Doctrinal Studies

A study of the Prodigal Son

Restoration to fellowship (RTF) is one of the key doctrines for living the Christian life. It is the only provision for entry into the Divine Powersphere—which is itself the only platform upon which we can accomplish God’s will for our lives. The doctrine of Restoration to Fellowship is beautifully illustrated by the parable of the Prodigal Son. Before we launch into a study of this wonderful parable we need to briefly touch on some other doctrinal truths.

Eternal Security: Once a person believes in Jesus Christ he cannot loose his salvation. Salvation is the work of God—God is perfect and anything He does cannot be improved upon, nullified or destroyed by any member of the human race (Rom 8:38; Psa 37:24). We are held by Him, not by ourselves (I Pet 1:4, 5; John 10:28; II Tim 2:13).

Carnality: Every believer is at any given time either carnal or spiritual—never both. When we sin we become carnal. When we are RTF we become spiritual. How? We’ll discuss that shortly.

The Old Sin Nature (OSN): The believer has two natures: the OSN (which we acquired at physical birth), and the Human Spirit (which we acquired at the New Birth, or Salvation). The Human Spirit has the ability to perceive and comprehend spiritual phenomena, and through it God the Holy Spirit rules our life—if we let Him. When we let the OSN rule us we are carnal. When we let the Holy Spirit rule us we are spiritual (I Cor 3:1-3). Christians can be carnal—out-of-fellowship—and still be Christians (see point 1).

Categories of Christian sin: Many passages describe this—Gal 5:16-21; Prov 6:16-17, 19—three of these seven sins are sins of the tongue. 1) Pride (in pseudo-spirituality): They think the things they don’t do make them spiritual. 2) A lying tongue. 3) Hands that shed innocent blood—murder. 4) A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations—mental attitude sins. 5) Feet swift in running to mischief—trouble makers. 6) A false witness that speaketh lies. 7) He that soweth discord among brethren.

A look at I John 1:1-10 in the context of I John 1:9: When we believe in Christ we are in union with Him. There is a two-fold concept of fellowship: Eternal fellowship, and temporal fellowship (fellowship in the present age). Verse 4 gives the purpose of the epistle—to promote joy and inner peace among believers. Every believer should have inner beauty and happiness. Verse 5 presents the contrast of essence. God is light in the sense of His essence: Sovereignty, Justice, Righteousness, Eternal Life, Love, Omnipotence, Omniscience, Omnipresence, Immutability, and Veracity. But man is darkness in the essence of his OSN.

Verses 6 through 10: Each “if” is a 3rd class condition in the Greek. Remember the class conditions: 1st class - “if and it’s true”; 2nd class - “if and it’s not true”; 3rd class - “if—maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not true”; 4th class - “if—I wish it were true but it’s not.”—this is negative wish fulfillment.

The “ifs” in v 6-10 refer to the fact that as believers we may or may not do the things described. In verse 8 “sin” is singular—a reference to the OSN. In verse 10, “If we say we do not sin we make Him a liar...” The great believers today are not the people who think that they are not sinning, but the ones who know they are sinners, but who do not let their sins keep them out of fellowship. Now lets look in detail at restoration to fellowship (RTF).

The mechanics of RTF are given in I John 1:9: “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The word “if” is a third class conditional clause in the Greek—maybe we will confess our sins, maybe we won’t. It emphasizes the volition of the believer who must decide each time whether he will or not.

RTF is for Christians only. Confession for an unbeliever is useless. Most people believe that Judas Iscariot was an unbeliever, while others are convinced that he was a believer—and there are good reasons for assuming that he was a believer. But let’s assume he wasn’t. Judas confessed his sin—felt sorry for it and tried to make restitution. If he was in fact an unbeliever, he did everything but believe in Jesus Christ as his Savior and therefore he died an unbeliever and was lost.

“Confess” means to acknowledge or name our sins. It is the Greek word o`mologew—homologeo—which was a legal term in the ancient world meaning “to cite a legal precedent.” In its usage it had no connotation of being sorry, renouncing, or feeling guilty for the sin. It means merely citing the court case in which the offense has already been judged and the penalty paid, i.e. the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross. The word homologeo is used as a present active subjunctive which means that the action is habitual (continuous action), but it is potential (subjunctive mood) depending on our volition.

“He is faithful and just”—the Father does the same thing every time. He has infinite patience and does not tire of dispensing His infinite forgiveness, because it is based on the perfect work of Jesus Christ on the Cross—not on the number of sins and shortcomings we possess.

“...to forgive us our sins...” The verb is in the aorist tense and means in a point of time.. The Father forgives our sins once and for all.

“...and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” When we confess our sins the Father forgives them and—this is critical—he cleanses us from our involvement in the Cosmic system which occurred while we were out of fellowship. This includes all unknown and forgotten sins.

