Calvinism: You Must Already be Saved to Get Saved?

Robert Pate

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Quit parroting your denominational tradition. Show that from Scripture.

I don't belong to a denomination.

You still have not answered my question. If Jesus fulfilled the law, Matthew 5:18. Who did he fulfill the law for?

Paul said that he lived by faith and not by laws. While Jesus was dying on the cross God tore the veil that covered the "Holy of Holies" from the top to the bottom. This signified the end of the law and the Old Covenant, Matthew 27:51.

You cannot be reconciled to God if you are still under the law. Jesus in our name and on our behalf, fulfilled the law and then abolished it, Ephesians 2:15.
 

God's Truth

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I don't belong to a denomination.

You still have not answered my question. If Jesus fulfilled the law, Matthew 5:18. Who did he fulfill the law for?

Paul said that he lived by faith and not by laws. While Jesus was dying on the cross God tore the veil that covered the "Holy of Holies" from the top to the bottom. This signified the end of the law and the Old Covenant, Matthew 27:51.

You cannot be reconciled to God if you are still under the law. Jesus in our name and on our behalf, fulfilled the law and then abolished it, Ephesians 2:15.

You are a joke. Jesus fulfilled the law for ALL.

For the Jews, and for the Gentiles.

The law is what SEPARATED the Gentiles and made them to be a people WITHOUT GOD.

Ephesians 2:12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.


Did you read that ensnared one?
 

God's Truth

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Jesus made the two men ONE.

Ephesians 2:14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
 

Ask Mr. Religion

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Ours is an Alien Righteousness

Ours is an Alien Righteousness

Sorry about that, AMR. I guess my point is that it isn't that we quit sinning after we were saved, it's that we are no longer under the law. What makes us different than the unbelievers is that we are in Christ and His righteousness is accounted to us.
Indeed. An imputation of Another's righteousness, not our own, has taken place. Ours, therefore, is an alien righteousness.

When we were unbelievers, we didn't always sin any more than as believers we always do righteousness....which is, I believe, what you were saying.
As unbelievers we could only sin more or sin less. As unbelievers, we could not not sin, for even our outward acts and inward thoughts of goodness were all for the wrong motives, not motivated to bring all glory to God. As believers we remain able to sin and now able not to sin.

AMR
 

Nick M

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The only thing I'm looking for is that God made the first move, and I'm sure you also agree with that.

He draws all men unto him. He said so. All are forgiven all of their trespasses. Not all have his life because they don't believe the first part. If you do not believe and confess, you are not saved. She does not confess. She confesses lies.


We know that God 'draws' us to Him.

Right. What nang says and hilston and bedeviled57 agree with is perverted. Let me refresh your memory.

God never rejected the reprobate according to His foreknowledge of their actions. God rejects reprobates according to His will.
God formed all men, either for dishonor or honor, according to His willful purposes and good pleasure.
To reject this truth is disbelief and a rejection of Sovereign God Himself.

Links are likely dead from post purging.

The only souls who will believe, are those saints born again by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit.

I do NOT believe the saving grace of God; nor the Covenants of Grace were, or are, common to all men.

Multitudes of persons have died in their sins without ever hearing the gospel truth of God, nor even the name of Jesus Christ. This according to the will of God.

Nang is a horrible human being and I will not be nice to that nasty, wretched, old hag, ever.
 

Lon

Well-known member
He draws all men unto him. He said so. All are forgiven all of their trespasses. Not all have his life because they don't believe the first part. If you do not believe and confess, you are not saved. She does not confess. She confesses lies.
I try to get to common ground when it comes to the gospel. We all agree we called on the name of the Lord and we all agree Christ planned our Salvation and provided our means to hear it and prepared our hearts before the day came we came to Him or we are either confused (Grace reaches to those without the mental means), or we are not saved. It always hurts my soul when there is a disagreement like it is either/or. I believe it is both.




