Damnation

STATEMENT

I don't believe in duty faith or the well meant offer but I disagree with the peanut butters (i.e., Primitive Baptists) on gospel distribution and election. I believe all non-Christians are damned. (Anonymous)

RESPONSE

Consider this:

  1. Where gospel distribution is concerned, it is clear that the explicit NT gospel (I Corinthians 15:3-4, II Corinthians 5:21) does not reach all of God's elect family during their natural lives. The eternal salvation of the OT saints proves this point beyond any reasonable dispute. That they did not hear the explicit NT gospel is repeatedly stated in the NT (Ephesians 3:5, I Peter 1:10-12, Colossians 1:26-27).

  2. Your assertion that "all non-Christians are damned" contradicts the Lord's testimony regarding the good Samaritan. Samaritans are NOT Christians. Neither are they practitioners of “orthodox Judaism.” They are a wayward religious sect. Jesus uses one of them as an example of people in a messed up, unorthodox religious order, who nevertheless have the spiritual capacity to love their neighbor in the way Christ instructed. Jesus is teaching that there are those who are born again and who bear the fruit of the indwelling Holy Spirit who are involved in religious orders that do not possess the truth in many other respects. That teaching offended the Jews who heard it in Christ’s day, even as it offends many Christians in our day. Simply put, God’s work of eternally saving grace is broader than the domain of those who possess an orthodox understanding of the Christian faith once delivered to the saints.

The truth is:

  • God has a people in every family (Revelation 5:9).

  • The OT saints were not "Christians.”

  • The good Samaritan was neither a "Christian" nor an orthodox "Jew.”

  • God’s people are eternally saved by what Christ did for them.

  • If Christ died for a man, he shall be eternally saved.

  • This notion offends those who believe religion is a means of acquiring eternal life.

  • The gospel is the truth, but it is not the means of imparting eternal life (II Timothy 2:10)

  • The gospel is a means of imparting light (II Timothy 2:10)

May God bless our studies and understanding of his word.

- Elder Daniel Samons

PS. Peanut butter is delicious.

Daniel Samons