God’s way in salvation and RTF is grace—not works. In contrast to God’s Grace System, legalism promotes earning or deserving salvation or restoration by a system of penance and good works. This blasphemes God!

When we sin we subject ourselves to discipline (Heb 12:6). Sin always puts us under discipline in one form or another—there are many kinds of discipline. Under the Mosaic Law when you sinned you were put under seven steps of discipline. The second time seven-fold discipline was added (7 x 7 = 49) for that sin.

In RTF several things can result: you are always brought into fellowship and the discipline is either eliminated (I Cor 11:31), reduced, or it continues unabated, but for the purpose of blessing rather than cursing.

Long-term residence in the Cosmic system (no RTF to get back into the Divine Powersphere) often results in the believer believing that he was never saved in the first place!

Now let’s look at the Prodigal Son—and his brother: Luke 15:11, “...a certain man had two sons.” Both were sons of the same father. The father represented God the Father; the sons represent two believers—note: at the beginning of the parable they are both sons, and at the end they are still sons.

Verse 12—And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. God does not withhold His grace from His sons—even if his sons intend to abuse that grace.

Verse 13—And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, [gets out of the Divine Powersphere ands into the Cosmic System] and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

Verse 14—And when he had spent all [pursued all the pleasures of sin he could], there arose a mighty famine in that land [the promises of the Cosmic System always fall short—the pleasures of sin always dry up before the believer can ever be satisfied]; and he began to be in want [he began to pay the price for involvement in the Cosmic System—he was receiving self-induced misery and Divine Discipline].

Verse 15—And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country [in a frantic search for happiness he submits himself as a slave to sin within the Cosmic System]; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine [believers who stay in the Cosmic System will eventually lower themselves to do things they would have never before consider doing].

Verse 16—And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him [whereas before he had dined on rich food and drink, now he was willing to eat pig slop. The pleasures of sin had dried up, and now that he was a slave, the master of the Cosmic System wasn’t even willing to let him have the worst he could provide—pig slop. The Cosmic System is truly a cruel place to live].

Verse 17—And when he came to himself [he finally quit justifying his sin—I John 1:9; I Cor 11:33; I Pet 4:17; Psa 32:5; 38:18; 51:3, 4; Prov 28:13; Neh 1:6; Dan 9:4], he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! He realizes at last that the Cosmic System has nothing like the support, sustenance and infinite resources of the Divine Powersphere.

Verse 18—I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, [he claims I John 1:9 and is restored to fellowship—RTF]

Verse 19—And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. Even in the process of RTF he fails to understand the basic tenant of grace—we don’t have what we have because we deserve it, we have it because of the faithfulness and character of the Father. He can’t be a hired servant, he’s a son!

Verse 20—And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. Note that the father did not wait for the now repentant son to complete the arduous journey back, but ran to meet him where he was.

Verse 21—And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. The son confesses his sin and acknowledges his unworthiness. We are all unworthy to be called sons of God. But note in the next three verses the father’s reaction to his son’s statement:

Verses 22-24—But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe [experiential righteousness—full restoration—no reduced status], and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand [this is a signet ring—in the ancient world whoever wore the Master’s signet ring had full and immediate access to any of the Master’s assets], and shoes on his feet [his right to service is fully restored]: (v23) And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat [a picture of the household fellowshipping in the Word—taking in spiritual nourishment], and be merry: (v24) For this my son was dead [there are seven kinds of death—this is temporal death—being out of fellowship—Rom 8:6, 13; Eph 5:14; I Tim 5:6], and is alive again; he was lost [ruined in the sense of losing his assets and rewards—God’s blessings], and is found. And they began to be merry. The Prodigal Son is restored to the full benefits of sonship—full and immediate access to the Divine Powersphere. But now look what’s going on with the elder son:

Verses 25-27—Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. (v26) And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant [he kept on asking what was going on—he couldn’t believe it!]. (v27) And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.

Verse 28—And he was angry [the elder brother is the very picture of the self-righteous legalistic believer—he is in the Cosmic System out of jealousy and envy of his brother. He has no understanding of grace], and would not go in [he wouldn’t be RTF and thereby enter the Divine Powersphere]: therefore came his father out, and entreated him. God always reaches out to the sinner.

Verses 29, 30—And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment [he has piled up lots of good works, and observed lots of taboos, but it’s all been in the energy of the flesh—not the Divine Powersphere]: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: (v30) But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. The elder son is whining and jealous—becoming progressively entangled with the various gates of Cosmic One (Interlocking Systems of Arrogance). We are not told whether the elder son is ever RTF. If not he is in real danger of ending up where his brother had been—but by a different route.

Verses 31, 32—And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine [the father reminds the elder son that he has access to the same Divine Powersphere that the younger brother is enjoying at that very moment. This indicates that the elder son has also been living in the Cosmic System for some time—he’s just been “hanging around the Church.”]. (v 32) It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.