I am hoping that people will see the verse I am posting as being from the bible. it isn't hard to read the bible. The difficulty is to understand it. And once a person gets the wrong idea...the error follows more error...just as the truth follows more truth.
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
This idea of "saved by grace through faith" is the statement that launched a thousand errors. So much so...that just like in part one of this series on stumblingblocks...everyone thinks they understand the meaning of the text. It is one of the most mis-understood verses of all time.
Actually very few can understand this.
Why? Because it is to be spiritually discerned and not to be grasped religiously. The latter is so easy to do that men latch on to it with zest. The flesh LOVES this verse because it is pleasing to the flesh. Who doesn't love the free stuff?
These two poles...the spiritual and the religious...are actually contrary to each other...as they who are observant will see again and again on this very thread.
So then the carnal mind understands the words to mean...by my religious belief I am guaranteed to be among God's forgiven. I am immune now from the effects of my sins because of my beliefs about Jesus.
So then we need to break down all the words in the statement...to avoid the desire of all carnal men...security for itself and immunity from prosecution together with a non-responsibility for one's own actions...based on "grace." (the religious kind of course)
Grace: what is grace? It is the power of God given to us as a gift by the Spirit that makes us do impossible things...things that are impossible for men to do without grace. To walk as Jesus walked and do His kind of miracles.
Faith: What is faith? The pathway to God and the capacity to do impossible things like move mountains. The capacity to please God so that we overcome all things through His intervention.
So then the whole idea of a salvation by grace through faith makes us to be as Peter and Paul...walking in the humanly impossible level of the power of God, doing miraculous things and the works that were prepared in advance from eternity.
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
This idea of "saved by grace through faith" is the statement that launched a thousand errors. So much so...that just like in part one of this series on stumblingblocks...everyone thinks they understand the meaning of the text. It is one of the most mis-understood verses of all time.
Actually very few can understand this.
Why? Because it is to be spiritually discerned and not to be grasped religiously. The latter is so easy to do that men latch on to it with zest. The flesh LOVES this verse because it is pleasing to the flesh. Who doesn't love the free stuff?
These two poles...the spiritual and the religious...are actually contrary to each other...as they who are observant will see again and again on this very thread.
So then the carnal mind understands the words to mean...by my religious belief I am guaranteed to be among God's forgiven. I am immune now from the effects of my sins because of my beliefs about Jesus.
So then we need to break down all the words in the statement...to avoid the desire of all carnal men...security for itself and immunity from prosecution together with a non-responsibility for one's own actions...based on "grace." (the religious kind of course)
Grace: what is grace? It is the power of God given to us as a gift by the Spirit that makes us do impossible things...things that are impossible for men to do without grace. To walk as Jesus walked and do His kind of miracles.
Faith: What is faith? The pathway to God and the capacity to do impossible things like move mountains. The capacity to please God so that we overcome all things through His intervention.
So then the whole idea of a salvation by grace through faith makes us to be as Peter and Paul...walking in the humanly impossible level of the power of God, doing miraculous things and the works that were prepared in advance from eternity.
