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Bad misunderstanding about the Good Message

16-06-2020 - Posted by Andre Piet

In my mailbox I received the following email.

Dear Andre,

By chance I came to your site. What I first noticed was the image with the text:

The living GOD Who is the Saviour of all mankind, especially of believers

Now I understand that you call yourself “good news”, because even without believing in God you have been saved by God according to this text.

That is really good news, I can live anyway I want again because now I know that nothing can happen to me and I will go to heaven anyway! Thanks for this good message!

This writing will be meant spiteful. I suspect it was written by a Christian who thinks I would tell people to live any way they want without faith in God. Because you are saved anyway… I have seen and heard this accusation many times.

misunderstanding or allegation?

But spiteful or not, I would like to use the mail to correct the misunderstanding in this blog. The nice thing is that I have never heard this misunderstanding from the people who are truly interested in the message I am spreading. Those who come up  with this misunderstanding are invariably opponents from the Christian camp, enemies of the Good News. The misunderstanding is also very obvious. I would like to demonstrate that.

no offer but message

That GOD is the Savior of all people is the Good Message as Paul proclaimed it among the nations. The text in the picture is a direct quote from 1Timothy 4:10 and Paul calls it “a faithful word and worthy of all welcome” (: 9). He binds Timothy to the heart: “these things be charging and teaching” (: 11). It is not optional or an extra such as ‘whipped cream on the pudding’. No, it is what he previously called “the sound teaching, in accord with the evangel of the glory of the happy God” (1 Tim. 1:11).

That GOD is the Savior of all people simply means that He saves all people. Please note that it does not say “a Savior for all people” because in that case it would only be an offer. But it is not an offer but a message or statement: He is the Savior of all people. Whether you believe it or not. A believer is someone who agrees to this and gratefully says amen and an unbeliever does not and rejects it. The strongest opposition to this Good Message always comes from the religious side. That is because religion is always based on what man should do for God. And whether that is a lot or a little, it is always conditional. That is by definition at odds with the Evangel because the Evangel is not an order but a message. A Good Message!

all people saved?

So the Good Message is that GOD is the Savior of all people. Note that the Good Message is not that all people are saved. That is a false conclusion and absolutely not true. Salvation always takes place in Scripture by calling upon the Name. That is the Name of YAHWEH which is also contained in the Name of JESUS, which means “YAHWEH saves!”. The biblical truth is, “For everyone whoever should be invoking the name of the Lord, shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13). If you do not call on that Name, you are not saved.

Does the latter conflict with the message that GOD is the Savior of all people? No definitely not! For GOD saves all people by calling on His Name in faith. The faithful invocation is the channel or means of salvation. It describes the way in which GOD saves all people. And yes, it necessarily follows that eventually all people will also call on that Name. GOD even declared that under oath (Isa.45: 23), namely that every knee will bow to Him and every tongue will call on Him. Or as Paul writes:

…that in the name of JESUS (=YAHWEH saves!) every knee should be bowing, celestial and terrestrial and subterranean, and every tongue should be acclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord, for the glory of God the Father.
– Philippians 2:10,11 –

Not all people are saved, but all people are being saved. That is why GOD is rightfully the Savior of all people.  Behold the Good Message!

Delen: