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Originally Posted by Igzy
"The simplicity that is in Christ" is the literal biblical phrase used in 2 Cor 11:3. It's not an LRC phrase.
It implies first of all that there is something simple about following Christ which is crucial or Paul would not have worried that the believers could be led away from it.
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"It implies that there is something simple . . ."
Yes, there must be. But I note that there is a context for the verse. This verse is in the midst of a discussion that includes the "another Jesus" thought. The idea here seems to be that the real gospel is clean and straightforward. A gospel with other baggage, with other requirements, isn't as simple and suggests a Christ with different capabilities.
The point isn't that "everything is Christ so just focus on Him" or something like that. It is that what Christ demands, what he provides, and what he has done — the whole package — is straightforward and needs no alteration into something else. Our faith is in him. Our direction is from him. Our requirements are those
he gave.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
Granted, the abiding camp can go too far, but so can the obedience camp. The point is we cannot really obey without abiding, and obedience is evidence of abiding. But simply doing nominally Christian works outside of abiding and claiming to be obedient doesn't cut it.
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And while I did not bring this one up, it has been on my radar for a while.
How does a branch abide? By just sitting there and allowing stuff to flow in at the connection to the trunk? No. It is busy doing as it takes in the nutrients. Just basking in the glow of the connection leaves you with a bunch of sap barely across the line of connection. (And as with any metaphor, there are problems, so someone will try to bring up the example of winter. Well, in winter, there is no sap flowing into the branch, so it is probably not part of the metaphor.)
During the growing season, sap flows in and it is put to use. Immediately. There is no "wait for more sap" mentality. The branch begins to use what it gets immediately. And it is getting it because it is connected. Not because it was sitting and soaking up something while waiting until enough is received to do some task.
So when we read that we have to abide before we can do anything, do we think that it means we must be connected for a while, realizing that stuff is flowing in while we do nothing? Then one day it will be time to start working? No. In the case of a vine, "abiding" would seem to be little more than "connected." And that makes plenty of sense. If I am connected, then I will be doing "according to" what is coming in. This would appear to be one way that Jesus said "walk according to the Spirit." Paul did not say something entirely unique. Just said it differently.
And James came along and pointed to the evidence that we weren't abiding. It shows in our lack of love for the brothers. In our lack of obedience.
Oh, I'm sure that there are probably more aspects to "abiding" than this, but I'm becoming more and more clear that metaphors were entirely over-applied in our history with the LRC. Or misapplied.
No, you are probably right that we were never directly told not to do anything. But the implication in these was that there was some kind of need to spend time soaking something up before acting.
Or that so many things were "simply Christ" that we figured that it would just work itself out. Those with a desire to be righteous will eventually do something. But when someone was having a hard time with something, somehow more meetings was claimed to be good enough. As if abiding is about meetings. As if simplicity in Christ is found in turning to your spirit, or calling on the Lord over and over. That's all you need.
And then comes the show stopper. What is "God's economy"? What is 1 Timothy talking about? What is it suggesting needs to be taught? This is an important phrase or term — at least in the LRC. It was used as the reason that many verses were rewritten to mean something different than what they said. Any ideas on this one?