Jonaitis
Soli Deo Gloria
- Jan 4, 2019
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Thought about it. Obedience is both a consequence and a choice. We cannot simply choose to obey without the HS, but neither does the HS override the will or desire.
Of course only the saved even want to endure or “endure” means anything. The point is the “saved” who fail to endure are no longer saved, according to Jesus.
You turn faith into a merit you offer to God, like an intellectual decision, instead of a gift given to you by God, an activity in us. You view it as something you have to constantly stir up every moment of your life, I view it as a work of God in me from the moment of my conversion to the day I die.
Jesus' death accomplished more than my forgiveness of sins, every means of my salvation was bought at the cross. When he established the New Covenant in his blood, he established every spiritual blessing for salvation in that covenant. Everything necessary, like regeneration and the efficacious calling to faith under the gospel, was part of those blessings and promises Christ earned for me. I have faith, because Christ died for me to have faith. I am born again, because Christ died for it. All of these are gifts showering from heaven, because he had chosen me by grace. If I endure in the faith, I give credit to God who made me endure, he promised I would if I am in Christ, because it was purchased in Christ.
If my salvation was conditional, the way you describe it, then what is justification? In Scripture, it is a legal act of declaring one righteous. Conditional salvation is like double jeopardy, Christ suffered for me and then he didn't, or Christ was insufficient to completely save. It either makes God unjust to flip flop on his word, or reduces Jesus' work as only part of our salvation whereby we must finish it. I believe Jesus is both Author and Finisher of my faith, you believe you executed the start of yours and only hope that you will complete it.
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