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2 Corinthians 5:14-15, 'he died for all'

Simon Wartanian | 8,225 views | 2,761 words | 0:14:24 hours | 22 April 2016 16:50

...all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the World to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:14-21)

“Can it get plainer than this? Don’t you see that it says ‘he died for all.’” Well, we could take the “all’s” there to mean “every individual who has ever lived on this planet”, but we will lose biblically consistency.

This is going to be a little bit lengthy and that because I decided that we must deal with the clear context of the passage about Christ's death for a specific people rather than addressing verses 14-15 only.

The context speaks of the ministry of reconciliation which we as believers and evangelists have received to share with the World. We are to call everyone to repentance and faith in Christ.

In verse 14 Paul says that the love of Christ controls, constrains and compels us based on the fact that Christ has died for all. But we must dig deeper to understand the meaning of the word “all” in this context.

We must illustrate what verses 14 and 15 are saying in a table:

The action	The Result
One has died for all	All have died
He died for all	“...no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised”

The death of Christ was also the death of all. How can this be if this speaks of all men without exception? For all men were already dead in sin and trespasses because of Adam (Eph 2:1-3), but this speaks of Christ substitutionary death. This is seen from the fact that Paul speaks of us being united to Christ in His death. See for example Gal 2:20 –

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Who else but the elect can say these words? Can any reprobate truly say that they were united with Christ in His death and they frustrated the purpose of His death? Because from Gal 2:20 it is clear that the result from being united with Christ in His death is to live with and f...

Review of Dean Davis' The High King of Heaven on Amillennialism

Simon Wartanian | 12,993 views | 8,095 words | 0:42:03 hours | 13 April 2015 23:31

Review Book Review Dean Davis The High King Of Heaven Amillennialism Eschatology Reformed Eschatology

...is a sphere of wholeness and blessing (Mt 9:35; 10:7-8; 12:28)

The Kingdom is mediated by the Son of God (John 5:19, 30; 6:38; 8:28; 12:49; 14:10)

The Kingdom is effected by the Spirit of God (Mt 12:28; Acts 1:4-8)

The Kingdom is a realm beneath a reign (Mt 13:41-42; Rev 11:15)

Thereby is indeed the definition that he gives is justified and satisfactory.

The Two-Staged Kingdom

Amillennarians see the Kingdom of God coming in two stages, separated by the Parousia of our Lord:

The Kingdom of the Son (already, the present Era of Proclamation)
The Kingdom of the Father (not yet, the future World/Age to Come)

Now, the terminology used here is not meant to give the idea that the Son has no share in the second stage of the Kingdom or that the Father has no share in the first, but rather is taken from 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 where we learn that at the Coming of our Lord, the Lord Jesus will deliver His Kingdom, His consummated Kingdom to God the Father and will be subjected to Him. Thus, seeing a difference between the present Kingdom of the Son (which is to be delivered up to the Father) and the coming Kingdom of the Father (which is the eternal World to Come). This terminology is also supported by Matthew 13:41-43.

The two-staged Kingdom is seen from Jesus’ own contrast of this present age and the age to come. Here is a table I made for myself:

Verse	This age	The age to come
Mt 12:32	…will not be forgiven, either in this age	or in the age to come (compare Mk 3:28-30)
Mk 10:30	…receive many times more in this time,	and in the age to come eternal life. (Lk 18:30)
Eph 1:21	…far above all rule and authority…not only in this age	But also in the one to come
Lk 20:34-36	The sons of this age marry…	but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection… neither marry… they cannot die anymore… equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection
1Cor 1:20	Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the World?
1Cor 2:6	…although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away.
2Cor 4:4	…god of this World (age) has blinded the minds of the unbelievers…
Gal 1:4	who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age…
1Tim 6:17, 19	As for the rich in this present age…	treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future…
Titus 2:12	training us to renounce ungodliness and Worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age

Not forgetting that Jesus already affirmed that the Kingdom came with Him, in the present age (Lk 17:21; Mk 1:15; Mt 12:28).

But this fact can also be seen from surveying some of Jesus’ parables and simple Didactic (Gospels and Epistles) teaching about the Kingdom, rather than going to Revelation or Old Testament Prophecy which are obscure. Here Amillennialism makes good use of the Reformed Analogy of Faith interpretation which is thus defined in my confession:

The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself; and therefore when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which is not manifold, but one), it must b...

