Hello, s2snm! The problem is, that while we live, you cannot separate the "spiritual man" from the "fleshly man". The "old-nature" is synonymous with "flesh". This is why Paul challenges us to "not live according to the flesh, but CRUCIFY our flesh and live according to the Spirit" (Rm8:1214). I don't think your idea of "our spirit perfect & sinless while our flesh is corrupt & sinful" works, Scripturally. If we completely lose the "old-dead-nature", IE it is dead and gone forever, then we are by definition sinless.I do not believe that Christians will not sin. I have never said that. It's simply not Biblical. I have said from the beginning that I believe the spirit in a Christian is absolutely completely perfected.
You know, that is exactly right. And all that I am saying, is that if a person continues giving in to those temptations from demons and satan, they are no longer saved. But not my words, Paul's: "But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons..." (1Tim4:1).Yes, Christians sin, but it is because they give into temptations in their hearts from demons and Satan.
We are "new creations", because of "Christ IN us". The entire perspective is founded upon our own belief. And I am saying that, Scripturally, that belief can remain, or fall.Therefore, when we become Christians, we become totally new creations, because we were never righteous in the first place.
Indeed not. He offered Himself up, once, FOR ALL WHO WILL BELIEVE.Christ doesn't offer himself up continuously.
I would like to copy here a post I made on another message board, maybe it will help clarify what I'm saying:
With respect, let's look at the structure of that passage. Is there one subject? The answer seems to be, "yes".Faith is a gift from God (Eph2:8)
For by grace you have been saved... This is the subject, God's gift of grace.
Then follow four separate phrases:
•Through faith (Dia Pistis, prepositional phrase, modifies the subject)
•That (subject) not of yourselves
•It (subject) is the gift of God
•(subject is) not as a result of works lest anyone boast...
There is really no way to elevate the prepositional phrase into its own subject. The passage has only one subject, God's-gift-of-grace. My Bible here, "Holman New American Standard", renders verse 8 thus:
"For [sup]a[/sup]by grace you have been saved [sup]b[/sup]through faith; and [sup]1[/sup]that not of yourselves, it is [sup]c[/sup]the gift of God;"
8 [sup]1[/sup]I.e., that salvation
"That salvation", that by-grace-are-you-saved. Not "that faith". Now, there seem to be different KINDS of faith; there is a faith that God DOES give, evidenced in Rom12:3 & 1Cor12:9---but this kind of faith is given to one Christian and not to another (1Cor12:9), or given in different measures (Rm12:3). If we specify, faith-unto-salvation, then according to Peter, that faith is from ourselves (1Pet1:9). Paul perfectly agrees in Rm10, "Faith comes from hearing". And, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as LORD, and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness; and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." With the heart he believes---there is not "God-installs-belief" here, the man believes with his heart.
By God's grace are we saved, through our faith...
If God does all of the work of salvation, please help me to understand Heb10:
"Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus (see Heb6:19-20)... let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope (JESUS! 1Tim1:1) without wavering, for He who promised is faithful... For if we sin wilfully after receiving TRUE-KNOWLEDGE of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for our sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of fire which consumes the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think He will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he WAS SANCTIFIED, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? ...Therefore, DO NOT THROW AWAY YOUR CONFIDENCE, which has great reward*. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise (Heaven---Heb4:1)".
(* "Do as for the Lord, knowing that from Him you will receive the reward of the INHERITANCE" Col2:24 {Inheritance is ETERNAL LIFE---1Pet1:4})
This man was sanctified by the blood of Jesus---is there any way he was not saved? But he has "trampled underfoot Jesus", and just as the one in Heb6:4-6, has become contemptuous of Christ. Please help me to understand how this passage accomodates, "God does all the work"? Or was this not written to us, "Grace-aged-Christians"? Or, maybe to early 1st-century-JEWS, somehow having a different covenant than us? Or does this apply to a different dispensation than us? Or is this a "NEGATIVE-RHETORICAL-HYPOTHETICAL", he doesn't-really-mean-what-he-says, he was only being OBLIQUE, as in "WHAT-IF-but-can't-REALLY-HAPPEN"? Does it apply to us, or not? Does it endorse "God does all the work", or not? Which???
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Today's post:
"For the promise to Abraham or to his descendents was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of law are heirs, faith is made voide and the promise is nullified... For this reason it is by faith, inorer that the promise may be certain to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, in the sight of Him whom he (Abraham) believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. In hope against hope he believed, in order that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken. And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able to perform. Therefore also it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Now not for his sake only was it written, that it was reckoned to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be reckoned, as those who believe in Him wo raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, He who was delivered up because of our justification." Romans4
Although the covenant has changed , from "Law" to "Grace", we have the same kind of faith/belief as did Abraham. "Faith-unto-salvation" is interchangeable with "belief-in/on-Christ"---and it is absolutely from our own hearts...
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