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QUESTIONS FOR PRETERISTS
This questionnaire was specifically designed for preterists, since preterist eschatology can, in fact,
present issues not common within futurist circles. It should be noted at the outset that being forced
to provide one word answers is confining and may cause a degree of frustration. Given this limitation,
as you work through these questions you may find your answers both informative and instructive. To
be clear, there is a bias written into the commentary surrounding some of the questions which could
potentially poison the well. However, it should be recognized that even with this bias, the questions
are not meant to mislead or obfuscate. These questions were primarily composed to help the
answerer gain a greater understanding as to their own presuppositions and biases which are used to
develop their conclusions. I hope you enjoy the process.
1. Adam’s death:
A) Did Adam’s ultimate physical death result from his original Garden sin?
YES ___ NO ___
B) Would Adam have died of natural causes irrespective of introducing sin into the world?
YES ___ NO ___
C) Is the introduction of sin into the world directly correlated to physical death?
YES ___ NO ___
D) Is biological death simply a natural part of being human?
YES ___ NO ___
2. Jesus’ death on the cross:
A) Was Jesus’ biological death on the cross a necessary component of the salvific process?
YES ___ NO ___
B) Was Jesus’ biological death merely a sign (symbolic) of the His spiritual death?
YES ___ NO ___
C) Was it necessary for Jesus to die biologically in order to atone for sin?
YES ___ NO ___
D) If Jesus had not been martyred or died of an accident, would he have eventually died of natural
causes since he was not only fully God but He was fully man?
YES ___ NO ___
3. God’s edict that Adam would die the very day he sinned:
A) Most futurists argue that Adam began to die biologically the day he ate from the forbidden tree.
However, God said that Adam would die on the very day he ate. (Gen 2:17) So there is an
undeniable conflict between what God said and what futurists believe. The Bible makes clear the
fact that Adam didn’t die biologically the day he ate from the tree. Therefore, consistent with
God’s decree of sudden and immediate death, do you believe Adam died spiritually on the very
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day he violated God’s command?
YES ___ NO ___
B) Since Adam’s biological death did not occur for 900 plus years after he transgressed God’s singular
command, those espousing the CBV (Collective Body View) contend that Adam’s physical death
had absolutely nothing to do with sin and further that the death Adam experienced had to have
been of only a spiritual nature. Was Adam’s ultimate physical death inconsequential to sin’s
entrance into the world?
YES ___ NO ___
C) Would Adam have eventually died biologically regardless of his violation of God’s Law?
YES ___ NO ___
D) Do you believe that Adam’s “death” on the very day he ate was solely of a spiritual in nature?
YES ___ NO ___
E) Did Adam begin to die the very day he ate from the forbidden tree?
YES ___ NO ___
F) Since Futurists believe that Adam’s death was mainly biological (they do, in fact, assent to some
sort of spiritual death i.e. separation from God immediately after Adam’s sin) and CBV preterists
believe that Adam’s death was solely spiritual, might there be a third option which would satisfy
God’s requirement of death on that very day Adam sinned as well as comply with the futurist view
that physical death ultimately was caused by sin?
YES ___ NO ___
G) When did God institute the substitutionary sacrificial system? It should be noted that in Genesis
3:21 we find the basis for substitutionary atonement: “The LORD God made garments of skin for
Adam and his wife, and clothed them.”
IN THE GARDEN ____
AT SOME POINT AFTER Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden ____
H) Did any kind of temporal substitutionary atonement occur in the Garden on the very date Adam
violated God’s command and was sentenced to die?
YES ___ NO ___
I) Is it possible that Adam’s execution was stayed while Adam was still in the Garden?
YES ___ NO ___
4. Christians becoming the righteousness of God:
A) When the Apostle Paul stated that believers would become the righteousness of God, do you
understand that to mean that at death Christians would attain perfect righteousness?
YES ___ NO ___
B) Do you agree with the dominant preterist position which posits that the righteousness to which
Paul referred (1 Cor 5:21) was never intended to be cognitively and experientially realized (even
after death)?
YES ___ NO ___
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C) Was the receipt of righteousness solely a judicial matter (imputed to the believer’s account
judicially and positionally, but would never be imparted at death experiencially and actually)?
