Part 1a - How to "Inherit Eternal Life"?
Context and definition of terms are invaluable to understanding scripture. What is "eternal life"? It is our divine connection.
(All scripture quotations are from the BSB unless otherwise noted.)
Life has been crazy. I know this stack is free but I apologize for the lack of publishing. I have 30+ articles in draft and before I can complete one, another compelling topic comes along. Further, life is coming fast and furious and time is short. As always, blessed by any who read, and I hope and pray these truths help you grow in grace and knowledge of Christ and His work in and to you.
“Inherit Eternal Life”?
The topic for this article is the center of the gospel - highly important. I felt strongly I should write about it as the main gospel topic of this stack: “Come to Christ for life!” Further, a pastor I know gave a message awhile back using the “good Samaritan” passage. This has “How do I inherit eternal life?” as the main context; yet, this was regrettably ignored. Because this vital main context was not considered or emphasized, the Mosaic Law (Old Covenant) was wrongly applied to believers, among other out of context applications.
Sadly, my friend is not alone in this manner of teaching; it is the majority. The big error in many believer’s thinking is that they come to Christ for life once for the ticket to Heaven and then go to the Law or rules for the power to live their life. Perhaps this feels logical, it is after all, “God's Law”. Yet, this ignores much of the epistolic writing to the church which declares that “…Christ is the end of the Law…to everyone who believes.” Romans 10:4 This is stated many different ways in the epistles, but most vividly in the middle chapters of Galatians and Colossians. Most of the book of Hebrews is also dedicated to this purpose. Still, sadly, most “Christian” messages mix the Old and New Covenants - if not the exact letter, then in the spirit of “requirements”.
I will write a direct analysis of the Good Samaritan passage in a later article as I first focus on “eternal life”. Since it seems my friend may not fully understand what “inherit eternal life” means, it inspired me to write about it directly. We need to understand these key gospel themes so when something is false, or even a mixture of false, we immediately recognize it and reject it. How we think gets acted out in our walk. If you think you are still a dirty rotten sinner, not a pure holy saint, then you will more easily act like a dirty rotten sinner. Accepting lies in our mind never goes well, even commonly accepted lies in our faith circles. The enemy strategy is to repeat lies so they become truth. And he loves religious or “godly” lies.
Scriptural meaning is vital to know gospel truth.
Understanding scripture terms based on proper context is important because it is vital to know the truth, especially for this core gospel topic. Scripture, not tradition, must define terms. Perhaps we do know what something means; but, it doesn't fit with our preconceived notions, so we ignore it or pretend it means something else - confirmation bias. Or, perhaps we don't know the proper meaning because we define by what we have been told by others rather than digging deep into scripture. Either way, we miss vital truth and/or propagate lies. Let the cycle stop here! Slow down! Legalism insists on “spiritual productivity” as some measure; but, better to learn and/or speak one truth than a dozen lies.
Understanding meaning and context in scripture is our responsibility, especially if we are teaching. We can get perspectives from others but ultimately we must decide the meaning for ourselves. My personal history and spiritual growth path has allowed the Spirit to give me certain perspectives; but, I am never under the impression that I listen perfectly or they are perfect. We are all learning and growing. Yet, we cannot use growth as an excuse for not believing obvious truth from scripture! The core gospel message is quite clear if we listen carefully and discard the religious junk ideas many add to it.
Repentance, a change of mind, is key to knowing and believing gospel truth
I know I harp on repentance, but because most of my current perspectives represent a change of mind or repentance, I have more confidence in them. I used to believe these law and grace mixture doctrines mostly because I had not really inspected them. However, due to where this led me in life (not good places) and my own study of these matters, I changed my mind (and continue to do so). I have written about this, but repentance is only this “change of mind” process. It is not purely focused on sinful actions as many make it (unless you think sin is good!). However, a true change of mind will change actions. Of that I am convinced and have my own life evidence.
How we think guides our living. God's gift of repentance empowers renewing of the mind. But only if we recognize it as a mental thing. Many people “turn over a new leaf” and engage in “behavior improvement” without really changing their minds. Faith and repentance are interlinked. Anyone can change their actions; but, only actions naturally changed by faith matter to God and the kingdom. Without faith you cannot please God. This is a theme in my writing because it is so vital. Of course, the gospel is only good news - we are forgiven for our lack of faith! But, we are missing out if we replace faith with behavior modification. God wants better for His kids!
For those reasons and my dedication to be true to the crucial new covenant gospel “gift” promise of God, I have much confidence in what I believe. However, I try to reference scripture frequently, and implore anyone to never take me at my word. Use a Bible app that shows the Greek and confirm for yourself. This technology has made it easier for a non-scholar to gain meaning. Compare the different meanings of Greek words in English and see which one actually matches the gospel of “everything is a gift”. Look at how it is translated in some verses and how the translator might change it in others where it changes meaning. Always judge meaning by the clear gospel fact that relationship with God is a gift. Period. This fact cannot be compromised. There is no scripture, when properly interpreted, that changes this fact. If you think a verse does, you are wrong.
