Results 1 - 5 of 5
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Can God save us the way HE WANTS TOO? | Acts 2:38 | Reformer Joe | 50618 | ||
You wrote: 'You bring up a good point here, when you said what God has done, (you the word "credited") and ("obedience") God will credit us before or after we obey him? This is exactly what Paul is teaching about faith!' Is it? We are getting to the crux of the matter here, so let's examine this part carefully. First of all, I cannot take "credit" for the word I used since the Spirit used it first (Romans 4:1-5 and James 2:23; the OT rendering is often "reckoned" as in Genesis 15:6). The second, most important issue is this question you raised: "God will credit us before or after we obey him?" Looking at Genesis 15:1-6, we see God reckoning righteousness to Abraham before he even lifts a finger. Paul agrees when addressing the Romans: "How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised; and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them" --Romans 4:10-11 Before Abraham was circumcised (which doesn't occur until Genesis 17), he was credited with righteousness (Genesis 15:6). Abraham's offering of Isaac (alluded to in James 2) was AFTER righteousness had been credited to him. Therefore, the order we see with Abraham (and us) is belief, leading to justification before God, leading to compliance with God's commandments. The righteousness that gets us into heaven is not something we achieve (because we all fall short -- Romans 3:23-24): "For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the GIFT of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ." --Romans 5:17 The righteousness that gets us into heaven is Christ's righteousness applied to us, not our own: "and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith" --Philippians 3:9 "For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God." --Romans 10:3 You wrote: "Yes you can say "Faith alone" as long as you understand that faith is active and not stagnant" The way I have heard it best put is that we are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that IS alone. We become justified before God through faith and nothing else, but true faith is accompanied by repentance and leads to obedience. And all of these are gifts of God. --Joe! |
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2 | Can God save us the way HE WANTS TOO? | Acts 2:38 | Grace and Truth | 50626 | ||
"and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith" --Philippians 3:9 You are still looking at things that pertain to the Law, this is what Paul was telling the church at Rome about Abraham. "but true faith is accompanied by repentance and leads to obedience. And all of these are gifts of God". This is the whole point (obedience)! In Acts 2:38 the people were (obedient) to what Peter said. Now did everybody (obey)? No! But they that gladly recieved his words were baptized. Acts2:41 |
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3 | Can God save us the way HE WANTS TOO? | Acts 2:38 | Reformer Joe | 50631 | ||
You wrote: "You are still looking at things that pertain to the Law, this is what Paul was telling the church at Rome about Abraham." That would be impossible in Abraham's case, as Paul makes clear to the Galatians: "What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise." --Galatians 3:17-18 The covenant that God made with Abraham preceded the giving of the Law of Moses by over four centuries, so Paul must have been talking about following God's commandments more generally than limiting himself to what He commanded Israel to do. Abraham never lived under the Law, so Paul could not have been commenting on the Mosaic Law alone when referring to Abraham's circumstances. Lastly, we see that God granted it to Abraham not by means of Abraham's obedience, but rather by means of God's promise. --Joe! |
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4 | Can God save us the way HE WANTS TOO? | Acts 2:38 | Grace and Truth | 50642 | ||
Joe! I see you stopped at vs.18 in Gal 3, if you would have kept reading you would get all of what Paul was saying, vs. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. 26 For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. This is God's promise to us! I am so glad that this thing about baptism is not a mistery to me, and I am glad that I'm a baptized Holy Spirit filled man of God. 'Praise the Lord'. We need to teach what the bible says, all of it. This would not be an issue if Jesus had not said it. Jesus said it, I believe it, and that settles it! | ||||||
5 | Can God save us the way HE WANTS TOO? | Acts 2:38 | Reformer Joe | 50673 | ||
You wrote: "Jesus said it, I believe it, and that settles it!" Actually, your believing what Jesus said has nothing to do with whether it is settled or not. :) And if we want to look at the whole of Galatians, we can skip back a few verses an take a look: 'Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us--for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE"-- in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it.' --Galatians 3:13-15 We see from the entire chapter that the covenant we enjoy in Christ is the same covenant that God made with Abraham, not the covenant God made with the nation of Israel (vv. 16-17). How was Abraham justified before God? By faith plus baptism? No, Abraham was never baptized at all. By works? No, as we have seen, his believing God was credited to him as righteousness before he put Isaac on the altar. As Abraham was justified by faith alone, so in Christ we are also declared righteous by God on the basis of faith alone. In the New Testament, was baptism added as a condition to the covenant made to Abraham and his Seed? What did the passage above say? "when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it." The Mosaic Law did not add conditions to the covenant promises God made to Abraham and his spiritual progeny (that's Galatians 3;17 as we already saw); the covenant that Jesus Christ made with the visible church, instituting outward signs of baptism and the Lord's Supper, also cannot be new conditions added to the already-ratified covenant between God and Abraham. The way that anyone has ever been saved is by faith in God's redemption alone. That was demonstrated outwardly in different ways in different times among God's covenant people, but the covenant we share with Abraham through faith in Christ has NO conditions attached to it. --Joe! |
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