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| (A rooster masquerading as a crane. Only the blind will be deceived!) |
Shibboleths Parading as Truth!
I
came across this doctrinal statement:
"The
Scriptures are emphatic to state that Christ's righteousness is imputed
(counted or reckoned) only to those who trust in Christ alone. Those who
possess Christ's righteousness stand before God just as righteous as Christ
Himself. God is just and the justifier of all who believe in Christ. There is
no hope offered for any sinner whose faith does not rest in Christ. Faith in
Christ, which is the work of God in the life of a sinner, is an absolutely
essential element for eternal salvation. (Acts 13:38-39, Romans 3:21-30, Romans
4:5, Romans 4:16, Romans 4:20-25, Romans 5:1-2, Galatians 2:16, Galatians
3:6-8, Galatians 3:11, Galatians 3:26, Ephesians 2:8-9, John 3:14-18, John
3:36, John 6:40)"
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Here are a few thoughts...
1.
Those to whom Christ's righteousness has not been IMPUTED are STILL under the
state of condemnation. And those still in their native state of condemnation
are dead in sins and trespasses. Thus, the statement above necessarily promotes
the lie that a sinner under the condemnation of death, dead in sins and
trespasses, in enmity against God, etc... is able to trust in Christ to be
justified by God, i.e. to have the righteousness of Christ imputed to him.
-
It is like say, the dead man needs to eat the food offered to him in order to
be made alive! (The person who offers food to the dead with that intention is
not only stupid (i.e. lacking common sense), he is also most deluded and
superstitious!)
2.
Christ's righteousness is APPLIED to an individual elect personally while he
was STILL in a state of condemnation... i.e. in an unjustified state, though
already legally justified by the blood of Christ at the cross. The legal
IMPUTATION of Christ's righteousness to His elect took place at the cross.
It
is just sheer willful ignorance to believe that Christ's righteousness is
imputed when an elect believes in Christ.
-
"And he [Abraham] believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for
righteousness" - nearly every one believes that the pronoun "it"
refers to the righteousness of Christ! What a fiction! God counted the
believing of Abraham to him for righteousness, i.e. to experience the
blessedness of his justified state by God's free grace way back in Gen 11.
-
Apostle Paul did warn that in the last days, God's will will believe FABLES! 2Tim
4:1-4
3. 'God is just and the justifier of all who believe in Christ' - this is an indicative statement declaring that God is the cause, i.e. all who believe in Christ do so because God is ALREADY their JUST justifier - by His free and sovereign grace, based justly upon the righteousness of Christ alone - when they were still in their native state of sin and condemnation.
God, the just justifier, is the CAUSE, and believing in Christ is the EFFECT. This simple and obvious truth is further confirmed by the simple and obvious truth that God justifies the UNGODLY, i.e. still personally under the condemnation of death. Faith justifies the BELIEVERS; it demonstrates their justification before God by His free and sovereign grace.
The doctrinal statement is obviously peddling the lie, i.e. that when an unjustified man believes, then God justifies him. It belongs to the same category of lies that say, "when a dead man eats, God gives him life."
4.
Faith is a work of the Spirit of God in the hearts of God's children. A
regenerated elect is given the Spirit of adoption to dwell within them. This indwelling of the Spirit enables a child
of God to believe the gospel truth concerning his eternal salvation by God's
free grace.
- Believing in Jesus Christ is evidence and effect OF eternal salvation already bestowed while an elect was still dead in trespasses and sins.
Faith in Christ is an EFFECT and a FRUIT of the eternal salvation freely bestowed. An effect of anything CANNOT POSSIBLY be essential, in any sense of the word, for that SAME thing. It is plain nonsense and fable to say that faith in Christ is the essential element FOR eternal salvation when faith is a fruit and effect of that salvation!!!
5. And faith in Christ cometh by the hearing of the preached word. It is the hearing of the gospel that draws out the faith ALREADY worked in the heart of a child of God. However, there are God's children who are incapable of being called out by the gospel ministry; some others have no opportunity to be called out by the same.
The
horrid fiction that "Faith in Christ... is an absolutely essential element
for eternal salvation" - as stated in the doctrinal statement above, IF it
were true, shall cause such elect to be damned without eternal salvation since
their eternal salvation is conditioned upon something they cannot do!!!
