Free yet????nothing more destructive to faith.

Faith Vs Legalism

Why do people repent in spirit, but never seem to be able to carry it out in practice? It's like the alcoholic sitting in a bar crying about how much he really does love his family, but unable to show it.
Is it possible that our attitudes toward sin can help keep people bound?
A Spirit of Legalism
Something unexplainable, and only discernable, happens when you look at someone and see your sin or weakness reflected in their eyes. They may want you to work out your sinfulness, but their very attitude of disapproval is enough to put you on the defensive, thus strengthening your sin (I Cor. 15:57). Condemnation is an attitude that can't be hidden. It comes across even through forbearance. It's not the attitude towards sin that's wrong, but that towards the sinner.
How, then, does a parent or spiritual leader, who's responsible for others, deal with sin (rebellion) when he sees it operating? By FAITH! He must not judge, but call upon God in faith.

Why is faith so important in this area? Because we're dealing with powers. We know we were born under the power of sin. We don't need to have the knowledge of our sin constantly tormenting us. We need the power to overcome it.
Why did Paul go to such great lengths to talk about justification by faith? Could it be that he understood the dangers of operating under the law, which "worketh wrath"?
The Jews sought to be accepted by God by establishing their own righteousness and not the righteousness that comes by faith. What significance does this have to God? Enough for us to spend some time in meditation on it? It was enough for Paul to write two epistles significantly devoted to the subject —Romans and Galatians. And, it can apply to the way we relate to holiness (without which no man shall see God) and what we expect to "see" in others, which can either bring us into the realm of "the substance of things unseen" by our faith or into the realm of legalism by sight.
When I look up to someone, and all I sense emanating through their eyes is their awareness of or judgement of me as a sinner, or as a Christian walking in the flesh, the offense is so strong that it holds no motivating desire to overcome whatever sin may be operating, should there be any. If nothing actually is operating, I may come away with doubts about myself that weren’t there before. This is not conviction, but a nagging cloud of haze which serves no other purpose than to destroy the confidence necessary to overcome sin. If someone sees us differently than we see ourselves, we either assume they're right and we're wrong or we are forced to deal with bitter resentment caused by their judgmental attitude toward us.
The important point here, though, is what happens to our confidence. Getting hung up in innuendos destroys confidence. When our motives and intentions are questioned by someone else, or even by our own selves, we are torn down instead of built up. People lack confidence and need guidance by those who have it. Fear of our unholiness is putting faith in the flesh. We become removed from the "law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus," which is the only thing that can empower us. Cults gain power in this area. They take advantage of people's ignorance and prey on their neediness. No leader or church group should be able to interfere with a person's relationship with God. The Holy Spirit teaches. The ministry should build up faith, not tear down confidence.
What is the “flesh”? Is it the soul? Is the spirit to be developed at the expense of the soul? Does the soul need to be crucified, or is it sin in the soul that must be dealt with? Sure, in my flesh is no good thing, but in my spirit resides the Holy Spirit, and I won't let anyone convince me I'm walking in the flesh when I’m trying to put my faith in action. I need to trust in the work of Christ; I don't need my flesh destroyed, but my spirit raised up by faith.


We need to be careful in our judgment of what's operating as flesh vs. spirit. Do we allow Satan to magnify sin in the flesh by our judgments instead of forgiving sin in ourselves and in others and treating it with prayer and love, thus overcoming evil with good? I realize it's a codependent symptom to "enable" someone in their weakness by making excuses for them, and I'm not talking about this. The power of love diminishes the force of the guilt that brings us into bondage and strengthens sin, and redirects the focus to the power of God, our source of goodness. This does not condone or encourage sin, but is actually the only way to deal with it.


"Judgement begins in the house of God." It's Scriptures such as this one that cause parents and leadership to rise up and take the “necessary” actions to deal with problems and situations, but I know, as a parent, that if I see things through the eyes of the flesh because I don't have understanding in a particular area, I will destroy God's work --the very opposite desire of my heart. I will tear down instead of build up because my expectations as a parent have not been met. In actuality, my children's destinies are in my hands because God has given me His authority in their lives, but this power can only be activated when it's yielded to God by faith, which comes from seeking Him earnestly on their behalf. If I can't walk in the Spirit in this area, knowing myself, I'll operate in legalism, which is worse than doing nothing at all. My sense of responsibility will dictate to me rather than the Spirit of God and cause me to dictate rather than encourage and train.


If I can't sense the Spirit of God leading me I'd better pray and wait for His leading before operating in the wrong spirit. The spirit of legalism has disastrous effects on another person's life, and I want to see the stronghold destroyed! It is generated out of sincerity, but in our ignorance masquerades as concern. It's not true concern because when we're truly concerned we'll seek God's ways, knowing that ours will be futile to accomplish His goals. We can't interfere with God's ways out of a sense of responsibility. We must seek God on every matter to receive direction from Him alone. If we do this I think we can trust that He'll guide us every step of the way in every situation.
The very reason it's easier to be a grandparent than it is to be a parent lies in the burden of responsibility. As a grandparent I'll always do what's in the best interest of the child, but I'm "free" to love the child alone, with no burden. My tenet is that training a child should not be a burden but a joy. Children should see joy in our eyes and not worry or disapproval. Burdens are assumed when we fail to treat problems with prayer and faith, watching and waiting for God to move in our midst and give us direction and power. He always comes through, and what could be disastrous confrontation becomes real and interested communication where the love comes across rather than disappointment and condemnation.
We need to be careful that we're not in the area of trying to control others, because we'll never help them that way. We need to build their faith in areas they're bound --help them to remove themselves from their attachment to their sin by helping them to see it as a power they're born under which was destroyed at the Cross. As long as they're attached to their responsibility for removing their sin, they'll remain bound in helplessness, because they don't have that kind of power. Like the Jews, they'll be trying to establish their own righteousness.


But to comfort them in the fact that it's not their fault they were born under its power, they have a starting point if they can detach themselves from the burden of guilt. This is the freedom the Gospel offers. Again, it's not to excuse or encourage the sin we need to be accountable for, but to build faith. The ability to be detached from the guilt which causes us to beat ourselves up is the first step to overcoming.


I firmly believe that many people will never experience the true power of the Resurrection because they can't accept the freedom offered by the reality of the Gospel. Their spirits have become so oppressed and downtrodden that growth is an overwhelming burden they simply cannot cast on the Lord, instead of an exciting opportunity to experience that power that transforms us from what we are to what He is, from glory to glory. We need to shake up this morbid sense of "unworthiness" and convince them that their problem is not too big for God if they could only release it to Him and go on to something else, all the while proclaiming His victory.

That's how I've overcome weaknesses. I could become totally absorbed, introspective and analytical of areas of personal weakness, but I've learned how devastatingly destructive it is. It holds you in perpetual bondage, unable to concentrate on doing the things you can do as you trust in God's sanctifying power to be able to handle those areas yielded to Him. The fight of faith is the struggle to hold on to the truth, not one of trying to rid ourselves of our sin. If we continue to hold on to a false burden, focusing our gaze on improvement, we destroy the space necessary for God to work in the area of "things unseen", and our faith is not faith at all, because it hasn't been activated.

Don't call it presumption or making excuses when a person says "God, you have a big problem." That person is trying to be set free from the burden that's too big for him to carry, for which the Lord was crucified. That person knows he's powerless and needs to cling to the conviction that God's power is available to him for as long as it takes to receive the victory. If I, who have struggled for many years to cling to faith which is foreign to me but which the Word of God has convinced me of, how much more do we need to carry and build up those who can't free themselves from guilt and condemnation long enough to see the power of God work in their lives!

I have dared to believe because I had confidence enough to give it a try. If all we see in others is the problem, our focus is in the wrong place. We need to see Jesus, His salvation, sanctification and imputed righteousness and believe that His grace is able to meet our every need and conquer every weakness in our lives. This will reduce the immensity of the responsibility to a level a person can live with and function under until he's totally set free.

Webster's definition of "condemnation" is: "to express disapproval of; censure; criticize. To pronounce judgement against; to sentence; to doom; to demonstrate the guilt of; to convict."

The definition of "propitiation" is: "to appease and render favorable."
If God sees us this way, why can't we? We know that sin separates us from God, and we've memorized all the Scriptures that refer to sin and its effects, and holiness (without which no man shall see God), but do we focus on these at the expense of the Scriptures that preach the power of the Gospel? Do we “throw away the baby with the bathwater?”

