Faith is a substance

dizerner

Re: Faith is a substance

Post by dizerner » Fri Jan 02, 2015 10:59 pm

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dizerner

Re: Faith is a substance

Post by dizerner » Fri Jan 02, 2015 11:02 pm

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Homer
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Re: Faith is a substance

Post by Homer » Fri Jan 02, 2015 11:51 pm

Dizerner,

Did you miss my post? I still am not understanding you.

Thanks, Homer

dizerner

Re: Faith is a substance

Post by dizerner » Sat Jan 03, 2015 12:09 am

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paulespino
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Re: Faith is a substance

Post by paulespino » Sat Jan 03, 2015 9:49 am

Notice it's the faith that's dead. It's still all about the faith, not the works. Works are just an evidence of preexisting faith, they are not a replacement for it.
Hi Dizerner,
This is exactly my point that Faith is dead without love.

Fill in the blanks:
A person who has a dead Faith means a person is ____________ .

Now the blank space above can be filled in with save or not save, it is up to us on how we understand James 2:14-26.

dizerner

Re: Faith is a substance

Post by dizerner » Sat Jan 03, 2015 11:27 am

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Paidion
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Re: Faith is a substance

Post by Paidion » Sat Jan 03, 2015 11:45 am

The truth is, we cannot overcome sin on our own.
True. But neither will God overcome sin in us on HIS own!

But together, God and we CAN overcome sin.

Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. (2Cor 6:1)

The word translated as "working together is "συνεργουντες" (synergountes) from which comes the English word "synergy".

So it's a matter of our coöperating with God's enabling grace.
Paidion

Man judges a person by his past deeds, and administers penalties for his wrongdoing. God judges a person by his present character, and disciplines him that he may become righteous.

Avatar shows me at 75 years old. I am now 83.

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Homer
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Re: Faith is a substance

Post by Homer » Sat Jan 03, 2015 1:02 pm

Dizerner,

You wrote:
Righteous thoughts and actions (including love) simply must come effortlessly by faith alone, or else how are we living a life that is trusting in Christ?
Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 9:26-27New King James Version (NKJV)

26. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.


Paul pictures the Christian life as a struggle with the flesh, I think, and mirrors my own experience. His statement would seem to contradict the effortless part. I'm with Paidion.

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willowtree
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Re: Faith is a substance

Post by willowtree » Sat Jan 03, 2015 2:23 pm

paulespino wrote:Hebrews 11:1
Now FAITH is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
We have a problem here before you have even started. Why did you not underline the complete statement? That helps considerably to answer your question. Faith is the substance of things hoped for.

I have an electric mixer in my kitchen. I use it to prepare scrambled eggs. I have had it for many years and it is has never failed to work. Tomorrow when I need to get the eggs ready, I hope it will work again. I confess that I do not spend a lot of time worrying whether the beater will work. I will just pull it out of the cupboard expecting that it will work the same as it always has. If I do not take it out of the cupboard it will not mix my eggs. After I have taken it out of the cupboard I have to plug the mixer into the electric socket so that it will work. When I turn the mixer on it starts to work.

Here's what this tell me:
I have a hope - that my mixer will work - the same as it has always done.
The substance of that hope is to open the cupboard, take out the mixer, put the blades into it, plug it in and turn it on.
This 'substance' enables the mixer to work but does not of itself make it work. The electricity does that.
If I neither take the mixer out, nor have an available electricity source, my eggs will not get beaten.

Paul gives a very good characterization of faith in Romans 4:20-21. "Yet he (Abraham) did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised." From this I have developed this definition, 'Faith is the unshakeable conviction that what God has promised he is able to perform." The substance of our faith is the response we make to what God has said he will do.

Applying all of this to my spiritual life: I have a promise from God that if I confess my sins, he is faithful and just to forgive me my sins and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. (This is the hope that I have). I pray to God and confess my sins, believing he will forgive me. (This is the substance of my faith). This confession draws the response from God to forgive and to cleanse. (This is the electric power). If I do not confess my sins, before God, I need not expect that I will be forgiven. (Both God and my faith are required to make this happen).

Regards, Graeme
If you find yourself between a rock and a hard place, always head for the rock. Ps 62..

Singalphile
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Re: Faith is a substance

Post by Singalphile » Sat Jan 03, 2015 4:14 pm

That can't be right, willowtree. It's too reasonable and practical. ;)
... that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. John 5:23

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