amity said:
Not searching for a thing, Ed. Just disagree with you. Don't think everyone who denies what you are saying is denying scripture.
You may, in fact, be "Not searching for a thing", but it unfortunately does not come across entirely in that way. On another thread, you well put the Biblical POV, IMO, re "making Jesus Lord of your life", in order to be saved. I agree fully with that. There is no additional requirement to faith, in order to be saved. If there were, no one indeed, could ever know if they were saved, until they faced the judgment, at which point it would be eternally too late, were they not actually saved.
I do not particularly care whether or not one agrees or disagrees with me, in my views and conclusions, for that is not a relevant issue, however to what I was saying. What I
was saying is that there are certain Scriptural tenets that I see, that are not particularly open to my or your interpretation. And I was referring to two of these. So, I'll reiterate the two passages in question, although I did not quote them in the post. John says he wrote what he wrote in his gospel for a specific and expressed purpose. No other book in Scripture makes such a specific claim as to this particular purpose, to my knowledge, although other books sometimes give a particular reason, as to 'why' they were written, such as Jude 3.
John says the purpose of this gospel, in which he admittedly chose what he wrote, was this:
30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. (Jn. 20:30-31 - NKJV)
30πολλα μεν ουν και αλλα σημεια εποιησεν ο ιησους ενωπιον των μαθητων αυτου α ουκ εστιν γεγραμμενα εν τω βιβλιω τουτω 31ταυτα δε γεγραπται ινα πιστευσητε οτι ο ιησους εστιν ο χριστος ο υιος του θεου και ινα πιστευοντες ζωην εχητε εν τω ονοματι αυτου (Jn. 20:30-31 - TR1894)
He says something somewhat akin to this, but for a different purpose, in what he wrote in I John.
9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which[
b] He has testified of His Son. 10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life,[
c] and that you may
continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. (I Jn. 5:9-13 - NKJV)
13ταυτα εγραψα υμιν τοις πιστευουσιν εις το ονομα του υιου του θεου
ινα ειδητε οτι ζωην εχετε αιωνιον και
ινα πιστευητε εις το ονομα του υιου του θεου
(I Jn. 5:13 - TR1894)
(I emphasized the "hina" (`ινα) in the above to draw attention to the word, itself, which carries the force of "for the purpose of" or "in order that", expressing purpose.)
You and I (or any other) may legitimately disagree with the import and meaning of "know" in I Jn. 5:13. That is permissible, IMO. But I do not see any other interpretation possible as to the '
why' of the reasons John wrote the above two books, for those are his (and the Holy Spirit's) words, not mine.
In addition, the four verses I cited as to "saved" by faith (or believe and be saved), were in answer to a question from xdisciplex when he asked if Jesus ever spoke of being "saved by faith", or was that only spoken by Paul? I gave these four verses as an answer to that, not as referring to what was the 'greater' subject, or whether "eternal salvation" was what was in view.
So you (or anyone else) are free to "knock yourself out" in disagreeing with my understanding. To me, that is a "non-issue".
To deny or ignore specific words from Scripture,
is an issue, IMO.
God bless, but I do 'hope' you and others who do not have the same "know so" salvation, that some of us do, arrive there, and base it on the testimony of Scripture, itself.
Ed