I realize that the meaning of repentance is turning away from sin and resisting Satan, but doing this is impossible unless one has a firm grip on the power the Gospel offers and how to operate it in faith. This is awesome stuff we're dealing with!

When He nailed the law to the Cross, Jesus “disarmed the rulers and authorities, having triumphed over them” (Col. 2:14, 15). The law is what holds us in the power of sin. To be freed from it is to be freed from the power of sin. When we're finally released from the oppression of guilt and have the enabling ability to believe in Jesus' overcoming victory, the joy of the Lord surely does become our strength, and our fight becomes a challenge because the aim is a positive one we know we can reach because we know God's Word is true. If we can be freed long enough from the false burden in order to concentrate on laboring to enter into rest by affirming our faith in His Word, we will see real power enter our lives.

Again, I'm rising up against a legalistic spirit which we, who are so serious about walking in the Spirit, can be vulnerable to. It's that opposite extreme, and an unseen trap very difficult to get out of. God, release us to operate in faith alone.

--------------------------------------------------------------
Scriptures on Legalism vs Faith
Bondage to the Law
Rom. 6:14
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace.
1 Cor. 15:56, 57
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

Gal 3:21, 22
Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteous¬ness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

Rom. 4:15, 16
Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace.

Rom. 3:20
...for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Rom. 7:8, 22, 23
But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

II Cor. 2:14
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Rom. 4:14, 15
For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect.Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
Gal. 2:21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness came by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Rom. 5:13
...but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

Rom. 10:4
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.

Rom. 11:29
For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

Rom. 13:13
Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

Gal. 3:13
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us:

Gal. 3:24, 25
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

Heb. 10:12
For the law...can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not cease to be offered? because that worshippers once purged should have no more consciousness of sins.

Gal. 4:24
Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai, which gender¬eth to bondage, which is Agar.

Rom. 10:3
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

II Cor. 4:7
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.

Phil. 3:9
And be found in Him, not having mine own righteous¬ness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Gal 3:11
But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, the just shall live by faith.

Gal. 5:1
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Gal. 5:4
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

Heb. 12:18, 20
For you are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and 22-24that burned with fire, not unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest
For they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart;
But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

Gal. 5:6
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

I Pet. 4:8
And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

Gal. 3:3, 5
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

Rom. 10:4, 10
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;
(In my heart I know He is my righteousness, and my heart believes He's changing me into His image.)

Scriptures to "live" by
Acts 13:39
Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.

II Cor. 5:21
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

Is. 16:3, 4
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Trust ye in the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.

Ephes. 1:7
In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins...

Psalm 107:2
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;

1 Jn. 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Rom. 5:9
Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

Heb. 13:12
Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate.

Rev. 12:11
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Gal. 6:2, 3
Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

I Peter 5:6
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.
Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.

Heb. 10:38, 39
Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

I Cor. 1:30, 31
But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.
That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Rom. 3:24, 25
Being justified freely by His grace through the redemp¬tion that is in Christ Jesus:
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
To declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

James 2:23, 24
And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righ¬teousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
(The fight of faith is WORK!)

Col 2:12
Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God...

simple isn' t it...

Faith as used in the NT is the opposite of doubt. For example, in Mat 14:31 Jesus says, " And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"

 

Doubt translates a Greek word that means literally to "double think" or to divide the mind between different possibilities. In other words, Peter mixed faith and non-faith in his mind. The faith that Jesus calls people to means to have no doubt about something.

says it so well,   here  ye go enjoy the mission...

 

 

Faith is a verb, as we say. Or simply, "The just shall live by faith."

1 corinthains1-4 epignosis or gnosis?

If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference.
If the Holy spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament believers, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.”  A.W. Tozer

Consider John the Baptist. He preached in the wilderness. Those who wished to hear his message had to go out into the desert to hear him. During John’s day, God was through with Judaism. He was finished with the old wineskin. The Lord raised up John the Baptist to call the people out of Judaism, the organized religion of the day. Those who followed John in the wilderness were being stripped of everything that the old Judaism had to offer. They were dropping the religiosity of that system and coming up to ground zero. From where did Jesus Christ get His disciples? Most of them were followers of John the Baptist.

Therefore, they had a wilderness experience that brought them to ground zero. That experience brought them to a “nothing situation.” Compared to the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes, they were clean slates for the Lord Jesus to write upon. They were empty wineskins for the Lord to pour His new wine into. John the Baptist stripped them of the old, and Jesus gave them the new. Frank Viola 

 

More than just assuming!

Jeremiah 17:5-11

5  Thus says the Lord, “Cursed is the man who trusts in and relies on mankind,
Making [weak, faulty human] flesh his strength, And whose mind and heart turn away from the Lord. 6 “For he will be like a shrub in the [parched] desert; And shall not see prosperity when it comes, But shall live in the rocky places of the wilderness, In an uninhabited salt land. 7 “Blessed [with spiritual security] is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the Lord And whose hope and confident expectation is the Lord. 8  “For he will be [nourished] like a tree planted by the waters, That spreads out its roots by the river; And will not fear the heat when it comes; But its leaves will be green and moist. And it will not be anxious and concerned in a year of drought Nor stop bearing fruit. 9  “The heart is deceitful above all things And it is [a]extremely sick; Who can understand it fully and know its secret motives? 10  “I, the Lord, search and examine the mind, I test the heart, To give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.

thanks to the sender ,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVWT5M3hCd4

 Getting to know Christ ?  worship in truth in spirit.  enjoy  we endorse some serious words studies to move aside some of the assumed traditions, to regain the  original forms and ability to be personal do with God and one another  . enjoy  it clears up a lot, returning back to the  faith way it was intended. thanks narrowway is an ecclesia...  Our love for all is  ruled by Jesus and his ways of grace..

We encouraged one body one lord and faith.

NW

clearling up the twisted stuff , faith in christ alone..

We know from Scripture that Satan understands the concept of

authority. In his dialogue with Jesus as they viewed all the kingdoms

of the world, he could confidently say, “I will give you all their authority

and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone

I want to” (Luke 4:5,6). Because of the usurped authority that Satan

had exercised over the sinful kingdoms of the earth, he could offer

these to Jesus in exchange for worship.

 

 

Thus we see the danger of abusing authority. Jesus identified a

particular area of training that the disciples would need before receiving

power from on high: humility, learning to be servant-leaders. He

therefore reiterated the difference between His Father’s method of rule

and the system of rule that Satan offers the world:

Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the

Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise  Authority:

God’s Training Device for Faith

 

Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become

great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first

must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be

served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’

(Matthew 20:25-28).

 

 

God did not desire they model themselves after the nicolation's forms...

 

Truth fulliness

“The Bible is a supernatural book and can be understood only by supernatural aid.”   tozar.

The God's Spirit who lives in his people all the time not  part time, and is pleased by faith.

It was well said we must interpret the scriptures  in the same spirit their written in ,that spirit is God, the quest to get back to the more literal terms and avoiding the many traditional spins added  over time to  shift the meanings as far as possible to support the man made  traditional forms.

But rather to go with  best Greek we have has been deeply desired and now addressed  seen a few now presented , the young's literal, and the kj3, and the Mathew Bible and few others  have sought  the avoidance of the many added extras.  



There could be little more true Tertullian had warned the early Christians to avoid being stuck in the halls of Plato. agree fully.

This having created variety factual information to  continue the reformation to the  spirit led estate lost after  chromic emergence with natural philosophy.  the first century awareness hopwood spoke of is often rare and found only in spotty revival thus soon subjected the traditional  forms that quickly stunted the works of the spirit back in the legal dichotomy and human control.

   What was to be common practice  to this day sir  as the  supernatural body of Christ's,  his priesthood of all his  people began to utilizing forms hence extinguishing the  life power of the spirit in his body,  reinstituted sacradolism and sophistry  were utilized for  profit, an the introduction under Cyprian the former Covenantal forms which is legal by nature not grace, over the spirit led forms Jesus prescribed. And  replaced the once spirit led body with into an  audience of  spectators,  which was foreign to the actual ecclesia  in which all were part of and active by faith .

Luther translated the word ekkesia into German (gelamine) which means  family community and sustained the respect of the congregation of believers as the priesthood of all not just those who wrote themselves in as profession or career.


The original word carried  grace by God's election not the jurisdiction of man's legal  forms , that got added latter on, the words make  it  totally clear in of them selves so their no making stuff up on as you go basis. 

And into living body of believers in their entirety  an their elder aids the growth process but did no think for them.    We agree with Tertullian it would be wise to be as it was intended not so much a corporation but a living community,  it was utterly personalized and later would become utterly comprised.

