Magnificent Verses from Ephesians

One cannot read Ephesians and not be awed at the way Paul writes. To me the first chapter of Ephesians stands as one of the most brilliant passages I have read :)

"And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession - to the praise of his glory." - Eph 1:13-14.

Our salvation was planned from eternity from the God who loves us by His grace, such that no one can boast of his works, all according to His sovereign and kind intention! He also gave us all spiritual blessings, perhaps the greatest being the Holy Spirit, a "seal", a mark of ownership, knowing we are true children of God, and a mark of security in our salvation. Though assualted in the present by sin, flesh and the devil, the church of God will be brought to her glorious end. In there any wonder that we can respond in no other way than in the "praise of his glory"?

What's your favourite verses?

Back to basics --- Justification, Santification, Glorification

Hello (:

weisen here(:

haha i'm posting some intresting articles and sometimes the post/articles are very simple things like you know but if you really pause and think for awhile do you really know or are you working out those things in your life? If you are doing it than that's great but if you are not maybe it's time to go back to the basics and align your heart with God(:

The word of God speaks of "salvation" in three tenses - past (Ephesians 2:8), present (Philippians 2:12) and future (Romans 13:11) - or in other words, of justification, sanctification and glorification.

Justification

Salvation has a foundation and a superstructure. The foundation is forgiveness of sins and justification. Justification is more than the forgiveness of our sins. It also means that we have been declared righteous in God's eyes, on the basis of Christ's death, resurrection and ascension. This is not on the basis of our works (Ephesians 2:8,9), for even our righteous deeds are like filthy rags in God's sight (Isaiah 64:6). We are clothed with the righteousness of Christ (Galatians 3:27). Repentance and faith are the conditions for being forgiven and justified (Acts 20:21).True repentance must produce in us the fruit of restitution - returning money and things and taxes due, that are wrongfully in our possession (that belong to others), and apologising to those we have wronged, as far as possible (Luke 19:8,9). When God forgives us, He also requires that we forgive others in the same way. If we fail to do this, God withdraws His forgiveness (Matthew 18:23-35). Repentance and faith must be followed by baptism by immersion in water, whereby we publicly testify to God, to men and to demons that our old man is indeed buried (Romans 6:4,6).We can then receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, whereby we are endued with power to be witnesses for Christ by our life and our lips (Acts 1:8). The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a promise to be received by faith, by all of God's children (Matthew 3:11; Luke 11:13).It is the privilege of every disciple to have the witness of the Spirit that he is indeed a child of God (Romans 8:16) and also to know for certain that he has indeed received the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:2).

Santification

Sanctification is the superstructure of the building. Sanctification (meaning `being set apart' from sin and the world) is a process that begins with the new birth (1 Corinthians 1:2) and that should continue throughout our earthly life (1 Thessalonians 5:23,24). This is a work that God initiates in us through the Holy Spirit, writing His laws upon our hearts and minds; but we have to do our part, working out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12,13). It is we who are to put to death the deeds of the body through the power that the Spirit offers us (Romans 8:13). It is we who have to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1).

It is in times of temptation that our wholeheartedness in desiring sanctification is truly tested. To be sanctified is to have the righteousness of the law fulfilled inside our hearts - and not just externally as under the old covenant (Romans 8:4). This was what Jesus emphasised in Matthew 5:17-48. The law's requirements were summed up by Jesus as loving God wholeheartedly and loving our neighbour as ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40).

It is this law of love that God now seeks to write in our hearts, for that is His own nature (Hebrews 8:10; 2 Peter 1:4). The outward manifestation of this will be a life of victory over all conscious sin and of obedience to all of Jesus' commandments (John 14:15).

It is impossible to enter into this life without first fulfilling the conditions of discipleship that Jesus laid down (Luke 14:26-33). These are basically to give the Lord the first place above all our relatives and our Self-life and to be detached from all of one's material wealth and possessions.

This is the narrow gate that we have to go through first. Then comes the narrow way of sanctification. Those who do not pursue after sanctification will never see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).

