The Trap Of Explaining God

And we have seen and testify the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.  And we have known and believed the love that God has for us.  God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
1 John 4: 14-16 NKJV

We've been having a debate lately among a few christian brothers of just who/where God is within us.  Fortunately, we have the scriptures to guide us.  However, we also must be careful in how we interpret the word of God.  For anyone can pick scripture from the bible to suit their cause.  That being said, what are we to make of this scripture in 1 John 4:16?  As the apostle John tells us here, "He who abides in love abides in God, and God in him."  Is this the requirement for being saved?  I would say...not exactly.  However, I believe that it is a big part of our salvation process.  For we already know and believe that Christ Jesus gave his life as a sin sacrafice to wash away the sins of mankind.  We realize that man was sinful, this message has been pounded into us from the pulpit for years.  In this the parsons were not wrong, for through Adam and Eve mankind fell into the sin of disobedience.  Sure, the Isrealites tried in vain to "cover" the sins of Gods people, but at the end of the day, sin remained unremoved.  No, the requirement was that there needed to be a blood sacrafice to finally do away with this sin issue.  Enter the man Jesus.  Perfect, sinless and the very physical image of God.  Innocent, yet found guilty by the Jewish authorities of the day.  His very crime was proclaiming truthfully that He was indeed the Son of God and the foretold messiah of the Jewish people.

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 NKJV

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
Galations 2:20 NKJV

This leads us to yet another part of our salvation process.  Yes, Jesus gave Himself to erase the sins of mankind, but there's more.  Yes, our sins needed to be eradicated, but that would not have handled that nagging sin issue.  For if Jesus had only gave of Himself and not dealt with the sin spirit within us, He would not have been truthfully able to proclaim, "It is finished!"  Therefore, as Jesus became THAT sin spirit which inhabited us since the fall, He put it to death once and for all.  It is HERE that the apostle Paul claims that he himself has been crucified with Christ.  Therefore, Jesus evicted that sin spirit which was within us and replaced it with His own.  We can confidently proclaim, "I HAVE BEEN CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST!"

~Scott~