Richard Barker
Author of "The Little Book of Providence". It demonstrates that God’s benign providence extends well beyond those Scripture defines as “the elect”. I systematically adduce from Scripture that the rest are not homogenous in terms of their moral characteristics or eternal destiny. The “unsaved” can be sub-categorized into those who are OF God (cf. 1Jn4:7; Mt25:40) and those such as Cain who are “ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ” - of the Evil One (1Jn3:12).
Outlining such broader benign providence has required substantial deconstruction of Augustinian derived Reformed theology to which I adhered for nearly 30 years. Due credence has been given to the principles of natural law, soul creationism and anthropological trichotomy, which as the likes of 3rd century Church historian Eusebius and the major theologian of the 2nd century Irenaeus testify, were the consensus beliefs of the pre-Nicene Church. I am also systematically going through the New Testament in posts regularly published on my Goodreads and Facebook book page.
The full list of my posts is published on my website https://richard777.blog/welcome
Outlining such broader benign providence has required substantial deconstruction of Augustinian derived Reformed theology to which I adhered for nearly 30 years. Due credence has been given to the principles of natural law, soul creationism and anthropological trichotomy, which as the likes of 3rd century Church historian Eusebius and the major theologian of the 2nd century Irenaeus testify, were the consensus beliefs of the pre-Nicene Church. I am also systematically going through the New Testament in posts regularly published on my Goodreads and Facebook book page.
The full list of my posts is published on my website https://richard777.blog/welcome
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1. Humans were made in the image of God and even after the fall are to be regarded as such [Gen9:6]
2. Cain and Abel as the first humans to be born of woman were representatives within a de facto covenant that has been eluded by theologians [Gen4:7 Masoretic, e.g. KJV]
3. Abel was not “saved” by anticipating Calvary when he sacrificed an animal, he remained justified within a de facto covenant for fallen humanity by exercising faith/faithfulness, offering the best of his produce with a good conscience
4. Cain defaulted from this Universal Covenant after killing his brother
5. Such an inclusive covenant is indicated by the fact that Cain was neither entirely alienated from God nor cursed by Him until after his fratricide [Gen4:13-16]
6. Cain rather than Adam is the type of the damned or reprobate, later described in the New Testament as derived from the Evil One (Greek: ek tou ponerou) [1Jn3:12]
7. Adam is mankind’s federal head and the type of those Paul describes as “dead” due to the malign influence of the procreated vessel inhabited by the soul whose moral instincts oppose that of the God-given spirit. Cain is effectively the type of the twice dead [Jude12] in whom both flesh and spirit have died to God and become united in evil
8. Those who go in the way of Cain [Jude11] are described in the New Testament as children of the devil [e.g. Jn8:44]
9. Children of the devil are distinguishable by their lack of conscience and their inability to emphasize or show compassion to others [Mt25:41-46]. They also have a total disregard for the truth [Jn8:44]
10. Children of the devil are alluded to by Paul as vessels of wrath created and prepared by God for destruction [Rom9:22]. They were not planted by the Father [Mt15:13], neither retain His seed [1Jn3:9], so no longer bear a reflection of His moral image. In that sense they cease to be fully human but exist to fulfil God’s purposes set out in theses 92 and 93
11. When Paul speaks of non-Christians being “dead” he is not referring to damnation but to the disruption of the incarnate soul’s communion with the Source of its spiritual life
12. Original sin is a reality and the “death” described above is its result
On Halloween 1517 the instigator of the Protestant Reformation posted 95 theses on the church door at Wittenberg in the context of a proposed theological debate he wished to organize. It is thought to be around this time that Martin Luder changed his name to Luther, ostensibly so that it might resemble the Greek word for freedom (elutherius), probably also in view of what his original family name meant in his native tongue. The 95 theses had focussed on the practice of clergy selling indulgences, being certificates believed to reduce the temporal punishment in "purgatory" for sins committed by the purchasers or their loved ones. I won't expand on that here but in an earlier post I showed that although the burning away of dross for the purpose of purification and punishment is a biblical concept, it cannot be measured in earthly time or degree. The practice of believers doing penance or contributing money to alleviate post-mortem suffering cannot be traced back beyond the beginning of the 2 nd millennium. By the middle ages it had become a profitable business: "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs", a saying attributed to Johann Tetzel, papal seller of such indulgences having been tasked with raising money for rebuilding St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Such practices and their doctrinal/biblical basis were clearly open to question. Dr Luther, by that time a highly regarded monk who had risen to become Professor of moral theology at Wittenberg university believed that at the very least the matter should be debated. What further aspirations he had at that point of challenging the authority and teaching of the Catholic Church or breaking away from her are also a matter for debate, but the following year the theological scope of his enquiry was broadened, and that is where the 28 theses come in. These are set out below (my highlighting) and can be verified HERE , for some may not entirely believe what they are reading:
This prophecy is believed to be the earliest apocalypse of the Jewish tradition. The Book of Enoch was effectively treated as canonical by the very early Church. Church fathers including Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus and Tertullian believed it to be inspired and written by Enoch himself. Even those such as Augustine who were instrumental in ensuring it was ultimately rejected by most of Christendom acknowledged it to be divinely inspired, principally in view of its citing in New Testament Jude.
As I have testified elsewhere, the Old Testament cannot be rightly interpreted without reference to the Book of Enoch, especially regarding the activity and influence of the fallen watchers that resulted in the universal flood and the need for ethnic cleansing within the Canaanite territories. More importantly it contains prophecies of events that may be happening right now. For as the opening verse affirms, it was written to be a blessing, not to the Church through her history, but to “the elect and the righteous who would be living at the time of tribulations when the wicked and godless are to be removed”.
The scholarly consensus is that it was written in the 1st or 2nd century BC. However, I am convinced, along with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the aforementioned early Fathers that Enoch was written by Enoch. There are various theories cited on the internet as to how practically speaking that could be the case which I won’t go into here. But think about it – if, as so many believe the Book of Enoch is inspired, being a true word from God (biblical Jude believed that or he would not have quoted from it in his letter), how then could it at the same time be a fabrication of deceit? How could that which is divinely inspired be the creation of someone in the 2nd or 3rd century before Christ claiming to be the original patriarch, passing off as divine prophecy much that was already history? ... ...
GOD’S SECRET PLAN
The catalyst for the radical reinterpretation of the bible being presented was an understanding (or rather I believe a revelation) concerning why Paul had unexpectedly been appointed as thirteenth faithful apostle [Matthias had replaced Judas as #12]. It was in order “to preach to the gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to enlighten all people regarding the secret plan which had been hidden in God from previous ages (Eph3:8-9). For that secret plan is something that no one appears to have discerned its providential and dispensational implications. Effectively it means that the current age is not a spiritualized fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy, but in terms of the salvation history outlined in the Law and Prophets is an inserted epoch. Paul tells us this came about to provoke God’s disbelieving chosen race to envy – by enlisting members of the Gentile nations into the messianic community (Rom11 vv11,12,15,30). ... ...
... ... ...
CHAPTER 1 – GOD’S SECRET PLAN
A plan which the apostle Paul alludes to but few have comprehended; the fact that salvation as we understand it was not originally intended for the Gentile nations in the current epoch but resulted from the failure of the Jews (cf. Rom11:11-15), the providential implications of which have been quite eluded. The chapter also examines the extraordinary influence of Augustine of Hippo (AD354-430) on the development of Western theology. It shows how his innovative interpretation of the Pauline epistles shaped by over-reactions to the Pelagian and Manichean heresies resulted in doctrines that deformed both divine and human nature.
These infected the Catholic Church of his day whilst the Protestant Reformers built upon and reinforced them a thousand years later. I outline how the latter’s doctrinal position in particular contrasts with that of the 2nd and 3rd century Church. As a result, the Ancient Church’s perspectives on grace, free will, natural law and the millennium are much closer to my own. Although disruptive and disturbing for many, such a deconstruction is necessary if the munificent providence being outlined in this document is to be affirmed.
CHAPTER 2 – THE LOST COVENANT
Most will be familiar with the theological significance of Adam and Eve, less will be so with Cain and Abel. Yet Cain was the firstborn human and “type” of the reprobate. That is why as the first humans to be born of woman Cain and Abel were players within an inclusive Universal Covenant (cf. Gen4:7KJV). Again, that appears to have eluded virtually everyone . Also adduced in this chapter – the fact that the contagion of sin resulting from the Fall pertains to the procreated intellectual vessel (Paul’s “body of this death”), not the God-given soul as a whole – another longstanding misconception with radical and wondrous providential implications.
