God The Savior Of All - Especially Them That Believe

[Cole_H]

But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. - 2 Thessalonians 2:13

This verse speaks of the Christians who are chosen by grace in this lifetime called the first fruits. They are saved by the Spirit and through faith in the truth. What Paul is saying here is that Christians (first fruits) are saved by belief in this lifetime. I say this lifetime because if Christians are the first fruits then this implies that there are second fruits. The fact that Paul refers to Christians as first fruits and not the “only” fruits shows this. Although Paul tells us that the first fruits are saved by the Spirit and faith he doesn’t tell us how the second fruits will be saved. We do get a clue however in Luke 3:15-17:

As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

According to this passage it’s the unquenchable fire that Jesus baptizes in. This is the Lake Of Fire And Sulfur. In the Bible God can and does use fire not only to punish and correct but to purify. The word usage and meanings in “The Lake Of Fire” make that likely. The Bible elsewhere states that God is the savior of all people. Especially of them that believe. So, some are saved by grace through faith in this lifetime others by fire in the next. We see this in passages that speak of the restoration of creation through fire as the fire purges and creates a new heavens and earth. This is how all will be reconciled to God. Again, some are saved by grace through faith others through the fire. Faith is for this age not the next. The goats undergo the corrective purification of Christ in the lake of fire in the next. When we all embrace Christ in the next life the faith of the elect will pass away.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”(Heb.11:1).

“For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7).

Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? - Romans 8:24

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known”. (1 Cor. 13:12)

The objects of faith and hope will be fulfilled and perfectly realized in heaven, but love will last forever. In heaven there will be nothing but perfect expression of love towards God and each other. As the Catholic Study Bible states in it’s commentary on 1 Corinthians 13:13-

The translation is misleading because it fails to render the Greek adverb nuni (now). Paul is not saying that all three virtues are eternal, but instead he ties them to the present age. Faith and hope will pass away when we see the Lord in heaven and possess the eternal happiness we yearned for in this life. But “love” never ends (13:8). Rather than passing away, love reaches perfection in the everlasting embrace of the Trinity that awaits the saints beyond this life. (IGNATIUS Catholic Study Bible footnote)

Some are disturbed that God has a chosen elect that He saves in this lifetime. Even though I believe God will one day reconcile all to Himself it is the Biblical teaching and reality that forces me to believe that God’s special love extends only to a select few in this life. Consider the passages:

Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated - Romans 9:13

The word used for hate here means loved less. One reason we know this because in Genesis 29:30-31 the phrase ‘loved Rachel more than Leah’ is used as the equivalent of ‘Leah was hated’:

So Jacob went into Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years. When the Lord saw that Leah was hated…

The other reason is in Matthew Jesus tells us that in order to be His disciple we must hate our family. He’s not referring to an attitude of hostility but telling us to have a love for Him that is greater than our love for our family. God has a chosen people in this lifetime saved by grace through faith but this doesn’t mean all will not make it. For the first will be last and the last will be first. But we will all make it. Indeed, God is the Savior of all people. Especially of them that believe.

[davo]

OR…

As I understand it… God’s dismissiveness towards Esau “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated” wasn’t in terms of a carte blanch rancid hatred emblematic of the likes of callous Calvinism, no. When God “hates Esau” it means God had no regard towards him – in relation to the outworking of the Divine redemptive plan. IOW, said “hatred” needs to be viewed in the greater context of Israel’s redemptive story. In Israel’s redemptive plan Esau was NOT called and NOT chosen, but was rejected as being God’s vessel through whom which the Messiah would come (Rom 9:11).

Similarly this then can be demonstrated accordingly in the story of David’s calling…

1Sam 16:6-7 So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before Him!” But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused [rejected] him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

Thus refusal or rejection – or as some wrongly label “reprobation” – simply means: NOT chosen or called for the higher redemptive purpose or ministration. Simply put… scripturally speaking “rejection by God” was NEVER about post death retributive judgment via damnation or obliteration; it was simply NON-election to the greater redemptive purposes of God – nothing more and nothing less.

Then there is the case of Rachel and Leah and Jacob’s response to both…

Gen 29:30-31 Then Jacob also went in to Rachel, and he also loved Rachel more than Leah. And he served with Laban still another seven years. When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.

This word “unloved” literally means “hated”… Jacob rejected Leah because he loved Rachel more. As cold and as callous as Jacob was his rejection was NOT the rancid all-consuming wrathful burning hatred the likes of which Rom 9:13 is painted by some. It is worth noting that the root word μισέω (miseo) is used in both these texts, LXX (unloved) and GNT (hated).

Again such expressed hatred is likewise seen elsewhere in terms of the hyperbolic requirement to “hate” even ones very own family… Lk 14:26 – an embellished hatred relative to the commitment of Israel’s redemptive cause with NO literal intent of caustic abhorrence.

[Cole_H]

Davo,

I don’t see the disagreement between you and me. It’s clear from scripture that hate in this context doesn’t mean abhor but loved less as I already stated above.

[davo]

Hi Cole… my “OR” wasn’t in opposition to the point you made but simply… OR “saying it this way” from my other recent post etc. I would disagree with your LoF position, but I’ve made my case on that elsewhere too.

[Cole_H]

Oh okay. Thanks Davo! I do have sympathies toward you views on the lake of fire.