Born Again Christian; Biblical Fundamentalist, Received Text-KJV, Dispensational
Sunday, March 31, 2024
Saturday, March 30, 2024
Friday, March 29, 2024
What is The Gospel?
God Created all things and said it was good. He placed the first man and woman in The Garden of Eden. They were named Adam and Eve. Through the persuasion of an evil entity in the form of a serpent Adam and Eve died spirituality due to eating from a forbidden tree.
This caused the curse of the entire creation and all humans being born in radical depravity and separated from God (spiritually dead). A slave to sin and bound to physical death leading to eternal judgment in a place called hell. The justice we all deserve for our sin nature.
However, God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son through crucifixion on a cross as an Atonement for the whole world He so loved. So, that whomsoever in the Whole World believes on Him (Jesus Christ) with a Godly repentance will not perish, but, will have eternal life.
Ones salvation is based on a genuine free will decision to accept or reject God's Grace and to thus not take part in God's desire to save you. The Atonement and Christ's Blood is for all! God's Grace frees you from your Depravity to respond by, repentance, belief and True Faith. This causes you to be placed in Christ's sheep fold and the Blood of Chris to be applied to you.
This leaves those that have not done so with actually only themselves to blame for going to eternal damnation and the fires of eternal hell. So, I plead with you to not ignore the call and drawing of The Father through His Holy Spirit. While Salvation has been provided for you it is up to you to accept God's Free Gift and Provision to you.
Christ is not a way, but, The Way, Truth and Life. No one gets saved; into the Kingdom of God and then on the New Heavens/New Earth. Until accepting your depravity and responding in repentance and True Faith on Christ and His accomplishments on Your behalf.
It is the most important thing you will ever do! Once you have True Faith God and His Holy Spirit has promised to keep you sealed as His Own Until the End of all things has come. Repent, believe today and come to Christ! While the time is at hand!
The King James is still The King of English translations
https://textus-receptus.com/wiki/Main_Page
I still consider The King James Bible to be The King of Translations for the English Speaking peoples. However, in order to understand why this is one needs to understand the manuscript history underlying the King James Bible. One needs to have a firm understanding of the importance of our Bibles coming from the right line of manuscripts and the received text line of translations.
Textus Receptus (Latin: "received text") is the name retroactively given to the succession of printed Greek language texts of the New Testament which constituted the textual base for the original German Luther Bible, for the translation of the New Testament into English by William Tyndale (1526), Myles Coverdale’s Bible (1535), Matthew's Bible (1537), The Great Bible (1539), The Geneva Bible (1557 - 60), The Bishops' Bible (1568), and the King James Version (1611), and for most other Reformation-era New Testament translations throughout Western and Central Europe such as the Spanish Reina-Valera translation and the Czech Bible of Kralice. The Textus Receptus has been translated into hundreds of languages. (See Also The Word of God for All Nations) The origin of the term "Textus Receptus" comes from the publisher’s preface to the 1633 edition produced by Abraham Elzevir and his nephew Bonaventure who were printers at Leiden:
Textum ergo habes, nunc ab omnibus receptum: in quo nihil immutatum aut corruptum damus. Translated "so you hold the text, now received by all, in which nothing corrupt."
The two words, "textum" and "receptum", were modified from the accusative to the nominative case to render textus receptus. Over time, this term has been retroactively applied to Erasmus’ editions, as his work served as the basis of others that followed. Many supporters of the Textus Receptus will name any manuscript which agrees with the Textus Receptus Greek as a "Textus Receptus" type manuscript. This type of association can also apply to early church quotations and language versions.
A Rich and Full History
Textus Receptus type manuscripts and versions have existed as the majority of texts for almost 2000 years.
