Kenton Slaughter

“The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever… a stone… cut from a mountain by no human hand.” Dan 2:44-45

Not wholesale. But I think quite a few authors and theologians (from different traditions) have steered me in this direction. D.A. Carson’s New Studies in Biblical Theology probably played the biggest single role in steering me toward re-examining the text more closely to pay attention to what the New Testament says and doesn’t say.

@kps2014 @PastorRyanA Do you know of specific theologians or theological views/traditions that would hold to your view on these things? What your describing is similar in some respects of what I've read in Sailhamer.

There are two ways to heaven: Absolute perfection in keeping the law and faith in Christ for salvation from sin. T/F

Luke 20:1-8 One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” So they answered that they did not know where it came from. And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

To which of the angels did God ever say, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"? Hebrews 1:13

1 Tim 2:1-3 I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior.

Well it is also prescriptive, but right, the law can neither be the cause nor the basis of eternal life, not least because Jesus elsewhere claims the exclusive Father-given authority to give it by His own volition (not as that which He earned from the law) and, as Gal 3:21 and 2 Cor 3:3-6 argue, stony laws don’t have the capacity to give life. That said, I also think Jesus gave an incomplete answer to the self-righteous lawyer who tried to test him, but a complete answer to the sincere ruler: “Come, follow me.” As for Rom 2:13-15, yes, but I think Paul was previewing Rom 8 and alluding to Jer 31:33. The doers of the law will be declared righteous before God, but not on the basis of the law (which pre-condemns everyone as sinners). The righteousness that God will certify on the day of judgment precedes and enables their Spirit-led fulfillment of the law’s requirements. The law was imposed on condemned sinners who are already cut off from God’s life, so it’s not a path from unrighteousness to righteousness or death to life. But, the law is a genuine shadow outlining the path of righteousness and life for those whom God has justified as His children. The actual object of that path is Jesus, the righteous Son who leads us to God by the Spirit. So yes, those who love God and keep His commands and fulfill the law’s requirements will inherit eternal life, but the only ones for whom that is true are those whom God has justified and brought to life by grace.

@kps2014 @PastorRyanA Thanks! So in Lk. 10 & 18, would you say Jesus is saying obedience to the law is descriptive of someone who will inherit eternal life, but obedience isn't the cause? Also, for those who obey the Law in Romans 2: would you say this a description of sinful yet justified believers?

I’d say living that accords with God is a natural, necessary, and inseparable condition of life with and from God, so while it takes the form of obedience and reward in this age, obedience is not properly a pre-condition for life. Two sets of Scriptures to back this up: 1) John 17:3; Rom 6; Phil 3:8-11: eternal life is experiential knowledge of God that culminates in eternal glory and immortality. Obedience leads to holiness and eternal life, yet eternal life is a free gift, the result of righteousness given by God apart from works of the law. How do those things fit together? God gives the life that we are to live, including its eternal culmination. 2) John 1:12-17, 3:3-16; Rom 8:14-29; Gal 3:24-4:7; 1 Peter 1:3-25; 1 John 3:1-3: The proper precondition for eternal life is Spirit-wrought birth as holy children of the living God. The love and purity that characterize obedience are themselves characteristics of God’s children, for whom eternal life will constitute perfection in maturity. These aren’t gracious exceptions to a covenant of works owing to Christ’s completion of the law’s requirements: Jesus himself characterized His obedience as the love of the incarnate Son for the Father. Such love and purity aren’t preconditions for the love of God. They flow from God’s love. So there is no invisible level that obedience in love must reach before eternal life is granted. The only threshold that exists is human corruption (physical and moral) and the fixed judgment of this creation, both consequences of the Fall. And it’s because this corrupted age will terminate in judgment that eternal life will be received as the reward for endurance in living according to God’s incorruptible ways.

@kps2014 @PastorRyanA Since you don't believe obedience is a precondition for life (if I understand you correctly), how do you interpret Jesus in Luke 10:28 and 10:18-28?

