Grace, Faith & Life

Saved by Faith ALONEThe gospel is not unconditional. God has made salvation SOLELY conditioned upon FAITH in Christ. (By the way, this statement is in violation of  Canon 9 of the Catholic Council of Trent, which declares those who take this position are anathema from the Catholic Church. As such those who believe the gospel in accordance with the Bible cannot identify themselves with the Catholic Church) The verse that follows Rom 4:5 states this, “David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.'” Rom 4:6-8Faith in Christ is the sole condition for salvation. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 And to the Christians in Ephesus Paul wrote, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” Eph 2:8,9 And “because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions— it is by grace you have been saved.” Eph 2:4,5Salvation is “free” in that there are no works one must do to be saved. Faith is the sole prerequisite. But faith is not a work, it is an attitude. The Bible very clearly indicates faith is not a work in saying, “If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about— but not before God. What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts (actually the word “believe” is used in the Greek) God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.” Rom 4:2-5 Thus faith, while a condition for salvation, is not categorized as a work. Faith is an attitude, and like all attitudes, it’s not something one gets paid for.

Source: The Gospel Series

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I liked Andrew Farley’s sermon The Law of Christ  at his channel called Church Without Walls.

Source: Opening Thoughts – Google Docs 

Church and the New Covenant believer:

Churches are community, serving, and motivational. Salvation is personal and spiritual. Most Christian theology and church programs tend to tie Christian living to the church.

Some of the early “big” churches did not turn out very well. They had different problems which I think, for five of them, was because they had lost this “personal” identity with the Holy Spirit and bestowed their efforts on the church.

Seven churches in Revelation 2:1-29

Ephesus – the church that had forsaken its first love (2:4).

Smyrna – the church that would suffer persecution (2:10).

Pergamum – the church that needed to repent (2:16).

Thyatira – the church that had a false prophetess (2:20).

Sardis – the church that had fallen asleep (3:2).

Philadelphia – the church that had endured patiently (3:10).

Laodicea – the church that was lukewarm and insipid (to God) (3:16).

Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.   (KJV – sent from CadreBible)

The Naked Gospel, by Andrew Farley

This is a very good book about how to study and understand the personal transformation intended by the New Covenant. The typical modern evangelical church model is “come, grow, serve and go”. My problem with this paradigm is that the primary message is usually to motivate members to “serve and go”. This makes church growth the main thing, rather than an understanding of personal transformation for members.The leadership of most churches seem to be happy just getting new Christians to join “Team Christian”. Teaching a new believer their true identity in Christ and how that is supposed to work in their life situations according to the New Covenant seems to be of secondary importance. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the scriptural basis for the New Covenant and how it causes a personal transformation which should lead to a victorious Christian life. This is the Gospel the way it should be taught. Dan Boliek, aka Theophilos

And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. http://bible.us/2Cor3.4.NKJV