CHAPTER 3 – FAITH AND JUSTIFICATION
What the Bible means by “faith” and “justification”. What will be a new interpretation to many resolves numerous biblical and doctrinal tensions. That is by showing that the blessings of the Atonement apply at two levels: forensic and participatory. The chapter also outlines how such a bi-fold economy of grace and faith was testified to by the earliest (pre-Augustinian) Church fathers. Far from diminishing God’s grace these particular aspects of natural law have a direct link with Christ’s Passion. Consequently they benefit the many, not just the proportional few destined to be the bride of Christ. This therefore forms a central tenet of The Little Book of Providence.
CHAPTER 4 – THE UNIVERSAL RESTORATION
A short chapter examining what little the Bible tells us about the Parousia. At which point Christ “shall be glorified in His saints and admired by those that believe on that day”. I affirm with Paul that Christian salvation’s apotheosis is not the repose of the soul in heaven but the redemption of the body within a restored universe (Rom8:19-23).
CHAPTER 5 – PROGRESSIVE REVELATION
God’s chosen method of enlightenment for the Church and world. In terms of the Church, the chapter considers how the gospel was disseminated by the apostles and their immediate successors, observing with second century Irenaeus that the churches at that time were remarkably united in their interpretation of the gospel – an interpretation that many Christians today would scarcely recognize.
CHAPTER 6 – CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL
The mystery of evil and the role and ignominious destiny of human defaulters from the eluded Universal Covenant. These are individuals that Jesus, Paul and John refer to as “children of the devil”. They may be defined as those devoid of love, truth or conscience.
CHAPTER 7 – THE THEODICY
Why a God Scripture defines as Love personified permits the continuance of evil and the suffering that results from it; a key to the solution being Christ’s earthly experience (Heb2:10). It was a prelude to His glorious inheritance – and that of His faithful followers.
#1. Humans were made in the image of God and even after the fall are to be regarded as such [ref1]
#2. Cain and Abel as the first humans to be born of woman were representatives within
a de facto covenant that has been eluded by theologians [2]
#3. Abel was not "saved" by anticipating Calvary when he sacrificed an animal, he
remained justified within a de facto covenant for fallen humanity by exercising
faith/faithfulness, offering the best of his produce with a good conscience
#4. Cain defaulted from this Universal Covenant after killing his brother
#5. Such an inclusive covenant is indicated by the fact that Cain was neither entirely
alienated from God nor cursed by Him until after his fratricide [3]
#6. Cain rather than Adam is the type of the damned or reprobate who is later described in the New Testament as derived from the Evil One (Greek: ek tou ponerou)
[4]
# 7 (of 95). Adam is mankind's federal head and the type of those Paul describes as "dead" due to the malign influence of the procreated vessel inhabited by the soul whose moral instincts oppose that of the God-given spirit. Cain is effectively the type of the twice dead [5] in whom both flesh and spirit have died to God and become united in evil
REFERENCES
1 Gen9:6: Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man
2 Gen4:7 Masoretic: If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not
well, Sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him
(King James Version)
3 Gen4:13-16: Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great to bear! Behold, You
have driven me THIS DAY from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” So the Lord said to him, “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord appointed a sign for Cain, so that no one finding him would slay him. Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden
4 1Jn3:12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous
5 Jude12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you
without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water,
carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice
dead, pulled up by the roots
THESES by Richard Barker
BIBLICAL REFERENCES Rev1:1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His servants (the church) the things which must soon take place"
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
Acts1:7 Jesus said to them, “It is not for you (apostles) to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority”
Eph3:9-10 [NASB] (Paul) to enlighten all people as to what the plan of the mystery is which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things; so that the multifaceted wisdom of God might NOW be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.
1Tim2:6 (Christ) gave himself as a ransom for all, the evidence for which [μαρτύριονG3142] to be provided in due time.
Rom8:19-21 [NASB] For the eagerly awaiting creation waits for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Rev10:2-4 (The angel) had in his hand a little book, which was open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land; and he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars; and when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices. When the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken, and do not write them.
Mal4:5-6 Lo, I will send you the prophet ‘Elijah’ before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.
Mt24:14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
BIBLICAL REFERENCES Acts3:21 Christ, the One whom Heaven must receive until the time of the restoration of all things which God has spoken of through the mouths of His holy prophets since the world began.
Rev10:7 In the days when the voice of the seventh messenger is about to sound off, then the mystery of God shall have been completed, as He announced to His servants the prophets.
COMMENTS As the thesis indicates, the solution to the mystery of human suffering is hinted at in an extraordinary verse in Hebrews: "It was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the originator of their salvation through suffering" (2:10). So, even the sinless Saviour was perfected for His priestly office and future glory by suffering. How much more the need for such salting and grist to be provided for the mere mortals who will come to share His glorious inheritance. This is why things have always been as they have been in the world and in the Church. Suffering partnered with essential spiritual healing and progressive enlightenment are how God is drawing man toward his ultimate destiny as exemplified by His Son's own experience.
BIBLICAL REFERENCES Rom8:20-21[NASB] For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Mt18:7 Woe to the world in view of its stumbling blocks! Yet it is necessary [ἀνάγκη] that such stumbling blocks come; but woe to the person through whom the stumbling blocks come!
Heb2:10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through suffering.
1Jn4:8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
COMMENTS
Whether the Adam and Eve account in Genesis is taken symbolically or (as in my case) literally, it is to show that God had granted Satan permission to test humankind in her primeval infancy. And having failed that test, our loving but inscrutable God made the decision to utilize our disobedient first parents as the sin-polluted procreative fountain source for future humanity. For, as I have been demonstrating , the resultant suffering, division and ongoing struggle with Evil is no accident but a providential necessity (cf. Mt18:7). Christ as human creation's firstborn, in the sense of her representative/leader, epitomized such suffering and He did so on the cross. His Father (being God) had been perfectly entitled to enjoy unbroken felicity. Yet for mankind's sake He was prepared to endure the agony of observing His only begotten Son's humiliation and death.
BIBLICAL REFERENCES Ex19:6 'You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.
Thesis #89 of 95 - Such a mystery was known by God (i.e. the Father) but not communicated to any other being until revealed by the apostle Paul who described the mystery pertaining to the Gentiles' unexpected inheritance as "to euaggelion mou" - my gospel.
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
Acts26:18 I send you (Paul) to the Gentiles to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light - from the delegated authority (ἐξουσία) of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance with the sanctified by faith in Me.
Acts11:17,18 Therefore if God gave the Gentiles the same gift as He gave to us (Jews) after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I (Peter) that I should stand in God’s way?” When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”
Rom16:25 Now to him that has power to establish you (Gentiles) according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the disclosure of the mystery which has been kept secret since the world began.
COMMENTS
Continuing the theme developed in the previous two theses concerning Paul’s unheeded teaching regarding the fact that gospel salvation was only provided to the Gentile nations as a result of the Jews’ rejection of their Messiah – a secret unknown to pre-Apostolic generations (Rom16:25). The reason Paul has not been comprehended (especially regarding Rom11:11,12,15 &30 & Eph3:2-10), or at the very least, the providential implications of his teaching have not been thought through, is that Christendom has misunderstood what Jesus, the apostles and Holy Scripture actually mean by “salvation” in this context. It is not “deliverance from perdition” but in Jesus’ words is “an inheritance with the sanctified” and in Peter’s words “repentance that results in Life”. As the Lord also affirmed in His commission to Paul (Acts26:18), it was that the Gentiles’ eyes might be opened so that they might turn from darkness to light, Also, that they might be delivered from the delegated authority (ἐξουσία) granted to Satan into the realm of God and His truth. For as a result of the Fall and the influence of “ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου” (Jn16:11), mankind is innately blind to gospel truth (cf. Jn6:44). ... ...
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
Heb12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn ones who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.
James1:18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.
Rom8:23 We who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body!
Rom8:29 Those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son, so that He would be the Firstborn among many brothers.
BIBLICAL REFERENCES Is9:6,7 A child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace. Mt19:28-30 At the regeneration [παλινγενεσίᾳ], when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you (the 12) also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms on account of My name, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last; and the last, first. 1Cor6:3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? Rev5:9-10 You (O Christ) purchased people for God with Your blood from every tribe, language, people, and nation. You have made them to be kings and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth." Rev19:7 Let's rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has prepared herself." Gen15:5 He took (Abram) outside and said, "Now look toward the heavens and count the stars, if indeed you are able to count them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be. ק ָ֔ ח ִצְ י
COMMENTS Given that God's elect are designated to be the future corporate-Spouse of Jesus Christ, one would expect they would share in His activities, which must pertain to sovereignty, rule, judgement and the like. As Isaiah foretold concerning the Church's Bridegroom-to-be: "Unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His Kingdom, to order and establish it with judgement and justice from that time forward, even for ever". The concept that the Jesus people are to judge, rule and enlighten others is not restricted to Old Testament prophecies, it is evident in the gospels, epistles and Revelation, some verses from which have been quoted above. However, the qualities required for those who have already been reconciled to God as His children are faithfulness, humility and self-discipline. That is why Jesus taught that it is next to impossible for the rich and powerful of this age to enter the Kingdom of God (Mk10:25)-they lack the humility. And ironically in view of what I am disclosing here, they believe they have too much to lose in following Christ...