God wants His gospel to be accessible. I do have passion; but, I am simply an ambassador for the new covenant. Ultimately, we all have a choice in what spiritual food we eat. Don't settle for spiritual Doritos. Mixing law and grace creates spiritual junk food. So let's dive into “inheriting eternal life”. It is the most nutritious meal you can consider - the Bread of life - Jesus Christ. You don't have to gather the wheat or bake the bread; there is a continous supply of Christ within you ready to help you live from your new heart! It is when we try to discipline ourselves to gather our own spiritual wheat and bake our own spiritual bread that we go off track. The Christian life is simply coming to God's table and eating the meal He has prepared for us.
Christ’s death and resurrection are key to the gospel; but, a believer’s spiritual death and resurrection are just as key. Giving us His life is why Christ did what He did. (John 10:10)
As much as most “Christian” churches will emphasize Christ's death; and to a lesser degree His resurrection; the final results of His work in a believer are often neglected. Many fail to emphasize why He did what He did or hide it in religious language. He did not die to only give us a “ticket to Heaven” and it isn’t only Christ who died and is resurrected. All true believers have been taken through His death and resurrection spiritually. (Romans 6:6-11; Galatians 2:20)
The result of a believer’s death and resurrection is the inheritance of eternal life. From my 40+ years of church experience, the fact of OUR resurrection is little known or understood. The buzzwords are used; like, “eternal life”, “born again”, “raised to new life”, etc.; but, the implications of these truths are minimized or ignored. Making it only about a future heaven is one way of minimizing. Only discussing “imputed” righteousness and not “imparted” righteousness is another (Galatians 3:21). These are a couple of the many ways this vital truth is ignored or minimized. Mainly it is ignored by acting as if we must earn God's promises - like perfect closeness with God - that we receive for free as an inheritance at our new birth. We have so many things for free simply because we are a new creation child of God. Trying to earn what God has freely given is the antithesis of faith. It is arrogance at the highest level!
Similar to ignoring truth, many will discuss topics like “born again” and then proclaim lies that detract from these truths. False messages like: “Believers are still have dirty, wicked hearts and need to do “spiritual disciplines” as a clean up job so they can stay right with, or close to, God.” There are many diverse unscriptural “christian” phrases used to diminish the work of Christ in us and try to “frighten” or guilt us into good behavior. Terms like “backsliding”; “out of fellowship”; “out of God's will”; “missing God's blessings”; etc. These messages try to turn the gospel and God into a “tit for tat” philosophy and deity which is the antithesis of the gospel and God's nature of love. It is the corrupt idea of grace by faith for “salvation” but works for “sanctification”. (Galatians 3:3) It's still “works righteousness” - ignoring that we were made righteous for free.
Often scripture about unbelievers (like the Good Samaritan story) is misapplied to believers to make these lies seem legitimate. But, let’s carefully consider what Christ accomplished and why He did what He did. The truly good news is the only thing left for us to do is learn to trust what Christ already did. Learning what Christ did in and to us and growing in grace is the “ongoing”¹ aspect of our salvation. Learning the wrong thing will stunt your growth and lead to frustration and discontent as you try to “better yourself” and do what Christ has already done. So, let's investigate and consider this good news of what Christ has done. Once you know what Christ did, simply trust His work and stop trying to do it yourself. Again, better to sit still in faith than be busy doing a bunch of stuff to try and earn.
What Does “Inherit Eternal Life” Mean?
This phrase’s meaning is clear in scripture: this is salvation - being “born again”. This results in becoming a “new creation”; the “new self”; a child of God. This happens when you, by faith, request, receive, and accept Christ’s gift of His life - it is His life that is eternal. “Eternal life” is not our life made longer - it is that we receive Christ’s life that is truly eternal (no beginning and no end). Our human life has a beginning so it can never be called “eternal”. Extended forever; but not eternal. It is key to recognize that this phrase references possessing the life of Christ; it is not referencing our life made longer - this is a side-effect.
It is important we don't confuse the two. Christ physically died and resurrected so that we could also die and be resurrected in spirit - this is the “new birth” which births a “new creation”. This new creation is now permanently infused with Christ’s eternal life. We are now forever connected to the Trinity. It is this connection that “saves” us - this is “eternal life”. This is “salvation”.
How can we be called a “child of God” if there is not some element of God and His nature now part of us? Scripture is quite clear that this is true. This is the gospel message - unlike the pitiful lies out there saying believers still have a sinful nature and wicked heart. We now share in the divine nature. (2 Peter 1:4) That treasure is in an “earthen” vessel. (2 Cor. 4:7) Don't judge a believer, even yourself, based on the “earthen vessel”! (2 Cor. 5:16) Reality for a believer should always begin with God’s gospel promises first - this is faith - and then our lives and walk flow from these.
