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Do you HAVE to believe in the resurrection? This woman did … sort of …

By Jeremy Myers
17 Comments

Do you HAVE to believe in the resurrection? This woman did … sort of …

Resurrection of JesusI ran into someone this past week who would pose quite a dilemma for some, especially if we are trying to determine if people have eternal life based on what they believe. (NONE of us do that, do we?)

Anyway, I thought it was interesting, so I am throwing it out here for you to weigh in on…

It wasย a woman who called about some questions related to whether or not she had eternal life.

Asking the Kennedy Questions

As we talked, I asked her some diagnostic questions to help me determine where she was coming from.

I asked her that if she were to die tonight, if she were sure she would go to heaven. When she answered, “Yes” I asked her why. She said something along the lines thatย since Jesus died for all of her sins, and she has believed in Him, she gets to go to heaven when she dies. Though she could have been a bit clearer, this answer was initially satisfactory.

But I asked some follow-up questions as well, to see if she was in any way relying on her past, present, or future good works in order to earn, prove, or keep her eternal life. For example, I asked her if there was anything she could do in the future that might prevent her from going to heaven when she died. From her answers, she seemed certain that since she did nothing to earn her eternal life, there was noting she could do to lose it either. Though I am not the judge of her spiritual condition, I was once again satisfied with her answer. To the best of my knowledge, she understood that simply by her faith in Jesus, she had everlasting life which could not be lost.

Confused Christology

Then we started to talk about some of her questions, and in the process, she mentioned about how she knows Jesus is going to come again when He rises from the dead.

It was an odd way of phrasing it, and so I asked her what she meant. She stated that she knew Jesus died on the cross 2000 years ago for her sins, and that He was right now in heaven, and He was coming again in the future. I said, “That’s good, but what was it you said about Him rising from the dead?”

She said, “You know…when He comes again. He died, went to heaven, and when He comes again, He will rise from the dead.”

Wait… what?

Apparently, she didn’t know that Jesus had risen from the dead.

I talked a bit more with her about this, and as it turns out, somehow, here in America, she had never been told (or had just neverย understood) that Jesus had already risen from the dead!!! I didn’t even know this was possible, but I discovered she doesn’t read her Bible, andย doesn’t go to a church that teaches the Bible much.

I asked her if she saw The Passion of the Christ, which she had. I asked, “Didn’t youย wonder what was going on at the end of the movie when Jesus rose from the dead?”ย She said sheย didn’t think anything about it, because all it shows is Jesus with a glow around Him, and so she thought that was supposed to be Himย in heaven, which matched her theology perfectly. (Go look at the end of the movie! She’s right. The ending is very vague.)

After taking her to some passages in the Gospels, and then to 1 Corinthians 15 (which Paul partly wrote to prove the resurrection has taken place), she said she now understood and believed that Jesus had already risen from the dead.

Did She Have Eternal Life?

So here is the question: Did sheย have eternal life prior toย understanding and believingย that Jesus rose from the dead? I say “Yes.” She was justifiedย the momentย she first believed in Jesus for everlasting life.ย I was able to disciple her some more this week and teach her some things about the Jesus she had believed in that she did not previously know.

However, even though I would say, “Yes, she had eternal life before she believed in the resurrection of Jesus,” there are lots of Christians who would probably say,ย “No.” Theyย might argue that until she believed in the historical event of the resurrection of Jesus she does not have eternal life. Although she believedย in her own sinfulness, the deity of Jesus, His death on the cross, and that she had eternal life in Him alone, she did not have eternal life until she believed the whole package. Even though she believed in a future resurrection of Jesus, this is not sufficient.

To me, this is incredulous. Antonio da Rosaย has posed a similar situation as I have encountered here. He stated somewhere (I can’t find it now) that to consign someone like this woman to hell forย not knowing all the Biblical facts about Jesus that are on aย man-made list is the height of legalism. This woman believed in Jesus for eternal life, and by Jesus’ own promise, whosoever believes in Him, has everlasting life (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47).

