Quote:
Originally Posted by Ferd
LOL lets begin at the end. Nobody here believes we arent justified by faith! Can you please drop that tired argument?
next, im not trying to build a doctrine on these 3 scriptures! my point is, that YOU cannot point to a scripture that says what John 3:16 says and build a doctrine on that.
the POINT my dear friend, is that we must include it all, or we have nothing. |
Thanks. But did you catch my earlier point about the "two sides of the coin" and the fundamental paradox that exists within this discussion? In our salvation there are two apparently contradictory things happening.
1. We choose to be saved because we desire salvation (
Joshua 24:15, et al.).
2. We were chosen to be saved even before we had the ability to make the choice ourselves (
Romans 9:11;
Romans 9:16 -really all of chapter 9, but these two verses make the point;
Isaiah 65:1;
1 Corinthians 1:26-31;
Philippians 2:13;
2 Thessalonians 2:13-14;
Titus 3:3-5;
James 1:18;
1 Peter 2:9-10).
Notice how that even before we could make a choice, God chose us to be His children. In the verses above, the ones from Philippians through Titus emphasize that even when we could not make such a choice due to our sinful nature, God's grace intervened and He chose us for salvation.
He chose, He did the work; not just at Calvary, but the work in our hearts that made us desire Him.
Of course the other side of the coin is in #1 above: in this time, in this life, before it's too late! - we must make a decision about what we are going to do about this calling we have.
There are two ways to look at it, and to even begin to understand God's plan for us we need to look at both sides of the coin.
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