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Laodicea, Righteousness by Faith, Jesus’ Human Nature, Final Perfection, and that Underlying Topic, Sin: Mere Summarizing Bullet Points

Copyright 2009 Wilma Zalabak

White raiment is the righteousness of the saints, Rev 19:8

Righteousness is breastplate (made of gold), Eph 6:14

Breastplate (made of gold) is faith and love, 1 Thes 5:8

So, righteousness is faith and love (also described as gold)

Righteousness is right doing through faith and love, Gal 5:6

Faith happens in the mind’s eye, Heb 11:1,6; 12:1-3

Love can be defined only by God, God is the definition of love, 1 John 4:8

Love fulfills the Ten Commandment law, Rom 13:8-10

Whatever is not of faith is sin, Rom 14:23

Sin is transgression of the law, 1 John 3:4

 

So, let’s start at the beginning of the Ten Commandment law

The First Commandment is about faith in God and love to God: God can, I can’t, and I decide to let Him

Sin is, first and always, the transgression of the First Commandment, looking to myself to save me

Breaking the First Commandment breaks both faith and love

Faith in God and love to God are foundationally bundled in the First Commandment

Keeping the First Commandment opens the way for God to work all the other commandments in my life

Breaking the First Commandment opens the door to the breaking of all the other commandments

 

Adam was created inside the First Commandment, with constant uninterrupted faith in God and love for God

When he sinned he stepped outside the First Commandment

He gave the turf to Satan who is diabolically opposed to the First Commandment

So, I was born on Satan’s turf and outside the First Commandment

I was born with no sense of loss of the First Commandment, no habits of faith in God and love for God, I was born in sin

I must be born again to get inside the First Commandment

 

Jesus was born inside the First Commandment, with no break in His faith in God and love for God

Jesus was born on Satan’s turf and never broke the First Commandment

Jesus died for all the times I broke and break the First Commandment

Jesus died to save me from the power of Satan’s turf, and to continually invite me back to the First Commandment

 

Faith and love, as in the First Commandment is a choice

The right of human choice to believe and love has been provided and protected by the cross of Christ

Faith is a gift from God to every person, Rom 12:5

Love can be done only because God first loved us, 1 John 4:19

At any moment I can renew my choice of faith in God and love for God, the First Commandment

Each time I renew my choice of the First Commandment, Jesus builds the habit stronger in me

 

God will have a people to whom He can point as those who keep the commandments, Rev 12:17

This is the same way God pointed to Job, Job 1:8

This is the same way God pointed to Abraham, Gen 18:17-19

Same way God pointed to David, 1 Sam 13:14; Acts 13:22

Same way God pointed to 7000 in Israel, 1 Kings 19:18

I will never feel that I keep the First Commandment or any of the other Ten Commandments perfectly

If I ever claimed to be perfect in that way, that very claim would prove the claim false, 1 John 1:8,10

That claim breaks the First Commandment: God can, I can’t, and I decide to let Him

That claim cannot coexist with faith in God and love for God

That claim is Laodicea’s claim, "I have need of nothing."

Righteousness by Faith is right doing, or keeping the Ten Commandments, by choosing always to return my attention to the First Commandment, which is foundational and prepares the way for God to manifest all the other commandments in my life, according to God’s will and timing, without my specific help, except that I always return in repentance to the First Commandment.

Laodicea (Rev 3:14-22) is lukewarm because she does some of the Ten Commandments well but fails in the First Commandment, while shaming those who fail in some Commandments but would choose the First Commandment if they were taught that way.

Ellen Gould Harmon White took an interest in explaining the Laodicean message. Ellen means light (could be for the eyes), Gould means gold, Harmon means harmony, White is white. She did write that the gold is faith and love (3T 254), which might allow some to quibble with my notes that the white raiment is righteousness by faith and love. On the other hand, it could be that faith in God and love for God are represented by all three items required: gold, white raiment, and better eyesight. The solution is threefold: repent, get the required items, and open the door to the great supper with Jesus!

First read Steps to Christ, 57-65, "The Test of Discipleship" (1892). This summarizes the principles; read it twice.

Then read Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, 141-145, "Be Zealous and Repent" (1857). Better to read all first 153 pages.

Then read Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, 185-195, "The Laodicean Church" (1859).

Then read Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, 252-292, "The Laodicean Church" (1873).