The apostle Peter said: Acts 4:12,"Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved"
This means that salvation can only come through Jesus Christ! He is the only Mediator between God and men (I Tim. 2:5). No one else!
On the day of Pentecost, the apostle Peter exclaimed: " Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:38-39).
Salvation can only come through Jesus Christ! But think for a moment. Millions -- no, billions -- of people have lived and died, never having even heard of the name of Jesus Christ! Are they forever lost -- doomed for all eternity?
If this life is the only opportunity for salvation, then they must be lost forever! For salvation can only come through the name of Jesus Christ! That's what the Bible says!
The truth is God is not calling everybody to salvation during this age! THIS IS NOT THE ONLY DAY OF SALVATION! The overwhelming, vast majority of mankind will receive their opportunity for salvation at a later time! Does that surprise you?
Jesus told His disciples: "No man can come to me, EXCEPT the Father which hath sent me draw him" (John 6:44). He added in verse 65: "Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father"!
Only those whom God calls can truly understand His truth and His Plan, now! But the rest -- the vast majority -- are not yet called! This means that they will be given their chance for salvation later -- at another time! For those to whom God reveals His truth now, today IS the day of salvation (11 Corinthians 6:2). But the vast majority are now blinded. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "But if it is hid to them that are lost (not lost forever, but in a present condition of being lost, not yet having been called): In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (11 Cor. 4:4).
The apostle Paul explains: "I say then, Hath God cast away his people? GOD FORBID!' (Romans 11:1). Paul goes on: " God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew." He wrote, "Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace."
Paul continues, "What then? Israel hath not obtained that whicn he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, AND THE REST WERE BLINDED (According as it is written, God hath given
them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) UNTO THIS DAY" (Romans 11:2-8).
Why Jesus Spoke in Parables
You have probably heard, and assumed, that Jesus Christ spoke in parables to the multitudes, in order to be more understandable. Most people think that Christ spoke in parables to make the meaning of His lessons and stories simple and easy to understand. But what if that such is not the case at all? What if Jesus spoke in parables to obfuscate and to HIDE the truth, so that the masses of people would NOT understand Him?
In other words, He used parables to hide, to cloak, the meaning! Why did He do this? He goes on to explain: "For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more in abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." That is, they just don't get it! But why does Jesus hide the real meaning of His parables from them? He continues: "And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; LEST at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, AND SHOULD BE CONVERTED, and I should heal them" (Matt.13:12-15).
In other words, He was not at that time CALLING the vast majority of people to salvation! So He cloaked the meaning of His parables, so they would remain blinded to the truth. Why would He do this? As He
said initially, those who are given understanding are HELD ACCOUNTABLE for it, and will be judged accordingly. Knowledge is a dangerous thing. Once we know the truth, we are responsible to OBEY it. If we don't, we heap condemnation upon our heads!
Who Are the "Elect"?
God has revealed His truth only to "the election." Who are they? They are the "elect of God" (see I Peter 1:2, Col. 3:12, Titus 1:1, I Peter 2:6) -- Those who are true Christians, are being given their chance for salvation today, at this time -- "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God" (I Peter 4:17).
Those being called out of this world now, to understand and obey God's truth, are being judged now; but the vast majority of mankind God has allowed to be blinded, and are disobedient, "whereunto also they were appointed" (I Pet.2:8). What will happen to them?
They are not lost forever. God Himself will open their eyes, and show them His truth, at a later time.
Let's understand. God has predestined NO ONE to be lost or to be doomed! Not at all! Predestination has to do with when one is called, and when a person has God's truth revealed to him -- not whether he is going to be saved or lost!
Those called to understand God's truth now have a special blessing. As Paul wrote: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before thefoundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having PREDESTINATED US unto the adoption [or, sonship, in the Greek]of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will . . . in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being PREDESTINATED according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who FIRST TRUSTED IN CHRIST" (Epesians 1:3-12).
Notice! those who have "first trusted in Christ!" This means there are others who will be called later to trust in Christ! They are the VAST MAJORITY!
Those in God's Church today are compared to "firstfruits" of the Spiritual harvest! They are compared to the early "spring" harvest -- but the great "fall harvest" will occur later! they are those who have the "firstfruits of the Spirit" (Romans 8:23). As the apostle James wrote: "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that WE should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures" (Jas. 1:18).
Predestination, then, has to do with the time when we are called. A few are called now, and chosen to become "first-fruits" to God and the Lamb. But the vast majority will be called later
Few realize it, but the Plan of God is revealed in the pattern of the Holy Days which God gave to Israel. The annual Holy Days began with the Passover and the days of Unleavened Bread, in the spring of the year (Lev.23:4-6). The Passover represented the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God's paschal lamb, who gave His life for us (I Cor.5:7). The days of Unleavened Bread symbolize our putting leaven, that which causes bread to "puff up," a type of sin, out of our lives (see I Cor. 5:8).
The Passover represents the beginning of the Plan of God -- not its termination, or ending! The Plan of Salvation begins with the Passover, and Christ our Passover Lamb, who was slain for us on the cross, or tree -- the stake on the Mount of Olives, overlooking the Temple platform in ancient Jerusalem. The Plan
of God begins with the "crucifixion" of Christ on the cross -- but it doesn't END there! There is much more to it than that!"Accepting Christ" as Saviour is JUST THE BEGINNING!
What happens after we accept Christ, and His shed blood covers our sins? Even as the ancient Israelites slew their Passover lambs in Egypt, and dabbed the blood on their doorposts and lintels, so that they would be protected and spared when the "death angel" passed over that night, and slew the firstborn of all the Egyptians -- even so the "blood of Christ" causes God to spare us, and put His canopy of protection over us. But that is only the beginning of God's Plan, and the beginning of His Holy Day season!
