Psalm 51:11 Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
So how can God say He 'seals' us with His Spirit if it can be taken away? What kind of 'seal' is that?
_________________Jimmy H
Edit for rephrasing: I disagree with this verse being used in this context, the Bible is clear that the working of the Spirit in the New Covenant is different than in the Old Covenant.See John 16.
I think John 15 is a great picture of the activity of the Spirit in regard to these things. It's simply about abiding in the life of the vine. Simply put, if you are not abiding in the vine, you are not participating in the life of the Spirit. But if you are abiding in the vine, you are participating in the life of the Spirit, and will bear fruit in keeping with that participation.
by KingJimmy on 2007/5/17 13:57:11 I think John 15 is a great picture of the activity of the Spirit in regard to these things. It's simply about abiding in the life of the vine. Simply put, if you are not abiding in the vine, you are not participating in the life of the Spirit. But if you are abiding in the vine, you are participating in the life of the Spirit, and will bear fruit in keeping with that participation
KingJimmy, if you are right about the Spirit, then why did Jesus say, "I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he." (John 7:28 ESV)
Jay,Whatever interpretation one might give to this passage, one cannot say that Jesus is establishing a dichotomy between John and the disciples that have since been ushered into the kingdom based on some notion of the Spirit's future outpouring in Acts 2. For Jesus is talking about people present during His very ministry who are taking the kingdom by force. Chronologically speaking, this is still before that outpouring. So, to assert that it is the issue of the Spirit that Jesus uses to drive a wedge between John and the newly converted citizens of the kingdom of heaven, would be incorrect.I think this passage can be better understood in the frequent saying of Christ, that the first shall be last and that the last shall be first.
God Bless You Beloved:Philogos original question
Hence my question; once justified, always justified?
1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
From Robertson's Word Pictures:Mat 11:11 - He that is but little (ho mikroteros). The Authorized Version here has it better, he that is least. The article with the comparative is a growing idiom in the vernacular Koiné for the superlative as in the modern Greek it is the only idiom for the superlative (Robertson, Grammar of the Greek N.T., p. 668). The papyri and inscriptions show the same construction. The paradox of Jesus has puzzled many. He surely means that John is greater (meizōn) than all others in character, but that the least in the kingdom of heaven surpasses him in privilege. John is the end of one age, until John (Mat_11:14), and the beginning of the new era. All those that come after John stand upon his shoulders. John is the mountain peak between the old and the new.Matthew 11:13-14, "For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come."As Robertson said, John the Baptist marked the ending of an 'age'...call it a dispensation if you wish. But the point is that John marked the end. After John came Jesus and His ministry, then the disciples.John 15 speaks of a new, better working of the Holy Spirit once Jesus was glorified. So it is incorrect to equate the working of the Holy Spirit in Psalm 51 (concerning David) and the working of the Holy Spirit within you and me.
never mind.... i won't comment from now on on this topic
