@prism
Continues from the post above (# 1082)
Here’s the big question: How do we reconcile these statements? If God wants everyone to be saved, and people are saved only by the power and grace of God, why isn’t everyone saved?
This is the Crux Theologorum: Why are some saved and not others?
Two popular, modern, human, "logical" attempts to answer this question. They are:
1. Calvinism: which says, “Because Jesus Christ died only for the chosen or ‘elect’. They are very small percentage of people (God desiring most to fry in hell). If you are one of the elect (the lucky few), you will eventually come to faith in the Gospel and be saved; if not, well God glorifies himself by condemning most people (and odds are, that's you) to Hell. (this is the historic position of Reformed churches such as Presbyterian and Reformed church, as well as some Baptists).
2. Arminianism: which says, “Because it’s a question of free will. Every dead, unregerate person has the capacity to choose to believe in Jesus and follow him or not. Those who choose Jesus are saved. Those who do not are damned.” (This is the historic position of Methodist and Pentecostal Churches, and the present position of most US Evangelical, Baptist and nondenominational churches.)
++ The problem with both positions is that they deny clear Scripture.
Both have to declare some Scriptures to be wrong. The Calvinist denies that God really wants all to be saved. The Arminian makes a fallen human’s decision to believe in Jesus and follow him the final factor, denying that man is dead in sin and that salvation is entirely the work of God. Both positions, unfortunately, take the focus of faith off the Gospel of Christ.
++ And the problem with both positions create a "terror of the conscience" (as Luther put it).
1.
The Calvinist really doesn’t need to trust in the Gospel. His focus is taken off what Jesus did; and the big questions in his life are, “Did God choose me?” and “Am I one of the elect?”
2.
The Arminian really doesn’t need to trust the Gospel either. His focus is also taken off what Jesus did; and the big question in his life is, “Did I decide for Jesus?” or “Did I choose Jesus?” Or, stated another way, “Did
I do
my part?”
And here’s where the failure of both Calvinism and Arminianism is revealed: sooner or later every Christian wants to find some kind of assurance of their salvation. Eventually every Christian will ask, “How do I know for sure that I am saved? How can I tell?” And here’s the problem: neither the Calvinist nor the Arminian can simply look to the cross and their Savior for assurance. Why not? Because the work of Christ on the cross for the Calvinist is only helpful
if he’s one of the elect – and he doesn’t know that for sure. Likewise, the work of Christ on the cross is helpful for the Arminian only
if he properly decides for Jesus and chooses to follow him with sufficient faithfulness – and of that he can never be quite certain. So, since neither can look to Christ for assurance, they must look someplace else. And oddly enough, both will end up looking in the same place. Both know from the Scripture that people are saved by faith, and that saving faith produces good works. So they end up looking for the proof of their election (Calvinist) or the sincerity of their decision for Jesus (Arminian) in their own lives. The question then becomes: “Do I see ample evidence of the fruits of faith in my life?” Or, stated another way, “Am I doing enough good works to confirm my faith?”
Unfortunately, there’s no comfort in EITHER of these. Such an examination will always lead either to despair or to self-righteousness. If they’re honest with themselves, they will see lots of sin, and few and flawed good works; and so be convinced of their damnation. If they’re not so honest, they may close their eyes to their many sins and deceive themselves into believing that they’re doing well enough in their Christian walk, and smugly assume they’re saved. Notice that neither is looking to Christ for assurance of their salvation. Both have made the assurance of saving faith a question of their subjective evaluations of their own works.
BOTH create a "logical" answer... but they are both unbiblical and ultimately terrifying.
How do we resolve this dilemma? We don’t. Why not? Because Scripture does not give us the answer. Yup, it's exactly that simple. We let what God says simply stand. And believe.
So...
If a person is saved, it is entirely the work of God.
If a person is not saved, it is entirely the fault of the person.
But someone will protest: “That doesn’t make sense!” To which we respond, “That’s right, it doesn’t make sense—at least not to us. But then, it doesn’t have to make sense to us to be true." We reject that if we can't wrap our puny, fallen, limited brains about something, then it can't be true and God must be wrong in what He verbatim states in Scripture.
Isaiah 40:13 Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor?
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.
Romans 11:33-34 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
We come to the same point the early church did: There are some questions our human brains ask, but we simply don't have an answer that our puny brains understand. It's
MYSTERY. God calls us to be "stewards of the mysteries of God. He doesn't not call us to deny a lot of what He said so that God seems to be logical and so that He agrees with me.
Fortunately for us, assurance of salvation is found only in the objective Gospel. By leaving the question unresolved to human satisfaction, God forces our faith to rest on what Christ has done for us. So, when struggling with the question, “How do I know for sure that I am saved?” we can boldly answer, “Because Jesus Christ died for my sins and rose again for my justification.” Letting the paradox stand directs the doubting soul to Christ and his work alone where it belongs.
Finally, it’s worth noting one more faulty attempt to resolve this paradox that is sometimes put forth by well intentioned but erring teachers. It’s an attempt to synthesize the election of God from eternity past with the so-called “free will” of the Arminian. The basic notion is that God foresees those who will one day come to faith in Jesus by the exercise of their free will, and in view of their proper choice he elects to save them. Theologians who support this view sometimes use the Latin phrase and say that God elects people
intuitu fidei; that is, “in view of their faith”. The mistakes inherent in this idea are fairly obvious. First, it’s clear that such “election” on God’s part is not really election at all. He is not choosing or foreordaining anything. He is simply ratifying and supporting the decision of the individual that he foresees will be made in time. Secondly, salvation in this scheme is still entirely left up to a fallen, spiritually dead person’s choice. Therefore all the errors and subsequent problems related to Arminianism remain.
It is, of course, very tempting to seek some resolution to the paradox that is the Crux Theologorum. But the simple facts are these: God has not revealed to us the answer to the question. And all human attempts to resolve the problem must first deny part of what God
has plainly revealed, and their answers ultimately direct a person’s faith away from the work of Jesus on the cross to something else. Therefore it is best to simply accept what God has said about this issue, trust in Christ alone, and leave the resolution of what seems to be a contradiction to the limited mind of man to God who is all wise.
Sooo...
@prism ... it's a good question but it's one the Bible doesn't answer. And both common modern "answers" that PEOPLE theorize flat out contradict what God says. IF we hold that God is smarter than we are... IF we hold that God likely knows more about this than we do.... then it's easy to simply leave the question as unanswered. We know what God has told us: God desires all to be saved... Jesus died for all..... faith apprehends/applies/replies on that Cross for us.... God gives faith but not to all. As Lutherans are fond of saying, "God gets the last word."
A blessed New Year to you and yours...
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