The love bestowed by the saving Christ. 1 John 4:7

 

 

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. [1 John 4:7]

Both sides of the Calvinism v. Arminianism debate love this verse. However, there is more to this verse than the Arminians believe it states. Look at that portion that states Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. I think the words ‘knows God’ runs much deeper than just saying I know Him. When Adam knew Eve[Gen. 4:1] it was in an intimate encounter(the KJV uses ‘knew’). Most everyone has a general knowledge that God exists, as Psalms 19 and Romans 1 states. However, not everyone ‘knows’ God in an intimate relationship. It is those who are born of this love that have been ‘born of God,’ and have tasted His electing love. Apostle Paul stated But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?[Gal. 4:9] Friend, the question that needs to be asked is this; ‘is it better to know God or be known of God?’ I’ll take the latter over the former. There are many who say they know Him, yet when they stand before Him, they will hear  “I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’[Luke 13:27]

When Jesus confronted Nicodemus, He flew into him for his lack of understanding in the very things he had been teaching. Jesus told him “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”[John 3:3] Nicodemus went on to say “How can someone be born when they are old?” “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”[John 3:4] Jesus went on to reiterate what He had previously stated by saying “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.”[John 3:5] Jesus went on to also tell him “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.  You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”[John 3:6-8] Nicodemus asked Him ‘How can this be’ and Jesus told him  “You are Israel’s teacher and do you not understand these things?”[John 3:10] He then rebuked Nicodemus again by saying “I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?”[John 3:12]

Now, here is where the proverbial rubber meets the road. Jesus went on to tell Nicodemus “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”[John 3:19-21] Read closely that which I bolded. These are Jesus’ words and not mine, friend. He stated those who live by the truth come into the Light, so that it may be plainly seen that what they have done has been done in His sight. It is only those who have been ‘born of God’ that have been born of love.

Look at what the bible states is love: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”[1 Cor. 13:4-8a] There is a love that humans possess that is, as I will state it, an ‘earthly love.’ We love our parents, relatives, siblings, pets, neighbors, &c., but this is not the love that must be possessed by the believers. It takes being ‘born of God’, being ‘born again or from above’ for one to possess and express this love. People say they love God and continue to live in lives of debauchery. There is no way they love God in the biblical manner of loving God. Jesus said “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”[Matt. 6:24] The unregenerate hate God in their very deeds. They may not seek to verbally say they hate God, but by their actions, their deeds, they express their hatred for Him. Jesus said it like this “If you love me, keep my commands.”[John 14:15] The unregenerate can not keep God’s commands, thereby, they hate Him. Even the Jews, who had been given the Law, could not keep it. It took Christ living a sinless life as a man, to meet the requirements of the Law. He did that for ‘whoever will believe upon Him shall have eternal life’.

It is by this love that we are born again, born from above. It is by this love that we are saved from our sins. It is by this love that we have passed from death unto life.

Who are those being reconciled in 2 Cor. 5:18,19?

 

 

I hope to, dear reader, to properly exegete some of the passages the Arminians hold to as their support of a universal atonement of Jesus Christ. I want to first start with 2 Cor. 5:18,19.

Paul is writing a follow-up letter to the Corinthian church after he basically lambasted them for their follies. People were there abusing the Lord’s table, one having his dad’s wife(hoping it was step-mom?), taking each other to court, &c. In this follow-up letter, he is commending them for what they did in getting the leaven out of their church, and even taking back the one who had been excommunicated for having his dad’s wife. I say this as a backdrop for what Paul told them in chapter 5. We can read where Paul stated All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  [vss 18,19 NIV] If you casually read that little two verse passage, it appears to be universal in its application. But I want you to pay close attention to not counting people’s sins against them. Now, if Christ is truly reconciling the world unto Himself, in light of that which I just bolded, then He is saving the whole world. If that is the case, then how are any dying lost? This is the conundrum the Arminians(they want to be called non-Calvinists because they hold to OSAS) in that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, yet not everyone in the world will be saved.

In Romans 4, we can read Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them. [vs 8] Now we will go back to 2 Samuel 12 where David is confronted by Nathan after having intercourse with Bathsheba, getting her pregnant, and then having her husband, Uriah, murdered in battle, just so that Uriah would never know he had had intercourse with Bathsheba. Nathan then tells him a story about a poor man who had one ewe lamb that he loved dearly. A rich man, who had many sheep, took that one lamb from the poor man and had it killed and fed to a traveler. Well, David flew mad and was ready to take vengeance upon the rich man for what he did. Nathan then plainly tells him “You are the man!” David repented of what he did and Nathan told him “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.” If God has taken away this sin from David, then where did it go? No sin goes unpaid for, because sin will never go unpunished. If it was not laid unto David, then who took it? It was Christ who took it upon Himself on the cross at Calvary. Sin will be punished in either the sinner or the Sinbearer, that Sinbearer being Christ. As we can read for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me. [Psa. 69:9] Then there is also Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed . [Isa. 53:4,5] So if Christ is reconciling the world unto Himself, not counting people’s sins against them, then who is taking them? If Christ has taken them upon Himself and paid for them, then how is anybody lost? How are those who stand before Him as goats in Matthew 25, and also before Him as He is sitting on the Great White Throne in Revelation 20, dying lost? He paid their sin debt for them, and He is reconciling the world and not counting their sins against them. This is quite the conundrum universal atonement poses, no?

To be reconciled means to be atoned. To be atoned means to make amends. Amend means to change for the better, improve. Do you see where I am going with this, dear reader? If God was in Christ reconciling the world(everybody as in universal atonement means, in that He left no one out) unto Himself(KJV rendering), how can there be anything other than everyone being saved? This is where the limited/definite atonement rules the day, mon ami. For this two verse passage to hold any consistency whatsoever, that is the only view that holds water. God was reconciling the world in Christ, oui. But the world does not mean everybody without exception, but rather, the world over He was reconciling those He chose from the creation of the world. [Eph. 1:4] These are the ones who God is reconciling in Christ unto Himself. It was in Christ that their sins were laid upon. He paid their sin debt in full. That is why on the day of Judgment, there will be no wrath meted out to them. Christ paid for their sins. Those who die in their sins, God’s wrath will be poured out upon them in the lake of fire.