The Incompatibility of Theistic Evolution and the Gospel of Christ

With so much division in our nation, I know we should overlook minor differences as long as we unite over the fundamentals. I am especially supportive of a united church, with many different members from different cultures and with different gifts working together as one body under Christ, serving together as Christ's ambassadors, fulfilling God's mission on earth. However, a healthy and fruitful church must be like-minded regarding the Gospel and the core doctrines of the faith.  There is one difference within the church, which concerns creation vs. theistic evolution and the age of the earth, that we must stop overlooking, especially as we witness so much pain and death.

The Bible teaches that death entered the world THROUGH sin and that death began with Adam's sin. This sin and death has extended to all people, for all have sinned.

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—(Romans 5:12)

Before Adam, there was no sin or death. Before sin entered the world, God created the earth and all living things and animals on it, each according to "their kind" (repeated 7 times in Genesis), and God saw that "it was good" (repeated 7 times in Genesis 1-3).

While God may take our pain and suffering and work it together for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28), He always has and always will hate both sin and death.  The first two chapters of Genesis present God's perfect plan for creation in which men and women experience holy relationships with God and each other. Genesis 3 explains how man and woman, by their own free will, chose to ruin this perfection by bringing sin and death into the world. From Genesis 3:15 through the rest of the Bible, we see God's gracious plan unfold in which He sends Jesus to conquer death and to reconcile mankind to God.  Death is not God's choice.  Death is the result of man's choice, yet God chose to defeat sin and death to reconcile mankind to Himself through the work of Christ on the cross.  (John 3:16)



The theory of evolution is built upon an ugly series of struggles and deaths over millions of years to establish life through the survival of the fittest. Theistic evolution suggests that God used pain and death over a long period of time ("a million years is like a day to God") to create every living thing.  This theory requires that death existed before Adam, which directly contradicts God's word, not just the specific passages referenced above, but the entire theme and purpose of the Bible itself. Why would a good, all-powerful God choose a system of survival of the fittest, pain, and death to create that which He kept calling "good" in Genesis 1-3, when He has the power to speak it all into existence in a moment, exactly as presented in the historical narrative found in Genesis 1-2?  If God is perfectly good and omnipotent, shouldn't He get creation right the first time?  Those who attempt to diminish God's power and perfection in their own minds have a faith that offers little hope. Why would the God of truth who cannot lie (Titus 1:2) contradict Himself, doing one thing and saying something completely different throughout His inspired Word?  If this cycle of continuous death is supposed to evolve us all into something better, why do the headlines show us growing worse, especially in terms of morality over the past 50 years?

lifehopeandtruth.com

If death is part of God's plan, then why did Christ come to defeat it?  To hold to theistic evolution is to nullify the Gospel of Christ. You must choose which you will believe, but you cannot believe both.  Only Jesus is the way, the truth, and life. (John 14:6)

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)

Radioactive dating methods are flawed. How could anything based on uniformitarianism deliver accurate results?  Simply experiencing North Carolina weather should provide enough understanding to know that natural processes are neither uniform nor predictable. Regarding geological changes, one earthquake, volcanic eruption, hurricane or hypercane, or flood can drastically skew the geological timeline.  Regardless of nature's clues one side or the other, true believers must take God at His word. Eyewitness accounts hold a lot more weight in the courtroom than random "clues" do, after all.  When you view science through the lens of Scripture, the mysteries start to make sense, and those clues lead Spirit led scientists to new discoveries at a much more rapid rate.

We can agree to disagree on the nonessentials, but those who consider Jesus an essential while upholding theistic evolution should consider the full implications of theistic evolution.  Theistic evolution is not a compromise to preserve unity.  It is a contradiction that attacks Christ's offer of eternal impunity.


Resources for Additional Study

Dr. Paul Elliot has provided useful resources for discerning and addressing false teaching in Christian churches and seminaries here.   This article references many Bible verses that are highly recommended for personal study.  Please note the following excerpt:

In the past generation, false teachers have crept into Evangelical and Reformed seminaries largely unnoticed. The men they have instructed in their false teachings have likewise come into the church for the most part without being recognized. They have secretly brought in destructive heresies. They cause sound doctrine to be ridiculed. They claim that their teachings are superior to what has been taught in past generations. They say they represent progress in theology. They often allege that misconceptions regarding the covenants, the person and work of Christ, baptism, justification, sanctification, the church, and the Last Judgment have become embedded in Protestant doctrine over the centuries. Neo-liberals claim that their teachings serve to correct these supposedly long-held misconceptions. But what they are really saying, at the end of the day, is that our forebears in the faith - from the apostles themselves onward - have been wrong on the most basic elements of Christian doctrine. What they are really doing is denying authentic Biblical Christianity

 WordTruth.net offers a handy .PDF reference guide entitled "False Teaching in the Church" here.

