[HarleyD]

Harley, please tell me that you're not trying to read back five-point Reform theology into Polycarp--or at least tell me that you've got more than one sentence which is pretty much just repeating Ephesians 2:8,

I don't wish to get off point here since this is a thread about eschatology and not the 5 points. I will only say this, Polycarp statement is a expansion of Eph 2:8,9-not a quote. Please note the difference:

Eph 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

"...though ye saw Him not, ye believe with joy unutterable and full of glory; unto which joy many desire to enter in; forasmuch as ye know that it is by grace ye are saved, not of works, but by the will of God through Jesus Christ." - Polycarp

Polycarp's was speaking directly to Christians. His statement that we are saved by the will of God is not quite the same as being "saved by grace" as stated in Eph 2:8-9, although he may be espounding on

Eph 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

In any case, there is no mistaking that Polycarp believed Christians are saved by the "will of God".

[Buggman]

I will only say this, Polycarp statement is a expansion of Eph 2:8,9-not a quote.

It's a paraphrase, with a little of Eph. 1:5 thrown in. So? How does that indicate that Polycarp believed in what is now called Calvinism? I too believe that we are saved "not of works, but by the will of God through Jesus Christ"--but I do not attach the Calvinist sense of "the will of God" to that sentence. Likewise any "Arminian."

To say that just because someone combines "grace" and "will of God" in a sentence they are a proponent of five-point Calvinism or any other variant of Reform Theology is nothing more than an inductive fallacy.

[fortheDeclaration]

In any case, there is no mistaking that Polycarp believed Christians are saved by the "will of God".

All Christians are saved by the will of God, since it is God's will that all men be saved (2Tim.2:4)

Eph. 2:8-9 is not referring to faith as being the gift of God, but the plan of salvation.(Eph.2:4-9)