dhh712 said:
I took some time away from this thread to ponder God's revelation to us.
@dhh712
It's always good to ponder God's Word.
Psalms 119:15 says:
“I will meditate on Your precepts,
And contemplate Your ways.”
You said:
It is Christ's righteousness which enables us to be presented before Him blameless.
I can only imagine you read verses like
Colossians 1:21-22 and conclude the wrong thing.
Colossians 1:21-23 says:
21 “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: 23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;”
Notice the condition.
There is an IF in word in verse 23.
You are only unblameable IF...
(a) You continue in the faith grounded and settled, and:
Continuing in the faith is more than just believing in Jesus as your personal Savior.
Hebrews 11 describes faith as both a belief alone (
Hebrews 11:3), and it describes faith as in doing what God tells you to do; For example:
By faith, Noah prepared an Ark to the saving of his household (See
Hebrews 11:7).
In other words, Noah did not do nothing as a part of his faith. If Noah had just believed alone and he did not build an ark, he would have been in unbelief towards God's instructions and he would have perished along with everyone else (if he continued to disbelieve God).
I can also imagine you wrongfully interpret verses like
Romans 4:6 that say:
“Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,”
Yes, This verse is true in what it says. God does indeed impute righteousness without works. But this is only happens in our “Initial Salvation” when we first are saved by God's grace through faith without works. This is the 1st aspect of salvation.
Romans 1:16-17 lets us know that this is a receiving.
16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”
The gospel is the power unto God unto salvation to everyone who believes it. This is Initial Salvation.
The gospel only continues to have power in our lives to save if we are living by faith. The righteousness of God is revealed even in the gospel not only in Christ imputing His righteousness at the beginning of our faith, but the righteousness of God is revealed in the fact that the gospel calls us. According to
2 Thessalonians 2:13-14: This gospel call is....
13 “...God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: 14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel,...”
The Sanctification of the Spirit is to live a holy life. This is a part of our salvation. This is the secondary aspect of our salvation.
Romans 8:13 says,
“For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”
Galatians 6:8-9 says,
8 “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
Notice the passage above in Galatians. It says in verse 8 that you have to sow to the Spirit to reap everlasting life. In verse 9 it defines what this sowing to the Spirit is. It is... “well doing” (good works). It says we will reap if we faint not in well doing. Reap what? Life everlasting. So it's not just a belief alone in Jesus that will save you. You have to believe the WHOLE counsel of God's Word and not just pick and choose which verses you want to believe in.
(Continued in my next post to you):