The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum A Four Point Calvinist

I personally find your interpretation of the text quite wanting... forced, if you will. We definitely agree on how this or any passage, for that matter, should be approached, i.e., taken first in its immediate context, both near and far. But the principle by which that is carried out must be with the "Grammatico-Historico" (grammatical historical) hermeneutic. I think that Gary Long's approach follows that principle quite well. His focus upon the word "agorazo" I believe is key to the proper understanding of the text. As we all know, or at least should know, words have varying meanings which are to be determined by the context in which they are used.

We know from using the Analogy of Faith, what Peter was NOT saying, i.e., Christ's atoning death was not designed for "all"; indiscriminately for every single individual. If that were the case, then one would be forced into a form of Amyraldianism; Christ actually paid the penalty for "all", thus satisfying the penalty due to them "all", but it is not made effective unless it is received by faith. Thus, the challenge is to determine in what sense "bought" is to be understood.

My understanding is that these false prophets were teaching a doctrine which denied the necessity of or who were diminishing the vicarious substitutionary atonement of Christ by adding to it, thus in essence they were denying it as the only remedy for sin and reconciliation with God. Put another way, these false prophets were denying that which they professed to believe and by which profession they were received as members into the Church. There are doubtless many examples which we could refer to that exist even today. One that comes to mind immediately are the false prophets/teachers who profess to hold to the doctrine of Sola Fide; justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone... Yet, they deny this truth that salvation is ALL of God by adding to that grace man's works, whether it is by "being faithful to the covenant, aka: good works which will be considered along with an alleged professed faith on the last day, or more subtlety by making faith a work, aka: a free-will decision for Christ.

Lastly, although we would like to think that we can understand everything written in Scripture (some actually hold to this view tenaciously, saying that we can not only understand everything written but we can know it perfectly as God Himself knows it), we must humble ourselves and admit that this is not possible due to 1) some things written are hard to understand (2Pet 3:16), 2) our own intellectual inabilities, and 3) that we all labor under the noetic effects of the Fall.