The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Colossians 1:21-23,
"Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel."
Notice that "if" in the above passage? This passage is a statement about salvation. It is a statement about eternal life. It is a statement about who goes to heaven and who does not. A very important statement, wouldn't you say? Here is another example of such a statement, "We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end." Hebrews 3:14. "If" this, then "that". If we continue in our faith, if we remain established and firm, if we do not move from the hope held out in the gospel, if we hold to our original conviction firmly to the very end, then we are reconciled, then we have come to share in Christ.
Many have misread statements from Scripture such as this that appear to speak to a conditional approach of believers keeping themselves in a "saved condition". They have concluded that if they don't "keep themselves in the faith", if they "backslide" in an episode of sin, if they allow themselves to be sidetracked, they can or have lost their salvation. Many have fretted over the notion of, "Might I lose my salvation?" In angst over insuring such an horrific outcome doesn't take place, many have immersed themselves, enslaved themselves, in good works and mighty personal efforts in the anxiety such a prospect produces. Tied in knots and consumed with "keeping themselves saved" they become side-lined and unproductive for God's great plan of redemption. They fail to move past a certain point in their relationship with God, having stalled out on a needless diversion. A good trick on the other side of the spiritual war we are all engaged in.
Paul is not addressing the conditional terms of salvation in this passage, nor is he teaching we can lose our salvation. Neither is the writer of Hebrews in 3:14. What they are pointing to is the manifestation of what salvation looks like. Someone who is reconciled to God through Jesus Christ is established, does not move from the hope held out in the gospel. Someone who has come to share in Jesus Christ holds their conviction firmly to the end. It is not their effort in doing this, it is due to God's faithfulness in his promise to us. If we embrace him in faith, he will faithfully keep us to the end. When we embrace the Lord in faith as a response to the gospel, it is done. My salvation was determined in 1968 and nothing I have done in my life will change that. What does change is my life here, now that the Holy Spirit resides within.
How do we know this? "He [God] will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." 1 Corinthians 1:8-9. God's faithfulness keeps us firm to the end! Where some are fooled into attempting this on their own, as if their salvation depended on it, God has already taken the responsibility to keep all who have embraced him in faith safely to the end of their earthly existence for their participation in eternal life.
This was so foundational in apostolic teaching that the apostle John used this truth to cast light on false teachers who were disrupting the church, men who were never saved. "They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us." 1 John 2:19.
Does this mean we will never sin, that we will never have episodes of turning our backs on God, that we will never disappoint God and others in our lives? Not at all. The Scriptures teach us that our sinful natures remain with us to the end of our earthly lives, when we leave these bodies behind. Until then there is conflict, a conflict that resides inside us between the Holy Spirit who has taken up residence within us and our sinful natures. Paul speaks to it, "So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want." Galatians 5:16-17. If and when we may sin, John tells us, "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One." 1 John 2:1. The reality is that when believers like me sin, we feel an overwhelming discomfort, guilt, over it, the conviction of the Holy Spirit that dwells within. It drives us to our knees. We find ourselves in prayer asking for God's forgiveness, just as David in Psalm 51. Afterward we get up, dust ourselves off, and set about our challenges with renewed commitment to our God who was redeemed us from all sin.
I'm certainly not advocating room for sin in a believer's life. It is my conviction that none of us have to sin, that we are somehow in an environment where sin is inevitable. Paul tells us, "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." What I am saying is that if and when sin may enter into the life of the believer, the resolution is not to despair over a perceived loss of salvation, but to go to our knees and get right with God.
It is God's grace all the way. He is faithful and he will do it!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
"Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel."
Notice that "if" in the above passage? This passage is a statement about salvation. It is a statement about eternal life. It is a statement about who goes to heaven and who does not. A very important statement, wouldn't you say? Here is another example of such a statement, "We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end." Hebrews 3:14. "If" this, then "that". If we continue in our faith, if we remain established and firm, if we do not move from the hope held out in the gospel, if we hold to our original conviction firmly to the very end, then we are reconciled, then we have come to share in Christ.
Many have misread statements from Scripture such as this that appear to speak to a conditional approach of believers keeping themselves in a "saved condition". They have concluded that if they don't "keep themselves in the faith", if they "backslide" in an episode of sin, if they allow themselves to be sidetracked, they can or have lost their salvation. Many have fretted over the notion of, "Might I lose my salvation?" In angst over insuring such an horrific outcome doesn't take place, many have immersed themselves, enslaved themselves, in good works and mighty personal efforts in the anxiety such a prospect produces. Tied in knots and consumed with "keeping themselves saved" they become side-lined and unproductive for God's great plan of redemption. They fail to move past a certain point in their relationship with God, having stalled out on a needless diversion. A good trick on the other side of the spiritual war we are all engaged in.
Paul is not addressing the conditional terms of salvation in this passage, nor is he teaching we can lose our salvation. Neither is the writer of Hebrews in 3:14. What they are pointing to is the manifestation of what salvation looks like. Someone who is reconciled to God through Jesus Christ is established, does not move from the hope held out in the gospel. Someone who has come to share in Jesus Christ holds their conviction firmly to the end. It is not their effort in doing this, it is due to God's faithfulness in his promise to us. If we embrace him in faith, he will faithfully keep us to the end. When we embrace the Lord in faith as a response to the gospel, it is done. My salvation was determined in 1968 and nothing I have done in my life will change that. What does change is my life here, now that the Holy Spirit resides within.
How do we know this? "He [God] will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." 1 Corinthians 1:8-9. God's faithfulness keeps us firm to the end! Where some are fooled into attempting this on their own, as if their salvation depended on it, God has already taken the responsibility to keep all who have embraced him in faith safely to the end of their earthly existence for their participation in eternal life.
This was so foundational in apostolic teaching that the apostle John used this truth to cast light on false teachers who were disrupting the church, men who were never saved. "They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us." 1 John 2:19.
Does this mean we will never sin, that we will never have episodes of turning our backs on God, that we will never disappoint God and others in our lives? Not at all. The Scriptures teach us that our sinful natures remain with us to the end of our earthly lives, when we leave these bodies behind. Until then there is conflict, a conflict that resides inside us between the Holy Spirit who has taken up residence within us and our sinful natures. Paul speaks to it, "So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want." Galatians 5:16-17. If and when we may sin, John tells us, "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One." 1 John 2:1. The reality is that when believers like me sin, we feel an overwhelming discomfort, guilt, over it, the conviction of the Holy Spirit that dwells within. It drives us to our knees. We find ourselves in prayer asking for God's forgiveness, just as David in Psalm 51. Afterward we get up, dust ourselves off, and set about our challenges with renewed commitment to our God who was redeemed us from all sin.
I'm certainly not advocating room for sin in a believer's life. It is my conviction that none of us have to sin, that we are somehow in an environment where sin is inevitable. Paul tells us, "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." What I am saying is that if and when sin may enter into the life of the believer, the resolution is not to despair over a perceived loss of salvation, but to go to our knees and get right with God.
It is God's grace all the way. He is faithful and he will do it!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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