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Bible Readings for Friday March 18th, 2011 – The 2nd Week of Lent *Click on each bible passage to expand the text. Psalm 121 1. [A Song of Ascents.] I lift up my eyes to the hills– from where will my help come?

2. My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

3. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.

4. He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

5. The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand.

6. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

7. The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.

8. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore. Micah 7:18-20 18. Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of your possession? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in showing clemency.

19. He will again have compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

20. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and unswerving loyalty to Abraham, as you have sworn to our ancestors from the days of old. Romans 3:21-31 21. But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets,

22. the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction,

23. since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

24. they are now justified by his grace as a free gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

25. whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed;

26. it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.

27. Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith.

28. For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.

29. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,

30. since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

31. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand. – Psalm 121:5

He will again have compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. – Micah 7:19

For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law. – Romans 3:28

Our modern definition of the word “faith” is a real stumbling block for modern Christianity, especially Evangelical Christianity. Many, if not most, Christians in America hold some form of the following creed to be true:

“You are not saved until you believe in Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, and have faith.”

This generic creed, and its obvious implications, is the breaking point for most Christians when it comes to the concept of Christian Universalism, “Not everyone can be saved because not everyone is Christian.”

However, most of those same Evangelical Christians also hold the following to be true:

“You cannot be saved by works. You cannot attain salvation through following the law of Moses. You are saved by God’s Grace, which means God’s unmerited favor.”

You cannot earn Grace. You cannot earn salvation. Nothing you DO in this life can increase the assurance of your claim to salvation and Grace. It is by God’s work alone. Never by your own.

If you must DO ANYTHING to receive salvation, it negates Grace.

Romans 4 14. For if it is the adherents of the law (what is done or not done) who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.

Therefore, if Christians demand that a statement of belief be made to receive salvation and justification is works and it makes the promise of Grace void.

But you say, “Trig, you’ve now contradicted the bible! You even quote it above, ‘For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.’”

Yes, absolutely: we are justified by faith apart from things people say we have to do.

But you say, “Trig! It says, ‘… by faith‘. Faith!”

Exactly. You are proving my initial point that the modern definition of the word “faith” is the main stumbling block for Christianity. We can’t get past it. We have adopted an overly simplified and “easy-to-swallow” definition of faith that, frankly, is incorrect on this context.

Faith (4102/pistis) is always received from God, and never generated by us.

Romans 12 3. For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith Ephesians 2 8. For by grace you have been saved through faith (4102/pistis); and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;9. not as a result of works, so that no one may boast!

So if we, as Christians, demand that, on order to receive salvation, one has to declare that they have faith or belief in Jesus, then a free gift has become an act of works!

Therefore, if you really want to act as a true Christian in this world, allow God’s Grace to be just that: Grace. And allow faith to be mystery between the individual and God, as faith can only come from God. And stop worrying about whether you or your neighbor are “saved” or not. Worry about loving them, and yourself. That’s it!

Live and love as Jesus commanded, and all will be well!