You are correct - upon rereading past posts I see that it was another who said this. So if faith is not a work, what did Jesus mean when he said it was a work?
I understand why you refuse to quote the only verse you can find that uses the phrase "faith alone".
"You show that you really don't understand the nuts and bolts of salvation."
Nuts and bolts have to be put on in the right order to work.
Mark 16:16 - "He who believes and is baptized will be saved." Which comes first - belief or saved?
Rom 10:9 - "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Which comes first - belief or saved?
Rom 10:14-16 - "How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?...So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." Which comes first - belief or hearing the word?
Acts 2:38 - "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Wich came first - baptism or receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit?
"How do you know that Peter's "interrupted" sermon had no results?"
I don't and neither do you. That's why it is not a proof text for either of us.
Re 1Cor 1: "This statement is a red herring...There is no record of any minister being sent ONLY to baptize. So your question is meaningless, and another straw man....We're not talking about qualifications for the one doing the baptizing"
What is a red herring is that this passage was raised by you as a proof text for your false teaching about what baptism is.
Paul is talking about the one doing the baptism in 1Cor 1. That's why it is in no way a proof text for understanding the meaning and purpose of baptism. It was you who raised 1Cor 1 as a proof text that baptism wasn't unto salvation. 1Cor 1 says no such thing and doesn't even address the meaning of baptism. Paul, as an apostle of Christ, preached the gospel, which included baptism.
"Your logical skills are not good. Belief (faith) is what makes the difference between salvation and being lost, NOT baptism....Baptism does not save. Faith does."
It's simple language, friend. "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved." Let's parse that.
BELIEVE + BAPTIZED => SAVED
You simply don't accept Jesus at his word. Then you say "belief is what makes the difference between salvation and being lost." Hold on...I thought you said a person was born again before belief? So which is it? Belief is the difference or a subjective, better-felt-than-told warmth within the breast that's the difference between salvation and being lost. You know what? I'll go with Jesus..."BELIEVE + BAPTIZED => SAVED" Can't go wrong with Him.
"Grace emcompasses faith and repentance, given by God. Confession as shown in Romans 10 is saying out loud that Jesus is Lord, not confessing sins. Confessing sins is part of repentance."
To get around the biblical contradictions to your "faith only" or "grace only" claims, you say faith and repentance (and, I suppose, confession of Christ) is part of that grace and faith. I am being "tongue in cheek" here, but why can't we lump baptism into that same faith and grace? I mean, why is it the bible says we're saved by grace, faith, repentance, confession, baptism, and the only bit you chomp at is baptism? Why not repentance or confession? Why don't you just take Jesus at his word: BELIEVE + BAPTIZED = SAVED.
Re Cornelius: "Would Peter forbid water for baptism if they were not believers?"
I think he would forbid water for those who did not believe. I also challenge you to prove these were saved while believing and before baptism. You cannot because the state of their souls at the time of the outpouring of the H.S. just isn't mentioned.
And don't confuse this act of the H.S. with the "gift of the H.S." promised in Acts 2. Miraculous gifts of the Spirit were not tied to men's salvation. You can see this in Acts 8, where the Samaritans believed and were baptized, yet the miraculous gifts of the Spirit were not given to them until the apostles came down from Jerusalem. Your unsupported assertion that "Cornelius and his house could not have received the Holy Spirit unless they had FIRST believed" makes me wonder what you think of Balaam's donkey. Again, belief / salvation and the miraculous influence of the H.S. have no correlation.
"Well, you also show that you don't understand Calvinism either, but that's no surprise."
I wrote, "The pure Calvinist would say [belief] is not [an action on the part of man - a condition], teaching instead that man’s faith is an act of God. What about this statement is not an accurate portrayal of Calvinism? You stated earlier that faith is not a work. Are you here making a distinction between "acts of men in obedience to God" and "works".
"It was never stated that Jophn's baptism "was all that was needed for remission of sins"
Acts 19 tells of men who were baptized in the name of Jesus after having received John's baptism. The whole point here is why they needed to be rebaptized. Your post said that the statement that John's baptism was for repentance meant that they had already repented, and coupling that with your claim that the new birth precedes faith and faith precedes repentence, here - according to your logic - we have born again, faithful, repentant men being told to be baptized. Why?
I'll help. Because they weren't saved, they still needed their sins washed away and the baptism of Jesus was the only way to get that done. Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus."
"Ah, end with a slap at Calvinism, because that is the true source of your problem, hatred of Calvinism...A good place to start to learn about Calvinism would be with Calvin himself, then the Canons of Dordt."
Well, I don't know what the Canons of Dordt are, but I can see all kinds of places where the canons of the New Testament disagree with Calvinism.
So, let's go to Calvin and see what he says about this direct, enervating action of the H.S. Will you accept Calvin in this?
