he Thief aligned himself with Christ, he chose Him in trust. This was cooperation in Salvation; this was incorporation into Christ.
How? The thief was DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SIN. Until God changed his heart, there was no hope. The Thief "aligned" himself only in the sense that he expressed the faith in Christ THAT GOD GAVE HIM THROUGH GRACE. The Thief had no ability to align himself prior to God's calling him.
We cannot act while we are yet dead in our sins. We just can't. It's impossible. All of the scripture you quote is to show we cannot hope to live perfectly according to the law...only Christ did. Our faith in him comes from God to us by His mercy NOT OUR CHOICE.
Context is your friend.
Im still waiting for your response concerning Roman Catholic heresy regarding Mary being elevated to mediatrix and provider of salvation in CCC 969 in direct opposition to God's inerrant and infallible word. Do you agree with Rome, or with God? No false dilemma here...
Hoss
If you will read my responses to you on this thread, you will see they are all Scriptural. It is Scripture vs Scripture --- or, more accurately, interpretation against interpretation.
You have not engaged with any of the Scriptures I cited. This is disappointing, but it is not entirely surprising: because of "confirmation bias", it is easy to simply say "My quotes are relevant, even absolute; your quotes are not relevant, they're distractions."
Then the argument descends into sheer foolishness, as the same "favorite" verses get repeated, bolded, set in bigger font sizes, color-enhanced, while the "unfavorite" verses are shunted off to the side ("I won't run down that rabbit trail") or passed by in silence.
Most Christians will agree with the principle that Scripture should be interpreted by Scripture. This seems promising until Scriptures are encountered which "apparently" contradict one another. Examples of these run into the hundreds, and they are ridiculously easy to find. Just a couple examples:
Num 6:5
"In all his days dedicated to God, no razor shall come upon his head. He shall be holy, and let the locks of hair grow freely."BUT
1 Cor 11:14
"Doth not even nature itself teach you, that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?"
Gen 2:3
"And God blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy."BUT
Isaiah 1:13
"The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot abide: it is unrighteous."BUT
Exodus 21:8
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."BUT
Romans 14:5
"One man esteemeth one day above another; another man esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."
Eph 5:25,29
"Husbands, love your wives... for no man ever yet hated his own flesh."Eph 6:2
"Honor thy father and thy mother."
BUTLuke 14:26
"If any man come unto me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple."
Gen 2:18
"And the Lord said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone.'"BUT
1 Cor 7:1
"It is good for a man not to touch a woman."
All is not lost, because "apparent" contradictions can often be resolved by putting the statements into a framework that construes their meanings differently according to context (It commanded THIS in the OT but THAT in the NT; THIS was for Jews and THAT was for Gentiles; THIS was a temporary accommodation, THAT is the overall principle; this word meant thus-and-such in Classical Greek, but something else in Koine Greek) --- etc.
But then we're into the realm of "Your hermeneutic is baloney, nyaa nyaa nyaa.."
((Sigh...))
I'd like to get this discussion off on another point of departure. A more basic, shall we say foundational question. Here it is:
Are we created in the image and likeness of God? What does this consist of?
God bless you, Hoss.