Repent ye and believe the gospel - the recipe for qualifying into the Kingdom of God

[Follower Of Christ]

Short take: Repenting of one's sins implies acknowledging being dead to the world. If one believes in the gospel, one is alive in Christ. One has to do both things to inherit the Kingdom of God. From Romans 6:11 "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."

Long take: Christ said this for he was on Earth to do Father's will and Father's will was that he would be slain so the opportunity for salvation be given to all and the promise to Abraham would stand. For, father's will stands out of time and space. From Revelation 3:8 "and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain."

Now, Abraham is a Christian even though he lived before the Word made flesh was crucified and resurrected on the third day. We know from Galatians 3:7-9 that "Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith."

Further from Hebrews 11:8-10 "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."

I hope you see where I am going here. Believing the gospel implies believing the good news of the future arrival of the kingdom of God on earth and being made members of it. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob etc are all members of it and hence Christians for only through Christ one becomes a member of the Kingdom of God.

Now what about repentance? From Galatians 5:24 "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."

Humans have dual natures, fleshly and spiritual. To gain access to the kingdom of God, one must renounce and crucify the flesh and its desires. That is the equivalent of repenting of one's sins. From 1 Corinthians 15:50 "I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable."

 

[Vinny37]

...

My comments are in {}.

Short take: Repenting of one’s sins implies acknowledging being dead to the world. If one believes in the gospel, one is alive in Christ. One has to do both things to inherit the Kingdom of God. From Romans 6:11 “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

{Rm.6:11 is not an entrance requirement, but a recommended inhouse realisation and consequent lifestyle.}

Long take: Christ said this for he was on Earth to do father’s will and father’s will was that he would be slain so the opportunity for salvation be given to all and the promise to Abraham would stand. For, father’s will stands out of time and space. From Revelation 3:8 “and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.”

{I agree deity to be beyond space-time (transcendent), as well as being within space-time (immanent), and the RSV/ESV to probably trump the NIV/NLT over the ambiguity of Rv.13:8.}

Now, Abraham is a Christian even though he lived before the Word made flesh was crucified and resurrected on the third day. We know from Galatians 3:7-9 that “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”

{I disagree on Abraham: Christians only began after Christ, and only exist in Christ. Gal.3:7-9 speaks of a pattern: like Christians, Abraham (and we could add Moses, Elijah, et al) stood well with God (righteous) because of welcome-belief (which by the bye resulted in consonant works), but he did not stand as a Christian. The term sons/children of God, has many applications: Adam 1 was God’s son, but not as a Christian; the Sinai community was God’s son (Hos.11:1), but not as a Christian; Solomon was God’s son, but not as a Christian.
Abraham exampled welcome-faith, which unlike him we can link to Christ, and in that sense we are children of Abraham, connected to that pattern, and indeed to that promise. I think we would agree that the promise given to Abraham of seed had a lower immediate fulfilment in the Isaac/Jacob-Israel sense, and a deeper truer fulfilment in and through messiah.}

Further from Hebrews 11:8-10 “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

{Abraham saw both Canaan as an earthly fulfilment, and that it also stood for something more. We in messiah are in spiritual Canaan, and exodus to yet a higher level of Canaan, heavenly Canaan.}

I hope you see where I am going here. Believing the gospel implies believing the good news of the future arrival of the kingdom of God on earth and being made members of it. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob etc are all members of it and hence Christians, for only through Christ one becomes a member of the Kingdom of God.
Now what about repentance? From Galatians 5:24 “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

{I would not base entrance level Christianity on knowing much beyond messiah as being the welcomed gate of God’s spiritual kingdom—see C H Dodd’s The Apostolic Preaching. There have been many layers of meaning to God’s kingdom-reign, and not all people in one layer, have been in another layer. Once in God’s spiritual kingdom (which Nicodemus, who being in the Sinai layer moved into once he was born anew after the resurrection), we really should learn about it, but the learning is not prerequisite to entering. Repentance, metanoia, is seeing messiah as this gate and turning from the sin of ignoring him, to welcoming him, thus being forgiven. By this about-face from Adam 1 to Adam 2, we played our entrance-part of crucifying (turning from) our former nature. From Steve Hakes’ The Father’s Gone Global, p151)…

[1# Gal.5:24: We have decisively crucified our former nature.
2# Rm.6:6: Our former nature has been decisively crucified.
3# Gal.2:19-20/6:14: We live in results of having been crucified.
4# Col.3:5: We must decisively part from our former nature.
5# Rm.8:13: We must daily be putting to death our former nature.
We can construct something like this from this data, both evangelistic and existential. Our acceptance of Christ was our initial decision which crucified the life we had lived (1#), which God has spiritually cut us off from (2#). Subsequently the life we live in Christ is based on the result of this crucifixion (3#), yet the former life seeks to get back into dominance. We ought not give it even an inch lest it become a ruler (4#), and this decision must be renewed daily (5#). It’s a mixture of us and God having done (evangelistic), and having still to do (pastoral). No text tells the full story. The cross was like a door from the darkness into the light: we are to live in the light, rejecting the repeated calls from the darkness. Remember Lot’s wife!]}

Humans have dual natures, fleshly and spiritual. To gain access to the kingdom of God, one must renounce and crucify the flesh and its desires. That is the equivalent of repenting of one’s sins. From 1 Corinthians 15:50 “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”

{In this context I don’t think that Paul spoke of his brothers and sisters (huioi) as having inherited God’s Christian-kingdom because of having repented of their many sins, but taught that God’s heavenly-kingdom to come would involve transformation of metonymic flesh & blood (ie human frailty, perishability), ie glorification of physicality: Christ himself underwent such physical transformation from his human frailty. I hold that Paul’s meaning here was eschatological, not evangelical.}

 

[Follower Of Christ]

My comments are in {}.