Once Christ has made us good, then we must embrace and revere what Christ has made us! And yes, this is actually the real you. Christ did not turn you into a hologram puppet. The new creation is God and you in perfect union - oneness. (John 17)
Without this divine connection, Christianity is just like any other religious belief system. With all religion, the main goal is to try your hardest to be good enough to please some deity based on a “good” activity list. This idea literally has roots in ancient paganism and original sin. That some people try to make Christianity into this rule based belief system with a Christ label is a crying shame. It is also hubris and arrogant. As Christ says, “Without Me, you can do nothing”. The Trinity must be the source of life and everything - of ourselves there is nothing good. But, again, Christ has made us good and so we must gratefully embrace this new reality that the gospel promises is true! Believing and acting as if this is not true spits on Christ and His work. As always, a believer is still forgiven for wrong thinking! The gospel covers us coming and going - how good is your gospel? Maybe not good enough. The gift of forgiveness should spur us to put faith in God's other promises if we understand it.
Only an active trusting belief (faith) in our new creation caused by our divine connection pleases God. (Hebrews 11:6) “Works” that flow from that please Him. But doing works in order to please (or appease) God cannot be of faith because they deny that we please Him by default as His children. Motivation determines faith. God is not forcing us to act “good” by threats and demands. He has clearly stated that as new creations in Christ we are already good at our core. (Romans 3:22, 5:9, 5:18, 5:21, 8:10, 10:4; Galatians 2:21; 2 Corinthians 5:21 among many others.)
Trust Christ's Work In You
Our goodness was His work. His only desire is that we embrace our goodness and let it work it's way out in our living. But this only happens when we stop trying to do it ourselves. Only then will we stop quenching the Spirit and become motivated by our new good hearts. We won't have to try to act good; goodness will happen as we let Christ work in dependency on Him. It is now in our nature to be good. We are good by default - it is actually hypocritical for a believer to sin! Every temptation we give into is against our own new nature. Saying believers want to sin is an enemy attack; not the truth.
Once Christ has recreated us good, it is key that we embrace and revere what Christ has made us! We can't act like nothing has happened! Yes, this life we now have is because of Christ - we cannot brag. But it reality as a genuine child of God - we are new and good - connected in spirit and nature to the Trinity. Faith is embracing and trusting this new reality but it becomes more difficult when we believe religious lies.
The world, especially the religious world, and even some sincere Christian teachers, will try to ignore and poopoo this reality God has said is true. This is a constant temptation and happens for many reasons. Yet, true faith embraces this reality. And only this embrace will lead to walking by the Spirit and a “Christian” life lived naturally without compulsion. Faith helps us embrace that we want what God wants because He has recreated us to want it! This takes away the religious pressure that often tries to substitute for the gospel. Christ in us will motivate - not guilt, shame, peer-pressure, or other compulsion to obtain anything that God has promised us as His children. Christ's burden is “easy and light”. If that is not your spiritual experience, then you could be believing lies. I'm not saying the world is easy, far from it. But Christ never adds to that burden; He helps us carry it - unlike legalism.
Abundant Life
Christ directly gives His earthly mission in John 10:10 - “I have come to bring abundant life.” Bring it to who? Well, humans of course - God is life - He is not bringing it to Himself. Again, this abundant life is His life joined to ours; not simply our life extended. Perhaps the most well known verse in history - John 3:16 - promises this type of life for those who believe in Christ. He only did this because God loves humanity - even while we were His enemies! This is far more than just our life extended; abundant implies a quality of life. This abundant life starts the moment we recognize we cannot achieve this ourselves and come to Christ for His life. We have this now - we don't need to wait for Heaven. (Romans 8:10 - “mortal body”)
In the Greek, English “abundant” doesn't catch the “over the top” meaning. Christ is promising that His life will be in excess of anything you could ever need! Maybe “super-abundant” or “hyper-abundant” catches it a bit. This reminds me of Romans 5:20 where Paul says grace is hyper-abundant. It should remind us - it is the same thing! The Greek literally combines hyper and abundance; “hyper grace” is a proper gospel phrase - not derogatory at all! Little do the legalists using this phrase as an attack on the true gospel realize it is actually scriptural. Of course, if they understood the topic of this article, it would be “abundantly” clear!
Grace is the power through which Christ’s life acts within us. Christ = Life = Grace. There is so much of His life Christ is offering that it will never be insufficient for “life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). As Paul says in Romans 5:17, we will “reign in this life” because of His life. The Spirit brings life even to our fallen, “mortal” bodies. (Romans 8:11) This begins the moment we call on Him and accept the free gift of His life. Don't let those who misunderstand the gospel hinder or destroy it's grace power in your life. Even genuine children of God can be ignorant; much less those who are complete fakes. But believe in God's gospel “good news” above all else. That is the best way to stymie “ignorance”. Ignorance should never be an excuse to ignore the gift of His life.
Consider Your Inheritance
Scripture puts this life and divine connection in terms of an inheritance because we cannot earn it. Not only did we not earn it initially, we still don't maintain it by earning. Christ’s life is now your “inheritance” through the new covenant (will and testament). Christ’s death for us enacted this new will or covenant. By definition, someone must die to enact a will. The gospel or “good news” is what is written in God’s last will and testament!
Every church service or Christian teaching should be about discovering what is written in God's new covenant or will! Any gathering of believers should a “reading of the will”. Unlike human wills, God's will or the gospel is so chock full of goodness that it takes many, many readings to begin to get at what is in our inheritance. Since His will expresses His nature of love, it actually takes an eternity! With so much to learn from the new covenant, why do we waste so much time on other stuff? Even other stuff in Scripture? This truly baffles me.
