If there are stones to be thrown, then I am guilty as charged by the highest voices, but please, hold on to them for just another few minutes, for the measure has been re-drawn by one other than our Savior. Yes sir, a human not from above or pre-scient, one just like us, a man, pure and simple.

Now whatsoever whoever would want to wag about the man, it matters too little, for there are things that you can say and others you cannot, and what follows is one of those you can, because it is expressed not just to those who know but who also experienced it alongside him, and by these words we know that he labored on solid rock and and drew the measure line we are about to see. a man.

2 Corinthians 1:8:9 rephrased slightly:
"We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead." (Notice the "we"?)

Looks like he and his companions lived on the edge, pretty much close to death, and I guess close to God. I'm starting to worry now about my own intensity of intention and of dedication in my adoration to God .... and Christ.... "to live for him who died for me". Truly. What sort of death am I living? Am I walking in the middle of the path that's narrow or on the edge of it? Am I just kidding me or just living a joke? I'd say I'm taking baby steps, because those stones are way heavy, and it's not just only me, and my!...... there's one thing that I cannot say any more: " I'm not Jesus"....Paul was a man just like me.

Having said that, Paul had his utter burden coming his way always, because I'm sure he wasn't looking purposefully for those troubles (apart from when he had enough and called upon Caesar) so I won't do that either, may God forbid, but I sense it was his fault to some extent for placing himself on Satan's way by praising the Most High and glorifying Christ everywhere that he went, and went he went, traveling like crazy from place to place. I won't do that either, but maybe there's something I can do.

Maybe I can praise God louder, maybe I can glorify Jesus Christ that little bit higher, maybe I can place myself on the way of the sworn enemy by walking on the narrower part of the narrower path. If there anything I can do, I must not not do it...... I must at least try it, otherwise I can't really call that a walk; at it's best I could call it a stroll.

I would advise that you revise this verse again with me, siblings in Christ, and bow to the Almighty God, our merciful Father, and ask Him to guide us and forgive us and hold our hand for just a little bit longer, hoping that our measure is progressing, because we're not just mere men or mere women, we're a people who rely on a powerful God.

Do you have a conscience? what does that even mean? Most of us hear that word being thrown here and there once in a while and are just glad that we are able to spell it, but conscience is a lot more than this, and certainly way beyond being a consciencious being.

The New Testament explains that the end goal of the christian charge is, as well as a pure heart and a bold faith….. a good conscience (1Ti 1:5) which being detached from faith leads to spiritual shipwreck (1Ti 1:19). Paul explains that his joy rested on the testimony of his conscience (2Co 1:12) and therefore practiced having a conscience void of offense toward God and men (Act 24:16). He required any minister of the Gospel to themselves have a pure conscience (1Ti 3:9) and instructed that any brother who sinned against another by wounding their weak conscience was in fact sinning against Christ! (1Co 8:12) Peter went as far as to say that it was thankworthy to suffer wrongly in pain for the sake of a good conscience (1Pe 2:19).

So we can see that for the first century’s apostles, a clean conscience was extremely important. But why?

The writer of the book of Hebrews puts it this way: Christ’s perfect sacrifice’s blood perfects us by sprinkling our heart from an evil conscience and purging it from dead works that we may draw near the living God to serve Him (Heb 9:9&14; 10:22). God wants us to be clean to serve Him. Notice that Hebrews 10:22 does not just talk about our heart beind sprinkled with blood to purge our conscience, but also speaks of our bodies being washed with pure water. It reminds me of the washing basin the Old Testament priests had to use to wash themselves every day of their service, in which basins worship utensils also were plunged (baptised). Peter also associates water with conscience when he says that baptism also saves us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ and then explains that it is not about washing the body, but about the request to God for a good conscience (1Pe 3:21). God loves a good conscience and gives us one when we enter baptism. It is our job to maintain it, as per the second paragraph of this post, which you may want to re-read.

I could not pretend to understand the complete mechanic of how God cleanse our conscience at baptism, I can only relate to what I have experienced and what I can understand from God’s words, but I know that we are priests to the world, a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9), just like the Jews of the Bible were supposed to be. As such we must be clean at all times, without spot from the world, and ready ourselves to eternally serve our God in a way pleasing to Him. To maintain a clean conscience is diffictult but we ourselves have a high Priest that pleads for us and is always attentionate and who is with us until the end of times. let us stay close to him and always in prayer, moving in our service and priestly duties, starting the day always in the presence of God.

