Joseph Prince’s Blasphemous Teaching that God’s Law & NOT Sin is the Cause of Death & Condemnation – By Rev George Ong (Dated 13 Sept 2022)
If John Stott, David Pawson and Martyn Lloyd-Jones are internationally known and pivotal figures in Bible exposition,
have contradicted and demolished Joseph Prince’s teachings that the Ten Commandments have been made obsolete, which is his core doctrine (which is featured in this article),
anyone who chooses to believe and stay loyal to Prince’s Grace Teachings, must be crazy (spiritually).
Don’t miss the Appendix at the end of this article for another video on Joseph Prince, which proves that Prince is woefully unrepentant (in the past as he is now) in propounding the blasphemous teaching that God gave His law to kill us.
(This article was also sent to Rev Dr Ngoei Foong Nghian, General Secretary, National Council of Churches of Singapore (NCCS) office, and for the attention of the Executive Committee Members.)
This is Part 2. Part 1 was featured last week on 8 Sep 2022, titled (if you wish to read, kindly click below):
Joseph Prince’s Law & Grace Teaching is Massively Contradicted & Demolished by Martyn Lloyd-Jones
I would strongly advise you to read the above article in Part 1 (if you haven’t) so you could follow Part 2 in this article without any difficulty.
To refresh your memory, in a Sunday sermon on 4 Sep 2022, Joseph Prince said: kindly click here to view the 45-second video;
“So it says we are ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit… The context is law and grace. The letter are the Ten Commandments that came on Mount Sinai… The letter kills, the Spirit gives life. Under law it kills, under grace, life is given…. If the ministry of death written and engraved on stone – stop! God calls it a ministry of death. What’s the ministry of death? – written and engraved on stones… The Bible says the ministry of death written and engraved on stones – that’s the Ten Commandments. The only part of the law that is engraved on stones written with the finger of God are the 10 Words (Commandments). And God calls it the ministry of death. We are not under that.”
The main thrust of this article is to debunk Joseph Prince’s teaching that since the moral law in the Ten Commandments kills, is the cause of death, and condemnation (condemnation of the law is covered in many of Prince’s other sermons and writings based on the same text of 2 Cor 3:6-9) in 2 Corinthians 3:6-9, it has no place for New Covenant believers, and it must be done away with.
Joseph Prince teaches that if God’s law kills, brings death and condemnation in verses 6, 7 and 9, it is certain evidence that the law has been made obsolete:
2 Corinthians 3:6-9 NIV
6 “He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!”
This is a simplistic and false view.
The truth is, as I will prove to you, sin, not the law, is the primary and root cause of death and condemnation.
At most, the law is only the secondary and incidental cause.
2 Corinthians 3 is not the only place Paul teaches on this issue.
In Romans 7:7-13, Paul teaches on this same issue as in 2 Corinthians 3:6-9.
Trying to exegete 2 Corinthians 3:6-9 alone without bringing in Romans 7:7-13, would give an incomplete and distorted picture of the law.
This is why many commentators are of the view that Romans 7:7-13 serves as a fitting, needed, and a sound exposition of 2 Corinthians 3:6-9.
While 2 Corinthians 3:6-9 highlights the fact that it is the law that kills, brings death and condemnation, Romans 7:7-13 carefully explains that the real and root cause is not the law, but sin.
Joseph Prince, by just interpreting 2 Corinthians 3:6-9, which states that the law kills, brings death and condemnation without also bringing in Romans 7:7-13, is to deliberately distort our understanding of the issue.
Both 2 Corinthians 3:6-9 and Romans 7:7-13 were written by the same Apostle Paul.
Both passages must be explained in such a way that it does not contradict but harmonises with each other.
First, let’s look at Romans 7:10.
Romans 7:10 NIV
10 “I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.”
Why does the law of God bring death in Romans 7:10?
Is it because the law is inherently bad or evil?
Of course not.
It is because of our sin as given in Romans 7:11:
Romans 7:11 NIV
11 “For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.”
Romans 7:11 NCV
11 “Sin found a way to fool me by using the command to make me die.”
Romans 7:11 NLT
11 “Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me.”
What is really happening is, sin deceives us by giving the false impression that it is the law that kills us (Romans 7:10), when the actual fact is, sin is the root cause of our death (Romans 7:11).
This is exactly what Joseph Prince does.
Prince deceives us by giving us the impression that the root cause of our death and condemnation is the law. Since the law kills and condemns, it needs to be gotten rid of.
Joseph Prince also deceives us that sin is not the cause of our death and condemnation as sin is no more the problem because every single future sin has already been forgiven in advance before they are even committed without the need for confession.