YES ___ NO ___
D) Do you believe that at the moment we, by-faith, assent to the Gospel and pass from death to life,
that we are as righteous as we will ever be?
YES ___ NO ___
E) Do you believe that Christ’s righteousness which is credited to our accounts at the time of belief
(judicial) will ever become actualized (conferred) at death)?
YES ___ NO ___
F) Some preterists argue that believers will never become the perfect righteousness of Christ, not
even after our biological death. Do you believe that sin will follow believers into the eternal
afterlife in heaven?
YES ___ NO ___
G) Some argue that nothing will change after our biological death. In other words, they believe that
living Christians are already saved and thorough redeemed so nothing more needs to happen after
biological death. They say that to have volition is to retain the capacity to disobey God and to be
made perfect would turn Christians into automatons. Do you believe that when the Christian dies
that he/she will be made perfect and holy as God is holy?
YES ___ NO ___
(1 Cor 5:21) He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him.
5. Individual bodies or the body (collective)?:
A) Throughout the Pauline letters, the Apostle Paul repeatedly referred to the “body of Christ”. We
find specific references to this term in Romans 7:4, 1 Corinthians 10:16; 11:29; 12:27; and
Ephesians 4:12. Paul wrote, “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” So, it
is clear that there is a collective body of Christ made up of individual Christians. So the debate is
not whether Paul’s references to body (soma) refer only to a collective or if they refer only to the
individual, because IBV advocates recognize the numerous references to the collective body. The
question more specifically regards the resurrection as it relates to the body, found in 1 Corinthians
15, Romans 8:19ff and Philippians 3:21. In the debate between the CBV and IBV advocates, we
need to determine whether Paul is speaking primarily about individual bodies or a collective body.
Do you believe that, in these three critical passages, Paul was referring to a collective body?
YES ___ NO ___
B) Do you believe that in 1 Corinthians 15, Romans 8:19ff and Philippians 3:21 Paul is referring to
individual bodies?
YES ___ NO ___
C) When Paul referred to the “redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23), it has been argued that
because Paul used the singular noun ‘body” proceeded by the plural pronoun ‘our’, this is proof
that Paul was referring, not to individual bodies, but rather to the collective body. Likewise, in
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Philippians 3:21 we find a similar construction with Paul using the phrase “our lowly body”, further
fomenting the belief that Paul was referring to the body of Moses coming out of dead Judaism. So
instead of individual bodily transformation, they posit that Paul equated “conformation to His
Glorious body” with a collective transformation. (It should be noted that this plural
pronoun/singular noun construction is often used to describe all individuals within a group and
does not always refer to the collective group. Take 2 Cor. 6:11 for example. Our mouth has spoken
freely to you, O Corinthians, our heart is opened wide. Surely Paul is not referring to a collective
mouth. For more on this issue click HERE for the pdf or HERE for the audio.) Do you believe that
because of the grammatical constructions in Romans 8:23 and Philippians 3:21 (and perhaps other
exegetical proofs), the Apostle is referring to a collective body?
YES ___ NO ___
D) Because CBV advocates believe that the above texts refer to a collective body, many therefore
reject the concept of the individual bodily redemption or the individual confirmation to Christ’s
glorious body. Do you believe that when the Christian dies, the Christian will be given new spiritual
body?
YES ___ NO ___
(1 Corinthians 15:42) So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is
raised in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is
raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
6. Become like Jesus when we see Him as He is:
A) In the AD 60s before the destruction of Jerusalem in the fall of 70, the Apostle John stated that “it
has not appeared as yet what we will be” ([John 3:2] implying that at Jesus’ appearing they would
be different in some way from what they were at the time of the writing). Therefore, do you
believe those AD 60s believers actually became like Jesus in all of His glorious perfection at the
Parousia?
YES ___ NO ___
B) Do you believe that when the Temple was unearthed and completely obliterated during the siege
of Jerusalem in the fall of AD 70, if the earthly believers remained on earth after His glorious
appearing, did they remain as they were i.e. sinful but yet eternally forgiven?
YES ___ NO ___
C) If the AD 70 Christians remained on earth post-parousia (therefore fully transitioned out of the Old
Covenant to the New), were they different in any way from their pre-parousia condition?