Have you noticed that the New Testament contains a pattern of judgement?
Look at the following few verses and see if you find this pattern:

Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned (Mat 7:2) The man who has had no mercy will be judged without mercy. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. (Mat 5:7; Jas 2:13) Forgive, that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. If ye do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses (Mat 6:15; Mar 11:25-26; Luk 6:37 ) With what measure you measure it will be measured to you (Mar 4:24, 7:2) With the judgment that you judge, you shall be judged Judge not, and you shall not be judged. (Mat 7:2 Luk 6:37) He that sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly, he that sows generously shall reap also generously. (2Co 9:6)
It looks pretty obvious that the manner with which we judge others will be boomeranged at us at judgement time. Those who condemn will be condemned, those with mercy will get mercy, those who forgive will be forgiven, those who don't won't, ect.

I've always said that judgement was an externally expressive thing; Christian are not told to not judge but to do so righteously, so I concluded that judgement was not the internal judgement a person has toward another only, but the pragmatic actualization of that judgement, but now I see it differently, though still without negating my first thought but adding to it.

The following verse is what brought it all to a new level:

Rom 2:15 It shows the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

Did you see what happens on Judgement day? One's conscience's thoughts accuse and excuse, i.e. judge, them. Whether the final judgement will be based on our own personal judgement or not, the point is that this definitely implied an internal intimate judgement seemingly, judging by the original verses written at the start of this post, being a result of a life long spiritual/mental lifestyle. How we see others will be how we will judge ourselves. Sobering thought.

What sort of person ought we then to be in our daily interactions with others, in our perseption of others, are we rightly judging other after first reflecting about the worth of our own judgement? Do we have unwarranted stigma concernning certain type of people? How are we to reckon our selves in the knowledge that we are to also judge angels? (1Cor6:3).

Something there to reflect on, certainly something I am working on, so I would love to hear from you, if you would grace me with your thoughts?

May you all be blessed.

SANCTIFICATION (HOLINESS)

First of all santification is not a partial thing. When we dedicate our life to God, both spirit and body are to be set apart (santified/holifies/consecrated) to God. (1Thess4:4, 2Thess2:13, 1Pet1:2)

This is the will of God and His calling to us: our santification, God want us all for Himself (1Thess4:3&7), so much so that without it, no one will see the Lord (Heb12:14). Think about it. Paul even said that sanctification contains salvation (2Thess2:13).

Before we get to our final destination led by sanctification, let us review where it all starts, and after that we will see where it will leads us to.

Sanctification starts when we turn from darkness to light, that is, when we turn from the power of satan to the power of God (Acts 26:18). Then in the process of that sanctification, we cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit (2Cor7:1), since both our spirit and body are willed by God to be sanctified, they must be presented to Him clean and pure, holified for His glory. One must yield one's members servants to righteousness (Rom6:19). Self-submission to God and His discipline (Rom6:22, Heb12:10) and bearing fruit to our freedom from sin grows santification (Rom6:22)

Now, these things are a basics features of the Christian life and worship, so before we go any further I would encourage each one of us to stop, re-read the above paragraph and pray to see if we have the right foundation, solid enough to walk the life of sanctification that leads to salvation. Have we done and are we carrying on doing all of the above?

Now that we have seen where the source of sanctification is, we will now see where it resides, because this is the location we need reach, live in and stay, our tent of dwelling as we sejourn in this life as foreigners ready for our eternal residence.

We need first of all to live a life of truth, because -in- it resides the sanctified life (John 17:17&19). We also need to be -in- Christ, he being the head of the body and of our life, for in him we will find sanctification (1Cor1:2). Our focus also need to be centered in the guidance of the holy Spirit, for -in- it sanctification lives (Rom15:16). Our walk of life must be -in- the will of God because, amongst other things, His will holds our sanctification (Heb10:10).

Now that we have a better visual of both the origin of sanctification and it's location, we need to understand to bridge that links them, the pathway from one to the other, the route that gets you there, and after that we will look at the result of santification. Once again, I would encourage you to re-read the previous paragraph and pause and pray and see where you reside while you worship the Almighty.

There is only one road that leads to the place of sanstification (holiness), and that's the blood of the offering of the body of Christ (Heb10:10, Heb13:12). We will do a study in that one day, but the blood of the sacrifice of Christ buys us, forgives us, cleanses our sins and conscience, justifies us, covenants us, and sanctifies us. There is no way that anyone is able to reach the destination of sanctification without going through the effects of the gracious gift of the blood of Jesus Christ. Sanctification is in the blood of the covenant (Heb10:29), it is the bridge apart from which there is no salvation. You must cross it. It is the free grace of God.

Finally, after all the blessings of a life led by God for His pleasure and glory, the promises of forgiveness and of our inheritance to all who live a life of santification in faith in Christ is expressed in Acts 26:18.

