Subject: Is Limited Atonement a "scandalous" Doc |
Bible Note: Part II…………………………… Greetings John! In conclusion, let me address the meaning of the word ‘world’ in 2 Cor. 5. I have done this before for 1 John 2:2, but I think we need to look at how Paul uses this term. There is an established procedure for determining the meaning of words. 1) First, one must look at the immediate context. 2) Secondly, one must look at how a particular author uses the term in the rest of his writings. 3) Thirdly, one must look at how the entire NT or OT uses a particular word. 4) Finally, one must look at how the language or culture itself looks at a particular word. The most important of these four are the first two. Why? Because a particular writer may use a term in an entirely different way than other writers or the culture used the term. Paul was notorious for this. He would appropriate terms from the Greek language and use them in totally new ways. So, let’s look at all the places where Paul uses the term ‘world’. Does He ever use it to refer to a limited, particular group of people? Paul uses the word ‘world’ 45 times in 7 letters (I have excluded Hebrews since not all agree that Paul was the author). "World" in Romans (9 occurrences) a) Rom. 1:8 - "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world." b) Rom. 1:20 - "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." c) Rom. 3:6 - "Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?" d) Rom. 3:19 - "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God." e) Rom. 4:13 - "It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith." f) Rom. 5:12 - "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—" g) Rom. 5:13 - "for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law." h) Rom. 11:12 - "But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!" i) Rom. 11:15 - "For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?" ‘World’ in 1 Corinthians (17 occurrences) a) 1 Cor. 1:20 - "Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?" b) 1 Cor. 1:21 - "For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe." c) 1 Cor. 1:27 - "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." d) 1 Cor. 1:28 - "He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are," e) 1 Cor. 2:12 - "We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us." f) 1 Cor. 3:19 - "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: ‘‘He catches the wise in their craftiness";" g) 1 Cor. 3:22 - "whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours," h) 1 Cor. 4:9 - "For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men" i) 1 Cor. 4:13 - "when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world." j) 1 Cor. 5:10 - "not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world." Sorry, I'm going to have to post a third part! Tim Moran |