Thesis #83 of 95 - There is to be a new Heaven AND a new earth where righteousness dwells
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
1Cor11:30 For this reason (profaning the Eucharist) many among you are weak and sick, and a number even asleep.
1Cor15:51-52 I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised!
Rom8:23 Also we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons and daughters, i.e., the redemption of our body!
2Cor5:2 In this tent we are groaning, longing to be clothed with our dwelling which is FROM heaven [Greek: ἐξ οὐρανοῦ]
2Pet3:13 According to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness has been established.
COMMENTS
The essentials of these two related theses are summarized in the verses above. Firstly, that physical death, as depicted by Paul and others, is described as falling asleep and those who have died are regarded in Scripture as being asleep. It follows therefore that what departed souls are currently experiencing in the afterlife is a temporary situation. Just as in life, sleep is a transitory and confined state of being.
The Good News is there is to be life after life-after-death, and it shall be physical in nature – both in terms of individuals’ state of being and their environment. That is not speculation but the indisputable teaching of the bible. It was demonstrated by Christ Himself after His resurrection when he met and breakfasted with His disciples. And Paul describes Jesus in this context as the first-fruit of all who sleep (1Cor15:20).
THE SOURCE OF MANKIND’S PROBLEM WITH SIN
As I have been explaining, mankind’s problem resulting from the Fall is what Paul variously describes as our “vessel” (1Thes4:4), “tent” (2Cor5:2) “body of sin” (Rom6:6), or “body of this death” (Rom7:24). I tend to refer to this entity as our “procreated intellectual vessel”. “Procreated” to indicate its immediate and material origins and “intellectual” in that it incorporates the brain. As an earlier thesis explains, Paul’s teaching here is at the heart of what gospel salvation is for and seemingly has been misunderstood by virtually everyone. It is evident from the verse quoted from Rom8 that what Paul understands the Christian awaits so as to be adopted into God’s immediate family is the redemption of the body (v23).
Christians have traditionally understood the source of fallen mankind’s problem to be his “heart” and soul. In terms of the spiritual component’s origins, soul-creationists rightly understand that God implants our spiritual essence (that which survived physical death) within the embryo at or prior to birth. This accords with Paul and Peter’s vessel/tent language – the spiritual essence is the real us, the body and brain make up the vessel in which our eternal souls temporarily reside. That, no doubt is why Augustine came to reject soul-creationism. The implication in the context of his theology (largely adopted by the Western Church), is that man had been divinely provided with what is sin-ridden and then punished for possessing it. The alternative perspective (traducianism) is the extraordinary idea that the spiritual and eternal essence of man is derived from that which is material and temporal (sperm and ovaries). Soul-creationism (in the context of Western theology) is unavoidably God-maligning whilst traducianism is quite irrational. Both will have delighted Satan’s ears, for in the first case it depicts the Creator as perverse or hateful, and in both cases depicts man as rotten at his core.
Not so, writes Paul in Rom7:14-25 – at least, that will be seen to be the case once it is accepted that the apostle affirms man to be comprised of body, soul and spirit (cf. 1Thes5:23). Also, that his references to “flesh” literally mean flesh, not “sinful nature”. Likewise, his references to “mind” in that passage pertain not to the brain but to the moral outworking of the spirit or “inner man” (v22). The latter, Paul affirms in v20 is his true self – not his temporary vessel, but the eternal essence it houses which departs the body at death. That is itself an intellectual, memory-retraining entity (cf. Lk16:25). This contextualizes the inner mental conflict he is describing in Rom7 that results in two opposing laws or governing principles within his psyche (v23). And when the apostle speaks of “the law in my members” he is of course referring to the bodily senses as they are processed through the brain. That organ, wondrous as it is, is the ultimate, albeit temporal source of man’s problem with sin.
LOCATION AND ENVIRONMENT
2Cor5:2 when rightly translated affirms that the soul’s eternal dwelling is not “our heavenly home”, as in many bible versions, but that which is from heaven (ἐξ οὐρανοῦ), namely our resurrection body (the NASB rightly affirms this in its annotation). And as the apostle Peter (2Pet3:13) writes, the current earth is to be either renewed or replaced by another earth in which righteousness has been established” [Greek: κατοικεῖ]. It should be evident by now, even to non-premillennialists, that such cannot happen on this earth until Christ has returned.
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
1Tim4:10 [NASB] – We have set our hope on the living God, who is the Saviour of all mankind, especially of believers.
Rom7:23-25 I see another law in my (bodily) members, warring against the law of my (spiritual) mind bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of THIS death? Thanks be to God, (it is) through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I in my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
1Pet4:6 [KJV] For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
COMMENTS
Many Christians, not least those of my former ilk, have problems with the verse I have quoted from Paul’s letter to Timothy concerning God being the Saviour of all mankind ESPECIALLY of those who believe. It appears to undermine their raison d’être, indeed the very purpose of the gospel as they understand it. As a former Evangelical myself I remember questioning my pastor about the verse. I was assured that theologians were working on the matter; the matter being the meaning of “μάλιστα” rightly translated as I have quoted from the NASB as “especially”. Presumably, these theologians are still working on it for “μάλιστα” is “μάλιστα” – it can only be translated as “especially” or some very similar synonym/phrase such as “chiefly” or “most of all”. It cannot be translated as “specifically”, “exclusively” or “that is” which is what most would have expected Paul to have written in this context. The Greek word’s usage can be verified by examining every occurrence of μάλιστα in the New Testament on bible hub and noting that in all cases it can only sensibly mean what has just been stated.
Other attempts to explain this verse in the context of traditional binary soteriology include the notion that Paul is referring on the one hand to human life and on the other to a soul’s eternal destiny. The problem there is that whilst God certainly sustains all life, He does not in any sense save everybody from the disasters of life, even from an early grave. A significant proportion historically have through no fault of their own or their parents failed to survive infancy. Paul must therefore be referring to people’s eternal estate. For, after all, why did God create man in His own image in the first place? It was surely that as the pinnacle of His creation along with the angels, we should come to know Him, worship Him and enjoy Him – if not in this life, then in that which follows.
Others argue that Paul meant that God is the only One who can save anyone. But read the verse through again – “μάλιστα” (=especially) simply cannot be made to fit that meaning. Others again (μάλιστα😊 Arminian Evangelicals) say Paul is making the point that Christ’s atonement was unlimited – He died for all and can save all. True, but, as they would agree, only those who come to know Him as their personal Saviour are saved in the gospel sense. So again, μάλιστα” cannot be made to fit the bill.
No, either Paul is being dangerously clumsy with his wording, or he is theologically unsound (in which case we cannot really trust his teaching at all) OR he means exactly what he writes. That is effectively that there is salvation and there is SALVATION – which is precisely the case I have been making throughout these 95 theses. My other quotation from Romans 7 indicates how and why this is the case, but only when that passage is taken literally (e.g., “flesh”= bodily flesh, not “sinful nature”). As I have been explaining, the central soteriological problem he identifies in that chapter is “the body of this death”. That is, the procreated intellectual vessel in which (from a soul-creationist perspective) the God-given spirit temporarily resides.
The result is that whilst our “inner man”/”heart”/spiritual essence/conscience inclines us to do what Paul affirms elsewhere fulfils both the spirit and summation of God’s Law (treating others as we would ourselves – Rom13:9), we tend to act more selfishly in view of the “different law in the bodily members” (Rom7:23), i.e. the opposing impulses of the bodily senses as they are processed through the brain. So, asks Paul, who alone can deliver us from the body of this death such that we are consistently enabled to overcome our fleshly instincts? It is our Saviour God through Jesus Christ (v25).
Thus, only the Christian can be saved from the corrupting influence of the procreated intellectual vessel whilst the soul and spirit inhabit it. In Paul’s language, only the Christian “can possess his own vessel in sanctity and honour” (1Thes4:4). The remedy for the rest is more drastic – physical death when body and brain are buried or incinerated. But except they die in infancy, their souls may have been tainted, potentially poisoned and corrupted by the lives they have lived in mortal flesh. As covered in the previous thesis (#80), that could require what Jesus described as “salting in fire” before the soul can rest in heaven prior to bodily resurrection within “the new heavens and new earth where righteousness dwells” (2Pet3:13).
As should also be evident from the previous thesis, my endeavour throughout has been to outline a vastly broader benign providence than traditional bible-based Christianity has previously envisaged, not to make the case for absolute universalism. Paul on the other hand could be, if he had been given insights concerning what is to happen in future epochs (cf. Eph2:7). Unlike him, I have not been “caught up into paradise to hear unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (2Cor12:4). I must rely on what has been at least implicated in Scripture. So going back to Jesus’s teaching, He indicates that some people are beyond salting or purging (Mk9:50). That implies they could never repent or change from what they have become – whatever enlightening or processing they might receive. They refuse to be saved.
