Don19

Not pretending to be Jews, but Christians. I take it as a metaphor. Those in Jesus Christ (both Jew and Gentile) are the true Jews (Rom 2:28-29, Phil 3:3).

I'm rather persuaded that the soul sleeps until the resurrection of the dead at Christ's return. However, my personal belief is that you won't retain a perception of time while you're dead. Thus, I surmise that we can still speak of things like, going home and being with the Lord, or Paul's desire to depart and be with Christ. Or Jesus's words to the thief on the cross. In other words, I think we will perceive it as instantaneous, if we die before Jesus returns. But I'm certainly not dogmatic about this.

No conspiracy. I meant falsely professing Christians. These are "deceiving, and being deceived."

Excellent post! Yes, I totally agree! By nature, we are the same as Satan. What can be said of Satan can be said of the natural man. That's why nothing that can come from this body of death can be good. The corrupt tree is our flesh, and the good tree is the body of Christ. We are dead to the law by the body of Christ (Rom 7:4). And, with that in mind, read passages like Matthew 12:29, Revelation 20:1-3, Song 4:12, Song 8:6-7, Eph 4:30, as these show what salvation in Jesus Christ truly is!

I'm inclined towards the view that the synagogue of Satan refers to false professors of Christ, not unbelieving Jews after the flesh. The true Jews are those who belong to Jesus Christ - see Romans 2:28-29.

Because he who sins is of the devil. He who falls short or misses the mark is of the devil. If we're in Christ, we do not sin. We sin after the flesh, but we do not fall short because the blood of Christ washes away all our sins. That's why Satan hates the people of God, because he doesn't have this and is consigned to eternal condemnation. It's because he is reprobated, or rejected by God. That's why John said in his first epistle that Cain hated Abel, because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous. God accepted Abel but rejected Cain. And Jesus said, that He has chosen us out of the world - therefore, the world hates us. So you see here (John 15:19), Jesus identified His choice of us as the reason the world hates us. The people of God are called, chosen, justified, loved, secured - and the children of the devil, like their father, are not. Therefore, they hate holiness, just like their father the devil.

Yes; even so, I think the baptism of fire is as I described it. Another verse to think about, we're told not to quench the Holy Spirit, 1 Thess 5:19, which again compares the Spirit to fire.

I disagree. I'm aware of this view, and why some hold it, but I think the baptism of fire is Holy Spirit baptism, not hell. It's another way of describing the same thing. Certainly, at Pentecost, it's remarkable that tongues of fire rested on the disciples. But here's why I think so. Song of Solomon 8:6-7: 6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. 7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned. Holy Spirit baptism is a sealing (2 Cor 1:21-22, Eph 1:13-14). It's a baptism of fire because we are baptized in God's unquenchable love, in His burning jealousy (Deut 4:24, Prov 6:27-35). Also, Matthew 11:12: And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. When Jesus returns, He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God (1 Cor 15:24). And we are "translated" into the kingdom (Col 1:13), like how God took Enoch (Gen 5:24, Heb 11:5). I believe Jesus is saying in that verse, that our persons are taken by force. The Lord is a Man of war (Exo 15:3). This is the love of God that's revealed to us, that He has sealed us up and forgiven all our sins by the blood of Jesus Christ and now possesses us permanently in His love and jealousy!

This kind of repentance isn't the gospel, though. It's not possible, humanly speaking, to turn from your sins; that's why Jesus Christ died for sins, to remove the condemnation of sin. You might give up watching porn, but then I guarantee there are other sins you won't be giving up. So no one has ever been saved by repenting of sins. No, you get saved by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ to take away your sins once and for all!

The sealing of the Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit. Compare to Rom 8:16, Eph 1:13-14, 2 Cor 1:21-22. 1 Cor 2:12 is another verse describing this, so this is what Paul speaks of here in verse 14.

