gross@dg-rtp.dg.com (Gene Gross) (10/01/90)
In article <Sep.26.04.12.39.1990.2296@athos.rutgers.edu> unisoft!lynn@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Lynn Klein) writes: >Sigh. I am so tired of this discussion. And I imagine I'm a part >of the silent majority. > >I think that when my life ends, God is not going to give *one hoot* >about what I believed, but will instead ask me, "Did you love? Whom >did you love? How did you express it? Did you share the gifts I gave >you with the poor? Did you do the works of mercy?" Lynn: OFM pretty much set the stage with his response. I won't try to duplicate what he said. Instead, let me take you to John 3:16, which says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (KJV) Here is what I want to draw out for you. The English word "believeth" is translated from the Greek word "pisteuo." This word conveys more than a mere mental movement. It conveys the sense of full and total commitment, in this case to Jesus Christ. This would match the distinction that OFM makes between belief and faith. Now, there is another point that Jesus makes. He speaks of the judgement when there will be those who come saying, Lord, look at all the things we've done for you and in your name. And Jesus says that He will turn to them and say, Depart from me you workers of iniguity; I never knew you. Yet there are others to whom He says, Well done my faithful servants; enter into my rest. So there is something more than merely doing good things. If works were all that was important, what are we doing sitting around for. Let's get out and really do some good works. However, it is also written, "For by grace [God's unmerited kindness and love] are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man [person] should boast." (Ephesians 2:8, 9 KJV) Christianity is not about religion. Christianity is about a relationship--our relationship to the one, true, living God. That relationship comes through faith/belief (pisteuo) in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on our behalf. This relationship causes us to produce fruit of the Spirit, which includes works of the faith (some of which you touch upon in your posting). But it is not this fruit that we are judged on but rather our relationship, which is found in salvation. And salvation is only in Jesus Christ. Because He lives, Gene Gross