The truth is, it is not God’s law that is the problem, but it is the sin in us that is the main culprit.
In Romans 7, verses 7 and 13, Paul argues that although the law reveals sin, it is not responsible for sin or death.
Romans 7:7,13 NIV
7 “What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not…”
13 “Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means…”
Romans 7:7,13 NLT
7 Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not!
13 “… Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not!”
Is the law sin, Romans 7:7a?
Did the law bring about death, Romans 7:13a?
To both questions, Paul immediately responds with his ‘violent’ negative: Certainly not in Romans 7:7b and by no means in Romans 7:13b.
Paul categorically argues that the law is not responsible for sin and death.
On the contrary, which I will unveil later, it is our fallen human nature or sin, which is to blame for them.
Though the function of the law is to reveal sin, it is not responsible for our sins.
Romans 7:10, stating that the commandment which ‘was intended to bring life actually brought death,’ seems to implicate the law as being responsible for causing death:
Romans 7:10 NIV
10 “I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.”
But as Romans 7:11 and 13 have proven, it is not the law that causes death, but it is sin itself, our sinful nature, which makes use of the law to put us to death:
Romans 7:11, 13 NIV
11 “For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.” 13 “Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.”
Romans 7:11, 13 NLT
11 Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me. 13 But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands for its own evil purposes.
So, from a plain reading of the text in Romans 7:11 and 13, one can clearly see that it is sin that makes use of the law to bring about Paul’s death.
As far as Paul is concerned, the law is exonerated; sin is to blame.
Paul has a high regard for the law. He says the law is holy, righteous and good, Romans 7:12:
Romans 7:12 NIV
12 “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.”
If the law is holy, righteous and good in Romans 7:12, how can it cause us to sin, capriciously kill and bring about our death?
The real culprit that kills and brings death is sin.
Although the law ‘aggravates’ sin, sin, not the law, is to be blamed.
What the law does is it exposes and condemns sin.
Sin is the real offender that produced death in Paul through what was good, that is, the law.
What happens is this:
The law comes and confronts a man. But because of man’s sin, he refuses to bow to the law.
And at once, antagonism and rebellion against God’s laws are aroused within him.
This is because the sin in man wants to be autonomous. Sin in man doesn’t want to be under any form of control.
Sin is not prepared to bow to anyone, including the law.
Sin resents the idea of the law for the simple reason that sin, in essence, is lawlessness.
The moment the natural sinful man hears of the law, he resents it.
So, sin rebels against the law with a vengeance, and the result is that there is a greater sin than there was before.
Romans 7:13 describes this way: “so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.”
Romans 7:13 NIV
13 “… so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.”
So what happened in Romans 7:13 is this, that the law ‘aggravates’ the situation, not because there is anything inherently wrong with the law, but because of the sin and the spirit of lawlessness that is already in us and its great tendency to rebel against the law, that the law is actually seen to ‘incite’ us to sin even more.
Yet, the law is not to be blamed, but sin must bear all the blame.
But Joseph Prince teaches the opposite of what Paul teaches.
He teaches that the law which is given by God is the culprit that causes us to have the consciousness of sins and condemns us to our death.
And instead of blaming sin, Joseph Prince blames God’s law for condemning us and for producing the sin-consciousness in us.
Yes, God gave His holy law through Moses.
But sin is so strong that it can even exploit God’s holy law to its advantage to bring its own evil purposes to pass.
So, the law is the innocent party; sin is the guilty party.
The law is being used and exploited by sin to produce sin and death.
What is to be blamed is not the law but sin.
If a criminal is arrested, found guilty, and sentenced to prison, can he blame the law of the land for his imprisonment?
True, it is the law, through the judge, that convicted and sentenced him.
But he has no one to blame but himself and his sinful criminal behaviour.
In the same way, the law cannot be blamed; it is sin that is the real culprit that brings about sin and death.
The real problem is not with the law but sin.
In ‘The Message of Romans, under the Bible Speaks Today’ (BST), Page 204, John Stott wrote,
“Those antinomians, who say that our whole problem is the law, are quite wrong. Our real problem is not the law, but sin.”
However, Joseph Prince, true to his Antinomian identity, teaches the reverse – that the problem is with the law and not sin.
According to Joseph Prince, sin is no more the problem as every single sin has been forgiven and that the real problem is the law, which makes us conscious of our sins.
But John Stott categorically disagrees with Joseph Prince and states that the real problem is not the law but sin.
If you know the credentials of John Stott, and for him to disagree with Joseph Prince, the credibility of Joseph Prince is discredited.
