Almost Mega Length DL with Five Major Topics

Well, folks, they've done it again. Yes, indeed, folks. The liberals are out there. The media, they're on to us. They know all about why Christianity is wrong and dangerous, and all you got to do is fire up social media and Facebook and Twitter.

Everyone will be talking about, well, here's the title from the Metro News in the United Kingdom. Ancient banned manuscript of Jesus' secret teachings is unearthed after 1600 years. Oh, wow. See? Known all along, those Christians were suppressing the real teachings of Jesus.

And here's something that goes back 1600 years, and it's been banned because we know those Christians were in control of everything, and they suppressed the real teachings of Jesus. That's what we learned when we went and watched Tom Hanks and the Da Vinci Code.

We did some deep, deep historical study there. Yeah, well, so Rob Waugh for Metro .co .uk, and you can find this on CNN and Fox and everything else. A heretical manuscript which reveals Jesus' secret teachings to his brother James has been unearthed by American researchers.

Well, here's the problem. This is volume three of the Coptic Gnostic Library, first published in the year 2000. So that means, let me do the math here, 17 years ago, this was published, hopefully not my particular set, but it's been available there for 17 years, and it was available before then.

And here, right pretty much in the middle of the volume, I'd say, the first apocalypse of James. Whole thing. Been known to scholars for a long time. I have the entire complete codices of the Gnostic Library, both in printed and electronic form, in various sources.

Lagas has them. I think Accordance might have them. I know Lagas does. I have that. So, as normal, what you've got in social media, in the mainstream media, the sensationalization. It's December. You're supposed to do this in December and in March.

These are the two months because of the resurrection of Christ and the birth of Christ that you do everything you can to promote unbelief in Christ. That's the purpose behind all of this. And so you assign people who are clueless about history, don't know how to do research, wouldn't know how to look something up to see if, is this really new or what's going on here?

What's the actual story? Well, the actual story is that some researchers in Texas have found either 5th or 6th century Greek manuscripts of a work that we've only possessed in Coptic. Now, the only relevance of that is, you know, when you look at, for example, the Gospel of Thomas, it's helpful to have more than one language version.

It helps you to ascertain what the original language was and what's a translation of what. And if you've got differing streams of transmission, so many of these books, almost all the Nag Hammadi codices, the Oxyrhynchus papyri, whatever, again, well known to scholars in the field.

Nothing new here at all. Many of these books are extremely fragmentary. And in comparison to the New Testament books, horrifically transmitted, just nowhere near the pedigree of the manuscript tradition and everything else that you have for the New Testament books, as far as early manuscripts or multiple attestation or anything along those lines at all.

But they know that their audience doesn't know that, doesn't care about that. They want click-throughs. Because I'm looking at the web right here, and there are ads. There's one column of ads on the left side, two columns of ads on the right side.

And so I can buy laundry detergent from Amazon on the outside. And then one of the great stories I can also click on here is, These retired greyhounds are being shipped to China and boiled alive for meat.

There you go. So this is the level of scholarship that we have to deal with very often as Christians. Because, hey, the guy in the cubicle next to you doesn't know, has no background, probably doesn't know any Christians that do know or have any background.

And so he wants, he's reading through his Facebook feed, runs across this, knows you're a Christian, says, Hey, did you hear they found the secret teachings of Jesus? Now, our listening audience is weird.

And if you're watching, that makes you weird. Let's be honest. I mean, I'm looking at what I'm going to be covering here. It is wild, wildly eclectic, wildly. It's not entertaining in the sense of being fun or simple or anything like that.

And that makes our audience weird and strange and unusual in a good way. But the fact is, the vast majority of folks who read this stuff, they don't know, they don't know a Christian they could turn to to get a meaningful answer to this particular question.

What in the world is the first apocalypse of James? How is that different than the apocryphon of James, for example? And the vast majority, the vast majority of Christian ministers who are graduates with an MDiv, minimally, from a seminary have no idea either.

None. This isn't, it might be, you know, I mean, if you focus on church history or something, or if you focus specifically on the Gnostics or something along those lines, I just realized one of my books is missing.