Glorification

While it is possible to be perfect in our conscience here and now (Hebrews 7:19; 9:9,14), it is not possible to be sinlessly perfect until we have a glorified body at Jesus' return (1 John 3:2). We can be LIKE Him only then. But we must seek to WALK as He walked even now (1 John 2:6).As long as we have this corruptible body, unconscious sin will be found in it, however much we may be sanctified (1 John 1:8). But we can be perfect in our conscience (Acts 24:16) and be free from conscious sin (1 John 2:1a), even now, if we are wholehearted (1 Corinthians 4:4).Thus we wait for the second coming of Christ and for our glorification - the final part of our salvation, when we will become sinlessly perfect (Romans 8:23; Philippians 3:21).

---P.S—It’s true that we are forgiven by grace. I believe that only by grace than I can have this relationship with Him BUT when you only believe that you only need the grace, you are wrong. In James 2:14-17 (What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.)

Faith without deed is dead , so without working out your salvation you are as good as not being save for you have done no deed.

A Final Response: The Spirit's Sanctification Causes Continual Repentance

Disclaimer: Personally I believe neither sides are going to change their minds. There are many before me who have tried to present the truth to the extreme or free grace camp but have failed. Therefore, I think an extended debate is unnecessary; they have been addressed before but rejected and it always leads to the same result. Nevertheless, I shall as a final response lay down what historical, biblical Christianity teaches.


1. The paradoxical truth about our salvation.

One would by now observe that the majority of arguments from the extreme grace camp are centred upon justification (bible verses quoted are often about justification even when it is clear that the issue is about our sanctification, the issue at stake). However, the Bible's description of salvation is not so narrow; it speaks of the salvation past (justification), salvation present (sanctification) and the future salvation (glorification).

In simpler words, there is a sense that we are already saved, there is a sense that we are continually being saved, and there is a sense that we are going to be saved; and there is no contradiction among these three, all are equally true. I have no time to explain all this in a small blog, but any respectable systematic theology book will explain these.

Therefore, teaching justification as the whole truth of salvation and leading Christians to believe only in the "salvation past" - i.e. my sins are forgiven and there is no need for repentance, is an error that denies our sinful present life, hinders our responsibility to grow toward holiness and even denying the work of the Holy Spirit. It is that dangerous.

The paradoxical truth of salvation is that we are both justified and sinners simultaneously. We, by Christ's work on the cross is instantly and eternally justified and made righteous at the moment of our faith; but with respect to our sanctification, at the moment of faith, we are mere babes in Christ, fleshly, unwise, unpurified, unchanged, unrenewed. What is required now is the continual work of the Spirit in our life; this is sanctification. We have perfect imputed righteousness, but we do not have perfect practical, actual righteousness, and that is why we struggle in our sins and need the Spirit's work in us. Can you differentiate between the two?


2. Sanctification is not merely about knowing we are righteous.

Bro Stanley has explained sanctification as

"the sanctifying work of the Spirit is to continue to convict believers of righteousness; the Holy Spirit reassures the believer that, despite failing now and then by committing sins, he is declared righteous because all his sins, past, present and future are forgiven, once and for all."

To summarize, to him, sanctification is the reassurance of our justified state. Here I will argue that it is not so simplistic. The work of the Holy Spirit is immensely more than that. The Holy Spirit does not simply stand aside and convince you that you are now safe; He is also coming in to do a total reconstruction, a complete transformation inside you, purifying you from your sins from now to the day you die, or when Christ come again. In justification we rest from all our works; in sanctification we strive by the power of God. There are many who worked when they should have rested in Christ; now, there are many who rested and slumbered when they should have worked by the power of God.

Have you perfect love for God? No. He will change you.
Have you perfect fear for Him? No. He will change you.
Have you perfect love for your brothers? No. He will change you.
Have you perfect control over your temptations? No. He will change you.
Have you total mastery over sin? No. He will change you.

In all these changes the believer does not stand idle. What is required of him is the devoted study of God's Word, prayers, confession of your sins and repentance, a geunine turning towards God again and again, each time you fall. Romans 7 describe this Paul, already a believer, already justified, already safe, already under no condemnation, already standing righteous before God but nonetheless struggling with his sins like the rest of us do (except the extreme grace camp!). I have yet to see a reasonable response to Romans 7 - it is the perfect case of the paradoxical truth that we are both justified and sinners simultaneously.


