Monergism vs Synergism

Wow, you come over with such arrogance!

 

The entire Book of Jonah is one of the best accounts in the Holy Bible, on the wideness of God's Mercy, here to a nation that was utterly wicked, and enemies of the people of God, the Jews, who were in the Old Testament, God's ELECT. And, yet here in this Book we read of God's offer of salvation through His Servant, Jonah, to these wicked people who were in great need of God's Grace and salvation. To say that this has nothing to do with salvation, is completely against the call of the Prophet to repent and trust in God, or else... There is not a hint anywhere in this Book, that God was only interested in their health and well-being! It was their souls that were God's concern, as Jesus Himself, God Incarnate, said that the people of Nineveh "repented (from their wicked and sinful ways) at the preaching of Jonah" (Matthew 12:41).

 

Here are some Greek scholars on Ephesians 2:8

Philip Schaff
And this not of yourselves; the gift is God’s. ‘This’ might with correctness refer either to salvation or to ‘faith;’ but the mass of recent commentators accept the former view, as more grammatical, as preserving better the parallelism of the passage (‘not of your-selves;’ ‘not of works’). The gender of ‘this’ in Greek differs from that of the word ‘faith.’ The last clause is a positive statement added to the negative one: the gift of salvation comes from God, by whose grace we have been and are saved.
A T Robertson
For by grace (têi gar chariti). Explanatory reason. "By the grace" already mentioned in verse Eph 2:5 and so with the article. Through faith (dia pisteôs). This phrase he adds in repeating what he said in verse Eph 2:5 to make it plainer. "Grace" is God's part, "faith" ours. And that (kai touto). Neuter, not feminine tautê, and so refers not to pistis (feminine) or to charis (feminine also), but to the act of being saved by grace conditioned on faith on our part. Paul shows that salvation does not have its source (ex humôn, out of you) in men, but from God. Besides, it is God's gift (dôron) and not the result of our work.
Marvin Vincent
" 8. For by grace, etc. This may truly be called exceeding riches of grace, for
ye are saved by grace. Grace has the article, the grace of God, in vers. 5, 7.
And that. Not faith, but the salvation. Of God. Emphatic. Of God is it the gift.

Expositors Greek Testament
The sentence thus beginning with καὶ τοῦτο (cf. Rom_13:11) is not parenthetical, but an integral part of the statement. But to what does the τοῦτο refer? To the πίστεως say some (Chrys., Theod., Jer., Bez., Beng., Bisp., Moule, etc.). The neut. τοῦτο would not be irreconcilable with that. The formula καὶ τοῦτο indeed might rather favour it, as it often adds to the idea to which it is attached. It may also be granted that a peculiarly suitable idea results—the opportune reminder that even their faith, in which at least they might think there was something of their own, has its origin in God’s grace, not in their own effort. But on the other hand the salvation is the main idea in the preceding statement, and it seems best to understand the καὶ τοῦτο as referring to that salvation in its entire compass, and not merely to the one element in it, its instrumental cause, appended by way of explanation. Θεοῦ τὸ δῶρον; it is the gift of God. Or, perhaps, “God’s gift it is”. The salvation is not an achievement but a gift, and a gift from none other than God. This declaration of the free, unmerited, conferred nature of the salvation is made the stronger not only by the contrast with the ἐξ ὑμῶν, but by the dropping of any connecting particle.

Barnes
And that not of yourselves. That is, salvation does not proceed from yourselves. The word rendered that--touto--is in the neuter gender, and the word faith--pistiV --is in the feminine. The word "that," therefore, does not refer particularly to faith, as being the gift of God, but to the salvation by grace of which he had been speaking. This is the interpretation of the passage which is the most obvious, and which is now generally conceded to be the true one. See Bloomfield. Many critics, however, as Doddridge, Beza, Piscator, and Chrysostom, maintain that the word "that" touto refers to "faith," (pistiV and Doddridge maintains that such a use is common in the New Testament. As a matter of grammar this opinion is certainly doubtful, if not untenable; but as a matter of theology it is a question of very little importance. Whether this passage proves it or not, it is certainly true that faith is the gift of God. It exists in the mind only when the Holy Ghost produces it there, and is, in common with every other Christian excellence, to be traced to his agency on the heart. This opinion, however, does not militate at all with the doctrine that man himself believes. It is not God that believes for him, for that is impossible. It is his own mind that actually believes, or that exercises faith. Cmt. on Ro 4:3. In the same manner repentance is to be traced to God. It is one of the fruits of the operation of the Holy Spirit on the soul. But the Holy Ghost does not repent for us. It is our own mind that repents; our own heart that feels; our own eyes that weep--and without this there can be no true repentance. No one can repent for another; and God neither can nor ought to repent for us. He has done no wrong, and if repentance is ever exercised, therefore, it must be exercised by our own minds. So of faith. God cannot believe for us. We must believe, or we shall be damned. Still this does not conflict at all with the opinion, that if we exercise faith, the inclination to do it is to be traced to the agency of God on the heart. I would not contend, therefore, about the grammatical construction of this passage, with respect to the point of the theology contained in it; still it accords better with the obvious grammatical construction, and with the design of the passage to understand the word "that" as referring not to faith only, but to salvation by grace. So Calvin understands it, and so it is understood by Storr, Locke, Clarke, Koppe, Grotius, and others.
It is the gift of God. Salvation by grace is his gift. It is not of merit; it is wholly by favour.
Samuel Green, Greek Gammarian
"for by grace you have been saved through faith; and this not of yourselves, it (i.e., your being saved, is) the gift of God. 'you must not suppose, because your salvation is conditioned by your faith, that therefore you saved yourself'"

