Who's Faith

[saintwalee]

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

This phrase was the nail in the coffin that ultimately made me walk away from God some seven years ago.

Through my (then) understanding of this, I thought that God only selected (elected) certain people to bestow his faith upon and their was nothing else anyone could do. This is known as Predestination.

Thankfully this year, the Spirit of Truth brought me back out of my darkness and one of the first things that was cleared up, was Ephesians 2:8-9.

The hangup was on the word "Faith". I had read that as our faith, that God gave us faith to believe. That is the danger of reading the Bible without the guidance of the Holy Spirit!

But that is not what Paul is expressing here. I finally understood that, was it not only God's Gift of Grace, but that our salvation was His faith, He was being faithful to us, his children. Amen!

Glory be to God, the Salvation part is completely taken care of.

Now, for our part. We have eternal salvation no matter what, it is just a matter of timing when we receive eternal life.
Joh 11:23  Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
Joh 11:24  Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
Joh 11:25  Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Joh 11:26  And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Martha's comment is important here, for she clarifies that those who have died will be resurrected. Jesus adds to this by saying; "..he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.".

The gospel was not preached to most of the World, especially before Jesus walked the earth. And since then, the Gospel has not gone out to the whole world. So many have died without Christ, they are the "dead in Christ". So at some point, those dead can believe.

It is of my perspective, that everyone who is not the Body of Christ, will be resurrected just as Jesus's Angel calls up the church.
1Th 4:14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1Th 4:15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1Th 4:18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

The body of Christ who sleep. At Th 4:14, Paul says: "...even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." and "..we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep."

That differs from the "Dead in Christ"; "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Who is them?
1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Them is those who where not alive and remaining, but have gone to heaven after they physically died; and they are coming back with Jesus and those alive and remaining are to be caught up to them in the air.

Those resurrected, the "Dead in Christ", are all of mankind except the Body of Christ. These will be raised from the dead, all over the world and will witness the first six trumpet blasts. These need to "see" in order to believe.

And finally are the "Rest of the Dead", those who blasphemed the Holy Spirit. This sin will not be forgiven in this age, or the age to come, only in the last age, the final judgment of God.

So, timing is everything. That is why witnessing is so important so that God's children don't have to suffer His Wrath, in part or in whole. Yes, we all partake of tribulation, that is part of the growing process in Christ.

What does all of this have to do with; "Who's faith?". Very much!

For me, it was the difference between walking away from God, or walking with God.

See, this is the crux of those who can't see the beauty of Universal Reconciliation. They are taught and believe that only those who have faith (whether by free-will or pre-ordained by God) have eternal life, that by their faith, they put into effect the salvation of Christ. They don't understand that faith is a work, it is an action and Paul said, "not of works, lest any man should boast.". Really, this is the same blasphemy prescribed to the Pharisees, namely that of not giving God the credit for His works.

In their thinking, they justify that those who are thrown into the lake of fire, didn't have faith in Jesus Christ, therefore, they are still held accountable for their sins and can't claim the blood of Jesus. That is a very powerful pursuasion.

Jesus's dying words; "It is finished."

A word about "They". "They" includes me, but by God's grace and his gift to me of his Spirit of Truth, His word is being revealed to me.

I would love to hear some feed-back.

The gift of salvation is free, the gift of the Holy spirit is free. It is there, just waiting to be received for any and all. That is truly amazing! :banana:

[Ross]

We are children of God because of the complete work of Christ.
His Faith set us free.
"Just as in Adam all die, so in Christ are all made alive , but each in his own order."

Just as our flesh dads treat us as individuals, they are a hint of how personal God, our heavely Father, is Who treats us and trains us as He sees fit. His plan and development process is immaculate.
The gift is free, but He gives to us personally at our appointed time.
While we are waiting He is showing us right from wrong, good from evil.
Without understanding the resurrection process there is a lot of hesitation about who we are and why we are here.
As He teaches and reveals, life makes more sense.

Romans 8;38,39 " For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels nor rulers,
nor things present nor things to come,
nor height nor depth,
nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God IN CHRIST JESUS."

Amen!!!