Ethan: Subtle, but nonetheless incorrect. I presented the Biblical account of the killing of Christ from God's "perspective." The only exception would be St. Ignatius since his writings were not inspired; however, even St. Ignatius is bearing witness to "God's perspective" as his statements are in full accord with the New Testament (and that he received his teaching directly from St. John is no small matter).
Every word of Scripture is the verbally inspired, inerrent word of God, all of it is God-breathed -- the historical record of the New Testament is God's historical record of the events (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20).
Not a single statement of "bondserv" overturns the uniform and consistent testimony of the inspired New Testament or the witness of the early Christian church: the Jews killed Jesus Christ. "bondserv" recklessly confuses this most serious subject because he attempts to divide Holy Scripture against itself, attributing parts with less divine authority than others.
Moreover, "bondserv" confuses even the Scriptures he uses in a blatant example of eisegsis due to his apparent ignorance between God's effective will and God's permissive will in the events of salvic history. Ignorance is unfortunately equated with "piety" in much of modern American churchianity due to the damaging effects of (much) of dispensationalism and its "escapist" mentality; gladly even many dispensationalist scholars have jettisoned this anti-biblical view of epistemology in recent years.
The eminent Reformed scholar J. Gresham Machen noted almost 80 years ago concerning this phenomena:
"The childlike simplicity of faith is marred sometimes by ignorance, but never by knowledge; it will never be marred--and has never been marred in the lives of the great theologians--by the blessed knowledge of God and the Saviour Jesus Christ which is contained in the Word of God. (J. Gresham Machen, What is Faith? Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1925, 1991), p. 96.
In short, God is sovereign in his purposes yet God is not culpable in any sense for the killing of Christ, or for any other crime even when the crime's fulfill His eternal purposes (cf. Joseph being sold into slavery by his brother's). bondserv's lack of serious theological consideration from a Biblical foundation and his humanistic influence on his view of Scripture (even if he is not aware of it) is readily apparent.
"Those who crucified Christ acted in perfect harmony with the freedom of their own sinful natures, and were alone responsible for their sin." (Loraine Boettner, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination. P&R, 1932), p. 247.
This is in full accordance with the historic testimony of the Christian faith in its most precise summary of Biblical doctrine:
Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) Chapter III."Of God's Eternal Decree."
I. God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby neither is God the author of sin; nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.
The record of God's inspired Scripture is consistent, clear and conclusive:
"For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men." (1 Thessalonians 2:14-15; the words penned by St. Paul are the inspired words of God and His historical record).
"The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he [Pilot] had decided to let him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this." (Acts 3:13-15; the words penned by St. Luke are the inspired words of God and His historical record).
"For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God" (John 5:18; the words penned by St. John are the inspired words of God and His historical record).
"When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, "As you know, the Passover is two days away--and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified." Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him. "But not during the Feast," they said, "or there may be a riot among the people" (Matthew 26:1-5; the words penned by St. Matthew are the inspired words of God and His historical record).
The early testimony of the historic Christian faith is in full accord with God's "perspective" on the events and all the "piety" of Biblically and historically obtuse persons cannot change this fact:
"The Word raised up again His own temple on the third day, when it had been destroyed by the Jews fighting against Christ. The Word, when His flesh was lifted up, after the manner of the brazen serpent in the wilderness, drew all men to Himself for their eternal salvation." (St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans. chapter. II, "Christ's True Passion.")
Case closed.
HE HAS RISEN! Jesus Christ, today, extends the gift of salvation to all that would believe on Him.