Quote:
Originally Posted by Raptor
Weeping and gnashing of teeth is NOT a place, not a location.
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Hi Raptor, thanks for sharing. I love that you are bringing Matthew 24:51 into closer focus.
Matthew 24:51
"and will
cut him in pieces and
put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
First notice that the master "cuts" the servants into pieces. It doesn't sound like something a father would do to discipline their child. This sounds more like the wrath described in John 3:36. Notice we both agree that the servant is "disobedient" and in the verse below, it says someone who does not obey will not see life.
John 3:36 (ESV)
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever
does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
(You may also be wondering why belief and obedience are used interchangeably, it's because obedience is a fruit of saving faith. Also see this Greek word study on faith:
https://thelogosofagape.wordpress.co...ek-word-study/)
Next let's drill down on the location in this verse. The servant ends up in the same location as the
hypocrites. A hypocrite in Jesus' day is someone with an outward appearance of being religiously good but is inwardly defiled, just like the Pharisees. The Pharisees rejected Jesus and were not saved because Jesus called their father the Devil (John 8:44) so they are in hell. John also writes about hypocrites in verses like this one:
1 John 4:20
"
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen."
The disobedient servant was not loving towards his brother and sister because he beat his fellow servants (Matthew 24:49). John says that a person who claims to know God but hates his brother is a liar so that's not a great start since liars go to the lake of fire according to Rev 21:8, but let's ignore that for now.
In context, John is implying someone who hates his brother is not born again because earlier in 1 John 4 he says:
"7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and
whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone
who does not love does not know God, because God is love."
So the sign of a true born again believer is that he/she follows Jesus' first two commandments: love God and love neighbor. John juxtaposes this against a person who does not love and says this type does not know God. Since eternal life is knowing God (John 17:3), a person who does not love, does not know God and hence does not have eternal life and is not born again.
Jesus said in John 3:3 that unless a person is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. It doesn't matter how many meetings or conferences a person attends or how many prayers or hymns they sing, if they're not born again they are not saved.
Quote:
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The disobedient servant was still a servant, he is a believer, but disobedient. There are millions of genuine believers, born again christians that are disobedient: hyporcrites, or live in fornication, or addicted to porn, or divorced their wives without Scriptural ground, or smoke pot and booze, or are homosexuals. They will be judged at the Judgemnt Seat of Christ: many will not inherit the Kingdom.
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If you read your bible on your own it's doubtful that you would reach this conclusion by yourself. You have to get this from commentary or church tradition. When Paul wrote his letters to the churches, his audience did not have the revelation of the millennial reign of Christ which came later in the book of Revelation around 95AD. By that time many of Paul's original audience may have even passed away.
When Paul gives warnings such as:
Galatians 5:19-21
"Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things
will not inherit the kingdom of God."
His audience would have associated it with the eternal kingdom of God, not just the millennial reign. Don't you think that if Paul meant the millennial kingdom, he would have made it clear because that is a
HUGE difference.
Peter also uses the term "eternal" kingdom of God in his warning and encouragement
2 Peter 1:10-11
Therefore, brothers,
be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the
eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Both authors are talking about the same kingdom of God. God's kingdom is not limited to a 1000 year period it is
ETERNAL.
The millennial kingdom is imperfect and a shadow of the new heavens and new earth because people still sin and die (see Isaiah 65:20), and there's even a huge rebellion at the end of it.
Also this teaching didn't arrive into church history until the Brethren arrived on the scene in the 1800s. If you're right, then believers throughout 90% of church history including the church fathers incorrectly interpreted the Apostles warnings about not inheriting the kingdom of God. The early Christians who were eaten by lions and wild animals believed that if they recanted their faith they would not make it into heaven for eternity and many were offered that temptation to do so. If this doctrine was present in the early church it's possible many of them would have been tempted into apostasy to save their own life.
Matthew 10:33
but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
https://www.verserain.com/html/warning_verses.html