Hardly any Lutherans know this work, and this is a SAD thing!
Can you imagine, Luther said it was the MOST important thing he ever did, and today hardly any Lutherans know about it, and of course are Arminian.
Absurd!
"It is wrong to suppose that the doctrine of justification by faith
alone, that storm center of the Reformation, was the crucial question in the minds of such theologians as Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, Martin Bucer, and John Calvin. This doctrine was important to the Reformers because it helped to express and to safeguard their answer to another, more vital, question, namely, whether sinners are wholly helpless in their sin, and whether God is to be thought of as saving them by free, unconditional, invincible grace, not only justifying them for Christ's sake when they come to faith, but also raising them from the death of sin by His quickening Spirit in order to bring them to faith." - Michael
We know what God Jesus said in the Bible. He said that we should be born again/born of God/born from above.
So, if we are born of God then we will not get to the lake of fire but we will be justified through our FAITH in God Jesus. And God will help us to survive. I will offer you to read comments of my brother Sazie on on the issue of this salvation.
Just note: those 'christians' who are NOT born of God will NEVER inherit the Kingdom of Heaven! Their way will perish!
Let's consider which protection God gives us who are born of Him for a NEW LIFE with Him and NOT against Him:
The Christian Double-Layer of Protection
Someone said, �Life is worth living when there are cameras around.� I smiled, because to some degrees, he is right. With the cameras turned on and running, we are not only honest and true to ourselves and to others, but we are also compared to behave properly and to live up to our potential. But it needs not be cameras that make our lives worth living. It needs be Christianity. I think life is worth living when you are a Christian. The reason is because God cannot learn.
Now, that may seem like an insult to say, �God cannot learn,� but I can assure you that it is not an insult to God. God is brilliant; and He has the highest level of intelligence.
One Muslim writes: �The thing that surprises us (Muslims) is that you, Christians, believe that you can commit whatever sin and still enter into Heaven.�
I must admit that is a true assessment (evaluation) of Christianity. And we, Christians, need not shy from it, because he is right. We will go to heaven no matter what sins we commit in our lifetime. In fact the terms �Judgment Day� are not meant for Christians. And we, Christians, can honestly be glad about it, because God cannot learn.
When we say, �God is Omniscient,� we mean God is �All-knowing�. To be �All-knowing� is to know all things fully and instantly, and to have no need to learn something new. Thus, God cannot learn. God is both the Source and the Possessor of all knowledge and wisdom. God knows all that there is to be known in the past, in the presence, and in the future. Whatever is to be known is known by God to the fullest. God knows all things equally and fully well. He cannot know one thing more than He knows another. One who is �All-knowing� is completely filled in knowledge and wisdom; and thus has no need to seek information on a subject or advice on a matter. Therefore; God cannot learn, for to learn means to increase in knowledge and in wisdom as new discoveries are brought to light.
That is why it is not an insult to say, �God cannot learn,� but rather it is praise to the �Only Wise God� � the King Eternal, Immortal, and Invisible.
The Christian�s salvation rests on the fact that God cannot learn. What God knows about the Christian�s past, presence, and future, He knows instantly and fully. God is never shocked or surprise � not by the Christian�s past or future misbehavior (sin). The Christian�s salvation is sure, because God cannot learn anything new about the Christian�s future that God did not already know when God decided to offer salvation to the Christian through Jesus Christ.
That is why there is no such thing as a former Christian even if he/she is practicing another religion. Before God chose to save the Christian unto Himself, He (God) had instant and full knowledge that the Christian to whom He is offering salvation will practice another religion in the future. Salvation does not depend on the Christian�s behavior, neither does it depend on what the Christian can or cannot do for God. In Ephesians 2:8-9 we read, �For by grace you have been saved through faith (in Jesus Christ) � this (salvation) is not of yourself. It is the (free) gift that God gave to you so that no one can boast.�
What we have is a �Double-layer of Protection� for the Christian in terms of Salvation: (1) God knew instantly and fully all there was to be known about the Christian�s past, presence, and future before God offered salvation to the Christian through Jesus Christ, and (2) because the Christian was not worthy of salvation when God offered salvation to him, he (the Christian) cannot be unworthy as to lose his salvation.
