Neglected Kerygma -- Lecture 18

[Rebbe]

THE NEGLECTED KERYGMA OF CHRIST
a series of lecture essays on the biblical concept of a universal salvation in Christ

LECTURE EIGHTEEN

Copyright © BRI/IMCF 2021 All Rights Reserved Worldwide by Les Aron Gosling, Messianic Lecturer (BRI/IMCF)

CAUTION: BRI/IMCF Yeshiva notes are not available to the general public. They are not for distribution. They are not for reproduction. The notes may also bear little or no resemblance to the actual audio or video recorded BRI/IMCF Yeshiva lecture.

If we are converted it is imperative that the urging flow in our hearts of the Ruach will be directed toward seeking the sweet will of God for each of us at every level of our existence – without our yetzer hara (our inner evil inclination) exercising our soulish will negatively in an attempt to prevent and/or subtly redirect that current of Grace which leads us into an obedience to the living Creator, THE God (blest be He) of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It almost goes without saying, therefore, that we ought to be intelligently seeking to KNOW more about God's will for us in order to adjust more appropriately with it – in matters attendant to family and friendship relationships, home/work duties and accomplishments, health issues and much, much more. God wants us to know and understand HIM above all else and this involves a creative awareness of what precisely is His will in every aspect of our lives.

God stated to his prophet Jeremiah, “This is what Yehovah says: 'Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches. But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am Yehovah, who exercises justice and righteousness on the earth – for I delight in these things' declares Yehovah” (Jer 9.23,24).

Our overall attitude toward God should be as depicted in the words of that wonderful and inspired hymn “I Lift My Hands” by Andre Kempen. We have sung this praise song in the past in our meetings together as the IMCF. It's short and to the point:

“I lift my hands
To the coming King
To the great I Am
To You I sing
For You're the one
Who reigns within my heart

And I will serve no foreign God
Nor any other treasure
For You are my heart's desire
The Spirit without measure
Unto Your Name
I will bring
  My sacrifice”

Yes! To really know and understand our God's loving requirements and Fatherly expectations of us we need to become more biblically literate concerning God's will – none of us can afford to be like so many others who say they want to obey God but who prefer to “cherry-pick” amongst the sacred texts choosing those with which to align in order to avoid the consummate pain of personal sacrifice.

We will all one day appear before the Messiah and imbibe of, ingest and assimilate his personal instructive view of us (2 Cor 5.10).

And so, Paul wrote the following to his convert Timothy. “Be eagerly and diligently studious in order to present yourself to God as one QUALIFIED, a worker who is unashamed of what he produces, correctly analysing and partitioning the Word of Truth” (2 Tim 2.15 Greek).

There is so much to cover, and to examine, in this one verse of Scripture alone which would take a number of lectures to gain a full appreciation of its excellent import and implications. But I am “driven” to wonder how many of us as enthusiastic students of the biblical revelation consider ourselves to be QUALIFIED by the Spirit of God in order to evangelise others in our witness of Christ.

Let's not conveniently overlook that Christ expects EXCELLENCE in all we seek to accomplish in our daily life. (I have mentioned this need of personal excellence innumerable times over the decades but to review the meaning of “excellence” please access our previous series FUNDAMENTALS: Do You Have a Relationship With Yeshua? – particularly Lectures 2 & 7: Part One. Yes, we all fail in the pursuit of this character trait but this fact does not diminish God's expectations of us, nor our accountability in this matter – See Mt 5.48 for proof!)

THREE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
I have three questions for us all to ponder.

(1) Have we become capable of analysing the sacred texts in an in-depth way?

(2) Are we truly confident that we are able to rightly partition the biblical revelation as guided by Yehovah's Ruach?

(3) Are we satisfied with what we are producing in respect of our individual “Gospel” outreach to others?

As to my third question, I might also contemplate the possibility that there may lurk in the subconscious recesses of our mind a sense – an uncomfortable hint even – of dissatisfaction with what we have to date produced in our life in Christ. Any discontentment suggests a deep level of accompanied shame when it comes to what we have been seeking to create and cultivate in our Christian calling. And, recall that Paul (in 2 Tim 2.15) stresses that we ought not to be led into self-condemnation – feeling ashamed of failure in respect of our seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Knowing what we know about the true Gospel of Salvation – that God WILL have ALL ultimately subjected to His SALVIFIC will by the conclusion of the eons – cedes to us as “Firstfruits” an inner realisation of UNTOLD JOY, the granting of an emotional and intellectual INNER PEACE that passes all human understanding (for we are no longer apprehensive about the love of God toward sinners), and an immediate EXULTATION over the nature and character of the loving creative Deity who has so BLESSED us at every turn with the revelation of His GRACE and faithfulness toward all created in His Image (with His Spirit constantly constellating around the notion of everlasting forgiveness and mercy and compassion. See again Jeremiah 9.24).

Once more, we are projections of Himself as mirrored reflections of His Deity and we are confident in the conviction (placed in the biblical revelation by the Ruach of God) that “God will have all men to be saved and to come unto a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2.4). 