All of the Apostolic Churches used the Textus Receptus type manuscripts
Peshitta (150 A.D.) was based on the Textus Receptus type manuscripts
Papyrus 66 used Textus Receptus type manuscripts
The Italic Church in the Northern Italy (157 A.D.) used Textus Receptus type manuscripts
The Gallic Church of Southern France (177 A.D.) used Textus Receptus type manuscripts
The Celtic Church used Textus Receptus type manuscripts
The Waldensians used Textus Receptus type manuscripts
The Gothic Version of the 4th or 5th century used Textus Receptus type manuscripts
Curetonian Syriac is basically a Textus Receptus type manuscript
Vetus Itala is from Textus Receptus type manuscripts
Codex Washingtonianus of Matthew used Textus Receptus type manuscripts
Codex Alexandrinus in the Gospels used Textus Receptus type manuscripts
The vast majority of extant New Testament Greek manuscripts are Textus Receptus type manuscripts (99% of them)
The Greek Orthodox Church used the Textus Receptus type manuscripts.
Greek manuscript evidences point to a Byzantine/Textus Receptus majority.
85% of papyri used Textus Receptus type manuscripts, only 13 represent text of Westcott-Hort type
97% of uncial manuscripts used Textus Receptus type manuscripts, only 9 manuscripts used the Westcott-Hort type
99% of minuscule manuscripts used Textus Receptus, only 23 used the Westcott-Hort type
100% of lectionaries used Textus Receptus type manuscripts.
Although six chapters of the Gospel of John were printed at Venice as early as 1504, by Aldus Manutius, and the whole of that gospel was printed at Tubingen in Suabia, in 1512, these editions are interesting only as literary curiosities, for though they constituted the first portion of the Greek Testament ever committed to the press, they exercised no influence whatever on succeeding editions.
The first printed Greek New Testament was the Complutensian Polyglot (1514) but was not published until eight years later. Erasmus' edition was the second Greek New Testament which he called the Novum Instrumentum omne, printed and published in (1516). As early as 1505, Erasmus wrote to a friend;
“I shall sit down to Holy Scripture with my whole heart, and devote the rest of my life to it...[A]ll these three years I have been working entirely at Greek, and have not been playing with it” (Froude, The Life and Letters, p. 87).
Erasmus began working directly on the text much before 1507. Froude wrote that years before the text appeared, it was being prepared.
“He had been at work over the Greek MSS. for many years. The work was approaching completion” (Froude, The Life and Letters, p. 93).
Frederick Nolan, writing in 1815, states, in addition to the manuscripts which Erasmus owned or had seen himself, he gathered readings from various European nations through his broad friendships in universities, libraries, and monasteries.
In 1512 Erasmus had been in negotiation with Badius Ascensius of Paris to publish the Vulgate of Jerome and a new edition of Adagia. It did not happen, and Erasmus did not continue contacts with Badius. While many critics of Erasmus and the Textus Receptus claim that Erasmus used only a small handful of manuscripts, this is not a correct hypothesis, because the libraries and scriptoriums throughout Europe would not simply give away manuscripts, therefore Erasmus travelled vastly to examine many manuscripts and wrote down variants, and thus had no need to personally acquire the manuscripts or have them on hand when he penned the Novum Instrumentum omne. Erasmus updated his 1516 "Textus Receptus" in 1519, and again in 1522, 1527 and his final edition in 1535. Stephanus also edited the Textus Receptus in 1546, 1549, 1550 (Editio Regia), and 1551. Theodore Beza edited the Textus Receptus nine times between 1565 and 1604. The Authorized Version translators used the 1598 of Beza, a disciple of John Calvin, who both had access to Waldensian versions and manuscripts. This "family" of texts is also known as the Antiochian Text, Byzantine Text, Syrian Text, Greek Vulgate, and (until the 1980's) the Majority Text.
The King James Version is the most accurate representation of the Textus Receptus and is without translational error. Any translation faithful to this text is THE word of God by default. I do not believe that the King James Version has any secondary inspiration.
Modern "textual criticism" is focused on a narrowing of the field to a few corrupted and rejected manuscripts sidestepping the huge amount of Greek and Latin manuscripts and the early church witnesses as unimportant, only to be used when they can be referenced to try to give some support to the Vaticanus primacy corruption. It really is an anachronism fallacy (false definition) to speak of Erasmus, Stephanus, and Beza, to be doing textual criticism. Since their value were in general opposite those of the Griesbach to Hort to Metzger to Wallace confusions. They based themselves on mostly the Greek and Latin manuscripts and the early church witnesses with some faith-consistent logical and grammatical type of internal evidence considerations. This is essentially, the opposite of "textual criticism" as used today which has a bias presupposition towards The Corrupted stream of Vaticanus and Sinaiticus.
