From the third century AD crypt of Lucina, in the ancient Roman catacomb of Domatilla
(Click to enlarge.)
Compare Luke 15:3-7
1.
Matthew 18:10-11 could be read as supporting the notion of “guardian angels.”
2.
Matthew 18:12-13 and Luke 15:3-7 forcefully illustrate the value that God himself places on every human soul. Absolutely every one.
3.
Thus, it’s not surprising to read, in Matthew 18:14, that “it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”
Which seems a pretty clear refutation, to my simple little mind, of the Calvinist notion that the Lord has decreed salvation for only a small band of the “elect” while willing damnation for the vast majority of humankind who live today and for virtually all who have ever lived — “sinners in the hands of an angry God.” Rather, as 2 Peter 3:9 explains, he’s “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In