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Calvinists vs Armenians: A Challenging--But Senseless--Debate

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TCassidy

Late-Administator Emeritus
Administrator
I believe (actively, I suppose) that all men by nature resist God. But I also believe than when God reveals truth it generates belief (not as an action on the part of the believer, but as a result of truth revealed).
An action on the part of God.
 

TCassidy

Late-Administator Emeritus
Administrator
Salvation is of the Lord. Not of works lest any man should boast. :)

A response is a noun :)
You are really starting to sound desperate. Just admit an action verb indicates doing something. Don't change the bible to fit your presuppositions. Change your presuppositions to fit the bible. :)
 

TCassidy

Late-Administator Emeritus
Administrator
Is faith a work or a gift?

So James is literally saying, "works without works is dead."
No, he is not. He is saying a true faith is a living, working faith.

John 6:28 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.
 

JonShaff

Fellow Servant
Site Supporter
You are really starting to sound desperate. Just admit an action verb indicates doing something. Don't change the bible to fit your presuppositions. Change your presuppositions to fit the bible. :)
Like I said, surrendering to the will of God is not a work :)
 

JonShaff

Fellow Servant
Site Supporter
No, he is not. He is saying a true faith is a living, working faith.

John 6:28 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.
I will respond in depth later...time for bed :)
 

JonC

Moderator
Moderator
I can roll with this :)

God reveals truth. Agreed

He opens the eyes of the blind. Agreed.

Does that mean they will submit to the will of God and be saved?

Luke 17:14-19 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

I do not equate revelation of Truth to regeneration. Nor do I believe regeneration has to take place for revelation of Truth.

Understanding of salvation and sanctification and who God is, yes that needs regeneration.

God revealing that you're a sinner in need of a Savior, that's the work of the Word and Spirit prior to regeneration. Otherwise you'd know all about salvation and it's in workings and out workings the day you got saved.
I also do not equate God’s act of revealing Truth to regeneration, nor that one has to be regenerated so that God can reveal Truth to him.

But I also believe that man cannot but believe when God reveals Truth to them. In other words, when something is revealed to me as being true my response is always to believe (it is an action, a response, born out of what has been revealed to be true).

I believe this is the reason in John 12 that those who saw did not believe. Jesus revealed the truth of who He is by signs and wonders, but the people did not believe. The reason is not that truth was not being revealed but because God had hardened their hearts and blinded their eyes lest they believe and turn to Him and be saved.

So one of our disagreements seems to be exactly what “truth” is revealed by God through the work of the Spirit towards conversion.

I do not believe that it is that we are sinners. The unbeliever may be very aware that he has sinned, and may be sorrowful, but if that is not a sorrow leading to repentance then it leads to death. Men in various religions all over the world seek a savior without seeking Christ. So the awareness that we have sinned is present in all men. What is lacking is not a knowledge of ourselves but the Truth of God. I believe that in conversion the Spirit reveals not man, but God, and that once this Truth is revealed man believes.

For example, if my understanding here is revealed to you as being true, then you cannot but believe it (otherwise, it would not be revealed, but concealed truth). :D
 

JonC

Moderator
Moderator
An action on the part of God.
Yes. It is God who reveals (an action) Truth. And that Truth revealed, we believe (an action). The difference being between faith/belief (which is not a verb) and believe (which is). Ours is to repent and believe, the product of God’s recreative work in the lives of those who will believe.

God told Israel that He would cause them to walk in His statutes, and they would obey. Their obedience is an action, but not the action that effected their situation. We believe as an action, but an action that is descriptive of the salvation that God has wrought (our act of believing is not separate from our salvation itself).

God is the Author of our Salvation.
 

Yeshua1

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
I agree that it is difficult to nail down. It sounds to me like the argument is that it is a work to resist but it is also a work not to resist (both believing and not believing are seen as active verbs).

I believe (actively, I suppose) that all men by nature resist God. But I also believe than when God reveals truth it generates belief (not as an action on the part of the believer, but as a result of truth revealed).
To receive Jesus thru/by Faith cannot be a work in sense of us adding to salvation, as God commands sinners to do that to be saved!
 

Yeshua1

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Active verb. Something you do.
So is placing faith in Christ a response God demands to save us, but it cannot be a good work adding to God grace, as faith is a gift from Him to us who are to get saved, so how can that be us doing a saving work?
 

Yeshua1

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Yes. It is God who reveals (an action) Truth. And that Truth revealed, we believe (an action). The difference being between faith/belief (which is not a verb) and believe (which is). Ours is to repent and believe, the product of God’s recreative work in the lives of those who will believe.

God told Israel that He would cause them to walk in His statutes, and they would obey. Their obedience is an action, but not the action that effected their situation. We believe as an action, but an action that is descriptive of the salvation that God has wrought (our act of believing is not separate from our salvation itself).

God is the Author of our Salvation.

Faith cannot be a work, as God commands us to repent and believe unto Jesus for salvation!
 

JonC

Moderator
Moderator
Faith cannot be a work, as God commands us to repent and believe unto Jesus for salvation!
Faith and belief are nouns. To believe (to put your faith in someone) is a verb. I have faith because God has revealed truth to me in such a way as this belief unquestionably exists. God changed my heart and spirit, inclined it towards Him, put His Spirit in me, so that this faith is present within me. This work of God results in my act of believing.

I was always told to make sure I discharged a capacitor by shorting the terminals before working with them. The reason is that they can hold a charge. This is what I was taught and this is what I believed (and taught to my guys). But I’ve also touched hundreds of those suckers without making sure they were discharged and never got shocked. A couple of months ago I removed a capacitor and when I picked it back up I got zapped. This instilled in me a belief, beyond mere instruction, that they will indeed hold a charge. That belief exists, which results in me believing as evidenced by never, never, never touching those things without making sure they are indeed discharged.

Yes, I agree. Faith is not a work of men. It is what God does in the life of men, the means through which God’s grace of salvation is obtained. When I believe I am, in fact, beholding God as the Object of my faith - that is salvation itself, not something I do to be saved.
 

Yeshua1

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Faith and belief are nouns. To believe (to put your faith in someone) is a verb. I have faith because God has revealed truth to me in such a way as this belief unquestionably exists. God changed my heart and spirit, inclined it towards Him, put His Spirit in me, so that this faith is present within me. This work of God results in my act of believing.

I was always told to make sure I discharged a capacitor by shorting the terminals before working with them. The reason is that they can hold a charge. This is what I was taught and this is what I believed (and taught to my guys). But I’ve also touched hundreds of those suckers without making sure they were discharged and never got shocked. A couple of months ago I removed a capacitor and when I picked it back up I got zapped. This instilled in me a belief, beyond mere instruction, that they will indeed hold a charge. That belief exists, which results in me believing as evidenced by never, never, never touching those things without making sure they are indeed discharged.

Yes, I agree. Faith is not a work of men. It is what God does in the life of men, the means through which God’s grace of salvation is obtained. When I believe I am, in fact, beholding God as the Object of my faith - that is salvation itself, not something I do to be saved.
Faith in jesus is not adding anything to Grace of God, merely conduit the Lord passes Grace thru towards us, correct?

If it was a real work, then either the saved are eternally saved in a real sense at birth, or none would be!
 

Revmitchell

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Yes. The bible is given to us so we can believe correct doctrine, and we have new life, believing on His Name.

But I still fail to see where you have to do something. Unless you are talking about "believing" which, of course, is a work.

Not its not.
 

TCassidy

Late-Administator Emeritus
Administrator
Not its not.
God is not a liar.
John 6:28 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.
 
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