YES ___ NO ___
D) When the Apostle John wrote “we will be like Him”, do you believe they became like Jesus (in a
way that they had not been prior to His appearing)?
YES ___ NO ___
E) Was the phrase “we will be like Him” a metaphorical and/or spiritual promise having nothing to do
with perfection and individual bodily glorification?
YES ___ NO ___
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F) Is it possible that those blessed believers who remained alive until the parousia were rewarded
with new spiritual bodies fit for their new environs in Heaven?
YES ___ NO ___
(1 John 3:2) Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be.
We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
7. Seeing in a mirror dimly:
A) In the AD 60s, the Apostle Paul testified that he and his fellow Christ followers had a restricted
spiritual view of reality i.e. they saw “in a mirror dimly” and did not “know fully” until they would
see Jesus “face to face.” However, at the coming of the Lord, the Apostle stated that Christians
would see clearly. Is this merely metaphorical language?
YES ___ NO ___
B) If the pre-parousia Christians still remained on earth after the parousia, do you believe they
experienced the kind of anticipated spiritual insight? Did they gain perfect clarity regarding the
things of God in a way they had not previously understood?
YES ___ NO ___
C) If you answered YES to “B”, do you believe the historical record supports your view?
YES ___ NO ___
(Food for thought: If AD 70 believers no longer saw as “in a mirror dimly” and fully knew as
compared to their then current partial knowledge, and since 2019 Christians are spiritual
descendents of those AD 70s believers, why are there thousands of denominations today and why
is there an endless list of competing doctrinal positions?
D) Do you believe that the post parousia earthly church was even more spiritually attuned than the
Apostle-led churches of the AD 50s and 60s?
YES ___ NO ___ (If YES, then what happened to the church over the past two millennia?
E) Based upon a plethora of second coming passages, we would expect that if the post-parousia
Christians remained on earth that it would be the most vibrant group of believers ever assembled
since they no longer saw in a mirror dimly. However, in the 30 plus years after the parousia,
heretical teachings pervade and when the first writings of Christians emerge which are more
consistent with doctrine taught by the Apostles, they are written by futurists. Do you believe the
historical three-plus decade long silence supports the belief that the believers had been changed
and had become like Christ in a way they had never been?
YES ___ NO ___
(1 Cor 13:12) For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then
I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
8. Renewing the mind:
A) The Apostle Paul challenged his contemporaries to renew their minds. Was this renewal solely
relevant during the transition period from approx. AD 30-70 or are we still exhorted as individuals
to renew our minds?
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RENEWAL CONFINED TO THE AD 30-70 TRANSITION PERIOD ___
RENEWAL IS AN ONGOING CHALLENGE TO ALL BELIEVERS IN ALL TIMES ___
B) Most (if not all) CBV advocates teach that this renewal singularly referred to the change in
covenants from old to new, and that Romans 12:2 had no direct application (relevance) to those
living after the transition period ended in AD 70. Do you believe this specific exhortation extended
beyond AD 70?
YES ___ NO ___
C) The majority view within preterism teaches that Paul’s Romans 12:2 admonition had nothing
whatsoever to do with an individual exhortation for the believers to renew their minds through
the word of God. Do you believe this a correct interpretation of Romans 12:2?
YES ___ NO ___
D) If you answered YES in 8C, then do you believe there are other places in the New Testament where
we find an exhortation to renew one’s mind?
YES ___ NO ___ (Where? _____________________________________)
(Romans 12:2) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and
perfect.
9. We will all be changed:
A) Was this highly anticipated change in 1 Cor 15:51, a “change of mind” and/or a change in collective
status relative to the Old Covenant being permanently replaced by the NC?
YES ___ NO ___
B) Do you believe that this highly anticipated “change” brought about a thorough metamorphosis of
being, where the fatally damaged, perishable and corruptible individual was permanently changed
into an imperishable, incorruptible, glorified, spiritual body of perfection?
YES ___ NO ___
C) If this change occurred while believers were still earth-bound, do you believe it was manifested in
any tangible way?
YES ___ NO ___
D) In other words, did the believers know they had been changed in the twinkling of an eye?
