Previously, we saw that our spirits are whole, but our soulish nature is the source of sin and apostasy. Jesus said, "For out of THE HEART proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies..." (Matt 15:19). We must choose to die daily (1 Cor 15:31), to decrease (Jn 3:30), to give Jesus the preeminence (Col 1:18), and to allow the Holy Spirit to come forth in our lives (Gal 4:19) until every chamber of our Adamic nature is cleansed, and found in the very image of God (2 Cor 3:18; Rom 8:29; Prov 24:4). David rightly said, "My soul is continually in MY hand" (Ps 119:109), and "I have CHOSEN Thy precepts" (Ps 119:173). Was David choosing such righteousness in order to EARN his salvation? Of course not, we have already seen how salvation is a gift (Eph 2:8); it cannot be earned. It has already been paid for, why should we strive to pay for it again? Jesus said, "It is finished..." (Jn 19:30).
So what is the effect of striving against sin? Why do we, as David, choose to die to self and carnality? If heaven is secure for the justified, why press any further? It is because we are all in a race, to win a prize!
"Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain" (1 Cor 9:24).
We are to run that we may obtain. Obtain what? A prize! A crown! Paul called this the high calling of God:
"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil 3:13-14).
The word “prize” as in Philippians 3:14 and 1 Corinthians 9:24, can actually be translated “award”. Many believe that heaven is this said reward, but if heaven was the “award” spoken of, then why does only ONE receive the prize? And why are we exhorted to run (Greek - “work; strive”) that we may obtain (Greek – “attain to; apprehend”)? Paul speaks about being “disqualified” from the prize, not from the race itself (1 Cor 9:27). Concerning this verse, one noted scholar has written, “I myself should be rejected (autos adokimos genōmai) literally means, “I myself should become rejected.” Adokimos is an old adjective used of metals, coin, soil (Heb 6:8) and in a moral sense only by Paul in the N.T. (1 Cor 9:27; 2 Cor 13:5-7; Rom 1:28; Tit 1:16; 2 Tim 3:8). It means not standing the test (dokimos from dokimazō). Paul means rejected for the prize, not for the entrance to the race...” (Robertson’s Word Pictures).
Is heaven our "prize"? No. Heaven is the abode of all those justified in Christ. Rather, our reward is IN heaven: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you..." (1 Pet 1:3-4).
We can see, therefore, that heaven is not at stake, the salvation of the justified is secured and eternal. Rather, it's our rewards that will differ, one from another. Do we find it strange that the Bible talks about rewards? For verily, there is a reward for the righteous (Ps 58:11)! Undeniably, the Scriptures continually discuss “a full reward” (Ruth 2:12; 2 Jn 1:8), a “great reward” (Ps 19:10-11; Genesis 15:1), a “sure reward” (Prov 11:18), a “prophet’s reward”, a “righteous man’s reward” (Matt 10:41-42), a reward “small and great” (Rev 11:18), and sadly even “no reward” (Matt 6:1).
Now what will this look like?
To Be Continued ...
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