10 Reasons Why Calvinites Are Calvinites

[King James Bond]

Ray,

Free-will is it? You just keep on dreaming ok?

First of all I do not at this time claim that people have no will. Nor have I ever claimed that people have no will.

I will claim it is not free though.

It is the "free" you put in front of the word will that makes it incorrect.

You see....."free" modifies the word "will".

It is just the same as the word "works" can be modified by other words....

good "works", bad "works", no "works, many "works", few "works".

Do you see how placing a word in front of a word modifies it? Do you see how that "works"?

One more thing as an anwser to your entire post;

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

KJB

 

[Ray Berrian]

King James Bond,

It felt like I was in English class.

The 'whosoever' in John 3:16 does not indicate a 'bondage of the will' for the non-elect. God's call is to all sinners and is therefore, a freedom of the will to either receive the Son or to reject that offer of grace.

Context, my friend . . . .

Your bold print is taken from Ephesians 2:8-10.

Christians are only His workmanship after we receive Jesus into our lives.

Grace is the gift---and faith is the sinner's response to the Gift of Himself after they have been convinced and convicted that they are sinners and in need of Christ.

 

[johnp.]

Hello Ray.

Would you have a crack at this for me please?

Question:
"What must we do to do the works God requires?"
Answer:
"The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
Conclusion:
Faith is a work.

It is taken from John 6:28-29. It seems that faith is a work but this is being denied by those who have faith originating in them such as your good self. Can you confirm that faith is a work please or can you confirm me wrong?

I thank you in advance.

john.

 

[King James Bond]

English lessons huh?

Very wrong is Ray.

Ray is very wrong.

How was that? lol

Faith is a gift that God gives by His grace.

Salvation is by His grace.

That means salvation is favor that He bestows on someone without one solitary thing in or of the person to merit His favor of saving them.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from youselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do " (Eph. 2:8,9).

Grace saves......it is through faith. Grace (unmerited favor) saves.

We already know the grace of God is not from ourselves because it is God's grace. It is clarified that the faith is not from ourselves but rather a gift of God.

" he [God] purified their hearts by faith. . . .We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved . . . "(Acts 15:9, 11).

" As for you [believers], you were DEAD in your transgressions and sins [before you became believers], in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air [Satan], the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. . . .We were by nature objects of [God's] wrath. But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in Mercy, MADE US ALIVE with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved " (Ephesians 2:1-5).

For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake

Faith is a grant from God that He gives to people all as He wills and it is by grace (unmerited favor).

KJB

 

[AresMan]

" As for you [believers], you were DEAD in your transgressions and sins [before you became believers], in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air [Satan], the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. . . .We were by nature objects of [God's] wrath. But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in Mercy, MADE US ALIVE with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved " (Ephesians 2:1-5).

Why do people have to focus so much on using this metaphor alone to derive a systematic theology?

Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Would you say that this is a command (in the form of a rhetorical question)? Here Paul says that we are "dead to sin", yet he has to tell us not to continue living in it so that "grace may abound." If it were not possible to "continue in sin" why would Paul have to tell the Romans not to do such, since they were "dead to sin"?
He also uses the word "live" to describe the same condition that we are "dead" to.

 

[King James Bond]

AresMan,

But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in Mercy, MADE US ALIVE with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved

That text is speaking of the dead being made alive.

The text you post is speaking of those alive living properly.

KJB

 

[Ray Berrian]

johnp.

You said, 'Would you have a crack at this for me please?'

I am saved so my work is to please the Lord in word, thought and deed. God does not drop good works into our lives, we have to work at pleasing Him. How many Christians put in their one hour in church on Sunday morning and think they have done the Lord a favor and that one hour is supposed to be 'worship.' What about worship and adoration of Him every day of the week? What about daily witnessing to a sinner? What about supporting a foreign missionary without your conference or denomination knowing it? What about sponsoring a child without parents in Africa? These are the kinds of work that we must do to please Jesus. There are obviously many more ways to minister to Him and other people. [End Quote].

You said, 'Faith is a work.'

If faith is a work then it must be work for Jesus to give us the gift of grace and eternal life. Is there anything wrong with commitment to Him or His involvement in our lives? I say no.

At the point of a sinner saying yes to Jesus and discipleship, our faith is not a contribution toward our salvation, it is walking in obedience to His command to repent and believe. Sometimes you Calvinists sound like 'believing in Jesus' is some kind of prideful or sinful contact with the Lord God. [End Quote}

You said, 'It is taken from John 6:28-29. It seems that faith is a work but this is being denied by those who have faith originating in them such as your good self. Can you confirm that faith is a work please or can you confirm me wrong?'

I like it when people are correct. It is not my intent to prove people wrong, as that would not give me any kind of gratification. Secondly, I am not 'good' but only when the Father sees me through His Son and His shed blood.

Also, the Jews in your passage above wanted to do the miracles that Jesus performed among the people. That is why they said, 'What shall we do, so we can do the mighty works You are doing?'

To them they did not want salvation of Christ they wanted what appeared to them as His magical powers. They may have wanted to sell their new gift of healing had they received it.

What was Jesus response to them? Here it is . . .
'This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.'

The word, 'work' in the Greek is 'ergon' meaning to 'commit' to something. In this case it means that the sinner must 'commit' his or her life to the one who gave His only begotten Son. God the Father is demanding a commitment from all lost souls. Receiving Christ is not a work in the sense of toil or a contribution to the act of justification. Salvation is all of God, meaning it is from Him, is all of grace, lest a human being should boast. Believing in Jesus is His demand on lost sinners, and cannot be thought of as 'effort' or a contributing factor in making perfect our salvation. It was and is perfect without human engineering or labor.

The kind of work we worry about in the lives of people is when they think they can be saved by always being at church every Sunday, making large contributions to the church before the eyes of other church members, or by any other kind of input from a sinner or Christian that they might think would impress the Lord God. This would be a 'work' or 'good work' that is wrong in the sight of the Lord.

No harm is done what a person makes a commitment to Jesus Christ. This is not a kind of strivig to get to Heaven.

Salvation is all of the Lord.