Member
Transformation Necessary For Salvation and Imputed Righteousness
"Alister E. McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification, pp. 258-259: “William Tyndale, although making extensive use of Luther in his early polemical works, still intends to interpret justification as ‘making righteous’. Tyndale’s emphasis upon the renewing and transforming work of the Holy Spirit within humans is quite distinct from Luther’s emphasis upon faith, and clearly parallels Augustine’s transformational concept of justification. For example, see the Prologue to Romans, Works, 493-4, which emphasizes that faith ‘altereth a man, and changeth him into a new spiritual nature’…)."
If you follow the New Testament strand on transformation in Christ, that is, with Christ in the individual, from John 3: 1-7 - ye must be born again - to Romans 12: 2 - be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind - to Galatians 4: 19 - until Christ be formed in you - then to Philippians 2: 5 - let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus - and to II Corinthians 5: 17 - if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away - then you can see that Tyndale was right. These scriptures by Paul help to define what Christ means in John 3: 1-7 by being born again of the Spirit.
Revelation 12: 17 says the remnant has the testimony of Jesus Christ, and Revelation 14: 1, 4 says the 144,000 stand metaphorically on Mount Sion with the Lamb, and that they follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. Revelation 14: 5 says the 144,000 have no guile, no deception, and are without fault before the throne of God. They would have had to undergone a real transformation from the spiritual state of the natural man of I Corinthians 2: 14 to become part of the group of lively stones, the spiritual house, and a holy priesthood, and a chosen generation (I Peter 2: 5, 9).
The over-allegorization of prophecy called amillennialism of Augustine and the Catholic Church, followed by many traditional Calvinists says, however, that the 144,000 are just the saved ones of the entire church age. If that is so, then everyone who is of the elect has undergone such a transformation that their level of consciousness is at a higher level, and they have come to the knowledge of the truth above that of the multitude in the churches for centuries. The implication is that the elect is always a remnant, though the numbers in that remnant differ across the centuries and decades."
Making the 144,000 just a broad sweeping allegory as being the saved people of the entire church age deprives Revelation 7 and 14 of being prophecy on the work of the 144,000. It is true, though, that the elect is always a remnant of all those claiming to be of God. The elect has undergone such a transformation that their level of consciousness is at a higher level, and they have come to the knowledge of the truth above that of the multitude in the churches. Those in the elect have been transformed, as Paul says in Romans 12: 2, where he uses metamorphousthe, or metamorphosized. And in II Corinthians 5: 17, "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature..."
Yet one set of scriptures cannot be used to totally overthrow another set of scriptures. Paul uses impute several times, mostly in Romans, to say that
"Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." Romans 4; 8
Paul goes on in Roman 4: 9-11 to say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness when he was uncircumcised and Paul says "that he (Abraham) might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised: that righteousness might be imputed unto them also."
Reckoned and imputed in Romans 4: 8 and in Romans 4: 11 are from the same Greek word, Strong's Exhaustive Concordance number 3049, logizomai, to estimate, conclude, count, esteem, impute, lay, number, lay, reckon..."
And when God told Abraham that he and Sarah were to have a son who would transmit the birthright, Abraham believed God, though in Romans 4; 19 Abraham knew that his body was dead, since he was about a hundred years old and knew also that Sarah's womb was dead.
Romans 4: 22-25 says ""And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
23. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
24. But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25. Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification."
The doctrine of imputed righteousness because of faith stands as absolute truth alongside the doctrine that we must be born again, transformed, to become a new creation in Christ in order to enter into the kingdom of God, which is salvation.
One of these doctrines cannot be said to do away with the other doctrine. So, we have to understand how both might operate. And it is the remnant who have a love of the truth that they might be saved (II Thessalonians 2: 10-12), and they want to uphold the doctrine saying we must be born again, transformed, to be saved.
Those who have been taught an easy salvation in the II Timothy 3: 5, 7-8 church think they can be saved by alter calls, saying a sinner's prayer, etc while remaining in the spiritual state of the natural man of I Corinthians 2: 14, who does not discern the things of the Spirit. These people are the ones who want to do away with the doctrine of salvation by transformation. They have not been transformed, but they think they are saved.
Since II Thessalonians 2: 10-12 says love of the truth is necessary for salvation, the implication there is that love of the truth depends upon a foundation of faith, which is a strong belief that the word of God is absolute truth and cannot be diminished or compromised. Faith in this sense is one outcome of the beginning of transformation, or being born again. And that kind of faith is imputed by the Lord for righteousness, which we, in the flesh, cannot fully achieve on our own.
Paul in Romans 4 is going back to the Old Covenant emphasis upon the flesh, in circumcision of the flesh of males, Abraham's and Sarah's bodies (their reproductive capabilities) being dead, and a literal transmission of the physical DNA of Abraham over generations to Christ himself in the flesh of man, as shadow of the coming spiritual substance (Hebrews 10: 1, Colossians 2: 16-17). But in going back to the Old Covenant emphasis upon the flesh, Paul is teaching about that which is spiritual under the New Covenant.
