When the issue is justification (narrow) - what Protestants mean by "salvation" - then there is ONE and only ONE great Truth: Jesus is the Savior. JESUS! Not me, not you, not the Pope, not the RCC or LDS denominations. Not now, not ever. Not a bit. Not in whole, not in part. JESUS saves us. JESUS!!! We are saved by virtue of GOD'S love, mercy. We are saved by virtue of JESUS - His life, His death, His resurrection... His obedience, His righteousness, His perfection, His holiness.... His works, His accomplishments, His merits..... His cross, His blood, His works. Not mine. Not yours. Not now, not ever. Not a bit, not at all. Because we are CHRISTians and we believe that JESUS is the SAVIOR (and thus NOT me.... the job is taken), salvation is the result of JESUS - not me, not you.
Now, it's undeniably and biblicly true that we are mandated to be PERFECT exactly as and to the same extent that God Himself is. Yup. And don't water that down to nothingness! it's undeniably and biblicly true that we are mandated to be HOLY exactly as and to the same extent that God Himself is. Yup. And don't water that down to nothingness! it's undeniably and biblicly true that we are mandated to be OBEDIENT exactly as and to the same extent that God Himself is. Yup. And don't water that down to nothingness! it's undeniably and biblicly true that we are mandated to be LOVING exactly as and to the same extent that God Himself is on the Cross. Yup. And don't water that down to nothingness! it's undeniably and biblicly true that we are mandated to be RIGHTEOUS exactly as and to the same extent that God Himself is. Yup. And don't water that down to nothingness! All true.... ALL TRUE.... even more so than most detractors of the Gospel state, even more so than those who confuse things state.... NO! The Law is NOT "try really hard - and that will do." It's NOT the Mormon theology from the Book of Mormon: "Try your best and God will overlook the rest." It's NOT the Jewish, Muslim and Bhakti Hindu teaching that God sufficiently empowers us to eventually be good enough but we gotta "tap" this empowering to our credit. No. It's BE PERFECT - 100% - all the time - from the moment of conception to the moment of death (and beyond). It's LOVE just a much as Jesus died as He died for us on the Cross - 100% - all the time. Yes. That's Christian. That's biblical.
THE PROBLEM COMES WHEN THE TWO ARE CONFUSED. When either the Gospel is used to eliminate the Law or the Law is used to eliminate the Gospel. When one is made subject to the other. When one (or typically BOTH) is watered-down to next to nothing. When CHRISTIAN teachings are abandoned and what is proclaimed is a confused, entangled, blended MESS that essentially holds that we save ourselves by sorta, kinda, in a tiny way KEEPING the Law and thus not needing God or mercy or forgiveness or The SAVIOR - we just need sufficient time and help so we can save ourselves. News flash: "Do your best and God will overlook the rest" comes from the Book of Mormon, NOT THE BIBLE! It is a foundational teaching of ISLAM, not Christianity. It renders Christ a joke. It negates the Gospel. It destroys CHRISTianity.
HERE'S THE REALITY: We are justified (narrow) - "saved" to use the usual Protestant terminology - by CHRIST, which is why we are CHRISTians and not modern Jews or Muslims or Bhakti Hindus. NOT, NOT, NOT by our own puny attempts to sort of, kind of, not really do what God commands ( being PERFECT, being HOLY, being LOVING, being RIGHTEOUS) - making Christ a waste of time, a bad joke, His blood just an unfortunately consequence of Roman politics and Jewish egoism. When we proclaim JESUS as THE Savior that means that JESUS is THE Savior. Not SELF is the Savior of self because it depends on what self does..... Not Jesus is PART Savior but the really important part is ME.... Not Jesus is the POSSIBILITY-MAKER but not SAVIOR. Not Jesus is the HELPER who empowered SELF to sorta save self but not the SAVIOR. But.... but..... but..... just because we are saved is not a license to sin, is not an exemption from the Law. The Gospel does not negate the Law just as the Law does not negate the Gospel. Just don't CONFUSE the two..... blend the two..... water down the two..... cancel one in view of the other. BOTH are true! Yes, Christians are STILL commanded to be absolutely, totally, constantly, divinely PERFECT, HOLY, LOVING, OBEDIENT, RIGHTEOUS.... in fact, Christians have MORE law because each of us also has to make disciples of every living human on the planet earth, a MANDATE given to each Christian (not a sort of suggestion we are expected to ignore). BUT, BUT, BUT...... our NOT doing what we are commanded to do does not save us. Nor need it - since we are CHRISTians and thus have The SAVIOR who forgives...... saves.
When the two are CONFUSED, you end up promoting modern Judaism, Islam and Bhakti Hinduism - and destroying (or at least greatly endangering) the VERY POINT of CHRISTianity: we NEED saving..... we have the SAVIOR. When CHRISTianity is abandoned and in it's place we echo MORMONISM'S "Do your best and God will overlook the rest" (it comes from the Book of Mormon AND the Koran - not, not, repeat NOT from the Christian Bible!), then Houston - we have a very big problem. When CHRISTianity is abandoned and in its place we echo BHAKTI HINDUISM's "God helps us because good enough - we just gotta tap that help and do it" (which comes from BHAKTI HINDUISM, not the Christian Bible!), then Houston - we have a very big problem.
Yes..... LOTS of things are true. Just don't confuse the application of those. Yes, it's true that a car needs some kind of a power-plant (engine, motor, whatever) AND brakes. But they do NOT have the same function, they do NOT supply the same thing. Saying, "you gotta apply the brakes to make the car go" is wrong. True - brakes and engine are needed - but not for the same thing. Brakes do not make the car go. They are necessary - but not for propulsion. When the topic is propulsion, it's confusing at best to mention (dwell!!!) on brakes! Especially when this dwelling is to diminish the role of the engine. Follow?
Example: I was born (by C-Section) on January 23, 1988. I had nothing to do with it. I did not give myself life (God did - mediately via my parents). I did not cause myself to live (God did). I didn't not cause myself to be a human being. I did not cause myself to be born. All these were GIFTS to me..... GIVEN to me.... the "work" of OTHERS. BUT, once I was born (and thus FULLY a human!!!!! FULLY a human!!!!!!) almost immediately, I was called to grow, to mature, to become a civil (not necessarily PERFECT), contributing, responsible, caring person (a process I'm still working on, lol). BOTH are true! What is NOT true is: "I'm alive because I was a good enough student." "I'm a human because I usually obeyed by parents." "I breathe because I have a good job." Do you see how false that is, how misleading it is, how it destroys the affirmation that God GIVES life, that we are a creation of God? In the same way, insisting we are saved BECAUSE we sorta, kinda TRY to keep the Law (but fail)....... insisting that we are saved because of OUR works, OUR accomplishments, OUR surrendering, OUR trying, OUR.... OUR...... OUR...... is absurd, confusing, and just plain WRONG. And of course, an abandonment of CHRISTianity.
When the discussion is justification (narrow) - "salvation" in Protestant parlance - then the ONLY thing to mention is CHRIST, who is THE one and only and exclusive SAVIOR. He GIVES salvation. He GIVES spiritual life. He BESTOWS on us the position of Christian, child of God. ANY mention of self - of self being good enough, of self trying sorta, kinda, sometimes hard enough - that ( at best) confuses things and far, far, far more likely - destroys Christianity and promotes instead Mormonism, modern Judaism, Islam and Bhakti Hinduism. Such may be unintentional but it's exactly, precisely what happens, what results.
Nothing is more important.....
Pax CHRISTI
- Josiah
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