Yet even if that is the case, God can still be regarded as the Saviour of all humanity. For, if given further opportunity to repent and having been enlightened with gospel truth (which is assuredly not the case for the majority in this life – cf. 1Pet4:6), a soul still refuses to acquiesce, God, however loving, would not force anyone against their will to act and be what they are incapable of doing and being – most especially to love and serve Christ. But then such a soul might no longer be regarded as fully human – if there is not so much as a flicker of resemblance to the divine image, at the heart of which is love. And so, it could be said, for all true humanity, God is their Saviour, but more immediately and gloriously so for those who having believed (and also shared in Christ’s suffering), become the heirs of God and co-heirs with His Son (Rom8:17).
1. Humans were made in the image of God and even after the fall are to be regarded as such [Gen9:6]
2. Cain and Abel as the first humans to be born of woman were representatives within a de facto covenant that has been eluded by theologians [Gen4:7 Masoretic, e.g. KJV]
3. Abel was not “saved” by anticipating Calvary when he sacrificed an animal, he remained justified within a de facto covenant for fallen humanity by exercising faith/faithfulness, offering the best of his produce with a good conscience
4. Cain defaulted from this Universal Covenant after killing his brother
5. Such an inclusive covenant is indicated by the fact that Cain was neither entirely alienated from God nor cursed by Him until after his fratricide [Gen4:13-16]
6. Cain rather than Adam is the type of the damned or reprobate, later described in the New Testament as derived from the Evil One (Greek: ek tou ponerou) [1Jn3:12]
7. Adam is mankind’s federal head and the type of those Paul describes as “dead” due to the malign influence of the procreated vessel inhabited by the soul whose moral instincts oppose that of the God-given spirit. Cain is effectively the type of the twice dead [Jude12] in whom both flesh and spirit have died to God and become united in evil
8. Those who go in the way of Cain [Jude11] are described in the New Testament as children of the devil [e.g. Jn8:44]
9. Children of the devil are distinguishable by their lack of conscience and their inability to emphasize or show compassion to others [Mt25:41-46]. They also have a total disregard for the truth [Jn8:44]
10. Children of the devil are alluded to by Paul as vessels of wrath created and prepared by God for destruction [Rom9:22]. They were not planted by the Father [Mt15:13], neither retain His seed [1Jn3:9], so no longer bear a reflection of His moral image. In that sense they cease to be fully human but exist to fulfil God’s purposes set out in theses 92 and 93
11. When Paul speaks of non-Christians being “dead” he is not referring to damnation but to the disruption of the incarnate soul’s communion with the Source of its spiritual life
12. Original sin is a reality and the “death” described above is its result
On Halloween 1517 the instigator of the Protestant Reformation posted 95 theses on the church door at Wittenberg in the context of a proposed theological debate he wished to organize. It is thought to be around this time that Martin Luder changed his name to Luther, ostensibly so that it might resemble the Greek word for freedom (elutherius), probably also in view of what his original family name meant in his native tongue. The 95 theses had focussed on the practice of clergy selling indulgences, being certificates believed to reduce the temporal punishment in "purgatory" for sins committed by the purchasers or their loved ones. I won't expand on that here but in an earlier post I showed that although the burning away of dross for the purpose of purification and punishment is a biblical concept, it cannot be measured in earthly time or degree. The practice of believers doing penance or contributing money to alleviate post-mortem suffering cannot be traced back beyond the beginning of the 2 nd millennium. By the middle ages it had become a profitable business: "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs", a saying attributed to Johann Tetzel, papal seller of such indulgences having been tasked with raising money for rebuilding St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Such practices and their doctrinal/biblical basis were clearly open to question. Dr Luther, by that time a highly regarded monk who had risen to become Professor of moral theology at Wittenberg university believed that at the very least the matter should be debated. What further aspirations he had at that point of challenging the authority and teaching of the Catholic Church or breaking away from her are also a matter for debate, but the following year the theological scope of his enquiry was broadened, and that is where the 28 theses come in. These are set out below (my highlighting) and can be verified HERE , for some may not entirely believe what they are reading:
This prophecy is believed to be the earliest apocalypse of the Jewish tradition. The Book of Enoch was effectively treated as canonical by the very early Church. Church fathers including Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus and Tertullian believed it to be inspired and written by Enoch himself. Even those such as Augustine who were instrumental in ensuring it was ultimately rejected by most of Christendom acknowledged it to be divinely inspired, principally in view of its citing in New Testament Jude.
As I have testified elsewhere, the Old Testament cannot be rightly interpreted without reference to the Book of Enoch, especially regarding the activity and influence of the fallen watchers that resulted in the universal flood and the need for ethnic cleansing within the Canaanite territories. More importantly it contains prophecies of events that may be happening right now. For as the opening verse affirms, it was written to be a blessing, not to the Church through her history, but to “the elect and the righteous who would be living at the time of tribulations when the wicked and godless are to be removed”.
The scholarly consensus is that it was written in the 1st or 2nd century BC. However, I am convinced, along with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the aforementioned early Fathers that Enoch was written by Enoch. There are various theories cited on the internet as to how practically speaking that could be the case which I won’t go into here. But think about it – if, as so many believe the Book of Enoch is inspired, being a true word from God (biblical Jude believed that or he would not have quoted from it in his letter), how then could it at the same time be a fabrication of deceit? How could that which is divinely inspired be the creation of someone in the 2nd or 3rd century before Christ claiming to be the original patriarch, passing off as divine prophecy much that was already history? ... ...
GOD’S SECRET PLAN
The catalyst for the radical reinterpretation of the bible being presented was an understanding (or rather I believe a revelation) concerning why Paul had unexpectedly been appointed as thirteenth faithful apostle [Matthias had replaced Judas as #12]. It was in order “to preach to the gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to enlighten all people regarding the secret plan which had been hidden in God from previous ages (Eph3:8-9). For that secret plan is something that no one appears to have discerned its providential and dispensational implications. Effectively it means that the current age is not a spiritualized fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy, but in terms of the salvation history outlined in the Law and Prophets is an inserted epoch. Paul tells us this came about to provoke God’s disbelieving chosen race to envy – by enlisting members of the Gentile nations into the messianic community (Rom11 vv11,12,15,30). ... ...
... ... ...
CHAPTER 1 – GOD’S SECRET PLAN
A plan which the apostle Paul alludes to but few have comprehended; the fact that salvation as we understand it was not originally intended for the Gentile nations in the current epoch but resulted from the failure of the Jews (cf. Rom11:11-15), the providential implications of which have been quite eluded. The chapter also examines the extraordinary influence of Augustine of Hippo (AD354-430) on the development of Western theology. It shows how his innovative interpretation of the Pauline epistles shaped by over-reactions to the Pelagian and Manichean heresies resulted in doctrines that deformed both divine and human nature.
These infected the Catholic Church of his day whilst the Protestant Reformers built upon and reinforced them a thousand years later. I outline how the latter’s doctrinal position in particular contrasts with that of the 2nd and 3rd century Church. As a result, the Ancient Church’s perspectives on grace, free will, natural law and the millennium are much closer to my own. Although disruptive and disturbing for many, such a deconstruction is necessary if the munificent providence being outlined in this document is to be affirmed.
CHAPTER 2 – THE LOST COVENANT
Most will be familiar with the theological significance of Adam and Eve, less will be so with Cain and Abel. Yet Cain was the firstborn human and “type” of the reprobate. That is why as the first humans to be born of woman Cain and Abel were players within an inclusive Universal Covenant (cf. Gen4:7KJV). Again, that appears to have eluded virtually everyone . Also adduced in this chapter – the fact that the contagion of sin resulting from the Fall pertains to the procreated intellectual vessel (Paul’s “body of this death”), not the God-given soul as a whole – another longstanding misconception with radical and wondrous providential implications.
CHAPTER 3 – FAITH AND JUSTIFICATION
What the Bible means by “faith” and “justification”. What will be a new interpretation to many resolves numerous biblical and doctrinal tensions. That is by showing that the blessings of the Atonement apply at two levels: forensic and participatory. The chapter also outlines how such a bi-fold economy of grace and faith was testified to by the earliest (pre-Augustinian) Church fathers. Far from diminishing God’s grace these particular aspects of natural law have a direct link with Christ’s Passion. Consequently they benefit the many, not just the proportional few destined to be the bride of Christ. This therefore forms a central tenet of The Little Book of Providence.
