The name
(singular) not written [ou gegraptai to onoma]
in the book of life from the foundation of the world.
(Symbol text
required for the Greek in the title above and text below)
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In the beginning Adam was in the garden where he walked and talked with the Lord. Adam hadn’t produced any offspring, and we were all in him as he fellowshipped with God. Likewise, we were in him when he fell and departed from the Lord’s fellowship. We all fell when Adam fell. We didn’t choose this state of separation; we were born into it, for it is after the fall that Adam began to begat.
This separation is the reason for our
redemption. Scripture tells us: all have sinned, and come short of the glory
of God.Rom 3:23 Jesus paid the
price for all our sins: he is the
propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world:1John 2:2 God so loved
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the
world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.John 3:16
In spite of what scripture tells us,
there are still people who hold to the doctrine that Jesus did not die for all.
They believe that the Lord predestined whom the saved would be, and whom would
be condemned. They will protest that they only say that the saved were
predestined, but scripture tells us whosoever
was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.Rev 20:15 So, if they are saying who will be saved is
predestined, they are also saying the condemned are predestined. I never will forget the one man who rebuked
me for saying Jesus died for all: Heaven
Forbid that He shed one drop of His precious blood for one of them!
There a number of errors leading to
this doctrine. One is that although the overwhelming majority of the texts, the
Byzantine texts, the Alexandrian texts, the Hort & Westcott text, and the
Hodges and Farstad majority text, the name not written is singular [ou gegraptai to onomata],Rev 13:8 & 17:8 it is plural
in the Textus Receptus (Received Text) and in the KJV which derives from the
Received Text: The names not written [ou gegraptai to
onomata]Rev 13:8 & 17:8 appears in the two verses in
which it is singular in all the other texts. The defenders of this doctrine
often cite these verses ignoring the other texts, which is the error.
Another part of the problem is that
the holders of the predestined to salvation doctrine are adopting another unscriptural doctrine, a
doctrine of a higher canon. Scripture tells us
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of GodMatt 4:4 and All
scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.2Tim 3:16 They do not give
equal regard to all scripture. They give the scriptures, which they’ve read first and used to formulate
their doctrine, higher authority than the scriptures they later encounter,
which would correct their doctrine. When it is already established in their
doctrine that our coming to faith and being saved was predestined, for
example, the Spirit speaketh
expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving
heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils1Tim 4:1 no longer
means the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart
from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. The
verse is filtered through the verses to which they have deemed higher canon.
Likewise, he that endureth to the end shall be savedMatt 10:22 no longer
means he that endures to the end shall be saved, and whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting lifeJohn 3:16 is changed to say whosoever believed
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. In short it is a different
gospel, not the word of God. He will never leave us, but we are free to leave
Him.
Another part of the problem is the
confusion of predestination with foreknowledge; they are not the
same. Foreknowledge is the knowledge
before hand of something that will occur later. Predestination is determining or causing before hand something
that will occur later, and includes both foreknowledge of the occurrence and
causing the occurrence. For example, both we and God know the Lord will return,
but we merely know it and have nothing to do with determining it. We have
foreknowledge. God, on the other hand, knows of it and is the cause of it. He
has predestined it. God does know who
the elect will be, and speaks in His word to us, the Elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.1Pet 1:2 It is foreknowledge,
not predestination. What is predestined is that the ones, which He has already
seen chosen at the end through His existence outside time and space, are the
ones who will be conformed to the image of His Son: whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.Rom 8:29 He has
predestined that the elect will be conformed to the image of His Son, the way
an employer predestines that his employees will be high school graduates, He
chooses the ones who are conformed to the image of His Son.
What is predestined is the church, the
body of Christ, not who will be in it. The reason the church is predestined is
that the Lord promised to reveal all He would do to His prophets: Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but
he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.Amos 3:7 Yet, He kept the church a secret: the preaching of Jesus Christ, according
to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.Rom 16:25 Since the church was predestined, it was
something that was already done. It was not something He would do, which would
have to be revealed to the prophets. So the church remained secret through the
Old Testament.
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Run, that ye may obtain,1Cor 9:24 so that ye
come behind in no gift waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ1Cor 6:7
