Pablo Miguel Lapuz Manzano, You had asked about Justification vs Salvation and I found this from Stephen Bove The Exception Doesnt a Rule Make: Here is a time line for your consideration. 1. Abrahams Faith is reckoned for righteousness (justification/dikaio) 2. Abraham is tested regarding the promises (ABRAHAM is tested, not his faith, in order that HE may be PROVEN) 3. Abraham passes the test (Proven/Certified/Justified by his work of righteousness 4. God Preserves/Saves Abrahams lineage AND God Saves (shalom veShalvah)/Gives Blessing, Bounty, Privilege, and Inheritance to Abraham. 5. Abraham rejects an earthly inheritance and Dies in Faith. 6. Abraham is to be raised at the Resurrection to Life of the righteous. 7. Abraham is given a Spiritual Body to house his Living Spirit, and lives forever as a citizen in the City of God AND gets the land of promise also. It is important to cease referring to Abrahams faith being reckoned as righteousness as the time when he was SAVED. It is equally important to cease using the term saved to refer to what Paul calls JUSTIFICATION. Justification puts a man in right standing with God, but it has not automatically meant the man shall receive all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Salvation refers to a state of great peace, health, well-being, blessedness, and privilege. Salvation does not exclude justification, just as a car does not exclude the wheels as part of the vehicle. However functional a rolling chassis may be, the benefits of the car body, air conditioning, windows and other components make the drive a special one. Justification is just a rolling chassis. It does not automatically include, throughout history, all of the special blessings and privileges God wishes to shower upon the man of faith. In times past, God held forth the promise of a heavenly citizenship, and the promise was held out to men who were already just by faith. These men were given assignments to carry out in order to prove and to purify them and their families. Once they had passed the test, which was possible only if they banked completely upon previous promises God had made, they received a stamp of approval, were now certified, and they now inherited salvation, that is, a literal, tangible, eternal existence with a spiritual body in the heavenly City of God with all the bells, whistles, and perks. A substantial list of people who were not only just already by faith, but who inherited a blessed future in Gods city is found in Hebrews 11. Israel is the last participant on the list. Israel as a nation, a single corporate entity, a kingdom, is to be tested, proven, certified upon successful completion of the test, and to become heir of the blessed future promised to Israel by God. Do not take an exception to the rule of justification followed by works of righteousness followed by approval followed by salvation, as in blessing and wholeness and inheritance, and MAKE IT THE RULE! What was normal, the standard operating procedure of God, was to accept a man because of his faith, and then to offer him the opportunity to inherit a spot in a future heavenly city with great privilege and inheritance. This was eternal life. I know, you have always thought of eternal life as a man being given life in God. It is partly correct, but mostly incorrect. The eternal life you have read about was an offer of an actual body, spiritual though it may be, and a literal, tangible place in the City of God, with real tangible blessing and privilege in the presence of the Creator of all things. Justification alone grants life to the man, and he therefore passes from death unto life. But this does not necessarily guarantee that the man will receive an eternal, spiritual body and a blessed, bountiful inheritance. When Peter and the disciples were sent out by Christ, they were to preach the good news and to baptize each convert. All who accepted the message and were baptized were not only justified as men in the eyes of God, but they took on citizenship with Israel and were to be heirs of Israels blessed future by throwing in their lot with Israel and serving as a true citizen, fulfilling all duties and responsibilities. As Jesus told the Samaritan woman: John 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the JEWS. When Paul was converted, he, like the other disciples, not only recognized that Jesus was Jehovah, but accepted his work on behalf of sinners. Peter, John, Paul, and many others taught a message which was primarily to, and for Israel, but the message was also for Gentiles and those who believed became part of Israel. During this time, the simple message was that Jesus, Jehovah himself, had come, and had resolved the sin of Israel and all men. During these years, there was not yet any revelation of something which was still being kept secret. The secret was this-- God had a plan by which all who put their faith in Christ, regardless of being an Israelite citizen, or not being a citizen of Israel-- that anyone whosoever who believed in Christ was to be joined together in Christ, formed into a new organism, the one new man, and would be members of CHRISTS body, and GODS family, not Israel! Paul at last received this revelation, and it was called The Gift. Paul was especially commissioned to broadcast this information to