The Doctrine of Salvation
The History – In beginning… Genesis 1:27 ” God created man in his image: in the divine image he created them; male and female created them.” So we had a great start.
One of the saddest verses in the scriptures Genesis 2:8 -11
” When they heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the garden… the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God… God called to the man…’Where are you?’ …. I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself….You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!” (what a mess)
The first glimpse of hope Gensis 3:15
“I will put enmity between you and the woman (speaking to the serpent- satan) and between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head, ( indicating victory) while you strike at his heel (referring to the suffering Christ endured) The Protestant translation is a little more accurate here, quoting ” And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. As we know the woman does not have the “seed” so this is a prophetic word referring to Jesus Christ immaculate conception.
God within man? – it would be hard to prove given this next verse
Gensis 6:5 When the Lord saw how great was man’s wickedness on the earth, and how no desire that his heart conceived was ever anything but evil, he regretted that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was grieved.” Super sad verse.
So then what is our hope, or in what does our salvation lie?
John 3:14 – 21 We all know verse 16 but the whole part is insightful especially verse 18 ” Whoever believes in him avoids condemnation…” The Greek definition for believe, ” have faith in or trust,” this then speaks to something active on our end. God is not in us if we do not have faith. It is faith or belief in his words that saves a man/woman. The free will you mentioned is exactly that, the free will to believe and accept God’s salvation through Jesus Christ, as much as the free will not to believe in salvation. With each decision having its ownconsequences.
So what does Jesus say?
Revelation 3:20 -22 “Here I stand, knocking at the door. If anyone hears me calling and opens the door, I will enter his house and have supper with him, and he with me. I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne, as I myself won the victory and took my seat beside my Father on his throne. ” Let him who has ears heed the Spirit’s word to the churches.” In Jesus own words we read that “God within” is by invitation only. If the door (theheart of man) remains closed, he remains outside and the soul remains lost or unsaved. Andhopefully there will be a change of heart as the Spirit continues to testify of Christ and the need of repentance.
In summary
I have skipped over many scriptures, many of my favorites to keep this brief and to the point.However the scriptures that I did select prove the point that God is not in all of us. He wants to be, but he waits for the heart to repent and confess Christ.
The major concern with the heresy that “God is in all of us” is that it completely by passes the Cross, the need for Christ, man’s culpability, sin, repentance etc. It is a major lie that has spread from New Age into the church. That in part was also my excitement.
May my words, and the scriptures find Grace and room in your hearts.
mucho love,
Arthur