What’s more is the scripture is on the side of John Stott rather than Joseph Prince.
From the scripture, Paul explained that the law is not to be blamed, as Paul declares that it is holy, righteous, good and spiritual in Romans 7:12,14 and 16:
Romans 7:12,14,16 NIV
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. 14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
Then Paul went on to say who, then, is to blame for the good I do not do and the evil that I do in Romans 7:15 and 19?
He gave the answer in Romans 7:17 and 20 that it is the sin that is in him that is messing up his life:
Romans 7:17,20 NIV
17 “As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.” 20 “Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”
In other words, the law is not responsible for our sinning that brings about death and condemnation but sin in us is responsible for its own evil.
There is nothing wrong with the law, but everything is wrong with me because of sin.
Paul has the highest regard for the law because of Paul’s remarks in Romans 7:12,14 and 16 that the law is holy, spiritual, and good.
However, the holy, spiritual and good law does a lot of ‘bad’ things to me, not because the law is bad but because of the sin that is in me.
Let me give an illustration.
On a bright and sunny day, the sun shines from a cloudless sky into a garden. The irritant weeds furiously grew.
Does that mean that there’s something wrong with the sun?
Of course not.
The sun is nourishing. It’s the source of life. We couldn’t live without it.
The sun shines its nourishment upon this world, and all of us get to enjoy it.
If the sun went out for a fair bit of time, then we would be in trouble as we would all be harmed.
The sun is good. It nourishes our health. It brightens up our day.
But when it shines in the soil of the garden, weeds start to grow.
And ironically, the sun, which is a good thing and the source of life, produces ‘bad things’ in the weeds in the garden.
It has a bad effect on the garden simply because it produces bad weeds.
And the reason is not because the sun is bad, but as a matter of fact, the sun is good.
In the same way, even though the law is good, holy, spiritual and righteous, when it ‘touches’ me, all sorts of bad things come out of me.
The law exposes sin. It makes me guilty – true guilt.
The law condemns me if I rebel against it. It brings the wrath of God on me if I remain unrepentant.
It prevents me from ever getting to heaven. The law does that not because it is bad but because I am bad.
In other words, a good thing will produce a bad thing in a bad person.
For instance, for some people who are not right with God and living in sin and open rebellion against Him, a good sermon will not produce a positive response.
Instead, it will produce resentment, bitterness, criticism, hatred, and all sorts of terrible things in them, not because it is a bad sermon but because the people are bad due to the sin that is in them.
And they are resenting and rebelling against the whole sermon even though it is good.
There is nothing wrong with the sermon, but there is something wrong with the listeners.
And in their sinful and rebellious state, when they hear the word of God or the law being preached, it makes them even worse.
They don’t like it. They hate the word of God. They rebel against it.
They say, “Well, I am just going to do the complete reverse and live the exact opposite of what that sermon teaches.”
But there’s nothing wrong with the sermon. In fact, it is a good sermon. There’s only something wrong with the people and the sin that is in them.
In the same way, there’s nothing wrong with the law in the Ten Commandments at all.
But when the law in the Ten Commandments confronts a sinner’s life, it reveals all the dirt and the deep folly in his life, and every rebellious streak is evoked and manifested, and all hell breaks loose.
What I have just described to you is not what Joseph Prince teaches.
Joseph Prince teaches against the law. He blames it all on the law and not on sin.
He is of the view that the law creates a consciousness of sins in us and condemns us.
Don’t you ever listen to the rubbish of Joseph Prince as sin, not the law, is the chief culprit that is to be blamed.
Take another example:
If you put up a ‘No smoking’ sign in front of a smoker, the sign just makes the smoker worse.
Out of his rebellion against what is forbidden by the sign, he just wants to smoke even more.
There is nothing wrong with the sign.
But the sign brings out the worst in the smoker, not because the sign is bad but because the smoker is bad.
It is his sinful nature that wants to smoke and break the law and go against it.
Is the sign responsible for the person who breaks the law by smoking?
No.
The prohibition signs against smoking or speeding or throwing stones at houses simply provides the occasion for the display of the worst evil that is in a person that he does the exact opposite of what is expected of him by the law.
Romans 7:14 pinpoints the heart of the problem:
Romans 7:14 NIV
14 “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.”
Romans 7:14 NLT
14 “So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.”
Indeed, “The trouble is not with the law… The trouble is with me…”
The law is good, but I am bad. The law is spiritual, but I am carnal, fleshly, sold as a slave to sin.
That is what is wrong. There’s nothing wrong with God’s law. Everything is wrong with me because of the sin that is in me.
