rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō

GOD SAVE ME FROM YOUR FOLLOWERS

Or the gonzo journalism of grace

TRILOGY
BOOK TWO – GLORIOUS GRACE

These men have the freedom of futility,

Heaven is not a reward.
You have brought us back to Eden,
To eat of the tree of life.

The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to
the churches. To the one who conquers, I will permit him to eat
from the tree of life that is in the Paradise of God.129

Jesus Christ, 95 A.D.

Written and edited by DL Coulon

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Law

I [Paul] saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining
everywhere around me and those traveling with me. When we had all
fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul,
Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are hurting yourself by
kicking against the goads.’ So I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the
Lord replied, ‘I am
Jesus whom you are
persecuting. But get
up and stand on
your feet, for I have
appeared to you for
this reason, to
designate you in
advance as a servant and witness to the things you have seen and to
the things in which I will appear to you. I will rescue you from your
own people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you to open
their eyes so that they turn from darkness to light and from the power
of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a
share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ 130

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All Men are Condemned Because Adam Sinned Rom 3:21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God (which
is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed—3:22
Why do I need to be saved ? Better to ask – Who am I in the eyes of namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus
God? Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 3:23 for all have
Saved from what? Better to ask – Who is Jesus? sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 3:24 But they are justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 3:25
Rom 5:12 So then, just as God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible
sin entered the world through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because God in
through one man and death his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed. 3:26 This
through sin, and so death was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time, so that he
spread to all people because Christ would be just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’
all sinned— 5:13 for before faithfulness. (bold highlights mine) NET
the law was given, sin was
in the world, but there is no
accounting for sin when
there is no law. 5:14 Yet
death reigned from Adam
until Moses even over those Man Adam
who did not sin in the same
way that Adam (who is a
type of the coming one)
transgressed. 5:15 But the
gracious gift is not like the
transgression. For if the
many died through the transgression of the one man, how much more did
the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ
multiply to the many! 5:16 And the gift is not like the one who sinned.
For judgment, resulting from the one transgression, led to condemnation,
but the gracious gift from the many failures led to justification. 5:17 For
if, by the transgression of the one man, death reigned through the one,
how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of
the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!
5:18 Consequently, just as condemnation for all people came through one
transgression, so too through the one righteous act came righteousness Birth, sin, and death – grace – the gift of God’s eternal life and the
leading to life for all people. 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of gift of the righteousness of God are the sum total of what may be the
the one man many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of everlasting results of one’s life – the answer to the question, “Who am
one man many will be made righteous. 5:20 Now the law came in so that I?” Two vastly different fates, separated one from the other, only by
the transgression may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied God’s grace. God has personally experienced all of these with two
all the more, 5:21 so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will important distinctions: (1) man created the sin and the undeserving God
reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. the Son was made to be that sin, and (2) God created the grace of
NET salvation and undeserving man is made to be the righteousness of God.
At any given moment, unsaved men are under a legal sentence of death,

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no matter if they had done the impossible – never sinned. Free will alone,
stands between man and the grace of justification that secures an eternal
salvation. The reality of the Oracles of Truth for either condemnation or
justification, is that God sees but two men. All men are either “in” one or
the other. The unregenerate are in Adam, the first man, the federal head
of mankind. The regenerate are in Christ, the Last Man, the federal Head
of those regenerated and born from above. As surely and totally as the
unsaved are the offspring of Adam.
Hos 6:7 At Adam131 they broke the covenant;
oh how they were unfaithful to me! NET
1 Cor 15:21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of
the dead also came through a man. 15:22 For just as in Adam all die,
so also in Christ all will be made alive. NET
Most importantly - spirit, soul, and body must originate from
somewhere. Would God ex nihilo, out of nothing, pointlessly, create and
then degenerate a person each time a child is conceived, only to condemn
that soul to destruction? Imputation is a legal instrument used by God
that may either be judicial or real. There are three divine imputations in
effect upon mankind as revealed in the NT. One, is the real imputation of
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the guilt of Adam’s first sin, whereas He as progenitor of all mankind
carried the seed of all souls, all souls were present when he sinned.
Therefore, the correct reading of all sinned in the two passages above.
Two, is the judicial imputation of sin, man’s demerit, to the death and
burial of Christ. Thirdly, the remedy for sin, the judicial imputation of
the righteousness of God, which is Christ, to man when he is placed into
the resurrected, ascended Christ, by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Thus,
condemnation is not a choice, but a legal standing before birth for all
men. Justification by faith through grace is to choose the new legal
standing of righteousness in a new birth. Imputation is a critically vital
Bible principle for salvation. To ignore it, and teach a belief in Christ as
a personal Savior, is as pointless as giving instructions in the discipline
of unaided human flight - from a standing start on level ground.
There is a divinely appointed cure for the hopeless estate of “all
sinned.” Dr. Lewis Chafer writes: “God has moved in the direction of a
cure for man’s lost estate. The terms upon which this cure may be
received are as definite as any can be. He who in the beginning
disobeyed God and [all] sinned is called upon to obey the gospel of
God’s grace. In the present age the salvation which God offers is unto a
place in the highest glory and in no way to be compared with that estate
of innocence from which Adam fell.” 132
The NT Body of believers united in Christ was inaugurated during the
Upper Room Discourse in John chapters 13-17. The prayers of Jesus to
His Father in chapter 17 activated divine power for all that would
become believers through His death and resurrection. The prayer of unity
spoken by Jesus for all believers, “Ye in me and I in you” (John 14:20),
should be apprehended as the very heart of Christianity for the reason
that it is “the wisdom and the power of God” to accomplish salvation
through regeneration and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The “wisdom
and power of God” is deaf to the question, “Am I worthy to go to
heaven,” and fully answers the question, “Am I going to heaven?” After
the ascension of Christ, God the Father sent the Holy Spirit who will
convince unregenerate men of the truth of sin, righteousness, and
judgment as it regards the only begotten of the Father, as well as the first
begotten from the dead, the resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ (John 16:7-
11). Dr. Lewis Chafer writes:
“One of the greatest disclosures in the New Testament is confronted at
this point in the discussion: no less a theme than the whole Pauline
doctrine of the Church, the New Creation, with its Headship in the
resurrected Christ. Though this great line of truth has had extended
treatment under Ecclesiology, it must be introduced again, being, as it is,
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so vital a feature in the Spirit’s baptism. Regardless of its fundamental
place in Pauline theology, this phase of Ecclesiology is almost wholly
neglected by Covenant theologians, and for the obvious reason that their
ideal of one covenant which unifies the whole Bible is shattered by the
revelation of a new Headship and its New Creation. The indictment,
before mentioned, which is to the effect that the entire doctrinal aspect of
Christ’s resurrection - central in Pauline theology – is neglected, is most
serious and damaging. The scope and importance of the Spirit’s baptism,
is to be seen from the thing it accomplishes. … An intensity of inness is
secured when the believer is joined to Christ … Both the branch and the
body’s member become living, organic parts of that to which they are
joined. This new relationship as established in the case of the branch and
the member results in the life of the vine or of the body being run into the
branch and the member; it also results in the branch and the member
being in the vine and the body. This twofold result is expressed by Christ
in seven of the smallest yet most meaningful words ever uttered. They
afford a miniature expression of one of infinity’s masterpieces. The
seven words are: “Ye in me and I in you” (John 14:20). As before
indicated, two mighty ministries of the Holy Spirit are here recognized –
that of forming Christ in the believer or the regenerating work (“I in
you”) and that of placing the believer in Christ or the baptizing work He
performs (“Ye in me”). No human language can describe these two
realities, either with respect to the heaven-high character of these
blessings or with respect to their eternal duration.” (Systematic Theology,
Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 6, pp 151-52)
Dr. Charles Spurgeon writes in his Morning and Evening Devotions:
“But now is Christ risen from the dead.” (1 Cor xv. 20). The whole
system of Christianity rests upon the fact that “Christ is risen from the
dead;” for, “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your
faith is also vain: ye are yet in your sins.” The divinity of Christ finds its
surest proof in His resurrection, since He was “Declared to be the Son of
God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection
from the dead.” It would not be unreasonable to doubt His Deity if He
had not risen. Moreover, Christ’s sovereignty depends upon His
resurrection, “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that
He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.” Again, our
justification, that choice blessing of the covenant, is linked with Christ’s
triumphant victory over death and the grave; for “He was delivered fro
our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” Nay, more, our
very regeneration is connected with His resurrection, for we are
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“Begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead.” And most certainly our ultimate resurrection rests here,
for, “If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you,
He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” If Christ be not risen, then
shall we not rise; but if He be risen then they who are asleep in Christ
have not perished, but in their flesh shall surely behold their God. Thus,
the silver thread of resurrection runs through all the believer’s blessings,
from his regeneration onwards toward his eternal glory, and binds them
together. How important then will this glorious fact be in his estimation,
and how he will rejoice that beyond a doubt it is established, that, “now
is Christ risen from the dead.” (Morning – May 10, p 262)
The Counterfeit Seed Principle – Faith in Faith
1 Cor 9:16 … Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 9:17 For if I
do this voluntarily, I have a reward. But if I do it unwillingly, I am
entrusted with a responsibility. 9:18 What then is my reward? That
when I preach the gospel I may offer the gospel free of charge, and so
not make full use of my rights in the gospel. NET
2 Cor 2:17 For we are not like so many others, hucksters who peddle
the word of God for profit, but we are speaking in Christ before God
as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God. NET
2 Cor 11:7 Or did I commit a sin
by humbling myself so that you
could be exalted, because I
proclaimed the gospel of God to
you free of charge? NET
General perception is religion.
Both preachers and doctors are
subject to share in a God complex.
Religion is a collection of God
dishonoring lies, repeated parrot-
like by the unsaved that have been
taught by Lordship wizards
obsessed with having other people
plant faith seeds in their
storehouse. With a no money-back
guarantee, faith in faith is advised
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for a magical tenfold increase from a “beanstalk” that will spring up from
somewhere other than their storehouse. Better yet, why not send a dollar
and advise the soliciting wizard to accept your $100 dollar donation. As
regards the seed principle, the most unsuccessful farmer on earth knows
the only increase from seed will be in the ground. For those who like
money, why not try growing earthworms? They have a thousand fold
increase in the ground. And they may be kept in your own storehouse.
But more importantly, what does becoming rich and “hating your
life” have in common? God is not the only one who can answer prayers.
The Apostle Paul would say the following to anyone who gives their
seed away, “Fool! What you sow will not come to life unless it dies” (1
Cor 15:36) and Jesus would say this, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a
kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone.”
(John 12:24). Aside from “sowing,” these are the only two places in the
NT where the truth of a “seed principle” is revealed. Dr. Lewis Chafer
writes: “A principle is announced in this text which, though working
throughout nature generally, is especially evident in Christ’s death and
resurrection as they reach out in benefit to others. It is through death that
life is multiplied (cf. 1 Cor 15:36). That the principle applies to men is
declared by Christ when He went on to say , “He that loveth his life shall
lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life
eternal” (John 12:25).” 133
The Lordship wizards make much of Malachi 3:10, “Bring the entire
tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food in my temple. Test me
in this matter,” says the sovereign Lord, “to see if I will not open for you
the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until there is no
room for it all.” One fatal flaw exists in preaching this convenient
“commandment,” Christians are not OT Jews. The rule of the Mosaic
Law has been replaced by grace in the “law of Christ.” Additionally,
what is not preached by Lordship wizards, is the OT fact that a tithe was
in three equal parts: (1) for the support of the priest, (2) for oneself and
their family to be spent at feast “festivals” on delicious meats and drinks,
and (3) for assisting the poor at one’s “personal discretion” as one
encountered the needs of the poor in his daily life. The NT Christian is
exhorted to “communicate” in the KJV translation, as in “to share” (1
Cor 9:7-15; Gal 6:6; Phil 4:15; 1 Tim 5:18). Galatians 6:6 reads: “Let
him who is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all
good things.” How might that verse be considered, “The Lord has put in
my heart 56, that number is the answer to your financial problems. If you
will just sow $56.00, $56.00 is what the Lord has promised me. Send it
today, today for your financial release from bondage to Satan.” Contrary
to the health and wealth gospel, Galatians chapter 6 goes on to caution
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against unhealthy practices by “the person who sows to his own flesh,”
but to those who sow to the Spirit – eternal life: “Do not be deceived.
God will not be made a fool. For a person will reap what he sows,
because the person who sows to his own flesh will reap corruption from
the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from
the Spirit. So we must not grow weary in doing good, for in due time we
will reap, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an
opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who
belong to the family of faith” (Gal 6:7-10).
The NT “seed principle,” for the devout mind to comprehend is: (1)
that of death, not riches. Primarily, the death of Christ that “produces
much grain” as told in John 12:25, “Jesus replied, “But if it dies, it
produces much grain. The one who loves his life destroys it, and the one
who hates his life in this world guards it for eternal life.” (2) all that the
Bible reveals concerning what the Christian obtains from His death,
resurrection, and the ongoing work of Christ in heaven. ““Now my soul
is greatly distressed. And what should I say? ‘Father, deliver me from
this hour’? No, but for this very reason I have come to this hour. Father,
glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it,
and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard the
voice said that it had thundered. Others said that an angel had spoken to
him. Jesus said, “This voice has not come for my benefit but for yours.
Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler [lord] of this world will
be driven out” (John 12:27-31, brackets mine). (3) the death to self, “If
anyone wants to serve me, he must follow me, and where I am, my
servant will be too. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him”
(John 12:26). (4) Lastly, the death to self and the release from worldly
desires, “The one who loves his life destroys it, and the one who hates
his life in this world guards it for eternal life” (John 12:25). How might
bringing your seed to the storehouse and testing the Lord for an increase
compare to the concepts above? Lordship wizards and their followers
should take Paul’s advice, “Fool! What you sow will not come to life
unless it dies.” No new heart, no new brain, no new courage, nor the way
home may be had from a wizard. These may only be had as a gift from
the Savior of men, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Myth of Lordship Salvation
1 Cor 12:1 With regard to spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not
want you to be [3tn Grk “ignorant.”] uninformed. … 12:3 So I want
you to understand that no one speaking [in] by the Spirit of God says,
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“Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord [Jehovah,
Yahweh],” except [in] by the Holy Spirit. (brackets mine) NET
Jesus is “Lord,” only, to those who are saved and indwelt by the
Spirit of God. There is one guarantee though, and that, a guarantee how
not to be saved by Christ. If this is the sum total suggested to you for
saving faith in Christ: “Say this prayer after me and you will be saved,
“Come into my heart Jesus. I confess my sins. I make you the Lord
[master] of my life.” This is a “gospel” mistake of the highest magnitude.
Where is the crucified Christ? Where is trust for forgiveness in the blood
of Christ? Or, Jesus as the Savior of condemned men who bestows the
gift of righteousness and eternal life? Where is the gospel of the grace of
God? Peter’s confession of faith after Jesus declared Himself to be “the
bread of life come down from heaven,” was: “So Jesus said to the twelve,
“You don’t want to go away too, do you?” Simon Peter answered him,
“Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We
have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God!”
Jesus replied, “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is the
devil?” (John 6:67-70). One must “obey the gospel” first. One need
believe in Jesus for eternal life, before they may obtain a position before
Jesus as honored servants (doulos, i.e., such as Moses and Elijah) of the
Most High God.
In order to fully define the biblical uses of Lord with the intent to
“debunk” the error of “Lordship salvation,” the underlying NT Greek for
the English renderings of Lord, lord, God, and god need be understood.
Additionally, it is necessary to understand that beyond the ideas
comprehended in the names of God, the “mumbo-jumbo” of Lordship
salvation is a platform upon which is constructed the false teaching that
Christ has returned “spiritually” at Pentecost with the Holy Spirit. This is
a Christ who came and a King who has no future glory, only a present
unseen, undefined rule over the word. This is in sharp contrast to “God’s
anointed One,” as in “the King is coming.” This teaching denies, and
does not confess, Jesus as the Christ, the OT Messiah who is to return in
great glory and power with the saints of this age to defeat all evil and
establish the Davidic throne in the future millennium. And this, a Jesus
Christ, the seed of Abraham, who fulfills all His promises to His
heavenly inhabitants, the Church who are the stars of Abraham’s seed,
before the fulfillment of the unconditional promises made to the earthly
inhabitants of the nation of Israel, who are the sands of Abraham’s seed.
These promises were made in the OT and further ratified in the New.
There are three principal names of God in the OT. Two are translated
as Lord. Only two of these major names are exclusively used of God: (1)
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Yahweh, Jehovah (God - A.V.) [I AM, the self-existent One] (2) Elohim
(LORD – A.V.) [El Alah, the strong One and a unified plurality who binds
Himself to His Word, faithful], and (3) Adonai (Lord, lord – A.V.)
meaning master [lordship in directing services] and may reference either
the Creator or a ruling creature [Heb. ba’al]134 of God. Concerning the
primary name of God, Jehovah or Yahweh, Dr. Lewis Chafer writes:
As an introduction to the name Jehovah – one of the three Old
Testament names for God – and its import, two paragraphs from the
article by Dr. T. Rees on “God” in the International Standard Bible
Encyclopaedia may well be quoted:
Jehovah (Yahweh).- This is the personal proper name par excellence of
Israel’s God, even as Chemosh was that of the god of Moab, and Dagon that
of the god of the Philistines. The original meaning and derivation of the
word are unknown. The variety of modern theories shows that,
etymologically, several derivations are possible, but that the meanings
attached to any one of them have to be imported and imposed upon the word.
They add nothing to our knowledge. The Hebrews themselves connected the
word with hāyāh, “to be.” In Exodus 3:14 Jehovah is explained as equivalent
to `ehyeh, which is a short form of `ehyeh `ǎsher `ehyeh, translated in the R.
V. “I am that I am.” This has been supposed to mean “self-existence,” and to
represent God as the Absolute. Such an idea, however, would be a
metaphysical abstraction, not only impossible to the time at which the name
originated, but alien to the Hebrew mind at any time. And the imperfect
`ehyeh is more accurately translated “I will be what I will be,” a Semitic
idiom meaning, “I will be all that is necessary as the occasion will arise,” a
familiar Old Testament idea (cf. Isa. 7:4, 9; Ps 23).
This name was in use from the earliest historical times till after the exile.
It is found in the most ancient literature. According to Exodus 3:13 f., and
especially 6:2-3, it was first introduced by Moses, and was the medium of a
new revelation of the God of their fathers to the children of Israel. But in
parts of Genesis it is represented as being in use from the earliest times.
Theories that derive it from Egypt or Assyria, or that would connect it
etymologically with Jove or Zeus, are supported by no evidence. We have to
be content either to say that Jehovah was the tribal God of Israel from time
immemorial, or to accept a theory that is practically identical with that of
Exodus – that it was adopted through Moses from the Midianite tribe into
which he married. The Kenites, the tribe of Midianites related to Moses,
dwelt in the neighborhood of Sinai, and attached themselves to Israel (Judg
1:16; 4:11). A few passages suggest that Sinai was the original home of
Jehovah (Judg 5:4-5; Deut 33:2). But there is no direct evidence bearing
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upon the origin of the worship of Jehovah: to us He is known as the God of Who hath made man’s mouth? … Now therefore go, and I will be with
Israel. – Pp. 254-5 thy mouth.” … (Old Scofield Study System, p 24)
The various compounds with Jehovah being used in the Old Thus lordship, in the present tense, may be seen as the profane milieu
Testament are:
(cosmos) where the minions of Satan co-exist with the children of the
Lord God, as in the seven parables of “the mystery of the kingdom of
Jehovah-jireh – ‘Jehovah sees’ (Gen 22:13-14),
heaven” revealed in Matthew chapter 13. Certainly the thought in view
Jehovah-nissi – ‘Jehovah is my banner’ (Ex 17:15),
with divine Lordship is not to make Jesus Yahweh or Elohim – or is it?
Jehovah-shalom – ‘Jehovah is peace’ (Judg 6:24),
An OT Jew, writing in Greek, would think the Greek word Kurios to
Jehovah-shammah – ‘Jehovah is there’ (Ezek 48:35),
mean God as creator, not master - Lord (kuvrio" [kurios], used by the
Jehovah-tsidkenu – ‘Jehovah our righteousness’ (Jer 23:6),
LXX [Septuagint] to translate Yahweh) and God (qeov" [qeos], used by the
Jehovah-rā-ah – ‘Jehovah my shepherd’ (Ps 23:1),
LXX to translate Elohim). Regarding the names of Christ, Dr. Lewis
Jehovah-rapha – ‘Jehovah that healeth’ (Ex 15:26),
Chafer writes:
In the light of the plural form of Elohim, Deuteronomy 6:4 is significant,
A distinct and extensive proof that Christ is Jehovah is to be seen in
also the collective use there of the word one. The text reads: “Hear, O
the New Testament title of Lord which is applied to Him upwards of a
Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.” A translation just as acceptable
thousand times. Jehovah is a Hebrew term which is not brought forward
might read: “Jehovah [note the name is singular] our Elohim [now it is
into the New Testament. Its equivalent is κύριος [Strong’s Exhaustive
plural] is one [several entities united into one] Jehovah.” What, therefore,
Concordance #2962], which title is also applied to the Father and the
must be the significance of Christ’s reference to Himself as Jehovah or
Spirit. It is a justifiable procedure to treat the name Jehovah of the Old
the “I am” (John 8:58)? 135
Testament as continued in its specific meaning into the New Testament
by the name Lord. Such would be the natural meaning of many exalted
In greater detail, Dr. C. I. Scofield writes:
declarations: “Lord of all” Acts 10:36, “Lord over all” (Rom 10:12),
“Lord of glory” (1 Cor 2:8), and “King of kings, and Lord of lords” (Rev
“Lord” (Heb. Adon, Adonai).
17:14; 19:16). (Systematic Theology, Vol 1, p 334) (brackets mine)
(1) The primary meaning of Adon, Adonai, is Master, and it is applied
in the Old Testament Scriptures both to Deity and to man. The latter
Dr. Charles Ryrie further defines the English translations of God and
instances are distinguished in the English version by the omission of the
Lord in the New Testament:
capital. As applied to man, the word is used of two relationships: master
and husband (Gen 24:9, 10, 12, “master,” may illustrate the former; Gen
THEOS. Theos is the most frequent designation of God in the New
18:12 “lord,” the latter). Both these relationships exist between Christ
Testament and the most common translation in the Septuagint for
and the believer (John 13:13, “master”; 2 Cor 11:2, 3, “husband”).
Elohim. It almost always refers to the one true God, though sometimes it
(2) Two principles inhere in the relation of master and servant: (a) the
is used of the gods of paganism in the reported words of pagans or by
Master’s right to implicit obedience (John 13:13; Mt 23:10; Lk 6:46); (b)
Christians repudiating these false gods (Acts 12:22; 14:11; 17:23; 19:26-
the servant’s right to direction in service (Isa 6:8-11). Clear distinction in
27; 1 Cor 8:5; 2 Thess 2:4). It also refers to the devil (2 Cor 4:4) and
the use of the divine names is illustrated in Ex 4:10-12. Moses feels his
sensuality (Phil 3:19). Most importantly Jesus Christ is designated as
weakness and incompetency, and “Moses said unto the LORD [Jehovah],
Theos (though some of the passages are disputed). Notice Romans 9:5;
O my Lord [Adonai], I am not eloquent,” etc. Since service is in
John 1:1, 18; 20:28; and Titus 2:13. …
question, Moses (appropriately) addresses Jehovah as Lord. But now
Christ, the Son of God, is called God in several New Testament texts.
power is in question, and it is not the Lord (Adonai) but Jehovah (LORD)
1. In John. The Johannine teaching includes the following passages: John
who answers (referring to creation power) – “and Jehovah said unto him,
1:1, 18, where some manuscripts read “the only begotten God,” and that
unusual reading may be regarded as grounds for accepting its
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authenticity; 20:28, where Thomas used both kurios [Lord] and theos
[God] of Jesus; and 1 John 5:20.
2. In Paul. Titus 2:13 seems to be the clearest designation of Christ as
God in Paul’s writing since Romans 9:5 is questioned by some.
However, it is linguistically proper and contextually preferable to ascribe
the phrase “God blessed forever” to Christ.
KURIOS. The majority of the 717 occurrences of kurios [Lord, lord] in
the New Testament are by Luke (210) and Paul (275) since they wrote to
people of Greek culture and language.
The word emphasizes authority and supremacy. It can mean sir (John
4:11), owner (Luke 9:33), or master (Col 3:22), or it can refer to idols (1
Cor 8:5) or husbands (1 Pet:36). When used of God as kurios, it
“expresses particularly His creatorship, His power revealed in history,
and His dominion over the universe …”
Christ as Kurios. During His earthly life Jesus was addressed as Lord,
meaning Rabbi or Sir (Matt 8:6). Thomas ascribed full deity to Him
when he declared, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Christ’s
resurrection and exaltation placed Him as Lord of the universe (Acts 2:6;
Phil 2:11). But “to an early Christian accustomed to reading the OT, the
word ‘Lord,’ when used of Jesus, would suggest His identification with
the God of the OT.” This means, in relation to a verse like Romans 10:9,
that “any Jew who publicly confessed that Jesus of Nazareth was ‘Lord,’
would be understood to ascribe the divine nature and attributes to Him.”
Thus the essence of the Christian faith was to acknowledge Jesus of
Nazareth as the Yahweh of the Old Testament.
DESPOTES. This word connotes the idea of ownership, whereas kurios
emphasizes authority and supremacy.
God is addressed in prayer as Despot by Simeon (Luke 2:29), Peter
and those with him (Acts 4:24), and the martyrs in heaven (Rev 6:10).
Twice Christ is called Despot (2 Pet 2:1; Jude 4). (Basic Theology,
Dr. Charles Ryrie, pp 55-57)
The Hebrew Adonai is not brought forward into the NT. Despotes,
“ownership,” as a third designation, is the closest Greek equivalent. And,
as indicated, is only used twice as a direct reference to Jesus. How then
might the vast predominance of Kurios, and the meaning associated to
this designation – Jesus as the God of the OT – support the myth of
Lordship salvation? Such terms as Teacher, Paraclete, Christ (Kurios
as the OT Messiah) – Prophet, Priest, and King – Savior, Advocate,
Intercessor, Pioneer (forerunner), and Head over the Church (which is
the new creation of His Body) are introduced in the NT. In a very few
instances the term Lord is used of Christ as Husband, intended as a future
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secured salvation view of a “now-but-not-yet” betrothal. This is a
completed eschatological view of the NT Church as His Bride. In an
unsecured salvation view, if the sense of Lord is Christ as Husband, it
patently devolves into a trial marriage – an offer to live together with
Christ before the wedding supper in heaven. If commitment and service
is intended, it is premature for the unsaved to make this offer. An
individual must be “not of this world” as Christ is “not of this world”
before she/he may dedicate themselves to whatever service Christ has
prepared for them to do. To suggest that an unbeliever say, “I make you
the Lord of my life” - given the vast predominance of the meaning
contained in the NT rendering of Lord - what warrant is there to make
Jesus “the self-existent One, the I AM that I AM, I Will Be What I Will
Be, the One who continues to reveal Himself.” The commonly used
appellation used by Paul for Christ was “God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ,” thus the divine name Lord Jesus Christ is as exalted as the
term God, to which it is joined.
There is no recorded instance of an Apostle requiring that anyone
need commit to the lordship (directorship, Head over His Body the
Church) of Jesus, send an invitation, or confess sinfulness in an act of
mia culpa to be saved by grace. Faith is the pathway to eternal life in
Christ. There is no principle or verse in the gospel presentations where
the Apostles used Lordship and, instructed those gathered to say this
prayer, “come in to my heart Jesus. I am an awful, terrible, horrible
sinner. I make you the Lord of my life” for the salvation of their soul.
The Spirit of Christ declares: “For sadness as intended by God produces
a repentance that leads to salvation, leaving no regret, but worldly
sadness brings about death” (2 Cor 7:10).
Jesus never called on anyone to make Him Kurios, “Rabbi, Sir, or
master-owner,” for salvation. Entrance into the incorporation of the life
of Christ that is united with all regenerated Christians, is not by resume
or commitment to serve. All work histories from the spiritually dead,
“unwashed,” hordes of humanity are more worthless and offensive than a
“filthy rag.” How may one serve when they have been made alive,
“washed,” and given the ability to serve? How then does one gain
entrance into “the new covenant made in the blood of Christ?” By
trusting in what God has said; that whosoever believes has been given a
permanent, eternal position in the incorporation of believers into the life
of Christ - because whosoever are spiritually dead and he died for
whosoever to live. This being true, what might the whole concept of
lordship and sorrowful regret for saving faith then be? A bogus, self-
centered entrance into Christianity via a pseudogospel is the only honest
answer. Anything not of faith is sin, thereby, to “make,” to create Jesus
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as your Lord, either with the intent of God or owner, as part and parcel of
a confession of faith, is far removed from saving trust in a living Jesus
Christ as the Savior of undeserving lost men who are born for perdition.
A sinner is made a child of God. A sinner is given a new heart. Christ
will not accept an invitation to have a deceitful heart for a home. To
make a Lord is pure sin. Who would suggest that you sin?
Jesus calls whosoever to believe in Him for salvation. He says to
whosoever that “if” they knew Him, they would ask Him for eternal life.
That whosoever believes that they receive eternal life from Him will be
with Him always – “even until the end of time.” In summary, one need
be saved first, to have believed and then received the Spirit of God
before the matter of true consecration (Christ directed service, which
leaves lordship as little more than a buzz word) is even a possibility.
Lordship for salvation is “human wisdom,” not biblical wisdom, as there
is only one lord and master that the unsaved, spiritually dead may call
upon. Even as the Apostle Paul declared, a God appointed spiritual
teacher may only assist a believer in coming to the knowledge of the
riches of Christ. Christ requested Peter to “feed My sheep.”
When all is said and done, lordship salvation is mere bone rattling
and bereft of any theological acumen. It is practiced by the wizards of
guilt and “worldly sadness” that “brings about death.” These wizards are
“hucksters who peddle the word of God for profit” and deem their pay a
just reward. By so doing, they boldly intrude upon Christ. They
unabashedly claim their shepherding is needed to “maintain” and “save”
the naïve and misled from perdition. In matters of healing, they deny the
required need for faith on the part of the healer, as well as the one who
needs healing. It takes no “theological acumen to discern the base
differences between the lordship and nonlordship views of the
presentation of the Gospel.” How might principles, plainly taught in
Scripture, be “one of the devil’s lies?”
John 3:36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life. The one who
rejects the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath remains on him. NET
John 5:24 “I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message
and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be
condemned, but has crossed over from death to life. NET
1 Cor 2:4 My conversation and my preaching were not with persuasive
words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
2:5 so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on the
power of God. NET
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1 Cor 2:12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the
Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things that are freely
given to us by God. 2:13 And we speak about these things, not with
words taught us by human wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit,
explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. 2:14 The unbeliever does
not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to
him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually
discerned. 2:15 The one who is spiritual discerns all things, yet he
himself is understood by no one. 2:16 For who has known the mind of
the Lord, so as to advise him? But we have the mind of Christ. NET
2 Cor 4:7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary
power belongs to God and does not come from us. NET
Acts 5:32 And we are witnesses of these events, and so is the Holy Spirit
whom God has given to those who obey him.” NET
2 Cor 10:3 For though we live as human beings, we do not wage war
according to human standards, 10:4 for the weapons of our warfare are
not human weapons, but are made powerful by God for tearing down
strongholds. We tear down arguments 10:5 and every arrogant obstacle
that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every
thought captive to make it obey Christ. NET
In 1 John it is said that those who would not confess Jesus as the
Christ were antichrist and had the “spirit of deceit.” Only a wizard would
believe and preach Lordship as the saving message of Christ. Neither an
invitation into one’s heart, nor giving Christ permission to be Lord, direct
a person’s attention from themselves. Both are something to do, and
therefore, void of an object for saving faith. In short, a sterile exercise in
futility. An informed intelligent decision, in response to an informed,
intelligent, Spirit led presentation, is the stuff that saving faith is made of
in the book of Acts. Dr. Lewis Chafer writes in He That Is Spiritual:
It is too generally assumed that the teacher or preacher who is an
authority in some branch or branches of human knowledge is, by virtue
of that knowledge, equally capable of discernment in spiritual things. It is
not so. An unregenerate person (and who is more assuredly unregenerate
than the one who denies the foundation and reality of the new birth?) will
always be incapable of receiving and knowing the simplest truths of
revelation. God is not a reality to the natural man. “God is not in all his
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thoughts.” The unsaved man is therefore distressed and burdened to
dispose of the supernatural. 136
Judas was a disciple and not a believer. It would be a great mistake to
assume he never called Jesus lord. The other disciples had no clue, even
when given an unmistakable hint, that he was the one who would betray
Jesus. Lordship is not an element in salvation. One need realize the
necessity for belief precedes the ability to dedicate yourself as a NT
priest for your consecration by Jesus, in His current position as High
Priest over the souls of believers. Jesus must “know” a person first
through His saving knowledge that led to a saving trust in Him. Then,
with voluntary consent, He will direct that believer into a ministry of His
choosing. Only Christ, through the indwelling Holy Spirit of God, can
teach “personalized” lessons on the principles and the underlying
spiritual richness of God’s Word to a believing man or a woman. Then
and only then, is that man or woman a fit vessel to be used by the Lord
for His “good works.” One of which, Christ chooses those who are to
present the gospel of the grace of God. Dr. C. I. Scofield writes:
A distinction of first importance to a correct understanding of the
New Testament local church is that between office and ministry. Office
was by appointment, ministry was by gift of the Spirit. Philip, one of the
seven first deacons of the church in Jerusalem, is a sufficient illustration
of this distinction. By office he was a deacon; by gift, an evangelist (Acts
6:5; 21:8). … The abiding ministry gifts are enumerated in Ephesians
4:11: “And he gave some to apostles; some, prophets; and some,
evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.” These, it should be
observed, are not gifts of the Spirit to men, as in 1 Corinthians 12, but
gifts of Spirit-gifted men to the church. They belong to the whole church
“which is his body.” No instance is found is found of the ordination of a
prophet, or of an evangelist, or of a pastor and teacher “over” any local
church, though local churches were ministered to by them (Acts 11:19-
28), and often for years continuously. … It should also be noted that, as
ministry was by the Spirit and was free, so the ordering of place, time,
and method in service was kept under the free authority of the Spirit
(Acts 13:1-4; 16:6-10). It remains to add that the New Testament knows
nothing of a priesthood other than the priesthood of all believers under
the High-priesthood of Christ; nothing of a “clergy” as forming a body
distinct from the “laity”; nor anything of certain men set apart to baptize
and to administer the Lord’s supper, though doubtless it would be within
New Testament liberty to designate one or more for these purposes.” 137
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Additionally, regarding the grouping or federation of local churches, Dr.
Lewis Chafer writes:
A limited number of New Testament passages refer to local churches (cf.
Acts 9:31; 15:41; 16:5; Rom 16:4; 1 Cor 11:16; 14:34; 16:1, 19; 2 Cor
8:1, 18-19, 23-24; 12:13; Gal 1:2, 22; 1 Thess 2:14; Rev 1:4, 11, 20; 2:7,
11, 17, 23; 3:6, 13, 22; 22:16). However, in no passage is there
intimation that these churches were federated or under the authority of a
super-government. On the other hand, nothing is said against the
federation of churches provided it does not hinder the direct and
immediate leadership of the Holy Spirit in the local church. That divine
leadership is a priceless reality, if the church is willing to avail itself of it;
yet unspiritual authorities too often dominate the church to the exclusion
of all experience in the matter of the Spirit’s guidance. As details in the
believer’s life under grace are left for the leading of the Spirit (Gal 5:18),
in like manner details in church life are accorded the same gracious
latitude.” 138
There is no latitude given in Scripture for self-appointment to the gift
of ministry. To enter into ministry as a profession to practice business
skills and leadership is self-appointment. By extension, to make Jesus
your Lord for salvation, understood either as creator God or Master, is
self-appointment and “human wisdom.” Dr. Charles Ryrie gives the
following illustrations and comments concerning Lordship salvation:
Does one have to make Christ Lord of his life or be willing to do so in
order to be saved? One yes answer puts it this way:
The lordship view expressly states the necessity of acknowledging Christ as
the Lord and Master of one’s life in the act of receiving Him as Savior.
These are not two different sequential acts (or successive steps), but rather
one act of pure trusting faith. It takes little theological acumen to discern the
base differences between the lordship and nonlordship views of the
presentation of the Gospel. 139
Something more than “believing” is necessary to salvation. A heart that is
steeled in rebellion against God cannot savingly believe: it first must be
broken. … No one can receive Christ as his Saviour while he rejects Him as
Lord! It is true the preacher adds that the one who accepts Christ should also
surrender to Him as Lord, but he once spoils it by assertion that though the
convert fails to do so nevertheless heaven is sure for him. That is one of the
devils lies. 140
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Simply stated the question is: Does the lack of commitment to the
lordship of Christ over the years of one’s life mean a lack of saving
faith? … This lordship teaching fails to distinguish salvation from
discipleship and makes requirements for discipleship prerequisites for
salvation. Our Lord distinguished the two (Luke 14:16-33). This teaching
elevates one of the many aspects of the person of Christ (Master over
life) in making it a part of the Gospel. Why not require faith in His
kingship? Or in the fact that He is Judge of all, or that He was the
Creator? Though my view has been dubbed “easy believism,” it is not
easy. We ask that he trust a person who lived two thousand years ago,
whom he can only know through the Bible, to forgive his sins. We are
asking that he stake his eternal destiny on this. Remember the example of
the Evangelist Jesus. He did not require the Samaritan woman to set her
sinful life in order, or even be willing to, so that she could be saved. He
did not set out before her what would be expected by way of changes in
her life if she believed. He simply said she needed to know who He is
and to ask for the gift of eternal life (John 4:10).141 (Basic Theology, Dr.
Charles Ryrie, pp 390-392)
Mtw 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into
the kingdom of heaven—only the one who does the will of my Father in
heaven. 7:22 On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we
prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many
powerful deeds?’ 7:23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you.
Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’ NET
In the previous verse what may it mean that Christ called the false
Christians lawbreakers?” The simple answer is they had not “obeyed the
gospel” by trusting absolutely in Jesus as Savior - the one commandment
imposed upon the unsaved. To say that Lordship salvation and, the
associated doctrines that devolve from it, is misleading would be an
understatement. The entire scheme of a salvation centered upon doubt
may be likened to a starving wolf. An evening wolf who is all the more
rapacious when the pains of hunger that consume him will not let him
sleep. Dr. Charles H. Spurgeon writes:
“Evening wolves.” – Habakkuk i. 8. While preparing the present volume,
this particular expression recurred to me so frequently, that in order to be
rid of its constant importunity I determined to give a page to it. The
evening wolf, infuriated by a day of hunger, was fiercer and more
ravenous than he would have been in the morning. May not the furious
creature represent our doubts and fears after a day of distraction of mind,
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losses in business, and perhaps ungenerous tauntings from our fellow
men? How our thoughts howl in our ears, “Where is now thy God?” How
voracious and greedy they are, swallowing up all suggestions of comfort,
and remaining as hungry as before. Great Shepherd, slay these evening
wolves, and bid thy sheep lie down in green pastures, undisturbed by
insatiable unbelief. How like are the fiends of hell to evening wolves, for
when the flock of Christ are in a cloudy and dark day, and their sun
seems going down, they hasten to tear and to devour. They will scarcely
attack the Christian in the daylight of faith, but in the gloom of soul
conflict they will fall upon him. O Thou who hast laid down Thy life for
the sheep, preserve them from the fangs of the wolf.
False teachers who craftily and industriously hunt for the precious
life, devouring men by their falsehoods, are as dangerous and detestable
as evening wolves. Darkness is their element, deceit is their character,
destruction is their end. We are most in danger from them when they
wear the sheep’s skin. Blessed is he who is kept from them, for
thousands are made the prey of grievous wolves that enter within the
folds of the church.
What a wonder of grace it is when fierce persecutors are converted,
for then the wolf dwells with the lamb, and men of cruel ungovernable
dispositions become gentile and teachable. O Lord, convert many such;
for such we will pray to-night.” (Morning and Evening Devotions, C. H.
Spurgeon, Sept. 10 - Evening, p 509)
“All have sinned” Romans 5:12 KJV
The NASB and the NIV render this as “all sinned.” “All have
sinned,” in the KJV, Romans 5:12 and 3:23, is yet another wrong
rendering in that translation. Which in this case, will be preached as
personal acts of sin until doomsday, despite the plain indications given in
the verses that follow. “The righteousness of God” in Romans 3:22 is “a
share” of justification that is hidden in plain sight and denied by the
ignorant who reject the judicial imputation of the righteousness of Christ
to each believer. Justification and righteousness are as logically related as
reading and the ability to spell. Justification and righteousness are of the
same Greek word root, dikaios for “righteous,” and dikaioo means “to
justify.”142 “Those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he
also glorified” (Rom 8:30) and “By his will we have been made holy
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb
10:10). Also exemplified in the words of Jesus to Paul on the road to
Damascus - “to open their eyes so that they turn from darkness to light
and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive
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forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith
in me” (Acts 26:18).
Turn is a proper use of the word “repent” to define the act of saving
faith. Contrary to popular preaching, the word repentance carries back
from the Greek word metanoia to the Hebrew: “This repentance has its
roots in declarations of the Old Testament. It is the Hebrew concept of a
turning of direction”143 (see Turning to Light from Darkness verses in
the Appendix). Confession of sinfulness, a sorrow for sin, or guilt may
lead to faith, but is certainly not a condition of saving faith. Easton’s
Bible Dictionary defines repentance: “There are three Greek words used
in the New Testament to denote repentance. (1.) The verb
_metamelomai_ is used of a change of mind, such as to produce regret or
even remorse on account of sin, but not necessarily a change of heart.
This word is used with reference to the repentance of Judas (Matt.
27:3). (2.) Metanoeo, meaning to change one's mind and purpose, as the
result of after knowledge. This verb, with (3) the cognate noun
_metanoia_, is used of true repentance, a change of mind and purpose
and life, to which remission of sin is promised.”
Because “all sinned,” God has solved His sin problem. How can one
seriously consider themselves spiritually awakened, if the thought is held
that God was not mindful that evil was the inherent antipole in His own
uncreated virtue - before He ever fashioned the first angel or man with
free will? “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he
likewise shared in their humanity, so that through death he could destroy
the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil)” (Heb 2:14). The
Bible states Jesus was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”
(Rev 13:8 KJV). Dr. Lewis Chafer writes:
The term original sin carries with it at least two implications, namely,
(1) the first sin of the race and (2) the state of man in all subsequent
generations, which state is due to that original sin. The latter meaning of
this term is assigned an entire section of the present main division of this
discussion. The former meaning of the term is the one reason for the
introduction of this topic under personal sin; for the first sin of Adam,
which brought his ruin and that of the race, was a personal sin. Much has
been written about the specific nature of that original sin which does not
call for restatement other than to point out that every human sin is of the
same nature as the original sin, and, were the one who sins placed as
Adam was placed as the federal, unfallen head of a race, the commonest
sin in human life would have in it the power to cause the fall of the one
who sinned as well as the entire race which he represented. The obvious
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effect of the first sin serves as one of the best measurements of the evil
character of all sin. …
Personal sin of whatever form is only the legitimate fruitage of the sin
nature. However, the divine cure for personal sin, it should be observed,
is of a wholly different character than the divine cure for the sin nature.
Being by birth a partaker of the sin nature, there is no personal guilt
charged against the individual because of that nature, though there is
condemnation on the ground of the inherent unlikeness of that nature to
God. On the other hand, both guilt and condemnation are attributed to the
individual because of personal sin. The divine cure for personal sin is
twofold, namely, (1) forgiveness and (2) justification.
1. FORGIVENESS. In approaching the doctrine of the forgiveness of
personal sin, three erroneous impressions, quite common indeed, may
well be pointed out – one of which has to do directly with this subject.
(a) In their treatment of the whole doctrine of sin, theological writers
have too often restricted their discussion to one theme of personal sin,
which misleading practice has imposed incalculable limitations on the
doctrine as a whole. (b) It is by many assumed that the forgiveness of
personal sin is the equivalent of personal salvation. To such persons, a
Christian is no more than a forgiven sinner, whereas upwards of thirty-
three divine accomplishments which together comprise salvation,
forgiveness is but one of them. (c) The distinction between divine
forgiveness of the unsaved and that of the Christian must be clearly
recognized, … Covering all generations of human life on the earth, no
statement could be more conclusive than that found in Hebrews 9:22,
“And without shedding of blood there is no remission.” … Herein is seen
the major distinction which exists between divine forgiveness and human
forgiveness. At best, human forgiveness can do no more than to pass
over, waive, or abandon any and all penalty that exists. In such
forgiveness the injured party relinquishes all claim to any form of
satisfaction which otherwise might be demanded or imposed upon the
offender. Such forgiveness, so far as it exists, is only a voluntary gratuity
in which the offended party surrenders all claim to compensation. On the
other hand, divine forgiveness is never extended to the offender as an act
of leniency, nor is the penalty waived, since God, being infinitely holy
and upholding His government which is founded upon undeviating
righteousness, cannot make light of sin. Divine forgiveness is therefore
extended only when the last demand or penalty against the offender has
been satisfied. Since no human being could render divine satisfaction for
his sins, God, in measureless mercy, has provided all the satisfaction,
even divine propitiation, which the sinner could ever need. This is good
news. …
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2. JUSTIFICATION. … Bildad, who expressed the beliefs of the
ancients said, “How … can man be justified with God?” (Job 25:4).
Though anticipated in the Old Testament, divine justification of men, as
more fully revealed in the New Testament, is the highest consummating
work, but one, of God for the believer, being surpassed only by that
eternal glory which is to follow: “And whom he justified, them he also
glorified” (Rom 8:30). Though the precise features of this great doctrine
are set forth in the word of God, directly or indirectly, Romish
perversions and Arminian unbelief have gone far in robbing multitudes
of Christians of any adequate understanding of the benefits that
justification affords them.
Imputed righteousness is secured by a vital union with Christ, while
divine justification is a judicial decree of God which is based on, and is
an acknowledgment of, imputed righteousness. … The believer is, by a
twofold ministry of the Spirit – namely regeneration, by which a divine
nature is imparted to the believer, which is the indwelling Christ; and the
Spirit’s baptism, by which the believer is placed in Christ – so vitally and
eternally related to Christ as Substitute that all that Christ is and all that
He has done are imputed to the child of God. What Christ is when
reckoned to the believer, becomes the basis of his divine justification;
what Christ has done becomes the basis of his divine forgiveness.
The doctrine of divine justification has ever suffered from, and at
times has been all but lost by, the unwarranted supposition that it is
synonymous with divine forgiveness. Though closely related as
measureless benefits to the Christian, these benefits, since they point in
opposite directions, are far removed one from the other. … The theology
of Rome states: “Not the mere remission of sins, but also the
sanctification and renovation of the inner man.” The Arminians go even
farther by stating: “Justification is a remission of sins and a sentence of
pardon.” John Wesley asserted: “Justification is pardon – the forgiveness
of sins.” This is but a slight improvement over the Unitarian contention
that justification is only a moral change. It is true that none are justified
that are not forgiven; and, with respect to that forgiveness which
accompanies salvation, none are forgiven who are not justified. But
divine forgiveness, often repeated in the Christian’s experience, is the
subtraction of that which has been sinful, while once-for-all divine
justification is made possible by the addition of that which is righteous.
The act of accepting Christ as savior is one act, yet it results in many
specific benefits and among theses are pardon and justification.
(Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 2, pp 269-79)
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The gospel truth is - unbelief is the new sin of this age. The one
unredeemable personal sin shared by the unsaved. Anything else is a
religion and a God cursed gospel that preaches the “repentance of Judas,”
metamelomai, for salvation. God Himself places a double curse on a false
gospel (Gal 1:8-9). It cannot be stated more strongly than to say,
“Personal sins are not the gospel for the unsaved.” All men are
condemned before they enter the world and are perfectly lost until they
are “born from above” and become “perfectly saved.” Personal sins are
not manifested as a demerit, because of God given reconciliation, until
one either dies in Adam and unbelief or “dies with and born in Christ”
when they believe. When one is regenerated with the new nature of
Christ, justified and placed in Christ by the baptism of the Holy Spirit,
one can no longer sin “lawlessly” without punishment or chastisement as
before. Personal sins then become a matter for confession and a loving
“foot washing” by God the Father for His disobedient child. The blood of
Christ is the basis for forgiveness in faith, “In him we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the
riches of his grace” (Eph 1:7). The blood of Christ is the basis for
forgiveness for those not in faith. Personal sins, as a matter for
forgiveness, will always be between two people. Personal sins, as a
matter for judgment, will be between two people, Jesus Christ and the
unsaved individual. Personal sins, as they are primarily against God, are
a very personal matter. In summary, redemption brings the unbeliever
into the family of God, where his personal sins will result in a broken
relationship, but never the loss of family membership.
2 Cor 5:18 And all these things are from God who reconciled us to
himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of
reconciliation. 5:19 In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the
world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he
has given us the message of reconciliation. NET
Col 2:16 and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the
cross, by which the hostility has been killed. 2:20 If you have died with
Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as
though you lived in the world? 2:23 Even though they have the
appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship and false humility
achieved by an unsparing treatment of the body—a wisdom with no true
value—they in reality result in fleshly indulgence. NET
If I were to deny Greek was the underlying language to the NT, not
only would I be ignorant of Greek, but also, foolish and willfully
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inflexible in the face of overwhelming fact. “Reprove the world of sin,
and of righteousness, and of judgment” in John 16:7-11 will be preached
until, once again for effect – doomsday - as personal “sin,” personal
righteousness, and personal judgment, despite the plain definitions given
in the verses that proceed from this declaration. A revealed aspect of God
in the OT was His name “Jehovah tsidkenu,” “the Lord our
righteousness” (Jer 33:16). Dr. Lewis Chafer writes on the topic of
“spiritual blindness” and the veil cast by the god of this world:
In the act of lifting this veil (2 Cor 4:3-4) from the unsaved person’s
mind, a clear vision is gained of the one sin of rejecting Christ, of a
righteousness which is derived from the invisible Christ in glory, and of
the completed judgment of the cross. That this judgment is wholly
achieved in the interests of the unsaved constitutes a challenge for faith.
It becomes thereby, not something to persuade God to do, but something
to believe He has done. In fact, the only human responsibility indicated
in all of this determining Scripture is belief. It is something to believe
when the statement is made respecting imputed righteousness, which
righteousness is the portion of all who are saved. It is likewise a demand
upon faith to accept and rest in the revelation that Christ has borne all the
individual’s sin. The one remaining sin is that “they believe not on me,”
i.e., Christ. This convincing ministry of the Holy Spirit is not one of
condemnation or of impressing the sinner with his sinfulness; it is
distinctly a message of good news saying that Christ has died, “ the just
for the unjust,” and that a perfect standing and acceptance before God are
provided in the resurrected Son of God. 144
Dr. Chafer writes more in depth regarding the imputed righteousness of
Christ in John 16:7-11:
This passage presents the one and only instance in all of Christ’s
teachings when He speaks directly of imputed righteousness – that
righteousness which so far from being a product of human effort and
attention is the gift of God (cf. Rom 5:17), in which the believer is now
alone accepted of God (Eph 1:6), and by which alone any person from
this earthly sphere will enter heaven. It is wholly on the ground of this
imputed righteousness that God justifies the ungodly. It is legitimately
and actually the portion of every believer and on the all-sufficient ground
that he is in Christ. Being a member in the Body of Christ, the believer
becomes by absolute necessity all that Christ is, even the righteousness
of God (cf. Rom 3:22; 1 Cor 1:30; 2 Cor 5:21; Phil 3:9). It is not
contended that the unsaved must comprehend the difficult doctrine of
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imputed righteousness; it is evident, however, that to put his trust in
Christ he must abandon all confidence in self as being able to commend
himself to God, and count that all that a condemned sinner will ever need
before God is provided and awaiting him in Christ Jesus, who is the very
righteousness of God. Since such a confidence is so foreign to the life,
limitations, and experience of the natural man, it is essential that this
vital truth be revealed to the unsaved by the Holy Spirit. This the Spirit
does when He enlightens [convicts, reproves, convinces - this writer]
with respect to righteousness. Imputed righteousness is the major theme
of the letter to the Romans, which letter is the central and exhaustive
declaration of the gospel of the grace of God. It therefore follows that the
fact of imputed righteousness is the central factor in the gospel of grace.
Christ, too, has given the theme of imputed the central place according to
this context. It follows that one who would so preach that this work of
the Spirit may be accomplished will not only include the theme of
imputed righteousness in his message, but will give it the central place.
The obvious fact that gospel preachers have almost wholly neglected this
central truth forms no valid excuse for its continued neglect. As before
indicated, no intelligent acceptance of Christ can be secured apart from
some apprehension of this vital truth. It is precisely that understanding of
Him, however, which the Holy Spirit imparts to the unsaved. In the sweet
savor aspect of His death, Christ offered Himself without spot to God (cf.
Heb 9:14). This offering of Himself became a perfect and efficacious
substitution for those who have no merit or virtue of their own. By His
death on the cross Christ released His own plērōma [“fullness”] and
perfection, and so when the Father would clothe the one who believes
with the fullness of Christ, that fullness is bestowed in perfect equity on
the ground of the truth that it is provided and made available in the death
of Christ. The death of Christ in its sweet savor aspect [cf. Leviticus; the
freewill, or burnt offering, was “a soothing aroma, pleasing to the
Lord,” whereas the sin offering was demanded by the Lord for the
demerit of sin – this writer] of Christ’s death is not some mere
sentimental incident between the Father and the Son with no
achievement in behalf of those for whom Christ died [cf. the Arminian
Governmental theory of atonement below – this writer]. Yet, as almost
universally treated, there is no recognition of the value of this aspect of
the saving grace of God. How very essential is the securing of merit for
those who have none! And how complete is the provision in the sweet
savor feature of Christ’s offering of Himself without spot to God! …
Thus it is seen that the Holy Spirit reveals to the unsaved whom He
calls the very essentials of the gospel of divine grace – the
substitutionary death of Christ as that which has been accomplished,
522

along with the all-condemning sin of not believing on the One who thus
died, also the perfect standing provided in the same cross, which standing
is no less than the righteousness of God imputed. Apart from this
enlightenment, the individual unsaved person does not respond though
confronted with all the persuasion human sincerity and eloquence may
devise. It hardly need be pointed out again that any form of evangelism
which ignores this work of the Holy Spirit and which assumes that the
unsaved are capable within themselves of receiving the gospel and
turning in intelligent, saving faith to Christ – though it may be that
through human influence outward actions may be secured – is doomed to
superficial results and in great danger of hindering rather than helping
those to whom it appeals. Christ must be received as the choice of the
individual heart and this must be actuated by the innermost conviction of
His Saviorhood – an understanding and choice which could never be
secured apart from the Spirit’s enlightenment respecting sin,
righteousness, and judgment. (Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer,
Vol 6, pp 96-97, 98-99)
The “Righteousness of God” Romans 3:21-26
As a reference, The Comprehensive Analysis of the Bible written by
Montgomery F. Essig, copyright 1951 and published by the South-
western Company in Nashville, Tennessee, will be used. In his foreword,
Mr. Essig claims no special educational value in his definitions and that
they “are more like daily mottos or food for thought.” Which is perfect
for my illustrations. He defines righteousness as follows on page 461:
Holiness, purity, uprightness, rectitude; conformity of life to the divine
law and comprehension of the principles of love and virtue laid down by
God. The righteousness of God is His complete perfection, and is entirely
distinct from the righteousness of man, which cannot reach a state of
perfection. The best man can do is to imitate the righteousness of Christ
and strive to live as near the Great Example as possible.
Well, that was an eye opening homiletic of what is required of man -
to reproduce the Great Example of Christ. What would Jesus do? What
should I do to become a follower and duplicate His example? Should I
use parables and hide the meaning of my teaching from the general
public and explain them only to my disciples? Should I let my most
beloved friend lie dead for four days, all the while his sisters mourn, he
stinks more and more? And then Forrest Gump-like, show up and re-
animate him? Should I hide myself from my hometown friends and
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police, after I incited them with my claim to be God? Should I ignore my
disciples who do not to wash their hands before they eat and insult
anyone who says anything about it? Should I refuse to see my very own
mother and tell other people to hate their mothers, too? Should I put my
mother’s care into the hands of my cousin, instead of her sons? Should I
tell a racially-mixed woman asking for help, that she is a dog and to go
away? Should I have my feet massaged by a prostitute while dining with
the Pastor and his family in their home? Should I call my closest Apostle
devil possessed? Should I create and then heal a blind young man, and
then hide while the authorities interrogate him and accuse him of being a
criminal, before they convict him because of me? Should I casually
destroy two thousand pigs that do not belong to me? Should I tear up the
church during services on Sunday morning, throw the money filled
offering plates into the air, and chase the preacher from the pulpit with a
knotted rope while screaming vindictives at him? Should I tell everyone
they are going to hell and how horrible it will be there? Should I
condemn five thousand men because they like to eat, men whom I just
fed, and who want to make me King, so that I may condemn Israel as a
nation, who did not want me for a King, to a slaughter and the mass
crucifixions of hundreds of thousands in the Jewish revolt wars against
the Roman Empire of the late 1st century? Should I schedule a life
threatening storm so that while I sleep my disciples will be in fear for
their lives? Should I choose and allow a man to betray me so that he may
hang himself later? Should I say nothing in my defense so that I may
condemn Israel to another Diaspora for crucifying me? Should I deny
any assistance to the dogs, the Gentiles, when I send out my disciples?
Should I curse cities, like Capernaum, with a doom worse than Sodom
for simply not wanting to listen to me or my disciples that I sent?
Should I knock down a whole troop of police that have come to arrest
me? And all of the above, not my actions or words, but the sinless words
and perfect will of my
heavenly Father whom I
always obey. Most
remarkably, this is but a
short list of the recorded
events, that God has
selected from thousands
of events. And so it goes
…
“What would Jesus
do?” is the classic motto
of a well paved road of
524

good intentions and a sadly misplaced senti-mental understanding of
Jesus as a former day Mother Teresa; who was crucified and died a
glorious death for her convictions. If one intends to be like Jesus, what
may it signify when Jesus says, “I do not accept the praise of men?” Do
not assume the copyright date is the reason for the above mentioned
author’s ignorance, for he is most certainly not an illiterate man and his
doctrine, or Biblical thought, has been orthodox since the Holy Roman
Catholic Mother Church of the Universe began in the 4th century. Mr.
Essig, although very sincere sounding, has a shallow, pious, traditional
comprehension of God’s word. I venture to say, he like others, heard and
repeated, as all prejudiced bigots do, that a secure salvation was a
horrible misreading of the Bible and a doctrine of the devil for a license
to sin. He and those cut from the same cloth are self-limited to the riches
of grace, whereas the Bible is quite simply a bowl of cherries, and the
vast majority of the church going public starve themselves to death.
Here, in the author’s own words, is the definition of ignorance:
The condition of being without knowledge, either in general or as to a
particular object or for a particular reason. The word “ignorance’ is often
used by modern people to denote illiteracy, or lack of education. This,
however, is only one of the word’s meanings, and where it is
encountered in the Bible, should be given to it only after much thought
and examination of the references. Ignorance often can be willful and
obstinate.
To understand the imputation of the righteousness of Christ and NT,
not OT, righteousness in Romans 3:21, Dr. C. I. Scofield writes in the
1917 Old Scofield Study System on page 1194:
1
The righteousness of God is neither an attribute of God, nor the changed
character of the believer, but Christ Himself, who fully met in our stead
and behalf every demand of the law, and who is, by an act of God called
imputation (Lev 25:20; Jas 2:23), “made unto us … righteousness” (1
Cor 1:30). “The believer in Christ is now, by grace, shrouded under so
complete and blessed a righteousness that the law from Mt. Sinai can
find neither fault nor diminution therein. This is that which is called the
righteousness of God by faith.” – Bunyan. See 2 Cor 5:21; Rom 4:6;
10:4; Phil 3:9. See Rom 3:26.
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Reprove the World of Sin, Righteousness, and Judgment
As we have discussed sin and righteousness, judgment will be next.
Again, our author, Mr. Montgomery F. Essig, will be cited. He had a
rather vague definition for judgment, but it pertained to the Last
Judgment, “The character of the occasion as well as the nature of Christ’s
judgment are fully set out in Scripture, although not so fully understood
by mankind … different minds drawing different conclusions to the
references.” He does give the following definition of justice which is
most typical of the carrots and sticks, “heaven is a reward” false religious
teaching:
The rendering of every one of his or her due right, reward, or
punishment; conformity to principles of righteousness and rectitude;
conformity to truth and reality in thoughts or opinions and conduct. The
Bible contains many injunctions looking toward the establishment of
justice, in the thoughts, actions, and motives of mankind. Justice indeed
is one of the foundation principles of the Ten Commandments, the
Golden Rule, while in the doctrines of Christianity it holds a
commanding position.
God’s justice is that perfection whereby He is infinitely righteous and
just in all His principles and acts and wise, good, and perfect in His
treatment of man. His justice is of two sorts: remunerative, by which He
gives rewards for goodness, and punitive, by which He deals out
punishment for evil. (Ibid., p 293)
This sentiment, as defined by Mr. Essig, would be better understood
in the following citation:
The Just – is a distinctive phrase peculiar to the Old Testament where
men are classed as either wicked or just. In Psalm 37:12, for example, it
is written: “The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him
with his teeth.” This term just is applied to individual men like Noah
(Gen 6:9). The terminology refers to the qualities in a person of justice,
reasonableness, righteousness, in life and compliance with all the law of
God. Bildad asked the question: “How then can a man be justified with
God?” (Job 25:4). Micah came nearer than any other to answering this
question according to the Old Testament when he said: “He hath shewed
thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to
do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
The student should distinguish between the just man of the Old
Testament who manifestly was constituted such by his own good works,
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on the one hand, and the justified man of the New Testament who is
constituted thus by faith in Christ (Rom 5:1), on the other hand.
Justice – refers to a virtue which doubtless has its only perfect
manifestation in God, although He cleanses the sinful and forgives. The
gospel of God’s grace is the solution to the problem of how God can
remain the just One and yet pardon sinners (Rom 3:25-26). (Systematic
Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 7, pp 217-218)
The following phrase is a perfectly rounded introduction into the
positive gospel of the grace of God, as opposed to today’s popular
negative gospel of personal sins. Cited here by our Lord Himself:
John 16:7 For if I do not go away, the Advocate [Holy Spirit] will
not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. 16:8 he will prove
the world wrong17 concerning sin and righteousness and judgment—
16:9 concerning sin, because20 they do not believe in me;21 16:10
concerning righteousness,22 because I am going to the Father and
you will see me no longer; 16:11 and concerning judgment,24
because the ruler of this world26 has been condemned.27 NET
The NET Bible translation (tn) and study notes (sn) will provide the
basis for understanding the NT grace principle of dikaiosunē,
“righteousness,” as it concerns Christ in the gospel of the grace of God
for salvation:
17tn Or “will convict the world,” or “will expose the world.” The
conjunction
ερίperiv (peri) is used in 16:8-11 in the sense of answer to question (2) would be that it refers to the world. L. Morris states,
“concerning” or “with respect to.” But what about the verb έλέγχω
(elenchō)? The basic meanings possible for this word are (1) “to convict or
convince someone of something”; (2) “to bring to light or expose something;
and (3) “to correct or punish someone.” The third possibility may be ruled
out in these verses on contextual grounds since punishment is not implied.
The meaning is often understood to be that the Paraclete will “convince” the
world of its error, so that some at least will repent. But S. Mowinckel (“Die
Vorstellungen des Spätjudentums vom heiligen Geist als Fürsprecher und
der johanneische Paraklet,” ZNW 32 [1933]: 97-130) demonstrated that the
verb έλέγχω did not necessarily imply the conversion or reform of the guilty
party. This means it is far more likely that conviction in something of a legal
sense is intended here (as in a trial). The only certainty is that the accused
party is indeed proven guilty (not that they will acknowledge their guilt).
Further confirmation of this interpretation is seen in John 14:17 where the
world cannot receive the Paraclete and in John 3:20, where the evildoer
deliberately refuses to come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed for what
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
they really are (significantly, the verb in John 3:20 is also έλέγχω ).
However, if one wishes to adopt the meaning “prove guilty” for the use of
έλέγχω in John 16:8 a difficulty still remains: While this meaning fits the
first statement in 16:9—the world is ‘proven guilty’ concerning its sin of
refusing to believe in Jesus—it does not fit so well the second and third
assertions in vv. 10-11. Thus R. E. Brown (John [AB], 2:705) suggests the
more general meaning ‘prove wrong’ which would fit in all three cases. This
may be so, but there may also be a developmental aspect to the meaning,
which would then shift from v. 9 to v. 10 to v. 11.
20tn Or “that.” It is very difficult to determine whether ότι (hoti; 3 times in
16:9, 10, 11) should be understood as causal or appositional/ explanatory:
Brown and Bultmann favor appositional or explanatory, while Barrett and
Morris prefer a causal sense. A causal idea is preferable here, since it also
fits the parallel statements in vv. 10-11 better than an appositional or
explanatory use would. In this case Jesus is stating in each instance the
reason why the world is proven guilty or wrong by the Spirit-Paraclete.
21sn Here (v. 9) the world is proven guilty concerning sin, and the reason
given is their refusal to believe in Jesus. In 3:19 the effect of Jesus coming
into the world as the Light of the world was to provoke judgment, by forcing
people to choose up sides for or against him, and they chose darkness rather
than light. In 12:37, at the very end of Jesus’ public ministry in John’s
Gospel, people were still refusing to believe in him.
22tn There are two questions that need to be answered: (1) what is the
meaning of δικαιοσύ νη (dikaiosunē) in this context, and (2) to whom does it
pertain—to the world, or to someone else? (1) The word δικαιοσύ νη occurs
in the Gospel of John only here and in v. 8. It is often assumed that it refers
to forensic justification, as it does so often in Paul’s writings. Thus the
“The Spirit shows men (and no-one else can do this) that their righteousness
before God depends not on their own efforts but on Christ’s atoning work for
them” (John [NICNT], 699). Since the word occurs so infrequently in the
Fourth Gospel, however, the context must be examined very carefully. The
ότι (hoti) clause which follows provides an important clue: The
righteousness in view here has to do with Jesus’ return to the Father and his
absence from the disciples. It is true that in the Fourth Gospel part of what is
involved in Jesus’ return to the Father is the cross, and it is through his
substitutionary death that people are justified, so that Morris’ understanding
of righteousness here is possible. But more basic than this is the idea that
Jesus’ return to the Father constitutes his own δικαιοσύ νη in the sense of
vindication rather than forensic justification. Jesus had repeatedly claimed
oneness with the Father, and his opponents had repeatedly rejected this and
labeled him a deceiver, a sinner, and a blasphemer (John 5:18, 7:12, 9:24,
10:33, etc.). But Jesus, by his glorification through his return to the Father, is
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vindicated in his claims in spite of his opponents. In his vindication his
followers are also vindicated as well, but their vindication derives from his.
Thus one would answer question (1) by saying that in context δικαιοσύνης
(dikaiosunēs) refers not to forensic justification but vindication, and
question (2) by referring this justification/vindication not to the world or
even to Christians directly, but to Jesus himself. Finally, how does Jesus’ last
statement in v. 10, that the disciples will see him no more, contribute to this?
It is probably best taken as a reference to the presence of the Spirit-Paraclete,
who cannot come until Jesus has departed . The meaning of v. 10 is thus:
When the Spirit-Paraclete comes he will prove the world wrong concerning
the subject of righteousness, namely, Jesus’ righteousness which is
demonstrated when he is glorified in his return to the Father and the disciples
see him no more (but they will have instead the presence of the Spirit-
Paraclete, whom the world is not able to receive).
24sn The world is proven wrong concerning judgment, because the ruler of
this world has been judged. Jesus’ righteousness before the Father, as proven
by his return to the Father, his glorification, constitutes a judgment against
Satan. This is parallel to the judgment of the world which Jesus provokes in
3:19-21: Jesus’ presence in the world as the Light of the world provokes the
judgment of those in the world, because as they respond to the light (either
coming to Jesus or rejecting him) so are they judged. That judgment is in a
sense already realized. So it is here, where the judgment of Satan is already
realized in Jesus’ glorification. This does not mean that Satan does not
continue to be active in the world, and to exercise some power over it, just as
in 3:19-21 the people in the world who have rejected Jesus and thus incurred
judgment continue on in their opposition to Jesus for a time. In both cases
the judgment is not immediately executed. But it is certain.
26sn The ruler of this world is a reference to Satan.
27tn Or “judged.”
From the above it may gathered that sin, righteousness and judgment
are a result of the work of Jesus - not one’s view of Jesus. Is the sin to
righteousness, righteousness to judgment, understanding progressive in
the mind of a would be believer or disbeliever? I would think, yes.
Nevertheless, based on the words of Jesus, these three aspects of the
same thing, the work, and the person who did the work, Jesus, are the
foundation of saving faith. Any one of which may not be left out of a
proper trust in the all sufficiency of Jesus the Savoir of men who are born
guilty. Dr. John Walvoord discusses why the coming of the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost was essential for the completion of the ingathering of the
Church in this age of the Holy Spirit:
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As promised by the Father (John 14:16-17, 26) and by the Son (John
16:7), the Spirit – who was the Omnipresent One had always been in the
world – came into the world on the day of Pentecost. The force of this
seeming repetition of ideas is seen when it is understood that His coming
on the day of Pentecost was that He might make His abode in the world.
God the Father, though omnipresent (Eph 4:6), is, as to His abode, “Our
Father which art in heaven” (Matt 6:9). Likewise God the Son, though
omnipresent (Matt 18:20; Col 1:27) as to His abode now, is seated at the
right hand of God (Heb 1:3; 10:12). In like manner the Spirit, though
omnipresent is now as to His abode tabernacling here on the earth. The
taking up of His abode on the earth was the sense in which the Spirit
came on the day of Pentecost. His dwelling place was changed from
heaven to earth. It was for this coming of the Spirit into the world that
the disciples were told to wait. The new ministry of this age of grace
could not begin apart from the coming of the Spirit.
In the chapters which follow, the work of the Spirit in the present age
will be presented. The Spirit of God first of all has a ministry to the
world as indicated in John 16:7-11. Here He is revealed as convicting the
world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. This work which
prepares an individual to accept Christ intelligently is a special work of
the Spirit, a work of grace, which enlightens the Satan-blinded mind of
unbelieving men, in respect to three great doctrines.
1. The unbeliever is made to understand that the sin of unbelief in
Jesus Christ as his personal Savior is the one sin that stands between him
and salvation. It is not a question of his worthiness, his feelings, or any
other factor. The sin of unbelief is the sin which prevents his salvation
(John 3:18).
2. The unbeliever is informed concerning the righteousness of God.
While on earth Christ was the living illustration of the right-eousness of
God; upon His departure the Spirit is sent to reveal the righteousness of
God to the world. This includes the fact that God is a righteous God who
demands much more than any man can do himself, and this eliminates
any possibility of human works being the basis for salvation. More
important, the Spirit of God reveals that there is a righteousness available
by faith in Christ and that when one believes in Jesus Christ he can be
declared righteous, justified by faith, and accepted by his faith in Christ,
who is righteous both in His person and in His work on the cross (Rom
1:16-17; 3:22; 4:5).
3. The fact is revealed that the prince of this world, that is, Satan
himself, has been judged at the cross and is doomed to eternal
punishment. This reveals the fact that the work on the cross is finished,
and that judgment has taken place, that Satan has been defeated, and that
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salvation is available to those who put their trust in Christ. While it is not
necessary for an unbeliever to understand completely all these facts in
order to be saved, the Holy Spirit must reveal enough so that as he
believes he intelligently receives Christ in His person and His work.
There is a sense in which this was partially true in ages past, as even
in the Old Testament it was possible for a person to believe and be saved
without a work of the Spirit. However, in the present age, following the
death and resurrection of Christ, these facts now become much more
clear, and the work of the Spirit in revealing them to unbelievers is part
of the important reason for His coming into the world’s sphere and
making it His residence.
In His coming to the world on the day of Pentecost, the work of the
Spirit in the church took on many new aspects. These will be considered
in later chapters. The Holy Spirit is said to regenerate every believer
(John 3:37-39; Acts 11:15-17; Rom 5:5; 8:9-11; 1 Cor 6:19-20). As
indwelling the believer, the Holy Spirit is our seal unto the day of
redemption (Eph 4:30). Further every child of God is baptized into the
body of Christ by the Spirit (1 Cor 12:13). All these ministries apply
equally to every true believer in this present age. In addition to these
works that are related to the salvation of the believer, there is the
possibility of the filling of the Spirit and of walking by the Spirit which
opens the door to all the ministry of the Spirit to the believer in the
present age. These great works of the Spirit are the key not only to
salvation but to effective Christian living in the present age.
When the purpose of God in this age is brought to completion by the
rapture of the church, the Holy Spirit will have accomplished the purpose
of His special advent into the world and will depart from the world in the
same sense that He came on the day of Pentecost. A parallel can be seen
between the coming of Christ to the earth to accomplish His work and
His departure into heaven. Like Christ, however, the Holy Spirit will
continue to be omnipresent and will continue a work after the rapture
similar to that which was true before the day of Pentecost.
The present age is, accordingly, in many respects the age of the Spirit,
and age in which the Spirit of God is working in a special way to call out
a company of believers from both Jew and Gentile to form the body of
Christ. The Holy Spirit will continue to work after the rapture, as He also
will in the kingdom age – which will have its own special characteristics
and probably will include all the ministries of the Holy Spirit in the
present age except that of the baptism of the Spirit. The coming of the
Spirit should be regarded as an important event, essential to the work of
God in the present age, even as the coming of Christ is essential to
salvation and God’s ultimate purpose to provide salvation for the whole
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world and especially for those who will believe. (Major Bible Themes,
Revised by Dr. John Walvoord, pp 91-95)
Keeping in mind the three imputations at the beginning of this
division. Sin is unbelief. Personal sins are redeemed because they were
imputed to Christ. Righteousness may only be imputed, because it is of
Christ, as “all sinned” is the inborn guilt of being “in Adam.” Satan, who
is the original source of evil is judged, yes, but more importantly, all evil,
the evil in the inherited sin nature is judged by the death of Christ. Taken
as a whole, one may see, that sin as a root and as a fruit, sin and sins,
have been judged and only unbelief stands between the unsaved and the
imputation of the righteousness of Christ to the saved individual who is
given eternal life by the regeneration performed by the Holy Spirit.
Although, the believer in Christ for salvation will still carry an active sin
nature. This legally “nullified” sin nature in the saved precludes any
suggestion of personal righteousness adding to or subtracting from
eternal salvation. Arminian conceptualizations of personal sin, as the sole
source of condemnation, is far removed from the teachings of the Bible.
One needs to accept that which the Holy Spirit has written in the Word of
God about sin, righteousness, and judgment as it regards Jesus, not self,
to be saved. Dr. Charles Ryrie develops the meaning of “convict,” or
reprove, used in this passage:
As recorded in John 16:8-11, the Lord promised that after Pentecost
the Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin, righteous-ness, and
judgment. What is conviction? Is it not the same as conversion? It is
convincing or refuting an opponent so that he has the matter before him
in a clear light whether he accepts or rejects the evidence [Mtw 18:15].
… The world. … It must mean a large number of people, more than the
elect, but not everybody (cf. John 2:19). … The order is a logical one.
Man needs to see his state of sin, have proof of the righteousness the
Savior provides, and be reminded that if he refuses to receive that Savoir
he faces certain condemnation.
How is conviction accomplished? Most likely several ways are
involved. The Spirit may speak directly to man’s conscience, which,
though able to be seared, can still convict. He may speak through the
written Word. He may also use the spoken testimony or preached word.
But whether or not people are involved in effecting this ministry of
conviction, if conviction comes to an individual the Spirit must do it. We
readily acknowledge that regeneration is the work of the Spirit, but we
sometimes let ourselves think that our clever or convincing presentation
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can convict. Not so, God must do even that. (Basic Theology, Dr. Charles
Ryrie, pp 374-75)
“All sinned,” Romans 5:12 and 3:23
Rom 5:12 So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and
death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all
sinned— NET
Rom 5:12 … because all sinned. NASB
Rom 5:12 … because all sinned. NIV
Rom 5:12 … because all men sinned. AMP
Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have
sinned. KJV
This verse is the source of the aborted imputation that produces the
distortion of forgiveness in the negative gospel of personal sin. This one
verse, historically, is a key statement to all serious theologies. The
opening “so then,” literally means - on this account, and carries forth the
thought of the collective sin of men (3:19-23) from the section prior to
(3:21-5:11), that dealt with the permanence of justification by faith. The
one man is compared to the many, which is stated as all. The statement is
made that “sin entered,” indicating it was pre-existent and singular, not
plural. And by so much, through the means of Adam, a transfer of guilt
was mediately effected to the whole human race. Generation after
generation, individual guilt is manifested in a life of condemnation. “And
death by sin” points to the effect of the sin, physical death. The 100 per
cent fatality rate of death is as undeniable as the truth of this verse.
Dr. Lewis Chafer writes, “And so death passed upon [spread through]
all men, for that all have sinned.” Since the aorist tense is used in the last
clause and thus a single historical act completed in the past is indicated,
the phrase “all have sinned” is better rendered all sinned. The effort of
language at this point is to say that each member (person) dies physically
because of his own part in Adam’s sin. Since one complete, single,
historical act is in view, the words all sinned cannot refer to a nature
which results from that act, nor can it refer to personal sins of many
individuals. It is not that man became sinful. The assertion is that all
sinned at one time and under the same circumstances. In like manner, the
penalty – death – is nor for pollution, which would indicate spiritual
death, but for guilt, or for participation in an act; and that had a part in
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Adam’s initial act of sin. The statement is clear, the issue being that all
had a part in Adam’s initial sin.” 145 The same tense and indicated
meaning also applies to Romans 3:23, “all have sinned” is better
understood, “all sinned.” This clarification of the KJV translation,
establishes the real, not judicial, imputation of the first sin to all of
mankind, as detailed in the opening statement of this section. Dr. John
MacArthur writes regarding Romans 5:12: “The fact that Adam and Eve
were not only actual historical figures but were the original human
beings from whom all others have descended is absolutely critical to
Paul’s argument here and is critical to the efficacy of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. If a historical Adam did not represent all mankind in sinfulness, a
historical Christ could not represent all mankind in righteousness. If all
men did not fall with the first Adam, all men could not be saved by
Christ, the second and last Adam (see 1 Cor 15:20-22,45).” 146
Dr. C.I. Scofield writes the following NOTE to Romans 5:12 in His
Old Scofield Study System, p. 1197:
1
(5:12) The “wherefore” relates back to Rom 3:19-23, and may be
regarded as a continuation of the discussion of the universality of sin,
interrupted (Rom. 3:24-5:11) by the passage on justification and its
results.
2
(5:12) The first sin wrought the moral ruin of the race. The
demonstration is simple. (1) Death is universal (vs. 12, 14), all die:
sinless infants, moral people, religious people, equally with the
depraved. For a universal effect there must be a universal cause; that
cause is a state of universal sin (v. 12). (2) But this universal state
must have had a cause. It did. The consequence of Adam’s sin was
that “the many were made sinners” (v. 19) – “By the offense of one
judgment came upon all men unto condemnation” (v. 18). (3)
Personal sins are not meant here. From Adam to Moses death reigned
(v. 14) although, there being no law, personal guilt was not imputed
(v. 13). Accordingly, from Gen 4:7 to Ex 29:14 the sin offering is not
once mentioned. Then since physical death from Adam to Moses was
not due to the sinful acts of those who die (v. 13), it follows that it is
due to a universal sinful state, or nature, and that state is declared to
be our inheritance from Adam. (4) The moral state of fallen man is
described in Scripture (Gen 6:5; 1 Ki 8:46; Ps 14:1-3; 39:5; Jer 17:9;
Mt 18:11; Mk 7:20, 23; Rom 1:21; 3:9-19; 7:24; 8:7; John 3:6; 1 Cor
2:14; 2 Cor 3:14; 4:4; Gal 5:19-21; Eph 2:1-3, 11, 12; 4:18-22; Col
1:21; Heb 3:13; Jas 4:14). See 1 Cor 15:22.
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Righteousness
Dr. Daniel Wallace gives a synopsis regarding the critical
understanding to be gained from the distinction between imputed and
imparted righteousness in the above section of the Epistle to the Romans:
Having established the basis of God’s pleasure in us, viz., the
imputation of righteousness (or forensic justification), Paul now
discusses the impartation of righteousness, or sanctification (5:12–8:39).
This is the third major section of the epistle. In some ways there is a neat
trilogy found in these first eight chapters. The apostle first discusses
justification which is salvation from the penalty of sin (3:21–5:11). Then
he deals with sanctification or salvation from the power of sin (5:12–
8:17). Finally, he addresses glorification which is salvation from the
presence of sin (8:18-39).12
Paul lays out his views on sanctification using the twin themes of
reigning and slavery. He begins by contrasting the reign of grace with the
reign of sin (5:12-21). Although many NT students would place 5:12-21
under the second major section (i.e., under “Justification”), “the words
‘just,’ ‘justice’ and ‘faith’ coming from the first part of the quotation
[Hab 2:4 in Rom 1:17] as given by Paul, are of very frequent occurrence
from 1:17 to 5:11, and almost entirely absent thereafter. On the other
hand, the terms signifying ‘life’ (and ‘death’) occur regularly in chapters
5:12 to 7:1.”13 Thus the apostle seems to be signaling that he is now
picking up a new topic.
In 5:12-21 Paul moves beyond the legal issue of justification. What is
essential to get here is that imputed righteousness addresses the
condemnation of the law while imparted righteousness addresses the
inability of the flesh. That is to say, justification is forensic, stating
emphatically that our position before God is one of righteousness. But
justification, like the Law, can do nothing against the flesh. That is why
Paul now turns to imparted righteousness and gives the basis as our
union with Christ. Our union with Christ is more than forensic; it is
organic.14 As Adam was our representative in sin, bringing death to all
(5:12), so also Christ is our representative in righteousness, bringing life
to all (5:18).15 i
i
12 In our outline, we have put these last two segments together, for glorification is
seen as the goal of sanctification and is very much tied to it in chapter 8.
13 M. Black, Romans (New Century Bible Commentary), 26.
14 This is not to say that 5:12-21 favors the seminal headship view, because the route
to our organic union with Christ is still through justification (so 5:18: “the result of
one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men” [NIV]).
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Since believers are in Christ—and therefore they are assured of their
salvation, why should they not continue sinning? Paul answers this in the
second portion of this section (6:1-23). First, they should not continue in
sin because of their union with Christ—union in his death and his life
(6:1-14). Second, they should not sin at all because such an act leads to
enslavement to sin (6:15-23). This is especially heinous because our
release from sin’s slavery means redemption for the service of God
(6:22), since we have been bought with a price.
Having established the reasons why we should not sin, Paul now turns
to the issue of how not to sin (7:1–8:17). Negatively, neither our flesh nor
the Law can do anything for us in this endeavor (7:1-25). Positively, we
are sanctified through the ministry of the Spirit (8:1-17). (Romans:
Introduction, Argument, and Outline, Daniel B. Wallace, Ph.D.)
Only God may originate and possess righteousness. On this most critical
understanding regarding righteousness that is imputed positionally to the
believer for salvation and imparted “experientially” for daily living, a
more detailed statement is provided in the following quotation from
Major Bible Themes, revised by Dr. John Walvoord:
FOUR ASPECTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
A vital difference between God and man which Scripture emphasizes
is that God is righteous (1 John 1:5), while the fundamental charge
against man as recorded in Romans 3:10 is that “there is none righteous,
no, not one.” So also, one of the glories of divine grace is the fact that a
perfect righteousness, likened to a spotless wedding garment, has been
provided and is freely bestowed upon all who believe (Rom 3:22).
A. GOD IS RIGHTEOUS. This righteousness of God is unchanging and
unchangeable (Rom 3:25-26). He is infinitely righteous in His own being
and infinitely righteous in all His ways.
God is righteous in His being. It is impossible for Him to deviate
from His righteousness by so much as the “shadow of turning” (James
1:17). He cannot look on sin with the least degree of allowance.
Therefore, since all men are sinners both by nature and by practice, the
divine judgment has come upon men unto condemnation. The acceptance
15 One proof that Paul is addressing the inadequacy of the flesh more than the
condemnation of the law is the fact that he is contrasting Christ with Adam—one
whose act applies even to those “who did not sin by breaking a commandment”
(5:14), precisely because “before the law was given, sin was in the world” (5:13).
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of this truth is vital to any right understanding of the gospel of divine
grace.
God is righteous in His ways. It must also be recognized that God is
incapable of slighting sin or merely forgiving sin in leniency. The
triumph of the Gospel is not in the belittling of sin on the part of God; it
is rather in the fact that all those judgments which infinite righteousness
must of necessity impose upon the sinner have been borne in substitution
by God’s provided Lamb, and that this is a plan of God’s own devising
which according to His own standards of righteousness is sufficient for
all who believe. By this plan God can satisfy His love in saving the
sinner without infringing upon His own unchangeable righteousness; and
the sinner, utterly hopeless in himself, can pass from all condemnation
(John 3:18; 5:24; Rom 8:1; 1 Cor 11:32).
It is not unusual for men to conceive of God as a righteous being; but
they often fail to recognize the fact that, when He undertakes to save the
sinful, the righteousness of God is not and cannot be diminished.
B. THE SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS OF MAN. In complete accord with the
revelation that God is supremely righteous, there is the corresponding
revelation that, in the sight of God, the righteousness of man (Rom 10:3)
is as “filthy rags” (Isa 64:6). Though the sinful estate of man is
constantly declared throughout Scripture, there is no description more
complete and final than is found in Romans 3:9-18, and it should be
noted that this, like all other estimates of sin which are recorded in the
Bible, is a description of sin as God sees it. Men have erected legitimate
standards for the family, for society, and for the state; but these are no
part of the basis upon which man must stand and by which he must be
judged before God. In their relation to God, men are not wise when thus
comparing themselves with themselves (2 Cor 10:12). For not merely
those who are condemned by society are lost, but those who are
condemned by the unalterable righteousness of God (Rom 3:23). There is
therefore no hope for any individual outside the provisions of God’s
grace; for none can enter into heaven’s glory who are not as acceptable to
God as Christ [as the resurrected God-man, this writer] is. For this need
of man God has made abundant provision.
C. THE IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. As brought out in
previous discussion of the doctrine of imputation, the important
revelation of the imputed righteousness of God (Rom 3:22) is essential to
understanding both the principles upon which God condemns the sinner
and principles on which God saves the Christian. Although the doctrine
is difficult to understand, it is important to understand this as a major
aspect of God’s revelation.
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1. The fact of imputation is brought out in the imputing of Adam’s sin
to the human race with the effect that all men are considered sinners by
God (Rom 5:12-21). This is further developed in the fact that the sin of
man was imputed to Christ when He became the sin offering for the
whole world (2 Cor 5:14, 21; Heb 2:9; 1 John 2:2). So also, the
righteousness of God is imputed to all who believe, so that they may
stand before God in all the perfection of Christ. By this divine provision
those who are saved are said to have been “made” the righteousness of
God (1 Cor 1:30; 2 Cor 5:21). Since it is the righteousness of God and
not of man, and since it is said to be apart from all self works or deeds of
law observance (Rom 3:21), obviously this imputed righteousness is not
something accomplished by man. Being the righteousness of God, it is
not increased by the goodness of the one whom it is imputed, nor is it
decreased by his badness.
2. The results of imputation are seen in that the righteousness of God
is imputed to the believer on the basis of the fact that the believer is,
through the baptism of the Spirit, in Christ. Through that vital union to
Christ by the Spirit, the believer becomes related to Christ as a member
in His body (1 Cor 12:13) and as a branch in the True Vine (John 15:1,
5). Because of the reality of this union, God sees the believer as a living
part of His own Son. He therefore loves him as He loves His Son (John
17:23), He accepts him as He accepts His own Son (Eph 1:6; 1 Pet 2:5),
and He accounts him to be what His own Son is – the righteousness of
God (Rom 3:22; 1 Cor 1:30; 2 Cor 5:21).
Rom 3:22 namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of
Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, NET
1 Cor 1:30 He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus,
who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption, NET
2 Cor 5:21 God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so
that in him we would become the righteousness of God. NET
Christ is the righteousness of God, therefore those who are saved are
made the righteousness of God by being in Him (2 Cor 5:21). They are
complete in Him (Col 2:12) and perfected forever (Heb 10:10, 14).
3. Many biblical illustrations of imputation are given in Scripture.
Garments of skin which necessitated the shedding of blood were divinely
provided for Adam and Eve (Gen 3:21). A righteous standing was
imputed to Abraham because he believed God (Gen 15:6; Rom 4:9-22;
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James 2:23), and as the priests of old were clothed with righteousness (Ps
132:9), so the believer is robed in the wedding garment of the
righteousness of God and in that garment he will appear in glory (Rev
19:8).
The attitude of the Apostle Paul toward Philemon is an illustration
both of imputed merit and imputed demerit. Speaking of the salve
Onesimus, the apostle said: “If thou count me therefore a partner, receive
him as myself [the imputation of merit]. If he hath wronged thee, or
oweth thee ought, put that on mine account [the imputation of demerit]”
(Philem 17-18; note also Job 29:14; Isa 11:5; 59:17; 61:10).
4. Imputation effects the standing and not the state. There is, then, a
righteousness from God, apart from all human works, which is unto and
upon all who believe (Rom 3:22). It is the eternal standing of all who are
saved. In their daily life, or state, they are far from perfect, and in this
aspect of their relation to God they are “to grow in grace, and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 3:18).
5. Imputed righteousness is the ground of justification. According to
the New Testament usage, the words “righteousness” and “justify” are
from the same root. God declares the one justified forever whom He sees
in Christ. It is an equitable decree since the justified one is clothed in the
righteousness of God. Justification is not a fiction or a state of feeling; it
is rather an immutable reckoning in the mind of God. Like imputed
righteousness, justification is by faith (Rom 5:1), through grace (Titus
3:4-7), and made possible through the death and resurrection of Christ
(Rom 3:24; 4:25). It is abiding and unchangeable since it rests only on
the merit of the eternal Son of God.
Justification is more than forgiveness, since forgiveness is the
cancellation of sin while justification is the imputing of righteousness.
Forgiveness is negative (the removal of condemnation), while
justification is positive (the bestowing of merit and standing in Christ).
James, writing of a justification by works (2:14-26), has in view the
believer’s standing before men; Paul writing of justification by faith
(Rom 5:1), has in view the believer’s standing before God. Abraham was
justified before men in that he proved his faith by his works (James
2:21); likewise he was justified by faith before God on the ground of
imputed righteousness (James 2:23).
D. RIGHTEOUSNESS IMPARTED BY THE SPIRIT. When filled with the
Spirit, the child of God will produce the righteous works (Rom 8:4) of
the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal 5:22-23) and will manifest the gifts for
service which are by the Spirit (1 Cor 12:7). These results are distinctly
said to be due to the immediate working of the Spirit in and through the
believer. Reference is made, therefore, to a manner of life which is in no
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way produced by the believer; it is rather a manner of life which is
produced through him by the Spirit. To those who “walk not after the
flesh, but according to the Spirit,” the righteousness of the law, which in
this case means no less than the realization of the whole will of God for
the believer, is fulfilled in them.
It could never be fulfilled by them. When thus wrought by the Spirit,
it is none other than a life which is the imparted righteousness of God. –
pp 197-201
My guest author, Mr. Montgomery F. Essig in his Comprehensive
Analysis of the Bible had no entry for imputation in his handbook of
theological doctrines and topical Scripture. He did have interesting
entries for baptism and regeneration, of which I will cite portions of both:
… John the Baptist was the first to baptize with any relation between
baptism itself and the future state, preaching the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins.”
… Regeneration in the Scriptural and theological sense, the birth of the
new life of the spiritual sort from the old life of the unspiritual sort, thus
being made a new creature and a partaker of the Divine Nature through
the Holy Spirit. Regeneration is the special work of the Holy Ghost in
restoring man to the original image of God. (Ibid., pp 89 and 441)
Well, this quote carries “all” the seeds of confusion that exist
regarding the numerous baptisms in the NT, the Holy Spirit, and
regeneration. This will be addressed, later. I will cite Mr. Essig once
more, as the definition of the repentance that he mentioned as required in
baptism, a baptism before Christ died, is especially important to a
dispensational view:
Literally a change of mind, coupled with sorrow for something done and
the wish that it were undone or had not been done. Theologically and
ethically, repentance is that sorrow for sin and contriteness of heart
which produces or leads to newness of life. The terms “repentance” and
“conversion” must not be confounded. Conversion is the turning of the
heart to God or back to God. It is usually the forerunner of repentance,
although in some instances repentance may come first, according to the
will of the Holy Spirit in its action upon the sinner. As a matter of fact,
repentance is one of the daily companions of the Christian, since the
Christian is constantly sinning and going to God in contrition for it. True
repentance is accompanied by the Divine forgiveness, and the
consequent remission of sin, according to the Promise. (Ibid., p 445)
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In the above, the terms repentance and conversion have been terribly
muddled with confession and conviction. Personally, I get the impression
Mr. Essig was truly saved, but lost in traditional religion and befuddled,
as he seems to be reaching for sincere thoughts he cannot fully express.
Anyone who puts their faith in a pile of old bones has been schooled in
paganism. Evolution and religion, alike, are a broken heap of old bones
and lies. Traditional religion is similar to a judicial system withholding
and hiding the fact that a witness protection program carries the benefit
of lifetime security. “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mtw 16:25). Religion
when fully comprehended and seen for the cheap trick that it is will
cause a great sense of sadness in the one thus enlightened. A sadness,
where one becomes overtaken with a deep sense of loss for those men
and women, their families, and their lives that are wasted in the pursuit of
self-righteousness and doubt. In this quote from Dr. Charles Ryrie, it will
be seen that God really does have a extraordinary “protection program.”
His plan is heaven high and far removed from the ordinary “peeps and
murmurs,” the cackling and bellowing of “human wisdom” drawn from
the deductions of false premises about God that lead to the bone rattling,
the rain dances, and the feather headdresses worn by the practitioners of
religious pride. Dr. Ryrie writes:
If because of the death of Christ God is satisfied, then what can the
sinner do to try to satisfy God? The answer is nothing. Everything has
been done by God Himself. The sinner can and need only receive the gift
of righteousness God offers.
Before Christ died, it was perfectly proper to pray, as did the tax
gatherer in Luke 18:13, “God be merciful [lit., be propitiated] to me, the
sinner.” Though provision for fellowship with God was provided under
the Law, this man could not rely on a finished and eternal sacrifice for
sin that would appease God once and for all. So that was an entirely
appropriate prayer for him to pray. But now Christ has died and God is
satisfied, and there is no need to ask Him to be propitiated. He is
appeased, placated, and satisfied eternally. This is the message we bring
to a lost world: Receive the Savior who through His death satisfied the
wrath of God. …
If God, the Judge, is without injustice and completely righteous in all
His decisions, then how can He announce a sinner righteous? And
sinners we all are. There are only three options open to God as sinners
stand in His courtroom. He must condemn them, compromise His own
righteousness to receive them as they are, or change them into righteous
people. If He can exercise the third option, then He can announce them
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righteous, which is justification. But any righteous-ness the sinner has
must be actual, not fictitious; real, not imagined; acceptable by God’s
standards, and not a whit short. If this could be accomplished, then, and
only then, can He justify. Job stated the problem accurately when he
asked, “How can a man be in the right before God?”
God does put into effect that third option: He changes sinners into
righteous people. How? By making us the righteousness of God in Christ
(2 Cor 5:21), by making many righteous (Rom 5:19), by giving believers
the gift of righteousness (v. 17). Five steps were involved in the
outworking of this procedure as detailed in the central passage on
justification, Romans 3:21-26.
1. The plan (Rom 3:21). God’s plan for providing the needed
righteousness centered in Jesus Christ. It was apart from the Law. The
construction is without an article [Greek], indicating it was apart from
not only the Mosaic Law, which could not provide that righteousness
(Acts 13:39) but also from all legal complications. It was manifested (a
perfect passive form) at the incarnation of Christ, and the effects of that
great intervention in history continue. It is constantly witnessed by the
Law and the Prophets, who testified of the coming of the Messiah (1 Pet
1:11). Thus the plan centers in a person.
2. The prerequisite (Rom 3:22). Righteousness comes through faith in
the now revealed Jesus Christ. The New Testament never says we are
saved because of faith (that would require dia with the accusative). It
always makes faith the channel through which we receive salvation (dia
with the genitive). But, of course, faith must have the right object to be
effective, and the object of saving faith is Jesus Christ.
3. The price (Rom 3:24-25). Quite clearly the price paid was the blood of
Jesus Christ. The cost to Him was the greatest. To us the benefit comes
freely (the same word is translated without a “cause” in John 15:25), this
is, without any cause in us, and so by His grace.
4. The position. When the individual receives Christ, he is placed in
Christ. This is what makes him righteous. We are made the righteousness
of God in Him. This righteousness alone overcomes our desperate, sinful
condition and measures up to all the demands of God’s holiness.
5. The pronouncement (Rom 3:26). Not only does Christ’s righteousness
which we have, meet God’s demands, but it also demands that God
justify us. We are in fact, not fiction, righteous; therefore, the holy God
can remain just and justifier of the one who believes in the Lord Jesus.
Therefore, no one can lay anything to the charge of God’s elect, for
we are in Christ righteous in God’s sight. And this is why God can justify
us. (Basic Theology, Dr. Charles Ryrie, pp 344-45)
542

