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Augustine_Was_Calvinist -> RE: calvin me wonderful (4/22/2005 1:00:10 PM)
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quote:
What, exactly, does it mean to "work out" one's salvation with fear and trembling -- as was mentioned in a post up there somewhere. And, as I suspect, is that a life-long process as opposed to a -- POOF -- instantaneous thing.
Paul uses the analogy of an athelete "working out" for how we are to put our salvation to work as a reponse to the initial work of regeneration and the on-going work of the Holy Spirit Whom is transforming us into the image of Christ. We "work it out" like you would go to a gym and "work out", meaning we exercise our faith in a solid manner, one with substance and is so obviously different from the world, that pagans look at us and say, "they are not like the rest of the world".
There is a quote from a a letter from a 2nd century Christian to his/her friend, Diognetus that I am reminded of when thinking of "working out our salavtion with fear and trembling".
Diognetus, was carefully investigating Christianity. The letter shows how the church had to explain itself as a new movement to a suspicious and often hostile pagan world. The Church, although an insignificantly small percentage of the population, saw itself as a soul-like instrument of God to bring healing and hope to the world.
The letter gives us an invaluable description of the early believers in the second century:
"They dwell in their own countries but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do others; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws in their lives. They love all, and are persecuted by all... They are poor, yet they make many rich; they are completely destitute, and yet they enjoy complete abundance. . . They are reviled, and yet they bless...When they do good they are punished as evildoers; undergoing punishment, they rejoice because they are brought to life."
Personally, I am greatly humbled by those words.
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