Posted by Steven Benjamin on April 11, 2009, 6:23 pm, in reply to " TRACT No. 3 (pt 17)"
Concretely: It is never fair when treating of the subject of the judgment, to give first and foremost consideration to any writing which deals directly with the subject of salvation, while only incidentally referring to the subject of the judgment. Take for example Paul's statement:
"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. " Heb. 6:19, 20 .
Instead of viewing the content of these verses in the light of all that is revealed on the subject, a procedure which would insure the verses' reflecting the author's thought, some Bible students, losing sight of Paul's point of view, magnify out of all due proportion the importance of these verses' statement, thus placing upon it constructions which, though perhaps plausible enough when taken alone are manifestly strained, warped, and untenable when viewed in the light of all other scriptures bearing on the subject. Such wresting, needless to say, is unfair to the author, perilous to the one affected, and criminal of the wrester.
To illustrate the matter still further and more extensively: Surrounding a table are six Bible students and an infidel. On one side are Peter James, and John; on the other, Black Brown, and Green; while at one end is the infidel. He listens attentively to the six discussing Christ's ministry after His ascension, in the light of Hebrews 6:19 20;9:12,26 -- "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. " Heb. 6:19, 20 "Neither by the blood of His own blood He entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us. " Heb. 9:12.
"For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. " Heb. 9:26.
Peter, James, and John, sharing the author's perspective, are in full agreement that one cannot, on a scripture treating of salvation, and only incidentally referring to Christ's ministry, build up a correct basic understanding of that ministry, but rather that one must take the writings of the prophets which deal directly with the sanctuary and its service, and then harmonize Paul's writings with the prophets', not the prophets' with Paul's.
So far as Peter, James, and John are concerned the discussion results in their arriving at the conclusion that Paul, in order to be in agreement with both himself and the prophets, must be understood in Hebrews 6:19 to be speaking in prophetic past (that is, future in fact, though present or past in tense), and that therefore he is pointing to the time that his converts are, with Christ, "once in the end of the world" (Heb. 9:26), to enter "within the veil," "whither the forerunner [Christ] is for us entered. " Heb. 6:20. When? -- not in Paul's time but now, "in the end of the world," His having first "entered in once into the holy place. " Heb. 9:12.
Black, Brown, and Green, however, from their foreign points of view on these verses, are in disagreement even among themselves: Black stressing Hebrews 6:19, 20, is convinced that Paul teaches that Christ entered the Most Holy apartment immediately after His ascension; Brown, holding to Hebrews 9:12, is positive that Christ entered, not the Most Holy, but the holy apartment; and Green, on the weight of verse 26, insists that Christ is to enter the sanctuary "once in the end of the world," after His second coming.
(CONTD)
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