Short take: Repenting of one’s sins implies acknowledging being dead to the world. If one believes in the gospel, one is alive in Christ. One has to do both things to inherit the Kingdom of God. From Romans 6:11 “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

{Rm.6:11 is not an entrance requirement, but a recommended inhouse realisation and consequent lifestyle.}

Long take: Christ said this for he was on Earth to do father’s will and father’s will was that he would be slain so the opportunity for salvation be given to all and the promise to Abraham would stand. For, father’s will stands out of time and space. From Revelation 3:8 “and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.”

{I agree deity to be beyond space-time (transcendent), as well as being within space-time (immanent), and the RSV/ESV to probably trump the NIV/NLT over the ambiguity of Rv.13:8.}

Now, Abraham is a Christian even though he lived before the Word made flesh was crucified and resurrected on the third day. We know from Galatians 3:7-9 that “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”

{I disagree on Abraham: Christians only began after Christ, and only exist in Christ. Gal.3:7-9 speaks of a pattern: like Christians, Abraham (and we could add Moses, Elijah, et al) stood well with God (righteous) because of welcome-belief (which by the bye resulted in consonant works), but he did not stand as a Christian. The term sons/children of God, has many applications: Adam 1 was God’s son, but not as a Christian; the Sinai community was God’s son (Hos.11:1), but not as a Christian; Solomon was God’s son, but not as a Christian.
Abraham exampled welcome-faith, which unlike him we can link to Christ, and in that sense we are children of Abraham, connected to that pattern, and indeed to that promise. I think we would agree that the promise given to Abraham of seed had a lower immediate fulfilment in the Isaac/Jacob-Israel sense, and a deeper truer fulfilment in and through messiah.}

Further from Hebrews 11:8-10 “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

{Abraham saw both Canaan as an earthly fulfilment, and that it also stood for something more. We in messiah are in spiritual Canaan, and exodus to yet a higher level of Canaan, heavenly Canaan.}

I hope you see where I am going here. Believing the gospel implies believing the good news of the future arrival of the kingdom of God on earth and being made members of it. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob etc are all members of it and hence Christians, for only through Christ one becomes a member of the Kingdom of God.
Now what about repentance? From Galatians 5:24 “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

{I would not base entrance level Christianity on knowing much beyond messiah as being the welcomed gate of God’s spiritual kingdom—see C H Dodd’s The Apostolic Preaching. There have been many layers of meaning to God’s kingdom-reign, and not all people in one layer, have been in another layer. Once in God’s spiritual kingdom (which Nicodemus, who being in the Sinai layer moved into once he was born anew after the resurrection), we really should learn about it, but the learning is not prerequisite to entering. Repentance, metanoia, is seeing messiah as this gate and turning from the sin of ignoring him, to welcoming him, thus being forgiven. By this about-face from Adam 1 to Adam 2, we played our entrance-part of crucifying (turning from) our former nature. From Steve Hakes’ The Father’s Gone Global, p151)…

[1# Gal.5:24: We have decisively crucified our former nature.
2# Rm.6:6: Our former nature has been decisively crucified.
3# Gal.2:19-20/6:14: We live in results of having been crucified.
4# Col.3:5: We must decisively part from our former nature.
5# Rm.8:13: We must daily be putting to death our former nature.
We can construct something like this from this data, both evangelistic and existential. Our acceptance of Christ was our initial decision which crucified the life we had lived (1#), which God has spiritually cut us off from (2#). Subsequently the life we live in Christ is based on the result of this crucifixion (3#), yet the former life seeks to get back into dominance. We ought not give it even an inch lest it become a ruler (4#), and this decision must be renewed daily (5#). It’s a mixture of us and God having done (evangelistic), and having still to do (pastoral). No text tells the full story. The cross was like a door from the darkness into the light: we are to live in the light, rejecting the repeated calls from the darkness. Remember Lot’s wife!]}

Humans have dual natures, fleshly and spiritual. To gain access to the kingdom of God, one must renounce and crucify the flesh and its desires. That is the equivalent of repenting of one’s sins. From 1 Corinthians 15:50 “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”

{In this context I don’t think that Paul spoke of his brothers and sisters (huioi) as having inherited God’s Christian-kingdom because of having repented of their many sins, but taught that God’s heavenly-kingdom to come would involve transformation of metonymic flesh & blood (ie human frailty, perishability), ie glorification of physicality: Christ himself underwent such physical transformation from his human frailty. I hold that Paul’s meaning here was eschatological, not evangelical.}

Thank you for your reply. I shall read your comments thoroughly in a little bit and see if I have something to add.

The reason why I started this thread is to go a bit back at the fundamentals and just ask what is the Kingdom of God? That is the objective for a faithful in Christ to strive for and a sharp understanding of this objective is paramount in understanding what the process is that leads there for a faithful in Christ.

By the way we know from Matthew 8:11 that "I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." And from Revelation 21:2-3 "And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God."