Featured Who Draws Men Unto the Son?

Yes, it is the faith of little children for all "they can do" is trust the Lord at His word. The work God requires of the lost is to fully trust in Christ.

 

I disagree, sir, to some extent.

In the light of Romans 1:18-32, Romans 3:10-18, John 3:19-20 and many others,
What is required ( if it is indeed required of all of us ) will never be met by sinful men that do not have any intention of repenting and turning from their ways without being made alive first.
Otherwise, we will remain unhumbled by the grace of God and will resist His commands and His words outside of His work of the new birth:

Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
30 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? " ( John 6:28-30 )

This is evidenced in Acts of the Apostles 16:14, where the Lord opened Lydia's heart so that she attended to, or listened intently, to Paul's words.

In addition, I see that true biblicial faith is not something that all men have ( 2 Thessalonians 3:2 ), but it is indeed something that is authored and finished by Jesus Christ Himself ( Hebrews 12:2 ).
It is the evidence of God's work in a person:

" Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." ( Hebrews 11:1 ).

...and is a gift ( Ephesians 2:8 ) given to them on the behalf of Christ ( Philippians 1:29, Galatians 2:16-20 ) and it is something that we live by.
Biblically, it is in no way possible for anyone outside of the foreknown ( Romans 8:29-30 ) to ever have or experience the kind of faith that carries all of God's precious people through this life and to the next to be with their Lord and Saviour.

That it is the faith of children, in that everyone who comes to the Lord does so as a little child, in clearly Scriptural:

" At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
3 and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.
6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and [that] he were drowned in the depth of the sea." ( Matthew 18:1-6 ).

Except a person be converted by God, and become as a little child, they will not enter into the kingdom of Heaven.

We also know that no one comes to Christ unless it is given to them of the Father to do so ( John 6:65 ).
and that no one can come to Him unless they are drawn ( John 6:44 ), but that all those who are drawn in such a way, will be raised up at the last day.

 

John 6:29, (NET)Jesus replied, "This is the deed God requires - to believe in the one whom he sent."

Thus the ambiguous "work of God" can be interpreted two ways, the work God does, and the work God requires that people do.
False teachers deny all the verses that say "his faith" and "your faith" and the like, so they can make a bogus claim. Everyone who believes refers to our belief, and does not mean everyone who God instills His faith into. Verse after verse must be rewritten to create bogus support for bogus doctrine.

And of course to claim God can not require us to believe in Christ, because we are unable is to support false doctrine with false doctrine. No one said our worthless filthy rag faith met some imaginary standard of merit, only that God chose to credit it, however flawed, as righteousness.

 

I agree.
But to me, it is not ambiguous.

I would never do such a thing, Van.

In fact, I see that prior to God giving that faith to us in the behalf of Christ, no man has it.
But after He gives it, it becomes theirs.

Not by any means, sir.
I would not dream of rewriting one of God's precious and holy words.

I simply understand them differently than you do.

 

"Inability", which is something that so-called "Calvinists" teach, is indeed Scriptural.

It is understood as "inability" because if God left belief of the Gospel up to us as dead sinners, our willful and stubborn love of sin and refusal to repent of it would seal the doom of each and every man, woman and child who ever lived.

Therefore, if God wants to save anyone and establish a "set of requirements" that they must meet, He must enable them through the new birth and the power of the Spirit to meet those evidences ( "set of requirements" ).

Scriptural never mentions God-given faith as being worthless and filthy...
Only our works to gain God's favor and to keep us out of eternal punishment.

Unless it comes from God, then it does indeed merit His favor...
and anything outside of being graciously given to us is not a gift, but of works.

Plainly stated, God does not regard a man's efforts to gain favor with Him;
That would constitute works, not grace ( Romans 4:4, Romans 11:5-6 ).


Good afternoon to you, sir.

 

The very verses cited demonstrate God credits our faith, not His instilled faith.
Note again the bogus Calvinist claim faith is works, the opposite of scripture.

 

" looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." ( Hebrews 12:2 ).

" For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;" ( Philippians 1:29 ).

The "Calvinist" does not state that faith is works...
Rather, that it is indeed a gift from God that the recipients of, use to please the Lord and to trust Him for their deliverance from all that comes against them in this life.

