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Thursday, November 3, 2011

Non-decaying salvation

1 Peter 1:23 "for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God."

Often in discussions about the gospel, the theme of forgiveness or being made right with God is found.  Truly this theme covers most of the ground we find when describing the application of salvation that takes place at the moment of saving faith.

One theme however has gotten overlooked in describing what takes place in the human heart the moment a person, drawn by grace through faith believes on Christ.  According to the Apostle Peter - we are born again not by corruptible seed, but incorruptible.  Many older Christian writers from the first few centuries of the early church saw an incredible truth being developed by Peter and the biblical authors as it pertains to this theme of incorruption or "non-decay".  Below I want to unfold very briefly what this aspect of Christian salvation is all about.

Incorruption refers to how God's very life affects your life
One of those ancient writers - Athanasius, a very godly man who was a champion for the Christian faith, illustrates this point with a piece of straw.  A piece of straw is by its nature a flammable substance.  If you bring it close to a flame - it will catch fire, i.e it is subject to corruption.  However if I take that piece of straw and soak it in a fireproof substance (such as asbestos), that straw will draw into itself the asbestos, taking up into it the very nature of the asbestos. Now the straw is still frail and quite small as it was before - however its nature has been changed.  It is different, taking on the characteristics of an inflammable substance.

Peter writes these words in 2 Peter 1:4 "by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust."  As Christians we by faith have taken into our very spirit the very life of God Himself.  He lives in our human spirit.  One writer has defined a Christian as a the very life of God penetrating the human soul. 

To think that God Himself, in the person of the Holy Spirit, is indwelling me and affecting me as I even write this blog - is truly exciting.  If you are a true believer in Jesus Christ, He is doing the same thing.  He who is without corruption, is taking us through the process of becoming less corruptible and becoming more incorruptible. Thank you Lord for a non-decaying salvation. 

In tomorrow's blog we will unfold some more truths regarding this theme of incorruption.