The grace of salvation?

[Tong2020]

charis, the Greek scripture.

According to scriptures, grace is given. In scriptures, we learn of the many graces that God gives. In this thread, we will look at the grace of salvation.

In the beginning, God created. Among His creation were Adam and Eve. Them God called Mankind. Of all of that which God created, Mankind is a unique creature kind, for God made them in His image.

Sometime at the beginning when they were created by God, Adam and Eve fell into sin. Before they have multiplied their kind, they fell into transgression and sinned, having eaten of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God had forbidden of them to eat.

As to what this made of man, according to scriptures, among others are these (in brief):

1. Man's eyes was opened, then knowing nakedness (Gen. 3:7).
2. Man became like God, to know good and evil (Gen. 3:22).
3. Mankind was corrupted by sin, even sin dwelled in him (Rom. 7:24), and his body, a body of death (Rom. 7:24).
4. In Mankind (that is, in his flesh) nothing good dwells (Rom.7:18).

As to what this ensued, according to scriptures, among others are these (in brief):

1. Man was sent out of the garden of Eden (Gen. 3:23).
2. Sin and death entered the world (Rom. 5:12).
3. Judgment came to Mankind, resulting in condemnation (Rom. 5:18), that is death (Rom. 6:23.

But scriptures revealed that God is good and gracious. Starting from Genesis, we learn from scriptures that God greatly loves Mankind. He did not only blessed them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, but God cared of him. He have crowned him with glory and honor, setting him over His creation, giving him dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. So that even when Adam and Eve sinned and came under judgment and condemnation to death, in God's grace, He did not destroy them. In His mercy, God still gave them time on earth, sending them out of Eden, having Eve, only to bring forth children in pain and to be under the rule of Adam, and with Adam only to have to work for their food until the time of his death. And as we read on through scriptures, we learn that God will save Mankind. He have given Mankind, the grace of salvation. As such we have this truth in scriptures, that salvation belongs to God and that salvation is by grace.

What does scriptures say about this grace of salvation? What does scriptures say how God saves Mankind? Let us share what we have learned in scriptures regarding this.

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R1146

 

[Tong2020]

What does scriptures say about the grace of salvation? What does scriptures say how God saves Mankind?

Without question, salvation is grace and that fallen man or Mankind is saved because of and out of the grace of God. Scriptures says that salvation belongs to God and that God is the Savior and that there is no other. That said, man therefore is not the savior of himself nor of others, nor is man a 'co-savior' of God.

Scriptures says we are saved by grace through faith. Of this grace, there are many scriptures that tells us about it. The most quoted one is John 3:16, which speaking of this grace says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Such love, such grace found in that single verse. This grace of salvation was given and came through Jesus Christ, who is the only begotten Son of God. And as John 3:16 says, whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life, salvation is through faith, that is, faith in Jesus Christ (person, life, work). Of this faith, scriptures says that faith that comes to man by hearing the word of God. Such faith then is yet another grace given by God to man.

.....until next post...

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R1157

 

[Tong2020]

The prophets of old have prophesied of this grace, the grace of salvation. This grace had come some time in the first century A.D. which is told in the gospel that is preached by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, through the chosen apostles, the gospel of Jesus Christ, which had been preserved and written in scriptures (what we call today as the Bible).

Fallen Mankind is in a state where they are confronted by evil, practically all the time, every day of their earthly life, because of having knowledge of good and evil, which was not so before the fall of Adam and Eve, where they don't have such knowledge and are innocent so to speak. Fallen Adam and Eve brought forth sons and daughters, which we learn by the testimony of scriptures, apparently are of and in the same state as Adam and Eve. That is, they too, more than having knowledge of good and evil, sin and death, and also sin dwelling in them and their body, a body of death. Also in them (that is, in their flesh) nothing good dwells. They too are out of the garden of Eden, out in a world were sin and death reigned. As such, and for which scriptures testifies, all of them and not one, are made sinners and are sinners, thus under judgment and condemnation. All through the history of man recorded in scriptures, Mankind had been shown not able to overcome evil and sin because of the weakness of their flesh, that all have sinned one way or another. There are a few exceptional men, such as those mentioned as being righteous, but nevertheless not without sin. And so, not one is not under judgment and condemnation.

Thanks be to God, that He will save Mankind, which is not because of anything else but because of His great love He have for Mankind. With the situation that Mankind have placed itself into as I have here and in my post #1 at the OP briefly discussed, and God seeing that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, only He can save them. So that, the Father, with and through the Son and the Holy Spirit, in God's wisdom, recreates Mankind by rebirth or a new birth. This is what Jesus told Nicodemus about in John 3, that man must be born from above (be born again).

