Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Relationship verses Religion Part 2
I thought I would revisit this topic of relationship verses religion... by posting a comment composed jointly by myself and my hubby, PapaArcher. I know when blogging and reading blogs that the comments are not always read by anyone other than the author of the blog and I wanted to share the strong conviction that the Lord has laid upon our family recently concerning this topic. I thought it would be a good topic for further discussion and thought.
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The point of the article, Christianity Is Not a Relationship, It's a Religion' is that God does not only deal with us personally but corporately as well.
In fact, the covenant was established in a corporate context with Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 12:1-3) and in the NT with the Body of Christ, the Church (Jer. 31:31, Matt. 26:26-29, Heb. 8:10), of which is made up of individuals. We individually are blessed to be included within the corporate covenant. Not the other way around.
Within that corporate covenant relationship there are standards by which all of us must live. The law and grace go hand in hand. We cannot completely fulfill the law and God's grace and mercy are applied for our redemption. That however, does not relieve us from living by that standard as best we can in the power of the Spirit. Those corporate standards are a body of religious guidance for the people of God. Many (not all) who do not want to adhere to the standards fall back on the legalism argument and say that God is only a personal God. Christ is not the end of the law He is goal or fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Romans 10:4).
I believe that God speaks to everyone in the same manner, that being, through prayer & the Holy Spirit in accordance with the Scriptures. We may all be at different milestones on our journey & different stages and depths within our relationship with Christ and that is what makes our faith personal. For God has predestined us to become conformed to the image of His Son Jesus Christ(Romans 8:29 ) for the purpose of the proper working and maturity of the Body of Christ. (1 Cor. 12:12-27)......you are Christ's body & individually members of it.
It is both a relationship and a religion, both personal and corporate, and many within the modern day church want to see it only as personal without the accountability of the corporate.
************************************************************************
The point of the article, Christianity Is Not a Relationship, It's a Religion' is that God does not only deal with us personally but corporately as well.
In fact, the covenant was established in a corporate context with Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 12:1-3) and in the NT with the Body of Christ, the Church (Jer. 31:31, Matt. 26:26-29, Heb. 8:10), of which is made up of individuals. We individually are blessed to be included within the corporate covenant. Not the other way around.
Within that corporate covenant relationship there are standards by which all of us must live. The law and grace go hand in hand. We cannot completely fulfill the law and God's grace and mercy are applied for our redemption. That however, does not relieve us from living by that standard as best we can in the power of the Spirit. Those corporate standards are a body of religious guidance for the people of God. Many (not all) who do not want to adhere to the standards fall back on the legalism argument and say that God is only a personal God. Christ is not the end of the law He is goal or fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Romans 10:4).
I believe that God speaks to everyone in the same manner, that being, through prayer & the Holy Spirit in accordance with the Scriptures. We may all be at different milestones on our journey & different stages and depths within our relationship with Christ and that is what makes our faith personal. For God has predestined us to become conformed to the image of His Son Jesus Christ(Romans 8:29 ) for the purpose of the proper working and maturity of the Body of Christ. (1 Cor. 12:12-27)......you are Christ's body & individually members of it.
It is both a relationship and a religion, both personal and corporate, and many within the modern day church want to see it only as personal without the accountability of the corporate.
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