Event vrs Process Justification

Greetings

God is the center of OSAS - not human self-righteousness.

The plan of salvation is God’s active work to be passively received as a gift by faith in Jesus Christ. God planned fallen humanity’s redemption from before the foundation of the world and used a covenant with a one-sided disposition centered in Jesus Christ to extend His costly plan as a free gift to all humanity.

God’s plan rests in His promises, purpose, and provisions. Eternal Security is affirmed through what God has already done and what He has promised to do. Since God is faithful, He will fulfill His promises.

The NSNS view blatantly denigrates and shames God’s character. The Bible declares God’s faithfulness while the NSNS view declares God’s faithfulness only as we persevere. What kind of faithfulness would that be? If God isn’t faithful unless the believer endures to the end, then the believer’s salvation is a debt that God must pay (Rom 4:4, 15-16). If God isn’t faithful unless the believer endures to the end, then who can be saved? Who, in their right mind, thinks that they have the ability to be perfect even with God’s indwelling Spirit? Any one unaccounted sin is eternal damnation.

Scripture shows that the plan of redemption is entirely God’s work. He planned and initiated it. He continuously woos each sinner to Himself through Jesus. He then maintains the salvation that He gives to every believer. Each of these aspects will now be examined.

Before the Foundation of the World
The Bible declares that God laid the plans of redemption from before the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8, 17:8). God knew humans would fall into sin and provided a way of redemption through Jesus Christ (1 Pet 1:20). God’s plan was general in nature and was firmly centered in Jesus Christ (Eph 1:4). By His foreknowledge (Rom 8:29, 1 Pet 1:2), God offered this great plan of salvation to each and every human so that whosoever believes in Jesus should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:15-16; John 11:26; Acts 2:21, 10:43; Rom 10:11,13; 1 John 5:13).

Lloyd

 

Greetigns

A Covenant with a One-sided disposition
God is now continuously wooing each and every person to Himself. He did this for all that have ever lived and He will do this for all who are yet to live. God is active in revealing the work of Jesus to sinners and wooing (bringing) them into a covenantal relationship with Himself. The principle image and overarching framework for this revelation and atoning redemption comes through the biblical covenants. Its primary meaning is developed from the Hebrew word berith (brit = covenant).

Through a series of covenants, God has laid down the means to establish a divine-human relationship. As the initiator, God supplies one side (the biggest part) of the covenantal relationship. At the same time, God desires a return of covenant love and obedience from His covenantal partners. God is with His people through the covenant. But now that we’ve talked about a covenant, what is it?

In general a covenant “presents the solutions to all of life’s deep problems, including cleansing from sin and an intimate relationship with the God of the universe.” The genius for the covenant is The Trinity. The divine-human covenant relationship is a natural outflow of the relationship between the members of the Godhead.

A covenant is a sovereignly administered bond in blood with a pledge to death. A normal covenant arrangement with two humans involved the process of cutting animals into halves. The halves would be arranged to that the two covenantal partners would walk between the slain animals declaring that as it was done to the animals so shall it be done to the one who breaks the covenant. The two partners were thus acting out the solemnity of the bond in blood. A covenant commits people to one another. Our fellowship with God is not based upon the human faithfulness of spiritual growth toward perfect – but on covenant. Covenant is a legal word with many of the normal ideas of contracts and weddings.

Christ’s completed atoning work on the Cross was a fulfillment of the covenant between the Father and the Son in which the plan of redemption was conceived.

In the NT, God used the word diaqhvkh to reveal His intentions. The usual Greek word for covenant was sunqhvkh. Since the usual word sunqhvkh denotes equality between two contracting parties God choose diaqhvkh to emphasize that the disposition of the covenant is distinctly one-sided from God to humans. He is the prime mover in the covenant arrangement.

Genesis 15 provides a vivid description of the initiation of the Abrahamic covenant. God had Abraham slay some animals and birds (9) and divide the pieces into two parts (10). When the sun went down, Abraham fell into a deep sleep (12). In that sleep, God appeared to him and made great promises to Abraham (13-16). Then God, as a smoking furnace (17), passed through the slain pieces. It is very important to notice that God went through the slain pieces ALONE. Since God alone went through the slain pieces, God bound Himself to Abraham to fulfill His promises given then and reaffirming the promises of Gen 12 regarding a nation, land, and a world-wide blessing. Since Abraham was asleep he was not bound to do anything.

