Free Grace or Faith and Works?

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A man justified before God by:

  • Faith proved outwardly by works of law

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Works alone

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    23
Jan 12, 2019
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1,399
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Read J0hn 6 again. Jesus only died for those that his Father gave him, not all mankind.
It is clear that you believed in the reformed concept of Limited Atonement.

What I am curious is, have you ever realized that the human concept of time is different from God? Let me explain

God is outside time but we are in time. Hence when we read scriptures saying that God foreknew who would be saved, being in time, we view that causality as follows:

God already knew who will be saved,
THEN
They are saved.

This implies the lack of free will. But for someone who is outside time, it might be possible that people still have free will, even if God already knew what choice they are going to make.

My point is, we human beings grew up living in time, we are like fishes born in water, who cannot really explain what water is. So why are you so insistent that we can understand God and the way he lives outside time?
 

TheDivineWatermark

Well-known member
Aug 3, 2018
10,887
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Right about the concept of Limited Atonement (which I believe is an inadequate viewpoint)... and also regarding "what happens when" in Scripture, which I attempted to demonstrate in a post I made awhile back (quoted below):

[quoting my post]

[note, this post will cover the following passages: Acts 3:22-26; Matthew 10:5-7; John 12:32-33; John 6:41-58 [64][35]; John 7:17; John 17:6-20; 1 John 4:14; 1 John 5:10-12; along with my comments (my apologies for the length :D )]

Acts 3 [blb]-

22 For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up to you [this is His earthly ministry BEFORE His death] a prophet like me out from your brothers. You will listen to Him in all things, as many as He might say to you. 23 And it will be that every soul who might not heed that prophet will be utterly destroyed out from the people.’
24 And also all the prophets from Samuel, and those subsequently, as many as have spoken, also have proclaimed these days. 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth will be blessed.’ 26 God, having raised up His servant [that is, in His earthly ministry BEFORE His death], sent Him first to you, blessing you in turning away each of you from your wickednesses.”

[and verse 19 had said, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And He shall send Jesus Christ... Whom..." etc]

[Matt10:5-7 had said, "5 These twelve, Jesus sent forth, having instructed them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles and do not enter into any city of the Samaritans. 6But go rather to those being the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And going on, proclaim, saying, ‘The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near!’ (this is not what is to be proclaimed presently [in "this present age [singular]"], but will again in the future trib, in slightly differing phrasing)]


John 12:32-33 [blb] -

32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all to Myself.” 33 Now He was saying this, signifying by what death He was about to die. [compare this with your John 6:44 verse]


John 6:41-58 [blb] - [dialogue with skeptical inquiring multitude (vv.24-29), that though they'd seen Him, still did not believe (v.36)]

41 Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him because He said, “I am the bread having come down from heaven.” 42 And they were saying, “Is this not Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does He say, ‘I have come down from heaven?’”
43 Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble with one another. 44 No one is able to come to Me unless the Father, the one having sent Me, draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets: ‘And they will all be taught of God.’ Everyone having heard from the Father and having learned, comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One being from God; He has seen the Father.
47 Truly, truly, I say to you, the one believing has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and died. 50 This is the bread coming down from heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread, having come down from heaven. If anyone shall have eaten of this bread, he will live to the age. And also, the bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
52 Therefore the Jews were arguing with one another, saying, “How is this man able to give us His flesh to eat?”
53 Therefore Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you shall have eaten the flesh of the Son of Man, and shall have drunk His blood, you do not have life in yourselves. 54 The one eating My flesh and drinking My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day. 55 For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.
56 The one eating My flesh and drinking My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so also the one feeding on Me, he also will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread having come down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. The one eating this bread will live to the age.”

[the key issue all through is: faith or lack of faith - Jn6:29, 35, 40, 47, 64, and He symbolizes faith as appropriating/eating/drinking Himself - Jn6:35, 51, 53, 58; and then in JOHN 7:17 He emphasized the human response factor: "17 If anyone desires to do His will, he will know concerning the teaching, whether it is from God, or I speak from Myself."]


John 17:6-20 [blb] -

Prayer for the Disciples

6 I revealed Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. [<--He did this personally] They were Yours, and to Me You gave them, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things You have given Me are of You. 8 For the words that You have given Me I have given them, and they received them, and knew truly that I came forth from You; and they believed that You sent Me.
9 I am praying concerning them. I do not pray concerning the world, but concerning those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all things of mine are Yours, and Yours Mine. And I have been glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, and yet they are themselves in the world, and I am coming to You.