 Tertullian, when Jerome found him  had been fully rejected by the envious clergy class, quote the case... which was formed out the  nicolation  construct warned of by John .




 Our role here his pure grace mercy and forgiveness the way Jesus intended.. the halls of plato needed to go,  but it was money, and power,  political entrée, easy to be like esau sell one's birth right for mere morsel, or silver, or ease Pharisee,  the epigenosis knowledge is from above in  reflects adynamic relationship not mere gnosis out of the natural mind.


Epignosis is a full, more exact and thorough knowledge and is clearly a key word in this epistle (2Pe 1:2, 2Pe 1:3, 2Pe 1:8, 2Pe 2:20).

In fairness it should be stated that there are a few resources that suggest there is very little difference between gnosis and epignosis. This discussion holds the opinion that epignosis does have subtle but real differences.

Epígnosis refers to exact, complete, thorough, accurate, experiential knowledge, not just abstract, intellectual, head knowledge of God or even facts about Him. Epígnosis always describes moral and religious knowledge in the NT and especially refers to full and comprehensive knowledge of God’s will that rests on the knowledge of God and of Christ found today in His Word.


Vincent:

(Epignosis) signifies advanced or full knowledge. The difference between the simple gnosis and the compound word is illustrated in Ro 1:21, 28, and 1 Cor. 13:12....

(Epignosis is) Clear and exact knowledge. Always of a knowledge which powerfully influences the form of the religious life, and hence containing more of the element of personal sympathy than the simple gnosis knowledge, which may be concerned with the intellect alone without affecting the character.


See Ro 1:28; 10:2; Ep 4:13. Also Phil 1:9, where it is associated with the abounding of love; Col. 3:10; Philemon 1:6, etc. Hence the knowledge of sin here (Ro 3:20) is not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith, and holy character.
Alford quotes Delitzsch as saying:

“When epignosis is used, there is the assumption of an actual direction of the spirit to a definite object and of a real grasping of the same: so that we may speak of a false gnósis, but not of a false epignosis. And the Writer (of Hebrews - referring to He 10:26-note)


"For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge (epignosis) of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins"), by the use of this word, gives us to understand that he means by it not only a shallow historical notion about the Truth, but a living believing knowledge of it, which has laid hold of a man and fused him into union with itself.” Thus it is clear that the Jew who committed this sin, was fully informed by the Holy Spirit of the issues involved between the First Testament and the New Testament, and also of the meaning and the implications of the New Testament, (He 6:4-note, “who were once enlightened”) and therefore, he sinned with his eyes wide open." (Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament)



Wuest commenting on 2 Peter 1:2 writes that

Knowledge” or epignosis is full, perfect, precise knowledge as opposed to gnósis, imperfect, partial knowledge. Strachan says: “epígnōsis, ‘involving the complete appropriation of all truth and the unreserved acquiescence in God’s will, is the goal and crown of the believer’s course’ (Lightfoot) … epignosis implies a more intimate and personal relationship than gnósis. It would be a useful word, seeing that gnósis had become associated with Gnosticism, then incipient in the Church.… Grace and peace are multiplied in and through this more intimate heart knowledge of Jesus Christ, in contrast to a mere barren gnósis. ”


 The difference is huge, and it's serious.... the sad part he English translation are quite weak, on numerous key issues,  allow for a lot of emotional guessing. 




 a lot of the word studies commentaries sound more like behavioral phycology, or any  philosophy  or speculataion, aprt eh truth here spoken of  he lists.  Avoiding the  truth destroys deductive or real discerning minds away and into a form of  institutionalism  over the individual as the temple of God.  Losing the connected and alive  awareness they been granted in the new life.

nw

INSIDE THE SHIP WRECK !

https://books.google.com/books?id=9zGIDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT134&lpg=PT134&dq=pc+is+devastating+christianity&source=bl&ots=RPdZlfiGnT&sig=q-TPXIKpt0ryhu9z5pQI-hkc6Pw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj7nZLVsrrRAhVN8GMKHZiND8gQ6AEIKTAC#v=onepage&q=pc%20is%20devastating%20christianity&f=false


 The constant onslaught against Christianity  is now become normal ,  it's pc world of near insanity  and the bliss of massive historical ignorance has become the norm.

The book is must read for anyone  interested in the  nature of the deception and corruption engaged in this practice.
THANKS

Real food.

Thanks  for asking, narrowway 2011 is a none traditional faith, undivided,   it is  largely based on the pursuit of truth and walking in the spirit. It's more in line with 1st century and half , we are faith ward bond and  hold fast the request to be spirit led included awareness and  pursuit of the cold mechanical dogma of religion  into life where the agape love is not a corporation but a way of life based inward presence of Christ in us,  and through us.




1 Corinthians  1-4 kj3 and Ylt , I use the neb for it's potent hold to the verbs as a transliteration  where the verb of the Greek language was not flattened  out  or reduced in strength.   Our love is extended to those lost the night out was and is not the primary focus  it's way of life and part of  a faith that has actual legs under it,  passion for the people those out side of Christ ..



 I wanted to add a answers  of worthwhile,  books not large for your request it's get your feet wet for some solid venture  into  knowing the differences , Gems from the original Vol.111 studies in Philippians  buyable   there are two I had for many years  the other is timothy.  It's a take far out the assume world,  your desire will be a thrill to see what things mean,!!!  rather than what your told, they might mean .... I want to you to learn how think deeply and wisely for your self,  and test and know what  your hearing  inwardly  in your quite time to knowing God. doing by faith...  as they were it's start it gets much deeper and more profound and will guide you out of the assumed stuff you  said today. Jesus taught by stories  sis not by the pre digested phraseology.


 

  Where is the depth?  agree ,doubt is crippling, and it's kept an awful lot in infancy to what real operative faith is and does and over comes,   it's effect on  creating in action and doubt quite the mess  as you said it was...I am the other wise for promoting  the union that we are capable of  minus all the obstacles by organized doubt  another words the for us goes away form the world of speculation into Spirit led and surety of one bond in faith  and out side of  stagnation I think is desire of many.


 I added this , a built of who I am and what I think, remember once you me bark on truth you'll get hassled how it is with this science or anything out side the hive.  Jesus came  to do his father's will,  the system here is deeply in trouble at every level . Globally  money will not solve it, or end war and hate,  nor will the mystic  reduce the effect of the blind condition you see ..








HERE WE GO ,,, Christianity IS Christ
Christianity cannot be separated from the reality of the living dynamic of the risen Lord Jesus. It must not be described as benefits or blessings apart from the very Being and activity of the risen Jesus.






©1998 by James A. Fowler. All rights reserved.

 We must beware of merely defining Christianity by what it is NOT. Explanation by negation was necessary in the previous studies, particularly because of the contemporary confusion that melds Christianity with religion and all of its expressions. Although we have alluded in all of the previous articles to the reality of Christianity in the living dynamic of Jesus Christ, we shall now set forth a positive expression of the fact that "Christianity is Christ."
   What does it mean to be a Christian? What is Christianity?
   Confusion over the meaning of these terms, and misunderstanding of the reality implied by these terms, has resulted in gross misrepresentations of the same, even by those who would claim to be Christians engaged in Christianity. It is, therefore, of utmost importance that we re-evaluate the reality of Christianity.
   Followers of Jesus were "first called Christians in Antioch" (Acts 11:26). Perhaps it was initially a label of derision or derogation, but King Agrippa seems to have used the term as a neutral designation of one believing in Jesus Christ (Acts 26:28), and Peter employs it as an accepted reference to those identified with the name of Christ (I Peter 4:16). Immediately thereafter the over-all phenomenon of persons identifying with Jesus Christ was generalized as "Christianity." Ignatius and Polycarp, disciples of the apostle John, used the Greek word christianismos in the late first or early second century, and later writers used the Latin word christianitas.
   Semantic variations of meaning have proliferated through the centuries unto the present. "Christianity" is defined as one of the world's religions. It is analyzed historically as the events of its adherents and institutions through the centuries of almost two millennia. "Christianity" is often used synonymously with "Christendom," although the latter term is often used pejoratively of institutionalized Christian religion. In his Attack on Christendom, Kierkegaard complained that everyone in Denmark considered themselves to be "Christians" because they were born into the state church and baptized as infants, concluding that "if everyone is a Christian, then no one is a Christian." Witch-hunts, inquisitions and political wars have been conducted in the name of "Christian religion." Many have subsequently rejected "Christianity," offended or injured by its multitudinous religious aberrations and injustices. Still others (as we shall do in this study), reserve the term "Christianity" for the spiritual reality of the function of the living Lord Jesus in Christians.
   The mere usage of terminology is not our objective, though, since language is in constant flux. Rather, the questions are: What was the initial and Biblical understanding of what it meant to be a Christian? What do the Biblical writers imply to be the essence of Christianity?






