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JBF needs to read things in context in an understandable language such as modern English:
Gal. 3:22 But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
Imagine that! Scripture locked up everything under the control of sin. Until ... Christ unlocked everything, taking away the guardian. Just have faith in Christ and follow in his Way. But JBF wants that guardian back! (and, besides that, he might be in need of a guardianship)
Last edited by wellsmaine; 05-01-2022 at 05:40 PM..
JBF needs to read things in context in an understandable language such as modern English:
Gal. 3:22 But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
Imagine that! Scripture locked up everything under the control of sin. Until ... Christ unlocked everything, taking away the guardian. Just have faith in Christ and follow in his Way. But JBF wants that guardian back! (and, besides that, he might be in need of a guardianship)
Don't be silly.
Actually, in Galatians 3:24, it speaks of a schoolmaster rather than a guardian; a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.
So, the best way to lead someone to Christ would be to introduce them to the schoolmaster; who can teach them that they are a sinner in need of a Saviour so that they can come to Christ and be redeemed.
In verse 23, this is what is written in the kjv,
Gal 3:23, But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
The fact that we were kept under the law before faith came simply indicates that unbelieving Gentiles are in fact under the law. They are found guilty before the Lord with all the world because of what is written in the law (Romans 3:19-20).
Once we come to faith in Jesus, we are no longer under the law (Romans 6:14) are now dead to the law (Romans 7:4, Galatians 2:19) and are delivered from the law (Romans 7:6) as concerning condemnation. We are no longer under a schoolmaster; because the schoolmaster has taught us everything we need to know and we will abide in his lessons even after he is no longer there to keep us under his tutelage. We have been trained to live by the lessons that have been taught to us by our schoolmaster and now we live by those lessons as a matter of course even without the schoolmaster being there to grade us on our conduct.
As concerning obedience, we are under the law to Christ (1 Corinthians 9:21); the OT law is written on the hearts and minds of New Covenant believers (Hebrews 8:8-10, Hebrews 10:16, Romans 8:7, Romans 8:4, 1 John 5:3, 2 John 1:6, Romans 13:8-10; Romans 5:5; 1 John 2:3-6).
However, we have been delivered from it also in order that we may walk according to the newness of the spirit and not according to the oldness of the letter (Romans 7:6). When we walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit, the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us regardless of whether we actually cross our t's and dot our i's as concerning keeping the letter of the law.
For the spirit of the law is love (Romans 13:8-10, Galatians 5:14, 1 John 5:3).
JBF needs to read things in context in an understandable language such as modern English:
Gal. 3:22 But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
Imagine that! Scripture locked up everything under the control of sin. Until ... Christ unlocked everything, taking away the guardian. Just have faith in Christ and follow in his Way. But JBF wants that guardian back! (and, besides that, he might be in need of a guardianship)
1. The atonement was not to satisfy God's justice, but to reveal His Love.
2. The justice of God is not against the sinner, demanding his condemnation, but for him, insuring his salvation.
3. God is not in contrast with, much less in opposition to Christ in the atonement, but in perfect harmony and accord.
4. The atonement is not the exclusive work of Christ in order to reconcile God unto the world, but it is the work of "God in Christ" to reconcile the world unto himself.
5. Christ does not have to plead with God in order to make him willing to pardon the sinner, but God, by his ministers, "beseeches" (II Cor. 5:20), the sinner to make them willing to be pardoned.
6. Hence the atonement is not to propitiate God, but man; not to make God favorably disposed toward man, but to make his already existing favor known to man.
7. Christ did not die as our substitute, but as our companion and associate; not instead of man, but with him and for him.
8. Christ did not die to save us from the penalty of sin, but from sin itself.
9. Christ did not die that we might not die, but to deliver us out of a death in which we were already involved.
10. The sinner is not redeemed because he repents, but he is called upon to repent because he has been redeemed.
11. The atonement is not the cause of God's love to man, giving rise to that love, but the effect, flowing out of that love.
12. The final outcome of the atoning scheme is not a partial success, but a perfect, absolute, and universal triumph!
JBF needs to read things in context in an understandable language such as modern English:
Gal. 3:22 But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
Imagine that! Scripture locked up everything under the control of sin. Until ... Christ unlocked everything, taking away the guardian. Just have faith in Christ and follow in his Way. But JBF wants that guardian back! (and, besides that, he might be in need of a guardianship)
Checkmate once again!
