Resources for New Christians

[Garland-Green]

The most central person in Christianity is Jesus Christ. Without Him Christianity has little value and is no different than any other man-made religion.
Who we believe Jesus to be is of eternal consequence and separates those that are called out from the world by God, and those who are of the world.



We read in Matthew 16:13-17
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.


Being the Son of the Living God, makes Jesus equal to God (John 10:33).

The idea with this thread is to offer some advice and help to new Christians in what we should think about doctrines. A doctrine is a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a Church. Ideally this doctrine should have its basis in the Bible.

 

[Bible guild Mule]

2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness

One of the Apostles (Paul) wrote this to a young man named Timothy.

The Bible is a collection of 66 books, written over a period of 1500 years and on three different continents, that are gathered into one book, divided into what is called the Old Testament and the New Testament. It tells us the history of the world, God's plan for it and why we are where we are today.

To the diciples (Jesus had twelve, or thirteen if you count the one who betrayed Him), the Old Testament was very important because it had recorded in it the promises of God (prophecies), and with them they could show that Jesus was the promised Messiah.


Jesus said about the Old Testament in John 5:39: These are the very Scriptures that testify about me...

We know it was the Old Testament He was talking about because the New Testament was yet to be written. Granted He did say these words to rebuke to those who looked to Scripture for Salvation and not Him. We are not to do as they, but look to Him for Salvation and learn more about Him and God through Scripture.

Without the Bible we would have just word of mouth, and we could not trace anything Jesus said back to Him with certainty. We would have no way of determining what is true and what is false. We would have no way of testing the spirits (there are spirits wanting to deceive us) and we would have no orthodoxy (there would be no generally accepted beliefs).

God-breathed means that God inspired the writers of Scripture. He allowed them to use their own peculiarity in writing, but made sure that certain things that is beneficial and necessary for us to know was recorded and preserved.

 

[Bible guild Mule]

Ephesians. 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.


One man said; "Grace is God reaching downward to people who are in rebellion against Him.”

Another said; "Grace is free sovereign favor to the ill-deserving."

Ill-deserving - that is you and me. There is nothing we can do that would ever pay for Jesus' sacrifice for us, or anything in the past that we did that would or could possibly inspire or urge God to forgive us.

Paul in Romans 5:8 put it like this; but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 12:3 says " ... God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”

Even our faith comes from God. We really have nothing to brag about except God.

This is why in Revelation (Revelation 4:10) the 24 elders threw their crowns down and praised God. It is singularly His work, all of it.

 

[Bible guild Mule]

Saying you have faith when everything goes your way and it costs you nothing to believe is easy. The victims of ISIS showed the world the value of Jesus. Anyone of these men in the picture could have escaped had they denied Jesus and said that they don't believe.

John recounting Jesus' words to the disciples wrote;
John 16:2
They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.

So what is faith? Why is it so important? Does it matter if we leave it?

It is through faith that you have received grace.

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

The Devil does know Scripture and the promises of Scripture as well, if not better than we do. He has devised several ways to make us abandon faith.
Some of these ways; intimidation, persecution and deception.

Luke 9:26
Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Matthew 10;33
But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.

We will all in one way or another meet someone, an idea, philosophy or commonly accepted truth that will attempt to shake us and have us abandon the only true source of life - Jesus.

Hebrews 11 starts of with: Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. More: Hebrews 11.

Paul warned the Romans to stay away from those who taught other teachings than what the disciples did.

Romans 16:17
I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.

In Hebrews 6:4-8 we hear about those who abandon the faith;

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

 

[Bible guild Mule]

There are many who say that you don't have to do anything different than what the majority of the world is doing today, and you can still be a Christian. Some say you can live in habitual sin and still be a Christian. Many use grace as a licence to sin. But what is faith supposed to do with us? The Bible does address this issue.

James 2:14-17
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

If our faith is a faith from God, since God is a God of action, our faith should be a faith of action. We know that He has created us in Jesus Christ to do good works, prepared by God for us to walk in (Ephesians 2:10).

