Results 1 - 9 of 9
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Results from: Answers On or After: Thu 12/31/70 Author: McGracer Ordered by Date |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Can we put doctrine into practice? | Eph 5:25 | McGracer | 54000 | ||
Andes, We are to love our wives as Christ loves His church. This entails unconditional love and acceptance. When we think about it, God treats us from complete grace. We never get what we deserve - death. That's mercy. Instead, we get what we don't deserve - life and life abundant. That's grace. The question is, can we do it? In ourselves, nope. Every commandment that is given in the Bible is IMPOSSIBLE for man, apart from God to fulfill. Even those who attempt to put the Christian under the Mosaic Covenant cannot keep it. God gives us these commands that we can't keep so that we will see His righteous standard and turn to Him for salvation. Once He comes to indwell us, because Christ has ALREADY fulfilled the requirements of the Law, He lives in us keeping the law of Christ. As we abide in Him and trust Him to live His life in us, He (in us) will treat our wives as He treats His church. We are in active participation with Him but it is God who is at work in us to do His good pleasure and perform His will. Hope this helps. McGracer |
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2 | Saved by Grace | Rom 10:9 | McGracer | 53815 | ||
JesusFriend, The short answer to this question is that salvation is being saved from the wages of sin - spiritual death - by the gift of God - eternal life. (Rom 6:23) Because of Adam's sin, we are born into this world separated from God - spiritually dead. (Rom 5:12) But the good news of the gospel is that Christ came to give us life - His life - and to give it to us abundantly. (John 10:10). Christ's blood, shed on the cross of Calvary, takes away the sin issue between God and man. And His resurrection provides us with new life in Him. (Eph 2:4,5) It is His life, not His death, that saves us. (Rom 5:10) As a result of His life in us, we are new creations in Him. (2 Cor 5:17) Jesus called this being "born again", not of flesh but of the Spirit of God. How do we receive and experience this "new birth"? By grace through faith. (Eph 2:8,9) We simply believe that what He says is so. We come to Him acknowledging that we are born sinners and need His life. If you are saved, the living Christ has come to dwell within you forever and you have begun the great adventure for which you were created as a child of God. You can know that God will never leave you, the assurance of salvation. ...For He Himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you." (Heb 13:5) And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. - 1 John 5:11-13 McGracer |
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3 | Not subject to the Law? | Rom 3:31 | McGracer | 53787 | ||
Kalos, We are subject of the law of Christ. Christ in us will not do anything that violates the morality of God. If we chose to disobey Him, we are walking after the flesh. However, we are no longer under the Mosaic Law. What is the purpose of the Law? The Law was given to make us conscious of sin - Rom 3:20; Rom 7:7,13; Gal 3:19; 1 Tim 1:8-10. The Law was given to stir up sin - Rom 7:5,7-9; 1 Cor 15:56 The Law lets us know what God's character and morality is like. In doing so, it lets us know how sinful and unlike Him we are in our unregenerate state. The Law cannot justify us, impart life to us, make us righteous, or perfect us. - Gal 2:16,21; Gal 3:11,20,21; Heb 7:19; Heb 10:1 It can't do this before salvation and it can't do it after salvation either. Instead, the Law can only bring death. - Rom 7:10; 2 Cor 3:6,7,9; Gal 3:10,21; James 2:10 The purpose of the Law is to lead us to Christ. - Gal 3:1-3,24,25 So should we still preach the Law? To sinners, yes. The Law shows them their sinfulness and their need for a Saviour, Jesus Christ. Christ was born under, taught under, and fulfilled the Law. - Gal 4:4; Matt 5:17,18; Rom 10:4 This is important to know because much of our Lord's teaching was centered in the Law. The New Covenant did not go into effect until Christ's death, so He taught under the Old Covenant to show His listeners their need for salvation by faith, apart from works. And He completely fulfilled the Law. Christ has set us free from the Law. - Rom 6:14,15; Rom 7:1-4,6,18,19,22; Rom 8:2,13; Gal 2:4,19,20; Gal 3:13,25; Gal 4:5; Gal 5:1,18 Christians have died to the Law so that they can now be married to Christ. We are no longer married to Mr. Law. We are married to Mr. Grace. The Law includes the Ten Commandments. Some would say that we are no longer under the ceremonial Law but still under the moral Law. We do not have this option. If we are going to be under the Law, we must be under all of it - ceremonial, moral, and civil. We cannot pick and choose what parts of the Law we can be under. Let's rejoice that we are under grace and that Christ dwells in us to live the Christ-life! McGracer |
