What does this mean?

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Richard Kastner:

Actually a straw man is “when a person simply ignores a person’s actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position” (source). You argued first that I was saying we had to keep every epistle and gospel in a neat little box, which I clearly was not, then you argued that I was saying “this v. doesn’t mean what it say, it means what I say it means,” which I think any discerning would be able to tell I was not arguing in the least. Therefore, yes, you twice used a straw man.

Now, I think you completely misunderstood my citation of John 14:14 (and honestly, given that I expounded upon it thoroughly in my last post, I don’t see how). I was not saying that one passage refers to believers and the other does not, or that they both refer to believers - the target audience was not even on my mind when I cited John 14:14. What I was trying to show was to continually argue, “Jesus says any one! That means any one literally!” is to go beyond the context, and I was trying to show that with John 14:14, where Christ says to ask “anything” in His name. According to your logic, that would include literally anything, ie. robbing a bank, beating someone up, etc., and so long as you pray it in Jesus’ name it’s A-OK. That isn’t what the context of the passage means, and we shouldn’t abuse pronouns like that.

Not responding to this argumentation, you begin to jump from the verse, running to other passages such as John 3:16 or even John 6. None of these passages, however, are related to Revelation 3:20 in any way, shape or form. I addressed the fullness of the context of the passage in my first post, which you have not even pretended to address nor emulate. Revelation 3:20 doesn’t come after John 3:16 or other random passages, it comes in the chain that makes up Revelation 3. In that regard, I’m sorry but the context, as shown at the beginning of the section and the end, is only to believers, and it is calling them to repent of their lukewarm theology.

Again, you would not take strings of quotes made by someone and string them together to say what you want - neither should we treat the word of God in such a fashion.
 
Richard Kastner:
So, when we see a v. like Rev.3:20
20Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

We can see that these two vs. are talking about one and the same thing. The “whosoever” that believes and gains eternal life through that belief in Jn. 3:16 is the same as the “any man” in Rev. 3:20 who opens the door to Christ in faith, and He will come in and dine with him.

The application of the message to the seven churches is
  1. To the local church
  2. To us as individuals
  3. To the church age
The messages to all the churches are pertinant to us today, but the church of Laodicea being the last church it is talking to us today in a very special way. Altho John was talking to a very specific church in his day. If we look at the bigger picture we see that as the last church he is talking to us very specifically.
Here is Byzantine Wolf exegesis of v20 which I felt is flawed and inadequate:
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Byzantine_Wolf:
What does this passage mean?
• Christ is speaking to the Christians who have yet to be judged. Unlike the popular belief that this is a general statement to everyone, this is a statement to believers and supposed believers. At least two verses illustrate specifically that this is addressed to the church (verses 14 and 22).
• The immediate concern is for those who are “lukewarm,” and thus carry a weak faith that is neither for God or against them. They likewise believe themselves to be self-sufficient, and essentially believe that they have no need for God.
• He commands them to be zealous repent, for He is coming. Those are attentive and ready will open the door when He knocks, and thus He will enter and eat with them (v. 20), and they will be glorified with Him and the Father (v. 21). Hence on the return of Christ, they will find themselves a Day of Eternal Life, as opposed to a Day of Judgment for those not ready and unbelieving.

To summarize: the verse is a warning to believers to be ready for the arrival of Christ.
My disagreement with his interpretation is as follow:

It is flawed because –

(i) Unlike what he thought, v.20 is not when Christ’s return. It is here and now. The door is our door not Christ’s. Our door is on earth not in heaven.

(ii) It is also not a warning or a preparation (to be ready) for Christ’s return. v.20 is about invitation or rather request by Jesus. Knocking on someone’s door is definitely a request. And a response is required – either to open or not to open. Therefore it involves free will. I don’t know whether Byzantine intended his explanation to be tied with predestination; he did not say so but he obviously avoid the premise of choice on the occupants.

As an aside, the verse dramatically highlights the difference between man and God in the idea of knocking. If we knock, God will open the door (Mt. 7:7) but do we as man open our door when God knocks? If we strive to be Christ-like then we should.

(iii) His interpretation is inadequate when he confined the occupants to be believers only because it is limiting the message of Christ albeit being clinical in treating the Bible. In that sense he is right and I agreed with him, but understanding the Bible this way is of no use to us. This is what professional theologians do and they do not necessary believe in the message of the Gospels.

There is where you disagree with him too. There is problem when one confines v.20 to believers only. Rightly as both of us had mentioned – the message is directed to the Laodiceans not any of us; so why stop at all believers?

I cautioned him about taking the Book of Revelation strictly and interpret its verses specifically without taking into consideration the context of the whole Bible – a point he disagreed. I think we have to look at the whole picture especially when it comes to Rev.

Many a times the message in Rev can be understood in multiple ways on different levels. Example - the woman in Rev 12: we cannot nail what is she exclusively but she nevertheless can be understood as Israel, the Church or even Mary (if you are Catholic).

If we limit it to believers only then we should ask: is Jesus invitation only to believers? Definitely the answer is no. Who are the believers anyway? They are those who believe - so why should Jesus knock on their doors? We might be Christians but by the way we live we can be unbelievers. Therefore looking at the invitation in context, Jesus is knocking at all doors - those who have not believed completely and those who have resisted the message. Not just the laodecians but all.
 
This is the point in a real life conversation where I would go, “Uh, dude, I’m right here.” 😃
 
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