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NASB | John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 1:1 In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. [Gen 1:1; Is 9:6] |
Bible Question: Thanks for your reply kelly. I am aware of the purported dates of the gospel writings and, I'm not sure that simply a date qualifies a text for inclusion in the NT. Even though the gospels were written perhaps long after Jesus died, they still contain material that does not "fit" the overall NT theme of believing in the death of Jesus Christ and the shedding of His Blood for the forgiveness of sins. That's what the pastor I mentioned was noting. Recall that Jesus told one person to keep the commandments and then follow Him in order to gain eternal life. Jesus did not say: Believe in my death and resurrection (which will take place). Thus, Jesus would give an OT response to questions about salvation in the gospels. Why doesn't Jesus talk about His death to everyone who asks about salvation? The pastor I mentioned thinks that's what qualifies the gospels as OT books. It's not until Paul that a clear understanding of salvation is presented. Again, the pastor's view that the gospels are not NT sounds very odd to me. What does the BibleStudyForum community think? |
Bible Answer: Hi, Robert... I think your pastor friend's dispensationalism has not served him very well. Not only does it have him redividing the Testaments -- an odd practice at best -- but worse than that, it has him muddled in his soteriology, demeaning the value of the atonement. The word testament comes from a middle-English word meaning covenant. Question: What divides the old covenant from the new? Answer: Christ Himself (see Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 9:15). There is only one way of salvation (Acts 4:8-12). All of the elect are saved in precisely the same way. People were not saved in different ways in different periods. The atonement of Christ happened in a particular moment in time, but it was efficacious for each and every human being that God would save. Each believed the Word of God unto salvation (John 3:36). Clearly, before Jesus they had not a name of Messiah (1 Peter 1:10-11), but they had His promise going as far back as the protoevangelium (Genesis 3:15). The truth was gradually made known (Hebrews 1:1-4) as redemptive history unfolded. Indeed, even Paul deals with the question "How was Abraham saved?" inr Romans 4. Now, you cited a time when Christ responded to the question of salvation by providing Old Testament commands. I assume that your pastor friend was referring to Matthew 19:16-30 (Mark 10:17-31). (There is great error promulgated in this world through the failure to read things in context. People either fail to read what prompted the statements, or they fail to read the statements that follow.) Forget about this preacher friend of yours, and go back and carefully re-read those passages. See if you do not find the acknowledgment of Christ's divine nature, His righteousness, the moral failure of man, and the need to depend solely on the salvific provision of God, to follow Christ. The net effect of which is giving up everything else that is loved, for the one pearl of great price. In Him, Doc |