Posted on Apr 10, 2009 under Doctrinal Studies, Ron News |
I remember growing up listening to a song by a guy named Carmen called “Sunday’s on the way” . It was a fun song but biblically inaccurate like most of his songs were. This weekend we will be celebrating the most amazing thing that has ever happened in the history of the world. The death and resurrection of my savior Jesus Christ. Now while I enjoy this holiday I think it is important to understand the the true theology behind it. in Matthew 12:38-42 we have some key passages to look at-
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
Easter is based on death on Friday and resurrection on Sunday. If we look at this passage we can see this is impossible. If Christ died on Friday then Sat. would be one day and one night. Sunday would be 2 days and 2 nights. Monday would be 3 days and nights, which means they would have came to the tomb Tuesday morning.
Think about this today as we are gearing up for Sunday. In part 2 we will explore the time line leading up to the death and resurrection of our savior.
There is a brief Easter history below from a holiday standpoint enjoy
According to St. Bede, an English historian of the early 8th century, Easter owes its origin to the old Teutonic mythology. It was derived from the name Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, to whom the month of April was dedicated. The festival of Eostre was celebrated at the vernal equinox, when the day and night gets an equal share of the day.
The English name “Easter” is much newer. When the early English Christians wanted others to accept Christianity, they decided to use the name Easter for this holiday so that it would match the name of the old spring celebration. This made it more comfortable for other people to accept Christianity.
But it is pointed out by some that the Easter festival, as celebrated today, is related with the Hebrew tradition, the Jewish Passover. This is being celebrated during Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew lunar year. The Jewish Passover under Moses commemorates Israel’s deliverance from about 300 years of bondage in Egypt.
It was in during this Passover in 30 AD Christ was crucified under the order of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate as the then Jewish high priests accused Jesus of “blasphemy”. The resurrection came three days later, on the Easter Sunday. The early Christians, many of them being brought up in Jewish tradition regarded Easter as a new feature of the Pascha (Passover). It was observed in memory of the advent of the Messiah, as foretold by the prophets. And it is equanimous with the proclamation of the resurrection. Thus the early Christian Passover turned out to be a unitive celebration in memory of the passion-death-resurrection of Jesus. However, by the 4th century, Good Friday came to be observed as a separate occasion. And the Pascha Sunday had been devoted exclusively to the honor of the glorious resurrection.
Throughout the Christendom the Sunday of Pascha had become a holiday to honor Christ. At the same time many of the pagan spring rites came to be a part of its celebration. May be it was the increasing number of new converts who could not totally break free of the influence of pagan culture of their forefathers.
But despite all the influence there was an important shift in the spirit. No more glorification of the physical return of the Sun God. Instead the emphasis was shifted to the Sun of Righteousness who had won banishing the horrors of death for ever.
The Feast of Easter was well established by the second century. But there had been dispute over the exact date of the Easter observance between the Eastern and Western Churches. The East wanted to have it on a weekday because early Christians observed Passover every year on the 14th of Nisan, the month based on the lunar calendar. But, the West wanted that Easter should always be a Sunday regardless of the date.
To solve this problem the emperor Constantine called the Council of Nicaea in 325. The question of the date of Easter was one of its main concerns. The council decided that Easter should fall on Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. But fixing up the date of the Equinox was still a problem. The Alexandrians, noted for their rich knowledge in astronomical calculations were given the task. And March 21 was made out to be the perfect date for spring equinox.
The dating of Easter today follows the same. Accordingly, churches in the West observe it on the first day of the full moon that occurs on or following the Spring equinox on March 21., it became a movable feast between March 21 and April 25.
Still some churches in the East observe Easter according to the date of the Passover festival.
The preparation takes off as early as on the Ash Wednesday from which the period of penitence in the Lent begins. The Lent and the Holy week end on the Easter Sunday, the day of resurrection.
Hat tip to http://www.theholidayspot.com
Posted on Aug 09, 2008 under Doctrinal Studies, Ron News, The Reformation v2.0 Podcast |
It seems these days I am debating a lot about salvation. This bothers me because people who claim to be christians do not know how they are saved.
I grew up in a oneness (modelist) pentecostal church. I was taught that God exists in modes rather than a trinitarian view. I was also taught that baptism was required for salvation. I carried my bible in high school and echoed all these same sentiments. Then around my senior year people began to challenge my views and my faith. I found that when I went straight to the bible with these questions, they did not line up with the doctrine I was being taught in my church. I began a quest for the truth. I wanted to know what the bible said about these topics as well as I wanted to know where the histories of these doctrines came from. I have been blessed by God to learn a lot in the years that followed. One of the key things I have learned is the importance in understanding the sovereignty of God. Lets first look at the definition of sovereign.
