Question: What is the question?
Answer: What does the Bible say?
In his book Protestant Biblical Interpretation Bernard Ramm writes, "obscure passages in Scripture must give way to clear passages." Later, he writes, "the theologian must basically rest his theology on those passages that are clear and not upon those that are obscure....Everything essential to salvation and Christian living is clearly revealed in Scripture" (pgs. 104-105).
Whenever we take the liberty of reading "between the lines" of Scripture we are allowing ourselves the dangerous opportunity to make the Bible say something that it does not say. Furthermore, we have the tendency to make it conform to some presupposition that we may have. So, I simply ask anyone reading this to clear your mind from any preconceived theological system you may adhere to and let the words of God speak loud and clearly.
"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Isaiah 53:6
"Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."
Isaiah 55:6-7
"Say unto them, As I live, saith the LORD GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?"
Ezekiel 33:11
"The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him , and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
John 1:29
"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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."
John 3:16-17
"For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world....I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
John 6:33;51
"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."
Acts 17:30-31
"Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."
Romans 5:18-19
"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Romans 10:13
"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again."
II Corinthians 5:14-15
"I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."
I Timothy 2:1-5
"For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe."
I Timothy 4:10
"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man."
Hebrews 2:9
"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
II Peter 3:9
"And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
I John 2:2
"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
Revelation 22:17
If it is true (and I believe it is) that obscure passages must give way to clear passages, as Ramm has written, then the clear truth of the Bible is that Jesus bore the sins of all of mankind on the cross, so that all of mankind may repent of their sins and be reconciled to God. That does not mean that all men will repent of their sins and be reconciled to God, but that God has provided the means for it to happen.
Let me illustrate. Say a person has been convicted of a serious crime and they are truly guilty. If the governor decides to offer them a pardon, they still must accept the pardon to be free from their punishment. Whether or not they accept the pardon in no way whatsoever affects the effectiveness of the governor's decision. There is a personal decision that must be made. Likewise, the death of Christ is no less effective if everyone believes or if no one believes. Jesus' death provided the way of salvation, but each and every individual must make the personal decision to believe or reject. Just because we cannot fathom why a person in his right mind would do so, does not mean that it is not so.
Simply put, if the the nature of the Scriptures are to reveal God to man (and I believe it is) then anyone who simply reads the Words of God will come to the conclusion that anyone, not just a certain group, can be saved and that everyone has the opportunity to be saved, because Christ died for all. It is God's desire for all people to repent of their sins and the only atonement for their sin is through the blood of Jesus.
My goal is to expound the previous Scriptures over the next few posts I make to further explain what the Bible plainly teaches. It is not my intention to offend or belittle anyone else's theological position, but I make no apologies for simply believing the answer to "the question."
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8 comments:
David,
I want to ask one question and want you to consider it as you have asked your readers to do. If Christ has taken away the sins of the world what is going to send us to hell?
"The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him , and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
John 1:29
Not that George Mueller from yester year will have any sway, but he said,
"I had been much opposed to the doctrines of election, particular redemption, and final persevering grace; so much so that . . . I called election a devilish doctrine. . . . But now I was brought to examine these precious truths by the word of God. . . . To my great astonishment I found that the passages which speak decidedly for election and persevering grace, were about four times as many as those which speak apparently against these truths; and even those few, shortly after, when I had examined and understood them, served to confirm me in the above doctrines. As to the effect which my belief in these doctrines had on me . . . by the grace of God, I have walked more closely with Him since that period. . . . Thus, I say, the electing love of God in Christ (when I have been able to realize it) has often been the means of producing holiness, instead of leading me into sin. ( Narratives and Addresses , Vol. 1, pp. 46, 40)
This is how I felt as first too (maybe not as strongly as calling it "devilish" though).
Way to go son!
Sorry to all who have commented, but I changed my email address for my blogger account and it has still been coming to my old address.
Anonymous,
I would say READ THE BIBLE! John 1:11-12 says, "He came unto his own, and his own received him not. BUT AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM, TO THEM GAVE HE POWER TO BECOME THE SONS OF GOD, EVEN TO THEM THAT BELIEVE ON HIS NAME." The Bible also says that the wages of sin is death. A person can pay for their own sins by dying and spending eternity in hell. Or, they can place their faith in the death that the Lord Jesus Christ died to satisfy God's demands of righteousness. I would also say to read John 3:18. Here, Jesus says that the person who believes in Him is not condemned, but the one who does not believe in him is already condemned. What you must understand is that we can choose to pay for our sins ourself or we can accept the payment that Jesus Christ has already made.
Josh,
You are absolutely correct, George Mueller has no sway in my position. Mueller is a man. God's Word is divine. I will choose the Word over man anytime. Do not get me wrong, I believe in unconditional election, just not the way you do. (I am a Biblicist, not a Calvinist, Arminianist, or any other man-ist)However, I do not believe that we are saved because we are the elect, I believe we are the elect because we are saved. I know that sounds like double-talk, but it really is not. I am not going to make all my comments in this reply, because, as I have time, I will be making them in my posts.
David
I don't think you understood my question? If sin is what sends us to hell and Christ took away the sin then what sin do we have to pay for?
Anonymous,
See my new post, "Accounting 101".
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