CHAPTER 4 – THE UNIVERSAL RESTORATION
A short chapter examining what little the Bible tells us about the Parousia. At which point Christ “shall be glorified in His saints and admired by those that believe on that day”. I affirm with Paul that Christian salvation’s apotheosis is not the repose of the soul in heaven but the redemption of the body within a restored universe (Rom8:19-23).
CHAPTER 5 – PROGRESSIVE REVELATION
God’s chosen method of enlightenment for the Church and world. In terms of the Church, the chapter considers how the gospel was disseminated by the apostles and their immediate successors, observing with second century Irenaeus that the churches at that time were remarkably united in their interpretation of the gospel – an interpretation that many Christians today would scarcely recognize.
CHAPTER 6 – CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL
The mystery of evil and the role and ignominious destiny of human defaulters from the eluded Universal Covenant. These are individuals that Jesus, Paul and John refer to as “children of the devil”. They may be defined as those devoid of love, truth or conscience.
CHAPTER 7 – THE THEODICY
Why a God Scripture defines as Love personified permits the continuance of evil and the suffering that results from it; a key to the solution being Christ’s earthly experience (Heb2:10). It was a prelude to His glorious inheritance – and that of His faithful followers.
#1. Humans were made in the image of God and even after the fall are to be regarded as such [ref1]
#2. Cain and Abel as the first humans to be born of woman were representatives within
a de facto covenant that has been eluded by theologians [2]
#3. Abel was not "saved" by anticipating Calvary when he sacrificed an animal, he
remained justified within a de facto covenant for fallen humanity by exercising
faith/faithfulness, offering the best of his produce with a good conscience
#4. Cain defaulted from this Universal Covenant after killing his brother
#5. Such an inclusive covenant is indicated by the fact that Cain was neither entirely
alienated from God nor cursed by Him until after his fratricide [3]
#6. Cain rather than Adam is the type of the damned or reprobate who is later described in the New Testament as derived from the Evil One (Greek: ek tou ponerou)
[4]
# 7 (of 95). Adam is mankind's federal head and the type of those Paul describes as "dead" due to the malign influence of the procreated vessel inhabited by the soul whose moral instincts oppose that of the God-given spirit. Cain is effectively the type of the twice dead [5] in whom both flesh and spirit have died to God and become united in evil
REFERENCES
1 Gen9:6: Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man
2 Gen4:7 Masoretic: If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not
well, Sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him
(King James Version)
3 Gen4:13-16: Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great to bear! Behold, You
have driven me THIS DAY from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” So the Lord said to him, “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord appointed a sign for Cain, so that no one finding him would slay him. Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden
4 1Jn3:12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous
5 Jude12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you
without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water,
carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice
dead, pulled up by the roots
BIBLICAL REFERENCES Rev1:1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His servants (the church) the things which must soon take place"
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
Acts1:7 Jesus said to them, “It is not for you (apostles) to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority”
Eph3:9-10 [NASB] (Paul) to enlighten all people as to what the plan of the mystery is which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things; so that the multifaceted wisdom of God might NOW be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.
1Tim2:6 (Christ) gave himself as a ransom for all, the evidence for which [μαρτύριονG3142] to be provided in due time.
Rom8:19-21 [NASB] For the eagerly awaiting creation waits for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Rev10:2-4 (The angel) had in his hand a little book, which was open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land; and he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars; and when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices. When the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken, and do not write them.
Mal4:5-6 Lo, I will send you the prophet ‘Elijah’ before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.
Mt24:14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
BIBLICAL REFERENCES Acts3:21 Christ, the One whom Heaven must receive until the time of the restoration of all things which God has spoken of through the mouths of His holy prophets since the world began.
Rev10:7 In the days when the voice of the seventh messenger is about to sound off, then the mystery of God shall have been completed, as He announced to His servants the prophets.
COMMENTS As the thesis indicates, the solution to the mystery of human suffering is hinted at in an extraordinary verse in Hebrews: "It was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the originator of their salvation through suffering" (2:10). So, even the sinless Saviour was perfected for His priestly office and future glory by suffering. How much more the need for such salting and grist to be provided for the mere mortals who will come to share His glorious inheritance. This is why things have always been as they have been in the world and in the Church. Suffering partnered with essential spiritual healing and progressive enlightenment are how God is drawing man toward his ultimate destiny as exemplified by His Son's own experience.
BIBLICAL REFERENCES Rom8:20-21[NASB] For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Mt18:7 Woe to the world in view of its stumbling blocks! Yet it is necessary [ἀνάγκη] that such stumbling blocks come; but woe to the person through whom the stumbling blocks come!
Heb2:10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through suffering.
1Jn4:8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
COMMENTS
Whether the Adam and Eve account in Genesis is taken symbolically or (as in my case) literally, it is to show that God had granted Satan permission to test humankind in her primeval infancy. And having failed that test, our loving but inscrutable God made the decision to utilize our disobedient first parents as the sin-polluted procreative fountain source for future humanity. For, as I have been demonstrating , the resultant suffering, division and ongoing struggle with Evil is no accident but a providential necessity (cf. Mt18:7). Christ as human creation's firstborn, in the sense of her representative/leader, epitomized such suffering and He did so on the cross. His Father (being God) had been perfectly entitled to enjoy unbroken felicity. Yet for mankind's sake He was prepared to endure the agony of observing His only begotten Son's humiliation and death.
BIBLICAL REFERENCES Ex19:6 'You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.
Thesis #89 of 95 - Such a mystery was known by God (i.e. the Father) but not communicated to any other being until revealed by the apostle Paul who described the mystery pertaining to the Gentiles' unexpected inheritance as "to euaggelion mou" - my gospel.
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
Acts26:18 I send you (Paul) to the Gentiles to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light - from the delegated authority (ἐξουσία) of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance with the sanctified by faith in Me.
Acts11:17,18 Therefore if God gave the Gentiles the same gift as He gave to us (Jews) after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I (Peter) that I should stand in God’s way?” When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”
Rom16:25 Now to him that has power to establish you (Gentiles) according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the disclosure of the mystery which has been kept secret since the world began.
COMMENTS
Continuing the theme developed in the previous two theses concerning Paul’s unheeded teaching regarding the fact that gospel salvation was only provided to the Gentile nations as a result of the Jews’ rejection of their Messiah – a secret unknown to pre-Apostolic generations (Rom16:25). The reason Paul has not been comprehended (especially regarding Rom11:11,12,15 &30 & Eph3:2-10), or at the very least, the providential implications of his teaching have not been thought through, is that Christendom has misunderstood what Jesus, the apostles and Holy Scripture actually mean by “salvation” in this context. It is not “deliverance from perdition” but in Jesus’ words is “an inheritance with the sanctified” and in Peter’s words “repentance that results in Life”. As the Lord also affirmed in His commission to Paul (Acts26:18), it was that the Gentiles’ eyes might be opened so that they might turn from darkness to light, Also, that they might be delivered from the delegated authority (ἐξουσία) granted to Satan into the realm of God and His truth. For as a result of the Fall and the influence of “ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου” (Jn16:11), mankind is innately blind to gospel truth (cf. Jn6:44). ... ...
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
Heb12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn ones who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.
James1:18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.
Rom8:23 We who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body!
Rom8:29 Those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son, so that He would be the Firstborn among many brothers.
BIBLICAL REFERENCES Is9:6,7 A child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace. Mt19:28-30 At the regeneration [παλινγενεσίᾳ], when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you (the 12) also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms on account of My name, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last; and the last, first. 1Cor6:3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? Rev5:9-10 You (O Christ) purchased people for God with Your blood from every tribe, language, people, and nation. You have made them to be kings and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth." Rev19:7 Let's rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has prepared herself." Gen15:5 He took (Abram) outside and said, "Now look toward the heavens and count the stars, if indeed you are able to count them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be. ק ָ֔ ח ִצְ י
COMMENTS Given that God's elect are designated to be the future corporate-Spouse of Jesus Christ, one would expect they would share in His activities, which must pertain to sovereignty, rule, judgement and the like. As Isaiah foretold concerning the Church's Bridegroom-to-be: "Unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His Kingdom, to order and establish it with judgement and justice from that time forward, even for ever". The concept that the Jesus people are to judge, rule and enlighten others is not restricted to Old Testament prophecies, it is evident in the gospels, epistles and Revelation, some verses from which have been quoted above. However, the qualities required for those who have already been reconciled to God as His children are faithfulness, humility and self-discipline. That is why Jesus taught that it is next to impossible for the rich and powerful of this age to enter the Kingdom of God (Mk10:25)-they lack the humility. And ironically in view of what I am disclosing here, they believe they have too much to lose in following Christ...
Thesis #83 of 95 - There is to be a new Heaven AND a new earth where righteousness dwells
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
1Cor11:30 For this reason (profaning the Eucharist) many among you are weak and sick, and a number even asleep.
1Cor15:51-52 I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised!
