Thursday, August 11, 2011

Bible Truth #186 - 1 Thessalonians 4:13

1 Thessalonians 4:13
Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.

This is very similar to Bible Truth #185. Paul writes, “Brothers, we do not want YOU...” Paul is writing to Christians, saved people, the Elect of God. He is telling the Christian Thessalonians, and because of the Bible, Christians who have read this letter since, not to grieve like the rest of men... Who are the “rest of men” of whom he is writing? The rest of men are those whom God did NOT choose, the lost. OK, as long as we are clear who he is writing TO and who he is writing ABOUT we can continue.

Here Paul is saying the same thing he did in the letter to the Ephesians (Ephesians 2:11-12) - the “rest of men,” the lost, have NO HOPE.

It’s NOT that they have no hope simply because they’re not Christian, they have no hope because they weren’t chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world! They have no hope of getting saved, they have no hope of believing, they have no hope of coming into the Light, they have no hope of repenting, they have no hope of pleasing God, they have no hope of understanding. It is the epitome of hopelessness - and they don’t even know it.

The Arminian may say, “That’s right, they have no hope unless they believe.” Where does Paul write that? He said they have no hope, period. Arminians refuse to acknowledge that Truth, the Truth that is reconciled with the rest of Scripture. The Truth is a lost man CAN’T believe unless God gives him belief. (John 6:29, Philippians 1:29)

If a man was not chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) he has no hope of being saved.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.