Was the Paralytic Jesus Healed a Believer?

Was the Paralytic Jesus Healed a Believer?
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Welcome to the Grace in Focus radio / podcast. Today, Bob Wilkin and Ken Yates are in Mark chapter 2. Was the paralyzed man who was let down through the roof a believer? What does this man and his friends’ picture? What do they teach us? Bob and Ken have some ideas and an interesting discussion for you from Mark chapter two ... Please listen!
Mark 2:1-12, Paralytic, Believer, Discipleship, Fellowship, Forgiveness
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[@quadrasaurus-rex8809]

Beautiful.

[@stephaniel7053]

Thank you for this. Just had a Sunday School lesson about this story however it was strongly focused on the friends.

[@jacobsilverberg1329]

Regarding the February 8, 2024 article on Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16, I also would have thought the forgiveness of sins to be synonymous with salvation. John equates belief with life. What sort of eternal life is that if we are cast to outer darkness where the weeping and gnashing of teeth is? If a charge remains against us it must be adjudicated, but Jesus says we shall not enter into judgement upon belief. No charge is against us in Romans 6:33, the charge of our legal indebtedness is canceled at Col. 2:14 and the Corinthians were justified while practicing sin because John said it is impossible for one born into the kingdom to sin. Isn't that the forgiveness of sins necessary for salvation? Doesn't atonement credit our account? Do believers enter the Holy City, with impurity? How can there be an eternal life of judgement and sorrow when tears are no more and the former things no longer called to mind? The wrath of God is upon the unbeliever for his debt at Col. 3:6, and upon believers too if we also remain in debt; true? Thanks, I have learned much from your articles!

[@RegularCupOfJoe]

Way better than Ralph Warnock's take on this.

[@bodilkragh3847]

💕 Ken, you say that the man Jesus healed, was cursed by God? Is all sick people that? Jesus says something else, I think.... Best wishes from Denmark 💕

[@DannyLoyd]

So, did they believe in the DBR of Christ? Luke 24:47 Jesus said that " Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name beginning from Jerusalem", and this happens in Acts 2 where there they were told to " Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins...", This is where you should begin. And we see in Acts 19 " And Paul said, " John's baptism with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to BELIEVE IN THE ONE who was to come after him", and yet even though they believed John's message and were baptized by John, they had to be baptized in the name of Jesus. The PARALYTIC WAS under the OT, not the NT, and as I said, apparently we do not have to believe in the DBR of Christ, for the Paralytic didn't.

[@soljos1190]

Not once is the DBR the Object and Content of one's faith whereby one is irreversibly born again with irreversible Everlasting Life . Ever . The Disciples were clearly regenerated well before understanding His attributes/Works He performed (DBR) . Your presupposition is a 5 Part Performance Contract till death to merit and DESERVE His Free and Never Deserving Gift of Endless Everlasting Life . Utterly devoid of Logic . As impossible to attain as it is to win the Olympic 100 Meter Dash shortly after having both Legs Amputated .

[@soljos1190]

Repentance (turning from sins/walking in righteous deeds/works) is Never a Condition of being born again with irreversible Everlasting Life as A FREE and never Merited Gift . It is not faith , the Only Condition found in every conceivable Evangelistic/Everlasting Life/endless Justification before God passage in the Bible . Dr. Wilkin addresses David Croteau on the complete ABSENCE of the term Repentance in the book of John : "John the Baptist said the one who disobeys the Son shall not see life (John 3:36). Croteau sees there a call to repentance and obedience. Yet BAGD understands apeitheō in John 3:36 as “the supreme disobedience…meaning disbelieve, be an unbeliever” (p. 82D). This is a faith issue, not a works issue. That is why many versions translate apeitheō in John 3:36 as “he who does not believe the Son…” But even if John 3:36 had said, “He who obeys the Son has everlasting life and he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on Him,” that would in no way introduce the theme of turning from sins. The issue would be obedience, not repentance. But John 3:36 does not say even that. John the Baptist said, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life…” That is the same message as John 3:16. No repentance is present. Croteau thinks the call to step into the light in John 3:19-21 a call to repentance. Zane Hodges wrote a journal article on this passage, showing that coming to the light in this context refers to openly confessing Jesus, something Nicodemus did not do, but something that John the Baptist (discussed in the verses which immediately follow, John 3:22-26) did quite well (see BibSac, Oct-Dec 1978: 314-22). There is no call to turn from sins in these verses. Instead, there is a call to confess Christ. It is true that in v 19 the Lord says, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” But this is not a call to repentance. This is a statement of fact. Men’s evil deeds often, but not always, keep them from faith in Christ. Of course, since some come to faith in Christ and all are sinners, some clearly do overcome this hindrance and listen to and believe the message of life. Nicodemus is one such person. And in the very next chapter John tells of the woman at the well coming to faith in Christ. Yet her deeds were especially evil. And there is no indication that she repented before or after coming to faith."