1689 Baptist Confession Chapter 6: Of the Fall of Man, Of Sin, And of the Punishment Thereof - Commentary

Simon Wartanian | 18,155 views | 7,955 words | 0:42:14 hours | 04 March 2015 21:18

The 1689 Second Baptist Confession Of Faith Confession Commentary Reformed Baptist Chapter 6 Fall Of Man Sin Condemnation Total Depravity Total Inability Original Sin Federal Headship

...e-Covenant-of-Works“"the Covenant of Works). Adam, in the Garden of Eden, stood in the stead of all people that would come from him. See paragraph 3 for federal headship. Most importantly, the Fall is recognized to not be outside of God’s sovereign decree, but in it. It pleased God to “permit” it, why? Because He had “purposed to order it to his own glory.” In what way? By displaying a wider range of His attributes: by putting His wrath on display and by putting His grace on display; by conquering evil and getting glory over it; by saving His elect from the World; by becoming man in the process of saving the World. All these glorious things could not have happened if God had not decreed the Fall.

The first sin may be the most difficult question to answer as to how it could have been that a perfectly good being like Adam or Satan could rebel and fall. What would cause them to do that? Free will has no explanatory power. We do not believe that it sufficiently answers the question. That’s why the Fall and every sin needs to be recognized as ordained by God of old and is purposed to display His glory. Sin is never outside of God’s control. It is indeed mysterious why would or how would a “very good” (Gen. 1:31) creature rebel against God. I reject the notion that there is no freedom without the opposite, that is, man must have the ability to obey and disobey to be truly free (see chapter 9 on free will). The Persons of the Blessed Trinity have always obeyed each other and never done anything contrary, yet God is most free and sovereign. The Lord Jesus has only done what the Father pleases, but that does not mean that He is not free because He cannot but love and obey His Father.

When God created, He consciously created Adam as a type of Christ. Adam did not become a type after the Fall, or when Paul wrote Romans, but he was, in fact, created as a type, he did not become one.

Rom. 5:14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

This would mean that Adam was created to point to Christ and display Christ. But this also means that Christ came to do that which Adam was supposed to do. When we look at what Christ accomplished, we can also look back to Adam and see what he was supposed to accomplish had he obeyed God in his time of probation. We can learn about the type from the antitype and vice-versa.

The fact that God predestines us to be holy and blameless presupposes that we would not be holy and blameless, and that God had purposed to permit the Fall. Therefore, God, before the creation of the World, predestined people to be sinless:

Eph. 1:3-6 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the World, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

For more on these things, see chapter 3 (God’s Decree), chapter 5 (Divine Providence) and chapter 9 (Free Will).

§2 Our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original righteousness

Our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and we in them whereby death came upon all: 1 a...

1689 Baptist Confession Chapter 13: Of Sanctification - Commentary

Simon Wartanian | 16,164 views | 16,934 words | 1:29:010 hours | 05 March 2015 18:23

The 1689 Second Baptist Confession Of Faith Confession Commentary Reformed Baptist Chapter 13 Chapter Thirteen Sanctification Holiness

...ice, acceptable to God (Rom. 12:1).^[8]

This word is also used all over the LXX. This is the word used in the name the Holy Spirit; this is the word which is used of the “saints”; this is the word which is used of that which is separated for religious use. Louis Berkhof observes that hagios is “The really characteristic word of the New Testament” and ”Its primary meaning is that of separation in consecration and devotion to the service of God. With this, is connected the idea that what is set aside from the World for God, should also separate itself from the World’s defilement and share in God’s purity. This explains the fact that hagios speedily acquired an ethical signification.”

Next up is the noun ἁγιασμός (hagiasmos, G38). This word is used 10 times in the New Testament and it could basically be translated as “holiness” or “sanctification.” Mounce explains that hagiasmos '(“holiness, sanctification, consecration”) is generally used in the NT in the moral sense, referring to the process (or the final result of that process) of making pure or holy.”^[8] So, Paul says that we should no longer present our bodily members as “slaves to impurity and to lawlessness”, but as “slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification” or holiness (Rom. 6:19). While we are now ahead of ourselves, here we see that sanctification does not merely affect us internally, but externally also in what we do with our bodily members for example. In Romans 6:22, we are set free from sin and the fruit from that “leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.” 1 Corinthians 1:30 teaches that Christ has even become “sanctification” to us, which He does by His Holy Spirit, the Agent of sanctification. God’s will and calling are for our sanctification (1 Thess. 4:3, 7) and the purpose is that we “[may] know how to control [our] own body in holiness and honor” (1 Thess. 4:4). Our salvation was “through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” according to 2 Thessalonians 2:13. There is a kind or degree of holiness which we must possess “without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14), which the Lord works in us through discipline (Heb. 12:10, a different word is used here than hagiasmos). According to 1 Peter 1:2, our election “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” was “in the sanctification of the Spirit”. Then there is the use in 1 Timothy 2:15, which I’m not sure what the passage means. We see that this word is used with reference to moral purity rather than merely separation. As Mounce observed, this word is used to refer to the process and not merely to the fact of sanctification or holiness. Berkhof explains that while hagasmos ’denotes ethical purification, it includes the idea of separation, namely, “the separation of the spirit from all that is impure and polluting, and a renunciation of the sins towards which the desires of the flesh and of the mind lead us.” While hagiasmos denotes the work of sanctification, there are two other words that describe the result of the process, namely, hagiotes and hagiosune.’^[9] We will take a look at these words below. But first, let us take a look at another word which Mounce mentions.

