Tuesday, November 4, 2003

Paradoxical Passages #1

I am going to start another series. I will try not to have them on the same day again. I have just felt like bloggin today. My mind is reeling. This series is something that has been in my head for a long time. There are several verses in the Bible that I am not quite sure what they mean, but they are both convictingf and frightening. Many of these verses seem to contradict other places in the Bible. But God's word is inspired, so there is no contradiction. Some might say that we need to seek to find the answer to these supposed contradictions. I would disagree. Here is a quote from John MacArthur that goes right along with what I would say,

Because we cannot stand the tension of mystery, paradox, or antinomy, we are inclined to adjust what the Bible teaches so that it will fit our own systems of order and consistency. But that presumptuous approach is unfaithful to God's Word and leads to confused doctrine and weakened living. It should be noted that other essential scriptural doctrines are also apparently paradoxical to our limited capacity. It is antinomous that Scripture itself is the work of human authors, yet the very words of God; that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man; that salvation is forever, yet saints must remain obedient and persevere to the end; that the Christian’s life is lived in total commitment and discipline of self, yet is all of Christ. Such inscrutable truths are en encouragement that the mind of God infinitely surpasses the mind of man and are a great proof of the divine authorship of Scripture. Humans writing a Bible on their own would have attempted to resolve such problems.

Well, with all of that said, I am going to give you my first passage:

Paradoxical Passages #1

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. -- Heb. 10:26 - 31

A convicting passage; one that urges me to stay on my toes. I don't know if I could explain all of the ins and outs of this passage theologically, but I don't want to be the man who keeps on deliberately sinning.

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