Let us examine ourselves and see how we walk a lifestyle for the purpose of perfecting sanctification in the fear of God (2Co 7:1)

2 Corinthians 10:4
“bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”

The Christian discipline is by no means simple or easy. Some would have us think that all the work is God’s in a monergistic fashion, and that all we have to do is have faith that God will work us off to regeneration and sanctification. Not so, according to Paul.

Here, the battle is described clearly in verse 4: “The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh”; in other words we are not battling against the flesh of our bodies, or its internal organs like in a field battle with swords or guns piercing the heart and bleeding the body, the war we battle is not fleshly, it is as Paul explains in verse 5: “we cast down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God”. These are internal, where our mind and spirit are personally involved, not like in Ephesians 6:12 were the battle is external, but rather here we are battling against ourself !!
We are disciplining our own self and capturing every imaginery thought and every thought that thinks higher than the highness of God’s thoughts, and once captured, we bring them into captivity, and once brought into captivity, we train them to be obedient to Jesus Christ, until ALL of our self has arrived to a fulness of obedience and all previous disobedience has been avenged.

What a thought, huh?

I am obviously a synergist, unlike Calvanists (/Reformed) who are monergists, and so I believe that sanctification and regeneration is a work done, not just by God through the holy Spirit, but with our own participation also, just as I believe is described in the imperative of our verses today.

Here’s another example of the discipling that results in the winning the above battle, another imperative plead on us by all prophets and apostles, the greatest of which is our Savior and Priest Jesus Christ: Rom 6:13 “do not present your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God”. The “alive from the dead” here is contextually relevent to our new birth (re-generation) through water baptism from verse 4 to verse 14.

None of these are the works of God exclusively, but ours too, in which we must excel every moments of our life to the praise of the glory of the grace of God in Christ, for this is how we know we are children of God: Romans 6:16-23 (I missed verse 15 on purpose) and 1John 3:10

Who is in the battle, battle, knowing your redemption is nearing.
Be blessed.

The beginning of the New Testament introduces us to the birth of our Messiah Jesus Christ. Here, we see the genealogy of our Saviour, we read Mary being pregnant of the holy Spirit, Joseph wanting to disengage her, having a dream and eventually marrying Mary, and finally Jesus being born. Although this is a pretty straight forward story-telling from Matthew, one could go into a few doctrinal analyses such as the genealogy disambiguity, the virgin birth confirmation, Christological theology etc, but I will here choose to focus on one single thing that concerns us personally and immediately: Verse 21.

σώσει τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν αὐτῶν
he shall save his people from their sins

All Greek manuscripts agree and all New Testament English versions also agree, apart from the 'Bible in Worldwide English' (he will save his people from the wrong things they have done).

People being saved from their sins isn't the same as people being saved from the consequences of their sins. The Israelites were already saved from the consequences of their sins through the sacrifices and the grace of the Almighty God, there was no confusion, and exactly the same for Christians through the blood of Christ and God's mercy, but here, in Matthew 1:21, we're looking at it from a different perspective where rather than Sin being forgiven believers, as it is thoroughly explained through the rest of the New Testament, Sin itself is what people are taken from, or saved from. In other words, we are not just forgiven our past sins, as the BWE Version renders, but also are saved away from our sins.
Does this mean that we are now sinless now that we are Christians and saved from our sins? Sadly, not yet! (Philippians 3:12) We are not in our sins, like the wretched-filthy-rag crowd is, since we walk, not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Galatians 5:16), having been reborn to a new life (Romains 6:11-12), but we do have an advocate and a high priest if we do happen to sin (1John 2:1). Saying that we never sin is a lie (1John1:8).

Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice provided freedom from the bondage to sin (Romans 6-16-18) and the freedom to live in righteousness -away from sin- ..... not just forgiven. In this verse, we are not saved in (εν) our sins, as if we were saved while we were yet sinners (we were loved while we were yet sinners), we are not saved from (απo) our sin, although this is also true, but we were saved out of (εκ) our sins, that is, saved from being in sin, saved from living in sin.

I believe in the Atonement of victory which, like most other Atonement theories, embraces the victory of Christ over Satan and his world, sin and death, it however demands our own conquering over the craving, appetite and lust of our flesh. you just cannot accept the forgiveness of your past sins and not deal with what causes your present sins! Sin is a symptom of a condition inside of us, not the problem itself. It is therefore imperative that we not only stop sinning but also cease fulfilling any familiar sin by living in it.

You just cannot accept the forgiveness of your past sins and not deal with what causes your present sins

The Son of God has delivered us from the bondage to sin through the purchase of his blood unto an adoption as God's children but also has given us hope to substantiate our faith and the holy Spirit to help our heart and conscience in sanctification and our new life in Christ, that our old sins may be forgiven but also that we may no longer live in sin but be saved out of sin.

May you all be blessed always.