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NASB | Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 10:9 because if you acknowledge and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord [recognizing His power, authority, and majesty as God], and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. |
Bible Question:
Hello all, new here. I am looking to be baptized, but do not belong to a church. I've always been a believer and lover of God, and was raised to know Jesus, just not in your typical "go to church on Sunday" home. We read and studied by ourselves. My Mother and I both want to be baptized without being forced to join a church, and found one with a very nice man who was A-OK with this. However he did say one disturbing thing, and I wanted other's opinions: He asked when I accepted Jesus Christ, and I said I was always a beliver, but he said I should have had an, "Ah-ha" moment of revilation. A moment that changed my life, and he discribed his own. I just always knew about Jesus, and always accepted him. Just like I know red is red, I know that Jesus is the Son of God who died for our sins. He kind of made me feel that I was missing something... Went home and jumped on the Bible for scripture on this and did find a few ways I'm slacking on in different areas (Thank you Lord for the insight) but nothing on this. I was wondering what others think. Not doubting my own faith, just confused at the pastor's position. Thanks for all responces and views! Go with God! Amanda |
Bible Answer: Dear Amanda, I certainly concur with Brother Mark's reply to your post. John Owen wrote long ago, "Now concerning this whole work, I affirm, that the Holy Spirit does make use of it in the regeneration or conversion of all adult persons, either by the Word preached, or by some other application of light and truth to the mind derived from the Word." I cannot, of course, speak for your pastor. You will have to explicitly ask what he means. I might speculate, though, about what he might mean. As our Brother Mark has rightly asserted, Christianity is not based in emotion or experience. Nevertheless, we are creatures with emotions, interacting with our world in an experiential fashion. Another Puritan theologian, Jonathan Edwards wrote, "There is much affection [emotions] in the true saints which is not spiritual; their religious affections are often mixed; all is not from grace, but much from nature. And though the affections have not their seat in the body; yet the constitution of the body may very much contribute to the present emotion of the mind. And the degree of religion is rather to be judged of by the fixedness and strength of the habit that is exercised in affection, whereby holy affection is habitual, than by the degree of the present exercise." In other words, the evidence of our salvation is measured much more certainly in how we live than in what we feel. However, the Scripture says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV) Salvation is a transformation of the WHOLE man -- including the emotions. Scripture speaks of some of these emotional components: A true believer ...no longer finds joy in in his former sins (Ephesians 4:17-24); ...no longer is easily provoked (1 Corinthians 13:4); ...loves other believers (1 John 4:20); ...delights in the things of God (Psalms 37:23). ...etc. Jonathan Edwards stated it this way, "There are false affections, and there are true. A man's having much affection, does not prove that he has any true religion: but if he has no affection it proves that he has no true religion. The right way, is not to reject all affections, nor to approve all; but to distinguish between affections, approving some, and rejecting others." Your pastor might have been thinking along these lines... Now, obviously, there must be an instant in which we are saved. One moment we were lost and the next we entered into the kingdom. That is quite clear from the Scripture. However, it is not clear to me at all from Scripture that a person must necessarily remember that moment. I know of brethren that very clearly manifest every evidence of being saved, yet who do not remember the moment of their salvation. I do not find in Scripture that remember the moment in which God saved us is a required nor always assured. Well, my heart, Amanda, is only to bring greater clarity and light to these discussions. But sometimes I only muddy the waters. I hope I've done the former and not the latter. In Him, Doc |