One of the most effective means to deceive people is via the use of a dialectic. A dialectic works upon the mind by framing a false paradigm which serves to limit thought.
George Orwell understood this as expressed it in his chapter on Newspeak found in his novel 1984. Newspeak consisted of a simplifying of language in order to remove certain concepts from the minds of those whom used the language, thus "bad" was eliminated in favour of "ungood." Thus the concept of "wrong" was minimised in favour of a more neutral point being the extremity of thought. This served to produce an intellectually handicapped people who would find it very difficult to perceive the actual reality surrounding them and thus see through the propaganda they were being influenced by every day.
What has happened with Christianity over the past 2000 years is very similar. Instead of eliminating terms they have simply been redefined.
A good example is the word "grace."
In the Greek it is...
charis [STRONGS]
From G5463; graciousness (as gratifying), of manner or act (abstract or concrete; literal, figurative or spiritual; especially the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; including gratitude): - acceptable, benefit, favour, gift, grace (-ious), joy liberality, pleasure, thank (-s, -worthy).
Paul writes...
Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Very clearly GRACE is principled in the divine influence of God upon our hearts whereby we are influenced to do what is right. The grace of God which brings salvation TEACHES US TO DENY UNGODLINESS AND LIVE GODLY INSTEAD.
We see this grace evident throughout the Old Testament in the law of Moses, in the petitions of the prophets, even in the Proverbs written by Solomon. Deny ungodliness and uphold godliness. VERY SIMPLE.
Yet with the introduction of the doctrine of Original Sin into church orthodoxy in the Fourth Century, the notion of INABILITY took hold.
Original Sin, in its many variants, basically teaches that the sin of Adam corrupted human nature by which all human beings are BORN ENSLAVED TO SIN. Thus "enslavement to sin" is not rooted in choice or a refusal to deny ungodliness.
With a sinner henceforth viewed as an involuntary victim of their birth state, firstly, personal responsibility is denied because the root cause is something apart from choice. Secondly, an offset to the involuntary inability suddenly becomes a requirement. Hence the reason for a redefining of grace into being that offset.
Instead of grace merely being the free provision of divine influence upon our hearts, freely given to all men (see Tit 2:11-12), it instead becomes something granted at a particular point in time as an offset to the involuntary sinning nature.
An individual caught up in this subtle ruse will then perceive a "denial of the inability offset" (ie. a denial of the redefining of the term) as a "denial of grace itself" because in their mind "grace is an inability offset." The trap is thus closed upon the mind in much the same manner as to what George Orwell alluded to in 1984. This trap is clearly illustrated in the conflict between Augustine of Hippo and Pelagius in the Fourth Century. Pelagius was ultimately declared a heretic by the Catholic Church because he denied the inability offset, which they viewed as grace itself. To this very day many people view Pelagius as a heretic who denied grace when the truth is that all he denied was inability and thus naturally denied the need for an offset. Pelagius taught that all people were fully responsible for their conduct and that no one lacked the ability to obey God. The issue was whether people would CHOOSE to yield or not, spiritual transformation being wrought through yielding, yielding being a byproduct of a real repentance.
With both the notions of "inability" and the "inability offset" firmly implanted it simply necessitates in the mind that one wait on God to change them because one cannot effect change in themselves due to being born in a disabled state. Thus sinners are deceived into believing they approach God in a wicked state and wait for some magic to occur instead of perceiving the very simple truth that actual change is wrought through a wholehearted yielding to God.
Paul wrote of the dynamic of transformation...
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Faith = Wholehearted yielding to God.
Grace = Divine influence of God upon the heart.
Thus salvation is wrought through the WORKING DYNAMIC of yielding ourselves to the leading of God by which His Spirit sheds the love of God within thus empowering us to walk according to His will. This is why Jesus would teach "abide in me and I will abide in you." Faith is the operative principle of yielding our hearts to God by which the influence of God is no longer resisted, the result being the full manifestation of God within our hearts. Is it any wonder James would assert that faith without works is dead? Not at all, James understood that faith was an operative dynamic, in other words FAITH WORKS as opposed to being STATIC.
Under the lie, "for by grace you are saved through faith" is redefined to be a mere forensic accounting in the form of a legal transaction. The terms being redefined into...
Faith - Trust and acknowledment of certain perceived facts.
Grace - Inability offset and unmerited favour.
Generally people are taught to...
1. Confess (confess they are a sinner, confess their inability)
2. Trust (Trust in the inability offset, ie. trust God will change them at some stage)
3. Receive (Receive Jesus in the context of Jesus effecting a substitution on their behalf upon the cross by which the penalty for sin is cancelled due to being paid in full)
Under the above salvation is viewed as a change in legal status, not a TOTAL MANIFEST transformation of character. A few comments on substitution...
With the introduction of the death of Christ being substitutional in context it is easy to understand how the lie functions upon the mind. Substitution (in its variant forms) basically teaches that the purpose of Jesus death on the cross was to serve as a counter balance to the penalty of sin. There are three main views...
1. Satisfaction - Harmony is brought by the infinite sacrifice of Jesus serving as a counter balance to the dishonour of God wrought through sin.
2. Governmental - Harmony is brought by the infinite sacrifice of Jesus serving as a counter balance to the breaching of the just law of God.
3. Penal - Harmony is brought by Jesus literally being punished with the punishment due sinners thus permanently canceling it out.
In all the above substitution views the "forgiveness of sins" is justified via the counterbalance wrought through the "substitutional death of Christ."
Therefore when Substitution is combined with the redefined faith and grace, "justification" is then established upon the principle of a forensic accounting, as opposed to that of a MANIFEST TRANSFORMATION.
This is the reason why Eph 2:8-10 is thus viewed as an abstraction instead of the operative dynamic which Paul is speaking of. Thus the notion of the QUICKENING (the MANIFEST transformation of the spirit)...
Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
...is removed from the Gospel and replaced with a mere mental assurance that something has happened when nothing actually did.
So just like people remain in slavery in the novel 1984, they remain in slavery to sin in false Christianity.
Words and their meanings are key and we ought pay close attention to such when communicating with others because often disputes and misunderstandings are actually rooted in underlying error, not that which we see on the surface. Understand this and it becomes much easier to both grasp the truth and defend it.
Praise God. :)
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