Things New and Old

Ancient truths revealed in the Scriptures are often forgotten, disbelieved or distorted, and therefore lost in the passage of time. Such ancient truths when rediscovered and relearned are 'new' additions to the treasury of ancient truths.

Christ showed many new things to the disciples, things prophesied by the prophets of old but hijacked and perverted by the elders and their traditions, but which Christ reclaimed and returned to His people.

Many things taught by the Apostles of Christ have been perverted or substituted over the centuries. Such fundamental doctrines like salvation by grace and justification have been hijacked and perverted and repudiated by sincere Christians. These doctrines need to be reclaimed and restored to God's people.

There are things both new and old here. "Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things" 2Ti 2:7.

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Anything but Pristine


The cliff beaches at Hermanus, Cape Town

 I read a short posting on the Facebook page of Pristine Grace.
Here: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=643502199468837&id=525640567921668

It is anything but pristine. The grace of God in the salvation of His people is rarely understood today. 

 Here is the short posting by Brandon Kraft of Pristine Grace
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For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God... - Eph 2:8

It is true that all men have a responsibility or an obligation to believe the Lord and His Gospel. To not believe the record of Christ's accomplished work of salvation for His people is a terrible sin for which men will be held accountable. All men have a duty to bow before the Lord, to acknowledge Him as their Sovereign Creator, and to honor Him. But do men have a duty to be blessed? Are men responsible for the blessings which flow from Christ to His people? No, of course not! That is a ridiculous concept indeed! But saving faith is that blessed gift of God that gives men the ability to look to Christ and see that the benefits of His sacrificial work apply to them. It is a gift of assurance. To suggest otherwise is to take this wonderful gift of God and turn it into a work.

Those who insist on the doctrine of "duty-faith" suggest that all men have a responsibility to be saved. They suggest that those for whom Christ did not die are duty-bound to look to the Lord and believe that He loves them and that He died for them. Men are encouraged to believe a lie. So in order to be seen as honest men, these perverters of the Gospel reinvent the concept of atonement and twist it so that Christ's death becomes sufficient for all and efficient for only the elect. Salvation is not accomplished until it is applied. In this unbiblical scheme, unelected men are duty-bound to have these blessings based on Christ's supposedly loving and hypothetical atonement for them. Since this proposition is accepted as true, then it logically follows that these blessings must be offered as something that can be accepted for salvation or rejected for damnation to all men indiscriminately. Of course the concept that men are totally dead in trespasses and sins is now also twisted so that men are now physically capable of accepting this "offer" but are spiritually limited. Does this not sound like free will theology? It does to me. Sadly it passes for "sovereign grace" theology these days!

The next time someone tells you that saving faith is a work that must be performed by men, I suggest you respond to their folly by inquiring them if regeneration is also a work that men must perform. What about sanctification or even the future resurrection at Christ's return? Is that now too a command which men are obligated to obey?

God is responsible for all of salvation. God and man cannot both be responsible. To suggest that man is responsible to have saving faith while acknowledging the Sovereign Grace of God is to embrace a contradiction and entertain a doctrine of devils. Let us flee from such follies.

Grace and Peace,
Brandan Kraft
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If you like to read a helpful exposition of Eph 2:8, go here: https://things-new-and-old.blogspot.com/2008/01/saved-by-grace-through-faith-whose.html/

Let me make some comments on the 1st paragraph. The others are also riddled with errors and inconsistencies.

1 “It is true that all men have a responsibility or an obligation to believe the Lord and His Gospel.
It is NOT true that all men are responsible/obligated to believe in Christ and His gospel. Why? The reason is elementary. A man's duties are defined by the terms of the covenant to which he is a party! His duty is not determined by his own inability or ability.

Only those embraced in the covenant of redemption are required by the terms of that covenant to believe Christ as their Redeemer.

