 |
| (Mount Hood reflected in Trillium Lake, Oregon, United States) The grand object, and its reflection. |
Eternal salvation & temporal salvation – 2Tim 1:9 and 1Tim 4:16
Please read the two passages below very carefully.
- “…God; who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” 2Tim 1:9
“Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” 1Tim 4:15-16
In the first passage God has both saved and called us, and this work is “…not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”
In the second passage Timothy is urged to take certain actions in his ministry, and to teach certain things faithfully, and continually. By this precise activities on his part Timothy is assured that he shall both save himself and those who hear (and presumably believe and follow) his teaching ministry.
Do we have two distinct salvations under consideration, one wholly and freely by God’s sovereign purpose and grace, and the other through the human activities of godly preaching, and our obedience to it?
Or do we have one salvation, thus a hopeless confusion as to who the real savior is?
One interpretation leaves these two passages hopelessly contradicting each other, while the other interpretation harmonizes them fully.
2 Tim 1:9 speaks of a salvation:
- ALREADY happened by God's free grace.
- NOT conditioned on any thing in us, of us, by us.
- ACCORDING to God's own purpose and grace in Christ Jesus, through Christ's life, death and resurrection alone,
- THROUGH God's effectual call of us out of our native state of sin and death to that of grace and salvation, i.e. through the justification applied personally, regeneration to new life and adoption into God’s family.
- Eternal salvation is the work of the ETERNAL God alone, bestowed upon each elect personally when they are still in their native state of sin and death.
1 Tim 4:16 speaks of a salvation:
- That has NOT YET happened, but SHALL happen.
- CONDITIONED upon the obedience of God's children.
- THAT a child of God must labor to attain for himself.
- THAT a child of God can attain for others through his ministry (e.g James 5:19-20).
- Temporal salvation is experienced by God’s children as they do the will of God their Father.
Failure to distinguish these two distinct salvation is the root cause of the confusion and errors on the Bible's teaching of salvation. Even the Calvinists are pretty messed up here!
Eternal salvation is wholly monergistic, with man completely passive.
Temporal salvation is synergistic, God's children responding to the will of God their Father. The salvation that involves any activities of man is the temporal salvation attained by the activities of God's children.
Please read the two passages below very carefully.
- “…God; who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” 2Tim 1:9
“Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” 1Tim 4:15-16
In the first passage God has both saved and called us, and this work is “…not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”
In the second passage Timothy is urged to take certain actions in his ministry, and to teach certain things faithfully, and continually. By this precise activities on his part Timothy is assured that he shall both save himself and those who hear (and presumably believe and follow) his teaching ministry.
Do we have two distinct salvations under consideration, one wholly and freely by God’s sovereign purpose and grace, and the other through the human activities of godly preaching, and our obedience to it?
Or do we have one salvation, thus a hopeless confusion as to who the real savior is?
One interpretation leaves these two passages hopelessly contradicting each other, while the other interpretation harmonizes them fully.
2 Tim 1:9 speaks of a salvation:
- ALREADY happened by God's free grace.
- NOT conditioned on any thing in us, of us, by us.
- ACCORDING to God's own purpose and grace in Christ Jesus, through Christ's life, death and resurrection alone,
- THROUGH God's effectual call of us out of our native state of sin and death to that of grace and salvation, i.e. through the justification applied personally, regeneration to new life and adoption into God’s family.
- Eternal salvation is the work of the ETERNAL God alone, bestowed upon each elect personally when they are still in their native state of sin and death.
1 Tim 4:16 speaks of a salvation:
- That has NOT YET happened, but SHALL happen.
- CONDITIONED upon the obedience of God's children.
- THAT a child of God must labor to attain for himself.
- THAT a child of God can attain for others through his ministry (e.g James 5:19-20).
- Temporal salvation is experienced by God’s children as they do the will of God their Father.
Failure to distinguish these two distinct salvation is the root cause of the confusion and errors on the Bible's teaching of salvation. Even the Calvinists are pretty messed up here!
Eternal salvation is wholly monergistic, with man completely passive.
Temporal salvation is synergistic, God's children responding to the will of God their Father. The salvation that involves any activities of man is the temporal salvation attained by the activities of God's children.