Let me say this: No man is good until he is first touched by good. God is good. Within every human being is the natural tendency to disobey God and to run away from God. The Christian is no different even though he, the Christian, is saved unto God. Because a person is a Christian does not mean that his natural tendency to disobey God and to run away from God is automatically and completely removed from within him. Fortunately for the Christian his natural tendency to disobey God and to run away from God is slowly quenched (reduced) over a period of time by the help of the Holy Spirit with Whom he (the Christian) is sealed (joined together) until the Day of the Christian Redemption.
Ephesians 4:30 warns the Christian. It reads, �Do not grieve (distressed) the Holy Spirit with Whom you are sealed (joined to) till the Day of Redemption.�
Let me also add this: When a Christian practices another religion, it grieves the Holy Spirit, but it does not nullify (cancel out) the Christian�s salvation, because the Christian and the Holy Spirit are sealed (joined) together until on the day when the Christian is finally redeemed from the things that make Him practice another religion.
As for the Christian, life is worth living; not because the cameras are on and running, but because he holds the �Priceless Possession� in the world. What is the �Priceless Possession�? It is the �Escape ticket from Hell�.
We must understand that God�s Salvation Plan is not only for the Christians. It extends to the entire human race. Jesus spoke about this Salvation Plan when He met with a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus. (Please note: The Jews, at the time of Jesus, knew that God is love; and that God loves them. But they did not know that God�s love extends beyond the Jewish Nation.) Jesus shattered (crushed) that belief when He said to Nicodemus, �For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son; so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish (die), but will have everlasting life.� (John 3:16)
This is the most celebrated and memorized verse of the entire Bible � and for good reasons. It is the one and only verse that reveals �The Seven Great Wonders� of God�s Salvation Plan for the human race.
1. God � the Almighty Authority
2. ��so loved the world�� � the Mightiest Motive
3. ��that He gave His only Begotten Son�� � the Greatest Gift
4. ��that whosoever�� � the Wildest Welcome
5. ��believes in Him�� � the Easiest Escape from hell
6. ��shall not perish�� � the Divine Deliverance
7. �� have everlasting life�� � the Priceless Possession
This verse not only tells us that mankind is the greatest object (focus) of God�s love; it also frees mankind of any obligation to God in terms of doing good deeds in order to enter into Heaven. In other words, God so loved the world that He did not wait for the world to be good or to behave properly before He (God) saw it fit to save the world. This is well-stated in the Fifth Chapter of the Book of Romans where we read, �God directed His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.� (Verse 8) This is a sharp contrast (dissimilarity) to all the other religions of the world in which God is patiently waiting to learn or to get more about a man in terms of good deeds and bad deeds before He (God) can decide as to whether to save him. This is why Christian alone is a shock to all the other religions of the world. � Because Christian alone presents to the world not a stationary (motionless) god, but an �Actively Seeking God� who goes out to seek and to save mankind from destruction.
We see the �Actively Seeking God� in the many Parables which Jesus told: In the �Parable of the Lost Sheep,� Jesus tells us about the Shepherd who had 100 sheep. One of his sheep wandered away and got lost. The Shepherd went out to find the one lost sheep, brought it home, and celebrated. In the parable, God is personified as the Shepherd. In the �Parable of the Ten Silver Coins,� a widow had ten silver coins. She lost one coin. She lit a lamp, searched the house all day, found the one lost coin, and celebrated. Again, God is personified as the Widow. In these parables we see the Character of God as a �Seeker� � One who goes out to seek and to save what belongs to Him. We also see the Character of God as a �Lover� in other parables such as the �Parable of the Good Samaritan� and the �Parable of the Prodigal Son.�
Please notice the last words the Father spoke in the �Parable of the Prodigal Son. They are not, �My son who was bad is now good,� but rather they are, �My son who was dead is now alive; my son who was lost is now found.�
God did not send Jesus Christ into the world to turn bad people into good people. Turning bad people into good people is not the duty of Christianity, but the duty of other religions. God sent Jesus Christ into the world to find dead people and to bring them back to life �to awaken dead people unto God who is the Source and the Sustainer of Life.
