Matthew 21:31Are you okay? How does one work for a prostitute?
I think you just described Luther. Luther felt he was unworthy, and came out with the idea of the imputation of righteousness to free himself of the guilt. It was a good news based on psychology and not on Scripture.So if we are save "By Grace" and it is "Through Faith" then it is Grace (of God) that saves us and the means is Faith.. (Ephesians 2:8)
I posted this in a previous thread and I believe it bears repeating..
The question was why do some Christians struggle and fail while other seem to do well with effortless success..
I think the main problem would be one of perception. People tend to see God the way they see their natural father. If they had an abusive father they think God is mean or cruel. If their dad was absent a lot or ignored them all the time they think God is distant or uncaring.
They also tend to see themselves the way they feel others see them. If they feel that others see them as unworthy or worthless they will tend to act that out. As a man (or woman) believes in his (their) heart so is he (they). In other words their core beliefs about God and themselves are skewed by their life circumstances and their feelings. They feel unloved and they feel guilty because of their sins, and this keeps them away from the only one who can free them from their false perceptions. The point is that it doesn't matter how you feel if that feeling is opposed to God's truth. The battle is in your mind, and it is a battle for truth. That's why Jesus said the truth will set you free.
The truth is that God loves you with an everlasting, unconditional and unrelenting love whether you feel it or not. He is for you and not against you. Let me say it again, He is for you and NOT against you. He always seeks what is good for you and you can trust Him even when it looks like you cannot. Your sin is as far from you as the east is from the west, and I'm not talking about this planet. I'm talking about from one side of eternity to the other. He has already walked your life with you from the beginning to end, so He who has started a good work with you He will bring it to completion. You are His adopted child, and bought with a price at the same time. A child of God. All of your sins, past, present and future were placed on Him at the cross and they were paid for forever. Jesus' perfect righteousness was placed upon you in Him at the cross as all believers are "in Him". You want to know the truth?
Sin WILL NOT have dominion over you because your are under Grace and NOT under law.
Here's the key. You are completely off the hook. There are NO strings attached.
Paul said "Recon yourselves as those dead to sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus". Why because you're under grace and not law. Count yourself as one of those who are dead to sin and alive to God because you are, right now, under His Grace.
The jail door has been unlocked the whole time. The feeling of it being locked has always been so strong we have never even tried to push on it. There are no guards with guns around the corner, but it has always felt like they were there if they even heard the slightest noise. Notice I use the words feeling, because it is our feelings and perceptions that lead us into a self created prison.
Salvation is the free gift of God and it cannot be earned. It can only be received.
Paul said that he labored more then them (the apostles) all, but he said it was not him but the grace of God that was with Him. Even when Paul did good works he said it wasn't him but grace.
Good news from Scripture - all that YHWH says ... including Righteousness.I think you just described Luther. Luther felt he was unworthy, and came out with the idea of the imputation of righteousness to free himself of the guilt. It was a good news based on psychology and not on Scripture.
Now, there you have it - a statement based on pernicious psychology.If God loves the world unconditionally, there would be no hell, and all will go to heaven.
EmSw said in post #86:
So Paul severed Timothy from Christ?
EmSw said in post #87:
Also, would you go to a satanic ritual which is offering goats to satan, and eat of that meat?
def said in post #106:
Paul said that his good works is because of grace, and Paul teaches in Ephesians 2:10 that God has works prepared for His people, and Paul's good works is the work that God has prepared for him.
Ohh, then you believe in a salvation by works and not grace.. It's either works or grace, it cannot be both. The problem is that no one keeps His commands perfectly.. The old covenant of works was faulty (Hebrews 8:7) and God made a new covenant through the precious blood of Jesus to save His people. And how does one keep themselves in the love of God? (John 6:29) This is the work of God that you should believe on the one whom He has sent. To believe in His love and grace is the work that which is required. And the good works and resistance of sin follows from that.
Stevenbelievin said:Wrong. According to Hebrews 10:11-14 "11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
No one can do any work to earn salvation and no one here that I have seen believes one can do meritorious works to earn salvation so this is not an argument here.Stevenbelievin said:Let's not make a works based salvation out of the new covenant which is a grace by faith salvation. Paul was specific that anyone who preached a different gospel was anathema. Jesus said the sons are free (Matthew 17:26). If you try to earn your way then the grace of God is in vain.
Weakened is about right. Salvation is about entering rest and the law could not help here. But there are levels of salvation, and the law could protect, act as a guardian, when not distorted into traditions of men, as the parable of the publican and the Pharisee proves.
The law preserved the Old Testament saints until Christ came.
Galatians 3:19
Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.
Galatians 3:24
Thus the law had become our guardian until Christ, so that we could be declared righteous by faith.