Moreover, we cannot "choose life" since that means keeping the law. That's the problem Jesus solved for us!

i used to think physical death was in view - that is, chastisement for sin. But I’ve changed my mind on this. I agree it’s Holy Spirit blasphemy in view (which means it’s someone who was never saved, never been translated in power and much assurance by the Spirit into the kingdom, not a brother). Look at verse 17, all unrighteousness is sin. Now, that’s pretty obvious if you view that statement after the flesh. Kinda like saying the sky is blue. Only it’s not after the flesh. The unrighteousness in view is unbelief - that is, lack of assurance. John wrote so that his audience would have joy (1:4) and assurance (5:13). He wrote that we’d sin not (2:1), but also that we lie if we have no sin (1:8-10). The “sin” in view is lack of assurance, just as sin in verse 2:1 is sin of unbelief while in 1:8 it’s fleshy sin. Sin of unbelief is more sinful and even tantamount to making God a liar (5:10). But even with that sin, we have an Advocate with the Father.

Christ obeyed the whole law in our place; therefore, this verse applies unconditionally to those who are in Christ!

This is for all Christians who have been genuinely born again. Phil 3:3: For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Heart circumcision = Spirit baptism = the sealing of the Spirit = the divine pledge of our unconditional eternal security in Christ Col 2:11-12: 11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. Notice it's "without hands." It's not water baptism, because that's *with* hands! 2 Cor 1:21-22: 21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. Eze 36:37: And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. "Cause you to walk in My statutes" + "keep My judgments, and do them" = the righteousness of Christ. We walk in the righteousness of Christ, not our own righteousness. We are "caused" to walk in this because we are sealed by the Spirit - that is, we are not our own but in an eternal and irrevocable love relationship with God in Christ. Thus, we are made righteous by imputation, and not through a transformation of the flesh. We put off the body of the sins of the flesh... how? By the circumcision of Christ. The Spirit is life because of righteousness (Rom 8:10). As Peter said: The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Notice Peter said baptism saves us. He didn't say it's the like figure that saves us, but baptism itself. Is this water baptism? No! Of course not! It's Holy Spirit baptism. Circumcision was a sign of the covenant with Abraham. Likewise, the Spirit is the sign of the covenant for those who are in Christ. We have a good conscience towards God because our conscience has been purged of sins (Heb 10:2). Water baptism cannot do this - only Spirit baptism can. The filth of the flesh is NOT put away, but remains in us, but still we have a good conscience towards God, from the testimony of the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:16).

Even if the Democrats stole the election, we do ourselves no favors by crying about it. Is our hope in democracy, or in God? All power is of God. If they have power to fix an election, it is only because God permitted it. Why, then, do we complain like those who have no hope, whose god is their belly, and who mind earthly things? If we're risen with Christ and seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, why do we set our minds on earthly things and not on things above? Relax, because God has got this under control either way. If there's a valid legal argument to be made, then make it in the courts; but if your guy loses, fairly or otherwise, then accept it!

I've known the truth. Jesus said Satan does not cast out Satan.

This is an interesting question. Yes, I would consider the oath invalid if the other party lied, and if the lie was material - i.e., that you would not have agreed to the oath had you known that what the other party said was false. If the lie was immaterial, and you still would have agreed to it, then the oath is binding. So lying does not ipso facto vitiate an oath; only if the lie was material is the oath vitiated. But also, "false pretenses" must be thoroughly contemplated and limited only to that which is intentionally communicated, because the other party is under no obligation to disclose that which you did not ask.

Okay, so I understand you believe those two passages teach works-based assurance (which is carnal). Those passages don't teach that; in fact, these two passages teach exactly the opposite! Notice how in both instances, it is the workers after the flesh who are rejected. In the first, they did many mighty works; in the second, they ask when did they not do all those good deeds. But the one who works not, but believes on Him Who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness (Rom 4:5).

