I did a Beth Moore Bible Study at my church last year called Believing God. It was good for me because it got me to actually get into my Bible, challenged me to believe God because I have such a hard time believing anybody, and I LOVED learning the Greek meaning to words.
I started another Beth Moore Bible Study at my church a couple weeks ago; this one is about the fruits of the Spirit. So far I don't like this one as much; it could be because some of things she is teaching are Scripturally inaccurate. I hope the ladies taking this study dig into their Bibles and check out what Beth Moore is saying before buying into it completely.
How the Bible study works is when we arrive we split into small groups (the same groups each time) and discuss the homework we did over the last week. Then we watch the DVD session and go home. During the week we do the homework relating to the session we just watched. Then we go to the Bible study, discuss the homework we did, and start all over again.
I was thankful this last time our group discussed the homework that I was able to answer a question a lady had. Often I feel I have good stuff to say but I can't get it out right or people don't listen to me. The title for one of the day's homework (there's 5 days of homework each week) is Credited Righteousness and the Bible verse for the day is Galatians 3:6 "Consider Abraham: 'He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness'." (see Genesis 15:6, Romans 4). The lady in my group said she had never understood what the word 'righteousness' means. The other ladies in my group agreed with her, and at one point in my life I would have, too. But thankfully this word has been explained to me, and it makes sense now.
RIGHTEOUSNESS means INNOCENCE and JUSTIFIED, the condition ACCEPTABLE to God. We are not made righteous by works, but by faith. When we understand and believe that all men are guilty and condemned before God, that the penalty for sin is death, that the penalty must be paid, that Christ paid the penalty as our Substitute when He died, and He has been raised from the dead, then God declares you as righteous! Innocent! Justified! No longer a guilty and condemned sinner because God had declared you righteous, holy, redeemed, saved, forgiven, pardoned! Isn't is such a wonderful, freeing thing? Praise the LORD! (1 Cor. 1:30, 2 Cor. 5:21, John 5:24) It is FINISHED! He has forgiven all of our sins, past, present, and future, and there is no longer any condemnation! No more confessing, repenting, asking for forgiveness, sacrificing animals (yes, all that is for before Christ became the final sacrifice, before we believed)! The words of Christ "It is finished!" are so beautiful and precious to me.
It has nothing to do with self-effort. We do not have to try to be more righteous, more holy, more pure. Only Christ can do that, and when we believe, He does it once -- it is FINISHED! What a wonderful Saviour we have!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
That is great! I love your description. I know I've heard it before, but you forget after awhile what certain words mean, especially when you are used to hearing them a lot. Funny how that works.
I also did the Believing God Bible study and it was amazing! My faith definitely grew, although it's often a battle as new challenges come my way.
I also did the Believing God, and the Fruit of the Spirit, and now I am doing the study on the book of Esther.
I am curious to find out what things you disagreed with that Beth Moore taught. I looked up the homework, for the day when she talked about it being credited to Righteousness to Abraham. As far as, I could tell, her arguement was Biblical.
I also feel that she would agree with you, that salvation has nothing to do with self-effort, and that we don't have to try to be more righteous in our own strength. Jesus did it once for all. I think that Beth Moore also believes with you that we are not made righteous by works, but by faith.
I have always understood righteousness to be being in Right standing with God. And in order to be in right standing with God we have to be Justified (Just-if-I'd never sinned)meaning that we are innocent, and made acceptable to God. Not on our own accord, but because we have accepted the sacrifice that Jesus did on the cross once for all.
What was Credited to Abraham's righteousness? The fact, that he believed God, the fact that he took God at his word. God said to him that through him all nations would be blessed, and he believed that. It was his belief in God that was credited to him rightousness, eventhough he did not understand it all. It was not Abrahams works that were credited to him as righteousness, rather his belief in God.
I agree with you on the subject of Jesus has forgiven our past, present, and future sins. However, I would like to challenge you to reconsider your stance on that you never have ask forgiveness again. Yes, Jesus died once for all, but if I sin after salvation, it hurts Jesus. But if I confess my sin, he is faithful and just to forgive my sin, and purify me from all unrightousness 1 John 1:9. Just like sin, causes a rift in human relationships, sin causes a rift between God and me. Is God able, and more than willing to forgive each and every time we sin, and ask him to forgive us.
Absolutely, just like the Father in the story of the Prodical Son. He loved his son, but he let the son choose is own way, but it was only when the son CHOSE to run back into his Fathers arms, that there was no rift in the relationship between Father and Son. Yes, the Father had done everything he could, and continuously longed to his relationship restored with his son. But I believe that we can still choose to live by our own rules. And God lets us make that choice, eventhough it hurts him very much. Yet he is continuously longing, willing, and able to have that relationship with us, especailly if we have tasted it once. God is a holy God, and he can't tolerate sin, that is why he sent Jesus to die on the cross, once for all. But the awesome thing is, that 1 John 1:9 says, If we confess our sin, he IS (not was, or would have been, will one day possibly be) no it says, that he IS (Present-Participle)faithful and just to forgive us our sin, and to purify us from all unrighteousness. That verse is was, is and has always been true.
God is awesome, his word never changes, and neither does he! What an awesome God we have.
Arlene, I wasn't saying what Beth Moore said about righteousness was Biblically wrong. I said that some of the things she is teaching are Scripturally inaccurate, things that I did not talk about in this post. In this post I was just explaining what the word "righteousness" meant since a lady in my group didn't know, and I thought others might want to know, too. I don't disagree with either Beth Moore's or your definition of righteousness.
About forgiveness, remember that booklet I borrowed you titled "What about 1 John 1:9?" That verse is the ONLY verse people can come up with that backs up the idea that Believers need to ask for forgiveness. Whenever a doctrine is built upon ONE verse the red flags should go up. If you look at the context of that verse, you will realize that the first part of that chapter is not written to Believers. It is written to the Gnostics. If you are willing, I will borrow you a book titled "Forgiven Forever" that explains all this much more clearly than I can.
Post a Comment