Grace and Faith

Grace is a gift of unmeasured value and like any other priceless treasure people have been fighting about it for centuries. Many Christians, bless their hearts, walk around in deep boundless faith simply accepting what they are told rather than investigating. In many cases the arguments are actually started by individuals who are looking at things through a narrow window of perspective. Our Heavenly Father is a being of infinite knowledge. How could we possibly think that his wisdom could be discerned in a quick and thoughtless fashion? I have realized as I grew spiritually that in todays world of deceit I needed to have a more thorough view of Christianity. I needed to be able to defend my faith for my family, myself, and my fellow Christians. I would beg of you as a Christian or as someone examining the faith to not do God’s word the dishonor of a light hearted inspection. We must look at the history surrounding the authors of the canonized Bible, the early church, and the church councils. Every piece of information ever reviewed eventually finds itself supporting the Grace of God. It is only when you try to take fragments that you get confusion and misdirection. The controversy of Grace is in my sights at this immediate moment. I prayed and researched to come to my conclusions and I hope that you will appreciate them. Is your salvation secure? There are many different arguments about our salvation. Some think that we can never lose our salvation once it is obtained, some think you can lose it. Some think you can lose your salvation and obtain it again. The list of human ideas just goes on and on. Well, it is my practice to look to the past to see if a problem or argument has happened before. Because I believe that no problem should be revisited unless there is new evidence to be examined. Something resolved should stay resolved. The most noted argument in the early church about salvation starts with a difference of opinion between John Calvin and Jacob Arminius. Of course neither of them was alive to disagree face to face. Their theologies differed and their followers warred about those differences. The lines were drawn and sides were chosen and the argument nearly caused a civil war in the Netherlands. A council was held to decide the correctness of the two theological views. The council, called the Synod of Dordrecht, decided in favor of the Calvinist view and wrote and ratified the Canons of Dordt. The Canons contained the five points of the Arminian view as stated in the Remonstrance of 1610, as well as, the five counterpoints that are now called, “the Five Points of Calvinism”. Let’s see what we can learn from this encounter and the supporting scripture. I have often found that in order to fully understand something you must know what raw materials formed it and how it was put together. Man is from his birth depraved. He is incapable of living up to the moral standard that tugs at his soul. He is incomplete. take a moment and think about the many different passions that men have embraced in order to fulfill a void that many of us admit to having. Some say they are fine and aren’t missing anything and I say if they are not Christ seeking individuals they are liars.

1 Timothy 1:15 

This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" —and I am the worst of them.

The Apostles knew our hopeless state and they did not waste time philosophizing about it. They called us sinners unworthy of the face of God.

Romans 3:23  For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Some Christians would like to empower themselves by believing their free will allowed them to choose God. Our will is not equal to or greater than God’s. In our original condition we are unable to select or deny something we can’t even grasp. Without the GRACE of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice you cannot even know God. This is an invitation only party. Just as the author of 1 John tells us, “ we love, because he first loved us.” Then there is the ever famous John 3:16 telling us how the Father loved us enough to sacrifice the Son. If you believe you are great enough to have chosen Jesus then you might want to fall on your knees and get a different perspective.

John 10:26-28

26 But you don't believe because you are not My sheep. 27 My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish —ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand.

I know of no instance in the world’s existence where man chose God. Only Jesus Christ is doing the choosing. So open your eyes, ears and heart and pray that you are one of his sheep. In Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus tries to explain that no man can reach heaven without being born again of water and the spirit. Jesus was pointing out that with his gift of grace we are saved and that no amount of groveling or works could change us. Salvation is a work done in us by God. So we seek Jesus Christ, publicly proclaim our faith in Jesus through baptism, and the Holy Spirit enters us. We as saved Christians can resist at that point if we choose. However our bad choices will distress the Holy Spirit in turn causing painful guilt in ourselves. Through these labor pains the Holy Spirit reforms the Christian into a regenerated, sanctified child of God. When someone says that you can lose your salvation they are implying that God’s grace is not sufficient. The work is done by God. He knows that we are weak and gives us the strength to persevere so that we can overcome temptation. I really believe that there are too many interpretations of the scripture. Read Romans chapter 8 and think about it. Read several different translations if that helps and don’t interpret it, rather, take it at face value.