and three strikes your out Van...lol
John 15:16: "Ye did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit."
The object to be attained cannot be the cause.
John 17:2: "As thou gavest him authority over all flesh, that whatsoever thou hast given him to them he should give eternal life." (See also verse 6-12).
Acts 22:14: Ananias says to Paul, "The God of our fathers hath appointed thee to know his will."
Eph. 1:5: In the fourth verse having referred to God's choice of us before the foundation of the world, he says in this fifth verse: "Having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace."
Eph.1:11: We are said to be predestinated to our inheritance "according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will."
James 1:18: "Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth."
b. Such as deny merit in the persons elected as well as assert the sovereign choice of God. Ezek. 36:32; In this passage after describing the blessings connected with the new dispensation and the gift of the Spirit and the new heart which He would give them, — gifts which the Calvinistic theory regards as the result of election, but which the Arminian maintains to be its cause,— God adds: "Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your ways, 0 house of Israel."
John 1:11-13: "He came unto his own, and they that were his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
Rom. 9:11-16: Election is illustrated by the case of the twins "The children being not yet born, neither having done anything, good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth ... So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy."
Rom. 11:5, 6: "Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. But if it is by grace, it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace."
c. Such as so describe the persons chosen as to imply this.
Matt. 11:25, 26: "At that season Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding and didst reveal them unto babes; yea, Father, for so it was well pleasing in thy sight."
Luke 4:25-27: Christ illustrates this sovereignty of God by mentioning that many widows had been in Israel, yet had only a heathen widow been blessed; and again many lepers cured. "Of a truth I say unto you, There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah . . . and unto none of them was Elijah sent, but only to Zarepath in the land of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."
Acts 26:12-23: Paul's description of his personal condition at his conversion shows that God chose him not for his merits but from His own good pleasure.
I Cor. 1:26-30: "For behold your calling, brethren, how that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called; but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame them that are wise; and God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong; and the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, did God choose, yea, and the things that are not, that he might bring to naught the things that are, that no flesh should glory before God. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus," etc.
Gal. 1:15, 16: Paul says, "When it was the good pleasure of God, who separated me even from my mother's womb, and called me through his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach," etc.
Eph. 2:1-13: The description of the condition of those who were dead in trespasses and sins, and in that state were quickened, proves that the quickening and salvation was due to no merit of their own.
The tests thus exhibited under these three classes prove conclusively that not on account of their own merits, but because of the good pleasure of God, does He choose men. They have been presented at some length, because this is after all the point upon which all that is important in this controversy turns. For, although other matters are equally essential to the doctrine, the whole opposition arises from an unwillingness on the part of man to recognize the sovereignty of God, and to ascribe salvation entirely to grace.
This proof, however, has been by no means exhausted, the attempt having been to select some only of the numerous passages, and mainly such as from their conciseness allow of presentation in full. Let the Scriptures be read with reference to this doctrine, and every passage marked which indicates God's dealing with men as an absolute sovereign, and also every declaration which ascribes election or the fruits of it to His choice and not to the will or acts of men, and every illustration afforded that this is God's usual method, and it will appear that scarcely any book of Scripture will fail to furnish testimony to the fact that in the acts of grace, no less than those of providence, God "doeth according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth." (Dan. 4:3-5).
John 15:16: "Ye did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit."
The object to be attained cannot be the cause.
John 17:2: "As thou gavest him authority over all flesh, that whatsoever thou hast given him to them he should give eternal life." (See also verse 6-12).
Acts 22:14: Ananias says to Paul, "The God of our fathers hath appointed thee to know his will."
Eph. 1:5: In the fourth verse having referred to God's choice of us before the foundation of the world, he says in this fifth verse: "Having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace."
Eph.1:11: We are said to be predestinated to our inheritance "according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will."
James 1:18: "Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth."
b. Such as deny merit in the persons elected as well as assert the sovereign choice of God. Ezek. 36:32; In this passage after describing the blessings connected with the new dispensation and the gift of the Spirit and the new heart which He would give them, — gifts which the Calvinistic theory regards as the result of election, but which the Arminian maintains to be its cause,— God adds: "Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your ways, 0 house of Israel."
John 1:11-13: "He came unto his own, and they that were his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
Rom. 9:11-16: Election is illustrated by the case of the twins "The children being not yet born, neither having done anything, good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth ... So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy."
Rom. 11:5, 6: "Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. But if it is by grace, it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace."
c. Such as so describe the persons chosen as to imply this.
Matt. 11:25, 26: "At that season Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding and didst reveal them unto babes; yea, Father, for so it was well pleasing in thy sight."
Luke 4:25-27: Christ illustrates this sovereignty of God by mentioning that many widows had been in Israel, yet had only a heathen widow been blessed; and again many lepers cured. "Of a truth I say unto you, There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah . . . and unto none of them was Elijah sent, but only to Zarepath in the land of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."
Acts 26:12-23: Paul's description of his personal condition at his conversion shows that God chose him not for his merits but from His own good pleasure.
I Cor. 1:26-30: "For behold your calling, brethren, how that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called; but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame them that are wise; and God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong; and the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, did God choose, yea, and the things that are not, that he might bring to naught the things that are, that no flesh should glory before God. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus," etc.
Gal. 1:15, 16: Paul says, "When it was the good pleasure of God, who separated me even from my mother's womb, and called me through his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach," etc.
Eph. 2:1-13: The description of the condition of those who were dead in trespasses and sins, and in that state were quickened, proves that the quickening and salvation was due to no merit of their own.
The tests thus exhibited under these three classes prove conclusively that not on account of their own merits, but because of the good pleasure of God, does He choose men. They have been presented at some length, because this is after all the point upon which all that is important in this controversy turns. For, although other matters are equally essential to the doctrine, the whole opposition arises from an unwillingness on the part of man to recognize the sovereignty of God, and to ascribe salvation entirely to grace.
This proof, however, has been by no means exhausted, the attempt having been to select some only of the numerous passages, and mainly such as from their conciseness allow of presentation in full. Let the Scriptures be read with reference to this doctrine, and every passage marked which indicates God's dealing with men as an absolute sovereign, and also every declaration which ascribes election or the fruits of it to His choice and not to the will or acts of men, and every illustration afforded that this is God's usual method, and it will appear that scarcely any book of Scripture will fail to furnish testimony to the fact that in the acts of grace, no less than those of providence, God "doeth according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth." (Dan. 4:3-5).