Peace of Christ to you all!
What is Biblical Dispensationalism?
A dispensation is a way of ordering things—an administration, a system, or a management. In theology, a dispensation is the divine administration of a period of time; each dispensation is a divinely appointed age. Dispensationalism is a theological system that recognizes these ages ordained by God to order the affairs of the world. Dispensationalism has two primary distinctives: 1) a consistently literal interpretation of Scripture, especially Bible prophecy, and 2) a view of the uniqueness of Israel as separate from the Church in God’s program. Classical dispensationalism identifies seven dispensations in God’s plan for humanity. However, different flavours of dispensational thought can differ on the exact number of dispensations and their names.
One thing that needs to be emphasized is that Biblical Dispensationalism believes that Grace through Faith is intrigle to all dispensations. There are not multiple ways of salvation as proposed by what is known as Unbiblical Hyper-Dispensational teaching. This teaching is often confused as being the same as Biblical Dispensationalism and thus all dispensationalists get painted with an unbiblical brush.
Biblical Dispensationalists hold to a literal interpretation of the Bible as the best hermeneutic. The literal interpretation gives each word the meaning it would commonly have in everyday usage. Allowances are made for symbols, figures of speech, and types, of course. It is understood that even symbols and figurative sayings have literal meanings behind them. So, for example, when the Bible speaks of “a thousand years” in Revelation 20, dispensationalists interpret it as a literal period of 1,000 years (the dispensation of the Kingdom), since there is no compelling reason to interpret it otherwise.
There are at least two reasons why literalism is the best way to view Scripture. First, philosophically, the purpose of language itself requires that we interpret words literally. Language was given by God for the purpose of being able to communicate. Words are vessels of meaning. The second reason is biblical. Every prophecy about Jesus Christ in the Old Testament was fulfilled literally. Jesus’ birth, ministry, death, and resurrection all occurred exactly as the Old Testament predicted. The prophecies were literal. There is no non-literal fulfillment of messianic prophecies in the New Testament. This argues strongly for the literal method. If a literal interpretation is not used in studying the Scriptures, there is no objective standard by which to understand the Bible. Each person would be able to interpret the Bible as he saw fit. Biblical interpretation would devolve into “what this passage says to me” instead of “the Bible says.” Sadly, this is already the case in much of what is called Bible study today.
Dispensational theology teaches that there are two distinct peoples of God: Israel and the Church. Dispensationalists believe that salvation has always been by grace through faith alone—in God in the Old Testament and specifically in God the Son in the New Testament. Dispensationalists hold that the Church has not replaced Israel in God’s program and that the Old Testament promises to Israel have not been transferred to the Church. Dispensationalism teaches that the promises God made to Israel in the Old Testament (for land, many descendants, and blessings) will be ultimately fulfilled in the 1000-year period spoken of in Revelation 20. Dispensationalists believe that, just as God is in this age focusing His attention on the Church, He will again in the future focus His attention on Israel (see Romans 9–11 and Daniel 9:24).
Dispensationalists understand the Bible to be organized into seven dispensations: Innocence (Genesis 1:1—3:7), Conscience (Genesis 3:8—8:22), Human Government (Genesis 9:1—11:32), Promise (Genesis 12:1—Exodus 19:25), Law (Exodus 20:1—Acts 2:4), Grace (Acts 2:4—Revelation 20:3), and the Millennial Kingdom (Revelation 20:4–6). Again, these dispensations are not paths to salvation, but manners in which God relates to man. Each dispensation includes a recognizable pattern of how God worked with people living in the dispensation. That pattern is 1) a responsibility, 2) a failure, 3) a judgment, and 4) grace to move on.
Dispensationalism, as a system, results in a premillennial interpretation of Christ’s second coming and usually a pretribulational interpretation of the rapture. To summarize, dispensationalism is a theological system that emphasizes the literal interpretation of Bible prophecy, recognizes a distinction between Israel and the Church, and organizes the Bible into different dispensations or administrations.
