1/20/2009

Who can be saved?

Can Catholics? can oneness Pentecostals? can Baptists?

We should probably dispense with the idea of salvation-by-category except for that category spiritually defined around Jesus as the faithful.
What had these disciples done except give loyal-recognition to Jesus.

While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. Someone said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You." But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?" And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, "Behold My mother and My brothers! "For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother." (Mat 12:46-50)


And they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, "Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven." And some of the scribes said to themselves, "This fellow blasphemes." And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, "Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? "Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, and walk'? "But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"--then He *said to the paralytic, "Get up, pick up your bed and go home." And he got up and went home. But when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men. (Mat 9:2-8)

I would not want to be guilty of diminishing "doctrine" but it is Christ who, in his doctrine, teaches us that "they will know you by your love for one another" and that we will "know them by their fruit" and so on. His doctrine so thoroughly adds up to "in our loyalty to Christ, be Christ-like". Humble submission to His teaching would stand in contrast to our being fastidious about our extra-biblical inferences, or even censorious about a proper organization of biblical data.

"Pistos", which we normally have as faith, is loyal-recognition, or loyal-acknowledgment and thereby "pistos" is received by God, personally. Also, since it is directed by the various faithful individuals toward the person of God, we notice it is directed by individuals who are at various levels of apprehension of the scripturally revealed information about this person of God to whom they are each directly loyal.

However, the one who is loyal, by definition cannot persist in despising the teaching (doctrine) of the one to whom he is loyal.
And a bit more, none of this is to say that "we are loyal to God by merely being loyal to the god of our(?) understanding". If one is personally loyal to the God of Abraham, he or she necessarily demonstrates that loyalty in these last days by loyalty to the person of His Son.

I simply think that we should be cautious to distinguish between a submitted loyalty to Christ and His authoritative teaching, over against loyalty to our institutions and pronouncements. The Lord may be making quite the distinction as He looks on the faith of those who would be His people, individually...even the least of them.

As you study with this in mind, notice those who have a loyal-recognition of Jesus in the Gospels and praise God with me at the amazing benefits. Their greatest needs are met. Their sins are forgiven...you know, awesome stuff like that. And Jesus is still available to you and me now...through His word, by his Spirit, and in his actual position at the right hand of the Father...to be the proper object of our loyal-recognition.

The Lord is patient with His little flock. Perhaps this is why we hear Him calling His own to come out of false religion represented by the Harlot and Babylon.

I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. (Rev 18:4-5)

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