   Although the term "Christianity" is not found in the Scriptures, we will consider it to be indicative of everything that Jesus Christ came to be and to do. The entirety of the revelation of God to man is constituted and comprised of the person and work of Jesus Christ. In and by His Son, God enacted everything necessary to restore mankind to His divinely intended function, reinvesting man with the spiritual reality of the presence and function of deity within humanity. When Jesus thus dwells and reigns spiritually in those who receive Him by faith, the kingdom that Jesus so often referred to becomes operative. The resurrection-life of Jesus becomes the spiritual empowering of the Christian's life and participation in the ecclesia of the Church. Such a spiritual, gospel reality of "Christianity" can only be defined as the dynamic life and activity of the living Lord Jesus Christ. Christianity is Christ!
   C.S. Lewis explained that

"in Christ a new kind of man appeared: and the new kind of life which began in Him is to be put into us."1

Earlier John W. Nevin had written,

"A new order of revelation entirely bursts upon the world, in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the absolute truth itself, personally present among men, and incorporating itself with their life. He is the substance, where all previous prophecy, had been only as sound or shadow."2

   God's self-revelation of Himself in His Son, Jesus Christ, involves an integral and indivisible oneness. The singular unity of the Godhead self-communicates Himself to man in the homoousion union of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In this divine triunity there can be no bifurcation or trifurcation of independent function. God acts as unified oneness. When he acts He does what He does because He is who He is. His Being is expressed in His activity, and His activity is always expressive of His Being. He never acts "out of character." His actions are never detached from the manifestation of who He is in Himself; they are never static, disconnected actions separated or severed from the expression of His Being. All that God has to give is a self-giving of Himself ­ His Being in action. He does not reveal or offer some "thing" about Himself. He cannot be thus parted or sectioned. Nor does He extend some commodity or product distinct from Himself. God reveals Himself and acts in grace (Jn. 1:17) by the power of the Spirit in His Son, Jesus Christ. "No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son will to reveal Himself" (Lk. 10:22). The self-revelation of God in the Messianic Son must always be understood in their essential oneness of divine Being, as well as the integral unity of their Being and action. God reveals Himself in the Son. He gives Himself to man. Jesus Christ reveals the gospel in Himself. He gives Himself to man as God.
Dualistic Detachment    The failure to maintain the unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the unity of their Being and action always leads to aberrational understandings and expressions of Christianity. The history of Christian religion (as distinct from Christianity) is replete with man's attempts to divide the persons of the Godhead into distinct functions, and to sever Christ's work from His person. This latter disjunctive dualism is the more subtle and the most prevalent throughout what is called "Christian history." Christianity is conceived of as some "thing" established apart from, and distinct from, Christ Himself. The gospel, the Church, the kingdom are regarded as separate entities offered, extended, established, effected or dispensed by Jesus Christ, independent of Himself. T.F. Torrance correctly identifies such "detachment of Christianity from Christ"3 as the result of epistemological dualism, noting that

"fundamentalism is unwilling to acknowledge the identity in being between what God is toward us in His revelation in Jesus Christ and what He is in His living Being and Reality in Himself."4

   Examples of such "separated concepts" of fundamentalist dualism should be instructive, if not convicting:
   The historical Jesus is often remembered as the historical founder of a religion, the history of which can be documented and analyzed. The life of Jesus on earth, and the specific events thereof, are memorialized. The story is borne from generation to generation in special commemorations: "Happy Birthday Jesus" (Christmas) and "Remember the Resurrection" (Easter). How does this differ from the celebratory remembrances of George Washington's Birthday and the call to "Remember Pearl Harbor!"? When Christianity is falsely conceived of as an historical society for the memory of and/or worship of an historically detached founder, there is a disjunctive dualism between Jesus Christ and what is called "Christianity."




   When Jesus is portrayed as merely a religious or theological teacher, then the content of His teaching becomes an ideological belief-system distinct from His person. Even when Jesus is correctly identified as the mediatorial representative of God (I Tim. 2:5), the High Priest of God (Heb. 3:1; 8:1), the Son of God (Jn. 11:27), the rational formulation of doctrinal and theological propositions can be formed into systematized constructs of interpretation that stand alone from the living presence of Jesus Christ. Christianity then becomes a theological society for the explanation of and debate of theological truths in propositional and sentential precision, with no reception and experience of the person of the risen Lord Jesus.





   Jesus can be proclaimed as the Savior of mankind, as He is within evangelical preaching, but when the Savior is detached from the process of salvation a transactional dualism results. If Jesus is but the benefactor of the benefits of salvation, then He is but the source of commodities, "goods," services, products or possessions that are dispensed, conferred or endowed by one who is dualistically distinct from that which is delivered. The spiritual Deliverer becomes but a religious dispenser.
   Those that advocate a behavioristic morality or "Christian ethic" that divorces the doing of good from the dynamic of the God-man, Jesus Christ, create a disconnected dualism that encourages and expects behavior that conforms to the codified rules and regulations by means of employing procedures, techniques and behavioral formulas, rather than deriving divine character, the "fruit of the Spirit" (Gal. 5:22,23), from the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9).


Such moral "works" may be enacted for personal spirituality or for the social good and betterment of mankind at large, but when engaged in apart from the outworking of Christ's life, they remain disengaged from the reality of Christianity.




   A fragmented dualism also results when Jesus Christ is not held in organic union with the Church, the Body of Christ. Jesus is not the "Head of the Church" only in terms of being an hierarchical head of an organizational institution. Neither is He the "head" in the sense of being the fountainhead and founder of a religion that bears His name. His headship is not merely instrumental in the establishment of a corporate ecclesiasticism that would serve as the depository, conservatory and dispensary of grace and truth, as if these could be dissected from the divine action of God in Christ.
   Protestantism is particularly guilty of the dissassociative dualism that transfers the expressive agency of the Word of God from Jesus Christ (John 1:1,14) to the impersonalized instruction of God in an inspired book. Engaging in the biblicism of devotion to a canonical formulation, and employing various forms of interpretation, Protestant fundamentalists have developed a book-religion that often deifies the book in Bibliolatry. William Barclay notes that,

"There was one mistake into which the early Church was never in any danger of falling. In those early days men never thought of Jesus Christ as a figure in a book. They never thought of Him as someone who had lived and died, and whose story was told and passed down in history, as the story of someone who had lived and whose life had ended. They did not think of Him as someone who had been but as someone who is. They did not think of Jesus Christ as someone whose teaching must be discussed and debated and argued about; they thought of Him as someone whose presence could be enjoyed and whose constant fellowship could be experienced. Their faith was not founded on a book; their faith was founded on a person."5 1 

when's the last time you heard anyone tell how their spending time alone with the lord and listening???
In accord with that opinion,

Juan Carlos Ortiz writes,

"We need a new generation of Christians who know that the church is centered around a Person who lives within them. Jesus didn't leave us with just a book and tell us, 'I leave the Bible. Try to find out all you can from it by making concordances and commentaries.' No, He didn't say that. 'Lo, I am with you always,' He promised. 'I'm not leaving you with a book alone. I am there, in your hearts.' ...We just have to know that we have the Author of the book within us..."6

   In addition to the above dualistic tendencies, we might also cite the theological dualism that has been invasive throughout the centuries of "Christian theology" in the propensity to objectify the work of Christ into external categories unattached to the personal presence of Christ by His Spirit in the Christian. When the work of Jesus is cast into legal, forensic and judicial categories that posit the transference of penalty that issues forth in the declaration and imputation of justification in the heavenly courtroom, apart from the spiritual and experiential presence of the Righteous One, Jesus Christ (I Jn. 2:1), making us righteous (II Cor. 5:21) and manifesting the character "fruit of righteousness" (Phil. 1:11) in our behavior, we have once again divorced theology from the dynamic divine Being of the God-man, making it less that "Christian theology."
B.F. Westcott advised over a century ago:

"According to some the essence of Christianity lies in the fact that it is the supreme moral law. According to others its essence is to be found in true doctrine, or more specially in the scheme of redemption, or in the means of the union of man with God. Christianity does in fact include Law, and Doctrine, and Redemption, and Union, but it combines them all in a still wider idea. It establishes the principle of a Law, which is internal and not external, which includes an adequate motive for obedience and coincides with the realisation of freedom (James 1:25). It is the expression of the Truth, but this Truth is not finally presented in thoughts but in fact, not in abstract propositions but in a living Person.7
   In this then lies the main idea of Christianity, that it presents the redemption, the perfection, the consummation of all finite being in union with God.8
   Christianity is historical not simply or characteristically because Christ standing out before the world at a definite time and place proclaimed certain truths and laid down certain rules for the constitution and conduct of a society. It is historical because He offered Himself in His own Person, and He was shewn to be in the events of His Life, the revelation which He came to give.9

   The divine revelation cannot be detached from the divine reality of the living Lord Jesus. The revelation of the gospel is the revelation of Himself. The "good news" is Jesus! The gospel revelation of God in Christ is not a differentiated philosophy with fragmented principles of belief and behavior. German martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, wrote,

"Christ is not a principle in accordance with which the whole world must be shaped. Christ is not the proclaimer of a system of what would be good today, here and at all times. Christ teaches no abstract ethics such as must at all costs be put into practice. Christ was not essentially a teacher and legislator, but a man, a real man like ourselves. It is not therefore His will that we should in our time be the adherents, exponents and advocates of a definite doctrine, but that we should be real men before God. ...What Christ does is precisely to give effect to reality. He is Himself the real man and consequently the foundation of all human reality."10

   French author, Jacques Ellul, concurs,

"There are no such things as 'Christian principles.' There is the Person of Christ, who is the principle of everything. If we wish to be faithful to Him, we cannot dream of reducing Christianity to a certain number of principles, the consequences of which can be logically deduced. This tendency to transform the work of the Living God into a philosophical doctrine is the constant temptation of theology, and their greatest disloyalty when they transform the action of the Spirit which brings forth fruit in themselves into an ethic, a new law, into 'principles' which only have to be 'applied.'"

   The divine work of God in Christ has been dualistically objectified and historically detached from the living person of the resurrected Lord. Based upon those historical and theological objectivities of the restorative action of God in Christ, the spiritual work of God in Christ by the Spirit must be subjectively unified in the experience of men who are receptive to such in faith. Despite the tendency to shy away from such, due to mystic excesses and such ecclesiastical abuses as internal infusion and divinization that have arisen throughout the history of "Christian theology," there must be a balanced explanation and presentation of the objective and subjective, epistemological and experiential, historical and personal work of God in Christ. Apart from the experiential work of God in man, Christianity soon degenerates into merely static historical remembrances, theological categorizations, biblicist interpretations, moral conformations, liturgical repetitions, etc., as noted above. On the other hand, apart from the historical and theological foundations, Christianity easily degenerates into sensate subjectivism, emotive ecstatism, ethereal mysticism, temporal existentialism, charismatic enthusiasm, etc. Thus the importance of our quest for a balanced Biblical understanding that integrates the external and internal by maintaining an integral unity of the eternal person and work of Jesus Christ.
   In his book entitled Christianity is Christ, W.H. Griffith Thomas concluded that,

"The Christ of Experience cannot be sundered from the Christ of History, and the appeal to experience is impossible unless experience is based on historic fact. The history must guarantee the experience in the individual. ...If we lose our faith in the historic fact of the Christ of the Gospels it will not be long before we lose our faith in the experience of the Christ of today.12
"...the central truth of Christianity (is) that the Holy Spirit brings to bear on our hearts and lives the presence and power of the living Christ, and thereby links together the Christ of History and the Christ of Faith. ...thus the work of the Holy Spirit in relation to Christ is the very heart of Christianity.13
"Christ is essential, Christ is fundamental, Christ is all.14

   Indeed, the intrinsic unity of the physically incarnated Jesus and the resurrected, ascended Jesus poured out in the form of the Spirit of Christ on Pentecost, continuing to function in every age and unto eternity in the expression of His own Being, must be maintained unequivocally as the essence of Christianity.
   As the particular purpose of this study is to call Christian theology back to a personalized understanding of the unified work of Christ in His ever-present spiritual Being, we shall proceed to consider the divine reality of the internalized presence and activity of the risen Lord Jesus by His Spirit. In considering the subjective and experiential implications of the life of Jesus Christ in Christians, we must maintain the integral oneness of His Being and action by noting both the ontological essence of the indwelling Being of Jesus Christ in the Christian, as well as the dynamic expression of the functional activity of Jesus Christ in and through the Christian.
Ontological Essence of Jesus Christ in the Christian    The "bottom-line" reality of what it means to be a Christian is expressed by the apostle Paul in his epistle to the Romans. "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His" (Rom. 8:9), for "the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Rom. 8:16). Apart from the indwelling presence and witness of the ontological essence of Christ by His Spirit, one is not a Christian and not participating in Christianity. "Christ in one" constitutes a "Christ-one," i.e. a Christian. This is the radical new reality that God made available in the new covenant, the essential presence of the very person, life and Being of the Spirit of Christ; the self-conveyance of Himself to the spirits of receptive humanity.
   In this restoration of the Spirit of God to the spirits of men (cf. Gen. 2:7), so that men might function as God intended in His creative design, there is effected a spiritual union whereby we become "one spirit" with Christ (I Cor. 6:17). This is not a psychological union whereby we keep Jesus in our thoughts and consciousness, nor is it a moral union whereby we are obliged to seek to conform to Jesus' example. Rather, it is a spiritual union whereby deity dwells and functions in man; Christ in the Christian. Jesus illustrated this spiritual condition to Nicodemus in the analogy of a "new birth," a spiritual regeneration whereby one is "born of the Spirit" (John 3:1-6).
   It is extremely important to keep in mind that the presence of the risen Lord Jesus in the Christian is not to be divided from the person and presence of the Holy Spirit. The dissolution of the ontological essence of Jesus Christ from the Holy Spirit creates a defective trinitarian perspective of God that has plagued "Christian theology" for centuries and remains a serious misrepresentation even in evangelical explanations. The Holy Spirit is not a substitute for Christ, nor is He a surrogate of Christ, but must be understood to be indissolubly one with Christ. Paul adequately reveals that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the Holy Spirit can be referred to interchangably (Rom. 8:4-11) as the triune God, who is Spirit (Jn. 4:24), functions within the Christian. Swiss theologian, Karl Barth, noted that

"the being and work of Jesus Christ in the form of the being and work of His Holy Spirit is the original and prefigurative existence of Christianity and Christians."15

   The indwelling presence of the ontological essence of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the spirit of a Christian constitutes the divine reality of a "new creature" in Christ. "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature" (II Cor. 5:17). This is not an assumed identity wherewith to engage in role-playing of Christian living, but a new spiritual identity as a "new man" (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10) in Christ. The deepest sense of one's identity is in identification with the spiritual being that constitutes one's spiritual condition.
   Here, again, we confront the dualistic detachment evident in Christian religion, that posits a separate and innate essence of human being with a self-generated capability to create or assume personal identity, nature, spirituality, character, image, life or immortality, independent of God. Only in spiritual union with the ontological essence of Jesus Christ can the Christian derive these spiritual realities, contingent upon and indivisible from Jesus Christ. Our spiritual nature as Christians is not an inherent human nature, but has been converted from a nature identified with wrath (Eph. 2:2) to "partaking of the divine nature" (II Peter 1:4) in unified coalition with the spiritual nature of God in Christ. We are not essentially spiritual, for that would be to deify man since only "God is Spirit" (Jn. 4:24); but we derive our spirituality from spiritual connectivity either with the spirit of error or the spirit of truth (I Jn. 4:6), the spirit of the world or the Spirit of God (I Cor. 2:12). Our character is not a conspicuous feature of personality in accord with social mores and values, but is determined by the essential impress of the character of the spirit that indwells us.


The image of God in man is not comprised of innate features of human creatureliness, nor of disjoined reflections or representations of God in man, but the reality of the spiritual presence of God which allows for the visible expression of the character of God in our behavior when we have been spiritually renewed to such image in Jesus Christ (Col. 3:10). Even the essence of our personhood is not evaluated by the personality characteristics of mental, emotional and volitional function, but by our oneness with the Person of God in Christ who by His Trinitarian homoousion is the perfection of relational interaction in loving interpersonal relationships.




