This is an important topic that will be addressed in detail in our next book "The Really Good News About Jesus". However, we'll just mention it here using two key references.
As you are probably well aware, one of my favourite verses is 1 Timothy 4 : 10, which is in the sidebar on the Blog and therefore appears beside every new post.
That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe. (NIV)
Apart from assuring us that God has decreed that all of his creation will be saved and live in harmony with him (and each other) in eternity, it also shows the distinction between those who are believers in their time on this planet and those who are not.
The believers are the firstfruits of the eventual harvest of all. They are those especially chosen for knowing and appreciating the saving grace of God in their earthly lives and been given the responsibility to live as ambassadors for Christ having the really good news to announce. (See 2 Cor 5 : 18 - 20)
Another reference that makes the same distinction as 1 Tim 4 : 10 occurs in Romans 3 : 21 - 22 (when translated correctly).
And now apart from the law has the righteousness of God been manifested, testified to by the law and the prophets, and the righteousness of God is through the faith of Jesus Christ to all, and upon all those believing, ... (Young's Literal Translation)
The distinction is indeed clear in a good, literal translation - the righteousness of God is to all (eventually) but upon believers (in the realm of time).
Interestingly, this distinction is obscured, even omitted, by many modern translators who do not wish to admit that God's plan is to save all, and who restrict salvation to those who become believers during their earthly lives.
Compare the verse quoted above from YLT with this one from NIV.
But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. ... (NIV)
Why do so many Christians, including many modern translators, want to portray our loving God as such a sadistic monster when Jesus has already fully paid for all our sins and God has clearly revealed his plan to save all at the end of time? (See Ephesians 1 : 9 - 10)
The Firstfruits are NOT the Harvest. The firstfruits are few: the harvest is plentiful.
Blessings, Barry
PS. You might also have noticed another example where popular, modern translations attribute the righteousness of God in which we stand to our faith in Christ, rather than to the faith or faithfulness of Christ, as we discussed in the previous post.
For over a decade, Isabel and I lived in Cairns, in beautiful Far North Queensland.
Although the beaches near the CBD were not particularly attractive, its northern beaches were, and still are.
Even if you were too busy to visit during daylight hours, to grab a serve of fish and chips and head north after dark, watch the moon rise over the Coral Sea and make its wavy reflection travel from the horizon to the exact spot where you were seated at the water's edge, was a pure delight.
As appealing as this was, it still didn't touch the wonder hidden within.
Visiting a beach on the Great Barrier Reef, removing your shoes and poking your big toe into the water, even stripping off and going for a swim, are poor substitutes for donning scuba diving gear and immersing yourself deep into the ocean, where a whole new world of vibrant life and colours exploded in front of you.
I have discovered that reading the Bible is quite similar.
Visiting this library of sacred books occasionally, dipping your big toe into a couple of randomly chosen verses, even going for a swim across the surface of a whole chapter or short book, are poor substitutes for immersing yourself deeply into God's message for us and to us.
Reading a particular passage slowly, thinking deeply about what it is really talking about, is the way to discover a whole new world of vibrant reality in which God is involved in everything that happens.
And we discover not only what God is doing, but how he wants us to be involved in that with him as the Holy Spirit enlightens and challenges us.
Immersing yourself in the Bible is the most exciting adventure I have experienced - even more exciting than conducting weddings under water on the Great Barrier Reef.
I am currently reading Ephesians in this way, using various English translations to make sure I am exposed to as many different nuances from the underlying original languages as possible.
If you don't have a current project on the go at the moment, how about joining me in the Ephesians immersion read and sharing your discoveries with me.
Blessings, Barry
Reef image courtesy of ipetitions.com
As you know I am currently writing the chapter on the Good Judgement of God, although I have done very little in the past few months for several "good" reasons.
However I have squeezed in some good reading between events and have discovered an interesting snippet in these readings that I had not run across before.
In Revelation 20 : 11 - 15, we have the following:
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books (scrollets Gk: biblion) were opened. Another book (scrollet Gk:biblion) was opened, which is the book (absent in Gk text) of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books (scrollets Gk:biblion).
13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done.
