"None but Christ. None but Christ." ~John Lambert, as he was burned at the stake by order of Henry VIII
Acting a miracle is different from working a miracle. If Jesus tells a paralyzed man to get up, and he gets up, Jesus works a miracle. But if I am the paralyzed man and Jesus tells me to get up, and I obey and get up, I act the miracle. If I am dead Lazarus and Jesus commands me to get up, and I obey, Jesus works the miracle, I act the miracle.
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Rom 3:25 “whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”Two questions must be answered in this passage in Romans concerning the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ.
The whole Gospel hinges on the proper answering of question #2! Propitiation is not simply the wiping away or putting away of sin. However, these are words and terms which are part of propitiation, but this is not in a sense the foundation of propitiation.
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If the word “world” was always used in one uniform and constant sense in the writings of the apostle John, there would be merit to the observation for universal atonement. However, the apostle John admits a variety of connotations. Therefore, the intention of it in one place cannot be the rule for the interpretation of it in another.
Definitions: 1. The whole universe of created beings Jn 1:10, 2. Sometimes, the inhabitable earth Jn 16:28, 3. Sometimes, the inhabitants of it Jn 1:10, 4. Sometimes, unconverted persons, both elect and reprobate Jn 15:19, 5. Sometimes, the worse part of the world, the wicked Jn 17:9, 6. sometimes, the better part of it, the elect Jn 1:29 and Jn 6:33,51, 7. Sometimes, a number of persons, and that a small one in comparison of the rest of mankind Jn 12:19, 9. sometimes, Gentiles as distinguished from Jews 1Jn 2:2, 10. In one place it is used (3X), and in so many senses, Jn 1:10 He was in the “world” (the inhabitable earth), and the “world” (the whole universe) was made by him, and the “world” (the inhabitants of the earth) knew him not (which is not to be understood as them all), for there were some, though few, who did know Him.
I will venture to affirm that the word “world” is always used in the apostle John’s writing in a restricted and limited sense to mean (for some only), except or unless when it is designed to mean the whole universe or inhabitable earth. There is intent in which to use the word incorrectly, for none will say Christ died for the sun, moon, and stars, for fishes, fowls, sticks, and stones. So it is to be observed that it is never used to signify every individual of mankind that has been, is, or shall be in the world, in which sense it must be proved if it is to be used in this manner and if any argument can be concluded from it in favor of universal or general redemption.
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No doctrine is more despised by the natural mind than the truth that God is absolutely sovereign. Human pride loathes the suggestion that God orders everything, controls everything, rules over everything. T he carnal mind, burning with enmity against God, abhors the biblical teaching that nothing comes to pass except according to His eternal decrees. Most of all, the flesh hates the notion that salvation is entirely God’s work. If God chose who would be saved, and if His choice was settled before the foundation of the world, then believers deserve no credit for their salvation.
But that is, after all, precisely what Scripture teaches. Even faith is God’s gracious gift to His elect. Jesus said, “No one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father” (John 6:65). “Nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matt. 11:27). Therefore no one who is saved has anything to boast about (cf Eph. 2:8, 9). “Salvation is from the Lord” (Jonah 2:9).
The doctrine of divine election is explicitly taught throughout Scripture. For example, in the New Testament epistles alone, we learn that all believers are “chosen of God” (Titus 1:1). We were “predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11, emphasis added). “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world … He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will” (vv. 4, 5). We “are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son … and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Rom. 8:28-30).
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Grace To You Blog