Are we REJOICING in this precious and astonishing truth of Almighty God as we assent more perfectly to it and align more perfectly with it? I certainly trust that this is the case, for many have fallen by the wayside over the past 40+ years of this specific IMCF ministry – some of them returning to the darkness of their pre-conversion days. Sad, tragic, horrific, but true nevertheless. They somehow failed to make their calling secure (2 Pet 1.10).

BILLY GRAHAM CRUSADES
My wife and I enjoy watching old videos of Billy Graham “crusades” and its emotionally enriching to see hundreds (and often thousands) of people from all walks of life, from all races, folk of all ages, coming to Christ as a direct consequence of his eloquent preaching and teaching and entirely humble invitation to do so. But really, how many are still with Christ after all these years? How many of those who “walked the sawdust trail” were authentically converted to Christ? How many quickly returned to their vomit? How many truly made their calling and election secure?

As I have pointed out in the aforementioned series on the need of having a meaningful Relationship with Yeshua, our Christian (or Messianic) walk involves MUCH MORE than simply paying a “lip-service” to and/or about Christ. Our Lord Yeshua the Messiah is decidedly NOT a doctrine to which we make a commitment, or in which we readily claim to believe.

I have known people who have made a great “profession” of their faith in the Son of God but they never grow in their walk with God and therefore never have a full assurance of their own salvation.

Listen! Over the years the Rebbetzin and I have received mail asking for OUR assurance that those who sent the mail are really saved. They ought to be asking that question of GOD – and of themselves. We cannot have a relationship with a doctrine. Our relationship with Yeshua admittedly involves a belief in Him – but in the Greek language of the New Covenant Scriptures the word “believe” (pisteuo) means “to adhere to; cleave to; to trust, to have faith in, to rely on” – and these qualities come ONLY THROUGH an ongoing relationship where we get to know one another intimately (1 Jn 5.13).

The Amplified Version makes it candidly clear:

“I write this to you who believe in (adhere to, trust in and rely on) the name of the Son of God – that is, in the peculiar services and blessings conferred by Him on men – so that you may know (with settled and absolute knowledge) that you (already) have life, yes, eternal life” (1 Jn 5.13).

LET'S HAVE A WORKSHOP
So, today in this lecture I wish to achieve something slightly different in our approach. I want to take time out to “create” (for want of a better word) – a “workshop” of sorts – in which we can study a few particular texts and ask some questions about the translations you may have in front of you in your own Bibles as we read the Scripture. Remember, this may not be ground-breaking news or a unique approach by any means, but it is an otherwise practical way to start (or initiate) a THINKING PROCESS that will have God's approval in our studious engagement of His word.

We have substantiated in ourselves some of the benefits in knowing (in accepting) a biblical view of what can be grasped as “a universal salvation in Christ.” But I am quite convinced that some of us will be stumped when approached by an arrogant, hostile “eternal damnation and endless misery mindless moron” who might seek to use certain cherished “proof texts” from his precious King James Bible (in a diabolical manner) in an attempt to sway you away from your foundational theological premises. Recall that the King James Bible is not a translation but rather a Version (which is why it is also known as the Authorised Version) – a version authorised by a kingly despot. A number of modern Bible versions are also founded on the faulty opinions of the inadequate translators of the KJV.

(1) Turn with me please to 2 Timothy 1.9. The AV reads as follows (and your own Bible rendering is possibly similar to this):

God “Who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”

Paul writing to Titus speaks as forthrightly as he did to Timothy. “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1.2).

This phrase “before the world began” is yet again mentioned in a letter by Paul to the Corinthian Greeks. “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor 2.7,8).

Our word eon or aeon comes from the Greek aion. “Ages” – in English – expresses the Greek plural aionios. The phrase “before the world began” when transliterated from the Greek should read in English, “before the aeons.” If we take Paul literally, and we ought to do so, then there was a “time” that existed prior to the beginning of the aeons – clearly! There certainly was a “time” before God's plan of the ages, and it came into an existence when Spacetime was created by Yehovah. Obviously, “TIME” did not exist before God created it. This puts a lie to the doctrine that aeons or ages were (and are) “eternal,” “everlasting,” in existence “forever.”

In a nutshell, the KJV (or AV) of the Scriptures – and other versions which carry on substituting “world” for “ages” or “aeons” are fraudulently persisting in deliberating a fallacious farcical fantasy. That the aeons had a beginning and will also come to a conclusion (a terminal point) ought to negate the “forever” and “eternity” and “endless time” fallacy once and for all. The KJV is filled to overflowing with glaring inconsistencies of this nature – far too many to cover in this simple lecture. However, let's look at some of the major problems in our translations of some of these texts.

The word aionios is translated correctly as “ages” in the following texts.

(2) Ephesians 2.7 “That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”

Colossians 1.26 “Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints.”

These two texts are correct in that the adjective aionios is translated as “ages.”

(3) Then we come to:

Ephesians 2.2 “Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.”

It ought to read, as Darby version reads: “You once walked according to the age of this world [kosmos], according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.”

(4) We must also consider:

Matthew 12.32 “And whosoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaks against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.”

The Greek has aion – “age.” So also in Mt 13.22,39,49; Rom 12.2; 1 Tim 16.17.