The Discipline of the United Methodist Church calls Calvinism a “most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort.” No doubt, for those who believe they are unconditionally chosen for salvation and that they cannot do anything to lose salvation is very comforting. Or is it? Consider the following quotation from John Calvin, the father of this “wholesome doctrine”:
“experience shows that the reprobate are sometimes affected in a way so similar to the elect that, even in their own judgment, there is no difference between them. Hence it is not strange that by the apostle a taste of heavenly gifts, and by Christ himself a temporary faith, is ascribed to them....
"Therefore, as God regenerates the elect only for ever by incorruptible seed, as the seed of life once sown in their hearts never perishes, so he effectually seals in them the grace of his adoption, that it may be sure and steadfast. But in this there is nothing to prevent an inferior operation of the Spirit from taking its course in the reprobate...When he shows himself propitious to them, it is not as if he had truly rescued them from death and taken them under his protection. He only gives them a manifestation of his present mercy. In the elect alone he implants the living root of faith so that they persevere even to the end...
"I deny that the reprobate ever advance so far as to penetrate to that secret revelation which Scripture reserves for the elect only...In short, as by the revolt of the first man the image of God could be effaced from his mind and soul, so there is nothing strange in his shedding some rays of grace on the reprobate, and afterwards allowing these to be extinguished.”
- John Calvin, Institutes
Calvin’s words are anything but “full of comfort”. Bottom line, Calvin is telling us that one can think he is saved, act like he is saved, even be the recipient of an “inferior operation of the Spirit” which dupes him into having confidence in his salvation, but in reality, this one is just as condemned to hell as he ever was!
If our confidence is based on nothing more than a subjective feeling, and if the Spirit operates on some to give them a false confidence, then no one can know they are saved!
But thanks be to God who has given us an objective standard by which we can truly know we are saved. “By this we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments” (1Jn 2:3). “But whoever keeps his word, in him is the love of God perfected: by this we know that we are in him. He that says he abides in him ought to walk as he walked” (1Jn 2:5). “If you know that [God] is righteous, you know that everyone who does righteousness is born of [God]” (1Jn 2:29). “Let us not love in word only, but in deed and truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him” (1Jn 3:18-19). “We know we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren...By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep his commandments” (1Jn 4:14; 5:2). “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ, has not God. He that abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son” (2Jn 9).
So, yes, I do hate Calvinism, as I hate all false teaching. I pay for those who labor in vain under it, that they will see their error and obey the simple gospel of Christ: "He that believes and is baptized will be saved."
"Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent". -- John 6:27-29
Faith in the Son is the work of the Father. Scripture couldn't be much clear.
So, yes, I do hate Calvinism, as I hate all false teaching.
Your loss.
Most of us Calvinists once believed like you do. Then, by the grace of God, He opened our eyes to the fact that everything, life, death, faith, salvation, is all of God and none of man. Our job is to be grateful for the unmerited gift of Christ's sacrifice for our sins, to repent and live a life that brings praise to His name, to raise strong children who bow to none but Christ, to work diligently to make the earth into a garden to reflect His glory, to preach God's word to all nations and races so that those whom Christ came to gather will hear the word and return safely home, and to remain forever secure in the knowledge that He will lose none of us. You and me both.
That's Calvinism, the faith of the Bible, the faith of the Reformation.
I, like most Calvinists, (and unlike you) do not hate your faith. I feel sorry that you are like I once was because I now know the deeper security that comes with believing God is sovereign over all.
Though none of us knows the names of the elect, if you possess Trinitarian faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I believe you are most likely among His flock, because God told us that is the measure of our salvation.
I simply think it was God's mercy alone that gave you that faith, whereas you think you had some part in giving yourself His most perfect gift.
As God wills.
"The old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach to-day, or else be false to my conscience and my God. I cannot shape the truth; I know of no such thing as paring off the rough edges of a doctrine. John Knox's gospel is my gospel. That which thundered through Scotland must thunder through England again.
"It is a great thing to begin the Christian life by believing good solid doctrine. Some people have received twenty different "gospels" in as many years; how many more they will accept before they get to their journey's end, it would be difficult to predict. I thank God that He early taught me the gospel, and I have been so perfectly satisfied with it, that I do not want to know any other. Constant change of creed is sure loss. If a tree has to be taken up two or three times a year, you will not need to build a very large loft in which to store the apples. When people are always shifting their doctrinal principles, they are not likely to bring forth much fruit to the glory of God. It is good for young believers to begin with a firm hold upon those great fundamental doctrines which the Lord has taught in His Word. Why, if I believed what some preach about the temporary, trumpery salvation which only lasts for a time, I would scarcely be at all grateful for it; but when I know that those whom God saves He saves with an everlasting salvation, when I know that He gives to them an everlasting righteousness, when I know that He settles them on an everlasting foundation of everlasting love, and that He will bring them to His everlasting kingdom, oh, then I do wonder, and I am astonished that such a blessing as this should ever have been given to me!..."
I hope you keep reading.