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Here is an excerpt from Thieme's "Blood of Christ" Rev. 1973:
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THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SPIRITUAL DEATH OF CHRIST
The least understood of the seven types of death* in Scripture is spiritual death. Spiritual death is SEPARATION FROM GOD IN TIME. It dates back to the DAY on which Adam, of his own free will, chose to disobey God. At that very moment of his fall he died spiritually and was separated from God immediately; for God had warned Adam, "... In the DAY that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die" (Gen. 2:17). The literal Hebrew translation is: "... In the DAY that thou eatest thereof, dying [spiritual death] thou shalt die [physical death]." Now, the day he ate of the fruit, he did not drop dead; in fact, he did not die physically until 930 years after he sinned (Gen. 5:5). When the Bible says that "the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23), it refers to SPIRITUAL DEATH! Physical death is not the penalty of sin! Therefore, it is the spiritual death of Christ which paid for our sins, not His physical death. PHYSICAL DEATH IS A RESULT OF SPIRITUAL DEATH: BUT PHYSICAL DEATH IS NEVER SPIRITUAL DEATH.
Truthtesty: Notice Thieme capitalized DAY.
Truthtesty: Thieme's [u:547d433cdb]extremist literal interpretation [/u:547d433cdb]of the word Yowm to refer to a 24 hour day is key to Thieme's assumption. Although, Yowm is used to represent a 24 hour day, it is also used to represent time or a period of time.
Definition - Yowm
day, time, year
day (as opposed to night)
day (24 hour period)
as defined by evening and morning in Genesis 1
as a division of time 1b
a working day, a day's journey
days, lifetime (pl.)
[b:547d433cdb]time, period (general) [/b:547d433cdb]
year
temporal references
today
yesterday
tomorrow
[
bible1.crosswalk.com]
Thieme quote:
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Now, the day he ate of the fruit, he did not drop dead; in fact, he did not die physically until 930 years after he sinned (Gen. 5:5). When the Bible says that "the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23), it refers to SPIRITUAL DEATH! Physical death is not the penalty of sin! Therefore, it is the spiritual death of Christ which paid for our sins, not His physical death.
Truthtesty: Thieme dogmatically states that since Adam didn't "drop dead" in a 24 hour period that the "wages of sin is death" is referring only to the SPIRITUAL DEATH and definitely not the physical death. This extremist interpretation of DAY/yowm is the basis for Thieme's attack on most bible believing christian belief for the past 2000 years. It is clear that Thieme is "playing" with [b:547d433cdb]what is literal [/b:547d433cdb]and [b:547d433cdb]what is symbolic[/b:547d433cdb]. It would be just as easy to assume (from thieme's faulty logic) that a day/yowm is 930 years (yowm being symbolic of a time period) and that the physical death(and spiritual death) are literal death in "wages of sin". Instead it was Thieme's ulterior motive to attack basic christian belief, so Thieme chose [b:547d433cdb]not[/b:547d433cdb] to teach that yowm can also be translated time or period of time. If Thieme had taught that yowm could be translated period of time, it would have negated Thieme's entire theory.
Truthtesty: It is more accurate to assume and say "we are not exactly certain" or "there are other legitimate possible translations", than to force a faulty premature conclusion.
Truthtesty: Thieme knows exactly what he is doing and he knows exactly what he is asking for:
Excerpt Thieme's "Blood of Christ"
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Apparently few people understand that the blood mentioned in such passages as John 19:30-37, Colossians 1:19-22, 1 Peter 1:18-19, Hebrews 9:2, and Revelation 1:5, is symbolic. It does not refer to Christ's literal blood, and the "shedding of blood" does not mean that He bled to death. I realize that I am "bucking the tiger" when I teach this. It's like taking away someone's good luck charm, for if anyone departs from the old cliches and says the "blood" does not refer to the literal blood of Christ's veins, he is also branded a liberal and/or an heretic!
Walters and Dr. Waite quote:
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D. THIEME ERRONEOUSLY SETS UP A “STRAW MAN” WHEN HE STATES THAT FUNDAMENTAL PREACHERS BELIEVE THAT CHRIST “BLED TO DEATIH” ON THE CROSS. ANOTHER OBSERVATION THAT OUGHT TO BE MADE AT THIS POINT IS THAT PASTOR THIEME TAKES PERHAPS HALF OF HIS BOOKLET TO SET UP A FALSE “STRAW MAN OR DUMMY,” IN ORDER THEREBY TO DISCREDIT GODLY PASTORS WHO DO NOT GO ALONG WITH HIS “GIMICKS” AND FALSE TEACHING. THE “STRAW MAN” IN HIS LATEST BOOKLET IS THE FALSE PICTURE HE DRAWS OF FUNDAMENTAL PREACHERS, WHOM HE ATTACKS INFERENTIALLY, BY HIS VEHEMENT DECLARATION THAT OUR LORD JESUS DID NOT “BLEED TO DEATH” ON THE CROSS!