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R1171

 

[Tong2020]

The new birth.

Speaking of the new birth, that is, the birth from above, Jesus told Nicodemus that "the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." Jesus said this to tell Nicodemus this matter of the new birth, which apparently is one that is of the Spirit, that is, of God. Jesus, using "the wind", began to illustrate to Nicodemus, how it is with everyone that is born of the Spirit, speaking of the characteristic of the wind and how it operates, suggestive of how it is with the birth from above. That this birth comes about to one without his knowing it, as to when and how it comes about, and when it comes about to one, that it could somehow be perceived and is not totally unknown or unknowable. This, Jesus said, is in like sense that the wind is perceived when it blows, that even while one cannot tell where the wind comes from or where it is going. That whether with or without knowledge of it, it is nevertheless true, real, and it happens. With this illustration, it seems obvious that what Jesus wanted Nicodemus (and us of course) to know and understand of this birth from above is that, such is according to the sovereign act and will of God, and is something beyond the control nor influence of man. For in like sense, the wind is beyond the control and influence of man. Though Jesus, in using the figure of the wind, Jesus did not say how it actually happens or how God actually do it. But with that, we can see that the new birth therefore is not something that requires anything from man nor is something that calls for the participation and cooperation of man, for it to happen to one. A man is born from above and is born again without knowing as to when and as to how it comes about. This matter is belongs to God and which He works out according to the counsel of His will.

Jesus said "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3). When one is born again by God's grace and will, having been born of the Spirit, Jesus effectively say that he will be able to see and enter the kingdom of God. Scriptures tells us that John the Baptist, as also Jesus himself and his disciples, went preaching of the kingdom of God and that the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God that Jesus was referring to in John 3 is not a physical kingdom like the kingdoms of the world as we know them. For obviously, if it was of this world, then every man who have eyes and isn't blind, will be able to see it, which would render the necessity of having to be born of the Spirit to be able to see it, to be meaningless.

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R1172

 

[Tong2020]

God saves Mankind through the new birth. I speak of Mankind here, not to mean all man that ever lived and will yet be born into existence, but to mean the creature kind of Adam, that is, the human being.

As I had already shown in the other posts, Mankind was corrupted, but will be saved by God. One might ask, why had God not just destroyed the fallen Adam and Eve when they sinned and just created Mankind again? Obviously it's not in the plan of God. But to satisfy some curious minds, I think one probable reason is in Genesis 2:2-3 ( And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.).

For corrupted Mankind to be said to be saved, in a few words, means being ultimately delivered out from their dark and corrupt state and situation, and into a better state of being, one that is conformed to the image of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and brought into a restored situation, at least as was in the garden of Eden before the corruption of Mankind in Adam where sin and death does not reign. In God’s salvation of Mankind, God, by “eklogé” (election, a choosing out), have divinely chosen a people for salvation. As to who these people are individually, God knows. As to who they are as revealed in scriptures, they are those who are said to be chosen of God, born of God, and are in Christ.


...to continue on my next post...

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R1219

 

[Tong2020]

A person is saved by God's grace through faith. The apostle Paul, clearly said concerning salvation saying "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.(Eph.2:8-9)". This does not mean what others say that one is saved because he has faith or because of his believing or faith. That is not quite what scriptures meant when it said that God saves a person by His grace through faith. For one is saved not for any other reason except that because God, according to the counsel of His will, grants the person His grace of salvation. And this salvation, God works out and brings about through faith. It is through the instrumentality of faith by which a person is saved by God.

Speaking of faith, Paul explained in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing the word of God. Now, speaking of the word of God, God at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, and has some 2,000 years ago, spoken to Mankind by Son, Jesus Christ. And so, the word of God came to man. Jesus Christ has revealed and given them to His apostles, such as to Paul, and that through His Spirit. These things revealed, the word of God, Paul said, they speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches. So that, Paul explained that the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. With reference to Romans 10:17, by "hearing" then, it does not refer to the natural understanding or discernment of man, but refers to spiritual understanding or discernment and the receiving of it. So, not that a preacher told a person about the word of God or that he have personally read the Bible, that it means he heard the word of God. No, that's not the hearing meant by Paul in Romans 10:17. The hearing there is of the spirit, not carnal so to speak. For clearly, the words of God are spirit and so pertains to the spirit. Jesus Himself said "The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life."

Having said that about faith, through which God saves, there is then concerning Mankind, the matter of the ability to discern spiritually or to understand spiritually. God willing, I will touch that in my next post.

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R1235