Daring to Challenge “Eternal Life”

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Hebrew and Greek scholars know that there is no word in the Bible corresponding to our “eternal,” which, as commonly used among us, means unending. Most theologians know this too, but they don’t teach it. Only one who is willing to stand for truth for truth’s sake and is willing to be branded a fanatic would dare to challenge the translation “eternal life.”

Dr. Loyal F. Hurley (1886-1967)
Eternal Life
author of The Outcome of Infinite Grace
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The Final Crisis at Rome

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The ministry among the Dispersion ended in the imprisonment of Paul. … The final crisis is at Rome. On an appointed day the representative Jews come to Paul in great number. Another appeal is made and scorned. The sentence of rejection spoken secretly in Matthew is now publicly pronounced. Israel is shut up in disobedience. A monument is erected on the site. On one side thereof are written Isaiah’s fearful words. On the other, “The salvation of God is sent to the Nations.”

A.E. Knoch (1874-1965)
Unsearchable Riches, Vol. 2, page 34
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So Tired

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I am so tired by the things said about God. I understand God’s patience with the wicked, but I do wonder how He can be so patient with the pious.

George MacDonald (1824-1905)
The Elect Lady
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The Sign Gifts

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Ever since the Apostle Paul informed the Corinthians that the sign gifts were to pass away(I Corinthians 13:8), attempts have been made by sincere people to revive them. All such efforts of courage have ended in failure and disrepute for the church at large.

Though it is true that these gifts were at one time a part of God’s program for the sign nation (1:22), they ended when God finally set His favored people aside (Acts 28:28). One will look in vain for any mention of the “sign” gifts in the epistles of Paul written after the “Acts” period.

It is sometimes suggested that if believers today were as spiritual as they should be, gifts would abound. This, we submit, is not so. Of all of the churches to whom the apostle wrote, the Corinthians were the most un-spiritual. They were contentious (I Corinthians 1:11); they permitted fornication in their midst (5:1); brother went to law against a brother (6:1-8); and they were disorderly at the Lord’s Table (11:17-22).

Small wonder that he writes to them,

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ (I Corinthians 3:1).

Yet, in spite of all of this carnality, they had the sign gifts in abundance (chapters 12, 14). Surely it was not because they were spiritual.

Win Johnson
Amazing Grace
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Blessed To Be A Blessing

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Many Christians assumed that to be called or chosen by God was a matter of privilege and blessing only, not for responsibility and service. So God chooses some for heaven and others for hell, and we need to acquiesce to God’s choice. Biblically, however, God chooses some, not to the exclusion of others but for the benefit of others: they’re “blessed to be a blessing.”

Brian McLaren
The Last Word and the Word After That, 2005, page 169
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Ministry in Obscurity

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Jesus had thirty-three years on this planet. I would have set Him up with public ministry as a child. I would have wanted to get as many years as possible for Jesus to make His impact. I would have set up a world tour for Jesus. He could speak to millions all over the world. Yet the wisdom of God seems foolish to the human perspective.

The Father kept Jesus in hiding for most of His life, only to release Him for His final three years. Jesus spent most of these last years roaming throughout the countryside of Galilee. There were not a lot of people around there in comparison to the population of the world at that time. He visited the big city a few times, but spent most of His life in obscurity. The entire world had no clue that the Son of God was currently walking the planet. Throughout Jesus’ short life, He remained within a hundred miles of His hometown. He held no public position of authority.

Paul Vieira
Jesus Has Left the Building, pages 155, 156
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Consciousness of God

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The consciousness of God is my most precious possession. It supports me in my trial and tempers my success. It changes life from a desperate gamble to an exultant assurance that I cannot miss His goal. I would not trade it for all the mines of gold in California. All the pearls of the Pacific could not purchase it from me.

A.E. Knoch (1874-1965)
Faith Fellowship, Vol. 57, No. 2
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