Right. What nang says and hilston and bedeviled57 agree with is perverted. Let me refresh your memory.
I realize their are different kinds of Calvinists and Arminians. "All who call" is a salvation verse. This particular verse in Romans 10 demands a Belief and a call for 'saved.' For me, the most important theology is one that takes a scripture that is clear like this, at face value. Romans 10:10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
It seems clear.
In Ephesians 2:8-10, Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
Eph 2:9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
This too seems clear. For me, the best theology is the one that at least tries to embrace both. It seems to me in these discussions, that one or the other are thrown against each other as if one or the other weren't true. Somehow, we all HAVE to get on the same page because there is only one Christ, one Salvation for us.
I'm not sure I've heard all testimonies on TOL. We can tell by testimonies if one has called upon the Name of the Lord. A disagreement between MAD and Calvinism (or other systematic theologies) doesn't tend to be able to discount these verses or erase them from their books. IOW, we all have them so I am always a bit troubled when one doesn't embrace them. What I generally find is rather a salvation 'experience' disagreement. IMHO, we HAVE to agree on how Christ saved us. I am always glad to see threads about salvation. It is and should be an opportunity to lift Him up and glorify Him as the Only Savior. So, I'm troubled with you and also troubled with others when He is ever lost from a discussion of Salvation (sorry for being a bit longwinded here).



Links are likely dead from post purging.



Nang is a horrible human being and I will not be nice to that nasty, wretched, old hag, ever.
I am working on responding to all with the gospel. I'm not sure it is 'nice.' They often accuse me otherwise, but I try to at least tell them I care about truth and them embracing it. An argument is often necessary so I'd simply encourage you to continue to lift Him up and pray for every clearer ways to do so which might be asking for them to clean their ears. I am always up for hearing scriptures and being corrected by Him. I pray often the same for others. If not, God will have to sort it all out. In Jesus -Lon
 

meshak

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I try to get to common ground when it comes to the gospel. We all agree we called on the name of the Lord and we all agree Christ planned our Salvation and provided our means to hear it and prepared our hearts before the day came we came to Him or we are either confused (Grace reaches to those without the mental means), or we are not saved. It always hurts my soul when there is a disagreement like it is either/or. I believe it is both.

You missed out your biggest: "you must believe in the trinity".

your welcome:)
 

glorydaz

Well-known member
Indeed. An imputation of Another's righteousness, not our own, has taken place. Ours, therefore, is an alien righteousness.

Hmmmm.....Rather our "righteousness" is not sufficient to cover our unrighteousness.

Ezek. 18:24 KJV But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

As unbelievers we could only sin more or sin less. As unbelievers, we could not not sin, for even our outward acts and inward thoughts of goodness were all for the wrong motives, not motivated to bring all glory to God. As believers we remain able to sin and now able not to sin.

AMR

But what about the motive to obey our God-given conscience? Romans 2:14KJV We know, innately, what is good and what is evil....our conscience is a powerful thing.

I submit that even unbelievers can have good motives, and not having a clear picture of God or knowing how to reach Him doesn't mean the knowledge of God is not a part of their being.

Romans 1:19-20 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:​

The problem for unbelievers is that they don't have the power to always perform what is good...they have no Helper.
 

Ask Mr. Religion

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Unbelievers Deny Their Terrible State of Affairs

Unbelievers Deny Their Terrible State of Affairs

Hmmmm.....Rather our "righteousness" is not sufficient to cover our unrighteousness.
This assumes we actually possessed some righteousness as unbelievers. We did not. Our Lord's righteousness is imputed to us. Our sins are imputed to Him. Double imputation is involved in the salvific transaction at the moment we are born anew. Henceforth, we will start actually growing in righteousness in our walk of faith via access to the means of grace (Scripture, the sacraments, prayer, fellowship, and the nurture of the church).

But what about the motive to obey our God-given conscience? Romans 2:14KJV We know, innately, what is good and what is evil....our conscience is a powerful thing.

I submit that even unbelievers can have good motives, and not having a clear picture of God or knowing how to reach Him doesn't mean the knowledge of God is not a part of their being.
Romans 1:19-20 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:​

The problem for unbelievers is that they don't have the power to always perform what is good...they have no Helper.
Unbelievers cannot not sin (Jer. 17:9; Mark 7:21-23; Eph. 2:2; Eph. 2:4-5; Titus 3:5; John 3:19; Rom. 3:10-12; 5:6; 6:16-20; Eph. 2:1,3;1 Cor. 2:14). Unbelievers never have good motives, where "good" here means seeking the righteousness of God.

