In thinking over what you said during our last conversation, I wonder if you should go back to study grace a bit further. It is my contention that the grace of God was manifest in that God sent His Son to earth. The word, "grace," means, "unmerited favor." The unmerited favor was manifest when God sent Jesus. Mankind did not deserve God's effort to give it a second chance at salvation, but God took the chance again anyway. The favor of God was manifest in that He sent His Son to die for us when we didn't deserve such love and respect.
Notice Ephesians 2:8: "For by grace are you saved." That's God's undeserved favor, but the verse does not stop there. It goes on with, "through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." What is the gift of God? It is the Faith, not the salvation that is the gift of God. The grace is the fact that God sent his Son to die for us; it is God's love and respect for humanity that caused Him to send His Son. The ability to believe in Jesus comes from God as a free gift. Paul states this in Romans 12:3, "According as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith." It is the faith that is not of ourselves. Of course "faith comes by hearing God's Word," Romans 10:17. Ephesians 2:9-10 goes on with, "Not of works lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." Again, it is the faith that comes from God, not from doing good works that saves us. In other words, no one should believe their goodness will get them to heaven. However, we are saved from our sins to do works. The new covenant has two parts.
The idea that Jesus did not draft and ratify a new covenant until after fulfilling the old covenant is lost on most Christians. Therefore they do not recognize the two parts referenced by Ephesians 2:8-10. "For by grace are you saved" is followed by "Not of works lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." Those who are washed by the blood are in Christ, buried in His death, commonly called Christians, but Christians are created in Christ, (new creations, 2Cor.5:17), unto good works but not good works we define, good works defined by Jesus.
One man asked Jesus, "What are the works of God that we might perform them, and Jesus answered, Believe on the Son whom He has sent," John 6:28-29. The only work associated with the new birth is faith in Jesus' death but Christians must perform the works of Christ to inherit eternal life. The works we were created in Christ Jesus to perform is to believe on the Son. The word on, mistakenly translated in by later translators, indicates a belief on His Lord ship, the place arrived through faith in His death (the meaning of the word on). Thus Paul states, "With the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation," because after you believe in Jesus, you still have to perform the works of belief on Jesus and if you believe Jesus is Lord, you will keep the first commandment of His Lordship and a stream of confession will flow from your mouth.
You place an emphasis on walking in the Spirit and obeying unwritten commandments but you might do well to consider the Holy Spirit is not the author of the New Covenant. The Holy Spirit is only on the earth to represent the interests of Jesus as He performs the duties of Lord of Lords and King of Kings in the heavens. The Holy Spirit will not act on His own accord, He only does those things He is directed to do by Jesus. To walk in the Spirit is to walk in Jesus. Thus, you cannot divorce walking in the Spirit from doing the works of Jesus. The works of Jesus is obedience of His commandments. It is how the kingdom of God is brought to earth. The reason the Church is not walking in the Spirit is because it is refusing to do the works of Jesus. Binding and loosening is performed by obedience and disobedience. Speaking in tongues each and every day is a work of Jesus. It is not a work of yourself; you cannot speak in tongues of your own accord.
The truth is we receive eternal life by works but not works we perform of our own accord. We are saved by works we were destined to perform in Christ Jesus because we are saved from "faith to faith, the just shall live by faith," Romans 1:17. This verse actually begins with "The righteousness of God is revealed from"... because literally the righteousness, or right behavior under the new covenant, is revealed from faith in Jesus' death to faith on His Lordship, the two parts of the new covenant. Unbelievers cannot obey the commandments of the Lord, thus, the only righteousness revealed to the lost is the belief in Jesus. Only Christians can keep Jesus’ commandments so the righteousness of obedience is only revealed to Christians. "The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith."
In Philippians 2:6, Paul begins a very interesting line of thinking. He begins by describing how Jesus laid aside His Godhood, stripped Himself of all power, glory, and authority, and came to earth as a baby and as a man died for all mankind. But in verse 9, he begins to describe how the Father was so impressed by what Jesus had done in stripping Himself and humbling Himself to the cross and dying a sinner’s death, He highly exalted Jesus, giving Him a name that is above every other name, making it so that every entity in existence would bow its knee to Jesus. This includes the Father and the Holy Spirit, who gladly bow to the one who humbled Himself so completely.