What are you talking about?! This is nothing like what I believe! 1) A new convert has already believed in Christ, otherwise he would not be a convert at all! 2) What is this rubbish about a "lifetime of some minimal level of obedience to Christ"? Where do you get that drivel from? It is certainly not what I believe, nor, more importantly, is it what the Bible says. 3) There are several biblical evidences that you have been saved. a) You have faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, and only in him. b) You believe that Jesus is God and man c) You have the witness of the Holy Spirit d) You bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit, in willing submission to the Lord e) You do not live a life characterised by sin (this is not sinless perfection) There are others; but these are some of the main ones. Please STOP making things up about what I believe. You clearly do not understand much, so ASK, don't assume! I understand you believe this is what the Bible teaches. However, everyone who holds to false doctrine also believes the Bible teaches whatever false doctrine he holds to. And here's the heart of what I'm getting at. How did you not just contradict yourself? You say that's not what you believe, but then you lay out your beliefs in a manner consistent with how I described them! Let's say someone just said to you, that he just believed in Jesus Christ for the first time today, and he is now 100% sure that he is saved. He has died with Christ spiritually, saying, with Christ, "it is finished." Based on what you said here, are you not in opposition to that? If you wanted to be honest with him, would you not have to say something along of the lines of, "Well, that's great that you believed in Jesus! Now, the evidence that you are truly saved is that you will walk in willing submission to the Lord, and not live a life characterized by sin (howbeit, this is not sinless perfectionism)." In other words, he cannot have assurance, since he has only just believed. He hasn't had time yet to show forth the other evidences that you require. Yet, as I pointed out in my last post, the Bible teaches an accomplish and assured salvation when you believe, which is given by the testimony of the Holy Spirit. The testimony of the Holy Spirit is sufficient, without needing to look to yourself to see whether you walk worthy of your calling. The NT has examples of true believers who don't walk worthy of their calling! But still, they're saved. The calling and gifts of God are without repentance (Rom 11:29). In fact, as long as you are still alive, I would argue you can never have assurance, with the criteria you have set forth. Maybe you've lived in accordance with those criteria for 50 years. Yet, if you're still alive, you may not yet "persevere" in good works. Maybe you fall into a major, habitual sin. But the grace is God not like that. God gives assurance that our salvation is complete, and irrevocable, at our moment of conversion by the promise of the Spirit (Gal 3:2, 3:14). Therefore, the criteria you've set forth are false. You've added leaven, which leaveneth the whole lump!

Here's the deal - sanctification means to set apart. The New Testament meaning concerns a Christian's positional standing in Christ as righteous by imputation of Christ's righteousness. If you contend that it does not, then you contend it means something fleshy. It's either one or the other - Spirit or flesh. You say it has to do with improving one's behavior and sinning less. Have I misrepresented your position? I don't believe so. I am aware that yours is a commonly-held Reformed position. It is for this reason I say, if you set forth sanctification as not being in the Spirit (that is, being of promise, to the exclusion of works of law, Gal 3:18) then you set it forth as in the flesh. It's either one or the other. The flesh includes all the efforts of your flesh to be right with God. Hence, for example, Paul tells the Galatians that they're foolish, having begun in the Spirit, thinking they're now made perfect in the flesh - that is, by works of law. No, it doesn't seem to be an obvious point, because you earlier said, "The evidence that you have gone through the narrow gate, is that you are walking in the narrow way." This is putting the cart before the horse. Hence why I said what I said about improving the flesh. If you tell a new convert, to believe in Christ and that the evidence that he has truly believed to the saving of his soul is that he will live a lifetime of some minimal level of obedience to Christ, which you might wrongly call "sanctification," then you have mixed law and grace. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump - Gal 5:9. Such a position is "after the flesh" in the same way Paul told the Galatians they were trying to attempt perfection in the flesh rather than in the Spirit. Have I misrepresented your position? Would you tell that to a new convert? To be in the Spirit means to have known, by experiential knowledge, the promise of God for oneself. Hence, to have received the sealing of the Spirit at conversion, the earnest of the heavenly inheritance in your heart (Eph 1:13-14, 2 Cor 1:21-22) means that you know, because God Himself has told you by His own personal testimony, that your salvation is eternally secure (1 Cor 2:12, 1 Thess 1:4-5, 1 John 4:13, 1 John 5:6-10, 2 Peter 1:3-4, 2 Peter 1:17-19, Rev 12:17, Rev 19:10). Therefore, to be in the Spirit utterly precludes what you wrote which I quoted above, since all other righteousness is after the flesh - whether it's to earn salvation, keep salvation, or prove salvation. And if you're working, then you're not worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth. Any praises you sing to God are not in Spirit or in Truth, since God demands worship in Spirit and in Truth; but the one who's looking to himself is worshiping the works of his own hands. Nor are you resting (Matthew 11:28-30), which is the great spiritual fulfillment of the Sabbath for those in Christ. So we are to walk in Christ just as we received Him (Col 2:6). The problem with basing your argument on the nuances of Ancient Greek, is that even any carnal reader who was a native speaker of that language would not hear and understand what John was saying (1 John 4:6). It requires spiritual interpretation, and comparing Scripture with Scripture. John said he wrote his first epistle "that ye sin not" (2:1). Of course, this was after writing that we lie and deceive ourselves if we say we have no sin (1:8). And we must also harmonize this with the fact that sin does so easily beset us (Heb 12:1). I perceive that the sin John was talking about here was unbelief (or lack of assurance). Hence he also said he wrote "that your joy may be full" (1:4), and further states he wrote the epistle that we may know we have eternal life (5:13). It is in mortifying the sin of unbelief that those two things can take place. And unbelief is a bad sin, because the one who doesn't believe God "hath made him a liar" (5:10). So if any man sins, and doubts his salvation, doubts even the witness that is in him (5:10), then it is a really bad sin because assurance is of the essence of faith (Heb 11:1). Nevertheless, that sin is forgiven, as we have an Advocate with the Father, as are all the other sins. Unbelief also has the effect of defiling the conscience. Titus 1:15-16. So whether we're talking about unbelief as the sin itself, or the downstream effects of unbelief, the interpretation can go either way. James says that if anyone converts a brother who has erred from the truth, he will also hide a multitude of sins (James 5:19-20). This is because anything not done in faith is sin (Romans 14:23), even if it's otherwise acceptable if done in faith. And so, likewise, any time you see those sin lists in the Bible, such as you cited, you need to understand that's talking about unbelievers. Paul says the one who judges by law does "the same things" (Rom 2:1-3) even after he got done naming sins like sodomy, murder, fornication, etc., at the end of Romans 1. That's because if anyone shall keep the whole law, and yet offend at just one point, he is guilty of it all (James 2:10). He may not be a murderer, sodomite, fornicator in the eyes of men, but he is all those things before God.

