Question:
Dear Greg;
I
believe that the Bible clearly teaches us that we cannot lose our salvation.
However, I’m confused about verses that say that those who engage in
certain behavior “shall not inherit the
Rhonda
Answer: Dear Rhonda,
If
a person is saved, they will not habitually act in the way described in
Galatians 5:21. The two cannot
co-exist. If a person is saved,
Christ lives in them, and they will not live a life of being a habitual thief or
liar. They may occasionally sin in
either or both of these ways, but they will not habitually live that way.
If they do live that way habitually, they the Bible is telling us that
Christ does not live his life within them—they have never been saved in the
first place, even though they may think they have been saved.
Therefore,
we inherit the kingdom of God not on our own goodness of ensuring that we do
certain things and don’t do other things—but we enter the kingdom because of
the righteousness of Jesus Christ, who lives his life in us.
PTM
has often discussed the issue of homosexuality and Christianity by saying that
homosexuals may be Christians just as alcoholics (or any other specific habitual
sin) may be a Christian. If a
homosexual is a Christian they will not be a practicing homosexual, for such a
behavior is not within the definition of what it means to live in Christ, as
defined in the New Testament. An
alcoholic may also be a Christian, but they will not drink—and they will
strive to stay away from its influences, for they know their own weakness.
Christ in us means that we do not give in to the sin habitually—that we
do not say to God that we are weak in a particular area and that he must put up
with our sin. He forgives our sin,
even after we are saved, but Christ in us means we do not ask God to co-exist
with our ongoing habit of sin.
In
Christ,