Huh. Wonder where it went. Oh, oh, you stole it from the props.

There was borrowing that occurred. We had to look up a citation in the fatal flaw.

There are numerous copies of the fatal flaw in my library. And that's, there's a hole.

It's the closest room to my office. There is a hole. I don't have to unlock this room.

You see, you see what I have to put up with, folks? I tell you, just, just sniping things out of the background. See, there's a hole. There's, there, there is. I don't know if I can do the rest of the show.

I'll be perfectly honest with you. I'm, it's, it's like the feng shui, whatever that is. I heard it on a, my wife watches all those building shows once in a while. And I heard about, I don't know what it is.

Anyways, I sat and looked over and saw that the fatal flaw was missing. And so I just, you know, what was I talking about? Moses was in the bulrushes. And yeah, okay. Anyway, look at that. Look at that.

There's, there's, don't bother. We'll put it back later. We just need to leave the hole there now just to show what happens, you know, when we don't think through what we're doing. It's just, it's just terrible.

Anyway, believe it or not, folks, I do, I do realize what's going on, what went on this morning at the Supreme Court. I am going to talk a little bit about it later from a different perspective. But I wanted to start off here.

So most of the people who even graduate from our seminaries, a lot more important stuff to be doing than close study of Gnostic sources. And there, there are a lot of them. There's, there's, I mean, the Gnostics wrote a lot of books, but they very plainly come from at the earliest, the second century, very often third and fourth century.

And it is so painfully obvious that they are from a completely different worldview than any of the biblical authors. Gnosticism, dualism, the idea of archons and, and everything in Gnosticism starts from a different place.

And therefore, just like in Mormonism, since Mormonism starts the polytheistic system may use the same language, but the words are filled with different meanings. Same thing with Gnosticism. Once you have a God who is pure spirit and the God who creates this universe is a demi-urge, an evil God.

Once you have Yahweh as an evil God, your interpretation of Scripture, your use of Scripture, your citation of Scripture, obviously is going to have completely different meaning than if you allow the Scriptures to speak for themselves.

So what we have in this first apocalypse of James is a Gnostic fragment, and it is very fragmentary, from at least, at least a century after, well, no, at least a century and a half at the earliest after the days of Jesus, at least a century after the last apostles, and maybe longer, that does not originate from Jerusalem or the environs thereof, Galilee, anything like that, is not historical.

It's apocryphal. It's, it's, so that's why they say banned. What they mean is, well, it wasn't put in the canon. Well, duh, that's right, because it has nothing to do with anything Jesus ever said to James.

It's fiction based upon a completely different worldview. But remember, oh, about a year ago, we did some story time with Uncle Jimmy. Well, I thought it would be a good idea today to start off, and how would you like to be really prepared to answer questions about this current thing that's bopping around CNN and Fox News and everything else?

It's not overly long because it's very fragmentary, so it's going to be hard to read. But I'm going to, I'm going to read the first apocalypse of James for you, at least, at least a major portion of it.

I don't know. Kofi is offended. Kofi should not be offended, because I said you're weird in a good way. And Kofi is even weirder in a good way than most of our listeners. So let's not start in on that.

Okay. The first apocalypse of James, the apocalypse of James, it is, The Lord who spoke with me, see now the completion of my redemption. I have given you a sign of these things, James, my brother. For not without reason have I called you my brother, although you are not my brother materially.

For I am not ignorant concerning you, so that when I give you a sign, no one here, nothing existed except him who is. He is unnameable and ineffable. I myself also am unnameable from him who is, just as I have been given a number of names too from him who is.

And I am before you since you have asked concerning femaleness. Femaleness existed, but femaleness was not first. And it prepared for itself powers and gods. But it did not exist when I came forth, since I am an image of him who is.

But I have brought forth the image of him so that the sons of him who is might know what things are theirs and what things are alien to them. Behold, I shall reveal to you everything of this mystery, for they will seize me the day after tomorrow, but my redemption will be near.

