Author Archives: Dan C.

Once Saved, Always Saved?

Posted by Dan C. on

While that might be true, it might not be the best way to ask the question, or discuss the issue. Passages that support the position that once a person believes in the person and work of Jesus Christ as God’s Son (has been ‘saved’ from condemnation), that person will remain ‘saved’ are these:

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them , and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:27-29)

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

“We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Any one who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (I John 5:9-12)

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (I John 5:13)

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you. Through faith you are shielded by God’s power until the coming of salvation…” (1 Peter 1:3-5)

The above passages are often used to support the slightly broader subject of the ‘assurance’ of salvation, that we can know with certainty that, as believers, we are in fact children of God through Christ. They bring great comfort to us when the enemy brings doubt into our minds. Two passages specifically speak to what can be more properly termed the ‘perseverance’ of believers – that once a person belongs to God through Christ, he/she will always belong to God through Christ.

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them , and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:27-29)

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you. Through faith you are shielded by God’s power until the coming of salvation…” (1 Peter 1:3-5)

There is a subtle difference in saying “I was saved and I will always be saved.” or saying “The God who saved me can and will also keep me in His hand.” While both might be true, the focus of the former often becomes “I” and focus of the latter is God. The first often gives rise to boasting (or the appearance of boasting) while the second gives God all the credit.

The bottom line, no matter how we discuss the issue, Scripture simply rules the day!

Jesus Christ – Is He Your Savior or Your Judge?

Posted by Dan C. on

We evangelicals make a really bog deal about having a “personal relationship” with Christ, as if those who have not received/accepted Him as Savior have no relationship. Consider the following:

nWhoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not obelieved in the name of the only Son of God.  – John 3:18 (The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001)

The instrumental means of salvation is believing in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. But people who reject the light of the Logos are in the dark (1:5; 8:12) and are therefore already under God’s judgment. They stand condemned. They are like those sinful, dying Israelites who willfully rejected the divine remedy (Num. 21:4-9). A believer in Christ, on the other hand, is under “no condemnation” (Rom. 8:1); he “will not be condemned” (John 5:24). (Walvoord, John F. ; Zuck, Roy B. ; Dallas Theological Seminary: The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL : Victor Books, 1983-c1985, S. 2:282)

The above passage, words of Jesus in His dialogue with Nicodemus, speaks of two kinds of people, those who are not condemned (under judgment) because they believe in Christ, and those who are condemned already because they do not believe in Christ. The Apostle Peter, during his visit to the household of Cornelius, told his listeners:

And ahe commanded us [the Apostles]to preach to the people and to testify bthat he [Christ] is the one appointed by God to be judge cof the living and the dead.  Acts 10:42 (The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001

Is it a stretch to say, from these passages, that all men do in fact, at this very moment, have a ‘personal relationship’ with Christ?

Some would say that we missed the point here – that when we evangelize and talk about ‘personal relationship’ we are speaking about a ‘saving’ relationship. True, and that point was not missed. What we do often ‘miss’ in our evangelizing is the relationship of ‘already condemned’. We don’t like to mention it, or if we do, we talk about being ‘eternally separated’ or something ‘milder’ than condemnation, because that might cause people to feel badly about themselves, lose their self- esteem, and run away. 

We propose that the person with whom we share the whole truth about ‘relationships’ with Christ, who has been regenerated  by the Holy Spirit, will be more likely to run to the Cross of Calvary!

n ch. 5:24; [Mark 16:16]

o See 1 John 5:13

 a See ch. 1:2

b ch. 17:31; 24:25; John 5:22, 27; 2 Cor. 5:10; See Matt. 16:27

c 2 Tim. 4:1; 1 Pet. 4:5; [Rom. 14:9, 10; 1 Thess. 4:15, 17]

Does God Elect Persons Based on Their Foreseen Faith?

Posted by Dan C. on

By far the most popular interpretation of election, predestination, and the foreknowledge of God tells us that the ‘elect’ of God are those whom God, looking down the corridors of time, saw choosing Him, as an act of their own autonomous free will. It is those ‘foreknown’ ones whom God also predestined a plan for their lives. This post specifically addresses this issue, and well deserves our thoughtful consideration. If you are reading this, please set aside any presuppositions you might have concerning the owner of this blog. 

Does God Elect Persons Based on Their Foreseen Faith?

