Re: [asa] Does ASA believe in Adam and Eve?

Sorry but this seems like very strained exegesis. You want to take very
literally a statement in Matthew that can quite naturally be understood as
hyperbolic or figurative in order to avoid what in context seems like the
straightforward literal meaning of the text in II Peter.

To forestall a criticism I can easily imagine from many on the list: Please
do not tell me that I am being inconsistent by saying that some biblical
texts shouldn't be read as literal history but also that the passage in II
Peter should be taken at face value. I am not saying that what II Peter
says is accurate history but that the author clearly seems to have
understood the whole world to have been destroyed in the flood. The fact
that some texts are metaphorical, figurative, poetic &c &c doesn't mean that
they all are. & the fact that words in a particular text are used in their
straightforward literal sense doesn't mean that the text itself is an
account of something that really happened. "Excalibur" in the Arthurian
romances is a sword, whether or not you think that any of those stories are
real history or that Arthur (if he existed) had such a sword.

As to your 1st question, I'm not an antinomian. As those who are justified
by Christ we are not under the law, but we are not only justified but
sinners, & the law certainly applies to us as sinners.

& to get into this more deeply we would also need to look at the differences
between the theologies of Paul & Matthew, but that would be, as they say,
"beyond the scope of this work."

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/

----- Original Message -----
From: <drsyme@cablespeed.com>
To: "George Murphy" <gmurphy@raex.com>; "ASA list" <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 8:31 AM
Subject: Re: [asa] Does ASA believe in Adam and Eve?

Are we still under the law George?

  "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the
Prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Verily
I say unto you, until heaven and earth pass, not one jot
or one tittle shall pass from the law until all be
fulfilled". [Matthew 5:17-18]

So if heaven and earth is supposed to be understood
 literally as they physical heaven and earth, we are still
under the law. However, if heaven and earth is figurative
and refers to the old covenant, then it would be
consistent to say that this passage in Matthew is
referring to Christ ending one age and instituting
another. We are now in the new age, the eternal age, the
Kingdom of Christ, the age of the new covenant, and are no
longer under the law, but grace.

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Received on Thu Mar 29 10:43:41 2007