YES ___ NO ___
E) The believer is saved from the power and penalty of sin at the very moment they trust Christ as
Savior. So why aren’t they then free from the consequences of physical death if physical death is
the direct result of the fall? Consider Jesus. When Jesus died on the cross He took on the sins of
those who would trust Him, yet we are told that His body never saw decay because, although He
paid the penalty for sin, His body/being was never corrupted by sin. Our bodies, contrarily, were
permanently corrupted by sin at birth and therefore though we are eternally forgiven, our
corruptible bodies will decay regardless of our new status in Christ. In addition, since Adam and
Eve were expelled from the Garden they no longer had access to the Tree of Life. Do you believe
that the corruption, death and decay of our individual physical body is in any way connected to our
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sinful nature?
YES ___ NO ___
F) This question applies more specifically to those who do not affirm the CBV but who believe that in
the post-AD 70 Christians remained on earth post-parousia (IBV non-rapture). Did living individual
believers undergo this change to imperishable and incorruptible in a way they had not been just
prior to the destruction of the Temple and the dissolution of the New Covenant?
YES ___ NO ___
G) If yes, do you believe these believers became incorruptible while still in their sin-drenched bodies?
YES ___ NO ___
H) If yes, do you believe this change was discernible and cognitively realized? In other words, would
husbands and wives have noticed that a substantial change had taken place within their spouses?
YES ___ NO ___
(It should be noted that there would have been a doctrinal purity among these “super Christians”
(for lack of a better phrase) that should be born out in the historical record. The writings of
Josephus, Tacitus and many others were preserved by God as a testimony to the fulfillment of
Jesus’ prophetic proclamations, yet the only records we have of those remotely approximating a
biblical understanding, are heretics.)
I) God preserved the inspired 66 books of the Canon as well as the secular historical writings
corroborating the authenticity and accuracy of the 66. To date we haven’t found the writing of
even one Christian testifying to the most highly anticipated event since the incarnation / death /
resurrection or Christ? Do you believe there are yet to be found writings testifying to and
recounting of the gloriousness of the return of the Lamb in AD 70?
YES ___ NO ___
J) Do you believe the AD 70 Christians who survived the Neronic Persecution lived to experience the
blessed coming of the Lord and remained on earth after it?
YES ___ NO ___
K) How would this CBV idea of a “change of mind” have applied to Gentile believers who were never
under the Old Covenant system? What did they change their mind about? Do you believe that 1
Corinthians 15:51 refers also to the Gentile Christians changing their minds?
YES ___ NO ___
L) Further, if the AD 70 believers who survived the Neronic persecution and fled to Pella, received
word that Jerusalem had been sacked, the Temple had been annihilated and the power of the holy
people had been completely shattered, in what way would their minds have changed? Surely they
were vindicated but what does vindication have to do with becoming incorruptible and
imperishable in the twinkling of an eye? Do you believe this change was collective?
YES ___ NO ___
M) Finally, why did the Lord’s parousia, which was envisioned by Paul and the New Testament authors
to be an incredibly blessed event so profound that they were almost at a loss for words to describe
it, come and go with nothing written about it (or nothing discovered if it was written)? And why
did the spiritual continuity and the vibrancy of the church proceeding from the Apostles, not only
show no signs of improvement but rather they declined so precipitously after the greatest event
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since the first Advent? Do you have a viable explanation for this immediate decline at a time when
one would assume doctrinal clarity and perspicuity?
YES ___ NO ___
N) Therefore, without someone explaining the CBV to you, do you believe you would have
understood the following passage was NOT referring to an tangible individual metamorphosis of
being but rather a “change of mind” and/or a mere change of covenantal status for a collective
body?
YES ___ NO ___
(1 Cor 15:51-54) Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead
will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the
imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on
the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying
that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.
10. “The creation of the world”: (passage below).
A) In Romans 1:20 (below) do you believe the Apostle Paul was referring to the creation of the literal
cosmos or was he referencing the creation of Israel at Sinai?
ISRAEL ___ COSMOS ___
B) If the former, then do you believe that the “they” in “they are without excuse” was singularly
referring to the Jewish nation irrespective of all those born between Adam and Moses?
ISRAEL ___ ADAM (humanity) ___
(It should be noted that this verse is vital to the CBV and is an absolutely linchpin to the underlying
premise of the Covenant Creation view. To believe that Paul referenced all humanity in this
passage and not merely Israel is to begin deconstructing the CBV.)
