Something I came across in my reading . . .
Romans 1 YLT
1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, having been separated to the good news of God --
2 which He announced before through His prophets in holy writings --
3 concerning His Son, (who is come of the seed of David according to the flesh,
4 who is marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of sanctification, by the rising again from the dead,) Jesus Christ our Lord;
5 through whom we did receive grace and apostleship, for obedience of faith among all the nations, in behalf of his name;
6 among whom are also ye, the called of Jesus Christ;
7 to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called saints; Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and [from] the Lord Jesus Christ!
Interestingly, in verse 7, God addresses this letter to the saints in Rome. Not the faithful, but the saints only.
So under the assertion posed in this thread, this letter only applies to you once you've reach "saint" status. Once you've purged your life of all that gets in your way so you can now run the race in the heavenlies, not only Christ in you, but you now also in Christ, free from sin, understanding mysteries, one of the oh so few, the holy, the elite.
OK. We can put that to the test.
1:11 "for I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, that ye may be established;"
The saints need to be established. But this would make sense considering:
6:3 "are ye ignorant that we, as many as were baptized to Christ Jesus, to his death were baptized?"
There's a question of how much they really know, it would seem.
They are urged to:
6:11 so also ye, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to the sin, and living to God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
12 Let not then the sin reign in your mortal body, to obey it in its desires;
13 neither present ye your members instruments of unrighteousness to the sin, but present yourselves to God as living out of the dead, and your members instruments of righteousness to God;
Again that possible confusion:
6:15 What then? shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? let it not be!
16 have ye not known that to whom ye present yourselves servants for obedience, servants ye are to him to whom ye obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?
But that's understandable . . .
6:19 In the manner of men I speak, because of the weakness of your flesh, for even as ye did present your members servants to the uncleanness and to the lawlessness -- to the lawlessness, so now present your members servants to the righteousness -- to sanctification,
I suppose I could continue. The entire letter is filled with everything from the deepest of doctrine to the plainest appeal to let go of sin.
Some of it seems rather remedial for the elite Saints, the Holy Seers of Mysteries.
Something I realized some time ago . . . If we compare ourselves by ourselves, by our perceptions of other people, we can reach some very misleading conclusions.
What may seem to one to be very enlightened, so very advanced, may be completely remedial in another's life.
And we really have no idea about what another person's relationship with our Heavenly Father truly is.
I am of course completely supportive for all to live holy lives. I believe we were redeemed to do that, and we are reborn to do that. And in the course of coming to do that, God first and foremost commits Himself to us in eternal and intimate relationship, and promises that nothing will ever change that, all of our shortcomings aside, while equally promising that He will erase those shortcomings. He is faithful, and He will do it!
Much love!
Mark