Rom8:23 Also we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons and daughters, i.e., the redemption of our body!
2Cor5:2 In this tent we are groaning, longing to be clothed with our dwelling which is FROM heaven [Greek: ἐξ οὐρανοῦ]
2Pet3:13 According to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness has been established.
COMMENTS
The essentials of these two related theses are summarized in the verses above. Firstly, that physical death, as depicted by Paul and others, is described as falling asleep and those who have died are regarded in Scripture as being asleep. It follows therefore that what departed souls are currently experiencing in the afterlife is a temporary situation. Just as in life, sleep is a transitory and confined state of being.
The Good News is there is to be life after life-after-death, and it shall be physical in nature – both in terms of individuals’ state of being and their environment. That is not speculation but the indisputable teaching of the bible. It was demonstrated by Christ Himself after His resurrection when he met and breakfasted with His disciples. And Paul describes Jesus in this context as the first-fruit of all who sleep (1Cor15:20).
THE SOURCE OF MANKIND’S PROBLEM WITH SIN
As I have been explaining, mankind’s problem resulting from the Fall is what Paul variously describes as our “vessel” (1Thes4:4), “tent” (2Cor5:2) “body of sin” (Rom6:6), or “body of this death” (Rom7:24). I tend to refer to this entity as our “procreated intellectual vessel”. “Procreated” to indicate its immediate and material origins and “intellectual” in that it incorporates the brain. As an earlier thesis explains, Paul’s teaching here is at the heart of what gospel salvation is for and seemingly has been misunderstood by virtually everyone. It is evident from the verse quoted from Rom8 that what Paul understands the Christian awaits so as to be adopted into God’s immediate family is the redemption of the body (v23).
Christians have traditionally understood the source of fallen mankind’s problem to be his “heart” and soul. In terms of the spiritual component’s origins, soul-creationists rightly understand that God implants our spiritual essence (that which survived physical death) within the embryo at or prior to birth. This accords with Paul and Peter’s vessel/tent language – the spiritual essence is the real us, the body and brain make up the vessel in which our eternal souls temporarily reside. That, no doubt is why Augustine came to reject soul-creationism. The implication in the context of his theology (largely adopted by the Western Church), is that man had been divinely provided with what is sin-ridden and then punished for possessing it. The alternative perspective (traducianism) is the extraordinary idea that the spiritual and eternal essence of man is derived from that which is material and temporal (sperm and ovaries). Soul-creationism (in the context of Western theology) is unavoidably God-maligning whilst traducianism is quite irrational. Both will have delighted Satan’s ears, for in the first case it depicts the Creator as perverse or hateful, and in both cases depicts man as rotten at his core.
Not so, writes Paul in Rom7:14-25 – at least, that will be seen to be the case once it is accepted that the apostle affirms man to be comprised of body, soul and spirit (cf. 1Thes5:23). Also, that his references to “flesh” literally mean flesh, not “sinful nature”. Likewise, his references to “mind” in that passage pertain not to the brain but to the moral outworking of the spirit or “inner man” (v22). The latter, Paul affirms in v20 is his true self – not his temporary vessel, but the eternal essence it houses which departs the body at death. That is itself an intellectual, memory-retraining entity (cf. Lk16:25). This contextualizes the inner mental conflict he is describing in Rom7 that results in two opposing laws or governing principles within his psyche (v23). And when the apostle speaks of “the law in my members” he is of course referring to the bodily senses as they are processed through the brain. That organ, wondrous as it is, is the ultimate, albeit temporal source of man’s problem with sin.
LOCATION AND ENVIRONMENT
2Cor5:2 when rightly translated affirms that the soul’s eternal dwelling is not “our heavenly home”, as in many bible versions, but that which is from heaven (ἐξ οὐρανοῦ), namely our resurrection body (the NASB rightly affirms this in its annotation). And as the apostle Peter (2Pet3:13) writes, the current earth is to be either renewed or replaced by another earth in which righteousness has been established” [Greek: κατοικεῖ]. It should be evident by now, even to non-premillennialists, that such cannot happen on this earth until Christ has returned.
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
1Tim4:10 [NASB] – We have set our hope on the living God, who is the Saviour of all mankind, especially of believers.
Rom7:23-25 I see another law in my (bodily) members, warring against the law of my (spiritual) mind bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of THIS death? Thanks be to God, (it is) through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I in my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
1Pet4:6 [KJV] For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
COMMENTS
Many Christians, not least those of my former ilk, have problems with the verse I have quoted from Paul’s letter to Timothy concerning God being the Saviour of all mankind ESPECIALLY of those who believe. It appears to undermine their raison d’être, indeed the very purpose of the gospel as they understand it. As a former Evangelical myself I remember questioning my pastor about the verse. I was assured that theologians were working on the matter; the matter being the meaning of “μάλιστα” rightly translated as I have quoted from the NASB as “especially”. Presumably, these theologians are still working on it for “μάλιστα” is “μάλιστα” – it can only be translated as “especially” or some very similar synonym/phrase such as “chiefly” or “most of all”. It cannot be translated as “specifically”, “exclusively” or “that is” which is what most would have expected Paul to have written in this context. The Greek word’s usage can be verified by examining every occurrence of μάλιστα in the New Testament on bible hub and noting that in all cases it can only sensibly mean what has just been stated.
Other attempts to explain this verse in the context of traditional binary soteriology include the notion that Paul is referring on the one hand to human life and on the other to a soul’s eternal destiny. The problem there is that whilst God certainly sustains all life, He does not in any sense save everybody from the disasters of life, even from an early grave. A significant proportion historically have through no fault of their own or their parents failed to survive infancy. Paul must therefore be referring to people’s eternal estate. For, after all, why did God create man in His own image in the first place? It was surely that as the pinnacle of His creation along with the angels, we should come to know Him, worship Him and enjoy Him – if not in this life, then in that which follows.
Others argue that Paul meant that God is the only One who can save anyone. But read the verse through again – “μάλιστα” (=especially) simply cannot be made to fit that meaning. Others again (μάλιστα😊 Arminian Evangelicals) say Paul is making the point that Christ’s atonement was unlimited – He died for all and can save all. True, but, as they would agree, only those who come to know Him as their personal Saviour are saved in the gospel sense. So again, μάλιστα” cannot be made to fit the bill.
No, either Paul is being dangerously clumsy with his wording, or he is theologically unsound (in which case we cannot really trust his teaching at all) OR he means exactly what he writes. That is effectively that there is salvation and there is SALVATION – which is precisely the case I have been making throughout these 95 theses. My other quotation from Romans 7 indicates how and why this is the case, but only when that passage is taken literally (e.g., “flesh”= bodily flesh, not “sinful nature”). As I have been explaining, the central soteriological problem he identifies in that chapter is “the body of this death”. That is, the procreated intellectual vessel in which (from a soul-creationist perspective) the God-given spirit temporarily resides.
The result is that whilst our “inner man”/”heart”/spiritual essence/conscience inclines us to do what Paul affirms elsewhere fulfils both the spirit and summation of God’s Law (treating others as we would ourselves – Rom13:9), we tend to act more selfishly in view of the “different law in the bodily members” (Rom7:23), i.e. the opposing impulses of the bodily senses as they are processed through the brain. So, asks Paul, who alone can deliver us from the body of this death such that we are consistently enabled to overcome our fleshly instincts? It is our Saviour God through Jesus Christ (v25).
Thus, only the Christian can be saved from the corrupting influence of the procreated intellectual vessel whilst the soul and spirit inhabit it. In Paul’s language, only the Christian “can possess his own vessel in sanctity and honour” (1Thes4:4). The remedy for the rest is more drastic – physical death when body and brain are buried or incinerated. But except they die in infancy, their souls may have been tainted, potentially poisoned and corrupted by the lives they have lived in mortal flesh. As covered in the previous thesis (#80), that could require what Jesus described as “salting in fire” before the soul can rest in heaven prior to bodily resurrection within “the new heavens and new earth where righteousness dwells” (2Pet3:13).
As should also be evident from the previous thesis, my endeavour throughout has been to outline a vastly broader benign providence than traditional bible-based Christianity has previously envisaged, not to make the case for absolute universalism. Paul on the other hand could be, if he had been given insights concerning what is to happen in future epochs (cf. Eph2:7). Unlike him, I have not been “caught up into paradise to hear unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (2Cor12:4). I must rely on what has been at least implicated in Scripture. So going back to Jesus’s teaching, He indicates that some people are beyond salting or purging (Mk9:50). That implies they could never repent or change from what they have become – whatever enlightening or processing they might receive. They refuse to be saved.
