Greetings all! Just checking in, and thought I would post on a passage I was studying today and present it as food for thought.
The passage is in Colossians, Chapter 1:
From the day in which we heard we do not cease praying for you, and asking that you may be filled with the recognition of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding to walk worthily of the Lord unto all acceptability, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the recognition of God, being empowered with all [supernatural] empowerment by virtue of the dominion of His glory to manifest all endurance and long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father, the One having made you fit for a share of the inheritance of the saints in light. (Colossians 1:9-12)
What was Paul saying made them fit for a share of the heavenly inheritance here? The context is that these were Gentile believers coming to Christ, and many were not yet fully familiar with the standards of conduct expected by the Jewish God as opposed to the pagan ones, or the social standards of the pagan society they grew up in. This was especially true of sexual standards, which is why Paul told the Thessalonians:
You know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus... You are to abstain from sexual immorality. Each of you is to know to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor - not in the passion of lust as the Gentiles do, who do not know God - so as not to trespass and become [sexually] covetous in one's brother's affairs, because the Lord is an Avenger concerning all such things, even as we told you before and testified. For God has not called us unto uncleanness, but sanctification. (1 Thessalonians 4:2-7)
Here again, Paul was highlighting that character change needed to take place, and that the lifestyle of the Gentile societies they lived in was not at all acceptable with God. But was not he insinuating that such conduct change (on numerous issues) would be needed to make them fit for a share of the inheritance of the saints in Heaven?
God bless to all who respond.
Hidden
The passage is in Colossians, Chapter 1:
From the day in which we heard we do not cease praying for you, and asking that you may be filled with the recognition of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding to walk worthily of the Lord unto all acceptability, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the recognition of God, being empowered with all [supernatural] empowerment by virtue of the dominion of His glory to manifest all endurance and long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father, the One having made you fit for a share of the inheritance of the saints in light. (Colossians 1:9-12)
What was Paul saying made them fit for a share of the heavenly inheritance here? The context is that these were Gentile believers coming to Christ, and many were not yet fully familiar with the standards of conduct expected by the Jewish God as opposed to the pagan ones, or the social standards of the pagan society they grew up in. This was especially true of sexual standards, which is why Paul told the Thessalonians:
You know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus... You are to abstain from sexual immorality. Each of you is to know to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor - not in the passion of lust as the Gentiles do, who do not know God - so as not to trespass and become [sexually] covetous in one's brother's affairs, because the Lord is an Avenger concerning all such things, even as we told you before and testified. For God has not called us unto uncleanness, but sanctification. (1 Thessalonians 4:2-7)
Here again, Paul was highlighting that character change needed to take place, and that the lifestyle of the Gentile societies they lived in was not at all acceptable with God. But was not he insinuating that such conduct change (on numerous issues) would be needed to make them fit for a share of the inheritance of the saints in Heaven?
God bless to all who respond.
Hidden
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