Note as well that on this account, the woman is just like all the disciples of Jesus. The disciples believed in Jesus for everlasting life, but not a single one believed that Jesus would die and rise from the dead until after He died and rose from the dead!ย Does this mean that none of them really had eternal life until after the resurrection of Jesus?

No, again, this is an example of one of those central doctrines of the Gospel which help a person believe in Jesus for eternal life, but are not required for a person to believe in order to receive eternal life. Don’t get me wrong, without the death and resurrection of Jesus, there is no Gospel. But one does not have to believe the entire Gospel in order to receive eternal life. Most of the Gospel message provides supporting facts and evidence for why and how Jesus can offer eternal life to anyone who believes in Him for it, and how to live in response.

But the single “message of life” in the Gospel is this: Whoever believes in Jesus has everlasting life (cf. John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47).

Does this help you in your evangelism and discipleship endeavors? Does it help clarify the Gospel message? What do you think about this lady who didn’t know Jesus had risen from the dead? Have you ever encountered someone like this?

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: crossless gospel, death of Jesus, Discipleship, evangelism, gospel, resurrection, Theology of Jesus, Theology of Salvation

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Do you have to believe that Jesus is God?

By Jeremy Myers
29 Comments

Do you have to believe that Jesus is God?

the ChristDo you have to believe that Jesus is God in order to receive eternal life? Some people think so because of what John says in John 20:31.

These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

Since most people assume that “Christ”=”God” and that “Son of God”=”God” they think that it is required to believe that Jesus is divine in order to receive eternal life.

But is this assumption correct? Is it true that the title “Christ” (or “Messiah”) means “God”? How about the term “Son of God”?

“Christ” and “the Son of God” do not require divinity

Many people believe that the terms โ€œChristโ€ and โ€œSon of Godโ€ refer to theย divinityย of Jesus – the fact that He was God. While that certainly has been a popular view in the past, and is the โ€œtraditionalโ€ view, more and more students of Scripture are realizing this view does not fit all the Biblical data.

Instead, the terms seem to refer to the role or function of someone who is being used by God in a special way to carry out Godโ€™s will on earth. Here is what I believe about the terms “Christ” and “Son of God”:

The terms โ€œChristโ€ (or โ€œMessiahโ€) and โ€œSon of Godโ€ did not originally refer to someone who was divine, but to someone who had a special relationship with God and was therefore given a God-appointed task, which was often related to some sort of deliverance. However, as Jesus performed His ministry as โ€œthe Christ, the Son of Godโ€ the terms grew in significance to include the idea that the God-appointed task of Jesus required Him to be God in the flesh. The Gospel writers (especially John) emphasized the divinity of Jesus to prove that everlasting life is freely given to those who believe in the name of Jesus for it.

I believe this for many reasons. First, the term “Christ” (or “Messiah”) simply referred to an anointed deliverer. In Jewish literature, mere humans were often referred to as “Messiah.” No Jewish person thought that the promised Messiah would be God in the flesh. They were looking for, hoping for, and praying for a human deliver who would be specially anointed and gifted by God to lead the Hebrew people back into their rightful place among the nations.

Support for this idea is seen in the fact that the disciples believed Jesus was the promised Messiah long before they believed He was God incarnate. But the disciples do not appear to understand that Jesus is God incarnate until sometime after Jesus rises from the dead. Even at the Last Supper, they ask Jesus to “reveal the Father to us” and Jesus says, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me? He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

Secondly, regarding the term “Son of God,” it was a term that was commonly used for Kings, Emperors, and Caesars. It was thought that Emperors and Caesars were the offspring of a deity, but were not themselves deity. An Emperor or a Caesar could become a god once they died, but they were not considered to be fully divine while alive.

Much more can be said about this. But the point is that the terms “Christ” (or “Messiah”) and “Son of God” are not, in themselves, equivalent with deity. One could believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, but not realize that He was also God incarnate, God in the flesh.

What does this mean for John 20:31?