The following commentary by the first Protestant to be given
historical notoriety, Martin Luther, illustrates his thoughts about the new
standing of a believer “in Christ” (the Pauline έν Χριστώ/, en Christō)
that corresponds to the Johannine “eternal life” (zōēn aiōnion). The
balance of this section will be citations and arguments that establish and
define the differing views of the value of the sacrificial death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Commentary on Galatians by Martin Luther
Gal 4:3-7 So also we, when we were minors, were enslaved under the
basic forces of the world. But when the appropriate time had come,
God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to
redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as
sons with full rights. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of
his Son into our hearts, who calls “Abba! Father!” So you are no
longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son, then you are also an heir
through God. NET
“Furthermore, this place also
witnesseth that Christ, when the time of
the law was accomplished, did abolish
the same, and so brought liberty to those
were oppressed therewith, but made no
new law after or besides that old law of
Moses. Wherefore the monks and
Popish schoolmen do no less err and
blaspheme Christ, in that they imagine
that He hath given a new law besides the
law of Moses, than do the Turks, which
vaunt of their Mohamet as a new
lawgiver after Christ, and better than
Christ. Christ then came not to abolish
the whole law, that He might make a
new law, but, as Paul here saith, He was sent of His father into the world,
to redeem those which were kept in thralldom under the law. These
words paint out Christ lively and truly: they do not attribute unto Him the
office to make new law, but to redeem them which were under the law.
And Christ Himself saith, “I judge no man.” And in another place: “I
come not to judge the world but that the world should be saved by me”
(John 8:15; 12:47); that is to say, I came not to bring any law, nor to
judge men according to the same, as Moses and other lawgivers; but I
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
have a higher and better office. The law killed you, and I again do judge,
condemn and kill the law, and so I deliver you from the tyranny thereof
… Wherefore, it is very profitable for us to always before our eyes have
this sweet and comfortable sentence, and such-like which set out Christ
truly and lively, that in our whole life, in all dangers, in the confession of
our faith before tyrants, and in the hour of our death, we may boldly and
with sure confidence say,
O law, that hast no power over me, and therefore thou dost accuse and
condemn me in vain. For I believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God,
whom the Father sent into the world to redeem us miserable sinners
oppressed with the tyranny of the law. He gave His life and shed His
blood for me. Therefore, feeling thy terrors and threatenings, O law, I
plunge my conscience in the wounds, blood, death, resurrection and
victory of my Saviour Christ. Besides Him I will see nothing, I will hear
nothing.
This faith is a victory whereby we overcome the law, sin, death, and
all evils, and yet not without great conflicts. And here do the children of
God, which are daily exercised with grievous temptations, wrestle and
sweat indeed. For oftentimes it cometh in their minds that Christ will
accuse them, and plead against them; that He will require an account of
their former life, and that He will condemn them. They cannot assure
themselves that He is sent of His father to redeem us from the tyranny
and oppression of the law. And whereof cometh this? They have not yet
fully put off the flesh, which rebelleth against the Spirit. Therefore the
terrors of the law, the fear of death, and such-like sorrowful and heavy
sights, do often times return, that hinder our faith, that it cannot
apprehend the benefit of Christ, who hath redeemed us from the bondage
of law, with such assurance as it should do.” - Ed. of 1860, Martin Luther
on 4:4-5 (cited in - Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 5 pp.
214-15)
Jan Hus
Jan Hus or Huss, John (1372?-1415), Bohemian religious reformer,
whose efforts to reform the church anticipated the Protestant
Reformation. Hus was born in Husinec, in southern Bohemia (now the
Czech Republic), and was educated at the University of Prague,
receiving his M.A. degree in 1396. Two years later, he became a lecturer
in theology at the university and in 1401 was made dean of its
philosophical faculty. Ordained a priest in 1400, two years later he took
up additional duties as preacher at the Bethlehem Chapel, where the
sermons were given in Czech instead of the traditional Latin.
544

The Czech nationalist and reformist movement that had been initiated
by the popular 15th-century Bohemian preacher Jan Milíč was prevalent
at both the university and Bethlehem Chapel, and Hus quickly became
involved in it. Less radical than the English church reformer John
Wycliffe, Hus nonetheless agreed with him on many points. On a
practical level, both men vigorously condemned church abuses and
attempted, through preaching, to bring the church to the people. On the
doctrinal level, both believed in predestination, regarded the Bible as the
ultimate religious authority, and held that Christ, rather than any
inevitably corrupt ecclesiastical official, is the true head of the church.
In 1408 the subject matter of some of Hus's sermons was made
grounds of complaint to the archbishop, and Hus was forbidden to
exercise his priestly functions in the diocese. The following year,
Alexander V, one of the three rival popes then contending for authority
in the church (see Schism, Great), issued a bull condemning the
teachings of Wycliffe and ordering his books burned. Hus, who was
teaching Wycliffe's doctrines, was excommunicated in 1410, but he had
already gained great popular support, and riots broke out in Prague.
Backed by popular demonstrations, Hus continued to preach, even after
the city was laid under interdict in 1412. By the next year, however,
many of his influential supporters had fallen from power, and Hus fled
Prague, finding refuge in the castles of several friendly noblemen.
During this time he wrote his principal work, De Ecclesia (trans. 1915).
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All
rights reserved.
Martin Luther
“Luther believed that salvation depends not on human effort or merit
but only on the freely given grace of God, which is accepted in faith.
Good works are not disdained but are regarded as the result of God’s
grace working in the life of the believer. This doctrine of justification by
grace through faith became a fundamental tenet of Protestant churches.
Luther and other reformers believed that Catholicism had put too much
emphasis on the need for believers to gain merits, to work their way into
God’s favor by performing good deeds, by fasting, by making
pilgrimages, and, in the popular view of Luther’s time, by buying
indulgences. To Protestants this seemed to make the redemptive sacrifice
of Christ unnecessary and to leave human beings, all of whom are
necessarily sinners, in doubt as to their salvation. The reformers intended
to stress the mercy of God, who bestows grace on undeserving sinners
through the saving activity of Jesus Christ.
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The Protestant Reformation in the 16th century marked a return to the
Bible and a more practical, ethical, and less speculative tone in theology,
and therefore an attempt to reduce the role of philosophy in theological
work. German theologian Martin Luther, who initiated the Reformation,
was not a systematic theologian, but the new teaching was ably presented
by his colleague Melanchthon in his Loci Communes Rerum
Theologicarum (1521). By far the greatest Reformation theologian was
John Calvin, whose Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536) remains
the classic of Reformed systematic theology. Calvin stressed the
sovereignty of God to the point of constructing a doctrine of strict
predestination, but he tried to base all his teachings on the Bible.”
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights
reserved.
Contemporary Theological Humanism
“Theologians who are reluctant to begin with an appeal to
authoritative texts, whether biblical or dogmatic, begin the task from the
opposite end, analyzing human experience and its problems, and then
asking how traditional wisdom might illuminate or resolve these
problems. Twentieth-century German theologian Paul Tillich has used
the expression “method of correlation” to describe this procedure in
theology. He and others have made much use of phenomenology in their
analysis of human experience.”
German philosopher Edmund Husserl founded the 20th-century
movement of phenomenology. Husserl said that philosophers must
attempt to describe and analyze phenomena as they occur, setting aside
such considerations as whether the phenomena are objective or
subjective. He emphasized careful observation and interpretation of our
conscious perceptions of things. First, we must attend to what we are
conscious of, observing our perceptions far more carefully and intensely
than we do in everyday life. Second, we must reflect upon these
observations and interpret them without preconceptions. Husserl
maintained that we arrive at meaning and the key to solving
philosophical problems through a logical analysis of the data that
emerges from such a “phenomenological study” of the contents of the
mind. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All
rights reserved.
Socinian Rationalism
“Another form of Protestant rationalism that became influential in the
18th century was Unitarianism. It had originated in the 16th century on
546

the Continent, where it was called Socinianism, after its founder, Italian
reformer Fausto Socinus. After the Toleration Act of 1689, Unitarianism
was openly professed in England, and during the 18th century it began to
gain adherents in New England as well. Unitarians denied the doctrines
of the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus Christ, stressing instead his ethical
teachings and example.” Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved.
The Grotian Rationalism of Naturalism
“Hugo Grotius, or Huig de Groot (1583-1645), Dutch jurist,
humanist, and statesman, whose legal writings laid the foundation for
modern international law. The Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius is consider-ed
the founder of the modern theory of natural law. His break with
Scholasticism is in methodology rather than content. His definition of
natural law as that body of rules which can be discovered by the use of
reason is traditional, but in raising the hypothetical argument that his law
would have validity even if there were no God or if the affairs of human
beings were of no concern to God, he effected a divorce from theological
presuppositions and prepared the way for the purely rationalistic theories
of the 17th and 18th centuries. A second innovation of Grotius was to
view this law as deductive and independent of experience: “Just as the
mathematicians treat their figures as abstracted from bodies, so in
treating law I have withdrawn my mind from every particular fact” (De
Jure Belli ac Pacis; On the Law of War and Peace, 1625).
His efforts to moderate a bitter doctrinal dispute among Dutch
Calvinists had embroiled him in a political clash between his province of
Holland and the rest of the Dutch Republic and its orthodox majority. He
was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1619 but escaped to Paris in 1621.
There he finished De Veritate Religionis Christianae (On the Truth of the
Christian Religion, 1627), a nonsectarian statement of basic Christian
beliefs that was widely translated and won Grotius great acclaim. His
voluminous writings included other theological and legal works as well
as poetry, histories, and classical translations.
“In general, during the Reformation, individual responsibility was
considered more important than obedience to authority or tradition. This
change of emphasis, which indirectly led to the development of modern
secular ethics, is to be seen in the De Jure Belli et Pacis (The Law of
War and Peace, 1625) by the Dutch jurist, theologian, and statesman
Hugo Grotius. Although the work adheres to some of the doctrines of
Saint Thomas Aquinas, it deals with people's political and civil duties in
the spirit of ancient Roman law. Grotius argued that natural law is a part
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
of divine law and is based on human nature, which exhibits a desire for
peaceful association with others and a tendency to follow general
principles in conduct. Therefore, society itself is properly based on
natural law.” Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved.
The Protestant History of the Doctrine of the Spirit
“The doctrine of the Holy Spirit did not receive much attention in the
early centuries as far as formal definition was concerned. What we have
come to know as the orthodox expression of the doctrine of the Spirit
was witnessed to by the early church in the baptismal formula, in the
Apostles Creed, and in the castigating of error when it did appear. The
use of the threefold name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit shows that
implicitly and in practice the deity and personality of the Spirit were
acknowledged by the early church. …
Augustine (354-430)
1. De Trinitate. The concept of the Trinity in the Western church
reached a final formulation in this work by Augustine. His interest in the
doctrine of grace would naturally lead to a consideration of the Spirit, for
his own experiences taught him how necessary the power of the Spirit is
to the believer. In this treatise he stated that each of the three persons of
the Trinity possess the entire essence and that all are interdependent on
the others. He declared that he was not satisfied with the word “persons”
to express the three hypostases, but he used it “in order not to be silent.”
In his conception of the Trinity, the Spirit proceeds from both the Father
and the Son.
2. The Pelagian controversy (431). Augustine also laid great stress on
efficacious grace as the work of the Holy Spirit. This profoundly
influenced not only his doctrine of man and of sin but also his doctrine of
the Spirit. Pelagius, his opponent in the controversy, advocated a
practical denial of original sin and emphasized the ability of man to do
goodapart from the enablement of the Spirit. The Council of Ephesus
dealt with the controversy in 431 and condemned Pelagius and his views
and upheld Augustine and his. Though Pelagianism was condemned
officially, it was not eradicated from the church, for Pelagianism and
semi-Pelagianism (as well as Augustinianism) have come down to this
present day. …
548

Thomas Aquinas (1225-74)
In Thomas there was the usual orthodox understanding of the Trinity.
Generally speaking, however, the centuries preceding the Protestant
Reformation added little to the doctrine of the Spirit beyond what was so
well systematized by Augustine. In the West, while the influence of
Augustine was still at work, the church became semi-Pelagian (de-
emphasizing original sin and emphasizing the freedom of man’s will).
This together with the increasing sacerdotalism and its consequences
(which promoted special powers of the clergy) tended to keep the minds
of many away from any further study of the Holy Spirit. Though there
were tendencies toward mysticism on the part of some, no real fresh
study of the doctrine of the Spirit was made until the time of the
Reformation.
The Protestant Reformation (1517)
Up to the time of th Reformation the church’s attention had been
directed toward the person of the Spirit. In the Reformation, attention
was given to His work. As far as the Spirit’s person was concerned, all
the Reformed confessions express the orthodox doctrine of the Spirit in
relation to the other persons of the Trinity. As far as His work is
concerned, there was renewed emphasis on the necessity of His work in
regenerating man because there was a return to the Augustinian emphasis
on the total depravity of man.
Another important contribution of the Reformers was their emphasis
on the need for illumination by the Spirit. The Roman church taught that
only the priest could interpret the Word of God, whereas the Reformers
advocated openly the study of the Bible, asserting that all believers could
be taught its truths by the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Luther’s emphasis on justification by faith caused him to say much
about the Spirit’s work in this connection. Calvin emphasized those
aspects of the work of the Spirit that are associated with the Trinity and
the ministry of the Spirit in the hearts of lives of the believers.
The various documents and creeds growing out of the Reformation
are uniform in their orthodoxy. The Augsburg confession, the Anglican
Articles, the Formula Concordiae, the Helvetic Confession, and the
Westminster Confession all asserted the deity of the Spirit following the
Council of Chalcedon, including the filioque clause as well as the
particular emphases brought to light by the Reformation itself. Indeed, it
may be said that it was not until the time of the Reformation that there
was a developed doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
The Socinians and the Arminians
Almost every religious movement is followed by a excesses and
reactions. The Reformation is no exception. Some went to the extremes
of unbalanced enthusiasm and mysticism. Others tended towards a
rationalism that almost completely ignored the work of the Spirit in the
life of a believer. In the sixteenth century the Socinians declared that it
was erroneous to believe that the persons of the Trinity possessed a
single essence. In this teaching they echoed the Arians,i but they went
beyond them in denying the preexistence of the Son and defining the
Holy Spirit as “ a virtue or energy flowing from God to man.”
From the Reformed church itself there arose the serious trouble in
connection with what is known as Arminian theology (Arminius, 1560-
1609). The entire tendency of this teaching was to emphasize human
effort and will and to make salvation a work of man rather than a work of
God, with the human will replacing the work of the Spirit in regenera-
tion.
The Synod of Dort (1618-19) met to deal with the matter, and it
condemned Arminian theology, emphasizing in the strongest possible
way the need and the working of the Holy Spirit. However, the synod did
not erase Arminian theology, which flourishes to this day. The Puritan
movement in England did much to counter Arminianism by its emphasis
on the doctrine of grace.
John Owen (1616-83)
One of the most important contributions of the Puritans was Owen’s
book Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit. Many think his work has
never been superseded. It is a development of the great Reformation
principles in relation to the Holy Spirit and the Christian life.
Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920)
The work of Kuyper is also a classic in its field, particularly in view
of the rationalism that had swept over Europe. Swendenborg (1688-
1772) denied the Trinity. Schleiermacher (1768-1834), though he
countered the prevalent rationalism by emphasizing the need and reality
of personal religion, denied the objective realities of the Incarnation, the
i
Arianism (325) – The Arian controversy is thus called because it was occasioned
by the anti-Trinitarian views of Arius, a presbyter of Alexandria. The monotheistic
principle of Monarchianism was a dominant concept in his view. However, he
distinguished the one eternal God from the Son who was generated by the Father and
who had a beginning. He also believed that the Holy Spirit was the first thing created
by the Son, for all things were made by the Son. (Basic Theology, Dr. Charles Ryrie,
p 445
550

Cross, and the coming of the Spirit. His doctrine of the Trinity was
Sabellian – the persons of the godhead were only modes of manifes-
tation. The distinct personality of the Spirit was denied, and the Spirit’s
work was defined as “the collective Spirit of the new corporate life that
was initiated by Christ.” Ritschl (1822-89) revived the Monarchianism
[the predecessor of Sabellianism, the Son was a mode or expression of
the Father, this writer] of Paul of Samosata. His was a theology without
metaphysics, which necessarily affected his view of the Spirit.
The Plymouth Brethren (1825)
It is to the Brethren that we owe a proper understanding of the
baptizing ministry of the Spirit and the distinct nature of the New
Testament church. The church owes much to the Brethrens’ testimony to
the importance of the Word of God, the illumination of the Spirit, and the
position that the believer has in Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit.
There were deplorable schisms within their group, but the Brethren had
an important witness to the presence, power, and guidance of the Spirit in
the church.
Neo-orthodoxy
Neo-orthodoxy is a twentieth-century movement arising out of the
theology of Karl Barth (1886-1968). It was a reaction to the liberalism
that held sway until the horrors of a world war forced men to think more
seriously about sin and their lack of competency to solve their own
problems. The neo-orthodox movement claimed to be a new reformation
that called men back to the Bible. It did this, but not to the Bible of the
Reformers, for neo-orthodoxy theologians have willingly embraced the
teachings of liberalism concerning the accuracy and truth of the Bible,
while at the same time trying to preach the message of the Bible.
Though neo-orthodoxy has about as many exponents as there are neo-
orthodox theologians, it may be said that in general its view of the Holy
Spirit leaves much to be desired. Most neo-orthodox writers deny the
distinct personality of the Spirit and affirm His deity only in that He is
represented as a divine manifestation of God. The Holy Spirit is regarded
more as an activity of God than as a person of the Godhead.
Barth’s own view of the Trinity has been called modalistic, though he
would reject the term. He rejected what is commonly conceived of as
modalism of divine manifestation of God in three ways as saying too
little in rightly expressing the doctrine of the Trinity. On the other hand,
he rejected the term “person” in regard to the Trinity as teaching too
much; i.e., tritheism or three Gods. His view seemed to be that the
Trinity is a threefold mode of manifestation and less than three persons.
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Barth, in contrast to most neo-orthodox teachers, did believe in the deity
of the Spirit.
Neoliberalism
The rise and wide acceptance of neo-orthodox theology has caused
liberalism to examine its own tenets. The results have been the new
liberalism, which is the old liberalism with a tendency to take sin more
seriously and to be less optimistic. Its approach to world problems may
be different, but its teachings differ little from the older liberalism. The
new liberal dispenses quickly and completely with the orthodox doctrine
of the Spirit simply because he does not believe in the deity of the second
person of the Trinity. Hence there is in reality no Trinity, and of course
no divine third person. The Spirit is merely a function of God without
possessing any distinct quality of personality.
Pentecostalism
Undoubtedly modern Pentecostalism is a reaction to the sterility that
began to characterize the established churches in the modern era. It
emphasizes the baptism of the Spirit as a second work of grace for
endowment with power, and it promotes a return of experiencing all the
gifts that were given and used in Mew Testament times. The orthodox
doctrine concerning the person of the Spirit is assumed; it is the reality of
the work of the Spirit in the lives of Christians that is promoted and not
always correctly.
Thus in the sweep of church history one sees first the formulation of
what has come to be known as the orthodox doctrine of the Spirit, then
the definition of it in the early councils, and the development of it during
the Reformation. With every surge toward defining or developing the
truth, there have been movements away from it, either in the form of
rationalistic coldness or unbalanced enthusiasm and mysticism. History
should teach us that orthodox doctrine is not only important to faith but
equally vital to life. Perhaps in no doctrine is this wedding of truth and
life more important than in the doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit.”
(Basic Theology, Dr. Charles Ryrie, pp 444; 447; 449-452)
The Bible Warns Against a Rationalized View of Christ
Col 2:2 My goal is that their hearts, having been knit together in love,
may be encouraged, and that they may have all the riches that assurance
brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God,
namely, Christ, 2:3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and
552

knowledge. I say this so that no one will deceive you through arguments
that sound reasonable.8 NET
8sn Paul’s point is that even though the arguments seem to make sense
(sound reasonable), they are in the end false. Paul is not here arguing against
the study of philosophy [theology] or serious thinking per se, but is arguing
against the uncritical adoption of a philosophy [theology] that is at odds with
a proper view of Christ and the ethics of the Christian life. (brackets mine,
this writer)
2 Tim 3:1 But understand this, that in the last days difficult times will
come. 3:2 For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,
boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful,
unholy, 3:3 unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control,
savage, opposed to what is good, 3:4 treacherous, reckless, conceited,
loving pleasure rather than loving God. 3:5 They will maintain the
outward appearance of religion but will have repudiated its power. So
avoid people like these. 3:6 For some of these insinuate themselves into
households and captivate weak women who are overwhelmed with sins
and led along by various passions. 3:7 Such women are always seeking
instruction, yet never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 3:8 And
just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these people—who have
warped minds and are disqualified in the faith—also oppose the truth. 3:9
But they will not go much further, for their foolishness will be obvious to
everyone, just like it was with Jannes and Jambres. NET
2 Tim 4:3 For there will be a time when people will not tolerate sound
teaching. Instead, following their own desires, they will accumulate
teachers for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear
new things. 4:4 And they will turn away from hearing the truth, but on
the other hand they will turn aside to myths. NET
(2 Tim 3:1) Apostasy, Summary: Apostasy, “falling away,” is the act of
professed Christians who deliberately reject revealed truth (1) as to the
diety of Jesus Christ, and (2) redemption through His atoning and
redeeming sacrifice (1 John 4:1-3; Phil 3:18; 2 Pet 2:1). Apostasy differs
from error concerning truth, which may be the result of ignorance (Acts
19:1-6), or heresy, which may be due to the snare of Satan (2 Tim
2:25,26), both of which may consist with true faith. The apostate is
perfectly described in 2 Tim 4:3,4. Apostates depart from the faith, but
not from the outward profession of Christianity (3:5). Apostate teachers
are described 2 Tim 4:3, 2 Pet 2:1-19, Jude 4, 8, 11-13, 16. Apostasy in
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the church, as in Israel (Isa 1:5,6; 5:5-7), is irremediable, and awaits
judgment (2 Thess 2:10-12; 2 Pet 2:17, 21; Jude 11-15; Rev 3:14-16).
(Old Scofield Study System, Dr. C. I. Scofield, pp 1280-81)
Easton’s Bible Dictionary, Heresy - from a Greek word signifying (1) a
choice, (2) the opinion chosen, and (3) the sect holding the opinion. In
the Acts of the Apostles (5:17; 15:5; 24:5, 14; 26:5) it denotes a sect,
without reference to its character. Elsewhere, however, in the New
Testament it has a different meaning attached to it. Paul ranks "heresies"
with crimes and seditions (Gal. 5:20). This word also denotes divisions
or schisms in the church (1 Cor. 11:19). In Titus 3:10 a "heretical person"
is one who follows his own self-willed "questions," and who is to be
avoided. Heresies thus came to signify self-chosen doctrines not
emanating from God (2 Pet. 2:1).
2 Pet 2:1 But false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be
false teachers among you. These false teachers will infiltrate your midst
with destructive heresies, even to the point of denying the Master who
bought them. As a result, they will bring swift destruction on themselves.
2:2 And many will follow their debauched lifestyles. Because of these
false teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. 2:3 And in their greed
they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation
pronounced long ago is not sitting idly by; their destruction is not asleep.
NET
1 John 1:9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not remain in the
teaching of Christ30 does not have God. The one who remains in this
teaching has both the Father and the Son. 1:10 If anyone comes to you
and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house and
do not give him any greeting, 1:11 because the person who gives him a
greeting shares in his evil deeds. (bold highlights mine) NET
30tn The genitive (tou Christou, “of Christ”) is difficult because it may be
understood as objective (the teaching about Christ), subjective (Christ’s own
teaching), or both (M. Zerwick’s “general” genitive [Biblical Greek §§36-
39]; D. B. Wallace’s “plenary” genitive [ExSyn 119-21]). An objective
genitive (with Christ as the object of the “apostolic” teaching) might seem to
be the obvious reading in context, especially since verse 7 makes reference
to what a person “confesses” about Jesus Christ. A good case can also be
made for a subjective genitive, however, since other Johannine uses of the
genitive following the noun διδαχήv (didachē, “teaching”) favor a subjective
sense here. In John 7:16, 17 Jesus himself refers to “my teaching” and
554

“teaching from me,” and 18:19 refers to “his (Jesus’) teaching.” Rev 2:14, 15
refers to the “teaching of Balaam” and “the teaching of the Nicolaitans,”
both of which are clearly subjective in context. In the present context, to
speak of “Christ's teaching” as a subjective genitive would make Christ
himself (in the person of the indwelling Spirit) the teacher, and this is
consistent with the author’s position in 1 John 2:27 that the community does
not need other teachers. In 1 John 2:27 it is the Paraclete, referred to as “his
anointing,” who does the teaching. Since the dispute with the opponents
concerns the salvific significance of the earthly life and ministry of Jesus, the
“teaching” here would refer to Jesus’ own teaching (reflected in the Gospel
of John) concerning his person and work. Since this is ultimately one with
the apostolic eyewitness testimony about Jesus, it is perhaps best to view the
genitive here as both objective and subjective (perhaps the author
deliberately intended not to be specific).
Protestant Religious Humanism
Dr. John Miley, a prominent Arminian theologian and author of his own
systematic theology, is cited in the following:
The fundamental error of the Socinian view was found by Grotius to
be this: That Socinus regarded God, in the work of redemption, as
holding the place of merely a creditor, or master, whose simple will was
a sufficient discharge from the existing obligation. But, as we have in the
subject before us to deal with punishment and the remission of
punishment, God cannot be looked upon as a creditor, or an injured
party, since the act of inflicting punishment does not belong to an injured
party as such. The right to punish is not one of an absolute master or a
creditor, these being merely personal in their character; it is the right of a
ruler only. Hence God must be considered as a ruler, and the right to
punish belongs to the ruler as such, since it exists, not for the punisher’s
sake, but for the sake of the commonwealth, to maintain its order and to
promote the public good. (cited by Miley, Theology, Vol 2, p 161. quoted
in Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 3, p 146)
Dr. Lewis Chafer, a renowned Grace theologian responds to this view of
God:
From this brief analysis it will be seen that the two major ideas are
paramount in this theory as presented by its advocates, namely, penitence
and forgiveness, and no other aspects of the value of Christ’s death are
acknowledged and no other feature of the great work of God in the
salvation of a soul is comprehended by this system. Should any question
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
be raised about the need of an amercement or penalty that would uphold
the sanctity of the law, the fact that Christ suffered sacrificially is
deemed sufficient to meet the requirement. Grotius was Arminian in his
theology and his theory is well suited to a system of interpretation of the
Scriptures which is satisfied with modified and partial truths.
As for the methods employed by these two systems [of evaluating the
death of Christ], it may be observed that the doctrine of satisfaction
follows the obvious teachings of the Bible. It is the result of an
unprejudiced induction of the Word of God as bears on the death of
Christ. On the other hand, the defenders of the Grotian theory build a
philosophy which is not drawn from Scripture, and, having declared their
speculations and reasoning, undertake to demonstrate that, by various
methods of interpretations, the Scriptures may be made to harmonize
with the theory. It is significant that Christians, being, in the main,
subject to the Bible, have held the doctrine of satisfaction throughout all
generations.
Of those who have expounded and defended the Rectoral or
Governmental theory, none in the United States has given it more
scholarly consideration than Dr. John Miley, the Arminian theologian.
When stating his disagreement with the time honored doctrine of
satisfaction, Dr. Miley objects (1) to the doctrine of substitution as
generally held. It is his contention that neither the sin of man is
imputable to Christ, nor the righteousness of God imputable to man; and
(2) if man’s sin is imputable to Christ, man does not need the personal
faith which appropriates forgiveness, since nothing could remain to be
forgiven. These are the major arguments which Socinius advanced and
these, in turn, have been presented by many of the Arminian school.
(Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 3, p 146-47)
From the citation of Dr. Chafer above – as regards the assertions by
Dr. Miley - his statement (1) is argumentum ad absurdum founded only
in a traditional creed and (2) prima facie seems convincing, but at bottom
it is a feeble and specious (Latin – good looking) induction from two
truths. If the reader will be patient with this writer in his analysis on this
matter of infinite importance, a disclosure of the false premises in the
deduction made by Dr. Miley will be detailed. The order of Dr. Miley’s
premises and conclusion may be clarified in the following structure that
resolves into the subsequent summary statement :
Col 2:4 I say this so that no one will deceive you through arguments
[7tn by specious arguments, the art of persuasion] that sound
reasonable. NET
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To clear away the double-speak of inversion, I reduce (1) and (2), above,
to their original statement in the doctrine of “completed satisfaction,”
disputed by Dr. Miley:
(1a) Sin and righteousness is imputable [because Jesus is the Christ – the
Lamb of God who “expiates,” takes away sin]
(2a) Forgiveness comes through faith [because of God’s grace]
Dr. Miley’s rationale for his claim of (1a) as false proves (2a) to be true.
Because if (1a) is true, then (2a) is false (LOGICAL antecedent, if p then
q). Patently, then (1a) must be false because every one accepts man must
have faith to be forgiven. Thus he has proven the validity of his claim in
item (1) and (2) below.
Summary:
For these reasons, the Rectoral or Governmental theory, championed by
Dr. Miley, is secure in its assertions:
(1) Sin and righteousness is not imputable [because tradition says so]
(2) Forgiveness comes through faith [because (1) is true and (1a) is false
– “if man’s sin is imputable to Christ, man does not need the personal
faith which appropriates forgiveness, since nothing could remain to be
forgiven (again, because tradition says so).”]
Detailed disclosure of the “specious” argument:
Dr. Miley’s dogmatic argument chases its tail endlessly around the
same circle.147 On the one hand, he has made a logical statement using a
false premise (1) to prove a universal truth (2a), to be true. Proving (2a)
to be true was unnecessary, as there was no initial dispute until he
introduced one. On the other hand, he has taken the truth of (1a) to prove
(2a) false by drawing a false induction in (2) to further validate the lie
claimed in (1).
In summary, he has drawn a false conclusion by introducing (1a) into
item (2), above, intended to prove that two truths - (1a) and (2a) in the
doctrine of “completed satisfaction - cannot logically co-exist in order to
further validate his lie in item (1). This is a classic use of a logical
statement to support an apparently true but actually false, specious (good
looking), syllogism (Greek sullogismos < sullogizesthai "infer" < logos
"reason").148
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
Dr. Miley, in defending a lie with an innocent truth - grabbing a child
as a shield in a firefight – has left himself the burden to support his claim
without a comparison to God’s truth. Might the assertion of “sin and
righteousness are not imputable” stand on its own merits? [to prove this
merit: the deductive conclusions drawn from an Arminian theory of
premises for a divine “forgiveness,” without imputation, supposes to
support its own statements. This will be disclosed, throughout this paper
- at length]. Dr. Miley has not “rationalized” his negative claim and
proven item (1a) to be false, quite to the contrary, he has unwittingly
illustrated an age old axiom to be true: A lie is inverted truth (1), which
when challenged, requires a second inversion (2) to remain apparently
true.
The Oracles of God’s Truth fully support a positive declaration of
substitutional demerit and merit, in contradiction to his traditional
“opinion” stated in item (1). Additionally, as regards the validity in the
charge that his logic is argumentum ad absurdum in item (1): What
school board, city government, or corporation is not liable for the actions
of its employees? What parent is not legally responsible for the acts of
their minor child? Guilt and penalty are transferable in this world - as
well as beyond. Finally, his statement in item (2): “if man’s sin is
imputable to Christ, man does not need the personal faith which
appropriates forgiveness, since nothing could remain to be forgiven”; is a
false inductive conclusion from “does not need personal faith” from his
new premise of “nothing could remain to be forgiven” is prima facie,
because it violates the unalterable biblical requirement for faith, “by
grace through faith are you saved.” The point is - there is no valid
rational argument that can be introduced to prove or disprove the need
for faith, it stands by itself, as “Scripture may not be broken.” Secondly,
his statement “nothing could remain to be forgiven” censors divine
reconciliation. Whereby all men may be forgiven by faith. Reconciliation
is the end result of substitutionary imputed sin suffered by Christ that
rendered God “completely satisfied” in the His judgment against all sin.
For this reason, Christ is the worthy object of a required faith for
forgiveness that is given to whosoever shall believe in Jesus Christ for
the reality that he has been forgiven. Therefore, in the final analysis, both
premise (1) and (2) may be classed together as argumentum ad absurdum
in the effort to rationally prove the necessity for a divine forgiveness not
grounded in divine imputation and the sacrificial blood of Christ that
satisfied God’s judgment and wrath against sin.
God is not obligated to explain Himself to men by deduction – He
reveals Himself and His plan and men may by induction, rightly or
wrongly, take Him at His Word and conclude His purposes. He has
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simply stated, many times over, the positive command for unsaved men
to “obey the gospel” and, that “righteousness” comes through faith. Dr.
Miley has failed to preach the “gospel of the grace of God.” He has
proven his censorship of divine grace. Dr. Miley offers a spurious logical
construct in (1) as a substitute truth for God’s work in the imputation of
sin to Christ that purchased the grace of righteousness that is imputed
and imparted to men in (1a). By his substitute induction in item (2), grace
is not only censored, but thrown out with the truth in item (1a). Should
grace ever raise “its ugly head,” it is supposed, by a “good looking”
substitute, to be irrational, “since nothing could remain to be forgiven.”
I cannot find in the NT declarations, or in the OT prophecies of
Christ, where it is revealed that God’s rights, either as a creditor or as a
ruler protecting a commonwealth existing only for a common good, was
the basis for the sacrificial death of His “Servant.” These ideas are
simply holy smoke and mirrors. God’s rights, unlike those stated in the
citation from Dr. Miley, were clearly established in the OT. He is the
“God of all flesh” (Num 16:22; 26:16). What God does on earth is for
His “reputation” before the nations of the world. This is a central theme
in the book of Ezekiel. What God does for His heavenly “glory,”
salvation by grace, is for the witness of all intelligences throughout the
ages. This is the central theme of all the Epistles, which culminates in the
earth shattering events and glorious conclusion in the Book of
Revelation. Unfortunately, Arminian Christians follow the notions of Dr.
Miley, rather than Scripture - to define Christianity.
As a concise rebuttal of Dr. Miley’s censorship of grace: In the
passage from Romans 5:12-21, at the beginning of this division, what the
NET renders “gracious gift,” the KJV translates as “free gift.” In this
passage, the “free, gracious gift” is defined as the “gift of righteousness”
that leads to justification. Christ redeemed sin, yes, and all unsaved men
stand reconciled before God, but the unsaved have not reconciled
themselves to God. They have not entered into the New Covenant by
faith. An everyday illustration would be: One might receive a suspicious
“worthless check” in their mail. But, until that person believes the check
is “worthy” - will he produce that check for payment? Christ redeemed
sin, but retains grace until such time as saving faith may claim His
finished work and the “free, gracious gift of righteousness.” Only by
grace through faith is man saved. This is the infinite merit of the imputed
righteousness of the Righteous One, Jesus Christ. Dr. Charles Ryrie gives
this definition of Arminianism:
rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
increasingly so. Arminianism teaches that Adam was created in
innocency, not holiness, that sin consists in acts of the will, that we
inherit pollution from Adam but not guilt or a sin nature, that man is not
totally depraved, that man has the ability to will to do good and to
conform to God’s will in this life so as to be perfect, and that the human
will is one of the causes of regeneration. Wesleyan theology, sometimes
called evangelical Arminianism, holds similar views on the subjects of
Adam’s and man’s ability, though it differs in other points. 149
After the personal appeal in this, Book Two – Glorious Grace, the
arguments and proofs for the positive claims of grace in items (1a) and
(2a) above, will be the scope of Book Three - The Tribunal.
Gal 2:21 I do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could
come through the law, then Christ died for nothing! NET
2 Cor 3:7 But if the ministry that produced death—carved in letters on
stone tablets—came with glory, so that the Israelites could not keep their
eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face (a glory
which was made ineffective), 3:8 how much more glorious will the
ministry of the Spirit be? 3:9 For if there was glory in the ministry that
produced condemnation, how much more does the ministry that produces
righteousness excel in glory! 3:10 For indeed, what had been glorious
now has no glory because of the tremendously greater glory of what
replaced it. 3:11 For if what was made ineffective came with glory, how
much more has what remains come in glory! NET

Though the views of Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609) were not divergent

from traditional Reformed theology, those of his successors were
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PART TWO - HEAVEN

And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the

waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And
God made the firmament, and divided the waters which
were under the firmament from the waters which were
above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the
firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were
the second day.

Genesis i. 6-8.

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Man

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Made in the Image of God ascription to the artificers of
the tabernacle, of wisdom,
John Laidlaw writes concerning the image of God maintained by man understanding, cunning work-
after the fall in this selection from, On the Freedom of the Will: manship, together with the
Spirit of God. Thus all
“Advancing from the Scripture view of God’s relation to the world to scientific knowledge and
its view of what He is in Himself, we find those grandly simple artistic skill, all the results of
definitions of the Divine being: God is: Spirit,” “Light,” “Love.” Let us reason, Scripture ascribes to
see how these may find a parallel in man, the created copy. divine assistance; not from a
It corresponds with all we have traced of the biblical psychology, that vague sentiment of piety, but
it is on the side of Spirit man should primarily exhibit an analogy with in right of its consistent theory
the divine nature. It is the only element in man’s constitution which is that the spirit in man
properly ascribed to God. He is Spirit. Absolutely and supremely, corresponds to the Spirit of his
spiritual existence is affirmed of God. He is said, moreover, to be the Maker, and is sustained by it.
Father of spirits, and the God of the spirits of all flesh; indicating that the Teaching like this is a
spiritual world, including man insofar as he is spiritual, stands in a closer foundation for the loftiest
relation to God than the corporal. We have already sufficiently guarded philosophy of man. It is at
against the Platonizing form of this idea – a form given to it by some of once an assertion of the
the Greek fathers, who made pneuma something physical connecting preciousness of the individual
man with God. This form of statement easily leads to the conclusion, that and a prediction of the
through the fall human nature has been constitutionally altered by the progress of the race. The true
loss of a part or element; whereas the Bible doctrine is that man’s nature idea of human greatness we
is morally lowered by the loss of its purity. The standpoint of the Bible owe not to modern thought, but to the primary axioms of revelation.
psychology is always that of the divine origination of man. His life – Another point of analogy between the divine and the human spirit the
animal, intellectual, moral – is spiritual, because specially in-breathed of Bible finds in Self-consciousness. “A candle of the Lord is the spirit of
God. The “spirit in man” is the “inspiration of the Almighty,” and man is man searching through all the chambers of the heart.” The phrase “the
spiritual in so far as he lives and acts according to his divine origin and candle of the Lord” may assert divine origination – the light in man
basis of life. Thus does Scripture teach that the spiritual nature which which the Lord has kindled – or divine possession – the light which is
man has, the spirit of man which is in him, affords a parallel or analogy His, the true light which lighteth every man – or both; but the
to the absolute and supreme Spirit which God is. characteristic of the human spirit to which it affixes the description is its
We find accordingly, that the Bible makes Intellect or Rationality in self-penetrating power, that it searches the innermost regions of the
man – not only a function of “spirit” in him, but a function flowing from human being. With a very similar figure, moral consciousness or
and corresponding to something in God. It is the breath of the Almighty conscience is denoted in the New Testament as “the eye,” “the light of
that giveth man instruction and understanding. The scene in the garden, the body,” “the light within.” Still more explicitly it is asserted that the
when the Lord God brought the animals to Adam to be named, presents spirit of the man which is in him alone knows the things of the man, and
this idea in a pictorial form. That “admirable philosophy lecture,” as is therefore analogous to the Divine Spirit, which alone knows he things
Bishop Bull has it, which Adam, appointed by God Himself, read on all of God. This analogy is, and yet another text, strengthened by the idea of
the other animals, denotes the correspondence of divine and human correspondence or communication. “The Spirit itself beareth witness
intelligence: “Whatsoever Adam called any living creature, that was the with our spirit that we are the children of God” (Rom 8:16). It may be
name thereof” (Gen 2:19). “I think , O Socrates, that the truest account of fairly inferred from these passages that the Bible regards self-
these matters is, that some power more than human gave the first names consciousness in man as an essential feature of the divine similitude.
to things, so as to make them necessarily correct.” Similar is the
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From self-con- in those passages which speak of man as existing for God, even the
sciousness it is a Father, as sought for his worship, as redeemed to an eternal life which
short step to Per- consists in the knowledge of the Father and Son. Even in his present
sonality. It is a truism fallen condition, and under the most unfavorable forms of that condition,
that self-conscious St. Paul represents man as being the offspring of God, to this effect, “If
free personality is the haply we may feel after Him, and find Him” (Acts 17:29). In this passage
Bible representation the entire inwardness of the resemblance between the offspring and the
of God. Pervading great Parent is made a reason against the artistic efforts of the Greek
every line of Scrip- paganism to humanize the divine. Since man is the offspring of God, he
ture, from the first to ought not to think he can frame an outward image of God – a far better
the last, runs the one lies deep within. The relationship of man with God ought to be
assumption that God thought of not as physical, but as moral. The sentiment that we are the
is personal. It is easy divine offspring is quoted to illustrate the fact that mankind has been
enough to call this destined to seek God, who was not far from them, i.e. who has made
anthropomorphism. Himself cognizable and conceivable by them. Only a personal being can
But the Bible, as a feel after and find a personal God, and in so doing their likeness to Him
revelation from God is affirmed and confirmed.” 150
to man, begins with
God. And its own Dr. Lewis Chafer writes concerning the above:
account of its
doctrine is not that it “Any worthy contemplation of the doctrine of the divine image as
gives a God fash- displayed in a man must give some attention to the relationship of the
ioned like unto a man, but that God can reveal Himself to man, because Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to this great theme. He, along with the
man is made in the likeness of God. No wonder on this showing that man Father and the Spirit, is said to be Creator of all things, and man is thus
should be taught to think of God as Person, Will, Holiness, Love, - ideas the product of His creative power; but He Himself is declared to be the
of which he finds some copies in his own constitution, since that first-born of all creation and, therefore, Lord of all. In this there appears a
constitution is framed upon the divine model. It is not in any meta- parallel with man who is divinely appointed as lord over earthly
physical formula that the Bible claims personality in man as the image of creatures. Of the Son, it is said that He is the “express image” of God.
something in God, but in its profound principle of the relation between His incarnation into His unfallen humanity detracted nothing from this
God and man, i.e. between God and the individual human being, as well sublime reality. The image which He is may be likened to a steel
as between God and the human race. This principle is asserted, for engraving which reproduces every feature to the finest detail. On the
example, in Numbers 16:22, where the relation of God to the spirits of all other hand, the image which man is may be likened to a shadow-profile;
flesh is pleaded as a reason for His dealing with one man who has sinned, but it is all of that, which truth is in no way to be slighted. The first
rather than that He should punish a whole people. It is repeated in creation finds its archetype in Elohim, for man was made in the image of
Numbers 27:16 as a reason why God should choose a particular leader Elohim (Hebrew - two or more plural, the Holy Trinity, this writer). The
for the congregation. The same argument of divine property in man is New Creation finds its archetype in the Son of God. It is into the image
made the foundation of a splendid declaration by the prophet Ezekiel of of Christ that saving grace brings those who are redeemed (Rom 8:29; 1
God’s moral dealing with individuals, as contrasted with the unbroken John 3:2). 151
federalism on which Israel presumed to reckon. The right of God in each Present salvation is not into the estate of unfallen Adam, but rather a
soul (where nephesh denotes the human being, “all souls are mine”) is conformity to the glorified Last Adam. 152 “It cannot be proved that the
made the ground of divine prerogative to exercise in each individual case new creation in Christ is nothing more than the restoration wherein
both punishment and pardon. The other side of this relation is presented Adam was first created. There is, indeed, a relationship between the two;
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the divine image wrought by Christ’s redemption is the only true
realization of the image wherein man was at first created. Man was
originally given the one, in order that he might attain the other, if not
directly, by continuing faithful in obedience and fellowship with God,
yet indirectly after his fall by means of redemption. But it is evident that
from the very nature of this relationship the two are not identical.” 153
rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
together for good for those who love God, who are called according
to his purpose, because those whom he foreknew he also predestined
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the
firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined,

Conformed Into the Image of Christ he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he
justified, he also glorified. What then shall we say about these things?
Why did Jesus obey His
Father and choose to be If God is for us, who can be against us? Indeed, he who did not spare
born? his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along

To manifest the new law of with him, freely give us all things? Who will bring any charge against
obedience – to obey the God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is the one who will
gospel of the grace of God.
condemn? Christ is the one who died (and more than that, he was
Saved from what and why raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding
do I need to be saved?
for us.155 For many live (about whom I often told you, and now say
The Bible reveals that all men even with tears) as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is
are condemned to eternal
destruction before they are destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they
born. Therefore, one must be think about earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven—and we
born from above by obeying
the gospel of the grace of also await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will
God.
transform these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious
The Promise body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things

“Dear friends, we are God’s to himself.” 156 NET

children now, and what we

will be has not yet been
revealed. We know that
whenever it is revealed we
will be like him, because we
154
will see him just as he is. And we know that all things work

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The Body of Man

All your garments are perfumed with myrrh, aloes, and cassia. From
the luxurious palaces comes the music of stringed instruments that
makes you happy. Princesses are among your honored guests, your
Queen stands at your right hand, wearing jewelry made with gold
from Ophir. Listen, O daughter! Observe and pay attention! Forget
your homeland and your family! Then the king will greatly desire
your beauty. After all, he is your master! Submit to him! The Queen
looks absolutely magnificent, decked out in pearls and clothed in a
brocade trimmed with gold. In embroidered robes she is escorted to
the kng. Her attendants, the maidens of honor who follow her, are led
before you. They are bubbling with joy as they walk in procession
and enter the royal palace. 157

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Death that is the real you. (2) A spirit that is life and provides the capacity for
the awareness of the real you, but, except for intellectual agreement, it is
Heb 10:5 So when he came into the world, he said, “Sacrifice and intangible, non-material, and easily assumed to be non-existent. (3) And
offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.” NET a mortal body that provides the conscious self with information and
mobility. A mortality that leads conclusively to the unappealing thought
“Ideas about what constitutes death vary with different cultures and in of a disembodied self. Dr. C.I. Scofield writes with regard to man as a
different epochs. In Western societies, death has traditionally been seen trinity: “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God
as the departure of the soul from the body. In this tradition, the essence your 1whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the
of being human is independent of physical properties. Because the soul coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:23).
has no corporeal manifestation, its departure cannot be seen or otherwise
objectively determined.” Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft 1
(5:23) That the human soul and spirit are not identical is proved by
Corporation. All rights reserved.
the facts that they are divisible (Heb 4:12), and that soul and spirit are
sharply distinguished in the burial and resurrection of the body. It is
The Bible plainly teaches that the human body is injured and in need
sown a natural body (soma psuchikon = “soul body”), it is raised a
of regeneration. Which is a divine gift only for those who obey the
spiritual body (soma pneumatikon), 1 Cor 15:44. To assert, therefore,
gospel of the grace of God.
that there is no difference between soul and spirit is to assert that there is
Predictably, as only three
no difference between the mortal body and the resurrection body. In
people have come from the
Scripture use, the distinction between spirit and soul may be traced.
other side of death and
Briefly, that distinction is that the spirit is that part of man which
given their testimony in the
“knows” (1 Cor 2:11), his mind; the soul is the seat of affections, desires,
Bible, one may learn very
and so of emotions, and of the active will, the self. “My soul is exceeding
little but hearsay outside of
sorrowful” (Mt 26:38; see also Mt 11:29; and John 12:27). The word
Scripture concerning death.
translated soul in the O.T. (nephesh) is the exact equivalent of the N.T.
The body has been made
word for soul (Gr. psuche), and the use of “soul” in the O.T. is identical
subject to death, not the
with the use that word in the N.T. (see, e.g., Deut 6:5; 14:26; 1 Sam 18:1;
soul. The soul has been
20:4, 17; Job 7:11, 15; 14:22; Psa 42:6; 84:2). The N.T. word for spirit
condemned to eternal
(pneuma), like the O.T. rauch, is trans. “air,” “breath,” “wind,” but
death. The spirit within a
predominantly “spirit,” whether of God (e.g. Gen 1:2; Mt 3:16) or of man
man is born dead. What
(Gen 41:8; 1 Cor 5:5). Because man is “spirit” he is capable of God-
then might death be?
consciousness, and of communication with God (Job 32:8; Psa 18:28;
Physical death is only the
Prov20:27); because he is “soul” he has self-consciousness (Psa 13:2;
separation of the body from
42:5, 6, 11); because he is “body” he has, through his senses, world-
the soul and spirit. Spiritual
consciousness. (Old Scofield Study System, Dr. C.I. Scofield, p 1270)
death is passed to suc-
cessive generations from
During the probationary period of life, self is so joined to the body,
Adam. Man is born spir-
and unaware that one is divided from God, that the totality of self is
itually divided from God
assumed to be the unity formed by the body and soul. Some ancient and
and condemned to a third
still current beliefs would assume that the body harbors sin, that evil
kind of death, eternal separation, as a result of one broken law. Man dies
resides in the soma, and should be harshly controlled. Original sin had no
physically as a result of that same broken law. Herein is the threefold
beginning in the body. The body is innocent. The “old man” in the
dilemma. (1) A soul that is eternal, an eternal mind, will, and emotion
following verse is not soma, but sarx the flesh of Scripture (John 3:6).
An unfortunate rendering, but that’s all we have. This “flesh” is the
573 574

effect upon the will, this effected, or defected will is “the old man,” the
fallen nature, “the body of
sin” in Romans 6:6, “the
body of this death”
in Romans 7:24, the total
depravity of man or more
accurately the inability of
man to please God, and is
quite simply, the inborn
natural rebellion of the
human will towards God.
It cannot be divided from
nor completely controlled
by the unassisted and
unregenerate will. Many
philosopher’s through the
ages have written about
this inner evil. From my
own experience, I would
venture that desire is a
nature below, but strongly
affecting the intellect and
the will. The Bible speaks
of men that are either
energized by Satan or by Christ. This defective will is sin, the source of
evil, that produces sins and is in itself the inherited dead spirit of man
that takes its form in the sin nature. The natural, unregenerate man, is not
dead in the sense that he is living as fully as possible while in the
diminished capacity of being separated from God.
1 Thess 5:23 Now may the God of peace himself make you
completely holy and may your spirit and soul and body be kept
entirely blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. NET
(bold highlights mine)
John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is
born of spirit is spirit. (bold highlights mine) KJV
John 6:63 The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no
help!107 [107tn Grk “the flesh counts for nothing.”] The words that I
have spoken to you are spirit and are life. NET
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Dr. Julius Muller writes:
As to the New Testament, with the older theologians and with some
of our modern divines, John iii.6 has been regarded as the standard
authority for the doctrine of man’s inborn sinfulness. … Taken in
connection with what precedes, this declaration of Christ clearly proves
the fact of corruption attaching to human nature, seeing that He makes
participation in His kingdom dependent upon a thorough renewal,
wrought by the Holy Spirit. This universal necessity for a new birth (see
John iii.3,5,i.12,13; Tit iii.5; Jas i.18; 1 Pet i.3,23), this beginning and
development of a new life, implies not only that sin is already present in
every human being, but that it has struck its roots deep into the nature
which man inherits from his birth. In like manner, the Apostle Paul
regards renewal in Christ Jesus as a universal law of human life, and
describes it as “the putting off,” or “death” of “the old man,” Eph iv.22;
Col iii.9, compare v.3; Rom vi.3-6. Attempted explanation of these
passages, which really explain nothing – e.g., that the old man is “the
power of vice, confirmed by habit,” do not require refutation. (The
Doctrine of Sin . II, 276. cited in Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer,
Vol 2, pp 290-91)
John 3:18 The one who believes in him is not condemned. The one
who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has
not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. NET
Gal 3:22 But the scripture imprisoned everything and everyone [all]
under sin so that the promise could be given—because of the
faithfulness of Jesus Christ—to those who believe. NET
(brackets and bold highlight mine)
Gal 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the
promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
KJV
Rom 11:32 For God has consigned all people to unbelief so that he
may show mercy to them all. NET
Whereby “all sinned” in Adam, additionally, God has declared “all
under sin.” As justification is a public recognition by God of the
righteousness of a believer in Christ, so the onus that all are under sin is
God’s public recognition that all men are without merit. If the Word of
God cannot be fully grasped and seems like “foolishness” to the unsaved,
576

this is okay, the Bible provides that the Holy Spirit will instruct a man.
Only a saved man has assistance from God for spiritual understanding
that is lacking in the unsaved. Life is probationary because the unsaved
are not in agreement with God. The unsaved have not reconciled
themselves to God through saving faith. Whereas, God Himself stands
reconciled to all unsaved men and women. Regarding this, R. G. V.
Trasker writes on the teaching of reconciliation contained 2 Corinthians
chapter 5:
Man has been reconciled with God because the reconciliation by God of
sinful men to Himself, effected once and for all in Christ, has lasting
effects. It is not applicable merely to one period or to one group of
people, but to all the world. Whenever the word of reconciliation is
proclaimed by those to whom God has committed it, and whenever it is
appropriated by an individual sinner, whoever and wherever he may
happen to be, that person is reconciled by God to Himself, and His
reconciliation means that God no longer imputes to him his trespasses;
i.e., He longer counts his sins against him. (The Second Epistle of Paul to
the Corinthians, R. G. V. Trasker, p 89 cited in Basic Theology, Dr.
Charles Ryrie, p 338)
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
Dr. Charles Ryrie summarizes reconciliation in the following quotation:
The need for reconciliation lies in God’s enmity toward sinful
mankind. God took the initiative and reconciled the world to Himself.
This was done by the death of Christ, and that provision changed the
world into a savable position before God. Yet though the world has
been reconciled, man needs to be reconciled by changing his position
about Christ. Then, and only then, is his condition before God
changed. (Basic Theology, Dr. Charles Ryrie, p 339)
Although personal sins are redeemed and held in legal abeyance, the
reality of the sin nature and unbelief continue. To demonstrate man’s
imprisonment in the condemnation placed upon the sin nature and
unbelief, a short parallel to an identically restricted “slice of life,” viewed
from the dichotomy engendered by the positive and negative gospel
(please see the Appendix – The Gospel Defined), would be like that in
the following state of affairs:
The Two Gospels - A Comic Tragedy
Life is a short airplane flight. For this illustration, there is the
impossibility of a pilot discovering a fatal hidden flaw in the wing of a
single seat plane that he is flying over a vast oceanic world inhabited by
sharks. A parachute is available. This is the gospel message on the pilot’s
578

radio – Jesus Christ says: “All pilots were born to die and go to hell
because of a terminally damaged airplane; He will save and regenerate
“the spirit and soul and body” of all living men who jump without a
parachute and trust Him for salvation because He came and died to
defeat all the sharks.” Another gospel radio transmission is that Jesus
Christ says: “All men were born to die and go to hell because they do not
fight sharks; He will reward the souls of all dead men who have become
good shark fighters and trust Him for salvation, and, this because - He is
the Great Example who came and died to show men how to fight
sharks.”
A pilot may either wake-up to this false dilemma, or not. The
awakened pilot realizes that through no fault of his own, he is going to
die, but more importantly, his everlasting fate is immanent. By faith he is
required to take a leap and leave the safety of a fatally flawed airplane.
But he must leave before it is too late. The end of this analogy is: pilots
and shark fighters alike, become eternal sharks in the sea of lost men;
but, those who believe and act in trust that Christ defeated all the sharks
will live with Him in a regenerated spirit, body, and soul.
This decision of faith can be exemplified in the “enigma” of the
following verses. Which may only be clarified by the many Greek words
which underlie the one English word “life” used in the KJV and other
translations.
Mtw 10:39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his
life because of me will find it.
Mark 8:35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it.
John 12:25 The one who loves his life destroys it, and the one who
hates his life in this world guards it for eternal life. NET
Some would say there is no spirit, that the soul is the intangible and
the body the tangible. The Oracles of Truth would teach differently. The
natural soma is a soul body that is the source of material sensations, as
stated before. The resurrected, glorified habitat of the soul and spirit is a
soma adapted to a regenerated, undivided, spirit that is in union with God
and the source of spiritual sensitivities and motility, however grand and
glorious that might be. As the following verse will describe.
Rom 6:5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his
death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
resurrection. 6:6 We know that our old man was crucified with him so
that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would
no longer be enslaved to sin. 6:7 (For someone who has died has been
freed from sin.) NET
Additionally, the above phrase describes the continued existence of a
rebellious free will, the “old man,” but one that can be “potentially”
controlled. A defective free will that has been judged by dying with
Christ and may now be resisted through the power of the enabling,
indwelling gift of God, the Holy Spirit. The “circumcision of the flesh
made without hands,” stated in other NT verses is this same change of
state that is detailed here. One may well note, that the Jewish ritual was
performed on the eighth day. The eighth day is a symbol of new
beginnings. The resurrection Sunday was spoken of and celebrated as
“the eighth day” in the primitive Christian church. Also, the earthly
circumcision was proof positive that one was a child of promise, one who
was to inherit all the covenants of God that were given to Israel.
Likewise, when one is born from above, all the promises of heaven in the
NT are to become the inheritance of that believer.
Rom 4:9 For we say, “faith was credited to Abraham as
righteousness.” 4:10 How then was it credited to him? Was he
circumcised at the time, or not? No, he was not circumcised but
uncircumcised! 4:11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a
seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still
uncircumcised, so that he would become the father of all those who
believe but have never been circumcised, that they too could have
righteousness credited to them. 4:12 And he is also the father of the
circumcised, who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the
footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was
still uncircumcised. NET (bold highlights mine)
I would like to cite, John Laidlaw again:
It is not wise for us to attempt to say much as to when or how the
spiritual body comes. We know that it shall be the fitting garb of a
ransomed and glorified spirit. We know that it shall be itself a pledge
and trophy that of all Christ got from the Father He has lost nothing.
It shall represent the dust redeemed, the body ransomed from the
grave. How it is woven in the hidden secret of the life after death, we
may not venture to surmise. If we have watched how, the body, even
here, puts on a likeness and correspondence to the real man, to the life
580

within, it will not be difficult to think that for the ripening Christian
his future body is being prepared by the Spirit of Christ already in this
mortal frame, and quickening within it that which is to live forever. It
will be open to us to believe that the process is being perfected for the
spirits of the just in an unseen world, and that all these things shall be
made plain when they appear with Christ at His coming, when the
sons of God shall shine forth an exceeding great army, in the day of
the adoption, that is, the redemption of their body. “Now we see
through a glass darkly, but then face to face.” “Now I know in part,
but then shall I know even as I am known.” (Op. cit., pp 260-61, cited
Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 2, pp 155-56)
Dan 12:2 Many of those
who sleep in the dusty
ground will awake—
some to everlasting life,
and others to shame and
everlasting abhorrence.
NET
rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
The three states of unredeemed man – this life, the intermediate state,
and the eternal state – have some very important issues in common.
These are: consciousness, a body or the lack thereof, and the Biblical
meaning of death, which is to be separated from God. God never
proposes to remediate the spirit and corrupted will, or sin nature, in a
dead man. Irrespective of false religious babblings about virtue and
character, the man is dead and hopelessly beyond self-transformation
from this state of death (cf. Paul’s dilemma with self-reliance in Romans
7). Broken law caused death in Adam and thereby in all men. Death,
separation from God, can only produce sin. Christ was “made to be sin.”
Christ lived on the cross, in the three hours of darkness, separated from
God, as an unregenerate man lives with a dead spirit. Only He knows the
horror that no redeemed man in Christ will ever experience. “Eloi, Eloi,
lama sabachthani?” (Mtw 27:46). God has only one solution to the sin
nature.

If anyone be skep-
tical, at the end of this
Biblical age, and not
until, two very important
distinctions regarding the
resurrection of the body,
should be held firmly in
mind. One, death as a
fact will be reversed.
“The last enemy that
shall be destroyed is death” (1 Cor 15:26). “There shall be no more
death” (Rev 21:4). This is no more and no less, than the complete
reversal of the curse of death that was given in the garden of Eden. And
two, this reversal, this last resurrection, has no bearing whatsoever on In Romans 6:6, “Knowing this, that our old man is [was] crucified with
spiritual death, only that the unredeemed dead, the spiritually dead, those Him.” This is a plain statement of fact that the sin nature of every man
who rejected Christ in life, are joined to a body once again. A body that was judged in cocrucifixion with Christ at the same time all the sin of the
cannot die. A body that provides sensory input that cannot be stopped or world was atoned for by His death 2,000 years ago. This being true, only
destroyed. Scripture is not definite as to whether this body is a soul body through faith in Jesus Christ can one receive the value of forgiven sins by
or a spirit body. Either way, this body and eternal existence will be the His voluntary death and the judgment of the sin nature by cocrucifixion
source of everlasting anguish. with Christ, when one is regenerated and given eternal life and union
with God. At this time, one is no longer separated from God. There is a
581 582

caveat, the body of a redeemed man suffers the imputed sin of Adam and
dies nonetheless. The regenerated, forgiven, eternally joined to God,
believer keeps his sin nature, or rebellious will until he is released by
physical death. The judgment of the sin nature, the source of evil, and the
redemption and glorification of man’s body through the grace of
salvation were accomplished by Christ on the cross. Keep firmly in mind,
all that has been said, has nothing whatsoever to do with personal sins
that are forgiven in the death of Christ, which was a blood redemption
for all sin. Dr. Lewis Chafer writes in his chapter on The Transmitted Sin
Nature, “the doctrine of original sin divides into two branches of truth
which are, notably, quite unrelated other than that they proceed from the
same source. One branch has to do with original corruption, which is
spiritual death, while the other has to do with original guilt, with its
penalty of physical death. Though the term original sin is more
frequently used in reference to the former, it is, also, as properly a
designation for the latter.” 158
To keep this distinction in mind is to understand Christianity and, to
avoid the false religious chaos of self-appointed Christian wizards
broadcasting the negative gospel of forgiveness and death on the radio of
a fatally flawed airplane. To recognize the validity of the sin nature is to
admit to the biblical teaching of transferred evil. This is to admit to a
source of evil. Evil does not reveal itself as evil. Satan is the source,
revealed quite plainly, in the Bible account of Original Sin and the Fall
of man through the sin of Adam who lost the title deed to this world –
“But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are
perishing, among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of
those who do not believe so they would not see the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor 4:3-4 NET). Adam
willfully became the first apostate. Whereby, all men are born apostate.
Men do not die because of personal sin. All men sinned in Adam. All
physical death will be reversed at the end of this age and the unsaved will
be resurrected and judged. Like God, men have no end. Unlike God, they
have a beginning and this beginning is fatally flawed. You must be born
of God to escape the curse of the Fall. Men die and go to hell because
they are born with an unredeemed dead spirit that produces the personal
sin that Christ redeemed and holds in legal abeyance during the
probationary period of mortal life. Forgiveness for personal sins is but a
small, completed part of the infinite riches of an eternal salvation by
grace through faith in the completed work of Jesus Christ. Dr. W.H.
Griffith writes regarding “the Permanence of Original Sin.”:
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This question of the permanence of original sin in the regenerate is
important on two grounds: (a) in its opposition to all forms of what is
called “sinless perfection”; (b) on the other hand, against any yielding to
defeat and accepting it as inevitable. Something must be said on each of
these two points.
(a) It is important to consider the relation of sin to our nature. The
ultimate capacity in human nature is the capacity for feeling, for vivid
impressions of pain and pleasure. These are called the primary
sensibilities and have been disordered through sin, and are never entirely
rectified in this life, though the Atonement covers their defect. Then
come secondary sensibilities, leading to desires on the one hand and
aversions on the other. It is at this point that Divine grace comes in. If the
will does not consent there is no personal sin, but there is a disorder
below the will which is sinful and needs to be dealt with. Personal
responsibility is concerned only with that which the will determines.
Atonement covers the rest, including incapacity and defect. It is also
important to note the distinction between Adam and ourselves. He had
the liability, but not the tendency to sin. We have both, and the tendency
is what the Article calls “the corruption of the nature,” “infection of
nature,” “concupiscence.” The weakness of what is known as the
Methodist doctrine of “Perfect Love” is that it teaches that grace meets
all the needs of human nature in the sense of eradication. But it does not.
Scripture continually distinguishes sin and sins, between the root and the
fruit, but though the root remains, as stated by the Article (IX) , there is
no need for it to bring forth fruit.
(b) But the presence of inborn sinfulness in the regenerate, while real
and powerful, is no excuse, still less justification for sinning. The
Apostle clearly teaches that the redemptive work of Christ was intended
to render inert or inoperative the evil principle within (Rom 6:6) . And
thus we may say that Scripture teaches something that is very near
eradication, in order that we may not be satisfied with anything less than
the highest type of Christian living, on the other hand, it as clearly
teaches that the evil principle has not been removed. It loses its power
over the believer, though the believer does not lose its presence. To the
same effect is the Apostle’s word: “Reckon ye yourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin” (Rom 6:11). He thereby teaches that while we are to be
dead to it, it is not dead to us. Sin is not dead, but we are to keep on
reckoning ourselves dead to it. Such language would have been
impossible if sin had been entirely removed. It is impossible to avoid
noticing at this point the striking affinity between the Roman Catholic
and Methodist doctrines of making sinfulness inhere in the will only. Our
Article, in harmony with the Protestant confessions of the sixteenth
584

century goes much deeper, and shows that sin has effected the nature
long before the will commences to act.
The question is vital to many of the most practical and important
aspects of living, for if we are wrong here we are liable to be wrong
everywhere. Superficial views of sin inevitably tend towards superficial
views of the redemptive work of Christ. We must, therefore, be on our
guard against the two extremes: on the one hand we must insist that even
in the regenerate the evil principle remains and will remain until the end
of this life; on the other hand; we must be clear that this evil principle
need not and ought not to produce evil results in practice, since the grace
of God has provided to meet and overcome it. – (The Principles of
Theology, Pp. 173-175, cited in Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer,
Vol 2, pp 356-58)
The Original Sin of the Negative Gospel of “all have sinned”
1 Cor 15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the
firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 15:21 For since death came
through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man.
15:22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made
alive. 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; then
when Christ comes, those who belong to him. 15:24 Then comes the
end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he has
brought to an end all rule and all authority and power. 15:25 For he
must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 15:26 The
last enemy to be eliminated is death.
Rom 5:12 … because all sinned. NASB
Rom 5:12 … because all sinned. NIV
Rom 5:12 … because all men sinned. AMP
As covered previously, the verse from Romans 5:12 is the vital
construct of the need for salvation and thus - Christianity. All men need
to be saved. No one is exempted. The need for salvation lies in the
distant past. An unalterable circumstance that one must appreciate to
understand fully what Christ did and will do. To deconstruct the meaning
is to deny the value of Christianity. It is to ignore the immeasurable
depths of condemnation and hold in contempt the immeasurable height
of the changes that transform the saved individual. These changes, both
immediate and future, are plainly given in God’s Word. In the following,
as regards the unity of forgiveness and salvation in the positive gospel of
the grace of God, the source of the negative gospel of personal sin that is
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preached to the unsaved and the saved is identified. The International
Revision Commentary, edited by Dr. Philip Schaff, in the summarization
of the different views on the imputation of Original Sin in Romans 5:12,
is cited below:
In sharp antagonism to the last view [the Federal Headship of Adam],
most of the recent New England theologians have virtually rejected
imputation altogether. They “maintain that the sinfulness of the
descendants of Adam results with infallible certainty (though not with
necessity) from his transgression; the one class holding to hereditary
depravity prior to sinful choice, yet with the power of contrary choice,
the other class teaching that the first moral choice of all is universally
sinful, yet with the power of contrary choice.” In this view a nice
distinction is made between natural ability and moral inability. When
consistently held, it denies that “all sinned” (Rom 5:12) refers to the sin
of Adam, taking it as equivalent to the perfect “all have sinned,” namely,
personally, with the first responsible act. … The best help to unity in the
doctrine of Original Sin will be by larger experiences of the “much
more” which is our portion in Christ Jesus. Only when we are assured of
righteousness and life in Him, can we fearlessly face the fact of sin and
death in Adam. (pp 88-91, cited in Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis
Chafer, Vol 2, p 312)
The above plainly discloses the willful error of the interpretation of
Romans 5:12. All major translations today, as cited in the opening of this
section, read – “all sinned.” Thereby, this error is maintained to support a
scheme of theology, not Christianity. I ask - If some unfortunate person
is inseparably attached to an explosive device, that will momentarily
detonate; will it help if they brush their teeth? Will it help to arrange the
deck chairs on a sinking ship? May it be of any lasting benefit to sweep
water uphill? And so it is with personal sin and the sin nature. An
inherited nature that is denied by Arminian theology.
A New Body
Among one of the seven future effects of Christianity, is the
redemption of the believers body. Dr. C. I. Scofield has an excellent
summary of the complete Biblical teaching on the redemption of the
body of man, the resurrection of the body, in the following citation:
1) The resurrection of the dead was believed by the patriarchs (Gen 22:5
with Heb 11:19; Job 19:25-27), and revealed through the prophets (Isa
586

26:19; Dan 12:2, 13; Hos 13:14), and miracles of the dead restored to life
are recorded in the OT (2 Ki 4:32-35; 13:21). (2) Jesus Christ restored
life to the dead (Mt 9:25; Lk 7:12-15; John 11:43-44), and predicted His
own resurrection (John 10:18; Lk 24:1-8). (3) A resurrection of bodies
followed the resurrection of Christ (Mt 27:52-53); and the apostles raised
the dead (Acts 9:36-41; 20:9-10). (4) Two resurrections are yet future,
which are inclusive of “all that are in the graves (John 5:28). These are
distinguished as “of life”
(1 Cor 15:22-23; 1 Thess 4:14-17; Rev 20:4), and “of judgment” (John
5:28-29; Rev 20:11-13). They are separated by a period of one
thousand years (Rev 20:5). The “first resurrection,” that “unto life,” will
occur at the second coming of Christ (1 Cor 15:23), the saints of he OT
and church ages meeting Him in the air (1 Thess 4:16-17);.
while the martyrs of the tribulation, who also have part in the first
resurrection (Rev 20:4) , are raised at the end of the great tribulation (5)
The mortal body will be related as to the resurrection body as grain sown
is related to the harvest (1 Cor 15:37-38); that body will
be incorruptible, glorious, powerful, and spiritual (1 Cor 15:42-44,49).
(6) The bodies of living believers will, at the same time, be
instantaneously changed (1 Cor 15:50-53; Phil 3:20-21). This “change”
of the living, and the resurrection of the dead in Christ is called the
“redemption of the body” (Rom 8:23; Eph 1:13-14). (7) After the
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
thousand years “the resurrection unto judgment” (John 5:29) occurs. The
resurrection –body of the wicked dead is not described. They are judged
according to their works, and cast into the lake of fire (Rev 20:7-15).
(The Old Scofield Study System, Dr. C. I. Scofield, p. 1228)
Easton’s Bible Dictionary:
Resurrection of the dead will be simultaneous both of the just and the
unjust (Dan. 12:2; John 5:28, 29; Rom. 2:6-16; 2 Thess. 1:6-10). The
qualities of the resurrection body will be different from those of the body
laid in the grave (1 Cor. 15:53, 54; Phil. 3:21); but its identity will
nevertheless be preserved. It will still be the same body (1 Cor. 15:42-44)
which rises again.
As to the nature of the resurrection body, (1) it will be spiritual (1 Cor.
15:44), i.e., a body adapted to the use of the soul in its glorified state, and
to all the conditions of the heavenly state; (2) glorious, incorruptible, and
powerful (54); (3) like unto the glorified body of Christ (Phil. 3:21); and
(4) immortal (Rev. 21:4).
Christ's resurrection secures and illustrates that of his people. "(1.)
Because his resurrection seals and consummates his redemptive power;
and the redemption of our persons involves the redemption of our bodies
(Rom. 8:23). (2.) Because of our federal and vital union with Christ (1
Cor. 15:21, 22; 1 Thess. 4:14). (3.) Because of his Spirit which dwells in
us making our bodies his members (1 Cor. 6:15; Rom. 8:11). (4.)
Because Christ by covenant is Lord both of the living and the dead
(Rom. 14:9). This same federal and vital union of the Christian with
Christ likewise causes the resurrection of the believer to be similar to as
well as consequent upon that of Christ (1 Cor. 15:49; Phil. 3:21; 1 John
3:2)." Hodge's Outlines of Theology
John 11:23 Jesus replied, “Your brother [Lazarus] will come back to life
again.”46 11:24 Martha said, “I know that he will come back to life again
in the resurrection at the last day.” 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the
resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even if he
dies, 11:26 and the one who lives and believes in me will never die.50
Do you believe this?” (brackets mine) NET
46 sn Jesus’ remark to Martha that Lazarus would come back to life again is
another example of the misunderstood statement. Martha apparently took it
as a customary statement of consolation and joined Jesus in professing belief
in the general resurrection of the body at the end of the age. However, as
Jesus went on to point out in 11:25-26, Martha’s general understanding of
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the resurrection at the last day was inadequate for the present situation, for 33:24 and if God is gracious to him and says,
the gift of life that conquers death was a present reality to Jesus. This is ‘Spare him from going down
consistent with the author’s perspective on eternal life in the Fourth Gospel:
to the place of corruption,
It is not only a future reality, but something to be experienced in the present
I have found a ransom for him,’
as well. It is also consistent with the so-called “realized eschatology” of the
Fourth Gospel. 33:25 then his flesh is restored like a youth’s;
50tn Grk “will never die forever.” he returns to the days of his youthful vigor.
33:26 He entreats God, and God delights in him,
The following are OT resurrection verses. “Yet in my flesh I will see he sees God’s face with rejoicing,
God … whom mine own eyes will behold.” and God restores to him his righteousness.
33:27 That person sings to others, saying:
Dan 12:2 Many of those who sleep ‘I have sinned and falsified what is right,
in the dusty ground will awake— but I was not punished according to what I deserved.
some to everlasting life, 33:28 He redeemed my life
and others to shame and everlasting abhorrence. NET from going down to the place of corruption,
and my life sees the light!’ NET
Isa 25:8 he will swallow up death permanently.
The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from every face, 35sn The verse is describing the way God can preserve someone from dying
and remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. by sending a messenger (translated here as “angel”), who could be human or
angelic. This messenger will interpret/mediate God’s will. By “one … out of
Indeed, the Lord has announced it. NET
a thousand” Elihu could have meant either that one of the thousands of
messengers at God’s disposal might be sent or that the messenger would be
Isa 26:19 Your dead will come back to life; unique (see Eccl 7:28; and cp. Job 9:3).
your corpses will rise up.
Wake up and shout joyfully, you who live in the ground! The Origin of False Theories in a Spiritualized Christian Afterlife
For you will grow like plants drenched with the morning dew,
and the earth will bring forth its dead spirits. NET The following extended citation is from the Appendix in Heaven by
Randy Alcorn:
Job 19:25 As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that as the last It’s no coincidence that Paul wrote his detailed defense of physical
he will stand upon the earth. resurrection to the Corinthians, who were immersed in the Greek
19:26 And after my skin has been destroyed, philosophy of dualism. They’d been taught that the spiritual was
yet in my flesh I will see God, incompatible with the physical. But Christ, in His incarnation and
19:27 whom I will see for myself, resurrection, laid claim not only to the spiritual realm but to the physical
and whom my own eyes will behold, as well. His redemption was not only of spirits but of bodies and the
and not another. NET earth.
Plato was “the first Western philosopher to claim that reality is
Job 33:22 He (33tn Heb “his soul [nefesh, “life”] draws near.”) draws fundamentally something ideal or abstract”347 To think of the spiritual
near to the place of corruption, realm in physical terms or to envision God’s presence in the physical
and his life to the messengers of death. world was to do it a disservice. Plato considered the body a liability not
33:23 If there is an angel beside him, an asset. “For Plato … the body is a hindrance, as it opposes and even
one mediator35 out of a thousand, imprisons the soul (Phaedo 65-68; 91-94).” 348 …
to tell a person what constitutes his uprightness;

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To distinguish the version of Platonism seen among Christians from
secular forms of Platonism, I’ve coined the term Christoplatonism. This
philosophy has blended elements of Platonism with Christianity, and in
so doing has poisoned Christianity and blunted its distinct differences
from Eastern religions. Because appeals to Christoplatonism appear to
take the spiritual high ground, attempts to refute this false philosophy
often appear to be materialistic, hedonistic, or worldly.
Because of Christoplatonism’s pervasive influence, we resist the
biblical picture of bodily resurrection of the dead and life on the New
Earth; of eating and drinking in Heaven; of walking and talking, living in
dwelling places, traveling down streets, and going through gates from
one place to another; and of ruling, working, playing, and engaging in
earthly culture.
One author writes, “Only our redeemed spirits can live in a spiritual
realm like heaven. Therefore, the life we know now as spiritual reality
will continue in heaven, but we shall not need or desire the things
associated with our present physical bodies simply because we shall not
possess physical bodies in heaven.” 349
This statement constitutes a denial of the foundational doctrine of the
bodily resurrection of the dead, and it is utterly contradicted by countless
Scriptures. Nevertheless, it’s a common perspective among evangelical
Christians. …
A godly man, a lifelong Bible student, told me that the thought of
eating and drinking and engaging in physical activities in Heaven seemed
to Him “terribly unspiritual.”
In Plato’s statement, “Soma sema” (“a body, a tomb”), he asserts that
the spirits highest destiny is to be forever free from the body. The Bible,
however, contradicts this premise from the beginning of Genesis to the
end of Revelation. It says that God is the creator of body and spirit; both
were marred by sin, and both were redeemed by Christ.
Yes, we need to be delivered from our earthly bodies, which are
subject to sin and decay (Romans 7:24). But the promise of Heaven isn’t
the absence of body; rather, it’s the attainment of a new sinless body and
spirit. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul regards the new body – not simply the
new spirit – as essential to our redemption. If the body isn’t redeemed,
mankind is not redeemed, because we’re by nature body as well as spirit.
A spirit without a body, like a body without a spirit, isn’t the highest
human destiny. Rather it’s a state of incompleteness, an aberration from
the full meaning of being human.
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THE INFLUENCE OF PHILO AND ORIGEN
Platonic ideas began making inroads into Christian theology through
the writings of Philo (ca. 20 BC-AD 50). An Alexandrian Jew, Philo
admired Greek culture and was enamored with Plato’s philosophy. He
was also proud of his Jewish heritage. In his desire to offer the Greeks
the best of Judaism and the Jews the best of Greek philosophy, he
allegorized Scripture. He did so in contrast to the literal interpretation of
many rabbis.351
Philo’s ideas caught on. Alexandria became the home of a new school
of theological thought. Clement of Alexandria (150-215), an early church
father, was part of this movement, as was Origen (185-254), an
Egyptian-born writer and teacher. Clement embraced Greek philosophy
and maintained that Scripture must be understood allegorically. Origen
developed an entire system of allegorizing Scripture. His method was to
see the Bible as a three-part living organism, corresponding to body,
soul, and spirit. The body was the literal or historical sense, the soul was
the physic or moral sense, and the spirit was – by far most important –
the philosophical sense.
Educated people were considered more qualified to find the Bible’s
“hidden” meanings in texts that the average person would take at face
value. In other words, Origen’s approach meant that ordinary people
couldn’t understand the Bible without the help of trained, educated
people. These enlightened teachers could find and teach the Bible’s
“true” spiritual meanings, which were usually quite different from its
apparent, obvious, and “less spiritual” meanings.
Origen typically dismissed or ignored literal meanings in favor of
fanciful ideas foreign to the text. At the time, his modern approach was
embraced by Christian intellectuals as a sort of Gnostic and elitist
approach that separated the educated clergy from the ignorant laity. This
distinction still continues in some circles, with literal interpretations seen
as suspect, and allegorical and symbolic interpretations deemed more
spiritual and intellectually appealing.
Judged by the christoplatonic presuppositions, anytime the Bible
speaks about Heaven in plain, ordinary, or straightforward ways, the
assumption is it doesn’t actually mean what it says. For example, the
plain meaning of living as resurrected beings in a resurrected society in a
resurrected city on a resurrected Earth cannot be real, because it doesn’t
jibe with the Platonic assumption that the body is bad and the spirit good.
Consequently, Heaven cannot possibly be like what Revelation 21-22
appears to say. There could not be bodies, nations, kings, buildings,
streets, gates, water, trees, and fruit because these are physical, and
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what’s physical is not spiritual. The prophetic statements about life on a
perfect Earth are considered mere symbols of the promise of a
disembodied spiritual world.
Tragically, the allegorical method of interpretation – rooted explicitly
in unchristian assumptions – came to rule the church’s theology. (We’ll
deal more with this in appendix B.) Even today, commentaries and books
on Heaven seem to automatically regard all Scripture about Heaven as
figurative. …
An allegorical interpretive approach undercuts Scripture’s
magnificent revelation that there will be one world, both spiritual and
material. The two aspects will coexist in perfect harmony, made by God
who forever linked the spiritual and material worlds by incarnation and
resurrection. …
Jesus really did become a man. He really did rise from the grave. We
really will rise too. The incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Christ
literally happened. The biblical texts aren’t merely using the language of
accommodation. Likewise, when scripture speaks of our bodily
resurrection and the coming of the New Earth, this isn’t accommodation
– it’s revelation that we will spend eternity as physical beings in a
physical universe. … However, if people really will live on the New
Earth in resurrected bodies – and if even the current, intermediate
Heaven contains physical objects, including the risen body of Christ –
then we shouldn’t base our hermeneutic of Heaven on the assumptions of
Philo and Origen. We should base our understanding on the testimony of
Jesus and John. … If we abandon the unbiblical assumptions that
predetermine our biblical interpretations, the otherworldly house of cards
will come crashing down. In its place we’ll be able to construct a
doctrine of Heaven that’s solidly based on revealed Scripture.
To do this, let’s further examine what went wrong – how, historically,
the church has embraced false assumptions that distort our view of
Heaven.
SCHOLASTICISM’S UNEARTHLY HEAVEN
Prior to the Middle Ages, people thought of heaven tangibly – as a city or
a paradise garden, as portrayed in Scripture. But the writings of twelfth-
century theologians such as Peter Abelard and Peter Lombard and
thirteenth-century theologian Thomas Aquinas led to the philosophical
movement known as scholasticism, which came to dominate medieval
thought and ultimately took hostage the doctrine of Heaven.
The scholastic writers viewed Heaven in a much more impersonal,
cold, and scientific manner than their predecessors. They departed from
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the Heaven of Scripture that contains both the transcendent presence of
God, surrounded by the cherubim, and familiar earthly objects and
personages, including people wearing clothes and having conversations.
They embraced a Heaven entirely intangible, immaterial, and hence –
they thought – more spiritual.358 They claimed that Heaven couldn’t be
made of familiar elements such as earth, water, air, and fire. Instead, they
argued, “the empyrean [the highest heaven or heavenly sphere] must be
made of a fifth and nobler element, the quintessence, which must be
something like pure light.”359 And they ignored almost entirely – or
allegorized into oblivion – the New Earth as the eternal dwelling place of
resurrected humans living with the resurrected Jesus in a physical realm
of natural wonders, physical structures, and cultural distinctives.
The scholastic view gradually replaced the old, more literal
understanding of Heaven as garden and city, a place of earthly beauty,
dwelling places, food, and fellowship. The loss was incalculable. The
church to this day has never recovered from the unearthly – and anti-
earthly – theology of Heaven constructed by well-meaning but misguided
scholastic theologians. These men interpreted biblical revelation not in a
straightforward manner, but in the light of the intellectually seductive
notions of Platonism, Stoicism, and Gnosticism.
According to Aquinas, neither plants nor animals will have a place in
Heaven, the world of light.360 He argued there would be no active life in
Heaven, only contemplation.361 Because God is the great object of our
worship, Aquinas supposed we would think of nothing and no one but
God.
Aquinas was absolutely correct that God is the cosmic center. But his
faulty logic reshaped our understanding of Heaven by undercutting the
biblical doctrines of physical resurrection, Paradise restored on the New
Earth, and the redeemed culture and community of the New Earth’s holy
city and nations. His view neglected the eternal nature of Christ’s
humanity and immanence, entirely eclipsing them with his deity
transcendence. Scholastic theology requires that we negate or spiritualize
countless Scriptures, rejecting the plain meaning.
Though some thinkers later departed from scholasticism, its
underlying christoplatonic views never lost their grip on the Western
church. … Christoplatonism produces certain interpretive assumptions,
which in turn reinforce the Christoplatonism that Scripture argues
against. … As Francis Shaeffer points out in Genesis in Space and Time,
its essential to a Christian understanding of history that we realize the
early chapters of the Bible are not allegory or metaphor. It’s also
important that the final chapters of the Bible, which corresponds so
closely to the first, aren’t stripped of their physical reality.
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If after we die we’ll never again be physical beings living in a
physical place, then by all means we should not take Revelation 21-22 –
or any of the other passages about Heaven – literally. But because
Scripture teaches us that we will be resurrected beings serving God in a
resurrected universe, we should take at face value what it says about the
New Earth. …
That we’ll forever enjoy a resurrected life on a New Earth isn’t true
because we want it to be. It’s true because God says it is. Paying
attention to context and taking other Scriptures into account, we need to
draw God’s truth from the text, not superimpose our preconceived ideas
unto it. (Heaven, Randy Alcorn, pp 459-76)

The Bible says much about the future estate of the Christian as Mr.
Alcorn thoroughly demonstrates in his recent book. Because of false
traditional thought, this wonderful information has been terribly obscured
by the repeated, century after century, misreading and delivery of God’s
message. More critically, in much the same mode, the gospel of God’s
grace has been stripped of its vital message to the unsaved and
disparaged by men possessed of a behavioral contingency in God’s
magnificent salvation of a soul by grace through faith. This is a depleted
and demeaning view of grace.