all. Peter and other apostles and prophets received also this same revelation in confirmation of what Paul had received. The good news which Paul, Peter, and others had been preaching up until that time included justification by faith in Christ, but it always included salvation (inheritance) through ISRAEL. But now, for the first time in history, an exception was made regarding salvation, that is, Shalom veShalvah, and it was now being offered to each and every believer AS A GIFT, not a reward. It was available to all believers regardless of nationality, gender, or status, and it was a blessed future with a real, tangible, spiritual, eternal body in Gods presence. Paul says in Ephesians while speaking to a Gentile audience, by grace are you saved through faith. This simply meant that these Gentiles received an inheritance and a heavenly future with an eternal body by faith, without any work to be done. For that matter any citizen of Israel who believed in Christ received the same blessed promise. Paul called this the Good News of Christ, the Gospel of Christ, for it was revealed in the mystery that all men who believed in Christ were not only placed into CHRIST, but Christ was placed into THEM, and all the blessed privilege that attached to such a relationship was included! This is why when he wrote to the believers in Rome he spoke of desiring to make known to them the good news of Christ, for the new revelation he had received was bursting with wonderful details. It is imperative we outsiders grasp the meaning of Shalom veShalvah aka SOZO, and grasp the simple fact that salvation which was offered as a gift LATER ON in Pauls ministry was an EXCEPTION. What had always been offered as a REWARD was now offered as a GIFT in honor of the fact that Jesus Christ had perfectly carried out all necessary works of righteousness to be able to provide the blessing free and clear. The first several years of Pauls ministry were not about this gift, and it is erroneous and ignorant to presume that Pauls ministry was always to the Gentiles and always about The Gift. Justification had always been a gift, for no man had ever managed to please God by any work of righteousness sufficient to receive Gods approval. But salvation had not always been free. It had rather been a reward which was earned by the successful completion of an assignment. Please do not let conditioning, habit, and catechisms keep you from understanding this beautiful arrangement. Most of the gyrations and contortions which theologians go through are based in ignorance concerning the difference between justification and salvation, and the assumption that they are fundamentally the same. They are not. When a man fails to draw proper distinctions, he invariably oversimplifies what is complex, and overcomplicate that which is simple. Have you spent the last 5, 10, 20, or 40 years of your life treating salvation as one and the same as justification? Have you been so ignorant that you practically never spoke of being justified, and have always spoken of getting saved? Has the term justification just been a byword for salvation to you? If the answer is yes, then rejoice, for if you understand what is written here, the driving need to determine what age applies to whom, and when, and how, should quickly simplify, and you will be solving the equation rather than complicating it. For those with a background in Right- Division, whatever the flavor, and those who are off the dispensational persuasion, or covenant theologies, to a man they have this in common, blindness in regard to the distinction between justification and salvation, and the treatment of both terms under salvation alone. Some will pay it lip service when their feet are held to the fire, but they go away and straightway forget what the distinction is. Most who hear this will try to argue precisely what I am asking to be reconsidered. The same old lame claim that salvation includes justification is just dull-minded resistance to what could be a real blessing to you. Perhaps you take a certain amount of pride and sense of accomplishment in knowing your system of theology, and like anyone, you wish to retain the security blanket. Fear not. The fundamentals will not really change. The good news is still that men are justified by faith alone in Christ without any work. Additionally, and by the self-same faith by which justification is enjoyed, salvation is also procured, that is, a bountiful inheritance with a real, eternal, physical body in the presence of God. And now for a testimony which acknowledges the distinction I suggest the following: When I was 14, I learned that Jesus had died for my sin. I believed what I was told, and that day God put me right with him. I learned this while reading Romans 5. A few years later as I was reading in Ephesians and Colossians, I discovered that I was also promised a beautiful, future inheritance in Gods family forever with a special spiritual body! It was offered as a gift, and I can only say how delighted to find out that I am heir to unimaginable riches and glory, and I dont have to be a citizen of Israel to get it! Enough of the I got saved mantra. UNLESS YOU MEAN WHAT PAUL MEANT. SJB
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 04:00:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015