PPS... I will answer any of your questions. Can we do them one at a time?
I have one of my own.
Do you acknowledge the error made by Nang, where she equates acting as holy as Jesus with salvation? Do you agree or disagree with her view on this?
I know the context of what she means, and it would parallel my post above.
All she's calling attention to is the definition for righteousness, which is God's standard of conduct.
I wouldn't express it as she does, but she's not equating behavior with salvation. She's equating the vital demonstration OF salvific faith BY grace (God's divine nature influencing our own) AS righteousness (God's standard of conduct).
So I would disagree with the minutiae of her semantics, but I look to see exactly what she means by what she says, just as I do with MADs or anyone else. That's why I posted the above, graciously and with intentional humility and no hint of judgment of condemnation.
There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8). All anyone (except meshak and God's Truth, and maybe a few others I'm not aware of) is saying is that faith without works is dead. Our conduct should be according to God's standard rather than our own, because that was imputed to us... God's standard of conduct.
I think everyone, including me, should be much more tight-lipped about comments regarding others' salvation when faced with different doctrinal viewpoints. That's why I'm "reaching out", in spite of all the antics. I'm looking past ANY conduct to recognize that NO conduct determines someone's salvation.
But to say that conduct isn't relative to salvation is to deny the entire book of James and the Gospel itself. We've been imputed God's standard of conduct so that we CAN demonstrate it through a living faith by grace.
The whole point of salvation isn't to get a bye on behavior, but to know that our inherent behavior can't ever be God's righteousness, so we need His righteousness to BE and then DO.
It's not an absence of doing, for that would be impossible. It's about being TO do. It's about our conduct being the righteousness of God rather than our own. And that's conduct, because the very definition righteousness is "standard of conduct".
No, behavior shouldn't be the judging point of salvation, but neither should imputed righteousness as salvation by faith and grace be an excuse to exhibit our own inherent unrighteousness in the old man that's supposed to crucified with Christ.
There's some sense of denial of Christ if we just live according to our own standard of conduct. That's not salvific, but affects our qualitative existence.
Man can't initiate, effect, or accomplish his own salvation, whether as an event or a process. Works have not ever, do not now, and will not ever save anyone. It's through faith by grace, and not one thing we do. But everything we do should be a demonstation of that living faith.
I don't really see any difference in how MADs respond about others' behavior and how others respond to MADs behavior. It seems to be a perspective difference, with differing semantics.
We are empowered to DO from our BEING in Christ. Resting.
Thanks, doom. Feel free to answer individual points rather than the whole posts at once.