Throw proof, throw logic, even throw being checkmated out the window. The angry, prodigal son's older brother knows better than his Father.
1. The atonement was not to satisfy God's justice, but to reveal His Love.
2. The justice of God is not against the sinner, demanding his condemnation, but for him, insuring his salvation.
3. God is not in contrast with, much less in opposition to Christ in the atonement, but in perfect harmony and accord.
4. The atonement is not the exclusive work of Christ in order to reconcile God unto the world, but it is the work of "God in Christ" to reconcile the world unto himself.
5. Christ does not have to plead with God in order to make him willing to pardon the sinner, but God, by his ministers, "beseeches" (II Cor. 5:20), the sinner to make them willing to be pardoned.
6. Hence the atonement is not to propitiate God, but man; not to make God favorably disposed toward man, but to make his already existing favor known to man.
7. Christ did not die as our substitute, but as our companion and associate; not instead of man, but with him and for him.
8. Christ did not die to save us from the penalty of sin, but from sin itself.
9. Christ did not die that we might not die, but to deliver us out of a death in which we were already involved.
10. The sinner is not redeemed because he repents, but he is called upon to repent because he has been redeemed.
11. The atonement is not the cause of God's love to man, giving rise to that love, but the effect, flowing out of that love.
12. The final outcome of the atoning scheme is not a partial success, but a perfect, absolute, and universal triumph!
1. The atonement is in fact to satisfy God's justice.
2. The justice of God does in fact require the condemnation of the sinner.
3. No disagreement. God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance; and so it was God who instituted the atonemnt.
4. Jesus is God.
5. Christ and the Holy Ghost make intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
6. Amen.
7. Christ did die as our substitute.
8. Christ died to save us from sin; its penalty (in justification) and its power (in sanctification) and its presence (in glorification).
9. Partially true. He did die because by nature man is "dead in trespasses and sins". However, He also died so that we "might not perish but have everlasting (not "age-during") life".
10. The sinner is in fact redeemed because he repents (2 Corinthians 7:10).
11. I'm in agreement.
12. God gives to every man a degree of sovereignty in order that he might choose to relinquish sin to Christ and be saved; or else to keep his sin and be cast into the lake of fire when all sin is cast into the lake of fire. God is a God who is all about freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17). However, those who are in rebellion to the rule of His kingdom will not be allowed in His kingdom. So, those who choose to rebel will be cast away from the presence of the Lord (Matthew 7:21-23).
The entire world, lock stock and barrel are heading for reconciliation, not part of the world, the radical all of pas!
Both Adam's are figureheads. The first Adam failed, the Last Adam prevailed in exquisite dimensions of "all the more". The all the more triumphant Lord of the universe speaks of being the light in John.
That light is ginomai and leads to us becoming light just like Him. Becoming sons of light means to echo with resonance the Last Adam by being made in the action of becoming.
The fifth angel sounded, and I saw "a star" having fallen from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit.
We need to understand, in order to grasp the vision that John saw, is the meaning of the term “bottomless pit.” Let me illustrate: “He’s a liberal.” “He’s a conservative.” He’s a radical.” “He’s a capitalist.” “He’s a socialist.” “He’s a terrorist.” “He’s a freedom fighter.” “He’s religious.” “He’s spiritual.”
What do these words mean? To one person they bear one meaning, while to another person they may mean something else altogether. That’s why we have dictionaries which endeavor to define terms. But even with a dictionary at hand, we all have our own ideas about what particular words mean.
“Spiritual” probably means something very different to many who read these lines than it does to a Buddhist or a Spiritist! Often discussions and arguments end in confusion because we use the same words but invest them with different meanings. When we do this we cannot properly communicate with each other because we are not on the same “wavelength.”
For the student of the scriptures one of the toughest word nuts to crack is the term “bottomless pit”!
What do we mean by a bottomless pit?
The Greek word for bottomless is abussos which is derived from a root word meaning “depthless.” In Greek it is called the “pit of the abussos” from which we derive our English word abyss!
Perhaps it would be better translated as the “pit of the abyss” or the “pit of the unfathomable depth.” “Bottomless” is a good translation of this word, for the thought of the Greek is that it is that whose depths are unmeasurable. As soon as one attempts to suppose a physical or literal reality corresponding to this picture-image, he falls into endless difficulty. My impression is that we have here a spiritual picture of a character and nature. It is true that righteousness and truth are related not only with light, but also with height, and evil and error are associated not only with darkness, but also with depth.