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4 | What commandments to keep? | 1 John 2:4 | McGracer | 53726 | ||
Faith531, Sorry, my friend, you can't keep any of them. Not the Big 10, not the New 2. You can't do it. Only Christ ever did. He has fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law (be perfect) and, because of our union with Him, they are thereby fulfilled in us also. Christ has met the standard. We never did and never can. He now fulfills the law of love in and through us. This is the law of Christ whereby He lives His life in His own to manifest the invisible God to a visible world. As He does this in us, it will certainly look like we are living under the Law (the Mosaic Covenant). But we are not. We are living by faith in Christ in us, the hope of glory. I hope this helps. McGracer |
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5 | Weird to act like a jew when your not? | Gal 5:1 | McGracer | 53724 | ||
In the Andes, I don't think it is weird, I think it is full-blown Galatianism. :) It is natural that man, with the absence of relational reality, will resort back to religious ritual. Of course, we "Christianize" it by sticking Jesus' name in here and there, but the bottom line is that it is a subtle attempt to blend OT worship in with NT worship. What should NT worship look like? What is the best way to have a NT worship service? I think that Rom 12:1 tells us - allow the Person of Jesus Christ to live through your body - this is your worshipful act. But if, for whatever reason we can or won't do that, we go for the externals. :) McGracer |
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6 | image of God | Gen 1:26 | McGracer | 53708 | ||
Evangeline, God is Spirit. Spirit gives birth to spirit - John 3. When God created man, He created him as primarily a spirit being. In other words, we each have a human spirit that will exist forever. It is our spirit that allows us to commune with and worship God. Our spirit is the means by which we relate to and know God. But He also created us with a personality (or soul). This consists of mind, will, and emotions. The soul is the means by which we relate to ourselves and others around us. And He created us with a physical body - flesh. The body is the means by which we directly relate to our world and others around us through our 5 senses. So man could be called a spirit being that has a soul that lives in a body. It has been said that we are not human beings with spiritual experiences but spiritual beings with human experiences. God makes it clear that if we are going to relate to Him, we must do so in spirit and truth. Of course, because of man's fall into sin, we are born with a spirit that is separated from God. Thankfully, because of Christ's work on the cross and His resurrection, God creates within the believer a new spirit indwelt by the Holy Spirit. This is called being born again of the Spirit of God and this makes it possible for us to have a relationship with Him. I hope this helps. McGracer |
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7 | Can we stop preaching baptism? | John 3:5 | McGracer | 53482 | ||
NLightNMe, You wrote: "If baptism is not necessary for salvation, then can preachers stop preaching baptism?" I stated in my prior answer that we should be water baptized because it portrays the spiritual truth of the identification we have with Christ. Christ left us with two ordinances - water baptism and the Lord's Supper. Both of these are pictures of spiritual truth. Should we do them? Yes, we should. Are they required for salvation? No, they are not. They are visible manifestations that we have been saved. So I never said that we shouldn't be water baptized. I just said that it was not required for salvation. "Paul did come to preach the gospel. What is the gospel? It is the death, burial, and ressurrection of Jesus Christ. What represents the gospel...baptism." Very true. All I am saying is that we shouldn't mistake the representation for the truth. The demons believe that Jesus died, was buried, and was resurrected. Salvation is when we put faith in the fact that Christ died, was buried, and rose again for our benefit. And we trust His works, not our own, to save us. "So, what man does is just as important as what the Holy Spirit does." I would phrase this "What the Holy Spirit does in and through man is what is important." Man can do many things of his own volition and it is flesh. All of our righteousness apart from Him is as filthy rags. It is what man does as God does it through him that counts for eternity. "Apart from Me, you can do nothing." "I can do ALL things THROUGH Christ." Again, I think that we need to keep the distinction between the Spirit baptizing us into Christ (the reality which requires no water) and water baptism (which can certainly happen without