Posted on 04/08/2016 7:34:38 AM PDT by Salvation
The Gospel proclaimed on Wednesday of this week included the familiar John 3:16. So familiar is this verse, that many hold up signs or have bumper stickers that simply say, “John 3:16.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life (John 3:16).
It is indeed a beautiful verse, but I would argue that many use it inauthentically by pulling it out from its place within a longer passage. The fuller segment is John 3:16-21, which is as much a passage of warning as it is of consolation and assurance.
Here it is again, along with the remainder of that longer passage:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.
And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world,
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light,
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God (John 3:16-21).
This fuller context has somewhat of a different tone. It sets forth a great drama in which our lives are cast. It amounts to sober assessment of the obtuseness of many human hearts and of the urgent need for us to decide well in life.
Those who merely quote the first verse run the risk of presenting this text as a kind of a freewheeling assurance that all is well and that salvation is largely in the bag, that judgment and condemnation are not a significant factor since “God so loved the world.” And while the concept of faith is included in this first verse, without the larger context the tendency is to soft-pedal the need for repentance and for the obedience of faith. In so doing, the true drama and sober teaching of the fuller text are lost.
The longer passage fleshes the message out and has a balance that the shortened text does not. Here is what Jesus is in effect saying, expressed in more modern language:
As I live, I and my Father do not desire that any should die in their sins or be lost. I have not currently come as your judge but as your savior. I will come one day as the judge of all, but now is a time of grace and mercy extended to you.
But you need to know that you have a decision to make, a decision that will determine where you will spend eternity.
So please listen to me! Open the door to me and let me draw you to the obedience of faith and the beauty of holiness. If you do this, light will dawn for you, for I am the Light and your life will grow ever brighter.
But if you will not repent and come to a lifesaving obedience of faith, your heart will begin to despise me and the light of my glory. You will become accustomed to the darkness and begin to consider the Light (which I am) to be obnoxious, harsh, judgmental, and even cruel. Yes, you will begin to hate me, for I am the Light. You will prefer the darkness because you love your sins more.
Come to your senses and don’t let this happen. You have a decision to make: for the light or for the darkness, for me or for the prince of this world, Satan. Be sober and understand the dramatic choice before you. Your salvation depends on your choice to come to obedient faith in me or to reject me.
And know this: on the day of your judgment, the verdict will not be rendered by me so much as by you. For by then, you will either love the Light or hate it. And I will not force you to live in a light you detest. You will be free to go your own way. It will not be I who reject you. It will be you who reject me.
Be sober. Don’t let this happen. Don’t marginalize or ignore me. Don’t prefer the world and its twisted values and passing pleasures. Your sins will make you hate the light and prefer the darkness. You have a decision to make.
This message is much more complex than that contained in the popular, abbreviated text known as John 3:16. God’s mercy is offered, but the final verdict will center on whether or not we accept it. This message may be less consoling but it is true nonetheless, and only the truth can set us free.
There is a tendency by many to pull out certain verses and isolate them from their context and from the fuller message of the Gospel. The full and authentic Gospel echoes the opening call of the Lord Jesus: “Repent and believe the Good News.”
So yes, John 3:16! But please continue reading. The whole Gospel, please!
And, pardon me, while I go commit the sin of presumption, something I enjoy doing.
Jesus and the tokens of His Passion are not one and the same. To say that any object is invested with His personality is simply incorporating (pun) pantheism into the Gospel of Jesus. Your Jesus is another Christ--of the same kind--yet still another, and not the Christ of the Holy Bible.
Here is the sense, in English, reading between the lines of what Apostle Paul warned the Corinthian assembly in writing (2 Cor. 11:3,4)
I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. "I'm extremely apprehensive that, just as the serpent sweet-talked Eve, by some tricky artifice your minds become corrupted from the uncomplicated belief in the Messiah. For if somebody comes to you, and you allow him access to authoritatively proclaim from your pulpit another Christ of the same kind, one very similar to the Messiah, but still other, not the same as the one we (Paul and Sosthenes and Timothy) preached. Or if he proclaims another spirit of a different kind, not the one each of you received according to our teaching; or another gospel of a different kind than the gospel we proclaimed, you might be tempted to hear him out."
Quoting Albert Barnes, who quotes Paul's next verse 5:
"The most eminent of the apostles have not preached Christ, ministered the spirit, explained and enforced the doctrines of the Gospel in a more powerful and effectual manner than I have done." Therefore with such admonishment the Corinthians ought to pronounce such a gospel anatehema.
FRiend, not only is your Christ a pantheistic one, but your gospel is quite different than the one recorded in the Scriptures. It is one of strange doctrines and "miraculous" signs and wonders, of a spirit domineering your cult churches, but not present in New Testament assemblies. I reject this, and your religion can never, ever attract me away from the Christ of the Cross, The One described from generation to generation by His Word, which is always sufficient for bringing believers back to God and His Son from the religionists who cart the gullible, credulous, blinded worldlings off by the boatload.
I, a human, am not what I eat, and neither was/is The Son of Man the same as what He ate on the eve of His atonement.
I have no idea where you get your understanding of the Word. Your understanding is foreign to Christianity.
You don't need to.
I know what you SAY: Holy Mary; Mother of GOD.
That phrase is NOT found in the bible, but Mary; Mother of Jesus is found multiple times.
Quit trying to throw this onto my wall; for it ain't gonna stick.
You can rationalize all day long about why it it's ok to use a non-biblical phrase instead of a biblical one; but I ain't buying it.
Many times I am way too quick!
1 John 5:13
OK bro. Thanks for posting. Now, by this, I am really going out on a limb, but could I assume it will be a cold day in hell, before you swim the Tiber? The temperature will have to decrease considerably before I do too. 😀
1 John 5:13
Discussing brain surgery again, Els?
FR is my source for language and the thought processes that develop it
Thank you, imardmd1
Newsflash.
The veil was TORN when Jesus died.
The way to God was opened up and the veil was never replaced.
EVER.
My "comment" IS Scripture.
It's right from Hebrews 9:22.
I don’t think so.
It's right from Hebrews 9:22.
I think we may have hit upon the problem. A lack of understanding the Scriptures.
Don't you think that is a bit of an understatement? 😀😆
1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
You better try again...That scripture says no such thing nor indicates it...And that Corinthian church has no priestly ministry...
As I said before, Jesus is not dying over and over again. It is our offering to God that he completes
By eating a wafer you are making a sacrifice to God???
and changes the offering of the Bread and Wine into His Body and Blood through the actions of the priest.
Can you show the source of the revelation that a priest's actions change bread and wine into flesh and blood??? You can't use a bible because it's certainly not in there...The earliest church fathers didn't mention it so you didn't get it from them...
1 John 5:13
John sounded rather, presumptuous...
We who believe in Him HAVE eternal life in us, not by our presumption but by His Promise.
There will be a day when half the distance around the world does not separate us, Bro. I'm looking to that day. Bring M.
Thank Jesus for His gift of Paul of Tarsus (Acts 9:3-6, Eph. 4:8,11)
Be made complete, Sojourner! (Eph. 4:12-16)
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