595 596
 rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
Grace

ZÄÉÜ|Éâá4 ZÄÉÜ|Éâá4 V{Ü|áà|tÇ|àç |Ç à{x Ü|v{xá Éy ZÜtvx

ã{|v{ vtÇÇÉà ux yâÄÄç ytà{ÉÅxwN ã{xÜxtá ÜxÄ|z|ÉÇ |á áÖâtÄ|w?
wxàxáàtuÄx? tÇw wxtwÄçA

“When the kindness of God

our Savior and his love for
mankind appeared, he saved
us not by works of right-
eousness that we have done
but on the basis of his mercy,
through the washing of the
new birth and the renewing of
the Holy Spirit, whom he
poured out on us in full
measure through Jesus Christ
our Savior. And so, since we
have been justified by his
grace, we become heirs with
the confident expectation of
eternal life.” 159

597 598

A Declaration of Grace
"The last temptation is the greatest treason / To do the right deed for the
wrong reason." Murder in the Cathedral, T. S. Eliot
“The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” 160
The icon of the fish, Greek ikhthus, English “ichthus” or “ichthys,” is
the simple intersection of two curves that symbolize Christianity.
Ichthyic, may be to consider something similar to this symbol, something
similar to a fish, or something similar to Christianity. In regard to
sociology, a man said, “Water is the last thing a fish would notice.” A
feminist once said, “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.”
Darwin would say, “Man
evolved from fish.” Christ said,
“I will make you fishers of
men.” From the four quotations
there is that which is
observation, insinuation, imag-
ination, and revelation. The
inner two are terrible dangerous
children, bracketed and held in
check only by phenomena and
noumena.
A fish removed and returned
to water would certainly have a
thing or two to tell his fellow fish. Most fish, having never been out of
water, would find his story hard to believe. Furthermore, any retelling of
the unusual facts about so common a thing as water, would surely soon
become nonsense. Nonetheless, the experienced fish would have an
awareness of the water lacking in the other fish.
A mission statement of Christianity would be terribly muddled if
salvation was not the stated goal. A common response from the
unbelieving community is, “Saved from what?” The idea of salvation is
irrelevant to the public at large. What does Christianity have to offer a
man? Why should a professing Christian hold a different view? And the
better question is, do they? The following is not an over-simplification, it
is irreducible complexity: Because of traditional thought, salvation is
conceived by one Christian as the offer of a carrot held just beyond his
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reach - another tradition would suggest that salvation drops out of the
sky. Both hinge upon the issue of man’s free will. There are degrees and
shades of distinction within the two opposing offers, yes, but after
centuries of faithful followers and readers of God’s Holy Word, and the
thoughts and experiences of the best and most devoted minds in the
world, this is the sum total of what is conceived by Orthodox preachers
and offered to the public. Is it any wonder that observable sin, morality,
daily troubles, and character building are stressed as the important
issues? Might this not be a preference for the crushed grape over that of
the fresh juice?
I was prompted to begin this effort by an insight that differed from
but defined the assumptions about salvation held by many Christians.161
Scripture tells me the indwelling Spirit of God will give me assurance of
my salvation. I have that inner assurance. But what of those Christians
who deny the assurance stated in the Bible? To stand idle would be
wrong, this is not the sea of Christ rejecting unsaved men, but those who
assume the name of Christ and yet deny His full grace. I thought deeply
on the sic et non, yes and no, thus and otherwise, principle of evaluating
both sides of a critical interpretation of the Bible. “Salvation is of
Jehovah” is one side of the same coin that says, “The law of the Lord is
perfect, converting the soul,” and, also, “Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight.” For this reason, I had
salvation and the deeds of the various meanings of law to reconcile to
this truth, “Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for
if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily
righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath
concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe.” 162 As applied to myself, I began to think
Christianity is the last thing a Christian would notice or truly understand.
The very word itself is meant to define a state of being. My insight was
directed to a concern for the well meaning unsaved within Orthodox
Christianity, which by extension, includes the general public. The reason
for my concern is the diametrically opposed views on salvation which are
of greater importance than that of creation or evolution. I will explain
why in the following subsection, and then continue with this personal
declaration of God’s grace.
Logical Discussion – Every Event has a Cause
In creation or evolution, just as in birth, the indisputable fact is - you
are the effect that did not choose the cause. Salvation is the chosen goal
of Christian existence. Those convinced of creation are in a more
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complicated position than those convinced of evolution when answering
the universal question asked by Jesus Christ, “Who do you say I am?”
Man made theologies have conceived many answers. This is the problem
of Christological opinion. To define a problem is the first step in solving
a problem. I suggest the quandary may be reduced to that of two truth
statements, as in creation or evolution, with a rewarding reversal - the
cause may be chosen for the desired effect.
In evolution the question of origin, “Where did man come from?” is
posed by man himself, who is the effect of an unknown cause. An
undeniable argument cannot be demonstrated or observed from effect
back to cause and incomplete knowledge is the reason. The more vital
question than origin is destination, “Where is man going?” Evolution
would attempt to
answer this with
demonstrably incom-
plete knowledge of
cause. Tens of thou-
sands, or more,
professionals hoist
ideas of great im-
portance upon school
children. These no-
tions of populism are
drawn from, what is
in fact, a very
meagerly business
that relies on less than a small closet full of skeletal rubble. Which are
the only surviving relics of many proven frauds. One of which was the
pig’s tooth used as proof of evolution in the Scope’s trial. Which
incidentally, the outcome prohibited evolution from being taught until
the same issue came up again decades later and the “new” separation of
church and state legal fiction was used by the Supreme Court to ban the
teaching of creationism and intelligent design.
So, who in the end, really is foolish and mistaken? For those with a
so-called rational bend of mind, I suggest there are forces that man does
not comprehend. Was the intelligent design of the nano-machine
structure of living cells and a microwave non-existent until they were
discovered in the 20th century? Someone who cannot know for sure from
where they came cannot predict with assurance where anyone is going.
A Christian has accepted written divine knowledge for origin and
destination. Contrary to Christian myth, divine knowledge offers man the
free will to choose only one choice, not two or two hundred. For this
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reason two self exclusive logical truths can be stated that will help the
Christological problem of opinion. To illustrate:
Free will
I live inside the sinking ship of my body, and no matter what I do, I
am trapped in a sinking ship. I have no choice but to stay in a sinking
ship and how I came to be in a sinking ship is meaningless as to my
mortality. I may engage in many speculations about my fate, but there is
only one hope - as the darkened decks fill with water, beyond my reach,
a door will open to the sunlight, and Jesus will ask, “Who do you say I
am?”
I suggest, there are many wrong answers and the door to my fate will
be shut as many times. I have the freedom of futility, not diversity of
choice. I may express my sealed fate in a variety of wrong ideas offered
by the world. Every one of which is the same lie. All the while the water
continues to rise. To answer that He is the One to help me out of my fate
would be a lie also, and once again, the door would be shut. The truth is -
He came deliberately to remove me from my fate because He has already
suffered my death and rose from among the dead. My one choice is to
admit that I will only live because has He died in my place.
Opposing views of Christ defined
The following is a brief explanation of the value of the death of Christ
as perceived by different interpreters. The contemporary division within
the sacrificial view credited to Anselm is the focus of this paper.
The three principal theories by which theologians attempt to explain
the atonement are the following: (1) the Anselmian or sacrificial, that
the atonement consists fundamentally in Christ's sacrifice for the sins
of humanity; (2) the remedial, that God, through the incarnation,
entered into humanity so as to eliminate sin by the ethical process of
Christ's life and death and make the human race at one with himself;
and (3) the Socinian or moral influence, that Christ's work consists in
influencing people to lead better lives.
The sacrificial theory takes two general forms: (a) the
governmental, that Christ's work was intended to meet the demands
of the law of God and make such a moral impression upon humans in
favor of the divine government as to render their forgiveness safe;
and (b) the satisfaction, that it was intended to satisfy divine justice
602

and make the forgiveness of humanity possible and right. Each of
these theories has been further developed many times. 163
A secured salvation view of the universal question
The new identity of Jesus Christ occurred when Peter answered the
universal question correctly with Messiah, the answer to the promise
made to Israel, and Son of God. He identified the deity and the work of
Jesus correctly as the OT Messiah. Jesus said that only the Father could
have told him the correct answer. Immediately after this exchange, Jesus
announced a new identity for Himself to His disciples in Matthew 16. He
said he would be the Huge Rock that would be the source of living water
to transform “those who are called,” the Church. The Father has put the
correct answer of the NT glorified Christ in His divine word first here in
Matthew 16, then in John chapter 3, expounded later in John 13-17, in
Acts, and the Epistles, where Jesus is the Huge Rock, of which the
Church is His “workmanship.” The Church, was further revealed to Paul,
to be included with the expanded identity of Christ as the Head of the
mystical Body and Bride of Christ in the New Creation. Jesus is Our
Savoir and our salvation. Jesus came to give “life more abundantly.” A
literal new life begins with a new birth, “Marvel not … except a person
be born from above, they cannot see the kingdom of God.” The Son of
God, Jesus, was the only man before Him who chose to be born. He
offers all men the same free-choice to be born. And, as in life, one may
not choose to be unborn. Salvation means “to make complete, to make
whole.” Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, He is all things. Jesus is
eternally joined to humanity and is the first of a new creation of God
which is the salvation of condemned mankind.
Logical discussion continued
The question of destination may be answered by complete, but not
mechanically detailed, knowledge provided in divine revelation. An
understanding may be traced backwards from the effect to the cause.
Salvation is the effect on man and Jesus is the cause, which consists of
infinite elements, as in creation and creator. Biblically speaking, “Where
is man going?” has only one positive answer and that is determined by
correctly answering, “Who do you say I am?” The great I am, Jesus, is
the source of all life and of self-determined fate. He is both Savoir and
Judge. Yes, one may accept or reject the offer of Jesus, and that may
seem to be two choices only if one ignores or denies the predetermined
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
fate of those who answer in the negative with complicated religion or
simple rejection.
Now, the primary question of, “Why is salvation secured or
unsecured?” The opposing truths regarding the effect, salvation, need to
be defined as to cause. In early Christianity we have the witness of the
Apostles themselves, the books of the NT. Later, Augustine and Pelagius
had their ideas. During the Dark Ages monopolized Western or
Romanized Christianity had only one answer to offer - a Latin NT
unsecured self salvation or damnation of works through faith in Christ.
Then came the Greek NT translations from Erasmus and the printing
press, thus a Reformation in the gospel of God’s grace. Luther and
Calvin both read a secure salvation - a Greek NT secure salvation by
grace and justification through [sola fide] faith alone in Christ. Today,
for us, better than 450 years later, there is an English NT Protestant
unsecured salvation or damnation and a Protestant secured salvation that
excludes damnation.
Which is a quandary to an intelligent person not indoctrinated into
either of these interpretations, which in substance and fact, are differing
expositions of selections from the NT Word of God. God did not write
the NT in a systematic fashion, whereas, He did consistently write the
entire Bible in a progressive manner that a child can discern. Based on
the 4th century Augustinian concepts in The City of God, the Kingdom
competes with the new dispensation of Grace for the hand of Christ in
marriage. For this reason, Christ sees the Kingdom as an old harlot. In
short, the predicted wheat and weeds, whereby the Christian witness to
the world is harmed by scandal. I will take this one step farther; The NT
belongs to God and not to any theology derived from it. I know this for a
certainty – God offers a secure salvation by faith for me to read day in
and day out. So, who is it that offers an unsecured salvation? Dr. Lewis
Chafer illustrates this dilemma in the following:
Strong objection is offered by Covenant theologians to a distinction
between the gospel of the kingdom as preached by John the Baptist,
Christ and the other disciples and the gospel of the grace of God. One of
them states that to make such a distinction is “unfortunate” and
“dangerous.” He with others contends that the kingdom gospel is
identical with the gospel of divine grace. Here nevertheless will arise an
absurdity which does not deter this type of theologian, namely, that men
could preach the grace gospel based as it is on the death and resurrection
of Christ when they did not believe Christ would die or be raised again
(cf. Luke 18:31-34). (Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 7, p
176) (see Appendix – the Gospel defined)
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My intention here, in this subsection, is to leave names, and experts,
and theories and take a critical look at the dynamic essentials of salvation
that an average believer, like myself, can understand and use.
Between these opposing truths, salvation is mutually accepted to exist
upon the common ground of faith. Does this sound like the debate
between existence caused by creation or evolution? But, there is an
important difference, divine truth is available to help make a proper
decision. To simply say Christ came and died to forgive sins, which is
the accepted common ground of faith, does not reconcile the difference
between salvation by Christ alone through faith alone or salvation by
Christ through faith. Of which both the former and latter slogans are a
glaring oxymoron when salvation is properly conceived. Nevertheless, as
normally considered, one would exclude the other. One is instantaneous
by the primary cause of Christ, the other is a process based on Christ but
dependent upon the secondary cause of self.
I will make full effort, to the extent of my understanding, to state
unsecured salvation. To define post-faith salvation is the intent. The data
to be created is to identify the predicate, the object of the action.
Dynamic, as in active and changing would describe unsecured salvation.
Anastatic, as in moving, going upward with little or no apparent change
would describe secured salvation. With this in mind, definitions and
statements will be constructed and analyzed to form a final summary
truth statement for comparison.
Comparative logical truth statements
Definition of terminology
1. Christianity - is defined as a state of being (“ity” not an “ism”) 3.
Webster’s New World Dictionary
2. Salvation 1 - derived immediately from the Greek word for Savior.
Noun - an effect, a result of a cause, in this discussion - a resultant of
self or Christ, a change of state, a new existence. The goal of
Christianity considered here as either future or instantaneous. The
“in Christ” used by Saint Paul. The Kingdom theology based on self
salvation would fit the definition given in Baker Books Combined
Bible Dictionary, “OT – safety, deliverance, rescued, or forgiveness
of sin” Grace theology based on the baptism of the Holy Spirit, NT
definition, same source, “the prophets spoke of one who would come
and bring spiritual deliverance or salvation. The gospel of Christ is
the power of God which brings about salvation only to those who
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
believe (Rom 1:16) “the grace of God bringeth salvation” (Titus
2:11).”
3. Salvation 2 - the most comprehensive one doctrine of the Bible. It
gathers into one conception at least twelve extensive and vital
doctrines, namely, redemption, reconciliation, propitiation,
conviction, repentance, faith, regeneration, forgiveness, justification,
sanctification, preservation, and glorification. (Systematic Theology,
Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 3, p. 5)
4. Faith - belief or trust: belief in, devotion to, or trust in somebody or
something, especially without logical proof
I wouldn't put my faith in him to straighten things out.
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.
5. By - CORE-MEANING: a grammatical word expressing a spatial
relationship, indicating that somebody or something is beside or
close to somebody or something else
19. prep
in compliance with: in order to comply with something, especially the
law By law, patients must have access to their records
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved.
6. In - CORE-MEANING: a grammatical word indicating that
something or somebody is within or inside something
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.
7. For - because of: indicating a reason why something happens or is
done, I did it for love.
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved.
Rom 4:5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who
declares the ungodly righteous, his faith is credited as righteousness.
NET
Heb 10:14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who
are made holy NET
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God: KJV
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 rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
Unsecured Salvation indicates creator, author, or artist: used to indicate the person who
wrote or created something such as a written piece or work of art
The gospel is for sinners, faith is continued, salvation is by Christ written by A. A. Milne
(6) 15. prep
Dynamic elements of unsecured self-centered salvation using method or medium: used to indicate the particular mode,
method, or action through which something occurs or is done
Self has caused self to be in compliance to Christ traveling by ocean liner
She earns a living by playing the harp.
1. Salvation is designed by God for faith and earned by self. Available (7) 17. prep
by continuing unsecured faith and meritorious effort whereby sin in particular manner: with, in, or through a particular manner of doing
committed in faith is progressively forgiven and future final. something
2. Salvation is earned by man dependent upon God for a future effect. used by permission of the author
3. Self is eternally future changed and salvation is the result. Self (8) 18. prep
cannot undo the future effect of God which is salvation from according to unchanging quality: in terms of a particular attribute or
personal acts of sin committed in life. function
a teacher by profession and a learner by nature
Dynamic truth statement By-In (9) 19. prep
in compliance with: in order to comply with something, especially the
Salvation by Christ is in continued faith. law
By law, patients must have access to their records.
Salvation – noun - subject (10) 21. adv
in name of something sacred: used to indicate something considered
* dictionary aides are from holy when making a solemn oath or promise
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All
By all that is sacred, I ask you to stop.
rights reserved.
(11) 22. adv
by – prep away or aside: into a place for safekeeping for use later
(1) 2. prep I spent some of the money and put some by for hard times.
along: next to or along something
(2) 3. prep Christ – noun
through: passing through something
entering by the back door is – verb (be - 3rd person present singular)
(3) 9. prep CORE-MEANING: a verb used most commonly to link the subject of
measurements differing in amount of: used to indicate an amount, a clause to a complement in order to give more information about the
extent, or rate at which something increases, decreases, or differs subject, e.g. its identity, nature, attributes, position, or value
Tax rates are to be cut by 0.25 percent. This is my coworker.
(4) 13. prep He's a very sweet person.
indicates cause: used to indicate the person or thing performing an Her new car is blue.
action or causing a situation or reaction (used following a passive The supermarket is on the left.
verb) The clock was worth $3,000.
He was hit by a ball. (1) 6. vi
(5) 14. prep have particular quality: to have a particular quality or attribute
This sentence is concise.
607 608

(2) 7. vi
remain: used to indicate that a particular situation remains
The facts are these: it is cold and unhealthy here.
in – prep
CORE-MEANING: a grammatical word indicating that something or
somebody is within or inside something
prep The dinner's in the oven.
continued - adj
faith – noun - .object
noun affected by verb: a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase denoting
somebody or something that is acted on by a verb or affected by the
action of a verb
Grammatical Predicate Sense of the Statement
The object of the action is faith. Faith further defines the subject,
salvation. Salvation byi Christ. Salvation acts (upon ) completed faith.
Summary Statement
Salvation is a future state of self by (in compliance with) Christ in
completed faith.

Before and after - One must trust in Christ and create a future by
Christ

Word sense clarification (substitution of nouns) – One must trust in
love and create a future by love. One must trust in money and create a
future by money.
Logical Statements of Faith
“I am forgiven of all my sins before I came to Christ.” “My behavior
determines my salvation.” “I give myself to Christ as Lord of my life.” “I
i
Author’s notes on selecting the definition of “by” - 11 possible. 5 eliminated. 6
remain. 2 adverbial and 4 prepositional relations. (5) would be NT author, founder,
“pioneer of our faith” (7) is very close to 9 (8) the unchanging quality is a weak
maybe (9) compliance to a standard would fit a legal mindset of the Great Example
and the concept of “perfectionism.” I believe (9) to be the most commonly held
Arminian conception of “by Christ.”
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earned my salvation by Christ in heaven, after I die.” “I cannot know I
am going to heaven, therefore I am hopeful.” “I am saved from the
judgment of sin by the forgiveness of Christ and my continuing effort.”
“Christ as Lord, died for my unsaved sin, thus I must complete what He
started.” “I have faith and live by effort for Christ.”
John 3:14 Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must
the Son of Man be lifted up, 3:15 so that everyone who believes in him
may have eternal life. 3:16 For this is the way God loved the world: He
gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not
perish but have eternal life. NET
John 5:24 I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and
believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned,
but has crossed over from death to life. NET
John 17:23 I in them and you in me—that they may be completely one,
NET
John 17:1-4 Glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you—just as
you have given him authority over all humanity, so that he may give
eternal life to everyone you have given him. Now this is eternal life—
that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
I glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. NET
John 17:6 “I have revealed your name to the men you gave me out of the
world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have
obeyed your word. NET
Rom 4:5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who
declares the ungodly righteous, his faith is credited as righteousness.
NET
Secured Salvation
The gospel is for faith, faith is Christi, salvation is in Christ
i
Comment – In the act of defining a noun – comprehending, appreciating – the
expression is a representation of that noun. Faith is a noun that consists of belief or
trust based on unproven truth. Here, the revealed truth of Christ in the gospel of
grace. Faith must have an object, Jesus Christ.
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Anastatic elements of a secured God centered salvation
God has caused self to be in Christ.
1. Salvation is designed by God for faith and made by Christ.
2. Available by one moment of secure faith in Christ, whereby all sin
is forgiven.
3. Salvation is created by God independent of any effect on self. God
the Son is eternally changed and salvation is the result. The
resurrected God-man, Christ, is salvation. Christ cannot undo the
cosmic changes brought about by His incarnation, crucifixion,
vicarious suffering and death, resurrection, glorification, and
ascension. Nor can He undo the new birth of self which is salvation
in Christ from the judgment of unbelief.
Anastatic truth statement In-For
Salvation in Christ is for faith.
Salvation - noun
subject
grammatical performer of action: the part of a sentence or utterance,
usually a noun, noun phrase, or equivalent, that the rest of the
sentence asserts something about and that agrees with the verb.
in – prep
CORE-MEANING: a grammatical word indicating that something or
somebody is within or inside something
prep The dinner's in the oven.
Christ - noun
is - verb be - 3rd person present singular
CORE-MEANING: a verb used most commonly to link the subject of
a clause to a complement in order to give more information about the
subject, e.g. its identity, nature, attributes, position, or value
This is my coworker.
He's a very sweet person.
Her new car is blue.
The supermarket is on the left.
The clock was worth $3,000.
(1) 6. vi
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
have particular quality: to have a particular quality or attribute
This sentence is concise.
(2) 7. vi
remain: used to indicate that a particular situation remains
The facts are these: it is cold and unhealthy here.
for - 9. prep
designed to do: indicating the purpose of an object, action, or activity
That towel is for drying your hands.
faith - noun
.object
noun affected by verb: a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase denoting
somebody or something that is acted on by a verb or affected by the
action of a verb
Grammatical Predicate Sense of the Statement
The object of the action is faith. Faith further defines the subject,
salvation. The subject of the sentence, Salvation, is within or inside
Christ. Salvation acts for (through) faith.
Summary Statement
Salvation is an instantaneous state of self in Christ.

Before and after – one must have faith to be in Christ

Word sense clarification (substitution of nouns) – One must trust in
love to be in love. One must trust in money to be in money.
Logical Statements of Faith
“I am forgiven all my sins.” “I am saved by my Savior.” “God gives me
to Christ.” “God places me in Christ, who is in heaven now.” “I know
that I am going to heaven, therefore I am thankful.” “I am saved for
Christ from the judgment of unbelief.” “Christ died for all my sin, thus I
am thankful.” “I live for Christ by faith.” “I am in Christ.”
Comparative Data Table
Dynamic truth statement By-In
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 rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
Anastatic to Dynamic
Salvation by Christ is in continued faith.
Predicate is faith
Grammatical Predicate Sense of the Statement Salvation is not defined by continued faith
Salvation is defined by faith
The object of the action is continued faith. Salvation is not in compliance with Christ
The object continued faith further defines the subject - salvation. Salvation is inside Christ
The subject salvation is in compliance with Christ. Salvation does not act (on) continued faith
The subject salvation acts (on ) continued faith. Salvation acts (responds) for [a designed, purposed] faith
Summary
Agreement in the sets of data is that salvation is to be viewed as an
Salvation is a future state of self by (in compliance with) Christ in existing force (grace). Salvation acts upon the individual through faith.
completed faith. From this common point, where the predicate is faith, the statements
diverge.
Starting at that point, a logical deduction may be constructed from the
Anastatic truth statement In-For following: (1) Restricting statements to the results in this comparative
data table. (2) Giving equal weight or force to the three nouns. (3) Noting
Salvation in Christ is for faith. there is only one verb. (4) Noting there is only one adjective. (5) Stating
that the three prepositions weaken or strengthen as they combine,
Grammatical Predicate Sense of the Statement separate, or modify the nouns.
The object of the action is faith. The question to be answered: Is Dynamic or Anastatic the logically
The object faith further defines the subject - salvation. stronger statement?
The subject salvation is within or inside Christ.
The subject salvation acts for (responds, through) faith. The method: What may be observed? What is logically alike and
different? What is stronger or weaker?
Summary
1. Faith and Continued Faith elicit differing actions “in time” from
Salvation is an instantaneous state of self in Christ for (designed, salvation.
intended use) faith 2. Continued time is immeasurably more complex than instantly
3. Faith is simple and modified Continued Faith is complex
4. Simple is stronger than complex
Dynamic to Anastatic 5. By-in compliance to Christ modifies Continued Faith to a
second level of complexity
Predicate is continued faith 6. By-in weaken Salvation with Continued Faith and modifies
Salvation is not defined by faith Faith to a third of complexity
Salvation is defined by continued faith 7. In-for unify the nouns the three nouns Salvation, Christ, and
Salvation is not inside Christ Faith
Salvation is in compliance with Christ
Salvation does not act for faith
Salvation acts (on) continued faith
613 614

Conclusion – Every Event has a Cause
Well, there is no need to be “smarter than a fifth grader” to see the
patent answer to the question. But, I will form a statement. Unsecured
salvation by-in Christ and continued faith logically contains a third level
of complexity. Secured salvation in-for Christ and faith logically
contains a third level of unity. “A three part cord is not easily broken.”
There is a truth to be derived from language. Or is there? In the
following quotation, the thrust of this exercise may be observed from a
different perspective:
For instance, consider the English sentence “Every event has a cause.” It
can mean either that one cause brings about every event, wherein A
causes B, C, D, and so on, or that individual events each have their own,
possibly different, cause, wherein X causes Y, Z causes W, and so on.
The problem is that the structure of the English language does not tell us
which one of the two readings is the correct one. This has important
logical consequences. If the first reading is what is intended by the
sentence, it follows that there is something akin to what some
philosophers have called the primary cause, but if the second reading is
what is intended, then there may well be no primary cause. Microsoft ®
Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights
reserved.
For the reasons above, one may view their unsecured salvation as
completely unique to their own effort, subsequent to a “continued”
personalized faith. This would predicate many different salvations from
many different faiths – many combinations of X and Y, Z and W, etc.
How many gospels would there need to be for this overabundance of
personalized saving faith? This seems counter-intuitive to the message of
faith in the Bible. Also, that view would deny salvation to be an existing
divine force (grace) that is the cause of personal salvation through faith –
where grace is the single “A that causes B, C, D, and so on.” In Genesis,
events proceeded from God’s Word, His decreed will - “let there be”
“and there was” – in the Hebrew yehi and wayehi,164 which expresses both
the calling into existence and the complete fulfillment of that decree.
“God said, “Let there be light … and there was light!” (Gen 1:3).
Closing Comments
The verses given prior to each proof should be the source of the proof
statements. Quite honestly, I know that unsecured salvation cannot be
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
drawn from the two verses that are given. But, the subjective scheme of
Arminian atonement exists. It is a deductive rationalization derived from
a theory. A theory which declares that unforgiveness for impenitent sin
will cause the loss of salvation, after saving faith. Rightly or wrongly,
this is the majority opinion within Christianity today. Dr. Lewis Chafer
writes: “There is need for emphasis on the truth that forgiveness of sin is
extended to the unsaved only as an integral part of the whole divine
undertaking called salvation. Of the many transformations wrought by
God in response to simple faith in Christ, the remission of sin is but one.
Hence it should be observed that the forgiveness of sin can never be
claimed by itself on the part of those who are unregenerate. Forgiveness
is provided for them to infinite completeness, but may never be secured
only as a phase of God’s whole work in salvation. Though too often
supposed to be the truth, remission of sin for the unsaved is not
equivalent to salvation. Forgiveness connotes subtraction, indeed,
whereas all else in salvation is glorious addition. It is therefore written, “I
give unto them eternal life” (John 10:28), and in Romans 5:17 reference
is made, for example, to “the gift of righteousness.””165 After all is said
and done: Who could be more unregenerate than the professing, so-called
forgiven Christian who denies the gift of eternal life and righteousness?
The reader, hopefully, will have a better understanding of the
elemental concepts that comprise and distinguish “salvation by Christ is
in continued faith” from “salvation in Christ is for faith.” But the
predicate is not the subject. The ocean is blue and the sky is blue. The
color blue is the predicate of ocean and sky, but the color blue is neither
ocean nor sky. In this discussion, the effort has been to determine the
faith (predicate) that mostly closely reflects the conception of salvation
(subject).
The common ground of faith conceded to by secured and unsecured
salvation proponents is ichthyic, in that it is veiled by slogan and
assumed understandings. In the tables above the differences may be
distinguished more clearly. Faith is, in fact, the vital difference. Faith is
conditioned by one’s concept of salvation. The concept is defined by the
content of the gospel that is presented. Therefore, it is all important. Faith
is the channel, grace is the means, and salvation is the effect only when
the object of faith, Jesus Christ, is given infinite value by the human
heart. In the end, personal Christology is the answer to the academic
Christological problem of opinion.
To dispel shallow thought and to provide a clear, slogan free, basis
for comparison is the value of the above truth statements in the logical
definitions of unsecured and secured salvation. That value may be used
in the following conclusions.
616

Choosing Christ as a Savoir does not reconcile “salvation by [in
compliance with] Christ is in continued faith” to “salvation in Christ is
[intended, purposed, designed] for faith.” The New Testament goes to
great lengths in the Greek to show that salvation is never, and I say again
– never - because of faith. Proving conclusively one, of many reasons,
why salvation by “continued faith” is false. Dr. Charles Ryrie writes:
“The New Testament never says that we are saved because of faith (that
would require dia with the accusativei). It always makes faith the channel
through which we receive salvation (dia with the genitive).”166 This
“difference” in Christianity is no mere difference of opinion regarding
the interpretation of the Bible, as many would blithely assume, which
will be proven in this paper. One is true, the other has been a horrible lie
for millions upon millions of poor lost souls who followed a Christian
religion instead of believing in a Christian transformation. In “continued
faith” salvation is the goal of Christian existence. In “salvation in
Christ,” Christ is the reason for eternal transformation and freedom from
inborn guilt that condemns men, as “all sinned” in Adam (Rom 5:12).
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus” (Rom 8:1). If one did not, nor does not, trust in Jesus for salvation
their religion is only a bandage for the universally fatal wound of sin.
Sunday religion is pointless pay-per-view entertainment if the intended
reason is to remain saved. Salvation itself is a force, a power of God’s
grace. God created His grace from the death of His Son. Grace is not
derived from divine forgiveness. Only human forgiveness may suspend
penalty for wrong actions. From the perspective and input from the
individual, a salvation that is not “because of his faith,” makes salvation
his divine “uncaused” first cause for life “more abundantly.” Received as
a gift for belief from the Savior, Jesus Christ, the only Righteous One.
For the hopelessly unsaved individual believing “in continued faith”
who may ask: “What must be done to receive the effect of this cause,
salvation, and just what might that effect be?” The balance of this effort
will fully detail the two opposing answers to that set of questions by the
application of the following view: “a contradiction exists where two
contraries are predicated of the same thing and in the same respect. Such
contradictions do not appear in revelation and attempts to claim such a
thing have failed. The doctrine of the Trinity is drawn wholly from
revelation, since creation is incapable of serving as a medium of
i
1. grammatical form: a grammatical case that identifies the direct object of a verb
or other grammatical parts in some inflected languages and that affects nouns,
pronouns, and adjectives Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005
Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
expression for the issues involved. The doctrine as presented in the
Scripture is therefore believable if not explicable. The how of any
superhuman reality is not, and probably could not be, apprehended by the
finite mind. It is enough to know from a trustworthy source that the
reality does exist. To understand a proposition is one thing; to understand
the truth or fact asserted in that proposition is quite another. These two
aspects of understanding are constantly distinguished in human
experience.”167 In other words, one need not know all the fine details of
an airliner - in order to comprehend and trust it - as a means of
transportation. By the use of the above application, it will be proven that
salvation in “continued faith” is not the truth set forth in Scripture, but
only a derisive theory proposed by men determined to read a behavior
contingency into salvation by grace.
In summary, from the discussion above titled Every Event has a
Cause, there are two opposing predicates of faith for two opposing
salvations. Where “Salvation in Christ is for [intended, purposed,
designed] faith [to be believed, trusted]” and; “Salvation by [compliance
to an example] Christ is in continued faith.” In the former, salvation itself
is unconditioned by faith or time. Salvation in Christ is the object of
faith. In the latter, salvation is conditioned by continuance to compliance
and results only after the completion of continued faith. Whereby, the
concept of completion both logically and intuitively demands that
salvation in the eternal state of heaven is a reward for effort. The former
is designed for sinful people and the later is designed for good people.
The two opposing concepts may be stated as questions: (1) Does the
NT teach a created by God salvation; where the details of thirty-three
immediate and seven future effects of grace are defined and caused by
God for his new creation of glorified sons and daughters in Christ who
are instantly removed and kept secure from judgment until their future
perfection into the “image of Christ?” (2) Does the NT teach a self-
effected salvation; that evolves by man from a lifelong myriad of details,
which will, to some undefined extent contribute to the result of
continuing faith needed to avoid perdition after death? In truth, the
former is to say, ultimately, “my salvation depends upon my weakness,”
and the latter is to say, “my salvation depends upon the power of God’s
grace.”
One may choose evolution or creation. One is a lie, and one is truth.
Because antagonism is a God decreed condition of life, a Christian with
appropriate knowledge, must choose to live by compliance to the
example of Christ in continued faith (Arminian, Catholic) or live in
Christ because of Christ (Pauline έν Χριστώ/, en Christō). To live is
to answer the universal question posed by the One who claims to be the
618

Alpha and the Omega and asks of each person, “Who do you say I am?”
This is the stuff saving faith is made of.
Acts 16:30 Then he [the jailer] brought them outside and asked,
“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 16:31 They replied, “Believe in
the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.” NET
I should like to include this quote, as it is most appropriate. Proverbs
30:4 draws the following comment from Dr. H. A. Ironside:
Who has ascended into heaven, and then descended?
Who has gathered up the winds in his fists?
Who has bound up the waters in his cloak?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and what is the name of his son? —if you know!
NET
Christ bore our sins on the cross. He died for them. He has been raised
from the dead in token of God’s infinite satisfaction in His work. He has
ascended up to heaven, and His place on the throne of God as a Man in
glory, is proof positive, that our sins are gone forever. This it is that,
believed, gives deep and lasting peace. When the believer realizes that all
has been done in a way that suits God; that He who accomplished it is
one with the Father; that man as a fallen creature had no part in that work
save to commit the sins for which the Savoir died: then and not till then,
does the majesty of the work of the cross dawn upon the soul. The
question, “What is His name and what is His Son’s name?” followed by
the challenge, “Declare if thou canst tell,” finds its answer in the New
Testament revelation of the Father and the Son. Notes on Proverbs, pp.
435-39 (cited in Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 5, pp. 270-
711)
Declaration Continued
Having drawn the conclusions above, a truth test was needed. I set
about to answer the question, “Where does the New Testament teach the
principle of self gain for salvation?” Regarding the loss of salvation by
choice or sin, my assumption was that an ancient and still quite dominant
proviso to the eighth covenant, the New Covenant made in the blood of
Christ entered into by faith, cannot be a matter of opinion. What is the
biblical warrant for unsecured salvation? I wanted to know what was the
“weight” of the evidence to support a principle of unsecured salvation.
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All Christians today have the same responsibility to defend the honor of
God and His work of infinite grace that transforms a sinner to saint.
To proof my supposition, I chose not to debate the negative with
overwhelming proof verses, as this has never been accepted as
convincing. Therefore, I set aside the loss of salvation. I chose to defend
self-salvation and tried to find proof verses for a principle of gain. I
found the following: Blessed and blessedness is a state of happiness, a
response, not a means of entering heaven. I could not find that blessings
or blessedness were accumulated points given out by God, to be cashed
in later. Old and New Testament righteousness is imputed, or given for
faith or belief, but aside from the source, it is a complete state, not one
made from units of gain. My search was futile. I certainly stand to be
corrected, if such a written “revealed” system does exist. The NT is the
God given interpreter of the OT, and Abrahamic imputed righteous for
faith is not revealed until the NT as a basis for salvation and Noah found
grace168 in the eyes of the Lord. Moreover, not one of the OT saints in
the “Hall of Faith” of Hebrews chapter 11 were commended for
faithfulness to the Law. I concluded that self gain for forgiveness is only
an implication arising from the rational need to support the negative loss
of salvation, typically detailed by 85 proof verses in a Arminian
Soteriology of self-redemption. A Soteriology based on a 400 year old
theory of atonement. Gain, or merit, is a derivative principle, thereby the
confusion and doubt inherent in self-salvation. A conditional salvation
has no inspired Scripture on which to state the conditions of merit and
increments of gain that would place one in a state of righteousness. How
good is good? How many good goods does one need to offset a bad bad?
What is needed to be assured of heaven? Islam and Catholicism have the
same inherent inability to give a qualified answer. Thus, with anyone
bold enough to ask, all three dance around the subject of an implied
“required perfectionism” with responses based in rational gamesmanship
and religious airs of superior understanding. Trust me, I’ve been there,
done that.
During the course of writing this paper many assumptions about
religion became the focus of sincere thought and study. I marvel at the
simplicity of Christianity and how easily it is encrypted and hidden
behind the ichthyic veil of water in which it subsists - a water of opinion,
cliché, terminology, tradition, sloganeering, and a simple lack of concern
for the holiness of God. Moreover, I have come to appreciate better that
which the world sees and says about Christians, as it is mostly true. The
vast majority of Christians in church are not in the Body of Christ. I say
this with conviction. New Testament revelation is to determine a false
profession by the doctrine of that profession, not the conduct of the one
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professing. Conduct is important and appearances are deceiving. A lack
of smoking incense, hidden abrasive underclothes, and a tonsured scalp
is not a true indicator to determine a Biblical error. The Spirit inspired
testimony is that observation is not the primary consideration for
evaluating a false teacher.
The Indian leader of non-violent protest, Mahatma Gandhi, made the
statement that he would become a Christian, except for the Christians
that he knew. He had read the Gospels and admired Jesus Christ. He did
not admire very many Christians. I myself agreed and followed his
advice for most of my life. I could not and did not find Christ in the
negative gospel of the forgiveness of sin in trade for my guilt and
salvation for my effort. Where was the free gift I had heard about as a
child? “… The free gift of righteousness” (Rom 5:17). Things change
and by the grace of God, I can testify that my salvation through Jesus
Christ is the most precious thing I possess and recommend it highly to
anyone that is interested.
Since I had determined that the proviso to the new covenant was OT
legal practice, not a fact of NT salvation, which is inserted by opinion
and reinforced by damnable centuries of error, I now feel free to share
my opinion. Unsecured salvation is based on a stated denial of plain
scripture that asserts the imputed righteousness provided by Christ and
the many verses in the NT that state the security of salvation. Arminian
Kingdom theology resolutely denies the imputation of sin to Christ by
God, and the imputation of the righteousness of Christ to man, by the
baptism of the Holy Spirit. It rather views the death of Christ as a
supreme example to men that God’s Governmental Theory will not
tolerate sin. It views not the blood of Christ as satisfaction for personal
sin, but rather, as atonement for the injured Government of God. God in
His Governmental aspect will forgive the sin of properly penitent
evildoers. For this reason, Protestant Arminian congregations patently
have been denied and have never seen an honest inductive exposition of
Old Testament Jewish temporary atonement (passed over) and New
Testament Abrahamic imputed righteousness. They are kept ignorant of
the full value of the symbolism of righteousness in the skins given to
Adam and Eve and interpreted by NT revelation in Hebrews 9:22 and
Romans 3:24. Thereby, the Catholic and Protestant Arminian limited
atonement Soteriology and Christology is desperately flawed.
In many a way is God’s will wrought
For things deemed sure
He brings to nought
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“They made the Lord angry by their actions,
and a plague broke out among them.
Phinehas took a stand and intervened,
and the plague subsided.
This brought him a reward,
an eternal gift.”48
(Ps 106:29-31) NET
Num 25:12-13
48tn Heb “and it was reckoned to him for righteousness, to a generation and
a generation forever.” The verb [Heb.] (“to reckon”) is collocated with
[Heb.] (“righteousness”) only in Ps 106:31 and Gen 15:6, where God
rewards Abram’s faith with a land grant. NET
Gen 15:6
22tn Or “righteousness”; or “evidence of steadfast commitment.” The noun
is an adverbial accusative. The verb translated “considered” (Heb.
“reckoned”) also appears with (Heb., “righteousness”) in Ps 106:31.
Alluding to the events recorded in Numbers 25, the psalmist notes that
Phinehas’ actions were “credited to him as righteousness for endless
generations to come.” Reference is made to the unconditional, eternal
covenant with which God rewarded Phinehas’ loyalty (Num 25:12-13). So
[Heb. righteousness=]]]]]]]]]]]] seems to carry by metonymy the meaning
“loyal, rewardable behavior” here, a nuance that fits nicely in Genesis 15,
where God responds to Abram’s faith by formally ratifying his promise to
give Abram and his descendants the land. (See R. B. Chisholm, “Evidence
from Genesis,” A Case for Premillennialism, 40.) In Phoenician and Old
Aramaic inscriptions cognate nouns glossed as “correct, justifiable conduct”
sometimes carry this same semantic nuance (DNWSI 2:962). NET
The simplicity of Grace is witness to truth, whereas the confusion and
doubt in the negative gospel of self-salvation cannot be defended from
New Testament revelation. The theology of self-salvation resorts to
philosophical and ethical insinuation based in human imagination. The
gospel of grace says your sins are forgiven by faith in Christ for
salvation. A salvation secured through the work of grace alone. It is a
salvation based on the full value in the death of Christ as understood in a
Soteriology of completed satisfaction. This gospel is the revelation
supported by the Word of God, not men dependent on tithes and a
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traditional creed that says no. Whereas, the gospel of self-salvation says
Christ died for all the sins of the world except the “filthy rag” of self-
righteousness. This teaching states nothing - as forgiveness of personal
sins is the basis to be saved by personal sin - from personal sin. “It is a
tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” 169 It is to
ask forgiveness for sin not salvation. It is to call on the name of Jesus not
knowing who He is. If language has any meaning, what does it point to
when the all knowing Son of God says, “I never knew you” (Mtw 7:23,
cf. Gal 4:8)?
“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his
hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. Out! Out! Brief candle.”
Macbeth
An old Spanish Jewish proverb is, “God gives nuts to the toothless.”
Surely this is true. My disheartening observation, based on the witness of
the Word of God, is that Jesus does not know the greatest part of
mainstream Christian America - the teachers, preachers, and followers of
an opinion that embraces redemption through self-righteousness. But
abounding hope is at hand, where there is life there is Jesus Christ.
My livelihood is not dependent on the huge majority of Christians
who choose self-salvation. No publisher of Christian material would be
foolish enough to print what I have written, nor are monopolized
Christian radio stations concerned with truth. I am a non-degreed layman
witnessing to the riches of Grace provided by God for all who become
His children. I am a son and servant of God the Father and I am not
affiliated with any definition of religion. As in the Bible, religion
primarily carries a negative connotation, thereby, I agree wholeheartedly
and loathe the “strange fire” and “strange smoke” of religious practices.
The study material that I use is well established and highly regarded. My
principal source is a Systematic Theology by Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer
which was the first premillennial and dispensational set of volumes to be
published. He was the founder, President, and Professor of Systematic
Theology of Dallas Theological Seminary for many years.
I’ve included many Bible verses and applicable quotes to define and
expand the following discussions. This effort is a declaration of God’s
unlimited grace and an exposition of the inherent error of the negative
gospel of self-salvation and over-valued human free will. More than
anything, this is an effort to clarify religious reasoning regarding the
need for and the solution of salvation by faith through grace. As with any
Christian, this may only be derived from a God given partial
understanding of the Great Book of Truth. Antagonism creates drama
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and insight. God has ordained and declared that antagonism will exist
until He returns. “Darkness” if viewed from God’s perspective as objects
of His Judgment, and “light” as objects of His Righteousness, will afford
great insight into the meaning of Scripture. This perspective is
exemplified in the following passage from the book of Ezekiel, when
God spoke to him:
Ezk 2:1 He said to me, “Son of man,1 stand on your feet and I will
speak with you.” 2:2 As he spoke to me, a wind came into me and
stood me on my feet, and I heard the one speaking to me. NET
1sn The phrase son of man occurs ninety-three times in the book of
Ezekiel. It simply means “human one,” and distinguishes the prophet
from the nonhuman beings that are present in the world of his [God’s]
vision. (brackets mine)
In the next two sections, the Gospel of Grace is first defined and then
defended in that which follows. I argue from the position of the rarely
heard positive gospel of Grace which recognizes that Christ died for the
redemption of all sin and universally sinners are forgiven and reconciled
by God who offers salvation by grace through faith. The personal value
of forgiveness and eternal life is belief in the living ascended Jesus
Christ, who waits only for faith, the one condition to receive
unconditional salvation given in the Word of God. This message of
reconciliation can be found in the Epistles, the salvation details for
believers. In which, the teachings of grace are listed many times clearly
and without contradiction. The gospel secured by grace, not imaginary
gain, through the work of the Holy Spirit is the detail instruction to the
gospel of Jesus Christ who is the Resurrected Savior of His Church and
the source of righteousness and eternal life for all men who come to trust
that only He can and will save them from inherited sin and the judgment
of unbelief. By His power, not self-effort, everyone who believes on the
Lord Jesus will be saved and will be perfected into the very image of
Christ Himself.
The extremes of judgment and salvation, retribution and redemption
may only be bridged by first believing in the infinite worth and ability of
the living Jesus Christ who died for “all” sin - past, present, and future.
Belief is not easy, it is the process of being filled, of being convinced to a
point of decision, but it is simplicity itself, a change of mind from
unbelief to belief. If you believe Jesus did save you, you have already
been saved. Prayer recital was not the method employed by the Apostles.
“Combining the message with faith” requires a comprehensive
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presentation by God through His Word, or a servant of His Word, that
creates the environment for Spirit powered apprehension needed for
saving faith. Salvation is the moment of believing in someone else for
salvation, not the result of a lifetime of doubt. Today is the day, now is
the time for salvation through the hearing of the gospel of the grace of
God.
The Origins of the Gospel of the Grace of God
1) Acts 26:16 But get up [Paul] and stand on your feet, for I [Jesus]
have appeared to you for this reason, to designate you in advance as
a servant and witness to the things you have seen and to the things in
which I will appear to you. 26:17 I will rescue you from your own
people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you 26:18 to
open their eyes so that they turn from darkness to light and from the
power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins
and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ NET
(brackets mine)
2) Acts 10:9 About noon the next day, while they were on their way
and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10:10 He
became hungry and wanted to eat, but while they were preparing the
meal, a trance came over him. 10:11 He saw heaven opened and an
object something like a large sheet descending, being let down to
earth by its four corners. 10:12 In it were all kinds of four-footed
animals and reptiles of the earth and wild birds. 10:13 Then a voice
said to him, “Get up, Peter; slaughter and eat!” 10:14 But Peter said,
“Certainly not, Lord, for I have never eaten anything defiled and
ritually unclean!” 10:15 The voice spoke to him again, a second
time, “What God has made clean, you must not consider ritually
unclean!” 10:16 This happened three times, and immediately the
object was taken up into heaven.
10:19 While Peter was still thinking seriously about the vision, the
Spirit said to him, “Look! Three men are looking for you. 10:20 But
get up, go down, and accompany them without hesitation, because I
have sent them.” 10:21 So Peter went down to the men and said,
“Here I am, the person you’re looking for. Why have you come?”
10:22 They said, “Cornelius the centurion, a righteous and God-
fearing man, well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was
directed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and to hear a
message from you.”
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10:29 Therefore when you sent for me, I came without any
objection. Now may I ask why you sent for me?” 10:30 Cornelius
replied, “Four days ago at this very hour, at three o’clock in the
afternoon, I was praying in my house, and suddenly a man in shining
clothing stood before me 10:31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has
been heard and your acts of charity have been remembered before
God. 10:32 Therefore send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is
called Peter. This man is staying as a guest in the house of Simon the
tanner, by the sea.’ 10:33 Therefore I sent for you at once, and you
were kind enough to come. So now we are all here in the presence of
God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to say to
us.”
10:34 Then Peter started speaking: “I now truly understand that God
does not show favoritism in dealing with people, NET
3) Rom 16:25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to
my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the
revelation of the mystery that had been kept secret for long ages,
16:26 but now is disclosed, and through the prophetic scriptures has
been made known to all the nations, according to the command of
the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— 16:27 to the
only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be glory forever! Amen. NET
4) 1 Cor 2:6 Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but not a
wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing. 2:7
Instead we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery, that God
determined before the ages for our glory. 2:8 None of the rulers of
this age understood it. If they had known it, they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory. 2:9 But just as it is written, “Things that
no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things
God has prepared for those who love him.” 2:10 God has revealed
these to us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the
deep things of God. 2:11 For who among men knows the things of a
man except the man’s spirit within him? So too, no one knows the
things of God except the Spirit of God. 2:12 Now we have not
received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so
that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God. 2:13
And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human
wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual
things to spiritual people. 2:14 The unbeliever does not receive the
things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he
cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 2:15
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The one who is spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is
understood by no one. 2:16 For who has known the mind of the
Lord, so as to advise him? But we have the mind of Christ. NET
5) 1 Cor 4:1 One should think about us this way—as servants of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of God. 4:2 Now what is sought in
stewards is that one be found faithful. 4:3 So for me, it is a minor
matter that I am judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do
not even judge myself. 4:4 For I am not aware of anything against
myself, but I am not acquitted because of this. The one who judges
me is the Lord. 4:5 So then, do not judge anything before the time.
Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light the hidden things of
darkness and reveal the motives of hearts. Then each will receive
recognition [3 tn praise] from God. NET
6) First Pauline revelation of the way of salvation and life under
grace 170
Gal 1:11 Now I [Paul] want you to know, brothers and sisters, that
the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 1:12 For I did not
receive it or learn it from any human source; instead I received it by
a revelation of Jesus Christ. NET (brackets mine)
7) Gal 1:15 But when the one who set me apart from birth and called
me by his grace was pleased 1:16 to reveal his Son in me so that I
could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not go to ask advice from
any human being, NET
8) Eph 1:9 He did this when he revealed to us the secret of his will,
according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 1:10 toward
the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up all things
in Christ—the things in heaven and the things on earth. NET
9) Second Pauline Revelation – the doctrine of the Church as the
Body of Christ 171
Eph 3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the
sake of you Gentiles— 3:2 if indeed you have heard of the
stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3:3 that by
revelation the divine secret was made known to me, as I wrote before
briefly. 3:4 When reading this, you will be able to understand my
insight into this secret of Christ. 3:5 Now this secret was not
disclosed to people in former generations as it has now been revealed
to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, 3:6 namely, that
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through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of
the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. 3:7 I
became a servant of this gospel according to the gift of God’s grace
that was given to me by the exercise of his power. 3:8 To me—less
than the least of all the saints—this grace was given, to proclaim to
the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ 3:9 and to enlighten
everyone about God’s secret plan—a secret that has been hidden for
ages in God who has created all things. 3:10 The purpose of this
enlightenment is that through the church the multifaceted wisdom of
God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the
heavenly realms. 3:11 This was according to the eternal purpose that
he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, NET
10) Eph 6:19 Pray for me also, that I may be given the message when I
begin to speak—that I may confidently make known the mystery of
the gospel, 6:20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I
may be able to speak boldly as I ought to speak. NET
11) The Pauline “My Gospel” (Rom 2:16) that combines life under
grace and the Body of Christ, which is fully developed
Christianity.
Col 1:21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your
minds as expressed through your evil deeds, 1:22 but now he has
reconciled you by his physical body through death to present you
holy, without blemish, and blameless before him— 1:23 if indeed
you remain in the faith, established and firm, without shifting from
the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been
preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its
servant.
1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my
physical body—for the sake of his body, the church—what is lacking
in the sufferings of Christ. 1:25 I became a servant of the church
according to the stewardship45 from God—given to me for you—in
order to complete46 the word of God, 1:26 that is, the mystery that
has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been
revealed to his saints. 1:27 God wanted to make known to them the
glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ
in you, the hope of glory. 1:28 We proclaim him by instructing and
teaching all people with all wisdom so that we may present every
person mature in Christ. 1:29 Toward this goal I also labor,
struggling according to his power that powerfully works in me.
NET
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45tn BDAG 697 s.v. οίκονοµία 1.b renders the term here as “divine
office.”
46tn See BDAG 828 s.v. λ ηρόω 3. The idea here seems to be that
the apostle wants to “complete the word of God” in that he wants to
preach it to every person in the known world (cf. Rom 15:19). See P. T.
O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 82.

12) Col 4:3 At the same time pray for us too, that God may open a door
for the message so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for
which I am in chains. NET

13) 1 Tim 3:16 And we all agree, our religion contains amazing
revelation:23
He was revealed in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed among Gentiles,
believed on in the world,
taken up in glory. NET

23tn Grk “great is the mystery of [our] religion,” or “great is the

mystery of godliness.” The word “mystery” denotes a secret previously
hidden in God, but now revealed and made widely known (cf. Rom
16:25; 1 Cor 2:7; 4:1; Eph 1:9; 3:3, 4, 9; 6:19; Col 1:26-27; 4:3).
“Religion” (εύσέβεια, eusebeia) is a word used frequently in the
pastorals with a range of meanings: (1) a certain attitude toward God—
“devotion, reverence”; (2) the conduct that befits that attitude—
“godliness, piety”; and (3) the whole system of belief and approach to
God that forms the basis for such attitude and conduct— “religion,
creed.” See BDAG 412-13 s.v.; 2 Tim 3:5; 4 Macc 9:6-7, 29-30; 15:1-3;
17:7. So the following creedal statements are illustrations of the great
truths that the church is charged with protecting (v. 15).

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PART THREE – EARTH AND SEAS
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be
gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land
appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth;
and the gathering together of the waters he called Seas:
and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the
earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the
fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in
itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth
brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after its kind,
and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after
its kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening
and the morning were the third day.

Genesis i. 9-13

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The Announcement of Grace

hÑÉÇ à{|á eÉv~ \ ã|ÄÄ uâ|Äw Åç V{âÜv{4

All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink.
For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them,
and the rock was Christ.172

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 rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
The Epistles of Paul nothing, but unfolds everything, concerning the nature and purpose of the
law; the ground and means of the believer’s justification, sanctification,
“THE Epistles of the and glory; the meanings of the death of Christ, and the position, walk,
Apostle Paul have a expectation, and service of the Christian.
very distinctive char- Paul, converted by the personal ministry of the Lord in glory, is
acter. All Scripture up to distinctively the witness to a glorified Christ, Head over all things to the
the Gospel accounts of church which is His body, as the Eleven were to Christ in the flesh, the
the crucifixion, looks Son of Abraham and of David. …
forward to the cross, and Two periods in the life of Paul after his conversion are passed over in
has primarily in view silence which is itself significant – the journey into Arabia, from which
Israel, and the blessing the Apostle returned in full possession of the Gospel explanation as set
of the earth through the forth in Galatians and Romans; and the two silent years in prison in
Messianic kingdom. But Caesarea, between his arrest at Jerusalem and his deportation to Rome.
“hid in God” (Eph 3:9) It was inevitable that a trained intellect like that of Paul, a convinced
was an unrevealed fact – believer in Mosaism and, until his conversion on the Damascus road, an
the interval of time eager opposer of Christianity, must seek the underlying principles of the
between the crucifixion Gospel. Immediately after his conversion he preached Jesus as the
and resurrection of Messiah; but the relation of the Gospel to the Law, and, in a lesser
Christ and His return in degree, to the great Jewish promises, needed clear adjustment if
glory; and an unrevealed Christianity was to be a reasonable faith, and not a mere dogma. In
purpose – the outcalling Arabia Paul sought and found that adjustment through revelation by the
of the ecclesia, the Spirit. Out of it came the doctrinal explanation of salvation by grace
church which is Christ’s through faith, wholly apart from the law, embodied in Galatians and
body. In Mt. 16 our Lord announced that purpose, but wholly without Romans.
explanation as to how, when, or of what materials, that church should be But the Gospel brings the believer into great relationships – to the
built, or what should be its position, relationships, privileges, or duties. Father, to other believers, to Christ, and to the future purposes of God. It
All this constitutes precisely the Epistles of Paul. They develop the is not only a salvation from sin and the consequences of sin, but into an
doctrine of the church. In his letters to seven Gentile churches (in Rome, amazing place in the Divine counsels. Furthermore, the new thing, the
Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colosse, Thessalonica), the church, church in its various aspects and functions, demanded clear revelation.
the “mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in And these are the chief themes of the Epistles written by Paul from
God” (Eph 3:9), is fully revealed, and fully instructed as to her unique Rome, and commonly called the Prison Epistles – Ephesians, Phillipians,
place in the counsels and purposes of God. and Colossians. It is contrary to the method of inspiration, as explained
Through Paul alone we know that the church is not an organization, by Paul himself, to suppose that these crowning revelations were made
but an organism, the body of Christ; instinct with His life, and heavenly apart from any deep meditation, demanding quietness and earnest
in calling, promise, and destiny. Through Him alone we know the nature, seeking. It seems most congruous with the events of Paul’s life to
purpose, and form of organization of local churches, and the right suppose that these great revelations came during the silent years at
conduct of such gatherings. Through him alone do we know that “we Caesarea – often spoken of as wasted.” 173
shall not all sleep,” that “the dead in Christ shall rise first,” and that
living saints shall be “changed” and caught up to meet the LORD in the
air at His return.
But to Paul was also committed the unfolding of the doctrines of
grace which were latent in the teachings of Jesus Christ. Paul originates
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“I will build my church”
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” … “But who do you say
that I am?”
The Biblical revelation of grace begins when Peter becomes the first
to receive divine knowledge from the Father regarding the identity of the
OT Jesus Christ. Christ, the Huge Rock, then announces that others will
be “called out” by the Father, through the knowledge of the identity of
the Son, to join Peter. The English word translated church, Greek
ekklesia, means - those who are called.
Mtw 16:12 Then they understood that he had not told them to be on
guard against the yeast in bread, but against the teaching of the
Pharisees and Sadducees.
16:13 When Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his
disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 16:14 They
answered, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and others
Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” (the Christological problem of
opinion)
16:15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16:16 Simon
Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
16:17 And Jesus answered him, “You are blessed, Simon son of
Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my
Father in heaven! (personal Christology)
16:18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build
my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 16:19 I will
give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on
earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on
earth will have been released in heaven.” 16:20 Then he instructed his
disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. NET (the new
Church, the new Christology of power and grace)
From the perspective of today, the first question would aptly pertain
to all of Christendom, the history of NT theology, the complete sphere of
true Christian and false Christian profession and cultic practices. What is
for us a retrospective was given in a foreview by Our Lord to his
disciples earlier in Matthew 13. This previous teaching would seem to be
prerequisite to the second question, the personal interrogative. Which is,
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
in fact, the mother of all questions that is one’s response to the gospel
message. This personal response to Jesus Christ is answered in the
positive, neutral, or negative by everyone living at any point in time
since the earthly ministry of the heavenly Church began to spread the
Gospel of grace.
It is answered in the neutral, by choice or lack of opportunity, by
those who simply do not accept, they remain as they are. Now the
negative are the ones who are complicated only by sincerity or the lack
thereof in their common rejection of Christ as either the One who saves
eternally or the One who gives only assistance. Neutral or negative there
is no divine response, thus no divine effect. This is no riddle. The
overwhelming majority of Christendom offers only a gospel of a Christ
who secured the forgiveness of sins, and that only partially. Which is not
what is announced here, nor is it salvation for all who believe in His
Name, which is announced here. The negative gospel of the forgiveness
of sin, which is not the eternal life of salvation, offers only a negative
choice. Thereby there is no distinction between the world and the
majority of organized Christian religion. Laodicean lukewarm warm
water never changes state and converts to a gas.
Continuing with Matthew 16 … Having answered correctly, Jesus
claimed that Peter did not receive his knowledge from men, but from His
Father, thus it was a divine revelation. Peter’s response confirmed His
humanity, His work, and His deity. One’s view or understanding of
Christ is vital. All religious error is based in a distortion of the person,
the work, and the deity of Jesus Christ. Christianity is being rightly
related to Christ. To be in Christ, is a perpetual state of being not
personal behavior or religious creed.
One may notice the
warning in verse 12
immediately before the
divine revelation of
Christ by the Father.
Then in verse 18, im-
mediately following the
revelation and warning,
the early Catholic Church
authorized itself into
existence, in direct con-
tradiction to Peter’s own
words (cf. 1 Pet 2:4-9).
Peter and rock, Greek
petros and Petra, a small stone (Gk. masculine) and a huge rock (Gk.
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feminine), in a statement that immediately followed the revelation of
Jesus as the Son of God to a Jew who well understood the Huge Rock
that gushed forth water in the desert of Exodus and the promised
Messiah. As the non-verbal is the greater part of face to face
conversation, one may well envision Jesus in momentous joy, as this is a
play on words, pointing first to Peter, then identifying Himself as the
Huge Rock, and finally to the group of disciples. The group of
individuals that would be “called out,” the Church.
“Upon Myself (a huge rock – the resurrected Messiah and Son of the
living God) I will build my believers (the church -- those who are
called by my Father)”
John 7:37 On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood
up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and
7:38 let the one who believes in me drink.103 Just as the scripture
says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water.’” 7:39 (Now
he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were
going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus
was not yet glorified.) NET
103tn An alternate way of punctuating the Greek text of vv. 37-38 results
in this translation: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
The one who believes in me, just as the scripture says, ‘From within him
ινέτω (pintō), but this may be
will flow rivers of living water.’” John 7:37-38 has been the subject of
considerable scholarly debate. Certainly Jesus picks up on the literal
water used in the ceremony and uses it figuratively. But what does the
figure mean? According to popular understanding, it refers to the coming
of the Holy Spirit to dwell in the believer. There is some difficulty in
locating an OT text which speaks of rivers of water flowing from within
such a person, but Isa 58:11 is often suggested: “The Lord will
continually lead you, he will feed you even in parched regions. He will
give you renewed strength, and you will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring that continually produces water.” Other passages which
have been suggested are Prov 4:23 and 5:15; Isa 44:3 and 55:1; Ezek
47:1 ff.; Joel 3:18; and Zech 13:1 and 14:8. The meaning in this case is
that when anyone comes to believe in Jesus the scriptures referring to the
activity of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life are fulfilled. “When the
believer comes to Christ and drinks he not only slakes his thirst but
receives such an abundant supply that veritable rivers flow from him” (L.
Morris, John [NICNT], 424-25). In other words, with this view, the
believer himself becomes the source of the living water. This is the
traditional understanding of the passage, often called the “Eastern
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
interpretation” following Origen, Athanasius, and the Greek Fathers. It is
supported by such modern scholars as Barrett, Behm, Bernard, Cadman,
Carson, R. H. Lightfoot, Lindars, Michaelis, Morris, Odeberg, Schlatter,
Schweizer, C. H. Turner, M. M. B. Turner, Westcott, and Zahn. In
addition it is represented by the following Greek texts and translations:
KJV, RSV, NASB, NA27, and UBS4. D. A. Carson, John, 322-29, has a
thorough discussion of the issues and evidence although he opts for the
previous interpretation. There is another interpretation possible, however,
called the “Western interpretation” because of patristic support by Justin,
Hippolytus, Tertullian, and Irenaeus. Modern scholars who favor this
view are Abbott, Beasley-Murray, Bishop, Boismard, Braun, Brown,
Bullinger, Bultmann, Burney, Dodd, Dunn, Guilding, R. Harris,
Hoskyns, Jeremias, Loisy, D. M. Stanley, Thüsing, N. Turner, and
Zerwick. This view is represented by the translation in the RSV margin
and by the NEB. It is also sometimes called the “christological
interpretation” because it makes Jesus himself the source of the living
water in v. 38, by punctuating as follows: (37b) ejavn ti diya'/
ejrcevsqw prov" me, kaiV pinevtw (38) oJ pisteuvwn
eij" ejmev. KaqwV" ei\pen hJ grafhv, potamoiV ejk
th'" koiliva" aujtou' rJeuvsousin u{dato"
zw'nto". Three crucial questions are involved in the solution of this
problem: (1) punctuation; (2) determining the antecedent of aujtou'
(autou); and (3) the source of the scripture quotation. With regard to (1)
Ì66 does place a full stop after
theologically motivated and could have been added later. Grammatical
and stylistic arguments are inconclusive. More important is (2) the
determination of the antecedent of aujtou'. Can any other Johannine
parallels be found which make the believer the source of the living
water? John 4:14 is often mentioned in this regard, but unlike 4:14 the
water here becomes a source for others also. Neither does 14:12 provide
a parallel. Furthermore, such an interpretation becomes even more
problematic in light of the explanation given in v. 39 that the water refers
to the Holy Spirit, since it is extremely difficult to see the individual
believer becoming the ‘source’ of the Spirit for others. On the other hand,
the Gospel of John repeatedly places Jesus himself in this role as source
of the living water: 4:10, of course, for the water itself; but according to
20:22 Jesus provides the Spirit (cf. 14:16). Furthermore, the symbolism
of 19:34 is difficult to explain as anything other than a deliberate allusion
to what is predicted here. This also explains why the Spirit cannot come
to the disciples unless Jesus “departs”. As to (3) the source of the
scripture quotation, M. E. Boismard has argued that John is using a
targumic rendering of Ps 78:15-16 which describes the water brought
forth from the rock in the wilderness by Moses (“Les citations
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targumiques dans le quatrième évangile,” RB 66 [1959]: 374-78). The
frequency of Exodus motifs in the Fourth Gospel (paschal lamb, bronze
serpent, manna from heaven) leads quite naturally to the supposition that
the author is here drawing on the account of Moses striking the rock in
the wilderness to bring forth water (Num 20:8 ff.). That such imagery
was readily identified with Jesus in the early church is demonstrated by
Paul’s understanding of the event in 1 Cor 10:4. Jesus is the Rock from
which the living water—the Spirit—will flow. Carson (see note above)
discusses this imagery although he favors the traditional or “Eastern”
interpretation. In summary, the latter or “Western” interpretation is to be
preferred.
This group of individuals built on the Huge Rock cannot be held by
death, as later, Jesus was not held by death. The “you” may be
understood as the Church of individuals “to be called out” that He had
just announced, and these individuals would have access to the Kingdom
of Heaven that was explained to His disciples, in its mystery form, earlier
in Matthew 13. The keys would be given to them only by Jesus Himself.
These keys would afford the ones thus called out access to the divine
power of heaven through the person of Jesus Christ. May I suggest that
keys are to be understood as the very words of the NT that identify Jesus.
As this announcement of the Church was yet prior to the power that
would be released to the individual by His death and resurrection, the
disciples were told to tell no one that He was the Christ, the Son of the
living God.
Eph 2:8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God; 2:9 it is not from works, so that no
one can boast. 2:10 For we are his workmanship, having been
created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared
beforehand so we may do them. (bold highlights mine) NET
sn So that we may do them. Before the devil began to control our walk in
sin and among sinful people, God had already planned good works for us
to do
The Papal Universal Church from the beginning had appropriated the
person of Jesus Christ, the Rock. For the whole world to see, high up
inside the colossal dome of St. Peter’s Cathedral in the Vatican, the huge
inscription “you are Peter, and on this rock” is in Latin, and the
distinctions in the original Greek language, those of size and gender, are
not revealed to the reader. There is an Italian truism, “Translation,
traitor.” The central tenet of 4th century Catholicism has always been an
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
unsecured salvation based on human effort and suffering. Self applied
Law is the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. A salvation which is
not based on the only positive choice of Christ alone, who is the Huge
Rock.
Eph 1:22 And God put all things under Christ’s feet, and he gave
him to the church as head over all things. 1:23 Now the church is
his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. NET (bold
highlights mine)
The early misuse of the visible Church by men dressed in Roman
senatorial robes is not the same Church as those who have been called
out and built on Jesus. The wholesale robbery of Jewish replacement
theology by amillennialism and the proper place and value of the Church
announced in Matthew 16:18, is explained in the following written by
Dr. Lewis Chafer:
A NT mystery is a hitherto unrevealed purpose of God (CF. Mtw
13:11). It therefore follows that God’s direct authority is now exercised
in the realization of the features of this age which are thus termed
mysteries. On the Church and her relation to NT mysteries, Dr. Rollin
Thomas Chafer has written: “The Church does not appear in the OT. As
something new in God’s provision for Jew and Gentile, the true Church
and some of its unique characteristics are spoken of by Paul as mysteries.
These mysteries were withheld from OT saints, but are freely revealed to
NT believers, hence the Church is not found in the OT. These mysteries
include the Church itself, its Head, its message of grace, the Body of
Christ as an organism made up of saved Jews and Gentiles, indwelt by
Christ as the hope of glory, its ministry controlled by the Lord Himself,
its ultimate removal from the earthly scene by resurrection and
translation, and its approaching marriage as the Bride of the Lamb. Not a
hint of these things appear in the OT. On the contrary this is the ethnic
group which the Lord spoke of when He said, “I will build my Church,”
an accomplishment which was still future at the time of its
announcement. Never does Scripture confuse it with Israel - past, present
or future” (The Science of Biblical Hermeneutics, p.43). In each of these
mysteries in which Dr. R. T. Chafer enumerates - … it is to be noted that
the originating of it, its progress, and its consummation are wholly
wrought of God. … When the Church is completed and removed from
the earth, every secondary feature of divine authority will automatically
reach its termination too. In other words, the Church is not waiting for
some crisis to be reached in the sphere of human governments, but
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instead the governments are muddling on until the divine purpose in the
Church is consummated. (Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer
Vol 5 p. 350)
In Matthew chapter 13, seven “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven”
were revealed to the Apostles. These parables describe conditions in the
world that result from the preaching of the Gospel in this present age, “a
sower went forth to sow” (Mtw 3:3). Jesus speaks the Word of Truth to
all true believers: “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of
the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath,
to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever
hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath” (Mtw 13:11-
12). Dr. C. I. Scofield gives the following detailed note the NT
“mysteries” of Christianity:
(13:11) A “mystery” in Scripture is a previously hidden truth, now
divinely revealed, but in which a supernatural element still remains
despite the revelation. The greater mysteries are: (1) The mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven (Mt 13:3-50); (2) the mystery of Israel’s blindness
during this age (Rom 11:25, with context); (3) the mystery of the
translation of living saints at the end of this age (1 Cor 15:51, 52; 1 Thes
4:14-17); (4) the mystery of the N.T. church as one body composed of
Jew and Gentile (Eph 3:1-11; Rom 16:25; Eph 6:19; Col 4:3); (5) the
mystery of the church as the bride of Christ ( Eph 5:28-32); (6) the
mystery of the inliving Christ (Gal 2:20; Col 1:26, 27); (7) the “mystery
of God even Christ,” i.e. Christ as the incarnate fullness of the Godhead
embodied, in whom all the divine wisdom for man subsists (Col 2:2, 9; 1
Cor 2:7); (8) the mystery of the process by which godlikeness is restored
to man (1 Tim 3:16); (9) the mystery of iniquity (2 Thes 2:7; Mt 13:33;
(10) the mystery of the seven stars (Rev 1:20); (11) the mystery of
Babylon (Rev 17:5-7). (The Old Scofield Study System, Dr. C. I. Scofield,
p 1014)
The Gospel of the Grace of God
In Matthew chapter 16, having announced a Church built on His
work, the resurrected Jesus offers Himself as all sufficient. The following
is a presentation of the glorious Good News of Christ and salvation by
the works of grace. In all seriousness, heaven certainly is not a reward for
personal merit - there is no forgiveness in heaven after death – and, there
are no scales for determining if the dead are saved. For the following
reason it is a wicked lie - it is too late to earn a reward, they are dead. All
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Christians go to heaven and receive rewards in heaven for “good works”
done in the power of Christ, but heaven itself is not a reward, it is a
home. The crystal clear teaching of the NT is that eternal life and
salvation from the effects of sin, that is inborn, must be acquired by faith
before death. You must be born from above while you are still alive, dear
reader. Belief places one into a new life with Christ. Unbelief continued
to the point of death leaves one joined to the mass of condemned
humanity.
Gal 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who
called you by the grace of Christ and are following a different
gospel— 1:7 not that there really is another gospel, but there are some
who are disturbing you and wanting to distort the gospel of Christ.
1:8 But even if we (or an angel from heaven) should preach a gospel
contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be condemned to hell!
1:9 As we have said before, and now I say again, if any one is
preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be
condemned to hell! NET
Job 9:2 How can a man be in the right before God? NASB
Gal 3:10-11 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a
curse; … Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is
evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” NASB
Rom 4:5 To the one who does not work, but believes in Him who
justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness. NASB
The truth is God has placed the scales in equilibrium for the living
The scales have nothing to register, but this is not salvation, it is an
event accomplished in the past – on the cross. A sinner minus his sins, or
demerit, is still not a Christian as this is the common shared estate of
every living person since God the Father reconciled the world to Himself
by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross (cf. all of 2
Corinthians chapter 5). God has completed every part of salvation. He
has resolved His own problem of what justice demanded from Him for
sin. God the Father provided the sacrifice, God the Son chose to die, and
God the Holy Spirit applies the value of the death of Christ to each new
believer. All remaining judgment has been given to the Son and God Our
Father can now be both just and the justifier of all sinners who fulfill the
promise He made to His Son. The promise of those who would be given
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to the Son are those who will come to believe in the Son He sent to
reveal His love to the world. One has only to receive Christ. The fact that
anyone ever goes to heaven is to glorify God. As illustrated, man’s
defilement, his sin, has been removed and the scales are now empty.
Each day, in each generation, sin is manifested that has been redeemed in
the past. Nikh is the Greek noun for victory, and only through Christ is
the victory over sin and death complete.
Rom 3:20 For no one is declared righteous before him by the works
of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. 3:21 But
now apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by
the law and the prophets) has been disclosed— 3:22 namely, the
righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all
who believe. For there is no distinction, 3:23 for all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God. 3:24 But they are justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. NET
It is finished and it is free
To attempt to be good in order that one may be accepted of God is
legal by definition and, as to the results obtained, worthless. Man’s sin
was never cancelled by his good deeds done according to the Law or Ten
Commandments. Salvation from the penalty and power of sin is provided
free of charge, gratis, it is “on the house.” Salvation is a gift not a reward.
Secured only through the finished work of Jesus, which manifested the
righteousness of God apart from the Mosaic Law that had been given to
the Jews temporarily. This righteousness canceled out the sin that stands
between an individual and God and released something new in heaven
that angels are witness to; the Father’s immeasurable grace to satisfy His
love for us. The death of Christ on the cross was the light; and the truth;
and the way God loved sinful mankind: “He gave his one and only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world should be saved through him. The one who believes in him
is not condemned. The one who does not believe has been condemned
already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son
of God” (John 3:16-18 NET).
Jesus left this world so that the Holy Spirit would come and prove
wrong those who will change their mind about the truth of sin,
righteousness, and judgment. To prove that all sin is redeemed save one,
the unforgivable sin of unbelief in Christ; that as God-man (the unique
Theanthropos) God’s righteousness was manifested in Christ as He alone
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has conquered sin and death, nailed the Law to the cross by perfectly
fulfilling what no man could ever do, and then ascended to His Father in
heaven; and that by the cross Christ defeated and judged Satan, who
brought the first sin into the universe and then into this world.
Gal 2:19 For through the law I died to the law so that I may live to
God. 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who
live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live
because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me. 2:21 I do not set aside God’s grace, because if
righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for
nothing! NET
The instant before the scales are tipped
Dear reader, if the scales are set in balance, and one cannot add or
subtract from either side, as all sin is applied to the sufficiency of the
blood of Christ, then what can one do to go to heaven? Nothing, but look
down - as your past, present, and future sin is dead and buried with
Christ. There is nothing you can do without Christ and this is the offense
of the gospel, the offense of the cross to pride. Here is where most leave
Christ - buried in the dark with their sin, buried in the dark with the Law
- to go off and save themselves, determined to get what they deserve.
Nevertheless, in this borderland of life and death, some “do not set aside
God’s grace” and are drawn to look up from where they are, “the Son of
Man must be lifted up,” up into “the Sunrise from on high who shall visit
us, to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.” With
eyes filled by the light of salvation, the true light, they find faith. They
see grace Himself and know a living ascended Jesus for the first time.
Their Savior who loved them before He died for them. The Lamb of God
who demands nothing, who strikes no blows nor condemns. Miracles do
happen. A new Christian is born. Faith is the channel, grace is the means,
and eternal salvation the effect.
2 Cor 5:21 God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us,
so that in him we would become the righteousness of God. NET
Col 3:8ff-9 … that I may gain Christ, 3:9 and be found in him, not
because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but
because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s
faithfulness—a righteousness from God that is in fact based on
Christ’s faithfulness. NET
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made like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he could
God has tipped the scales become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God,
to make atonement for the sins of the people. 2:18 For since he
Anyone who places their himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who
trust in the past substitutionary are tempted. NET
death of Jesus Christ as a living
personal Savoir receives the John 14:2 There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house.
Holy Spirit of God and a merit NET
not their own, the merit of the
righteousness of Christ is added
to the scale. By this means, one
becomes a perfect - but
unperfected - new creation. A
Christian who is a justified
child of God endowed with full
adult rights as a citizen of
heaven through adoption. A
Christian is one who is baptized
into the family of God by the
Holy Spirit at the moment of
their new birth. A Christian is
fathered of God and a brother
of Christ, who shares in the
very same eternal life of God.
Christians will live without end in a heavenly household provided by
their faithful Father just as Jesus promised in His parting words to all of
His brothers and sisters. “As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord” – Col. ii. 6.