Tracing backward to the root of the word abussos, it is interesting to note that abussos is a variation of buthos which means “profundity.” It becomes, then, a profundity which in its spiritual meaning signifies a thought or a nature — so deep as to be beyond the comprehension of the natural mind!
Bro. Preston Eby writes... Armed with these meanings of “bottomless” “depthless,” “unfathomable depths,” and “profundity” it is revealed as a pit which has no bottom! Therefore, there is no substance, no foundation, no ground to stand upon. What that really says to us is that it has no reality — that is, no basis in fact. Now, it appears to have a bottom, a foundation, for does not every pit have a bottom? Yet it does not. Therefore the pit represents a lie!
The next thing we need to remember in order to understand this great mystery is that Satan is a liar and the father of lies. Jesus said it so plainly and powerfully, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (Jn. 8:44). What is a lie? A lie is error. It is an untruth. It is an unreality. It is that which appears to have substance, but in fact is an illusion or imagination. It’s a mirage. It looks like something, but is actually nothing. That’s a lie!
A study of the scripture passages in which the abyss is mentioned will reveal to us that it is always associated with the waters of the earth.
At the dawn of God’s creation darkness was upon the face of the abyss. Then the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters (Gen. 1:2). The deep springs of the abyss were broken up at the great flood (Gen. 7:11; 8:2). Again we read of the waters of the great deep, or abyss (Isa. 51:10). And in our text (Rev. 9:1) the word “pit” comes from a word meaning well. It could be translated “the well of the abyss.” It indicates an immeasurable depth of water!
The abyss is portrayed as the farthest extreme from heaven and the heights of the mountains (Gen. 49:25; Deut. 33:13; Ps. 36:6). In other passages it is used as a reference to the deepest parts of the sea (Job. 28:14; 38:16; Ps. 33:7).
In other places it is pictured as subterranean rivers and vaults of water (Deut. 8:7; Job 36:16). The crossing of Israel through the depths of the Red Sea is repeatedly likened to a passage through the abyss (Ps. 77:16; 106:9; Isa. 44:27; 51:10; 63:13). Looking at the natural shadow or type of the higher spiritual truth, we find that the ocean covers seventy-two percent of the earth’s surface. Its average measurable depth is 11,500 feet. Its greatest measured depths are the Nares Deep, 28,200 feet in the Atlantic and the Nero Deep, 36,614 feet in the Pacific. Off the coast of Japan, there is a spot so deep…they just gave up, marked how much line they had dropped and logged it “deeper than that.” That, my beloved, is a truer picture of the abyss!
I repeat again the great truth that the book of Revelation is a spiritual book, and like everything else in the book the scenes John beheld in chapter nine are all symbols standing for spiritual realities, both positive and negative. As we progress from trumpet to trumpet there is an ascending scale in the depth of our Father’s dealings in the lives of His elect! When the first trumpet sounded hail and fire mingled with blood were cast into the earth, the soulical realm of mind, will, emotion, and desire. This dealing of the Lord is with the “good” of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The natural mind, while appearing intellectual, moral, sophisticated, and even religious, is really “enmity against God.” At the sounding of the second trumpet a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea, the body realm, with all the gross sins of the flesh. Then the third trumpet sounded and a great star from heaven fell upon the rivers and the fountains of waters, turning them to wormwood — bitterness. The judgment of God came into our lives and made bitter to us all the “streams” and “fountains” which flowed through the surface areas of our earthly, soulical lives, streams of man’s wisdom, politics, business, religion, and all the worldly concepts and ways which supply refreshment, or a sense of knowledge, understanding, direction, accomplishment, entertainment, and well-being to the natural man.
As the fourth trumpet sounded a third part of the sun, moon, and stars were darkened, signifying that those dominating things, movements, people, ideas, and powers from without — the rulers in the symbolic heavens of the old creation — begin to lose their authority and hold over our spiritual lives. Can you not discern the progression as we move from trumpet to trumpet?
Now, as we come to the fifth trumpet we are faced with an abyss — something deeper, more hidden, and profound than any of the four realms that preceded it!
The abyss is deeper than the earth, deeper than the rivers, deeper than the fountains of waters, and deeper even than the sea!
