Lesson #14 (4th Quarter 2011): Boasting in the Cross

Here is the link to the study and discussion material for Lesson #14 (4th Quarter 2011): Boasting in the Cross

Here are some study helps: Study Helps, Lesson 14

There are some very good things in this week's lesson. Let's take time to take a closer look.



This is a good summary of what I've been trying to emphasize all quarter. True religion, or true Christianity, is not based on external behavior. The outside can look great while the inside is awful. The inside is what counts.



While our obedient behavior is not the root of our Christianity, it most certainly is the fruit. The new creature does not wallow in the old creature's sty.



If we can all understand this point, that makes the quarter worth it for me.

Faith and good works go hand-in-hand. They are inseparable. To speak of them separately as if they can exist independently misses the mark. "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only."

Yes, faith and works go hand-in-hand. The lesson this quarter was pretty clear on that, I thought.

But while they cannot be separated, they must be distinguished. To think that they are one and the same is wrong. They go hand-in-hand, but they are not the same hand. One hand always leads the other hand.

Thursday's section, that you quoted from I really like, but for this reason.
The lesson may not be that accurate in that closing statement that you excerpted: simply put, there is an experiential element to justification by faith - missing this point makes you think that the new creation isn't part of justification, somehow.

What would it be part of, then??? How can it be a metaphor for justification but not part of justification???! The lesson author contradicts himself, m'thinks, after making such a monumental breakthrough in the quote I supplied above.

Pardon and regeneration go side by side in justification, and neither of them is ahead of the hand of sanctification! As we are pardoned, we are renewed by the Spirit of Jesus - receiving the mind of Christ, and so we are able to live the sanctified life by the Spirit. The new creation is how we live by faith, not ahead of or behind other parts of the gospel.

It is God's direct action, to change us inside and renew our minds, as we accept Jesus So, justification by faith involves all these changes, both for us - pardon, and in us - recreation. Justification happens to us and not just for us.

Behaviour improves are nothing more than living that new creation, recreated daily, living daily, by the Spirit. There should be no disputing over whether we behave better or why: for, the love of God in put inside us, and so we are.

Just some quotes for now.


The sinner accepts Christ by faith, not works, and he is justified at that moment.


In contrast, sanctification is not the work of a moment. It requires a lifetime of long persevering effort and obedience.

The former takes a moment, while the latter takes a lifetime. They do not happen at the same time.

And that is the verse that the quarterlies seem to purposely avoid. I don't remember seeing it in any of the lessons this quarter (but there were a couple of lessons that I missed). The trend is to base the entire philosophy on Paul, and avoid any other new testament writer like James or Peter.

I think that is unfair to the scripture to avoid the obvious balancing text when treating on a subject as important as this.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Faith without works is dead, i.e. not "faith."

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

They both happen at the same time. Newborn believers begin perfectly justified and perfectly sanctified. But sanctification isn't static or stagnant. It involves "perfecting holiness" (2 Cor 7:1) "more and more unto the perfect day" (Prov 4:18). "This sanctification is a progressive work, and an advance from one stage of perfection to another." {ML 250.4} Jesus demonstrated this truth as He grew from childhood to manhood. The idea that sanctification also involves gradually outgrowing sinful habits is unbiblical. Sanctification has nothing to do with becoming less and less sinful and everything to do with growing in grace and maturing in the fruits of the Spirit.

Faith and works are so interrelated it is pointless to address them separately or independently. There is no such thing as faith without works for the simple reason faith without works is not faith - it is something entirely unrelated to faith. We can no more be justified without good works than we can be justified without faith. Since faith and works are inseparable it stands to reason justification and sanctification are inseparable and must necessarily, therefore, happen simultaneously.

Only if the lifetime lasts but a moment.

As in the case of the thief on the cross. He was born again fully justified and fully sanctified. So is every one else who experiences genuine conversion in God's appointed way. The problem is most people do not. "The new birth is a rare experience in this age of the world. This is the reason why there are so many perplexities in the churches. Many, so many, who assume the name of Christ are unsanctified and unholy. They have been baptized, but they were buried alive. Self did not die, and therefore they did not rise to newness of life in Christ." {6BC 1075.7} We must not base our beliefs about rebirth, justification, and sanctification on those who do not experience genuine rebirth.

Newborn believers begin perfectly justified and perfectly sanctified. But sanctification isn't static or stagnant. It involves "perfecting holiness" (2 Cor 7:1) "more and more unto the perfect day" (Prov 4:18). "This sanctification is a progressive work, and an advance from one stage of perfection to another." {ML 250.4} Jesus demonstrated this truth as He grew from childhood to manhood. The idea that sanctification also involves gradually outgrowing sinful habits is unbiblical. Sanctification has nothing to do with becoming less and less sinful and everything to do with growing in grace and maturing in the fruits of the Spirit.