3. The Spirit's sanctification causes continual repentance.

It has been said by a wise man that the only time we do not need to repent, is when we have already arrived in heaven, totally perfect in our own righteousness. Are you at this state? Definitely not! Therefore, the Spirit must continue to cleanse us of our sins in His work of sanctifying us to be more holy and conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. One who has believed does not immediately attain this state, nor will he in this life!

Repentance is commanded by the whole counsel of the bible. The extreme grace camp's distinction of repentance only by the unbeliever is totally unfounded. Christians are still sinful creatures, justified but nonetheless still sinners. Again this is no place for extended
discussion; I will simply lay down these principles of repentance.


“Repentance is a grace of God's Spirit whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled and visibly reformed” - Thomas Watson.

i. Repentance is for everyone.

From this man's descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised. Before the coming of Jesus, John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel. Acts 13:23-24.

ii. Repentance cannot be separated from geunine faith.

Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." Acts 19:4.

iii. God's hatred of evil and our current sinful self demands repentance.

There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:

haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,

a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,

a false witness who pours out lies
and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers. Prov 6:16-19.

iv. Sanctification demands repentance

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. Rom 6:11-13.

v. Repentance is the evidence of God's sanctifying work in us.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Phil 2:12-13.

vi. Repentance is the evidence of our genuine faith.

No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 1 Jn 3:6.


4. Final Clarifications

Firstly, I anticipate that some will have the knee-jerk reaction of accusing me of using repentance as "works to gain acceptance from God", which is something I never claim. Repentance if understood clearly, is not a dreadful thing to perform, but rather a joyous returning to God by His power, a powerful evidence that I am a genuine son of God! Sanctification is not a mere matter of acknowledgement or assurance; it produces visible evidences of a holy life.

Secondly, I already know how the extreme grace camp navigate around these verses to prove repentance is unnecessary. I disagree with their foundational interpretation which go against centuries of biblical wisdom but lament that without any common interpretation there is no way to agree, so all dialogue must stop.

Thirdly, I am no pluralist, so by logic and absolute truth one of us must be wrong and one of us must be living a life that is absolutely wrong to God. A wrong understanding of sanctification leads to a wrong life before God. May we repent.

Lastly, we can win arguments but lose our souls. So I pray for the Spirit's conviction of the truth to us, where at last men's words must fail.

Thoughts About the "Extreme Grace" Camp

Everyone knows I am not a big fan of Rev Kong Hee (from City Harvest Church). Personally I am against some of his teachings, particularly the health and wealth gospel. However, in his article below I find that he has good grasp of the fundamental and historical gospel and has accurately identified the errors of the 'extreme grace' camp.

Questionable Teachings from the 'extreme grace' camp

I have a loved one from this extreme grace camp and it is often frustrating to talk to her. Here I shall describe my frustrations talking to her as well as others.


These are my own thoughts. They are based on my interaction with the camp especially lately Bro Stanley, a blogger (I have also read some books by Joseph Prince) and may not perfectly represent their beliefs.

1. The extreme grace camp teaches things that are unhistorical

The 'extreme grace' camp teaches that because of Christ's perfect redemption on the cross and sinners being completely justified by God (both true), there is now no need to continually repent or confess our sins (false). Repentance is a thing of the past; it is the duty of the unjustified sinner. Christians do not need to repent since we are already forgiven of all our sins. Once justified, we are perfect and no sin shall be accounted to us, therefore no need for repentance.

What is frustrating is this: Any accounts of people confessing their sins in the OT (eg. David's "Against you, you only have I sinned") is simplistically explained away as "they are not justified in the NT sense/ they belong to the old covenant, therefore they need to repent." Furthermore, any appearance of repentance of sins in the NT are simplistically reduced to "it happened before Christ actually died (eg. the Lord's prayer's "Forgive us our sins..."), or justifications that the text does not actually speak to believers (eg. 1 Jn 1:9 "If you confess your sins...")

