Walk in the Light, I John 1:7

February 16, 2016 on 02-18-16

I John 1:7... But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with the one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin...

"Nothing but faith, that's how you become a Christian, It is by faith and faith alone!" This is the mantra by so many in today's churches. It has been this way for a long. Since Luther wrote the Augsburg Confession in the 1500's, "faith alone" has defined the protestant movement. In the Piety and Anabaptist movements, Wesleyan and Brethren in Christ, the understanding of verse 7 is lived out through obedience. Unfortunately, this is being lost in many their churches. This teaching brings with it another doctrine, that of predestination of the reformed. What we are left with causes the hypocrisy that we see in the church today.

So the mindset we find in Christianity is this; Our salvation is by faith only, we need not worry about what we do. Sinning cannot be avoided, it is part of the life of a believer. We must have faith that God will accept us because we believe in Jesus. We try to obey, but we all have our sins. Just make sure you accept him and nothing will ever take you out of his hand. You can lie, cheat, have sex, swear, party, get drunk... it doesn't matter because you have accepted Jesus by faith. But this is false teaching!

K and A, I pray that you walk in the light. If you work for your salvation, thinking a set of rules will save you, you'll never make it to heaven. It is the blood of Jesus that saves you. But don't think for a moment that God doesn't have rules and a way for you to live. Paul said the Law doesn't save, but it does show you what sin is. Trying to do right doesn't give you the power to live it, the Spirit does and you can only get the Spirit if the blood has cleansed you. This verse says that the blood purifies us if we walk in the light as Jesus does.

~Dad