So one can begin to see that while sin is the root and primary cause of death and condemnation, the law is merely the secondary and incidental cause of them.
In a certain sense, the ministry of the law in 2 Corinthians 3:6-9 can be said to bring death and condemnation, but only in so far as it is merely acting as the secondary agent of condemnation and death and not the primary cause of them:
2 Corinthians 3:6-9 NIV
6 “He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!”
So what is the primary and the root cause of the condemnation and death? – Not the law but our sins.
For the law to be responsible for the performance of its righteous function, the law has no choice but to bring death and condemnation.
If the law against murder fails to convict and condemn the murderer to his death in the gallows, it has failed in its function and it has failed to be a just and righteous law.
And here, the law is only acting as the secondary agent of condemnation and death, not the primary and root cause.
The primary cause of condemnation and death is the murderer himself who has committed the sin of murder.
But instead of making sin, which is the root cause of condemnation and death to be the bad guy, Joseph Prince makes the law, being the secondary agent of death and condemnation to be the bad guy.
The blame ought to be on sin, which is the primary and real cause of condemnation and death, not on the law, which is the secondary and incidental cause.
But Joseph Prince blames it all on the law and not on sin.
Joseph Prince, in his books and teaching videos and audios, says the law kills, but he deliberately leaves out accurately explaining why the law kills and how the law kills.
Never once did Prince ever explain that the law kills in so far as it is merely acting as a secondary agent of condemnation and death and not the primary cause of them – and that sin is the root cause of them all.
Joseph Prince’s purpose is so you will have a totally distorted and bad impression about the law – that since the law kills, it is bad, and hence, it ought to be done away with.
Yes, it is true that the law kills in the sense that it is the law against murder that ‘kills’ the murderer.
But the law cannot be accused of killing in the sense that it is the sin of the murderer that has resulted in his own killing when he is sentenced to hang in the gallows.
When the law performs its rightful functions to bring about condemnation and death of the murderer, is it because it is evil or unjust?
Of course not!
For the law to be holy and seen as just and performing its rightful function of bringing about justice, it must punish, and it must bring about condemnation and death in the hanging of the murderer.
But the real and root cause of death is not the law but the sin of murder committed by the murderer.
Men do not like being told that it is their sin that is the root of all problems, so they conveniently shift the blame from their sin to the law.
That is what Joseph Prince is teaching – that sin is no more the problem as every single sin has been forgiven – and the law is the problem as it keeps reminding us of sin – so do away with the law.
Sin has a clever way of shifting blame from itself to another vessel – the law.
Blaming the law because of sin is like a naughty kid blaming the cane for causing him pain and for punishing him when it is his sin of rebellion against his parents that is bringing the punishment and pain upon himself.
The law has to deal with evil, punish evil, bring about justice, and even condemnation and death in the process of doing justice.
But is the law the root cause of condemnation and death?
No, but sin is.
The problem is not with the law as the law is good, just and holy but the real and root problem is with the sinner who can’t keep the law.
It’s the same with the civil laws.
If a person breaks the law of speeding and gets fined, do you blame the law on speeding?
No, you don’t. You blame it on the person who broke the speeding laws.
If a person who commits murder is sentenced to be hung, do you blame the law against murder?
Do you blame the law for killing the accused, causing his death, and condemning him to the gallows?
Absolutely not!
The blame is on the accused who committed a great sin by murdering someone, and hence, has caused his own condemnation and death.
Paul, in Romans 7:10-13, clearly expounded that the law is not the real killer. The real killer is sin.
Sin has the craftiness of giving the impression that it is the law that kills when sin is the real culprit.
Sin, so to speak, is using the innocent hands of the law to kill.
How can the law, which is holy, righteous, and good, bring about my death?
The real function of the law is not to kill but to reveal how utterly sinful we are.
But the devil, has cleverly through Joseph Prince, gotten people to take their eyes off from battling sin, which is their real enemy to battling law, which ironically, is their ally.
The law, which is their ally to reveal sin, has now been made by Joseph Prince to be the people’s number one enemy.
In ‘Unmerited Favor’, Pages 130-131, Joseph Prince wrote:
“Paul goes on to say: “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.” – Romans 7:9-10
Wow, Paul said some powerful things here. C S Lewis wrote a brilliant book entitled The Screwtape Letters. It tells the story of a senior demon teaching a junior demon how to exploit man’s weaknesses and frailties.
Along the same lines, I would imagine that Romans 7:9 is probably the most studied and memorized verse in hell. All junior demons would be taught this verse and the lecture would be titled, “How to bring about a revival of sin”!
