In other words, our "old man," as Paul calls it, is still with us, even as we are a new creation in Christ. This is why Paul exhorts us to "put off the old man and put on the new." This is what we call "the battle within," and it's exactly what Paul is talking about, even using himself as an example, in Romans 7. Paul says:
"...it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin."
This is the Christian struggle. One great day we will be completely free of it, but not in this life. But for now, well, again, as Paul says in Romans 8:1,
"there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." And John says,
"If we confess our sins, (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9) Oh, but we confess of our own free will, right? Well, yes, right, but remember what Paul says in Romans 2, that
"God’s kindness is meant to lead (us) to repentance." No, God does not cause us to sin, but He does work all things together for our good, because we love him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).
Ah so Paul, in Romans 11:29, in saying (and I quote),
"the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" contradicts John's statement in John 15:2 that
"Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit"...?
Hmmmm... well, maybe right before "belong" you should insert the word "think"... <smile> It is certainly possible to
think you belong to something (believe it) for a time, but not really have ever really belonged to (believed) that something, and then at some point coming to the realization that you don't belong to it (believe it). I think we've talked about this before, but John is talking about falling away in 1 John 2, where he speaks of antichrists, saying, "...many antichrists have come... it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us." And... remember what the writer of Hebrews explicitly says about falling away, exhorting us all to
"take care, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God" (Hebrews 3:12).
Well, the New Testament ~ and the Old Testament; the Bible is one story, not two ~ teach against the
wrong understanding you have of those two things. But If you were to come around to the proper, Biblical understandings of those two things... <
smile> I say it is because you will not accept the correct definitions of those two things. You have in your own mind what you think "OSAS" is and... the preservation ~ and perseverance ~ of the saints, but... well, that's the problem. <
smile>
Neither number 1 nor number 2 are implications of anything I have said. God
never fails, and God doesn't cause sin (and of course is not a sinner). I do want to address your statement that... well all three statements you make above, that I "accept" that God does everything in us (I don't accept that), and that His will is completely carried out because He is working in us to do His will (I do accept that, but in a different way than you are attributing to me). So, again, to clarify:
"God does everything in us"
I mean, we do what we do. To think otherwise is ridiculous. But, well, to put the spotlight back on Philippians 2:13, we can, with great confidence, work out our own salvation ~ which, again, does not mean saving ourselves in any sense, of course ~ because we are doing it with fear and trembling... in other words in reverence to and trust in Him... and knowing that it is God who works in us so that we then will and work for His good pleasure. Now, this is Paul talking, here, so is he saying that we only will and work for God's good pleasure all the time? Well no, because that would mean we never sin, which, bearing in mind again what Paul says even of himself in Romans 7, is surely not the case. But maybe God has a purpose in allowing us to sin, to even use our sin in our lives to move us to repent of our sin, and thus to be forgiven. This is the case. This is His great love for us, and His grace; He is continually drawing us back to Him. He does not cause us to sin, and is not the author of sin at all, but uses sin sinlessly ~ to draw us closer and closer to Him, to make us more and more like Jesus, and ultimately to conform us to the image of His Son, which is what we are predestined for. You see?
"His will is completely carried out"
With what I said in mind, there is a certain sense in which even the sins we commit are according to His will, because His will, which is ultimately to conform us to the image of Jesus, is to work all things together for our good (Romans 8:28). I'm repeating what I said above, of course, but this does not mean God is responsible for everything we do, but for using all these things to accomplish our ultimate salvation. Enough said on that.
"He is working in us to do His will"
Yet again... <smile> ...the fact that He is working in us not "to do His will" but so that we will and work according to His good pleasure (as Paul says in Philippians 2:13) does not mean that "since God is working in us, everything we will and work (do) is according to His good pleasure." But our ongoing and sometimes very painful struggle in this life against the sin in us is part of His plan for us, and I think you can understand why, so I'll leave it at that.
Grace and peace to you!
PS: who is Luther? I am a faith-walking, bible believing, sword-wielding, Spirit filled, Holy Roller, pentecostal!
