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Thanks for your brutal honesty, Sunshine. I've been there. I knew in my heart that I loved God, so why did I keep on sinning? Why do I keep doing the things that hurt Him? It's called "struggling with struggling." Paul did the same thing (Romans 7:15-25). There is a difference between a...

"Dead works of the law" is my phrase for clarification. Paul calls it the "works of the law" or the "law of works." (see Romans 3:20-28 and Galatians 3:1-10). This doesn't mean it's wrong to do these laws. He just means that trying to earn salvation via these works is known as "dead works." Put...

This is awesome, Chopper. I think you hit the proverbial nail on the head. The mystery is, and always will be, Christ. Keep in mind that we are looking back through the lens of history at Christ. Imagine you are Paul, a very well trained Pharisee. He knew the OT verbatim. He knew the laws. He...

When you read that "it's not of works," in Eph 2:8-9, it means dead works, not good works. Paul makes a distinction between the two. Read Hebrews 6:1 and 9:14, and read Rev 3:1. These are dead works. So Paul meant the same in Ephesians when he said it is not of works, meaning dead works of the...

You want a short version? Fair enough. The posts above are long indeed. When posting such bold claims, you need to have exact referencing to show you're not just making this stuff up. But if you'll accept this short version (and read the above references later for verification), here you go...

My apologies. I am new. I did look through the various guidelines, but other than the number of characters (such a topic required more than a few quotes), I thought it was the best category. But thank you for proper placement. To be clear, I am not teaching against the Trinity. I believe in...

There's more. Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Origen all speak of this unspeakable birth of the Son from the Father as the beginning of it all. I have about 40 pages of notes, so I'll spare you even longer posts to begin this thread. As stated in the beginning, the apostles...

Like the apostles before him, Polycarp trained others. His most well-known disciple was Irenaeus of Lyons. In the middle of the 2nd century, Irenaeus wrote to refute many gnostic heresies that were growing rampant. He writes: “For faith, which has respect to our Master, endures unchangeably...

This is very, very long, but important. If you're looking for a quick study, I will fail you. As you can imagine, discussing the Trinity is no short study anyway. But I do share a short version below, followed by a very long chain of references you can verify yourself. I trust you will find it...

I never said it wasn't. But you ignored admitting your mistake that the early church fathers didn't commonly use Latin. Do your own research on Aramaic being a common language in conjunction with Greek. I never said entire books were written - just phrases and chapters in the NT. It is an...

Latin didn't become the common language of Christian worship until the 3rd and 4th centuries. The apostles worshipped in homes and spoke the common language of Greek and Aramaic. Paul, Peter and John had disciples named Polycarp, Ignatius, and Clement, who in turn had disciples named Ireaneus...

FreeGrace. I can see now that you're one of those who use hermeneutical gymnastics to make Scripture say what you want to believe. You're so steeped in your belief, you can't allow Scripture to say what it means. I have many more Scriptures, but in your desire to believe what you want, you would...

I guess you didn't read those verses. They don't require tricky interpretation. They're pretty straightforward. It's fine to say I misinterpreted them, but please tell me which verses I misinterpreted and how I did so. Ezekiel 18:24 - please explain clearly how God really didn't mean he would...

I was born and raised on "once saved, always saved." Later in life, I began reading Scripture in earnest. I began to notice that the "proof Scriptures" of this doctrine were inconsistent with other Scriptures I was reading. I did an extensive, years-long study of this subject, and came to the...