Humanity Part II: Introduction to the Study of Salvation (week 2)
Last week we went over the “Roman’s Road to Salvation”: Rom. 3:23, Rom. 6:23, Rom. 5:8, Rom. 10:9-10, Rom. 10:13. I believe this to be a decent summary of St. Paul’s faith concerning the restoration of people’s relationships with God.
In light of these scriptures and others, there are five major questions that have historically caused division among Christians.
1. Are human beings, unaided by any special act of God, truly capable of choosing to express the faith written of in Rom. 10:9-10?
Consider: Eph. 2:1, Jer. 13:23, Jn. 3:16, Rom. 10:13 (Can you think of others? What are the consequences of your answer?)
2. When God, in eternity past, elected certain people to be saved, did He do so based on any condition found in those people?
Consider: Rom. 8:29-30, Rom. 9, Eph. 1:11, Eph. 2:8 (Can you think of others? What are the consequences of your answer?)
3. Did Jesus only bear the sins of the elect when He died on the cross?
Consider: Mk. 14:24, Jn 10:11, Acts 20:28, Eph. 5:25, 1 Tim. 2:5-6, 1 Jn. 2:2 (Can you think of others? What are the consequences of your answer?)
4. Do individuals only express the faith written of in Rom. 10:9-10 when they are irresistibly brought to do so by a special act of God Himself?
Consider: Jn. 6:35-40, Eph. 2:5, Prov. 1:22, Matt. 23:37, 2 Pete. 3:9, Jn. 12:32, 1 Tim. 2:3 (Can you think of others? What are the consequences of your answer?)
5. Is it possible for someone who has truly expressed the faith written of in Rom. 10:9-10 to die having lost that faith and its accompanying salvation?
Consider: Jn. 6:40, Jn. 10:28, Heb. 6:4-6, Col. 1:21-23, Jn. 15:6, 1 Jn. 2:3-4, 2 Cor. 13:5 (Can you think of others? What are the consequences of your answer?)
After all is said and done, it is important to believe:
• God is all powerful (can do anything logically possible)
• God is morally perfect (maximally loving)
• Humans are responsible for their sin (not God)
• Salvation is accomplished by God’s grace alone (not by anything man is or does)
• Salvation comes by a person’s faith alone (not by works)
After all is said and done, it is important to be:
• Humble, interested in learning about God and His work, & loving of God and others
• United relationally
• United in our faith on all the basic matters
• Willing to peaceably and kindly disagree on other matters
• Willing to divide only over the most important matters of faith
• WIlling to change our minds if we encounter new information or new perspectives
Last week we went over the “Roman’s Road to Salvation”: Rom. 3:23, Rom. 6:23, Rom. 5:8, Rom. 10:9-10, Rom. 10:13. I believe this to be a decent summary of St. Paul’s faith concerning the restoration of people’s relationships with God.
In light of these scriptures and others, there are five major questions that have historically caused division among Christians.
1. Are human beings, unaided by any special act of God, truly capable of choosing to express the faith written of in Rom. 10:9-10?
Consider: Eph. 2:1, Jer. 13:23, Jn. 3:16, Rom. 10:13 (Can you think of others? What are the consequences of your answer?)
2. When God, in eternity past, elected certain people to be saved, did He do so based on any condition found in those people?
Consider: Rom. 8:29-30, Rom. 9, Eph. 1:11, Eph. 2:8 (Can you think of others? What are the consequences of your answer?)
3. Did Jesus only bear the sins of the elect when He died on the cross?
Consider: Mk. 14:24, Jn 10:11, Acts 20:28, Eph. 5:25, 1 Tim. 2:5-6, 1 Jn. 2:2 (Can you think of others? What are the consequences of your answer?)
4. Do individuals only express the faith written of in Rom. 10:9-10 when they are irresistibly brought to do so by a special act of God Himself?
Consider: Jn. 6:35-40, Eph. 2:5, Prov. 1:22, Matt. 23:37, 2 Pete. 3:9, Jn. 12:32, 1 Tim. 2:3 (Can you think of others? What are the consequences of your answer?)
5. Is it possible for someone who has truly expressed the faith written of in Rom. 10:9-10 to die having lost that faith and its accompanying salvation?
Consider: Jn. 6:40, Jn. 10:28, Heb. 6:4-6, Col. 1:21-23, Jn. 15:6, 1 Jn. 2:3-4, 2 Cor. 13:5 (Can you think of others? What are the consequences of your answer?)
