Aprons of Leaves

      …and they sewed fig leaves together, and
made themselves aprons. Gen. 3:7

There is a great debate raging today over what
is called “Lordship Salvation.” The debate centers around the question, “Does a
person need to accept Jesus Christ as Lord when he accepts Him as Savior, or is
that a subsequent decision dealing more with sanctification than salvation?”

We might begin by asking the question, “Is it
possible to accept Jesus Christ as Savior only, while not coming under His
Lordship as well?” The question being asked is not, “Does the person need to
make Christ Lord of all areas of their practical Christian walk at the time of
his conversion in order to be saved?” It is rather, “Can we separate these two
aspects of Christ in our lives.” Can He be selected from a spiritual menu as
Savior, while putting off the selection of Him as Lord until a later date, or
perhaps not at all?

Personally, I do not think so. Do we select Him
as our High Priest separately from being our Savior? Our Advocate?  Our Lord?
Are they not all part and parcel of “accepting Christ?” Is not the saved
individual “redeemed” —purchased with the blood of Christ? The apostle Peter is
exhorting holiness when he writes, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not
redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain
conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious
blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” (1 Pet.
1:13–23) The apostle Paul writing on separation states, “What? know ye not that
your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God,
and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God
in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Cor. 6:19–20) If one is
redeemed by the blood of Christ, Christ is His Master and Lord. Whether the
individual is in the good of this truth is another question.

However, while these questions deal with the
Lordship of Christ, I wonder if Lordship is the primary question. I believe the
primary question has to do with “life.” Can there be spiritual life which is
never manifested? Even a person in a coma exhibits some form of life! If we come
across an individual without any breath and pulse, we do not hesitate to declare
him to be dead. Can a person accept Christ as personal Savior and manifest no
evidence of eternal life? Can there be life without fruit? Fruit is not a
question of service and Lordship, but a question of “life” – eternal life. Fruit
is outward evidence of inward life, just as the rising and falling of the chest
when breathing and the beating pulse when the heart is functioning are evidences
of physical life.

Adam and Eve made themselves aprons of leaves,
which provided some coverage, but not in the presence of God. They may have had
leaves, but leaves alone without fruit are never an expression of inward reality
in the Scriptures.  In fact, Christ condemned the fig tree with only leaves, a
picture of Israel with its outward forms, but no inward life. “And when he saw a
fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves
only.”  (Matt. 21:19) Christ saw leaves only as “pretense” without reality.

The apostle John gives us some clear vital signs
of life in his first epistle. In his Gospel he tells us  how to obtain eternal
life. (John 3:16)  In his first Epistle he tells us how to know we have it.
“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of
God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the
name of the Son of God.” (1 John 5:13) The first sign of being a child of God is
given in chapter 2, verse 29. “If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that
every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.” The logic used by John is
that if you know the Father you will be able to recognize His children from
their common features. Those who habitually practice righteousness are born of
Him.

The second sign is in contrast to the first.
“Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him:
and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” (1 John 3:9) The result of the
presence of the new nature is the absence of the practice of sin. “Therefore the
person who is born of God cannot continue practicing sin, he is not able to
habitually sin, because out of God he has been born.” (Wuest). John adds in the
next verse, “whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God.”

The third vital sign is given in verse 14 of the
same chapter. “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love
the brethren.” Lenski translates it, “We have stepped over out of death into
life (we know it by this evidence) because we are loving brothers.” Brother
A.M.S. Gooding writes, “We have changed masters, spheres, kingdoms; we are under
new ownership; we belong to a new family and the evidence is found in this: ‘we
love the brethren.’” One who does not desire to be with the children of God and
love the family of God has a vital sign that shows no evidence of life. (1 John
5:2)

The sacrificial love of God shown in the
believer is also a vital sign of new birth. (1 John 4:7)  “Beloved, let us love
one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and
knoweth God.” To continue to live for self alone and exhibit no God-like love to
others is a concerning vital sign. (James 2:14–20)

Lastly John writes, “Whosoever believeth that
Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” The use of the present participle
“believeth” indicates a  continuous condition, meaning He who perseveres in his
belief is born of God. What God starts, He completes. (Phil. 1:6) Their
continuance is the result of, and proof of their new birth.

Based on the Scriptures could we ever conceive
that an individual would be the object of the recreative work of God (2 Cor.
5:17;  Eph. 2:10) and remain the same as he was before conversion? Hardly! To do
so is to divide up the work of God in the soul through the Holy Spirit. If one
truly has new life, and is a new creature in Christ Jesus, the evidence will
manifest itself. (Not that which merits salvation, but that which flows from it.
(Eph. 2:10))