Eternal Life! (Part 2 Interpretation)

Discovering the Right Interpretation

This writer has laid aside his own presuppositions and bias many times as he searched the Word of God to discover the truth. To discover the Bible's truths, one must approach the Scripture as it is, God’s final authority for mankind. One must also be willing to follow God wholly because, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Prov. 14:12).

To arvive at the correct conclusion we must interpret all scripture in a method that is honoring to the entire Bible. One should carefully examine a passage or verse in light of what the chapter is saying, the book, the testament (new or old) and finally, it must work together with what the rest of the Bible as a whole has to say on its subject. Simply put, taking a group of words out of its context can cause the true meaning of any thought, in any book to become clouded over at best, and distorted at the worst.

It is also important to let the rest of the Bible help interpret a particular passage. Every word in the Bible is true. So if it seems that one verse contradicts another, we must discover the interpretation that accounts for all the verses on a particular subject. This is especially important to remember when there are many clearly understood verses dealing with a doctrine and one verse or passage that just throws our whole understanding of those clear passages out of whack! Usually, this is an indication that this "problematic text" needs some extra study, in its context, to see if our first impression is just a faulty interpretation. Only when an understanding of a doctrine allows for all the verses on its subject to be true, is that understanding the correct one. Sometimes searching the Word can be long and laborious. So can digging for silver, gold, and precious stone. Once the search comes to fruition, however, you will posses a real treasure that will endure forever.

Prayer is essential. Ask God for guidance and growth in the knowledge of His Word, so that we may love Him the way He desires us to love Him. Prayer is very important as we open His holy Word. We can pray the way David the great king did in Psalm 119: 18; “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.” God alone is the omniscient (all knowing) Author of the Bible and He is pleased to lead us through it. God the Holy Spirit can take every “problematic” thread of His Word and weave it together with the whole of Sacred Scripture into a robe of truth that you can wear with confidence! We need to ask and depend on Him for this enlightenment (sometimes referred to as illumination) or we could wind up dishonoring the King whom we wish to serve.

Improper methods of interpretation are harmful. They can cause unrest and confusion. However, “...God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” (1Cor.14:33).

A preacher once said, “We Christians need to bathe in the parts of God’s Word that we can easily understand before we attempt to understand the difficulties of Scripture.” Please pray and meditate on the following clear and easy-to-understand verses before continuing this discussion on eternal security.

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (Jn. 1:12,13)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (Jn. 3:16-18)

I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. (Jn. 5:24)

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. (Ro. 8:1-2)

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. (Eph. 2:8-9)

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of his glory. (Eph. 1:13-14)

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ro. 6:23)

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1Jo. 5:13)

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Heb 9:12-14)

One truly ought to spend much time, prayer, and meditation in communion with the Father God on these plain, “easy to understand” verses (many more could be cited). One can then see directly from God’s Word:

Salvation is eternal life, not given for any righteous merit of our own, but by God’s mercy and grace because of His unconditional love. (Titus 3-7; Eph. 2:8, 9)

Eternal life begins the moment one believes in Jesus Christ alone. (2Cor. 5:17)

Salvation cannot be earned or kept by our own efforts or good works. (Rom. 3:19-31)

Heaven is not a reward given to those who are good enough for God, it's a gift! (Rom. 11:6)

A contemporary Theologian has accurately stated:

Salvation is not something man does for God. It is something God has done for man. Because they don't have sight of this fact, many theologians would change the old hymn to read:
“Jesus paid a part, and I a part you know
Sin had left a little stain; we washed it white as snow.”
Yet the original version [proclaims]:
“Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain; He washed it white as snow." 1

One of the most quoted preachers from the 1800’s said, “If good works had put me into Christ, then my bad works might turn me out of Him. But since He put me in when I was a sinner, vile and worthless, He will never take me out though I am a sinner, vile and worthless still.” 2

1. Ernest Pickering, Th. D., “The Theology of Evangelism” (Regular Baptist Press, 1984), p. 7.
2. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon at His Best (Baker Book House Company, 1990), p. 185.