James said, Rabbi, you have said they will seize me, but I, what can I do? He said to me, fear not James, you too will they seize, but leave Jerusalem for it is she who always gives the cup of bitterness to the sons of light.

She is a dwelling place of a great number of archons. Now I just stopped there for a moment. For those of you who don't have a lot of background in Gnosticism, but you do in Star Trek, don't make the connection.

There were archons in Star Trek, so I just thought I'd help you out there because it could confuse you. There are no red shirts in this story. Where are we? But your redemption will be preserved from them so that you may understand who they are and what kinds they are.

Now this is going to start getting broken up because the manuscript is damaged. Sometimes if it sounds like I'm just giving you phrases, that's because that's all there is. It's just phrases. They are not but archons.

These 12 down archons upon his own Hebdomad. I don't know what a Hebdomad is. I will be honest with you. James said, Rabbi, are there then 12 Hebdomads and not seven as there are in the Scriptures? The Lord said, James, he who spoke concerning the Scripture had a limited understanding.

I, however, shall reveal to you what has come forth from him who has no number. I shall give a sign concerning their number. And as for what has come forth from him who has no measure, I shall give a sign concerning their measure.

James said, Rabbi, behold then I have received their number. There are 72 measures. The Lord said, these are the 72 heavens which are their subordinates. These are the powers of all their might and they were established by them and these are they who were distributed everywhere existing under the authority of the 12 archons.

The inferior power among them brought forth for itself angels and unnumbered hosts. He who is, however, has been given blank on account of blank. He who is blank, they are unnumbered. Obviously, there's a damage to the manuscript right down here at the bottom.

If you want to give them a number now, you will not be able to do so until you cast away from yourself blind thought. The bond of flesh which encircles you, there's some of the Gnosticism, and then you will reach him who is.

And you will no longer be James. Rather, you are the one who is. Man, that sounds a lot like the Matrix. You will no longer be James, but rather you are the one who is. But that's Gnosticism. It is the dissolving of the unitary self back into the one.

It's monism. So you're a spark of the divine that has been cut off from your origin and source. You're trapped in the physical body. Once you get out of the physical body, you're reabsorbed back into.

There's no enduring personality. Salvation is ceasing to be who you are. That is not Christianity. That's not Judaism. Every time my opponents, atheist, Mormon, Muslim, whatever, make appeal to Gnostic sources, I just want to chuckle because it's like, haven't done much reading in that there stuff, have you?

Yeah, okay. And you will no longer be James. Rather, you are the one who is. And all those who are unnumbered will all have been named. James said, then, Rabbi, in what way shall I reach him who is, since all these powers and these hosts are armed against me?

He said to me, these powers are not armed against you specifically, but are armed against another. It is against me that they are armed, and they are armed with other powers, but they are armed against me in judgment.

They did not give blank to me in it blank, through them blank, in this place blank, suffering I shall blank. He will blank. I shall not rebuke them, but there shall be within me a silence and a hidden mystery.

But I am fainthearted before their anger. James said, Rabbi, if they arm themselves against you, then is there no blame? You have come with knowledge that you might rebuke their forgetfulness. You have come with recollection that you might rebuke their ignorance.

But I was concerned because of you, for you descended into a great ignorance, but you have not been defiled by anything in it. For you descended into a great mindlessness, and your recollection remained.

You walked in mud, and your garments were not soiled, and you have not been buried in their filth, and you have not been caught. And I was not like them, but I clothed myself with everything of theirs.

There is in me forgetfulness, yet I remember things that are not theirs. There is in me blank, and I am in their blank knowledge, not blank, not in their sufferings. But I have become afraid before them since they rule.

For what will they do? What will I be able to say, or what word will I be able to say that I may escape them? The Lord said, James, I praise your understanding and your fear. If you continue to be distressed, do not be concerned for anything else except your redemption.

For behold, I shall complete this destiny upon this earth, as I have said from the heavens, and I shall reveal to you your redemption. James said, Rabbi, how after these things will you appear to us again?