Yet even if that is the case, God can still be regarded as the Saviour of all humanity. For, if given further opportunity to repent and having been enlightened with gospel truth (which is assuredly not the case for the majority in this life – cf. 1Pet4:6), a soul still refuses to acquiesce, God, however loving, would not force anyone against their will to act and be what they are incapable of doing and being – most especially to love and serve Christ. But then such a soul might no longer be regarded as fully human – if there is not so much as a flicker of resemblance to the divine image, at the heart of which is love. And so, it could be said, for all true humanity, God is their Saviour, but more immediately and gloriously so for those who having believed (and also shared in Christ’s suffering), become the heirs of God and co-heirs with His Son (Rom8:17).
Thesis #79 of 95-As in life, post-mortem punishment can be for the purpose of healing as well as destruction.
Thesis #80 of 95-God has intimated that every soul that can be healed and restored shall ultimately be so, for He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
Luk16:24 Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame Mk9:45-50 If your foot should be your downfall, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye should be your downfall, tear it out; it is better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, in which their worm will never dies nor their fire be put out. For everyone will be salted with fire-salt being a good thing but if salt has become insipid, how can you make it salty again. Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another. ...
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
Rom2:6-11 (God) will repay each person according to his works: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek after glory, honor, and immortality He will give eternal life; but to those who are self-serving and do not obey truth but unrighteousness He will give wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of mankind who does evil, for the Jew first and for the Greek, but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who does what is good, to the Jew first and to the Greek.
Titus2:11-15 THE GRACE OF GOD HAS APPEARED FOR THE SALVATION OF THE HUMAN RACE TEACHING US TO DENY UNGODLINESS AND WORLDLY LUSTS TO LIVE SENSIBLY, RIGHTEOUSLY AND DEVOUTLY IN THE CURRENT AGE, ANTICIPATING THE BLESSED HOPE AND SHEKINAH OF OUR GREAT GOD AND THE APPEARING OF OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST, WHO GAVE HIMSELF FOR OUR SAKE SO THAT WE SHOULD BE DELIVERED FROM LAWLESSNESS AND BE PURIFIED AS A SPECIALLY CHOSEN PEOPLE FOR HIMSELF BURNING WITH ZEAL TO DO GOOD WORKS!
1Jn4:16b-17 GOD IS LOVE, and anyone who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in them. Thereby love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because just as God is, so are we in this world.
Mt16:27(KJV) The Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with his angels; and then He shall reward every man according to his works.
Mt5:45-47 PROVE YOURSELVES TO BE SONS OF YOUR FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN! For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. So if you only love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors, do they not do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Even the Gentiles, do they not do the same?
COMMENTS
The two Pauline texts included above are regarded by many as anomalous, i.e., contrary to what they understand to be at the heart of the rest of Paul’s teaching. As I am in the process of demonstrating, that is because in the footsteps of Augustine they are misunderstanding the apostle’s teaching concerning faith, justification, law and the economy of grace. [An earlier post summarizes the juridical and covenantal justification aspects]. And the above texts from Romans chapter two and Titus summarize PAUL’s understanding of what God is like and how He will judge the world. And, contrary to how he tends to be interpreted, it is in line with every other author and teacher of the New Testament, including Jesus Himself.
God is a rewarding God, fair and just towards all; utterly impartial. His judgements will be on the basis of a person’s works and legacy - whether or not the world is a better place for them having been a part of it. And as Jesus and James emphasize, that judgement will also contain elements of redistribution and compensation. As another earlier post explains, it will take account of circumstances and opportunities - disabled beggar Lazarus had little of either, whilst the rich man had plenty. The Creator’s WAYS may be extraordinary but in the starkest contrast to the God portrayed by Luther and the Reformers, Paul’s God is comprehensible and reasonable in terms of His justice and judgements. And that is just as well, for as John astonishingly affirms (above), Christians are to be like God in the world. God, writes John, is LOVE PERSONIFIED; everyone who loves is of God whilst the Christian is being perfected in love such that God abides in them and they in God.
Volumes more could be written concerning the subject of this thesis, and it has been. The above biblical references summarize the situation regarding God’s nature, justice and judgements. And I have capitalized the passage from Titus where Paul summarizes the pivotal role Jesus Christ along with His elect people play within God’s saving purposes for this fallen, broken world. [Note who the Christian elect are and what they are for, according to Paul: "a specially chosen people for God, purified and burning with zeal to perform good works"].
All this has to be (and has been) reconciled with the rest of Scripture. That is to provide a cohesive account of God’s wondrous providential purposes for humanity and the Good News of His kingdom. According to One who should know, such is to be proclaimed to the nations before the current arrangements on Earth are concluded (Mt24:14).
BIBLICAL REFERENCES Jn15:2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit
Gen4:7(KJV) If thou (Cain) doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, Sin lieth at the door. Unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him
1Jn3:12 Be not as Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And for what reason did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil, but his brother's were righteous
1Jn4:7-8 “Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love”
Rom8:29 For those He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers
Rev3:21 He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat with My Father on His throne
Rev5:9-10 You (Christ) purchased people for God with Your blood from every tribe, language, people, and nation. You have made them into a kingdom of priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth
Mk8:34-35 “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it”
1Cor9:27 I (Paul) strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified!
Rom8:17 Being heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if in fact we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him
COMMENTS
This thesis is affirming that everyone who enters a covenant with God does so by grace alone. It is a matter of divine favour and generosity, not dependant on merit. Unmerited grace clearly applied to a Jewish baby born within the Abrahamic Covenant; equally to the Christian baby baptized by the Church and incorporated within the Covenant of Christ’s blood. Likewise, to the adult convert given faith to apprehend Christ (Eph2:8) and receive Christian baptism. And the human baby, starting with Cain as the world’s first infant, freely incorporated within the theologically eluded Universal Covenant of life through the two-way age-enduring merits of Christ’s righteous act that universally nullifies Adam’s act of disobedience (Rom5:18).
The issue then becomes how one retains the benefits of that covenant as opposed to defaulting. The answer is faith or faithfulness [same word in biblical Greek] evidenced by fruit. The Jew who turned from JHWE to idolatry defaults his covenantal privileges. Those in Christ who fail to produce fruit may remain in the Church but will not participate in the marriage of the Lamb, for every branch in Christ that fails to bear fruit will be removed (Jn15:2). Members of humanity who fail to produce any fruit in the form of compassionate love (agape) like Cain and the Matthew 25 “goats” remain on earth but become alienated from God’s loving care. They have a new master to look after their interests, and at least as far ahead as Scripture permits us to foresee will not be incorporated within God’s eternal Kingdom but will receive post-mortem punishment (Mt25:45-46).
The above is almost diametrically opposed to what so many Christians believe today. They understand men and women to have an innate ability to come to a saving relationship with Christ. And for those who do it is “all of grace” thereafter; perseverance being guaranteed. Hard-line Calvinists such as I was in the past rightly understand covenantal election to be unconditional. But in view of their binary soteriology, they cannot avoid impugning God’s equitable and loving nature. For the logical implication is that those excluded, being the bulk of humanity, have been destined for eternal misery at the Creator’s behest. Not only is such an abhorrent distortion of divine providence, but it is also at total odds with the Christmas angels’ message of “Good News of great joy for all people”. Thankfully, such a denigration of Christ’s saving work cannot be squared with Scripture as a whole.
GOD IS FAIR TO ALL
The covenantal arrangements outlined in the opening paragraphs are entirely equitable; the economy of a Creator who is comprehensively and comprehensibly adorable. That is, at least once it is understood that the vast majority who are excluded from the covenants of promise (non-Jews in the OT, non-Christians in the current age) are not all “bound for hell”. The destiny of the soul after death, as Jesus indicated in the definitive final judgement passage of the New Testament (Mt25:31-46) and as I have been delineating in my writing has little if anything to do with religious faith or practice. It pertains rather to whether one is “of God” or from the Evil One [Greek: ek tou ponerou” 1Jn3:12; cf. Mt13:25-28 (see note#1); Mt15:13]. As Mt25 affirms, such a categorization is determined by whether or not one has shown in life the capacity to exercise “agape” (compassionate love), of which our Creator is the personification (1Jn4:7-8 vis-a-vis 1Jn3:12).
In terms of God’s justice, God’s “elect” certainly enjoy certain privileges now and immeasurably more so in the ages to come compared to the rest. But the elect’s glorious inheritance is something that the majority have simply not been prepared for, in this life at least (Rom8:29; Rev3:21; Rev5:9-10). And as related in this thesis, the rewards are dependent on continued faithfulness. “Rewards” indeed, for as Jesus and Paul in particular make clear, to “attain to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ” involves personal sacrifice, self-discipline, even suffering in the present (Mk8:34-35; 1Cor9:27; Rom8:17).
Truly, we shall praise God with uprightness of heart when we have learnt of His righteous judgements (Ps119:7).
NOTE#1 The parable of the wheat and darnel is often portrayed by commentators as relating to the church whereas Jesus makes clear the satanic seed is planted in the world (Mt13:38 cf. Mt15:13). The related parable for the Church is provided by Paul (2Tim2:19-21).
