THE BODY OF CHRIST

     The Body of Christ is a beautiful thing. It is very good for the Body of Christ to come together in fellowship, to encourage each other, and to get to know one another, each one being filled with His Holy Spirit. After all, we will soon be spending eternity with one another, if indeed we continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which we have heard and believed. (Col. 1:23)

     Paul describes this beautiful fellowship in this way in I Cor. 14:26: “What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.”

     We are the Body of Christ; God dwells in us! In Acts 7:48 Stephen tells us, “The Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands.”  In I Cor. 3:16 Paul says, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” And Peter tells us in I Peter 2:5, “You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” These three men who knew Christ, Stephen, Paul and Peter, are in agreement that God dwells in us, and as the scriptures command us, as His spiritual house we are to be filled with His Holy Spirit!

     Let’s worship and praise Him. We have so much to thank Him for! This life here on this earth is so brief compared to eternity. As James puts it, “You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away,” (James 4:14) but on the night before He was crucified Jesus assured us that He was going on ahead to prepare an eternal home for us. In John 14:1-3 He says, “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

     “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” I Cor. 2:9

     Let us praise Him together!  

Jesus Died For All

Hello Everyone,
     My latest project has been to search the scriptures for verses that speak of Jesus dying for all. I saw the need to do this because I have been hearing more and more teaching promoting the idea that Jesus did not die for all; that the atonement for sin purchased by His death on the cross was somehow "limited" to a certain group of "elect" people. Here are the verses I have found so far:

JESUS DIED FOR ALL

Isaiah 1:18-20 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁸ “Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord,
“Though your sins are as scarlet,
They will be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They will be like wool.
¹⁹ “If you consent and obey,
You will eat the best of the land;
²⁰ “But if you refuse and rebel,
You will be devoured by the sword.”
Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 45:22 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

²² “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth;
For I am God, and there is no other.

Isaiah 53:6 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁶ All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.

Isaiah 55:1 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

 “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have no ^[a]money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without cost.

Jeremiah 29:13 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹³ You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

Psalm 145:9 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁹ The Lord is good to all,
And His mercies are over all His works.

Matthew 11:28 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

²⁸ “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 18:14 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁴ So it is not the will ^[a]of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

Luke 2:10 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;

John 1:29 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

²⁹ The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

John 3:14-15 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁴ As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; ¹⁵ so that whoever ^[a]believes will in Him have eternal life.

Numbers 21:8 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, “^[a]Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” (The bite of the serpent is sin. We have all been bitten!)

John 3:16-17 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that He gave His ^[a]only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

John 6:51 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

“ I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

John 7:37 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

³⁷ Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “^[a]If anyone is thirsty, ^[b]let him come to Me and drink.

John 12:32 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

³² And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”

John 12:47 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁴⁷ If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.

Romans 1:5 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁵ through whom we have received grace and apostleship ^[a]to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake,

Romans 1:16 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Romans 2:11 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹¹ For there is no partiality with God.

Romans 3:21-24 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

²¹ But now apart ^[a]from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²² even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those ^[b]who believe; for there is no distinction; ²³ for all ^[c]have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

Romans 5:18 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁸ So then as through one transgression ^[a]there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness ^[b]there resulted justification of life to all men.

Romans 6:10 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁰ For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

Romans 10:4 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁴ For Christ is the ^[a]end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Romans 10:8-13 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁸ But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, ^9 [a]that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; ¹⁰ for with the heart a person believes, ^[b]resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, ^[c]resulting in salvation. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be ^[d]disappointed.” ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; ¹³ for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Romans 11:32 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

³² For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁴ For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; ¹⁵ and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

1 Timothy 2:4 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁴ who desires all men to be saved and to come to the ^[a]knowledge of the truth.

1 Timothy 2:6 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁶ who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony ^[a]given at ^[b]the proper time.

1 Timothy 4:10 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁰ For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

Titus 2:11 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared, ^[a]bringing salvation to all men,

Hebrews 2:9 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁹ But we do see Him who was made ^[a]for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.

Hebrews 9:12 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹² and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, ^[a]having obtained eternal redemption.

Hebrews 9:26 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

²⁶ Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

Hebrews 10:10 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁰ By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

1 John 2:2 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

² and He Himself is the ^[a]propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

1 John 4:15 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

1 John 5:1 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

 Whoever believes that Jesus is the ^[a]Christ is ^[b]born of God, and whoever loves the ^[c]Father loves the child ^[d]born of Him.

1 Peter 3:18 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁸ For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the ^[a]spirit;

2 Peter 3:9 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁹ The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

Revelation 22:17 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.