I don’t know of anyone here who considers the cross as only a “metaphor”. I’m sure Jesus thoroughly wished it could just be just a metaphor as he was hanging there, but our sin gets manifested in highly material, and sharp-pointed ways.
I highly doubt that those two would ever be confused since they are nearly opposites. There is much discussion to be had on the place of “the law” in Christian life, and much of that has happened in various threads. But as far as knowing the difference between grace and legalism - that’s pretty easy, especially when we ourselves are the recipients. The letter kills but the Spirit gives life. We are encouraged to be ministers of the new covenant - not of the old. (2 Corinthians 3:6).
A couple of your posts were removed here, Cody, since you probably shouldn’t be declaring that disagreement with you constitutes some lack of scriptural knowledge on their part.
What does this mean? It is very far from being spelled out here.
Does it mean our every thought condemns us? Many are outraged by this idea because controlling every thought is impossible and feeling guilt and self-condemnation for a single thought can be self-destructive.
Well first of all, I don’t think this is about a bunch of legalisms according to which we are judged and condemned. I think it is all about self-destructive habits – things which destroy us from within by damaging our free will and degrading our integrity.
So… an errant thought is one thing, indulging in these thoughts is another. Telling yourself that you are not acting on these thoughts is empty sophistry – not because indulging in lustful thoughts is going to get you condemned but because indulging in thoughts will program your responses to circumstances and eventually lead to action. The real point here is not about making judgements of people for their thoughts but telling them to be wary of the idea that just thinking things is safe. It is not safe. So if a certain course of action is disgusting to you and something you know is wrong, it really isn’t a great idea to fantasize about such things either for that will tear down the barriers to actually doing them.
Matt 5:27-28
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. The thoughts or temptations were presented to Him but He rejected them and resisted them by the Word of God. If we feel the temptation being presented to us, we reject it and resist it. It is when a person looks on someone with the decision, intent or purpose to lust after them, it is then as Jesus said, “hath committed adultery with her already in his heart”. And that is sin even though you don’t do the act.
Fantasizing about things you know are wrong is a sin. It is NOT ok just because it is only in your head. That is what my explanation above was all about.
Where we disagree is on the question of what sin is in the first place. For you it may be about breaking some set of laws written in the sky. If that were true Jesus’ claim in Matt 22:40 wouldn’t work. Sin isn’t about breaking some set of rules, so that all you need to do is find legal loops and technicalities to worm your way around them.
Sin consists of self-destructive habits – it is the self-destructive nature of them which is why God tells us not to do these things. They are not sin simply because God said not to do them. We don’t need an authoritarian morality which is suitable only for two-year-olds. There are reasons why these things are no good.
You are correct that sin is self destructive. The reason they are no good is because they are against and the opposite of God’s nature. So not only does God command us not to sin, He was gracious toward us by executing us and raising us from death through the cross of Christ. Now, in this present age to free us from the power of sin.
So I can get it clear, would you answer these questions please.
Do you glory in the cross of Christ?
Do you believe that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have died to sin and are reborn and made a New Creation in Christ as Paul states? An actual, literal death and New Creation. Not by our works or obedience but we are born again in a moment of time, by the Father’s will because of what Jesus did through the cross and resurrection and our trust or faith in that.
Do you believe that through the cross, God made Jesus sin so that in Him we could become the righteousness of God?
Interesting questions, Cody. We often use churchy words that are rather strange and puzzling to those not in the same sects and sub-culture. While several of your questions reflect this, let us look at your first question.
Even though I have been in a Baptist church for all my life, I really have difficulty understanding what that means. I am thankful for the work Christ did upon the cross, I am humbled and am unworthy of the gift of grace bestowed on me by the sacrifice made by Christ, but to glory in the cross is a largely nonsense phrase. Would you care to explain what you mean?
I would suggest that you first read what Paul ment by it. Then you will know what I mean by it. Im not trying to be secretive or diverting but it would be best to understand Paul so you can judge my thoughts. I will be glad to explain though.
Yeah, I agree that churchy language is often not helpful, especially if it is mechanical and rote. I think it means to boast, take pride in (not personal pride, but pride in the work of our Father and Elder Brother) or gladly point to.
That also ties in with the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Hallowed be thy name”, I want you to be set apart, famous, renowned, and I will boast in you. My default analogy is the name of Lamborghini among high-end sports cars – it is a hallowed name among its aficionados, and they will boast in it and praise it.
I had a bit of hard time understanding what you were saying here. In reference to churchy language if it is pointing to the way I express things, I try to use scriptural text as a foundation on which to build my explanation of them. If scripture sounds churchy to some, I cant help that, the problem is with the hearer not the one stating the scripture. What I say does not come from quoting texts that others have quoted to me as a parrot copies someone. My statements come from what Jesus and the apostles said and from the reality of it in my own experience with God.
I glorify, lift up, exalt, proclaim as envaluable, speak highly of, praise God for, the cross of Christ and all that was accomplished by it for me through it. Just because someone may not be familiar with a concept or phrasings that are in the scripture, it doesnt mean scripture doesnt express them. I am always laboring to change my thoughts and ideas to come inline with the Spirit of Christ.
That is your perception but not the reality. I exalt Jesus and what He has done. I boast in Him and freely express how His salvation is active in me as all who belong to him should do. Does Jesus not deliver those who call out to Him from sin? Can He not cleans our minds with His word. Let others here boast in how Jesus delivers them from sin each day. The Father is glorified when we do.
As far as being “holier than thou”, we who are in Christ are holier than those who are not, for in Him we have died to sin and His righteousness is at work in us, purifying our thoughts and actions. Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
But it is not a holiness of our own making, it is Christ in us, purifying us through the New Creation He has made us to be and by the Spirit of God that abides in us.
God killed me through Jesus being executed on a cross. He then made me alive now, in this life by the resurrection of Jesus. Now, at this very moment, I am born of God, God recreated me, I have His Spirit in Me, Jesus and the Father live in me, by them living in me, they save me from temptations. If I do such a wicked thing as disobeying them and then am truly convicted of my guilt and turn away from my rebellion then they are gracious to forgive me. But if I continue in rebellion and thereby stomp on the blood of Jesus, my name can be erased from the Book of Life.
Churchy language follows…
Heb 10:26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
And yes, this is how I talk with my customers, store clerks, pastors, my kids, and people on the street. When Paul spoke to the philosophers in Athens, he said God would judge everyone by Jesus whom He raised from the dead. Some scoffed at him about the resurrection but others believed. I do proclaim Jesus was resurrected to unbelievers. If you go back to one of the previous posts in this thread where I said “where I found Jesus”, you would find out the reaction of a man who wanted to beat me up when I stated the foreign concept of, “He rose from the dead”. I didn’t have to dumb it down for him for it to effect him. In fact, his reaction was a direct influence of the Spirit of God on him by my proclamation of Jesus rising from the dead. It’s called conviction by the Holy Spirit, which Jesus said the Spirit would do when He came.