   The entirety of who we are and what we do as Christians is derived from and contingent upon our spiritual union with the Spirit of Christ. This is not based upon an instrumental or causal connection with Christ whereby some "thing" other than Christ is extended to us, but is a personal and relational union whereby Christ Himself becomes the essence of all divine and spiritual realities in us.
   "Christ is our life," explains the apostle Paul, for "our life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3,4). Spiritual life is conveyed not by heritage or performance (Jn. 1:13) or purchase, but through the figurative analogy of "new birth," being "born from above" (Jn. 3:1-6) or "born of God" (Jn. 1:13). The life that we receive in Christ is not separated apart from Jesus, nor is it a part of Jesus that can be partitively appropriated. Jesus is the spiritual life that we receive and participate in. "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son" (I Jn. 5:11). "I am...the life" (Jn. 14:6), Jesus said, and "I came that you might have life" (Jn. 10:10). Concerning this eternal spiritual life, W. Ian Thomas explains,

"Jesus Christ and eternal life are synonymous terms, and eternal life is none other than Jesus Christ Himself. ...If you have eternal life at all, it simply means that you have the Son, Jesus Christ..."
"Eternal life is not a peculiar feeling inside! It is not your ultimate destination, to which you will go when you are dead. If you are born again, eternal life is that quality of life that you possess right now... He is that Life!"16

The spiritual life that we experience in Christ is the very resurrection-life of Jesus Christ. The historical event of Jesus' physical resurrection from the dead, allowed the risen and living Lord Jesus to invest His resurrection-life in all Christians by the Spirit. "I am the resurrection and the life" (Jn. 11:25), Jesus explained. In explaining The Mind of St.Paul, William Barclay wrote,

"To Paul the Resurrection was not a past fact, but a present power.
"If Christ is risen from the dead, it means that it is possible for the Christian to live every moment of every day in the presence and the fellowship of the living Christ. It means that the Christian approaches no tasks alone, bears no sorrow alone, attacks no problem alone, faces no demand alone, endures no temptation alone. It means that Jesus Christ does not issue his commands, and then leave us to do our best to obey them alone, but that he is constantly with us to enable us to perform that which he commands.
"To Paul the Resurrection of Jesus Christ was neither simply a fact in history nor a theological dogma. It was the supreme fact of experience. It meant that all life is lived in the presence of the love and of the power of Jesus Christ."17

Lutheran professor, Karl Paul Donfried, comments similarly,

"The early church did not ask its followers to simply imitate or observe some static principles of Christianity, but rather to so comprehend the significance of the Christ event that they could dynamically actualize its implications in the situation in which they lived. The freedom for this actualization and application to the concrete, existential situation can only be comprehended when one recognizes that these early Christians were not worshipping some dead prophet of Nazareth; rather, essential to their very existence was the conviction that this Jesus was raised from the dead by God, was now the Lord of the church, and present in its very life. It is this presence of the Risen One that both compelled and allowed the early church to engage in such vigorous and dynamic teaching and proclamation."18

   The resurrection-life of the risen and living Lord Jesus is the ontological essence of Christianity. The continuum of His Life in a perpetuity that "cannot die" (Jn. 11:26), allows His eternality to be expressed in immortality. Jesus "brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (II Tim. 1:10). Such immortality of life is not inherent to man's humanity for "God alone possesses immortality" (I Tim. 6:16), nor is it a futuristic reward to be presented, but is inherent in the eternal resurrection-life of Jesus Christ. The Christian participates in and enjoys the perpetuity of eternal immortality only in spiritual union with the living Lord Jesus.
   By these spiritual realities of the Christian's spiritual condition in regeneration we have sought to document the ontological essence of the indwelling Being of Jesus Christ in the Christian. "Do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?", Paul queried the Corinthians. To the Colossians, he explained that the spiritual mystery of the gospel is "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27).
Dynamic Expression of Jesus Christ through the Christian    To keep the divine Being and activity integrated and unified, we proceed to consider the dynamic expression of the functional activity of Jesus Christ in and through Christian behavior. The spiritual condition of the Christian, constituted by the indwelling presence of His life, allows for the self-expression of His Being in Christian behavior. The essence and expression of Christ's life were conjoined by Paul when he wrote to the Galatians, "it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).
   The life of Jesus Christ within the spirit of the Christian is not just a deposit to guarantee future heavenly benefits. Such a static and detached understanding of the Christian life encourages Christians to "hold on," wait, and endure the pathos of the present, because the past is forgiven and the future is assured. It misreads the gospel as a heavenly fire-insurance policy for the avoidance of hell. The objective of participating in Christianity and the Christian life is not just to avoid hell and get passage to heaven, but to allow the dynamic expression of the life of Jesus Christ by His Spirit to function in human behavior to the glory of God on the way to heaven (if such is to be perceived merely as locative and future). Regeneration of spiritual condition is but a crisis with a view to a living process!
   Christian living is not generated, produced or manufactured by the Christian in response to, or appreciation of, Christ's redemptive work or spiritual presence. Jesus' physical behavior and ministry on earth was not generated by His own initiative (Jn. 8:28; 12:49), but by the divine presence of the Father abiding in Him and doing His works (Jn. 14:10), and likewise the Christian life is not self-generated by the initiative of the Christian, but is enacted by the dynamic expression of the life of Jesus Christ through the Christian. Thomas Merton explained that "Jesus creates it (the Christian life) in our souls by the action of His Spirit."19 The dynamic of God's grace in Jesus Christ is the impetus of the Christian life.
   As previously noted, Christianity is not morality. The Christian life is not human and religious attempts to implement a theory for living a good and moral life by conformity to behavioral rules and regulations. It is not even the attempt to put into practice the moral teachings of Jesus. Rather, the indwelling Christ-life is to be dynamically expressed in the behavior of a Christian. C.S. Lewis explains,

"the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him. He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us."

"...when Christians say the Christ-life is in them, they do not mean simply something mental or moral. When they speak of being 'in Christ' or of Christ being 'in them,' this is not simply a way of saying that they are thinking about Christ or copying Him. They mean that Christ is actually operating through them..."20

"(the) Christian idea of 'putting on Christ'... It is the whole of Christianity. Christianity offers nothing else at all. It differs from ordinary ideas of 'morality' and 'being good.'"21

   Neither is the Christian life an attempt to follow Jesus' example and "imitate His virtues."22 Contrary to the classic inculcations to the Imitation of Christ (Thomas a Kempis) by walking In His Steps (Charles Sheldon) in order to be Like Christ (Andrew Murray), the Christian life is not an attempt at duplication. Methodist pastor, Maxie Dunnam, explained that,

"...to see the patterning of lives after Jesus as the essence of Christianity misses the point. This has been the major failure of the Christian Church since the second century on. To emphasize following Jesus as the heart of Christianity is to reduce it to a religion of morals and ethics and denude it of power. This has happened over and over again in Christian history-the diminishing of the role of Jesus to merely an example for us to follow."23

Ortiz admonishes Christians to,

"Stop trying to copy the Jesus of nearly 2000 years ago, and let the living Christ flow through your character. You are an expression of the glorified, eternal Christ who lives within you."24

   The Christian life is not an imitation of Jesus' life, but the manifestation of His life and Being in our behavior. The Apostle Paul was desirous that "the life of Jesus should be manifested in our mortal bodies" (II Cor. 4:10,11).

   Explaining to His disciples their inability to reproduce the Christian life, Jesus indicated, "Apart from Me, you can do nothing" (John 15:5). There is nothing that a Christian can originate or activate that constitutes or demonstrates Christianity, that qualifies as Christian behavior, or that glorifies God. "I am the vine, you are the branches" (Jn. 15:5) was the analogy that Jesus utilized to illustrate the necessity of allowing His life sustenance to flow through the Christian's bodily behavior, whereby the Christian might bear (not produce) the fruit of His character. The character of Christ lived out in Christians is the "fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Gal. 5:22,23).



