tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731482465844486839.post8393824641026993737..comments2011-06-09T16:31:10.284-07:00Comments on We Believe, Teach, and Confess: To Choose or Not To ChooseAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13413229243640889757noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2731482465844486839.post-84744389654680677032011-02-06T14:06:02.324-08:002011-02-06T14:06:02.324-08:00"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins..."And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is)not your own doing;it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." - Ephesians 2:1-9. We are saved by grace. Period. God chooses to save us from our sinfulness not because of anything we have done or will do in the future but because He loves us. We were dead in our trespasses, which means we could not do anything. No one seeks God on their own because dead people can't do anything. It was Christ who made us alive and free from sin. Christ does all the work not us. Yet even with this we are responsible to believe. However faith is never what saves us. The grace of God saves us, faith is simply the means of our salvation not the reason for our salvation. We do not get to boast someday before God that we are in heaven for anything done on our part. It is simply God's mercy and love that frees us from our sinful state and gives us the faith to believe. The dichotomy between God's sovereignty and our own faith and belief is a great mystery of God that we may never fully understand yet we know this, it is all because of Christ that we are saved not ourselves. It is God's gift that give us salvation, because of his grace.<br /><br />Great post Marcus. Keep it up.Mark Reschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16963312138776490974noreply@blogger.com