with fear and trembling, your own salvation work out.1
There are principles of God that are important to understand, it is to know the "why" behind the scriptures, it is experiential knowledge versus head knowledge, it is faith being worked out. For example, "the truth will set you free" what does this mean? Or if I say "work out your own salvation" And what happens if we use these words in and by themselves with no explanation of the "why"; of their meaning? is it helpful or harmful? Syntax is the grammar, describing the way to construct a correct sentence. but semantics relates to the meaning. For example, "I am a sinner saved by Grace", what does it mean, its semantic? I was a sinner and I am now saved by Grace? or does it mean "I am a sinner and I am saved by Grace?" In these examples, the validity or truth of the sentence is based upon conditions, so these are truth conditional semantics.
"For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God."7 This seed was prophesied of, the seed of Abraham the promise was made to, this seed, truth, light, the enduring Word of God, Jesus, His Words are Spirit and Truth.8 The truth sets you free, is a truth conditional statement. Can I apply it to people who habitually sin and say you must not know him, truth sets you free? The law of liberty says that if I look into truth and then turn away without enduring as if looking into a mirror then looking away forgetting who I am, then I fall back from the freedom that I looked into. Jesus often was amazed at the lack of unbelief in people. It is good to strive for such strong belief as to endure in truth. Jesus was the only one who has completed such a high mark, it was the power of his sinless life that saves our own.
"Anyone in him abiding doesn't sin. anyone sinning has not seen him nor has he known him."11 This is truth conditional, on other scripture, it is an example of necessarily true; which is true, and remains true under all reinterpretations of its components. If I abide in him I do not sin, abiding in the vine, in Him, walking in the Spirit, I do not sin. We know this is true from other scripture. The one who practices righteousness is righteous... The one practicing sin is of the devil... Anyone born of God does not practice sin as the seed of God in him abides and he is not able to sin.12 But the second, anyone sinning has not seen him nor has he known him, is conditional on what I am speaking to, my spirit or my body. My spirit is my true identity as a believer but If we say that we do not sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.9. Why are we deceiving ourselves if we say we do not sin? because sin exists in my members, so technically I can sin, though it doesn't define me. We know this is true, as there is the Law of the Spirit and the Law of Sin which wars against each other, and there is this truth of being born again, God's seed abiding in us, sealed with his Spirit.
He is not able to sin, is truth conditional on what I am speaking to, the state of my inner being, is born again or not. Some translations say continue to sin, but it is this idea of sin referring to sin as a state, of missing the mark of God's righteousness, and whether I am continuing in this state. I am in the state of sin, or the state of righteousness, it is God's seed that makes one righteous. Looking in context; in Jesus there is no sin, if I have the seed of Christ in my inner being, I do not sin. If we say we abide in him and sin we have not seen nor known him; his seed is not in me. I can not abide in Him and sin. But I can walk in the flesh which is not abiding in Him, it is sinning in the flesh, anything I do not of faith or love is walking in the flesh. If we abide in him, fellowship, there is no sin, he cleanses us from sin. If you are of his seed you are made righteous, you are defined by righteousness, you practice righteousness, not sin, you are not of the seed of antichrist. To sin as a believer, is to say that truth is not in me in the sense that I have walked in the flesh. The truth of justification from the state of sin, says I am set free, no longer a slave to sin, I am born again, for in my inner being I delight in the laws of God, I am a child of God and I have been forgiven. The truth of sanctification, says I must abide, walk, endure in truth.
"Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation."9a We grow up into our salvation, not to be saved in the sense of justification, but working it out from the inner change. If I am under the Law of the Spirit then life and peace. If I am not abiding in truth, abiding in Christ, such would put me under the Law of Sin and death. If we say we have fellowship with him (abiding in him, his word, his truth) and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.10 Practicing truth is an outcome of abiding in him, he is light, abiding in him exposes the darkness to light, therefore I can't say I am abiding in him and doing or practicing sin at the same time, I am walking in the flesh and not the Spirit. If we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.11 Walking in him is walking in light, exposing darkness, exposing sin, if I walk in him my sin is exposed, he cleanses me from it, not he forgives me as I already have been forgiven, he cleanses, gives me peace.