What "good" the unbeliever does do, helping the old lady across the road, giving to charity, feeding the poor, etc.,, are acts performed without the motive to glorify God, hence sin, sin, sin. These "good" acts are but the restraint of God upon their dry bones for the civic good, else the streets would be running with blood, given the moral inability of the unbeliever to not sin with every breath they draw from the very air God has given them with the lungs He created.

Yes, per Romans 1, the unbeliever knows God exists, but they have suppressed that which they know in unrighteousness, and condemn themselves, hence are without excuse. God the Holy Spirit is not helping all the unbelievers at all. If it were the case, it leads to the conclusion that a person can claim he or she made something of the grace God gave them, while their neighbor did not. After all, are not all persons given this same measure of grace? If so, there is only one conclusion: they were more "special" somehow for making good come from it. If all unbelievers are not given this same measure of grace, then we must explain why God so favors this or that unbeliever with His grace.

The oft-heard "He or she was a good person" when speaking of some unbeliever who has died, comes from a secular humanist mentality that fails to understand the dire state of those not in Christ.

AMR
 
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TulipBee

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I try to get to common ground when it comes to the gospel. We all agree we called on the name of the Lord and we all agree Christ planned our Salvation and provided our means to hear it and prepared our hearts before the day came we came to Him or we are either confused (Grace reaches to those without the mental means), or we are not saved. It always hurts my soul when there is a disagreement like it is either/or. I believe it is both.





I realize their are different kinds of Calvinists and Arminians. "All who call" is a salvation verse. This particular verse in Romans 10 demands a Belief and a call for 'saved.' For me, the most important theology is one that takes a scripture that is clear like this, at face value. Romans 10:10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
It seems clear.
In Ephesians 2:8-10, Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
Eph 2:9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
This too seems clear. For me, the best theology is the one that at least tries to embrace both. It seems to me in these discussions, that one or the other are thrown against each other as if one or the other weren't true. Somehow, we all HAVE to get on the same page because there is only one Christ, one Salvation for us.
I'm not sure I've heard all testimonies on TOL. We can tell by testimonies if one has called upon the Name of the Lord. A disagreement between MAD and Calvinism (or other systematic theologies) doesn't tend to be able to discount these verses or erase them from their books. IOW, we all have them so I am always a bit troubled when one doesn't embrace them. What I generally find is rather a salvation 'experience' disagreement. IMHO, we HAVE to agree on how Christ saved us. I am always glad to see threads about salvation. It is and should be an opportunity to lift Him up and glorify Him as the Only Savior. So, I'm troubled with you and also troubled with others when He is ever lost from a discussion of Salvation (sorry for being a bit longwinded here).



Links are likely dead from post purging.




I am working on responding to all with the gospel. I'm not sure it is 'nice.' They often accuse me otherwise, but I try to at least tell them I care about truth and them embracing it. An argument is often necessary so I'd simply encourage you to continue to lift Him up and pray for every clearer ways to do so which might be asking for them to clean their ears. I am always up for hearing scriptures and being corrected by Him. I pray often the same for others. If not, God will have to sort it all out. In Jesus -Lon
In the orientation booklet, at a PCA church, about their reformed church states that is both. I believe "either/or" are for those who want to feel more secured in their greedy denomination like a football team. They play evil mind games. God still saves:

15202624_1016083551837230_2684840420571190981_n.jpg
 
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Nick M

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An argument is often necessary so I'd simply encourage you to continue to lift Him up and pray for every clearer ways to do so which might be asking for them to clean their ears. I am always up for hearing scriptures and being corrected by Him. I pray often the same for others. If not, God will have to sort it all out. In Jesus -Lon

Never forget what Paul said to somebody who constantly perverted the truth. Because that is the scenario here on TOL. And it never stops.
 
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Robert Pate

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All who have Christ and his Gospel have the truth and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus saves and he saves to the uttermost, Hebrews 7:25. But we must come to Christ to receive God's great free gift of salvation that has been provided for us by Jesus Christ, John 1:12.
 

Shasta

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Ask Mr. Religion;4944179]Are you advocating middle knowledge of God as in Molinism? Or perhaps Boyd's Neo-Molinism attempts to suport open theism?


