Having the verse above in mind let us read John 12:42-43, “Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”
As I stated in one of my previous posts, I am reading through a book that was given to me by a friend in hope of engaging us in some theological dialogue. In the near future I will begin to post an “exhaustive” review of the book but for now I would like to challenge the position the author puts forth concerning John 12:42-43. He argues from this text that Scripture is teaching us that believing in Jesus and thereby receiving eternal life is a separate act from deciding to become His disciple. Such rulers he says could have kept their belief hidden until their deaths, continued to live and do what they had always done and still be completely certain of their salvation.
It is difficult for me to believe that the belief these rulers had was genuine. Though, I will resist the urge to be dogmatic about it due to the fact that I won’t be judging the heart of any man on that great and awesome Day. It is difficult for me to accept for several reasons. Allow me to explain.
Jesus said that from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Paul says that your belief must come from your heart.
Therefore, what you believe in your heart should come out of your mouth.
Those men believed in Him.
But did not confess Him.
Because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
Therefore, their belief did not come from their heart, and they were not truly saved.
Also, I think it is important to take note (in the third premise) that scripture is pointing to the fact that they were living in sin by having broken the first commandment—Thou shall not have any other Gods before Me.
The second issue I have with Robert Wilkin’s interpretation of this scripture is that he does not consider their silence and love of praise to be a kind of denying—“whoever denies Me before men, him I also will deny before My Father who is in heaven (Matt 10:33)” “If we deny Him, He also will deny us (2 Tim 2:12).”
1 comment:
When Jesus assembles all the people, and divides the sheep from the goats, would He be right in telling them "Depart from Me, for I never knew you"?
As you say, the gift and the giver are one: Jesus is salvation.
If they talked & related with Him, in belief of in Him and in receipt of the gift, then yes they will inherit eternal life based on the righteousness of Jesus Christ, completely apart from "living in sin" e.g. idolatry, etc etc.
God's love for fallen humanity is astounding, is it not? And His grace is, well, amazing.
For the believer, any righteousness obtained by works doesn't count one wheatpenny to God. All that matters is through faith laying hold of the righteousness and holiness and life which is found in Jesus Christ.
Yeah?
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