Peairtach
Puritan Board Doctor
Premils and amils have no triumph for the Gospel on a worldwide scale but only on an individual scale.
So individual salvation does not bring glory to God?
This statement is an attempt to present an erroneous misrepresentation of both the PreMil view as well as the Amill view.
Premils assume a gospel triumph for individual Gentiles, but ultimately and also for the nation of Israel as a whole, which supposed national salvation is an incorrect view.
Amills teach the triumph of elect individuals, resurrected from death to life, by the workings of grace and power in and through the Savior, Jesus Christ, alone.
In other words,'s, you are incorrect in thinking that God ever intended or decreed or provided a salvation that would be "worldwide" or "national" or "universal" in any way, shape, or form.
There is NO biblical precedent for teaching that God has ever chosen to save an entire nation; an entire religious organisation, or even an entire family.
NONE.
God has always chosen to save a remnant of souls; gathered out of all nations, churches, and families. This cannot be denied or rebutted or argued, by employing the Word of God, at all.
At an individual eschatalogical level we do not find that evil and good are meant to grow alongside each other in the saint's heart,
Of course not. This is a strawman fallacy, proposed to denigrate the Amillennial view.
Amills distinguish between the regenerated hearts of the elect sons of God, and the unregenerate wickedness of the world at large. It is the Amill view that best provides teachings (and Creeds) that establish an anti-thesis between the Church of Jesus Christ and the world systems.
but that there is meant to be progressive but imperfect victory over evil until the individual is more and more sanctified. Sanctification is uneven and there can be set backs, but the overall trend is upwards and onwards.
Victory over sin is not found in any kind of "progressive sanctification," but only through genuine faith in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
This I believe is also the pattern in the collective realms of Church history and the progress of the Kingdom and Millennium until all the world is leavened by the Gospel.
Sir, the world will never be "leavened by the gospel."
That is not the purpose of the gospel message.
The gospel is not political or worldly, meant to save or even improve all of mankind. The gospel is strictly the calling of God, of His Elect, to come out of the world.
The "leavening" thereby achieved, is worked within individual hearts . . . not society at large . . . even though society is preserved like a meat that will go sour, if not exposed and sprinkled by the spiritual presence and "salt" of God's particular people. (Matthew 5:13)
Of course each soul is saved individually, but surely if more souls are saved and put into practice God's Word there will be greater salt and light in the world thus helping to transform society. Surely the more people that are saved, the more the beneficial effects on the world at large, as well as the fact that it will be beneficial for the saved individuals concerned in the life to come. Unless you believe that it is not beneficial or even detrimental for this world if large(r) numbers of individuals get saved?
Quote from Reformed Rush
Victory over sin is not found in any kind of "progressive sanctification," but only through genuine faith in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
I don't know what you mean by this. We are justified by faith alone in Christ's righteousness and death. But are we not also to make (imperfect) progress in sanctification from the moment of regeneration until perfection/glorification in Heaven?
Quote from Reformed Rush
Sir, the world will never be "leavened by the gospel.
The created world is good; the world that lieth in the wicked one (i.e. unbelievers) needs to be converted. The more unbelievers that are converted and put into practice God's Word, the more the leaven of the Gospel has its beneficial effect, the more Christ's kngdom comes de facto, although the whole earth is already Christ's de iure; and the less of the world will be under the control of those who lie in the wicked one.
God in Christ is able to do it by the Holy Spirit. The only Q is, Are there any indications in Scripture that He has promised to do it?