arabera Tim Lovegrove 12 years ago
241
Honelako gehiago
I can't hide the fact that this is a very controversial passage. And that's not a big surprise, because in Jesus' day this teaching divided his disciples into those who stayed and those who left.
After saying in verse 36 "You don't believe," Jesus then talks about why some people are saved and some aren't.
Not surprisingly, his explanation weaves together human responsibility with divine sovereignty, in a way that is beyond what we are fully able to understand. But we want to fully understand it, and so in the process of trying to understand we often end up skewing the material. So the people on one side of this argument might fully emphasize the divine sovereignty and essentially remove completely the human responsibility or at least opportunity. And the people on the other side explain this passage in wholly human terms, and manage to explain away any divine sovereignty. And then you have war. : - )
To ignore the fact that this is controversial would be idiocy.
One key: try to interpret the passage on its own. Because both sides of this argument claim that there view is the only view that fits with the rest of Scripture. They both say "We know the passage means what we say it means, because that's what the rest of Scripture says." They've got a strong presupposition coming into this passage. After I lay out the two options in this passage, most of the audience will decide that they think it means based on what they believe the rest of Scripture says. Most will say "It has to mean this." But the problem is - we haven't really looked at it. Are we really letting God say what He says if we've made up our mind beforehand about what He will say. It's like talking to a JW or Mormon - presup that Jesus can't be God, and so no matter how clearly I show them from Scripture, it doesn't matter.
Pray:
Free us from foolish speculations
Free us from bickering and bad attitudes
Free us from handling your Word dishonestly
May we see these words of your Son not as a battle ground for purely intellectual bickering, but as words of life for our souls. Sanctify us by your truth; your word is truth.
Maybe this week just give some perspectives on these controversial details on the chart, that will free us to come back in two weeks and look at the big picture and benefit from it all.
