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E3. The Forty Things 

Also known as ‘The 40 Absolutes: Thirty Nine Irrevocable Absolutes and One Revocable Absolute’ (Originally compiled by Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, revised by R.B.Thieme, Jr.)

1. These are the spiritual assets God gives to every Church-Age believer at the moment of Faith Alone in Christ Alone. Some assets relate wholly to salvation; some to eternal security; some to the believer’s spiritual life; some to Christian service.

2. Examples:

  -Salvation Assets: Perfect righteousness imputed to the believer (+R); The believer is reconciled to God; The believer is redeemed from the slave market of sin; Eternal judgment is removed.

  -Eternal Security: The believer is baptized (identified) into Jesus Christ forever by the Holy Spirit; His name is sealed in the Book of Life by the Holy Spirit; He is given eternal life in Christ.

  -Spiritual Life: We are given a human spirit, by which means we can have a relationship with God; Filled with the Holy Spirit; Made a priest – can name sins and pray directly to God the Father; Guaranteed Logistical Grace including all the doctrine you need to reach spiritual maturity within your lifetime.

  -Christian Service: The believer becomes an ambassador to the Lord Jesus Christ; is given a spiritual gift by the Holy Spirit.

3. For the complete list of the 40 Absolutes (complete with Bible references) please see the appendix section of the book “The Plan of God” or “God the Holy Spirit versus the Sin Nature” by R.B.Thieme, Jr. Both of these books can be downloaded in pdf. format from the Publications/Basic Books page on the www.rbthieme.org website.

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F. What John 16:8-11 teaches us about correct evangelism

1. “God consciousness” must take place before “Christ consciousness.” God consciousness takes place at a young age. God reveals himself to all people, at which time the individual makes a decision to accept or reject the existence of God (Ps. 19:1; Rom. 1:18-21; Ps. 14:1

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2. Rejection of The Creator at the moment of God consciousness means the unbeliever/atheist will be darkened by the false teachings of paganism or pantheism, or more recently, be deceived by pseudo-science such Big Bang theory and Darwinism as they grasp for a reason to the origin of life.

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3. If a person rejects the existence of God they will reject the Bible and the Gospel message as the inspired Word of God. However, accepting/ believing in the existence of God does not guarantee salvation - many false religions present the concept of God or gods as a Creator (e.g. Islam, Mormonism, Hinduism) but with a totally false message of salvation, denying the person and/or work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. 

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4. The Word of God and the Holy Spirit work together to provide the means (divine power) by which we can know and understand the Gospel message:

1. This is the same principle as to how a believer learns and applies doctrine (John 14:26). The Word of God is power (Heb. 4:12); The Holy Spirit is power (1 Cor. 2:9-14, 1 Thess. 1:5, 6; see ‘Operation Z’; the book ‘The Holy Spirit vs the Sin Nature’ by R.B.Thieme, Jr.)

2. For the unbeliever, spiritual truth is ‘foolishness’ to them (1 Cor. 2:14) therefore the Holy Spirit must reveal these things to him. This is found in the word ‘eklego’ in John 16:8-11, which in this context takes meaning of ‘to convince’ and ‘to convict’.

3. When an unbeliever is being evangelized, (or a believer is hearing doctrine) in a way that can be academically understood by him, the Holy Spirit convicts/convinces the hearer that what they are hearing is undeniable truth. Whether the hearer actually believes it or not (i.e. accepts or rejects the information) is entirely a matter of their own volition: “He who has ears [+V / 'positive volition'] let him hear.” (Mar. 4:23). 

4. The Holy Spirit does not operate in a vacuum, in other words, the Gospel (for unbelievers), and doctrinal teaching (for believers), must be presented in a clear fashion - "faith comes from hearing, and hearing the spoken message of Jesus Christ" (Roman 10:17).

John 16:8-11  :  

“And when He [the Holy Spirit] has come, He will convict the world [unbelievers] concerning sin, and concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment. Concerning sin because they believe not in Me; concerning righteousness because I go to My Father and you will see me no more; concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is already judged [Satan: John 12:31; Matt. 25:41]” 

      1. A complete Gospel presentation must include information that convicts the unbeliever of his fallen and hopeless status before God, i.e. that the unbeliever is a sinner (Rom. 3:23; 6:23). The unbeliever is also convinced through hearing the Gospel and the common grace ministry of the Holy Spirit that Christ took the punishment for all our sins, except the one unpardonable sin: “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 12:31).

