Under the Influence
Matthew
12:37
“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first
commandment” (Mark 12:30). “When Jesus had thus said, he
was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, that one of you shall betray me” (John 13: 21).
The definitional system, containing the Galatians 5:22-23 and 2 Peter 1:5-8 elements, are discussed from the perspective of the within spiritual ability of true Christians to own and employ the characteristics as a guiding lifestyle. Crucially the King James terms washings, regeneration, and renewing are vital to the spiritual characteristic employment. In terms of Galatians 5:22-23, Scott (1847) said, “The holy affections, and the conduct resulting from them, as here enumerated, are not called the works of a believer, but the fruit of the Spirit, dwelling in the new nature and working by it, which he has produced through regeneration” (p. 664). In relationship to 2 Peter 1:5-8, Scott (1847) also said “The apostle here called on his Christian brethren not to rest in their apparent conversion, or the reformation connected with it, or even in the beginning of a renewal to a divine nature; but, depending on the promises of the gospel and perusing the end for which they were given, to cleanse themselves from all remaining filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the spirit of God” (p. 870).
This regeneration is a “Restoration of health, the beginning of the new life of an individual or a people” (Balz & Schneider, 1993, p. 8, Volume III). This term in the Greek (palingenesia), is the essence of being “born from above” (Gilbrant, 1991, p. 33, volume Pi-Rho). Thus one cannot claim connections to true spirituality without a heavenly transformation.
Remembering
who you are let God mold you and seek total Christian maturity. You are the
clay In The Potter’s Hands. God has paved a way to save you today!