Date: Wednesday, February 28, 2001
Greetings Neal
Question for you:
When you put the two following statements side by side,
what conclusion do you draw?
(1)The premise of
Biblical Universalism* is that we are to view
all persons as elect in Christ unless and until we have explicit
knowledge to the contrary (See Posting No. 1).
(2) Acts 13:48 (one
of my favorite verses)"
"When the Gentiles
heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord;and
all who were appointed for eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48).
My
Response
My Response, Dated
Thursday, March 1, 2001:
When I read Acts 13:48 without
the "biblically warranted assumption" (Statement (1) above)
I accept what this text says, namely, that when "all who were
appointed for eternal life" (the elect)) hear the gospel they
are "glad and honor the word of the Lord," that is they
"believe." "Salvation" (in the subjective sense,
Posting # 7) comes to them (:47).
When I put the two "statements
side by side" nothing about Acts 13:48 changes one iota.
However, the motivation
for bringing the gospel to all people everywhere is vastly increased.
The
Wrong Conclusion
When the two statements
are placed "side by side" there are persons who draw the
conclusion that there is no need or incentive to bring the gospel
to anyone. "If we view them as 'elect," they say, "we
have no need to bring the gospel to them because they are already
saved "
This conclusion gives evidence
of not understanding the good and necessary distinction between objective
and subjective salvation (Posting #7).
When Paul was minded to
leave the city of Corinth because of opposition, the Lord assured
Paul that he had "many people in this city." The Lord
encouraged Paul to continue working there because many people in that
city were "God's elect."
How exceeding strange to
argue that because there are many elect in some place there is no
need to bring the gospel to them. They are saved already.
A
Strong Motivation
That is not what Paul concluded.
Because there were many of God's elect there, Paul stayed "for
a year and a half, teaching them the word of God" Acts
18: 6, 9-11).
To assume that all the peoples
of all the nations are God's elect, unless or until we have explicity
knowledge to the contrary, is the strongest possible motivation to
"teach them the word of God." "Therefore go and
make disciples (students) of all nations" Matt. 28:19. (See also
Posting # 9, "Motivation for Missions.")
- - - - - - - -
* BIBLICAL
UNIVERSALISM is the teaching that all persons are elect in Christ
except those who the Bible expressly declares will be finally lost,
namely, those who ultimately reject or remain indifferent to whatever
revelation God has given of himself to them whether in nature/conscience
or in gospel presentation.
Biblical Universalism is based upon these three biblical facts:
1) The so-called "universalistic" texts speak of a certain-to-be-realized
salvation as Calvinist have consistently maintained and they do so
in terms of all persons as Arminians have always affirmed (Posting
No. 2).
2) We must accept the so-called "universalistic" texts as written.
We may allow only those exceptions that are necessarily imposed upon
these passages from the broader context of the Scriptures as a whole
(Posting No. 3).
3) All persons, except Jesus Christ, are liable for and polluted by
the imputed sin of Adam (original sin). However, the Scriptures do
not teach or imply that anyone is consigned to eternal damnation solely
on the basis of their sin in Adam APART FROM actual, willful and persistent
sin on the part of the person so consigned (Posting No. 4).
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Contact the Author,
Neal Punt at: whenindoubt3@charter.net
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2001 by Northland Books. Box 63, Allendale MI 49401. Unlimited permission
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