the Spirit). Many folks are water baptized thinking that it saves them. It is clear from the scriptures that it is Christ's finished work that saves us. Water baptism illustrates simply that truth. Should we be water baptized? Certainly, just as we should pray, read our Bibles, share the gospel with others, give to the needy, and all the other works which the Holy Spirit does in and through us. But let's not mistake the RESULTS of the salvation that Christ has done in us for a MEANS to achieve it. So I'm not saying not to preach water baptism. I'm saying to preach what baptism REALLY is and means - union with Christ - and then offer folks the opportunity to publically display that wonderful union through water baptism. Hope this helps. McGracer |
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8 | Why do people try to disprove baptism? | John 3:5 | McGracer | 53473 | ||
NLightNMe, You wrote: "Why do people want to prove/disprove the importance of baptism. Some say that baptism is a requirement for salvation and some say that it is not." Water baptism is important as it is an outward display of an inward reality. In true baptism, the Holy Spirit identifies us with Jesus Christ - in His death, burial, and resurrection. Water baptism is a physical picture of that spiritual truth - nothing more. "Being immersed in water by faith of redemption cannot kill you." True, brother. We are already crucified (dead), buried, and risen again in Christ. "It is to make us better." This is where there is a misunderstanding, bro. The only thing that makes us better is Christ's righteous, not water. You are either as perfect as Christ is through union with Him or you are a sinner. There is no in-between. This righteousness is accepted by faith, not by water baptism. "What is the big deal about trying to belittle baptism or try to prove that it is not necessary for going to heaven." Because the truth is that water baptism is not necessary for salvation or for going to heaven. Spirit baptism is but not water baptism. Water can do nothing to cleanse from sin. Without the shedding of blood (not the parting of water), there is no forgiveness for sin - Heb 9:22. "Whether we should get baptised is not the issue." True, the Holy Spirit faithfully baptizes EVERY believer into Christ - 1 Cor 12:13,27 "How should we be baptised is the real issue at hand." Amen, by the Holy Spirit into Jesus Christ. Water baptism is, again, just a picture of that. Food for thought: Is a picture the same thing as that being portrayed? No, it's not. A picture of you is not you. It is a representation of you. Likewise, water baptism is not the reality. It is a representation of spiritual reality. Nothing more, nothing less. But many Christians take the picture and make THAT the reality. Instead of agreeing on the truth that the picture represents, they make the picture a requirement for salvation and, in my analogy, argue over the frame, the colors, who took the picture, is it watercolor or oil?, on and on. We should be water baptized to witness to all that we have been spirit-baptized into Christ. But to make water baptism a requirement for salvation is not part of the gospel. Paul said that he came to preach the gospel, not to water baptize folks. This makes them mutually exclusive and demonstrates that while being baptized into Christ (what the Holy Spirit does) is part of salvation, water baptism (what man does) is not. I hope this helps. McGracer |
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9 | A reson for the H S to leave you | John | McGracer | 53472 | ||
Wings of Hope, As Inmyheart has said, the Holy Spirit will never leave someone in whom He indwells. He has joined Himself to the Christian forever - 1 Cor 6:17. He will never leave us or forsake us. Nothing shall separate us from His love. We do see instances in the Old Testament where, because of sin, the Holy Spirit departed from people. The Spirit left King Saul. David prayed for the Lord not to take His Holy Spirit from him after his sin with Bathsheba. And there is the sad account in Ezekiel where the Spirit leaves the temple. But these were all scenarios before the cross where Christ dealt with sins once and for all. Under the New Covenant (New Testament), the Holy Spirit does not leave us because the only thing that could make Him do so, sin, has been forgiven because of Christ's blood. The writers of the New Testament (and the Holy Spirit Himself) well understood this. Unfortunately, most Christians don't understand this because they try to blend Old Covenant with New Covenant. God certainly doesn't change but His dealings with mankind do. Under the New Covenant, God says of His people, "There sins and lawless deeds, I will remember no more." - Heb 10:17. This is why the Holy Spirit, once He indwells a believer at conversion, will never leave that believer. Hope this helps you. McGracer |
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