Not By Works
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May we listen to God...
[h=1]Titus 3:9King James Version 9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.[/h]strivings
1. To exert much effort or energy; endeavor. 2. To struggle or fight forcefully; contend: strive against injustice
con·ten·tion
Definition of contention for English Language Learners. : something (such as a belief, opinion, or idea) that is argued or stated. : anger and disagreement. : a situation in which you have a chance to win something that you are trying to win
[h=1]Titus 3:9King James Version 9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.[/h]strivings
1. To exert much effort or energy; endeavor. 2. To struggle or fight forcefully; contend: strive against injustice
con·ten·tion
Definition of contention for English Language Learners. : something (such as a belief, opinion, or idea) that is argued or stated. : anger and disagreement. : a situation in which you have a chance to win something that you are trying to win
yes, 851 pages, of which i've managed to read about 30 - seeing how this has grown, i don't understand how it has gotten past "if by grace, then it cannot be by works, for if by works, grace is no longer grace" -- how it possibly could get beyond that - and honestly, i'm not sure i want to know how to discard that ((if discarding it really is what the other 800 pages are about??)), so i have no current plans to try and read this whole thing.
You made a typo, but I gotcha.
Paul may have been writing with revelation from God,
but Jesus IS GOD.
If you're going to want to know what Jesus came here for and what He taught, you should go to Jesus, not to Paul.
Paul had to figure out a new way to understand the cross or it would not have made any sense.
We can know for sure that the crucifiction happened and that the resurrection happened, but what was it all about?
Jesus did not speak to this... Paul did.
Paul put his thesis together in the book of Romans. If it's read honestly, one comes away understanding that the Law must be followed, but that we have a new way of following it. The new way is the New Covenant. Which is really found in the Old Testament since God will never change and is the same God in the O.T. as in the N.T.
It's not correct to say that we're saved ONLY BY FAITH. Faith saves us by the grace of God. But faith without works is dead.
So, we should just not be afraid of the word "works", fess up and say that YES, JESUS taught us and left us with commands that He expects us to follow.
It might be difficult for you to engagé me because I like to have serious conversation and you like to make a few comments, insult people and then disappear.
Try being serious for once. Let's see what happens...
Paul may have been writing with revelation from God,
but Jesus IS GOD.
If you're going to want to know what Jesus came here for and what He taught, you should go to Jesus, not to Paul.
Paul had to figure out a new way to understand the cross or it would not have made any sense.
We can know for sure that the crucifiction happened and that the resurrection happened, but what was it all about?
Jesus did not speak to this... Paul did.
Paul put his thesis together in the book of Romans. If it's read honestly, one comes away understanding that the Law must be followed, but that we have a new way of following it. The new way is the New Covenant. Which is really found in the Old Testament since God will never change and is the same God in the O.T. as in the N.T.
It's not correct to say that we're saved ONLY BY FAITH. Faith saves us by the grace of God. But faith without works is dead.
So, we should just not be afraid of the word "works", fess up and say that YES, JESUS taught us and left us with commands that He expects us to follow.
It might be difficult for you to engagé me because I like to have serious conversation and you like to make a few comments, insult people and then disappear.
Try being serious for once. Let's see what happens...
W
Within the logic used by John he cant possibly mean that we sin daily...That was an invention of reprobate men.Oh; and this is the most memorized and parroted verse by the easy graces, they all know it by heart, but again they are misunderstanding it. And of course they never memorized verse 6...selective memory I would suppose
John uses the same Greek word in verse 10 that says if we say we have not sinned..Verse 8 has to be harmonized with vers 6 as well...6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, (sin) we lie, and do not the truth:(so if one is living in the darkess of sin they are a liar and do not do the truth of His commandments, but they still claim they are Christians) those that say they are spiritual Jews and are not but do lie..Rev 2,3
:8 If we say that we have no (ou) sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1:10 If we say that we have not (ou) sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
ou
Also οὐκ ouk ook used before a vowel and οὐχ ouch ookh before an aspirate. A primary word; the absolutely negative (compare 3361 adverb; no or not: - + long, nay, neither, never, no (X man), none, [can-] not, + nothing, + special, un ([-worthy]), when, + without, + yet but.
It seems you are still searching for a way to continue in sin and still inherit the kingdom..However it cant be found in the text...its invisible scripture..
