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Study 12: becoming a child of Allah
We are nearing the end of this course and come now to the
most important material we shall cover. Through our study of
Allah's word we have learned much. We have seen how sin first
entered the world and the human race. We saw how, from Adam,
sin passed to all men. All men came under Allah's curse and face
the penalty of eternity in hell. We studied the law and how Allah
gave man various laws at various times. Yet, since no one can
keep the law no one can be saved by it. Rather, it helps men
see their sin and points them to Allah's grace. We then looked
at how at various times Allah made special temporary grace arrangements
for men. Allah's grace was available to those to put their faith
in Allah's promise and accepted it. Those who did not believe
Allah nor accept his grace arrangement were destroyed. They received
the just punishment for their sins. We looked at Allah's blessing
on and how it was to extend to all men for all time.
We then saw that in Allah provided the means by which
to fulfill his promise to . We also saw how the
of was a sign or symbol pointing to the coming of a final
perfect for all men. We saw that, just as Allah provided
an animal for to sacrifice in place of his son, so now
Allah has provided a sacrifice for us in the death of Isa. According
to the , Isa is " the Lamb of Allah who takes away
the sins of the world". We have seen in Isa's life, death
and resurrection how prophecy was perfectly fulfilled. Finally,
we saw that of all men only Isa is alive in heaven interceding
before Allah for his disciples. Now we come to the most important
question of the course. How can I become a disciple of Isa and
be sure of going to heaven?
Prophets and were considered righteous by
Allah because of their faith (Iman)
It will help our understanding if we look again at the life
of . Let us see what the says about how
was made righteous in Allah's sight, and how we too can receive
this blessing of . It is written,
Consider : "He believed Allah, and it was credited
to him as righteousness." Understand, then, that those who
believe are children of . The Scripture foresaw that Allah
would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel
in advance to : "All nations will be blessed through
you." So those who have faith are blessed along with ,
the man of faith. All who rely on observing the law are under
a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does
not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."
Clearly no one is justified before Allah by the law, because,
"The righteous will live by faith." The law is not
based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these
things will live by them." Masih redeemed us from the curse
of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed
is everyone who is hung on a tree." He redeemed us in order
that the blessing given to might come to the Gentiles
through Masih Isa, so that by faith we might receive the promise
of the Spirit. (Galatians 3:6-14)
It is evident from this passage that was considered
righteous in Allah's sight because of his faith. Instead of trying
to justify himself through his own good work, depended
on Allah's grace and trusted in Allah's promises. The same is
true of the followers of . They recognized they were condemned
before Allah through the law. Thus, they admitted their sin and
guilt to Allah, and sought his grace. When Allah said his grace
was available through they believed him and obeyed. According
to his command, they sought perfect animals and offered them
according to Allah's rules. We are in the same position today.
Like and we cannot hope to be saved by obeying the
law. Even though the law is good, we as sinners, cannot obey
it and hands only bring down its curse. Therefore, we must follow
the example of Allah's people of the past by following the steps
below.
How we can also be considered righteous before Allah
1. Admit to Allah that you are a sinner and cannot keep his
perfect and holy law.
2. Recognize that by your disobedience you deserve only death
and eternity in hell.
3. Accept Allah's final grace arrangement, that is,
A. Choose Isa as your perfect , the one who fulfilled
Allah's blessing and promise to .
B. Believe and accept Allah's promise that Isa died to take away
your sins.
4. With Allah's help and strength seek to live a life pleasing
to Allah according to the teachings of Isa. In your own power
you can never please Allah, but through trust and dependence
on Allah's strength and forgiveness you can seek to live according
to his will.
The above may seem difficult to understand at first. Perhaps
an illustration would help. Imagine you are standing on a riverbank
and want to get to the other side of the river. You cannot swim
and you have no boat, so what can you do? First you must find
out if there is a bridge. Once you know there is a bridge and
where it is, then you must cross over the river using the bridge.
Some bridges are sturdy, but others are not very well built.
When you see the bridge, you must decide whether or not you will
trust the bridge to hold your weight and not collapse. However
until you put your trust in the bridge and use it, it does you
no good.
Getting to heaven is like crossing that river. Through Scripture
we learn that Isa is the only bridge to heaven. By trusting in
Isa we can get to heaven. You might understand that and even
be able to explain it to someone else. However, have you ever
actually used that bridge to Allah? Until you do, it will do
you no good. Have you put your faith in Isa and accepted his
sacrifice as the covering for your sins? Allah offers you the
gift of eternal life through the of Isa, but you must
accept it. You can accept it now by praying to Allah sincerely
and humbly, and telling him you accept Isa as the covering for
your sins.
Through faith we are set free from slavery to sin
The four steps given may seem very simple to you at first.
However, if one really understands them and in sincerity follows
them, one's life will never be the same. As the says,
Therefore, if anyone is in Masih, he is a new creation; the
old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
One's life will be transformed. Instead of continuing to live
as a child of this wicked age one becomes a child of Allah. As
it is written,
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his
name, he gave the right to become children of Allah-- (John 1:12)
Instead of being a slave to your own sins and lusts, Allah
gives you the strength to seek to please him and live a holy
life. It is written,
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under
grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves
to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom
you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death,
or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be
to Allah that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly
obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You
have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural
selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery
to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them
in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were
slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are
now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you
have been set free from sin and have become slaves to Allah,
the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal
life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of Allah is
eternal life in Masih Isa our Lord. (Romans 6:15-23)
This is an amazing thing that deserves closer attention.