By John Hendryx

The Scripture teaches that everything related to the gospel is designed to glorify Christ and abase man’s pride in thinking he can save himself. So it follows that anything that diminishes Christ’s glory is inconsistent with the true gospel. So my purpose in raising this issue is not to be contentious but to glorify God by aligning our thoughts with His. This short essay is meant to challenge the unbiblical position that some modern evangelicals hold regarding “foreseen faith”. Specifically, I would like to confront the position, held by some, which believes that God looks down the corridors of time to see who will believe and then “predestines” them based on the exercise of their autonomous free will to choose Him. I do understand that one of the main purposes that some Christians believe this concept is that they wish to preserve God’s indiscriminate love to all and can’t imagine a God whom would  “arbitrarily” choose some and condemn the rest.  If unconditional election were true, they reason, then why doesn’t God save everyone? Wouldn’t choosing some and leaving others make God arbitrary in His choice? These are understandable objections that I hope to address in what follows: 

If I understand the “foreseen faith” position correctly, the following three ideas express the central concepts that this position holds:

1. The salvation of individuals is ultimately the result of their choice rather than divine appointment (alone).

2. Election is based upon God foreseeing the faith of certain individuals rather than only being in accordance with His pleasure and merciful will.

3. Election is conditional, based upon the acceptance of Jesus Christ and not the determination of God, even though God’s grace is certainly involved in this process.

Before we enter a discussion of the merits of the reasoning (logic) itself we should first consider that Christianity is not something we derive from mere speculative philosophy. God has indeed given us reasoning faculties and the tools of logic, but as Christians, these are always to be used within the biblical framework He has graciously given us. To think Christainly is to recognize that we can only know God as He has revealed Himself to us in the Scriptures, and the Scriptures themselves give no evidence of the “foreseen faith” position. So to base ones theology on unaided human reason alone is no less than deriving the deepest held presuppositions of our faith from extra-biblical sources.

Biblical View of Knowledge

While the Scriptures, in fact, do say, “… those whom He foreknew, He also predestined” (rom 8:29) but it would be poor exegesis to conclude that this must mean “foreseen faith”. It is a stretch well beyond what the text actually says and plainly a reading of ones theological presuppositions into the Text. Even those of the foreseen faith position will admit that it is placing an additional concept in the verse that is just not there. In fact the text in question does not say that God foresees some event (our faith) or action people perform, but rather, says “those He foreknew…” In other words Paul communicates that God foreknows people. In the Scriptures whenever it speaks of God “knowing” people it refers to those objects He has set His personal affection on. It expresses the intimacy of personal knowledge within the framework of the covenantal relationship between God and His people. The relationship implies a commitment on God’s part. There are many instances in the Scriptures where this kind of covenantal commitment is expressed by the word “knowledge”. An example of this can be found in Daniel 11:32:

“By smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action. Daniel 11:32

Here in Daniel those who broke covenant are set in direct contrast to “the people who know their God“. In other words, the concept of knowing God in biblical terms is to keep covenant with God. God has an oath-bound commitment to His people, so “to know” is obviously a great deal more than an an intellectual awareness of impersonal data about a person.

The same concept is also carried over to the New Testament. Jesus tells certain individuals that He never knew them (Matt 7:23). When speaking of not knowing them, Jesus is clearly referring to the idea that some are outside His covenant and He therefore has no commitment to them. Romans 11::1-2 gives further proof that foreknow really means “previous covenantal commitment” rather than an historical event. Here it reads, “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew“. The obvious issue raised here is that God has not cast aside the previous covenantal commitment (those He foreknew) He made with Israel.

The Lord also says to Jeremiah, “”Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” God has determined beforehand to affectionately set apart certain people, but not as a result of their decisions (Amos 3:2; Mt. 7:23; John 10:14; Eph 1:4,5). In fact the Bible teaches that God’s grace in choosing us is free, based on His gracious will alone and not influenced by the innate capacities, spiritual desire (ROM 9:16, John 1:13), religious merit, or the foreseen faith of the people He sets apart as His own (Eph 1:5, 2:5,8). Rather, God acts in accordance with his highest purpose, which is His own glory.

