Results 3561 - 3580 of 3692
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Results from: Notes Author: Makarios Ordered by Verse |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
3561 | Does God love everything? | 1 John 4:8 | Makarios | 97320 | ||
I apologize.. :-) It's hard to get "completely right" when we are both writing Answers at the same time.. :-) The only way that I know how to 'fix' it is to have the 'Question Asker' put a verse on the Question to begin with. | ||||||
3562 | What does baptism consist? | 1 John 5:6 | Makarios | 23312 | ||
Greetings Tim! Again, you have mentioned the verse James 2:24.. Martin Luther said it best: James 2 is not teaching that a person is saved by works. Rather a person is "justified" (declared righteous before God) by faith alone, but 'not by a faith that is alone.' In other words, genuine faith will always 'result' in good works in the saved person's life. James is writing to Jewish Christians ("to the twelve tribes"- James 1:1) who were in danger of giving nothing but lip service to Jesus. His intent, therefore, is to distinguish true faith from false faith. He shows that true faith results in works, which become visible evidences of faith's invisible presence. In other words, good works are the "vital signs" indicating that faith is alive. Apparently some of these Jewish Christians had made a false claim of faith. It is the 'boasting' of faith that James condemned. Merely claiming to have faith is not enough. Genuine faith is evidenced by works. Workless faith is worthless faith- it is dead! Great claims may be made about a corpse that is supposed to have come to life, but if it does not move (if there are no vital signs, no heartbeat, no perceptible pulse) then it is still dead. The false claims are silenced by the evidence. The fact is, apart from the spirit, the body is dead; it's a lifeless corpse. By analogy, apart from the evidence of good works, faith is dead. It is lifeless and nonproductive. That is what James is teaching in this passage. So if we have this genuine saving faith, then we too will be saved by His grace (Eph. 2:8). I fail to see what James 2:24 has anything at all to do with Baptism. As for Salvation and the "requirements" thereof, I would direct you to the following verses, my friend: Matt. 18:3; Luke 19:10; John 3:14-17, 5:24, 6:44-47; Acts 4:12; Romans 5:1-2, 11:6; 1 Cor. 1:21; Eph. 2:1-9; and Col. 1:19-20. These are just a few verses in Scripture that help describe Salvation, and not a SINGLE ONE of them mentions anything about "water baptism"! :) Blessings to you, Nolan |
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3563 | What does baptism consist? | 1 John 5:6 | Makarios | 23343 | ||
Thank you Kalos and Tim! I've used the Bible, but obviously I can't get through with just using Scripture, so I guess I'll just have to use a different approach. :-) Blessings to you, Nolan |
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3564 | What does baptism consist? | 1 John 5:6 | Makarios | 23347 | ||
Greetings charis! I do not totally agree with your analogy between 'water baptism/salvation' and 'no parachute/jumping out of a plane', but that is besides the point. I never said that water baptism is optional or something that should be taken "lightly". It is very important and something that we are commanded to do (Matt. 28:19, Acts 2:38). However, at the same time, water baptism is not a prerequisite that determines the eternal resting place of our souls and I am glad that you agree with me! Water baptism is something that every believer should do and it is supported by the Bible. It is a very special experience that publicly symbolizes the inner baptism of the Holy Spirit. We are brought to salvation when we have been apprehended by Jesus Christ, and this is where the baptism by the Holy Spirit occurs- at the moment of salvation. I never said that salvation is the END of our spiritual walk! It is only the beginning! And we are perfected in Him through the process of sanctification. However, our spiritual standing has now been changed forever since we are now in a perfect standing before God at the moment of salvation, by confessing our sins and receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. (Acts 8:35-39) Granted, we are not "perfected" ourselves yet, but our STANDING before God is now "perfected", in that we have accepted the Lordship of Jesus Christ. My friend, I agree, perfection IS acheived by God in His unlimited timeframe, and He will perfect the work that He has started (Phil. 1:6, James 1:4). Blessings to you, Nolan |
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3565 | What does baptism consist? | 1 John 5:6 | Makarios | 23368 | ||
Greetings Brothers Kalos and charis! The letters of 1 and 2 Timothy and Philemon, and the book of Luke and Acts were only addressed to specific individuals, but as Kalos has stressed, "no book of the Bible has APPLICATION to only one particular audience." :-) Blessings to you, Nolan |
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3566 | What does baptism consist? | 1 John 5:6 | Makarios | 23460 | ||
Greetings charis! I think that we can both agree that we should not eat any Tanuki for Thanksgiving.. If you are agreeable with this, then it may be agreeable for us both to disagree on the amount of Turkey that we have, even though turkey hardly ever agrees with either one of us if we've had too much of it... Or is that, we don't agree with the turkey? Or Tanuki?? I give up!! :-) Have a happy Thanksgiving! And yes, we are not required to agree on everything! :-) Your Brother in Christ, Nolan |
