Reading in Context
I ran across a verse the other day that made me pause…
Matthew 8:1212 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (ESV)
What’s this? The sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness? How is that even possible? Is this a refutation of “once saved, always saved”?
Well, if you read that verse just by itself, it is indeed troubling. But let’s take a look at it in the larger context…
Matthew 8:5-135 When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, 6 “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment. (ESV)
Ah, now we see the real full meaning of the verse. You see, the “sons of the kingdom” does not mean “believing sons of the kingdom of Heaven“, bur rather “unbelieving sons of the kingdom of Israel.” Christ is providing a contrast – between the Gentiles (specifically the centurion and generally the many who will come “from east and west”) and the Israelites who will be rejected because of their unbelief.
No threat to the doctrine of perseverance after all…
And a wonderful illustration of why Gregory Koukl advocates never reading a Bible verse.
Atticus and the Birthday Cake!
I’ve been wanting to edit this, but the YouTube Remixer is apparently not working, so here it is in full – Atticus’ first birthday cake!
Quotes from The Godly Man’s Picture
Our Puritan Book Club is currently working through Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture. And so, I present to you some choice quotes from my reading thus far… (Boldface is mine in the quotes below.)
The soul being so precious, and salvation so glorious, it is the highest point of prudence to make preparations for another world.” (Introduction, opening line.)
Godliness consists in an exact harmony between holy principles and practices… Policy without piety is profound madness.
Godliness is the sacred impression and workmanship of God in a man, whereby from being carnal he is made spiritual. (Watson’s definition of godliness.)
Godliness is an extensive thing. It is a sacred leaven that spreads itself into the whole soul… He who is godly is good all over; he is regenerate only in part, yet it is in every part. (Italics Watson’s.)
The man who is a pretender to saintship, but whose heart tells him he has nothing but the name, carries Christ in his Bible but not in his heart.
The wicked hate the hypocrite because he is almost a Christian, and God hates him because he is only almost one.
To know God out of Christ is to know him as an enemy, but to know him in Christ is sweet and delicious.
Saving knowledge is not changeable or doubtful, but has a certainty in it.
Oh, what comfort it is when I have a bad cause, to know Christ is my advocate, who never lost any cause he pleaded!
He who rightly applies Christ puts these two together, Jesus and Lord: “Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:8). Many take Christ as Jesus, but refuse him as Lord.
It is a reproach to a Christian to live in a contradiction to his knowledge, to know he should be strict and holy, yet to live loosely.
Many Christians are no better than baptized heathens. What a shame it is to be without knowledge! “Some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame” (1 Corinthians 15:34). Men think it is a shame to be ignorant of their trade, but no shame to be ignorant of God. There is no going to heaven blindfold.
And that’s just in the first 17 pages!
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