Cheryl Schatz

Gazza,
One more comment on the present tense. Jesus said in John 8:58-

John 8:58 (NASB)
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”

God inspired the present tense here too and because of this grammar usage, the Jews took up stones to kill Jesus for they understood the implications of the present tense.

So why did God inspire the present tense also in Ephesians 2:1? That is a question we all need to consider.

Here is what God could have inspired if He wished to show a past happening:

1 Corinthians 6:11 (NASB)
11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

Notice that the verb is not present but it is imperfect.

Here is another one:

John 15:19 (NASB)
19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

John 15:19 is another one which is clearly about the past and it is inspired as such with the imperfect tense.

One last Scripture because I respect the two or three witnesses requirement to establish a fact:

1 Corinthians 12:2 (NASB)
2 You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols, however you were led.

Again the verb is clearly meant as the past and the verb is once again in the imperfect.

So the $64,000 dollar question is why did God inspire Ephesians 2:1 in the present tense and not the imperfect tense which would show a past state? If we believe that the Bible is completely inspired including the grammar and the inspired words, this is a valid question.

Of course those who don’t agree with me in the full inspiration of the Scriptures can make the verb to be whatever they want because they don’t agree with me that the grammar is inspired while I am stuck having to deal with the inspired grammar and to make sense of the passage with that exact grammar. For me it is a position of wanting to be completely open to the truth of God’s Word and my sincere desire to know exactly what God meant with every piece of evidence that He gave.

If I am going to be a lover of the truth, I cannot believe any kind of doctrine that does not line up with the inspired grammar, the inspired words and the inspired context. I will reject that kind of doctrine no matter who teaches it. This is the reason why only the proof texts of Calvinists are important to me right now. I don’t believe in Scripture ping pong. Scripture does not conflict with itself so battling proof texts does not work with me. I want to see the key texts that claim to dispute the truth that I have seen from the Scripture that tells me that God loves everyone and sent Jesus to die for all as “the many” not just a “few” select ones. When each supposed proof text falls before my eyes when I examine it closely from the inspired words, the inspired grammar and the inspired text, then I can be certain that I have the truth of God’s Word and I can confidently hold on to that truth. It is then and only then when my own “proof texts” hold their weight because the opposing Scriptures have now become my own strength – the ones that I can confidently use to support my own Biblical position.

This is the strategy that God has given me to work successfully with any opposing the truth and I pray that God will grant those who are willing to allow God to work in their hearts, to rethink their position so that they are led to God’s full knowledge of His own truth that is without contradiction. I have seen hundreds of people come through my home as they worked their way out of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and other cults. Not all came to Christ. But those that did were willing to examine their long-held doctrine by the clear truth of God’s Word in context. And the freedom that they received was amazing! It was always God who got the glory because it was His Word that held the answers that exposed the misrepresentations of the Truth.