The 'Good Person' and 'The Godly Person'....
Submitted by Chris on November 14 2000 15:56:30
In reply to The 'Good Person' and 'The Godly Person'.... submitted by Sprite on November 14 2000 03:15:17
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Hi Sprite, I'm a Pepsi person, myself...ha ha ha....sorry. Anyway, I would like to comment about your last statement. I believe a lot of confussion about who or what we are as Christians is a direct result of not really having a good concept of salvation. Take a look at Col. 2:13: "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all of our sins," There are two very strong words describing our condition, here..."dead" and "alive". While we live under our sinful nature, or "carnal" nature, if you will, we are "dead". But it is the work of God that "saves" us, or "makes us alive". In Colossians, Paul refers to it as "circumcision".. "In Him (Christ) you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with the circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circucision done by the hands of Christ, having been raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead." Col. 2:11 and 12 You see, it is only by the power and authority of God that we are brought from "death" to "life". It is by God's "circumcision", not man's, that we are saved. We do one thing...we accept his gift of salvation. God does the rest, including taking upon himself the job of putting to death our carnal selves, and building up our spiritual selves. I believe one of the biggest lies we are taught in our orthodox churches is that we can somehow make our carnal selves "good enough". This cannot be done! Try as we might, we can never, ever, become "good" in this way. It is only by God's grace and power that we can be "good". And actually better than just "good", but alive! Check out Eph. 2:4... "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved." Here is something else to think about... If God took us from death, and brought us into life, then who is responsable for keeping us "alive"? Us, or Him? Let me know what you think, brother. Love in Christ Jesus, Chris |
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