The classic view affirmed in the scripture and taught by the Early Church is that God possesses divine foreknowledge At the same time the ECF emphatically denied determinism as pagan and Gnostic. This same belief is held by many non-reformed evangelicals today and by many who believe in Molinism, at least, as it is taught by William Laine Craig. Open Theism, does not allow for classical foreknowledge in the Biblical sense. In OT God either unilaterally acts or else he forecasts the future decisions of men using His knowledge about them.
I have no idea what Greg Boyd’s latest foray into speculative theology is but I have no respect for him. I think he is a theological lightweight, a closet liberal whose agenda is to humanize God to make Him more marketable to modern audiences. One step towards this end was eliminating eternal punishment. I imagine that this alone added multitudes to his church.
The fundamental elements of middle knowledge is the concept of non-volitional dispositions in God or the desire in God for things to happen which He knows will not come to pass. Error. There are no true counterfactuals of human freedom. Counterfactual desires in God are but an Arminian error. Any expression of counterfactual desires in God is but an example of anthropopathism. For example, despite anti-Calvinist claims, 2 Peter 3:9 in no way suggests some counterfactual desire in God, since Peter's readership are being treated with the judgment of charity as the elect, and it is this readership who are assured concerning God's unwillingness that they perish.


By "non-volitional dispositions would" I suppose, you mean what ordinary people call “emotions. I also gather from this that you along with Thomas Aquinas hold that God is utterly impassive, without any movement of passion. Therefore, when the Bible says “the wrath of God burned against people (Exodus 4:14, Numbers 12:9) we are not to take it as an real expression of anger building up. All the literary pyrotechnics are merely “anthropopathisms,” a device intended to communicate to limited humans (untrained in theology) that God really does not like certain things. This is another example of letting theology dictate what the Bible is saying as opposed to letting the Bible dictate the content of theology.

Likewise, we are not supposed to imagine that God really longs for anything to happen that will not ACTUALLY occur. For instance, we are also not to think literally any suggestion that has God grieving when people reject His call. God is impassive. He is fully actualized and and does not deal in hypotheticals. Both yearning and grieving involve a person’s attitude towards counterfactual scenarios.

While this may be philosophically logical it is not what the Bible actually says about God.
Matthew 23:37 says that throughout Israel’s history God longed for them to be saved. To that end He kept sending prophets even though many were killed. Yet, in God’s foreknowledge He always knew Israel would reject His call. This scripture shows both God's longing for a change that would not happen and grieving over a revival that might have been. The entire verse is about “counterfactuals” yet God is far from being indifferent about them. Evidently Jesus was in need of more training in Reformed theology.

At this point, your complete commitment to theistic determinism leads you to do exegetical violence to the text. In 2 Peter 3:9 the apostle does NOT say "God is not willing that the elect should perish but that all of the elect should come to the saving knowledge of Christ.” According to the laws of hermeneutics, the terms ANY and ALL should be taken in their usual sense to mean ANY and ALL just as they are rendered in every translations. Narrowing the scope of unambiguous all-inclusive terms subverts their meaning and is an egregious example of eisegesis. Your claim that this “interpretation” is based the audience Peter is addressing is utterly without merit. Much of the NT (the epistles in particular) are addressed to believers but this does not keep the authors from commenting on matters outside Christendom. In fact, they do this all the time.
 

Lon

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I am only pointing out the irony of your post.

Wouldn't you need to quote me as saying such or other for it to actually be irony? :think:

As far as the other, 1 John 5:12 Romans 10:13 We either have or deny the Son. Have the Son.
 

Lon

Well-known member
While this may be philosophically logical it is not what the Bible actually says about God.
Matthew 23:37 says that throughout Israel’s history God longed for them to be saved. To that end He kept sending prophets even though many were killed. Yet, in God’s foreknowledge He always knew Israel would reject His call. This scripture shows both God's longing for a change that would not happen and grieving over a revival that might have been. The entire verse is about “counterfactuals” yet God is far from being indifferent about them. Evidently Jesus was in need of more training in Reformed theology.