The Gospel of John is often seen as โ€œthe only evangelistic book of the Bible.โ€ I am not completely convinced that this is the case. In fact, I think every single book of the Bible is โ€œevangelisticโ€ but this is primarily due to how I understand the word โ€œevangelismโ€ than anything else.

I believe that John, in his Gospel, is trying to get people to see that Jesus is God, and is possibly trying to inject more meaning into the terms โ€œChristโ€ and โ€œSon of Godโ€ than the average person in the first century would have understood or immediately grasped.

In other words, one of the primary purposes of John is to impregnate the terms โ€œChristโ€ and โ€œSon of Godโ€ with new meaning and significance that cannot be used of any other human throughout history.

If this is true, John is not trying to teach that believing that Jesus is God is how a person receives eternal life, but that believing that Jesus is God brings a person to the place where they can believe in Jesus for everlasting life. There is a vast difference.

While I don’t think a person necessarily has to believe that Jesus is God in order to receive eternal life, I do think that believing that Jesus is God will help get a person to the place where they understand why and how Jesus can give eternal life to anyone who believes in Him for it.ย A person does not need to believe that Jesus is God to receive eternal life, but why would they believe in Jesus unless they believed Jesus was God?

So while believing that Jesus is God may be logically necessary for receiving eternal life, it is not theologically required.

Yes! Jesus IS God

I do believe that Jesus is God, and I do believe that some of the later uses of the term “Christ” and “Son of God” in the New Testament refer to the divinity of Jesus.

Jesus is God! Jesus is fully divine.

But there is a difference between believing that Jesus is God and believing that it is required to believe that Jesus is God in order to receive eternal life.

I do not believe that to receive eternal life, one must grasp and understand the divinity of Jesus. According to Jesus Himself, He gives eternal life to everyone and anyone who simply believes in Him for it.

Of course, who would believe in Jesus for eternal life without understanding that Jesus is God? So in this sense, it is unlikely that anyone will believe in Jesus for eternal life without believing that Jesus is God, but once again, there is a difference between something being likely and something being required. After all, none of the apostles believed that Jesus was God until after Jesus had risen from the dead, but they did believe in Jesus for eternal life.

Anyway, let me get your thoughts on the subject in the comment section below, and if you want to learn more about how the gospel truth that Jesus is God fits in with the offer of eternal life through Jesus, take my online course on the gospel:

The Gospel According to ScriptureWant to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: christ, evangelism, Jesus, John 20:31, Messiah, son of God, Theology of Jesus

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Is Pastoral Theology Inconsistent Theology?

By Jeremy Myers
8 Comments

Is Pastoral Theology Inconsistent Theology?

pastoral theologyI sometimes hear pastors say that they donโ€™t have systematic theology; they have pastoral theology.

As a pastor myself, I used to nod my head in agreement. I too am concerned with the way some theologians seemed too caught up with dotting every theological โ€œiโ€ while neglecting the task of serving others.

However, in recent years, I have come to develop some reservations about the whole “pastoral theology” concept.

Not Pastoral Theology

In the minds of some today, the pastor who claims to have a pastoral theology is often just saying that his theology is not fixed and consistent. Instead, they adjust their theological views to fit the pastoral concern being faced. This approach often leads to contradictions in theology. Like the situational ethics of the 70s, many pastors have a different theology depending on the situation they find themselves in.

Pastoral theology might be better to call it situational theology.

A Conversation with a Pastoral Leader

This was brought to my attention through a recent conversation I had with another pastor. He and I did not see eye to eye on certain issues of soteriology, and it was not long before he expressed some some serious logical contradictions. When I pointed these out to him, he said that he lived with these contradictions because he had โ€œpastoral theology,โ€ not systematic theology.

