Saved by Grace through Faith

Van · Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2003 8:47 pm Post subject: Individual Receptivity

Receptivity

One of the reasons John Calvin created the doctrine of unconditional election was to answer the question of why some people hear the gospel and accept it and others hear the gospel and reject it. His idea was that God through the power of the Holy Spirit enabled some people to accept the gospel.

Another less far-fetched idea is that some people are more disposed to accept the gospel than others. If your parents taught you that there is no god, that would be a pretty big stumbling block. If, on the other hand, your parents taught you by words and humble example that God exists and loves you, you might be more receptive to the gospel.
Jesus in the parable of the four soils (Mark 4: 13-20) explains three reasons for a lack of receptivity due to the character of the person hearing the gospel. Some love darkness more than light, they are committed to evil and are blinded to the gospel. Others accept the word intellectually but it never penetrates their rocky heart, and they fall away when difficulties and suffering arise. Still others accept the gospel but never make it the priority of their lives, they remain committed to the things of this world and never bear fruit. But others readily accept the gospel and bear much fruit.

Sometimes Acts 13:48 is cited as supporting the idea of the internal call, irresistible grace. Here is what it says: “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed to eternal life believed.” The problem with this verse is that the word translated “appointed” could also be translated disposed, indicating individual receptivity. A more literal translation of the Greek word might read “devoted themselves” as it is in 1 Corinthians16:15.

Another passage sometimes cited is John 10:26. Jesus says “but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.” This verse, the Calvinists say indicates pre-salvation magic mind manipulation enablement. But just as soundly, the verse might be saying that the “sheep” are those disposed to the gospel, those drawn by the Father with the word of God, those who represent the good soil.

Bottom line, the verses offered in support of Calvinism do not actually support the doctrine, but only offer an opportunity to read something into the text, a possible understanding of dubious merit.

Van · Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2003 5:29 am Post subject: OOps

I seem to have blundered yet again. I have posted a whole bunch of times "God chose us while we were yet sinners" as if I was alluding to some scripture. I thought I was. This appears to be an error mixing the verse that says Christ died for us while we were yet sinners and Christ telling His disciples that He chose them, they did not choose Him.

I think the concept is still true, but should have been posted as "the Bible suggests that God chose us individually while we were sinners" after we believed. It is true that God chose some individuals before they believed, from the womb, to bring His predestined plan to fruition, but the gospel message is that God chooses us after we believe.

I would have been very hard on someone posting an assertion as if it was in the bible when it was only an inference. My bad, bad bad. #Mad

Ron · Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2003 6:49 am Post subject: Re: OOps

gswisher · Rabid Pit Bull Joined: 04 Jun 2003 Posts: 421

I really wanted to jump out of this by now, but I had to make one observation. Van said:

Quote:

Total grace is a false doctrine.

It boggles my mind that you would say that. That puts an element of merit in our salvation. I did not say works, but merit, based on your reasoning. Even if you say it's 95% God's grace, and 5% of man's intervention regarding his own destiny, this is a contamination of God's grace. You might as well just say its a 50/50 proposition, because it depends both on God and you. You completely violate this passage.

2Co 3:4 And we have such confidence through Christ toward God;
2Co 3:5 not that we are sufficient of ourselves to reason out anything as being out of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God,

I don't want to drag this awful debate out any further, but this should not go unnoticed by others who read here. God's grace is all-sufficient!

Van · Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2003 7:27 am Post subject:

Thanks Ron, I usually have pretty good luck finding the passage I remember, but this time when I tried to find the reference I could not find it and figured I had blown it big time. Seeing Roman 5:7-10, my twist of scripture was not as far off as I thought, confusing God's reconciliation with God choosing, but I had it wrong. Verse 10 says while we were God's enemies (equating with while we were yet sinners) we were reconciled to him (equating with God choosing us). In any event not a great example from a retired AWANA leader.

Van · Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2003 7:42 am Post subject:

God's grace is all sufficent. Absolutely. We earned nothing by our self perceived merit if any. The idea of total grace, verses grace, is that total grace teaches that acceptance of the gospel is a work. Paul taught that we are saved by grace through faith. You say not really, what Paul meant was we are saved by caprice through election, but that is a false doctrine.
Accepting the gospel is necessary condition of salvation just as John 3:16 says. The idea is we trust in the Lord and not in ourselves. We say our reason and intellect are worthless and merit nothing, instead in "total humility" we trust in God.