This word is the adjective ὅσιος (hosios, G3741). It is used 41 times in the LXX and it is a word primarily found in Old Testament citations. It is used of Christ as the “Holy One” (Acts 2:27; 13:35); of the “holy and sure blessings of David (Acts 13:34 cited from Isa. 55:3); men should raise hol...

1689 Baptist Confession Chapter 14: Of Saving Faith - Commentary

Simon Wartanian | 20,307 views | 21,954 words | 1:58:30 hours | 05 March 2015 18:34

The 1689 Second Baptist Confession Of Faith Confession Commentary Reformed Baptist Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen Saving Faith True Faith Temporal Faith Historical Faith Nature Of Faith Ground Of Faith Elements Of Faith Blessings Of Faith Gift Of Faith Pisteuo Pistis Greek Word Study Expressions For Faith

...” (Luke 1:45). Our Lord tells the Jewish leaders, “unless you believe that [πιστεύσητε ὅτι, pisteuséte hoti] I am he you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). Unless we believe that Christ is Who He says He is—the Son of God, the Messiah, the divine I AM—we will die in our sins. So, Martha confesses, “I believe that [πεπίστευκα ὅτι, pepisteuka hoti] you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the World” (John 11:27; see also John 20:31; 1 John 5:1, 5). The Lord prays to the Father because the Father always hears the Son that the people standing around the tomb of Lazarus “may believe that [πιστεύσωσιν ὅτι, pisteusosin hoti] you sent me” (John 11:42; see also John 16:28, 30; 17:8, 21). So Christ asks His disciples, “Do you not believe that [πιστεύεις ὅτι, pisteueis hoti] I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” (John 14:10; see also John 14:11). When Paul was converted, the believers “did not believe that [πιστεύοντες ὅτι, pisteuontes hoti] he was a disciple” (Acts 9:26). Because we have died with Christ, “we believe that [πιστεύομεν ὅτι, pisteuomen hoti] we will also live with him” (Rom. 6:8). Christians confess that Jesus is Lord and “believe in [their] heart that [πιστεύσῃς...ὅτι, pisteusés...hoti] God raised him from the dead” (Rom. 10:9). We also “believe that [πιστεύομεν ὅτι, pisteuomen hoti] Jesus died and rose again” (1 Thess. 4:4). Even demons “believe that [πιστεύεις ὅτι, pisteueis hoti] God is one” (Jas. 2:19). We observe that this construction makes it very clear that our faith is based upon fact and knowledge. We do not merely believe in Jesus, but we also believe facts about Jesus: that He is the Son of God, the Christ, divine (John 8:24; 11:27; 20:31); that He died and rose again (1 Thess. 4:14; Rom. 10:9).

A less common construction is pisteuo with en (ἐν, G1722). So, the Lord begins His ministry by calling people to “repent and believe in [πιστεύετε ἐν, pisteuete en] the gospel” (Mark 1:15). The Lord, speaking of Himself says, “that whoever believes in him [πιστεύων ἐν αὐτῷ, pisteuon en auto] may have eternal life” (John 3:15). Romans 10:9 tells us that we “believe in [πιστεύσῃς ἐν, pisteusés en]” our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. This does not mean that our heart is the object of faith, but the place where faith is located—in our innermost being. When we heard “the gospel of [our] salvation, and believe in him [ἐν ᾧ καὶ πιστεύσαντες, en ho kai pisteusantes], [we] were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” (Eph. 1:13). 1 Thessalonians 1:7 speaks of “all the believers in [πιστεύουσιν ἐν, pisteuousin en] Macedonia and in Achaia.” It speaks about where they lived. So we may also say that this construction speaks to the place in which we place our faith. Or better said, it speaks about the One in Whom we place our confidence and trust. Berkhof observes that ”This is the most frequent construction in the Septuagint, though it is all but absent from the New Testament...The implication of this construction seems to be that of a firmly fixed confidence in its object.”^[14]

