CHRISTIAN 2
CHRISTIAN 2
They teach the same thing: it is folly for Christians who profess faith in Christ for their salvation but bear no fruit for His Kingdom to think they are saved. Christ demands that Christians' fruit be commensurate with what He has invested in them (CP Mt 5:16; Jn 15:8; Eph 2:10). God chose Christians to serve Him and He expects every one of them to bear fruit for His Kingdom. Otherwise they fail His grace and will forfeit their salvation (CP Mt 5:13-16; Mk 4:21-25; Lu 14:34-35; Jn 15:14-16). There are many in the church who believe that the punishment the unprofitable servants in the parables received for not trading in their master's goods merely translates to loss of rewards in Heaven for Christians not doing the work of God's word, but clearly that is not what scriptures teach at all, as this study plainly shows (CP Ro 6:16). The whole of what the Bible teaches is encapsulated in this verse: obedience to God means everlasting life; disobedience means eternal damnation. Paul affirms here that even though Christians are under grace it is still their responsibility to resist sin and obey God (CP V 11-13; 8:12-14; Eph 5:3-10; Col 3:1-13).
Christians can yield to sin and be damned to hell, or obey God unto everlasting life. They cannot serve sin and Satan and rule and reign with Christ in eternity (CP Mt 6:22-24; Jn 8:31-35; Ga 1:10; Jas 4:4; 1Jn 2:15). The only safety for Christians from sin and Satan is to be totally consecrated to the service of God and completely yielded to the authority of His word (CP Mt 12:43-45; Lu 11:23-26). Unless after their conversion to Christ Christians quickly fill the void in their lives left by sin with the things of God, their old sinful nature will reassert itself and they will actually be worse off than they were before their conversion (CP He 6:4-6; 10:26-31; 2Pe 2:20-22).
There are many Christians in the contemporary church who contend that once-saved Christians can never lose their salvation and therefore those scriptures are not referring to Christians per se, but to those who have been exposed to the gospel and rejected it. That is not correct of course because only once-saved Christians have tasted the things of Heaven and been part of the work of the Holy Spirit. And only once-saved Christians have experienced the goodness of God's word and received a foretaste of eternal life. And last but by no means least, only those who had faith in the first place can depart from it (CP He 3:1, 14; 10:32). Christians choose for themselves if they want to stay saved (CP Mt 24:10-12; 1Ti 4:1; 2Ti 4:1-4; He 2:1-3; 3:12 - 4:1; 10:38; 12:35).
"Once saved" does not mean "always saved", as scriptures plainly teach. There are conditions attached to receiving the final reward for every Christian (CP 1Cor 9:24-27; Php 2:12). Paul underlines four conditions in 1Cor 9:24-27: Christians must be as earnest to be saved as athletes are to win a race (CP V 24 with Php 3:8-14; He 12:1-2); Christians must be temperate in all things (CP V 25 with 2Pe 1:4-11); Christians must fight with absolute confidence in victory (CP V 26 with 1Ti 6:11-14); Christians must keep the body under control and bring it into subjection (CP V 27 with Ro 8:12-13; 12:1-2; 1Cor 3:16-17).
In Php 2:12 Paul is exhorting Christians to make the self-abnegation and humility displayed by Jesus in V 5-8 a fact in their own lives (CP V 5-8). V 12 begs the question: why does salvation need to be worked out with "fear and trembling" if it is already a foregone conclusion. The answer is that salvation is not a foregone conclusion - it is only fully certain for those sowing to the Spirit at the end of their earthly life (CP Mt 7:21-27; Lu 13:22-27; Ro 2:13; Ga 6:7-8; 2Ti 2:12; Jas 2:22-26; Rev 2:1-7, 8-11, 12-17, 18-29; 3:1-6, 7-13, 14-22; 22:11-12). Work out in Php 2:12 means "carry to its ultimate conclusion", which means, as those scriptures all teach, that Christians are individually responsible for obedience to God's word in the process of sanctification (CP also Mt 6:19-20; 2Cor 13:5; 1Ti 6:17-19; 2Pe 1:4-11; Jude 1:1-3).
Fear and trembling in Php 2:12 refers to the attitude with which Christians are to pursue their sanctification. It involves a healthy fear of offending God and a dread of sinning against Him, and of the consequences that may follow (CP Psa 2:11-12; 15:1-5; 85:9; 119:119-120; Pr 3:7-8; 9:10; 14:27; 16:6; Ecc 12:13; Isa 66:1-2; Lu 12:4-5; 1Cor 9:24-27; 10:12-14; Eph 6:5-8; He 6:1-6; 10:26-31). While it is God who actually produces the good works and Spiritual fruit in the lives of Christians (CP Php 2:13 with Hos 14:8; Jn 15:5; 1Cor 12:6; 1Ti 1:12), He can only produce good works and fruit in those who conform to His word and allow the Holy Spirit to outwork in their lives (CP Mt 3:7-10; Lu 8:5-9, 11-15; Jn 15:1-6; Col 1:22-23; He 2:2-3).
Peter underlines nine other conditions of salvation for Christians as well as temperance in 2Pe 1:4-11, which we looked at earlier. Let us look at them again (CP 2Pe 1:4-11). The clear teaching here is that to ensure their salvation Christians must develop the graces Peter enumerates in V 5-7. If they are not evident in a Christian's life it is because that Christian has failed to develop them (CP V 9). In the Greek construction of this verse the word forgotten here points to a deliberate act. It suggests that by failing to make the effort to grow in grace as instructed in V 5, that Christian has in effect wilfully turned his or her back on the stand they made for Christ when they were first saved. This implies the possibility of failing God's grace and reverting to their old way of life (CP 2:20-22). The phrases, "… giving all diligence" in 1:5 and, "give diligence" in 1:10, demonstrate that Christians must be actively involved in their Spiritual growth (CP also 1Cor 15:58; 2Cor 7:1; Eph 4:1; Col 3:12-17; 2Pe 3:18). Christians who pursue the qualities listed in 2Pe 1:5-7 will never fail God's grace and forfeit their salvation. This in turn though means that those who do not pursue them will fail His grace and forfeit their salvation (CP V 10-11). We will look at how Christians are to demonstrate the expression of the love they are to develop for each other, as directed in V 7, when we examine 1Jn 3:16-18 shortly (CP V 7).