Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
Faith in God is inextricably linked with the fight for personal holiness. It is not the case that people are saved by grace and progressively sanctified by works, but rather, people are saved by grace through faith AND they are progressively sanctified by grace through faith.
The works that accompany one's saving faith are inextricably linked with their belief. If i believe that God is God, then that belief MUST have an impact on the way that i live my life. Not to say that sinless perfection follows a confession of faith, but rather to say that alongside belief in God is a growing knowledge of him and a growing knowledge of him is accompanied by a growing knowledge of what a terrible thing sin is.
This stands in direct contradiction to a belief that one can profess faith in God while still living in willful and persistent sin with no desire for repentance. I don't say this in an accusatory tone, but rather i say this as both a reminder/exhortation to myself and all others to seek, grow in knowledge of and to treasure the Lord.
i feel you.
ReplyDeleteyet my mind (or heart or spirit) has trouble acting this out. it has trouble with a salvation that comes through no works of my own existing at the same time as a doctrine that demands that faith breeds works. that somehow i was able to be works-less to get in God's good graces, yet while once in God's good graces that same faith must produce what it didn't have to produce to get in God's good graces.
as a result i find myself either sticking to the works-less faith needed to save me (which produces limited works in my lifestyle) ... or wanting to abandon the church climate altogether so that my focus can be on works (which will produce an abundance or works in my lifestyle).
maybe it's spiritual retardation. i can't seem to operate effectively with two types of faith: a soteriological one, and one that is needed in the sanctification process.
i started to respond to this on my phone about a week ago and i got distracted by something (phone call? text message? idk)
ReplyDeleteGod redeems our works :o)
Our faith prior to salvation produced dead works that merited God's eternal wrath. Our faith after salvation produces good works. It isn't as though our pre-salvation works were morally neutral for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. I think that we may need to expand our definition of Works. Everything that we do...everything that we do in our lives is unto God. We don't have to put on a collar to work for him. Our jobs are work unto the Lord...on some colossians 3 :o)
i'm assuming that you're having a difficult time finding a happy medium somewhere in limboland?