Rev 2:10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Rev 2:11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’
Romans 8:35-39
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Filipp 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
Philippians 2:12-13
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Philippians 1:6
6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
2Tim 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
2 Timothy 4:17-18
17 But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
18 And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!
Matt 7:19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Said to believers.
No, this was not said to
born-again believers, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Jesus had not died on the cross and the Holy Spirit had not yet been given as the Comforter to all "joint-heirs with Christ." There could not have been, then, any New Covenant, spiritually-regenerated believers in Jesus's audience. In actuality, Jesus was speaking to Jews within the Old Covenant context, saying nothing of his atonement for sin, the empowering life and work of the Holy Spirit, or spiritual regeneration.
Matthew 7:19, then, is grossly misapplied to Christians.
Hebr 3:14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
Were the "carnal babes
in Christ" in Corinth "sharing in Christ" (
1 Co. 3:1-3)? Were the wretched, nearly dead
believers in Sardis and Laodicea "sharing in Christ" (
Rev. 3)? Were the foolish
brethren in Galatia who were migrating into Old Covenant law-keeping "sharing in Christ" (
Ga. 3:3)? What does it mean to "share in Christ"? Is this synonymous with "being saved"? On what grounds can one assert this, scripturally?
2 Peter 1:1-11
1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
Peter is addressing here, those who
have obtained - past tense, already accomplished event - the same precious faith he had come to possess.
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Peter explains in these verses that, in being saved, the born-again believer has been given "all things that pertain to life and godliness." On what basis? Through the
knowledge of Christ, the Savior, (
not the good works of the believer -
Eph. 2:8-9; Tit. 3:5-7; 2 Ti. 1:9) through whom the believers to whom Peter is writing HAVE ALREADY received "exceedingly great and precious promises" by which these believers may be "partakers of (or, those who
share in - Gk. metochos - to share in, partake) the divine nature."
Why is Peter writing this explanation? If the brethren to whom he's writing are already truly brethren who have "obtained a like precious faith by the righteousness of God and Jesus (NOT by their own righteousness)" would they not automatically be living in those promises? If this were so, Peter would, obviously, have had no need to write this explanation at the beginning of his second letter. That he did write it means that the genuine believers to whom Peter was writing
were saved but not properly partaking - or sharing - in the divine nature.
This is confirmed by Peter going on to explain to his born-again brethren (
vs. 1) how they could begin to fully partake in the "divine nature" present within them in the Person of the Holy Spirit.
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,
6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,
7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.
8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Here, Peter articulates the "how" of "partaking in the divine nature." By diligently adding to the faith in Christ that brought them to salvation (
Ro. 10:9-10) virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. All of these things, of course, originate in the Person of the Holy Spirit who bears the "fruit" of who he is (
Ga. 5:22-23) in every born-again child of God as they agree, by their constant submission to him, to his doing so (
Ro. 6:13-22; 8:13-14; 12:1; Ja. 4:6-10; 1 Pe. 5:6).
All of this, though, Peter is explaining to those
who were saved but did not yet understand how to share in Christ (i.e. partake of the divine nature). There is, then, a condition a born-again person can be in where they are saved - and forever so - but are not enjoying all that is theirs in Jesus Christ, and insofar as this is the case, they have yet to "share (partake) in Christ." Because this is possible, because it is possible to have "obtained a like precious faith" to that which Peter enjoyed (i.e to be saved) and not fully partake in all that is one's "inheritance" in Christ, Peter concluded his explanation with a warning:
9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;
11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The Christian who is merely born-again, not moving into the deeper life in Christ, is so "short-sighted" as to be nearly blind and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sin. Peter, here, does NOT say, though, that such a person
has lost their cleansing altogether and is unsaved. They could be nearly "blind" spiritually, not partaking properly in the "divine nature," and yet STILL be a brother (or sister) in the faith.
To make this fact very clear, Peter referred to the "calling and election" of the brethren to whom he wrote, saying that they would make these things "sure" as they did as he'd instructed. What did he mean by "make sure"? Well, he explained what he meant: "never stumble" (
vs. 10). By not stumbling, making their "calling and election sure" by diligently adding to their faith in Christ the "fruit" of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the readers of Peter's second letter would not merely have entrance into God's kingdom but have it "
abundantly."
As Paul pointed out, there would be those who will enter God's kingdom "so as by fire" (or with the smoke of hell on their clothes), all of their "wood, hay and stubble" that they had built upon their spiritual foundation (who is Christ) consumed in the fiery testing at the Final Judgment (
1 Co. 3:11-15). These will not have the "abundant entrance" into God's eternal kingdom of which Peter wrote above, but they will, nonetheless, have entrance into that kingdom.
And so, when I read "share in Christ" I understand the phrase in the light of the above, recognizing, as a result, that it is not a reference to being saved but to enjoying all the spiritual benefits one inherits as a "joint-heir" in Jesus Christ (
Ro. 8:16; Eph. 1:3). And so, those who don't "share in Christ" are not Christian who cease to be saved, but Christians who have yet to do as Peter instructed above and fully enjoy all that is theirs spiritually in Jesus.