A change should happen in us when we become a Christian as the Holy Spirit starts working in us and we are slowly day by day conformed into Jesus' image (Romans 8:29).

We are supposed to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God (Romans 12:1).


1 Corinthians 15:57-58
but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.[

Galatians 6:9
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

You are also supposed to do your regular daily work as if you are working for God (Colossians 3:23 ).

Remember the foundation we talked about in the first post. Any work we do that does not have that foundation will blow away when the storm comes.

Matthew 7:24-27
Build Your House on the Rock
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

 

[Bible guild Mule]

The gospel in a nutshell:
"Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." - 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

The word gospel derives from the Old English gōd-spell (rarely godspel), meaning "good news" or "glad tidings".

His Resurrection is part of the good news too. To us it is significant because it demonstrated that God accepted Jesus' sacrifice on our behalf. It proves that God has the power to raise us from the dead. It guarantees that those who believe in Christ will not remain dead, but will be resurrected unto eternal life.

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul gives us some details on the importance of the Resurrection. He gives us six disastrous consequences if there were no resurrection: 1) preaching Christ would be senseless (v. 14); 2) faith in Christ would be useless (v. 14); 3) all the witnesses and preachers of the resurrection would be liars (v. 15); 4) no one would be redeemed from sin (v. 17); 5) all former believers would have perished (v.18.); and 6) Christians would be the most pitiable people on the earth (v. 19). But Christ indeed has risen from the dead and “has become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (v. 20), assuring that we will follow Him in resurrection.

 

[Bible guild Mule]

Luke 13:1-5

Repent or Perish
Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Repentance is a change in attitude, remorse of what we have done. Turing away from.

In the Old Testament there are two main words that are rendered as "repent," "repentant," and "repentance."

Nacham, נָחַם. It means to turn, to be sorry for, regret, etc. The KJV translates it as “comfort” 57 times, “repent” 41 times, “comforter” nine times, and “ease” once. 1 to be sorry, console oneself, repent, regret, comfort, be comforted.1
Sub, שׁוּב, The KJV translates as it as “return” 391 times, “ . . . again” 248 times, “turn” 123 times, “ . . . back” 65 times, “ . . . away” 56 times, “restore” 39 times, “bring” 34 times, “render” 19 times, “answer” 18 times, “recompense” eight times, “recover” six times, “deliver” five times, “put” five times, “withdraw” five times, “requite” four times, and translated miscellaneously 40 times. 1 to return, turn back

As you can see, there are a variety of ways to translate the words; but the basic meaning is to turn--to have an attitude of change so as to not do wrong again.

In the New Testament there is one main Greek word that is translated into the English "repentance": metanoeo, μετανοέω and from that word we also get "repentant" and "repentance." The word is derived from the basic roots meta to change place or condition, and noeo to exercise the mind, think, comprehend."

From Strong's Concordance;
metanoeó: to change one's mind or purpose
Original Word: μετανοέω
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: metanoeó
Phonetic Spelling: (met-an-o-eh'-o)
Short Definition: I repent, change my mind
Definition: I repent, change my mind, change the inner man (particularly with reference to acceptance of the will of God), repent.

Word-studies
3340 metanoéō (from 3326 /metá, "changed after being with" and 3539 /noiéō, "think".) – properly, "think differently after," "after a change of mind"; to repent (literally, "think differently afterwards".).

1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

 

[Bible guild Mule]

1 Corinthians 13 New International Version (NIV)

13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

We could have all the doctrines in the world right. We could know the Bible word for word. We could be able to call from memory anything in the Scriptures, but if we don't love those things are empty. 1 Corinthians 13 is talking about agape love.

The ancient Greeks had four different words we could translate love. It is important to understand the difference between the words, and why the apostle Paul chose the Greek word agape here.

Eros was one word for love. It described, as we might guess from the word itself, erotic love. It refers to sexual love.

