Results 21 - 25 of 25
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Author: BadDog Ordered by Verse |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
21 | RU saying some sanctified aren't saved? | Heb 10:26 | BadDog | 63546 | ||
Joe, Thanks much - this was a very good response to my question. The 1 Corin. 7 passage is a good example of the general use of "sanctified" for unbelievers as meaning "set apart for a purpose," and you are right. However, FWIW, this idea of being set apart for a purpose really has to do w/ its use re. things according to the lexicons. When referring to people, it, in general, has the idea of "making holy." However, the context of Heb. 10:29 makes it clear that inward sanctification is in view, IMO: 10:19 "Therefore BRETHREN, since WE have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus... and since..." 10:22 - 25 several "let us" - The author is including the readers w/ himself as believers in this exhortation. 10:26 "For if we sin willfully (The NASB "go-on sinning willfully" is really stretching a simple present tense in Gk.) after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. (capitalized by NASB as an OT quote). 10:30 - "... And again, "THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE." (They are HIS PEOPLE, not unbelievers) 10:32ff "But remember the former days, when, *after being enlightened* (these are believers who are enlightened), you endured a great conflict of sufferings, 33 partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations (They suffered as believers for Christ), and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. 34 For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. (They suffered all those things before because, like Abraham, they were looking to a better possession - *a lasting one.* How can these not be believers?!) 10:35, 36 "Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great *reward*. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. (Believers are rewarded for faithful service - "Well done thou good and faithful servant" Unbelievers are not offered the possibility of rewards.) Now we come to 10:39 - 38, 39 BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM. (This is again cap. by NASB as OT quote) 39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul (SUXH - is often best translated LIFE, as in 1 Peter 3:20 - "8 persons/lives were brought safely...). Preserving of the soul here just means saving the life. It can and often does mean the physical life in the NT - actually more often than anything else. So, if the Jewish believers Barnabas (or whoever the author was) was writing to were to endure, they would preserve a life lived for Him. A life that meant something, as of value to God. Anyway, that's how I see this passage and the context, Joe - FWIW. Thanks for this insightful and energetic interaction, Joe. The above ideas are just how I see it. Thanks for giving me something to consider, and I hope you, and others on this list who may not have considered Hebrews in this light before, will consider my ideas also. BadDog |
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22 | One born of God cannot sin? | 1 John 3:9 | BadDog | 63478 | ||
Isa, This has been puzzling to many, including myself. I think we need to look at the context of 1st John IOT see where he is going w/ this. Because in 1 John 1:8, 10 John says that if anyone says that he doesn't sin, he is a liar! So is he contradicting himself in such a short space of the same letter?! No. A main reason for writing 1 John was in response to gnostics, who were teaching that it was OK for believers to sin, since that was the physical, not the spiritual. So here in 3:9 John is saying that the believer, who has been born-again, is sinless in his inner man. John contrasts light/darkness, death/life, and also (here) sin/righteousness. Some try to make a simple present tense in Greek say something to the effect that no one born of God will "continue to sin." (NIV) However the NASB has it right here. When a person trusts in Christ, he in reality becomes a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). That regenerated inner man does not sin. of course, we can and each of us does sin - daily, but lets not pretend that that is OK, and try to distinguish between the body (which the gnostics taught was inherently bad) and the spirit. John teaches here that the inner man cannot sin. This was his point, IMO. BadDog |
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23 | One born of God cannot sin? | 1 John 3:9 | BadDog | 144418 | ||
Of course, just saying such a thing sounds ludicrous. But our new nature - the one created by the Spirit when we trusted in Him, is not able to sin. BD |
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24 | One born of God cannot sin? | 1 John 3:9 | BadDog | 144449 | ||
Hank, I imagine that I didn't make myself very clear. Of course - no one can come close to living a life completely free from sin. Obviously, looking at 1:6-10 and 2:1,2, John expected that his readers would have to deal with sin. I agree with what you've said here, BTW. The penalty for our sin has already been paid - once for all. The purpose of "confession" is not to get sins forgiven that otherwise would result in hell-fire. That's been dealt with once-for-all. 1 John 1:3 what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may have fellowship along with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. This is what I believe to be the thematic verse for 1st John. 1st John is all about how to have fellowship with God (and other believers). Now I imagine that no one on this board really thinks that John is saying here that a true believer does not sin AT ALL - EVER. So then, just why did John express it in 1 John 3:6-9 like this? Was he trying to confuse us? Obviously not. It only makes sense IMO in view of the Cerenthus heresy which was rampant at the time. Remember that John did start out this letter in a similar manner to his gospel with "That which was from the/a beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have beheld and handled with our hands, concerning the Word of Life." This is a clear reference to Jesus in the flesh - they saw and touched Him. And John's reference to "beginning" here negates Cerenthus' claim that the man Jesus had a beginning separate from the Son of God. You see, at the time of the writing of this letter, John faced a serious heretical teaching. His chief opponent was Cerenthus. (Cerenthus taught that when the man Jesus was baptized that at that point that the Son of God entered into Him. Then, when He gave up His spirit on the cross, the Son of God left the man Jesus. He did not believe in a literal resurrection.) What developed form this heretical teaching was a "docetist" claim that when we sinned it was merely our body, our flesh, and hence didn't matter. Of course, this isn't true. Whenever we sin such sinning does not proceed from God... ever. And that, IMO, was what John meant by saying that one "born again" does not sin. IMO the key to understanding 1 John is just that - the absoluteness... When we use expressions instead of "continue in sin" or "keep on sinning" we miss John's point. 