Taking Strength Unto Ourselves

In Zenos' Allegory of the Olive Tree, the Lord asks His servant this question: "Who is it that has corrupted my vineyard?" The servant answers with two questions:  

1) "Is it not the loftiness of thy vineyard--? and

2) Have not the branches thereof overcome the roots which are good?"  

He then says, 

"And because the branches 

have overcome the roots thereof, 

behold they grew faster 

than the strength of the roots, 

taking strength unto themselves, 

behold, I say, is not this the cause 

that the trees of thy vineyard 

have become corrupted?" 

(Jacob 5:58 emphasis added)

When we take strength unto ourselves and boast in our own strength, then we are "left to our own strength" (Helaman 4:13), we do not prosper, we do not bring forth any good fruit, we become corrupted and are good for nothing but to be cast into the fire. 

For more on not bringing forth any good fruit see We Are The Wild Branches.

Compare on the other hand, taking strength unto ourselves with "relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who is the author and the finisher of our faith" (Moroni 6:4).  Moroni was echoing what Nephi had previously written, reminding us that we only get into the strait and narrow path by virtue of the word of Christ with unshaken faith in Christ "...relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save" (2 Nephi 31:19).

One requires faith in Christ and the other is putting our faith in ourselves, and in our, or even some of our strength and abilities. When we use words like striving, discipline and trying, we are taking strength unto ourselves. It is either relying totally upon the merits of Christ or not relying totally upon the merits of Christ.  

I have a problem, therefore, with the way that we teach and understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let me give you an example. A few years ago in a Sacrament meeting a brother who had had extensive experience in the church as a bishop, stake president and mission president, gave a talk on charity. He used Moroni 7 as the basis for his talk. It was well researched and well presented, but he concluded his talk by admonishing us to have more charity and to be more charitable in our daily lives, as if all we had to do was decide to be more charitable, and then act more charitable. In other words, we were being admonished to rely on our own strength and through better efforts, be more loving. Unfortunately this is the norm of our teaching rather than the exception. It totally misses the mark.

If he had just directed us to one more verse in Moroni 7, we would have known that the only way for us to receive charity and become more charitable was to "...pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that (we) may be filled with this love, which he has bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ" (Moroni 7:48). In other words, we cannot be more charitable through any will or acts of our own. We can, however, be filled with His love by receiving His love from Him. We then become more loving, not by our efforts, but by His filling us with His love for us and for others. Another reminder that He is the vine and we are the branches and that the branches cannot bring forth fruit of themselves.

We need to remember that love is one of the blessings that lies within God's gifts, and His power, not our own.  Let me illustrate this with another story.

A dramatic example of this gift comes from the life of Corrie Ten Boom, who survived incarceration in a World War II concentration camp with her radiant testimony of the power of God intact.  Ten years later, she was speaking at a church service in Munich when:

I saw him the former SS man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there--the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothes, Betsie's pale blanched face.

He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing, "How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein," he said. "To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away."

His hand was thrust out to shake mine.  And I, who had preached so often....the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.

Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more?  Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.

I tried to smile. I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness.

As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.

And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His.  When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself. (The Hiding Place, p 239)

This is true of all the gifts of God. We do not and cannot earn them.  Because they are gifts we must receive them.  

"For what doth it profit a man 

if a gift is bestowed upon him 

and he receive not the gift? 

Behold, he rejoices not 

in that which is given unto him, 

neither rejoices in him 

who is the giver of the gift"  

(D&C 88:33).

Christ has reminded us that He is the vine and we are the branches, and that the branches cannot bring forth fruit of themselves. By taking strength unto ourselves, we deny His power and His gifts, which is a lack of faith in His goodness and power.

Because God is the source of all goodness, and because we do not merit anything of ourselves, it is death for us to take strength unto ourselves.

"For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless and our thoughts will also condemn us..."  (Alma 12:14). The only way we are found spotless is through the blood of Jesus Christ. Now these are His words and if we harden our hearts against His words (believing that we must do it by our own strivings, our doings, our efforts, our successes, our goodness, our virtues, our callings, our talents, and our activity), then His word will not be found in us and 'we shall be condemned' which is another way of saying we are corrupted because we have taken strength unto ourselves and are good for nothing except to be cast into the fire. (Jacob 4:48)

Corrupted is also used in the scriptures to describe the people in the days of Noah before the flood, and specifically "...the wickedness of men had become great in the earth, and every man was lifted up in the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart, being only evil continually" (Moses 8:22).

