Election at the fundamental (statal) level
Dec 21, 2013 8:33:38 GMT
Post by Colossians on Dec 21, 2013 8:33:38 GMT
This material is for the teaching of the Body of Christ, however the author reserves copyright over it.
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ELECTION AT THE FUNDAMENTAL (STATAL) LEVEL
“the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" James 1:17.
A major reason for the misrendering of the doctrine of election by the free-will camp is that they think in terms of time. Specifically, they believe they 'create' or 'add to' the Body of Christ as souls are saved through evangelism. And so we often hear them bless their church’s weekly offering “to the extension of God's kingdom".
This is because they think of “the Body of Christ” as a (mere) anatomical metaphor which really speaks of a (mere) association of members united in a common cause. That is, they fail to see the metaphysical side of things: they fail to understand that God’s kingdom consists solely of spirits.
It should come as no surprise then that such lack of understanding is primarily fuelled by the child-like notion that Christ still has arms and legs and a rump – that He is still in a corporeal form.
Christ is not in a corporeal form anymore: He is just as much a spirit as the first and third persons of God, and the Body of Christ (the spirits of all in Christ) exist as part of that eternal 2nd person of God, for they are joined to Him as one spirit.
So then, when James tells us that the Person of God has “no variableness”, we understand from this that he is speaking of a spirit, and specifically, a spirit who never increases or diminishes in ‘size’: God’s personage across eternity is a constant in all aspects of quality and quantity.
Election then, is simply God's electing of Himself, specifically His Son, and therefore necessarily those within His Son, those known as “the Body of Christ”.
That is, those who accept Christ only do so by virtue of their being (already) in Him outside of time.
Election then is the process of bringing the state of those in the temporal realm into line with their state outside of time - a reconciliation of the inside-of-time ‘ledger’ with the outside-of-time ‘ledger’.
All those who are not elected are of necessity then those who are/were eternally never in God – those eternally external to His person. They therefore, having nothing in Him across eternity, will desire to do none other than personally choose against Him in the current realm: their rejection of Him during their life on earth is simply manifestation of their eternal state, as is our acceptance of Him.
We have no business intruding into the destiny of those persons eternally external to God: we are to look to our (own) Head, and not defend the hypothetical rights of the never-to-be ‘alternate’ Body of Christ.
And this is why Jesus told the disciples that the reason He spoke in parables to the crowds was so that "seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand" (Mk 4:12): He purposely did it to keep those who were not eternally in Him, away from Him.
Amen.
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ELECTION AT THE FUNDAMENTAL (STATAL) LEVEL
“the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" James 1:17.
A major reason for the misrendering of the doctrine of election by the free-will camp is that they think in terms of time. Specifically, they believe they 'create' or 'add to' the Body of Christ as souls are saved through evangelism. And so we often hear them bless their church’s weekly offering “to the extension of God's kingdom".
This is because they think of “the Body of Christ” as a (mere) anatomical metaphor which really speaks of a (mere) association of members united in a common cause. That is, they fail to see the metaphysical side of things: they fail to understand that God’s kingdom consists solely of spirits.
It should come as no surprise then that such lack of understanding is primarily fuelled by the child-like notion that Christ still has arms and legs and a rump – that He is still in a corporeal form.
Christ is not in a corporeal form anymore: He is just as much a spirit as the first and third persons of God, and the Body of Christ (the spirits of all in Christ) exist as part of that eternal 2nd person of God, for they are joined to Him as one spirit.
So then, when James tells us that the Person of God has “no variableness”, we understand from this that he is speaking of a spirit, and specifically, a spirit who never increases or diminishes in ‘size’: God’s personage across eternity is a constant in all aspects of quality and quantity.
Election then, is simply God's electing of Himself, specifically His Son, and therefore necessarily those within His Son, those known as “the Body of Christ”.
That is, those who accept Christ only do so by virtue of their being (already) in Him outside of time.
Election then is the process of bringing the state of those in the temporal realm into line with their state outside of time - a reconciliation of the inside-of-time ‘ledger’ with the outside-of-time ‘ledger’.
All those who are not elected are of necessity then those who are/were eternally never in God – those eternally external to His person. They therefore, having nothing in Him across eternity, will desire to do none other than personally choose against Him in the current realm: their rejection of Him during their life on earth is simply manifestation of their eternal state, as is our acceptance of Him.
We have no business intruding into the destiny of those persons eternally external to God: we are to look to our (own) Head, and not defend the hypothetical rights of the never-to-be ‘alternate’ Body of Christ.
And this is why Jesus told the disciples that the reason He spoke in parables to the crowds was so that "seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand" (Mk 4:12): He purposely did it to keep those who were not eternally in Him, away from Him.
Amen.