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Commentary on "Uriah: Faith of a Foreigner"
Day 3: Monday, November 1, 2010 - No One Is an Island
Overview
Today’s lesson deals exclusively with the actions of King David, even though the week’s lessons are stated to be about Uriah. The focus shifts from the drama that played out between David and Uriah to an examination of David complacently resting on his laurels as an accomplished, victorious king. Instead of being with his troops in battle, he is home relaxing.
It is true that the Bible subtly criticizes David’s unwillingness to go into the battle himself as he did during in the days when he fought for his life. This incident is a perfect illustration of David’s demise as a warrior in the spiritual realm. He stops fighting sin and makes provision for the flesh (Romans 13:14) and fails.
Observations
Still, the lesson doesn’t deal with the true dimension of man’s sinfulness. While the authors are quick to point out David’s failure to understand the extent of the negative effects his sin with Bathsheba will produce, there is no mention of the greatest damage it will yield: dishonor to God’s name. The vertical—not horizontal—dimension of David’s sin is the real problem in this story: disdain for the Lord God.
The questions at the end of today’s lesson are directed to the believer’s internal battle with sin. “Think about the decisions you make. Are they based mostly on reason, rational thinking, and logic, or are they based on emotion and passion?” The unstated assumption in the question is a denial of the effects of original sin which affects the entire human being at all levels. Not only are our natural emotions under sin’s dominance, but so also are our reason and our thoughts. Everything about us is naturally under sin’s power (Genesis 6:5). The battle with sin involves bringing every thought into submission to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). The rational side of man is as fallen as the emotional side. It becomes evident that the authors are limited because of their indebtedness to their view of man as having no soul. In the view of the authors, sin is located in the material part of man, which in Adventist theology constitutes the whole man. It is only logical to place sin at the level of biological needs and instincts which are seen as being in conflict with the brain where the rational processes take place.
Biblical anthropology sees man as a combination of two elements, body and soul, a material, biological part, and a spiritual part. Sin brought spiritual death to the soul, which is 100% dead and exercises full control over the body (Ephesians 2:1, 5). This situation requires God’s spiritual power of resurrection life.
The biological part of man, the brain, is operated by the mind whish is part of the soul, and needs to be constantly preserved alive and strengthened through spiritual union by faith in Christ. The battle with sin is basically a spiritual battle, not a struggle between biological instincts and the brain. While this battle doesn’t happen apart from the brain and the rest of the physical body, it is located in the spiritual part of man, man’s soul or spirit.
Space doesn’t allow a full treatment of the biblical view regarding sanctification; the current review only points out a fatal flaw in the Adventist belief system: the denial of the existence of a human soul. If sinners desire progress in sanctification and in their daily fight for sin, subscribing to the Adventist view will deprive them of the most elementary knowledge necessary for success. Know your enemy and where the battle is happening. Confusing biology with spirituality is a sure sign of failure.
Copyright 2010 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised October 30, 2010. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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