Storge was the second word for love. It refers to family love, the kind of love there is between a parent and child, or between family members in general.

Philia is the third word for love. It speaks of a brotherly friendship and affection. It is the love of deep friendship and partnership. It might be described as the highest love of which man, without God's help, is capable of.

Agape is the fourth word for love. It is a love that loves without changing. It is a self-giving love that gives without demanding or expecting repayment. It is love so great that it can be given to the unlovable or unappealing. It is love that loves even when it is rejected. Agape love gives and loves because it wants to; it does not demand or expect repayment from the love given. It gives because it loves; it does not love in order to receive. According to Alan Redpath, we get our English word agony from agape. "It means the actual absorption of our being in one great passion." (Redpath) Strictly speaking, agape can't be defined as "God's love," because men are said to agape sin and the world (John 3:19 and 1 John 2:15). But it can be defined as a sacrificial, giving, absorbing kind of love. The word has little to do with emotion; it has much to do with self-denial for the sake of another.

We can read this chapter and think that Paul is saying that if we are unfriendly, then our lives mean nothing. But agape isn't really friendliness; it is self-denial for the sake of another.

 

[Bible guild Mule]

Baptism from the Greek noun βάπτισμα - baptisma.

The vast majority of Christian churches take the great commission very seriously, sending people to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt.28:19). The Bible clearly tells us that it is only through the blood and grace of Jesus that we are saved (1 John 1:7, Eph. 2:8-9, Rom. 3:22, Rom. 5:1, Rom. 3:23, 2 Cor. 12:9, 2 Thess. 2:16, Titus 2:11). But for many Christians, baptism becomes the natural response to having been born again in the spirit, this is called “believer baptism.” When a person has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and has placed their trust in Christ alone, they often desire to publicly declare their belief by being baptized.

There does not seem to be any examples of infant baptism in the New Testament or in the first centuries of Christianity. When someone was baptized it was in response to belief and repentance.

Acts 8:36-39 ESV
And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

 

[Bible guild Mule]

Sin is described in the Bible as transgression of the law of God (1 John 3:4) and rebellion against God (Deuteronomy 9:7; Joshua 1:18.). Sin had its beginning with Satan, probably the most beautiful and powerful of the angels. Not content with his position, he desired to be higher than God, and that was his downfall, the beginning of sin (Isaiah 14:12-15). Renamed Satan, he brought sin to the human race in the Garden of Eden, where he tempted Adam and Eve with the same enticement, “you shall be like God.” Genesis 3 describes Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God and against His command. Since that time, sin has been passed down through all the generations of mankind and we, Adam’s descendants, have inherited sin from him. Romans 5:12 tells us that through Adam sin entered the world, and so death was passed on to all men because “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

Through Adam, the inherent inclination to sin entered the human race, and human beings became sinners by nature. When Adam sinned, his inner nature was transformed by his sin of rebellion, bringing to him spiritual death and depravity which would be passed on to all who came after him. We are sinners not because we sin; rather, we sin because we are sinners. This passed-on depravity is known as inherited sin. Just as we inherit physical characteristics from our parents, we inherit our sinful natures from Adam. King David lamented this condition of fallen human nature in Psalm 51:5: “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

God used the principle of imputation to benefit mankind when He imputed the sin of believers to the account of Jesus Christ, who paid the penalty for that sin—death—on the cross. Imputing our sin to Jesus, God treated Him as if He were a sinner, though He was not, and had Him die for the sins of the entire world (1 John 2:2). It is important to understand that sin was imputed to Him, but He did not inherit it from Adam. He bore the penalty for sin, but He never became a sinner. His pure and perfect nature was untouched by sin. He was treated as though He were guilty of all the sins ever committed by the human race, even though He committed none. In exchange, God imputed the righteousness of Christ to believers and credited our accounts with His righteousness, just as He had credited our sins to Christ’s account (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/definition-sin.html#ixzz3aHQhzqyc