Posted on 11/13/2006 11:01:10 PM PST by Dr. Eckleburg
If salvation is all of grace -- if God is God and he has chosen us for salvation even though we did nothing to deserve it -- then we ought to live by the grace we have received. Of course, some of you will look at that and say to yourselves, “Yeah, I really need to do better at living by grace. I’ve really been a failure there. I hope God will forgive me again.” If that’s you, you still don’t get it. Go back and re-read the last seventeen pages and (if you’re a believer) remember that you’re one of the elect!
Our hearts so quickly try to relate to God on a works-basis! It’s our pride, really. I’m convinced that that’s the problem with free-will Arminianism. People naturally process it like this: God requires one work from me, to believe. Once I believe, I’ve done my work and deserve heaven. Of course, in more hard-line Arminian circles, it goes a step further. Unless I’m holy enough, I’ll still go to hell, and maybe I’ve even committed the unpardonable sin and will be damned even if I’m sinlessly perfect from here on out. Legalism. Legalism. Legalism. Such a religion is barely recognizable as Christianity.
But Calvinists can fall into legalism just as easily. You see, I understand predestination. I’m a superior Christian. I’ve got all my theological “t”s crossed and my Reformed “i”s dotted. I sure am close to God. Pride is the Presbyterian’s favorite form of legalism, so watch out! But if God really is for us, and if we had nothing to do with that decision -- if even our faith was given to us by the Father -- then there’s no room for boasting. God’s sovereign choice of us leaves us free from pride. It leaves us aware of our brokenness and humble before God, but all the while confident that his eternal purpose will stand, that we will glory in God forever as objects of his saving mercy. As God’s eternal blessing really begins to sink from our heads into our hearts, we see a new freedom that we never would have imagined when we first encountered the raw, holy, sovereign power of God. Among the newfound freedoms:
1. Freedom from shame, guilt & Insecurity
Read Romans 8:28-39. Nothing can separate you from God’s love -- nothing in the past, nothing in the future. No one can stand against you. No one can accuse you. Even bad things (“all things”) are working right now to your benefit, to make you more like Jesus. God didn’t choose you because of your faith, and Jesus is not ashamed of you—even at your worst (Hebrews 2:11). He’s proud to have you in the family, proud to call you brother or sister -- even knowing what he knows. He’s displaying the glory of his mercy, remember. God’s law is no longer your enemy, but a friend. You can have confidence before God.
2. Freedom from destructive Perfectionism
If God really is for you, then you can quit trying to look good. If you’re trying to be good enough for God, he’s not buying it -- he didn’t choose you because of your great faithfulness. If you’re trying to be good enough for other people, don’t bother. God wants to display his mercy -- that means we have to be broken. God’s glory is not displayed by trying to look like you have it all together. Faith is not a work, and even if it were it still wouldn’t earn you any brownie points. Let God be God. If you won’t show your weakness, then others won’t see God’s power displayed in it.
3. Freedom from legalistic man-made rules
Some of the biggest practical opponents to living by grace are those legalistic little rules that we live by. We love to judge other with them -- they make us look good, and help us feel better about ourselves. (Pride again.) Dress this way, not that way. Wear this much makeup, not that much. Work. Don’t work. Home school is God’s way. Public school is God’s way. Christian school is God’s way. Drink. Don’t drink. Smoke. Don’t smoke. Dance. Don’t dance. This is God’s worship style. If we’re all about God’s glory, there’s no room for any of this. Do whatever you do for God’s glory without comparisons. God has freed you from judging others. You don’t understand God’ sovereign grace until you realize you are a beggar who’s been blessed without cause. You had nothing to do with it -- you’re just a receiver.
4. Freedom from Penance
Even repentance can be a sham if we’re trying to approach God with some vestige of self-reliance. Biblical repentance is a freedom we can enjoy daily, while penance is its counterfeit.