So two false doctrines have been exposed - one, dead means separated from God and unable to bridge the gap by merit, rather than dead means unable to will to come to God. And two, grace through faith means God grants salvation to those who believe in their heart in the name of Jesus, rather than God grants salvation by caprice through election.

Ron · Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2003 9:04 am Post subject:

I wonder if this brief outline of salvation would be helpful or educational or spiritually uplifting. I use it when I am sharing the Gospel of Christ with new believers. I do not think any points here would be debated.

God's eternal plan:
1. God planned man's salvation from before the creation of the world (Eph. 2:10; 3:11).
2. God wants everyone to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9).
3. God loves everyone (Jn. 3:16), but He will only save the people who obey Jesus (Heb. 5:9; cf. 2 Th. 1:8-10).

If we love God, we will obey:
1. If we love God, we will obey Him (1 Jn. 5:3).
2. If we love Jesus, we will obey Him (Jn. 14:15; 15:10).

What has Jesus taught us to do to be saved?
1. Believe in Him (Jn. 6:29; 8:24).
a. People who believe, obey the gospel (2 Th. 1:8-10).
b. People who have a disobedient faith (dead faith) are not saved (Ja. 2:14-26).
2. Repent (Lk. 13:3, 5).
a. To repent means to have a change of mind resulting in a change of action (cf. Lk. 3:8; 2 Cor. 7:9-10).
3. Confess Jesus to be God's Son (Matt. 10:32-33; Lk. 12:8-9).
4. Be baptized (Matt. 28:18-19; Mk. 16:16).
a. "Baptize" is a transliteration of a Greek word meaning to dip, to immerse. Baptism is a process of immersion in water and emergence out of water.
b. Only men and women (not babies) were baptized (Acts 8:12; cf. Acts 5:14).
5. Remain faithful (Rev. 2:10).

What have the apostles taught us to do to be saved?
1. Obey Jesus (Heb. 5:9).
2. Believe (Heb. 11:6; Rom. 1:16; 10:17).
3. Repent (Acts 17:30).
4. Confess Jesus to be God's Son (Acts 8:37; cf. Rom. 10:10).
5. Be baptized:
a. into (to be united with) the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:18-20).
b. for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38 ).
c. to wash away sins (Acts 22:16).
d. to be saved (1 Pet. 3:21; cf. Mk. 16:16).
e. into (to be united with) Christ (Rom. 6:3-5; Col. 2:9-13).
6. Remain faithful (1 Cor. 15:2; Rev. 2:10).

The nine conversions in the Bible:
1. Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:5-47) People who believed (Acts 2:44), asked Peter what they should do (Acts 2:37). Peter commanded them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins (Acts 2:38 ). The people who obeyed Peter were saved and added to the church (Acts 2:40-47).
2. Samaritans (Acts 8:4-13) Men and women who believed Philip's preaching (Acts 8:4-5, 12-13) were baptized (Acts 8:12).
3. Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40) The eunuch believed Philip's preaching concerning Christ (Acts 8:35, 37). He believed, confessed Jesus to be God's Son, and was baptized (Acts 8:36-39).
4. Paul (Acts 9:1-20; 22:16) Paul saw the Lord in a vision. Afterwards, he was blind for three days during which time he prayed (Acts 9:3-9, 11). Paul was commanded to be baptized, and wash away his sins calling on the name of the Lord (Acts 22:16).
a. From Paul's conversion, we learn that we cannot be saved by praying. And, we learn that we must be baptized to wash away our sins calling on the name of the Lord.
5. Cornelius (Acts 10:34-48 ) Peter preached to Cornelius and his household the things commanded by the Lord (Acts 10:33). He commanded them to be baptized (Acts 10:48 ).
a. From Cornelius' conversion, we learn that someone can be a good person (Acts 10:1-2, 22), but he must believe and be baptized to be saved (Acts 10:43, 48 ).
6. Lydia (Acts 16:13-15) Lydia and her household were baptized (Acts 16:15).
7. Philippian Jailer (Acts 16:25-34) The jailer asked Paul what he must do to be saved (Acts 16:30). Paul told him to believe in the Lord Jesus (Act 16:31). Then, Paul spoke the word of the Lord to the jailer and his household after which they were immediately baptized (Acts 16:32-33).
8. Crispus, Corinthians (Acts 18:8 ) Those who heard and believed the gospel were baptized (Acts 18:8 ).
9. Ephesians (Acts 19:1-7) Paul preached the gospel to men who had been baptized into John's baptism (Acts. 19:3). After hearing the gospel, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 19:5).
a. From the Ephesians' conversion, we learn that people who have been baptized with a baptism other than Christ's must be baptized with Christ's baptism to be saved.