Faith and works are so interrelated it is pointless to address them separately or independently. There is no such thing as faith without works for the simple reason faith without works is not faith - it is something entirely unrelated to faith. We can no more be justified without good works than we can be justified without faith. Since faith and works are inseparable it stands to reason justification and sanctification are inseparable and must necessarily, therefore, happen simultaneously.

"But while God can be just, and yet justify the sinner through the merits of Christ, no man can cover his soul with the garments of Christ's righteousness while practicing known sins or neglecting known duties. God requires the entire surrender of the heart, before justification can take place; and in order for man to retain justification, there must be continual obedience, through active, living faith that works by love and purifies the soul." {FW 100.1}

Newborn believers are totally dead to sin, self, and Satan, and totally new in Christ. The old man and new man do not cohabitate or rein simultaneously. Jesus cannot occupy a divided heart. We are either all of His and free of sin or we are none of His and full of sin. While we are abiding in Jesus we do not and cannot sin. It's as simple and wonderful as that. Thank you, Jesus. This isn't to say we are incapable of sinning. We are always free to cease abiding in Jesus and resume sinning in the resurrected mind of the old man. Exercising the gift of repentance, however, gives God the legal right to pardon us and to restore us to the mind of the new man which, praise the Lord, enables us to resume where we left off abiding in Jesus and maturing in the fruits of the Spirit.

I'm less certain about your last sentence, but the part before that I would entirely agree with.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Why? "God requires the entire surrender of the heart, before justification can take place; and in order for man to retain justification, there must be continual obedience, through active, living faith that works by love and purifies the soul."

1. Which sinful habits are retained and practiced when an "entire surrender of the heart" takes place?

2. Which sinful habits are retained and practiced while "continual obedience" is taking place?

While I remember and before we're 'out of time' - after Sabbath School today! - the book of James does get a mention in this quarter's lessons! Maybe it was asygo who noted an absence of James when studying Galatians with Romans, etc, etc: well, the English quarterly is guilty, indeed, on this point, but the German quarterly - which I use instead, fills this gap.

Not having a further reading page, it has an extra 'slot' for a full daily comment: this week it quotes a commentary comparing Galatians and James.

Both teach the perfect freedom of the Gospel, just from different angles; both remind of the need for conversion in becoming Christlike; both call for Christian character in the life of faith - principally living for others as God in Christ lived on earth for us.

Both lift justification by faith, experienced in the rebirth of the Spirit, as the gift of Christ to every believer. JBF is being made righteous as we receive the Holy Spirit in submitting to Christ's Lordship, freed from natural and personal condemnation, freed from the impossibility of keeping God's law in our sinfulness: Jesus renews us with his Spirit of holiness, imputing righteousness to our hearts, equipping us to fulfill all righteousness in our lives as he imparts to us all his human character traits of righteous so we can make them our own.

Only this way are we, can we be, happiest as we confess Jesus as our Saviour and Saviour of all men. Sorry: not meant as a sermonette.

"There is no saving faith that does not produce good fruit." {OHC 52.5}

"The works show whether the faith is genuine." {RH, June 23, 1910 par. 1}

"Only the faith that works by love and purifies the soul is acceptable to him." {YI, May 9, 1901 par. 4}

"The faith that works by love and purifies the soul is the only true faith. The faith that does not produce fruit, that does not reveal the Christlikeness, is a false faith." {ST, February 1, 1899 par. 8}

"The faith that does not produce good works does not justify the soul." {NL 28.3}

"The so-called faith that does not work by love and purify the soul will not justify any man." {RC 79.5}

"Our faith should be prolific of good works; for faith without works is dead." {FLB 115.7}

"That faith if cherished in our hearts will necessarily draw after it the good works which justify and endorse the faith of the believer." {BTS, June 1, 1915 par. 2}

"Their works show the character of their faith." {PH098 20.2}

"While good works will not buy your salvation, yet good works are essential for salvation; for they are an evidence of genuine faith which works by love and purifies the soul." {PH152 31.1}

"In order for man to be justified by faith, faith must reach a point where it will control the affections and impulses of the heart; and it is by obedience that faith itself is made perfect." {FW 100.2}

"Not one thread of selfishness must be drawn into the fabric of our lives. When our faith works by love, the love that Christ revealed in His life, it will be of a firm texture. But not until self dies can Christ live in us; not until self dies can we possess the faith that works by love and purifies the soul." {ST, October 11, 1899 par. 2}