Repentance/Penance
Comes with empty hands/Tries to bargain with God
Acknowledges real sin as against God/Makes excuses for sin
Grieves over displeasing God/Grieves over getting caught
Asks for help to do better/Promises to do better
Is willing to publicly confess, if needed/Is too proud to publicly confess
Relies on God's promises to us/Relies on own promises to God
Turns outward, away from self, to God/Turns inward on self
Produces freedom, joy, and confidence/Produces guilty feelings, anxiety
God has obligated himself to receive any repentant sinner who comes to him. Without this realization, true repentance is impossible. Until we realize that God is for us, we cannot truly be for God.
I disagree. Again, what good would it do John (or his audience) to say, "You can know (now) that you have salvation", if, in fact, that knowledge has no eternal significance, i.e. if you cannot know that on the Day of Judgment you will be allowed into heaven?
Putting the shoe on the other foot, are we to expect that the Lord gave us a wonderful bounty of verses to assure us that we really are sons only to expect that these verses really apply to no one?
Talk about a monumental waste of effort. Seems to make the work of the Holy Spirit to be nothing but hot air.
Jesus to John: Write this down.
John to Jesus: Wow, such assurance.
Jesus: Don't think this applies to you.
Yeah, that's the ticket. Let a husband write a love letter to his wife assuring her that his love for her is eternal and then after she receives it with gladness, inform her that it might not be for her after all. Makes Jesus guilty of emotional spousal abuse.
post tenebras lux,
Pragmatism is not the test of truth.
-A8
-A8
If the 'assurance verses' only apply to the elect, and not to the apostates-to-be, then one has to know that one is elect in order to justifiably draw assurance from those verses. (And therefore one cannot use the 'assurance verses' to show that one is elect.) But since apart from the 'assurance verses' one cannot know one is elect, then we cannot have assurance.
On the other horn of the dilemma, if the 'assurance verses' apply both to elect and also to non-elect apostates-to-be, then they do not give us any assurance, since they don't *guarantee* that we are elect.
So, on either horn of the dilemma, we don't have the sort of assurance that one would have if one *knew* that one is elect.
-A8
Well, of course they don't apply to those who will fall away into Perdition's flame. That's not the problem. The problem is that you are attempting to make them about NO ONE.
It turns the Son into an emotionally abusive husband.
It turns the Holy Spirit into a giant windbag, writing essentially nothing to no one.
It turns the Bible into a book for no one.
Inspired, maybe; profitable, no.
Such is works based salvation. If its to be its up to me.
post tenebras lux,
That point is not under dispute. The point under dispute is whether (and if so, how) we can know now that we are one of those given by the Father to the Son.
-A8
Then what is the test of truth? The foundation for the Christian faith is the Bible. Can you show me from Scripture that we must live in doubt of our salvation, that we cannot know we are saved?
That is precisely the problem. The fact that they don't apply to the apostates-to-be means that in order to know whether they apply to us, we must know that we are not an apostate-to-be.
-A8
Ah. Now that you've outlined the dilemma, ignore my #90. I'll respond when I have more time to do so. Thanks.
Remember on the L&E thread, when it was asserted that it's a sin to approach Christ for the little things? That that's what the Saints are for.
I remember that very well. I think it was Harley who posted the link to all 5,000 and something of them. I remember having a lot of fun poking through them to find the more unusual ones. :)
As an aside, the L&E thread just went out without a whimper, didn't it?
Perhaps the other sides realized the errors of their theologies and they all converted to 5-point Calvinism? I mean, it's possible. :)
A rhetorical question is an observation.
Perhaps you need to read with more discernment in general.
"For by the Scripture as our guide and teacher, God not only makes those things plain which would otherwise escape our notice, but almost compels us to behold them; as if he had assisted our dull sight with spectacles." -- JOHN CALVIN "Commentary on Genesis" Vol. I
-A8
Amen.
Where is that in the Catholic Catechism?
-A8
Precisely true. The difference here between Rome and the Reformation is that we Reformers rest assured in the fact that Christ has won our salvation for us. It is over. He has risen. He proved it all true. We have been redeemed. Christ justified the ungodly. Every sin of every sheep has been forgiven by His perfect atonement.
Others can worry about their status before God and try to barter for His attention. The sheep are known by Him and they will follow because He will lose none of them.
And what is your test of truth, A8?
Nor mine. He's a fellow believer, made so by God's perfect will.
Scripture is every man's authority.
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