[@soljos1190]

How Can Someone Be Saved Without Being Forgiven? February 8, 2024 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16, Forgiveness And Salvation Grant, a listener to our Grace in Focus podcast, asks a super question: I have a question about the recent podcast that was done concerning Acts 2:38. Towards the end of the answer to the question, Bob said that Saul (Paul) needed to be baptized to receive the forgiveness of sins, but that he had come to faith and been saved three days earlier on the road to Damascus. Can you please explain this more clearly? I suppose my question could be stated: How could Paul be saved before his sins were forgiven? I really do appreciate the GES teachings on many of the confusing passages in the scriptures. My wife and I have recently found GES and have found these teachings so refreshing in reminding us how free the gift of everlasting life truly is! Grant is clearly open to what I said. Most people are not open to anything inconsistent with what they think they know is true. In this case, if I’m sure that forgiveness of sins is necessary to be saved, then Paul could not have been saved on the road to Damascus. He was told three days later to wash away his sins by being baptized: “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). That creates another issue. Aren’t people born again and forgiven when they believe in Christ? Ananias said nothing about believing in Christ in Acts 22:16. Paul said in Gal 1:11-12 that he did not receive his gospel from any man, but directly from Jesus Christ. That means that Ananias could not have led Paul to faith in Christ. The Lord Jesus did. Acts 2:38 and Acts 22:16 show that Jewish people who were guilty of having been complicit in Jesus’ crucifixion had to repent and be baptized in order to receive the Spirit and the forgiveness of sins. But they were born again before that, when they believed in Jesus Christ. Lanny Thomas Tanton wrote two great journal articles drawn from his master’s thesis on Acts 2:38 (click here) and Acts 22:16 (click here). I recommend you check them out. When the message moved to Samaritans, they merely had to believe in Christ to be born again and forgiven. However, they had to wait until Peter and John laid hands on them before they could receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:12-17). It was not until Gentiles were brought into the Church that they were not only born again but also received the Spirit and the forgiveness of sins when they believed (Acts 10:43-48; 11:14). From that point forward, that was the experience of both Jews and Gentiles. But until then, things were different for Jews and Samaritans. We know from 1 John 1:9 (and Luke 15:11-24) that believers can lack forgiveness and be out of fellowship with God. A believer might die with unforgiven sins. But he remains born again. Forgiveness of sins is not a condition of everlasting life. It is a mistake to make the forgiveness of sins the bullseye in evangelism. The bullseye is everlasting life. All who believe in Him have everlasting life that cannot be lost. Why is it a mistake to make the forgiveness of sins the bullseye? First, it is wrong because it is possible to believe that forgiveness can be lost. Not so with everlasting life as taught by the Lord Jesus. As Dr. Ryrie loved to say, If everlasting life could be lost, then it has the wrong name. Second, it is a mistake because it violates the principle of WWJD. We know what Jesus did. He did not make the forgiveness of sins the bullseye. Grant, think through John’s Gospel. How often did the Lord Jesus say, “He who believes in Me has the forgiveness of sins”? Never. Not once. How often did He say, “He who believes in Me has everlasting life”? Over twenty times!i Forgiveness is a wonderful blessing. But it has not always been granted to people at the moment of faith. Acts is a book that tells us about the growth and development of the Church. Things changed over time. If we do not recognize that, we will end up with an evangelistic message that contradicts the teaching of the Lord Jesus and His apostles. __________ i Eleven times in the NKJV, the Lord Jesus said that everlasting life or eternal life is the bullseye (John 3:15, 16; 4:14; 5:24, 39; 6:40, 47, 54; 10:28; 12:50; 17:2). Twelve more times He said that life (without a modifier; in context referring to irrevocable life) is the bullseye (John 5:21, 24, 40; 6:33, 35, 48, 53, 63; 10:10; 11:25; 14:6; 20:31). This does not include John 3:36, where John the Baptist twice said that the bullseye is believing in Jesus for everlasting life.

[@Liminalplace1]

Acts 18:25-27 Apollos had the baptism of John AND fervour in SPIRIT but wasn't later baptized "in the name of the Lord". In contrast to Acts 19 where disciples in Ephesians had Johns baptism but no knowledge of Jesus and so no Spirit.

[@2Chronicles714_]

​@soljos1190 No one is forgiven of sins without repentance -Jesus.