   The fruit of Christ's character is also the "fruit of righteousness" (Phil. 1:11; James 3:18). The divine character of righteousness (I Jn. 2:29; 3:7) personified in "the Righteous One" (Acts 3:13; 7:52; 22:14;I Jn. 2:1), Jesus Christ, allows the Christian to "become righteous" (II Cor. 5:21) and "be made righteous" (Rom. 5:19), as "Christ becomes to us...righteousness" (I Cor. 1:30). The understanding of righteousness must not be objectified only in "positional truths" of declaration, imputation, reckoning and reconciliation, with no practical implication of our bodily members being "instruments of righteousness" (Rom. 6:13) in the conveyance of Christ's character.
   "Having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (Rom. 5:10), Paul explains. Christians live by "the saving life of Christ."25 That is why Paul could also say, "for me to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:21). Salvation is not simply a static event of regenerative conversion, but is the dynamic expression of Christ's life that causes us to be "made safe" from misuse and dysfunction, in order to function as God intended by His presence and activity in us.
   All of the deeds or works of Christian living are but the outworking of Christ's activity. "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which He has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10). We allow for the outworking of Christ's work by recognizing that "God is at work in us, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:12,13). To claim Christian faith without any of the consequent outworking of Christ's character and activity, is to evidence the invalidity of such faith (cf. James 2:14,17,26).
   Christian ministry is likewise, not something that the Christian does to serve Jesus. "God is not served with human hands, as though He needed anything" (Acts 17:25). Rather, we recognize that the "same God works all things in all Christians" (I Cor. 12:6). Together with Paul we affirm that "we are not adequate to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is of God" (II Cor. 3:5). This is why Paul declared, "I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me" (Rom. 15:18).
   God in Christ by His Spirit empowers, enables, energizes and enacts all Christian behavior and ministry as the dynamic expression of the life of Jesus Christ. Christianity is Christ. Christian living is the life and character of Jesus Christ lived out through the Christian.
   Some would object that this thesis is a form of divine determinism that impinges upon man's freedom of choice, but such is not valid for man is definitely responsible to exercise the choice of faith that allows for the receptivity of God's activity in him, both initially and continually. Others would object that attributing all Christian activity to Christ encourages passivism and acquiesence, but notice the words of Paul, "I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me" (Col. 1:29). God is an active God, always acting out of His Being and character, and those available to Him will inevitably be involved in active expressions of the Christ-life.
   Continuing then, the entirety of this divine, spiritual reality of Christ's presence and function as Christianity, must be understood not only individually in the life of each Christian (as we have been doing), but also collectively or corporately in the whole of the Church of Jesus Christ.
   The ontological essence of Jesus Christ collectively embodied in all Christians comprises the Body of Christ, the Church (Eph. 1:22,23; Col. 1:18,24). Not only is Christ in us individually, but He is "in us" collectively (cf. I Cor. 3:16), and we are "in Him" together (cf. Eph. 1:13). "We are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28), irrespective of race, gender, age, nationality, education, intelligence, personality patterns, doctrinal opinions, or denominational preferences. Dietrich Bonhoeffer expressed the singular essence of the Body "in Christ" in these words:

"The Church is the real presence of Christ. Once we have realized this truth we are well on the way to recovering an aspect of the Church's being which has been sadly neglected in the past. We should think of the Church not as an institution, but as a person, though of course a person in a unique sense.26

"Through his Spirit, the crucified and risen Lord exists as the Church, as the new man. It is just as true to say that this Body is the new humanity as to say that he is God incarnate dwelling in eternity.27

"The Church of Christ is the presence of Christ through the Holy Spirit. In this way the life of the Body of Christ becomes our own life. In Christ we no longer live our own lives, but he lives His life in us. The life of the faithful in the Church is indeed the life of Christ in them."28

Swiss author, Manfred Haller, also sees the singular unity of Christ and the Church.

"Christ is the essence and nature of the church by the Holy Spirit. He is her content, her structure, her fullness, and she is for her part Christ's fullness."29

"In modern parlance, church is an institution, a form of Christian community, a set of people believing in Christ (or at least having some concept of God) which convenes regularly. When we talk about church, we immediately picture a number of people who, on the basis of some common understanding or arrangement, have formed a Christian association. ...When Paul thought of the church, however, he thought of Christ. The idea that the church could be anything beyond the embodiment of Christ never crossed his mind."30

"Christ and the church are one single reality! The body is not an attachment to Christ; it embodies Him. It gives expression to Christ ­ the whole Christ ­ and it carries Him within it. In the church, in the body, Christ Himself lives and acts and speaks. The church is the corporate Christ ­ Christ in the saints through the Holy Spirit. This indwelling Christ is her nature and structure, her unity, truth and certainty; He is everything to her. And Christ is in every member!"31

"Christ and the church are absolutely and indivisibly one. The church is utterly absorbed in the experience of the risen and present Lord. The inner reality and presence of Christ stamps her indelibly. She is directed by Him and held together by Him, and the very length and breadth of her is the person of Christ Jesus. Her authority is His, her mind is His mind, and her holiness His holiness. She has nothing of her own."32

"The church has only this task: to embody Christ, manifest His nature, demonstrate God's love to the world and proclaim His Lordship over all things."33

   As the ontological essence of the Church, the living Lord Jesus is also the dynamic expression of all that transpires in the Church ­ His Body. Jesus Christ in each individual Christian relates to Himself in another Christian, allowing for interactive interpersonal relationships that comprise a loving social community. Early observers of the Church, of Christianity, marveled at how the Christians "loved one another." In the expression of Christ's character of love, they ministered together in the spiritual giftedness of Christ's functional service to one another, as was the intent of the Church's functionality.
   Jesus promised that the Church, thus functioning by the presence and activity of His life, would overcome all odds. "Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it" (Matt. 16:18). B.F. Westcott observed that "the history of the Christian Church is the history of the victories of the Risen Christ gained through the Spirit sent in His name."34 "We see a Divine Life manifested...from age to age through a Divine society."35 The conclusion of James Denny was that, "without Christ there would be no Church and no ministry at all; everything we call Christian is absolutely dependent on Him."36

   Have we not sufficiently documented that Jesus Christ is the singular essence and expression of the gospel, of the revelation of God, of Christianity, of the Church? Everything "Christian" is derived from the Being and activity of Jesus. All of Christianity is contingent and dependent on Him, and expressive of Him. Christianity is Christ!

   When Jesus announced to His disciples, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (Jn. 14:6), He was declaring that all was inherent in Him. He is the modality, reality and vitality of God, and thus of Christianity and the Church. He does not just teach us the way of God or guide us to the divine way, but His very Being is the way of God's self-revelation to man, the modality of spiritual union with God and proper human function. He does not simply teach truth propositions about God apart from Himself, but His very Being is the self-authenticating Truth of God, the reality of Christianity. He does not offer us an historical example of life or a commodity of "eternal life," but His very Being is the self-expression of the living God, the dynamic vitality of Christian life. He could just as well have said, "I am Christianity!"
Disintegration of the Gospel    How important is this integration of Christ's person and work, the integral oneness of His being and action? Is it really of serious import to insist that the unity of His essence and expression be maintained? Should we endeavor to challenge the traditional dualistic detachments of "Christian religion," and upset the religious status-quo that separates Christ from that activity that goes by His name?
   This author believes that it is imperative that we address the issue of the detachment and disjuncture of Christianity from Christ, for such a perversion constitutes a disintegration of the gospel, the revelation of God in Christ. The issue at hand is but another form of that initially addressed by Paul in his epistle to the Galatians, when he confronted the Galatian believers who were being duped into denying that Christianity was constituted in the life of Christ alone without any encumbrances of additional belief or action.

Paul accused those who succumbed to such disconnected accretions of a circumscribed ritual, of "deserting Christ, who called them by His grace, for another gospel which is not good news at all, but a distortion worthy only of damnation" (Gal. 1:6-9).
   If the homoousion issue of the integral oneness of the Trinity was important enough to address at the Council of Nicea in the fourth century. If the sola gratia, sola fide, sola scriptura, sola Christus issue of the singularity of the redemptive efficacy of Christ's justifying and sanctifying work received by faith was important enough to address in the Reformation of the sixteenth century. Then, the issue of the integral oneness of the ontological essence and dynamic expression of Jesus Christ in Christianity and the Church is certainly timely and important enough to address in the twenty-first century.
   The disintegration of Christ and Christianity in contemporary "Christian religion" allows the ontological essence of Jesus Christ in the Christian individual to degenerate into an obliging endorsement of history or theology. The dynamic expression of Jesus Christ in the Christian individual is diminished to the dictated exercise and effort of moralism and ethics. The ontological essence of Jesus Christ in the Church collectively is reduced to an organizational entity of ecclesiasticism. The dynamic expression of Jesus Christ in His Body is replaced with the determined enterprise of religious planning and programs. Christianity is thus mutilated and mutated by man-made "Christian religion" which has no value before God (cf. Col. 2:23).





