Take some time out and DEFEND yourself!
The planes are CIRCLING, Dude!
Listen, I certainly don't have the time to get into this w/ you largely due to your history of verbosity (not necessarily a bad thing, I just don't have time for it), & your history of diversion (as w/ this post) & circular arguments.
I've got a huge project I'm working on that I must get back to. I do sincerely wish you a great weekend my FRiend.
Ask the Lord about your theories through earnest prayer. You might just be pleasantly surprised by the response.
I answered YOUR points Reno and YOUR statements. You posted nothing but your own opinions - poorly formulated and supported at that.
Listen, I certainly don't have the time to get into this w/ you largely due to your history of verbosity (not necessarily a bad thing, I just don't have time for it), & your history of diversion (as w/ this post) & circular arguments.
You sure seem to have a lot of time to go around in circles not answering others. Your post was regarding works, any 'diversions' are due to you, I only responded to present the correct biblical interpretation. Hit and run posting.
Ask the Lord about your theories through earnest prayer. You might just be pleasantly surprised by the response.
The Lord is the One who provided me with those "theories" to begin with Reno and I was pleasantly surprised by His teaching and leading. Thanks anyway for the tip.
True, ultimate “salvation” in the Biblical sense is found in complete reliance upon Christ’s atonement for our personal righteous standing before the Heavenly Father (2 Corinthians 5:21). Nothing we can do can make us more acceptable to God, for by adding works to faith for salvation, one ends up “falling from grace” (Galatians 5:4). While God has “ordained” us to good works, these works are not the CAUSE but merely the RESPONSE to true LIVING faith (Ephesians 2:8-10). They are the sign that proves whether a person has a living faith which saves or a dead faith which cannot save (James 2:14, 17).
JAMES 2:10: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”
GALATIANS 5:4: “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.”
ROMANS 11:6: “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.”
EPHESIANS 2:8-10: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
TITUS 3:7: “That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
ROMANS 5:1: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.…”
GALATIANS 3:8, 24-25: “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith.…Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”
ROMANS 3:20-22, 28: “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference.…Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”
ROMANS 4:4-8: “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”
PHILIPPIANS 3:9: “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
JOHN 6:28-29: “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”
1 JOHN 5:11-13: “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life.….”
COLOSSIANS 3:3: “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”6.
HEBREWS 10:10, 14: “…we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.…For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.”
Paul constantly taught that justification comes not by works, formulas, or laws but rather: a man is declared rightness before God through faith alone:
Paul was theologically precise as to how the sinner is justified before the presence of God. Notice first that the sinner having been justified has peace with God. The verb dikaiōthentes, translated “having been justified,” is the aorist passive participle of dikaioō. Grammatically, the aorist here tells us that the action of the verb dikaiōthentes, “having been justified,” was a past action (as rendered in most translations). Furthermore, the verb dikaiothentes is in the passive voice. This indicates that the action of being justified was not of the sinner in any way (lest the verb be in the active voice), but rather the justification was done to the sinner, in the past, which was solely a divine act of God (cf. Rom. 8:33). Thus, the ones having been justified now “have” [echomen, the present active indicative plural of echo] peace pros ton theon, “with the God.”
It is not the action or work of the sinner which then results in justification, rather Paul simply says “through faith” (ek pisteōs; “from faith”) “having been justified.” This is important to realize that if Paul thought that “baptism” or “works” were an aspect or a requirement of justification, he could have easily modified the clause to say, “Therefore since we have been justified by faith, baptism, and works, then, let us has peace with God” (as in LDS soteriology) But, Paul was clear and consistent in all of his letters: justification is through faith alone, with no additions or modifications. This is wonderful news, the unregenerate sinner who was called has been legally declared righteous (regenerated) in the sight of God, whereby has present active and continuous peace, that is, final reconciliation and fellowship with God. In his definitive exegesis of Romans Wuest can say of this beautiful passage:
Therefore having been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1).
Paul was theologically precise as to how the sinner is justified before the presence of God. Notice first that the sinner having been justified has peace with God. The verb dikaiothentes, translated “having been justified,” is the aorist passive participle of dikaioō. Grammatically, the aorist here tells us that the action of the verb dikaiōthentes, “having been justified,” is a past action (as rendered in most translations). Furthermore, the verb dikaiōthentes is in the passive voice. This indicates that the action of being justified was not of the sinner in any way (lest the verb be in the active voice), but rather the justification was done to the sinner, in the past, which was solely a divine act of God (cf. Rom. 8:33). Thus, the ones having been justified now “have” [echomen; present active indicative] peace pros ton theon, “with the God.”
