Blog Date August 14th 2007
Question:
Someone contacted me and asked me this question, and I quote, "I thought that you were teaching that salvation is by faith. By saying that you cannot make it to heaven if you are having sex outside of marriage, is this not teaching salvation by works?"
Answer:
Salvation
Salvation is provided to us freely, by faith, for it is the gift of God. However, there is some work involved in this salvation process. We must do our part and take care of the gift that has been given to us by our Heavenly Father. For example: We bought our son, Jamie, a new vehicle after he graduated high school. (We bought our daughter a car too) I’ll never forget when we gave Jamie his bright new shiny red pick up truck. He was thrilled. He shined on that truck so much I thought he was going to rub the paint right off. He changed the oil himself and never asked us to do anything. As a matter of fact, he wouldn’t let anyone else do anything to it. It was his truck and he kept it in tip-top shape himself. Jamie appreciated the gift we had given him and he worked really hard to keep it spotless.
Shouldn’t we appreciate the gift of Salvation God has given to us? Shouldn’t we work just as hard as Jamie did on his truck, if not harder, to keep ourselves spotless from the world? According to Romans 12:1 we are. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service."
Yes, salvation is by faith, but Phillipians 2:12 states we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. James 2:17 tells us that faith without works is dead.
Like I said above, there is some work involved in this salvation process.
Sex Outside of Marriage
On the issue of sex outside of marriage: The person that wrote me says that the way they understand it, is that sex outside of marriage is OK as long as it is in a meaningful relationship. I would like to ask this person to read these scriptures and then tell me if they still believe the same way.
1Th 4:3 -
For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
Jude 1:7 - Show Context
Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Eph 5:3 -
But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
Col 3:5 -
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
1Co 6:13 -
Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
1Co 6:18 -
Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
1Co 7:2 -
Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
1Co 10:8 -
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
2Co 12:21 -
And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.
Ga 5:19 -
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Until next time remember, I said it and you read it,right here on Darlene’s Blog.
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6 comments:
I am quite aware of all the Scripture verses that you are quoting. When read in their proper context and cultural setting, they are talking about sex with temple prostitutes while paying homage to false gods. That is what fornication is. It has absolutely nothing to do with loving sexual relationships between two consenting adults. If that were the case, the Bible would be contradicting itself because God never condemned men having sexual relationships with concubines (mistresses). I notice that you did not make any comments about this even though I brought the matter to your attention.
Please follow what the Bible teaches and not after the traditions of men. God gave us a sex drive for our enjoyment and it is very good as everything of God is very good as long as it is done in a loving way and not for selfish reasons.
To George:
Concerning Concubines. That was Old Testament. We are living under the New Testament now. Did you know that under Old Testament law you were allowed to have more than one wife? Of course you knew that. Do you know that it is now forbidden? I think you do. You are just trying to get justification for your belief system.
If God won’t allow you to have an extra wife or two why do you think he’d be okay with you having a mistress? Use some common sense here. Concubines are forbidden today just as having more than one wife is.
There is nothing in the New Testament that says that God has changed his mind in this regard. God does not change, remember. Where Paul says that a bishop must be the husband of one wife, he was simply quoting a job qualification. The practice of having more than one wife and concubines was still going on or Paul would not have had to make this statement.
We are not allowed to have more than one wife in America today not because God forbids it but because the Law Of The Land forbids it. American Law is not necessarily a reflection of God's Law. This Law is simply a reflection of American Cultural Values.
One last thing. If we are not living under Old Testament Laws now as you have stated, why do you quote from the Books Of Genesis and Leviticus in condemning homosexuality?
George, I do remember telling you God does not change. He doesn’t! Sex was not allowed outside of marriage in the Old Testament and it is not allowed today in the New Testament.
If we take a closer look in the Word, Concubines in Old Testament Times were not mistresses but secondary wives. Many think because they were secondary wives that made them mistresses but if we study we will find that the concubines (secondary wives) were the legal responsibility of the man. That made them actual wives. All the other wives knew when their husband had a concubine. If concubines were indeed mistresses the wives would have never known about them. They would have been secretly kept but instead, they were openly cared for by the men in those days, in front of their other full wives. Although secondary wives (concubines) were farther on down the ladder in those days it doesn’t mean they were mistresses.
God makes it clear, sex outside of marriage is sin and scripture support that fact over and over again in the New Testament. He hasn’t changed his mind about it. If you are not married to the person in which you are having intimate relations you are then committing fornication, which is sin. You must be married. Concubines were considered legal wives. So the men of the OT who had concubines were legally tied to those women. They weren’t just one night stands.
George, You said in your comment to me, and I quote, "One last thing. If we are not living under Old Testament Laws now as you have stated, why do you quote from the Books Of Genesis and Leviticus in condemning homosexuality?
You need to read my article about homosexuality? But for now, Here’s you a couple of New Testament scriptures to read about homosexuality.
And in the New Testament in the book of Romans Chapter 1 verses 26 and 27 it says this,
v.26, For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their woman did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
v.27, And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.
Homosexuality is just as much an abomination to God today as it was in Old Testament times. God doesn’t change, remember?
You sure know how to stretch things. According to the dictionary, a concubine is a woman who has sexual relations with a man without being married to him. That is definitely sex outside of marriage. Men have to keep mistresses secret today, not because God frowns on them having one but again because our culture does. And a lot of mistresses are well taken care of, hardly a one night stand in those cases.
Were you aware that Abraham had sex with the handmaiden who he was not married to. And to top things off, he allowed his wife Sarah to have sexual relations with two different men. And there is not a word of condemnation from God with regards to these affairs.
Why do you keep quoting that passage from Romans? I told you right at the start what it is referring to. Why are you having so much trouble believing what the Bible really says? Are you blinded by tradition and cultural values? Why not just put them aside and accept what God has told you in his word. You need a Damascus Road experience in the worst way.
Let's keep with the subject George... Can you give me one New Testament scripture that says it is okay to have sex outside of marriage? And also, give me a scripture that says being gay is okay. You can't do it because it's not in the book!
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