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NASB | Luke 8:13 "Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Luke 8:13 "Those on the rocky soil are the people who, when they hear, receive and welcome the word with joy; but these have no firmly grounded root. They believe for a while, and in time of trial and temptation they fall away [from Me and abandon their faith]. |
Subject: One example of loosing salvation NT |
Bible Note: Greetings gracefull! Thank you for your comments! Maybe a couple parables of the Lord Jesus Christ will help in the discussion, they have certainly helped me in the time I have studied this topic. Matthew 25:14-30, the parable of the talents. In this parable, the servants were each given a measure of talents while the master was gone. Upon the master’s return we see that the first two servants were obedient and did what the master wanted, they invested their talents and gave back more to the master than what the master had given them. The master then rewarded them equally, not basing the rewards on the talents, but on the heart of obedience. The hearts of the first two servants were in humble obedience to their master, and the master was very pleased! Then comes the third servant. Rather than invest, he just dug a hole in the ground, hid his talent, and waited for the mater’s return. When the master returned, the servant gave an excuse, saying he knew the master was a hard man, so he was afraid and then gave the one talent back. What was the master’s response? Well, let’s just say he was not pleased. He accused the servant of being lazy and being afraid of his master, therefore the master threw the servant into outer darkness (We know Christ would never throw a regenerate believer into outer darkness…). So, we have here three servants, all given a measure of talent. Two were obedient; the other was not and was punished. What this shows is the hypocrisy of the third servant, he never really knew his master, for if he truly knew his master, he would have shown the obedience of the first two servants. Therefore, he is exposing himself to the truth that he was a fraud, and the master knew this and punished him for it. How this ties into 2 Peter is simple. The false teachers showed no obedience to Christ. They clearly were part of this body of believers and partook of the blessings that come with being in a body of believers (i.e. the visible church). But, ultimately they showed no obedience to Christ and it showed in their sinful teachings and actions. 2 Peter is clearly divided between the first chapter, in which the subject is true believers, and the second chapter which deals with the false teachers, people who never really knew the true Savior. The second parable is the parable of the wheat and tares. This clearly states that in the visible church, there are people who are not true believers, the tares, among the true followers of Christ, the wheat. I think this parable is very clear in it’s teaching that there are folks who claim to be Christians, but their hearts are not truly regenerated. To answer your question, it is most certainly possible for people to partake of the blessing s of Christian fellowship. In fact, it is possible to accept the principles of the Gospel. BUT, there are fruits and there is obedience that comes with following Christ. I am not saying works salvation, by no means! My point is that the mark of regeneration is that we love God’s law and we are obedient to Christ (Heb. 8:10). The following quote is taken from a work on this subject by Loraine Boettner. It synthesizes well the point I am trying to make: “Mere church membership, of course, is no guarantee that the persons are real Christians. Not every member of the Church militant will be a member of the Church triumphant. To answer certain purposes, they make an outward profession of the Gospel, which obliges them for a time to be outwardly moral and to associate themselves with the people of God. They appear to have true faith and continue thus for a while. Then either their sheep's clothing is stripped off, or they throw it off themselves, and return again to the world. If we could see the real motives of their hearts, we would discover that at no time were they ever actuated by a true love of God. They were all this while goats, and not sheep, ravening wolves, and not gentle lambs. Hence Peter says of them, "It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had been washed to wallowing in the mire," 2 Peter 2:22. They thereby show that they never belonged to the number of the elect.” (http://www.ccel.org/b/boettner/predest/14.htm) I hope this has been of some help to you. Please check out my other posts on this topic at #88279 and #88451. Let me know what you think! ;-) In Christ, Joe |