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As members of the body of the Christ, God has revealed to us His desirous will for our lives. We are not to sleep as unsaved do, but arise out from them so that Christ shines in our lives. Not governing our lives as fools, but as those who are wise, because the days are malignantly evil, understanding the desirous will of the Lord. (Ephesians 5:15-17).
God reveals in Scripture many things about His desires for the life of a Christian. As we do what He has already revealed we learn how to identify His will in any situation; our knowledge of His will becomes a full experiential knowledge, not just head knowledge (Colossians 1:9).
This is a logical response to the fact that Christ has purchased you. He gave Himself in order to redeem us from our lawlessness (Titus 2:14). We are bought with a price and therefore are to express a proper opinion of God with our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:20)
It is a one time act, giving to God what is rightfully His. Since we belong to God we should not serve men (1 Corinthians 7:23). Regardless of what position you have in life, serve God within that position, rather than man.
Not being outwardly conformed to this world, as ones who are masquerading, but being transformed from the inside out by using the new mind we now have as a result of salvation, (1 Corinthians 2:14-16 But the soulish man does not receive the things […]
1 Corinthians 15:10 But, by the grace from God I am who I am. And His grace, the one upon me, will not come to be without results, but I toil more abundantly than all of them. Indeed, not I but the grace from God, the one with me.
Paul received the position of an Apostle because of God’s attitude by which He gives a benefit without consideration of merit (grace). A position that Paul felt he did not deserve because he persecuted the church, yet, God saw fit to place him in it. Understanding this, Paul states that this grace will not come to be without result, for he labored intensely far above the other Apostles. However, Paul does not give himself credit for the toil, for it was not him, but the grace that was with him.
What part of the body did God place you in? All to often we get our minds focused on the things of this world and forget who we are in Christ; forget to see things as they really are. We are who we are in Christ because God chose to give us a benefit without consideration of merit. We did not earn it, but that does not mean we should not use it. Will His grace come to be without result in you? Or will you live a life that glorified Him by showing forth who you are in Christ?
Since you have been raised with Christ, set your mind on the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, not on the things of this earth and put on the new man, the one being renewed unto a full experiential knowledge […]
and exchanged the proper opinion (glory) of the incorruptible God with the likeness of an image of corrupt man and birds and four-footed animals, and crawling things – Romans 1:23.
Glory means, “to have or express a proper opinion”. Its root concept is grounded in an opinion, notion, or judgment concerning someone.
When we express glory to God, we are actually voicing a proper view of Who He is. In the first chapter of the book of Romans, we see the impact on those who reject a proper opinion of God as they change His image to be that of corrupt humans, birds, four-footed animals, and even creeping things, while not giving the Creator glory. That is, not expressing a proper opinion of Who God really is.
Due to Adam’s trespass and sin, we all have fallen short of God’s opinion of us – for all sinned and fall short of God’s proper opinion, Romans 3:23 (Romans 5:12 – Adam’s sin is passed to all of us). God never expects us to live up to His glory, for He shares His glory with no one (Isaiah 42:8). Romans 3:23 is referring to His opinion of us as Humans. When God created Adam, He blessed Him (Genesis 1:28). When Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, his conscience became aware of the difference between what is beneficial and what causes calamity. However, in determining to break God’s law, Adam separated himself from God in his spirit, bending his nature to corruption, which he passed down to all of us (Genesis 5:3). He corrupted what God blessed. Although we have a corrupt nature, we still have a conscience and the knowledge of good and evil; therefore, God’s opinion of all humans involves their ability to […]
Often translated as “predestined”, it is a word that means boundaries or region (Matthew 4:13), with a preposition added to express something that is done beforehand. It does not inherently imply a destination, but a boundary or area; therefore, using “predestine” to define it adds a meaning that does not exist in the original word.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of theological baggage that has been added to this word. It is used to imply that God predetermined who would be saved and therefore who would not. However, when we keep it in context, we find that this is not true. The first thing we need to do is remove the erroneous definition of “predestined” and use the proper definition, “marking off the bounds beforehand”. Then we need to pay attention to context, especially with the difference in singular and plural subjects.
We see a good example of the proper use of this word when Peter was defending himself and John before the leaders of Israel for preaching the resurrected Christ because he uses “marked off beforehand” when discussing what they were permitted to do to the Messiah concerning the plans of the leaders.
… to do as much as your hand and your determinate will marked off beforehand to come to be – Acts 4:28.
They had already set boundaries concerning what they were planning on doing with Christ before they sent the guards to arrest Him on the night in which He was betrayed.
In Romans, God’s plan is laid out for us in how, according to His purpose, He calls because those who He foreknew He marked off their bounds. They are not predestined to salvation, but according to His purpose, those that will be saved will […]