atpollard
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A Biblical challenge to this ‘Lutheran’ position.
I yield the point that “before the world was created, God unconditionally elected some (the elect) for salvation” since on that point, Calvinists, Lutherans and Scripture agree.
I wish to challenge the point that “before the world was created, God ... did not reprobate (chose for damnation) any” as both scripturally untrue and logically unsupportable.
First the direct scriptural refutation:
[Romans 9:15-24 NASB]
15 For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION." 16 So then it [does] not [depend] on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH." 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? 21 Or 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, 24 [even] us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.
God will have mercy on whom God will have mercy.
God hardens whom God desires (like Pharaoh) to demonstrate God’s power.
The potter has the right to make ‘honorable’ and ‘common’ vessels
God has the right to make ‘vessels of wrath prepared for destruction’.
God made vessels of wrath to reveal God’s glory upon ‘vessels of mercy’.
The “called” (aka. Saints or Elect) are the ‘vessels of mercy’.
How can you argue that there are no ‘vessels of wrath’ made by God.
Now the indirect Scriptural refutation:
Since we acknowledge that God ‘unconditionally elected’ some, the question becomes what about those who were NOT elected.
Let’s start by looking at what scripture has to say about the “natural man”:
[John 6:43-45 NASB] 43 Jesus answered and said to them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 "It is written in the prophets, 'AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.
1. The Father will draw only the elect because all those that the Father draws will be raised by Jesus on the last day.
2. Only the elect are taught by God, because to the natural man, the things of God are ‘foolishness’ and ‘he cannot understand them’ (see below).
[John 10:24-31 NASB] 24 The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, "How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly." 25 Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father's name, these testify of Me. 26 "But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. 27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 "My Father, who has given [them] to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch [them] out of the Father's hand. 30 "I and the Father are one." 31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him.
1. In v.24 we have the non-elect asking Jesus plainly and even Jesus can’t explain it to the non-elect in a manner that will make them understand. By v.31 they are ready to kill him.
2. Jesus said that both telling and showing the non-elect is of no use (Jesus did both) ... they are just ‘not His sheep’ (the elect).
3. His sheep (the elect) ‘hear’ and ‘follow’. The non-elect do neither.
4. His sheep (the elect) receive eternal life, those not this sheep (the non-elect) do not.
5. God the Father has ‘given’ (predestined) His sheep (the elect) to Jesus and no one can take what the Father has given. [Implied] Those not His sheep were not given by the Father and cannot jump into his hand.
[Romans 3:10-12 NASB] 10 as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; 11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; 12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE."
1. No one innately understands and seeks God, or desires to do good ... not even one.
[1 Corinthians 2:14 NASB] 14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
1. The things of God are ‘foolishness’ to the non-elect.
2. The non-elect ‘cannot understand’ the things of God.
[2 Corinthians 4:3-4 NASB] 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
1. The unbelieving mind is blinded to the gospel by the ‘god of this world’.
Thus those not elected (the non-elect) are not drawn to Jesus or taught by the Father (John 6:43-45). They do not hear or follow nor will Jesus raise them on the last day (John 10:24-31). They don’t understand, seek God or want to do good (Romans 3:10-12). All spiritual truths are foolishness to the non-elect (1 Corinthians 2:14) and they are blind to the truth of the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).
This reality is explained in the Parable of the Seed:
[Luke 8:11-15 NASB]
11 "Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God. 12 "Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved. 13 "Those on the rocky [soil are] those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no [firm] root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away. 14 "The [seed] which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of [this] life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 15 "But the [seed] in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.
1. Only the seed in the ‘good soil’ (“an honest and good heart”) bears fruit. We find a hint to the source of the good soil in the Old Testament ...
[Ezekiel 36:26-27 NASB] 26 "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
2. God removes the hard heart and gives us a new heart ... and his Spirit.
Thus from scripture the only place that the seed of God’s word can grow is in the good soil of a new heart prepared by the Holy Spirit in those chosen by the Father to be Jesus’ sheep and drawn to Jesus’ to be cared for. This applies to ‘the elect’.
From scripture, those ‘not elected’ (the non-elect) are not good soil, and have no ability to become good soil, Jesus’ sheep or to understand spiritual truth in their own power. From this I must reluctantly conclude that God has extended Mercy towards the elect and left the non-elect (What Reformed Theology calls the ‘reprobate’) in their natural condition to earn divine Justice ... both to demonstrate the Glory and Power of God.
I welcome any exegetically sound scriptural commentary that attempts to explain how the non-elect can save themselves without an initial act of grace from God. (Or some alternate scriptural definition of ‘the elect’ than those destined to spend eternity in heaven.)