The Only Way to Truly Satisfy Social Justice Warriors

Do all these people who are crying out for equality, world peace, open borders, equal outcomes, distribution of wealth, and one unified global government realize that what they are truly longing for is Heaven? None of those things are fully possible unless sin is absent and resources are limitless.

God initially gave us Heaven on earth, but Adam and Eve were not content with perfection under the authority of God, so they chose to disobey God, tempted by that which promised to make them like God.  God's punishment on man included painful toil. Provisions would no longer come easily, and never again would there be sufficient resources readily available for everyone (Matthew 26:11). Since Adam and Eve sought to dominate instead of assimilate, they were deported from paradise, and a cherubim with a flaming sword was set up as a type of border patrol, blocking the way to the tree of life, with the strictest vetting protocol. (Genesis 1-3)

Under Nimrod, mankind tried to set up another global utopia at a plain in Shinar where they cried, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:4) Knowing the wicked corruption that the lust for power brings and the folly of misguided worship, God confused their languages and scattered them into different nations and cultures so that no one man or government body would rule the whole earth.  God established the different nations for our protection and for the greater good (Acts 17:26-17).

God loves the nations.  He established clear boundaries for the nations and gives specific commands for protecting them (which do involve some massive walls), and for preserving their unique identities. (2 Chronicles 14:6-7)  He gives instructions regarding who to include or exclude (Deuteronomy 23:3, Exodus 23: 32-33).  He teaches families and nations to look out for their own first (1 Timothy 5:8, Deuteronomy 15:11,  Romans 12:13), but he also commands us to also show love and hospitality to sojourners (Leviticus 19:34, Leviticus 23:22, Leviticus 25:35, Deuteronomy 10:19, Deuteronomy 14:29,  Deuteronomy 24:19-21, Deuteronomy 26:12-13, Matthew 25:35-40, Romans 12:13, Hebrews 13:1), with the understanding that those who stay should assimilate into the culture, adhering to the laws of the land (Deuteronomy 31:12-13, Leviticus 18:26).  

(For more information on how the Bible instructs us on issues of immigration, reference Danny Carroll's article found here.)

While God loves all the nations, He established Israel to be a light to the nations, sent Christ to be the Light of the world (and the fulfillment of Israel's calling), and commissioned the church to take the Gospel of Christ to the furthest corners of the earth.  His Gospel is for all the nations.  However, God does not support globalism established by man for the glory of man, for as we have seen throughout world history with the rise and fall of kings and nations, ultimate power ultimately corrupts.  Only God possesses that power, deserves that honor, and can rule with perfect righteousness, but mankind rejected His authority.

By His goodness and grace, God set His redemptive plan in motion when He cursed the serpent at the fall as described in Genesis 3:15. The seed of the woman, Christ Jesus, would crush Satan's head and strike his heel. God planned from the beginning to restore all that was lost and to reestablish all He intended for His creation (see Isaiah 11:9, Isaiah 25, Matthew 5-7, Revelation 7, 21-22).  God is the One who will bring about this new kingdom, not man, for only God is perfect in holiness and justice, infinite in wisdom and love, limitless, omniscient, omnipotent, and eternally good.

So please consider, social justice warriors, that while we should all strive to make the world a better place and while God uniquely called us to be wise and faithful stewards over the earth (Genesis 1), what your heart truly desires is His everlasting kingdom (Ecclesiastes 3:11).  No amount of good works, activism, or passionate protests will get you to that perfect place your heart desires.  The narrow way to Heaven (Matthew 7:13-15) is found by trusting in Jesus's redemptive work on the cross and by believing that He is God's son who bore all our sins in our place.  Jesus is the only way to Heaven. 

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

In His word, God gives us a glimpse of this new heaven that awaits all who believe. How glorious it will be!

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” ⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
⁶ He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. ⁷ Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. ⁸ But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death....

...It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. ¹² It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. ¹³ There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. ¹⁴ The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. ¹⁵ The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. ¹⁶ The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. ¹⁷ The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits^[thick. ¹⁸ The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. ¹⁹ The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰ the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.²¹ The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.
²² I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. ²⁴ The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. ²⁵ On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. ²⁶ The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. ²⁷ Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.  (Revelation 21: 1-8, 11-26)

Eden Restored

22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. ³ No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. ⁴ They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.  (Revelation 22:1-5)

⁹ After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:9-10)

‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst.The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat.
¹⁷ For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’
    ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (Revelation 7: 16-17)

 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.  (Luke 13:29)

The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tear from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.

