enrowid
September 1st 2005, 02:00 AM
Having Faith in Jesus is Fundamental step to salvation and we agree with it. But as we grow in faith it will not be sufficient to us.
Faith without love cannot save a person. It will render his total being useless as Paul said in I Corinthians 13:1-3 "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."
It is love that magnifies the works of faith which was mentioned in the book of I Corinthians 16:14
"Let all your things be done with charity (love)."
As the name of the Lord magnifies his word according to the book of Psalms 138:2
"I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name."
Also at the book of James 2:22 "Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?"
Remember that faith to be perfected it must bear works, faith without works is dead as James 2:26 says,
"For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."
And the works of faith must be done with love for perfection as it is written in Colossians 3:14
"And above all these things put on charity (love), which is the bond of perfectness."
Therefore it is crystal clear from these verses of the Bible, that love is not only an essence of salvation but in fact the most important one. But if we have to examine further the details of salvation in the Bible, other things must be weighted with equal importance as mentioned in the book of II Peter 1:5-10.
"And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity." "For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall."
Remember that there are things that must be added to faith and they were mentioned as follows: virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity and without these things someone is considered blind, but with these things that abound, a person will not be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Still going deeper we now have to leave these fundamental teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ to have faith in Jesus.
BUT WHAT IS NEXT ?
Paul have had the faith of Jesus for he mentioned it in the book of Galatians 2:20
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
The first Christians who were lucky to be seen by John included among those who were saved have had the faith of Jesus as recorded in Revelation 14:12
"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."
Also in the book of James 2:1
"My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons."
Having faith in Jesus is very much different from having the faith of Jesus.
And what does the Bible mean when it says having the faith of Jesus? A person having the faith of Jesus must have the same line of thinking with Jesus as Paul stated in I Corinthians 2:16
"For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."
And to think as Jesus thinks is to stop sinning by rejecting the works of the flesh as written in
I Peter 4:1-4
"Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind:
for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:"
We must also have the spirit of obedience that Christ had as stated in Hebrews 5:7-9
"Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him."
It doesn’t necessarily follow that we must all have to speak in tongues, heal the sick, or cast out demons for not all the faithful in the history of the first century Christian church have had these gifts as written in the book of I Corinthians 12:28-30
"And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. are all apostles? are all pro- phets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?"
Born again preachers uses the passage in Mark 16:15-20 which states,
And he said unto them, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.
So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen."
False preachers use Mark 16:15-20 as reference, they have grossly ignored the rules of truth and evidences, not only once but in many instances wherein these verses were proven to be false and were added only, not parts of the inspired scriptures. As a result a mass suicide was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records about the 913 souls that perished with their leader Jim Jones by taking cyanide simply because they believe in these particular verses.
A meticulous perusal of these verses will reveal vividly that these are not original part of the scriptures. Take these things into consideration:
1. These signs shall follow them that believes: they shall cast out devils, shall lay hands on the sick, speak with new tongues, etc. (Mark 16:15:20 ) The apostle Paul emphatically said that not all Christians can heal the sick, speak in tongues and cast out demons according to I Cor. 12:29–30.
"Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do
all speak with tongues? do all interpret?"
Take another look and continue
2. And if they drink any deadly thing, and they sall take up serpents . . .
Christians even if they know that God will save them will not drink or take anything harmful to their body. That
will be tantamount to Testing God and that must never be done by any Christian. Matthew 4:5-7
"Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If
thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in
their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is
written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."
Further, to intentionally hold snakes is also not in line with the original concept of the Gospel thereby proving the claim of more learned Bible scholars that the book of Mark must end with a short conclusion in Mark 16:8 and not with Mark 16:9-20 for the King James version:
For references see the following books:
1. The Greek New Testament
The Longer Ending of Mark; pages 196- 198, Tertulian Aphrater, Apostolic Constitution, Didymus.
2. The Emphatic Diaglott Bible
(see the book of Mark chapter 16)
3. The Greek Interlinear Bible
(see chapter 16, footnote, and comments of the scholars regarding the chapter)
(An excerpt of the book, Leaving Behind The Fundamental Doctrines Of Jesus Christ written by Eli Soriano)
Faith without love cannot save a person. It will render his total being useless as Paul said in I Corinthians 13:1-3 "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."
