You can deny the obvious, if you want. I presented the main stream view, yours is an outlier.
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Another Interpretive Translation
- Thread starter Van
- Start date
Here is a blurb from the internet:
Eternal Life
Everyone dies. Death is the great enemy of the human race. Most people do not wish to contemplate death. We all cling to life. This is because God created man to live in an eternal relationship with Him. Sin destroyed this relationship. It resulted in spiritual death and later physical death. Sin created a barrier between us and God. When we put our trust in Christ, God imputes his own life to us. This life is eternal. One of the great themes of the Apostle John is life. Characteristic of John is that he sets forth powerful, profound truths with simple language. He recorded these words of our Savior in his gospel,
14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 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 (John 3.14-16).
John affirmed Jesus’ statement in his epistle in 1 John 5.11-13,
11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Most people believe eternal life is something that is obtained or begins at death. But the Bible declares that eternal life begins the moment we believe. John wrote, “we have the life” not “will have the life”. Eternal life begins the moment one puts his trust in Christ. And how long does eternal life last? Forever.
Eternal Life
Everyone dies. Death is the great enemy of the human race. Most people do not wish to contemplate death. We all cling to life. This is because God created man to live in an eternal relationship with Him. Sin destroyed this relationship. It resulted in spiritual death and later physical death. Sin created a barrier between us and God. When we put our trust in Christ, God imputes his own life to us. This life is eternal. One of the great themes of the Apostle John is life. Characteristic of John is that he sets forth powerful, profound truths with simple language. He recorded these words of our Savior in his gospel,
14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 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 (John 3.14-16).
John affirmed Jesus’ statement in his epistle in 1 John 5.11-13,
11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Most people believe eternal life is something that is obtained or begins at death. But the Bible declares that eternal life begins the moment we believe. John wrote, “we have the life” not “will have the life”. Eternal life begins the moment one puts his trust in Christ. And how long does eternal life last? Forever.
LOL, 1 Corinthians 15:53-54 supports the main stream, eternal life begins with the new birth view!!!
1Co 15:53-54
For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
But when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written: “DEATH HAS BEEN SWALLOWED UP in victory.
Let us take a look at and study another ambiguous verse:
Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
This is an ambiguous verse and seems to be not understood in the same way by Calvinists or Arminians or middle of the Roaders.
First, Paul is not ashamed of the gospel. Why might he have been ashamed? Because it is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. (1 Corinthians 1:23) We can derive from that the idea that the gospel may be inconsistent with the presuppositions of the lost.
What "power of God" is in view that is for salvation? For the Calvinists, or at least some of them, it is the power of irresistible grace to cause an individual to come to "saving faith by regeneration." For the Arminians, or at least some of them, it is the power to make salvation available for the choice of people, i.e. whoever chooses to believe is automatically saved.
The third way of understanding is that the power of God for salvation refers to God's power to provide reconciliation to those who believe the gospel fully, holding nothing back, and this determination is made by God alone when He credits the faith of some as righteousness.
Now Jesus presented this opportunity first to the Jews and then also to the Gentiles (non Jews) consistent with God's timetable and rollout plan.
Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
This is an ambiguous verse and seems to be not understood in the same way by Calvinists or Arminians or middle of the Roaders.
First, Paul is not ashamed of the gospel. Why might he have been ashamed? Because it is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. (1 Corinthians 1:23) We can derive from that the idea that the gospel may be inconsistent with the presuppositions of the lost.
What "power of God" is in view that is for salvation? For the Calvinists, or at least some of them, it is the power of irresistible grace to cause an individual to come to "saving faith by regeneration." For the Arminians, or at least some of them, it is the power to make salvation available for the choice of people, i.e. whoever chooses to believe is automatically saved.
The third way of understanding is that the power of God for salvation refers to God's power to provide reconciliation to those who believe the gospel fully, holding nothing back, and this determination is made by God alone when He credits the faith of some as righteousness.
Now Jesus presented this opportunity first to the Jews and then also to the Gentiles (non Jews) consistent with God's timetable and rollout plan.