Heb 2:10 For it was fitting for him, for whom and through whom all
things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer of
their salvation perfect through sufferings. 2:11 For indeed he who
makes holy and those being made holy all have the same origin, and
so he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 2:12 saying, “I
will proclaim your name to my brothers; in the midst of the
assembly I will praise you.” 2:13 Again he says, “I will be confident
in him,” and again, “Here I am, with the children God has given
me.” 2:14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he
likewise shared in their humanity, so that through death he could
destroy the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil), 2:15
and set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear
of death. 2:16 For surely his concern is not for angels, but he is
concerned for Abraham’s descendants. 2:17 Therefore he had to be
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THE life of faith is represented as receiving – an act which implies the
very opposite of anything like merit. It is simply the acceptance of a gift.
As the earth drinks in the rain, as the sea receives the streams, as night
accepts light from the stars, so we, giving nothing partake freely of the
grace of God. The saints are not, by nature, wells, or streams, they are
but cisterns into which the living water flows; they are empty vessels into
which God pours His salvation. The idea of receiving implies a sense of
realization, making it a matter of reality. One cannot very well receive a
shadow; we receive that which is substantial: so it is in the life of faith,
Christ becomes real to us. While we are without faith, Jesus is a mere
name to us – a person who lived a long time ago, so long ago that His life
is only a history to us now! By an act of faith Jesus becomes a real
person in the consciousness of our heart. But receiving also means
grasping or getting possession of. The thing which I receive becomes my
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own: I appropriate to myself that which is given. When I receive Jesus,
He becomes my Savior, so mine that neither life nor death shall be able to
rob me of Him. All this is to receive Christ - to take Him as God’s free
gift; to realize Him in my heart, and to appropriate Him as mine.
Salvation may be described as the blind receiving sight, the deaf
receiving hearing, the dead receiving life; but we have not only received
these blessings, we have received CHRIST JESUS Himself. It is true that
He gave us life from the dead. He gave us pardon of sin; He gave us
imputed righteousness. These are all precious things, but we are not
content with them; we have received Christ Himself. The Son of God has
been poured unto us, and we have received Him, and appropriated Him.
What a heart full Jesus must be, for heaven itself cannot contain Him! –
Morning Nov. 8
Morning and Evening Devotions, Charles H. Spurgeon
The Baptism by the Holy Spirit
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be
Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have all been made
to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13). KJV
Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. (1 Cor
12:27) KJV
Acts 5:32 And we are witnesses of these events, and so is the Holy
Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” NET
1 Cor 6:17 But the one united with the Lord is one spirit with him.
NET
Gal 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed
yourselves with Christ. NET
In this ministry of God, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, is the single
greatest difference between the three systems of divine government that
are contained in the words spoken by Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels. The
ad interim Mosaic Law that Jesus lived and completed had no enabling
power provided by God in behalf of the individual. All Law obligations
were to be done in the power of the flesh and self-righteousness before
any blessings would result. Likewise in the Kingdom age to come, the
teachings in Matthew 5-7, the Beatitudes and Similitude, are pure Law
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following the order of obligation first and then blessings. This future age
is characterized by the Rod of Iron wielded by Jesus as King over Israel
and all other nations. The future Kingdom Law as revealed by Jesus is
much more severe than the completed Mosaic Law, as obligatory actions
are elevated to internalized attitudes. No mention is made in the
Beatitudes regarding faith, belief, or the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
The present age of grace requires the believer to depend on Christ not
legal effort. All life principles are to be accomplished by the Holy Spirit
working through the Christian on a basis of faith and reliance as one who
is accepted in the Beloved, not one working to be accepted. This
distinction between law and grace separated by the two Advents of Christ
is most vital to a proper understanding of the benefits and freedom
granted to all Christians. Any commingling of law and grace can only be
a terribly perplexing failure. The self-effort, merit system for salvation
can no more secure the keeping of one’s faith and service than it can
secure salvation by faith alone. Under the current unconditional covenant
of grace made in the blood of Christ, God guarantees the daily
enablement through the power of the Holy Spirit and the future security
of every Christian child of God.
Untold confusion makes for abounding error regarding God’s
ministry to each new believer in the work of the Holy Spirit, and none
more so than the baptism by the Holy Spirit. A proper understanding of
this work of God contains the knowledge of the position and possibilities
of the Christian at the moment of their salvation and beyond. Dr. Merrill
Unger writes:
The baptism with the Holy Spirit is one of the most vital and
important of Scriptural doctrines. Its vast significance can be readily
appreciated when it is realized that it is that divine operation of God’s
Spirit which places the believer “in Christ,” in His Mystical Body, the
Church, and which makes him one with all other believers in Christ, one
in life, the very life of the Son of God Himself, one in Him, a common
Head, one in sharing His common salvation, hope, and destiny. Indeed
but a cursory examination will reveal the importance to the believer’s
position and experience, his standing and state. The astonishing thing,
however, is that a subject of such momentous importance, with such far
reaching effects upon Christian position and practice, should suffer so
woefully at the hands of both its enemies and friends. From its enemies it
has suffered not so much from open hostility or opposition, as from
chronic neglect. It is simply ignored, or at most treated superficially.
Those who reject dispensational teaching, who posit an “all-time grace
covenant”, who make no adequate distinction between the “assembly” of
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Israel in the wilderness and the Church as the Body of Christ, simply do
not know what to do with it. It remains, and must continue to remain, a
Scriptural conundrum to all such … Put into orderly arrangement the
following conclusions are offered: The baptism with the Holy Spirit (1)
Is a theme of paramount import, vitally affecting the believer’s life and
walk, his standing and state, his position and possessions in Christ. (2) Is
one of he most abused and confused subjects in the range of biblical
theology. (3) The cause of the confusion is confounding this doctrine
with regeneration, with receiving the Spirit, the indwelling, the sealing, a
“second” blessing”, the filling, and with water baptism. (4) The dire
results of confusion are divisions, misunderstandings, disunity,
obscuration of the gospel of grace, perversion of the truth of the
believer’s union with Christ, and sad hindrances to the holiness of walk
and life. (5) Careful study of all scriptures bearing on the subject has
disclosed that the baptism with the Holy Spirit is merely one of the
various ministries performed by the Holy Spirit since He came into the
world: that every believer the moment that he believes in Christ is
regenerated, baptized, indwelt, and sealed for all eternity, and has a duty
and privilege of continually being filled for life and service. (6) No
instance in the Gospels or Acts, when seen in proper dispensational
perspective, is at variance with this truth. That there is no ground in all
the Word of God for the error of the baptism with the Holy Spirit being
considered as a “second experience’ after regeneration becomes patent.
(7) Water baptism is not in view at all in Romans 6:3-4; Galatians 3:27;
Ephesians 4:5; Colossians 2:12; and to read it into these passages is to
becloud the truth, and to increase the confusion. (Systematic Theology,
Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 6, pp 159-61)
On this theme of vital importance to understanding the works of
grace, Dr. John Walvoord writes in greater detail:
A. THE MEANING OF THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Probably no
other doctrine of the Spirit has created more confusion than the baptism
of the Spirit. Much of this stems from the fact that the baptism of the
Spirit began at the same time that other great works of the Spirit
occurred, such as regeneration, indwelling, and sealing. Also, in some
instances baptism of the Spirit and the filling of the Spirit occurred at the
same time. This has led some expositors to make the two occurrences
synonymous. The conflict in interpretation, however, is resolved if one
carefully examines the Scripture relating to the baptism of the Spirit. In
all, there are eleven specific references to Spirit baptism in the New
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Testament (Matt 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:5; 11:16;
Rom 6:1-4; 1 Cor 12:13; Gal 3:27; Eph 4:5; Col 2:12).
B. THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT BEFORE PENTECOST. In
examining the references in the four gospels and in Acts 1:5, it becomes
clear that the baptism of the Spirit is regarded in each instance as a future
event which had never occurred previously. There is no mention of the
baptism of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, and the four gospels
unite with Acts 1:5 in anticipating the baptism of the Spirit as a future
event. In the gospels, the baptism of the Spirit is presented as a work
which Christ will do by the Holy Spirit as His agent, as for instance, in
Matthew 3:11 where John the Baptist predicts that Christ “shall baptize
you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” The reference to the baptism by
fire seems to refer to the second coming of Christ and the judgments
which will occur at that time and is also mentioned in Luke 3:16, but not
in Mark 1:8 or John 1:33. Sometimes the agency of the Holy Spirit is
expressed by the instrumental use of the Greek preposition en as in
Matthew 3:11, Luke 3:16, and John 1:33. Whether or not the preposition
is used, the thought is clear that Christ baptized by the Holy Spirit. Some
have taken this as being different than the baptism of the Spirit as treated
in Acts and the Epistles, but the preferable view is that the baptism of the
a Spirit is the same in the entire New Testament . The baptism is by the
Holy Spirit in any case. The norm of the doctrine is expressed by Christ
Himself in that He contrasted His baptism by John with the future
baptism of believers by the Holy Spirit, which was to occur after His
ascension. Christ said, “For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall
be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence” (Acts 1:5).
C. ALL CHRISTIANS BAPTIZED BY THE SPIRIT IN THE PRESENT AGE.
Because of the confusion as to the nature and time of the baptism of the
Spirit, it has not always been recognized that every Christian is baptized
by the Spirit into the body of Christ at the moment of salvation. This fact
is brought out in the central passage on the baptism of the Spirit in the
New Testament in 1 Corinthians 12:13. There it states, “For by one Spirit
are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles,
whether we be bond or free; and have all been made to drink into one
Spirit.” In this passage, the Greek preposition en is correctly translated
“by” in what is called the instrumental use of this preposition. This
instrumental use is illustrated by the same preposition in Luke 4:1 where
Christ was said to be “led by the Spirit into the wilderness,” and by the
expression “by you” I 1 Corinthians 6:2, by the expression “by him” in
Colossians 1:16, and by the phrase “by God the Father” in Jude 1. The
allegation that the preposition is not used of persons in Scripture is
wrong. Accordingly, while it is true, as 1 Corinthians 12:13 indicates,
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that by the baptism of the Spirit we enter into a new relationship to the
Spirit, the thought is not so much that we are brought into the Spirit as
that we are by the Spirit brought into the body of Christ.
The expression “we all” clearly refers to all Christians, not to all men,
and it should not be limited to some particular group of Christians. The
truth is rather that every Christian from the moment he is saved is
baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ. Thus Ephesians 4:5 refers
to “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” While rites of water baptism vary,
there is only one baptism of the Spirit. The universality of this ministry is
also brought out by the fact that never in Scripture is the Christian
exhorted to be baptized by the Spirit, whereas he is exhorted to be filled
with the Spirit (Eph 5:18).
D. THE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT INTO THE BODY OF CHRIST. Two
main results are accomplished by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The
first is, the believer is baptized or placed into the body of Christ; related
to this is the second feature of baptism into Christ Himself. These two
simultaneous results of the baptism of the Spirit are tremendously
significant.
By Spirit baptism the believer is placed into the body of Christ in the
living union of all true believers in the present age. Here baptism has its
primary meaning of being placed in, initiated into, and given a new
abiding relationship. The baptism of the Spirit, accordingly, relates
believers to all the great body of truth that is revealed in Scripture
concerning the body of Christ.
The body of believers, thus formed by the baptism of the Spirit and
increased as additional members are added, is mentioned frequently in
Scripture (Acts 2:47; 1 Cor 6:15; 12:12-14; Eph 2:16; 4:4-5, 16; 5:30-32;
Col 1:24; 2:19). Christ is the Head of His body and the One who directs
its activities (1 Cor 11:3; Eph 1:22-23; 5:23-24; Col 1:18). The body thus
formed and directed by Christ is also nurtured and cared for by Christ
(Eph 5:29; Phil 4:13; Col 2:19). One of the works of Christ is that of
sanctifying the body of Christ in preparation for its presentation in glory
(Eph 5:25-27).
As a member of the body of Christ, the believer is also given special
gifts or functions in the body of Christ (Rom 12:3-8; 1 Cor 12:27-28;
Eph 4:7-16). Being placed into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit not
only ensures the unity of the body without regard to race, culture, or
background, but also ensures that each believer has his particular place
and function and opportunity to serve God within the framework of his
own personality and gifts. The body as a whole is “fitly joined together”
(Eph 4:16); that is, although the members differ, the body as a whole is
well planned and organized.
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E. THE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT INTO CHRIST. In addition to his
relationship to fellow believers in the body of Christ, one who is baptized
by the Spirit has a new position in that he is declared to be in Christ. This
was anticipated in the prediction of John 14:20, where Christ said the
night before His crucifixion, “At that day ye shall know that I am in my
father, and ye in me , and I in you.” The expression “ye in me”
anticipated the future baptism of the Spirit.
Because the believer is in Christ, he is identified in what Christ did in
His death, resurrection, and glorification. This is brought out in Romans
6:1-4, where it states that the believer is baptized into Jesus Christ and
into His death, and if in His death, he is buried with Christ and raised
with Christ. This has often been taken as representing the rite of water
baptism, but in any case it also represents the work of the Holy Spirit
without which the rite would be meaningless. A similar passage is found
in Colossians 2:12. Our identification with Christ through the baptism of
the Spirit is an important basis for all that God does for the believer in
time and eternity.
Because a believer is in Christ, he also has the life of Christ which is
shared by the head and the body. The relationship of Christ to the body
as its Head also is related to the sovereign direction of Christ of His body
just as the mind directs the body in the human body of believers.
F. BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT RELATED TO SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE. In
view of the fact that every Christian is baptized by the Spirit at the
moment of salvation, it is clear that baptism is a work of God to be
understood and received by faith. Although subsequent spiritual
experience may confirm the baptism of the Spirit, the baptism is not in
itself an experience. Baptism, because it is universal and related to our
position in Christ, is an instantaneous act of God and is not a work to be
sought subsequent to being born again.
Much confusion has been wrought by the assertion that Christians
should seek the baptism of the Spirit especially as it was manifested in
speaking in tongues in the early church. While on three instances in Acts
(Chapters 2, 10, and 19) believers spoke in tongues at the same time of
their baptism by the Spirit, it is clear that this was unusual and related to
the transitional character of the book. In all other instances where
salvation took place, there is no mention of speaking in tongues as
attending the baptism of the Spirit.
Further, it is quite clear that while all Christians are baptized by the
Spirit, all Christians did not speak in tongues in the early church. The
whole concept, therefore, of seeking baptism of the Spirit as a means to
an unusual work of God in the life of a Christian is without scriptural
foundation. Even the filling of the Spirit is not manifested in speaking in
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tongues, but rather in the fruit of the Spirit as mentioned in Galatians
5:22-23. The fact is that the Corinthian Christians spoke in tongues
without being filled by the Spirit.
A similar error is sometimes advanced which claims that there are
two baptisms of the Spirit, one in Acts 2 and the other in 1 Corinthians
12:13. A comparison of the conversion of Cornelius in Acts 10-11 with
Acts 2 makes clear that what occurred to Cornelius, a Gentile, was
exactly the same as what had occurred to the disciples on the day of
Pentecost. Peter says in Acts 11:15-17, “And as I began to speak, the
Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I
the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water;
but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as God
gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus
Christ: what was I, that I could withstand God?” Inasmuch as the baptism
of the Spirit places the believer into the body of Christ, it is the same
work from Acts 2 throughout the present dispensation.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is, therefore, important as being the
work of the Spirit which places us in a new union with Christ and our
fellow believers, a new position in Christ, and a new association in the
intimacy of the body of Christ. It is the basis for justification and for all
the work of God which ultimately presents the believer perfect in glory.
174
Working for a false hope by means of a Lordship salvation, salvation
by water baptism, or a second baptism in combination with piety by
means of self-imposed Law obligations that “might” lead to salvation is
preventable. The entire Law anywhere in the Bible is addressed and
intended for God’s chosen earthly people, the Jew of the past completed
Mosaic and the future promised Davidic Kingdom to come. Law is an
earthly servant’s rule of life. Grace is for the heavenly family of God.
With the exception of “to obey the gospel”, one will search the NT in
vain to find a law or rule of life that is addressed to the unsaved of today
(Acts 5:32; Rom 2:8; 2 Thess 1:8; Heb 5:9; 1 Pet 4:17). The OT general
exhortation to the nations is to, “Kiss the Prince, lest He be angry.”
Unsaved mankind in this age of grace is not under law or grace, but is
declared under sin. There is no “social gospel” intended between the two
Advents of Christ. The focus is uniquely on the individual. The message
of grace is one of personal faith for salvation. Suprahuman grace
exhortations in the book of Acts and the Epistles are addressed to the
saved of this age and are to be accomplished not by the Christian, to
avoid sinful self-effort, but through the Christian by daily faith in the
Holy Spirit.
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By ignoring or distorting the truth of the baptism by the Holy Spirit, a
foundational teaching in the New Testament, the lie of heaven as a
reward for good behavior is substituted. Capable only of rationale void of
the propagating power of divine illumination, no matter the name, all
false theologies are dependent on self-effort and thus are mere systems of
Bible ethics made into philosophies of man’s struggle with good and
evil. By this intrinsic limitation, religious humanism cannot be more than
a commendable offer to promote good and limit evil. Whereby, the tragic
comedy of mutual torment results from the self-perception of “good” that
exists between individuals, cultural movements, religions, and nations.
Evil gives silent witness to good and knows it should not exist. Evil is
parasitic and dependent upon good for identity, it never reveals itself as
evil. 175
Man-made systems have deprived an unnumbered mass of humanity
the joy of a Christian life assured by the knowledge of a secure salvation
and the provision of the power of God through dependence in daily faith
on the Holy Spirit. All religious humanism, be it Islam or Protestant
Arminianism under the name of Christianity, has been dreadful, noxious,
and fatal to millions throughout world history. It is tragic, but to be
expected, that self exaltation should dominate Christianity before and
after the Reformation. Glory and praise is due to God in that the through
the ages those who are truly born from above, in or outside these
dominant sterile systems of a dead Law, have not been deprived of God’s
unconditional blessings of grace and a secure salvation in Christ.
The NT Segregation Between Israel and the Church
Gal 3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his
descendant. Scripture does not say, “and to the descendants,”
referring to many, but “and to your descendant,” referring to one,
who is Christ. NET
Gal 3:19 Why then was the law given? It was added because of
transgressions, until the arrival of the descendant to whom the
promise had been made. NET
Gal 3:29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s
descendants, heirs according to the promise. NET
Little recognition is given to the powerful changes brought about by
the resurrection of Christ. As in the Incarnation and His message, Christ
disclosed two separate and widely different purposes, so also, in His
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death and resurrection. For the two “messages’ compare John 3:1-16 (the
kingdom of God) to Matthew 5:20 (the kingdom of heaven). The first
Advent of Christ was the continuation of biblical prophetic promises to
the chosen nation, Israel. These were: the Davidic covenant that
promised a King, that must die and be resurrected, to sit on the throne
forever; and the Abrahamic covenant that promised numerous children,
with the distinction of “dust” and “stars,” earthly and heavenly. The stars
are present day NT Christians who are placed as one with “your
descendant” (Gal 3:16, 29). The dust are future earthly kingdom
inhabitants, following the second advent of Christ. Regarding the dual
purposes in the death and resurrection of Christ, Dr. Lewis Chafer writes:
To Israel His death was a stumbling block (1 Cor 1:23), nor was His
death any part of His office as King over Israel – “Long live the king!”;
yet, in His death, Israel had her share to the extent that He dealt finally
with the sins committed aforetime, which sins had been only covered
according to the provisions of the Old Testament atonement (Rom 3:25).
By His death the way was prepared for any individual Jew to be saved
through faith in Him; and by His death a sufficient ground was secured
whereon God will yet “take away” the sins of that nation at the time
when “all Israel shall be saved” (Rom 11:27). However, the nation Israel
sustains no relation to the resurrection of Christ other than that which
David foresaw, namely, that if Christ died He must be raised again from
the dead in order that He might sit on David’s throne (Ps 16:10; Acts
2:25-31). Over against this, it is revealed that Christ loved the Church
and gave Himself for it (Eph 5:25-27), and that His resurrection is the
beginning of the New Creation of God, which includes the many sons
whom He is bringing into glory (Heb 2:10). In that New Creation
relationship, the believer is in the resurrected Christ and the resurrected
Christ is in the believer. This twofold unity establishes an identity of
relationship which surpasses all human understanding. It is even likened
by Christ to the unity which exists between the Persons of the Godhead
(John 17:21-23). By the baptism of the Spirit, wrought, as it is for
everyone, when one believes (1 Cor 2:13), the saved one is joined to the
Lord (1 Cor 6:17; Gal 3:27), and by that union with the resurrected
Christ is made a partaker of His resurrection life (Col 1:27); is translated
out of the power of the darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love
(Col 1:13); is crucified, dead, and buried with Christ, and is raised to
walk in newness of life (Rom 6:2-4; Col 3:1); is now seated with Christ
in the heavenlies (Eph 2:6); is a citizen of heaven (Phil 3:20); is forgiven
all trespasses (Col 2:13); is justified (Rom 5:1); and blessed with every
spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3). This vast body of truth, which is but slightly
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indicated here, is not found in the Old Testament, nor or the Old
Testament saints ever said to be thus related to the resurrected Christ. It
is impossible for these great disclosures to be fitted into a theological
system which does not distinguish the heavenly character of the Church
in contrast to the earthly character of Israel. This failure on the part of
these systems of theology to discern the character of the true Church,
related wholly, as it is, to the resurrected Christ, accounts for the usual
omission from these theological writings of any extended treatment of
the doctrine of Christ’s resurrection and all related doctrines. …
In the coming kingdom of Messiah the distinction between Israel and
the Church is still more obvious. Israel as a nation, is seen through
prophetic vision is seen to be on the earth as subjects of the kingdom and
in her kingdom glory, while the Church is said to be co-reigning with
Christ (Rev 20:6). As His Bride and Consort, it is the rightful place of the
Church to share in His reign.
Two revelations were given to the Apostle Paul: (1) that of salvation
to infinite perfection for individual Jew and Gentile alike through faith in
Christ on the ground of His death and resurrection (Gal 1:11-12). That
this salvation is an exercise of grace which far surpasses anything
hitherto experienced in the Old Testament, is clearly revealed in 1 Peter
1:10-11, where it is stated, “Of which salvation the prophets have
inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should
come unto you.” And (2) that of the new divine purpose in the outcalling
of the Church (Eph 3:6). This new purpose is not merely that Gentiles are
to be blessed. Old Testament prophecy had long predicted Gentile
blessings. The purpose consists in the fact that a new body of humanity
was to be formed from both Jews and Gentiles, a relationship where there
is neither Jew nor Gentile position retained, but where Christ is all, and
in all (Gal 3:28; Col 3:11).
With the same fundamental distinction in view, the Apostle makes
separate enumeration of the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God (1
Cor 10:32); and, again, in Ephesians 2:11, R.V., He refers to the Gentiles
as the Uncircumcision, and the Jews as the Circumcision made with
hands; but in Colossians 2:11 he refers to the Circumcision made without
hands. The latter designation indicates the supernatural standing and
character of those who comprise the body of Christ. (Systematic
Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 4, pp 32-34)
Theological Statement
Christianity is the eternal state of being rightly related to Christ and is
a NT revelation. It is the unpredicted insertion of an extra age
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(intercalation) after the resurrection of Christ and beginning on the day of
Pentecost. This is the unique age where a third classification of humans
are on the earth; Jews, Gentiles, and the organically joined believers in
the Body of Christ, the Church. These individuals are the New Creation
of God who receive the unconditional (God does everything, man does
nothing) eighth covenant, the New Covenant of grace made in the blood
of Jesus. Thus, God the Father can offer salvation by grace and must
accept saving faith because He has been released from judging by the
substitutionary death of Christ. Christ is now the judge. God must,
ιστεύω occurs 98 times in John (compared to 11 times in Matthew, 14
because of the resurrection of Christ, fully justify and fully, but
progressively sanctify those who receive the “righteousness of Christ” by
ίστις
grace through faith alone and have become the true universal Church of
believers placed into the Body of Christ by the baptism of the Holy Spirit
at the very moment of saving faith.
WARNING - Read the instructions carefully
ιστεύω in 4 major ways: (1) of
Because of a false gospel, century upon century of wasted human
ιστεύω + είς + acc.),
effort has been placed at the feet of Christ and gone into the pockets of
thieves. Led by Cain to be Cain, countless millions have ignored God’s
instruction for the proper offering and insist He accept instead a glorious
deserving ME. God does not accept “used bricks” to be conformed into
ιστεύω with είς + accusative. It is not unlike the Pauline έν
the image of Christ to His glory for all eternity. God must not accept your
work. God must accept your faith. However, by word of mouth or word
of print, and whenever you “receive” the true gospel of grace. Don’t
ιστεύειν
open your mouth with a prayer, don’t take a step, don’t offer a bargain.
Do tell anyone who asks you to do anything – No! Don’t give any Lord
or Lordship rights to the Lord of the Universe Jesus Christ. Don’t suggest
disbelief by asking for mercy and forgiveness that is already offered.
Forget about you and believe in Christ for who He is, your payment for
sin and your standing in perfect righteousness. Don’t ask, but only
receive and believe that He is all you need for salvation - no demerit and
perfect merit for all eternity.
John 1:11 He came to what was his own, but his own people did not
receive him.27 1:12 But to all who have received him—those who
believe in his name28—he has given the right to become God’s
children 1:13 —children not born by human parents or by human
desire or a husband’s decision, but by God. NET
(bold highlights mine)
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27sn His own people did not receive him. There is a subtle irony here:
When the λóγο (logos) came into the world, he came to his own ta idia,
literally “his own things”) and his own people (οίJ ίδιοι, hoi idioi), who
should have known and received him, but they did not. This time John
does not say that “his own” did not know him, but that they did not
receive him (parelabon). The idea is one not of mere recognition, but of
acceptance and welcome.
28tn On the use of the (pisteuō + eis) construction in John: The verb
times in Mark [including the longer ending], and 9 times in Luke). One
of the unsolved mysteries is why the corresponding noun form
(pistis) is never used at all. Many have held the noun was in use in some
pre-Gnostic sects and this rendered it suspect for John. It might also be
that for John, faith was an activity, something that men do (cf. W.
Turner, “Believing and Everlasting Life—A Johannine Inquiry,” ExpTim
64 [1952/53]: 50-52). John uses
believing facts, reports, etc., 12 times; (2) of believing people (or the
scriptures), 19 times; (3) of believing “in” Christ” (
36 times; (4) used absolutely without any person or object specified, 30
times (the one remaining passage is 2:24, where Jesus refused to “trust”
himself to certain individuals). Of these, the most significant is the use of
Χριστώ'/ (en Christo) formula. Some have argued that this points to a
Hebrew (more likely Aramaic) original behind the Fourth Gospel. But it
probably indicates something else, as C. H. Dodd observed: “
with the dative so inevitably connoted simple credence, in the sense of an
intellectual judgment, that the moral element of personal trust or reliance
inherent in the Hebrew or Aramaic phrase—an element integral to the
primitive Christian conception of faith in Christ—needed to be otherwise
expressed” (The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, 183).
Many aspects of Christianity are supranatural, but this is silent
witness to the truth. If you believe for eternal life in Jesus who created
the universe and was always God and that He became the man who died,
was buried for three days, and was raised from death to glorified
resurrected human life to be your living Savoir, you must believe He can
and will do what He promises. Believe for ”only what is not seen is
eternal.” “We walk by faith, not by sight.” “Faith is the confidence in
things not seen … for who hopes in what he can see?” Faith, hope, and
love. Faith and hope will disappear with sight, but the greatest of these is
love and love will remain … love has no beginning and love has no end.
“When we see Him, we shall be like Him … and we will know as we
were known … since before the foundation of the world.” “The righteous
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shall live by faith.” “We love Him because He loved us first.” “God does
not look on the face of a man … He reads his heart.”
Jesus left our sight so that you might know a new heart. A heart
transformed the moment your desire agrees with His. The moment when
truth collides with truth and a new star rises in your heart. “Should two
walk together unless they agree?”
Present salvation is that in which all believers possess eternal
salvation and may yield daily “from faith to faith” to the leading and
filling of the indwelling Holy Spirit who is directed by Christ in His
present session in Heaven as Advocate and Intercessor of His Church.
Christ is the giver of spiritual insight and gifts of service uniquely suited
to each believer for the benefit of His Church. This work is accomplished
by and through the Holy Spirit. There are no useless intermediaries in the
salvation or safe keeping of anyone who is born from above. Christ
makes provision for all believers to minister and serve each other through
Him, “in Christ.” One body, one faith, one baptism, one Head over all,
Christ. This is the present aspect of salvation and the future is secure.
Regarding the present session of Christ in heaven, Dr. Lewis Chafer
writes:
The whole of Christ’s present ministry in heaven has been practically
ignored by theologians and especially by Arminians, to whom this
ministry is repulsive since it guarantees the eternal security of all who are
saved. Seven aspects of His present ministry are to be recognized,
namely: (1) exercise of universal authority. He said of Himself, “All
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matt 28:18); (2)
Headship over all things to the Church (Eph 1:22-23); (3) bestowment
and direction of the exercise of gifts (Rom 12:3-8; 1 Cor 12:4-31; Eph
4:7-11); (4) intercession, in which ministry Christ contemplates the
weakness and immaturity of His own who are in the world ( Ps 23:1;
Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25); (5) advocacy, by which ministry He appears in
defense of His own before the Father’s throne when they sin (Rom 8:34;
Heb 9:24; 1 John 2:1); (6) building of the place He has gone to prepare
(John 14:1-3); and (7) “expecting” or waiting until the moment when by
the Father’s decree the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom
of the Messiah – not by human agencies but by the resistless, crushing
power of the returning King (Heb 10:13). (Systematic Theology, Dr.
Lewis Chafer, Vol 7, p 82)
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NT Warnings Against a Sincere Profession of Faith in
“Another Gospel”
Within Christianity there is naturally the potential for mere hypocrites
to make a profession without faith - those who would assume a posture
of belief in Christ for salvation. Christ tolerated Judas for over three
years. Judas was a disciple, but not a believer. By attaching himself to
Jesus, Judas stayed to steal money from the group, and, had hopes of
both earthly gain and glory, until it became all too obvious that Jesus was
going nowhere that he wanted to go.
But what of the sincere reply in Matthew 7:21-23? By those who are
[Grk] “workers of lawlessness.” rendered as “iniquity” in the KJV: ““Not
everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of
heaven—only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that
day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name,
and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?’ Then I
will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you
lawbreakers!’” (NET). This is the response of Jesus to those who are
unconscious hypocrites – the ones who are deceived must have a cause
of deception, a trickery, a fraud to remain sincere. A contrived, false
gospel is the source of this deception that would mimic not a false
profession of Christianity, but a sincere belief in a false Christianity. The
New Testament speaks much of this, in passages that are purposed to
distress the outward appearances of Christianity that do not conform to
the inner expressions of true Christianity. They are intended to shake a
shallow belief into a saving belief. These passages are misread and
misused when they are the essential basis for the construction of a
concept of Christianity that conforms to the very outward appearances
these passages deliberately deny. Dr. Lewis Chafer writes: “The
“natural” or unregenerate man who delights to sin will embrace a
doctrine which lifts the penalty of sin; and at this point Arminians seem
able to comprehend no more than the view of the natural man.”176 This
becomes strikingly apparent when these same passages are used to
confirm that one must maintain their salvation by sheer willpower alone.
This is well defined by Dr. Scofield, as he summarizes in the following
citation:
THE JEWISH-CHRISTIAN EPISTLES. In Hebrews, James, First and
Second Peter, and Jude we have a group of inspired writings differing
in important respects from Paul’s Epistles. But this difference is in no
sense one of conflict. All present the same Christ, the same salvation,
the same morality. The difference is one of extension, of
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development. The Jewish-Christian writings with the elementary and
foundational things of the Gospel, while to Paul were given the
revelations concerning the church, her place in the counsels of God,
and the calling and hope of the believer as vitally united to Christ in
one body.
The other characteristic difference is that while Paul has in view
the body of true believers, who are therefore assuredly saved, the
Judæo-Christian writers view the church as a professing body in
which, during this age, the wheat and tares are mingled (Mt. 13:24-
30). Their writings, therefore, abound in warnings calculated to
arouse and alarm the mere professor. A word of caution is, however,
needful at this point. The persons warned are neither mere hypocrites,
nor mere formalists. So far as they have gone their experiences are
perfectly genuine. It is said of the supposed persons in Heb. 6:4-9 that
they had been “enlightened,” and the same word is used in Heb.
10:32, translated as “illuminated.” They are said , too, to have
“tasted” of the heavenly gift, and again a word importing reality is
used, for it occurs in Heb. 2:9 of the death of Christ. The true point of
the divine solicitude is expressed in verses 1 and 2 [of ch.6]. It is that
they shall go on. They have made a real beginning, but it is not said
of them that they have faith, and it is said (verse 9) that “things that
accompany salvation” are “better.” This fear lest beginners will
“come short” Heb. 3:7-4:3. The men in Mt. 7:21-23 are not conscious
hypocrites – they are utterly surprised at their exclusion.
Characteristic contrasts are, Heb. 6:4-6 with Rom. 8:29-39; 2 Pet 1:10
with Phil 1:6. In this respect these Epistles group with Mt. 13-23;
Acts 2-9. The two Epistles of Peter, however, are less Jewish and
more truly catholic [universal] than the other Jewish-Christian
writings. He addresses, in his first Epistle, neither Jews as such, nor
even Christian Jews of Jerusalem, or Judæa, but of the dispersion;
while Second Peter is not distinctively Jewish at all. (Old Scofield
Study System, Dr. C.I. Scofield, p 1289)
The Error of Arminian Proof Verses for the Loss of Salvation
Arminian proof verses only prove one thing to those who are “in
Christ” by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They prove a profession in a
false faith. Those who would deny the ongoing ministries of the
ascended Christ and the divine transformations wrought upon the
Christian by the Holy Spirit, insist on reading “into” numerous NT verses
a loss of salvation to prove that “salvation by faith alone” may only be
sustained by the sheer force of personal will alone. Thereby, they assert,
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with more confident assurance than they have in salvation, that sin and
personal willpower is more potent and powerful than the redeeming and
sustaining blood of Christ. The following extended citation from Dr.
Lewis Chafer concerning three fundamentally misguided interpretations
of those who follow Arminianism, well exemplifies this willful non-
Christian skepticism and self-reliance:
John 15:6. “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and
is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they
are burned.”
Arminian writers generally look upon John 15:6 as the most
formidable Biblical testimony in behalf of their claims in the field of
insecurity. The passage merits consideration and, like many others,
requires that attention be given to its context. The real question at issue
concerning the passage is whether Christ, by His use of the figure of the
vine and the branches and His call for an abiding life, is referring to the
Christian’s union or the Christian’s communion with Himself. Unless this
doctrinal distinction is apprehended, there can be no basis for a right
understanding of the text in question. The idea of abiding in Christ as a
branch in a vine could serve as an illustration of either union or
communion with Him. It is easily discernible that He is employing this
figure to represent communion with Himself. Union with Him is a result
of the baptism of the Spirit, by which divine operation believers are
joined to the Lord (cf. 1 Cor 6:17; 12:13; Gal 3:27). That such an eternal
union with Christ does not, depend upon human effort or merit is a
fundamental truth. On the other hand, communion with Christ does
depend on the Christian’s faithfulness and adjustment to God. John
declares that “if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship [communion] one with another” – that is, the believer has
communion with Christ (1 John 1:7). The term walk refers to the daily
life of the believer. As might be expected in respect to a matter so vital
and yet so easily misunderstood, Christ defines precisely the use He is
making of the term abide – whether it be union depending on divine
sufficiency, or communion depending on human faithfulness. Christ
removed all uncertainty when He said, “If ye keep my commandments,
ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s
commandments, and abide in his love” (John 15:10). To keep Christ’s
commandments is a human responsibility – akin to walking in the light.
As a parallel He cites the fact that He abode in His Father’s love, or
communion, by doing His Father’s will. It is certain that Christ was not
attempting to preserve union with His Father – the fact of the eternal
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Trinity – by obedience; to give it the human resemblance, He was not
“attempting to keep saved.”
Still another declaration by Christ in this same context – equally as
conclusive – is found in the words, “Every branch in me that beareth not
fruit he taketh away” (v. 2). It is distinctly a branch in Him, which is
union with Him, that is not bearing fruit. Certainly if union with Christ
depended on fruit bearing, few would pass the test. That the unfruitful
branch is “taken away” – literally, lifted up out of its place – is a
reference from that removal from this life which God reserves the right
to accomplish for the one who is persistently unfaithful (1 Cor 11:30; 1
John 5:16). The word αϊρω, here to be translated “lifteth it up,” occurs
many times in the New Testament and almost universally means a
removal from one place or position to another. Significant, indeed, is its
use with the prefix έ
ί in Acts 1:9, where the Lord is said to have been which this important point can be ascertained, when he exhorts Christians to
“taken up” out of their sight (cf. John 17:15; Acts 8:33). It does not
follow that the death of any Christian may be identified as a divine
removal on account of fruitlessness. If, as is doubtless true, no person
knows of such an instance, that fact only confirms the truth that the
matter is a divine responsibility which does not concern other Christians
to the slightest degree. If it is claimed that an unfruitful Christian should
not go to heaven, it will be remembered that the assurance of heaven
does not depend upon communion, or fruit bearing, but on union with
Christ. It is also to be considered that all Christian success or failure is to
be judged at the bema – at the judgment seat of Christ in heaven – and
that the fruitless Christian must go to heaven before he can appear before
that tribunal. If entering heaven is not due to a divine undertaking in
behalf of all who are in union with Christ and apart from every aspect of
human merit, there is little hope for anyone on this earth.
It may be concluded, then, that in this context Christ is dealing with
the Christian’s communion with Himself, which communion depends
upon human faithfulness. It is also important to observe that it is the lack
of this very faithfulness which is condemned by the world.
With the background of what has gone before, approach may be made
to John 15:6, in which the truth is declared that if a man not abide in
Christ, he will come under the condemning judgment of men. The
believer’s testimony to the world becomes as a branch “cast forth” and
“withered.” The judgment of the world upon the believer is described in
the severest of terms – “Men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and
they are burned.” To read into this passage the idea that God cast them
forth and that God burns them is to disregard important language, and to
contradict the great truths which belong to salvation by grace alone. If it
be asked how in practical experience men burn each other, it will be seen
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that this language is highly figurative, for men do not in any literal sense
burn each other; but they do abhor and repel an inconsistent profession.
This passage and its context witness to the truth that communion, which
depends on the believer, may fail, but it does not declare that union,
which depends on Christ, has ever failed or ever will fail. …
Election, being the purpose which God purposed in Himself, an intrinsic act
of the Divine mind, remains unknown till it be manifested in its execution.
No man can read his own name, or that of another, in the Book of life. It is a
sealed book, which no mortal can open. We are assured that there is such a
decree, by the express testimony of Scripture; but of the persons included in
it, nothing is known or can be conjectured, till evidence be exhibited in their
personal character and conduct. An Apostle points out the only means by
“give all diligence to make their calling and election sure.” To make sure,
signifies in this place to ascertain, to render a thing certain to the mind. Now,
the order of procedure is, first to make our calling certain, or to ascertain that
we have been converted to God, and thus our election will be sure, or
manifest to ourselves. It is the same kind of reasoning which we employ, in
tracing out the cause by the effect. The operation of divine grace in the
regeneration of the soul, is proof that the man in whom this change is
wrought, was the object of divine favor from eternity. - Lectures on
Theology, Dr. John Dick, p. 190
One qualifying condition arises in connection with this theme which
Dr. Dick has not mentioned, which is, that a believer overtaken by sin
will not exhibit the experience which is normal, but he will exhibit other
evidence of his regeneration that becomes manifest under such
circumstances – such as a burden over his sin which no unregenerate
person ever knows (cf. 1 John 3:4-10; Ps 32:3-5). It is therefore designed
of God that, even in the state of unconfessed sin, the believer will have
clear evidence – if perchance he knows his own heart at all – that he is
saved and that evidence will, to him at least, demonstrate that his calling
and election are sure.
1 John 3:10. “In this the children of God are manifest, and the
children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God,
neither he that loveth not his brother.”
Here, again, the whole context (vss. 4-10) is involved. The sin of a
true Christian is not a lawless sin – as that term is used in this Scripture.
Because of the presence of the indwelling Spirit, the believer cannot sin
and remain indifferent to it. The grieving of the Spirit is an experimental
reality, and is well illustrated in the case of David as recorded in Psalm
32:3-4. Over against this, the unsaved are able to sin without self-
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condemnation beyond that which may arise from an accusing conscience.
Verse 9 of this context declares that those born of God cannot sin
lawlessly, and verse 10 asserts that this personal reaction of the heart to
sin is a final test between those who are saved and those who are not.
The conclusion that whosoever sins lawlessly, or without self-reproach,
is not of God. It is not said that a Christian who sins is not of God, else
would all Scripture bearing on the fact of the Christian’s sin and its
specific cure through confession be rendered a contradiction. Other
Scriptures to be included in this classification are: Matthew 5:13; 6:23;
7:16, 18-19, which passages might as well be listed with those
dispensationally misapplied; 2 Tim 2:12, in which the element of divine
recognition with respect to reigning with Christ is in view, and not
salvation or the believer’s place in Christ Jesus; 2 Peter 3:17, where a
danger of falling from steadfastness is suggested, yet often confused by
Arminians as equivalent to falling from salvation itself; Acts 13:43;
14:22, where a true salvation will be demonstrated by continuing in the
faith – not personal faith, but continuing true to the body of distinctively
Christian doctrine; 1 Timothy 2:14-15, which is another specific warning
that only that endures which is genuine. Note, also, 1 Thessalonians 3:5
and 1 Timothy 1:19 (cf. 1 John 2:19).
1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to
us, because if they had belonged to us, they would have remained
with us. But they went out from us to demonstrate that all of them do
not belong to us. NET
Hebrews 10:26-29. “For if we sin willfully after that we have
received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice
for sins, but a certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation,
which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer
punishment, suppose ye, shall be thought worthy, who hath trodden
under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant,
wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto
the Spirit of grace?”
The peculiar character of the hortatory passages in the Hebrews
Epistle is evident in this content. The writer is concerned about
conditions then obtaining – little appreciated today. This plight was well
described by James to Paul as Paul returned to Jerusalem after years of
Gentile ministry: “Thou seest, brother, how many thousands [µυριάδες ,
literally, myriads – cf. Heb 12:22; Rev 5:11] of Jews there are which
believe; and they are all zealous of the law” (Acts 21:20). The writer to
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the Hebrews is addressing Jews who are interested in Christ and have, in
a sense, believed; but not to the extent of receiving the death of Christ as
the fulfillment and termination of Jewish sacrifices. The confusion of law
and grace is always distressing, but such situation as this has ever existed
before or since. These circumstances account for these exhortations
which were addressed to Jews who, whatever their religious experience
might have been, were yet unsaved. There are seven “if’s” in this epistle
which condition this type of Jews. The writer, of course, being a Jew,
employs, as a recognition of Jewish unity, the pronoun we. These
conditional passages are: “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great
salvation?” (2:3); “Whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end” (3:14); “This will we do
if God permit. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened,
… if they shall away, to renew them again to repentance” (6:3-4,6); “If
we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins” (10:26); “If any man draw
back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him” ( 10:38); “Much more shall
not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven”
(12:25).
This particular passage (Heb 10:26-29) is parenthetical. It is not a
continuation of the theme set forth in the preceding verse. Those
enjoined in verse 25 are believers, while those addressed in this text are
hesitating Jews who demur concerning a right relation to Christ. Sinning
willfully means that form of sin which is recognized in the Old
Testament as not being a sin of ignorance. Wilful sin calls for divine
forgiveness based on sacrificial blood. This warning reminds the Jew of
the new situation in which the Mosaic sacrifices no longer avail, and it is
therefore a choice between Christ’s sacrifice or judgment. To sin now,
after Christ has died, is more serious. Sin is no longer an insult to the
character and government of God alone, but it becomes also a direct
rejection of Christ. Insofar as Christ has died for men, they are classified,
or set apart, as those for whom He died, which is sanctification according
to its true meaning. No New Testament Scripture describes more clearly
the sinfulness of sin in this age than this; but it is not a warning to
Christians, nor does it imply their insecurity. (Systematic Theology, Dr.
Lewis Chafer, Vol 3, pp 298-302)
Sin and Hell
The absolute holiness of God and His hatred of sin, to an infinite
degree, leaves one with an unrevealed mystery. Fallen angels have no
salvation. This is known. Men from Adam to Moses had a sacrificial
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covering for sin; but, it remains that few were so covered. The flood was
a judgment on the sin of man. Eight were saved, but how many millions
were not? Many towns in the valley of Sodom were destroyed because of
sin. The Ninevites that received the prophet Jonah were slated for
destruction, and later they were completely destroyed. The Canaanites
were destroyed by God’s people only after their sin had reached some
divine level that triggered judgment. Jesus spoke clearly about the
judgment of hell. Most of the descriptions of hell came from His lips.
The gentiles from Moses until Christ had no sacrificial covering. All
were lost (cf. Rom chapter 1). If one thing is for certain, the Bible
teaches eternal damnation in this age for rejecting the only remedy that
the infinite love of God has provided. There is no probationary salvation
taught anywhere in the Word of God. This life we live is all the probation
that is offered by God. Hell is a place and the damned do not have any
hope. “Abandon hope all ye who enter.” Dr. Lewis Chafer writes:
To know with any measure of completeness the mystery of evil in the
universe of God, one must understand (1) precisely what evil meant to
God in the dateless past before aught was created. Was evil then, though
only a potentiality, a stupendous reality which required its full
manifestation that it might be judged and dismissed forever? Will the
doom of multitudes of men and angels prove an essential feature in the
final solution of the problem? Likewise, one must know (2) that the
present outworking of this problem is the best solution that infinity can
devise – that the present solution is wrought of God and is wholly free
from pernicious incidents or accidents. In the same manner, he must
know (3) that the end will justify the means. God will have done right
and be justified forever. That no finite being may approach such
knowledge is patent indeed. When the creature knows the evil character
of sin as God knows it and the perfection of holiness which sin outrages,
then may he sit in judgment on the question of whether eternal
retribution of men and angels is consonant with the character of God.
(Systematic Theology, Vol 4, p 428)
The Nine NT Grace “Exhortations” to Christians
1. “We … preach unto you that you should turn from these vanities to the
living God” (Acts14:15). 50 times
2. “Little children keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21) 12 times
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3. “But above all things, my brethren, swear not neither by the heaven,
neither by the earth, neither by any other oath” (James 5:12) 4 times
4. No Sabbath keeping is found in the teachings of grace.
5. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right” (Eph 6:1) 6
times
6. “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no
murderer hath eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15). 6 times
7. “Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers … shall inherit the
kingdom of God” (1 Cor 6:9-10). 12 times
8. “Steal no more” (Eph 4:28). 6 times
9. “Lie not” (Col 3:9) 4 times
10. “Covetousness, let it not be named once among you”(Eph 5:3)9 times
It may well be noted that the so-called “ten commandments” were
never commonly referred to as such in the Hebrew Scriptures. The term
the “two tablets” was the common reference. Why two tablets? If one
will place the tablets side by side, it will be noticed that five are godward
and five are manward. Vertical and horizontal relationships that may be
said to form a cross. The Roman Catholic church has its own non-biblical
list and revision that is misleading and will not conform to this
compelling “two tablet” divine instruction given to men.
Owing to the NT omission of the fourth godward instruction because
the NT believer has entered salvation and “God’s rest,” much more
emphasis, or complete and total, is placed on the fourth manward
instruction. Lying was the reason Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead
in the Book of Acts; but it was said that they had lied to the Holy Spirit
that is shared by all Christians. Consequently, they were lying to God.
On Pentecost a “flame” was used to describe the descent of the Holy
Spirit. “Strange fire” was the reason that two Levitical priest, who were
the son’s of Aaron, were put to death in the OT. Also, one may recall that
the man who gathered up sticks (that he should of gathered the day
before) for a fire (food should have been cooked the day before, also) on
the Sabbath in the OT. When Moses inquired of God regarding this
offense, God instructed that the man should be stoned to death. In NT
times false Godward testimony in a deceitful effort to gain honor from
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men is “strange fire,” or lying. Also, “strange smoke” is produced by
strange fire. Strange smoke is a false emotional (charismatic) testimony
before God and men. The testimony of the Bible is to let your yes be yes
and your no be no.
The Believer’s Relation to God
Regarding the love for Jesus that may come only from personal faith
in Jesus for salvation, Dr. C. H. Spurgeon writes the following in his
timeless Morning and Evening Devotions:
“Thou whom my soul loveth.” – Cant. i. 7.
It is well to be able, without any “if” or “but,” to say of the Lord Jesus –
“Thou whom my soul loveth.” Many can only say of Jesus that they hope
they love Him; they trust they love Him; but only a poor and shallow
experience will be content to stay here. No one ought to give any rest to
his spirit till he feels quite sure about a matter of such vital importance.
We ought not to be satisfied with a superficial hope that Jesus loves us,
and with a bare trust that we love Him. The old saints did not generally
speak with “buts,” and “ifs,” and “hopes,” and “trusts,” but they spoke
positively and plainly. “I know whom I have believed,” saith Paul. “I
know that my Redeemer liveth,” saith Job. Get positive knowledge of
your love of Jesus, and be not satisfied till you can speak of your interest
in Him as a reality, which you have made sure by having received the
witness of the Holy Spirit, and His seal upon your soul by faith.
True love to Christ is in every case the Holy Spirit’s work, and must
be wrought in the heart by Him. He is the efficient cause of it; but the
logical reason why we love Jesus lies in Himself. Why do we love Jesus?
Because He first loved us. Why do we love Jesus? Because He “gave
Himself for us.” We have life through His death; we have peace through
His blood. Though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor. Why
do we love Jesus? Because of the excellency of His person. We are filled
with a sense of His beauty! An admiration of His charms! A
consciousness of His infinite perfection! His greatness, goodness, and
loveliness, in one resplendent ray, combine to enchant the soul till it is so
ravished that it exclaims, “Yea, He is altogether lovely.” Blessed love
this – a love which binds the heart with chains more soft than silk, and
yet more firm than adamant. – p 494, September 3, Morning.
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The Three Heaven High Grace Exhortations to Christians
John 13:34 “I give you a new commandment—to love one another.
Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 13:35
Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples—if you have
love for one another.” NET
2 Cor10:3 For though we live as human beings, we do not wage war
according to human standards, 10:4 for the weapons of our warfare
are not human weapons, but are made powerful by God for tearing
down strongholds. We tear down arguments 10:5 and every arrogant
obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take
every thought captive to make it obey Christ. NET
Eph 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you
were sealed for the day of redemption. NET
Amazing Grace - a personal witness
The above verses represent the “good news of Christ” that is intended
for those who will join themselves to the will of Our Father and “obey
the gospel.” The “bad news” with obeying the gospel is that within what
is considered orthodox Christianity there is a false gospel that will not
save. This is the negative gospel that is presented and argued against
within these pages.
Many may certainly disagree, but I have personally experienced what
Scripture reveals concerning the fact that the Holy Spirit of God effects
the spirit of a man in order to convict him of sin, and righteousness, and
judgment. This is necessary because man is blinded by Satan and his
world system that we all live in. The matter of man’s free will and the
divine action of “drawing” upon a man is a given truth in Scripture.
Might this divine drawing be removed by another force? This is the
relevant question to answer, rather than the limits of free will. i Of the
four seeds that are sown (Mtw 13:3-9); one is snatched away by “the evil
one,” one “fell among thorns” and “the care of this world (age),” and two
i
“All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I
will certainly not cast out” (John 6:37). “No one can come to Me unless the Father
who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44). In these two verses, spoken in the same
passage, Jesus states both sides of the coin with no apology or contradiction. Any
can come and not be cast out (free will of man – 6:37). All who come have been
chosen (sovereign election by God – 6:44).
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fall on “not much earth” and “good ground.” But only “good ground”
produces a multiple-fold increase.
I make the following statements with much certainty, as my salvation
was not in answering an altar call by Billy Graham at the Astrodome
when I was a teenager. Nor at any time in the following years was my
salvation a result of attending church or repeating a prayer. However the
providence of God works, from childhood I was extremely curious about
God and heaven. Having the misfortune of not being exposed to the
gospel of the grace of God, I was never satisfied with the limited answers
and slogans that I received in response to my questions. I instinctively
felt something was wrong with what I was hearing at the time and this -
not because I knew what was right. I had a very limited religious
background that was Catholic and Methodist. Which is to say, that
salvation and heaven was seen as a reward for good behavior. To believe
in Christ was to believe in good behavior, not a Savior who would
forgive my bad behavior and insure my eventual perfection. My religious
background was exclusive of any and all Pentecostal or charismatic
interests or associations. That is to say – no holy rollers had influenced
my spiritual perceptions.
But a miracle occurred, my salvation was secured in private, in one
mid-morning moment of personal insight and ownership, when a mental
picture of the first Adam, the old man, and the last Adam, the new man
Jesus Christ, was juxtaposed against the maternal twins, Esau the older
and Jacob the younger. In this image from the OT, Jacob disguised as
Esau by his mother, stood in front of his blind father Isaac and received
the elder’s blessing that originally belonged to Esau. Christ, like the
hairy Jacob dressed in concealment by his mother, could not disguise His
voice when speaking to His Father.
The mere reciting of this event cannot convey the dynamic of that
moment; but, in that moment, I accepted with my whole being that the
man Jesus Christ was my Savior God and, not only the gospel of the
grace of God was true; but from the very first word to the last, I admitted
to myself that the Bible was absolute Truth. A flood of admitted Truth
overcame me. Immediately, thereupon, I began to shake, rattle, and roll
with a new love and a fierce desire to be in heaven with Jesus. Soon
afterwards I learned this was yielding to the Holy Spirit. This is
considered by God to be a “normal” Christian state of being filled by the
Holy Spirit. And this, only possible after salvation through the
permanent indwelling of the Spirit. It was a manifestation of the Spirit,
the ecstasy of divine love - not my own. It was an aspect of the very
nature of Christ that I experienced 177 (John 17:26; Rom 5:5; Gal 5:22).
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Rom 5:5 And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has
been poured in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to
us.
2 John 1:5 But now I ask you, lady (not as if I were writing a new
commandment to you, but the one we have had from the beginning),
that we love one another.
“(v. 5) Law (of Christ), Summary: The new “law of Christ” is the divine
love, as wrought into the renewed heart by the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5; Heb
10:16), and outflowing in the energy of the Spirit, unforced and
spontaneous, toward the objects of the divine love (2 Cor 5:14-20; 1 Thes
2:7, 8). It is, therefore, “the law of liberty” (James 1:25; 2:12), in contrast
with the external law of Moses. Moses’ law demands love (Lev 19:18;
Deut 6:5; Lk 10:27); Christ’s law is love (Rom 5:5; 1 John 4:7, 19, 20),
and so takes the place of the external law by fulfilling it (Rom 13:10; Gal
5:14). It is the “law written in the heart” under the New Covenant (Heb
8:8, note).” 178
Heb 8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, no one would
have looked for a second one. 8:8 But showing its fault, God says to
them,
“Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will complete a
new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
8:9 “It will not be like the covenant that I made with their fathers,
on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not continue in my covenant and I had no regard
for them, says the Lord.
8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of
Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their
minds and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their
God and they will be my people.
8:11 “And there will be no need at all for each one to teach his
countryman or each one to teach his brother saying, ‘Know the
Lord,’ since they will all know me, from the least to the greatest.
8:12 “For I will be merciful toward their evil deeds, and their sins I
will remember no longer.”
8:13 When he speaks of a new covenant, he makes the first obsolete.
Now what is growing obsolete and aging is about to disappear.
“(8:8) The New Covenant, Summary: (1) “Better” than the Mosaic
Covenant, not morally, but efficaciously (Heb 7:19; Rom 8:3, 4). (2)
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Established on “better” (i.e. unconditional) promises. In the Mosaic
covenant God said, “If ye will” (Ex 19:5); in the New Covenant He says,
“I will” (Heb 8:10, 12). (3) Under the Mosaic covenant obedience sprang
from fear (Heb 2:2; 12:25-27); under the New from a willing heart and
mind (v. 10). (4) The New Covenant secures the personal revelation of
the Lord to every believer (v. 11); (5) the complete oblivion of sins (v.
12; Heb 10:17; Cf. Heb 10:3); (6) rests upon an accomplished
redemption (Mt 26:27, 28; 1 Cor 11:25; Heb 9:11, 12, 18-23); (7) and
secures the perpetuity, future conversion, and blessing of Israel (Jer
31:31-40; see also “Kingdom (O.T.),” and 2 Sam 7:8-17). The New
Covenant is the eighth, thus speaking of resurrection and of eternal
completeness. … (8) The New Covenant rests upon the sacrifice of
Christ, and secures the eternal blessedness, under the Abrahamic
Covenant (Gal 3:13-29), of all who believe. It is absolutely
unconditional, and since no responsibility by it is committed to man, it is
final and irreversible.”179
During this moment, I had much pent up truth to concede and this
reaction was particular to me. I had previously studied the Bible in
private off and on for years in order to find my own answers about
Christianity. I was motivated by my disillusionment with religion and the
many differing denominational ideas regarding Christ, salvation, and
Christianity. I asked myself, How could so many differing ideas come
from what is one fairly short book, the New Testament? In my studies I
found that Christ Himself despised religiosity. I also learned the meaning
behind “strange fire” and “strange smoke” mentioned in the OT. I found
the only curses in the NT are laid on a false gospel, or spiritual sin. I
loved the thoughts and realities suggested in the Epistles, especially
Galatians and Ephesians, but I avoided the synoptic gospels, as the words
of Christ seemed terribly repetitious and out of sync with the rest of the
NT.
I then began to read the OT. I now have learned the meaning of
“rightly dividing the word.” The future earthly kingdom teachings in the
synoptics are a different message and primarily are an extension of Old
Testament covenantal promises, “Behold, I will send my messenger and
he [John the Baptist (Mtw 3:1-3)] shall prepare the way before me [the
first advent of Christ when He was rejected by the nation of Israel]: [the
second advent of Christ predicted at the end of the events in the seven
year tribulation period] and the LORD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly
come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye
delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts” (Mal 3:1).
Consequently, the gospel of God’s grace grounded in the death and
resurrection of Christ is contained in the Gospel of John, the Book of
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Acts of the Holy Spirit, and the Epistles, which are the letters written for
Christian instruction in this age. Owing in large part to a destructive
“admixture” of the above, I understand also, that the world’s negative
opinion of religion is mostly correct. Jesus Christ is harmed much in the
house of His friends (as during His first advent), but never by His
Church, His Bride, and His Body of brethren (His interim work in heaven
as our resurrected Savior).
My understanding has grown precept upon precept, and drop by drop,
by the power of divine illumination of the Scriptures, provided to me and
every child of God by Christ Himself. “Then he opened their minds so
they could understand the scriptures” (Luke 24:45). This understanding
is administered only as one will yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit
that resides in every believer. The benefits thus derived are not intended
for the world at large. Any thing that comes “in Christ” and is done “in
Christ” is for the benefit of His Body of believers, both current and
future.
There are many degrees of effect in different personalities and
circumstances. Truth, the person of Jesus Christ, comes to someone in a
way that is uniquely suited to them. The presentation of Christ, the true
gospel of grace by spoken or written word, and the wholehearted full
acceptance of the Truth - are inseparable and vital. The complete
acceptance by the mind, will, and emotion in unison is saving faith. The
reality of a never to be denied choice.
The following is an entry from my journal dated October 4, 2004. In
retrospect, I believe this was the starting point of a “voluntary desire”
that made this writing effort possible:
I struggle with why God has made life “full of troubles” and why the
“precept upon precept” of knowing Him “line upon line” and “drop
by drop” - the working out of my love for God - is so constant and
immediate. But just now His Spirit in me says, “Your present
concerns are a result of free will. The measure of your love for me,
the starting point – the most difficult point in your life – is
accomplished. What you will always have after that, which you live
with day upon day, is Me working in your life.”
――N.S. Let our virtues learn to suffer test.
In closing, I’d like to show you some family photographs from our
Book of Life. The Word of God gives us the gospel in a series of
beautiful pictures of the silent Truth in the Passion of our Lord Jesus
Christ: Pilate as he was considering the sentencing of our silent Lord
asked, “What is truth?” and walked away from Truth. Later, Pilate
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presented Christ to the Jews and said, “Ecce homo - Behold the man!”
Mary, His mother at the foot of His cross. The three hours of Darkness in
which Christ suffered the sins of the whole world. The dead pierced body
of Christ on His Cross of Crucifixion as the Centurion admits, “Surely,
this man was the Son of God.” The stone and soldiers that guarded the
burial tomb. The empty tomb. The wounds in His resurrected body. The
ascension of Christ to heaven after forty days. The witness of the two
angels concerning His return.
Truth – Man – A virgin birth - Sinless and unique – The blood of the
Lamb for the sins of the world - God Himself - Dead and buried - He’s
alive and resurrected - Witnessed and confirmed by many - He has
ascended and will return.
Christ is in heaven now ministering to His living Church of believers
that are placed eternally and securely into His Mystical Body by the
baptism of the Holy Spirit. His future return to earth with all the saints
who are His brethren is promised. Grace and Truth cannot fail!
Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making
His plea through us. We plead with you on Christ’s behalf, “Be
reconciled to God!” God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for
us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God. 180
rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
Rather it is a quality of life, with its quality derived from a relationship
with God. Having eternal life is here defined as being in relationship with
the Father, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom the Father sent.
Christ (Χριστός, Christōs) is not characteristically attached to Jesus’
name in John’s Gospel; it occurs elsewhere primarily as a title and is
used with Jesus’ name only in 1:17. But that is connected to its use here:
The statement here in 17:3 enables us to correlate the statement made in
1:18 of the prologue, that Jesus has fully revealed what God is like, with
Jesus’ statement in 10:10 that he has come that people might have life,
and have it abundantly. These two purposes are really one, according to
17:3, because (abundant) eternal life is defined as knowing (being in
relationship with) the Father and the Son. The only way to gain this
eternal life, that is, to obtain this knowledge of the Father, is through the
Son (cf. 14:6). Although some have pointed to the use of know
(γινώσκω, ginōskō) here as evidence of Gnostic influence in the Fourth
Gospel, there is a crucial difference: For John this knowledge is not
intellectual, but relational. It involves being in relationship.

John 17:3 Now this is eternal life 8 —that they know you, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent NET

John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth
came about through Jesus Christ. 1:18 No one has ever seen God. The
only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father,
has made God known. NET

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have
come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. NET

John 14:6 Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through me. 14:7 If you have known
me, you will know my Father too. And from now on you do know
him and have seen him.” NET

8sn This is eternal life. The author here defines eternal life for the
readers, although it is worked into the prayer in such a way that many
interpreters do not regard it as another of the author’s parenthetical
comments. It is not just unending life in the sense of prolonged duration.

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The History of Grace

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Heaven is not a reward Scotland and was married to a Catholic and was related to Ferdinand and
Isabella, who hosted not only Columbus, but also the Spanish Inquisition
If by “heaven is a reward”, “heaven” is meant to be salvation, and a which was all the rage for the next three hundred years. He was the son
“reward” to mean God’s recognition of individual merit that outweighs of “Bloody Mary” Queen of Scots, who ruled England briefly, who hated
sin, then the underlying humanistic error or uninformed rationale is, protestants. Mary, was the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, the Spanish
“God is love and good people will not go to hell.” This contradicts NT princess wife number one of Henry VIII. Later, Catherine’s relatives in
revelation, although, could be supported by a 4th century British heretical Rome would not grant Henry a divorce. He in turn confiscated all Roman
monk named Pelagius and the efforts of a British King to eradicate Church assets in England and made his own church, thereby, he was free
sovereign salvation. A universally recognized but sadly corrupted verse of his brother’s widow.
in the Authorized Version of the Bible commissioned by King James I is King James loved Sunday games and sporting events which put him
John 3:16. Which will be taken up in the section of Corrupted Grace at odds with those who held to a strict observance of the Lord’s Day. By
below. Any translation is synthetic and subject to an Italian proverb, “All and large, those who objected were the Puritan’s, alias the Pilgrims.
translation is a polite lie.” The original KJV is considered by some to be These Protestant Reformers had tirelessly sought to rid the newly
a 110% rendering because of italicized inclusions and more recent established Anglican Church of England from all traces of Romanism
scholarship in Hebrew and Koine Greek manuscripts. It is esteemed by and its self-effort salvation with purgatory payments to remit sin, or
others, who may not own an unabridged 16th century English dictionary indulgences. The “indulgence” was a financial security option that was
or know the difficulties with several thousand Greek kai and eis, to be the “brainchild” of the Vatican City to finance the construction of the
original, pure, and free of Romish influence because it is the first huge new St. Peter’s basilica. The Anglican Church, was not a
Protestant Bible. The truth lies quite apart from these notions, to which Reformation Protestant Church, but only separated from the finances and
an abridgment of the immediate political dynamics that weighed upon control of the Pope, everything else remained unchanged. The Puritans,
the commissioning of the English KJV Bible translation and a broad NT in the not to distant English Civil Wars of 1640 - 1660, led by Oliver
theological history, excerpted from Microsoft Encarta, is offered: Cromwell would execute the English monarch Charles I.
King James, and Romish
Political dynamics England, despised Puritans,
Calvinists, and the hugely
Prior to King James I, his half-sister, popular Geneva Bible that was
the second Protestant monarch, well into its hundredth printing.
Elizabeth I was Queen of England. In 1604 James commissioned a
Known as “Good Queen Bess” and Bible, ded-icated to himself, that
“Glorianna” she was the daughter of was to exclude the secure
Anne Boleyn, the second wife of salvation notes and illustrations
Henry VIII, who was considered a contained in the well loved
Protestant heretic in the Catholicized Geneva Bible. He ordered his
England of her day. Elizabeth was version of the Bible to be based
Queen of Shakespeare’s Elizabethan on the Anglican Bishop’s Bible.
England when the Geneva Bible was The English Rheims-Douai
dedicated to her. She passed away in translation (1608) used the Latin
1603. Elizabeth I had forty-five years Vulgate as its source and had its
of success balancing the rivalry influence on the wording in the
between the Puritans and the Romish KJV. The cultural setting of this
Anglican bishops of the newly established Church of England. One may time was a matured Renaissance,
well note that King James, although a Protestant came from Catholic at its very core, the idolization of
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humanism. The Age of Reason was next in line. The first printed Greek
translation of the NT was produced by a famous humanist, Erasmus, who
spent years lecturing in English Universities.
The King James Version released in 1611 was primarily the English
Tyndale reformation Bible politically corrected towards the dogmatic of
a non-sovereign works salvation. The KJV was the Geneva Bible
stripped of almost one hundred years of Reformation progress towards
illuminating the sovereignty of God and the security of salvation. One
may well note, this was the beginning of English domination around the
world and soon the “sun would never set” on the Protestant flag of the
Romanized English King James Bible and Arminian Orthodoxy with its
squalid focus on human conduct and works salvation that was borrowed
from Catholicism. The spiritualized amillennial reading of Scripture
(make it say anything your fancy desires) led to the interpretation that the
theological goal of the organized church was to “Christianize” all the
populations of the world, irrespective of their “free will,” and then offer
the Lordship to Christ, as the words “Worship me” ring in His precious
ears.
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Theological History
The following, to which I reserve a few exceptions, is excerpted from
a very good general reference, Microsoft Encarta, and explains the NT
instructions given by God and what others have done with these
directions for “so great a salvation.” (The following “bold” sub-section
headings are mine and are not part of the quotation)
Paul, the Apostle of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles
Paul consistently assumes the basic temporal scheme of Jewish
apocalyptic speculation, which posited two ages, the Old Age, under the
dominance of Satan and his hosts, and the New Age, which God will
inaugurate at some point in the future through his superior power (see
Apocalyptic Writings). Paul believed that God's sending of his Son, Jesus
Christ, had already inaugurated the New Age; yet that event had not
wholly obliterated the Old Age with its powers of sin and death. On the
contrary, he believed that the two ages were locked in combat, as could
be seen, for example, from the fact that the power of death had not yet
been broken.
The ultimate outcome of the apocalyptic struggle, however, Paul
considered certain, because God struck the decisive blow for freedom
(paradoxical as it might seem) in the cross—the point at which, to all
appearances, the powers of the Old Age had won a tremendous victory.
He attributed the crucifixion to “the rulers of this age,” an expression by
which he referred both to the political authorities involved and to the
demonic powers at work in and through them (see 1 Corinthians 2:8).
These rulers had scarcely triumphed, however, for in crucifying the
“Lord of Glory,” they sealed their own doom (see 1 Corinthians 2:6).
Thus, according to Paul, the cross, when it is perceived truly, reveals
God's strange power, a power made perfect in weakness. God affirmed
this power by raising Jesus from the dead, by sending the Holy Spirit,
and by thus establishing the church as the foundation of his New Age.
The church was consequently placed in the midst of the eschatological
struggle, with the assurance that God would soon send the risen Lord to
bring that struggle to a victorious conclusion (see Eschatology).
The consequences of these doctrines for Paul's understanding of the
Law are complex. He affirmed the Law to be holy, just, and good, but
after he turned to Christianity, he no longer believed it powerful enough
to vanquish sin and death (see Romans 8:3). Hence, one cannot depend
on it. Indeed, whoever tries to depend on it will find that, in the hands of
sin, the Law can itself become an enslaving power (see Galatians 3:23-
25).
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Paul quoted the formulations of earlier Christians that focused on a
sacrificial view of Christ's death (see, for instance, 1 Corinthians 15:3),
but the essence of his view of Christ lies in the assertion that God has
made Christ the victor over the power of sin. Rejecting the prevailing
Jewish-Christian emphasis on repentance and forgiveness of sins, Paul
did not call upon his hearers to repent of particular sins, but rather
announced God's victory over all sin in the cross of Christ.
Scarcely any part of Paul's thought has been more widely misunderstood
than that which involves the terms flesh and spirit. These are not to be
understood as simply the constituent parts of a human being; for Paul
they were conflicting spheres of power, because the realm of the flesh
(the human realm) is susceptible to the power of sin. The solution to evil,
therefore, does not lie in a code of ethics that people can be exhorted to
obey, but rather in God's gift of the Holy Spirit, who triumphs in the life
of the new community by bearing the fruit of love, joy, and peace.
As mentioned previously, Paul spoke not of having decided to
convert to Christianity from Judaism, but of having been “called” by
God. Because he said essentially the same thing of all Christians, it can
be seen that for him Christianity begins not in something people decide
to do, but rather in something God has already done by revealing his Son
and by sending his Spirit. God has called people and is continuing to call
people into the Christian community on the basis of his own freely given
grace. The radical nature of God's power is affirmed in Paul's insistence
that in the death of Christ God has rectified the ungodly (see Romans
4:5). Human beings are not called upon to do good works in order that
God may rectify them. On the contrary, it is God who has acted first. It
follows that Paul understands even faith to be God's gift rather than a
discrete and consciously intended act of the human being (see Galatians
5:22). Like life itself, faith is something God calls into existence (see
Romans 4:17). Thus, everything is seen by Paul to depend not on the will
or exertion of the individual, but on the mercy of God (see Romans
9:16).
It has been a widely held view that Paul's thought was soon virtually
eclipsed by other theological teachings and was recovered only by St.
Augustine in the 5th century and again by Martin Luther in the 16th
century (and by them only in part). This view is now being somewhat
revised. Although the author of 2 Peter speaks of difficulties in
understanding Paul (see 2 Peter 3:16), numerous communities of the late
1st and early 2nd centuries preserved Paul's letters and tried valiantly to
apply aspects of his thought to the new situations in which they found
themselves. Such Pauline communities are reflected in Colossians,
Ephesians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus. It is true, however, that a
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thorough, sustained engagement with the theology of Paul was not
undertaken until the works of Augustine and Luther; in the 20th century,
the work of the German theologians Karl Barth and Ernst Käsemann has
renewed interest in Paul's theology.
Religious Humanism
Pelagius denied the existence of original sin and the need for infant
baptism. He argued that the corruption of the human race is not inborn,
but is due to bad example and habit, and that the natural faculties of
humanity were not adversely affected by Adam's fall. Human beings can
lead lives of righteousness and thereby merit heaven by their own efforts.
Pelagius asserted that true grace lies in the natural gifts of humanity,
including free will, reason, and conscience. He also recognized what he
called external graces, including the Mosaic law and the teaching and
example of Christ, which stimulate the will from the outside but have no
indwelling divine power. For Pelagius, faith and dogma hardly matter
because the essence of religion is moral action. His belief in the moral
perfectibility of humanity was evidently derived from Stoicism.
Corrupted Justification
The great 4th-century theologian St. Augustine used Paul's teachings
on justification in his controversy with the British theologian Pelagius.
Augustine nevertheless put more emphasis on grace than he did on
justification. Insofar as justification was concerned, he took literally the
Latin word justificare, which means “to make righteous.” Augustine
understood justification as a process in which a person became more
just, a virtual equivalent of sanctification.
Corrupted Grace
The first theological conflict over the nature of sin and grace occurred
in the late 4th century between St. Augustine and the British theologian
Pelagius. Pelagius argued that every person is free to obey or disobey
God. Everyone sins from time to time and needs the grace of God. In
Pelagius's view, however, grace consists of God's having given the
teachings and the example of Jesus, so that by grace one can know the
right and good. One might further pray for God's grace as assistance in
performing the good. Such grace is “resistible,” however; one is free to
refuse it. Pelagius regarded salvation as God's reward given for a life of
freely chosen obedience.
Augustine agreed that God had created humanity free to obey or
disobey him, but argued that the taint of original sin is transmitted to
succeeding generations by the act of procreation. Humanity is therefore
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unable not to sin. Only the irresistible grace of God can free his creation
from the power of sin, and that grace was given in Christ. It is made
accessible to individuals through the ministry of the church and
especially through baptism and the other sacraments (see Sacrament).
Believers may still sin, but those whom God elects persevere and finally
achieve salvation, not by their merit or good works, but by the
triumphant grace of God.
Universalism, Relativism, and Scholasticism
John Scotus Erigena (815?-877?), Irish-born scholar, who produced
the first great philosophical system of the Middle Ages. The councils of
Valence (855), Langres (859), and Vercelli (1050) condemned his
treatise De Divina Praedestinatione (Concerning Divine Predestination,
851), which defended the belief of Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, that
the destiny of the individual is not completely dependent upon God but
that free will has some part in determining salvation. Erigena also
asserted in this writing that there is no damnation as traditionally
understood. All human beings, he believed, will become pure spirits.
In his pantheistic work De Divisione Naturae (Concerning the Division
of Nature, 865-70), he rejected the orthodox Christian belief that the
universe was created out of nothing. He asserted that the world of space
and time is the manifestation of ideas in the mind of God and described
God as the consummation of all development. Erigena also insisted that
reason does not need the sanction of authority; rather, reason itself is the
basis of authority. De Divisione Naturae was condemned at the Council
of Sens (1225), and Pope Honorius III ordered it burned.
It is believed that Erigena also composed a work denying the actual
presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Although some of Erigena's views
were considered heretical, he is respected for his great learning and is
generally regarded as one of the first representatives of Scholasticism.
Abelard
The romantic appeal of the life of Abelard often overshadows the
importance of his thought. In the emphasis he placed on dialectical
discussion, Abelard followed the 9th-century philosopher and theologian
Johannes Scotus Erigena, and he foreshadowed the Italian Scholastic
philosopher Thomas Aquinas. Abelard’s important dialectical thesis that
truth must be attained by carefully weighing all sides of any issue is
presented in Sic et Non (Thus and Otherwise, 1123?). He also
foreshadowed the later theological reliance on the works of Aristotle,
rather than on those of Plato.
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Abelard reacted strongly against the theories of extreme realism,
denying that universals have an independent existence outside the mind.
According to Abelard, a universal is a functional word expressing the
combined image of that word’s common associations within the mind.
This position is not nominalism, because Abelard adds that the
associations from which the image is formed and to which a universal
name is given have a certain likeness, or common nature. His theory is a
definite step toward the moderate realism of Aquinas, but it lacks an
explanation of how ideas are formed. In the development of ethics,
Abelard’s great contribution was to maintain that an act is to be judged
by the intention of the doer.
Anselm
Anselm argued that even those who doubt the existence of God would
have to have some understanding of what they were doubting: Namely,
they would understand God to be a being than which nothing greater can
be thought. Given that it is greater to exist outside the mind rather than
just in the mind, a doubter who denied God's existence would be making
a contradiction because he or she would be saying that it is possible to
think of something greater than a being than which nothing greater can
be thought. Hence, by definition God exists necessarily.
The basic criticism of Anselm's argument is that one cannot infer the
extramental existence of anything by analyzing its definition. In
Anselm's own time a fellow monk, Gaunilo of Marmoutier, challenged
his argument, as did the later philosophers Thomas Aquinas and
Immanuel Kant. Nonetheless, René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, Gottfried
Leibniz, and some contemporary philosophers have offered similar
arguments.
In 1093 Anselm was called to succeed Lanfranc as the archbishop of
Canterbury. As archbishop, Anselm entered into a time of great strife
with King William II, the successor of William the Conqueror, over the
church's independence of the king's control (see Investiture Controversy).
In and out of England, in exile in Italy, Anselm led a life of conflict with
the secular powers. Despite these power struggles, he continued his
theological speculations, writing Cur Deus Homo (Why God Became
Man), a study of the incarnation and crucifixion of Christ as a way of
atoning for sin (see Atonement).

1453: Turks invade Byzantium, where Emperor Constantine had 1100
years earlier moved his capital to. In those 1100 years, Greek learning
had disappeared from western Europe. But with the invasion of
Byzantium, Greek scholars took their manuscripts and fled into Europe.
688

Five years later, Greek is offered for the first time at a European
university. The Reformation and Renaissance would be born as a result
of the rediscovery of classical Greek and of the Greek New Testament.

The spirit of adventure took off. The new world was discovered in
1492. Men became risk-takers like never before.

The near-simultaneous events of the Turkish invasion of Byzantium
and the invention of the printing press were the catalyst for the
production of the first published Greek New Testament on March 1,
1516.

October 31, 1517: the Reformation is born when Luther challenges the
Roman Catholic Church in Wittenberg. (A History of the English Bible,
Daniel B. Wallace, Ph.D.)
Rediscovery of “Justification by Grace Through Faith”
In the 16th century, Martin Luther sought to recapture Paul's sense of
justification. His teaching constituted a major dynamic of the Protestant
Reformation. He had struggled with a guilty conscience in vain under the
medieval penitential system, and he could not attribute to his will the
power that was required of it. While deeply troubled, he read the Epistle
to the Romans. The phrase “He who through faith is righteous shall live”
(Romans 1:17) deeply stirred him. He interpreted this experience to mean
that God required him only to trust in divine mercy. Medieval
distinctions and subtleties were thus swept away. Justification was
obtained by faith alone (sola fide). To be sure, God's grace was the agent,
but the human will contributed nothing. Justification became the center
of the whole Christian faith. Everything flowed from it: the ability to do
good works, even participation in the sacramental system (italics mine,
this writer). This view came to be regarded as virtually embodying the
whole issue dividing Protestants from the Roman Catholic church.
The 16th-century Protestant reformers dissociated grace to some
extent from the sacraments. Both Martin Luther and John Calvin
emphasized the personal quality of grace. For Luther, grace depends on a
personal relationship with God and cannot be imparted to an individual
apart from or against that individual's will. Calvin contended that grace is
an irresistible force within the individual that frees the will from its
natural bondage and is given only to those predestined by God for
salvation. Protestant reformers also rejected the Scholastic belief in the
efficacy of unaided reason in the understanding of the natural realm.
Luther and Calvin argued that all creation is corrupted by sin, including
nature and reason as well as human will and feeling. Thus, they reverted
to an interpretation of sin and grace more Augustinian than that of the
Scholastics.
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First Lantern Catholic (1545-1547). In many ways the first period of
the council was the most successful. Once the many procedural questions
were settled, the council addressed the central doctrinal issues posed by
the Protestants. One of the first decrees affirmed that Scripture had to be
understood within the tradition of the church—an implicit rejection of
the Protestant principle of “Scripture alone.” The long and sophisticated
decree on justification condemned the Pelagianism that Luther detested
but at the same time tried to define a role for human freedom in the
process of salvation.
The 16th-century Protestant reformers dissociated grace to some
extent from the sacraments. Both Martin Luther and John Calvin
emphasized the personal quality of grace. For Luther, grace depends on a
personal relationship with God and cannot be imparted to an individual
apart from or against that individual's will. Calvin contended that grace is
an irresistible force within the individual that frees the will from its
natural bondage and is given only to those predestined by God for
salvation
Protestant reformers also rejected the Scholastic belief in the efficacy
of unaided reason in the understanding of the natural realm. Luther and
Calvin argued that all creation is corrupted by sin, including nature and
reason as well as human will and feeling. Thus, they reverted to an
interpretation of sin and grace more Augustinian than that of the
Scholastics.
The Return of Religious Humanism
Arminianism, a doctrine in Christianity, formulated in the 17th
century, which declares that human free will can exist without limiting
God's power or contradicting the Bible. Named for the Dutch Calvinist
Jacobus Arminius, the doctrine gradually became a liberal alternative to
the more rigid belief in predestination held by High Calvinists in Holland
and elsewhere (see Calvinism; Predestination).
Arminius, who studied in Geneva under the French Protestant
theologian Theodore Beza, returned to his native Holland and was a
professor of theology (1603-9) at the Leiden University. He believed
predestination was biblical and true—that God had intended some
persons for heaven and others for hell, as indicated by Jesus' reference to
“sheep and goats.” But he focused on God's love more than on God's
power in speaking of election, the process by which God chose those
intended for heaven.
After Arminius died, a group of ministers who sympathized with his
views developed a systematic and rational theology based on his
teachings. In their declaration, a remonstrance issued in 1610, the
690

Arminians argued that election was conditioned by faith, that grace could
be rejected, that the work of Christ was intended for all persons, and that
it was possible for believers to fall from grace.
At the Synod of Dort or Dordrecht (1618-19), the High Calvinists
prevailed over the Arminian Party and condemned the Remonstrants.
The Synod of Dort declared that Christ's work was meant only for those
elect to salvation, that people believing could not fall from grace, and
that God's election depended on no conditions. Remonstrants were not
tolerated at all in Holland until 1630, and then not fully until 1795. They
have, however, continued an Arminian tradition in the Netherlands into
the late 20th century.
The British theologian John Wesley studied and affirmed the work of
Arminius in his Methodist movement during the 18th century in England.
American Methodists for the most part have leaned toward the theology
of the Remonstrants. In popular expression Arminianism has come to
mean that no predestination exists and people are free to follow or reject
the gospel.
Advanced Religious Humanism
The influence of scientific thought and the Enlightenment (see
Enlightenment, Age of) on Protestant theology was reflected in
rationalism, a tendency that appeared in the late 17th and 18th centuries.
It was anticipated by several earlier movements, including Arminianism,
which denied the Calvinist doctrine of unconditional predestination, and
Latitudinarianism, a tolerant, antidogmatic tendency that arose within the
Church of England during the 17th century. Rationalism introduced a
critical spirit into theology by insisting that traditional beliefs be
examined in the light of reason and science. By stressing broad
agreement on the major tenets of religion rather than the fine points of
theology, it tended to undermine the rigid orthodoxies that had developed
earlier in the 17th century. The purest expression of the rationalist
tendency was Deism, a philosophical religion that rejected revelation,
miracles, and the specific dogmatic teachings of any church.
Another form of Protestant rationalism that became influential in the
18th century was Unitarianism. It had originated in the 16th century on
the Continent, where it was called Socinianism, after its founder, Italian
reformer Fausto Socinus. After the Toleration Act of 1689, Unitarianism
was openly professed in England, and during the 18th century it began to
gain adherents in New England as well. Unitarians denied the doctrines
of the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus Christ, stressing instead his ethical
teachings and example. No significant developments in the
understanding of justification occurred in either Protestant or Roman
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Catholic theology during the 18th and 19th centuries. Liberal Protestant-
ism tended to ignore it, and Roman Catholic thought retained the
Scholastic doctrines.
Paul Tillich (1886-1965)
In his many books, Tillich developed ideas concerning the religious
basis of life, including The Religious Situation (1932), The Interpretation
of History (1936), The Protestant Era (1948), and Dynamics of Faith
(1957). In The Courage to Be (1952), he discussed the alienation of the
individual in society and argued that existence is rooted in God as the
ground of all being. Tillich believed that Protestant theology may
incorporate the critical posture and scientific concepts of contemporary
thought without endangering its Christian faith. Thus, he was quick to
utilize the insights of depth psychology and existential philosophy in his
attempts to renew the relevance of theology for modern secular society.
His Systematic Theology (3 volumes, 1951-63) was the major instrument
of this reformulation. Tillich died in Chicago on October 22, 1965.
The philosophical and religious conceptions of God have at times
been sharply distinguished. In the 17th century, for instance, French
mathematician and religious thinker Blaise Pascal unfavorably contrasted
the “God of the philosophers,” an abstract idea, with the “God of faith,”
an experienced, living reality. In general, mystics, who claim direct
experience of the divine being, have asserted the superiority of their
knowledge of God to the rational demonstrations of God's existence and
attributes propounded by philosophers and theologians (see Mysticism).
Some theologians have tried to combine philosophical and experiential
approaches to God, as in 20th-century German theologian Paul Tillich's
twofold way of speaking of God as the “ground of being” and “ultimate
concern.” A certain tension is probably inevitable, however, between the
way that theologians speak of God and the way most believers think of
and experience him.
Rienhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)
An outstanding, although not a systematic, theologian, Niebuhr was
notable primarily for his examination of the interrelationships between
religion, individuals, and modern society. Outside the field of theology,
he took a keen interest in trade union and political affairs. He was an
active member of the Socialist Party in the 1930s, waged a vigorous fight
against isolationism and pacifism before and during World War II, and in
1944 helped to found the Liberal Party in New York State. He received
the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964 and was made a member
of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He died on June 1, 1971.
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 rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
Niebuhr indicated his overriding interest in what has been called 1960’s God is Dead Movement
theological anthropology, a concern with the nature of man as a contact A significant development in the second half of the 20th century was
point for religion and society, in such major works as Moral Man and the death of God. This was front page news around the world. Many
Immoral Society (1932), Interpretation of Christian Ethics (1935), and apostate Protestant and Roman Catholic theologians and clerics agreed,
The Nature and Destiny of Man (2 volumes, 1941, 1943). A penetrating but recommended no changes and carried on business as usual every
critic of society, he also published Faith and History (1949), Christian Sunday. This practice continues to this day as exemplified in the writings
Realism and Political Problems (1953), The Self and the Dramas of of Paul Tillich and Rienhold Niebuhr. (this writer)
History (1955), and Structure of Nations and Empires (1959). In addition
he edited Christianity and Society, a quarterly, and the biweekly
periodical Christianity and Crisis.
Medieval theologians retained the idea of original sin, with certain
qualifications. It was asserted again in a more recognizably Augustinian
form by 16th-century Protestant reformers, primarily Martin Luther and
John Calvin. In subsequent Protestant thought, the doctrine was diluted
or circumvented. Liberal Protestant theologians developed an optimistic
view of human nature that was incompatible with the idea of original sin.
The extended crisis of Western civilization that began with World War I,
however, has aroused renewed interest in the original, basically
apocalyptic, outlook of the New Testament and in the doctrine of original
sin. Such neoorthodox or postliberal theologians as Karl Barth, Reinhold
Niebuhr, and Paul Tillich, however, were unwilling to attribute the
transmission of sin to procreation, instead attributing it to an already
corrupt society.