The foundational doctrine of premillennialism is that Jesus will return to earth and rule for 1,000 years (the millennium). Dispensational premillennialists believe in a seven-year tribulation when the Antichrist is especially active and God pours out His wrath before 1,000 years of Christ's reign in which the Jewish nation will have a special place and the Jewish Temple will be restored. Israel and the Church are seen as distinct groups within God's plan. During the millennium, the nation of Israel will have preeminence and Jews will serve God physically on earth, while those in the Church will have been given eternal, glorified bodies (at the rapture) and will serve God spiritually. Jesus' millennial reign is the time in which God will fulfill His promises to ethnic Israel. After this 1,000 years, Jesus will destroy a final rebellion and establish a New Heaven and New Earth (Revelation 21—22), which will be the eternal state for all.
Biblical dispensationalism divides the history of mankind into seven distinct dispensations: The dispensation of innocence, the dispensation of conscience, the dispensation of human government, the dispensation of promise, the dispensation of Law, the dispensation of grace, and the millennial kingdom of Christ.
The word "dispensation," to explain once again means "a system of order, government, or organization of a nation, community, etc., especially as existing at a particular time." Looking through the Bible, we can find seven distinct dispensations, or "ways of doing things" that were God-ordered and God-ordained. Each dispensation has a purpose in the overall story. The following is a brief description of each dispensation.
The Dispensation of Innocence
This dispensation covers the time from the creation of man to the fall of man (Genesis 1:28-30 and 2:15-17). All of God's creatures lived at peace with themselves and with each other, and the world was without sin or death. Man was to procreate, rule the earth and the animals, and take care of the garden. He was given one command to obey: not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve and Adam disobeyed this rule, and were expelled from the garden as punishment, ending the dispensation of innocence.
The Dispensation of Conscience
The expulsion from the garden began the dispensation of conscience—a time when man was left to rule himself by his own will and conscience, both of which had been tainted by sin. It was a disaster, and ended in disaster—the worldwide flood (Genesis 3:8—8:22). During this dispensation, man became so wicked that "every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" and God regretted making man and was "grieved to his heart" (Genesis 6:5-6). This was also the time when fallen angels married human women and produced giant, evil offspring called Nephilim (Genesis 6:1-4). God chose to end humanity with a flood and begin again with Noah and his family (Genesis 6:11-18).
The Dispensation of Human Government
The dispensation of human government began just after the flood. God made promises and gave commands to Noah and his family. God promised not to curse the earth again, and never to flood it again. He commanded Noah and his sons to repopulate the world and scatter across the earth, and He allowed them to use animals for food. God also established the law of capital punishment (Genesis 8:1-9:7). Noah's descendants failed to "fill the earth" as was commanded, and instead they worked together to build the tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). God countered this action by confusing their languages, creating different nations and cultures that later spread to different areas. This was the beginning of human government.
The Dispensation of Promise
The dispensation of human government lasted until the call of Abraham. The call of Abraham, the lives of the patriarchs, and the enslavement of the Jewish people to Egypt all fall under the dispensation of promise. This was the time when Abraham's descendants waited for the promise that was given to Abraham: that God would make Abraham's descendants a great nation and give them their own land (Genesis 12:1-7). This dispensation ended with the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt. Once they left Egypt they were officially a nation, led by God into the wilderness toward the Promised Land.
The Dispensation of Law
The dispensation of law lasted almost 1,500 years, beginning with the Exodus and ending with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The delivery of the Ten Commandments and the Mosaic Law, found in Exodus 19—23, outlined the standard of perfection that God required from His people, and included the instructions about temple worship and sacrifices. This was the age of priests, prophets and kings, both good and evil. The people of Yahweh repeatedly broke His commands, and wandered off after other gods. It is important to note that strict following of commandments was never as important to God as mercy and faithfulness (Hosea 6:6). The law was given to show the people that they needed to depend on God and trust Him to save them, rather than trusting themselves, their own goodness, or other gods for salvation. He has never expected perfection—if He did, He would not have provided the sacrificial system as a way for man to say "yes, I have sinned; here is a symbol of my need for forgiveness and atonement." The blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin—they are a symbol, looking forward to the One whose blood could take away sin (Hebrews 9:11-14; Hebrews 10:3-10).
