Have put on Christ.

 

(Galatians 3:26-27)『For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.』

Many churches enjoy using verse 26 to teach. If the pastor says to the first person who joined the church, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,” the first person who joined the church did not know the meaning of faith and said, “If I believe in Jesus, I will become the Son of God.” It will happen.” It is the result of teaching the wrong thing. So, thinking, “If you lose your faith, you can't go to heaven,” and trying harder to believe, you go astray.

The garments of Christ are the eternal life of those who are united with Christ. It is possible only through a life in union with Christ. At the cross, we must deny the subject of “self” to live a life of union with Christ. Ultimately, if you do not deny yourself, you will not have faith. But if I say I believe in the absence of “self” denial, then I am bound under the law. As 3:25 says, “But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”

It is a belief that is different from the belief that a person decides to believe for himself.

The coming of faith is also spoken of in 3:23. 『But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.』The Apostle Paul explains this faith twice before baptism.

If you are bound under the law, there is no "coming faith." Faith that comes is the faith that comes from God. Many people think that if they decide to believe on their own and try to believe with sincerity, study the Bible, go to early morning prayers, do not miss worship, volunteer hard, and do their best to lead a life of faith, they think that they have become the sons of God. . But faith is a gift from God. Until the faith revealed from God comes, you are locked up under the law. There is no escape from the law until faith comes.

Faith consists of the faith of those who have been called into the church and the faith of the elect. If the faith that came to the church after being called is the faith of external change that one believes in, the faith of the elect is the faith of internal change. Usually, external change leads to internal change. External and internal changes may occur at the same time. However, if you think only of external changes without internal changes, you have not received the faith that comes from God.

External change comes to church with faith in oneself and leads to a life of faith, but internal change receives the gift of faith from God. In order to receive the gift of faith, it is possible only if we repent and deny ourselves on the cross. This can happen only when 『I who believe in God』 is transformed into 『Jesus who believes in God. This is because the subject of 『I』 is a soul-like existence derived from the flesh.

From the church life, those who do not have an inner change say they do it for God, but they do it because they like it. deceived by the devil The devil induces my thoughts to do what I like. What matters is who the owner is. Is it Jesus or me? Those who wish to claim the assurance of salvation must now consider who the master is. In order for the Master to become Jesus, he must enter into the "covenant of death" in which the self dies on the cross. Therefore, those whose master is Jesus can receive the faith to enter Canaan as a gift like Joshua and Caleb in the Old Testament.

Today, the faith that enters Canaan becomes the faith that repents on the cross and dies in union with Jesus Christ. To die in unity is self-denial. If you do not deny yourself, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. The way to “deny yourself” is to give up everything that your body likes and does when you stand before the Word of God. That is why it was called “the narrow road” But many people want the opposite way. The road is comfortable and looks good. It is the fact that only those who have died to myself are united to Jesus Christ.