The NSNS view would take this one-sided covenant (diaqhvkh) and make it a two way venture between equal parties. It is easy to show the one-sided nature of God’s New Covenant. God gave us four versions of the New Covenant. They are found in Jeremiah 31:31-34, Ezekiel 11:19-20, Ezekiel 36:26-30, and Hebrews 8:8-13. The Hebrews 8 version is really a quotation of Jeremiah 31. The clauses of this eternal, wonderfully lopsided (but for us), grace packed, new covenant are:
1. I [God] will put my laws into their mind
2. I will write them in their hearts
3. I will be to them a God
4. They shall be to me a people
5. They shall all know me
6. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness
7. I will not remember their sins and iniquities!

There is no hint of impossible human obedience or responsibility in these seven legally binding clauses! This is substantial difference from the nature of the suzerain/vassal Hittite treaties that formed the basis of the Pentateuch.

The new covenant is an everlasting covenant (Jeremiah 32:40, Ezekiel 37:26, Hebrews 13:20). The nature of this new contract/treaty is such that once we successfully “sign” the contract by placing our faith in Jesus Christ, then we cannot fail! The disposition of the Covenant is truly one-sided as all of the responsibility resides with God – not humans. This means that it cannot be annulled, negated, voided, canceled, stopped, disregarded, undone, or terminated – unless God is not faithful.

But the NSNS view claims that God is unfaithful! If they are right, how can we believe God’s Word? It is a terrible shame that so many buy this God denying belief.

The NSNS view also makes a catastrophic error by insisting that we are an equal party with God. They would exchange God’s faithful responsibility for fickle human faithfulness. The Bible and its covenants declare just the opposite. The new covenant is a one-sided disposition of God toward humanity. Stauffer is an NSNS advocate who makes human responsibility one of the foundational criticisms of OSAS. His fifth criticism shows this misunderstanding of biblical covenants when he writes:

As usual, some small truth is contained in this gross error. The small truth is that humans have the responsibility to enter into a voluntary covenantal relationship with God. The gross error is the ignorance of the one-sided disposition of the covenant. In this aspect, it is sort of like rat poison that is 97% wholesome food. Should the rat be concerned about a trifling 3% poison? But here, since there are only two concepts and eternity is the outcome, the poison is much stronger. Stauffer totally ignores that the initiation of the covenant - its formation, its execution, and its free offer - is all of God’s doing.

There is no firmer guarantee of legal security, peace or personal loyalty than the covenant.

A covenant tells how God offers salvation to sinners. As a case in point, God offered His covenant to Abraham without regard to deeds or self merit. Most people do not realize that the Abrahamic covenant was sealed while Abraham was sleeping (Gen 15:12). While Abraham was asleep, God appeared as a smoking furnace and passed through the slain animal parts (Gen 15:17). In the OT, parties bound themselves to the covenant by passing through the slain body parts signifying that death be to the one who failed to keep the stipulations of the covenant. Thus, God bound Himself to the covenant and Abraham was not bound to do anything. Hence the Abrahamic covenant is another one-sided covenant where the responsibilities lie totally and wholly with God.

This one-sided covenant was expanded through Isaac and Jacob as God pledged Himself to them in spite of their consistent sin. God delivered undeserving Israel out of Egypt, because He remembered the covenant that He had made with their forefathers. The Psalmist confidently cried to the Lord for help because of the enduring covenantal relationship.

The Mosaic covenant was given to Israel and Israel alone. As God’s representatives, as recipients of God’s oracles, and as a peculiar people set aside unto God, they had responsibilities to live up to the character of the God Who choose them. The Law must be carefully handled in order to prevent either legalism or antinomianism.

The one-sided covenants culminated in the New Covenant first given to Ezekiel and Jeremiah and later used by the author of Hebrews. As shown above, there is no pronoun devoted to human responsibilities. The covenant is all of God – only to be passively received as a gift by believers.

Eternal Security is grounded in a proper understanding of one-sided covenantal theology.

 

