John 3:15.
"That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."Dear ollie,
Truly, the only Way to eternal Life is to receive the Graces of God, by Faith in the finished work of Christ Jesus, and the
first step of Grace must be for us to be born from above (AKA "born again" - a misnomer; "saved").
For until we are first born from above, we cannot even "see" (Jn. 3:3) the Kingdom of God, much less have any chance at all of obtaining by Grace alone, eternal Life.
But "just" seeing the Kingdom is not equal to obtaining eternal Life.
There are numerous promises of eternal Life throughout the scriptures, and all come qwith qualifiers telling us exactly who qualifies. Never, not one time, is this qualifier "only" the New Birth.
If someone will just spend a few hours and search out all of these passages regarding eternal Life themselves, not taking the opinion and word of any man - including me, when combined they will have assembled a short list of all that is needed to qualify for eternal Life.
This list will include:
Having the Love of God perfected in our heart.
Living in obedience to the NT's Two Commandments of Love.
Walking after the Spirit and not after the flesh.
Suffering with Christ.
Loving Christ, which again is living in obedience to ALL His Commandments and not just the easy ones that we like.
Them that obey Him.
Who by patient continuance in well doing.
Doing the will of God.
Crucifying the flesh.
Etc., etc.
And all the above must be by Grace and Grace alone, by works of the Spirit only, for by works of the flesh no man is ever justified.[So we can see from these scriptures and their requirements - such as they are found in Luke 10:25-28, 1 Jn. 2:3-5, 1 Jn. 4:16-18, etc., etc. - then, Ollie, that your personal opinion, that which you have surmised was implied by John 3:15-17, cannot be true, for it is not agreed upon by the numerous other scripture references which clearly and plainly state, without the need of opinions or special interpretation, exactly what is required for eternal Life, and being born from above is just the first step, just one of the many requirements, just one of the many Graces.]
Each of you have a potentially eternal soul that is worth your spending a few hours and finding out directly from the Word what is required, according to the
whole counsel of God's Word, for eternal Life.
Being saved is not an automatic guarantee of eternal Life: they are not made equal in the Word - nowhere, only in the fantasies and superstitions and traditions of men. And since all men are liars and only God and His Holy Word always true, it would behoove all to only go to His Word and find Truth for themselves.
But because virtually all Christians have already been beguiled by a perverted Gospel, their minds are askew and they do not see clearly. Everywhere they read of salvation and being saved in the Word, they automatically add conjecture and presumption, thoughts that simply are not there, thereby making salvation equal to eternal Life. They make equivalent connections, such as with Jn. 3:17 and what's before it, that are not equal connections. It is all in their mind, and their mind and heart betrays them and the true Gospel of Christ Jesus.
[Salvation, the act of being saved, is not a synonym of eternal Life - except in man's distorted, self-justifying vision.]
I'm amazed at how God ordained the Reformation, and expended the lives of many, so that we could obtain Truth without having to depend upon man, and yet we still believe men over the Truth of the Word that we hold in our hands and can see for our own selves.
Please, I beseech all on behalf of Christ Jesus, stop listening to men and find for yourself in the Bible
all of what God requires for eternal Life. These qual;ifiers are most often clearly and plainly stated. Many will be ambiguous, them not telling us exactly all of what must be "believed" or exactly what Graces are needed (there are many Graces), but God made certain that we would have many Biblical passages that did clearly spell out exactly His requirements.
"
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is good for. . . ."
We cannot merely isolate those scripture that are ambiguous and therefore can be bent and twisted to conform to our manmade doctrine, and bury our head in the sand from all others, for those others, when combined, prove our belief false, of man and not of God, and the opinions of man cannot save anyone.
So entrust your soul to no man's opinion: assemble your own list from the Word of its clearly and plainly stated requirements for eternal Life. You will either know the whole Truth now, or on your Judgment Day. And ignorance of the Law has never been an accepted excuse for having to not pay the penalties of the Law.
The Law is only blotted out in each of our lives when we live according to Love (Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:14), that Love possible to be manifested in us by Faith in the Grace of the finished work of the Cross that makes available such Love.
The fullness of God's Love can be received by us just as instantly and miraculously as is the New Birth, and must be.
As we then live in obedience to Love's fullness, it will eventually bring all facets of our being into alignment with the Word and its commandments and requirement for eternal Life.
Guaranteed by Grace, by Jesus, by Jesus' Blood and Word.
brother jim
(Or we could just throw in God's Face of Grace yet more ambiguous scriptures of mere self-justification, continue in self-denial of both God's requirements for eternal Life and our own continuing, unrepented of sins and rebellion and outright refusal to Love as commanded. "The Day will reveal it. . . .")
NOTICE: I will not respond again on this thread, for I know that many will come after and seek to make the Truth of God of none affect, trampling under their feet the precious pearls of God's Holy Word (read Heb. 10:26-31, 2 Cor. 11 and Jude). [Watch and see, compare their words with mine, compare what they say that I said and what I actually posted, and see how they twist and pervert any or all.]
God's Truth cannot be intellectually obtained, but only through the Spirit and through Grace [and not Grace as the majority have so narrowly confined it to suit their "itching ears"], so I will not debate here. Any who sincerely seek God and His Truth - as compared to mere self-justification for their gross deficiencies and unrepented of sin - can contact me directly at
brotherjim@mail.com if they want more of what I allege to be the Truth of God.
Better still, search the scriptures for yourself and let the Holy Ghost, in the Name of Christ Jesus, guide you into what is Truth and what is error. And know, that even if the entire church believes a lie, if God's Word proves it is a lie, then it is a lie.
Please also see my thread "The Great Hypocrisy of the Church . . ." by brotherjim, lasted posted on on Nov. 8.
"Be not deceived, God is not mocked: whatever a man sows, that will he also reap," born from above or not.
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