Complying With Homer’s Request
You insist that all mankind will be judged by their works and you deny imputed righteousness.
You correctly assert that I insist that all mankind will be judged by their works”. You make it sound as if this were an idea peculiar to my understanding. If you are in fact a “Berean”, receiving the word with all readiness, and searching the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things are so, you are doubtless aware of my source --- the teaching of the apostle Paul.
I believe we both agree that "without holiness, no one will see God". Again I ask you how those in hell (gehenna if you prefer) will be made holy? You have never answered this.
Do we both agree that it is necessary to “
strive for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord”? (Hebrews 12:14)
Many people believe in the necessity of a positional righteousness, a positional holiness, a cloak of righteousness which is placed upon us when we “trust in the finished work of Christ”, not an actual righteousness or holiness, but that we somehow “put on Christ’s righteousness” so that our sin is hidden from God. Many who hold this view believe we can go right on sinning and still be acceptable to God since God, when He looks at us, does not see our sin, but sees only Christ’s righteousness.
Homer, I am not sure whether or not you subscribe to positional righteousness, although it seems so since you promote the concept of “imputed righteousness”. But if this is not your position, and you believe in the necessity of practical holiness, tell me how
those in this life can be made holy, and why is it necessary if righteousness is imputed to us.
Absent imputed righteousness, what work will they do to become holy, in that place "...when no man can work", John 9:4.
It seems that you have now equated my belief (and Paul’s) of judgment according to our works, with doing works in order to become holy ---- and that, in spite of my frequent denial of self-effort in attaining righteousness. Can you not see that God requires holy character, and that this is made possible by the sacrifice of Christ? Good works result from this, not by self-effort, but because of the Father and the Son who dwell in us disciples, and who do the works through us, with our coöperation
2 Corinthians 5:15 And he died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
Again I ask you how those in hell (gehenna if you prefer) will be made holy? You have never answered this.
I believe I have given this explanation several times.
Those in Gehenna must repent and submit to the authority of Christ in the same way that those in this life must. Jesus clearly taught that those who would be His disciple must lose their lives for His sake. When they begin on that road of discipleship, they are also on the road to righteousness and completion when they will have been fully conformed to the image of Christ.
In this life, God sometimes uses pain to correct Christ’s disciples:
For whom the Lord loves, He trains --- He scourges every son whom He receives.
If in this life, He trains by scourging, every son whom He receives, how much more will He so train those in Gehenna.
But in this life, pain alone may be insufficient to correct us; we need a word from one of God’s servants. That will probably be the case in Gehenna. I think God’s servants, His resurrected saints, fully conformed to the image of Christ must bring that gospel which goes from age to age (“everlasting gospel” if you prefer) to the lost in Gehenna. That, together with the cleansing fires of Gehenna, will eventually do a work in every individual who will be resurrected and cast into Gehenna. I think the completed saints will also bring that permanent gospel to Satan and the demons. This idea seems shocking to us at first, but consider the following passage:
To me, the leaster of all saints, this grace was given to proclaim to the nations the incomprehensible riches of Christ, to bring to light what is the administration of the secret, hidden for ages in God, the One who created all, that through the Church, the variegated wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies. Ephesians 3:8-11
(Just as an aside, it seems that Paul coined a new Greek word here, which I translated as “leaster”, a word which is found no where else. It seems to mean something like “less than the least”.)
Paul says that he has been given the grace to:
1. Proclaim to the nations the incomprehensible riches of Christ.
2. Bring to light a special secret hidden for ages in God.
The special secret is that now, that is after the Church was instituted, the variegated wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies
through the Church. Who are these rulers and authorities? Are they not Satan and his angels? Are they not demons? It seems that the possibility of ministering the wisdom of God to Satan and the demons is even now possible. But it seems we are not yet equipped. But, at the return of Christ, after which the fully mature sons of God will be raised from the dead and revealed, for which the whole creation is groaning, with the glory of God revealed into them, they will be equipped to do this great work of proclaiming the permanent gospel to all the rebels, including the evil powers who will also be in Gehenna at that time. Paul described this revelation of the sons of God as follows:
I count that the sufferings of this present time have no weight toward the glory that is to be revealed into us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the eager expectation of the creation is patiently waiting for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was arranged for futility, not willingly but because of the arranging in fond expectation; because of which the creation itself will be freed from its bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together and travail in pain together until now; and not only so, but also we ourselves, who having the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for sonship, the redemption of the body. Romans 8:18-23
Notice that “the redemption of the body” is in apposition to “sonship”. When the blessed and holy ones who are privileged to share in the first resurrection have their bodies redeemed, that is, when they are raised to life, Christ will put the finishing touches on the process of salvation from sin (or sanctification) that had been taking place during their mortal lives, and they will be immortal, perfect (completed, fully mature sons), and fully equipped to carry out God’s great commission to reach the rebels in Gehenna with the permanent gospel.
So to sum up in answer to Homer’s question: “How will those in hell be made holy?” They will become holy through God's severe mercy, through the training of His correction, combined with the power of the gospel which shall be proclaimed to them, urging them to repent and yield to the authority of Christ.
May we all continue on the road to sonship, and receive the finishing touches from Christ's hands (with respect to the process of our sanctification, at the time of His return!!
After posting here I decided to post in the other thread as well.