Conflicting religions
I often asked the question, why should there be so
many religious denominations, with so many divergent and conflicting
ideologies! Causing so much confusion in the body of Christ when there is in
fact only One true God, One Lord Jesus Christ the only Mediator between God and
man, who by no means the author of confusion, but to the contrary One of peace?Bearing in mind also that there is only one truth, one
faith, one way to the Father for which believers have been admonished saying,
“Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common
salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend
earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For
certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this
condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny
the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 3-4).
The root cause of this dilemma is straight forward and
quite simple. There is only one faith which was once for all delivered to the
saints, but ungodly men have done the following causing the majority of those
who professed to believe in Jesus Christ to follow them. They have:
1. Turned
the grace of God into lasciviousness
This means that they have taken the grace of God which
is His unmerited favor, His forgiving mercy, His gifts and talents, eternal
life etc. things mankind could not have attained on their own, and turned this
around taking it as a license to gratify the lust of the flesh.
For example, these ungodly men are misleading
themselves and others in believing that they are not subject to the law. But
let us allow the scriptures to clarify this sensitive issue. The scriptures for
example state the following:
“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are
not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14)
What does that mean! Does this mean that one can
continue sinning? Or in other words continue transgressing the law of God,
since we are not under law but under grace?
The answer to this question is simply this, “What
shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly
not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? What then? Shall we sin because we are not
under law but under grace? Certainly not!”
(Romans 6:15)
Being dead to sin is figurative to, not allowing sin
to reign in our mortal body, that we should obey it in its lusts, and that we
should not present the members of our body as instruments of unrighteousness to
sin, which is to transgress the law of God.
Another important question one should ask is why are
we not under law? The answer to this question is thoroughly explained in the
apostle Paul`s letter to Timothy which reads, “knowing this: that the law is
not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the
ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers
and murderers of mothers, for man slayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for
kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is
contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God
which was committed to my trust” (1Timothy 1:9-11).
Therefore, those who are not under the law are those
who are already living within the confines of the law, and so the law is not
made for the righteous because he/she is already practicing righteousness, as
it is written. “Little children let no one deceive you. He who practices
righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins (transgressing
the law of God) is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning:
For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works
of the devil” (1John 3:7-8).
Yes, we know that, by the deeds of the law no flesh
will be justified in His sight, but it is by the law one can know what sin is,
as clearly stated by the apostle Paul who wrote; “What shall we say then? Is
the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except
through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had
said, "You shall not covet" (Romans 7:7).
Therefore, the big question is, do we then make void
the law through faith? The answer is: Certainly not! On the contrary, we
establish the law. The irony of truth is, the source of our salvation, our
calling, our faith, our justification, our forgiveness, our consolation, our
holiness and our righteousness have been imputed to us through the grace of
God, and therefore, if it is by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise
grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace;
otherwise work is no longer work.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law
but under grace? Certainly not! The truth of the matter is, having been set
free from sin, by removing the heart of stone and replacing it with a heart of
flesh, by having the laws of God placed in our mind and written on our hearts,
by transforming the natural carnal mind which is enmity against God and not
subject to the law of God neither can it ever be, and replacing it with a
spiritual mind which now understands the things of the Spirit, we now become
slaves of righteousness.
Even though we have been saved by grace, there is a
code of conduct by which we are to live in harmony with God and with one
another. God is not the author of confusion and therefore, will not permit
anyone to do what seems right in their eyes and to walk after the imagination
of their own heart. There is only one way which leads to life.
This is one of the main reasons why there are so many
divisions in the body of Christ: Ungodly men turning the grace of God into a
license to disobey the laws of God in order to gratify the flesh.
Copyright © 2017 by Lucius Joseph
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