Replies

I hoped to give you a start in answering the challenge to "explain Scripturally this whole business of 'relationship with Jesus'."

Here is another:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every [branch] that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. - John 15:1-5

Christ Jesus is our Life. We abide in Him and He abides in us. Without Him, we can do nothing.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. – John 1:1-4

That is not a here v. there relationship. He indwells us.

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. - Romans 8:9

Notice also how the above verse affirms the Trinity - the Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ.

Again,

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? - I Corinthians 6:19

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. – Colossians 3:3

To God be the glory, not man, never man.

Alamo-Girl — I still don’t understand the relevance of those passages of Scripture to the point at hand. You seem to be affirming that we can have relationship with God, but MarkBsnr is saying that we cannot.

Indeed, MarkBsnr has scoffed at the very idea that we can have a relationship with the Creator. Yes, He is awesome, and beyond our understanding. But all of Scripture and history is about God’s loving relationship with His creation, which culminates in the most beautiful relationship imaginable: a Bridegroom with His bride.

MarkBsnr has asked for chapter and verse, a potentially dangerous practice which can lend itself to prooftexting. That said, here’s my chapter and verse; this is Jesus speaking:

John 15:15 — “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

Yes, we can have a relationship — even a **friendship** — with the One who brought about all of creation.

And a bonus for MarkBsnr — Jesus reveals his submissive relationship with His Father in the final phrase.

In addition to scoffing at the concept that we can be in relationship with the Creator, MarkBsnr scoffs at the concept that we can be assured of our salvation. Since he seems to respect Scripture, I provide the following passage, from Hebrews 10:19-23:

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”

That is all about hope, all about confidence in the efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice, all about assurance of faith. Other passages affirm that we can be confident in the Lord’s salvation: See 1 Thessalonians 4: 13ff, for example.

A-G — do you still affirm MarkBsnr’s rejection of relationship with Christ and rejection of assurance of salvation?