Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember
me in all things, and keep the ordinances,
as I delivered them to you. But I would have
you know, that the head of every man is Christ;
and the head of the woman is the man,
and the head of Christ is God.
1Corinthians 11:2-3
Yesterday's blog reminded us that just because a person calls themselves Christian does not mean that this is true. This is said because anyone can see that Christian morality is not necessarily produced by many today because of their practice of Christian faith. Something is wrong! And as mentioned it is due largely to a lack or faulty understanding of what God requires of His children in terms of practical Christian living.
The Bible teaches us that we are to be holy and even perfect as God Himself is perfect. This is not some isolated instruction, it is a demand, even by the apostles as seen in the opening Scripture that demand strict adherence to what the Bible teaches about Christian morality and behavior. Am I saying, as does the Bethel Church and School of the Supernatural does, that a person can be without sin and perfect in this world? No! The Pelagian heresy taught that it was possible for the regenerate in this life to keep perfectly God's precepts. This cannot be true according to Scripture, but a person can exercise his/her will to do what the God has commanded even if not to perfection causing a person to come to God and repent. No one from the beginning of creation of man lived a life without sin or attained some sort of perfection so as not to sin. Is it possible for man in this life to sin? Yes! But is it probable? NO! We have no examples of any man being that perfect in life. I say this not to give any credence to the Pelagian heresy as it might be possible, it is possible under the grace of God, yet, this is not what we are taught and we must understand that just because a thing is possible does not make it probable. What the Pelagian heresy taught was that man could fulfill the law of God by his own strength and ability and even more by the means of the grace of God. This is heretical: "Without Me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). What a grievance this must be to Jesus Christ to say that man can do that which is impossible without the means given to him be Jesus Christ as it is Jesus working through a person that is can save, that can change a person's life, not by any person themselves. Show me one person who has not sinned after receiving salvation. You cannot! We are human and are still fallen in our nature and can only do the will of God when we do what God has commanded us to do: Keep His commandments.
Did Jesus Christ die in vain? No! We must embrace the finished work of Jesus Christ on our behalf and of our unreservedly devotion of ourselves to God. This is what is the image represented in baptism: we die to the old way of living and rise to a new way of life. We are called to be sworn enemies of sin and to wage war against it and strive to give it no opportunity in our lives. Having made a commitment to Jesus Christ, we are to deny ourselves without reserve to the service of our Lord and King, Jesus Christ. We are not our own for we have been bought with a price, therefore we belong to the buyer: Jesus Christ. We are not His instruments, set apart, all for the honor and glory of God. This is the ruling principle of an Authentic Christian. We are to be submitted to our Savior, our King, our Lord, Jesus Christ.
With that conviction to guide us then we will be able to be used by God and have the virtue of God sown in our hearts. This seed of virtue will grow, deeply grow in our hearts and will bring forth fruit. This is the source of Christian morality. This a Standard of Christian behavior. This is the standard of an Authentic Christian and Authentic Christian Faith. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Godhead, the Trinity who has the divine essence of God and that Jesus has the essence of God, the Father, the Godhead then Jesus is God only that He is the Son of God, the Wisdom of God. We must remember that God is from eternity, that is God has not time, does not live in time and possesses the Divine Essence from eternity. God is from no one and the Divine Essence is from no one and the Son is from the Father who has the Divine Essence from the Father therefore the word "God" signifies that Jesus Christ has the true Divine Essence and is God, not the Father, not the Holy Spirit but the Second Person of the Trinity that is the Godhead. What is predicated of the Divine Essence is predicated of the Son, although Second in the Trinity the Son has a mode of action fulfilling the will of God, the Godhead. We should not have any other design about Jesus Christ and we should not have any other exercise of our faith except that which was handed down by the apostles the inspired writers of the Bible. When we follow the commands of God, His precepts, and live in the image of Jesus Christ then we have, not perfection in this life but the ability to live a life whereby we do not willingly sin. We do not receive the Divine Essence, we receive salvation when Jesus Christ comes for His bride and we are now in the presence of God we will have immutable lives, perfection will have been achieved. Until then: We live the commands of God, we deny ourselves so that we can live and apply those commands in our lives and if need be, and it will, we repent when we fail.
That he who blesseth himself in the earth
shall bless himself in the God of truth;
and he that sweareth in the earth shall
swear by the God of truth; because
the former troubles are forgotten, and
because they are hid from mine eyes.
Isaiah 65:16
Allow God to be the source of your life
Richard L. Crumb
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