In contrast to your position
Hi BCBSR
You write
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In contrast to your position
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Setst RE: I didn’t give my position; rather, I quoted the Scriptures that clearly presents its own position. You want to try and prove those Scriptures wrong by quoting other Scriptures you feel are saying just the opposite.
You write:
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"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." John 5:24
Notice that Jesus speaks of a person's salvation status as being finalized just as if they had already passed from death to life. They have eternal life.
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Setst RE: Notice Jesus said,
whoever hears my word and
believes. Both actions are ongoing hearing and believing. Jesus did not say whoever believed at one point, or whoever once heard what I said; but rather, whoever hears (continues hearing) and believes (ongoing belief).
You are saved at the moment you express a true Bible Faith in Christ. If you were to die shortly after believing, you would be saved. If you continued to live, then that true faith would be demonstrated in a life of following Christ Jesus – to deny self and take up your cross and follow him just as Lord Jesus said,
if you were listening to Jesus who clearly taught this all through His ministry. We follow Him by walking in His Spirit who indwells us by faith, as Scripture states. And by walking in the Spirit, we live out a life of Love.
We must be faithful to the end to be eternally saved just as Scripture states – whether that is moments after one believes and is killed, or 70 years later.
You write:
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Rom 8:1,2
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death."
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Setst RE: The condition for
not being condemned is to be
IN Christ Jesus. We are IN Christ Jesus when we believe: “
whosoever believes.”
Christ is only IN us by His Spirit who indwells us and gives us life:
Romans 8:9 But if anyone does not have the
Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10
But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin,
yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
We only
receive the Spirit that
regenerates us through an
obedient and
repentant faith…
Acts 5:32; Galatians 3:2; John 7:37-39; John 14:15-17; John 14:23; Acts 2:38
Acts 5:32
32 And we are witnesses [
a]of these things; and
so is the
Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”
John 14:15-17 (NIV)
15 “
If you love me, keep my commands. 16
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
John 14:23 (NIV)
23 Jesus replied, “
Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and
we will come to them and make our home with them.
Acts 2:38 Peter replied, “
Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
John 7:37-39 (NIV)
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty
come to me and drink. 38
Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said,
rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39
By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.
You write:
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"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." Eph 2:8,9
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Setst RE:
We are not saved by works, but by faith. Faith is not a work. A genuine Bible faith includes repentance from all sin, and then to follow Christ.
That is what faith is. You want to make faith an empty shell of no value, thus making faith a license for sin. That is not how Scripture defines faith. I quoted many Scriptures to show this to be true - many were quotes direct from Lord Jesus.
You write:
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1
John 5:13 "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." Again indicating eternal life is something they already have.
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Setst RE: We can know we have eternal life if we believe (a continuous faith).
You write:
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And while Salvation-by-Works Christians view salvation
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Setst RE: Invalid argument. We are saved by grace through faith. You want to avoid all those Scriptures explaining and teaching, and by parable and example, what a Gospel Faith really means to be receive eternal life. Don’t fool yourself out of salvation. Thankfully you are not fooling those who really believe. However, you are responsible for all those weak in the faith who are being mislead into destruction.
You write:
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Take you're reference to Gal 6:7-9… John 4:35-36.
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Setst RE: You are comparing two unrelated Passages as anyone reading them can see. If you can’t see the clear difference in topic, than no explanation can help you. This is 3rd grade English.
You write:
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Or
1 Corinthians 9:26-27 "Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." Disqualified for rewards for services rendered, not loss of salvation. (See 1Cor 3:11-15)
1Tim 4:16 "
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers" Saves himself from the pollutions of the world and from false doctrines which he previously spoke of in the same chapter. This as opposed to the view of that he was talking about gaining eternal life by his own effort. Timothy was already saved and had eternal life through faith.
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Setst RE: You go ahead believing that if you want. The Scriptures speak for themselves just as they are written, without re-interpretation.
The Scriptures teach throughout that if you do not remain in the correct doctrine, your faith is in vain and you have fallen from the faith. If you succumb again to the pollutions of this world after being saved, then there is no more grace for such persons, but only fear of judgment. The Scriptures are clear throughout.
You write:
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You claim that it is OUR responsibility to fulfill the requirements of the whole law, referencing Rom 8:3,4 which speaks of the law of Moses.
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Setst RE: You lack any Spiritual discernment. When we live by the Spirit of God we fulfill the requirements of the whole Law.
Romans 13:8-9 (WEB) Bolding mine.
8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for
he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
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For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”
and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love doesn’t harm a neighbor.
Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.
Romans 8:3 (WEB)
3 For
what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh; 4 that the
ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Galatians 5:1-14 (WEB)
1
Stand firm therefore
in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and
don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage…
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision,
but what counts is faith working through love…
14 For
the Whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in this: “
You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
You write:
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As for you spin on the "Rest" of Heb 4 only referring to the future, it says,
"those to whom it was first preached did not enter" Gal 4:6b clearly using the past tense. And again in verse 10
"the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His." "has entered" is past tense.
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Setst RE: You have to read the context. The Jews were disobedient, and so were not able to enter the physical rest (the Promised Land) for over 400 years. And even then they were disobedient. For those today of faith, the focus is on God’s Spiritual resting place – the heavenly calling.
Hebrews 4:7-11
7 God
again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”
8 For if Joshua had given them
rest,
God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10
for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. 11
Let us, therefore,
make every effort to enter that rest,
so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. 15 If indeed they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had enough time to return. 16
But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God,
for he has prepared a city for them.
Revelation 14:13 (NASB)
13 And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit,
“so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”