14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.
15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book (scroll Gk:biblos) of life was thrown into the lake of fire. (NIV)
In verse 12 all the books mentioned were scrollets or small scrolls (Gk:biblion), but the one mentioned in verse 15 is the normal scroll (Gk:biblos).
The book of life gets bigger, becomes a normal sized scroll, during the Great White Throne judgement.
What do you make of that?
Who do you think gets added to the book of life during the judgement?
Who remains to get thrown into the lake of fire?
Please share your thoughts on these questions.
Blessings, Barry
2 Thessalonians 1 : 6 - 10
Background .....
Paul wrote this letter to the Thessalonian saints about the middle of the first century AD, either in the year 50 or 51, only a short time after he had written his previous letter to them.
These saints were clearly under great stress due to "religious" persecution from non-Christian Jews (verse 4 and Acts 17) and were being encouraged by the promise of relief and a just end-result (verse 6).
The tricky verses .....
Here is the NIV translation of these verses, amended to reflect a more literal rendering of the underlying Greek text.
God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well.
This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his powerful messengers in blazing fire.
He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
They will be punished with age-lasting ruin and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marvelled at among all those who have believed.
This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
Explanation of amendments .....
Messengers (verse 7).
The Greek word here is 'aggelos' and is most often transliterated as 'angel' rather than translated as 'messenger' or 'agent.' Not using 'angel' is wise as sometimes the messenger or agent is not a celestial courier, but a human one (for example, John the Baptist). In the case here, the text does not reveal what type of messenger is meant.
Age-lasting ruin (verse 9).
The Greek word here is 'aionion.' It is the adjectival form of the noun 'aion.' Aion is 'age' or 'eon' in English, an unspecified period of time which has a beginning and an end, so 'aionion' must be related to an 'age' or 'eon' in some way. It should never be translated as 'eternal' as 'eternity' is the timeless realm, having no beginning or end. Unfortunately, most popular, volume-selling English Bibles translate 'aionion' as 'eternal' in order to give strength to the theological position of their translators and publishers, and of their potential church market.
My Comments .....
The events discussed in these verses had great relevance to the Thessalonian saints, and of course, to all other saints of that era who were being persecuted by the Jews.
The relief promised would have been in their lifetime or would have been of little comfort to them. Indeed Jesus confirmed this timeline to his disciples when he said, "Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom [or sovereignty]." [ Matthew 16 : 28 ]
It wasn't suggested that the relief would come when they died and left this planet and moved into the peaceful presence of God; it would come when the Jesus-empowered agents came and took away their enemies in blazing fire.
This fits the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish centre of religion by fire in AD70 by the Romans, who were Jesus' agents of the fiery judgement that had been predicted by Jesus and several OT prophets. Indeed Jesus warns the Jewish leaders about this fiery future judgement quite often, using the fire of Gehenna as his illustration.
So, although many in mainstream Christianity see this passage as dealing with yet future events, I don't agree. Persecuted Thessalonian saints of the first century would hardly be comforted by promises to Christians living thousands of years later.
The punishment administered to the Jews would be their ruin or destruction as God's chosen people through whom the nations would be brought to God, and would last until the end of the next age. Jesus had earlier confirmed this when he said to their chief priests and elders, " ..... the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit." [Matthew 21 : 43]
Consequently, the Jews will not enjoy God's presence or his powerful rule in the kingdom age. Anyone reading Matthew's Gospel can't miss the constant references to the kingdom in many of Jesus' parables and his repeated warnings that Israel would miss out on the kingdom age if they refused to change their ways. The parable of the weeds in Matthew 13 is probably one of the best known.
(Nevertheless, Israel will be all saved after this age, as Paul reveals in Romans 11 : 25 - 26.)
So, although many in mainstream Christianity see this passage as forecasting the eternal, future destruction of all unbelievers of all ages at the end of time, I don't agree. The age-lasting fate of Jewish persecutors of first century followers of Jesus is the focus here.
Please do not hesitate to offer any of the C's to this post - comment, clarification, correction, criticism, challenge, cross-examination - as the discovery of truth is the name of the game for me.
Blessings, Barry