Some scriptural history now and again is fine, IF you show Christ in it (as He did on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:27). But our primary objective should be gaining a better understanding of the new covenant. Stop worrying if you are “in” God's will; just read His will and you will find out you are already in it LOL! You can be stupid and have earthly consequences that grieve God as your Father, but He never disinherits you. You are safe in His will. Perhaps if more teachers focused primarily on the new covenant, the body of Christ would be healthier.
Don't reject the new will! Partial rejection is nearly as harmful as full rejection.
Scripture contains as much of this new will or covenant as humans can grasp; but, it also contains much that is not the gospel (or Logos - the Word). If the new covenant is not the central lens for all reading and study of scripture, then that is often how Christianity gets so messed up. Yes, there is history leading up to this new covenant; there have been other shadow “wills”; but, this is the culminating spiritual event of human history. Just like a human based will, the final will trumps all others. The new covenant is God's “last will and testament” for humanity. When we focus mostly on the old will or covenant, then we tacitly ignore the new. They are both in scripture, so just because you are “reading the Bible” or listening to teaching from scripture doesn't mean you are getting good gospel food. This is a huge concern as the enemy has used this to damage the gospel.
All of scripture can be useful (2 Timothy 3:16), but only when filtered through new covenant truth. The entire book of Hebrews was written to portray that God's last will or covenant invalidates the old. Clinging to the old, or even parts of it, prevents you from enjoying the full benefits of the new. Benefiting from any will requires that you accept the terms of the will and you take hold of the benefits of it under those terms. The terms of God's new will is that everything in it is free and you must accept those terms to receive the benefits. If you try to change to terms to earning of any kind, you will hinder the benefits. (Galatians 3:10-20) “No conditions” beyond faith is a key promise in this new covenant. If we add conditions, it is not the same covenant. A “gospel” with conditions beyond “grace by faith” is a false gospel - both for salvation and the “Christian walk”.
Not everyone is happy at the reading of God's will, when it is read properly.
Imagine a scene from many movies. A rich man has died and the family gathers for the reading of the will. They have high expectations for what they will receive. They are expecting good things for them in the will, otherwise they would not be there. Hebrews 11:6 says faith is excitement over what is in God's last will or covenant for us. That is the very definition of faith!
Imagine, again, the Pharisees show up at the reading of God's last will and testament. They are expecting commendation that they have kept all of the terms of the prior will and will be rewarded. Immediately they are up in arms since there are filthy Gentiles at the reading! And then, just like in so many movies, they find that there was a secret will enacted that totally invalidates the old will. (Romans 16:25-26) They are aghast!
Though they are included in the new will along with the Gentiles; and, if they would even consider the terms, they would realize it is much better; most of them storm out of the reading in disdain or sorrow (2 Cor. 3:14). We will also see this when we study the Good Samaritan passage. While on earth, Christ tries to help the Jews realize the old covenant is being replaced; but, most are so addicted to their self-righteous attempts to keep it, they simply won't give it up. Especially the strict religious sects like the Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees.
Even today, not only for Jews, but for far too many Gentiles - many keep trying to go back to the invalidated will and testament to determine their relationship with God. Some take a bit from the new will or covenant and try to add it into the old; or, pull a bit from the old and try to add it into the new; but, ultimately, by this mixture, they really don't fully accept the terms of the new will or covenant. They simply cannot accept that everything was done by Christ and freely given to those who accept this new covenant by faith.
Even many believers keep trying to live under some of the terms of the old covenant, hoping this will gain favor with God. Yet, God says that He is only pleased by fully embracing and trusting the terms in His new covenant and thus fully abandoning the old. He says, through Paul and others, that the old will is a curse He had to enact until Christ came because of how self-destructive humanity is. And He says that if we are His kids, we have his favor as a gift. We do not have to earn our Father's favor. Even a human father would be considered abusive if he demanded his kids earn his love and favor by behavior! And God is far better than any human father.
The reading of the divine Trinity’s will is nothing like a human will.
When we read the Trinity's last will and testament (the gospel), there should only be joy, unless you actually think the prior will (laws and rules) was better (many sadly do). First, because God’s final will does not depend on any human action - only on Christ’s work - then it cannot fail! (Hebrews 6:13-20) The old covenant was based on human power and thus continuously failed (Galatians 3:19). Even more important, God's will is far superior to any human will because the Person who died and enacted the will has come back to life! He is actually the Advocate presenting us with the will! (Hebrews 7:28-25; 1 John 2:1) Yet, His death was real, so the will is still enacted even though He came back to life. When we read the will correctly, we find that because of His resurrection, He is giving us His very life as our inheritance; thus, we “inherit eternal life” when we put faith in Him.
As we continue to read the will, we find that this eternal life is the description of a huge gift box. The will continues to describe all of the items contained within His life. Perfect forgiveness for all time. Perfect righteousness from within. We are now perfectly at peace with God. Our hearts are now filled with His perfect love. Not even counting: perfect peace, joy, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. The list of God's promises in His new will are extensive and awe inspiring. And we should be awed! That is the “fear” of God! Not being afraid, but a reverential faith in His legitimate goodness expressed in His will. Fearing God is an awe filled recognition of His love. It is awesome love!
