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The grace of God effects righteousness in us, or it's not the grace of God. That's what it means to be under grace, living by the Spirit, not under the law, living by the letter.
I'm not talking about people who understand that they are new creatures in Christ, who are created according to God in true righteousness and holiness, who are joined to the Lord and one spirit with Him, and whose bodies are dead because of sin but whose spirits are alive because of righteousness (verses available on request). I'm talking about the people who think right standing with God is gained through conformity (or lost through non-conformity) to His requirements for righteousness as spelled out in His laws.
OK, I'm not sure what the point is. The law does spell out basic requirements for righteousness (Rom 8:4). It is what righteousness
You were doing so well right up to the end. A person who is declared rigteousness by God on the basis of believing his sins are forgiven does not need to worry that his future sins won't be forgiven also because his righteousness was never based on his obedience but was always on the basis of forgivness for his failures to obey.
So are these Christians who received the Holy Spirit by faith still saved?
Precisely. . .there is no faith without the new birth into eternal life.
No, eternal life is what the Holy Spirit imparts to us in his sovereign (Jn 3:3-5) rebirth of us, and who is as unaccountable as the wind (Jn 3:6-8).
Yes, eternal life is the source of his faith.
John 8:12 - "I am the light (Messiah, Da 2:22) of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
Which life refers to light ("the life was the light," Jn 1:4), not to the rebirth.
Not in context. . .
That refers to common operations of the Holy Spirit, as in Balaam's case (Nu 22-24, 31:16), not to sovereign saving operations (Jn 3:3-8) where God works in the heart giving the sinner to prefer God's will, which he then freely chooses.
Spiritually dead men (the unregenerate) cannot perform spiritual works (belief).
The sovereign (Jn 3:6-8) new birth by the Holy Spirit into eternal life (who is as unaccountable as the wind, and over which we have no control, just as we had no control over our natural birth) is not necessarily an "experience."
No, we have eternal life by the Holy Spirit, and faith by that eternal life.
Whoever believes in him does not perish, and does have eternal life from his sovereign new birth (Jn 3:3-5), or he could not believe.
No, whoever believes in him (by the new birth) does not perish because he already had eternal life from which came his faith.
Yes, being in Christ by faith, we are then in baptism buried with him and raised with him through that faith in the power of God.
Yes, that refers to the anointing and empowerment of the apostles in Jn 20:21-23 to carry out the commission they have been given,
Correct, there is no eternal life without the Holy Spirit.
I'm not one to go around pronouncing who is lost and who is saved. But it is clear that Paul had concerns that they may not really be saved. This is the same concern I have for people who on one hand say they trust in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins but on the other hand they say only obedience to the law keeps them saved. It is a natural reaction to think they may not be saved because faith and works go together like oil and water.
Exactly. Either way, in this case I think I'd take a different approach. This world, itself, can be looked upon as an aspect of grace, giving revelation, a gift, messy as it is, that helps the elect on their way to God. When understood that way then my comments make perfect sense, which they do anyway seeing as they simply reflect how the faith works in real life, and then all that's left to argue about whether or not grace is resistible at the end of the day. Which it is
.I find no disagreement between Jn 3:16 and Jn 3:3-5.
When God works in the heart to give one to prefer his will, one doesn't resist what one prefers, to the contrary he freely chooses it.Exactly. Either way, in this case I think I'd take a different approach. This world, itself, can be looked upon as an aspect of grace, giving revelation, a gift, messy as it is, that helps the elect on their way to God. When understood that way then my comments make perfect sense, which they do anyway seeing as they simply reflect how the faith works in real life, and then all that's left to argue about whether or not
grace is resistible at the end of the day. Which it is
That's not freedom. That's changing the person into something other than who he was.
Time to do your homework on the meaning of freedom of the will.
If I change my mind, that's a free choice. If someone else causes me to change my mind, without my consent, it's not even me, let alone my choice, anymore. Simple logic, and scriptural.
Your definition would mean that I'd be a robot, which most certainly involves force or constraint. Without my choice in the matter, my will for all practical purposes would be taken away, and replaced with another will, another person.
