THE ENLIGHTENED
“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened…”
First of all what is implied by being “enlighten”, and who are those who possess this “enlightenment”?
The definition of the word “enlighten” as taken from the dictionary means to give (someone) greater knowledge and understanding about a particular subject or situation, as applied to religion it means to give spiritual knowledge or insight, figuratively to illuminate or make clear (a particular problem or area of study).
Strong’s # 5050 gives the meaning as follows, (enlighten: nagahh; a primitive root; to glitter; causatively, to illuminate: — (en-) lighten, (cause to) shine.
The scriptures inform us that, “Light [truth] is sown (provided for) the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart” (Psa 97:11)
So who are the righteous?
Don’t the scriptures clearly say that “there is none righteous no not one.” (Rom 3:10) Yes they do, but equally so they teach that, “as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so too by the obedience of one many SHALL BE [not were] made (Greek: constituted) righteous.” (Rom 5:19)
If the ransom alone, without our acceptance of it, made us righteous, then it would have read, by the obedience of one many WERE MADE righteous. But though the ransom has been given by the Redeemer and has been accepted by Jehovah, only a few during the Gospel age have been, made righteous (justified)”through faith in His blood.” Thus by faith, the true believer personally accepts Jesus as his Savior and is made righteous and holy.
During the Gospel Age God has been selecting a church. The church is not brought to perfection in the sense that they are becoming perfect beings. They are merely reckoned perfect in the beginning; they are merely justified BY FAITH and have peace with God, as the apostle says. This is FAITH JUSTIFICATION; it is not the real or actual justification.
There is a difference. The word means, to be made righteous. You are not righteous, and I am not righteous, and nobody is righteous. But you say,
Have we not accepted Christ?
Yes that is true, and that means that you have come into harmony with Him, and that you have what the Bible calls faith justification, or “justification by faith”. However it is not an ACTUAL justification.
You ask,
What do you mean by actual justification?
The word means to be made right. God does not make us over, except in the spirit of our minds, but through the merit of Christ our blemishes and imperfections in the flesh are covered in His sight and we come into relationship with God; we are justified by faith.
Let us look at it from another point of view.
Justification is a judicial or (as it is called) forensic word: a word derived from processes of law. When a judge declares a man to be “not guilty,” he does not thereby make him “not guilty.” Though declared not guilty the man may as a matter of fact be guilty. Moreover, some men have been declared guilty who later were proved to be innocent.
No scholar will dispute this forensic use of the word “justification” in the Bible. It expresses the verdict of acquittal and establishes a man’s status in the eyes of the law. Thus God justifies whenever he refuses to condemn—when he ignores whatever may have been our sins. And he declares his willingness to do this simply because a man believes in Jesus Christ. Let a man believe or take God in Jesus Christ at his gracious word and the value of this act of trust or allegiance is such that God reckons it for righteousness and admits a man into his fellowship (as a friend, such as was the case with Abraham), as if he were already fit for such fellowship in his actual habits and conduct.
There is imputation here, but it is the right sort of imputation. It is dealing with us not as we are, nor exactly as we are not, but as we are becoming in virtue of the new attachment under which our life has passed. Faith, then, is reckoned for righteousness because it puts us upon the right basis and in the right relation to God. Therefore, it is a root out of which, provided it continues to subsist, all righteousness can healthily grow, whereas, the most brilliant efforts or works on a wrong basis may have neither sound root nor principle of progress in them. To believe in Jesus is to have the root of the matter in one self. Therefore, when a man first believes, God can ignore all his previous life and deal with him simply on the new basis, in hope.
Thus it should be fully established that ONLY THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN JUSTIFIED BY FAITH, constituted righteous and holy in the sight of God can receive true enlightenment, knowledge of the truth.
This excludes the heathen and or the non-believer from the equation.
We continue with our next post.
“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened…”
First of all what is implied by being “enlighten”, and who are those who possess this “enlightenment”?
The definition of the word “enlighten” as taken from the dictionary means to give (someone) greater knowledge and understanding about a particular subject or situation, as applied to religion it means to give spiritual knowledge or insight, figuratively to illuminate or make clear (a particular problem or area of study).
Strong’s # 5050 gives the meaning as follows, (enlighten: nagahh; a primitive root; to glitter; causatively, to illuminate: — (en-) lighten, (cause to) shine.
The scriptures inform us that, “Light [truth] is sown (provided for) the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart” (Psa 97:11)
So who are the righteous?
Don’t the scriptures clearly say that “there is none righteous no not one.” (Rom 3:10) Yes they do, but equally so they teach that, “as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so too by the obedience of one many SHALL BE [not were] made (Greek: constituted) righteous.” (Rom 5:19)
If the ransom alone, without our acceptance of it, made us righteous, then it would have read, by the obedience of one many WERE MADE righteous. But though the ransom has been given by the Redeemer and has been accepted by Jehovah, only a few during the Gospel age have been, made righteous (justified)”through faith in His blood.” Thus by faith, the true believer personally accepts Jesus as his Savior and is made righteous and holy.
During the Gospel Age God has been selecting a church. The church is not brought to perfection in the sense that they are becoming perfect beings. They are merely reckoned perfect in the beginning; they are merely justified BY FAITH and have peace with God, as the apostle says. This is FAITH JUSTIFICATION; it is not the real or actual justification.
There is a difference. The word means, to be made righteous. You are not righteous, and I am not righteous, and nobody is righteous. But you say,
Have we not accepted Christ?
Yes that is true, and that means that you have come into harmony with Him, and that you have what the Bible calls faith justification, or “justification by faith”. However it is not an ACTUAL justification.
You ask,
What do you mean by actual justification?
The word means to be made right. God does not make us over, except in the spirit of our minds, but through the merit of Christ our blemishes and imperfections in the flesh are covered in His sight and we come into relationship with God; we are justified by faith.
Let us look at it from another point of view.
Justification is a judicial or (as it is called) forensic word: a word derived from processes of law. When a judge declares a man to be “not guilty,” he does not thereby make him “not guilty.” Though declared not guilty the man may as a matter of fact be guilty. Moreover, some men have been declared guilty who later were proved to be innocent.
No scholar will dispute this forensic use of the word “justification” in the Bible. It expresses the verdict of acquittal and establishes a man’s status in the eyes of the law. Thus God justifies whenever he refuses to condemn—when he ignores whatever may have been our sins. And he declares his willingness to do this simply because a man believes in Jesus Christ. Let a man believe or take God in Jesus Christ at his gracious word and the value of this act of trust or allegiance is such that God reckons it for righteousness and admits a man into his fellowship (as a friend, such as was the case with Abraham), as if he were already fit for such fellowship in his actual habits and conduct.
There is imputation here, but it is the right sort of imputation. It is dealing with us not as we are, nor exactly as we are not, but as we are becoming in virtue of the new attachment under which our life has passed. Faith, then, is reckoned for righteousness because it puts us upon the right basis and in the right relation to God. Therefore, it is a root out of which, provided it continues to subsist, all righteousness can healthily grow, whereas, the most brilliant efforts or works on a wrong basis may have neither sound root nor principle of progress in them. To believe in Jesus is to have the root of the matter in one self. Therefore, when a man first believes, God can ignore all his previous life and deal with him simply on the new basis, in hope.
Thus it should be fully established that ONLY THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN JUSTIFIED BY FAITH, constituted righteous and holy in the sight of God can receive true enlightenment, knowledge of the truth.
This excludes the heathen and or the non-believer from the equation.
We continue with our next post.
