In several previous posts I have listed a number of Bible texts that demonstrate the plan of God to eventually reconcile all of his creation. In this post I will use some of them to show how the expression of this plan runs right through the New Testament.
In the beginning God
created all things (Genesis 1) and all (these) created things are to be reconciled to himself (Colossians 1 : 16 - 20), because all things are from him, through him and to him (Romans 11 : 36). For this to be so, God must be in the restoration business (Acts 3 : 21). In fact, he promises to make all things new (Revelation 21 : 5).
God's plan is unchanging (Hebrews 6 : 17), his love, kindness and mercy are also unchanging, even towards his enemies (Luke 6 : 27 - 36), and his patience allows everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3 : 9), reflecting his desire for all people to be saved and to know the truth (1 Timothy 2 : 4). Indeed, he has allowed us all to be stubborn and disobedient so that he can have mercy on us all (Romans 11 : 32).
God appointed his Son, Jesus Christ,
to be the heir of all things (Hebrews 1 : 2), placing all things under his control (Ephesians 1 : 22), and to all of them he will give eternal life (John 17 : 2), through the giving of himself as a ransom for all people (1 Timothy 2 : 6), so that all people will see God's salvation. (Luke 3 : 6)
Jesus, knowing that God had given him authority over all things (John 3 : 35 and John 13 : 3), promised to draw all people to himself (John 12 : 32), and lose none of them (John 6 : 37 - 39). However, if any of them does stray, he will go after them until he finds them (Luke 15 : 4).
Jesus came so that all people should come to belief (John 1 : 7 and 9) ensuring that the world would be saved through him (John 3 : 17) - his grace bringing salvation to the world (Titus 2 : 11) by taking away the world's sin (John 1 : 29 and 1 John 2 : 2). As Jesus said, "I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world" (John 12 : 47), and he did this by destroying the works of the devil (1 John 3 : 8), destroying death and bringing life and immortality through the gospel (2 Timothy 1 : 10).
So, not only has sin been dealt with (Hebrews 9 : 26), but Jesus gave his life for the life of the world as well (John 6 : 33 and 51). Yes, every descendant of Adam who has inherited death from him will become a descendant of Christ and will therefore inherit life from him (1 Corinthians 15 : 22).
Jesus completes his work when all things have submitted to him (Philippians 2 : 10 and 11), and he hands over his kingdom to God so that God becomes everything to everyone (1 Corinthians 15 : 24 - 28).
Consequently,
we can be assured that God will bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ (Ephesians 1 : 10), having brought justification and life to all people (Romans 5 : 18), that assurance being confirmed by the knowledge that God's gifts and call are irrevocable (Romans 11 : 29).
Surely a quick summary like this can be used as a reasonable excuse for being a heretic.
Blessings, Barry
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Tuesday, January 8, 2019
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Eternal Life is Not on Offer
At the beginning of Chapter 5 in "The Really Good News About God" I mention preachers who ask their congregations, "Where will you spend eternity?"- a question designed to prepare the audience for a "fake news" promotion.
If those preachers understood that Jesus died for the sins of the world (1 John 2 : 2),
that God is the Saviour of the world (1 Timothy 4 : 10),
that Jesus came to save the world (John 3 : 17) and
that God no longer holds people's sins against them (2 Corinthians 5 : 19),
then they would not ask such a silly question.
They should all just know the answer: we'll all be together with God.
Eternal life is a given for everyone because of what Jesus achieved on the cross.
An interesting way of saying this is : If you are a descendant of Adam, then you have eternal life.
Really?
Yes, 1 Corinthians 15 : 22 says, "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive."
(Beware of people, including some translators, who change the order of the words in this verse to support their claim that not all who die because of Adam will be made alive because of Christ.)
I like using the CEV version of this verse, because it makes the order of the words harder to change, "Adam brought death to all of us, and Christ will bring life to all of us."
For many people this will not happen until the conclusion of the ages.
They will live their life on this planet giving God no consideration at all, will die, will remain asleep until the resurrection at the end of the realm of time, when, among other things, death is abolished and only life remains - eternal life with God.
Now, about this fake news or fake sales promotion.
Preachers who are trying to sell "eternal life" are trying to promote something to people they already have.
"You need to confess your sins, you need to repent, you need to be baptised, you need to join our church, you need to ... and you will be saved, get eternal life," is a frequent line of approach.
But the fact is: we don't need to do anything now to get eternal life - it's a done deal, for all descendants of Adam.
So what justification is there for preachers to offer eternal life to people?
