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 - Endorsed - Indifferent - Contested
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| The Nashville Statement
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Name:Daniel
Home: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
About Me: I used to believe that evolution was reasonable, that homosexuality was genetic, and that people became Christians because they couldn't deal with the 'reality' that this life was all there was. I used to believe, that if there was a heaven - I could get there by being good - and I used to think I was more or less a good person. I was wrong on all counts. One day I finally had my eyes opened and I saw that I was not going to go to heaven, but that I was certainly going to suffer the wrath of God for all my sin. I saw myself as a treasonous rebel at heart - I hated God for creating me just to send me to Hell - and I was wretched beyond my own comprehension. Into this spiritual vacuum Jesus Christ came and he opened my understanding - delivering me from God's wrath into God's grace. I was "saved" as an adult, and now my life is hid in Christ. I am by no means sinless, but by God's grace I am a repenting believer - a born again Christian.
My complete profile...
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Daniel's posts are almost always pastoral and God centered. I appreciate and am challenged by them frequently. He has a great sense of humor as well.
- Marc Heinrich
His posts are either funny or challenging. He is very friendly and nice.
- Rose Cole
[He has] good posts, both the serious like this one, and the humorous like yesterday. [He is] the reason that I have restrained myself from making Canadian jokes in my posts.
- C-Train
This post contains nothing that is of any use to me. What were you thinking? Anyway, it's probably the best I've read all day.
- David Kjos
Daniel, nicely done and much more original than Frank the Turk.
- Jonathan Moorhead
There are some people who are smart, deep, or funny. There are not very many people that are all 3. Daniel is one of those people. His opinion, insight and humor have kept me coming back to his blog since I first visited earlier this year.
- Carla Rolfe
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| ΟΜΟΛΟΓΕΩ |
οτι εαν ομολογησηs εν τω στοματι σου Κυριον Ιησου και πιστευσηs εαν τη καρδια σου οτι ο Θεοs αυτον ηγειρεν εκ νεκρων σωθηση
That if your mouth has confessed the Lord Jesus and you have believed in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you shall be being saved. - my translation.
Clearly, by using a Greek title, starting off with a Greek verse, then translating the Greek text myself, I must be trying to intimidate anyone who couldn't do the same...
But, no. You don't need to be a student of Greek to read this post. Likewise, I do not intend to appeal to the Greek in order to suggest that this verse means something different or more than our standard translations provide.
Homologeo simply means, I assent, acknowledge or agree. We often translate it using the word confess, because we know what a confession is an open acknowledging of some truth.
The verb form we find in this passage however is not homologeo however, but homologeses - the aorist active subjunctive. The aorist/subjunctive tense/mood defines an action that has happened in a moment of time if some condition has been met. Here then, we write, if you have confessed, meaning that if you have in the past confessed then what follows is already true.
When the text says sets forth the condition: if we have confessed the Lord Jesus with our mouth; what does it mean by that?
First - let's think about what "with our mouth" means for a second. We could have translated that "by the means of your mouth" or "in your mouth" - but those don't add anything to our understanding, and can muddy our understanding in English. But does this mean that mute people cannot be saved? Does it mean that only those able to make audible vocalizations are saved?
I don't think so, and neither do you. It is speaking in colloquial language about being in full, open, agreement with something.
So the text is saying that if you are in full and open agreement with the Lord Jesus...
Stop there. What does it mean to be in full and open agreement with the Lord Jesus?
If I told you that I
[1] believed that a set of laws existed for my country, and furthermore, I
[2] believed them to be exactly as described in our latest law books, but also that I
[3] refused to live by those laws.
Would it be fair to say that I was in full and open agreement with those laws?
I don't think so. Agreeing with the law implies that I believe the laws are not only real, not only true - but that it is right for me to be subject to them.
Now, if I believe:
[1] there is a "Lord" named Jesus and
[2] that what scripture says about Jesus is true, but
[3] I deny His right to rule over me
I hold that when scripture says we are to have confessed with our mouth the Lord Jesus, it means that we have in a moment of time agreed fully and openly to the rule of Christ in our life. That is what it means to confess the Lord Jesus. It doesn't mean that you merely assent to the facts about Jesus - it means that you fully and openly accept the Lordship of Jesus - you acknowledge His right to rule over you and have submited yourself to His rule.
It doesn't imply perfect obedience, but it does imply a changed heart. If you believe in your heart (not the blood pump, but the center of your being) that God raised Jesus from the dead - you will be being saved.
The gospel is this: If you turn from your self rule, and accept the rule of Christ whom God raised from the dead to save you from sin - you will be being saved from sin.
That is good news indeed.Labels: gospel |
posted by Daniel @
9:35 AM
 
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| 2 Comments: |
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A great post!
I only wish that the new blogger would let me put it into my links; but it won't let me because I've already linked to your blog in general. I shall place it into my older "musings" blogroll instead.
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I stay away from the New Blogger just because you can't drill down as far with it. It's nice if you want a good, general, experience, but not good for people who like to tweak.
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A great post!
I only wish that the new blogger would let me put it into my links; but it won't let me because I've already linked to your blog in general. I shall place it into my older "musings" blogroll instead.