However, Paul finishes this line of thought by saying, “Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more so in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Here first we see the word “obey,” in response to Jesus’ exaltation to Lord of all, to which I would respond with, “Obey what?”
The word, “obey,” means to, “comply with a command; submit to the authority of.” So, Paul, in the light of the truth that Jesus has been highly exalted above all other power and authority, is admonishing obedience of His commandments and submitting to His authority. Moreover, it is by obedience and submission that we “work out our salvation.” In other words, each man woman and child must keep Jesus’ commandments and the keeping of them are an individual event. Thus each one has to work out when and where they will keep them. The how is spelled out by the commandments.
However, there is another truth found in this verse. Paul says, “not as in my presence only, but now much more so in my absence.” Paul knew the Philippians knew what Paul expected in his presence and performed beautifully but he also knew that in his absence, they were not keeping the commandments of the Lord. Paul’s admonition to obey “now much more so in my absence,” is based on the truth that Jesus has been made judge of all things; there is no escaping His watchful eye. Christians have an opportunity to gain eternal life. It is spread before them like a lush green lawn as far as the eye can see with the warmth of the sun shining down, bathing the whole valley in a warm yellow light, but it can be lost as easily as gained. We must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. If Jesus is Lord, and we know that He is, there is no one higher to appeal our case to if Jesus turns us down. We have one chance to get it right.
Now, the new covenant is extremely easy to keep. The three commandments of the Lord are: saturate yourself with His Spirit daily. This means the gift of tongues must flow out of your mouth every day. If you miss a day, just repent and obey. Preach this gospel, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to one or 2,001 and teach those who respond. Remember, you are working out your salvation between you and your Lord. We know the Lord is gracious, thus Paul tells us we can work it out with Him and each one of us can work it out individually. The point seems to be: “Are you submitted to His Lordship over you?” If you are, you are trying your best to comply with His commandments.
The new covenant is not called a “law” by the New Testament though it clearly is. It is a law with wiggle room, otherwise we would not be told to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” The fear and trembling speaks of the mightiness of our Lord. Though He is gracious, we must not disrespect Him in any way. Paul’s point in Philippians 2:6-12, seems to be that since the Father God and the Holy Spirit God are willing to bow their knees to the Lord Jesus Christ, those Jesus died to save should be willing to bow their knees as well and submit to Jesus’ authority by obedience of His, the Lord Jesus Christ’s, commandments, commandments He issued as Lord.
In Exodus 4, we find a curious story about Moses, his wife, and his two sons. Now, let me provide a little backdrop to this story. Moses was called by God to deliver the Children of Israel from Egypt. Moses understood this fact based upon His killing of the Egyptian that quarreled with the Hebrew. Moses lived with this call gnawing at the inside of him for some 80 years but when the time came for him to actually take up the call, he had not kept the covenant of Abraham, a covenant he was answerable to.
Moses lived under the Abrahamic covenant, which stated all sons must be circumcised on the eight day. Zippora evidently stood against Moses’ fulfilling his obligation to God in order to be in covenant and Moses could not fulfill His call without complying with the covenant. Thus, as Moses entered Egypt on his way to perform that he was called to do, the covenant God had made with Abraham met him and his disobedience to the covenant caused him to fall under a curse.
All throughout the scripture we are told of the grace and mercy of God, even under the old covenant, which was strict. Each infraction was punishable by death. If Moses had attempted obedience, tried to obey, he would have been extended mercy, but he gave in to his wife’s desires and this blatant disobedience brought swift punishment when Moses stood on the brink of fulfilling the call on his life. Zippora threw the foreskins at Moses’ feet as a testimony against Moses’ God, which required the seemingly barbaric behavior.
Christians likewise are called to do good works in Christ, works that when performed, bring the kingdom of God to earth. Every Christian, like Moses, will have their own “day of the Lord,” at which time their keeping of the covenant will come up as a question and each Christian will have to answer for their lack of submission and obedience.
In Philippians 2:12, the word, “wherefore,” means, “because of.” Because Jesus was highly exalted above all principalities and powers; or, in the light of this truth, obey. The unspoken supposition is that Jesus issued commandments with this authority, commandments that should be obeyed. If Jesus had not issued commandments with the authority conveyed on Him when He was lifted above all principalities and powers, there would be nothing to obey and the word, wherefore, would ring hollow.
