Colossians 1:23

When I tried to post this,

 

When I tried to post this, I

 

(When I tried to post this, I kept getting a message saying it was too short! It wouldn't let me post until I type these sentences out!)

 

What about Matthew 12:33-35? 33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. 34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart[g] brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. This certainly seems to indicate that the physical act of speaking has its roots in the spiritual condition of our hearts. So wouldn't speaking good things be a sign that we have a good heart, since evil people cannot speak good things?

I'm trying to get the timing straight here. Is the "kingdom of the heavens" something that is happening now, or that will be happening during the 1000 years. If it happens during the 1000 years, then will Christ be ruling from heaven or from earth. If it is happening now, then are unfaithful Christians up in heaven, but not actually ruling with Christ right now.

Oh, and one other thing, J. Jump. You copied and answered my second question from my post, but you may not have had time for my first question. How do you interpret the statement that faith without works is dead?

 

The phrase “kingdom of God” appears in 69 verses of the NT, the phrase "kingdom of heaven" appears in 32 verses, and the single word “kingdom” appears 158 times in 150 verses (which includes the previously mentioned verses). The majority of passages on the kingdom can be easily proven by plain reading to be something that is literal and future and will last a thousand years. There are 5 main passages that seem to contradict this, but they don't, and that's another discussion for another time.

 

Eternal salvation is not the context of Matthew 12, but the kingdom of the heavens. Saved people can still work iniquity instead of good works. If you are walking in the flesh then everything you do is going to be wood, hay or stuble (evil - iniquity - lawlessness, etc). But if you are walking in the Spirit then everything you do will be gold, silver or precious stones.

A lot of Christendom believes that saved people are incapable of doing evil things becuase they are saved, but that just isn't what the Bible shows us.

Hope that helps, and if not ask again

1,000 year reign of Christ - which is yet future

Christ will have a dual reign from the heavens and the physical earth. Christ will remove Satan and his angels from the heavenly sphere of rule and that's where Christ as His bride (faithful, obedient, overcoming Christians) will reign.

Then Christ will also reign from David's throne in the physical Jerusalem.

Sorry I missed that one. That's a great question and is often one of the most misinterpreted Scripture in all the Bible.

James is not dealing with eternal salvation, but the salvation of the soul. Eternal salvation is based solely on God's grace through faith apart from the works of man. It is based only on a person's faith in the substitutionary works of Jesus Christ, who died and shed His blood as the Lamb of God on the cross of Calvary on our behalf to pay our sin debt.

We are saved unto good works, meaning we are supposed to be about the Father's business. We are supposed to be about the Master's business while He is gone away.

If we are obedient then we will realize the salvation of our soul which is yet future. And that determines whether we rule or reign with Christ.

Now James is dealing with those folks that believe Jesus Christ is coming again and that He will set up a kingdom and that Christians will rule and reign with Him. They have faith, but that faith has not led to obedience. They are still walking in the flesh instead of walking in the Spirit.

They are still slaves to sin. Instead of overcoming the flesh, the world and Satan they are being overcome by one, two or all three.

They have faith, but it is dead. It's useless. They have faith, but it's faith that won't save them (it won't save their soul), because there are no works invovled.

The salvation of the soul is a cooperation between man and the Holy Spirit. Man must produce obedience and good works and the only way man can do that is die to their agenda (die to self) take up the cross daily (again picture of dying) and allow the Holy Spirit to live out the manifested life of Christ within your body.

It will actually be the Spirit doing the work, but God puts it to your credit as if you did it yourself.

Hope that helps, but again if you need clarity ask again