-----Original Message-----from David Miller:
Your attitude might be falling back to treating the New Testament and the commandments as law. Based upon some of your other comments, you might be looking too much at works as having efficacy for justification. David M, That is a strange thing to say. James said, "You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone." (James 2:24 NAS) And Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will keep my commandments.", "He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him.", and "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word," and "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love." And John said, "And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, I have come to know Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (I John 3:3,4). "No one who is born of God practices sin...and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." (I John 4:9) "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." (I John 5:3) Obviously we cannot save ourselves by obeying the law (ie: never transgressing in our whole life), and that is why we fall upon the Blood of Christ to save us. But why would we NOT consider obeying the law as a requirement, just the same? And as you have pointed out, legalism tries to JUST obey the law, rather than the much greater implications of the law, over and beyond the law; the principles implied by the law. Going the extra mile, etc. The written Law is just a starting point, of course. It is the absolute minimum. But even so, it seems to be more than we humans can obey--because we tell ourselves that it is not a requirement; impossible; not necessary because we have "grace"! My BIG question is: At what point does such flagrant disregard for obeying God's commandments cause us to lose our salvation? Ever? I can't help but think so!!! By the way, David, what is your definition of the "Kingdom of God"? Just wondering. Izzy ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