Through faith we can obey Allah
Surprising as it may seem at first sight, we who have been
saved by Allah's grace apart from the law are now set free to
obey the law. Far from looking down on Allah's law and disregarding
it, we, who have been saved by faith in , are set free
from bondage to sin. We are given the power by Allah to obey
his good and holy law. Thus, for example, when asked what the
greatest commandment was Isa answered,
One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Isa replied: "`Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first
and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: `Love your
neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these
two commandments." (Matthew 22:35-40)
Far from being set free from Obedience to this law, by faith
in Isa we are now for the first time set free to obey it. We
can for the first time love Allah with all our hearts and obey
him. We are set free from slavery to our own desires and through
Allah's strength are able to love others as ourselves. Amazing
as it seems, those who have been saved by faith apart from The
Law are the only ones able to obey The Law. All those who attempt
to be righteous before Allah through the law through their own
works and efforts, are bound by their own sin. Much as they may
hate it, they are prevented by their own pride and selfishness
from living in true obedience to the law. The outward action
may be correct, but their inner thoughts (that only Allah knows)
condemn them. But now, we who have been set free from slavery
to pride and selfishness are able to worship Allah in holiness
and purity.
Isa is the second Adam
We have just seen that when a person in sincerity, humility,
and brokenness admits his sin to Allah and places his faith in
Isa as Allah's way of forgiving sins, the person is made new
by Allah. Destructive effects of Adam's sin are corrected. Pride,
lust, selfishness, jealousy, and fear that were created in man's
life through the sin of Adam is corrected and wiped away. By
Allah's power and mercy, man has the potential to be the beautiful
creation he once was before the sin of Adam. He has the potential
to live once again in a personal and loving relationship with
Allah just as Adam and did before they fell. Isa corrected
what was destroyed by Adam. In this way Isa the Messiah is a
kind of second Adam. Through the first Adam all men became centers
and guilty before Allah. Through Isa, the second Adam, man has
the potential to enter again into the relationship with Allah
he had before the fall. This is explained very clearly in the
,
But Masih has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits
of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through
a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
For as in Adam all die, so in Masih all will be made alive. (1
Corinthians 15:20-22)
Or again,
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man,
and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men,
because all sinned--
For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through
that one man, how much more will those who receive Allah's abundant
provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in
life through the one man, . Consequently, just as the
result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also
the result of one act of righteousness was justification that
brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience
of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the
obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The
law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where
sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as
sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness
to bring eternal life through our Lord. (Romans 5:12,
17-21)
We find the same concept brought out in the Quran,
The similitude of Isa before Allah is as that of Adam; he
created him from dust, then said to him: "Be": and
he was. (Surah al- 3:59)
By faith we partake in the blessings of
We, then, who by faith and accepted Allah's grace arrangement,
the of Isa, become partakers in the blessing of .
Just as Scripture says about , so we too are counted righteous
in Allah's sight because of our faith. Through our faith in Isa,
we become Allah's children and friends of Allah. In fact, it
is written,
And this is the testimony: Allah has given us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he
who does not have the Son of Allah does not have life. I write
these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of Allah
so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:11-13)
We who have become partakers in the blessing of by
faith are assured of eternal life. We know we are saved and will
spend eternity in Allah's presence in heaven. This may be difficult
to understand at first. The reason we can be certain is that
our certainty rests on Allah, not us. If we were trying to be
saved through obedience to Allah's law then we could never be
certain. Even if by some miracle, we had kept it perfectly in
the past we would always live in fear and uncertainty of the
future. At any time we could be led astray by Satan or by our
own desires and lose all hope of salvation. However, those who
have been saved by Allah's grace through faith do not live in
fear and uncertainty. Their salvation rests on what Allah has
done not what the individual person has or has not done. It is
Allah who planned and executed our salvation. It is his grace,
his work, not ours. It is all his and we, by faith in him and
his promises, can only accept or reject it. Those who accept
it live in peace and security while those who reject it live
in uncertainty and fear. In the next lesson we shall be looking
at the results of acceptance and rejection in more detail.
QUESTIONS:
1. Give the four steps required to partake in the blessing
of .
1.
2.
3.
4.
2. What similarity is there between Allah's grace arrangement
through Isa and a bridge?
3. Those who have been saved from their sins through faith
apart from the law,
A. No longer live in obedience to Allah's law
B. Are given the power to obey the law by Allah
C. Must live in opposition to the
law
4. How can Adam and Isa be compared?
A. Isa, the second Adam, restored what was destroyed
by the first Adam.
B. Isa, the second Adam, repeated what the first
Adam did and created greater problems.
C. Isa had no relation to Adam.
5. Those who place their faith in Allah's promises and accept
Isa as their own covering for sin,
A. Hope that they will someday be saved.
B. Face temporary uncertainty about salvation.
C. Are certain they have been saved.
6. Because the follower of Isa the Messiah knows that his
salvation depends on Allah's work and not man's,
A. He can live in security and trust in Allah.
B.
He must live in fear.
C. He must live in uncertainty.
7. Describe your personal response to the truths raised in
this lesson.
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