Everyone who is called by My name,
And whom I have created for My glory,
Whom I have formed, even whom I have made…” Isaiah 43:7

Logical Inconsistencies

But aside from the lack of biblical evidence by the “foreseen faith” camp I also wish to point out the fatal flaw and inconsistent logic of the unbiblical presupposition itself. While some portray “foreseen faith” as giving great liberty to every man’s free choice, upon greater reflection, this idea turns out to give no real freedom to man at all.  For if God can look into the future and see that a person #1 will come to Christ and that person #2 will not come to faith in Christ, then those facts are already fixed, they are already determined. God’s foresight of believers’ faith and repentance implies the certainty, or “moral necessity ” of these acts, just as much as a sovereign decree. “For that which is certainly foreseen must be certain.” (R.L.Dabney) If we assume that God’s knowledge of the future is true (which evangelicals all agree upon), then it is absolutely certain that person #1 will believe and person #2 will not.  There is no way their lives could turn out differently than this. Therefore it is more than fair to say that their destinies are still determined, for they could not be otherwise.  The question is, by what are their destinies determined? If God Himself determines them then we no longer have election based on foreseen faith, but rather on God’s sovereign will.  But if God does not determine their destinies then who or what determines them?  Of course no Christian would say that there is some powerful being other than God controlling people’s destinies.  Therefore the only possible alternative is to say they are determined by some impersonal force, some kind of fate, operative in the universe, making things turn out as they do.  But of what benefit is this?  We have then sacrificed election in love by a personal and compassionate God for a kind of determinism by an impersonal force and God is no longer to be given the ultimate credit for our salvation. (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology)

Furthermore, no one could then consistently hold that God foreknew who would believe and be saved and then also preach that God is trying to save every man. If God knows who will be saved, then it would be absurd for Him to reason within Himself that more persons might be saved than the original persons He knew would choose Him. It would be inconsistent to assert that God is trying to do something which He already knew could never be accomplished. Likewise no one could consistently say that God foreknew who would be saved and then turn around and teach that the Holy Spirit does all He can do to save every man in the world. In this scheme, The Holy Spirit would be wasting time and effort to endeavor to convert a man who He knew from the beginning would not choose Him. The unbiblical system collapses in on itself.

Some will answer that it is neither election not foreseen faith but somewhere in the middle.  But this option is excluded, by definition, unless you believe that God is somehow ignorant of the future.  In other words, the only way the “middle position” could be true in this case is if you limit God’s omniscience, (an impossibility). Either God knows and decrees the future or He does not.  If God knows the future and your position of foreseen faith is true, then God has left us in the hands of impersonal fate.  Our choice would then be prearranged by an impersonal determinism.  Your “middle ground” position could theoretically be true only if you fastened ignorance on God about the future, but then God would not know who would choose Him and your whole theory would break down since it was based on foreseen faith to begin with.  To conclude, unless you are willing to believe that an impersonal force determines our salvation, and that God does not know the future (the Open Theism heresy), the foreseen faith position is both biblically and logically impossible. In order to honor God we must, at this point, derive our authority from the Scriptures and be careful not rely merely on what we have been taught at our church.

Is God Arbitrary

First I would challenge you to wrestle with the following verse. Paul encountered the very same argument against election; that it would make God unjust and arbitrary.

Romans 9:18-23
18   So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
19   You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?”
20   On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?
21Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same  lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?
22   What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His  power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for  destruction?
23   And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,

To begin with, Paul would not ask this hypothetical question unless He believed the ultimate determination of ones salvation to be in the hands of God alone. Paul is saying that God has the sovereign right to do with us whatever He wants.  Will you deny Him this right? Furthermore, since we know the character of God we must not think that, on His side, God had no reasons or causes for saving some and not others  – – “since the divine purpose always conspires with His wisdom and does nothing without reason or rashly; although these reasons and causes have not been revealed to us. In His counsels and works no cause is apparent, it is yet hidden with Him, so that He has decreed nothing except justly and wisely according to His good pleasure founded on His gracious love towards us.” (Heppe, Reformed Dogmatics) Just because we don’t know why He chooses some to faith and not others is not reason enough to reject it.  In the absence of relevant data, we, therefore, have no reason whatsoever to assume the worse, so there are no legitimate grounds for doubting the goodness of God here.  Therefore, to doubt that God can choose us based solely on his good pleasure, is to doubt the goodness of God. The “foreseen faith” people are, in effect, saying that they cannot trust God in making this choice and prefer it to be left up to the fallen individual, as if he would make a better choice than God. Let’s summarize then the response to the charge of God being arbitrary:

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.” Deuteronomy 29: 291. Election is grounded in God’s moral character (i.e., goodness, compassion, empathy, integrity, non-duplicity, non-favoritism, justice, etc.)