Greetings

God’s Promises

God’s promises for the believer’s security are numerous. Consider the following incomplete list:
God promises us that we shall not perish (John 10:28-29).
God has already glorified the believer (Rom 8:29-30).
God will confirm every believer to the end (1 Cor 1:8).
We stand in the power of God (1 Cor 2:5).
God has established us in Christ (2 Cor 1:21-22).
God has given the earnest of His Spirit (2 Cor 5:5-7).
God has made us accepted (Eph 1:6).
God has quickened us together with Christ (Eph 2:5-6).
God began the good work in us and will continue to do it (Phil 1:6).
God has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance (Col 1:12-13).
God has delivered us into the Kingdom of His dear Son (Col 1:12-13).
God has delivered us from the power of darkness (Col 1:13).
God has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son (Col 1:13).
The Lord is faithful, Who shall establish you (1 Thes 5:23-24 & 2 Thes 3:3).
The Lord shall deliver me from every evil (2 Tim 4:18).
The Lord will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom (2 Tim 4:18).
God reserves a place for us (1 Pet 1:4-5; Jude 1).
God is able to keep us from falling (Jude 24).
God will present us blameless before the presence of His glory (Jude 24).
God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Pet 1:3).
God will not let our feet be move [from a position of justification], he does not slumber . . . He shall preserve you [the believer] from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul (Psalm 121:3,7).
We shall not slide [from salvation] (Psalm 26:1).
We can know that we are saved (1 John 5:13).
God is faithful to deliver what He has promised (Heb 10:23).
This list makes pretty easy common-sense reading.

Lloyd

 

Bob

The argument is that when God makes a covenant WITH us - WE have no active part in the covenent.

Notice the "I WILL" and the "THEY WILL" sections of that covenant? Yet?

In Christ,

Bob </font>[/QUOTE]How silly! There is nothing for us to do. The "they will" is part of God's decree on how He will run things. This is an unconditional promise. REad the context.!

Lloyd

 

Greetings

Wrong Bob!

Large BLOCKS of quotes TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT have no weight whatsoever.

Your large blocks of quotes demonstrate your large lack of understanding the distinctions between justification and sanctificaiton. God back and read the lexical evidences.

justification is God's domain alone. You wish to make it a human system of self-righteous obedience. You contradict the Bible! Should large volumes of error count as truth?

Lloyd

 

Hey Bob

You deny context in James 2 - again.

In James 2:14-26, Christ-deniers ignore all possible contexts. The overarching context is already saved believers. He urges them to provide works worthy of their standing in Christ. It is an error to make spiritual growth of sanctification a requirement for justification. We expect the baby to talk + walk sometime after birth. We don’t demand maturity as a requirement for birth. Proof of life happens AFTER birth.

The immediate context is Abraham’s justification by faith (James 2:23; Gen. 15:6) twenty years before Mt. Moriah (Gen. 22; James 2:24). Abraham is an example of justification by faith (Rom 4:2-3,13) apart from any obedience and sacrament (4:4-12). The promise is voided by faith + obedience (4:14). In 4:16, justification is by grace through faith. Justification was IMPUTED to Abraham (4:22) by passive faith; EVENT – not process.

James 2:23 with 24 shows the total picture. Justification by PASSIVE faith is the new birth; sanctification by ACTIVE faith is spiritual growth. The righteousness of works before men depends on the righteousness of faith before God. “Faith without works is dead” can only be used as a means for JUSTIFIED BELIEVERS to verify their justification before others. These two must not be confused. Error forces the sanctification part of Abraham’s life to be a requirement for justification oblivious to Abraham’s historic justification.

He mentioned that we have to accept God’s grace by faith. Christ-deniers would never make this statement if he truly knew the distinctions between justification and sanctification. His half truth ignores that biblical Greek portrays this act of faith exclusively in the PASSIVE voice. Faith in Jesus is not an activity of any sort. Jesus used the LOOK and LIVE illustration in John 3 to deny any human activity beyond PASSIVE faith. Failure to do a basic investigation into the voices of justification results in dramatic deficiencies. There are many sanctification verses that can be so abused.


Lloyd

 

Hey Bob

Here is another example of your out of context implication twisted by Christ denying self-righteousness!

Heb 5:9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him

The biblical definition of "Obey Him" is "believe in Him" (john 6:29)

Lloyd

 

Hey Bob

More examples of your BLOCKS of error!

Christ-deniers ignore the context of Kingdom principles. Context! This is a clear case of violently wrenching the verse out of text and forcing one’s opinions upon God’s Word. Matthew 24 begins with Jesus telling His disciples that the glorious temple would come to an end (24:2). His disciples then asked Him about His coming and the end of the age (24:3). Jesus’ answer is known as the Olivet discourse.

Jesus’ answer comes in fours parts (4–14, 15–28, 29–31, and 32–41). The first part of His answer describes the end of the age. Characteristics of this part include the advent of many false-christs, wars, persecutions, and the world wide proclamation of the gospel. The encouragement to endure to the end is in this section. Following this, Jesus describes the Great Tribulation specifically mentioning the attack on national Israel. Then, beginning with verse 29, Jesus describes the exact moment of His second return. He concludes His discourse by providing the Parable of the Fig Tree. We can know the season of His return but not the exact day and hour. No matter which view of end times one holds this passage is clearly linked with a time of great tribulation – not personal loss of salvation.