Holy Father, keep them in Your name, which You have given Me, that they may be one as we are. 12 When I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name, which You have given Me. And I guarded them, and none of them has perished, except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13 But now I am coming to You, and I speak these things in the world, so that they may have My joy fulfilled within them. 14 I have given them Your word, and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15 I do not ask that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from evil. 16 They are not of the world, as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also sent them into the world; 19 and for them I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Prayer for all Believers

20 But I do not ask for these only, but also for those believing in Me through their word, [...]


[so this is showing the distinction between "they have kept your word" / He had [aorist] shown the Father to them, personally (that is, to living disciples the Father had given Him, especially the Apostles), AND "those believing IN ME through their word"--Recall 1Jn4 "14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world." And 1Jn5, "10 The one believing in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one not believing God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has testified concerning His Son. 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 The one having the Son has life; the one not having the Son of God does not have life."]
 

Jackson123

Senior Member
Feb 6, 2014
11,769
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Ahh the thief on the cross, you sound like a Methodist 😇
No I am not Methodist, but I do believe salvation by faith not by work, but yes when Jesus in our heart, it will produce love. Because Jesus I love.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
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How did you fail to include "Grace through faith" in your options?

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:8-10)

All should note that good works cannot be separated from salvation by grace through faith. They do not earn or merit salvation, but they are necessary for sanctification.

As to "nature of grace" who can explain God's "amazing grace"?
This one.

Note, its not our own works...WE are HIS workmanship, and we are created to do good works.

Therefore its three-fold, grace we are saved throught faith, not our own works but by His works which we walk in.

Praise the Lord!

Who can explainGods amazing grace...look to Jesus. And also check out Jesus mighty works. He can change hearts. Thats something we just cant do by ourselves. Only He can do it.
 
Dec 9, 2011
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We are delivered (saved) both by God's sovereign grace eternally and we are delivered (saved) many times as we live our lives here on earth by our good works by obeying God's commandments and repenting when we sometimes yield our bodies to our desires of the things of the world. Each time we repent and God forgives us we have just received a deliverance from those sins and stand in good fellowship again with God.
You don’t have to put yourself through that condemnation,JESUS died on the cross making payment for us for ALL sin.

Now although we are still In the flesh here on earth and we still sin we now should repent NOT for forgiveness again for salvation

but repent to GOD that we realized that we sinned In the flesh part but we Intend to continue renewing our minds to the new creation we have become.
 
J

jaybird88

Guest
You don’t have to put yourself through that condemnation,JESUS died on the cross making payment for us for ALL sin.

Now although we are still In the flesh here on earth and we still sin we now should repent NOT for forgiveness again for salvation

but repent to GOD that we realized that we sinned In the flesh part but we Intend to continue renewing our minds to the new creation we have become.
ask forgiveness, repent, but thats all been "nailed to the cross"? this is the problem with this idea, if we try and follow the way, live a Christ like life, we run into people saying Jesus died on the cross for that, meaning our lives are more or less pointless.
 
J

jaybird88

Guest
I agree.

Once people devalue Christs teaching on the way His people should live and be,
then transformation into the people of God is impossible and the gospel lost.

It is clear to me, being born again is about laying down a different way of being and
interacting with others, based on Jesus and not the world. And it takes effort, dedication,
application, commitment, perseverance.

I would suggest Jesus is a behaviouralist. We behave as we have learnt from past interactions.
Faith in the cross is the foundation, and it means we will strike forward against our inner turmoil
and feelings to build a new way within us guided by His word and the Holy Spirit.

Carrying ones cross is about ignoring the pain and hurt from others and taking the next step
forward. This runs contrary to free gracers, who believe Jesus has saved them despite their
continuing sin, and their sin does not deny the gospel or the value of their faith.
Worse still they arrogantly condemn righteous walkers as hypocrites because they stay
at the gate mocking those who stride forward following the Kingdom.

How the accuser rejoices at their success declaring Christs cross is incapable of conquering
sin and saving Gods people.
its the same reason you never see good parents doing the homework for their kids, if they did that the kids would never learn anything.
 
