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(Mount Hood reflected in Trillium Lake, Oregon, US)
P/s The majestic mountain and its near-perfect reflection are STILL distinct.
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(If you don't understand the distinction between the eternal salvation and temporal salvation, then you HAVE
NOT understood salvation by grace yet.)
Eternal salvation & temporal salvation
illustrated by 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 these 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 saviour is?
One interpretation leaves these two passages
hopelessly contradicting each other, while the other interpretation harmonizes
them fully.
2 Tim 1:9 speaks of the salvation:
- ALREADY happened by God's free grace.
- NOT conditioned on anything 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
salvations 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 the 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.
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Initially posted here: https://www.facebook.com/sdcpenang/posts/2314729988768801