(Romans 1:20) For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are
without excuse:
11. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?:
Traditionally (classically) it has been taught that Paul’s question “Shall we continue in sin…?”
(Romans 6:1) was an exhortation for believers to consciously refrain from sinning since some were
apparently of the mindset that grace would abound all the more if sin was preeminent. In other
words, if sin was prevalent in the life of a believer, some were mistakenly arguing that this would
in a sense magnify the Gospel. However, a common teaching among preterists is that Paul wasn’t
referring to the individual sin of believers and the believers’ struggle to remain pure, but rather he
was specifically referring to “the sin” of Adam in the Garden. So, in this view, continuing in THE SIN
was actually trying to please God by adhering to God’s law. Since we know that it is impossible to
earn God’s favor by obedience to the law, if that is what was meant by this verse most would be in
agreement. Essentially those teaching this view are equating “the sin” with “the law”. *It should be
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asked why Paul would use such obscure language to make his case if all he had to do was use the
phrase, “shall we continue in the law” in our attempt to earn God’s eternal favor.
In order to remain consistent with the CBV, both in this passage and in Romans 1:20 (above), it is
being taught that Romans 6:1 solely refers to THE SIN (which is translated thusly in Youngs Literal
Translation) of Adam, therefore having nothing to do with our internal struggle to be holy as He is
holy. Do you believe that Romans 6:1 is referring to the corporate sin of Adam and has nothing
whatsoever to do with the individual’s challenge to refrain from sin?
YES ___ NO ___
(Romans 6:1 NASB) What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
(Romans 6:1 YLT) What, then, shall we say? shall we continue in the sin that the grace may
abound?
*It should be noted that all one has to do to remain consistent is to track all the Pauline usages of
“the sin” to see if it always fits this above argument that it must be referring to the sin of Adam.
Contrarily, it is also prudent to locate all the places in Paul’s writings where he uses “sin” without
the definite article “the” preceding it. As you will find if you do the research, sometimes when Paul
uses “the sin” he is clearly referring to individual sin(s) and sometimes when he refers to “sin” he is
actually referring to the sin of Adam. So, this notion that the Apostle Paul MUST be hearkening
back to Adam’s sin simply because he chose to add “the” in front of “sin” in Romans 6:1, is simply
not supported by a more comprehensive look at the Pauline writings. (For a detailed analysis click
HERE [audio] and HERE [pdf.)
12. The Old and New Man Dichotomy:
There are numerous Pauline passages which refer to the old man / new man dichotomy. It has
been taught by the majority of futurists that Paul was referring to the internal conflict within
individual believers as they struggled to put off the old sin nature and live according to the spirit.
However, many preterists teach that this old and new man reference is solely speaking about the
conflict felt during the transition period as the Old Covenant was growing old and ready to
disappear. The old man being corporate life in Adam and the new man being the collective life in
the body of Christ. Therefore, they argue that many (if not all) of these passages containing such
language have little relevance for us today in so far as this concept applies specifically to this
individual internal conflict within (since the OC passed away almost 2,000 years ago). Do you
believe these many passages (Colossians 3:9-11; Ephesians 2:15; Romans 6:6; Eph 4:22-24)
concerning this concept of an old and a new man, apply specifically to individual believers as they
attempt to live godly lives?
YES ___ NO ___
13. Was the hypostatic Union permanent?
A) Most futurists and a minority of preterists believe that Jesus retained His self-same body at the
ascension and is still in His 5’9” Jewish body. They argue that in order to be our eternal
mediator, Jesus must retain His earthly body. Do you believe Jesus is still in the body that He
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ascended in?
YES ___ NO ___
B) Is Jesus still in human form since Jesus is not only fully God but is fully man?
