***Every word of scripture is God’s revelation to us.***
As written by men.
***They are His tools to accomplish His preordained plan. For example, God ordains that His elect persevere. Now, He COULD just zap all believers with that knowledge and how to do it magically, or, He can reveal it to us in scripture, which is what He did. ***
Plan? God is outside time. He is everywhere and everywhen. I thought that all Reformed believers are zapped. What is this about Scripture? What if a Reformed elect didn’t hear any Scripture?
Acts 2:
38
Peter (said) to them, “Repent and be baptized, 7 every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the holy Spirit.
Scripture itself doesn’t emphasize Scripture. It emphasizes teaching and tradition. Repent and be baptized and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
***Paul certainly acknowledges that true believers fall away for a time, but I don’t know where he ever says that their true salvation is ever lost. In fact, he never says that. It’s not Biblical.***
1 John 2:
1 John
Chapter 2
1
My children, 1 I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.
2
He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.
3
The way we may be sure 2 that we know him is to keep his command ments.
4
Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5
But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him:
6
whoever claims to abide in him ought to live (just) as he lived.
You must keep the Commandments of Jesus or you are not saved.
Heb 10:
26
14 If we sin deliberately after receiving knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains sacrifice for sins
27
but a fearful prospect of judgment and a flaming fire that is going to consume the adversaries.
Salvation is conditional. Believers can fall away.
36
You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised.
37
“For, after just a brief moment, 17 he who is to come shall come; he shall not delay.
38
But my just one shall live by faith, and if he draws back I take no pleasure in him.”
A just one (ie believer) can ‘draw back’ and therefore not be saved.
2 Peter 2:
20
For if they, having escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of (our) Lord and savior Jesus Christ, again become entangled and overcome by them, their last condition is worse than their first.
21
For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment handed down 11 to them.
It is possible for believers to fall away.
Thus Calvin is refuted in many places and TULIP petals are falling.
God is not subject to time, but He obviously chooses to work within it as far as our experience is concerned. Jesus is not still on the cross today, is He? :) ............ God does give saving grace to all of His elect, but faith is (usually) developed. I did not wake up one day and from nothing say "Eureka, now I believe". I came to belief through the gradual understanding of the basics of God's word. God's grace is what made it possible for me to understand. And, it was preordained that I would understand, even though I had no idea about it at the time.
If a Reformed elect never saw scripture then he would have been taught orally. No violation of Reformed principles there. There is also precedence for the "Paul-method", but I have not heard of too many cases. :) If a Reformed elect never HEARD any scripture, then it would take some special action by God. I'm not sure how one could possibly hold to Reformed principles without scripture. They are one.
Scripture itself doesn’t emphasize Scripture. It emphasizes teaching and tradition. Repent and be baptized and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Scripture emphasizes the word of God all over the place and Jesus certainly emphasized scriptures. We've already posted the quotes. And, it is certainly true that those who KNOWINGLY repent will receive the Holy Spirit. A false repentance does not result in salvation any more than a false confession results in absolution.
1 John Chapter 2 - 1 My children, 1 I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one. 2 He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world. 3 The way we may be sure 2 that we know him is to keep his command ments. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: 6 whoever claims to abide in him ought to live (just) as he lived.
You must keep the Commandments of Jesus or you are not saved.
The passage says that we can be sure of our salvation by whether we obey Him. That is true. It says nothing about earning anything with deeds. Faith comes first, then to be sure it is real, look at deeds. This is a very Reformed passage. :)
[On Heb 10:26-27] Salvation is conditional. Believers can fall away.
No, this proposes a hypothetical. IF a true believer apostatizes then he is lost for good. That is true because Christ only died once. It does not say this is possible since that would mean other scripture, especially from Christ, would be a lie. Also notice that if we read it your way there is NO PROVISION for forgiveness and absolution for apostasy. That would go against your theology.
[On Heb 10:36-38] A just one (ie believer) can ‘draw back’ and therefore not be saved.
No, this passage confirms what I said earlier. Paul is saying in verse 39 that we are not like that "impossible hypothetical that I just gave to you".
[On 2 Peter 2:20-21] It is possible for believers to fall away.
Nope. Anyone can mouth the words, and even change his behavior a little bit. That does not make him a true believer. I think that's where our problem is. What is a true believer? I think our respective answers would be dramatically different.
Thus Calvin is refuted in many places and TULIP petals are falling.
Nope again. Calvin and the TULIP are just fine. :)