Jeffrey Gibson
jgibson@acfsysv.roosevelt.edu
On Thu, 23 Jan 1997, Paul F. Evans wrote:
> Carl,
>
> Given what follows in Mat 25:33-34 I am convinced that this separation of
> sheep and goats must refer to indivduals, and your comments have helped.
>
> However, the question of what basis the judgment takes place is difficult
> and complex. I am "feel" (not a safe hermeneuetic term) that Jesus often
> uses specific descriptions of what is implied by faith, and therefore,
> salvation. For example the lawyer who asked him about eternal life. The
> issue is eternal life, salvation. When Jesus turned the tables and asked
> him about his own opinion, the lawyer recited the crux of the law "To love
> the Lord you God...." (Luke 12;25-26). The whole of the Sermon on the
> Mount smacks of this kind of specific exposition of what is involved in
> righteousness. Christ even said that he had come to fulfill the law, that
> is establish its righteousness, but it is clear that he had something very
> different in mind to the religious observance of the Pharisees. He is
> addressing the community of faith and saying that faith in God will produce
> righteousness that is like this and this, and so on. What if the passage
> under discussion is actually not a parable but exposition, it would be
> typical of Christ to cite the characteristic marks of the believing
> community by underscoring specifics (10:35-45) while underscoring unbelief
> by highlighting those characteristics. Faith in Christ seems to effect an
> "instantaneous" transfer from the condition of being lost to being found
> and is always at the heart of Christ's teaching, shown particularly well in
> His encounters with people whom others would consider beyond hope. Since
> his comment includes that the Kingdom has been prepared for these from the
> foundation of the world, it is hard to conceive that this refers to those
> who have treated the believing community with compassion, when elsewhere it
> is the believing community for whom the kingdom has been prepared.
>
> This is dangerously off from the lists guidlines! Just let me say this,
> the AP' ALLHLWN tends to confirm that it is individuals not groups
> separated in the context.
>
> Paul F. Evans
> Pastor
> Thunder Swamp Pentecostal Holiness Church
> MT. Olive NC
>
> "Endeavouring to make use of NT Greek in a real life ministry!"
>