The loftiness of the branches is synonymous with pride, and imagining ourselves as 'good guys' simply because our behavior may be somewhat better than that of the world. But remember that it is not about our behavior, but about our hearts. As my friend Tim Merrill says the Gospel is about choosing good, the righteousness of God, not about being good. We can and do deceive ourselves into thinking we are good, but we cannot deceive our Father in Heaven by simply 'living' our religion.

C.S. Lewis reminds us that Satan is perfectly content to see us being chaste and self-disciplined, while he sets up in us the dictatorship of pride. He cures our cold but gives us cancer.

This particular type of wickedness is consistently described in the Book of Mormon and other scripture, and describes the conditions of the last days not only among the world but particularly among the members of the Church as well. "For they seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol..." (D&C 1:16).

George MacDonald put it another way: "True victory over self is the victory of God in the man, not of the man alone. It is not subjugation that is enough, but subjugation by God. In whatever a man does without God, he must fail miserably--or succeed more miserably."

We have already talked about His gift of love and how we pray to Him to be filled with His love, but let me give you some other examples of ways we put the focus on us rather than on Him.

We let our light shine--rather than His. Our light is but a spark (Isaiah 50:11) in comparison to His light which is the light of the sun, moon and stars! (D&C 88)

We seek to attain righteousness through our works, through the law, rather than through faith (Romans 9:30-33).

We go about to establish our own righteousness, rather than submit ourselves to the righteousness of God (Romans 10:1-4).

We rely on our merits (or some of them) rather than rely wholly or alone upon His merits.

We put our trust in man, rather than in God, thereby worshiping the creature rather than the Creator.

We teach that we can acquire the attributes of Christ through our efforts and discipline.

We teach a Gospel of performance rather than a Gospel of repentance.

We teach that the Gospel is about our righteousness, rather than our unworthiness (Alma 38:14).

Let me give you a personal example.

I would not have described myself as a sinner when I was younger or even in my middle age years. Only other people were sinners, those bad people who committed terrible acts and transgressions, none of which I had committed. I had been taught that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was about my righteousness, my goodness, my worthiness and my works. To have been called as a Bishop I had to be righteous. I had to be one of the good guys. Right? I was so good in the pre-existence that I was born a Mormon, had married in the temple, had great kids. I lived the word of wisdom was morally clean, had a temple recommend, and paid my tithing. I had to be good. Right?

I can't remember when I first began to realize that I had been living a perverted gospel, and that I had been deceiving myself into thinking that I was good. But the more I searched the scriptures and listened to His voice in His words, the more I realized that I was worshiping a false image--an image of myself as a good guy in a world with a lot of bad guys. But something changed when I read Romans 10:1-4. I realized I had been going about to establish my righteousness, and had not submitted myself to the righteousness of God.

I learned that repentance is the process of turning to God and His Goodness. I began to see myself as I really am. Even though I was born innocent, there were flaws in my nature, weaknesses in my character and evil in my heart.

Soon everything that I was reading and hearing in the scriptures was telling me: It is not about your righteousness, but about Christ's.  I began to experience my lost and fallen state, and it was then that I realized the need for the Atonement in my life.

When I realized that there are divers ways and means whereby we can sin, even so many that we cannot number them (Mosiah 4:29), and that one sin, no matter how small, subjects me to the Justice of God  (James 2:10), hope for me came only in my Savior. I began to rely wholly on His merits and knew that because of His mercy and righteousness it was possible to not only be found guiltless at the judgment bar, but to have Him not only forgive my sins, but take away my disposition to commit sins and the capacity to commit those sins.

How grateful I am for His gift of repentance, for His love and His mercy.  I can feel that He is taking away my disposition to do evil and curing my tendency to turn away from Him.  I stand all amazed that for me, a sinner, He suffered, He bled and died.

Living The Gospel?

What words best describe the Church Handbook definition of Living the Gospel?

Inspired? Based on the word of God, or the precepts of men mingled with scripture? New latter-day revelation?

The section begins with this statement:

God’s work of salvation and exaltation focuses on four divinely appointed responsibilities (see 1.2). The first of these is living the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Before moving on to the Handbook definition of what it says it means to live the gospel, let's look at the introduction that God's work of salvation and exaltation focuses on four divinely appointed responsibilities, which are 1) living the gospel, 2) caring for those in need, 3) inviting all to receive the gospel, and 4) uniting family for eternity. 

Where in scripture is found the phrase divinely appointed responsibilities?  Or that God’s work of salvation and exaltation focuses on these four? Words matter when we are talking about the word of God. The premise is that even one word from men that misrepresents His words qualifies as transfiguring the word of God. Anytime we teach anything that constitutes a perversion of His words it qualifies as a precept of men mingled with scripture and is false. It leads others astray and perverts the right way of the Lord (2 Nephi 28:9-15).