Sovereign /Sov´er·eign/ (? or ?; 277), a. [OE. soverain, sovereyn, OF. soverain, suvrain, F. souverain, LL. superanus, fr. L. superus that is above, upper, higher, fr. super above. See Over, Super, and cf. Soprano. The modern spelling is due to a supposed connection with reign.] 1. Supreme or highest in power; superior to all others; chief; as, our sovereign prince.
This was taken from the 1913 websters unabridged which is my preferred dictionary. So God is the supreme or highest power. If this is the case then he is either the supreme power over all or he is the supreme power over nothing. So what does have to do with how are we saved? Well it establishes Gods authority in everything. It also establishes our role in this world. We are going to do an overview here, and dig into this deeper in the coming weeks
“Christ is the Master; the Scriptures are only the servant. The true way to test all the Books is to see whether they work the will of Christ or not. No Book which does not preach Christ can be apostolic, though Peter or Paul were its author. And no Book which does preach Christ can fail to be apostolic though Judas, Ananias, Pilate or Herod were its author.”
Martin Luther
Lets begin looking at some passages that defines God’s sovereignty. We will start in Daniel 4:35
35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, What have you done?
So we see here one of the first passages where God says he does what he wants, and that we are nothing. Lets look at
Psalms 115:3
3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
So once again we see God does what he wants. This has nothing to do with us.
I Timothy 6:15-16
15 which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
This is a interesting passage because it says God alone has Immortality. So lets now go a step further with God’s sovereignty and ask a question. If God is the master of everything is he the master of our salvation? Did Jesus come for a specific group of people?
In Matthew 15:21-28 Jesus says he was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. In John 17:9 Jesus says the following.
“9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. “
So Jesus only prayed for those which the father gave him. Is this sovereign choice of God shown in any other passages. Lets look and see. In Romans 9:11 it says
“11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call”
Lets look at some more passages from Romans 9:14-16
“What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy “
So we see here it depends not on human will or exertion but on God. There is yet still more in Romans chapter 9:17-18
“For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills”
So we see that God raised pharaoh up for the sole purpose of revealing his glory. Romans 9 continues to answer questions that someone would be expected to ask surrounding this topic. I will not go into he whole chapter now. I would like to challenge you to read it yourselves. We will continue in part 2
God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation.
John Calvin
Sovereignty Part 1:
Download
Posted on Mar 27, 2008 under Doctrinal Studies |
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
(Revelation of John 3:20)
How many times has this verse been used to put the authority and power of salvation into the hands of dead men. Many would encourage their listeners to open the door to Jesus as He stands outside knocking and waiting. But what so very many sincere advocates of this belief miss is the context first of all. What is the context of this statement? Is this statement directed to the whole world to be used as a tool for evangelism? Or is this declarative conditional statement directed at the church? The words of our Lord continue two sentences later with, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” (Revelation of John 3:22) Therefore the first point to understand is the fact that this statement, although used to admonish either the church of Laodicea alone or all seven of the churches, may not be biblically and contextually appropriate to direct towards the world in evangelism. It may be more appropriately applied to our churches today and especially the majority of the churches in the United States of America, as most would come under the heading of a Laodicean description.
With the context of this method of evangelism now questioned, let us now consider the main point of this discussion, that before you open the door, you must hear the voice of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And he makes reference that it is possible not to hear his voice by saying “if any man hear.” So how do we hear? How do we recognize His voice? How do we become able to hear and thus open the door after recognizing His voice? Well, most religious people will put the power into your hands that you must do this or that in order to be able to hear and open the door. In other words, these men state that you must do some sort of work in order to be saved.
What does the Bible say? A good start would be to get to know Him, as He is revealed in the only objective standard that He left for us, the Bible. How can a man recognize the voice of one whom he does not know? And Jesus, Himself, verifies that we must know God as John records the following:
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3)
Now that it is established that God says we need to know Him, how do we hear Him? In the Bible, notice that there are two ways of perceiving God’s Word.
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man, which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit, which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. (I Corinthians 2:11-12)
There is the physical, literal, or intellectual way, the way of man. Then there is the spiritual way. And the two are not mutually exclusive, but Jesus makes clear that only those that have spiritual sensation can and will perceive the works and salvation of God.
