Confidence

Dr. Couch, what is the apostle John telling us in 1 John 4:17 about having confidence? ANSWER: John writes: "Love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world" Our confidence replaces fear when we stand before the Lord, as mentioned in verse 18. "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected by love." Believers go before the Bema seat where our works are judged but not our eternal destiny. That issue is over as Paul says in Romans 8:1. "There is therefore now no condemnation, judgment (positional) for those who are in Christ Jesus." We now stand as positionally perfect in Christ though in our walk, in our experience, we still are living out our sins in this life. Our destiny is secure but our works are judged, and, we shall receive rewards for what we do in this life. The word "confidence" in Greek is "paresia" which means "to be fearless, to be cheerful, to have boldness and assurance." We can do this because all of our sins were taken care of at the cross. There is no judgment or an indictment against us because of the death of Christ in our behalf! Those who think they can lose their salvation remain in fear and have no confidence about their salvation. And, they do not know their Bible. They do not understand the difference between Positional Truth and Experiential Truth! They think that what they do determines their redemption. Rather, it is what Christ did for us that guarantees our salvation. There was nothing that we could do to please God; Christ had to do it all! Thanks for asking. Dr. Mal Couch (12/10)