Our old man, prior to be born again, that was under the law, is now risen in Newness of Life, and contains Eternal Life.
Jesus IS eternal Life, and If we have Him, we have eternal life. 1 John 5:13.
Paul said that he was not sent to baptize (water) but to Preach "the Cross & Christ crucified".
The new man is what I have received, through faith, for "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17), but this is what has been received through faith. I remain, in the sinfulness of my flesh, a mortal, dead, dying thing. I have no righteousness of myself, but only the righteousness of Christ. Christ is my
only righteousness.
This tension between the old man and the new is what St. Paul discusses in Romans ch. 7, that the good he desires to do he does not do, and the evil he does not want to do he does. The Law is good, and yet is condemns us in our flesh. The Law does not cease to condemn us in our flesh, for the Law is good and spiritual, but I am evil and carnal. That is
why my good works do not profit me anything before God.
If this were not so, then I would no longer sin and I would have attained that glory and perfection which we long and hope for already, but that is not yet ours except as gift and promise, received through faith. Or, as the Apostle puts it,
"
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as dung, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith--that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained." - Philippians 3:8-16
See that there is the now and not yet, these both in tension. That there is what we have received through faith, ours in Christ, as gift; not that we have already obtained that glorious possession toward which we long and hope, but we push onward, for what Christ has obtained for us already we push forward.
The Cross is the "power of God", because it yields the shed blood and the sacrificial death of our Holy sin bearer.
There is Eternal Power in the Blood of the Lamb that redeems us from our sin AND the power of sin, and into eternal "ONENESS" with God and Christ.
All that call on the Name of The Lord, by Faith, having received Christ as Savior, shall be redeemed by the blood of Jesus, as there is no other way to God. John 14:6
And this is He who said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you." (John 6:53)
Our faith in Christ, our life in Him, is a present tense reality which is being worked upon us by God. It is the ever-present working of the Spirit, through God's works and gifts, in which we have life. That is why, yes, there is absolutely power in the blood of Christ; and that very blood is made available to you and to me in His precious Supper, the Holy Eucharist. For this reason Christ says, "This is My body, which given for you, do this for the remembrance of Me" and "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you." (Luke 22:20-21) So, as the Apostle says, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." (1 Corinthians 11:26).
This Supper is given to us that we might avail ourselves to it, for here Christ Himself, the One who suffered, bled, and died for us, and who rose again, and is seated at the right hand of the Father in the glory of His kingdom is truly present. So that we receive this very flesh and blood. By the grace of God this is true, not by human reason, tradition, or vain philosophy, but by the Word of Christ these things are true. Why would Christ invite us to come and partake of Him unless it were necessary that we, indeed, be in Him?
We do not surpass the Cross, we revel in the scandal of the cross, we boast in it, we rejoice in it. Because it is here that God has defeated all powers, rulers, authorities, and principalities. Here the devil is bound, hell is ransacked and overturned, death is destroyed, our sins are forgiven, the charges against us pardoned, and we have peace with God and life everlasting. It is on account of this Cross that we have life with God.
Jesus entered Heaven, after He was resurrected, "having OBTAINED Eternal Redemption for US".
We dont do that. We cant do that. And if someone here is trying to do that, then look right now at your nail scarred wrists and pierced side and whip scourged back and face that is "marred beyond recognition"...
If you dont have those, then get off the Cross, and starting right now..... never give anyone but Jesus THE CHRIST ALL THE CREDIT DO HIM ALONE FOR SAVING YOU AND KEEPING YOU SAVED.
The Cross is where the law was nailed and Grace was delivered to the World as "the gift of righteousness" thru the Blood of Jesus, and your blood need not apply, reader, if you are the one i'm talking to..
Did you take my test? Did you pass it?
I find the idea of a "test" fairly distasteful here. Yes, the work is done and accomplished, Christ has accomplished everything already for us, and it is what He has accomplished that we receive as pure grace--as gift--apart from ourselves.
Which is precisely the point I'm trying to make here. We do not move beyond the cross, we glory and boast in it. Here is Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior, for you and for me, indeed, for the whole world. It is the finished, once-and-done, perfect work of Jesus Christ.
Its like this, Reader..... if a believer is trying to save themselves by their lifestyle, or if they believe they can lose their salvation UNLESS they PERFORM to be accepted by God....., then they have kicked Jesus The Christ off the Nails, and have nailed themselves to the Cross using the Law and the Commandments, generally.
To find yourself up on the Cross as a born again believer happened just as soon as you stopped believing that Christ alone keeps you saved and you started thinking that you had to do something to stay saved.
"You are not under the Law, but Under GRACE". And this means, as long as you are not trying to keep yourself saved by your self effort, you are "under Grace". But if you have your little scripture pack that you have concluded is now what you must PERFORM to keep yourself saved, then that scripture pack has now become your false Savior, as you are trusting in IT, to keep you saved. If you have gone there, theologically and spiritually, then you are "walking in the Flesh". "Flesh" is another NT term for "self effort" regarding the context of Salvation.
"walking in the Flesh", does not me being backslidden, its mean you have turned the Cross into your own throne of self righteousness.
Grace, is God on the Cross as Jesus the Messiah offering "justification by Faith", as : "to those who worketh not but BELIEVETH on Him who Justifies the Ungodly" = thru the Blood of Jesus.
"Falling from Grace" is to submit to carnal self righteousness that replaces the Cross with Self Effort.
Thats "walking in the Flesh".
There are many Christians and non, who are Grace Deniers, whose main ministry is to try to chop down the cross by using the commandments, or verses that they misuse against the Blood Atonement to try to prove you have to keep yourself saved by doing something OF Yourself.
Reader...If you are that person, then when you answered my 2 Questions, your only answer was not "JESUS" and that is because you are not trusting in Christ to keep you saved and get you to heaven.
Preaching or Teaching this "self effort" as the way to "stay saved", is to find yourself under a Curse, as provided by Paul in Galatians 1:8, and this is the only curse that you as a born again Christian can find yourself under.
And why does this happen?
Well, you did it to yourself, or your commentary did it to you, or your Minister or Pastor or similar did it to you, or your Seminar did it to you, or your Local Church or Denominational "statement of faith" did it to you. Maybe your buddies on a Christian Forum led you to into this spiritual darkness.
And if you teach or preach the same.... that self effort is required to stay saved, which insults Christ's blood sacrifice and denies the Grace of God, then you have gone to a spiritual place within your own faith, that is cursed.
Thats a biggie.
So, prove yourself that you be "IN THE FAITH"< and not on the Cross.
<B><
What part of "Jesus has done everything" would lead you to think I believe in "self effort"?
Are you even bothering to read what I've been writing in my posts?
The whole reason I chose to respond to this thread is because it is my experience that, very frequently, people like to come and say, "We are saved by grace alone through faith" and then deny the very power, gifts, and works of God and, instead, substitute the works of God with human works.
Such people say, "Baptism does nothing" thereby denying the grace and work of God. And then, out of the other side of the mouth add their own human efforts, saying, "You must accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior."
It is this false gospel that I wish to denounce here, and instead preach the pure gospel of God's grace. That salvation is the work of God alone, entirely apart from human effort.
When you then make a false dichotomy between "are you in the faith or on the cross?" It certainly comes across as a deeply, deeply problematic statement. It is a false dichotomy: Faith
IS cleaving to the cross of Jesus Christ.
-CryptoLutheran
