justbyfaith said in post #280:
We are connected to the vine through faith in Jesus Christ, not by the bearing of good fruit.
But we will be cut off from the vine if we fail to bear good fruit (John 15:2a).
justbyfaith said in post #280:
The bearing of good fruit happens because we are connected to the vine.
That's right, in the sense that we can't bear good fruit apart from being connected to the vine (John 15:4).
But being connected to the vine does not assure the bearing of good fruit for the rest of our lives. Because of free will, we can eventually become wicked and lazy, to the ultimate loss of our salvation (Matthew 25:26,30).
justbyfaith said in post #280:
The bearing of good fruit, or lack thereof, is only the evidence of the underlying reality of whether we are connected to the vine or not.
Not at all. For if a non-producing branch were not connected, then it would not have to be taken off of the vine (John 15:2a).
That is, even a non-producing branch is still "in" Christ before it is taken away (John 15:2a).
justbyfaith said in post #280:
Therefore salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ and the works that we do are the evidence of the underlying reality of our salvation in Him (through faith).
Ultimately, salvation is through both faith and works (James 2:24).
justbyfaith said in post #280:
Therefore the aim of my Christian endeavor is to cultivate faith alone in Jesus Christ, which means being connected to the vine; and in the analogy the branch will bear fruit for the sole reason that it is connected to the vine; not because it is endeavoring to bear good fruit (or to do good works).
No, it's both. That's why Christians must "
be careful to maintain good works" (Titus 3:8).
justbyfaith said in post #280:
What I am saying is that true Christianity has nothing to do with self-effort, and everything to do with a relationship with Jesus.
It's both (2 Corinthians 5:9).
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justbyfaith said in post #281:
Also there is the possibility that one might make the mistake of thinking that they have to produce good works in order to be saved . . .
That is not a mistake, but what the Bible says with regard to ultimate salvation (Romans 2:6-8).
justbyfaith said in post #281:
. . . in which case their focus is now no longer on Jesus but on what they can do to save themselves.
No, for there is no way that we can ever save ourselves (John 14:6). We can't even
do any good works apart from Jesus (John 15:5b).
justbyfaith said in post #281:
In order to avoid this pitfall I am more comfortable preaching the reality that faith alone in Jesus is what saves . . .
That is not reality with regard to ultimate salvation, because there must also be obedience (Hebrews 5:9).
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justbyfaith said in post #282:
Salvation begins with faith, ends with faith, and is by faith all the way through (Galatians 3:1-6, Colossians 2:6, Romans 1:17).
Ultimate salvation requires more than just faith (Matthew 7:21).
Regarding Galatians 3:1-6, verses 2-3 refer to works of the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law (e.g. Galatians 6:12-13).
Regarding Colossians 2:6, "walk" can be figurative of good works in addition to faith, just as "walked" in Colossians 3:7 is figurative of sinful works (Colossians 3:5-7).
Regarding Romans 1:17, faith must perform works if it is to remain alive (James 2:26). Also, because of free will, faith can be abandoned (Hebrews 6:4-8).
For God does the initial saving of Christians by granting them His miraculous gift of faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8). But His gift of this faith is like a paramedic causing the restarting of breathing of a non-breathing person by mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Just as the resuscitated person must subsequently begin to breathe on his own if he is to remain alive, so a Christian must continue to believe in Jesus (Colossians 1:23) if he is to be ultimately saved (Hebrews 3:6,12,14). For just as it is possible for a resuscitated person to breathe on his own only for awhile, and then wrongly employ his free will to hang himself, so it is possible for a Christian to believe in Jesus only for awhile (Luke 8:13) and then wrongly employ his free will to depart from the Christian faith (1 Timothy 4:1), to the ultimate loss of his salvation (Hebrews 6:4-8).
For Hebrews 6:4-8 shows that Christians, who have repented and become partakers of God's Holy Spirit, can ultimately lose their salvation because of subsequently wrongly employing their free will to "fall away", to commit apostasy, to stop believing (like in Luke 8:13, 1 Timothy 4:1, and 2 Thessalonians 2:3), just as other Bible verses show the same thing (John 15:6; 2 Timothy 2:12b, Mark 8:35-38, Hebrews 10:38-39, Matthew 24:9-13).
One way that a Christian could be brought to the point where he commits apostasy would be if he finds a particular sin to be very pleasurable, so pleasurable and so fulfilling (in the short term) that he continues in it over time until his heart becomes hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13), to where his love for God grows cold because of the abundance of iniquity (Matthew 24:12), to where he quenches the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19), to where he sears his conscience as with a hot iron (1 Timothy 4:2), to where he begins to listen to the lies of demons and latch onto them, to the point where he departs from the Christian faith (1 Timothy 4:1). In a wrong desire to continue in their lusts without repentance, Christians can reach the point where they are no longer able to endure the sound doctrine of the Bible, and instead seek out and latch onto other teachings which will help to support them in their lusts (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
Another way that a Christian could be brought to the point where he commits apostasy would be if he has a terror of being tortured and killed during a persecution against Christians, so that during such a persecution he renounces his faith in Jesus Christ and the Gospel to avoid being tortured and killed (Mark 8:35-38; 2 Timothy 2:12). Some Christians will fall away in this sense (2 Thessalonians 2:3) during the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24 (Matthew 24:9-13, cf. Matthew 13:21, Luke 8:13), when the future Antichrist will take power over the earth, make war against Biblical Christians (not in hiding), and physically overcome them in every nation (Revelation 13:7-10, Revelation 14:12-13, Revelation 20:4-6, Matthew 24:9-13).
