate the Hell-destined nominal believer from the true gospel based on self-renunciation and repentance. If they don't repent eventually, they will hear Christ's terrifying words, "depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you." (Matthew 7:22) The evangelist then is obligated to preach repentance and faith in Christ as the means of accessing salvation. Anything less makes the evangelist complicit in providing false hope for unbelievers. I wonder how many churches have so diluted the gospel, that they are actually stumbling blocks for the Kingdom..
The Law Helps to Think God’s Thoughts after Him
This episode exposes the fleshly arguments that some use to justify continued expression of the flesh. The argument largely rests on using Paul's own words in Romans 7 as an excuse for not forcefully advancing spiritually. Paul himself describes himself as a prisoner of the law of sin and death in verse 23. In verse 25 he observes 2 warring principles within, and neither is ascendant. Selective proof texting of Romans 7 is naturally a convenient rationalization for Christians bent on tolerating a fair degree of carnality. Romans 8:2 thoroughly debunks the flesh's convenient co-opting of Paul in Romans 7, insisting that substantial victory is available for Christians who set their minds on the Spirit. Love of God's Law also becomes the lens of the mind set on the Spirit.
The Trinity Revealed in Salvation
This episode unpacks the role of each member of the Trinity in leading believers towards the beatific vision. In addition to uncovering the glory of Christ, the Holy Spirit reveals the thoughts of God the Father. (1 Cor. 2:11) The next verse states, "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we many know the things freely given to us by God." (12) Of course, the greatest gift "freely given to us by God the Father is Christ. (John 3:16) The Holy Spirit reveals Christ and the thoughts of the Father and Christ has "explained the Father." (John 1:18) That every member of the Trinity is united in uncovering the Godhead points to the inescapable conclusion that holistic salvation is all about the knowledge of God.