Regarding 1 Peter and "the ELECT". These are not Christians. The passage was wrongfully translated by Calvinists. When we look at the Greek we see that they placed the word "ELECT" in verse two but in actually it is supposed to be in verse one. That makes a major change to this understanding. It shows how theological bias can affect the real truth.
Young's is a literal word for word. It is the only English translation that renders it correctly.
1Peter 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the choice sojourners of the dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
1Pe 1:2 according to a foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied!
Here is how it should read in proper English grammatical structure.
1 Peter 1:1-2 PFRS Translation
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen refugees of the Diaspora in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
2 Grace to you, and may peace be multiplied according to the former knowing of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:
This passage is about the JEWS of the Diaspora, not Christians. They are the ones who are "ELECT" in this passage, not us.
Here is a well written commentary about this passage.
And you did it in about half the space it would have taken me. The bible has too many references and examples of this for us to just blow it off as Walter would have us do, but the free choice side also has their points in scripture. As long as this is the case, that means neither side is correct, thus both are false teachings. Praise God, we don't have to have it all right to be saved.
I do not blow off scriptures nor ever suggest that anyone should! Quite the contrary I always try to get people to challenge their beliefs and do proper word studies and maintain proper exegesis of scriptures.
It is unfortunate that there are some who would rather believe in some commentary from a Calvinist or Baptist then to truly seek what God's Word really says.
Let me repeat something I have said in other posts. When we examine Church history of the First 300 years what we consistently find is that they taught all the ideas and concepts of what we today call Arminian Theology. What we do NOT find is any of the ideas and concepts of what we call today..."Calvinism" or "Reformed Theology".
Additionally what we also find when we examine the Greek texts is that in various key places in scriptures, we find gross mistranslations that completely alter the real meaning of the scriptures which has a huge effect upon Doctrineal positions. Just like I demonstrated in the above post in 1Peter1.
Original""The Passover represents the beginning of the Plan of God -- not its termination, or ending! The Plan of Salvation begins with the Passover, and Christ our Passover Lamb, who was slain for us on the cross, or tree -- the stake on the Mount of Olives, overlooking the Temple platform in ancient Jerusalem. The Plan of God begins with the "crucifixion" of Christ on the cross -"
The PLAN of redemption began at the beginning after man dislodged himself from the spirit of God in Eden. Adam and Eve clothed themselves with fig leaves (trying to correct things with their own initiative,however, God provided them with skins telling us right from the get go that we cannot become sinless in His eyes by anything that we do but that He will provide the "sacrifice" we need for our redemption.
Abraham going up the hill with his only son Isaac to sacrifuce him and Isaac asked his Dad where the sacrifice was ..they had the wood, the fire but no sacrifice ... Abrahams answer God will provide ..
The PLAN is on every page of the Bible ...and did not begin with the Passover ...
Original: "Even as the ancient Israelites slew their Passover lambs in Egypt, and dabbed the blood on their doorposts and lintels, so that they would be protected and spared when the "death angel" passed over that night, and slew the firstborn of all the Egyptians -- even so the "blood of Christ" causes God to spare us, and put His canopy of protection over us. But that is only the beginning of God's Plan, and the beginning of His Holy Day season!"
If an Egyptian ith a firstborn was inside the house of a Hebrew with the doorposts dabbed in blood when the "death angel" passed by that night, the Egyptian firstborn would not have been slain.
As for Jesus speaking in parables so that the people could not understand?? That is so far out in left field that it doesnt even deem a rebuttal. Parables were given so that the people COULD UNDERSTAND!! And as for the post that the referenced "elect" were Jewish ... is correct.
Um...I thought "many are called but few are chosen", and "Straight is the gate and narrow is the way, and few there be that find it"....doesn't sound like a VAST majority to me...sounds like the majority finds the broad path to destruction...
I apologize for my unfortunate use of words in my earlier post. I by no means meant that you ignore scripture to prove your point. I just think that when you have to jump through hoops, search manuscripts, or translations, and use secular means to make your point, you are stretching it. I know, many scholars use the same system as you to interpret scripture. I prefer the old pray and read until you understand system.
The bible is full of both free will and predestination, to say one exists without the other is to deny the scriptures. Not only the verses, but the examples as well. That is more what I have learned to go by, the examples the bible gives us. It is easy to misinterpret a few sentences, but rather difficult to do so with a full example.
But please accept my apologies for the way my other post sounded.
One of the problems of the "Predestined" issue comes again from Calvinists placing a definition upon a word that is not quite right especially the word "Foreknowledge". Predestined, Elect, Foreknowledge are words that have been misinterpreted due to bias theology. The other problem is that many Christians have been influenced by improper interpretations of these words among many.
Here's an example. Does the word "Foreknowledge" mean as Calvinists claim in that God saw in the future or does it mean "someone God previously knew"? The later is the correct meaning. "Foreknowledge" means " know previously". This does not mean God does not see the future as He in fact does. However in the predestined passages it does not refer to God seeing in the future.
Do you see how this makes a major difference in understanding the scripture as to what it really means?
Look at 1Peter in my post above. Do you see the significant difference placing the word "ELECT" in the wrong place and how Calvinists made a serious error or worse?
I agree that Calvinism is a false teaching, just as the Armenian position is false. Both are just man's way of explaining God. God does not fit neatly into a box, He does what He wants regardless of what we think about it.
By our way of thinking, killing every man, woman, and child, along with all the livestock seems like a horrible thing, but God ordered that more than once. When it wasn't done, we see in Ester the problems that come up.
I, personally, don't believe either. I believe God and His written word.
