Featured Given, Granted or Allowed?

I would point out that the hardening that takes place can probably be attributed to God's efforts. Consider Pharaoh: it was God's commands that resulted in the hardened heart. So His efforts come before the hardening in that case. This is a reasonable conclusion in general, because one cannot reject the Gospel prior to God's enlightenment.

Stephen makes a general statement concerning the "fathers," that they always resisted the Holy Ghost:

Acts 7:51
King James Version

51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

It is after He has sought to enlighten men that He brings about conditions where they cannot believe. An example would be,


2 Thessalonians 2:10-12
King James Version

10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Before placing too much emphasis on "believed not," take note they did not receive the love of the truth. That is why they were not saved, rather than not believing. Being unbelievers is the inevitable conclusion for those who receive not the love of the truth, or, as Peter puts it ...

2 Peter 2:21
For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

There is no hardening of hearts prior to God's ministry. There is no faith, no belief, no repentance.



God bless.

 

Could you provide a quote for "your faith has saved you?"

I can only recall this phrase spoken of by the Lord, and this precedes regeneration, so it cannot be used to justify the works of man as contributing to salvation.


God bless.

 

How does anything in this response address ...


Could you provide a quote for "your faith has saved you?"

I can only recall this phrase spoken of by the Lord, and this precedes regeneration, so it cannot be used to justify the works of man as contributing to salvation.
God bless.

I'm still waiting.

Great. And ...?

I think the public record will show I have been fairly consistent in attributing repentance, belief, and faith to the Ministry of the Comforter. But, where we see a subsequent regeneration in association with those elements, this you will have trouble trying to justify.

Consider believers' baptism: when a person is baptized, they get wet at the same time. That is how I view regeneration. These elements are concurrent.

So where do we see men repenting, believing, and having faith so they can be regenerate? Where do we see the opposite scenario? Where do we see men are regenerated so they can have faith, or in other words, so they can then be saved? All you have to do is present the Scripture.

I agree. God is wholly Sovereign in salvation.

Remember ...

Acts 11 NASB

18 When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has also granted to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

Does repentance precede belief and faith?

As I have said, I view faith as having a God-ward and a Man-ward aspect. While your faith in God remains a constant, how you express and live your faith varies.

Do you claim that your faith is no stronger now than the day you professed faith in Christ? Understanding God's Word does not strengthen our faith?


God bless.

 

I would throw in people's hearts can be hardened by poor commentary.

No reason to draw that conclusion.

And the primary issue goes back to the fact that no man or woman can believe within their natural condition. To justify your position, we would have to conclude that everyone from a small child believes because God has not hardened their hearts.

Would you mind attaching chapter and verse and the translation?

Regardless, this is the very point I have been making: no natural man or woman has the ability to believe (in a salvific context) apart from the Ministry of God in their hearts. He is the One that "allows," because He is actively opening their eyes to His truth.

And again we disagree on this: I don't view it as God hardening someone's heart. They harden their own hearts. There's a difference between that and God giving strong delusion that one might believe a lie. This is God allowing the unbeliever to continue to bring judgment on him/herself, rather than God being charged as responsible for their unbelief/disobedience.

But I'll be glad to look at your basis in Scripture for such a view. Please do not snip up the quotations, should you choose to offer any up.

What is nonsense is the poor attempt at justifying your views. This post hosts a number of absurdities.

This one ...

... is probably the worst.

Does God "disallow" the natural man from receiving the spiritual things of God? Does God make them view His truths as foolishness? Or is that something inherent in man's nature?

You seem to be back and forth here.


God bless.

 

Why not stick with the actual meaning of the words we are given? Instead of replacing them?

I wonder if you would replace this word in the following verses:

Mat 4:9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give G1325 thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

Mat 5:31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give G1325 her a writing of divorcement:

From the same chapter:

Jhn 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give G1325 is my flesh, which I will give G1325 for the life of the world.


I don't see "allow" given as a biblical usage for this word. While I would not conclude that as dogmatic, it is apparent that God gives men the ability to believe, as seen in your very own proof text.

That would qualify as enabling to me. But then, you probably have a better pair of scissors than I do.




God bless.

 

Soil #1:
4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the birds came and devoured them: Mt 13

Christ's explanation of soil #1:
18 Hear then ye the parable of the sower.
19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the evil one, and snatcheth away that which hath been sown in his heart. This is he that was sown by the way side. Mt 13

Correlates with:
4 in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them. 2 Cor 4

Romans 11:
4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have left for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.
5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
6 But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.
7 What then? that which Israel seeketh for, that he obtained not; but the election obtained it, and the rest were hardened:

Correlates with:
6 Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Cor 4

 

It was impossible for Judas to believe. John 8:43-47
Judas was a serpent John 6:70
Who collaborated with other serpents to bring about the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15
Christ chose him so that the scriptures would be fulfilled John 13:18; Psalms 41:9

 

ROFguffawing. What an imagination you have....

 

The problem I have with this is that, while I don't argue God "allowed" them, the intent in the verse is better rendered with a word or words that are consistent with biblical usage. Thus, we see God giving someone this ability, as opposed to allowing men to work with an ability Scripture denies they have.

Use "allow" in some of the verses I posted and see how much sense they make.

And translations are what we base our conclusions on.

Okay.

Sorry, but this is imposed into the text by yourself. Not only that, we can examine everyone who ends up with a hardened heart and see that before that heart was hardened, they were introduced to the will of God.

You are charging God with making it impossible for men to be obedient to His will, and Scripture does not teach this. God will justly judge men based on their rejection of His will. It is one of the most basic teachings we have in Scripture.

The conclusion one believes because their heart hasn't been hardened by God is astounding.

Judas chose not to believe. He rejected the "words of life" of his own volition. The fact this was prophesied does not negate his culpability.

God always reveals His truth before men make a decision. Men are incapable of going out, beating the bushes, and stumbling across the truth. Trying to make natural man seeking God not only contradicts the clear statement of Scripture (Romans 3:10-12), it isn't even reasonable enough for a serious Bible Student to consider.

The answer lies in understand the revelation of the Gospel Mystery, placing it in its proper time-frame (this Age), and Who it is that does the unveiling (God). This allows us to place all teachings in a proper context. We wouldn't have so much confusion about the salvation and justification of Old Testament Saints versus New.


God bless.

 

So you believe the Corinthian Christians were 'lost,' do you? Read 1 Corinthians 1:1-9.