It is love that magnifies the works of faith which was mentioned in the book of I Corinthians 16:14
"Let all your things be done with charity (love)."
As the name of the Lord magnifies his word according to the book of Psalms 138:2
"I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name."
Also at the book of James 2:22 "Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?"
Remember that faith to be perfected it must bear works, faith without works is dead as James 2:26 says,
"For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."
And the works of faith must be done with love for perfection as it is written in Colossians 3:14
"And above all these things put on charity (love), which is the bond of perfectness."
Therefore it is crystal clear from these verses of the Bible, that love is not only an essence of salvation but in fact the most important one. But if we have to examine further the details of salvation in the Bible, other things must be weighted with equal importance as mentioned in the book of II Peter 1:5-10.
"And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity." "For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall."
Remember that there are things that must be added to faith and they were mentioned as follows: virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity and without these things someone is considered blind, but with these things that abound, a person will not be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Still going deeper we now have to leave these fundamental teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ to have faith in Jesus.
BUT WHAT IS NEXT ?
Paul have had the faith of Jesus for he mentioned it in the book of Galatians 2:20
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
The first Christians who were lucky to be seen by John included among those who were saved have had the faith of Jesus as recorded in Revelation 14:12
"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."
Also in the book of James 2:1
"My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons."
Having faith in Jesus is very much different from having the faith of Jesus.
And what does the Bible mean when it says having the faith of Jesus? A person having the faith of Jesus must have the same line of thinking with Jesus as Paul stated in I Corinthians 2:16
"For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."
And to think as Jesus thinks is to stop sinning by rejecting the works of the flesh as written in
I Peter 4:1-4
"Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind:
for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:"
We must also have the spirit of obedience that Christ had as stated in Hebrews 5:7-9
"Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him."
It doesn’t necessarily follow that we must all have to speak in tongues, heal the sick, or cast out demons for not all the faithful in the history of the first century Christian church have had these gifts as written in the book of I Corinthians 12:28-30
"And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. are all apostles? are all pro- phets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?"
Born again preachers uses the passage in Mark 16:15-20 which states,
And he said unto them, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.
So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen."
False preachers use Mark 16:15-20 as reference, they have grossly ignored the rules of truth and evidences, not only once but in many instances wherein these verses were proven to be false and were added only, not parts of the inspired scriptures. As a result a mass suicide was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records about the 913 souls that perished with their leader Jim Jones by taking cyanide simply because they believe in these particular verses.
A meticulous perusal of these verses will reveal vividly that these are not original part of the scriptures. Take these things into consideration:
1. These signs shall follow them that believes: they shall cast out devils, shall lay hands on the sick, speak with new tongues, etc. (Mark 16:15:20 ) The apostle Paul emphatically said that not all Christians can heal the sick, speak in tongues and cast out demons according to I Cor. 12:29–30.
"Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do
all speak with tongues? do all interpret?"
Take another look and continue
2. And if they drink any deadly thing, and they sall take up serpents . . .
Christians even if they know that God will save them will not drink or take anything harmful to their body. That
will be tantamount to Testing God and that must never be done by any Christian. Matthew 4:5-7
"Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If
thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in
their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is
written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."
Further, to intentionally hold snakes is also not in line with the original concept of the Gospel thereby proving the claim of more learned Bible scholars that the book of Mark must end with a short conclusion in Mark 16:8 and not with Mark 16:9-20 for the King James version:
For references see the following books:
1. The Greek New Testament
The Longer Ending of Mark; pages 196- 198, Tertulian Aphrater, Apostolic Constitution, Didymus.
2. The Emphatic Diaglott Bible
(see the book of Mark chapter 16)
3. The Greek Interlinear Bible
(see chapter 16, footnote, and comments of the scholars regarding the chapter)
(An excerpt of the book, Leaving Behind The Fundamental Doctrines Of Jesus Christ written by Eli Soriano)