I was perceiving that you and greywhiskers were claiming that there are conduits of Grace, ie objects, creatures, men,rituals and doctrines, etc. Christ is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), no other creature, thing, idea, can replace Him.
Amen!
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith." -- Romans 1:16-17"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Yes. Oh, and burning bushes, too.
Christ is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), no other creature, thing, idea, can replace Him.
They don't replace him, silly. He uses them.
See below for examples.
John 3:14 (cf Numbers 21:6-9)
Numbers 22:1-35 (notice the talking ass saves Balaam's life, from an angel who was about to kill him, and ends up diverting a curse to be pronounced upon Israel into a blessing)
Exodus 3:2-4 (Moses does not worship the burning bush, but it attracts his attention long enough for God to get in a word edgewise, so to speak. And once God has spoken, Moses does not give any "glory" or "reverence" or "devotion" to the bush, but yet always to God, for the wonder manifested in the bush. I guess you could make a case that this is a historical foreshadowing of Christ -- cf. John 14:9 and Hebrews 1:3a, but I won't press the analogy.)
Acts 9:11-12, Paul and the handkerchiefs, or Acts 5:15 about Peter's *shadow*. No healings or miracles are recorded because of this, but there is a parallel to Matthew 5:28, where just touching clothes *did* work -- and we have Jesus's own words that it did "...for I percieve power has gone out of me".
Romans 9:23 ("vessels of His Grace")and 2 Corinthians 4:7 ("But we have this treasure in clay jars to show that its extraordinary power comes from God and not from us." which seems to take us back to the Moses' response to the burning bush.)
As for rituals, see Leviticus 4, especially the recurring phrase "and he shall be forgiven". Then compare Hebrews 10:4 -- there is a difference between atonement (broadly speaking, your penalty is remitted) and sanctification -- your sinful nature is removed, you yourself are cleansed. But recall also (Galatians 3:24) that in a broad sense, the Law itself leads us to Christ. (Which by the way, recalls all kinds of passages from the Psalms about the person who meditates on the Law, and the blessings therein.)
As for doctrine, see 1 Tim 4:16, and compare 1 Tim 1:20...good doctrine can beand is involved in salvation, according to Paul.
Not everything must be exclusively the direct action of the Holy Spirit right on a person's heart, with no intermediaries, "tools", etc.
God does work "heart to heart" but apparently He doesn't limit Himself to that method.
Cheers!
Let me make an analogy.
When you pick up the phone and call someone, are you hearing their voice, or not?
In a way, no. They are miles away, and the sound waves from their larynx are dissipated long before your ears could pick them up. Instead, their voice is transmitted -- electronically -- and reproduced.
You are hearing the reproduction -- and yet it is faithful to the tone and content of what they said, or we wouldn't use phones.
Or for another example, there are people who have fallen in love via letters, or over Internet chat rooms, without ever having met or heard one another's voice. And yet they still know each other.
So it is our relationship with Christ, and our faith and trust in Him which is being fed: but it does not mean that the only *item* involved is the Holy Spirit and our heart. We use the phone: He might happen to use other things on occasion. But it is still our Lord who is drawing us.
Cheers!