- Jul 22, 2014
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Ive not said that i dont keep the commandments.
Go read 40 Threads, and probably a few thousand posts, ive written.
I said that commandment keeping is not why God saves a person, nor is it why a person remains saved.
Commandment keeping is not the way to heaven.
Commandment keeping is the same as self effort, and that gospel is the gospel of works that is this.. Galatians 1:8
The gospel is 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. It is believing that Jesus died for our sins, He was buried, and He was risen three days later (for our salvation). That's the gospel. It's nothing more than that.
A person first needs to be saved by God's grace through faith. For without His grace, we would all be doomed. Our past slate of sin needs to be wiped out. This can only be done by seeking forgiveness with Jesus and by believing that Jesus died for our sins, He was buried, and He was risen three days later on our behalf for salvation (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
However, after we are saved by God's grace (Which will include the gospel), we need to move on into the Sanctification Process (which is the next step in God's plan of salvation) (i.e. to live holy by God's power). How so? Well, 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 says that God has chosen us to salvation by the Sanctification of the Spirit, and a belief of the truth (faith), which is a call of the gospel. In other words, the gospel calls us. Imagine an old phone ringing on your table that says, “the gospel.”
You pick up the phone...
and you hear a voice on the end of the other line says, “God has chosen us to salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and a belief in the truth.”
Here is the verse:
“...God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth:
Whereunto he called you by our gospel,...” (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14).
The question is: Will people pick up the phone and heed the call of the gospel?sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth:
Whereunto he called you by our gospel,...” (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14).
Anyways, Paul was fighting against a heresy of which I call, "Circumcision Salvationism" (Which is Law Alone Salvationism without God's grace); A certain sect of Jews were trying to deceive some Christians into thinking they had to first be circumcised in order to be saved. This was a heresy that was clearly addressed at the Jerusalem council (See Acts of the Apostles 15:1, Acts of the Apostles 15:5, Acts of the Apostles 15:24). Paul also addressed this problem; Paul said to the Galatians that if you seek to be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing (Galatians 5:2), and then Paul mentions how if you seek to be justified by the Law, you have fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4). This "law" is the Torah (i.e. the 613 Laws of Moses) because circumcision is not a part of the commands given to us by Jesus and His followers.
This is why Paul appeared to speak negatively against the Law and or works when it came to salvation. Paul was referring to being justified or saved by....
#1. Law ALONE Salvationism (that did not include God's grace).
#2. The Mosaic Old Law (i.e. the 613 Laws of Moses that included keeping things that do not apply under the New Covenant such as: Keeping the Saturday Sabbath, circumcision, dietary laws, etc.).
#2. The Mosaic Old Law (i.e. the 613 Laws of Moses that included keeping things that do not apply under the New Covenant such as: Keeping the Saturday Sabbath, circumcision, dietary laws, etc.).
Paul was not against keeping God's commands as a part of salvation after we are saved by God's grace because Paul said if any man does not agree with the words of Jesus Christ and the doctrine according to godliness, he is proud and he knows nothing (See: 1 Timothy 6:3-4). Jesus agreed with the lawyer that to love God (including certain details), and to love your neighbor is a part of inherting eternal life (See: Luke 10:25-28). So salvation is not as overly simplistic as you make it out to be. God's grace is not a license for immorality (Jude 1:4). For the moment anyone says that we are saved by a belief alone in Jesus alone and nothing else, they will justify sin on some level with the thinking they are saved. Even if they choose not to do so, the very teaching itself will lead it's listeners into into thinking they can sin and still be saved.
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