John uses the same Greek word in verse 10 that says if we say we have not sinned..Verse 8 has to be harmonized with vers 6 as well...6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, (sin) we lie, and do not the truth:(so if one is living in the darkess of sin they are a liar and do not do the truth of His commandments, but they still claim they are Christians) those that say they are spiritual Jews and are not but do lie..Rev 2,3
:8 If we say that we have no (ou) sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1:10 If we say that we have not (ou) sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
ou
Also οὐκ ouk ook used before a vowel and οὐχ ouch ookh before an aspirate. A primary word; the absolutely negative (compare 3361 adverb; no or not: - + long, nay, neither, never, no (X man), none, [can-] not, + nothing, + special, un ([-worthy]), when, + without, + yet but.
It seems you are still searching for a way to continue in sin and still inherit the kingdom..However it cant be found in the text...its invisible scripture..
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Scripture isolated can cause all sorts of opinions and traditions to be put in place:
If we pay attention to the ..we and our and the you in 1 John chapter 1 we will discover some great truths. These may conflict with some our church teachings and traditions.
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we (believers - namely John ) have looked at and ourhands have touched - this weproclaim concerning the Word of Life"
(I John 1:1).
In other words, John is establishing that he was an eyewitness to the fact that Jesus truly did come in the flesh. He did this to convince the Gnostics that Jesus was not an illusion.
"We ( believers - namely John himself ) proclaim to you (unbelievers - gnostics ) what we have seen and heard, so that you (unbelievers - gnostics ) also may have fellowship with us ( believers ). And our(believers )fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ" (verse 3).
This verse says two things. First, John repeats the fact that he, the rest of the apostles and other people saw Christ in the flesh. He wanted the Gnostics ( unbelievers ) to realize that there were many people who could testify to the reality of Christ.
Second, he is saying that there are some people in the audience who were not in the fellowship with Christ. ( just like we do now in all churches....there are both types of people )
"This is the message we ( believers ) have heard from Him and declare to you ( unbelievers ):God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all" (verse 5).
John's message in this verse is clear: God is light and in Him there is no darkness. We are either in the light (saved) or in darkness (lost). Scriptures are full of this comparison between light (saved) vs. darkness (lost).
"If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth." (verse 6).
In other words, if someone says he has fellowship with Christ, but is walking in darkness (lost), he is lying and not practicing the truth. The Gnostics ( not true believers ) claimed to be in fellowship with Christ (saved), and yet were actually living a lie and therefore weren't practicing the truth.
"If we ( believers ) walk in the light, as He is in the light,we ( believers ) have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us ( believers ) from all sin" (verse 7).
In other words, if we walk in the light (are saved) we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. To put it another way, once we are saved, we are permanently in the fellowship because the blood of Jesus continually cleanses us from all sin. The blood of Jesus continually cleanses us from all sin because we are in Christ. This is always in present tense.
Therefore, we aren't forgiven because we confess our sins. We are forgiven because of what Christ did for us on the cross.
"If we( John putting all of us in the same boat before coming to Christ ) claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" (verse 8).
John is now addressing the belief the Gnostics had regarding sin because they didn't believe it was real and therefore believed they had no sin. The "we" John is using here refers to all people before coming to Christ including all believers too which "we" had to acknowledge at some point in our lives.
He is referring specifically to the Gnostics, who believed they were without sin. Because they claimed to be without sin, then they were only deceiving themselves and the truth (Jesus) was not in them.
However, verse 9 says that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
In other words, if the Gnostics were to confess they had sins, then God, Who is faithful and righteous, would forgive and cleanse them from their unrighteousness.
In the Greek language, the words "forgive" and "cleanse" mean past actions that have results today and will continue to have results in the future.
Also, the word "all" used in these verses means all. It doesn't mean that we are cleansed of our past sins and our past unrighteousness, it means we were cleansed of all our unrighteousness. And if God cleanses us from all unrighteousness, then we are cleansed forever!
We become a new creation in Christ - created in righteousness and holiness. Eph. 4:24
"If we claim we ( all of us were in this boat at one time ) have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word has no place in our lives" (verse 10).
Basically this verse is a repeat of verse 8. To put it simply, it means that the Gnostics can't claim to be without sin and yet be saved. John is saying that because the Gnostics claimed they had no sin, they were actually calling God a liar and therefore didn't know the truth.