The new covenant does not state any penalties for disobedience as the old covenant did, but it is the keeping of the new covenant that allows Christians entrance to eternal life. If the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ are not kept, eternal salvation is not gained and this is the penalty for lack of obedience, which is why Paul says, “Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed in my presence, not as in my presence only, but now much more so in my absence, work out your own salvation.” The, wherefore, directly refers back to the exaltation.
Jesus has not burdened any soul with obedience. His commandments are not grievous or hard to keep. In fact Paul goes on to remind the Philippians, “For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” So it is this Jesus, who has been made Lord of all, who works and wills in you by the Holy Spirit, to keep His commandments. “His good pleasure” is the keeping of His commandments. Remember the words of John 14:15 “If you love me, keep my commandments”? If you want to love Jesus; please Jesus: keep His commandments.
John the Baptist was the first to use the phrase, “Bring forth fruits meet for repentance,” recorded in Matthew 3:8, but Jesus used the phrase in Luke 3:8, and Paul repeats the phrase in Acts 26:20. The fruit worthy of repentance under the new covenant is the keeping of Jesus’ commandments, the only commandments new covenant Christians can fail to keep. Those who have believed Jesus died for their sins have passed by the old covenant with its ten commandments and defining of righteousness. They have been transferred into a new consciousness of reality.
The point here is that if you are to repent of disobedience of the Lord’s commandments, the fruit meet for repentance is obedience. Moreover, the fruit of the Spirit is manifest in those who keep the commandment of Jesus. Those who saturate themselves each day with the Holy Spirit, manifest the fruit of the Spirit naturally. Christians naturally act like Jesus when they are saturated with Jesus and since Jesus is supernatural, the saturated Christian is supernatural. The gifts of the Spirit naturally occur in the life of the saturated Christian. Mortality puts on immortality and sickness and disease find it hard to survive in the saturated Christian. Keeping the new covenant brings the kingdom of heaven to earth.
While it is clear the churches planted by Paul understood the gospel he preached and what it required, his admonition to the Philippians to obey much more so in his absence indicates the early churches’ reluctance to keep Paul’s gospel. Thus, neither the fruit of the Spirit nor the gifts of the Spirit were naturally occurring in the early Church. Everything about the new covenant is built on the foundation of the commandments to saturate yourself with the Spirit, preach this gospel, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and teach converts. If the foundation is removed, the new covenant collapses upon itself and you are left admonishing and cajoling and encouraging Christians to act like Christians. Does this sound familiar? Most every pastor of the modern Church spends most of their energy striving to get Christians to act like Christ; something they would naturally do if they were saturating themselves each day with Jesus through the Holy Spirit’s manifestation of tongues.
Let’s consider a little history. Each time the Jews kept the old covenant law, the blessings of the old covenant flowed like a river to the Nation of Israel. However, each time the Jews fell into disobedience, the flow of the blessings of the old covenant slowed until eventually they stopped altogether. Under the new covenant, the effect of disobedience is somewhat muted in that the new covenant has two parts. Those who accept Jesus’ death as payment for their sins have kept the first part and are performing partial obedience and experiencing partial blessings. The full effect of the new covenant cannot be experienced without the keeping of the Lord’s commandments however.
This partial obedience and partial blessings is why Christians tend to call themselves blessed and feel like they are living in good standing with God while walking in disobedience. Moreover, it makes it harder to convince Christians of their error. Thus, the Church has not experienced the new covenant in all its glory since the very beginning when the apostles and Paul were determined to keep the commandments of the Lord.
I think we can safely say the grace of God is not found in a truth that Jesus did everything as it pertains to salvation and all we have to do is believe. While that is true of the first faith, the second faith takes work, work that we were created in Christ to perform. This is why John 3:16 (KJV) says all those who believe in Jesus should not perish but have everlasting life. If we do not perform the works of faith, we lose that we have gained.
Salvation is not a free gift; the faith it takes to believe in Jesus is. Eternal life is obtained by works but not works we devise and perform on our own. Eternal life is obtained by works we were created in Christ Jesus to perform; works He performs through us.
This is a harsh truth but that is the reality the scriptures point out if you take them literally. I, like you, would like to think there is some in between place where those washed by the blood are given asylum if they fail to perform the works in Christ but I can't find any reference to it. The thing about loving as Jesus loved the disciples is that Jesus was bluntly honest. The truth is not always easy to hear.