Comments on: John’s Real Enemies

By: Mike Bull

Mike Bull — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:42:54 +0000

Dr Leithart’s explanation has to do with their rejection of Christ. He united heaven and earth, so the unbelieving Jews were forced, in their thinking, to split them apart. Don’t take my word for it — check out his book!

By: Drew

Drew — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:37:49 +0000

//Here is a hypothesis: Gnosticism is, in (perhaps large) part, a product of Judaism and, more specifically, of Judaising.//

This is definitely true. And for this reason, John had to give the readers assurance of salvation, assure them that they had already overcome the wicked one, had been born of God, etc.

The reason it is true is because denial of salvation by faith alone necessarily results in the setup of some legal system for salvation, and this legal system invariably errs from the perfect system established by Moses, and thus it is pagan and “gnostic.”

By: Mike Bull

Mike Bull — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:44:54 +0000

Robert
I agree that we are in the final, long act (see Bible Matrix), but the NT refers to this age as “the age to come.” So I would still categorise this mention of “last days” with the others.
Of course, there was an overlap. It was the anointing of David that heralded the demise of the house of Saul. So it was in the first century.

By: Robert Murphy

Robert Murphy — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 14:13:46 +0000

I try to be a thoughtful amillennialist, taking the best of preterism and futurism together. Most of the time when “last days” are mentioned in the NT, I think you’re on the right track about what is meant. However, Hebrews 1 is not talking about pre-A.D.-70. This whole era between Christ’s two advents is the “last” era because it is the final act of history. It looks like it will be the longest and maybe even the majority of all of history, but it is the terminal epoch before the eschaton. _That_ “last days” I can get behind.