Alpha & Omega Ministries Apologetics Blog
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Exegesis, or Eisegesis, of Revelation 5:9-10?
03/23/2006 - James White
This morning I posted another memory verse and made some brief comments about Revelation 5:9-10 and its witness to the perfection of the atoning work of Christ in behalf of His people. Fairly quickly the following was sent through the website:Good piece of eisegesis James! Results of the Atonement Seen? Results, yes. The full extent of "how", NO. The only thing that this portion of Scripture conveys is that it "describes" what has been done; not "how" (to its full extent). No where is the "world" (as the Calvinist thinks) defined like you want it to. All it says is that God has made a "kingdom and priests" from "every tribe and tongue and people and nation". No where does it say that God slam-dunked people into salvation against their acceptance of God' teaching. This would go aaginst Jn. 6:45...ALL OF THE VERSE. Come on James, think outside of your Calvinism.Come on, Steve, think outside your Arminianism! It is easy to make those kinds of statements. It is a lot harder to demonstrate that someone is, in fact, allowing their exegesis to be determined by external factors. Of course, I would argue Arminianism is inherently philosophical before it even comes to the text of Scripture, but that's another issue. Let's take Steve's assertions apart here.
Results of the Atonement Seen? Results, yes. The full extent of "how", NO. The only thing that this portion of Scripture conveys is that it "describes" what has been done; not "how" (to its full extent).OK, I must confess, this is confusing. Looks like we agree that the result of the atonement, that being Christ by His blood redeemed men from every tribe, tongue, people and nation. But I don't get the "how" part. What is unclear about the statement "You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation." The how of the purchasing for God is quite clear, is it not? "By your blood." Not "by your blood plus the free will actions of men" or "by a potential atonement plus...", right? If the term "by" (evn tw/| ai[mati, sou) is not explaining the "how" of "redeemed for God" or "ransomed for God" (hvgo,rasaj tw/| qew/|), then how is it functioning? Remember, the Lamb here is being praised for what He has done, not for what He has made possible. ...
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Fan Mail That Speaks for Itself
03/03/2006 - James White
"if any man thirsts let him come unto me and drink." You really expect us to believe that God is talking to regenerate men here because it is only they who can thirst spiritually speaking?.Come now James if this is yor best answer then your pretty desperate. Your pulling the cart before the horse...assuming calvinistic dogma before it has been proven.Pretty basic error.Christ isn't saying if any regenerate man comes...boy your answers would make hunt Gaffaw .I assume this correspondent is referring to a portion of the last DL where I pointed out the error of Hunt's assumption that if there is a command in Scripture, this must mean all men are naturally capable of fulfilling it. I pointed out that there are, in fact, many commands in Scripture that fall upon deaf ears amongst those who are unregenerate, but they are there to give guidance to those who receive mercy and grace from God. In any case, I leave it to my readers to ponder what kind of theology this person has who can believe dead men can thirst after Christ--and is it any wonder that when you bring that kind of man-centered belief into the faith you have a hard time explaining what it means to "hunger and thirst after righteousness"?
Another listener wrote in,
You are going to find yourself in judgement before God with that evil doctrine! I would rather have The schultz mentality than see docrines that are not there! You have forced your pathetic vague doctrine and see pink Elephants, as I said before, that are not there!Yeah, I find it ironic that these folks are commenting on a live webcast that features a toll-free phone number, too.
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