Silverhair, I never said that everyone should be saved simply because everyone is a sinner. That is your inference, not my argument.
Your response demonstrates a complete failure to comprehend basic theological distinctions and scriptural chronology. You are accusing me of teaching universalism and "salvation without faith" simply because you cannot answer the explicit timeline of the verses I laid before you.
Let’s look at the absolute collapse of your objections:
1. Dismantling Your Universalist Strawman
You claim:
"Since we are all sinners. By your logic then everyone should be saved."
Silverhair, this is a basic failure in logic. Asserting that Christ saved
sinners does not mean He saved
every individual sinner universally. As I have proven repeatedly from Scripture, Christ
died for a specific, definite people—His
sheep (
John 10:11, 15), His
Church (
Ephesians 5:25), and the
elect (
Romans 8:33).
The category of people Christ saved is "sinners," but the scope of that category is strictly limited to the elect remnant written in the Lamb's Book of Life. I am not preaching universal salvation; I am preaching a
successful salvation for the specific people Christ actually represented at the cross.
2. The Unbending Timeline of Romans 5:10
You write:
"No one is saved before they trust in God. It is your false theology that teaches the error of salvation without faith."
Silverhair, stop arguing with my theology and look at the text of
Romans 5:10:
Answer the text: When the death of God's Son occurred in 33 AD, what was our spiritual status? We were
enemies and
unbelievers.
If we were not legally reconciled to God until
after we trusted Him, then Paul would have written:
"We were reconciled after we stopped being enemies and believed." But the Holy Spirit says the exact opposite. The legal clearance (
The Legal Phase) was a completed, objective reality at the cross
while the elect were still historical enemies in active unbelief.
The True Office of Faith in the Five Phases
I do not teach "salvation without faith." I teach that faith is a vital component of salvation, but it is an
effect, not a cause. Let’s look at the proper timeline to correct your confusion:
- Phase II (The Legal Phase - 33 AD): Christ completely satisfies God's justice, removes the judicial debt, and legally reconciles His elect while they are yet enemies (Romans 5:10).
- Phase III (The Vital Phase - Time): The Holy Spirit sovereignly quickens the dead sinner, giving them spiritual life apart from their cooperation (Ephesians 2:1, 5).
- Phase IV (The Practical Phase - Conversion): Because they have been legally redeemed and vitally quickened, they are given the gift of faith (1 Tim. 1:14). They look to the Gospel, repent, and believe.
Faith is the spiritual eye that sees and enjoys a salvation that was already purchased and secure. Faith does not create the legal fact of reconciliation; it receives the manifestative knowledge of it.
When Paul was on the road to Damascus, he was a blasphemer and a persecutor in total unbelief (
1 Tim. 1:13). Yet, God's exceeding abundant grace met him and
gave him faith and love (
1 Tim. 1:14).
God did not wait for Paul to manufacture faith to trigger his salvation; God sovereignly saved Paul out of his unbelief.
Your theology turns faith into a human contribution that seals the deal. Scriptural soteriology declares that faith is the fruit of a finished work. Stop rewriting the timeline of Romans 5:10, Silverhair, and submit to the text.