1 John 1:5 - Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him. 1 John 1:6 - If we say, "We have fellowship with Him," and walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing/doing the truth. 1 John 1:8 - If we say, "We have no sin," we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:10 - If we say, "We have not sinned," we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 1 John 2:2 - He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world. 1 John 2:4 - The one who says, "I have come to know Him," without keeping His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 1 John 2:9 - The one who says he is in the light but hates his brother is in the darkness until now. 1 John 2:11 - But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and doesn't know where he's going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. 1 John 2:15, 16 - Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. Because everything that belongs to the world ... is not from the Father, but is from the world. 1 John 2:22, 23 - Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Messiah? He is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son can have the Father; he who confesses the Son has the Father as well. 1 John 2:25, 26 - And this is the promise that He Himself made to us: eternal life. I have written these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 1 John 2:29 - If you know that He is righteous, you know this as well: everyone who does what is right has been born of Him. 1 John 3:4 - Everyone who commits sin also breaks the law; sin is the breaking of law. 1 John 3:5 - You know that He was revealed so that He might take away sins, and there is no sin in Him. 1 John 3:6 - Everyone who remains (abides) in Him does not sin; everyone who sins has not seen Him or known Him. OK, gotta stop here - post getting too long. BD |
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25 | Does I John 3:9 contradict I John 1:8? | 1 John 3:9 | BadDog | 144450 | ||
OK Hank, I posted earlier a background to 1 John, as I see it. I believe that John intentionally presented things in an absolute manner. Why did he do this? By insisting on this point, John was seeking to refute a false teaching going around at that time about sin. Sin is not, nor can it ever be, anything but satanic, evil. It can never spring from what a Christian truly is at the core of his inner regenerate being. (decetism - Cerenthus... which evolved later into gnosticism) Cerenthus' teaching is obviously heresy. It was related to gnosticism. Basically it taught: "flesh, bad; spirit, good." So then none of us really sins since we have this new nature. It resulted in believers saying that they could do whatever they wanted, since the flesh is not of God. It doesn't really matter, Cerenthus taught. You can live like the devil since it can't affect our inner being. So you can see why John wrote many of the things he did in this letter, including saying in chapter 2:22, 23 that anyone who denies the Son also denies the Father, and that this is the spirit of the antichrist. John taught that Jesus was sinless from eternity to eternity, but that we do all sin. If we try to refute that, as Cerenthus did, we are making God a liar. I included in the above vss. 1 John 2:25, 26 - where John explains why he write this letter: "And this is the promise that He Himself made to us: eternal life. I have written these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you." He wrote it to deal with the docetists, and so that they would grab hold of that promise of eternal life which is claimed by faith, and faith alone. See 1 John 5:11-13. There he makes his other purpose clear: "And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn't have the Son of God does not have life. I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life." So then, John wrote this letter to deal with the false doctrine of the docetists and so that they would have assurance that they had eternal life. He spoke in absolute terms throughout the letter IOT deal with the docetism heresy. There are 2 basic approaches to 1st John - the "test of life" view and the "new nature" view. (There are a few others, but these are the most common.) The "tests of life" view sees such passages in 1 John as "tests" to use IOT determine if we really are saved - if we really are regenerate. John was writing to encourage his readers to examine their works to find out if they were believers or unbelievers. 3:10 is often taken as an indication of this: "This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are. Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother." Works distinguish the saved from the unsaved. The existence of "a pattern of" sin is also said to distinguish believers from unbelievers. 1 John 2:29 (see above) makes the new nature approach (I prefer) clear: If you know that He is righteous, you know this as well: everyone who does what is right has been born of Him. The children are righteous because we were not only declared righteous, but we are seated in heavenly places with Him, and in God's eyes, we have the righteousness of Christ. (IMO, John is saying somethingsimilar to what Paul did in Ephesians 2 regarding us being "seated in heavenly places in Christ." Don't know about you, but my posterior is planted firmly here - in a chair. I don't like the liberties that the "tests of life" approach takes - especially in chapter 3. Another name for the "new nature" view is "tests of fellowship." I like that, because 1:3 clearly tells us that John wrote this letter so that we would have fellowship with him and with God. How can we tell if we are in fellowship with God (abiding in Him)? John answers that question in this letter as well as dealing with the docetist doctrine. BTW, the fact that John was dealing with docetism is acknowledged by virtually everyone. As I said before, no The idea is that no believer ever sins as an expression of his new nature. To the degree that the believer expresses his new nature in his experience, he will not sin because God's seed remains (abides) in him. So whenever we sin that is not our new nature being expressed, and it goes against our new, regenerated nature. It's just not normal for us to sin. I like this approach, because it places the focus where it should be in 1st John - on Christians not sinning, instead of trying in our own weak little way to not sin too much. Sorry about the length of this post. Hope that clears it up some, though. BD |
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