YES ___ NO ___
14. Was the NT written in Hebrew or Greek?
For reasons too numerous to list here, the overwhelming consensus among biblical language
scholars is that the New Testament was originally written in Greek. However, there is a “Hebrew
roots” contingent that is now arguing that the NT was originally penned in Hebrew and was either
immediately copied into Greek or translated into Greek some years later. Some in this movement
are contending that the translations we now have are flawed and we must therefore attempt to
recapture the author’s original intent. This view has found its way into some preterist circles
though it should be noted that no preterists who espouse this view appear to be attempting to
undermine the legitimacy of the NT. *Note: What the Hebrew NT proponents like Jeff Benner
either fail to realize or are oblivious to is that Muslim, Jewish and atheist apologists would like
nothing better than for Christians to argue that we don’t have a reliable NT. There are well over
5,000 Greek fragments and manuscripts of the NT. Where are the Hebrew manuscripts and why, if
God intended to preserve his Word, did He fail so miserably? Do you believe the NT was originally
written in Hebrew?
YES ___ NO ___
15. A Divine Council?
A) In Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let us make man in our own image…” Was the ‘us’ referring solely
to the trinity (the Godhead) or was God referring to a divine council of lesser gods (elohim
which he had previously created)?
THE TRINITY ___ A DIVINE COUNCIL OF LESSER GODS ___
B) In Psalm 82:1 (NKJV) the Psalmist wrote, “God stands in the congregation of the mighty;
He judges among the gods”. In 82:6-7 it is written, “I said, “You are gods, and all of you are
children of the Most High. 7 But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” Is the
reference to gods (lower case) speaking about divine beings or human rulers?
DIVINE BEINGS? ___ HUMAN RULERS ___
C) Do you believe God seeks or sought council with his created beings?
YES ___ NO ___
16. Genesis 1-11: Allegorical or Historical or Both?
A) We see a physical type vs. spiritual antitype relationship throughout Scripture. Tabernacle,
Priesthood, Sacrifices, Temple, Throne, Israel, Seed, Mountain, City and Land are all physical
types of the spiritual antitypes that would come through the person and work of Christ. The
physical/fleshy system typified the greater spiritual reality, pointing us to the spiritual things
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that were to come. Do you believe Genesis 1-11 is an historical account of God’s creation of
the cosmos and the events that followed?
YES ___ NO ___
B) Did Genesis 1-11 provide a physical pattern of creation that would be fulfilled in the new
spiritual creation through Jesus Christ?
YES ___ NO ___
C) Is Genesis 1-3 solely an allegory concerning the creation of Israel?
YES ___ NO ___
D) In Galatians 4:21-31, the Apostle Paul used the lives Hagar and Sara (and their sons) as
metaphors of the old and new covenants. He further contrasted the city of Jerusalem (at that
time) to the Jerusalem which was from above (spiritual). Hagar and Sara were clearly not
allegorical figures but their lives fit perfectly into the type/antitype pattern. Therefore, given
this pattern, do you believe that Genesis 1-3 referred to the physical creation while it
concurrently provided a metaphorical context hinging the physical types to the spiritual
antitypes found in the New Testament?
YES ___ NO ___
E) Consider the Noahic Flood. In Genesis 6:1, God lamented, Then the LORD saw that the
wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually. In 6:5 He threatened, I will blot out man whom I have created from
the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am
sorry that I have made them. In Genesis 6:11, Further, after lauding Noah for His
righteousness, God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is
filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.
Then in Genesis 6:17, “Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to
destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the
earth shall perish. Further in Genesis 7:4, “For after seven more days, I will send rain on the
earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing
that I have made.” Genesis 7:19, The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that
all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. Genesis 7:20-23 The
water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered. All flesh that moved on
the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon
the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath
of the spirit of life, died. Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the
land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted
out from the earth.
Now consider the predicted wrath outpouring in the Olivet Discourse. The wrath of the Lamb
that came upon the Jews in AD 70 was regional, confined to Jerusalem and the surrounding
areas. It certainly didn’t encompass the whole world as many futurists believe will one day
happen. In Luke 17:27, 19, Jesus, in His description of the days of Lot and the time of Noah,
said “and destroyed all.” Therefore, it is argued that, since “destroyed all” both in Lot’s day
and in AD 70 Jerusalem referred to the specific geographic regions of Sodom and Jerusalem
respectively, the destruction of “all mankind” in the Noahic Flood was regional as well. Thus, it
is argued that the Noahic Flood must also have been local since it more accurately fits the
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geographically confining motif in the preterist hermeneutic. Do you believe the Noahic Flood
was global or local?
LOCAL ___ GLOBAL ___