|
First of all,
God does not impute
righteousness, he infuses it!!
God doesn't declare us righteous
without also making us righteous. Hence, justification is dynamic,
not static. This is the fundamental
difference between:
- Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and historical
Christendom, on one hand, and
- Protestant sects that developed
as a result of Luther completely
misunderstanding what Paul was
saying in Romans.
The text in Matthew 25 is not the
judgment of the Church. It's as plain
as the nose on your face.
- Are you telling me, as a Christian
knowing that text, you will stand
before Jesus Christ and say:
- When did I feed you?
- When did I give you to drink?
- When did I cloth you?
Come on, be serious. No believer
is ever going to ask that question
because they know the text already!! Hello. It doesn't take a Theology
degree to read that text and understand
it. No one who has read it, let alone
anyone who believes, will sit there
like a dope on judgment day and ask:
- When did we do this for you
Lord?
Because if we do answer like that,
He's not going to say enter into
my kingdom. He's gonna say:
- What are you dense?
- Can you read?
- Didn't you hear it a thousand times,
whenever you feed the hungry you
feed me? Then he'll say go back to
Sunday School and come later you
dope!
This text is referring to those who
have not heard or understood the
Gospel. It is referring to the people
Paul wrote about in Romans:
those who do the law without
knowing the law. (Romans
2:14)
Now, let's go back to the heresy
of imputed righteousness versus infused
righteousness.
We are saved by Grace alone. As a
result of our free will response
to Grace through faith,
we produce good works (Read Ephesians
2:8-10). It is Grace which empowers
us intrinsically to do good works.
If we refuse to cooperate with grace,
then we jeopardize our soul. Salvation
is not a one time event. It is a
complete work of Christ by grace
from beginning to end, where we cooperate
with Him. At anytime, through word
or deed we can reject the Gospel.
Just look at the life of Abraham. Yes, Paul says in Romans 4: He
believed God and was justified. Great,
that's a quote from Genesis 15, but Hebrews 11 tells us that, by faith,
Abraham left Ur, and in James it
tells us that Abraham was justified
when he offered up his son Isaac
(an act of faith).
So then, the weight of Scripture
teaches us that Justification is
not a one time event. It is dynamic.
Righteousness, therefore, is not
just imputed legally and forensically,
but rather is infused and must be
manifested until we are perfected
by grace.
Faith, is not a simple assent to
a proposition, it is an embracing
of truth with drives us to action.
In other words, "Faith without
works is dead." (See the epistle
of James).
- Now, what about the guy living
in China in 34 A.D. who never got
to hear the Gospel?
- Is he damned?
How dare we presume to say: Salvation
belongs to our God who sits upon
the throne! (Revelation 7:10) God can save:
- whom
He wants
- when He wants
- how He wants!
So again, I'll bring you back to Matthew 25. None of the saved sheep
in that parable have a clue who Jesus
is. Either that or they're seriously
remedial Christians!!
By asking, When did we feed you?,
they may as well be asking: Who are
you?
John
|