Attempts are made to justify why being unhistorical is not such a bad thing. The frequent attempt is to simply talk about the Church's error in believing the earth is flat and that the earth is at the centre of the universe (geocentric model), only to be corrected by Copernicus' heliocentric model. See, they say, the Church in history has made these errors and thus cannot be counted upon. There is some truth in this statement, of course. Ultimately we believe Scripture to the the authority of our faith, yet at the same time anyone who chooses to undermine history is a fool. Because it is precisely from history that many false doctrines are rejected and the truth upheld from 2000 years of fierce debates and reformation. Is not much of your current belief thanks to the Council of Nicaea, Chalcedon, thanks to Athanasius, Luther, Calvin? Therefore though history is not authoritative, it is still useful nonetheless and one should not brush it aside. Treating history as useless and always using the cliched example of the Church's geocentrism error often open new ways of interpretations that are counter to what the bible teaches. Being historical may not always be right; but being unhistorical stands a higher chance of being wrong (read: Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Health and Wealth Gospel).

It is extremely frustrating that the 'extreme grace' camp finds absolutely no problem with interpreting texts on their own and not agreeing with most commentators/teachers.


2. The extreme grace camp incorrectly divides the Word of God

I have mentioned issues that I found to be terribly unhistorical and wrong (eg. no need to continually repent), yet face much trouble persuading people from that camp. Why? The fundamental problem, I believe, is that the 'extreme grace' camp has a poor grasp of what the Old Testament and OT laws function. They tend to focus much on grace so much so that the law of God become secondary.

For example, it is frustrating to hear Christians saying that the Holy Spirit does not convict believers of sin, since God is gracious and convicting us of sins make us fearful and not have a good relationship with him. What God wants is consciousness of himself and grace, not obeying the laws. I have replied the person that obedience is a fruit of our faith, and discipline and conviction from God should not produce dreaded fear in us, but rather thanksgiving, since the Father is disciplining his sons. Someone who finds God's kind awakening and the Spirit's conviction an obstacle to his faith should re-examine himself. Avoiding the Spirit's conviction, the Father's chastening and continual repentance are false and sinful forms of freedom.

But what, to me, is the greatest difficulty in dialoguing with them is their resolute but utterly simplistic division of the bible into "the old and new covenants". Sure there is such a division in the Book of Hebrews (but not so simplistic), but to them, it is as if the old covenant has almost zero relevance for us anymore.

David confessed his sins, but that's his job, he's in the old covenant, we are in the new. Jospeh suffered trials and God produced good out of evil, but he's in the old covenant, we in the new should expect blessings. The list goes on. It seems that many things that happened in the OT (or even slightly before Christ's atonement on the cross!) have no applications for Christians today.


3. The extreme grace camp fails to distinguish between justification and sanctification.

We have been pronounced righteous and not guilty and the perfect righteousness of Christ has been imputed to us, so that the man who has no sin has become sin in our place. Legally we stand before God blameless because of Christ's perfect work of the cross. This is justification; we are declared righteous, once for all, and all our sins, past, present and future are forgiven. Everyone knows this.

However, the extreme grace camp err in that they are confused between justification and the progressive sanctifying work of the Spirit in the believer's life. These are two different things! Read Romans 7 and we find a justified Paul continuing to struggle with sin in his life. Unlike what they claim, Paul has a consciousness of his sinful nature, his flesh and how it operates contrary to his Spirit life. He has subjective guilt of his transgressions. It is this sanctifying work of the Spirit that will continue to convict believers of sin, awaken them to their disobedience towards God, keep on renewing their minds and purifying them more and more from the pollution of sin in their lives. Believers press on defeating sin more and more as they are conformed in degrees in the image of Jesus Christ.

Many times they will answer, "But we are perfect! Our sins are all forgiven!" Yes, of course, no one should deny that, but understand you are speaking in terms of justification. The inability to distinguish between our legal perfection before God, and our continual struggle against sin and the sanctifying work of the Spirit which requires our obedience, repentance and confession of sins is a deadly mistake which might rob us of the desire and zealousness to press on toward holiness.

I wish one day they might awake to the bible's true teaching on continual repentance, God's chastening, suffering, God's sovereignty and goodness.

