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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Keep My Commandments!, continued
Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. (I John 2:6—NIV)
The formation of Christ in us depends directly on our keeping the commands of Christ in the Gospels and given through His Apostles in the Epistles.
The idea that we are saved by grace (forgiveness) apart from righteous, holy, obedient conduct is a lie, and a very successful one from Satan's viewpoint. It is antinomianism, a teaching compatible with Gnosticism.
"This is how we know we are in him." The only possible way in which we can be certain we are in Jesus Christ is that we are keeping His commandments and those He gave us through His Apostles. When we are not keeping the commandments found in the New Testament we have no guarantee we are in Christ, even though we feel like we are; even though everyone we trust says we are; even though we have taken "the four steps of salvation"; even though we feel like we have God's blessing.
Only those who are "in Christ" will be resurrected and caught up to meet Him in the air. No believer who is not keeping Christ's commandments will be resurrected and caught up to meet Him when He appears. Anyone who says otherwise is deceived. The truth is not in him or her.
"Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."
Jesus walked in righteous, holy, obedient behavior. If we claim to live in Him we must behave as He did. If we claim to be in Him but do not keep His commandments because we believe we are "saved by grace" and our behavior does not matter, then we do not understand how new-covenant grace operates. We are living in deception.
Are we saved by grace or by works of righteousness we have done?
We are saved by the Divine grace that always results in righteous behavior. When the grace we have does not result in righteous behavior it is not the true grace of God but a form of Gnosticism. It is a false grace. How can we be sure? Because it is not according to the Bible.
Notice what John says at the end of his epistle:
We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. (I John 5:20—NIV)
John apparently was resisting the philosophy of Gnosticism. He states (in the second chapter) that the reason for writing his epistle is that we would not sin. After numerous exhortations commanding us to live righteously John concludes by saying, "He is the true God and eternal life." John said this because the god preached by the Gnostics was not the true God but a philosophy. So it is today. The current Evangelical teaching is not the true God but a philosophy, a philosophy that often does not bring forth a new moral creation in Jesus Christ.
To be continued.