Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 1:12 But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name-- [Is 56:5] |
Subject: Are we presenting the gospel scripturaly |
Bible Note: Hi Lionheart, You can read the entire article at: http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/packer_regen.html There are a number of other "reformed theology" essays, links, and such, but I caution you to carefully consider and compare with Scripture things you may find there. This includes not only the reformed theology of regeneration before repentance, but also Covenant Theology, which in general, sets aside Israel (Quoted from a page linked to Monergism.com: "National Israel as such does not retain its covenant identity in the new, eschatological age of the Spirit." http://www.twoagepress.org/Karlberg.pdf). This is to say that the promises made to Israel in the OT have been spiritualized to be fulfilled in the Church. This brings in the allegorical interpretations of prophecy. Covenant Theology has a profound effect on hermeneutics, often reguiring Old Testament passages to be viewed as allegorical, or as "types", even where the text does not specifically say that they are types. I am not saying that everyone who claims to believe in the "reformed" manner will hold to all of these things, but many do, and as you read this material you will tend to find these types of things. Following is a statement from an artical on Monergism.com titled "The Hermaneutics of Eschatology III" - link: http://www.enjoyinggodministries.com/article.asp?id(equals)393 replace (equals) with the equals symbol - this will give you good practice for understanding their theology ;-) "1. The fulfillment of Israel’s prophetic hope as found in the OT documents is found in the person and work of Jesus Christ and the believing remnant, i.e., the Church, which he established at his first coming. The point is that Jesus Christ and his Church are the focal and terminating point of all prophecy." So every promise not yet fulfilled to Israel is now considered transfered to the Church, the foundation of "replacement theology". But this requires that you say of many passages in the Bible, "it says that, but it doesn't mean that." As a non-dispensational theology, this theology is "amillennial", or "post-millennial" and rejects the leteral, post-apocalyptic 1000 year reign of Jesus as being other than a symbol, no matter that the Bible states it as a factual future event. The following is quoted from "The Amillennial View of the Kingdom of God" by Dr. Sam Storms, presented on Monergism.com: "1. Contrary to what the name (Amillennialism) implies, AMs do believe in a millennium. The millennium, however, is now: the present age of the church between the first and second comings of Christ in its entirety is the millennium." So, according to this, we are IN the millennium! Praise the Lord for that! This is just a very small sampling. I just wanted you to be alerted to what you may find as you explore that website. Love in Christ, Mark |