Martin Buber (1878-1965)

Buber is best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a religious
existentialism centered on the distinction between direct, mutual relations
(called by him the “I-Thou” relationship, or dialogue), in which each
person confirms the other as of unique value, and indirect, utilitarian
relations (designated the “I-It” relationship, or monologue), in which
each person knows and uses others but does not really see or value them
for themselves. Applying this distinction between “dialogue” and
“monologue” to religion, Buber insisted that religion means talking to
God, not about God. It is not monotheism, in Buber's view, but the
dialogue between man and God that is the essence of biblical Judaism.
Man becomes aware of being addressed by God in every encounter if he
remains open to that address and ready to respond with his whole being.
Buber's philosophy of dialogue has had a wide influence on thinkers of
many faiths, including such important Protestant theologians as Swiss
Karl Barth and Emil Brunner, German-born American Paul Tillich, and
American Reinhold Niebuhr. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005
Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
693 694
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In Defense of Grace

695 696

Summarizing Argument of Theological History
What may be gathered from the history of Grace? That “righteousness
is given to those who only believe” was lost since Christianity became a
state religion. Hardly, it was buried in Latinese by Roman church
lawyers and exhumed by original Greek translations. No matter, less than
one hundred years later, a Protestant jurist returned to the gravesite and
Alas! interred the bones of poor Yorick once again. For this reason, the
Western translations were redefined with the same specious appeal to the
vanity of humanism, that knows no limits, used earlier by Pelagius.
These humanist succeeded in re-establishing a Catholic Kingdom
Orthodoxy that interprets the work of Christ as insufficient. The logic
pre-supposes a human assist,
a secondary cause, to
complete salvation. Thus,
making the visible church
indispensable in the work of
rectifying wicked sinners.
Thereby, confounding free
will and the manner in which
one comes to Christ to
reinterpret the nature of
God’s precious salvation
itself.
A non-sovereign cause must have a non-sovereign effect. And by so
much, an unknown result is obtained when what is given, righteousness,
is omitted and “only believe” and Jesus Christ is conditioned by the
numerical value of X. The order of Biblical law teaches: I have
commanded therefore do and I will bless thee: 1 + 1 = 2. Not possessing
spiritual life, religious humanism reasons from the concept of a
progressive and glorious mankind and then backwards to salvation.
Using God’s written words only to establish a false theology, a
philosophy of man. Thus, reason dictates unlimited free will as the
determining factor to obtain the goal of a Reward with a capital R, and
some vague idea of heaven as God’s salvation, or if unsuccessful, a
literal hell for some, oblivion and no hell for others. (Overall, somewhat
like unwitting children pretending sticks of dynamite are fake cigars and
then the predictable appearance of a match without a “dues ex machina”
to intervene and remove the fire of Prometheus) The concept may be
expressed as follows:
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
 E - S ≥ 1 = +X = R?
 E - S ≤ 1 = -X = hell or oblivion
 X is a ± variable at any point in time determined by voluntary effort
E for one’s belief in Christ minus accumulated S, which is sin
committed after the initial act of belief.
And many other notions inside religious humanism or cult theology,
etc. I say cult, because you can see Jesus Christ is not the cause to the
effect, only a checkpoint, a penalty box to return to and start over again
should one commit the ambiguous act of “backslide” or “fall from
grace.” Belief begets nothing, it is sterile and linked to a man-like God
only so long as an unknowable X supports an extra-biblical “state of
grace.”
NT grace does not offer an arithmetic salvation where 1+1=2. For
myself, I have answered Matthew 16:15, “I say Jesus is “I am” my
Savoir,” and believe in what God revealed to Peter about “the Church”
and what God reveals to me in the Bible (Mtw 16:16); the two great
changes from sinner to saint, eternal life and imputed righteousness,
possession and position, “He who has the Son has eternal life.” “Ye in
me and I in you.”181 And many, many more verses stating unity with God
in John chapter 17. The result is:
 1 × A = 1 × A = 1 × A = 1 × A, etc. ad infinitum
 Belief = The Son of God = the gift of Righteousness = Justification =
Salvation = ∞
 My belief makes me 1 with, not 1 plus or minus, but joins me to all
of A instantly, one unity, a mathematical identity element, an ego, in
the undivided whole of the eternal anastasis of the hypostatic union
of God the Son and the humanity of Jesus Christ. As the immaterial,
the spirit and soul, of person is not divisible, one cannot have a part
of a person, therefore, A is all the aspects of the unified whole
revealed in the Bible to be a believer’s position and possession in
Christ. One divine Huge Rock made of Christ joined to His Church.
And an eventual transformation from my fallen imatatio Dios to the
perfect imatatio Christos. Thereby, a Christian, in the New Creation
of heavenly beings joined with the unique being, Christ, who is both
Creator and Glorified Creature. Ultimately an eternal unknown,
much as the transcendental outworking of the number of π 182 which
proves it impossible to square a circle. Thus infinity from a finite
view.
698

If you look carefully at these figures, you will see that they are
impossible to construct in three dimensions.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights
reserved.
God has become more then He was when Jesus Christ the Son was
resurrected. God joined Himself to humanity, died, and was raised from
death, becoming the unique fourfold man - Deity, spirit, soul, and
glorified body. Born again is not some commonly explained epiphany,
but an actual organic union. A unity with God. Below are the words of
Our Lord making requests to His Father, after the Last Supper. It is
known as the High Priestly prayer. Surely, the reiteration is for the
benefit of our understanding.
I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who
believe in me through their testimony, that they will all be one, just
as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be
in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. The glory you
gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are
one—I in them and you in me—that they may be completely one,
so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved
them just as you have loved me.
Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am,
so that they can see my glory that you gave me because you loved me
before the creation of the world Righteous Father, even if the world
does not know you, I know you, and these men know that you sent
me. I made known your name to them, and I will continue to make it
known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them, and
I may be in them. (John 17:20-26) NET (verse numbering omitted
and bold highlights mine)
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Astrophysics has recently looked backwards 13.7 billion years into the
big bang, within 350,000 years of the origin of the universe. They know
its 350,000 years because its exactly in the point of time it was predicted
to be before current instruments could see the original light waves left by
the big bang. Before that time, light distinction was obscured by the
brightness of the blast. Astrophysics has proven ten original dimensions
leaving six additional beyond our reality. These are beyond current
detection, yes, but none the less real because of our limitations. 183
The Vanishing Point Theory
Models of the Universe
According to the widely accepted theory of the big bang, the universe
originated about 14 billion years ago and has been expanding ever since.
Astronomers recognize four models of possible futures for the universe.
According to the closed model, many billions of years from now expansion
will slow, stop, and the universe will contract back in upon itself. In the flat
model, the universe will not collapse upon itself, but expansion will slow and
the universe will approach a stable size. According to the open model, the
universe will continue expanding forever. In the accelerating expansion
model, the universe will expand faster and faster until even the particles in
normal matter are torn away from each other. Astronomers currently favor
the accelerating expansion model.
© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All
rights reserved.
700

Continuing … believers placed into the Body of Christ by the
supranatural divine power of the Holy Spirit share in all that Christ is
now and forever. A secure sovereign salvation is awesome and
inexhaustible to fathom. An unsecured self salvation is pathetic, meager,
unexplainable, and squalid until death intervenes, then it becomes
horribly worse.
I admit a great compassion for the misled, a passion for the honor of
God and His grace, and a great rancor for those who mislead. This is not
unbiblical, read the three letters of John and surmise his words and
actions towards those who separated from the early Johannine church.
Read the letters of Paul and note his condemnation and curses directed at
false teachers. Take notice that the second letter of Peter was written
after Paul died to warn the churches about false teachers. Read how Jude
abandoned the original intent of his letter, salvation, to warn the churches
about false teachers after Peter died. And that which encompasses all
these letters - written by men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit and
“in Christ” being conformed to the image of Christ day by day - was
their likeness to Jesus Christ who was relentless in His condemnation of
the Pharisees. Those who will, might ponder the source of acrimony, not
the overturned tables in the temple and the knotted rope wielded by
Christ Himself in righteous anger.
And so it goes, in the theatre of religion, the didactic over election,
free will, predestination, foreknowledge, total depravity or common
grace, infant baptism, water baptism, the second baptism in the Spirit,
supra or infra or sub-lapsarian decrees of God, limited or unlimited
atonement, rationalism or revelation, intuition or knowledge, legalism or
antinomianism, natural or Biblical theism, Christ as teacher or Christ as
Savoir, merit or no merit, justification, grace, faith, hope, and love, and is
the greatest of these love?
Chickens and eggs, carts and horses - when is desire ever a question
of free will, better yet, where conscience meets candor, at what point in
time has someone ever willed themselves to desire? Holding in abeyance
that which is the proper conception of God’s motives and actions, the
dictum from the human side will be:
No one will come to Christ without the will to do so and no one will
stand before Christ at the end of time and say,” I wanted to be saved but I
was not predestined to do so.”
Won’t God give justice to his chosen ones, who cry out to him day
and night? Will he delay long to help them? The Lord is not slow
concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient
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toward you, because he does not wish for any 25 to perish but for
all to come to repentance.26 (Luke18:7; cf. 2 Pet 3:9) NET
The final word on the matter of trusting in Christ as Savior is that it yet
remains to be observed, from this side of heaven, that those who will –
do – and that those who will not – do not. This would say, that in
throwing the new child of God out with the “predestined” bath water is
but one of many ways to reject faith in Christ.
The following NET Bible note contains an extended discussion on free
will and the sovereignty of God:
25sn He does not wish for any to perish. This verse has been a
battleground between Arminians and Calvinists. The former argue that
God wants all people to be saved, but either through inability or
restriction of his own sovereignty does not interfere with peoples’ wills.
Some of the latter argue that the “any” here means “any of you” and that
all the elect will repent before the return of Christ, because this is God’s
will. Both of these positions have problems. The “any” in this context
means “any of you.” (This can be seen by the dependent participle which
gives the reason why the Lord is patient “toward you.”) There are hints
throughout this letter that the readership may be mixed, including both
true believers and others who are “sitting on the fence” as it were. But to
make the equation of this readership with the elect is unlikely. This
would seem to require, in its historical context, that all of these readers
would be saved. But not all who attend church know the Lord or will
know the Lord. Simon the Magician, whom Peter had confronted in Acts
8, is a case in point. This is evident in contemporary churches when a
pastor addresses the congregation as “brothers, sisters, saints, etc.,” yet
concludes the message with an evangelistic appeal. When an apostle or
pastor addresses a group as “Christian” he does not necessarily think that
every individual in the congregation is truly a Christian. Thus, the
literary context seems to be against the Arminian view, while the
historical context seems to be against (one representation of) the
Calvinist view. The answer to this conundrum is found in the term
“wish” (a participle in Greek from the verb boulomai). It often represents
a mere wish, or one’s desiderative will, rather than one’s resolve. Unless
God’s will is viewed on the two planes of his desiderative and decretive
will (what he desires and what he decrees), hopeless confusion will
result. The scriptures amply illustrate both that God sometimes decrees
things that he does not desire and desires things that he does not decree.
It is not that his will can be thwarted, nor that he has limited his
sovereignty. But the mystery of God’s dealings with humanity is best
702

seen if this tension is preserved. Otherwise, either God will be perceived
as good but impotent or as a sovereign taskmaster. Here the idea that God
does not wish for any to perish speaks only of God's desiderative will,
without comment on his decretive will.
26tn Grk “reach to repentance.” Repentance thus seems to be a
quantifiable state, or turning point. The verb cwrevw (cwrew, “reach”)
typically involves the connotation of “obtain the full measure of”
something. It is thus most appropriate as referring to the repentance that
accompanies conversion.
Another quote from a well regarded source may be added to the
above considerations. And this, regarding the total inability of man to
form a proper response on which to choose.
The depravity or corruption of nature is total. Man is “wholly inclined
to evil, and that continually.” Westminster L.C., 25. Gen 6:5, “God
saw that every imagination of the thoughts of man was only evil
continually.” There can be but a single dominant inclination in the
will at one and the same time; though with it there may be remnants
of a previously dominant inclination. Adam began a new sinful
inclination. This expelled the prior holy inclination. He was therefore
totally depraved, because there were no remainders of original
righteousness left after apostasy, as there are remainders of original
sin left after regeneration. This is proved by the fact that there is no
struggle between sin and holiness, in the natural man, like that in the
spiritual man. In the regenerate, “the flesh lusteth against the spirit,
and the spirit against the flesh, ‘ Gal 5:17. Holiness and sin are in a
conflict that causes the regenerate to “groan within themselves,” Rom
8:23. But there is no such conflict and groaning in the natural man.
Apostasy was the fall of the human will, with no remnants of
original righteousness. Regeneration is the recovery of the human
will, with some remnants of original sin. Total depravity means the
entire absence of holiness, not the highest intensity of sin. A totally
depraved man is not as bad as he can be, but he has no holiness, that
is, no supreme love of God. He worships and loves the creature rather
than the creator, Rom 1:25. (Dogmatic Theology, Dr. Shedd.
Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, Vol 2, p. 219) (bold
highlights mine)
The following quote, by Principal Cunningham, is a pointed observation
about the absurdity of Arminian free will and extra-biblical common
grace:
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
Now this is just virtually the question, Who maketh those who have
passed from death to life, and are now advancing towards heaven, to
differ from those who are still walking in the broad way? Is it God, or
is it themselves? The Arminians – virtually and practically ascribe the
difference to themselves. God has given sufficient grace – everything
necessary for effecting the result – to others as well as to them. There
is no difference to the call addressed to them. This is equal and alike.
There is a difference in the result; and from the sufficiency and
consequent equality of the universal grace vouchsafe, this difference
in the result must necessarily be ascribed , as to its real adequate
cause, to something in themselves, not to God’s grace, not to what He
graciously bestowed upon them, but to what they themselves were
able to do, and have done, in improving aright what God
communicated to them. If sufficient grace is communicated to all who
are outwardly called, then no more than what is sufficient is
communicated to those who actually repent and believe; for, to assert
this, is virtually to deny or retract the position, that what was
communicated to those who continue impenitent and unbelieving,
was sufficient or adequate, and thus to contradict their fundamental
doctrine upon this whole subject. (Historical Theology, 3rd edition,
Vol 2, pp. 404-05, Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 3, p.
277)
2 Tim 3:9 But they will not go much further, for their foolishness will
be obvious to everyone, just like it was with Jannes and Jambres.
NET
Righteousness, or holiness, is the opposite of forgiveness. The
Apostle Peter tells us, ““You shall be holy, because I am holy”” (1 Pet
1:16 NET). A Christian is much more than a forgiven sinner. The
precept of those who follow Arminian styled free will is based on the
rejection of the truth taught in the Scripture, Old and New Testament.
Because of the curse set upon him by the Fall, man is incapable of his
own to reform himself to an extent that will please God. Sin is any action
that does not conform to the character of God. God’s character is only
partially revealed in the Mosaic Law. Man because of his moral
degeneration assumes a federation with Satan in the colossal experiment
of rebellion and independence that is permitted by God who is the source
of all life. For this reason, rebellion, if taken to its logical self-destruction
would be complete separation from the source of life itself. This latitude
of free will is never allowed by God, neither in this life nor in the
damnation of the next.
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One may quite honestly resist the idea of divine Providence184 and
find the overall scope of the concept repugnant. I would say, okay, but
who of the many that find the idea of Providence repugnant can give
adequate reasons as to why? Who of the many have honestly meditated
upon the broad ramifications of the concept? Who has not been left
“feeling” a certain way after a emotional involvement with a movie or a
play? Much as a play written on paper is a two dimensional
representation, the play does not manifest itself rightly until performed
before an audience - until it becomes “humanized” and enters time and
our three dimensional reality. A play is a creative act that need enter
reality. God does not act on the legal fiction of foresight. In the
Temptation of Christ - that is more properly termed the Insanity Hearing
for Satan - the outcome was predetermined from all eternity, but,
obviously Satan did not know that and demanded of his Creator,
“Worship me.” Here, God demonstrates to all present and future
intelligences His Providence and His Just actions. May the creature deny
the Lord and Master Creator His benevolent creative powers to
accomplish His purposes? By what “rule” may He be denied? In
Providence the awards do not go to the best actors.
Providence vol 1 p257
` When addressing God’s reasons for permitting sin to exist, Dr. Lewis
Chafer writes in the following regarding man’s free choice:
1. The Divine Recognition of the Creatures Free Choice. It is
evidently the purpose of God to secure a company of beings for His
eternal glory who are possessed of that virtue which is a free-choice
victory over evil. Indeed, He will have wrought in them by His own
power both to will and to do of His good pleasure; but as certainly as
the choice of evil on man’s part becomes the ground of guilt and
judgment which God does not share, so certainly the choice of good
on the part of those who are saved is ever the ground of God’s
commendation and reward, and they will stand before Him eternally
identified as those who by their own choice elected to walk with Him.
But it should be observed, man cannot make choice between good
and evil unless evil exists. (Systematic Theology, Vol 2 p.231)
Is free will without the sovereignty of God recognized by God as
saving faith?
The sovereignty of God exceeds the notion of prerogative as
conceived by many. Dr. Lewis Chafer well defines the attribute of
sovereignty in the God of the Bible: “ Sovereignty is the very foundation
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of the doctrine of decrees – yet to be discussed. However, when
contemplating the transcendent completeness of the divine Person it is
required that His sovereignty shall be included. The sovereignty of God
is determined in the absolute manner in which all things have been
assigned their respective places in creation, in appointing to men their
day and generation as well as the bounds of their habitation, and in the
exercise of saving grace. There is perfect peace and highest destiny for
those who, knowing the will of God, are subject to it. There is distress
and anguish awaiting those who, knowing the will of God, disregard it.
Because of divine sovereignty, the saving gospel of Christ is, in various
Scriptures, presented as something to be obeyed.” 185
At the end of the day, fancy ideas of unlimited free will and self
salvation touted by religious humanism holds the field of visible
Christianity. In America where millions of people read millions of
Bibles, for millions of lifetimes and after trillions of contemporary
dollars have been spent in the maintenance of Christian religion, 51% of
Americans are taken in by a Governmental theology of law, not grace,
and satisfied to be entertained by the fantastic notion of salvation as
personal piety weighed on a scale or summed on a balance sheet. They,
like the Pope himself and the millions who follow a self-salvation styled
after that old rascal Pelagius, are doomed if they truly believe what they
profess. The instructions given in Scripture are not being followed.
Philosophy, theology, academia, tradition, prejudice, and vanity hold
sway over humble reflection. For consideration, I’d like to offer my
thoughts, which lack a pedigreed source. I conclude on the subject of the
sovereignty of God verses man’s free will, which has flowed forth a river
of cuneiform tablets and ink long before Christ came, that academia
plays a much larger part than is warranted. Those properly schooled and
confident of sources have slung books across the centuries at opposing
viewpoints over this perceived paradox. Thomas Aquinas, the darling of
Catholic theology and the compromise of Scholasticism, came to a place
in his life where he stopped his professional speaking and writing. Not
because of any disability, mind you, just a personal choice. I believe he
had an insight and saw the futility of past intellectualisms over the
ancient problem of the universals. I choose the Bible as my source and
will make this brief.
The Parable of the Sunken Treasure Ship
Paul, not lacking a fine education himself, said he should not of
known sin until sin was revealed in God’s law (Rom 7:7). This is on the
negative side, bear in mind there is a positive side. I ask you, how
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common is it to control children by manipulating the knowledge of
something to obtain a desirable effect? Aside from election verses, NT
Scripture reveals, in several places, that God draws men to salvation, that
He draws all men. Now, let’s say you desire a sunken treasure ship. You
may search with limited funds as best you can or, with a sophisticated
effort to solicit money for research, surveying, equipment, etc. You’re a
real Mel Fisher kind of a
guy. In the pressing
demands of your search,
let’s say someone comes
to you with a map and
all you have to do is go
with him and take a
look, no expense to you.
Okay, you don’t have
time for foolishness, so
you tell the guy to get
lost. Not that sunken
treasure ships don’t exist, but for various reasons you fail. Later, you
hear of some nobody who was given a map and can’t bring up all the
sunken treasure he has the rights to in ten lifetimes. Now, I ask you what
kept you from the treasure? Free will of course. Hold on, hold on, not so
fast! What brought that Mr. Nobody to the treasure, free will? I suggest
your imperfect knowledge kept you from that treasure, in both cases, and
that Mr. Nobody followed the knowledge, the instructions, revealed in
the map. Desire you had, but not for what turned out to be the proper
knowledge. Mr. Nobody might have been a farmer who never thought of
sunken treasure, but had the price of the knowledge and the treasure
within his means - simple trust in someone else. “Faith is the evidence”
and knowledge is power.
A fool’s story, a tale told by an idiot, perhaps? Scripture says the
Lord will use the foolish to shame the wise. Also, that He is pleased in
that by the foolishness of preaching men are saved. Paul, addressing
believers asks the question, “Who of you was wise? Who of you was
respected? Who of you was highly born?”
The Bible reveals the repentance of Judas, Gk. metamelomia, which
drove him to hang himself. The best kept secret in America today is that
to repent for salvation does not mean, as preached by the ignorant, to
wail and moan and feel horrible regret about sin, nor does it mean that
one must clean up their act. The Greek word for repent is never used in
the Gospel of John, written expressly for saving faith in Jesus Christ.
Saving faith in the original Greek is metanoia, repent in the KJV, which
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means to change one’s mind about a contrary matter. It is used with the
synonyms “believe” and “faith.” Of something like 150 verses, rarely are
two synonyms used in the same verse. Repent is to turn to what was
deemed unworthy from what one held to be worthy. A major reversal of
fortune dear reader, based on knowledge and faith in that knowledge.
Mtw 11:27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father.50
No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the
Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides to reveal
him. 11:28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I
will give you rest. 11:29 Take my yoke on you and learn from me,
because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for
your souls. 11:30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not
hard to carry.” NET
50sn This verse has been noted for its conceptual similarity to teaching in
John’s Gospel (10:15; 17:2). The authority of the Son and the Father are
totally intertwined.
John 10:38 But if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe
the deeds, so that you may come to know and understand that I am in
the Father and the Father is in me.” NET
John 5:25 I tell you the solemn truth, a time is coming—and is now
here—when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those
who hear will live. NET
1 John 2:3 Now by this we know that we have come to know God: if
we keep his commandments. NET
Furthermore, to treat the future as present and the invisible as visible
requires an informed intelligent decision.i If the NT were not written on
the principle of “now-but-not-yet,” hope could not exist, “For in hope we
were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for
what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for
it with endurance” (Rom 8:24-25). “Now faith is being sure of what we
hope for, being convinced of what we do not see” (Heb 11:1). “Your
faith and love have arisen from the hope laid up for you in heaven, which
you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel that has come to
you. Just as in the entire world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing,
i
see Appendix, The Definition of Faith and The Doctrine of Faith
708

so it has also been bearing fruit and growing among you from the first
day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth” (Col 1:5-6).
Dr. Lewis Chafer, when considering the imatatio Dios, the image of
God, in man, writes:
Two New Testament passages serve to bring into view three features
which belong to those who have “put on” Christ and these may have
been lost in the fall. They are certainly gained under saving grace. It
is written: “And that ye put on the new man, which after God is
created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph 4:24); “And have put
on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of
him that created him” (Col 3:10). The regeneration of the New
Creation, with all that accompanies it, secures righteousness, true
holiness, and knowledge. (Systematic Theology, Vol 2, p.162)
Irrespective of historical interpretations, what was contained in the
language of the Oracles of Truth as originally intended? What were the
perceptions of the first generation of believers in “the Way” and “the
Faith,” that Paul had converted in the cities of Ephesus and Antioch?
Regarding the corruption of biblical truth in the primitive church, as
indicated in the Third Epistle of John, in the person of the preeminent
tyrant Diotrephes,i Dr. C.I. Scofield writes, “Historically, this letter
marks the beginning of that clerical and priestly assumption over the
churches in which the primitive church order disappeared.” 186 Has truth
been lost? May it be a simple matter of personal opinion and diversity of
choice on the subject of salvation and free will? There is but one Spirit
and one Truth and the Spirit of Truth is given to all believers in Christ.
Dr. C. H. Spurgeon writes:
“Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?” Job xxxviii. 16.
SOME things in nature must remain a mystery to the most intelligent
and enterprising investigators. Human knowledge has bounds beyond
which it cannot pass. Universal knowledge is for God alone. If this be
so in the things which are seen and temporal, I may rest assured that it
is even more so in matters spiritual and eternal. Why, then, have I
been torturing my brain with speculations as to destiny and will, fixed
fate, and human responsibility? These deep and dark truths I am no
more able to comprehend than to find out the depth which coucheth
i
His name means – nourished by Zeus
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
beneath, from which old ocean draws her watery stores. Why am I so
curious to know the reason of my Lord’s providences, the motive of
His actions, the designs of His visitations? Shall I ever be able to
clasp the sun in my fist, and hold the universe in my palm? Yet these
are as a drop of a bucket compared with the Lord my God. Let me not
strive to understand the infinite, but spend my strength in love. What I
cannot gain by intellect I can possess by affection, and let that suffice
me. I cannot penetrate the heart of the sea, but I can enjoy the
healthful breezes which sweep over its bosom, and I can sail over its
blue waves with propitious winds. If I could enter the springs of the
sea, the feat would serve no useful purpose either to myself or others,
it would not save the sinking bark, or give back the drowned mariner
to his weeping wife and children; neither would my solving deep
mysteries avail me a single whit, for the least love to God, and the
simplest act of obedience to Him, are better than the profoundest
knowledge. My Lord, I leave the infinite to Thee, and pray Thee to
put far from me such a love for the tree of knowledge as might keep
me from the tree of life. (Morning and Evening Devotions, C. H.
Spurgeon, p 499, September 5)
Do proponents of unlimited free will seriously conceive that God
need cast a mesmerizing spell over men to save them? Can a person will
himself to never have a flight or fight response; to never produce or react
to adrenalin? Why would He create free moral agents endowed with
divine comprehensible reason? Is a radicalized belief in free will just
whistling in the dark (a false pretense of courage, perhaps)? What is the
mystery of free will? “For God, who said “Let light shine out of
darkness,” is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the
glorious knowledge of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor 4:6).
There is an experiential irrelevance to the “free will” as regards
divine determinations. God is never the author of sin, but should it be
assumed that Judas was aware of the prophetic part he played, and that
he may of done otherwise? Should it be assumed, likewise, of Satan? The
eleven disciples were oblivious, even after a plain statement by Jesus,
that Judas was the one prophesied about and predetermined to betray
Him. Jesus even went so far as to command Judas “to be quick about it.”
Dr. Lewis Chafer comments: “The manner of Christ’s death and the
precise words of His executioners were not merely foreknown by a
foresight that determines nothing.” 187 Verse 8 in Psalm 22 shows how
sarcasm becomes fulfilled prophecy, “… Let the LORD deliver Him for
He delights in Him.” There is a strange harmony in that God is glorified
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in the predetermination of sin in the famous passage from the Gospel of
John 13:18-32. The AMP Bible translation reads:
“I am not speaking of and I do not mean all of you. I know whom I have
chosen: but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled. He who eats My
bread with Me has raised up his heel against Me [Ps. 41:9]. I tell you this
now before it occurs, so that when it does take place you may be
persuaded and believe that I am He [Who I say I am – the Christ, the
Anointed One, the Messiah]. I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, he
who receives and welcomes and takes into his heart any messenger of
Mine receives Me [in just that way]; and he who receives and welcomes
and takes Me into his heart receives Him Who sent Me [in that same
way]. After Jesus had said these things, He was troubled (disturbed,
agitated) in spirit and said, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, one of
you will deliver Me up [one of you will be false to me and betray Me]!
The disciples kept looking at one another, puzzled as to whom He could
mean. One of His disciples, whom Jesus loved [whom He esteemed and
delighted in], was reclining [next to Him] on Jesus’ bosom. So Peter
motioned to him to ask of whom He was speaking. Then leaning back
against Jesus’ breast, he asked Him, Lord who is it? Jesus answered, It is
the one to whom I am going to give this morsel (bit) of food after I have
dipped it. So when He had dipped the morsel of bread [into the dish], He
gave it to Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son. Then after [he had taken] the bit of
food, Satan entered into and took possession of [Judas]. Jesus said to
him, What you are going to do, do more swiftly than you seem to intend
and make quick work of it. But nobody at the table knew why He spoke
to him or what He meant by telling him this. Some thought that since
Judas had the money box (the purse), Jesus was telling him, Buy what we
need for the Festival, or that he should give something to the poor. So
after receiving the bit of bread, he went out immediately. And it was
night. When he had left, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified!
[Now He has achieved His glory, His honor, His exaltation!] And God
has been glorified through and in Him. And if God is glorified through
and in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and He glorify Him at
once and not delay.”
Jesus said to the fisherman, the brothers Peter and Andrew: “Follow
me, and I will turn you into fishers of people35” i (Mark 1:17 NET). A
i
sn The kind of fishing envisioned was net—not line—fishing (cf. v. 16; cf.
also BDAG 55 s.v. ajmfibavllw, ajmfivblhstron) which involved a
circular net that had heavy weights around its perimeter. The occupation of
fisherman was labor-intensive. The imagery of using a lure and a line (and
waiting for the fish to strike) is thus foreign to this text. Rather, the imagery
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
wise man once said, “Water is the last thing a fish would notice,” and
fish we truly are. Much like the Pharisees and true holiness, Christianity
is the last thing that most Christians would notice. Stated simply, one
may choose the gift of God which is salvation in all of its riches or
remain in partnership with the ruler of this world. This is honest
sloganism begging the detail to follow.
The ideal of a totally free will is inseparable from the ideal of an
unbiased choice. Only imperfect knowledge exists, therefore bias exists,
and by so much, free will is compromised. Thus, the law of unintended
consequences exemplified in the story of the sunken treasure ship. Since
the subject of God is primary here, revelation exists, something
knowledge or rationalism can never attain to. God’s Word is inseparable
and endowed with God the Holy Spirit of Truth. All of God’s children
and the true messengers that he prepares and sends to witness to the
world are also endowed with the Holy Spirit. Patently, one may agree or
contend with what the Bible says about salvation. At the end of the day,
Scripture plainly states “the Spirit of God will not always contend with
man.” Thus, the extent of man’s free will regarding salvation remains the
sovereign choice of God. There are more than a few accounts of notable,
avowed atheist screaming for God in the final weeks of their lives. In the
OT, God declared to the twelve tribes of Jacob, that the sins of the people
who inhabited the promised land of Canaan were not “high enough” to
displace them from their land. Thus, four hundred and fifty years later,
God used His people to destroy the Canaanites. They failed to initially
enter the land or completely destroy the Canaanites when they did enter
the land. Was it not God’s will to completely destroy the Canaanites?
Contrary to popular conceptions of free will, one may say no to God and
fail – and one may say yes to God and be assured of success.
The ordo salutis is a theological construct to which different systems
of theology assign different priorities to divine decrees and events in
salvation. Reformed (Calvinism) theology would have regeneration
happening before saving faith. Luther and Calvin disagreed over this
of a fisherman involved much strain, long hours, and often little results.
Jesus’ point may have been one or more of the following: the strenuousness
of evangelism, the work ethic that it required, persistence and dedication to
the task (often in spite of minimal results), the infinite value of the new
“catch” (viz ., people), and perhaps an eschatological theme of snatching
people from judgment (cf. W. L. Lane, Mark [NICNT], 67). If this last motif
is in view, then catching people is the opposite of catching fish: The fish
would be caught, killed, cooked, and eaten; people would be caught so as to
remove them from eternal destruction and to give them new life.
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very point. Yet both held that the NT Scripture plainly teaches a secure
salvation. Today, Calvinism and Arminianism are at opposite ends of a
free will polemic in respect to saving faith and salvation. That is not to
admit that one is right and one is wrong, as patently, both could be wrong
on one or more points of contention.
For the record, the five points of Calvinism are: (1) Total inability of
the fallen man, (2) Unconditional election, (3) A limited redemption, (4)
Efficacious divine grace, and (5) God is responsible for the safekeeping
of the saint’s salvation. The Arminian view of saving faith and salvation
teaches that: (1) Conditional election according to God’s foreknowledge
of supposed human worthiness, (2) A universal redemption, but only
those who believe to be saved, (3) salvation by grace through faith.
(Because of a supposed enabling grace divinely bestowed upon all at
birth, all may cooperate in their salvation if they will to do so.), (4) Grace
not irresistible, and (5) The believer is responsible for the self-keeping of
their salvation as a so-called “falling from grace (cf. Gal 5:4 KJV)” is
taken to mean the loss of “maintaining” one’s salvation.
Gal 5:4 You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law have
been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace! NET
As a note of clarification - fallen from grace - in Galatians 5:4, is the
“fallen estate” of all non-believers and the unsaved who attempt to earn
their salvation through a false gospel of merit and works. As the test of
“the Gospel” is pure grace that cannot deny itself as the remedy for the
guilt of sin, any “gospel” that mingles any act or condition beyond trust
in (somebody else’s) Christ’s finished work as a means of entrance into
the new covenant, or a self-keeping (law-keeping and self-worth) that
safeguards individual salvation is a false gospel that is of no effect and is
under the curse of Galatians 1:8-9. Scripture would assert that salvation
by the gospel of grace cannot be lost as the one who trusts in Jesus Christ
is sealed and becomes the possession of God, “And when you heard the
word of truth (the gospel of your salvation) – when you believed in
Christ – you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, who
is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s
own possession, to the praise of his glory” (Eph 1:13-14).
God provides perfect knowledge in the form of “the Gospel of the
Grace of God” to man in the Bible to initiate the process of perfecting his
“natural man’s” (Gk. sarkikos) free will. Thereby, the one who trusts in
the knowledge of Jesus given in the Word of God, from God’s point of
knowing, may ensure the eventual eternal perfection of his free will by
conforming to the only and one NT command put upon the unsaved
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hordes of humanity who belong to the secular world. One may well note,
contradictory to humanitarian ideals, this is the only social gospel in the
NT. All other commands are internal to the family of God. It is the
singular command of God addressed to the unsaved. Which is in like
kind, to the OT positive command to the Jew who was born into a
national or commonwealth covenant relation to God – you will live long
and prosper if you obey your parents. Dr. Lewis Chafer summarizes the
doctrine of obedience in the following:
Old Testament obedience was directed, speaking doctrinally and
in general, to God (cf. Abraham, Gen 22:18; Saul, 1 Sam 15:22;
28:18). It was a national issue with Israel (Isa 1:19; Zech 6:15).
Certain distinctions occur in the New Testament statement of the
doctrine. First, there is the personal obedience of Christ to the Father
(Phil 2:8) – a great Bible theme – which served as a test of His true
humanity (Heb 5:8). In the accomplishment of salvation Christ’s
obedience is also prominent (Romans 5:12-21). “Children of
obedience” (1 Pet 1:14, R.V.) are such because they stand in the
obedience of the Last Adam; “children of disobedience” (Eph 2:2) are
such because they have to do with the disobedience of the first Adam.
It is necessary for the unsaved to be obedient to the gospel (Acts 5:32;
2 Thess 1:8) if they would be redeemed. Christians are to be obedient
both before God and man (Acts 5:9; 1 Pet 1:22). Children are to be
subservient to parents (Eph 6:1; Col 3:20). Servants are to obey their
masters (Col 3:22) and wives to submit to husbands (Eph 5:22). No
word is addressed to unregenerate people regarding obedience to
God, apart from the gospel. Obedience for the Christian is equivalent
to abiding in Christ (John 15:10). (Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis
Chafer, Vol 7, pp 242-43)
The stated will of God is for the lost, those who will perish (Gk.
apollumi) to obey the gospel i and be redeemed (Gk. apolutrosis) by
Christ, the resurrected kinsman-redeemer who gives eternal life (Gk.
zōēn aiōnion). “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so
must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him
may have eternal life. For this is the way God loved the world: He gave
his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not
perish but have eternal life” (John 3:14-16). Saving faith is the very first
act of perfect legal obedience to God in an unsaved life. Additionally, it
is the last act of that natural sarkikos man. It is a cosmic moment. No
i
see Appendix Obey the Gospel Verses
714

matter that all is not known about the divine mechanics of regeneration
and the new birth, it is the work of God and verified extensively in the
NT. For these same reasons, the one who continues to reject the gospel of
grace has a perfectly informed choice, also.
2 Cor 4:2 But we have rejected shameful hidden deeds, not behaving
with deceptiveness or distorting the word of God, but by open
proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s
conscience before God. 4:3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is
veiled only to those who are perishing, 4:4 among whom the god of
this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe so they
would not see the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God. NET
Rom 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God
through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been
reconciled, will we be saved by his life? 5:11 Not only this, but we
also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we
have now received this reconciliation. NET
God has reconciled the world to Himself through the sinless and
divine blood of Christ, one need only accept that perfect standard and be
reconciled to God. The awful judgment against sin, that resulted in the
degeneration of all men, was caused by the free will of Adam, who was
the only man to become a sinner by sinning. He was not created or born
sinful. But sin has been redeemed and individual free will is all that
stands between God and unregenerate man in this life of grace. The
following are just a few of many “obey the gospel” verses in the NT:
1 John 3:23 Now this is his commandment: that we believe in the
name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave us
the commandment. NET
Eph 1:13-14 And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of
your salvation)—when you believed in Christ—you were marked
with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, who is the down payment
of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, to
the praise of his glory. NET
John 6:28 So then they said to him, “What must we do to accomplish
the deeds God requires?” 6:29 Jesus replied, “This is the deed God
requires—to believe in the one whom he sent.” NET
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Acts 5:32 And we are witnesses of these events, and so is the Holy
Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” NET
(Interesting note, the NASB, KJV, NIV, AMP all read the same)
Rom 2:8 but wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition
and do not obey the truth but follow unrighteousness. NET
2 Thess 1:8 With flaming fire he will mete out punishment on those
who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
NET
Heb 5:9 And by being perfected in this way, he became the source of
eternal salvation to all who obey him, NET
1 Pet 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin, starting with the
house of God. And if it starts with us, what will be the fate of those
who are disobedient to the gospel of God? NET
John 17:6 “I have revealed your name to the men you gave me out of
the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they
have obeyed your word. NET
John 8:51 I tell you the solemn truth, if anyone obeys my
teaching,133 he will never see death.”134 NET
133tn Grk “my word.”
134tn Grk “he will never see death forever.” The Greek negative here is
emphatic.
sn Those who keep Jesus’ words will not see death because they have
already passed from death to life (cf. 5:24). In Johannine theology eternal
life begins in the present rather than in the world to come.
Perfect obedience is to be saved from the judgment of unbelief
2 Pet 3:9 The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some
regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not
wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.26 NET
26tn Grk “reach to repentance.” Repentance thus seems to be a
quantifiable state, or turning point. The verb χωρέω (chōreō, “reach”)
typically involves the connotation of “obtain the full measure of”
716

something. It is thus most appropriate as referring to the repentance that
accompanies conversion.
John 6:45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they will all be taught
by God.’ Everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to
me. NET
John 6:29 Jesus replied, “This is the deed God requires—to believe
in the one whom he sent.” NET
Col 1:5 Your faith and love have arisen from the hope laid up for you
in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the
gospel 1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel
is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and
growing among you from the first day you heard it and understood
the grace of God in truth. 1:7 You learned the gospel from Epaphras,
our dear fellow slave—a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf—
1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit. NET
Regarding the current estate of man, Dr. Chafer writes:
The essential and all determining fact of these divine accomplish-
ments are wrought instantaneously and simultaneously (Heb 6:9
“things that accompany salvation) and are never a progressive order
of sequence, establishes the truth that all human beings may be, at a
given time, classified as either perfectly lost – God having wrought
none of these features of salvation for them – or perfectly saved –
God having wrought completely and finally all that enters all that
enters into the immediate salvation of a soul. There are no
intermediate states. Of no human being could it be said that he is
partly saved and partly lost. … Similarly, the message to be preached
to these two classes – those perfectly lost and those perfectly saved –
are, of necessity, different in every particular. It is to be doubted
whether any text of Scripture will be found to be applicable to both
classes alike. To the unsaved, God makes no appeal to their manner
of life; no improvement or reformation is required of them. He
requires of the unsaved that they hear and heed the gospel only. …
The lost are saved when the hear the gospel under divine illumination,
that is when they hear and believe. As certainly as this is true, it is the
preacher’s part to expect that souls will be saved while he is
preaching, rather than after he has concluded his message.
(Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 3, p 226)
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
Given the present condition of all men as either perfectly lost or
perfectly saved, there is a transition, although instantaneous, which is the
perfect obedience that bridges the perfectly lost to the perfectly saved
estate. This, the obedience of faith, required by the one law incumbent
upon the unsaved to “obey the gospel.” This view of salvation eliminates
the possibility of any future merit on the part of the one becomes saved,
as that unregenerate person longer exists, they have a new name known
only to God. Also, this addresses directly the problem of how or when
the degeneration of mankind is reversed. Moreover, the very rational and
intelligent question asked by the unsaved is answered – “Saved from
what?” “Why do I need to be saved?” My past and present experience is
that the common Christian idea of why Christ died is severely confined
to the tunnel-vision of one reason – personal sin and more personal sins.
The sin of unbelief, the sin of not obeying the gospel, condemns
mankind: “The one who believes in him is not condemned. The one who
does not believe has been condemned i already, because he has not
believed in the name of the one and only Son of God” (John 3:18 NET).
My Bible reads that Christ came to give me life, and life more
abundantly; He came to give me peace, and not as the world gives peace.
This means I can have eternal life and peace with God instead of eternal
damnation, which, through no fault of my own, I inherited. “Saved from
what?” and “Why do I need to be saved?” – may be answered very easily
by the following: So that you may be saved from yourself - is why Christ
came, dear reader. Christ came that men may believe in Him for the
perfection of salvation. Thereby, men are saved from the future judgment
of unbelief. Salvation is self-exclusive of self-salvation because m-a-n is
his own sin problem, not the sin solution for his sin. Paul, compelled by
the Holy Spirit, in the following passage, is here presenting the Gospel to
the astute, highly knowledgeable, and cultured Greek Athenians. His
i
46sn John 3:16-21 provides an introduction to the (so-called) “realized”
eschatology of the Fourth Gospel: Judgment has come; eternal life may be possessed
now, in the present life, as well as in the future. The terminology “realized
eschatology” was originally coined by E. Haenchen and used by J. Jeremias in
discussion with C. H. Dodd, but is now characteristically used to describe Dodd’s
own formulation. See L. Goppelt, Theology of the New Testament, 1:54, note 10, and
R. E. Brown (John [AB], 1:cxvii-cxviii) for further discussion. Especially important
to note is the element of choice portrayed in John’s Gospel. If there is a twofold
reaction to Jesus in John’s Gospel, it should be emphasized that that reaction is very
much dependent on a person’s choice, a choice that is influenced by his way of life,
whether his deeds are wicked or are done in God (John 3:20-21). For John there is
virtually no trace of determinism at the surface. Only when one looks beneath the
surface does one find statements like “no one can come to me, unless the Father who
sent me draws him” (John 6:44).
718

presentation is reviewed by the council of the Areopagus, the Supreme
Court judges of the “dark hill of Mars.” He gives the following reasons
for man’s need for salvation:
“From one man he made every nation of the human race to inhabit
the entire earth, determining their set times and the fixed limits of the
places where they would live, so that they would search for God and
perhaps grope around for him and find him, though he is not far from
each one of us. … he now commands all people everywhere to turn
to Him [repent], because he has set a day on which he is going to
judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom he designated,
having provided proof to everyone by raising him from the dead. …
So Paul left the Areopagus. But some people joined him and
believed. Among them were Dionysius, who was a member of the
Areopagus” (Acts 17) NET. (bold highlights and brackets mine)
In the above passage, in Paul’s presentation of the gospel of the grace
of God, I read: God made one man Adam – God now commands
everyone to obey the gospel – believe in the One who was resurrected to
avoid His judgment on all men descended from Adam – notably, among
others, an Athenian Supreme Court judge believed this message. The
message was of such content as to convince this judge.i Where did Paul
mention feeling sorry for personal sins? Scripture says the Holy Spirit
will convict men of sin because they believe not in the Son of God. There
is no long list attached to this one sin. Sin would appear to be singular.
“Obey the gospel” to be saved from judgment is undeniable and singular.
The gospel is “the command to all people” to turn to Jesus. Because
Jesus, the resurrected Son of God, will judge you in His righteousness
(the bad news) or He can be your righteousness, your Savoir (the good
news). Any other so-called gospel is not the gospel, as just demonstrated
in this passage from the Book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit. Paul most
certainly gave a true, accurate and full gospel message. The long and
short of this message is: men are doomed - Christ came to save men first
and to judge men later. Why later? I say this very seriously - because
i
The name Dionysius means – belonging to Dionysus. An interesting note on
Dionysus is: “According to tradition, Dionysus died each winter and was reborn in
the spring. To his followers, this cyclical revival, accompanied by the seasonal
renewal of the fruits of the earth, embodied the promise of the resurrection of the
dead. The yearly rites in honor of the resurrection of Dionysus gradually evolved into
the structured form of the Greek drama” Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005
Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
Christ has plenty of time for the outcalling of His church until the
number is full and unsaved men cannot leave the universe – dead or
alive. If certain calculations are to be believed - that the present day total
of something like 6.5 billion people is equivalent to the total amount of
people who have died, then, this would say that half the people who have
ever lived are alive today.
Scripture says, “All men die in the first Adam and all men live in the
Last Adam” and “So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law
through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the
one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God” (Rom 7:4) and,
“For through the law I died to the law so that I may live to God. I have
been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives
in me” (Gal 2:19-20ff). The assumption regarding God’s other rational
creation, the angels, is that their free will has already been perfected. God
would not give unsaved men a command that they are incapable of
performing. This is not to admit to extra-biblical “common grace.” This
is not to deny God’s sovereignty. Here it may be seen, that when a man
dies to the law, that man’s unregenerate free will is regenerated as part
of the new nature. Man’s free will is not experientially perfected, but, as
in all grace teachings for daily faith, the enablement of the Holy Spirit is
available to the saved individual who will avail himself of progressive
sanctification. As are many other positions, possessions, and standings in
the grace teachings of the NT. This view of salvation, based as it is on
the legal aspect of the gospel, is focused on the regeneration of man who
did not choose to be born into a fallen estate and his choice to believe
God’s totally free, without cost, gratis, redeeming offer. It is a view of
redemption that begins at the same point degeneration stopped in the first
Adam, who, as the federal head of mankind, reproduced his fallen nature,
in kind and in all mankind. Thus, the fallen nature of Adam and Eve was
the source, or root, of all individual acts of sin by men. Bear in mind,
God called both the original male and the female, Adam. Eve was named
by Adam after his moral lapse and the ruin of the future generations of
men. Man is redeemed federally in the Last Adam, by individual choice
“through faith in the power of God who raised Him from the dead” and a
new birth that is the entrance into the new creation of men and women in
Christ Jesus.
Col 2:9 For in him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form, 2:10
and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and
authority. 2:11 In him you also were circumcised—not, however,
with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal
of the fleshly body, [Grk “in the removal of the body of flesh.” The
720

genitive (tēs sarkos)] that is, through the circumcision done by Christ.
2:12 Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been
raised with him through your faith in the power of God who raised
him from the dead. 2:13 And even though you were dead in your
transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he
nevertheless made you alive with him, having forgiven all your
transgressions. NET
2 Cor 5:17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what
is old has passed away—look, what is new has come! NET
Flesh, Greek sarx, is the degeneration that effects free will, it is the
nature, the soul and spirit in a fallen man that is always bent toward
disobedience, not obedience. From the passages above, it may be seen
that; (1) the old body of “flesh” is removed, (2) that one is raised with
Christ in new life by faith alone, (3) that the natural man is dead in the
sin of the old flesh until the moment of faith, (4) that all sin,
transgression, is forgiven at this moment of baptism by the Holy Spirit,
for if not, no baptism nor the indwelling of a holy God could occur, and
(5) that all things are new in the new birth. When read without prejudice,
a doctrine of partial forgiveness cannot be found in the NT. A warrant for
a required horrible guilt of sin cannot be had from any Sacred account of
salvation retold in the NT. Horrible guilt and Lordship are derived
rationalizations from an ignorant reading of repentance. Trust me on this
one, as you will search in vain for a scene of anguishing remorse
required by the Apostle Paul, or anyone, before Christ was satisfied and
granted salvation. Joy and celebration was the typical reaction presented
in Scripture. Solemnity and an air of religious austerity, or the mimicry
of submissive prayer and invitations for Christ to enter one’s heart and be
LORD, is complete self-centered, traditional, religious twaddle - not
saving faith. Read, for instance, Saint Augustine’s famous account of his
moment of saving trust in the truth of God’s salvation.188
One serious problem is that the Bible is a closed book to a huge
majority of men and women and, this combined with dishonest, unsaved
wizards hawking seed-faith or Arminian character building and self-
determination in 1850’s styled Methodist stump jumping revivalist sin
sermons. The result of which, produces many assumptions that are
simply myth. Guilt is not to be preferred over the joy of redemption. The
battle over sin is already won, but for the saved, patently, it must be lived
day by day to become reality. The committing of sin is not eradicated. In
exactly this manner, the sin that Christ died for two thousand years ago
comes into existence day by day. The observable rule of God applies –
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
God does not act on the legal fiction of perfect foresight. He foretells,
then it must pass into reality. All that transpires outside of our reality and
biblical revelation is for God to know and God will certainly be faithful
to His promises. Robert Deffinbaugh writes: “Jesus likens the saving
work of God through His Spirit to the working of the wind. The effects
of the wind can be seen, but the wind itself is not seen. Neither can the
wind be controlled. The wind goes where it wishes and does what it will.
Men do not control the wind. The Spirit’s saving work is like this. The
Spirit goes about His life-giving work, and no man controls Him. No
one, by his own works, or striving, or manipulation can direct the Spirit
in His work. But when the Spirit brings about the new birth, the effects
are evident. We know it is the work of God’s Spirit, unseen and beyond
man’s control. In this sense, neither Nicodemus nor anyone else can save
themselves, nor anyone else for that matter. Salvation is the sovereign
work of God, accomplished by the Holy Spirit.” (That You Might
Believe: A Study of the Gospel of John. NET 2nd Beta Edition CD)
Regarding redemption, Arminian and Calvinist teachings have leapt
over the moment of relapse that leads to salvation - to battle, for centuries
on end, over the theoretical Lapsarian timing of God’s decrees and man’s
free will. Which is simply a fancy way of disputing the power of God
and proving an assumption correct. To rationalize about insinuation and
imagination, which is not based on biblical revelation is to mislead the
ones you are responsible for leading. For these reasons, Arminianism,
with its own dogmatic view of free will, asserts that man may use sin to
renounce salvation and separate himself from the love of Christ. Peter
denounced the very Person of Christ three times before dawn. Calvinism
would assert that man is incapable of agreeing with the truth of the
gospel of His grace and obeying His one command. The latter, denies
God’s command to the unsaved to obey the Gospel, covered so
extensively in the prior verses cited above. The former, is a totally
antithetical assumption, as the Holy Writ testifies rhetorically, “Who
shall separate us from the love of God?” Sin was defeated by Christ.
Mankind did not defeat sin nor Satan. Satan is defeated, yet still active.
And yet to come, Satan’s climatic control of the world in the final years
before the return of Christ. Thus, his future is foretold by God. This
future is not reality, yet, but certainly will come to pass. It is more a
matter of faith for now, than it is just a matter of time, for later. Once
again, the observable rule that God does not act on the legal fiction of
perfect foresight.
From the principle of total depravity, held by Augustine, and the
principle of unlimited free will, held by Arminian thought, the following
synthesis may be stated – the free will obedience to God’s one command
722

of saving faith obtains the riches of a grace salvation. The wholesale lack
of recognition for this moment in no way invalidates the Biblical proof
that God has a legal command for this moment of faith that seals
salvation forever. The fallen nature of man is a given. A secure salvation
by grace is a given. Man’s free will is a given. Man’s knowledge is a
reflection of God. Only God has perfect knowledge. The perfect
knowledge shared between God and the obedient unsaved man in the
moment of saving faith begins the process of perfecting natural fallen
free will. Non-experientially or not, that man becomes a child of God and
is no longer in Adam, in the flesh or sarx, and of this world, but
circumcised, dead, and resurrected in Christ becoming a new citizen of
heaven, as the previous verses in Colossians and 2 Corinthians reveal and
agree. There are many more verses that support and expand this
revelation from God. It is not a rationalization based on insinuation and
imagination. It is the reading of truth in Scripture, the observation of
revelation, the induction of Scripture. Who can say what exactly
transpires in the moment of saving faith in the mind and soul of an
individual? The divine truth of salvation is predicted in the Bible to be
“foolishness” to everyone who is not Spirit enabled to understand by the
new birth that is sealed by true baptism into Christ by the Holy Spirit.
“Do not be amazed … you must all be born from above” to “see the
kingdom of God.” When may this vision occur? Certainly not after death.
May it happen before the moment of salvation, or after? Scripture says it
happens is what I know. And it happened to me, and in other personal
accounts that I’ve read. Christ will reveal the reality and truth of Himself
as Savior to the awareness, not the physical senses, of an individual.
A condemned death row convict may choose to become a free front
row ex-convict, no questions asked. “It is for freedom that Christ has set
us free.” The Eastern Greek Orthodox teaching is very similar to the
Galatians 5:1 verse just cited. “Obey the gospel” and become a “God’s
fool” of Russian literature, which is one of three, Money and Passion are
the other two fools. Money and Passion are always fatal. Sin is the fruit
of a fallen nature. This nature is carried by a regenerated Christian all his
remaining natural life, symbolized by the two leavened wave loaves of
the first fruits in Leviticus 23:20. Christ died for the sins of the world.
The course of one’s life is a probationary spiritual stasis of death for the
unsaved. Whereas, life is a spiritual rebirth and a joining to the Body of
believers in Christ for the saved. Viewed from this perspective, life is a
state of being from which one either infinitely improves or irreversibly
enters a fate predicated on sin at the moment life ends. Acceptance of
this truth will negate all thoughts of heaven as a reward for good
behavior. Investigative law has an axiom: The clean get cleaner and the
723
rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
dirty get dirtier. Salvation by grace reverses to an infinite degree the
effects of sin in the nature of man. Man is thus saved by God to the glory
of God. Sin is not the central theme, the reversal of the effects of sin is
the theme of salvation. The reversal begins with a relapse of perfect
obedience to the will of God provided by faith in the brass serpent of
judgment and healing - Jesus Christ crucified for the sins of the world.
The true gospel of grace of God, when rejected, is that man is not going
to hell for his personal sin: it is rather, that he did not believe that Christ
came to deliver him from the power of sin, in all of its forms – past,
present, and future. This, when taken to compare to a Negative gospel
that only forgives past personal sin, may be easily seen as a rejection of
the Positive gospel of the grace of God. To accept the Negative gospel is
to reject Jesus Christ. To accept Christ as Lord is to reject Him as Savior.
To accept a Negative interpretation and a sadly limited view of God’s
grace in the NT is to reject Jesus Christ. Arminianism is a rejection of
Grace. Christ is Grace and Truth. Quite simply, succinctly, and literally,
Christ offers deliverance from a doomed creation of mankind lost to
Satan. There is no redemption outside a new birth. Grace details all of the
new standings of the new child of God. An insecure salvation is not
Christianity. Christ spoke much about Satan, man’s captivity, and hell.
To retard, stop, inhibit, impede, obstruct, and deter by any means the
knowledge of certain damnation and eternal destruction of those not
vitally joined to Jesus Christ, are the methods used by Satan to blind the
minds of the unsaved who are in a church and not in a church. This is the
veil, used by Satan to blind the minds of the unsaved to the Positive
gospel of grace, the glorious gospel of Christ in 2 Corinthians 4:3. My
understanding of God’s word is that the negative gospel of sin is
“another gospel,” (Gal 1:8-9) that is under God’s curse, and is a “veil”
used by Satan. It is not a gospel that is inhibited by Satan, but
enthusiastically, Greek enthousiastes = inspired by a god, and promoted
by an antigod caretaker. How rich is the Roman Catholic Church, I ask?
How many of today’s mega-Church ministries have a secured grace
teaching of salvation? The gospel of grace is veiled to those who are
perishing.
2 Cor 4:3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those
who are perishing, 4:4 among whom the god of this age has blinded
the minds of those who do not believe so they would not see the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God. NET
If a Christian is not of this world as Christ was not of this world, then
it follows - men are saved from this world. Opposing views of man
724

shaped images of God by the art of theology has created the ichthyic
environment of Christianity. Men ask, “Why do I need to be saved” and
“Saved from what?” Religious humanism is always irrelevant. Whereby,
I suggest the following conclusions are biblically true and relevant.
The first step is to recognize the abnormal estate into which one is
born. The challenge water presents to a fish. Secular observations would
lend credence to the truth of this fact.
Being and Time
“In developing his theories, Heidegger rejected traditional
philosophic terminology in favor of an individual interpretation of the
works of past thinkers. He applied original meanings and etymologies
to individual words and expressions, and coined hundreds of new,
complex words. In his most important and influential work, Sein und
Zeit (Being and Time, 1927), Heidegger was concerned with what he
considered the essential philosophical question: What is it, to be?
This led to the question of what kind of “being” human beings have.
They are, he said, thrown into a world that they have not made but
that consists of potentially useful things, including cultural as well as
natural objects. Because these objects come to humanity from the past
and are used in the present for the sake of future goals, Heidegger
posited a fundamental relation between the mode of being of objects,
of humanity, and of the structure of time.
The individual is, however, always in danger of being submerged
in the world of objects, everyday routine, and the conventional,
shallow behavior of the crowd. The feeling of dread (Angst) brings
the individual to a confrontation with death and the ultimate
meaninglessness of life, but only in this confrontation can an
authentic sense of
Being and of
freedom be at-
tained.
Maurice Merleau-
Ponty. His major
work, Phenome-
nology of Percep-
tion (1945; trans.
1962), is a in the last analysis, God can never depart from a meritorious basis
detailed study of
perception, influ-
enced by the German philosopher Edmund Husserl's phenolmenology
725
rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
and by Gestalt psychology. In it, he argues that science presupposes
an original and unique perceptual relation to the world that cannot be
explained or even described in scientific terms. This book can be
viewed as a critique of cognitivism—the view that the working of the
human mind can be understood in terms of rules or programs. It is
also a telling critique of the existentialism of his contemporary, Jean-
Paul Sartre, showing how human freedom is never total, as Sartre
claimed, but is limited by our embodiment.
With Sartre and Simone de Beau-voir, Merleau-Ponty founded an
influential post-war French journal, Les Temps Modernes. His
brilliant and time-ly essays on art, film, politics, psy-chology, and
religion, first published in this journal, were later collected in Sense
and Nonsense (1948; trans. 1964). At the time of his death, he was
working on a book, The Visible and the Invisible (1964; trans. 1968),
arguing that the whole perceptual world has the sort of organic unity
he had earlier attributed to the body and to works of art.”
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights
reserved.
For further reading there is an extended original discussion, from
which the above was adapted, included in the Appendix section under
Perfect Obedience.
“Present salvation is not into the estate of unfallen Adam, but rather a
conformity to the glorified Last Adam.” 189 “It cannot be proved that
the new creation in Christ is nothing more than the restoration
wherein Adam was first created. There is, indeed, a relationship
between the two; the divine image wrought by Christ’s redemption is
the only true realization of the image wherein man was at first
created. Man was originally given the one, in order that he might
attain the other, if not directly, by continuing faithful in obedience
and fellowship with God, or, yet indirectly after his fall by means of
redemption. But it is evident that from the very nature of this
relationship the two are not identical.” 190
“It is not difficult, therefore, for men generally to understand the legal
aspect of divine government, but it is difficult apparently for them to
understand the grace aspect of divine government. It may be observed
that the divine requirements of righteousness are of such a nature that,
when dealing with men. Grace is possible only because of the fact
that the all-sufficient merit of Christ has been made available, and
satisfies the claims of every divine requirement for those who
726
 rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
believe.” (Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Preface, Vol 1, p A Manifesto of Perfect Obedience
xxi)

Back to Eden Dear reader, I would ask that you lay aside all you have heard about sin
and religion and understand this guiding principle of perfection – God
Gal 3:19 Why then was the law given? It was added because of has brought man back to Eden in order that man may be perfected and
transgressions, until the arrival of the descendant to whom the be with Him always. The sovereign-
promise had been made. It was administered through angels by an ty of God and man’s free will has
intermediary. 3:20 Now an intermediary is not for one party alone,
but God is one. 3:21 Is the law therefore opposed to the promises of been designed to meet in one place.
God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that was able to The law is an instrument of God.
give life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. Faith is perfect obedience. In Grace
3:22 But the scripture imprisoned everything and everyone under and Innocence, God has only one
sin so that the promise could be given—because of the faithfulness of
Jesus Christ—to those who believe. NET command that guarantees the
perfection of mankind by the
Rev 2:7 The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says exercise of his God given free will.
to the churches. To the one who conquers [believes], I will permit him In this age of Grace we may accept
to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.’ NET the offer of the upward redeeming
(brackets mine)
obedience of belief to release us
John 17:6 “I have revealed your name to the men you gave me out of from the downward condemning
the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they disobedience of the forbidden fruit
have obeyed your word. (bold highlights mine) NET of Eden. Salvation began in the
loving heart of God before He first
1 Cor 15:47 The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second
man is from heaven. 15:48 Like the one made of dust, so too are those created an angel or a man with free
made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are will. God never acts on the legal
heavenly. 15:49 And just as we have borne the image of the man of fiction of perfect foresight. He acts upon the reality of events in His
dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven. 15:50 Now this
creation. Salvation is not a response to sin. Salvation is love that
is what I am saying, brothers and sisters: Flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the responds only to faith. Sin is not a demand that God can forgive. Sin and
imperishable. NET death is the result of the inherent defect of evil in a created free moral
self, that may, in a god-like manner, choose self and independence from
2 Thess 2:13 But we ought to give thanks for you always, brothers God. The Creator, the great I AM, has the freedom of a perfect
and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the
beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith conscience. He may only perfectly choose Himself. Holiness is God’s
in the truth. 2:14 He called you to this salvation through our gospel, nature. Perdition is God’s just answer to an independent self will.
so that you may possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. NET Salvation is God’s perfect solution. His problem is self created by His
loving desire to share His presence and infinite life with a creation of His
From the above conclusions and the Oracles of Truth I offer the
following proposal: design. His solution was to create a salvation that satisfies His judgment
727 728

upon the evil in the men that He loves. In the death of a willing perfect
Substitute, His infinite love is liberated to be satisfied by His unlimited
gifts of grace to justified men. If you believe in God, you must believe in
the Substitute - the Son that always did the will of His Father - in order
to receive the salvation that He has created for all men. The lessons
whereby man may comprehend the terms of salvation are not fiction, they
were formed in historical fact. This is a uniquely created period in
history when the foolish choice of 191 a self-defeating obligation to a
system of Kingdom law is removed from Israel and made once again to
be a temptation for men to turn from the grace of God. The mountain was
not deadly until the nation of Israel accepted the offer of the Mosaic law
from an undemanding God of grace. By the power of grace they were
taken out of Egypt. By the power of grace Israel will be gathered by
angels from the four corners of the world at the second Advent of Christ.
The Jews foolishly rejected their Messiah at His first Advent. God
revealed His solution for the evil in mankind by the death and the power
of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our ascended Savoir and Advocate
for our sins. His solution became manifest in reality. Gentiles have never
been offered the temporary covering of law. Christ did not die to give the
Jewish Kingdom law to Gentiles. Christ died to remove the covering of
law from the Jew. The Jew has been stripped and stands naked with the
Gentile. Jew and Gentile alike are now condemned by God and placed
together “under sin.” The new and only law is to obey the gospel. Jew
and Gentile are now one, and may now become the children of promise
conceived in Abrahamic faith, “understand that those who believe are
the sons of Abraham and the scripture foretelling that God would justify
the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the gospel to Abraham ahead of time,
saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” 192 Christ, the Head of
the New Creation, was the first to choose to be born, and, in a god-like
manner, unsaved men may choose to be born. By the power of grace
through faith is one born from above. The salvation of each man is the
perfecting of his free will by free choice. The choice to be joined to the
ascended body of perfection in the glorified humanity of Jesus Christ, the
unique God-man, the Righteous One. Faith in the sufficiency of God’s
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Savoir is perfect obedience to the new law of life given to unsaved men.
The flaming sword of the Seraphim guarding the gate to the tree of life in
the garden of Paradise is the old law that defends the righteousness of
God. The new law of life satisfies God’s righteousness and the gate to
Paradise is open to all. The truth of Jesus Christ is the power of the
gospel of grace. It is the new law of Christ that gives eternal life and
judges the old law guilty because it had no power to save men. Jesus is
Lord of the Sabbath (the law) and the Sabbath (the law) was made for
men. Salvation, to rest, was made by Christ for men to become like
Christ. God’s new law is the instrument by which the spirits of justified
men are made perfect. The written will of God is to obey the gospel by
believing in the Son that He sent, not self assumed effort in the law of sin
and death. The old law is the forbidden fruit that kills in this age. The old
law is the self-righteous enticement “to be as god” is blameless by
personal effort to be blameless. To reject the imputed righteousness of
Christ is to stand, god-like, in the place of God for salvation. To deny
that Christ was “made sin,” that God did not impute the sins of the world
onto Christ, is to make the precious blood of Christ into the fiction of
icor that ran in the veins of pagan gods. The cleansing from personal sin
by a supposed future forgiveness is the damnation, not salvation, offered
by a well dressed Satan. In all this world of complications, only saving
faith can make you perfect forever in the eyes of God. The privilege we
have been given to be born into this opportunity is beyond estimation.
The New Testament belongs to God and his children for their instruction,
not to differing theologies of religion, and God most certainly offers a
secured salvation in the new creation through Jesus Christ. Who might
offer an unsecured salvation? Please, do not reject a written guarantee
to be clothed by God in the righteous skins of Christ in the garden of
Paradise for the freedom of futility to dress in the rich robes that appeal
to the senses and the pride of an evolved religion.
God’s positive single law for the unsaved in this age is to follow His
command - obey the gospel. The only unredeemed sin is the greatest sin
of all time, unbelief in the redeemer - Jesus Christ. Condemned sinner
are we all for no one ever chose to be born. Saint we become by the gift
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of choice to be born from above. The Son of God chose to be born a man
so that He could die in the place of every man, woman, and
unaccountable child in order that fallen mankind may have a choice. The
first step is to recognize the abnormal estate into which one is born. The
challenge water presents to a fish … Peter said, “Where else would we
go Master, only you have the words of eternal life.” God said, “This is
my Son – Listen to him.” Man’s unregenerate free will is not perfected
by predestination. Man’s free will is not perfected by a false future
existence in heaven that he earned. Man’s natural free will is not
perfected after he is born from above. It is perfected as the final act of
the believing obedient unregenerate man when he is redeemed. Man is
saved from the “flesh and blood” of himself. A spiritually dead self,
degenerated by the first act of disobedience that caused the spirit of
Adam to die ...
By the grace of God a man is born from above, and instantly, beyond
experiencing, that man becomes a child of God and is no longer in
Adam, in the “flesh,” or sarkikos, and of this earth, but pneumatikos –
circumcised, dead, buried, and resurrected sinless and righteous in
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Christ by the Spirit of God. Thereby, becoming a new citizen of heaven.
He has been delivered by the Alpha and the Omega and he has escaped
from a doomed world of condemned men sentenced to everlasting
destruction. He has conquered the world. He has ascended through Jesus
Christ by the undeserved grace of salvation. And so it goes … “Do not be
amazed ... you must all be born from above193.”
In Christ
“To be “in Christ”, then, is the greatest reality that can ever
characterize a human being. As the race is fallen because of its place
in the federal headship of fallen Adam, so the believer is righteous,
having been transferred or translated out of that fallen estate into the
Last Adam who is himself the embodiment of God’s righteousness.
As certainly, then, as man, because of physical birth, is a partaker of
that which Adam became through the Fall, so certainly the believer,
because of the new birth and his union to Christ through the baptism
of the Spirit, partakes of that which Christ is, even the righteousness
of God. In an earlier discussion this greatest of realities has been
considered more completely and this, it is hoped, remains in the mind
of the student. Justification, then, does not make the believer
righteous; it is the divine acknowledgement or proclamation of the
fact that the believer is righteous. The formula already enunciated
stands, namely, The believer is righteous because he is in Christ, and
he is justified because he is righteous. God could not be just Himself
and do otherwise than justify the one who, being in Christ, is made
the righteousness of God. What is declared to be a New Creation is
that entity which is formed by the union of the resurrected Christ with
those who are in Him. The term Church is applied to the Body and
Bride of Christ. It represents the company of believers apart from or
in distinction to the Head and Bridegroom; but the New Creation
permits no such division. It incorporates the resurrected Christ and all
that are in Him. Of the New Creation it is written, “Therefore if any
man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor 5:17); “For ye are all the
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have
been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor
Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female:
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:26-28); “For in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a
new creature” (Gal 6:15). (Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer,
Vol 5, pp 143-44)
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New Citizens of the Third Heaven. Salvation is Christ.
“By the creation of a man and a woman with the instructions that they
should multiply and replenish the earth, God has populated the earth,
which is connected with the first heaven. By the creative act in which
the angels were brought into being, God has populated the second
heaven. … The location of the third heaven has never been revealed,
but it is the home of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and has
never been inhabited by any created being until the present age. When
a believer dies he goes at once to be with Christ (2 Cor 5:8; Phil 1:23)
and therefore takes up his abode in that sphere. Thus all believers will
be brought into that place of glory at the coming of the Lord, and the
third heaven is being populated at the present time. Salvation consists
in fitting individuals for that heavenly sphere. The Apostle writes in
Colossians 1:12: “Giving thanks unto the Father, which has made us
meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,’ and all
believers have become legitimate sons of God: “For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of
his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom
8:29).
… It is clearly asserted that heaven is “far better” than the earth (Phil
1:23). It is in heaven that the child of God will be conformed to the
image of Christ (Rom 8:29; Phil 3:20-21; 1 John 3:1-3), he will know
then even as God knows now, and believers will be together with the
Lord (1 Thess 4:16-17). In fact, God is now creating a new order of
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beings out of human material – both Jews and Gentiles. Those who
comprise that New Creation will retain but little resemblance to that
which they were. Their citizenship will have been changed, their
bodies will have been transformed, their whole being will have been
transformed to Christ, they who are now joined to Christ will then be
forever with Christ in glory. Being now in Christ, they are partaking
of what He is, and being married to Christ they will share with Him in
all things as a bride enters into the position and estate of her
bridegroom.” (Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 4, pp.
436, 438)
Dear reader, if the above witness of Scripture and exposition has
impressed you with truth, I now ask a very serious question: How in the
name of all that is good, for surely only God is good, has religious
humanism taken what God has told us in His Word and turned it into
such a broken heap of stinking trash?
Satan
Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have
glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there
and heard the voice said that it had thundered. Others said that an
angel had spoken to him. Jesus said, “This voice has not come for my
benefit but for yours. Now is the judgment of this world; now the
ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up
from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (Now he said this to
indicate clearly what kind of death he was going to die.) Then the
crowd responded, “We have heard from the law that the Christ will
remain forever. How can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted
up’? Who is this Son of Man?” Jesus replied, “The light is with you
for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the
darkness may not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness
does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe
in the light, so that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had
said these things, he went away and hid himself from them. (John
12:28-36) NET (verse numbers omitted, bold highlights mine)
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The greatest deception achieved
by Lucifer is to maintain his
presence secret. He is able to
convince men who teach the Word
of God that he is a metaphorical
evil. He is and was, in fact; the
wisest, most powerful, most
beautiful, jewel studded, music
making, perfect creature ever
designed by God, and this, for the
express purpose to display the glory
of God’s throne. He was God’s
crowning achievement of angelic
beings. Until God created Himself
as the Self-chosen God-man, Jesus
Christ, Satan was the supreme
creature. Please do not be quick to
assume what you may not know - God is not the only one who answers
prayers. Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies, who surrounds a stinking trash
heap, is very capable of answering the prayers of the unsaved by
manipulating people and circumstances to sustain the health and wealth
of religious humanism. Read carefully between the lines of the book of
Job – Satan accused Job of being God’s hired servant. And this from a
creature whose aim is “to be like the most high God.” Never a more true
statement has ever been uttered, SATAN THINKS LIKE A MAN.
What proves Adam and Eve in Innocence did not have immaterial
sight? What proves they did not look directly at God’s other creation, the
angels? What proves Satan and the fallen angels were not degenerated,
after their rebellion, in such a way as to prohibit physical manifestation?
And this, done in order to protect mankind. The Bible says much about
darkness, light, and blindness. Can a man see darkness, or hear silence?
The forbidden fruit was the knowledge of good and evil, darkness and
light itself. Only Jesus, in all of the Bible, ever healed blindness. The
eyes are a symbol of knowledge. The Bible says much about the spiritual
and immaterial dimensions. The identity of the serpent in Genesis is not
directly verified, until the last book of Revelation where four of his
names are used in one sentence. Scripture does speak of the curse of the
Fall, but a physical visual limitation is not mentioned. The Bible does
reveal the eternality of the unseen in contrast to the temporality of the
material world.
The following is the Biblical record of Paul’s Road to Damascus
experience, in which he testifies under oath at his trail. Paul was not
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seeking Christ, he was seeking to harm and imprison Christians, almost
four years after the death and resurrection of Christ. Note in the
following what is spoken by Jesus Himself:
Your Majesty! Why do you
people think it is unbelievable
that God raises the dead? Of
course, I myself was convinced
that it was necessary to do
many things hostile to the name
of Jesus the Nazarene And that
is what I did in Jerusalem: Not
only did I lock up many of the
saints in prisons by the
authority I received from the
chief priests, but I also cast my
vote against them when they
were sentenced to death. I
punished them often in all the
synagogues and tried to force
them to blaspheme. Because I
was so furiously enraged at
them, I went to persecute them even in foreign cities.
“While doing this very thing, as I was going to Damascus with
authority and complete power from the chief priests, about noon
along the road, Your Majesty, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than
the sun, shining everywhere around me and those traveling with me.
When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me
in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are
hurting yourself by kicking against the goads.’ So I said, ‘Who are
you, Lord?’ And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus whom you are
persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to
you for this reason, to designate you in advance as a servant and
witness to the things you have seen and to the things in which I will
appear to you. I will rescue you from your own people and from the
Gentiles, to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they
turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God,
so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among
those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ (Acts 26:7ff-19) NET
(bold highlights mine, this writer)
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Here Jesus, in contradistinction to a “metaphor,” equates darkness for dependence on God by Adam, the only man ever to become a sinner
and light to the persons of Satan and God. The light is very real, as Jesus by sinning, whose fall was to allow the leader of all rebels to claim this
has just appeared in a brilliant light that caused everyone to fall down. world we live in. The present estate of man and angel joined in rebellion
The language could not be more definitive. Jesus makes the unequivocal is the freedom of futility allowed by God.
statement that all of mankind, both Jews and Gentiles, are under the
power of Satan. Accept or reject this Biblical revelation which man could On the other hand, free will conceived as the ability to accept Christ
never know on his own. Revelation is perfect truth, knowledge and is not a “lie.” Christ is Truth. Remain enslaved to the “counterfeit” or
rationalism is imperfect in the best of men. choose Truth. Which in fact, is only one choice. Redemption in the
The original sin of Satan is, “I will be like the Most High.” Satan was guaranteed worthiness of Christ. Whereas, retribution for the
not just making mischief for Adam and Eve when he enticed them to sin. unworthiness of rebellion is guaranteed by the judgment against Satan
He suggested a well crafted lie to Eve, “your eyes will be opened and and all rebels that was completed on the Cross of Christ two thousand
you will be as gods (elohims).” This likeness to God, is the simulation of years ago. Make note, that one single act, or billions of rebellious acts
God’s independence. Only God is endowed with independence, not an requires the same, no more no less, sacrificial death of Christ for
angel or a man, as should be obvious. God within Himself has moral atonement to satisfy God’s judgment against sin. This is the nature of the
perfection, infinite knowledge, a community of perfect relationship, exceeding sinfulness of sin. This is the nature of the exceeding
complete sufficiency and complete independence, thereby all manner of worthiness of the worth of Christ. From the quote immediately above,
abilities that produce infinite happiness. God is the source of all life and Dr. Chafer continues:
all happiness. Independence from God is a pathetic counterfeit happiness,
when rightly held up to the adjusted reason of a “renewed” mind, that THE ACQUISITION OF DIVINE KNOWLEDGE. The creatures of
may only be viewed as insanity. God’s hand must, by a process of learning, attain to that knowledge
On the one hand, free which God has possessed eternally. They can learn only by
will conceived as the ability experience and revelation (Scripture, this writer). … man must learn
to reject Christ is nothing concerning both good and evil. He must realize the sinfulness of sin if
more than a lie, an illusion he is to attain to any degree the knowledge which God possesses; but
for two reasons. First, Satan he cannot attain to such knowledge unless sin exists as a living reality
included the lie “open your which is ever demonstrating its sinful character. … It is evident that
eyes” not God, thus, man learns the reality of sin both from the suffering which it inflicts
however “immaterial vi- and from the revelation concerning judgments God imposes upon
sion” was lost, Satan has those who sin. If man is to learn his lesson well, the suffering cannot
effectively “blinded the be diminished or the judgments of God be reduced. We conclude,
minds of those who are therefore, that if man is to attain to the know-ledge of good and evil
perishing to the gospel.” there must be evil in the world with all its tragic effects as well as the
Men are blind to the prospect of divine judgment for sin. (Ibid.)
alternate dimensional real-
ity of this world by which A major consideration for a thoughtful person is the fact that before
men and men’s systems are Our Savior died on the Cross only a small portion of humanity, a few
controlled. Satan is “the Gentiles before Moses and a few Jews after, will receive salvation. Of
prince of the power of the these few the majority will not be Citizens of Heaven and part of the
air.” Two, because of New Creation, the family of God, The majority of the few will receive
perceived independence, the salvation of the OT Kingdom Promise to Israel and will be
which in truth of fact, is subjugation to the originator of anti-god resurrected to eternal earthly life in non-glorified bodies at the beginning
rebellion and independence, Satan himself. This subjugation was traded of the Millennial Kingdom. Only in the time before one dies, or Christ
737 738

returns, is a heavenly citizenship in the family of God available by faith
alone in the One who loved us so much that He came and died for us.
Free will, as such, has only one choice and that is “to obey the gospel”:
“Turn! Turn! Why will you die?” (Ezk 33:11). “It is for freedom that
Christ has set us free.” (Gal 5:1)
Observations About a “Lordship” Gospel
Nowhere in the Bible are unsaved men called unto the Lordship of
Jesus Christ for salvation. This is a myth. The theology that follows the
notion of the complete autonomy and ability of man’s will concludes that
any person at any time and at any place may come to Christ as Lord is
correct. This is only an acceptance of the external ethic, Lordship, that
may or may not be kept by the individual. This ideology is employed by
mass methods and thousands of new Christian’s are claimed by
organizations. The result of stressing free will creates a philosophy, a
lovable wisdom, that serves to place “members” under the control of an
organization instead of “believers” under the grace of God. An honest
question for the truly serious to consider is - Today in all the world of
unimaginable amounts of money spent requesting money, money that is
given, and the money spent by religion - out of thousands upon
thousands that are claimed to have been converted by these
organizations, how many converts to church or cult are told up front, “the
Lordship being solicited from you today is insufficient to save you
tomorrow?” No matter the size of a church, world wide or storefront, if
that church teaches a false gospel of Christ plus self-salvation it is only a
visible church and not part of the born from above Body of Christ,
making it by definition the Vatican City, a Pyramid scheme, a Ponzi
scam, tax deferred or not.
The mystery form of the “Kingdom of Heaven” is now
One may well discern religious humanism by the way the
unexplained parables in Matthew chapter 13 are explained by a preacher
or follower. This is a good indication of what “church” one belongs to.
The fowl (a negative symbol) in the mustard tree (that naturally is a
shrub) that grows unnaturally large (pay close attention to unnatural and
large) in Matthew 13 are people who bring in more people for unnatural
growth. The woman (a negative when connected to the Bride, the church)
put leaven (always a negative, a lie) in the three portions of bread (the
word of God, the gospel) and it grew larger than natural. Christ is the
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man who ends up with the “pearl” of redeemed heavenly saints in one
Body and the “treasure” of the earthly inhabitants when He returns with
His Bride (Ps. 45) as King of Kings to rule with a rod of iron over Israel
and the nations. Jesus Himself explains the parable of the wheat and
weeds to His disciples. Matthew 13 is the “mystery” form of the
kingdom in this age. A kingdom, a visible church, filled with good fish
and many more smelly fish.
False profession and the false gospel
False profession is the rule rather than the exception inside the visible
church. Evil, once again, never reveals itself as evil. Only by the witness
of the Word of God may one know false profession, and this by their
doctrine, not by their conduct. Scripture is very clear about the false
teaching and profession of faith that is to be the Orthodoxy of the
majority in the visible churches. False profession, in the main, is the
result of false doctrine. The commonly held idea of false profession is
correct when it applies to those who enter into groups that adhere to a
secured salvation in Christ alone. But even here, doctrine is not always
extended fully into the NT teachings for daily faith and reliance on the
power of the indwelling Holy Spirit and the preservation of communion
by confession for forgiveness, and the joy to be experienced when one
yields to the leading of the Spirit of Christ. Much more pertains to this
important aspect of a Christian’s daily life, but here I must continue.
The very Word of God is imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit to
convict men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. I challenge
anyone to find unassisted free will in the Bible that remotely resembles
that conceived and applied by Arminian theology. It is not there, “it is
not in man to guide his own steps.” Today, even secular philosophy
would deny Kantian unlimited free will. What is stated by the followers
of Arminian, more correctly Simon Episcopus, in free will theology is a
distorted self-soothing construct of humanism, which is merely a false
wisdom of man that is not the truth from Scriptural revelation given to
man for his instruction. One cannot be in partial agreement with God.
With God it is a well defined hell that one is saved from, not one’s
precious notion of free will. God offers a redemption that is a turning to
the eternally secured salvation in the all sufficiency of Christ from
Satanic self-reliance and independence. In the name of Jesus Christ I ask
how may this be true of self salvation? The two ideas when properly
understood in the gospel of grace and held up to examination cannot
occupy the same space. It does no good to accept and deny the same
thing. Self-reliance and merit has never been seen as satanic in
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secularized Protestant Arminian and Roman Catholic religion. Original salvation and how to successfully live daily by faith would not be
sin is traced to Adam only. The opposing concepts of the origin of the undefined. To preach self-redemption is plain and sure sin. Faith may be
individual soul by virtue of creatio ex nihilo or ex traduce is moot to the abandoned but it cannot be destroyed, is what the Bible teaches.
doctrine of a self salvation. When one takes belief in the atoning blood of “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” The absurdity of self-redemption,
Christ as sufficient faith to begin a life of dedicated service, this is to use cloaked in mystery and granted favorably or unfavorably, only after
a dead Christ only as a Lord and “a leg up”, on the way to a glorious self death, attached to the grand conceit of reward, is the only crime more
redemption. This is to make a religion out of the crime of Crucifixion. A ghastly and unspeakably horrific than the crucifixion of Christ. It is to
dead corpse saves no one. An ascended resurrected Christ loses no one bury the living resurrected glorified Christ. God save me from your
who places their trust in Him. The confounding of a free choice and the followers!
sovereignty of God in saving faith with the Biblical truth of the
continuing secure nature of salvation is an ancient mind game practiced Lord-
by the genius of a lunatic religious Mentalist named Lucifer. It is
transferred as human conceit justified by a rationalism that cannot pass Of my life,
the smile test when asked for an definitive explanation as to the Biblical You pipe a dirge,
measurements of sin and merit that would make for a positive result. A
“point” system is suggested as the determining factor and then no point They hear a jig.
values are given, should one be bold enough to ask a wizard of self They sing they didn’t,
salvation. One will search in vain for an OT salvation merit formula. God
has never had one, to which the silence of Scripture is witness. God is They da---nce they did.
very clear about a Christ alone, eternally secure salvation in the NT. To glo-ry and pra---nce,
the awful dance of the wicked!
The re-sur-rect-ed Christ denied and slain,
by his fol-low-ers with His Name.
A glorified body does not bleed,
Christ is dead just the same.
The crime is hid---den!
So whose to blame?
So whose to know,
before they go?
We keep law!
to feed His,
sheep. 194
A preacher of self salvation is the man behind the curtain in the
Wizard of Oz, he has nothing of real value to offer. No new heart, no
new brain, no new courage, nor a way home may be had from a wizard.
God provides man with everything he needs to know and certainly
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As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, heaven for you, 1:5 who by God’s power are protected through faith
and that at the last for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. NET
he will stand upon the earth. The following details the differences between the two teachings of
And after my skin has been destroyed, law and grace and defines the reason to the false interpretation of law:

yet in my flesh I will see God,
whom I will see for myself,
and whom my own eyes will behold,
and not another. (Job 19:25-27) NET
And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye
could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:39 KJV)
Why is Christ dead again?
1 Pet 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
By his great mercy he gave us new birth into a living hope through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 1:4 that is, into an
inheritance imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. It is reserved in
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Over against this, it is revealed that Christ loved the Church and
gave Himself for it (Eph 5:25-27), and that His resurrection is the
beginning of the New Creation of God, which includes the many sons
whom He is bringing into glory (Heb 2:10). In that New Creation
relationship, the believer is in the resurrected Christ and the
resurrected Christ is in the believer. This twofold unity establishes an
identity of relationship which surpasses all human understanding. It is
even likened by Christ to the unity which exists between the Persons
of the Godhead (John 17:21-23).
By the baptism of the Holy Spirit, wrought as it is for everyone,
when one believes (1 Cor 12:13), the saved one is joined in the Lord
(1 Cor 6:17; Gal 3:27), and by that union with the resurrected Christ
is made a partaker of His resurrected life (Col 1:27), is translated out
of the power of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Col
1:13), is crucified, dead, and buried with Christ, and is raised to walk
in newness of life (Rom 6:2-4; Col 3:1), is now seated with Christ in
the heavenlies (Eph 2:6), is a citizen of heaven (Phil 3:20), is forgiven
all trespasses (Col 2:13), is justified (Rom 5:1), and blessed with
every spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3).
This vast body of truth, which is but slightly indicated here, is not
found in the OT. Nor are the OT saints said to be related thus to the
resurrected Christ. It is impossible for these to be fitted into a
theological system that does not distinguish between the heavenly
character of the Church contrasted to the earthly character of Israel.
This failure on the part of these systems of theology to discern the
character of the true Church, related wholly as it is, to the resurrected
Christ, accounts for the usual omission from these theological
writings of any extended treatment of the doctrine of Christ’s
resurrection and all related doctrines. (Systematic Theology preface
17
Self salvation teachers do not recognize the following last six reasons
- nor fully comprehend the first - as it is counter to the philosophy of
religious humanism. God has too much control, and plays the central part
in salvation when the truth of the present activities of the risen Christ are
pointed out in Scripture. Christ was resurrected for these seven reasons:
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1. Because of who He is (Acts 2:24)
2. That He might fulfill the Davidic Covenant (Acts 2:30-31)
3. To become the source of resurrection life (Col 1:27)
4. To become the source of resurrection power (Mtw 28:18)
5. To be Head over all things to the Church (Eph 2:6)
6. Because of justification (Rom 4:25)
7. To be the First-Fruit (1 Cor 15:20-23) 195
In the following quote, Dr. Lewis Chafer gives the reason for the lack
of recognition given the resurrected Christ by the followers of self
salvation:
As traced by the so-called Covenant theologians, the death of
Christ is given a place of large significance but His resurrection is
accounted for little more than something for His own personal
convenience, His necessary return from the sphere of death back to
the place which He occupied before. In other words, as viewed by
covenant theologians, there is practically no doctrinal significance to
Christ’s resurrection. That Christ by resurrection became what in
Himself He had not been before – the federal head of a whole new
order of beings and these the primary divine objective as this is set
forth in the NT - cannot be incorporated into a system of which the
cherished and distinctive feature is one unchangeable divine purpose
from Adam until the end of time. This simple analysis accounts for
the otherwise inexplicable fact that systems of theology which follow
the one-covenant idea will be searched almost in vain for any
explanation of Christ’s resurrection. It is not implied that Covenant
theologians do not believe that Christ arose from the dead; it is
merely indicated that the resurrection of Christ has for them - and of
necessity - no vital doctrinal importance. (Systematic Theology, Dr.
Lewis Sperry Chafer, Vol 5 p. 231)
The author of that quote, throughout the eight volumes of his teaching
consistently gives reference to error in Arminian theology. He was the
gentleman who founded Dallas Theological Seminary and his volumes
of dispensational grace theology were used from 1948 until recently. Mr.
Chafer’s allusions to “Catholic,” Arminian, kingdom, or one covenant
error is very similar to reading Martin Luther and his references to
Popish error. The only difference being, Martin takes the full swing and
calls the devil a devil. Have no misunderstanding, there is no difference
in a Catholic or a Protestant self-salvation negative gospel. In my
experience, and successive understanding - any gospel except the gospel
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of Grace is unbiblical and will not be recognized by God as saving faith.
If you are not trusting in Jesus to save you, how might that be saving
trust in Jesus? The forgiveness of sins is not to be asked for, forgiveness
is part of that which saving trust recognizes as completed on the cross.
This is trust in Him for salvation. Anything else is fatally confused. The
majority of gospel presentations are given by unsaved fools who are void
of spiritual understanding. The NT record has no examples where a
prayer is used in place of a gospel message. Tradition is the problem, not
the answer. A recited prayer in place of the gospel will guarantee
disregard for the message. God’s story is the gospel. Might one teach his
children a meaningful story by means of a short-cut? No matter how
sincere, will the recitation of brief statements convey spiritual
understanding to them? Is it not the telling of God’s story, by one who
believes God’s story, the fertile propagation of belief? An intelligent
understanding of Jesus must be presented. A false gospel is a twisted lie
from a false teacher deserving of the double curse in Galatians 1:8-9. To
accept this may be hard, but no more difficult than eternal damnation as a
reward for a lifetime of religion. For those who are familiar with the OT
story - I, like a leprous beggar in a famine with a guilty conscience
before his Creator and Savoir, have been given more food than I could
possibly ever eat, and I’ve made a long arduous journey, just to keep my
filthy self at a proper distance, to tell starving strangers where such food
may be found.
I am no example and never will be in this life, but I know Christ, and
He is able to make me like Him in the end. This is the teaching of Grace
theology. God enables all believers to execute His will as Christ did
always do His Father’s will. The key is given, the power of God is
available, but the living of faith, typified by the loaves of leavened bread
–many parts that make one whole - is the lesson as to how best to rely on
God for all things. There are only a few principles, common to everyone
who is in the Body of Christ. All else is strictly personal instruction
between you and Christ. It is a great day to day journey, this growing in
the image of Christ from faith to faith until we see Him face to face and
find we are like Him. God has provided amazing grace for His children.
Those whom He has translated to the kingdom of the Son of His love, the
Righteous One, in whom we have our life.
Continuing … from the previous quote, “And of necessity” self
salvation theology cannot properly explain Matthew chapter 13, as it is
inconceivable that a powerless dead Christ, who set the example for
man-centric humanistic Christians, to go about and buy pearls and
treasures. Nor may the great New Creation doctrinal Epistles, Ephesians
and Colossians, be understood properly by self salvation theology, as
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these present the current and immediate, not future or temporary,
possessions and positions of each believer in Christ. The first chapter of
Ephesians is an enumerated list of what each believer is and owns by
Grace through the resurrected Christ as Head of the Body of the Church,
the New Creation for which this age is purposed. No matter the false
gospels, no matter the false teachers, or the attractions of religious pride
contained in self salvation - God‘s purpose to populate heaven with a
New Creation in Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, with
heavenly seeds of Abrahamic faith perfected from this age will be
completed. The salvation of each saint is secured at the moment of belief.
Upon reading the following, believers will be stirred. The heart of a
Spirit indwelt believer burns when spiritual truth is presented. Dear
reader, there is much to appreciate in daily life, as well as the future to
be, that God has made available to those who love Him. To embrace a
shallow, indefinite understanding of Christianity offered by self-
salvation, for me, would be a living death. The following verses are one
long sentence in the original Greek, an indication of the writer’s love for
his subject - his salvation in Christ:
Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in
Christ. For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world
that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love. He did this
by predestining us to adoption as his sons through Jesus Christ,
according to the pleasure of his will—to the praise of the glory of his
grace that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son. In
him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our
trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us
in all wisdom and insight. He did this when he revealed to us the
secret of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in
Christ, toward the administration of the fullness of the times, to head
up all things in Christ—the things in heaven and the things on earth.
In Christ we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, since
we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who
accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will so that
we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, would be to the
praise of his glory. And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel
of your salvation)—when you believed in Christ—you were marked
with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, who is the down payment
of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, to
the praise of his glory. (Eph 1:3-14 verse numbering omitted, this
writer) NET
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Col 2:9 For in him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form, 2:10
and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and
authority. NET
Phil 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven—and we also await a
savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 3:21 who will transform
these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious body by
means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to
himself. NET
The First-fruit, the seventh reason for the resurrection of Christ will be
discussed in the following quote:
That glorified humanity which is to constitute the highest feature
of heaven next to the Godhead - they who even in this life being
saved have received the fullness of the Godhead (Col 2:9-10) and will
yet receive resurrection bodies like unto Christ’s glorious body (Phil
3:21) - are perfectly represented in heaven by the resurrected,
glorified man, Christ Jesus. Angels know the estate which will
characterize each individual who comprises that unnumbered
company which, having received their resurrection bodies, will throng
the spacious vaults of heaven. The angels thus know before they
appear what each believer will be like, having seen Christ who is to
the hosts of heaven a preliminary demonstration of the glorious estate
that awaits those who are Christ’s. He is thus the first-fruits. The
wave sheaf of the OT anticipated the appearing of Christ in heaven as
the Preview or Forerunner of those who are to follow. (Systematic
Theology, Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, Vol 5 p. 249)
Self Salvation
In the doctrine of the mystery of self-salvation, for surely it is a
mystery to all who teach and practice it, the exceeding sinfulness of sin
against the holiness of God revealed in Scripture is minimized. The
vicarious death of Christ in the place of sinners is minimized. The power
of the blood of Christ is denied. This is the way for self-effort to claim
earthly glory, and, not the way to heavenly glory spelled out clearly in
the Bible, dear reader.
2 Tim 3:5 They will maintain the outward appearance of religion but
will have repudiated its power. So avoid people like these. NET
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1 Thess 1:5 in that our gospel did not come to you merely in words,
but in power and in the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction NET
Col 2:8 Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an
empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and
the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. NET
John 6:40 For this is the will of my Father—for everyone who looks
on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life, and I will raise
him up at the last day.”62 NET
62sn Notice that here the result (having eternal life and being raised up at
the last day) is produced by looking on the Son and believing in him.
Compare John 6:54 where the same result is produced by eating Jesus’
flesh and drinking his blood. This suggests that the phrase in 6:54 (eats
my flesh and drinks my blood) is to be understood in terms of the phrase
here (looks on the Son and believes in him).
The argument is misplaced between an anthropocentric free will or a
theocentric predestination. The issue is salvation and the value of the
death of Christ. Only Scripture can answer this, not philosophy or
opinions. I don’t see a biblical paradox based in NT revelation between
secured and unsecured salvation that must be maintained by tension. I
only see the ancient Romish construct of religious humanism that
preaches works and suffering for salvation. I see false doctrine that
results in false Christianity. An unsecured salvation is agreement with the
rebellion of Satan, not the sufficiency of Christ. The universe is
redempto-centric, evil will be removed.
On the one hand, you have the evil of pride that originated in the
angel who once exemplified the power and majesty of God, at the very
throne of God. The fallen supreme angel who became evil, of which evil
he spread to millions maybe billions of lesser angels. On the other hand
you have two innocent people - puny naked Adam, who is missing a rib,
and Eve who was made from a bone. I mean seriously, where is the
exceeding goodness and worth of a traitorous mankind when these two
hayseeds deny dependence on God, their creator, and get snookered out
of their kingdom? Bear in mind, God allows all this for His reasons. God
created Adam and Eve to be instrumental in solving the sin problem.
Angels do not have bodies that die. Angels are male in appearance and
do not procreate. Death was non-existent in the universe until the curse
of the fall. Eve was created to multiply the race of men, but it may well
be noted, that after the fall Eve kept the race of men from dying out. God
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had need to die to redeem His universe. Jesus as the unique
Theoanthropos who became the first person who chose birth, and this for
the express purpose of dying for the sins of an ungrateful world. I ask
you, where is all the magnificence and glory of the dignity of man in any
of this? Except what is derived from Jesus Christ, who created man and
became the Man who redeems fallen man into the New Creation of man
and Christ? God chose the Jew as an example because they were nobody.
He makes them what they are and will be. He makes a redeemed sinner
what they are and what they will be – a saint.
Is it so hard to see - this gospel of grace? God does it all. Salvation,
the death of Christ and the life of Christ, is not a boost up in order to get
one started on his or her pursuit of a reward for self-effort. Salvation is
completely and utterly beyond the power of a puny Adamite to complete.
Man does nothing but believe that it’s going to happen, just like the Bible
says. In Genesis 15:6 Abraham is the archetype of saving faith. This
belief cannot be separated from the idea of “loyalty” to the ability of the
one in which you believe.
Gen 15:6 Abram believed19 the Lord, and the Lord considered his
response of faith proof of genuine loyalty.22 NET
19tn Biblical Hebrew and Discourse Linguistics, 50-98. The Hebrew
verb (āmān) means “to confirm; to support” in the Qal verbal stem. Its
derivative nouns refer to something or someone that/who provides
support, such as a “pillar,” “nurse,” or “guardian; trustee.” In the Niphal
stem it comes to mean “to be faithful; to be reliable; to be dependable,”
or “to be firm; to be sure.” In the Hiphil, the form used here, it takes on a
declarative sense, “to consider something reliable [or “dependable”].”
Abram regarded the God who made this promise as reliable and fully
capable of making it a reality.
22tn Or “righteousness”; or “evidence of steadfast commitment.” The
noun is an adverbial accusative. The verb translated “considered” (Heb
“reckoned”) also appears with (Heb., “righteousness”) in Ps 106:31.
Alluding to the events recorded in Numbers 25, the psalmist notes that
Phinehas’ actions were “credited to him as righteousness for endless
generations to come.” Reference is made to the unconditional, eternal
covenant with which God rewarded Phinehas’ loyalty (Num 25:12-13).
So Heb., “righteousness” seems to carry by metonymy the meaning
“loyal, rewardable behavior” here, a nuance that fits nicely in Genesis 15,
where God responds to Abram’s faith by formally ratifying his promise
to give Abram and his descendants the land. (See R. B. Chisholm,
“Evidence from Genesis,” A Case for Premillennialism, 40.) In
Phoenician and Old Aramaic inscriptions cognate nouns glossed as
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“correct, justifiable conduct” sometimes carry this same semantic nuance
(DNWSI 2:962).
sn This episode is basic to the NT teaching of Paul on justification
(Romans 4). Paul weaves this passage and Psalm 32 together, for both
use this word. Paul explains that for the one who believes in the Lord,
like Abram, God credits him with righteousness but does not credit his
sins against him because he is forgiven. Justification does not mean that
the believer is righteous; it means that God credits him with
righteousness, so that in the records of heaven (as it were) he is declared
righteous. See M. G. Kline, “Abram’s Amen,” WTJ 31 (1968): 1-11.
NET
The salvation of mankind is a creative act in God’s plan for the future
eternal state. His plan, to His glory, is to rid the universe of evil before
the creation of a new universe and a new earth. And this for God’s
chosen earthly immortal Jews and Gentiles. Which includes the New
Creation of heavenly redeemed saints who are in the Body of Christ
living in the celestial city, the Bridal City of God, with billions of
unfallen angelic beings worshipping God and ministering to saints and
men. Christ fulfilled the plan of redemption that God intended before
angel or man was ever created. Thereby, the universe is redeemed from
rebellion and selfishness; to His everlasting glory. “This is the deed God
requires [of a man] … to believe in the one whom He sent [to finish the
plan].”
The following verses are full of the truth of grace and God’s love for
His children that are kept in a most secure salvation by the faithfulness of
Christ alone from the very moment of saving trust into all eternity.
John 6:28 So then they said to him, “What must we do to accomplish
the deeds God requires?” 6:29 Jesus replied, “This is the deed God
requires—to believe in the one whom he sent.” 6:30 So they said to
him, “Then what miraculous sign will you perform, so that we may
see it and believe you? What will you do? 6:31 Our ancestors ate the
manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread
from heaven to eat.’” 6:32 Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the
solemn truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from
heaven, but my Father is giving you the true bread from heaven. 6:33
For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and
gives life to the world.” 6:34 So they said to him, “Sir, give us this
bread all the time!” 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life.
The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who
believes in me will never be thirsty. 6:36 But I told you that you have
seen me and still do not believe. 6:37 Everyone whom the Father
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gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never
send away. 6:38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my
own will but the will of the one who sent me. 6:39 Now this is the
will of the one who sent me—that I should not lose one person of
every one he has given me, but raise them all up at the last day. 6:40
For this is the will of my Father—for everyone who looks on the Son
and believes in him to have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the
last day.” NET
Titus 3:3-7 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled,
enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil
and envy, hateful and hating one another. But … When the kindness
of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us not
by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his
mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the
Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus
Christ our Savior. And so, since we have been justified by his grace,
we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life. NET
1 Pet 1:8-9 You have not seen him, but you love him. You do not see
him now but you believe in him, and so you rejoice with an
indescribable and glorious joy, because you are attaining the goal of
your faith—the salvation of your souls. NET
Is Salvation in Crist or Sarx?
“Sanctified by faith in me,” is what Jesus says to Paul in Acts 26. A
salvation secured in grace and lived by faith, not personal effort, is a
living vital state of being, whereby, God works through His children. The
children of grace never work for their Father, but are rewarded in heaven
for His “good work” effected through them. A grace economy that is
foolishness and cannot be understood by either the Christ rejecting world
or by religious humanism, the religion of Greek sarx - English NT flesh,
the old man, the unregenerate man, the natural man, men under the first
Adam - meaning the desires and pride of the flesh which is the inner
being of the fallen nature of man.
A born from above Christian lives a life with two natures, as Christ
had two natures, the divine and human. The pneumatikos and the
sarkikos of the Christian. Sadly, the fallen human nature is not eradicated
nor is it made impeccable and perfect as was His (cf. Paul’s struggle in
Romans 7). Only by the controlling power provided by the Holy Spirit
and the intercession of Jesus in heaven may a Christian overcome his
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natural sarx. This is the vital difference between a dead religion of works
misapplied from the dispensations of Law directed to God’s earthly
servants, the past Mosaic and future Kingdom Jews, and the union of a
born from above Christian with Christ in the grace provisions for His
Church. These provisions are written very clearly in the NT Epistles, the
Book of Acts, chapters 13-17 of the Gospel of John, and may only be
found with care armed with knowledge in a few parts of the Synoptic
Gospels. The Synoptic Gospels will be used by the future Jews in the
Millennium Kingdom, dear reader. Anyone saying different is as
ignorant about grace teaching in the NT as I am ignorant about Greek. If
I denied Greek, I would compound my ignorance with foolishness.
Knowledge of Greek would cure my ignorance, but until then I must rely
on the knowledge acquired by others. More experienced sources tell me,
also, that the direction of theological conversion is only one way - to
grace from law. The good reason that I make this effort.
At the end of the day, the part played by free will or predestination in
the act, the dynamic, the moment of saving faith is a peripheral concern,
it is secondary, a minor not a major issue, as Scripture states both. Jesus
always won and never debated with the Jewish lawyers by arguing from
concept to the particular, or effect. The vital matter is a secure or
unsecured salvation, as Scripture clearly teaches that God offers a
secured salvation through the satisfactory sacrifice and the resurrection
of His Son, that cannot recognize the inclusion of human merit to be
successful. Put simply, it won’t work. It must be done in accordance with
the instructions that are given.
The high priest in Israel had a rope tied to his leg when he entered the
Holy of Holies (a type of the heaven of heavenlies, the 3rd heaven) on
the Day of Atonement to sprinkle sacrificial blood on the Mercy Seat for
the sins of the nation. He died then and there for any failure to complete
the required instructions. No matter the reason he failed, he died. The
rope was to pull his lifeless body out from behind the veil, from the dark
smoke filled room, so that no one else died going in after him. The
“rope,” the lifeline, that will pull one out of the place where all have died
in front of the Mercy Seat is the gospel of God’s infinite grace that He
has placed into the hands of His children for propagation. This “rope”, in
the wrong hands, is reshaped and used by false shepherds to increase the
size of the herd unnaturally for the express purpose of fleecing the sheep.
Cain, as fully aware of what to offer as his twin brother Abel, decided
to substitute the work of his hands which he esteemed more highly than
some old stinking sheep. He fully expected God to praise him. Thus his
rage at God’s rejection. He couldn’t kill God, so he killed Abel. The first
death recorded in the Bible. Personal substitutions promoted by warm
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and fuzzy “free will” guarantee sin and count for nothing as God’s truth
is a written offer that names the Substitute.
Dr. Lewis Chafer when expounding “Original Sin,” which began with
Satan, the most perfect of all created angels, he makes the following
comparison:
… the evil which was condemned in Cain is not immorality, but
rather the Satanic looking on to the fruits of redemption, provided a
perfect relationship to God to which no fallen being could ever attain
by works of personal righteousness. …. (p. 66) In his impious action,
the great angel proposed a course of independent achievement which
at once in principle dethroned the God of truth and enthroned self.
Every feature of this intention was in opposition to, and independent
of, God. … to attempt independent self-directed life is the only course
open to the creature wherein he may satisfy his Satanic desire to
resemble God. The resemblance is feeble indeed, but it serves to
satisfy the insanity which sin really is. … It is notable, also, that the
wickedness of sin is not exhausted in the high crime of disowning
God … Satan’s sin was not merely negative in it’s rejection of God; it
was positive also in that it constructed a philosophy of life, a line of
action which originated with Satan, was self-centered, and excluded
God. … A partial or compromising departure from God is impossible.
God is either everything or nothing. All untruth as seen in misguided
lives partakes of, and grows out of, Satan’s lie in disowning the truth
which God is. (Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer Vol 2 pp.
60,66-68)
Gen 4:6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why is
your expression downcast? 4:7 Is it not true17 that if you do what is
right, you will be fine?18 But if you do not do what is right, sin is
crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must
suppress it.” NET
17tn The introduction of the conditional clause with an interrogative
particle prods the answer from Cain, as if he should have known this. It is
not a condemnation, but an encouragement to do what is right.
18tn The Hebrew text is difficult, because only one word occurs, (Heb.),
which appears to be the infinitive construct from the verb “to lift up”
(Heb.). The sentence reads: “If you do well, uplifting.” On the surface it
seems to be the opposite of the fallen face. Everything will be changed if
he does well. God will show him favor, he will not be angry, and his face
will reflect that. But more may be intended since the second half of the
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verse forms the contrast: “If you do not do well, sin is crouching….” Not redeemed from hell is just the down payment on salvation, there is much
doing well leads to sinful attack; doing well leads to victory and God’s more, “I suppose the half has not been told.”
blessing.
Who can know how someone else truly comes to Christ? Irrespective
of revelation or postulations from Scripture about sub-biblical common
The practical question is … Who benefits from a suggested total free
grace or biblical election, until it happens to you. This is a very serious
will and an undefined on again, off again, maybe salvation for yourself
question. If I must make Jesus Lord and serve Him forever, ask Him into
and those who are near and dear? Followed by years of homilies about
my heart, repeat a prayer, answer an altar call, be water baptized, or take
morality and sin. Worse yet, today’s extra-biblical droning psycho-pop
any action, then the Bible lied in the Book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit
family help book writers and sellers. Who can never rise above the level
when on the day of Penetacost in Jerusalem thousands of Jews were
of merit and human conduct to the liberty and freedom for service to one
saved by the gospel preaching of Peter. The Bible lied about God’s
another provided by the encouraging nature of NT grace in Christ.
involvement with Peter’s dream and the angel who answered the prayers
Meaning, they would not write secularized books and whatever they
of Cornelius, the father of the first Gentile family who came to believe
wrote, being led of the Spirit, would be useful and to other believers, if
during Peter’s gospel preaching. The jailer was lied to when the iron bars
truly done in Christ.
collapsed and he was told by Paul the way to salvation is to, “Believe in
Who benefits from election, predestined and/or foreknown, followed
the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” The Bible lied when Paul was
by eternally secured salvation? Forget the objection about carnal or
struck by a blinding light on the road to Damascus and Jesus asked,
mature believers sinning - they were sinning before they became
”Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” The Bible lied when Jesus
believers and so is the rest of the world - besides, who appointed anyone
witnessed Himself to the Samaritan woman at the well.
to save the world from sin, someone already did that. Have no doubt,
At the scene of the
God has His children on a short leash when it comes to their welfare.
Crucifixion, as the people on the
Also, Satan is allowed only as far as God permits. In addition Satan is
ground below were shouting,
not permitted to continue after his defeat on the cross, God requires him
“Save yourself, save yourself,”
to complete his experiment in self direction to the suicidal bitter end.
Jesus answered the simple
Which gives us some insight into the offer of his kingdom to Christ. But
request of faith, “Remember me
his desire to be like God was too great, his mind fogged by sin, he was as
in your kingdom,” from the
aware as any other minor demon that Jesus was God. Nevertheless, he
criminal who was nailed to a
was compelled to bargain with Christ, “Worship me, and I will give you
board, flogged, bleeding, suffo-
my kingdom.”
cating, naked, and weak as death
God has taken up the sin question and solved it for all men in the
with the promise, “I tell you the
death of the His Substitute. Sin is primarily against God and He alone
truth, today you will be with me
can deal with it. The Bible pictures sin as seen from the divine viewpoint
in paradise.” Surely this must
and unfolds God’s problem that was created by sin. A problem that
either be the greatest lie ever told
existed in the mind of God before He created any free moral agents,
or the image of what little any
angel or man. His exact manner and the method of the solution for sin is
man of faith is able to do of his
in the Bible. As regards the material world and fallen mankind itself,
own. The image of a helpless
bear in mind the present world is scheduled for a major renovation when
man receiving not the bios life of
Christ returns, and this, a thousand years before it is completely razed
creation before the fall, but zoë
and recreated. When properly understood grace is a wonderful plan for
eternal “life to the fullest,” the
the sin problem and for the daily power against sin that may be obtained
very life of Christ after His
by simple faith and dependence on another, all the while secured in a
resurrection, the fullness of
salvation that is complete and paid for. And this present reality of those
Christ as He is now. This life is
the regeneration of the New Creation in Christ.
755 756
 rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
If I can lose my salvation without plain directions as to how, that
means there are some undefined sins of mine that Christ did not die for
and the gospel is a lie. If my sin after saving faith can defeat my
salvation, how was my sin forgiven in the first place? Is it not the blood
of Christ that washes away all my sin? If I can get my salvation back,
that must mean I control Jesus and He is an idol of my own hands. If my
salvation is a reward for glorious me, then the gospel is a lie, and Christ
died for nothing. For that reason, I am overcome by “falling from grace.”
I am held hostage to doubt, extorted by religion, and unable to make
proper sense of it all. Oh, wretched man that I am! Condemned and dying
- who will save me from these miserable followers of a God they
command, ”Save yourself, save yourself, come down from the cross and
leave your work to us!”

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Corrupted Grace

How can a man be born when he is old?196

The new man
The old man
The life of grace
The death of law
The beautiful transition
The awful transition
To know you are alive and experience life
To know you are dead and experience death

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The King James Translation of John 3:16
η έστίν (ho theos
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
KJV
A stand alone quotation of this verse, admittedly, leaves a beautiful
sentiment to stir the memory, perhaps that of one’s childhood: a young
face held between two warmly scented hands and the moist kiss of a
mother’s fresh breath on a frost tinted cheek. Leaving the remembrance
to settle, rest, and linger.
World
For many, churched for a lifetime or not, this is one of few verses
they recognize. The wording suggests something exceedingly lovable.
And agreement - a likeness, a conformity, in that like God, they too love
the world. It’s nice to love the world and nice people have a God likened
love for the world. Most would agree that, here, the idea of “world” goes
beyond simply the earth to include not only people as a whole but
individuals, their lives, experiences and interests; even to the inclusion of
various personal philosophies about life and the world. Possibly this may
embrace, one’s prized possessions - a home, a car, a business, a beautiful
church, a wonderful job, a wardrobe of nice clothing, a fine canoe and a
grand hunting bow, and many such things in the sociology of one’s
particular material culture.
God is holy, “Be ye holy, for I am holy,” God is faithful and just, and
also, God is love, and light, and life. In Him there is no darkness or
death. One aspect of God’s personhood, His love, is here revealed to the
objects of His love, the unsaved. Based on the KJV verse many are left to
assume God really, really loves everyone and everything in the world.
One is led by a stand alone quotation and a misleading emphatic “so” to
say, “I believe in a God of love … a God of love would never condemn
good people to hell … a God of love would never condemn anyone to
hell.” But the correct sense of the verse taken in context (verses 13-18)
lies heaven high and far apart from that conclusion. Love is bound by
judgment until released by the gift of His Son to those who hate Him.
1 John 4:8 The person who does not love does not know God,
because God is love.20 NET
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
20tn The author proclaims in 4:8 όJ θεός άγά
agapē estin), but from a grammatical standpoint this is not a proposition
in which subject and predicate nominative are interchangeable (“God is
love” does not equal “love is God”). The predicate noun is anarthrous, as
it is in two other Johannine formulas describing God, “God is light” in 1
John 1:5 and “God is Spirit” in John 4:24. The anarthrous predicate
suggests a qualitative force, not a mere abstraction, so that a quality of
God’s character is what is described here.
How may it be gathered from John 3:16 that God was keeping His
own council and “heaping burning coals onto the head of His enemies?”
It is suggested that Nicodemus, a highly important and well to do Jew,
who probably lived among other religious leaders in the most exclusive
parts of upper Jerusalem, above the noise and smells of the city,
understood that “world” classified him with all that He despised, the
Gentiles, “the dogs.” Making this another of many shocks ministered by
Jesus to his religious, financial, and personal pride during the course of
the conversation recorded here in John chapter 3:1-21. God is revealed in
the NT as the enemy of “the world.” What’s up with this word world?
The deceptively subjective “world” was substituted almost 200 times
for four words in the original Greek. These four, include as many as
eleven meanings. There is the straight forward claim in Hebrews 1:1-2
that Christ created the “ages” not worlds and the mistaken understanding
that “the world will end”, not the “age”, in Matthew chapter 13:38-40.
For this reason much inter-related Biblical truth has been effectively
closed to the lay reader and demonstrably the majority of pulpits that are
paralyzed by either laziness from sourcing “canned sermons” and
literature for their congregations from commercial services, or by blind
tradition. Dr. Lewis Chafer writes:
Age (Gr. aion). This term, which is translated world 39 times in the
Authorized version of the New Testament, means a block or period of
time. It hardly need be said that there is no observable relation between
the English noun world and a period of time. By reason of this confusion
in terms, the whole revelation respecting successive ages was soon lost to
view because of this translation. (Systematic Theology, Lewis Chafer Vol
7, p.121)
Again, Dr. Lewis Chafer writes:
The moral character of this mystery age (cf. Mtw. 13) at its
beginning, likes its moral development and end is clearly presented in the
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New Testament. At the very beginning the inspired writers spoke of it as
an evil age: “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us
from this present evil world” (or age Gal 1:4), “And be not conformed to
this world” (or age, Rom 12:2), “For Demas hath forsaken me, having
loved this present world” (or age, 2 Tim 4:10), “In whom the god of this
world (or age) hath blinded the minds of them which believe not” (2 Cor
4:4). So the church (Body of Christ) was fully warned from the
beginning about the nature of this age, and taught concerning her pilgrim
character.
If one might consider the use of “world” for the Greek aion a consistent
mistake - Reverend Clarence Larkin writes:
In Matt. 25:46 we read - “And these (the Wicked) shall go away into
everlasting punishment; but the righteous into everlasting
punishment.” Primarily these words are spoken of “The Nations” (Matt.
25:31-32), but they apply to individuals. The words in this passage
“everlasting,” and “eternal,” are both the same Greek word “aionios,”
and should both be translated “eternal.” The word aionios comes from
the Greek word aion, which is the same as the English word aeon or age.
(The Spirit World, p. 59)
As demonstrated, world does not suggest the English “eon.” Should
anyone doubt this translation “substitution” did not play a great part in
safeguarding Catholic and English Anglican Eschatology that did not
want Christ to return and thereby placed itself as the Bride of Christ, the
promised Davidic Jewish Kingdom, and the Millennial reign of Christ.
Premillennialism, which was the Orthodoxy of Chiliasm (Greek meaning
1,000 years) and the return of Christ, was maintained by all the Church
fathers well into the 3rd century? The Dispensational truth and the
Millennial Kingdom did not come into view again until the middle of the
18th century and it is here stated unequivocally that Chiliasm did not
originate in the mind of a man named Darby as many ignorant self
appointed Kingdom theology experts are prone to parrot. Much as
“justification by faith alone” was rediscovered and proclaimed by Luther
in the 16th century. Truth may be hidden for very long periods of time
dear reader. Much in the same vein, my attempt in this paper is to submit
Biblical truth to some who may have never heard the truth of a secured
salvation, for others a fair exposition from which one may accept or
reject what is here.
The following verses contain the word “world.” They state the
world’s hatred for Christ and Christians many times. It is an empahatic
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
statement. The passage is part of the farewell speech by Our Lord Jesus
to His disciples in the “Upper Room Discourse” (John 13-17). Here, the
seeds of the New Creation church are sown and given later, in full, to
Paul as his second “mystery” revelation regarding the mystical Body of
Christ, the true Church. 197
John 15:18 “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me first.
15:19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its
own. However, because you do not belong to the world, but I chose
you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you. 15:20
Remember what I told you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.” If
they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they obeyed my
word, they will obey yours too. 15:21 But they will do all these things
to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one
who sent me. 15:22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would
not be guilty of sin. But they no longer have any excuse for their sin.
15:23 The one who hates me hates my Father too. 15:24 If I had not
performed among them the miraculous deeds that no one else did,
they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen the deeds and
have hated both me and my Father. 15:25 Now this happened to
fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without
reason.’ NET
What is the meaning of “world” in John 3:16, the most recognized of
all Bible verses in the world? “Cosmos” is the NT Greek translated as
“world” in all major translations. Dr. C. I. Scofield writes in his notes to
The Old Scofield Study Bible:
Rev 13:8 Kosmos, Summary: In the sense of the present world system,
the ethically bad sense of the word, refers to the “order,” “arrangement,”
under which Satan has organized the world of unbelieving mankind upon
his cosmic principles of force, greed, selfishness, ambition and pleasure
(Mtw 4:8,9; John 12:31; 14:30; 18:36; Eph 2:2; 6:12; 1 John 2:15-17).
This world-system is imposing and powerful with armies and fleets; is
often outwardly religious, scientific, cultured, and elegant; but, seething
with national and commercial rivalries and ambitions, is upheld in any
real crisis by armed force, and is dominated by Satanic principles. (p.
1342)
The cosmos of the NT concerns only the world that now is (cf. 2
Peter 3:7). What will follow, most readers will find much more bizarre
than any theme park “Magic Mountain” ride. Dr. Lewis Chafer writes:
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 rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
The method Satan employed in bring the panorama of the earthly
Startling and almost incredible kingdoms in a moment of time before Christ is most arresting. At
statements are made in the New once the entire procedure advances beyond the realms of humanity’s
Testament relative to Satan’s rights experiences and resources, and functions in the realities of another
and control over the cosmos. This sphere. Seeing all the kingdoms of the world from one mountain and
disclosure is foreign to the popular in a moment of time connotes things supernatural. There is room for
mind. Even the believer who is thought, also, in the assertion that Satan took the Lord anywhere and
amendable to the Scriptures finds for any reason. There are forces at work here which the mind of man
himself confronted with the statements cannot comprehend. Yet, the amazing feature of this revelation is the
which seem impossible, were they not declaration by Satan, which declaration Christ did not brand as an
written down by the hand of God. It untruth, that the kingdoms of this cosmos (cf. Matthew 4:8 for the
may be assumed that Satan will do all specific use of cosmos) are delivered unto Satan and to whomsoever
that is in his power to avoid a worthy he wills he gives them. (Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer Vol
under-standing of these stupendous 2, p 80, 84-5 )
truths on the part of any human being.
Certain major passages should be
examined with due attention:
Luke 4:5-7 This passage taken from the record of the three-fold
temptation of Christ by Satan, reads thus, “And the devil, taking him
up into a high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the
world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this
power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered
unto me; and to whomsoever I will give it. If thou therefore wilt
worship me, all shall be thine.”

As some suppose this offer is not limited to the Palestinian area that
could be seen from atop a local vantage point. Remember that Christ was
in a desert wilderness. This offer is not a lie of Satan, else there would be
no valid temptation. The person of Satan, not a metaphor for evil, is
given more revelation in the Bible than anyone except the Persons of the
Holy Trinity. Christ spoke more of Satan and hell than all other Bible
prophets combined. Note that the Revelations of Christ were given by
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Him to the elderly Apostle John. A non-dispensational, non-
premillennial one covenant Arminian or Catholic Kingdom theology
focused on a world saving visible church and the philosophy of self
salvation cannot deal with and will not teach the vital issues rooted in the
Cosmos Diabolicus, the crippled world of blinded men and demon joined
together in rebellion against Truth, which is God, His Son, and the Spirit
baptized sons of God, as revealed here in Scripture. Self-salvation must
by definition exclude the power of God to save eternally and must offer
the self-fitted ideology that uses Scripture, but belongs to Satan and is
given to a murderous world that he controls. Dr. Lewis Chafer continues
writing:
Whether it be consonant with human reason or not, the plain word of
inspired truth lends full support to the idea that earthly governments are
in the hands of Satan. … It is more a problem how to accept this satanic
claim in connection with governments which are commendable in the
eyes of men; but Satan’s method is not one of eliminating all that is
good. It is evidently true that all human governments, however they
appear to men are run in independence of God.
Satan’s assertion in this passage is twofold: (a) the dominion of the
whole cosmos is delivered unto him, which must mean that divine
permission is given to this end, and (b) Satan gives the kingdom to
whomsoever he wills. … The revelation that Satan is in authority over
the cosmos does not rest on his claim alone. Christ referred to Satan as
the prince of this cosmos (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
(p.84) The cosmos is wholly evil. This indeed is a hard saying. … The
cosmos is not a battleground whereon God is contending with Satan
for supremacy; it is a thing which God has permitted, that the lie may
have its fullest unveiling. It is reasonable to suppose that the cosmos
represents the supreme effort of the supreme creature (Satan), and
that as it began with the repudiation of God, it has maintained its
intended segregation from the will and purpose of God. That things
good in themselves are included in this great system is doubtless the
occasion for many deceptions. The fundamental truth that
“whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom 4:23; cf. Heb 11:6) is not
recognized or believed in the cosmos. The lie must run its course that
it may be judged, not as a mere hypothesis or incipient venture, but in
the complete and final exhibition of its antigod character. It began
with the repudiation of God by angel and man and maintains that
distinctive trait until Antichrist appears and is destroyed. The
humanitarian enterprises, the culture, the laws, and religious forms of
the cosmos constitute no evidence that God is recognized in His true
position or honored. … Social ideals are borrowed from His (Christ)
teachings. His purity and grace are held forth as a pattern of life, but
salvation through His blood is spurned. The independent, self-
centered, self-satisfied, autonomous cosmos asks for no redemption
since it recognizes no need. It is the embodiment of the philosophy of
which Cain is the archetype. What God sees on the human side of the
cosmos is described in Romans 3:9-18. Here the divine charge against
fallen men is infinitely accurate and decisive … It (cosmos) will be
judged and destroyed completely. No attempt will be made to salvage
anything out of it when its day of
demolition arrives. The following
passages are sufficient testimony to the
evil character of the cosmos: “Whereby
are given to us exceeding great and
precious promises: that by these ye may
be partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world
(cosmos)” (2 Peter 1:4). “ For if after they
have escaped the pollutions of the world
(cosmos) through the knowledge of the
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are
again entangled therein, and overcome,
the latter end is worse with them than the
beginning” (2 Peter 2:20). (Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer
Vol 2, p 80, 84-5 )
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 rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
The “worse than the 1 John 2:15 Do not love
beginning” is here pointing the world or the things
to the fact that a gospel of in the world. If anyone
religious humanism takes loves the world, the
the knowledge of the love of the Father is not
Savoir, but offers no saving in him, 2:16 because all
faith, and adds the self- that is in the world (the
effort ideals of the desire of the flesh and
“cosmos”, thus a greater the desire of the eyes
delusion results. These are and the arrogance
not believers that have been produced by material
born from above and placed possessions)37 is not
into the Body of Christ by from the Father, but is
the baptism of the Holy from the world. 2:17
Spirit. And the world is
As explained in the passing away with all its
above, the “world” is not desires, but the person
such a lovable set of ideals. who does the will of
This “world” of organizations, of commerce, governments, religions, God remains38 forever.
earthly property, possessions, goods, education, and institutions are all NET
held and administered by the most powerful created being in the
universe. This cosmos is not the natural world of the “Big Blue Marble” 37tn The genitive βίου (biou) is difficult to translate: (1) Many
in which we live and breathe, but it is the very motions of the every day understand it as objective, so that βίος (bios, “material life”) becomes the
world of humanism which is controlled by the originator of murder and object of one’s άλάζονεία (alazoneia; “pride” or “boastfulness”).
lies, the deceiver of mankind, Satan. It is the antigod visible humanism Various interpretations along these lines refer to boasting about one’s
and over-arching invisible Satanism that is by nature the selfish wealth, showing off one’s possessions, boasting of one’s social status or
rebellious estate of every man and woman on earth who is not born from lifestyle. (2) It is also possible to understand the genitive as subjective,
above, those who are not of this “world” as Christ is not of this “world.” however, in which case the βίος itself produces the άλάζονεία. In this
Dr. Chafer writes: case, the material security of one’s life and possessions produces a
boastful overconfidence. This understanding better fits the context here:
The English terminology world is a translation of four widely The focus is on people who operate purely on a human level and have no
differing ideas (words) in the Greek original: 1. Cosmos – used 176 times spiritual dimension to their existence. This is the person who loves the
… (1.b.1.) The material earth as a creation of God (Acts 17:24). (1.b.2.) world, whose affections are all centered on the world, who has no love
The inhabitants of the world. These are the ones God loved and for for God or spiritual things (“the love of the Father is not in him,” 2:15).
whom Christ died (John 3:16). (1.b.3.) The institutions of men as set up sn The arrogance produced by material possessions. The person who
independent of God and headed by Satan, that is, the satanic system that thinks he has enough wealth and property to protect himself and insure
is organized upon principles of self, greed, armament, and his security has no need for God (or anything outside himself).
commercialism. This is the world that God does not love and the 38tn See note on the translation of the Greek verb µένω (menō) in 2:6.
believer is warned against loving (1 John 2:15-17). (Systematic Theology, The translation “remain” is used for µένω (menō) here because the
Lewis Sperry Chafer, Volume 7 , p. 311) context contrasts the transience of the world and its desires with the
permanence of the person who does God’s will.

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Raymond Brown writes in his comments on 1 John 2:15-17, Love for the
World:
John 3:16: “God loved the world so much that He gave the only Son.”
But why then would the author warn, “Have no love for the world”?
First, he would be insisting that for the Johannine Christian the primary
object of love commanded by God and Christ was one’s fellow
Johannine Christian (Note on 2:9b). Jesus said, “Love one another”; He
did not say, “Love the world.” With all their outreach to the world, the
secessionist (the first NT denominational divide recorded for us here in
the Bible, this writer) had failed to love their Johannine brethren as
shown by the very act of secession. Second, the author would contend
that a loving attitude toward the world betrayed a failure to evaluate
correctly God’s relation to the world in Johannine tradition. 21 Yes, God
loved the world and sent His only Son, but the world did not recognize
that Son and hated Him. The world which preferred darkness to light,
aligned itself under the Satanic Prince of this world against Jesus; and so
ultimately Jesus refused to pray for the world. He told His followers that
they had been chosen out of the world and did not belong to the world.
The author (of 1 John) would not deny a continued divine offer of
salvation and forgiveness (1 John 2:2; 4:14); but that is precisely for
those who are converted out of the world. Those who remain in the world
are under the Evil One and do not belong to God (5:19).
1 John 5:19 We know that we are from God,50 and the whole world
lies in the power of the evil one. NET
50tn The preposition έκ (ek) here indicates both source and possession:
Christians are “from” God in the sense that they are begotten by him, and
they belong to him. For a similar use of the preposition compare the
phrases έk τοϋ'
ατρός (ek tou patros) and έk τοϋ' κόκσµου (ek to constitute sinners righteous before God through the merit of Christ
tou kosmou) in 1 John 2:16.
Barrosse (Relationship 550-51) is perfectly correct when he says that
love for the world is another phrasing is GJohn condemns as love for
darkness (3:19), a love for oneself (12:25 psyche), and a love for praise
or glory (12:43). Understood thus, love for the world is a corollary of the
basic secessionist Christological error. The secessionist concentrate on
the Incarnation when God showed His love for the world by sending His
only Son, but they pay no attention to the salvific import of what
happened afterward during Jesus’ ministry when He turned from the
world to His own.
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
I summarize above the detailed treatment of the “world” in the Note
2:2bc; corroborating GJohn references there. I think many scholars
compound confusion by explaining Johannine thought in terms of
different senses of kosmos, “world,” as if there were no change of
attitude as GJohn unfolds. If God loves the world in John 3:16 and Jesus
refuses to pray for the world in 17:9, it is not simply because kosmos has
different meanings. It is because the majority of people preferred
darkness to light and have come to constitute the world over against
Jesus’ followers who no longer belong to the world. I find Dodd, Epistles
44, misleading here when he hints that God’s love for the world resolves
the dualistic attitude toward the world! The act of God’s love toward the
world was the occasion of a division that calls for a dualistic attitude!
(The Anchor Bible - The Epistles of John, R. E. Brown, p. 324)
As regards a dualistic attitude, and of what that may consist, the
following is written by Dr. Lewis Chafer:
(cf. Rev 12:7-12) The casting out of the satanic hosts from heaven
means much, also, to the “brethren” whom Satan has not ceased to
accuse before God night and day, and it is a most vital truth which is
added in the words, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb,
and by the word of their testimony.” The question may be raised at this
point about what it is that constitutes Satan’s opposition to God’s ways
with men. No little resentment may exist against the truth that
redemption has not been extended to fallen angels as it is extended to
fallen men. It would seem that Satan still exercises some of his original
responsibility, as the defender and promoter of righteousness on which
the throne of God must ever rest. Satan’s ministers pose as “ministers of
righteousness” (2 Cor 11:15); but reference is made in this text to
personal or self-promoted righteousness. The redemptive plan proposes
which He released and provided for the lost in His death. The
constituting of sinners to be righteous through the saving work of Christ
is easily believed to be a point of satanic opposition against God. There
is nothing else about the gospel which Satan would resist, or concerning
which he would “blind the minds” of those who are lost (2 Cor 4:3-4).
The one who specializes in self-promoted righteousness has always been
the least able to comprehend and the greater of objector to the doctrine of
imputed righteousness. Certainly it is not to be counted as strange if
Satan himself is, like those among men who are energized by him,
opposed to that which is the abiding fruit of redeeming grace. The
accusations which Satan has hurled against the brethren have no doubt
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been concerning actual sin and unrighteousness on their part. It is
inconceivable that he would charge them with that which is wholly
untrue. Such a course would fall by its own weight. It is rather that Satan
is offended by the arrangement whereby saints are preserved in spite of
their unworthiness as he is by the imputing of righteousness to merit less
sinners in the first place. (Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 2,
p. 59)
The above statements by Brown and Chafer, are best seen in the light
of God’s present position towards men. The message of reconciliation in
2 Corinthians and Colossians tells us that “God has reconciled Himself to
the world through Jesus Christ on the cross.” Which means He is
perfectly satisfied in Substitution for the judgment against man’s sin, and
that men are savable through the imputed righteousness of Christ. This is
something that need not to be asked by man, or bargained for. Men need
only to believe and thereby reconcile themselves to God. All else is done.
“God helps those who help themselves,” is not a Bible verse, but a saying
belonging to Benjamin Franklin who, at best, was a hedonist. “God helps
those who cannot help themselves,” is not a Bible verse, but an excellent
summary of salvation and grace.
The description of “the inhabitants of the world” or humanity from
Romans 1-3 is that of helpless mankind with no option but sin. Let me
suggest that “enemy” is charitable and “wicked or sinful humanity” is an
appropriate sense of what God “loved” in the past tense, before He
substituted the death and resurrection of the Son of His love for what His
enemies (Gentiles in this discussion) lacked. Those same enemies
rejected His Son as their Savoir, as did Israel reject Him as their Lord
and Messiah, therefore Jesus did not pray for the world in chapter 17 of
the Gospel of John, but only for those who believe and are not, as He
Himself is not, “of the world.” Later, Paul would be given the message to
state in full and reveal that God has declared “all under sin,” Gentile and
Jew alike. God makes no fiction from foreknowledge, man must in
reality commit what God judges him for. Additionally, God has imputed
the original sin of Adam to all men as each man has a sin nature received
from Adam, of which personal sins derive. But, as He promises, the fact
that all men are declared under sin, standardizes the ground of salvation –
no man has anything to contribute to his salvation and every man needs
Christ to be saved. A common salvation from a common point of ground
zero is offered to all who will believe. It is a pure flight of the
imagination to assume it takes more or less, a variable grace, to save a
good or not so good individual. As much so as it to believe you must
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maintain your own salvation after believing and trusting in Christ for
salvation.
God proposes to love wicked humanity through His Son with a love
that can only be satisfied by the grace of giving men what they do not
deserve. A place in His family. God the Son entered into His own
creation, and took on the likeness and experiences of a man in the
Incarnation, gave up His life and merit for the world on the cross, was
buried, and resurrected on the third day which brought a New Life to the
universe, God glorified in a human body. God can now do as He
intended before angel or man was ever created, and rid the universe of
selfishness and lies. But only after perfecting a new company of creation
that joins with Him in all His comings and goings, the redeemed from
this age of God’s grace. A sinless man offering Himself for the sins of
men, who allowed Himself to be placed on a cross and who said in a
loud, strong voice, “It is Finished,” is the gospel of salvation by grace
through faith to gain the righteousness of Christ. The gospel of the merit
of Jesus Christ alone is contained in John 3:16. A dying criminal on a
cross destined for hell added to the glorious merit of Tom, Nicodemus, or
Jane is built upon the translation and miserable human self-promotion
equating itself with divinity. The second dying criminal next to the
crucified Jesus commanded Him, “ Save yourself and us.”
For God So Loved
FOR AND SO. “The two words, “for … so,” are the rendering of a two-
word combination in the Greek text, which occurs nine times in the New
Testament.166 None of these occurrences can or should be rendered in a
“so much” way. Every one can, and perhaps should, be rendered “in this
way,” or “this is the way,” The expression, “for in this way,” points
back to something previously stated. The words which commence John
3:16, “For this is the way God loved the world … ,” pick up and
expand upon the thought of verses 14 and 15. Notice the repetition of the
statement, “so that everyone who believes in Him … may have eternal
life,” in verses 15 and 16.” (That You Might Believe: A Study of the
Gospel of John, by Robert L. Deffinbaugh, Th.M. Bob Deffinbaugh is a
1971 graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary.)
John 3:13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who
descended from heaven—the Son of Man. 3:14 Just as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
3:15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
3:16 For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and
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only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but
have eternal life. 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to
condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
3:18 The one who believes in him is not condemned. The one who
does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not
believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. NET
To summarize 3:16 from the perspective of Nicodemus who was shocked
into mute silence by these revelations from Jesus:
For this is the way
Referring back to the brass serpent in verse 14
(His Son’s death on the cross is the way)
Recognized later as His death on the cross
God loved wicked humanity:
The hopelessly sinful and spiritually blind Gentiles and Nicodemus
himself as a Jew are God’s enemies who are unaware they are dying and
will never see the Kingdom of God unless spiritual sight is gained and
they are born from above
He gave his only Son,
Jesus Himself as God descended from heaven and Incarnate as the Son
of Man substituting for the brass serpent and the cure for death from
verse 14
so that everyone (whomsoever)
All of the snake bitten dying, without exception, who admire, esteem,
think highly of, are in awe of, look up to Jesus on the cross for life. Those
who turn to, admit, acknowledge, allow Jesus to replace lie with truth.
The one time act of making admission to the Truth, the Light of the
world, Jesus. To turn to Light (truth) from Darkness (lies). To repent is
to change one’s mind, to turn to Christ from all other dependencies
including self. All who have saving faith as a permanent possession.
who believes in him will not suffer penalty
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Wicked humanity who have gained spiritual sight, who recognize their
destiny is Hell without the righteousness which comes only from Jesus
Christ. Believers are to be excluded from judgment and the penalty of
hell
but have eternal life.
A repetition of verse 15 that believers will be permanently changed and
receive eternal life in the new birth (regeneration) and become a third
classification of humanity, neither Jew nor Gentile, who are not the
enemies of God. “He who has the Son has eternal life.”
The overall context of chapter 3:1- 21 may be understood as follows:
Salvation is announced. “How can a man be born when he is old?”
Nicodemus came in the dark of the night to question Jesus, expecting
Him to say He was the promised earthly King Messiah, that all was well
and according to the Kingdom plan revealed by the OT prophets. Instead
Jesus began by blowing his mind with the new birth that is required to
see the Kingdom of God. Jesus revealed here that a man must be born
again to be saved. This is the first time in the Bible, as nowhere in the
OT is merit rewarded with salvation, that salvation is revealed and stated
to be a work of God the Holy Spirit. The question asked by Nicodemus,
“How can a man be born when he is old?” Is a huge question answered
incorrectly by self salvation, as Jesus answers, “Marvel not… so is
everyone that is born of the Spirit.” This deeply troubled Nicodemus, but
he continued to speak. Then Jesus insulted his professional ability to
understand spiritual matters and began to explain at verse 13 that He
came down from heaven, (not Moses, but Himself, the Son of Man,
another shock to Nicodemus) and would return to His Father.
Nicodemus, a learned doctor of the law, knew well Proverbs 30:4
contained the following clauses, “Who has gathered the wind in His
fists?” and “What is His name, and what is His Sons name.” Jesus had
just told him that He, the Son of Man, was in and came down from
heaven, and was in heaven while here. Establishing His right to speak of
heavenly things, to convey the blessings of the new birth to men. Thus
combining the dwelling of God in heaven with earth. At this
announcement, Nicodemus became speechless.
1 Cor 15:47 The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second
man is from heaven. 15:48 Like the one made of dust, so too are those
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made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are
heavenly. 15:49 And just as we have borne the image of the man of
dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven. 15:50 Now this
is what I am saying, brothers and sisters: Flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the
imperishable. NET
The above verses restate the necessity for the new birth announced by
Jesus here in chapter 3. Jesus then revealed that He came as the cure for
the sin (Jesus made reference to Moses again with the brass serpent
which later readers would understand as His death on the cross) of His
enemies (Nicodemus, Jews, and Gentiles included, another shock to
Nicodemus) that everyone who accepts the expression of His Father’s
love would be given eternal life and saved from judgment and hell and
those who do not will be sent to hell by Jesus when He returns again as
judge (Nicodemus, Jews, and Gentiles included. Which was a far cry
from the expected Messiah and the glorious Kingdom promises that
Nicodemus was eager to hear).
Conclusion to John 3:16
Jesus came to manifest His father’s love to men, to do His Fathers
will. What manner of wayward foolishness would deny this love was
expressed in the Crucifixion. That the measure of the sin of man was
revealed in the Crucifixion. Man’s lost estate in sin is so vast and
pervading that only the death of the innocent unique God-man, who
possesses infinite worth and quality can rid it from His creation. By the
stand alone misuse and overuse of a deceptive rendering of “God so loved
the world”, this is turned on its head when “Nicodemus” is led to believe
both he and “the dogs”, the Gentiles, are worthy of the Father’s love in
their sinful estate. Redemption and retribution are different sides of the
same Cross of Crucifixion and clearly stated in John 3:16. On the error of
Universalism as it effects the righteous judgment of the damned by
Christ, Dr Lewis Chafer writes:
However, the most misleading error respecting retribution (eternal
damnation) is that which falls back in blind dependence upon the one
attribute of God, namely, His love, and ignores the attributes of holiness,
righteousness, and justice, and the supreme control these attributes
exercise over the love of God. … Thus the Mercyists may be classified as
those of all creeds or no creeds who believe that eternal retribution is
impossible since God is love. Such, indeed, do not understand the gospel
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by which sinners are saved. … Such is the doctrinal confusion which
arises when one truth is stressed without regard for other truths which
qualify it. … In fact, sin is sufficiently sinful to require eternal retribution
as the divine penalty for it. There is no field for argument at this point.
The word of God must stand and man must be reminded that of the two
issues involved - sin and holiness - he knows nothing about their depth of
meaning. Being absolute, divine holiness cannot be varied or altered in
the least degree. This truth is the key to the entire problem to which the
idea of retribution engenders. If God could have forgiven one sin of one
person as an act of mere kindness, He would have compromised His own
holiness which demands judgment for sin. Having thus compromised
Himself with sin, He would need Himself to be saved because of the
unrighteous thing He had done. He would by such supposed kindness,
have established a principle by which He could forgive all human sin as
an act of divine clemency, and thus the death of Christ is rendered
unnecessary. This truth must not be overlooked if the doctrine of eternal
retribution is to be understood at all. … God is love, and that love is
demonstrated by the gift of the Son that men might be saved; but love
and mercy did not circumvent the demands of holiness to save the sinner;
they paid its every demand. (Systematic Theology, the Doctrine of Hell,
Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 4, pp. 432-33)
What Justice Demands Mercy Has Paid For
What justice demands mercy has paid for is contained in the death of
Christ on His Cross in John 3:16. The last four of the seven words in
italics are removed when death intrudes upon the vanity of a “God is
love” follower. Leaving the unimaginable horror of “what justice
demands.”
John 3:16 is the crown jewel, when properly set among the
surrounding verses. This is not as popular use and conception would
have it. John chapter 3 is a gospel witness as palpable and condensed as
that revealed in Romans 3:20-25. Here in John 3:1-21 the gospel of
salvation by grace is given by Our Lord Jesus Christ to a man that came
to Him in the shadows of night. The gospel was given to the Jew first as
God had promised.
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PART FOUR - SUN, MOON, AND STARS
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the
heaven to divide the day from the night; and them be for
signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let
them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give
light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two
great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the
lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And
God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light
upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the
night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God
saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning
were the fourth day.

Genesis i. 14-19.

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Summary of Grace

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Romans 8 - The Christian Manifesto of a Secured Salvation For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but
you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.”
There is therefore now no
condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus. For the
law of the life-giving Spirit
in Christ Jesus has set you
free from the law of sin and
death. For God achieved
what the law could not do
because it was weakened
through the flesh. By sending
his own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh and concern-
ing sin, he condemned sin in
the flesh, so that the righ-
teous requirement of the law
may be fulfilled in us, who
do not walk according to the
flesh but according to the
Spirit.
For those who live
according to the flesh have
their outlook shaped by the The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s
things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their children. And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also
outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit. For the outlook of the flesh is fellow heirs with Christ)—if indeed we suffer with him so we may also
death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, because the outlook be glorified with him.
of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to
is it able to do so. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, the glory that will be revealed to us. For the creation eagerly waits for the
however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility—
lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person not willingly but because of God who subjected it—in hope that the
does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the
of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness. Moreover if glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation
the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one groans and suffers together until now. Not only this, but we ourselves
who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly
through his Spirit who lives in you. await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were
So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he
to live according to the flesh (for if you live according to the flesh, you sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with
will die), but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you endurance.
will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not
know how we should pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with
inexpressible groanings. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind
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of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes on behalf of the saints
according to God’s will. And we know that all things work together for
good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose,
because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to
the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many
brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; and those
he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can
be against us? Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him
up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all
things? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who
justifies. Who is the one who will condemn? Christ is the one who died
(and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and
who also is interceding for us. Who will separate us from the love of
Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death
all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all
these things we have complete victory through him who loved us! For I
am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers,
nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height,
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nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from
the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:1-39) NET
Concluding Argument
During this time of Promise that is secured by the Holy Spirit, in this
age of Grace when spiritual crime is primary, when spreading a false
gospel receives curses from the Word of God, wicked humanity can earn
only one everlasting possession of their own, the sin of unbelief when
death intervenes. Unbelief leaves one responsible for all their works done
in the power of the flesh. There are no good works performed by a
believer that have any bearing upon their salvation. Good works come
only through the believer by God the Holy Spirit. Make no mistake, no
matter if one has a culture of church joined to six generations, the false
religious gospel of self that belonged to the disobedient Cain is the
unbelief of rebellion, borrowed from Satan. False religion is unbelief
which justly deserves the right to be the unforgiven sin. Satan will never
be redeemed from his rebellion. Neither will any rebel who dies without
Christ. You must be in Christ before you die to be saved not rewarded for
self salvation after you die. Heaven is not a reward because God was
bound to Judgment and is now released to work for the benefit of every
believer by Grace. Grace is God’s work. Nothing may be included with
the work of God. It is His work that satisfies His infinite love and
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perfection. God does not work with man through Grace. God works with religious legal effort and teaching that will follow them into the flames of
man through Law, obey the gospel. The court is adjourned until Christ a heavenly reward for works.
returns. The books of Law are closed. This is the time of Grace, and Legal works in Scripture are
Grace only. described as striving, which has
the Greek root of the word
Rom 6:14 For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not agonize, which means to strain
under law but under grace. KJV every nerve. This straining is
described in the future Kingdom
Christ came and revealed the Law of the future earthly Kingdom and as the effort required to enter
fulfilled the old Mosaic Law of the revealed righteousness of God. He therein. On the other hand,
performed works that no man could ever hope to do. Thereby legal belief, faith, and trust all mean
obligation is suspended. The Mosaic law is closed. The future Kingdom simply to rest and to make
law is not yet in effect. By His incarnation Jew and Gentile joined into whole. The gospel of grace is to
one common lost estate in common with Satan, “For God has declared all rest in the finished work of Jesus
under sin.” By His death, He nailed the old Law to His cross. By His who has made you complete in
resurrection, He revealed a new law of righteousness for this age of Him, in Christ. Legalism is dead and deadly because of Christ who
Grace – His righteousness. By His ascension to Heaven salvation is forbids anyone a part in His work of salvation. Allow me to expose the
secured by the Father declaring justification to those who by faith share underlying age old resentment to an eternally secured grace salvation.
in the righteousness of Christ. By interceding and advocating for those
which His Father gave to Him, Christ sustains a believer. By baptizing
believers into the Body of Christ, the eternal Church, His Bride, the New
Creation, the Holy Spirit applies all the value and spiritual changes that
accompany a secure salvation. The salvation of a believer is secured by
all three Persons of the Trinity working in unison, dear reader. How may
a finite imperfect man improve upon that?
The above are but a few of the thirty-three positions and possessions
of Grace given to each new believer by God that eternally secures a
salvation by faith alone in the righteousness of Christ. “The two become
one,” and “He who has the Son has eternal life.”
If anyone should think the Pharisees evil and dull minded, as Jesus
deftly overturned every one of their arguments and condemned them
unsympathetically, the possibility is these religious strays were fortunate,
as afterwards they had opportunity (once again, KJV repent is Gk.
metanoia which means to change one’s mind) to change their minds
about Jesus. They witnessed the scourging of Christ, the crucifixion of
Christ, the three hours of darkness, the torn Veil which disclosed the
Mercy Seat to the light of day, the graves that released resurrected saints
after the appearance of the resurrected Christ, and later, the Pentecost Christ will not have any part with a Bride who does not owe Her
events, when thousands of Jerusalem Jews were baptized with the fire of standing completely to Him.
the Holy Spirit. The religious dullards of today, who are aligned with
Satan, have much less. They only have the written word of God to twist, And so it goes … By any compromise to the transforming work of Grace
the witness of God’s children to ignore, each other to torment, and their she would be less than perfect.
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Eph 5:22 Wives, submit to
your husbands as to the
Lord, 5:23 because the
husband is the head of the
wife as also Christ is the
head of the church—he
himself being the savior of
the body. 5:24 But as the
church submits to Christ, so
also wives should submit to
their husbands in everything.
5:25 Husbands, love your
wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her 5:26 to
sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the
word, 5:27 so that he may present the church to himself as glorious—
not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and
blameless. NET
Hosea 2:19 And I
will betroth thee
unto me for ever,
yea, I will betroth
ye unto me in
righteousness, and
in judgment, and in
lovingkindness,
and in mercies.
KJV
Ps 45:11 So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy
Lord; and worship thou him. KJV
Rev 19:8 And to her it was granted that she should be arrayed in fine
linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
(cf. Gen 3:21) KJV
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Dr. C.I. Scofield writes in his notes to the previous verse:
The garment in scripture is a symbol of righteousness. In the bad
ethical sense it symbolizes self-righteousness (e.g. Isa 64:6; see Phil
3:6-8, the best that a moral and religious man under law could do). In
the good ethical sense the garment symbolizes “the righteousness of
God … upon all them that believe.” See Rom 3:21, note (p. 1348)
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets; (Rom 3:21) KJV
The righteousness of God is neither an attribute of God, nor the
changed character of the believer, but Christ Himself, who fully met
in our stead and behalf every demand of the law, and who is by the
act of God called imputation (Lev 25:50; James 2:23), “made unto us
… righteousness” (1 Cor 1:30). “The believer in Christ is now, by
grace, shrouded under so complete and blessed a righteousness that
the law from Mt. Sinai can find neither fault nor diminution therein.
This is that which is called the righteousness of God by faith.” -
Bunyan See 2 Cor 5:21; Rom 3:26; 4:6; 10:4; Phil 3:9 (Old Scofield
Study System, Dr. C.I. Scofield p.1194)
Wicked humanity may avoid this stark reality; that one must be
literally “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” with Christ to be a fit
Bride, to be the Queen of Heaven made perfect by the King of Heaven.
One has nothing but a precious soul to offer Christ, anything else Paul
aptly describes, ”… Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the
loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.
(Phil 3:8).” One may well find such an idea reprehensible. For such
there is religion. The religion of law that the Jews failed so miserably at
in the OT. Those who reject the lessons of the OT religion are bound to
repeat them. A religion centered on self salvation and the image of a
dead crucified Christ is OT idolatry.
In this age of Grace, there is freedom to create a one covenant
theology based on the Ten Commandments, which never mention faith or
grace or Christ, and to add dead Mosaic Law mingled with the future
Kingdom Law of Matthew chapters 5-7. To mix the Cross and Law is to
crucify Christ again. What manner of willful blindness in a literate
professing Christian cannot see that the Jewish Law wrongly killed
Christ? That Roman law wrongly killed Christ? Man is free to preach the
imposition of Law upon himself to be salvation, but the reality is, the
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effort is sin. “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin,” “The Law kills but the the present age of grace. The great age transforming events of our present
Spirit gives life.” age were:
Legalism will return when Christ returns with His Rod of Iron, but 1. the death of Christ
Satan, the “ruler of this age”, “the evil one”, will be bound. Christ will 2. the resurrection of Christ
rule and all work will be done to His glory, not to the glory of self by a 3. the ascension of Christ
blinded wicked humanity, which for now is joined to the Usurper, the 4. the advent of the Spirit on Pentecost
counterfeit Christ, the Prince of self-righteous work. This is illustrated in 5. the revelation of a new divine age and purpose
the following quotation, Dr. Lewis Chafer writes: 6. the placing of Jews and Gentiles on the same level as objects of
divine grace
Satan’s domain is not in all matters characterized by things that are 7. the scattering of Israel to the ends of the earth
inherently evil as those things are estimated by the world. 2 Cor
11:13-15. His ministers being ministers of righteousness, preach a Equally, a time of demarcation between this age of grace and the coming
gospel of reformation and salvation by human character, rather than millennial kingdom age is culminated in seven great events, of which the
salvation by grace alone, unrelated to any human virtue. Therefore the rapture of believers is next:
world, with all its moral standards and culture, is not necessarily free
from the power and energizing control of Satan. He would promote 1. the removal of the Church from the earth
forms of religion and human excellence apart from the redemption 2. the great tribulation
that is in Christ, and the world is evidently energized to undertake 3. the glorious return of Christ
that very thing. He has blinded the unsaved; but concerning one thing 4. the judgment of Israel
only: they are blinded by Satan lest the light of the gospel should 5. the establishment of Israel kingdom under the new covenant
shine unto them (2 Cor 4:3-4).( He That is Spiritual, Dr. Lewis 6. the judgment of living nations
Chafer, p 102) 7. the binding of Satan
Read John chapters 13-17, the Upper Room Discourse which is the Finally, seven astonishing events will mark off the division of the
farewell speech of Christ to His disciples and the High Priestly Prayer. kingdom age and eternity to come:
Chapter 17 is the prayer requests of Jesus to His Father, which is
emphasized by much reiteration and all of which must be answered in 1. the release of Satan from the abyss
the positive. Read, also, Romans chapter 8, the Christian Manifesto 2. the final rebellion and judgment of Satan and his allies
(cited here at the beginning of this section). Contained in these Scriptures 3. the passing of the old heaven and the old earth
is the revelation of the gospel of grace that is salvation. Then, for 4. the great white throne judgment
comparison read the King’s Manifesto in Matthew 5-7 in which faith, 5. creation of a new heaven and a new earth
grace, nor belief are never mentioned. 6. the descent of the bridal city from God out of heaven
Christ is all things. He is Savoir and brother to the brethren (used 162 7. Christ surrenders His reign to the Father
times) of saints (used 54 times) and Christians (used 3 times). He is the
Messiah on the throne of David who uses a Rod of Iron (the Law) when The unique aspect of this age may now be viewed in its overall
He returns with His Heavenly Bride and cohort to rule the men of Israel singularity. To follow the false teaching of Law and an unsecured
and the Gentile Nations that are first judged before they enter the salvation is not opinion. It is an error that holds the greatest
Millennial Kingdom. consequences. No matter the agreement with doctrine of the Trinity or
The truth that Grace and Law are separate may not be distinguished the inerrancy of the Bible, the Christology of an incomplete Soteriology
as seen from the tunnel vision imposed by an postmillennial perspective that requires self salvation is flawed. It is a very low view of the value of
of Biblical future events, as contained in a Jewish replacement theology. Christ. It is as much a non-Christian view of Christ as is held by the
Seven cosmo-historic events divide the prior Mosaic age of law and followers of Islam - where Mohammed replaces Christ.
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The following quotation is as good a brief distinction between the brought him. It is thus that, through the death of Christ, a complete
death of Law and the life of Grace that may be found. Dr. Lewis Chafer deliverance from the merit system is accomplished.
writes:
Rom 8:3 For God achieved what the law could not do because it
Rom 7:4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the
the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in
who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God. 7:5 For when we the flesh, 8:4 so that the righteous requirement of the law may be
were in the flesh, the sinful desires, aroused by the law, were active in fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but
the members of our body to bear fruit for death. 7:6 But now we have according to the Spirit. NET
been released from the law, because we have died to what controlled
us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the This is one of three vitally important references to Christ’s death
old written code. NET within this chapter. This, the first instance, is a reference to Christ’s
death unto the sin nature, as considered above under Romans 6. The
Here, as in Galatians law made its appeal to the very sin nature which is in the flesh,
3:13, the one result of therefore the law failed because of the “weakness of the flesh” to
Christ’s death - its which it appealed; but Christ by His death unto the sin nature
efficacy in terminating for condemned, or completely judged, that nature to the end that the
the believer the whole Spirit might be free to control it. When thus sustained and empowered
merit system - is in view. by the Spirit the law - here referring to the whole will of God for the
It is through the body of believer - is fulfilled by the Spirit in the believer, but is never said to
Christ as a sacrifice that be fulfilled by the believer. The one condition imposed is that the
all law, as a ground of believer walk in the dependence upon the Spirit (cf. Rom 8:4; Gal
acceptance or as a rule of 5:16-17). This, likeness - as in the case of the death of Christ for the
life, has been abolished. believer - is something to believe or reckon to be true. It is not
Salvation is now by grace secured by petition or prayer. The sin nature is judged, the Spirit now
apart from works (cf. indwell; there remains only the human responsibility of reliance upon
Titus 3:5); and the the Spirit. (Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer,
believer’s acceptance Christology, Vol 5 pp. 206-07)
before God, which
perfection is perfected to Gal 5:16 But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the
infinite proportions, is desires of the flesh. 5:17 For the flesh has desires that are opposed to
wholly due to his position the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for
in Christ (Eph 1:6; these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you
Heb10:14) and not to want.
aught within himself. The
sweet savor aspect of Christ is Waiting for His Bride as Isaac Waited for Rebecca
Christ’s death is again in the foreground, which provides by release to
believers the merit of Christ in behalf of those who are without merit. “And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His
The obligation to merit being ended, the saved one is thus brought right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the
into perfect liberty (cf. Gal 5:1) and sustains no other responsibility last: I am He that liveth and was dead; and, behold, I am alive
than to walk worthy of that estate into which infinite grace has evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” (Rev 1:17-
18) KJV
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In Greek Orthodoxy the
icon of Christ is seen as
His opening the gates to
hell and releasing the
prisoners held by Satan. In
Greek Orthodoxy the
motto is “God became a
man, so that man may
become like God.” The
ancient icon borrowed by
Protestant Catholicism is
the bloody and lifeless
corpse of Christ hanging
from His Cross of
Crucifixion. A Christ who
draws followers that marvel at His horrible wounds and imagine His
pain. A dead Christ who asks that others follow Him in the way of the
cross, a Via Dolorosa, where a lifetime of compassionate likeness in
agonized tearful straining is needed to join Him in His sinless sufferings
for a chance at salvation. Is this the chance for salvation in Christ that
you follow? H. L. E. Luering, writing in the International Standard Bible
Encyclopaedia, presents the following which bears upon John 19:34 and
the human “cause” and the reality of the “shed blood of Christ”:
The physiological aspect of this incident of the crucifixion has
been first discussed by Gruner (Commenatatio de morte Jesu Christi
vera, Halle, 1805), who has shown that blood released by the spear-
thrust of the soldier must have been extravasated [blood that leaks
from the vessel into the surrounding tissue,i.e., inflammation or burn
injuries] before the opening of the side took place, for only so could it
have been poured forth in the described manner. While a number of
commentators have opposed this view as a fanciful explanation, and
have preferred to give the statement of the evangelist a symbolical
meaning in the sense of the doctrines of baptism and eucharist (so
Baur, Strauss, Reuss and others), some modern physiologists are
convinced that in this passage a wonderful phenomenon is reported to
us, which, inexplicable to the sacred historian, contains for us an
almost certain clue to the real cause of the Savior’s death. Dr. Stroud
(On the Physiological Cause of the Death of Christ, London, 1847)
basing his remarks on numerous postmortems, pronounced the
opinion that here we had a proof of the death of Christ being due not
to the effects of crucifixion but to “laceration or rupture of the heart”
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as a consequence of supreme mental agony and sorrow. It is well
attested that usually the suffering on the cross was very prolonged. It
often lasted two or three days, when death would supervene from
exhaustion. There were no physical reasons why Christ should not
have lived very much longer on the cross than He did. On the other
hand, death caused by laceration of the heart in consequence of great
mental suffering would be almost instantaneous. In such a case the
phrase “of a broken heart,” becomes literally true. The life blood
flowing from the aperture or laceration into the pericardium or caul of
the heart, being extravasated, soon coagulates into the red clot (blood)
and the limpid serum (water). This accumulation in the heart-sac was
released by the spear-thrust of the soldier (which here takes
providentially the place of a postmortem without which it would have
been impossible to determine the real cause of death), and from the
gaping wound there flow the two component parts of blood distinctlty
visible. (I, 489, 1915 edition, cited in Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis
Chafer, Vol 7, p 55)
Now let us leave overwrought notions, gripping compassion and
traditions to look at the Crucifixion of Our Lord from the perspective of
what is revealed by the Word of God for believers to know.
Rom 4:25 Who was delivered for our offenses and raised up for our
justification. KJV
Three major truths are contained in this one verse. One, the idea of
“delivered” pertains to His role as the sacrificial Lamb provided by the
Father. Two, that the Father provided Him for the sins of men. The
Greek word translated as delivered contains the sense of being cast into
prison or brought to justice and also is used in describing the betrayal of
Christ. Thus both mankind and the Father are indicated in His death. This
is not to ignore that aspect of His death (John 10:18) that was voluntary.
Three, the word justification has great importance to the eternal security
of believers. A believer is not declared justified by the Father until he is
placed “in Christ” by the baptism of the Holy Spirit and receives the
imputation of the righteousness of Christ. This is accomplished by the
power of the resurrected Christ. The great truth of the blameless position
of an eternally secured salvation in the resurrected Christ is framed in
this short verse, and many others, for all believers to know and rely on.
Millions of people were crucified, beginning in ancient Persia. The
average time for crucifixion to cause death was a matter of days. Even
then the legs of the criminal would be broken to bring about a quicker
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end to the suffering. It was not the quantity of the suffering of Jesus that amazed at His quick death. Even His dead body did not see corruption.
provided atonement, it was His shed Blood that redeemed, paid the price The divine plan for the death of Christ was unique in all observable
of sin and death. One living drop of which has infinite worth, “the life of aspects and supports faith, not skepticism.
the animal is in the blood.” In the Court of Heaven, Our sinless Lord
Jesus Christ suffered a legally unjust vicarious shameful criminal’s “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet
death, not a comparatively horrible death on the cross. This is not to sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by
lessen the fact, that His body, His visage, His image, His identity, His His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when
Christology was altered and torn by a vicious mankind beyond human we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His
recognition, before His crucifixion. And , yet, He did not die. Many Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
times in the OT, God predicted the manner of Christ’s death, had God (Rom 5:8-10) KJV (bold highlights mine)
chosen to bring Christ to a criminal’s death by any other means the
Substitutionary forensic value of His death, the cleansing power of His
shed Blood, would not be diminished. His suffering before the Garden of
Gethsemane or during His crucifixion, while valuable to us, was not
equated to any sin. Nowhere in the NT from the book of Acts forward is
there any extended passage or an overall redeeming principle regarding
His suffering. Much is said regarding the cleansing and redeeming power
of His death by the shame of Crucifixion. The principle and
foreshadowing is - the unsaved choose to suffer a shameful criminally
deserved sentence at the Last Judgment, instead of dying an undeserved
judgment with Him on the cross. Nevertheless, they will die a criminal’s
death and unlike Jesus, they will not be able to ever completely die. The
principle is the saved will suffer for His name and Christians, like Christ,
may suffer for the lost, but that suffering can never be the cause of death.
Christ did not have the Adamic curse of bodily death, He, as a man could
not die, He needed to voluntarily release His human life giving spirit
from His human body. For this reason, several times, Christ hid himself
before the cross to avoid being stoned by a crowd. The intrinsic infinite
value of the spotless Lamb that was slain, of His Life that He gave up to
death atoned for the sins of the world. His death was foreordained upon
the “seed” principle, the corn of wheat that dies and multiplies life (cf. God is not a God of death. God planned from all eternity to join
John 12:24; 1 Cor 15:36). His resurrection proves that He, Jesus Christ Himself to His creation and to die to free it from death. Anything that
the God-man, is greater than the law of sin and death. What is the source smells of the corruption of death and is made into a religion owes its
of an insane vanity that would suggest that men compete with Christ for source to the originator of murder and lies, Satan. There is no salvation in
salvation? Our Precious Lord, gave up His own human Spirit after three a self salvation, with or without a dead Christ on a cross. Both the
hours of darkness when only the sacrificial fires of the Temple could be forgiveness of sin and the gift of eternal life are vital in the gospel of
seen. With a loud voice He cried, “It is finished.” A cosmic event in Grace. The blood of Christ is precious, it is the central theme of the
heaven and on earth His death surely was. NT Scripture is silent as to entire NT. That He was made to be sin, that He became a curse, and bore
what transpired in the heart and soul of the Pioneer of our faith. The our sins in His body “as a lamb without blemish and without spot”
Messianic Psalms give some insight. Make a special observation of the exemplifies the infinite awfulness that our sin required for redemption.
fact that the normal painfully horrible death on a cross He did not suffer, The precious blood of Christ is the proof of the exceeding sinfulness of
nor were His legs broken. Whereby, Pilate, a crucifixion veteran, was sin. Atonement in blood, paid by Christ, released the love of God that He
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freely gives to us in the marvels and riches of salvation by faith through is life in the fullest, Greek pleroma, the very fullness of the Godhead
the works of Grace by God. Easton’s Bible Dictionary gives the (Col 1:19, 2:9-10). The supreme created accomplishment of God to His
following necessities and clarifications regarding saving faith: glory through all the ages to come.
Saving faith is a moral act, as it proceeds from a renewed will, and Grace Defined
a renewed will is necessary to believing assent to the truth of God (1
Cor. 2:14; 2 Cor. 4:4). Faith, therefore, has its seat in the moral part Before closing, I include this very well stated definition of the riches
of our nature fully as much as in the intellectual. The mind must first of Grace by Dr. Lewis Chafer:
be enlightened by divine teaching (John 6:44; Acts 13:48; 2 Cor. 4:6;
Eph. 1:17, 18) before it can discern the things of the Spirit. Grace, a much misunde-
Faith is necessary to our salvation (Mark 16:16), not because there stood feature of God’s ways
is any merit in it, but simply because it is the sinner's taking the place with lost men - is itself a
assigned him by God, his falling in with what God is doing. revelation and all human
The warrant or ground of faith is the divine testimony, not the hearts not having this truth
reasonableness of what God says, but the simple fact that he says it. of Scripture revealed will be
Faith rests immediately on, "Thus saith the Lord." But in order to this unable to comprehend it or
faith the veracity, sincerity, and truth of God must be owned and to adjust themselves to its
appreciated, together with his unchangeableness. God's word provisions.
encourages and emboldens the sinner personally to transact with Grace is not mercy or
Christ as God's gift, to close with him, embrace him, give himself to love. In Ephesians 2:4-5
Christ, and take Christ as his. That word comes with power, for it is these three doctrinal words
the word of God who has revealed himself in his works, and appear severally and in their
especially in the cross. God is to be believed for his word's sake, but individual, specific manner:
also for his name's sake. “But God, who is rich in
Faith in Christ secures for the believer freedom from mercy, for His great love
condemnation, or justification before God; a participation in the life wherewith He loved us, even
that is in Christ, the divine life (John 14:19; Rom. 6:4-10; Eph. when we were dead in sins,
4:15,16, etc.); "peace with God" (Rom. 5:1); and sanctification (Acts hath quickened us together
26:18; Gal. 5:6; Acts 15:9). with Christ, (by grace ye are
All who thus believe in Christ will certainly be saved (John 6:37, 40; saved;).” Speaking first of
10:27, 28; Rom. 8:1). mercy, it is defined as that
The faith=the gospel (Acts 6:7; Rom. 1:5; Gal. 1:23; 1 Tim. 3:9; Jude compassion in God which moved Him to provide a Savoir for the
1:3). lost. If He had been able to save even one soul on the basis of His
sovereign mercy alone, He could have saved every person on that
It is the resurrected, ascended Christ who secures the salvation of basis and the death of Christ would have been unnecessary. As for
those who know Him as their Savoir and guarantee of a resurrection in a divine love, it is an emotion of infinite character, the motivating
glorified human body shared in likeness by Christ Himself. Christ, the purpose back of all that God does in saving a soul. But since God is
unique four fold man, God the Son joined to glorified human spirit, soul, holy and righteous too and the sinner’s sins are an offense to Him, He
and body, who is the Head, the first, of a New Creation of heavenly might perfectly desire to save a soul and still be utterly helpless to do
beings. The original supreme created accomplishment was Satan. Now, so in the light of the claims which divine righteousness make against
just as Bible principle teaches, the younger receives the blessings of the sinner. Not until those claims are met can God’s infinite love
Promise that supercede the Law of the older. The eternal life of Promise realize its desire. Therefore, to come now to the third definition, grace
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is what God may be free to do and indeed what He does accordingly
for the lost after Christ has died on behalf of them. “By grace are ye
saved” (Eph 2:8). When thus released from His holy demands against
the sinner by the sacrificial death of Christ, and that sacrifice is
accepted intelligently, the love of God will never be satisfied until He
has done all He can do for such a one. The greatest thing God can do,
reverently speaking, is to make someone like His Son. Such then will
be the destiny of everyone who believes (Rom 8:29; 1 John 3:2).
rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
under law, but under grace (Rom 6:14). The new problem becomes
that of how a perfected person should walk in the world. Grace
teaches the saved one concerning his holy walk in daily life. The
standard is as high as heaven itself. God requires, and with reason,
that the saved one, by reason of being a citizen of heaven, should live
according to the standards of heaven (cf. John 13:34; Eph 4:1, 30; 1
Thess 5:19). (Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer Vol 7,
p. 178-79)

The end purpose of this

effort was to present the
Biblical truth of the gospel of
grace whereby salvation is
kept secured by grace through
the righteousness of Christ,
and no one else. “He who
through faith is righteous shall
live” (Romans 1:17) and “For
by grace you are saved
through faith, and this is not
from yourselves, it is the gift
of God; it is not from works,
so that no one can boast. For
we are his workmanship,
having been created in Christ
Jesus for good works that God
prepared beforehand so we
Since grace only represents what God can and will do for those may do them.” (Eph 2:8-10).
who trust the Savoir, it must needs function apart from all human Understood properly, the
works or cooperation. It calls for no more than confidence in the only baptism by the Holy Spirit
One who can save. The scriptures assign to the operating of grace the that places all believers into
only salvation now offered to men. God’s grace also provides security the Body of Christ is a work
for the saved one. This is done by continuing the grace work of God of Grace and is one undeniable Biblical teaching that secures
with the individual in spite of his imperfections. Grace also righteousness and the safekeeping of salvation by grace through faith,
undertakes to direct the saved one in the new manner of his daily life and this not of your own.
after he has been saved. A new motive for this is set up by the fact
that the one saved was perfected forever in the sight of God as being Finally, Dr. Lewis Chafer writes:
in Christ, therefore partaking of His merit and standing forever.
Nothing of merit need be added to that which is perfected forever (cf. It is well to contemplate the glorious truth that, so far as the
John 1:16; Rom 5:1; 8:1; Heb 10:14). Hence the obligation to gain believer’s standing in Christ is concerned, the heavenly ideals are
merit is removed completely, and the whole law system with its merit reached to infinite perfection. Only in the sphere of the believer’s
ceases to be applicable to the saved one under grace. He is no longer daily conflicts is the grace ideal at times unrealized. It is too often
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 rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
supposed that the outworking of grace is restricted to the Christian’s This concludes the personal appeal of Grace. A public defense will
walk and conversation, and the real triumph of grace – the perfecting presented in Book II – The Tribunal.
of the child of God forever - is unrecognized. No matter how
disproportionate these issues become under Arminian influence, it
must be remembered that to walk worthy of the heavenly calling –
though of great importance – is not to be compared for a moment
with the heavenly calling itself. The believer may often fail in his
conflict with the world, the flesh, and the devil; but this should not
blind one to those immeasurable divine achievements which have
already united the believer to Christ and thereby constituted him as
perfect in the sight of God as his Savior. It is this faultless standing in
Christ which conditions the believer’s walk; never does the believer’s
walk condition his standing. Just here is where, more than elsewhere,
the essential difference between Arminianism and Calvinism is
demonstrated. The upholders of the Arminian system have never
evinced ability to comprehend the truth regarding a perfect standing
in Christ which is as enduring as the Son of God. To the Arminian,
standing before God is just what a feeble believer makes it by his
daily life. Under those conditions the Christian may fail and be lost
again. For the moment it seems to be forgotten that every believer
sustains an imperfect daily life and therefore, on that basis, all must
be lost forever. The New Testament teaches that those who believe
are saved from the merit system by having all demands satisfied in
Christ, and thus the believer endures forever. In the Arminian system
God becomes a colossal failure, unable to realize his purposes in
grace; in the Calvinistic system God never fails even to the slightest
degree. (Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 3, pp 333-34)

Much as Pascal’s wager was a plea to reason, I ask, why would one
who was aware of a great difference within Christian salvation doctrine,
continue in the alternative that was doubtful? If language means anything
the NT over and over states the righteousness of Christ for salvation, not
personal work. The NT states over and over the principles and
possessions of Grace for all who believe. One last plea – If you have not
trusted in Christ to save you how can you have saving faith in Christ?
“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”

My reasoning spent, my energy depleted. My prayer and hope - is

that some few readers may to begin to find - the risen Christ - within
these lines.

