The Number Of God’s Elect

[Martin Marprelate]

How often have I read in various Facebook theological discussions the declaration of a Calvinist – “Freewill is not taught in Scriptures”?

Of Free Will — The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith

Chapter 9

www.the1689confession.com

 

[Silverhair]

Of Free Will — The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith

Chapter 9

www.the1689confession.com

I know you are not making the claim that the LBCF of is to be considered scripture.

But pointing to that does not deal with what was said in the post does it.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

I know you are not making the claim that the LBCF of is to be considered scripture.

But pointing to that does not deal with what was said in the post does it.

I'm not making any claim at all, other than that the 1689 Confession does not deny free will. That is all.

 

[Tea]

I could go on, but you get the idea, Calvinism is based on reading into scripture conjecture, whereas my views are based on what is actually said.

The fundamental principles of Calvinism can stand alongside every one of the verses you cited.

Ok, one more 2 Thessalonians 2:13, God chooses individuals for salvation through faith in the truth, not God chooses individuals unconditionally, then gives them faith...

In the verse, being chosen encompasses all that God means for it to encompass, including sanctification and belief in the truth. Being chosen comes before everything else.

So as you can see, we are not altering the scripture; we are simply letting it say what it says.

 

[Silverhair]

I'm not making any claim at all, other than that the 1689 Confession does not deny free will. That is all.

Well I read through the LBCF Chap 9 on free will and what they call free will is not actual free will is it. It presents a false understanding of what free will is.

The calvinist free will is just the free will to do what has been determined for him to do. According to Paragraph 3. "Man, by his fall into a state of sin, has wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation;"

But what we see in scripture is that God expects man to make real choices regarding salvation and will hold them accountable for the choices they make.