Originally posted by Kathryn:
DHK:
The gift of God is eternal life, which God gives us when we are saved. (Rom.6:23; John 10:27-30; John 5:24).
[QB]
Your premise is faulty. We have the hope of eternal life. Our Hope is Jesus Christ and all His promises. 1 Tim 1:1 We are given the gift of grace, the life of God within us. If we endure to the end, then we will have eternal life forever with God.
Whose premise is faulty? My premise is the Word of God. God does not lie.
Rom.6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
--These are not my words; they are God's. If I have a faulty promise then so does God, for it is He that says "the gift of God is eternal life."
Look again:
Eoh.8 For by grace are
ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:
it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
--Again, I ask you: Is it God that has the faulty premise or you? It certainly isn't me, for I have just quoted what God's position is on the matter. Salvation is the gift of God.
Eternal life is a gift of God.
If you believe not this, you believe not the Bible.
“…and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:4-5
Hope does not disappoint …..if we are faithful and endure to the end. We have God dwelling with us. He tells us that if we deny Him, he will deny us. We are also told we deny Christ by serious sin. We can throw our inheritance away. God however is faithful to His promises.
No hope does not disappoint. What is hope? Christ is our hope (Titus 2:13). We live also by hope (Rom.8). Hope will some day end. It will end when Christ comes again, for He is our hope.
Rom.8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
But what salvation is this speaking of? Look a few verses earlier, and you see that it is speaking of the salvation of the body and not the spirit. That is the resurrection.
"If we are faithful we will endure to the end." The implication is that the faithful are the ones that will endure to the end.
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
-It is our body that will be redeemed. That is the context in Romans 8, as he writes to the believers in Romans 8, about the Christian life.
Now I ask you: Define eternal life.
The outcome of the life of God within us…“But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. Romans 6:22”
That is not a very good definition of eternal life is it? You are dodging the question with your own theology. Eternal life is life that goes on forever and ever. It is really quite basic, and needs not to be complicated.
21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Again the context is that the outcome of salvation is that the gift of God is eternal life. After salvation, as we yield our lives to Christ, we are made free from sin, our fruit is the fruit of holiness, and the gift that we have already been given is eternal life, reiterated again in verse 23.
If God takes away eternal life, is it still eternal?
God does not take away eternal life. He is true to His promises.
Correct. You should stop here, while you are ahead.
We can deny Christ within us through serious sin, and separate ourselves from God because of freewill. God gives us the hope of eternal life. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? Romans 8:24
Rom.8:24 is referring to the resurrection of the body. It is not speaking of our salvation. It refers to the body. You have taken the verse out of context as I have already shown you previously. If you determine to say that God gives us the hope of eternal life, rather than God gives us eternal life, you deliberately lie, and do despite to the grace of God. I have shown you through Romans 6:23 and Eph.2:8,9 that the gift of God is eternal life. God does not take away what he gives.
The gift of eternal life is only realized if we endure to the end. “If we endure, we will also reign with Him.” (2Tim 2:12)
Check your references. This verse is not directed to the unsaved, but rather to the saved. The saved already have the eternal life. It is not talking about eternal life.
2Tim.2:12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
Now look at the whole context:
8 Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:
9 Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.
10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
11 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
Paul is speaking to believers that suffer for Christ's sake. In the midst of persecution, even as John the Baptist doubted that Christ was the Messiah, Paul says "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself." The teaching is, that if one has truly believed Christ will never take away a believer's salvation no matter what, even if his belier falters. God remains faithful.
Read the context!
If you lose eternal life, is it still eternal?
God’s life He offers us through the Redemption is eternal. We however have freewill, and can throw away our inheritance of eternal life with God by not being faithful and denying Him through serious sin. If we were to die in this state we would be truly lost. We would not be one of His sheep. God knows from the beginning who will be saved and have eternal life with Him forever. He is very happy when any of His lost sheep are found. All of heaven rejoices. Thus the need for ongoing conversion.
I don't know how many times you have just contradicted yourself. Let's see if we can count them.
1. God's life that he offers us through redemption is eternal. So at this point it is eternal life.
2. Then you say that one can throw away their inheritance of eternal life through unfaithfulness. This is a contradiction. For now eternal would not be eternal, it would only be temporary and God would be a liar. It is pretty serious charge to call God a liar which you just implicated.
3. "and denying him through serious sin" So we can deny him through serious sin, and not so serious sin. That is the implication here. Catholics have always drawn up a dichotomy between different types of sin. The Bible defines sin as "a transgression of the law." Sin is sin. There is no such differentiation between mortal and venial sin. That is all imaginary.
4. "If we were to die in this state we would be truly lost." Another contradiction. "But is passed from death unto life" "Shall never come into condemnation." Those statements are unconditional statements--promises from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (John 5:24). When you put conditions on them, like you just did, you once again call Jesus Christ a liar, and make His Word of none effect.
5. "We would not be one of his sheep."
Christ says "I know my sheep, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish." You don't believe Christ? Will the sheep turn into a wolf--some kind of evolution, or perhaps devilution? Once I am in the family of God, God will never disown me, I will always be one of his sheep. He will never cast me out. He won't change me into something else.
6. "He is very happy when one of his lost sheep are found." Very true. But they had to be a sheep in the first place. They had to be in the family of God in the first place. A lost sheep is simply a backslidden Christian, a believer who has gone astray. You have many contradictions.
If eternal life is lost in any way is not Christ, then a liar?
Christ can not be a liar…. But you can have a wrong interpretation of Scripture.
By what I have read above it is not my interpretation that is wrong.
The outcome, the realization, and fulfillment of our Christian life as temples of the Holy Spirit and the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ is eternal life.
No. Eternal life is a gift of God, a one time gift given at the time a person receives Jesus Christ as their Saviour.
“But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. Romans 6:22”
Yes. This verse is written to the believer. His life is dead to sin (free from sin) as is pictured in baptism by immersion. He lives a life as a servant to God, as every Christian ought to do, and that results continuously being set apart more and more for Christ and His work (sanctification), and at the end of the road Heaven awaits (eternal life), a gift already given, but not yet realized.
DHK