When pressed to explain the difference, he relayed the following story which he said actually happened to him:

I was in my office and a man came in who was a serial adulterer. He shared that although he is married, for the past seven years he slept with at least one different woman every month. I asked him if he thought he was a Christian, and the man said, โ€œYes, I accepted Christ as my personal Savior when I was in high school. They told me I was secure forever, and so I know that even though Iโ€™m sinning, Iโ€™m still going to heaven.โ€

Personally, I would have stopped and asked the man for further clarification on what he thought he had done in high school. Why did he say, โ€œThey told me I was secure foreverโ€? Why didnโ€™t the man point to Jesusโ€™ promise of eternal life? What did he mean when he said, โ€œI accepted Christ as my personal Saviorโ€? Until these questions are answered, it is still uncertain whether or not he has believed in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life. But this particular pastor thought that the man’s statement was fine, and so his story continued:

In such a case, my pastoral heart tells me to put the fear of hell into the man. I told the man that if he was ever saved, he certainly wasnโ€™t saved now. Such adultery was a serious pattern of sin. Unless he repented of his sin, and returned to a monogamous lifestyle, he would not enter heaven.

This is classic Arminian loss-of-salvation theology. It was a little surprising for me to hear these words coming from this man who claimed to be a Calvinist. But he continued his story:

Later that day a different man came into my office. He too admitted to being an adulterer. He was married for seven years, and in that time frequently looked at pornography and had committed adultery twice. He sat in my office with tears streaming down his face, worried that he had lost his salvation and that God would never forgive him.

But I saw that this man had a repentant heart, and he knew that what he had done was sinful. He was a genuine Christian, not in need of chastisement and the fear of hell, but in need of love and forgiveness. I told him that God still loved him, and that Christ had died for all of his sinsโ€”past, present, and futureโ€”and that there was nothing which could separate him from God. He was secure in the hand of God. Of course, I warned him that he needed to turn from his sin, or else it may prove he was never saved in the first place.

So in one day, this manโ€™s pastoral theology led him to espouse Arminian theology to one person and Calvinistic theology to another. The two systems are contradictory, but he didnโ€™t care, for his theology was “pastoral.” He admitted the two views were contradictory, but only if viewed apart from the individual situations. He molded his theology to fit what he thought the person in front of him needed to hear. This was his pastoral theology.

Inconsistent Pastoral Theology Helps No One

I do not believe such an approach helps anybody. Such contradictions only lead to confusion. This sort of situational pastoral theology does more damage than good, because it allows love for people to drown out the truth of Godโ€™s Word. And when truth gets neglected in the name of love, love dies too. It is not loving to tell a lie in a kind way, even if we think the lie is what a person needs. It is far better to โ€œspeak the truth in loveโ€ (Eph 4:15). It is also far better to be Biblical, rather than pastoral.

Consider the first man. Not only was he not given the clear message about how to receive eternal life, he was also given a false message. If this man was indeed unregenerate, he went away with a message in his head that would make it harder for him to be born again. He was told that to enter heaven, he needed to be monogamous. While there certainly are practical benefits and blessings for monogamy, the Bible nowhere lists monogamy as a condition for going to heaven.

So although this pastor thought he was telling this man what was necessary to get him to change his lifestyle, the message he gave was wrong. How practical, how pastoral was that? Doesnโ€™t God know best?

And what about the second man? He also was given a false message. He may have gone away feeling better, but if he wasnโ€™t already born again, he left this encounter more confused than ever. For although he might have been temporarily encouraged, he too was told to refrain from pornography and adultery if he wanted to go to heaven. Once again, the Bible never says this.

So this situational approach to theology is neither loving, nor pastoral.

When pastoral theology becomes situational theology, it helps no one, and only confused those who hear it. If our goal in pastoral theology is to help those who are in our care to understand God and live according to His Word, wouldn’t it be best to have a theology that is consistent and which doesn’t shift with each new counseling session?

If we want to have true pastoral theology, we would be wise to give people what God said! For example, Jesus gives everlasting life to anyone who believes in Him (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47; etc.), and a life of obedient discipleship is important for fellowship and rewards. That is an encouraging, loving, and pastoral message. Best of all, itโ€™s true.

