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Hi my beloved elder brother,

I was reading Luk 17:1 and I was very blessed to continue knowing that we are all first wretched marred vessels, in the hand of the Potter, before we are made to another vessel as it seems good for the Potter or are delivered from these bodies of death.
It is * impossible* that no * offences* should come,…Luk 17:1. I understood that it is just impossible for a man, born of a woman, not to sin! The reason even Jesus was made sin for us! Offence (G4625) means, among other meanings, “any impediment placed in the way and causing one to stumble.” So Paul and I should know that in me (that is in my flesh) nothing good dwells!

Rom 7:20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, “but sin that is in me.” Will I be right to say, “but the impediment placed in my way that cause me to stumble?” I know the story of Samson’s parents, that they knew not that God was seeking an occasion to destroy the Philistines. And this Greek word G4625 also means an “occasion to fall!”

Mike, I just want to tell you that I appreciate your guidance through your teachings on your website, which have helped me to joyfully read and understand Scriptures!
Your grateful brother in the Christ,

G____

Hi my beloved brother and fellow member of the body of Christ,

Yes, what you say here in this e- mail is exactly what the scriptures say. You reference Luk 17:1:

Luk 17:1 Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!

Christ is quoting what He had inspired Isaiah to say many years earlier:

Isa 8:14 And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Isa 8:15 And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

That is what the Word of God is to the old man within us all. That is what the Word of God is to our “first man Adam”.
Let us put your paraphrase next to those words of Christ and of Peter when he referred to that same verse in Isaiah:

1Pe 2:8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

Now here is your question and your paraphrase:

Will I be right to say, “but the impediment placed in my way that caused me to stumble?” I know the story of Samson’s parents, that they knew not that God was seeking an occasion to destroy the Philistines. And this Greek word G4625 also means an “occasion to fall!”

You are exactly right. We all first stumble and are judged before we “learn righteousness”.

Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Here is “when [ His] judgments are [ first] in the earth”:

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

That this judgment is first upon God’s own elect is made perfectly clear by noticing to whom those words from Isa 8 are addressed as the very next verse clarifies:

Isa 8:16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.

In the final analysis, all men of all time are first “marred… vessels of clay… in the Potter’s hand”.

Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

It was because Adam was “marred in the hand of the Potter” that he and Eve lusted after and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is not vice- versa. They did not lust after that which was forbidden because they sinned, they sinned because they were made of the dust of the earth, and they were created naked, and because they were marred in the hand of the Potter, and that is why they stumbled and were snared by those very Words of God:

Pro 16:1 The preparations of the heart in man [Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.], and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

In this very same chapter of Proverbs we are told why Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil:

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked [“first man Adam”] for the day of evil.

That is why God had already prepared a sacrifice for the sins of the “first man Adam” which He Himself has placed within all men of all time:

1Co 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

These verses make clear that God, from “before the world began” intended that all men of all time would first be sinners and would then be saved from those sins which He placed within the members of all men of all time. Even our sins are not our works but His:

Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and [ you] hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.
Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my [“first man Adam”] flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

There it is four times in a row, “You made us to err from your ways… hardened our heart from your fear… it is no more I that do it but sin that dwells in me… it is no more I that do it but sin that dwells within me”. What is clear is that “it is not I that do it…” it was not Adam that did it, but sin that was in His marred body of clay, and that “law of sin” was in that “marred… vessel of clay [ from] the hand of the Potter” and not from Adam’s fabled “free will”. Mankind’s false doctrine of having a will that is free of His Creator’s hand is esteemed by God as nothing more than “the Potter’s clay”. In other words, all the false doctrines of mankind are actually nothing more than God Himself making us to err from His ways and Him hardening our hearts from His fear.

Isa 29:15 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
Isa 29:16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

But look at what is to be the end of “all the evil that the Lord brought upon [ mankind]” (Job 42:11).

Isa 29:17 Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
Isa 29:18 And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.
Job 42:11 Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold.

These are the wonderful words of God’s truly good news for all men of all time:

1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1Co 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

There will be no sting of death, and there will be not one victory for the grave.
Here is the “we” which is referred to in these verses:

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Thank you for this question. Thank you for your input here, and thank you for your very encouraging words.

Your grateful brother in the Christ,
Mike