The purpose of the first chapter of 1 John was to compare the truth of God to the error of gnosticism. John was addressing the Gnostics, who were deceived by their own teaching. He wanted the Gnostics to understand that what they believed conflicted with what God said. He was not, however, addressing believers.
However we can all learn from all scriptures including 1 John 1 - I especially love the truth of verse 7 - the blood of Jesus continually cleanses us from all sin because we are in Him.
If we pay attention to the ..we and our and the you in 1 John chapter 1 we will discover some great truths. These may conflict with some our church teachings and traditions.
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we (believers - namely John ) have looked at and ourhands have touched - this weproclaim concerning the Word of Life"
(I John 1:1).
In other words, John is establishing that he was an eyewitness to the fact that Jesus truly did come in the flesh. He did this to convince the Gnostics that Jesus was not an illusion.
"We ( believers - namely John himself ) proclaim to you (unbelievers - gnostics ) what we have seen and heard, so that you (unbelievers - gnostics ) also may have fellowship with us ( believers ). And our(believers )fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ" (verse 3).
This verse says two things. First, John repeats the fact that he, the rest of the apostles and other people saw Christ in the flesh. He wanted the Gnostics ( unbelievers ) to realize that there were many people who could testify to the reality of Christ.
Second, he is saying that there are some people in the audience who were not in the fellowship with Christ. ( just like we do now in all churches....there are both types of people )
"This is the message we ( believers ) have heard from Him and declare to you ( unbelievers ):God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all" (verse 5).
John's message in this verse is clear: God is light and in Him there is no darkness. We are either in the light (saved) or in darkness (lost). Scriptures are full of this comparison between light (saved) vs. darkness (lost).
"If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth." (verse 6).
In other words, if someone says he has fellowship with Christ, but is walking in darkness (lost), he is lying and not practicing the truth. The Gnostics ( not true believers ) claimed to be in fellowship with Christ (saved), and yet were actually living a lie and therefore weren't practicing the truth.
"If we ( believers ) walk in the light, as He is in the light,we ( believers ) have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us ( believers ) from all sin" (verse 7).
In other words, if we walk in the light (are saved) we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. To put it another way, once we are saved, we are permanently in the fellowship because the blood of Jesus continually cleanses us from all sin. The blood of Jesus continually cleanses us from all sin because we are in Christ. This is always in present tense.
Therefore, we aren't forgiven because we confess our sins. We are forgiven because of what Christ did for us on the cross.
"If we( John putting all of us in the same boat before coming to Christ ) claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" (verse 8).
John is now addressing the belief the Gnostics had regarding sin because they didn't believe it was real and therefore believed they had no sin. The "we" John is using here refers to all people before coming to Christ including all believers too which "we" had to acknowledge at some point in our lives.
He is referring specifically to the Gnostics, who believed they were without sin. Because they claimed to be without sin, then they were only deceiving themselves and the truth (Jesus) was not in them.
However, verse 9 says that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
In other words, if the Gnostics were to confess they had sins, then God, Who is faithful and righteous, would forgive and cleanse them from their unrighteousness.
In the Greek language, the words "forgive" and "cleanse" mean past actions that have results today and will continue to have results in the future.
Also, the word "all" used in these verses means all. It doesn't mean that we are cleansed of our past sins and our past unrighteousness, it means we were cleansed of all our unrighteousness. And if God cleanses us from all unrighteousness, then we are cleansed forever!
We become a new creation in Christ - created in righteousness and holiness. Eph. 4:24
"If we claim we ( all of us were in this boat at one time ) have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word has no place in our lives" (verse 10).
Basically this verse is a repeat of verse 8. To put it simply, it means that the Gnostics can't claim to be without sin and yet be saved. John is saying that because the Gnostics claimed they had no sin, they were actually calling God a liar and therefore didn't know the truth.
The purpose of the first chapter of 1 John was to compare the truth of God to the error of gnosticism. John was addressing the Gnostics, who were deceived by their own teaching. He wanted the Gnostics to understand that what they believed conflicted with what God said. He was not, however, addressing believers.
However we can all learn from all scriptures including 1 John 1 - I especially love the truth of verse 7 - the blood of Jesus continually cleanses us from all sin because we are in Him.
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