Hyper-calvinism

Well, that's a start!

 

1. God had to grant it.

2. "When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and ALL WHO WERE APPOINTED FOR ETERNAL LIFE believed."
- Acts 13:48

 

Keep the context, brother.

Rom. 12:1 - "And I beseech you therefore, brethren..."

Rom. 12:3 - "For I say, through the grace given to me, to EVERYONE WHO IS AMONG YOU, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to EACH ONE a measure of faith."

In other words, those who had been dealt a "measure of faith" were believers.

Remember also the analogy of Scripture, and read
2 Thessalonians 3:2b, "...for not all have faith."

As for your explanation about "ordained," Judas was not "ordained to eternal life," neither were those priests, etc. Not only that, but being "ordained" to something (like areas of service) is not the same as being ordained to "eternal life."

 

Sinners, dead in trespasses and sins, certainly to reject the gospel. When Calvinists use the term "spiritually dead," we man that the natural man is not active in the SPIRITUAL REALM. As far as the things of this world, he is very active in walking according to the course of the world and being a child of wrath.

So yes, I am consistent whoever you were who told me to be "consistent." You are the one who isn't consistent. You claim that God loves every man just the same, but every man doesn't have the same chance to "get saved." They'll never hear the gospel. God loves them so much that He does nothing to deliver the gospel to them. That'll be consistent when the Devil is born again by the Spirit of God.

 

"Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?" Rom. 9.19

More and more and more I am agreeing with the Primitive stand that mission work is an individual calling; I actually believe this is the undertaking which Wm Carey pursued. Nevertheless, I believe Acts 13 shows the calling of Paul and Barnabas by the Holy Spirit and the "sending" forth of the church.

How does this fit into our topic?

We don't know the elect, nor the non-elect, however, God does, He does not possess this knowledge based upon His foreknowledge which shows Him who will and who will not choose to Believe, nor who will and will not perservere; All is of Grace; as shown in Eph. 1.6; when we entertain such thoughts that men must "accept" Christ, we fail to realize apart from the Grace of God there is none who 'will' accept Him.

Regardless of how we argue, or how much Scripture we bring to our view, we find we are ultimately denying the Soveriegnty of God when we proclaim those dead in trespasses and sins may be reconciled to God according to a time, place and actions of their own choosing.

A Baptist (Regular-General; or General-Regular; I can't remember), minister told me my ministry would be successful or hindered as a result of my beliefs. This ministry of mine cannot be hindered, because the word of God is not bound, this ministry if founded upon the Sovereignty of God cannot fail; faliure erupts into it when I entertain thoughts of providing a showing to "prove" my ministry to those around me, to honor and glorify myself, you hear it all the time, from youth ministers etc. ("there were 60 youth at our youth meeting last night" or "let's put no 'denominational' name upon our meetings so not to offend anyone," o.k. if you do not want to offend anyone, you cannot preach the Gospel, the Gospel makes nothing of man and everything of God; this is designed to be offensive; it is only by the power of God it is effective, it is but our commission to publish it and proclaim it wheresoever the Spirit does direct; it is the responsibility of God to make this Gospel effecitive in the hearts of men. For the sake of #'s many lost now are unable to see how the Gospel has regenerated many church members at all; this is the most powerful weapon Satan has today, it is not the hinderance of the proclamation of the Gospel that serves him so well; but the instilling into the true message of the Gospel the theory that man can of his own 'will' enter into a relationship with God through Christ.

Many do not see this, because they view this work to be the "business" they are to be about, in fact Christ said "I" must be about my Father's business; The work we are given is limited to proclaiming the Gospel, and feeding the flock (church--bride). The Gospel is able to be used for the feeding of the church; and therefore used to that end; the Gospel has the purpose of breaking the hearts of the lost; to bring them to God according to His working not ours. The feeding of the church is the 'pearl' we are not to cast before swine etc.

I have been hearing many attempt to reconcile the Roman Rd. with the election; they always come out sounding as if salvation is the result of works; we must remember the only works ever accepted by God the Father were performed by God the Son. If we cling to any other hope, then we should take inventory of our own hearts, if we come any other way than the way which Christ has paved, will we be accepted? This is not my decision, but must be determined by each of us. Either it is all of Grace, and works is no more works, or it is all of works and Grace is no more Grace.

God Bless you all in your walk and service to Him.

Bro. Dallas

 

(Acts 13:48 NKJV) Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

One can twist their theology around all they want but the plain meaning of this verse is that appointment preceded believing.

Ken
A Spurgeonite

 

That coonhound just won't hunt. That verse was written to Christians. Christians have faith to carry out the good works that God has prepared for them to do(Ephesians 2:10). There is absolutely nothing in Romans 12:3 about the unsaved having faith, as the apostle Paul immediately starts talking about this subject in relation to the body of Christ.

Ken
A Spurgeonite

 

"And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith." (2 Thess. 3:2)

This is at odds with the modern missionary boards. Paul told the brethren to pray that he might be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. The missionary boards insist we coerce them to believe and try to "save" them. Here Paul says that all men have not faith. If God has given faith to every man, this verse would not be true. Therefore, the part about God giving every man a measure of faith, the brethren were the "every man" under consideration.

 

To be quite honest, I don't follow your train of thought. Nobody can be coerced into believing, if they are to believe the Holy Spirit must be at work - granting repentance and faith. Nonetheless, it is our duty to go out and proclaim the Gospel to all. Therefore, I support missions work. How about you?

 

Primitive Baptist how many brethren on here have ever heard of the the Kehukee Declaration and The Black Rock Address who are not primitive baptist?... I will not go there as I'm sure you are more familiar with it than I being from the same part of the country it was established in!... And the Baptist split of 1832!... Maybe you should give the brethren a run down on history and why it divided Old School from New School?... What do you think or is that too drastic?... Brother Glen

 

Not all men have faith, yet God gave all men a measure of faith.... How can we reconcile these seemingly contradictory statements without changing the meaning of either passage.

First we start with the passages themselves. Faith and a measure of faith. What is the difference between the two.

Faith.... We are saved by grace through "faith". We are not saved by grace through a "measure of faith".

There is a difference between "faith"; and "a measure of "faith".

In essence we have, "A measure of faith" Given to all men.

We have "faith", through which we are brought to salvation.

And we have, "faith without measure". Which only Christ had...

 

Nope. You can't yank a verse out of context and then use it to teach something that is outright false. Look at the context.

(Rom 12:3-5 NKJV) For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. {4} For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, {5} so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

Unless you can prove that there is a doctrine in the Bible that all people, saved and unsaved, are members of the body of Christ, the church, then your line of argumentation has been proven false.

Ken
A Spurgeonite

 

You do not have faith unless you are given faith by Jesus Christ... If not... since only Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith how do you get it?... Brother Glen

 

All Christians must have faith in Jesus. [Romans 5:1]

In Romans 12:3 God is speaking to the church through the Apostle Paul and He says, that He has given to every Christian ' . . . the measure of faith.' Not all Christians have the same amount of faith though all must be indwelled by the Holy Spirit.

In John 3:34 the Word says that Jesus had the Spirit of God without measure.

All sinners do not the Holy Spirit in their lives. [I John 3:8 a,b, & 10] Sinners are children of the evil one. [I John 2:22 & 23 a] and serve the ' . . . god of this world.' [I Corinthians 4:4]

 

I Timothy 1:[15] This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Ray are you telling us that you are better than the Apostle Paul? ... Brother Glen