Is this section in the General Handbook an example of perverting the right way of the Lord? Is this someone's understanding of God's work or is it God's work, keeping in mind that He said "This is my work and my glory to bring about the immortality of men."

The phrase living the gospel poses a problem for me. While the Handbook tells us how we live the gospel, does Christ's definition of His gospel in 3 Nephi 27:13-21 make it an impossibility to live His gospel? He defines Himself as His Gospel when He says "this is the gospel which I have given unto you—that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me." How then do we live Him? We can't live Christ. 

This is an example of how tradition makes the word of God of none effect. Someone invented the phrase living the gospel and it has been repeated so often from the pulpit and among ourselves that it has effectively replaced Christ's gospel. The Church even publishes an email publication titled Living The Gospel.

Further, it removes us from Christ and His gospel by putting the emphasis on us! It is just another example of a tenet being repeated so often that it has made His gospel (Him) only a picture on our walls. This is a good example of when religion as in living the gospel becomes Anti-Christ.

This is emphazed even more when the Handbook makes a list of what it means to live the gospel. Note the emphasis on what we are to do to meet the Handbook's definition of living the gospel.

We live the gospel as we:

Exercise faith in Jesus Christ.

Repent daily.

Make covenants with God as we receive the ordinances of salvation and exaltation.

Endure to the end by keeping those covenants.

Exercise faith in Christ and repent daily, keep covenants and enduring to the end. That's good isn't it? But it is the emphasis that when we live the gospel by doing these four things we will be ...... other than living the gospel?

And nothing is said about how He defines repentance or why we need to repent as Christ does in 3 Nephi 27, which is where Christ defines His Gospel. But no reference to 3 Nephi 27 in the Handbook. 

The point in 3 Nephi 27 is not what we do, but what He does if we do repent--He will hold us guiltless. Not something we can do except in our vain imaginations, and there we are quite effective as evidenced by the myth that we can live the gospel. 

This is an example of how we transfigure His words. While the elements faith, repent, covenant and and endure to the end, on their face seem OK, they are transfigured by creating the phrase live the gospel. Then they have to mingle words from scripture to define what it means.

The Handbook (note the emphasis on us) continues:

As we live the gospel and experience the influence of the Holy Ghost, we desire to help family members and others receive God’s blessings (see 1 Nephi 8:10–12). We learn and teach the gospel (how we define His gospel) of Jesus Christ at home and at church. We also seek to become self-reliant in providing for ourselves and our families, both spiritually and temporally.

Living the gospel encompasses the other aspects of the work of salvation and exaltation. These include caring for those in need, inviting all to receive the gospel, and uniting families for eternity.

Is it any wonder that Christ prophesied that we would reject the fullness of His gospel (3 Nephi 16:10), and that it would be taken from us? It already has been and we don't even know it. Instead we believe that if we do everything mentioned we will be living the gospel.

Compare this Handbook description with Nephi's plea to "feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do" (2 Nephi 32:3). And if we feasted upon Christ's words in 3 Nephi 27:13-21 we would know all that we are to do. 

"Now this is the commandment: 

Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and 

be baptized in my name, 

that ye may be sanctified 

by the reception of the Holy Ghost, 

that ye may stand spotless 

before me at the last day.

Verily, verily, 

I say unto you, 

this is my gospel" 

(3 Nephi 27:20-21).

We become spotless because of Him, not because we live the gospel. And this makes all the difference. But there will always be those in the Church who will put the cart before the horse. The religious, always. The repentant, never!

The most obvious tell that the Handbook definition of living the gospel is perverted is that "self reliance" is tied to living the gospel. This is a man-made term that has absolutely no basis in scripture. In fact, just the opposite--His Gospel requires being totally dependent on Him--for everything. Are we not all beggars? The angel's word to King Benjamin show us just how off- base self reliance is.

Let me make a few more observations. The way we use covenant making and the way the Lord does are also at odds.

The "Lord covenanteth with none save it be with them that repent and believe on his Son, who is the Holy One of Israel" (2 Nephi 31:2). Not with those who make covenants. See how a watered down version of His words really does dilute His words.

And this observation.

Joseph is told that his ministry (which is also our ministry) is in "proclaiming the gospel...among thy brethren." And then the Lord tells us why our ministry is to proclaim the gospel. 

"And in doing these things 

thou wilt do the greatest good 

unto thy fellow beings, 

and wilt promote the glory 

of him who is your Lord" (emphasis added). Not the glory of those who live the gospel. 