I know you’re not saying it, but that’s where what you’re saying leads to. I am calling it as it is, which may not be as you characterize it. You can’t have the fruit of the Holy Spirit without first having received the earnest of the Spirit in your heart. Receiving the Spirit comes by faith, not works of law. If you’re looking to yourself to see if you’re walking the narrow path, and basing your assurance on that, you’re not walking after the Spirit, but the flesh. I already explained this passage.

There’s no such thing as a truly free will. God controls all things, including the actions and hearts of men. Lamentations 3:37: Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? Isa 46:9-11: 9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: 11 Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. Psalm 115:3: But our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Proverbs 21:1 The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. You’re mixing up the issues. Jesus told Pilate he could have no power if he hadn’t received it from above. Of course God controls politics, just as He controls all things. That’s part of the reason we shouldn’t worry about it. He has it totally under control, and He works all things after the counsel of His own will.

Sanctification means to set apart, which is also positional and has to do with our standing in Christ, not improvements in the flesh as you keep insisting. What you’ve just said here denies any true possibility for assurance. If you’re looking to your works to know whether you belong to Christ, you are not worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth. That’s worshiping the works of your own hands. Isaiah 2:8.

In this respect, there's no difference between kings and presidents. Either way, God appoints them and removes them in accordance with His will. God turns the hearts of voters to do vote exactly the way He has determined they vote. Even if you were to allege, as many Trump supports do, that there was election fraud, God is in control of that, too. O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. Jeremiah 10:23

Jesus said the kingdom is of not of this world - i.e., not after the way of this world, not coming with observation, but still in our midst (Luke 17:20-21). The kingdom is now. Jesus Christ is reigning right now from the throne of David in His kingdom (Acts 2:30-36). Those who are born again are IN the kingdom of His dear Son right now, as we have been translated from the power of darkness (Col 1:13). When Jesus returns, He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God (1 Cor 15:24). He has sealed us, and shut us up in His kingdom, in fact, with His Spirit (Eph 1:13-14), much like God shut Noah in the Ark (Genesis 7:16), so that we are eternally secure as objects of His love.