Now, we no longer have to be self-destructive! Either in a licentious or religious way. Since no human but Christ could ever meet the terms of the old will, it never stopped our bent towards self-destruction. It only slowed it a bit. Every old testament story portrays this. Even David, a man “after God's own heart” had immense failures. And that is the point of these biblical stories, to show how as believers, we have something better. (Hebrews 11:40) It certainly is not so we go back to the self-righteous law power that failed them! While the old testament saints are to be commended for their faith, the covenant through which they accessed God was still an utter failure. We can admire their faith while still rejecting their covenant! Because clearly God rejected it (Hebrews 7:18-19). Only their faith, not their Mosaic Law keeping, saved them. Abraham lived 400 years before there was ever any law! Yet, still his faith was counted as righteousness despite his many failures.
Believe in the power promised in the will.
This new covenant promised divine connection is as if a car; representing our body and soul; has just gotten a new engine. However, unlike the old engine, this new power plant now allows our car to fly, hover, and go underwater. Part of the Trinity's will and testament is a new heart and spirit. This is the “new creation”; a whole new power. This far exceeds the power of the old will or covenant where we had to try our best and thus failed to ever keep the terms. The old relied on human power - as God designed it to do. Under the new covenant, sometimes our car’s computer firmware needs updating (renewing of the mind) and ultimately the bondo’d body will be replaced (final resurrection); but the new powerplant (our spirit and heart) is perpetually perfect. God’s new creation power never fails.
The key to utilizing Christ’s life power is faith in the new covenant or will. This is purely logical. If you get in your car and see the new button that clearly says “fly”; but, you never hit the button, then you will never fly. If you sit at the reading of the will and are presented with the gift box the rich relative left you; yet, you think that this relative was severe and probably did not leave anything good; then, you will never open the box. Or maybe you accept the box at first, randomly reach in without looking, find a “ticket to Heaven”, and then get distracted from everything else in the box. Perhaps you are distracted by the old will! You struggle to give up your rituals and good works to please God.
Abandon trying to keep the terms of the old will
Unless you stop trying to keep the terms of the old will, you never fully utilize your new covenant inheritance. It's always there as God's child, but you bypass many benefits, because you never really believe the full contents of God's new covenant gift box. Many become stuck, fixated on the old will, thinking that is how to obey and please God. And they usually gravitate to scripture portraying the old and not the new. They want a fleshly list to use to perform. The new covenant of grace is scary to them.
Remember, Paul says in Galatians 3:12 that the “Law is not based on faith.” Faith and flesh are in opposition. By Paul saying the Law is not of faith, he is portraying that it requires flesh power keep it. It is the flesh power that is faulty, not the Law itself. That is why Paul can say the Law is “good” but still say it is bad to try and use it to live by - or put ourselves under it. All flesh powered activity is sin, even seemingly good activities like trying to keep the Law. Thus, we must trust in a completely different power to live: “Christ in us”; our divine connection; our eternal life inheritance.
Scripture clearly portrays believers as heirs of this new covenant.
As a believer you are co-heirs with Christ (Galatians 3:29; Ephesians 3:6). Not only the heir of His life; but, everything else that goes with being a child of God. You now have an incorruptible inheritance given to you by God. (1 Peter 1:3-5) Thus, to inherit eternal life means to become a child of God. When that happens, the inheritance of Christ’s life is the essential element. Gaining Christ's life means you are born again; being born again means you have inherited Christ’s life. You cannot have one without the other. This was Christ’s entire reason for coming and is the product of His finished work: His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Because He lives - you can now have His life (Hebrews 7:25). Our only work as believers is to revel in this truth - learn and live out what it means - “grow in grace and knowledge” of Christ and His work.
My house is on a well system; we have tapped into an underground water source that is now connected and flowing into our house. We have a tank that holds the water and distributes it so it can be used for various purposes. Believers are spiritually connected to Christ and the Trinity. The flow of the divine is now connected to our new heart “holding tank”; it is constantly available to infuse our body and soul with God's love and other Spirit fruit.
Of course, like a faucet, we can mentally turn this off - that is called quenching and grieving the Spirit - and that is how believers sin. The connection and the flow of the divine is always there; sinning never takes it away. Sin for a believer is simply when we turn off the Spirit faucet - thus quenching the benefits of our divine connection. At that point we begin to walk by the flesh. This is why there can be “good” looking sinning and “bad” looking sinning. Self-righteous good behavior quenches the Spirit as much as any other flesh powered action. But no matter the results of our quenching, the Spirit water is still there, waiting for us to stop quenching! That is God's promise. Even when we are faithless, He remains faithful. (2 Timothy 2:13)
We cannot walk by the Spirit and sin at the same time; however, that inner source of power never diminishes, no matter what we do or don't do. But, our mental choices to believe religious lies vs. gospel truth do impact the Spirit’s activity in our daily lives. Mentally adhering to parts of the old covenant quenches the Spirit; same as when we believe licentious lies like having more or “better” sex will fulfill. A fleshly, obligation-based, religious mindset will quench the Spirit just as fast as giving into sexual or other more obvious sin. The point is to not quench your divine connection, either in a religious or licentious way. Walk by faith not sight.