Another construction is pisteuo with epi (ἐπί, G1909). The unbelieving Jews at the cross said, “let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him [πιστεύσομεν ἐπ’ αὐτόν, pisteusomen ep auton]” (Matt. 27:42). After the resurrection, Christ rebukes the Emmaus Road disciples that they were “slow of heart to believe [πιστεύειν ἐπὶ, pisteuein epi] all that the prophets have spoken” (Luke 24:25). Acts 9:42 speaks of “...

1689 Baptist Confession Chapter 16: Of Good Works - Commentary

Simon Wartanian | 13,083 views | 8,785 words | 0:46:07 hours | 05 March 2015 18:58

The 1689 Second Baptist Confession Of Faith Confession Commentary Reformed Baptist Good Works Fruits Of Salvation

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Chapter 16: Of Good Works

What is a “good work”? In our World of today, many would call that which is against the Word “good.” What does “good” mean and what is the standard to measure “good” by?

§1 Good works are only such as God hath commanded in his Holy Word

Good works are only such as God hath commanded in his Holy Word, 1 and not such as without the warrant thereof are devised by men out of blind zeal, or upon any pretence of good intentions. 2
1. Micah 6:8; Rom. 12:2; Heb. 13:21; Col. 2:3; 2 Tim. 3:16-17^[1]
2. Matt. 15:9 with Isa. 29:13; 1 Peter 1:18; Rom. 10:2; John 16:2; 1 Sam. 15:21-23; 1 Cor. 7:23; Gal. 5:1; Col. 2:8, 16-23

Good works are those which God hath commanded in His Holy Word and those derived from it by necessary and good consequence. Those are no good works which have no warrant from the Word and devised by men out of blind zeal, or upon any pretence of good intentions (Matt. 15:9; 1 Peter 1:18; Rom. 10:2). God is to be worshiped and obeyed in the way that He has commanded and prescribed in His Word.

The Criteria For Good Works

We don’t simply invent for ourselves what good works are and declare that they are good, but rather it is God Who lays down the criteria for good works in Holy Writ. This does not mean that if a particular action is not mentioned in the Bible that it is therefore bad, but we look at the particular deed in light of all Scripture. We don’t demand an explicit text for everything. For example, helping an old lady cross the street is a good deed, but it is not mentioned in the Bible. Does that mean that it is therefore bad if it is not mentioned? No, not really. Because we know from the Bible that we should love our neighbor, and helping an old lady cross the street is such an expression of love and respect.

Commanded By God

Only what is commanded by God and what may be deduced from Holy Writ is binding upon the consciousness of men. Throughout history, various churches and religions have added to the commandments of God in such a way as binding the consciences of man. The Lord Jesus quotes the words of Isaiah approvingly when he says, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’” (Matt. 15:8-9 from Isa. 29:13). From this passage, we learn that whenever we add things to the Lord’s commandments and teach them as if they were the Lord’s, we dishonor Him and worship Him falsely. Therefore, the Confession is explicit that “Good works are only such as God hath commanded in his Holy Word”, so that only God would be the Lord of the conscience (see also chapter 21 on the liberty of the conscious).

It is God Who teaches us through His will “what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2). And it is God Who is and determines the criteria of what good works constitute. It is His holy character as revealed in His Word. It is also God Who works in us His good works. We cannot really do any good works which are pleasing in His sight without His will and direction. That’s why Paul tells us that “...it is God Who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). The Holy Spirit in Hebrews 13:21 tells us that it is God Who “equip[s] you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight”. The glory of the New Covenant is the fact that we have God’s Law on our hearts and given the abilit...