In fact the entire Bible can be summed up this way: �Man, because of sin in the Garden of Eden, is spiritually dead and cut off from God. Man, even though he is physically breathing and walking around, has no spiritual connection with God. Man is completely lost and is unable to find his way to God. Therefore; God, because of His love for man, is reaching out to man in order to rebuild the broken relationship between Himself and man. As God rebuild this broken relationship, man can once again live forever in a spiritual union with God.�
That is why instead of being a religion, Christianity is a relationship � a relationship between God and man in which love is the commonality. First John 4:16 tells us �We have known and believed the love God has directed toward us; God is love, he who dwells in love dwells in God, and God dwells in him.� This is a relationship: �God living spiritually in man and man living spiritually in God.�
While all other religions present a god who stands afar (at a distance) and demands love from mankind, in Christianity we see God is not only drawing closer to man, but He is also indwelling in man and thereby forming an everlasting bond (relationship). Therefore; we can truly say, �Christianity is a relationship � not a religion which is defined as �dos and don�ts.�
God is love. We know this much about love: It has two purposes: (1) to extend itself, and (2) to be received. God, who is Love, extends Himself in order to be received. Those who refuse to receive God (Love) through His Son usually think of themselves as being unworthy of God (Love). And in so doing they withdraw from God (Love), and thus condemn themselves.
Condemnation is an evil act, and therefore; it cannot be linked to God, for there is no evil in God. Were there to be evil in God, it means God could not defeat evil, because evil would be a part of God; for God cannot defeat God. Therefore; God does not condemn man. It is man who condemns himself by thinking himself unworthy of God (Love); and therefore, he must work many good deeds in order to earn God�s love. Right after John 3:16 which is the most memorized and celebrated verse in Holy Scriptures, we read �God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.� (John 3:17)
Now let us once again re-visit the concern a Muslim had about us, Christians. He had written: �The thing that surprises us (Muslims) is that you, Christians, believe that you can commit whatever sin and still enter into Heaven.�
This is true because of the Christian�s double-layer of protection: (1) God knew instantly and fully all there was to be known about the Christian�s past, presence, and future before God offered salvation to the Christian through Jesus Christ, and (2) because the Christian was not worthy when God offered him salvation, he (the Christian) cannot be unworthy as to lose his salvation. That is why life is not worth living because cameras are around, but because a person is a Christian.
Romans 8:1 assures us, �There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus�� This verse is very simple to understand. Since the Father does not condemn Christ, it means the Father cannot condemn those who are in Christ. Those who are in Christ are not condemned, they cannot be condemned, and they will not be condemned. The flip side of this is obviously not only unpleasant, but also bleak (depressing, dark). But however bleak, the Darkness needs to know that there is something called the �Break of day�. If you are not in Christ, you condemn yourself. God saves man through His Son< Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ is not only the �Wildest Welcome� � whosoever, but also the �Easier Escape from Hell� � shall not perish. God has no respect for whatever cleaver way a man may employ to save himself unto God.
Again, the Darkness needs to know that there is something called the �Break of day�.
By Sazie Johnson
Romans 8 (New King James Version)
Romans 8
Free from Indwelling Sin
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
Sonship Through the Spirit
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors�not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, �Abba, Father.� 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs�heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
From Suffering to Glory
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us[b] with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
God�s Everlasting Love
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God�s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:
� For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.�
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Excellant Re-ply post Bahira...Amen !!! PJ...I dont believe anyone here really cares what Luther or Calvin says or what their greatest accomplishment Were...Most Persons here Prefer what GOD, Jesus & Holy Spirit say & Their Continued Accomplishments through those that Surrender to them...
