Sermon Tone Analysis

“The word of the LORD came to me: ‘What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge?’

As I live, declares the Lord GOD, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel.

Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.

“‘If a man is righteous and does what is just and right—if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbour’s wife or approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity, does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord GOD.

“‘If he fathers a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any of these things (though he himself did none of these things), who even eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbour’s wife, oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abomination, lends at interest, and takes profit; shall he then live?

He shall not live.

He has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself.

“‘Now suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins that his father has done; he sees, and does not do likewise: he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbour’s wife, does not oppress anyone, exacts no pledge, commits no robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, withholds his hand from iniquity, takes no interest or profit, obeys my rules, and walks in my statutes; he shall not die for his father's iniquity; he shall surely live.

As for his father, because he practised extortion, robbed his brother, and did what is not good among his people, behold, he shall die for his iniquity.

“‘Yet you say, “Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?”

When the son has done what is just and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live.

The soul who sins shall die.

The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son.

The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.’”

[1]

Soul competency is foundational to Baptist life and theology.

I do not contend that Baptists are alone in believing this truth; however, it is essential to a Baptist understanding of the doctrines of anthropology, ecclesiology and soteriology.

Soul competency is essential for our teaching concerning man, church and salvation.

Nowhere is this essential, though neglected, doctrine more clearly presented than in Ezekiel’s prophecy.

Instead of serving as an esoteric philosophy or as mere arcane sophistry, the doctrine of soul competency is a statement of immediate application in this day.

In an era that witnesses multiplication of victims and creation of a ready excuse for every situation, the doctrine of soul competency needs to be iterated from every pulpit.

This neglected truth needs to be again trumpeted by every church and embraced by everyone who would claim the honoured name of Baptist.

Indulge me briefly as I speak my bias.

I fear that Canada is becoming, or even has become, a nation of victims.

A major industry has sprung up both to create and to care for victims.

Instead of striving to excel, too many of our fellow citizens are encouraged to excuse mediocrity through claiming victim status.

Thus, one may be a victim of race or culture, a victim of social class or economic conditions, a victim of gender or choice, and this victim status excuses every failure and each act of irresponsibility.

The doctrine of soul competency will go a long way toward destroying the cult of victimology.

This is one reason I believe the teaching needs again to be presented among the churches of our Lord.

It is interesting to note that the occasion for this particular teaching through the weird and wonderful prophet Ezekiel was a proverb which demonstrates that the cult of victimology is at least as old as the conquest of Israel.

The Jews had been conquered by the Chaldeans, and deported to Babylon.

In Babylon, the conquered people repeated an old saw: “the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge” [EZEKIEL 18:2].

You will find this same proverb in Jeremiah’s prophecy, also.

“In those days they shall no longer say:

‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,

and the children's teeth are set on edge.’

“But everyone shall die for his own sin.

Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge” [JEREMIAH 31:29, 30].

The people were using this proverb while whimpering that they were being punished for the sins of others.

They were innocent!

They moaned that their forebears were guilty of dishonouring the Lord God.

The people, exiled because they had forgotten their God, excused themselves, insisting that they bore no responsibility for sin.

God, through the prophet, corrected the people.

It is true that in the Decalogue, God warns mankind of the consequences of sin.

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments” [EXODUS 20:4-6].

Note that God threatens to visit the sins of the fathers on the children for generations to come.

This is, of course, the commentary on the Second Commandment.

The Talmud interpreted this as signifying that only if the children followed their fathers’ sinful example, would they suffer for the sins of their parents as well as for their own.

[2]

The exiled Jews were convinced of their own righteousness.

They considered themselves better than their predecessors.

They were willing to attribute their condition to misjudgement on the part of the Lord God.

The proverb was tantamount to a pernicious accusation that God was incompetent, or perhaps even unjust!

They were in effect, claiming that God was guilty of punishing the innocent instead of the guilty.

