Thread: Dr. Ruckman
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Old 04-12-2008, 05:15 PM
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pbiwolski pbiwolski is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brother Tim View Post
Could you further describe the difference between applying something doctrinally and applying something spiritually? Examples if possible.
Sorry I am so far behind, I'll try to be brief.

Matt. 25:14-30, here the Lord tells of a man that gave talents to his servants then left town. He returned and demanded an account of their doings. You know the passage, so the last servant, the unprofitable servant, was cast into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Now to apply this doctrinally to the church, you would be teaching a works-based salvation. The "wicked and slothful servant" was a servant of his Lord just as the other two faithful ones, yet he was cast into hell because he didn't "live" it.

Most fundamentalists that can't "rightly divide" try to say he wasn't saved in the first place (won't work, vs. 14 says he was "his own servant") or that the result really isn't hell, but rather just a "spiritual form of punishment." That won't work either, Mt. 8:12 shows this is as literal as it gets.

So then, the story starts by the phrase For the kingdom of heaven is as... And that's it, the story is about the Second Coming of Christ (not the Rapture) and His reckoning (vs19) with the Jews (not the Judgment Seat of Christ). Following this reckoning with Israel first, He judges all nations (see the rest of the chapter).

Now once the doctrine is established, you many gain spiritual application from the passage. You can see that God does give us "talents" and desires us to used them for Him, etc. You can see that God is a Judge and fully intends on judging, but do not put yourself (church-age saint) into the story for the outcome for that one servant contradicts Paul's writing to the church.