Jesus is the Shepherd of the sheep. His sheep hear his voice and they follow him. The Shepherd knows his sheep and his sheep know him. John 10:14 I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me,
The point of who "My sheep" are is found in v.9.
Enter is not a metaphor for believing in Him.
It certainly does mean that. No one "gets saved" by entering the kingdom. Here is the verse: "“I am the door; if anyone enters through Me,
he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture."
One is saved by believing in Him. Hence, to "enter" means to believe.
Jesus is the Shepherd of the sheep. His sheep hear his voice and they follow him. The Shepherd knows his sheep and his sheep know him. John 10:14 I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me,
Enter is not a metaphor for believing in Him. Enter means enter the kingdom; his sheep enter the kingdom. The Shepherd goes before them and he leads them into the kingdom.
v.9 is quite clear: those who "enter through Him ARE SAVED". No one gets saved by entering into the kingdom. Only the saved WILL enter the kingdom.
I said this:
"Well, the "so what?" is that all believers are given eternal life, and none of them will perish."
That is exactly what Jesus said in John 10:28 - and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. "Them" refers to His sheep, which refers back to v.9 as those who "enter through Him". The reason one is saved is because they HAVE eternal life.
And Jesus said exactly that back in John 5:24 - “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who
hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me,
HAS eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
Hence, when one believes, they have eternal life.
Hence, not false.
The Shepherd gives eternal life to his sheep. John 10:28; his sheep are those who follow him for they know his voice.
It's already been shown that the context for who His sheep are is in v.9. It's those who enter through Him who are saved and are His sheep.
To follow Him is to follow His instruction - keep his commandments, follow his teachings. It's the Father's will that we should follow His Son. Those who do not do the will of the Father will not enter the kingdom.
Matthew 7:21
“Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom
of heaven, but he who does the
will of my
Father who is in heaven.
In spite of all the works those people did, they were basing their appeal for entering the kingdom on their works, NOT on the finished work of Christ on the cross for their sins.
Hence, they were never believers.
True believers will not fall away.
Was Jesus not telling us the truth when He said: "“Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root;
they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away."? Throughout the NT, we read that one is saved by believing. And there are NO verses that teach that one must continue to believe in order to continue to be saved, even though it seems many believe that to be true.
Or was Paul not telling us the truth in 1 Tim 4:1 - "But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,"
How can one "fall away" from something that they aren't in? Paul is describing those who have believed. The Greek word for "fall away" is: aphistēmi
1) to make stand off, cause to withdraw, to remove
1a) to excite to revolt
2) to stand off, to stand aloof
2a)
to go away, to depart from anyone
2b) to desert, withdraw from one
2c)
to fall away, become faithless
2d)
to shun, flee from
2e) to cease to vex one
2f)
to withdraw one’s self from, to fall away
2g) to keep one’s self from, absent one’s self from
This cannot be said of anyone who has never believed.
The Greek word is where we get the English word "apostasy", which means "to no longer believe what was believed". Hence, an apostate is a former believer.
That's what distinguishes them as true believers. Paul said some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. But Jesus said his sheep will not follow strangers. John 10:5 So those who fall away are not his sheep.
Such mixing and matching of unrelated verses to try to make a point isn't how to rightly divide the Word of Truth. Why would Jesus speak of stupid sheep who do not follow Him? Wouldn't that tend to encourage the stupid ones?
To take John 10:5 totally literally, then how would one explain ALL the contradictory doctrines we find amongst evangelical Christians today? Clearly, they're not all following just HIm.
They called Him Lord, and they said they did mighty works in his name. Only believers would call Him Lord.
Actually, Matt 7:21-23 proves that to be in error. They showed NO signs of believing in Him for salvation. Like the Pharisees, they clearly thought they would get into the kingdom based on their works.
Only believers would say they did mighty works in His name. The point is they were not his sheep. They did not follow Jesus or keep his sayings and his commandments.
The ONLY basis for not getting into the kingdom is found in what their appeal was based on: works. And Paul said this about that:
8 For by grace you have been
saved through faith; and that
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9
not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Eph 2:8,9
I already told you what Paul said in Romans 11:29 His use of the word 'irrevocable means it is the promise of the gifts that is irrevocable.
There is NO mention of any "promise" of a gift in Rom 11;29, or anywhere else in Scripture, [edited]. What is mentioned is actual gifts of God. And Paul was clear about what he considered to be gifts of God:
spiritual gifts in 1:11
justification in 3:24 and 5:15,16,17
eternal life in 6:23
These are what he meant because he described them as gifts of God.
That's why he isn't specific. re. eternal life.
My response proves why it IS specific regarding eternal life. And justification and spiritual gifts.
It makes your explanation unnecessary. It's the promise God made to Jacob and his descendants.
Please prove this from Scripture.
Granted you can say God always keeps his promise regardless, but in this letter he is specifically referring to the promise he made to Jacob.
Please cite any verse in Romans that supports this idea.
I already told you what Paul said in Romans 11:29 His use of the word 'irrevocable means it is the promise of the gifts that is irrevocable. That's why he isn't specific. re. eternal life. It makes your explanation unnecessary. It's the promise God made to Jacob and his descendants. Granted you can say God always keeps his promise regardless, but in this letter he is specifically referring to the promise he made to Jacob.
What verse shows that Paul was "specifically referring to a promise He made to Jacob".