Unfortunately, poor translation of our English Bibles.
Most of our popular translations of the New Testament mention eternal life 42 times which gives preachers the Biblical backing for asking their question.
However in all of those 42 occasions, the underlying Greek word is aionian, which means "belonging to/during the eon or age", not "eternal". **
For example, look at 2 Peter 1 : 11 from two popular translations (ESV and NIV) and two literal translations (YLT and CLV).
So the offer really being made is for eonian life, life during the ages, life in the kingdom of Christ, life in the Body of Christ during the remaining eons, and not having to wait till the end of the ages when all will receive eternal life.
So what about those verses that say you have to be a believer to have eternal life?
Correctly translated, they are saying you have to be a believer to be in the Body of Christ, to have life and rule with Christ through the coming ages.
And what a blessing that will be!
Blessings, Barry
** To read more about this wrongly translated word, go to our webpage at www.ibtechservices.com.au, enter Main Website, click on The Bible image, click Bible Background, click on Translations, and read about Nouns and Their Adjectives.
If those preachers understood that Jesus died for the sins of the world (1 John 2 : 2),
that God is the Saviour of the world (1 Timothy 4 : 10),
that Jesus came to save the world (John 3 : 17) and
that God no longer holds people's sins against them (2 Corinthians 5 : 19),
then they would not ask such a silly question.
They should all just know the answer: we'll all be together with God.
Eternal life is a given for everyone because of what Jesus achieved on the cross.
An interesting way of saying this is : If you are a descendant of Adam, then you have eternal life.
Really?
Yes, 1 Corinthians 15 : 22 says, "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive."
(Beware of people, including some translators, who change the order of the words in this verse to support their claim that not all who die because of Adam will be made alive because of Christ.)
I like using the CEV version of this verse, because it makes the order of the words harder to change, "Adam brought death to all of us, and Christ will bring life to all of us."
For many people this will not happen until the conclusion of the ages.
They will live their life on this planet giving God no consideration at all, will die, will remain asleep until the resurrection at the end of the realm of time, when, among other things, death is abolished and only life remains - eternal life with God.
Now, about this fake news or fake sales promotion.
Preachers who are trying to sell "eternal life" are trying to promote something to people they already have.
"You need to confess your sins, you need to repent, you need to be baptised, you need to join our church, you need to ... and you will be saved, get eternal life," is a frequent line of approach.
But the fact is: we don't need to do anything now to get eternal life - it's a done deal, for all descendants of Adam.
So what justification is there for preachers to offer eternal life to people?
Unfortunately, poor translation of our English Bibles.
Most of our popular translations of the New Testament mention eternal life 42 times which gives preachers the Biblical backing for asking their question.
However in all of those 42 occasions, the underlying Greek word is aionian, which means "belonging to/during the eon or age", not "eternal". **
For example, look at 2 Peter 1 : 11 from two popular translations (ESV and NIV) and two literal translations (YLT and CLV).
Given that Jesus is going to hand over His kingdom to the Father at the end of the ages (1 Cor 15 : 24), it is impossible for His kingdom to be eternal, just age-during or eonian, showing how obvious is the translation error in our popular translations.
- For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (ESV)
- and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (NIV)
- for so, richly shall be superadded to you the entrance into the age-during reign of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (YLT)
- For thus will be richly supplied to you the entrance into the eonian kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (CLV)
So the offer really being made is for eonian life, life during the ages, life in the kingdom of Christ, life in the Body of Christ during the remaining eons, and not having to wait till the end of the ages when all will receive eternal life.
So what about those verses that say you have to be a believer to have eternal life?
Correctly translated, they are saying you have to be a believer to be in the Body of Christ, to have life and rule with Christ through the coming ages.
And what a blessing that will be!
Blessings, Barry
** To read more about this wrongly translated word, go to our webpage at www.ibtechservices.com.au, enter Main Website, click on The Bible image, click Bible Background, click on Translations, and read about Nouns and Their Adjectives.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Is Jesus Only the Savior of Believers?
One of the most interesting positions taken by many Christians is that Jesus Christ is their Saviour ONLY when they believe that he is.
To generalise this position ..... a fact is only true when we believe it is true .......
For example, centuries ago most of the world believed that the earth was flat. Although this belief had an important influence on the people of the time, especially on ocean-faring merchants and sailors, it had no bearing on the actual shape of the earth, on the facts.
In other words, beliefs can never determine facts. Rather, facts must already be true (in existence) before they can be the subject of belief.
