Speak for yourself. As for me, I "sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
you died?
you were judged?
thks
You have gathered a long list of commands, warnings, and evidences of spiritual life, then used them to support something none of them actually says. Scripture commands believers to obey, endure, pray, bear fruit, and follow Christ. But Scripture never says that Christ provides an “initial justification” and then waits for our works to finish saving us.
Paul did not leave this open for debate: “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” ~Romans 4:5. He did not say God justifies the ungodly after they have produced enough obedience. He said righteousness is counted to the one who believes apart from works.
You say salvation rests upon us as well. Scripture says, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us” ~Titus 3:5. You say we must participate unto eternal salvation. Scripture says believers are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” ~Romans 3:24. Freely does not mean partly earned, partly maintained, or finally completed by man.
Good works have a necessary place, but you have put them in the wrong place. “For by grace are ye saved through faith… not of works” comes before, “created in Christ Jesus unto good works” ~Ephesians 2:8-10. Works follow salvation because God has made the believer His workmanship. They do not purchase salvation, preserve justification, or add anything to the finished work of Christ.
Yes, Christ’s sheep follow Him. Yes, true faith perseveres and bears fruit. A faith that produces no obedience is dead ~James 2:17. But Christ did not say, “My sheep keep themselves saved by following Me.” He said, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish” ~John 10:28. Their obedience identifies them as His sheep. His power is what keeps them.
You quoted commands to abide and endure, but ignored the power behind that endurance. Believers are “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation” ~1 Peter 1:5. Paul says, “It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” ~Philippians 2:13. Perseverance is real, but it is not man rescuing Christ’s unfinished work. It is God carrying His own work to completion.
“He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” ~Philippians 1:6. That verse does not say God begins the work and man finishes it. Christ is not a half-Savior. He does not justify a sinner temporarily, place him on spiritual probation, and then wait to see whether his works deserve eternal life.
The conscience must face the question plainly. Are you trusting Christ to save you completely, or are you trusting Christ to begin saving you while your obedience completes the transaction? Those are not the same gospel. “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace” ~Romans 11:6.
Good works are the evidence of salvation, but Christ alone is its foundation. Anyone who moves works from the evidence of salvation to the basis or completion of salvation has corrupted grace and given man something to boast about. Scripture shuts that door: “Where is boasting then? It is excluded” ~Romans 3:27.
sorry for the confusion
justification is a gratuitous gift of God, no works of ours
this is the initial or first grace we receive
receiving the grace of justification we have union with God & His saints in the communion of saints thru Christ, by grace, with the power of His life, grace, merits & the Holy Spirit.
Our good works after we receive the grace of justification are transformed by grace and performed in grace united with Christ and given life of the spirit because of God's grace operating in us!
Jn 15:5 apart from Christ? nothing!
Phil 4:13 in Christ? all things!
2 Corinthians 9:8
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
1 pet 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Lk 1:75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
Acts 10:35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
Romans 2:7
To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
1 John 5:11
And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (grace)
1 John 5:20
And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. (grace)
1) we do not have eternal salvation
Mk 10:30 mk 13:13 mt 24:13 rev 2:10
2) we have the grace of justification
3) grace can be increased by good works mt 7:7 mt 7:14 mt 26:41
2 pet 3:18
4) grace enables good works
2 cor 12:9
5) grace can be lost by deadly sin
Eph 5:2-6
gal 5:1-4
gal 5:19-21
gal 6:7-8
1 cor 6:9-10 & 15-20
2 cor 4:7
1 tim 5:12
rev 21:8
rev 21:27
rom 8:1
can lose grace gal 5:4
can have grace in vain 1 cor 15:10
treasure in earthen vessels 2 cor 4:7
1 Jn 3:15 no life (grace)
We have union by grace not eternal salvation!
Yes. But many do not consider fully and therefore do not insert “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live" in where it occurs in the life of those who are born again of the spirit of God.
So, yes, I died in 1986--but I live!
Meaning, as God said, "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”--in my day under the sun, I came to die, and did. But now live according to the promise and work of Christ. And then, yes, my body of flesh will "pass away" like "the heavens and the earth" when the times are fulfilled. Meaning also, that just as Paul also came to say, "it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me", I too am here for a purpose, as are you if you have Christ in you.
Such is the good news of Christ!
after the free gift of justification we must participate in perseverance and sanctification until death
not saying Lord Lord but doing
Jn 3:16 1 Jn 5:13 Perpetual faith
mt 3:8 2 cor 7:10 fruits of repentance
Jn 15:4 abide in Christ & bear fruit
Lk 3:9 bear fruit
Lk 1:75 acts 10:35 deeds of righteousness
phil 1:11 fruits of righteousness
mt 26:41 watch and pray
mk 24:48 watch and pray
Lk 21:36 Watch and pray, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
mt 7:7 ask and you shall receive
Lk 9:23 phil 1:29 daily, deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow me.
ps 23:3 leads in paths (deeds) of righteousness acts 10:35
mt 7:14 narrow road that leads to life
2 pet 3:18 grow in grace
heb 6:12 faith & patience
rev 2:19 faith, patience, & works
rev 14:12 commandments, patience, & faith
mt 19:17 Jn 14:21 1 cor 7:19 1Jn 3:24 1 Jn 5:2-3 rev 12:17 keep the commandments
mt 10:22 mk 13:13 mt 24:13 endure to the end in patient suffering
rev 2:10 he who overcomes I shall give the crown of life!
((endure to the end shall be saved))
mk 13:13
And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
mt 10:22
And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
mt 24:13
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
heb 3:6
But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
heb 3:14
For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
rev 2:10
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
thks