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The End of Grace

The King is Coming

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a

white horse; and he that sat upon him
was called Faithful and True, and in
righteousness he doth judge and make
war. His eyes were as a flame of fire,
and on his head were many crowns;
and he had a name written, that no man
knew, but he himself. And he was
clothed in a vesture dipped in blood;
and his name is called the Word of
God. And the armies which were in
heaven followed him upon white horses,
clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
And out of his mouth goeth a sharp
sword, that with it he should smite the
nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the
winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath
on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS,
AND LORD OF LORDS.” 198
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Grace No More
And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked
with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her
hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: … And the
ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the
whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her
flesh, and burn her with fire.(Rev 17:4, 16) KJV
“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”
(Mtw 6:10), is a future event and the error of tradition that builds a
kingdom on a past “coming of Christ” that leads to cruel distortions of
the teachings of Christianity. Jewish replacement theology being the
primary symptom of this distortion. A symptom that disallows any
consideration for a God favored Jewish people or a Jewish state, as it is
written: “Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the
glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of
God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as
concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever.
Amen” (Rom 9:4-5). Dr. C. I. Scofield writes:
(Acts 1:11) The Two Advents - Summary: (1) The O.T. foreview of
the coming Messiah is in two aspects - that of rejection and suffering
(as, e.g. Isa 53), and that of earthly glory and power (as, e.g. in Isa 11;
Jer 23; Ezk 37). Often these two aspects blend in one passage (e.g.
Psa 2). The prophets themselves were perplexed by this seeming
contradiction (1 Pet 1:10, 11). It was solved by partial fulfillment. In
due time the Messiah, born of a virgin according to Isaiah, appeared
among men and began His ministry by announcing the predicted
kingdom as “at hand” ((Mt 4:17 note). The rejection of King and
kingdom followed. (2) Thereupon the rejected King announced His
approaching crucifixion, resurrection, departure, and return (Mt
12:38-40; 16:1-4, 21, 27; Lk 12:35-46; 17:20-36; 18:31-34; 19:12-27;
Mt 24, 25). (3) He uttered predictions concerning the course of events
between His departure and return (Mt 13:1-50; 16:18; 24:4-26). (4)
This promised return of Christ becomes a prominent theme in the
Acts, Epistles, and Revelation.
Taken together, The N.T. teachings concerning the return of Jesus
Christ may be summarized as follows: (1) That return is an event, not
a process, and is personal and corporeal (Mt 23:39; 24:30; 25:31; Mk
14:62; Lk 17:24; John 14:3; Acts 1:11; Phil 3:20, 21; 1 Thess 4:14-
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17). (2) His coming has a three-fold relation: to the church, to Israel,
to the nations.
(a) To the church the descent of the Lord into the air to raise the
sleeping and change the living saints is set forth as a covenant
expectation and hope ( Mt 24:36, 44, 48-51; 25:13; 1 Cor 15:51, 52;
Phil 3:20; 1 Thess 1:10; 4:14-17; 1 Tim 6:14; Tit 2:13; Rev 22:20).
(b) To Israel, the return of the Lord is predicted to accomplish the
yet unfulfilled prophecies of her national regathering, conversion, and
establishment in peace and power under the Davidic Covenant (Acts
15:4-17 with Zech 14:1-9) See “Kingdom (O.T.),” 2 Sam 7:8-17;
Zech 13:8, note; Lk 1:31-33; 1 Cor 15:24, note.
(c) To the gentile nations the return of Christ is predicted to bring
the destruction of the present political world-system (Dan 2:34, 35;
Rev 19:11, note) the judgment of Matthew 25:31-36, followed by
world-wide Gentile conversion and participation in the blessings of
the kingdom (Isa 2:2-4; 11:30; 60:3; Zech 8:3, 20, 23, 14:16-21). (The
Old Scofield Study System, Dr. C. I. Scofield, p 1148)
Before the completed work of Christ, the estate of the Gentile is
described as, “that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from
the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of
promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12). Not
only was the Gentile “without Christ,” but they had no national
Messianic hope. They were “strangers from the covenant of promise.” If
it is said, at the judgment of the nations following the return of Christ,
only living Christians will pass into the millennium because they will be
the only ones who have given consideration to the Jewish “brethren” of
Christ, then patently, any teaching less than this is sub-Christian. To
teach that the second visible advent of Christ is a foolish Jewish
expectation and a “mistake” made by the original Apostles is a gross
disregard for Scripture in an effort to support a theory of religion. Any
“world” church that develops in the future is plainly predicted to be the
religious, apostate “MYSTERY BABYLON” of Revelation 17:5 that is
destroyed by the political world power in 17:16. Then in turn, this
political Babylon is destroyed by the appearing of the Lord in Revelation
17:14 and 19:19-21.
Christ is coming in a literal personal return to earth as predicted by
the angels in Acts 1:11: “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you
into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into
heaven.” And this, when the return of Christ with His saints in glory,
who, along with the angels, are the “armies of heaven,” will put an end to
the earth shattering events of the Great Tribulation which is the last half,
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or three and one-half years of the seven year tribulation period known as
the Apocalypse. Herein, the gospel of the grace of God for eternal
salvation also comes to an end in the future millennial kingdom. The
seventh covenant in Scripture is the Davidic covenant and, in this sense
Christ will be a King of an earthly kingdom. The details of which are
given in the following citation:
7. … As the Abrahamic covenant guaranteed to Israel an
everlasting entity as a nation (Jer 31:36) and an everlasting possession
of the land (Gen 13:15; 1 Chron 16:15-18; Ps 105:9-11), so the
Davidic covenant guarantees to them an everlasting throne (2 Sam
7:16; Ps 89:36), an everlasting King (Jer 33:21), and an everlasting
kingdom (Dan 7:14). From the day that the covenant was made and
confirmed by Jehovah’s oath (Acts 2:30) to the birth of Christ, David
did not lack for a son to sit on his throne (Jer 33:21); and Christ the
eternal Son of God and Son of David, being the rightful heir to that
throne and the One who will yet sit on that throne (Luke 1:31-33),
completes the fulfillment of this promise to David that a son would sit
on his throne forever.
The Davidic covenant is most important as assuring the millennial
kingdom in which Christ will reign on earth. Resurrected David will
reign under Christ as a prince over the house of Israel (Jer 23:5-6;
Ezek 34:23-24; 37:24). The David covenant is not fulfilled by Christ
reigning on His throne in heaven, as David has never and never will
sit upon the Father’s throne. It is rather an earthly kingdom and an
earthly throne (Matt 25:31). The Davidic covenant is, accordingly, the
key to God’s prophetic program yet to be fulfilled.
8. The new covenant prophesied in the Old Testament and to have
its primary fulfillment in the millennial kingdom is also an
unconditional covenant (Jer 31:31-33). As described by Jeremiah, it
is a covenant made “with the house of Israel, and with the house of
Judah” (v. 31). It is a new covenant in contrast with the Mosaic
covenant which was broken by Israel (v. 32).
In the covenant God promises, “After those days , saith the LORD,
I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and
will be their God, and they shall be my people” (v. 33). Because of
this intimate and personal revelation of God and His will to His
people, it goes on in Jeremiah 31:34 to state, “ And they shall teach
no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them to
the greatest of them, saith the LORD, for I will forgive their iniquity,
and I will remember their sin no more.”
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This passage anticipates the ideal circumstances of the millennial
kingdom where Christ is to be reigning, and all will know the facts
about Jesus Christ. It will not be necessary, accordingly, for a person
to evangelize his neighbor, for the facts about the Lord will be
universally known. It will also be a period in which God will forgive
Israel’s sin and bless them abundantly. It should be clear from this
description of the covenant promise as given in Jeremiah that this is
not being fulfilled today, since the church has been instructed to go to
all the world and preach the Gospel because of almost universal
ignorance of the truth.
Because the New Testament, however, also relates the church to a
new covenant, some have taught that the church fulfills the covenant
given to Israel. Those who do not believe in a future millennial
kingdom and a restoration of Israel, therefore, find complete
fulfillment now in the church, spiritualizing the provisions of the
covenant and making Israel and the church one and the same. Others
who recognize Israel’s future restoration and the millennial kingdom
consider the New Testament references to the new covenant either to
be an application of the general truths of the future covenant with
Israel to the church, or to distinguish two new covenants (one for
Israel as given in Jeremiah and the second, a new covenant given
through Jesus Christ in the present age of grace providing salvation
for the church). Actually the new covenant, whether for Israel or for
the church, stems from the death of Christ and His shed blood. (Major
Bible Themes, Dr. Lewis Chafer – revised by John Walvoord, pp145-
47)
So as the period of time leading from the beginning of the ministry of
Jesus Christ at His baptism up to the salvation of the Gentile Cornelius
and his family was a transition period, such is - the coming tribulation
period. During this seven year transition, three rules of conduct are
inherent upon men: (1) the Jew is again separated from the nations and
the gospel of the returning King, Christ the Messiah is preached. (2) of
the few Gentiles who survive until the return of Christ, the sole judgment
for their eternal fate is based on their treatment of the Jew, and (3) the
gospel of the grace of God continues during the tribulation for Jew and
Gentile alike.
For Christ to be King there needs to be a kingdom. To avoid either a
shallow-minded “spiritualized” kingdom or the mind numbing idea that
there is no difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of
heaven, the concept of kingdom should be discriminated and discerned as
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distinctly as it is in Scripture. Dr. Lewis Chafer writes: “Two specific
realms are in view as the doctrine of kingdom receives consideration:
1. THE KINGDOM OF GOD, which includes all intelligences in
heaven or on earth who are willingly subject to God.
2. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, which embraces any sort of empire
that God may have on earth at a given time. The kingdom of heaven
appears then in various aspects through the centuries, as –
a. THEOCRATIC. First the rule was exercised by divinely appointed
leaders, judges, and patriarchs.
b. COVENANTED. It thus became the national hope of Israel (2 Sam
7).
c. PREDICTED. Much prophecy anticipates a glorious kingdom for
Israel on earth.
d. ANNOUNCED. The ministry of John the Baptist, Christ, and the
Apostles was to announce the kingdom unto the nation as at hand.
That offer, however, was rejected.
e. POSTPONED UNTIL CHRIST RETURNS. One of the greatest errors
of theologians is to attempt, as essayed now, to build a kingdom on
the first advent of Christ as it s basis, whereas according to the
Scriptures it will be realized only in connection with the second
advent. All Scriptures conform to this arrangement, strange though it
may look.
f. MYSTERY. According to Matthew 13:11 the present conditions
in Christendom are a mystery form of the kingdom. Since the
kingdom of heaven is no other than the rule of God on the earth, He
must now be ruling to the extent of full realization of those things
which are termed “the mysteries” in the New Testament and which
really constitute the new message of the New Testament.
g. REALIZED. Not until the millennium will the kingdom of heaven
come to realization.
A distinction should be made between the kingdom of God and
the kingdom of heaven. It is to be observed that Matthew employs the
terminology kingdom of heaven and that Mark and Like, when
presenting much of the same teaching, use the phraseology kingdom
of God. Some have assumed on this basis that the two kingdoms are
one and the same. However, the differences seem to more important
than the similarities. Entrance into the kingdom of God is by a birth
from above (John 3:3), for instance, whereas for the Jew of Christ’s
day and in anticipation of His earthly kingdom entrance to the
kingdom is based upon righteousness. Matthew 5:20 declares this:
“For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the
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righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter
into the kingdom of heaven.”
As for another impressive difference, Matthew 8:12; 24:50-51;
25:28-30 declare that “the children of the kingdom” may be cast out.
This retribution cannot be applied to the kingdom of God and its
members (John 3:18). The parable of the wheat and the tares (Matt
13:24-30, 36-43) and that of the good fish and the bad fish (Matt
13:47-50), significantly enough, are spoken only of the kingdom of
heaven. However, the parable of the leaven (Matt 13:33; Luke 13:21)
is predicted of both kingdoms. Leaven represents evil doctrine rather
than evil persons, and evil doctrine may and does corrupt both
kingdoms. (Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 7, pp 223-
25).
Dr. Charles Ryrie further discloses that which Scripture reveals of
Christ as King:
“The concept of king includes a wide range of prerogatives. A king in
Israel had a legislative, executive, judicial, economic, and military
powers. The concept of Christ as King may be surveyed around five
words: promised, predicted, proffered, rejected, and realized. God’s
gracious covenant with David promised that the right to rule would
always remain with David’s dynasty. It did not promise uninterrupted
rule, for, in fact, the Babylonian Captivity did interrupt it (2 Sam
7:12-16). Isaiah predicted that the Child who would be born would
establish and reign on the throne of David (Isa 9:7).
Gabriel announced to Mary that her Baby would have the throne
of David and reign over the house of Jacob (Luke 1:32-33).
Throughout His earthly ministry Jesus’ Davidic kingship was
proffered to Israel (Matt 2:2; 27:11; John 12:13), but He was rejected.
The Gadarenes repudiated His claims (Matt 8:34). The scribes
rejected His claim to be able to forgive sins (9:3). Many people in
various cities rejected His credentials (11:20-30; 13:53-58). The
Pharisees rejected Him (12; 15:1-20; 22:15-23). Herod, Pontius
Pilate, Gentiles, and Jews all rejected Him with finality at the
Crucifixion (John 1:11; Acts 4:27).
Because the King was rejected, the messianic, Davidic kingdom
was (from a human viewpoint) postponed. Though He never ceases to
be King and, of course, is King today as always, Christ is never
designated as King of the church (Acts 17:7 and 1 Timothy 1:17 are
no exceptions, and Revelation 15:3, “King of saints,” KJV, is “King of
the nations” in the critical and majority texts). Though Christ is a
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King today, He does not rule as King. This awaits His second
coming. Then the Davidic kingdom will be realized (Matt 25:31; Rev
19:15; 20). Then the Priest will sit on His throne, bringing to this
earth the long-awaited Golden Age (Ps 110).”(Basic Theology, Dr.
Charles Ryrie, p 298).
As proven by the Arminian Rectoral or Governmental theory - with
regard to the salvation of men - a misconceived grace of God leads to
gross distortions in biblical Truth. Another distortion, of this nature, is
the Federal or Covenant theory respecting Christ as a King who has
come. This theory contains the underlying principles of religious
humanism which disregards and denies the revealed certainty of the
Christian’s position and standing in Christ. For this reason, a theory of
empowerment from the Lordship of a Christ who has returned in the past
is asserted. This Christ is not ascended to the right hand of His Father in
heaven working to keep believers secure in His power and redemption.
This theory drives fancy notions of pride that insinuates itself even to the
final end of grace when the whole world is converted and, then and only
then, may Christ appear to accept this converted world as a gift from His
faithful workers. In this popularized scheme, identical to the unfounded
role given man to complete his own salvation, the return of Christ is only
visible and may only be apprehended in - the success of men. Thereby,
the ingrained ideology of Lordship is given validation. The proponents of
this notion declare a spiritualized, not a resurrected ascended, glorified
bodily Christ of the NT. A Christ who has already returned, and whom
they will never see - because He lives inside a bottle, fashioned from
their own imaginations. By way of unabashed double-speak and hallow,
unfounded rhapsodizing that validates and champions a Jewish
replacement theology which originated with the Roman Catholic Church,
the naïve and trusting are programmed into believing in an amillennial
Christ who came at Pentecost, long before any NT book was written, to
engage in a perpetually unfinished work that dedicated “One Covenant
Christian Soldiers” need complete for Him. And for the purposed effect -
that a magnificently concocted “social gospel” of Christ might transform
and redeem the world. Again, it may be seen that the unsaved, natural,
religious man is burdened to explain away the supranatural revelations in
the Oracles of Truth.
Here at this juncture, the reader has been given much material and
background to broaden his/her appreciation of a true rendering of God’s
grace and plans for those who love Him. Therefore, I cannot “better,” nor
improve upon, the following quoted argument against a false historical
return of Christ. This citation states the counterclaim and then refutes the
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populism of a spiritualized, allegorical interpretation of the second
advent, or return of Christ in judgment of the living and, the predicted
establishment of the Davidic throne as His millennial kingdom on earth.
This quote is quite extended and will be abridged only to a minor degree.
Dr. Lewis Chafer concisely presents and meticulously corrects the age-
old, foolhardy error of “spiritualizing” the second advent of Christ
among the literal, living people of earth:
“The Scriptures clearly teach that Christ will come for judgment and for
the setting up of His kingdom on the earth. No apology is entered or
entertained for taking this vast body of Scripture which presents Christ’s
coming again and His kingdom in other than a natural, literal, and
grammatical sense. All predictions due to be fulfilled before the present
time, and they are many indeed, have been fulfilled after this manner and
without exception; it is therefore reasonable to believe that unfulfilled
predictions will be accomplished as faithfully and as definitely. It is
possible that for want of faith some men of the past age of law who were
confronted with predictions respecting the first advent when it was yet
future were inclined to place some so-called spiritualizing interpretation
upon these great prophecies; but it remained true, and would have
remained so though no living man had taken God at His Word, that the
inspired predictions moved on majestically in their natural, literal, and
grammatical fulfillment. For those who have not done so, it may be the
introduction into almost limitless fields of divine revelation and into
overwhelming demonstrations of divine faithfulness to follow through an
investigation which pursues this specific method of interpretation – such,
anyway, is this division of Christology designed to be. The theme is as
august, majestic, and consequential as the consummation of all divine
purposes in mundane spheres must be. If matters of present world crisis
arrest the attention and spread consternation among all civilized
inhabitants of the earth, how much more should believing men be
aroused to unprecedented attention by the portrayal of those stupendous
realities which constitute the closing scenes – the final disposition of evil
and the final enthronement of righteousness and peace unto all eternity to
come! However vividly expressed, comparison between any event in the
history of the world - unless it be the creation of the universe – and that
program which is yet to come is, so far as that which is sublunary
[mundane, worldly] is concerned, more an antithesis than a parallel. …
There could be no more decisive reason for giving a literal
interpretation to the prophecies of the second advent than is set up by the
fact that the prophecies of the first advent were thus fulfilled. Those who
persist in a change of plan for the interpretation of that which is future
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have assigned to themselves the unenviable task of explaining why so
violent a variation is introduced. At this point candor is challenged. If,
perchance, the variation be interposed merely to defend a man-made
idealism or to relieve a feeble credence, it deserves only the censure
which belongs to unbelief. A phenomenon exists, namely, that men who
are conscientious and meticulous to observe the exact teaching of the
Scripture in fields of inspiration and the divine character of the Sacred
Text, the ruin of the race through Adam’s sin, the Deity and Saviorhood
of Christ, are found introducing methods of spiritualizing and vamping
[patched up, reworked, improvised] the clear declarations of the Bible in
the one field of Eschatology. So much has this tendency prevailed in the
past two or three centuries that, as respecting theologians, they are almost
wholly of this bold class. So great an effect calls for an adequate cause,
and the cause is not difficult to identify. As previously indicated, when
one is bound to a man-made covenant theory there is no room within that
assumption for a restoration of Israel, that nation with all her earthly
covenants and glory having ben merged into the church [Jewish
replacement theology]. There is but one logical consummation – that
advanced by Whitby with all its reckless disregard for the Biblical
testimony, namely, that a hypothetical grace covenant will eventuate in a
transformed social order, and not by the power of the returning Messiah
but by the preaching of the [false, Negative] gospel. In the present time
there are those who, misapprehending the prediction that the gospel of
the kingdom [the King is coming – during the tribulation period – which
is not the gospel of the grace of God] must be preached in all the world
(Matt 24:14), assert that Christ cannot return until the missionary
enterprise has reached to all the inhabited earth, not recognizing that the
passage in question is found in a context belonging to the future great
tribulation and that because of the unending cycle of birth and death
there could not be a set time in this age when the missionary enterprise
would be completed.
The truth that Christ is coming to the earth again is so emphatically
and repeatedly asserted in the Sacred Truth that nearly all creeds have
included it in their declarations, and only those who are lacking in
respect for the veracity of the Bible text fail to acknowledge that Christ is
to return; however, a wide variation in belief has existed about how and
when He will return. A woeful lack of attention to the precise testimony
of the Word of God is revealed in these conflicting sentiments more than
is found in connection with any other one doctrine. Human notions and
fancies have run riot with little apparent attempt to harmonize these ideas
with Scriptures. The assumption must arise that men either do not read
the text of the Bible carefully, or, reading it, they are admonished by it.
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An example of the human imagination’s straying when making no
reference to the extended testimony of Scripture is furnished – and
similar quotations might be made from various theologians – by Dr.
William Newton Clarke, late Professor of Christian Theology in Colgate
University, in his book An Outline of Christian Theology (5th ed., pp.
443-46). Having written at some length on certain points and having
implied that Christ’s second advent is fulfilled in the death of the
believer – using John 14:1-3 as the proof-text, by the coming of the Spirit
on Pentecost, and by the destruction of Jerusalem, he summarizes as
follows:
Christ foretold a coming in his kingdom; the prediction was understood
by his disciples to promise a visible coming at an early day, with startling
manifestations of visible glory; but the prediction was fulfilled in the
spiritual and invisible coming by means of which his spiritual work in the
world has been carried forward. Or, to state more fully the view of Christ’s
coming that the Scriptures seem to warrant: - a. When he left the world, the
work of Christ for the world, far from being finished, was only begun, and
he was expecting still to carry it on to completion. His prediction of a return,
and an early return, was a true prediction, not destined to fail. b. Christ came
again, in that spiritual presence with his people and the world by which his
kingdom was constituted and his work upon mankind was done. This
presence is such that his friends are not in orphanage, deprived of him (John
14:18); or, to use a figure frequent in the Scriptures, his church is not a
widow but a bride (Rev 21:2-4). The New Jerusalem pictured at the end of
the Apocalypse as the bride of Christ is not the symbol of the future life, but,
as a careful reading is enough to show, represents the ideal Church of Christ
in this world. To the production of this ideal state the spiritual coming of
Christ tends, and is essential. c. Christ’s coming was not accomplished in
any one event. In reality, the event in which it was announced and
introduced was the gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost; and its
first great providential accompaniment in history was the overthrow at
Jerusalem. But his coming is not an event, it is a process that includes
innumerable events, a perpetual advance of Christ in the activity of his
kingdom. It has continued until now, and is till moving on. Christ came long
ago, but he is truly the Coming One, for he is still coming, and is yet to
come. d. No visible return of Christ is to be expected, but rather the long and
steady advance of his spiritual kingdom. The expectation of a single
dramatic advent corresponds to the Jewish doctrine of the nature of the
kingdom, but not to the Christian. Jews, supposing the kingdom of Messiah
to be an earthly reign, would naturally look for the bodily presence of the
king: but Christians who know the spiritual nature of his reign may well be
satisfied with a spiritual presence, mightier than if it were seen. If our Lord
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will but complete the spiritual coming that he has begun, there will be no
need of visible advent to make perfect his glory on the earth. The picturing
of Christ’s coming as a single event dramatic in its splendors and terrors,
attended by resurrection and judgment, has served a useful purpose in
keeping the thought of the unseen Christ fresh and vivid to the Church, in
times when no other presentation of him, probably, would have been so
effective. But at the same time it has been hurtful. It has led multitudes even
of Christian people to regard the advent of their Savior with more of terror
than of desire. That great but terrible hymn, the “Dies Irae,” has been only
too true an expression of the common feeling. The Church has been led to
regard herself as the widow and not the bride of Christ, and prevented from
receiving the power and love that were already abiding with her. This
misapprehension has made it common for Christians to speak of the absent
Lord; whereas he is the present Lord, reigning now in his spiritual kingdom.
It has also led to a habitual underestimate of the intrinsic value of the present
life and its common interests. Placing the reign of Christ mainly in the
future, it has drawn attention away from his desire to fill all life now with the
fullness of his holy dominion. Christianity has by no means been the friend
to the family, to the nation, to commerce, to education, and to the common
social life of man that might have been if Christ had been recognized as the
present reigning Lord, whose kingdom is a present reign of spiritual forces
for the promotion of holiness and love. The present need is the need of living
faith and love, to perceive the present Lord. It has long been common to call
him the absent Lord: but after so long quoting his word of power, “Lo, I am
with you always,” it is high time the Church heard her own voice of
testimony, and came to believe in him as the present Lord. The prevailing
non-recognition of Christ amounts to unbelief. What is needed to awaken a
worthier activity in the Church is a faith that discerns him as actually here in
his kingdom, and appreciates the spiritual glory of his presence in the world.
This view of the coming of Christ implies that the apostles grasped the
spiritual idea of his kingdom but imperfectly, and that they expected what
did not come to pass; and to many this seems inadmissible. Misapprehension
on their part was of course a constant thing during his lifetime, but many
think it could not have existed after the Day of Pentecost, when they were
taught by the Spirit of God. But it must be remembered that the Master told
his disciples that the “times and seasons” were not for them to know (Acts
1:7), and that no man knew the time of his coming save that it would fall in
the life of that generation (Mark 3:32). In this matter they were not to be
helped by revelation. But apart from all theories of what the apostles were,
we have to deal with the plain fact that the writers of the New Testament
expected an advent that did not occur. Wonderful indeed was the clearness of
vision, and the trueness of perception, to which Christ’s influence raised the
disciples who knew him best; but we do not understand them if we overlook
the fact that they were men of their own age, who received his truth into
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minds in which the thoughts of their age had influence. Here indeed was
their power: for this enabled them to influence their own age, and send the
influence onto ours. The glory of the first disciples lay not in the infallible
correctness of their own perceptions, but in their spiritual fellowship with
Christ their Master.
This work of fiction does not even draw its material from the Bible –
though for remote identification it must introduce Christ and His
disciples – is one mass of impossible error in doctrine from its beginning
to its end; yet this work on theology has had acceptance with, and
commendation from, an unusually large company of ministers and
professors of note. Its fallacies should be noted briefly: (a) The entire
assumption that Christ’s coming is fulfilled by a “spiritual and invisible”
program ignores every event connected with His return. These are too
numerous to recount; but where, indeed, is the resurrection and
translation of saints, the coming as lightning from the east which shines
even to the west, the taking of His earthly throne, the judgment of Israel
and the nations, and why should anyone “watch” or “wait” for His
coming? (b) The writer confuses Christ’s personal coming with His
omnipresence. He is in the midst when two or three are gathered unto
Him, but that fact does not imply that His promise to come as
Bridegroom and Judge has been, or is now, being fulfilled. (c) Dr.
Clarke’s assertion that Christ’s promise to return at an early time was not
fulfilled – hence the disciples misunderstood Him on that point – is a
restriction on the word γενεά (generation, cf. Matt. 24:34, etc.) which a
man of Dr. Clarke’s scholarship should never have tolerated. When he
declares the disciples expected what did not come to pass, he implies that
the writer’s of the New Testament were misinformed and were permitted
to incorporate their misunderstandings into the Sacred Text itself. (d) As
for the New Jerusalem of the Apocalypse by “a careful reading” being
seen to be “the ideal Church” now in the world, the pertinent questions
may be asked, what of its coming down from out of heaven, its light as a
jasper stone, its great wall, its twelve angels, its gates of pearl, its
foundation of jasper and other gems, and the city itself being of pure gold
like unto clear glass, its freedom from need of the sun as its light, and the
lighting of it by the glory of God and the Lamb? (e) As for Christ’s
coming at the death of the believer, this point, too, lacks any semblance
of the eschatological events predicated and confuses “the last enemy”
with the “blessed hope.” This is almost to transform death, the hideous,
divine judgment upon the sin of man, into Christ Himself, and teaches
that the blessings that await those who “fall asleep … in Jesus” are
bestowed by death rather than by Christ. (f) That Christ came at
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Pentecost is Dr. Clarke’s central claim; yet he has overlooked the facts,
that his theory confuses two Persons of the Godhead, and that at the time
of Pentecost no New Testament book had been written but still all the
New Testament writers treat the coming of Christ as a future event. (g)
That Christ came back in the destruction of Jerusalem is an unpardonable
confounding of Matthew 24:15-22 with Luke 21: 20-24. Here Dr. Clarke
might with profit have undertaken one of those “careful readings,”
referred to above. It is true that he sees a negative aspect of Christ’s
coming at this point – a clearing away of the rubbish which Israel
represented and a preparation for the setting up of His proposed new
order; but the fact remains that a Roman Army is not the Person of
Christ, nor is the death of a million Jews the “blessed hope.” (h) As for
the declaration – “If our Lord will but complete the spiritual coming that
he has begun, there will be no end of visible advent to make perfect his
glory on the earth” – it is to be wondered just what would have become
of Dr. Clarke’s dream had he lived to see the second World War and a
time when careless, inattentive preachers were having more and more
trouble to find some reality that would take the place of such phantasms
of a perfected world order.
Not a moment’s attention would be given to such sentimentalism had
it been found in the works of Jules Verne, but when it is advanced by a
theologian of repute in all seriousness and acknowledged by contemp-
orary men of influence, there can be passing over it as mere child’s play.
The statement previously is repeated, namely, that good and great men
who comprehend much truth are, without a right interpretation of the
prophetic Scriptures, given to impossible errors, and are often driven, as
Dr. Clarke was driven, to refute the very words of Scripture merely to
save a grotesque fancy. How different would have been the history of
theology in the past three centuries and its fruits today, had theologians
accepted the chiliasm of the apostles and the early church instead of the
Federal or Covenant theories introduced by Johannes Cocceius and the
postmillennialism of Daniel Whitby – both living a century before the
Reformation! The insolvable mystery is that these theological theories,
so evidently unsustained by Scripture, were not revalued and judged by
sincere men in later generations. The mystery is not relieved at all when
it is observed that men of the present day are determined to continue the
same errors. Those inclined to “scoff,” saying, “Where is the promise of
his coming?” (2 Pet 3:3-4), have seized upon two utterly unworthy
arguments as a defense for their unbelief – yet arguments accepted by
good men who apparently have not weighed the issues involved, namely:
(1) that Christ, according to the New Testament writers, promised to
return within their own generation but since he did not so return the
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writers were mistaken and (2) that the Apostle Paul believed and taught
in his early ministry the soon coming of Christ, but that, since the
doctrine, they say, does not appear in his later writings, he must have
“changed his mind.” But then what of the doctrine of inspiration? and
what under such treatment of the Scriptures remains of any authority on
the part of any New Testament writer? Attention has been called earlier
to the generic meaning of γενεά, translated generation, showing that it
refers to the race or stock and not necessarily just to the people then
living; and it is certain from the very last words written by the Apostle
that he believed in Christ’s imminent return to the very day of his martyr
death. He plainly declared: “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at
that day: and not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing” (2
Tim 4:8). To claim that New Testament writers were mistaken and that
Paul changed his mind is the traditional and all but universal apology of
the school of Whitby – better known as postmillennialism. As incredible
as it may seem, such subterfuges were indulged by men who with their
next breath sought honestly to defend the inspiration and authority of the
Scriptures. Daniel Whitby – never cleared from the charge of holding
Socinian views - did not object to such dishonest treatment of the Sacred
Text; but such inconsistency is deplorable in worthy men who, having
embraced the notion of Whitby that Christ would not return until after a
man-made millennium, have no other argument to offer in their efforts to
counter the plain assurance of the impending return of Christ. Henry
Ward Beecher, who was the father of a rationalism which has all but
wrecked the denomination to which he belonged, said: “He (Paul)
expected to see Christ in this world in this world before he departed; and
all the apostles believed that they should; and there are some in our day
who believe that they shall. I think that you will see Christ; but you will
see Him on the other side. You will go to Him, He will not come to you.
And your going to Christ will be spiritual, and not carnal. But the faith of
the apostles, and of others, was that they should see Christ in their day. In
this matter, however, they were mistaken. They believed that which facts
and time overthrew. Their conviction was founded on a misinterpretation
of the language of our Master” (“The Future Life,” a sermon in Christian
Union, Sept. 5, 1877, cited by Peters, op. cit., I, 475). This challenge of
many good men would not need to made had they evidenced a candid
investigation of the Scriptures on these specific themes.
In every Bible doctrine, the truths which make it what it is are
contained in the Scriptures which set it forth. No attentive, spiritual mind
need be uninformed respecting the teachings of the Bible; however, two
other requisites are apparent, namely, an extended, painstaking induction
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of all the Scriptures bearing on a given theme and an unprejudiced mind.
Even colossal errors will not be corrected where prejudice exists and
imposes human theories upon God’s Word. How, indeed, may the
Scriptures fulfill their prescribed purpose as a “correction” and a
“reproof” in doctrine (2 Tim 3:16) if, as seen in the experience of Dr.
Clarke and with him a multitude of theologians, the apostles are charged
with ignorance and error and the Sacred Text itself is arraigned as
misleading and untrue, only because their theory will not conform to the
truth revealed? The analysis of these conditions is entered at this point as
an attempt to discover the true reason why the whole field of prophecy
and especially the doctrine of the second advent are so strangely
neglected. That doctrine stands whether or not it is ever recognized and
accepted by the followers of a Cocceius, Whitby, or Clarke. When the
doctrine is rightly attended, a vast array of Scripture arises for
consideration and each passage demands that it be viewed in the light of
its own precise declaration, in the light of its context, and in the light of
all other Scripture bearing upon the same theme (cf. 2 Pet 1:20-21).
A clear distinction should be observed between the Scriptures which
announce the coming of Christ into the air to receive His Bride, the
Church, unto Himself thus to end her pilgrim journey in the world and
those Scriptures which announce the coming of Christ to the earth in
power and great glory, to judge Israel and the nations and to reign on
David’s throne from Jerusalem. The first event is in no way whatsoever a
part the second advent; it is Christ’s way of delivering His people from
the cosmos world before the divine judgments fall upon it. It is rue that in
this connection He said, “I will come again,” but that coming He
declared was only to receive His own unto Himself (John 14:1-3). Terms
often employed, such as “two phases,” “two aspects,” or “two parts of
His coming,” are misleading. Much has appeared earlier in this work on
this distinction; and no more need be added here other than to reaffirm
that in the first event the movement is upward from earth to heaven, as in
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17: “For the Lord himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump
of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive
and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet
the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord,” and that in the
second advent the movement is downward from heaven to earth, as in
Revelation 19:11-16. These events, though not always clearly
distinguished in every Scripture, are naturally classified by the character
of the conditions and incidents accompanying them. As previously
tabulated, there is a very extended list of passages bearing on the second
coming of Christ. The important features of that stupendous,
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consummating event are directly stated in what may be termed the major
passages bearing upon it. These are to be indicated with some comment
on each.
Jude 1:14-15. “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied
of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his
saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly
among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly
committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have
spoken against him.”
Notable indeed is the fact that the first recorded prophecy by man –
though the report of it is reserved until the next to the last book of the
Bible – and the last prophecy (cf. Rev 22:20) proclaim the second advent
of Christ. There is much to consider in Enoch’s prediction both
respecting the features of the event itself and the knowledge that was
accorded to the man who “the seventh from Adam.” … Enoch’s
prediction anticipates the wickedness of humanity at the time of the
second advent and the divine judgment that shall fall upon the world at
that time. Little of this could have been comprehended by the people of
Enoch’s time; but it should not pass unnoticed that this the
consummation of the ages – the restoration of God’s unchallenged
authority in angelic and human spheres – is the first theme of prophecy
on the lips of a man. Great intervening events were yet to be predicted
and fulfilled; but the return of Christ, this prediction indicates, is of
supreme import.
Deuteronomy 30:1-8.”And it shall come to pass, when all these things
are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before
thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the
LORD thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return unto the LORD thy God,
and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day,
thou and thou children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; that
then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion
upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither
the LORD thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out unto
the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather
thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: and the LORD thy God will
bring thee unto the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt
possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.
And the LORD thy God shall circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy
seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul,
that thou mayest live. And the LORD thy God will put all these curses
upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.
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And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his
commandments which I command thee this day.”
The regathering of Israel, the final possession of the land, and the
obedience and blessing they are yet to experience are here said to be
accomplished divinely when Christ returns. This is the first reference in
the text of the Bible to the second advent, itself uttered, as in the case of
Enoch, long before any clear understanding of prophecy was disclosed
relative to a second advent. It is also indicated in this passage that
Christ’s second coming will be preceded by Israel’s national repentance,
when under the mighty hand of God they call to mind the covenant
promises of God while they are yet scattered abroad among the nations.
This repentance is deep and real, for they shall return unto Jehovah their
God with all their heart and soul (cf. Job 42:10). Their captivity to which
this prophecy refers is that of their present estate, dispossessed of their
land and unassimilated by the nations among whom they are scattered.
The words “Thy God … will return and gather thee from all the nations,
whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee” not only assert the fact of
His return – which return implies a previous advent – but dates the time
Israel will return to their land and the Palestinian covenant will be
fulfilled in their behalf. As they were dispersed because of disobedience,
so, in return, they will be obedient. This is the order in grace. They are
not returned because they are obedient, but they are obedient because of
their return. The regathering of Israel unto her own land is the theme of
at least twelve major Old Testament prophecies, and that event, since it is
an important feature connected with the second advent, will reappear in
passages to be considered. Next in importance to the promise of Christ’s
return and the restoration of Israel to her land, according to this
prediction, is the assurance of their obedience and the law which they
will obey. In Jeremiah 31:31-34 it is asserted that the rule of life
contained in the law covenant (cf. Ex 19:5) – which covenant was given
to Israel when they came out of Egypt and which covenant they broke –
will be superceded by another covenant which will serve as a rule of life
in their kingdom; but according to the Palestinian covenant they will, in
addition to what constitutes the features of the new covenant, keep the
very law which Moses gave them before he was taken from them. It is
probable that the new will incorporate the righteous requirements set
forth in the Mosaic system, much, indeed, as those same principles have
been incorporated, though wholly readapted, into the teachings of grace
which are now addressed to the perfected people who comprise the
Church.
Psalm 2:6-9. “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I
will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son;
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this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the
heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy
possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash
them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
Here the scene changes from Christ’s relation to Israel at His second
advent over to His relation to the Gentile nations. The time of these
judgments upon the nations is indicated in verse 6, in which it is said that
Jehovah places His King upon the holy hill of Zion. The hill, or
mountain, according to Old Testament imagery, is the throne of
government (cf. Isa 2:1-5), and Zion because a part of the city stands for
Jerusalem. Thus the prediction is of Jehovah placing His King (Messiah)
on David’s throne in Jerusalem. This anticipation is often declared in the
prophetic Scriptures. The king is enthroned in spite of the opposition of
the nations who are led on by demon-possessed kings and rulers (cf. Rev
16:13-14). The term heathen as employed in the Old Testament is better
rendered (as in R.V.) nations, since it refers to all peoples who are not
Jews. It is equivalent to Gentiles as that terminology is used in the New
Testament. There is no hint here of Christ returning to a converted world;
rather He returns to a world in one supreme rebellion against Jehovah
and His Messiah. The judgment of God must fall upon them in
tribulation, which is described by the words here (vss. 4-5) “the Lord
shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath,
and vex them in his sore displeasure.” When taking the throne by divine
determination – which determination is well indicated by the word “yet”
of verse 6 – the Messiah, now King upon the throne, proclaims that by
Jehovah’s decree He undertakes that which follows. A similar decree
came from heaven when Christ was set apart unto the office of Priest at
His baptism and again when He was proclaimed from heaven as Prophet
at the transfiguration. Thus, as stated in Psalm 2, again will He be
attested and that as King, when He takes the Davidic throne in Jerusalem.
Other passages – notably Isaiah 63:1-6; Matthew 25:31-46; 2
Thessalonians 1:7-10; Revelation 19:11-16, yet to be considered –
declare the despotic, demolishing judgments which fall upon the nations
when the King returns. These opposing, raging nations of Psalm 2:1 are,
in the end, made a gift from Jehovah to the Messiah. In an undated past
the Father gave each and every believer of this age to the Son (John 17:2,
6, 9, 11-12, 24) and that for the infinite blessing of the Son to rest upon
them forever; but in the gift of the raging nations, the objective is that
their rebellion against Jehovah and His Messiah may be put down
completely. The subduing of angelic antagonists follows the second
advent and occupies the entire period of the millennium (cf. 1 Cor 15:24-
26). The strongest expressions are employed in this portion of the Psalm
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to describe the manner in which the Messiah will act. He breaks them
with a rod of iron and dashes them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. They
are His inheritance and when thus vanquished a potion of them, divinely
chosen to that end, will inherit the kingdom prepared for them and be
subject to the King (Matt 25:31-46). Seldom in the Old Testament does
God address the kings of the earth, but as this Psalm closes they are
admonished to “serve Jehovah with fear, and … trembling” and to “kiss
the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is
kindled but a little.” His wrath will be released as is described in the
following passages.
Isaiah 63:1-6. “Who is this that cometh fro Edom, with dyed
garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in
the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to
save. Wherefore art thou red in thy apparel, and thy garments like him
that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of
the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in my anger, and
trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my
garments, and I will satin all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in
mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and
there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold;
therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it
upheld me. And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make
them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.”
This most realistic description of Christ coming in judgment upon the
nations is presented in a questionnaire form and, though the identity of
the one who propounds the inquiry is not disclosed, the returning
Messiah Himself supplies the answers. He styles Himself as the One who
speaks in righteousness, mighty to save. His salvation is for true Israel;
they, accordingly, are those to whom He refers when He says, “The year
of my redeemed is come” (cf. Rom 11:26-27). “The day of vengeance” is
the day of His outpoured judgments upon the nations because of their
rejection of Him and their persecutions of His elect people, Israel. The
imagery employed in this passage is the strongest of any or all used in
the Bible to describe these events. In vengeance He treads the wine press
of His anger and fury. He declares He will make those whom He afflicts
to be drunk with His fury; He will bring down their strength to the earth.
His garments are stained with the blood of His foes as are the garments
stained of the one who treadeth the wine press. Such are the jugments
which the King imposes when He returns to the earth. If perchance this
scene is a shock to those who have contemplated Christ as only the meek
and lowly Savior, the Babe of Bethlehem, it should be remembered that
the marvel is not that He thus comes as an outraged, destroying monarch
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to judge the nations that have rejected Him; rather the wonder is that He
ever came in lowly guise enduring the scorn of men and crucifixion.
2 Thessalonians 1:7-10. “And to you who are troubled rest with us,
when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty
angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and
that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the
glory of His power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and
to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you
was believed) in that day.”
Again language is strained beyond all bounds in the effort to describe
that which cannot really be expressed to the full. Accompanied by the
angels of His might, the Lord of Glory is revealed from heaven in
flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that, without excuse (cf. Rom
1:19-32), know not God and who have refused to obey the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction.
Little comment is needed respecting this important passage. Its language
is certain and the event is rightly identified as the second advent of
Christ.
Daniel 2:34-35. “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without
hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay,
and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the
silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff
of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no
place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a
great mountain, and filled the whole earth.”
These words, taken from Daniel’s reconstruction of the king’s dream,
describe the destruction that shall upon the fabric which the great
monarchies have woven. The specific contribution which this prediction
makes (cf. also vss. 44-45) is the fact that Christ in His second advent as
the Smiting Stone will demolish and dismiss every vestige of Gentilism,
with all of its principles and factors from the beginning of Gentile times
(cf. Luke 21:24) to the hour of His return. These principles and factors
which have characterized the whole period of nearly 2,500 years thus far
will have their fullest expression in that tribulation period which is
terminated by the glorious return of Christ.
… Christ the smiting stone
Zechariah 14:-4. “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil
shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against
Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and
the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and
the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the
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LORD go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be
cut off from the city. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against
those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall
stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on
the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward
the east and toward the west, and there shall be very great valley; and of
the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the
south.”
By this prediction the truth is established that Jerusalem shall again
be besieged by the nations and the returning Christ will then go forth to
fight against them. It is then that His feet shall stand on the Mount of
Olives – perhaps on the spot from which He ascended into heaven – and
the Mount of Olives shall be divided in the midst, forming a great valley.
In various respects, nature passes through convulsions and changes when
Christ returns. “And there shall signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in
the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea
and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing from fear, and for looking
after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of
heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming
in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luke 21:25-27); “Immediately
after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the
moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the
powers of the heavens shall be shaken” (Matt 24:29; “For the earnest
expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of
God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by
reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creature
itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the
glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole
creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Rom 8:19-
22). It is at the time of the manifestation of the sons of God that creation
shall be delivered.
2 Thessalonians 2:8-2. “And then shall the wicked be revealed, whom
the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy
with the brightness of his coming: even him, whose coming is after the
working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with
all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they
received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this
cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
that they all might be damned who believeth not the truth, but had
pleasure in unrighteousness.”
Thus is revealed the important truth that the man of sin, the “lawless
one” (R.V.), shall be revealed after (not, before) the removal of the
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Restrainer, the Holy Spirit, and – it is right to believe – the Church will
be removed when the Spirit departs (cf. John 14:6). The “lawless one” is
destroyed by the coming of Christ and in the midst of his greatest
corruption in the earth. Again, as always, the Word of God testifies that
Christ will not come to a converted world. He comes into the midst of the
greatest manifestation of evil.
Matthew 23:27-25:46. This particular Scripture – far too prolonged
for quotation – has had extended consideration as one of Christ’s major
discourses. It is His farewell word to Israel in which He informs them of
conditions which will obtain before His return. Its several parts include:
the time-word to Israel, 23:37-39; the occasion of the address, 24:1-4; the
course of this unforeseen age, 24:5-8; the great tribulation, 24:9-22;
warnings of imposters, 24:23-28; the description of His return and
Israel’s supernatural regathering, 24:29-31; assurance of His predicted
coming and due warnings to Israel that when they see certain things
coming to pass (cf. Luke 21:28) they are to “watch,” The people in
Noah’s day did not watch, the evil servant did not look for his master, the
five unwise virgins lacked the preparation they would have made had
they really expected the bridegroom’s return. This entire section, that is,
24:37-25:30, anticipates Israel’s coming judgments. As there are evil
servants and good servants in a household, as there are prepared and
unprepared virgins awaiting the wedding feast, as there are those who
employ talents and those who do not, so Israel will be called into
judgment when her Messiah comes (cf. Ezek 20:33-44). This doctrinally
formative discourse closes with one central prediction regarding the
judgment of the nations then living on the earth (25:31-46), which
judgment, like that of Israel, will occur when the King returns and takes
the Davidic throne in Jerusalem.
Out of the above outline, four major features may be selected for
special consideration: (a) the great tribulation, (b) the fact of Christ’s
second coming, (c) the judgment of Israel, and (d) the judgment of the
nations then living.
In the present discussion attention is first to be centered upon the fact
of Christ’s coming again. There can be no confusion here respecting the
manner of His coming in each Messianic advent. Coming as lightening
from the east that shines unto the west has no resemblance to being born
of a virgin in a manger. Again, the manner of His coming in the second
advent should create no wonder, but the manner of His coming in the
first advent is freighted with mystery, condescension, and simplicity
which are not at all the natural role of the King of Glory. As He went on
the clouds of heaven, so He will return (Acts 1:9-11). Every tribe of
Israel will see Him and mourn because of Him. Prophecy anticipates this
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mourning. He come with power and great glory and by the ministration
of angels Israel is regathered “from the four winds, from one end of
heaven [horizon] to the other.” As formerly indicated, upon taking the
Davidic throne, the King enters upon Israel’s judgments. This final
judgment for Israel is not only an extended theme of prophecy, but is
vitally important in the whole progress of doctrine relative to that elect
nation. Though no specific time is set, it seems necessary to believe that
there will have a resurrection of the whole house of Israel and all to
appear thus before His judgment. It would be woefully incomplete for
this judgment to be restricted to the one generation of Israel then living.
Men of Israel in all generations have lived and served with the glorious
kingdom in view. Those who have attained to it by their faithfulness will
not be deprived of it, and those who by carelessness and sin have failed
must be judged and excluded. The entire context of Ezekiel 20:33-44, as
before stated, should be considered in this connection (cf. Ezek 37:1-4;
Dan 12:1-3). That which bears immediately upon the present theme and
which completes the history of the times of the Gentiles is the judgment
of the nations (Matt 25:31-46), which judgment, since it precedes the
millennial kingdom and involves only the nations then living who will
have had their part in the great tribulation, should not be confused with
the judgment of the great white throne (Rev 20:12-15), which assize
follows the millennial kingdom and involves the wicked dead of all
human history. In the judgment of the living nations, these are first seen
in utter subjection standing, after Christ has conquered them, before the
throne of His glory. The rod of iron of Psalm 2:9 and the trampling in
fury of Isaiah 63:3 will have accomplished its perfect end. The issue in
this judgment is not the evil that has characterized all past generations of
Gentiles; it is rather the one vital question, namely, the treatment that
they will have accorded Israel during the great tribulation, i.e., those
whom the King terms “my brethren.” No reference is made here to
Christians, though they are “joint heirs with Christ” and of the household
of God. Christ is not ashamed to call them also His brethren (cf. Heb
2:11). The Christian is never left in dependence upon the world for his
support as in the case of dispersed Israel, nor is there any Scripture which
would hold the Gentiles responsible for ministering to the Christians;
however, dispossessed Israel is cast upon the world and subject to its
bounty for survival. They are Christ’s brethren in the most literal
physical sense. During the great tribulation some Gentile nations will
have proved themselves to have been favorable towards Israel and some
will withheld their aid. Some are thereby qualified to enter with Israel
into their millennial kingdom, and some are disqualified. Even those who
enter with Israel into the kingdom must, as was seen before, take a
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subordinate position (cf. Isa 14:1-2; 60:12, 14). It seems incredible to
those uninstructed in the Word of God that there is such a thing as an
elect nation favored with eternal covenants and a specific glory above all
other nations of the earth, that the treatment accorded this people in the
time of their greatest affliction should be the basis upon which the
destiny of those living nations will be determined. In the hour of Israel’s
beginning Jehovah said to Abraham respecting his physical seed that
those who blessed that people should be blessed and those that cursed
that people should be cursed. It is significant, then, that at the end of
Gentile times it should be said to those who have blessed Israel: “Come,
ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world,” and to those who curse Israel: “Depart from
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels.” It makes little difference whether men accept and profit by the
King’s predictions in their Bible respecting the future; the determined
program of God must be, and will be, executed to all completeness
anyway.
Acts 1:9-11. “And when he had spoken these things, while they
beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And
while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two
men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up
from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him
go into heaven.”
This passage, already contemplated when considering the ascension,
is also a definite promise of the return of Christ. Not another, but this
same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like
manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven, that is, visibly, bodily, and
on the clouds of heaven. He said of Himself “I will come again,” not that
death will, the Roman army under Titus, nor even the Holy Spirit
(although He came for the first time on Pentecost). Thus also the Apostle
declares: “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout.”
The very fact that He appears the second time (Heb 9:28) links his
identity with the one who came the first time. In the former treatment of
this Scripture it has been pointed out that in this context great issues are
passing in rapid succession. In verse 6 and 7, Christ answers the
covenant expectation respecting Judaism and the hope of Israel. He
declared that the realization of Israel’s promises awaits the times and
seasons which the Father hath kept in His own power. In verse 8 the
primary occupation of the believer in this age is announced, namely,
witnessing to the ends of the earth. The next and final great event in this
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program is His own return, which return will end the proclamation of the
evangel commanded.
Acts 15:16-18. “After this I will return, and will build again the
tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the
ruins thereof, and I will set it up: that the residue of men might seek after
the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the
Lord, who doeth all these things.”
As recorded in this Scripture, the early church met for its first council
with the chief aim in view of determining what the new order of things
could mean which, according to Peter, Paul, and Barnabas, had reached
as fully and as effectively to the Gentiles as it had to the Jews. What had
become of the age long advantages which Jehovah had bestowed upon
Israel, which had continued until the time of Christ’s death and
resurrection; in other words, what had become of Judaism? The fact that
God was doing a wholly new thing, with Gentile now securing equal
benefits, was the complete evidence that mighty changes had been
accomplished. This council, guided by the Spirit, concluded that the new
thing into which Gentiles were freely admitted was a visitation of God’s
grace calling out from them, as well as from Jews, a people for His name
or Person (vs. 14). The name of Deity is equivalent to the Person, of
course, and no more endearing recognition of the Bride of Christ can be
set up than to declare that she is for His own Person. A moment’s
reflection will disclose how utterly foreign to Judaism this new order is.
The context, however, goes on with the assurance that Christ will come
again and that, at His coming, He will restore the Davidic government
which has collapsed or fallen down, which means that the Davidic
covenant will then be fulfilled, and Judaism restored thence to continue
on to the realization of all that is predicted concerning it. This means that
the millennial kingdom will be set up and those Gentiles “upon whom
my name is called” will share in that kingdom. That a new order is
divinely established is indicated in the context which immediately
follows the passage under consideration.
Isaiah 59:20; 60:1-5. “And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and
unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. …
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon
thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness
the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be
seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the
brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they
gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from
far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Then thou shalt see,
and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the
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abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the
Gentiles shall come unto thee.”
The Apostle’s restatement of Isaiah 59:20 is a s follows: “And so all
Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the
Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my
covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins” (Rom 11:26-27).
In their experience of Christ’s return, Israel is to arise and shine, for her
light will have come. “The Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them
that turn from transgression in Jacob.” The glory of Jehovah shall rise
upon them. Preceding this arising of Jehovah upon Israel, darkness shall
cover the earth and gross darkness the people. Thus is described the great
tribulation that must cover the whole earth. In the time of kingdom
blessing, “Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of
thy rising.” The forces of the Gentiles shall come thus unto Israel. All of
this, as in unnumbered predictions, will occur when the Messiah returns.
Daniel 7:13-14. “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the
Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of
days, and they brought him near before him. And there given to him
dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations and
languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be
destroyed.”
The particular emphasis in this description of the second advent is on
the truth that by it Gentile world dominion is brought to its end. It will be
remembered that, in both chapter 2 and 7 of Daniel, there is prediction
respecting the great empires that were to arise in secession beginning
with Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar, continuing to Media-Persia and
Greece, and ending with Rome, which last-named empire was in power
when Christ lived here on earth. The intercalation of the Church age,
then, began with Christ’s death and continues until the Church is
removed from the earth. As this intercalary period began before the
Roman empire had quite finished the part predicted of her, she has yet to
be revived and to fulfill all that is written regarding her. The feet and toes
of the colossal image composed of both iron and clay represent that part
of the Roman empire yet to be completed. The same is indicated in
Daniel 7 by the ten horns of the fourth beast. All this governmental
history must, and will, run its course during the momentous seventieth
week, or seven years of tribulation yet to come upon the earth which
Daniel foresaw. This brief period not only serves to complete Jewish
times reaching up to their kingdom, but serves as well to conclude
Gentile times on the earth. All things of responsibility both for Israel and
the Gentiles are terminated by the glorious appearing of Christ.
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Specifically, the passage under consideration, along with Revelation 5:1-
7, describes the investiture of the King with His kingdom rule. As King
upon His throne – the throne of David in Jerusalem – He will render His
judgments upon Israel and upon the nations before the kingdom begins.
Daniel 2:34-35, already considered, is a description of the crushing blow
that the King will administer to the nations, while Daniel 7:13-14, now
being examined, presents the assumption of His authority in connection
with which He renders His awful judgments upon the Gentiles.
Malachi 3:1-3. “Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall
prepare the way before me: and the LORD whom you seek, shall suddenly
come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye
delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. But who may
abide in the day of his coming? And whom shall stand when he
appeareth? For he like the refiner’s fire, and the fuller’s soap: and he
shall sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons
of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the
LORD an offering in righteousness.”
The passage reveals the inability, true of Old Testament prophets, to
recognize the time period intervening between the two advents of Christ.
Thus it is confirmed that, as later revealed in the New Testament, the
present age must be reckoned a divine “mystery” or sacred secret before
Christ came. The prophets of old foresaw both a suffering Lamb and a
world-ruling King. They were perplexed about the time relationships for
these. The Apostle Peter writes of it after this manner: “Of which
salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who
prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or
what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify,
when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that
should follow” (1 Pet 1:10-11). On this passage - Malachi 3:1-3 – Dr. C.
I. Scofield in his Reference Bible writes: “The f.c. of verse 1 is quoted of
John the Baptist (Mt 11:10; Mk 1:2; Lk 7:27), but the second clause, ‘the
Lord whom you seek,’ is nowhere quoted in the N.T. The reason is
obvious: in everything save the fact of Christ’s first advent, the later
clause awaits fulfillment (Hab 2:20). Verses 2-5 speak of judgment, not
of grace. Malachi, in common with other O.T. prophets, saw both
advents of Messiah blended in one horizon, but did not see the separating
interval described in Mt. 13 consequent upon the rejection of the King
(Mt 13:16, 17). Still less was the Church-age in his vision (Eph 3:3-6;
Col 1:25-27). ‘My messenger’ in (vs. 1) is John the Baptist; the
‘messenger of the covenant’ is Christ in both of His advents, but with
especial reference to the events which are to follow His return” (p. 982).
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Mark 9:1-9. “And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That
there be some of them that stand here , which shall not taste of death, till
they have seen the kingdom of God come with power. And after six days
Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up
into a high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before
them. And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as
no fuller on earth can white them. And there appeared unto them Elias
with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answered and
said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to here: and let us make three
tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. For he
wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid. And there was a cloud
that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This
is my beloved Son: hear him. And suddenly, when they had looked round
about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves. And
as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should
tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen
from the dead.”
Whether all theologians recognize it or not, the transfiguration scene
is as important as the great emphasis given to it in the New Testament
indicates. Each of the three Synoptic writers describes it at length and it
is said by them to be a setting forth of the power and coming of Christ,
that is, His coming in His Kingdom (Matt 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27; 2
Pet 1:16). Peter, one of those chosen to be present at this great event,
writes: “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we
made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For we received from God the
Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the
excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And
this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in
the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto
ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place,
until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts” (2 Pet 1:16-19).
The transfiguration occurred prior to the death of Christ. The disciples
were about to face the utter surprise and shock of that death, which death,
though plainly predicted by Christ, was divinely withheld from their
understanding. Most emphatic and absolute is the divine veiling of the
disciples’ minds on this fact of Christ’s oncoming death and resurrection.
Luke writes in his Gospel: “Then he took unto him the twelve, and said
unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written
by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he
shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully
entreated, and spitted on: and they shall scourge him, and put him to
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death: and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of
these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the
things which wee spoken” (18:31-34). No clearer prediction of Christ’s
death was made than the one with which this passage is associated. All of
this is a challenge to the thoughtful student. Why, indeed, should they not
comprehend such a clear prediction? During the period of Christ’s
earthly ministry they had preached by divine authority and with personal
sincerity the message regarding the Messianic, earthly kingdom with
Christ as King on David’s throne – the national hope of Israel. It is most
evident that they could not of preached a gospel based on Christ’s death
and resurrection when they had no understanding of these coming events.
That which had so engaged them, into which they had invested their
lives, was about to be shattered by the violent death of the King at the
hands of the very men over whom He was expected to rule. A vision of
the coming of Christ in power and in His kingdom was given to Peter,
James, and John – two of whom were appointed to write doctrinal
portions of the New Testament, the other its first apostolic martyr – that
they might more readily accept the unforeseen delay which the age of
grace would require and be assured that the plan and purpose of God
respecting the kingdom for Israel was not abrogated. The vision of the
transfiguration with all it connoted was not given to John the Baptist. He
was allowed to face what seemed to him to be complete defeat. That into
which his whole life had been poured, his divine commission as the
forerunner of the Messiah, and the early success of his preaching were all
swept aside thus, without explanation. Here many have failed to
comprehend the situation, however, and have turned on John with the
declaration that he was mistaken in all his ministry. Such is not the
solution of the problem. At any rate, Peter, James, and John –
representatives of the whole apostolic company – were saved from that
greater distress which fell upon John the Baptist. It is not probable that
the assurance which the transfiguration provided was of much import to
the disciples during the hour of Christ’s death; but after His death and
resurrection it served its purpose in clarifying their minds on the truth
that, though a new and wonderful, unforeseen, divine purpose was
introduced through the death and resurrection of Christ, the earthly
purpose was not abandoned but would, when the new age objective is
accomplished, be fulfilled by Christ at His second coming, and not in
weakness and humility as in His first advent, but in the power and glory
which was previewed at the transfiguration. It is clear then that the
transfiguration was not an unveiling of heaven, but of Christ coming in
His kingdom.
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Luke 12:35-40. “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights
burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when
he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they
may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the
lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he
shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come
forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come
in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. And this
know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief
would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to
be broken through. Be ye ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an
hour when ye think not.”
Out of very much that Luke records bearing on the second advent of
Christ, this one passage may serve as a good representation. The address
is to Israel and, like the larger report of the Olivet Discourse which is
given by Matthew, it enjoins the attitude of watching for Christ’s return.
Watching is the responsibility which will rest on Israel at the time “when
ye see these things come to pass” (Luke 21:28, 31; Matt 24:33). Again an
appeal is in order that Israel’s obligation to watch for the glorious
appearing of Christ when they will be delivered and their covenants
fulfilled should not be confused with the agelong obligation resting upon
the Church to be waiting for Christ’s appearing when He will receive
them unto Himself. As in Matthew 25:1-13 where Israel is likened unto
ten virgins and their need of burning individual lights is the symbol of
preparedness, so in the passage under contemplation they are told to have
their loins girded and their lights burning. The specific contribution of
this passage to the whole body of doctrine is found in verse 36, wherein
it is stated that watching Israel will be awaiting the return of Christ “from
the wedding.” Too often it has been supposed that Christ’s return is to
participate in the wedding and that the ten virgins are His Bride. The
comment on this same situation which Psalm 45:8-15 supplies is of vital
import. Having pictured the millennial palace and those within including
the King and His Bride, who is identified throughout as “daughter,” it is
said that she, the Bride, “shall be brought unto the king in raiment of
needlework” and that “the virgins her companions that follow her shall
be brought unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought:
they shall enter unto the kings palace.” This description of the millennial
scene clearly distinguishes between the Bride and the virgins. The Bride
is with the King from the hour of the wedding in heaven. She returns to
earth with Him (Rev 19:11-16), and for His return with His Bride Israel,
likened to the virgins, watches upon the earth; later, both the Bride and
836

the five accepted virgins enter the palace with the King and join in the
marriage feast (cf. Matt 25:10, R.V.).
2 Peter 3:3-4, 8, 10-13. “Knowing this first, that there shall come in
the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is
the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things
continue as they were from the beginning of the creation … But,
beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day … But the day of
the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of
persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for
and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat? Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens
and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
This Scripture introduces several distinctive features which contribute
to the whole doctrine of Christ’s second advent. In the first instance,
prediction is made that scoffers will arise who reject the truth respecting
Christ’s return and on the basis of the claim that all continue from the
beginning without change. Therefore, it is asserted, no change need be
expected in the future; but this “they willingly are ignorant of,” that there
has been a world-renovating judgment from God in the form of the flood,
and too it is certain, whether believed by them or not, that the heavens
and the earth which now are await destruction by fire and at the precise
time when God shall accomplish the judgment and perdition of ungodly
men (Rev 20:11-15). The Day of the Lord, the period of a thousand years
which begins with the second advent of Christ and ends with the passing
of the old heavens and earth, comes by virtue of Christ’s return, which is
as unexpected as a thief in the night (cf. Matt 24:43; 1 Thess 5:4). When
verse 9, which presents the faithfulness of God and is therefore
parenthetic to the argument, is omitted to the end that the direct statement
of prophecy may be noted here, there is more than accidental relation
between the fact that a day with Jehovah is as a thousand years and a
thousand years as one day (vs. 8) and the reference to the Day of the
Lord which follows (vs. 10). It has been claimed that the only time
measurement of the Day of the Lord, which is a reference to the
millennial kingdom on the earth, is the one found in Revelation 20:1-6;
but while the Revelation passage definitely makes the kingdom reign to
be a thousand years, this reference in 2 Peter is evidently a time
indication of the same Day of the Lord, for Peter states it will begin “as a
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thief in the night” and end with the passing of the heavens and earth. The
passage includes also a reference to the manner of life which those who
believe such things should maintain. All this program is moving on to
that final day, the Day of God, which is eternity to come (cf. 1 Cor
15:28). The new heavens and the new earth are, alike, to be the abode of
divine righteousness – the earth that will be inhabited by the elect people
whose covenants respecting their land and the earth are everlasting. The
earth will then be as suitable a place for God to dwell upon as heaven has
ever been or ever will be.
Revelation 19:11-16. “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white
horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in
righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of
fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that
no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped
in blood; and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which
were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen,
white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it
he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and
he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF
KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
This is the final description of th second coming of Christ in the Bible
and the only description to be found in the Book of Revelation. This
account serves to open the stupendous scenes which follow in rapid
succession and which constitute God’s revealed program reaching into
eternity to come. These events are: the battle of Armageddon (19:17-21),
the binding of Satan (20:1-3), the first of humanity’s resurrections in
relation to the kingdom age (20:4-6), the loosing of Satan and the doom
of Gog and Magog (20:7-9), the final disposition of Satan (20:10), the
setting of the great white throne (20:11), the resurrection (cf. vs. 5) and
the disposition of the wicked dead (20:12-15), creation of the new
heavens and the new earth (21:1-2), God’s abode on the earth as in
heaven (21:3), the estate of men in eternity to come (21:4-8), the city
from heaven (21:9-22:7), the closing message and appeal (22:8-19), the
closing promise and its corresponding prayer (22:20-21). Heaven was
opened it was declared in 4:1, and a voice called the Apostle John - who
as forerunner of the Church is appointed to see and experience all that
awaits the Church upon her entrance into heaven and to write these
things for the encouragement and edification of those he represented – to
come up hither. Since, from that point on (4:1), the Church is not again
seen upon the earth but is seen in heaven and since what follows her
removal is all of Daniel’s seventieth prophetic week in which the Church
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could have no part whatsoever, it is made clear that the Church is
married to her Bridegroom and enjoys the marriage supper of the Lamb
in heaven (Rev 19:7-10) before heaven is opened again, as the text under
consideration describes the time when Christ, accompanied by His saints,
returns as Messiah over earth. The order has been preserved precisely: in
the 4th chapter the movement is upwards, while in the 19th chapter the
movement is downwards. As it should be, the description in chapter 19
centers on the glorious Person of the returning King. It has been
predicted that He would thus return accompanied by the hosts of heaven
and with power and great glory (Matt 24:30). His return, it is declared,
will be as lightning that cometh out of the east and shineth unto the west
(Matt 24:27) and with the clouds of heaven (Dan 7:13). He will be
revealed from heaven in flaming fire (2 Thess 1:7-8). The “great glory”
is resident in the four titles under which He comes – “The Word of God,”
“Faithful and True,” “a name written, that no man knew,” and “King of
kings and Lord of lords.” Notable is the fact that the King returns not
only to judge but to make war. He embodies the immeasurable holy
indignation of God against evil in the day when His offers of grace have
finally been withdrawn. None could comprehend or in any way anticipate
the “fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” It is “the wrath of the
Lamb.” Kings and judges have been admonished to kiss the Son “lest he
be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a
little.” Fully a thousand years before the first advent of Christ , David
saw that the King when taking His throne in Zion would receive the
nations as gift from Jehovah and break them with a rod of iron and dash
them in pieces as if a potter’s vessel. About seven hundred years before
Christ’s birth, Isaiah prophesied that the returning Messiah would tread
down the nations in His anger and trample them in His fury. Both the rod
of iron of Psalm 2:9 and the treading of the winepress of Isaiah 63:3 are
reasserted in Revelation 19:15, which reads: “And out of his mouth goeth
a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule
them with a rod of iron: and treadeth the winepress in the fierceness and
wrath of Almighty God” (cf. Rev 1:16; 2 Thess 2:8). As the Lord of
Glory returns thus to the earth to judge and make war it should be
observed also that, in this display of infinite power with its destruction
exercised against every enemy of God, that which is indigenous or
inherent in Him – that which pertains properly to Deity as the correlative
of infinite holiness – will be released and manifested. Right thinking
respecting the Christ of God will lead to the recognition of the fact that
the great departure from that which is essentially God was achieved in
His advent, when He came as a helpless child, an unresisting man, an
afflicted, dying sacrifice. For this He laid aside His rightful robes of
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glory and so restrained His powers – such as created all things visible
and invisible – that He became the unantagonizing Lamb. All this may
well incite awe and wonder in man as it must have affected the angels.
That He should come as the embodiment of the fierceness and wrath of
Almighty God should cause no bewilderment when it is remembered that
this world has rejected God and His saving grace as exhibited and
proffered to it in the first advent of Christ. Infinite love in its adjustments
with infinite holiness provides a substitute to bear the immeasurable
judgments of divine indignation against those who now elect to stand
under the shadow of the cross, but for a rebellious, fallen, Christ-
rejecting world which has cast its lot with Satan and embraced his
philosophy of independence of God, there can be nothing else but wrath
and indignation as the portion of those who obey not the gospel.
(Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 5, pp ? )
………………………………………………………………………..
In his excellent exposition of the book of Revelation entitled The
Unfolding of the Ages, the late Ford C. Ottman presents a graphic picture
of this last description in the Bible to portray the second advent. Though
unusually extended, it is reproduced here as a fitting close to this chapter
on Christ’s return:
Christ is coming, and that glorious truth is now to engage our
attention. The events connected with it can only be discovered through a
thorough and patient examination of Scripture. Our attention is first
turned to the open heavens from which He comes. There can be no
possibility of mistake as to the identity of the glorious Rider of the white
horse. There is One, and only One, to whom the description could apply.
He is “Faithful and True.” So was He called at the beginning: so is He
called at the last. He is now coming forth to judge the world in
righteousness. He is crowned with many diadems, and this testifies to
other sovereignties than that over the world. He has also an incommuni-
cable name, and He is clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. He is
girded with a sword for personal conflict, and He has come to tread the
winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. “He hath on his
vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of
lords.” The armies that follow Him are composed of saints both Jewish
and Christian. Hitherto they have been seen as the occupants of the four
and twenty thrones. The elders, after ratifying
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World Events Before the Return of Christ

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Introduction
1 Cor 10:32 Do not give offense to Jews or Greeks [Gentiles] or to
the church of God [Christians in the Body of Christ], 10:33 just as I
also try to please everyone in all things. I do not seek my own benefit,
but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved. (brackets mine)
NET
If it be admitted that Christ is returning as He promised – what then
precedes this event? Additionally, should these events occur in the near
term, I would address what is to follow as being of particular concern to
those in the Americas who may be of Sephardic Jewish descent – a part
of the “hidden [genetic] treasure” belonging to Christ. Reliable records
from the Spanish Inquisition show that Columbus, as well as many others
from Spain and Portugal, was descended from Jewish maternal stock.
For those who claim to be Jews, their faith denies the first advent of
Christ when He came “in His own name.” Consequently, the revival of
Israel and the re-establishment of the temple and the sacrificial system in
Jerusalem determines that the Jews will find their Messiah in the
Antichrist who they will accept as “another” who comes in the name of
Christ. In Major Bible Themes, pages 312-319, written by Dr. Lewis
Chafer and later revised by Dr. John Walvoord, the following well
constructed and informative summary is given:
A. MAJOR EVENTS OF THE PRESENT AGE. As the present age of grace
unfolds, many prophecies are being fulfilled. The general character of the
age is presented in seven parables in Matthew 13. In the parable of the
sower, which is introductory in nature, the varied reception to the truth of
God is described. Truth sometimes falls on the hard, beaten path where it
is destined to be eaten by the fowls. Other falls on ground that is too
shallow and stony, and while beginning to spring up it is killed for lack
of roots. Other falls on good ground but is infested with thorns, which
choke it. Only a portion of the seed falls on good ground and brings forth
fruit a hundredfold, sixtyfold, or thirtyfold (Matt 13:1-9, 18-23).
The parable of the tares sown among the wheat indicates the danger
of false profession which will not be judged until the time of harvest (vv.
24-30, 36-43). The parable of the mustard seed indicates the rapid growth
of Christendom from a small beginning to a large movement (vv. 31-32).
The parable of the leaven speaks of evil intermingled with the good meal
until the whole is permeated (vv. 33-35). The hidden treasure of Matthew
13:44 probably refers to Israel hidden as to its national entity in the
present age, but nevertheless bought by Christ in His death. The pearl of
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great price (vv. 45-48) seems to speak of the church as that for which
Christ died, a major feature of the present age during a period when
Israel’s national identity is somewhat hidden. The final parable of the
dragnet (vv. 47-51) illustrates the separation of the saved from the
unsaved at the end of the age.
In general, Matthew 13 speaks of the entire period between the first
and second comings of Christ without reference to the rapture or the
particulars of the church as the body of Christ. It describes the sphere of
the profession of faith and the mingled picture of good and evil. The dual
development of both good and evil throughout the age, climaxing in
judgment and separation, characterizes the period. There is no
justification for postmillennialism, with its concept that the kingdom of
God will finally triumph through preaching of the Gospel and human
effort. On the other hand, there is no ground for pessimism, because God
will fulfill His purpose. Some seed will fall on good ground and bring
forth fruit. There will be wheat among the tares and good fish among the
bad. The nineteen hundred years since Pentecost have demonstrated the
accuracy of this great prophecy of Matthew 13.
A similar picture of the present age with focus on the end of the age is
found in Matthew 24. There, in verses 4-14, nine signs of the end are
given: (1) false christs (v. 5), (2) wars and rumors of wars (v. 6), (3)
famines (v. 7), (4) pestilences (v. 7), (5) earthquakes (v. 7), (6) martyrs
(v. 9-10), (7) false prophets (v. 11), (8) abounding iniquity and cooling
ardor for Christ (v. 12), (9) the gospel of the kingdom to be preached in
all the world (v. 14).
Another feature of the present age will be the growing apostasy on the
part of the unsaved within the professing church. 2 Peter 2-3 summarizes
the progression in four categories: (1) denial of the person and deity of
Christ (2:1), (2) denial of the work of Christ that He bought us when He
died on the cross (2:1), (3) moral apostasy over departure from moral
standards (2:2-22), (4) departure from the doctrine of the second coming
of Christ and the judgment related to it (3:1-13). Other passages
contribute to the doctrine of apostasy in the New Testament (1 Tim 4:1-
3; 2 Tim 3:1-9; Jude 3-19). All these prophecies of encroaching apostasy
in the church are being fulfilled beginning with the first century and
continuing to the present The ultimate apostasy will take place after the
church is raptured and only the unsaved portion of the professing church
is left in the world.
The present age, in terms of the purpose of God in calling out His
church, will be brought abruptly to its close at the Rapture. This event –
nowhere dated in the prophecies of the Old Testament – describes the
dramatic removal of the church from the earth as the dead in Christ are
844

raised and living Christians are caught up to heaven without dying (1 Cor
15:51-58; 1 Thess 4:13-18). This event will bring to a close the purpose
of God in terms of the church as a separate company of saints, and the
departure of the church will set the stage for the major events leading up
to the second coming of Christ to the earth to set up His millennial
kingdom. Three major periods may be observed between the Rapture and
the Second Coming: (1) the period of preparation (2) the period of peace,
(3) the period of persecution.
B. THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION FOLLOWING THE RAPTURE. The
event of the Rapture, removing every saved person from the earth, will
be a dramatic intervention in human history. It will signal the beginning
of a series of events which will rapidly move on to a great climax at the
second coming of Christ. Obviously, the removal of all Christians from
the earth will have an effect upon world history as a whole and will
permit the demonstration of evil in the world and the fulfillment of the
satanic purpose in a way never before possible.
The first phase immediately after the Rapture will be a period of
preparation for the major events which follow. These events will relate to
the three major areas of prophecy, which concern the church, Israel and
the Gentiles.
1. The professing church will remain on earth after the Rapture.
Although the issue of whether the true church will go through the
Tribulation has been debated, many expositors believe the church as the
body of Christ will be caught up [Gk. harpazō=snatch violently as by the
hair of the head or take away. cf. the action performed on Philip in Acts
8:39 and on the Apostle Paul in 2 Cor 12:2-4. Later translated into Latin
as rapturo, thus, the English word rapture. this writer] at the Rapture,
leaving only the professing church - composed entirely of unsaved
individuals on the earth – to fulfill prophecies relating to Christendom.
The professing church after the Rapture is symbolized by the harlot of
Revelation 17, pictured astride the scarlet-covered beast bespeaking the
political power of that time. Her dominion is over the whole world,
symbolized by the many waters (Rev 17:1, 15). From the description it
seems clear that the world church now in its earlier form is seen here in
its stage of complete apostasy with every true Christian removed
Religiously, the period after the Rapture accordingly will be a movement
toward a world church and a world religion, devoid of redeeming
features of true Christian doctrine.
2. For Israel the period of preparation will be a time of revival.
According to Romans 11:25, Israel’s present blindness will be alleviated,
and many in Israel will have their eyes opened to the fact that Jesus
Christ is indeed their Messiah and Savior. In the days immediately
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following the Rapture, thousands of Jews will probably turn to Christ,
availing themselves of Scripture and books on Christian doctrine which
Christians leave behind, as well as works relating Scripture to the hope of
a Messiah which many Jews already possess. They will undoubtedly
have an insatiable curiosity to answer the question as to what happened
to the Christians who disappeared. Their search will be rewarded and
many will be converted. As in the first century of the church, the Jews
will immediately become the ambassadors for the Gospel, winning both
their own people and Gentiles to Christ; the renewed work of evangelism
will thereby be undertaken throughout the world. The fact that Jews are
already scattered all over the world, knowing many of the world’s
languages, points them up as natural missionaries to their particular
locale so undoubtedly many will be brought to Christ. AS in the first
century, however, not all Jews will turn to Christ and salvation will be
only for those who believe.
3. Politically in relation to the Gentiles, the time of preparation will
involve the revival of the ancient Roman Empire. As brought out in
previous discussion, the feet stage of Daniel 2 and the ten-horn stage of
Daniel 7:7 have never been fulfilled. This prophecy, with the added light
given in Revelation 13, indicates that the Roman Empire will be revived
in the form of ten nations banding together into a confederacy. The
Common Market in Europe may well be the forerunner of it, but the
center of political power would seem to be in the Mediterranean rather
than in Europe and probably will include the major nations of North
Africa, Western Asia, and Southern Europe.
Once again the Mediterranean will become a “Roman lake.” When
these ten nations are joined together, a ruler will emerge described as the
“little horn” of Daniel 7:8, who apparently will be a dictator who gains
control, first of three, then all ten nations. He will be the strong man
politically of the Middle East and will work with the world church to
gain world power. Once he is firmly established, the stage is set for the
second major period, the period of the covenant.
C. THE PERIOD OF PEACE. According to Daniel 9:27, when the
dictator of the Middle East emerges as the “Prince that shall come” (Dan
9:26), he will make a covenant with Israel for a seven-year period. The
details of this covenant are not given in Scripture, but it is implied as a
covenant of protection. Apparently the dictator desires to settle the
controversy between Israel and the nations surrounding Israel; he uses
the device of setting up a protectorate for Israel and by this means brings
a measure of peace and tranquility to the political situation in the Middle
East. While there is no indication that this will be a period of complete
peace, Israel is made secure, relatively speaking, and apparently is
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granted privileges in commerce and a freedom from tension which has
not characterized her life since the nation was formed in 1948.
Undoubtedly the changed situation will inspire many more Jews to return
to their ancient land, and Israel will prosper financially.
During this period also, the world church will continue to grow in
power, working with the ruler in the Mediterranean area to accomplish
worldwide religious dominion. In like manner, the evangelization of
Israel will continue and many will turn to Christ. On the other hand,
many will also return to Orthodox Judaism. In this period a temple will
apparently be built in Jerusalem and Orthodox Jews will renew the
Mosaic system of sacrifices which have not been offered since the
Temple was destroyed in A.D. 70. This is implied in Daniel 9:27, where it
is predicted that the sacrifices will cease, a fact supported by Daniel
12:11 which speaks of the daily sacrifice being taken away. Obviously,
sacrifices could not be stopped unless they had been reactivated, and
reactivation of the sacrifices requires a temple in Jerusalem. Exactly
when the temple will be rebuilt no one knows [update Sep 2007: the
stones for what is a relatively small structure are cut and waiting a
projected 30 day construction estimate; the unblemished “red heifer” for
cleansing the temple has been bred and perfected; DNA testing for the
Levitical priests is considered reliable; the location is open and only
political considerations stop the immediate construction of the temple.
Reference - Gershon Solomon and the third temple project. this writer],
but it will be in operation apparently during this time of peace.
The tranquility of the Middle East will be shattered, however, by a
dramatic event described in Ezekiel 38-39, an attack upon Israel by
Russia and her allies. Interpreters of Scripture have disagreed in their
analyses of this event and their placing of it in their chronology.
According to Ezekiel 38, it comes at a time when Israel is at peace and at
rest, a period which corresponds to the situation following the covenant
with the Roman ruler. The attack, moreover, is more than an assault on
Israel because it challenges the whole covenant relationship between the
Mediterranean and Israel and is, in effect, a Russian bid for control of the
Middle East politically and commercially. Because it is a surprise attack,
however, there is no record of armies being marshalled against the
invaders. Instead God intervenes supernaturally to save His people and
wipes out the invading force by a series catastrophes described in Ezekiel
38:18-23. This war shatters the period of peace and prepares the way for
the next and final period.
D. THE PERIOD OF PERSECUTION. The destruction of the Russian
army not only ends the peace of the preceding period, but brings
dramatically changed world situation. Apparently, at that time there is a
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balance of power between (1) the ruler of the Middle East and the nations
aligned with him, and (2) Russia and the nations aligned with her. With
the Russian armies temporarily destroyed, the ruler of the Middle East
seizes the opportunity to proclaim himself a world dictator. Overnight he
seizes control politically, economically, and religiously. He proclaims
himself ruler over every kindred, tongue, and nation (Rev 13:7), and
Daniel predicts that he “shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it
down, and break it in pieces” (Dan 7:23). He likewise seizes control of
the entire world economically, and no one can buy or sell without his
permission (Rev 13:16-17).
For Israel it is also an abrupt reversal, as the ruler breaks his covenant
with her and overnight becomes her persecutor. This introduces what
Jeremiah 30:7 describes as the time of Jacob’s trouble. Elsewhere, the
same period is described as the Great Tribulation (Dan 12:1; Matt 24:21;
Rev 7:14). Israel’s trials begin with the sudden stopping of their
sacrifices (Dan 9:27; 12:11; Matt 24:15). Israel, accordingly, is advised
by Christ to flee at once to the mountains (Matt 24:16-20). It will be a
time of unprecedented trouble for Israel, and thousands of Jews will be
massacred (Zech 13:8). The Temple itself will be desecrated and an idol
of world ruler set up in it (Rev 13:15), and at times the ruler himself will
sit in the Temple to be worshipped (2 Thess 2:4). This is the abomination
of desolation described in connection with the stopping of the sacrifices.
The world ruler will also set himself up as god and demand that everyone
worship him under pain of death (Rev 13:8, 15).
This final period will begin in the middle of the seven years originally
planned for the covenant and, accordingly, will last for forty-two months
(Rev 11:2, 13:5; cf. Dan 7:25; 9:27; 12:11-12).
Because of his complete blasphemy and persecution of both Jew and
Christian, the world ruler of the Mediterranean - often referred to as the
Antichrist and described in Daniel 9:26 as “the prince that shall come” –
will become the object of fearful divine judgment. All this is described in
Revelation 6-19. Details of these events are recorded in the breaking of
the seven seals (Rev 6:1-8:1), the sounding of the seven trumpets (Rev
8:2-21; 11:15-19), and the outpouring of the seven vials or bowls of the
wrath of God (Rev 16).
Unprecedented judgments will take place on the earth. Christ has
described it in Matthew 24:21-22 as a period so terrible that if not
stopped or terminated by the second coming of Christ it would result in
the extermination of the entire race. Wars, pestilence, famines, stars
falling from heaven, earthquakes, demon possession, and great disruption
of natural forces in the world apparently destroy a majority of the
world’s population.
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The resulting disorder brought on by these disasters creates
opposition to the world ruler of the Middle East. He is unable to fulfill
his promises of peace and plenty. As a result, worldwide revolution takes
place and major portions of the world rebel against his authority. This
climaxes in a gigantic world war described in Daniel 11:40-45 and in
Revelation 9:13-21; 16:13-21. The nations of the world are locked in
struggle, the battle seesawing back and forth with great armies from the
South, great armies from the North, and a huge army from the Orient
descending on the Holy Land to fight it out. At the height of this conflict,
Jesus Christ returns in power and glory to bring to judgment the wicked
men gathered in this struggle and to establish His own millennial
kingdom.
Taken as a whole, the events leading up to the second coming of
Christ are described in considerable detail in both the Old and New
Testaments. The period is a dramatic sequence of tremendous events
unequaled in any other portion of history or prophecy. Many indications
that the world is moving on to just such a climax makes all the more
pointed the teaching of Scripture concerning the imminency of the
Lord’s return for His own at the Rapture.”

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Appendix

‘The depths of the sea were exposed;

the inner regions of the world were uncovered
by the Lord’s battle cry,

He reached down from above and grabbed me;

he pulled me from the surging water.’ 199
As my airplane crashed behind me.