Jan 12, 2019
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its the same reason you never see good parents doing the homework for their kids, if they did that the kids would never learn anything.
When a parent bring a newborn back home, do they prepare everything before hand, the crib, the clothes, the food, or do they expect the baby to work for all those, so that he can learn something?
 
J

jaybird88

Guest
When a parent bring a newborn back home, do they prepare everything before hand, the crib, the clothes, the food, or do they expect the baby to work for all those, so that he can learn something?
will the parents do everything for the rest of the kids life? some parents do that and the kid grows up spoiled, not liked by most, and knows nothing because they were taught nothing.
 

calibob

Sinner saved by grace
May 29, 2018
8,268
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Anaheim, Cali.
When a parent bring a newborn back home, do they prepare everything before hand, the crib, the clothes, the food, or do they expect the baby to work for all those, so that he can learn something?
My teacher criticized my father for not helping me with my homework when I was about 11. It broke his heart. The fact is at that age I had more book learning than he ever got.
 
Dec 9, 2011
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ask forgiveness, repent, but thats all been "nailed to the cross"? this is the problem with this idea, if we try and follow the way, live a Christ like life, we run into people saying Jesus died on the cross for that, meaning our lives are more or less pointless.
IMO,a person needs to repent for salvation once and then by the mercies of GOD,renew their mind to the new creation that they are now.

Romans 12:1-2
King James Version

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
 
J

jaybird88

Guest
Dec 9, 2011
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but that sounds like work?
You call It work because you Interpret the body as the authority and not the Spirit as authority.
But AFTER salvation renew your mind,present your body a living sacrifice which Is reasonable.

Some would call this work,some would call this progressive and a continuous sanctification purifying the mind and trying to become like the new creation you are now that GOD has made your spirit perfect.
 
Jan 12, 2019
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will the parents do everything for the rest of the kids life? some parents do that and the kid grows up spoiled, not liked by most, and knows nothing because they were taught nothing.
If you think of salvation as being a new born, you will know that even us human, who are evil, we provide everything for the baby out of pure love. How much more, will God do that for Christians? Matthew 7:11
 
Dec 9, 2011
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Not if it's done with joy. If it isn't done joyfully we're doing something wrong.
joy Is a fruit of the Spirit but the bible says that EVERY person that has this hope purifies himself even as he IS pure so then when you say IF It's done with Joy that sounds like making provision for an occasion to say look I helped,not really knowing what GOD wants just somebody guessing what GOD wants according to what they think would be normal.
 

calibob

Sinner saved by grace
May 29, 2018
8,268
5,516
113
Anaheim, Cali.
joy Is a fruit of the Spirit but the bible says that EVERY person that has this hope purifies himself even as he IS pure so then when you say IF It's done with Joy that sounds like making provision for an occasion to say look I helped,not really knowing what GOD wants just somebody guessing what GOD wants according to what they think would be normal.
I think some folks do good works (or attempt to) because they feel as if it's a debt to repay and some even think it's a down payment for eternal security. But it's that attitude I object to. I think works should be considered a donation, not a tax. It dosn't buy anything especially salvation.
 

NayborBear

Banned Serpent Seed Heresy
its the same reason you never see good parents doing the homework for their kids, if they did that the kids would never learn anything.
I believe this is the whole point, and meaning, of picking up your own cross, into becoming a disciple of Christ, and adopted son of God.

And it's not that those who are in Christ are wrong.
It's when they condemn other believers for "going those extra miles", as they carry their own cross! Is when they are really condemning themselves, and their "guilt", comes out in their striving to "justify" themselves, in their condemnation of you!
Jez like what Adam said to God, when God asked him why he let the little woman beguile him.
"YOU gave her to me!"
That statement right there, told God everything He feared MIGHT happen? DID happen!
 

NayborBear

Banned Serpent Seed Heresy
You call It work because you Interpret the body as the authority and not the Spirit as authority.
But AFTER salvation renew your mind,present your body a living sacrifice which Is reasonable.

Some would call this work,some would call this progressive and a continuous sanctification purifying the mind and trying to become like the new creation you are now that GOD has made your spirit perfect.
So these ones' who call it "works salvation?" Are these ones' truly in Christ Jesus? So as to justify their condemnation of others', whose efforts towards progressive and continuous sanctification (which I myself call, "efforts" in keeping my election assured). ? :unsure: