| Author | Message | ||
| Max |
NIVHebrews 6:1 Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to MATURITY, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting, we will do so. | ||
| Patti |
Max, The mention of a word in a single text does not make for a doctrine. There is no expounded Gospel of "maturity" in the New Testament. When we believe in Jesus Christ, "all things have become new." | ||
| Max |
NIV 1 Corinthians 3:1 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? | ||
| Patti |
Is this speaking of justified Christians? These people are WORLDLY, NOT SPIRITUAL. | ||
| Max |
Paul addresses them as "brothers." At the opening of this letter (I Corinthians 1:2) he calls them "the church of God in Corinth ... those SANCTIFIED in Christ Jesus." | ||
| Max |
He also calls them "infants in Christ." | ||
| Max |
The milk metaphor does not refer to drinking formula or cows' milk from a carton purchased from Stater Brothers or Safeway, but rather to breastfeeding at God's breasts. Thus there is no way that these Corinthian believers could not be fully justified, fully sanctified, and fully sinless forever in Christ. Yet they were still quarrelsome, etc. And (sticking with Paul's metaphor) they needed to be weaned to more solid food, still from God of course. This means they needed to progress to a more advanced level of Christian maturity. | ||
| Max |
NIV 1 Peter 2:1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may GROW UP in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. | ||
| Max |
NIV Ephesians 4:11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will NO LONGER BE INFANTS, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things GROW UP into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. | ||
| Patti |
This means they needed to progress to a more advanced level of Christian maturity. So answer the questions that you have dodged above in the thread on The Trinity, mainly: What are you maintaining that we can and/or must attain in this lifetime higher or greater or deeper or more profound than being accepted by God for the sake of the doing and dying of our Lord Jesus Christ? | ||
| Max |
NIV Galatians 3:3ÝAre you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to ATTAIN your goal by human effort? NIV Ephesians 4:13Ý"....until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, ATTAINING to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." | ||
| Patti |
And your answer is.......??????? | ||
| Max |
NIV 1 John 2:13I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father. 14 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. 15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world--the CRAVINGS of sinful man, the LUST of his eyes and the BOASTING of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who DOES the will of God lives forever. | ||
| Max |
NIV 1 Thessalonians 4:1 Finally, brothers, we instructed you HOW TO LIVE in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to DO this more and more. 2 For you know what INSTRUCTIONS we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should AVOID sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to CONTROL his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should WRONG his brother or TAKE ADVANTAGE of him. The Lord will punish men for all such SINS, as we have already told you and warned you. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to LIVE A HOLY LIFE. 8 Therefore, he who rejects this INSTRUCTION does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. 9 Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10 And in fact, you do LOVE all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to DO so more and more. 11 Make it your ambition to LEAD a quiet life, to MIND your own business and to WORK with your hands, just as we told you. | ||
| Patti |
So are you living a holy life, Max? | ||
| Max |
1 Thessalonians 5:12 Now we ask you, brothers, to RESPECT those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. LIVE in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers, WARN those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, BE PATIENT with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to BE KIND to each other and to everyone else. 16 BE JOYFUL always. | ||
| Denisegilmore |
John 6:28-29 Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" verse 29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." verse 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. verse 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. verse 40 For my Fathers's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." God Bless, Denise | ||
| Max |
Romans 7:14 I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. | ||
| Max |
Thank you, Denise, that was excellent! | ||
| Max |
NIV Romans 6:11 In the same way, count yourselves DEAD TO SIN but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore DO NOT LET SIN REIGN in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 DO NOT OFFER the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and OFFER the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For SIN SHALL NOT BE YOUR MASTER, because you are not under law, but under grace. |