The Gospel According to ScriptureWant to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: Arminianism, Calvinism, Discipleship, pastoral care, pastoral theology, saving message, soteriology, Theology of Salvation

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Fun? Duh… Mental! (Fundamentalism)

By Jeremy Myers
14 Comments

Fun? Duh… Mental! (Fundamentalism)

fundamentalistI am a fundamentalist.

I am NOT a fundamentalist.

So which is it?

It depends on what you mean by “fundamentalist.”

History of Fundamentalism

The term “fundamentalist” was coined back in 1910 when the General Assembly of the Presbyterion Church decided to take a stand against encroaching liberal modernism and listed the “five fundamentals” of the faith:

  1. The verbal inspiration (and inerrancy) of Scripture
  2. The divinity of Jesus Christ
  3. The virgin birth of Jesus Christ
  4. Substitutionary atonement by Jesus
  5. The bodily resurrection and future return of Jesus

They published booklets defining and defending these five points from Scripture. If you were in agreement with them on these things, you could call yourself a “Fundamentalist.” So, based on this definition, I suppose I am a fundamentalist. I firmly believe and teach all five of these fundamental truths.

But in the last thirty years or so, fundamentalism has come to include lots of other “non-negotiables.” A “fundamentalist” today mustย hold toย certain views of women in ministry, the end times, abortion, creation vs. evolution, the method of baptism, dress code, drinking alcohol, gettting tattoos, style of music, playing cards, smoking, evangelistic methods, political involvement, etc.

So if this is howย “fundamentalists” today are defined, I am not a fundamentalist. Sure, I am quite conservative in many of these areas, but in others, I would be considered “liberal” by some modern fundamentalists. So I am not a fundamentalist.

Encounters of the Fundamentalist Kind

Recently, I have had some personal and online interaction with some of these modern fundamentalists, and have realized that their name is quite descriptive.

First of all, many of them are not much FUN. Sour and dour describes them best. Always frowning. Always criticizing. Always telling you that unless you believe and act the same way they do, you are going to hell. They are not the kind of people who would feel comfortable around Jesus when He goes to parties, drinks, tells potty-humor jokes (yes, Jesus did this! – cf. Mark 7:15), and hangs out with prostitutes and sinners.

A second thing that characterizes modern fundamentalists is their method of argumentation, which is summed up in the wordย DUH.ย Modern fundamentalists have already made up their minds about the entire Bible, and when you try to explain that some of their favorite Bible-thumping passages have been ripped out of the cultural and Scriptural context in which they were written, the Fundamentalist acts as if you are the stupidest person on the earth for trying to understand a text this way.

When you ask why your interpretation is wrong, they innundate you with a list of other passages pulled out of context and numerous quotes from authors and pastors who agree with their position. They do not argue from exegesis and proper hermeneutics, but from tradition and citations of other authors.

All of this leads to the conclusion that many of them are MENTAL. They are like people in mental institutions who hold strange beliefs despite all the evidence to the contrary.

Their spittle-spewing rants and tirades are called “holy” because they are “defending God and His Word.”ย But in reality, they are mindlesslyย defending theirย own views and opinions and will not even consider the arguments ofย any who disagree. No matter howย ridiculousย their view is, they will not listen to even the most articulate, logical, and gracious arguments.

Are there practices and beliefs in our culture and among Christendom that need to be corrected? Of course, but not with hate, slander, and name-calling, but instead with grace, and speaking the truth in love.

So hold to the fundamentals, but don’t be a fundamentalist.

Fundamentalism

Thanks goesย to ASBO Jesus for this cartoon.

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: fundamentalism, Theology - General, tradition

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What are the best Bible passages for evangelism?

By Jeremy Myers
35 Comments

What are the best Bible passages for evangelism?

What is the Saving Message?
If you were sharing with someone how they can have eternal life, where would you go in Scripture to show them what God says?

Do you have a passage or two picked out?

If so, what are they, and why would you go there?

Let’s hear what you have to say in the comments below.

To learn my thoughts on this topic, check out my online course:

The Gospel According to ScriptureWant to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, eternal life, evangelism, gospel

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