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NASB | Ephesians 3:6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Ephesians 3:6 [it is this:] that the Gentiles are now joint heirs [with the Jews] and members of the same body, and joint partakers [sharing] in the [same divine] promise in Christ Jesus through [their faith in] the good news [of salvation]. |
Subject: Lionstrong, this is not universalism. |
Bible Note: Bill: Thanks for your reply. You are absolutely, 100 percent correct in saying that Christ came to bring us life. The question is, however, what was standing in the way of that life? You make the point yourself: sin. The very meaning of the term "salvation" means that there is something we have to be saved FROM. That is our sin. Forgiveness comes via a sinless Christ's substitutionary death, the instrument of our justification. I am not sure what the point is you are trying to make here, Bill. Maybe I am just not understanding how what you have written in the first two paragraphs of this post is different from what I believe. My original point was that salvation and justification are synonmymous, since we as Christians were SAVED from the consequences of our sin 2000 years ago in Judea. While the indwelling Spirit is a blessing and an ever-present help for Christians, it is not that indwelling which provides our salvation. Otherwise, how do we explain that in most pre-Passion cases, believers in the coming Messiah were NOT indwelt by the Holy Spirit (King David and John the Baptist being two notable exceptions)? Most of those who will be in Heaven with us who lived before Christ's arrival did not have Him living inside them; yet they are justified/saved. Pre-Pentecost saints and post-Pentecost saints are both justified; otherwise they would not be in Heaven. That's why I hold that the Holy Spirit's presence in us and also the rich inheritance that we as believers are promised in Scripture are indeed gifts of our loving and gracious God, but that those are abundant gifts based on our adoption as sons, a separate act from forgiveness of our sins. In theory, we could have been offered forgiveness (i.e. salvation from Hell) and assigned a place with the servants rather than a place at the Lord's Table. We would still be just as saved, just not as blessed. Thanks be to God that He has done so much more! --Joe! |