And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. (Matthew 13:10-17)
Now specifically, take the following two verses from Mathew’s account:
Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
(Matthew 13:13-14)
Jesus is clearly stating that you can see Him but not see Him in such a way as to believe Him. And one can hear physically Him as He talks, but not really hear Him as with understanding. And many religionists again will agree with these things, as they are in the Bible and then command their listener to hear and obey Christ. And therefore, to the religionist, those who do not perceive the gospel and obey as Christ has commanded deserve the eternal punishment for refusing to hear and see Jesus. And this is true, but the question is raised, how do men hear and see spiritually? Can a man command another man to see and hear so as to understand God in His spiritual revelation? Can every single person that hears and sees Jesus have the spiritual perception so as to believe on Him? Are all men with equal ability to do this task?
By the authority of the Bible, man can and must command men to hear God. God clearly commands men to hear God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The following are three examples:
And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: (Mark 12:29)
And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.
(Luke 9:35)
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
(Revelation of John 2:7)
Does God command the possible or impossible? Is it possible for all men or any man to hear God?
Well Jesus made the following rather ridiculous claim. (Ridiculous to our understanding as men.):
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. (John 5:25)
He just said that dead men will be able to hear His own voice, and those who are able to hear shall live. How can this be!
His own disciples knew that Jesus was out of the line of natural means in His prescription for salvation. After telling the rich young ruler, who had stated that he followed all the commands, to rid himself of his financial wealth, the young man walked away in utter despair. Then Jesus proceeds to describe how hard it is to be rich and be saved. Then the following lines of text:
And they (the disciples) were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible. (Mark 10:26-27)
Jesus is saying that salvation is impossible for any man. But with God all things are possible namely salvation in this direct context.
Now that it is established that God commands the impossible by any man, let us focus on His command to hear.
Jesus would indicate that there are two kinds of men. Some are able and some are not able to hear. He divided them as to sheep and goats, children of the father and children of the devil. Obviously He is using spiritual language, as man is man not a four-legged fury animal that cannot speak intelligibly. Nor is man born of the devil physically; he comes from a man and a woman. But the heart. The heart is the issue! And how the heart is identified is by its master. God or the devil.
And at this point most will agree. Now for the hard sayings of Jesus concerning the hearing of His Word.
Back to the knocking on the door as Jesus told John in his revelation, we must hear Him to be saved. We must hear Him to know it is He and open the door. But remember this may be an impossible command by our Lord. How can we hear Him, being dead in trespasses and sin? (Eph 2:1) How can we hear him since no one seeks after God? (Rom 3:11) How did Lazarus hear Jesus tell Him to “come forth.” And likewise how do we hear His command to us to “come unto me.”
Well, Jesus plainly states that he has others to be saved which have not yet heard the gospel either because of location or time (i.e. not yet physically born into this world.) And these sheep will hear Him. There is no question that they will follow their shepherd though they are not yet of “this fold.”
And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. (John 10:16)
And Jesus further makes this concrete to His audience by the following statement:
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (John 10:27)
So it is well established that God’s sheep will hear His voice. They will not refuse to hear, nor will they follow some devilish wolf unto their own destruction. He says:
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. (John 10:28-29)
And in the same passage of scripture we see that those who do not believe are unbelieving because they are not His sheep. Jesus says the following:
But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. (John 10:26)
Note that He did not say you are not my sheep because you do not believe, but rather the lack of belief is because they are not already His sheep.
Incase the religionist is getting uncomfortable and thinking that scripture is being taken out of context or misapplied, then he must consider Jesus’ words to the Pharisees earlier in John’s gospel. He tells them why they cannot hear (in the spiritual understanding way) His words.
Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. (John 8:43)
But obviously they could hear his words physically. They were not deaf to man’s voice, but they were deaf to His voice, and Jesus continues to tell them why they hear Him not:
He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
(John 8:47)
Now Jesus has made it abundantly clear. Man cannot hear God unless he is already of God. And how does someone become “of God.” Is he talked into it by a good preacher? Can he just read the Bible and by his own intellect hear and obey God? Some methods have been developed like being baptized, or completing these five steps or nine steps or two steps of “God’s plan of salvation” (not a Biblical quotation).
Well, what does the Bible say?
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)
And faith is the means of salvation, not the source.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
(Ephesians 2:8)
Grace is the source.
So then how does God give us faith to follow Him? Well the scripture says two things. And they are not mutually exclusive, but rather they are perfectly compatible with an almighty and soverign God. One, faith comes by hearing the word of God and two, faith is a part of the “gift of God” that Paul referenced in Ephesians 2:8.
