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NASB | Romans 4:6 just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 4:6 And in this same way David speaks of the blessing on the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: |
Subject: Imputed Righteousness |
Bible Note: You wrote: 'This demonstrates the type of interpretation twisting that "tradition" does to nullify the Word of God. God's Word says in Romans 8:10 that we HAVE BEEN justified, that we HAVE BEEN glorified.' "If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness." --Romans 8:10 The words "justified" and "glorified" do not even APPEAR in this verse! The spirit being alive refers to regeneration. Rather than ranting about tradition, how about commenting on my argument on its merits (or lack thereof). Your ambivalence to "the teachings of the church" is unscriptural in itself. The teachers of the church are men gifted by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of -- you guessed it -- teaching. 'The difference between my approach and yours is that I am just naive enough to take God at His Word and say, "Lord, You say that I have been glorified, would You teach me what this means."' If that is your SOLE means of determining the meaning of the message of Scripture, then that is indeed naive. "And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues." --1 Corinthians 12:28 "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers" --Ephesians 4:11 The teaching ministry of the word is a God-ordained means of grace and an avenue by which the Holy Spirit reveals to us His truth. It is sola Scriptura (Scripture alone is our source of revelation) but not "solo Scriptura" (just me, the Spirit, and my Bible). Take a look in the New Testament at the warnings to heed sound teaching. You wrote: 'Tradition says, "Impossible! Despite the text, this cannot be true. My experience is the standard of truth and I have not yet experienced this. Therefore, God cannot possibly mean what He says and I must seek the hidden meaning."' Bad tradition does that. Good, Bible-based tradition says, "We the church have examinied this issue thoroughly, and this is what we together, studying the Scriptures, have concluded." Because of the traditions of the church, we do not have to go through and argue about things among ourselves such as the deity of Christ or the Trinity. It is sheer arrogance to insist that those thousands of individuals who have studied the Bible their whole lives in the original languages, whom God has used in important junctures in the history of the church to preserve His truth, and whose fruit puts both of ours to shame do not understand justification and sanctification, two of the most fundamental elements of the faith. You wrote: 'There are many people who come to this forum seeking the truth of God's Word not the "teachings of the church".' You speak as if those two are separate things. The teachings of God's church are based on God's word, not thought up in a vacuum. To insist that the two are diametrically opposed shows your disdain for what God has built for the last 2000 years and a false sense of adequacy to "go it alone" apart from the means God has established for your understanding. "And for some reason you feel that you must resort to undue sarcasm of me and my simple faith in taking God at His Word. That is your choice. But I will not engage you further in exchange." I agree that it would be fruitless, seeing that you are unteachable. The sarcasm is not undue, however, because you are guilty of precisely the things that I have brought to your attention. You have accused me and the majority of the evangelical church of Jesus Christ of misunderstanding, of basically ignoring the Bible in defense of false teachings. You have consistently misinterpreted the biblical (and the church's) view on sanctification as "works-righteousness." My guess is that you did not even look at one of the articles I provided for you, having already concluded that you couldn't possibly be wrong. If that isn't pride, I certainly must be wrong on that one, too. You may feel demeaned, but that is nothing like how you demean the utter righteousness and holiness of the Lord Jesus Christ by saying that we are identical to Him in our spirits. Horrible and blasphemous. --Joe! |