I agree 100, People always want to take credit for what was accomplished on the cross by pointing it back to their own self righteous works.
Folks don't understand the historical context of the Bible and that it is a testimony of the work that God was accomplishing (and is still)
Also that the early church struggled (they were after all new believers). The disciples didn't understand Jesus teachings during His Ministry as is apparent in the Scriptures, they received the Holy Spirit in the exact same way we did, sometime after Christs crucifixion. When they walked physically with Jesus they were just as spiritually dead as we were before our salvation. YES they were human beings, just like us.
Paul's understanding of Grace was far more mature than James for example, and James and Paul openly disagreed with each other. James didn't even really think a Gentile could be saved without converting to Judaism and barely accepted it when it happened with Cornelius and continued his ministry converting Gentiles to Judaism first.
So people point to James when they want to establish and argument for following the sect of the pharisees (Book of Acts) and then go to Paul when they've sinned so much that they want Grace to cover it all up. Wash, rinse, repeat.
So with that in mind the teachings of James and Paul differ. Not out of unbelief of the Holy Spirit, but out of a different understanding of how we are to walk with the Holy Spirit when we received it.
If we read the scriptures from an historical and Judaic perspective we can understand them so much more clearly and stop just pulling random verses and trying to justify our whole message/walk of faith etc, with those little nuggets, and not understand the wholeness of it all.
I see people on this site pulling verses out all the time to justify their current argument, but we walk with the gift of the Creator of the Universe living inside of us to guide us, if we would only spend some time listening to Him.
The Bible gives us a tangible understanding/reference to the character of God, but it is not a full instruction guide on how to live a Christian life, it surely can be used for instruction but the author of the Bible is that instructor, if we focus so much on the words of the book and little on the author we will miss the mark.
It is a learning, growing process by which we walk with the Living God, in a personal, living and interactive relationship with the author of the book.
Folks don't understand the historical context of the Bible and that it is a testimony of the work that God was accomplishing (and is still)
Also that the early church struggled (they were after all new believers). The disciples didn't understand Jesus teachings during His Ministry as is apparent in the Scriptures, they received the Holy Spirit in the exact same way we did, sometime after Christs crucifixion. When they walked physically with Jesus they were just as spiritually dead as we were before our salvation. YES they were human beings, just like us.
Paul's understanding of Grace was far more mature than James for example, and James and Paul openly disagreed with each other. James didn't even really think a Gentile could be saved without converting to Judaism and barely accepted it when it happened with Cornelius and continued his ministry converting Gentiles to Judaism first.
So people point to James when they want to establish and argument for following the sect of the pharisees (Book of Acts) and then go to Paul when they've sinned so much that they want Grace to cover it all up. Wash, rinse, repeat.
So with that in mind the teachings of James and Paul differ. Not out of unbelief of the Holy Spirit, but out of a different understanding of how we are to walk with the Holy Spirit when we received it.
If we read the scriptures from an historical and Judaic perspective we can understand them so much more clearly and stop just pulling random verses and trying to justify our whole message/walk of faith etc, with those little nuggets, and not understand the wholeness of it all.
I see people on this site pulling verses out all the time to justify their current argument, but we walk with the gift of the Creator of the Universe living inside of us to guide us, if we would only spend some time listening to Him.
The Bible gives us a tangible understanding/reference to the character of God, but it is not a full instruction guide on how to live a Christian life, it surely can be used for instruction but the author of the Bible is that instructor, if we focus so much on the words of the book and little on the author we will miss the mark.
It is a learning, growing process by which we walk with the Living God, in a personal, living and interactive relationship with the author of the book.