There will be no way to repent from committing apostasy (Hebrews 6:4-8), and worshipping the future Antichrist and his image, and willingly receiving his mark on the forehead or right hand, even if this is done just to keep from getting killed (Revelation 13:15-18). Whoever does these things, even if he had been a Christian before, will end up suffering punishment from God in fire and brimstone forever (Revelation 14:9-12). So Christians must be willing to be killed, even by getting beheaded (Revelation 20:4-6), before they would ever do any of these things (Revelation 14:12-13).
This ties in with the fact that a Christian can ultimately have his name blotted out of the Book of Life, if he does not overcome to the end (Revelation 3:5, Revelation 2:26). An example of Christians ultimately "overcoming" (Greek: nikao, G3528), or "getting the victory" (nikao) (Revelation 15:2), is found later in the book of Revelation, in Revelation 15:2, which refers to those Christians who will be willing to be killed by the future Antichrist instead of worshipping him to save their mortal lives during the future, worldwide persecution against Biblical Christians (Revelation 13:7-10, Revelation 14:12-13, Revelation 20:4-6, Matthew 24:9-13). Christians will be able to spiritually "overcome" the Antichrist and Satan by not loving their lives to the death (Revelation 12:11).
justbyfaith said in post #282:
It says somewhere in Ezekiel that the third time the sword shall do double damage.
Instead, Ezekiel 21:14 says: "let the sword be doubled the third time", meaning increased eight-fold. This could refer to a nuclear weapon having its destructive power multiplied eight times. Compare the "ruins multiplied" in Ezekiel 21:15.
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justbyfaith said in post #284:
One could not keep Jesus' commandment to go the extra mile and keep the sabbath if it was on that particular day that one was forced to go a mile. Which one is more important? Jesus' commandment? Or Moses'?
Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles, do not have to keep the sabbath of the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law. For even the letter of the Ten Commandments, written and engraven in stones (2 Corinthians 3:7, Deuteronomy 4:13), was part of the abolished Old Covenant Mosaic law's ministration of death (2 Corinthians 3:6-7, Exodus 31:15b), which has been replaced by the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34) ministration of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:6-18), in which all Christians are delivered from the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law, and keep the spirit (Romans 7:6) of all of the Old Covenant Mosaic law's commandments by loving others (Romans 13:8-10).
Saying that Christians have to keep the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic-law sabbath is just as mistaken as saying that Christians have to keep the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic-law circumcision (Acts 15:1-11). If Christians keep the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic-law sabbath thinking that they have to, because it is part of the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law, then they are as fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4) as Christians who keep the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic-law circumcision thinking that they have to because it is part of the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law (Galatians 5:2). They have become debtors to perform the letter of the entire Old Covenant Mosaic law (Galatians 5:3). They have placed themselves under its curse (Galatians 3:10, Deuteronomy 27:26).
So no Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles, should ever desire to go back into bondage under the letter of any part of the Old Covenant Mosaic law (Galatians 4:21 to 5:8). Christians need to keep the sabbath only in spirit, not in the letter (Romans 7:6). Christians must never judge other Christians for not keeping the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic-law sabbath (Colossians 2:16), which letter was abolished on the New Covenant Cross of Jesus Christ, along with all of the rest of the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law (Colossians 2:14-17, Ephesians 2:15-16, Romans 7:6, Hebrews 7:18-19, Hebrews 10:9b, Hebrews 10:1-23, Matthew 26:28).
For its letter was merely a shadow. Now it all comes down to Jesus Christ Himself (Colossians 2:17). Jesus' New Covenant sabbath rest (Matthew 11:28-30), which all Christians enter by faith (Hebrews 4:3-4), exceeds in righteousness (cf. Matthew 5:20) the abolished letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic-law sabbath. For under the New Covenant sabbath, Christians must cease from their own works, as in those works done apart from abiding in Jesus (John 15:4-5), every day of the week (Hebrews 4:3,10, Luke 9:23). And they can esteem every day of the week (Romans 14:5).
Also, Christians should be worshipping God every day of the week (Hebrews 13:15, cf. Psalms 145:2). And they should be meeting together every day of the week (Hebrews 3:13, Hebrews 10:25), at least in some fashion (Matthew 18:20), such as on this forum. The early Church started assembling together on the Lord's day (commonly called Sunday) instead of on the sabbath (commonly called Saturday) because the Lord's day, the first day of the week, was the day on which Jesus Christ physically resurrected (Mark 16:9) from the dead: "no longer observing the sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him" (Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians, chapter 9. Ignatius was a contemporary of the apostle John. Compare John's reference to "the Lord's day" in Revelation 1:10).
But it is not a requirement for Christians to assemble together only on the Lord's day, or to esteem the Lord's day above every other day of the week. It is also okay for Christians to choose to assemble together on the sabbath, because they esteem the sabbath above every other day of the week. It is also okay for Christians to esteem every day of the week (Romans 14:5). Christians are never to judge each other over this matter, but are simply to do what they believe that Jesus Christ wants them as individuals to do (Romans 14:4-13). So the point is not for Christians to esteem days, but to focus on the person of Jesus Himself (Colossians 2:16-17).
Also, how do those who think that they must keep the letter of the Old Covenant sabbath keep the letter of the sabbath of Leviticus 25?