      2. The unbeliever is convicted regarding righteousness: That he lacks the perfect righteousness required to have an eternal relationship with God (Is. 64:6). A clear Gospel message conveys the fact that because of Christ’s work on the Cross (of taking the punishment for the sins of all mankind), God’s righteousness was therefore propitiated and He is now free to give His perfect righteousness to all who believe.

(Rom. 4:1-5; Matt. 5:20; 6:33)

       3. The unbeliever is convicted by the Holy Spirit regarding judgment - that unless he accepts God's saving grace by believing in Christ as his Savior he will face eternal judgment (John 3:36; Rev. 20:11-15). The Holy Spirit also convinces the believer that Jesus Christ was judged for our sins in our place on the Cross (Rom. 5:8; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 3:18).

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G. Explaining Election and Predestination (with excerpts from “Fellowship with God, Volume Two” by Max Klein)

Romans 8:29-30: “[We know] that whom He foreknew He also predestined conformed ones to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren [Church age believers]. And whom He predestined, these same ones He also called [kaleo – in context this relates to election of the believer], and whom He called, these same ones He also justified, and whom He justified, these same ones He also glorified.”

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1. All of the main verbs used in this verse (foreknew, predestined, called, justified and glorified) are all in the aorist tense, which means they occurred simultaneously in the mind of God in eternity past. God does not think like we do. Man thinks chronologically (from past, to present, to future) however God’s omniscience means he knows (and is always thinking about) all things knowable (past, present, future, actual and probable) simultaneously.

2. Foreknowledge is just one part of God’s knowledge. In the context of this passage  foreknowledge is God looking into the future (in terms of human history) and seeing how every individual in human history will respond to the Gospel message or not. For those he knows will respond He ‘elects’ them to be a part of His eternal plan. In other words, God elects all those who, by means of their free-will, make a decision to believe the Gospel message.

3. Predestination coordinates with omniscience so that the free will of man is never violated. God never turns your yes into no and your no into yes.

4. To use a computer analogy, we could say that God’s omniscience "typed into the computer of the Divine Decree" the thoughts, motivations, decisions and acts of every Christian. Based on this information God was able to design a predestined plan for each believer, including the method and timing of God’s calling of His elect. This plan is designed perfectly to provide every believer the greatest opportunity to succeed in achieving his ultimate purpose for existence – Glorifying God to the Maximum.

5. If an unbeliever ‘fails’ to gain salvation, or a believer ‘fails’ to be victorious in the Spiritual Life he has no-one to blame but himself. God did everything He could to provide the means for victory, the only barrier is man’s own negative volition to God and His plan.

Principle: The Sovereignty of God and the free-will of man co-exist. While God is our Creator and exerts great influence over every aspect of our lives, and can control the circumstances we must face (even the exact time of our birth and death), our volition always has, and always will remain truly free.

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H. Applications:

1. God does not arbitrarily decide who gets to believe (i.e. who is saved) and who does not believe. (Please review the explanation of Ephesians 2:8 above, regarding the antecedent of the Greek word ‘touto’)

2. The concept of ‘hyper-Calvinism’ (implying ‘limited atonement’, that God desired to save some, but not others) must be rejected. (John Calvin himself did not develop or promote this false doctrine of limited atonement. Comparative studies of the writings of Calvin and those of his student Theodore Beza show that ‘Calvinism’ was proposed and promoted by Beza who we can assume used his professor’s name to give the doctrine wider appeal.)

3. If God chose some to believe (and be saved) this would also mean He chose the rest of humanity not to believe (and therefore perish). This is a blasphemous idea, as God desires for all to be saved (John 3:16; 1 Tim. 2:3-4; 2 Pet. 3:9). The concept of hyper-Calvinism also negates the entire concept of free-will.

4. For those who believe that God personally elected them to believe this means they are now forced into ‘proving’ to themselves and to others (usually the church hierarchy) that they really were elected - sometimes referred to as ‘perseverance of the saints’. This means relying on good works, behavioral change, Christian Service etc. to ensure their salvation, which is antithetical to the grace Gospel message of ‘Faith Alone in Christ Alone.’ It also negates the need to give the Gospel to the unbeliever, as God has already saved those who will be saved – evangelism would therefore be unnecessary.

Website:     www.ibdoctrine.org      

Email (Pastor Tim): sawokproductions@yahoo.com