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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | The 'Kosmos' in 1 John | 1 John 2:2 | Morant61 | 19528 | ||
Greetings Joe! Good to hear from you my friend! Let me take each point seperately! 1) John 8:21-24: This one is simple! Verse 24 answers your question. It says, "if you do not believe....you will die in your sins." This is a conditional statement. Jesus gave them a choice. Even TULIP seems to teach that the benefits of the atonement are approriated by faith. The only difference is that TULIP teaches that only the elect will respond in faith, whereas I believe that salvation is a universal offer to which anyone CAN respond, but not everyone DOES respond. 2) Acts 22:15: I would say that Paul has witnessed to all men about what he saw and heard through the Bible. The verse never said that all men would hear it or read it. Either way, to say that all doesn't mean all here is a judgement call, not a fact. 3) Rom. 5:18: So does "all men" in the first part of the verse not refer to "all men"? Part of the problem with this verse is that there is not a single verb. It literally reads: "Therefore, as through one sin unto all men unto condemnation, so also by one righteous acts unto all men unto justification of life." However we interpret the verse, it is clear that there is an exact correspondence being described. One resulted in condemnation for all men and one resulted in justification for all men. We can't take the first "all men" to mean all men, and the second "all men" to mean some men. Now, to be clear, I do not believe in universalism. I think the key to understand v. 18 is found in vv. 17 and 19. Verse 17 refers to those who receive (active voice) the gift of righteousness and grace, while verse 19 refers to many being made righteous (not all). Therefore, I would say that verse 18 speaks to the potential of Christ's atonement. All can be made righteous (just as in Adam all were condemned), but only those who receive the gift (v. 17) of righteousness will be made righteous (v. 19). Thus, all in verse 18 does mean all (in both instances). 4) 2 Peter 3:9: In all honesty, this verse is not a problem for Arminians. It simply states that it is God's desire that all be saved. It never says that all will be saved. It is a problem for those of the reformed tradition (in my opinion) only because of it's definition of sovereignty. Hence, if God's desires all to be saved, all MUST be saved. Therefore, 'all' in 2 Peter 3:9 cannot mean all. I don't buy that line of thinking. 2 Peter 3:9 expresses God's desire, but He has not determined the outcome. p.s. - If God meant "all the elect" in 2 Peter 3:9, why didn't He just say so? :-) Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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2 | The 'Kosmos' in 1 John | 1 John 2:2 | Reformer Joe | 19563 | ||
Tim: Regarding Acts 22, my point was that the savage in the deepest jungle of the Amazon forest has not been witnessed to by Paul. Therefore, not "all men." I know that this is so completely obvious so as to be ridiculous. However, the point I was trying to make was that most everyone understands that Ananias' words to Saul were not referring to every single individual on the earth at that time or ours. This is one blatantly obvious example of where "all" needs to be understood in a contextual/common sense fashion. Granted, 2 Peter 3:21 does not fall into the "blatantly obvious" category. However, the sweeping statement that the Reformed simply want to instantly re-define "all" to mean "some" does not really ring true. The problem that the Reformed have with the Arminian interpretation of this verse, incidentally, is that Peter is saying that the return of Christ has not come yet because God is waiting. Why is God waiting? Because he desires for all to come to Christ. When will ALL come to Christ? Never, and God knows that. If his desire regarding the salvation of each and every human being will not be met (God not ultimately getting what He wants is a BIG problem for me, but let's leave that for now), he has known that from the beginning. So once again, what is God waiting for? --Joe! |
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3 | The 'Kosmos' in 1 John | 1 John 2:2 | Morant61 | 19580 | ||
Greetings Joe! I don't know! You'll have to ask Him! :-) However, as someone from a good reformed background would say, "Just because we don't understand what He is waiting for, doesn't mean that it isn't so". ;-) My answer would be that Peter is illustrating a point. God could come at any time. The only thing holding Him back is His patience and His merciful desire for all to come to Christ. Peter doesn't go into detail about when enough will be enough. Concerning Acts 22, it is only a blatant example if you view it from the perspective of the hearer rather than from Paul's perspective. But, however you view it, I would say that there must be a very strong reason to change 'all' to some. 1 John 2:2 and 2 Pet. 3:9 are among those verse that I just don't see any justification for it, other than the necessity of reformed theology. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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