Paul says on several occasions that some of God's secrets, or mysteries as most translations call them, that had been hidden from previous generations in previous ages, had been revealed to him.
And he revealed these secrets to those to whom he wrote his letters, and therefore of course, to us.
Unfortunately, many who read the Bible haven't seen these secrets revealed, and are totally in the dark about some of God's most exciting plans.
One of these is God's plan to bring unity to all in heaven and on earth under Christ.
[ Eph 1 : 9 - 10 ]
And because it includes all, it means Gentiles as well as Jews.
[ Eph 3 : 6 ]
And because it includes all, it means unbelievers as well as believers.
[ 1 Tim 4 : 10 ]
And because it includes all, it means the whole world as God is no longer counting people's sins against them.
[ 2 Cor 5 : 19 ]
And because it includes all, it means the creation itself will be brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
[ Romans 8 : 21 ]
What a plan!
And it's no longer a secret.
Everyone can know about it, by just reading the Bible with open eyes.
Blessings, Barry
Hi Barry
ReplyDeleteThanks for those verse references. I decided to have a look at the the online Bible Gateway comentary of 1 Tim 2: 2-7 with specific reference to verses 3 & 4. These were linked to 1 Tim 4:10.
"Having issued these instructions, Paul goes on to ground them in the will of God: This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants [wills] all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (vv. 3-4). The reason does indeed suggest that Paul's primary concern here is the church's prayer for the salvation of all people. Come to a knowledge of the truth (v. 4) was a formula that described conversion as a rational decision about the gospel. This statement qualifies how the universality of God's will to save is to be understood. We do not have here grounds for saying that all people will be saved regardless of their disposition toward the gospel. Rather, the emphasis is on access: the gospel is to be preached to all nations. Certain references such as this one reveal that God's will is as broad as his entire plan of redemption and yet can be expressed in terms of specific standards of behavior (compare 1 Thess 4:3, 18; 1 Tim 5:4; Tit 3:8). Of course, unlike the human will, God's is unchanging and accompanied by his imperturbable power which makes its ultimate accomplishment certain."
So correct me if I'm wrong here Barry but does mainstream church want us to interpret Paul's repeated references to "All Men Saved" as "All men to receive knowledge (only) of salvation through our misson"? Or, God's will is for all of us to receive salvation knowledge only, leaving the individual to decide if we actually want it or not. This does not seem to be the natural way to interpret Paul's writings.
There is something really fishy going on here in theology land.
see http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/1Tim/Prayer-Churchs-Mission
and
http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/1Tim/Good-Minister-Christ-Jesus
cheers
Glenn
Hi Glenn
DeleteI can't correct you. You are dead right.
Mainstream church believes man has the final say in whether God's plan is achieved or not, and mistranslates, interprets or re-arranges Scripture to "prove" this.
Man is supreme, dictating to God what he can or cannot have, rather than the other way around.
(We discussed this when we discussed church leaders' hostility to God's plan last month.)
Most of the popular commentaries (in book form or on the internet) are written by theologians of the Arminian persuasion who will never stray far from the theme that man is more sovereign that God.
For many years now, I have refused to have a Bible with a commentary in it, or to have a so-called Study Bible. I find it best to read the Bible AS IS (usually checking the translation with a strictly literal one), and letting three things happen.
1. Allow difficult passages to be explained by clear passages.
2. Allow the Bible to inform me, rather than try to make it agree with me.
3. Allow the Holy Spirit to direct and confirm my understanding.
It was this process that opened my eyes to the immensity of God's love, the supremacy of God's sovereignty, the universal nature of God's plans, etc., and broke me free from the inconsistent and God-degrading belief systems of the mainstream church.
Blessings, Barry
Another thought on your question Glenn - straight from Scripture.
ReplyDelete1 Tim 2 : 4 says that
God wills everyone to be saved and to come to a full knowledge of the truth. [ BSV ]
This indicates two things to me.
1. God WILLS this result, not just wishes or hopes for it.
2. God wills all to be saved AND come to the knowledge of the truth, not everyone getting to know the truth and hopefully some deciding to accept and act on it.
Blessings, Barry
And I forgot to say that gaining the full knowledge of the truth seems to FOLLOW being saved, not a pre-requisite for salvation.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Barry