A STATEMENT OF THE DOCTRINE OF SOUL COMPETENCY — “You say, ‘Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’

When the son has done what is just and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live.

The soul who sins shall die.

The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son.

The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”

The principle of soul competency could well be restated by the words of the text, “The soul who sins shall die.”

The doctrine of soul competency is a stark reminder that each individual is responsible before Holy God for his or her faith, or for his or her lack of faith, as well as for all actions performed by the individual.

Though the Spirit of God may call an individual to faith in the Risen Son of God, it is the responsibility of each individual to respond.

One cannot shirk responsibility for faith by claiming that another individual has been offensive.

Neither can any person attempt to pass responsibility for failure to believe to another individual.

Therefore, the fact that one has believing parents is of no value before God.

Likewise, the fact that one has unbelieving parents is of no consequence.

God has no stepchildren.

Either one is born into the Family of God, or one is eternally lost and separate from God.

Soul competency is based on the premise that all persons have an inalienable right of direct access to God.

The principle insists that the human soul has direct, unmediated access to God. [3] Perhaps you will recall the statement asserting Christ’s role as mediator for each individual.

“There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all” [1 TIMOTHY 2:5, 6].

We may not pray to saints or to Mary, but each must give an account to God for his own life.

Each individual shall “give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” [see 1 PETER 4:5].

Restating the doctrine, soul competency asserts that all persons created in the image of God stand in a unique and inviolable relation to their Creator and, when made alive by divine grace, are fully “competent” or capable of responding to God directly.

Soul competency means that every individual is responsible to God.

This is the first principle of New Testament law—to bring each naked soul face-to-face with God.

Whenever a Baptist preacher presents the message of life in Christ, he depends upon two great truths—religious freedom and soul competency.

The individual is free to respond, or not respond, and therefore the preacher can but urge the individual to receive the message of life.

Likewise, as the preacher declares the truth of God’s salvation, he knows that the individual is competent to receive the message.

Soul competency teaches us that each individual has the inherent capacity to seek and to obey God.

The doctrine of soul competency further suggests the right and responsibility of every person to deal directly and personally with God without human imposition or interference of any kind.

[4]

Unlike most other religions, the Christian Faith demands that individuals be held accountable for themselves.

As an example of the contrary view, Islam teaches class responsibility.

One who holds individuals personally responsible for their acts may murder.

For example, such a person may kill the landlord or an employer.

An individual who believes in class guilt, however, will believe himself or herself justified in killing any and all landlords or any and all employers—even ones the individual has never met.

The “idealist” may therefore kill absolutely blameless people who happen to belong to a “guilty” class.

Thus, it is apparent that doctrine influences the conduct of every individual’s relationship with others.

What does “class guilt” mean?

A class is nothing more than an arbitrary grouping of people that serves the agenda of the person doing the analysis.

The last few decades have seen a surge in the political division of people according to classes in order to ascribe collective guilt or collective victim-hood.

This rise in the concept of “class guilt” mirrors the decline of Christian influence in western society, and particularly does it reflect the absence of this Baptist principle of soul competency in western society.

According to proponents of class guilt, men subjugate women, whites exploit minorities, wealthy people oppress the poor, guns are the cause of death.

This distorted worldview becomes the basis for a vast array of evils.

Practically speaking, the concept of class guilt is nothing less than a political expression of the cult of the victim, thus serving to justify perpetuation of evil against those whom are deemed oppressors and thus offensive.

The relevant political factor has become, what class do you belong to?

Thus, Muslims can kill Jews and feminists can hate males and the poor can rage against the rich and labour can anathematise management.

The result is anything but righteous.

The assignment of “class guilt” is ungodly; it has no place in the life of any Christian.

There is one further issue related to this doctrine of soul competency; it is that another doctrine is often confused with soul competency.

The doctrine of the priesthood of the believers is frequently spoken of as though it and soul competency were one and the same truth.