""God is not going to allow an unfaithful servant to be part of His Son's bride.""
Do you realize that you have just told God what He is going to do.
Not at all. Who am I to tell God anything? I am nobody. I'm just merely repeating what God has said. God is not going to let an unfaithful servant marry His son, not because J. Jump said so, but because that is what He has revealed to us.
Secondly, I didn't know you were seperating the bride from the body. No, there will be no difference between the two.
Can you provide Scripture for that? To date no one has been able to show that the church and the bride are one. By the way you'll need to show it in the NT and the OT.
You seem to say there is a ruling class in Heaven and a worshipping class.
There will be those that rule and reign with Christ, but don't read into it that we become some sort of little gods ourselves, because that is not the case. We will still be the creation, but just in a position that God originally intended for man to be in.
We were originally created to be the rulers over the earth. We just never realized that position and fell before we took the reigns.
We will all continue to worship the One and Only God (Father, Son and Spirit). No one will be worshipping the bride.
The Bible is clear that all will bow and worhip God. None besides God will be reverenced in Heaven. God meaning Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
AMEN!!
We are told that the believers will reign with Christ and that we will even judge the angels.
Scripture?
To seperate the Body from the Bride takes more then digging into the meat of the word, it takes creative thining. What I mean by that is you have a doctrine and you try to make scripture fit that doctrine. If I am honest I may do that from time to time as well.
That's what everyone says when they don't want to study the issue out. Either the picture is there or it's not. There's nothing creative about it. The Bible says Adam is a type of Christ. Do you think it is mere coincidence that the stories line up like they do? Of course not. It was planned by God for a purpose.
OT Scriptures point to Christ, He even told us so Himself in a couple of different places. The one that comes to mind right off the bat is His discussion with the two on the road to Emaus.
You list the Biblical cliche's like "run the race", "stand firm", etc... as a proof that one must be a part whether they are the "bride" or not.
Not sure what this means. These aren't Biblical cliche's. The Bible doesn't contain stuff that's just for fluff. We are told that we are to live by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
There is life in the Words of the Bible if we will just believe them. If we are told to run the race, stand firm and overcome then that is what we must do. Those phrases aren't in there for just kicks and giggles.
Because you seperate the Body from the bride it gives you a fall back position. You can say that the one who is struggling in their Christian walk will be in Heaven but not reign with Christ.
It's not a fall back position, becuase one will not want to be a part of the body that doesn't end up as the bride. It's not going to be a fun-filled 1,000 years, according to Scripture.
Now are they eternally secure. Yes. But again that's not because I say so, that's because the Bible says so. Do you believe in eternal security?
Here is the problem. We are told that God will remember our sins no more. There are no tears or sorrow in Heaven. If we are not accepted as the bride, that would bring sorrow, but more importantly it would mean that God held some of our works against us, and that the blood of Jesus was not powerful enough to wipe away ALL the believers sins.
Oh the blood of Christ is plenty powerful enough alright!! The fact of the matter is that there are Christians that don't continue to confess their sins so that God can forgive them. Corinthians tells us that God will not be mocked what a man sows he will reap. If he sows in the flesh he will reap corruption. If he sows in the Spirit he will reap life.
The misconception for what seems to be a lot of Christendom is that God forgives all our sin past, present and future at the time of salvation by grace through faith. That is not Biblical. Our past sins are forgiven, but sins committed after salvation are not forgiven and must be dealt with on a continual basis (I John 1:9).
By the way being a part of the bride has nothing to do with eternity (which is what I am assuming you mean by heaven). Being a part of the bride is in relation to the 1,000-year reign of Christ.
That is the bottom line to a lot of what we are discussing here. You believe that our works will play a role in our position in Heaven and maybe in our getting into Heaven at all.
Not our role in heaven, but our role in the 1,000-year reign of Christ. And it has nothing to do with eternity.
Which means are works are done to pleas God. I believe that our works our done to draw others to God and to show God's Glory to others.
Brian what you and I believe is irrelevant. What does the Bible say? That's the only thing that matters. Now God does work through us to reach other people that is true, but it's only true if we allow Him to work through us.
Good works are not a guarantee in a Christian's life (Ephesians 2:10)
Our works justify us before men
Scripture?
our light shines before men. we work to show God for who He is and that is the reason why running the race is so very importanat. Not because it will make us a ruling class in heaven.
I don't think that is the context of running the race at all.
I Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.
We are clearly shown here that at the end of the race is a prize. What is the prize? Ruling and reigning with Christ.
Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.
We can't win if we are not obedient, faithful and overcomers.