According to Paul, when you introduce the law, there will be a REVIVAL OF SIN! And that’s not all. Apart from reviving sin, the law also kills and brings death!”
Joseph Prince wrote that the demons use God’s holy law and the holy scripture to bring about the revival of sin in our lives.
This is sacrilegious and blasphemous!
In disparaging the law, Joseph Prince has also disparaged God, as He is the giver of the law.
One who disparages God and His holy laws can never be a true teacher of God’s word but a wolf in sheepskin.
After realising that this is what Joseph Prince actually wrote, if a righteous anger doesn’t arise from within you, I would be exceedingly disturbed.
Why? – Because Joseph Prince is not only churning out theological garbage about the law but his irreverent and contemptuous attitude towards God’s law is both sickening and revolting.
As usual, to distort the truth, Joseph Prince tells you just one side of the story or one half of the truth.
He deliberately focuses on Romans 7:9-10 without also highlighting Romans 7:8,11-13:
Romans 7:9-10 NKJV
9 “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.”
Romans 7:8, 11-13 NKJV
8 “But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.” 11 “For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. 13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.”
When one compares Romans 7:9-10 and Romans 7:8,11-13, one will go away with the clear understanding that while sin is the primary and root cause of all the killing, death and evil, the law is merely the secondary and incidental cause.
Another way I can best put this across is, while sin is the root cause of all the ‘revival of sin’ and evil, the law merely provides the occasion for the occurrence of them.
Joseph Prince has indeed twisted what Paul was trying to convey in Romans 7:7-13 by pinning all the blame of the occurrence of evil on the law when sin is the one that is chiefly responsible for it.
The law does ‘revive sin’ in the sense that without the law, sin can hide and is well camouflaged, but when the torchlight of the law begins to shine, sin cannot hide anymore – sin, so to speak, got ‘revived’.
Sin, with all its immensities and extremities, is uncovered. That’s the function of the law – to reveal the evil of what sin is.
Before the torchlight of the law shines, are the immensities and extremities of sin present?
Of course!
But the law merely provides the occasion for the uncovering and ‘revival’ of such evil.
So, is the law responsible for the immensities and extremities of sin, or as Joseph Prince termed it, the ‘revival of sin’?
No way! Sin must be responsible for its own evil.
A simple illustration which came to my mind should help:
Take for instance – because of the laziness of a maid who fails to properly upkeep the house, this resulted in the many tiny cockroaches that had infested the house.
These cockroaches were not obvious to the eye as they were hiding in the darkness between the cracks in the walls and behind the cupboards.
But once a powerful torchlight is switched on and aimed at the right places, all the tiny cockroaches are eerily exposed.
Was the torchlight responsible for the great number of tiny cockroaches found in the house?
Certainly not.
It merely revealed and brought to light all the cockroaches that were hiding there all the while.
So, who is responsible for the genesis of these cockroaches?
It is not the torchlight, but the maid, whose laziness to properly upkeep the house, is the primary cause of attracting these cockroaches to the house.
In the same way, the law is not responsible for causing the ‘revival of sin’ as Joseph Prince has postured, as sin, in all its immensities and extremities, has been there all the while.
What the law does, is merely to uncover that which has been ‘hiding’ undetected all along.
Joseph Prince is such a contemptuous fellow that he dares to accuse God of giving us the holy law to revive the sins in our lives and to kill and bring death to us.
Prince further wrote that the demons would use the good things that God has given us – the holy law and the holy scriptures in Romans 7:9 to bring about the revival of sin in our lives.
To say that God’s holy law is to expose sin, which is biblical, is one thing.
But to say that the holy law of God causes us to sin by bringing about the revival of sin as Joseph Prince has written is sacrilegious.
Joseph Prince wrote:
“According to Paul, when you introduce the law, there will be a REVIVAL OF SIN!”
This is utterly blasphemous!
Imagine how sick Joseph Prince has gotten!
Those who insist on believing such sickening doctrines that Joseph Prince has concocted must have their head closely examined.
Since the law is a mirror of and reflects God’s character, the contemptuous act of Joseph Prince against God’s law is tantamount to being contemptuous against God Himself.
Joseph Prince, quoted Romans 7:8 NKJV,
“But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead,”
but he, deliberately, did not accurately expound on it.
In ‘Unmerited Favor’, Pages 129-130, Joseph Prince wrote,
“The apostle Paul explains this further in Romans 7 when he shares,“…I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.” (Rom 7:7-8) Read the verses again. The law does not stop sin. It stirs up sin and produces “all manner of evil desire”!”