 All the children of God (elects that have been regenerated) are duty-bound to repent and believe in the gospel of their salvation. They are God's redeemed bound by the terms of the covenant of redemption. God's redeemed are duty-bound by the terms of the covenant of redemption to repent and believe in their Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ... because Christ is their Redeemer... it is their covenant duty to believe the truth of their salvation by Christ.

 I do believe all God's children ALONE are under divine obligation to repent and believe in their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He is their Lord and Saviour. Upon the basis of His life and death, they have been justified, regenerated and adopted. They are children first by God's free grace, then they are called to believe the word of truth, the gospel of their salvation, Eph 1:13.

 Why would anyone imagine that others are under the divine obligation to believe Christ as Saviour when Christ is not even the Saviour of all men? Why are others duty-bound to believe Christ as their Saviour when Christ did not give Himself as the Saviour of all men? That would amount to God putting some men under divine obligation to believe a big fat lie!

 It is contrary to God's character for God put any man under divine obligation to believe a lie - i.e. to believe that Christ is their Saviour when He had assuredly decreed that Christ is not their Saviour.



2. “All men have a duty to bow before the Lord, to acknowledge Him as their Sovereign Creator, and to honor Him.”
It is true that ALL MEN, as the creatures of God the Creator, have the duty and obligation to honour Him as their God and Creator.

It is about covenant obligations. A man’s responsibility and obligations are determined and defined by the terms of the covenant to which he is a party. It is that basic.

The covenant of creation imposes certain definite obligations upon man as the creatures of God. These obligations extend NO FURTHER than those embraced in the covenant of creation.

The covenant of redemption imposes certain obligations upon children of God (regenerated elect), and they are under obligation to believe the truth of their redemption by God's free grace in Jesus Christ. These obligations extend NO FURTHER than those embraced in the covenant of redemption.

The ground of a man's duty and obligation is the covenant obligation. His inability does not negate his obligations at all. But redemptive grace provides the spiritual life for spiritual activities.


3.  “But do men have a duty to be blessed?
The question "do men have a duty to be blessed" is bizarre. The word “duty" speaks of a moral or legal obligation; a responsibility, what men are obliged to do, not what must be done to him; men's duty is what they owe, not what is owed to them. If that what is intended, then the question should be, "do men have the RIGHT to be blessed?" Are they ENTITLED to the blessings?

4. "Are men responsible for the blessings which flow from Christ to His people?" 
This begs the question, "what blessings do you have in mind?” There are blessings that are APART FROM men's responsibility and there are blessings that are conditioned upon men fulfilling their responsibility. The blessings of eternal salvation are apart from men’s (God’s elect who are in their native state of sin and death) responsibility because they are incapable of performing or meeting any; the blessings of temporal salvations are conditioned upon men’s (God’s children,  the elect whom God has effectually called out of their native state of sin and death to that of grace and salvation in Jesus Christ) fulfilling their responsibilities of doing the will of their Father.

A biblical distinction is the essence of sound theology. 

Phi 2:12-13
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

1Tim 4:16
Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

2Pe 1:5
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge…
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

These BLESSINGS are conditioned upon God’s children fulfilling their just and reasonable responsibilities!

5. “But saving faith is that blessed gift of God that gives….”
- Saving faith is NOT that blessed gift spoken of in Eph 2:8; that's a popular fiction and fable, regurgitated by men without thinking. 

Saving faith is among the fruit of the Spirit, i.e. worked in a child of God; this saving faith worked in the children of God enables them to believe the truth of their salvation by God's free and sovereign grace in Jesus Christ. This saving faith is drawn out from  a child of God through the divinely appointed means, the gospel ministry; "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

Those in whom the Spirit of God has worked this saving faith are RESPONSIBLE, under divine OBLIGATION to believe the truth of the salvation. Believing the truth of the gospel is a work REQUIRED of them by God. Christ declared it here:
John 628¶ Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that e might work the works of God? 29¶Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
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See if you are sharp enough to spot similar errors and inconsistencies in the remaining paragraphs. 
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