The Basics of the Christian Life – Salvation

Salvation

Salvation comes by faith through grace. Today a person is saved by believing that Christ died for their sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures, 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4¹. God is offering salvation by grace, not works2. Grace is God’s attitude whereby He gives a benefit without the consideration of merit. In other words, you cannot earn salvation because God is not offering salvation based upon works, who you are, or even who you will become – no merit is considered3. What God requires for salvation is that you take Him at His Word. Faith is the undergirding4 of that which is hoped for, the evidence of accomplished deeds5 not seen and is always based upon a promise6. Direct faith at Christ through the facts of the good news by which we are saved (believing that He died for your […]

The Basics of the Christian Life – SalvationLuther Walker2016-10-12T06:02:30-07:00

The Second Dispensation

The Dispensation of Conscience

In the Second Dispensation, now that man has the knowledge of good and evil, through his conscience he is to seek out and do good.

Cain is the Steward of the Dispensation of Conscience.

God gives Cain instructions concerning how he, and those of the household, are to govern their lives. After Cain attempted to offer the works of his hands as a peace offering to God. When God rejects the offer, Cain is very upset. God speaks to him at this time, giving him specific instruction concerning the standard he is to live by.

Whether if you do good, you will be lifted up, but if you do not do good, the sin at the opening is laying and unto you its desire and you are to rule over it, Genesis 4:7

Failure of the Steward:

Rather than doing what is good and offering a peace offering according to how God stated it was to be offered, Cain slays his brother as a sacrifice, since he is seen as righteous. When God confronts Cain on what he has done and punishes him, his response is that his sin nature is very difficult to manage.

Genesis 4:13 – And Cain said to Jehovah, “My perversity is greater than I can bear.”

The reason Cain offered the works of his hand rather than a lamb out from faith was more than just someone wanting recognition for what they had done. Satan had persuaded Cain to follow him rather than God. Cain’s actions were out from what Satan wanted. In his frustration for not getting what he wanted, Cain slew his […]

The Second DispensationLuther Walker2023-12-27T11:18:18-08:00

The First Dispensation

The Dispensation of Innocence

The first dispensation began after God created Adam and placed him in a garden in Eden, Genesis 2:8. Adam is in a state of innocence, not knowing good (that which is beneficial) or evil (that which causes calamity).

Adam is given instruction by God concerning the standard by which he and those of the household are to live.

And Jehovah God commanded unto Adam saying, “From every tree of the garden eating you will eat, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil do not eat from it because in the day you eat from it dying you will die.”, Genesis 2:17

The Length of the Dispensation

This dispensation lasted about 100 years before Adam’s disobedience brought judgment on the household.

The genealogy of Adam states he was one hundred and thirty years old at the birth of Seth, Genesis 5:3.

And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years and he bore in his likeness, his image and called his name Seth, Genesis 5:3

Time was created before Adam was placed in the garden, Genesis 1:14. Therefore, his age would be counted from his creation, not from when he sinned.

Based upon Adam’s age at the birth of Seth in Genesis 5:3, we can surmise that Adam was about 100 years old when he determined to break God’s law.

The Building of Eve

Eve was built from Adam’s side, Genesis 2:21-22.

And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept. And He took one from his side and closed the flesh in her place. And Jehovah God built […]

The First DispensationLuther Walker2023-12-27T08:47:40-08:00

Why do we need salvation?

To understand why we need salvation we need to go back to the beginning when God created humans. He created Adam in His image and likeness and built Eve from his side¹. Adam was given a commandment by God that he was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the day in which he ate of it the punishment would be death². Not just physical death, but also spiritual death – dying you will die. Although Eve was thoroughly deceived and transgressed the law, Adam was not deceived and chose to disobey God. The result was spiritual separation from God and now he is subject to physical death. Did God setup Adam and Eve to fail? Absolutely not. He gave them all they needed to success. Satan deceived Eve into eating the fruit from the tree; however, Adam was not deceived at all and of his own free will chose to eat, knowing he was disobeying God³.

So what does this have to do with us and why we need […]

Why do we need salvation?Luther Walker2023-12-14T11:16:16-08:00

The One Abiding in Him

1 John 3:6 Every, the one abiding, in Him does not sin. Every, the one sinning, has not seen Him with discernment nor experientially knows Him.

We do not see the change in any of our English translations with the word “sin” in this passage. ‘Sin” is used twice, once as a verb, which describes an action and once as a participle which describes a characteristic. The KJV and NAS us the same word “sin” for both forms, which actually hides the meaning from the reader. The ESV attempts to distinguish the words from the NAS and KVJ, but ends up making the same mistake. The forms of the word “sin” are very important here. A participle is a verbal noun which uses an action to describe a person or characterize them as someone who does the action stated by the verbal portion. Its focus is not on the action of the verb directly. Whereas, a verb simply looks at the action.

We have two participles that are extremely important to our understanding of this passage. First is “the one abiding”. This is one who is characterized as feeling as ease in Him (Christ). Not just simply abiding for a small period of time, off and on, but not really feeling at ease; rather, one who has settled down and feels at ease with who he or she is in Christ. In the translation above I followed the Original Greek, which makes for a bit of hard English, but also helps to bring out the truth of the passage. “Every, the one abiding” (participle), is not referring directly to the action but to the characteristic of the individual who is abiding. “every” is added in the Greek […]

The One Abiding in HimLuther Walker2023-12-14T11:21:00-08:00

Previous 123 Next