Romans 1:16-17
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, [1] as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (ESV online: http://www.esv.org/)
These verses are the entrance to some of the deepest, most clear and compact, chapters on the meaning of Jesus' gospel. The apostle Paul is indisputably the instrument that Jesus used to write the book of Romans. He was probably the most unlikely human on the face of the planet that you would have expected Jesus to choose, save, and consecrate to preach the Gospel. Paul,who was previously known as Saul before he met Jesus on the Damascus road, by his own testimony in scripture,stated that he sought letters of authorization from the Jewish council in Jerusalem, to capture and bring to judgement, the new followers of the crucified carpenter from Galilee. These followers of that crucified carpenter named Jesus, believed that Jesus was their Messiah, that he had risen from the dead, and were going every where preaching Him to be God's Son. Saul, later to be renamed by Jesus Paul, was a trained leader of the Jews, a pharisee of pharisees, blameless according to Paul's testimony of breaking the Law, as it was taught by man. He was consumed with passion and zeal for the traditions and beliefs of his fathers. But Jesus, changed all that when He sovereignly called Paul, to be an apostle to the Gentiles and preacher of the Gospel to them.
The conversion of Saul on the Damascus road (see Acts 9:1-31), demonstrates that the sovereign choice of God is not dependant on our works, our own goodness, or the current state of our spiritual journey. The newly converted Paul, obviously had a history of the vilest and most cruel treatment of the new sect of people who were claiming that Jesus was the Messiah, and that He was alive. He sought to utterly destroy this new sect. He pursued them with the official sanction of the high priest. The scripture itself testifies that Saul was present at the stoning of Stephen. He watched the garments of those that were doing the stoning (Acts 7:58).
Every believer is chosen, not based on their works, not based on their goodness, or even on their talents, they were chosen while in a state of rebellion. In Ephesians chapter 2:1-10 it reads:
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobience- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved-and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindest towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before hand, that we should walk in them. ESV
God chooses us. It is not in any way based on our earning His favor, impressing Him with our knowledge, wisdom, or understanding, it is fully based on His prerogative as the Sovereign God. We are simply dead in our trespasses and sins, before He regenerates us, we are absolutely in rebellion to Him. In fact, you can not argue that it is based on what we may do in the future. There is no way that a spiritually dead sinner can do anything to please God. Without the sovereign intervention, regeneration, and sanctification of God, His Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, we would never change. We would continue in our sin, and never do anything for God's kingdom. Only after He chooses us, regenerates, and sanctifies us, are we ever going to do anything that brings Him glory. So, with that argument stated, we can not infer He chooses us based on future good. There would not be any good on our part without His Sovereign grace, forgiveness, and the gift of new life in Jesus.
I will write more in later posts about God's sovereign election.
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Dear Kevin,
ReplyDeleteDO YOU PLAY RUSSIAN ROULETTE WITH YOUR SALVATION?
Abide in Me, and I in You...
Jesus said:
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you." (John 15:1-7)
Wow! In those seven verses, the word ABIDE is mentioned seven times. The context of those verses provides us with a lot of light as to what is required of us by GOD for our eternal salvation.
Jesus said:
"Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few." (Matthew 7:13-14)
So we must not only ABIDE in Him but we must also strive to enter by the narrow gate. If we do not ABIDE in Him, then it is obvious that we are not on the path to the narrow gate of salvation, but on the path to the wide gate and to eternal destruction.
So Jesus said that if we do not ABIDE in Him (the Vine) then we will be taken away from the Vine by the Father, and will be cast off only to wither, to be gathered, and then to be thrown into the fire and burned.
Now that I have your attention, shouldn't we now find the meaning of the word ABIDE?
The theological meaning of ABIDE is to dwell within. Jesus would come and dwell in us and we likewise in Him. So as long as we do what Jesus requests of us then we are on the path to the narrow gate to salvation.
So to assure that we are on right path, Jesus has commanded that we must ABIDE in Him.
What is required in order to have Jesus ABIDE in us and we in Him?
Can we do it:
1. By accepting Him as our our own personal Lord and Savior ?
No. Where does the Bible say that?
2. By the grace of GOD only? Sola Gracias?
No. Where does the Bible say that?
3. By faith in GOD alone? Sola Fides?
No. Where does the Bible say that?
It is simple common sense that since He commanded that we must do something, then doesn't it stand to reason that He would also tell us how to do it?
Jesus was very clear in what we must do in order to have Him ABIDE in us and we in Him.
Jesus left this command for us in John 6:53-57:
53 "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you (the taken away branch);
54 he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
56 HE WHO EATS MY FLESH AND DRINKS MY BLOOD ABIDES IN ME, AND I IN HIM.
57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me."
Michael,
ReplyDeleteThe blog post that I wrote is dealing with the sovereignty of God and His electing purposes. I do not dispute that there are commands for the believer. In the format of a blog post, to lay out all the doctrine that a newly converted believer should follow is impossible. The passage that you first mention out of John 15:1-7 has been a favorite of mine since the beginning of my walk with Jesus. But scripture should always agree with other scripture in its ultimate and correct interpretation. Although, there is promised blessing from the choosing on our part to abide in Jesus, the question that the blog I wrote more applies to the fact that, we would not choose to abide in Him, without His first choosing and saving us. Only through the continued guidance, instruction, and protecting power of God the Holy Spirit, are we able to abide in Jesus. And though, after I am converted, there is responsibility on my part to choose Him each day, that choosing is enabled and sustained by His grace, and not my work. If my salvation depends on my ability to sustain it, then we are back to a doctrine of works. See Galatians chapters 2 and 3. It is first and foremost God's sovereign grace and the power of His Spirit that works in me, that enables me to abide in Him.
Good article Kevin, it is amazing to me how the sharing of a simple truths such as total depravity of man (there are none good no not one)and the AWESOME GRACE OF GOD stir up people so. seems like everything go to debate no discussion. In the words of a poet "They talk about a life of brotherly love show me someone who knows how to live it" Keep up the good work my brother, and season all you do with the love
ReplyDeleteIn Christ
Rick