Tag Archives: salvation

Jano16

Chase

3

Am I saved, or am I being saved? Talking Theology via email…(with several guest authors)

I’m kind of hopeful that this kind of post will take off and be a staple of the blog. I composed an email this week (copied below), and sent it out to a few people that I thought might be interested in a nice, deep Biblical discussion. The response back has been great, and I’ve copied most of it below. First up, my original question: 

Hello all, Consider this: 

1 Peter 1 3-9

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

I find that verse 9 to be quite striking. In fact, I have always found the NT teaching of salvation to be very interesting when compared/contrasted to what the modern church teaches about salvation. For us, we always emphasize the instant aspects of salvation - the one time thing that happens suddenly. I certainly believe that is an aspect of salvation, but verse 9 above seems to also see salvation as a continual thing that is ongoing. 

In the ESV, it says: 

Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

This thinking goes along with these verses also: 
 

Philippians 2:12 

 12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,

 

Phil 3:12-13

 12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
 

Romans 5:10 

10For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

(Note the future tense, “shall be saved”) 

 

1 Timothy 4:16

16Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

(Again, note the future tense: “you will save”) 

 

I wonder about the practical aspects of this teaching in scripture. Perhaps we have all heard the thought that the Bible teaches we are saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. I think the Bible certainly uses verbiage consistent with that idea, but we rarely teach it, and only emphasis the instantaneous transformation. What we we missing when we do so? Or am I barking up the wrong tree? Again, I am interested more in the practical aspects of this understanding, rather than the theological ones. How should this impact our evangelism and counseling? How does it impact our discipleship? I might turn some of our discussion (if we have any) into a blog post. 

I close with a solemn warning and a promise: 

Philippians 1:6 (the promise) 

6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

 

Romans 11:22 (New International Version) (the warning) 

 22Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

thanks for reading…..Chase

That was the original email. For ease of reading below, I have put each persons response in bold typeface, and left my own comments and linking sentences in regular print. Verses are in italics. Here are some responses:  (CLICK THE READ MORE LINK TO READ THE ENTIRE POST):


Read more

Jano07

Chase

0

Agape Newsletter #3 - September 13, 2008

Hello friends and family, and welcome to another Agape e-newsletter, chocked full of announcements, interesting links, and vain attempts at humorous writing. We’ve got a lot of announcements to cover this week, so we’ll start there.

Announcements:
This Wednesday, September 17 - Beginning at 5:45, we’ll be having a family meeting and fellowship meal together. Come and join us for some great eats and hang out time. At one of our last family meetings, I spent an entire action packed hour answering a question from the floor in regards to the issue of ordination of women, so if you missed our last family meeting - you missed that!! And if you miss this family meeting, you could miss something equally exciting, or even more exciting! Okay okay,  - actually I won’t be doing that anytime soon. So if you come this week, you will not be subjected to that again - I promise. (To be clear, I’m poking fun at myself for being long winded in the answering of the question, not the question itself, which I consider a good one)

September 21 - Leadership Team meeting 4:00pm in the church office.

September 26, 27 - Men’s Golf Outing.  For more information, see Brian Perkins or Andy Gray - there is a sign-up sheet on back table. Alright men, listen up: I’m going on this golf outing, and I absolutely stink at golf - I haven’t played in about 3-4 years, and even when I was playing regularly (3-5 times a year) to call me a duffer would be an insult to duffers everywhere. The whole point of the golf outing isn’t really to play golf - it’s to hang out, to fellowship with each other, to be men, etc. YOU SHOULD COME!

September 28 - J. David Mcconnell will be preaching, as well as filling us in on the rebirth of Crossroads on October 5th. I know that David’s message will be timely, anointed and powerful. I also imagine that he will take the opportunity to throw in a few jabs at Alabama football, since I myself have taken the opportunity to do the same to his beloved Auburn Tigers. Fair is Fair, I suppose. :)

Oct. 3,4 Youth Trip to Stewart Center in Atlanta, Georgia- see John Clayton King for more details.

October 5 Sunday Night: Crossroads, the Sunday night teaching and worship time led by David Mcconnell (teaching) and John Talley (worship), will begin again - this time on a more permanent basis. I’ll write more about this next week, but go ahead and mark it on your calenders. Crossroads is always a great teaching and fellowship time, and a perfect way to go deeper in the word, as well as build deeper relationships with other people at Agape. After Crossroads that night we’ll have a food and fun get together at the parsonage.

Oct 11 - Youth Quake - Cullman - see John King. Here’s the website http://youthquake.org/cullman/index.html 1000 ft Crutch, Kutless, Fireflight, Pillar and KJ-52 (what could possible be cooler than a white rapper?) will be there, as well as Matt Pitt from The Basement.
Sunday morning: 8:30-Corporate prayer…meet in the right hand corner of the sanctuary.
Sunday morning 9:45 - Small groups
Sunday morning 10:45- Corporate worship.
And now for a very special interruption: -
This Sunday, we will continue talking about worship and warfare - specifically how our committing to a lifestyle of worship changes things spiritually, and wages war on the Kingdom of darkness. Last Saturday evening, as I was preparing the message for the next two weeks, I felt like God simply downloaded some deep truths into me to share with you all. This communication, if I can call it that, lasted about 10 minutes or so, and it was almost like I felt a direct line to heaven. It was very unusual for me to say the least. I was typing as fast as I could to keep up with what was being received.
I don’t believe I’ve said anything like this in the 5 months that I’ve been at Agape, but I urge and encourage you to come this Sunday morning, at least partially to hear this message. I believe it is truly from God, and is a very timely message for our body. If I don’t somehow get in the way, then I believe this message will be very beneficial and encouraging for you. I hope this isn’t coming across as arrogant or self promoting, because that is the very opposite of what I am intending to convey. If the message Sunday morning is good in some way - it will be only because of the grace and enabling of God.
Some links, freebies and other things worth checking out:
****     Everybody likes free music, right? Here’s a link to an entire worship album available for free and legitimate download. The music is very beautiful, Christ centered and scriptural. You can download the whole album (look for the link) or you can download each individual song by right clicking on them and saving them. My favorite songs on the cd are: Resurrection Song, Psalm 103, and Beatitudes. Resurrection Song is on of the most powerful and hopeful worship songs that I have ever heard. Here’s the link: http://www.christourlife.ca/new_worship_cd.html
*****     The mainstream media often portrays pro-life people as violent, and it is rare to hear the other side, but this week a pro life person was assaulted at a clinic.
*****     Focus on the Family: Married people should laugh more with each other . (and perhaps less AT each other)
There’s so many other links I can include this week, but I’d better stop here, so that most of you can get this in your inbox before 5:00 Friday.
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to seeing you Sunday,
Chase