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3567 | What does baptism consist? | 1 John 5:6 | Makarios | 23532 | ||
Greetings Tim! Excellent post and very well said, my friend! :-) Your Brother in Christ, Nolan |
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3568 | What does baptism consist? | 1 John 5:6 | Makarios | 113609 | ||
Greetings Arrow1, The simple fact of the matter is, the thief who was crucified on the cross next to Jesus who asked Jesus to remember him in His kingdom was saved (Luke 23:42-43). Did the thief ever have a chance to be baptized before dying? No. Was the thief saved? Yes. Hopefully I have explained this clearly. Makarios |
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3569 | What does baptism consist? | 1 John 5:6 | Makarios | 113612 | ||
Go back and read those passages of Scripture that I cited in my 11/19/2001 post. Makarios |
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3570 | What does baptism consist? | 1 John 5:6 | Makarios | 113618 | ||
Arrow1, The Great Commission, in and of itself, does not state that any person MUST be baptized in order to be saved, before or after the Resurrection of Christ. But it DOES state that we should GO and baptize OTHERS. - Makarios |
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3571 | What does baptism consist? | 1 John 5:6 | Makarios | 113621 | ||
Also, You are the one that is mistaken. I do not "require" that the thief be baptized. That is my whole point : Baptism is not an essential to salvation. Makarios |
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3572 | What does baptism consist? | 1 John 5:6 | Makarios | 113631 | ||
Greetings Arrow1, Salvation through Jesus Christ means to be saved from sin and death and hell unto righteousness and heaven and everlasting life. Salvation has past, present and future aspects: we are saved from the penalty of past sin through Christ's atoning death on the cross, from the power of sin through the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives right now, and ultimately from the very presence of sin when we are in heaven. This question was asked by the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:30, and was forthrightly and simply answered by the Apostle Paul when he said: "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). Jesus Himself said: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16, KJV). Therefore, personal faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and of His victorious death and resurrection is the means by which salvation is received. The substitutionary death of Christ for our sins is the basis on which God counts us as justified in saving us through faith, and this is demonstrated and guaranteed in the victorious bodily resurrection of Christ from the grave. But natural man is proud and tends to resist the idea that there is nothing he can do to save himself, and that he must trust in Jesus Christ to do it all. However: 1) A person cannot be saved by believing and practicing any religion he or she chooses (Acts 4:12). 2) A person is not saved by keeping God's laws, for there is no one who can keep His law perfectly (Galatians 3:10; Romans 3:10,23). 3) No one can be saved through doing good works. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Titus 3:5). 4) Baptism is not the means of salvation. Paul said: "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel" (1 Cor. 1:17). The gospel, by definition, is the "good news" of Christ's atoning death and resurrection, and it is by believing the gospel, not by baptism, that men are saved (1 Cor. 15:1-4). The thief on the cross was saved, but never baptized (Luke 23:42,43). 5) We are not saved by joining a church. To the members of the church in Laodicea, for example, Christ said: "Because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:16, KJV). It is extremely important to be baptized and do good works with the right motive. If the unsaved person does them to earn salvation, he is deceiving himself and "frustrating the grace of God" (Galatians 2:21, KJV). The true Christian does these and other good works out of love and gratitude to the Lord Jesus for saving him (2 Cor. 5:14,15). "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8-10, ESV) Blessings to you, Makarios |
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3573 | What does baptism consist? | 1 John 5:6 | Makarios | 113632 | ||
Greetings again Arrow1, If we do not have to be baptized in order to be saved, then just how important is baptism? The Christian "era" was introduced with the forerunner, John the Baptist, who baptized along the Jordan those who desired to prepare themselves for the coming of Christ. The first public act of Jesus as He began His ministry was to be baptized by John, as He said, "to fulfill all righteousness" (Matthew 3:15), and serving, in this and in all other aspects of His life, as the perfect Example for those who "follow his steps" (1 Peter 2:21). During His own public ministry, He also, through His disciples, continued the practice of baptizing His new disciples in water (John 3:22). In Matthew 28:18-20, we read the Great Commission, which consists of three parts: (1) "Make disciples of all nations", (2) "Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit", (3) "Teach them to observe all the