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Metaphysics
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 Faith Without Works Is Dead When we hear Christians talking about "their book" what do we think, are they talking about the bible? Or are they talking about their own book, which will have all their deeds in, upon which they will be judged? The NT talks of God's temple made of lively stones - for we are that temple of God. We should note that the temple is built out of truth in the gospel, and is not made by our piled up bodily masses! Christ struck a foundation, and it is left to us that (mainly received from Paul to us) the mystery of the gospel was hammered out by the "research" or teachings of the apostles that built the building of the temple we indwell: It is made of the truth in the gospel they attested to all their converted life; These "lively stones" are the furthered mysteries of God sought out and put together harmoniously into the one "faith" that is Christianity. We indwell the temple itself then! So how many bricks in the temple of God have been revealed to you, if there is but one temple, and one body of Christ? Clearly a number of converts is enough to get a mention, but what foundation have you laid for the next row of "lively stones" i.e. mysteries revealed for those to come after you to build upon your revelations with revelations of their own? We should expect that from Christ all springs up: and rightly so! But it is not a requirement that every brick in the temple be found to be made from a human convert: rather if you can greatly expound truth from the gospel and perform a good work that once done, shows the truth of the fact that stands upon its own good virtue, (as opposed to being merely "potentially true") then you have perhaps laid a whole row of bricks in the temple without knowing you have done so! For Christ could have offered us grace and eternal life without displaying obedience was possible Himself, and without the resurrection, as truth of a righteous promise justified. That is the key word - "justification". If you can show that the gospel can reach further and abound more freely by doing a work in your own day that opens a door for someone else, then by all means do so. But do not ever think you are a failure for making not one convert! God may have been waiting for you to justify something as a work done others were too afraid of, or too reticent or comfortable in their numbers (as converted) to do. Once a work is performed and it stands as a fact, God is able to repeat the result of that work anywhere (and when) he chooses fit. (Upon its justification, almost as a "lemma".) I attest to this, it is no mistake. Once there is a theory, then with it made fact after it is put into action, it can be readily and justifiably applied everywhere God wants it to be. It is even possible for you to do something that justified those that went before you, (all are alive to God and His grace is sufficient for them.) Take as an example the following: When the least in the kingdom of heaven leaves a church fellowship by reason of their apostacy, every other believer that is his "greater" is under conviction to leave likewise. God is not able to justifiably remove every believer unless the least has left. (even if he is last to leave.) Likewise consider; Paul went to preach in Jerusalem despite the fact that God Himself had told him "They will not hear thee concerning me". Yet Paul went anyway! Paul reasoned that they will not be converted unless someone is there to preach the word of the gospel to them. It may ultimately have been a fruitless act, but it showed that the jews were unworthy to be saved: So that they justifiably showed themselves to lack worthiness once the word was preached to them by Paul. (It wouldn't have been a fact they had rejected the gospel if they had not heard it.) God did not stop Paul from ultimately making his effort, as it furthered God's end to separate out Himself a people of His own choosing rather than of a single bloodline. When the gentiles saw the jews had ultimately rejected the gospel, they felt themselves all the more valued, as the jews coveted the favour God had shown the gentiles in the gospel. Likewise in dividing spiritually redeemed Israel from the physical bloodline of Abraham, God furthered the gospel and showed through Paul's trials that the translation of Israel to a spiritual seed in Christ was actually a result of the justified fact, rather than a widening of the old covenant to include converts to a new form of judaism, binding gentiles to keeping the whole of the OT law intact. |
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