2. God does have “causes and reasons” for His choices, though these are “internal” to God  (i.e., not found in the creature). We know He is good and therefore can trust that He would make a better choice than we would. 

3. He ‘does NOTHING without reason’ — He  ‘does NOTHING rashly’. He has simply not revealed these reasons and causes to us–although they certainly exist.  Since they haven’t been revealed, we cannot try to figure them out but since we know the trustworthiness of God we can rejoice in His wisdom. God does not ‘lack just reasons’ for His actions. These ‘just reasons’ are merely hidden from us.

4. Salvation is not conditioned upon anything that God sees in us that makes us worthy of His choosing us.  NONE of His decrees were done except justly and wisely”.

We must always keep in mind that God is obligated to save no one and that we all justly deserve His wrath.  Therefore, if God saves anyone, it is purely an act of His mercy.  All evangelicals agree that it would have been just of God to wipe out all mankind in judgment, so why, then, would it be unjust for Him to judge some and have mercy on the rest.  If six people owe me a debt, for example, and I forgive four of them their debt but still require the remaining two to pay up, I am totally within my right.  How much more so God? (Read The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard: Matt 20:1-16)

“It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy” (ROM 9:16).

Related Articles
Prayer of the Synergist by John Hendryx
Synergism & Freewillism Commonly Taught in Modern Pulpits by John Hendryx
Conditional Election by Ra McLaughlin
Those Whom He Foreknew He Predestined by John Piper
The Enormous Ignorance of God When God Doesn’t Know the Future Choices of Man by John Piper
Justice and Election Is it Fair for God to elect some and Not Others? Gregory Koukl

Predestination, Election, and Foreknowledge

Posted by Dan C. on

What’s the Connection?

Answer: Certainly, since God knows everything, it would have been possible for God to base His predestination and election of individuals upon His foreknowledge of the future. In fact, that is the exact position that many Christians believe. The problem is that it really is not what the Bible teaches about predestination, election, and foreknowledge. In order to understand why the view that “God made His choice based on merely knowing the future” is not what the Bible teaches, let’s first consider a couple of verses that speak to the reason God elected or predestined people to salvation.

Ephesians 1:5 tells us that God “predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.” According to this verse, the basis of our being predestined is not something that we do or will do, but is based solely on the will of God for His own pleasure. As Romans 9:15-16 says, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.” Similarly, Romans 9:11 declares regarding Jacob and Esau, “Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls.” Then again in Ephesians 1:11 we see that people are “chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.” From these and many others passages, we see that Scripture consistently teaches that predestination or election is not based upon something that we do or will do. God predestined people based on His own sovereign will to redeem for Himself people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. God predetermined or predestined this from before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) based solely on His sovereign will and not because of anything that He knew the people would do.

But what about Romans 8:29 where it says that those “He foreknew, He also predestined”? Doesn’t that seem to say that predestination is based upon the foreknowledge of God? Of course, the answer is yes, it does teach that predestination is based on the foreknowledge of God. But what does the word foreknowledge mean? Does it mean “based upon God’s knowledge of the future,” meaning God simply looks down through the future and sees who will believe the gospel message and then predestines or elects them? If that were the case, it would contradict the verses above from Romans and Ephesians that make it very clear election is not based on anything man does or will do.

Fortunately, God does not leave us to wonder about this issue. In John 10:26, Jesus said, “But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.” The reason some people believe is that they belong to God. They were chosen for salvation, not based on the fact that they would one day believe, but because God chose them for “adoption as sons in Christ Jesus” before they ever existed. The reason one person believes and another person does not is that one person has been adopted by God and the other has not. The truth is that the word foreknew in Romans 8:29 is not speaking of God’s knowing the future. The word foreknowledge is never used in terms of knowing about future events, times or actions (God’s omniscience). What it does describe is a predetermined relationship in the knowledge of God whereby God brings the salvation relationship into existence by decreeing it into existence ahead of time.

The word know is sometimes used in the Bible to describe an intimate or personal relationship between a man and a woman. In a similar sense, before God ever created the heavens and earth, and a long time before we were ever born, God knew His elect in a personal way and chose them to be His sheep, not because they would someday follow Him but in order to guarantee that they would follow Him. His knowing them and choosing them is the reason they follow Him, not the other way around. The issue really is not whether or not God knows who will believe, but why some believe and others do not. The answer to that is God chooses to have mercy on some and others He leaves in their sinful rebellion.

