Featured Saved from what ?

This is not true. There is not a book in the Bible that is written to the unsaved. Matthew is written to Christians, albeit Christians having a Jewish background.

Salvation by grace through faith is always in view.
God uses the same method of salvation in the Bible from Genesis through Revelation. We are justified by faith. And that is His grace.
Tell me a man that was never justified by faith and still went to heaven.

The gospel writers wrote with those various audiences in mind. But they were still written to Christians.

The Jews had many ceremonial "washings," but no baptism per se.

That depends on your definition of "baptism by the Holy Spirit."
It also depends on your view of soteriology.

Timothy was raised in the Jewish faith, not the Christian faith. Not until Paul came along on one of his missionary journey's did he come to the Lord. His mother and grandmother were devout Jews; but his father was a Greek. Paul went and circumcised Timothy so that he would be able to enter the Temple, and be of more use in the ministry. He had a Jewish heritage.
Timothy made a one time decision when Paul confronted him with the Gospel. Paul often refers to Timothy as "my child in the faith," for that reason.

 

Neither was it mine. It's odd, his seems to be exactly the same flavor of Baptist I grew up under.

 

The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven are synonymous in referring to the Messianic Kingdom on earth, with Jesus on the Throne of David. The correct interpretation of the two is Kingdom FROM God and Kingdom FROM Heaven.

I have about 300 pages on this. If Baptisboard will give me a private forum I'll be happy to share them. Just think: No more hurling stones at Stephen! No more negatives! EVERYONE will understand! HOO-RAY!

:wavey:

 

Romans 10:8-13

(MSG)

4-10 "The earlier revelation was intended simply to get us ready for the Messiah, who then puts everything right for those who trust him to do it. Moses wrote that anyone who insists on using the law code to live right before God soon discovers it’s not so easy—every detail of life regulated by fine print! But trusting God to shape the right living in us is a different story—no precarious climb up to heaven to recruit the Messiah, no dangerous descent into hell to rescue the Messiah. So what exactly was Moses saying?

The word that saves is right here,
as near as the tongue in your mouth,
as close as the heart in your chest.

It’s the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God—'Jesus is my Master'—embracing, body and soul, God’s work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not 'doing' anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That’s salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: 'God has set everything right between him and me!"

Obviously, there are those who can't say out loud, even whisper it, it for various reasons. Their understanding will be reflected in their joy.

11-13 ~ Scripture reassures us, 'No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it.' It’s exactly the same no matter what a person’s religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. Everyone who calls, ‘Help, God!’ gets help.'”

The entire passage is declarative, imperative, present tense, anticipating that one will "do it now." "Help, God!"

____________________________________________________________

Other Spiritual insights from the original Greek language, reconfigured for English:

10:4 ~ For the end of the Law —Christ— into righteousness to all the ones believing.

"Believing" is a Present Participle. ALL believers, past, present, future, who confessed Jesus as Savior were saved, and that without any methodology on their part; "into" righteousness is a Preposition encapsulating the end result of "present confession."

10:5 ~ is written in the Present Tense. Paul says "You guys wanna live in the Law? It is past! Ya better get on the bandwagon of Grace (present tense)! Obedience to the Law won't get it."

10:8 ~ "What is being said? Near is the utterance in the mouth of you and in the heart of you. This is the utterance of faith which we are proclaiming." "Must we go up to heaven in order to get God’s laws and to be able to hear them?" Or, "Are God’s laws beyond the sea where we have to go in order to hear them and serve Him? No. His WORD is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it." (Deuteronomy 30:12-14).

