The Keys Of Hell And Of Death
Consider the simple dialectic disjunction between r&u-1∨s&v-1. I will equate these four sets r, s, etc., to:
r = the old covenant is in effect.
u-1 = those not alive under the old covenant.
s = the new covenant is in effect.
v-1= those not saved under the new covenant.
And the keys of hell and death are found from these sets to more completely form an octal; being those predicates of (r&s)-1 and of u&v.
Now, these two predicates form K4 groups as they did in the filter table of the book's fourth chapter; Then I note that in the old covenant to be condemned under the law is death and equivalently under the new covenant to be "not saved" is an equivalent spiritual "death".
Then I note from the octal I find the groups freely deciding the disjunctions of r∨u-1and s∨v-1, decided by the predicate u&v acting as virtue. Then to not be at all saved and be a condemned lawbreaker means you have no part in God: (for this is "death"). Christ has this as a "key": for He can surely freely decide the disjunction. (cf. "I desire mercy and not sacrifice".) By providing a new covenant, those dead under the old covenant could find life in Christ (who fulfilled the law and as the firstborn of the resurrection is as u&v). Christ, freely operates in the K4 group formed of virtue in p, (r&s)-1 and u&v. By switching from r∨u-1 decided by u&v to s∨u-1 decided by (r&s)-1, Christ may freely (as the mediator of grace relaxing the condemnation of either covenant) call them to repentance.
Similarly in the new covenant, those caught in unbelief deciding s∨v-1 by u&v are possibly spiritually "dead" but spiritual life is clearly offered in Christ with u&v, and as the new covenant is now in effect (as the call to repent was also offered in the old covenant), deciding between (r&s)-1 and u&v would remind that there is a disjunction in s∨u-1 decided by (r&s)-1 which is conviction to those that heed it, which will save from "hell". In the new covenant, there is still repentance required against lawlessness.
So (r&s)-1 is the key of "hell" from which Christ may save (i.e. those that are spirtitually dead are merely "not alive yet"), and u&v is clearly "life" to those that are dead. Then the keys of "death and hell" correspond to saving those dead in the old covenant (for that is the limit of the law on exclusion from Israel) and of "hell" in the new covenant, for that is now the limit of the NT "law" on exclusion from salvation.
The point? r&u-1∨s&v-1 must be decided - and the left hand side is no longer in effect.
Likewise (r&s)-1 decides the disjunctions of r∨v-1 and s∨u-1, the first of which becomes "hell" after Christ's testament, the latter the "key" to save from it. Now, "hell" is not only the spiritual effort to make a last chance attempt to justify one's self before God by mixing covenants, but the "key" is to realise that one is condemned in the new covenant even if one adheres to the old: that paradigm denies Christ with a "sham" attempt at finding some proper virtue and operating in it within the dialectic, a replacement for Christ acting in virtue as "p".
Similarly, r∨u-1 and s∨v-1 the first one of which is "death" and the latter an open door to life, and both these "keys" open a very real spiritual door! (The door swings open on (and with) the new covenant as if it's "hinges", now unlocked by the "key" which is found in Christ.) With "s" as the hinge, the door swings from "r" to v-1 using u&v to attain s∨v-1 (or similarly from "r" to "s" turning on v-1). The alternative is for the door to swing from u-1 to v-1 on "s" or even most graciously, from u-1 to "s" as if the conviction of "hell" were in effect. (the former is to find life in Christ by deciding to repent on the offered u&v, the latter to repent convicted as if deciding by p&(u&v)-1=>(r&s)-1.)
So, u&v is clearly life before God, and (r&s)-1 clearly appears as "lawlessness"; but these are truly "keys" for Christ, who alone is alive under both covenants and is our real mediator of grace that may put aside the law of either covenant for calling to repentance those that would be trapped in their very real condemnation. The elect are pigeonholed as in r&s, and the "dead" just as equally are placed in p&(u&v)-1, with an outcome of (r&s)-1,by the same octal: this is exclusion from the book of life and not a final judgement as that has not occurred at all yet: rather, in view now, is that all those without saved life in either sense or testament, are under the conviction to repent as simply as the disjunction is a ministration of spiritual conviction. Then more clearly these "keys" rescue from "hell", a state so broad that it is without repentance with no further shock available to the paradigm of those that are as the "son of perdition".
...And rescue from "death" is clearly found in p&r&s => u&v.
The "keys" resist clear definition because of the two covenants; each are both positive and yet arrangements in the octal of K4 gorups without virtue appear negative; and in the movement from one body of faith to another, in the new testament they both must result in only the positive; but in the old they open one way, only to Christ's mediated grace.
So, as the new covenant is in effect r∨u-1 is opened by the key of (r&s)-1 to s∨u-1, conviction in Christ to repent, and similarly, r∨v-1 with the old covenant in effect simply opens with (u&v) to s∨v-1. Those under the law may no longer be found justified as such in the new covenant; so I note this is a spiritual captivity - and a call to convert. The first is rescue from "death", the second is rescue from "hell".
Then "death" is God's curse over those breaking the OT law, and "Hell" God's curse over those that deny Christ. The "keys" are then rescue from these two real outcomes. Don't be found in either - use that open door!
I may now tie this in a little with the account in the book.
In the disjunctions of virtue I have both p&r&s => u&v and p&(u&v)-1 => (r&s)-1
. (The keys of Death and Hell.)
p&r&s is clearly all intercession made for the saved and elect; the living in Christ. One thing remains - which is to overcome "death" in the resurrection. Christ surely promises this by writing His saints into His book of life, the clear outcome of u&v.
Similarly, p&(u&v)-1 shows that those without life in either covenant that share in that same intercession are simply counted for as "not saved yet" or they simply have not been revealed in the book of life - a seal yet remains upon it. (There is grace for all as such.)
It is important to remember that (r&s)-1 is simply the "set" into which people are placed; no such a one is in literal "hell", they are instead placed under grace. They are not freely decided for as in (or to) one or the other: Christ would rescue His converts from Hell first, and with their discipleship from any second "Death".
Continue To Next Page
Return To Section Start
Return To Previous Page |