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NASB | James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole Law but stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of [breaking] all of it. |
Subject: Joe, who is ya, man? |
Bible Note: Bill: This brings up another question which cuts at the heart of where we don't see eye-to-eye. We do have a new nature. We are spiritually re-born. The question is whether this new nature is in itself righteous or not. I hold that this new nature is oriented toward righteousness, as our old one was oriented toward unrighteousness. However, that righteousness only comes about through the indwelling, transforming presence of the Holy Spirit working with that new self. In other words, my justification does not mean that God sees me as righteous on my own, but rather he sees me and sees Christ's payment for my sins and says: "You are forgiven and considered righteous." And there is a big difference between declaring us righteous on account of Christ's work and actually saying, "You, Joe are righteous now." Which brings me to the all-important question that no Bible church was able to adequately answer for me. Perhaps you can: If I am saved by faith alone (which I am, of course), and God only sees righteousness when he sees me (which you seem to be saying), why should I live a righteous life? Mind you, I am not looking for a reason not to; however, if my nature at its core is already 100 percent righteous, then there is abolutely no compelling reason for me to OBEY God. How do you answer that? I am sure that you ahve heard the question before from antagonistic skeptics, or even from sincerely questioning believers in the church. In your view, why obey God when He says, "Do good works which honor Me"? --Joe! |