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Chad Burns | PentecostalTheology.com
My Utmost For His Highest, Daily Devotional by Oswald Chambers.
January 10
The Opened Sight
To open their eyes…that they may receive… — Acts 26:18
This verse is the grandest condensation of the propaganda of a disciple of Jesus Christ in the whole of the New Testament.
The first sovereign work of grace is summed up in the words — “that they may receive remission of sins” (RV). When a man fails in personal Christian experience, it is nearly always because he has never received anything. The only sign that a man is saved is that he has received something from Jesus Christ. Our part as workers for God is to open men’s eyes that they may turn themselves from darkness to light; but that is not salvation, that is conversion — the effort of a roused human being. I do not think it is too sweeping to say that the majority of nominal Christians are of this order; their eyes are opened, but they have received nothing. Conversion is not regeneration. This is one of the neglected factors in our preaching today. When a man is born again, he knows that it is because he has received something as a gift from Almighty God and not because of his own decision. People register their vows, and sign their pledges, and determine to go through, but none of this is salvation. Salvation means that we are brought to the place where we are able to receive something from God on the authority of Jesus Christ, viz., remission of sins.
Then there follows the second mighty work of grace — “an inheritance among them which are sanctified.” In sanctification the regenerated soul deliberately gives up his right to himself to Jesus Christ, and identifies himself entirely with God’s interest in other men.
RichardAnna Boyce
Acts 20:32
Paul concluded his exhortations and commended the leaders “to God and to the word of His grace.” The phrase the word of His grace probably refers to the message of grace both as eternal salvation by faith alone (Acts 15:6-12) and to grace as the essential principle of the Christian life as opposed to legalism (Acts 15:13-31). The same word of this grace that would edify them in the present also guaranteed them “an inheritance among all those who are sanctified,” a reference to ALL believers (cf. Acts 26:18).
RichardAnna Boyce
Acts 26:18
God also offered him purpose as He delineated Paul’s future mission toward unbelieving Gentiles. Paul would work with God “‘to open their eyes’”—the task of illumination, which would lead to their conversion and all the spiritual benefits that accompany belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul would not achieve this on his own. Ultimately God would grant the spiritual insight (see 2 Cor 4:1-6). The apostle, for his part, would endeavor to persuade people to believe. The believer would receive “‘forgiveness of sins’” and a guaranteed future possession, which includes a resurrection body and eternal fellowship with God. Sanctified here refers to the positional setting apart toward God which every believer enjoys the very instant he believes in Christ (see Heb 10:14) rather than to the process of sanctification—the progressive conformity of the believer to the character of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Varnel Watson
RichardAnna Boyce I am more and more learning from your posts that your theology is much gnosticism and no Bible
RichardAnna Boyce
i dont understand how you can connect gnosticsm with Free Grace?
Varnel Watson
RichardAnna Boyce WHY FREE GRACE is gnostic Gnosticism was perhaps the most dangerous heresy that threatened the early church during the first three centuries. Influenced by such philosophers as Plato, Gnosticism is based on two false premises. First, it espouses a dualism regarding spirit and matter. Gnostics assert that matter is inherently evil and spirit is good. As a result of this presupposition, Gnostics believe anything done in the body, even the grossest sin, has no meaning because real life exists in the spirit realm only. Unfortunately, traces of Gnostic thought continue to permeate the thinking of many well-meaning Christians today. For example, some Christians think that only two things will last into eternity: God’s Word and the souls of men and women — an emphasis on the spiritual and an exclusion of the physical. But this is wrong. The Bible explicitly teaches that not only will these two last into eternity but so will our bodies, in a glorified state The implication that the spirit is more important than the body is the reason why an answer of “true” to any question in our quiz is incorrect. James warns us that “pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27)
RichardAnna Boyce
Troy Day, Reformed Calvinist and Arminian theologies are built on Augustine’s unstable foundation of Luther as an Augustian monk, and Calvin an Augustian disciple. Free Grace predates Augustine and is built on sound contextual exegesis. Augustine trained in Gnosticsm, Neoplatonism and Stoicsm around 400AD.
He taught all the truly elect will inevitably persevere as God’s gift. Therefore a person can be genuinely saved and receive Holy Spirit but be damned to hell if they do not persevere in faith. Augustine then uses Phil 1:6 completely out of context to prove “by this financial gift they cannot fail to persevere.”
Augustine’s Inevitable perseverance is due to a second blessing of Spirit baptism to a select few Christians.
Free Grace is a third theology free of Reformed Calvinist and Arminian theologies; and in particular disagrees with Inevitable perseverance of Arminians due to a second blessing of Spirit baptism to a select few Christians (which is Arminian’s trying to copy Calvinist’s election of a few.)
RichardAnna Boyce
Arminians teach that no “true” believer/disciple will continue in sin.
According to their view, to believe (or become a disciple) means to enter the Christian life with a full commitment to submit to Christ and obey Him. However, this seems to leave little room for the biblical teaching Christians can be babes in Christ who are less than submissive and obedient.
Paul’s words to the Corinthian believers indicate such was the case:
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? (1 Cor. 3:1-3).
In this passage there is a definite contrast made between those who are “spiritual” and those who are “carnal.”
Paul’s description of these Corinthians as babes appears to hinge on their chronological age in Christ as well as their fleshly behavior.
Verse 3 explains (introduced by an explanatory gar) that they are unable to take solid food because they are still carnal, as evidenced by their “envy, strife, and divisions.”
“Carnal” is sarkinos (UBS, v. 1) and sarkikos (twice in v. 3, once in v. 4). While the former may simply refer to their humanness (consisting of flesh, made of flesh), the latter surely denotes the moral idea of “belonging to the realm of the flesh in so far as it is weak, sinful, and transitory.”
These Christians were continuing in sin.
In response, Arminians could argue that the Corinthians later repented and returned to a spiritual walk with God (2 Cor. 7:8-11), thus showing final perseverance.
But this would ignore the fact that some of the Corinthian Christians had already died in their carnal condition.