Cheryl Schatz

Gazza #253

You said:

I have a few questions mostly arising from 243:
1. In your understanding of the sacrifice requiring acceptance was it possible that as He died Jesus could not be certain even a single person would accept His death?

No that is not possible. God is not confined to time so He lives with us in the past, present and future so there has never been a doubt about who or how many will be saved. And Jesus even living as a man had assurance that His disciples would not be lost. He Himself kept them.

2. If you have purchased the certificate and not cashed it, it is worthless, despite the price having been paid. But if it requires me to cash it to have any value then surely that is works – I can now boast that I saw the value in the certificate while the non-believer did not cash theirs, can I not?

The certificate is not worthless at all. Let’s look at another example to understand this. If you opened up your billfold and pulled out a hundred dollar bill, is it worthless? Who would say that it was? But if it stayed in your billfold and you never used it to buy what you want is it worthless? No. It is never worthless. It’s value is not dependent on whether you turn it in to buy merchandise. It’s value is still there even in your wallet. The fact is not that the bill is worthless, but that it is ineffective to you if you don’t turn it in.

This is exactly what happens with the people in hell. Jesus died for them and the value of His death is not worthless. It is worth the same as when He died for them even while they are in hell. But for them His death is ineffective because they refused to meet God’s condition of faith to apply the price on their own behalf.

Does this make sense?

By the way I would like to thank you for the way you ask your questions. I do not feel attacked by you as a heretic or called names as if I was a semi-pelagian. You simply ask very thoughtful and gracious questions. I really appreciate this.