"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)
An in-depth study of Gal 2:20 brings to fore one little-noticed, if not altogether missed, critical aspect of Salvation, and that is: DEATH and BIRTH.
The Apostle Paul, in as few words as he could state it, drove home the point of the need to DIE first, followed by BIRTH to a new life, as requisite to Salvation.
It's all in the figurative sense but essentially, it has the effects of the real thing, when the implications are considered, applied and accepted as the new reality of life for the person who takes seriously his calling and desires to meet Jesus Christ when He returns and follow Him wherever He goes. (Rev 14:4).
There are no gray areas here. Either you are dead and born into the new life that will guarantee your place in the Kingdom this stage of your life or continue living, business as usual, and wait for Judgement Day -- a slippery slope and a very risky business.
Listen to Paul speak about "death" and being "alive" in no uncertain terms:
"Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus." (Rom 6:11)
What was he saying here?
Simple. When one is dead, he's dead. He is not reformed, transformed or reborn. He may be alive in the body but his old sinful self, along with its worldly interests and desires, habits, attitudes, propensities, inclinations, etc., is factually and effectively dead -- discarded for good.
But he will be BORN into a new life. No longer his old self rising like the mythical Phoenix but he is granted the great honor and privilege to be born into a new, totally different life -- the very precious life of Jesus Christ, just a very tiny part of His life that will grow with the passing of time, but remember: that microcosm of Christ's life that you will be born into is way BIGGER than the sum total of your old self now dead. How so? Because the sum total of Jesus Christ's life surpasses in size the sum total of that of the entire human race.
Now for the question: Will the "newborn" person no longer have free will or the capacity to think, decide, act and do things independent of GOD? Will he be like the robot doing only what it has been orogrammed to do.
Definitely, the "newborn" man retains that capacity to think and act freely as he wants to (like Paul and his fellow apostles and yes, the angels) but being conscious of his new state of being -- that the life he lives is not his to do with it as he pleases -- he is no longer inclined to exercise it outside of what the Holy Spirit prompts, inspires, motivates and directs him to do. The very attributes of Jesus Christ are progressively etched in his consciousness until these become his nature as he grows into maturity.
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There is much more yet to know and understand but let this be sufficient for now.
Caveat:
THIS IS NOT AN ATTEMPT to form a "tithe-collecting" worldly religious organization. Nor are we recruiting you to form one. We are simply seeking out our fellow "other sheep" of Jesus Christ.
1 comments:
The innocent cannot die for the sins of the wicked
Eze 18:20 The soul who sins shall die.
Jer 31:29-30 In those days they shall say no more:‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
Was the original Passover lamb an atoning sacrifice? It did not atone for sin. What was the lamb to the Egyptians? The lamb and the firstborn were regarded as gods (Ex 12:12; 8:25-26)
What was the sacrifice for intentional sin? There was none. (Num 15:27-31; Lev 1-5. Although Lev 6 mentions specific sins, the gravity of these sins was lessened as a result of self-confession.)
Repentance, heartfelt repentance, is required to atone for intentional sin.
2 Sam 12:13 So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against YHVH.”And Nathan said to David, “YHVH also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
David uttered just two Hebrew words - chatati Yehovah! No mention of any sacrifice.
2 Chr 33:12-13 Now when he was in affliction, he implored YHVH his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that YHVH was God.
Manasseh was restored after repentance. Later, he offered sacrifices - peace and thank offerings, NOT sin sacrifice (v16).
How was Jesus from the tribe of Judah? Tribal affiliation is patrilineal (Num 26:2; Jer 33:17-18)
Do we have an example in Tanakh where a Levitical/Aaronic priest adopted a boy from a different tribe and that boy became a legitimate priest? There's none.
Can a Davidic princess be considered an heir to the throne? No. How about her son? No. Jehosheba, daughter of King Jehoram of Judah (not to be confused with the Joram of Israel), was not killed by Athalia (2 Kings 11:1-3).
How many books in NT claim that Jesus was born of a virgin? Only two books - Matthew and Luke. No other NT writers claim this. Mark, the earliest gospel written, is silent about this. John, the latest and most developed among the gospels, is likewise silent. In 1 Tim 1:4, Paul warned others not to engage in fables and endless genealogies.
Matthew's genealogy invalidates Jesus' claim to the throne because Jeconiah was cursed (Jer 22:24-30). Zerubbabel was a governor, not a king.
Luke's genealogy also invalidates Jesus' claim to the throne for it has Nathan instead of Solomon (2 Sam 7:12-16).
How can Matthew and Luke be privy to the virgin conception, or any conception? Revealed by the holy spirit? According to Luke's Acts, Stephen was full of the holy spirit prior to his death (Acts 7:55).
ERROR:
Acts 7:15-16 So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers. And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.
FACTS:Contrary to the speech of Stephen in Acts; Jacob was buried in Machpelah which Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite (Gen 50:12-13). Also, it was Joseph who was buried in Shechem, in the plot Jacob bought (Jos 24:32).
Machpelah, where the Cave of the Patriarchs, is south of Jerusalem. Shechem is north of Jerusalem. Evidently, Luke and Stephen were both not familiar in Judea. How can we trust the unfalsifiable claims of Luke when there are factual errors in his writings?
ERRORMark 2:25-26 But he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?”
FACT1 Sam 21:1-5 Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was afraid when he met David, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one is with you?” ...
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