The following quote by John Murray is excellent in dealing with this issue:

“Even if it were granted that ‘foreknew’ means the foresight of faith, the biblical doctrine of sovereign election is not thereby eliminated or disproven. For it is certainly true that God foresees faith; He foresees all that comes to pass. The question would then simply be: whence proceeds this faith, which God foresees? And the only biblical answer is that the faith which God foresees is the faith He himself creates (cf. John 3:3-8; 6:44, 45, 65; Eph. 2:8; Phil. 1:29; 2 Peter 1:2). Hence His eternal foresight of faith is preconditioned by His decree to generate this faith in those whom He foresees as believing.”

From: GotQuestions.org

Recommended Resource: Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J.I. Packer.

Give Your Heart to Jesus?

Posted by Dan C. on

“One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” – Act 16:14 

Why do we often hear it said in personal testimonies “I gave my heart to Jesus. . .” or “I asked Jesus into my heart. . .” ? That’s a rather rhetorical question. Probably because invitations to the Cross of Calvary are phrased the same way, asking those who might be seeking God to ‘do’ one or the other, rather than more biblical approaches that would invite them to simply repent of their sin and believe in the Son, who died in their place and rose again, that they might also be raised from the dead and live.

A few short comments about today’s popular invitations to ask Jesus into one’s heart, or give one’s heart to Jesus:

  • Neither one is to be directly found, or implied in all of New Testament evangelism.
  • On their own, they can dangerously imply that the individual ‘contributes’ to his/her own salvation, impugning the sovereignty of God in salvation.
  • They both give rise to the ‘boasting’ prohibited by Eph 2:8-9:

” For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

And by the way, another question:

If God opens hearts to pay attention to and trust the Gospel message, wouldn’t it mean that ‘giving one’s heart to Jesus’ or ‘asking Jesus in’ are, on some level, redundant acts?

Food for thought. . .

Distinguishing Between Moral and Natural Inability

Posted by Dan C. on

“No one can come to Me unless that Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:44

“… Edwards distinguished between moral and natural inability. Because man’s inability is moral and not natural, according to Edwards, the individual is responsible for the choices he or she makes. Here is a simple illustration: in the natural world there are animals that eat nothing but meat. They are called carnivores, from caro, carnis, which means “meat.” There are other animals that eat nothing but grass or plants. They are called herbivores, from herba, which means vegetation. Imagine taking a lion, who is a carnivore, and placing a bundle of hay or a trough of oats before him. He will not eat the hay or oats. Why not? It is not because he is physically or naturally unable to eat them. Physically, he could munch on the oats and swallow them. But he does not and will not, because it is not in his nature to eat this kind of food. Moreover, if we were to ask why he will not eat the herbivore’s meal, and if the lion could answer, he would say, “I can’t eat this food, because I hate it. I will only eat meat.”

Now think of the verse that says, “Taste and see that the LORD is good” (Ps. 34:8), or of Jesus saying, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eat of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:51). Why won’t a sinful person “taste and see that the Lord is good” or feed upon Jesus as “the living bread”? To use the lion’s words, it is because he “hates” such food. The sinner will not come to Christ because he does not want to. Deep in his heart he hates Christ and what he stands for. It is not because he cannot come naturally or physically.

Someone opposed to this teaching might say, “But surely the Bible says that anyone who will come to Christ may come to him. Didn’t Jesus invite us to come? Didn’t he say, ‘Whoever comes to me I will never drive away’ (John 6:37)? The answer is, “Yes, that is exactly what Jesus said, but it is beside the point.” Certainly, anyone who wants to come to Christ may come to him. That is why Jonathan Edwards insisted that the will is not bound. However, this liberty is what makes our refusal to seek God so unreasonable and increases our guilt. Who is it who wills to come? The answer is, No one, except those in whom the Holy Spirit has already performed the entirely irresistible work of the new birth, so that, as a result of this miracle, the spiritually blind eyes of the natural man are opened to see God’s truth, and the depraved mind of the sinner, which in itself has no spiritual understanding, is renewed to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.”

– James Montgomery Boice, Philip Graham Ryken, The Doctrines of Grace, p. 85, 86

"Are Catholics brothers and sisters in Christ?"