In Logic, which is the study of reasoning used in mathematics and computer science, which I am a student, there is an approach to semantics of natural language that sees meaning (or at least the meaning of assertions) as being the same as truth conditions. This is called truth-conditional semantics. In truth-conditional semantics one looks at what makes for the truth of a sentence. For example, "It is snowing in Alabama" is conditionally true on it snowing in Alabama. What about the sentence, "Elvis is alive"? The word "Elvis" refers to Elvis Presley, and "is alive" is associated with the set of currently living humans. If I know these conditions then I can know the truth of a sentence. One way of representing this is Elvis and Alive; "Elvis" And-ed with "Alive", he must belong to the set associated with "is alive", that is, if Elvis and Alive then Elvis is alive. For this to be a true sentence, both have to be true based on their conditions.
Jesus is the Word of God, he was in the beginning with God, all things were created by his words. Our faith is created by such, as he is its author and perfecter. His words are Spirit and Truth. Jesus spoke in parables, he was careful at explaining the why, of speaking truth so all conditions were known. For example: Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Condition of entering the kingdom? doing the will of the Father. And what does his will look like? Jesus equates knowing Him to following his words and helping the least of these. For examples; I never knew you And you did not help the least of these, if Know And Do then will.6 It is a relationship with him, loving him and loving others, Jesus said these are the greatest commandments and sum up the Law and prophets. He spoke in this way, so we would think on the things he spoke, so that we know the "why", so we would be persuaded, would exercise faith, looking into that which we do not see. God gives us revelation knowledge into scripture but some would say human logic contradicts this, it does not, we are to train in discernment, this requires us to think logically. The enemy is all about authority and control, he wants us to believe God is something different, but God doesn't want to control us, he seeks obedience out of free will, out of love, like a loving Father.
Logical truths are truths which are considered to be necessarily true; which is true, and remains true under all reinterpretations of its components other than its logical constants. They do not contradict scripture, but reinforce it. My thinking should align with truth as I have the mind of Christ. The truth will set you free. Is this a true statement? The whole truth is; I was Justified when I was saved, I was set free (saved, redeemed, adopted as a son, born again, made righteous, justified) from being a slave to the sinful nature (sinners are slaves to their sin nature and unrighteous before God) and now I am now working this salvation out, believing what is in my inner being, looking into the Law of Liberty. Sanctification of my soul. Who's your daddy? Do you belong to God or the devil. You belong to your father, the devil... for there is no truth in him.6 Truth sets me free, what does this mean? Do I no longer sin? Yes and No, again conditional. Yes, in my inner being, my spirit, I am made righteous, I am justified and sanctified, I am no longer defined by sin. No, in my outer shell, my members, my flesh, my body not yet glorified, in a fallen world that moans for Christ's return, sin still exists. As a believer I am defined by my new inner being, thus I am not a sinner, but I am made righteous in his eyes, I am justified by truth, for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever.7 I have a choice, I can walk, enduring in the truth, in the Spirit, which sets me free, or in the flesh, sin, which brings death.
Jesus is the Word of God, he was in the beginning with God, all things were created by his words. Our faith is created by such, as he is its author and perfecter. His words are Spirit and Truth. Jesus spoke in parables, he was careful at explaining the why, of speaking truth so all conditions were known. For example: Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Condition of entering the kingdom? doing the will of the Father. And what does his will look like? Jesus equates knowing Him to following his words and helping the least of these. For examples; I never knew you And you did not help the least of these, if Know And Do then will.6 It is a relationship with him, loving him and loving others, Jesus said these are the greatest commandments and sum up the Law and prophets. He spoke in this way, so we would think on the things he spoke, so that we know the "why", so we would be persuaded, would exercise faith, looking into that which we do not see. God gives us revelation knowledge into scripture but some would say human logic contradicts this, it does not, we are to train in discernment, this requires us to think logically. The enemy is all about authority and control, he wants us to believe God is something different, but God doesn't want to control us, he seeks obedience out of free will, out of love, like a loving Father.