   Consider the serious logical consequences of allowing Christianity and Christ to be thus divided, divorced, and disintegrated. Without the recognition of the ontological and dynamic connection and union of Christ and Christianity, there is an inevitable deficient and defective understanding of the Trinity, of God's action in the Christian and the Church through the Son, by the Holy Spirit. When Jesus Christ, the Righteous One (Acts 3:14; 7:52) is separated and severed from the dynamic expression of Christian righteousness, with the subsequent insistence on pious performance of Christian living, then the efficacy of the death of Christ is denied and the cross is but a redundant, superfluous and unnecessary tragedy of history (cf. Gal. 2:21).





When "Christian religion" mutates Christianity into mere morality generated by the self-effort of human ability, then "the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished" (Gal. 5:11), as the "finished work" of Christ (Jn. 19:30) is left unfinished, to be completed by human commitment and ability. When Christianity is conceived of as anything less that the ontological presence and dynamic activity of the living Lord Jesus, then some separated and detached entity is formed and formulated, whether it be in thought construction or ecclesiastical construction, and such construct becomes the object of idolatry. These are serious abdications and aberrations that must be addressed and challenged.

   Though some have called for a "new reformation,"37 such could merely imply a re-forming of the existent theological belief-systems or ecclesiastical constructions, which would be inadequate. What we need is a complete restoration of the recognition of the reality of the risen Lord Jesus as the essence and expression of Christianity, which constitutes the restoration of humanity to God's functional intent by the indwelling function of Jesus Christ in the Christian.

   The affirmation that Christianity is Christ, that "Christianity is the divine,"38 is not merely advocacy of another variant epistemological ideology or the defense of a more precise orthodox belief-system. This is a call to return to the reality of the risen and living Lord Jesus Christ as the ontological essence and behavioral expression of Christianity. There will, without a doubt, be some theological objectivists who will attempt to pass off this integral Christocentric emphasis as perfectionistic idealism or subjective mysticism. They will insist on the retention of detached cerebral and ecclesiastical objectivities which deny and disallow the real and vital spiritual experience of the living Spirit of Christ, for themselves and for others.

   John R.W. Stott vividly portrays pictures in words when he writes that "Christianity without Christ is a chest without a treasure, a frame without a portrait, a corpse without breath."39 Are we content to sit idly by and allow "Christian religion" and its empty, sterile theology misrepresent Christianity in such a lifeless and fallacious manner? Now is the time to unashamedly affirm that "Christianity is Christ," and to witness such personally by allowing the resurrection-life of the living Lord Jesus to be "manifested in our mortal bodies" (II Cor. 4:10,11) by the grace of God unto the glory of God!


 It's just  a start, I given 15 years of my life by grace to go in the night and see what I have both as a lot of our resources, I could  not resist what I was ask to and never gave way to fear or doubt, and religion,  amazing and powerful  as well as the deeply testing hours  long ways  from the challenge of cutting back on  standing still faith had to grow pleasing God was the best place my   inner man to hear and go ,  no regrets but should have long since done so  early on ,  sorry lord  no more waiting now .

 So be strong,  the ecclesia shared like this,   community in simple setting free to move as the spirit led them  imagine that ?  void reasons for doubt, but potent in the discerning of spirits, who was in who and what was the presence motivation  Paul dealt with demonic ,   it was about living a life apart . Enjoy the bliss of constant presence of our God in his people in the eternal now of your life, time for fruit in faith is now not after the grave.. Philosophy is empty,  pure  wishful thinking,   Paul warned  of it's practice .   the faith would later become laden to this day in many versions of platonic thinking and it's forms so much  of the post modern new age  has crept in on large scale .

Barnes' Notes on Colossians 2:8

Beware lest any man spoil you - The word "spoil" now commonly means, to corrupt, to cause to decay and perish, as fruit is spoiled by keeping too long, or paper by wetting, or hay by a long rain, or crops by mildew. But the Greek word used here means to spoil in the sense of plunder, rob, as when plunder is taken in war. The meaning is, "Take heed lest anyone plunder or rob you of your faith and hope by philosophy." These false teachers would strip them of their faith and hope, as an invading army would rob a country of all that was valuable.

Through philosophy - The Greek philosophy prevailed much in the regions around Colossae, and perhaps also the oriental or Gnostic philosophy. See the Introduction They were exposed to the influences of these plausible systems. They consisted much of speculations respecting the nature of the divine existence; and the danger of the Colossians was, that they would rely rather on the deductions of that specious reasoning, than on what they had been taught by their Christian teachers.

And vain deceit - Mere fallacy. The idea is, that the doctrines which were advanced in those systems were maintained by plausible, not by solid arguments; by considerations not fitted to lead to the truth, but to lead astray.

After the tradition of men - There appear to have been two sources of danger to which the Christians at Colesso were exposed, and to which the apostle in these cautions alludes, though he is not careful to distinguish them. The one was that arising from the Grecian philosophy; the other, from Jewish opinions. The latter is that to which he refers here. The Jews depended much on tradition (see the notes at Matthew 15:2); and many of those traditions would have tended much to corrupt the gospel of Christ.

 

Tradition of Men
The expression “tradition of men” comes from the Greek words “paradosis” and “anthropos.” The word “paradosis” means “a precept; specifically the Jewish traditionary law: - ordinance, tradition.”(Strongs). And “anthropos” simply means “man” or “human being.” (Strongs). Therefore the expression “the tradition of men” refers to those precepts, ordinances, and traditions that are taught by men, including those that come from Jewish law.

One obvious example of such traditions of men that Paul was warning against was that of those who taught Gentile Christians they must be circumcised according to the Law in order to be saved. Such teachers were  endeavoring to keep up the law of Moses in conjunction with the gospel of Christ.  But there are many other examples.  These days, men teach the self-help gospel, which is all about how you can be a more successful businessman, how to be better at whatever you do.  They teach as if success and prosperity in this life are the main purpose of the gospel. And there are other examples.  Whenever men require that Gentile Christians keep up Jewish customs, such as feasts, ceremonies, rites, or other traditional practices, these are also traditions of men.

 

 

The Elementary Principles of the World
The philosophy and empty deceit Paul warned us to guard against is also according to the elementary principles of the world. The term “elementary principles” comes from the Greek word “stoicheion” meaning “element, principle, or rudiment.” (Strongs). The philosophy and empty deceit are deadly, because that are after the manner of worldly principles or rudimentary concepts of this world.

Paul used this same Greek word again in Col 2:20, when he said, “If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, ‘Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!’ (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)--in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.” (Col 2:20-23)

Therefore, Paul was specifically warning against submitting to decrees such as “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” These are basic principles after the manner of the commandments and teachings of men. For example, if anyone tells you that you must not taste a certain food, because it is unclean, that is a lie, since Jesus declared all foods clean. Beware of such people.

a few tough ones for our tv culture , a little about how he feels about certain topics,  

 

Here are some examples: God hates cross-dressing (Dt 22:5). God hates divorce (Mal 2:16). God requires us to tithe (Mal 3:10).  God hates idolatry (Ex 20:4). God hates jewelry (Ex 33:3-6). You must not get tattoos (Lev 19:28). Homosexuality and bestiality are abominations to God (Lev 18:22-23; 20:13,15).  God still expects us to keep His Sabbath day holy (Ex 20:8). Obedience is better than sacrifice (1 Sam 15:22). You must not rely on your own understanding (Pr 3:5). It is good to give thanks to the Lord and praise His name (Ps 92:1). And there are many more like this. Notice that none of these are basic principles after the manner of the commandments and teachings of men.  Neither are they rudiments of the world. They are commandments of God, not empty deception or philosophy.

 

 

 

 who he is  minus all the added stuff sis ...Paul said that the philosophy and empty deceit he warned against are "not according to Christ" (Col 2:8). That is key!  "For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form," (Col 2:9).  All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form in the Lord Jesus.  We are complete in Him.  We are circumcised in Him. We are whole in Him. Reality is found in Him (Col 2:17).  While priests, mediators, the tabernacle, the temple, its furnishings, sacrifices and rituals were all shadows of things to come, He is the actual substance of those shadows. He is our High Priest, He is our Mediator, He is our dwelling place and He dwells in us, He is our perfect sacrifice, the sinless Lamb of God. Life is found in Him! Live for Him.

No one else building or person or angle or money or magic show!!! etc etc, etc  no one but him ...

Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe. amen !

 Grace at narrowway sister, pure grace and faith, hope, love  blessings get rich in Christ  he's looking for the  fiery faith like warm does not go in, nor  those who add or took from the real scriptures for their wealth  , as we spoke of those topics. blessings to you ..