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The Definition of Faith
Easton’s Bible Dictionary.
FAITH is in general the persuasion of the mind that a certain statement
is true (Phil. 1:27; 2 Thess. 2:13). Its primary idea is trust. A thing is true,
and therefore worthy of trust. It admits of many degrees up to full
assurance of faith, in accordance with the evidence on which it rests.
Faith is the result of teaching (Rom. 10:14-17). Knowledge is an
essential element in all faith, and is sometimes spoken of as an equivalent
to faith (John 10:38; 1 John 2:3). Yet the two are distinguished in this
respect, that faith includes in it assent, which is an act of the will in
addition to the act of the understanding. Assent to the truth is of the
essence of faith, and the ultimate ground on which our assent to any
revealed truth rests is the veracity of God.
Historical faith is the apprehension of and assent to certain statements
which are regarded as mere facts of history.
Temporary faith is that state of mind which is awakened in men (e.g.,
Felix) by the exhibition of the truth and by the influence of religious
sympathy, or by what is sometimes styled the common operation of the
Holy Spirit.
Saving faith is so called because it has eternal life inseparably connected
with it. It cannot be better defined than in the words of the Assembly's
Shorter Catechism: "Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we
receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the
gospel."
The object of saving faith is the whole revealed Word of God. Faith
accepts and believes it as the very truth most sure. But the special act of
faith which unites to Christ has as its object the person and the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ (John 7:38; Acts 16:31). This is the specific act of
faith by which a sinner is justified before God (Rom. 3:22, 25; Gal. 2:16;
Phil. 3:9; John 3:16-36; Acts 10:43; 16:31). In this act of faith the
believer appropriates and rests on Christ alone as Mediator in all his
offices.
This assent to or belief in the truth received upon the divine testimony
has always associated with it a deep sense of sin, a distinct view of
Christ, a consenting will, and a loving heart, together with a reliance on,
a trusting in, or resting in Christ. It is that state of mind in which a poor
sinner, conscious of his sin, flees from his guilty self to Christ his
Saviour, and rolls over the burden of all his sins on him. It consists
chiefly, not in the assent given to the testimony of God in his Word, but
in embracing with fiducial reliance and trust the one and only Saviour
whom God reveals. This trust and reliance is of the essence of faith. By
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faith the believer directly and immediately appropriates Christ as his
own. Faith in its direct act makes Christ ours. It is not a work which God
graciously accepts instead of perfect obedience, but is only the hand by
which we take hold of the person and work of our Redeemer as the only
ground of our salvation.
Saving faith is a moral act, as it proceeds from a renewed will, and a
renewed will is necessary to believing assent to the truth of God (1 Cor.
2:14; 2 Cor. 4:4). Faith, therefore, has its seat in the moral part of our
nature fully as much as in the intellectual. The mind must first be
enlightened by divine teaching (John 6:44; Acts 13:48; 2 Cor. 4:6; Eph.
1:17, 18) before it can discern the things of the Spirit. Faith is necessary
to our salvation (Mark 16:16), not because there is any merit in it, but
simply because it is the sinner's taking the place assigned him by God,
his falling in with what God is doing.
The warrant or ground of faith is the divine testimony, not the
reasonableness of what God says, but the simple fact that he says it. Faith
rests immediately on, "Thus saith the Lord." But in order to this faith the
veracity, sincerity, and truth of God must be owned and appreciated,
together with his unchangeableness. God's word encourages and
emboldens the sinner personally to transact with Christ as God's gift, to
close with him, embrace him, give himself to Christ, and take Christ as
his. That word comes with power, for it is the word of God who has
revealed himself in his works, and especially in the cross. God is to be
believed for his word's sake, but also for his name's sake.
Faith in Christ secures for the believer freedom from condemnation,
or justification before God; a participation in the life that is in Christ, the
divine life (John 14:19; Rom. 6:4-10; Eph. 4:15,16, etc.); "peace with
God" (Rom. 5:1); and sanctification (Acts 26:18; Gal. 5:6; Acts 15:9).
All who thus believe in Christ will certainly be saved (John 6:37, 40;
10:27, 28; Rom. 8:1).
The faith=the gospel (Acts 6:7; Rom. 1:5; Gal. 1:23; 1 Tim. 3:9; Jude
1:3).
Acts 6:7 The word of God continued to spread, the number of
disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly, and a large group of priests
became obedient to the faith. NET
Rom 1:5 Through him we have received grace and our apostleship to
bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles on behalf of
his name. NET
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Gal 1:23 They were only hearing, “The one who once persecuted us
is now proclaiming the good news of the faith he once tried to
destroy.” NET
1 Tim 3:9 holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.
NET
Jude 1:3 Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you
about our common salvation, I now feel compelled instead to write to
encourage you to contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all
entrusted to the saints. NET
The Gospel Defined
John 4:21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming
when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain [Mt.
Gerazim in Samaria] nor in Jerusalem. 4:22 You people [Northern
Kingdom] worship what you do not know. We worship what we
know, because salvation is from the Jews (54tn Or “from the
Judeans.”) [Southern Kingdom]. 4:23 But a time is coming—and now
is here—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit
and truth, for the Father seeks59 such people to be his worshipers.
4:24 God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in
spirit and truth.” 4:25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah
is coming” (the one called Christ); “whenever he comes, he will tell
us everything.” 4:26 Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am
he.” (brackets mine) NET
59 sn The Father wants such people as his worshipers. Note how the
woman has been concerned about where people ought to worship, while
Jesus is concerned about who people ought to worship.
When Peter was in Antioch with Paul for a time, before “certain
people came from James, he had been eating with the Gentiles. But when
they arrived, he stopped doing this, and separated himself because he was
afraid of those who were pro-circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also
joined with him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray
with them in their hypocrisy. But when I [Paul] saw that they were not
behaving consistently with the truth of the gospel …” (Gal 2:12-14ff
NET). What is the gospel? The term Christian was not used by the very
earliest people of “the Faith,” where “the Faith” and the gospel were
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considered one in the same (Acts 6:7).i Herein lies the problem of
evangelicalism, or the strict authority of the Bible. The gospel is
conceived as many things by different people. Is the gospel limited to
salvation, or is salvation limited to the gospel? Notable is the fact that
“the gospel” is preached in the book of Acts, but defined and explained
in the Epistles.
An almost universally repeated “limiting” misconception is that the
parable of the prodigal son - that never mentions faith in the Son of God -
is a picture of salvation. The prodigal son was born into a eternal
covenant relationship and needed restoration, not the regeneration of a
new birth into a new covenant. The Law, the commonwealth of Israel is
temporarily set aside in this age of grace. No one in this age may be
naturally born into a covenant relationship with God. Seeking and
finding that which is lost is not “the Father seeks such people to be His
worshippers,” which is seeking and saving. The man who sold all that he
had to buy the “pearl of great price” was not a Christian, but Christ.
A sinner minus his sins is not a Christian who can “worship in spirit
and truth.” A Christian is immeasurably more than a forgiven sinner, thus
the gospel is immensely more than the Orthodox Creed that Christ was
the “only begotten” Son of God, was born of a virgin, lived, died, was
buried, and rose again that men may be forgiven their sins. Many
consider Romans 3:21-26 as the most condensed statement of the gospel.
Regarding righteousness and justification this is true. I believe John 3:1-
21, where the work of the Holy Spirit, the new birth anōthen (again or
above), “shall not perish,” apollumi (the lost, the “marred” condition of
all the unsaved that are doomed to “perish” in eternal perdition), and
where “eternal life,” (zōēn aiōnion) is introduced. Also, this pairing of
“shall not perish” and “”eternal life” is found in John 10:28: “I give them
eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my
hand.” All this taken together, with the Johannine “lifting up” (the
incarnation to the ascension of Christ) is the simplest, purest complexus
(ideas woven together) to be expressed as the evangelical and seed of
Paul’s “my gospel.” Jesus surely gave Nicodemas the gospel message,
although not comprehended by Nicodemas at the time. In addition, Jesus
used a “we” in this passage where at least the Apostle John, if not others,
were present.
Rom 10:13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be
saved. 10:14 How are they to call on one they have not believed in?
i
see The Doctrine of Christianity and The Definition of Faith in this
Appendix.
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And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how
are they to hear without someone preaching to them? 10:15 And how
are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How timely
is the arrival of those who proclaim the good news.” 10:16 But not
all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has
believed our report?” 10:17 Consequently faith comes from what is
heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ.
NET
Dr. Lewis Chafer has the following comments regarding the
presentation of the gospel:
Especial care must be exercised by preachers who are called upon to
preach the gospel to groups or congregations. The gospel must be
presented in its purity and no requirement laid upon the unsaved
respecting works they might perform. Public methods often imply
that there is saving value in something the unsaved are asked to do.
God not only calls out His elect people through gospel preaching, but
He ever cares for those whom He saves. If evangelizing methods do
not contradict these great truths, there will be less unhappy results.
Two widely different programs for soul-winning have been
pursued in the last century [one and a half centuries], namely, those
adjusted to Arminian beliefs and those agreeable to Calvinistic views.
The Arminian practices, being aggressive and conspicuous, may be
unfortunately deemed more faithful and zealous in character. It
should be recognized, however, that there are extremes both in the
direction of zeal and overcaution. The issue here being considered
relates to practices followed by sincere and earnest men who deplore
every extreme method. The Arminian theology forms the basis for
one method of evangelism; so likewise the Calvinistic theology forms
the basis for another. Arminian theologians declare that although men
are born in depravity an enabling ability is given to them at birth
whereby they may cooperate in their salvation if they will. This
notion, unsupported by Scripture, lends encouragement to the
evangelist to press people for decisions and assumes that individuals
could accept Christ if they but will to do so. It follows that, if pressed
hard enough, any unregenerate person might be saved. That most
mass evangelism has conformed to some degree to this Arminian
theory is evident. Over against this, Calvinistic theologians contend
on the authority of the Scriptures that all men are born depraved and
that they remain so, being incapable of accepting Christ apart from
the enlightening, drawing, calling, work of the Holy Spirit. …
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John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me
draws him,66 and I will raise him up at the last day. 6:45 It is
written in the prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’
Everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to me. 6:47
I tell you the solemn truth, the one who believes has eternal life.
6:48 I am the bread of life. 6:63 The Spirit is the one who gives
life; human nature is of no help! The words that I have spoken to
you are spirit and are life. 6:64 But there are some of you who do
not believe.” (For Jesus had already known from the beginning
who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would
betray him.) 6:65 So Jesus added, “Because of this I told you that
no one can come to me unless the Father has allowed him to
come.” NET
66 sn The Father who sent me draws him. The author never
specifically explains what this “drawing” consists of. It is evidently
some kind of attraction; whether it is binding and irresistible or not is
not mentioned. But there does seem to be a parallel with 6:65, where
Jesus says that no one is able to come to him unless the Father has
allowed it. This apparently parallels the use of Isaiah by John to
reflect the spiritual blindness of the Jewish leaders (see the quotations
from Isaiah in John 9:41 and 12:39-40).
The point at issue is that, when the Spirit undertakes His work of
bringing men to Christ, there will be little need of persuasive
methods. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God on the lips of a
devoted servant or on a printed page, and men hearing the truth and
believing are saved. …
Of three times in which the word evangelist occurs within the
New Testament, its place in Ephesians 4:11 is the most significant.
The use of the term in this passage is with reference to the pioneer
missionary who takes the message of salvation to regions beyond,
where it has never gone. The revivalist laboring among churches and
evangelized fields which are more or less spiritually dormant has no
recognition as such in the Bible, though there is no Scripture against
that type of ministry. A peculiar unreality must be seen in any
spasmodic reviving when it is certain that the church thus stimulated
will, for want of right direction and discipline thereafter, return at
once to its unspiritual state. The evangelist’s message by its very
nature should be addressed to the unsaved and restricted to the theme
of salvation. Should themes related to Christian living be introduced,
the attention of the unsaved is at once removed from the one and only
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issue which concerns them to another and wholly irrelevant
proposition, namely, whether they will adopt some manner of life
which they, by reason of being unsaved, are utterly disqualified to
consider. No minister needs more to possess the full knowledge of
God’s truth than does the evangelist or the one who attempts to
preach the gospel of saving grace.i
In the above commentary the point is made concerning “spasmodic
revival” and the total lack of “qualification for the unsaved to even
consider adopting some manner of life.” My observation of the Arminian
soul-winning program, described above, is that the cart has been placed
woefully in front of two blind horses. Which is to say, that a church
attending American in an “evangelized field” of Arminianism cannot be
“revived” by more of the same. By virtue of the fact that “faith comes
from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word
of Christ” the Arminian has never had the gospel of the grace of God
presented, accordingly they are not evangelized and “utterly disqualified
to consider the adoption of some manner of life.”
Throughout this paper, I use the term Positive gospel as an aide to
introducing the concept of the biblically correct terminology of “my
gospel” of the Apostle Paul, which is defined below. My use of the term
Negative gospel of righteousness is to characterize “another gospel” that
is less than God’s sufficient grace revealed in “my gospel.” The Negative
gospel is limited to the death of Christ and forgiveness of personal sins,
whereas, the Positive gospel includes the death, but is focused upon the
“power of God’ in the resurrection of Christ. Dr. Lewis Chafer comments
on the gospel that Paul spread to the world, “In disclosing the factors
which enter into Christianity, the Apostle to whom this revelation was
given places the resurrection of Christ in a central and all important
position. The death of Christ provides, but the resurrection constructs.
Through Christ’s death demerit is canceled and the merit of Christ is
made available, but by the resurrection of Christ the new Headship over a
perfected New Creation is established forever.” ii
Additionally, throughout this paper, I use the term Positive gospel
interchangeably with the Gospel of the grace of God. Numerous common
misconceptions exist and, for this reason, the dual terms keep in the
foreview God’s work of grace and, secondly, to direct the tension
between the Positive and Negative gospel – to point to the fact that there
is a false and a true gospel within Christianity; much like the OT
i
Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 7 pp 144-46
ii
Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 7, p 81)
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
differences within Judaism, where the Northern Kingdom (the
Samaritans, the ten tribes and the elected kingly line of Jeroboami)
worshipped golden calves, instituted non-Levitcal priests, and had no
“good” kings, whereas, the Southern Kingdom (the Judeans and the
Davidic kingly line of promise) did not, which continued until the time
that Jesus met the woman on the Samaritan holy mountain of false
Judaism established by Jeroboam. And, lastly, the dual terminology is to
lay emphasis on the need to be aware that there is truly a second and
continuing aspect of salvation provided to a new child of God that must
be believed. This being, the work of the Intercessor and Advocate, the
resurrected ascended Christ, who pleads His sufficiency before the
Father each and every time a believer sins, irrespective of that believer’s
knowledge or confession of his sin. This second aspect of salvation
includes, also, the indwelling Holy Spirit of “truth” and the judgment of
the sin nature by Christ on His cross that saves the believer from the
power of sin. The indwelling Holy Spirit encompasses the unbounded
enablement “to worship in spirit and truth,” the “qualification to adopt
some manner of life” which is the power for daily living revealed in the
i
Easton’s Bible Dictionary. (1.) The son of Nebat (1 Kings 11:26-39), "an
Ephrathite," the first king of the ten tribes, over whom he reigned twenty-two years
(B.C. 976-945). He was the son of a widow of Zereda, and while still young was
promoted by Solomon to be chief superintendent of the "burnden", i.e., of the bands
of forced labourers. Influenced by the words of the prophet Ahijah, he began to form
conspiracies with the view of becoming king of the ten tribes; but these having been
discovered, he fled to Egypt (1 Kings 11:29-40), where he remained for a length of
time under the protection of Shishak I. On the death of Solomon, the ten tribes,
having revolted, sent to invite him to become their king. The conduct of Rehoboam
favoured the designs of Jeroboam, and he was accordingly proclaimed "king of
Israel" (1 Kings 12: 1-20). He rebuilt and fortified Shechem as the capital of his
kingdom. He at once adopted means to perpetuate the division thus made between the
two parts of the kingdom, and erected at Dan and Bethel, the two extremities of his
kingdom, "golden calves," which he set up as symbols of Jehovah, enjoining the
people not any more to go up to worship at Jerusalem, but to bring their offerings to
the shrines he had erected. Thus he became distinguished as the man "who made
Israel to sin." This policy was followed by all the succeeding kings of Israel.
While he was engaged in offering incense at Bethel, a prophet from Judah appeared
before him with a warning message from the Lord. Attempting to arrest the prophet
for his bold words of defiance, his hand was "dried up," and the altar before which he
stood was rent asunder. At his urgent entreaty his "hand was restored him again" (1
Kings 13:1-6, 9; comp. 2 Kings 23:15); but the miracle made no abiding impression
on him. His reign was one of constant war with the house of Judah. He died soon
after his son Abijah (1 Kings 14:1-18).
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Oracles of Truth.i To maintain an incorrect or shallow view of the gospel
of the grace of God, to mingle Scripture concerning Israel and the
Church, is to deprive and censor the knowledge of Christianity its most
far reaching benefits.
The following defining statements of “the gospel” are given by Dr.
Lewis Chafer and, secondly, by Dr. C.I. Scofield.
I. MY GOSPEL (ROM 2:16), which designation is used by the Apostle
[Paul] when referring to all the revelation that was given him in
Arabia (cf. Gal 1:11-12) and also the revelation respecting the Church
as the one Body of Christ composed, as it is, of believing Jews and
Gentiles. To all this should be added the range of truth which sets
forth the Christian’s peculiar responsibility in daily life, with the new
and incomparable provisions for holy living through the power of the
indwelling Holy Spirit. The Apostle’s designation “my gospel,” is
equivalent to Christianity when a direct, constructive, and unrelated
(to Judaism, etc.) consideration of Christianity is in view.
As a summarization, it may be restated that Christianity
incorporates the gospel of divine grace which is based on the death
and resurrection of Christ, the fact of the one Body with all its
relationships and destiny, and the new and vital way of life through
the Holy Spirit’s enablement. (Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Sperry
Chafer, Vol 7, p 77)
Dr. Lewis Chafer writes in more detail concerning Paul’s “my gospel, (in
this extended citation) which comprehends the spiritual Church, the
mystical Body of Christ in all its “fullness” revealed in Scripture:
The term έκκλησία, translated church or assembly, means a
called-out company. Its counterpart in the Old Testament is the
congregation; but Israel’s congregation was never the true Church of
the New Testament. Israel constituted nevertheless an assembly in the
wilderness (Acts 7:38) as did the mob of Ephesus in the theater
likewise (Acts 9:32, 41). The deeper spiritual use of the word church
refers to a company of saved people who are by their salvation called
out from called out from the world into living organic union with
Christ to form His mystical Body over which He is the Head. That
outward form of church which is a mere assembly of people must be
restricted to those of one generation, indeed of one locality, and may
i
He That is Spiritual by Lewis Sperry Chafer (Zondervan) will provide the
understanding for this wonderful aspect of Christian living.
λήρωµα – i.e., fullness [Gk. pleroma] – of Christ. (John
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include the unsaved as well as the saved. Over against this, the
Church which is Christ’s body and Bride is composed of people of all
generations since the Church began to be, is not confined to one
locality, and includes all those who are actually saved. The spiritual
meaning is thus seen to be far removed from mere recognition of a
building which may be called a church, a congregation however
organized, or any form of sectarian constituency.
The Pauline doctrine of true or spiritual Church is second only in
importance to the doctrine of salvation by grace. That salvation of
which he wrote leads to and provides the supernatural material out of
which the true Church is being formed. The two taken together
constitute what the Apostle termed “my gospel.” Both of the
doctrines which composed his gospel were a revelation to the Apostle
directly from God (Gal 1:11-12; Eph 3:1-6). Each revelation
concerned hitherto unannounced and, up to the Day of Pentecost,
nonexisting conceptions. Exception to this general statement may be
found in the doctrinal patterns set forth by certain Old Testament
types which foreshadow phases of truth belonging to the Church
alone, and as well by the first twelve chapters of John’s Gospel in
which Christ is held up as a Savior which was afterwards gained
through His actual death and resurrection. That the true Church was
only an anticipation during the earthly ministry of Christ may be
demonstrated in various ways. Christ Himself declared it to be yet
future (Matt 16:18), a crucified and risen Savior had not yet become
the Object of saving faith (Gal 3:23-25), and no one could believe in
or preach the present grace-salvation at a time when he did not
believe that Christ would die or be raised from the dead (Luke 18:31-
34). There could be no Church until it was purchased with His
precious blood (Eph 5:25-27), until He arose to give it resurrection
life (Col 3:1-3), until He ascended to be the Head over all things to
the Church (Eph 1:20-23), or until the Spirit came on Pentecost
through whom the Church might be formed into one Body and
through whom the Church might be co-ordinated by His indwelling
presence.
God has four classes of intelligent creatures in His universe –
angels, Jews, Gentiles, and Christians – and there is more difference
to be observed between Christians and either Jews or Gentiles than
between angels and Jews and Gentiles. Should this statement seem
extreme, it must be because the true and exalted character of the
Christian is not comprehended. No angel is the son of God by actual
generating birth from above, nor is any angel made to stand before
God in the
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1:16), which fullness is the
λήρωµα of the Godhead bodily (Col commonwealth, an organized nation; the Church is an organism very
2:9-10).
Human history on earth has extended at least six thousand years.
This long time may be divided into three periods of approximately
two thousand years each: from Adam to Abraham two thousand
years, with but one stock or kind of people in the world; from
Abraham to Christ another two thousand years, with two kinds of
people in the world – Gentiles and Jews, and from Christ’s first
advent to the present and indeed to His second advent, with three
kinds of people in the world – Gentiles, Jews, and Christians.
No Scripture is addressed to angels and very little to Gentiles.
About three-fourths of the Bible concerns Israel directly and about
one-fourth concerns the Church. Failure to discern between Judaism
and Christianity, as the case is with many theologians, proves
misleading and wholly without excuse. No attitude of men toward
God’s truth is more revelatory respecting their habitual neglect of a
personal, unprejudiced study of the Bible than the implications and
suppositions which some advance concerning God’s purpose in the
world. That He has been doing but one thing and following but one
purpose on earth is a far-reaching error.
There is abundant Scripture to indicate that the present divine
purpose must be the out-calling of the Church from both Gentiles and
Jews.
Seven figures are employed in the New Testament to set forth the
relation which exists between Christ and the Church. All seven are
needed to the end that the whole revelation respecting this
relationship may be disclosed. In connection with each figure and as
its parallel there is a similar truth to be observed regarding Israel. (1)
Christ is the Shepherd and Christians are the sheep. Israel, too, was
the flock of God and the sheep of His pasture. This language brings
out Christ’s shepherd care and the helplessness of His sheep. (2)
Christ is the Vine and believers of today are the branches. Israel was
Jehovah’s vineyard. This comparison speaks of Christ’s strength and
life being imparted, without which nothing could be done to enhance
His glory. (3) Christ is the chief Cornerstone and Christians are the
building. Israel had a temple, but the Church is a living temple for the
habitation of God through the Spirit. Here the figure conveys the
thought of interdependence and indwelling. (4) Christ is the High
Priest and New Testament believers are a kingdom of priests. Israel
had a priesthood; the Church in its entirety is a priesthood. This
figurative introduces truth respecting worship and service. (5) Christ
is the Head of the Church which is the Body. Israel was a
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much alive by reason of partaking of one life and being related to its
living Head. This comparison speaks of vital relationship and gifts for
service. (6) Christ is the Head of a New Creation and Christians are
with Him in that Creation as its vital members. Israel was of the old
creation and attached to the earth; the Church is of the New Creation
and related to heaven. This figure dwells upon the believer’s marvels
of position and standing, since he is in Christ. (7) Christ is the
Bridegroom and the Church is His Bride. Israel was the repudiated
(yet to be restored) wife of Jehovah; the Church is the espoused virgin
Bride of Christ. This relationship for Christians, foreseen in various
types, is all of another sphere and future. It sets forth the glory of
Christ in which the Church as His Bride will share above. What
marvelous things are wrought in this company of believers that they
should become suitable as a bride for the Second Person of the
Godhead and such a one as will ravish His heart throughout all
eternity.
Pauline Ecclesiology is divided into three major divisions of
doctrine: (1) the Church which is Christ’s Body, His Bride, His
fullness (John 1:16; Col 2:9-10), and He is made full in them (Eph
1:22-23); (2) the local church, which is an assembly composed of
those who in any locality profess to be followers of Christ; and (3) the
high calling for a daily life in conformity with the position which the
believer sustains, being in Christ. Along with this is the doctrine of
the empowering, indwelling Spirit by whom alone the high calling
can be realized. It is evident from the Bible that God had a rule of life
for Israel which was the law of Moses, and that He will yet have a
legal requirement for them in the future kingdom. It is equally evident
that He has indicated the manner of life which belongs to the
Christian, and that it rests not on a merit basis, but calls for a life to be
lived on the exalted standards of heaven itself. Let no student imagine
that he has progressed far in sound doctrine if he does not
comprehend the consistent teaching of the New Testament which
declares that the Christian is not under the Law of Moses or any other
form of obligation which has for aim the securing of merit.
It is never taught in the Scriptures that Israel as a nation will
appear in heaven, though this destiny is open at present to individual
believers from among the Jews. The destiny of the nation is earthly,
extending on forever into the new earth which is yet to be. The
destiny of the Church is heavenly. As His Bride and Body, the
Church will be with the Bridegroom and Head wherever He goes.
(Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 7, pp 127-30)
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Dr. C. I. Scofield writes:
II. (4) That which Paul calls my Gospel (Rom 2:16). This is the
Gospel of the grace of God in its fullest development, but includes the
revelation of the result of that Gospel in the outcalling of the church,
her relationships, positions, privileges, and responsibility. It is the
distinctive truth of Ephesians and Colossians, but interpenetrates all
of Paul’s writings.
(2) The gospel of the grace of God. This is the good news that
Jesus Christ, the rejected King, has died on the cross for the sins of
the world, that He was raised from the dead for our justification, and
that by Him all that believe are justified from all things.
This form of the Gospel is described in many ways. It is the
Gospel “of God” (Rom 1:1) it originates in His love; “of Christ”
(2 Cor 10:14) because it flows from His sacrifice, and because He
is the alone Object of Gospel faith; of “the grace of God” (Acts
20:24) because it saves those whom the law curses; of the glory (1
Tim 1:11; 2 Cor 4:4) because it concerns Him who is in the glory,
and who is bringing the many sons to glory (Heb 2:10); of “our
salvation” (Eph 1:13) because it is the “power of God unto our
salvation to everyone that believeth” (Rom 1:16); of “the
uncircumcision” (Gal 2:7) because it saves wholly apart from
forms and ordinances; of peace (Eph 6:15) because through
Christ it makes peace between the sinner and God, and imparts
inward peace.
III. There is “another Gospel” (Gal 1:6; 2 Cor 11:4) “which is not
another,” but a perversion of the Gospel of the grace of God, against
which we are warned. It has had many seductive forms, but the test is
one – it invariably denies the sufficiency of grace alone to save, keep,
and perfect, and mingles with grace some kind of human merit. In
Galatia it was law, in Colosse fanaticism (Col 2:18, etc.). In any form
it teaches a lie under the awful anathema of God.
(1) The Gospel of the kingdom. This is the good news that God
purposes to set up on the earth, in fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant
(2 Sam 7:16 and refs.), a kingdom, political, spiritual, Israelitish,
universal, over which God’s Son, David’s heir, shall be King, and
which shall be, for one thousand years, shall be the manifestation of
the righteousness of God in human affairs.
Two preachings of this gospel are mentioned, one past, beginning
with the ministry of John the Baptist, continued by our Lord and His
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disciples, and ending with the Jewish rejection of the King. The other
is yet future (Mtw 24:14), during the great tribulation, and
immediately preceding the coming of the King in glory. (Old
Scofield Study System, Dr. C. I. Scofield, p. 1343) (bold highlights
mine)
The Origins of the Gospel of the Grace of God verses
Gal 1:11 Now I [Paul] want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the
gospel I preached is not of human origin. 1:12 For I did not receive it or
learn it from any human source; instead I received it by a revelation of
Jesus Christ. (brackets mine) NET
Gal 1:15 But when the one who set me apart from birth and called me by
his grace was pleased 1:16 to reveal his Son in me so that I could preach
him among the Gentiles, I did not go to ask advice from any human
being, NET
Eph 3:3 that by revelation the divine secret was made known to me, as I
wrote before briefly. 3:4 When reading this, you will be able to
understand my insight into this secret of Christ. 3:5 Now this secret was
not disclosed to people in former generations as it has now been revealed
to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, 3:6 namely, that through
the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and
fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. NET
Eph 3:8ff … to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of
Christ 3:9 and to enlighten everyone about God’s secret plan—a secret
that has been hidden for ages in God who has created all things. 3:10 The
purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church the multifaceted
wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities
in the heavenly realms. NET
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Obey the Gospel Verses
Key Verse
The gift of salvation was accomplished in a twofold manner: (1) the
perfect obedience of Jesus to His Father’s will resulted in the very Word
of God that we believe, for “God has granted the Gentiles repentance
unto [Strong’s #2222=eternal] life” (Acts, (2) the Father’s
commandment to “obey the gospel” “leads to eternal life (NIV)”; “and I
know his commandment is life everlasting (KJV).”
John 12:48 The one who rejects me and does not accept my words has a
judge; the word I have spoken will judge him at the last day. 12:49 For I
have not spoken from my own authority, but the Father himself who sent
me has commanded me what I should say and what I should speak. 12:50
And I know that his commandment is [tn Or “his commandment results
in eternal life.”] eternal life. Thus the things I say, I say just as the Father
has told me.” NET
“It is revealed that the perfect manhood of Christ was wholly subject
to the will of His Father. It is written of Him that, “when he cometh into
the world, he saith, … Lo, I come … to do thy will, O God” (Heb 10:5-7;
cf. Ps 40:6-8). There could be no perfect humanity or creaturehood which
is not completely subject to the will of God; and the first step in salvation
on the part of those for whom redemption is provided is that they shall
obey the gospel (Acts 5:32; 2 Thess 1:8; Heb 5:9; 1 Pet 4:7). With this
provision in view there is no need that any should be lost who desire to
be saved.” (Systematic Theology, Dr. Lewis Chafer, Vol 1, p 239)
Heb 10:5 So when he came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for
me.
10:6 “Whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you took no delight in.
10:7 “Then I said, ‘Here I am: I have come—it is written of me in the
scroll of the book—to do your will, O God.’”
10:8 When he says above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt
offerings and sin-offerings you did not desire nor did you take delight
in them” (which are offered according to the law), 10:9 then he says,
“Here I am: I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first to
establish the second. 10:10 By his will we have been made holy through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. NET
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1) 1 John 3:23 Now this is his commandment:75 that we believe in the
name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave76
us the commandment. NET
75tn This verse begins with the phrase kaiV au{th ejstivn (kai
{auth estin; cf. the similar phrase in 3:11 and 1:5), which is explained by
the following i{na (Jina) clause, “that we believe in the name of his
Son Jesus Christ.” The i{na thus introduces a clause which is (1)
epexegetical (explanatory) or (2) appositional. By analogy the similar
phrase in 3:11 is also followed by an epexegetical i{na clause and the
phrase in 1:5 by an epexegetical o{ti (Joti) clause.
76sn The author of 1 John repeatedly attributes the commandments given
to believers as given by God the Father, even though in John 13:34-35 it
was Jesus who gave the commandment to love one another. 2 John 4-5
also attributes the commandment to love one another directly to the
Father. Thus it is clear that God the Father is the subject of the verb gave
here in 3:23.
2) 1 John 3:11 For this is the gospel message that you have heard from
the beginning: that we should love one another, NET
“The schism in the Johannine Community is being fought over
what one is willing to confess about Jesus – is it salvifically important
that he lived in the flesh? If one believes, one has to be willing to
confess that belief in formulas which may prove costly to one’s
welfare and one’s life! Some scholars would deprecate this Johannine
“dogmatic” faith in favor of the “purer” Pauline concept of faith as
trust in Jesus and obedience to God. Even laying aside the fact that
Paul did not hesitate to formulate the gospel in creedal language
(Rom 1:3-4), one may wonder how long Christians could go on
trusting in Jesus without having to formulate their evaluation of the
one in whom they trusted. In any case, faith is scarcely univocal; and
in the Johannine Community a faith that refused to take a
christological stand would not have been worthy of a disciple.
Another query, less oriented by outside prejudices, may be
directed to the twofold definition of God’s commandment in 3:23.
Granted the inclusion with 3:11, how good a summary of “the gospel”
is this commandment? The double commandment of the Synoptic
tradition (Mark 12:28-31, and par.) offers a parallel attempt to say
what is crucial: love of God and love of neighbor as yourself. I John
offers instead [cf. Gal 5:6, “faith working through love] belief in
Jesus and love of one another, and the differences are not accidental.
868

As for the first two elements, belief in Jesus (as God’s Son) is a
Johannine interpretation of the love of God: “This is how the love of
God was revealed in us: that God has sent His only Son into the world
… as an atonement [propitiation, satisfaction. this writer] for our
sins” (I John 4:9-10). And for the second of these elements, the
Johannine Community history of persecution has led to a stress on the
love of one’s “brother” or fellow Community member, rather than a
wider love of neighbor [cf. the response of Jesus to the lawyer’s
question in the gospel of Luke, “Who is my neighbor?” was a
reversal. Jesus proposed that the Samaritan was one who “becomes
your neighbor,” as an extension of mercy, rather than someone
recognized beforehand as your neighbor. this writer]. F. Mussner,
“Eine neutestamentliche Kurzformel fur das Christentum, Trier
Theologishe Zeitschrift 79 (1970) 49-52” has suggested that I John
might serve very well as the NT sentence that best expresses the
essence of Christianity. The theology that underlies it makes clear
that faith in Jesus is really a faith in God whose Son he is; that
Christian life begins with the vertical action by this God in sending
His Son; that what we do comes after what God has done; and that
our love is a horizontal but essential continuation of the vertical love
that God has shown. In its own way it refutes a dogmatic
conservatism which makes creedal orthodoxy the only criterion, a
fideism [religious knowledge depends on faith and revelation] in
which giving of oneself to Jesus is all that matters, and a liberalism
which defines Christianity simply as a way to live. And it does all this
in a pedagogical order whereby through faith we learn about love.”
The last verse of this unit (3:24) shows how far the author is from
a legalistic understanding of keeping the twofold commandment he
has enunciated, for he relates it to abiding in God, the closest type of
intimate union. The two statements he makes about abiding in God
supply an interesting contrast. On our part the abiding is conditioned
upon keeping the commandments given by God; but on God’s part
our abiding stems from His giving the Spirit, which is not
conditioned. The same God who gave the commandment (3:23c) gave
the Spirit that enables us to live out the commandment. The author
introduces the notion of the Spirit here in preparation for the unit on
testing the Spirits, which is to follow (4:1-6). But the sequence from
commandment to Spirit, which seems strange to some commentators,
is perfectly understandable if the author is commenting upon the Last
Discourse – a comment that in turn is more understandable if Part
Two of I GJohn has in mind Part Two of GJohn [Book of Signs
chapters 1-12, Book of Glory chapters 13-21. this writer]. The
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commandment he has spoken of, “Love one another,” is first
proclaimed in John 13:34; and the Paraclete passages come in 14:15-
17,25-26. The commandment to love is reiterated in 15:12,17; and the
next Paraclete passages come in 15:26-27 and 16:7-13. Besides being
associated in the Last Discourse, commandment and Spirit would
have been associated in the catechesis related to conversion/initia-
tion/baptism. If the basic commandment annunciated in 3:23 would
have been the stipulation of the New Covenant, Ezekiel (36:27) had
made an essential an essential part of the newness-to-come: “I will
put my Spirit in your midst.” At Qumran (1 QS 4:21-22) it is
promised that God will pour out the Spirit of truth upon those whom
he has chosen for an everlasting covenant. And I John 2:27 has
already spoken of an anointing (with the Holy Spirit) received by the
Johannine Christians, almost certainly when they entered the Com-
munity. The reference to baptizing with the Spirit in John 1:33 and to
begetting by water and Spirit in John 3:5 makes it very plausible that
the notion of God giving the Spirit was associated with the baptismal
part of the entrance ceremony. Indeed, the frequency with which the
NT uses the verb “to give” in relation to the Spirit may mean that this
a set Christian description for the baptismal conferring of the Spirit.
In NT thought it is not unusual to find the Spirit as a type of
criterion or pledge. For instance, Rom 8:14 states, “As many as are
led by the Spirit are sons of God,” while II Cor 1:22 speaks of God
“having given the pledge of the Spirit that He gave us” (3:24d?). How
does an invisible Spirit that the world cannot see or recognize (John
14:17) show that God abides in us? In the NOTE on 3:24d I mention
some proposals that are not convincing in my judgment. The answer
may be found in the next unit in I John 4:2: “Now this is how you can
know the Spirit of God: Everyone who confesses Jesus Christ come
in the flesh reflects the Spirit which belongs to God.” One may know
that God abides in Christians from the fact that they profess a true
faith about His Son, and they can do that only if they only if the
Paraclete has taught them. This is in perfect harmony with I John 2:27
where no human teacher is needed because the anointing (with the
Holy Spirit) teaches the Christians about all things. In the next unit of
I John the function of the Spirit/Paraclete who bears witness against
the world (John 16:8-11); for according to I John 4:2-6 the true faith
confessed by those who have the Spirit that belongs to God will
unmask the secessionist, who belong to the world. The author’s
argument against the secessionist in 3:23-24 is by way of reminding
his adherents of the time when they left the world to join the
Johannine Community, when they were baptized with water and the
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Spirit, when they accepted as part of the New Covenant the command
to love one another, as through the Spirit they professed Jesus as the
Christ, the Son of God, receiving life in His name. (The Anchor Bible
– The Epistles of John, Dr. R. E. Brown, pp 481-84)
3) Mtw 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter
into the kingdom of heaven—only the one who does the will of my
Father in heaven. 7:22 On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord,
Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out
demons and do many powerful deeds?’ 7:23 Then I will declare to
them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’ NET
4) Mark 8:35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it.
NET
5) John 1:12 But to all who have received him—those who believe in
his name—he has given the right to become God’s children 1:13 —
children not born by human parents or by human desire or a
husband’s decision, but by God. NET
6) John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn
the world, but that the world should be saved through him. 3:18 The
one who believes in him is not condemned. The one who does not
believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in
the name of the one and only Son of God. 3:19 Now this is the basis
for judging: that the light has come into the world and people loved
the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. 3:20
For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come
to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. 3:21 But the one
who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly
evident that his deeds have been done in God. NET
7) John 3:31 The one who comes from above is superior to all. The
one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about
earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is superior to all.
3:32 He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but no one
accepts his testimony. 3:33 The one who has accepted his testimony
has confirmed clearly that God is truthful. 3:34 For the one whom
God has sent speaks the words of God, for he does not give the Spirit
sparingly. 3:35 The Father loves the Son and has placed all things
under his authority. 3:36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal
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life. The one who rejects the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath
remains on him. NET
8) John 5:22 Furthermore, the Father does not judge anyone, but has
assigned all judgment to the Son, 5:23 so that all people will honor
the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor
the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. NET
9) John 6:28 So then they said to him, “What must we do to
accomplish the deeds God requires?” 6:29 Jesus replied, “This is the
deed God requires—to believe in the one whom he sent.” NET
10) John 6:40 For this is the will of my Father—for everyone who looks
on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life, and I will raise
him up at the last day.” NET
11) John 7:38 let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture
says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water.’” 7:39 (Now
he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were
going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus
was not yet glorified.) NET
12) John 8:23 Jesus replied, “You people are from below; I am from
above. You people are from this world; I am not from this world.
8:24 Thus I told you that you will die in your sins. For unless you
believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.” NET
13) John 8:28 Then Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then
you will know that I am he, and I do nothing on my own initiative,
but I speak just what the Father taught me. 8:29 And the one who
sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do
those things that please him.” 8:30 While he was saying these things,
many people believed in him. NET
14) John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, so he found the
man and said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 9:36 The
man replied, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 9:37
Jesus told him, “You have seen him; he is the one speaking with
you.” [ 9:38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 9:39
Jesus said,] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that those
who do not see may gain their sight, and the ones who see may
become blind.”
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9:40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and asked
him, “We are not blind too, are we?” 9:41 Jesus replied, “If you were
blind, you would not be guilty of sin, but now because you claim that
you can see, your guilt remains.” NET
15) John 12:49 For I have not spoken from my own authority, but the
Father himself who sent me has commanded me what I should say
and what I should speak. 12:50 And I know that his commandment is
eternal life. Thus the things I say, I say just as the Father has told
me.” NET
16) John 16:27 For the Father himself loves you, because you have
loved me and have believed that I came from God. NET
17) John 17:6 “I have revealed your name to the men you gave me out
of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and
they have obeyed your word. NET
18) John 20:27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and
examine my hands. Extend your hand and put it into my side. Do not
continue in your unbelief, but believe.” 20:28 Thomas replied to
him, “My Lord and my God!” NET
52sn Should Thomas’ exclamation be understood as two subjects with
the rest of the sentence omitted (“My Lord and my God has truly risen
from the dead”), as predicate nominatives (“You are my Lord and my
God”), or as vocatives (“My Lord and my God!”)? Probably the most
likely is something between the second and third alternatives. It seems
that the second is slightly more likely here, because the context appears
confessional. Thomas’ statement, while it may have been an
exclamation, does in fact confess the faith which he had previously
lacked, and Jesus responds to Thomas’ statement in the following verse
as if it were a confession. With the proclamation by Thomas here, it is
difficult to see how any more profound analysis of Jesus’ person could
be given. It echoes 1:1 and 1:14 together: The Word was God, and the
Word became flesh (Jesus of Nazareth). The Fourth Gospel opened with
many other titles for Jesus: the Lamb of God (1:29, 36); the Son of God
(1:34, 49); Rabbi ; Messiah ; the King of Israel ; the Son of Man . Now
the climax is reached with the proclamation by Thomas, “My Lord and
my God,” and the reader has come full circle from 1:1, where the author
had introduced him to who Jesus was, to 20:28, where the last of the
disciples has come to the full realization of who Jesus was. What Jesus
had predicted in John 8:28 had come to pass: “When you lift up the Son
of Man, then you will know that I am he” (Grk “I am”). By being lifted
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up in crucifixion (which led in turn to his death, resurrection, and
exaltation with the Father) Jesus has revealed his true identity as both
Lord (kuvrio" [kurios], used by the LXX to translate Yahweh) and
God (qeov" [qeos], used by the LXX to translate Elohim).
19) Acts 3:22 Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a
prophet like me from among your brothers. You must obey him in
everything he tells you.64 3:23 Every person65 who does not obey
that prophet will be destroyed and thus removed66 from the
people.’67 NET
64sn A quotation from Deut 18:15. By quoting Deut 18:15 Peter declared
that Jesus was the eschatological “prophet like [Moses]” mentioned in
that passage, who reveals the plan of God and the way of God.
65tn Grk “on every soul” (here “soul” is an idiom for the whole person).
66tn Or “will be completely destroyed.” In Acts 3:23 the verb
(exolethreuō) is translated “destroy and remove” by L&N 20.35.
67sn A quotation from Deut 18:19, also Lev 23:29. The OT context of
Lev 23:29 discusses what happened when one failed to honor atonement.
One ignored the required sacrifice of God at one’s peril.
20) Acts 5:32 And we are witnesses of these events, and so is the Holy
Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” NET
( NASB, KJV, NIV, AMP all read the same)
21) Acts 6:7 The word of God continued to spread, the number of
disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly, and a large group of priests
became obedient to the faith. NET
22) Acts 17:30 Therefore, although God has overlooked such times of
ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent, 17:31
because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in
righteousness, by a man whom he designated, having provided proof
to everyone by raising him from the dead.” NET
23) Rom 1:5 Through him we have received grace and our apostleship
to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles on
behalf of his name. NET
24) Rom 2:8 but wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition
and do not obey the truth but follow unrighteousness. NET
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25) Rom 2:13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous
before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous .
NET
26) Rom 3:31 Do we then nullify the law through faith? Absolutely not!
Instead we uphold the law. NET
27) Rom 6:16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves as
obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin
resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness? NET
28) Rom 10:13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be
saved. 10:14 How are they to call on one they have not believed in?
And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how
are they to hear without someone preaching to them? 10:15 And how
are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How timely
is the arrival of those who proclaim the good news.” 10:16 But not
all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has
believed our report?” 10:17 Consequently faith comes from what is
heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ.
NET
29) Rom 16:25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to
my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the
revelation of the mystery that had been kept secret for long ages,
16:26 but now is disclosed, and through the prophetic scriptures has
been made known to all the nations, according to the command of
the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— 16:27 to the
only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be glory forever! Amen. NET
30) 2 Cor 9:13 Through the evidence of this service they will glorify
God because of your obedience to your confession in the gospel of
Christ and the generosity of your sharing with them and with
everyone. NET
31) Gal 2:19 For through the law I died to the law so that I may live to
God. 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who
live, but Christ lives in me. NET
32) Eph 1:13 And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your
salvation)—when you believed in Christ—you were marked with the
seal of the promised Holy Spirit, 1:14 who is the down payment of
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our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, to the
praise of his glory. NET
33) Thess 1:8 With flaming fire he will mete out punishment on those
who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
NET
34) 2 Thess 2:9 The arrival of the lawless one will be by Satan’s
working with all kinds of miracles and signs and false wonders, 2:10
and with every kind of evil deception directed against those who are
perishing, because they found no place in their hearts for the truth so
as to be saved. NET
35) 2 Thess 2:13 But we ought to give thanks for you always, brothers
and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the
beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith
in the truth. 2:14 He called you to this salvation through our gospel,
so that you may possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. NET
36) 2 Tim 2:24 And the Lord’s slave must not engage in heated disputes
but be kind toward all, an apt teacher, patient, 2:25 correcting
opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance
and then knowledge of the truth 2:26 and they will come to their
senses and escape the devil’s trap where they are held captive to do
his will. NET
37) Heb 3:17 And against whom was God provoked for forty years?
Was it not those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the
wilderness? 3:18 And to whom did he swear they would never enter
into his rest, except those who were disobedient? 3:19 So we see that
they could not enter because of unbelief. 4:1 Therefore we must be
wary that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none
of you may seem to have come short of it. 4:2 For we had good news
proclaimed to us just as they did. But the message they heard did
them no good, since they did not join in with those who heard it in
faith. 4:3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,
“As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’” And yet
God’s works were accomplished from the foundation of the world.
4:4 For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this way:
“And God rested on the seventh day from all his works,” 4:5 but to
repeat the text cited earlier: “They will never enter my rest!” 4:6
Therefore it remains for some to enter it, yet those to whom it was
previously proclaimed did not enter because of disobedience. 4:7 So
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God again ordains a certain day, “Today,” speaking through David
after so long a time, as in the words quoted before, “O, that today
you would listen as he speaks! Do not harden your hearts.” 4:8 For
if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken afterward
about another day. 4:9 Consequently a Sabbath rest remains for the
people of God. 4:10 For the one who enters God’s rest has also
rested from his works, just as God did from his own works. 4:11
Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may
fall by following the same pattern of disobedience. NET
38) Heb 5:8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through the
things he suffered. 5:9 And by being perfected in this way, he
became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, NET
39) 1 Pet 1:2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by being
set apart by the Spirit for obedience and for sprinkling with Jesus
Christ’s blood. May grace and peace be yours in full measure! NET
40) 1 Pet 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin, starting with the
house of God. And if it starts with us, what will be the fate of those
who are disobedient to the gospel of God? NET
41) 1 Pet 2:7 So you who believe see his value, but for those who do not
believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the
cornerstone, 2:8 and a stumbling-stone and a rock to trip over.
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined
to do. NET
42) 1 Peter 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin, starting with the
house of God. And if it starts with us, what will be the fate of those
who are disobedient to the gospel of God? NET
43) 1 John 3:23 Now this is his commandment: that we believe in the
name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave us
the commandment. 3:24 And the person who keeps his
commandments resides in God, and God in him. Now by this we
know that God resides in us: by the Spirit he has given us. NET
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Turning to Light from Darkness Verses
Key verse
John 12:35 Jesus replied, “The light is with you for a little while longer.
Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake
you.75 The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is
going. 12:36 While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you
may become sons of light.”76 When Jesus had said these things, he went
away and hid himself from them. NET
75sn The warning Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may
not overtake you operates on at least two different levels: (1) To the Jewish
people in Jerusalem to whom Jesus spoke, the warning was a reminder that
there was only a little time left for them to accept him as their Messiah. (2)
To those later individuals to whom the Fourth Gospel was written, and to
every person since, the words of Jesus are also a warning: There is a finite,
limited time in which each individual has opportunity to respond to the Light
of the world (i.e., Jesus); after that comes darkness. One’s response to the
Light decisively determines one’s judgment for eternity.
76tn The idiom “sons of light” means essentially “people characterized by
light,” that is, “people of God.”
sn The expression sons of light refers to men and women to whom the truth
of God has been revealed and who are therefore living according to that
truth, thus, “people of God.”
1) Luke 1:79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the
shadow of death, NET
2) Luke 24:47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be
proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
NET
117sn This repentance has its roots in declarations of the Old Testament.
It is the Hebrew concept of a turning of direction.
3) Jesus’ Final Public Words
John 12:44 But Jesus shouted out, “The one who believes in me
does not believe in me, but in the one who sent me, 12:45 and the
one who sees me sees the one who sent me. 12:46 I have come as a
light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not
remain in darkness. 12:47 If anyone hears my words and does not
obey them, I do not judge him. For I have not come to judge the
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world, but to save the world. 12:48 The one who rejects me and does
not accept my words has a judge; the word I have spoken will judge
him at the last day. 12:49 For I have not spoken from my own
authority, but the Father himself who sent me has commanded me
what I should say and what I should speak. 12:50 And I know that
his commandment is eternal life. Thus the things I say, I say just as
the Father has told me.” NET
12) 1 Pet 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy
4) Acts 26:18 to open their eyes so that they turn from darkness to light
and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive
forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by
faith in me.’ NET
rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
for the day to overtake you like a thief would. 5:5 For you all are
sons of the light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of
the darkness. … 5:9 For God did not destine us for wrath but for
gaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 5:10 He died for us
so that whether we are alert or asleep we will come to life together
with him. NET
nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of
the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. NET

5) Rom 2:19 and if you are convinced that you yourself are a guide to
the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, NET

6) Rom 13:12 The night has advanced toward dawn; the day is near. So
then we must lay aside the works of darkness, and put on the
weapons of light. NET
7) 2 Cor 4:6 For God, who said “Let light shine out of darkness,” is the
one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious
knowledge of God in the face of Christ. NET

8) 2 Cor 6:14 Do not become partners with those who do not believe,
for what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness,
or what fellowship does light have with darkness? NET

9) Eph 5:8 for you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in
the Lord. Walk as children of the light— 5:9 for the fruit of the light
consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth— NET

10) Col 1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share
in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 1:13 He delivered us from the
power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he
loves, 1:14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
NET

11) 1 Thess 5:2 For you know quite well that the day of the Lord will
come in the same way as a thief in the night. 5:3 Now when they are
saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction comes
on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will surely
not escape. 5:4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the darkness
879 880

Cuts
Brief Argument, Viewpoint, and Proofs
The Apostle Peter writes of false believers and teachers, “For it had
been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness [grace],
than, after they have known it [obtained such knowledge AMP], to turn
(back) from the holy commandment [obey the gospel of grace] delivered
unto them” (2 Pet 2:21) and in 2 Peter 2:2-3 he says, “And many shall
follow their pernicious way; by reason of whom the way shall be evil
spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words
make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth
not, and their damnation (destruction) slumbereth not.” The Apostle Paul
speaks of “another gospel” (Gal 1:6-8) that was a perversion of “the
gospel.” The AMPLIFIED Bible translation of verse 7 reads: “Not that
there is [or could be] any other [genuine Gospel], but there are
[obviously] some who are troubling and disturbing and bewildering you
[with a different kind of teaching which they offer as a gospel] and want
to distort and pervert the Gospel of Christ (the Messiah) [into something
which it absolutely is not].”
Because of the nature of human bias, if one begins by deduction from
a source outside Scripture, a faulty induction of all verses pertaining to a
particular subject will result. In short, preconceptions are read back into
the Bible where they do not exist. The Word of God is built upon
progressive revelation, not relative truths. There may not be two valid
Christian salvations and many gospels. Either all messages concerning
the redemption plan of God are false or one is true.
The forgiveness afforded to men in the death of Christ is the
irreducible “ground of being” for the Christian union of man with God.
The Bible does not leave forgiveness open for interpretation. Scripture
does not require that men conceive an idea of forgiveness. The Book of
Truth reveals that God has reconciled man to Himself through Jesus
Christ (2 Cor 5:19). As a result, a cleansing of satisfactory forgiveness
for all sin has been completed in advance of this union. Whereby, God is
not imputing the trespasses of the unsaved against them. This message of
reconciliation is to be proclaimed by those who are the “ambassadors”
for Christ. This being true, why should sin after salvation, the sin of the
believer, be the cause of losing one’s salvation?
Sadly, there is a “theory” regarding a present forgiveness that has
been supported by centuries of repetition. This theory’s basic premise of
“no imputation” may be proven terribly mistaken by a simple
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comparative word study of Old and New Testament forgiveness in the
original Hebrew and Greek. In this study, it becomes evident that the
execution of sin’s penalty (judgment) must precede God’s present
application of the value in a past completed and divinely satisfactory
forgiveness. By this means all sinners may be saved “today.”
Nevertheless, this theory asserts a humanistic concept of forgiveness
in the blood of Christ. Like human forgiveness, only the penalty of some
sin is forgiven because God’s Rectoral (salutary corrective punishment)
aspect is freed by the death of Christ to forgive only those sins which are
morally edifying to His Government. Thus His Government has an
obligation to “good people” and may not forgive all sin. This scheme is
based in natural morality and is “blind to the higher morality of the
Cross.”
In this theory, all the sin of whosoever has never been redeemed by
the voluntary substitutionary suffering of penalty provided in the sinless
and divine blood of Christ. Whereby, this conception of forgiveness
creates a meaningless understanding of salvation that cannot be
supported in Scripture. And, it is proliferated by a conformed gospel
message that is limited only by the hubris of men.
This theory was conceived and popularized over a hundred years after
the Protestant Reformation. It is a conformation i that rejects the
assurance of salvation taught by Luther, Calvin, the doctrine held by the
early church, and the promised assurance stated very plainly many times
in the New Testament from the repentless “believers” in the Gospel of
John through the “overcomers” in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. A
conformed gospel would not exist except for the Governmental or
Rectoral theory of atonement (forgiveness).
This theory has been, and is, the majority basis for almost all forms of
so-called Protestant Christian practice for the last 150 years. A liberal
practice that has produced a mountain of religious myth and cults. As the
law of topsy-turvey (inversion - a method used to identify or produce
confusion) would have it, this practice should be distinguished from
reformed theology in that God’s liberal “atonement” has been conformed
to a conservative human forgiveness where salvation may be lost or
forfeited. The antonym of protest is to “agree” or “conform.” This theory
of forgiveness creates the gospel of a Conformed Theology known as
Arminianism.
i
conformation - 4. creation of conformity: bringing the process of one thing into
accord with another Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved.
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Jude 8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers … 11 Woe unto them for
they have gone the way of 3Cain, and ran greedily after the 1error of
Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying (antilogia=against
the Word) of 2Core.
3
(v. 11) Cain (cf. Gen.4:1), type of the religious natural man, who
believes in a God, and in “religion,” but after his own will, and who
rejects redemption by the blood. Compelled as a teacher of religion to
explain the atonement, the apostate teacher explains it away.
1
(v. 11) Balaam. The “error” of Balaam must be distinguished
from his “way” (2 Pet 2:15, note), and his “doctrine” (Rev 2:14,
note). The “error” of Balaam was that, reasoning from natural
morality, and seeing the evil in Israel, he supposed a righteous God
must curse them. He was blind to the higher morality of the Cross,
through which God maintains and enforces the authority and awful
sanctions of His law, so that He can be just and justifier of a believing
sinner. The “reward” of v. 11 may not be money, but popularity, or
applause.
2
(v. 11) See Num. 16. The sin of Korah was denial of the authority
of Moses as God’s chosen spokesman, and intrusion into the priest’s
office. 200
“Inasmuch as the reconciliation between man and God is always
conceived of as effected through Jesus Christ (2 Cor 5:8-21) the
expression, “the Atonement of Christ,” is one of the most frequent in
Christian theology. Questions and controversies have turned mainly
on the procuring cause of atonement, … and at this point have arisen
the various “theories of the Atonement.”” 201
“By common usage yet with little reason, modern theologians
have seized upon the word atonement as a term to represent all that
Christ did on the cross. In earlier portions of this work (Vol. III)
upwards of fourteen stupendous achievements by Christ in His death
have been indicated. These reach beyond all present time into other
ages and past human situations into angelic spheres. It is not possible
that the limitless outreach of Christ’s death should be represented in
any single one or a dozen words; and from the fact that the term in
question does not belong to the New Testament vocabulary and from
the fact that it is employed in the Old Testament to represent one idea
wholly foreign to and superceded in the New Testament, no word
related to Christ’s death is more inapt as a reference to that which He
really wrought for men of the present age. As the extent of Christ’s
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death is understood, so, correspondingly, the use of the term
atonement will cease.” 202
Synoptic Discussion of Book One and Two (10 pages)
Book One (4 pages)
This work was created for anyone who is perhaps curious why
Christianity is confusing. In regard to this confusion, I would like first to
introduce a candle:
For many years a fabulous union had planned to make a candle. They
possessed unlimited resources and the ability for continuity. An eternal
flame that cast a perfect light was the goal of this union. Their intent was
to prove any competition and innovation to be a futile endeavor. This
candle was to be the first and last of its kind.
In due time, the prototype was fashioned, introduced, and
successfully tested by an organizationi they had developed. After 2000
years, this fabulous union, through a second organization, continues to
freely give this candle to whosoever desires the beauty in the flame.
A confusing aspect of Christianity may be seen by the contrast
between the Old Testament (OT) saints, Abraham (who was not sinless,
himself) and his nephew Lot. The New Testament (NT) tells us that the
nephew of Abraham was justified by faith - that he was saved. Also, that
he was grieved by the behavior he saw (2 Pet 2:7).
Lot, burdened by the wealth of huge flocks, left his uncle’s company
and chose to compromise with a wealthy, sexually oriented society. He
sat at the gates of a magnificent city in a position of financial power
more so than any moral authority. Lot, though he was saved and
belonged to “a great house,” was a “vessel unto dishonor” (2 Tim 2:20).
He obviously was not grieved enough to leave this city before the moral
destruction of his wife and daughters. Lot did not come to saving belief
nor did he mature spiritually while living in Sodom. But, by the grace of
God, he did escape the destruction of Sodom with his life intact.
Christian baptism is a great source of confusion. When the ancient
poet, Homer, made use of the word baptism (Gk. baptizo) in the Odyssey,
he wrote of ships that had sunk or burned in battle. Ships that had
i
organization - medieval Latin organizare "provide with bodily organs" < Latin
organum (see organ)] Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved
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become completely immersed into and under the influence of water or
fire. As a phenomenon, these ships had been consumed by the water and
flames. The ships had been baptized because they disappeared into an
elemental force.
A shipwreck was a different matter for the ancient poet. Any
damaged ship not baptized would float or drift onto the shallows.
Valuable parts and cargo could be salvaged by anyone willing to put
forth the effort. Much like the ships in Homer’s poem, Christian faith can
either be baptized or shipwrecked.
The Christian with perfect church attendance, contented with reserved
seating and generations of family ties and, who is salvaging their
salvation as a committed follower of God should read no further. You
stand on a fine moral platform shaped by the power of your
determination. You have freely chosen to practice righteousness. Should
everyone do likewise, the world would be a much better place to live in
and depart from. Amen? This would truly be praiseworthy if God agreed.
Even the unsaved are “ministers of righteousness” who have rejected
the power of God. “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power
thereof: from such turn away” (2 Tim 3:4) and “That your faith should
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (1 Cor 2:5).
Because the goal of Christianity is salvation, the confusion within
Protestantism may be reduced to two wholly incompatible and logically
self-excluding outlooks that result from believing different messages
(there are dozens), or gospels, about Jesus Christ, namely:
(1) *** THE ASTERISK CONTRACT - SALVATION IS A SUCCESSFUL OR
FAILED SALVAGE EFFORT. Irrespective of the message, there are those
convinced by “common sense” that salvation cannot become a permanent
effect until after death. Also, this conviction is framed by the conditional
clause – only if God finds me worthy. Therefore, out of self-concern,
one must continue to salvage their salvation.
(2) THE UNCONDITIONAL CONTRACT - SALVATION IS THE GIFT OF
ETERNAL LIFE. Because “God is not a man that He can lie,” there are
those who are worthless and know eternal life is a permanent effect
which comes through understanding and trusting “my word” for
salvation (Titus 1:3,4; 3:5).
Titus 1:3 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised
before the world (age-times) began. But hath in due times (its own
due season) manifested his word through preaching [#2782, a
proclamation, by implication the gospel itself], which is committed
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unto me according to the commandment [obey the gospel] of God our
Savior (our Savior-God).
A chemical compound requires strict adherence to a formula to be
safe and effective. There is unlimited room for careless error when
producing these compounds. In the same way, there may exist many
gospel messages that lead to error. However, fortunately or not, all error
leads to the same wrong, graceless salvation. The correct “formula” for
salvation is contained in Scripture. This excludes theory and common
sense. Sincerity is worthy, but it is not the measure of truth.
“It is revealed that the perfect manhood of Christ was wholly subject
to the will of His Father. It is written of Him that, “when he cometh
into the world, he saith, … Lo, I come … to do thy will, O God” (Heb
10:5-7; cf. Ps 40:6-8). There could be no perfect humanity or
creaturehood which is not completely subject to the will of God; and
the first step in salvation on the part of those for whom redemption is
provided is that they shall obey the gospel (Acts 5:32; 2 Thess 1:8;
Heb 5:9; 1 Pet 4:17). With this provision in view there is no need that
any should be lost who desire to be saved.” (Systematic Theology, Dr.
Lewis Chafer, Vol 1, p 239)
The uncertainty between salvation by grace and salvation by faithful
obedience, which is more correctly termed “by the obedience of [saving]
faith,” is clarified in Titus 3:5, where baptism is by the “washing of
regeneration” that occurs at the moment of saving faith. Jesus told the
Samaritan woman, “… If thou knewest the gift of God [eternal life], and
who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest of asked him,
and he would have given thee living water [the Holy Spirit]” (John 4:10).
Water of itself has no saving effect. The power of God is in the blood of
Christ.
Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness that we have done, but
according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration,
and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
There are over thirty verses completely void of “repent” that are listed
in the Appendix of this volume which establish obedience for salvation.
This obedience is God’s only command to the unsaved - “obey the
gospel” and “his commandment is life everlasting.” This is the only
social gospel in the NT. Christianity aims to transform the destiny of one
person at a time, not reform society.
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Successfully conforming to “authoritative advice” (#5219, i #3980)
will be recognized by God as saving faith. Therefore, “obeying the
gospel,” “the obedience of faith,” repenting (Gk. metanoia, a change of
conviction, turning to trust from distrust, disbelief, etc., to Christ from
self-concern), or believing in what the union of God, Jesus, and the Word
says are all one in the same. This trust, or, full reliance in Christ for
salvation must be recognized by God before He gives the believer “life
more abundantly.” Before He creates within the believer eternal life, as
in “reborn from above” (Gk. anothen, John 3:3):
John 5:24 Verily, verily, [a Greek phrase indicating creative divine
will, uniquely used by Jesus. God speaks and it happens before it
happens (comes into being), as in the Genesis translation of the
Hebrew phrase rendered, “Let there be … and there was”] I say unto
you, He that heareth [#191=to hear in various senses, ☺ understand]
my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting [#166
☺ eternal, for ever] life [#2222, same life “in Jesus,” John 1:4], and
shall not come into condemnation [the final judgment and the biblical
“second death”]; but is passed from [spiritual] death unto [eternal]
life [#2222].
Please note, a correct message that is undifferentiated from “my
word” or “the gospel of Christ” becomes vital in (2) for “understanding”
and saving belief that releases grace - which is “the power of God”:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power [#1411,
dunamis, miraculous power], of God unto salvation to every one that
believeth …” (Rom 1:16). Altogether, God performs 33 works of power
and grace (dunamis and charis, miraculous gifts), for the believer at the
moment of saving belief and 7 more after they leave their natural bodies.
ii
“But as many as received him, to them gave he power [#1849, the
ability, freedom, i.e. applied the value of the blood of Christ which
releases the graceful power of God] to become the sons of God, even to
them that believe on his name” (John 1:12).
In short, if the message is not the genuine Word of God, it has no
power to save. Well may a sincere desire to be a Christian result from a
i
All numbers represent NT Greek words from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance,
James Strong
ii
The first biblical death - the ego, id-ego-super ego, self, mind-will-emotion, or
self-consciousness separated from the five senses that perceive the physical/material
world. Or simply the separation of the soul and spirit from the physical body. All are
the same. Temporary heart death or partial brain death? Who can say, except: it is
unique to each case.
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ingenuous message; but that person will not have entered into a new state
of being – Christianity. Paul said of the believers in Rome, “But God be
thanked, that ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which
was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the
servants of righteousness. … But now being made free from sin, and
become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness (progressive
sanctification), and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death;
but the gift of God is eternal life through (in) Jesus Christ our Lord”
(Rom 6: 17-18, 22-23).
For these reasons, it may be understood and observed that from the
beginning, the outlook resulting from “whatever” message was believed
in (1), above, produced an incomplete self-centered effort. While, in (2)
the Christ-centered gift is an effortless new beginning. “… Yea, he [the
believer] shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand” (Rom
14:4).
Book Two (6 pages)
Three tenets of Christianity are the hallmark of Pauline teaching in
his Letters to seven churches and three friends. Paul was used by God to
explain the closure, or fulfillment, of the Mosaic Law, justification by
faith, and the mystical union of the Christian with Christ. Four
interrelated understandings will help the curious begin to separate the
incompatible and irreconcilable gospel messages, namely:
(1) Those “who are called out” (Gk. ekklesia, church) and put their
trust in Christ are placed by God into the Body of Christ. A body of
believers who are the only past, present, and future church in the New
Testament. There are no recognized differences in this “church.” We live
in the NT Church Age not the OT Age of Mosaic Law. For this reason,
the man-made concept of denominations as acceptable differences in
opinion is patently nonsense.
Each local group of Christians enjoy much liberty within that which
is not expressly forbidden in the NT (the OT is a guide not the law for
Christians). Most importantly, the gospel message that encompasses all
of redemption is authored by God not men. Man has no authority to
change God’s sacred offer. Any change makes it of “no effect.” The
“legal” statements that identify the NT church from the OT church are
given in God’s Word.
The prime directive for believers is not the notion of mimicking the
friendly act of a racial outcast (a “Samaritan”) obeying every one of the
Ten Commandments, or a “Golden Rule” of do unto others as commonly
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repeated by the religious pundit. I won’t deny these truths are exemplary
and heart warming. I do deny they warm the heart of Christ. Who was
the undistinguished “naked man” the Samaritan rescued? “For he that is
not against us is on our part. For whosoever shall give you [any believer]
a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I
say unto you, he shall not lose his reward” (Mark 9:41; see also Mtw
10:42; 25:40; Heb 6:10; 2 Tim 1:16-18).
To give money to build beautiful buildings or to charities that “live
off” feeding hungry foreigners, while believers are in need, is worse than
sin, it is worthless false obedience. I can give much anecdotal and
personal witness to the lack of “friendliness towards Christ” exhibited by
church pastors to the smallest unsolicited request from a mere nobody “in
Christ.”
The one insistent NT command for all believers is the emphatic,
thrice repeated “my commandment” of Christ to love your fellow
believer, not charities that feed the unsaved or grand buildings. And this,
to the impossible extent that Jesus loves them. NT church “law” for the
unsaved and the saved is stated by one verse in the Bible, 1 John 3:23:
1 John 3:23 And this is his commandment, that we believe on the
name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us
commandment.
1 Pet 1:22-23 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth
through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye i
love one another with a pure heart fervently. Being born again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which
liveth and abideth forever.
John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of
God, that ye believe on him who he hath sent.
John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one
another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another as I
have loved you.
i believe your message? There would be a great difference in the overall
In the KJV translation, italicized words indicate they are “not” in the Greek
manuscript. A good practice is to read the verse by omitting these words. Many
assume the italics are intended for emphasis.
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John 15:17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
John 15:14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
2 John 1:5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a
new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the
beginning, that we 1love one another.
1
(v.5) Law (of Christ), Summary: The new “law of Christ” is the
divine love, as wrought into the renewed heart by the Holy Spirit
(Rom 5:5; Heb 10:16), and outflowing in the energy of the Spirit,
unforced and spontaneous, toward the objects of the divine love (2
Cor 5:14-20; 1 Thes 2:7, 8). It is, therefore, “the law of liberty” (Jas
1:25; 2:12), in contrast with the external law of Moses. Moses’ law
demands love (Lev 19:8; Duet 6:5; Lk 10:27); Christ’s law is love
(Rom 5:5; 1 John 4:7, 19, 20), and so takes the place of the external
law by fulfilling it (Rom 13:10; Gal 5:14). It is the “law written in the
heart” under the New Covenant (Heb 8:8 note).
(8:8) [ref. Isa 61:8 and Heb chapter 8] The New Covenant,
Summary: (1) “Better” than the Mosaic Covenant, not morally, but
efficaciously (Heb 7:19; Rom 8:3, 4). (2) Established on “better” (i.e.
unconditional) promises. In the Mosaic Covenant God said, “If ye
will” (Ex 19:5); in the New Covenant He says , “I will” (Heb 8:10,
12). (3) Under the Mosaic Covenant obedience sprang from fear (Heb
2:2; 12:25-27); under the New from a willing heart and mind (v. 10).
(4) The New Covenant secures the personal revelation of the Lord to
every believer (v. 11); (5) the complete oblivion of sins (v. 12; Heb
10:17; Cf. Heb 10:3; (6) rests upon an accomplished redemption (Mt
26:27, 28; 1 Cor 11:25; Heb 9:11, 12, 18-23); (7) and secures the
perpetuity, future conversion, and blessing of Israel (Jer 31:31-40; see
also “Kingdom (O.T.),” and 2 Sam 7:8-17. The New Covenant is the
eighth covenant, thus speaking of resurrection and of eternal
completeness. 203
(2) Let me suggest that I seriously promised you were going to
become “saved” by believing a message that I would share with you.
Would it not be reasonable to expect me to offer you an explanation of
“what and how” might cause that to happen? And, would not the most
important question of yours be: Why are you telling me? Why should I
“attitude” of my message should I consider myself a commendable
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working example, as opposed to a suddenly generous starving leper who
has found more food than he can possibly eat.
The primary sin of the race is the answer to the question of - Why?
All men were condemned before they were born because of Adam’s sin.
Man cannot be made over from what they are – cursed, sinful, and
headed for hell on a non-stop conveyor that takes them from the “age of
responsibility” to the grave. Any “responsible” person who remains
descended from Adam and not born into Christ will remain on this
conveyor of condemnation.
The much unpublished truth is that a forgiven sinner is not saved. All
men have their sins canceled by the death of Christ. Thus, the premature
death of small children is provided for in the death of Christ. All men
have been reconciled by God to Himself. Thereby, all men are rendered
deserving of salvation through faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ. The
correct gospel message is the power of God for salvation. The message
of reconciliation is that men reconcile themselves to God when they
believe to receive His promise of eternal life.
Most gospels given today are a corruption of God’s message. The
observable fact is the people hearing these messages are offered nothing
to believe. A simplified who, when, and where is hardly news, definitely
not “good news,” in today’s world. No valid explanation of what and
how is given. The only why that is ever offered is the wrong reason –
personal sinfulness. The unsaved are simply told they will become a
Christian. Much like taking an oath to join a club. Thus, the “power of
God” to create a “new man” is omitted and a gospel of grief, or some
construction of a “Lordship” is substituted for “power.”
To reverse the gospel from accepting the graceful offer of believing
in Jesus for salvation to one where Jesus must accept an invitation to
enter one’s heart and be the “Lord of their life” is spiritual and biblical
fraud. It is not without reason that these corrupted gospels cannot be in
accordance with God’s Word. Because God’s power of grace would
destroy their “theory” of salvaging salvation.
God’s power acting, freely and without obligation, in behalf of the
believer is His grace which satisfies His love. Consider the blood of the
Paschal Lamb of the first Passover (of sin and death) and the power
(grace) needed to part the Red Sea. The death of Christ fulfilled the
symbol of the Lamb’s blood and “took away” sin that was only “covered
or passed over” before. God’s power (grace) for this age was the
resurrection of His Son so that all who trust in Him can never be
condemned with the world for sin. This kind of forgiveness and
permanent redemption is a “hard thing” and “the offense of the cross”
that staggers a religious mind into disbelief and rejection.
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The gospel is the message of what God has done. God has a perfect
“message of reconciliation.” Reconciliation guarantees the “righteous-
ness of God” will become a reality for the lost because Jesus Christ
“became” sin when He died. He also became “righteousness” for all who
believe when the power of God raised Him from among the dead to be
glorified, never to die again. Salvation comes by “blood” and “power.”
1 Pet 1:2-5 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience [of faith] and
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be
multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, which
according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively
(living) hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from (from among)
the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled; and that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. Who are kept (guarded)
by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time.
BLOOD. In His death the forensic imputation of righteousness is
justification. “But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and
forthwith came there out blood and water” (John 19:34; see Eph 5:26=
blood, then Titus 3:5=power). Whereby all penalty for sin was suffered
by Christ. This graceful gift of forgiveness is justification. It is a legal act
and like the law, has no power to stop sin.
POWER. The graceful gift of righteousness is the divine act of
sanctification that becomes a reality and an imparted possession of
believers. It is the power of God to control sin. Holiness, separation,
setting apart unto God, or sanctification (not to be confused with progres-
sive spiritual maturity, experiential sanctification or personal
righteousness) is accomplished by the organic “impartation” of
righteousness which comes by the indwelling Holy Spirit and the divine
act of being baptized “into” Christ, the Head of the Body. Whereby, the
righteousness of Christ is shared by all believers past, present, and future.
Believers have been so immersed into and completely influenced by
Christ that they and He become indistinguishable in the perfect eyes of
God .
God has made salvation possible. Justification by faith is available.
The sins of all men have been redeemed. Men need only, “Be reconciled
to God!” to become the “righteousness of God” in Christ.
2 Cor 5:17-21 So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
what is old has passed away—look, what is new has come! And all
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these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through
Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation. In other
words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not
counting (imputing KJV) people’s trespasses against them, and he has
given us the message of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God were making His plea through us. We plead
with you on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God!” God made the
one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would
become the righteousness of God. NET
(3) Contrary to popular religious assumptions, Jesus the unique God-
man never called himself an example. He did say: “I am the vine, ye are
the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5) and Paul
wrote: “Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus
Christ, unto the glory and praise of God” (Phil 1:11).
Jesus only said: “Follow [#190=union with the same road, go
together] me.” Someone who invites you to go where they go is not
asking for an imitator, but a companion to share a journey. “Can two
walk together, except they be agreed” (Amos 3:3). The Apostle Peter in I
Peter does suggest that Christ is an example, not for our blessings or
behavior, but for our “momentary” suffering. The Apostle Paul correctly
used himself as an example and said: “Be a follower [#3402 and
#4831=imitator, mimic] of me.”
An unregenerate soul may only mimic petty acts of morality; but has
no “power” to imitate the deeper spiritual realities of the “righteousness”
possessed by Paul and all believers. The unregenerate soul who only
practices righteousness cannot truthfully accept the offer of
companionship by Jesus. They do not share in the righteousness of Christ
because they have never trusted in Him for the gift of eternal life,
forgiveness, and righteousness as explained above.
(4) A system of theology that denies, overlooks, never mentions, and
is not centered in propitiation is common to “another gospel.” God has
no immutable righteous nature, no grace to give, and no “message of
reconciliation” for lost men without complete satisfaction (propitiation)
in the judgment of all sin. Without propitiation there is no such thing as
“good news.” There is only the temporary deception of a new self-
concern, albeit religious. This lie, that one must salvage their salvation,
leads only to the horrible realization of the blasting truth revealed after
death to every unsaved soul. Dr. Lewis Chafer, writes:
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“The three [divine] imputations named above [(a) Adam’s sin to all
men which makes all men guilty at birth, (b) the sin of all men to
Christ in which the whole gospel resides, and (c) the “righteousness
which is of God by faith” (Phil 3:9) that is the “justified” believer’s
perfect standing of “not guilty” before God] prove foundational to all
that enters into Christianity. They are wholly foreign to the Mosaic
system and never mentioned in any Scriptures related to the coming
kingdom [Sermon on the Mount (the King’s Laws or Rule of Life in
His Future Kingdom) and the Olivet Discourse (the Kings Farewell
Speech and Promise to Return)]. This teaching, along with other
foundational doctrines such as propitiation [God’s completed
satisfaction in the substitutionary, penal death of Christ for the
redemption of sin and the reconciliation of men. This is God’s plan
for a completed foundation upon which grace is available for the
salvation of men.], accordingly should be comprehended by every
student at any cost [so they might understand fully and correctly
share the complete gospel of the grace of God as it is revealed in the
NT].” 204
So in closing this introduction, the curious should be told the bad
news first. Christianity, by and large, will become more and more
hypocritical and confusing. Jesus predicted this would happen in the
seven mysteries of the kingdom of heaven found in Matthew 13 and
Revelation chapters 2 through 3. The Apostle Paul predicts, “But evil
men and seducers (juggling imposters) shall wax worse and worse,
deceiving, and being deceived” (2 Tim 3:13).
And lastly, the curious should be told that one must believe in order to
receive the good news. Ordinary common sense is useless. God’s grace is
beyond the ordinary. The true gospel of God’s grace is the “good news.”
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An Important Aspect of Obeying the Gospel
The following passage is a prominent teaching given in Capernaum. As
Capernaum was later cursed by Jesus for refusing “the light” and is
desolate to this day. “Unless it has been permitted to him by the Father”
is the reason given by Jesus for these men finding the words of Jesus
hard to take.
John 6:56 The one who eats89 my flesh and drinks my blood resides in
me, and I in him.90 6:57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live
because of the Father, so the one who consumes91 me will live because
of me. 6:58 This92 is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not
like the bread your ancestors93 ate, but then later died.94 The one who
eats95 this bread will live forever.”
Many Followers Depart
John 6:59 Jesus96 said these things while he was teaching in the
synagogue97 in Capernaum.98 6:60 Then many of his disciples, when
they heard these things,99 said, “This is a difficult100 saying!101 Who
can understand it?”102 6:61 When Jesus was aware103 that his disciples
were complaining104 about this, he said to them, “Does this cause you to
be offended?105 6:62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascending
where he was before?106 6:63 The Spirit is the one who gives life;
human nature is of no help!107 The words that I have spoken to you are
spirit and are life.108 6:64 But there are some of you who do not
believe.” (For Jesus had already known from the beginning who those
were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)109
6:65 So Jesus added,110 “Because of this I told you that no one can
come to me unless the Father has allowed him to come.”111
111tn Grk “unless it has been permitted to him by the Father.”
Eph 2:1 And although you were1 dead2 in your transgressions and sins,
2:2 in which3 you formerly lived4 according to this world’s present
path,5 according to the ruler of the kingdom6 of the air, the ruler of7 the
spirit8 that is now energizing9 the sons of disobedience,10
(disobedient in the headship of disobedient Adam) Chafer Vol 3. p 247
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The image of turning is a key one in the NT: Luke 1:79; Rom 2:19;
13:12; 2 Cor 4:6; 6:14; Eph 5:8; Col 1:12; 1 Thess 5:5. See also Luke
1:77-79; 3:3; 24:47.
6:14 Do not become partners21 with those who do not believe, for what
partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness, or what
fellowship does light have with darkness?
21tn Or “Do not be mismatched.”
2:15 when he nullified29 in his flesh the law of commandments in
decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man30 out of two,31
thus making peace, 2:16 and to reconcile them both in one body to God
through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed.32 2:17 And he
came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those
who were near, 2:18 so that33 through him we
32tn Grk “by killing the hostility in himself.”
5:6 Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these
things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience.9 5:7 Therefore
do not be partakers with them,10 5:8 for you were at one time darkness,
but now you are11 light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light— 5:9
for the fruit of the light12 consists in13 all goodness, righteousness, and
truth— 5:10 trying to learn14 what is pleasing to the Lord. 5:11 Do not
participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather15 expose
them.16 5:12 For the things they do17 in secret are shameful even to
mention. 5:13 But all things being exposed by the light are made evident.
5:14 For everything made evident is light, and for this reason it says:18
“Awake,19 O sleeper!20
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you!”21
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The Sermon on the Areopagus
“While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was greatly upset
because he saw the city was full of idols. So he was addressing the Jews
and the God-fearing Gentiles in the synagogue, and in the marketplace
every day those who happened to be there. Also some of the Epicurean
and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him, and some were asking,
“What does this foolish babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to
be a proclaimer of foreign gods.” (They said this because he was
proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) So they
took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know
what this new teaching is that you are proclaiming? For you are
bringing some surprising things to our ears, so we want to know what
they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there used to
spend their time in nothing else than telling or listening to something
new.)
So Paul stood before the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see
that you are very religious in all respects. For as I went around and
observed closely your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this
inscription: ‘To an unknown god.’ Therefore what you worship without
knowing it, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and
everything in it, who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples
made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as if he
needed anything, because he himself gives life and breath and
everything to everyone. From one man he made every nation of the
human race to inhabit the entire earth, determining their set times and
the fixed limits of the places where they would live, so that they would
search for God and perhaps grope around for him and find him, though
he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move about and
exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his
offspring.’ So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the
deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image made by human skill and
imagination. Therefore, although God has overlooked such times of
ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent, because
he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in
righteousness, by a man whom he designated, having provided proof to
everyone by raising him from the dead.”
Now when they heard about the resurrection from the dead, some
began to scoff, but others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So
Paul left the Areopagus. But some people joined him and believed.
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Among them were Dionysius, who was a member of the Areopagus, a
woman named Damaris, and others with them.” 205
2 Cor 5:6-10 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst
we are at home [#1736, 1st home] in the body [#4983, the body as a
sound whole, used in a very wide application, lit. or fig.], we are absent
[1st state of absence, #553=to expect fully ☺ look (wait) for] from the
Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and
willing rather to be absent [#553, 2nd state of absence is from the mortal
body, but “present with the Lord,” by implication prefer to be “absent”
from the resurrection, or glorified body, otherwise this phrase would
violate the sense of v. 10] from the body [#4983], and present [#1736=at
home ☺ be at home (present)] with the Lord. Wherefore we labor (Gk.
are ambitious), that, whether present [home in the mortal body] or absent
[expecting the resurrection body and the judgment seat of Christ for the
rewards given to believers only, but “present with the Lord”], we may be
accepted (well pleasing to) of him. For we must all appear (be
manifested) [AMP=appear as we are] before the judgment seat of Christ;
that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that
he hath done, whether it be good or bad [AMP=considering what his
purpose and motive have been, and what he has achieved, been busy
with, and given himself and attention to accomplishing].
THE CONTRASTS BETWEEN LAW AND GRACE
THE THEME of human action and responsibility which, directly or
indirectly, occupies the major part of the Sacred Text, whether
attended by theologians generally or not, must, when carefully
considered, employ many pages. The present aspect of the theme, like
that which follows, cannot be taken up with even a degree of
completeness without extended discussion. It is doubtless true that
confusion, perplexity, and misunderstanding are engendered as much
by a partial contemplation of this theme as is engendered by its total
neglect.
Having considered the fact that God provides different rules of
life, as recorded in the Scriptures, to fit His succeeding dealings with
man, it is important to consider the wide difference which exists
between the principle of law and the principle of grace, as applied to
the divine government of man. While the purpose of this section is to
emphasize the fact that the three systems of divine government are
essentially separate, each one from the others, and each one, being
898

wholly sufficient and complete in itself, and is in no wise
exchangeable for either of the others, and cannot be commingled …
1. THE TEACHINGS OF THE LAW OF MOSES. This rule of life was
revealed from God and accepted by Israel at Sinai, and was at no time
addressed to the nations of the world. It was a peculiar form of
government for a peculiar people, and accomplished a peculiar
purpose in condemning the failure of man and leading him to Christ.
Its full detail is revealed in the writings of Moses; but the history of
Israel under the law occupies the rest of the Old Testament, and the
major part of the Gospels up to the record of the death of Christ. In
the doctrinal teachings of the New Testament, very much additional
light is given on the character and purpose of the Law of Moses.
There the law is held in contrast to the teachings of grace. There, also,
as will be seen more fully in the later discussion, the law is
represented as having passed out of force through the death of Christ;
and it may be observed that, after the death of Christ, the law is in no
instance treated as being directly in force.
The Law of Moses was complete within itself. It was sufficient to
regulate the conduct of an Israelite under every circumstance that
might arise. No other rule of life had been observed during the days in
which the Law of Moses was in effect, hence there was no temptation
for Israel to complicate her governing principle with any other. In her
relation to God, that nation remained for fifteen hundred years under
pure law. “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by
Jesus Christ.”
2. THE TEACHINGS OF GRACE. Like the teachings of the Law of
Moses, the teachings of grace have not applied to men of all ages.
These teachings wee revealed from God through Christ and His
apostles. Moreover, they are never addressed to the world as
applicable to it in the present age; but are addressed to a peculiar
people who are in the world, but are not of the world. These teachings
constitute the divine instruction to the heavenly citizen and unfold the
exact manner of life that such a citizen is expected to manifest even
here in the earth. The full detail of this rule of life is found in portions
of the Gospels, portions of the Book of Acts, and the Epistles of the
New Testament. As light is given in these particular Scriptures of the
New Testament by way of contrast, concerning the character and
purpose of the Law of Moses, in like manner the very foundation of
grace and its relationships are laid in the types and prophecies of the
Old Testament . It is revealed that God dealt graciously with the
human family from Adam to Moses; but it is also revealed that the
precise form of divine government which is the present teaching of
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grace was not then disclosed, nor was it applied to men until the reign
of the law had been terminated in the death of Christ. It is likewise
revealed that the death of Christ was the necessary foundation for the
present, full manifestation of superabounding grace. It is equally as
certain from revelation that the teachings of grace will apply to the
children of God under grace as long as they are in the world, and this
principles will cease to rule, of necessity, when the people to whom
they alone apply are gathered out and taken from the earth at the
coming of Christ. This period between the death of Christ and His
coming again is not characterized in the Scriptures as a time when the
supreme purpose of God is the governing of the nations of the earth;
this age is rather spoken of as “the times of the Gentiles” in all
matters of human government in the earth. Nor is this age the period
in which God is realizing the fulfillment of His unchanging covenants
with the nation Israel; that nation is now said to be scattered, peeled,
blinded, broken off, and hated of all nations, and they are to remain so
to the end of the age. This age is not the time of the salvation of
society; that great undertaking is clearly in the purpose of God, but it
is reserved for the age which is yet to come. The present age is
characterized by a unique emphasis on the individual. The death of
Christ contemplated above all else the need of the individual sinner.
The gospel of grace, which the death of Christ made possible, is an
appeal to the individual alone, and the very faith by which it is
received is exercised only by the individual. The message of grace is
of a personal faith, a personal salvation, a personal enduement of the
Spirit, a personal gift for service, and a personal transformation into
the image of Christ. The company of individuals thus redeemed and
transformed, are to be in the ages to come the supreme manifestation
of the riches of God’s grace. Unto this eternal purpose the whole
universe was created and all ages have been programmed by God.
The glory of this dispensation is lost to a large extent when the reign
of the law is intruded into this age which followed the death of Christ,
or when the social order of the kingdom, promised for a future age, is
expected before the return of the King. The Bible affords no basis for
the supposition that the Lord will come to a perfected social order. At
His coming He will gather the saved to Himself, but the wicked He
will judge in righteousness. The transcendent glory of this age is that
very grace which will have been either accepted or rejected by the
individual.
The teachings of grace are perfect and sufficient in themselves.
They provide for the instruction of the child of God in every situation
which may arise. There is no need that they be supplemented, or
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augmented, by the addition of precepts from either the law of Moses
or the teachings of the kingdom {of LAW}.
3. THE TEACHINGS OF THE KINGDOM {OF LAW}. The teachings of
the kingdom have not been applied to men in all the ages; nay, more,
they have not yet been applied to any man. Since they anticipate the
binding of Satan, a purified earth, the restoration of Israel, and the
personal reign of the King, they cannot be applied until God’s
appointed time when these accompanying conditions on the earth
have been brought to pass. The kingdom laws will be addressed to
Israel and beyond them to the all the nations which will enter the
kingdom. It will be the first and only universal reign of righteousness
and peace in the history of the world. One nation was in view when
the Law of Moses was in force in the earth; the individual is in view
during this age of grace; and the whole social order of mankind will
be in view when the kingdom is set up in the earth.
The reign of the King is never said to be ushered in by a gradual
process of world improvement; it is introduced suddenly and with great
violence. The return of the King to rule like a smiting stone, and will
demolish the structure of world empires, will grind them to powder, and
will scatter them as the wind scatters the chaff of the summer threshing
flood (Dan 2:31-45). Satan and the satanic deception will have been
removed from the earth, Israel will have realized the glory of her
covenants, and the long-predicted blessing will have come upon all the
Gentiles, and upon creation itself. The Church is not once mentioned in
relation to the teachings of the kingdom {LAW}, nor or those teachings
applied to her; for her part in the kingdom {of LAW} is not to be reigned
over, but to reign with Christ – her Head. She, being the Bride of he
King, is His Consort. She will still be under the heavenly teachings of
grace, and her home will be in the bosom of the Bridegroom in the ivory
palace of the King. The King will reign with a rod of iron. Sin and
iniquity will be rebuked instantly and judged imperfect righteousness.
Clear conception of the glory of the kingdom {of LAW} is lost if it is
confused with the age of grace which precedes it, or with the sinless new
heavens and new earth of the eternal state which follows it. The kingdom
closes with a demonstration of the failure of man and thus it adds the last
message of the converging testimony to the wickedness of the fallen
heart, and to the fact that in the exceeding grace of God alone is there
salvation.
(1) Revelation 20:4 mentions thrones that were sat upon (twenty-four elders
considered to be OT and NT saints, Daniel saw these thrones as empty) and (2) The
martyred dead. Nothing indicates that John saw only saints who had died. In Isaiah
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rhēma Christou ό λόγος τού Θεού en Christō
26:19-20 (cf. Job 19:25-26), “my dead bodies” is well accepted as indicating OT
saints that are resurrected at the return of Christ. Lacking Scripture that speaks of
another resurrection of saints, many assume that living saints enter into the 1000 year
period along with Jews and chosen Gentiles. Also, they assume these saints die
during the 1000 period from old age. In addition, it is assumed, another, unspecified
resurrection occurs after “the end of the first resurrection.” I suggest what we know
from Scripture is: (3) The nation of Israel is born in one day when they look upon
Christ, their promised Messiah and King on earth. If Israel has a heavenly destiny
why does Christ need to come to earth to rule and fulfill the ancient promises? A
“gospel of the kingdom” is preached prior to the return of Christ and the Jews are
judged. Then living Gentiles are judged (judgment of the nations, goats and sheep)
for entrance into the kingdom solely upon their treatment of the “my brethren” of
Christ, not the “gospel of grace.” The brethren are not glorified believers, but those
living Jews related to Christ by Jewish blood. Jews are hated of all nations, not
Christians (Mtw 25). This illustrates the supreme position and glory of Israel in the
promised Messianic kingdom. Some assume all Jews will be resurrected and pass
through the judgment to enter the kingdom as a perfected immortal man. This seems
contrary to salvation in Christ. Some assume only saints will enter the kingdom alive.
Scripture does not support this assumption either. The fiery kingdom law will be the
“rule of life” for living men. This, most certainly, is not grace. It is hard to conceive
of any harmony where men live together under grace and kingdom law. I think the
kingdom law generation would be driven to foolishness by the presence of look-
alikes with immunity from the law, but not physical death. Even less harmony, would
exist when living imperfect saints (who must wait until they die to be perfected) are
tortured by the majestic sight of glorified saints who surround the glory of Christ. A
triple complication would enter the mix, should earthly, but immortal, resurrected and
“perfected” OT Jews co-habit Israel with living saints and unperfected Jews and
Gentiles in the Kingdom of Law. To help distinguish all this, there is the the wedding
supper of NT saints (Rev 19:7-9). Are OT saints like Abraham really excluded (“he
who is first will be last, and he who is last will be first”)? Maybe, maybe not. My
contention is, like the workers hired at the beginning or the end of the day who
received the same pay, it makes no difference what division in time a saint is
resurrected in the “first resurrection,” all saints will attend the wedding supper in
heaven. (4) Living men are not said to die of old age in the kingdom, irrespective of
OT men that did not live 1000 years. They die because of immediate judgment
against their sin. Trees that bring forth 12 different fruits for the “healing of the
nations” are available and it seems they afford immortality (tree of life). (5) The
assumption of earthly saints entering the kingdom, dying from old age, and being
resurrected is an argument from silence. Therefore, for the reasons above, and
primarily because: (1)“the rest of the dead lived not again” (Rev 20:5) until the
resurrection of the damned (John 5:29), and, (2) “this [completes] the first
resurrection” of saints (“is”- in the KJV has been added). Finally,
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Bibliography Easton’s Bible Dictionary, freeware - NET Bible reference CD
Excerpts and references are from: Encarta Encyclopedia 2006
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All
Systematic Theology rights reserved.
Lewis Sperry Chafer, D.D., Litt. D., Th.D
Copyright © 1948, 1976 by Dallas Theological Seminary The MacArthur New Testament Commentary - Romans 1-8
Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI John MacArthur
ISBN 0-8254-2340-6 Copyright © 1991 by the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago
ISBN 0-8024-0767-6
Salvation
Originally published: New York: C. C. Cook, 1917 NET Bible - New English Translation - Second Beta Edition
Published in 1991 by Kregel Publications Copyright © 1996-2003 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C.
ISBN 0-8254-2348-1 All Rights Reserved Version 3.902
www.netbible.com
He That Is Spiritual
Copyright © 1918 by Lewis Sperry Chafer The Anchor Bible –The Epistles of John
Revised edition copyright © 1967 by Zondervan Translated with Introduction, Notes, and Commentary
ISBN 0-310-22341-5 By Raymond E. Brown, S.S.
Copyright © 1982 by Doubleday & Company, Inc.
True Evangelism All Rights Reserved
Originally published: 1919 Printed in United States of America
Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI First Edition
ISBN: 0-8254-2384-7 ISBN 0-385-05686-9
Major Bible Themes The Spirit World
Revised by John F. Walvoord Reverend Clarence Larkin
Copyright © First edition 1926, 1953 by Dallas Theological Seminary Copyright © 1921 by Rev. Clarence Larkin
Copyright © Revised edition 1974 by Dallas Theological Seminary All Rights Reserved
Zondervon Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI For sale by Rev. Clarence Larkin Estate
ISBN 0-310-22390-3 P.O. Box 334, Glendale, Pa. 19038
Basic Theology
Dr. Charles C. Ryrie
Copyright © 1986,1999 by Charles C. Ryrie
Moody Bible Press, Chicago
ISBN 0-8024-2734-0

The Scofield ® Reference Bible

Dr. C.I. Scofield, D.D.
Copyright © 1909, 1917, 1937, 1945, 1996
Oxford University Press, NY
903 904