Therefore, since faith is a gift or part of the gift of God that is not of ourselves and it only comes by the hearing of God’s word, then the hearing of God’s word must itself be part of the gift. If the hearing of God’s word were something that we could do outside of God’s intercession, then it would become a work we were able to do on our own to merit the faith, thus rendering “by grace through faith” untrue. But again we must remember our standing spiritually. We are dead in trespasses, unable to see or hear God until He is pleased to reveal Himself. (Gal 1:12-16) Therefore the hearing of God’s word must be an ability given by God to enable the dead man to awaken by hearing his Maker.
So now we see that to be a sheep or a child of God brings on the gift of hearing so that we can have the faith so that we can be accounted righteous with our spiritual ancestor Abraham. (Rom 4:5)
So the question rises, how do we become God’s children, or one of the sheep of the flock of Jesus?
Well we know that Jesus must find us. He only came to save the lost sheep. And where were we but outside the flock, lost in the wilderness.
But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
(Matthew 15:24)
And we know that Jesus Himself must bring us (once lost sheep) into His one flock.
And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. (John 10:16)
And we know how well Jesus protects the sheep.
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. (John 10:28-29)
But How do we or did we become one of His sheep?
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:3-14)
God says we are “predestinated unto the adoption” “according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace.” Therefore, to become one of His children we must be predestinated according to His will, so that His grace be praised, not our decision, or works, or hearing, or anything we do. So that He is praised. Not us.
Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake. (Psalms 115:1)
Yes we heard the word of truth! And yes after hearing the gospel of salvation we believed being sealed with the Holy Spirit! But it is all to the praise of the glory of His grace.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
It is by His grace, not our faith, not our belief, not our baptism, not our obedience, not our good intent, not anything that we do. It is by God’s almighty grace that we are saved, through faith, and that faith is not even of ourselves. It, the grace and faith, is the gift of God. And there will be no boasting of our works in heaven and there should be none here. What do we have that we have not received from above? (Jn 3:27)
God commands us the following and we must do the following: we must hear the word of truth, and we must have faith in the God of that word of truth, and we must believe on Him who was sent as the only means of attaining mercy. And we will do these things if we are of His flock and if we are His children having been adopted. The Christian realizes that he has no hope in himself at all. He cannot work with God as in along side of God, nor can he work apart from God’s intercession. The child of God, the Christian knows that he must rest completely in God’s almighty mercy and grace.
We have nothing to contribute. We have no righteousness in ourselves. (Rom 3:10) All our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isa 64:6). We do not seek Him apart from Him seeking us (Rom 3:11). In fact we only are enabled to seek him if He is drawing us to Him (Jn 6:44). We must cease from our labors and burdens. We must rest (Heb 4:9-11). We must give up. We must cry out for mercy to the one and only God who is merciful to the sinner and spurns the self-righteous. Is Jesus the author and finisher of our salvation? (Heb 12:12) To him be the glory.
These are hard teachings on the word of God. In fact they can be offensive. But to the child of God, these things should be or in time become a lullaby to put the ever-working man to rest on the one true pillow of God’s power and might. Those of the world are offended here, and I dare say many in the church today are offended as well. But the question comes, does this offend you as to cause you to walk away? To leave this Holy God?
John tells of the hard sayings of Jesus in the sixth chapter of his account of the Gospel. Jesus tells his disciples (more than twelve at the time) about the spiritual application of the taking in and consuming every word out of the mouth of God in the form of the Son. Jesus is the word in flesh. And he has just taught that for eternal life one must consume, eat and drink, His body and blood. Just like all the other examples of hearing, many of His very own disciples heard and were offended by these things because they did not understand the spiritual application. (Remember I Cor 2:11-12 as concerning the spirit of God revealing the things of God.)
See John’s account at this point:
Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. (John 6:60-66)
Please note that Jesus reiterates what was said earlier in John 6:44 “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” And it is at this very point as he reiterates God’s initiating work towards His own sheep, that “many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.”
Arguably the hardest part of Jesus’ teaching here is the fact “that no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my Father.” since the disciples depart at this very time. This idea that God is the one wholly responsible for our salvation is powerful and with that power offensive. Ever since Adam and Eve desired to be like God by over-ruling His decree, thus making themselves gods, mankind has struggled with God’s absolute sovereignty. But the child of God has been humbled; he has heard and seen a glimpse of himself and God’s holiness as revealed in the scriptures. And again this only is by His sovereign grace.
As Jesus just said in John 6:63, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.” God must awaken us. God must make us able. God is the giver of all life and especially of eternal life. God gets the glory. Man does nothing of his own. A last visit to I Cor 2:11-12, what can man do but what he knows, and what does he know but the things of a man. But having received the spirit from God, man now will hear the true Father that he had never yet known.
Now let all things be to the praise of the glory of His grace.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. (John 5:25)
He that is of God heareth God’s word (John 8:47a).
