Salvation By a Faithful Godhead

I would like to offer a definition of faith for your consideration.  Faith is the belief of one party in the integrity of that person or thing believed. Our banking system is fiduciary, based upon faith and therefore rests entirely upon the integrity of the people involved.  I express faith in the US government when I work for US dollars and my bank when I deposit to them.  A simple purchase carries with it a lot of faith: when I swipe my MasterCard, the merchant recognizes that my card is legitimate and has faith that MasterCard will pay him, MasterCard has faith that my bank will pay it and finally my bank has faith in me that I will pay it.  Without the integrity to pay what is promised, this system fails.  It's no coincidence that the Apostle Paul explained justification by faith in the 3rd chapter of Romans after confirming the complete inadequacy of mankind.

The first three chapters of Romans confirms the constantly apparent guilt and depravity of mankind.  The law declares the righteousness of God and reminds us how short we fall from the holy rule.  Then Paul states the mechanism of our justification in the most direct way it can be stated. Romans 3:21-26 But now the righteousness of God, without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

God's righteousness is witnessed by the law, but it declares us guilty and informs us that death is the only just punishment for sin.  But the great mystery: How can God be just in not punishing us with eternal death? But now, the apostle says, the righteousness of God is manifest without the law.  God is just because Jesus is our propitiation, set forth (foreordained) by God, and declared openly the righteousness of God by suffering the just punishment of our sins.  God forgave sins for thousands of years before Christ died because by His own oath He was made our surety. By God's faith in our Surety, Abraham and all the old testament saints were delivered from their sins (Heb 7:20-22).  And now this righteousness is manifest to us by Christ making good on his eternal oath when He was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification.  Christ's death was a seal of His faith unto and upon all them that believe, and his resurrection was the seal of our justification by the Father (Romans 4:25).

Even as God was not obligated to create us, He was not obligated to redeem us, and He is not obligated to reveal any of His mysteries to us.  Yet in His infinite love He did all of those things.  The third chapter is closed with a very extraordinary statement: Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea we establish the law.  I believe the fourth chapter of Romans then presents us with the fundamental purpose of the law, which is for the human understanding of the righteousness of God.  The law is established by faith and obedience is the answer of a good conscience toward God.  As Abraham believed in God before he was circumcised, so all obedience is subsequent to and because of faith.  Righteousness was reckoned to Abraham because he saw and believed the promise of God--that God would provide Himself a sacrifice--not because he saw and believed in his own obedience.  Abraham, our spiritual ancestor, is an example to us; (Romans 4:11) that if we have been taught of God (John 6:45), so we should approach our savior by obedience to his law.  We find our righteousness and our comfort by not judging our eternal standing with God according to our obedience, but by judging well the faithfulness of Jesus.

Life Is A Gift Exchange

After reading Knowledge and Power by George Gilder I have been thinking about profit and the teaching of Jesus: It is more blessed to give than receive. The richness of capitalism lies in the way that profit is generated through a massive gift exchange.  I believe, and will try to show that, profit cannot be generated but by selflessness.  Profit is simultaneously misunderstood, envied, and pursued, but is generated almost entirely by acts that are essentially selfless.

Simply defined, profit is the value that one gains in excess of the value one surrendered in an event such as a creation, a construction, a purchase, or a gift. We love gifts because they are a surprise.  Something given for compensation, or received as expected isn't really a gift.  Giving the best gift is an art of love--it requires intimate knowledge.  The better you know someone, the better you are able to give something he values, the more profit you are able to create. Perhaps no one knows me better than I know myself, but so many times I have been given gifts that I valued more than anything I could have ordered.  Has it been so with you?

A market is the place where gifts are exchanged and currency is the medium thereof.  Currency is merely an expedient mechanism where the giver of gifts is able also to receive.  When the members are free to act on their own self interest, the producer who gains more knowledge about the needs and desires of other members is the one who will accumulate more power.  Academia in studying economics as a third party, tends to watch the flow of currency but misses the gift.  It can quantify the accumulation of wealth, but can't grasp all the true profit shared by the recipients of the gifts of the innovators.  The mainstream economic theory is based on zero-sum model--that value is defined by the marketplace and people get exactly what they pay for. How else but by a number of dollars can a PhD researcher evaluate it?  There is no way to quantify the contentment of placing food on your family's table, or the pleasure of discovering your new favorite song you downloaded for only $1.29! No, life is not a zero sum game.  We win together when we give of ourselves more than is asked, and we lose together when we give only for what we expect to be compensated.  Greed swallows profit.  

Psalms 4:5-8  Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD. There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.  Thou has put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.  I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.  Jesus taught us to seek first the kingdom of God and all the natural blessings we need will be supplied by our Father.  Materialists are demanders.  They have no faith in God nor their fellow man, but depend on contrived ways to ensure market "fairness" so that they can be sure they will receive whatever it they deem to be just compensation.  The gladness in my heart from a communion with my Lord, is worth more than any increase of corn and wine.  Materialists trust in the government and human science to ensure our prosperity and safety.  Human science, first cannot account for our existence, neither can ensure next year's harvest.  I thank the goodness of God for my breath and daily bread; therefore, I can face an unknown tomorrow with great assurance.

Ecc 11:5-6 As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.  In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good. The moral of the story is to give yourself--work.  You have a gift, and if you haven't found it yet, keep working for others and trust in God.  Too many people see what they perceive as tragedies to others and are afraid of being burned by injustice and so keep themselves from giving of themselves.  But Ecc 11:4 reminds us that if our perceptions of the future keep us from sowing, we will not reap.  We can create profit by giving to others, but when we demand it, we will only be disappointed.

Psalms 139:16  Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.  Since God has perfect knowledge, I would expect Him to give the best gifts.  There are also demanders when it comes to religion.  Could any idea that our home in heaven is based in any capacity on our demands or requests be any farther from biblical truth?  Behold Rom 8:26-39:  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself matketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because be maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.  What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?  Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.  Who is he that condemneth?  It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Bible emphatically declares that eternal salvation is a gift from God; the profit of which is too wonderful for us to have even known what to pray for.

In summary, if profit were properly understood, no organization would ever call itself "non-profit"; trade is essentially a gift exchange; profit is maximized by the giver understanding the recipient; and the ultimate profit belongs to the objects of Christ's eternal love.  We have every reason to give give give.  Even if I never receive another gift (which is not according to the pattern I have seen), I still can't give enough of myself.