After they seize you and you complete this destiny, you will go up to him who is. The Lord said, James, after these things I shall reveal to you everything, not for your sake alone, but for the sake of the unbelief of men, so that faith may exist in them.

For a multitude will attain of faith, and they will increase in blank. After this I shall appear for a reproof to the archons, and I shall reveal to them that he cannot be seized. If they seize him, then he will overpower each of them.

But now I shall go, remember the things I have spoken, and let them go up before you. James said, Lord, I shall hasten as you have said. The Lord said farewell to him and fulfilled what was fitting. When James heard of his sufferings and was much distressed, they awaited the sign of his coming.

And he came after several days, and James was walking upon the mountain, which is called Galgalon, with his disciples who listened to him because they were distressed. And he was blank, a comforter saying, this is blank, the second blank.

Then the crowd dispersed, but James remained blank prayer, blank, as was his custom. And the Lord appeared to him. Then he stopped his prayer and embraced him. He kissed him saying, Rabbi, I have found you.

I have heard of your sufferings which you endured, and I have been much distressed. My compassion you know. Therefore, on reflection, I was wishing that I would not see this people. They must be judged for these things that they have done.

For these things they have done are contrary to what is fitting. The Lord said, James, do not be concerned for me or this people. I am he who was within me. Never have I suffered, catch this, never have I suffered in any way, nor have I been distressed, and this people has done me no harm.

Again, Gnosticism, Jesus didn't really have a physical body. It wasn't he who was suffering upon the cross, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But this people existed as a type of the archons, and it deserved to be destroyed through them.

But the archons, blank, who or which has blank, but sends it blank, angry with blank, the just, blank, is his servant. Therefore, your name is James the just. You see how you will become sober when you see me.

And you stopped this prayer, now since you are just, since you are a just man of God, you have embraced me and kissed me. Truly, I say to you that you have stirred up great anger and wrath against yourself, but this happened so that these others might come to be.

But James was timid and wept, and he was very distressed, and they both sat down upon a rock. The Lord said to him, James, thus you will undergo these sufferings, but do not be sad, for the flesh is weak, but it will receive what has been ordained for it.

But as for you, do not be timid or afraid. The Lord ceased. Now when James heard these things, he wiped away the tears in his eyes, and very bitter, blank, which is blank. The Lord said to him, James, behold, I shall reveal to you your redemption.

When you are seized and you undergo these sufferings, a multitude will arm themselves against you, that they may seize you, and in particular, three of them will seize you, they who sit as toll collectors.

Not only do they demand, but they also take away souls by theft. When you come into their power, one of them, who is their guard, will say to you, who are you, where are you from? You are to say to them, I am a son, and I am from the father.

He will say to you, what sort of son are you, and of what father do you belong? You are to say to him, I am from the preexistent father, and a son in the preexistent one. When he says to you, blank, you are to say to him, in the blank, that I might blank, blank, that blank.

Sounds like we're cussing here, and we really aren't. It's just holes in the manuscript, really, it is. And maybe some of these holes have been filled in by the, actually it's a very small amount of Greek that was found, but maybe there will be a few less blanks in future publications.

You are to say to him, they are not entirely alien, but they are from Akamoth, who is the female. And these she produced as she brought this race down from the preexistent one. More Gnosticism, One True God, Eons, Dualism, da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

So they are not alien, but they are ours. They are indeed ours because she who is mistress of them is from the preexistent one. At the same time, they are alien because the preexistent one did not have intercourse with her, and when she later produced them.

When he also says to you, where will you go? You are to say to him, to the place from which I have come, there shall I return. Just love those lines in Gnostic writings. And if you say these things, you will escape their attacks.

But when you come to these three detainers who take away souls by theft, in that blank place these, you blank a vessel, blank much more than blank of one of them, who you blank for blank her root. You too will be sober, blank, but I shall call upon the imperishable knowledge, Gnosis, which is Sophia, more Gnosticism, who is in the father and who is the mother of Akamoth.

Akamoth had no father nor male consort, but she is female from a female. Great, they had gender confusion amongst the Gnostics too. She produced you without a male since she was alone and in ignorance as to what lives through her mother because she thought that she alone existed.

