Did man get a second chance with the birth, death and resurrection of the Son of God, OR was it God that was taking all the chances?
I once thought that God gave mankind a second chance with Christ's first coming, and was firmly convinced of it when I was a young believer;
but I have since realized, through careful study of the Scriptures, that it was
always His perfect and righteous plan to save some by the death of His Son and to reserve others for judgment.
Some of why I believe as I do involves what Romans 1, Romans 2, Romans 3, Psalms 10, and Psalms 14 has to say about our nature and how corrupt we really are...
All the way to the core in our love for sin and hatred ( that can go from mild dismissal to outright hostility ) of God and His Son for commanding our repentance.
Basically put,
I see His word teaching that the Lord worked the salvation of individuals as part of a perfect plan of His grace with regard to salvation and the gifts of eternal life and everything that is involved with it.
If mankind got a "second chance" after Adam and Eve's failure in the Garden ( which I am convinced none of us would have done any differently than they did ), then our favor with God rests upon
what we do with what we're given;
We're then back to it being a reward for our effort(s) and not a gift.
But even given a "second chance", we would
still fall flat on our faces in trying to gain His favor or to acquire a "get-out-of jail free" card.
That is how bad off we really are, as a race and at heart.
To me, there is and was no "second chance".
Why?
The so-called "law of chances" that many of us have come to accept as truth, means that not only are the results of His efforts in saving people
not determined before-hand, but that our efforts or beliefs or ( you fill in the blank ) actually
does the determining.
As in other threads both in this section and in the CvA one, this subject gets down to the heart of the matter...
Is salvation a cooperative effort, or is it all of grace and none of us?
I see His word teaching the latter.
That is where I stand, and that is where I will always stand.