Why did Jesus not tell the thief on the cross to be baptized?
1. First, we do not know whether the thief was or was not baptized. He may have been baptized by both John the Baptist and Jesus' disciples (Matt. 3:1-12; Jn. 4:1-2).
2. Second, the thief lived during a time when Jews were saved by obeying the law of Moses.
If the thief was a Jew, he may have offered the sacrifices required by the Mosaic Law to be saved. God did not change the Law until Christ died (Heb. 7:12-14).
3. Third, the thief may have been a Gentile. He may have been saved by meeting the terms of salvation for Gentiles (Rom. 2:1-16).
4. Fourth, Jesus may have forgiven the thief's sins without him meeting the terms of forgiveness under any of God's laws. But, that did not change the terms of salvation for anyone living then or today (cf. Lk. 5:17-26).
5. When Jesus told the thief that he would be in paradise with Him, we do not know whether Jesus was stating a fact or whether Jesus forgave his sins. We cannot disobey the commands to be baptized in order to be saved (Acts 2:38; 22:16; 1 Pet. 3:16) even if Jesus forgave the thief's sins.

How are we saved?
1. We are saved by God's grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9). Note these Scriptures:
a. God gives us grace in Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 1:14; 2 Tim. 1:9; 2:1).
b. Salvation is in Christ (2 Tim. 2:10).
c. We enter into Christ through baptism (Rom. 6:3; 1 Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:27).
d. We are created in Christ for good works (Eph. 2:10).
e. Faith works through love (Gal. 5:6).
f. We love God and keep His commandments (1 Jn. 5:3).
g. Jesus is the author of eternal salvation to those who obey Him (Heb. 5:9).
h. The people who do not obey Jesus will be eternally lost (2 Th. 1:8-9).

Today is the day of salvation:
1. The day of the Lord will come like a thief and the world will be destroyed (2 Pet. 3:10).
a. We must be ready at all times for the destruction of the world (2 Pet. 3:10-14) and the judgment (2 Cor. 5:10; Heb. 9:27).
2. Now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2).
a. Today might be our last chance to obey God.

Van · Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2003 10:10 am Post subject:

Thanks Ron. We have already debated on this board whether water baptism is necessary for salvation, but we have agreed that being baptized into the body of Christ by the Spirit is necessary for salvation. Christ baptizes with Spirit and not with water. And as judge, when Jesus condemns the unsaved to the lake of fire, he baptizes with fire.

But leaving those two controversal issues aside, I agree with everything in your presentation.

Van · Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2003 7:37 am Post subject:

Calvinism is a false doctrine. It was created by man, John Calvin, to explain why some people accept the gospel and others reject the gospel.
The answer from scripture is that some are unwilling to come to Jesus because they love darkness and evil has blinded them. Others make a superficial committment that never reaches their heart, the core of their being. Others committ to it, then commit to other things so that the priorty of God is choked out. The Bible says that some reject the gospel because of disobediance, they choose to go their own way, so they hear it and hence are not blinded by evil, but instead reject it due to rebellion driven from pride.

Having rejected the plain teaching of the Bible, Calvin invents another gospel that leads many into darkness.

He says we are not saved by grace, because we are elected to salvation as individuals before the foundation of the world. However, he bases this on an assumption that when God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, he did it individually. Then, following this false premise, he says in order to bring this election to fruition, God disables everybody from placeing their faith in God, then enables His chosen by supernatually giving them irresistible grace by giving them the capacity and desire to place their faith in God. So grace is not grace based on forgiving our sins, no the forgiveness of sins is given us because of election, just as our sins are given to us by total depravity.

Never mind that grace is God passing over our sins and saving us because of the blood of Jesus. The Bible says we are saved by grace through faith, that faith introduces grace.

So here we have two very different gospels.

Calvin - we are given grace due to election prior to sin.
Bible - we are given grace due to faith in Christ.

Calvin - we are given the ability to trust in Christ because we do not have it.
Bible - some are good soil and have the ability, willingness and understanding and accept the gospel readily.

Calvin - we are spiritually dead and unable to trust in Christ
Bible - we are spiritually dead and unable to come to Christ by works.

Calvin - God opened Lydia's heart by magic mind manipulation enablement.
Bible - God opened Lydia's heart by the Word of God for she worshipped and was faithful to God and was therefore drawn by God through the Word of God. Note she was able and willing to worship God before she accepted the gospel.

In summary, the Bible teaches we are saved by grace through faith, and not as Calvinists assert by caprice through election.