ECT Imitating Christ...it's probably not what you think

musterion

Well-known member
Once we learn the truth of our union with the Lord Jesus, and of the Holy Spirit's indwelling, any attempt to imitate Christ will be seen for what it is: unscriptural and futile.

"Our Father is going to teach us, mainly through personal failure, that the life we live is the life of our Lord Jesus alone. The Christian life is not our living a life like Christ, or our trying to be Christ-like, nor is it Christ giving us the power to live a life like His; but it is Christ Himself living His own life through us; 'no longer I, but Christ.'"

"The end of Christ's incarnation, death and resurrection was to prepare and form an holy nature and frame for us in Himself, to be communicated to us by union and fellowship with Him; and not to be able to produce in ourselves the first originals of such an holy nature by our own endeavors."

"The believer's true education is in the growth of Christ within. The Church's real ministry is not multitudinous public services, so-called, but the forming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the lives of His people; the reproduction of Christ; epistles made alive by the Holy Spirit, to be seen and read of all men." -C.A.F.

"There is no answer to infidelity like the life of the Lord Jesus displayed through the Christian. Nothing puts the madness of the infidel, and the folly of the superstitious more to shame and silence than the humble, quiet, devoted walk of a thorough-going, heavenly-minded, and divinely-taught believer."

"But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you" (2 Thessalonians 3:3).

http://www.pembrokebiblechapel.com/stanforddevo.php
 

Faither

BANNED
Banned
In my experience, the thinking that does make sense is the hatred we feel from those outside of Christ, or the world as described by Jesus.

And i know that since the sinful nature still dwells in me along with the Spirit of Christ, i will feel that hatred towards others. Hence, i make it a point to look at those i feel hate towards with an extra sense, that maybe I am falling into that trap of giving my sinful nature room to grow. End result, i look at those i feel hatred to with a different set of eyes.
 

Jamie Gigliotti

New member
Ah ha Musty, something we can agree on. The question then becomes, if we have a will, how does this transpire? Surrender to him, trust in Him, sowing to His Spirit, laying our self, our will down to Christ. God can have anything He wants, and He chose to allow us to give ourselves to Him through Christ, His Spirit, for His great love, His glory.
 

Faither

BANNED
Banned
Ah ha Musty, something we can agree on. The question then becomes, if we have a will, how does this transpire? Surrender to him, trust in Him, sowing to His Spirit, laying our self, our will down to Christ. God can have anything He wants, and He chose to allow us to give ourselves to Him through Christ, His Spirit, for His great love, His glory.

If your addressing me?

This is why i emphasized being at the very start of the relationship, before we are in Christ. At the beginning, trusting in Him, sowing to the Spirit, doesn't make sense because "He" and the "Spirit" are not ours yet. The only thing that makes sense is surrendering our lives to Him. That is acceptable to Him even before we are His, even to those He hasn't called and doesn't want.

As the relationship grows, surrendering is still Saving Faith or Faithing, but it's done along with other pieces of the puzzle. This is the part we can't teach, it has to be experienced. Once God knows we are genuinely surrendering our lives to Him continuously, It's harder to get out of His will, than it is to stay in it.
 

musterion

Well-known member
I could never understand that line of thinking. That somehow the validation of Christ in us is made perfect through the eyes of those not in Christ.

You're reading comprehension is too weak to be on TOL. You see things that aren't there and don't see things that are.
 

Faither

BANNED
Banned
You're reading comprehension is too weak to be on TOL. You see things that aren't there and don't see things that are.

You said,
"The believer's true education is in the growth of Christ within. The Church's real ministry is not multitudinous public services, so-called, but the forming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the lives of His people; the reproduction of Christ; epistles made alive by the Holy Spirit, to be seen and read of all men." -C.A.F.

"There is no answer to infidelity like the life of the Lord Jesus displayed through the Christian. Nothing puts the madness of the infidel, and the folly of the superstitious more to shame and silence than the humble, quiet, devoted walk of a thorough-going, heavenly-minded, and divinely-taught believer."

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It seems the bar for being in TOL is the ability to launch personal attacks to legitimate questions. But i have to say your really good at it, maybe the best i've ever seen. You go right for the juggler.
 

Nick M

Black Rifles Matter
LIFETIME MEMBER
Hall of Fame
Once we learn the truth of our union with the Lord Jesus, and of the Holy Spirit's indwelling, any attempt to imitate Christ will be seen for what it is: unscriptural and futile.

That would be carnal. To walk in the Spirit, capital "S" is to ignore the performance of the flesh.
 

Danoh

New member
I could never understand that line of thinking. That somehow the validation of Christ in us is made perfect through the eyes of those not in Christ.

Well, of course you are not going to be able to understand the line of thinking YOU are reading INTO another's words as being theirs, and that you then react to as if it actually is their line of thinking and not what that actually is - YOUR reading INTO their words.

At the same time, it is often the case that an individual will post a thought they read elsewhere and it made sense to them, at least in theory.

But that is different from going beyond agreement with such things to actually attempting to understand how such a thing works that one might live it out.

In this, the OP and the source article it was based on falls short.

It ends up the typical mysticism one finds throughout Christianity.

Where there is talk of the Spirit, but no real understanding of said life's mechanics, nor how to get that understanding, let alone, how to put it into practice.

The end result - Believers of all sorts walking around talking about the Spirit and yet so easily prone to all forms of personal defeats, animosities towards one another; and all kinds of other self-defeats.

What you have in all that is a great many Believers deceiving themselves.

For it is obvious they do not live out what makes sense to them within such articles.

In this, there is a principle well worth ever keeping in this that though "not for us" in exact same application, at the same time is, Dispensationally...

James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 1:23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 1:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 1:26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

This is ever a fascinating; a challenging topic...
 
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