Faith is like turning on a faucet to let Christ’s life flow.
If I never turn on a faucet in my house, the flow of water is still there. The tank is still full. But I won’t be getting a refreshing glass of water or a nice hot bath! Once we are connected, God never disconnects us no matter what we do! Our divine connection is always there waiting for us to stop quenching it by our unbelief. The biggest lie we can believe is that we need to perform to obtain what we already have in Christ! Relying on this connection means knowing and trusting it is there. If we don't realize this, and think that we need to perform in some way to gain or maintain our connection to Christ, then our trajectory will automatically trend to using flesh power.
I have never worried that when I turn on a faucet, water will not come out. I mean, this is only an earthly analogy, it could fail. It is just not anything I consciously consider. God’s promises are more reliable than my plumbing duh! But much the same way, we will only use our divine connection if we know about it and trust it. That is faith! This divine connection should be a foregone and constant conclusion in every believer’s mind! It should be an existential entity influencing everything - it is the foundation of the true “Christian life”.
The key is a mindset of faith in our inheritance where we simply accept it as fact. We utterly stop trying to earn anything by what we do. We simply leave the Spirit faucet on and stop turning it off by trying to earn. When we try to do what Christ has already done and freely willed us; then, we quench His power within. We must stop this blockage to His power! Once we do this, then His power works freely and righteousness flows from us by default. It is as if we are “slaves of righteousness”! (Romans 6:18) Because we are! Paul says to “think”, “consider” - “count” yourself righteous. God is not playing mind games - He is showing us the reality of our new creation - this is the truth and anything else is a lie. We must believe we are righteous already in order to genuinely act righteous. Believing false messages that say we must try hard to act righteous in order to obtain righteousness, and other faithless messages, will turn off the faucet of Christ’s life. Keep the life faucet on! Believe the truth!
Review: inheriting Christ's eternal life means you are born again; being born again means you have inherited Christ’s life. This is what “inherit eternal life” means.
This understanding of eternal life is quite important to the core meaning of the gospel. Again, the idea that getting “saved” only means you eventually go to Heaven and live forever ignores the immediate impact of being a new creation now. It ignores what 2 Peter 1 calls being a “partaker of the divine nature” which gives us “everything we need for life and godliness”. This is crucial to understanding what it means to be a “Christian” and how to live. It cuts through the religious fog and legalistic deception that harms the gospel. This deception always flows from the idea that we must perform to please God, receive His blessings, or to be right with Him.
Again, this is distinct from the scriptural idea that our good behavior does please God. But we still please God by default in our identity as His child no matter our behavior. Why our faith powered good behavior pleases Him is for a totally different reason than the legalists believe. It is not because we are somehow improving our relationship or connection to Him. It is because we are no longer harming ourselves and others by sin! It is because we are living the fulfilled life Christ paid the ultimate price to give us. It is because we are living out our eternal Christ life.
God's pleasure is always based in His love. He loves us, thus He offers His life. This gift makes us whole and gives us the ability to live by faith. Living by faith leads to life powered attitudes and actions. These please God because they are healthy for His kids. And the love of God circle is complete. But trying to please God outside of this cycle of His love quenches this power. Performing certain activities from obligation or duty (earning) is not faith - it is a pitiful gospel.
Don't substitute a pitiful gospel
The pitiful “gospel” I most often hear taught or implied is a form of: “Get saved - go to heaven when you die. In the meantime, try your hardest to be good by following various rules or disciplines to “be obedient to God”. If you don’t, He will withhold His fellowship and blessings and might even curse or kill you”. Some have called this the “carrot and stick” gospel. These rules vary greatly; but, there is always a list, often taken from scripture to try and legitimize it. This is mixing law and grace - grace for Heaven and law (rules) for living. (Galatians 3:3) This is mixing the old and new wills. Often in these false messages the more extreme you can make the “spiritual disciplines”, the more you are proving your dedication to God! Think of some of the extreme fasting movements. It is sad that most do not recognize the tie to the flesh and ancient paganism in these things. Sacrificing yourself to try and get your deity to love you and treat you well is paganism - period.
The world is often an extremely difficult place. Faith may lead us to significant suffering. Paul, and most of all Christ Himself, demonstrated this. Yet, many believers with great faith have never suffered beyond being an “alien” in this world. Scripture never calls for us to seek suffering. It only calls for us to trust Christ when suffering comes our way. Which, in one form or another, it will. But we don't need to get into some religious suffering contest to try to prove something to God. All you will do is make Him weep over your foolishness and lack of faith.
Do not succumb to religious flesh leading to religious addiction.