1689 Baptist Confession Chapter 10: Of Effectual Calling - Commentary

Simon Wartanian | 20,731 views | 14,049 words | 1:13:47 hours | 04 March 2015 21:42

The 1689 Second Baptist Confession Of Faith Confession Commentary Reformed Baptist Chapter 10 Chapter Ten Effectual Calling Irresistible Grace Regeneration Reformed Theology Calvinism Infant Salvation

...ts 26:18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

We lived in sin and darkness (Eph. 2:1-3; Matt. 4:16), but the light of the Lord has enlightened us. He has turned us from the darkness and sin that we previously loved to the light of the glorious gospel. We were blinded by sin and Satan, but God has shone His light in us–

2 Cor. 4:4-6 In their case the god of this World has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

We were held in darkness by the god of this World, but God in His mercy has reached down to us and shone the light of Christ in us. This work is described as nothing other than a re-creation. Just like God, at the beginning said “Let there be light” (Gen. 1:3), so likewise there had to be a work of spiritual creation in our hearts. He made the light of Christ to shine so that we would see the glory of God, Who is actually a person, even our Lord Jesus Christ. He shone the light of the gospel so that we would acknowledge Him as the Lord of everything and the Savior of our souls. So that we would see His beauty and treasure Him above all things as the satisfaction of our souls.

Eph. 1:17-18 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

Paul prays that the believers may more and more know God intimately and understand His work. He prays that God would especially reveal to us Himself and the riches of the salvation that He has given us. He prays that we would be freed from our sin and made children of the living God. He wants not their physical eyes, but their spiritual eyes—the eyes of their hearts, to be enlightened so that they may, at the present, behold the glory of God and in the future, in our flesh see God (Job 19:26-27). God reveals Himself to His children through His Spirit and infallible Word.

The natural person does not understand the things of God, but the one who is spiritual, i.e., led by the Spirit, is made able to understand the things of God (1 Cor. 2:9-16). We have received the mind of Christ in His Word and Spirit to understand the things of God. This is not given to everyone but only to those who are led by the Spirit of Christ and who are called according to His purpose. The apostle calls us to continually strive to live according to God’s will, which is revealed in the Holy Scriptures. We are not to be conformed to the pattern of this World, rather we are to “be transformed by the renewal of [our] mind[s]” so that we would know what God’s will is for us (Rom. 12:2). We are commanded to continually walk according to the light given to us in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Renewal of Nature

We are renewed. A completely new nature is given to us at the new birth. Paul says that when we are in Christ, we bec...

A Review of Perspectives on the Doctrine of God

Simon Wartanian | 1,486 views | 2,894 words | 0:14:58 hours | 14 May 2022 21:35

Theology Proper Arminianism Calvinism Open Theism Review

... they will receive honest and direct answers in this book.

...

2 Peter 3:8-9, not wishing that any should perish

Simon Wartanian | 14,209 views | 2,323 words | 0:12:04 hours | 11 February 2014 13:56

Not Willing Any To Perish 2 Peter 3:9. Calvinism Election Predestination Limited Atonement Mercy Sovereignty

...red up for wrath (v 7); time is nothing with God (v 8); God is patient toward His sheep, waiting for the ones who yet have to be born and/or be saved, so the Lord is patient toward His own and He’s not willing that any of them perish, but all of them come to Him (v 9).

In 2 Peter 3, the Christians – all God's elect are represented by Peter's audience as His beloved, even when they were dead in trespasses God loved them (Eph 2:1-10) and in love predestined them (Eph 1:3-6). It is for their sake that God is delaying the Parousia of our blessed Savior. God is waiting until the number of His elect is complete then He will send the Savior to judge the World in righteousness.

Commentaries

John MacArthur says the following in the ESV MacArthur Study Bible: [1]

2 Pet. 3:9 not slow. That is, not loitering or late (cf. Gal. 4:4; Titus 2:13; Heb. 6:18; 10:23, 37; Rev. 19:11). patient toward you. “You” is the saved, the people of God. He waits for them to be saved. God has an immense capacity for patience before he breaks forth in judgment (cf. 2 Pet. 3:15; Joel 2:13; Luke 15:20; Rom. 9:22; 1 Pet. 3:15). God endures endless blasphemies against his name, along with rebellion, murders, and the ongoing breaking of his law, waiting patiently while he is calling and redeeming his own. It is not impotence or slackness that delays final judgment; it is patience. not wishing that any should perish. The “any” must refer to those whom the Lord has chosen and will call to complete the redeemed, i.e., the “you.” Since the whole passage is about God’s destroying the wicked, his patience is not so he can save all of them, but so that he can receive all his own. He can’t be waiting for everyone to be saved, since the emphasis is that he will destroy the World and the ungodly. Those who do perish and go to hell, go because they are depraved and worthy only of hell and have rejected the only remedy, Jesus Christ, not because they were created for hell and predetermined to go there. The path to damnation is the path of a non-repentant heart; it is the path of one who rejects the person and provision of Jesus Christ and holds on to sin (cf. Isa. 55:1; Jer. 13:17; Ezek. 18:32; Matt. 11:28; 23:37; Luke 13:3; John 3:16; 8:21, 24; 1 Tim. 2:3–4; Rev. 22:17). all should reach repentance. “All” (cf. “you,” “any”) must refer to all who are God’s people who will come to Christ to make up the full number of the people of God. The reason for the delay in Christ’s coming and the attendant judgments is not because he is slow to keep his promise, or because he wants to judge more of the wicked, or because he is impotent in the face of wickedness. He delays his coming because he is patient and desires the time for his people to repent.

