Are Unbelievers Already Justified?

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Hi J____,

You ask if Rom 8:1 implies that unbelievers are condemned? Yes, unbelievers are condemned, though not in the way orthodox teachings claim.

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

As long as we remain unfaithful to Christ’s Words, we are remaining in unbelief, and we are remaining under the wrath of God.

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

But the vast majority of Christians want to believe that God’s wrath will never again visit them, and many believe that they have never known and will never know what is that “wrath of God.”
Most of the churches of Babylon have some variation of the rapture theory in their doctrines. It is very smooth and very soothing to the natural man to believe that he will never know the wrath of God. This is that spirit as revealed in scripture:

Isa 30:9  That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
Isa 30:10  Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

Who are these “children that will not hear the law of the Lord?” ‘The Law of the Lord” is His Words, and His words tell us plainly that His people prefer the “smooth things” over His plain words that “if we would judge ourselves we should not be condemned with the world… and “he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
“Children that will not hear the law of the Lord” are those children of God who do not want at this time and by God’s own design, to hear of the need for constant soberness, diligence and eternal vigilance. Christ simply is not saving this world at this time.

Heb 5:9  And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

At this time, He is saving only those to whom it is given at this time to “obey Him, and the gift of obedience comes only through long days of chastening and scourging at the hands of a loving Father.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

There are no children “who the Father chastens not.” If we have not been chastened we are not children. The chastening may subside as we mature in Christ, but the trials become harder as we are able to bear them.

Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

Christ our head never disobeyed His Father and was never chastened for disobedience to His Father. But our sufferings, according to Peter here, are Christ’s sufferings, and Christ’s sufferings were most intense at the end of His ministry. His trials increased as He continued in His Father’s service, and if we continue in that service, our trials will follow in the pattern He has set for us.
Paul also tells us that our sufferings are the sufferings of Christ Himself. It is through our offenses that Christ is chastened and is delivered up, and it is through our justification that Christ, is resurrected. So we really are the Christ of Christ.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

“The afflictions of Christ are not yet filled up”, and they will not be completely filled up until He has destroyed His last enemy and is in all men.

1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

I hope this all helps you to see that even though there are those who would have you to believe that Hitler is either at this very moment at the right hand of Christ in the heavens or burning in Hell, the truth of God’s Word is that we must be judged now, and if we do not judge ourselves at this time, we will be judged later in that great final work of God’s chastening grace known as the symbolic “lake of fire.” That is the judgment to which most of mankind is yet condemned.

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

Being “condemned with the world” is to be condemned to a later “chastening of the Lord”, which will then bring all men to repentance.
Your friend has fallen prey to a false doctrine which effectively “turns grace into lasciviousness” because he does not know what grace does. To see what the scriptures reveal grace does, read this link.
http:// www. iswasandwillbe. com/ The_ Difference_ Between_ What_ Grace_ Is_ And_ What_ Grace_ Does. php
Your brother in Christ,
Mike

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