These ideas are a corrupt fleshly mixture that is not the gospel. It only feeds our human desire to perform for God - same as the ancient pagans. Often these rituals become like an addiction with an emotional “high” from doing them and a “low” if you miss them or don't do them frequently enough. How we cannot see that this is of “the flesh” I cannot imagine! Yet many think this religious “addiction” pleases God and makes them more spiritual! A simple question to determine “religious addiction”: how do you feel if you don't do your list? Do you feel guilty or distant from God? Do you feel fear that God is upset with you? Do you feel like you can't make it through the day and live properly? Do you feel compelled to try and “make up” or to do better and not miss another day? Consider this carefully.
These rituals often fit the same pattern as other addictions; yet, get a pass because they are mistitled “serving God”. The enemy’s worst deceptions have a “God” stamp on them! I will get into this more in future articles, but Paul calls this “religious desire” in Colossians 2 and it is not a good kind of desire. Paul puts it in the same category of any other fleshly desire like sexual lust! He should know - he spent his childhood through early adult years becoming more and more religiously addicted. And it ended in heartbreak and failure, like all addictions do. Only Christ could break this cycle for Paul. (Romans 7:24-25) A true understanding of Christ’s life flowing within us through our divine connection is the only way we can break it too. Religious addiction is insidious.
Often those who are the most addicted to their form of rules or religion are the ones publicly condemning those addicted to the “obvious” behaviors powered by the flesh: sexual lust and the like. Yet, they are blinded to their own religious addiction. Truly scripture and God's love does not allow us to ignore harmful sinning. But, we cannot ignore religious type sin and only focus on licentious type sin. With any kind of sin, Paul advocates we humbly and mildly restore or train our spiritual siblings to do better. (Galatians 6:1) We don't do this because God is angry at them or they no longer have peace or fellowship; but, because their sinning is harmful. This is true of both religious and licentious sin. God wants us all to know and trust that we are no longer slaves of sin - no matter what kind of sinning it is.
Don't confuse my words: societal norms or rules and governmental laws are not intrinsically bad. Consider that the Mosaic Law, while certainly more, was still a set of governmental rules for ancient Hebrew society.
I often feel it necessary to explain that I am not saying societal rules or governmental type laws are bad. Nothing could be further from the truth. Faith should lead a believer to follow these better than anyone else unless they conflict with godliness. (1 Peter 4:15-16) The majority of the world is not indwelled by Christ and most of those who are hardly realize it. I would much rather live in a society operating within common sense laws and societal rules than anarchy.
I am not against putting up the 10 Commandments in public places. A society where people are not lying, stealing, and cheating on their spouse is better than the alternative, no matter why they are doing it. I would rather there be less stealing out of fear of jail than the alternative. This is just common sense. And for unbelievers, the Mosaic Law is there to convict them of their need for Christ and His life. So, putting up the 10 Commandments in a worldly place should help the Law do it's job. It should lead unbelievers to Christ for His life.
HOWEVER, while great for earthly society, rules and laws ARE NOT how relationship with God works. God has a far better way! (Hebrews 7:22; 8:6-13) A way that inspires goodness and lawfulness from within, without need for rules and laws. A way that leads to genuine goodness from the heart. If everyone had Christ, and fully knew the divine connection they had, rules and laws would start to disappear as they would not be needed! We know this will never happen without direct Divine intervention. God promises this will ultimately happen when Christ returns. Until then, the earth will continue to need rules and laws - both God and human laws to maintain order.
These laws are based in the earthly system. But, as believers, we have God’s divine connection now - why not mentally strive to discard the earthly based way of rules and laws to try and please God and embrace God's true way of faith and love? In that way, each believer learns to shine the light of heaven here on earth. It is a vastly different light than religion shines with it's dead works through laws and rules. Living by faith may not fix the world and creation like Christ will when He returns, but it will help fix some of your corner of the world. It will certainly lead to a better life for you. Give true faith a try - you won't ever regret it. It is the genuine “Christian life”.
Rules are not part of the gospel.
As I have written many times, it is not the content of the rule list that matters. It is the list mindset or attitude itself that is of the flesh. The Torah or Mosaic Law is a rule list - even the so called “moral” parts. This is why Paul says the entire Law is not of faith (Galatians 3:12) - even the 10 Commandments! (Romans 7:4-8; 2 Corinthians 3:6-11) The Law forces you into a list mentality which is antithetical to faith. You cannot depend on your connection to Christ and depend on your list of rules at the same time. This is cognitive dissonance for the human brain! Scripture is clear - you must choose one way or the other - the old or the new covenant. There is no option to mix them. And if you choose the old, you must keep it perfectly to have relationship with God. (Galatians 3:10; James 2:10) Using rules or rituals to gain or maintain relationship with God is antithetical to the gospel. In your mindset, your relationship with God must be fully secure before good attitudes and actions will flow from faith.
If you are inclined to try and base your relationship with God on your law keeping, don't forget, in many portions of the “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, Christ portrays the true requirements of the Mosaic Law which culminates in “be perfect like God”. Thus, if you decide to try and please God and maintain relationship by your law keeping performance, it is now this advanced standard that you must keep perfectly. But, unless you are only one second old, it is already too late. You have broken the Law. There is no make up test. God doesn't grade on a curve. So, both for salvation and living, you must choose your way: law or grace. I recommend that you trust in pure unmixed “grace through faith” and abandon the faithless law and lists.