(5) Further....

Ephesians 3.11 “According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Read as: “According to the age-old purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

1 Timothy 1.17 “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Read as: “Now to the King of the ages, incorruptible and immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory to the ages of ages. Amen.”

(6) Furthermore, look at...

Matthew 21.19 “And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on you henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.”

Read as: “Perceiving one fig-tree on the roadside, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, No longer by any means may fruit be growing on you for the aeon. And instantly the fig tree withered away.”

See also Mk 11.14; Lk 1.55; Jn 6.51,58.

(7) Moreover, consider... never with a negative.

Mark 3.29 “But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost has never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.”

Read as: “Whoever should be blaspheming against the holy Spirit is having no pardon for the aeon but is liable to the aeonian penalty for the sin...”

See also Jn 4.14; 8.51,52; 10.28; 11.26; 13.8.

(8) What is more...

Hebrews 7.24 “But this man, because he continues ever, has an unchangeable priesthood.”

“Ever” happens to be the same Greek word aion. Therefore to be read as: “Yet that One, because of His remaining for the aeon, has an inviolate priesthood.”

(9) Then there is...

Hebrews 7.28 “For the law makes men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, makes the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.”

Read “consecrated for evermore” as: “perfected for the aeon.”

(10) Finally, 1 Corinthians 8.13. “Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world stands, lest I make my brother to offend.”

Read as: “Wherefore, if food is snaring my brother, I may under no circumstances be eating meat for the aeon, lest I should be snaring my brother.”

Although it's a “free expression” translation, the Contemporary English Version (CEV) reads, with a little better clarity: “So if I hurt one of the Lord’s followers by what I eat, I will never eat meat as long as I live.”

I could not agree more!

Without any doubt, the religiously inclined “KJV only” victims of gross ignorance and implausibility will insist that “forever” and “eternal” remain English terms suitable for the Greek terminology aion but they overlook a simple fact of the grammar enunciated above – and that is this (and I will quote Bible scholar Adlai Loudy on this matter): “If the Greek word aion meant forever and eternal in the absolute sense, [the expressions “never,” “forever,” “course,” “ages,” “never,” “ever,” “forever-more,” “while the world stands,” and “world”] these various translations would not have been necessary.”

I would insist (as a number of scholars in agreement have already done) that if the Greek singular aion meant, or was intended to represent “forever” and “eternal,” then the plurality aionios/aionon would be a complete impossibility! WHY do certain eminent scholars seem to miss the plain and painfully obvious. Clearly, the AV of Ephesians 2.7 proves our point!

“That in the ages to come He may show the exceeding riches of His Grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”

“Age” in the singular is the prime opposite of the term forever or else the utilisation of the plural is entirely meaningless. One scholar notes (and I am in complete agreement with his observations): “If 'for ever' carries its true significance – throughout eternity – then it is contrary to all laws of language, as well as reason, to add 'and ever.'  We are aware of this far-fetched explanation, that it is an effort to express the superlative or infinitude of eternity. Such an explanation is so obviously superficial as to require no comment. It is as correct to say “blackest and blackest,” “longest and longest,” or “farthest and farthest” as to say “for ever and ever.”

In closing this lecture let's take a look at Mt 13.39 where it is written “The harvest is the end of the world.”
World is aion in the Greek text. Had the translators of King James been consistent they would – from what we have already witnessed – have translated this verse as “The harvest is the end of the for ever.”

And again, in 1 Cor 10.11 they rendered the text as “Upon whom the ends of the world [aionon] are come.”

It certainly appears that this world has (or will have) “many ends.” No, we are understanding that ages are intended and the revisionists of King James made a complete mess of their scholarship. At the least their so-called “scholarship” is irreverent!

It's high time that we leave the KJV aside when it comes to establishing correct and definitive doctrine.

As we all journey ever closer to the conclusion of the present evil age, and of the coming Age of Messiah, God has promised to reveal much more about Himself, His Gracious Salvific will, and to impart a deeper appreciation of His loving embrace of humankind. May we all grow in His Grace and knowledge, in knowing and understanding Him, as He continues to incarnate in each of us as His reborn children.


REFERENCE WORKS FOR FURTHER STUDY:

Marvin Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, 1887, four volumes.

John Wesley Hanson, The Greek Word Aion – Aionias, Translated Everlasting –
Eternal in the Holy Bible, Shown to denote Limited Duration, 1875.

Alexander Thomson, Whence Eternity? 1935 (Available at long last as How Eternity Slipped In: or, Whence Eternity? 2018).

Adlai Loudy, God's Eonian Purpose, 1929, 1974 from which I have amplified some of Loudy's views in this current lecture.

Alan Bernstein, The Formation of Hell. Death & Retribution in the Ancient and Early Christian Worlds, 1993.

A.E. Knoch, The Mystery of the Gospel, 1969.

Charles Stang, Flesh and Fire: Reincarnation and Universal Salvation in the Early Church –  the first Price Lecture of 2019 delivered at Trinity Church Boston on March 10, 2019. (Harvard Divinity School.)

THIS CONCLUDES THE CURRENT LECTURE