His WORD, John 1:1, the very embodiment of the Law. There is, obviously, a connection between the sinful nature and the compulsion to confess Jesus as Savior. As one yields, the Holy Spirit responds instantaneously; the act of "in faith believing" is encapsulated in the confession ..... there are not two parts. Here is how it reads (Greek, remember), 9, 10 ~ "That if you should be confessing in the mouth of you Lord Jesus and if you should be believing in the heart of you that the God raised Him out from the dead ones, you shall be saved! For with the heart it is being believed into righteousness and with the mouth being confessed into salvation." Confessing-believing is ONE, present tense, Aorist Subjunctive, embraced and united by a single Particle, "if." Within the sinful nature of man the Holy Spirit is active, ready to ignite the confession of Romans 10:8-13, resulting in the instantaneous advent of the Spiritual Nature. The mental constructs of the sinful nature, its learned behaviors, instantly surrender to God's call, albeit the old sinful nature hangs around forever.

10:11 ~ "For the Scripture is saying, each the one believing upon Him will not be disgraced!"

Each one confessing-believing Jesus has nothing to fear. That one has now and will never lose his or her eternal security in Heaven.

Justification by faith in Jesus as Savior is a plain and intelligible scriptural Truth. It is not enclosed in mysterious language. It does not rely upon human thought processes / intellectual gerrymandering. It is Spiritually plain, intelligible, accessible. It is introduced into the sinful nature of everyone (Romans 1:20). Paul's lament includes his explanation that trusting Jesus as Savior is the essence of simplicity. Confess with your mouth and believe in your sinful nature that God has raised this Jesus, your promised Messiah, from the dead. ZAP! It is finished. The battle in the life of each potential believer is over. The victory has been won! YEA!

We have lived and are now living in the Church Age as the Body of Christ. We pray for the Rapture, and have no fear of normal death. "For whoever has called upon Jesus shall be forever among the Righteous." (DET, Genesis12).

:godisgood:

 

Wow. Everyone in the Bible, Genesis thru Revelation, is saved, have always been in the state of Grace. All the writers were writing to saved folks. Wow.

Back to the drawing board.

raying:

 

What books in the Bible were written to the unsaved?
The OT itself was written for the nation of Israel. It is their sacred Scriptures. Which book was not written to them, for them, and also for our admonition and understanding?

1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

 

Now why would a unwavering person desire to study the Bible?

 

FYI, FWIW:

Romans:
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.....To all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I Corinthians:
Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, even them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours:

2 Corinthians:
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints that are in the whole of Achaia:

Galatians:
Paul, an apostle (not from men, neither through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead), and all the brethren that are with me, unto the churches of Galatia:

Ephesians:
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints that are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus:

Philippians:
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

Colossians:
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ that are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

1 Thessalonians:
Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

2 Thessalonians:
Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ;

1 Timothy:
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Saviour, and Christ Jesus our hope; unto Timothy, my true child in faith: Grace, mercy, peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

2 Timothy:
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, according to the promise of the life which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Titus:
Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God`s elect, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,......to Titus, my true child after a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.

Philemon:
Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon our beloved and fellow-worker, and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow-soldier, and to the church in thy house:

Hebrews:
.....Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling,.....

James:
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion, greeting. Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations;

1 Peter:
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

2 Peter:
Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and the Saviour Jesus Christ:

1 John:
These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, even unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God.

2 John:
The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not I only, but also all they that know the truth;

3 John:
The elder unto Gaius the beloved, whom I love in truth.

Jude:
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:

Revelations:
1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show unto his servants, even the things which must shortly come to pass: and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.

 

We're having a discussion...........

:godisgood: "The saved need to read the Bible to find out who they are."

:jesus: "The saved don't need to read it... God knows who they are."

:sleeping_2: "No one needs to read it. It was all set in place before space and time. Some live, some die. Each one gets surprised."

:thumbs: "No one even needs to know about the Bible. I guess they could put up a sign at 42nd & Broadway: 'Sum uh youse bums is doomed. Sum uh youse ain't. Doan worrah aboudit.'"

We'll keep youse posted on th' outcome of th' meetin'.

 

They don't need to "read" it.
They need to "hear" it.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
God's children must obey the Great Commission and go and preach the gospel that the unsaved might "hear" and have the opportunity to be saved. It is God that knows the elect from the foundation from of the world. Leave that up to him. He has given us the command to be a witness for him.