 

Ezekiel and Acts. In the first quote from Ezekiel, there is no mention anywhere that God first "regenerates" the sinner, and then they call upon Him and get saved! You are reading into this something that does not exist! For your quotation from Acts, it is very clear that the Greek word "τεταγμένοι" (13:48) (literally "marshalled"), is understood in the middle voice, which corresponds to the words of verse 46, "Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles", where we read of the Jews, not only "rejecting" the Gospel that they might be saved, but also, "considered themselves not worthy of eternal life". This is not God Who so considered them as "unworthy", which the "reformed" school would love it to be, but the Jews so considered THEMSELVES! The action of these Jews was done by and for themselves. Likewise those Gentiles to accepted the same Gospel message spoken by Paul, but their actions, "aligned" themselves with God. This is how I see the Greek here.

 

In the Greek, the passive and middle are often written alike. It is then from the use in the context that determines it voice, and it is very clear from verse 46, that the middle is used.

Henry Alford:

"τεταγμένοι] The meaning of this word must be determined by the context. The Jews had judged themselves unworthy of eternal life: the Gentiles, as many as were disposed to eternal life, believed. By whom so disposed, is not here declared: nor need the word be in this place further particularized. We know, that it is GOD who worketh in us the will to believe, and that the preparation of the heart is of Him: but to find in this text pre-ordination to life asserted, is to force both the word and the context to a meaning which they do not contain"

Charles Ellicott:

"The Greek word, however, does not imply more than that they fell in with the divine order which the Jews rejected. They were as soldiers who take the place assigned to them in God’s great army. The quasi-middle force of the passive form of the verb is seen in the Greek of Act_20:13, where a compound form of it is rightly rendered “for so he had appointed,” and might have been translated for so he was disposed. It lies in the nature of the case that belief was followed by a public profession of faith, but the word “believed” does not, as some have said, involve such a profession."

Philip Schaff:

"And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. This famous statement has given rise to much and at times even to bitter controversy. There are two schools of interpretation, both supported by distinguished scholars and exegetes.
The one school we will term A., endeavours to set aside the ordinary rendering of the Greek word translated ‘ordained’ as in the English Version, as ‘praeordinati’ in the Vulgate, as ‘destinati’ by Augustine, and in place of it to substitute an expression which would bring prominently forward human effort rather than God’s predestination. The best example of this school perhaps is that translation which takes the Greek word rendered ‘ordained’ in a military sense, and thus gives the passage: ‘And whosoever belonged to the company of those who hoped (or endeavoured) to obtain eternal life, believed.’ This rendering gives an admirable sense, and at the same time removes from the passage all reference to the ‘decretum absolutum’ which Calvin finds so distinctly put forward here; but, as it has been truly observed, the context affords no ground at all for such an interpretation of the word. There is no doubt that the only admissible explanation is the one adopted by the other school of interpretation which we will term B. Preserving then rigidly the rendering of the English Version, we have to determine what meaning should be attached to the words ‘ordained to eternal life’ Those ‘ordained’ are they of whom Holy Scripture so often speaks as ‘The Chosen,’ ‘The Called of God’ all spiritual life, be it remembered, in its origin, progress, and completion, being from Him and His eternal counsel alone. But, on the other hand, this and similar clear declarations of God’s sovereignty in no wise exclude man’s perfect freewill. We have equally plain authoritative statements that God willeth all to be saved; and He teaches us none shall perish except by wilful rejection of the truth."