But, Paul has “rules” or “commands”?
But, you might say, Paul says not to steal, lie, etc. Please hear me carefully: Even if the result of new covenant trust in your divine connection is less lying, adultery, or stealing - this does not mean you are under the Law. It means you are living a life empowered by Christ’s life - which is love - and would never do those things. There is nothing wrong with guideposts or signals that you are or are not walking by the Spirit. That is Paul's intent and it is not legalism. If you have a lying, stealing, or sexual lust problem, then you are clearly not walking by the Spirit. Yet, Paul never says that if you sin then you have lost your peace, fellowship, or God's blessings! Unlike the Law, the gospel never attaches threats!
This is a far cry from a law mentality. Unlike the old, there are no spiritual consequences or condemnation for failures. Good behavior is no longer required to maintain connectivity or relationship with God. Faith requires we believe this because God says so! On the flip side, true faith will lead to good behavior. But that is a side benefit, not a main objective. Faith is the objective - the good behavior is a consequence of true faith. Paul always wanted his audience to grow in “grace through faith” power. Thus, he discusses signposts that show you are walking by the flesh not the Spirit. But, he was not contradicting his many other writings that say believers are not under the law!
Faith always looks good; but good looking behavior is not always faith.
You can put yourself under law and requirement and the inherent fear may motivate you to stop doing some bad things for a while. But it is powered by the flesh (fear) and will not last. (Just look at the size of the prison population despite every law they broke “existing” and having “severe consequences”.) Even if you have a strong fleshly ability to keep some laws, it is not motivated by faith or your heart, so it is of little value to the kingdom of God. And no one keeps them all. Some may measure their flesh patterns against others and minimize them, but everyone has one, two, or ten flesh patterns. Don't forget the religious or good looking ones! Are those who put themselves under law sinning less? No.
This is a hard truth, but it is true. As I said, good behavior is better than bad, for sure! The unbeliever with a good work ethic and who is generally moral will have a better life than the drug addict and the person on death row. But for believers, we should always sacrifice the good for the perfect! We have a perfect connection to Christ for life; we don't need a list of rules and requirements to enslave us again. (Galatians 5:1) Christ’s life power will never lead you into sin because faith shows you that you are now righteous and want righteousness. You will do good things because it is your nature to do so; not because a rule says to, or you are afraid of displeasing God and being out of His will or fellowship.
Fear that God will not keep His new covenant promises unless we act a certain way or do certain things is the very definition of faithless! Even then, God promises He will be faithful! (2 Timothy 2:13) But, why not believe God and take Him at His word? Why not accept the terms of His new will or covenant? We would miss out on a lot of misery if we only would do this. But this requires dedication to the pure gospel message and being on guard towards all of the false mixed messages out that that try to threaten and coerce you into “obeying” God's rules.
Obedience is not “keeping God's rules”. The “obedience of faith” is trusting your new creation divine connection for living.
I have heard it said that you can keep every single one of God's laws yet not love Him. But when you love God, that means you will trust Him. This will naturally lead to listening to the Spirit leading from within and godliness pouring out as fruit. You will automatically “keep God's laws” without even considering or realizing that you are. Keeping the law should never be the objective. This is trusting vs. trying. This is faith. And an even more amazing thing contained in God’s last will or covenant is that God pours His love into our hearts when we are born again! So this love is also our inheritance! (Romans 5:5) We don't even have to try to love God and others; He has already empowered us to do this from within. Trying = quenching the Spirit. As Paul wrote the believers in Ephesus:
Ephesians 6:24 - “Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.”
“Christ to get you to Heaven but rules to help you live” is a lie - a lie Paul clearly calls out in many places. Even Christ Himself calls this out, which we will soon see. The term “obedience” is often tied to this corrupt old/new, law/grace mixture; so, if you reject it, then the legalists will accuse you of “disobeying God”. The truth is that only faith in your divine connection is the obedience that matters - the “obedience of faith”. (Romans 1:5; 16:26) This is the “work of the Father” Christ calls us to do. (John 6:29)
Trust Your Divine Connection
Sadly, when listening to teaching or talking to folks in church, our divine connection is not a truth many understand, believe, or have as a focus. I think maybe this core truth of the gospel is “scary” even for “gospel” teachers to consider! They think this is ignoring sin if they focus on the Savior more than sin. Yet, without a divine connection focus they are not teaching the gospel and they will never give believers the truth that enables them to fully reject sinning. What they are teaching is a partial gospel or no gospel at all, and ignores the power of Christ within. The gospel is the good news of how Christ paved the way for this divine to human connection by His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. This is “eternal life”. This is the gospel of our inheritance. This is not rule keeping.
I have much more to say, but when I realized it would take an hour for most people to read through it, it was just too much for one article. So, I have divided these up. All will have the same theme of eternal life. But until then, please ponder your divine connection, read the references I have mentioned, and consider how this truth might change your perspective and life. Then “let” the Holy Spirit renew your mind and work out what He has already worked in. Think, act, and live as if this is true - because it is! “Count” or consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God - because you are. Let your mind be renewed to God's gospel truth and promises! Depend on your eternal life!