Grace 2

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'For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
.. Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
.... That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory,
...... to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man;
........ That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;
that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
.. May be able to comprehend with all saints
.... what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
...... And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,
........ that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Now unto Him that is able
.. to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,
.... according to the power that worketh in us,
...... Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus
........ throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.'
(Eph 3:14-21)

 

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For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: - Ephesians 2:8.

Thank God for this verse.

What makes an individual dead to the law? The cross. What is it that took a lost and dieing soul and set it apart of any law works? Why sure, the cross did it. The cross is the cross over from death to life with Christ being the life. So we give up death, or we should say we "reckon yourself dead" to the law and everything else we have ever thought might save me. There is nothing you can do to make grace of God on the cross work for you as part of your salvation except recieve it.
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. - Romans 5:2.

After your salvation, you now can still go deeper into the grace of God "by faith access this grace we preach" Paul said. What is this grace we access and preach? It is the finished work of God on the cross by Christ death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and return (for lack of a better word) to dwell in every born again believer. Understanding this is what saves a individual, not their doing works or keeping the law of doing.

What is a believer? A believer is one that has been born again, they believe in the cross of God for their salvation and have Christ in them.

Do you know what saves you? Have you ever given much thought to what really saves you. Your salvation is "Christ in you.' You believe in Jesus Christ as your personal savior, and what saves you is 'Christ in you.

What if you believed and God did not save you right then. What if you had to do something else to go with God's salvation to make it work. This is the good news for believers! There was nothing you could do to make it work, it worked regardless of you. Your salvation is complete by Christ in you, you do not have to mix anything with your salvation except life. If you want to work at your salvation then work at having the only life there is "Christ in you the hope of glory."

Since the cross Christian's have struggled to get a handle on their salvation, actually put a finger on it. They know their saved but their still looking at what saves them, there is your answer "Christ in you is your salvation" nothing else can save you. Happy trails!

For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves:
it is the gift of God:'
(Ephesians 2:8.)

Hello @soul man

I thank God for the truth that verse contains too, @soul man. However, I have been looking at the two prayers of Ephesians (Ephesians 1:17+ and Ephesians 3:14+), and in the former the emphasis is on the believer being 'in Christ', and in the latter Christ 'in' the believer. I would ask you to please look at the wording of the prayer of Ephesians 3 with me a moment, at the words of verses 16-19.

'That He would grant you,
according to the riches of His glory,
to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man;
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;
that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
May be able to comprehend with all saints
what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,
that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.'

* Paul prays that those to whom he wrote would, 'be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.' 1 Corinthians 1:3 tells us that God places us, 'in Christ' when we believe the gospel concerning His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. However, the words of this prayer appears to indicate that there is a process of strengthening that has to take place within the heart and mind of the believer before Christ can dwell in his heart by faith? For only when 'rooted and grounded in love' can the believer go on to 'comprehend with all saints' the dimensions of the work of God in Christ, and know the love of Christ which 'passeth knowledge'. Only then can the believer be filled with 'all the fulness of God'.

* In the light of this I would ask you to consider your OP, and what you say concerning it being 'Christ in us' which secures our salvation. For it is the fact that we are, 'in Christ', by God's grace, that secures that. Christ 'in us' takes us further into the fulness of God in Christ. This requires that preparedness spoken of, that 'stengthening' and 'grounding in love', for this love is unsearchable, it's truths unverifiable outside of the spirit of God. It is therefore very much a faith position: and can therefore be greatly opposed and condemned by those who have not yet come into it. So, without that initial strengthening of faith, and rooting and grounding in love, the believer would be at the mercy of spiritual wickedness and liable to be overcome by it.

This is my understanding, and therefore liable to be flawed, but please give it consideration.

Thank you
In Christ Jesus
Chris

 

[soul man]

* In the light of this I would ask you to consider your OP, and what you say concerning it being 'Christ in us' which secures our salvation. For it is the fact that we are, 'in Christ', by God's grace, that secures that. Christ 'in us' takes us further into the fulness of God in Christ. This requires that preparedness spoken of, that 'stengthening' and 'grounding in love', for this love is unsearchable, it's truths unverifiable outside of the spirit of God

Those are great thoughts. My understanding would be; Christ came to dwell in the believer the moment of the new birth, but a believer coming to understand and know that will more than likely take some time to see it. So the words 'dwell in the heart by faith is a knowledge of what has taken place at the new birth. Hence the idiom "the mind catching up with the facts."

 

[complete]

Those are great thoughts. My understanding would be; Christ came to dwell in the believer the moment of the new birth, but abelieve coming to understand that will make than likely take some time to see it. So dwell in the heart by faith is a knowledge of what has taken place at the new birth.

Hello @soul man,

I believe that these prayers relate to something more than the experience of being born from above. It has to do with the acknowledgement of the church which is the body of Christ, and all that is associated with it, and of Christ which is it's Head. This is why 'the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him', or of God in Christ Jesus, is required (Ephesians 1:17): for this knowledge was 'hid in God' (Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:26) since the world began, and is not the subject of the Scriptures outside of the prison epistles of Paul (ie., Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon).

Thank you
In Christ Jesus
Chris

 

[farouk]

Those are great thoughts. My understanding would be; Christ came to dwell in the believer the moment of the new birth, but a believer coming to understand and know that will more than likely take some time to see it. So the words 'dwell in the heart by faith is a knowledge of what has taken place at the new birth. Hence the idiom "the mind catching up with the facts."

@soul man

"Praise the Saviour, ye who know Him,
Who can tell how much we owe Him?
Gladly let us render to Him
All we have and are!"

"All we have and are" goes back to the new birth, in the light of His work at the Cross, received by faith. Grasping the implications is a daily blessing and challenge, indeed, to His glory.