And another:

Notice how the Lord describes what He means by enduring to the end: 

"Wherefore, ye must press forward 

with a steadfastness in Christ, 

having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God 

and of all men. 

(Fruits of our repentance.) 

Wherefore, if ye press forward, 

feasting upon the word of Christ, 

and endure to the end, 

behold, thus saith the Father: 

Ye shall have eternal life" (2 Nephi 31:20).

And one more. Almost without exception the word live is used as in look to God and live (Alma 37:46-47), and "...even so as many as should look upon the Son of God with faith, having a contrite spirit, might live, even unto that life which is eternal" (Helaman8:15).

And because of Him you will desire that all have eternal life.

Can you see the difference? Can you hear the difference? Can you feel the difference? 

Teaching Young Children to Understand the Doctrine of Repentance

I will refer to three references in scripture about teaching our children the doctrine of Christ--faith in Christ, baptism, repentance (3 Nephi 11:32-40). Children, as are adults, are baptized unto repentance. In other words they are baptized so they can repent. 

In Mormon's epistle to his son Moroni, found in Moroni 8, we find a clear analysis of why both children and adults are baptized unto repentance, and not just baptized. The distinction is important. Baptism is not an end, but the beginning. For those who are accountable baptism is the first fruits of repentance, but we are also baptized so that we can continually repent! (Mormon 8:8).

The first of the three scriptures is found in D&C 68:25. It says that inasmuch as parents have children in Zion they should teach their children to

"understand 

1) the doctrine of repentance, 

2) faith in Christ the Son of the living God,

3) baptism, and

4) the gift of the Holy Ghost, 

when eight years old" (emphasis on understand added). 

Our failure to teach children to understand results in the "sin being upon the heads of the parents."

Obviously without us understanding the doctrine of Christ (3 Nephi 11:32-40), we cannot teach our children to understand it before they are eight years old, before they are baptized. And even if we do understand, how do we teach it to young children so that they will understand it? Keep in mind that it is not enough to teach them about the doctrine of repentance and baptism. 

We cannot teach what we ourselves do not understand and have not experienced.

At the end of this post is a link to a series on repentance which will help you to understand so you can then teach your children to understand.

Before answering the question of how we teach little children, let's look at the other two references. Both are in Moses 6, one in verse 57 and the other in verses 58-60, the latter being an emphasis on the first, but with the complete doctrine of Christ. 

"Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere must repent, or they can in no wise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there..." (Moses 6:57).  

Keep in mind that this is the Lord speaking by His own voice to Adam. 

"Therefore, I give unto you a commandment, to teach these things (vs. 47-57 of Moses 6) freely unto your children, saying: 

¹That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, ²which fall bringeth death, and ³inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so become of dust a living soul, 

⁴even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, ⁵of water, 

⁶and of the Spirit, ⁷and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine only begotten; ⁸that ye might be sanctified from all sin, ⁹and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, ¹⁰and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory. 

For ¹by the water ye keep the commandment; ²by the Spirit ye are justified, and ³by the blood ye are sanctified" (Moses 6:58:60).

Note how specific this commandment to teach is--He even tells us what to say!

The key to teaching this to young children in found in Moses 6:55-56, wherein the Lord tells Adam that our children are conceived in sin and that as they grow up sin conceiveth in their hearts and "they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good. And it is given unto them to know good from evil wherefore they are agents unto themselves..." (emphasis added).

Now remembering that good (as defined by God) represents the righteousness of God and evil is everything contrary to the righteousness of God, it becomes a matter of making a choice between one or the other. 

Repentance, then is choosing only the righteousness of God. They only have two choices--Good or Evil as only God defines Good and Evil. 

Repentance is not about being good, but about choosing good--the goodness of God.

So we teach our children about the fall and the consequences of the fall, how it applies to them individually (death and hell), and what is necessary to overcome the effects of the fall, repentance! which is possible only because of Christ and His Atonement.  

We teach them that they must choose between Satan and Christ. We teach them about the good king and the evil king wannabe.

Repentance, we teach them, is turning to Christ and choosing His righteousness and goodness, being born again (baptized by water) and being changed (by Him) from our lost and fallen state to a state of righteousness (baptized by fire or Holy Ghost). (Mosiah 27:25).

Repentance comes from understanding and experiencing our condition and turning to Christ to change it. It is a lifelong process for all of us. Young children can understand that they have only one of two choices: good or evil. As long as we are turning to Christ and trusting Him, relying on His merits alone, we are repenting. When we turn away and rely on any of our merits we are not repenting and we are in a state of wickedness. 

