I recently read an interpretation of Ephesians 2:8-9 that said, "faith there is not the gift - salvation (the subject of the entire passage) is the gift of God. Faith is a feminine noun, while the demonstrative pronoun that ("it is" is not in the Greek) is neuter and could not refer to faith. The Greek will not permit "faith" to be the gift." How do you interpret this passage?
I was wondering if I am praying to God in Jesus' name: I was under the impression that they are the same. So if they are the same, why differentiate between the two, (ie: Jesus / God created the heavens and the Earth)?
How strong of a dispensationalist are you? For example, Do you believe that salvation is different during different times? Do you believe that there is no connection between the new covenant and the new birth?
Was Jesus born with a sin nature? If He is truly human and truly God, what is it about Him besides His body of flesh and blood that makes Him human? How can it be truly said of Him that He was tempted in every way that we are if He didn't inherit the sin nature from Mary? Why did Satan bother in the wilderness unless he knew that there was something in Jesus to which he could appeal? What makes it so remarkable that He didn't sin if He wasn't even born with the sin nature?
Recently, I have been discussing man being made in the image of God. Some say that God's essence is spirit and, therefore, that image is mind, will, and emotions (or similar variations) and cannot include anything physical like a body.Some put forth that the image is spirit, soul, and body. But even most of those admit that the body is looking forward to Jesus as God in the flesh. My question for you is, why couldn't the Word have had a spiritual/physical body before the incarnation and, thus, man being made in God's image would be body, soul, and spirit?
