Because you believe that your volition is efficacious and, therefore, the primary cause to your faith which contradicts scripture.
Can We Really Exercise Free Will?
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Because you believe that your volition is efficacious and, therefore, the primary cause to your faith which contradicts scripture.
I have repeatedly clarified that it is God Who has declared the gospel from Genesis to Revelation ... that God has not hid the gospel from anyone ... and it is error on the part of some who fold the gospel into wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom (1 Cor 2:7). Belief in the gospel of Christ by which the believer is born again, is only the first step ... the door now opens to take the first step on the path wherein God reveals Himself and His wonderful mysteries and truths to the believer. This is a lifelong endeavor which begins in this life and goes on into life everlasting ... there is no end to the unsearchable riches of Christ.
and fyi ... the god of this world has not blinded the whole world ...
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
only the minds of those who do not believe are blinded. God reveals Himself to those who do not believe throughout the course of the life of each individual ... those who continually suppress the truth in unrighteousness remain blinded by the god of this world and ultimately will receive the consequence of their having suppressed the truth.
Before you copy/paste your wall of indictment concerning the wickedness of mankind, can you please do a little research into the good that God stated mankind is capable of knowing:
Genesis 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil ...
You've got the evil down pat ... what does it mean that mankind can know good ?
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Matthew 13 v 13-15 Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do You speak to the people in parables?” He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’ In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’”
Well, I know you won't follow a simple point. But stick with it if it's at all possible for you.
His Grace saves, not faith.
You can't claim to have a personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ if faith is "efficacious" for salvation. According to your theology.
None, because it says offspring not seed in the version quoted.
Don't you just hate it when people jerk you around.
exactly, Jackson129 ... truth is truth ... and we are to bring our minds and thoughts into alignment with Scripture.
If we need to let go of a long held belief that does not align with Scripture, we will be better off without it. Where is our trust in God if/when we hold to something that does not line up with what He tells us in His word? He promises to keep us, to guide us, to hold us to Himself ... do we believe Him ... or would we rather hold on to that which we have settled into?
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Thank you for the blessing. To you also.
I am familiar with this word, and it's use in the Scripture - "sun" means "together" and "ergon" means "work" so "work together" and English "synergy" is derived from it.
The issue for us is it's not used in the way the argument uses it against monergism re: coming to faith. It's used re: us working together with God in the verse you posted, and it's used of us working together with one another in ministry related works.
So, the use of it in this entire debate re: coming to faith is really just interpretive as is monergism.
You likely know this but it's good for us to be on the same page.
A very simple thing to understand. This simple statement speaks volumes against the nonsense and false allegations made against the non-"calvie"
I have repeatedly clarified that it is God Who has declared the gospel from Genesis to Revelation ... that God has not hid the gospel from anyone ... and it is error on the part of some who fold the gospel into wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom (1 Cor 2:7). Belief in the gospel of Christ by which the believer is born again, is only the first step ... the door now opens to take the first step on the path wherein God reveals Himself and His wonderful mysteries and truths to the believer. This is a lifelong endeavor which begins in this life and goes on into life everlasting ... there is no end to the unsearchable riches of Christ.
and fyi ... the god of this world has not blinded the whole world ...
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
only the minds of those who do not believe are blinded. God reveals Himself to those who do not believe throughout the course of the life of each individual ... those who continually suppress the truth in unrighteousness remain blinded by the god of this world and ultimately will receive the consequence of their having suppressed the truth.
Before you copy/paste your wall of indictment concerning the wickedness of mankind, can you please do a little research into the good that God stated mankind is capable of knowing:
Genesis 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil ...
You've got the evil down pat ... what does it mean that mankind can know good ?
.
Everyone comes into this world blind because all come into it as unbelievers. God reveals himself to his elect AFTER He performs his creation-type miracle (2Cor 4:6).
None, because it says offspring not seed in the version quoted.
Don't you just hate it when people jerk you around.
I guess that makes you a "jerk", right? How many "offspring", then, do you see in Gen 3:15?
I agree. How many of us, on either side of the debate, are preaching" my faith saved me?!" No one.
The Lord Jesus Christ does the saving. We take hold through faith.
When pushed, the calvies give us a word salad with all the fixings when talking about their personal faith.
here is what I stated:
"Cain was the son of Adam and Eve" ... do you agree or disagree?
"both Adam and Eve lived in the garden of Eden" ... do you agree or disagree?
"Adam had a close relationship with His Father as the Father brought all creatures to Adam who named them (Gen 2:19)" ... do you agree or disagree?
"we know God spoke directly to both Adam and Eve and both Adam and Eve spoke to God directly" ... do you agree or disagree?
"Adam and Eve taught their children" ... do you agree or disagree?
"Cain brought his offering to God" ... do you agree or disagree?
"when God spoke to Cain, Cain didn't ask "who are You?" ... do you agree or disagree?
"Cain rejected God's Word, killed his brother, talked to God after that, pled with God concerning the consequence of his sinful behavior (Gen 4:6-16)" ... do you agree or disagree?
"Cain's actions actually point to the fact that he was very religious ... he chose his own way over that which God prescribed, which, in a nutshell, is man made religion" ... do you agree or disagree?
"men following men results in divisions and contentions (1 Cor 1:10-11) and carnality (1 Cor 3:1-4)" ... do you agree or disagree?
I am not interested in entering into a longwinded discussion with you about something I never stated.
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"Each and every time we believe the truth, God brings increase and strengthens our faith ..."
A careful study of the capital "A" Apostles will yield this very phenomenon. It was a "process of faith" so to speak. In fact John 15 and the dialogue with Peter bears this out. If you actually understand what is going on here that is.
[Jhn 21:15 NKJV] 15 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, [son] of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Feed My lambs."
Exactly. Reformed theology puts the focus on mankind and cannot see what God did about mankind's problem.
As a carpenter, I see the pile lumber, and it's NOTHING but firewood to the untrained eye. But if we study the prints and plans, the "firewood" has a purpose.
The calvies can get past the pile of firewood and see the plan of the Creator.
Eph 2:1-9
2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Please point out anything in the above scripture that proclaims man must do anything to be renewed in Christ, one little thing on the part of man to go from a child of wrath to being made alive together with Christ !
We do not choose, it is given!
This where you continue to misrepresent what we have said many, many times over. Our believing the Gospel does not cause our salvation anymore than believing the sun will rise tomorrow makes it rise.
It is and has always been because it is God who has determined to save believers and He keeps His word when he finds believers.
I think we basically agree. Did you think otherwise?
Men can believe truth or lies. They did not believe the truth. At some point God energizes the lie (so to speak) - the delusion - for them. You want to believe the lie - let me make it easier for you...
Or something like that without doing some precise translating or choosing a translation to make it more succinct.
Re: Eph1, I see what you're saying. I'm going to go through it again. I see a few interpretive things in play re: the timing issue you're pointing out and the KJ is interpretively inserting the word "trusted" which is not in the Greek and which the other translations do not see reason to insert (my first read is to agree with them, and I can see where the timing is being derived, also interpretively).
NET Ephesians 1:13 And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation)– when you believed in Christ– you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit,
ESV Ephesians 1:13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
NAS Ephesians 1:13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-- having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,
KJG Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Re: "first hoped" see also Eph3:5-9 for example