Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | John 3:16 ¶ "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 3:16 ¶ "For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. |
Subject: What does the word"believe"involve |
Bible Note: DD4Truth, I was very much considering not responding at all when I read your post due to the sheer number of things you have gotten wrong. I know of no other way to say it. However, for the many reading this post I intend to take the time to respond to your many mistakes. This might take more than one reply. 1. First it is ironic that you bring up Abraham, since that is Paul's mighty proof for salvation by faith alone in Romans Chapter 4. Rom 4:9 Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, "FAITH WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS." Rom 4:10 How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised; Rom 4:11 and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them, First he states from Genesis God's declaration upon Abraham that he was righteous. Paul then asks the pivotal question, "How then was it credited?" In other words was he declared righteous while he was circumcised or prior to the obedience of circumcision? As we look at the biblical account Paul notes that it was prior to Abraham's obedience of circumcision. Paul states that the circumcision was the display of the righteousness which Abraham already had, which was granted by faith alone. Read the first 8 verses of Romans 4 to confirm this. 2. You completely miss scriptures intent when you say that Christ taught the law must be kept to merit eternal life. But also importantly you mishandle scripture. You take a parable which does not make clear intent to teach this particular doctrine and you use that parable to override clear teaching of scripture elsewhere. Rom 3:20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. Now affirmed by all who have any sense is the truth that we take the clear teachings of scripture and use them to help us understand the unclear teachings of scripture. So your first fault is your hermeneutics. You then show missunderstanding of what I profess. I deny that any man will see God without holiness, or sanctification. Heb 12:14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. I believe entirely that obedience is a crucial part of our salvation. The question is does our obedience merit our salvation or does our salvation prompt our obedience? The testimony of scripture is that our obedience flows from God, it is not our obedience that brings us to God or rather it is not our obedience which lays hold of what Christ has purchased us. I consider previous verses cited such as 1 John 3:9 to be sufficient for this. I would add to the list Ephesians 2:8-10 which says that we are saved by grace by faith unto good works, or rather for good works, NOT because of good works by means of good works. 3. You missunderstand what Christ accomplished in freeing us from the law. Christ did not change what was right and wrong. Christ freed us from the condemnation of the law, not the morality of the law. Let me defend that with a passage. 1Ti 1:9 realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers 1Ti 1:10 and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, 1Ti 1:11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted. Now, here Paul makes mention of a wrong use of the law, and a rightful use of the law. What is the rightful use of the law? He quite clearly states that the right use of the law is the restraining of all these various things. But how does he identify these things? He states these things plus "whatever is contrary to sound teaching according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God". Do you hear this? The right application of the old testament law is for restraining things that are CONTRARY to the GOSPEL. So when I use the law to restrain wickedness in a professing Christian, that is precisely what is the right way to use it. And in addition, Paul sets the law as the valid standard of things which we know are contrary to the gospel. So you err when you state that we are not under the morality of the law, but rather obedience to whatever commands happen to be given by Christ during his ministry. On the contrary, any violation of God's moral law revealed in the Old Testament is contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I will continue in a second post. |