Protestant
Well-Known Member
Question: How do we reconcile God’s command that we must believe on Christ with the fact that salvation is the gift of God?
Some of Silverhair’s arguments are not without merit:
“[T]he scriptures [teach] that has God require us to have faith before He saves us….. God has set the conditions….”
John 3:16 agrees with Silverhair. Believing in Christ saves you from perishing, while gaining eternal life (i.e., salvation).
John 3:36 echoes this truth.
“Repent and believe the Gospel” (Mark 1:15).
Repenting and believing is what man is commanded to do. It is man who repents. It is man who believes.
It is this revealed will of God that man’s duty is clearly proclaimed. These are the conditions.
What isn’t proclaimed, however, is God’s secret will ---- i.e., what God has purposed to do.
Our all-wise God has always known that without His merciful intervention, man is doomed. This truth was born out in the testing of Adam and Eve.
The Purpose of God According to Election
Unless one has a clear understanding of Election, it is impossible to unravel the seeming ‘contradiction’ of our duty to believe vs. God’s purpose to give saving grace to some and not all.
Understanding the arguments of Romans 9 is essential to apprehending the solution to this alleged ‘dilemma.’ It is God who makes the decision as to who, exactly, is to be counted among the Elect. That decision is not based on any merit or demerit man may have. The choice is reached by the counsel of His own will.
This saving grace was foretold by the Prophet Ezekiel:
25Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them (36:25-27).
These verses teach the essence of saving grace which God has purposed, from eternity, to give the Elect.
The clean water is a metaphor for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the water of the Word.
The new heart is a metaphor for the new birth from above. For it is with the heart man believes unto righteousness.
Without God’s Spirit, given us in the new birth, causing us to obey His commandments, (including the commands to repent and believe the Gospel), man will not obey.
This Truth Does Not Impugn the Character of God
Had God purposed to deny to man that which man rightfully deserved, there would be cause to believe God was unjust.
But such is not the case.
All men deserve judgment for original or personal sin. For all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
No man deserves saving grace, because grace is not of works (personal merit) [Romans 11:6].
Furthermore, it is not evil or unjust of God to give to some that which is good, though they do not deserve such favor.
This truth is exemplified in the Parable of the Vineyard Workers (Matthew 20:1-16). Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ (Matt. 20:15 ESV).
Silverhair: “So you have to be born again before you can believe. you have a strange view of the bible.”
No, this is the biblical teaching.
Before a man can see the Kingdom of God, as well as its King, Jesus Christ, he must be born of the Spirit of God (John 3:3).
First comes spiritual rebirth by the sovereign Spirit, resulting in removing the log of sin which spiritually blinds the sinner to the truths of God.
Then comes the supernatural spiritual sight to see and believe the beauty and truth of the Gospel, as well as that of the Savior sent to save His people from their sins.
It is not evil of God to command man to do that which he is incapable and unwilling to do.
Although man is a fallen creature, he has not lost the conscience which makes him morally culpable, nor is he without a modicum of rationale which he uses to determine choices he makes.
Man's inability and unwillingness are due to his sin, not God's sin or another's sin.
The fault is in man, not God.
On the other hand, when it comes to salvation, the glory is all of God. Man has nothing about which to glory.
Some of Silverhair’s arguments are not without merit:
“[T]he scriptures [teach] that has God require us to have faith before He saves us….. God has set the conditions….”
John 3:16 agrees with Silverhair. Believing in Christ saves you from perishing, while gaining eternal life (i.e., salvation).
John 3:36 echoes this truth.
“Repent and believe the Gospel” (Mark 1:15).
Repenting and believing is what man is commanded to do. It is man who repents. It is man who believes.
It is this revealed will of God that man’s duty is clearly proclaimed. These are the conditions.
What isn’t proclaimed, however, is God’s secret will ---- i.e., what God has purposed to do.
Our all-wise God has always known that without His merciful intervention, man is doomed. This truth was born out in the testing of Adam and Eve.
The Purpose of God According to Election
Unless one has a clear understanding of Election, it is impossible to unravel the seeming ‘contradiction’ of our duty to believe vs. God’s purpose to give saving grace to some and not all.
Understanding the arguments of Romans 9 is essential to apprehending the solution to this alleged ‘dilemma.’ It is God who makes the decision as to who, exactly, is to be counted among the Elect. That decision is not based on any merit or demerit man may have. The choice is reached by the counsel of His own will.
This saving grace was foretold by the Prophet Ezekiel:
25Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them (36:25-27).
These verses teach the essence of saving grace which God has purposed, from eternity, to give the Elect.
The clean water is a metaphor for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the water of the Word.
The new heart is a metaphor for the new birth from above. For it is with the heart man believes unto righteousness.
Without God’s Spirit, given us in the new birth, causing us to obey His commandments, (including the commands to repent and believe the Gospel), man will not obey.
This Truth Does Not Impugn the Character of God
Had God purposed to deny to man that which man rightfully deserved, there would be cause to believe God was unjust.
But such is not the case.
All men deserve judgment for original or personal sin. For all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
No man deserves saving grace, because grace is not of works (personal merit) [Romans 11:6].
Furthermore, it is not evil or unjust of God to give to some that which is good, though they do not deserve such favor.
This truth is exemplified in the Parable of the Vineyard Workers (Matthew 20:1-16). Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ (Matt. 20:15 ESV).
Silverhair: “So you have to be born again before you can believe. you have a strange view of the bible.”
No, this is the biblical teaching.
Before a man can see the Kingdom of God, as well as its King, Jesus Christ, he must be born of the Spirit of God (John 3:3).
First comes spiritual rebirth by the sovereign Spirit, resulting in removing the log of sin which spiritually blinds the sinner to the truths of God.
Then comes the supernatural spiritual sight to see and believe the beauty and truth of the Gospel, as well as that of the Savior sent to save His people from their sins.
It is not evil of God to command man to do that which he is incapable and unwilling to do.
Although man is a fallen creature, he has not lost the conscience which makes him morally culpable, nor is he without a modicum of rationale which he uses to determine choices he makes.
Man's inability and unwillingness are due to his sin, not God's sin or another's sin.
The fault is in man, not God.
On the other hand, when it comes to salvation, the glory is all of God. Man has nothing about which to glory.
