Greetings,
please correct me if I am wrong....
what is being suggested here in the above quote is that we (all those who would consider themselves saved/Christians/Believers/Followers/etc) are encouraged to make sure that we are indeed saved by considering those things that the Apostle wrote, in contrast to the Apostle writing a 'new' rule book of how to be saved (etc) ?
In other words, examining ourselves to see that the way we live and interact, etc, is in line with those who are saved?
BECAUSE it is so important to be saved... so don't simply think you are but check some fruit of being converted to the New and Living Way. Sort of, don't kid yourself about this... make sure you are?
100% agreement.
I like to split our self assessment into three categories.
1. Remembering when we were first saved.
Rev 2:4.
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. We should recall the exact date and experience. For me it was the day I stopped certain sins that a nun said would get me into hell. I prayed all night and had a very real encounter with Jesus and 'scripture'.
2. Self examination.
This is to be done on our knees in fear and trembling before God Phil 2:12. Almost every scripture alluding to works that displease God need to be considered here. All of the verses
@B-A-C has quoted in his post above for example. If you love the Lord, you would also hate what He hates and love what He loves Rom 12:9. However, as we are not a perfect god Mark 10:18 and will never be one, we need to consider the seriousness of all our sins. For example, if we look at Paul. On day 1, he stopped murdering Christians. Yet he still battles daily with sins Rom 7:15
For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. Now it is a safe to assume that he is not referring to murdering Christians as that came to an end. He is therefore referring to 'lessor' sins. As Catholics would say, venial sins verse mortal sins. We see Paul isolates a ''brother so called'' in 1 Cor 5 who is guilty of a mortal sin of incest. We also see many warnings in the OT for certain sins that would result in a death penalty. Now as a Christian, we have to consider the fact that certain actions, God dislikes so much that He ordained a graphic and violent death by stoning for. As such, it is safe to assume that any who say they love Him, not be able to commit any of these.
3. Hearing God's voice and seeing Him at work.
John 10:27-28
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. According to scripture we are in a living relationship with God. We ''will'' see prayers answered and learn from faith to engage with Him on a daily basis. We should be able to look back at our lives and count those real interactions where God made Himself known to us. I have done this and can count 14 miracles
. That may make for a good thread. We
are given a measure of faith Rom 12:3.
Conclusion:
If we can tick all three of the above, I would say you are indeed a Christian.
on another note, how much of our obedience is related to the faith of resting in His finished works verses keeping the law? I ask because keeping the law to get or be or ensure salvation from God by Grace, seems to be written about quite a lot and is 'frowned upon' or warned against in the New Testament.
Many get the cart before the horse and also don't properly understand 'living by the law'.
Horse = Jesus, Cart = living works
A Christian will obey the laws because their heart belongs to Jesus. They will grasp and always consider God's reasoning for said law. The Holy Spirit helps us here.
This does not however mean that without Jesus we are exempt from accountability. This is not the case at all. We all have a conscience
Conscience and Moral Decay. It is just that as a Christian, we are strengthened and made new 2 Cor 5:17. We are better able to live a holy life that pleases God. Consider for example, again, 1 Cor 5. Paul says in verse 12 that only those who call themselves Christians, we must not eat with if they be in a mortal sin.
Living by the law, was something only Jews did. I won't go into detail here, I will just say we need to consider how God gave them high priests, prophets and a tabernacle / ark of the covenant. When Jonah went to Nineveh, a non Jewish town, he did not preach Jewish laws, he only said ''repent, your sins are grievous and are upsetting God''.
Is there a level of obedience to Grace in the keeping of our faith?
No. Grace is a gift. We must never say ''well because Jesus died for me, I will sin here and there''. Wow, that would be a red alarm for not being a Christian.
on another point, to what degree did God factor in our stupidity when He called us and placed us in His household?
Some of the actions people do are stupidity?
Can we count-in 'determined stupidity' ; in other words, deliberately taking no notice of God's reminder to us for a stupid action and validating what we once knew to be something against the perfect, and therefore ignoring the call to repent and return, for the LORD is Gracious and Merciful. (see Joel 2)
(perhaps it is in this that we need to consider our ways as per the suggestion of needing to examine ourselves to make sure we are saved? because if we find we are totally unwilling to accept that we have done stupid - ie confess, then perhaps we never were actually 'born again' ? )
I don't see any 'stupidity' with regards to sin. Sin is always an intentional action that we know is wrong. Every single adult on this planet has the same working brain and ability to discern right and wrong. Except for mentally handicapped of course.
There are sins that Jews and Christians can commit that would not prick the conscience of others. For Jews, something like the sabbath. A Day God told them to keep holy as it was the day isolated for remembrance of Him helping them to escape Egypt. A Jew who disrespects the Sabbath, knowing God's feelings on the matter is guilty of pulling the middle finger to Him. A sin on par with mortal sins as the penalty was death. For Christians, I think of something like Ananias and Sapphira. Peter said X and Y. They needed to all give what they had so that God's plan of communing and spreading the gospel could work. Their disobedience (and lie, both are factors) to what Peter said, was seen as a mortal sin and they died on the spot.
--------------
and another question: Is sin something that is outside of Grace and more to do with the law?
No.
Sin is best defined as anything that goes against the will of God.
Grace is only found in Jesus covering us from our sins past and future. We continue to sin but are forever covered by His grace. This gets very technical. A Christian always repents of sins. They do not 'continue unrepentant' in sin. But there are many 'venial' sins we battle with daily and I believe we will battle with forever
Sinning never ends.
As discussed above, the law, living by every letter of the law was something the Jews did. For a Christian, the laws of God are written on our hearts Heb 8:10. This does not mean we ignore any law in scripture. In fact we consider them and more.
