Classes start back up again this week, and it looks like I'm taking Theology of Holiness- Grrrrr. I really have to check my attitude on the subject. Pastor Tom tells me that I need to not get angry but listen, so I'm trying to go in with a humble spirit. He has tried to explain this doctrine to me, which is shared by the Wesleyan church, but I haven't embraced it yet (that's putting it lightly).
My statement of faith is that I am a sinner saved by grace. No matter how "holy" of a life I live, I am only made righteous through the work of Christ. All my good deeds and "clean" living are filthy rags, but Jesus Christ alone paid the ransom and made me acceptable to God. I attempt to live a holy life out of loving obedience as one recruited to a team that loves his Savior and neighbors and must work within the rules to help the team be successful.
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Comment:Chris Sumpter (unverified)Jan 12, 2008: Just out of curiosity, where did you get the phrase "sinner saved by grace"? Because it's not from the Bible. I just did a little search of the New Testament to see if I could find any references to Christians being referred to as sinners. The closest I came was when Paul said that Christ came to save sinners, of whom he is chief. I don't really think Paul was saying that, at the time he was writing, he was the chief of sinners. It seems to be clear that he is talking about his past pre-conversion life. Then I did a search for the word "saints." Christians are referred to 60 times as saints. That doesn't count the times that they are referred to as righteous, sanctified, etc. So, is it more scripturally accurate to say "I am a sinner saved by grace" or "I was a sinner, but am now a saint, by grace"? |
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Chris, good observation, but what about...?
Luke 18:9-10
9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector...
Philippians 3:8-10
8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
Rom 3:10
10As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one;
Rom 3:23 (notice that fall is in the present tense)
23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Rom 7:14-20 (Was Paul not sanctified?)
14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing.20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
Rom 7:25 (It seems that as long as we are in the flesh, we are bent toward sin.)
23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Isa 64:6
6All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Rom 3:9
9What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.
Phil 3:12-13
12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead
The phrase "sinner saved by grace" may not be directly stated in scripture, but you will also not find terms such as: regeneration, Christian perfection and second blessing.
Yes, the believers are the saints, the chosen, the holy preisthood, but we are still battleing the sinnful nature, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in [us] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6).
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Comment:
Chris Sumpter (unverified)Jan 13, 2008: Luke 18--Was the tax collector a Christian? No, but when he admitted that he was a sinner in need of mercy, he was justified. Philippians 3--Paul doesn't say that he's not righteous; he just says that he could not have achieved righteousness on his own, but that he is pressing on toward complete holiness. I have no disagreement with that. Rom. 3--In their unjustified state, no one is righteous. But, thank God, when one is born from above they are made righteous, not just had righteousness imputed to them. Romans 7--There are so many different interpretations of this passage that I'm not going to use it to prove one doctrine over another. I can only read it in the light of the general message of Scripture and Paul's particular teachings on holiness elsewhere. I think it is fair to say that Paul was not always sanctified. I don't read verse 25 ff. to say that we must always have a leaning toward sin. I'm not arguing against the phrase "sinner saved by grace"; I don't think the concept exists in the NT. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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