Jennifer Rothnie
Well-Known Member
Where is the assurance? Where is God's Promise? Where is Christ finished works? Where is the peace of conscience? In ourselves?
Is not Christ the author & finisher of our Faith? Can we undo what Christ accomplished on the Cross?
I believe the reason people leave or lose Faith, is because they never heard the Gospel of Christ for the ungodly! Or just heard a distorted and perverted version of it. That places salvation on the subjective activity that MAKES the Cross effectual! Rather than receiving the objective activity of the Cross that saves us!
Christ is the file-leader (not author) and perfecter of our faith. I've gone through that many times in the thread - repeating an interpretation pulled from a poor English mistranslation over and over is not going to change the underlying Greek, it's just going to keep discussion going in circles.
in Hebrew 1:1-2 the Greek word is 'archégos' - it means 'the first in a long procession'. This word use shows that Jesus is the originator or founder of a movement.
The book itself describes what this means in Heb 2:10-12
"In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the file-leader/pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters" Heb 2:10-12
Nothing in this states that Jesus just gives some people faith.
Indeed, Heb 5:7-10 focuses back on the aspect of Jesus enduring great suffering in order to become the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. Here the word is not archégos, but rather 'aitios'. This term means cause or source, and is more similar to the term author. Note the clarifying phrase; Jesus became the cause/source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him. 'Upakouousin' is a term of action; those who listen or attend to God; those who obey or stand under what is heard.
So what we see is not Jesus becoming the author of faith, but the source of salvation for those with faith.
As for salvation, faith doesn't "make salvation effectual" - God graciously grants salvation to those with faith. It's God's action and promise based in the works of Christ that makes it effectual, not us. Salvation is the 'end result' of our faith (I Pet 1:9) - but not because faith wins it; rather because God in His sovereignty and mercy chooses to give it to those with faith. (It's like how the lamb blood didn't 'make' the Angel oThis salvation is through Christ's work on the cross. Jesus then becomes our High Priest, so His blood shed on the cross is applied to us. God raises us to new life in Christ as we die to sin and are raised to Christ in identification with Christ's death on the cross. Our salvation from death into life is granted when we turn in faith, we continue to be in God's salvation (Christ) as we believe, and we finally inherit salvation into His literal kingdom, and away from sin with new spiritual sinless bodies, at the second coming of Christ (I Pet 1:5, Heb 1:4, etc.)
As believers, our salvation is past, present, and future - and all of that through God's grace, power, and mercy by faith in Christ.
https://www.biblestudytools.com/blo...resent-and-future-of-our-salvation-1-5-6.html
http://www.ewtn.com/library/answers/pastpres.htm
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