Wormwood said:
ATP,
Almost every verse you are quoting uses a present participle for "believe." Thus, "believe" is not a past tense act, but a present, ongoing act. If someone ceases to believe, then none of those verses apply to them because of the present tense participles. I think those verses only substantiate the fact that they are not applicable to someone who once believed but does so no longer.
Not quite, justification only comes once WW. Sanctification is the on going process...
Rom 10:9-10 NIV If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and
believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you
believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith
and are saved.
OzSpen said:
That's hardly a satisfactory explanation because these Jews have:
- 'once been enlightened';
- 'tasted the heavenly gift';
- 'shared in the Holy Spirit';
- 'tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come' (Heb 6:4-6 ESV).
None of the terms used here are used anywhere else in scripture to refer to salvation. Nor are any of the normal New Testament terms and synonyms for salvation used in this passage. Nowhere is it stated that these people have been justified, sanctified, born again, regenerated, or saved. No mention is made of faith or of eternal life. Verse 6 does not say that these people cannot be renewed to salvation, but that they cannot be renewed to repentance..repentance that leads to death Heb 6:1 NIV.
OzSpen said:
Then they 'fall away' from that salvation of sharing in the Holy Spirit and experiencing the word of God and the powers of God's age to come.
They fell away because they did not have the root of salvation Oz.
Matt 13:21 NIV
But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word,
they quickly fall away.
OzSpen said:
You're plucking verses, but without exegesis.
Why don't you enlighten us then...
1 Pet 1:23 NIV For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
1 John 3:9 NIV No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.
2 John 1:2 NIV because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:
OzSpen said:
How many of the uses of 'believe' are present tense, indicating continuous believing to experience salvation?
No Oz, we are only justified once. Sanctification is the on going process...
Rom 10:9-10 NIV If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and
believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you
believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith
and are saved.