It is the lowest realm, and it is locked up — unseen, unknown, and only a mighty angel or messenger with the key is able to open it! Therefore, the great mystery and the great truth that the Holy Spirit is seeking to reveal to those who can receive and understand it is that there is a dimension of man’s being which is not a result or a manifestation of anything else, but lies so deep within us that it is indeed the secret and hidden root and cause of all that pertains to the natural man. This is the realm of which John the Baptist spoke when, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, he said, “Now also the axe is laid upon the root of the trees” (Lk. 3:9).
The bottomless pit or the abyss is downward, lower, in those regions beneath anything that can be observed or understood in our human lives. It is lower than heaven, lower than the mountains, lower than the plains, lower than the rivers and fountains of waters, and deeper than the deepest sea! It is within this abyss that Satan finds his abode in mankind. In this subterranean region of darkness abides the bestial nature of man and the lying spirits of the false prophet. While it is a dark, evil world within us, it is also a religious world. That is the mystery!
What is this pit?
It is a bottomless pit. Many persons laugh at the idea of a bottomless pit! They say, “How can there be a pit that has no bottom to it?” Well, now, I can simply give you a natural illustration of a bottomless pit. Suppose the earth was hollow, as some scientists think it is. Now suppose you could bore a hole in the earth, and drop something right down in the middle of this world, and there was a great cavity inside. Will you tell me where the bottom of that place would be? The exact center of that hollow space would be the center of the world. Should you drill the hole all the way through the earth, if you go up on this side of the world, you are on the top of the pit; if you go to the other side of the world, there is the top; and where is the bottom of a conclave surface, like the hollow earth? Gravity will meet in the center, and nothing will be able to fall out of the hole in either direction. It is indeed a bottomless pit!
But do you know that in its spiritual meaning there is a higher and greater significance to the term “bottomless pit” that comes closer home, and that is our own selves!
Man is a sphere, the natural man is “earthy” and is a world within himself; he is a microcosm of the macrocosm; and when man falls from the life of the spirit and the consciousness of God, he naturally gravitates into his own self, and falls, falls, falls, deeper and deeper into the depths of his own human consciousness and earthly identity. hat is what the “fall” of Adam was all about! He fell from God-consciousness into human-consciousness. He descended from life in the spirit and by the spirit into life in the flesh and by the flesh.
He came down from the lofty wisdom and glory of the mind of Christ and took on the mind of the beast. The fall of man is not merely an historical event. Oh, no! It is that which happens every day. Man is forever gravitating to the center of his own being, and never finding it. And there is in man’s natural constitution, just as in the hollow of a globe, a bottomless pit. It is the deepest depths of the bestial nature. Suicides find it, haters find it, murderers find it, psychopaths find it, alcoholics find it, melancholists find it, criminals of all classes find it, swindlers find it, and most mysterious of all, religious racketeers, deceivers, manipulators, cultists, and fear-mongers of all kinds find it!
Think of the awful horror of just simply devouring yourself, falling into self, discovering the darkest depths of yourself. Man can never find righteousness, peace, and joy within himself! You can never find a place of rest in your own natural constitution. Your natural life, earthly consciousness, and Adamic identity have no more place for a rest or for any worthwhile accomplishment than a hollow world has; and if you were tumbled into a hollow world, where would you find any light, and where would you find a place to put your foot on? The only way a human being can find rest is to find reality! When man ascends and gets out of himself he will find the life and light of God in the spirit! If like Adam, we cut away from the life of God in our spirit, we are forever sinking down into our own self, into our own thoughts, our own imaginations, our own delusions, our own mistaken identity, our own bestial nature, passing the days like a piece of iron in a hollow world. We can never find rest! We can never see light! We can never be free! We can never touch reality! And so, my beloved, the worst hell is the pit that man carries in his own being — to be continually tumbling and falling into your own self, gravitating from God, without finding any rest, and peace, and satisfaction; going down, down, down, falling farther and farther away from the sanity of reality, from the light of truth, from the image of God, and from life full, abundant, and eternal! ~Tom Wray
The entire world, lock stock and barrel are heading for reconciliation, not part of the world, the radical all of pas!
Both Adam's are figureheads. The first Adam failed, the Last Adam prevailed in exquisite dimensions of "all the more". The all the more triumphant Lord of the universe speaks of being the light in John.
That light is ginomai and leads to us becoming light just like Him. Becoming sons of light means to echo with resonance the Last Adam by being made in the action of becoming.
Takes away = airō =
To take upon one's self and carry away.
To bear away & carry off.
To remove.
Cause to cease.
Sin that sinners want to keep is taken away when the sinners, with their sins, will be cast into the lake of fire.
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Checkmate mate.