But I shall cry out to her mother, and then they will fall into confusion, will blame their root and the race of their mother. But you will go up to what is yours, you will, two plus lines lacking, the preexistent one.

They are a type of the twelve disciples and the twelve pairs Akamoth, which is translated Sophia. And who I myself am and who the imperishable Sophia is, through whom you will be redeemed. Notice that, through whom you will be redeemed, the imperishable Sophia.

And who are all the sons of him who is, these things they have known and have hidden within them. You are to hide these things within you, and you are to keep silence, but you are to reveal them to Adai.

Now what's interesting is Adai, there is an Adai who was important in the founding of a branch of Syrian Christianity, but that's, again, late second century at the earliest. So it has to be past that particular point in time, if that's who it's referring to.

A little bit of anachronism there. When you depart immediately, war will be made with this land. Weep then for him who dwells in Jerusalem, but let Adai take these things in heart. In the tenth year, let Adai sit and write them down.

When he writes them down, blank, and they are to give them blank, he has blank, two plus lines lacking. Blank line, blank line, blank line. He is called Levi, then he is to bring blank word, blank from what I said earlier, blank a woman, blank Jerusalem in her, blank, and he begets two sons through her.

They are to inherit these things and the understanding of him who blank exalts. And they are to receive blank through him from his intellect. Now the younger of them is greater, and may these things remain hidden in him until he comes the age of 17 years, four plus lines lacking.

Through them they will pursue him exceedingly, since they are from his companions. He will be proclaimed through them, and they will proclaim this word. Then he will become a seed of blank. James said, I am satisfied, blank, and they are blank, my soul.

Yet another thing I ask of you, who are the seven women who have been your disciples? And behold, all women bless you. I also am amazed how powerless vessels have become strong by a perception which is in them.

The Lord said, you well, four lines lacking. Oh, drat, it was just getting interesting, too. Four lines lacking. This is not, by the way, normally how Gnostic material is read in most university classrooms, where it's looked upon with awe and everything else.

It's sort of like, ah, it's just getting interesting. Anyway, blank, a spirit of a spirit of thought, a spirit of counsel, a spirit, blank, spirit of knowledge, gnosis, of their fear. When we had passed through the breadth of this archon who is named Adonaios, blank him, and blank he was ignorant, blank when I came forth from him, he remembered that I am a son of his.

He was gracious to me at the time as his son, and then before I appeared here, see, Jesus is this spirit that's just bouncing all over the place, and before I appeared here, he cast them among this people, and from the place of heaven to prophets, four lines missing.

James said, Rabbi, I, blank, altogether, blank, in them, especially, blank. The Lord said, James, I praise you, walk upon the earth, blank, the words, while he, blank, on the, blank. For cast away from you the cup which is the bitterness, for some from, blank, set themselves against you, for you have begun to understand their roots from beginning to end.

Cast away from yourself all lawlessness, and beware lest they envy you. When you speak these words, the perception encouraged these four, Salome and Miriam and Martha and Arsinoe, lines missing, bunches and bunches of blanks, first fruits, blanks, blanks, so that the power of God might appear.

The perishable has gone to the imperishable, and the female element has attained to this male element. I stop right there for a moment. Insta-quiz for those of you who think that you're Algo. It's funny how many people come up to me and say, you know, I'm your Norwegian Algo, or I'm your Swiss Algo, or whatever else.

Algo has become famous. What does that remind you of? Let me read it again. The perishable has gone to the imperishable, and the female element has attained to this male element. Remember section 114 of the Gospel of Thomas?

That last thing, I shall make the female male. There is this. You would think if there was consistency amongst the wild-eyed liberals and feminist studies people, that they would be all over this stuff seeking to ban it from universities, but no, they're not.

James said, Rabbi, into these three things then has their blank been cast, for they have been reviled, and they have been persecuted. Lines lacking, seven lines lacking. For you have received knowledge, and that what is the go you will find blank, but I shall go forth and shall reveal that they believed in you, that they may be content with their blessing and salvation, and this revelation may come to pass.

