One In Jesus

Why does earth-time go in only one direction?

Sounds like a stupid question, doesn’t it? Believe it or not, physicists wrestle with this one. It’s a very hot issue among theorists today.

Nearly all the equations that describe physics run in the both directions. The equation for a ball falling is the same for a ball propelled upwards. The math cannot tell you which way time runs!

If, for example, you took a film of the solar system, with all the planets, moons, and asteroids circling (ellipsing, really) around the sun and each other, you couldn’t tell whether the film were running backwards or forwards! Continue reading →

I get emails. This one is particularly intringuing.

… That is, is our view of baptism too narrow?  To wit: Is our view that baptism is only the act of the dunking too narrow.  Should it be more broad as including the process of submission to the lordship of Jesus that culminates in the immersion?

“Faith” unquestionably includes submission to the Lordship of Jesus (Rom 10:9). I don’t think baptism “takes” without submission to Jesus as Lord. Indeed, that’s the meaning of “repent” in the familiar 5-finger plan of salvation (and Acts 2:38). Continue reading →

Let’s now consider what we’ve learned regarding predestination earlier in this series and apply it to salvation and baptism. Perhaps this will give us a deeper Third Way interpretation.

When considering predestination, we noted that the New Testament is quite inconsistent as to just when we are saved. We explained this in terms of salvation occurring in God’s realm — heaven — where God’s time is independent of our time.

Therefore, the Bible can consistently speak of our forgiveness occurring (1) when Jesus died on the cross, (2) when we were first saved, and (3) continuously as we walk in the light. All are true because God does the forgiving and God dwells outside our time. 

This being true, the question of when forgiveness occurs with respect to baptism is nearly nonsensical, right? I mean, we were forgiven 2,000 years before we were born! It’s not an earthly event, and so it doesn’t occur at an earthly time. God forgives where God is — in heaven.

Continue reading →

Although I think the baptism verses are powerful and persuasive, the “faith only” verses are powerful and persuasive, too. There are just a lot of verses that promise salvation to all who have faith.

Before we get into these, I should urgently say that in most of the New Testament, “faith” includes penitence. There are a few places where they are separated, such as in James and in Acts 2:38, but as a rule, the New Testament writers include penitence with faith. Continue reading →