(Luk
16:30-31 KJV) And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from
the dead, they will repent. 31 And he
said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be
persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
Saving Faith
For admitted helpless sinners who obey the Gospel
Justifying
faith (Rom 5.1,17) includes permanent lasting certitude (Rom 8.16) about
impossibilities.
With
Abraham this had to do his "dead" body and Sarah's "dead"
womb (Rom 4.19).
For the
Christian this has to do with believing a Man rose from the dead (Rom 10.9-10)
and that he is a child of God despite his defects (Rom 8.16).
Justifying
faith (John 5.24) requires realization that one is a helpless sinner (Rom 8.8).
The rich
man in Hades was not aware of this. He thought that his good intentions toward
his relatives had merit (Luke 16.30-31).
One
thing few realize is that in Rom 3.22-23 the "upon all them that believe"
is subset of the "unto all", all men (see Rom 3.3).
And,
similarly, in Rom 5:18; 5:19 the "all" of v. 18 are clearly contrasted
with the "many" of v. 19. The offer of free salvation is too all, many
accept it.
Only
those who realize that they are helpless sinners in need of salvation are able
to accept free salvation. (Rom 6.17).
God
respects the freedom He has given to beings created in His image. If they are
unwilling to irrevocably give up their right to go to perdition, He has
prepared a place for spiritual defectors (Rev 20.10,13,14,15).
Those
receiving justifying faith believe God (John 1.12) instead of the wisdom of men
(1Cor 2.5).
The sort
of faith you are crediting those who died in their sins with is different. It
requires believing in the wisdom of men ("I'm just as good as you
are.") (see Rom 5.7,8) and rejecting the many evidences in natural inner
knowledge (Rom 1.19,20,22) and scripture that payment for sins will be exacted
in the afterlife (Matt 7.23; 5.29) unless true repentance takes place before
death (Heb 9.27).
Universal Salvation post on thread
[X]
said... / To all, / For the past few weeks, I've had the pleasure of discussing
with several participants of this forum the question, Will God freely justify,
reconcile and save all of mankind?
If I
have understood everyone correctly, all of you have been saying that not all of
mankind will be justified, reconciled and saved.
My good
friend, [Y], sometime ago, has written two short studies on "Justified
freely (gratuitously), which I like to present for you to critique. Any
comments will, of course, be welcome. / [X]
Justified
Freely (gratuitously) (1)
Abraham
was righteous, because he believed God’s word (Gen.15:6). In the teaching of
the Apostle Paul, this known fact is the classical example of justification by
faith (Rom. 4:3; Gal. 3:6). But what does that means? What did Abraham believe?
When we
turn to Genesis 15, we see that an elderly, childless Abram (Gen 15:1) was led
out into the night and was shown the starry sky above him (Gen 15:5). Just as
countless, in number, will be your descendants, he was assured. And after this
promise we read the well-known words:
And he
believed in the YAHWEH, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
Of
Abraham nothing was asked. He was informed of something. Even if Abraham would
not have believed God, that would not have changed the information. Abram
believed an unconditional message. A word freely (gratuitously) given him. And
that faith was counted to him for righteousness. Hence, Paul concludes:
But to
him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith
is accounted for righteousness -Romans 4:5-
It is
not faith, in general, that God reckons for righteousness, as if believing is a
kind of performance that God rewards with justification. Then, faith (through
the backdoor) would still be a "work" deserving payment (Rom. 4:4).
But the point is that the faith that God counts for righteousness, is faith in
His unconditional promise. This excludes all (self-) glory (Rom. 4:2) and makes
it that GOD receives all the glory (Rom. 4:20-22).
Lo and
behold, the Good News message: gratuitous (free) justification! And therefore,
too, the justification of all! This ironclad logic is inescapable according to
Paul, as he stated earlier:
For all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely
(=gratuitously) by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, -Romans
3:23,24-
And no
less clearly in Chapter 5:
Therefore,
as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in
condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all
men, resulting in justification of life. -Romans 5:18-
Through
this joyful tiding, we can establish our faith on Him "Who justifies the
ungodly"
I2C
140118a Luk 16v30to31 Saving Faith / I2C / 140118 1341 / Luke 16:30-31 Saving
Faith / For admitted helpless sinners who obey the Gospel
