What scriptural words is the word reprobate referring to?
Obviously, this is a question for Calvinists
Thanks in advance.
From the
WCF
Chapter 3:
1.
God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: (Eph. 1:11,Rom. 11:33, Heb. 6:17, Rom. 9:15,18) yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, (James 1:13,17, 1 John 1:5)
nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures;
nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away,
but rather established. (Acts 2:23, Matt. 17:12, Acts 4:27-28, John 19:11, Prov. 16:33)
God's decree establishes the very free will of the creature from which the creature's choices spring from within all contingencies that may arise. God is not violating the will of the creature.
2. Although
God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass upon all supposed conditions, (Acts 15:18, 1 Sam. 23:11-12, Matt. 11:21, 23) yet hath
He not decreed anything because He foresaw it as future, or as
that which would come to pass upon such conditions. (Rom. 9:11, 13, 16, 18)
God is not peeking down the corridors of time to see what man will choose, if they persevere, or what they do and then decreeing based upon what He has observed. This would make God contingent upon man, merely rubber-stamping man's decisions. God is not a contingent being.
3. By the decree of God, f
or the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels (1 Tim. 5:21, Matt. 25:41) are
predestinated unto everlasting life; and
others foreordained to everlasting death. (Rom. 9:22-23, Eph. 1:5-6, Prov. 16:4)
That God's glory be made manifest, some of His creatures are predestinated to everlasting life, and the others are foreordained to everlasting death.
predestinated - a deliberate positive act of God setting a preference upon another
foreordained - The certainty, from God's prospective, of comprehensive, determinate knowledge including every step along the way is a chosen aspect of His plan, which is not in any way fortuitous, or incorporated by accommodation to events outside of His control
Those foreordained to everlasting death are commonly called the reprobate.
Chapter 5:
2. Although, in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first Cause, all things come to pass immutably, and infallibly; (Acts 2:23) yet, by the same providence,
He ordereth them to fall out, according to the nature of second causes, either
necessarily,
freely, or
contingently. (Gen. 8:22, Jer. 31:35, Exod. 21:13, Deut. 19:5, I Kings 22:28, 34, Isa. 10:6-7)
All that happens come to pass because God has ordained them to do so. God knows because He has ordained. What comes to pass does so within the liberty of man's will established by God and what comes to pass does so via second causes necessarily, freely, or contingently.
3. God, in His ordinary providence, maketh use of
means, (Acts 27:31, 44, Isa. 55:10-11) yet is free to work
without, (Hos. 1:7, Matt. 4:4, Job 34:10)
above, (Rom. 9:19-21) and
against them, (2 Kings 6:6, Dan. 3:27) at His pleasure.
The providence of God by which His decree is made manifest ordinarily relies upon means, yet God is free to work without means, above means, and against means.
4. The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in His providence, that it extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all other sins of angels and men; (Rom. 11:32-34, 2 Sam. 24:1, 1 Chron. 21:1, 1 Kings 22:22-23, 1 Chron. 10:4, 13-14, 2 Sam. 16:10,Acts 2:23) and that
not by a bare permission, (Acts 14:16) but such as hath
joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding, (Ps. 76:10, 2 Kings 19:28) and otherwise
ordering, and
governing of them, in a manifold dispensation, to His own
holy ends; (Gen. 50:20, Isa. 10:6-7, 12) yet so, as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous,
neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin. (James 1:13-14, 17, 1 John 2:16, Ps. 50:21)
That which God ordains, including sins, even the first sin, are not based upon bare permission ("live and let live"), rather all that happens via the providence of God includes His bounding, ordering, and governing to meet His own holy ends. God's bounding, ordering, and governing is such that sin does not proceed from God, rather from man, nor is God the author or approver of sin.
For more see the exposition of the WCF here:
http://www.reformed.org/documents/shaw/
AMR