Per Scripture, faith and works are completely and diametrically opposed to one another ( Romans 4, Romans 11:5-6 ).

But some people teach that using faith, a faith that was authored and finished by His Son ( Hebrews 12:2 ), is the evidence of His work ( Hebrews 11:1 ), given by God to His people ( Ephesians 2:8, Philippians 1:29 ), that all men do not have ( 2 Thessalonians 3:2 ) and that only comes by hearing the word of God ( Romans 10:17 ) to those that hear because they are "of" God ( John 8:47 )...

are using something that does not exist in a dead sinner ( and never did ) to convince God to save them from His wrath;
and this is done prior to their being made alive and willing to respond to the Lord's commands.


It is this usage of faith versus works that I firmly disagree with.
Simply stated, faith is not something that can be used, in any way, to pry the new birth ( and the gift of eternal life ) out of God's hands;

It is a gift graciously given to those whom God has chosen in Christ from the foundation of the world ( Ephesians 1:4-5 ) and only those that were foreknown ( Romans 8:29-30 ) who were given to Christ by the Father ( John 6:65, John 17:2 ) have it.

Only those that are given to the Son ( by the Father ) and drawn by the Father, will ever have true and biblical faith.

 

Isnt the Spirit sent by the Father and the Son

Jn 14:26
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

Then Christ said He will draw men to Himself Jn 12:32

32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. 33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.

I believe the Triune God gets credit for drawing the elect to Christ.

 

John 6:29 says the lost are required by God to put their faith in Christ. Calvinism denies this.
John 3:16 says everyone believing into Him shall have eternal life. Calvinism denies anyone can believe such that God will credit that faith as righteousness. Scripture teaches the exact opposite.

The faith of the lost is worthless, and could not pry anything out of God. The claim faith must be meritorious is just another false doctrine pushed by Calvinism.

 

Yet another falsehood, no one can believe in Christ's gospel unless they have heard and learned from that gospel presentation.

 

The KJV presents "work of God" which means the work God requires the lost to do.
No one claimed anyone "saved themselves by believing in Him." God and God alone places individuals into Christ if He credits their faith as righteousness. If not, their worthless faith does not save.

 

I believe the Father and Son sends the Spirit into the redeemed to effect the drawing, so all Three Persons of the Godhead are involved in drawing. In fact the drawing entails I believe being born again by the Spirit.

 

John 6:29 tells me that to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is indeed, a work of God.
Many, especially nowadays, deny this.

The so-called "Calvinist" sees that the Lord, per Exodus 33:19 and Romans 9:14-24, works in the hearts and minds of His people ( having mercy and compassion on whom He wills, not on whom we will ) while they are yet dead in their trespasses and sins, and brings them to Him by a mighty working of the Spirit.
This is described as "calling", and is the result of their being foreknown and predestinated ( Romans 8:28-30 ) as well as chosen "in Christ" from the foundation of the world.

Similar to Psalms 65:4 where it clearly says that the person whom God chooses and causes to approach Him, this belief is indirectly caused by the new birth being bestowed upon them ( Acts of the Apostles 16:14 ) so that they will hear and believe His words.
It is the work of God for someone to be delivered from darkness and into the light of His dear Son, trusting Him and His words.

 

John 3:16, all by itself, can be made to say many things.
While it does say that the "whosoever believeth" shall not perish, but have everlasting life, the context of John 3:14-20 tells me quite a bit.

For example, it tells me in John 3:14-15, that as Moses "lifted up" the serpent in the wilderness, and that those that look to it should not perish from the serpent's bite, but have earthly life... so shall Christ be "lifted up", so that those who look to Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

John 3:16 summarizes this by telling me that the "whosoever believeth" is the "world" that God so loved that He gave His Son for this purpose.

John 3:17 adds to this by telling me that God sent His son into the world ( the first time ) not to condemn it ( that comes later at His second coming and even later at the judgment ) but that the "world" ( the "whosoever believeth" as developed in John 3:14-16 ) should be saved.

John 3:18 tells me that the "whosoever believeth" is not condemned, but that those that do not are condemned already.
The evidence of this condemnation is that they do not believe on His Son.