And he went at that time immediately and rebuked the twelve, and cast out of them contentment concerning the way of knowledge. Bunch of lines, bunch of lines, bunch of lines, and this is right toward the end of what we have left.

For he is not worthy of life. That's interesting, because that, again, there is a line of not worthy of life in section 114 of the Gospel of Thomas, too. For he is not worthy of life. These then were afraid.

They arose, saying, we have no part in this blood, for a just man will perish through injustice. James departed so that, boom, falls apart from there, just shreds after that, and that's it. That's all we've got.

There's the first Apocalypse of James. I hope you all truly enjoyed that exciting reading. But to be honest with you, if you actually listened to all that, if you take the time to look it up, it's online.

You can just Google First Apocalypse. There's a Gnostic library online. Go read it for yourself. It's just as exciting to read it yourself as to hear it read, though I hope I do add some interesting commentary along the way.

But this is not new stuff. It may be new to you, but that's because most of us do not sit around reading this kind of stuff, because it's all like that. It's, you know, you sit there reading it, and after a while, you start going, okay, female, male, yeah, absorb back into the one.

Okay, yeah, there is this movement, and it was warned against in the New Testament almost specifically by name. I mean, Paul does say, you know, warn about those who falsely speak of knowledge, gnosis, and yeah, it happened.

And obviously the idea is today let's dig these heretics back up and make them the original Christians. And let's make them a big, huge group that had all this influence and use this as a means to help people disbelieve.

But when you listen to it, when you actually read it, the best thing to do, have you noticed that when people use the Gnostics, they almost never actually read from the Gnostics? Because when you do, people with this thing called common sense, who might actually know something about the New Testament, sit there going, okay, that's really weird.

Why do you think this has something to do with Christianity again? So there you go. That's the ancient band manuscript. Now you know. And I wonder how many people actually looked it up, but even then would have anything to know, don't have any idea what in the world it's talking about.

I don't know. All right, there's the first thing. That took us half an hour. Oh, great. Lovely. We're not going to be moving along very quickly. I just clicked on the wrong thing, and I need to cancel.

And force quit. Go bye. Go bye-bye. Thank you. Thank you. Go away. Don't click on the wrong thing, or it will get very unhappy with you. Now, put this over here. I was sent a someone in Twitter. The hidden wisdom must be in the blanks.

It was all cut out by redactors. Black lines all the way through it. We don't want anybody to know about that, so just delete it. I was directed on Twitter to an article by Dr. Mounce, Dr. Bill Mounce.

Does whoever mean whoever? BillMounce .com. Here's what he wrote. I really appreciate the feedback you have given me so far. Last week's blog was especially helpful as one of the comments emphasized that in some cultures, the uniqueness of Christ does need to be emphasized.

We are still working through John 3 .16 in an attempt to clarify how we present conversion, making sure that we say enough but not too much. And so we come to the phrase that whoever believes on him. Isn't whoever a wonderful word?

Jesus stands at the gate and opens his arms to all who would come. He wants all people to be saved, 1 Timothy 2 .4. Whoever enters through the gate will be saved. No one is beyond Jesus' ability to forgive and to save.

No one who enters the gate will be refused. I've been in many conversations where this word is in essence being debated. Some of the debate is theological, and I have no desire to enter that particular debate other than to emphasize this fact, and it is a fact.

Jesus says, whoever. Any theology that denies that word of God is simply wrong. We may have different understandings, but each of us must ask ourselves if we can truly stand the pulpit and cry out, whosoever will may come.

When I was writing my commentary on the pastorals, I read material from the antebellum south and the church's defense of slavery. Disgusting. For them, the whoever was racially limited. I remember a story of a church in San Francisco that was praying for the hippies, but when the long-haired, unshaved recipients of their prayers started coming, they had to rethink whether whoever really included smelly people.

As the story goes, a hippie walked down the aisle and sat down, cross-legged on the floor in front of the preacher. Many of the people were aghast, but one wise and compassionate man, dressed in a suit, walked down the aisle and sat down next to the hippie, showing that by whoever, Jesus meant whoever.

