Once again this Calvinist denies Romans 4:16. See a pattern?
In order to be a Calvinist you must be willing to deny scripture,
2 Timothy 2:6 does not say Christ laid down His life as a ransom for all
2 Thessalonians 2:13 does not say our election for salvation is on the basis of faith in the truth.
Matthew 23:13 does not say people were entering the kingdom without the influence of irresistible grace.
Nope, if scripture conflicts with Calvinism, then scripture must be rewritten.
Sigh...
Let us read all of Romans 4 so every reader can see that Abram was first chosen by God as a child of the promise, given faith from God to believe the promise and declared righteous, by God, because of the faith God had given Abram, not because of Abram creating his own faith (as Van is teaching).
Romans 4:1-25 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For
if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say?
“Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but
believes in him who justifies the ungodly0, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that
faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.
The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. For
the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be
guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No
unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”
But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also.
It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Question: How could Abram believe God if God had not first spoken and made a covenant with Abram?
Question: Does God justify the one who has faith or the ungodly?
Question: Does God forgive lawless deeds because of merited faith or because God graciously chooses to forgive lawless sinners by grace alone?
Question: Was the promise given to Abram because he was faithful, or...because God gave Abram faith and made the promise come to fruition through the faith that God gave to Abram?
Question: Does the promise rest on grace?
Question: Who gets all the glory in Romans 4? Is it God alone, or is it Abrams faith, which moves God to be gracious? (I say it is the former, not the latter.)