"Alister E. McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification, pp. 258-259: “William Tyndale, although making extensive use of Luther in his early polemical works, still intends to interpret justification as ‘making righteous’. Tyndale’s emphasis upon the renewing and transforming work of the Holy Spirit within humans is quite distinct from Luther’s emphasis upon faith, and clearly parallels Augustine’s transformational concept of justification. For example, see the Prologue to Romans, Works, 493-4, which emphasizes that faith ‘altereth a man, and changeth him into a new spiritual nature’…)."
If you follow the New Testament strand on transformation in Christ, that is, with Christ in the individual, from John 3: 1-7 - ye must be born again - to Romans 12: 2 - be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind - to Galatians 4: 19 - until Christ be formed in you - then to Philippians 2: 5 - let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus - and to II Corinthians 5: 17 - if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away - then you can see that Tyndale was right. These scriptures by Paul help to define what Christ means in John 3: 1-7 by being born again of the Spirit.
Revelation 12: 17 says the remnant has the testimony of Jesus Christ, and Revelation 14: 1, 4 says the 144,000 stand metaphorically on Mount Sion with the Lamb, and that they follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. Revelation 14: 5 says the 144,000 have no guile, no deception, and are without fault before the throne of God. They would have had to undergone a real transformation from the spiritual state of the natural man of I Corinthians 2: 14 to become part of the group of lively stones, the spiritual house, and a holy priesthood, and a chosen generation (I Peter 2: 5, 9).
The over-allegorization of prophecy called amillennialism of Augustine and the Catholic Church, followed by many traditional Calvinists says, however, that the 144,000 are just the saved ones of the entire church age. If that is so, then everyone who is of the elect has undergone such a transformation that their level of consciousness is at a higher level, and they have come to the knowledge of the truth above that of the multitude in the churches for centuries. The implication is that the elect is always a remnant, though the numbers in that remnant differ across the centuries and decades."
Making the 144,000 just a broad sweeping allegory as being the saved people of the entire church age deprives Revelation 7 and 14 of being prophecy on the work of the 144,000. It is true, though, that the elect is always a remnant of all those claiming to be of God. The elect has undergone such a transformation that their level of consciousness is at a higher level, and they have come to the knowledge of the truth above that of the multitude in the churches. Those in the elect have been transformed, as Paul says in Romans 12: 2, where he uses metamorphousthe, or metamorphosized. And in II Corinthians 5: 17, "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature..."
Yet one set of scriptures cannot be used to totally overthrow another set of scriptures. Paul uses impute several times, mostly in Romans, to say that
"Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." Romans 4; 8
Paul goes on in Roman 4: 9-11 to say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness when he was uncircumcised and Paul says "that he (Abraham) might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised: that righteousness might be imputed unto them also."
Reckoned and imputed in Romans 4: 8 and in Romans 4: 11 are from the same Greek word, Strong's Exhaustive Concordance number 3049, logizomai, to estimate, conclude, count, esteem, impute, lay, number, lay, reckon..."
And when God told Abraham that he and Sarah were to have a son who would transmit the birthright, Abraham believed God, though in Romans 4; 19 Abraham knew that his body was dead, since he was about a hundred years old and knew also that Sarah's womb was dead.
Romans 4: 22-25 says ""And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
23. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
24. But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25. Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification."
The doctrine of imputed righteousness because of faith stands as absolute truth alongside the doctrine that we must be born again, transformed, to become a new creation in Christ in order to enter into the kingdom of God, which is salvation.
One of these doctrines cannot be said to do away with the other doctrine. So, we have to understand how both might operate. And it is the remnant who have a love of the truth that they might be saved (II Thessalonians 2: 10-12), and they want to uphold the doctrine saying we must be born again, transformed, to be saved.
Those who have been taught an easy salvation in the II Timothy 3: 5, 7-8 church think they can be saved by alter calls, saying a sinner's prayer, etc while remaining in the spiritual state of the natural man of I Corinthians 2: 14, who does not discern the things of the Spirit. These people are the ones who want to do away with the doctrine of salvation by transformation. They have not been transformed, but they think they are saved.
Since II Thessalonians 2: 10-12 says love of the truth is necessary for salvation, the implication there is that love of the truth depends upon a foundation of faith, which is a strong belief that the word of God is absolute truth and cannot be diminished or compromised. Faith in this sense is one outcome of the beginning of transformation, or being born again. And that kind of faith is imputed by the Lord for righteousness, which we, in the flesh, cannot fully achieve on our own.
Paul in Romans 4 is going back to the Old Covenant emphasis upon the flesh, in circumcision of the flesh of males, Abraham's and Sarah's bodies (their reproductive capabilities) being dead, and a literal transmission of the physical DNA of Abraham over generations to Christ himself in the flesh of man, as shadow of the coming spiritual substance (Hebrews 10: 1, Colossians 2: 16-17). But in going back to the Old Covenant emphasis upon the flesh, Paul is teaching about that which is spiritual under the New Covenant.
