marhig
Well-known member
Sorry Danoh, but I can't see how you use those scriptures to condemn a whole group of people.Nope.
Not "according to the Scriptures."
The balance of my long post is in the following...
Spoiler
According to the Scriptures" the only true Christian is that person who has "believed in...the gospel of our salvation."
Case in point, one of the best examples in Scripture of your "true Christians" false positive - the Corinthians.
You have obviously confused the difference between standing and state, but the Apostle who wrote the following about them and to them had obviously known the difference between the two...
1 Corinthians 1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 1:2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: 1:3 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 1:4 I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; 1:5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; 1:6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: 1:7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: 1:8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1:9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 1:11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
There you have it - true Christians - who were obviously simply NOT walking in God's view of them in His Son, but were instead walking in their own.
True, they were being hypocrites in their pac or "better than you" fleshly minded "club" mentality - and within their own assembly.
Did Paul assert they were therefore not this "true Christians" of yours? Nope.
1 Corinthians 12:2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.
So there is that reality - who they once were.
He then calls them out again.
(A TWO-fold practice of Paul's that the person actually ignorant of this practice of Paul's; and or the person who is actually hypocrite, immediately seizes on to attempt to prove the person both praising one thing while calling out another is the actual hypocrite.)
But he calls them out...
12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
He then returns to who they ALL actually ARE...
12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
And then brings together both who they are being in the flesh with who they really are in Christ.
12:25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.
He then builds on the latter of the two.
12:26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. 12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
And there is an issue here, Marhig, that YOUR study APPROACH has clearly failed your being able to properly...grasp.
In Matt. thru John, the Lord had been addressing UNREGENERATED men UNDER THE LAW.
Hebrews 9:17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.[/b]
Case in point that this was true in Matt. thru John...
Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Example:
Matthew 8:1 When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. 8:2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 8:3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 8:4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
That "gift" there is animal sacrifices...plus a water baptism of sorts within Israel's various, or "divers washings" under THEIR God-Given Law to THEM through Moses...
Leviticus 14:2 This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest: 14:3 And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper; 14:4 Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: 14:5 And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water: 14:6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: 14:7 And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field. 14:8 And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days.
Hebrews 9:10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
In contrast, Paul is not writing to Christians who are Christians based on their conduct meeting your mis-fire of a misunderstanding in your obvious failure to have laid out aright "that which is noted in the Scripture of truth" Dan. 10:21, on "the way of God more perfectly" Acts 18:26, THIS SIDE OF the following...
Romans 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
In other words, Marhig, the Apostle Paul would have strongly disagreed with you.
The Corinthians were "true Christians..."
Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 3:6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 3:7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
THAT was why Paul could both praise their good, and yet call out their bad.
In contrast, the Lord could not have done that.
Because His audience had been under the Law.
And as He Himself later had Paul re-assert THIS SIDE OF HIS FINISHED WORK...
Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 3:2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3:3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
3:6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 3:11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. 3:12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Marhig, get clear on that FIRST.
THEN worry about both calling out AND praising.
Heck, even most on here who assert they alone have these things right appear to remain clueless on this TWO-fold practice of Paul's.
Your unawareness of these "things that are more excellent" Romans 2:18 THIS SIDE OF...
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Can only put you ahead of such, when affirming and or defending what you post.
But only when you yourself actually begin to properly...
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Here, a great video study towards the beginnings of just how that is done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiD7C6KYCd4&app=desktop
Romans 14:5 towards you, in memory of Romans 5:6-8 - in both our stead.
God looks at the heart, not the denomination.