Now let's consider the facts about Jesus and salvation.
As Jesus himself said, " I will draw all people to myself." [ John 12 : 32 ]
He is the Saviour of the world, of all people. That is a fact.
So what role does belief play?
Firstly, there is the obvious one .....
All will be reconciled to God eventually, but there is something special for believers - they will rule (govern) with Christ in the ages.
The Apostle Paul hints at this in his encouragement to Timothy .....
Believing doesn't alter the facts; but believing the facts about Jesus and salvation has special (first-fruit) benefits.
Blessings, Barry.
To generalise this position ..... a fact is only true when we believe it is true .......
For example, centuries ago most of the world believed that the earth was flat. Although this belief had an important influence on the people of the time, especially on ocean-faring merchants and sailors, it had no bearing on the actual shape of the earth, on the facts.
In other words, beliefs can never determine facts. Rather, facts must already be true (in existence) before they can be the subject of belief.
Now let's consider the facts about Jesus and salvation.
For God was pleased to have all his fulness dwell in him (Christ), and through him (Christ) to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.These are the facts. Whether they are believed or not will not alter them.
[ Col 1 : 19 - 20 ]
God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them.
[ 2 Cor 5 : 19 ]
As Jesus himself said, " I will draw all people to myself." [ John 12 : 32 ]
He is the Saviour of the world, of all people. That is a fact.
So what role does belief play?
Firstly, there is the obvious one .....
Those who believe in the Son of God (Jesus Christ) accept this testimony (of the facts about Jesus). Those who do not believe God have made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.Secondly, the one where people have been led astray by poor English translations .....
[ 1 John 5 : 10 ]
And this is the testimony: God has given us life in the ages (NOT eternal life), and this life is in his Son.And that is another fact. Believers have life in the ages (the current age and those ages still to come), while unbelievers wait until the ages are completed for their "drawing to Jesus" to occur.
Those who have the Son have this life; those who do not have the Son of God (Jesus Christ) do not have this life.
[ 1 John 5 : 11 -12 ]
All will be reconciled to God eventually, but there is something special for believers - they will rule (govern) with Christ in the ages.
The Apostle Paul hints at this in his encouragement to Timothy .....
That is why we labour and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all people, and especially of those who believe.
[ 1 Tim 4 : 10 ]
Believing doesn't alter the facts; but believing the facts about Jesus and salvation has special (first-fruit) benefits.
Blessings, Barry.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Les Miserables
This afternoon I went to see the latest release of the movie "Les Miserables" with four of my grandchildren.
I'm not a grant fan of musicals, but I so love the story line of this novel that I couldn't resist the invitation to join the expedition to the cinema.
One of my favourite lines is spoken by Valjean while speaking to Cosette, his "adopted daughter."
He says to her,
"You will learn.
Truth is given by God
To us all in our time,
In our turn."
As I read the Bible it seems clear to me that the truth
that God exists,
that he is love and sovereign,
that he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die for the sins of the world and to reconcile all of us to himself,
is indeed given to all people, and in their turn.
In fact, the only difference between us (believers) and others (unbelievers) is God's timing in revealing truth.
The only thing that makes us different from others is timing.
We, the believers, the “called," the "firstfruits," are simply further along God's ordained track than the rest of His creation.
God is doing an early work in us. It is only the timing of His grace that makes the difference.
But not only are we further along the track. We are chosen early for a reason - to be ministers or messengers of reconciliation to all others.
Valjean in Les Mis declares a profound truth that is only seen by a few at this time.
Blessings, Barry
I'm not a grant fan of musicals, but I so love the story line of this novel that I couldn't resist the invitation to join the expedition to the cinema.
One of my favourite lines is spoken by Valjean while speaking to Cosette, his "adopted daughter."
He says to her,
"You will learn.
Truth is given by God
To us all in our time,
In our turn."
As I read the Bible it seems clear to me that the truth
that God exists,
that he is love and sovereign,
that he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die for the sins of the world and to reconcile all of us to himself,
is indeed given to all people, and in their turn.
In fact, the only difference between us (believers) and others (unbelievers) is God's timing in revealing truth.
The only thing that makes us different from others is timing.
We, the believers, the “called," the "firstfruits," are simply further along God's ordained track than the rest of His creation.
God is doing an early work in us. It is only the timing of His grace that makes the difference.
But not only are we further along the track. We are chosen early for a reason - to be ministers or messengers of reconciliation to all others.
Valjean in Les Mis declares a profound truth that is only seen by a few at this time.
Blessings, Barry
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