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That is incorrect.
You are viewing salvation in the context of a package you receive instead of being the result of an active dynamic which produces a manifest result.
In other words you perceive salvation as reaching a destination without using the engine in your car to get there.
When Paul says we are "saved by grace through faith" he is speaking of the "working dynamic" that produces a genuine salvation. He is not speaking of some package which God gives you because you accept it.
The grace of God that brings salvation is this...
Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
In other words this grace is God's divine influence upon our heart, it is the leading of God drawing us. If you look up the Greek definition of grace you will find listed "divine influence upon the heart."
Now faith is when we yield wholeheartedly yield to that divine influence upon the heart (Jesus taught we must be DOERS and not only hearers). That is why faith in Hebrews 11 is connected to action, by faith Abraham left his abode, by faith Noah built the Ark. In other words faith is where we wholeheartedly trust in God and therefore yield to His instruction, we become DOERS of the word.
It is through the active dynamic of "grace THROUGH faith" that the salvation of the soul is wrought. If this dynamic does not exist then faith is received in vain. That is why Paul wrote...
2Co 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
There must be a "working together with God" in order to be "made the righteousness of God in Him."
2Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The false teachers have removed this dynamic from the Gospel and thus preach the perception of salvation absent the means to get there. Thus salvation is twisted into being purely forensic or positional. Thus salvation is twisted to be inclusive of ongoing iniquity within the heart.
Paul spoke of grace in...
Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved
Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
The quickening is key, for that is the washing of regeneration by the Spirit of God whereby we are made alive to God once more. It involves a total transformation from darkness to light.
Very few people are being quickened today because biblical repentance has been subverted. People do not crucify their old man in repentance and thus the rebellion never ceases and therefore they never exercise true faith, thus they cannot be saved by grace through faith. Instead they are deceived into believing that faith is just trust and that grace is the free gift, if they therefore trust in the free gift and accept it they think they are saved. It's a deception because NOTHING has changed in the heart.
Now I am sure most people will not want to take very seriously what I have written but I would warn you to seriously think about it. When one is deceived they do not know it and that is why deception works. If you are deceived you will not know it and the wall to break through that deception is often very difficult.
Think about it please.
You are viewing salvation in the context of a package you receive instead of being the result of an active dynamic which produces a manifest result.
In other words you perceive salvation as reaching a destination without using the engine in your car to get there.
When Paul says we are "saved by grace through faith" he is speaking of the "working dynamic" that produces a genuine salvation. He is not speaking of some package which God gives you because you accept it.
The grace of God that brings salvation is this...
Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
In other words this grace is God's divine influence upon our heart, it is the leading of God drawing us. If you look up the Greek definition of grace you will find listed "divine influence upon the heart."
Now faith is when we yield wholeheartedly yield to that divine influence upon the heart (Jesus taught we must be DOERS and not only hearers). That is why faith in Hebrews 11 is connected to action, by faith Abraham left his abode, by faith Noah built the Ark. In other words faith is where we wholeheartedly trust in God and therefore yield to His instruction, we become DOERS of the word.
It is through the active dynamic of "grace THROUGH faith" that the salvation of the soul is wrought. If this dynamic does not exist then faith is received in vain. That is why Paul wrote...
2Co 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
There must be a "working together with God" in order to be "made the righteousness of God in Him."
2Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The false teachers have removed this dynamic from the Gospel and thus preach the perception of salvation absent the means to get there. Thus salvation is twisted into being purely forensic or positional. Thus salvation is twisted to be inclusive of ongoing iniquity within the heart.
Paul spoke of grace in...
Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved
Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
The quickening is key, for that is the washing of regeneration by the Spirit of God whereby we are made alive to God once more. It involves a total transformation from darkness to light.
Very few people are being quickened today because biblical repentance has been subverted. People do not crucify their old man in repentance and thus the rebellion never ceases and therefore they never exercise true faith, thus they cannot be saved by grace through faith. Instead they are deceived into believing that faith is just trust and that grace is the free gift, if they therefore trust in the free gift and accept it they think they are saved. It's a deception because NOTHING has changed in the heart.
Now I am sure most people will not want to take very seriously what I have written but I would warn you to seriously think about it. When one is deceived they do not know it and that is why deception works. If you are deceived you will not know it and the wall to break through that deception is often very difficult.
Think about it please.
Not if you know the Scriptures.
No, it's the product of the NT in, for example, Ro 3:24; Eph 2:8-9.
It is contrasted
with debt (Ro 4:4, 16),
with works (Ro 11:6) and
with law (Jn 1:17; Ro 6:14-15; Gal 5:4)
where the meaning is clearly seen in that God's favor by law is according to merit,
in contrast to his favor by grace which is free through faith.
No, it's the product of the NT in, for example, Ro 3:24; Eph 2:8-9.
It is contrasted
with debt (Ro 4:4, 16),
with works (Ro 11:6) and
with law (Jn 1:17; Ro 6:14-15; Gal 5:4)
where the meaning is clearly seen in that God's favor by law is according to merit,
in contrast to his favor by grace which is free through faith.
P
God's grace and obedience are inherently linked
because...well, God is gracious.
Pretty much every time you see a command in the NT, it is closely linked with Grace.
God, when He gives a Gospel imperative (do this),
always reminds us of what we have been given in the Gospel.
because you have been given the Gospel of Grace,
therefore you are able to do these things.
let's be careful not to put the cart before the horse.
we do not 'do' to receive grace...
we do because we have been given grace.
Col. 2:6-7
Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
just one example from this morning's reading.
because...well, God is gracious.
Pretty much every time you see a command in the NT, it is closely linked with Grace.
God, when He gives a Gospel imperative (do this),
always reminds us of what we have been given in the Gospel.
because you have been given the Gospel of Grace,
therefore you are able to do these things.
let's be careful not to put the cart before the horse.
we do not 'do' to receive grace...
we do because we have been given grace.
Col. 2:6-7
Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
just one example from this morning's reading.
Not necessarily.
The punishment due me for breaking the law may be removed,
mercy granted by the Court because of some past service, etc. w
hich the Court deems meritoriously off-setting.
You don't get it. . .we don't merit anything from God.
God is debtor to no man (Ro 11:35).
That is the pure horse-hockey of unspiritual human wisdom and foolish finite reasoning.
Grace is any gift of God, from faith to eternal life to the power to obey.
And we don't merit any of it (Ro 11:35).
The punishment due me for breaking the law may be removed,
mercy granted by the Court because of some past service, etc. w
hich the Court deems meritoriously off-setting.
You don't get it. . .we don't merit anything from God.
God is debtor to no man (Ro 11:35).
That is the pure horse-hockey of unspiritual human wisdom and foolish finite reasoning.
Grace is any gift of God, from faith to eternal life to the power to obey.
And we don't merit any of it (Ro 11:35).
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