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NASB | Matthew 22:11 ¶ "But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 22:11 ¶ "But when the king came in to see the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed [appropriately] in wedding clothes, |
Bible Question: Doesn't this contradict the guarantee of salvation? How did this man end up at the party in the first place, especially if this is a reference to heaven? |
Bible Answer: There are a couple of ways to answer this question. Parables were stories to teach one or two important truths, and everything in the parable doesn't necessarily correspond to something true spiritually. A good example of this would be in Luke 11 where we have the man beating persistently on his neighbor's door who reluctantly gives in to give him some bread for his guest. While we should be like the man outside in being persistent in prayer, we should not view God as someone who doesn't want to give to us but gets tires of us wearing Him down. In fact, the rest of the passage flatly says the opposite. In the case of the marriage feast, we don't necessarily have to hold that there are some people who will "sneak into Heaven undetected" to get the idea of the passage: that there are many who expect to be welcome in Heaven but are not clothed in proper attire (in this case, the righteousness of Christ). Jesus sums up the parable in 22:14: "For many are called, but few are chosen." Many are outwardly called to the feast, but only those who come on the King's terms will be granted participation in it. Reformed theology has a lot to say about the outward call to all men and the inward, effectual call of God to His elect, but suffice it to say that there are many who try to get into the feast without the proper credentials. One of the ministers at my church referred to this very parable this morning before our participation in the Lord's Supper, encouraging all who partake to examine themselves to see if they are "dressed appropriately" for the feast (i.e. if they truly possess saving faith in Christ alone). Hope this helps you understand better! --Joe |