After all is said and done, it is important to believe:
• God is all powerful (can do anything logically possible)
• God is morally perfect (maximally loving)
• Humans are responsible for their sin (not God)
• Salvation is accomplished by God’s grace alone (not by anything man is or does)
• Salvation comes by a person’s faith alone (not by works)
After all is said and done, it is important to be:
• Humble, interested in learning about God and His work, & loving of God and others
• United relationally
• United in our faith on all the basic matters
• Willing to peaceably and kindly disagree on other matters
• Willing to divide only over the most important matters of faith
• WIlling to change our minds if we encounter new information or new perspectives
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3 comments:
Look at THIS.
Quick clarification on question #2.
The "When God, in eternity past, elected certain people to be saved, (etc.)" presupposes God did "Elect certain people." While I do think that is true, it could merely be referring to a handful of individuals. Instead of these being the only persons given a pass to non-smoking section of eternal life, this may be referring to electing certain groups and/or specific individuals for his work.
Those elect may be either specific individuals (e.g., the 12 apostles, John the Baptist, et. al.) who are prophesied about, or they could be entire groups of people of whom, the membership list may not be set in stone.
A good example of this would be Ephesians Ch. 1 where Paul talks about the elect before the foundation of the world until verse 13, where he moves from the specific election of apostles to the broad election of believers who choose him.
I think our view of election has been too much taken over by determinist philosophy and Calvinist theology. Until we look at the concept from an historical perspective, we may fall prey to the mechanistic view of God that most Calvinistic theology tries to explain away.
Our God is loving, just, and good. The day we begin to view deterministic election (logical deterministic election included) as reality will be the day we begin to lose our sense of urgent responsibility for sharing the love of Christ.
Hi Jacob. Yes, question #2 does presuppose that God elected certain individuals to receive salvation.
I wrote the question that way because I believe, along with the vast majority of Christians throughout history, that the Bible teaches so (Rom. 8-9, Rom. 11:7, Eph. 1, 1 Thess. 5:9, 2 Thess. 2:13, 1 Pet. 2:9 et al).
As I understand it, the major disagreement about election among Christians, between the "Calvinists" and the "Arminians", is whether this election was conditional.
As I understand it, our Calvinist brothers and sisters in Christ generally teach that God's election of the people who will be saved is unconditional, or that the purpose behind God's choice in election has nothing to do with the elect themselves, or at least the rationale for election remains inaccessible to us.
In opposition, our Arminian brothers and sisters in Christ generally teach that God's election of the people who will be saved is conditional. Arminianism teaches that God's foreknowledge of enduring faith is the condition upon which He elected individuals. Under this view, God looked into the future and saw who would choose Him, and then "elected" them.
As you can guess, this view encounters objections from those who answer question #1 above with a "no".
Both major camps understand that the "elect" spoken of in the Bible comprises everyone who will be saved.
Your suggestion that "election" in the Bible may refer to a small group of individuals whose salvation is guaranteed by it is interesting. When we spoke on Thursday night, you clarified that you think it might be the case that God elects some individuals unto salvation, some unto damnation, and leaves a broad class of individuals in the middle to decide for themselves.
I would imagine that our Calvinist brothers and sisters would combat such a view by digging into the scriptures, examining the original languages, and trying to show that the message communicated by certain passages teaches something contrary to your view. For example, they may point to John 6:44, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.".
In light of this verse, wouldn't the entire middle class of people under your view - those who are neither predestined for salvation or for wrath - wouldn't they be basically doomed anyway? If nobody can come to Jesus unless drawn by the Father, and they are not drawn by the Father (not being elect), then how could they come to Jesus? And if they couldn't come to Jesus, then how could they be saved?
Do you feel like you have Biblical motivations for holding your view?
And I would imagine that our Arminian brothers and sisters would combat such a view with the following question:
If God can elect some individuals unto salvation, and is even willing to do so despite the fact that violates their free will, then why not elect all of humanity? Wouldn't a maximally loving God, if He is willing and able to elect, elect everybody so that nobody goes to hell?
What might you say to those asking such questions?
As for Ephesians, why do you think that chapter 1 is only speaking of Apostles?
As to Calvinism and evangelism/missions, here are six reasons why one Calvinist thinks that the Calvinist doctrine of Unconditional Election gives fire to missions. How do you feel about these six points?
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