5.Salvation by faith
6.Christian church
4. Man and his sins
The Bible tells us that man is a triune (three in one) being having three components : body,mind and spirit (1Thes 5:23; Heb 4:12). The spirit in three components is the pivotal element of the three. Man was made as the living one so long as he has the Holy Spirit living within his spirit.
But since Adam the progenitor of human race committed sin, the Holy Spirit had departed from his spirit and men had been destined to be born as the dead in spirit (Eph 2:1,5,6).
There are two doctrines about man in oriental ethics : one is that man's innate nature is good and the other evil. But the Bible does not consent either of them. The Bible tells us that Adam the first man was made as a good one similar to God, but that he became evil after he had broke the commandment of God and committed the sin.
The Lord God commanded Adam,"You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die" (Gen 2:16,17).
Adam resisted God and ate the fruit of the tree, he did not die at once bodily but was killed outright on the spot spiritually.
The Bible diagnoses all mankind dead innately (Eph 2:3). The death is the spiritual death by losing the living fellowship with God the origin of life and following the desires of flesh and senses (Eph 2:1,2).
As the dead body can do nothing, so the spiritual dead can do nothing, which is counted good in the presence of God. There is, therefore, no one in the world except Jesus who can get to the heaven by his own good deeds.
Our Lord Jesus said,
"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him,he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:4,5).
As a member of mafia is not approved in the honest society no matter what great work in the dark world he carried out, so no one can accomplish good deed apart from the belief in Jesus and can be permitted to enter the heaven.
Jesus told a famous parable called "a prodigal son" in Lk 15:11-32.
A son given a estate from his father wasted his fortune in reckless and loose living and began to be in want.He went to himself and made up his mind to go to his father and to entreat him to make him like one of his hired servants.
And he got up and came to his father.
While he still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity and love and ran and embraced him fervently and with great joy. Saying "My son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!", he and his household celebrated for his return.
The life apart from God is like a prodigal and wasteful use of estate entrusted by God. Our Father in heaven are waiting your return every moment.
5. Salvation by faith
I will describe the three pivotal points of salvation by the faith in Christ.These are: (1) Salvation from sin, (2) Salvation from the spiritual death and (3) Having the citizenship of the heaven.
(1) Salvation from sin
Jesus Christ is the only Savior in the world whom the only true God gave us mankind(Act4:12) and whom we should accept by faith. The reason why He had to die on the cross was in order to save us from sin. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death(Rom6:23). The death of us mankind is not the outcome of nature, but the punishment for sin inflicted by God.
Our lord Jesus who has no sin died the death as the punishment for sin, so that everyone who believed in Him were forgiven his sin(Gal3:13,14). We believers in Christ are not only crossed off the sin, but also declared to be righteous and holy in Christ,to put it other way, it is declared in the court of God that the righteousness and holiness of Christ are of us believers (1Cor1:30).
Man can neither get rid of his sin by himself, nor enter the heaven by his good works. Only the holy blood of Jesus can cleanse us from all unrighteousness and sin (1John 1:7). And we can get this salvation only through faith.
(2) Salvation from the spiritual death
The reason why you can not understand the word of the Bible well is that your spiritual eyes are not opened to comprehend it. Man is an innate spiritual blind (John 9:39) and the spiritual dead (Eph 2:1,5) because of his sin.The spiritual blind and dead do not have the spiritual ability to understand the Bible, God, Christ, spiritual sin, heaven and hell (1 Cor 2:14). The eyes of man are opened to see the spiritual things only when he believed in Jesus and was born again. Jesus said,"No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above (John 3:3). Everyone who trust in Jesus is given eternal life, that is New Life belonging to heaven (John 3:16).
This eternal life is the life in which we know God from experience in fellowship with Him (John 17:3). It begins when we receive Christ in the center of our mind (Rev 3:20).
The Christian life is like a three-legs race in which a Christian walks with Jesus who bears his burden with him.
(3) Having the citizenship of the heaven
Everyone who does not believe in Jesus is destined to be judged in hell after death as wages of sin (Heb 9:27). On the other hand believers in Jesus can receive heaven as his own which Jesus obtained by his holy life (Act20:31; Phil 3:20).
Every Christian does not receive the heavenly life only after death, but he is given the eternal life at the time when he believed in Jesus and he has the heavenly life on the earth (Eph2:6) and lives the righteous and holy life filled with peace and joy by the Holy Spirit. And when Jesus comes to this earth again, every Christian who believes in Him are given the same immortal and glorious body with that of Jesus (Phil 3:21).
6. Christian church
The meaning of "Church" in the New Testament
The Greek word used to denote the Church is "ekklesia" which means "Assembly consisting of the elect,called out of the world of humanity". The Church is the assemblies of people who are purified by the blood of Christ, called out of the world and made to be the treasure people of God.
The Church sometimes are said to have two aspects: the visible and the invisible. The visible church does not denote the building of church, but the general term of Christian believers who believe and worship the Lord Jesus in the churches and missionary fields. On the other hand, the invisible church means the whole assemblies of Christian appointed to salvation by God beyond time and place in whom there are believers-to-be living now or to be born.
The church is said to be the body of Christ which has Christ as it's head and which is incarnation of Christ taking over the work of Christ on the earth.
Moreover,Christian church is called the pillar and the foundation of the truth (1Tim 3:15). It means that church is the poll which displays the flag of truth around the world and the outpost where Christ works through the members of the church. Therefore, the church trains it's members by the word and prayer and equips them for the work of Christ as the members of the body of Christ (Eph4:11-16).
Roman Catholic church is divided between clergymen and laymen. The Bible, however, tells us that we all of us church members are royal priests who proclaim the mighty work of Christ who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light (1Pet 2:9).
The church is called the bride of Christ and the household of God.
Thus the church is never a place of social party nor an association of Gospel songs nor a mere Bible class.
The church is the house of God where the members of the church are trained to become full-grown men in Christ and mighty witness of Christ as salt of earth and light of the world and to be able to gain a victory over Satan and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Eph 4:11-16: 1Tim 3:15).
1 Feb. 2008 Published
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