I think he had a right to it, based on Genesis 1:26-28 and 2:9-16. Nothing in chs 1-3 indicates that Adam’s gardening or his naming or any other work were preconditions to taking the fruit of life. Nevertheless, Gen 3:22 suggests that they simply never ate of that tree (though it doesn’t seem like God told them about the tree of life).

@kps2014 @PastorRyanA Prior to the fall, do you think Adam could've received the life of God, hypothetically?

One day hopefully soon.

Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, And govern the nations on earth. - Psalm 67:4 (NKJV)

The NT is a perfectly reasonable entry point to the entirety of the Scriptures, both for Jews and non-Jews, since it both derives from the larger OT corpus and opines on several key points of it with a view to establishing and confirming faith in Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God. Only, the person who would teach the NT should be thoroughly steeped in the Scriptures. For the unbeliever, whether Jewish and familiar with the Scriptures or non-Jewish and unfamiliar, starting with the NT is a good idea. They need the clear presentation of the gospel of the Son of God. They need to be brought to Jesus. For the new believer, whether Jewish and familiar with the Scriptures or non-Jewish and unfamiliar, starting with the NT is again a good idea. They both need to be formed in the Christian praxis that applies the Scriptures to both believing Jews and non-Jews in these last days.

Don’t do this. It is wildly erroneous. For example, the Gospels assume you understand laws regarding ritual purity and the Sabbath. Paul assumes you understand specific aspects of the sacrifices. The Apostolic Writings assume you have a thorough understanding of the covenants.

“He stands to answer the accusation. He points to His side, His hands, His feet, and challenges Justice to bring anything against the sinners whom He represents.” Yet Jesus Himself will be the Judge on that Day when we are brought before God’s bench. His justice will not accuse us, and the wicked Accuser will have no part in that Day’s court proceedings. The Lord will repay each of us for what we have done, and His own mercy will trump His own judgment.

@kps2014 I don’t think anything in the quote does what you say it’s doing. I agree with you.

“Now, when the sinner is brought to the bench, Jesus appears there Himself. He stands to answer the accusation. He points to His side, His hands, His feet, and challenges Justice to bring anything against the sinners whom He represents. … 1/2

@BaptistBavinck I get it, but this wording pits the Son against the Father and the law against God’s righteousness. God’s justice does not and will not accuse repentant sinners. On the day of judgment, Christ will not judge those who have believed in Him as sinners but as God’s righteous sons.

He pleads His blood, and pleads so triumphantly, being numbered with them and using a part with them, that the Judge proclaims, “Let them go, deliver them from the pit, for He has provided a ransom.” 2/2 — Spurgeon (M&E, March 30)

How then do you interpret John 6:61-65 below? What does the Father granting a person to come to Jesus have to do with whether they believe what Jesus says or grumble at His words? But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

A consistent theme of the resurrection narrative is Jesus rebuking His disciples for not believing in Him on account of the prophecies of the OT and the testimony of others. He didn't assume they would be unable to believe but rebuked them for not believing - what they should do!

Mark 11:22-24 “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

The kingdom was not deferred. Its coming is fixed by God the Father, so that by the death and resurrection of His Messiah He might now save all those who believe. “Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory? …Thus it is written, that the Messiah should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” Luke 24:26-47

Jesus surely came to offer the Kingdom restored. This was deferred because He was rejected. He did not come to offer a spiritual-only Kingdom. Once we reject this, we figuratively open a nefarious doorway leading into the hallway of Amillennialism.

“Behold, something greater than Solomon is here.” Matt 12:42; Luke 11:31

Mark 11:9-17 “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” …And Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple… saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?”

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Mark 12:30

@andrewboonedog @ebcelkhorn I was proposing that Rom 3:25 is instead saying that God’s revealed righteousness is the long-awaited solution to the sins for which God has delayed His judgment, so that He might justify those who believe in Jesus in keeping with His righteousness.

@kps2014 @ebcelkhorn I’m seeing what you’re denying but I’m not clear on what you’re affirming.

Among other things, Jesus' death on the cross served to vindicate God's righteousness. Since he had overlooked sins committed prior to the incarnation, a satisfactory payment had to be made that would justify God's gracious forgiveness extended to the OT saints.