Comments for ResponsiveReiding

Comment on It’s Vacation Time! by Reid Ferguson

Reid Ferguson — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:24:01 +0000

Thanks for stopping by Jack. Elmira is pretty far south of us. But let me nose around and see what I can come up with. I don’t have anything off the top of my head.

Comment on Re-visiting my thoughts on the Substitutionary Atonement of Jesus Chrsit by Reid Ferguson

Reid Ferguson — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:22:08 +0000

Thanks for stopping by Theodore. I found your comments interesting, though confusing in parts. That we are all guilty of the death of Christ is a foregone conclusion. A man must own his own guilt deserved the cross, and that Christ took that punishment in our place. We must trust His death on our behalf. The stress on confession the way you use it has me confused, as the context of Gen. 9 spells out what is meant by the “reckoning” for killing a man: 6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image.
In other words, murder requires a punishment of death. I do not know that the way you presented it is not strained beyond the text.

Salvation is clearly spelled out as the complete acknowledgement of one’s personal guilt which deserved the cross, and faith that Christ died in our place, and rose from the dead for our justification. Substitutionary, penal atonement. That is basic orthodox Christianity from the start. Are you saying something different?

Comment on Re-visiting my thoughts on the Substitutionary Atonement of Jesus Chrsit by Theodore A. Jones

Theodore A. Jones — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:21:09 +0000

According to the set purpose of God that each man MUST give a direct confession to God regarding the loss of a man’s life by bloodshed, the crucifixion of Jesus is the sin of murder caused by bloodshed. Gen. 9:5b NIV. Therefore the only Way possible to obey the command in Acts 2:38, is by the faith of confessing directly to God that you are sorry Jesus has been crucified. The law of God has been changed Heb. 7:12, but only in regard to the sin of Jesus’ crucifixion. For by the law having had the word Repent added to it, the sin of Jesus’ crucifixion has been increased as the aditional basis for condemnation. For any man who does NOT by faith obey this command in the Way it must be obeyed is guilty of all the law.

Evidently you have assumned that the contemporary theories of salvation you cite have merit. None of these theories are valid interpertations. The mistake made is the conjecture that an offering for sin is a possible resolution. However salvation is only by a satisfactory offering of sin that is the basis for changing God’s law. Hense “he became sin for us” does not mean in place of, it actually means he became the sin we all must repent of. This is the small narrow gate into the kingdom of God Jesus has perfected by his crucifixion.

Comment on It’s Vacation Time! by Jack Brooks

Jack Brooks — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:41:42 +0000

Hey there, brother.

I’m an EFCA pastor near Lexington, KY. We have a family that might re-locate to the Elmira area soon. Can you recommend any churches?

Jack Brooks
Georgetown Ev. Free Church

http://www.gefchurch.org

Comment on The Secret Message of Jesus by VernonBartlett

VernonBartlett — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:08:54 +0000

good sites,

Comment on What is a Christian? by aggie03

aggie03 — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:29:09 +0000

I’m not sure that we agree here. Do you mind if we start talking about Romans 1.5 and Romans 16.25ff? I’ll wait to hear back from you before writing anything else. I hope that you’re having a great vacation!

Comment on It’s Vacation Time! by Phil

Phil — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:03:32 +0000

Have a good and enjoyable break!

Comment on What is a Christian? by Reid Ferguson

Reid Ferguson — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:56:47 +0000

Thanks for stopping by Aggie - and a good question as well as an interesting comment. It is actually the second sentence of you question which leads us to a more complete answer. At what point does obedience enter salvation? And I suppose that depends upon what YOU mean. My understanding is two fold. Obedience first enters in believing itself. To believe is the obedience God requires. We are justified, by faith, and not by works. Romans both opens and closes with an appeal to this - Rom 1:5 “through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations” and - Rom 16:26 “but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—” First and foremost, we must believe. This also produces and obedient lifestyle, but not one born of the mechanical doing of things. Mechanical obedience was always rejected by God. Matt. 15:8 expresses God’s disdain for a people who do lip service, but whose hearts are far from Him. In that place confronting the Pharisees who performed meticulously, but who failed horribly in substituting their mere works. Had their hearts been after God, they could not have forsaken the more important matters of mercy and grace while tithing even their kitchen spices. Being placed into Christ, the Spirit begins the work of changing our desires. God is restoring us to the image of Christ. His desire is always to please the Father. His obedience flows from a heart delighting in the same things the Father does, not in mere rote. We don’t obey to keep the rules, He wants us to live holily because we share His own native of love of holiness - even as he does. God does what He wants. All He wants is holiness. That’s where w’ere being taken.

Regarding the corporate reality of sins - we have to remember that we all fell in Adam. It is not merely our personal sins which need dealt with. The entire issue of sin needs dealt with, both personally and race wide. Hence, in places like the Lord’s Prayer, the pronouns are all plural: “Our” Father. Give “us”, “our” daily bread. Forgive “us our” debts, as “we” forgive “our” debtors. Note also Daniel’s prayer in Dan. 9:3-13. Very informative.

Thanks for stopping by!

Comment on What is a Christian? by aggie03

aggie03 — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:19:50 +0000

When you say “orders their lives accordingly”, do you refer to obedience to the word of God? Or are you merely referring to the headship that can be seen in creation, i.e. God over man, man over woman? At what point do you believe that obedience enters into the picture of salvation for Christians?

I would also argue that it is not one’s recognition of our sins “as a race”, but that we must each recognize our individual sins as those are the ones for which we will die (cf. Jeremiah 31.30, Ezekiel 18.4).

Comment on NEW! ESV Study Bible - due out in October by Reid

Reid — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:06:32 +0000

Thanks Phil - great site. I’ll have to spend some more time there.