⁹ In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God;
    we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him;
    let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

¹⁰ The hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain;
    but Moab will be trampled in their landas straw is trampled down in the manure.
¹¹ They will stretch out their hands in it,
    as swimmers stretch out their hands to swim.
God will bring down their pride despite the cleverness of their hands.
¹² He will bring down your high fortified wallsand lay them low;
he will bring them down to the ground, to the very dust.  (Isaiah 25:8-12)

The real reason Americans are so angry and divided and what to do about it

Extreme polarization, disunity, anger, rioting, violence and overall civil unrest have escalated in America at an alarming rate over the past decade.  The information age and the rapid rise of social media networks have contributed to these negative trends by increasing the dissemination of information and by facilitating the erosion of credibility among information producers.  Anyone can present himself as an expert and spread false information, "fake news", or misleading opinions without accountability.

Media producers profit more by publishing sensational stories with click-bait titles than they do by publishing thoughtful insights and verified facts.  Smart phones and social media saturate users with so much information 24/7 that few have the time or patience to read media that is more than 500 words or that requires in-depth thought, so the media is mostly dumbed-down to emotional sound bites that make consumers FEEL intense emotions without having to think much at all.  Opinions and talking points are virtually absorbed by osmosis, and once those opinions are established, social media intensifies those opinions through algorithms that feed consumers only what reinforces those opinions. This confirmation bias closes minds and hearts to differing perspectives. This refusal to consider or evaluate opposing opinions has turned some of America's most elite universities, where the marketplace of ideas once fueled innovative thought and mutual understanding, into censorship zones where only the most liberal philosophies are permitted a voice. Polarization is a natural outcome of a refusal to expose oneself to opposing viewpoints.  Since no persuasive arguments or thoughtful defenses are needed to support a common opinion in such censored environments, any attempt by an outsider to engage in meaningful dialogue or respectful debate is immediately shut down by resorting to name calling ("hater", "bigot", "sexist", or any combination of vulgar expletives) or by simply disengaging.  Those who refuse to conform to this herd mentality have been persecuted, whether by exclusion, fines, bullying, or violence. 

Social media has also removed the filter that face-to-face interactions provide, emboldening users to say online what they would never say in person. Sociologists consider social media to be a primary contributor to the problems of isolation, depression, low self-esteem, and the inability of many Millennials and heavy media users to develop meaningful face-to-face relationships with others. Strong interpersonal relationships are the glue that unites a society, so the less we relate to one another in real life, the less peace and unity we will experience overall.

These tensions have especially intensified since the rise of Black Lives Matter which encouraged the killing of police officers simply because of their profession.  Then when Hillary did not win the election as expected, the rioting began again, especially among entitled young people who do not know how to handle disappointment because their hovering parents never let them fail, and their teachers and coaches gave every kid an award or a trophy.  The media certainly paints a grim picture of the current state of the nation with angry, violent, grieving, hysterical Americans acting as though the world has ended.

With sincere concern for the emotionally distraught, I must point out that none of us, regardless of political or religious affiliation, should ever overreact to anything the media presents as emotionally charged click bait, especially when it is void of accurate facts or specifics.  The angrier and more emotional Americans become, the more the media profits. Some media outlets have been caught flat out lying to perpetuate the negative emotions that are so profitable for them.

To those tempted to hysteria, consider how much your heart and blood pressure, your doctors, and everyone around you would thank you if would simply ignore the exaggerated claims until you have the facts and can understand the full context.  Just as wise parents ignore their toddlers when they throw temper tantrums for no reason, those in authority will discount all whining and protesting done in ignorance.  Truly, unjustified anger serves no constructive purpose, but if left unchecked, can easily turn into bitterness that grows to destroy the one who harbors it.  (Ecclesiastes 7:9,  Proverbs 16:32, Ephesians 4:26-31, James 1:19-20, , Colossians 3:8, James 4:1-2)

"Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;  do not fret—it leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land." (Psalm 37:8-9)

The Biblical account of Jacob and Esau points out how quickly anger, even if sparked by legitimate injustice, can grow into hatred that morphs into psychopathic behavior.  Esau went from anger to hatred to plotting to murder his brother in a very short time period. (Genesis 27:41)  Esau is not unlike many Americans.  Ever since Trump's inauguration, the news has been filled with examples of angry insults, violent protests, Madonna's desire to bomb the White House, individual threats to assassinate Trump, over 12,000 tweets calling for Trump's assassination, and an extremely profane speech at a Black Lives Matter protest calling for killings across the White House and beyond.  The anger in America is out of control, and it is completely unjustified.  When have any of these angry protestors had personal interactions with Trump in which Trump hurt them in such a way as to justify the death sentence?  Esau could at least point out that Jacob had tricked him out of his birthright and out of his father's blessing, yet God's complete disapproval of Esau's hatred is clear, for the Hebrew word used to describe Esau's hatred of Jacob is the same root word from which the name Satan is derived.