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
John6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
John1:12-13 As many as received (Christ), to them God gave the capacity to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God.
Rom7:24-25a Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God (it is) through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Rom8:29 For those He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
Heb1:3 (Jesus) is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, who upholds all things by the word of His power, and who when He had made a purification of sins (καθαρισμὸν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ποιησάμενος), sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Jn14:9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been such a long time with you and yet you have not known Me, Philip? HE THAT HAS SEEN ME HAS SEEN THE FATHER; so why say ‘Show us the Father’”?
COMMENTS
Jesus is later joined by Paul, John and Luke (in Acts) in affirming that fallen man is incapable of coming to gospel salvation unless fore ordained and divinely enabled to do so (e.g., Jn1:13 & 6:44; Rom8:29; Acts13:48). This is a profoundly difficult concept for many bible-believing Christians to get their heads round - evangelistically, theologically and philosophically. At least that is the case for those who think the matter through. In reality, many do not, or dare not.
So, should one “go liberal” and reject the bible’s teaching on the matter altogether? Or, like myself in the past, one could adopt the Protestant Reformers’ maxim, “Let God be God”, i.e. He may appear incomprehensibly unjust and harsh to us but that is His prerogative. Such might be feasible IF the One who “EXACTLY REPRESENTS HIS FATHER’S NATURE” (Heb1:3) even during His earthly ministry (Jn14:9) had not demonstrated that that simply cannot be the case. Like Jesus, our Heavenly Father is comprehensively and comprehensibly adorable. He is compassionate, loving and equitable, even from an enlightened human perspective. Satan (gleefully) and many Western theologians (reluctantly) would have us believe otherwise.
As I have been explaining, such mystifying and unintentional maligning of the divine nature arises from a misunderstanding of the context of election/predestination within broader benign providence. That in turn is the result of a failure to understand the nature of gospel salvation - what it is from and what it is for. The verses from Rom 7&8 (above) supply clues for each aspect, the solution is set out in full in the Little Book of Providence.
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
Gen17:18-20 Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” 19 But God said, “No, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly.
Gal4:28 And you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are the children of promise.
Phil3:13-14 Brothers, I do not regard myself as possessing it as yet, but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
COMMENTS
This follows on from the previous thesis’s assertion that the Church like Isaac are the children of promise. The churches have generally understood there to be one covenant for each testament period and an exclusive one at that. Such a concept should be repudiated, firstly by the reality of Abel and others declared righteous before the Abrahamic Covenant was established. Still more so by the story of Ishmael. He had been circumcised, blessed by God and by his father Abraham, sent on his way in peace yet he was excluded from the covenant initiated through his father, for the seed of his union with Sarah were to be the children of promise. And such is the Church in the current dispensation (Gal4:28). Yet through Abraham, all nations were to be blessed, and that included the twelve that would spring from the seed of his son Ishmael, yet not necessarily through incorporation into an exclusive covenant.
The point of the thesis is that Isaac had been elected to that exclusive covenant, and Paul mentions him by name as effectively he is its patriarchal head, Abraham’s other son Ishmael having been excluded. It hardly needs to be said that Isaac’s election was entirely a matter of grace. He was chosen for no other reason than that he was the child divinely promised to Sarah and Abraham in their old age. Similarly, those who are called out from the world and into the Church [Greek ἐκκλησία = the called-out ones]. Such all-of-grace election and the staggering rewards that go with it (Rev3:21😲) may appear to challenge God’s sense of justice and equitable nature. Not so once the self-sacrificial demands and conditionality of attaining the goal of which Paul speaks in Phi3:13-14 (above) has been grasped, together with an understanding of biblical salvation’s context within broader benign providence being outlined in these theses.
Thesis #71 of 95-The Abrahamic covenant superseded by the Covenant of Christ's blood are exclusive covenants
Thesis #72 of 95-Ishmael was blessed by God and his father Abraham but not elected to the exclusive covenant designated for Isaac and his seed Thesis #73 of 95-The Church, like Isaac, are the children of promise
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
Gen4:7 (Masoretic) If you (Cain) do what is right will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, Sin is crouching at the portal and desired to have you-you must master him
Gen4:13-14 Cain replied to the Lord, my punishment is too much for me to bear; THIS DAY you are driving me from the land and I WILL BE HIDDEN FROM YOUR PRESENCE
Gen17:20-21 (KJV) As for Ishmael I have heard thee: behold I have blessed him and will make him fruitful… but my covenant I will establish with Isaac
Gal4:28 And you, brothers (and sisters), LIKE ISAAC, are the children of promise.
Eph1:4-5 God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love. He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will
Jam1:18 Through His own predetermined will He gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would be a KIND OF FIRST FRUITS among His creatures.
COMMENTS
This pertains to a crucial aspect of divine providence, being the main topic of the second chapter of The Little Book of Providence [Link #1]. Such needs to be consulted to provide an adequate explanation for these three related theses. For that chapter equally concerns a related OVERARCHING covenant in which Cain and Abel were the players (Gen4:7-14). Unlike the Abrahamic and Christian covenants referred to in these theses, that was a universal and INCLUSIVE covenant. And seemingly it has been universally eluded by theologians. Christians therefore usually understood there to be ONE soteriological covenant for each testament period. And whether or not they discern or acknowledge the matter, it is exclusive in nature. ...
... ...
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
1Thes4:4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour (KJV)
1Thes5:23-Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your SPIRIT AND SOUL AND BODY be kept complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Rom8:16-The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God
Gal6:18-The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.
COMMENTS
This thesis pertains to the human soul: its origins and nature, which I described in the Little Book of Providence as follows: ... ...
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
Rom7:23-24 I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my (spiritual) mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the BODY OF THIS DEATH? I thank God it is THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.
1Thes4:4 That each of you know how to POSSESS HIS OWN VESSEL in sanctification and honour.
1Pet4:6 For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they have been judged in the flesh as people, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.
Mk9:49-50 For everyone will be salted with fire, SALT BEING GOOD; but if the salt becomes unsaltable, how can it be made salty again?
Mt 15:13 But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted.
Mt16:26 For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and INJURE* his own soul? *[Greek: ζημιωθῇ - as in 1Cor3:15]
1Jn3:12a Be not as Cain, who was OF THE EVIL ONE and murdered his brother.
COMMENTS
I have been explaining that a human being’s spirit is created in God’s image before being planted into a morally disordered procreated intellectual vessel at the commencement of life. Whilst that earthen vessel’s control centre or brain is procreated, the faculties pertaining to man’s spiritual component being the part of us THAT SURVIVES PHYSICAL DEATH are from God, resulting in opposing laws governing flesh and spirit within the human psyche (cf. Rom7:23; Eccles12:7). Rejecting such a hypothesis implies EITHER that human reproductive organs are capable of producing what is spiritual and eternal OR that God through Christ directly creates and plants within man a spiritual entity polluted by sin, hateful towards its Creator and deserving of eternal torment from its conception. Neither is acceptable: the one opposes reason; the other opposes the notion of a God described In Scripture as love personified. Paul’s “body of this death” resolves the matter, indicating man’s moral and spiritual predicament to be temporal [note#1], as more explicitly does Peter (1Pet4:6). Mankind’s solution is Jesus Christ, by Whom one is enabled to “possess one’s own VESSEL in sanctity and honour (1Thes4:4; Rom7:24-25). ... ...
"After they have written down truthfully all my words in their languages, not erring from my words but writing them down truthfully, then I know another mystery. Books are to be given to the righteous and the wise to become a cause of joy and uprightness and much wisdom. To them shall the BOOKS BE GIVEN, and they shall BELIEVE IN THEM AND REJOICE OVER THEM, and then shall all the righteous who have learnt from them the TRUE paths of righteousness be recompensed" [En104:10-14-my highlighting]
The idea of books being widely distributed was humanly speaking an alien concept prior to the mid-2nd millennium invention of the printing press. That was the primary means by which the Protestant Reformation gained traction in the 16th century. [As referred to in a recent post, I believe the author of Enoch alludes to that distant future event when he wrote in the same chapter (104): "they will alter and pervert the words of righteousness in many ways, and will speak wicked words, and lie, and practise great deceits and write books concerning their teachings"]. But now Enoch is referring to books being given (by implication freely distributed). And to whom?-a specific grouping, sect or nation? No, "to the righteous and the wise" who clearly would be scattered throughout the world. And how could these "righteous and wise" obtain this writing? Clearly, they must have the ability to access, examine and thereby discern that the writing in question was profitable for wisdom; then to freely acquire it for themselves. I cannot envisage such a scenario being feasible until the invention of the internet and PORTABLE DOCUMENT FORMAT FILES (PDFs), themselves an invention of the early 1990s, at least two thousand years after the prophecy. ...