Joseph Prince gave the false impression that it was the law that “stirs up sin and produces ‘all manner of evil desire’!”
The truth is, according to Romans 7:8, it was sin that exploits the law to produce ‘all manner of evil desire’:
“But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire…” (Rom 7:8 NKJV)
But despite such clear truth, Joseph Prince deliberately misleads the people that it is the law that stirs up sin and produces the evil desires in us – when sin is the real culprit.
Joseph Prince is no different from nonsensically saying that the law against adultery stirs up people to have the sinful desire to commit adultery, and the law against murder stirs up sinful desires in man to commit murder.
The evil agenda of Joseph Prince is to cause people to ‘hate’ the law instead of hating sin – getting people to believe his Grace Doctrine that obliterates the entire moral law of God in the Ten commandments for New Covenant believers.
The law does not
“stir up sin and produce ‘all manner of evil desire’!”
as written by Joseph Prince.
But what the law does is only to recognise sin for what it is and to reveal the depth of the evil of sin.
The law is like an x-ray machine. It reveals what is there but hidden.
Can you blame the x-ray machine for what it exposes?
Of course not.
In the same way, the law cannot be blamed for exposing sin.
Sin has always been there. People have been sinning all along.
The law only serves as the tool and the occasion to reveal and surface the “all manner of evil desire,” that sin epitomises.
If Joseph Prince insists that the law stirs up sin and produces ‘all manner of evil desire’, he is accusing God Himself for stirring up sin in us and for placing such evil desires in us as He was the one who gave the law to His people.
By deliberately not clearly explaining how the law is a ministry of death and condemnation in 2 Corinthians 3:6-9,
In ‘Destined To Reign’, Page 145, Joseph Prince wrote,
“The accuser is an astute legal prosecutor who will not hesitate to use the Ten Commandments to condemn you. That’s why the Word of God declares that the Ten Commandments are not just “the ministry of death”, they are also “the ministry of condemnation” (2 Cor 3:7-9),”
Joseph Prince’s purpose is to mislead you that the law is the culprit that causes death and condemnation.
The actual and root cause of death and condemnation, as I’ve already explained, is not the law, but sin.
If the law ‘condemns’ and ‘causes death’, it is only being responsible because it is doing its job as demanded by the law.
For instance, the law against murder, through the judge, would have to convict a murderer to the gallows.
Does Joseph Prince blame the law against murder for causing the death of a murderer if he is hung for murder?
Of course not.
It is his own sin of murder that causes his own death when he is being hung.
Don’t be deceived by Joseph Prince, who is constantly misleading people to believe that law is the ‘enemy’ when, in actual fact, sin is our real enemy.
Sin is, indeed, the culprit and the root cause that brings death and condemnation, not the law, as falsely taught by Joseph Prince.
Here are verses, which give more undeniable proofs from the scriptures that sin, not the law, is the cause of our death and condemnation:
Romans 5:12 NIV
12 “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.”
Romans 5:16-17 NLT
16 “…For Adam’s sin led to condemnation… 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many…”
Romans 5:18 NLT
18 Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone…”
Romans 5:21 NIV
21 “so that, just as sin reigned in death…”
Romans 6:23 NIV
23 “For the wages of sin is death…”
Has Joseph Prince gone blind that he failed to see all the above verses that I have highlighted.
It is so clearly revealed that it is sin which is the root cause, not the law, that causes death and condemnation.
In ‘Destined To Reign’, Page 122, Joseph Prince wrote,
“By cutting a new covenant of grace, God “has made the first obsolete” (Heb 8:13). In other words, with the advent of the new covenant of grace, the Ten Commandments have been made obsolete.”
Regarding Joseph Prince’s teachings that the moral laws of God in the Ten Commandments have been made obsolete for New Covenant believers, prominent and well-known teachers of the word, such as David Pawson and John Stott, have dealt a death blow to such arguments:
Joseph Prince wrote,
“In other words, with the advent of the new covenant of grace, the Ten Commandments have been made obsolete.”
But in one of David Pawson’s sermons regarding Hebrews 8:8-12, he said,
“And I’ll write my laws in your heart, and you will want to do them. It won’t be a different law. It will still be the Ten Commandments. It will still be the old law, but I will write it in your heart and you will want to keep it.”
In another of his sermon regarding the same Hebrew text, David Pawson said,
“The commandment is still going to be written. Make no mistake about it. Whoever tries to say that Christianity has less strict standards than Judaism is not reading the New Testament. No Christian has anything ever stricter standards to live by because Jesus said the commandments applied to your inside life and not just the outside.