The Dispensation of Grace
The dispensation of grace started at the resurrection of Jesus Christ and continues today. It is the new covenant in Christ's blood (Luke 22:20). This is also called the "age of grace" or the "church age," and scholars believe that the entire dispensation—more than 2,000 years—occurs between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel's prophecy in Daniel 9:24. Atonement was provided on the cross, once for all, for any who would believe: Abraham's children are all those who have faith, including Gentiles (or non-Jews) (Hebrews 10:10, 14; Romans 5:1; Romans 3:29-30; Galatians 3:7, 29). During this dispensation, we also have a Comforter with us, the Holy Spirit of God, who indwells believers (John 14:16-26). Dispensationalists believe that the Church Age will end with the rapture of the Church (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 3:10) and then the tribulation, the seven years when those who dwell on the earth will experience God's judgment, will begin (Daniel 12:1-4; Matthew 24:21-27). The exact timing of the rapture is a subject of great debate, but dispensationalists believe it will happen at the beginning of the seven years. We do know that some people will be saved during the tribulation (Revelation 7:14-17) and that it will end with the battle of Armageddon, when Jesus Christ will return and defeat Satan and any who would follow him into battle (Revelation 19:11—20:3).
The dispensation of the millennial kingdom is the seventh and final dispensation. The dispensation of the millennial kingdom is described in Revelation and includes a 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ on earth (Revelation 20:1–10).
Each dispensation can be thought of in six parts. The elements of the dispensation of the millennial kingdom are:
Managers: Resurrected Old Testament saints, the glorified Church, and survivors of the tribulation and their descendants
Time Period: From the second coming of Jesus Christ until the final rebellion, 1,000 years
Human Responsibility: Obedience, remain undefiled, worship Jesus (Isaiah 11:3–5; Zechariah 14:9)
Failure: Rebellion of sinful man following Satan's release from the Abyss, sinful man rebels one more time (Revelation 20:7–9)
Judgment: Fire from God; the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:9–15)
Grace: Jesus Christ restores creation and rules righteously in Israel, with all saints assisting (Isaiah 11:1–5; Matthew 25:31–46; Revelation 20)
Importantly, this dispensation, the millennial kingdom, comes after the dispensation of grace—the coming to earth by God in Jesus Christ. Jesus extended grace at that time and will extend justice at His next, or second, coming. He spoke of this coming, which believers look forward to, when He spoke to the Sanhedrin (Mark 14:62). The millennial kingdom is what is referred to in the Lord's Prayer, which begins: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:9–10).
Peace will finally be realized during the 1,000-year reign of Jesus (Isaiah 11:6–7). Accompanying peace will be justice (Isaiah 11:3–4), unity (Isaiah 11:10), abundance (Isaiah 35:1–2), healing (Isaiah 35:5–6), righteousness (Isaiah 35:8), and joy (Isaiah 55:12). These characteristics of life together are only possible by the physical presence of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 16:5). As for Satan, he will reside in the Abyss, unable to escape (Revelation 20:1–3).
Jesus will rule over the world, and employ resurrected saints to participate in that rule (Isaiah 9:6–7; Revelation 20:4–6).
However, what follows is rebellion. Sinful people simply cannot abide this perfect and just rule (Isaiah 11:1–5) and, as individuals today do, will follow Satan. That rebellion will be defeated and its leader cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10) along with those who are found unrighteous in all the dispensations as judged by Jesus on the Great White Throne (Revelation 20:11–15). Ushered in then will be the new Jerusalem and the new heavens and new earth (Revelation 21). God's plan of redemption will be completed, and people will know God as never before and enjoy Him forever.
It is my hope that this explanation of Biblical Dispensational thinking will help to clear up misunderstandings on this matter. Especially by those whom mischaracterize and even attack Good Christian Family members of The Body over what they think us dispensationalists believe. I am a Biblical Dispensationalist because that is what I found taught when taking The Bible literally and not symbolically. This does not mean that non dispensationalists are any less Christian. This is written out of Love for my fellow Christians.
Peace of Christ be with you all your days.