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| Sit down, relax and have some blue tea; we can talk and reason together. |
The gospel of free grace declares Eternal Salvation, WITHOUT any
human means!
(You must not confuse this as saying that temporal salvation
by the obedience of God's children is without means. The gospel ministry is
vital for the temporal salvation of God's children. Your inability to
distinguish the two is the source of much confusion among the wise and prudent!)
Romans 8:29 ¶ For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many
brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom
he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also
glorified.
Let's put it this way to emphasize a certain aspect of this
passage:
For
WHOM
he did foreknow, he also did predestinate...
[to be conformed to the image of his Son,
that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren.]
Moreover
WHOM
he did predestinate, them he also called: and
WHOM he called, them he also justified: and
WHOM he justified, them he also glorified.
These two verses of the Holy Scriptures are probably the most
tortured and abused passages of the Bible. Even the Calvinistic folks messed it
up big time!
A few obvious facts about the passage:
1. The object acted upon by EACH of the divine activities are
co-extensive throughout, an EXACTLY SAME number of, and EXACTLY SAME people are
involved in each activity of God, not one more and not one less, that is, every
action spoken of applies to EVERY elect, with NO exception. That's pretty
obvious... "whom he did... he also... whom he did... he also..."
2. The divine activities here - foreknowing, predestinating, calling, justifying and glorifying - are all the sole activities of
God. All these activities are by the free and sovereign grace of God, i.e. not
conditioned upon anything in, by or of the objects. Those acted upon in these
divine activities are completely passive, absolutely incapable of helping or
even cooperating. In fact, they, by nature, were actively in ENMITY and
REBELLION against God.
3. Those acted upon in these divine activities are EQUALLY
ACTED upon - they are ALL EQUALLY foreknown, predestinated, called, justified,
and glorified - no one more, and no one less in any sense. Every free grace
divine action applies to ABSOLUTELY EVERY ELECT, in absolutely equal and same
extent; there is no exception. The activities here deal with and secure ETERNAL
salvation for the elect by the sole and monergistic activities of the Triune
God.
4. The divine activities stated here are all that is
necessary for the ETERNAL salvation of every elect, without exception. There is
no room to place other activities into the five-link chain. The five-link chain
is complete and DOES NOT NEED other activities of God; it DOES NOT PERMIT any
activities of man.
- Why is there no regeneration… sanctification… conversion…
repentance, etc etc?
- Ask if you wish to know.
5. This passage says ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, ZILCH about all
those needful activities that involve human instrumentality (means) and, are
needful for the TEMPORAL salvation of God's children already made fit for
eternal glory. If you imagine any such activities necessary for eternal
salvation, then you have prostituted the pure gospel of grace, deny true
monergism, and end up with synergistic view of salvation - which is so common
even among many Calvinists!
6. One more observation: all the divine activities are
expressed in the simple past tense (aorist active indicative in Greek) even glorification of all the elect! The
explanation is quite simple. Since all these are divine activities, and God has
decreed to do them, they are considered as good as have been completed. Those
activities are absolutely certain and assured of their execution, accomplishment and fulfilment in God's appointed time.
When this passage is properly understood, then eternal
salvation by God's free grace is adequately appreciated. I know many people have some objections. I'm ready for them. If you can
stick to the subject, comment.
There is the ETERNAL salvation which God in Jesus Christ has
completely and perfectly worked out for His people, and it is freely and
sovereignly applied to each elect personally by His Spirit, perfectly fitting
each for eternal glory... no human instrumentality is involved the eternal
salvation of each elect. God alone purposed it, Christ alone accomplished it,
and the Spirit alone applies it.
- This is the true context/sphere of 'divine sovereignty' in
salvation.
There is the TEMPORAL salvation which God's children (those
already bestowed with eternal salvation by God's free grace) have to work out
for themselves with fear and trembling for their well being and usefulness in
this present life.
The gospel ministry, administered through human
instrumentality, is the divinely ordained means for this specific purpose of
saints working out their own salvation: "12 teaching us that, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly,
in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself
for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a
peculiar people, zealous of good works." Titus 2.
- This is the true context/sphere of 'human responsibility'
in salvation. God's children are responsible to work out their own salvation
through obedience to the Father's will.
The measure to which men cannot distinguish
eternal salvation from temporal salvation is the same measure to which they are
messed up in their understanding of salvation by grace alone! They give lip
service to salvation by grace alone but in reality are all work-based salvation
to a different degree... EVEN the Calvinists!
1. The object acted upon by the divine activities are co-extensive
throughout, an EXACTLY SAME number of, and people are involved in each activity
of God, not one more and not one less, that is, every action applies to EVERY
elect, without exception.
Some necessary
implications:
-
The call is the effectual call because ONLY IN THE EFFECTUAL CALL is every
elect called. This is God calling an elect out of his native state of sin and
death to that of grace and eternal salvation.
There is absolutely no gospel call here because there are God's children (regenerated elect) that are incapable of being called by the gospel, either because of inability or not reached by the gospel call., therefore no opportunity to believe.
Gospel call has to do with the temporal salvation of God's children. And there are God's children who are not called by the gospel. The gospel call is NOT NECESSARY for the eternal salvation of God's elect. It is the eternal salvation by God's free and sovereign grace that enables a child of God to believe.
However, the Calvinists, being ignorant of the distinction between ETERNAL salvation and TEMPORAL salvation, insist that the gospel call is necessary for one's eternal salvation!
2.
The justification here is the vital justification by God's free grace because
this aspect of justification is true of every elect. This is God's act of
justifying the condemned by applying the righteousness of Christ to him
personally and forgiving him his sins... when he is utterly incapable of believing,
being under the condemnation of sin and death.
-
Justification of life, applying Christ’s righteousness give warrants to eternal
life through regeneration… Romans 5:18.
-
There is no justification by man's act of believing in Romans 8:29-30 because
there are God's children who are INCAPABLE of believing... either because of
their inability or no opportunity to be called by the gospel ministry
However, the Calvinists, being ignorant of the distinct aspects of justification, confuse the VITAL justification by the free grace of God as the EXPERIENTIAL justification by their faith in Christ.
There
are more... if you want to hear!
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Take a look here:
https://things-new-and-old.blogspot.com/2008/01/some-observations-on-romans-829-30.html
