2 Peter 3:9 "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."
Please tell me
WHO is the
CONTEXT of the verse you cite as "proof"?
Who is meant by "
us"?
(1) the saved "
wheat" in the church sown by God?
(2) the unsaved "
tares" in the church sown by Satan?
(3) the lost souls
OUTSIDE the church?
If you cannot discern the
CONTEXT of 2Peter 3:9
then you have no hope of understanding the
MEANING.
If God is "
longsuffering to us", and the "
us" represents
the elect,
then "
not willing that any shall perish"
ALSO represents
the elect,
and "
all should come to repentance"
ALSO represents
the elect.
However, if you
PRETEND the
CONTEXT of "
us" includes all the
unsaved "
tares" in the church sown by Satan AND all the lost souls
OUTSIDE the church (also "
children of Satan") then you teach
God is a miserable failure... because they
NEVER can come to
"
repentance" and they were always destined to "
perish".
Again... when you cannot discern the
CONTEXT of a passage
you cannot hope to find the
MEANING of that passage... and
your theology will contradict many Scriptures... like passages
where Jesus explains some men were
NEVER MEANT to be able
to "
perceive" or "
understand" or "
be converted" or "
have their
sins forgiven"... men cannot be saved when their sins are
NEVER MEANT to be "
forgiven"
By selecting the verses you LIKE and intentionally rejecting
or ignoring the verses that contradict your theories, you are not
really following the Gospel of the Bible at all. Instead, you are only
designing your own personal "gospel".
It was not just SOME who were bitten by poisonous serpent that could go look upon the bronze serpent but any and all who was bitten could go look at the sepent for a cure. Likewise any and all bitten by the poison of sin can look to the cross of Christ for a cure.
So you think Jesus was
LYING when HE said that
NO MAN
can come to Him unless the Father "
draws them" and
ALL MEN
the Father draws "
shall come" to Him and He will lose
NONE.
Either Jesus is a
LIAR... or your "interpretation" is not Biblical,
which is it?
Do you also think Jesus was LYING when He explained that
some men were
NEVER MEANT to "
perceive" or "
understand"
or "
be converted" or "
have their sins forgiven"?
Either Jesus is a
LIAR... or your "interpretation" is not Biblical,
which is it?
Or... does your "gospel" teach that men can be
SAVED without
"
having their sins forgiven"? Is that what you teach?
Is that a Biblical teaching?
1 Timothy 4:10 "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."
First you need to understand the
CONTEXT of the passage.
When it says "
we both labour and suffer reproach because we
trust in the Living God".... please tell me
WHO are the "
we"?
(1) Does "
we" include ONLY the saved "
wheat" in the church?
(2) Does "
we" include the unsaved "
tares" sown by Satan?
(3) Does "
we" include the lost souls OUTSIDE the church?
When the
CONTEXT of "
we" is those who "
labour and suffer
reproach because WE trust in the Living God"... then it is not
possible to conclude
WE represents "
children of Satan" (#2-#3)
Again we find that you cannot even
HOPE of ever finding
the
MEANING of a verse when you do not discern the
CONTEXT.
2 Corinthians 5:14 "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
Just another example of how you do not discern the
CONTEXT
and, therefore, cannot find the
MEANING.
Tell me
WHO are those that "
the love of Christ constrains"?
That is the
CONTEXT of the verse. And
WHO is the "
we" that
judge? That is the
CONTEXT of the verse.
If you PRETEND that "
us" and "
we" represents "
children of Satan"
(either unsaved "
tares" in the church SOWN by Satan or the lost
souls outside of the church).... then it is natural you cannot "
see"
the
MEANING of the verse, since you don't discern the
CONTEXT
is limited to
ALL the elect in the church... which "
the love of Christ
constrains".
Romans 5:6 "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." It does NOT say Christ died only for the elect.
A good example of why you must harmonize
ALL RELATED
Scriptures before you can even
PRETEND to be able to offer
an "informed opinion".
Obviously we could do the same as above and discern WHO
is the context of the verse. But this time let us simply show
another ESSENTIAL principle in Bible study. Your "theory"
must HARMONIZE with all RELATED SCRIPTURES.
So... you say Romans 5:6 "does not say Christ died only
for the elect". I agree
THAT VERSE does not say who is
included in "
the ungodly"... but many
OTHER VERSES do.
Joh 10:11
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep.
Joh 10:15
As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father:
and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Joh 10:16
And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold
[the Jews]:
them
[Christians] also I must bring,
and they shall hear my voice;
and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
Joh 10:27-29
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me:
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand.
Notice three things:
(1) These teachings in John 10 provide the
CONTEXT for Rom 5.
Some times you must harmonize other verses to find Biblical Truth.
If your "theory" contradicts a RELATED VERSE... your theory is wrong.
(2) This teaching is really no different than John 6 where Jesus says
NO MAN can come to Him unless the Father "
draws them" and that
ALL MAN the Father draws "
shall come" to Him and He loses
NONE.
(3) The ONLY measure of Biblical Truth is harmony of ALL Scriptures.
Most HERESIES harmonize with one-or-two passages because any
good LIE must contain some truth. So you can BUILD a doctrine
based on Romans 5:6... but that means nothing unless/until you
can show how that doctrine harmonizes with ALL RELATED verses.
Matthew 11:28-20 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
That is a true statement... now you only need to find the
CONTEXT.
WHO is the verse talking to? Remember... we already have plenty
of verses that teach
NO MAN can come to Jesus unless "
drawn"
and
ALL MEN that are drawn "
shall come" and
NONE are lost.
So your "theory" about Mat 11 must harmonize with that.
Any and all who have troubled and burdened by sin can come to Christ. It was not just "the elect" that have been troubled and burdened by sin but any and everyone.
First, you create a
ANOTHER "gospel" when you pretend that
some men are saved when they
WERE NOT part of the elect.
So you have already proven your "theory" contradicts the Bible.
Secondly, you did not
HARMONIZE your "theory" with RELATED
passages teaching that
NO MAN can come to Jesus unless "
drawn"
and
ALL MEN who are "
drawn" shall be
SAVED.
Thirdly... remember the Bible teaches that (before regeneration)
NO MAN will ever "
seek God"
(no, not even one). This Bible fact
is so basic and essential that it is taught in both the OT and the NT.
So when you PRETEND men can "
seek God"
before regeneration
you are contradicting Scripture and only pretending to yourself.
So today we have learned:
(1) you must discern the CONTEXT before finding the MEANING
(2) your theory must HARMONIZE with ALL RELATED passages
(3) most HERESY is based on using a couple of Scriptures
Jim
