fhansen
Oldbie
Faith entails righteousness, right behavior, because faith means relationship/fellowship/communion with the very Source of righteousness. God can accomplish in man what man could not accomplish in himself. “Apart from Me you can do nothing” John 15:5.OBNC equals OSAS.
So, what does it stand for? Once Belief, No Condemnation. iow, once a person believes in Christ for salvation, they cannot be condemned.
Does the Bible teach this? Of course it does.
John 3:18 - Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
2 Thess 2:12 - and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
So, what does "have not believed" mean exactly? Real simple. It means "have NEVER believed".
Some have argued that "have not believed" does NOT mean "have never believed". So, I will demonstrate why it does mean that exactly.
If you (the reader of this post) have NEVER murdered anyone, it means you "have not murdered" anyone. See how that works?
However, if you (reader) EVER DID murder anyone, it means that you "have murdered" anyone.
So, the terms "have not" and "never" are synonymous.
Therefore, once a person HAS BELIEVED in Christ for salvation, it means you cannot say that they "have not believed".
Therefore, Chuck Templeton and Simon the sorcerer are both in heaven right now.
Why? Both had believed in Christ for salvation. Therefore, neither one can be condemned.
So says the Bible.
And this is why, in the same passage, Jesus tells us that we must remain in Him. We can walk back away from Him, from the faith and the relationship that it establishes, by living and acting unjustly, unrighteously. By that sin we show that we no longer care. Sin is darkness, incongruous with faith, hope, and love.
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