A T Robertson:

"As many as were ordained to eternal life (hosoi êsan tetagmenoi eis zôên aiônion). Periphrastic past perfect passive indicative of tassô, a military term to place in orderly arrangement. The word "ordain" is not the best translation here. "Appointed," as Hackett shows, is better. The Jews here had voluntarily rejected the word of God. On the other side were those Gentiles who gladly accepted what the Jews had rejected, not all the Gentiles. Why these Gentiles here ranged themselves on God's side as opposed to the Jews Luke does not tell us. This verse does not solve the vexed problem of divine sovereignty and human free agency. There is no evidence that Luke had in mind an absolutum decretum of personal salvation. Paul had shown that God's plan extended to and included Gentiles. Certainly the Spirit of God does move upon the human heart to which some respond, as here, while others push him away. Believed"

 

Exactly my point!

 

Tom, thou hast the patience of Job.

 

But, the fact remains that God does command that everyone must repent, which can only mean that they can!

 

Earlier you said in another post "So you admit Christ did not complete your salvation on the cross ..."

I pointed out that you do not believe that either because along with the work on the cross you believe one must also be regenerated. The other person in which you held this standard to believes that it is the cross + believe, you hold that it is the cross+regeneration. So you in fact must admit that Christ did not complete your salvation on the cross either.

I said nothing about earning anyone's regeneration and neither had you.

 

So Christ died on the cross and you still need to be regenerated even though He died on the cross, am I understanding your position correctly?

 

Two things:

1. All men are commanded to repent.

2. All men cannot repent unless they are made able to repent.

I'm going back to a previous post that you did really not respond to. Eph. 2:1 makes it perfectly clear that sinners are spiritually dead. The word νεκρος in Ephesians 2:1 means dead as in a corpse. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown define νεκρος in Eph. 2:1 this way:

A living corpse: without the gracious presence of God’s Spirit in the soul, and so unable to think, will, or do aught that is holy.

Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 344). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Matthew Henry writes:

Unregenerate souls are dead in trespasses and sins. All those who are in their sins, are dead in sins; yea, in trespasses and sins, which may signify all sorts of sins, habitual and actual, sins of heart and of life. Sin is the death of the soul. Wherever that prevails there is a privation of all spiritual life. Sinners are dead in state, being destitute of the principles, and powers of spiritual life; and cut off from God, the fountain of life: and they are dead in law, as a condemned malefactor is said to be a dead man.

Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 2309). Peabody: Hendrickson.

Dwell on that for a moment. Don't try to pawn it off on other passages to try and lessen its impact. Eph. 2:1 deserves to be understood in its own right. There is a reason why the Apostle Paul used νεκρος. There are plenty of other Greek words he could have used to denote the effect of sin, but he chose a word that ruled out any action on the part of the subject. In the movie, the Green Mile the guards called those prisoners on death row "dead men walking". That is exactly the extrapolation of Eph. 2:1. From birth, sinners are dead men walking - spiritually dead. The other passages I cited, Rom. 8:5-7 and 1 Cor. 2:14, describe the consequences of spiritual death: inability. If the sinner remains spiritually dead he is unable to respond to God's command to repent. I'm not making this up. This is the where the text takes us.

So, what do we do with God's command for sinners repent and believe? The first thing we need to understand is that God is not obligated to His creation beyond what He has promised (and in that case, He is obligated to His own word, not to His creation). The scripture says that the preaching of the Gospel to those who are perishing is an aroma of death:

2 Cor. 2:14-17 14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. 15 For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; 16 to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? 17 For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

Judicially those who reject the gospel will be condemned because of their unbelief. It doesn't matter whether they had the ability to repent and believe or not. God is not obligated to save anyone and He is not obligated to make sure everyone hears the gospel.

Psalm 19:9b The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether.

If we are tempted to call God mean and capricious, then we need to be reminded of the words of the Apostle:

Romans 9:14- 23 14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! 15 For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.” 16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.” 18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.

19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” 20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? 21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? 22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,

So we see, plainly written, that God purposed vessels of mercy which He prepared beforehand. God's purpose does not diminish the well-meant offer of the gospel. All those who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. However, all will not because all cannot. God has not endued us with perfect knowledge. We do not know who is elect and who is not. We preach the gospel in power and in truth, knowing that God has chosen the gospel as the means of salvation and that all who believe it will be saved.

 

Tom, you're probably correct. Of course, our real audience is made up of those who seldom respond. They read but remain quiet. There's always hope.