But perhaps one of the largest groups of people who do not feel whoever means whoever are those who see their past sins clearly, and the horrificness of what they have done seems bigger than God's love and the cross.

They can't imagine that God would or could actually forgive them. If you feel this way, then you need to hear clearly the good news of this verse, that we say in older English, whosoever will may come.

If you cry out for forgiveness, if you believe in Jesus, then no matter what you have done, you will be forgiven. Jesus' death on the cross is sufficient to cover the sins of all who come. The gate will swing open for every repentant, believing traveler who stands before it, no matter what they have done.

This is the good news of the cross and of God's love. Now, there's much, of course, to agree with there. And certainly, if the application is there is no one who is beyond faith in Jesus Christ, in the sense that, oh, there are people who have committed sins that simply are beyond the power of the atoning sacrifice of Christ.

That is not the case. Anyone who will repent and believe. But that's the point that needs to be emphasized. And of course, the reason that this was sent to me is the obvious reason that in responding to Dave Hunt long, long, long, long, long, long ago, I specifically made reference to this particular text and to the fact that if you use whosoever or whoever as a ground for denying God's election, which Mounts obviously isn't reformed, but he didn't go that far.

He didn't even, he said, I don't want to get into the debate, if that's the debate that he was talking about. He didn't address that issue. And hence, he didn't really address the issue that I want to talk about.

And I am, I fired up the thing here, if you are interested in putting it up there. But it's been a number of years and it's always good to revisit some of these things in light of all sorts of new listeners and things like that to the program.

But all is good to read in context. Jesus speaking with Nicodemus, starting verse, go ahead with verse 14. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, likewise, it is necessary that the son of man to be lifted up.

In order that, why must the son of man be lifted up? In order that, pos hapistion en alto, eke zoen ionion. In order that every one, hapistion, every, hapistion is a present tense participle. And it has the article, so it's functioning as a nominative.

It's an action noun. Participles are a wonderful creation and tool in the Greek language to express things that sometimes are a little bit difficult in the English language because we don't have quite the complexity of, well, we have lots of complexity, but it's normally because our language is a mishmash of all sorts of previous languages that we've sort of cobbled together in one way or another.

In order that every believing one in him. So when it says whoever, the emphasis is whoever is believing. But you see the action, the emphasis very clearly in the Greek is on pastuo, believing. So it's every believing one, every single person who has ever believed.

Now, of course, that raises all the questions of what's belief? What is true saving faith in biblical understanding? Is there an object of true saving faith? Is there a nature to true saving faith? There is.

One element of it is laid out right here. And that is everyone believing, present tense. It's not everyone who believes. It's not a point action. It is an ongoing action. And if you can derive anything from the verbal aspects, tenses, modes, and voices of John's utilization of this particular term, it is that true saving faith is faith that is continuous in its nature, not point action and then ceases.

But the point is every believing one has eternal life. And this is a Hinnah clause. So it's the son of man must be lifted up like the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness so that in order that simply the act of belief will be able to bring you eternal life.

If there is no cross, you can have all the belief in the world. But the foundation that gives a person peace has not been laid if there is no sacrifice on the cross. And so everyone who believes, there has never been a person who has turned in repentance and faith to Jesus Christ who has found him to be anything less than a perfect savior.

None of that, we haven't even gotten to verse 16, but none of that is relevant as a denial of the existence of an elect people because the assumption that is made that goes beyond the text is and every person has that capacity.

The text isn't addressing that. It's not even talking about. The text will address it in John chapter 6 if we're willing to listen. And all of you who try to create these wild strange scenarios where John chapter 6 is only about disciples, but John chapter 3 is about everybody, clearly have an agenda and you're not doing meaningful like Jesus.

If you apply the same standards to both, then the teaching of the gospel of John is quite clear. But the reason I mentioned 15 is that pas ha-pistuon is the exact same phrase. Hinnah pas ha-pistuon is the exact same phrase down here in verse 16.