Okay, I'm stepping out of my comfort zone to try and persuade you from a different angle. But I have to establish some pegs on our minds first.
When I woke this morning, the words free gift were on my mind. I have built a mountain of evidence that is certain, and many here including myself, give the words" free gift " power to try and knock that entire mountain down. Which by the way is the first rule in what not to do when interpreting scripture.
Anyway. Taking a Buick look at my New Strong's expanded, I'm getting a different take on the word free, and the word gift. Because when you put both words together " free gift " it gives our English translation that the gift is free, no work necessary to receive it.
Here are some definitions that I'm seeing.
1) abundant
2) magnanimous
3) nobility
4) make clean
5) innocent
6) to burst through
6) to open wide
7) to loosen
8) not a slave
9) unrestrain
10) exempt
12) liberate
13) spiritual endowment
Questions to you all?
Do the words " free and gift" accually appear together?
And does the word free in the Greek accually communicate something given without work and effort to receive it?
The work and effort being specifically.
1) Turning our life and will over to God daily.
2) believing that He has accepted the surrendered life and is maintaining it, sustaining it, and will complete it.
3) making decisions all day long, that support the fact that our lives are not ours anymore, but His now.
4) courage.
5) endurance.
Grace is a gift, unmerited favor. But give me some good reasons why Grace Is a " free gift ", none of that work and effort provided above is required. If this is so, you wouldn't even need to fulfill your understanding, which is " believe and recieve".
Okay let me have it!