It is not the action or work of the sinner which then results in justification, rather Paul simply says, “through faith” (ek pisteōs; lit. “from faith”) “having been justified.” This is important to realize that if Paul thought that “baptism” or “works” were an aspect or a requirement of justification, he could of easily modified the clause to say, “Therefore since we have been justified by faith, baptism, and works, then, let us have peace with God.” But, Paul was clear and consistent in all of his letters: justification is through faith alone, with no additions or modifications. This is wonderful news, the unregenerate sinner who was called has been legally declared righteous (regenerated) in the sight of God, whereby has present active and continuous peace, that is, final reconciliation and fellowship with God. In his definitive exegesis of Romans Wuest can say of this beautiful passage: In his definitive exegesis of Romans Wuest can say of this beautiful passage:
The word "therefore" reaches back to the contents of chapter four—therefore being justified, not by works (1-8), not by ordinances (9-12), not by obedience (13-25), but by faith, we have peace.,/u> The first three never give peace to the soul. Faith does. . . . The context is didactic. It contains definite statements of fact. It is highly doctrinal in nature. It has to do with a sinner's standing before God in point of law, not his experience. As Denney [James Denney, D. D.] says; "The justified have peace with God,… His wrath (1:18) no longer threatens them; they are accepted in Christ. It is not a change in their feelings which is indicated, but a change in God's relation to them (Romans in the Greek New Testament, 75-76).
Hence Paul announces to the Christians at Ephesus: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; NOT AS A RESULT OF WORKS, so that none may boast” (Eph. 2:8; emphasis added). “If it is by grace,” Paul says, “it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace” (Rom. 11:6). We can go on from here and cite many other passages that explicitly teach that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone without any mention of modifications of the necessity of water baptism: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:30f). How are sins forgiven? Scripture is clear:
Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone WHO BELIEVES ON HIM RECEIVES FORGIVENESS OF SINS (Acts 10:43; emphasis added).
Let us pause and think; why is it that over and over the New Testament teaches that eternal salvation is explicitly tied to faith or belief alone with no mention of water baptism if in fact water baptism was essential to one’s salvation? Paul’s own statement refutes the notion that water baptism was an indispensable means of salvation:
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. . . . (1 Cor. 1:17).
Let us pause and think, why is it that over and over the New Testament teaches that eternal salvation is explicitly tied to faith or belief alone with no mention of HUMANS WORKS such as water baptism, if in fact works or water baptism was essential to one’s salvation? (e.g., John 5:24, 6:47; Rom. 5:1; Eph. 2:8; Titus 3:5). Paul's own statement refutes that the idea that water baptism was an indispensable part of salvation: For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel.
God the Holy Spirit inspires Paul to speak on the GIFT not reward of salvation:
By grace ye are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast (Eph. 2:8)
Notice, that "faith" that saves comes from Christ not of ourselves. Salvation is a gift. We cannot achieve it by meritorious works nor do we deserve it. The sole reason why men come to Christ is because the Father gives them to Christ and He will raise them up at the last day:
"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:44; cf. vv. 37-40, 65)
One cannot help to admire Paul's unceasing passion: salvation is by the grace of Jesus Christ and solely through faith alone. The addition of works, any kind of works, to attain salvation is by definition alien to the Apostle Paul. In Scripture, water baptism is defined as an "act” or deed “to fulfill [not to receive] righteousness” (Matt. 3:15). Yet, Paul clearly refutes this idea:
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but , by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior (Titus 3:5f; emphasis added).
the law was our school master to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith (Gal. 3:24)
Man can never work enough to be justified in front of a perfect God, justification comes by faith alone. The Prophet Isaiah sums it up:
all our righteousness are as filthy rags (Isa. 64:6)
Through Christ, Christians are declared perfect (positional) in front of a perfect God even though practically we still sin. The Mormons could never say that he or she is perfect NOW in God's eyes.
For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified… And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more (Heb. 10:14, 17; emphasis added)
Now Reno, you threw a lot of verses out there trying to see what would stick to the wall. But scripture is true and consistent to itself when viewed in context, not selective cherry picking.
I testify that I bear record not of myself, but through the Name of Jesus Christ that God's Word, the Bible is true. God promises us full and complete Salvation as a gift of grace and that no works of righteousness can gain us God's mercy otherwise. That I am perfected forever and my sins God remembers no more because of the blood of Jesus.
Take some time out and DEFEND yourself!
The planes are CIRCLING, Dude!