And you must teach the word of God concerning repentance and not the teachings of men.

Aid to help teach young children to understand the doctrine of repentance.

Once we have taught them the doctrine of the two ways, we then bring up our children in light and truth and not in the traditions of men (D&C 93:39-40). We teach them, using the word of God. We teach them to feast upon the words of Christ. We teach them to not put their trust in men, any men, not even the prophet. We teach them to look to God and live. 

We teach them that repentance is not about being good, but about choosing good--choosing Christ. 

See series on Repentance. 

After we have taught them to understand, keep in mind that there is a difference between understanding and actually repenting. Are you repenting? What will you tell your children when they ask? 

What is your experience? 

And If Ye Be Christ's

Letter to My Friends and Family

This letter is inspired by Paul's letter to the Galations, but its message is as timely today as it was in Paul's time, perhaps even more so. Let me begin by saying Grace (with a capital G) be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, with the reminder that Christ gave himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world which is Babylon. He did so because it was the will of God His Father.

I worry that ye may be far removed from Him who called you into the Grace of Christ, unto another gospel, and that you may not be His. Even though you give lip service, you could have the cart before the horse and put religion and religious observances ahead of Jesus Christ. This is not really a falling away, but a perversion of His Gospel, as was prophesied to occur among us in these last days.

Can I remind you that though we, or an angel from heaven (clear that it is the message and not the messenger), preach any other gospel unto you than that which His servants have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Let me repeat: As I said before, if any man, or angel, or ecclesiastical authority preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received from Christ, let him be accursed. 

Nephi prophesied they (us) have all gone astray save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ; nevertheless, they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men. And your test is--do you know the difference between the precepts of men and the word of God? 

My purpose is not to please you or to persuade you, because I do not seek to please men, because if that was my purpose, I would not be a servant of Christ. But I testify unto you that the gospel which I preach unto you is not of man. For neither did I receive it of man, and neither was I taught it except by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.

Through His revelation to me I know that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but only by faith in Jesus Christ, which faith we develop by feasting upon what Christ has caused to be written. It is by faith in Christ that we are justified, and not by the works of the law or by religious observances, or by 'living the gospel.' He has made it clear that by the works of the law no flesh is justified.

But if, while we seek to be justified by faith in Christ, we still find that we sin, is Christ the minister of sin? No. Because of the law we sin. Why? Because no one is capable of keeping the law. It is because we cannot keep the law that we are brought to faith in Christ, and through our faith, He saves us from our sins. And after being baptized and continually repenting, we are no longer under the law, but are under Grace.

We do not live our way into His presence,  but we die in Him that we might live. We are crucified with Christ when baptized, nevertheless we live; yet not us, but Christ lives in us: and the life which we now live in the flesh we live by faith in Christ, who loves us, and gave Himself for us.

Do not frustrate the Grace of God. For if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain, but righteousness comes through Christ, and we show our faith in Him through repentance. We are baptized unto repentance and have faith unto repentance. We become Christ's through repentance, not by performance. Through Christ we become Abraham’s seed, and partakers of the promise.

Now some of you are foolish and have put your trust in men, who have deceived you. You therefore do not obey the truth in Christ. This only then would I ask of you: do you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish as to not look and live?

Do you not remember, or have you not read the scripture that says just because Abraham believed God, it was accounted to him for righteousness? It was not what he did or did not do, but because of his faith in God that was counted as righteousness. 

Know this then, that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify us through faith, preached the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with Abraham.

Do you not know that all of you who try to be justified by the works of the law are under the curse? For it is written that cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, for only the just shall live by faith.

Remember that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, by taking upon Himself the punishments prescribed for breaking the law. This is so the blessing of Abraham might come to us, the Gentiles, through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Even though I speak after the manner of men, the covenant made to Abraham was made by God and no man can take away or add anything to the promise.

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made, but only to that seed which is in Christ. And the promise was not made to those who live the law, but to those who have faith in Christ. God gave it to Abraham by promise.

Why then do you continue to seek justification because of your works? You must recognize that such a course will only add to your transgressions? But with this knowledge put your faith in Christ who has paid for your transgressions, and who desires to make you His. Be perfected by Him! 

For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 

Wherefore the law is our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For we are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for we are all one in Christ Jesus.

And if we be Christ’s, then are we Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Like with us, Christ did not receive of the fulness at the first, but received Grace for Grace. And he continued from Grace to Grace, until he received a fulness. And thus He was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fulness at the first. And we receive not of the fulness at first but must continue from Grace to Grace until we receive of the fulness and become like Him. In others words we become like Him through Him, through His Grace.

To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.