The context of the entire chapter teaches that Jesus’ discourse was directed to national Israel. The passage is an OT reference to where God promises to save national Israel from its woes: “for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it” (Jer 30:7). The time of Jacob’s trouble is none other than the Great Tribulation. If this passage had been addressed to already saved Christians, then it would have read, “He that is saved will endure to the end” as it does in John 3:16 and John 10:28.

Only shoddy exegesis ignorant of context would take a passage about the end of times addressed solely and specifically to national Israel and twist it into a present fear of personal loss of salvation. Fear and ignorance are some of Satan’s most powerful tools!

Does the Bible give any clear picture of what happens to a person who cannot endure to the end? Yes! In the Parable of the Sower in Luke 8, Jesus gives a clear picture of a seed that germinates and doesn’t endure to the end. Jesus gives a picture of several types of seeds that are cast at random onto the ground; one such seed that falls among poor soil. Due to the shallow soil, the second seed grows into a young plant but fails to produce fruit. In fact, it withers away under the heat of the day. But notice that the seed produced a new life! In biblical terms, the seed was “born again.” The sad part is that it bears no fruit and receives no reward.

The Bible teaches that the fruit of a given life will determine the rewards of the after life. Since King Jesus will only let believers who professed Him to reign (2 Tim 2:11-13), these shallow-soil fruitless believers who fell away “will miss out on Christ’s approval.” This privilege of reigning with Jesus only comes as we share in His sufferings in this life. “While there is a very real price to be paid for failure in the Christian experience, that price will never involve consignment to the Lake of Fire.”

Context helps us understand that endurance “to the end” should be understood as to the end “of this age” (1:2), not to the end “of one’s life.” The NSNS view is a venomous lie! How is it that so many succumb to it?


Should you have an award for botching context?
Should your BLOCK of confusion count for something?

Please note that these are rhetorical questions!
Lloyd

 

Hey Bob

More examples of your BLOCKS of error!

One’s relationship with Christ is severed because relationship has to do with sanctification – a fellowship issue. But one’s security is not jeopardized because security has to do with justification – a forensic issue. Forensics and fellowship are mutually exclusive terms that must not be confused.

Theologians often tend to polarize their opinions to one of two extremes. The typical exchanges over these warnings fall into two main types. One extreme is that apostasy is not possible for God’s elect. The other extreme is that believers can apostatize and lose their salvation. But there is another group that is not an extreme: free grace OSAS theism.

The free grace OSAS position is that God is faithful to His promises. Forensic justification is a one time event; not an ongoing process. God the Judge declares believing sinners “Not Guilty,” officially pardons them, regenerates them, and closes the judgment book(s) forever. There is no double jeopardy in God’s court. At the same time, God our Father adopts those believing sinners (now called saints) into His family. The Holy Spirit takes up personal residence in our redeemed souls until the day when our bodies are redeemed as well. Filial sanctification is the process of growing into the spiritual maturity. Any sin or good deed is possible here. We encourage the deeds done from love and faith, we oppose but acknowledge all sin. Sin brings a loss of rewards while faithfulness brings crowns, responsibilities and blessings.

It is possible for believers to apostatize. They will lose heavenly rewards but not their eternal destiny.
__Christ made total payment for sins on the Cross!
__What sin could a person commit that hasn’t already been paid?
__God declared a verdict of “Not Guilty” to all who believe.
__What sin could be done that would reverse this declaration?
__God has purchased all believers unto Himself.
__Can the purchased possession sell itself?

The NT doctrine of eschatological accountability teaches that each believer must ultimately give an answer to Christ for his actions (Matt 18:21–35; 25:14–30; Mark 4:21–5; Rom 14:10–2; 1 Cor 3:10–5; 9:24–7; 2 Cor 5:10). This is the doctrine of rewards. Because of a secure positional forensic salvation, Paul could rightly declare that nothing could separate him from God (Rom 8:39). Both of these harmonize when we realize that justification and sanctification are mutually exclusive and disjoint. The results of sanctification do not affect forensic salvation. Constant faithfulness to Christ determines rewards; faithlessness results in losing rewards (1 Cor 9:24–7). There is no denial of a certain future judgment (Heb 10:27,30). However, for believers it will be a judgment of rewards; not a judgment of destiny.

Should you have an award for botching context?
Should your BLOCK of confusion count for something?

Please note that these are rhetorical questions!
Lloyd