1. [b:547d433cdb]FUNDAMENTAL MINISTERS [u:547d433cdb]DO NOT [/u:547d433cdb]TEACH THAT “CHRIST BLED TO DEATH” ON THE CROSS [/b:547d433cdb]IT IS INTERESTING THAT HE WOULD TAKE SUCH GREAT PAINS AND WASTE SO MANY PAGES OF PRINT TO DEVELOP A PROOF AGAINST SOMETHING WHICH NO FUNDAMENTAL PASTOR HAS EVER BELIEVED OR TAUGHT ANYWAY! THAT CHRIST “BLED TO DEATH ON THE CROSS” HAS NEVER BEEN HELD AND HAS NEVER BEEN TAUGHT BY FUNDAMENTAL MINISTERS IN ANY FUNDAMENTAL CHURCHES IN THE UNITED STATES, TO MY KNOWLEDGE! THUS, ABOUT HALF OF THIS BOOKLET IS ACTUALLY POINTLESS AND REALLY ABSURD! THAT IS, IT IS POINTLESS AND ABSURD, UNLESS THIEME IS DELIBERATELY DOING WHAT THIS WRITER BELIEVES--THAT IS DELIBERATELY SETTING UP A “STRAW MAN” IN ORDER TO ATTACK IT, IN ORDER THEREBY TO DISCREDIT ALL PASTORS AND TEACHERS WHO DO NOT AGREE WITH HIS HERESY.
search "False Teaching of R. B. Thieme, Jr. " ( [
www.biblefortoday.org] )
Dr. Wall dissertation:
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Thieme's position evaluated. Thieme is correct in observing that the term blood of Christ is a pregnant term with figurative significance. The problem with Thieme's interpretation is that he restricts the term solely to the spiritual death of Christ and fails to see that it includes not only his spiritual death but also his physical blood and the whole act of dying physically. Such a use of the term is a common literary device in the New Testament known as a “synecdoche,” that is “a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole.”28 Acts 27:37 (A.V.)furnishes an example: "We were in all in the ship two hundred three score and sixteen souls." Here souls is a synecdoche for the whole person. The "blood of Christ" is a synecdoche for the entire event of the crucifixion of Christ on Golgotha, which included the nailing of His hands and feet, His bleeding, His 27 Walter, False Teachings, p. 21 28 Random House Dictionary, p. 1442. 23 blood, all of His physical suffering of the cross, His separation from the Father as He bore the sins of the world, His physical death, and the piercing of His side.
Thielicke "Between God and Satan" (referencing Matthew 4:6) quote
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But if it were so, why should Jesus be able to use the word-weapon and the word-thrust more effectively and with greater justice than the devil? The word of God with which Jesus opposes the devil has higher authority solely and exclusively because for him, for Jesus, it represents the authority beneath which he stands. The word of God is only God's word and only his authority, as long as we ourselves humbly and obediently stand beneath it, as 'prisoners' of Jesus Christ (Eph. 3.1). If we 'exploit' it, if for ulterior motives we say'Lord, Lord' (Matthew), [b:547d433cdb]then instead of being the word of God this word becomes a word of the Accuser[/b:547d433cdb]. That is why Jesus says to the people (Luke 6.46), 'Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?' That means: You do indeed use pious words; you turn your eyes up to heaven, and seem to be on intimate terms with God; you talk the language of Canaan; you say 'Lord, Lord' and 'God says'; and yet all this is lies and a mean device of Satan. For you do not have the slightest idea what that word means, and thus you deprive it of all authority.
Thus it comes about that the frivolous and unauthorised use of God's promise to send his helping angels becomes in the mouth of the tempter really and truly a word of the devil. And so it was and still is. Newspapers, books, partisan pamphlets issued by the enemies of God—naturally take their stand on the fact of God. Naturally they have 'religion deep in them'—these newspapers, books and pamphlets are full to overflowing with quotations from scripture plucked out of their context and distorted into a hellish grimace. It is not God, but the Ape of God that speaks here—with words borrowed from the Lord himself. p. The Ape of God always uses the same tricks, and only changes I the shape in which he meets us. Sometimes he comes like a I preacher with unctuous, seductive voice; sometimes he masquerades as a mighty hero; sometimes he appears erect and imposing like the statue of a reformer and religious liberator. How humbly he can say 'Lord, Lord'; how illuminating do his words sound: 'Lo, here is the Christ, there is the Christ'! How well his Bible texts relieve our anxiety; how pleasantly his harmonium makes music, how thunderously his giant-organ peals in worship!
But we know now why these words become words of the tempter, why they have no authority. We know now why Jesus alone has the power, the shattering power to say: 'Again it is written—this alone and nothing else."
Truthtesty