{"id":16879,"date":"2025-05-15T15:54:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T06:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/?post_type=lesson&p=16879"},"modified":"2025-10-28T09:55:55","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T00:55:55","slug":"my-uchi-soto-lesson-5","status":"publish","type":"lesson","link":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/lesson\/my-uchi-soto-lesson-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Grace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Opening Questions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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  1. Think of the worst person you know. What do you think they deserve?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. What comes to mind when you hear the word \u201cgrace\u201d (in Japanese, megumi<\/em>)? [Note that to most Japanese (especially non-Christians but also Christians) the word megumi<\/em> has connotations of \u201cbounty\u201d or \u201cblessings\u201d, often attributed to \u201cnature\u201d.]<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Last time we read the story of the fall of the first man and woman into sin. We learned that the Bible understands sin in terms of relationship to God and his words or commands. We also saw that sin is not so much discrete actions as it is a condition of the heart that does not accept God\u2019s authority to \u201cknow\u201d (decide) good and evil, but wants to make such determinations itself. According to the Bible, this is now the human default, and it is the root cause of human evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It would have been just\/right for God to punish sin with immediate death. The Bible says that \u201cthe wages of sin is death\u201d (Romans 6:23). But although Adam and Eve were now destined to die, and cast out of the uchi<\/em> fellowship of paradise\u2014a kind of spiritual death\u2014they remained alive, sustained (of course) by God. We saw a hint of God\u2019s undeserved favour to the man and woman last time when God barred their access to the tree of life, so that they might not always live in a condition of rebellion against God, under his judgment. Today, we\u2019re going to see some more hints of God\u2019s undeserved favor to his creatures as the story unfolds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    The Lord<\/span> God said to the serpent, 
    \u201cBecause you have done this, 
    cursed are you above all livestock 
    and above all beasts of the field; 
    on your belly you shall go, 
    and dust you shall eat 
    all the days of your life. 
    I will put enmity between you and the woman, 
    and between your offspring and her offspring; 
    he shall bruise your head, 
    and you shall bruise his heel.\u201d 
    To the woman he said, 
    \u201cI will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; 
    in pain you shall bring forth children. 
    Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, 
    but he shall rule over you.\u201d 
    And to Adam he said, 
    \u201cBecause you have listened to the voice of your wife <\/em>
    and have eaten of the tree 
    of which I commanded you, 
    \u2018You shall not eat of it,\u2019 
    cursed is the ground because of you; 
    in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 
    thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; 
    and you shall eat the plants of the field. 
    By the sweat of your face 
    you shall eat bread, 
    till you return to the ground, 
    for out of it you were taken; 
    for you are dust, 
    and to dust you shall return.\u201d 
    The man called his wife\u2019s name Eve1<\/a><\/strong><\/sup>, because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord<\/span> God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.<\/p>\nGenesis 3:14-21<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n