Posted by Dan C. on

Before you “go off” on this blog author, realize that the above question is enclosed in quotation marks. That is the title of a blog post discovered by Googling the question to see if it was a matter of discussion and what folks might be saying.

The blog post, as well as most of the comments revolved around doctrinal differences between Catholic teaching and Protestantism. One comment seemed to focus on the deeper and more significant issue:

“The key to whether anyone (Catholic/Protestant/Other) is a ‘brother or sister’ in Christ, is whether or not he/she is truly IN Christ, not a particular point of doctrine. Ultimately, only God knows that, no matter what ‘fruit’ looks like.

If it is necessary to determine if a Catholic (or anyone) is really IN Christ, or just an adherent to a religious ‘system’ It can be done without a great deal of difficulty. It has been my experience that 9 of 10 (at least) former Catholics (or former anything) who have left whatever was ‘former’ have done so because they read Scripture for themselves. When that is done, any doctrines that are contrary to scripture will become apparent because the Holy Spirit of God indwells every true believer and will teach him/her what is true and reveal what is not.

Any person indwellt by the Holy Spirit cannot read Scripture and not be ‘taught by God’! Something WILL happen, eventually – maybe not right away, but over time truth will get through to the heart of any true believer.

In today’s Christian climate, it is difficult to immediately claim Catholics OR Protestants as brothers/sisters IN Christ just because they say they are ‘Christians’. Much of what passes for Protestant evangelism is just as apostate as false Catholic doctrine!

So what I CAN do is, in a spirit of love, is present Scripture that would/should cause Catholics to examine Catholic doctrine (or anyone with a false gospel) and let God do the rest. The Catholic (or anyone who claims Christ) who seems totally unaffected by the plain words/truth of scripture just might NOT be my brother/sister in Christ, in which case, if I continue discussions, I will make a bee-line for the Gospel of Christ as preached by Paul, and at the same time pray that God will open a heart to receive it.”

When all is said and done, ‘doctrine’ does not determine whether professing Christians are ‘brothers and sisters in Christ’. The determinant is actually being IN Christ. We can intellectually debate various doctrines all day long, and false doctrines ought to be exposed. We humans can certainly apply the light of scripture to various doctrines, but the ‘change agent’ in the heart of anyone trusting ‘false’ doctrine is the Holy Spirit of God engaging that heart.

Where Does Our Faith in Christ Come From?

Posted by Dan C. on

Sounds like a simple question, but is it?

Many of us have memorized and even frequently quote Ephesians 2: 8-9:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

We tend to focus on the gift of grace, and sometimes ‘assume’ whatever it we assume about faith. We are told to place ‘our’ faith in Christ to receive the gracious gift of salvation.

So the question for consideration is where do we get ‘our’ faith? Are we born with it, or does the faith we place in Christ originate elsewhere?

Why Does God Save Sinners?

Posted by Dan C. on

We would love to see a survey of professing Christians in which the above question appeared, either as a stand alone question, or with multiple choice answers.

Does these passages give us a clue to the main reason God forgives and saves sinners?

I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. (Isaiah 43:25)

For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great. (Psalm 25:11)

Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake! (Psalm 79:9)

Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for your name’s sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you. (Jeremiah 14:7)

We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against you. Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne. (Jeremiah 14:20-21)

God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:25-26)

Your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. (1 John 2:12)

As evangelical Christians, we are charged with spreading the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The manner in which we carry out that charge, the reasons we give for trusting in and receiving Christ as Savior and Lord, will always communicate to the hearers why God desires to save their souls. After all, we all have reasons for why we do what we do and for the decisions we make. We will always give reasons why our hearers should choose Christ. 

The challenge for all of us who are carriers of the good news of Christ is to communicate the right WHY. It is even possible to determine if we in fact are communicating the right ‘why’. We can examine how we present the gospel and ask ourselves if our how communicates the why.

Food for thought. . .

Self-Esteem?

Posted by Dan C. on

What does Scripture tell us about ‘self-esteem’?

Hints:

  • A specific word search for ‘self-esteem’ won’t get you much, but try it anyway. The poor results of a word search is still instructive.
  • Consider what Scripture has to say about the ‘human condition’ apart from Christ.
  • For an example of how someone who is growing in their closeness/relationship with Christ prceives himself, look at Paul and what he said about himself.
  • Consider what Christ had to say about ‘self’.
  • Compare what modern psychology’s elevation of ‘self-esteem’ to near idol stature to the Biblical perspective

Please discuss.