Like I said on another Thread...Its NOT COOL to Preach PAST BONDAGE or Any Kind of Bondage for that matter...it is Controling, Mis-Directing and Legalistic...xo
�The man without the Spirit [unregenerate] does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is NOT ABLE to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.� 1st. Corinthians 2:14.
Wrong verse James and wrong context, but what that does say is you can not know God thru the mind, intellect and mental realm as you always communicate.
"...if anyone makes the assistance of grace depend on the humility or obedience of man and does not agree that it is a gift of grace itself that we are obedient and humble, he contradicts the Apostle who says, "What have you that you did not receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7), and, "But by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10). (Council of Orange: Canon 6)
"For if man has lost his freedom, and is forced to serve sin, and cannot will good, what conclusion can more justly be drawn concerning him, than that he sins and wills evil necessarily?" Martin Luther BW pg. 149
"...'if thou art willing' is a verb in the subjunctive mood, which asserts nothing...a conditional statement asserts nothing indicatively." "if thou art willing", "if thou hear", "if thou do" declare, not man's ability, but his duty. pg 157
"the commandments are not given inappropriately or pointlessly; but in order that through them the proud, blind man may learn the plague of his impotence, should he try to do as he is commanded." pg. 160
Speaking to Erasmus, "Throughout your treatment you forget that you said that 'free-will' can do nothing without grace, and you prove that 'free-will' can do all things without grace! Your inferences and analogies "For if man has lost his freedom, and is forced to serve sin, and cannot will good, what conclusion can more justly be drawn concerning him, than that he sins and wills evil necessarily?" Martin Luther BW pg. 149
"Even grammarians and schoolboys on street corners know that nothing more is signified by verbs in the imperative mood than what ought to be done, and that what is done or can be done should be expressed by words in the indicative. How is it that you theologians are twice as stupid as schoolboys, in that as soon as you get hold of a single imperative verb you infer an indicative meaning, as though the moment a thing is commanded it is done, or can be done? pg 159
"The passages of Scripture you cite are imperative; and they prove and establish nothing about the ability of man, but only lay down what is and what not to be done." pg 161
"Does it follow from: 'turn ye' that therefore you can turn? Does it follow from "'Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart' (Deut 6.5) that therefore you can love with all your heart? What do arguments of this kind prove,
but the 'free-will' does not need the grace of God, but can do all things by its own power...But it does not follow from this that man is converted by his own power, nor do the words say so; they simply say: "if thou wilt turn,
telling man what he should do. When he knows it, and sees that he cannot do it, he will ask whence he may find ability to do it..." 164
"By the law is the knowledge of sin' [Rom 3:20], so the word of grace comes only to those who are distressed by a sense of sin and tempted to despair." pg. 168
As to why some are touched by the law and others not, so that some receive and others scorn the offer of grace...[this is the] hidden will of God, Who, according to His own counsel, ordains such persons as He wills to receive
and partake of the mercy preached and offered." pg. 169
For ONE THOUSAND YEARS............The Roman Catholic church chained the Bible to the lecturn, and forbid common Christians from even reading the Bible.
If you had a question about God, you had to ask a priest and be satisfied with his answer, no matter he said.
Rome was literally selling pieces of paper called indulgences, that if you paid for one, they said your sins were paid for. Rome literally had priests, telling poor women who had just lost a child, that their child was in the flames of purgatory, and if they just bought an indulgence, their child would immediately be sent to heaven. These women would sell everything they had to buy one of these pieces of paper.
THE REASON YOU......have a bible of your very own, so you can read it anytime you wish, IS BECAUSE OF THE COURAGE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
He put his own life on the line. He could EASILY have been burned alive for what he did.
So, as you sit back, with ice in your glass, casually reading Romans, like it is no big deal, REMEMBER that for A THOUSAND YEARS, it was FORBIDDEN for Christians to do what you have always done since the Lord Saved you.