The cross hasn’t wiped out the commandments. It has written them into peoples’ hearts. The cross in a certain sense has not rendered commandments obsolete, it has fulfilled them.”
Knowing the credentials of David Pawson as a sharp and excellent Bible teacher and Joseph Prince, who is a recalcitrant twister of God’s word, who would you choose to believe?
Joseph Prince wrote,
“In other words, with the advent of the new covenant of grace, the Ten Commandments have been made obsolete.”
But in ‘The Bible Speaks Today (BST) on The Message of Romans written by John Stott’, Page 222, he wrote,
“Holiness consists in fulfilling the just requirement of the law (Rom 8:4). This is the final answer to antinomians… The moral law (Ten Commandments) has not been abolished for us; it is to be fulfilled in us.”
“Romans 7 insists that we cannot keep the law because of our indwelling ‘flesh’; Romans 8:4 insists that we can and must (keep the law) because of the indwelling Spirit.”
“Paul’s purpose is to explain why obedience to the law is possible only to those who walk according to the Spirit (Rom 8:5-8).”
John Stott teaches that the moral law in the Ten Commandments has not been abolished for New Covenant believers and that obedience to the law is still binding on them.
This directly contradicts Joseph Prince’s teachings that the law has no more place for New Covenant people because it has been made obsolete.
Who would you choose to believe? – The well-respected John Stott who is an authority on Bible exposition or the charlatan, Joseph Prince.
The key characteristic of the New Covenant is not that the law is done away with because the New Covenant grace has dawned as postured by Joseph Prince, but that which (Ten Commandments) is now written in the hearts of men is actually the same Old Covenant law written on tablets of stones that was given through Moses.
Indeed, the same moral law in the Ten Commandments that was written on the stones for Old Covenant people is the same law that is written on the hearts of New Covenant people.
The moral law has not been abrogated, nor has it changed. What has changed is the place where the law is written – from stones under the Old Covenant, the same law is now written in our hearts in the power of the Spirit under the New Covenant.
As New Covenant believers, we have the law that is written in our hearts that is of the Spirit that brings life (2 Cor 3:6).
So, does the moral law in the Ten Commandments that is written in the hearts of New Covenant believers kill as postured by Joseph Prince?
No, on the contrary, it brings life.
The New Covenant is not a new law replacing an abolished law, but instead a new heart that is born of the Spirit to replace a stony heart that rejects the Law of God.
What needed to change was the heart of men, not God’s law.
Thus, the moral law of God has never been abrogated as falsely taught by Joseph Prince.
In summary, I believe I have debunked Joseph Prince’s teaching that the law is the primary cause of death and condemnation.
The truth is, sin is the root cause of them.
Joseph Prince has made the law, and not sin, to be our key enemy when, in actual fact, the law is our ally to reveal the sin that is in our lives.
Joseph Prince has to train his guns on the law instead of sin to justify his Grace Doctrine.
This is because Joseph Prince sees sin as no longer posing any problem for New Covenant believers as every sin has been forgiven.
As far as Joseph Prince is concerned, sin should never be highlighted anymore as it is no longer the issue or the problem.
This is giving people false and dangerous hope.
His teachings that every single future sin has already been forgiven without the need for confession, is, indeed, a dreadfully destructive false doctrine.
While the providence for the forgiveness of every future sin is provided for at the cross, there is no automatic forgiveness, as it is still contingent on the confession and repentance of sins by believers.
If habitual, deliberate and serious sins are not confessed and repented of by New Covenant believers before the believer’s death, it could still bring about their final condemnation and spiritual death on the final day of judgement (Heb 6:4-6, 10:26-31).
Hence, sin, not the law, whether it be for unbelievers or believers, is still the root cause of our condemnation and death.
The scriptures never treat God’s laws with contempt the way Joseph Prince does.
In ‘Exposition of Romans Chapter 7:1 – 8:4, The Law: Its Functions and Limits’, Pages 49-50, commenting on Romans 7:1-6, Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote,
“We must never give the impression that in the manner of our salvation the Law is put on one side, and that God says, as it were, ‘I am going to make it easy for you’. That is a false and unbiblical representation of Christianity. The true doctrine honours the Law because the Law is God’s Law, an expression of His eternal holy character.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote,
“The true doctrine honours the Law because the Law is God’s Law, an expression of His eternal holy character.”
Joseph Prince (in ‘Destined To Reign’, Page 151) wrote,
“Learn to see the Ten Commandments (the law of God) and condemnation as the same thing. Whenever you read or think about the law, think ‘condemnation’.”