At this point, your complete commitment to theistic determinism leads you to do exegetical violence to the text. In 2 Peter 3:9 the apostle does NOT say "God is not willing that the elect should perish but that all of the elect should come to the saving knowledge of Christ.” According to the laws of hermeneutics, the terms ANY and ALL should be taken in their usual sense to mean ANY and ALL just as they are rendered in every translations. Narrowing the scope of unambiguous all-inclusive terms subverts their meaning and is an egregious example of eisegesis. Your claim that this “interpretation” is based the audience Peter is addressing is utterly without merit. Much of the NT (the epistles in particular) are addressed to believers but this does not keep the authors from commenting on matters outside Christendom. In fact, they do this all the time.
Good presentation. I disagree with your conclusions over the matter as the logic flow of proof just isn't there.

Forgive a short interruption but these two questions may help get both of you through the presentation material and discuss more directly:

1) Is there a 'might' with God? Yes No Other
2) Is there a 'might with man? Yes No Other

Perhaps the 3rd if the answer is 1) No 2) Yes/No --> 3) Is man's 'might' actually a 'might' for God? :think:
 

Shasta

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[=Ask Mr. Religion;4944179]
No classical theist—Molinist or Thomist, Arminian or Calvinist—has ever said that God does not know genuine possibilities. For on all of these models of God, the divine cognition embraces all possibles via God's natural knowledge. God's foreknowledge is grounded in something that actually happens, and it is the occurrence of that future event that sanctions the foreknowledge of it. If there are true counterfactuals of freedom what exactly is the ground of God's knowledge of them?


As to the grounds of God's knowledge of counterfactuals I suppose the simplest answer is that it comes from His omniscience.
"If AMR does this, I, God, will do that" is not something in God's mind. Rather it must be, "When AMR does this, I, God, will do that." God does not have conditional decrees, but He decrees conditions.


Some of the confusion here is due to the conflation of “decrees” and “commands.” A “decree” CAN mean a unilateral, unconditional, non-negotiable directive. Now God does issue “decrees” of this sort, as when He spoke creation into existence. There were no conditions attached to that directive, but, then again, creation is not a sentient being and has no choice but to situate itself as God directs.

However, God issues another kind of directive to rational beings which I will call “commands.” Such commands are not involuntary but require a voluntary response on the part of His creatures. Municipal law commands us to obey speed limits but a driver is not compelled to follow it. He can disobey albeit not without consequences. Another example of this is God’s moral commandments. Telling men not to commit adultery is not the same thing as making the moon or putting words in the mouth of Balaam’s donkey. By characterizing God’s COMMAND to repent and be saved as a “decree” you have assumed your own premise of “irresistible grace” and thereby committed the logical fallacy of circular reasoning.

When the Bible says God has “commanded all men everywhere to repent” it is not an example of a unilateral “decree” If this were so then, at least, in Calvin’s universe everyone would repent. Rather than face the challenge to Calvin’s theology, however, I suppose the meaning of the text must again be altered.“ALL” must be bereft of it's all inclusiveness so that it means “all of the elect.”

The remainder of your response is yet another attempt to argue libertarian free will of the non-believer, despite Scripture's teachings to the contrary, e.g., Jer. 17:9; Mark 7:21-23; Eph. 2:2; Eph. 2:4-5; Titus 3:5; John 3:19; Rom. 3:10-12; 5:6; 6:16-20; Eph. 2:1,3;1 Cor. 2:14, or an argument that oddly presumes that God actually possesses unfulfilled desires. No on both accounts.

AMR

I did not "attempt" to argue for free will I actually did. My points were that the doctrine of “total inability” (AKA “total depravity”) creates a moral universe that is irrational and immoral. Your defense is to present a number of scriptures which you assume provide proof of man’s complete helplessness whereas all they say is that man is corrupt. Yet many who are very corrupt have a desire for freedom from misery, bondage and a hunger for transcendent meaning. The Holy Spirit is the one who makes men aware of their sin and awakens these desires. Again, though, the Spirit can be resisted.
 

Shasta

Well-known member
Good presentation. I disagree with your conclusions over the matter as the logic flow of proof just isn't there.

Forgive a short interruption but these two questions may help get both of you through the presentation material and discuss more directly:

1) Is there a 'might' with God? Yes No Other
2) Is there a 'might with man? Yes No Other

Perhaps the 3rd if the answer is 1) No 2) Yes/No --> 3) Is man's 'might' actually a 'might' for God? :think:

I am not anxious to divert the thread to the discussion of such things. I was just replying to AMR. There is more than enough to deal with already.
 
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