So, it's possible to be saved without being born again?
I never said that. There is no need for straw man arguments.
Was not the Unmerciful Servant delivered from his condemnation?
In this hypothetical situation in this parable, the unmerciful servant was forgiven of his debt of ten thousand talents.
What do we call it when a person is delivered from condemnation? S-A-V-E-D.
True, yet that is not the point here with the unmerciful servant. Nothing is mentioned in the parable about the unmerciful servant being saved, then losing his salvation. Forgiveness is being taught here and not type 2 works salvation.
He called wicked because he despised his salvation and reverted back to doing wickedly, plain and simple. He was a sanitized saint that chose to return to the vomit and mire.
Show me the specific words, he "despised his salvation" or "sanitized saint" in this parable. This is just your biased opinion. In Psalm 37:28, we read - For the Lord loves justice, And
does not forsake His saints; They are
preserved forever, But the descendants of the
wicked shall be cut off. *Was the unmerciful servant called a saint or
wicked in this parable? In regards to returning to the vomit and mire, you must be thinking about 2 Peter 2:20.
Those who are truly born of God have received a new nature, a divine nature, and they have new desires. They have been transformed from pigs and dogs into sheep. The change is more than merely cosmetic, as in 2 Peter 2:20. *These cleaned up on the outside dogs and pigs were never sheep.
*Compare 2 Peter 1:4 - "partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the
corruption - Strongs #5356 that is in the world through lust with 2 Peter 2:20 - with they escaped the
pollutions - Strongs #3356 (different Greek word) of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, yet they are again entangled therein, and overcome. *Notice that 2 Peter 2:20
did not mention them being partakers of the divine nature.
Corruption (Strongs #5356) (to shrivel or wither, spoil , ruin , deprave, corrupt , defile, to destroy by means of corrupting, to spoil as does milk). Corruption - describes decomposition or rotting of an organism and the accompanying stench. The utter depravity of the fallen flesh and the resultant moral decomposition of the world opposed to God is driven by it sinful lusts or evil desires.
Internal corruption.
Pollutions/Defilements (Strongs #3393) ("pollutions", "filthy things", "contaminations", "world's filth") describes the state of being tainted or stained by evil and refers to impurity, impure, tainted, defilement, foulness or pollution. Pollutions/Defilement refers to what is on the
outside (2 Peter 2:20). But
genuine believers have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Peter 1:4).
Corruption is deeper than pollutions/defilements on the outside: it is decay on the inside. Having the knowledge of Jesus Christ does not save a person if there is
no heart submission to that knowledge. The latter end is worse than the beginning for these pigs and dogs because rejecting this knowledge will make them more accountable at the judgment.
How unfortunate that OSAS has blinded so many to such plain, elementary truths. But, no wonder, seeing that OSAS is of the devil, and his motus operandi is blinding people:
This judgment call is well above your pay grade. You are basically condemning all OSAS believers and you sound very proud and arrogant.
"If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded the eyes of them which believe not, lest the glorious light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ Who is the image of God should shine unto them." 2 Cor. 4:3-4 KJV
The gospel is the "good news" of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that
BELIEVES.. (Romans 1:16) To "believe" the gospel is to
trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of our salvation. OSAS has not blinded me from believing the gospel, yet there are numerous people in the NOSAS camp who attend various false religions and cults and trust in works for salvation. For such people, the gospel is
hid to them, their
eyes are blinded and they
do not believe the gospel. People in general who trust in works for salvation do not believe the gospel. As for me, I absolutely DO believe the gospel, so your biased judgment call is unwarranted.