Note the vast difference between what Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a godly man of God, thinks about the law and what Joseph Prince, the master deceiver, thinks about the same law.
The difference in their thinking of the law is the difference between day and night.
Going by what Martyn Lloyd-Jones had written that true doctrine would honour the law, Joseph Prince, who dishonours the law, is certainly not teaching true doctrine.
If Joseph Prince is a true teacher of God’s word and a Christ-centred preacher, he will never castigate the holy law that was given by God to His people in such a treacherous way.
He has no respect for God’s law and even treated it with utter contempt.
The proper use, not the abuse of God’s law, is described very positively and reverently in both the Old and New Testaments.
In fact, there are whole passages that speak about the many glorious accomplishments and blessings of the law.
Psalm 19 and 119 are perfect examples:
Psalm 19:7-10 NKJV
7 “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; 8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”
Psalm 119:20, 24, 46-48, 97, 103, 127, 129 NIV
20 “My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times.” 24 “Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors.” 46 “I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame, 47 for I delight in your commands because I love them. 48 I reach out for your commands, which I love, that I may meditate on your decrees.” 97 “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.” 103 “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” 127 “Because I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold.” 129 “Your statutes are wonderful; therefore I obey them.”
Perhaps, one of the secrets of David being the man after God’s own heart is his deep respect and holy reverence for God’s laws.
How does David think whenever he thinks about the law?
Does David think of God’s law (even under the Old Covenant) as condemnation the way Joseph Prince has disrespectfully and contemptuously taught (that the letter of the law under the Old Covenant kills, condemns and brings about our death)?
Absolutely not!
He thinks highly of the law. He greatly relishes it.
One only has to read Psalm 19 and Psalm 119 to get the feel about how the godly Jews, such as David, absolutely relished and warmly embraced the law.
It was to them “more precious than gold, than much pure gold” and “sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb” (Psa 19:10).
Can anyone now enlighten me why when Joseph Prince (‘Prince Joseph’) and King David think about the law, their perceptions are miles apart?
When Joseph Prince thinks about the law, he thinks about being condemned by it.
“Whenever you read or think about the law, think ‘condemnation’.”
But when King David thinks about the law, he thinks about being consumed by it.
20 “My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times.” (Psa 119:20)
If the scriptures have so much good and glorious things to say about the law even under the Old Covenant, it is ‘unforgiveable’ for Joseph Prince to contemptuously discredit and disparage the law in his writings and teachings.
In disparaging the law, he has also committed the great sin of disparaging God as God is the source and giver of the law.
One who disparages the law and God Himself can never be a true teacher of God’s word but a wolf in sheepskin.
Rev George Ong
Appendix
Joseph Prince sacrilegiously alleges that God has given us His law to kill us – please view this one-and-a-half-minute video on Joseph Prince by clicking below,
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1q1z23VVoO9hjfOAavF6i1CafUw5TvPWN
(Source: YouTube, Joseph Prince – The Origin Of Hypergrace Exposed)
There are many of Joseph Prince’s supporters who took issue with me (and many of them wrote hate mails to me) about the fact that I had critiqued Prince’s sermons that was preached many years ago.
(I am dumb-founded that Joseph Prince’s Grace Teachings, instead of producing people who should be gracious to the critics of their idol, Joseph Prince, they have churned out people who are capable of writing uncouth and hate emails against his critics. So much for the impact and influence of Prince’s Grace Teachings on his followers.)
Their simplistic argument was that since that particular sermon was preached way back in the past, I shouldn’t be harping on his past sermons.
Tell me, this one-and-a-half-minute sermon video that you just viewed was preached by Joseph Prince how many years ago?
My estimate is easily more than 20 years ago.
But why do I still feature it (besides Prince’s current sermons, which form the bulk of my critique)?
It is to bring home the point that Joseph Prince is currently preaching the same heresies that he had preached more than 20 years ago – proving that Prince has not repented over the heresies that he had uttered in the past.
Be that as it may, one of the senior staff of Joseph Prince, in a sermon on 28 August 2022, seemed to imply that Joseph Prince’s critics shouldn’t be taking issue with him about sermons that was preached by Prince 15 years ago in cassette tapes and video players.
I am flabbergasted by such a low mentality of a senior staff of Joseph Prince.
Any logical person would understand it is not how long ago a person has said something, but whether what he said is a serious matter of concern and whether that person has repented over what he said in the past.
From the above video, it is as clear as daylight that Prince has not repented as he is still preaching the same blasphemous heresies today as he did in the past – that the moral law in the Ten Commandments that God gave is to kill us.