things that I commanded you" (see also Mark 16:15,16). Therefore, baptism is an integral part of the Christian's Commission from His Lord, and is of highest importance. The early Christians always observed this order: immediately after a man or woman was truly converted to Christ, they were baptized and identified with the local church, where they would be instructed in the full scope of Christian faith and life. Baptism is not considered to be part of the gospel, by which people are saved (1 Cor. 15:1-4), as Paul made clear when he said: "Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel" (1 Cor. 1:17), but it is an essential part of the Great Commission. Therefore, baptism was immediately followed by conversion in the early church (Acts 2:41; 8:12; 8:36; 9:18; 10:47; 16:14,15; 16:30-33; 18:8, etc..) The occurrence of baptism immediately after conversion simply means that as soon as a person trusted in Christ, they would publicly identify themselves with the Lord and with His church in his own community, by following the Lord in baptism. The importance of baptism can be summed up in this verse: "For we are buried with Him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4, KJV). Blessings to you, Makarios |
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3574 | baptism summed up....... | 1 John 5:6 | Makarios | 113702 | ||
Greetings Arrow1, Let's look at Romans 6:3-4... "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." I have been alleged as "not taking Romans 6:3" literally, or some other such nonsense like that.. Baptism of the Holy Spirit, which happens at the moment one puts their faith and trust in Christ, joins the believer to Christ, separating him from the old life and associating him with the new (Colossians 3:5-11). He is no longer "in Adam" but is "in Christ." Water baptism is a portrayal, or symbol, of this truth. Water baptism depicts graphically what happens as a result of the Christian's union with Christ, which comes through faith. Through faith we are united with Christ, just as through our natural birth we were united with Adam. As we fell into sin and became subject to death through Adam, so we now have died and been raised again with Christ - which water baptism symbolizes. Baptism expresses faith in the same way that a word expresses an idea. Paul uses the common experience of believers being baptized as a picture of being identified with Christ. There can be an idea without words, but normally, ideas are expressed in words. Water baptism is a symbol of the spiritual union of Christ and the one who has placed his faith in Him. When a person first trusts in Christ, he or she is incorporated into and united to Jesus Christ, which includes being united to His death. Jesus' death becomes our death. Christian baptism displays these spiritual realities vividly. And, if the believer's identification with Christ means being identified with His death, then it logically follows that the believer also identifies with Jesus' resurrection. Having died and having been raised with Christ, the believer should live a new kind of life. All Christians have, by placing saving faith in Him, been spiritually immersed into the person Jesus Christ, that is, united and identified with Him (1 Cor. 6:17; 10:2; Galatians 3:27; 1 Peter 3:21; 1 John 1:3). Certainly water baptism pictures this reality, which is its purpose- to show the transformation of those who are now justified in Christ. Or shall we mince words on what exactly Paul meant by the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Now, let me go on the offensive.... It is interesting that a person who is baptized by water can choose the time, the place, the setting, the church, the pastor, and even the method (sprinkling, immersion, etc..) in which they would like to be baptized... When someone truly becomes saved through the grace of Christ, the timing is of the Holy Spirit's choosing, not ours. That truth, in and of itself, will always separate water baptism from that of salvation through Jesus Christ. Blessings to you, Makarios |
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3575 | baptism important ,why the delay? | 1 John 5:6 | Makarios | 113707 | ||
Greetings Arrow1, Just to clarify, When I wrote, "Perhaps the absence of physical Christian persecution in this country makes the timing and place of water baptism more trivial than it really should", I spoke this very tongue and cheek, which could only be answered with an "Absolutely not!".. - Makarios |
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3576 | baptism important ,why the delay? | 1 John 5:6 | Makarios | 113824 | ||
Arrow1, No, no, no. A thousand times "No." - Makarios |
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3577 | Evidence against authenticity 1 John 5:7 | 1 John 5:7 | Makarios | 30134 | ||