When we are personally angry and frustrated or when our nation is filled with hostility and division, we must stop reacting emotionally and start thinking critically.  We must carefully consider not only what is true in any situation (instead of what the media wants us to believe), but even more importantly, we need to identify the true source for our anger.  We can probably all agree that the technological age and the rise of social media have made the tensions worse, but most would place the blame on the person at whom their hatred is directed.  Republicans blamed Obama. Obama blamed Bush. Black Lives Matter blamed police officers of any color.   Now the blame for so much division and instability in America is being collectively placed on Trump and his supporters.

While the loudest protestors insist that Trump is the source of their angst, God's word offers a different answer.

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. (James 4:1-2a)

People are angry because they did not get what they expected or wanted.  Entitled people do not know how to handle disappointment. They believe all the negative media published to incite fear and cannot bring themselves to accept any other scenario than the one they demand or to hope that their worst fears will not be realized. When Obama was elected, conservatives wrestled with the same feelings of disappointment, fear, and despair for the same reason. They did not get what they wanted, but they had to accept the truth for what it is and move forward with faith in God and without fear of man.

Our refusal to let go of bitterness, fear, and resentment is also rooted within ourselves.  Fear is the absence of faith. We will never be at peace as long as we refuse to trust in the sovereignty and goodness of God.

"I am deeply persuaded that the primary reason we complain, grumble, and accuse is because the sovereignty of God doesn’t rule in our heart."  - Paul David Tripp

In a devotional entitled, "The Sovereignty of Words" (read it here), Paul David Tripp describes the pure, edifying, peaceful speech that flows out of a heart steadfastly ruled by God's sovereignty, no matter what trials may come. I have quoted a portion from Tripp's post below.

"When people frustrate us, when our plans are thwarted, and when suffering enters our door, our lips dispense words laced with anger, bitterness, envy, doubt, confusion, and fear. All of these emotions are given room to grow when there is a void of rich understanding and belief in the sovereignty of God.

We have forgotten that God’s dominion is an eternal dominion and he does as he pleases (Daniel 4:34-35). We don’t remind ourselves that his judgements are unsearchable and his ways inscrutable (Romans 11:33). We have neglected to meditate on the truths that God rules over the specific details of our lives for his glory and our good (Acts 17:26-27, Ephesians 1:4-6, 20-22 and many more)."

Entitlement thinking says, "You owe me.  Give me what I deserve."  God's word, on the other hand, teaches us that none of us is righteous (Romans 3: 9-20), and what we truly deserve is death (Romans 6:23).

Mercy is not getting what we deserve. Grace is getting what we do not deserve.  Jesus died to save us from the eternal death we deserve and to give us what we could never earn or merit on our own (forgiveness, purification, a personal relationship with Him, and eternal life with Him in Heaven).  Through Christ's death on our behalf on the cross, He offers both mercy and grace to all who will believe and put their trust in Him as Lord over their lives. 

²⁰ When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. ²¹ What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! ²² But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 6:20-23).

Entitlement thinking leaves no room for grace, so let us humble ourselves before the Lord, acknowledging how much we have fallen short of His perfect standard.  (Romans 3: 9-20)

 "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned." (Romans 12:3)

Fear leaves no room for hope, joy, or peace. Replace fear with faith and love.  (Deuteronomy 1:21, Deuteronomy 3:2, Deuteronomy 3:22, Deuteronomy 10:12, Deuteronomy 20:3, Joshua 8:1, Joshua 10:8, Judges 6:23, Psalm 23:4, Psalm 91:5, Psalm 46:2, Proverbs 19:23, Isaiah 41:10-14, Isaiah 43:5, Isaiah 44:8, Isaiah 54:14, Isaiah 57:11, 1 John 4:18, and more... 

"The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?" 
(Psalm 118:6)

Deception leaves no room for truth or peace.  So let us throw off our old ways of thinking and think Biblically with a sound mind and an earnest desire for God's whole truth and perfect wisdom.

Instead of harboring bitterness, we must forgive as Christ forgives His followers.

"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." (Matthew 6:14-15) 

Ephesians 4 provides great instructions on how to curb our anger and fear in such uncertain times, but it requires a willingness and a commitment to growing in maturity and unity.

"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ² Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

⁷ But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it....

^...11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶ From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work....

^...22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. ²⁵ Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ²⁶ “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷ and do not give the devil a foothold. ²⁸ Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
²⁹ Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. ³² Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."