If indeed the Dark side

If Indeed (The Dark Side) By Russ Kujawski 5/24/18 Colossians 1:23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. If indeed: IF: The Greek is ei: Outline biblical usage: if, whether Strong’s definitions: if, whether, that, etc.:—forasmuch as, if, that, (al-)though, whether. For being such a small word it has a lot of power taking this conjunction and used primarily as a particle of conditionality it can have grave consequences. If you don’t do this something bad can happen, if you do this something good can happen. If, If, If. Indeed: Greek is: ge Outline of biblical usage: indeed, truly, at least, even, seeing that. It indicates that the meaning of the word to which it belongs has special prominence, and therefore that the word is to be distinguished from the rest of the sentence and uttered with greater emphasis Lets get a little context on Colossians 1 :23 Colossians 21-23 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he (Jesus) has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. Prior to this scripture 15-20 speak of Jesus as the image of God v15, That Jesus created all things vs16, Jesus is before all thing and they are held together by him vs17, Jesus is the head of the body and the church, the first to rise from the dead, preeminent to everything vs18, everything was reconciled to him through his death and resurrection v20 note I added the resurrection for without it then his death would be meaningless. If indeed we continue in faith, There it is “If indeed” or “If truly” we are steadfast, not shrinking from the message then what? Vs 22 we will be presented as Holy, blameless and above reproach be for him. That’s great news What about the other side of “If indeed”{the dark side} we don’t continue in faith, not being steadfast, and shifting away from the gospel. Then what? This is the point when you need to acknowledge if you can loose your salvation or not. The argument of once saved always saved or they were never saved to start with. I don’t necessarily agree with either argument. So what does scripture say. Here is a new word to look at before I make an attempt to answer the question, If Indeed we don’t continue in faith then what? The word is Enlighten Greek =photizo this is a verb so an action takes place when someone is enlightened. Biblical usage to give light, to shine, to enlighten, light up, illumine to bring to light, render evident to cause something to exist and thus come to light and become clear to all, to enlighten, spiritually, imbue (inspire or permeate) with saving knowledge, to instruct, to inform, teach, to give understanding to. "enlightened" occurs 3 times in 3 verses in the ESV. 1. Eph 1:18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 2. Heb 6:4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 3. Heb 10:32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, All these verses the word “enlighten” has the idea of saving knowledge and belief . So in its context these are brothers or sisters in Christ that are being spoken of. These are indeed Christians. If a Christian goes to the dark side of “if indeed” and does not remain steadfast and shrinks away. Then what? The rubber is about to hit the road. Some will disagree dogmatically some won’t. The dark side of “If Indeed” Heb 6:4-6 4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. MY thoughts on these verse’s: This is one section of scripture that shows me if a believer goes to the dark side of “If Indeed” that there salvation is in jeopardy. Why do I say that? Because of verse 4 “is impossible” after they have come to a saving knowledge, and have participated in what happens when you have salvation and verse 6 “fallen away to restore them again to repentance, ” So again is their salvation in jeopardy? Looking at a couple of verses in 1 Corinthians it speaks of building a foundation ,what is your foundation built on? If one has come to repentance then falls away was their foundation built on things of the world instead of things of God. In 1 Corinthians 3 it tells us that our works the things we have built on will be tested by fire. 1 Cor3: 10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. The sub title of this section of scripture in the ESV is “Divisions in the Church” I think this can also be used for those who have fallen away. They will be judged, their works will be refined by fire. If their foundation is being built on perishable things instead of the imperishable that which is Christ then it’s no wonder they fell away. But here is the interesting part verse 15 “If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” This section of scripture can give you the idea that if someone was doing works to further the kingdom of God and for some odd ball reason they fall away .The works that they have done will be tested by fire and what is burned up will be gone but they may indeed still be save through the fire. Final thoughts: The light side of “If Indeed” we remain faithful and steadfast we will be presented as Holy, blameless and above reproach before him. The dark side of “If Indeed” it is impossible to return to faith once we have walked away from it for we are re crucifying Christ again. When I say walk away I’m speaking of a complete about face God isn’t even a sparkle in your life. Not a momentary failure in your walk of faith. Again we are not the final judgement God is. Your works will be tested purified with fire in the final Judgement and maybe just maybe you will be saved thru the fire of Judgement. I do want to be clear I’m not saying you will be saved because of works , and I’m not saying once saved always saved . I am saying there is a possible chance that if you go to the dark side of if indeed you can possibly lose your salvation, or just barley make it thru the flames of purification in the final judgement. Do you really want to chance it?