Here is even more evidence against the authenticity of "The Comma Johanneum" in 1 John 5:7... Here is an excerpt from "The King James Only Controversy: Can You Trust the Modern Translations?" by James R. White (1995, Bethany House Publishers)... "ERASMUS AND THE COMMA JOHANNEUM" (pg. 60-62) "The story of how this passage ended up in the King James Version is very instructive. When the first edition of Erasmus' work came out in 1516 this phrase, dubbed today the "Johannine comma," or in Latin, the Comma Johanneum, was not in the text for a very simple reason: it was not found in any Greek manuscript of 1 John that Erasmus had examined. Instead, the phrase was found only in the Latin Vulgate. Erasmus rightly did not include it in the first or second editions. The note in the Annotations simply said, "In the Greek codex I find only this about the threefold testimony: 'because there are three witnesses, spirit, water, and blood.'" His reliance upon the Greek manuscripts rather than the Latin Vulgate caused quite a stir. Both Edward Lee and Diego Lopez Zuniga attacked Erasmus for not including this passage and hence encouraging "Arianism," the very same charge made by KJV Only advocates today. Erasmus protested that he was simply following the Greek texts. In responding to Lee, Erasmus challenged him to "produce a Greek manuscript that has what is missing in my edition." Likewise Erasmus rebutted Zuniga by pointing out that while he (Zuniga) was constantly referring Erasmus to one particular Greek manuscript, in this case he had not brought this text forward, correctly assuming that even Zuniga's manuscript agreed with Erasmus' reading. He also said, "Finally, the whole passage is so obscure that it cannot be very valuable in refuting the [Arian] heresies. Since Erasmus had promised, in his response to Lee, to include the passage should a Greek manuscript be found that contained it, he was constrained to insert the phrase in the third edition when presented with an Irish manuscript that contained the disputed phrase, Codex Montfortianus, now at Trinity College, Dublin. The manuscript is highly suspect, in that it most probably was created in the house of the Grey Friars, whose provincial, Henry Standish, was an old enemy of Erasmus, and whose intention was simply to refute Erasmus. The text note in the Annotations grew tremendously, for Erasmus inserted many of the arguments and citations he had used in replying to Lee and Zuniga. He remarked, "I have restored the text ... so as not to give anyone an occasion for slander." He concluded the note with the statement, "But to return to the business of the reading: from our remarks it is clear that the Greek and Latin manuscripts vary, and in my opinion there is no danger in accepting either reading." The Comma Johanneum is extremely important. Here we have a phrase that everyone will admit is manifestly orthodox. What it says is obviously true. Yet, we are in no way dependent upon the phrase for our knowledge of the Trinity or the unity of the three Persons: Father, Son, and Spirit. The doctrine of the Trinity does not stand or fall upon the inclusion of the Comma. Beyond this, however, we have a phrase that is simply not a part of the ancient Greek manuscripts of John's first epistle. The few manuscripts that contain the phrase are very recent, and half of these have the reading written in the margin. The phrase appears only in certain of the Latin versions. There are, quite literally, hundreds of readings in the New Testament manuscript tradition that have better arguments in their favor that are rejected by both Erasmus and the KJV translators. And yet this passage is ferociously defended by KJV Only advocates to this day. We can see that Erasmus could have just as easily maintained his position against the Comma, resulting in a KJV without this inserted phrase. But aside from these considerations, we need to note what is really being said by the defenders of the AV. If indeed the Comma was a part of the original writing of the apostle John, we are forced to conclude that entire passages, rich in theological meaning, can disappear from the Greek manuscript tradition without leaving a single trace. In reality, the KJV Only advocate is arguing for a radical viewpoint on the New Testament text, a viewpoint that utterly denies the very tenacity that we discussed in chapter 3. Even "liberal" scholars will admit the outstanding purity of the NT text and the validity of the belief in the tenacity of that text. Here we find otherwise very conservative people, the defenders of the KJV, joining arms with the most destructive liberal critics in presenting a theory regarding the NT text that, in reality, destroys the very basis upon which we can have confidence that we still have the original words of Paul or John. And their adopted position does this very thing." - Nolan |
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3578 | Evidence against authenticity 1 John 5:7 | 1 John 5:7 | Makarios | 30154 | ||
Hey Joe, I've got more where that came from! :-) - Nolan |
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3579 | put 1Jn 5:7 BACK where it belongs! | 1 John 5:7 | Makarios | 98654 | ||
Greetings JustAnotherChristian, We could go all night and month long debating on textual issues. But the simple fact of the matter is: today's Bible translators have access to everything that the KJV translators had access to, and so much more! Will you begin to explain how or why the last six verses of Revelation were translated straight from the Vulgate? Or how "linen yarn" was bought at a price (1 Kings 10:28)? Or how "Easter" was a celebrated (Acts 12:4)? There are definite problems in the KJV that need revision, and I can also expose each and every one of these for each "supposed" omission that you can come up with.. - Makarios |
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3580 | put 1Jn 5:7 BACK where it belongs! | 1 John 5:7 | Makarios | 98657 | ||
Perhaps for you! My question to you is: Did we have God's Word before 1769? Makarios |
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