Logical truths are truths which are considered to be necessarily true; which is true, and remains true under all reinterpretations of its components other than its logical constants. They do not contradict scripture, but reinforce it. My thinking should align with truth as I have the mind of Christ. The truth will set you free. Is this a true statement? The whole truth is; I was Justified when I was saved, I was set free (saved, redeemed, adopted as a son, born again, made righteous, justified) from being a slave to the sinful nature (sinners are slaves to their sin nature and unrighteous before God) and now I am now working this salvation out, believing what is in my inner being, looking into the Law of Liberty. Sanctification of my soul. Who's your daddy? Do you belong to God or the devil. You belong to your father, the devil... for there is no truth in him.6 Truth sets me free, what does this mean? Do I no longer sin? Yes and No, again conditional. Yes, in my inner being, my spirit, I am made righteous, I am justified and sanctified, I am no longer defined by sin. No, in my outer shell, my members, my flesh, my body not yet glorified, in a fallen world that moans for Christ's return, sin still exists. As a believer I am defined by my new inner being, thus I am not a sinner, but I am made righteous in his eyes, I am justified by truth, for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever.7 I have a choice, I can walk, enduring in the truth, in the Spirit, which sets me free, or in the flesh, sin, which brings death.
In John's writing we see this concept of seed unfold, whose seed are you of? If you are of the seed of God you will no longer be defined by sin and if you abide in him you will not sin, and you can't abide in him, or not sin, if his seed is not in you.10 Seed and Abide and Not Sin. what is most important here for justification is seed. If I have been born again of the seed of Christ then I am not of the seed of Antichrist. In my inner being I am born again. Does this mean I never sin again? No. it means my identity is not of sinful nature, I have a new nature. Sin still exists in my member, my body. I can walk in the flesh, or the Spirit, however the point is my new nature came into being by the seed of Christ.
"Anyone in him abiding doesn't sin. anyone sinning has not seen him nor has he known him."11 This is truth conditional, on other scripture, it is an example of necessarily true; which is true, and remains true under all reinterpretations of its components. If I abide in him I do not sin, abiding in the vine, in Him, walking in the Spirit, I do not sin. We know this is true from other scripture. The one who practices righteousness is righteous... The one practicing sin is of the devil... Anyone born of God does not practice sin as the seed of God in him abides and he is not able to sin.12 But the second, anyone sinning has not seen him nor has he known him, is conditional on what I am speaking to, my spirit or my body. My spirit is my true identity as a believer but If we say that we do not sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.9. Why are we deceiving ourselves if we say we do not sin? because sin exists in my members, so technically I can sin, though it doesn't define me. We know this is true, as there is the Law of the Spirit and the Law of Sin which wars against each other, and there is this truth of being born again, God's seed abiding in us, sealed with his Spirit.
He is not able to sin, is truth conditional on what I am speaking to, the state of my inner being, is born again or not. Some translations say continue to sin, but it is this idea of sin referring to sin as a state, of missing the mark of God's righteousness, and whether I am continuing in this state. I am in the state of sin, or the state of righteousness, it is God's seed that makes one righteous. Looking in context; in Jesus there is no sin, if I have the seed of Christ in my inner being, I do not sin. If we say we abide in him and sin we have not seen nor known him; his seed is not in me. I can not abide in Him and sin. But I can walk in the flesh which is not abiding in Him, it is sinning in the flesh, anything I do not of faith or love is walking in the flesh. If we abide in him, fellowship, there is no sin, he cleanses us from sin. If you are of his seed you are made righteous, you are defined by righteousness, you practice righteousness, not sin, you are not of the seed of antichrist. To sin as a believer, is to say that truth is not in me in the sense that I have walked in the flesh. The truth of justification from the state of sin, says I am set free, no longer a slave to sin, I am born again, for in my inner being I delight in the laws of God, I am a child of God and I have been forgiven. The truth of sanctification, says I must abide, walk, endure in truth.
"Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation."9a We grow up into our salvation, not to be saved in the sense of justification, but working it out from the inner change. If I am under the Law of the Spirit then life and peace. If I am not abiding in truth, abiding in Christ, such would put me under the Law of Sin and death. If we say we have fellowship with him (abiding in him, his word, his truth) and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.10 Practicing truth is an outcome of abiding in him, he is light, abiding in him exposes the darkness to light, therefore I can't say I am abiding in him and doing or practicing sin at the same time, I am walking in the flesh and not the Spirit. If we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.11 Walking in him is walking in light, exposing darkness, exposing sin, if I walk in him my sin is exposed, he cleanses me from it, not he forgives me as I already have been forgiven, he cleanses, gives me peace.
As a believer I can put myself under the Law of Sin or the Law of the Spirit of life and peace. It is simple truth conditional logic, right? I hope I have not added to the confusion. I believe if I say the truth will set you free, then I am not supplying you with the whole truth as the sentence is conditional of definitions, of freedom and truth as to justification and sanctification. "Therefore there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus not according to the flesh who walk but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death."12 Is it truth conditional? if in Christ then I am walking according to the Law of the Spirit and life and peace and freedom from the law of sin and death and therefore have no condemnation. Is this backed by scripture? if I am abiding, walking in Christ then I am walking in the light, the darkness is exposed, I am not in sin. God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.14 My life has been saved by the son of God, I am born again, justified, by believing in him. It is not works righteousness as Jesus became righteousness for me.
Believing is the work of God, my part was laboring into belief, into persuasion, seeking. We have simplified belief into a quick say this prayer, but from experience this work of God and my laboring in my mind to believe didn't come so easy. Jesus came in fullness of Grace and Truth, it is his goodness that leads men to repentance, this love persuades us, his truth sets us free. Truth is that I am saved, set free from the punishment of sin, I was sealed with his Spirit as a guarantee of my inheritance. No longer a slave, to my sinful nature, but a son, an heir of the Father. If the Son sets you free you are free indeed. But there is a problem, what if; I have just come to Christ, my roots have not grown deep in Him, I am still a babe, I see sin in me. I have not known my new identity in Christ, I see sin in my flesh and still associate it with my identity. And someone comes along and says in response to my sin, the truth will set you free. Well, I will say I thought I was saved, I guess not, because I am not free from sin. The truth which was meant to set free has been snatched away by the enemy. In this example I believe that this babe in Christ will come under doubt and condemnation because someone did not tell him the whole truth, the conditions of the truth.
Believing is the work of God, my part was laboring into belief, into persuasion, seeking. We have simplified belief into a quick say this prayer, but from experience this work of God and my laboring in my mind to believe didn't come so easy. Jesus came in fullness of Grace and Truth, it is his goodness that leads men to repentance, this love persuades us, his truth sets us free. Truth is that I am saved, set free from the punishment of sin, I was sealed with his Spirit as a guarantee of my inheritance. No longer a slave, to my sinful nature, but a son, an heir of the Father. If the Son sets you free you are free indeed. But there is a problem, what if; I have just come to Christ, my roots have not grown deep in Him, I am still a babe, I see sin in me. I have not known my new identity in Christ, I see sin in my flesh and still associate it with my identity. And someone comes along and says in response to my sin, the truth will set you free. Well, I will say I thought I was saved, I guess not, because I am not free from sin. The truth which was meant to set free has been snatched away by the enemy. In this example I believe that this babe in Christ will come under doubt and condemnation because someone did not tell him the whole truth, the conditions of the truth.
While in my inner being I have been made perfect, my body has not, my mind is at enmity against God, sin dwells in my members, oh what a wretched man I am! Thanks to Jesus the Law of the Spirit sets me free from sin and death. I have a choice; to walk in the flesh or in the Spirit. For life and peace I must abide in him, walking in the Spirit. I must set my mind on things of the Spirit. I must work out the inside, put off the old and put on the new, present my body a living sacrifice, be transformed by the renewing of my mind, clothe myself in his righteousness. I must learn to walk in the Spirit. This not justification, as a child I have developed my identity, this is sanctification of my soul, it is a battle. I write to you, dear children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.15 Why is this important, you say? As a child of God I am no longer a slave to sin though my flesh, my mind, the enemy, and the world will tell me so, I am defined by God's righteousness, I have been adopted into the family. This victory is in my inner being, I must work out my salvation with fear and trembling. This walking in the Spirit by faith, it is believing my new identity, what is inside, working out my salvation.