The ESV Reformation Study Bible explains: [2]

3:9 as some count slowness. See v. 4.

patient . . . all should reach repentance. Peter’s Christian readers must realize that the apparent delay of divine judgment is a sign of God’s forbearance and mercy toward them, particularly toward the believers in their midst who have been confused and misled by the false teachers. The repentance in view, for the sake of which God delays judgment, is that of God’s people rather than the World at large. God is not willing that any of His elect should perish (John 6:39).

The HCSB Study Bible explains: [3]

3:9 The Lord has not yet returned, says Peter, because He is patient with you, not wanting any to perish. "You" is vari...

Extensive review of Jonathan Menn's Biblical Eschatology

Simon Wartanian | 4,005 views | 12,397 words | 1:05:40 hours | 09 February 2022 21:11

Book Reivew Jonathan Menn Eschatology Amillennialism Dispensationalism Millennium

...gainst Israel (Ezek 38:1–16).

Four kingdoms will arise and then God will set up his kingdom (Dan 2:28–45; 8:17–25).

Out of the Greek empire different kings will arise, fight, and control Israel (Dan 11:35–45).

Many will be purged and refined but the wicked will act wickedly (Dan 12:4–10).

Israel will return and seek the Lord (Hos 3:5).

The mountain of the house of the Lord will be established and the peoples will stream to it (Mic 4:1).

Some of the “latter day” statements do not appear to be about the end of the World, but unspecified time in the future of the author. Dr. Menn cites Geerhardus Vos who explains that acherith hayamin (“latter days” in Hebrew) is “elastic as to its extent, no less than movable as to its position. It covers . . . unfavorable and favorable happenings occurring in the farthest visible plane to which the prophetic vision extends, and there is not clear marking of the sequence of these in time. . . . Sometimes points are mentioned as falling within the ‘acherith,’ sometimes a condensation of events occupying apparently a certain stretch of time.” (p. 20)

Besides the “latter day” statements we have various eschatological themes like:

a new exodus (the remnant: Isa 43:1–7, 15–21; 48:20–21; 49:24–26; 51:9–11; 52:1–12; Jer 23:7–8; 30:4–11. The nations: Isa 2:2–4; 19:18–25; 49:5–6; 56:1–8; Mic 4:1–4; Zeph 3:9; Zech 8:20–23.),
a new people of God (Isa 10:20–23; 11:11–12; 14:1–4; 46:3–4; 51:11; 61:4–7; Jer 23:1–8; 29:10–14; 30:10–11; 31:7–9; Mic 2:12),
a new deliverer (Isa. 42:1-9; 49:1–6; 50:4–9; 52:13—53:12; 61:1-3; Dan. 7:13-14),
a new rule of God (Isa 12:6; Ezek 37:27–28; 40–48; Joel 3:16–17; Zeph 3:14–17),
a new pouring out of the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28–32; Isa 32:9–20; 44:3–5; Ezek 36:25–28; 37:14),
a new land (Isa 1:27; 2:1–3; 11:6–9; 35:1–10; 54:1–17; 61:3—62:12; Ezek 34:11–16, 25–31; 36:35–38),
a new covenant (Jer 31:31-34; 32:38–40; 50:4–5; Ezek 11:16–20; 36:24–32; 37:15–28.),
a new heavens and new earth (Isa. 65:17-25; 66:22).

These themes are seen in the prophets, but they were not synthesized yet. It is generally accepted that the Old Testament did not distinguish between the first and second comings of the Messiah.

The very first verse of the New Testament makes clear that Christ is here as the continuation of the storyline in the Old Testament: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matt. 1:1). The kingdom of David lay dormant since the Babylonian Captivity, but things are to change with this son of David.

Jesus Christ—the Fulfillment and Fulfiller of the Old Testament

Jesus Christ is the true and new Adam, seed of Abraham and Israel. Even in Isaiah’s Servant of the LORD passages there is a certain identification made between the Servant and Israel. For example, in Isaiah 49 we read:

Isa. 49:3-5 And he said to me, &
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