"Genuine faith in Christ works by love and purifies the soul. Faith and works go hand in hand, for faith without works is dead. God requires of every soul today what he required of our first parents in Eden,--perfect obedience to his law. There must be found in the life unswerving allegiance to God, righteousness without a flaw in the character. We must be clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and stand without blemish before God. The requirement that God has made in grace is the requirement that God made in Paradise. {ST, May 12, 1890 par. 4}

"That faith, and that alone, which cleanses the soul-temple, is the genuine faith. Everything that defileth must be put away, all filthiness of the flesh and spirit must be removed from us, if we would enter in through the gates into the city. Jesus says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." {ST, February 17, 1890 par. 6}

Arnold and Rosangela seem to say, no, self does not die when Jesus lives in newborn believers. They seem to think self dies sometime afterward. In the meantime, the righteous results of abiding are selfish and sin-stained, the character is flawed.

I won't speak for Rosangela, but I'm pretty sure we're on the same page here. Self is to be crucified with Christ, and we are to reckon ourselves dead sin and alive to God. Reckoning it dead includes not listening to its selfish clamors, while maintaining an attitude of repentance because we fall short of God's selflessness.

That is in contrast to what you're saying. You say that self is dead, but all the while it is still very much alive, even in Christ's own heart. But as long as it remains hidden behind a facade of good behavior, it is considered holy and righteous.

In contrast....

Note the inspired descriptions: faulty, imperfections, sinfulness, moral deformity. And that's for those who are close to Jesus, who have a deep-seated love for Him.

Don't you count moral deformity as sin?

You are confusing correlation with simultaneity.

The wages of sin is death. Sin and death are inseparable. But sin comes with pleasures for a season; death is not immediate. I'm sure you can find a few examples of sinners who did not die immediately. Inseparable, but not simultaneous.

The same is true for justification and sanctification. One happens in a moment, the other takes a lifetime.

What do you mean by "its selfish clamors"? What is the "it"? How does "it" clamor? Are we guilty of sinning in the sight of God because "it" clamors?

What do you mean by "we fall short of God's selflessness"? Please share some concrete examples.

In what sense do you think I believe "it is still very much alive"? In what sense do you think I believe "it [was] very much alive . . . even in Christ's own heart"? Does "it" clamor? Can "it" sin? If so, how?

What do you mean by "a facade of good behavior"? Also, what do you mean by "it is considered holy and righteous"?

Is there a distinction between "it's clamors" and the "new desires" believers experience while abiding in Jesus?

Bump.

It wants to gratify itself, and calls and draws the person to sin.


The Old Man. The sinful nature. The carnal mind. The flesh. Different names for the same thing: self.


I don't know the mechanism. But we all have experienced its pull toward sin.


Let's not fool ourselves. "It" is "us" in no uncertain terms. Don't try to pass the buck here.

So let's state this question properly: Are we guilty of sinning in the sight of God because "we" clamor for sin?

The answer is Yes.


God is selfless. When He does good, He does it purely for others' benefit, not His own. And He does this wholeheartedly.

Our "goodness" is not quite that good. Whenever we walk in the Spirit, a part of us always pulls in the opposite direction.


You hear the call to sin, don't you? It is not silent. And the calls comes from yourself. It lives, though hidden.


You say that Christ faced the same exact difficulties that you and I face in overcoming sin. You say He was tempted, not just on the same points, but in the same ways.

Here's what the SOP says about what we face: If you will not, then you can not overcome. The real difficulty arises from the corruption of an unsanctified heart, and an unwillingness to submit to the control of God. {COL 331.2}

If our difficulty comes from our unsanctified hearts are corrupt, and we are unwilling to submit to God, then you must believe that Jesus also had the same difficulties. But to be the kind of example you envision, it can't even be the corruption and unwillingness of a saint like Mary, but the corruption and unwillingness of the worst of humanity.


To lust after a woman is sin, even if we don't actually do it. The same would be true of Christ's lusts.


You say that as long as Jesus can hide His corrupted heart behind the good actions of His body, that's good enough. And if we can do the same, that's also good enough.

That's a facade - a superficial, artificial appearance of holiness. True holiness is an inner quality.


You consider one holy and righteous as long as his outward acts are good. I also consider the inner lusts.


Yes. They are very different. And to say that sinful clamors are OK because your new desires are OK is wiping away the distinction.

Arnold, thank you for clearly stating your position. I didn't realize you believe the clamorings of sinful flesh and our own selfish clamorings are one and the same. Elsewhere you said Jesus cannot remedy our dilemma until He returns and rewards us with a sinless nature and body. Does this mean people who are abiding in Jesus and partaking of the divine nature are incapable of experiencing the fruits of the Spirit, that everything they think, say, and do is selfish and sin-stained?