Wisdom For Our Lives

I have often been frustrated with people because they lacked wisdom. More often though, I have been frustrated with my own lack of wisdom. I'm sure many of you can understand what I'm saying. Consider the examples below which demonstrate our own foolishness:

1. Our lack of wisdom prevents us from discerning the intentions of men

I meet people who are unwilling to listen to Scripture even though my intentions are for their good. In their narrow-mindedness they may think that in pointing out their mistakes I am trying to be morally superior/pharasaic. Whatever happened to "admonishing and teaching... so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ" (Col 1:28)? Whatever happened to submitting under the authority of God's Word(Jas 1:23-24)? I also wonder how many times a person might be sincerely trying to correct me only for myself to think how unworthy for a sinful person like him or her to do so! He/she might just be fulfilling God's command for all my puny and foolish mind can know. I might have avoided the Word of God to my own peril.

2. Our lack of wisdom prevents us from correctly handling the word of truth

Titus 2 teaches to "encourage and rebuke with all authority." However, at times I have rebuked people who needed encouragement more than harsh (but nonetheless true) words. I might have spoken the truth, even in love, but the message received at the other end is totally opposite what I intended. The same truth should have been spoken with the same authority (that is, God's Word) but in the correct manner! Surely in these instances I have lacked the wisdom to properly use or correctly handle the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15).

3. Our lack of wisdom makes us choose the way of the world and not of God

Whether it is trying to look good (physically or spiritually), or giving in to temptations and rejecting God's Word, or succumbing to the materialistic and physical pursuit of this world, or abandoning love for brothers, or being numb to the gracious provision of His Word, we in so many ways have become foolish. To me, the most pitiful thing about our condition is that a foolish person never knows that he is foolish. Otherwise he would have turned from his foolishness. Therefore, I am not surprised that it might take a long time and the Spirit's awakening to really turn a man from his foolish thoughts.


Prayer: Heavenly Father, rescue us from our foolish lives. Forgive our foolishness in the way we approach you and man. May your Spirit living in us give us wisdom and the ability to know and apply your truth. May we learn from Jesus who not only is wise, but is Himself wisdom from God (1 Cor 1:30), in whom is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge(Col 2:3). This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Some thoughts

Some thoughts from yesterday (Sunday, 31 May):

1. For those who attended service, you might recall that the speaker in one of his teaching points used Arminianism and Calvinism as an example of doctrines that Christians argue over, which in his opinion may not be a major issue at all when it comes to our salvation in the end. He painted this mental image of an Arminian and a Calvinist who both meet in heaven (because both believe in Christ).

"How did you get here," says an astonished Calvinist.

"By exercising my free will," responds the Arminian. "And you?"

"Because I've been predestined!" declares the Calvinist.

(I have not reproduced the speaker's words verbatim due to my shock and also because I didn't write them down. However, I believe I've captured the essence of his point. Correct me if I am wrong, please)

Let me say that I wholeheartedly disagree. I believe the doctrines of Arminianism (which includes not only free will, but also conditional election, unlimited atonement to name a couple) seriously undermine the gospel of grace. Taking the speaker's point, if man has "free-will" to choose his salvation, what are we to make of God's grace which becomes "resistable" if man so wills it? On the other hand, if man has a part to play in his salvation, namely the "choosing," doesn't this mean that the work of salvation is partially, if not entirely dependent on man too?

You either try and get into heaven by your own means or "choosing," or you can trust solely in the finished work of Christ. It's one or the other. In fact, if you study the first doctrine of "Total Depravity" (or "Radical Depravity"), you'll soon realise that man is so utterly depraved that he can't even make this choice with his fallen will.

And what with phrases such as "partnering God" being used in our circles with very ambiguous meanings, I think it's time we study TULIP again (the last time we did so was about 6 years ago I think).

What do you all think?

2. James, Mia and Melissa had an interesting conversation in the cryroom before the lesson started. Can Christians read books that contain fantasy / supernatural elements such as magic, spells, vampires etc? Take for example the Harry Potter and Twilight series. Incidentally, I haven't read both so I can't comment on the content.

But let's extrapolate this beyond books. What about hack-and-slash films? R21 films? Twilight/Harry Potter films? How about music?

One core argument against the consumption of such media is the apparent "satanic," or "worldly" content they have. Fair enough, but doesn't this mean we all have to live ascetic lives to escape such influences, since they are so prevalent in our society? We probably have to renounce all our friendships with non-Christians and disown our non-believer family members as well, but I'm probably stretching this abit too far.

I don't want to type too much, as I am sometimes given to. Let's hear from you. What do you think?