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This will be a in-depth Biblical study of Gods salvation plan. There will be no definate time schedule for this study and more material and pages will be added from time to time. If you have any questions or wish to make any comment regarding this study please feel free to either post your message on the church bulletin board, E Mail me or contact me at my IRQ. number. The material for this study has been taken from the book "Gods Magnificent Salvation Plan" by Harold Camping.
This is Page 5 of our Bible Study. On this page we will discuss unconditional election.......Brother Frank
But there is one last group of verses that we ought to look at. They appear to indicate or at least can be misconstrued to teach that someone who is definitely unsaved still appears to be in a condition in which his sins have been paid for. The first of these is found in I Corinthians 7:15, where God declares, "The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband." Similarly, in Hebrews 10:29 God is discussing a man who knew the way of salvation and never did become a child of God. Then he deliberately turned away from the Gospel. And yet, in speaking of him God says
"Of how much more punishment shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing."
These two passages are speaking definitely of unsaved people who are sanctified. It is this word "sanctified" which suggests that somehow a work of grace has been done on behalf of the unsaved who remain unsaved.
Let us examine this question more closely. The word sanctification means to be set apart for the service of God. Certainly born again believers are set apart for the service of God. But what about those who are in the congregation, and thus are corporately of the Body of Christ, yet who are not true children of God? What about those unsaved members of a family in which there are saved individuals, which would identify that family corporately with the Kingdom of God? Did Christ pay for their sins?
A third verse that is similar to this is II Peter 2:1. There God is talking about false prophets who are among the people. That is, they are members of the congregation. And they are bringing in damnable heresies, "even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction." The phrase "that bought them " certainly would seem to indicate that Christ had gone to the cross to pay for their sins.
We must look at these verses in the light of the discussion that we had earlier in this study, in which we saw that those who face Judgment Day must give an account of every sin. Because they must give an account of every sin, we know that they are not eternally Christ's people. They are not his sheep.
Certainly if we isolate these verses from the rest of the Bible, we might conclude that Christ had paid for their sins, as he did for the believers. Thus they would not go to Hell. And yet the very context of Hebrews 10:29 indicates that Hell and damnation must still be endured by this person...in spite of the fact that these verses speak of him as having been sanctified. Likewise, the language of II Peter 2 is very clear that the false prophets mentioned in this context are subject to eternal damnation.
Thus we see that while God speaks of certain individuals as being sanctified or having been "bought" of the Lord, they are still subject to eternal damnation. How can this be? How does the Bible reconcile these apparent contradictions? Let us continue to investigate this problem.
We must remember, as we look at these verses, that God is concerned about the church, in its corporate sense, as in its eternal sense. Those who have become born again believers are eternally members of the body of Christ. They belong to him, and their sins have been paid for by Christ's blood. They are eternal members of the church Christ came to build. The organization in which these born from above believers are found is the congregation which is part of one denomination or another. And these congregations are the corporate expression of the Kingdom of God. The congregation is an organized, visible body of those who profess Christ.
Even though all those within the congregation profess Christ, they are not all necessarily believers. This is shown to us by the very verses we are studing. the false prophets of II Peter 2 were members of a congregation of believers. But they themselves were not saved.
An outstanding example of a congregation that had many unbelievers within it is that of national Israel. While there was a remnant chosen by grace within that congregation, the major part remained in unbelief. Thus they were still under damnation, even though as a whole body they were the corporate representation of the Kingdom of God here on this earth throughout the 2,000 years which preceded the coming of Christ.
Likewise in the New Testament God began to represent himself organizationally or corporately in this world by the churches and the denominations that began to spring up after Pentecost. Each of these officially is identified whith Christ, and yet each of these is composed of both believers and unbelievers.
We see this clearly as we read the first three chapters of Revelation, where God talks about the seven churches of Asia Minor. Each is represented in Heaven by a candlestick because they are Christ's church. Yet we see that God warns that in one church there is a Jezebel. And in another one they are following the Nicolaitans, who are heretics of some kind. This mixture of believers and unbelievers can be expected in every congregation even though, corporately speaking, those same congregations identify with Christ.
Since each congregation was established, was set apart to serve Christ, every member of that church is looked upon as sanctified; that is, he is set apart for the service of God. Even a false prophet who is a member of the church is spoken of as having been bought by Christ. By this language God is indicating he went to the cross not only to save and pay for the sins of the born again believers, those who are his elect, but also in order to establish his corporate body, his churches, his congregations. In that sense, those who are members of the congregation have been bought. But individually their sins have been paid for only if they personally have become believers. We saw this very clearly when we examined the Bible's teaching concerning the nature of Judgment Day. But corporately they are part of that body which has been bought as an organization by God (using the language of II Peter 2:1). Therefore, God can say that he has bought these false prophets.
In the same manner, the unsaved husband who is married to the saved wife is spoken of as being sanctified (I Corinthians 7:14). Because of one parent having become an eternal member of the Kingdom of God, the whole family has become corporately a part of the Kingdom of God even though the other family members may still be unsaved.
Thus, these verses that speak of unsaved persons being sanctified or having been bought are not teaching in any way that Christ has paid for their sins by his shed blood. They have been bought or have been sanctified only in the sense that they are members of the corporate body (that is, the organized church). And that organized church was established and exists because Christ shed his blood for the believers within those congregations.
When we examine everything that the Bible offers, we must conclude that limited atonement or particular atonement is the only answer that will correspond with all of scripture. You see, God has a very well-detailed and defined plan of salvation. He named those who were to be saved before the foundation of the earth and put their names in the Book of Life. He came to seek and to save those who were his sheep. It is all one complete design. It is true that the Gospel goes out to the whole world; and as we saw in the early part of this study, if anyone at all responds to Gospel, he WILL be saved. But we saw very clearly that nobody will respond except the Father draw him. And God will draw those whom he has elected in order that God's salvation program will maintain total integrity.
This is the last page that will be posted till after the Christmas holidays. Shortly after the first of the year we will consider the subject of "Irresistible Grace"
Get your own Free
